Monday Morning Newsletter (7/28/08)

If you hadn’t heard, Fox doesn’t like brown people, but it takes Nas to man up to the redneck media behemoth. On behalf of Moveon.org, Nas delivered a 600,000-signature petition to the Manhattan studios of Fox. The petition calls out Fox for their blatant racist remarks against African Americans. José would like to point out that when a rapper is pointing out your faux pas, you have gone too far.

Mugison will be releasing a new album, Mugiboogie, August 19^th on Ipecac Records. Jose Fritz has officially called dibs. If anyone, even Eavvon O'Neal attempts to poach it, Jose will hand out a beating.

Rap star DMX is going to spend some time in the pokey. A grand jury has charged DMX, aka Earl Simmons, with one count of theft and one count of identity theft. Earlier this month, Simmons was arrested for failing to appear in court, failure to pay fines, driving without a license, and animal cruelty. Searches of his home allegedly turned up weapons, drugs, dog carcasses and abused pit bulls. The indictment is the latest in a string of crack-head decisions for the 37-year old rapper.

Nine Inch Nails' The Slip became available this week as a CD with bonus DVD. The Gatefold LP comes out August 12th. Only 250,000 individually numbered units will be pressed. The bonus DVD includes several live performances. It’s the perfect gift for retards that paid $300 for the Ghosts triple LP.

Just this week Yeah Yeah Yeahs front-woman Karen O finally debuted her side project Native Korean Rock. For the past 3 years, she has been recording lo-fi pop songs under the pseudonym. The coming out ceremony was a 30 minute set at Brooklyn’s Union Pool.

Producer Scott Storch, 34, is on the run. A warrant was issued for his arrest when he failed to show up in court in a child-support case last month. He also owes over $500,000 in real estate taxes. Previous to his tenure as a bandito, Storch has produced for Mariah Carey, Fat Joe, Lil Wayne, Jay-Z, Dr. Dre, Christina Aguilera, Lil Kim and others.

Alice Cooper's new album dropped this week. He recruited former Kiss drummer Eric Singer, with bassist Chuck Garric and guitarists Keri Kelli and Jason Hook. Infamous guitar-wanker Slash also appears on the track "Vengeance Is Mine.” While José prefers his Billion Dollar Babies era material he is pleased the old geezer tries to rock.

Take it from José: do not sample the Rolling Stones. Stones music publisher Abkco Music is suing the crap out of Lil Wayne for sampling their song "Play With Fire." The suit claims that Lil Wayne's version is clearly derivative of the music and lyrics. Universal Music Group stands accused of copyright infringement and unfair competition. Jagger is seeking a cease and desist order, unspecified damages and satisfaction.

Monday Morning Newsletter (03/31/08)

I went to two great shows recently and have three more this week. Jose Fritz just sits around and gets you in he know with the Monday Morning Newsletter!

Duran Duran got its world tour off to a rough start. Wednesday, at the inaugural show in New Zealand singer Simon Le Bon forgot lyrics and bassist John Taylor stormed angrily off stage. In a statement to the press the band admitted that they were very frustrated with the generally low percentage of 50-year-old groupies that put out.

The soft drink company Dr. Pepper is attempting to coax former Guns And Roses vocalist Axl Rose into releasing his album, Chinese Democracy, in the year 2008. On the table is an offer to provide a free can of soda to every man woman and child in the United States. This is so retarded I can’t think of anything else to say.

Equal Vision Records is putting-together a new DVD/CD compilation slated for release on April 15th. It will feature videos and tracks from bands past and present including The Fall Of Troy, Converge, Chiodos and others.

Roadrunner Records will be reissuing Life Of Agony's River Runs Red on April 29th. The new version of the album will feature 4 bonus songs tacked onto the albums original track listing. This continues their decade’s long tradition of re-releasing albums to pay the rent.

This April will see the long-delayed release of Director Martin Scorsese’s Rolling Stones biopic flim. Readers over the age of 50 will remember an earlier band biopic named Gimmie Shelter. When asked about the similarities between the older film and the brand new Shine a Light Scorsese said “Well now they’re really old.”

On charges of rape Richard Ream was arrested at LAX this week. You know him better as Rikki Rockett, the sleazy 46-year-old drummer of '80s hair-band Poison. He was on a flight back from an oldies tour in New Zealand.

Yesterday, in an off-handed remark Moby explained the mid-1990s explosion of the indie-rock licensing. “Some decisions I've made were more fueled by desperation than anything; some of the more gratuitous licensing. Sorry about that.”

Champions of public drunkenness, Queens of the Stone Age will headline the SoCo Music Experience festival at Centennial Olympic Park l, scheduled for May 17. The Atlanta event is appropriately sponsored by Southern Comfort.

Anti-Emo Violence in the city of Queretaro, Mexico has escalated into flash riots. An anti-emo movement has grown into organized attacks on pink haired sissies wherever they may roam. In Mexico City gay-rights organizations suggest that the attacks are fueled by homophobia. The problem being that being emo doesn’t make you gay.; going to the bath-house at 21st and Sansom makes you gay. Read more here.