Thursday , October 15 2026

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It’s Called Clout

Mel Gibson has decided it would be a good idea to make a movie about the last 12 hours of the life of Jesus Christ, in Latin and Aramaic, without subtitles: The directing job is Gibson’s first since winning multiple Oscars with Braveheart in 1995. Gibson will not appear in …

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Cowell, Songwriters, and Pop Idol

The Guardian speaks to American Idol’s acerbic judge, Simon Cowell: It should have been a good week. Simon Cowell had just received the latest set of demos from songwriter Andreas Carlsson. Cowell, at the time BMG’s chief executive of A&R, listened to them on his way home and decided that …

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Beck Speaks to Emmanuelle

The charming and ever-modest Emmanuelle posted the below excerpts of her interview with Beck in the comments section of Kenan Hebert’s review of Beck’s Sea Change, in which he turns a corner into ’60s introspective acoustic pop-rock. Her work always belongs on the front page: Sorry for the delay transcribing …

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Radio Troll

I’ve been blogging fiercely since February, so I know a troll when I see one: you know, someone who provokes and outrages to get attention. I just got a press release from a radio troll. Take note of this: Nationally syndicated radio columnist Andy Martin will host a special worldwide …

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Slashdot Interviews Janis Ian

Very nice job by a swarm of geeks and Janis: 1) How much? by evilviper What percentage do you make of the sticker-price of your CDs? Janis: As the artist/singer, that’s a tough one, because it depends on the contract, and also the sticker price. For instance, contractually I make …

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American Idol Contract Update

As you may know we have been following the American Idol contestant contract situation. I received this quote from the 19 office in the UK today, one week after my story on the contract appeared in Salon: “American Idol is a competition, entered in order to win a significant prize, …

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Emmys: NBC Scores with Friends, West Wing

Mostly overlooked for eight seasons, a resurgent “Friends” walked away with its first comedy series Emmy Award, while voters heaped more Emmy gold on “The West Wing.” Jennifer Aniston of NBC’s “Friends” earned lead comedy actress honors for playing the pregnant Rachel after having previously competed in the supporting category. …

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More Copyright Issues

It can be a nightmare for the legal online music companies to track down copyrights and negotiate permission for songs: When the world’s major media companies gave in to the idea of selling music over the Internet, it seemed to herald a sonic paradise, where every song ever recorded would …

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KaZaA Partners With European High-Speed Provider

The NY Times reports today: Under the deal, KaZaA’s owner, Sharman Networks Ltd., will advertise high-speed Internet access provided by Tiscali, an Italian Internet provider, to its tens of millions of European users. In return Tiscali, which serves around seven million customers in 15 countries, will pay Sharman a “bounty” …

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