Ex Wilco Member Dies

Bennett played with Wilco from 1994 to 2001, leaving the Americana band because of a fall-out with band leader Jeff Tweedy. - more on this story

New Edition Songwriter Charged In Harvard Drug Robbery Murder

hiphoprx.com reports: Jabrai Jordan Copney, a New York City songwriter, credited with writing the 2004 New Edition song "Feelin It" along with Ryan Leslie, is being charged with the fatal Harvard University shooting of a 21-year-old man on Monday, May 18 at a Harvard University dormitory allegedly over drugs.

Copney, 20, reportedly turned himself in to authorities at the Cambridge Police Station Thursday around 7:00 p.m. and has been charged with murder of Justin Cosby, 21, accessory after the fact to murder, and possession of a firearm, according to Middlesex District Attorney Gerry Leone. [on a side note, he was only 15 when he cowrote that New Edition song?]

Justin Cosby, reportedly, was selling drugs (marijuana) to students at Harvard which was reported Tuesday that Cosby had been arrested for Class D drug possession. Cosby was shot on Monday afternoon after three men, the defendant, Jabrai Jordan Copney, and two others traveled to Cambridge from New York City with the intention of robbing Cosby. - more on this story

Twilight Actor To Star in Black Metal Movie?

Metal Underground reports: Jackson Rathbone, who is perhaps best known for appearing in the movie Twilight, has apparently signed on to portray Burzum mastermind Varg Vikernes in the upcoming movie, "Lords Of Chaos."

The movie is about the Norwegian black metal scene and the church burnings and other crimes connected to it.

Varg Vikernes has previously spoken out against the movie. Vikernes confirmed on May 22nd that he is now back in free society after serving sixteen years in prison for murder and arson. - more metal news

Clay Aiken Slams Adam Lambert

E! reports: Don't count Clay Aiken among those upset by Adam Lambert's second-place finish on American Idol. Or, for that matter, among those who can be bothered- or care enough- to even watch the show.

There's apparently no love lost between Ruben Studdard's second banana and Kris Allen's, evidenced by an entry posted yesterday on Aiken's subscriber-only-accessible blog. "For the record…I couldn't be happier about the way AI ended this year," Aiken wrote, per Defamer. "I only turn the show on once a season, and only to see what the set looks like each year.

"This year, I happened to turn it during the minute that Adam Lambert was singing 'Ring of Fire' and, at that moment, thought my ears would bleed. Contrived, awful and slightly frightening!" - Ouch!

Metal Band Vs Czech Political Party

antiMusic reports: Apocalyptica are a bit miffed about a political party in the Czech Republic using one of their songs without their permission. The band said in part, "This is on an official statement by the band about the illegal use of our song 'Path' in a tv and internet commercial in the Czech Republic.

"We hope it is a clear statement that we would never allow the Czech Republican party 'Národní Strana' to use any of our music. The fact is, we were never asked if they could use our material.

"Beside the fact that we are mortified by the illegal use, 'Národní Strana' has contravened the law with the owners of the rights for the song 'Path' in Czech Republic, who are Universal Music Publishing and Universal Music. - more on this story

Aerosmith Singer Battles Online Fakes

SleazeRoxx reports: Aerosmith's lead singer Steven Tyler has had it with anonymous bloggers using his likeness without permission, impersonating him, and making false statements online. So, he did what any celebrity would do under the circumstances, he sued.

There was a slight problem however, Tyler didn't know who the troublesome bloggers were and he filed a lawsuit against unnamed bloggers.

He really got mad when one group of bloggers began making statements online about his mother who passed away last year, and decided to take action. But Tyler ran into a problem when the anonymous bloggers failed to show up in court and the judge dismissed the case. - more on this story

Linkin Park Working On New Album- Chickenfoot Late Night- Nine Inch Nails Have Heart- Viva La Metalfest- Winehouse Snubs Label Gig and more

antiMusic reports: Some really quick New Quicks for you this day after a three day weekend. Here you go: Amidst its involvement on the soundtrack for the new Transformers movie and a number of members' solo projects in the works, Linkin Park is hard at work on its fourth album, which will likely come out in 2010 according to co-frontman Mike Shinoda.more

Chickenfoot, the new rock supergroup comprised of drummer Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers), bassist Michael Anthony (ex-Van Halen), guitarist Joe Satriani and vocalist Sammy Hagar (ex-Van Halen), will be the featured musical guests on Conan O'Brien's "The Tonight Show" on Friday, June 5 at 11:35 p.m.more

The Mexico Metalfest 2009 will take place on August 2nd in Mexico, Maine. The currently confirmed line up includes Ravage, Ripfence, Psychostick, In the Kingdom of Nightmares, Lost Conscience, Absence of the Sun, and Hatred Alivemore

Nine Inch Nails fans have pledged over $260,000 in the space of two days to give to a man in need of a heart transplant.more

Amy Winehouse cancels her appearance at a concert to celebrate the 50th anniversary of music label Island Records causing the entire gig to be cancelled..more

Trivia question of the day: Guns N' Roses / Velvet Revolver axeman Slash once tried out for which band? a) Megadeth b) Michael Jackson's backing band c) Poison d) Bon Jovi

The answer to Friday's question: Radiohead's original name was On a Friday. It was reportedly a nod to the day of the week the band would rehearse. - more News Quicks

AC/DC Sell Out Homeland

The Australian reports: AC/DC can look forward to the biggest homecoming in their history following record ticket sales for their Australian tour on Monday.

Tickets for the band's "Black Ice" tour went on sale in Australia Monday morning. Within 15 minutes, shows at Sydney ANZ Stadium and Melbourne Etihad Stadium sold out. Second shows at both venues also sold out hours later and third concerts look likely to do the same.

Co-promoter Garry Van Egmond said he expected between 400,000-450,000 tickets to have been sold for the tour by the end of the day. - more on this story

American Idol Loser May Becoming New Queen Singer

antiMusic reports: Now that Paul Rodgers has left Queen, rumors are flying that the band may have found their new frontman in American Idol runner-up Adam Lambert who performed with the group's principles during the show's finale.

Rolling Stone asked Brian May about rumors of the group offering Lambert the gig, here is what he said, "Amongst all that furor, there wasn't really a quiet moment to talk," May tells Rolling Stone in an e-mail interview.

"But [drummer Roger Taylor] and I are definitely hoping to have a meaningful conversation with him at some point. It's not like we, as Queen, would rush into coalescing with another singer just like that. It isn't that easy. But I'd certainly like to work with Adam. That is one amazing instrument he has there." - more on this story

Bret Michaels Cancels Concert At Army Base

antiMusic reports: Poison frontman Bret Michaels' was supposed to perform at Ft. Campbell Army Base in Kentucky on Sunday night but it appears that Mother Nature isn't a big fan of glam rock and rained on his parade.

The following statement was posted on his website explaining the cancelation: Unfortunately, due to severe thunderstorms and inclement weather, the commanding officer/event coordinator Lynette Foster and promoter Rick Johnson mutually agreed, to cancel [Sunday night's] performance at the Ft. Campbell Army Base due to risk of injury to fans due to weather conditions.

The venue was expecting a large turnout. This is especially disappointing to Bret as he is a huge supporter of all our men and women in the armed forces and he had a very special performance planned for the troops returning from Iraq as well as the civilians attending the show. - more on this story

Ministry of Gaming

HER reports: Ministry's Al Jourgensen may have unpacked his road cases for good, but he's sure not kicking back, smoking cigars and drinking bottles of red wine. Uh, well, hold on now...

Nevertheless, Uncle Al is keeping his fingers in all sorts of pies, such as having three of his Ministry songs make up the Ministry Three Pack soon to be made available for the Rock Band Music Store of downloadable content for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft on and the PLAYSTATION 3 computer entertainment system. Starting May 26 for Xbox 360 and May 28 for PLAYSTATION 3, you'll be able to download the Ministry Three Pack which includes the Grammy-nominated songs "The Great Satan" and "Lieslieslies" from Rio Grand Blood, and, from The Wicked Soundtrack, "Cuz U R Next." The pack will retail for $5.49/440 Microsoft Points, or you can download the individual songs for $1.99/160 Microsoft Points each.

And if you just can't get enough of Al and the gang, be sure and pick up a copy of Adios ...Puta Madres, a double-DVD set that documents the band's 2008 final world tour, "C U LaTouR," that will be in stores May 26. Adios...Puta Madres features 15 live performance tracks and a 45-minute on-the-road "rockumentary" that follows the band from rehearsals all the way to their final shows in Europe. - more on this story

Singled Out: J.R. Richards (Dishwalla) Pt III

antiMusic reports: J.R. Richards made a name for himself fronting Dishwalla but this month he takes it a step further as he releases his new solo album, "A Beautiful End." Normally we ask the artist to tell us about just one song but we've waiting a long time for this album, so to celebrate we asked J.R. to pick some of his favorite songs from the album and tell us a little bit about each one. Here is J.R. with today's song "Clearwater":

This song was inspired by my hope that the world would soon heal itself. Watching events unfold on TV was maddening and after seeing so much negativity day in and out and I found myself turning off the TV one night and wandering over to the piano, sitting there for only a moment before starting to write. "Clearwater" was done an hour later. Most likely the fastest song I've ever written.

Learn more about J.R., his new album, find out where he's playing, and preview tracks from the new CD (and order a physical copy of the CD) - right here!

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