Jason Alexander arrived uninvited at pop star’s California home as she got ready to marry Sam Asghari
A man once briefly married to Britney Spears has been convicted of aggravated trespassing and battery after appearing uninvited at the pop star’s wedding in June.
Jason Alexander, 40, pleaded no contest to two misdemeanour counts in a California court, prosecutors in Ventura County said.
Continue reading...Strong gusts hit the Medusa electronic music festival in Cullera south of Valencia in the early hours of Saturday
One person was killed and dozens were injured when high winds caused part of a stage to collapse at a dance music festival near the Spanish city of Valencia in the early hours of Saturday, regional emergency services said.
Other infrastructure was also damaged when gusts battered the Medusa festival, a huge electronic music festival held over six days in the east coast town of Cullera, south of Valencia.
Continue reading...Groups such as Walt Disco are struggling to make ends meet – or giving up – because of new obstacles, a musicians’ charity says
Night after night, the Beatles honed their harmonies in the clubs of Hamburg.
But now, British bands trying to fine-tune their sound by playing in Europe are struggling to make ends meet – or giving up entirely – because of the barriers created by Brexit, a charity for musicians has said.
Continue reading...Singer had been sued by writers of 3LW’s 2000 song Playas Gon’ Play for alleged plagiarism, and the case is due to return to court
Taylor Swift has defended herself as the sole writer of her 2014 hit Shake It Off in response to a lawsuit claiming that she plagiarised lyrics from the 2000 song Playas Gon’ Play by girl group 3LW.
“The lyrics to Shake It Off were written entirely by me,” Swift stated in a sworn declaration filed on Monday. “Until learning about Plaintiffs’ claim in 2017, I had never heard the song Playas Gon’ Play and had never heard of that song or the group 3LW.”
Continue reading...Incredible lineup of First Nations acts perform at the Amphitheater in Darwin’s botanic gardens
An emotional tribute to the late, much-loved Gunditjmara-Bundjalung songman Archie Roach was at the heart of the National Indigenous Music awards in Darwin on Saturday night.
Led by Emma Donovan and Fred Leone, a group of artists gathered on stage to pay tribute to their beloved Uncle Archie, who died last week after a long illness aged 66.
Continue reading...Melbourne-born entertainer rocketed to international fame in the 1960s with hits including The Carnival is Over, A World of Our Own and Georgy Girl
Judith Durham, the Australian singing great and vocalist of The Seekers, has died aged 79.
Durham released a number of solo albums but was best known as the voice of folk music group The Seekers, who she performed with from 1963 until 1968, when she left to pursue a solo career.
Continue reading...Cathy Freeman, Paul Kelly and Linda Burney among those who have paid tribute to the musician after his death
The Indigenous Australian songwriter and activist Archie Roach has been praised as a “courageous” and “powerful” truth-teller, as leading figures in politics and the arts mourn his passing.
Roach died aged 66, after a long illness, surrounded by his family and loved ones at Warrnambool Base Hospital.
Continue reading...Tributes pour in for musician whose song Took the Children Away became the anthem of the stolen generations
Archie Roach, the Indigenous Australian songwriter whose celebrated song Took the Children Away brought national attention to the story of the stolen generations, has died aged 66.
Roach died at Warrnambool Base hospital after a long illness, surrounded by his family and loved ones.
Continue reading...Sheffield, Glasgow and others tell why they should play host after decision not to hold event in Ukraine
In 1956 Sheffield became, it is believed, the first UK city to officially twin with one behind the iron curtain, partnering with a similar steel and mining-rich place then called Stalino, but later Donetsk.
It is the reason that there is a Shefield Square on the banks of the River Kalmius. In Sheffield there’s a long, busy road called Donetsk Way. And it those links that are one reason the Yorkshire city is now bidding to host next year’s Eurovision song contest, which is coming to the UK but, everyone agrees, should really be in Ukraine.
Continue reading...BBC says programme will have ‘glorious Ukraine at its heart’, with cities invited to bid to host event
The Eurovision song contest will be hosted in the UK next year after Ukraine’s public broadcaster dropped its objections and agreed to work with the BBC on the event.
Ukraine won this year’s Eurovision with the song Stefania by Kalush Orchestra, earning the right to host the 2023 edition. However, organisers concluded this could not be done safely while the country was at war with Russia – angering the Ukrainian government, which said it had submitted a workable safety plan.
Continue reading...The festival defends decision not to cancel Teodor Currentzis’s appearance despite links to ‘Putin’s private bank’
The official opening of one of the world’s leading classical music festivals is being overshadowed by the appearance of a conductor whose orchestra and choir are funded by a bank controlled by the Russian government.
Cultural commentators have described Austria’s Salzburg festival, which is also receiving sponsorship money from a foundation with close ties to the Kremlin, of being in the grip of Vladimir Putin’s influence. Along with other classical music events in the region, they argue it has turned itself into a paradise for dubious and often intransparent cultural-corporate partnerships, referred to as “toxic sponsorship”.
Continue reading...The rapper was released on $75,000 bond on Saturday after being booked into jail in Fort Lauderdale
Rapper Kodak Black has been arrested in south Florida on charges of trafficking in oxycodone and possession of a controlled substance.
The rapper, whose legal name is Bill Kapri, was previously pardoned by Donald Trump on the last day of his presidency for a previous conviction on a weapons charge. He was booked into jail in Fort Lauderdale on Friday and released on Saturday after a $75,000 bond was negotiated at a bail hearing, his lawyer Bradford Cohen told Rolling Stone.
Continue reading...Lopez and Affleck married in a small ceremony on the weekend, culminating a relationship that has stretched over two decades and two engagements
Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck got married in a Las Vegas drive-through chapel late on Saturday night, culminating a relationship that stretched over two decades in two separate romances and headlined countless tabloid covers.
Lopez announced their marriage on Sunday in her newsletter for her fans, On the J Lo, with the heading “We did it”. Lopez initially made their engagement public in April on the same newsletter.
Continue reading...Town festival authorities refuse to play chart-topping Layla by DJ Robin & Schürze, prompting complaints of censorship
They are loud in volume, unsophisticated in tune and often offensively bawdy in content. With titles ranging from Sex With a Bavarian to Big Tits Potato Salad, the ballermann sub-genre of schlager pop is a big hit in German-dominated nightclubs on the Balearic island of Mallorca, but is more likely to elicit winces of embarrassment or Fremdschämen at home.
Yet this week German newspapers have been filled with detailed analysis of schlager song lyrics, and even the country’s justice minister felt inclined to share his musical taste after a Bavarian city decided to banish this holiday season’s ballermann hit from its beer halls for its sexist tendencies.
Continue reading...Under-18s who can’t find adult supervision for music festival scramble to resell tickets
Splendour in the Grass, one of Australia’s largest outdoor music festivals, has been thrown into chaos, with changes to terms and conditions of entry made less than two weeks out from the event.
Young ticket holders for the 2022 festival – the first held in three years due to Covid-19 – learned on Monday that if they are under the age of 18, they must be accompanied by an adult at all times.
Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning
Continue reading...Police order dispersal of crowds awaiting rapper at Cafe Koko after numbers threaten public safety
A meet and greet scheduled in Camden for Nicki Minaj had to be cancelled due to overcrowding.
Adoring fans descended upon Cafe Koko in their droves after the rapper took to social media to reveal she would be at the venue from noon on Monday.
Continue reading...Fergus Linehan calls for visa-free travel for British artists to solve logistical problems of touring
The outgoing director of the Edinburgh festival has called for the UK’s visa and exports rules to be greatly simplified to allow musicians and artists to travel overseas far more smoothly.
Fergus Linehan, who directs his last international festival next month, said the UK’s post-Brexit visa rules had been a “disaster” for the arts and for artists by stifling collaboration and making it harder for British artists to tour abroad.
Continue reading...Talented musician, 17, stuck in Russian occupied area after British government changes policy on travel rules
A talented 17-year-old violinist living on the frontline in south-east Ukraine has been left waiting three months for a British visa, revealing serious flaws in government promises to help unaccompanied children.
Anastasiia, who lives in the Russian occupied Zaporizhzhia region, where fighting has been intense, has faced constant shelling while waiting to join a family in Hertfordshire.
Continue reading...Politics, electronic music and 25,000 people expected at Rave the Planet Parade this weekend, 12 years after fatal Duisburg crush
Neon bodypaint, string vests and no-nonsense four-to-the-floor beats will return to the streets of Berlin this weekend as the legendary Love Parade techno event makes a comeback in the German capital after a hiatus of more than 15 years.
Saturday’s daytime outdoor event carries a new name – the Rave the Planet Parade – but is being organised by some of the same people who put together the first Love Parade on the eve of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Continue reading...74-year-old guitarist says he ‘forgot to eat and drink water so dehydrated and passed out’
The US guitarist Carlos Santana has recovered after collapsing on stage during a concert in suburban Detroit on Tuesday.
The audience was reportedly initially told of a serious medical issue and asked to pray for the 74-year-old musician, but Santana was treated swiftly and was seen waving to fans as he was wheeled off stage. He was taken to a local hospital for observation.
Continue reading...