State Live Music

Google Music Search Service Goes Live   Just Announced Music and Industry 

Google Music Search Service Goes Live
Posted: Fri., Oct. 30, 2009 05:03:31 PM MST

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A new music feature rolled out by Google Inc. Wednesday will bring its U.S. searchers one click away from listening to a full-length song.

The simple design brings up to four songs to the top of search results. Once one is clicked on, the song will play on pop-up players from MySpace or Lala. The search results are also accompanied by album art and links to music sites Pandora, imeem and Rhapsody.

Internet users can search by artist name, album or song title and can even access a song by typing in part of its lyrics.

The clutter-free box pushes down other search results, such as the artists' home page and fan sites, and reduces what Google Inc....

Could 'Michael Jackson's This Is It' Win An Oscar?   Just Announced 

Could 'Michael Jackson's This Is It' Win An Oscar?
Posted: Thu., Oct. 29, 2009 12:27:06 PM MST

LOS ANGELES (AP) -— "Michael Jackson's This Is It" comes too late in the year to be considered for a documentary Oscar, but the film about the late King of Pop's preparations for a series of comeback concerts could qualify for other Hollywood honors, including the Academy Award for best picture.

The film, which opened around the globe Tuesday and Wednesday has already earned rousing praise from fans and critics, who say it restores Jackson's reputation as a world-class entertainer.

Director Kenny Ortega, a longtime Jackson collaborator who was overseeing his London concert comeback, crafted the nearly two-hour film from more than 100 hours of footage recorded...

Staples Center Forever   Just Announced Music and Industry 

Staples has purchased lifetime naming rights for the Staples Center in Los Angeles, extending its original 20-year contract with the arena.

Staples said it paid a previously negotiated fee to extend the contract, but further details were not disclosed Oct. 19.

The office supply retailer has had its name on the AEG building since it opened in 1999.

Naming rights contacts seem to be a hard sell since the recession, with the Dallas Cowboys’ new billion-dollar stadium so far unable to find a sponsor.
Pollstar News

Phil Collins Drums No More   Just Announced 

HAMBURG (AP) -- Phil Collins is drumming no more, for now.

The former singer and drummer for Genesis told a German newspaper that since he had surgery in April to repair a dislocated vertebra in his neck, he doesn't have feeling in his fingers and isn't able to pick up his sticks.

The 58-year-old musician was quoted by Hamburger Abendblatt on Monday as saying the only way he could drum is if he were to "glue drumsticks to my hands."

But that's not stopped his recording aspirations. He told the newspaper he plans a new CD that will feature covers of 30 songs from the Motown label in 2010.

"I want the songs to sound exactly like the originals," the paper quoted him as saying.

Collins, who lives in Switzerland, was in Hamburg to celebrate...

Nature calls, standup title eludes Dave Chappelle   Just Announced 

LOS ANGELES – Dave Chappelle could be holding Hollywood's comedy endurance record if he'd only been able to hold something else.

The comic, who famously walked away from a $50 million deal four years ago to continue his Comedy Central TV show, was on stage at the Laugh Factory on Sunday, seemingly on his way to setting the club's endurance record for continuous standup comedy.

But then, five hours into his routine, he walked away to go to the bathroom and was disqualified, said club owner Jamie Masada.

The audience wasn't happy, Masada said, but he insisted that rules are rules where endurance comedy is concerned.

"There are only two rules," Masada said Tuesday. "You have to continuously tell jokes that are funny and you can't leave the stage, even...