quote:

---

The RX21 ($79 from Karaoke.com) was unintimidating and sounded good. But the on-screen lyrics, which should change color when you're supposed to sing, barely changed hue. Singing "Say My Name" from Destiny's Child was challenging enough. But without proper prompting? Impossible. We told them about the hard-to-read lyrics; they sent a free replacement. It wasn't much better. (They offered to send a third when we identified ourselves as a reporter.)

---

"Ohhh, You're into KARAOKE?? "

To which, I just go

It's a sad part for those of us that really liked Run D.M.C., but I DO respect their decision.

Guns N' Riot
2 hours, 4 minutes ago
By Josh Grossberg

Talk about an appetite for destruction.

What was supposed to be a night of rock 'n' roll revelry turned into a rock 'n' roll nightmare for thousands of fans hoping to see the revamped Guns N' Roses tear it up Thursday night in Vancouver for the opening of their long-awaited Chinese Democracy North American tour.

That's because promoters called off the concert more than an hour before it was supposed to begin on account of frontman Axl Rose (news) pulling a, well, Axl Rose and failing to show up for the gig.

The cancellation was too much for the 10,000 or so ticked-off fans who came from far and wide to see the platinum-selling rockers' first tour in nine years.

When the doors to Vancouver's General Motors Place arena failed to open at 6:30 p.m., a crowd began massing in front of the box office, chanting "Bull****, bull****."

At about 7:30 p.m., when an announcement was made that the show would not go on as scheduled, all hell broke loose, with the mob turning violent and storming the front gates to the arena.

Using metal guardrails used to queue ticketholders, the rioters began battering the arena's glass entry doors and smashing ticket booth windows, as well as windows on the upper level, to the cheers of other fans. Some set off fireworks. No serious injuries were reported.

To quell the stampeders and prevent extensive property damage, a small army of police officers rushed to the scene and used pepper spray, attack dogs and batons to disperse the crowd.

In other words, Paradise City it wasn't.

Perhaps the situation was even more severe considering Vancouvers past experience with Guns N' Roses. The last time around Axl and mates were slated to play Vancouver, the show was scrapped because of an earlier riot in Montreal that began when Rose refused to take the stage. (Rose has a history of rabble-rousing--two years before the Montreal incident, he started a crowd brawl when he dove into the audience to attack a fan.)

"That's it, I'm trashing all my GNR stuff," a fan named Dana Claydon told Vancouver's Providence. "I've been waiting for this since '93 when Axl canceled the last time. What a jerk."

That sentiment was likely shared by Rose's rent-a-bandmates. The sidemen arrived in Vancouver on Wednesday and rehearsed sans Rose, who was home in L.A. Apparently, that's how the newly braided Axl likes it.

GNR reps said Rose was MIA because his flight was held up due to mechanical problems. Promoters decided to nix the show when they learned Rose wouldn't make it to the auditorium by the band's 9:30 start time. Rose was supposedly in transit at the time of the cancellation. "Axl is gonna be ****ed," bassist Tommy Stinson told MTV News from backstage.

Tickets will be refunded; no make-up date has been announced.

With the Vancouver date scuttled, GNR, Axl included, plan to make Friday night's show in Tacoma, Washington the de facto tour opener.

Well, after the Canucks smoked the Rangers to force a Game 7, some of the more exuberant Vancouver fans turned the celebration into an event the Police had to quell, including burned cars, trashed storefronts, assault & battery and looting. What some law enforcement members characterized as "rioting".

Needless to say, that kind of stopped the New York comments.

It was a double bill, with Bodycount opening up for Metallica and GNR. I saw the opening act, and the band I really wanted to see. Left before GNR took the stage.

This was in Kansas City.

I remember when some fan beaned Axel in the head with a bottle... that along with Slash's drug problem... I swore I wouldn't support them ever again.

Friday, November 22, 2002
LOS ANGELES (AP) --

Rock star Jackson Browne and two other songwriters settled a lawsuit that claimed they were underpaid for their contributions to one of the Eagles' most popular albums, an attorney said Friday.

Browne, Jack Tempchin and J.D. Souther sued Warner-Chappell Music Inc. in February for more than $10 million.

An attorney for Brown and the others announced the settlement but refused to discuss specifics.

Warner-Chappell representatives did not immediately return calls for comment.

According to the lawsuit, the songwriters were supposed to be paid a fluctuating royalty rate for their contributions to "Eagles -- Their Greatest Hits, 1971-1974."

At the time of the suit, the rate was 7.5 cents per song.

Instead, they have been paid only about 2.5 cents per song since 1975 for the hits "Already Gone," "Best of My Love," "Peaceful Easy Feeling," and "Take it Easy," according to the suit, which sites an audit performed in 2000.

The album has sold more than 26 million copies, according to the lawsuit, which sought $10 million in back royalties plus punitive damages.

Tempchin wrote "Peaceful Easy Feeling," and co-wrote "Already Gone." Souther co-wrote "Best of My Love" and Browne co-wrote "Take it Easy."

Now, with help from a device just hitting store shelves nationwide, that dream could become a reality.

With the microphone-shaped Karaoke TV Star, IVL Technologies Ltd. -- a privately held Canadian company that has for the last 20 years built equipment for adjusting voices during professional music recording sessions -- has turned its attention to the amateur Pavarotti wanna-be's of the world.

Expected to be available by Thanksgiving at outlets of Wal-Mart Stores Inc., WMT.N the $69.99 device plugs into a television and uses a number of patented technologies developed by IVL to correct the pitch of even the worst voices.

"Far too many artists use our technology," Ed Pearson, executive vice president of sales and marketing for IVL, told Reuters.

Karaoke, a Japanese word meaning "empty orchestra," has developed a major following in American homes among folks who love singing along to their favorite songs and, through karaoke, can do so without the bother of the original singer getting in the way.

Wal-Mart, on its Web site, offers 11 different karaoke devices. The Web store of Circuit City Stores Inc. CC.N has at least six karaoke machines, while Best Buy Co. Inc. BBY.N sells seven karaoke units online.

The craze is also alive and well in Europe, where Hamleys, Britain's most famous toy store, predicted recently that karaoke machines would be among the top sellers for the holiday season.

GENDER-SHIFTING VOICES

The IVL unit comes with 50 songs built in and has a total capacity of 150. Via a speedy 12 megabit per second universal serial connection to a PC, it can be updated with any of about 1,000 downloadable songs, available for 99 cents each in groups of at least five.

In addition to correcting pitch, the unit can make a female voice sound male and vice versa. It can also make the voice so high-pitched it sounds like the singer has been inhaling helium; or very deep, in the vein of soul singer Barry White.

IVL is just the latest among many companies to tap the karaoke market. There is even a publicly-traded karaoke company, Florida-based Singing Machine Co. SMD.A , which reported $33 million in sales for the September quarter.

It also said gross shipments in October exceeded a record $31 million.

The company also makes branded karaoke machines for Viacom Inc.'s VIAb.N MTV and Nickelodeon units.

Jakks Pacific Inc. JAKK.O , a toy maker, recently launched a video karaoke machine that allows people to make their own music videos.

To promote the unit, the company is running a nationwide contest, with the winner getting to meet Backstreet Boys heartthrob Nick Carter.

A recent survey by Yahooligans, Yahoo Inc.'s YHOO.O Web guide for kids, found that the Jakks machine was No. 5 on a top-10 list of the toys kids most wanted for the season.

Press Release – December 3, 2002

From : The fabulous Wailers, Kent Morrill, Buck Ormsby ….and more

It is with profound regret that this message is one of deep sadness. Richard Dangel, our great and wonderful friend, sensational person, and one of the greatest guitar players in the world passed away unexpectedly. He was discovered in his north Seattle home by his close friend Charlotte on Tuesday evening after failing to answer his phone and door. Richard celebrated his 60th birthday Sunday December 1, at the Swiss Club in Tacoma, Washington, performing with his Butter Bean band with members Michael Kinder and Buck Englund. Several musician friends attended the event to jam with Rich and wish him a happy birthday. The group was in top form that night, with Rich playing as amazingly as always, and as great as we have ever heard him. He will not only be sorely missed by his enormous family of musician friends, but by the world of music, his fans, and so many who have been entertained, inspired, and have learned so much from this wonderfully talented man.

Kent Morrill and I feel blessed to have had Richard as our long and devoted friend. Luckily we jammed with Rich and the boys on his birthday. It’s been a long run, and always an honor to perform with Rich as a fellow fabulous Wailer. We are fortunate to have so many fond memories of Richard and his impressive contribution to the world of music, whether it was jazz, blues, rock n roll, funk, Rich knew it, well. He had so much more to offer. Rest in peace now Richard. We all love you.

Contact: Buck Ormsby, Kent Morrill

The fabulous Wailers

2315-10 No. Pearl St., #217

Tacoma, WA 98406

253-396-1024 or 253-396-1055

toll free: 1-866-255-2791 or Fax: 253-396-1029

Clear Channel Entertainment released a two-paragraph statement that gave no reason for pulling the plug. But it followed days of speculation about the status of the group, whose only original member is volatile vocalist Axl Rose.

Rose, 40, did not show up to the group's December 7 show in Philadelphia, leading to a crowd disturbance. Then, six shows were scratched, even though the tour remained officially on.

In its statement, the Clear Channel Communications Inc. unit apologized to fans for any inconvenience and said refunds would be available. A spokeswoman for the band's Interscope Records label, a unit of Vivendi Universal SA, did not return a call seeking more details.

Guns N' Roses, famed for such hard rocking hits as "Welcome to the Jungle" and "You Could Be Mine," last played on December 5 to a sellout crowd at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

The tour began on an ominous note in Vancouver, B.C. last month, when fans rioted after Rose did not show up, apparently waylaid by a flight problem. The road show eventually got on its feet, although many venues were half-empty.

Rose, whose real name is William Bailey, co-founded Guns N' Roses in 1985. Even as the band sold millions of albums, it was often beset by drug-fueled internecine struggles.

Rose's colleagues either quit or were fired, and Rose spent the better part of a decade holed up at his Malibu home working on an oft-delayed opus called "Chinese Democracy" with a revolving cast of musicians.

Bar Raids Irritate Owners, Drinkers
Fairfax Police Defend Sobriety Testing
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By Carol Morello
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, January 8, 2003; Page B01

As the designated driver in her dinner party, Pat Habib was careful to consume no more than one alcoholic drink and follow it up with two sodas.

So she was shocked when a police officer singled her out of the crowd at Jimmy's Old Town Tavern in Herndon and asked her to step outside to prove her sobriety. After she ran through the alphabet without pause, the Fairfax County police officer let her go and explained police had received a complaint about an unruly blond woman matching her description. Then she watched as police tested other women looking nothing like her.

"I could see it if they wanted to prevent you from getting into a car, but they didn't even ask me if I was driving," Habib said.

Habib was among restaurant and bar patrons swept up last month in a joint operation of the Fairfax County police and the Virginia Department of Alcohol Beverage Control. During the holiday period, undercover agents went to 20 bars in Reston and Herndon looking for examples of bartenders "overserving" customers. Police ultimately raided three bars and arrested nine patrons who failed sobriety tests. They were charged with public drunkenness and spent the night in jail.

Police consider the operation a success and said they would consider doing it again. Lt. Tor Bennett, assistant commander of the Reston District station, described it as a "low-key" operation designed to stop drunks before they got behind the wheel.

"We're not talking about someone who was enjoying a cocktail or two and enjoying a nice evening out," Bennett said, noting that the nine men arrested had blood-alcohol levels ranging from 0.14 to 0.22. "They drew attention to themselves by their actions."

But civil libertarians, restaurateurs and many of their customers who were either questioned or arrested have decried the police tactic. They said many people who were drinking responsibly and causing no commotion now have the Class 4 misdemeanor of public intoxication on their record, and many more potential customers were scared away for good out of fear that a drink or two could get them arrested.

"It does smack of a pending police state if law enforcement is going into establishments to monitor behavior," said Lynne Breaux, executive director of the Metropolitan Washington Restaurant Association. "At the same time, we strongly oppose any combination of drinking and driving."

Under Virginia law, a restaurant or bar is a public place, and public intoxication is a low-level misdemeanor punishable by a night in jail and up to a $250 fine.

Kent Willis of the Virginia branch of the American Civil Liberties Union said the law does not specify what level of blood alcohol constitutes public drunkenness. The level for drunken driving is 0.08.

Police said the holiday raids, first reported in the Reston Times, were born of a community policing goal of discouraging crime before it occurs. Bennett said police had been called repeatedly to the three bars in response to fights and disorderly conduct. Undercover agents found no problems in 17 other bars they visited before Christmas, he said. And four of the men arrested were on their way to their cars when police stopped them, he said.

"We're not talking about overzealousness here," Bennett said, adding that uniformed police officers who made the arrests were accompanied by members of the police bicycle patrol clad in nylon pants and polo shirts.

But bartenders and patrons saw it differently.

At Ned DeVine's restaurant in Reston, owner Graham Davies said seven or eight police officers "came bursting into the place."

"If they decided you had too much to drink, you were targeted," Davies said, acknowledging that he believed the three customers who were arrested at his tavern probably had too much to drink.

"The police are within their rights. I can't disagree with what they want to do, which is save lives. But I disagree with the way they did it."

At Champps in Reston, general manager Kevin O'Hare described police as "antagonistic." He said they "pulled" people from their chairs who were making no commotion. "They're always welcome to come in anytime," he said of police. "It's not an issue when they talk to our guests. But when they actually pull people out of their seats, it is an issue. When it's borderline harassment, it's an issue."

One man who was arrested during one of the police raids acknowledged having several drinks during the course of the afternoon, but said he was not driving or acting unruly as he sat at a table with several work colleagues. He had just finished singing "Jingle Bell Rock" on the karaoke machine when an officer asked him to step outside. He failed a breath test and was taken in a van to jail.

"I've lived my life with tremendous respect for the rule of law," said the man, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is contesting the charges.

Now his respect is tarnished.

"You could be anybody, anywhere, and they can take you out and throw you in jail," he said. ". . .I didn't do anything other than to be in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Katherine K. Hanley (D), chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, said the operation was a tool to reduce drunken driving and would be evaluated before it is repeated.

The NERVE! Going INTO a place that has a business license and pulling THAT!