Music News

The drummer for OneRepublic has pleaded not guilty to charges filed in Denver after his girlfriend said he grabbed her head and threw her down during a fight.

Putting on the Bamboozle Festival, the largest beach concert in the United States, is a feat of detail management: coordinating more than 100 performers, determining where to fit 30,000 fans (and their cars) each night, reinforcing a historic boardwalk so it won't sag under the weight of the crowd.

In the song "Castles Made of Sand," Jimi Hendrix sang about a "little Indian brave" who dreamed of growing up to be a fearless warrior. "I was surprised to find myself the main character in the second verse," recalls Leon Hendrix, the late guitarist's kid brother, who is now 64.

Chuck Brown, a pioneer of Washington, D.C.'s Go-Go music scene, died today at the age of 75, reports WJLA. Brown had been sick for some time, and was hospitalized with pneumonia last week.

No longer a major institution and now a shrunken, vagabond company, New York City Opera is ending its first season since departing Lincoln Center with a handsome staging of Georg Philipp Telemann's "Orpheus," a work premiered in 1726 that was long lost before it was rediscovered in 1978.

WINNER OF THE WEEK: Mother's Day. We're not comfortable generalizing about mothers' musical tastes – this writer's wife, who is a mother, favors George Jones, Parliament and the Sex Pistols – but stereotypical mom-oriented albums got a boost on the Billboard charts this week. Carrie Underwood's Blown Away sticks to Number …

Guerilla Union, the promoter who puts on the Rock the Bells tour each year, was initially scheduled to unveil the lineup at an L.A. press conference May 8th. But the announcement was delayed a week to allow the members of a reuniting group to attend.

In May 1976, my Dad took me to Detroit’s venerable Tiger Stadium for my first major league ballgame, a Sunday afternoon contest between the pre-"Birdmania" Tigers and the eventual AL champion Yankees. Though just a little over 60 years old at the time, "The Corner" at Michigan and Trumbull (formerly known as Briggs Stadium …

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - On the face of it, Universal Music Group's bid to buy a big chunk of EMI stands to make the world's leading music company an even more formidable force, combining Universal's star lineup of Lady Gaga and Rihanna with the British company's deep library of The Beatles, Pink Floyd and Katy Perry. Certainly …

Traveling hip-hop festival Rock the Bells has announced its lineup. Performers include RZA (who will also curate the festival's 36 Chambers Stage), Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, Wiz Khalifa, Ice Cube, Mac Miller, J. Cole, Kid Cudi, 2 Chainz, A$AP Rocky, Atmosphere, Missy Elliott and Timbaland, Redman and Method Man, Nas, Yelawolf, …

"American Idol" viewers could be in for a serious case of deja vu if Phillip Phillips wins on the Fox talent contest's 11th season finale next week.

Where has Neil Sedaka been all these years? Wiggling his way into the hearts of a new generation, for one, through picture books accompanied by mini-albums offering playful takes on some of his hits.

OneRepublic drummer Eddie Fisher was arrested in Denver yesterday on suspicion of assault, Reuters reports. Fisher was also booked on charges of disturbing the peace and destruction of private property. The musician is being held without bond at the Denver city jail.

John Lennon's killer has been transferred to another maximum-security state prison in western New York after spending more than 30 years in Attica Correctional Facility.

iTunes' Official Music Charts for the week ending May 14, 2012

Korn are still riding the momentum from their ambitious tenth LP, The Path of Totality, which found the hard rockers experimenting with dubstep via collaborations with Skrillex and others. The band just announced a fresh round of tour dates through June, including a headlining slot at Canada's EDM- and hard rock-leaning …

John Mayer stopped by The Ellen DeGeneres Show today to talk about shrinking away from the press after his handful of controversial interviews two years ago, Us Weekly reports. 

Bad news for Black Sabbath fans: Bill Ward will not be playing drums at any of the group's three gigs scheduled this year. In a long message posted on his website, Ward explained that he was simply not able to come to terms with his bandmates. The metal pioneers are playing their first show since 2005 this Saturday evening …

On May 22nd, guitar virtuoso Slash will release his second solo record, Apocalyptic Love. Recorded with backing group Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators, the album is filled with head bangers and plenty of fancy fretwork, most notably on standout tracks like "Hard and Fast" and "Standing in the Sun." Stream the deluxe version …

Lady Gaga will have to cancel a June 3rd show in Jakarta, Indonesia after she was denied a permit due to protests from religious and political leaders, the Associated Press reports. 

To celebrate the May 21st remastered reissue of 1971's Ram, the only album to be credited to both Paul and Linda McCartney, Rolling Stone is giving away a copy of the deluxe edition box set, a T-shirt and lithograph to one lucky reader. Five runners-up will win a copy of the standard edition remastered CD.

Jay-Z revealed that he is a proponent of gay marriage during an interview with CNN yesterday. 

It's morning, and Victoria Legrand blinks in the artificial light of a Lower Manhattan hotel lobby, dirty-blond locks unfurled over a daisy-print shirt. She and her partner in Beach House, Alex Scally, a slim dude in a black sweater, are discussing the West Texas desert, where they recorded their fourth LP, Bloom, out  …