Axl Rose being sued by a famed music manager who claims the singer owes him nearly $2 million in unpaid commissions. Front Line Management, which was founded by Irving Azoff, sued Rose in Los Angeles on Thursday for nearly $1.9 million in unpaid fees. The company claims it had an oral agreement with Rose to receive 15 percent of the Guns N' Roses' frontman's commissions. The lawsuit states the commissions are due on more than $12 million in earnings Rose made for performances abroad.
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Jimmy Adams
Axl Rose
Axl Rose
New York Times Bldg.
The Times Introduces a Daily Video Report
The New York Times on Monday began producing a daily video on its Web site, summarizing the big news stories of the day.
The program, called TimesCast, lasting a few minutes, will appear on the nytimes.com home page at 1 p.m. each day; after 2 p.m., it will move to a less prominent position on the site. (It can always be found at nytimes.com/timescast.) It features interviews with editors and reporters who are covering the major stories, and scenes from meetings among the paper’s top editors discussing events that might go on the front page.
“It’s not just straight, breaking news, it’s talking about the way The New York Times is looking at the story – our analysis, our particular take on the story,” said Ann Derry, the paper’s editorial director for video and television. “We already produce a lot of video to go along with stories, but we felt the need to have a regular video news overview on the home page.”
The program, called TimesCast, lasting a few minutes, will appear on the nytimes.com home page at 1 p.m. each day; after 2 p.m., it will move to a less prominent position on the site. (It can always be found at nytimes.com/timescast.) It features interviews with editors and reporters who are covering the major stories, and scenes from meetings among the paper’s top editors discussing events that might go on the front page.
“It’s not just straight, breaking news, it’s talking about the way The New York Times is looking at the story – our analysis, our particular take on the story,” said Ann Derry, the paper’s editorial director for video and television. “We already produce a lot of video to go along with stories, but we felt the need to have a regular video news overview on the home page.”
Hackercroll
French man hacks Obama’s Twitter account
A man has been arrested for hacking into the Twitter account of President Obama, French police announced today. The 25-year-old man, who went by the handle Hackercroll, also stole the password for the Twitter account belonging to Britney Spears, as well as other celebrities.
“This individual spread information about a dozen American personalities, notably Barack Obama, on specialist blogs,” Adeline Champagnat, head of the French office against online fraud, told Reuters.
Champagnat did not elaborate on what the hacker had done with Obama’s Twitter account information, saying only that it would have been more problematic if the President had posted “sensitive” information. According to police, Hackercroll seemed especially interested in the private lives of the celebrities whose accounts he hacked.
The French suspect appears to have acted alone, and seems untrained in the ways of password swiping and hacking.
“This individual spread information about a dozen American personalities, notably Barack Obama, on specialist blogs,” Adeline Champagnat, head of the French office against online fraud, told Reuters.
Champagnat did not elaborate on what the hacker had done with Obama’s Twitter account information, saying only that it would have been more problematic if the President had posted “sensitive” information. According to police, Hackercroll seemed especially interested in the private lives of the celebrities whose accounts he hacked.
The French suspect appears to have acted alone, and seems untrained in the ways of password swiping and hacking.
Prince
Prince ordered to pay Irish concert promoters millions for last minute cancellation in 2008
A Dublin judge ordered U.S. pop singer Prince to pay €2.2 million ($2.95 million) to Irish concert promoters Friday for canceling a 2008 concert at the last minute. High Court Justice Peter Kelly said he was making the total damages public because Prince has yet to pay anything to Dublin promoters MCD Productions Ltd. in their confidential settlement reached Feb. 26.
Kelly ruled that Prince had committed to perform in Dublin's 82,300-seat Croke Park in June 2008, but withdrew without explanation just days beforehand, after 55,000 tickets were sold. The 51-year-old Prince did not testify at last month's hearing. Kelly said Friday his order was specifically against Prince, not his agents from the William Morris agency, who were absolved of liability. Prince's lawyer Paul Sreenan consented to the order.
MCD lawyer Maurice Collins said he might seek to pursue Prince using a more powerful European Enforcement Order if the performer didn't pay up soon. MCD, Ireland's biggest concert organizers, said it had paid Prince half of his demanded $3 million fee up front, another €700,000 ($950,000) to book Croke Park for the night, advertised the concert aggressively and refunded all 55,000 tickets.
During last month's court hearing, William Morris agent Marc Geiger testified that he rarely spoke to Prince directly and found him one of his toughest clients to understand or nail down. Geiger said he told Prince of the fury that the singer was causing MCD owner Denis Desmond during a rare face-to-face meeting in Los Angeles on June 3, 2008. He quoted Prince as replying, "Tell the cat to chill. We will work something out."
Kelly ruled that Prince had committed to perform in Dublin's 82,300-seat Croke Park in June 2008, but withdrew without explanation just days beforehand, after 55,000 tickets were sold. The 51-year-old Prince did not testify at last month's hearing. Kelly said Friday his order was specifically against Prince, not his agents from the William Morris agency, who were absolved of liability. Prince's lawyer Paul Sreenan consented to the order.
MCD lawyer Maurice Collins said he might seek to pursue Prince using a more powerful European Enforcement Order if the performer didn't pay up soon. MCD, Ireland's biggest concert organizers, said it had paid Prince half of his demanded $3 million fee up front, another €700,000 ($950,000) to book Croke Park for the night, advertised the concert aggressively and refunded all 55,000 tickets.
During last month's court hearing, William Morris agent Marc Geiger testified that he rarely spoke to Prince directly and found him one of his toughest clients to understand or nail down. Geiger said he told Prince of the fury that the singer was causing MCD owner Denis Desmond during a rare face-to-face meeting in Los Angeles on June 3, 2008. He quoted Prince as replying, "Tell the cat to chill. We will work something out."
P. Diddy
Georgi Vodka owner responds to P. Diddy's vodka challenge with toilet bowl full of Ciroc vodka
A vodka war P. Diddy sparked by using bathroom humor to bash his brand's competitors has disintegrated into the toilet.
A Long Island liquor mogul demanded an apology Thursday from Sean Combs for calling all vodkas other than Ciroc "pee pee."
Martin Silver, chief executive officer of Star Industries, filled a toilet bowl with bottles of Ciroc vodka and tried to deliver it to the hip-hop honcho's midtown office. "It is not right what he did," said Silver, whose Long Island-based liquor company makes the popular Georgi vodka. Silver held his press conference right under the music mogul's giant Sean John billboard in Times Square.
Combs, who owns 50% of Ciroc, made the disparaging remark aimed at other vodkas during a party he threw last week at the SoHo hotspot Greenhouse. "If you're not drinking Ciroc, you're drinking pee pee," Combs told his guests.
Silver said he was offended by the comment, accusing Combs of "maligning our product, something that my family has worked on hard for over 30 years." Thursday's stunt backfired when security guards at Combs' office wouldn't let Silver and his assistant into the building with the toilet.
"Will P. Diddy talk to us to rectify the situation?" Silver asked the security guards, who responded with unwelcoming expletives.
Silver left with the commode when someone upstairs threw a roll of toilet paper out a window.
A Long Island liquor mogul demanded an apology Thursday from Sean Combs for calling all vodkas other than Ciroc "pee pee."
Martin Silver, chief executive officer of Star Industries, filled a toilet bowl with bottles of Ciroc vodka and tried to deliver it to the hip-hop honcho's midtown office. "It is not right what he did," said Silver, whose Long Island-based liquor company makes the popular Georgi vodka. Silver held his press conference right under the music mogul's giant Sean John billboard in Times Square.
Combs, who owns 50% of Ciroc, made the disparaging remark aimed at other vodkas during a party he threw last week at the SoHo hotspot Greenhouse. "If you're not drinking Ciroc, you're drinking pee pee," Combs told his guests.
Silver said he was offended by the comment, accusing Combs of "maligning our product, something that my family has worked on hard for over 30 years." Thursday's stunt backfired when security guards at Combs' office wouldn't let Silver and his assistant into the building with the toilet.
"Will P. Diddy talk to us to rectify the situation?" Silver asked the security guards, who responded with unwelcoming expletives.
Silver left with the commode when someone upstairs threw a roll of toilet paper out a window.