Van Tango

The Beastie Boys are to release a documentary concert film shot entirely by their fans and directed by the trio's Adam 'MCA' Yauch in his Nathaniel Hornblower guise. It will consist entirely of footage shot by fifty fans who were each given a camera and exclusive access at a live show in New York City on Oct 9th 2004. MCA has described the movie as "frantic", with contributions from friends and two tour video cameras cut with the fan footage. He explained he was inspired by fans posting Beastie's footage on message boards saying "Some kid put up video from his phone at eight frames a second."
'Awesome: I F**kin' Shot That' currently has no official release date. In other Beastie-news, Adam Horovitz a.k.a. A-d-r-o-c-k is confirmed as one of the guest remixers for Beck's new remix album 'Guerolito'. The album is set for release on Dec 5th and will feature new versions of all of the tracks on the original 'Guero' LP. That documentary has to be ch-ch-ch-checked out for sure. Beck & Adrock combo..interesting.

50 Cent had no qualms about re-living his childhood traumas in new movie Get Rich Or Die Tryin', because his personal involvement helped him give a better performance. The rapper admits the film, based on his inspirational lifestory, brought back unhappy memories, but insists his emotional state added vital authenticity.
He said, "I think it might be helping me in this role. If you had to research what it would feel like to experience anything like that, you have to just imagine what it would be like. Whereas I have a reference to it in my head. "I can get there a little easier than someone who hasn't been through it." Alright. By now, everyone and their pet knows he has the 'position of power' from the 'blood hound' days. The big question is - would his version be more impressive than 8 mile?

Paris Hilton's mystery night with the police has been cleared up - she was being served a subpoena to testify against a suspected burglar who has been targeting the rich and famous in Hollywood. The actress spent an hour with police last Thursday evening (3rd Nov) but refused to talk about the details. Now, Los Angeles police confirm she was approached to testify against Darnell Riley, who is suspected of robbing a host of high-profile stars' homes. Hilton was the victim of a burglary last summer (Aug '04). It is not known at this point if Riley is suspected of robbing the socialite hotel heiress. That guy is just silly, especially competing against a powerful lady. What ever happened to high level security measures?

Hilary Duff is out with the video of her new single 'Beat Of My Heart', from the album 'Most Wanted' - to be released on Dec 4th. Nice pop-py tunes with cool basslines. Grab the video file if you wanna.

Gorillaz Manchester Concert video! Must have taken them months to put all those clips together.

Have a look at these Arctic Monkeys fan sites: 1 2 3

Denial Twist video! Release date on Nov 14th. Might get a 'roller-coaster syndrome'.

The White Stripes will release a new EP before the end of the year entitled 'Walking With A Ghost'. The five-tracker will feature a cover of the title track by fellow duo Tegan And Sara alongside four unreleased live cuts. The EP will appear in stores on Dec 5th
The tracklist for the EP :
1. Walking With a Ghost
2. Same Boy You've Always Known (live in Manaus, Brazil)
3. As Ugly As I Seem (live on KCRW)
4. The Denial Twist (live on KCRW)
5. Screwdriver (live in Manaus, Brazil)

Robbie Williams would have ended up dead or in jail if he hadn't joined boyband Take That when he was 16. The singer had tried hard drugs before joining the band, and struggled with addiction after they split - but during his five month run in the group, the other members helped him stay clean. He said, "Perhaps Take That saved my life. I'd have had a problem with drugs anyway. I was heading that way. In all seriousness I would have been a dealer or a burglar and that's the truth because I would not have had the money to fund my addiction and I'd have probably been in jail now. Before Take That I'd done acid, speed and smoked a lot of weed so I was sort of heading into that direction anyway."
"But for the other lads it wasn't really their nature, other than we used to like to smoke weed and then giggle." Sooo..all is wonderful in this life? Now he wants the lord to make him pure - but not yet.

Liz Hurley's lover's divorce from his first wife has finally come through - leaving him free to marry the beautiful actress. Arun Nayer was thrilled when he was granted a divorce through the English courts ten days ago and the pair have now flown to his native country to start planning the wedding. A source close to Liz & Arun - who was married to Italian model Valentina Pedroni for seven years - said : "Elizabeth is delighted that Arun's divorce has finally come through. It was all very hush-hush and very rushed through an English court. Very few people knew it had been finalised. Like Liz and Arun, Valentina had tired of the whole sorry saga and just wanted it to be over". Liz, 40, has told friends the couple plan to wed in the New Year. The actress also revealed she is desperate to have a baby with Arun - and would love to have twins. Finally, this whole dilemma has been settled amicably. Since a 56 year old lady is able to conceive twins, maybe Liz can have some hope.

Noel G is critical of what he sees as a collective lack of ambition amongst his rival UK bands. He said, "Let's call it what it is - it's indie shit, is what it is. None of them are trying to make it big. They're all trying to make it small or medium - that's it. "Don't get me wrong - I kind of like Franz Ferdinand and Kaiser Chiefs (but) Bloc Party are just appalling. None of them strike me as trying to be in the biggest band in the world or the best band in the world - it's just indie rubbish." I remembered Noel and some gal dancing when they went to a Franz concert last year when the 'take me out' hype just got started. The Kaiser gang aren't the sort that wants to aim high - don't think it is their intention to become as big as the top-indie-dogs; so let them have their fun while it lasts. Bloc Party...another band who just want to showcase their own music philosophies, nothing spectacular. And the fact that they dared to slag off the morning glory band shows how low they need to stoop in order to gain a lil bit more exposure. Kele's group is never gonna stand on the shoulder of rock giants. Maybe those smurf categories are more suited for their 'banquet' appetite.

The Strokes - Heart in a Cage (live) in Brazil. Grab it b4 it expires! It sounds clearer than the video version. The more I hear it, the more I think it was from me fav's old school Castlevania game..Speaking of which, Crystal Sky Pictures and Konami have come to terms to give the production company the rights to create a theatrical film based off the Castlevania series. The company has chosen Paul W.S. Anderson to direct and adapt the film with production set to start in "mid 2006". Anderson has previously directed the Resident Evil movie, with his most recent project being 'Aliens Vs Predator'. Not much is known about the nature of the film, but it has been stated that it will be based around the origins of Dracula and the Belmont family. Hmmm..dracula's lunch(juicebox)...heart in a cage...future soundtrack?

Planning on going back to somewhere only we know? Keane will release a double disc DVD on Nov 14th. It's a documentary called Strangers, but it also has videos, live footage, etc. It also contains a duet with Rufus Wainwright! Check out the DVD promo plus more info from amazon & woolsworth.

Lady Sovereign will step up her 'Save The Hoodie' campaign on Nov 21 with the release of her new single. With various quarters of the media trying to ban the garment, the new single, Hoodie, is Lady Sovereign's response to help try and see off the protests. Yes. The hoodie situation is absolutely atrocious! Nice concept for the video btw. Think me got a few dusty hoodie-attire somewhere...

The Malaysian government has licensed a number of compact disc factories which are illicitly making pirated CDs for export as far afield as Britain and Latin America. The chief executive officer of the RIA of Malaysia said at least 12 factories were making pirated CDs even though evidence of their illegal activities had been sent to the government.
'What we are concerned about is that the CD plants are still operating despite our complaints, so we do not know what form of action the government has taken,' he said in an interview at the weekend. We've discovered such CDs have landed in India, in the UK, Latin American countries and also recently in South Africa.'
He said the pirated CDs variously contained music, movies, software and pornography, and each of the 12 factories was capable of churning out at least 20,000 CDs daily. Estimated annual sales losses for the local and international music industries from the pirated CDs were RM100 million (S$45 million / 15 million pounds), he said.
In an effort to curb piracy, the government introduced licensing for CD manufacturers in 2000, with 44 plants registered under the move. But Mr Tan said the 12 plants had taken to piracy and were trying to hide their tracks by deleting an embedded factory code on the discs.
Forensic tests on sample discs by the Britain-based International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, a worldwide music body, had traced the goods back to the Malaysian factories, said Mr Tan. 'With the forensic tests, we are able to say for sure. It is the equivalent of DNA tests, so we are able to trace the source of the manufacturer.'