May 25-June 1: Spector's Spectacle, Susan's Boyling Point, Brown's Blunder
While American Idol continued to make news more than a week after its finale--as evidence of an AT&T vote-tampering "scandal" in winner Kris Allen's home state of Arkansas came to light, and runners-up Adam Lambert and Clay Aiken amusingly feuded in the press--there were far more serious headlines this week, the first having to do with legendary-producer-turned-convicted-killer Phil Spector.
On Friday, the 69-year-old "Wall Of Sound" innovator learned he will likely live out the remainder of his life within the walls of a maximum-security prison, when he was sentenced to 19-years-to-life for the second-degree shooting murder of actress Lana Clarkson. He was also ordered by Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler to pay $16,811 in funeral expenses, $9,740 to a state victims' restitution fund, and other fees.
Speaking in the courtroom right before Phil's sentencing, Lana Clarkson's mother, Donna, stated: "I'm very proud of Lana, proud to be her mother. No one should suffer the loss of a child."
We offer our condolences to anyone and everyone in the Clarkson and Spector families affected by this tragedy.
Also in the courtroom this week was Chris Brown, when his superstar attorney Mark Geragos unsuccessfully attempted to file a motion to receive police and investigative records related to Chris's Rihanna assault case. This court appearance only made Chris's new YouTube video, posted the day before, even more puzzling.
On Wednesday, Chris chose to break his more than three-month silence in possibly the most ill-advised manner possible, in an amateur, poorly lit, and frankly kind of unsettling webcam video clip apparently shot on a whim while he was chilling with his buddy Bow Wow. Oddly, about 30 of the video's fleeting 37 seconds were devoted to promotion for Chris's upcoming music. ("I just wanna say, what's up? Because I ain't been out there in a minute. New album will be coming soon. We're working on it right now. Called Graffiti. Got everything on it, know what I'm sayin'? I'll be ready for that. I'm about to drop a single this summer for y'all. So we ain't going nowhere," Chris said in the clip.)
Only at the end of the video, as a seeming afterthought, was there any vague reference to Chris's recent domestic abuse scandal. "Everybody's that's haters, they just been haters," Chris added. "All my real fans, I love you all. I ain't a monster." But his tone was hardly remorseful, and the clip probably did little to polish up Chris's tarnished golden-boy image or convert any actual haters out there. He probably only made it harder for Mark Geragos--not to mention for his publicist, manager, or any other spin-doctors in his camp who've been working damage-control overtime since his infamous Grammy-weekend altercation with Rihanna--to do their jobs.
Note to Chris's entourage: Keep that kid away from a camcorder until this case is closed.
Meanwhile, as Phil Spector prepared to do hard time and Chris Brown possibly provided ammunition for the prosecution in his own case, rapper T.I. began serving one year and one day in an Arkansas low-security penitentiary on a weapon charge. The night before he went to jail, he performed a farewell concert in his native Atlanta and told the crowd, "See y'all in 366 days." And so, for the next 366 days, T.I. (whose real name is Clifford J. Harris Jr.) will be known as Prisoner No. 59458019.
In other music-related reality news...yes, American Idol is over, but Simon Cowell's big TV hit on the other side of the pond, Britain's Got Talent, is gearing up for its finale this weekend. However, the show's frontrunner, dowdy opera singer Susan Boyle, may be headed for a meltdown that could ruin her chances of winning.
All this week, U.K. tabloids were positively bursting with reports that the 48-year-old Scottish overnight celebrity, feeling pressured as the talent show reaches its climax, experienced an expletive-riddled meltdown at London's Wembley Plaza Hotel in front of 150 shocked party guests, after watching BGT judge Piers Morgan rave about fellow BGT contestant Shaheen Jafargholi during a semi-final episode. Of course, a spokesperson for the show denied that Susan actually freaked out and stormed out, saying: "Susan was watching the show in the bar with the contestants' families at first. But she was getting hassled by a journalist, so went to watch the rest of the show in a room with four friends."
But then reports surfaced that Susan was considering quitting BGT entirely because she could not deal with the stress of newfound fame. Piers actually told U.K. program The Early Show that Susan "threatened to leave...because of the amount of pressure on her." Later on his blog, Piers said he was "very, very angry" and ordered Susan's detractors to leave her alone.
"She has been in tears many times during the last few days...she's had to read stories and columns, and listen to radio and TV phone-ins, calling her arrogant, insincere, spoiled, fake, mad, and so on," Piers blogged. "Susan Boyle has never experienced anything like this and is like a frightened rabbit in headlights...Anybody who has gone through that transformation is going to be feeling the most unbelievable pressure. You could see the nerves almost crippling her on the semi-final show and I just think it's time that everyone slightly backed off."
It remains to be seen if Susan will be able to keep her nerves under control when she competes against Shaheen and other finalists on the ultimate Britain's Got Talent showdown this weekend.
Speaking of freakouts, and Britain, fanatical followers of the Brit synth band Depeche Mode freaked out when it was announced that iconic Mode frontman Dave Gahan had a cancer care this week. The band, who just released a new album titled Sounds Of The Universe, had to cancel some of their overseas tourdates when Dave was hospitalized earlier this month with a severe bout of gastroenteritis...but then, while he was undergoing gastroenteritis treatment, Dave learned he also had cancerous tumor in his bladder. Luckily, surgery to remove what doctors called the "low-grade" malignancy was a success, and Dave is expected to make a full recovery in time for a Depeche Mode summer tour starting June 8.
"Dave Gahan sincerely thanks his fans for their support, understanding, and patience," the synth-pop gods said in a statement. "Depeche Mode deeply regret any problems or inconveniences the cancellations and postponements may have caused."
We here at Yahoo! send many heartfelt get-well wishes to Dave.
Unfortunately, a much sadder fate met with former Wilco guitarist Jay Bennett, who died in his sleep last Saturday. He was only 45 years old.
Jay played with Wilco during the formative years of 1994 to 2001, leaving the Americana band because of a fallout with group leader Jeff Tweedy (against whom Jay had recently filed suit for $50,000 in alleged owed royalties). As of this writing, the cause of Jay's death was still unknown, pending further coroner testing. We send our deepest condolences to the Bennett family and the Wilco fanbase. Jay Bennett was a great talent and will truly be missed.
And on that sad note, thus concludes another week in music news. Come back next Friday for more headspinning headlines, and until then, goodnight and good music.
THIS WEEK'S TOP 10 STORIES:
1) Justice Gets It Phil - Spector is sentenced to 19 years to life.
2) Chris Goes On Camera - Brown's bizarre "I'm not a monster" YouTube video may have been a monstrously bad career move.
3) R.I.P., Jay Bennett - The former Wilco guitarist passes away at age 45.
4) Time For A Rematch? - Accusations against AT&T of American Idol vote-rigging have Lambert fans crying foul, but Fox claims Kris Allen won fairly.
5) Dave Gahan Tries To Shake The Disease - The Depeche Mode singer suffers a cancer scare.
6) Road To Redemption Leads To Jail - T.I. begins serving his 366-day prison sentence.
7) Boyling Point - The pressures of sudden fame cause Susan Boyle to suffer a public meltdown.
8) Bruce Goes To Glasto - Springsteen is set to headline the U.K.'s massive Glastonbury Festival.
9) Courtney Should Leave Home Without It - AmEx sues Courtney Love for a $350,000 unpaid bill.
10) A White Wedding - The White Stripes' Meg White gets married.
ANYMORE..