DudeAsInCool

Diana Ross Convicted of DUI Feb 9, 2:07 PM (ET) By ARTHUR H. ROTSTEIN (AP) Diana Ross, shown attending a WNBA playoff game, Aug. 20, 2000, in Indlewood, Calif., was... TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) - Diana Ross was convicted Monday of driving under the influence and ordered to spend two days in jail. The R&B diva, who telephoned into the city court hearing from New York, pleaded no contest to DUI. Two related charges were dropped. Tucson Magistrate T. Jay Cranshaw found Ross guilty of DUI and sentenced her to serve 48 hours in jail before March 9. She also was sentenced to a year of unsupervised probation. Ross, 59, originally was charged with driving under the influence, driving with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08 percent or more and extreme DUI with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.15 percent or more. http://apnews.myway.com/article/20040209/D80JTL301.html Tucson police arrested her Dec. 30, 2002, after a driver called to report a car traveling southbound in the northbound lanes just outside the city's northeast limits. Breath test results showed Ross had a blood alcohol concentration of 0.20 percent. Arizona's legal limit is 0.08.

Nice post in the Metal thread. Welcome to Beatking, SJ dudeasincool-'

Hi and welcome to Beatking scratchin'

Welcome to Beatking, Covergirl! Enjoy your stay... thumpin'

Sadly, we both remember it well... lol

The Fix Janet doesn't show, but she dominates Grammy talk anyway. Plus: Historic Beatles rerun tonight, and "Sex and the City" to hit the big screen? Feb. 9, 2004 | It was a slow night for breast exposure, but a big night for discussing it. Janet Jackson, as you likely know by now, was disinvited by CBS from the Grammys and then reinvited -- on Saturday -- only on the condition that she apologize for her infamous Super Bowl "wardrobe malfunction." She declined. Justin Timberlake, meanwhile, took CBS up on its offer, winning two Grammys and issuing his requisite mea culpa: "I know it's been a rough week on everybody. What occurred was unintentional, completely regrettable, and I apologize if you guys are offended." What's more, the 5-minute-delay-aided censors at CBS apparently took pains to make sure that Christina Aguilerawould not be the next one to issue an apology for a televised mammary moment, pasting a graphic over her chest as she fussed with the low-cut dress she'd changed into to accept the award for best female vocal performance. (Though the dress was, of course, far less shocking than the buttoned-up suit the finger-emoting singer wore while she performed "Beautiful.") "I don't want to have the same thing happen that Janet had done ... if I can keep it together," said a gown-clutching Aguilera. The censors did, however, keep their mitts off Patti LaBelle's defiant mention of Janet Jackson during the introduction of a salute to Luther Vandross. (Likewise left intact were 50 Cent's rather frightening run for the stage after he failed to win the award for best new artist, Celine Dion's sound problems and Coldplay frontman Chris "Mr. Gwyneth Paltrow" Martin's dedication of his album of the year award to Johnny Cash and John Kerry, "who I hope will be your president someday.") But much of the boob talk happened before the show on the green (not red, thanks to Heineken's sponsorship) carpet and backstage. Grammy-winning producer Pharrell Williams blamed the media for the ruckus over Janet's bared boob: "You wouldn't have gotten half of those complaints if the news wouldn't keep it plastered on TV all day," he griped. Dave Matthews said, "I'm surprised that it's shocking that a boob might be seen somewhere outside 'National Geographic Explorer.' That was surprising, that such a big stink could be made over such a little [thing]." Christina Aguilera waxed philosophical: "What is too raunchy? Everybody has a different opinion of what is too much or too little. Music itself is an expression, so who are we to say what is too raunchy and what is not? Who are we to be the judge of that? It's a state of mind, and it's whatever you think it should be." Yoko Ono, who was occasionally photographed naked with her late husband, related: "We were attacked, too. I think it's just an interesting dialogue that is going to upset some people. I'm sure that [Jackson] is ready for it." T-shirt clad "Joan of Arcadia" star Amber Tamblyn did not relate, saying, "As you can see, that's not going to be my problem tonight." Jennifer Love Hewitt took pains not to relate: "I am so taped in I can barely breathe." Sean "Puffy/P. Diddy" Combs relates more than one might like: "I have three sons, and I'm very happy for them that they were able to see one of Janet Jackson's breasts in their lifetime -- I don't think they'll be scarred for life. I think there's bigger things going on than to try and lynch Janet Jackson; she doesn't hurt nobody. I just want to say to America that you should be happy with that because if I would've known about it -- if I would've known that she was going to steal the thunder -- then I would've whipped out something you'd still be explaining to your kids." Non-breast-related Grammys money quote: Richard Marx, who won the Grammy for Song of the Year for his collaboration with Luther Vandross, "Dance With My Father": "Rolling Stone voted me worst male singer of 1988, and now look at this." (The Hollywood Reporter) Morning Briefing: Fab Four-ever: Tonight, David Letterman, who of course tapes the "Late Show" in the Ed Sullivan Theater, will mark the 40th anniversary of the Beatles first appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show" by playing a clip of John, Paul, George and Ringo from that historic show. (N.Y. Daily News) Big-screen "Sex"? Word is that a movie version of "Sex and the City" is in the works and that "Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon will all be in it." (Page Six) -- Amy Reiter http://www.salon.com/ent/col/fix/2004/02/09/mon/

Talk show host David Letterman will air the Beatles historic first tv appearance on the Ed Sullivan show 40 years ago tonite...

From the creative genius of Joel Veitch: http://www.rathergood.com/zoology/ jammin' http://www.rathergood.com/vines/ scratchin' http://www.rathergood.com/punk_kittens/ jammin'2

lol. a good feisty respose, smokin'

Welcome to Beatking strumma'

Very cool. Wish i could i draw like that

Right now we have Rock, which encompasses most categories, metal, and alternative. Umma--are you splitting hairs again? :P

Thats hilarious :P

Right you are--my mistake. I was happy that Coldplay won best song..

Pretty honorable to announce their own deficiences and to try and correct them. RealPlayer has gotten better over time... (But as a Macster, I use ITunes)

Microsoft, Disney Join Up to Protect Digitized Content Sun Feb 8,10:50 PM ET Microsoft Corp. (NasdaqNM:MSFT - News) and Walt Disney Co. (NYSE:DIS - News) said they would work together to develop new ways of securely distributing digital entertainment via the Internet, on portable devices and on future versions of the DVD, Monday's Wall Street Journal reported. Under a multiyear agreement, Disney agreed to license Microsoft's Windows Media, a technology used for playing back digital files that includes safeguards to prevent content from being illegally copied and used. The two companies also have agreed to collaborate on a broad set of issues related to electronic distribution of entertainment. The areas include developing secure content for use on future high-definition DVDs and Microsoft's Portable Media Center, a hand-held device for playing back movies and music that goes on sale late this year. Microsoft and Disney plan to announce the agreement today, without disclosing financial terms. Wall Street Journal Staff Reporters Robert A. Guth and Bruce Orwall contributed to this report. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...402082250000089

In addition to the Prince-Beyonce sizzling opener, there were a number of highlights to this show, including the White Stripes, Earth Wind and Fire, The Foo Fighters with guest star jazz pianist Chick Corea, and Pierre Cosette, who has produced the show for 25 years was honored. Somehow, this show seemed to be a bit classier than most. Beyond the grammy winners, I thought it was the best produced show I've seen in a long time.

Grammy Nods to Newcomers and the Dearly Departed February 9, 2004 By NEIL STRAUSS LOS ANGELES, Feb. 8 - In a rare occurrence, popular, critical and Grammy-voter tastes all coincided at the 46th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony on Sunday at the Staples Center here. The witty, innovative Atlanta hip-hop duo OutKast walked away with the top award, album of the year, for "Speakerboxxx/The Love Below." Music from that diverse double-CD, which topped critics' year-end Top 10 lists and has been hovering at and around the No. 1 spot on the Billboard charts since its release five months ago, earned the band three Grammys. The other big winners were Luther Vandross and Beyoncé. Mr. Vandross, who was not present because he suffered a major stroke last year, won four awards, including song of the year (an award given to songwriters, which he shared with Richard Marx) for the title track of his latest CD, "Dance With My Father." And Beyoncé, who opened the show performing alongside a purple-suited Prince, swept up the most awards of the evening, winning five of the six awards she was nominated for based on music from her first solo CD, "Dangerously in Love." She lost only the record-of-the-year Grammy, in a surprise upset to a rock song, "Clocks," by Coldplay. "I love that song, and they definitely deserved it," a well-mannered Beyoncé said of Coldplay's win in the press room backstage. "That song is just genius." It was an event that belonged to the lonely and the dead. First-time solo artists (including Beyoncé and Justin Timberlake) and the recently deceased (including Johnny and June Carter Cash, Warren Zevon, George Harrison and Celia Cruz) garnered most of the recognition. Mr. Timberlake received two awards, including best pop album, for "Justified." And OutKast's "Speakerboxxx/The Love Below" is packaged as a double CD consisting of a solo album from each of its members. Accepting the honors for best rap album, André 3000 of OutKast delivered what must be among the shortest Grammy speeches on record: just a terse, smart-alecky "thank you." The specter of Janet Jackson, who had been scheduled to introduce a Luther Vandross tribute on Sunday, hung heavy over the show. She was notable by her absence from CBS's broadcast of the Grammys after she flashed a breast during a Super Bowl performance with Mr. Timberlake. The Grammys ceremony began five minutes ahead of schedule so that it could be broadcast with an uncharacteristically long five-minute delay. The subtext was that even at the relatively staid and surprise-free Grammys, the conduct of pop stars is not to be trusted. (Neil Portnow, president of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, which presents the Grammys, said that "not a second" of the show was censored.) The rapper 50 Cent was a rare wild card, rushing onstage and cutting off members of Evanescence as they were accepting the coveted best new artist award, which he had no doubt hoped to win. "I expected him to win, as well as I guess he did," said Amy Lee of Evanescence. "I guess it was a statement from him that he felt he should have won." The only other major gaffe came from the show's production team, which had Celine Dion singing into a dud microphone at the beginning of her tribute to Mr. Vandross. Referring to the Super Bowl halftime half-reveal during an acceptance speech, Mr. Timberlake said, "I know it's been a rough week on everybody, and, um, what occurred was unintentional, completely regrettable, and I apologize if you guys were offended." Commenting on the incident backstage, Dave Matthews, who won for best rock vocal performance, said deadpan that "the interesting thing" about the uproar was that there have been breasts "since before there was entertainment." And P. Diddy, who performed at the Super Bowl halftime show, said: "I have three sons. I don't mind. I'm very happy for them that they were able to see one of Janet Jackson's breasts in their lifetime. I don't think they'll be scarred for life." He added that if he had known of Ms. Jackson's plans, he "would have exposed America to something that you still would have been talking about." Accepting an award for producer of the year in the nontelevised portion of the ceremony, Pharrell Williams of the hit-making team the Neptunes was the first person at the ceremony to break the Janet Jackson silence, speaking with some trepidation. After sticking up for both parties involved, he said that the Federal Communications Commission, which received 200,000 complaints, "wouldn't have gotten half of those complaints if the news didn't keep it on TV all day." When Christina Aguilera stepped on stage to accept an award for best female pop vocal performance for her soaring ballad battling feminine insecurity, "Beautiful," she made a show of her struggle to keep her low-cut pink dress in proper form; in case she failed, the cameras quickly zoomed in for a close-up from above the sternum. Ninety-four awards were presented before the televised portion of the ceremony. The first went to one of the most moving musical statements of last year, Mark Romanek's final video for Mr. Cash, "Hurt," which won best short-form video. June Carter Cash, who died four months before Mr. Cash, her husband, won best traditional folk album and best female country vocal. Mr. Harrison won best pop instrumental performance for "Marwa Blues." And Mr. Zevon, who also died last year, won for best contemporary folk album, a rather odd category for his rock album "The Wind." He also won for best rock duo or group, which he shared with Bruce Springsteen, for "Disorder in the House." Finally, Ms. Cruz, who died in July, won best salsa/merengue album for "Regalo del Alma." It seemed so certain that the deceased would triumph over the living in each category that it was a surprise when Tony Bennett and K. D. Lang won over Rosemary Clooney for traditional pop vocal album ("A Wonderful World"). In keeping with the theme of the night, Mr. Bennett said in his acceptance speech that he would like to pass on the award and "give this one to Rosemary Clooney." Eminem was among rap's top winners, with two awards for "Lose Yourself," including best rap song. And the rock star of the moment seems to be Jack White of the White Stripes, which delivered one of the most electrifying rock performances in recent Grammy memory. Mr. White received two awards, his first Grammys. In country music Alison Krauss, who seems to be joining the ranks of Pierre Boulez and Jimmy Sturr as a perennial favorite of Grammy voters, won three awards. And "Livin', Lovin', Losin': Songs of the Louvin Brothers" (which features Ms. Krauss and other stars) won best country album in what was a slow year for the genre. Manuel Galbán, who was denied a visa to enter the United States, could not accept his award for best pop instrumental album for "Mambo Sinuendo," his collaboration with Ry Cooder. The Cuban singer Ibrahim Ferrer, who won best traditional tropical album, was also absent because his visa application was rejected. In the press room backstage Mr. Cooder said that 45 Cuban musicians who had planned to attend the Grammys were denied visas. For best classical album, two recordings of Mahler's Symphony No. 3 were competing. The version conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas won over Mr. Boulez's, though the Boulez album took the honor for best orchestral performance. Winning three awards was Yo-Yo Ma's "Obrigado Brazil." Only albums released between Oct. 1, 2002, and Sept. 30, 2003, were eligible for this year's Grammys. Winners were selected by the roughly 12,000 voting members of the academy. The voting body consists of recording-industry professionals who have creative or technical credits on at least six albums or songs. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/09/arts/mus...d2eaa3be610b88c

Challenger to Putin for Russian Presidency Is Missing By STEVEN LEE MYERS MOSCOW, Feb. 8 — One of Vladimir V. Putin's challengers in next month's presidential election is missing, and the police and security services announced today that they had begun a search for him. Ivan P. Rybkin, a former Parliament speaker and national security adviser under Boris N. Yeltsin, has not been seen or heard from since Thursday evening, raising fears among his family and campaign aides that something dire had happened to him. "We are trying not to let such ideas come to mind," said Aleksandr V. Tukayev, a campaign official and the deputy chairman of Mr. Rybkin's party, Liberal Russia, "but it is hard not to think about it." Mr. Rybkin's whereabouts have added a bizarre drama to a torpid presidential campaign that is universally expected to end with Mr. Putin's re-election on March 14. Mr. Rybkin, 57, has been one of the most unabashed critics of Mr. Putin and his policies, but like Mr. Putin's five other challengers he has struggled to build political support and get his message heard, especially on state television. In polls, he has fared even worse than the others, receiving the support of fewer than 1 percent of voters. Mr. Rybkin's Liberal Russia has been at the center of political intrigue and violence ever since it was created in 2002. Its patron is Boris A. Berezovksy, a businessman and former Kremlin insider, who has become one of Mr. Putin's fiercest critics after moving to London in self-exile to escape fraud charges he says are politically motivated. Mr. Berezovsky first raised concerns about Mr. Rybkin's whereabouts in an interview on Friday. Mr. Rybkin did not appear at a scheduled news conference on Friday, his aides said. Nor did he surface to make any statement on Saturday, as would be expected, when the country's election commission officially registered his candidacy in the election. A spokesman for the Moscow police said that Mr. Rybkin's wife, Albina, submitted an official statement today about his disappearance. She told the police that her husband had not been seen since he arrived at their apartment sometime after 7 P.M. on Thursday and let his bodyguards go home. He was not there when his wife arrived after 11, she said. Under Russian law, a person is not considered missing until three days have passed. Mr. Tukayev said that given Mr. Rybkin's prominence, the authorities should have begun a search immediately. "In any civilized country, all the security services would be on their feet," he said. In the last 18 months, two of the members of Mr. Rybkin's party in the Parliament, Sergei N. Yushenkov, and Vladimir I. Golovlyov, have been shot to death on the streets of Moscow in murky circumstances. Shortly before he was killed, Mr. Yushenkov split with Mr. Berezovksy and another party leader, Mikhail N. Kodanev, has since been charged with the murder. Party officials say he has been falsely accused. While the election commission refused to let the party participate in last December's parliamentary elections, Mr. Rybkin's supporters collected enough signatures to qualify him for a spot on the presidential ballot. On Saturday, however, the chairman of the election commission, Aleskandr A. Veshnyakov, said the commission had provided prosecutors with what he said was evidence that some of his qualifying petitions were fraudulent. If that is proven, prosecutors could still disqualify him as a candidate. Two other presidential challengers — Sergei Y. Glazyev, a leader of the nationalist Motherland Party, and Irina M. Khakamada of the liberal party Union of Right Forces — were also cleared today to run. But they too now face investigations into the veracity of some of the signatures they collected, election officials told the Interfax news agency. Kseniya Y. Ponomaryova, Mr. Rybkin's campaign chairman, said in an interview tonight that another party official had spoken with him by telephone at 8:40 p.m. on Thursday. By 10 P.M., he was not answering his mobile telephone. Albina Rybkin said today that when she arrived home on Friday night, she found that her husband had taken off a shirt and left dishes in the kitchen, but there were no signs of a struggle or violence. His cars were still in the garage. She discounted the possibility he was aboard the subway train struck by a bomb on Friday morning, killing at least 39, since he does not routinely use the subway. She also discounted the possibility that he had left on his own. "It is absolutely not like him," she said. Mr. Rybkin, an agriculture specialist and former Communist Party member, has been a prominent political figure since the collapse of the Soviet Union, first as an opponent of Mr. Yeltsin and later as a security adviser to him. Mr. Rybkin participated in the peace talks that end the first war in Chechnya in 1996 and remains an advocate of efforts to end the second Chechen war, now in its fifth year. As a candidate, he has criticized Mr. Putin, saying he was an authoritarian who is closely linked to the wealthy businessmen who wield disproportionate control of the country's economy, so long as they remain in the Kremlin's good graces. In an interview last month, Mr. Rybkin said he was concerned about the erosion of democratic freedoms in Russia and the continued economic hardship of ordinary Russians. "Russia," he said then, "is turning a new and very shameful leaf." http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/08/internat...print&position=

Tell it like it :) shootin'

Pretty Tony is dropping in March, The Pretty Tony Album, on March 2. This will be Ghost's first album for his new label, Def Jam. The video for the leadoff single, Run, which features Jadakiss, is being shot in New York this weekend. And you can catch him on Beyoncé's upcoming album on the remix of My, Myself & I. Thanx for keeping us ahead of the curve, 1776 scratchin'

Well, dont be bashful. Tell all...

Welcome to Beat King... dudeasincool-'

Welcome new member 1776,UThinkImgonnaDIE4thatagain?

I guess Evanescene in this category...