Grammy Award-winning singer and actress Brandy will not face charges in a December 2006 car crash in Los Angeles that killed a 38-year-old woman.
Police had recommended that the former star of the TV comedy 'Moesha', whose real name is Brandy Norwood, face vehicular manslaughter charges in the four-vehicle crash.
The incident began when Brandy's Land Rover struck another car from behind on an LA freeway.
A spokesperson for the LA City Attorney said that there was insufficient evidence from which a jury could find the 28-year-old guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Brandy had been facing up to one year in jail and a $1,000 fine if charged and convicted of vehicular manslaughter for the 30 December 2006 crash.
Relatives of Awatef Aboudihaj, who was killed in the crash, have filed a $50m wrongful death lawsuit against the star.
Investigators ruled out alcohol and drugs as factors in the crash and said there was no evidence that Brandy, who was alone in her car, was using a cell phone or was otherwise distracted.
Brandy burst on the recording scene in 1994 and won a Grammy in 1998 for her duet with singer Monica on the hit song 'The Boy is Mine'. Her fourth album, 'Afrodisiac', was released in 2004.
Wednesday, 28 May 2008
Saturday, 24 May 2008
Aly and AJ
Artist: Aly and AJ
Genre(s):
Pop
Dance: Pop
Discography:
Insomniatic
Year: 2007
Tracks: 13
Acoustic Hearts of Winter
Year: 2006
Tracks: 11
Into the Rush
Year: 2005
Tracks: 14
The Prodigy, Zutons, Foals for Jersey Live
Hayden Panettiere - Panettiere Heroes Keeps Me Fit
HAYDEN PANETTIERE loves starring in hit TV series HEROES - because taking part in the show's stunts means she doesn't have to go to the gym.
The 18-year-old actress insists that unlike other stars she doesn't have to embark on a gruelling fitness regime to stay slender because she gets a thorough work out during her day job.
She says, "I love doing my own stunts. I don't have time to go to the gym, and I don't have a chance to be on teams any more. Being on the set of Heroes keeps me in shape. I'll do as many stunts as they me do. "
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Fashion designer moves into NY club CBGB's space (+photos)
NEW YORK - The punk spirit of CBGB lives on, but it has cleaned up its act.Menswear fashion designer John Varvatos has opened his newest boutique in the space that once housed the famed underground music club CBGB, where popular acts such as Blondie, Television, The Ramones and Patti Smith played.Varvatos has preserved much of CBGB's poster- and graffiti-covered walls and recreated some of its gritty mood with dark wood, Victorian-style crystal chandeliers, velvet curtains and a black ceiling.The much heralded CBGB, born in 1973, closed its doors in October 2006 after a rent dispute.CBGB's stage is gone, as is its distinctive original door. But the space still has a slightly cavernous feel, and the decor of guitars, drums, vintage hi-fi equipment and classic album covers evoke its history. Plans call for an in-house disc jockey and concerts by up-and-coming artists."We're not trying to reinvent CBGB's," said Varvatos in an interview this week. "We're just trying to respect the past and let people have an opportunity to enjoy what was there.
"It sounds kind of hokey, but the walls kind of talk in that place," he added.But the floors are no longer sticky, the air is clear and the bathroom is clean."It's the most popular question - what did you do with the bathroom," said Dace-Allen Morris, a spokesman for Varvatos, recalling the club's notoriously dirty facilities.Next door, the Morrison Hotel Gallery, which sells prints of photographs of rock 'n' roll stars, has taken over the space that once was a gallery connected to the club.Preserving the essence of CBGB comes as a relief to club veterans such as Roberta Bayley, who worked at CBGB's front door in the 1970s and also photographed many musicians who gave the club its distinctive sound and character.Living nearby for more than 30 years, she has watched Greenwich Village, where the store is located, evolve from hip and edgy to commercial and expensive."I think everyone was really worried, thinking it would be trendy and upscale, but it looks really cool," she said.Varvatos, a Detroit native, launched his menswear line in 2000. Twice named Menswear Designer of the Year by the Council of Fashion Designers of America, he has six boutiques in the United States and also sells his designs in stores worldwide.This store has been open to customers for just a few days, and a grand opening is set for April 17.
Varvatos' designs pick up the vintage punk theme, with distressed leather jackets, worn boots, beat-up jeans and T-shirts. But the prices are not for punks: a leather jacket is $2,500, while a pair of vintage boots is $400 and jeans can run as much as $285.Longtime resident Bayley takes the price of the clothing in stride. "It's for people who don't have time to wear out their clothes," she reasons. "They're too busy making money."- REUTERS
"It sounds kind of hokey, but the walls kind of talk in that place," he added.But the floors are no longer sticky, the air is clear and the bathroom is clean."It's the most popular question - what did you do with the bathroom," said Dace-Allen Morris, a spokesman for Varvatos, recalling the club's notoriously dirty facilities.Next door, the Morrison Hotel Gallery, which sells prints of photographs of rock 'n' roll stars, has taken over the space that once was a gallery connected to the club.Preserving the essence of CBGB comes as a relief to club veterans such as Roberta Bayley, who worked at CBGB's front door in the 1970s and also photographed many musicians who gave the club its distinctive sound and character.Living nearby for more than 30 years, she has watched Greenwich Village, where the store is located, evolve from hip and edgy to commercial and expensive."I think everyone was really worried, thinking it would be trendy and upscale, but it looks really cool," she said.Varvatos, a Detroit native, launched his menswear line in 2000. Twice named Menswear Designer of the Year by the Council of Fashion Designers of America, he has six boutiques in the United States and also sells his designs in stores worldwide.This store has been open to customers for just a few days, and a grand opening is set for April 17.
Varvatos' designs pick up the vintage punk theme, with distressed leather jackets, worn boots, beat-up jeans and T-shirts. But the prices are not for punks: a leather jacket is $2,500, while a pair of vintage boots is $400 and jeans can run as much as $285.Longtime resident Bayley takes the price of the clothing in stride. "It's for people who don't have time to wear out their clothes," she reasons. "They're too busy making money."- REUTERS
No 321: So So Modern
Hometown: Wellington, New Zealand.
The lineup: Mark Leong (guitar, synth, vocals), Grayson Gilmour (guitar, synth, vocals), Aidan Leong (synth, vocals), Daniel Nagels (drums).
The background: So So Modern aren't so much modern, or even postmodern, subtly incorporating elements from rock's rich tapestry, they are more past-modern. They sound like two groups - a retro garage band and a forward-looking techno one - fighting for control in one band's body. They call what they do "futuristic schizoid noise pop" and it is a bit like that: just when you think it's going to be pristine machine beats all the way, these NZ B (for "barmy") boys go and splatter filthy guitars everywhere. Their sound is a crash collision of New York No Wave and nu rave, krautrock and math rock, E'd-up acid house at its most exuberant and electronica at its most elegant. One of their tracks, The New Internationale, sounds like Battles in a battle with the Beastie Boys of Intergalactic, or Kraftwerk if they decided to make a grunge record, while another, Loose Threads and Theremins, has the demented propulsion and Ritalin-enriched yelps of Klaxons. But mostly they sound like Klaxons and Kraftwerk together, at once, joined at the hip, doing the Watusi at Gatecrasher.
This is all probably A Good Thing. Definitely a good thing is that So So Modern, for their attention-grabbing live shows - and this is a band that likes to perform, having done 200 gigs around the world in 2007 alone, alongside the likes of CSS and Deerhoof - wear white-hooded outfits onstage that make them look like cyber droogs or violent scientists on the hunt for body parts. All bands should do this; that is, achieve a coherent visual identity by dressing alike for concerts, and not steal dead people's limbs and eyes. Now all they need to do is start manufacturing So So Modern dolls in matching labcoats. Until they do, there's their forthcoming collection of seven-inch singles and EPs to buy, which traces their chronology backwards, from the bleep-tastic squelch-disco of Synthgasm to the hypermanic rush of Fire Fights, which suggests Franz Ferdinand locked in a studio with X-Ray Spex not Xenomania.
The buzz: "They sound like swans being force-fed ecstasy tablets."
The truth: They sound like Swans, the scary mid-80s post-industrial noisecore terrorists, being force-fed ecstasy tablets.
Most likely to: Induce a synthgasm.
Least likely to: Appear on an NZ double-header with Neil Finn.
What to buy: Friends and Fires + 000EPs is released by Transgressive on July 7.
File next to: Klaxons, Battles, Errors, Pull Tiger Tail.
Links: www.sosomodern.com and www.myspace/sosomodern
Tomorrow's new band: Telepathe.
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Hayden Panettiere - Panettiere Hates Us Age Limits
HEROES actress HAYDEN PANETTIERE has criticised the U.S. for imposing strict age limits on teenagers - branding the legal drinking age of 21 as "ridiculous".
The 18-year-old star insists she is much happier in Britain where the legal age limit on buying alcohol is 18 and she is able to get served in bars.
Panettiere insists America's age restrictions are old-fashioned and in desperate need of reform.
She says, "I can buy porn or kill someone in war but I can't have a glass of wine. If I could change one thing about America, it would be its ridiculous age limits on things.
"That's why I love visiting Britain. I can walk into a bar and order a drink without having to show my passport. That's so cool."
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Thursdays Ratings Rise -- But Not Much
Thursday night saw a slew of season finales and therefore an uptick in overall ratings
for the night, which have fallen steadily since the writers' strike. Nevertheless,
they remained well below their levels of a year ago. ABC's Ugly Betty may
have won the 8:00 p.m. hour, but its total audience of 8.47 million was down by more
than 2 million from the same week a year ago, CBS's CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
won the 9:00 hour with 17.73 million viewers, but even that number was down by 2.72 m
illion from last year. The worst drop was recorded by ABC's Grey's Anatomy,
which dropped to 15.18 million from 22.57 million a year ago.
16/05/2008
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Williams arrives in Perth for Ledger funeral
Michelle Williams and her two-year-old daughter Matilda have arrived in Perth, Australia for Heath Ledger's funeral, according to People magazine.
The magazine's website reports that Williams and her daughter arrived in the city earlier today under heavy security with more than five police officers and airport security helping to escort them through the airport.
Williams' arrival comes one day after Ledger's father, Kim, mother Sally and sister Kate all returned home from the US.
In a statement released earlier this week on Ledger's death, Williams said: "My heart is broken."
A private funeral for the 28-year-old actor - who was found dead in New York last month - is expected in the coming days.
The magazine's website reports that Williams and her daughter arrived in the city earlier today under heavy security with more than five police officers and airport security helping to escort them through the airport.
Williams' arrival comes one day after Ledger's father, Kim, mother Sally and sister Kate all returned home from the US.
In a statement released earlier this week on Ledger's death, Williams said: "My heart is broken."
A private funeral for the 28-year-old actor - who was found dead in New York last month - is expected in the coming days.
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