Anne Hathaway's recently-ex boyfriend Raffaello Follieri has been arrested in New York, according to the latest reports.
Follieri was reportedly busted on charges of wire fraud conspiracy and money laundering, after allegedly telling an investor that he had been appointed the chief financial officer of the Vatican!
Manhattan prosecutors say that the Italian businessman and others attempted to obtain properties of the Catholic church in the United States at a substantial discount to fair market value.
Follieri is due in Manhattan federal court on Tuesday, reports the AP.
Sounds like Hathaway cut loose just in time!
Friday, 27 June 2008
Thursday, 19 June 2008
Johns breaks record with songwriting award
No doubt about it, Daniel Johns is the darling of Australian rock'n'roll.
His mantlepiece already groaning with Aria Awards, last night the flamboyant frontman of the Newcastle trio Silverchair cemented his place in Australian songwriting history, being named Apra songwriter of the year a record third time.
Straight Lines, which he co-wrote with Julian Hamilton, of the Presets, also won Johns Apra (Australasian Performing Right Association) awards for song of the year and most played Australian work.
At the Aria (Australian Recording Industry Association) Awards in October - following a joint tour with Powderfinger - Silverchair swept the night winning five awards at the expense of Powderfinger, nominated in the same categories.
Last night, history seemed to repeat as Johns again trumped the Brisbane band - nominated for Lost and Running - in the categories of most played song and the peer-voted song of the year.
Johns first won the songwriter of the year award as a teenager in 1995, sharing it with his Silverchair band-mate Ben Gillies, and again in 2003 for his work on the album Diorama.
The swag of awards reinforced Johns's return to centre stage, following his struggle with depression and anorexia in the late 1990s and treatment for a rare form of arthritis in 2002.
It also caps a remarkable and sometimes tumultuous year for Johns. Last July, he unwittingly caused an uproar when he joked, on ABC radio's Triple J, of once sharing a joint with the federal minister Peter Garrett.
In January he announced the break-up of his marriage of five years with the pop singer Natalie Imbruglia, and later denied rumours he was in a relationship with his friend and musical collaborator Paul Mac.
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Wednesday, 11 June 2008
Cook storms charts
Last week, David Cook found what he was looking for and made history on the Billboard charts.
After winning the seventh season of “American Idol” last month, Cook set a record for debuts on the Billboard Hot 100 and the Hot Digital Songs chart. Led by “The Time of My Life,” which made its debut at No. 3, and followed by “Dream Big,” “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” and eight other tracks, Cook crashed the Hot 100 with 11 debut singles in one week. That’s the most songs any one artist has ever had on the pop charts aside from the Beatles, who had 14 the week of April 11, 1964.
Cook also managed to place a record-breaking 14 titles on the Digital Songs chart, including 236,000 downloads of “The Time of My Life,” a song specifically designed as the ’08 “Idol” winner’s anthem.
Billboard charts guru Geoff Mayfield doesn’t find Cook’s feat especially astonishing. He notes the massive publicity surrounding “Idol” and the fact that this season was the first in which songs performed on the show have been available for immediate download.
“I think he had the advantage of being on the most popular show in the country,” Mayfield said with a chuckle from his office in Los Angeles. “In the early days of ‘Idol,’ the CD was still the leading format for singles. Now with iTunes and its competitors, you can get really fast digital sales and really fast reads on those digital sales.”
Cook’s runner-up benefited as well. David Archuleta had three songs enter the Hot 100 last week, led by his cover of John Lennon’s “Imagine” at No. 36.
“American Idol” creator - and now Cook’s manager - Simon Fuller did even better. With three other “Idol”-spawned artists - Carrie Underwood, Jordin Sparks and Daughtry - Fuller’s acts occupied 17 chart positions, surpassing the record set by Beatles manager Brian Epstein, whose stable landed 14 songs on the Hot 100 in one week in 1964.
Billboard’s singles chart is determined by a number of factors including sales, radio play and online streaming. Because sales in the digital age revolve around big first-week swells, all five of Cook’s big singles fell out of the Top 50 in their second week; “The Time of My Life” dropped from No 1. to No. 4 on the digital chart.
“Maybe the song can have a longer life if it hooks into radio,” said Mayfield. “But the thing about these ‘Idol’ songs is that they’re not built for radio. They’re for that big, emotional moment when all the confetti is falling.”
But radio’s power is waning. TV has become the launching pad du jour of artists from Josh Groban to Sia to the Fray, who all picked up download and physical sales bumps after TV tie-ins.
Now Cook has become the king of the music/TV nexus, thanks to the 31.7 million people who watched the “Idol” finale on Fox. At least he’s a record-setting king until next season, when a new crop of “Idol” hopefuls arise and more fans than ever start downloading their performances.
After winning the seventh season of “American Idol” last month, Cook set a record for debuts on the Billboard Hot 100 and the Hot Digital Songs chart. Led by “The Time of My Life,” which made its debut at No. 3, and followed by “Dream Big,” “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” and eight other tracks, Cook crashed the Hot 100 with 11 debut singles in one week. That’s the most songs any one artist has ever had on the pop charts aside from the Beatles, who had 14 the week of April 11, 1964.
Cook also managed to place a record-breaking 14 titles on the Digital Songs chart, including 236,000 downloads of “The Time of My Life,” a song specifically designed as the ’08 “Idol” winner’s anthem.
Billboard charts guru Geoff Mayfield doesn’t find Cook’s feat especially astonishing. He notes the massive publicity surrounding “Idol” and the fact that this season was the first in which songs performed on the show have been available for immediate download.
“I think he had the advantage of being on the most popular show in the country,” Mayfield said with a chuckle from his office in Los Angeles. “In the early days of ‘Idol,’ the CD was still the leading format for singles. Now with iTunes and its competitors, you can get really fast digital sales and really fast reads on those digital sales.”
Cook’s runner-up benefited as well. David Archuleta had three songs enter the Hot 100 last week, led by his cover of John Lennon’s “Imagine” at No. 36.
“American Idol” creator - and now Cook’s manager - Simon Fuller did even better. With three other “Idol”-spawned artists - Carrie Underwood, Jordin Sparks and Daughtry - Fuller’s acts occupied 17 chart positions, surpassing the record set by Beatles manager Brian Epstein, whose stable landed 14 songs on the Hot 100 in one week in 1964.
Billboard’s singles chart is determined by a number of factors including sales, radio play and online streaming. Because sales in the digital age revolve around big first-week swells, all five of Cook’s big singles fell out of the Top 50 in their second week; “The Time of My Life” dropped from No 1. to No. 4 on the digital chart.
“Maybe the song can have a longer life if it hooks into radio,” said Mayfield. “But the thing about these ‘Idol’ songs is that they’re not built for radio. They’re for that big, emotional moment when all the confetti is falling.”
But radio’s power is waning. TV has become the launching pad du jour of artists from Josh Groban to Sia to the Fray, who all picked up download and physical sales bumps after TV tie-ins.
Now Cook has become the king of the music/TV nexus, thanks to the 31.7 million people who watched the “Idol” finale on Fox. At least he’s a record-setting king until next season, when a new crop of “Idol” hopefuls arise and more fans than ever start downloading their performances.
Friday, 6 June 2008
Abc - Popcorn Prices Puff Up
The increasing use of corn to produce ethanol for cars has sent prices of the
staple soaring -- not only in the supermarket, but also at the concessions
counters at theaters. The AMC theater chain increased the price of its popcorn
25 cents last weekend. Larry Etter, chairman of the National Association of
Concessionaires, told ABC News Tuesday that theaters are also having to deal
with higher paper pulp prices, which boosts the costs of the paper bags and
tubs for the popcorn as well as the cups for sodas. Moreover, higher fuel
prices drive up delivery costs. The price rise at the concessions counter comes
at a time when many theaters are also raising ticket prices -- in some cities
to more than $10 each. Since the beginning of the year, the average ticket
price has risen 3 percent -- on top of last year's 5 percent rise.
28/05/2008
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