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B-Sides Report for 07/28/2015



Kanye West Storms Off Stage at Pan Am Games

(Radio.com) Kanye West reportedly threw his microphone and then stormed off stage after experiencing technical difficulties during his appearance at the Pan Am Games in Toronto.

During West's career-spanning-medley set, the rapper's microphone and backing track mysteriously cut out, according The Guardian. After the malfunction, a short attempt was made by Kanye to keep going, rapping mic-less for around a minute to the almost 50,000 person, Rogers Center audience.

Against the technical failure, and in the wake of a petition to have West removed from the performance altogether, he apparently had enough, throwing the microphone high above his head.

As it landed, Kanye walked slowly off of the stage, not giving so much as a glance backward, and mimicking the words playing above him, "I'm good." The surrender was captured in full, and posted to Twitter by a spectator: "KANYE OUT HERE DROPPING THE MIC LIKE HE'S THE 6IX GOD. #GOAT #YEEZUS http://t.co/odV2i4yw6T- Alex Weldemichael (@AlexWelde27) July 27, 2015" See the video here.

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Billy Corgan Asked By Fan If Courtney Love Killed Kurt Cobain

(Radio.com) The Smashing Pumpkins' Billy Corgan reportedly got into a heated exchange with a fan during a Q&A session after the fan asked him if he believed the conspiracy theory that Courtney Love killed Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain.

Radio.com reports Corgan, who dated Love before she married Cobain, became the latest refuter of this theory when during a VIP Q&A session a fan asked whether he believed that Love killed Cobain.

"Are you legitimately asking me this question here?" Corgan responded. 'If you care to answer it," the fan shouted back. Corgan then responded, "No I don't care to answer because I think it's... what does that have to do with me?" Read more here.

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Joe Jackson Hospitalized After Suffering Stroke

(Radio.com) The Jackson family patriarch has been hospitalized in Brazil. Joe Jackson suffered a stroke and is in intensive care at the Albert Einstein Hospital in Sao Paulo, the hospital announced Monday.

The hospital also reports he has an irregular heartbeat. Jackson, the father of Janet Jackson and the late Michael Jackson, went to Brazil to celebrate turning 87 on Sunday, but reportedly missed his party because he was already hospitalized.

He tweeted a photo from his trip earlier Sunday. "Day 2 - One Love Sao Paulo jwjackson.com/day-2-one-love' http://t.co/oDyVdiAdWn- Joseph Jackson (@Joe5Jackson) July 24, 2015" Read more here.

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Birdman Denies Involvement In Lil Wayne Bus Shooting

(Radio.com) While Birdman and Lil Wayne clearly have business disagreements, the Cash Money co-founder has denied that he attempted to kill his one-time protegee, despite an indictment that alleges he did.

Gossip web site TMZ reports that Birdman assured Lil Wayne that he was not involved in a shooting of Lil' Wayne's tour bus that took place on April 26th.

Apparently, despite their ongoing beef, Birdman also pledged to help Weezy figure out who all was behind the incident involving the firing a several shots at Wayne and his crews tour buses in a drive-by shooting. Read more here.

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Taylor Swift Uses Left Shark To Mock Katy Perry?

(Radio.com) Over the weekend, Taylor Swift reportedly rekindled her disdain for pop star Katy Perry while performing her girl gang diss track at a concert in Foxborough, MA.

While she didn't hire her own backup dancer in a shark suit, like the beloved one turned meme Perry famously had at her Super Bowl halftime show, Swift reportedly danced in front of a screen depicting the mascot.

The provocative move comes just a few days after Perry called out Swift for inserting herself into Nicki Minaj's monologue about the VMAs' historical lack of diversity. Read more here.

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Bobby Brown Releases Statement About Bobbi Kristina's Death

(Radio.com) Bobby Brown has released a statement about the death of his and late singer Whitney Houston's daughter, Bobbi Kristina Brown, who died at a hospice in Georgia several months after being found unresponsive in a bathtub. She was 22

"Krissy was and is an angel. I am completely numb at this time. My family must find a way to live with her in spirit and honor her memory. Our loss is unimaginable," Brown said in the statement. "We thank everyone for the prayers for Krissy and our family as we mourn my baby girl."

A statement from posted to WhiteHouston's website reads, "It is hard to say goodbye. On Sunday, July 26, Bobbi Kristina Brown made her transition peacefully." Read more here.

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Meek Mill Reacts To Drake's 'Charged Up'

(Radio.com) Drake and Meek Mill are no closer to reconciling than they were last week. The Philly rapper, who accused Drake of having a ghostwriter handle his verse for their joint track "R.I.C.O.," has taken down his peer once again for his lyrical ability.

This time, however, Meek isn't contesting that Drake wrote his own verse. He tweeted "I can tell he wrote that 1 tho......- Meek Mill (@MeekMill) July 26, 2015."

After Drake released his response to Meek's allegations over the weekend, "Charged Up," Meek called the diss track "baby lotion soft." To add insult to injury, Meek delivered his critique of "Charged Up" while opening for his girlfriend and Drake's Young Money cohort Nicki Minaj at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

"I was doing my album," he told the crowd. "And I asked the n-a to give me a verse for my album. The n-a gave me a verse for my album. But he gave me a verse that he didn't write that another n-a wrote. Where I come from, I represent the motherf***ing game. I represent the motherf***ing streets. If you ain't with me, you ain't gotta act like you with me, I got the motherf***ing streets with me for life!" Read more here.

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U2 Performs 'Ordinary Love' With Lady Gaga

(hennemusic) U2 were joined by Lady Gaga for a performance of "Ordinary Love" at New York's Madison Square Garden on Sunday night and video of their the performance has been posted online.

Gaga played piano during a duet with Bono on the tune, which was featured on the soundtrack for the 2013 Nelson Mandela biopic "Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom."

"All hail Her Gaganess," posted the band on their social media sites. U2 won a 2014 Best Original Song Golden Globe Award for the track, which also received an Oscar nomination in the Best Original Song category at the 86th Annual Academy Awards.

Sunday's concert is one of 8-shows at Madison Square Garden that will see U2 wrap up the North America leg of their "Innocence + Experience" tour on July 31 before taking a five-week break; they'll return to live action in early September to play across Europe. Watch the video of the U2/Gaga jam and see the official photo here.

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Kelly Clarkson Covers Taylor Swift's 'Blank Space'

(Radio.com) Kelly Clarkson just added another song to her list of killer covers. Clarkson played CBS Boston station's Mix 104.1's Beach House over the weekend and kept with her tradition of covering a hit or two during each of her tour stops.

During her performance Kelly delivered a powerful cover of Taylor Swift's "Blank Space," stripped down to the basic elements and beefed up with a live band.

While Taylor has a knack for making breakups sound fun, Clarkson's version is a reminder of how much it can hurt. Swift herself enjoyed the cover and tweeted to say as much. See her tweet and watch the performance here.

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Joe Satriani Releases 'Shockwave Supernova' Video

(hennemusic) Joe Satriani has released a video for the title track to his newly-released album, "Shockwave Supernova" and he also released a behind the scenes clip where he discusses the track.

The guitarist co-produced his 15th album with John Cuniberti and recorded the project late last year at Skywalker Sound in Lucas Valley, CA, with keyboardist and guitarist Mike Keneally, drummer Marco Minnemann and bassist Bryan Beller.

"I couldn't have asked for a better band to help bring these songs to life," says Satriani. The guitarist is joined by a second rhythm section for four tracks: drummer Vinnie Colaiuta - who has worked with Frank Zappa, Sting and Paul Simon, among others - and Jane's Addiction bassist Chris Chaney.

Satriani named "Shockwave Supernova" after his alter ago, one that he steps into for live performances. He will launch The Shockwave Tour in Nantes, France on September 17. Watch the new video and check out the behind the scenes clip here.

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Disclosure Release 'Omen' Video Featuring Sam Smith

Disclosure have released a new video for the track "Omen" which finds them once again teaming up with Sam Smith, who they had previously worked with on the song "Latch" from their Settle album.

Disclosure's Howard Lawrence had this to say about the collaboration, "It was really exciting. We had three whole days to hang out with Sam and write, which are two of my favorite things to do."

His brother and bandmate Guy adds, "It's very traditional way of writing songs. We could do it at home. I'll sit in the corner making a rough beat and getting all the sounds I think we're going to use ready. Someone will think about a theme of a subject we want to talk about. It all comes together that way-and if it doesn't come together quickly, it usually never will."

The song comes from Disclosure's forthcoming sophomore album, "Caracal," which is set to be released on September 25th. Watch the new video here.

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Meek Mill Releases New Video Featuring Nicki Minaj and Chris Brown

(Radio.com) Meek Mill released his video for "All Eyes On You" from his new album, Dreams Worth More Than Money. The clip features guest appearances from Nicki Minaj and Chris Brown.

The video seems Meek cavorting with his girlfriend Nicki Minaj. Minaj, of course, is a Young Money label mate of Drake's, and collaborated with him on record as well.

She has remained mum while Meek Mill has criticized Drake for allegedly not writing his own verse from "R.I.C.O." from Meek's album. And Meek has been doing his criticizing from the stage of the Pinkprint tour, which sees him opening for Minaj. Most recently, he mocked "Charged Up," Drake's song which responds to Meek's accusations.

"All Eyes On You," coincidentally also features a hook sung by Chris Brown, another guy who has had his share of conflicts with Drizzy.

Watch the video here.

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Avril Lavigne Performs For The First Time In A Year

Pop star Avril Lavigne took the stage for her first performance in a year on Saturday when she appeared at the Special Olympics World Games' opening ceremony in Los Angeles.

The performance was Lavigne's first live appearance since she revealed that she was suffering from Lyme disease. Avril gave fans a special treat by debuting her new single "Fly" during the performance.

Avril posted the following message on her Instagram following the appearance, "Honored to have performed my song Fly at the opening ceremony for the Special Olympics tonight. All proceeds go to support the Special Olympics.

"This was a very beautiful night for me. Congratulations to all the athletes. Thank you to everyone who supports the Avril Lavigne Foundation. It has been a difficult year fighting through Lyme Disease for me and I am so happy to have made it on stage tonight for the first performance in a year.

"Thank you for having me and please enjoy my song Fly. I wrote this song to encourage people who are facing challenges, to encourage strength and to empower. Xoxo"

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Faith No More's Gould Sold Off Record Collection To Annoy Friends

(Classic Rock) Faith No More's Billy Gould says he once sold off his entire record collection for albums he didn't want - in order to annoy people. And it's just one example of how desperate his band were to avoid fitting in when they broke through in the 1980s.

The reunited outfit are currently on tour supporting comeback album Sol Invictus, released in May. Gould tells the Guardian: "I traded my classic vinyl collection for Huey Lewis And The News records just to piss off my friends. It was the stupidest thing I've ever done - but for about 10 minutes I got a lot of satisfaction out of it."

FNM have always made a point of changing direction, and the concept is well-represented by 1992's Angel Dust, which their label didn't want to release because they were certain it would flop. Gould says: "The classic line was, 'I hope you didn't just buy houses.'"

But frontman Mike Patton adds: "Of course we did." Read more here.

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Fightstar Stream First Song From Comeback Album

(TeamRock Radio) Fightstar have released a stream of their track Animal - the first to be issued from comeback album Behind The Devil's Back. They announced last week that their first album since 2009's Be Human will be launched on October 2.

Frontman Charlie Simpson said: "Since we had been away so long, once we were in the studio the ideas flew thick and fast and the album took shape very organically.

"It's a true collaborative effort between all four of us - it shows our chemistry is still as sharp as ever." Fightstar play nine dates across the UK in October to support the release. Stream the new track here.

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Singled Out: Dioni's Flirting With Reality

Today acclaimed Australian artist Dioni tells us the story behind her new single "Flirting With Reality" which is featured on her brand new self-titled EP. Here is the story:

Essentially Flirting With Reality deals with classic existential issues, a little political commentary and poses rhetorical questions. It was written and composed in 2013 at the height of the crisis in Europe when I was still living in Athens, Greece.

It was intended to be an "ode" to the crisis, (you can hear at the end "long live the crisis" along with laughing and clapping). It is pitched at a number of levels; as upon listening, initially it comes across as a lighthearted tune and invokes an overall "fun" vibe. I like this juxtaposition of music and subject matter. This is one part. However there is more to it.

The inclusion of the dog barking was used to represent a homeless street dog. In particular "Loukaniko" - who had become synonymous with the Athens riots. He was present at every rally/demonstration that took place in Athens during the riots. He became a legend and I have used him as a symbol for hope and solidarity.

So on the one hand, we have the people oblivious to what's going on, those who are deeply affected by it as well as those just trying to make the best out of a terrible situation.

On a personal level, it reflects my "ride the wave" life attitude and avoidance of a mundane existence. We deliberately chose to use real samples of garbage trucks/bins in lieu of a traditional drum kit to give it a more urban percussive soundscape.

Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen for yourself here and learn more about the Dioni right here!

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