| Menudo's Recipe Isn't Changing, Just the Faces
LOS ANGELES -- Guillermo Arriaga was a just a kid in Mexico when he was swept up in one of the biggest pop-music crazes of all time: Menudo mania. Menudo was the boy band, an early '80s Hispanic precursor to groups such as 'NSync and Backstreet Boys, and served as the farm team for Puerto Rican superstar Ricky Martin, an original member of the teen-pop sensation. The group sparked dreams of romance in girls and dreams of stardom in boys such as Arriaga, now 39. But the immigrant carpenter and amateur songwriter knew it was unlikely he would be discovered in his home state of Michoacan, not exactly a stop on the road to Hollywood. Last week, Hollywood came to Arriaga's Los Angeles County barrio looking for stars in his own back yard. Menudo is being revived by MTV, and the call went out for bilingual Hispanic teens to audition for the new band.
Bronx’s Jenny Back on the Block
Need evidence? Take the hundreds of screaming, starry-eyed fans who lined up last week for a chance to meet the multi-talented Bronx-bred performer, otherwise known as Jennifer Lopez, at an autograph session inside F.Y.E. music store on Jerome Avenue near Gun hill Road.
That's right, if you missed it, Jenny was definitely back on the block. Not exactly her block (that would be in the east Bronx), but a block in the Bronx with a heavy Hispanic population nonetheless.
Lopez was there with husband Marc Anthony promoting her new album, Como Ama Una Mujer, the Bronxite's first all-Spanish language effort. Anthony, a veteran singer with several Spanish language albums on his resume, produced the record, which critics are calling a big risk.
When Anthony and Lopez emerged from a black SUV, the crowd went nuts, wildly waving marketing posters and homemade collages as Lopez smiled and waved back.
Feds prosecute karaoke businesses
Question: What's the difference between a wannabe diva pretending to be Sheryl Crowe in a karaoke bar and someone who simply copies and sells the music without permission?For Tracy Ann Brock, 43, of Burnsville, the answer is likely to be 18 to 24 months in a federal prison.Brock, the president and co-owner of Star Music Inc., pleaded guilty on Friday to copying "hundreds of thousands of songs ... worth hundreds of thousands of dollars" between April 2004 and July 2006.Brock told U.S. District Judge David Doty that she copied 20,000 to 40,000 songs onto hard drives and sold them to be used in karaoke machines on Ebay, through various Internet sites and through direct sales."I'm here to plead guilty of conspiring to violating copyright laws," said Brock, who has agreed to help law enforcement prosecutor others in the conspiracy.In exchage for her plea, the government agreed not to pursue additional charges against her that might arise from the conspiracy.The crime she pled to carries a maximum penalty of up to five years in prison and $250,000 in fines.
Click to download
For something supposedly at the cutting edge of technology, the podcast is an oddly dreary phenomenon. Most band-related podcasts offer nothing more imaginative than the members listlessly mumbling a track-by-track description of their new album. Top marks, then, to Avril Lavigne for the Make 5 Wishes podcasts. Based on a new graphic novel and soundtracked by instrumentals from the pop-punker's latest album, it's a surprisingly profound animated manga fantasy about a lonely teenager called Hana, whose imaginary friend is Lavigne. Each week, a new three-minute episode is being released; the latest heralds the arrival of a suspect-looking demon who grants Hana her wishes. Whatever your thoughts on Lavigne, it's compelling viewing. Subscribe via iTunes or watch online at make5wishes.com. .
Column: Show No Mercy
Almost a year into "Show No Mercy", it's no secret I enjoy the noisy, doomy, eccentric, and extended. Over the past month I came across a number of albums falling somewhere or other in that realm. In the interest of folks' busy schedules and stretched wallets, though, I decided to narrow things down a little: Of the piles of discs currently teetering on my living room floor (and, sadly, the kitchen table), these are some of the best (or most listened to) recent additions to my playlist. But first... I like the overall dynamics and eerily always-in-the-right-spot keyboards of Funeral Pyre's The Nature of Betrayal (Creator Destructor/Prosthetic). They're a West Coast melodic blackened metal quintet that doesn't entirely nail it on record, but possesses a lot of promise and charm.
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