'NSync's Lance Bass Gets Medical Clearance, Sponsor For Space Journey Source:
May 31, 2002, 10:25 am PT
'NSync member Lance Bass held a press conference in Moscow on Friday (May 31) to officially announce he has been medically cleared for space travel.
"It takes guts to do what everyone here is doing," said Bass at the conference. "You feel like a pioneer in creating something new. I'm glad that we have had the support we've had from the media and everybody, and I'm glad that we're actually bringing interest back in the space program."
Although he has been cleared for travel by the Russian Institute of Biomedical Problems, he has yet to receive permission from the Russian Aerospace Agency or the cash –- said to be around $14-$20 million –- needed to make the trip.
Bass, however, is one step closer to the latter goal. He has announced that Radio Shack is his first sponsor for the trip, and an announcement involving a major television network is expected next week (rumored to be terms of a reality-based TV show based on the trip), according to David Kreiff of Destiny Productions, the company helping Bass pull this stunt off.
Kreiff told CNN on Friday that the paperwork is on its way and the funds necessary to foot the bill have been put into an escrow account.
If Bass successfully makes the trip, scheduled for October, he would become the third space tourist to do so. American Dennis Tito and South African Mark Shuttleworth have both previously made the journey.
"As a kid, that's all I wanted to do was be an astronaut," said Bass.
-- Kevin Raub
Posted by Jen on Friday, May 31, 2002 @ 11:21 p.m.
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Lance Bass, a member of the hugely popular U.S. boy band 'N Sync, said Friday he had won the preliminary go-ahead from doctors to become the first pop star in space.
"I'm pretty confident we will be able to pull this off. I know physically I can do this," Bass told a packed news conference in a luxury hotel in Moscow.
Bass, 23, hopes to fly to the International Space Station on board a Russian rocket later this year.
He told Reuters in an interview during his first trip to Moscow in March that it was his "life-long dream" to fly into orbit and he hoped to go up later this year if he cleared the health checks.
The next manned Russian rocket to the International Space Station blasts off in September or October.
Russian space officials have not said whether they will save a spot for Bass, but a Hollywood producer who is helping to pay for the trip said this week that Bass had already received informal word that he is clear for takeoff.
Bass would be the third paying customer on board a Russian rocket. U.S. millionaire Dennis Tito paved the way for "space tourism" last year, and was followed earlier this year by Mark Shuttleworth, a South African Internet entrepreneur.
05/31/02 11:10
Posted by Jen on Friday, May 31, 2002 @ 10:17 p.m.
Many legendary artists have played inside New York's Madison Square Garden, but Michelle Branch is about to do something beyond what any of them have ever accomplished at the famed location.
Branch is slated to play atop the Madison Square Garden marquee — the only artist to ever do so for a live, public performance — on Sunday. Branch's free set takes place at 11 a.m., just prior to the New York Liberty's home opener against the Miami Sol, according to a WNBA spokesperson.
The guitar-toting singer/songwriter's connection with the lady hoopsters doesn't stop there. A newly recorded version of "You Set Me Free," the original of which appears on last year's The Spirit Room, will be used in a TV advertisement for the women's basketball league. The spot, part of the WNBA's "This Is Who I Am" advertising campaign that launched last week in conjunction with the start of the 2002 season, is expected to surface within the next two weeks.
—Joe D'Angelo
Posted by Jen on Friday, May 31, 2002 @ 07:41 p.m.
30.2002 br>
Marshall "Eminem" Mathers may liken himself and his daughter Hailie Jade to Bonnie and Clyde, but on the The Eminem Show, they'll remind you more of Master P and Lil' Romeo.
"I swear to you she was so natural at it," Eminem said of Hailie's appearance on the track "My Dad's Gone Crazy." "I would tell her something one time and she would do it. She would do all the little sound effects and whatever. And she's geeked to be on the song."
Shady said that many times when he makes music in one of his two studios he brings his 6-year-old with him, and she bides her time by playing video games while he spits his rancor in the vocal booth. And it looks like she's picked up more than just her dad's love of music from these visits to the studio.
"That's my little girl so she just goofy too," Marshall marveled. "She just runs around saying things. One day we was in the studio doing a song and she was like, 'Somebody please help me, I think my dad's gone crazy.' I was like, 'Hailie, what did you say?' She said it again and she was like, 'Daddy I wanna say it on the mic.' "
Em said he doesn't let Hailie get on the mic every time she wants to, but with Dr. Dre coming to town the next day to work on a track, he thought it was an opportune time to let his child sing of his dementia.
"Mind you that the song has cussin' on it and whatever people think about it, she's gonna grow up in her life and hear worse," he affirmed. "So at least when she gets older she can grow up and say, 'My dad put me on a song. My dad sang songs about me, my dad put my name everywhere.' "
Shady is cognizant, however, that some of the lyrics in "My Dad's Gone Crazy" aren't necessarily suitable for young ears.
"I have a clean version that I made that I play for her," he said. "There's a couple cuss words that can slip by, and that's cool with me as long as she knows not to repeat them. I'm not gonna front, some of my songs got a lot of a little bit too much for a 6-year-old."
And while Marshall and Hailie's duet brings father and daughter closer together, The Eminem Show's "Cleaning Out My Closet" centers on familial estrangement. In the chorus, Eminem sings about having remorse for any pain he may have caused his mother, Debbie Mathers, then goes on to relive the events that led to their relationship crumbling.
"I'm closing it off like, 'This is how I feel and I can't tell you the day that I'm gonna stop feeling like this 'cause I don't know,' " he said about the song. "Maybe one day before one of us reaches our graves we can make some type of amends, but as of right now, she tried to take — whether she realized it or not — everything I was working for. Everything I worked so hard for by myself to get, to make a better way for me and my family at the time. And now she tried to take food out of the mouth of my little girl. That's her granddaughter.
"Her bridge is burnt with me," he continued. "Every time she put her face in the press, every time she did something to put her face out there and try to speak on the past and say things that weren't true, I'm not gonna lie — it hurt me. 'Cleaning Out My Closet' is kind of my way of saying, 'Alright, I'm done with it.' "
Em knows he will never be finished with having to defend himself against his critics. "Sing for the Moment," which samples Aerosmith's "Dream On," finds the MC venting his frustration at people who wrongly judge him and his peers.
"Basically that was the first song I wrote for this album and it touches on a lot of different things, what I was going through at the time with court cases," he recalled. "I didn't know what was gonna happen. So it just touches on everything, basically it's just saying why we sing, why we rap and what is our purpose of doing it. A lot of people have perceptions of entertainers, especially in hip-hop. They think we just tote guns and drink and smoke, and that's all we do. At the end of the day I wanted to justify ... if we do it, why we do it."
Em also lashes back at his naysayers on "White America." He insists they shouldn't be afraid of him, as he could be one of their kids.
"The song 'White America' is playing on irony, and everything that everybody's ever said about me, rolled into one song," he said. "And whether I agree with it or not, I'm saying that it's all true."
But when it's all said and done, Marshall says he really isn't everything they say he is. He's not that bad of a guy. After all, would a dastardly villain invite the world to trip the light fantastic with him?
"The whole point of the song 'Square Dance' was like, 'F--- everything that was going on in the world right now and square dance with me,' " he explained. "It's a ridiculous thing to do, like to picture a bunch of people square dancing. But I'm just saying, 'Do it while you can, 'cause you don't know what's gonna happen tomorrow. Have a good time, enjoy everything and seize this moment, 'cause tomorrow it could be something completely different.' "
For a full-length feature interview with Eminem, check out "Eminem: The Gift And The Curse".
—Shaheem Reid, with additional reporting by Sway Calloway
Posted by Jen on Friday, May 31, 2002 @ 07:36 p.m.
Aaron Carter will hit the road this summer for his "Rock, Rap And Retro Tour."
"I'm always trying to reach as many fans in person as possible with a positive music message and of course, at the same time, have fun and party -- this tour will sizzle," the singer enthused in a press release.
Carter, whose big brother Nick is a member of the Backstreet Boys, is currently recording his third album, for release this fall. Opening the shows on the summer tour are Jump 5, No Secrets, and Triple Image.
Tue. Aug. 06 Nashville, TN AmSouth Amphitheater
Wed. Aug. 07 Columbus, OH Polaris Amphitheater
Fri. Aug. 09 Lewisburg, WV State Fair of West Virginia
Sat. Aug. 10 Cincinnati, OH Paramount's King's Island
Sun. Aug. 11 Sedalia, MO Missouri State Fair
Thu. Aug. 15 Green Bay, WI Brown County Coliseum
Fri. Aug. 16 Indianapolis, IN Indiana State Fair
Sat. Aug. 17 Springfield, IL Illinois State Fair
Wed. Aug. 21 Scranton, PA Montage Mountain
Thu. Aug. 22 Philadelphia, PA Tweeter-Center
Fri. Aug. 23 Richmond, VA Paramount's King's Dominion
Sat. Aug. 24 Virginia Beach, VA Verizon Amphitheater
Sun. Aug. 25 Charlotte, NC Paramount's Carowinds
Thu. Aug. 29 Raleigh, NC Alltel Pavilion
Fri. Aug. 30 Greenville, NC Bi-Lo Center
Sat. Aug. 31 Birmingham, AL Oak Mountain Amphitheater
Sun. Sep. 01 Valdosta, GA Wild Adventures
Thu. Sep. 05 Cleveland, OH Tower City Amphitheater
Fri. Sep. 06 Detroit, MI Freedom Hill Amphitheater
Sat. Sep. 07 Allegan, MI Allegan County Fair
Mon. Sep. 09 London, ONT Western Fair
Tue. Sep. 10 York, PA York Inter State Fair
Thu. Sep. 12 Holmdel, NJ PNC Bank Arts Center
Fri. Sep. 13 Wantaugh, NY Jones Beach Amphitheater
Sat. Sep. 14 Baltimore, MD Merriweather Pavilion
Sun. Sep. 15 San Jose, PR Roberto Clamente Coliseum
Wed. Sep. 18 Manchester, NH TBA
Thu. Sep. 19 Portland, NH Portland Civic Center
Fri. Sep. 20 Oakdale, CT Oakdale Theatre
Sat. Sep. 21 Boston, MA Fleet Boston Center
Posted by Jen on Friday, May 31, 2002 @ 07:32 p.m.
Friday, May 31, 2002
By PAUL CANTIN -- JAM! Showbiz
Hard rock veterans Def Leppard's collaboration with the production team behind hits by *NSync and Britney Spears will arrive in stores in July.
Island Records announced the group will celebrate its 25th anniversary with the release of "X" on July 30.
The new album sees the group teamed with various producers, including sessions at Joe Elliott's Dublin home conducted by longtime band associate Pete Woodruffe. Aerosmith producer Marty Frederickson oversaw sessions in Los Angeles.
But the collaboration that is sure to raise some eyebrows will be with Swedish producers Andreas Carlsson and Per Aldeheim, whose credits include Britney Spears and *NSync.
"Although that may sound strange to a lot of you out there; Mutt (former Leppard producer Mutt Lange) has worked with Britney Spears, and people still ask us why we don't work with him," Elliott said in a posting at the band's official website (defleppard.com).
"These guys worked with Celine Dion, Britney Spears, N'Sync, Backstreet Boys, but ... They are the biggest Dio fans on the planet! Big rockheads! And so, we got this message that they wanted to do a song with us, so we accepted that.
"As much as Andreas and Per work in the pop field, they're huge rock fans, which is only a good thing."
The website reports the group had recorded 15 tracks for the album, although only 12 or 13 would make the final cut.
"We keep focusing on our credo: 'Song Is King,' Elliott said at the website.
"The composition is more important than the sound. We're still influenced by anything we hear on the radio. Linkin Park, Elton John, Faith Hill -- whoever! But that doesn't mean you will hear their sound in our songs. It's more details, ideas, and so on.
"'Pour Some Sugar On Me' was influenced by 'Walk This Way' (Aerosmith/Run DMC), for example, but the result was not a rap song -- more like a rock song with slight bits of rap. So, basically, you may hear all kinds of things in the new songs. Still, it's clearly Leppard."
Posted by Jen on Friday, May 31, 2002 @ 07:29 p.m.
As you all know by now there has been some confusion this week surrounding *NSYNC’s Lance Bass and his possible voyage into outer space. Is he going into outer space, do the Russian’s know, do we care? Well, today Lance held a press conference in Russia where he said that doctors have given him the go ahead. And now for the first time we are seeing footage of the testing that the singer has apparently been going through. Bass seemed quite confident that he was going to space. When asked when he would have time to record an upcoming *NSYNC album he said: “We’re going to start recording in December after I get back [from space]. So it’s perfect timing, God had a plan I guess.”
Posted by Jen on Friday, May 31, 2002 @ 07:26 p.m.
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