06 JUN 2002
From Sydney Confidential, Daily Telegraph
BEHIND teen pop idol Mandy Moore's beaming smile at the Melbourne premiere of A Walk to Remember she is nursing a broken heart.
According to Noo Yawk gossip guru Liz Smith, the 18-year-old's relationship with Lord of the Rings star Elijah Wood is over.
With Moore also starring in the film, Smith says her heartbreak has been hard for co-workers to watch, "as Elijah and Franka moon around over one another on the set".
But if Moore's recent comments to a newspaper are anything to go by, then Wood's loss could be the golden opportunity for some charming Sydney lad.
Moore will be at Fox Studios for the Sydney premier of A Walk to Remember tonight and is expected afterwards for a few drinky-poos at Arena on Bent Street.
"If I have any free time, I'll just be scouring the streets trying to find a new friend," Moore promised a few weeks back.
"That would be a wonderful thing. I'm all for at least making new friends and just meeting new people.
"Maybe I'll be lucky and do that when I'm down there. I've dated here and there after the break-up [with That '70s Show 's Wilmer Valderrama], but nothing too serious.
"I love the people, I love the vibe, I love the atmosphere," Moore said of Sydney.
"It's almost like going on a vacation. Obviously, it's beautiful. I'd love to see a little bit more of it."
Posted by Jen on Thursday, June 6, 2002 @ 08:49 p.m.
There's no question who Britney Spears' audience is, and it isn't who you'd think.
At her Tuesday (June 4) night show at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, the bulk of the crowd wasn't soccer moms and their kids –- it was not-a-girl-not-yet-a-woman females, in Spears' age range, decked out like the diva herself. Watching the women file in –- some in pairs, some in groups of eight, few traveling with men –- was like witnessing a convention of Abercrombie clerks.
One girl's shirt simply read "Britney Is Hot," which, of course, pretty much sums up her show. Her 11 costume changes –- an average of around one every two songs –- just proved she could be hot anywhere. Could Spears be hot in stars and stripes? Well, of course –- she looked great when she sang "Lucky." How about in Crayola primarys? Hmm … yeah -– paired with a video, "Anticipating" worked. And in the jungle? C'mon, everyone, sang along to "I'm a Slave 4 U."
Spears' show was nearly identical to the one she's been performing for almost a year, and certainly looked familiar to those who watched her HBO special from Las Vegas a few months ago. Most of the major set pieces were intact, including the ballerina-music-box medley bit and the jaw-dropping waterfall during the "…Baby One More Time" encore.
One major addition to the show was opening act Nikka Costa, whose short set suffered from major flaws, which were overcome only by Costa's charismatic personality. Costa and her band eschewed Spears' smoke-and-mirrors routine in favor of a simplified rock-and-roll-type show, setting up shop in the middle of the arena on a club-sized extension of the main stage.
Though on paper, a great idea, Costa's charm was lost on the more-than-half of the audience forced to watch her grind from behind. The fact that her voice -- and her DJ's scratch routine –- was lost in the too-muddy mix didn't help matters much either. But on the few occasions she strutted down the catwalk that connected the two stages and gave some lovin' to the back of the arena, the girls there screamed like she was the main event.
That she wasn't, but she was certainly the real deal. It wouldn't be too surprising if a year from now she's headlining the same venue, surrounded by women with shirts that read, "Nikka Is Hot." And they'd be right, too.
-- Story by Jeff Miller, photo by Troy J. Augusto
Posted by Jen on Thursday, June 6, 2002 @ 08:42 p.m.
(6/4/02, 6 p.m. ET) -- Backstreet Boy Nick Carter will be the first member of the multiplatinum group to release a solo album on Jive Records this fall. Carter told LAUNCH that while a firm release date has not been set, he expects the album to be released this September.
"Right now I've been in the studio, and I've got, like, over 30 songs recorded," he said. "And they are thinking about a single in a couple of months, and the album later on this year--maybe late September."
The 22-year-old singer added that the album will feature a combination of both pop and rock songs. "Of course, I can't stray too far away from what I've done, so I'm stuck with that. And I've also added a new element of which I've loved since I was a little baby: rock music. So, I had to add a little bit of rock with it. It's going to be interesting to see how the public accepts it, but at the same time I'm very happy with what I'm doing personally, so it's going to be cool," he added.
Carter also wanted to dispel any rumors about his solo career marking the beginning of the end for the Backstreet Boys (news - web sites). "We're not breaking up. I mean, everybody's all, like, worried: 'Nick's doing this and the Backstreet Boys are over,' and all this stuff. I mean, you know, I've been in the group for 10 years, since I was 12, so I mean, I'm 22 now and I really want to try something new," he explained. "That's basically what I'm doing. Sometimes you can't make everybody happy--that's the one thing I've learned in life--but the guys are supporting me, so that's good."
Carter performed with his younger brother Aaron Carter at New York radio station Z100's Zootopia 2002 concert at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on Sunday (June 2).
-- Jason Gelman, New York
Posted by Jen on Thursday, June 6, 2002 @ 10:07 a.m.
(6/6/02, 10 a.m. ET) -- The Chad Kroeger/Josey Scott collaboration "Hero" might be the Number One rock song in the country, but don't count Garbage's Shirley Manson as a fan. Writing on her band's official website, the ever-opinionated singer calls the song, which she inadvertently attributes to Kroeger's Nickelback, as a "rip-off" of a previous pop hit.
"Why on earth has Seal not sued Nickelback for their copyright infringement of the big hit 'Kiss From A Rose' that he had on the Batman soundtrack a few years ago?" Manson says. "I mean...Nickelback's song for the Spider-Man movie is an insanely close rip-off. The choruses of both songs are almost EXACTLY the same."
Manson adds, "Oh, have those movie companies no bloody shame?!?!?!??!"
"Hero" is currently atop both Billboard's Modern and Mainstream Rock Charts.
Garbage remains on the road in support of its latest album, beautifulgarbage. The group performs Thursday (June 6) in Mexico City and kicks off a European tour next week.
-- Neal Weiss, Los Angeles
Posted by Jen on Thursday, June 6, 2002 @ 10:05 a.m.
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