Soccer Just Got More Popular in the States

If Portuguese futbol star Cristiano Ronaldo always played shirtless, we'd actually watch a game. Gostoso!

What the hell are you doing reading this, when you could be looking at him?!






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Crossfire

   
Artist: Crossfire

   Genre(s): 
Drum & Bass
   Metal: Heavy
   Metal
   

---

Discography:


   
 The Signz / Camouflage

   Year: 2005   
Tracks: 2


   
 Crossfire (CF004)

   Year: 2005   
Tracks: 2


   
 Avalanche (AVA002)

   Year: 2004   
Tracks: 2


   
 Drop On Request (DOR002)

   Year: 2003   
Tracks: 2


   
 Hideout Swordfight

   Year: 2002   
Tracks: 1


   
 Live Attack

   Year: 1986   
Tracks: 9


   
 Sharpshooter

   Year: 1985   
Tracks: 6


   
 Second Attack

   Year: 1985   
Tracks: 7


   
 See You In Hell

   Year: 1984   
Tracks: 8

---

Heavy metal play Crossfire hailed from Belgium, where they originally formed as a kindling careen band named The Onion Dolls. Finding themselves, care many European compatriots, swept up by the excitement of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (and perchance keenly cognizant that tough was already on the way out), vocalist/guitarist Nero Neerinckx, guitar player Marc new wave Caelenberge, bassist Patrick new wave Londerzele and drummer Peter De Windt got their first break from Holland's Aardschock Magazine, which featured 2 of their songs in their 1982 Metal Clogs compiling. When Neerinckx all of a sudden throw in the towel the band (later on to be confined for murdering a officer!), he simply opened the door for de Windt to take up his place as frontman, and, after the enlisting of new drummer Chris de Brauwer, this adjust recorded Crossfire's debut record album, See You in Hell, for Mausoleum Records. Released in 1983 to selfsame favourable reviews, its melodic and energetic weighed down alloy bordered on as-yet-undeveloped slam, and drew comparisons to former contemporary European bands care Helloween, Angus and regular the mighty Accept. 1985's soph Second Attack (where they added arcsecond guitar player Rudi Van de Sijpe) pretty a great deal replicated this recipe, though non the far-flung acceptance, and its overly rush and uninspired heir, 1986's Sharpshooter (featuring in time some other newfangled guitar instrumentalist in Jacky D'Hondt), injury up losing them their recording contract, to kicking. Crossfire managed a terminal live album the undermentioned year before quietly fading into obscurity, although de Windt hung on for a couple more age with German metal band Ostrogoth.

Jay-Z Agrees That Kanye West Is The 'Hottest'; Nas Says Barack Obama Can Put U.S. On The 'High Road': Mixtape Monday

Artist: Maino

Representing: Brooklyn

Mixtape: The Last Real N---a Alive

411: Jimmy Spicer definitely wasn't the best rapper in the world. You haven't heard of him, right? OK. He wasn't even good. But his "Money (Dollar Bill Y'All)" was influential. The repetition of "dollar, dollar bill, y'all" had to inspire the same words on the hook to Wu-Tang's "C.R.E.A.M." Also, in the '90s, Mary J. Blige took her classic "Be Happy" to another level by speeding up Spicer's instrumental and remixing her hit.

Now, in 2008, Brooklyn's Maino has used the same sample for his "Hi Hater," a record that embraces jealousy and uses the negative energy for positive fuel.

"It was the Mary beat," he said driving through downtown Brooklyn past the location where the famous Albee Square Mall used to be (shout-out to Biz Markie!). "I figured [the beat] was older. I wasn't really sure. It was the Mary beat, to the 'Be Happy' remix. I always wanted to rap to it. I loved that. Then I researched the beat and it was 'dollar, dollar bill, y'all.' That's why I started my song with 'Dollar bill, y'all/ Lot of bills, y'all/ New year, trying to touch me a mil, y'all.'

"A lot of people ask me, 'How did you come up with that [hook]?' " he continued. "That's what I heard. I was riding around in the car listening to the beat. That's what I heard: 'Hi, hater!' I saw it. We coming through, and the haters is over, and we roll down the window — 'hi, hater!' — waving at them."

Two Sundays ago, Maino, tore down the Hot 97 Summer Jam by coming onstage with Alicia Keys as a surprise guest. The tens of thousands embraced his record. Maino credits Swizz Beatz for hooking him up with A. Keys. His life is so much different than it was when he was serving out an almost 10-year prison sentence not too long ago.

"I know what it feels to wake up and the first thing you see is them bars," said Maino, who started his bid when he was just 16 years old. "One thing about being in prison I ain't lose, when I wake up now, the fist thing I see is those bars. You feel hopeless. You at your lowest low. You not able to take care of your own self. You're depending on people in the outside world to check in on you. ... It's very depressing. You try to find hope in that by reading. Music for me helped me get through that. We were able to get mixtapes and things like that."

Maino's rise in the music game has been a process. He had one deal with Universal Records that fell through, and he's since signed to Atlantic. While everybody in the streets knows him through his mixtapes, cameos with good friend Lil' Kim and appearances on street DVDs, "Hi Hater" is actually the first real single he's ever had. His next album is slated for September 30 with production from Cool & Dre and GQ Beats, among others.

His latest mixtape, The Last Real N---a Alive, was just released with DJ Superstar Jay.

"I think I got better as a song maker, and I wanted people to see that," he said of his street CD. "Instead of trying to display a bunch of frivolous lyrics — 'my rhymes do this, my rhymes do that' — I wanted to give them real talk. You hear a lot of good records — a lot of records that could have made the album. I'm just trying to give them what's in store."

Joints To Check For

» "The Streets Been Good to Me." "I'm just trying to show people the edge of me," Maino explained. "The streets been good to me. They raised me as a person, as a man. The streets gave birth to the way I think before I went to prison and while I was in prison. It was the streets I came back to."

» "Dey Know" remix by Shawty Lo, also featuring Lil' Kim and Busta Rhymes. " 'Maino, I keep it gangsta. The side of my face been cut with a razor,' " Maino rapped as a preview. "I learned when a person underestimates you, they really at the disadvantage. You're at the advantage. They letting their guards down. That's how people get hurt, literally! I love when a person underestimates me. He's taking away from himself. I did that one time and got cut in my face. I underestimated the dude and overestimated myself: 'He ain't gonna do sh--.' It was in jail, Comstock [New York]. Never could I overestimate myself again and underestimate the next man. I apply the same thing to music. You think I ain't got it? You think I ain't capable? You don't think I know how to play chess? First move, check! Do something."

» "Real Talk." "I'm the last real n---a in the game. That speaks for itself," Maino said. "Real n---as are outnumbered 99 to one. I don't think I'm the sole real n---a on Earth. But I'm speaking for all the real n---as that's outnumbered. Where they at? In this rap game, there's not too many that's stand-up. There's a couple. It ain't too many. It's a few. I'm just making my mark, man. I'm just trying to tell the people. Like I said, you need a G in office. Who else is gonna represent you?"

Don't Sleep: Other Notable Selections This Week

» D12 - Return of the Dozen

» DJ Bobby Black - Crack Addiction

» DJ Dolla Sign - Terminator: The Curtis Jackson Chronicles

» J. Period and G. Brown - March 9 V.2

'Hood's Heavy Rotation: Bubbling Below The Radar

» G-Unit - "Straight Outta Southside"

» N.E.R.D. - "Time For Some Action"

» Plies (featuring Keyshia Cole and J. Holiday) - "#1 Fan"

» Sean Garrett (featuring Pharrell Williams) - "Patron"

Celebrity Faves

Big brother is a proud brotha. The MTV News Hip-Hop Brain Trust recently voted Kanye West as the Hottest MC in the Game (the public is still up in arms over the top 10!), and Jay-Z agrees that 'Ye's development has been major.

"He's a complete package now," Hov said. "He's working on his craft as an MC. In the beginning, his flow wasn't as tight. It was more stretched out. He wouldn't hit everything all the time like the one, two. His flow was lacking, in my opinion. And this last album, everything came together. The songs were great, the hooks were incredible, and the lyrics — he really takes a lot of pride in what he writes. That happiness is seeing his evolution from the first album to now. It's like, 'Wow!' "

The Streets Is Talking: News & Notes From The Underground

You hear about it all the time: African-Americans who have "made it" but get reminders that racism in this country still exits, no matter how big your celebrity is or how much money you have. But how far up the food chain does racism go? Will it affect Illinois Senator Barack Obama if he were to become president?

"I get reminders," Nas told us of coming into contact with bigotry. "I see a lot of people get reminders all the time. But the president of the United States? I don't know. He can expect that everything that can happen, will happen. But he's a lot more powerful than Nasir Jones in a lot of ways. I think he'll be all right. People like me, we're gonna deal with [racism]. There's a lot of ignorance in the world. Look at the human family. We've been able to design iPods and so-called go the Moon. Yet, we can't get over racial difference and colors of skin. That's gotta go.

"If Barack becomes the president, it doesn't matter who looks at him as a n---er at that point," Nas continued. "Everybody gotta go through scrutiny, criticism by crazy people. They will criticize your child. They talked about the Clintons' daughter, and they talked about this one and that one. You gotta be able to take the high road on everybody. I think Obama is perfect for taking the high road. He's prepared. He's a black man. Him taking the high road is him taking the country on a high road. I think it's gonna benefit everybody in America with that guy in office. Let's hope it happens. Let's hope it's no funny business with that guy in office. Let's hope for the best."

After years of disinterest, the Big Apple native credits Obama's campaign for raising his awareness and excitement in politics again.

"It got me interested," Nas admitted. "I think in about 10 more years from today, you're gonna have more politicians who grew up listening to Illmatic that are ... MCs! That are rappers. You're gonna start seeing more rappers evolve into politicians. If we have a change this year and it's a positive thing, we trusting the system now. We believe in it more. We see something positive coming out of it that makes us want to get involved more. Five or 10 years from now, you might see somebody like me trust it more. Who knows? I won't say for sure."

Although he's anticipating a big change in the country should Obama take the Oval Office, Nas hasn't committed to casting a vote.

"I don't know what I'm doing as far as the vote this year," he admitted. "I'm excited about it, I just don't know what I'm doing. I'm still trying to figure out the next few months of my own life. My own politics. I'm the president of Nas World. That's a busy job already. To get out and vote? I gotta see."

The new song "Black President" appears on Nas' new The N---er Mixtape with DJ Green Lantern as well as his yet-untitled July LP. ...

Shawty Lo doesn't want to fight T.I. He doesn't even want to battle him song for song with disses. The self-proclaimed "King of Bankhead" is ready to see his rivalry with the King of the South go up one notch, though. L.O. says he and Tip can duke it out on Saturday with their sets.

Both rappers are on the bill for the Atlanta radio station Hot 107.9's 13th annual Birthday Bash concert. The roster also features the Game, Lil Boosie, Webbie, DJ Khaled, Young Jeezy, Plies and Rocko.

"We gonna give the people what they want," Lo said late last week about what he and Tip will bring to the concert in their separate sets. "It's gonna be either he wins or I win. It ain't no beef or nothing. He said he's gonna have the best show. I say I'm gonna have the best show."

So what's at stake? "Bragging rights," Lo said. It's just that simple.

"He put the challenge out there. I'm going out there to do my show," Lo explained. "He said the Birthday Bash is his. It probably was. But now Shawty L.O. is in town."

He's in town for the show, at least. Shawty is still in demand out of town for various spot dates. He said his record label would love for him to put out the follow-up to his debut, Units in the City. The Georgia bulldog is still collecting beats from people like Polow Da Don, Jazze Pha and Soulja Boy but says he needs to finally buy an iPod so he can listen to and write tracks on the road. In addition to his next solo LP, there might be a group album on the horizon. Not with D4L, but with his favorite collaborator: Gucci Mane.

"Gucci, we were grinding together before it got to this point," he explained. "We were grinding hard. Right now, we're thinking about putting an album together. It's more than us two. [The record company was] saying me and Gucci, Lil Boosie and Gorilla Zoe. It would be crazy. We're gonna take it one day at a time and see how it goes. I believe we could put it together. We all get along very good. It's about making it make sense and making it happen." ...

Usually, rappers jack a singer's song and make an unofficial remix. Unless the singer is R. Kelly, we don't typically see it the other way around — especially not with a star as big as Janet Jackson.

"It was weird, bruh," Plies said about finding out that Janet took it upon herself to remix his "Bust It Baby 2" by adding her vocals. "I was in Milwaukee. One of the [program directors] said, 'I love the "Bust It Baby" remix. The one y'all did with Janet Jackson.' I didn't even know she did the record. Then I got a call from one of my peoples in Atlanta. They said Jermaine [Dupri] had just dropped the record off to the station. For the first 15, 20 minutes, I really thought the person who was telling me this was just talking.

"But to see a person of her caliber embrace my craft enough to feel that she wanted to be a part of it, that made me not only appreciate it, but made me feel I was going in the right direction," he continued.

Plies' Definition of Real comes out this week. Other than Ne-Yo, he has guest appearances from Jamie Foxx, J. Holiday, Keyshia Cole and the "radio killer" himself, The-Dream. No other rappers. And get this: He's already almost done with his third LP. It's called The Realest and comes out December 16.

For other artists featured in Mixtape Monday, check out Mixtape Mondays Headlines.






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Ledger's family write about heartbreak

Heath Ledger's family have expressed their heartbreak at losing their son and brother in a series of death notices in an Australian newspaper.
In a message published in the West Australian, the actor's mother Sally wrote: "Our darling boy, special in so many ways to all of us. You knew you were so loved. You lived life with courage and daring and we are so grateful for the wonderful times we shared. We will be there for Matilda [Ledger's daughter]."
Ledger's older sister Kate wrote: "I can hardly breathe when I try to write this. We were the ultimate in soul mates. I feel both my heart and life have been torn apart. I loved our special talks, our daily chats from where ever you were in the world."
She also wrote: "I especially loved all the precious time we spent together. We were so fortunate to have you as long as we did. You were so many things to so many people, but to me you were just my little brother."
The actor's father Kim wrote: "My beautiful boy, so loving, so talented, so independent, so caring, so young... no more chess games mate... this is it, couldn't beat you anyway!"
"My body aches for the sound of your voice, our chats, our laughs and our life and times together."
A message from all of the family read: "How do we describe our sudden and tragic loss?... You were the most amazing individual "old soul" in a young man's body."
"Your true legacy lives on in beautiful little Matilda, who will always remain in the greatest of care. Our hearts are broken."
Ledger was found dead in his New York apartment earlier this week. Police are investigating the possibility that he died from a drugs overdose.
To view our gallery special 'Heath Ledger: In Pictures' click here.

Oliver Parker - Plans For St Trinians Sequel

Moviemakers OLIVER PARKER and BARNABY THOMPSON are set to make a follow-up to the 2007 British movie ST TRINIAN'S.

It was announced at the weekend (16-18May08) at the Cannes Film Festival in France that St Trinian's: The Legend of Fritton's Gold - which has yet to be cast - will be released by Ealing Studios in 2009.

The 2007 school comedy starred new Bond girl Gemma Arterton, funnyman Russell Brand and Rupert Everett.

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The Smurfs Hitting The Big Screen

Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Animation announced on Tuesday (June 10) that they're set to bring the classic cartoon series 'The Smurfs' to the big screen.

The company's have obained the motion picture rights to 'The Smurfs' and will feature the little blue characters in a mixture of live-action and animation. 

In a statement announcing the new film, Columiba president Doug Belgrad said, "The Smurfs are one of the best-known franchises and among the most beloved collection of characters in the world.  We're very excited to introduce a new generation to Papa Smurf, Smurfette and the other Smurfs in all of their 'three apple tall' glory."

The Smurfs began life as a Belgian comic strip in 1958 created by Pierre Culliford, and later became a popular television series.

NEXT: Paul Newman Not Battling Cancer

Photo courtesy of Hanna Barbera. 

Jack Black & wife welcome second child

Comedy actor Jack Black and his wife Tanya Holden are celebrating the birth of their second child, a baby boy.
According to reports, the baby, who was born last week, will be named Jack after his father.
Black confirmed the news to 'Entertainment Tonight', saying that his new son was "fresh out of the oven".
"I have a new one. It's eating every three hours," he said.
The couple already have a 23-month-old son called Samuel.

Madonna - Madonnas Brother To Pen Tell-all Memoir

MADONNA's brother CHRISTOPHER CICCONE plans to release a tell-all memoir about his superstar sibling - set to be published without the singer's permission.

Ciccone, 47, is penning the tome with infamous celebrity biographer Wendy Leigh, who has written intimate biographies on Liza Minnelli and Grace Kelly - and is due to be released next month (Jul08).

The book, published by Simon + Schuster, is reportedly: "Ciccone's extraordinary memoir is based on his life and 47 years of growing up with and working with his sister - the most famous woman in the world."

However, the book is allegedly set to be released without the Material Girl star's consent, with the star's publicist Liz Rosenberg stating: "Madonna has not cooperated with any biography about herself."

Madonna's relationship with her younger brother is said to have become strained in recent years, even though the pair worked together intimately in the early 1990s, with Ciccone serving as artistic director on the star's 1991 documentary In Bed With Madonna, and designing and directing her Girlie Show tour in 1993.

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• ASK MICK LASALLE, Chronicle Movie Critic
• Braintax
• Dawn and Dusk Entwined
• Dare with Dominic

Charles Trenet

   
Artist: Charles Trenet

   Genre(s): 
Vocal
   

---

Discography:


   
 Anthologie

   Year: 1999   
Tracks: 20


   
 Ses Plus Belles Chansons

   Year: 1998   
Tracks: 16

---

Charles Trenet was among the last-place of his kind of isaac Merrit Singer, a hangover from the eRA of pre-World War II France and the prime of Maurice Chevalier, as well as singer/composers such as Georges Brassens and Leo Ferre. Originally an artistic creation student, Trenet sour to singing in his early twenties. The relaxed, affable style and persona that he presented stood in sharp contrast to the stage fright with which he was impaired from the showtime, and that he never all overcame. His smooth, light baritone voice was attractive and his part won o'er audiences in euphony hall performances, where he became known as "Le Fou Chantant" (the Singing Fool) -- at one of his most famed engagements, in 1938, he was scheduled to sing 3 songs in what was the gap countersink of the evening and was called back by the hearing and performed a total of 12 songs that night, and the featured performing artist ne'er went on.


Trenet composed as well as panax quinquefolius and enjoyed his first bad shoot in 1939 with "Boum," an contagiously effervescing tune that captured the French listening public's attention. After World War II, Trenet's career moved into outside circles as his songs started acquiring picked up in version, unremarkably with lyrics by Lee Wilson -- his biggest success was "La Mer," a piece that Bobby Darin sour into an English nomenclature reach (as "Beyond the Sea"). His other hits included such songs as "Le Soleil A Des Rayons De Pluie," "Il Y Avait Des Abres," "Printemps a Rio," "Bonsoir Jolie Madame," and "Que Reste-Il De Nos Amours" (bettor known in English as "I Wish You Love").


Trenet's longevity was something of a surprise fifty-fifty to him -- the vocalizer had intended to retire in the 1970s, and had made a farewell spell of France; then he agreed to a request for a leave-taking concert in Canada and establish the reception on that point so encouraging, that he chose to celebrate performing and was noneffervescent working in the nineties, a period in which at least four CDs of his work were released. Over the course of his 60-year career, Trenet promulgated some 850 songs as well as books of poetry and a smattering of novels, although he tended to push aside the significance of his productivity with a certain isolated amusement. Into his 80s, he still presented an ebullient visage, a all-encompassing grinning topped by thinning loss hair that made him look exactly like the ageing euphony hall entertainer that he was. Trenet was still writing songs very prolifically in the late '90s, often elysian by thoughts that occurred to him as he worked on his fiction, which was one reason he had so practically trouble complementary the latter.





Nash, Dizzee, Maximo play The Edge

Kate Moss - Moss Sparks Safety Fears Over Quad Bike Ride

British supermodel KATE MOSS has sparked outrage after she was photographed riding a quad bike with her five-year-old daughter without a crash helmet.

The catwalk queen has been accused of taking an unacceptable risk as she drove the vehicle with Lila Grace close to her home in the English countryside.

But the move has angered health and safety groups.

A spokesman for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents says, "Thousands suffer injuries a year in quad bike accidents. It's usually through lack of training to lack of protective clothing.

"Quad bikes should only be used for the number of people that they are designed for otherwise they may be liable to tip over. The health and safety executive would recommends that people wear helmets."

In 2003, rock star Ozzy Osbourne was admitted to intensive care at a UK hospital after being injured in a quad bike accident.

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• Dave Simpson talks to Yoav Sadan, one-man band beloved by New York clubbers

Matchbox 20

   
Artist: Matchbox 20

   Genre(s): 
Other
   Rock
   

---

Discography:


   
 More Than You Think You Are

   Year: 2003   
Tracks: 12


   
 Mad Season

   Year: 2000   
Tracks: 13


   
 Live From Australia

   Year: 1999   
Tracks: 16

---

Upon the spillage of their debut record album, Yourself or Someone Like You, in fall 1996, Matchbox Twenty was pigeonholed as one of the legions of post-grunge guitar bands that roamed the American pop prospect in the eye of the '90s. As their first single, "Push," climbed the charts, it was widely sham (at least by misanthropic critics) that they were a one-hit wonder, simply Yourself or Someone Like You continued to spin off singles well into 1998. By that time, the group's blend of '70s arena rock music and early-'90s American alt-rock -- finisher to Pearl Jam and perchance R.E.M. than Nirvana -- had turn the good of mainstream American rock. That transition slipped underneath the radiolocation of many pop music critics and fans. Yourself or Someone Like You sold millions of copies without ever really overlooking the charts -- by 1998, it had gone pt quint multiplication; by 2000, 10 times. At no time did the book summit the charts, just it was always around, a staple of modern tilt, grownup alternate, and Top 40 radio set likewise. Matchbox Twenty was omnipresent because they managed to blend the social organisation and opinion of '70s area rock candy with '90s hard rock, thereby winning a big audience by ostensible simultaneously classical scholar and modernistic. They were a little more than classicist than new, simply that's the reason why they became America's most popular rock band of the tardy '90s -- even if nobody quite an accomplished they had achieved that position.


The de facto drawing card of Matchbox Twenty is trail singer and songster Rob Thomas. An Army little terror born on a military base in Germany, Thomas exhausted practically of his childhood 'tween his mother's house in Florida and his grandmother's place in South Carolina. The stress of the constant movement spilled over into his school assignment, and he dropped out of high school at the age of 17. He exhausted some time winding about the Southeast, singing in a variety of rock bands in front he made Orlando, FL, his household base. There, he met bassist Brian Yale and drummer Paul Doucette, and the tercet spent several age drifting through local bands earlier Matchbox Twenty officially formed. They rounded out the card with Adam Gaynor (rhythm guitar, vocals), wHO had antecedently worked at the Criteria Recording Studios in Miami, and Kyle Cook (trail guitar), a late student of the Atlanta Institute of Music.


The isthmus dependant up with Collective Soul producer Matt Serletic and recorded a pot of demos, which helped the band fix gigs throughout the U.S. Soon, the isthmus signed to Lava, a underling of Atlantic Records, and recorded its debut, Yourself or Someone Like You, too with Serletic. The album was released in October 1996 to little attention, simply Matchbox Twenty continued to turn America, cultivating a fan base. They finally landed their single "Farsighted Day" on various influential wireless stations of the Cross, which paved the means for their discovery come to, "Push." In springiness 1997, "Push" began climbing its way to the superlative of the modern rock candy charts, as it standard heavy airplay from radio and MTV. By the summer, the single was in the new stone Top Ten, and Yourself or Someone Like You had reached the album Top 40 and gone gold.


As it turns out, "Push" wasn't the apogee of their exploit simply the commencement of a reasonably surprising succeeder write up. During pass 1997, the record picked up impulse, as "3am" became a larger hit than "Push," propelling Yourself or Someone Like You to multi-platinum status. Early in 1998, the chemical group was named Best New Band by Rolling Stone's annual reader's poll parrot -- proof that, fifty-fifty if Matchbox Twenty wasn't victorious critics, they were winning over a broad, mainstream audience. The isthmus and its debut record album continued to sell at a firm pace throughout the year as the singles "Tangible World" and "Back 2 Good" joined "Push" and "3am" as wireless favorites. Throughout it all, Matchbox Twenty stayed on the road, at household and abroad. They did well in foreign territories, including Canada, simply they sincerely connected with Australia, where they went atomic number 78 eight times; in neighboring New Zealand, the isthmus went quintuple pt.


Matchbox Twenty reserved 1999 as the year to record their eagerly anticipated second album, only they didn't go away from the spot, due to the unexpected success of "Legato," a Santana song dynasty co-written and sung dynasty by Rob Thomas. "Smooth" was one of many songs song by celebrities on Santana's cameo-studded comeback album Occult, simply it was the one chosen as the lead single. A overbold selection, as it off out, since it became a true bulge phenomenon, topping many receiving set charts and driving Supernatural to multi-platinum gross revenue and many industriousness awards. Throughout the arcsecond half of 1999, "Smooth" was unavoidable, as it and Occult sabbatum on the circus tent of the toss off charts. Its succeeder brought more attention to Matchbox Twenty, and Yourself or Someone Like You rocketed to over ten zillion copies sold -- which now qualified it for the RIAA's Diamond Award, which is only granted to records that have stirred over ten-spot million units. On top of that, Thomas was named BMI's 1999 Pop Songwriter of the Year, for "Smooth" and his work with Matchbox Twenty. Early in 2000, Thomas won three Grammys for "Smooth" -- Song of the Year, Record of the Year, and Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals.


All of this winner happened as Matchbox Twenty was recording their bit album, once more with producer Matt Serletic. The succeeder raised expectations for the new album, entitled Mad Season, which was released in May 2000. Two years later on, the striation emerged with its third base album, More Than You Think You Are. With this particular record, the striation shared songwriting duties as a whole for the number one time always. Despite, or maybe because of, the band's winner and haunt touring, Matchbox Twenty decided to take a break from recording and in 2005 Thomas released his debut solo album, Something to Be. Featuring a more polished funk and dance-influenced well-grounded, the album sold well and spawned respective hit songs, including "Solitary No More" and "This Is How a Heart Breaks." In 2007, the reunited Matchbox Twenty -- with Doucette now on guitar replacing Gaynor, wHO left wing the striation in 2005, and Push Stars's Ryan MacMillan on drums -- delivered the hits aggregation Expat on Mainstream which included a incentive EP of new tracks.





Cloverfield (2008) [Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller]

Former top model found dead in Paris

The body of Katoucha Niane, one of the first African women to become an internationally-acclaimed model, was found in the Seine River, Parisian police have said.
Known simply as Katoucha, the former top model for Yves Saint Laurent and other renowned designers was found on Thursday near the Garigliano bridge in Paris.
According to police an autopsy showed no signs of foul play, pointing to the possibility that the 47-year-old may have fallen into the river accidentally.
She had been missing since January and was last seen returning home from a party.
She lived in a houseboat near Paris' Alexandre III bridge, and her handbag was later found on board the boat.
The Guinean-born model told The Associated Press in 1994 that she ran away to Europe at 17 aiming to be a model. Her big break came when a designer at Lanvin spotted her in a line-up.
After quitting the catwalk, she turned to speaking out actively against female circumcision, describing her own experience at age 9-years-old in a book, 'Katoucha, In My Flesh', which was published last year.
"I will never get the incomparable pain out of my head": she wrote in the book, which she dedicated to her three children.
Vanity Fair's fashion and style director, Michael Roberts, said Katoucha was: "One those girls who used her fame to spotlight the misfortunes of others."
In the months before her death, Katoucha took on her first film role, playing a beautiful and rebellious woman, said Leandre-Alain Baker, director of 'Ramata'.
Filming is complete but a release date has not yet been set.