Bon Jovi Really Should Have Invested in the NFL

The Atlanta Falcons (may not be exactly as illustrated)Jon Bon Jovi is a big football fan.  He event sunk some cash into an arena football team.  But when it came time to take a piece of the Atlanta Falcons, he passed.  What a mistake.  From Forbes:

In February, 2011 the rocker was going to invest $150 million for a 15% stake in the Atlanta Falcons. A month later, the NFL lockout hit and Bon Jovi changed his mind because he felt the work stoppage would reduce the $1 billion valuation his investment placed on the Falcons, according to a person familiar with the situation.

Jeezus. There's that much money in singing "Livin' on a Prayer" over and over?  But with a ten years of labour peace ahead and a new stadium coming online, the value of the Falcons is shooting up.  

The present value of the future payment valued the team at $987 million.  Atlanta is  much bigger market than Cleveland and will have a state-0f-the art stadium, so it is hard to see how the Falcons could be worth less than $1.1 billion once the stadium is a done deal.

But Bon Jovi will likely only profit from the new stadium by performing during halftime of a Super Bowl.

More here. Thanks to John for the link.

U2 Fans Worried That Upcoming New Album Will be Crap

We're definitely going to get a U2 album later this year.  I'm tentatively predicting a single for September and an album release for mid-to-late October.  Maybe early November.

Naturally, expectations by U2 fans are running high.  But they might be running high in the wrong direction. Larry points out this article in the Irish Examiner:

U2 will have to work hard to impress even their most loyal fans with their next album release — as many followers think the long delay with the album does not augur well for its contents.

And the bad news comes from, of all places, one of the veteran band’s main fan sites. 

In a recent survey on the @U2 website, which is run by avid followers of the Dublin band, 22% said they felt it would be “okay,” “bad”, or “terrible.” 

Around 33% figure it will be “good,” while only 45% expect it to be “terrific”. 

Even hardcore fans have reportedly begun to lose patience with the fastidious four-piece because of the long delay in following up their last release — 2009’s No Line On The Horizon. 

Continue reading.

It's Almost Time for NXNE in Toronto

North By Northeast begins in Toronto June 10 and continues through to the 16th.  If you're going to be in the area, here are a few highlights.

-NXNE Music includes four days of free shows at Yonge-Dundas Square including performances by Big Boi, The National and Social Distortion.

-NXNE Comedy includes Greg Behrendt, Dylan Moran and Donnell Rawlings

-NXNE Art includes re-painting the Cameron House mural, performances on TTC streetcars and a Human Printer (an artist in a box spitting out original sketches of the faces that look in the box)

-NXNE Film includes the North American premiere of BB King - The Life of Riley, a doc about the legendary BB King

-NXNE Interactive includes Mick Ebeling, speaking at NXNEi on June 12 about his device The Eyewriter which helped a paralyzed artist draw again only the movement of his eyes.

More can be found here.

Things Are Ugly with Malcolm McLaren's Estate

When he was alive, Malcolm McLaren revelled in being a provocateur.  Now that he's dead, he's still causing havoc.  From Popbitch:

The modern way to fight over a dead relative's legacy - the domain name.

Malcolm McLaren's son Joe Corre is annoyed at being left out of the will so has got together with McLaren's web administrator to stop his widow, Young Kim, from controlling malcolmmclaren.com. 

Corre was keen to start a Malcolm label but his father didn't want that, so, according to his father's friends has been rather vile to Young since the funeral.

More details here.

Microsoft Co-Founder to Release Album This Summer

Click to learn moreNo, it's not Bill Gates. It's his former partner Paul Allen, a well-known certified rock'n'roll freak. 

Having already underwritten a chunk of The Experience Music Project in Seattle, he's decided that what he'd rather do is perform with his band, The Underthinkers.

Guests on Everything At Once include Chrissie Hynde, Derek Trucks, Joe Walsh, Ann and Nancy Wilson and more.  

How will it sell?  Who cares?  The guy has enough money to buy the music industry.