How I wish I caught this one! Pop Idol’s Mr Nasty, Simon Cowell, has finally met his match after facing contestants on the US version of the hit ITV show, called ‘American Idol: The Search for Superstar’. The first show was screened on last Wednesday night was just as entertaining as the British original.

One optimistic participator striked back at Simon after he said she was a poor singer, telling him he was “deaf”. She then refused to leave the stage and went on to say that he’s “an ass”. All this on the very first episode.

Filmed at the auditions in Los Angeles, popstar-wannabe Tamika Bush hit back at Simon after being knocked back. She told him “I am hurt and I am angry. He’s an ass. And he can kiss my natural-born black ass.”

As you’ve read, the British record executive, Simon obviously must have reprised his Pop Idol stint as a judge, this time alongside record producer Randy Jackson and singer Paula Abdul.Tensions have already arisen on the judging panel, with Paula asking Simon “Why do you have to be so rude?”

But despite all this, Simon has refused to tone down his acid tongue, which reduced many UK hopefuls to tears.

“You can’t sing and you have no talent” he told one blond-haired contestant. He warned another group “This will be the audition from hell.” And he advised another popstar wannabe, after asking if she had a lawyer and a voice coach, to use the former to sue her voice coach.

More than 10,000 hopefuls attended talent searches across America for the show, which is due to conclude in September. US network, Fox TV, is thought to have paid around GBP35 million for the rights to ‘Pop Idol’.

June 12, 2002 (New York, NY) — L.A.W Records, an independent record label based in Washington Heights, N.Y.C, announced yesterday the release of their first recording. The first release from L.A.W Records is a Single by the “other-ground” group, Krimzon. The 12″ Single includes two electrifying and emotionally charged recordings, “Live Wire” and “Every Ghetto Got.” In celebration of their success, for a limited time this week, fans will be able to download the “Live Wire” MP3 on the label’s web site, free.

With melodic beats by Bigger Picture Productions, their Single captivates listeners of varied likings. “Live Wire” is a festive, pulsating, and up-tempo track. As a celebration of cultural diversity, its energy is accentuated in dance, party environments. “Every Ghetto Got,” on the other hand, speaks of the truths and realities of tenement life. The song is a written observation and reflection of Krimzon’s experience in Washington Heights, N.Y.C. “Every Ghetto Got” also includes guest vocals by Al-Shid, and an original guitar composition by Marco Oppesido. With guitar cries by Oppesido, Krimzon looks to blur genres and deconstruct stereotypes. Production wise, they draw equally from funk, rock, and jazz as well as urban, contemporary hip-hop.According to Alpha Sesay-Harrell, Director of Productions at L.A.W Records, “L.A.W is extremely pleased with the progress of Krimzon’s Single. In both tracks you can feel the passion in their artistry. Krimzon has been successful in executing initiatives, and they are gaining momentum. We are excited about their release.”

In order to make Krimzon’s music more accessible to fans, L.A.W has published a detailed schematic outlining the label’s distribution and retail outlets. The schematic is available online on L.A.W’s web site.

L.A.W expects to build on Krimzon’s momentum. Indeed, Krimzon is expected to release a second 12″ Single by the end of this summer. L.A.W is also in the process of planning the Krimzon Colony Tour of the South and Northeast regions of the United States. The tour will give fans a glimpse into Krimzon’s much-anticipated debut Album, “Le Sacrifice,” set to drop end of 2002. Krimzon is also expected to appear on the Hip-Hop Immortals Vol. 1 Book Soundtrack this winter, a wonderful achievement for this young group considering the Book’s veteran production staff, which includes the likes of Mike Rapaport, Doug E. Fresh, Warren Sapp, and Bonz Malone.

If you don’t already know, Andrew Lloyd Webber is about to have a brand new musical out real soon and it’s real unique since it’s pretty much Bollywood inspired. I mean with a title like ‘Bombay Dreams’, it’s pretty much a given.

Shakalaka Baby, sung by 21-year-old, Preeya Kalidas, who also leads the cast of the musical, will be the first single from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s ‘Bombay Dreams’, written by the hugely successful Indian composer A.R. Rahman. The single has just been added to www.thebox.co.uk even.

Both the single and the ‘Bombay Dreams’ album will be released on the 17th of June, just 2 days before the musical’s opening night on the 19th of June.

Andrew Lloyd Webber has been predicting for some years that Indian musical culture would have an enormous impact in Britain and this has been borne out by Oasis’s recent, Indian-influenced number one single, the rise in audiences for Bollywood films and the success of the soundtrack to Monsoon Wedding in the classical charts.

Click your way and visit the gorgeous official site of this musical, located at an easy to remember URL: www.bombaydreamsthemusical.com

If you want to purchase tickets for the musical, then click below:

http://www.officiallondontheatre.co.uk/tickets

So Solid Crew producer Carl Morgan, aka MC Morgan, yesterday narrowly escaped being evicted from his flat. The garage don faced being booted out of his home after failing to pay the rent for over a year.

Bailiffs arrived on Morgan’s doorstep yesterday morning after his bill rose to over GBP4,000. However, the So Solid member barricaded himself in and refused to emerge. Several of Morgan’s friends then turned up and started to threaten bailiffs and council officers.

A Wandsworth council spokesman said “We went in to evict the person and he refused to open the door. A number of other people turned up and confronted our officers and the bailiffs and they felt the need to call for the police.”

Morgan eventually gave up and ran to the bank and drew the money out for the bailiffs.

A spokesperson for Morgan said “There was an outstanding financial issue with regards to Morgan’s rent which has now been settled.”

Simon Cowell, Neil Fox and Pete Waterman are being lined up for a new pop show on ITV.

The channel is hoping to launch its own show to rival the BBC’s ‘Top Of The Pops’.

According to the Daily Express, the new show could resemble ‘Jukebox Jury’ with a panel giving its opinions on new singles.

The paper says the show will be broadcast in an early evening prime time slot.

Contrary to what some people would like to believe when it comes to the world of rappers, there are some kind-hearted mic-busters who actually care about the world they live in and not just go around shooting.

Take Mos Def, Wu-Tang Clan and Jay-Z for example, who are busy protesting against planned cuts in New York’s education budget.

They, plus other rap luminaries such as Ja Rule, Fat Joe and Ashanti, will take part in a demonstration outside New York City Hall on June 4th to protest against Mayor Michael Bloomberg plan to slash funding for education by $1 billion.

Def Jam founder Russell Simmons is also planning to show up on the day and said in a statement “We are mobilising the hip-hop community to join with the United Federation of Teachers and the Alliance for Quality Education because education is a vital issue for hip hop. I visit schools all the time, and I’m tired of hearing about kids sharing books and having no desks of their own. I’m tired of the debate of ‘Who will manage the schools?’ when the real issue is ‘Who will prioritise the funding of our children’s education?’

Simon Cowell has been giving his side of the story lately to all who’d listen on why he decided to drop ‘Pop Idol’ runner-up Darius Danesh and watch him get snapped up by rival record company, Mercury.

Speaking to the press, the BMG big shot became conscious over time that with Gareth and Will on his books, his time with Darius would be restricted in concentrating on establishing him as an artist.

He also admits that he’s a pretty big fan of the crooner. “I like him a lot. Plenty of a-lots and I would’ve liked to give him a contract that he deserves no doubt. We met several weeks ago and I was very honest with him. I said ‘Look, if you want to, we’ll do something with you.’ But Darius is very smart and sweet and he knew he was going to a third priority when it comes to Will and Gareth. His manager told me Darius was afraid that he wasn’t going to be a primary concern of mine and he’s right. Definitely not when I’ve got to nurse Will and Gareth right? So there.”

Not surprisingly, for Darius, a lot of labels were obsessed on getting their hands on him and soon, as reported earlier on Pop-Music.com, decided to bond with the good people at Mercury Records.

Land And Water LLC, a comprehensive entertainment company based in New York City, announced on Wednesday that it would be launching an independent record label, called Land And Water Records. According to Robert E. Villanueva, Vice President of Business Development at Land And Water LLC, “the label has been created to pursue a vision where barriers to entry are removed and replaced with a universal common ground for the expression of creativity and imagination.”

Land And Water LLC www.landandwaterllc.com will be launching Land And Water Records www.landandwaterrecords.com on May 31, 2002. Private investors back the independent record label, often referred to by the “L.A.W” acronym. The company will be based in Washington Heights, New York City.L.A.W Records will be focused foremost on the Rap genre, making Washington Heights a seemingly ideal setting. Washington Heights is the home of many early 1970 graffiti pioneers, most notably “JULIO 204” and “TAKI 183.” It is land marked by one of the first Hip-Hop clubs in the country, The Audubon Club, and the neighborhood where members of the High Times Crew shocked the media, when arrested for break-dancing in the Subway back in 1980. Hip-Hop pioneers in Washington Heights have contributed immensely to the culture, with its own code of behavior, slang, and esthetic standards.

“Having been raised in this community, a community that’s played such an integral role in the establishment of Hip-Hop mores and traditions, it’s a natural progression for our company to base its operations in Washington Heights,” said Rene Marcano, a Brown University alum, and Vice President of Land And Water Records.

The first release from Land And Water Records will be a Single by the “other-ground” group ‘Krimzon’ (Anebawk and Modtrikz). The Single will include two electrifying and emotionally charged recordings, “Live Wire” and “Every Ghetto Got.” L.A.W Records will release the 12″ Single, with guest vocals and production by Al-Shid of Bigger Picture Productions, on June 11, 2002. Other singles will follow shortly thereafter. The Krimzon Album, “Le Sacrifice” (Creole translation of The Sacrifice) is set to drop Fall 2002.

Land And Water Records will embrace the Internet as its primary communication media. The website will add visual life to the labels name, provide its fans with unparalleled access to and interaction with the label’s ground, and in essence, manifest its liberation for users of this digital community.

Past All Saints stars Nicole and Natalie Appleton right now are facing the danger of being dumped from their record company. All of this even before they’ve even released a single.

There are two simple reasons as to why this is happening to the sisters. Firstly, it is all because they’ve been postponing the recording of their new album time after time, which naturally angered their label, Warners. And secondly, the duo are believed to have persistently insisted a cool GBP2 million advance for unknown reasons which was turned down.

Just 18 months after signing the contracts and all, both Nicole and Natalie have failed to come up with enough fitting numbers to keep the record company content.

The pair did actually start doing studio time with former New Radicals frontman Gregg Alexander, whose work credits would definitely include Ronan Keating and former Eurythmics star Dave Stewart but a record company insider has confirmed saying that the material Nicole and Natalie have recorded so far just isn’t up to the quality of the material they produced when they were with All Saints.

Because of all of the above, Warners has had enough and have every intention of dropping the sisters.

If you haven’t already heard, actress Penelope Cruz is said to be establishing herself as a pop star and may most likely be found collaborating with top acts like Sting.

Penelope, who right this moment, even as you read this, can be found in the tabloids that would carry write-ups on whether or not she and boyfriend Tom Cruise have decided to split, told the press a couple of days back that her pop album would help raise funds for the Sabera Foundation, a charity set up to aid homeless girls in Calcutta, India.

A lot of speculation is building that her album will be released later on this year. Insiders say that it may very well be possibly timed to catch the lucrative pre-Christmas market.

Penelope no doubt would have many celebrity friends and articles are pointing that rock star, Sting is one of the many possible sensations who’ve signed up for the project.

Meanwhile, Penelope is now confirmed to act opposite Bob Dylan in a film called ‘Masked & Anonymous’. Bob plays the part of a musician released from prison for a charity benefit concert. Shooting will begin in July.