Says Island Def Jam stopped promoting 'Discipline'
NEW YORK -- Janet Jackson has aired her frustrations with Island Def Jam, whom she claims is no longer supporting her label debut, "Discipline." The album has sold 392,000 copies in the United States since its February release, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
Jackson told SOHH.com that Island discontinued promoting "Discipline" after her single, "Rock With U," failed to chart. Additional friction apparently resulted from Island also releasing "LUV" as a single, despite Jackson's wish that "LUV" be worked on its own.
"Luv" peaked at No. 34 on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, while the first single released from the new album, "Feedback," reached No. 39.
In a statement released exclusively to Billboard, an Island Def Jam spokesperson says, "Unfortunately we haven't experienced the results we would have liked with this new album. But we respect and support Janet."
Jackson further claimed that due to dwindling label support, she won't be able to visit Europe as part of her upcoming Live Nation-promoted Rock Witchu tour, which begins Sept. 7 in Vancouver.
However, the Island Def Jam spokesperson says the label "has nothing to do with Janet's tour."
Wednesday, 18 June 2008
Monday, 9 June 2008
Filmmaker Godard shuns Israel after boycott call
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - French filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard has scrapped plans to attend a Tel Aviv film festival after a Palestinian group urged him to boycott Israel.
One of the founding members of the French New Wave in 1960s cinema, Godard cancelled a trip to the Tel Aviv International Student Film Festival citing "circumstances beyond his control", festival organizers said on Monday.
The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel urged Godard in an open letter last week to "take a courageous stand and cancel your trip to Israel".
"Did you ever go to an Afrikaner film festival in apartheid South Africa? Why Israel, then?" said the letter, entitled "Le petit soldat dancing on Palestinian graves", a reference to his 1963 film "Le Petit Soldat" (The little soldier).
A source close to his office, which declined public comment, cited political pressure for his reason to cancel the visit.
Festival organizers said they were disappointed the celebrated filmmaker, who was due to hold master classes with students, had opted not to come but said they respected his decision.
Pro-Palestinian groups have frequently called on international academics and prominent cultural figures to boycott Israel over its occupation of the West Bank and blockade of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.
Britain's biggest union for university lecturers last week pressed members to "consider" its links with Israeli academics. South African activists urged author Nadine Gordimer, a Nobel laureate who campaigned against apartheid, to cancel her visit to a writers' festival last month, but she turned down the call.
Israel rejects comparison with white-rule in South Africa, and Jewish groups have condemned cultural and academic boycotts as anti-Semitic.
(Reporting by Rebecca Harrison; Editing by Mariam Karouny)
One of the founding members of the French New Wave in 1960s cinema, Godard cancelled a trip to the Tel Aviv International Student Film Festival citing "circumstances beyond his control", festival organizers said on Monday.
The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel urged Godard in an open letter last week to "take a courageous stand and cancel your trip to Israel".
"Did you ever go to an Afrikaner film festival in apartheid South Africa? Why Israel, then?" said the letter, entitled "Le petit soldat dancing on Palestinian graves", a reference to his 1963 film "Le Petit Soldat" (The little soldier).
A source close to his office, which declined public comment, cited political pressure for his reason to cancel the visit.
Festival organizers said they were disappointed the celebrated filmmaker, who was due to hold master classes with students, had opted not to come but said they respected his decision.
Pro-Palestinian groups have frequently called on international academics and prominent cultural figures to boycott Israel over its occupation of the West Bank and blockade of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.
Britain's biggest union for university lecturers last week pressed members to "consider" its links with Israeli academics. South African activists urged author Nadine Gordimer, a Nobel laureate who campaigned against apartheid, to cancel her visit to a writers' festival last month, but she turned down the call.
Israel rejects comparison with white-rule in South Africa, and Jewish groups have condemned cultural and academic boycotts as anti-Semitic.
(Reporting by Rebecca Harrison; Editing by Mariam Karouny)
Sunday, 1 June 2008
Paul McCartney urged to save kangaroos
Paul McCartney is being urged to help save hundreds of kangaroos from being killed in Australia, animal rights activists said Monday.
The campaigners are hoping the former Beatle, who is a member of an animal rights group that has opposed the cull, will help fund a plan to relocate the kangaroos instead of killing them.
The government says it is necessary to kill about 400 kangaroos because they are damaging defense department land near the capital Canberra.
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