NEWS/FEATURESARAB TIMES, WEDNESDAY, MAY 17, 2017

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This cover image released by Red House Records shows ‘Transient Lullaby’ a release by The Mastersons. (AP)

In this Nov 6, 2015 fi le photo, Alice Cooper (left), performs at Wembley Arena in London. Many of the rock and roll bands that were huge in 1977 will comprise a big part of the summer concert market 40 years later. Concert industry executives

say nostalgia acts are still reliable sellers with satellite and classic rock radio keeping their hits alive. (AP)

Cyber-thieves seek ransom

Disney blackmailed over hackLOS ANGELES, May 16, (Agencies): Disney chief Bob Iger said Monday hackers claiming to have access to one of the company’s unreleased movies were demanding a “huge” ransom, ac-cording to US media reports.

He did not reveal which fi lm had been stolen but said the company would not be giving in to the black-mail attempt, according to The Hol-lywood Reporter, quoting Iger from a meeting in New York with employ-ees of the Disney-owned ABC televi-sion network.

The weekly reported on its website — citing multiple unnamed sources — that Disney is working with fed-eral agents and monitoring for leaks online.

Movie website Deadline identifi ed “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales,” which opens on May 26, as the target, without revealing its sources, while some fi lm writers speculated on Twitter that Pixar’s “Cars 3,” due for release next month, might have been hit.

Although both fi lms are expected to do well for Disney, their profi ts are likely to be dwarfed by another fi lm on the company’s slate — “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” which hits theaters on December 15.

“IMO, if it were ‘Last Jedi,’ he would pay in a heartbeat. But ‘Pi-rates’... meh,” Ryan Parker, a staff writer on the Hollywood Reporter, speculated on Twitter.

The cyber-thieves demanded to be paid in online currency Bitcoin

and are threatening to release fi ve minutes of the movie, followed by 20-minute segments until the ransom is delivered.

The hack follows a recent cyber at-tack on internet streamer Netfl ix that led to 10 episodes of “Orange is the New Black” being leaked ahead of release.

“Dead Men Tell No Tales” is the fi fth in the “Pirates of the Caribbean” series, which stars Johnny Depp and has taken $3.7 billion at the box of-fi ce since 2003.

Sci-fi novelist Paul Tassi, who comments on technology and the internet for Forbes Magazine, said “Pirates” would be unlikely to suf-fer were it the target, since its release date is so near.

“Yes, going to a movie in theaters is one of the more exhausting media experiences still left in society, but the kinds of people who are willing to pay money to see Johnny Depp stum-ble his way through a fi fth ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ movie in theaters are probably not the type to download a stolen copy of it right before it comes out,” he said.

“And like all movies, ‘Pirates’ would appear on torrent sites regard-less practically the day of its release, so the hackers seem to be really over-estimating their impact here.”

More than 200,000 computers in 150 countries were hit by a ran-somware cyberattack, described as the largest-ever of its kind, over the weekend.

Film

Jennifer Lopez and Derek Hough at-tend the NBCUniversal 2017 Upfront

on May 15 in New York City. (AFP)

LOS ANGELES: Country music star Loret-ta Lynn has been moved from a hospital to a rehabilitation center as she recovers from a stroke, the singer-songwriter’s repre-sentatives said Monday.

The 85-year-old was admitted to a Nashville hospital on May 5 after suffering the stroke at her home in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee.

“Loretta wants to thank everybody for their prayers, love and support,” her representatives posted on the singer’s of-fi cial Facebook page on Monday. “Loretta has been moved from hospital facility in to rehabilitation and we’re happy to report she is doing great!” (RTRS)

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NEW YORK: Rapper Travis Scott was arrested after a concert in Arkansas with police accusing him of “inciting a riot” as the crowd rushed to the stage, injuring several people.

In the latest such incident for the 25-year-old, an enthusiastic crowd pushed through barricades to move closer to him at the arena concert Saturday night.

Video footage posted online shows Scott energetically dancing and revving up the crowd but later asking fans to step back and politely thanking the fi re marshals after completing his hit “Goosebumps.”

Police in northwestern Arkansas, best known as the corporate hub of retail behemoth Walmart, said that several people were injured including two involved in security. (AFP)

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NEW YORK: L.A. Reid, one of the music world’s top executives who helped launch the

Variety

careers of myriad stars including Rihanna and Justin Bieber, has left Epic Records after reported harassment allegations.

The 60-year-old has been chairman and

CEO since 2011 of Epic, a unit of Sony Music that has been home to some of the top artists in recent decades from Michael Jackson to Pearl Jam.

Sony Music late last week issued an unusually terse statement of just one line: “L.A. Reid will be leaving the company.”

The company offered no further com-ment. But reports Monday in music maga-zine Billboard and The New York Post said that Sony management terminated Reid after complaints of sexual harassment.

The New York Post, citing an unnamed source, said a female assistant told manage-ment of inappropriate remarks and physical advances by Reid including asking her to hug him in bed during a business trip. (AFP)

Erasure slow down

Linkin Park takea U-turn into pop

By Mark Kennedy

Linkin Park, “One More Light” (Warner Bros.)Hold onto your tattoos, Linkin Park fans: The

LA-based metal-rap genre-benders have followed up arguably their heaviest album — 2014’s “The Hunting Party” — with something so different than that it may give listeners whiplash.

On the band’s seventh studio album, the 10-song “One More Light,” one of America’s biggest alter-native rock bands has turned unapologetically and positively pop.

Is that a guttural howl we hear from Linkin Park fans? Well, here’s the thing: They’re so good that they’ve created a very good, up-to-the-minute pop album. It might not be what you expect, but does that make it wrong?

An airy “Nobody Can Save Me” resembles some-thing from Owl City. “Good Goodbye,” featuring Pusha T and Stormzy, is reminiscent

of ‘NSync’s “Bye Bye Bye,” and “Sharp Edges” wouldn’t sound out of place on a Shawn Mendes album.

The title of the fi rst single, “Heavy,” featuring Kiiara, might give fans of “Hybrid Theory” hope. But instead of pneumatic drumming and dark shards of screamed vocals, it’s not hard at all — it’s like listening to The Chainsmokers.

Linkin Park did warn us that this might be possi-ble. The band’s 2002 release “Reanimation” drifted into electronic sounds and 2012’s “Living Things” had pop-friendly sensibilities.

All bands evolve — think of U2, Genesis, The Clash, Liz Phair or Taylor Swift — but this for Linkin Park fans may be more akin to Bob Dylan going electric. And then doing a disco album.

HandleHow will fans of the old Linkin Park handle it?

This is an album that will test their loyalty. Is it skin deep?

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Erasure, “World Be Gone” (Mute)Erasure barely acknowledge the dancefl oor on

“World Be Gone,” instead fi lling their 17th album with topical, poignant tunes worried about the state of the world but hopeful love can still make a dif-ference.

Vince Clarke continues to command the synthe-sizers as well as ever while Andy Bell’s voice has acquired an expressive, pliant huskiness which lies comfortably on the luxurious beds of backing vo-cals.

The sunniest, most buoyant tracks are used as bookends — yearning fi rst single and opener “Love You to the Sky” and “Just a Little Love,” which could be early Erasure (or late Yazoo).

The other eight tracks are more refl ective, some touching on issues of the heart but also concerned with the way our lives are affected by factors be-yond our control and our lack of attentiveness to what we could possibly change.

The dark, robotic “Oh What a World” sees the globe as “sheer madness” where admission into a witness protection program is an effective, if ex-treme, attempt at escapism. “Still It’s Not Over” recounts how much has been gained in gay rights — and at what costs — but knows much remains to be achieved.

“Lousy Sum of Nothing” laments insensitivity, how switching channels is practically all the re-sponse we can muster to tragedies.

“Sweet Summer Love” is a new relationship that has both passion and commitment, helping Bell fi nd fulfi llment again after the death of his partner.

Over their 32-year-career, Erasure have asked for and earned more than a little respect. On “World Be Gone,” they’re still hopeful a little love can save us.

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Lana Del Rey, “Coachella — Woodstock in My Mind” (Interscope)

Part of Lana Del Rey’s appeal is the contrast be-tween her sometimes shocking, often hilarious and nearly always intriguing lyrics and her languid pose and midtempo music. That contrast continues with her latest single, “Coachella — Woodstock in My Mind,” the third song that is presumably from her forthcoming album, “Lust for Life,” due on May 26.

She wrote in an Instagram post that the song was inspired by “complex feelings about spending the weekend dancing whilst watching tensions w North Korea mount,” a microcosm of the contradictions many people feel about enjoying themselves while the world gets crazier and crazier.

She sets the scene at the festival, talking about its peace-and-love vibe (“Baby for a minte, it was Woodstock in my mind”), but “then the next morn-ing they put out the warning, tensions were rising.” As usual, you’d never guess the subject matter from the song’s chill vibe, with its gentle trap beat, her deadpan delivery and gently coo’ed backing vocals.

The second verse seems to change the subject completely but does deliver one a vintage Del Rey lyric, snarky, sarcastic and self aware:

“I was at Coachella, leaning on your shoulder, watching your husband swing and shine/ I’d say it was hella cool to win them over, critics can be so mean sometimes.”

The lyrics continue without a direct mention of politics except for the closing verse, which may be an elliptical reference to communicating with peo-ple in countries under media blackouts like North Korea: “Maybe my contribution/ Could be as small as hoping/ That words could turn to birds and birds would send my thoughts your way.”

The song carries on in the mold of many of her recent releases, neither a blockbuster nor a deep statement of intent, but rather a steady, solid pro-gression in a career that’s built impressively from an unpromising beginning as a viral star (with the 2011 song “Video Games”) who delivered one of the most disastrous musical performances in “Satur-day Night Live” history.

“Coachella” follows two previous releases from “Lust for Life,” “Love” and the album’s title track, a duet with The Weeknd. (Agencies)

Mendes

Music

Lynn Scott

Beyonce, Mars lead

Rapper Logictopples LamarNEW YORK, May 16, (Agencies): Rapper and record producer Logic toppled Kendrick Lamar from his three-week hold on the top of the Billboard 200 album charts with his new release “Everybody,” ac-cording to Nielsen SoundScan fi g-ures on Monday.

“Everybody” sold 247,000 units for the week to take the No. 1 spot, while country singer Chris Staple-ton had his best sales week ever with new album “From A Room: Volume 1,” which sold 218,000 units to take second place.

L a m a r ’ s “Damn.” added another 134,000 to land in 3rd place.

The Bill-board 200 al-bum chart tal-lies units from album sales, song sales (10 songs equal one album) and streaming activity (1,500 streams equal one album).

On the digital songs chart, which measures online single sales, Puerto Rican singer Luis Fonsi’s “Despacito,” in a version that features Justin Bieber, fi nally rose to the top spot in the United States with sales of 104,000.

RecordedThe song, recorded with fellow

Latin star Daddy Yankee and fi rst released in January, has already proved a global sensation.

The new romantic single from Miley Cyrus, “Malibu,” managed a disappointing 22nd place on the digital songs chart in its fi rst week of release.

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Beyonce dominated last year’s BET Awards with “Lemonade,” but there’s more juice in her cup.

The pop star is nominated for seven awards at the 2017 BET Awards, the network told The As-sociated Press on Monday. The show will take place June 25 at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.

Bruno Mars follows Beyonce with fi ve nominations.

Beyonce, who won video of the year with “Formation” last year, is nominated for the top prize again with “Sorry.” Her competition in-cludes her sister Solange (“Cranes In the Sky”); Mars’ playful “24K Magic”; Migos’ No. 1 hit “Bad and Boujee”; and Big Sean’s anthemic “Bounce Back.”

Beyonce and Solange — who has four nominations — will go head-to-head for best female R&B/pop artist, along with Rihanna, Mary J. Blige and Kehlani. Be-yonce’s other nominations include album of the year for “Lemonade,” the viewer’s choice award and video director of the year. She’s nominated twice for best collabo-ration with the songs “Freedom” (with Kendrick Lamar) and “Shining” (shared with Jay Z and DJ Khaled).

The winners in the 19 categories, including fi lm and sports awards, will be selected by BET’s Voting Academy, comprised of entertain-ment professionals and fans.

InspiredMars, whose latest album was

inspired by ’90s R&B, is also nom-inated for best male R&B/pop art-ist, album of the year, the viewer’s choice award and video director of the year.

Chance the Rapper, who scored four nominations and won three Grammys this year, will battle Lamar, Drake, J. Cole, Future and Big Sean for best male hip-hop artist. Nicki Minaj will com-pete with rival Remy Ma for best female hip-hop artist, an award Minaj has won since 2010.

Hip-hop trio Migos also scored four nominations.

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Pop superstar Katy Perry on Monday announced a new album and tour, promising a more mature and refl ective side after taking time off.

The 32-year-old singer said that “Witness,” her fi rst album since 2013’s mega-hit “Prism,” would come out on June 9.

She also announced an exten-sive tour, for now just of North America, to begin on Sept 7 in Co-lumbus, Ohio.

Perry, who will close the North American tour on Feb 5 in Van-couver, separately will perform next month at the Glastonbury fes-tival in England.

The singer announced the album news on Twitter where she has more followers than anyone else at more than 98 million.

Perry has already released two tracks from “Witness.” The fi rst, “Chained to the Rhythm,” has ech-oes of the disco era along with a reggae off-beat and an appearance by Bob Marley’s grandson Skip Marley.

Logic

Music