NY Radio Station Apologizes Over Tsunami Slur
By Mark Egan
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A New York radio station apologized on Monday for repeatedly airing a joke song that ridiculed victims of the recent tsunami in South Asia and used racial slurs, saying the piece was in poor taste.
New York FM radio station WQHT, or HOT 97, ran the segment on its "Miss Jones in the Morning" show. The piece used racial slurs to describe people swept away in the disaster, made jokes about child slavery and people watching their mothers die.
"You can hear God laughing, 'Swim you b**ches, swim,"' was one line in the song.
The hip-hop and R&B station, known for its "shock jocks," apologized on its Web site, saying it, "regrets the airing of material that made light of a serious and tragic event. We apologize to our listeners and anyone who was offended."
WQHT's program director and deejay Tarsha Nicole Jones, who uses the on-air name Miss Jones, apologized on the program and said the segment should not have been broadcast.
The piece drew wide criticism from Albany to New York's City Hall, with many lawmakers calling on the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (news - web sites) to fine HOT 97.
"At a time when virtually the entire world has come together to help in the tsunami tragedy relief, employees of HOT 97 have come up with this song," said New York State Assembly member Jimmy Meng, a Democrat from Queens. "We are disgusted and demand immediate action by the FCC (news - web sites)."
An FCC spokesman in Washington had no immediate comment.
The piece was also denounced by the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations, which said it had received calls from Muslims offended by the piece.
Station-owner Emmis Communications Corp. issued an apology and said the seven-person staff of the show has agreed to contribute one-week's pay each to tsunami-relief efforts.
The incident is not the first time HOT 97 has been accused of racism and poor taste. The station made headlines when deejay Star, now at another radio station, called Jennifer Lopez (news) a "rice-and-bean eater" and satirized the plane crash that killed R&B singer Aaliyah in 2001.
Four weeks after giant waves killed as many as 234,000 people across the Indian Ocean region, workers are still pulling hundreds of bodies from the mud and rubble each day and aid groups say they are struggling to reach isolated areas.
'We Are the World' Re-Issue Set for 20th Birthday
By Steve Gorman
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - "We Are the World," the pioneering all-star charity anthem that generated millions of dollars for African famine relief 20 years ago, is returning to the world stage -- this time to raise money for AIDS (news - web sites) and tsunami victims.
The group USA For Africa will reissue the Grammy-winning single recorded by more than 40 superstars -- among them Bruce Springsteen (news), Ray Charles, Diana Ross, Bob Dylan (news), Bette Midler (news), Willie Nelson, Michael Jackson (news) and Stevie Wonder -- on Feb. 1 as part of a two-disc DVD set.
In addition, hundreds of radio stations around the globe are planning to broadcast the song on Friday at noon Eastern time to mark the 20th anniversary of the recording, organizers said on Monday.
The original single and accompanying album have raised more than $60 million since their 1985 release to help combat hunger in Africa. Proceeds from the upcoming reissue will again be earmarked for famine relief, as well as for AIDS treatment and prevention, plus disaster recovery in areas of East Africa devastated by the recent tsunamis, organizers said.
The double-disc set features four hours of footage from the landmark "We Are the World" recording session, which began late on Jan. 28, 1985 and lasted 12 hours.
Inspired in part by the success of Bob Geldof (news)'s Band Aid project, which produced the British charity single "Do They Know It's Christmas" in 1984, "We Are the World" was the brainchild of American singer-activist Harry Belafonte (news).
After seeing news footage of Ethiopian famine victims, Belafonte contacted leading entertainment manager Ken Kragen for help enlisting stars to record a song whose royalties would go exclusively to relieve Africa's food crisis. There were no artist or agent fees.
The occasion brought together 45 of the biggest names in the U.S. music business to perform a seven-minute-plus ballad composed by Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson.
While participants were all admonished to "check their egos at the door," the recording session at A&M Studios in Hollywood was not without its tensions.
ROCKERS VS. NON-ROCKERS
A manager for one of the artists complained that "the rockers don't care for the song that much and they don't want to stand next to the non-rockers," co-organizer Kragen recounted. "They felt it was going to hurt their credibility."
But when Springsteen refused to join the dissidents' revolt, "the whole mutiny fell apart," Kragen said, recalling that the response of the Boss was: "I'm here to save lives and feed people, and I'm staying."
Otherwise, Kragen said, "Everybody was blown away by Ray Charles. And everybody was impressed that Bob Dylan was there, except Bob Dylan, who was scared to death that all these people were there."
Kragen said session producer Quincy Jones (news), Richie and Stevie Wonder all joined in cajoling a self-conscious Dylan into singing in his rough-hewn voice.
The single, released on March 7, 1985, sold 800,000 copies its first week and shot to No. 1 in three weeks, making it the fastest-rising U.S. chart-topper at the time. It went on to win Grammys (news - web sites) for song of the year and record of the year.
The effort also helped pave the way for a string of superstar charity projects that followed, including Farm Aid and Dionne Warwick's "That's What Friends Are For."
Pearl Jam Taking It Easy in the Studio
By Jonathan Cohen, N.Y.
LOS ANGELES (Billboard) - Pearl Jam has begun work on its eighth studio album in its Seattle homebase.
"We're recording but not really putting any pressure for something to actually come out of it," frontman Eddie Vedder (news) told former Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones on his Friday radio show, Jonesy's Jukebox, which emanates from Los Angeles radio station KDLD-FM (Indie 103.1).
Asked if he still enjoys the recording process after 15 years of making music with Pearl Jam, Vedder answered, "Depends (on) what day it is or how much sleep you've had. We've been getting together as a whole group, all five (members), for five days a week. Actually, seven days -- that was one of the problems. I think we're going to slow it down a little bit and we'll get something down in February."
Vedder acknowledged it had taken some time for band members to get back in the swing of things after several months apart from one another. "You get together as a band and you want to push yourselves harder or get some place you've never been before, and there's work to get there," he said. "The length of time you all have to be communicating; when you're not working, you don't have to communicate at all, and you get spoiled and quiet."
"Even close-knit bands like Fugazi, (which seems) like a four-headed monster, are (made up of) four completely different individuals," Vedder continued. "They seem like a gang, but it's a gang made up of individuals. It's not as easy as you would think."
The as-yet-untitled album will be the follow-up to 2002's "Riot Act," and will also be Pearl Jam's first since leaving longtime label Epic last year. The band's official Web site previously confirmed the set would be released "on the BMG label," which is now allied with Epic's Sony parent, but did not reveal specifics of the new arrangement.
Band members have also been at work on other endeavors. Guitarist Stone Gossard is making a new album with his Brad side project, while drummer Matt Cameron (news) has completed the first new album since 1993 with the band Hater, which features his ex-Soundgarden colleague Ben Shepherd on bass and guitarist John McBain, his longtime collaborator in Wellwater Conspiracy.
Bassist Jeff Ament (news) and guitarist Mike McCready (news) can be heard as part of an as-yet-unnamed project with King's X leader Doug Pinnick, but no release date has been announced for the completed album, tentatively titled "Montana."
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