HOT: Die Antwoord Loses Gigs Over Apparent Attack
Experimental South African Hip Hop duo Die Antwoord has been booted from the lineups of two major U.S. music festivals — including late September’s Louder Than Life in Louisville, Kentucky — after a 2012 video surfaced showing the rappers attacking Andy Butler of Hercules & Love Affair. Some are calling what occurs in the video (taken at an Australian fest at which both acts were performing) a hate crime — the pair chase Butler and hurl homophobic slurs at him before falsely accusing him of sexual assault. Die Antwoord’s Ninja said they aren’t homophobic and that the video — taken by their own former videographer — was edited to make them look bad. (The video was recently removed from YouTube.)
WARM: Allman Guitar Gets Million-Plus
An auction of Pink Floyd member David Gilmour’s guitars recently dropped jaws after raking in more than $21 million for a climate change charity. His trademark black Stratocaster alone fetched nearly $4 million. The guitar Duane Allman played on the Derek and the Dominoes’ hit “Layla” didn’t garner quite that much at a recent auction, but it did set a record. The 1957 Gibson Les Paul Goldtop was purchased for $1.25 million, the most ever paid for a refinished guitar. The guitar was also played on the Allman Brothers’ first two albums. According to Macon, Georgia newspaper The Telegraph, the instrument’s previous owner bought it for $475 in 1977, but it had been stripped-down and was “missing a lot of parts.” It was refinished three times over the years.
COLD: U.S. Sides with Led Zep
The U.S. Department of Justice has announced it is siding with Led Zeppelin in the ongoing copyright infringement battle over their song “Stairway to Heaven.” A recently-filed DOJ brief stated that it agreed with an initial judge’s ruling that stated only sheet music could be used as evidence in the case about whether Led Zep ripped off the band Spirit’s song “Taurus.” Lawyers representing Spirit’s side were recently granted a new trial and were hoping to be able to play recordings of both songs to jurors. In the first trial, the jury found in favor of Zeppelin without hearing the songs and only seeing the sheet music.
