Mus World

I owe Mary J. Blige an apology.

Why? When she first hit the music scene with “Real Love” in 1992, I initially dismissed her as another one hit wonder, just a dance/hip hop artist who would quickly fade from the charts. Boy, was I wrong. With every album, her voice has grown stronger, wiser, and more heartbreaking as she fearlessly chronicles her personal struggles with drugs, romance, and depression. Her most recent album, Growing Pains, has cemented her status as a modern, streetwise Aretha Franklin.

(Full article in Mary J. Blige’s Underrated Mary Shows Her Vocal Versatility…)

Don't ask me how he did it, but Iggy got through it.

And for all of the battle scars he has rightfully earned, he still looks and sounds pretty damned good on this DVD — ass hanging out all over the place notwithstanding (but of course, that's part of the deal with Iggy anyway, right?).

That most essential part of any great Iggy show — that sort of unhinged sense that things could come completely unglued and fall apart at any minute, even for a guy who has gotta be pushing sixty — still exists here. God bless Iggy for keeping it real even at this stage of the game.

That's the good news.

(Full article in Music DVD Review: Iggy And the Stooges - Escaped Maniacs…)

Ash have announced plans to release new material next year, but the band have stuck to their vow to never release a conventional album again. The Northern Irish trio will release the material as stand alone tracks after claiming that the listening habits of modern music fans have changed. Speaking to BBC Newsbeat about the new tracks, frontman Tim Wheeler explained: “We’ve got one album worth so far but we want to get a double album worth of stuff. “I think it’s going to be fun for our fans, getting something quite regularly from us instead of getting an album every three years.
(Full article in Ash to continue album boycott with new release…)

Britney Spears and Kevin Federline’s custody settlement is final, according to TMZ.com.

Under the settlement, which was filed Friday (July 25) in L.A. County Superior Court, Spears must pay $250,000 in Federline’s legal fees. Also, Federline will get $20,000 a month for child support, up from his previous $15,000. The agreement doesn’t mention visitation, TMZ reported.

On July 17, Spears agreed to give Federline sole legal and physical custody of their two sons, Sean Preston and Jayden James, while she would retain visitation rights. Federline’s attorney, Mark Vincent Kaplan, told E!

(Full article in Britney Spears’ Custody Agreement Finalized…)

Blur drummer Dave Rowntree has failed in his bid to become a London councillor. Rowntree, who had been representing Labour in his bid for the Church Street seat in the Westminster City Council, lost out to Conservative nominee Mehfuz Ahmed, reports BBC news. Rowntree lost by 303 votes, with Ahmed triumphing with 955 votes in a 24 per cent turnout. The drummer had previously come third in a London by-election last year. However, he has been selected as the prospective parliamentary Labour candidate for the Cities of London & Westminster constituency in the next general election.
(Full article in Blur’s Dave Rowntree loses council bid…)