Ahhh…we be smelling the sensimilla because we hear
Universal Records is feeling quite irie after closing the derby on artist
Damian Marley. Several majors were after the young Jamaican singer, who is the youngest son of the late, great
Bob Marley. It doesn’t hurt that ‘Jr Gong’ as he’s known in the reggae circle also
has a single currently blazing on the urban radio charts. We hear the deal includes a JV arrangement for Bob Marley’s old label
Tuff Gong Records, which has seven or eight unreleased Bob Marley tracks that will be featured on a future record. Of course, former
Island Records founder
Chris Blackwell, who is now a presence at Universal, helped in closing the deal, but the signing credit goes to A&R hot shot
Kevin Law for courting the junior Marley and for engaging Blackwell into the Universal fold last year. Nice, dude—now pass the dutchie… Lots of label folks out at the
Priestess show at Spaceland last week. Seems like the buzz for the Montreal-based rock outfit is kicking into gear. East Coasters can check ’em out again July 12 in beautiful
Albany, NY, where they’ll be rocking with
Rob Zombie. Stay tuned… Meanwhile, which label head is apparently in hot water after a heated exchange of words with a high-level exec at a sister label? Word on the street is that attorneys are now involved and human resources may have to make a quick move before the situation gets out of hand and into the mainstream press, which appears to be enjoying the gossip and drama that’s going on in the music biz right now. Of course, we know all about that firsthand… There was heavy weasel turnout for
The Fury show in NYC last week. Expect West Coast label folks to be turning out to their
L.A. show later this month at Club
Moscow… Seen all the press attention that
Myspace.com has been receiving of late? Is there a play going on there? And among the thousands of acts featured on the site, there’s apparently one at the moment that lots of label folks have been calling about?… Finally, after three glorious years of picking up
Michael Lippman’s dry cleaning and cleaning out his horse stables, producer manager
David Surnow has left
Lippman Entertainment to run his own management company. His current client roster includes
The Dan Band,
The Outline,
Fielding,
Matt Mahaffey,
Chris Fudurich,
Tim Harkins and
Dave Dominguez. “The experience at Lippman has been enjoyable and educational, as Michael is the best mentor a manager could ask for in this business,” says Surnow. Apparently, all that stable cleaning taught David how to brown-nose. You can reach him at
[email protected]…
BUZZIN’: Still Standing and
Ryan Ferguson…
Hit me up: [email protected]BUZZ GIGS:
FIXER
Tue., July 12, 9 p.m. @ Knitting Factory, N.Y.
ASCAP SHOWCASE
Tues., July 19 @ Troubadour, L.A.
CLAP YOUR HANDS, SAY YEAH
Wed., July 20 @ Southpaw, N.Y.