WHAT THEY GOSSIPED ABOUT: THE REAL AND THE FAKE
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stuttering start with Now Ain't the Time For Your Tears, a poorly-received album of songs written for her by Elvis Costello, James vanished from public life. While she had contributed to Transvision Vamp material, James was now determined to write her own songs from scratch, so she taught herself to play the guitar, drums, keyboards and anything else she could lay her hands on. "When touring and promoting records constantly you come to resent the recording studio," she explains. "I had to give myself space to experiment and allow those sparks of inspiration to come." Two years ago James moved from London to New York and recorded under the pseudonym Racine, the name of a drag strip in Chicago which also means "roots" in French. "I never pictured myself as a lone female singer-songwriter," she says. "I'm not a Joni Mitchell type. I like being part of a gang, so I took on a band name even though I played everything myself." Lyrical lust : The result was the album Racine Number One, a self-assured mix of hypnotic electronic beats, warm guitars, lyrical lust and boy racers. "It's exactly the sound I wanted to make," James says. "There is a quiet calm there but also a great deal of strength and confidence. It accurately reflects my personality." James is delighted that the album sounds like nothing else in the chart, even as she prepares to release her single Grease Monkey. "I have always been inspired by artists who have the conviction to do something different, and the balls to stand up in front of an audience and say 'this is me - take it or leave it'. "You can trace that right back to Chuck Berry and Little Richard through to Public Enemy's Chuck D, Dr Dre and Eminem. Rap is the most exciting form of music for me at the moment." Nevertheless James admits she would love to have a number one single. "Of course I would!" she smiles. "I just don't want all the attention that comes with it." Artistic freedom : Smoking an American Spirit cigarette, she says she enjoys the artistic freedom and opportunities of living in New York and does not plan to move back to London any time soon. "I can wake up every day and see the Empire State Building from my window," James says. "It's like being right in the middle of a Woody Allen movie." Neither does she intend to re-join Transvision Vamp, even if a lucrative deal was offered. "They know better than to ask me," she says. "Why would I want to go backwards?" Racine Number One is available on the Pia-K Recordings label. |
SANDRA BULLOCK WINS $7 M IN COURT Actress Sandra Bullock has been awarded $7m (£3.9m) after her dream home turned into an expensive nightmare. The Speed and Miss Congeniality star was awarded the sum on Thursday by a jury after she took the builder to a court in Austin, Texas. Bullock testified in the two month-long case that she had paid $7m for the house on Lake Austin. But the actress said she had never lived in the 10,000-square foot house because of construction flaws. LIVE SHOW TO START EMINEM Rapper Eminem will launch his satellite music radio station, Shade 45, on 28 October with a live broadcast of a concert from New York. The Sirius radio network said the new station will feature a full line-up of hip-hop music and features. The channel, which was announced in July, will be available on subscription and so will not be subject to the rigorous broadcasting laws in the US. Sirius recently signed up shock-jock Howard Stern to present a show. LOVE'S LAWYERS FIGHT FEES DISPUTE Courtney Love's lawyers have agreed to try to settle a dispute in California with a law firm over legal fees. Judge Gerald Rosenberg gave Love's lawyers and Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, until 5 February to reach a settlement. Last year, the firm sued Love, her Hole bandmate Eric Erlandson, and a firm that owns the band members' recording services, over claims of unpaid fees. If no agreement is reached, the judge could set a trial date, said Santa Monica court assistant Dane Gambill. DIGITAL DEBUT FOR WILLIAMS FILM Film distributor Lions Gate Films is to release movie The Final Cut digitally. Instead of delivering reels of film to US cinemas, the movie will be beamed by satellite and shown to audiences using digital projectors. Lions Gate said the film - starring Robin Williams - will be one of the first studio films to be digitally distributed to cinemas. It will be initially shown in AMC cinemas linked to the chain's digital distribution system. ZETA JONES BACKS LITERARY PRICE Actress Catherine Zeta Jones has supported a £60,000 literary contest to be launched in |
SIR ELTON'S PERSONAL PHOTOS COLLECTION: $900,000 Is Elton John's fortune going multimedia? The British pop star, who usually makes his living playing the piano, netted $900,000 US Thursday night by auctioning off a collection of photographs taken by some of the world's most famous photographers. The top earner was a 1988 black-and-white Robert Mapplethorpe photo of a vase holding white tulips, netting $83,650, said Rik Pike, a spokesman for auction house Christie's New York. A 1950 Irving Penn photograph of his wife, Swedish model Lisa Fonssagrives, took in $57,360, Pike said. A 1942 Ansel Adams photograph of the Grand Teton mountains in Wyoming sold for $43,020.
In all, 73 of 78 photos offered were sold, many for well above pre-sale estimates. All prices included the auction house's 19.5 per cent commission. John Elton began collecting photographs in 1991 and had what Christie's called one of the leading private collections in the world. He is, of course, better known for his musical hits, including Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Rocket Man and Bennie and the Jets. More on the next page |
the
memory of Welsh poet Dylan Thomas. The Dylan Thomas Literary Prize
will be open to creative writing in English by poets and authors aged
under 30. The actress will act as international ambassador to the
biennial competition. "This is commemorating the fact that Dylan
Thomas was essentially a young writer," said award founder Professor
Peter Stead. 