10 minutes ago

FORT EDWARD, N.Y. - Trey Anastasio spent two days in an upstate New York jail last week for missing a counseling session required after he pleaded guilty to a drug charge in April.

The 43-year-old former Phish lead singer was ordered to participate in the Washington County court’s treatment program when he pleaded guilty to possessing painkillers without a prescription during a traffic stop in December 2006.

The program requires weekly court appearances for 12 months to 15 months, community service and drug testing.

Assistant District Attorney Tony Jordan told the Glens Falls Post-Star that Anastasio, who lives in Richmond, Vt., missed one counseling session and the violation didn’t involve a drug test.

Sheriff Roger Leclaire said the musician’s two days in jail were uneventful and he spent them in the general population.

By Yinka Adegoke 32 minutes ago

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Lily Vasquez, a marketing manager from Clifton, New Jersey, spent nearly eight years trying to break into the music business as a singer before she stumbled across SellaBand.com.

The Web site is one of several where artists can have their albums funded by fans — a proposition that takes advantage of digital technology, online social networking and the current uncertainty in the established music industry.

The sites are reinventing the relationship between artists and their fans, upsetting the traditional role of the record label as the tastemaker, promoter and distributor of music.

"I didn't really understand the site when I joined; I thought it was just like MySpace," said Vasquez. "But after I uploaded a few of my songs, I noticed people started adding money to my page; it was a nice surprise," she said.

SellaBand, founded in 2006, works by allowing fans who believe in an artist's music to buy "parts" of the work at a minimum of $10 each with a view to funding the professional recording of an album.

Once the total amount funded by fans reaches $50,000, SellaBand will help the artist choose a recording studio and producers. The manufacturing and distribution of the album will be paid for by the money raised by fans. In 18 months, 13 bands have raised $50,000 each.

Vasquez passed the $50,000 mark in nine months and to date has 543 "believers," including one from Austria who bought his part for $5,000. She even had enough left over after spending on her album to make a music video.

"It's a dream come true for me," said Vasquez, whose debut album will soon be available through retail outlets like Amazon.com Inc.

The idea of allowing fans to become part of the A&R (artist & repertoire) process has been around since the early days of the Internet. A number of start-up sites claimed they would up-end the established labels, but few survived the dotcom crash in 2001, and the labels appeared to prevail.

But more recently the music industry has been going through some tough times. CD sales have plunged and big name artists like Radiohead and Madonna have shunned established major labels to do their own thing online or with non-label partners.

These factors have given impetus to establishing a new relationship between fans and the artists.

ArtistShare.com has been so successful at bringing fans and artists together that it can claim three Grammy award-winning records from its stable since it was founded in 2002.

While ArtistShare's philosophy of fans as A&R executives is similar to SellaBand's, it has focused on more established artists in mature genres like jazz and country & western. Its artists include Maria Schneider and Chris Potter.

For a minimum of $9.99 to buy a "participant offer," fans get access to the artists' creative process through regular uploaded videos discussing their albums' production. The offers can go as high as $10,000, coming with extra perks such as a fan sitting in on recording sessions.

"This breaks down the wall between the artists and the fans," said ArtistShare founder Brian Camelio. "It really inspires the artists as well," he added.

As well ArtistShare and SellaBand albums sold as downloads on their sites, as well as through established retailers.

SellaBand's co-founder Johan Vosmeijer, a 20-year veteran of major music companies, said an artist's destiny is no longer in the hands of the music companies — or even a Web site like his.

"SellaBand started out as an incubator and facilitator," he said. "We don't make the decisions; the whole A&R process has been outsourced."

(Reporting by Yinka Adegoke, editing by Gerald E. McCormick)

By TERRY TANG, Associated Press Writer 25 minutes ago

PHOENIX - Lil Wayne was arrested on three felony drug charges Wednesday after federal agents said they found illegal drugs, including cocaine, on his charter bus at a checkpoint in southwestern Arizona.

The rapper, whose real name is Dwayne Michael Carter Jr., spent the day at the Yuma County jail on the state drug charges before being released, Capt. Eben Bratcher said.

After posting more than $10,000 bond, the rapper signed autographs for fans outside a bondsman’s office.

James Tilson, a local lawyer retained by Carter, said that his client was not formally charged and that his next court date was scheduled for Jan. 25.

“We will find out by Jan. 25 whether or not the (Yuma) county attorney will file charges or not,” Tilson said. “He is looking forward to his day in court. That’s all I can say right now.”

The 25-year-old faces charges of possession of dangerous drugs, narcotics and drug paraphernalia.

Carter’s bus was stopped about 11:30 p.m. Tuesday at a Border Patrol checkpoint near Dateland, Ariz., 78 miles east of Yuma, Bratcher said.

A Border Patrol dog alerted agents to the presence of illegal drugs on the bus, said Drug Enforcement Administration spokeswoman Ramona Sanchez. Among what a search yielded: nearly 4 ounces of marijuana and just over an ounce of cocaine, as well as drug paraphernalia. DEA agents then arrested Carter, who was traveling with 11 others.

Officials also found a .40-caliber pistol registered to Carter, who has a concealed weapons permit in Florida. Authorities are looking into whether he violated any weapons laws in Arizona.

Two other men were arrested with him; they each face a charge of possession of marijuana.

In October, Carter and several other rappers were named in a federal lawsuit filed by music publishing companies, accusing them of sampling other artists’ songs without paying licensing fees.

Rapper Birdman and Lil Wayne won a viewers’ choice award for their song “Stuntin’ Like My Daddy” at Black Entertainment Television’s 2007 Hip-Hop Awards.

By LINDA DEUTSCH, AP Special Correspondent 11 minutes ago

LOS ANGELES - Britney Spears came to a courthouse Wednesday in cocktail party attire, stepped in the door and then bolted before a hearing began that could have restored her right to visit her children.

Wearing bright pink lipstick, sunglasses, shiny gold platform shoes and a very short black dress with a ruffled hem, Spears was driven into an underground garage and then entered the downtown civil court building.

A court spokesman said she got through a security metal detector, then announced, “I want to leave,” and returned to her car.

A lawyer for Spears’ ex-husband Kevin Federline said that behavior may have played a role in a Superior Court commissioner’s decision that she would remain barred from seeing sons Sean Preston, 2, and Jayden James, 1.

“When you’re trying to convince a judge that previous orders are not necessary, the court has to have the opportunity to observe, to hear from and to assess the demeanor of the person,” attorney Mark Vincent Kaplan said later outside court.

Spears, 26, was not under orders to be at the hearing, which was not scheduled but resulted from both sides filing motions seeking to be heard.

When Commissioner Scott Gordon called the Spears case, her attorney, Anne Kiley, went out of the courtroom to try to find her. Kiley returned 20 minutes later and conceded she didn’t know if Spears would attend.

Gordon went ahead with the hearing after reporters were ordered to leave the courtroom. Spears’ lawyer argued that she be allowed visits and Federline, 29, was asked a few questions, said court spokesman Allan Parachini.

“I can’t provide any more details except at the end of the day there was no change in the court order and Miss Spears has no visitation and no custody of the children,” Parachini said.

Spears’ attorney left without commenting to reporters and she did not return a call seeking comment.

Kaplan said the biggest questions in the custody case now have to do with the events of Jan. 3, when Spears refused to relinquish one of the children to a Federline bodyguard, police were called and she wound up being hauled off to a hospital by paramedics.

The day after that incident Gordon suspended Spears’ visitation rights and gave full custody to Federline, who at that time had temporary custody.

“We know what happened that evening,” Kaplan said. “But no one knows why it happened. For anyone to be comfortable that these orders should be modified we need to have a better understanding of why those events occurred. Nothing has allowed me to be closer to answering that question today.”

The commissioner reiterated the orders last week at an emergency hearing. Spears came to the courthouse for that hearing but left without going into the building.

Kaplan said orders in the case do not preclude Spears from having limited contact with the children by telephone but he would not say how much she has been calling and talking to them.

Late Wednesday, Spears’ attorneys withdrew a pending motion that had asked the court to allow them to no longer represent her in the case.

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Raquel Maria Dillon contributed to this report for The Associated Press.

By Edith Honan 1 hour, 5 minutes ago

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Grammy-nominated rapper Busta Rhymes pleaded guilty on Wednesday to assault, two driving infractions and weapons possession, avoiding a trial and the yearlong prison sentence recommended by prosecutors.

Busta Rhymes, 35, whose real name is Trevor Smith, had initially pleaded innocent to all the charges and was scheduled to go on trial on Wednesday.

But Judge Larry Stevens disagreed with prosecutors that Rhymes deserved time behind bars. Instead, he sentenced him to three years' probation and 10 days of community service for beating a fan who reportedly spat on his car in August 2006, and then assaulting his driver, Larry Hackett, that December.

Rhymes was also fined $1,250 for driving with a suspended license in 2006 and driving while intoxicated in 2007.

"I just want to say that I'm very grateful to the judge, I'm very grateful to the system. I believe in the system. It hasn't failed me personally yet," Rhymes, dressed in a crisp black pinstripe suit, said outside the courtroom.

"I'm just glad that all of this is finally behind me and I can go back to doing what I do best — making great music and great films and being a people person," he said. Almost a dozen onlookers crowded into a courthouse hallway patted him on the back, snapped pictures and wished him well.

Rhymes' lawyer Scott Leemon said Stevens had agreed in closed talks that a jail sentence was "out of line with what every other person who comes through this court" would get.

Rhymes is due back in court on March 18 to enroll in an anti-drunken driving program.

(Editing by Claudia Parsons and Doina Chiacu)

By TARIQ PANJA, Associated Press Writer 7 minutes ago

LONDON - Scotland Yard started an investigation Wednesday into a video that allegedly shows troubled British singer Amy Winehouse smoking crack.

The British tabloid, The Sun, released grainy footage showing Grammy-nominated Winehouse, 24, inhaling fumes from a pipe. The video was reportedly shot hours before she attended a court hearing for her jailed husband.

Police will look at the video before deciding whether any charges should be brought against Winehouse, a Metropolitan Police spokesman said while speaking on condition of anonymity in line with force policy. The Sun gave the police the video, he said.

Winehouse spokesman Shane O’Neill said he was unable to comment on the investigation.

In the video, Winehouse lights a pipe in front of a photo that appears to have been taken on the day of her wedding to Blake Fielder-Civil.

Winehouse’s father, Mitch Winehouse, said in an interview with The Sun that he was devastated by the images and hoped it would prompt his daughter to turn her life around.

“Your video of Amy taking drugs may well be the best thing that has ever happened to her,” the newspaper quoted him as saying.

Universal Records, Winehouse’s record label, said it would do what it could to help her.

“We are deeply disappointed and upset by these latest revelations and are doing everything we can to offer Amy our full support in dealing with her problems,” it said in a statement Tuesday.

The singer’s public demise amid allegations of drug use and lackluster musical performances have provided fodder for Britain’s notoriously scandal-hungry newspapers.

Last month, the troubled singer, whose songs include “Rehab” and “You Know I’m No Good,” was photographed walking outside her London home wearing a bra and jeans, with no shoes, looking upset.

Winehouse attracted yet more attention in court Friday when she blew Fielder-Civil kisses and shouted out, “I love you, handsome, gorgeous one,” as he was led away after facing charges of assault and conspiracy.

Fielder-Civil, 25, is accused of attacking a pub landlord and then later conspiring with him to withdraw as a witness at the trial. Fielder-Civil pleaded innocent to the charge of assault, and is expected to plead to a charge of perverting the course of justice next month.

Winehouse is nominated for six Grammys including best new artist and album of the year for “Back to Black,” plus record and song of the year for the brassy hit “Rehab.” The awards will be presented Feb. 10 in Los Angeles.

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On the Net:

The Sun:

http://www.thesun.co.uk/

Amy Winehouse:

http://www.amywinehouse.co.uk/