Fan Fare

from MediaFile:

Beatlemania re-surfaces on eve of Apple event

Britain's Sky News caused a bit of a stir on the blogosphere on Tuesday after it cited John Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, as saying the Beatles back catalog was finally going for sale on iTunes: seemingly confirming a longstanding rumor that had gained momentum ahead of a widely watched Sept 9 Apple music-entertainment event.

But the report by the 24-hour news service, spotted by 9to5Mac and TechCrunch, among others, was stricken off the Sky News Web site hours later and discredited by a numner of other media outlets including Cnet. In response to Reuters' queries, EMI, which owns the master recordings, sent us this from Ernesto Schmitt, EMI's global catalog president:

"Conversations between Apple and EMI are ongoing and we look forward to the day when we can make the music available digitally. But it's not tomorrow," Schmitt said in comments first made to the Financial Times. Apple declined to comment.

Mind you, the arrival of the Fab Four on the world's most popular online music sales portal will be no less than a seminal event. Hence the unrelenting speculation from Apple's legions of rabid fans who stand rapt at the consumer electronics giant's every move, and the intense interest from the band's own not-unimpressive cohort of faithful followers.

On Sept 9, the same day Apple is expected to unveil a new line-up of iPods with digital cameras (with potentially master showman and CEO Steve Jobs set to make his first public appearance since taking leave in January to undergo a liver transplant), "The Beatles:Rock Band" video game will debut for sale from North America to Australia.

The game's debut will mark the Fab Four's first leap into the world of digiral music. And their launch on iTunes -- currently held up by fears of digital piracy, among other issues -- may indeed soon follow.

Just perhaps not on Wednesday.

Jimmy Page, Jack White vexed by music videogames

Videogames like Rock Band and Guitar Hero may be one of the few bright lights in the flailing music industry, but real-life guitar heroes like Jimmy Page and Jack White are unimpressed.

“If you start with the first track on the first (self-titled Led Zeppelin) album, “Good Times Bad Times,” and you think of the drum part that John Bonham did there, how many drummers in the world can actually play that? Let alone Dad on a Christmas morning? There might be a lot of alcohol to be consumed over Christmas, he still ain’t gonna get it,” Led Zeppelin founder Page told journalists at a Beverly Hills news conference on Friday.

Added White, the frontman for the White Stripes: “I do know it’s depressing to have a label come and tell you that this is how kids are learning about music and experiencing music. That’s like the only outlet now, that you have to put it in a videogame to get it in front of them. That’s a little sad. But I don’t like to tell people what format that they get things in … But I do think there’s a loss of romance.”

The duo, along with U2 axeman the Edge, co-star in the feature documentary “It Might Get Loud,” which opens in New York and Los Angeles on Aug. 14. The film, from Oscar-winning director Davis Guggenheim (“An Inconvenient Truth”), depicts each rocker’s romance with his guitar, and climaxes on a Hollywood soundstage where they jam and swap war stories.

“There are a lot of great guitar players who are virtuosos who can be note-perfect and can play extraordinary ways, but only a few I think that are searchers,” Guggenheim said of his casting choices. “We were just trying to find three really fascinating people who are still searching, and still trying to tell their story.”

The Edge is rehearsing for U2′s upcoming world tour, so he was unable to attend the press event. Asked whether the film might inspire more-formal collaborations between Page and White, both were cagey.

Bridge your “generation” gap with Rock Band, The Who

So you don’t agree with your kids’ choice in rock music? Don’t like the sounds of Green Day or Good Charlotte or, perhaps, you’ve never even heard of those bands. Well, parents take heart, you can school your kids about iconic 1960s hits from British Invasion superband The Who on the video game, “Rock Band,” which maybe your kids have or want to have.

The makers of the best-selling video game will release twelve downloadable songs from The Who on July 15, including legendary hits such as “My Generation” and “Who Are You.”

“I’m of fan of ‘Rock Band,’” Who guitarist Pete Townsend said on the band’s website. “I play the game with my son and girlfriend and love the way it brings different generations together through music. I like the idea that people of all ages will be having fun playing our songs.”

“Rock Band” makers Harmonix Music Systems Inc, Electronic Arts and MTV Games consulted with Townsend and Who lead singer Roger Daltrey to hand pick the twelve songs. A list can be found on The Who’s Web site, www.thewho.com.

The release of The Who’s songs on “Rock Band” comes on the heels of another famed rock group’s video game launch. Rival Activision released its latest addition to the Guitar Hero series, “Guitar Hero: Aerosmith,” last Friday. The game features 30 Aerosmith hits and caricature versions of band members rocking out on stage.

Let the video game battle of the bands begin.

(Reporting by Jennifer Martinez)