Newsmakers

March 12, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Newsmakers

Conan O’Brien will take show to theaters

NEW YORK

Without a TV show to do every night, Conan O’Brien is taking his act on the road.

The former host of “The Tonight Show” announced a 30-city theater tour Thursday. Sidekick Andy Richter and the former “Tonight Show” band will join O’Brien for what he promises to be “a night of music, comedy, hugging and the occasional awkward silence.”

The “Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour” begins April 12 in Eugene, Ore., and concludes June 14 in Atlanta. It will visit theaters in at least 20 states and two Canadian provinces. Neither Pittsburgh nor Cleveland were included in the tour, but additional dates may be added.

O’Brien quipped: “It was either a massive 30-city tour or start helping out around the house.”

On the itinerary is New York’s Radio City Music Hall, just steps from where O’Brien first gained fame hosting “Late Night,” and the Gibson Amphitheater in Universal City, Calif., near the studio where he presided over “The Tonight Show” for eight months.

Pink Floyd wins battle over online sales

LONDON

In a victory for the concept album, Britain’s High Court on Thursday ordered record company EMI Group Ltd. to stop selling downloads of Pink Floyd tracks individually rather than as part of the band’s original records.

The prog-rock group sued the music label, saying its contract prohibited selling the tracks “unbundled” from their original album setting.

Pink Floyd lawyer Robert Howe said the band was known for producing “seamless” pieces of music on albums like “Dark Side of the Moon,” “The Division Bell” and “The Wall,” and wanted to retain artistic control.

EMI claimed the clause in the band’s contract — negotiated a decade ago, before the advent of iTunes and other online retailers — applied only to physical albums, not Internet sales.

Judge Andrew Morritt backed the band, saying the contract protected “the artistic integrity of the albums.