Thursday, September 22, 2011
NEWSMAKERS
The end of the world: R.E.M. calling it quits
NEW YORK
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame group R.E.M. announced on its website Wednesday that it has “decided to call it a day as a band.”
“A wise man once said — ‘the skill in attending a party is knowing when it’s time to leave.’ We built something extraordinary together. We did this thing. And now we’re going to walk away from it,” frontman Michael Stipe said in a statement on the website.
The group, composed of Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck and bassist Mike Mills, released its debut album “Murmur” in 1983; at the time it was a quartet, with drummer Bill Berry. He left the group in 1997, two years after he suffered symptoms of an aneurysm onstage.
The group got its start in Athens, Ga., coming out of a flourishing indie-rock scene in the region. It’s credited for helping launch college radio with songs such as “Radio Free Europe.” Later, the mainstream caught on, and they became chart-topping rockers, selling millions of albums with hits like “It’s the End of the World as We Know It [And I Feel Fine],” “Losing My Religion” and “Everybody Hurts.”
Book release goes against Assange’s will
LONDON
A long-awaited memoir by WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is finally being published — without his approval.
British publisher Canongate said Wednesday that the book, billed as an “unauthorized autobiography,” will be for sale in stores and online today.
Last year Canongate paid Assange, 40, for the rights to the memoir and Assange began working with a ghostwriter on the book, which he said he hoped would be “one of the unifying documents of our generation.”
Canongate sold rights to more than 30 publishers around the world, including Alfred A. Knopf in the United States.
Bennett apologizes for 9/11 remark
NEW YORK
Tony Bennett says he’s sorry for suggesting the U.S. provoked the 9/11 attacks.
Bennett said Wednesday that he was only expressing his feelings as a pacifist when he said the United States caused the 9/11 attacks by bombing people. He made the comments during an interview on Howard Stern’s radio show Tuesday.
Bennett issued a written statement saying there is no excuse for terrorism and the killing of innocent people in the attacks.
Bennett said that he is a proud World War II veteran, but that his experiences in war and marching with Martin Luther King Jr. had led him to believe that violence begets violence.
Vindicator wire reports