Daily Digest: Joss Stone, Rick Ross, Mike D, Bon Jovi

Posted April 4, 2013 by J Matthew Cobb in News

In the latest music news: plotters to kill Joss Stone found guilty; Rick Ross faces the music of protesters; a Beastie is passing out the grub; Bon Jovi guitarist calls it quits…for now

No Stone Unturned

In case you missed the memo on this side of the pond, a bit of justice was served in the case of two men who allegedly tried to rob and murder UK singer Joss Stone at her home in Devon. Junior Bradshaw, 32, and Kevin Liverpool, 35, were both found guilty in the case. Evidence pointed out that the two traveled to the country from Manchester with armed weapons and notes detailing their plans to behead her.

Liverpool was jailed for life with a minimum term of ten years and eight monts at Exeter Crown Court, while Brandshaw’s sentencing has been postponed due to pending psychiatric observations.

Joss’s mother, Wendy Joseph, spoke to the press on the outside of the courtroom after the verdict was announced. “Joss would like to thank everyone for their support and all their good wishes,” she says. “The whole family is relieved the trial is over and these men are no longer in a position to cause harm to anyone.”

Big Trouble

Rick Ross is in a world of trouble after lyrics suggesting he’s a proud endorser of date-rape surfaced.

“Put molly all in her champagne/she ain’t even know it/I took her home and I enjoyed that/she ain’t even know it,” he rhymed on a track hosted by rapper Rocko called “U.O.E.N.O.,” which made headlines last week. This week, media is reacting, and Ross is responding.

The blogosphere and even the rap community is opening fire on Ross, calling it a serious blunder on his career.

A petition with over 71,000 signatures is now circulating the web and the women’s rights organization UltraViolet plans to bark in front of Reebok’s flagship store in NYC to demand the company sever its endorsement deal with Ross. On Q93.3 (Miami), Ross came out to defend himself by saying that the lyric has been overly criticized and that he respects women. He calls the whole ordeal a “misunderstanding.”

That’s not sitting well with the media, the public, or his closest fans.

This lyric is obviously promoting rape,” hip hop activist Rosa Clemente stated. ”Not just date rape, but rape and rape culture and violence against women. We live in a society by the time that African American women and Latina women are 18, almost half of them — 44 percent — have been sexually abused.”

Ross is also making news after being the target of a recent gun shooting in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. No bystanders were armed, nor was Ross and his party, but two witnesses have stated that “three or four men in an older-model, four-door red or maroon BMW sedan opened fire from a passenger window before fleeing north on Southeast 16th Avenue,” according to police reports. Video footage has been confiscated from the area and will probably help authorities in determining who the involved parties were.

Mickey D’s Meals on Wheels

Beastie Boy Michael Diamond (a.k.a. Mike D) is giving back to the community and and doing it with a whole lot of flavor. It’s a bit of good news we all love to hear. Rockaway Lunch Plate, his latest business venture, is a gratis food truck that he co-owns with good friend Robert McKinley. Mike D decided to take his truck into the devastated parts of Queens, New York and helped with supplying them with free food, supply donations and service. The menu includes chicken, rice, beans and veggies, according to Stereogum.

We saw right away all these people living without any power, without any businesses being open, and therefore, no food. We saw the immediate need for warm food, but we didn’t have time to put together a long-term cohesive plan, we just had to react quickly. Rob comes from the hotel and restaurant business, and with myself, being involved in a couple of restaurants and just knowing all the friends in that world, we were able to draw on a bunch of these contacts and start bringing food out from restaurants in the city. But we quickly saw, to get a lot of people fed and to have something warm we needed a truck. So we went to Sam Talbot, the Breslin/Spotted Pig team, and the Fat Radish people and said ‘hey, we’re going to get this food truck going, but can you guys provide us with chefs and cooking expertise to execute this?’ Thankfully, people were already looking for a way that people could be of service out there and this was a super grassroots, very direct way that they could.

To date, Rockaway Lunch Plate has supplied 19,000 meals and is still operating their services to the area.

Read more in this story by clicking the link below:

http://stereogum.com/1309321/mike-d-runs-a-free-food-truck-for-hurricane-sandy-victims/news/

Nothing to Be Jovial About

Richie Sambora, songwriter and guitarist for Bon Jovi, is bowing out from the rest of the Bon Jovi 2013 tour until further notice. Reasons of the departure have not been disclosed, but reports are saying it is because of “personal issues..”

What has been revealed has been made public on the band’s website:

“Due to personal issues, Richie Sambora will not be performing on this upcoming leg. All shows will go on as scheduled.”

The tour, which kicked off this Tuesday in Calgary, AB (Canada), opened without Sambora on stage, leaving frontman Jon Bon Jovi to apologize to the restless crowd over his disappearing act. “Hey Calgary, I need you more than ever tonight,” he said, according to a report made by the Calgary Sun. “If you haven’t heard by now…I got the phone call at about 3:30 this afternoon. We had two choices; pack up and go home or come up here and give you everything we got.” The current tour, which plans to make fifteen stops across North America, ends April 25 in San Jose, California.

According to their website, Canadian session guitarist Phil X will be filling in for the departed Sambora.