Snoop Dogg Denied Visa for U.K. Concerts

LONDON -- British authorities denied rapper Snoop Dogg a visa for a series of planned concerts, publicists for his tour said in a statement Saturday.
Snoop Dogg, co-headlining a European tour with fellow star P Diddy, had been expected to play five dates in Britain.

"Snoop and his team are mystified at the decision and are hoping that the British government will reconsider this decision," spokeswoman Celena Aponte said in a statement. "He has asked how he can help rectify the situation and would happily talk to and give assurances to the officials."
Whatever the outcome, a planned concert at London's Wembley Arena on Tuesday will go ahead with P Diddy and the rest of the show, she said.
A spokeswoman for the Home Office said she couldn't comment on an individual case, but did point out that foreign citizens could be barred from entering the country if there were concerns about their presence.
"The Home Secretary has the power to refuse entry clearance to non-U.K. citizens if he considers that their presence here would not be conducive to the public good," said the spokeswoman, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with department policy.
In April 2006, the rapper, whose real name is Calvin Broadus, and five other men were arrested on charges of violent disorder and starting a brawl, and spent the night in jail after trouble flared when some in his party were denied entry to British Airways' first class lounge at Heathrow Airport.
Seven officers received minor injuries — mainly cuts and bruises — and one suffered a fracture to the hand.
Snoop Dogg was previously barred from entering Britain in May 2006.

The Associated Press

Discord in Boston After Delp Suicide

CONCORD, N.H. -- The band Boston spoke to people's souls during the 1970s with smash hits like "More Than a Feeling" and "Peace of Mind." But two weeks after lead singer Brad Delp's suicide at his New Hampshire home, bad feelings abound. Current members of the band, including the chief songwriter and founder, Tom Scholz, were not informed about or invited to Delp's funeral, which was attended by early band members who opposed Scholz in a 1980s legal battle.
Last week, Delp's ex-wife Micki was quoted on a radio station saying Delp was distressed about the conflicts in his professional life and became despondent after a longtime friend, Fran Cosmo, was cut from Boston's summer concert lineup. The story spread online, where fans trying to figure out the reason for Delp's suicide took up the cudgels.
Scholz, who called Delp his "closest friend and collaborator in music for over 35 years," said he was crushed by Delp's suicide and his exclusion from the funeral. Now he feels he is being unfairly blamed for Delp's death.
"It went from devastating on the initial phone call to an absolute nightmare," Scholz told The Associated Press on Friday in a tearful telephone interview, his first since Delp's death on March 9. (An interview conducted by e-mail was published earlier in Rolling Stone.)
"We had been told it would only be his immediate family (at the funeral), and of course it wasn't," he said.
A lawyer for Scholz sent a letter to Micki Delp on Friday demanding a retraction. She did not immediately respond Friday to an e-mail message from The Associated Press via the publicist who has handled statements for the family.
Boston has canceled its summer engagements, and Scholz said he still hopes the rift can be mended and the band can be part of a public memorial service that Delp's children and fiancee, Pamela Sullivan, said last week was in the works.
Tensions between Scholz and some of the early band members date from the early 1980s, when CBS Inc. sued the band over delays in recording new albums. The company's Epic Records label recorded the band's first two releases: "Boston," in 1976, and "Don't Look Back," in 1978.
Scholz countersued for the rights to the band's name and music. Three members of the original band — Barry Goudreau, Sib Hashian and Fran Sheehan — testified for the record company, which lost. Goudreau is Micki Delp's brother-in-law, and she reportedly remains close to the ousted band members.
Delp, the only band member besides Scholz whose name was on the CBS recording contract, remained friends with everyone, touring and recording with Scholz and the others over the decades. He also started a Beatles tribute band, Beatle Juice.
Scholz wrote, engineered, and laid down nearly all the instrumental tracks on the first album, but he said Delp helped him refine the songs and brought his music to life.
"It went from a guitar lick that didn't mean a thing to a real song as soon as he opened his mouth. That was always the case," Scholz said. "We had a very, very close working relationship. I swear it was like we were hooked up by a cable. We didn't even have to talk most of the time."
Scholz and Delp were both vegetarians and pacifists, both dedicated their money and talents to causes they believed in, and both proposed to their longtime girlfriends on Christmas Day 2006 by putting rings in their stockings — only learning about the coincidence in a conversation afterward.
The band's first album was wildly successful, and remains one of the best-selling debut albums of all time, according to Billboard, selling more than 16 million copies. Boston's early music also remains a staple on classic rock stations, especially in New England.
96.5 FM ("The Mill") in Manchester plans a two-hour tribute to Boston on Sunday featuring excerpts from the station's interviews with Delp over the years. Program Director J.C. Haze said he remembers hearing the first album.
"Tom and Brad, they made such a unique sound it just took the world by storm," Haze said. "Nothing ever sounded like it, and nothing ever did since."

The Associated Press

Kanye West Gets Food Delivery From U.K.

LONDON -- If Kanye West were to walk into the British Raj's dining room and order dinner, it would cost the rapper about $17.50. But since the restaurant is delivering — from Wales to New York — it's going to cost a bit more.
For a feast of onion bhajees, chapati breads, biryanis, pappadums, a specially prepared fish dish and vegetables on the side, the bill will top $3,900, plus travel and accommodation for the restaurant's head chef.
The meal was requested for West and seven guests by a music promotion company, the restaurant said Sunday. The company had previously ordered food from the restaurant near Cardiff, Wales, for an after-show party for a Snoop Dogg concert in London.
But this is different. Normally, they don't deliver outside a 3-mile radius of the restaurant, which is about 150 miles west of London.
"I was horrified when I heard about this request because of the distance involved," said the restaurant's head waiter, Tarik Mohammed. "It's a long way, and our reputation is on the line. We are doing every thing to make sure the food gets there safely and every thing is aboveboard."
The meal will be prepared, cooled, shrink-wrapped and packed in dry ice in the British Raj's kitchens and — along with head chef Kaysor Ahmed — will be helicoptered from Wales to London's Heathrow Airport on Tuesday.
From there, the chef is to hop a flight to New York — monitoring the food's temperature all the way — clear customs, and head for Manhattan, where the meal is to be served during a meeting Wednesday.
The fee was arrived at by estimating the restaurant's takings for two evenings, the time Ahmed will be away, Mohammed said.

The Associated Press