Is hip hop violence back on track after the 2Pac and Biggie tragedies? Run-DMC member Jam Master Jay was murdered on Oct. 30 while working in a New York studio. Police are still investigating the crime, but the funeral service will be held today in Queens. Moreover, three days after Jay’s death, a rap music promoter, Keneth Walker, was mysteriously shot and killed.
The city of vice is the backdrop for this season’s new TV Show, CSI: Miami, which decided to run their sniper episode despite the tragic events in D.C. The story focuses on a forensics team looking for an attacker shooting innocent victims from a Miami high-rise. Eye execs okayed the episode date for Nov. 18 after the alleged snipers, John Allen Muhammad and John Lee Malvo, were arrested. CSI: Miami is the highest rated new show this season and ranks fifth among all prime-time programs.
Howard Stern, E!’s shock jock with a puckish taste for the publicly unmentionable, is executive-producing a remake of the crude 1980s teen sex comedy, Porky’s. He also plans on overseeing an updated version of 1979’s Rock ‘n’ Roll High School. “As a producer, and being immature, obviously [these films] give me the opportunity to bring more stupidity and childishness to a whole new generation,” Stern said in a statement. He added: “If I say to an audience, particularly my audience, this is ‘Howard Stern Presents…,’ it means something to them. It means that it’s going to be crazy. It means it’s going to be different, and they know I’m not going to be giving them any schlock.”
After Metallica’s frontman James Hetfield returned “fully recovered” from rehab, saying that the experience was “challenging” and “gratifying”, the group is currently choosing among 30 recorded songs for their new album, which they expect to finish in January and which might be released in late spring. They also still haven’t replaced their bassist and producer Bob Rock played the basslines during recording.