Adele looking for more success at Mercury Awards (AP)

LONDON – British soul singer Adele hopes to cap a spectacular year by winning the Mercury Award for Album of the Year — the U.K. music industry's most prestigious prize for original music.

Adele has been dominating album and single charts across the globe since the release of "21" in January. Her single "Someone Like You" has become the summer anthem of 2011.

She is one of 12 nominees, including four female singer/songwriters — fellow Brit School student Katy B, previous winner PJ Harvey and Anna Calvi, nominated for her self-titled debut album.

Other competition comes from double Brit award winner Tinie Tempah for his hit album "Disc-Overy," and previous Mercury winners Elbow, whose album, "Build A Rocket Boys!" is enjoying widespread acclaim.

London's Grosvenor Hotel hosts the awards show Tuesday night.

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Obama hits Broadway looking for campaign cash (AP)

NEW YORK – President Barack Obama turned to the bright lights of Broadway and celebrity backers Thursday night to raise money for his re-election bid.

The presidential motorcade crisscrossed Manhattan as Obama worked his way through three events that raised money for the Democratic Party and his 2012 campaign. Key Obama fundraisers have been asked to raise $60 million for that effort by the end of June.

The fundraisers included an event on a Broadway stage, where Obama spoke to supporters who bought tickets, starting at $100, to watch a performance of the musical "Sister Act."

The fundraisers were part of a two-day trip that took Obama away from Washington as Republicans pulled out of debt-reduction talks and pressed the president to take a more active role in the negotiations.

Obama opened his fundraising trip with a quick stop at the upstate New York military base Fort Drum, where he defended his freshly unveiled plans to bring 33,000 troops home from Afghanistan by September 2012.

But in New York City, his agenda was all about raising money and urging ambivalent supporters to open their wallets again, even though they may be dissatisfied with some of his policies over the past two years.

At a high-dollar dinner at the exclusive New York restaurant Daniel, Obama urged his supporters to recapture the enthusiasm from the 2008 campaign, even though he's now "old news."

"I know that it's not going to be exactly the same as when I was young and vibrant and new," he said.

Ticket prices for the dinner were $35,800 a person.

Obama also turned to some celebrities to make the case for his re-election.

At a fundraiser for gays and lesbians, actor Neil Patrick Harris touted Obama's work in overturning the military's "don't ask, don't tell" ban on openly gay service members.

Later, Obama ducked into the Broadway Theater after the conclusion of "Sister Act" so he could speak to donors. Actress Whoopi Goldberg, one of the show's producers, introduced the president and told the crowd Obama needs four more years to finish the job he has started.

With Obama's 2012 campaign kicking into high gear, advisers are telling donors privately that they hope to match or exceed the $750 million raised in 2008. Some estimates say the 2012 re-election campaign could pull in $1 billion.

Republicans were quick to criticize Obama's fundraising blitz through Manhattan.

"While President Obama tries to escape the pressures of his failed economic policies with a fundraiser in New York, millions remain out of work and are beginning to realize that the only job our president is concerned about is his own," said Ryan Tronovitch, spokesman for the Republican National Committee.

From New York, Obama was heading to Pittsburgh, where he was to speak at a manufacturing event Friday.

The money raised at Thursday's events go to the Obama Victory Fund, a joint fundraising account by the Democratic National Committee and Obama's campaign.

At Victory Fund events, the first $5,000 of a donor's contribution goes to the presidential campaign and the remainder goes to the DNC, up to a maximum of $30,800 a year.

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Obama hits Broadway looking for campaign cash (AP)

NEW YORK – President Barack Obama turned to the bright lights of Broadway and celebrity backers Thursday night to raise money for his re-election bid.

The presidential motorcade crisscrossed Manhattan as Obama worked his way through three events that raised money for the Democratic Party and his 2012 campaign. Key Obama fundraisers have been asked to raise $60 million for that effort by the end of June.

The fundraisers included an event on a Broadway stage, where Obama spoke to supporters who bought tickets, starting at $100, to watch a performance of the musical "Sister Act."

The fundraisers were part of a two-day trip that took Obama away from Washington as Republicans pulled out of debt-reduction talks and pressed the president to take a more active role in the negotiations.

Obama opened his fundraising trip with a quick stop at the upstate New York military base Fort Drum, where he defended his freshly unveiled plans to bring 33,000 troops home from Afghanistan by September 2012.

But in New York City, his agenda was all about raising money and urging ambivalent supporters to open their wallets again, even though they may be dissatisfied with some of his policies over the past two years.

At a high-dollar dinner at the exclusive New York restaurant Daniel, Obama urged his supporters to recapture the enthusiasm from the 2008 campaign, even though he's now "old news."

"I know that it's not going to be exactly the same as when I was young and vibrant and new," he said.

Ticket prices for the dinner were $35,800 a person.

Obama also turned to some celebrities to make the case for his re-election.

At a fundraiser for gays and lesbians, actor Neil Patrick Harris touted Obama's work in overturning the military's "don't ask, don't tell" ban on openly gay service members.

Later, Obama ducked into the Broadway Theater after the conclusion of "Sister Act" so he could speak to donors. Actress Whoopi Goldberg, one of the show's producers, introduced the president and told the crowd Obama needs four more years to finish the job he has started.

With Obama's 2012 campaign kicking into high gear, advisers are telling donors privately that they hope to match or exceed the $750 million raised in 2008. Some estimates say the 2012 re-election campaign could pull in $1 billion.

Republicans were quick to criticize Obama's fundraising blitz through Manhattan.

"While President Obama tries to escape the pressures of his failed economic policies with a fundraiser in New York, millions remain out of work and are beginning to realize that the only job our president is concerned about is his own," said Ryan Tronovitch, spokesman for the Republican National Committee.

From New York, Obama was heading to Pittsburgh, where he was to speak at a manufacturing event Friday.

The money raised at Thursday's events go to the Obama Victory Fund, a joint fundraising account by the Democratic National Committee and Obama's campaign.

At Victory Fund events, the first $5,000 of a donor's contribution goes to the presidential campaign and the remainder goes to the DNC, up to a maximum of $30,800 a year.

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Jane's Addiction looking to future with new album (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Advancing middle age has only sharpened the edgy instincts of Jane's Addiction, one of the first alternative rock groups to achieve mainstream recognition in the 1980s.

The group's three core members, racing to finish their first album in eight years for a September release, are wary of being sidetracked by past glories while trying to take their youthful, genre-bending musical idealism in new directions.

"I wanna be important to your past and your history. But I also wanna be part of this year and next year and the year after that," singer Perry Farrell, 52, told Reuters on Wednesday.

So how are they doing that? By embracing modern technology with more gusto than usual to create music using loops and electronics. The half-finished album already has a name, "The Great Escape Artist," a nod to the band's deft maneuvers through the musical landscape.

"If you're using old equipment to write your music and play the music and perform your music, your music is gonna sound stale. You need to learn current equipment because it's vital to have a fresh sound," Farrell said.

Jane's Addiction emerged from the Los Angeles rock underground in the mid-1980s, quickly distinguishing itself from other post-punk groups. Farrell's sexually ambiguous stagecraft and childlike vocals were complemented by guitarist Dave Navarro's power riffs, Stephen Perkins' tribal drumming, and Eric Avery's simple, melodic bass.

HONORED IN HOLLYWOOD

"They're a band that could have happened nowhere else and a band that sounds like the city in which they were formed," Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello said. "You can hear the violence, the drugs, the beauty, the ocean, the hope, smog, fear and redemptive power of our city in Jane's music."

Morello hailed the band as its members left their handprints in wet cement at the Guitar Center RockWalk, a Hollywood shrine to rock bands and the bluesmen who begat them.

Unlikely hit songs such as their plaintive ballad "Jane Says" played on the speaker system as Farrell, Navarro and Perkins smiled for the cameras. They were joined by current touring bassist Chris Chaney, one of five musicians to fill in for the on-again, off-again Avery.

"The Great Escape Artist" marks the band's fourth studio album since 1988 and its first since 2003's "Strays." A video for the new song "End to the Lies" was released last week.

Other tracks will include "Irresistible Force," described by Navarro as having "some magic captured on it," and the lengthy "Splash a Little Water," which he termed "kinda ambient and cinematic."

How does the album fit into the pop-oriented musical scene?

"Hopefully it doesn't," said Navarro, who turns 44 next Tuesday. "We've really never been ones to fit into anything, and I think that's why we're here today."

A key driver of the new sound is electronics expert Dave Sitek, who took time off from his day job as guitarist with New York-based rock band TV on the Radio to help out on bass. Farrell described him as "a mad genius."

Sitek's presence has helped energize Jane's Addiction, whose existence has been marked by multiple breakups and reunions, drug problems and personal spats. The band expects to tour for about a year once the album comes out.

"Right now, there's this kind of a (Vitamin) B12 shot we got in the ass, and we feel juiced up about each other," said Perkins, 43. "As long as that lasts, let's keep doing it. There is something to say about getting along."

(Editing by Will Dunham)

(This story was corrected in paragraph eight to reflect the name of the Guitar Center RockWalk)

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Jane's Addiction looking to future with new album (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Advancing middle age has only sharpened the edgy instincts of Jane's Addiction, one of the first alternative rock groups to achieve mainstream recognition in the 1980s.

The group's three core members, racing to finish their first album in eight years for a September release, are wary of being sidetracked by past glories while trying to take their youthful, genre-bending musical idealism in new directions.

"I wanna be important to your past and your history. But I also wanna be part of this year and next year and the year after that," singer Perry Farrell, 52, told Reuters on Wednesday.

So how are they doing that? By embracing modern technology with more gusto than usual to create music using loops and electronics. The half-finished album already has a name, "The Great Escape Artist," a nod to the band's deft maneuvers through the musical landscape.

"If you're using old equipment to write your music and play the music and perform your music, your music is gonna sound stale. You need to learn current equipment because it's vital to have a fresh sound," Farrell said.

Jane's Addiction emerged from the Los Angeles rock underground in the mid-1980s, quickly distinguishing itself from other post-punk groups. Farrell's sexually ambiguous stagecraft and childlike vocals were complemented by guitarist Dave Navarro's power riffs, Stephen Perkins' tribal drumming, and Eric Avery's simple, melodic bass.

HONORED IN HOLLYWOOD

"They're a band that could have happened nowhere else and a band that sounds like the city in which they were formed," Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello said. "You can hear the violence, the drugs, the beauty, the ocean, the hope, smog, fear and redemptive power of our city in Jane's music."

Morello hailed the band as its members left their handprints in wet cement at the RockWalk, a Hollywood shrine to rock bands and the bluesmen who begat them.

Unlikely hit songs such as their plaintive ballad "Jane Says" played on the speaker system as Farrell, Navarro and Perkins smiled for the cameras. They were joined by current touring bassist Chris Chaney, one of five musicians to fill in for the on-again, off-again Avery.

"The Great Escape Artist" marks the band's fourth studio album since 1988 and its first since 2003's "Strays." A video for the new song "End to the Lies" was released last week.

Other tracks will include "Irresistible Force," described by Navarro as having "some magic captured on it," and the lengthy "Splash a Little Water," which he termed "kinda ambient and cinematic."

How does the album fit into the pop-oriented musical scene?

"Hopefully it doesn't," said Navarro, who turns 44 next Tuesday. "We've really never been ones to fit into anything, and I think that's why we're here today."

A key driver of the new sound is electronics expert Dave Sitek, who took time off from his day job as guitarist with New York-based rock band TV on the Radio to help out on bass. Farrell described him as "a mad genius."

Sitek's presence has helped energize Jane's Addiction, whose existence has been marked by multiple breakups and reunions, drug problems and personal spats. The band expects to tour for about a year once the album comes out.

"Right now, there's this kind of a (Vitamin) B12 shot we got in the ass, and we feel juiced up about each other," said Perkins, 43. "As long as that lasts, let's keep doing it. There is something to say about getting along."

(Editing by Will Dunham)

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This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.