Dave Matthews Band sax player dies | Glitter gets barred from Hong Kong
Published Thursday August 21st, 2008
Dave Matthews Band saxophone player LeRoi Moore, one of the group's founding members and a key part of its eclectic jazz-infused sound, died Tuesday from injuries he sustained in an all-terrain vehicle accident in June. He was 46.
The band released a statement on its website confirming Moore died at Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center.
Moore was initially hospitalized in late June after the ATV accident on his farm outside Charlottesville, Va. He was later discharged and had recently returned to his Los Angeles home to begin a physical rehabilitation program when complications forced him back to the hospital on July 17, the band said.
It was not immediately clear what complications occurred. Galina Shinder, a nursing supervisor at Hollywood Presbyterian, said the hospital could not release any details.
Ambrosia Healy, the band's publicist, said the band's show Tuesday night in Los Angeles was not canceled. Saxophonist Jeff Coffin, who played with Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, had been sitting in for Moore during the band's summer tour.
Moore had classical training but said jazz was his main musical influence, according to a biography on the band's website.
"But at this stage I don't really consider myself a jazz musician," Moore said in the biography. Playing with the Dave Matthews Band was "almost better than a jazz gig," he said. "I have plenty of space to improvise, to try new ideas."
Lead singer Dave Matthews credited Moore with arranging many of his songs.
The band formed in the early 1990s in Charlottesville and broke out of the local music scene with the album Under the Table and Dreaming. The band won a Grammy Award in 1997 for its hit song So Much to Say off its second album Crash.
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Officials of Memphis International Airport say they probably won't change the airport's name to honour the late singer Isaac Hayes.
During a memorial service for Hayes on Monday, U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen publicly suggested changing the name of the airport.
Airport board chairman Arnold Perl told The Commercial Appeal newspaper that Memphis is one of the most respected and recognized brands in the world.
Perl said Hayes was a great ambassador for Memphis but the current airport name best serves the city's needs.
Hayes died Aug. 10 of an apparent stroke at age 65.
Cohen said Tuesday he was drafting a letter to the Airport Authority formally making the suggestion to change the airport name.
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Convicted pedophile rocker Gary Glitter's search for a country that would accept him continued Wednesday, as China refused him permission to enter Hong Kong, said a British diplomatic official.
The fallen British glam rocker served nearly three years in a Vietnamese prison for molesting children. He was released on Tuesday, first flew to Thailand and then flew to Hong Kong Wednesday night, after refusing to return to England.
But a spokeswoman for the British Foreign Office said Chinese authorities refused to allow him into Hong Kong. She said it was unclear what would happen to Glitter next and that his current status was a matter for the Chinese authorities.
She spoke on condition of anonymity, in line with government policy.
Thailand also didn't want him.
Lt. Gen. Chatchawal Suksomchit, the chief of Thailand's immigration police, said Glitter was denied entry because under Thai immigration laws those convicted of child sex abuse in a foreign country can be barred.
But another officer said his department received a note from Vietnam and Interpol requesting that Glitter not be allowed entry into Thailand. The official spoke on condition of anonymity since he was not authorized to speak to the press.
Col. Voravat Amornvivat of the Immigration Police division said Thai Airways told him that Glitter, who had been in the transit area of Bangkok's international airport since Tuesday night, had taken the airline's evening flight to the Chinese territory.
An airline official said Glitter was listed on the passenger manifest of the flight under his real name, Paul Francis Gadd.
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Former Guns N' Roses drummer Steven Adler has pleaded not guilty to drug charges and will remain in rehab for at least the next month.
Adler appeared in Los Angeles Superior Court Wednesday morning with a friend and therapist. A judge ordered him to remain in rehab while he awaits a preliminary hearing on a felony charge of drug possession and a misdemeanour count of being under the influence of drugs.
Los Angeles police arrested him last month and he was freed on $10,000 (U.S.) bail.
Adler's lawyer said the 43-year-old musician's recovery was being monitored by celebrity rehab specialist Dr. Drew Pinsky. Adler has a long history of drug use. He performed on the early Guns N' Roses albums but was later fired.
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Musician, artist and bicycling enthusiast David Byrne has designed nine unusual bike racks that have been installed around New York City.
The Department of Transportation says the artistic installations by the Talking Heads singer are meant to spark interest in bicycling.
Each rack reflects its location. A guitar-shaped rack named Hipster has been placed in Brooklyn's trendy Williamsburg neighbourhood. A rack that looks like a dollar sign is in the Wall Street area.
Byrne was one of the founders of the music group Talking Heads in the 1970s. He's been publishing and exhibiting his artworks over the last decade.
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