Warrants issued for country artist Shaver
LORENA, Texas, April 3 (UPI) -- Warrants were issued for the arrest of country singer-songwriter Billy Joe Shaver following a weekend shooting in a Texas bar, police said.
Police said Shaver was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and unlawfully carrying a gun on the premises of a business selling alcohol for on-premises consumption, The (Nashville) Tennessean said Tuesday.
Shaver allegedly shot a man in the face Saturday night outside of Papa Joe's Texas Saloon in the Waco, Texas, suburb of Lorena, said John Moran, city manager and chief of police. The man was hospitalized after the incident and was listed in stable condition.
Shaver, 67, has been cooperating with the investigation, his Austin, Texas, attorney Joseph Turner, told the newspaper.
Shaver's songs have been recorded by Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson and Elvis Presley. A 2006 inductee into the Texas Music Hall of Fame, Shaver recently collaborated with Big & Rich on an updated version of his song "Live Forever."
EU to probe iTunes' charges for downloads
BRUSSELS, April 3 (UPI) -- The European Union is investigating rates Apple's online music store iTunes charges European users, accusing it of inhibiting customer choice.
The EU said it believes agreements between Apple and record companies violate EU laws by not allowing users in one country to buy music from a site elsewhere, the BBC said Tuesday.
EU officials have written to iTunes and several record companies, notifying them of the EU's objections to the way music is sold.
A complaint from a British download company Which? claims British users have to pay more to download songs than people elsewhere. Research by Which? in 2005 found that British users paid $1.55 to download a song compared with the $1.32 fee in France and Germany.
Apple said it wanted to offer a single Europe-wide service but its music partners restricted such a plan.
"We were advised by the music labels and publishers that there were certain legal limits to the rights they could grant us," Apple officials said in a statement.
Gay radio show a hit
SAN FRANCISCO, April 3 (UPI) -- San Francisco's only independent radio station says it is finding success with its gay morning show, a first for the nation's commercial radio broadcasters.
John Peake, program director at Energy 92.7 FM, says "Fernando & Greg in the Morning" connects with listeners because the co-hosts "just happen to be gay" and the show doesn't "pander to the community." Listenership is spreading beyond San Francisco through live-streaming via the Internet, the station said in a news release Tuesday.
Fernando Ventura and Greg Sherrell have known each other for a decade, having worked together in Texas. Ventura said when he arrived at Energy 92.7 there was a need for content and Sherrell was a "natural fit."
Sherrell said they have become positive role models for young gays. "We hear from queer youth all over the country that they love tuning into our show because not only can they identify with us, we help reinforce that being gay is normal and it's not something to be ashamed of," Sherrell said.
Ventura added their show "wasn't created to be some sort of political statement" but that he's proud to be a balance to those who have media platforms to portray gays as immoral.
'Shrimp on the barbie' adman dies
SYDNEY, April 3 (UPI) -- Alan "Mo" Morris, the adman who invited an international public to Australia with the promise of "shrimp on the barbie," has died in Sydney at the age of 64.
Morris who died of cancer Sunday, was half of the celebrated advertising team of Mojo, working with Allan "Jo" Johnston to create some of the most memorable ad campaigns not only in Australia but around the globe, The Australian said Tuesday.
The pair was instrumental in turning stand-up comic Paul Hogan into an international star by casting him as the front man for Australian tourism with his pledge of a shrimp barbecue for his guests. The ad is in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington as an example of 20th-century advertising.
Johnston said Tuesday he had lost part of himself with Morris' death.
"We were closer than families in a lot of ways," Johnston said. "We could really second-guess each other's thinking, and it was lucky we were in an era where the kind of stuff we did was acceptable."
Morris had a hand in campaigns hawking margarine, an airline, beer and cigarettes that were voted among the 50 best Australian advertisements of all time.
