Rock News: Music's high and low notes

MY VH1 MUSIC AWARDS

Dave Matthews was the big winner at Sunday night's My VH1 Music Awards '01.

Matthews and violinist Boyd Tinsley -- accepting on behalf of their bandmates -- left Los Angeles' Shrine Auditorium with three awards: My Favorite Group, Must Have Album for "Everyday" and Damn I Wish I Wrote That! (Song of the Year) for "The Space Between." The group was also honored for their fan site nancies.org in the Coolest Fan Website category.

DMB and U2 led the pack with six nominations each coming into the second-annual awards show. But the Irish rockers struck out each time, taking home no awards.

Fans gave the video for "Lady Marmalade" by Christina Aguilera, Lil' Kim, Mya & Pink the Is It Hot in Here or Is It Just My Video? honor, as well as the title of My Favorite Video.

Coldplay was the evening's only other multiple winner -- the British band was dubbed Best Kept Secret and won the Big in Japan (International) award.

Lenny Kravitz picked up My Favorite Male Artist honors, while No Doubt's Gwen Stefani was voted My Favorite Female Artist.

All the winners, as well as the categories and nominations that spawned them, were determined by fan votes cast on VH1.com.

Jon Bon Jovi and his bandmate, Richie Sambora, opened the show with an acoustic rendition of "Here Comes the Sun" in honor of George Harrison, who died last Thursday. The duo's homage was bolstered by images of the former Beatles guitarist flashing on the large video monitor behind them.

Other performers included Creed, Mary J. Blige, Lenny Kravitz and Mick Jagger, Jewel, No Doubt and Nelly Furtado.

The winners:

Must Have Album -- Dave Matthews Band, Everyday

Your Song Kicked Ass but Was Played Too Damn Much --- Staind, "It's Been Awhile"

Welcome to the Big Time -- Alicia Keys

Is It Hot in Here or Is It Just My Video? -- Christina Aguilera, Lil' Kim, Mya & Pink, "Lady Marmalade"

Best Kept Secret -- Coldplay

Damn I Wish I Wrote That! (Song of the Year) --- Dave Matthews Band, "The Space Between"

My Favorite Male Artist -- Lenny Kravitz

My Favorite Female Artist -- Gwen Stefani

My Favorite Group -- Dave Matthews Band

Hottest Live Show -- Bon Jovi

Navel Academy (Best Bellybutton Appearance) -- Britney Spears

My Favorite Video -- Christina Aguilera, Lil' Kim, Mya & Pink, "Lady Marmalade"

Best Actor in a Video --- Christopher Walken, Fatboy Slim's "Weapon of Choice"

There's No "I" in Team (Best Collaboration) --- All-Star Tribute, "What's Going On"

Coolest Fan Web site -- Dave Matthews Band, nancies.org

Big in Japan (International) --- Coldplay

GEORGE HARRISON'S LAST ALBUM

A last album of former George Harrison's music was being finished in secrecy in the months before his death.

That's according to the Sunday Times, which reported Harrison played the new tracks to his family and friends at a Los Angeles hospital four days before he died on Thursday after a long battle with cancer.

"His wife Olivia and son Dhani seem certain to release the CD as a tribute to Harrison's courage in the face of the cancer that killed him at the age of 58," the newspaper said.

It said the new release could repeat the success of John Lennon and Yoko Ono's "Double Fantasy" album, which sold millions of copies during the international outpouring of grief that followed Lennon's murder in New York in December 1980.

Harrison gave the album the working title of "Portrait of a Leg End," a pun on his celebrity.

According to news media reports, Harrison had been working on 25 unreleased tracks in a studio at his Friar Park mansion at Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire. A few tracks date to the 1980s and others are new. Some allude to traumatic personal events -- including the attempt on his life by an intruder who broke into the mansion in December 1999 and stabbed him.

"The tracks were part of a concerted effort by Harrison in his final months to put his musical legacy in order: He remastered and re-released All Things Must Pass, his 1970 hit album, earlier this year and was planning to reissue other albums as well as to complete his new music," the newspaper said.

GOO GOO DOLLS

The Goo Goo Dolls are in a Los Angeles studio putting finishing touches on their seventh album, "Gutterflower." Warner Bros. Records reports band members John Rzeznik, Robby Takac and Mike Malinin have recorded 12 songs for the disc, which is due out in 2002.

Meanwhile, now through Dec. 17, Rzeznik's 1967 Pontiac GTO will be on the auction block on VH1 and eBay. The classic car is white with black interior and is being auctioned off with other one-of-a-kind rock collectibles and memorabilia, with proceeds benefiting VH1's Save the Music Foundation.

(Web site: googoodolls.com)

JINGLE BALL

Sugar Ray, Shaggy and Jessica Simpson will perform Dec. 14 at Jingle Ball, a concert benefiting Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Bay Area. The concert will also include performances by Aaron Carter, Christina Milian and Crystal Waters as well as video appearances by the Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears and Jennifer Lopez.

Jingle Ball is being held at the Compaq Center in San Jose, Calif.

EMINEM

Some suburban Detroit residents are upset at plans to burn a home and raze two others for a scene in a biographical film about Eminem.

Producers say it will make the movie more realistic to set fire to the empty house. But about 50 people held a protest rally as the Highland Park, Mich., City Council considered the moviemakers' request.

Those behind the film have promised to give a high school lecture about the film industry and make a $2,000 charitable contribution. Executive Producer Carol Fenelon says the movie will

be "really serious."

The city's emergency financial manager has suggested she'll give the needed approval, even though the city council has voted unanimously against the proposal.

The town of about 17,000 people is particularly sensitive about the scene because hundreds of buildings were burned and abandoned after an arson spree that lasted several months earlier this year.

(Thanks to UPI's Mike Cooper in Atlanta)

'SHEKINAH 13 ARTISTS'

Epic Records and the Berklee College of Music's Heavy Rotation Records are releasing the first commercial recording to be jointly released by a major record company and a college label.

"Shekinah 13 Artists" is a 13-track, all-female compilation featuring an array of original songs from all genres of music -- including rock, hip-hop, folk and metal --- by Berklee students.

Among the artists: Clare Muldaur ("Bus to You"), daughter of singer/producer Geoff Muldaur; Polina ("Out of my Mind"), daughter of Russian pop diva Anka; and Amanda Williams ("Low"), who recently co-wrote the new Garth Brooks/George Jones hit "Beer Run."

The album is due out Feb. 5.

(Web site: epicrecords.com)