Stern says refs broke gambling policies, but will change rules rather than issue punishments

By BRIAN MAHONEY, AP Basketball WriterOctober 25, 2007
NEW YORK (AP) -- David Stern acknowledged Thursday that more than half of his 56 referees had violated NBA policies about casino gambling, but said none will be punished because he felt the rules were outdated.
Instead, Stern said he is altering the policies, leaning toward allowing referees to gamble in casinos during the offseason -- except for betting in sports books.
The league's strict gambling policies toward referees became public after the Tim Donaghy scandal. The NBA currently prevents its officials from entering the gaming area of a casino, or doing any betting at all except for going to race tracks during the offseason.
But Stern admitted he did a poor job of enforcing the policies, and with views toward gambling changing, decided he wouldn't "penalize people for behavior that I'm about to change."
"It's too easy to issue rules that are on their faith violated by $5 Nassau, sitting at a poker table, buying a lottery ticket and then we can move along," Stern said after wrapping up the league's Board of Governors meetings. "And by the time I got through and I determined going into a casino isn't a capital offense ... I'm the CEO of the NBA and I'll take responsibility."
Stern also said Stu Jackson and Ronnie Nunn, in charge of monitoring officiating, will both have their roles altered. But he stressed they were being "expanded" rather than demotions -- even though Jackson's job now will be divided between two people and the league will be "cutting down on some of (Nunn's) other responsibilities."
The commissioner stressed there is still no indication that any other officials were involved in illegal gambling activity, but practically all of them violated a league policy that Stern called "too harsh." That included anything from buying lottery tickets to taking part in poker games, betting on college football or taking part in NCAA tournament pools.
Stern ordered a review of the league's entire officiating program after Donaghy pleaded guilty to betting on games he worked and providing information to others to help them win bets. Though the investigation being conducted by former federal prosecutor Lawrence Pedowitz can't be completed until the federal investigation of Donaghy is wrapped up, it has already sparked some changes.
Stern said the league likely will begin listing the names of the crew of referees the morning of the game, and steps will be taken to admit when officiating mistakes were made.
Then there are the changes with Jackson and Nunn, who both came under fire after the scandal broke.
Jackson, the league's executive vice president of basketball operations, will remain in that area, but sometime this season the league will hire a full-time referee operations executive. Jackson will continue to hand out on-court discipline and deal with many of the league's international ventures, but will give up his referee responsibilities.
Nunn, the director of officials, will spend more time on the road training younger officials. The league already has hired Bernie Fryer, who retired last season, to deal with the crew chiefs. Stern said Nunn told him that "it's more valuable for him to be on the road than to do his television show."
"We are broadening and taking more responsibility and we are doing it with the people that we have and we're going to add to them," Stern said, "but certainly it's not a reduction of responsibility."
Stern also reiterated that he is not currently considering any action toward Knicks coach Isiah Thomas or Madison Square Garden chairman James Dolan in the aftermath of the ruling against them in a sexual harassment suit brought by former team executive Anucha Browne Sanders.
The trial did bring another change, however. All team personnel now will be required to set and meet minimum standards regarding sensitivity training and respect in the workplace.
The board heard what "wasn't a very uplifting report" about the situation in Seattle, where there has been no progress on funding for a new arena that would keep the SuperSonics in the city. Stern called himself an optimist but said his "optimism is waning" when it comes to the team's future there.
Donaghy's sentencing has been delayed until January, and Stern said he expects to learn further details about what the former referee did or didn't do, such as making calls to affect games, if he cooperates with investigators. But Stern dismissed the notion that this season is more important than any other because of the scrutiny the league has been under since the summer.
"We evolve, we respond, we grow," he said.

yOOnew.com Launches New Features

October 25, 2007 - 3:43pm —
Online ticket futures exchange yOOnew.com, looking to improve on its options marketplace for sports tickets, has begun allowing fans to “short sell” team options for championship tickets.
The site, which is growing in popularity with fans, has also undergone a redesign and offers real-time price plotting, similar to that on the financial sites of Google and Yahoo!
“Among the things we’ve been concentrating on is making sure the site’s interface is intuitive and easy to use,” said Gerry Wilson, yOOnew co-founder. Fans who use yOOnew are buying a chance to buy a ticket to the playoffs if a specific team makes it that far. The also pay a transaction fee that equates to a percentage of the price of the option, and of course if the team doesn’t make the big game then the fan is out the money they paid for the option.
For example, during a season, ticket options for teams with low odds on reaching the finals are inexpensive, and some options for teams with better odds might be more expensive. But in both cases, those prices are generally lower than what they might cost once the team reaches the finals. In the case of the Colorado Rockies’, for instance, options were selling in August for between $9 and $11. Those options are worth hundreds of dollars now.
The ability to short sell options, Wilson said, lets fans speculate on the price movement for tickets. In the financial world, shorting is the selling of a stock (in this case an option on a ticket) that a person doesn’t own. If the stock (ticket) price drops, the person buys it back at the lower price and keeps the difference between that price and what they originally sold it for. If the stock (ticket) price increases, they lose money.
“In addition to fans, it also allows brokers to hedge some of their risk,” Wilson said. Another new feature is the “Matchup Fantasy Seat” option, which allows a fan to speculate on a two-team matchup. For example, someone could buy an option that the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Dallas Cowboys will make the Super Bowl, which lowers the price of the option because the odds are greater that both teams will make it.
The site can yield a lot of joy for some fans. Connecticut resident Mike Secchiaroli, a Boston Red Sox fan, enjoyed Game 1 World Series tickets Wednesday night that he bought months ago on yOOnew. He paid for four options of $140 each for four tickets and sat with his father, uncle and his wedding’s best man in the rightfield Grand Stand at Fenway Park.
Face value for the tickets was $150 each.
“It was great,” Secchiaroli said. “I wouldn’t have been able to afford some of the high prices that tickets were selling for, so I call this ‘my fan insurance.’ It’s a gamble, but I could go the casino and lose $400 in a couple of hours, or let my money percolate for a few months with the same or better odds.” Had he decided to sell the Red Sox options instead, he said he could have made about $750 each.

By Alfred Branch, Jr.

Weekly Ticket Searches (Oct 14-20)

The following are the top 5 ticket searches (PlatinumTickets.com) for the week of October 14- October 20

• Colorado Rockies Tickets
• National Finals Rodeo (NFR) Tickets
• Van Halen Tickets
• Boston Red Sox Tickets
• Pageant of Masters Tickets

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World Series Tickets on Sale to Public

After suspending the sale of World Series tickets Monday afternoon, the Colorado Rockies announced that the tickets for the three games scheduled to be played at Coors Field will again be put on sale online only at noon on Tuesday, Oct. 23. Fans will once again be directed to the Rockies Web site at www.coloradorockies.com.
"It's been an extremely frustrating day for our fans and the entire Rockies' organization," said Keli McGregor, Rockies team president. "Our Web site, and ultimately our fans and our organization, were the victim of an external, malicious attack that shut down the system and kept our fans from being able to purchase their World Series tickets. Throughout the day we've evaluated all of our options, and we continue to believe that the online sale approach is the most fair and equitable method to distribute the tickets. Our partners at MLB.com and Paciolan have fully assessed the situation and assured us that tomorrow's online sale will go as originally planned."
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WORLD SERIES TICKET UPDATE (onsale)

This morning, after more than 8.5 million hits on the Colorado Rockies website, Paciolan (Pack-ee-o-lan), Major League Baseball's ticket vendor, experienced a system wide outage that impacted all of its North American customers. As a result, the Colorado Rockies have suspended the sale of 2007 World Series tickets scheduled to be played at Coors Field.
"It's been an extremely frustrating morning for our fans and the entire Rockies' organization," said Keli McGregor, Rockies' team president. "We are working diligently with Major League Baseball and Paciolan to resolve the issues impacting online ticket sales for the 2007 World Series."
Although some ticket transactions (less than 500 seats) did take place this morning, virtually the entire allotment for all three games of the World Series scheduled for Coors Field remains intact. A plan for the sale of the available World Series tickets will be announced as soon as the details are available.

Top Ten Albums (week of Oct 10)

These were the Top-selling albums for the week ending October 10th according to Rolling Stone

1. Bruce Springsteen (Magic)
2. Iron and Wine (The Shepherd's Dog)
3. PJ Harvey ( White Chalk)
4. Annie Lennox ( Songs of Mass Destruction)
5. Flogots ( Flight With Tools)
6. John Fogerty ( Revival)
7. Mark Knopfler (Kill to Get Crimson)
8. Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings (100 Days, 100 Nights)
9. Joni Mitchell (Shine)
10. Foo Fighters (Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace)

Madonna's Innovative $120 Million Deal

Madonna's is leaving her longtime record label, Warner Music, to sign with concert promoter Live Nation , sources say- a move that could encourage other superstars to follow her lead. Under the $120 million deal, Madonna would receive $50 million for performances; ninety percent of ticket sales; a total of $50 million to $60 million for three new albums: and a $17.5 million advance.
At forty-nine, Madonna isn't exactly at her peak as a recording star. While she's sold 63 million records in her career, 2005's Confession on a Dance Floor sold just 1.6 million, according to Nielson SoundScan. But Live Nation will also take action of Madonna's merchandise sales and secure the right to license her name for new ventures, such as a perfume.
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Boston Wins ...Headed for World Series

BOSTON – Early Monday morning, when the Boston Red Sox had won three consecutive games and a trip to their second World Series in four seasons, David Ortiz stood on the mound at Fenway Park and led the crowd in the wave, twirling and pointing, throwing his hands in the air.
The people rose, screamed his name, and bounced in narrow aisles going on a century old.
Not far away, Jonathan Papelbon, wearing a scuba mask on his forehead and holding a cigar in his teeth, River Danced with the Dropkick Murphys, eventually linking elbows with one of the Murphy boys and spinning across the infield.
Dustin Pedroia, the diminutive second baseman who'd driven in five runs in an 11-2 drubbing of the Cleveland Indians, rode the backs of teammates.
There were grounds to stand, grounds to dance in the old brick ballpark at the corner of Brookline and Yawkey.
The Red Sox have made a habit of these lost-cause American League championship series, turning them to triumph and trophies and silliness.
And just as they returned from that oh-three deficit to the New York Yankees in 2004, they rallied from this one-three hole against the Indians.
Given a shot at their first World Series in a decade, and their first championship in almost six of them, the Indians played poorly in so many of the little corners of the past three games. They were a team, it turned out, incapable of fighting the fight in the Red Sox. A win away from the Colorado Rockies, Indians' hitters drew two walks to the Red Sox' 15. Travis Hafner, their No. 3 hitter, had one hit. Infielders collided.
In their seventh inning Sunday, behind only by a run, Kenny Lofton raced around third on a ball that had carried over third base, caromed off the low wall in foul territory and rolled into short left field. Joel Skinner, the capable third-base coach who will someday manage in the big leagues, waved his arms to send Lofton home, then held his arms up to keep him at third and then, out of other options, held Lofton with his right hand and sent him home with the left.
Lofton stayed, the next hitter – Casey Blake – grounded into a double play, and the Indians' chance to challenge the Red Sox was gone.
"You have to make a decision," Skinner said, "and that's what I did."
He made three, actually.
Lofton, hardly in the mood for questions, said, "The play was behind me. I didn't know what was going on, so …"
Neither could be blamed for C.C. Sabathia and Fausto Carmona going winless in the series. Nor for Grady Sizemore's .222 batting. Nor for Rafael Perez's 45-run ERA. But, one play, one pitch, somewhere …
"You knew that whoever took advantage of the opportunities, or if mistakes were made and they took advantage of opportunities, that was probably going to be the difference," Indians manager Eric Wedge said. "And I think it probably was today."
In three games, pitching their three best pitchers, the Indians were outscored, 30-5.
Those were Red Sox bats, Red Sox precision, that rolled the Indians. With the margin for error wide as a Manny Ramirez dreadlock, they played perhaps their best three games of the season.
"I do think that in games of huge magnitude, our guys don't get overwhelmed," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. "It doesn't assure that you're going to win, but it is a good feeling."
Ultimately, in Game 7, they gave the ball to Daisuke Matsuzaka, who pitched five good-enough innings. They gave the offense over to the other guys, the ones not named Ortiz or Ramirez. They played to a 3-2 lead for 6½ innings, grinding what they could against sinkerballer Jake Westbrook, then had the littlest among them strike the finishing blow.
Pedroia, a rookie and the hottest among them since Game 5, homered over the monster in left-center field against Indians reliever Rafael Betancourt for two runs and a 5-2 lead.
The Fenway crowd begged him to stand up and take a curtain call, and was discomfited to discover he was standing up.
"Once it went out, man, I was so excited and had so much adrenaline going on, I don't even remember running around the bases, to tell you the truth," Pedroia said. "I just got around there. It was the biggest at-bat of my life, and I'll never forget it."
Earlier in the series, Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein had looked admiringly on his 24-year-old leadoff hitter. This was before Pedroia would finish the series with seven hits in his final 13 at-bats, with six runs in the last three games.
"We're thrilled," Epstein said. "He's really outperformed everybody's expectations."
Epstein listed his physical limitations. Like, for example, his size, his strength and his speed.
"But he walks around," Epstein said, "like he's Adonis instead of 5-foot-6."
Pedroia, for the record, is 5-foot-9. Probably.
"He knows he's going to rake your [stuff]," Epstein said. "That's what he tells himself."
Betancourt, Cleveland's best pitcher in the postseason, had not allowed a run since Sept. 26. He had not allowed a home run since Aug. 8.
But, second-pitch fastball to Pedroia, and Pedroia over-swung (he always does), and the ball disappeared into the roar that shook the ballpark. An inning later, Pedroia doubled home three runs on the last pitch of Betancourt's season, and Kevin Youkilis, who batted .500 and hit three home runs in the series, knocked one off the Coke bottles for a nine-run lead.
"I remember sitting in Cleveland when we got beat that third game and trying to find a way to turn this around," Pedroia said. "You know, because we worked so hard all year long to have our season cut short. Nobody wanted to go home, nobody wanted to say good-bye to everybody. So once we got that win in Cleveland, brought us back here, we started to believe."
And, so, it all worked.
The Red Sox pitched Tim Wakefield in Game 4 and Daisuke Matsuzaka in Game 7, the way nobody thought would work.
Francona set it up and allowed it to play out, managed for a seven-game series and got one, and won it that way. And, the Indians' lost it that way.
"It's the way the game goes," Lofton would say from the other clubhouse. "That's life."
Not the Red Sox' life. Theirs' was different.
So, Ortiz led the cheers, and Papelbon flitted, and Pedroia ran among them. The World Series was coming.

Madonna leaves Warner for Concert Promoter

Pop star Madonna has dropped her long-term music label Warner Bros. and signed a multi-album, touring and merhcandising global partnership with Live Nation Inc., the concert touring company said Tuesday.

A spokesman would not say which other stars Live Nation might sign, but he indicated there would be further announcements.

Warner Music congratulated Madonna, with whom it is parting ways after 25 years. But the world's third-largest music company also pointed out that it retains all the recording and publishing rights to all of her music.

In addition, Madonna still has a commitment for one more album with Warner, to be released next year.

The first Madonna album through Live Nation is expected within two to three years, and a tour is likely in the next 24 months.

According to Live Nation, Madonna's last three tours generated close to $ 500 million in the last six years.Live Nation said Atrist Nation would service the Madonna partnership through 80 offices in 18 countries.

Artist nation is headed by Michael Cohl, who is known in the music industry for the Rolling Stones "Steel Wheels" tour in 1989.

Industry watchers had speculated that Madonna would need to sell as many as 15 million albums to recoup Live Nation's advance fees, reported in several papers to be more than $ 50 million.

Hannah Montana Fans Fighting Brokers for Concert Tickets

If your child is one of the thousands who are clamoring for a ticket to see Miley Cyrus in her concert this fall and winter, you may have to clear out your bank account to get them a ticket. The Hannah Montana star's live show is the hottest ticket in the country. The only problem is, nobody can get a ticket. The show sold out soon after tickets went on sale to the public. Parents were outraged that they were unable to get their hands on them. They were angry with the pop star, Disney, and AEG Live which runs the tour. Now, they have someone new to blame - brokers.Brokers have snatched up tickets and are now selling them from anywhere to $200 to thousands of dollars per ticket. Second row floor seats in Texas will costs you $2,295 on Ticket Liquidator's website. StubHub, a popular concert ticket website, is asking for over $3,500 for tickets to a November concert date in Florida. TicketsNow is offering discounted prices, selling tickets for Miley's North Carolina show starting at $70 but ranging up to over $1,600.Pollster's editor-in-chief Gary Bongiavanni saw this coming a mile away. "Up to 80 percent of inquiries of tickets come from these brokers," he said. "The average fan is competing with a pro whose mission is to score these tickets. Fans are at a disadvantage." In St. Louis, 1900 tickets were released this weekend at their original prices. Yesterday, fans with photo IDs and credit cards were able to purchase a ticket to her show in Minnesota. The October 18 show is the first one for Miley Cyrus before she heads to 53 other cities. The same procedure is also being used for a December date in Kansas City.So far, no party has taken responsibility for the scalping situation. Attorney generals in many states have threatened and filed lawsuits against brokers, but do not accept any part in the problem, despite the fact that scalping is illegal in many states. StubHub also takes no responsibility, stating that their site takes all kinds of ticket sellers from the average person to the experienced scalper. Though AEG Live isn't doing much to help the situation, president Debra Rathwell had this to say: "We are doing everything possible to stop scalpers from being able to purchase tickets." It still doesn't help get your 4th grader a ticket to see her favorite singer.

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Couture stuns MMA world with retirement

With little interest at age 44 of fighting anyone other than the man regarded as the best mixed martial artist in the world, UFC heavyweight champion Randy Couture announced his retirement Thursday.
Couture, a five-time champion and UFC Hall of Famer, had hoped to land a bout with Fedor Emelianenko, the top-rated fighter in the Yahoo! Sports MMA poll of the world's best fighters.
But when reports surfaced Wednesday that Emelianenko had spurned the UFC to sign with the Russian-based M-1 Mix Fight organization, Couture opted to retire. The story was broken by Brian Knapp of The Fight Network, which has a business relationship with Couture.
"I'm tired of swimming upstream at this stage with the management of the UFC," Couture told Knapp. "It only makes sense at this point in my career to fight Fedor Emelianenko, and since he’s now signed with another organization, I feel like it's time to resign and focus on my other endeavors."
Couture's retirement stunned the MMA world, but not apparently UFC officials. Couture had breakfast several weeks ago with UFC president Dana White and owner Lorenzo Fertitta in which he indicated he would retire if he didn't get a match with Emelianenko.
"He told us he is at a crossroads and he said, 'Who else is there for me to fight?" White said of the meeting, which he said occurred around the time of UFC 76, which was Sept. 22 in Anaheim, Calif.
"He told us, 'If I fight anyone but Fedor, then I'm just fighting for the money.' Randy was never a guy who fought for money. He wanted the biggest and best challenges. He has movie deals, TV deals, a lot of (stuff) going on in his life. A lot goes into training for these guys and he just has too many other things going that he wants to deal with if he's not going to fight the best."
Couture's surprise announcement marks his second retirement. He retired after losing a rubber match for the UFC light heavyweight title to Chuck Liddell on Feb. 4, 2006, in Las Vegas.
But nine months later, after Tim Sylvia defended the heavyweight title by defeating Jeff Monson at UFC 65 in Sacramento, Calif., Couture called White and said he wanted to return to challenge Sylvia.
He dominated Sylvia at UFC 68 in Columbus, Ohio, in front of the largest MAA crowd in North American history, winning the heavyweight belt for a third time with perhaps the greatest performance of his career. He gave up more than six inches and 40 pounds to Sylvia, but knocked Sylvia down in the fight's first 10 seconds and pummeled him throughout the five-round bout.
Couture then defended it successfully against Gabriel Gonzaga at UFC 74 on Aug. 25 in Las Vegas.
He broke his arm in that bout, so the UFC had ticketed him next to fight at UFC 80 on Feb. 2 in Las Vegas. White said frequently that if he could land Emelianenko, he'd match him with Couture at UFC 80.
Couture reacted almost instantly to Emelianenko’s signing with M-1.
The swiftness of the move stunned even his close friends. Bas Rutten, Couture's business partner and also a one-time UFC heavyweight champion, did not know about the news Thursday until informed by a reporter.
"At 44, we knew he couldn't fight forever and you knew that sooner or later this day was going to come and he'd shut it down for good," Rutten said. "But to hear this right now, it is a complete surprise. I would have loved to have seen him fight Fedor."
White said he thought Couture would have easily defeated Emelianenko, saying he felt Emelianenko is vastly overrated.
"Couture would have eaten him alive," White said. "It would have been a big fight for us, because of the reputation that Fedor has, but it's not really deserved. Look what he's done: He beat Mark Coleman, who I think was probably 50 something years old and Matt Lindland, who weighs 185 pounds.
"It would have been a big fight, but believe me when I tell you that it would have been no contest. Randy would have destroyed him. Randy is the best heavyweight in the world." Rutten wouldn't go so far as White, but he said he felt Couture had the style to win the fight.
He said Couture would have been able to back Emelianenko up and take him down.
"Fedor's used to pressing the action, but against a guy like Randy, he would have been backing up and it's hard to fight going backwards," Rutten said. "Randy constantly presses the action. Fedor is a very, very good fighter, but he's had problems with Greco-Roman guys and I think it would have been a very good matchup for Randy."
Couture's retirement ends all association, for the time being, with the UFC. He has also decided to quit working on the UFC's television broadcasts, though White said he was only broadcasting to help him learn how to work on-camera.
"I never said no to anything Randy wanted to do," White said. "He wanted to do the TV because it was practice for his acting. I said yes. He wanted me to give his wife (Kim) a job and I said yes.
"Whatever he wanted, we did. Randy is a great, great guy and I have nothing but the most respect for him. He's one of the guys, along with Chuck Liddell and Matt Hughes and Rich Franklin and Joe Rogan who have helped build this thing into what it is. He's a beautiful person and we're always going to feel like Randy is part of our family."

You Can Still Experience Hendrix

Even before launching next week in Washington DC, the Experience Hendrix Tour has gained enough momentum to add two more stops to its five-concert, Northeast trek. The tour’s initial five shows all sold out, so a second date was added in New York and a new show was scheduled in Providence, RI.
Sponsored by Gibson Guitars, the tour features some of the most respected and innovative figures in rock and blues performing music written by and associated with Jimi Hendrix. The artists include blues guitarist Buddy Guy, pedal steel virtuoso Robert Randolph and contemporary guitarist Kenny Wayne Shepherd. Special guests include Doors guitarist Robby Krieger, Rolling Stones veteran guitarist Mick Taylor and Hubert Sumlin, the Mississippi-born guitarist who worked with both Howlin’ Wolf and Muddy Waters.

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Tickets.com Inks Deal with Tulsa Convention Center Arena

Tickets.com, gaining on Ticketmaster in the primary ticket market with its #2 ranking on Ticketnews' charts, has signed an agreement with facility management firm SMG to provide ticketing services and digital ticketing functionality for the Tulsa Convention Center Arena (TCCA).
TCCA will be outfitted with Tickets.com's ProVenueElite high-volume ticketing system and its client-branded ProVenueOnline Internet engine. Once installation is complete, Tulsa Convention Center Arena will begin selling tickets on its own Web site for arena events.

Madonna, Live Nation Signing New Deal

Madonna is close to making A-Rod money.
The Material Girl and Live Nation are reportedly close to signing a 10-year, $120 million contract which calls for Madonna to deliver three studio albums and for Live Nation to exclusively promote the singer’s tours, sell merchandise and license her name.
Though currently 49, Madonna is showing no signs of slowing down, and even though the pact won’t be done until she is well into her AARP years, the Rolling Stones can attest to major artists still possessing drawing power into their 50s and beyond.

Weekly Ticket Searches

The following are the top 5 ticket searches (PlatinumTickets.com) for the week of Septemebr 30- October 6

1. Wicked Tickets
2. Arizona Diamondbacks Tickets
3. National Finals Rodeo (NFR) Tickets
4. Jersey Boys Tickets
5. Boston Red Sox Tickets

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Prince Goes After Bootleggers

Prince is preparing lawsuits against a host of major Web sites- including YouTube, ebBay and BitTorrent site the Pirate Bay - in an effort to regain control of bootlegged music, videos and merchandise. Although no legal action has been taken, the singer recently enlistedhelp from Web Sheriff, a London-based company that scours the Net for offending sites. "It's just a matter of clearing out the worst commercial piracy," says Web Sheriff's John Giacobbi, who has forced the removal of 2,000 illegally uploaded Prince viseos from YouTube and more than 300 auctions of bogus merchandise from eBay. article by Rolling Stone

Led Zeppelin Return

Led Zeppelin will reunite on November 26th at London's o2 Arena for their first concert in twelve years. The September 12th announcement sparked an overwhelming response from fans and fueled speculation that the band might tour for the first time since 1980.

Robert Plant, jimmy Page and John Paul Jones will perform with John Bonham's son, Jason, who played at Zeppelin's last performance, when they were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1995.

Lez Zeppelin broke up in 1980, after Bonham died of alcohol-related asphyxiation. They reunited for Live Aid in 1985 and at Atlantic Records' fortieth anniversary concert in '88, but Plant resisted his bandmates'calls for a tour.

Many in the tour industry hope the group will take the show on the road. "It's the one band that everyone has been salivating over forever," says Andy Cirzan, a Chicago promoter. article by 'Evan Serpick'

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Top 10 Albums (Oct 18)

The following are the top 10 albums according to "Rolling Stone"

1. Reba McEntire...Reba Duets
2. Kanya West...Graduation
3. 50 Cent...Curtis
4. Barry Manilow...The Greatest Songs of the Seventies
5. Kenny Chesney...Just Who I Am
6. High School Musical 2... Soundtrack
7. James Blunt ... All the Lost Souls
8. Chamillionaire ... Ultimate Victory
9. KT Tunstall ... Drastic Fantastic
10. Twista ... Adrenaline Rush 2007

MONTHLY TICKET SEARCHES

The following are the top 5 tickets searches for the month of Septemebr 2007:

1. US Open Tennis Tickets
2. National Finals Rodeo (NFR) Tickets
3. Boston Red Sox Tickets
4. Wicked Tickets
5. Jersey Boys Tickets

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Van Halen Rocks the Night Away

"I'm not going to waste time BS'ing around tonight," David Lee Roth told the sold-out crowd in Charlotee, North Carolina, on September 27th- as he kicked off his first tour with Van Halen since 1984. Van Halen played for more than two hours. Diamond Dave showed his gift for gab-and flamboyantduds-imitating Mick Jagger, busting out martial-arts moves and riding a giant microphone. Despite old wounds, Eddie VanHalen seemed charmed, nuzzling up to Roth throughout the set. And even Eddie's sixteen-year-old son, Wolfgang- who replaced founding bassist Michael Anthony- had the crowd in the palm of his hand, throwing them picks during "Atomic Punk." We at Platinumtickets have Van Halen tickets to all the shows throughout the country. For a list of tour dates and ticket prices click here.

Knott's Scary Farm

Once again it's here...Knott's Halloween Haunt. We have tickets to all the dates. Don't miss out on some new mazes: BEOWULF..Labyrinth of Darkness, Pyrmaniax, The Doll Factory, Killer Clown Kollege, Black Widow's Cavern, Lore of the Vampire. Also some scary shows at this years Knott's Scary Farm include: The Hanging, HACKS "Trick or Treat", Death of Dr. Cleaverand Festival of Freaks. The haunt runs from the end of September until October 31. Give us a call (PlatinumTickets.com) at 714. 636.0370 if you need tickets.