Briefly: Pete Townshend, Bonnaroo, Meat Puppets, Michael Jackson, Joe Jackson
Pete Townshend said in an interview published over the weekend in U.K. newspaper The Observer that he considered committing suicide when he found out he was under investigation for possessing child pornography.
Townshend was among many arrested in January during a wide-ranging child-porn investigation, and he was formally cautioned after an investigation found that he had visited a website containing child pornography, but did not download any images.
"If I had had a gun, I would have shot myself," Townshend said. "And if I had shot myself, it would have been awful because it would have confirmed what everybody thought."
Townshend claimed he was abused as a child, and that he visited the site for research purposes.
Organizers have scheduled the third annual Bonnaroo Music Festival for June 11-13, at the same 600-acre, Manchester, TN, farm that hosted the event for the previous two years.
The event's lineup, which typically reads like a "who's who" of the jam-band music scene, hasn't been announced.
Former Meat Puppets bassist Cris Kirkwood was admitted to a Phoenix hospital in critical condition on Friday (12/26) with a gunshot wound to his back, The Arizona Republic reported. He reportedly has undergone surgery, and the wound is no longer considered to be life threatening.
Witnesses said Kirkwood was shot by a security guard after he allegedly took a baton from the guard and began to hit him with it.
According to various reports, Kirkwood had substance abuse problems for many years, and has been estranged from the Meat Puppets for nearly a decade.
Michael Jackson , in an interview with Ed Bradley that aired on CBS-TV's "60 Minutes" on Sunday (12/28), said that he was roughed up by authorities when he was booked on child molestation charges last month.
Jackson told Bradley that Santa Barbara, CA, deputies dislocated his shoulder, and that his wrists were bruised by tight handcuffs.
The Sheriff's Department denied the accusations in a statement: "Both [Jackson's] attorney and his personal security thanked the Sheriff's Department for the level of cooperation and professionalism demonstrated."
Joe Jackson 's official website reports that the singer/songwriter is currently in London, mixing a live album that was recorded during the last four U.S. shows of the reunited Joe Jackson Band's 2003 tour. A March release date is expected.
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