Wednesday, February 20, 2002

Everyone has an opinion about the Olympic skating scandal, even metal maniac Ozzy Osbourne.

The Ozzman thinks the SalÈ/Pelletier affair was atrocious and the impressionable French skating judge, Marie-Reine Le Gougne, should be crucified. Er, he uses harsher words, but we can't print them in a family newspaper.

"I really think they should rethink the (expletive) judging deal," barks Osbourne, during a recent phone interview.

"They should not have any biased judges. I don't know where you're going to find them, but there's got to be a better system."

Which leads us to wonder: Why the hell was the self-proclaimed prince of darkness watching a namby-pamby sport like pairs figure skating?

Well, Osbourne is currently on tour in Japan and his hotel TV only gave him two choices: the Olympics or some #$!@ infomercial about exercise belts.

"I'm not really sports-minded," he admits. "I don't know anything about ice skating, but (SalÈ and Pelletier) were the best!"

Osbourne performs at the Skyreach Centre on Tuesday, March 5, with The Tea Party and Project Wyze.

The show sold out in 90 minutes but a few more tickets are now available.

Our Limp Peace? Lady Bizkit?

What do Our Lady Peace and Limp Bizkit have in common?

Not a lot ... or so you'd think. The former is Canada's reigning king of angst rock, the latter is a bunch of frat-boy rap-rockers led by the outspoken Fred Durst.

But both bands recently lost their guitarists -- Mike Turner left OLP, Wes Borland kicked the Bizkit -- and are now looking for gifted fans to fill the voids.

Limp Bizkit kicked off a search in January, while OLP placed its national "want ad" on Monday.

To apply, potential Peaceniks must film a three-minute video of themselves -- including no more than two minutes of guitar wizardry and one minute of personal info (height, weight, likes, dislikes, shoe size, fave OLP song, whatever).

Send tapes to:

Our Lady Peace -- Guitar Search
1121 Leslie Street
Toronto, Ont.
M3C 2J9

The deadline is March 31. Alas, the winner will not show up on OLP's fifth album. The band is currently finishing up the disc with producer Bob Rock. It's slated for release later this year.

Let's do lunch

Alanis Morissette has a lunch date with a few Edmonton fans on Friday, March 1.

The luncheon is part of a three-day, five-city "Hands On Alanis" tour to promote her new album, Under Rug Swept, in stores on Tuesday. Morissette kicks off her journey with a performance at MusiquePlus in Montreal on Feb. 27. The next day, it's off to Ottawa for a news conference and then to Toronto for an exclusive performance.

On March 1, she'll be in Edmonton, where one fan will be picked to travel with Morissette to Vancouver. There, she'll perform on MuchMusic's Intimate & Interactive at 7 p.m. To win a seat at Morissette's eat-fest, tune in to Power 92.

Kids in Hall D

Canada's zaniest cross-dressers, Kids In The Hall, are getting back together for a second reunion tour.

The crazy Kids will bring their sketch comedy to Hall D of the AgriCom on Thursday, May 9. New and classic skits -- such as Chicken Lady and the finger head-crusher -- are promised.

Tickets are $45.50 and $59.50 (plus service charges) and are available Saturday at TicketMaster.

Calgary Gets Usher and Pavarotti

If you've got it bad for Usher, you'll have to go to Calgary to see the R&B star.

According to Billboard.com, Usher will perform on Wednesday, May 8 at the Saddledome. An Edmonton gig is NOT in the works. Ticket info has yet to be announced.

Usher's current single, U Got It Bad, is hovering around the top of the U.S. charts.

In other exclusive Cowtown concert news, tenor Luciano Pavarotti will be raising the roof of the Saddledome on Tuesday, April 16. Tickets range from $45 to $600 (plus service charges) and go on sale today at TicketMaster.

Feeling jealous of Calgary's good fortunes? Don't. We get Ozzy and Kids In The Hall.

Nyah-nyah-nyah.

© Copyright 2002 Edmonton Journal


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