Live Nation, Guy Oseary launch online photo gallery (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – This week, Untitled Entertainment partner Guy Oseary and Live Nation are going live with a joint web venture RockPaperPhoto.com, an online art gallery selling largely unpublished, hand-signed, limited-edition prints of more than 1,000 singers and acts ranging from B.B. King and James Brown to Green Day and Gwen Stefani.

The site features the work of 70 photographers including such recognized names as Baron Wolman, Ian Dickson, Deborah Feingold and Michael Putland. RockPaperPhoto museum-quality processes include silver gelatin, archival chromogenic, platinum print and archival print, with entry prices at $250 running to a top-tier of $10K.

The website is a bit of a passion project for Oseary, who manages the careers of Madonna and Alex Rodriguez among others and is also the exec producer of "Last Call with Carson Daly." He was the architect of Madonna's landmark 2007 deal with Live Nation.

"I've been collecting photos for a long time, I mean since I started making money. But what you have had to go through to find a good photo is like a needle in the haystack sometimes. You'll drive from one gallery to the next gallery to the next gallery. It's not an easy process. It's a very ancient model that just hasn't caught up with the times," says Oseary. "So I really came up with this idea out of frustration."

Oseary first discussed the concept with Live Nation CEO/president Michael Rapino over dinner a few years ago. "We've been talking about it for a while and we finally said, 'Just go for it.' I really wanted to create a place where you could just sit back and be able to discover great photography instead of specifically going to a gallery to find one," says the manager.

He says his own collection of photos numbers around 200, including a number of shots of The Sex Pistols and John Lennon by Bob Gruen (who is not featured on the site). "Those were the ones that when I made my first dollar I decided to invest in," he says.

Says photographer Tom Murray, whose famous 1968 photos of the Beatles are on the site: "It runs the gamut from Frank Sinatra to Justin Bieber and it suits everyone's pocketbooks. It's all limited editions - they are interested in low numbers and high quality."

Among Murray's photos is his famous, or perhaps infamous, shot of John Lennon playing dead in a park while his three bandmates look on.

"We were taking other pictures and suddenly he dropped to the ground and pretended to be dead. Twelve years later when it actually happened it was very spooky. It's a very controversial picture. Beatles fans either love it or hate it," says Murray.

RockPaperPhoto shares profits 50/50 with artists, a traditional split in the bricks-and-mortar art gallery world.

The site is one of many recent forays into the digital world by Oseary. He was instrumental in developing GrouponLive, a discount-tickets joint venture, announced May 11, between Groupon (for whom he advises) and Live Nation.

Last year, he formed a digital investment partnership with Ashton Kutcher called A-Grade which has helped fund such recent start-ups as video-chat service TinyChat, anonymous-flirting hub LikeALittle and GrubWithUs, a website for finding like-minded people to dine with. "We are making a lot of investments," says Oseary.

(Editing by Zorianna Kit)

Yahoo! News

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Emotions erupt in U.S. after Obama addresses nation

Osama bin Laden, the longtime leader of al Qaeda, was killed by U.S. forces in a mansion outside of Islamabad, Pakistan.Obama confirms that U.S. officials have taken custody of bin Laden's bodyOfficial: Bin Laden was killed along with other family members in a city north of IslamabadHundreds of people cheer outside the White House and in New YorkThe State Department issues a "worldwide caution" for Americans

(CNN) -- The mastermind of the worst terrorist attacks on American soil is dead, U.S. President Barack Obama announced late Sunday night, almost 10 years after the attacks that killed about 3,000 people.

Osama bin Laden -- the founder and leader of al Qaeda -- was killed by U.S. forces Sunday in a mansion in Abbottabad, north of the Pakistani capital of Islamabad, along with other family members, a senior U.S. official told CNN.

In an address to the nation Sunday night, Obama called bin Laden's death "the most significant achievement to date in our nation's effort to defeat al Qaeda."

Up-to-the-minute updates on bin Laden | President's statement

"Today, at my direction, the United States launched a targeted operation against that compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan," Obama said. "A small team of Americans carried out the operation with extraordinary courage and capability. No Americans were harmed. They took care to avoid civilian casualties. After a firefight, they killed Osama bin Laden and took custody of his body."

A congressional source familiar with the operation confirmed that bin Laden was shot in the head.

How U.S. forces conducted the mission | Video

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Footage that aired on CNN affiliate GEO TV on Monday showed fire and smoke spewing from the compound where bin Laden was killed.

Half a world away, the scene outside the White House was of pure jubilation.

Hundreds reveled through the night, chanting "USA! USA!" Others chanted "Hey, hey, hey, goodbye!" in reference to the demise of bin Laden. Many also spontaneously sang the national anthem.

Americans hit streets to celebrate | Video

The news also brought some relief to family members of those killed on 9/11.

"This is important news for us, and for the world. It cannot ease our pain, or bring back our loved ones," Gordon Felt, president of Families of Flight 93, said in a statement. "It does bring a measure of comfort that the mastermind of the September 11th tragedy and the face of global terror can no longer spread his evil."

"This welcome news is a credit to our intelligence efforts and brings to justice the architect of the attacks on our country that killed nearly 3,000 people on September 11, 2001," said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, the ranking Republican on the Homeland Security Committee, in a statement issued Sunday night.

Bin Laden eluded capture for years, once reportedly slipping out of a training camp in Afghanistan just hours before a barrage of U.S. cruise missiles destroyed it.

Osama bin Laden, the face of terror

He had been implicated in a series of deadly, high-profile attacks that had grown in their intensity and success during the 1990s. They included a deadly firefight with U.S. soldiers in Somalia in October 1993, the bombings of two U.S. embassies in East Africa that killed 224 in August 1998, and an attack on the USS Cole that killed 17 sailors in October 2000.

In his speech, Obama reiterated that the United States is not at war with Islam.

"I've made clear, just as President Bush did shortly after 9/11, that our war is not against Islam. Bin Laden was not a Muslim leader; he was a mass murderer of Muslims."

U.S. leaders react to the news

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The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, released a statement Monday morning welcoming the death of bin Laden.

"As we have stated repeatedly since the 9/11 terror attacks, bin Laden never represented Muslims or Islam. In fact, in addition to the killing of thousands of Americans, he and al Qaeda caused the deaths of countless Muslims worldwide," the statement said. "We also reiterate President Obama's clear statement tonight that the United States is not at war with Islam."

iReport: Send us your reactions

U.S. diplomatic facilities around the world were placed on high alert following the announcement of bin Laden's death, a senior U.S. official said, and the U.S. State Department issued a "worldwide caution" for Americans. The travel alert warned of the "enhanced potential for anti-American violence given recent counter-terrorism activity in Pakistan." Some fear al Qaeda supporters may try to retaliate against U.S. citizens or U.S. institutions.

U.S. issues travel warnings

But for now, many Americans were soaking up the historic moment.

"It's what the world needed," said Dustin Swensson, who recently served in Iraq and joined the revelers outside the White House. "(I'll) always remember where I was when the towers went down, and I'm always going to remember where I am now."

CNN's Ed Henry, Jeanne Meserve and Elise Labott contributed to this report

CNN Top Stories

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Geithner Warns Nation to Hit Debt Limit Deadline in Mid-May

AP

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner testifies on Capitol Hill April 5 before the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Mark it on the calendar. The next big deadline in Washington is May 16, if not earlier. 

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner now estimates that the nation's debt ceiling will be reached no later than that date. In a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Geithner wrote that Congress must act in a matter of weeks to raise the limit or face a fiscal calamity potentially worse than the one from which the nation is recovering. 

Geithner noted that the Treasury Department can take "extraordinary measures" to buy time -- about eight extra weeks, maximum -- after the May deadline. But he said once those measures are exhausted the U.S. government would not have enough money to pay its bills. Military salaries, Social Security payments and jobless benefits would cease, he warned, adding that a default on the debt would drive up interest rates, erode home values and cause a new financial crisis. 

"For these reasons, default by the United States is unthinkable," Geithner wrote. 

But after extracting a last-minute budget deal out of Democrats, in turn averting a government shutdown and marking billions of dollars in spending cuts in their column, Republicans are in the mood for another stand-off on Capitol Hill. From the top down, GOP leaders warn they will not vote to raise the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling unless they see genuine efforts to reduce the deficit. 

"There will not be an increase in the debt limit without something really, really big attached to it," House Speaker John Boehner said at a fundraiser Saturday night. 

In an interview with Fox News on Monday, Boehner reiterated that his members will not vote to raise the cap without "serious steps" on spending cuts. He acknowledged that leaving the cap in place would have "very serious implications for the worldwide economy and jobs here in America," but said Republicans will not "roll over" without addressing the underlying problem. 

"The biggest threat that we have to our economy and to our future is doing nothing, and that's what the president asked us to do -- do nothing," Boehner told Fox News. "Doing nothing is totally irresponsible and we will not go down that path." 

Boehner said there will be "dozens" of spending battles over the next year and a half. 

"This is about making the right decisions now," House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., told "Fox News Sunday." He touted Rep. Paul Ryan's, R-Wis., budget proposal -- a plan released last week that contains about $6 trillion in spending cuts over the next 10 years -- and suggested Republicans would fight for at least a chunk of that plan as a condition of their support on the debt limit vote. 

Ryan, in an interview with NBC's "Meet the Press," said the Republicans' strategy is not to default but compel the government to control spending. 

"I think there will be some kind of negotiations, and yes, it probably will go up to some sort of a deadline. The debt ceiling deadline is a moving deadline, it's not a date certain deadline like the government shutdown," Ryan said. 

He said the debt ceiling increase, if Republicans are to support it, must come with "real fiscal reforms, real spending cuts, and real spending controls going forward so we can deal with the debt in the future." 

White House senior adviser David Plouffe, over the course of several television interviews Sunday, indicated that the White House is willing to put some reforms on the table. President Obama plans to announce a new deficit-reduction plan Wednesday -- a follow-up to a budget proposal earlier in the year which was widely panned by Republicans as doing little to control spending. 

Plouffe, though, told "Meet the Press" that voting "no" on the debt ceiling increase could be a "catastrophic failure for the United States economy." 

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., urged Republicans to take the debt-limit threat off the table. 

"It could be a formula for recession or worse," Schumer told CBS' "Face the Nation." "So this is playing with fire." 

Though Geithner, in his letter to Reid, said Treasury has a few tricks up its sleeve to forestall the default deadline, he noted the government has "much less flexibility" than it used to because of the sheer size of its deficits. 

The secretary said the U.S. government, for instance, can't simply cut spending or raise taxes to avoid hitting the cap. With the public debt increasing at a rate of about $125 billion every month, Geithner said it would take an impossible amount of budgetary rearranging to halt that climb in the near-term. 

For reference, the projected fiscal 2011 deficit was about $1.6 trillion. After weeks of wrangling, Congress cut that by just $38.5 billion in the deal reached over the weekend. 

"In order to avoid an increase in the debt limit, Congress would need to eliminate annual deficits immediately," Geithner wrote.

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