Archive for News U.S.A
Pregnant stars not afraid to bare bumps
Mom-to-be Mariah Carey strategically covers her, ahem, assets, with locks of honey-colored hair on the latest cover of Life & Style magazine, but it’s clear she’s following in the footsteps of some other famous women who showed the beauty of pregnancy in the buff on major magazine covers.
Source: usatoday.com
Foo Fighters to Broadcast Gig Live – and in 3D – in Multiplexes Tuesday
Joshua L. Weinstein
thewrap.com
The Foo Fighters will become one of the first bands ever to play a live, 3D show broadcast to movie theaters all over the country when it takes the stage in a studio in the San Fernando Valley Tuesday.
Cinedigm Digital Cinema, run by former Overture Films founder and CEO Chris McGurk, is producing and distributing what it calls the “first ever, live 3D widely released music performance.”
The performance comes one week before the band releases its new album, “Wasting Light.” The band will play the entire album.
Before the live show, audiences will see the documentary “Foo Fighters: Back
and Forth,” produced and directed by Oscar and Emmy winner James Moll.
McGurk told TheWrap that the movie and concert will appear on 120 screens at 82 movie theaters in 30 states.
While McGurk said he is excited about the concert, he told TheWrap that the event demonstrates — especially at a time when exhibitor-studio relations are particularly low — the potential of nontraditional programming.
“It’s an example of the great types of new and innovative content that they can put in their theaters — particularly during the weekdays, when the average audience is less than 5 percent of the seats,” he said. “When you put ocntent in there like this concert or a sporting event or others, we found you can fill up the theater on a Tuesday or Wednesday night, and that’s pretty exciting for exhibitors.”
Tickets are available at www.foofightersfilm.com.
Source:thewrap.com
Britney Spears’ ‘Till the World Ends’ video teaser: Look, I can bounce-dance!
Tanner Stransky
EW.COM
Recently, it seems like a musical treat from Ms. Britney Spears has been dropping nearly every day: snippet after snippet, single after single, a video, the full album! Today (err, yesterday, really) it was a 30-second teaser for Spears’ next video for club banger “Till the World Ends.” (The full video will hit VEVO tomorrow, and don’t worry—we’ll be all over it here at The Music Mix.)
The clip we’ve been treated to is basically the “oh-oh-oh-oh-oh” chorus part of the jam, and the main feature — when it comes to Britney’s ever-delightful moves — is bouncing! Because, why wouldn’t you bounce to such a chorus? It just feels natural. Also, the vid features a post-apocalyptic vibe that finds people going underground…to go bounce-dance with her. Naturally! As of right now, there seems to be no product placement, except, of course, Spears’ standard wigs and weaves (if those count). Enjoy here:
Source: ew.com
Lady Gaga: MTV O Music Awards Nominee!
Lady Gaga leads the pack of nominees for MTV’s inaugural O Music Awards!
The 24-year-old pop star scored three nominations along with Odd Future’s Tyler the Creator, followed by Kanye West and Nicki Minaj with two.
OMA, an online award show, features different categories that honor artists, innovators, fans, web celebrities, and tech gurus who’ve impacted the digital music world.
“This is an exciting music event that’s by and for the fans. We’re not sure what’s going to happen but we know that it’s going to be fun and true to all the innovations happening in digital,” Shannon Connolly, MTV Music Group’s VP of Digital Music Strategy, tells JustJared.com.
“[It'll be a] convergence of programmers, hackers, artists, web celebrities, and all of the people that are contributing to this real renaissance of music and creativity that we’re going through,” she adds. “We’re really stoked to be bringing this to a wider audience and putting the spotlight on what we think is a really unique moment.”
Voting begins TODAY at OMusicAwards.com and the show will be held on MTV.com, VH1.com, and LogoTV.com.
For more on the nominees, check out the award show’s website and you can also follow it on Twitter @MTVOMA!
Source: justjared.buzznet.com
Steven Tyler, Rihanna, Robert Pattinson Pop Up At ACM Awards
Gil Kaufman
Mtv
You could be excused if you tuned into the 46th Academy of Country Music Awards show on Sunday night and thought that maybe you’d overslept and missed the Grammys. In addition to the usual compliment of cowboy hats and bedazzled boots, there was a healthy dose of rock and pop glitter at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
In addition to “American Idol” judge Steven Tyler lending his formidable pipes to a duet with Carrie Underwood on her hit “Undo It,” the pair chewed up the stage for Aerosmith’s “Walk This Way,” with Underwood looking comfortable screeching the song’s chorus into a microphone with a glittery whip on the end.
There were also some awards handed out, including four to Miranda Lambert, who won Best Female Vocalist, as well as Single, Song and Video of the Year honors for her tune “The House That Built Me.” But her roll ended at the fan-voted Entertainer of the Year trophy, which went to Taylor Swift, 21, the youngest-ever winner of that honor.
“This is the first time I’ve ever won this, and I’m just losing my mind,” a teary Swift said in her signature breathless manner. “The fact that this is from the fans makes it so beautiful. … You are the best thing that has ever happened to me. Ever … We just got back from touring in Europe and Asia, so thank you for this wonderful welcome-home gift.”
Earlier in the night, Swift premiered her new single, a get back tune at critics who’ve slagged her live singing in the past, which she performed while plucking a banjo.
It was a big night for Grammy winners Lady Antebellum as well, with the country trio winning Top Vocal Group and Album of the Year for Need You Now, while bluegrass newcomers the Band Perry snagged Best New Artist. It was five in a row for Brad Paisley, who once again went home with the Best Male Vocalist hardware and the Gwyneth Paltrow-starring “Country Strong” took the Tex Ritter Award for films that emphasize country music.
The performance-heavy three-hour show also featured the sight of Rihanna being joined by Sugarland’s Jennifer Nettles for a dramatic duet on Ri’s new single, “California King Bed,” and folk pop icon James Taylor joined Zac Brown for a medley of “Colder Weather” and “Sweet Baby James.”
Among the presenters were “Idol” host Ryan Seacrest, as well as Robert Pattinson, who appeared on the show with his “Water for Elephants” co-star Reese Witherspoon.
Source: mtv.com
Mick Jagger to perform at Grammys for first time
Christine Kearney
Reuters
Rolling Stone frontman Mick Jagger will perform live at the Grammy Awards for the first time in his career at this month’s ceremony in Los Angeles.
The 67 year-old singer/songwriter will perform as part of the awards’ annual tribute to musicians and others who have recently died. He will honour gospel and blues singer Solomon Burke and be accompanied on the Grammy stage by soul singer Raphael Saadiq and his band, organizers said on Thursday.
Jagger will join other musicians performing live at the music industry’s top honours, including Lady Gaga, Arcade Fire, Katy Perry, Rihanna, Eminem, Justin Bieber and Lady Antebellum.
Jagger has appeared on the awards show once before, via satellite with The Rolling Stones in 1986, when the band was presented with a lifetime achievement award.
The event takes place Feb 13 and is televised in the United States on CBS.
Source: reuters.com
Britney Spears’ Femme Fatale ‘Not Done,’ Dr. Luke Says
Jocelyn Vena
MTV
With a little more than five weeks left until the release of Femme Fatale, it seems that Britney Spears is still working alongside the album’s executive producers, Dr. Luke and Max Martin, to put the finishing touches on the album.
“We’re in the middle of it right now. It’s a little bit fluid right now. I can’t even say at this stage what songs for sure are making it and what songs aren’t,” Dr. Luke told RollingStone.com. “We’re working with a lot of producers and overseeing it with her A&R and record label and management and trying to make something cohesive.” Bottom line, he said, is that “it’s not done.”
Not to worry: Spears apparently is so speedy when it comes to hitting the studio, Luke has no qualms that they’ll make the March 15 deadline. “Britney’s really fast,” Dr. Luke said. “She gets it done.”
The super-producer also opened up about the album’s debut single, “Hold It Against Me,” noting that it was meant for another pop princess: “We might have played it for her, but it definitely wasn’t a Katy Perry record,” he explained. “We had it for a while. I wanted to make sure it didn’t sound like everything else I’ve done. I brought it into [producer] Billboard, and he just killed it. It can be hard in the verse, and the bridge is super, super hard, but the chorus is super pop. You can play that chorus acoustically on a guitar and it’s still going to sound great.”
Others producers on the album include Bloodshy and Benny Blanco. Dr. Luke took to Twitter to tease fans with possible track titles for the release. He shared, “One of these titles could be a new brit song: a) booga dooga b) the sun is up c) seal it with a kiss d) monkey c monkey do.”
Other reported titles are leaking as well. According to a posting on Popjustice.com, other Femme Fatale tracks might include “Antidote” (described as a Ke$ha-esque dance track), “Switch You On” (a mid-tempo song about sex) and “I I I Wanna Go O O” (another dance track).
Source: mtv.com
The Doors’ 1969 Concert: Ray Manzarek’s Side Of The Story
In a hearing Thursday, Florida’s clemency board granted Jim Morrison a posthumous pardon for profanity and indecent-exposure charges leveled against the singer after a March 1969 concert in Miami.
In a 1998 interview on Fresh Air, Doors keyboard player Ray Manzarek recounted the events leading up to the incident, which resulted in Morrison’s arrest and conviction and the cancellation of many Doors concerts.
“We’re in Miami. It’s hot and sweaty. It’s a swamp and it’s a yuck — a horrible kind of place, a seaplane hangar — and 14,000 people are packed in there, and they’re sweaty,” Manzarek said. “And Jim has seen The Living Theater [a theater group that experimented with breaking down the fourth wall and confronting the audience] and he’s going to do his version of The Living Theater. He’s going to show these Florida people what psychedelic West Coast shamanism and confrontation is all about.”
Manzarek described how Morrison took his shirt up in front of the crowd and asked if they wanted to see even more. The crowd did.
“They hallucinated. I swear, the guy never did it,” Manzarek said. “He never whipped it out. It was one of those mass hallucinations. I don’t want to say the vision of Lourdes, because only Bernadette saw that, but it was one of those religious hallucinations, except it was Dionysus bringing forth, calling forth snakes.”
Manzarek described how Morrison then asked the audience to come even closer.
“And they started coming down on a rickety little stage, and the entire stage collapsed,” he said.
Ray Manzarek’s memoir, Light My Fire: My Life with The Doors was published in 1998.
Source: npr.org
Nicki Minaj is ready to take over the world with debut album ‘Pink Friday’
Jim Farber
Daily News
Some people view fantasy as an escape. Nicki Minaj sees it as the road to freedom.
“When I get up in the morning and put on a pink or a green wig, I see myself as a piece of animation,” she says. “It lets me be the person I want to be, a person who’s not embarrassed to have fun.”
Embarrassed wouldn’t be the first word you’d associate with Minaj. After all, we’re talking about a woman who commonly sports expressions that range from the zombified to the psychotic, who dresses in colors more suited to a lollypop than a person, and who has a figure that looks like an R. Crumb cartoon come to life. More, the Queens-raised Minaj may start talking in a British ac¬cent at any moment. And she famously inhabits a rash of alter egos — including one named Roman, a foul-mouthed man.
Small wonder the 25-year-old has become the most talked about pop hopeful since Lady Gaga. In September, Minaj even stole some thunder from Gaga when she opened the MTV Video Music Awards with her new single with will.i.am, “Check It Out.” The next month, Minaj became the first artist in history to have seven songs on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, either as the star or a featured guest. All this before the release of her debut CD, “Pink Friday,” out Tuesday.
That Minaj is a rapper adds another point of distinction. While the ’90s boasted an explosion of female MCs — from Lil’ Kim to Missy Elliott — they’ve all since faded. Last summer, Minaj became the first woman to top Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop chart (with “Your Love”) in eight years.
“Female rappers get it the hardest,” says Minaj. “You have to be a girl, yet you have to be just as hard as the guys. I think some female rappers get scared out of the business before they can make it.”
It hasn’t hurt that she has a hefty ego. Asked why she thinks she has become the go-to collaborator this year (appearing with everyone from Drake to Mariah Carey), Minaj says: “These artists know that I have a very good fan base. Even if they don’t like you, or your record, they’ll support me.”
Minaj says she long envisioned such a cushy position for herself. Born Onika Tanya Maraj in Trinidad, she moved with her parents to Queens at age 5, during a hard time for the neighborhood. “I’d walk outside and see crack vials. I would see broken glass and 40-ounce bottles.”
Minaj claims her father abused drugs and alcohol and once tried to kill her mother by setting the house on fire. Fantasy became the star’s way out.
“I would dream of what I wanted my life to be. My mother was making $200 a week and my father was a drug addict, but I would ask my mother, ‘Can you ask Daddy to dress up and wear a suit and can you wear a gown and we can go dancing at a ballroom?’ I was acting like Cinderella.”
Her self-inflation carried over into real life. Though Minaj had a job as a waitress at a Red Lobster in the Bronx, she wasn’t exactly a model employee. “You can imag¬ine when you’re taking orders at Red Lobster and dreaming about being famous,” she says. “It’s tough mentally.”
It was tough physically, too, since Minaj spent every spare second creating mixtapes. After five years, some of them began to appear in XXL magazine. Her 2009 tape “Beam Me Up Scotty” earned attention from both BET and MTV, which led to her huge break, with Lil Wayne‘s Cash Money Records.
It’s no wonder Minaj has connected right now. Her surreal style combines Missy’s artiness with a sexuality the earlier rapper lacked. And her cartoonish appearance fits the Lady Gaga/Katy Perry era.
“The animated bug has bitten pop culture,” Minaj says. “It makes me feel happy and free. When you don’t act seriously, you can make up your own rules.
Source: nydailynews.com
Jessica Simpson marrying ex-NFL player Eric Johnson
Jessica Simpson’s huddle at the wedding altar won’t include Tony Romo, but it still will have an NFL theme.
Romo’s ex-girlfriend is engaged to Eric Johnson, who spent his five NFL seasons playing tight end for the 49ers and Saints. Johnson had an 82-catch season for San Francisco in 2004, but what’s most notable about his career is that he’s the rare Ivy Leaguer to make it in the NFL.
Coming out of Yale, he was the 224th player selected in the 2001 draft.
People mag confirmed Johnson’s Nov. 11 proposal. It will be the second marriage for both of them.
Source: usatoday.com
