Judge denies Brown's jail-release request; Styles P hops onto AZ album; Aiken too busy to date.
The next time you see Missy Elliott, she's going to be in 3-D. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Walt Disney Studios is creating a stereoscopic 3-D video for Missy that combines the tunes "Ching-a-Ling" and "Shake Your Pom Pom." The songs will appear on the February 5 soundtrack to the dance sequel "Step Up 2 The Streets" and might resurface on the rapper's yet-untitled new LP, due in May. The video will premiere on "TRL" on Monday. ...A New York judge denied Foxy Brown's request to get out of jail early so she can go to California for an ear examination and for a repair of her electronic ear implant. According to The Associated Press, the Manhattan district attorney's office reported on Monday that State Supreme Court Justice Melissa Jackson will not allow Brown, 29, to go to Los Angeles for the treatment, which prosecutors argued she could get just as easily in New York, where she is being held for violating her probation. ...
Styles P, Ray J and Large Professor have huddled together with AZ to help the hip-hop lyricist with his new album — it's Undeniable. The disc is due February 19. ...
Former "American Idol" finalist Clay Aiken, who has faced questions about his sexuality since entering the spotlight more than four years ago, recently told New York magazine that not only is he sick of answering questions about his preferences, he's tired of thinking about something that he simply doesn't have time for. Aiken told the magazine that his social life is "nonexistent, really I'm not a nighttime person." While he's in New York performing in the Broadway production of "Monty Python's Spamalot," he does not plan on dating anyone and is not involved with anyone. "Heck, no," he said, adding that his only companions are "my dogs." Not only that, but Aiken, 29, claims that he's never had a romantic relationship, unless you count the girls he took to dances in high school. "I just don't have an interest in ... any of that at all. I have got too much on my plate," he told the magazine. "I'd rather focus on one thing and do that when I can devote time to it, and right now, I just don't have any desire." ...
The Arctic Monkeys scored a record seven nominations for this year's NME Awards, including nods for Best Album, Best Live Band, Best Album Artwork, Best Video, Best Track and Best British Band, for which they'll be competing against Babyshambles, the Cribs, Klaxons and Muse. The news was more mixed for Amy Winehouse, who is up for Best Solo Artist, but also Worst Dressed and Villain of the Year, where she'll get stiff competition from U.S. President George Bush and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. The awards will be handed out in London on February 28. Radiohead are in the running for Best Album, and the Arcade Fire, Foo Fighters, the Killers, Kings of Leon and My Chemical Romance are up for Best International Band. My Chem also picked up a nomination for Worst Band, where they will compete with Fall Out Boy, 30 Seconds to Mars and Panic at the Disco. ...
Peter Bjorn and John made a big splash in '07, but bandmember Peter Morén has actually been hammering away at an album of his own for many years, and it's finally good to go. The Last Tycoon, the Swede's first solo outing, is more low-key and acoustic than PB&J's Writer's Block release, and is due April 8. The album incorporates vibraphones, strings, synthesizers, a musical saw, drum machines and more. ... Andrew McMahon (Jack's Mannequin, Something Corporate) is the subject of a new documentary narrated by Tommy Lee. "Dear Jack," due later this year, revolves around the singer/pianist's recent battle with leukemia. "Andrew is such a hero, and I jumped at the opportunity to help tell this incredible story," Lee — who played drums for the first Jack's Mannequin album, Everything in Transit — said in a statement. Check out the trailer right here. ... Almost five years after the release of his major-label debut, Chariot, which featured the hit "I Don't Want to Be," Gavin DeGraw will finally release his more rock-leaning self-titled follow-up this spring, according to Billboard. The first single is "In Love With a Girl." ...
You know whose fault all this illegal music-file downloading is? Your Internet service provider, that's who! At least according to longtime U2 manager Paul McGuinness, who laid the blame on ISPs in a fiery speech Monday at the annual MIDEM international music conference in France. According to the Los Angeles Times, McGuinness' keynote address targeted ISPs as both the primary culprits and potential healers of the worldwide record industry's ongoing ills. "I think the failure of ISPs to engage in the fight against piracy, to date, has been the single biggest failure in the digital music market," he said. "They are the gatekeepers with the technical means to make a far greater impact on mass copyright violation than the tens of thousands of lawsuits taken out against individual file-sharers." McGuinness added that he thinks the prosecution of music fans for illegally downloading music is "counterintuitive," even if there is an "educational and propaganda" effect to them, then issued a challenge to ISPs to do the right thing, suggesting legislation might be required if they don't. McGuinness also had harsh words for record companies who don't treat artists fairly and said U2 have always been one of those bands who "understood that it would be pathetic to be good at the music and bad at the business and [has] always been prepared to invest in their own future. ... We were never interested in joining that long, humiliating list of miserable artists who made lousy deals, got exploited and ended up broke and with no control over how their life's work was used, and no say in how their names and likenesses were bought and sold."
1.28.08
Joel Madden needs to see a shrink — in an upcoming episode of the new Starz comedy "Head Case," that is. The Good Charlotte frontman and new dad will appear on the February 13 episode of the show, which revolves around a judgmental psychotherapist (Alexendra Wentworth) who sees celebrity clients when she isn't out shopping. If you're already psyched for the show, go to Amazon.com's Unbox section to check out the original short-form episodes that launched it. ...
Thank your lucky stars — the Grammy Awards ceremony will go on this year as planned, according to an interim agreement announced Monday (January 28), The Associated Press reports. While the Grammy telecast was still good to go following last week's announcement that the striking Writers Guild of America would not protest it, the interim agreement means content for the show will be written under a WGA contract. "In the interest of advancing our goal of achieving a fair contract, the [WGA West] Board felt that this decision should be made on behalf our brothers and sisters in the American Federation of Musicians and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists," WGA West President Patric Verrone reportedly said in a statement. "Having our talented writers on the team further ensures the highest level of creativity and innovation, something our audience has come to expect every year," Recording Academy President/CEO Neil Portnow reportedly said in a statement of his own. ...
Miley Cyrus' Saturday show in New Orleans had a bit of a hiccup when the singer otherwise known as Hannah Montana announced that she wasn't feeling well and left the stage, according to a video posted on TMZ.com. Cyrus returned to finish her set, albeit in a seat, and dad Billy Ray sang with her. ...
Rivers Cuomo, Adam Sandler, Tony Hawk, baseball player Nomar Garciaparra and Andy Samberg kicking around a soccer ball together on a Saturday afternoon? According to ESPN.com, that was the scene over the weekend when the celebs took the field at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California, for Garciaparra and wife/ ex-soccer pro Mia Hamm's charity Celebrity Soccer Challenge. Cuomo scored his team's first goal, and he later reportedly said, "It was a dream come true. Passing with [the L.A. Galaxy's] Landon Donovan and going against Mia Hamm — it's just unreal. I was terrified, but I was so excited that the excitement overcame the terror." Milo Ventimiglia, Elisabeth Shue, Seth Meyers and others also participated in the event, the proceeds of which went to the Children's Hospital Los Angeles. ...
Jim Jones is reissuing his Harlem's American Gangster mixtape, hosted by Dame Dash and featuring the Byrd Gang crew, February 19. Fans are already familiar with the tape, which was previously available in limited form, but it has since been remixed, remastered and bolstered with new tracks, including "Rockefeller Laws." "Some people do soundtracks to the movies about Harlem," he said in a statement. "We do soundtracks to the streets of Harlem, which made us who we are today." His new studio LP will drop in the summer. ...
Modest Mouse and the National have something special to jot down on their calendars: opening dates for R.E.M. The tour will launch after the release of Michael Stipe and the gang's April 1 album, Accelerate. The cities are as follows: Vancouver, British Columbia (May 23); Los Angeles (May 29); Berkeley, California (May 31); Morrison, Colorado (June 3); Chicago (June 6); Toronto (June 8); Raleigh, North Carolina (June 10); Columbia, Maryland (June 11); Mansfield, Massachusetts (June 13); Wantagh, New York (June 14); Philadelphia (June 18); New York (June 19); and Atlanta (June 21). ... Hot Chip, Spank Rock, Peaches and others are liberally reworking classic tracks by the Pharcyde, Masta Ace, Tone Loc and others for a new collection, Delicious Reimagined, due early this year. Raunchy electro-clash singer Peaches — who has collaborated with everyone from Pink to Iggy Pop — remixed Loc's "Wild Thing" almost 20 years after the song originally came out, adding her own new vocals along the way. ...
Hayden Panettiere spoke about the warrant for her arrest — which she was slapped with in the fall after confronting Japanese fishermen to protest the hunting of dolphins — at a related demonstration in Washington, D.C., on Sunday. According to The Washington Post, the "Heroes" actress and Save the Whales Again! Campaign spokeswoman told a crowd, "I was wearing a wetsuit and shoes. I was like, if I'm going to jail, I ain't going to jail in a bikini." ... peta2 has a few new friends you might know: MTV News' own John Norris, as well as the stars of "Rob & Big." Norris stars in a new online video for the youth animal-rights organization that explains why he went vegan, while Rob Dyrdek and Chris "Big Black" Boykin appear in an ad with their dog, Meaty, along with the statement "Have the Balls to Spay or Neuter Your Dog." ...
Black Lips have drooled out an exclusive iTunes Live Session EP that the so-called "flower punk" band recorded over the summer in San Francisco. The Lips are also in the running for Yahoo's User's Choice program, the winner of which will play a performance in the company's studio in Santa Monica, California. And they've also lined up a run that will start February 4 in Seattle and end March 22 in Atlanta. ... The second half of Thrice's four-disc concept album will be in stores in the spring. The Alchemy Index, Vols. III & IV: Earth & Air, is scheduled for release April 15. ... From Autumn to Ashes drummer Jeff Gretz recently suffered two broken bones in his foot and will be forced to sit out the band's tour for the next few months. Flood of Red's Graham Griffith will fill in for Getz for most of the tour's remaining stops. ...
New Kids on the Block fans are going to have to keep "Hangin' Tough" — despite reports over the weekend, the old-school boy band is not planning to stage a comeback. While the once-hugely popular teen heartthrobs' Web site has apparently relaunched, bandmember Danny Wood wrote on his MySpace page on Monday morning, "I wanted to address the rumors of the NKOTB Reunion Tour. There has been no talk of this and you are getting it from the source directly. ... You can't believe everything you read." Still, he added, "Never say never!" Let's keep our hopes up.
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