Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Mandy Moore marries Ryan Adams. Really?


Mandy Moore. Oh, girl. You were so cute at first. I really thought you had a shot at taking down Britney and Christina Aguillera.
But now, after a series of misteps (remember America Dreamz?) she's tied the knot with singer/songwriter Ryan Adams, who's ten years her senior. 
Apparently, the twosome have been dating on and off for a year-and-a-half, and after a brief break, announced their engagement Feb. 11 — taking the plunge a month later in Savannah, GA of all places.
Now I understand Adams' attachment. She's young, gorgeous, and more of a mainstream star, than he's ever been. But her? UGH. I give it a year, tops. 

Check out Perez Hilton's take here, and OK! Magazine's here.

New York Times rips Jay from "The City"


In a recent article by the New York Times, Jay Lyon —Whitney's shaggy-haired love interest on MTV's "The City"— gets torn a new one. 
Check it out here. 
I was a little skeptical of the sound of Lyon's band "Tamarama" (anyone remember Chumba-Wumba?) when the cast on the show started dogging on the group before anyone else in America had a chance to. Not a good sign. 
In the live review of a recent show, the New York Times calls Lyon and his group "barely the sum of their influences: generous helpings of surf rock, with slight dashes of Hawaii and Carribean."
The NYT also notes the group's bubbly fans: "in front you see a dozen or so faithful fans —young women, mostly college-age—though what they're fans of is up for grabs." Ouch. 
The irony of the concert, was it was on a Monday in NYC, the same night The City airs on MTV.
"The concert ends around 10:20, just as Whitney -on TV- is bemoaning Jay's callousness...'he doesn't even have the decency to tell me, like, such a big thing in his life'...and you want her to know, hey, it's really not that big," the scathing article concludes. 
Damn, Jay. I hope you treat Whitney right. Everybody needs something to fall back on. 

Check out Tamarama's myspace page here. 

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Radiohead/Grammys: behind the scenes


The Grammys are never the "end all be all" music awards show for me. 
It usually seems overblown and phony. But in the last couple of years, they really have been packing on the live shows and upping their cred. 
The highlight of this year's pop-star drenched show was Radiohead, who came out with the University of Southern California (USC) marching band by their side. 
Check out their performance of "15 Step" here
Well, today some behind the scenes footage of the performance was uploaded to youtube for our viewing pleasure. Seen here.  
Watch Thom Yorke fuss about snare drums as the USC college kids are eager to listen.
Takes me back to my college days when our marching band performed with JC Chasez...

Saturday, March 7, 2009

Depp and Bale in new Dillinger biopic


Ok, when I first saw this preview while I was eagerly awaiting "The Watchmen" to start, I wasn't able to give it my full attention. 
This lady was beating the sh*t out of her kid in the row in front of us and it was making me a little uncomfortable. 
But even then, I knew this movie looked like it was going to be the bomb.com
"Public Enemies" -bad title, great-looking movie - is the new period-piece gangster flick from director Michael Mann opening July 1. The trailer (seen here) follows Johnny Depp as John Dillinger, a depression era bank robber seen then as a Robin Hood type, who achieved celebrity status in newspapers.
Christian Bale steps in - midwestern accent in tow - as the cop who's going to try and bring the flashy criminal in. 
The whole film is shot with the same grainy-digital look that Mann has perfected over the years with movies like "Miami Vice" and "Collateral." 
Seriously, when I first saw Brad Pitt sporting the 1930s mustache and short hair after Benjamin Button wrapped, I thought it was a little weird. 
But when Depp does it as Dillinger, it makes this quasi-depression we are facing nowadays, look almost glamorous. 

*Our Hollywood correspondent, EG23, just let us know Brad Pitt is sporting the debonaire mustache for his new movie "Inglorious Bastards," directed by Quentin Tarantino. 

Ghostface Killah offers advice to Rhianna


It seems like everybody is talking about Rhianna and Chris Brown these days. We've all got our opinions and apparently, so does ex-Wu wordsmith: Ghostface Killah.
In his new track "Message From Ghostface," (available here) Ghost offers some raps of wisdom for Rhianna and some very specific medical references. I think I'll just let Ghosts' trademark lyrical wit speak for itself...
The funky joint - featuring Novel - kicks off with a short monologue from the smokey-voiced Ghostface:
"This is for all my women out there gettin' beat up in the streets...Rhianna." 
Beats drop and then he takes us back through the good, innocent times: 
"In the beginning it was real good, he sexed you right, held you close in the bed real tight." 
Ahhhh the imagery. But Dr. Ghost can't help but rise to the surface:
"Been four months since your last period came...your last man had you opened up like a pap smear." EEEWWWWWWW!
And as if Rhianna hasn't already had enough public embarassment, we've got to take a trip to her Gyno's office, mid-session? Sorry girl. You're still cute to us. 
To wrap it all up though, Ghost does put himself in place and offers up a timeless nugget of advice:
"I ain't here to interfere, but...protect ya neck."
If only Rhianna had been listening to Ghostface when she was riding in Chris Brown's ferrari that fateful night. Maybe we'd be writing about Ellen and Portia instead. 

New St. Vincent track: "The Strangers"


To promote Actor, due out May 5, ethereal songstress St. Vincent has released "The Strangers," a little dreamy preview of what's to come - available here. 
The song starts out with a faux gothic choir-sound that made me think of Home Alone for some reason, right before Kevin has to fight the burglars. 
Anyway, St. Vincent - the mysterious French sounding girl that is actually from Dallas - begins describing random things while a kick drum pulses a' la some rave in 1996.
"Desperate don't look good on you, neither does your virtue..." she croons just after a breathy verse about playboys being left around a messy apartment, I think? 
I get the sense it's an ode to an Ex. Or a messy roommate at the very least. 
The song builds, a strange symphonic loop comes in and out -reminiscent of an old Disney movie according to Gorilla Vs. Bear -  and right when you think it's gonna taper off, a very mean guitar comes in and gets things rocking. It's so dirty there for a minute that the acoustic guitar and almost-French accordion afterwards, seem like a breath of fresh air. 
Like St. Vincent herself just opened a window in a wooden cottage onto a flowery knoll with little animated chipmunks and pissed off elves. 

Friday, March 6, 2009

Jacko to play London w/ possible new tour

In what has been described as his "final curtain call," controversial entertainer Michael Jackson announced Thursday that he will play 10 concerts in London at the O2 arena.
 The shows, Jackson's first in 12 years, will kick off July 8 at the 20,000 capacity venue. 
Jackson held a press conference at the arena Thursday to make the announcement. 
"These will be my final shows performing in London. 'This is It' really means this is it," Jackson told fans and press, while wearing his trademark military get-up. "I'll be performing the songs my fans want to hear. I'll see you in July and I love you so much."
Tickets for the show will cost anywhere from 50-75 pounds, almost twice that in U.S. dollars. 
It may come as no surprise to some that Jackson is making a comeback jaunt amid terrible financial woes. A few months back, Jackson was sued - and settled out of court - by a business partner, and his Neverland Ranch is now on the auction block. 
Rob Hallett, promoter for the event, said "We are delighted to facillitate the return of the King of Pop, long may he reign!"
Which is a little confusing since it's his "final curtain call." 
Ever hear the one about Jackson's new department store? They've got kids' pants half-off. 
Sorry Jacko, it was too hard to resist.