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Archive: December 2009 (31-40 of 87)

Dec 14 2009 05:20 PM ET

Courtney Love loses custody of Frances Bean

Categories: Courtney Love, Grunge, Legal Troubles, Things That Bum Us Out

TMZ is reporting and E! Online is confirming with court documents that Courtney Love has temporarily lost legal custody of Frances Bean, her daughter with late Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain. Frances Bean, who is now a whopping 17 years old, has been placed in the care of Cobain’s mother, Wendy O’Connor, and his sister, Kimberly. No reason for the guardianship was given, and the women do not have control over the teen’s trust fund. We’ve called both Love’s lawyer and her publicist, and are waiting for further confirmation and any response from the notoriously uncensored Hole singer. (Ordinarily, we’d turn to her Twitter, but she shut it down this fall in the wake of a libel suit filed against her by a fashion designer she’d called a “nasty lying hosebag thief.”)

In the meantime, Mixers, what do you think? While there’s no guarantee this means disaster in the life of Love (or Frances), it’s certainly not a good sign. Are you as bummed as we are that this family unit couldn’t hold on for one more year?

UPDATE: Love’s attorney, Keith A. Fink, gave a statement to People.com late today, saying, “This is simply about Frances preferring to live with her grandmother at this time.”

(Follow the Music Mix on Twitter: @EWMusicMix.)

Photo Credit: Sara De Boer/Retna Ltd.

Dec 14 2009 12:29 PM ET

Axl Rose denies authorizing statement over LAX paparazzi incident, calls the press 'communists'

by Clark Collis

Categories: Guns N' Roses, Things That Are Odd

Axl Rose has denied authorizing a statement which appeared on the Guns N’ Roses MySpace page last Thursday concerning a scuffle at LAX airport. The original statement declared that Rose was “unhurt last evening when he was accosted by an unruly group of paparazzi at Los Angeles International Airport” and that he “was not injured during the unprovoked attack.” But in the new statement, which was also posted on the band’s MySpace page, Rose is quoted as saying that he, “did not release any statement or authorize either any statement or anyone to release a statement regarding anything at any airport anywhere.” Rose also informs “any publications running this” that they should “feel free to tack on whatever negative agenda supporting nonsense you generally do (You know who you are!!). After all it’s only someone else’s livelihood you media police state, no fun, spoil sport, communist bastards. Peace!!”

To be honest, this new statement raises a loft more questions than it answers. What was Rose’s problem with the original release (which can still be perused on the band’s website)? Did he dislike the accusation that he hadn’t provoked the paparazzi? And how do we know that this new statement has been authorized by Rose himself? Moreover, does anyone still care what the G N’R frontman has to say? Or is it time to consign him to the garbage heap of history, which is of course the destination Communist firebrand Leon Trotsky accurately declared the Mensheviks were bound after they walked out of the Second Congress of Soviets in October 1917 (I knew studying the Russian Revolution at college would pay off one day)?

Peace!!

(Follow the Music Mix on Twitter: @EWMusicMix.)

Photo credit: Rose: Paulo Amorim/Photorazi; Lenin: Keystone/Getty Images

Dec 14 2009 12:06 PM ET

John Mayer's SIRIUS XM show: A sneak peek

by Clark Collis

Categories: Bob Dylan, John Mayer

Guitarist. Singer-songwriter. Occasional stand-up comedian. Very occasional wearer of a Borat-style mankini. Is there no end to John Mayer’s talents? Seemingly not. And this Wednesday at 6 p.m. EST you will be able to hear the pop-bluesman try his hand at the ol’ record-playing game in the course of a special guest DJ session on The Spectrum, SIRIUS channel 18 and XM channel 45.

The Music Mix can reveal that the platters which matter to Mr Mayer will include Billy Preston’s “That’s The Way God Planned It,” Bell X1′s “The Great Defector,” Death Cab For Cutie’s “Marching Bands of Manhattan,” Fleet Foxes’ “White Winter Hymnal,” Mayer Hawthorne’s “Strange Arrangement,” and “Tangled Up In Blue” by Bob Dylan. Mayer also performs on the show and you can hear a clip from the man’s soundcheck below during which he covers both Skid Row and Extreme

Check out the clip and tell us what you think. Did you buy Mayer’s recent, chart-topping, collection Battle Studies? Will you be checking out his SIRIUS show? What say you about his musical taste?

(Follow the Music Mix on Twitter: @EWMusicMix.)

Photo credit: Albert L. Ortega/PR Photos

Dec 14 2009 11:00 AM ET

Chris Brown outraged that stores are not carrying his new album; unleashes Twitter tirade

by Leah Greenblatt

Categories: Chris Brown, Rock Stars Say the Darndest Things, Things That Make Us Uncomfortable

Singer Chris Brown took to his Twitter page to express his extreme displeasure with stores, including a Walmart in Wallingford, CT, that are not visibly stocking his new album, Graffiti.

“the[y] didnt even have my album in the back… not on shelves, saw for myself,” he wrote in a series of tweets over the weekend. “im tired of this s—. major stores r blackballing my cd. not stockin the shelves and lying to costumers. what the f— do i gotta do.”
He continued: “im not biting my tongue about sh– else… the industry can kiss my ass.
WTF… yeah i said it and i aint retracting s–”

“we talked to the managers and the didnt even know anything. wow!!! but they had alicia keys album ready for release for this tuesday comin … the manager told me that when there are new releases its mandatory to put em on the shelves.. BUT NO SIGN OF #GRAFFITI. BS.”

“no disprespect to alicia at all,” he continued. “just givin an example to whos album is loaded and ready to go next week.”

The debate continues with fan’s responses and re-tweets on his page, but what do you think, readers? Do stores have the right to decide whether to stock Brown’s album, based on personal objections to his actions this year? Should Brown have perhaps waited to release a new record until his public image was less tarnished?

By the way, Billboard predicts that Graffiti will take the third-place spot on the charts tomorrow, with sales of 95,000 to 110,00; that’s no SuBo, but it’s still better than the much-promoted, scandal-free Shakira and Kris Allen did in their recent chart bows.

Dec 14 2009 04:13 AM ET

On the Scene: Garth Brooks (in a hoodie!) kicks off Las Vegas residency

by Whitney Pastorek

Categories: Concert Reviews, Country, Y'all!, Garth Brooks, Things That Are Awesome

After eight years of restless retirement, Garth Brooks kicked off his potentially-five-year-long stay at the Wynn Hotel’s 1,500-seat Encore Theater in Las Vegas this weekend, and for all those who remember him mostly as the guy in the picture to the left here, his comeback performance is an absolute revelation. The Music Mix was in the audience for the early set on Saturday, and if we were worried that this flashpot-loving showman might aim for Sigfried-and-Roy-like levels of spectacle during his time on the Strip, those fears dissipated the moment Brooks stepped on stage: Dressed in jeans, a hoodie, a baseball cap, and a headset mic (some things never change), he looked more like your burly neighbor on football Sundays, breaking out the guitar in the den for a singalong after supper. The “living-room show” has long deserved a Vegas comeback — but no one thought Brooks would be the dude to try it. Or that he’d be the perfect guy to pull it off. READ FULL STORY »

Dec 11 2009 05:19 PM ET

Q&A with Miley Cyrus songwriter Jessi Alexander: 'The Climb' being pulled from Grammy noms is 'devastating'

by Whitney Pastorek

Categories: Grammys, Miley Cyrus, Q&A

Songwriter Jessi Alexander and her co-writer Jon Mabe may be two of the briefest Grammy nominees in history: “The Climb” got pulled from the Best Song Written for a Motion Picture race yesterday, after Disney determined that it hadn’t been written specifically for the Miley Cyrus vehicle Hannah Montana: The Movie (as Grammy rules for soundtrack songs require), and withdrew it from the category. Naturally, this came as quite the shock to Alexander, who has been under contract as a Disney songwriter for, as she puts it, “three and a half years that have been really good to me.” We are still awaiting comment from a Disney rep, but in the meantime, we spoke to Alexander about the “gray areas” of the songwriting process, and her questions regarding the technicality that got “The Climb” disqualified.

Entertainment Weekly: I’m assuming you found out earlier than the rest of us that this was happening. Did Disney tell you? Or did the Grammys tell you?
Jessi Alexander: Some of the Disney brand staff members congratulated me about the nomination. So I spent one night on a high. And then the following morning was a new low, when I was told it was gonna be pulled by Disney.

Did they talk to you before they pulled it?
They were in the process of pulling it. And of course, my take was, I understand that there are rules — although I knew nothing about the rules when I found out about the nomination — but let’s at least just tell NARAS where the gray areas are and let them make the decision. But Disney made the decision, and I was just told.

So was the song written specifically for the Hannah Montana movie?
This is the gray area. READ FULL STORY »

Dec 11 2009 03:11 PM ET

Neil Diamond covers Adam Sandler, becomes the Grinch who ruined Hanukkah

by Joseph Brannigan Lynch

Categories: Covers, Happy Holidays, Neil Diamond, Things Nobody Asked For

I thought my Chanukah wishes had been answered when I heard that Neil Diamond did a cover of Adam Sandler’s “The Chanukah Song.” Until I listened to it: ugh. Then things got worse. I saw the music video, done in slipshod Flash animation. Needless to say, there was wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Sandler’s song for a musically underrepresented holiday works because it’s fun and feels off-the-cuff. For some reason the Jewish Elvis though we needed a straight-faced, fist-pumping version of a novelty song. Well, this is the same Hebraic hero who—for some reason—has recorded three Christmas albums, so what do you expect?

There’s potential in this cartoon video for the song, and it’s criminally wasted. ‘Toon versions of David Lee Roth, The Fonz and Captain Kirk show up, but they don’t do anything other than smile/leer and raise their animated eyebrows.

Am I missing some secret subtext in this painfully vanilla cover? Or should we let this crazy Diamond shine on?

Dec 11 2009 02:20 PM ET

The-Dream fumes at Grammys snub, looks forward to working with Katy Perry and Ciara

by Simon Vozick-Levinson

Categories: Ciara, Grammys, Katy Perry, The Dream

Some artists like to say they don’t care about awards. Terius “The-Dream” Nash is not one of them. When his album Love vs. Money was shut out of the Grammy nominations last week, the R&B singer and songwriter (“Umbrella,” “Single Ladies,” “Touch My Body”) was so peeved he went on an extended Twitter rant. “I couldn’t believe it,” he tells the Music Mix. “I grew up looking at the Grammys. It was a childhood infatuation with these people walking around with gold statues. I felt like they were the best, and that’s why I started working so hard.”

The-Dream says he wasn’t expecting to make it into an elite contest like Album of the Year, but he was surprised that Love vs. Money was left out of the Best Contemporary R&B Album category. (The nominees there were Beyoncé’s I Am…Sasha Fierce, T-Pain’s Thr33 Ringz, Jamie Foxx’s Intuition, Trey Songz’ Ready, and Pleasure P’s The Introduction of Marcus Cooper.) “I don’t think anybody does contemporary R&B albums better than me. I don’t know how to dunk; I don’t know how to throw a football 50 yards. But I know how to write some motherf—ing R&B songs!”

READ FULL STORY »

Dec 11 2009 01:19 PM ET

Ke$ha: A Music Mix Q&A on her Top 5 hit 'Tik Tok,' the origin of her name, and why she's not welcome in Paris Hilton's home

by Joseph Brannigan Lynch

Categories: Q&A

When electro-pop party girl Ke$ha sang on Flo Rida’s number-one smash “Right Round” earlier this year, she “didn’t have enough money to buy a taco.” Things are looking much better for the L.A.-born, Tennessee-raised pop singer these days. Her debut solo single “TiK ToK”—which she co-wrote with Britney/Katy Perry vets Dr. Luke and Benny Blanco—is currently a top-five hit and one of the most recklessly fun dance songs of the year.

We talked to Ke$ha about her alleged foul mouth, her public display of “bladder desperation” at a recent awards show, and what caused her to spew (for real) in Paris Hilton’s closet.

EW: Kesha is your birth name, but I’m guessing the money sign isn’t on your birth certificate. Why did you throw it in?

K: I was on the Flo Rida song “Right Round,” and I was hearing it everywhere, just all over the place. It was number one in a bajillion countries and I didn’t have enough money to buy myself a taco. So I was talking to one of my friends about it and I was like, “What the hell!” I literally had two dollars to my name, and she was like, “Whatever, you don’t need money: You’re money.” And I was like, “Yeah! I’m money!” So it’s really just me taking the piss out of the fact that I was broke while being on a number-one record. It’s actually just being ironic about the whole money thing, because I actually stand for the opposite of putting a lot of emphasis on money.

EW: Would you mind being rich?

K: It’s not at all the reason I’m doing it. I wouldn’t mind it, because it just so happens that if I am a successful musician and I make good records, I might make some money, too, and that’s totally fine. And I love that I don’t have to wait tables, and I’m so appreciative for anything I do earn, but I don’t have to be greedy and gluttonous about the money I’m making.

EW: What inspired the Diddy reference ["Wake up in the morning feeling like P. Diddy"] in “TiK ToK”?

K: I used to live in this sort-of castle in Laurel Canyon. I woke up one morning surrounded by all of my hot babe friends because they had all crashed after a night out. And I woke up surrounded by babes—it was a total babe-fest—and I thought, “This must be what Diddy feels like every morning.” That was the first line of the song, and I took it in and Dr. Luke liked it.

EW: And I hear your family was on The Simple Life? READ FULL STORY »

Dec 11 2009 11:33 AM ET

Axl Rose issues statement on 'unprovoked' paparazzi scuffle

by Simon Vozick-Levinson

Categories: Guns N' Roses

Axl Rose has issued a statement about his run-in with photographers at Los Angeles International Airport this week. The singer reportedly missed a Dec. 9 soundcheck for Guns N’ Roses’ gig tonight in Taiwan, leading to rumors that he had been involved in a fight at the airport. The statement posted last night on Guns N’ Roses’ MySpace says that Rose was “accosted by an unruly group of paparazzi” in an “unprovoked attack” while preparing to go through security. The photographers’ names have not been reported. Read the full statement after the jump.