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Archive: August 2010 (21-30 of 141)

Aug 26 2010 04:43 PM ET

German pop singer Nadja Benaissa found guilty of exposing unknowing sex partners to HIV, but avoids jail time

Categories: Things Nobody Asked For, Things That Are Frustrating, What the...?

Nadja-Benaissa Image Credit: Boris Roessler/AFP/Getty ImagesNadja Benaissa, one-fourth of German pop girl-group No Angels, has managed to avoid serious jail time after a serious offense, Reuters reports. After being arrested last April, the 28-year-old singer confessed to knowingly exposing two men to the risk of HIV, knowing she’d had the virus since she was 17. Today, a court ruled that Benaissa was guilty grievous bodily harm. She was given a two-year suspended sentence, required to perform 300 hours of community service, and to submit to regular counseling sessions. (The judge gave her a more lenient sentence because she had confessed and expressed remorse.)

“I made a huge mistake,” Benaissa told the Darmstadt court in western Germany yesterday. She also noted that she didn’t tell anyone of her virus for fear of how it would affect her career as a pop star. “I was a coward,” she said. “I’m sorry from the bottom of my heart. I wish I could turn back the clock and make it all not happen.”

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

More news from EW.com’s Music Mix:
Bruce Springsteen: Six-disc ‘Darkness on the Edge of Town’ details
Eminem leads Billboard Hot 100 chart again
Wyclef Jean records song to protest Haiti presidency disqualification
Russell Simmons speaks out in support of ‘Ground Zero mosque’

Aug 26 2010 04:23 PM ET

What's the ultimate song of summer 2010? Vote in our official poll

by Leah Greenblatt

Categories: Big Boi, Katy Perry, Let's Argue!, Listmania!, Usher

Image Credit: Robin Wong/PR Photos; Matt Sayles/AP Images; Robb D. Cohen/Retna Ltd; Jay Valena/Retna Ltd.Signs that summer is, alas, nearly over: back-to-school ads are running high; the humidity index is running low; sunset happens just a little earlier every evening. And of course, out on the road today, you saw a Deadhead sticker on a Cadillac.

But that doesn’t mean this season’s soundtrack is all wrapped up—not, at least, until you all weigh in and vote for your own supreme, summer-owning jam. Only then can we can shut the door on beach vibes 2010, and start talking Halloween costumes. (Oh, the Snookis we’ll see!)

Late-game addition of Cee-Lo’s delightful f-bomb aside, the poll below primarily covers the songs considered the most commercially successful and sonically unavoidable of the last several months. We encourage you, though, to leave your own highly subjective choices in the comments section below.

To inspire-slash-provoke you, here are a few personal picks from EW’s own music staffers: Janelle Monae’s “Tightrope”; Robyn’s “Dancing On My Own”; the Black Keys’ “Tighten Up”; Big Boi’s “Shutterbug,” Arcade Fire’s “Sprawl II”; Sky Ferreira’s “One”; Sugarland’s “Stuck Like Glue”; Against Me’s “I Was a Teenage Anarchist”; and Gyptian’s urban-irie “Hold Yuh.”

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

More news from EW.com’s Music Mix:
‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’ soundtrack to be released September 1: Ta-da, ta-da, ta-da-daah-daah-daah…
Usher to perform at MTV Video Music Awards
Eminem leads Billboard Hot 100 chart again
Wyclef Jean records song to protest Haiti presidency disqualification
Russell Simmons speaks out in support of ‘Ground Zero mosque’

Aug 26 2010 02:06 PM ET

'It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia' soundtrack to be released September 1: Ta-da, ta-da, ta-da-daah-daah-daah...

by Clark Collis

Categories: Music, Soundtracks, Things We Love

Image Credit: Michael Becker/FXThe Extreme Music label announced today that that it will release the It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia soundtrack on September 1. The CD will feature 19 tracks. The bulk of those numbers, including the show’s smooth muzak theme tune “Temptation Sensation,” are performed by the Heinz Kiessling Orchestra. Having already today admitted my inability to speak Haitian Creole, I might as well ‘fess up that that I know precious little about either the apparently late Heinz Kiessling, or his orchestra. However, it seems Kiessling’s music was previously used to soundtrack German sex education shows. Fans of the bawdy It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia will be aware of the appropriateness of that fact.

I’ve embedded the It’s Always Sunny… theme tune after the break. Will you be shelling out for the CD? And are you looking forward to the next season of the FX show (which returns September 16)?

READ FULL STORY »

Aug 26 2010 01:41 PM ET

Bruce Springsteen keeps his 'Promise': Deluxe six-disc 'Darkness on the Edge of Town' reissue details

by Simon Vozick-Levinson

Categories: Bruce Springsteen, Music, Reissues, Things That Are Awesome

Attention all Bruce Springsteen diehards: Come Nov. 16, you’ll be “waiting for a moment that just don’t come” no longer. That’s when the deluxe reissue of Springsteen’s seminal 1978 album Darkness on the Edge of Town, a project that’s been years in the making, will finally arrive. And The Promise: The Darkness on the Edge of Town Story, whose existence was confirmed via press release today, sounds even cooler than we’d dared imagine. READ FULL STORY »

Aug 26 2010 12:53 PM ET

Eminem leads Billboard Hot 100 chart again; Lil Wayne debuts big

by Brad Wete

Categories: Bruno Mars, Charts, Eminem, Katy Perry, Travie McCoy, Usher

Image Credit: Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty ImagesEminem and Rihanna’s “Love The Way You Lie” leads the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart for its sixth week, leaving Taio Cruz’s “Dynamite” waiting in the wings at No. 2 for its third straight week. Katy Perry‘s “Teenage Dream” rises two spots from No. 5 to No. 3. Her former No.1, “California Gurls,” drops five spots to No. 8.

Enrique Iglesias’ “I Like It,” with Pitbull, holds its place at No. 4. Usher‘s “DJ Got Us Fallin’ in Love” moves up two spots to No. 5. Lil Wayne‘s “Right Above It,” featuring Drake, debuts at No. 6. It’s the incarcerated rhymer’s first major hit since entering Rikers Island last spring. Mike Posner’s “Cooler Than Me” slips a rung to No.7.

After producing and featuring on two of the summer’s biggest records, B.o.B’s “Nothin’ on You” and Travie McCoy’s “Billionaire,” Bruno Mars lands his first hit record of his own. “Just The Way You Are” leaps seven places up to No. 9. B.o.B rounds out the top 10 as his “Magic” moves up a spot to No. 10.

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

More news from EW.com’s Music Mix:
Wyclef Jean records song to protest Haiti presidency disqualification
Russell Simmons speaks out in support of ‘Ground Zero mosque’
Vampire Diaries star Kat Graham covers Paula Abdul’s “Cold Hearted”
The Swell Season will pay for grief counseling after death at a show

Aug 26 2010 11:49 AM ET

Usher to perform at MTV Video Music Awards

by Simon Vozick-Levinson

Categories: Television, Usher, VMAs

Image Credit: Noel Vasquez/WireImage.comUsher has joined the list of performers at this year’s MTV Video Music Awards, reps for the network confirm to EW.

A “special performance” from Paramore has also been added to the performing roster. Artists including Travie McCoy, Jason Derulo, and Robyn will perform with the night’s “house band,” DJ/producer Deadmau5. Previously announced performances include Eminem, Kanye West, Justin Bieber, and Drake.

The VMAs air live from L.A.’s Nokia Theater on Sunday, Sept. 12 at 9 P.M.

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

Aug 26 2010 11:40 AM ET

Wyclef records song to protest disqualification from Haiti presidential race. And to prove he can speak Creole?

by Clark Collis

Categories: Music, Wyclef Jean

Charles Norfleet/PR Photos

Wyclef Jean has posted a song on Twitter, protesting his disqualification from the Haiti presidential race. The Fugee performs the tune in Creole, presumably in part to prove he is fluent in the language.

Wyclef’s fellow Fugee Pras recently told New York magazine that the performer was not qualified to become president of Haiti because of his shaky grasp of Creole. “His Creole is similar to Jackie Chan’s English — no disrespect to Jackie Chan,” claimed Pras. “How are you gonna be an effective leader, how are you gonna be inspiring the youth, if you’re telling them to forget French, forget Creole, speak English? That’s in their blood, that’s 200 years of culture. It’d be like Obama coming in and telling people to speak Cantonese.”

To be honest, my own grasp of Haitian Creole is nonexistent (though that’s way down the list of reasons why I am never likely to become president of the country). However, one of my colleagues, who speaks French, says Wyclef sings on the tune about how “it’s the youth that lost.”

Take a listen to the track and tell us what you think—and, if your linguistic skills are better than ours, tell us exactly what he’s singing about.

(Follow the Music Mix on Twitter: @EWMusicMix.)
More news from EW.com’s Music Mix:
Russell Simmons speaks out in support of ‘Ground Zero mosque’
Vampire Diaries star Kat Graham covers Paula Abdul’s “Cold Hearted”
The Swell Season will pay for grief counseling after death at a show
The Key of Awesome parodies Rihanna and Eminem

Aug 26 2010 11:03 AM ET

Russell Simmons speaks out in support of 'Ground Zero mosque'

by Simon Vozick-Levinson

Categories:

Russell Simmons has taken a public stand in support of Park51, the Muslim community center whose planned construction in lower Manhattan has become a national controversy. The Associated Press reports that the hip-hop mogul, who lives across the street from the site of the World Trade Center, adorned several of his top-floor apartment windows with messages of tolerance regarding the so-called “Ground Zero mosque.”

Six of Simmons’ window displays spell out the word “COEXIST” using religious symbols drawn from traditions including Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and Hinduism. Another cites Mark 12:31, the New Testament passage instructing Christians to “love thy neighbor as thyself.” Two more window displays read “USA = FREE” and “IT’S THE LAW.”

“The fact that it is a public discussion, that there’s so many against it is what I think is disappointing to me, that so many people don’t know that we founded our country on the First Amendment,” Simmons told the AP. “It’s for Jews, it’s for Christians, it’s for African-Americans and other non-Muslims to stand up and protect the rights of the Muslims involved in this debate…. It’s an American principle, it should offend every American.”

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

More news from EW.com’s Music Mix:
Vampire Diaries star Kat Graham covers Paula Abdul’s “Cold Hearted”
The Swell Season will pay for grief counseling after death at a show
The Key of Awesome parodies Rihanna and Eminem
Lady Gaga cross-dresses in magazine spread
Timbaland denies suicide attempt rumors

Aug 25 2010 05:12 PM ET

'Vampire Diaries' star Kat Graham covers Paula Abdul's 'Cold Hearted': Where's the cheesy-delish rap breakdown?

by Michael Slezak

Categories: Covers, Divas!, Paula Abdul, Vampires 'n Things

Image Credit: Andrew Eccles/The CWIn a case of two great tastes that taste slightly less than great together, The Vampire Diaries‘ bewitching Kat(erina) Graham (who plays Bonnie, the enchanted BFF of heroine Elena) has recorded a cover of Paula Abdul’s genius 1989 pop-trash classic “Cold Hearted” that is streaming today at RadarOnline.com. Don’t get me wrong: I strongly approve of a second helping of “Cold Hearted” getting served up to today’s youth. After all, the original composition and its hot-ass, racy-for-the-times video are older than any Seinfeld rerun currently stored on your DVR. Or to put it another way, Graham herself wasn’t even born back when Paula laid the squeak down for the original “Cold Hearted” vocals. That said, the slowed-down tempo and completely overhauled verses of Graham’s rendition do nothing to improve on the original composition. Ever worse, Graham performs a rap-ectomy here, completely nixing The Lady Abdul’s furiously spat wordplay (which so famously/ridiculously ended with “Take a take another ‘nother look into his eyes and you will only see a rep-tile”) and instead chooses to coo “He’s nasty, like a fake tan. Heart-break-er don’t give a damn.” I understand that times change, and cheese isn’t the commodity it used to be, but you wouldn’t throw a pair of skinny jeans on the Botticelli’s Venus just to make her more demographically alluring, would you? (Oh yeah, I went there.)

What do you think of Graham’s “Cold Hearted”? Share your feelings in the comments. And because I’m already halfway to cray-cray, I’m going to use the fact that Graham’s Vampire Diaries grandmother was played by none other than Jasmine Guy as an excuse to embed the latter diva’s 1990 track “Another Like My Lover” after the jump. Now quit trying to act like I haven’t piqued your currrrriousitaaay, and jump! READ FULL STORY »

Aug 25 2010 04:47 PM ET

The Swell Season will pay for grief counseling sessions following death at show

by Clark Collis

Categories: The Swell Season, Tours

Image Credit: Conor MastersonThe Swell Season has promised to pay for group counseling sessions to help fans who witnessed the apparent suicide of a man at their in Saratoga, Calif., last week, according to the AP. On Thursday night, Michael Pickels died after jumping from a roof during the band’s set. A spokeswoman for a Palo Alto-based counseling center said today that the band had agreed to pay for four group sessions.