Archive: March 2011 (111-120 of 151)

Mar 9 2011 03:03 PM ET

Mike Starr: Former bandmates, friends pay tribute to late Alice in Chains bassist

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Mike-StarrImage Credit: Marty Temme/WireImage.comThe sad passing yesterday of 44-year-old Mike Starr, a founding member of  ’90s grunge icons Alice in Chains, has prompted a stream of remembrances from his friends, family, and former bandmates, as well as rock contemporaries like Bret Michaels and Slash.

Though Starr’s cause of death is still unknown, his past struggles with heroin—and his arrest for prescription-pill possesion last month in Salt Lake City—are reflected in many of the statements, including a tweet from former Guns ‘n’ Roses drummer Matt Sorum, who posted “Drugs and Alcohol aren’t a joke. Please take care of yourself and respect yourself. We lost Mike Starr today Rest in Peace man.” Motley Crue bassist Nikki Sixx also tweeted: “RIP Mike Starr. Another fallen soldier to addiction.” READ FULL STORY »

Mar 9 2011 02:10 PM ET

The National team up with John Slattery from 'Mad Men' in new video: Watch it here

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Categories: Buzzworthy, The National, Things That Are Awesome, TV Shows & Movies

It’s not easy to make an entertaining video when you’re an acclaimed-but-mopey indie band, more known for inducing introspective lethargy than turning frowns upside down. With that in mind, the “Conversation 16″ music video from The National, starring Mad Men‘s John Slattery and Daily Show contributor Kristen Schaal, is a real achievement.

It’s also not often that such a self-loathing song (sample lyric: “I tell you miserable things after you are asleep”) is accompanied by visual gags like a female president packing a teddy with a presidential seal on it (and we’re not talking Beanie Babies). Watch it here: READ FULL STORY »

Mar 9 2011 01:03 PM ET

Adele spends second week atop Billboard 200 albums chart

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Categories: Adele, Charts

adeleImage Credit: Lauren DukoffAgain, Adele leads the Billboard 200 albums chart. After topping the list week, her 21 surpasses the 500,000 mark in its second week, selling 168,000 copies and making it a gold album just 14 days into its release.

Those numbers make it the best-selling offering of 2011 so far. Opening at No. 2 is Floetry singer Marsha Ambrosius, whose solo debut Late Nights & Early Mornings sold 96,000 units, while Mumford & Sons’ Sigh No More holds at No. 3 and moves 54,000 units.

Check out the full top 10 after the jump.

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Mar 9 2011 12:59 PM ET

Kid Rock's NAACP award leading to protest, threats of boycott

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Categories: Country, Y'all!, Hip-Hop/Rap, Kid Rock, Things That Are Odd, Things That Make Us Go Hmm, Things That Really Could Have Been Avoided

kid-rockImage Credit: Rick Diamond/Getty Images Kid Rock is set to receive the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People‘s Detroit chapter’s Great Expectations Award this May.

The avid fan of soul and hip-hop music is under fire, however, for his use of the Confederate flag during his concerts, the Huffington Post reports. several NAACP members are protesting his impending recognition for that very reason.

READ FULL STORY »

Mar 9 2011 12:46 PM ET

Dave Matthews Band announce plans to play series of three-day festivals this summer

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Categories: Dave Matthews Band, David Gray, Flaming Lips, Music, Ray LaMontagne, Tours

dave-matthews-rehearsalImage Credit: John Shearer/WireImage.comLast May, Dave Matthews swore he wouldn’t tour in 2011. “I want to look at music not as a professional,” Matthews told Billboard.com. “I’d like to do it for a year where I’m just an amateur, where the only reason I’m doing it is out of love so I can come back with this group of people that I’ve played with for 20 years and have something more.”

Today, the “amateur” announced a summer return, of sorts: the Dave Matthews Band will headline four three-day festivals this summer.

The first of these “Dave Matthews Band Caravan” events will take place on June 24, 25, and 26 at Bader Field in Atlantic City, New Jersey. DMB are set to play a full show each night, alongside a roster that includes David Gray, Ray LaMontagne, Damian Marley, and The Flaming Lips, as well as , Michael Franti and Spearhead, Warren Haynes Band, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, Guster, and Fitz and the Tantrums.

Tickets will be available as three-day passes only, and the “Caravan” shows will be DMB’s only performances this year. The online ticket request period for the Atlantic City festival begins Monday, March 14. As for the other three still-unannounced happenings, the band’s website says, “There will be a festival July 8-10 in the Midwest, an August event in an unknown location and a September festival, likely Labor Day Weekend at the Gorge in George, Washington.”

So, DMB fans, will you be attending the New Jersey festival? Who intends to go to all four events (regardless of where they’re held)?

More on EW.com:
Dave Matthews Band fans react to alleged bombing attempt: ‘I was very freaked out’
Clip du jour: ‘Regrets: Dave Matthews Band’

Mar 9 2011 12:02 PM ET

Lady Gaga ends exclusive partnership with Target, reportedly over the company's anti-gay political spending

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Categories: Lady Gaga, Music Biz, Strange Bedfellows

lady-gaga-targetImage Credit: Janet Mayer/PR PhotosLady Gaga has ended her special promotional deal with Target one month after announcing it, seemingly in response to concerns that the retail giant donates significant amounts of money to aggressively anti-gay political candidates.

In an emailed statement to EW, Gaga’s publicist simply stated, “Lady Gaga and Target came to a mutual decision to end their overall exclusive partnership a few weeks ago.”

When Gaga initially agreed to the deal with Target this February—in which her upcoming Born This Way would be released as a special edition featuring three additional songs and five remixes—she talked about what she called the corporation’s “past mistakes,” but said her relationship with the retailer was contingent on them “affiliating themselves with LGBT charity groups” in the future as well as “making up for” past contributions to anti-gay-marriage candidates.

It seems that the reality of selling an album whose title track is a gay empowerment anthem at a store whose Political Action Committee contributed three quarters of its 2010 spending to anti-gay rights politicians became too contentious for Gaga and Target. Even though Target’s CEO apologized to outraged employees in an internal memo, the corporation’s donations to anti-gay rights candidates never stopped, as the Awl comprehensively detailed.

More Gaga on EW.com:
Lady Gaga debuts first ‘Born This Way’ video: Watch it here!
Lady Gaga again rules Billboard hot 100 chart with ‘Born This Way’
Lady Gaga talks early struggles, denies lip-synching, shouts-out Liza Minnelli and Marisa Tomei at Madison Square Garden

Mar 9 2011 09:00 AM ET

Grateful Dead's Bob Weir performing at Sundance for upcoming film 'The Music Never Stopped' -- EXCLUSIVE VIDEO

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Categories: Bob Dylan, EW Exclusives, Grateful Dead, Soundtracks

Bob-WeirImage Credit: Fred Hayes/Getty ImagesDeadheads at this year’s Sundance Film Festival got a treat when Grateful Dead founding member Bob Weir showed up with a mic and an acoustic guitar to performing a collection of Grateful favorites, including “The Music Never Stopped,” to support director Jim Kohlberg’s upcoming film of the same name, slated for release March 18 and starring J.K. Simmons (The Spiderman movies, Juno) and Lou Taylor Pucci (Thumbsucker). Watch below: READ FULL STORY »

Mar 8 2011 07:29 PM ET

Aerosmith to record new album this summer? Tyler says he and Perry 'just smoked the peace pipe'

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Categories: Aerosmith, American Idol, Rock Stars Say the Darndest Things, Twitter

It wasn’t long ago that newbie reality TV judge Steven Tyler introduced the idiom “—- a duck and see what hatches” to unsuspecting American Idol audiences, and it looks like he’s taking his own advice to heart.

According to his Twitter feed, Tyler has buried the hatchet with long-time songwriting partner/bitter rival Joe Perry and Aerosmith are on their way to “rock’in your worlds this summer by locking our selves away somewhere w/ guitars and drums.” Guitars and drums? Who could ask for more!

Tyler says the return of Aerosmith is reason to “rejoice,” and if the classic rockers are following in the footsteps of their 2004 album, he’s not lying. Honkin’ on Bobo was a late-career highlight, showcasing the band returning to their blues-rock roots and eschewing the watered-down arena rock that ended up making them a perfect soundtrack for Mrs. Euphegenia Doubtfire air-guitaring on a broom. READ FULL STORY »

Mar 8 2011 07:16 PM ET

Gwyneth Paltrow reportedly close to signing a record deal. Is she worth it?

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Categories: Gwyneth Paltrow, Let's Argue!, Singers with SAG cards

Gwyneth-Paltrow-singingImage Credit: A.M.P.A.S.Gwyneth Paltrow started her musical charm offensive back in November with a swell performance at the CMA awards and an enjoyable guest-starring turn on Glee.

Since then, she’s completed an award-season hat trick, joining Cee-Lo onstage at the Grammys and singing a ditty from Country Strong at the Academy Awards. Both performances were genuinely fun to watch. Maybe it’s because she used to have such a humor-free reputation — this is the woman who projectile-cried at the Oscars, named her daughter Apple, and regularly updates her own “My life is awesome” website – but there was something surprisingly appealing about seeing Paltrow cut loose. And she could sing, kinda, and dance, kinda, so we could enjoy her performances guilt-free. It seemed like a fun little side project, a professional dalliance.

But now, that “dalliance” could be extended indefinitely. Paltrow is reportedly seeking a real record deal, with a real record label, to record a real album for a real music career. One report even places that record deal at almost a million dollars. Paltrow’s publicist denied rumors of a finalized deal, telling EW, “There is no deal in place for Gwyneth with any record label yet.” (“Yet” is clearly the operative word there.) Am I the only one who thinks that much of the charm of Gwyneth-as-Songstress will fade if she actually starts to get serious about this music stuff? READ FULL STORY »

Mar 8 2011 06:41 PM ET

Bobby Brown says a 'big tour' is on the way for New Edition on The View

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Categories: Bobby Brown, Buzzworthy, Hip-Hop/Rap, R&B

New-Edition-BrownImage Credit: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic.comLooks like Ralph, Ronnie, Bobby, Ricky, Johnny, and Mike aren’t ready to cool it just yet.

Yesterday on ABC’s The View, New Edition‘s wildest Roxury boy, Bobby Brown, revealed that he and the fellas have reunited and plan to release new material soon. The group has broken up and gotten back together several times before since their initial end in 1988, by the way.

“The good news I want to announce is New Edition has gotten back together,” he told co-hosts Sherri Shepherd and Elizabeth Hasselbeck. “Also, we will be doing an album some time in the near future and a big tour.” It’s been nearly two decades since their heyday, but their cuts hold up; “Can You Stand the Rain” and “Cool It Now” still show up on the radio. So why not jump on stage to take us back to the ’80s? I’ll have my Adidas sweatsuit ready to go come tour time. I just hope they’ve kept themselves in shape like New Kids on the Block (also touring soon) has. No one wants to spend their hand-earned cash to see Mike Bivins lose his breath.

Check out Bobby’s appearance on The View after the jump.

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