really? it took a year and a half chris brown? really? last night, bet aired their annual award show honoring the best in r&b, rap and soul music. part of the show was a tribute to michael jackson, starring chris brown. brown danced through a medley of jackson's hits before attempting to perform "man in the mirror." unfortunately, for chris, his emotions got the best of him. chris could barely get out a sound, let alone the song's lyrics before he hunched over into the fetal position and broke down. now, there's no way to know whether or not chris was sad over the death of mj or beating rihanna. but, i think we all know. watch the great dance sequence for the first 4 minutes of the video above, then watch the most uncomfortable moment on tv (so far) this year.
cougar town say what?
after a strong, creatively driven first season, rumors are circulating (and by circulating, i mean everyone attached to this show has confirmed it) that abc's cougar town could be getting a name change come fall. well, now the show's possible names are making the rounds. according to e news, the following list is being considered for the series' second season:
friends and family
friends and neighbors
the cul de sac neighborhood
the end of the street
the neighborhood
jules neighborhooding
really? i'm not even sure neighborhooding is english. not one of these titles sounds like a real show. they sound like a funny-or-die sketch. obviously, someone was trying to associate the show with star courtney cox's former series friends. if they go with any of these titles, it would have to be the neighborhood. my suggestion? find a different person (i.e. not you 5-year-old kid) to come up with titles.
update: apparently, the list e! received was lost in translation. according to our nice anonymous friend in the comments, the correct list is as follows
friends and family
friends and neighbors
the cul de sac
neighborhood jules
neighborhooding
the end of the street
the neighborhood
now i kind of like neighborhooding. it makes more sense when jules isn't doing it, right? what do you think of the right new names?
last night, cbs aired the 52nd annual grammy awards and they were no disappointment. while the show is supposed to be about the awards, it was really the performances that made the special, well, special. lady gaga opened the show in true lady gaga fashion, including surprise guest elton john. it was over the top and theatrical, just the way to kick off an awards show. people say they're getting tired of gaga and her theatrics, but had the opening number been a bland stand-there-and-play-guitar type thing, the night wouldn't have gotten off on the right foot.
after gaga, everyone from pink to beyonce and bon jovi took the stage. pink's number, "glitter in the air," was proof that lip synching is dead. dead dead dead. if pink can do aerial stunts and sing live, anyone can. sorry, britney, but you're going to have to get your voice together.
speaking of britney, she was nominated for best dance recording for "womanizer." not surprisingly, she didn't win. but she did show up - after an 8 year hiatus from the show - in a crazy fishnet dress. i think it's pretty obvious why she skipped any press before the show.
beyonce was another great performance, though it was disappointing she didn't sing the song that made her year what it was - "single ladies." miss knowles did, however, cover alanis morisette's "you should know." it's weird to think about beyonce singing about uncle joey from full house (that's who the song was - allegedly - originally written about, fyi), but whatever.
taylor swift, who took home four of the night's big awards, performed on stage with fleetwood mac legend stevie nicks and, well, it was less than impressive. i've said it before and i'll say it again. and again - taylor has an issue singing live. it's usually better when she has the guitar in front of her, but last night it was just flat. flat flat flat. the one thing that saves taylor is that she's a good song writer, which is sure to keep her foot in the door of the industry for the rest of her life. she just needs to start focusing on more adult material and not sing every single song about puppy love and fairytales. the girl turns 21 this year, come on. it didn't help that taylor's breathy voice was backed up with stevie's husky one. it was just kind of a mess. the one plus was that the duo sang one of my faves from stevie's fleetwood days, "rhiannon." why stevie played the tambourine randomly during the performance is beyond me.
the most star-powered number of the night came during the michael jackson tribute, the final imagining of his "earth song" performance form what was to be the "this is it" concert series. the thing that annoyed me most about this performance was that it was in 3d - i know i wasn't the only one not to get the memo about needing glasses. hello, grammy people, not everyone just has those lying around. had they sent them out in the mail or in tv guide, i could understand it. but the award show expected people to go to target or kmart and pick up a pair. why is this '80s technology back with such full force? it's not like they've improved on it or like it's actually there in front of you. 2d is just fine by me. the "earth song" performance featured celine dion (surprisingly tame), usher, carrie underwood, jennifer hudson and smokey robinson. i understand this was michael's favorite song from "this is it," but i would have much preferred a medley of his hit songs.
after the performance, michael's son, prince, and daughter, paris, accepted the lifetime achievement award for their father. for some reason, they were joined on stage by their cousins (there's no question in my mind that this wasn't some way to promote the cousins' fame) but not little brother blanket. where the hell was blanket? prince gave most of the speech and the way he spoke was almost identical to the intonations and inflections in his father's voice. it was almost creepy.
the worst performance of the night has to go to jamie foxx, who didn't seem able to keep up with his backing track for "blame it." the fact that the song is so autotuned made it even harder. watch with your own discretion - let me warn you that the performance starts out with a hokey opera skit.
now to the night's winners and what i think of them.
album of the year: taylor swift, fearless - while it was a huge hit, i don't know that fearless made enough advances or impact in the history of music. i'm not saying taylor isn't deserving - she works hard and have made people pay attention to country music again - but lady gaga had the most hits and innovation of any other artists. the biggest disappointment is that gaga was shutout of the best new artist category because of a single nomination in the dance/electronica category next year.
song of the year: "single ladies," beyonce - deserved, deserved, deserved.
best new artist: zac brown band - did i call it or what? there really wasn't much else to choose from this year so the country group who writes their own stuff was the top pick.
pop vocal album: the black eyed peas, the e.n.d. - surprising, but their innovation makes it worth it. the peas are another group that can't really perform live. here's their performance.
best pop vocal performance (female): beyonce, "halo" - duh.
best pop vocal performance (male): jason mraz, "make it mine" - must have been slim pickings
pop collaboration with vocals: jason mraz and colbie caillat, "lucky" - colbie may have been the nights most surprising winner because she won on others' coattails. she helped write and sing on taylor's record, garnering herself a grammy for record of the year.
i'm not going to go into all the other categories, but just know that gaga wasn't completely shut out - she won the 2 awards in the dance category: one for "poker face" and the other for her album, the fame. other winners included beyonce in the r&b category, tswift in country, kings of leon and green day (who previewed their broadway musical, american idiot, at the show) in the rock category and jay-z, rihanna and kanye in the rap category for "run this town."
and, because you read this whole, long blog, a treat: my favorite picture from the night, ke$ha and justin bieber. she could eat him.
last night, dancing with the stars paid tribute to the late king of pop through a dance medley of some of his greatest hits. it's been four months since mj died and, needless to say, the tribute was a little late. i guess it's good to remind people of michael 1) around the time they'd probably start to forget and 2) around the time of his concert movie, this is it, being released. the dance isn't horrible, but it's not like it 's all that entertaining either. and bringing out latoya jackson was just unnecessary. does she have some sort of contract with abc? she got to guest host the view and now this? too much latoya.
new music: chris brown and john mayer
after the release of rihanna's new single yesterday, chris has taken the opportunity to one-up her. first, he announces he'll be going on a fan appreciation tour starting next month. and now he's released another new song from his upcoming album, "crawl." a few weeks ago "transform ya" leaked online. it's reportedly the first single from chris' upcoming album. "crawl" is better than rihanna's new offering and in line with chris' previous music outings. check it out above.
after a lukewarm reception to lead single "who says," john mayer has released both a new song and video today: "heartbreak warfare." the song is much better than "who says," but in the same droopy duldrums genre. i miss the happy, go free sounds of "bigger than my body" and "your body is a wonderland," not this sad mopey stuff. what did jennifer aniston do to john that he's so emotional? check out the song above and pray that there's at least one upbeat track on john's upcoming release.
miley cyrus kicked off her "wonderworld" concert tour, featuring her brother's band metro station, last night in portland and she definitely brought it. stepping out of the disney bubble-gum pop concerts of her past, miley is really taking being a performer seriously, which is nice to see. people pay a lot of money to see these shows and if all you do is some pre-packaged choreography and stand at a mic stand, they're going to be disappointed. the video above is miley's performance of "fly on the wall," which comes somewhere in the middle of her set. the performance is really well choreographed - there doesn't appear to be any hesitation or confusion on stage (though i can't say the costumes are all that great - they look like they may have come from cyrus's walmart line). the only thing that annoyed me was miley constantly doing the "kristen stewart," pushing her hair back compulsively. if it's such a problem, tie is back or cut it off. half of it isn't even growing out of your head anyway. other than that, miley's performance is superstar worthy and reinforces why she was selected as one of vh1's divas (which airs tomorrow night). halfway through the "fly on the wall," miley magically flies into the air. to the concert-goer, it probably wasn't all that obvious that some of her dancers/stage-crew were attaching her to a harness so it's quite the concert trick. if this is what miley does during all of her performances, which i haven't watched but are viewable here, then the wonderworld tour is a definite must see. at the end of "fly on the wall," miley and her team pay tribute to michael jackson in a small section of the "thriller" choreography. check the tribute out around the 4:00 minute mark.
taylor swift doesn't care about black people. okay, that's not true, but that's all i could think of last night when kanye west rushed the vma stage during taylor swift's acceptance speech for "female video of the year." if you didn't get a chance to see the moment, here it is.
taylor looked dumbfounded and beyonce looked mortified. way to go, kanye. way to go. kanye and his lady friend, amber rose, were escorted out of radio city music hall soon after the debacle, but that didn't stop from people booing kanye anytime his name was mentioned for the rest of the show. this morning, pink popped up on the today show and got a chance to talk about her thoughts on the whole situation, managing to call kanye a toolbox in the process. here's the video.
i liked pink before, but now i like her even better. pink was able to rock radio city last night do, doing a crazy cirque du solei style take on her hit "sober." after this, i don't want to see any star lip sync because if pink can fling her body around in the air while singing live, britney spears should be able to, too. she's just doing a little choreography. pink was risking her life.
pink wasn't the only star to perform or stand up for miss swift, either. beyonce took the stage to perform the routine from "video of the year" hit "single ladies."
my only complaint with the performance is that beyonce chose the closest tone-deaf girl in the audience for the audience participation portion. or should i say sasha fiece chose the girl? i don't know. anyway, over all the performance was ridiculous but some more effects - like in the solo in the beginning - would have been cooler to watch. plus, the back-up track was kind of annoying when beyonce decided to just focus on choreography and not at least pretend to sing. we've all seen the routine umm...i don't know? umpteen times. mix it up and sing! or add some new steps, please. i wonder if she's tired of this choreography yet. i know i would be. when "single ladies" took home the night's top moon man, beyonce was the ever-gracious recipient and gave up her speech time to give taylor her vma moment.
that really is a once-in-a-lifetime, first time experience and beyonce gave taylor exactly what she needed and deserved. if you didn't like beyonce before, you most definitely do now. though, taylor's speech 2.0 really didn't add anything to what she got to say the first time, so it was kind of a lost moment. kanye attempted to apologize for what he did on his official blog by saying he didn't mean to take the attention away from taylor, but was just trying to give credit to the appropriate artist...um, that's the same thing kanye. he also proceded to remind up that when he won his moon man, he gave it away to outkast because they deserved it over him. dear kanye, what you think is right is not necessarily the popular outcome. people have opinions. this is a viewers choice award...you should have voted for beyonce if you really wanted her to win. people most likely chose taylor - and britney spears in the "pop video" category - over beyonce because they knew they were voting for her to take home the top prize. duh.
okay, the other memorable person from last night was lady gaga. she is one crazy artist. not only did she dress up as little bunny foofoo, an eskimo and some crazy pile of bloody lace, but she took to the stage to perform a "poker face"/"paparazzi" medly that was more performance art than performance. if you haven't seen this yet, i recommend not watching if you're squeemish. one word: blood.
if this is any indicator of what a lady gaga concert is like, i don't know that i ever want to go to one. gaga took home the award for "best new artist," which is deserved because she was bigger than anyone else nominated, but that performance made me very uncomfortable.
the show had two michael jackson moments. the first was the opening number, which was introduced by madonna in her fake british accent. while madonna was looking good for being 50+, her monotone delivery was anything but entertaining. i know she's the queen of pop and all, but she didn't really seem to know michael, other than one meeting where she told him he looked like a limo with sunglasses on and then proceeded to make the entire audience uncomfortable by saying that her 4 year old son likes to grab his crotch. the michael jackson tribute was very tastefully done and didn't make me want to shoot myself, which is surprising because everything else michael jackson has been getting on my nerves. michael's sister janet performed alongside her brother (digitally, of course) one last time to their duet "scream." while the performance was awesome, janet seemed like she was trying to imitate her late brother's voice rather than just perform. check it out below.
janet's performance made me realize that i actually do like when she performs, we just haven't seen her do it since that little superbowl debacle. do people actually remember that? is it still stopping her from performing on tv? something to look in to...
the show closed with a preview of michael jackson's final memorial, the concert movie compiled from rehearsals for the this is it tour. the movie, which comes out next month, is sure to do well, but i'm thinking it will be really creepy to watch. all the recorded performances are audience-less, meaning each number will end with silence and not a roaring applause like a typical concert film would. can you say creepy?
and that's about it, folks. the whole show is viewable on mtv.com on-demand, so you can watch each piece individually and don't have to sit through all the lame acceptance speeches. russel brand was definitely not as big of a hit this year as he was last year - he looked like he accidentally wore a jonas brothers' reject suit - and all of his jokes bombed. they were all about having sex with random performers who didn't seem in on it. hopefully mtv will mix it up next year and find some new talent? yes, please. make sure to check out taylor swift's performance of "you belong with me," below, too. she didn't seem to let the whole kanye incident phase her, but i was kind of unimpressed. pre-recorded bits are fun and all, but an on-stage performance is way more entertaining. i still am waiting for her to top this performance of "should've said no," which is probably my favorite live performance ever at an awards show.
today was probably the biggest memorial ever held for anyone who has passed. michael jackson's life was honored in los angeles at the staples center (and all around the world on tv) with a bevy of celebrity guests. most of today's celeb news is focused on mj, so there's nothing to talk about other than that. here are some select performances from the memorial.
with this season including their 100th episode, so you think you can dance isn't cutting any corners. the idol-cousin dance competition has already wrangled itself a couple celebs for season-ending dance numbers - including katie holmes, who will be paying tribute to judy garland and broadway in her routine - and may have just nabbed another: paula abdul. the american idol judge won't be jumping ship forever, but is in negotiations to do a michael jackson-themed dance tribute on the show. each season, a paula rumor has hit the internets about her involvement with the dancing show; abdul got her start as a laker girl and was discovered by the jackson family in the 80s, working mostly with janet (see the video above to watch teacher v student) during the peak of her career. my question is what will become of jackson's big "comeback" concert series in england that was scheduled for just a few weeks from now? i can see some celebs getting together to do a series of tribute concerts, but how will they fill the 50 shows? that remains to be seen.
even before the show has premiered, two female contestants have had to drop out of the newest season of dancing with the stars due to knee injuries. jewel is officially out of the competition, after about a week of speculation that she would have to bow out, as is access hollywood host nancy o'dell, who tore her meniscus. the alphabet net made the announcement today and confirmed rumors that holly madison of the girls next door will be stepping into jewel's high heels. as soon as abc made the decision, holly's ex hugh hefner went on record as saying he helped get holly the spot because it's been a dream of hers to dance on the famous stage, which will have a whole new look this season - the entire set has been revamped, according to dancing pro cheryl burke. so who will take over for nancy o'dell? that's open to speculation. no one has been announced and i don't think the network was ready for two female stars to bow out so soon. there's also talk that gilles marini, of sex and the city: the movie fame, has torn the meniscus in his shoulder. will he have to step down, too? as for now, gilles is sticking it out, but an announcement might be made in the next couple of days if he has to pull out, too. it seems like this season of dancing is quite the cursed one. we'll see how this all plays out when the eighth edition of the series kicks off monday night.
chris brown, not on lockdown
chris brown is going to have to wait another month until his arraignment. his official court date was today but the judge is giving the tabloid target until april 6th to find out his fate. chris did the unexpected and did not enter a plea bargain before court, even though his legal team has been working on various strategies over the past few days. that pretty much means chris doesn't want to admit that he's guilty. because of the hearing, the official police report was released today. the whole incidence did begin because rihanna found text messages from another woman on chris' phone - not because she gave him herpes. the big news about the whole chris/rihanna drama is that the duo got engaged. neither star's rep would comment on the impending marriage because of the ongoing trial, which makes me believe that the story is true. if it weren't, wouldn't you want to deny it? chris is also said to have hired extra security and is halting all communication between rihanna and her family. this is starting to sound like a britney-adnan-sam lutfi/whitney-bobby thing. leave rihanna alone!
michael jackson's final bow
michael jackson is feeling the pinch of the recession. the former king of pop is putting on his final ten london performances (ever) - his first in nearly a decade - under the title "this is it" at london's o2 arena, starting in july. posters went up late last night/this morning at tube stations all over the uk, with a press conference with the strange star happening in the afternoon. at least wacko jacko was able to put the rumors that he is dying to rest. this concert series is said to be three years in the making; that's how long it took jackson's team and producers in london to come to an agreement. i guess that's why he's been so low key the past few years? he wasn't sure if he would be going on tour or not! the buzz is that jackson will make $10 million for the performances. not a bad deal. jackson's last performance was his solo 20th anniversary concert at madison square garden in 2001, with his last tour having ended in 1997. if you're interested in hopping the pond, tickets for the show go on sale march 13th.
both jessica and ashlee are making some big changes in their lives. the elder simpson sister, jessica, is said to be actively trying to conceive a child with long time love tony romo. sister ashlee recently had a son, bronx mowgli, last month. but, what happened to jessica's down home values? doesn't the song go "first comes love, then comes marriage, then comes momma with a baby carriage?" maybe jess is trying to mirror her sister's life - first get pregnant, then get married. with this news, some of the american tabs may be more willing to get pictures of ashlee's baby; allegedly, no magazines have been interested in the baby pictures. joe simpson, the dadager, is asking for too steep a price...i'm surprised a magazine like life & style or star hasn't jumped at the chance. ashlee's big change is not quite as drastic. the singer/actress made the change back to blonde today after 9+ months as a redhead. the hair color change is a little more natural (it is actually ashlee's natch color) and could be a ploy to sell the baby pics - a lot of mags haven't been all that interested in the star and her husband, pete wentz,'s "dark" looks. either way, both sisters (and their men) are headed to waco, texas to have christmas with the simpson clan.
jackson's lungs just fine
michael jackson is not in need of a lung transplant or in dire need of medical care, contrary to reports. along with denying reports today, the singer's reps said the former king of pop is finalizing negotiations to go on a world tour and do a series of tv specials throughout 2009. could this tour be the much talked about jackson 5 reunion? while michael has continually denied touring with his brother (with sister janet on board, too), it seems like the most plausible explanation - jackson would not have to be on stage for the entire show and he could showcase some of his own material. either way it goes, the star is going to have to face a lot of press and answer a lot of questions about his wacky ass lifestyle.
tv bites
here are some spoilers (if you don't want to know, avert your eyes) coming up in 2009 on some top series:
gossip girl - something we haven't seen on tv's most scandalous show is sure to send waves through some fans' worlds. the latest buzz is that an underground sex ring is going to start up, involving at least one of our upper east siders. could this be the return for michelle trachtenberg's naughty georgina? another plot line coming up is college - the characters are said to be headed to at least 3 different schools, with yale most likely taking one of those spots.
ugly betty - the show seems to be doing some stunt casting, minus mischa barton. while the oc star won't be taking a turn on the abc soap, two musical veterans will. first up is bernadette peters, who will be playing the head of yeti (the editors-in-training program betty and marc are involved with) and is sure to torture our favorite poncho wearing assistant. nikki blonsky, known for hairspray and her airport beatdown with antm contestant bianca, will be playing an assistant at competitor magazine elle who strikes up a fast friendship with the titular character. but, as they come from two different magazines, their friendship is sure to be tested.
desperate housewives - with the show having completed over 100 episodes, some twists are a coming to wisteria lane. first up is the reconciliation of mike and susan...to find an appropriate school for their son mj. bree is set to be thrown into a publishing whirlwind, having been commissioned to release 3 books in one year (could she be returning to the bottle to deal with the stress?). and gabby is going to get back to her glamour ways, getting back down to size and back to long hair.
no, i would not. but, that may be the case for the newest little kid to hit the jackson block. janet jackson is reportedly pregnant, explaining the multiple shows, and eventual tour, the singer canceled. the father would, of course, be jermaine "munchkin" dupri, janet's longtime lover. as janet is now 42, it's kind of now or never for the baby department. will the two tie the knot before a little jackson-dupri hits the scene? or will this be just another celeb couple with a kid out of wedlock? we'll just have to wait and see. in the meantime, click here to watch an extra interview from one of janet's tyra show appearances.
big o and big b to meet?
oprah says she wants to have a one-on-one interview with recovering comeback kid britney spears. lady o rarely does pretaped one-on-ones outside her chicago studio, reserving that "honor" to celebs who have made less than great impressions of themselves in previous "live segments," like tom cruise. hopefully this all works out and the recently named "most powerful woman in entertainment" is able to get the popstar to reveal some things she didn't in her for the record documentary, like why she was on that 5150 psychiatric hold. are you ready to see these two to meet? or would you rather just see a performance/interview live?
stephanie tanner's empty house
jodie sweetin, best known for her role as middle child stephanie tanner on the 90s sitcom full house, is facing all sorts of troubles. the recovering meth addict may lose custody of her recently birthed baby as her recently estranged husband is looking for sole custody. jodie "how rude" sweetin filed for divorce from her husband, who she credited with getting her off the hard drugs, and moved in back with her father. the couple were facing a foreclosure on their house, as both were out of work. sweetin's soon to be ex claims her was a stay at home dad and, therefore, should have custody of the child who spent most of his time with. the hearing on this matter is scheduled for february 9th. it seems like sweetin is just constantly racking up more and more stories for her in progress tell all book, confessions of a how rude meth addict divorced mom. okay that's a fake title.
dita's gonnna be pissed
looks like marilyn manson like to constantly "upgrade" his girlfriend model. manson's latest pick is "isani." the "model" - who posed for manson's recent art show - is relatively unknown and just appears to be a rose mcgowan-dita von teese-evan rachel wood hybrid. so, manson went from a 2 name, to a 3 name, to a 2 name, to a 1 name girlfriend...maybe its the weird name combos? after their recent breakup, evan rachel wood died her hair back to a more natural redish color and reconnected with her estranged family. deeta von teese became more famous post her break up with manson, and evan rachel wood went on to land a role in charmed. maybe dating manson is the key to success in the hollyhood?
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