Usher Raymond the fourth has been many things. Multi-platinum recording artist, Grammy winner, actor, amazing dancer and now, a giant outdoor billboard in Atlanta.
As part of the Boys & Girls Clubs' “Be Great” campaign, the people of A-Town were greeted this morning with a shiny new outdoor display featuring a young Usher and the phrase "Be Iconic," which Usher certainly has become.
Like other famous alumni of the Boys & Girls Clubs, Usher found his club in Tennessee to be a place to explore and pursue the skills that would one day lead him to become Mr. Entertainment. "It helped reinforce the values I learned at home, including good character, leadership and giving back to my community, my country and my world," Usher said at the unveiling, according to a press release.
Young people of Atlanta, we wish you the best in fulfilling Usher's challenge.
There was a time when being animated into "The Simpsons" was the cultural badge of honor celebrities aspired to. Although I still tune into Springfield's first family every week, let's face it, it ain't what it used to be. These days visiting the Griffins of Quahog, Rhode Island, is where it's at.
So it should come as no surprise whatsoever that the first lady of "The Hills," Lauren Conrad is stopping by this Sunday night.
From the clips on Hulu.com and the most amazing preview ever on the official FOX site (which isn't snaggable...what's up with that?), we learn that Lauren and Brian Griffin (yeah, the dog) date and apparently fall in love. Lucky dog! Or is he just trying to get over Jillian (voiced on several occasions by Drew Barrymore)?
I don't think I have to tell you it's on FOX Sunday night at 9 p.m. and, as always, viewer discretion is advised.
For the past five years, the music industry has been sorely missing something. That something is No Doubt.
After taking some time apart — to have babies, start families, launch a solo career and just spread their wings outside of the band they have all been in for 23 whole years — the group that captured the world's attention with a unique blend of ska/punk and rock/pop is reuniting and hitting the stage for a 55-date tour.
So early yesterday morning, the team and I hit the road to Atlantic City (in a van that only Chili Palmer could make look cool) to conduct the first interview with the whole band together in five years. Read more...
The biggest news to come out of last night's episode of "American Idol" was not that Matt Giraud was eliminated (for the third time this season — yawn and farewell), but that Adam Lambert shockingly landed in the bottom three. While I'm sure many Lambert fans are busy wailing in agony and disbelief over the travesty, wondering how this could have possibly happened, I can think of at least five reasons.
1. Voter complacency. Adam fans likely thought all the other Adam fans were doing the voting, so they chose to spend their Tuesday night watching his YouTube videos on repeat instead of actually voting for him. Meanwhile, after Simon's harsh and unnecessary jab at Allison Iraheta, Allison fans probably spent all night furiously voting to keep their girl alive. But after last night's wake-up call, this issue will be permanently resolved. Grieving Adam fans, haunted by the shock bootings of Chris Daughtry and Jennifer Hudson in the past, will make sure to burn their fingers off speed-dialing and texting their votes on the Tuesdays to come.
2. He's not as popular as we think he is. Maybe America does not, in fact, enjoy their windows shattering every time he comes onstage for his weekly screamfests. Maybe people aren't interested in buying a CD of Adam shrieking for a period of time longer than Freddie Prinze Jr.'s career. It's true that Adam is the most talked-about contestant on "Idol," with people Googling him as often as they go to the bathroom, but that may not necessarily mean that he is the most liked. Much of his buzz is credited to how polarizing he is. As Simon stated earlier in the season, people either love Adam or hate him. Read more...
If you've tuned into CNN or any other major media outlet in the past few weeks, you've probably heard a thing or two about Somali pirates. Well, Somali-born rapper K'Naan thinks the coverage of piracy has been a little one-sided.
When the MC sat down with MTV News this week to discuss his album Troubadour, the rapper/activist accused the media of taking a "sensationalist" approach to reporting the recent hijackings — including the capture of a U.S. ship captain — as well as the continuous violence taking place off the coastline of his home country.
"I don't think [the media] have been fair and accurate. [They show] a bunch of crazy black people in the water with guns: 'Oh look at that!' " he said. "That's about all major media has been doing. CNN has the resources to go in a little bit deeper than that, and Anderson Cooper as a journalist knows that there's got to be something more to this scenario." Read more...
This afternoon I got an e-mail from a colleague alerting me to the fact that the term Joonas.net seemed to be a hot Internet search term, and being that the Jonas Brothers have a very similar name we initially thought this must be a new fansite dedicated to Nick, Joe and Kevin.
When I went there, I found that to be the exact opposite of what it actually is. You see it appears to be some robot-like site that generates the message: "The requested document is totally fake. Even tried multi. Nothing helped. I'm really depressed about this. And it goes on and on in about being a depressed robot or web server or something you seems to be having some sort of identity crisis: I mean, it's not your job to listen to my problems, and I guess it is my job to go and fetch web pages for you. But I couldn't get this one. I'm so sorry. Believe me!"
OK, OK, we believe you. And we're actually just sort of bummed that it's not a Jonas site, but instead some mysterious site run by a guy named Joonas in Finland. (This is true. We did our research.) Unfortunately that's all we know at this point, but we're thinking he's either an artist who is pranking us, or that Joonas is really some sort of depressed Web server. If it's the latter, we're here to talk!
It's no secret that going to see Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band is an all-day event. It begins in the parking lot midday with beers, subs, footballs and stereos blasting songs by the Boss. People reminisce about decades of shows past and their expectations for the night ahead — and yesterday's show on the Working on a Dream Tour at the Wachovia Spectrum in Philadelphia was yet another astounding performance. After scoring a pair of floor-level tickets back in February, I knew I would be in for an incredible night and, truth be told, I was left nearly speechless afterward and couldn't think of where to begin with summarizing the show. I have narrowed my long list of reasons for why the show rocked down to five highlights, so check them out! Read more...
It was bad enough on Wednesday when TMZ tried to convince us that someone had snapped a picture of a very lively looking Tupac Shakur — who was gunned down in Las Vegas in September 1996. Granted, the unidentified dude hanging out and looking very mellow after downing a few hand grenades at a bar in New Orleans does kinda resemble 'Pac, down to the small stud in his left nostril, the bushy eyebrows and goatee-with-unattached-mustache.
"American Idol" used to be so squeaky-clean with the guest appearances from middle-of-the-road acts like Neil Diamond, Rod Stewart, Tony Bennett, Martina McBride, Barry Gibb and Dolly Parton.
While their songs are fun for the whole family, the show dodged a bullet on Wednesday night when this week's mentor, Jamie Foxx, had to perform a foreshortened version of his ode to the pants-loosening effects of alcohol, "Blame It." See, after recent results shows on which Lady Gaga sang about bluffin' on her "muffin" and rapper Flo Rida paid tribute to strippers and/or oral sex with "Right Round," Foxx's song avoided controversy from edgy verses that might have inspired shouts of "ear muffs!" from parents across the country. Read more...
There was a time when being animated into "The Simpsons" was the cultural badge of honor celebrities aspired to. Although I still tune into Springfield's first family every week, let's face it, it ain't what it used to be. These days visiting the Griffins of Quahog, Rhode Island, is where it's at.
For the past five years, the music industry has been sorely missing something. That something is No Doubt.
By Sohyung Kang
This afternoon I got an e-mail from a colleague alerting me to the fact that the term 
By Melanie Wolfson
It was bad enough on Wednesday when TMZ tried to convince us that someone had snapped a picture of a 
By Matt Wenzel 
"American Idol" used to be so squeaky-clean with the guest appearances from middle-of-the-road acts like Neil Diamond, Rod Stewart, Tony Bennett, Martina McBride, Barry Gibb and Dolly Parton.