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Photo by David Harrison

By David Harrison

LOS ANGELES – Any music fan who has visited Los Angeles over the holidays must be familiar with the ambiguously-titled “Almost Acoustic Christmas,” the annual two-night concert hosted by alternative rock station KROQ. Now in its 22nd installment, Almost Acoustic Christmas has become synonymous with the biggest bands gathering at the Gibson Amphitheater to celebrate the holidays in a very un-acoustic manner. Night one’s lineup this year, however, was particularly special – it featured seven (out of eight) artists who have previously played the festival, namely headliners Blink 182, 311, Sublime with Rome, Social Distortion, Bush, New Found Glory and Chevelle.

Night one started off with a little bit of nostalgia, as New Found Glory took a moment to reminisce about the last time they performed with Blink on the 2001 "Take of Your Pants and Jacket Tour." By music industry standards, ten years is ancient history. In that time, CDs have gone the way of the dinosaurs, YouTube has launched careers and the traditional sense of radio has completely evolved (my parents have been teaching me how to use podcasts… no, I’m not embarrassed). But the cheers from the sold-out crowd at the Gibson Amphitheater on Saturday night proved that some things in rock music haven’t changed since the 1990s. Here is a (partial) list:

1. Blink-182 rocked Almost Acoustic Christmas
2. Sublime with Rome rocked Almost Acoustic Christmas
3. Social Distortion rocked Almost Acoustic Christmas

You get the idea. In fact, take Social Distortion, for example. They headlined the first Almost Acoustic Christmas ever in 1990. Saturday night, frontman Mike Ness announced, “We’re gonna play a song off the [1996] album White Light, White Heat, White Trash. A squeaky voice behind me shouted “I f**king love that album!” and I turned to see a kid in a Social D shirt who was definitely not even born when the album was released, let alone should be using that kind of potty language.

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Tags Blink-182, Concerts

It’s always an honor to head over to 30 Rock, attend "Saturday Night Live" rehearsals and get to interview the celebs they’ve picked to be on the show that week. It's a chance I'd never turn my nose at. This week, I had the most awesome pleasure of chatting with this week's host Katy Perry and musical guest Robyn. (The pair had previously toured together on Katy’s "California Dreams" tour, FYI.)

In addition to getting some awesome inside scoop about the show from the two pop stars (and just who Katy is getting hosting advice from. Hint: She’s married to him), I also got the chance to check out the duo, joined by Bill Hader, doing his legendary Stefon act, putting together one of the show’s funny little promos.

In between takes, the trio hung around, chatted a bit and Bill pretty much stayed in his Stefon character the entire time. In the hours leading up to Katy and Robyn's episode, airing Saturday night (obviously!), we're sure you'll see these promos rolling out. But because we’re MTV News and we can offer you some fun behind-the-scenes footage you won’t really see anywhere else, check out what didn’t make the final cut for the network after the jump! Read more...

Tags Katy Perry, Robyn, saturday-night-live

Here in the MTV Newsroom, we are lucky enough to have some of the biggest stars in the world swing through for a visit, but it's not often that a star lights up the room by being as down-to-earth and approachable as Charlize Theron. To say that the Oscar-winning actress was a riot is an understatement. (But noting that I'm now blind because she was the most beautiful person I've ever actually seen in real life is not.)

Dealing with the famous and fabulous can definitively be a mixed bag. For every pro who rolls in on time and ready to go, there's a star who arrives late with a list of things you're not allowed to ask them (and they're almost always the things people most care about). We're pleased to report that Theron, who is getting awards buzz for "Up in the Air" director Jason Reitman's "Young Adult," falls squarely in the earlier category. In fact, Theron got here early … so early that we didn't quite have the interview space and cameras ready to go for her "After Hours" sitdown with our very own Josh Horowitz.

So what's a major movie star to do when she has 10 or so minutes to kill? Well, she hangs out in the newsroom amongst the worker bees, of course. Theron and her team joked around, laughed and carried on in a way that made us think she'd be a blast to have a drink with. Be jealous!

Check out the trailers for Theron's next two films, "Young Adult" and "Snow White and the Huntsman," after the jump. Read more...

Tags Charlize Theron

By Zachary Swickey

With the motion capture abilities of Xbox’s Kinect, which allows users to control the system through gestures and spoken commands rather than through a controller, dance video games are all the rage – even the late King of Pop, Michael Jackson, has one. Beyonce was at one time poised to have the same bragging rights, but the pop starlet is now being sued for $100 million after supposedly “abandoning” the video game project.

According to the Daily Mail, video game company Gate Five is claiming that Bey “abruptly abandoned” their project for a dance video game set to feature the diva dubbed “Starpower: Beyonce.” And the company claims they lost $7 million from investing in the development of the scrapped project.

Beyonce’s lawyers made a request that the lawsuit be rejected, but a Manhattan Supreme Court judge refused to do after legal papers were officially filed against the singer earlier this year. Gate Five believes that the singer was in breach of their November 2010 contract when she supposedly backed out of the project. They are suing for $100 million – what they estimate is potential profit the game would have accrued. The company states, “She destroyed Gate Five’s business and drove 70 people into unemployment, the week before Christmas (in 2010).” Read more...

Tags Beyonce, Lawsuit

By Zachary Swickey

It’s been over ten years since the creation of Napster and record labels are still trying to find a revenue stream to combat the money lost to music piracy. Now more than ever, streaming services – such as Spotify, Rdio and Rhapsody – are being utilized for some small streams of income (a few cents per stream at most), and the current gamble is, essentially, over whether this will generate money in the long run? Well, it appears some bands aren’t willing to take that chance as The Black Keys have opted not to let their new album El Camino stream on any of streaming service websites.

Another much-hyped release, Coldplay's latest album Mylo Xyloto, similarly gave streaming programs the shaft with the album only available as a physical or digital purchase. Neither band has commented on their decision to opt out of the services. On the other hand, the year’s top-selling artist, Adele, has her chart-dominating album 21 fully available on any streaming service and… well she’s clearly had no problem shifting some units.

“Artists can – and do – receive very substantial revenues from Spotify, and as Spotify grows, these revenue streams will naturally continue to grow,” Ken Parks, Spotify’s head of U.S. operations, told the LA Times in October. The Spotify service is still relatively new to us stateside but has received widespread acceptance and enthusiasm in Europe since 2008, as Mr. Parks points out: “Spotify is now the second single largest source of digital music renvue for labels in Europe, and we’ve driven more than $150 million of revenue to artists, publishers and labels since our launch three years ago.” Read more...

Tags spotify, The Black Keys

By Zachary Swickey

The people have spoken!

We asked you, "Which Band We Liked Is Going To Blow Up In 2012?" and you guys and gals helped soul-lovers Fitz and the Tantrums claim the top spot! We received 6,195 votes in just a few days with Fitz and Co. claiming over 40 percent of your online love. Coincidentally, the Fitz crew is also the very first band we covered when we started Bands We Like back in July. We can’t say we’re all that surprised considering how often we find ourselves spinning their debut album – 2010’s Pickin’ Up the Pieces.

Dredg wasn’t far behind in the number two spot – the So-Cal rockers warmly received 28 percent of your online votes. The New Regime – a side project of Ilan Rubin, who is Angels and Airwaves’ newest drummer – barely edged out Other Lives with just under 15 percent. Other Lives still managed to take nearly 14 percent of the votes with Mariachi El Bronx trailing at 4 percent. (In their defense, they weren’t able to vie for your attention as much as they’re touring overseas right now). There may be only one number one, but all the bands are still winners in our hearts (and ears).

Be on the lookout for our look at upcoming albums in 2012 from some of our favorite Bands We Like artists. Check out a full breakdown of the voting after the jump! Read more...

Tags Bands We Like, Newsroom Poll

So everyone's going crazy because Nicki Minaj tweeted that she locked lips with the Queen of Pop, Madonna, on the set of the music video for "Give Me All Your Love," the buzzed about first single from Madonna's forthcoming 12th studio album.

Apparently, kissing Her Madgesty is oh-so good … "OH MY f'ingggg Gahhhh!!!!! MADONNA jus kissed me!!!!! On the lips!!!!!!! It felt sooooo good. Soooo soft!!!! *passes out* aaahhhhh!!!!!!!!!" Nicki tweet-screamed to all of her Brabz and Kenz late last night. She continued her swoon-athon with a series of tweets (which you can check out after the jump!) for over an hour after.

Which got us thinking about what a kiss from Madonna really means. Of course, any time Madge locks lips with another lady, our mind is immediately drawn back to the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards, where the Queen and the Princesses – that's Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera, for those who don't know (and how is life under that rock?) – performed a "Like A Virgin" medley that included one of the most famous lip locks of all time.

In its own weird way, a lot of people read the performance and kiss and Madonna's way of anointing Spears as her pop successor. Sure, she kissed Christina too, but that's not what anyone remembers. They remember that jaw-dropping lip lock with Spears, who was then at the height of her global fame and still a few years removed from the personal drama that nearly consumed her career (blessedly, she got the help she needed and is back and as good as ever today).

Does that mean she sees something special in Nicki too? Read more...

Tags britney spears, Madonna, nicki minaj, Twitter

By Zachary Swickey

Few bands have ascended the rock and roll ranks as swiftly as The Black Keys have managed to do over the last year. Sure, the band has been around since their '02 debut, but it wasn’t until their Danger Mouse-produced record – 2008’s Attack & Release – that the group finally started getting the attention they deserved. Consequentially, they went from playing bars and clubs to mid-size theatres, and early next year the band will be embarking on their first-ever arena tour (including a date at NYC’s iconic Madison Square Garden) – a rather magnificent feat for any band let alone a small-scale bluesy duo.

If the reviews pouring in on their latest effort, El Camino, are any indication, they won’t have any problems selling tickets. Here’s what the critics have had to say about the Black Keys’ seventh album: Read more...

Tags reviews, The Black Keys

Katy Perry is making some California Dreams come true. Through ticket sales on her, um, "California Dreams Tour," the pop star raised more $175,000 for over 50 organizations, including The Humane Society of the United States, Children’s Health Fund and Generosity Water.

By selling select tickets through Tickets-for-Charity.com, Perry was able to help raise funds for the organizations nearest and dearest to her. "I’m thrilled to be able to help support the work these organizations are doing to fight and prevent animal cruelty, provide health care to homeless children and bring clean drinking water to communities around the world," she said in a statement. "I can’t thank my amazing fans enough for their generosity in helping these great causes by choosing Tickets-for-Charity.com for their tickets!"

Katy certainly has had a fruitful 2011. Her music broke records, she took home some big-time awards (like VMAs and AMAs), appeared on the big screen in the “Smurfs” flick, went on a hugely successful headlining tour and launched several other endeavors, like her first-ever perfume, Purr, which she’ll follow up with Meow!

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Tags Katy Perry

by Josh Wigler

Okay, maybe not the best episode ever, but the best episode this season? Oh, absolutely. A nail-biter of a duel, a fantastic reward, a mighty big promise between two opponents and one heck of a tribal council later... I'm feeling quite confident in saying that this is the best hour of "South Pacific" we've seen so far, and likely the best we'll see all season. Highlights below.

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Tags Survivor