What’s good enough for Madonna and Jay-Z must be good enough for 50 Cent, right?

Wrong! $150 mill is walking-around money for the G-Unit general, which is why we weren’t that surprised when reports surfaced late Wednesday that 50 was getting ready to sign a $300 million deal with News Corp’s MySpace that would cover all his Unit-related activities.

Being the skeptics that we are, we tried to contact MySpace (no reply), 50’s current label Interscope (no reply), and a source at G-Unit Records (no comment) about this alleged ten-year deal that would reportedly include: shifting all G-Unit artists and operations to a new G-Unit label under the MySpace banner, marketing and selling all touring under a new News Corp. company, the acquisition of 50’s site, and a new production studio for all his film and TV projects.

Oh, and according to Media Takeout’s exclusive, half the deal will be for stock, which would make 50 “one of the largest shareholders of News Corp.” Whoa! Holy crap!

Unlike our friends at Idolator, we’re not trying to say Media Takeout got this wrong, like, say, the Nate Dogg story they had to apologize for. We’re just going to hold out until 50 calls us himself to come check out his new office next to Uncle Rupe’s joint.

Undeniable, unbelievable. I’m trying not to get caught up in the moment and jump all the way out the window, but Kanye West’s show last night at Madison Square Garden may have been the best one-man performance I’ve ever seen outside of Michael Jackson or Prince. Like he says, Graduation is not just an album name, it’s the trumpeting of his career evolution as the most innovative man in his genre.

The “Glow in the Dark” tour is about Kanye landing on a planet called Universe-City and what he encounters on extraterrestrial soil. You have never seen anything like it before.

Favorite songs of the night were (and it’s tough to pick) “Champion” and “Hey Mama.”

Scarlett Johansson kept a low profile at the concert among other marquee names such as Jay-Z, Beyonce, Diddy, John Legend, and Anthony Anderson. Backstage, many of Kanye’s hometown friends joined him in celebration.

Kanye West also appears on the just-released remix to “Lollipop”! Weezy and Yeezy — what a combination. A few weeks ago, Wayne had told MTV News this might be coming down the line…

The boys of Foxboro Hot Tubs (aka You Know Who) are touring all May, and you can only get tickets day of at the venue box office. $20, two tickets per person. End of story. Live Nation this is not!

You’ll be treated to some loud garage rock, and who knows what else? Maybe midway through the show, they’ll toss you some American Idiot fan faves — or split off into some other alter-ego band that plays reggaeton. So much is possible.

We’d also like to take a moment and point out that the band is hitting up one of the coolest venues you will ever set foot into: New Orleans’ One Eyed Jack’s. It’s like a dinner theater-style bordello, red velvet and all, where folks like Liars have played. And it’s waaaaaay too small a joint for a band like, say, Green Day…

The dates for you, after the jump. Read more…

Did you know that more than 15 billion bottles of water are produced every single year?

And of that number, only 12 percent are actually recycled, meaning that nearly 40 million plastic bottles go into the trash or become litter every single day?

Yeah, neither did we. Luckily, the Gloomy Guses in Radiohead are always around to remind us of what a terrific job we’re doing raping the planet. This time their helpful reminder comes in the form of these custom-made water bottles, which they debuted onstage this past Monday at the kickoff of their North American tour in West Palm Beach, Florida.

And even though they’re not exactly the most, uh, rocking bit of merch, we totally want one! If only so we can scrawl our name on the front, just like Thom Yorke does! (Oh yeah, and to save the environment or whatever.)

A quick look through the W.A.S.T.E. Shop on their official site didn’t turn up a single mention of these Swiss-made beauties, so we’re asking fans who’ve been lucky enough to catch Radiohead live for help: have they been selling the bottles at the merch table?

Now, personally, I always took the Panic At the Disco song “That Green Gentleman” to be more about the, um, 4:20 club than the Sierra Club, if ykwim. The band, however, wouldn’t cop to that when I talked to them yesterday…Whatever.

But Panic did want to talk about the environmental consciousness of their current trek, the 2008 Honda Civic Tour. Before each night’s show, singer Brendan Urie appears in a video, encouraging fans to take part in an “eco-contest” to decide how a large chunk of change raised on the tour will be used to help the planet. (For more info on that, go here.)

Brendan also explained to me that the band is working on the tour with two non-profit eco organizations: Reverb, which facilitates environmentally friendly touring; and Global Inheritance, which seeks to inspire more eco-activism. “Plus, at each show there’s a few things to get kids involved,” he told me. “Honda have a bike setup where you can charge your phone, and there’s pamphlets and information. Lots of good stuff.”

Ryan Ross said the band has been doing good things as well, from traveling on a biodiesel bus, to re-using plastics, and recycling more backstage. “It’s been cool for us because we’re young guys — we’re still learning about what’s going on, too. So it’s been personal,” he said. “I think it’s been good for everybody to try and do a little something.”

Now fellas, back to this “Green Gentleman”? “Green can be so many things,” Brendan said with a smile. “You’re new to something…You’re jealous…It could be my favorite color…” But Ryan stopped me in my tracks: “You’ll never know, John. You’ll never know!”

First, there were the rumors of a reunion. Then there was the excitement surrounding their All Tomorrow’s Parties headlining gig. And now we may present you with…an actual My Bloody Valentine mini-tour. For reals. In honor of this mini-momentous event, the clip for one of our favorite MBV tunes above.

Dates after the jump. Read more…

Have you ever seen the gravelly-voiced, bowler hat-sportin’, Jim Jarmusch movie-starrin’, probably-brushes-his-teeth-with-moonshine genius that is Tom Waits…LIVE?? Nope, us neither.

And you know why? Because the man close to never tours. And when he does, it’s usually not to godforsaken, off-the-beaten-path places like NY and LA. No, the man prefers spots like Mobile, AL. And it’s all due to his mystical method of booking shows — for instance, this tour, as evidenced in the kinda psychedelic clip above, may be the first ever planned to correspond with the constellation “hydra.”

So if you’re within road-trip distance of any of the stops on the “Glitter and Doom” tour, spend your rent money on inflated gas prices and go see him play. The man is inimitable!! (Except by Scarlett Johansson…?)

The complete dates after the jump. Read more…

The Raconteurs (i.e. Jack White with an actual band) kick off their tour esta noche in Nashville. Go watch them play. In case you haven’t seen it, that’s the video for “Salute Your Solution” up above — it’s the first single off their suddenly-dropped Consolers of the Lonely album.

Also, we’re into the band’s totally lo-fi, Logo-era website. (Websites are places where you can find virtual information that you used to have to look for in zines.)

Dates — some with the Black Lips and the Fiery Furnaces, who we also like — after the jump. Read more…