Kid Rock To Perform Charitable Concert With Detroit Symphony Orchestra

Posted 2/27/12 12:25 pm EST by in Kid-Rock


kid rock

By Zachary Swickey

There are plenty of things one typically associates with rocker Kid Rock and his music – booze, women and trucks to name a few – but symphony doesn’t usually come to mind. However, believe-it-or-not, Rock is planning a special evening for his Twisted Brown Trucker Band to be joined by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in his hometown.

On May 12, Rock and Twisted Brown Trucker will have one special performance with the symphony at the town’s 5,000 capacity Fox Theatre with proceeds going to the institution.

“As a musician, a cultural institution like that in Detroit is important, and I thought I could do it. I thought it would be something different to play with an orchestra and do something great,” Rock told Billboard about the unique engagement and also mentioned that he’s never attended a Detroit Symphony Orchestra performance before.

The concert is still in the “early stages” of development, but Rock hopes to use Rob Mathes, musical director of the annual Kennedy Center Honors, to handle the orchestral arrangements. Rock says any of his tunes are a possibility. “I hear a big symphonic opening to ‘Born Free,’ where I’m singing behind this big orchestration that builds up to the payoff of the song,” Rock stated.

“I want to do stuff that does fit and I want to do stuff that absolutely doesn’t fit and … just do stuff that’s different. It’s not going to be a show people have seen before at all, in any regard. All I can guarantee is it’ll be interesting,” Rock further elaborated.

If you want to grab your tickets for Rock's symphonic evening, prices are $100-$1,500, with special VIP amenities from $750. Rock has even mentioned adding another date if the first show sells out quickly.
The benefit is just one of the things on Rock’s burgeoning schedule, which includes the recent debut of his PBS "Live From the Artists Den" episode, his annual “Chillin' the Most Cruise” from April 26-30, and recording the follow-up to Born Free, which Rick Rubin will once again be “somewhat” involved in.

Tags

Katy Perry To Guest Star On Fox's 'Raising Hope'

Posted 2/23/12 3:08 pm EST by in Katy Perry, Television


Katy Perry

By Elizabeth Lancaster

Katy Perry will grace the small screen once again with an upcoming guest appearance on Fox’s charming comedy "Raising Hope" on March 6.

In a show already filled with loveable and quirky comedy, we can only imagine that Katy’s guest role will up the ante. Claiming to be "Rikki," Sabrina’s (Shannon Woodward) best friend from a past life AND a prison guard, we hope the guest spot will provide many hilarious and informative flashbacks from Sabrina’s pre-Jimmy life.

Katy is no stranger to television, having appeared on "How I Met Your Mother" in 2011 and several other shows. Even in her stage performances and red carpet appearances, she generally tends to bring the theatrics, demanding attention and winning the crowd. We expect this performance to be no different. We are, however, excited to see the dynamic between Sabrina and Rikki since Sabrina often steals the show with her dry-but-adorable humor, which is exactly the edge we would imagine Katy Perry would give any character she plays.

At the end of the day, the more Katy the better – especially on an episode titled “Single White Female Role Model”! We have many questions: Did Rikki know Jimmy’s baby mama? Will Katy sport her blue hair?

Guess we will have to tune in and find out!

Tags ,

New Gorillaz Track 'DoYaThing' Features Andre 3000 And James Murphy

Posted 2/23/12 1:23 pm EST by in Music


Gorillaz

By Zachary Swickey

While it will likely be at least a couple years before we have a new Gorillaz album, we thankfully have a new track from the group to tide us over in the meantime. “DoYaThing” is a one-off multi-artists collab that also features Outkast’s Andre 3000 and LCD Soundsystem mastermind James Murphy.

The song is the newest track featured in Converse Inc.’s “3 artists, 1 song” campaign (a previous [ridiculously catchy] campaign track, “All Summer,” included Kid Cudi, Best Coast, and Rostam Batmanglij of Vampire Weekend). The digital funk tune has been released as a free download on the Converse site, where you can also check out some new rad footwear designed by Gorillaz co-creator Jamie Hewlett.

“DoYaThing” is notably the first time Murphy has been on a mic since he disbanded LCD Soundsystem after a glorious farewell gig at Madison Square Garden last April. The track is also the first time we’ve heard from Andre 3000 in a while. (He is still apparently ignoring our cries for new Outkast material.)

Billboard spoke with Murphy about the track’s origination. “We didn’t exchange any ideas at all [beforehand]," the singer recalled. “Damon was basically saying, ‘Let’s just get in a room,’ which, even if it wasn’t Damon Albarn, is a pretty convincing argument really. To be honest, I was worried that I should prepare something, but went with it anyway."

A music video for the song is expected to be released later this month, while an uncensored, extended version of the track will reportedly appear on the Gorillaz website in the next few weeks.

Tags

Aretha Franklin Denies She Was Disinvited From Whitney Houston's Funeral

Posted 2/23/12 11:04 am EST by in whitney-houston


Whitney Houston

Many were surprised when Aretha Franklin abruptly canceled her planned performance at Whitney Houston's funeral services last weekend, citing difficulty with leg spasms as the reason she could not attend.

The soul legend's absence led some to speculate that she had actually been disinvited from the services by Houston's mother, Cissy Houston, after making some comments on "Today" following Whitney's death that some have construed as a criticism of Cissy, according to Billboard.

"I think parents have to really talk to their children before they leave home ... (that they) leave home prepared, really. She left home with all the right things," Franklin told Al Roker last week.

Franklin, however, is now shooting down those claims in a statement to the Associated Press.

Cissy Houston and I have been longtime friends for almost 50 years. I have four invitations and parking passes that were sent to me for the funeral. Cissy does not need ridiculous speculation and neither do I – particularly at this time. Knowing Cissy as well as I do, I know Whitney left home right and properly. I was generalizing and it was a well-intended statement for any young adult coming into the music industry. I was not speaking of anyone specifically.

Franklin did pay tribute to her goddaughter hours after her funeral at concert at New York's Radio City Music Hall.

Read More...

Tags

President Obama Sings Again!

Posted 2/22/12 12:01 pm EST by in Barack-Obama, Obama, Politics


By Uptin Saiidi (@uptin)

At this rate, we might see an added concert element to President Obama's re-election tour this year. Last night in the East Room of the White House, the Commander-In-Chief sang “Sweet Home Chicago” during a blues performance filming for PBS. "In Performance at the White House" will air on Monday night and is set to recognize Black History Month. The follow-up performance to “Let’s Stay Together” when he sung at a Harlem event, had the President singing the words, “Come on, baby don’t you want to go?”

Unlike his Harlem performance, where he stood behind a podium, the President was front and center with the microphone and laughed alongside First Lady Michelle Obama.

Mic Jagger, B.B. King and Jeff Beck were among the attendees at the event

Buddy Guy prompted the singing after saying he'd heard the president sung part of Al Green recently and then told him, "You gotta keep it up."

Once Jagger handed over the mic, Obama had no choice but to comply. And yet he didn't seem to hold back.

According to the Associated Press, Obama reflected on what the blues genre meant to him saying, “This music speaks to something universal. No one goes through life without bothjoy and pain, triumph and sorrow. The blues gets all of that, sometimes with just one lyric or one note.”

Read More...

Tags ,

Aziz Ansari Tries Out New Stand-Up Material At Intimate LA Gig

Posted 2/21/12 3:51 pm EST by in comedy


Aziz ansari

By Zachary Swickey

LOS ANGELES – I felt pretty lucky to catch Aziz Ansari Saturday night as he performed a new, “in-progress” set at the intimate Largo, which only holds 280 people and has a strict no cell phones policy. Ansari is most famously known as Tom Haverford on NBC’s hit comedy “Parks Recreation,” and he boasts a whopping 1.6 million followers on Twitter (yet, I recall the old days when he only had 25k).

The special guest for the night was Ansari’s real-life chum Nick Kroll, who co-stars on FX’s “The League” and voices the character “Stu” on one of TV’s most underappreciated gems, “The Life & Times of Tim” from HBO. Kroll bragged about “being down with hip-hop,” saying he even owned a copy of Lil Wayne’s Tha Carter IV, which he probably got from Ansari (a huge rap enthusiast in real life).

Kroll then did a hilarious interpretation of what a censored rap song looks and sounds like. The comedian also pointed out that famous bodybuilder Jack LaLanne’s wife’s first name was Elaine – Elaine LaLanne – which he (and admittedly we) all found pretty funny.

Kroll soon introduced Ansari to the stage, who looked very dapper in an old-school tux. Ansari has been on the rise for years. He hosted the 2010 MTV Movie Awards, has one of the funniest Comedy Central stand-up specials around and starred in last year’s “30 Minutes or Less” with Jesse Eisenberg. Read More...

Tags ,

Russell Brand Has Relaxed Dress Rehearsal For New FX Show At LA Comedy Club

Posted 2/21/12 1:29 pm EST by in comedy


Russell Brand

By Zachary Swickey

LOS ANGELES – Russell Brand may have plenty going on in his personal life right now, but that’s not stopping the comedic star from taking care of his other business matters – specifically his new FX show that was announced in December. On Monday, he took the stage at the intimate Largo in Los Angeles to have a “dress rehearsal of sorts” for his new television gig.

The program (reportedly titled “Strangely Uplifting,” however, that name was never mentioned during the performance) has Brand giving commentary on current events and politics – playing out like a cross between “Tosh.0” and “The Daily Show” and including plenty of crowd interaction. On stage, Brand was accompanied by a television and “assistant,” Matt Stoller (brother of “Get Him to the Greek” director and Jason Segel’s writing partner, Nicholas Stoller), who boasts a degree from Harvard and tried to provide some “educated” insight into the controversial topics throughout the evening.

The first story that was discussed was the recent incident where a man ate at an establishment called the “Heart Attack Grill” and had a heart attack while there. One can imagine what Brand had to say about it: “It’s mocking the idea of a cardiac arrest isn’t it? It’s like inviting disaster into your life – eating a triple bypass burger,” he joked. Said burger notably weighed 1.5 pounds and contained 8,000 calories. “There’s enough [calories] for us all!” Brand exclaimed. Read More...

Tags ,

'Parks And Recreation' Star Nick Offerman Channels His Inner Ron Swanson At LA Standup Gig

Posted 2/21/12 8:47 am EST by in comedy, Television


By Zachary Swickey

LOS ANGELES – Anyone who is familiar with good comedy television knows the name Ron Swanson – the character portrayed by Nick Offerman on the hit show “Parks and Recreation,” who notably has the manliest mustache seen on television.

Offerman is by far one of the show’s highlights and he shares quite a few similarities with his onscreen persona. For example, Swanson is a carpenter on the program and Offerman has his very own online woodshop where you can buy a handcrafted redwood table from the burly man himself.

Luckily, this weekend I got to catch Offerman’s set (dubbed – “Nick Offerman: American Ham”) at the very wonderful Largo, which only seats 280 people and has a strict no cell phones policy. Offerman inexplicably walked onstage shirtless – exposing his obviously hairy chest – and clothed himself with a T-shirt, beanie and hoodie as he started the show. The actor’s “theme” for the evening was giving out his “tips for prosperity,” which once again showed just how similar he is to his television personality.

Read More...

Tags ,

Skrillex, David Guetta And More: Did EDM Explode Because of Social Media?

Posted 2/17/12 4:14 pm EST by in dance, Internet


By Uptin Saiidi

New York, NY – If you've ever been to a Skrillex concert, you'll know that tickets can be hard to come by and there's a good chance your standards of personal space were replaced by fist pumping teens as you find yourself questioning the fire code in between sets. While EDM shows only continue to gain in popularity, many wonder, what led to the explosion of EDM music in the past year?

An event during Social Media Week in New York City ventured to guess. Held Thursday night in the East Village, "How Social Media Has Fueled the Explosive Growth of EDM in America Panel" included agents and label executives alike.

The notion being that music's discoverability is easier than ever before was at the forefront of the panel. The ease of learning and sharing your favorite songs has become instant and easy. And even if you're not listening to the same music as your real-life friends, a glance no further than your Twitter feed can make you feel like you're part of a bigger community with people of similar tastes and styles in music.

“The growth of EDM is intrinsically tied to social media,” Zev Norotsky, founder of Elektro Magazine and moderator of the panel, told the crowd of about 200. He also reminded the crowd, for anyone who had any doubt about its continued growth, that global EDM sales are projected at four times that of rock and roll music.

With artists like David Guetta having nearly four million Twitter followers, it's easy for them to connect with their fans and build a loyal following.

"Swedish House Mafia is at the forefront of fan loyalty and creating viral buzz through CD release events, and it's Masquerade Ball," Norotsky said.

Allowing fans to connect with artists in ways that used to only be possible when the artist came to your hometown has really fueled its growth, according to Justin Kleinfeld, who represents Tiesto and Swedish House Mafia. “It’s the autograph, these guys are tweeting everything they’re doing from getting on an airplane to recording a single … just about anything,” the rep said. “Getting retweeted is like the new autograph." Read More...

Tags ,

19202122232425262728
SPONSORS
AD:
©2012 Viacom International Inc. All Rights Reserved. MTV and all related titles and logos are trademarks of Viacom International Inc.