TMZ-land officially arrived at Lollapalooza Saturday afternoon – and you have Mr. Lolla himself, Perry Farrell to thank for it.
A mid-afternoon set at the dance tent Perry’s by Farrell and a “special guest” took on a whole different meaning when that guest was revealed to be none other than Samantha Ronson, accompanied to the endless fascination of all, by her ubiquitous gal pal, Lindsay Lohan. When we arrived to an already packed dance tent, were escorted into a predictably cluster f--- of a backstage area, under a searing afternoon sun, and got even more of a celeb eyefull than we were expecting. There was Perry on stage, in a glittery black and white number, spinning and pumping up the crowd for his ‘guest DJ.’ There was LiLo, hanging with a friend and trying not to pay attention to the fact that everyone in the area was looking at her. There was Samantha, waiting to go on. And then there was the even better known member of the Ronson family, DJ and uber producer brother Mark, an attention magnet himself. And to throw a certifiable rock god into the mix, there was the man himself, Slash -- yet another surprise guest for Perry to spring on the crowd.
Soon it was showtime for Sam – decked out in an Average White Band t-shirt and a fedora, she spun a 15 minute set heavy on “upbeat” tunes at Perry’s request, she told me, and with a healthy dose of ‘80’s. “Yeah, so I included some Foreigner,” she said, “some Depeche Mode, some Hot Chip. I tried to mix it up.
“I’m just psyched to see Slash,” Sam said of first Lolla experience, “Perry and Slash, I’ve never been to Lollapalooza, and after this I don’t think I need to go to another.” Samantha’s in and out of Chicago – she has to be back in LA tonight – but Mark is hanging all weekend, checking out a ton of favorites -- from Black Keys and Radiohead yesterday to Rage tonight -- and then playing his own set tomorrow night, on one of the festival’s biggest stages.
(by Dan 'Monty' Montalto)
It's not easy being the younger sister of a mega-famous-the-world-over pop icon.
No, seriously. Just ask Solange Knowles, Beyoncé's 21-year-old kid sis. Let's face it, when your sister is so famous that she practically owns the rights to the second letter of the alphabet, it's pretty hard to convince anyone that based solely on your artistic merits, some of the biggest and most creative names in music helped out with your record. But when we sat down with her earlier this week, Solange told us that it took some pretty serious convincing (and even a little stalking) to get names like Cee-Lo, Pharrell and Mark Ronson onboard for her latest record. As she puts it, when they first heard she wanted to work with them, they had no way of knowing if she was a serious artist or "someone's little annoying sister trying to do a record."
Cee-Lo, who co-wrote three of the songs on Solange's album, didn't exactly jump all over the opportunity when Solange first came calling. Initially, she couldn't even get him on the phone, and seemingly endless "scheduling conflicts" on the part of the Gnarls Barkley vocalist kept her from meeting with him. Maybe it was just a coincidence, but as Solange told us herself, "no one can be that freakin' busy." But she wasn't about to get blown off. She decided to take matters into her own hands — by essentially stalking Cee-Lo and forcing him to listen to her album.
Solange tells us how she stalked Cee-Lo (with the help of an MTV alum) in this video.
Read more...
· We actually don't think this is a bad look for Britney Spears. She's in talks to reprise her role as the ditzy dermatology receptionist on "How I Met Your Mother," which is now officially the only on-camera appearance she’s made in the past few years that didn’t end in disaster.
· Ever wanted to own the chair James Brown sat in? How about one of the Godfather of Soul’s pianos or sparkly stage costumes? Christie’s International will be putting nearly 400 items from Brown’s estate up for auction in July, including photos, awards, cars, clothes, furniture and musical instruments to pay off some of the late singer’s legal bills and estate taxes.
· Amy Winehouse and her producer, Mark Ronson, were among the 100 or so mourners who attended Wednesday’s funeral for British saxophonist Jason Rae, late husband of singer Corinne Bailey Rae.
