The last notes have been played at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, which means the 2009 Outside Lands Festival has wrapped up. Tenacious D closed out the weekend with a crowd-pleasing set of their acoustic metal epics. The Beastie Boys were originally supposed to wrap up the weekend, but they had to bow out due to Adam Yauch's cancer treatments. The choice of replacement raised a few eyebrows, including among other performers on the bill. In fact, M.I.A. (who played the set just before the D on the main stage) posted a series of tweets to her official Twitter about her disappointment with having to go on before Jack Black and Kyle Gass. "Can't believe they replaced Beasties with Tenacious D? And if I pull out they sue! So really? Tenacious D after me?" she wrote on August 22. She also noted that the only reason why she took the Outside Lands gig was because she would get to go on before the Beastie Boys. She's clearly a fan, as her set on Sunday evening featured an entire section dedicated to the absent hip-hop trio where she freestyled over the beats to "Intergalactic" and "Sabotage."

But Tenacious D were not taking the slight lightly. During their conversation with MTV News just prior to their festival-closing set, Black had some choice words for the singer. "She didn't want to open for the D," said Black. "But you know what? Sticks and stones may break my bones, but tweets will never hurt me." He obviously wasn't that put out, as the duo took the stage to raucous chants of "We Want D!" and by the time they hit the first few notes of "Kielbasa," they gave the thousands on hand one last thrill to close out a memorable weekend.

By Debra DeSalvo

"No one on the corner has swagger like us," indeed! Show-stealing M.I.A. was not only super-pregnant at the Grammys, she was actually having contractions while she was bouncing all over the stage, according to EW.com. Speaking after her performance of "Swagga Like Us" with Jay-Z, Kanye West, Lil Wayne and T.I., M.I.A. said, "The contractions come and go. My fiancé's got the stopwatch going."

Grammy show boss Jack Sussman confirmed that M.I.A.'s contractions began around 8 p.m., right when the awards went on the air. "I asked her to just hang on until 10 p.m. ET," the CBS TV exec admitted, adding, "The kid's a gamer." Anxious fiancé Benjamin Brewer was in the wings timing the contractions to make sure she didn't go into labor backstage, and the Grammys had an ambulance on standby just in case.
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M.I.A. is pregnant and nominated for a pair of Grammys. Like, nine months pregnant and maybe ready to deliver her first child any day, and nominated for Record of the Year for "Paper Planes" and Best Rap Song for "Swagga Like Us." So, what is she going to do on Sunday?

Stay at home with her feet kicked up, eating Chunky Monkey with some bone marrow drizzled on top? Watch the whole thing go down on TV with producing pal Diplo and her baby's dad Ben Brewer with a celebratory glass of sparkling pomegranate juice on ice, in case she wins?

Nope, Maya Arulpragasam, who is also nominated for an Oscar for her contribution to the "Slumdog Millionaire" soundtrack, "O … Saya," is not only going to the Grammys, she's going to perform. Let me reiterate this: her due date is … Sunday. Read more...

By Adrienne Day

There's a lot going on in the world that doesn't necessarily get addressed in our Newsroom blog. Here's a look at some top stories making headlines today.

It's Grammy time, and here are our predictions for the winners! (Hint: We're betting heavily on Coldplay.) Also, could M.I.A., Leona Lewis, Rihanna and other female artists up for awards turn the Grammys into ladies' night?

Is Nas' message stronger than his music? We listen to the controversy surrounding the rapper's Untitled, up for a Best Rap Album Grammy.

Day26 clue us in to the mood of their new album — sexy! — and to their dream-team collaborators: "Kanye West, Lil Wayne, T.I., Jeezy, Luda, T-Pain ... we want to work with you."

John Carpenter is back in the director's seat: We hear that the "Halloween" mastermind is set to direct "The Ward," starring Amber Heard, who plays a woman trapped in a haunted mental institution.

In addition to possibly becoming the first musician to win a Record of the Year Grammy for a song that samples gunshots and contains the words "weed" and "bongs," M.I.A. could be the first Grammy nominee (that we know of anyway) to give birth on Grammy night.

The singer, pregnant with her first child, announced on her MySpace blog on Friday — under the heading "We still ganster [sic] wid it" — that her due date just happens to be February 8, the same day as the Grammy Awards.

"[They're] due the same day!" she gushed of the baby and the possible award for "Paper Planes." "So either way I figured I'll win. But OMG if I get it, I will never dis the Grammys ever again!"

Though she's psyched about the baby she's expecting with fiancé Benjamin Brewer, the singer also noted that she's back "in the studio on the grind," working on her next album as we speak.

· Of course, Oprah Winfrey would come in at #1, as usual, but some young turks made the annual Forbes magazine Celebrity 100 power list as well: Beyoncé is at #4; hubby Jay-Z follows at #7; Justin Timberlake made it to #12 (his pal Madonna is #21); #26 50 Cent edged out #27 Kanye West; Miley Cyrus came in at #35; Alicia Keys hit #65; the Jonas Brothers locked in #89; and Lauren Conrad just made the cut at #97.

· That ain't right! N.E.R.D. mastermind Pharrell Williams recently admitted that he made Madonna "cry like a baby" during the heated sessions for her Hard Candy album.

· The memoir from Britney's mom, Lynne Spears, that was on and then off a few months ago is back on. Now that Brit has begun working on her personal issues and Jamie Lynn is about to give birth to her first child, the book is being eyed for a September release.

· We get that "production issues" caused Coldplay to reshuffle their U.S. tour dates. But M.I.A. has cited a novel issue behind the cancellation of her European tour: "losing a sense of ... reality."

· A sexual-harassment lawsuit was filed Wednesday against New York radio personality Wendy Williams, claiming that the "Wendy Williams Experience" host's husband repeatedly propositioned an employee at the station and physically abused Williams in the workplace.

· We already knew "Hairspray" star Nikki Blonsky could sing, so naturally she's prepping her debut album, which she'll co-write. What will it sound like? She says a mix of Stevie Nicks, Melissa Etheridge and Sheryl Crow.

· Remy Ma might be behind bars, but that's not stopping her from releasing a new mixtape. The 17-song BlasRemy tape will contain verses from her fiancee, Papoose, as well as Chingy, Jackie-O and Shawnna.

· One good cover deserves another. After Gnarls Barkley did a take on the Violent Femmes' "Gone Daddy Gone" on their St. Elsewhere album, the veteran indie-rock band has decided to record their own version of Gnarls' smash "Crazy." Available on limited-edition blue vinyl, no less.

Akshay Bhansali reports:

Last night I cut over to Porch (thanks to Sonia and Nick!) in New York's Alphabet City to cop my first live look at Rye Rye, an MC whose hit, "Shake It to the Ground," has made her a Baltimore-hipster darling.

She's already toured with M.I.A. and is being promoted by Hollertronix king Diplo and his label, Mad Decent. Yesterday she arrived by train to New York City at 10 p.m. with her mom at her side. She performed. And then, as quickly as she came, she got on a train at 3 a.m. so that she could arrive back home at 6 a.m. After all, she can't afford to be late for high school. She's only 17!

I have to say, it was interesting to see mom tenderly dote on daughter — combing her hair and making sure everything was in order, only to have Rye Rye erupt into a sweat-infused crump frenzy! She's pure energy, combining rhymes over gutter B'more house cuts and busting electric dance moves. She performed "Gangsta Girl," "Shake It to the Ground" and "Wassup Wassap," among others, and they're all available on the Internetz.

· Michael Jackson has saved his beloved sometime home, Neverland Ranch, from being foreclosed on.

· Usher had his “hello, Cleveland” moment at England’s Radio 1 fest over the weekend. Turns out folks in Maidstone, Kent, don’t take kindly to shouts of “hello, Manchester!”

· Rihanna proved that she is not M.I.A.

· Some guy cold-cocked former Death Row boss Marion “Suge” Knight and knocked the former football player out cold for three minutes.

This in from MTV News super-shooter Akshay Bhansali:

I just spent a rather bizarre weekend down in New Orleans. My dad serves on the board of directors of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, and the final weekend wrapped yesterday. It all started with a party at the family house, which involved consuming copious amounts duck po-boy, boudin balls, and soft-shell crawfish (yes, you can apparently soften more than just crab), and fixing Gwyneth Paltrow's mom’s cellphone(??). Blythe Danner is an incredibly cool woman!

After the party I cruised over to Frenchman Street in the Marigny to catch M.I.A. perform in a crazy steamy warehouse. The crowd hardly seemed to care about the heat -- when she opened her epic show with "Bamboo Banger," the room became pure, awesome chaos. Maya had Cherry, always at her side, onstage with her, and even her brother Sugu was hyping up the crowd! She ended with the album closer "Paper Planes," which not only puts a new spin on a Clash classic but works shockingly well in the “Pineapple Express” trailer, correct??

Pics from JazzFest -- and what M.I.A. reveals to Akshay backstage -- after the jump. Read more...

Many of us in the Newsroom love music festivals. From Coachella to Bonnaroo to Lollapalooza (these would all make fantastic Scrabble words), we think listening to good music out loud, in the open air is great. And it also makes us think about summer, which is always good. Some of us even remember Woodstock - both times (Hi, Kurt!). We have not been to the Sasquatch Festival in Gorge, Washington. But we hear good things. MAYBE THIS IS THE YEAR!

The lineup was announced for the Memorial Day weekend festival and features headliners R.E.M., The Cure, Death Cab For Cutie and the Flaming Lips doing a special "UFO" show. Full lineup after the jump:

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