The Foo Fighters were the music guests on this past weekend’s episode of Saturday Night Live, which saw Oscar award winning actress Helen Mirren as host. The American rock band took the stage to perform some tracks from their album “Wasting Light”, namely the lead single “Rope” and “Walk”. It was a solid effort and it looks like their appearance on SNL has paid off as their album has since gotten back in the top 10 on the US iTunes. I’ve always been a fan of the Foo Fighters so I’m really happy that they’re garnering success for their current record.
Foo Fighters – Rope – SNL Performance Video
Foo Fighters – Walk – SNL Performance Video
And it’s not just him… it seems that Sharon Osbourne is in on it too. The famous couple is apparently a bit behind on their just dues to Uncle Sam… 1.7 million dollars behind to be more exact. It seems that Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne’s taxes for the years 2008 and 2009 haven’t exactly been paid and seeing as how the US treasury could also do with a little more cash, especially in times of invading other countries and whatnot, it would probably be a good idea for Ozzy Osbourne to throw a few of all of those royalties towards Uncle Sam’s way.
This one might actually be true since it’s her mother that believes Willow Smith was born a rebel… and who could know more about this than the girl’s mother? Jada Pinkett Smith had this to say about all of the gifts that she passed down to Willow Smith: “I was the girl hanging out with drug dealers, drinking, messing around. Whatever you think I did, I did worse. My daughter is a born rebel like me – Willow is so me it’s not true. But being a rebel isn’t a problem, as long as you have someone to guide you, and we are with our kids all the time. We see it as our mission to use that energy, to help them express who they are.” Had there been someone to help Jada Pinkett Smith exploit her own potential of being a pop star when she was young, Willow Smith might have had the chance to opt for a different career… tisk, tisk.
It looks like the masterminds behind American Idol aren’t going to let their newfound excellent audience-streak to go to waste. So it was that on last night’s episode they had the none too orthodox, but very inspired idea of bringing on Iggy Pop as a guest star on the show. The singer performed the song “Real Wild Child”. It’s probably the most surprising and also the most appreciated guest appearance on this season of American Idol and perhaps even on the whole show. This year truly is a year of firsts for American Idol. What’s next, a dancing squirrel band?
American Idol – Iggy Pop – I’m a Wild One (LIVE Performance) – Top 9 Results Show
Also from the AI last night performance
American Idol – Group Performance – I Love Rock & Roll, The Letter & Sweet Home Alabama
Final Song – Pia Toscano – I’ll Stand By You – American Idol Top 9 Results Show
American Idol – Constantine Maroulis – Unchained Melody (LIVE) – Top 9 Results Show
Following a banjo-picking performance of her hit single “Mean” at the ACMs, Taylor Swift kept strumming along to offer a great form of flattery to British indie rock band Mumford & Sons. The 21-year old pop/country singer laid down a beautiful rendition of the band’s song “White Blank Page” for BBC. Mumford & Sons’ popularity is on a steady rise and I have no doubt that Taylor’s cover of their song will give them even more of a push. Whether you’re a fan of hers or not, you can’t deny that she did the song more than just a little bit of justice.
Taylor Swift – White Blank Page – Video
Simon Cowell has announced that he is installing booths in American shopping malls for wannabe contestants to audition for the US X Factor. Aspiring performers will be able to film their audition tape at one of the MyStudio recording studios across the US from this week, if they cannot attend an open audition. The first audition studios will open tomorrow at the Pearlridge Centre Uptown in Honolulu, and Arizona Mills, Phoenix, with additional studios opening at Coolsprings Galleria, Nashville (9 April), Dimond Centre, Anchorage (12 April), Oak Park Mall, Kansas City (15 April), and Colorado Mills, Denver (16 April). All studios will remain open until 30 April. The 51-year-old music mogul said in a statement: "We think they are a brilliant way to audition for people who haven’t made it to the cities. "MyStudio has kindly let us use these high-tech studios for the X Factor auditions, which record studio-quality sound and video to make the audition tape, and I’m very excited for anyone who decides to use these to audition." The auditions are open to all singers over the age of 12, with the winner taking away a $5m recording contract with Syco/Sony Music.
Last night’s Rock n Roll Hall of Fame episode of American Idol was a rare one, at least for this season, because no one was terrible. I guess the singers finally figured that it’s crunch time. I’ll just make one review of performances and it’s for Pia Toscano. She’s been choosing ballads for the longest time ever and she promised last week that she’d do an up tempo song this week. And finally we got it in the form of “River Deep, Mountain High”. Her vocals were amazing but she’s lacking in stage presence. Pia’s a great singer but not a performer. Now for my thoughts on who’s safe and who’s going home. I think Scotty McCreery, James Durbin and Casey Abrams are 100% safe, with Pia, Lauren Alaina and Jacob Lusk likely to be safe as well. I think the bottom 3 would be Haley Reinhart, Stefano Langone and Paul McDonald, with Stefano going home. What do you think?
American Idol Top 9 Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame Performances Video:
Jacob Lusk : Man In The Mirror – Michael Jackson : American Idol Top 9 Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame
Casey Abrams : Have You Ever Seen The Rain – CCR : American Idol Top 9 Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame
James Durbin : While My Guitar Gently Weeps : American Idol Top 9 Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame
Pia Toscano : River Deep, Mountain High : American Idol Top 9 Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame
Stefano Langone : When A Man Loves A Woman : American Idol Top 9 Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame
Paul McDonald : Johnny Cash – Folsom Prison Blues : American Idol Top 9 Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame
Haley Reinhart : Janis Joplin – Piece Of My Heart : American Idol Top 9 Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame
Scotty McCreery : Elvis Presley – That’s All Right, Mama : American Idol Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame
Lauren Alaina : Natural Woman : American Idol Top 9 Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame
Here’s another bonus track from Chris Brown’s latest album “FAME”. The Timbaland-produced “Talk Ya Ear Off” is an exclusive on the Japanese edition of the R&B singer’s fourth studio album, which was released two weeks later than other countries, earlier this week. I have yet to come across a Timbaland production that I didn’t like or grow to like. This is one hot production. Grab your headphones and bop along. However, I do think Chris’ voice sounds a bit funny in this one. In any case, it’s an overall good track. I actually think it should have made the US cut.
Chris Brown – Talk Ya Ear Off – New Song
The singer has finally premiered her long-awaited music video for the single “Till the World Ends”. Check it out below Britney Spears – Till the World Ends – Music Video:
Dave Grohl thinks the problem with music these days is that there are too many short people in bands. The Foo Fighters frontman said that when he made his way to the top, the bands he rubbed shoulders with were a lot taller than today’s short stars. According to British newspaper The Sun, the 42-year-old said: "I also noticed that bands are short now. What the f**k happened? They’re little people. I don’t know if it’s genetics or evolution…I just remember dudes in bands being big." He added: "When I was in Queens Of The Stone Age with Josh Homme, Nick Oliveri and Mark Lanegan, it was like that movie The Warriors. "When the four of us walked backstage the piano player stopped playing. "Nobody f***ked with those dudes. They were big men."
Enrique Iglesias is not going on tour with Britney Spears this summer. The Latino singer was announced to be joining the princess of pop only for Enrique to pull out a mere couple of hours after the announcement was made. Enrique posted a message on his personal page saying “Hey guys, sorry for the confusion regarding a possible tour in the summer with Britney Spears. We are on the Euphoria tour and will continue to do so including some soon-to-be-announced dates in US. So hope to see all of you soon.” It seems like Enrique would rather headline his own tour than play second fiddle to Britney. What do you think?
It seems the rapper who is probably very famous given how many music videos he appears in isn’t in such good relations with good old Uncle Sam, especially when it comes to taxes. It seems the IRS have done a little digging on Lil’ Wayne and they found that he currently owes over 5.6 million dollars in unpaid taxes… and that’s just for 2008 and 2009. But Lil’ Wayne will soon be releasing his long awaited next album and that’s probably going to bring him a little extra money to help him pay these outstanding bills he has. After all, it’s not very nice for an upstanding citizen such as him to owe so much to his beloved country.
Arcade Fire performed an intimate surprise show for fans in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti last week, on top of raising over $1 million for post-earthquake relief for the devastated country. Sources claim that the band, whose singer Regine Chassagne is the daughter of Haitian immigrants, performed their own hits “Keep the Car Running”, “Sprawll II (Mountains Beyond Mountains), and “Haiti”, as well as covers of Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Rolling Stones and Cyndi Lauper music. That was so amazing. I’m sure it meant a lot to not only their fans but the entire community. I’m extremely proud of Arcade Fire’s efforts. Everyone should be.
Jordin Sparks has a new song out called “The World I Knew”. The track is the theme song of Disney’s upcoming film “African Cats”, that’s set to open in theaters in the US on April 22. It’s a cute song that shines with Jordin’s beautiful vocals. It actually makes me anticipate the release of her third album. The pop singer has also released the music video for the song. It mainly features shots from the movie along with some beauty shots of Jordin in a fairy tale-like setting. It’s nothing all too special but it played off of the cuteness of the song and served its purpose.
Jordin Sparks –The World I Knew – New Video
It looks like the latest season of American Idol is spreading optimism all around… especially with the high-ups. After all of the records the tenth season has been breaking recently, it seems that FreemantleMedia’s CEO, Tony Cohen, believes the show might just attain the highest ratings a season of American Idol has ever reached. It looks like the new trio of Randy Jackson, Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler is really doing a terrific job and they are making their superiors proud as peach. It will be interesting to see how Simon Cowell is actually going to manage to top this one with his new pet project in the US.
The singer has released a new music video for her single “Wonderland”. This new piece of Natalia Kills’ is pretty interesting, the song is a rather catchy pop/electro combination with a bit of a darker theme, but pretty up-tempo nonetheless. The music video is pretty consistent with the song, although it does bring to mind Marilyn Manson’s old stuff a bit… pretty chaotic, obscure and hard to understand, but if you take a little time to piece it together it does start making sense. Still it is at least an interesting watch, if not more and Natalia Kills sure seems to want to shock and awe… and she’s probably going to succeed in doing it.
After last week’s unfortunate situation for Casey Abrams and the fact that the judges used their only save of the season for him, this week on American Idol two of the bottom three contestants had to go home. This time around Casey Abrams was safe and the bottom three included Thia Megia, Naima Adedapo and Paul McDonald who was a first timer here. He is going to get another chance at being in the bottom three too because he was the only one that managed to get out while Thia Megia and Naima Adedapo were the sad ones who had to go home. Thus American Idol is still on track with nine more contestants to go and even though two girls got pushed out of the competition, the lead seems to belong to Lauren Alaina for the time being.
If I had any doubts that the judges’ save drama from last week’s American Idol was staged, they were crushed in the first minute of last night’s episode. Ryan asked the contestants last about the judges’ save like they already knew it was going to be used. I was offended then and I’m offended now. Pimping out Casey Abrams excessively is so unfair and definitely overkill. I’m also creeped out by Ryan’s obviously botox-treated face and highly annoyed at Jennifer Lopez’s constant interruption of Randy Jackson and Steven Tyler during their critiques. Speaking of Steven, I’m beginning to think that he’s the useless judge this season. He’s just not giving any solid advice.
Casey Abrams “Your Song” Performance:
More American Idol Top 11 Performances:
Lauren Alaina “Candle in the Wind” Performance:
Scotty McCreery – Country Comfort – American Idol Top 11
James Durbin – Saturday Night’s Alright – American Idol Top 11
Stefano Langone – Tiny Dancer – American Idol Top 11
Haley Reinhart “Bennie and the Jets” Performance:
Jacob Lusk – Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word – American Idol Top 11
Pia Toscano – Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me – American Idol Top 11
