The Sugababes are still apparently working out all the kinks from their lineup change a few weeks ago that saw original member Keisha Buchanan swapped out for UK Eurovision hopeful Jade Ewen. After canceling a few gigs in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy, the group was expected to debut tomorrow at a charity performance in Glasgow. But thanks to some “legal issues” not being resolved in time, the gig’s off. I wonder if there’s haggling over any sort of “don’t slag the band in public if you unexpectedly get kicked out” clause? MORE »
POSTS FROM "shenanigans" CATEGORY
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New-Look Sugababes Need To Sign Some Papers Before They Can Push The Button On Their New Lineup
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If Your Mother Says “Here, I Got You Something Autographed By Ian Curtis,” Check It Out
Former Joy Division bassist Peter Hook has admitted to basically running a forgery business involving the purported autograph of the band’s late frontman Ian Curtis, although he blames his scheme working on fans who didn’t fact-check Curtis’ date of death: “I did have a reputation for doing Ian Curtis’ autograph for a long time… There’s some guy who had [the Joy Division EP] An Ideal For Living and it was signed by all four members of the band and dated. I went in and said, ‘Have you not noticed that the date is after Ian died?’ It was me, I did them as a joke!” If you’re a record collector who has an “autographed” copy of a Joy Division album (and you’ve just had a mini-anxiety attack), now would be a good time to compare the signature above, which was apparently obtained in 1978, with your personal copy. Sorry to burst any record-collecting bubbles! [Clash Music via The Daily Swarm / Allegedly real autograph of Ian Curtis via Joy Division History] MORE »
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Michael Jackson’s Wikipedia Entry Gives Me More Than A Feeling That Someone’s Trying To Play A Joke
A current claim from Michael Jackson’s Wikipedia entry: “In 1989, after his brothers recorded and released the smash hit album 2300 Jackson Street without him, Jackson felt the urge to return to a band setting. He briefly joined BOSTON: unfortunately contractual issues and his inability to adjust to BOSTON bandleader Tom Scholz’s personal quirks caused Jackson to leave the band after just a few months to return to a solo career. His success resulted in his being dubbed the ‘King of Pop,’ a nickname conceived by Scholz.” I am 99.999999% sure that none of this is true, but I swear to God it is there right now, and will probably be regurgitated as gospel truth by some well-meaning writer looking to pad their 2,457th Jackson-related story of recent weeks with something vaguely “different” within the next, oh, 24 hours or so. A screenshot after the jump! MORE »
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Bruce Springsteen May Have To Apologize To Ticketmaster
A few months ago, Bruce Springsteen and his fans were in a tizzy when the best seats for a slew of hometown shows at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, N.J., showed up on ticket brokers’ sites before they were even available to the public. “Scandal!” cried the fans. “Say you’re sorry!” blogged The Boss. But months later, after the hue and cry died down, the Newark Star-Ledger got to the bottom of just how tickets for the show were disbursed… and as it turned out, most of the asses in the Izod Center’s cushiest seats had been put there by the promoters, Springsteen’s record company, and Bruce and his band. Are you shocked? (I’m not, honestly. But all those years of going to journalist/blogger/flack/employee-packed shows in the greater NYC area have probably jaded me.) The Star-Ledger breaks down the numbers after the jump. MORE »
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If You Want To Take Full Advantage Of Live Nation’s “Service Free Wednesdays,” Make Sure You Don’t Have To Drive To The Concert
“Fans will still be asked to pay parking fees (usually $6) as well as in some cases facility fees and/or charity fees,” a flack for the concert megapromoter told a CNN reporter who asked for clarity on the weekly discounts the company is really proud to be offering on its cheap seats at shows this summer. By the way, the Wednesday differential in price for nosebleed at the Jones Beach installment of WKTU’s dance-extravaganza Beatstock? $12.10–or 46% of the seat’s $26 face value. And the lineup hasn’t even been announced yet! [CNN via What Did I Read Today?] MORE »
idolator's american idolatry
Matt Giraud Gets The Boot, Adam Lambert Gets An Ego Check
As expected by pretty much everyone, Matt Giraud had his valentine to American Idol’s viewers roundly rejected, and so he was sent packing on last night’s episode. More surprising to observers, though, was the appearance of longtime frontrunner Adam Lambert in the bottom three, alongside Giraud and Kris Allen. Was this the result of shenanigans by the producers–who want people to keep watching, even despite the widespread assumption that Lambert’s going to win this thing–or was it the first piece of evidence that a wide swath of America isn’t really into the whole Scissor Sisters/Muse/Adam Lambert axis of rock, despite poor old Randy Jackson’s claims to the contrary? MORE »
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Beyonce Shreds Howard Stern’s Credibility
Oh hey, remember that clip of Beyonce where she supposedly sounded really bad while singing on Today? From all the way this morning ago. It was altered to make her sound worse. Shock! Actually, listening to the clip more than once while not snickering about “dumb pop stars” could have given away this piece of information, since there were points where her pitches were going nearly parabolic, but just in case you didn’t trust your instincts, the person responsible for doctoring the tape came clean to that bastion of getting to the bottom of stories, TMZ. Yay, everybody! [TMZ] MORE »
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Math Is Hard Dept.: Why The Coachella Numbers Are Good, But Not Great
Hey, I want Coachella to be successful as much as anyone not employed by Goldenvoice or the Indio Chamber of Commerce. I missed this year’s incarnation, but I’m hoping to head back to the desert for some music and fair food eventually. Still, when festival producer Paul Tollett hands out a press release saying the festival had its second-biggest year (out of 10 incarnations), could cheerleadery press types–I’m looking at you, Los Angeles and New York Timeses–just take a second before running with a story that heralds Coachella’s triumph over the economy? MORE »
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Beyonce Shreds
Howard Stern played the above clip of Beyonce singing “If I Were A Boy” on Today last November–a version that you didn’t hear, because it was the one that was run through the soundboard, while the version of her voice that went out over the air was, ahem, in tune with the track for most of its running time. Stern and his sidekicks note at the end of the clip that she probably sounded like crap because of her inability to hear her voice properly, but who on the Internet would let the truth get in the way of lulz? (If only someone had some recordings of Enuff Z’nuff TV appearances from back in the day… then maybe we’d hear some real answers.) For comparison’s sake, the performance that aired on Today a few months back is after the jump. MORE »
idolator's american idolatry
“American Idol” Hops Off The Oil Rig
Last night, Michael Sarver—the oil rigger whose vocal prowess proved to fall apart when he was forced to sing a song that was any faster than a treacly ballad—was dispatched from American Idol, in a move that, let’s be honest, wasn’t all that surprising, and was probably about two weeks overdue. What was sorta odd to me, however, was that the Bottom Three this week was all guys—and that one of those guys put on one of the better performances Wednesday night. MORE »
