- Artist: Usher
- Label: LaFace Records/Zomba Label Group
- Director: The Brothers Strauss
- Album: Here I Stand
Source: http://www.mtv.com/overdrive/?artist=1270&vid=235341
Shannyn Sossamon Shiri Appleby Sienna Guillory Sienna Miller
08/19/2011
08/18/2011
Justin Bieber's Grammy Performance Will Be 'A Crossover,' Usher Says
The 'O.M.G.' singer looks forward to sharing the stage with his protégé on Sunday night.
By James Montgomery
Usher
Photo: Amanda Edwards/ Getty Images
HOLLYWOOD — At Sunday's 53rd Grammy Awards, Usher will be pulling double duty as both a nominee and a performer. Of course, given the massive year he just completed — with the success of his smash single "O.M.G." and as a mentor to rising phenom Justin Bieber — Ush's Grammy plans seem rather fitting.
Especially since he'll be performing with Bieber (and Bieber's pal Jaden Smith), a move that's just as much about celebrating Usher's successes as it is the successes of his young protégé.
"Having been through [the Grammys] so many times, you couldn't want for anything more than for your young protégé to have the opportunity to have one, so, in support of him having his moment, I wanted to be here," Usher told MTV News on Thursday, hours before his performance at the (Belvedere) RED launch party in Hollywood. "And also to be there to perform, to kind of tell the story of how we came together. This music business has definitely been good to both of us, and this year we have a lot to be happy for."
And just how will the dynamic duo tell that story? Well, Usher wasn't about to reveal all the details, but he did say that he's hoping their performance will show another side of Bieber ... a side most tend to overlook.
"The performance will be fun," Usher explained. "We want to get up there and just do what we do. Be comfortable, and have a great time. ... This is kind of a crossover for Justin. Having performed on so many different stages, this is the way that I wanted him to be seen and an opportunity to show the industry — a lot of the industry, that didn't believe [in him] — some of his other talents. He's going to play acoustically, and also, we'll get down a little bit."
And though Ush is up for a pair of Grammy awards on Sunday — Best Male R&B Vocal Performance and Best Contemporary R&B Album for Raymond v. Raymond — he's most looking forward to sharing the stage with Bieber and giving fans a look at where the young artist will be heading next.
"I'm very proud, man. I definitely saw it from the beginning, but thanks to the team that we have around us, it was made to happen. And that story has only just begun," Usher said. "The story of Justin Bieber doesn't stop with screaming girls; we need screaming fans all around the world ... a cultural experience that's much more than just fanfare. And that's what this is. That's what the Grammys will be; that's what my next phase for Justin is. This is the way I found him: I found him with a guitar in his hand, so I want him to be seen that way."
Don't miss "Snooki & Sway: Live From the Grammys," a red-carpet live stream kicking off Sunday at 6 p.m. ET on MTV.com. And stick with us all Grammy night for coverage of the red carpet, the show, the afterparties and beyond!
Related Photos Related ArtistsSource: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1657728/usher-justin-bieber-grammy-performance.jhtml
Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez Nude Statue Gets New Home
Rep for artist Daniel Edwards says life-size piece will be on display at Dallas-area porn shop.
By Jocelyn Vena
Daniel Edwards' "Justin and Selena as One" sculpture
Photo: Daniel Edwards/ Cory Allen Contemporary Art
Daniel Edwards' headline-making nude statue of Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez has found a new home. The life-size statue of the two teen stars will make its way to a Dallas-area porn shop in the very near future, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The shop, New Fine Arts, confirmed to the site that the statue will be on display there. Cory Allen, a rep for Edwards, also told The Reporter that the artist is planning a companion piece inspired by a 1968 cast made of Jimi Hendrix's private parts. The second statue will display Bieber's in the same way, using what he described as a "Warner Bros. cartoon" vibe.
So, why has Edwards decided to focus his attention on the sexualization of Bieber, 17, and Gomez, 19? The artist explained why to MTV News this week.
"I tried to find my entry into making a comment on that very thing that happens time and again to teenage celebrities, where they're kind of exploited early, earlier than what is legal, and the media fuels that as best they can," he said. "I guess I'm making my commentary about that particular thing that happens."
The statue also comments on the "double standard" for males and females in the industry. "It only seems to hit the young ladies a lot worse than the men. It's still there. You see all those beach photos of the two of them. My children are young, but I think I would be freaked out if I saw images of them like that on the Internet."
What do you think of the artist's statue? Let us know in the comments below.
Related ArtistsSource: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1668851/justin-bieber-selena-gomez-nude-sculpture.jhtml
08/17/2011
Dave Grohl, Josh Homme, John Paul Jones Unveil Supergroup
Them Crooked Vultures make their debut with a post-Lollapalooza set.
By James Montgomery
Dave Grohl (file)
Photo: Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images
Officially, Lollapalooza ended Sunday night in Chicago's Grant Park, with dueling sets from the Killers and Jane's Addiction. Unofficially, it ended very early Monday morning, across town at venerable rock club the Metro, with a surprise show by Them Crooked Vultures.
To the unfamiliar, the Vultures might seem like an odd choice to close out Lolla weekend ... until you realize that they're made up of Foo Fighters frontman/ former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl, Queens of the Stone Age mastermind Josh Homme and Led Zeppelin legend John Paul Jones. And their gig at the Metro was their world premiere.
According to some reports, the Vultures actually turned down Lollapalooza founder Perry Farrell's request to replace the Beastie Boys as headliners at the festival, opting to debut in front of some 1,100 super-psyched fans at the Metro, rather than 75,000 in Grant Park (tickets for the gig were announced via Foo Fighter/ QOTSA fan clubs). Meaning that, in a lot of ways, this was the most sought-after ticket in town.
Taking the stage just after midnight, the Vultures — Grohl on drums (of course), Homme on guitar and vocals, Jones on bass and keys and frequent QOTSA contributor Alain Johannes on guitar — ripped through 12 songs in 80 minutes, all taken from their upcoming debut, which may or may not be called Never Deserved the Future, and may or may not be hitting stores on October 23 (early "promo" videos touting both those facts were revealed over the weekend to be hoaxes perpetrated by QOTSA fans).
The songs, with appropriately Homme-ian titles like "Scumbag Blues," "Mind Eraser (No Chaser)," "Caligulove" and "Interlude w/Ludes," sounded pretty much how you'd expect, given the band's pedigree. They rocked, hard — Chicago Tribune critic Greg Kot described them as "fresh, invigorating and just plain nasty" — delving off into psychedelic, reverb-filled excursions and exploring proggy territory, "both of the old-school Yes variety, and the more modern Tool flavor," according to the Chicago Sun-Times' Jim DeRogatis.
It's not known if Monday's Metro performance was a one-off event for the Vultures — there have been whispers of a full-blown tour, but a spokesperson for Homme had not responded to MTV News' request for comment at press time. Nor was it clear whether or not they'll have an album out in October.
Early Monday, a Crooked Vultures Twitter account, which had previously posted links to the band's official-looking Web site and the Metro's online ticketing site — posted a link to what appears to be the group's first bit of official merchandise: a Deserve the Future T-shirt. Cost: $30.
Related Videos Related Photos Related ArtistsLady Gaga: Straight, No Chaser
We observe Gaga in her natural habitat, with a good bottle of whiskey, in Bigger Than the Sound.
By James Montgomery
Lady Gaga
Photo: Kristian Dowling/ Getty Images
Lady Gaga is sitting down, which is probably a good thing, considering she's wearing 6-inch heels and has spent roughly seven hours drinking whiskey with dudes who look like they were roadies for Bang Tango.
Drinking wasn't the only thing she did, of course. She also danced, vamped, sang, bled and underwent more costume changes than Evander Berry Wall — all over the span of one very long day on one very big soundstage in New York City. I'm not allowed to write about exactly what she was shooting (at least not yet), but suffice it to say, Gaga certainly deserved a few minutes of rest. Especially since she had spent the first part of the day filming a wearing an outfit that could only be described as "houndstooth overdrive."
And yet, throughout the day, as the top-secret shoot went on and on, I never heard her complain — not even close. At one point, during a performance setup, when the director asked if she'd be willing to film another take, she joked, "My voice can only last for another hour and a half ... the rest of me can go all night."
Everyone laughed, and not just because it was a funny line. There was an air of astonishment mixed in too. Simply put, no one seemed to believe that a star of this caliber would be this willing to work. And then work some more.
While it was certainly amazing to watch Gaga come to life when the camera was rolling, her work ethic isn't exactly breaking news. In a way, it was even more fascinating to observe her in the moments when it wasn't. Last year, I followed her every step at the Video Music Awards and discovered that, beneath the 35 pounds of Argentinean beef, she was actually a pretty normal person. That was only amplified Monday, on this soundstage in New York, in the rare moments she wasn't wowing everyone in attendance. Surrounded by her closest friends — all of whom were extras in the shoot, and some of whom came dressed in their Steel Panther finery — she was decidedly down-to-earth. Shockingly average, even.
She cracked jokes, held hands, poured drinks. She danced and cooed with her old friend Lady Starlight while "Heavy Metal Lover," a standout track on her Born This Way album, blared overhead. She whooped for joy whenever someone she hadn't seen in a while (and given her schedule, that was pretty much everybody) appeared on set. In fact, she seemed very much like every 25-year-old you'd meet, despite all evidence to the contrary.
Getting to be a fly on the wall is certainly one of the perks of this job; it allows you to see the mega-famous at their least guarded — for better or (as is sometimes the case) much worse. But it's the few instances I've been able to hover around Gaga's inner circle that remain the most revelatory, mostly because, as I wrote last year, her public persona is somewhere along the lines of "a pneumatic lion tamer with a penchant for creative haberdashery, or a fire-breathing neo-Shiva in sunglasses." To see her unwind with her pals, well, let's just say it's the kind of thing you don't forget, mostly because it's the most normal thing imaginable. Which, given pretty much everything you think you know about her, is downright unimaginable.
So while I can't tell you what I watched being filmed, I can tell you that Lady Gaga enjoys Jameson and has excellent comedic timing. And that told me more about her than any of her videos ever could. To a certain extent, we all think we know who Gaga is, even if that's not really the case. At ease, with a glass of strong booze, enveloped by her confidants — that's the girl few of us get to meet, which is a shame. She seems like a really fun person to hang out with.
What do you imagine Lady Gaga is like behind the scenes? Let us know in the comments!
Related Photos Related ArtistsSource: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1668367/lady-gaga-natural-habitat.jhtml
Michael Jackson Estate Rakes In $310 Million To Date
Singer left behind more than $400 million in debt.
Michael Jackson
Photo: Time Life Pictures/DMI/Time Life Pictures/Getty Im
Between album sales, movie profits, licensing arrangements and lucrative deals for Cirque du Soleil shows, the estate of late King of Pop Michael Jackson has raked in more than $300 million since the singer's shocking death in June 2009.
According to TMZ, legal documents released on Thursday reveal that executors of MJ's estate have managed to make a major dent in the more than $400 million in debt that Jackson owed at the time of his death.
The first accounting from the executors shows that they have already spent around $159 million paying back various debts, income taxes and other expenses, which include providing support for the pop star's mother, Katherine Jackson, as well as his three young children.
"Although there remain unresolved creditor claims, pending litigation and additional challenging business, tax and legal issues, and the estate is not yet in a condition to be closed, the executors have made substantial progress in reducing the estate's debt," the documents state, according to a Reuters report. Two of Jackson's longtime confidants, attorney John Branca and music executive John McClain, were named as administrators in a will sign by the pop icon.
In addition to paying to make "substantial improvements" to the Jackson family's Havenhurst estate in Encino, California, the executors also spent an undetermined amount of money on "last illness and funeral and memorial service expenses." Those costs included a $900,000 payment to the Forest Lawn Memorial cemetery where Jackson is buried and $35,000 on expenses described as "costume for memorial."
TMZ reported that not only did the famously cash-strapped Jackson have more than $400 million in debt, but his estate also owed more than $40 million to concert promoter AEG tied to the scuttled This Is It Tour, for which MJ was rehearsing when he died unexpectedly. They've also paid $27.2 million in taxes and $4 million in mortgage payments on Jackson's properties.
Despite the solid sales of the Michael album and millions of units of the singer's back catalog being sold, as well as the box office of the "This Is It" movie and DVD sales, the estate is not nearly out of the woods. TMZ noted that the administrators have received more than 65 creditors' claims, some of which are subject to "extremely high" interest rates, and there are several outstanding lawsuits against the estate in several countries.
Related Photos Related ArtistsSource: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1658290/michael-jackson-estate.jhtml
