“I thought I would be disappointing [fans] if they knew I was gay.” More »
Kathy Griffin has made sharing hilarious celeb stories her thing for years now. And lucky enough, she’s got plenty of new ones to share…especially now that she’s the host of Fashion Police. Watch her talk about meeting Barry Manilow and Lana Del Rey at the Clive Davis pre-Grammys party! More »
Do any of you out there watch Bridezillas? I think it’s a telling commentary on the current moment that so many of the crazyperson weddings featured within are pretty low-budget affairs—hell, there was even one woman on the show who catered her own reception as a way of cutting costs. But really, who has money to throw around anymore in an era where Vh1’s “Fabulous Life Of…” specials are more interesting for the aftermath of their feature-ees, many of whom are currently broke and/or in jail and/or definitely not as “fabulous” as they were back in the day? Which is why this just-released list of “the most expensive wedding bands” (topped, of course, by the Rolling Stones) seems so oddly timed. I know August is a tough time for the music-news feature well, but in the post-Madoff era is there anyone with $8.176 million to blow on just the band? At least with that sort of food budget, you can get, like, an ice sculpture of the married couple. Anyway, the list of the big-money artists—which somehow includes Jennifer Lopez?!—after the jump. More »
The New Zealand town of Christchurch has a bigger problem than the orcs in the Mines of Moria. It’s being overrun by mall rats! With their texting gizmos and saggy pants and Sbarro breath and fat silent friends in trenchcoats giving life lessons about relationships! The Central City Business Association has seen an uptick in litter, graffiti, drunkenness, drugs, and worst of all, swearing. Their solution: Playing Barry Manilow. I’m glad someone finally had the bright idea to play crappy music over a mall sound system, because if I go to the Palisades and hear Big Black and Amon Duul II one more time, I’m gonna toss my Cinnabons.
Last night’s episode of American Idol was the first installment of Hollywood Week’s semifinalist winnowing process, and boy did it seem like not a lot had changed at all since we were last in the cozy confines of Southern California. Barry Manilow as a mentor who basically gave an inspirational speech! There was a Ford commercial by a bunch of unnamed hopefuls who haven’t even made it through to the second part of Hollywood Week yet! Well, I guess Fox needs to squeeze as much money out of its sponsors as it can in these rough times.
Between the forever-in-the-making epics and the tossed-off odes to sadness and the crazy ’80s radio pastiche and a bunch of other albums, next week is going to be something of a big one for the music business. How should one navigate their way through the music-consumption choices they’ll be forced to make next week? Might I suggest a friendly game of Buy/Download/Kill, in which each album receives one of the three fates outlined by the game’s title. My personal preferences after the jump.