One of our wonderful commenters posed this question in the wake of finding out that people were actually plunking down money for digital copies of Michael Jackson albums: What are people doing with their CD libraries these days–keeping them, transitioning over to digital storage, shifting to vinyl, or giving up on the whole idea of “owning” music altogether and switching over to a streaming service? MORE »
somethin 4 the weekend
What Have You Done With Your CD Library? (If You’ve Done Anything With It?)
names in the news
Whitney Houston And Eminem Want You To Celebrate The United States’ Independence With Them
Two items that have been dumped into the news cycle right before the holiday weekend here in the States really kicks in: Eminem’s video for “Beautiful” and Whitney Houston’s new single “I Didn’t Know My Own Strength.” Feel free to post your first impressions here; I just wanted to make sure that they got mentioned before I skedaddled. MORE »
videodrone
Britney Spears Goes To See A Man About A Horse
After leaking online yesterday in such poor-quality forms I found myself longing for the VHS era, Britney Spears’ clip for the Blackout holdover “Radar” has been officially released. In it, Britney gets all classed up, playing a woman beholden to a Richie Rich type who apparently isn’t as sexy as one of the dudes in the polo match that she’s watching. The whole clip is kind of–for lack of a better word–dainty when thrown into the context of this track, but perhaps Brit Brit saw Pretty Woman right before going into the pitch meeting, and the ideas flowed accordingly? Clip after the jump. MORE »
the cutout bin
The Cutout Bin: Everybody Has Something Funny To Say These Days
In order to celebrate America, Idolator will be taking tomorrow off. But before we close things out, here are a few stories we missed during this verifiably insane week:
• Hey, look! An entire AP story speculating about who might fill London’s O2 Arena in the wake of Michael Jackson’s death that includes a) some Sun-sourced speculation about an ABBA reunion and b) the following fan reasoning for why Whitney Houston should perform instead: “”because they suffer the same pain and deal with the same demons: drugs.” Ay yi yi. [AP]
• To continue Great Moments In Quotes, here’s Nick Cannon on the speculation that his wife Mariah Carey is going to use her forthcoming video for “Obsessed” as a way to lampoon Eminem: “My wife doesn’t beef. She’s Mariah Carey. She’s not beefin’, she’s a vegetarian.” [MTV] MORE »
second acts
Rihanna, perhaps looking to turn her fandom for body art into a sideline career, got a lesson in inking others at a New York tattoo parlor last night. [PopWrap] MORE »
Wtf
Chris Daughtry Plays “Hide The Muffin” With Lady GaGa
Adult grungetemporary star Chris Daughtry just posted a link to his cover of Lady GaGa’s “Poker Face” to his Twitter, and its opening chords got me a wee bit excited that he would perform it in the style of “I Want It That Way.” But alas. MORE »
Corrections
As one of our commenters noted: There was no mention of Paul McCartney getting publishing rights to the Beatles catalog in the Michael Jackson will released yesterday, which would seem to contradict earlier reports about Jackson deciding to leave him those rights upon his death. (Something tells me that more to this story will come out eventually, but for now, the fact is duly noted.) [Previously] MORE »
The nimbus of his fame
News Of Jonas Brother’s Engagement Sends Many Systems Into Overload
As of this writing, there are 4,168 comments on the blog post announcing Kevin Jonas’ engagement to his longtime girlfriend Danielle Deleasa. (It was written by the parents of Kevin and his fellow Jonas Brothers Joe and Nick.) As you might expect, the reactions from the MySpace faithful that have come in since the news broke last night have been somewhat mixed! A sampling after the jump. MORE »
Programming Notes
Cinemax: The New Frontier For Music Videos?
Following in the footsteps of Eminem, the Jack White/Allison Mosshart project the Dead Weather has decided to debut its Jonathan Glazer-directed video for “Treat Me Like Your Mother” on Cinemax on July 11. MORE »
listening station
Alice In Chains Travel A Long Road Back
Something that I missed earlier this week: The first single from the rebooted Alice In Chains, “A Looking In View,” was released on the band’s Web site for the price of an e-mail address (it’s also on iTunes, for those of you who would rather give up money than personal data). The first verdict on the seven-plus-minute track: Hearing the band give in to fortress-of-sound rock trends is a little jarring at first, but as “Looking” unfolds, it settles into a nice, dark groove, thanks in no small part to the way Jerry Cantrell’s backing vocals blend with those of new lead singer William Duvall into something ominous and otherwordly. (And yes, that’s a good thing.) A YouTube embed of the song after the jump. MORE »
