Pet Shop Boys to release 'Did you see me coming?'

Pet Shop Boys release their new single 'Did you see me coming?' on Parlophone Records on June 1st. The track is the second to be taken from the top 5 album 'Yes’.

The formats of 'Did you see me coming?' feature brand new tracks 'After the event', 'The former enfant terrible' and 'Up and down' which do not feature on the album. There is also a new mix of album track 'The way it used to be' by Richard X. The Brits medley, produced by Stuart Price, which was originally performed in February when Pet Shop Boys received the award for Outstanding Contribution to Music, is also released in one of the digital bundles due to popular demand.

The album 'Yes’ has been a top 5 hit across Europe, and has been released in the USA this week. USA Today in its review of the album says: 'Pet Shop Boys 'Yes’ just affirms their greatness'.

Pet Shop Boys kick off their world tour in Russia on June 10th. They play Manchester Apollo on June 18th and London’s O2 Arena on June 19th. Both UK dates are sold out. They will be headlining Latitude festival on July 17th. Pet Shop Boys are also headlining the main stage at Roskilde, Europe’s biggest festival, on Saturday, June 4th and playing other European concerts and festivals across the summer.

The Prodigy added to Norway’s Hove Festival line-up

Norway’s Hove Festivalen is proud to announce that The Prodigy will be smashing out their seminal hits as they take prime position at this year's festival. The groundbreaking UK band have sold over 17 million albums since starting up in 1990, and are reckoned to be one of the pioneers in modern electronic dance music.

Almost twenty years after the group formed, The Prodigy are back with a new album (#1 in the U.K) with their accompanying tour absolutely sold out. Invaders Must Die confirmed the bands position as one of the premier groups in the world, and contained, among other things, a special guest performance by Foo Fighter, Dave Grohl.

'This is probably the 20th festival they have done for me so they are clearly a favourite and this year they play Reading and Leeds as well as Hove. The band have come back stronger than ever, and the show will epitomize mayhem. Miss it at your peril! ' says Melvin Benn.

Hove Festival takes place between 22nd and 25th of June 2009 at idyllic Tromøya on the Norwegian south coast. Confirmed acts so far include Faith No More, The Killers, Franz Ferdinand, Slipknot, Q-Tip, The Ting Tings and many others. For more information about Hove Festival visit www.hovefestival.com

Madness play free London date

Camden Town’s hugely iconic ska pop / 2 tone band, Madness, celebrate the release of their new album, 'Liberty Of Norton Folgate’, with a free show and signing session at HMV’s flagship store, on Oxford Street in London’s West End on Tuesday 19th May 2009.

Showtime starts at 1.00 pm, after which the band will remain in the store to meet fans and sign copies of the new album which is officially released the previous day, Monday 18th May through Lucky 7 Records.

The new album has already begun receiving critical acclaim in the music press. The Word magazine reviewed the album as, 'Norton Folgate is Peter Ackroyd writing for The Kinks, it’s Sherlock Holmes in Albert Square, it’s a Mike Leigh movie of Parklife, it’s Passport To Pimlico meets Brick Lane, and it is Madness’s masterpiece.'

The band are set to play this years Glastonbury Festival and the first Madstock of this century at London’s Victoria Park on Friday July 17th.

Yoko Ono scores new dance hit

Yoko Ono has scored her forth number one dance hit on the Billboard Chart.


Her new version of her late husband John’s anthem 'Give Peace A Chance’ has topped the American based dance chart this week.

Yoko has done it before. She was number one in May 2003 with 'Walking On Thin Ice’, number one in November 2004 with 'Everyman Has A Man Who Loves Him/ Every Woman Has A Woman Who Loves Her’ in November 2004 and number one with 'No No No’ earlier this year.

Yoko recorded the new version of 'Give Peace A Chance’ so that it would be adopted by a new generation of clubbers, music fans and DJs.

'I thank you with all my heart and send you much love', Yoko said on news of her latest hit.

New Kids on the Block calm down

New Kids on the Block have put their partying lifestyle behind them.


The reformed boyband admit they went off the rails when the band split up in 1994 but say their families kept them grounded.

Singer Joey McIntyre, 35, said: "We all went through bumpy times in our own ways. Sure, we are going to make mistakes but luckily our close families were there to make sure we didn't fall too hard.

"We all had to figure out our lives after the craziness of New Kids ended.

"I didn't go to college so I didn't have that party time, but I definitely had party time where I was going out and passing out on my front lawn a couple of times.

"Boston is a very small town so you can't get a big head as they keep you down. They keep you grounded.

"Many of our friends are like, 'How did you guys not manage to get into drugs?' That would never cross our minds."

Joey and his bandmates - Jordan Knight, 37, Jon Knight, 38, Danny Wood, 38, and Donnie Wahlberg, 39 - have recently reunited to record a new album, 'The Block', and are currently preparing for a world tour.

Their new record features collaborations with Ne-Yo and Pussycat Dolls and Joey is delighted to have them on board.

He added to Britain's Daily Star newspaper: "Ne-Yo is one of the most sought-after songwriters, so we were really pleased he wanted to be on the track as an artist too.

"The PCD track is a Teddy Riley song and has some great vocals. It has a
really cool vibe."

Bette Midler blasts Britney

Bette Midler has blasted singers including Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera for not showing any 'emotion' in their performances.


The musical legend – who is currently in Las Vegas completing her 'Showgirl Must Go On’ residency – argues young stars need to put more depth into their shows.

She said: 'They don't speak. They don't talk to their audience. They may say, 'Hello, New York' or 'Hello, Las Vegas,' in the beginning, and 'Thank you' in between songs, but they don't talk. They don't tell stories or take the time to make a connection, build a rapport. There's no emotion.'

Bette also blamed music video channel MTV for encouraging people to lip-synch to their songs when performing 'live’.

She added to the New York Daily News: 'Video really did kill the radio star. After MTV came along, people were seeing their favourite singers in videos, and suddenly there was a certain vision of a song - how it should sound, how it should look.

'Then in concert, there was no room for improvisation - everyone wanted an exact replica.'


http://www.music-news.com

Northern Illinois University Shooter Had Become 'Erratic' After Stopping Meds, But Raised 'No Red Flags'

Gunman had four guns with him; death toll revised to six.

A day after 27-year-old gunman Steven Kazmierczak opened fire inside a lecture hall at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois — shooting 21 people and killing six, including himself — officials said that he had become "erratic" in recent weeks after he stopped taking medication and fired more than 50 shots, and perhaps more, before taking his own life.

(At press time, CNN had revised the total number of fatalities from seven to six.)

Noting how quickly the shootings took place, NIU police chief Donald Grady said at a press conference Friday (February 15) that the event began around 3:06 p.m. CT. Less than 30 seconds later, the first two officers were in the area, and within 90 seconds, eight more officers were on site, all of them entering the hall immediately upon arrival.

"Within that short period of time, the shooter walked into the building, managed to begin his shooting spree and conclude it before we were able to actually enter the building and stop it," Grady said. He also said that Kazmierczak, who was from the Champaign-Urbana area in Illinois, had four guns with him during the rampage, including two 9mm handguns, another handgun and a Remington shotgun, which he reloaded during the spree.

Grady said there is no known motive as of yet, no notes indicating why Kazmierczak returned to the campus more than nine months after leaving it, no connection as yet to anyone in the hall and no "red flags" to indicate why he opened fire. He described Kazmierczak as an "outstanding student" who was admired by the faculty and students who knew him, and there were "no indications" that he was the type of person who would engage in this kind of violence.

He did note that Kazmierczak had been taking an unspecified medication and that people close to the shooter said he had stopped taking it recently and had become "somewhat erratic" over the past few weeks. Grady added that there was nothing in his background that would have prevented Kazmierczak from owning guns, and that he had legally purchased two of the handguns from a firearms dealer in Champaign-Urbana on February 9. Police are still looking into the background of the other two weapons.

NIU President John Peters said during a news conference that the university had a plan in place for just this kind of incident and that it had been practiced repeatedly and was executed exactly as intended during the chaotic minutes after Kazmierczak began his rampage. "We were dealing with a disturbed individual who intended to do harm on this campus," said Peters. "We did everything we could to ensure the safety of this university."

Kazmierczak, dressed all in black and carrying a shotgun and three handguns, kicked open the door of the 200-seat lecture hall and opened fire, shooting students as they attempted to flee the chaotic scene. Grady said Kazmierczak hid the shotgun he used in the attack in a guitar case and three handguns under his coat and that, so far, 48 shell casings and six shotgun shells have been found on the scene. CNN reported that authorities in Polk County, Florida, had been asked by Illinois police to question the man's father, Robert Kazmierczak of Lakeland, Florida, in the wake of the shootings, but no information was available at press time about what may have come of that interview.

Less than a year after a mentally unstable gunman killed 32 students on the campus of Virginia Tech University, raising questions about how students are alerted to threats on campus, authorities were quick to praise NIU for its swift dissemination of information on Thursday's incident. NIU updated its security and student-alert system after the Virginia Tech shootings and, according to reports, a campus-wide alert went out by 3:20 p.m. confirming the presence of a shooter on campus, though without a mention of any deaths, and the campus went on lockdown soon after the first reports of shooting came in. By 4 p.m. an "all clear" message was distributed to all students and faculty.

Peters said discussions have already begun about how best to honor the memories of the students who were killed. A candlelight vigil will be held on the campus' Martin Luther King Jr. Commons Friday night, and Peters said he would announce plans for reopening the campus at a later date. The NIU campus was placed on a security alert in December after police found threats with racial slurs in them scrawled on a bathroom wall that made reference to the Virginia Tech shootings with a warning that "things will change most hastily" in the semester's final days. Peters said Thursday that he did not believe the shootings were related to those threats. As of Friday morning, a Facebook community page titled "Pray for Northern Illinois University Students and Families" had already registered nearly 55,000 members.

On Friday afternoon, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich visited the NIU campus and called Thursday's shooting "a terrible act of unthinkable horror." Blagojevich said he wanted to visit the school to personally express his condolences to the entire academic community. During a press conference, the governor said police are looking into what may have motivated the killer. He also vowed to ensure that all of the state's colleges and universities are kept in the know, and urged all schools to update their own safety plans.

The incident at NIU was the fifth U.S. school shooting in as many months, following incidents in Ohio in October, where 14-year-old Asa Coon injured two students and two teachers before killing himself; in Louisiana two weeks ago, where a nursing student killed two women and herself at Louisiana Technical College; in Tennessee on Monday, where a 17-year-old is accused of shooting and critically wounded a fellow student; and on Thursday, Ventura County prosecutors charged a 14-year-old with the shooting death of a classmate, labeling the killing of the Oxnard, California, teen a premeditated hate crime, according to the Los Angeles Times. Brandon McInerney was charged as an adult in the murder of Lawrence King, 15, who classmates said had recently come out as being gay and had gotten into a verbal confrontation with McInerney and several other students the day before his Tuesday murder. King was declared brain-dead and was expected to be taken off a ventilator late Thursday night.

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1581664/20080215/id_0.jhtml

Usher Chalks Up Song Leaks To 'Internal Conspiracy' -- Listen To His New 'Club' Banger Here!

Producer Polow Da Don takes credit for leaking 'Love in This Club': 'I'm the culprit,' he admits.

LOS ANGELES — Usher is confused. Every so often, he looks up, and material from his new album is getting out there before it's supposed to. In some cases, before it's even recorded.

A few weeks ago, a song called "Crazy" hit the Internet. On it, R. Kelly references vocals from what was purported to be a new Usher recording. The lyrics revolved around having second thoughts about getting married, among other things.

Next there was a track named "Moving Mountains" (with Timbaland) and another record called "Dat Gurl Right There" (featuring Ludacris) that surfaced without being mastered or properly mixed. More recently, "Love in This Club" (with Young Jeezy) came out earlier than it was supposed to without Usher's knowing.

"It's internal conspiracy," he said Sunday night at the Grammys. "I don't know what's going on with all these records that have been leaked. It ain't been me, dog."

Thursday night, the culprit (at least behind the leak of "Love in This Club") revealed himself to MTV News: It was the track's producer, Polow Da Don.

"I actually leaked it. I'm the culprit," he said nonchalantly. "It's no secret. I told him when I saw him that I had to put my relationship on the line. 'If it fails, I know you probably gonna be mad at me. I know you probably won't f--- with me anymore.' I just felt like it was so much back-and-forth [between Usher and his record label]. I know this record is it! I'm out there, I know what it is. It got 600 spins in two days. That's great for a record label. Imagine how good that is for one person who leaked it? Radio stations were getting it off the Internet and playing it. Before I left Atlanta, they were playing it 10 times in a row.

"When I spoke to Usher, he was like, 'Maaaan, why'd you do it?' " Polow added. "He knew I leaked the record, he didn't have to ask. I was like, 'What?' He said, 'You know you leaked the record.' But he was getting good calls on it too. He wasn't mad, but he was like, 'Why'd you do that?' Because everything has to be set up on their end. A video should be in place with an artist like that as soon as it drops. Those are the things you risk, but it's working out beautifully. Flex is playing it, DJ Clue, DJ Khaled, Greg Street. Girls love it."

"I will tell you there is an overall rollout plan," Usher clarified. " 'Love in This Club' is a record you've been hearing at radio. I'm really excited about it. We're getting ready to shoot a video for it very soon."

Polow said he put the song out there because he was tired of waiting on label politics. He basically followed Lil Jon's blueprint. Jon leaked "Yeah!" in late 2003 before Usher's Confessions was released in early 2004.

"Same thing," Polow said unapologetically. "Usher has people around him like, 'He's Usher. He can't do a song like that. Blah, blah, blah.' Ain't really no young people around him besides his assistant and the guys he runs with. But as far as the corporate people, they not out here in the street. They don't know. I felt like me being best of both worlds — half-corporate, half-producer, all real n---a — I'm in touch with what people want."

Polow said he was inspired to make the beat for the song after spending the weekend in Las Vegas for the VMAs.

"If you listen to the beat, the synths and everything has a Vegas feel to it," Polow said. "Making love in the club, people in Vegas are kinda wild. Vegas had that 'I don't care, I'm living life' attitude. When I came back [from the awards], I was like, 'Man, clubs gotta be like that.' I wanted to bring that environment to the 'hood. It's like a Euro, worldly type of sound, but it blends with the 'hood sound. I was like, 'This is perfect for Usher.' I played it for Usher, told him my experiences, how girls feel about him now that he's married. This song helps him do what a few greats have been able to do. Denzel Washington, Brad Pitt. When they get married, they make the girls still want them."

The producer said he wanted to give Ush a little bit more swag in the eyes of the fans by taking him out to touch the town.

"We started hanging out in [Atlanta] clubs, 'cause I go from Magic City to the Opera," Polow said, name-checking a few ATL clubs. "The Atlanta party scene is back. I'm not married, I'm living the life. I had to get Usher out the house a couple of times to show him what it is to be out and about. It was right around the time he was having his newborn. We made the record trying to grab the moment, grab the people and shock people. The song is not really all about having sex in the club, it's about having that urge. It's about meeting somebody for the first time, and you kinda wish nobody was there. You're like, 'You're the one.' Lust at first sight."

"I will tell you, look out for this album," Usher said. "It's an evolution. There's a lot of growth in it. It starts in one place, then matures in another direction. As you know, this has been a very tumultuous year for me," added the singer, who got married and welcomed a baby boy in 2007. "So I have a lot of great stories to tell. But more than that, as far as music and the contribution I wanna make, I wanna make sure it's very wide. You're gonna get a great variety on this album, and I promise to make the wait worthwhile. I been looking around like, 'Man, I better get back on my A game.' "

Usher said he definitely misses performing. As the Grammy Awards were progressing Sunday, it was all he could do to not get up out his seat, and start singing and dancing on the stage.

"When I saw Morris Day and the Time, I wanted to jump up there with them, I'm not going to lie," he smiled. "That was really one of the highlights for me. I feel like Kanye killed it. His movement was crazy, and I can't wait to see him on tour. When you see something like he did tonight, it only makes you excited to see what he's going to do onstage."

Usher laughed off the comparisons that are being made between Kanye West losing Album of the Year to Herbie Hancock and Usher falling short in the same category in 2005 against Ray Charles' posthumous release Genius Loves Company.

"I really felt Herbie Hancock is a great musician, and for him to be recognized by the Academy is great. There's no losers. For us to be recognized for what we do is always great. But I know what it feels like, Kanye. I really do. I know what you feel like. I was proud of my man, though, the way he handled [losing]."

Usher also praised his friend for his performances of "Stronger" and "Hey Mama." The latter was a touching tribute to Kanye's mother, Dr. Donda West, who passed away in November.

"Man, priceless," the singer marveled. "That was incredible, man. No one can truly understand the pain of what that is. I recently lost my father, so I could understand it from a different perspective. He had a really great relationship with his mother. I didn't have as much of a deep relationship with my father. But your mother is your mother, your father is your father. To lose a loved one is always very hard. For him to hold it together onstage and also be as vulnerable and allow people to see, that was great. It was greater than any dance movie or high-pitched note. To give people the truth is always great."

Usher's new album still doesn't have a release date or title, but we'll keep you posted.

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1581628/20080214/usher.jhtml

Heath Ledger's Final Film To Go Forward -- With Johnny Depp, Jude Law, Colin Farrell In His Role: Report

The three actors have signed on to complete film, according to Aintitcoolnews.com.

Heath Ledger died last month at the age of 28, but his final performance will live on — thanks to a little creativity and some famous friends.

Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell have all signed on to film scenes as Ledger's character in Terry Gilliam's "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus," a magical re-telling of the Faust story, according to Aintitcoolnews.com. The announcement serves as a tribute to the man many have called one of the best actors of his generation.

"Terry was a very good friend [of Heath's]," co-star Christopher Plummer told People last month. "He very much [wanted] to go on with the movie, and I can very much understand why — because he wants to dedicate it to Heath, of course."

The fate of "Parnassus" was the object of considerable speculation in the wake of Ledger's death.

The film, which only recently moved to Vancouver after exterior shoots in London, centers on the Faustian bargain between the aged Dr. Parnassus (Plummer), a 1,000-year-old performer, and the Devil (Tom Waits). The pair travel through worlds of fantasy locked in a battle over the rights to the life of Parnassus' daughter.

Ledger was to play a magical interloper on a parallel quest. In the film, his character reportedly enters several magical mirrors on his journey. Each time he does so now, he will exit a different actor.

"Fortunately, because the film deals with magic, there is a way of turning Heath into other people," Plummer told People.

Depp previously worked with Gilliam on both "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" and the ill-fated "The Man Who Killed Don Quixote." For Law and Farrell, it will be the first time working with the famously mercurial and imaginative director.

R. Kelly's Former Associate Claims Singer Had Secret Fling With His Daughter

'I confronted him, and he denied it, lied to me to my face,' ex-publicist's husband says during radio interview.

When R. Kelly's longtime publicist Regina Daniels announced her resignation last November, she didn't give a reason why, other than to say that the singer had "crossed a line." People wondered what that line was, prompting months of speculation and rumors, which centered on Kelly's alleged relationship with Daniels' daughter.

Now, the publicist's husband, music retailer George Daniels, who had also worked with Kelly, is talking — and confirming that Kelly's relationship with the couple's college-age daughter caused them to disassociate from the embattled R&B singer, currently awaiting trial on child-pornography charges.

In an interview with Los Angeles urban radio station KJLH, George Daniels expressed outrage that R. Kelly, who he said was "like a son" to him and his wife, would have gotten into a secret relationship with his 21-year-old daughter, Maxine, who has known Kelly since she was 7 and "in essence ... would be his sister." Daniels called it a "betrayal." Maxine, her father said, was lured away from her studies by Kelly's expensive gifts, which included a car. "When a child is sidetracked, when a child is persuaded to lie, to go against [her parents' wishes]," George told KJLH, "when you have the toys and the gifts and the shopping sprees ... that'll turn anybody."

Daniels said he had no "sense of [Kelly's] intentions" toward Maxine — until she disclosed the relationship to him and his wife at a party. "It didn't get to that extreme of [the alleged sex tape]," Daniels said, "but he crossed the line." While acknowledging that Maxine is an adult, Daniels said that she was still "vulnerable," pointing out that people in her age range can still be "15 or 16 mentally." "People in power, especially entertainers, take advantage," Daniels said. "I confronted him, and he denied it, lied to me to my face.

"Where's the integrity in a man's life when he can turn against someone who loved him like I did?" Daniels asked. "It's a painful thing. It tears at your heart."

For his part, Kelly, who has been separated from his wife since 2005, said via a spokesman that George and Regina Daniels not only knew about the relationship, but they also encouraged it while Regina was still on Kelly's payroll. "It was Regina Daniels ... who persuaded [Kelly] to attend her stepdaughter's 21st birthday party," the spokesman said. "And it was Regina Daniels who shortly thereafter gave her stepdaughter Mr. Kelly's private phone number, with the admonition: 'Don't tell your father.' "

Kelly's spokesman claimed Daniels resigned to avoid being fired "for incompetence," and it was only afterward that the relationship became an issue for her and her husband. As for their outrage, "It's hard to take seriously," the spokesman said.

George Daniels said Maxine's grades at Northern Illinois University slipped during the relationship, but she's "fine" now. "Her grades are back up," he said. Daniels said his motivation in going public was to encourage other parents "to pay attention" so they can avoid a similar situation. "It doesn't have to be a superstar," he said.

Kanye West's Glow In The Dark Tour Dates Announced

Two-month jaunt, featuring Rihanna, Lupe Fiasco and N.E.R.D., launches April 16.

Two weeks after Kanye West put a concert poster on his blog for the upcoming Glow in the Dark Tour, featuring Rihanna, Lupe Fiasco and N.E.R.D., his label, Def Jam, announced the dates Thursday (February 14).

The two-month trek kicks off April 16 in Seattle and swings through California, making stops in Sacramento, San Jose and San Diego before landing in Los Angeles on April 21. In May, the tour is scheduled to make stops in Texas and then make a run through the South, playing in Atlanta and Charlotte, North Carolina.

West and company are slated to headline Madison Square Garden in New York on May 13. The Chicago rapper will then appear in his hometown on May 23 at the United Center.

Labelmate Rihanna is scheduled to miss three dates of the tour, from April 24-26, according to a statement sent out by Def Jam. No information was given regarding the singer's absence during those dates.

West, Rihanna and Fiasco are fresh off Grammy wins this past weekend. West took home multiple awards, including Best Rap Album for his Graduation.

During the telecast, West performed "Stronger" followed by "Hey Mama," billed as a tribute to his mother, Donda West, who died late last year.

The performance also served as a preview of his Glow in the Dark Tour, which had a successful run overseas. West was decked out in a flashing LED jacket and light-up shades, as neon lights flashed all over the stage.

After the show, West premiered his latest video, for "Flashing Lights," co-directed by Spike Jonze, at an Entertainment Weekly party. The almost three-minute clip features a West bound-and-gagged in the trunk of a car as a female temptress presumably has her way with him in a violent manner.

Glow in the Dark Tour dates, according to West's label:

· 4/16 - Seattle, WA @ Key Arena
· 4/18 - Sacramento, CA @ ARCO Arena
· 4/19 - San Jose, CA @ HP Pavilion
· 4/20 - San Diego, CA @ Sports Arena
· 4/21 - Los Angeles, CA @ Nokia Theatre
· 4/25 - * Las Vegas, NV @ Red Rock Casino Resort Spa
· 4/26 - * Albuquerque, NM @ Journal Pavilion
· 4/27 - Denver, CO @ Pepsi Center
· 4/29 - Oklahoma City, OK @ Ford Center
· 4/30 - Austin, TX @ Frank Irwin Center
· 5/1 - Dallas, TX @ SuperPages.com Center
· 5/2 - Houston, TX @ Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
· 5/4 - Atlanta, GA @ Gwinette Arena
· 5/5 - Tampa, FL @ Ford Amphitheatre
· 5/6 - Miami, FL @ American Airlines Arena
· 5/8 - Charlotte, NC @ Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
· 5/9 - Raleigh, NC @ Walnut Creek Amphitheatre
· 5/10 - Washington, DC @ Nissan Pavilion
· 5/11 - Virginia Beach, VA @ Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
· 5/13 - New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden
· 5/15 - Boston, MA @ Tweeter Center
· 5/16 - Hartford, CT @ North East Dodge Music Center
· 5/17 - Philadelphia, PA @ Susquehana Bank Center
· 5/18 - Scranton, PA @ Toyota Pavilion
· 5/20 - Montreal, QC @ Bell Centre
· 5/21 - Toronto, ON @ Molson Centre
· 5/22 - Auburn Hills, MI @ The Palace of Auburn Hills
· 5/23 - Chicago, IL @ United Center
· 5/24 - Minneapolis, MN @ Target Center
· 5/27 - Saskatoon, SK @ Credit Union Centre
· 5/29 - Edmonton, AB @ Rexall Palace
· 5/30 - Calgary, AB @ Saddledome

* indicates dates that do not include Rihanna.

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1581586/20080214/west_kanye.jhtml

Kanye West To Perform At Grammys; May Honor His Late Mother, Donda

Rapper reportedly rehearsing 'Stronger' and 'Hey Mama,' songs he dedicated to her on European tour.

Kanye West has been tapped to perform at the Grammy Awards on Sunday, the Recording Academy announced Friday (February 8).

According to reports, the Chicago rapper, who leads this year's pack with eight nominations, has been in rehearsals performing his hit "Stronger" from his recent album, Graduation, along with "Hey Mama" from his sophomore effort, Late Registration.

It's widely believed that West will honor his mother, the late Donda West, with his Grammy performance. On November 10, Donda died of a heart attack related to pre-existing health conditions and complications from plastic surgery.

Kanye performed the same two songs overseas during his Glow in the Dark Tour as a tribute to his mother. During a stop in Paris a week after his mother's death, however, West was visibly shaken and couldn't finish "Hey Mama." He cut the song short after being unable to continue and ended the show with "Stronger."

The very next tour date, however, in Belgium, West was able to pull himself together and gave a stirring speech dedicated to his mother. In online videos of the performance, West proudly proclaimed, "[These songs are for] problems that we're going through ... hard times. Who would ever have thought that these same songs would have to help me?"

West also included a cover of Journey's "Don't Stop Believin' " as a part of the tribute.

Inquiries made by MTV News to representatives for the Grammy Awards and Def Jam were not returned as of press time.

West's performance, along with a strong critical buzz for Graduation are leading many to predict that this is the year the beleaguered rap star will finally win the coveted Album of the Year award. He's hardly bitten his tongue in the past regarding his desire — and right — to win.

"I really believe I can take home that Album of the Year award at the Grammys," West told MTV News in July. "I've won my awards, but they've always been a category: 'hip-hop,' 'rap.' I wanna win Song of the Year, Album of the Year. I wanna deliver this album."

Amy Winehouse Will Perform At Grammys Via Satellite

Singer's performance will be beamed in from a London studio; her visa was rejected Thursday.

After months of speculation and suspense over whether Amy Winehouse would perform at Sunday's Grammy Awards — where she is nominated for six awards — the Recording Academy issued a statement on Friday (February 8) confirming that the singer will perform at the event via satellite from a London studio.

"I'm raring to go and really excited to be performing at my first Grammy Awards," Winehouse said in a statement issued Friday. "I'd like to thank everyone for their support over the last couple of weeks. I'm really sorry I can't be there but I appreciate that I'm being given a second chance via satellite."

To prepare for the performance, the singer will be leaving the rehabilitation clinic where she has been a resident for two weeks. "She is feeling great, looking healthy and looking forward to doing what she does best," the statement said, adding that she will remain under full medical supervision and her treatment will continue as normal.

Winehouse is up for six Grammys: Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for "Rehab," Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album for Back to Black, as well as Best New Artist.

A statement released Thursday by Winehouse's U.K. publicity firm, the Outside Organisation, explained the circumstances of her inability to travel to the U.S. at this time. "The singer has been invited to appear at the event on Sunday after receiving an amazing six nominations for the prestigious awards. Unfortunately, her application for a visa to enter the United States of America has been rejected at this time by the American Embassy in London."

Winehouse, who has been in a rehab facility since January, was questioned by British police on Wednesday about a video that surfaced online two weeks ago that purportedly shows the singer smoking crack cocaine. No charges have been filed against the singer, but an investigation into the video is said to be ongoing. According to the statement, "Amy has been progressing well since entering a rehabilitation clinic two weeks ago and although disappointed with the decision has accepted the ruling and will be concentrating on her recovery."

Winehouse will be one of only a handful of new breakout talents from 2007 on a Grammys performance roster heavy with established stars such as Beyoncé, the Foo Fighters, Aretha Franklin, Tina Turner and a tribute to the Beatles.

Though fans have come to know her signature look — which includes dirty, tattered ballet slippers, a towering, often disheveled beehive hairdo and ratty, low-cut jeans — Winehouse has been photographed lately looking healthier and less gaunt than she did prior to checking into the facility, when her drawn, hollow-eyed appearance raised renewed questions about her health.

Winehouse canceled a planned U.S. tour last year after a hospitalization that was reportedly drug-related, and the Grammy performance would have been her first U.S. show in almost nine months.

"There will of course be other opportunities and she very much looks forward to visiting America in the near future," the press release promised.

Justin Timberlake's Fooling 'Around' Resulted In Award-Nominated Song: Behind The Grammys

'We had no direction at all,' Danjahandz tells MTV News of the song, adding that Timbaland supplied JT with Prince tunes and lasagna.

When Justin Timberlake set out to craft "What Goes Around ... Comes Around" — which is up for this year's Record of the Year Grammy — he didn't say he wanted a karmic tale of romance and revenge. He didn't say he wanted to make a statement about a particular woman wronging a particular guy (despite rumors about everyone from Britney Spears to Elisha Cuthbert). He didn't say he wanted Middle Eastern instruments and swirling loops that emphasized the song's title. All Justin had to tell his producers Timbaland and Nate "Danjahandz" Hills was, "Let's do another 'Cry Me a River,' " and "What Goes Around" was born.

"We had no direction at all," Danjahandz recently told MTV News, "other than 'Cry Me a River,' and not in the sense of mimicking the track, but in how big the song was. There was no direction for how he wanted the song to sound, because there was no direction for how he wanted [his album FutureSex/LoveSounds] to sound. This was the first one."

Timberlake had gone to Timbaland's studio in Virginia to begin sessions for the LP — but there was no game plan for the album, not even a title. "I think that was the beauty of the whole project," Danjahandz said. "Nobody had a thought about anything. None of us was aiming for anything." So while Timbaland kept them well supplied with "real good lasagnas and pastas" to eat and plenty of Prince music to listen to on the stereo, they were just "fooling around" and "freestyling" at first. Then Danja started playing a guitar riff that caught Justin's attention.

"He started singing, 'What goes around comes around' — like, the melody first, no words, and then the words came," Danjahandz recalled. "Tim was at his keyboard, we were side by side, and he started coming with the drums to the melody. Everything was coming together at the same time."

As Timberlake listened to the music, he started pacing the room, humming. He never wrote anything down — "You will not see any paper trail from Justin," Danjahandz said — but after an hour, he was ready to go into the vocal booth and record lyrics.

"He was writing in his head," Danjahandz said. "I do that too, when it comes to melody and beats. I start it in my head, and I'll have an idea of what will fit, and I'll play with it until something sticks. I can hear every instrument before I put it down." Same with Timbaland, who almost immediately knew he wanted to use the oud, a Middle Eastern instrument, to mellow out the guitar riff.

"He has so many sounds on his keyboard," Danjahandz said, "and somehow he just knows. He can match it in the key as if it were meant to be there, and not just thrown in."

So by the time Timberlake was in the booth, the basic track — with the melodic loop — was done. Actually, it was more than done, since Timbaland and Danja had a version with a bridge that never made the final cut once they heard Timberlake's vocals. That version included the pre-verses, the verses and the choruses.

"There's three choruses in that record, that's just the way Justin writes," Danjahandz said. "It escalated into something really big and came up to the point where it was overkill. So we decided to go with the simpler version without a bridge, because it just would have been too much to have the bridge and the break at the end of the song. Maybe one day we'll re-release the bridge version, because it's slightly different in the melody."

Timberlake sang the song in a couple of takes and then went back to perfect each line piece by piece and fill in the gaps — the "little hooky things that make you remember the song," Danjahandz said. "Everyone can sing something in the song, like, 'I don't want to talk about it,' or you can sing the 'No.' Me, I sing the whole thing."

At that point in the recording session, Timbaland and Danja added everything else, like the basses and strings. "Justin's telling a story, and where the story gets interesting, that's where the music has to change and take you to the next scene," Danjahandz said. "It just takes you to the end, dies out, breaks down, and then it gets even more dramatic with the interlude. The song is like you're crying, and you're feeling all the heartbreak. But the interlude, that's anger, and it's vengeful."

Danja compared the process to scoring a movie, and in his mind, "What Goes Around ... Comes Around" was a horror flick.

"There's the footsteps down the hall, then the heartbeat — more strings come in," Danjahandz explained. "You start walking down the hallway and peek your head around the corner — it gets more dramatic. And then everything's blaring at you, but you might not see anything, and you think you're OK. That's how this record is happening. You don't see, and so it dies out, and you turn around, and whatever you thought you heard is now right behind you. The interlude is what you missed and totally didn't see."

The interlude was "masterminded" by Timbaland after the basic track was done, and once that was added, they knew "What Goes Around ... Comes Around" would be a hit. "We knew what we had," Danjahandz said. "Justin's words were, 'This is a great start. We're starting off pretty big.' And we said, 'We got to top this.' "

Still, Danjahandz — a self-proclaimed perfectionist — doesn't know what could top it. "That's about as close to perfect as I've gotten," he said. "I always feel like I can do something better. But I didn't know what to change on this song. I mean, I could have gotten more technical with the actual melody, real minor things that no one would ever see or know, but that could have made a world of difference. Or it could have made it go south. Who knows?"

And if it wins a Grammy for Record of the Year? "If I win, I want to buy a Ferrari and paint it the same color as a Grammy," Danja laughed. "Nah."

Britney Spears' Friend Denies Requesting Money For Rolling Stone Interview

'They contacted me with the offer,' Danish businessman Claus Hjelmbak insists; magazine stands by its story.

Unless you're a paparazzo, it's next-to-impossible to get an audience with Britney Spears — she bails on her court hearings, backs out of booked cover stories with magazines, and hasn't had a publicist in ages. So what do you do if you're trying to get an interview with her?

Rolling Stone came up with an idea, detailed in the magazine's new issue — why not pretend to be willing to pay upward of $2 million for a sit-down and see if anyone bites? Now, one of the men associated with the deal, Danish businessman Claus Hjelmbak, says the magazine did more than just misrepresent itself, accusing the magazine of fraud, defamation and slander.

"I just want to get the truth out," Hjelmbak added. "The way she wrote the whole article, it makes me look shady. I'm consulting my lawyers to take legal action about this. It's slander, defamation and fraud. They're selling a lot of issues with a lot of lies."

Let's back up a bit.

"Trying to get an interview with Britney is a whole other level of craziness," Vanessa Grigoriadis wrote in the RS story. "A friend of a friend sets me up with a guy she says will introduce me to Britney, but it has to happen right away. The man insists that I have a signed contract for Rolling Stone, and he's going to want money. I tell her to make the meeting."

During her first meeting, Grigoriadis claimed that Hjelmbak asked for $1 million to $2 million in order to connect her with the pop star, who is a friend of his. She wrote that when she first met Hjelmbak in person, he wanted to see the contract from Rolling Stone and asked her, "For the interview, are you offering $2 million?" (Hjelmbak disputed this, telling MTV News that Grigoriadis was the one to bring up money. "It would have been very different had I said, 'Give me $2 million,' " he said. "But she offered the money.")

Grigoriadis then wrote, "Of course, I have zero dollars to offer him, but I decide to play along." Playing along extended to having a series of meetings with Hjelmbak and his business associates, where they discussed different rates and logistics as far as stylists, makeup artists and photographers are concerned (she said she was asked to provide five of each).

At first, Grigoriadis wrote, it's suggested that the money be held in escrow, with the singer not to receive any until she completes the interview and photo shoot (to provide insurance against her bailing as she has in the past for cover stories with OK! magazine and Allure). Hjelmbak and his associates would get a "10 percent finder's fee, payable whether or not she shows up," Grigoriadis wrote. Then, she wrote, "Claus ... has a new plan: He will tell Britney that he's going to give her $1 million. I'll give him the $1 million, and then he'll give it to her. 'This way, no one will ever know that Rolling Stone bent over to pay Queen Britney.' "

Hjelmbak told MTV News, however, that Rolling Stone was actually "paranoid" that people would think they had paid for the interview, which is technically legal but considered something only less-legitimate publications do. So Grigoriadis asked for confidentiality, Hjelmbak said, and they drafted a nondisclosure agreement. "[Grigoriadis] was nervous," Hjelmbak said. "She was shaking. She said they were paranoid that it would get out, that they would be exposed. They were going to use advertising money [to make it seem like the funds weren't from editorial]. She was begging me to get her to [Spears' manager/friend] Sam [Lutfi], [cousin] Alli [Sims] and Britney. She couldn't get in touch with anyone, and Rolling Stone was desperate to get an exclusive. They wanted to do a big Britney story, and her whole ambition was to get an interview."

The subject of money, however, was instigated by Rolling Stone, Hjelmbak insisted. "They contacted me with the offer," he said. "She came to me. She offered to purchase [the interview]." Hjelmbak said the reason Grigoriadis wrote her article "like she was undercover" and "turned this into a spy story" is that she's "trying to cover her ass" since the deal went south when it was discovered she was misrepresenting herself. Grigoriadis wrote in her story: "After explaining to Claus that there is no money, I write to Lutfi many times, explaining that we are still very interested in interviewing Britney and telling her side of the story. No response."

Hjelmbak said that he had the meetings with Grigoriadis "to make sure she was for real" and to be able to pass along the information to Spears, who has a right to choose "who to tell her story to," Hjelmbak said. "I didn't want to represent Britney," he said. "I'm not authorized to speak on her behalf. But Britney is certainly welcome to tell her story, if she wants."

Which is why, he said, he was willing to play middleman and pass along the offer if he thought it was valid, acting as the singer's agent (hence the 10 percent fee). There are other little details in the Rolling Stone story, he said, that are erroneous as well. He corrects an instance where Grigoriadis claims he left to go to a birthday party for someone else — it was his birthday party, he said, adding that she "wasted" his birthday with her false offer. And he disputed a quote about wanting to be reimbursed for buying Britney a birthday cake. "Do you really think I need the $50?" he asked in indignation. "One thing I am not is cheap."

Rolling Stone, in the meantime, backs up Grigoriadis, who was unavailable for comment because she was on deadline. The magazine's rep, Beth Jacobson, told MTV News, "We stand by our reporting."