Star musicians will launch a legal bid to discover whether their music was played to detainees at Guantanamo Bay.
The music of Britney Spears, the Bee Gees, Rage Against The Machine and the television show, Sesame Street, was played in the camp, according to government records and the accounts of former detainees.
REM, Pearl Jam and British singer Billy Bragg and others through the National Security Archive will seek to have secret documents about the US Navy base in Cuba made public. The CIA, FBI and Defence Department have been asked to release the information.
Archive director Thomas Blanton believes the government “turned a jukebox into an instrument of torture” at the detention centre. A spokesman for Rage Against The Machine said the band was “sickened” that its music could have been used in “crimes against humanity”.
He added: “Guantanamo is known around the world as one of the places where human beings have been tortured – from waterboarding to stripping, hooding and forcing detainees into humiliating sexual acts – playing music for 72 hours in a row at volumes just below that to shatter the eardrums.”
CIA spokesman George Little said earlier that music is played at Guantanamo but not for “punitive purposes” and at levels “far below a live band”.
The soundtrack for The Twilight Saga: New Moon has shot to the top of the US album charts in further testiment to Twilight fever.
The Twilight soundtrack, which is indie-rock in flavour, is expected to keep selling robustly as Michael Jackson’s This Is It soundtrack eventually gains force.
After debuting on the charts at number two last week, the soundtrack sold more than 155,000 copies in three days.
The bands Death Cab For Cutie, The Killers, Grizzly Bear are featured on the album, which does not include anything by series heart-throb Robert Pattinson.
Taylor Swift has deftly side-stepped the question on everyone’s lips, leaving Ellen Degeneres grasping at air.
The talk show host steered Swift to her relationship with Taylor Lautner but the savvy country singer dodged the bait. She did reveal, however, that there was a problem in her and Lautner making the movie Valentine’s Day.
Cast and crew were falling over themselves to give directions to “Taylor”, getting the rumoured lovebirds hopelessly mixed up.
“Everybody was confused, so halfway through the day [I said], ‘You call him Taylor, and you call me Swifty.’ Problem solved.”
The poised Swift spoke eloquently about her commitment to making the US a better place.
She also laughed off jokes about how much money she has made since her album, Fearless, sold more than four million copies. She said simply: “I actually just wrapped up the first leg of my first headlining tour, which I am so excited [about].”
The singer who is apparently famous in the children’s circles as well seems to have gone a bit too far with her performance last recently. When performing for a bunch of children of five and above, Miley Cyrus took the liberty of having a strip-pole and also trying out some feisty new dance moves. She’d better watch it… they could cancel her shows for something like that! This is not kindergarten anymore… when performing for children, Miley Cyrus should know that there are rules to be enforced. See what happens when you don’t read twitter anymore? You get into all kinds of pickles.
There’s some trouble brewing on the set of The Brian McKnight Show. Quite honestly, I didn’t even know that the singer had a talk show. According to the California Labor Board, over 20 employees have filed non-payment complaints against his show, totalling $86,300. Brian’s people are saying that they do have intentions to pay and that there “was mismanagement in the beginning and since then we have gotten new investors and the show is continuing.” So don’t touch that dial folks, because there’s more from to come from a show that I just found out about. Let’s talk about obscurity, shall we?
Madonna has written an open letter and recorded a video asking for your donations to the Raising Malawi organization, all of which the singer will match dollar for dollar, to help in building the Raising Malawi Academy for Girls. The Queen of Pop said “I’m writing to urge you to join me in saving the lives of some of the world’s most vulnerable children. And I’m asking you to do it right away… By donating to Raising Malawi, you can literally transform the future for an entire generation. To encourage your involvement, I’ve pledged $100,000 to match your contributions dollar-for-dollar… This is my call to you: Give an opportunity to a child who would otherwise have none. Support the work of Raising Malawi.”
Kristin Chenoweth is set to reprise her role as McKinley High Glee Club alum April Rhodes on an upcoming episode of ‘Glee’ next year. Yes! I absolutely loved her on the musical TV show. I can’t wait for that episode to air. I wonder what sort of story she’s going to have for her return. A more sober and successful April perhaps? In other news, the show’s creator Ryan Murphy also said that he’s going to use the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade snub in an episode of the show, writing Jane Lynch’s character Sue Sylvester as the villain denying the Glee club from having a float in the spring festival parade.
Jennifer Lopez’s legal team has sent a cease and desist letter to halt production of ‘How I Married Jennifer Lopez: The JLo and Ojani Noa Story’, a mockumentary about life with the pop star. The film, which is currently casting and scheduled to shoot in February, chronicles the life of Ojani and his pursuit of JLo. This isn’t the first time that the douche tried to capitalize on the fame of his singer/actress ex-wife. Ojani received an injunction in 2007 to prohibit him from “licensing, disseminating, distribution… any book manuscript or other written materials which contain private or intimate details about Lopez or Noa’s relationship with Lopez.” And although he claims that the movie is a parody, there’s no doubt that he has it out for her.
Verizon People’s Champ Award – Fabulous Ft. The Dream – Throw it in the Bag
Best Hip Hop Collabo – T.I. FT Rihanna – Live Your Life
Lyricist of the Year – Jay-Z
Producer of the Year – Kanye West
CD of the Year – T.I. – Paper Trail
Best Hip Hop Video – T.I. FT Rihanna – Live Your Life
DJ of the Year – DJ AM
Made-You-Look Award – Kanye West
Best Live Performer – Jay-Z
Video Director – Hype Williams
Track of the Year – Young Money – Every Girl
Rookie of the Year – Drake
MVP of the Year – Jay-Z
Hustler of the Year – Jay-Z
Best Hip Hop Blog Site – All Hip Hop.com
Kanye West has been completely cleared of the charges brought against him and his manager Don Crawley stemming from a September 2008 incident when the rapper and Don broke a paparazzi camera outside of LAX. Kanye didn’t feel the need to show up to his court date where he had been sentenced to a measly 50 hours of community service. His lawyer told reporters that he believes that his client was “wildly overcharged” and thinks that the case should have been dismissed due to “justice, fairness and common sense.” Oh please. Everyone saw that video of him attacking the photographer and the camera. I don’t think he was overcharged at all.
Leona Lewis defended her relationship with an electrician, Lou Al-Chamaa, that began before she found fame.
Lewis, who bounced back after a shock attack from a fan, commented on what was labelled “snide bewilderment” toward the relationship. “It does make me angry, because he’s a great person. And it doesn’t matter what you do in life, what your job is, where you come from,” she said.
“This is real life, it isn’t make believe. For people to think that you should leave someone because, all of a sudden, you’re a singer and you have opportunities, I feel very sorry for them,” she told The Observer newspaper.
Lewis became instantly famous after she took part in the X-Factor. But she has not abandoned her old life and still lives in a gritty part of Hackney in East London. She said, “All my friends I’ve known since I was really little. It’s not that I don’t let new people in – but I do feel safe with people that really know me, who know who I am.”
Nick Cannon has revealed that he wants to dress up as Ike Turner for Halloween.
The singer said he thought it would be a great idea.
But he said that Mariah Carey is less than impressed with the idea of dressing up as music legend Tina Turner – as she fears the plan could offend Turner.
He said: “I want to be Ike and Tina, but she [Carey] doesn’t want to offend Tina Turner.”
Cannon, 29, added: “I think it’s an honour.”
Blues singer Ike – who reportedly died of a cocaine overdose in 2007 – became known more for his stormy relationship with former wife Tina Turner than his music.
In his 2001 autobiography, he admitted: “Sure, I’ve slapped Tina… There have been times when I punched her to the ground without thinking. But I have never beat her.”
Reports are suggesting that Google is set to make a huge announcement on Wednesday concerning a new division of their search engine – music. It will work somewhat like Google Images, in that the musically inclined search engine will generate official streams and downloads of your favorite musicians. You can type in your artist search and the results would include websites where you can either listen or buy that artist’s music. The new venture is rumored to be called One Box and will be utilizing websites such as Lala and iLike to stream songs. It sounds useful enough. What do you think?
Amy Winehouse is one year clean everybody! At least, she’s clean from the drugs. The singer’s father, Mitch Winehouse, says that his daughter has been free of the bad stuff for a year now after going through multiple stints in rehab. He said “We were very fortunate. We were able to afford the best doctors, clinical psychologists, rehabilitation and hospitals.” I think now it’s time for them to get her on the journey to get clean from the alcohol. Wino is still living up to her rep as a hard partying mess. But kudos to her for staying away from the worse stuff.
Though it hasn’t been officially confirmed from Rihanna’s camp, sources are saying that a deal has been made to have the Barbadian beauty of a singer perform at this year’s American Music Awards. The ceremony takes place the day before her confirmed appearance on Good Morning America. I wonder if Chris Brown will also be attending the show. I’m sure Rihanna will be selective when talking to the press if she goes and he happens to be there too. I personally wouldn’t be comfortable if he would be there just 50 feet away. I think he should just stay at home.
Katherine Jackson has fired the attorneys representing her in the probate case over her son’s multi-million dollar estate. She dismissed Burt Levitch from her legal team.
Jackson has been unable to reach consensus with the two executors of Jackson’s estate, John Branca and John McCain. But a judge has upheld their roles for the time being.
Michael Jackson’s will left his mother 40 per cent of the net value of the Thriller superstar’s assets. But she is said to be seeking input into all decisions arising from the estate.
Katherine has permanent guardianship of Jackson’s three children, Paris, Prince Michael I and Blanket.
In addition to dropping Levitch, Katherine side-lined Jackson family lawyer, Londell McMillan. McMillan told TMZ.com: “I am not completely out.”
Tameka Foster says her divorce with singer Usher is yet to be finalised.
Usher filed for divorce from Foster in June and demanded joint custody of their sons, Usher Raymond V, 22 months, and Naviyd, 10 months.
The star declared he was single after signing divorce papers in August and media reports suggested the divorce had been finalised after court files were marked as “disposed”.
However, close reading of reports about Usher seemed to avoid declaring his divorce was final. The release of a new song titled Papers and some buzz that the title was about the couple’s divorce only stoked the story. Papers has since been clarified by its composer as a song about the breakdown of Usher’s relationship with his mother.
Foster’s representatives, meanwhile, blasted reports the divorce was final and said the news was a publicity stunt to promote Usher’s new album.
“The divorce is definitely not finalised yet; this is just another publicity stunt to promote his new album. We have seen it all before,” said Foster’s spokeswoman on her website.
Jennifer Hudson is a busy girl with her music and film careers, not to mention that she’s a new mom! That’s not stopping the American Idol alum and Academy Award-winning actress from taking on other projects though. Jennifer is in talks to portray the lead role in a biopic about South African leader Winnie Mandela. Derek Luke or Idris Elba are rumored to be tapped to play husband Nelson Mandela but nothing can be confirmed yet. Winnie is a controversial political figure who has long since been divorced from Nelson and eventually found her way into some legal troubles and on the receiving end of criticism from her native country. That sounds intense!
Shakira is not doing so well for herself. It’s being said that the UK isn’t feeling any love for the Latina singer as her first single off of her new album ‘She Wolf’ completely tanked on the charts with the album only debuting at the measly number 4 spot. The album came in behind Madonna’s ‘Celebration’ CD which has already been on the market for three weeks. That is not good news for the Shakira. While most people would be content with a number 4 debut, you have to remember that she’s one of the biggest pop stars of the decade.
