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America’s country music scene isn’t exactly known for its gay artists, but a colorful pack of wanna-be stars pulled out their best rustic twangs and wailing guitars on Thursday to try to change all that. Scores of country music hopefuls auditioned in New York for what is being billed as a television show to pick an openly gay country music star from about 50 contestants. The musicians – most of whom wore jeans and spit-polished boots – wailed through Willie Nelson songs, crooned like Lyle Lovett and belted out ballads like Garth Brooks. Livening up the day was The Dixie… Read more »

Kelly Osbourne stoked hostilities between the Osbourne family and former Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan at the New York City area radio show, Claus Fest, in Uniondale, New York on Thursday night (December 12). Corgan and Sharon Osbourne had a tiff several years ago, after she quit as the Pumpkins manager. The feud came alive again at the Almost Acoustic Christmas in Los Angeles on December 7. At that show, Kelly’s boyfriend, Bert McCracken of the Used, allegedly tried to trip Corgan, who performed with his new band Zwan. Corgan allegedly struck back by kicking McCracken in the stomach, according… Read more »

R&B singer Usher included a tribute to deceased celebrities during his headlining set Saturday (May 18) at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre in Irvine, California, which also included performances from Nas and Faith Evans. Before closing his show, Usher said he wanted to sing a song for all of the people who have “come and gone and paved the way.” He sang Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On” as a big screen monitor scrolled the names of Kurt Cobain, Eazy-E, Tupac Shakur, the Notorious B.I.G., George Harrison, Aaliyah, and Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes. The 90-minute set included theatrical, well-choreographed, and sometimes risque… Read more »

“Let me take you to a place nice and quiet,” Usher sang on “Nice and Slow” halfway through an hour-and-a-half headlining set at Key Arena Wednesday night. “Nice” was all taken care of – and “nasty” got equal time, with Usher playing the roles of both sweet lover and triple-X seducer – but the Key was the furthest thing from quiet. The screams of thousands of lust-crazed female fans surged at every hip thrust and low croon, shaking the arena’s foundations in a way even last year’s 6.8 magnitude quake couldn’t touch. Boasting more outfit changes than Cher, the R&B… Read more »

Even where she doesn’t speak the native tongue, Mary J. Blige still gets her point across. The queen of hip-hop soul didn’t cut back on her usual motivational speeches and minister-esque lectures during her concert Friday night at Columbiahalle, a converted gym in Berlin’s Tempelhof district. The crowd ate up every word, despite the likelihood that Blige’s rapid-fire chatter and sassy-sista slang baffled even the most advanced English students in the house. But M.J.B. communicates with everything she’s got. At the end of “Children of the Ghetto,” the singer – clad in a black D&G tank top, skintight pants and… Read more »

It is Friday night in the San Fernando Valley and the regulars at Paladino’s, a tiny biker bar, are out in full force. Hell’s Angels gun their engines in the parking lot while lines of leather-clad rock fossils straighten their acid-washed jeans, run combs through their mullets and get ready to rock. Most of the crowd has come to catch the Atomic Punks, a blue-ribbon Van Halen tribute band. But there’s another contingent on-hand. Rage Against the Machine drummer Brad Wilk, actor/singer Jack Black, and porn queen Jenna Jameson are in the house, and it’s unlikely they made the trek… Read more »

It’s the kind of small moment on which rock ‘n’ roll history turns. It was Fall, 1978. The Ramones had just completed their fourth album, “Road to Ruin,” and the band felt certain it had recorded a hit single: the impossibly catchy “I Wanna Be Sedated.” But the band was overruled; label executives opted for another track, “Don’t Come Close.” That single quickly disappeared, along with the Ramones’ hit-making aspirations. “We really wanted ‘I Wanna Be Sedated,”‘ recalls guitarist Johnny Ramone. “But the record company picked the singles.” So the No. 1 hit in November 1978 instead was the fluffy… Read more »

Joey Ramone, lead singer of legendary punk band the Ramones, passed away at 2:40 p.m. Sunday at the age of 49. The towering front man, born Jeffrey Hyman, did not respond to treatment for lymphatic cancer, a disease that attacks the body’s ability to fight infection. Along with his cohorts Johnny, Tommy and Dee Dee – all of whom adopted Ramone as a surname – Joey was credited with helping found the modern punk movement. In mixing the griminess of the New York streets with a love of bubblegum pop, ’60s girl groups and the Stooges, the Ramones inspired everyone… Read more »