Search Results for: Dance Dance

On seasons four and five of “American Idol,” when the semifinals featured 24 singers, one-third of them were teenagers – eight each season. When this season’s semifinalists were named on Wednesday, only three of the 24 were in their teens: 17-year-old Sanjaya Malakar, 17-year-old Jordin Sparks and 19-year-old Stephanie Edwards. The numbers prompt the question: Is “Idol” growing up? Since raising the age limit to 28 for season four, singers approaching 30 have dominated the show, from Taylor Hicks, Chris Daughtry and Elliott Yamin to Bo Bice, Constantine Maroulis and Nadia Turner. And in season six, eight of the remaining… Read more »

Late in the afternoon of Jan. 16, a SWAT team from the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office, backed up by officers from the Clayton County Sheriff’s Office and the local police department, along with a few drug-sniffing dogs, burst into a unmarked recording studio on a short, quiet street in an industrial neighborhood near the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. The officers entered with their guns drawn; the local police chief said later that they were “prepared for the worst.” They had come to serve a warrant for the arrest of the studio’s owners on the grounds that they had violated the… Read more »

LOS ANGELES – In the weeks leading up to the 49th Grammy Awards, many miles of verbiage were unspooled by slick-suited TV pundits and somewhat bitter music journalists to dissect, predict and pick apart music’s biggest night. But as the awards themselves actually unfolded, live from the Staples Center, it was the moments in which very little – if anything at all – was said that carried the most weight. Whether it was the Dixie Chicks’ Natalie Maines simply – and somewhat fittingly – quoting “The Simpsons” in a kiss-off to the group’s many critics; Chris Brown’s footstep-perfect rendition of… Read more »

Anna Nicole Smith was pronounced dead Thursday (February 8) in a Florida hospital. She was 39. The former model and reality-TV star was rushed to Memorial Regional Hospital after an operator at the Seminole Hard Rock Cafe Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida – where Smith was discovered unconscious – called 911 at 1:38 p.m. ET. According to Seminole County authorities, Smith’s personal nurse found her and called the hotel operator. Smith’s bodyguard administered CPR. Smith was pronounced dead at 2:49 p.m. The cause of death will be determined by the medical examiner at Memorial Regional. Her death came just… Read more »

At some point, Cobra Starship mastermind Gabe Saporta is really gonna have to decide if having a keytar player in his band is worth it. Sure, the keytar is totally awesome – name another instrument good enough for Donald Fagen, Prince and “Weird” Al Yankovic – but in getting to the bottom of the Starship’s split with ‘tar player Elisa Schwartz (a less-than-harmonious parting of ways involving stolen iPods, clandestine spa sessions and late-night Britney Spears-fueled dance parties) you start to wonder if perhaps Saporta would be better off having never hired a keytar player in the first place. “The… Read more »

Festival Preview LLC announces the launch of a music festival news, opinion and community website serving “involved” festival-goers, those that attend multiple festivals each year. Demand for the site is indicated by soaring attendance in recent years at North American festivals of every musical genre. “Hanging with your friends and favorite entertainers at live music events is more than a hobby–it’s a lifestyle,” says Festival Preview founder and publisher Dan Ruby. “A community service like Festival Preview is a prime example of how the Internet can enrich people’s lives and give them more of what they want. Covering all music… Read more »

Beyonce’s “Irreplaceable” led the Billboard Hot 100 singles charts for an eighth consecutive week Thursday, but barely edged the new single from Fall Out Boy. The pop punk band’s “This Ain’t a Scene, It’s An Arms Race” debuted at No. 2 thanks to 162,000 digital downloads, according to Nielsen SoundScan. This is the highest bow for a band since radio-only titles joined the chart in December 1998. The last group to start as well or better was Aerosmith, who debuted at No. 1 under prior Hot 100 rules with “I Don’t Want To Miss a Thing” in September 1998. In… Read more »

NEW YORK – Jamie Foxx is clearly a jack of all trades. His dramatic-acting skills earned him an Oscar and his comedy brings audiences to tears. And as for his singing, Foxx’s multiple Grammy nominations and multiplatinum plaque say it all. The actor/singer/comedian brought all his ammunition to Madison Square Garden on Monday night, breaking his Unpredictable show into two sets: One consisting of straight comedy and the other featuring singing, dancing and a brief resurrection of Ray Charles. A few days prior to the concert, Foxx checked in with MTV News via telephone from Paris, where we was attending… Read more »

Panic! at the Disco went from a group of teenagers who’d written only three songs and never played a live show to the biggest new rock band in America. Their secret: Put together a band the way you’d create a MySpace page and let the kids run wild Ryan Ross bought his C55 Mercedes three months ago, but it’s been parked in his Las Vegas garage ever since. When the Panic! at the Disco guitarist climbs behind the wheel, cues up Tom Waits’ new Orphans collection and starts pushing buttons on the navigation system, he’s still not sure how it… Read more »