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While thousands of people would have killed for a spot in the American Idol top 12, it seems all the fanfare just didn’t sit right for Mario Vazquez. MTV.com dug a little deeper into the reason the singer – picked by many as this edition’s top contender – decided to leave. The ex-Idol said that the timing wasn’t right and he just wants to sing his music from the heart. He did thank all of his fans and the AI producers for their support, but said he wants to stay private right now. He said he’d been considering leaving the… Read more »

Los Angeles – Mario Vazquez withdrew from “American Idol” over the weekend, but the 27-year-old singer is under contract with the show’s entertainment company until three months after the current season ends. In a press conference Tuesday (March 15) in the famous Coca-Cola Red Room where contestants wait to perform during tapings, co-executive producers Ken Warwick and Nigel Lythgoe confirmed Vazquez quit for personal reasons and squashed rumors surrounding his departure, including that he had been offered a better record deal than the winner receives.”He is not free to sign [with anyone]; he signed that contract two weeks ago,” Lythgoe… Read more »

“SYNERGY AND OTHER LIES” would be a good first reading assignment for Sir Howard Stringer, Sony’s new chief executive, to be followed by “The Synergy Myth.” Then Sir Howard should recognize that the Sony he inherits is constitutionally incapable of making one (electronics) plus one (entertainment) equal three. Both books were written by Harold Geneen, the number cruncher who directed International Telephone and Telegraph during its heyday in the 1960’s. He engineered 350 mergers and acquisitions, which brought such names as Hartford, Avis, Sheraton and Madison Square Garden under one roof. Mr. Geneen, however, harbored no illusions that ITT’s individual… Read more »

Los Angeles – Before they made the jump to Atlantic Records in 2004, the members of Death Cab for Cutie thought long and hard about leaving Seattle’s Barsuk Records. But after six years of deliberation, and the ultimate satisfaction the band took in its decision, manager Jordan Kurland grants that there has been a twinge of remorse. “I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that after I saw Bright Eyes debut in the top 10, I didn’t think, ‘Ah, we should have done that…’ But we’re having a great time.” Indeed, the band Bright Eyes bolted to No. 10 on… Read more »

Washington – Bono won’t be saving the world at the helm of the World Bank. The lobby group co-founded by the Irish band U2’s lead singer on Thursday knocked down media reports that he was a serious contender to head the global institution that provides billions of dollars annually to help the world’s poorest countries. “I can’t believe I need to say this, but there are no circumstances in which Bono would be nominated or accept the World Bank job,” said Jamie Drummond, executive director of DATA – or Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa – for which Bono campaigns to raise… Read more »

Los Angeles – Academia’s loss is heavy metal’s gain. Ian Kilmister, a.k.a. Lemmy, the frontman for Grammy-winning English rock trio Motorhead, could have made a stimulating history professor, sharing his begrudging admiration for Goering and disdain for “bastards” like Hitler and Roosevelt with eager students. Instead, the 59-year-old achieved cult fame with generations of headbangers by singing and writing furious anthems like “Killed By Death” and “Orgasmatron.” But he remains fascinated by World War II and he spends his money collecting Nazi memorabilia, which is piled high in his two-bedroom apartment off the Sunset Strip. “I was born in ’45,… Read more »

Hilary Duff might be taking classes at Harvard, but that doesn’t mean her fellow students have to like it. In an editorial published last week in The Crimson, Harvard’s school newspaper, the staff lambastes Duff, calling her a “loser and a chicken” because she didn’t go through Harvard’s notoriously difficult undergraduate-admissions process and won’t be participating in campus activities. Duff is not a student at Harvard proper, but is auditing courses through the Harvard Extension School, a continuing-education program that allows the singer to take a few classes online, including environmental science, government, and sociology. While Duff has noted on… Read more »

New York – Backstreet’s back. Again. Backstreet Boys, the boy band who demanded “I Want It That Way,” have announced a set of tour dates starting March 21 in New York. They won’t play Madison Square Garden this time around – or any of their previous gigantic arena hotspots. The Boys’ 13-city tour is a club-only affair, stopping at such intimate venues as the State Theater in Detroit and the 9:30 Club in Washington. According to their label, Jive Records, they will perform all their hits plus a few songs from their upcoming CD. The Backstreet Boys, who debuted in… Read more »

Los Angeles – Singer and actress Cher is suing Warner/Chappell Music Inc. for breach of contract on claims that it failed to pay royalties estimated at more than $250,000. The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Thursday, alleges that the music publisher has not paid song and performance royalties for the last four years. The other plaintiffs include Chastity Bono, the daughter of Cher and her late husband Sonny Bono, and Christy Bono, Bono’s daughter from his first marriage. Other plaintiffs are Mary Bono-Baxley and her children Chianna and Cesare Bono. It was not immediately clear whether she… Read more »

New York – There are several good reasons why Motley Crue didn’t play the halftime show at this year’s Super Bowl, and most of them were on display as the reunited ’80s rockers assaulted Madison Square Garden for the first time in 21 years. Having reigned as the Bad Boys of Rock ‘n’ Roll for most of the decade, the California quartet saw their decadence crown snatched away in the late ’80s by Axl Rose and Guns ‘N’ Roses. Motley’s own fortunes ebbed, the victim of substance abuse, supermodel divorces (drummer Tommy Lee managed to lose both Pamela Anderson and… Read more »