Britney Spears launched her official Spreading Whoredom Tour last night. According to MTV News, she took a break from lip-synching long enough to say, "I don't know if you guys know what's been going on with me, if you read the press. The past six months have been like a roller coaster with a lot of ups and a lot of downs. ... [But] everything we experience makes us realize how beautiful life can really be."
For some reason, we've been cc:ed on a demand for a refund after last night's Liars show.
A reader asks: "What ever happened to those totally overhyped Pepsi commericals with Slutney & Beyonce pretending to be gladiators?"
I was going to watch and recap the Grammys but every time I went to turn on my TV I was overcome by a deep abiding ennui and a desire to listen to good music. Fortunately, blogger Uncle Grambo took the abuse for us:
God bless us every one: Clear Channel is preparing to trot out the old woman herself. That's right, Madonna is going on tour this summer. Undoubtedly she's begun super-oxygenating her carcass all winter in preparation. We also hear that the opening act will be presidential candidate General Wesley Clark, backed by dancing Iraqis.
Björk's famous feud with Lars von Trier during the filming of Dancing in the Dark made her look a little... nutty. But now, in a private message on her website, Björk talks more about life with Lars. Her view: Lars isn't like sexist directors such as Woody Allen and Stanley Kubrick. Actually he's a very special kind of sexist who has to steal the soul of women performers to make his films; he hates them, tortures them, and makes them look crazy in public so he doesn't look bad.
did björk had a fight/discussion with Lars? [free reg req, 4UM/Björk.com]
American Brandstand tracks all mentions of brand names in the Billboard top 20 singles chart. Now that the final chart of the year is up, some analysis:
Don't you miss electroclash? Ah, the heady days of late 2002 and early 2003. The economy was a shambles, some guy called Saddam was causing trouble in Europe or something, and all the Gawker Stalkers were of Kim Cattrall.
Hey, I think we just got our winner for tackiest press release of 2003. Congratulations go to D. Baron Media Relations out in lovely Santa Monica. Our source notes:
Supposedly the Billboard Awards still exist, and they aired last night. Who knew? Jossip has the story:
At some point today, the Grammys will be announced. There will be nominations for Justin Timberlake and Beyonce. Don't you think you should spend the afternoon illegally downloading mp3s in protest?
Current customer recommendations on Amazon.com for purchasers of Michael Jackson's Number Ones:
From this in-house memo, one may assume that Warner Music Group's employees and interns are stalking their own recording artists around the offices. Evidently they get the dumb interns out in Burbank at the Pinnacle Building — surely this sort of heinous in-house stalking would neeeever go on in the fair city of New York.
So yah, The Source had its press conference last night, and played Eminem's 1993 oh-so-shocking racist recording. According to an email from our attending spy, "Unfortunately, the event wasn't much fun. ZzzzZzzzz..." You can all thank her for that in-depth report. Anway, the best part of this sort of press gangbang is that none of the attending media companies are allowed to print half the words Eminem is being criticized for using.
Reports of a warrant for the arrest of Michael Jackson may be unwarranted. NBC pushed the warrant story pretty hard this morning, claiming police confirmation; to other media outlets, a police sergeant denied the existence of a warrant.
