Semi-viable presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty granted an interview in Ames, Iowa to these gals from Gliterazzi, to discuss all things Pop Culture. The highlight comes when they talk Lady Gaga (around 1:50), whose music and television specials he seems to be quite familiar with.

Patrice Wilson, CEO of Ark Music Factory and the man responsible for Rebecca Black, has had a busy week: He just premiered the music video of his newest artist, Lexi St. George, on Good Morning America. We spoke to him about the surprising success that's come from "Friday," the most-hated YouTube video of all time.

The surprised-by-Beyonce dance party has struck again! After sneaking up on some schoolgirls in May, Beyonce shocked the crowd gathered for a Boys & Girls Club event at a Harlem Target store on Thursday when she appeared out of nowhere and began dancing along to her new song "Countdown" with some very happy young fans. Because that's just how she rolls. [via ONTD]

John Lennon was shot and killed in 1980 just after the election of Ronald Reagan, and it's this pairing of events that symbolized the end of the political Left. Maybe? I just made that up, but it seems like one of those things people would say. But what if John Lennon was a secret Ronald Reagan lover in the end? That's what Lennon's last personal assistant is claiming.

Not happy with all the eardrum damage caused by her first aural abomination, Countess LuAnn de Lesseps is back with a new song and a new video, this time co-starring some other Real Housewives of New York. Know what? It's not completely horrible!

James Franco is like that pretentious guy in your freshman dorm that you talk to because he's hot, and he's always going on about acting and writing short stories and all his other artistic pursuits even though he's not particularly good at any of them. And of course he's in a band, too. Of course.

Are the sharks out for Michele Bachmann, or what? Little miscues that offer a quick, innocent laugh at first become over-reported multiday scandals about how she's the stupidest person alive. She loves serial killers, what an idiot! And now one of Hollywood's prominent songwriters won't even let her use a song she likes, at events. The self-victimizing fundraising letters write themselves.

In a a recent interview with The Guardian, recovering sex-demon-turned-devout-Jehovah's Witness Prince said, "It's fun being in Islamic countries, to know there's only one religion. There's order. You wear a burqa. There's no choice. People are happy with that."

Chet Haze, Northwestern University's best and worst rapping son of Tom Hanks, had only performed on campus—until last weekend, when he ventured out to Enclave, a club in Chicago where joke rappers play, for his first real world concert.

Sex-powered soul superstar Beyoncé brought the house down tonight at the 2011 Glastonbury Festival in Somerset, England. Here's the opening number: a pyrotechnically enhanced version of her defining single, "Crazy In Love." Reviews of the performance — which included familiar hits like "Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)" and "If I Were a Boy," alongside covers of Alanis Morrisette's "You Oughta Know," Eurythmics' "Sweet Dreams," and Prince's "The Beautiful Ones" — have been glowing. The Guardian declares "she never puts a foot wrong," and The Telegraph calls her "a great, sassy frontwoman."

It's not that Real Housewife of D.C. and White House party crasher Michaele Salahi's dance single is awful, which it is, it's that it is so sad. Everything about it is so eye-gougingly sad that it's probably the saddest attempt at a second act in the history of television.

Here's the music video for Britney Spears' new single, "I Wanna Go," which also happens to be the song that Bravo chose to use in its summer promos. In the video, Spears curses out reporters at a press conference before escaping. She's then followed around by cyborg paparazzi and tries to kill them with a swinging microphone before escaping, again, and dancing around a convertible in a polka dot bikini top. Fun! Or something. [via ONTD]

Even though there was once a question of whether the music video for Weird Al Yankovic's "Perform This Aay"—a parody of Lady Gaga's "Born This Way"—would ever see the light of day, it hit the web today. Here it is in all its Madonna-referencing, outfit-changing glory.

Mark Zuckerberg's creations tend to be creepy: Disturbingly personalized ads, 1984ish facial recognition, and the reprehensible forced sharing of personal information. But the music service the Facebook CEO is expected to unveil this summer sounds smart and essential.

Poor Amy Winehouse! The constantly-troubled singer kicked off her European tour in Belgrade, Serbia on Saturday with, well, this, which is hardly a positive sign. Winehouse reportedly spent a week in rehab earlier this year; unsurprisingly, it wasn't long enough. [via WSJ]

Saxophonist Clarence Clemons, the "Big Man" of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, died on Saturday of complications from a stroke he suffered earlier this month.

Tonight's So You Think You Can Dance promised a "world exclusive" of the music video for Lady Gaga's new single, "The Edge of Glory," but it cut off after just a couple of minutes. Luckily, the video's full version is already online—and embedded above—for your enjoyment and/or criticism.

New get rich quick scheme: A researcher has found that when a kid hears a song that is likely to become popular, a brain scan will show the reward center of their brain going nuts. Whoa. That is crazy.

First, Rebecca Black's "Friday" video cost $2.99 to "rent" on YouTube. Then the video was set to "private." Did the pressure finally get to Rebecca Black? Is this part of Ark Music Factory's jihad against her?

Without a doubt, this year's earliest contender for song of the summer is "Gucci Gucci" by 21-year-old Oakland artist Kreayshawn. Though no one had heard of her a few months ago, she's now on pace to succeed Ke$ha as the foremost white female rapper in popular music.