NelsonG

Love it or hate it, there's at least one person who thinks Lindsay Lohan did a great job on "Saturday Night Live" last night ... and that's Lindsay herself.Sources close to Lindsay tell TMZ she understands it wasn't a perfect show, but she feels&hellip; </p> [url=http://www.tmz.com/2012/03/04/lindsay-lohan-saturday-night-live/]View the full article[/url]

A woman riding in the passenger seat of an SUV driven by Young Buck was shot in the shoulder early this morning when another car drove alongside and opened fire, but the rapper was unharmed ... this according to a local report. The woman&hellip; </p> [url=http://www.tmz.com/2012/03/04/young-buck-shot-attempted-drive-by/]View the full article[/url]

Gabriel Aubry wants his 3-year-old daughter Nahla to live in surroundings to which she has become accustomed ... and he wants Halle to pay dearly for it.TMZ has learned what Gabriel wants in the way of $$$ -- and it's a lot. We've learned&hellip; </p> [url=http://www.tmz.com/2012/03/04/gabriel-aubry-halle-berry-child-support-nahla-judge/]View the full article[/url]

A new Broadway musical about Tupac Shakur just overcame one MASSIVE roadblock -- TMZ has learned, producers have obtained the approval of the rapper's notoriously protective mother ... who LOVES the show.A rep for the Shakur family tells TMZ,&hellip; </p> [url=http://www.tmz.com/2012/03/04/tupac-afeni-shakur-musical/]View the full article[/url]

Four-time Pro Bowler and children's author Donald Driver isn't taking "Dancing with the Stars" lightly -- sources tell TMZ, the Green Bay wide receiver is working himself to the BONE to crush the competition.According to sources, Donald's been&hellip; </p> [url=http://www.tmz.com/2012/03/04/donald-driver-dancing-with-the-stars-practice/]View the full article[/url]

Can you guess which sexy star owns these gorgeous green eyes? Check out who's behind the scrambled makeover! </p> [url=http://www.tmz.com/2012/03/04/celebrity-scramble-guess-who-photoshop-tmz-games-all-mixed-up/]View the full article[/url]

[url="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/.a/6a00d8341c630a53ef0168e855cee4970c-pi"][img]http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/.a/6a00d8341c630a53ef0168e855cee4970c-600wi[/img][/url] At last week’s First Fridays series at the Natural History Museum, two young women working at the border of noise and rock music explored how harsh music can tell different kinds of stories. Zola Jesus and EMA are both rising acts with a powerful visual presence and an interest in using distortion, electronics and vagueness to expand the palette of pop music. They used rock-friendly instruments like guitars, drums and synthesizers, but deployed them in strange and hypnotic ways that tap potent veins of hard-to-articulate emotions. EMA is the alias of Erika M. Anderson, a tall and punk-severe singer-songwriter with roots in California and South Dakota. She made her early reputation as one half of the experimental folk act Gowns, where she honed her interest in feedback and harrowing vocal performances. Recording under her given initials, her songs grew more focused on her 2011 debut “Past Life Martyred Saints.” But she never lost her fascination with the ways in which repetition and machine-driven distortion can create devastating and strangely hopeful moods. Performing with a drummer, a bassist-guitarist and an amplified violinist, her live set had a heavy touch of the Velvet Underground to it. That’s always a compliment when describing a rock show, but during tracks like “The Grey Ship” and “Anteroom” she took the Velvets’ specific downtown doom and warped it into a Great Plains horror show of blue-collar desperation. She closed with her signature track “California,” a compelling breakup letter to the Golden State. While mock-choking herself with the microphone cable, Anderson delivered its opening lines in a brutal deadpan: “… California, you made me boring / I bled all my blood out, but these red pants don’t show that.” It might rank with “Sunset Boulevard” in works of art about how California can break a woman. Zola Jesus is based in Los Angeles, but the alias of the singer-composer Nika Danilova hews closer to the noirish side of the city’s musical tradition. Her sound pulls from experimental music, goth acts like Britain's Cocteau Twins and modernist R & B balladry that led to major tours with Fever Ray and a spot at the Hollywood Bowl’s tribute to Serge Gainsbourg. But her latest album “Conatus” is uncompromising. It’s built on chamber strings, live drums and noisemaking that draws a straight line to midcentury experimental electronic composers like Daphne Oram and Delia Derbyshire. Joined by a standing drummer, keyboardist and an amplified violinist (interestingly, the night’s second), her band took a minimalist approach to a maximalist album, and in doing so returned the focus to Danilova’s voice. She has a vocal range and skill that could get her through the opening rounds of ‘Idol,’ but she enticingly subverted it with hazy phrasing and a commitment to atmosphere. For a song like “Vessel,” which on record has a dense churn ala Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor, her band skimmed off the vocal loop and built an airy if not spooky foundation. The heavy drums of “Hikikomori” were leavened with pining string parts; even her most upbeat tracks like the danceable “Seekir" had an implacable fog of melancholy. A wood-paneled hall filled with mammal dioramas is a tough room for any artist to play, and the sound of both bands suffered a bit from the space. But Danilova clearly embraced the challenge: “Thanks for coming to this beautiful space," she said, "where we can appreciate where we come from, and maybe where we’ll go back to.” RELATED: [url="http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jan/23/entertainment/la-ca-la-noise-music-20110123"]Zola Jesus: making noise in L.A.[/url] [url="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/music_blog/2011/10/album-review-zola-jesus-conatus.html"]Album review: Zola Jesus, "Conatus"[/url] [url="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/music_blog/2011/06/pop-hiss-between-the-2010-release-little-sketches-on-tape-to-your-new-album-past-life-of-martyred-saints-what.html"]EMA talks new record, giving middle finger to California[/url] -August Brown [i]Photo: Zola Jesus at the Natural History Museum on March 2, 2012. (Lawrence K. Ho/Los Angeles Times)[/i] [url="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/h_ZCqTFXT0pzqvv0XyNuUbPCrb8/0/da"][img]http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/h_ZCqTFXT0pzqvv0XyNuUbPCrb8/0/di[/img]</img>[/url][url="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/h_ZCqTFXT0pzqvv0XyNuUbPCrb8/1/da"][img]http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/h_ZCqTFXT0pzqvv0XyNuUbPCrb8/1/di[/img]</img>[/url] [img]http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PopHiss/~4/u6dKypv7-Gc[/img] [url=http://feeds.latimes.com/~r/PopHiss/~3/u6dKypv7-Gc/live-zola-jesus-and-ema-at-the-natural-history-museum.html]View the full article[/url]

It's never a good sign when a singer has had more tax liens than platinum albums -- but that's the situation former "American Idol" champ Ruben Studdard has found himself in ... TMZ has learned. According to docs filed in Alabama, Studdard and&hellip; </p> [url=http://www.tmz.com/2012/03/03/ruben-studdard-tax-lien/]View the full article[/url]

TMZ has obtained photographic evidence that food, or rather a bag containing food, touched the hands of Angelina Jolie today in Los Angeles.It is unclear whether or not this constitutes "eating."According to our sources, she would have to consume&hellip; </p> [url=http://www.tmz.com/2012/03/03/angelina-jolie-brad-pitt-mcdonalds-photo/]View the full article[/url]

Lindsay Lohan was seen leaving her New York hotel this morning, script in hand, as she gets ready to host "Saturday Night Live" tonight.As TMZ previously reported, LiLo plans to sing her opening monologue and from there ... nothing is off limits.&hellip; </p> [url=http://www.tmz.com/2012/03/03/lindsay-lohan-saturday-night-live-photo/]View the full article[/url]

Kirk Cameron's comments to Piers Morgan on gay marriage are not sitting well with the folks at GLAAD ... who think the former "Growing Pains" star "sounds even more dated than his 1980s TV character."Cameron said during last night's show that&hellip; </p> [url=http://www.tmz.com/2012/03/03/kirk-cameron-glaad-gay-marriage/]View the full article[/url]

A "Basketball Wives" vacation to Tahiti ended early for one cast member after an argument between two girls ended with one refusing to give back the other's purse ... TMZ has learned.According to our sources, Tami Roman and Kesha Nichols got&hellip; </p> [url=http://www.tmz.com/2012/03/03/basketball-housewives-fight-tahiti/]View the full article[/url]

[url="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/.a/6a00d8341c630a53ef0168e8534328970c-pi"][img]http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/.a/6a00d8341c630a53ef0168e8534328970c-600wi[/img][/url] In Sunday's Calendar section, Times pop music critic Randall Roberts highlights some of the spring's most anticipated concerts and releases. They are listed below. [i]Concerts[/i][b]March 20[/b] Sharon Van Etten, the War on Drugs New Jersey by way of Brooklyn, singer Sharon Van Etten has delivered one of 2012’s best albums. “Tramp” is a moody, smart folk rock release recorded with members of the band the National and released on Jagjaguwar, the label best known for bringing Bon Iver to the public. On this tour, Van Etten will be joined by Philadelphia guitar band the War on Drugs, whose “Slave Ambient” was one of the best rock records of 2011. [i]Avalon Hollywood, 1735 N. Vine, L.A. 8:30 p.m. March 20. $17.50. [/i] [b]March 23[/b] Magnetic Fields Magnetic Fields kingpin Stephin Merritt likes a good theme, be it challenging himself to write and record 69 love songs for his album “69 Love Songs” or beginning all songs with the letter “i” for his album “I.” Merritt, whose witty, droll, utterly beguiling work is as structurally sound as it is dynamic, travels underwater for his new album, “Love at the Bottom of the Sea,” luckily resurfacing to perform songs at the Orpheum. [i]Orpheum Theatre, 842 S. Broadway, L.A. 7 p.m. March 23. $30.[/i] [b]April 1[/b] Tyga On Tyga’s major label debut, “Careless World: Rise of the Last King,” the Compton-born rapper leans on pretty impressive peers for help, including labelmates Lil Wayne and Nicki Minaj, along with rapper-lyricists Nas, Wale and Busta Rhymes. The fluid young emcee, who released an avalanche of mixtapes beginning in 2007, nearly keeps pace with them, though he’s still got a ways to go before assuming the throne. Tyga performs with YG and Lil Twist. [i]Club Nokia, 800 W. Olympic, L.A. 7 p.m. April 1. $26.50-$49.50.[/i] [b]April 13-15, 20-22[/b] Coachella, featuring Dr. Dre, Black Keys, Radiohead, others If you haven’t the money, time, energy or inclination to spend days baking in the desert for this year’s Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival — it’s sold out, and scalpers are asking four figures — this year’s two-concurrent-weekends event offers much untapped (and at this point purely speculative) potential in the week between the April 13-15 and 20-22 lineups. To wit: Many bands will be hanging in and around Palm Springs and nearby Joshua Tree and Pioneertown during that week. Fans seeking solace or a surprise hootenanny would be advised to look to the desert — and the fancy Palm Springs hipster hotels — for potential parties.[url="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/.a/6a00d8341c630a53ef0163025ce60f970d-pi"][img]http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/.a/6a00d8341c630a53ef0163025ce60f970d-600wi[/img][/url] [b]May 5[/b] Lambchop Nashville country band Lambchop is the brainchild of a cigarette-smoking, non-ironic-trucker-hat-wearing grump named Kurt Wagner, whose dozen or so twang heavy albums feature some of the city’s best session players. The new album, “Mr. M,” is a stunning late-night work, dark like Leonard Cohen but thick like a Curtis Mayfield soul-funk jam, where strings let loose, choruses fly, and songs meander and roam for six or seven minutes at a time. The band makes a rare West Coast appearance at McCabe’s. [i]McCabe’s Guitar Shop, 3101 Pico, Santa Monica. 8 p.m. May 5. $24.50.[/i] [i][b]Albums[/b][/i] [b]March 6[/b] Bruce Springsteen, “Wrecking Ball” Bruce Springsteen’s new album sees the New Jersey rocker pushing forth some of the most solid, propellent rock songs in years, songs that he’s said were inspired by “critical, questioning and often angry patriotism.” This year the Boss has some competition in the blue-collar rock division: young whippersnapper Jack White, having shed (at least for now) the White Stripes, Raconteurs and Dead Weather monikers, is threatening a little youthful comeuppance with his new solo album, “Blunderbuss” (April 23). [b]March 20[/b] Daniel Rossen, “Silent Hour/Golden Mile” Singer and Los Angeles native Daniel Rossen is best known as one of the golden voices behind Brooklyn indie vocal group Grizzly Bear, where his tenor is the best of an amazing group of throats. On his solo debut, Rossen crafts similarly beautiful folk-pop music, bringing the deep Brian Wilson-inspired production sound to thoroughly contemporary music. [url="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/.a/6a00d8341c630a53ef0168e853659e970c-pi"][img]http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/.a/6a00d8341c630a53ef0168e853659e970c-600wi[/img][/url] [b]April 10[/b] Alabama Shakes, “Boys & Girls” A raucous Southern bar band that captures the spirit of not only rock ’n’ roll but back-alley blues, rockabilly, lusty R&B and every other kind of pre-hip-hop music of sex and rebellion, the Alabama Shakes’ highly anticipated debut for ATO Records, “Boys & Girls,” is as combustible as it is nuanced — and destined to be one of the albums of the summer. [b]May 1[/b] Rufus Wainwright, “Out of the Game.” Canadian singer Rufus Wainwright has been silent for the past few years, having endured the death of his mother, Kate McGarrigle, celebrated the birth of a daughter, and doing whatever else genius singer-pianist-entertainers do when not making pop albums. Wainwright returns with his highly anticipated new album, “Out of the Game,” produced by Mark Ronson, best known for his work with Amy Winehouse; Wainwright has teased the release by saying it’s one of the most danceable albums of his career. [b]May 4 [/b] Santigold, “Master of My Make Believe” Brooklyn polymath Santigold dips her toes in many genres, from hip-hop and dance to rock, new wave and funk, and combines it all to create an absolutely magnetic mishmash. For her highly anticipated sophomore album, the erstwhile Santi White turned to TV on the Radio’s Dave Sitek to help produce, and the results, at least on the first two singles, bode well for the album’s success. ALSO: [url="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2012/03/spring-arts-preview-jazz.html"]Spring jazz preview: Esperanza Spalding, Keith Jarrett, Brad Mehldau[/url] [url="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2012/02/spring-arts-preview-visual-art.html"]Spring arts preview: Visual art[/url] [url="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2012/03/spring-arts-preview-classical-music.html"]Spring arts preview: Classical music[/url] -- Randall Roberts [i]Updated: The original version of this post misidentified the label releasing the Alabama Shakes' new album. It is ATO Records, not, as we wrote, Nonesuch.[/i] [i]Top photo: Sharon Van Etten. Credit: Dusdin Condrin. M[/i][i]iddle photo: Lambchop. Credit: Bill Steber. Bottom photo: Alabama Shakes. Credit: Courtesy Alabama Shakes.[/i] [url="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/CXJDYdetZC8x3yTAJRPe8nqJYA4/0/da"][img]http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/CXJDYdetZC8x3yTAJRPe8nqJYA4/0/di[/img]</img>[/url][url="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/CXJDYdetZC8x3yTAJRPe8nqJYA4/1/da"][img]http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/CXJDYdetZC8x3yTAJRPe8nqJYA4/1/di[/img]</img>[/url] [img]http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PopHiss/~4/tOLap_bmL74[/img] [url=http://feeds.latimes.com/~r/PopHiss/~3/tOLap_bmL74/spring-preview-pop-music-picks.html]View the full article[/url]

AP - More than 20 years after a plane crash killed seven members of her band and her tour manager, Reba McEntire can still clearly see the hotel room she was in when she got the news. [url=http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/music/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120303/ap_en_mu/us_people_reba_mcentire]View the full article[/url]

Brandy took the stage in Los Angeles last night, and while some in the house were expecting her to perform a few Whitney Houston songs, decided against it ... saying it would have made her "an emotional wreck."Performing at The Factory in Los&hellip; </p> [url=http://www.tmz.com/2012/03/03/brandy-whitney-houston-tribute-video/]View the full article[/url]

Oprah Winfrey has finally found a way to get people to watch OWN -- she's scored an interview with family members of Whitney Houston, including daughter Bobbi Kristina. The show "Oprah's Next Chapter" will feature Houston's only daughter ... as&hellip; </p> [url=http://www.tmz.com/2012/03/03/oprah-winfrey-whitney-houston-bobbi-kristina-interview/]View the full article[/url]

[url="http://torrentfreak.com/images/sadpirate.jpg"][img]http://torrentfreak.com/images/sadpirate.jpg[/img][/url]Every now and again, the world’s most famous piracy release groups get together and have a big old meeting to decide how they’ll carry out their future activities. At the top of the agenda is an item of utmost importance – how to change things around to ensure the highest levels of annoyance and inconvenience for BitTorrent downloaders. Ok, so the last sentence isn’t true, but nevertheless that appears to be the current assessment of events according to some BitTorrent users. Worryingly, the interpretation from others is even more wide of the mark. The problem stems back to a new document which details a set of standards TV show release groups such as LOL and MOMENTUM will have to live up to in order to comply with so-called ‘Scene rules’. Not complying with the format means that a release group’s work risks being ‘nuked’ – a term which means something has been rated second-class by their pirating peers. The [url="http://scenerules.irc.gs/t.html?id=2012_SDTVx264r.nfo"]document[/url] – ‘The SD x264 TV Releasing Standards 2012′ – is extremely detailed and covers all sorts of technical issues, but the main controversy stems from the adoption of the [url="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X264"]x264 codec[/url]. “x264 has become the most advanced video codec over the past few years. Compared to Xvid, it is able to provide higher quality and compression at greater SD resolutions,” the rule document begins. “This standard aims to bring quality control back to SD releases. There are many standalone players/streamers such as TviX, Popcorn Hour, WDTV HD Media Player, Boxee, Xtreamer, PS3, XBOX 360, iPad, & HDTVs that can playback H264 and AAC encapsulated in MP4,” the doc adds. [img]http://torrentfreak.com/images/x264rules.jpg[/img] From February 22nd and earlier in some cases, release groups including ASAP, BAJSKORV, C4TV, D2V, DiVERGE, FTP, KYR, LMAO, LOL, MOMENTUM, SYS, TLA and YesTV began releasing TV shows in the new format. Out went Xvid and avi, in came x264 and MP4. However, while the release groups want to move with the times, there are many people consuming their content who either don’t or can’t. In the main, people seem disappointed because their standalone Xvid compatible DVD players won’t play the new releases. Some of the reactions are polite enough, but show a misunderstanding of how the system works. “LOL, why are all your new uploads MP4 format? How do we get hold of you? We need the AVI format back, really frustrating as most DVD players don’t play MP4 format which means we are back to converting format to AVI – how 3rd world LOL,” begins [url="http://eztv.it/forum/24532/body-of-proof-2x16-hdtv-x264-lol/"]one user[/url] on popular torrent site [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EZTV"]EZTV[/url]. “Hi there, I agree too please can you revert back to AVI as most DVD players cannot recognize MP4 format and this means I need to do conversion to AVI all the time for my grand mother and its quite painful,” says another. At worst, some of the comments show an embarrassing sense of entitlement and an attitude that those downloading for free are actually “customers” of these release groups and as such deserve to be treated better. “F@#k LOL and their mp4′s,” is just one example of the aggression directed towards them. But there are another set of users who don’t understand where the releases come from at all and are instead directing their anger at the torrent sites – the equivalent of blaming Google for not listing the pictures people had hoped for in their image search. “MP4 SUCKS AND IS A BULL SHIT FORMAT. AVI WILL ALWAYS BE KING. MORE TROUBLE THAN IS WORTH. TIME TO GET MY DOWNLOADS FROM A BETTER SITE THAT OFFERS AVI AND I KNOW A MAJORITY OF THE DOWN LOADERS WILL DO THE SAME,” shouts an EZTV user. “SO I THINK EZTV HAS A LIMITED LIFE SPAN LEFT IF THEY DO NOT TELL DOWN LOADERS TO GO BACK TO AVI IT IS PROBABLY ALL OVER FOR THIS SITE.” First off, these release groups aren’t deliberately releasing TV shows to please the masses. They do it for their own entertainment and it’s only when they leak out do the wider world get access to them. They are certainly not being put online to satisfy the needs of ALL CAPS MAN. Second, the torrent sites index other people’s content, they tend not to be the originators of it. Sure, some of the more friendly but bewildered comments of upset downloaders are pretty amusing to read, but the more aggressive ones highlight a more worrying trend. Somewhere along the line a consumer appeared who not only wants everything super quickly and for free, but also believes that the same should be offered with Class A service. Should these things not be delivered, he feels it is his right to take his “business” elsewhere. Could this become the new consumer standard for service on the Internet? At the moment this toughest breed of consumer appears to be in the minority but thanks to the law of supply and demand, even he will find his needs served. Already people are ‘pirating’ the MP4 releases and re-uploading them in the Xvid format to satisfy his needs. In the meantime, no doubt LOL and LMAO will be doing what their acronyms suggest. Source: [url="http://torrentfreak.com/bittorrent-pirates-go-nuts-after-tv-release-groups-dump-xvid-120303/"]BitTorrent Pirates Go Nuts After TV Release Groups Dump Xvid[/url] [url="http://torrentfreak.com/?flattrss_redirect&id=47476&md5=e5d5e6e456f718740a7573fbf2e7438a"][img]http://torrentfreak.com/wp-content/plugins/flattr/img/flattr-badge-large.png[/img][/url] [img]http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~4/QuAmOERojWE[/img] [url=http://feed.torrentfreak.com/~r/Torrentfreak/~3/QuAmOERojWE/]View the full article[/url]

Lindsay Lohan's taking her music career to the next level on SNL tonight -- TMZ has learned, the actress plans to SING the majority of her opening monologue on the sketch show.Sources tell TMZ, nothing's off the table either -- Lindsay will poke fun&hellip; </p> [url=http://www.tmz.com/2012/03/03/lindsay-lohan-saturday-night-live-opening-monologue/]View the full article[/url]

"16 and Pregnant" star Whitney Purvis tells TMZ ... she DID swipe a pregnancy test off the shelf at a Walmart this week ... but says she's glad to report she's NOT with child. TMZ broke the story ... the 20-year-old reality star was arrested in&hellip; </p> [url=http://www.tmz.com/2012/03/03/whitney-purvis-mtv-16-and-pregnant-arrested/]View the full article[/url]

Mike Epps wants to clear the air after his daughter accused him of threatening to "f**k her up" -- telling TMZ, "I love my daughter, but sometimes father and daughter have disagreements."TMZ broke the story ... Mike's 18-year-old daughter Bria filed&hellip; </p> [url=http://www.tmz.com/2012/03/03/mike-epps-daughter-bria-feud-video/]View the full article[/url]

Don't let these two pictures fool you -- there are some super-stealthy differences between them. Are you good enough to spot 'em?**HINT -- there are three differences in the above photographs!** </p> [url=http://www.tmz.com/2012/03/03/whats-the-big-frigin-difference-photoshop-celebrity-hunt-tmz-games-all-mixed-up-guess-who/]View the full article[/url]

Seattle Seahawks sack-machine Chris Clemons is now officially divorced from his wife -- but TMZ has learned, it'll cost him $500,000 ... AND a Land Rover.Clemons' wife Veranetta filed for divorce in 2010 on grounds of adultery -- claiming Chris&hellip; </p> [url=http://www.tmz.com/2012/03/03/seattle-seahawks-chris-clemons-divorce/]View the full article[/url]

"Smash" babe Katharine McPhee and "30 Rock" starlet Katrina Bowden both made nice at an event in NYC on Thursday.Question is ... </p> [url=http://www.tmz.com/2012/03/03/katharine-mcphee-katrina-bowden-photo/]View the full article[/url]