Blog Posts by Daniel Kreps

Tim Mosenfelder/Getty ImagesWe'll admit, we had our doubts when an old hair band called Kid Rocker waited 25 years to sue Bret Michaels and Poison over the authorship of their hit "Talk Dirty to Me." Considering that Poison guitarist C.C. DeVille was once a member of the Kid Rocker offshoot Screamin' Mimi's, you'd think it wouldn't take a quarter-century for DeVille's former bandmates to figure out that he stole their riffs. Poison themselves have called Kid Rocker's claims "baseless" and "unmeritorious." That seemed about right… until Kid Rocker unearthed a radio interview with DeVille from 1994 (via Blabbermouth). Let's just say that C.C. might have cost Poison a few million dollars.

In an interview with Los Angeles station KIEV 870 AM, which featured both DeVille and Kid Rocker's Billy McCarthy reminiscing about the old days on the Sunset Strip, this exchange occurs:

ConverseIf Damon Albarn's cartoon band Gorillaz decide they're not breaking up after all, we all have sneakers to thank for it. There were the break-up rumors, then just last month, when the animated group announced they were releasing a greatest hits disc just three albums (and a free iPad LP) into their career, many perceived that the decision to drop a best-of collection meant that the band created by Albarn and his artist-in-crime Jamie Hewlett would stop drawing Gorillaz and focus on other projects. It didn't help that the Gorillaz own site proclaimed that, "Gorillaz are TEN. Ten years old, eh? T.E.N. What's that stand for? The End is Nigh...!" Regardless of what the future holds, Gorillaz have been handed a temporary stay of execution… thanks to Converse Chuck Taylor All-Stars.

Blue Slide ParkWho's Number One: As promised, Pittsburgh rapper Mac Miller stormed to the top of the Billboard 200 as his debut album Blue Slide Park sold 144,000 copies in its first week, according to Nielsen SoundScan. That's slightly less than the 180K copies that were initially projected, but more than enough to give Miller the first Number One independently released hip-hop album since Tha Dogg Pound's Dogg Fodd in 1995. Miller beat out Michael Buble's Christmas, which jumped from Number Eight to Number Two with 123,000 copies sold.

Who's Bummed: Twihards, Team Edward and Team Jacob. The latest installment in the never-ending Twilight series, Breaking Dawn Part 1, entered the charts at Number Four, making it the first soundtrack in the series to not crack the Top Two. Breaking Dawn was defeated for the Number Three spot by Now 40, the latest compilation of hit songs everyone has heard a million times but continue to still buy. It's also worth noting that Lou Reed and Metallica's maligned Lulu has dropped out of the Billboard 200 entirely after an underwhelming debut last week.

Live in BucharestStrike one item off The Amp's Christmas list: The headboard from Michael Jackson's deathbed has been taken off the block after the Jackson family protested its inclusion in an auction of all the artwork and antiques in Michael's 100 Carolwood Drive mansion. "We want to maintain a good relationship with the family and we don't want to do anything upsetting for them," Darren Julien of Julien's Auctions told Reuters of the decision to withdraw the headboard, which was estimated to draw bids in the $5,000 range.

Contrary to previous reports, it turns out that only the Louis XV-style headboard from Jackson's deathbed was to be auctioned, since the mattress itself is currently residing in the evidence room of the Los Angeles Police Department. However, there still would be a massive interest to sleep in the same stately manner as the King of Pop, minus the Propofol-induced slumbers. To fill the void, another Jackson-related item has appeared on the auction front, and this one is expected to score around $6 million on the block.

Mike Marsland/WireImage.com

Update: Maybe Bieber hasn't dodged his DNA test just yet. WGN Chicago is reporting that Mariah Yeater's suit has been withdrawn over "death threats," but that she has switched legal representation and still believes Bieber fathered her baby. Jeffery Leving, a Chicago-based paternity lawyer representing Yeater, said that the accuser's lawyers are still negotiating with Bieber's council to secure a DNA test. However, if Yeater were to pursue further legal action against Justin, she'd need to file another suit. You can watch Leving's full interview over at WGN, but the whole thing sounds like a shakedown, from the non-stop name-checking of lawyers in the Sherman Oaks area to that part where Leving promises to keep the DNA results "confidential," as if he's seeking an out-of-court settlement to make this whole ordeal finally go away.

And just like that, Justin Bieber has victoriously weathered the first major scandal of his young career. Earlier this month, a woman named Mariah Yeater claimed the teen sensation fathered her newborn after a post-concert bathroom rendezvous. She filed legal paperwork demanding that Bieber take a paternity test to prove that he was the baby's father, just like an episode of Maury Povich, even though the singer's lawyers immediately called Yeater's claims "malicious, defamatory, and demonstrably false." His lawyers were very right: Late last week, Yeater quietly dismissed her own lawsuit against Bieber.

Pool/Getty ImagesEver since Dr. Conrad Murray was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter 10 days ago, Michael Jackson's personal physician has been hanging out in the medical ward of Los Angeles county jail while he awaits his November 29th sentencing. What ails Murray? Sadness. According to TMZ, the doctor is on full-time suicide watch since the guilty verdict, telling anyone who visits him -- his (many) girlfriends, his bodyguard, lawyers, etc. -- that he no longer wants to live. He reportedly still can't compute the fact he was found guilty, even though his lawyers warned him during jury deliberations that the verdict was a very real possibility. Murray is a globally reviled figure now because of his role in Jackson's death, and that won't change any time soon. However, the doc shouldn't be turning his pillowcase into a makeshift noose just yet, because the situation probably isn't as grim as he thinks it is.

Kevin Mazur/WireImage.comThe drama revolving around Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark keeps getting more intriguing than whatever action takes place on the stage every night. Things didn't end well between director Julie Taymor and the musical she co-envisioned with U2. Months after Taymor departed the production because of "previous commitments," she last week sued the Spider-Man producers over copyright infringement. Now, in an interview with Esquire magazine, she's firing back with words. Her first revelation is that there were no "previous commitments" that forced her to leave the show. With Turn Off the Dark already facing so much criticism based on its disastrous preview performances, producers simply said their longtime director had somewhere else to be. However, the axing came as a "complete shock" to Taymor.

Paul Zimmerman/Getty ImagesDr. Dre's Detox is like the Loch Ness Monster of hip-hop: Plenty of people have claimed to see it -- or in this case, hear it -- yet there's no firm evidence that it actually exists. Once in a while, a new single will leak -- like a grainy photograph of the sea dragon -- but then the album again disappears into obscurity. In September, rapper Kendrick Lamar talked about his Detox sighting by telling the world that Dre's decade-in-the-works album was "getting mixed," but like any good myth, "I can say anything I want about Detox, nobody would believe it," Lamar added. However, new evidence courtesy of Dre, helps prove the theory that his final LP, like that giant Scottish serpent, does not exist.