Blog Posts by Lyndsey Parker

Last night, the "So You Think You Can Dance" cast returned to the city where all their dance dreams first came true, Los Angeles, on the fifth "SYTYCD" tour...thus filling the donut-holes in the heartwork of Angeleno dance fans like myself yearning for total murderation and purple winds. (Readers of the Mia Michaels Dictionary Of Critique Terms, you understand what I'm talking about here.) The tour skipped a phase last year--there was no go-'round for the Season 6 cast, sadly--so fans really needed a fix, and therefore this particular tour was a pull-out-all-the-stops affair, taking place not at the previous tour's L.A. venue, the Nokia Theater, but at the nearly-thrice-the-size Staples Center next door. And it featured not only all the Season 7 finalists, but allstars from Seasons 2 through 6.

It wasn't an ideal assemblage--Season 6 was still cruelly under-represented (no Jakob, no Ellenore, no Legacy); my fave alltime allstar, Season 4's Mark Kanemura, presumably had some other

Last night, in what was undoubtedly the biggest shocker of this current "Dancing With The Stars" season, or perhaps ANY season, R&B diva Brandy--a presumed shoo-in for next week's finals--was voted off, while lesser dancer Bristol Palin, a contestant who has consistently received the lowest scores from the judges and who many viewers strongly feel should have gone back to Alaska long ago, stayed on.

This was enough to make me whip out a gun and aim it at my TV set, Elvis-style. And apparently I'm not alone here: According to a bizarre report today by the Associated Press, a 67-year-old rural Wisconsin man named Steven Cowan was so outraged over Bristol "The Pistol" Palin's routine Monday night, he in fact did shoot his television with an actual pistol. This lead to an epic overnight standoff with a SWAT team, while his freaked-out wife escaped from their house unharmed.

Court documents state that Cowan was furious because he felt Bristol isn't a good dancer and is still on "DWTS" only

On the hit Fox show "Glee," most problems can be solved, or at least improved, by spontaneously breaking into a cheery singalong rendition of a Journey, Britney, or Cee Lo tune. But real life has proven to be much more complicated for its stars. For instance, last month Mark Salling, who plays fauxhawked bad boy Puck on the show, revealed in a Yahoo! Music interview that he was at the end of his rope before joining the cast...and this week in an interview with The Star, Cory "Finn" Monteith confessed that he was practically homeless before getting his big "Glee" break.

[Photos: See more from the cast of 'Glee']

In the surprising Star article, Monteith, who dropped out of school in the ninth grade and subsequently worked various blue-collar jobs in his native Calgary, revealed that he nearly became homeless while trying to pursue an acting career in Vancouver, Canada. "I definitely experienced a marginalized situation. I was not homeless, but I was definitely at risk," he said.

After

The first video from Lee DeWyze's major-label debut Live It Up, "Sweet Serendipity," premiered this week, just in time for the album's street date. And it's sweet indeed, a VH1-friendly affair (VH1 premiered it, so that makes sense) with a cute boy-stalks-girl love story and a neat little happy ending.

In fact, it's maybe just a little too sweet...

See, while I could do without the prominent product placement for the Sync car stereo and Bloggie flipcam, I reckon sneaky in-video advertisements are nothing new nowadays (Lady Gaga's "Telephone," which was basically a Miracle Whip/PlentyOfFish.com infomercial, taught us that, as did nine seasons of blatant Ford and Coca-Cola shilling on "Idol" itself). And yes, I've seen the synchronized split-screen shtick executed better in music videos--most notably in Cibo Matto's mind-melting, Michel Gondry-directed "Sugar Water"--but I can overlook that too.

So I suppose my biggest issue with "Sweet Serendipity" is it's all just a little too

The unplugged portion of Adam Lambert's 2010 Glam Nation tour has been a set highlight for fans, so now the Glamerican Idol is giving those fans more of what they want from him, finally confirming long-rumored/tweeted plans for an acoustic EP. Out December 6, just in time for holiday shopping, comes the five-song Acoustic Live!

Acoustic Live! will feature stripped-down versions of "Whataya Want From Me" (get an example of that below) and my personal favorite For Your Entertainment track "Music Again," both recorded in Germany; "Aftermath" and "Soaked," from the Glam Nation tour; and one of Adam's breakout "American Idol" performances, Tears For Fears'/Gary Jules's "Mad World."

Sadly, his now-legendary acoustic rendition of another one of his "Idol" hits, Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love," isn't on here...but still, this is clearly the ideal gift for the discerning Glambert on your Xmas list (who, presumably, already owns the Adam Lambert cabbie hat, faux crocodile clutch purse,

The latest season of the U.K. version of "I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here!" premiered on Britain's ITV this past Sunday. And considering its cast of quasi-celebs--most of whom, other than former it-girl actress Britt Ekland and 2009 "X Factor" finalist Stacey Solomon, won't be known to people on this side of the pond (or possibly even on that side)--it seems the British version of this series can't hold a candle to the most recent U.S. edition, which starred such reality luminaries as Janice Dickinson, Speidi, Sanjaya Malakar, and one of the (non-Alec) Baldwin brothers. However, there's one celebrity on "I'm A Celebrity U.K." that is sure to make the show one wild ride, and that's Shaun Ryder.

One of the maddest hatters of the 1990s' "Madchester" scene, this formerly drug-addicted Happy Mondays/Black Grape rabblerouser's entire life has played out like a not-ready-for-prime-time reality show. His past capers have included accidentally singing onstage with the wrong band (Simply

This week, Damon Albarn's cartoon supergroup Gorillaz premiered the video for their new single "Doncamatic (All Played Out)," which comes out November 22nd on a remix EP. The song features relative unknown guest vocalist Daley, a debonair Mancunian with a uniquely androgynous vocal style (he's been mistaken for a female singer in some blogs) and an even more unique hairdo that gives similarly towering-tressed pop stars (La Roux, Janelle Monae, "X Factor" twins John & Edward, Ryan Cabrerra, Flock Of Seagulls) some serious coif competition.

"Doncamatic" is, as is the case with all Gorillaz projects, a fabulous video and single. But its debut has fans wondering...just who is this Daley fellow?

Well, online info on Daley, even on his own MySpace and Facebook pages, is scarce. He aptly describes his sound as "neo-soul, pop, and R&B, infused with ambient/experimental vibes," and he's apparently been recording and performing for a while now. But his Gorillaz guest spot is his first big

Well, dear readers, you have Sanrio to thank for helping you no longer fear death. Because now that the Japanese company has hosted an amazing 50th anniversary VIP party in Los Angeles, you all know exactly what Heaven looks like. Something like this:

Yes, the beloved institution that birthed our 2D childhood pals My Melody, Little Twin Stars, Chococat, Tuxedo Sam, Badtz-Maru, Keroppi, and of course Hello Kitty has been around for a half-century...and to celebrate, Kitty and all her furry friends threw a massive bash at Santa Monica's Barker Hangar on November 11 that put even last year's mind-blowing Hello Kitty 35th birthday parties to shame.

Kicking off a 10-day, open-to-the-public, celebratory "Small Gift Los Angeles" spree of Hello Kitty sushi-making and cupcake-decorating classes, DJ dance parties, Hello Kitty Sephora makeup tutorials, and Sanrio-inspired art installations from 50 artists across 11 rooms, this opening gala offered everything that Sanrio-loving celebrity guests