Blog Posts by Lyndsey Parker

The Coachella Festival kicks off a week from today, upon the scorched earth of California's Indio desert--meaning we're already starting to pack our economy-sized bottles of SPF 70 sunblock, baby wipes, portable battery-operated misting fans, sun umbrellas, earplugs, glowsticks, and travel packs of RU-21.

After all, one can never be too prepared when it comes to this rock 'n' roll endurance test, which is now a three-day lost weekend of bands, bands, bands.

However, the best way to prepare for Coachella is to reflect on some of the fest's best performances over the last nine sunstroked years. And 2004 is perhaps THE best year to begin. First, 2004 was the year of the much-ballyhooed reunion by Pixies (whose Kim Deal, pictured above, returns to Coachella this year with her own reunited Breeders). This reunion launched a noble Coachella tradition in which everyone from the Jesus & Mary Chain to Gang Of Four to this year's Verve have gotten their act back together at the festival.

THIS JUST IN: Clive Davis--the man largely responsible for launching, ruining, and almost ruining the careers of Carrie Underwood, Bo Bice, and Kelly Clarkson, respectively--has been dethroned as chairman and CEO of BMG.

Here's the report, hot off the AP wire:

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Clive Davis replaced by Barry Weiss as BMG head

04/17/2008 6:00 PM, AP

Nekesa Mumbi Moody

Legendary music executive Clive Davis has been replaced by Barry Weiss as chairman and chief executive officer of the BMG label group.

Parent company Sony BMG announced the move Thursday. The 74-year-old Davis will become chief creative officer of Sony BMG. Two other BMG executives also departed in the label shakeup.

The 49-year-old Weiss oversaw several labels as president and CEO of the Zomba Label Group. He helped grow Jive Records from a small imprint to a major force with such blockbuster acts as Britney Spears, Usher, the Backstreet Boys, Justin Timberlake and 'N Sync. Recent

Another week, another restraining order. Yep, the last seven days have generated all sorts of disorder-in-the-court headlines, so let's get to it before the celebrities in question slap a restraining order on That's Really Week to stop all our smack-talkin'...

First, the temporary restraining order against Britney Spears's disreputable former (mis)manager, Sam Lutfi is still in place, until at least July 31--which is undoubtedly good news for Brit, who recently reunited with her ex-Svengali Larry Rudolph, the man who oversaw her rise to megafame in her B.F. (Before Federline) years. See, when Larry's not serving as a judge on the MTV talent show Rock The Cradle, he's apparently doing a decent job spearheading Spears's long-awaited, long-delayed "comeback." Along with securing her a plum guest-starring role on How I Met Your Mother a few weeks ago, Larry nudged Britney back in to the recording studio this week, and got her training with vocal-coach-to-the-stars Ron Anderson (a man who's

It was down to the lucky seven tonight...except one of them was about to get a lot less lucky. Still reeling from the unexpected elimination of Australian sensation Michael Johns (and from the super-uncool way in which Ryan Seacrest gave Michael the boot), the remaining finalists stood in the wings, waiting to find out which among them would go down under this week.

Obviously a guy who loves to toy with people's delicate emotions, judging from his mean-spirited fakeout with Michael last week, tonight Ryan broke out his old divide-and-conquer routine. Remember that time in season 3, that infamous night when he split the finalists into safe and unsafe groups, and shockingly the bottom-three group consisted of Fantasia, LaToya London, and Jennifer Hudson? And then he put poor George Huff on the spot by making him guess which group he belonged to? Well, Ryan was up to his old tricks this evening, making some contestants stand to his right and others to his left, but not letting on which

There have been some pretty major mentors on American Idol over the years: Stevie Wonder, Jennifer Lopez, Gwen Stefani, and Burt Bacharach, just to name a few. But there's never been a bigger superstar mentor than the ultimate diva and Randy Jackson's BFF, Mariah Carey...who uncoincidentally is releasing her new album, E=MC2, this week. Ryan described the woman as "unstoppable," and while that's not entirely true--that Glitter fiasco stopped her pretty good, for a while--she is no doubt a positive role model for anyone who's had to overcome adversity. Because being in the bottom three ain't nothing compared to what this lady's been through.

But anyway, as I mentioned in my previous blog about this season's mentors, usually when an Idol contestant tackles a Mariah song, it proves to be a very, very bad decision. Because the finalist is inevitably--and almost always unfavorably--compared to Mariah. So the finalists seemed set up for failure tonight--and naturally, I steeled myself for

Last night Miss Rap Supreme debuted on VH1, and I already know it will be viciously battling for precious DVR space with my other favorite shows.

Created by Ego Trip--the geniuses behind last year's televised search for the "next Eminem" called The White Rapper Show (click here to see what that program's instantly obscure winner, $hamrock, has been up to)--Miss Rap Supreme is a TV talent hunt for the next Missy Elliott, Lil' Kim, Salt and/or Pepa, Yo-Yo, etc. Yo-Yo is in fact one of the Miss Rap Supreme judges, along with The White Rapper Show's host, MC Serch of 3rd Bass.

Well, among the "Femme C's" in the running for the Miss Rap Supreme title is a woman named Khia. Yes, that Khia. The Dirty Southern belle behind the raunchy 2002 hit "My Neck, My Back." If you don't remember Khia's classic filthfest, you're probably more sheltered and clean-living than the nuns that Khia and her competitors auditioned for on last night's show. But just in case you've supressed that memory, here's

Leave it to Miley to upstage Madonna. Madge is finally back on the scene, following up her recent Justin Timberlake-inducted appearance at the 2008 Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame ceremony with a hot new video starring Justin and Timbaland, "4 Minutes." But now another Divine Miss M--and a pop star less than a third her age, yet--is already stealing Madonna's thunder.

Yes, Miley Cyrus and her hanger-on BFF, Mandy Jiroux, are extending their four minutes of fame the new-fashioned way--on YouTube--with the  latest installment of their viral video series, "The Miley & Mandy Show." And webisode #15 features M&M getting into the groove to Madonna's new hit, vogueing up a storm all over the Cyrus household.

Sure, lots of teens make silly amateur videos in their bedrooms...but only a teen with a Montana-sized paycheck could make a home video complete with professional battling backup dancers, sequined dance-crew costumes, graffiti-splattered sets, and ninja fighters.

Compare and contrast

We may all remember the "skinny Elvis or fat Elvis?" debate that raged when The King got his likeness placed on a U.S. postage stamp. But now the new dispute among philatelists (and Idol-ists) will likely be "Carrie or Kelly?"

Yes, Fox just announced a partnership between American Idol and Photostamps.com to release limited-edition postage stamps of all six past Idol winners (yes, even Taylor Hicks), along with a stamp of this season's eventual champ.

Which makes the recent elimination of Michael Johns even sadder for his ladyfans, who undoubtedly would've relished the chance to give the heartthrobby Aussie rocker a good thorough lickin' (sorry, couldn't resist).

This week's featured Kelly Clarkson stamp can already be purchased HERE, although I did find the stamp-sheet pic on this page a little confusing. See, upon closer examination of the shirt-and-tie stamp, I did realize it was Kelly from her famous "Natural Woman" performance...but for a minute there, I actually mistook that