Blog Posts by Wendy Geller

Willy Moon (Photo: NBC)If you’ve found yourself humming the anthemic “yeah yeah, how you like me now” chorus that set a rainbow of colorful iPods a’bouncin’ in Apple’s recent TV spot—you’re not alone. The artist responsible for the foot-stomping tune, Willy Moon, has managed to carve out a name for himself in short time as both an innovative soundmaker and style influencer.

Moon, 23, has engineered his image since leaving his native New Zealand for London at age 18. A self-described “autodidact” who dropped out of school at age 16, Moon traveled Europe and settled for some time in Berlin, where he was inspired by retro pop music and began writing his own material in earnest.

Returning to London, he adopted a sharply groomed, midcentury suit-and-slicked hair look to offset his modern-sounding musical production—a combo that attracted attention right away when he released his first single via MySpace in 2010. He scored a record deal with Island Records, who put out his first EP.

By 2012 he caught the eye of rock

Photo: Christopher PolkThe nation was shaken this week by images of terrible destruction caused by tornadoes in Moore, Oklahoma — and one country star in particular is feeling his home state's pain.

Toby Keith, who grew up in Moore and whose name is on the Moore water tower, says that although the damage is terrible, he has faith that his home town will be able to rebuild itself.

"This storm has devastated the community that I grew up in. I rode my bike through those neighborhoods," he observed in a statement issued on Monday. "I have family and friends in Moore. My heart and prayers go to those that have lost so much."

John MoenJohn Moen is a busy artist: In addition to his post with the Decemberists, he's worked with such names as Stephen Malkmus's Jicks, Elliott Smith, and Robert Pollard's Boston Spaceships (as well as quite a few others over the years). He's also got a solo career, performing under the name Perhapst, and is poised to release his second album in this capacity.

Photo: Ethan MillerThe CMT Awards are coming up rapidly, and country music fans will definitely want to tune in when hearing the latest round of artists scheduled to perform at the show.

First of all, the King of Country, George Strait, will be taking the stage. That should be enough for anyone — but to add to the fun, he'll be joined by Carrie Underwood, Darius Rucker, Florida Georgia Line, Jason Aldean, Keith Urban and Lady Antebellum!

Chely Wright and Lauren Blitzer Wright (Photo: Jason LaVeris)Chely Wright is no doubt feeling a little "blue" this week, as she and wife Lauren Blitzer Wright celebrated the birth of their identical twin sons on Saturday.

The boys are named George Samuel and Everett Joseph — after their great-grandfathers — and, according to a report from People, are doing great despite arriving a bit ahead of schedule. The babies were originally supposed to be born sometime in June.

Photo: Jerod HarrisGiven his remarkable success in the genre, it's safe to say that most country fans enjoy Darius Rucker's music. However, the Grand Ole Opry member was the target of a racist tweet over the weekend that, understandably, set off his ire.

"@dariusrucker Leave country to the white folk," read the tweet, from a user identified as @pqkullman (the account has since been deactivated).

Move over, Miley Cyrus. Your crazy jumpsuit has some serious competition. Jennifer Lopez took the wildest outfit of the night award at the 2013 Billboard Music Awards, when she showed up to perform in a revealing leotard.

Wildly revealing on the bottom, that is. While her famous legs and booty were well on display, J-Lo was more than adequately covered up on top--especially her arms, which sported sleeves made of massively fluffy amounts of feathers.

Photo: Ethan Miller

Photo: Ethan MillerWhen Kid Rock took the stage to present the award for Top Rap Song of the year at the 2013 Billboard Music Awards, he immediately attracted attention for the random mug (with unknown contents) he was clutching.

However, the multi-genre artist managed to neatly steal the spotlight from his mystery drink with a single neatly barbed statement.

"Let's give it up for people lip-synching under pre-recorded music," the singer said wryly, before presenting the honor to Macklemore & Ryan Lewis for the hit tune "Thrift Shop."