By Jon Wiederhorn
Boogie Cordell Mosson, Bootsy Collins, Tye Tribbett and Dr. Cornel West (Johnny Nunez, WireImage)
Legendary funk bassist and guitarist Cordell "Boogie" Mosson, who played with the Parliament-Funkadelic collective since their heyday in the ‘70s, died on April 18 at the age of 60. The cause of death remains unknown.
Read More »from Parliament-Funkadelic Member Cordell “Boogie” Mosson Dies at 60
(Nigel Waldron, Getty Images)
Boy, that Justin Bieber just can't seem to stay out of trouble. Swedish police say they found a small amount of drugs and a stun gun on his tour bus in Stockholm, where the teen idol performed Wednesday night.
Police spokesman Kjell Lindgren tells Reuters that an officer smelled marijuana on an empty tour bus outside the hotel where Bieber was staying. The raid took place 30 minutes before the pop star took the stage.
"The police went onto the bus and searched it and found a small amount of narcotics," Lindgren said in a statement.
Read More »from Justin Bieber’s Bus Invaded by Swedish Police, Drugs FoundActor Steve Buscemi has been pulling out all the stops to help Vampire Weekend promote their forthcoming album, Modern Vampires of the City, and a New York City concert by the band that Buscemi is set to direct.
Buscemi--who recently discovered he was a distant cousin of Vampire Weekend bassist Chris Baio--has been seen in comical videos surfacing all over the Internet in the past couple of weeks in which he chats people up about the band and hands out flyers to promote the show.
In the new clip below, he's seen on a Big Apple tour bus, shouting at tourists through a microphone that they should check out "the Vampire Weekend!" and distributing flyers to persuade people to come to the gig. Meanwhile, the New York indie-rockers play it cool, inconspicuously kicking it in the back of the bus and letting Buscemi do the heavy lifting.
In previous clips, Buscemi, who's known for his roles in Reservoir Dogs and The Big Lebowski, can be seen handing out Vampire Weekend flyers to passengers on
Read More »from Steve Buscemi and Vampire Weekend Accost NYC Tourists in Video Clip
Mat Zo, Arty, will.i.am (Getty Images)
That crazy will.i.am. not only is he the leader of multiplatinum act the Black Eyed Peas, but now he has a budding solo career with his new hit "Let's Go."
With the track, will.i.am has joined an elite list of legendary song thieves and he admitted as much during a recent radio interview. He came clean and said that Arty & Mat Zo's 2011 track "Rebound" served as the basis of "Let's Go," his new collaboration with Chris Brown.
Read More »from will.i.am and the Biggest Song-Stealers of All TimeBy Jon Wiederhorn
(Barry King, WireImage)You gotta believe Mark Wahlberg still loves his old home town. Now maybe we’ll see just how much he’s willing to do for the city of Boston.
Wahlberg said he would put his old hip-hop group Marky Mark and The Funky Bunch back together to play a tribute concert for the victims of the Boston Marathon bombings, according to TMZ. Wahlberg reportedly made the announcement to a reporter as he was leaving T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria, Virginia.
Apparently he won’t have to twist the arms of his former music mates -- Scottie Gee, Hector the Booty Inspector, DJ-T and Ashey Ace -- to make it happen. In a March interview with TMZ, The Funky Bunch said a reunion would be “amazing.”
Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch group formed in 1989 and recorded two albums, 1991’s Music for the People and 1992’s You Gotta Believe before breaking up. Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch were best known for their 1991 number one single “Good Vibrations.”
Read More »from Mark Wahlberg May Reunite with The Funky Bunch for Boston Marathon Bombing Tribute Concert?By Soren Baker
Wilbrent "Gonk" Bain, the brother of rapper Trina, was shot and killed in Miami Tuesday April 23, according to media reports.
Police said they have arrested 27-year-old Ron Dobson in connection with the murder of Bain, according to reports. Bain was shot and killed on Northwest 91st Street, according to residents. Bain and Dobson were longtime friends who lived close to one another.
But they had had a long-running dispute and when Bain got off his bicycle to approach Dobson at approximately 9:35 a.m. Tuesday, Dobson shot Bain multiple times, according to reports. Bain was unarmed, according to police.
Read More »from Brother of Rapper Trina Shot and Killed in MiamiBy Laura Ferreiro
(Al Pereira, WireImage)It's hard to forget the less-than-flattering images of Beyoncé that circulated around the Internet after the 2013 Super Bowl. The contorted grimace and unseemly scowl of the usually perfectly coiffed pop star were captured during her halftime performance and posted online ad nauseum.
By Laura Ferreiro
(Robert Beck, Sports Illustrated)No one can accuse Beyoncé of doing things halfway. The pop superstar just released an official teaser trailer for her massive world tour, "The Mrs. Carter Show." Although the clip only runs one-and-a-half minutes, it features nearly a dozen wardrobe changes and Beyoncé's trademark fierce dance moves, all while her perfectly coiffed golden mane blows in the wind.
It kicks off with Beyoncé rising up through the floor wearing angelic white. We soon catch a glimpse of Mrs. Jay-Z flying over the crowd in a jewel-encrusted body suit. She's seen belting out "Halo," "Run the World (Girls)" and "Love On Top" as pyrotechnics light up the stage.
"How y'all feeling? I want you to put your fists up!" she shouts, effectively riling up the crowd and getting them to pump their fist in the air.
Read More »from Beyonce Dazzles, Flies Over Crowd in New Trailer for ‘Mrs. Carter Show’ World TourBy Jon Wiederhorn
Apparently American artists aren’t the only ones that occasionally put their feet in their mouths by accidentally insulting other cultures and nationalities. When they released their new video "Panic Station" on April 22, British rockers Muse caused a mini-panic among politically correct viewers in Korea and China by including a shot with an image of the Japanese Rising Sun flag in the surreal, sci-fi clip.
Unbeknownst to the band or video director, the Rising Sun flag is traditionally related to Japan’s imperialistic history, and was used as a military symbol until the end of World War II. Since the flag was flown during the Japanese occupation of East Asia during the Pacific War, many people are still offended by the imagery.
Read More »from Muse Causes Outrage with Rising Sun Flag Imagery in “Panic Station” Video
Olivia Newton-John (Photo: Neil Mockford)Olivia Newton-John is stepping down from show business for the time being--but stepping up to support her sister, whom she revealed this week has cancer of the brain.
The 64-year-old Newton-John, herself a survivor (she was diagnosed with breast cancer nearly two decades ago), put recent plans to headline Las Vegas's Flamingo Hotel on hold when she heard that older sister Rona, 69, had the disease.
Read More »from Olivia Newton-John Stands by Sister With Cancer DiagnosisNEW YORK (AP) — In one photo, a woman is on all fours, presumably picking something up, her posterior pressed against a glass window. Another photo shows a couple in bathrobes, their feet touching beneath a table. And there is one of a man, in jeans and a T-shirt, lying on his side as he takes a nap.
BERLIN (Reuters) - Germans lamented their unexpectedly poor showing at the Eurovision Song Contest, blaming Chancellor Angela Merkel's tough stance in the euro zone crisis for their failure to win any points from 34 of the 39 countries voting. Denmark's Emmelie de Forest won the event, watched by around 125 million people across Europe, with 281 points while German act Cascada was 21st out of 26 countries, getting just 18 points from Austria, Israel, Spain, Albania and Switzerland. ...
MONACO (AP) — The glittering star power of Cannes migrated up the coast to Monaco for front-row seats at Dior's colorful, sexy cruise fashion show.
MALMO, Sweden (AP) — Denmark's Emmelie de Forest has won this year's Eurovision Song Contest with her ethno-inspired flute and drum tune "Only Teardrops," despite tough competition from spectacular stage shows by performers from Azerbaijan and Ukraine.
By Belinda Goldsmith CANNES (Reuters) - Native American actress Misty Upham never dreamt she would be walking the red carpet at Cannes to showcase a film shot on her reservation. Upham features in "Jimmy P. Psychotherapy of a Plains Indian", focused on the relationship between World War Two veteran Jimmy Picard, a Native American Blackfoot, and Georges Devereux, his psychoanalyst. Upham said like Picard, played by Puerto Rican actor Benicio Del Toro, she is Blackfeet, the largest tribe in Montana state. ...
MALMO, Sweden (AP) — An ethno-inspired flute and drum tune from Denmark is the bookmakers' favorite to win this year's Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday, which also features a bizarre opera pop number from Romania and an Armenian rock song written by the guitarist of Black Sabbath.