People's Choice? Vampires- Ke$ha Vs Susan Boyle- Michael Jackson Vs Taxpayer- Beyonce New Year Controversy- Leona Lewis Not Queen of Leon and more

As predicted, Chart-topping rockers Kings of Leon have dismissed reports they're lining up an odd collaboration with British pop star Leona Lewis. Recent British tabloid reports suggested the band had persuaded the Bleeding Love singer to join them in the studio more -

Susan Boyle Scores Biggest Selling Release of 2009

Susan Boyle proves that dreams still can come true as the following announcement from Columbia Records shows: Susan Boyle's 'I Dreamed A Dream' (Columbia/Syco) is the biggest selling release of 2009 after only six short weeks since being released on November 23, 2009.

'I Dreamed A Dream' continues to hold the #1 spot on the Billboard 200 for the sixth consecutive week with 136,000 copies sold, with a total of 3.1 million copies sold to date.

Internationally, Boyle's debut album was also #1 again on the charts this week in Australia, New Zealand and the Netherlands. 'I Dreamed A Dream' has shipped over 8 million copies worldwide. - more on this story

2010 Grammy Nominees CD

The Recording Academy's Grammy Recordings has partnered with EMI Music to release the 2010 Grammy Nominees CD, the 16th edition of the best-selling series highlighting artists and songs nominated for the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards.

The 20-song collection will be available Jan. 19 and a portion of the proceeds from the sale of the CD will benefit the MusiCares Foundation and the Grammy Foundation, two charitable organizations established by The Recording Academy. For more information about the Foundations, please visit www.grammy.com.

"The diverse mix of tracks contained in this fine collection offer some of the great songs and artists that make up this year's talented crop of nominees," said Neil Portnow, President/CEO of The Recording Academy. "We look forward to another successful chart-topping year and to providing further support to the important work that MusiCares and the GRAMMY Foundation continue to do year-round. And, we thank EMI Music for their collaboration on this exceptional album." - more on this story

Snoop Bowl VIII

Entertainer and hip hop icon Snoop Dogg has announced that his eighth annual "Snoop Bowl" will be played in South Florida on February 6, 2010. Snoop's nearly undefeated team, the Snoop Dogg All Stars, will square off against a local youth football team from Miami coached by Miami Dolphins linebacker Joey Porter and superstar wide receiver Terrell Owens. The event promises to be a spectacular one and with an amazing plight focused on kids.

Annually, the "Snoop Bowl" has the Snoop Dogg All Stars traveling to the Super Bowl to challenge a team of all stars from the host city. Last year, Snoop's team decisively defeated the Mike Alstott led Tampa All-Stars, 22-6, in Tampa. This year the challenge moves to Miami, and anything can happen.

During its existence, the Snoop Bowl has drawn huge crowds and raised more than $100,000 for charities; this year will be no different. The game will be played at Miami's mecca for high school football, Traz Powell Stadium. Snoop says, "I am happy that we've been doing this event for eight years - the kids love it and I do too. The future NFL stars play in this game annually and its fun to watch the kids imitate there favorite NFL stars. The Snoop Bowl is as big as the Super Bowl to every kid playing organized football in the USA because they aspire to play against my team or to be coached by Coach Snoop "The Great." I love being me wouldn't you like to be an All Star too?! I also want to thank Title Sports Drink for stepping up to participate in something that is not only good for the community but a ton of fun, ya dig?" - more on this story

Regis and Norah Jones

Norah Jones will be kicking off 2010 with a series of TV, radio and online performances in support of her critically-acclaimed new album The Fall. Jones, whose career sales have just surpassed 40 million worldwide, will be performing on Live! With Regis And Kelly on January 14.

On January 12, Blue Note Records will release the Chasing Pirates Remix EP digitally and as 12" vinyl. The remixes—which were premiered online last month on RCRD LBL, Stereogum, and Artist Direct—include "That's What I Said (The NYC Remix by Adrock and Mike D)," "Chasing Pirates (Santigold and Snotty Remix)," and "Chasing Pirates (Droogs Remix)," which was created by a remix collective that included Beck.

Upcoming Jones will also be taping performances for Clear Channel Radio Stripped and PBS Soundstage, as well as taking part in the GRAMMY 2010 MusiCares Person Of The Year tribute to Neil Young on January 29 in Los Angeles. Jones is nominated for a 2010 GRAMMY Award for Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals for her duet with Willie Nelson on "Baby, It's Cold Outside" from his album American Classic. She will be launching a 36-city U.S. tour in support of The Fall on March 5 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. - more on this story

Tanya Morgan 2010 Plans

Rather than become complacent on past achievements, Tanya Morgan is keeping their six feet planted firmly in the future as 2010 dawns. In addition to jumping into the initial stages of their third group album, currently scheduled for a first quarter 2011 release, on March 23rd, Donwill will release his solo debut, Don Cusak In High Fidelity, which is thematically based on the cult-favorite film and novel High Fidelity, while both Von Pea and Ilyas will be planning their own solo efforts. Von Pea's Pea's Gotta Have It is currently slated for a late summer release while Ilyas' Hello, Hell will follow in the fall.

Despite being three separate projects, Tanya Morgan views the solo albums as a trinity of sorts, being released as three different suites representing the whole of the group's individual identities. Speaking on his third of the triumvirate release, Von says, "Pea's Gotta Have It is the album I daydreamed about making one day back when I was in high school so it's told from the perspective of a high school student. It starts on the first day of senior year and it ends right before graduation."

Although the focus this year will be on solo efforts, the trio will team up plenty of times in 2010. In addition to each member popping up on each other's solo efforts, fans can also look forward to catching the trio on the road, as Tanya Morgan will be performing a number of shows throughout the year, in addition to making another appearance at the annual SXSW music festival in March.
- Myspace link

Jaguar Club Where No Wild Things Are

Brooklyn's Jaguar Club are set to ring in the new year with a digital single and music video for the song "Where No Wild Things Are" from their critically acclaimed debut album, And We Wake Up Slowly.

The single (available digitally worldwide on January 19th) features the album version of "Where No Wild Things Are" and two previously unreleased tracks: a live recording of "Who Says We're The Last" from the band's recent in-studio at WREK Atlanta and an acoustic guitar and Casio fueled gospel/folk re-imagining of "Where No Wild Things Are".

A film-school inspired video - conceived, directed, and edited by the band - will be released on the 19th as well and will be available for download with purchase of the Single on iTunes. Shot on 16mm film with a vintage Bolex camera, the video captures the epically bleak nature of the song with interpretations of art, life and religion through kite-flying, fire-building, and action-painting. - more on this story

Valgeir Sigurasson Scores Dreamland

Icelandic producer and composer Valgeir Sigurasson follows the success of his solo debut Ekvílibríum—which The Fader called "a singular album, as ornate as it is direct"—with the soundtrack to the documentary film Dreamland (Draumalandið), to be released February 22 on his Bedroom Community label.

Dreamland, a documentary about the exploitation of Iceland's natural resources, tells a story about huge things—the fortunes of a whole nation; the destruction of vast landscapes; and the global economic forces, greater still than any nation, that fuel it all. Sigurðsson matches the film's serious purpose, bringing his entire roster of Bedroom Community label-mates to contribute in some way to the creation of the score. Composers Nico Muhly and Daníel Bjarnason, industrial wizard Ben Frost, and American folksinger Sam Amidon and the small orchestra assembled for the record swell from moments of expansive beauty into massive, surging symphonic force.

Dreamland the film takes on the delicate task of unmasking the apparent win/win proposition of Iceland's aluminum smelting boom—clean energy! new jobs! economic growth!—as a false blessing with very real consequences. Likewise, Dreamland the soundtrack takes global, seemingly abstract questions, and offers deeply personal responses. - more on this story

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