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Recap of top stories for the second half of this week

Top 5 stories for second half this week

Was Paula Abdul Drunk?

antiMusic reports: TMZ thinks they know why Paula Abdul screwed up her lines on American Idol, seems that Paula may have been at the bottle. Here is the TMZ report: Paula's loopy antics were the highlight of an otherwise boring "American Idol" episode -- and TMZ has learned a mid-afternoon cocktail may be to blame.

Abdul was bubbly when she left Maggiano's around 1:00 PM yesterday and had to have an assistant shut her up. Spies inside tell TMZ that Abdul was served at least one martini while in the restaurant.

Must have been a stiff drink or she's a major lightweight -- "Idol" didn't go live for another four hours. - Watch the video here

Ugliest People In Music

antiMusic reports: Ever wondered who the ugliest person in music is? Well let Gigwise give you a few suggestions in their new gallery.

Following the publication of last years Ugliest People in Music gallery – which saw Shane MacGowan come top – we've just unveiled part two The new gallery has been created using the feedback of Gigwise readers, a lot of whom seemed to think Amy Winehouse didn't scrub up to well.

[Some highlights include no. 11 Mick Jones of The Clash- No. 7 Gene Simmons- No. 4. Mick Mars of Motley Crue- 3. Ric Ocasek- You'll have to go to - Gigwise to see No. 1 and the rest of the hall of shame. ]

Jimi Hendrix Sex Tape

antiMusic reports: Think that popstars and 80s glam rockers are the only ones to fall victim to sex tapes? Think again, as a rock icon who has been dead for almost 40 years is the latest celeb to get the sex tape treatment. It's Jimi Hendix and, no, he doesn't say, "'cuse me while I kiss this guy". But one of the two women in the tape might. You'll have to buy it to find out.

Idolator has the report: Vivid Entertainment is releasing a 45-minute DVD purporting to be a sex tape of Jimi Hendrix, and from the description, it sounds like the tape is definitely maybe Hendrix. Or an impersonator. Or, y'know, some dude who has an Afro and rings on his fingers.

As the New York Times describes it: "The film shows a naked man who resembles Hendrix, the guitar legend who died in 1970, wearing a bandanna in his Afro, having sex with two brunettes in a dimly lighted bedroom. His full face appears on screen for only a few seconds, with his eyes closed. In other portions there are flashes of his profile. But his hands, bedecked with rings, roam large on the screen at times." - more on this story

GNR Reunion Hopes Slashed Again

antiMusic reports: Slash must feel a bit like John Lennon and Paul McCartney did during the 70s. He goes into every interview knowing he'll be asked about a Guns N' Roses reunion, despite having addressed the issue several times in the past. So it's no surprise that a new interview by Eddie Trunk includes this predicable question. But in this case Slash offers up the main thing that has kept him from joining back up with Axl. He also discussed the changes within Velvet Revolver.

Here is a quick summery of both topics that was posted on BW&BK: Velvet Revolver will continue. They are in the early stages of looking for a new singer. He wants someone who is a pro, but with no baggage. He agrees with me that VR could have made better records and said that due to inner band issues some of the best material written never made the CDs. He said they knew (Scott) Weiland was done prior to the European dates and had made the decision to replace him before he even knew it. The core of the band remains together and committed to making a great album and will continue. He acknowledged the scary similarities between Axl (Rose) and Weiland and how things unraveled, and said he was much more willing to hang in there with Guns but would not tolerate it again with Scott.

He understands how people hope for a GN'R classic line-up reunion, but says it is very unlikely at any point in the near future. He said that there are issues on his end with Axl and issues from Axl's end with him. He feels Axl's issues with him will be harder to resolve than his issues with Axl. Essentially Slash said one of his biggest problem with ever working with Axl again would be Axl being professional and playing on time and showing up for things - more on this story

Fan Sues Fall Out Boy Over Beating

antiMusic reports: When you think of Fall Out Boy's Pete Wentz, the last thing you assume is that he is capable of giving someone a beat down. That's probably true, but add some security dude to the mix and you're looking a lawsuit waiting to happen. According to TMZ that's exactly what transpired: Wentz is being sued by a guy who claims the makeup-wearing, emo rocker and his security beat him at a Fall Out Boy show last year.

According to a lawsuit obtained by TMZ, Andy Kallas claims was watching the boys perform at Schuba's Tavern in Chicago, when Wentz and his peeps beat him to a pulp for several minutes.

Kallas claims he suffered "serious injuries to his head, mouth and face." The way the lawsuit reads, the attack was totally unprovoked. But here's the deal. We're told Kallas was loud, obnoxious and heckling the band before the incident. - more on this story

Idol Fix Exposed

antiMusic reports:
Idolator smells a conspiracy under foot on American Idol and they say they found proof that the fix is in. And it all revolves around Paula Abdul! Of course the very idea of someone like Abdul judging singing talent would make anyone suspicious. Ol' Paula made a major boo boo bice during Tuesday night's broadcast. Here is what Idolatory had to say about it:

Paula Abdul's stupor may have pulled back the curtain on the plot to destroy Jason Castro tonight—it was the first night that the contestants sang two songs each, so they ran through all their initial performances, then came out to be judged at the end of the first half-hour.

And Paula used this opportunity to tell Jason, who went first, that while she liked the use of his lower vocal register on "Forever In Blue Jeans," his second song "felt like your usual charm was missing for me... it left me a little empty. The two songs made me feel like you're not fighting hard enough to get into the top four." But he only performed one song! Apparently those second-song comments were meant for David Cook—but then when Paula "recovered" to give Cookie her critique. - more on the conspiracy

Wednesday

Vanilla Ice Battery Charges Iced

antiMusic reports: Vanilla Ice can breath a sigh of relief now that he's no longer on criminal thin Ice. Here is TMZ with the details: TMZ has just learned that domestic battery charges against Vanilla Ice have been dropped -- completely.

Ice -- real name Robert Van Winkle -- is a free man after the April 10 incident, in which he allegedly kicked and hit his wife Laura.

According to the court order, Laura recanted her statement and there were no independent witnesses to the battery, so the case got tossed. We're also told that one witness who did come forward said the incident was only verbal. - more on this story

Flying Pink Floyd Pig Escapes!

antiMusic reports: All citizens in the Coachella Valley are warned to be on the look out for a giant flying pig that went missing during a Pink Floyd member's performance this past Sunday night at the Coachella festival. A hefty reward is being offered for the safe return of the pig.

The pig was sporting a pro-Obama message so perhaps some Hilary supporters cut the leash? Though we're not sure if having such a message on a pig was really meant as support or was an attempt to send some kind of ironic message. Still no comment from Peta at press time, but here are the details from the people that put on the event:

Coachella organizers are offering $10,000 and four (4) festival tickets for life in exchange for the safe return of the two-story inflatable pig that broke loose during Roger Waters' set on the final night (Sunday, April 27) of the 2008 Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival. The pig escaped and floated into the desert sky just prior to the intermission between Roger Waters' back-to-back sets--marking the only back-to-back Coachella sets by one artist in the critically acclaimed festival's history. - Watch the piggy take flight!

New Ozzy Sabbath CD Unlikely

antiMusic reports: Heaven And Hell (Ronnie James Dio, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, and Vinny Appice) recently sat down with Goldmine contributor Bryan Reesman for an extensive cover story interview where they talked about their entire history, including touring, their various reunions, and recording a new album together.

During the interview Geezer addressed the very unlikely idea that Black Sabbath would record a new album with Ozzy Osbourne. In fact, he made a joke of notion.

"I don't think we've got that many years left to do an Ozzy album," Butler said. "Maybe we'll do it in Hell. We could do quite well down in Hell." They actually seem rather intent with the Dio fronted line-up they have now. You can more of the interview at Blabbermouth. - You can read more of the interview at Blabbermouth.

Topless Miley Photo Just Misunderstood

antiMusic reports: The famed photographer that took the controversial topless photos of Miley Cyrus has spoken out and she basically says that her "art" was misunderstood. We'll let our friends over at Hecklerspray tell you about it in their own special way: There's an angry mob forming over those 'topless' Miley Cyrus pictures in Vanity Fair - but the question is, whose house shall we burn down first? We can't burn down Miley Cyrus' house because she's already apologised to her fans and blamed all the evil grown-ups for exploiting her - so that just leaves Annie Leibovitz, the woman who took the photos of Miley Cyrus in the first place. Let's get her!

Except we can't, because Annie Leibovitz has apologised for the Miley Cyrus photos as well. OK, maybe 'apologised' is a strong word - instead Annie Leibovitz has called everyone stupid for not appreciating the beauty of her art, but she phrased it like an apology. An apology that we accept. We think. Oh, we're so confused. Let's burn down the camera factories!

In a statement released on Monday, Annie said: "I'm sorry that my portrait of Miley has been misinterpreted. Miley and I looked at fashion photographs together and we discussed the picture in that context before we shot it. The photograph is a simple, classic portrait, shot with very little makeup, and I think it is very beautiful." - You don't want to miss Hecklerspray's humorous response (and the stuff we cut out because it's illegal in the U.S.)!

Disturbed Vs Label

Blabbermouth reports: Disturbed frontman David Draiman has expressed the band's frustration at not being able to preview new songs from their forthcoming album, "Indestructible", due to contractual obligations.

He told Rolling Stone's "Rock & Roll Daily" blog, "Isn't that horrible, how things have become? It would be really nice to see how a crowd reacts to the new songs early on, but there's too much dependency on that first week sales number and you can't sacrifice any of the impact of that."

With leaked tracks becoming commonplace, the band's label has nixed all but a few of the songs from the June 3 release for live consumption. The band is currently performing "Perfect Insanity", "Inside the Fire", a new-to-live-audiences b-side called "Hell", and the live debut of "This Moment", their "Transformers" soundtrack tune. - more on this story

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Thursday

Lip-syncing Leppard?

antiMusic reports: There is a bit of a controversy brewing over at Blabbermouth. The site posted a news story about two Def Leppard TV appearances, along with video clips, that caused some people to question whether the band was playing to a CD recording on one show and then performed so badly on the other program that maybe they should have lip-synced.

The article started innocently enough, "Def Leppard kicked off the release of its new album, 'Songs From The Sparkle Lounge', yesterday (Tuesday, April 29) with a couple of high-profile television appearances on ABC's 'Dancing With The Stars' and 'The Ellen DeGeneres Show'." The site included YouTube videos of the performances. That's when the trouble started. The readers didn't ask why Def Leppard would play 20-year-old songs to showcase a new album, instead they voiced their suspicion that the band had "performed" to a CD track on "Dancing with the Stars." But it was the real live performance on Ellen that elicited the strongest responses.

Pukeman44 wrote, "My mom put on Dancing With The Stars when Def Leppard performed, and there was no doubt in my mind that was the CD version of Pour Some Sugar On Me being played, and not the band playing it live. LOSERS!" Then bagofsoup said, "Hard to decide which is more pathetic: Miming to a 20-year old recording with the solid gold dancers parading about, or that god-awful live performance of Hysteria." zeets succinctly added, "I'd say at this point ellen has more balls than def leppard". - ouch. but can this be excused?

When Pigs Fly They Die, Pink Floyd Pig Found Slaughtered

antiMusic reports: When Coachella festival organizers offered a reward for Roger Water's two story flying pig, that floated off into the desert night during the rockers headling set, they didn't say that the pig had to be in one piece.

The good news is that the pig was found a few miles from the festival grounds. The bad news is the flying pig was turned into sliced ham, as pieces of the pig were found in the yards of two nearby homes.

"That's definitely our pig," producer Bill Fold told AP. Fold told AP that the festival organizers will split the $10,000 reward money between the two people that brought them the pieces of the pig.

So the next time when someone says "when pigs fly," you can tell them "they die!". - Read the AP report for more info.

Miley Wasn't The First Disney Star Manipulated into Taking Dirty Photos

antiMusic reports: This story is a bit silly but too funny to pass up after all the hoopla over seeing Miley Cyrus's, gasp, bare back! Seems Disney doth protest too much, according to TMZ: So if you're buyin' what Disney has been sellin' lately -- that they are appalled by the Vanity Fair pics of Miley Cyrus -- you're more gullible than a weapons inspector in Iraq.

TMZ has turned up Disney ads marketing lacy, sexy lingerie by models who are made to look underage. They're hawking bras, undies and lacy boy shorts. They are nothing short of seductive. The photos are being used by Zhenxin Garment Company to sell Disney clothes in China.

So who "manipulated" Winnie the Pooh into a three-way with jail-bait looking chicks? For the record, Annie Leibovitz didn't take these photos. [The good news is that R.Kelly could become an ad exec for Disney if he ever wanted a career change. - Go to TMZ to see these photos which are far more revealing then any of the controversial Miley shots. ]

UB40 Replace Singer With His Brother

antiMusic reports: Blood apparently is thicker than red red wine. UB40 didn't have to look far to replace their departed singer Ali Campbell. In fact, they just looked to Ali's brother Duncan to fill the slot.

Duncan has joined the group to replace his brother and he will reportedly share the vocal duties on the road with reggae singer Maxi Priest, according to the BBC which also reported:

"He said he asked for Ali's blessing before stepping in, but stressed they were not otherwise on speaking terms. 'I told him if he objected strongly, I wouldn't do it,' Duncan said. Ali replied that he was 'disappointed but didn't object'" - Read the BBC report

Weiland Plans Double Album and Autobiography

antiMusic reports: Stone Temple Pilots frontman Scott Weiland took to his MySpace page to give fans an update on his plans which not only include the STP reunion tour, but also a jail term (which he didn't mention), a autobiography and he revealed that his new solo album will be a double disc affair that will touch upon rock, punk and R&B.

Here is what he had to say: "I felt the need to check in and let everyone know what the latest and greatest is...as you know, my original band, STP, have reunited and are gearing up for our 4 month tour of the U.S. this summer. I'm really excited to be back in cohoots with my old buddies and share that tingly feeling when we perform.

"I've been crazy busy since coming off tour and never get the chance to sleep in anymore! I have been working on my solo record, which will be a double album due for a November release. It's gonna be awesome, with many different musical influences like rock, punk, R&B as well as an eclectic blend that we've come up with over the years. Can't wait for everyone to hear it. I'm also in the process of writing my autobiography along with famed writer David Ritz, also due out toward the end of the year. It will be a collection of stories, experiences and lessons throughout my life. Definitely a good read." - If missed the news about the jail term, click here

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Friday

Snoop To Show Lindsey Lohan How To Do It Doggy Style

antiMusic reports: Snoop's a friendly guy and he'll go into the studio with just about anyone (aside from Bloods). Don't believe us? Guess who Mr. Dogg is working with now? Lindsey Lohan. At least that is what some reports are claiming.

You see Lindsey needed some "cred" for her third album, since the last two were pretty much panned by everyone in the universe, including aliens from the planet Celebutard who usually eat up anything tabloid superstars toss out.

So Lohan has reportedly called upon a string of acclaimed urban producers to help her with the album. Snoop is the latest knob-twister rumored to be helping Lindsey in the studio. Other producers reportedly linked to this future "album of the year" include Timbaland and Pharrell Williams. - more on this story

Hendrix Camp Responds to Sex Tape

antiMusic reports: To say that the Hendrix estate is unhappy about the new supposed Jimi Hendrix sex tape would be a bit of an understatement. The estate, which is run by members of Jimi's family through Experience Hendrix LLC, have spoke out against the new tape being distributed by Vivid Entertainment.

"We, Experience Hendrix, the family company of Jimi Hendrix are aware of the release of the adult videotape which alleges to contain illicit footage of Jimi Hendrix. We strongly dispute the claimed authenticity and affirmatively state that Experience Hendrix is neither involved in, nor have we authorized the distribution of this film. Further, we deplore this unsubstantiated exploitation of Jimi Hendrix.

"We view the release as nothing more than a callous attempt to trade on the image and reputation of a deceased artist who is unable to defend himself against such an outrageous and baseless assertion. We are highly offended by the disgraceful portrayal. - more on this story

The Mark of the Winehouse

antiMusic reports: Apparently some people care about such stuff so we pass it along. Hecklerspray gives us the latest dirt on Amy Winehouse and it's not pretty, which if you think about it is rather fitting: After reports emerged that she's been cheating on incarcerated husband Blake Fielder-Civil with a dull-looking boy and a lank-haired photographer, now it's claimed that Amy Winehouse has also been secretly sleeping with one of Babyshambles as well.

A pal revealed: "[Babyshambles guitarist Mik Whitnall] says they've slept together a couple of times. He told a few people after that stuff about her and Alex Haines came out. It's always supposed to have happened when they've been on a bender. Telling people about her birthmark is his way of proving it happened. It's male bravado."

Yes, you see, Amy Winehouse has a birthmark that only people who sleep with her can see. It's an unusual birthmark - it resembles several red needlemarks all over where her veins are - and it's difficult to see under the inch-thick layer of scar-tissue, self-inflicted burn marks, crusted-up vomit, scabs, weeping open sores and chronic impetigo that covers Amy's body like a manky exoskeleton, but it's there and it's incriminating. - more on this story

Weezer Stick It To The Man

antiMusic reports: [Most people missed the sarcasm the first time around, here is another shot at it.]The label bossed told Weezer's Rivers Cuomo "more cowboy, more cowbell!" So he gave them "Pork and Beans" in response. Cowbell being a mindless pop hit, and "Porks and Beans" being the song that was inspired by being told to dance by the label.

That's the story that Rivers is telling when he is asked about the first single from the band's new album. He related the tale of woe of a meeting where the stuffed shirts at DCG rejected the songs the band had demoed for the new Weezer album. They needed "more cowbell" damn it! It's not like Rivers has a long track record and has released several successful albums, they didn't think the new songs "pop"ped and ordered him to write one that did.

"I came out of it pretty angry," Cuomo told Rolling Stone of the meeting with the corporate shirts. But out of diversity comes inspiration. "But ironically, it inspired me to write another song." That song was "Porks and Beans". The fitting inane title is sometime used as a euphemism for the "lowest common denominator". And Rivers attacked that mentality with a gusto with the lyrics, while at the same time giving the suits a one finger salute. - more on this story

Nickleback Singer Sentenced For DUI

antiMusic reports: Chad Kroeger can now write the final verse to his new song "This is how you convict me!" Chad was sentenced for his DUI conviction so the new verse can now go: "I've been wrong, I've been down / To the bottom of every bottle / Despite words in my head / scream 'Is this all I get?'"

Kroeger was sentenced to the bare minimum when he appeared in court on Thursday. Just what is the crime of driving with twice the legal limit of alcohol in your system going for these days? A staggering $600 fine and a year without a drivers license.

He was approached by reporters on the courthouse steps and he wasn't asked directly for his reaction to this heavy handed sentence or if he was sore-y, he was asked instead what he would tell his young fans. "Don't drink and drive. Absolutely," he replied. "I don't condone drinking and driving. I don't think you should do it. Everybody makes mistakes." - more on this story

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