Bon Iver, Brian Setzer, Mint Condition's Stokley Williams among this year's Grammy nominees

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All bets were on Adele heading into last night's Grammy nomination ceremony (now a nationally televised event tailored to milk the big reveal for every last commercial penny), and she certainly held her own, receiving a total of six nominations from the Recording Academy. Kanye West, too, scored big overall, leading the pack with seven separate nominations.

But the big reveal had its share of surprises, too, especially for indie rock fans -- Radiohead tied Adele for five nominations, including Best Rock Song and Best Rock Performance, while Foo Fighters somehow managed to be nominated for both Best Rock Performance and Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance among several other nods.

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Kanye West channeled Michael Jackson for Halloween

Categories: Pop Culture
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The celebrity blogs are hopping this morning with photos of stars in their Halloween costumes (Heidi Klum is by far the scariest and most stunning), but there was one that caught our eye: Last night, Kanye West showed his love for the King of Pop by dressing as Michael Jackson.

The photo comes courtesy of Twitter user @40oz_VAN, who is the other person in the picture and was at a party in NYC with Kanye last night. (Friendly tip: don't follow the links back to his Tumblr page if you're at work.)

Check out the full size photo here:


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Mark Mallman song featured in the season finale of Jersey Shore

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Photo by Erik Hess
Local indie superhero Mark Mallman tweeted on Monday that his song "Light the Dynamite and Run" (from 2009's Invincible Criminal) would be featured on Thursday night's season finale of Jersey Shore. The song's ultra-intense title (perfect for a patented Jersey Shore slow-motion drama staredown) and anthemic chorus made sense for a season finale that was likely to be filled with meatball cookas, unprotected drunken sex, fighting and... fighting. 


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Fred Durst to add self-parody to resume with family-friendly sitcom

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He's helped popularize plodding, misogynistic rap-rock and backwards red baseball caps. He's incited the shiftless youth in a Woodstock audience to riot. He's been an unashamedly creepy stalker of young, blond Hollywood pop starlets. He's been involved in film projects involving skateboarding culture. Now, Limp Bizkit lightning rod Fred Durst would like to monopolize an adjusted-for-commercial, half-hour-interruption of your precious viewing time with a CBS sitcom about, well, Fred Durst, possibly staring a guy looks suspiciously like Fred Durst. 

According to Billboard News, the tentatively titled Douchebag "will revolve around a rock star trying to balance his family life with his career commitments."

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MTV VMAs 2011: The 5 most talked about moments from this year's show

Categories: Pop Culture
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It says something about the age we're living in that you don't even need a television to stay caught up with MTV these days, so following along with this year's VMA's required little more than a Twitter account, a couple searches on YouTube, and an unrelenting desire to watch a bunch of pop stars congratulate themselves. Voila! Here's last night's show, distilled down into the five notable moments everyone's talkin' about today.


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Frances Bean Cobain turns 19 years old today, making us all feel very old

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When Kurt Cobain took his own life in 1994, after the initial shock and sorrow faded away, what I was left with was a deep concern and sympathy for his baby daughter, Frances Bean, who was only a year old at the time. Not only would she grow up without a father in her life (and constantly be under the gloomy shadow that Cobain still casts over the music world at large), but she would be under the care of Courtney Love, who herself has proven to be rather unstable and erratic in her lifestyle and parenting choices (and having Michael Stipe and Drew Barrymore as godparents has to be quite a trip as well). Despite all of that, Frances is, incredibly, turning 19 years old today.More »

Madonna turns 53 today, and her influence is felt now more than ever

Categories: Pop Culture
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Today is Madonna Ciccone's 53rd birthday. And while the eternal Material Girl has wisely ceded the pop spotlight of today to the younger generation of starlets, her influence is still felt in the way modern female musicians are viewed, regarded and accepted. In the early '80s, Madonna broke down a lot of the industry doors that young entertainers stride through so brashly and confidently these days, while also giving music fans a reason to dance and think at the same time.

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Ticketmaster and Walmart join forces to make your life even more convenient

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Know what'd be really convenient? Like really, really convenient? If everything in our lives was completely automated and available from one giant place. Need your oil changed? Walmart! Need Fig Newtons? Walmart! Need Lady Gaga tickets? Walma-- wait, what?

In a deal announced today, corporate conglomerate Ticketmaster (which is owned by Live Nation) will start setting up kiosks in Walmart stores, offering shoppers a one-stop point-and-click shop where they can purchase tickets to all their favorite sporting, theater, and music events.

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Tim Pawlenty loves Gaga, Springsteen, says conservatives don't offer up much in the music world

Categories: Pop Culture
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Tim Pawlenty took a break from campaigning for his GOP presidential candidacy in Ames, Iowa, yesterday to answer some "fun" questions from pop culture-heavy political site Gliterazzi. After answering a question about his favorite music artist of all time (Bruce Springsteen) and his nickname T-Paw, Pawlenty took over the interview to get the young bloggers riffing on Lady Gaga.

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4 reasons why Lloyd's new tattoo is awesome

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This week's big news from perpetually rising R&B heartthrob Lloyd--real name, no gimmick--isn't new album King of Hearts, which hit the streets Tuesday. It's the new tattoo he's sporting, a colorless melange of guns, roses, and shading inked around the back of his head like a piece of especially masterful barbershop art, a complicated twist on the classic fade style. Lots of people have tattoos on their heads; psych-ward MC Gucci Mane notably had a lightning-bolt-sprouting ice-cream cone etched into his cheek in blood-blister fashion not so long ago. 

But where Gimme Noise worried that impressionable youth would follow Gucci's example, we'd actually like to see them take some pointers from Lloyd. After all, if you're going to take the tattoo plunge, why not be savvy about where that pulsating needle mutilates you?

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