andPOP - Pop Culture With Substance

The Museum of Contemporary Art holds a lot more than just priceless works. This weekend, the L.A. art gallery hosted a 30th anniversary gala attended by dozens of celebs, including Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, Jessica Alba, Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale, and Pierce Brosnan.

Undoubtedly the biggest splash of the event was Lady Gaga, as usual. Performing in Franceso Vezzoli’s Ballets Russes Italian Style (The Shortest Musical You Will Never See Again), Lady Gaga played a pink piano covered in blue butterflies designed by artist Damien Hirst for the performance art piece.

Vezzoli is known for merging celebrity and fine art. His latest exhibition is called Greed: A New Frangrance by Francesco Vezzoli and plays with the strategy of launching a commercial fragrance like so many celebrities try.

Lady Gaga was a welcome guest at the event, donning an elaborate Japanese Geisha-like couture costume.

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In yet another case of The Music vs. Acitivision, No Doubt are filing a lawsuit against the makers of Band Hero.

The suit contends the game “transformed No Doubt band members into a virtual karaoke circus act,” and the use of the band members’ avatars far exceeded anything agreed upon in the contract, according to the Los Angeles Times. One aspect of the game allows players to manipulate their characters into singing songs by other artists, for example having lead singer Gwen Stefani sing “Honky Tonk Woman” by the Rolling Stones.

“While No Doubt are avid fans of the Rolling Stones and even have performed in concerts with the Rolling Stones, the Character Manipulation Feature results in an unauthorized performance by the Gwen Stefani avatar in a male voice boasting about having sex with prostitutes,” the complaint reads.

The complaint also claims Activision withheld information on the Character Manipulation Feature, and allegedly told the band after they had requested to the have the function disabled that it would be too expensive to do so.

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It’s difficult to say if Solange Knowles’ hip factor is real, or if it’s just the cause of hanging out with her uber-cool older sister. But she sure seems to be harnessing it nicely. O Friday, her cover of The Dirty Projectors’ “Stillness is the Move” surfaced on Pitchfork.com before being yanked by Universal at the label’s behest.

Unimpressed, Solange took to Twitter to voice her frustrations.

“So fucking crazy universal has been taking down a COVER I’m NOT selling or trying to publish. Never heard of that shit in my life! Not to mention Dirty Projectors, LOVED the cover& all parties are happy Doesn’t Lil Wayne a Universal artist rap over other folks records?”

Solange has certainly stepped up her media presence since her days as the Disney version of Beyonce.

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Rihanna’s triumphant return to the industry just got a little more risque with clips of her new video, “Russian Roulette” surfacing online. The video, directed by Anthony Mandler, depicts Rihanna undergoing a collage of violence, including images of her underwater riddled with bulletholes.

Mandler says it’s all a metaphor, but eyebrows are naturally being raised in the wake of the Chris Brown abuse scandal.

“I think that with this song and the meaning of this song and how loaded it all is, no pun intended, how much imagery and perhaps symbolism that is loaded in this song, the only way to do it was to do something that was visually challenging,” Mandler told MTV News.

The video premiered on 20/20, this following a series of public appearances from Rihanna who avoided the spotlight since the February incident. Rihanna appeared in a candid interview with Diane Sawyer, in which she revealed details of the attack and the affect it had on her life. Earlier this month, she was recognized by Glamour Magazine as the Woman of the Year.

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Nicolas Cage has made a LOT of movies, so realistically, he should have enough money in the bank to afford the entire city of New Orleans. But according to People.com, Cage owes $6.3 million in back taxes and now he is blaming it on his business manager.

Samuel J. Levin is now facing a lawsuit from Cage himself, but has not released any statements.

The lawsuit stated Levin “lined his [own] pockets with several million dollars in business management fees while sending Cage down a path toward financial ruin.” Cage is now apparently forced to sell major assets in order to cover the tax liabilities, according to the lawsuit.

His two houses in the French Quarter of New Orleans were auctioned for a collective $4.5 million on Friday, about one-third of their appraised value.

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The death of DJ AM, a.k.a. Adam Goldstein, is going to the courts in a bizarre twist of events that links it with the plane crash DJ AM survived  in Sept. 2008, according to TMZ.

The estate of Adam Goldstein is filing a ‘wrongful death’ suit against Clay Lacy Aviation, the airline responsible for the jet that crashed with both DJ AM and Travis Barker (of Blink 182) on board. The claim is that Goldstein was terrified of flying, and used drugs to calm his nerves.

The suit in the L.A. County Superior Court notes Goldstein was prescribed a number of drugs to cope with the burns he suffered as well as the distress following the crash. The travel service, Goodyear Tire, Learjet and the estates of the two pilots who were killed in the crash are also being sued by Goldstein’s estate.

Goldstein’s death in August was caused by a lethal cocktail of prescription drugs as well as cocaine.

Britney Spears’ first show of her 14-gig Australian tour was a bigger spectacle than expected.

A review in the Sunday Telegraph claims fans stormed out halfway through the show in Perth in an outrage over her lip-synching. But today, News.com.au filed an article giving the other side of the story: that one Australian reporter fabricated the whole thing.

It’s a case of “you had to be there”, but for Spears, it’s still hurtful. Paul Danity, her Australian tour promoter, says she is “extremely upset” and has been holed up in her Perth hotel since the incident on Friday night.

Reports were circulating the fans walked out of the show, despite having paid up to $1,500 for tickets and driving more than two hours to get there.

“It’s the biggest lie I’ve ever heard,” Dainty told The Australian.

“I’m so angry. We can take heat if there’s something wrong and people can review shows badly — that’s something you have to live with — but to say people stormed out of the show was an absolute fabrication.”

The Perth Burswood Dome released a statement in Spears’ defense.

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The weather outside will soon be frightful, and Canada’s Fucked Up is getting ready to make music to match. The Polaris Prize winners are using their prize money to record an all-star rendition of “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” a remix of the 1980s charity song by Band Aid.

So far, Fucked Up have accumulated an all-star lineup of musicians, if a little peculiar.

“David Cross, members of Vampire Weekend, TV on the Radio, Broken Social Scene, the GZA, Bob Mould, No Age, and Yo La Tengo are all confirmed,” frontman Damien Abrahama a.k.a. Pink Eyes told New York Magazine. ”I’m still waiting on confirmation from Feist, Jarvis Cocker, and M.I.A. We wanted the biggest people we could get. If we could get a Jonas Brother on this, I would get a Jonas Brother.”

The song was first recorded in 1984 for famine relief in Ethiopia by Band Aid, a group featuring musicians such as Queen, Paul McCartney, Bono, George Michael, Sting, David Bowie, Bananarama, Culture Club, Duran Duran, Kool & the Gang, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Spandau Ballet, and Status Quo among others. Written by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure (Ultravox), media attention took off and the song became the biggest selling single in UK singles chart history.

Needless to say, Geldof decided to remake the song in 1989, featuring Kylie Minogue, Jason Donovan and Banarama under the name Band Aid II. In 2004, Band Aid 20 appeared, starring Coldplay (who proposed the idea), Bono (again) and Dizzee Rascall rapping an interlude.

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For the loud-mouthed nature of Aerosmith’s frontman Steven Tyler, the news that he has quit the band is being kept pretty quiet. So quiet even Joe Perry, his bandmate of 40 years, hardly knows what’s going on, according to the Guardian UK.

Perry told the Las Vegas Sun, “Steven quit as far as I can tell.”

The speculation follows a statement from Tyler to Classic Rock Magazine that he is embarking on a new project, that is working on “Brand Tyler.”

There is no news on the band’s website, but Perry took to Twitter to lament the loss of his frontman.

“Hasn’t called me in months. A bit cold. What about fans? The people that also love him and put him where he is. After 40 years? …Last time I phoned him he hung up on me,” Perry wrote.

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Turntables are becoming as much a part of a touring rock band these days as a guitar or the lead singer’s skinny blue jeans. But it’s still a novelty when someone actually knows how to use them.

Kid Koala is no rookie. After four solo albums all promoted with elaborate interactive tours, and opening slots for the likes of Radiohead, Bjork, RJD2, DJ Shadow and Beastie Boys (on their Hello Nasty tour, no less), the man knows his way around the booth.

By association, then, Kid Koala’s project called The Slew was a guaranteed success from the outset, despite the outlandish nature combining his fusion-jazz turntable leanings with a hard-rock rhythm section.

Making up The Slew is Wolfmother’s rhythm section (bassist Chris Ross and drummer Myles Heskett), as well as Koala’s frequent collaborator Dynomite Dan (Dylan Frombach), under the studio direction of Mario Caldato Jr. (who produces the Beastie Boys).

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