andPOP - Pop Culture With Substance

Maybe Miley Cyrus is the young American sweetheart she appears to be. The young lucky pop star is dating Australian hottie Liam Hemsworth, her Last Song costar. They are quite official and E! Online reports that when she met his parents they totally fell in love with her too.

“Yeah, they loved her,” Liam tells Michael Yo on tonight’s Daily 10. His parents met the 17-year-old on a recent visit to his hometown Down Under.

“It was really cool to show Miley where I’m from and how I grew up, and it’s a completely different world to where she’s from,” Liam continued. “We don’t have shopping centers or traffic lights or anything like that, where I live at least.”

Miley said she loved it too but for different reasons. Apparently the paparazzi was her selling feature to the continent.

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Orianthi was working in-studio when she got the email from Michael Jackson.

“I remember being in a room writing a song with a bunch of people and I got the email and was like, ‘Is this for real?’ It was really crazy. He wanted me to come in and learn Beat It. I was super nervous,” Orianthi told andPOP from her L.A. home.

The 24-year-old female electric guitarist was personally invited by Jackson to play lead guitar in his final tour “This Is It.” The King of Pop spotted Orianthi’s prodigious talent in a video guitar solo posted on her MySpace account.

However anxious, Orianthi didn’t let her nerves shake her at the audition. Jackson selected the fresh-faced Australian to join him and a group of some of the most talented musicians across the globe for 50 shows that have been dubbed “the greatest concerts that never happened.”

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Wait, so you’re saying she doesn’t really sing at her shows? Well, that is shocking.

After a frenzy of negative reviews for her Circus tour, Britney Spears is speaking out over the lip-synch scandal that started in Australia following her first two shows there, according to rollingstone.com.

“I hear there is a lot of controversy in the media about my show,” a statement by Spears said yesterday. “Some reporters said they love it and some don’t. I came to Australia for my fans.”

The Australian press reported that concertgoers for Spears’ first two concerts in Perth began leaving the venue after only a few songs of Spears’ set, when it became evident that she was lip-synching. Spears has also been criticized for what the media has reported as a lack of engagement with the crowd. She only talked to the audience once, telling them how beautiful Australia was.

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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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Jane’s Addiction have cancelled an upcoming Australian tour due to the hospitalization of Stephen Perkins, the band’s drummer.

The 41-year-old band member has been admitted to Cedars-Sinai Hospital’s Infectious Disease Ward to receive treatment for an infection in his elbow, according to a press release issued by the group’s spokesperson.

“Doctors expect to keep him there for the next few days for further diagnosis and observation while anti-biotic treatment continues,” read the statement, which also said the drummer is expected to fully recover over the next couple of weeks.

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Sir Paul McCartney wants Britain to adopt the Australian practice of “Meat-free Mondays,” to help the environment.

He told The Grocer, “A lot of people go to the gym on a Monday. With meat-free Mondays, it’s a bit like going to the gym but with the added advantage of protecting the planet.”

Because of the huge environmental impact of cattle rearing and meat production, this would mean that less meat would be eaten, so less animals would be needed to feed the population. Thus, the impact of the industry would be reduced.

McCartney points out that though he is a vegetarian, it’s the UN who is encouraging this action.

“One of the most significant conclusions of the recent report on climate change was that we should eat less meat. This is not the Vegetarian Society that said that. It’s the UN,” he said.

Information is pouring in after Heath Ledger’s tragic death on Tuesday.

TMZ reports that five bottles of prescription pills were found in the apartment with Ledger’s body: three anti-anxiety medications (Xanax, Valium and Ativan) and two sleeping medications (Lunesta and Restoril). Restoril is used to treat “debilitating insomnia.” All of the bottles were prescribed to Ledger and were mostly full.

Ledger’s autopsy yesterday was inconclusive. It is still unclear whether his death was a suicide or accidental. However, “Four Feathers” director Shekhar Kapur told the UK Daily Telegraph that Ledger was excited to meet with him the next day, and asked Kapur to call and wake him in the morning.

“I had just arrived in New York [from London],” Kapur said. “He said he could not see me that night but really wanted to meet me the next day. He made me promise that I would call him in the morning and wake him up. I tried. Little did I know that his soul had already left his body.”

Ledger left behind 2-year-old daughter, Matilda. It now appears that Ledger’s “Brokeback Mountain” co-star, Jake Gyllenhaal, will be fulfilling his duties as godfather and aiding Michelle Williams in raising Matilda.

Gyllenhaal already has experience helping out with his niece, Ramona. Gyllenhaal’s sister, Maggie, is also a co-star and friend to Ledger, as she took over the role of Rachel Dawes in “The Dark Knight,” Ledger’s last completed film role.

Williams’ “Dawson’s Creek” co-star, Busy Philipps, is Matilda’s godmother. The Daily Telegraph reports that Philipps has already joined Williams in New York City.

Preparations are currently being made to move Ledger’s body back to Perth, Australia for burial.

Canada, prepare to be invaded! From February 15 to February 18, 2007, G’Day Toronto will be hosting concerts, art, cultural and film events in the heart of Toronto promoting Australian culture and tourism. Held at Dundas Square, this four-day, four-night extravaganza is attracting the crème de la crème of Australian and Canadian talent and dignitaries. The festivities will also include an exclusive music night, black tie gala, a consumer expo and an Australia Zoo Show presented by Terri and Bindi Irwin. An offshoot of the very successful G’Day LA, G’Day Toronto is a celebration of the relationship between Australia and Canada.

Highlights:
Get wet and wild on February 16th, 2007 at G’Day Toronto’s Surfs Up! Sydney Foam Party. The event will bring Sydney’s world famous gay party scene to Toronto’s Dundas Square as part of G’Day Toronto’s festivities. Partiers will defy the winter elements in the heated Aussie Biosphere complete with ’swim up’ bar, sexy Surf Lifeguards (on hand to apply sunscreen and hand out towels as the party heats up), and surrounded by foam, foam, and more foam! Guests will also have the chance to win a trip for two to world-renown Sydney Mardi Gras in Australia. Australian Idol’s Josh Zepps (host of Idol Backstage) will be co-hosting an ‘Aussie Diva’ Drag Show at Surfs Up! Sydney Foam Party with Sofonda Cox, one of Toronto’s most prominent Drag Queens. Internationally known for his irreverent but hilarious sketches, Zepps has performed live on 42nd Street with colleagues from Saturday Night Live, Late Night with Conan O’Brien and Da Ali G Show. International talent DJ Jayson Forbes is going to set the G’Day Toronto dance floor on fire. With his signature big room vocal anthems and funky, progressive house beats, Forbes, who will be making his first appearance on Canadian soil at Surfs Up! Sydney Foam Party, is one of the Australian industry’s most sought after DJ’s.

Come along and join Terri and Bindi Irwin, their friends from Australia Zoo and some of Australia’s most unique and intriguing wildlife for a fantastic Aussie animal show. Bring the kids along on Sunday 18 February and join in the fun and action as our expert handlers teach you all there is to know about our cuddly creatures and creepy crawly critters!

For the first time in over 6 years, internationally successful, Australian rock band Silverchair will be performing in Canada inside the Aussie Biosphere on Feb. 15. This multi-platinum, award-winning band catapulted to international fame with their 1995 debut album Frogstomp, and proved their staying power with the follow-up releases Freak Show, Neon Ballroom and Diorama. All hit the #1 spot in Australia and burned up the North American and European charts. Known for their haunting lyrics and powerful performances, Silverchair’s highly anticipated 5th album, Young Modern, will be released in 2007. The band is currently in Toronto mixing the new album with Canadian Engineer David Bottrill.

For more: www.australiaweek.ca

Singer-songwriter Missy Higgins was crowned top pop princess at the 19th Australian Record Industry Association awards, where she picked up five ARIAs on Sunday.

At the ceremony held in Sydney SuperDome, Higgins, 22, took home best pop and breakthrough artist honours, best new artist, highest selling album and album of the year for her debut set ?The Sound of White,? reports Billboard.

?The Sound of White? has moved 560,000 units in Australia, according to EMI.

“The wins have been the pinnacle to what’s been an amazing year,” said Higgins, who has spent much of this year touring the U.S. opening for Jason Mraz and Ray Lamontagne.

Ben Lee, a music industry veteran at 27, was the other big winner of the night with three ARIAs, including Best Male Artist and Single of the Year for ?Catch My Disease.?

Lee, who fronted his band Noise Addict at 16, had not won an ARIA award until this year,

“Now is the time where I feel like I’m young,” he said, according to ABC News Online.

“I’ve got the passion for my music and the passion to try and say something to the world.”

In a year dominated by breakthrough acts, Perth band Eskimo Joe won Best Group and Keith Urban was awarded Best Country Album for ?Being Here,? while the Go-Betweens took the ARIA for Best Adult Contemporary Album for ?Oceans Apart.?

The music DVD prize went to Jet’s “Right Right Right.”

Jimmy Barnes, who has had six consecutive chart-topping solo albums in his decades-long career, was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame as a solo artist. He had previously been inducted as a member of Cold Chisel.

“There’s been highs and lows but you don’t appreciate the highs without the lows,” he said.

“That’s the beauty of life ? you take it as it comes and if it’s all high you don’t appreciate anything else.”

Rock musician Neil Finn led a poignant moment during the awards ceremony with his tribute to former Crowded House bandmate Paul Hester, who committed suicide earlier this year.

After organizers aired a video tribute to Hester, Finn performed an acoustic rendition of the band?s hit, ?Better Be Home Soon.?