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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Jason Derulo gets giddy with excitement when discussing his feeling as artist with a hit debut single like Watcha Say.

Not because of the fame that tags along with it’s No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, or 750,000 sold copies, or invitation to join Lady Gaga on her Monster Ball Tour,  but the anticipation, knowing that he has so much more potential to unleash.

And the industry doesn’t even realize it-  yet.

“I’m just beginning man,” Derulo tells andPOP from Los Angeles. “It’s definitely an interesting feeling. It’s almost as if I feel like people have no idea of what I can offer as an artist, the impact that I can have.”

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Not much has been spilled regarding Lady Gagas much-anticipated appearance on the show, Gossip Girl.

According to perezhilton.com, the cast has only confirmed that she will be appearing and eluded that it will be something pretty spectacular. Lady Gaga, on the other hand, has revealed actual details about the upcoming appearance.

Gaga explained hat if she was going to do the show, she not settling for a randomly inserted musical performance.

“I hate TV series performances, because they kind of come in out of nowhere, and everyone’s, like, really into the story, and then all of a sudden somebody breaks into song. And it has nothing to do with the storyline, and then it screws everything up. I really sat down with the writers. I was like, ‘Look, I want to do this, and the reason I want to do this is because I am trying to say something that is not mainstream in a mainstream capacity. So, if I can say it on your show, that would be, like, a real coup d’état for me as a performance artist.’ ”

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One thing that everyone can agree on in relation to Lady Gaga: the women knows how to dress.

Her sometimes kooky and outrageous style is what will be earning her a coveted Stylemaker award on Monday night (November 2). According to mtvnews.com, Gaga will be honored by her good friend and über-designer Marc Jacobs with the Stylemaker Award at the 13th annual Accessories Council Excellence Awards. The ACE Awards will be held at Cipriani 42nd Street in New York City and will also honor design icon Diane von Fürstenberg with the Accessory Visionary Award, Barbie as a Fashion Icon, and British fashion house Burberry as Brand of the Year.

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With the touch of a button, Nicolas Dresti delivers a shot of adrenaline to the sea of 30 thousand fans. Their screams are met with his quick rhythmic jumping and head bobbing to the beat on-stage. He’s not the main event, heck he’s not even a co-headliner, but he’s still the man orchestrating one of the hottest concerts on the planet – all from a laptop. This may be Lady Gaga’s party, but DJ Space Cowboy is the event’s power source – the battery that keeps the beat alive.

He’s now on top of the world.

On that night Dresti was the European energizer bunny, but now he’s recharging his own batteries at his hotel. It’s hard to believe that he is the key to Lady Gaga’s live performance successes. The man in the neatly-cut dark-suit and sparkling rhinestone skinny-tie seems sophisticated and quiet – the complete opposite of what a Gaga concert is notorious for.

But it’s true. Look at Dresti and his alter ego DJ Space Cowboy like you would Clark Kent and Superman – they’re both the same person, yet totally different at the same time. Put Clark Kent into a phone booth and he’ll become Superman. Well, put Dresti in front of an audio mixer and laptop, and he’ll suddenly transform into the backbone – or backbeat, if you will – as DJ Space Cowboy, Gaga’s DJ and head maestro responsible for explosive energy in any crowd.

His new album Digital Rockstar dropped earlier this week, and it’s one of the rare chances to really hear Superman-like energy harnessed into one CD.

“Raising the energy bar is one my main jobs as a DJ,” Dresti tells andPOP in the martini bar of Toronto’s Pantages Hotel.

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The track listing for Lady Gaga’s upcoming album, The Fame Monster, has been revealed to include a duo with Beyonce Knowles, reports Perez Hilton.

Lady Gaga’s second studio album will be released Nov. 20 in Europe and Nov. 23 in North America. Songs will include:

1. Bad Romance

2. Alejandro

3. Monster

4. Speechless

5. Dance in the Dark

6. Telephone (feat. Beyonce)

7. So Happy I Could Die

8. Teeth

The first single, “Bad Romance,” was available on iTunes beginning Oct. 26.

Amid fierce rumors that two of the biggest divas in the industry – Beyonce and Lady Gaga- are teaming up, the truth has finally emerged. It has been confirmed that the two singers have joined forces on a super-secret video for Beyonce’s “Video Phone.”

According to mtvnews.com, a spokesperson for director Hype Williams confirmed to MTV that both Beyonce and Gaga appear in the “Video Phone” clip, which Williams shot last weekend in Brooklyn’s Greenpoint neighbourhood.

William’s spokesperson would not confirm any additional tidbits about the shoot, but, according to Life and Style magazine, security on set was very tight, and the video is shaping up to be a fashion bonanza, with Beyonce wearing “a feathered dress” and Gaga sporting “something wild … the fashion is sick and insane.”
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Sorry Kanye West, but Lady Gaga has some of the best tour dates of all time.

Lady Gaga has announced the dates of her headlining tour, “The Monster Ball,” which CHARTattack describes as ”a multimedia artistic experience in the style of a pop-electro opera.”

Gaga will headline this tour alone – no Kanye West for her this time. The West-Gaga Fame Kills tour was allegedly cancelled due to West’s crazy Taylor Swift acceptance speech takeover at the MTV Video Music Awards last month.

Opening for Gaga on the tour will be Kid Cudi, a protege of West’s, who recently released his debut album, Man On The Moon: The End Of Day.

The tour will start in just over a month in Montreal on Nov. 27, and end in New York on Jan. 21.

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The National Equality March is scheduled for October 11, and this year, it’s got a big ticket supporter. Lady Gaga is heading to Washington DC to attend and contribute to the march, which advocates gay rights.

Gaga, an avid supporter of gay rights, is calling her fans to take action and lend their support the the Equality March. The march begins at noon and the rally at 2:00 o.p. o the West Lawn of the Capital building. “This march is a call to action for all people from al over the country to gather to march to be visible as one and to speak out and demand full equal rights for all lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered citizens in all 50 states,” says Gaga.

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Lady Gaga and Kanye West shocked fans on Thursday when they announced they would be canceling their much-anticipated Fame Kills tour without explanation.

But on Friday at an event in New York City, Gaga, who didn’t get into specifics about the cancellation, did say West would be taking some time off and she would be hitting the road on her own.

“Well, actually, it was a mutual decision to cancel the tour,” she told MTV News. “But I’m not taking any time off, so I’ll be leaving just a week later than I was supposed to on my own solo tour. IT will be the same places. So I will see you guys there. I’m putting out my re-release as well – The Fame Monster on November 24.”

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