Music Artists, Videos and News

By Lisa Gonzalez

Chris Brown was expected to appear in court today in Los Angeles but ultimately didn’t show, with his lawyer revealing that he’s trying to get the case dismissed. Every media outlet in the greater L.A. area, however, did show up — though most of them had swine flu on the brain.

I arrived at the courthouse at 7:30 a.m. to cover Brown’s court appearance, along with my camera guy Erick. We circled the building repeatedly, checking every possible entrance, but found no sign of Chris. Now, I find it difficult to form thoughts before my morning cup of coffee, so it took me awhile to realize there were no other press outlets there. Or protesters. Or even paparazzi! (And those guys always show up anywhere in L.A. a celeb might be.)

By this time, we got word that Brown wasn’t coming, but I noticed several media trucks gathering at another courthouse. The first thought in my caffeine-free mind was: “Rihanna must be here!”

We high-tailed it five blocks with all our gear and stepped right into a media circus. Another crew told me the lawyers were issuing a statement in 10 minutes. Great! We got our camera ready, wedged our news mic onto the podium, and we were ready to go.

Then I heard rumblings about swine flu. The next slow-forming thought surfaced: “The swine flu?!? This isn’t for Rihanna?!?” Apparently the other big story at the courthouse today had something to do with the swine-flu epidemic.

Two breaking-news stories at the same location — what were the chances? Eventually, we got our story as we made our way to the other courthouse just in time to catch Rihanna’s lawyer exiting the building. All in a day’s work!

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By Eric Ditzian

In this age of ubiquitous Internet video, nothing is ever forgotten. Every time somebody sticks a camera in front of your face, expect that footage to one day pop up somewhere on the Web. Just pray it’s not embarrassing.

“American Idol” front-runner Adam Lambert, he of the acrobatic voice and inventive wardrobe, doesn’t have to worry — dude always sounds amazing.

Case in point: This 2008 video of Lambert singing a sped-up, jazzier, piano-accompanied version of Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy” at the Upright Cabaret in West Hollywood, California. This past weekend, his cabaret buddies staged an “Upright Loves Lambert” tribute concert during which artists and musicians — including many from the musical “Wicked” and Hollywood revue “The Zodiac Show” — performed songs that had some connection to the “Idol” fave.

Since debuting on the talent competition in January, Lambert hasn’t sung many contemporary tunes. But listen to this version of “Crazy,” and you’ll hope he rocks out some new-millennium anthems in the weeks to come.

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Whether you call the trip a honeymoon or you call it a “music-video shoot” (as Heidi does), “Hills” co-stars Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag are in Mexico during a dangerous time. The country’s swine-flu epidemic is no laughing matter.

Of course, that begs the question why a music-video shoot would be scheduled in a place with a highly contagious disease outbreak. But that’s neither here nor there.

So, like any responsible adults, Speidi are taking appropriate precautions against catching, as she put it “pig flu.”

Good luck, guys. Be safe.

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By Rya Backer

This past weekend, MTV premiered “Camp’d Out: I’m Going to Performing Arts Camp,” which featured three young hopefuls vying for stardom … in an Upstate New York summer-camp performance of “Carousel.” And it looks like Debbie — sorry, Deborah — Gibson has followed suit with her own haven on the other side of the country, called Deborah Gibson’s Electric Youth. According to its Web site, the camp is “committed to offering the highest level of performing arts camp for serious young performers available in the industry.”

Last night, Gibson and Ryan Black’s 88’s Cabaret hosted an Evening of Electric Youth with Deborah Gibson. It was described as “a benefit event for the Gibson Girl Foundation,” which offers scholarships to her various performance clinics. Many a performer showed up, including other teen idols of past and present: Jonathan Knight of New Kids on the Block (who also sang alongside Gibson), Howie Dorough of the Backstreet Boys and Nolan Gerard Funk of “Spectacular.”

But the star of the show appeared to be Gibson’s stylist. According to photos of the event, Deborah Gibson’s evening saw four costume changes.

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For the most part, we can’t argue with People’s 100 Most Beautiful List for 2009. We certainly do think that guys like Robert Pattinson and Zac Efron are beautiful — no, actually, hot. And let’s not forget dreamy.

And, yes, we cannot argue with the fact that Angelina Jolie, Frieda Pinto and Disney stars like Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato are very beautiful, strong women with amazing careers and boyfriends.

When we initially glanced at the list, we saw the name Jonas and thought, “Well, obviously, the Jonases are beautiful and totally deserve to be on this list. They are an uber-successful pop act, and it would be strange if they didn’t.”

But there was one thing that was not rational about this: The editors over at People may have forgotten a Jonas Brother! And, no we don’t mean 8-year-old Frankie. Nick and Joe managed to make the list, but, the eldest Jonas, Kevin, didn’t. It just seems weird that only two thirds of the world’s cutest pop act would be named Most Beautiful.

Well, you know what? Kevin, you made our list. You always do. To us, every Jonas Brother is beautiful.

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