Donald Trump Takes Credit For Discovering Lady Gaga

 

As if wealth and success weren't enough for The Donald, he's also claiming he has a helpiing hand in the music industry.

Lady Gaga has become one of the world’s biggest pop powerhouses, earning recognition, awards, and lots of money in the little time that she’s been on the music scene. Now, well-respected business man Donald Trump is taking credit for Gaga’s rise to fame.

In his latest book, Time To Get Tough: Making America #1Again, he discussed his role in owning the Miss Universe pageant, and his encounter with an aspiring artist by the name of Lady Gaga. He gave her the opportunity to be the headlining act at the 2008 Miss Universe Pageant.

He says, “I own the Miss Universe Pageant. And about four years ago, during what you call half-time, we always have an entertainer. We've had a lot of great people, and you don't pay them anything because it's one of the biggest audiences and my people told me, 'Nobody knows who she is but there's this woman with good talent named Lady Gaga.'"

Mr. Trump continues, “I said, 'I don't care ... if you like her, put her on.' "So we put her on ... it was live all over the United States and all over the world and the next day, nobody was talking about [the winner of] Miss Universe, everybody was talking, 'Who was the woman, who was the entertainer? She was unbelievable.'"

He insists that she acknowledges his role in her success and is grateful to him, "She's been very gracious about it ... I don't want to say we made Lady Gaga, but she was incredible and that was her break."
Well, Donald is all about success and appearances so it’s not all that surprising that he’d be taking credit for her success. It’s nice that he gave her a chance to shine. Maybe that’s just what she needed to get her career in motion.

Courtney Love Facing Eviction After Townhouse Fire

 

Rocker Courtney Love is facing eviction after reportedly setting her rented townhouse on fire and making some cosmetic changes to the interior.

Courtney Love is in trouble once again after being accused of setting a fire to her New York City townhouse.  The former girlfriend of Kurt Cobain, who pays $27,000 a month in rent, is now facing eviction.  According to reports from CBS news, Love’s landlord is trying to get the rocker out after she caught curtains in a bedroom on fire, along with other parts of the home this past June, and made some changes to the property that was not allowed.


"This can't be my property," Love’s landlord Donna Lyon stated.  "I came to New York to see it and I was horrified by what she had done. The walls that had been hand-painted and glazed were ruined, covered in damask wallpaper and ice-blue paint."

Courtney Love has only been renting the house for ten months, and per Lyon the cost to fix all of the damage is estimated around $100,000.  "I got a call from her accountant, who said, 'Miss Love is fine,' which I was glad to hear.  But I thought, 'What about the house?'"  The two will apparently be headed to court over the matter on Dec. 21^st.

In the meantime, Courtney Love, who is also said to be behind in her rent by $50,000, insists that she did not damage the property, and doesn’t owe Lyon rent.  The former member of Hole told the NY Post a different version of events.

“I haven’t fallen behind on the rent — I have been paying month to month as agreed. My rent is current, but the owner is now asking for the remaining two months’ upfront. Even though it’s not required, I’d happily pay that and another six months’ rent upfront if she would extend the lease for six months. I have repainted, but I asked permission, and used a painter approved by the owner.”

Madonna Signs to Interscope; Release Date for Album Announced

Madonna’s upcoming album, her first out of three for Interscope Records, will hit stores in March 2012.
 

From now through the end of 2012, Madonna has an intensive schedule of releasing, promoting, and touring. Announced today, Madge’s upcoming album will hit stores in March 2012 on Interscope Records, while her film W.E. will have an early February wide release – just days before her halftime performance at Super Bowl XLVI. Fans should expect the album’s first single “Give Me All Your Love” at some point in January.

Madonna’s upcoming album will be her first on Interscope out of three through a licensing deal, which is supposedly worth $40 million, with Live Nation Entertainment. About working with Madonna Live Nation Entertainment Chairman Irvin Azoff told Billboard:
"Live Nation, prior to the merger, entered into some of these all-rights deals, so there are certain artists, Madonna being one of them, that there is a recorded music strategy. Once she gets the album recorded, we'll sit down with her and her manager Guy Oseary and figure out what's best for the record. It has to start with the music."

Signed to Warner Bros. for 25 years, Madonna left her former label after Hard Candy, supposedly as the result of a disagreement with Edgar Bronfman. Her new contract with Live Nation and Interscope encompasses not only an album but also touring and merchandise.

PerezHilton.com reported earlier in December that Madonna will, indeed, tour for her upcoming album. Her tour supposedly begins at the end of May in Tel Aviv, goes through Europe, and will do a series of dates in North America in August and September.

W.E., Madonna’s second film behind the camera, will preview in December. However, while she reportedly was not contributing to the soundtrack earlier, PerezHilton.com mentioned that leaked track “Masterpiece” may appear in both the film and on her album. Listen to a rough version of “Masterpiece” here.

Lady Gaga Not Playing Amy Winehouse in Biopic

 

Lady Gaga will not be starring in a biopic of Amy Winehouse, contrary to news reported over the weekend.

Over the weekend, Amy Winehouse’s father implied that Lady Gaga would play his daughter in a biopic. He, however, later retracted that statement, on Twitter and through a spokesperson to Entertainment Weekly.

Originally, he was reported as saying to the press: "I have heard that Lady GaGa is keen to play Amy in a film. I don't know what her English accent is like but it's not just an English accent she would have to perfect - it's an English-Cockney-Jewish accent so she better start practising now. But she would be great."

He then tweeted: "I never said Lady GaGa will play Amy in film. Also Amy's room not a shrine. Wot a load of rubbish. Mitch (sic)."

A spokesperson for the family then clarified: “Mitch and the family would entertain ideas perhaps for a film but only one they were sure would tell the truth.”

At one point, Winehouse’s former boyfriend Reg Traviss was asked to direct a biopic, but he turned it down, telling MTV: "I guess a biopic is inevitable. I have been asked but I honestly don't think I could do it. I'd be too close to it. […] But whoever does write and direct the film may exaggerate certain points to make it more 'Hollywood'. The family would want to be involved to make sure that it's done justice. But right now it's all too raw."

This week, the late Winehouse’s posthumous album Lioness: Hidden Treasures hit No. 1 in the U.K. About the news, her mother, Janis, told the press: "It’s such amazing news that Amy’s album has gone to number one, and just goes to show what she still means to people."

Do you think an Amy Winehouse biopic should be done? Or, is it too soon to even think about it?

The Ting Tings Announce Sophomore Album ‘Sounds From Nowheresville’

 

Following up their successful debut, The Ting Tings are releasing their sophomore album, ‘Sounds From Nowheresville,’ on March 2012.

Following up their 2 million-selling debut We Started Nothing is an auspicious task for The Ting Tings. With a U.S. release date set for March 2012, the Manchester, U.K. duo’s sophomore album will have a different, rock-to-dance pop-spanning sound. About their upcoming album singer Katie White told SPIN: "We didn't want to sound like everything else on the radio. The problem when you have a hit record is that everyone expects the same thing over and over again."

Titled Sounds from Nowheresville, the group’s sophomore album was recorded in Paris, Berlin, and Mercia, Spain, but a fair portion of the material was written on the road. Jules de Martino explained: "We didn't want to repeat everything we'd been through in Manchester, working in that environment. So we wanted to find a new challenge, and living in Berlin was a massive challenge: the language barrier, the food, the isolation."

He went on to describe their songwriting and recording process: "We spent so long on the road — recording music and touring — that the whole musical element of the album came from everywhere and nowhere. When we're apart, Katie will have an idea, record it, and then audio-text it to me. The chorus of 'Guggenheim' was written after Katie had a few drinks and was in the back of a cab."
Aside from the music, The Ting Tings went back to their art scene beginnings with an artwork contest, Show Us Yours. Up-and-coming artists were encouraged to submit photographs, graphics, and videos, and the group incorporated them into the visual aspects of the album. Milan Abad’s piece was picked for the cover art, while additional graphics and photographs were added to the interior.

The full tracklist for Sounds From Nowheresville is:

1. "Silence"
2. "Hit Me Down Sonny"
3. "Hang It Up"
4. "Give It Back"
5. "Guggenheim"
6. "Soul Killing"
7. "One By One"
8. "Day to Day"
9. "Help"
10. "In Your Life"