Music Blogs

Well, for the past few months, we haven't been writing about Britney Spears as much as we used to. In fact, we've barely been writing about her at all. And we've been happy about this. This is a good thing. After all, there are only so many times we can rehash stories about custody battles, hospitalizations, public meltdowns, ill-advised love affairs, and acts of underwear-eschewing before it all gets really old. And really depressing. So we've not been covering Britney's antics lately...and we've been relieved and delighted that when we have covered Britney, it's been in a mostly positive and comeback-focused light, regarding matters like her high sales figures for Circus, her upcoming stadium tour, her surprise cameo at a Madonna concert, and the like.

But we got déjà vu this week when the twisted tale of Britney and her onetime bad boyfriend, paparazzo Adnan Ghalib, topped the music news headlines again. What year is this, 2008? Anyhoo, for those of you who've stopped keeping track of the Britney/Adnan saga, Adnan is currently facing three felony counts--assault with a deadly weapon, hit-and-run, and battery--for allegedly ramming his car into a process server who was trying to deliver a restraining order on behalf of the Spears clan. (The incident reportedly resulted in the process server breaking his wrist while clinging to the hood of Adnan's car.) So this week, Adnan voluntarily turned himself in at a Van Nuys, California courthouse to face the charges (he plead "not guilty" on all three counts). Meanwhile, in a separate L.A. courthouse this week, another judge extended the temporary restraining order against Adnan, Britney's infamous ex-manager Sam Lutfi, and her ex-attorney Jon Eardley until April 1. 

Britney's dad and conservator, Jamie Spears, has in fact been spending a lot of time in court lately, as he is seeking to make this temporary restraining order a permanent one. And he's got a whole bunch of pro-Britney witnesses lined up to testify on his troubled daughter's behalf. Among them is her hairstylist, Roberta Romero (no, NOT the woman who shaved Britney's head in Tarzana in 2007--Britney did that all by herself). Roberta testified this week that Britney told her she was "scared" of Sam Lutfi, and said that she herself actually received text messages from Sam when he was desperately attempting to get in touch with her elusive star client. According to Roberta, Sam's texts explained that he was trying to "free" Britney.

But for the time being, it seems the only person in this story who really needs to worry about being "free" is Adnan, who faces up to seven years in jail if convicted on those three felony charges.

Meanwhile, one pop star who might not be in felony court any time soon is Chris Brown. An initial arraignment date was set for March 5 (following his February arrest stemming from his skirmish with ex-girlfriend Rihanna). But according to Los Angeles district attorney spokeswoman Jane Robison, that court appearance "may not happen. We don't have the evidence yet. [Detectives] are still investigating. If [detectives] determine they need more time they'll set a new date for him to come into court." Additionally, Chris may not even have to appear in court at all. "He only has to come back if and when we file charges," Jane told E! News.

In fact, the L.A. district attorney's investigation may not be an easy one. Some are speculating that Rihanna is not fully cooperating with authorities, after she was photographed this weekend on a beach in Punta Mita, Mexico (she was previously sighted in L.A. and her native Barbados). Is all this globe-trotting a way for Rihanna to distance herself from this situation for her privacy's sake, or is she simply in hiding because she doesn't want to press charges against her ex? We'll have to wait and see how the case proceeds, but another LAPD source told E! that prosecutors fear they might have trouble making felony charges (including domestic violence, assault, and possibly even attempted murder) stick, since the only direct witnesses are Rihanna and Chris.

By the way, Britney isn't the only pop star this week whose life was a total "circus." T-Pain, whose own recent hit album is the similarly sideshow-titled Thr33 Ringz, cancelled his appearance at Guyana's Mash 2009 Mega-Concert this week, after the event's promoter told him he'd received "credible death and kidnapping threats," via both email and phone, against the R&B hitmaker. T-Pain would have been the biggest American entertainer to play Guyana in years had the concert gone on as planned, but he understandably felt it wasn't worth the risk. We're happy to report that T-Pain is safe now, but let this be a lesson to him: Some people must obviously really, really hate Auto-Tunes!

One concert that did go on as planned recently was the first U.S. show in 15 years by reclusive folk-rock legend Leonard Cohen, who wowed a sold-out crowd with a two-set, six-encore, three-hour performance at New York's Beacon Theatre. (Not bad for a 74-year-old!) The Canadian singer-songwriter is hot on the comeback trail: His song "Hallelujah" was an iTunes hit thanks to Jason Castro's performance of it on American Idol last season, and he now has a slew of concert dates scheduled for 2009, including a coveted slot at California's Coachella Festival in April.

But it should be noted that one of the reasons Leonard is touring again, at such a ripe old age, is because he learned in 2005 that his ex-manager had misappropriated millions of dollars from his retirement fund; a Los Angeles court awarded him $9.5 million in 2006, but it's unclear whether Leonard has actually recovered any of that money.

So let Leonard and Britney's managerial battles serve as cautionary tales to any musician thinking of signing on the dotted line: Read the fine print before hiring a manager, people!

Meanwhile, a couple of reality-TV musicians dealt with career problems of their own this week. American Idol's Clay Aiken split with his longtime label, BMG, following in the faded footsteps of other dropped Idol BMG signings like Taylor Hicks, Ruben Studdard, Katharine McPhee, Blake Lewis, Justin Guarini, and Bo Bice. And 2005's Rock Star: INXS winner, the ironically named JD Fortune, told reporters this week that he is back to living in his car (just like he was before he went on the show) after being allegedly unceremoniously fired by the '80s Aussies. INXS denied JD's claims, but chances are if he wasn't officially fired already, his mouthing like that off has cost him his INXS job now.

And while INXS were having trouble maintaining their comeback this week, and Leonard Cohen was staging a much more successful return (along with Faith No More, who announced their reunion), a few other veteran acts were proving they never really went away. Bruce Springsteen continued his amazing upward career trajectory by signing on to be the 2009 headliner at one of the world's biggest music festivals, Britain's Glastonbury (no word yet on whether or not Noel Gallagher approves); U2's long-awaited new album No Line On The Horizon leaked online, much to overeager fans' delight; Stevie Wonder was presented the Library Of Congress Gershwin Prize by President Barack Obama at the White House; and members of Hanson, Smashing Pumpkins, Cheap Trick, and Fountains Of Wayne thrilled powerpop fanatics everywhere by forming a new supergroup, Tinted Windows.

And with that super news, thus concludes another week in music news. Come back next Friday for another weekly wrap-up, and until then, goodnight and good music.

THIS WEEK'S TOP 15 STORIES:

1) Britney's Life Still A Circus - Her ex-boyfriend and ex-manager are causing Spears trouble again.

2) Will Chris Brown Get His Day In Court? - His arraignment is postponed while police continue their investigation.

3) Life's A Beach Again For Rihanna? - She's spotted getting some needed post-scandal R&R at a Mexican vacation spot.

4) Can't Believe It - T-Pain is the target of alleged kidnapping threats.

5) Hallelujah! - Leonard Cohen returns to the U.S. stage for the first time in 15 years.

6) Aiken A Free Agent - Clay gets dropped by his longtime record label.

7) No Online On The Horizon - U2 attempt to keep their new album from leaking on the Internet.

8) Wonder At The White House - Stevie is honored by President Obama.

9) Glastonbury's New Boss - Bruce Springsteen will headline the U.K. festival this summer.

10) Kanye, Story-Yeller - West's anti-Radiohead rant is cut from his VH1 Storytellers special.

11) French Kissoff - MGMT sue France's president, Nicholas Sarkozy, over unauthorized use of their song.

12) Faith Renewed - Faith No More are reuniting.

13) Barenaked Ladies Lose One Of Their Men - Longtime member Steven Page leaves the group.

14) JD Fortune Loses Fortune - The Rock Star: INXS reality star claims he was unceremoniously fired by INXS.

15) Super News! - Members of Hanson, Cheap Trick, Smashing Pumpkins, and Fountains Of Wayne form a new powerpop supergroup.