Morning Links: Britney Spears distraught after Australian goverment, fans attack her lip-synching
Britney Spears was said to be "holed up" in her Perth hotel after her first-ever concert in Australia turned into a debacle over lip-synching. It all started last week when a government minister said that concertgoers should have been officially told that Spears lip-synchs portions of her concerts. Virginia Judge, the Minister for Fair Trading, said, "It is Britney's 'prerogative' to lip-sync, and it is my job to make sure consumers know what they are paying for up front." Tickets to the five shows in her first visit to Australia were reportedly going for as much as $1,300 each. But even fans who paid only $200 for the tickets said they walked out after just three songs during her first concert Friday, upset by what they considered a lackluster performance. But tour promoter Paul Dainty says nobody stormed out. "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." Britney, who was photographed looking grim, above, is scheduled to do four more shows in the country.
After rocking out in front of 50,000 fans at Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, lead singer Steven Tyler seemed to call it quits, saying he was going to pursue solo projects, said guitarist Joe Perry. And Brad Whitford seemed to take the departure seriously -- he discussed the possibility of Aerosmith finding a new frontman. Bassist Tom Hamilton told the Boston Herald’s Inside Track that there is dissension in the band, but he hopes it can be worked out. About Whitford's comment, Hamilton said, "They must have gotten Brad before his coffee or something." But Perry told the Las Vegas Sun today that he believes Tyler is done. “Steven quit as far as I can tell,” Perry said. “I don’t know anymore than you do about it. ... I saw online that Steven said that he was going to leave the band. I don’t know for how long, indefinitely or whatever. Other than that, I don’t know.”
Susan Boyle is "excited and happy" as she arrived in Los Angeles over the weekend to prepare to sing on "Dancing with the Stars" this week, says her brother, John Boyle. The Scottish singer, 48, "loves America and loves the people. She appreciates their honesty," he tells People. Boyle, who has appeared on "America's Got Talent," will no doubt sing some selections from her CD, "I Dreamed a Dream," which comes out Nov. 24
That sound you hear is the hearts of millions of teens and tween girls shattering. Robert Pattinson, who plays the hottest and most caring vampire ever in the "Twilight" films, says he's not really a romantic guy. "I can't think of a single romantic thing that I've ever done," Pattinson said while promoting the latest installment of the vampire series, "New Moon." Serenading someone is out, he says. But wait! "I put a flower in someone's locker when I was 15 years old, this girl called Maria," he says. "She thought that it was someone else and the other guy claimed it as well, which is great."
The mostly teen burglary gang that looted the Hollywood homes of stars didn't have much trouble getting into many of them, according to a search warrant released in the case. People.com reports that the document says that the teen burglars found doors unlocked at many homes where they took more than $3 million jewelry, watches, clothing, purses, perfumes and cosmetics from the homes of Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Megan Fox, Audrina Patridge, Orlando Bloom and others. They used Internet searches to find out where the celebs lived and when they would be away, the papers say. The search warrant shows that suspect Nicholas Prugo, 18, confessed to the crimes and implicated others. Prugo reportedly called Rachel Lee, 19, the "driving force" behind the crime spree because she wanted to "own the designer wardrobes of the Hollywood celebrities she admired."
Eddie Cibrian, who left his wife Brandi Glanville for singer LeAnn Rimes, was reported by Life&Style to be hooking up with old girlfriend, aspiring actress Scheana Marie Jancan. The magazine reports that Cibrian had been carrying on a three-year romance with Jancan, and has recently started seeing her again. An insider told the magazine that Cibrian "told her he's only with LeAnn for the publicity and that he plans to end things with her soon." But after Rimes' concert Friday night in Las Vegas, Cibrian and Rimes hit a high-profile nightclub for 20 minutes of public canoodling. "They were making out at the table [in the VIP section of XS nightclub} and didn't really care who saw them," a source told People. Rimes took a turn at one of the club's stripper poles before leaving, the source said.
-- Anne Neville
Why anybody would pay $200 to hear the electronically-altered voice of a no-talent hoochie-koochie dancer is beyond me.
Posted by: Hodge | November 09, 2009 at 11:16 AM