Iggy Pop, Madonna, and Justin Timberlake. Iggy Pop’s bandmate is quoted below
Madonna was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with a ceremony at Manhattan’s Waldorf-Astoria Hotel last night. Justin Timberlake introduced her, and Iggy and the Stooges covered two of her hits, “Burning Up,” And “Ray of Light.”

Madonna personally asked Iggy Pop to perform her songs at the ceremony as a protest against the fact that his seminal group has never been asked to join the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame despite being nominated several times. Stooge’s guitarist Ron Asheton gave an interview ahead of the performance and said that his group was the anti-Madonna and that he didn’t even know any of her songs . He also said she’s “using us for business purposes”

“The Stooges represent everything that’s against what she is,” Asheton told the Free Press from his New York hotel this afternoon. “I don’t wish her ill. I don’t hate her or anything. But I’d never even heard of these songs until I had to listen to a tape and figure out what’s going on with them.”

In reality, Asheton says, Madonna asked the Stooges to perform as an act of protest: The group, widely considered a linchpin of early punk, has yet to be inducted by the rock hall, despite six appearances on the nomination ballot. By inviting the group on stage, she sends a message, says Asheton.

Last year’s rock hall ceremony featured a similar demonstration, when the night’s inductees performed the Stooges’ “I Wanna Be Your Dog” during a jam session finale.

“Basically she was upset that we’ve been nominated so many times and never made it, so she asked us to play in protest. And it was under those auspices that I thought we were doing it,” Asheton said. “At first I went, ‘Whaaat?’ Then Iggy said, ‘Why don’t you think about it?’”

It came together quickly: Madonna reached out to Iggy Pop just two weeks ago, Asheton says. The band, which had not performed together since closing out its latest tour in December, worked on the songs long-distance, with the Ashetons in Ann Arbor and Iggy home in Florida.

“Iggy said, ‘We’re gonna rock them up — just play ‘em like Stooges songs,’” Asheton recounted. “They actually sound pretty cool. We just rock ‘em out. You wouldn’t even recognize them as Madonna songs. I never thought I’d say this, but I’ve actually enjoyed playing them…”

“I thought that right off the top — that, gee, I just heard she’s got a record coming out, and she’s trying to get a little Stooge shine. She’s a savvy businesswoman,” he said. “I think she actually does like the band. She wouldn’t have asked for us if she didn’t. But she’s also using us for business purposes.”

[From Detroit Free Press]

Madonna was said to look uncomfortable at first when Iggy and the Stooges were performing “Ray of Light,” Iggy jumping around without a shirt as usual, but was said to be laughing afterwards.

In Timberlake’s introduction, he talked about how Madonna gave him a B12 shot in the butt while he was working with her, and made a couple of Britney references:

“Madonna has changed the way our world sounded, she’s changed the way our world looked, and somehow she’s still found time to publicly kiss at least someone I may or may not have kissed myself,” Timberlake said. (It was not the only time Timberlake invoked Britney Spears; later, he said, “the world has long been full of Madonna wannabes, and I might have even dated a couple.”)

[From The Detroit News]

In Madonna’s acceptance speech she said the “F” word a couple times, and made two drug references, but the Detroit News called it “honest and sincere.” Madonna thanked her ballet teacher in Detroit who “told me at the age of 14 that I was special, that I needed to believe in myself, that I needed to go out into the world and pursue my dreams.” She also said of the people who told her she couldn’t make it, “who said that I was talentless, that I was chubby, that I couldn’t sing… they pushed me to be better, and I am grateful for their resistance.”

Also inducted in to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last night were John Mellencamp, Leonard Cohen, Gamble & Huff, late blues singer Little Walter, The Ventures and The Dave Clark Five. The lead singer of The Dave Clark Five, Mike Smith, passed away late last month, but his bandmate Dave Clark said “At least Mike knew he was a Hall of Famer.”

I am looking hard to find a clip of The Stooges performance of “Ray of Light” last night. Let me know if you’ve it and I’ll add it to the post.

Thanks to PRPhotos for these pictures.

The Brit Awards, England’s biggest music award ceremony, were held last night and featured performances from legendary and relatively new music greats including Paul McCartney, Amy Winehouse, Mark Ronson and Kylie Minogue. Hosted by The Osbourne family, it was expected that there would be some minor controversy, but apart from a pre-show vow to beat up Heather Mills if she dared show her pinched face at the event, their hosting gig went off without a hitch. By most accounts, the show was relatively uneventful apart from the performances.

X-Factor winner Leona Lewis failed to take home any awards despite being nominated for four, and multiple Grammy-winning recently-rehabbed Amy Winehouse wasn’t up for an award in any category. She seemed a little nervous during her solo performance and pulled on her skirt, but as many of you have noted it must be difficult to perform sober when you’re used to being numbed out most of the time. At the end of her performance Winehouse gave her usual tribute to her husband in prison, and said “I love you baby,” and “Make some noise for my husband, my Blake.”

The big winners of the night were The Arctic Monkeys, Take That, and The Foo Fighters, all of whom took home two awards each. Here are the performances, thanks to ONTD and The Huffington Post.

Mika and Beth Ditto performing “Love Today,” “Standing in the Way of Control,” and “Grace Kelly”

Rihanna and the Klaxons perform “Umbrella”. I love her but this song needs to go away soon. I still hear it somewhere every f’ing day.

Kylie Minogue performs “Wow”

Mark Ronson with Adele, Daniel Merriweather, and Amy Winehouse performing “God Put a Smile Upon Your Face,” “Stop Me,” and “Valerie”

Amy Winehouse sings “Love is a Losing Game,” including a shout-out to her Blake

Sir Paul McCartney performs “Live and Let Die,” and “Hey Jude,” with photos playing in the background including his late wife Linda.

Here’s the full list of winners, thanks to Wikipedia:

British Male - Mark Ronson
British Female - Kate Nash
British Band - Arctic Monkeys
Best British Album - Arctic Monkeys, “Favourite Worst Nightmare”
British Single - Take That, “Shine”
British Breakthrough Act - Mika
British Live Act - Take That
International Male - Kanye West
International Female - Kylie Minogue
International Group - Foo Fighters
International Album - Foo Fighters, “Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace”
Critics’ Choice - Adele
Outstanding Contribution to Music - Sir Paul McCartney, presented by Kylie Minogue.

Here are photos from the red carpet, including Rihanna, Kylie Minogue, Girls Aloud, Gemma Atkinson, The Osbournes, Beth Ditto, Kelly Rowland, Natasha Khan (Who I thought was Lily Allen at first) and Perez Hilton. (I could not pass up that picture. A “Hello Kitty” shower cap?! I know he’s just trying to get attention at his own expense, but really that’s sad.)

Update: Leave it to the Daily Mail to say there were “obscenities” and that the show was “embroiled in controversy.” Fellow celebrity blog Hecklerspray called them downright boring. It sounds like the Osbournes were just being themselves.

Katie Holmes and her helmet hair made an appearance at the Costume Designers Guild Awards on Tuesday night. She presented the “Swarovski President’s Award” to her husband’s partner, Paula Wagner. Wagner is the CEO of United Artists and Cruise is a producer and actor for the studio. We were wondering if Katie just slouchy when she appeared at the premiere of her flop Mad Money looking like she either was in the beginning stages of pregnancy or had bad posture. She stood up straight for her solo appearance last night and had a perfectly flat stomach.

The Daily Mail said that Katie has “spearheaded a return to old Hollywood glamour,” but a commentor retorted that “I don’t recall the old dames of Hollywood a) looking like a skeleton on tranquillizers, or b) showing off their girdle underneath the dress.”

It is a lovely dress, though. I love the rhinestone detail on the front and the cut is gorgeous. It’s easier to focus on Katie’s fashion when Tom isn’t around. I still don’t like her. She stepped into her Stepford wife role a little too well. You have to give her credit for it though, she really knows what she’s doing.

That reminds me - one of the Scientology cults most vocal critics has just “committed suicide”. Not that it has anything to do with Katie Holmes and her charmed life.

I never thought the day would come where I would say this, but Sienna Miller looked absolutely gorgeous at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts awards last night. She didn’t even look like Sienna Miler - at first I thought the photos had been mislabeled. But there’s really no mistaking her boyfriend Rhys Ifans. On a few occasions you could definitely see her butt through the rather sheer Dior gown, but this is Sienna Miller after all. Worse things could have happened.

Sienna Miller dazzled at the Baftas last night - dripping in diamonds and wearing a stunning, sheer Dior dress. But the party girl disappointed fans by going home early for a good night’s sleep before attending her friend Otis Ferry’s court appearance today. She and boyfriend Rhys Ifans sneaked off at about 11.30pm, snubbing both the official afterparty as well as movie mogul Harvey Weinstein’s celebration at Bungalow Eight in Covent Garden.

Meanwhile, it was disappointment for Keira Knightley and Julie Christie at the London awards ceremony - both were up for the Best Actress award but lost out to French actress Marion Cotillard. Actor Daniel Day Lewis - who won Best Actor for There Will Be Blood - attended the ceremony along with fellow Best Actor nominee James McAvoy, Orlando Bloom, Daniel Radcliffe and Kevin Spacey.

[From the Daily Mail]

I never thought I’d see the day where I’d say that Sienna Miller looked better than Keira Knightley, but she really did. Keira’s dress wasn’t a total nightmare, but it didn’t really flatter her figure. Here’s a quick award roundup. Best Film went to “Atonement,” and Best British Film went to “This is England.” The Coen brothers won Best Director for “No Country for Old Men,” and former stripper-turned writer Diablo Cody won Best Original Screenplay for “Juno.” Daniel Day Lewis was given the Best Leading Actor award for his performance in “There Will Be Blood” and Best Leading Actress went to Marion Cotillard for “Le Vie en Rose.” Javier Bardem won Best Supporting Actor for “No Country for Old Men,” and Tilda Swanson took home the Best Supporting Actress award for “Michael Clayton.” Finally Shia LeBeouf beat Sienna Miller and Ellen Page for the Orange Rising Star award, which was voted for by viewers.

Here are pictures from the evening. Pictured are: Daniel Day-Lewis, Emily Blunt, Eva Green, James McAvoy, Jane Goldman, Jessica Biel, Kate Hudson, Keira Knightley, Sienna Miller, Amanda Peet, Cuba Gooding, Jr., Daniel Radcliffe, Eddie Izzard, Hugh Laurie, Javier Bardem, Images thanks to PR Photos.

Here are as many of the Grammy performances as I could find, in order as far as I can tell, thanks to Redlasso and Mahalo. My favorites were “Jungle Love” by The Time, Keely Smith and Kid Rock’s “Old Black Magic” duet, Alicia Keys’ “No One,” and Amy Winehouse. I thought that Tina Turner rocked, but I wasn’t that impressed when Beyonce joined her on stage. I am still looking for the video of Little Richard, John Fogerty and Jerry Lee Lewis playing “Coming Down The Road”, “Great Balls of Fire” and “Good Golly Miss Molly.” That had to be incredible. I’ll update the post once I locate that.

Alicia Keys Duet with Frank Sinatra

Carrie Underwood “Before He Cheats”

Morris Day and The Time “Jungle Love” and Rihanna “Umbrella”

Kanye West’s “Stronger” and “Hey Momma”

Fergie - “Finally” featuring John Legend

Beyonce and Tina Turner, introduced by Cher

Foo Fighters “The Pretender” with John Paul Jones
Aretha Franklin gospel performance including Madison Bumblebee, Mary J. Blige, TRIN-I-TEE 5:7, The Clark Sisters, and Israel & New Breed.

Feist - “1234″