Jay-Z somehow managed to play seven shows in just 24 hours, starting at 6:00 AM in Atlanta and spending 30 minutes on each stage. He took his private jet around the states, also performing in Philadelphia, Washington, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas. Beyonce was seen at his California show, but did not perform.

Something which might seem impossible to complete was piece of cake for one the most successful rappers of all time. Jay-Z celebrated his official return in the music business by performing a seven 30-minute-gig marathon across the US.

The star kicked off his one-day tour in Atlanta on Saturday, where Hova was scheduled to give a concert at 6 a.m., when most people haven’t eaten their breakfast. Next in line were Philadelphia, Washington, New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. The mini-tour ends up in Las Vegas on early Sunday.

Together with his staff, Jay-Z crossed the states in his luxurious private jet from city to city making the best of his return. At least 100 people were waiting outside Atlanta’s Centerstage for the first concert. There were another hundred inside already in the mood for his performance.

“First of all, y’all crazy,” Jay-Z said to the crowd before he started to play. “I know I’m already crazy. But y’all crazy.”

30 minutes later, the rapper took off in a limo escorted by police until embarking on the plane. Before 10 a.m., the plane arrived in Philly where even more fans awaited his show. The line around the Electric Factory, in the 400 block of North Seventh Street, began forming hours before the 9:30 a.m. concert.

“I wish I had got here at 5 a.m. so I could’ve been the first person in line,” said Karima Dennis, 24, a housekeeper for the Park Hyatt at the Bellevue.

“Everything went smooth,” said Keith McPhee, whose Mack Productions handled the local end of production. “Jay’s flight was only five minutes late. He loved his set, and Philly turned out. You never know, Philly being Philly.”

The trip continued and as he reached his next stop at Howard University in Washington, almost 150 students were waiting for the convoy and 1500 more looked eager to hear him sing.

“I know y’all already downloaded it … but y’all gotta go and pick up the album on Tuesday,” he said while the crowd rapped along.

Jay-Z’s new album, “Kingdom Come,” is out tomorrow. At least one reviewer says it doesn’t flow like it should and the beats are too basic, but that there are some decent tracks and Jigga is showing his maturity. Some people claim it’s not up to his old work, but that it’s still better than most of the rap that’s out now.

Scores of fans paid dearly for a rare much-anticipated Michael Jackson comeback show at the World Music Awards in London last week, but were treated instead to Jackson singing poorly to a few lines of “We are the World.” R&B artist Chris Browne did a pretty decent version of Thriller after Jackson is said to have suffered crippling stage fright. Judging from Jackson’s lousy singing voice, it’s likely he was incapable of performing even if he had worked up the nerve.

Dissapointed ticket holders are demanding their money back after paying nearly $200 for tickets. (I listed the ticket price as $400 in an earlier article, and must have been mistaken.) Organizers deny that there was a problem with Jackson’s aborted performance, and say that no one has contacted them for a refund. They claim that time constraints are to blame for Jackson’s half-assed performance:

Furious Michael Jackson fans are seeking refunds on their tickets for the World Music Awards after the star failed to perform his hit ‘Thriller’ at the event.

Entry to the show at London’s Earls Court on Wednesday (November 15) cost as much as £100, and fans are now saying they were misled by promises that the star would play one of his most famous songs. It would have been his first UK live performance in nine years.

In the end, he joined a choir onstage to sing just a couple of lines of the 1985 USA For Africa charity hit ‘We Are The World’, which he co-wrote.

Fan Katherine Kidd told the BBC: “I’m furious. I feel like I’ve been ripped off.”

“People were expecting something significant but he didn’t perform at all,” said Abdo Binmadhi, “When the lights went on I saw people’s faces and they were like: ‘Is that it?’

“I should have just stayed at home and watched it on TV… We should definitely get a refund.”

However, the organisers of the World Music Awards said that they had “not been contacted by any of the fans or had one complaint” regarding the event.

They added that Jackson’s performance had been cut short because the ceremony over-ran, breaking a noise curfew at the venue.

Jackson wasn’t the only one who bombed at the WMAs. We also reported that Lindsay Lohan was booed on stage and cut short her hosting duty about half way through after suffering a fall down some stairs backstage.

Commentor Johnnie Walker was at the WMAs and explained that Lindsay was playing to the cameras and ignoring the audience, and that she deserved the boos she received after fumbling a joke and then trying it over again without an apology or explanation to the crowd:

OK I was there, she didn’t care about the public being there she was just after the cameras, Her first line was something about WMA being based on actual records sales and then some stupid joke about people over 34 nobody understood, thing is, she messed up her lines and the joke (which was supposed to be spontaneous) so she stopped and without addressing the public (like ups sorry I messed up, etc) or anything, started again and made the exact “spontaneous” joke at which point the public booed, it was pretty loud, she wasn’t booed afterwards (at least not as loudly as said time).

It seems like WMA ticket holders have a few reasons to ask for their money back, although the other performances from artists like Beyonce and Nelly Furtado must have been entertaining.

Micheal Jackson’s highly anticipated public performance at the World Music awards in London last night was a letdown and a flop.

Jackson was said to be performing the complete version of “Thriller,” but an American singer, Chris Brown, ended up doing a halfway decent rendition. Jacko couldn’t have done it better, judging from the lousy few lines of “We are the World” he fudged while the full song was playing in the background, not quite drowning him out.

The Daily Mail has a highlight video accessible from their website. At around 2:50 Jackson comes on stage to accept the millenium award. He seems a little choked up but gracious and well spoken, and said it was his dream come true that Thriller became the best selling album of all time.

His performance of a snippet of the “We are the World” chorus is at 4:50. He comes on stage in front of a bunch of children and sings badly over the song for just a few lines. His mike then cuts out, he tries to sing but no sound is heard, and he seems confused.

People who shelled out nearly $400 for tickets were dissapointed, and experts say the king of pop has little chance of a comeback now. There’s also reports that he was booed off stage, but if that’s true I couldn’t tell from the video.

K-Fed’s recent NYC gig was not cancelled but only because he begged.

His concert at Webster Hall was supposed to start at 7pm but the crowd was so small that K-Fed waited for three hours…hoping that more fans would magically appear.
“They were going to cancel this concert, but he begged them to keep it on,” a Webster Hall bartender told Star. “He had to fight with them to keep this concert.” Only 300 people showed up at the club that holds 1,500.

In the words of John Lennon (a real musician): Instant Karma’s gonna get you,
Gonna knock you right on the head.
Read more details on K-Fed’s latest humiliation here.

Michael Jackson is due to perform publically for the first time in ten years. He will be performing the graveyard scene from the “Thriller” video at the World Music Awards tonight, where he is also accepting the “Diamond” award for artists who have sold over 100 million records. It is the 25th anniversary of Thriller, which is the top selling album of all time with 40 million copies sold since it came out in 1981.

Jackson was photographed recently with disturbingly discolored Howard Hughs-like long nails. I’m not a doctor, but dark nails like that are definitely not normal. I tried to figure out what conditions that might indicate, and it seems like it could be a side effect of medication, particularly the cancer drug Cytoxan. Discolored nails can also be a symptom of cancer or some kind of poisoning, but from what I understand they usually show lines of discoloration or one oddly-colored nail, not consistently dark nail beds on each finger. (It could also be some sort of fungal or bacterial infection, which is probably most likely but doesn’t make for as interesting a story.)

Cytoxan is prescribed for cancer treatment and sometimes for kidney problems in children. Michael Jackson was sick several days during his trial in early 2005. He claimed to have suffered a bad spider bite at one point, and also had a “flu-like” illness that required hospitalization that many people assumed was stress from the trial. (Jackson was ultimately aquitted on all charges, and the latest news is that his accuser’s mother had defrauded the US government for more than $8,000 in welfare.)

Why are Michael Jackson’s nails so dark? Is he on Cytoxan for cancer, does he have nail fungus, or could he suffer from some strange medical condition that isn’t easily Googled? Are there any doctors out there than can provide some insight into my speculation of Jackson’s health? He definitely doesn’t look healthy and has some sort of scratch on his nose. His extreme plastic surgery and ghostly-white skin, which he claims is due to Vitiligo but is widely thought to be elective skin whitening, have made him look deathly ill for years.

It’s rather amazing that he’s performing again, though, and it seems kind of fitting that he’ll be doing “Thriller.”

Thanks to WWTDD for the header picture.

Update: commentor Nadine notes that she took Cytoxan for breast cancer and that her nails turned purple and then black, not the copper color as seen here. Other commentors mention that his nails have been this color for some time, and that he has tried to cover it up in the past.

Janet Charlton says that Jackson’s nails are that funky color due to the Vitiligo treatment he receives:

With the spotlight on Michael Jackson and his catastrophically reviewed performance on the World Music Awards, closeup photos of his hands are circulating. Observers have exclaimed that his peculiar looking dark, rough fingernails nails indicate that he’s desperately in need of a good manicure. Actually those brown nails are a result of Michael’s vitiligo. Back when Jackson started getting white skin discolorations he had a choice of two treatments. He could use medication to darken the white areas on his skin or use medication to bleach and lighten his brown skin. Usually patients choose to change the color of their spots, but Michael wanted to lighten all his skin to match the white areas. The skin under his nails is discolored, which is a side effect of the process. Only recently did he start showing his hands – he usually keeps them out of sight so he doesn’t SCARE children.

I’m not a fan of Sean Lennon’s kind of slow folksy music, but he’s talented and his songs sure beat Gwen Stefani’s latest atrocity. Regardless here’s a series of clips that Lennon produced for his new album featuring Lindsay Lohan, Bijou Phillips, Asia Argento, Carrie Fisher, Devon Aoki, and Jordana Brewster. The visuals and stories are quite good.

1. Headlights: 00:00
2. Friendly Fire: 3:21
3. Wait for Me: 7:05
4. On Again Off Again: 10:44

Lindsay appears at 12:15 as a character in a movie that Sean and his date are watching.

Lennon kind of disses himself while walking into a theatre at around 10:00 minutes into the video above. His date asks him “So what movie are we going to see?” and he reads off a movie critique that’s a self-conscious dig at his short films, saying “This surrealist decalogue runs the gamut from playfully absurd to playfully disturbed. Attempting to play tribute to the likes of one (unintelligible) Cocteau. This series of shorts put quite simply falls short.”

Everyone is saying that K-Fed didn’t know the divorce was coming since he went on and on about how he was in a partnership with Britney, and was captured on videotape receiving the divorce news via text message.

I wonder if he’ll ever regret bragging about how much he loves tacky bling and luxury cars? He told Salon magazine that he still feels “poor” despite a “fetish” for items that could feed entire African villages for a year.

He also said that his relationship with his wife is worth way more than all the material goods he covets and accumulates. Let’s see how he really feels about that when he’s trying to get a chunk of her money:

The watch you’re wearing is worth more money than I’ve made in the last five years.

That’s my baby. Whenever I made some money that’s the first thing I went and bought.

So there are certain aspects of the lifestyle you probably enjoy.

Of course, of course. I have my fetishes like everybody else does. My shoes — my kick game is ridiculous.

How many shoes do you have?

Probably like 80 to 100 pairs. My watch game is ridiculous — just jewelry in general. It’s an investment. I bought this [points to his watch], and it’s already gone up in value. All the jewelry I’m wearing has already gone up in value.

You’re not planning on selling it anytime soon are you?

Hell no. I ain’t getting rid of it. I’m going to go out and get some more. It’s great to be able to go and do that stuff, but you really sit back and think about it … You could have all the money in the world and within two months of having that … Say you hit the lotto, right? Two months of having that money, you go and buy a mansion, you buy a big-ass boat, you travel all around the world, you do everything in two months. That’s not gonna buy you happiness. That’s not gonna define who I am. It only goes so far. There’s something way beyond that that’s deep that I have with my wife that nobody will ever understand…

What’s the last book you read?
o
Last book I read was either — man, somebody just asked me this shit today — it was either Russell Simmons’ or Puffy’s book. I’m really studying people who have been in this business and people who have really made themselves into a business from nothing because basically that’s … you see the watch and you see the jewelry and even though, yeah, I do have money, in a sense, I act like I really don’t. Right now the way I look at it is that I’m broke and I’m struggling to get this shit off.

He also claimed that he’s rapping because he loves to, and not because he needs the money. Most incredibly, though, he claims that his terrible rap-like music would have been super popular if he never hooked up with Britney! “If people didn’t know who I was, a couple of the records that I’ve thrown out would’ve probably blown up huge by now. It would’ve just come out of nowhere — people wouldn’t know what to expect.”

Pop star Shakira and Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters have formed a join business venture and bought a 700 acre island in the Bahamas called “Bonds Cay.” It reportedly cost $16 million. Shakira and Waters plan to build a luxury resort as well as sell prime seaside property on their new island. Spanish singers Alejandro Sanz and Miguel Bose are said to be building mansions there next year.

Colombian born singer, Shakira, apparently already has a paradise of her own, after buying her own island in the Bahamas. In order to do this, she has formed an association with Roger Waters of Pink Floyd, as well as noting the interest of Spanish singers, Alejandro Sanz and Miguel Bose.

The two stars have created ‘Bonds Cay’, an island of 700 acres situated north of the Bahamas and 125 miles from Florida. The island, that has five beaches and three bays as well as numerous waterfalls and rocky areas, was acquired by the association for $16 million.

Both Shakira and Waters have stated that they are intent on building a luxury hotel on the island, as well as a number of other residences with private beaches. Both Spanish singers have acquired land on the new island, and are expected to build mansions there next year.

Shakira is doing well professionally. She took home four awards at the Latin Grammys last week, including album of the year, best song, and best record. She will begin shooting a movie with Rodrigo Santoro from “Lost” next year in Romania, called “Dare to Love me.”

Shakira is also no slouch in the charity department, and has been a UNICEF goodwill ambassador since 2003. Here she is speaking at a UNICEF event in San Salvador on Sunday. [via]

Despite his frequent talkshow, music television, and wrestling match appearances, and despite the fact that he’s the husband of one of the most popular pop stars of all time, no one is attending K-Fed’s concerts or buying his new CD. You would think that being on Total Request Live, Ellen, and Much Music would help an artist sell tickets, but when advance buzz is overwhelmingly negative and the person is generally considered an untalented douchebag, no one shows up to see him rap. K-Fed shows that it does take skill and a that a decent personality wouldn’t hurt if you want to make it in show business.

One report claims that less than 250 people attended K-Fed’s show at Webster Hall in NY on Saturday, while another says that around 100 people showed. Regardless even the higher number represents less than a sixth of the club’s capacity. K-Fed was over three hours late onstage, and rapped for about 30 minutes. By the end of his brief set, only 1/3 of the audience remained.

An informal survey of the crowd yielded a foursome who confessed that they were friends of K-Fed’s manager and had gotten free tickets; two judgment-reserving girls who also had free tickets, which they’d won from TRL; a priceless foreign couple who admitted they’d first heard of Kevin Federline “this day”; and one couple with mixed intentions. (She: “I’m not a fan, just really into the tabloids!” He, glumly: “My girlfriend made me come.”) And though the venue may have been sorely undersold — estimates put the sparse crowd around 250, a sixth of the Webster Hall’s capacity — the impenetrable bunch of hopped-up fans pressed against the stage were an undeniably ecstatic bunch packed five rows deep.

A posse of enthusiastic NYU types, including a pair of Roxy boys with matching bandanas tied around their necks, raised a ruckus on a too small riser at the left of the stage, nubile girls clad in their best strip-mall formalwear gyrated in front of appreciative dates, and more than one pair of drunken-secretary types careened wildly toward the stage upon entering mid-set. Their energy was palpable and — we hate to say — surprisingly infectious. Judging by the screams incited every time K-Fed did, well, just about anything, we’d say it was one of the more hyperactive, scrappy little crowds in recent Webster Hall history, ironic or no. Most remarkably, no one in attendance seemed to mind that the show clocked in at around a half hour — just under a dollar per minute, in ticket-price terms.

[via ONTD]

K-Fed is said to have “begged” organizers not to cancel that Webster Hall gig, and it doesn’t seem like making the show go on at all costs was the right decision. Two of his other shows, in Cleveland and Atlantic City, have been cancelled due to poor ticket sales.

K-Fed most likely told his wife not to steal his thunder at his recent concerts, and that has undoubtedly hurt him. What he sorely lacks in talent and common sense he could have salvaged with some well orchestrated duets with Britney. She was dumb enough to marry him and bear two of his children, she would have gladly come on stage at his gigs. Instead, he shot himself in the foot by making sure she isn’t even seen at his shows. Britney wore a pink wig at his Halloween concert and was not seen at the Saturday night show.

Scarlett Johansson is one of favorite actresses. She’s humorous and witty, and manages to look gorgeous without being pompous. She doesn’t go out partying when she could get into any restaurant, club, or exclusive event in the world.

In a recent interview with InStyle magazine, Scarlett says that it’s “weird” knowing all the details of her fellow celebrities’ lives, and that she prefers to keep hers private:

The 21-year old star said that knowing ‘everything’ about another celeb’s life was “weird”, and that she was better off staying in the dark.

“I can’t stand those articles where people spill their life story. After a while, I feel like I know more about them than their best friend does – and that’s weird. It’s better when you don’t know everything,” InStyle quoted her, as saying.

Johansson insists that revealing intimate details also has a negative effect on the stars’ professional careers, for people then find it even more difficult to believe in their on-screen personas.

“People are having a harder time buying into the glamour of movies. They want reality TV and tabloids – that escapism into other people’s personal business,” she added.

Scarlett obviously knows how to keep people interested in her, and has wisely chosen a low-key lifestyle.

Here she is with Hugh Jackman at “The Prestige” premiere in London on November 5. [via] Scarlett and Hugh play rival magicians in the film. I don’t really like the way her dress gathers at her midsection, although it does make her look stacked.

Update Scarlett has confirmed that she’s making that crazy album of Tom Waits covers, saying “it’s coming along…” and “I just love his music.”