Well, this is different.

Apparently, Coco recorded two albums at Jack White’s (The White Stripes) Third Man studios in Nashville back in June while he was on his “Legally Prohibited from Being On Television” tour.

And They Call Me Mad? and Conan O’Brien Live at Third Man will both be released on vinyl (how retro) and digital download next week.  The first album is Conan’s improvised spoken word take on the Frankenstein story, with the B side an interview with White.  The second album is a collection of rock and rockabilly tunes performed by Conan and his band.

Wanna bet that if you play the vinyl versions backwards you can hear Conan saying “Jay Leno sucks”?

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Chelsea Handler?  Really??  Her???

Of course!  It all makes sense.  As the raunchy late night talk show host and author (Are You There Vodka? It’s Me, Chelsea) said last night, “Everyone knows that when you think of rap music and hip-hop you think of Chelsea Lately, and that’s why I will be hosting them.”

Chelsea takes over hosting duties from Russell Brand, who’s too busy with filming that remake of Arthur no one asked for and planning his wedding to Katy Perry to host for a third time.  Either that, or show organizers were getting tired of his shtick.

The ratings should be huge this year with scheduled performances by infamous acceptence speech interupter Kanye West, Twitter over-lord Justin Bieber, and the fashionable Lady Gaga, who’s been nominated for 13 awards.

Wonder if Chelsea will bond with the Bieb?  She has a thing for midgets.

The MTV Video Awards air live September 12th.

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Sounds like he’s channeling This Mortal Coil, Dead Can Dance and the Cocteau Twins.  All it took was for someone to take his song “U Smile” and slow it down 8x.

Hmm.  Not bad. 

If the teen pop sensation thing ever dries up for him, he has a potential career to turn to creating soundtracks for sci-fi and other genre films (Ridley Scott take note).

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Does this mean audiences will be tortured treated to hopefuls belting out Aerosmith hits next season?

E! is reporting that Steven signed on the dotted line and is apparently happy with the deal he got (relevancy in the 21st century?).  Naturally, Fox is issuing their typical “no comment” over the whole thing, since this guessing game generates way more interest and write ups than the actual show itself.

BTW – Producer Nigel Lythgoe denied that J-Lo lost her gig due to demands (allegedly $20 million, with her own hair and make up people billed to the network, and a personal “dressing compound”), yet word is the search continues for another judge. 

Make of that what you will.

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What’s that old saying about never invite the Devil to dinner an expect him to behave?

Word on the street is that organizers have lifted their embargo on the egomanical rapper and invited him back.  This isn’t so much about forgiveness and second chances as it is about ratings.

I’ll tune in just too see what happens with Kanye and Taylor Swift (probably nothing).  Don’t lie, you will too. 

Both MTV and Kanye remain coy on his participation, with both parties neither confirming or denying Kanye’s participation.  Well played.

For his part, Kanye took to his fave new toy, Twitter, writing “More music … I’m bout to drop a bunch of sh!t this yea … surprise performances … guest verses … living in the studio”

Kanye’s expected to release a follow up single to Power in the next couple of weeks or so, with his fifth album scheduled to drop later this fall.

The MTV Video Awards airs Sunday Sept 12th @ 8pm

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Catchy tune. 

As for the video (short as it is), it looks part Renaissance painting and part satirical commentary about the past year of Kanye’s life, since he rushed the stage at the MTV Video Awards and drew harsh criticism afterwards.

Kanye depicts himself in the video as a king that looks like he’s about to get his head cut off.  Did those angels look like Taylor Swift to you?

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Great song.  Great video.

Rhianna actually got flack from some people for singing a song that deals with domestic violence because of her past experience with Chris Brown. 

Considering that both she and Eminem are familar with the issue (flip sides of the same coin) it should be a no brainer that she sing it with him, never mind that her vocals are amazing on this track.

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Does anyone still care?

Will this do better at the theatres than Nine? 

Will Burlesque become an instant camp classic?

Will Christina Aguilera find a hit through this movie that she didn’t in her album Bionic?

Will Cher be able to move her face or show any expression whatsoever without CGI?

Will Stanley Tucci be lost without regular co-star Meryl Streep?

Guess we’ll have to wait til November when the movie opens for answers.

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Ellen DeGeneres tenure at American Idol turned out to be a short one. 

Apparently, the talk show host and comedienne never felt comfortable at Fox’s flagship karaoke contest and her rumoured feud with Simon Cowell (they hated each other) didn’t help.  Ellen and her reps supposedly went to the network brass and asked to be let out of her contract one year early, saying she wasn’t happy and “it’s not been fun”.  Yikes.

In a statement posted on her website, Ellen wrote, “A couple months ago, I let FOX and the “American Idol” producers know that this didn’t feel like the right fit for me. I told them I wouldn’t leave them in a bind and that I would hold off on doing anything until they were able to figure out where they wanted to take the panel next. It was a difficult decision to make, but my work schedule became more than I bargained for. I also realized this season that while I love discovering, supporting and nurturing young talent, it was hard for me to judge people and sometimes hurt their feelings. I loved the experience working on “Idol” and I am very grateful for the year I had. I am a huge fan of the show and will continue to be.”

There’s nothing wrong with hurting someone’s feelings if they hurt your ears first.  Just sayin’…

For their part, execs at Fox continue to be all smiles, saying how wonderful it was to work with Ellen, blah blah blah, “fortunate to work with”, blah blah, ”incredible spirit”, blah.

Meanwhile, Deadline Hollywood says that Jennifer Lopez has signed on to replace Ellen in a secret deal that was finalized earlier this week.  J-Lo could use the work and the money, seeing how her career hasn’t exactly been on an upwards trajectory lately.  So far this year, she’s been dropped by her record label and her latest movie, The Back-up Plan flopped.

No word if new producer Nigel Lythgoe plans on making “other” changes on American Idol (cough – Ryan Seacrest, Randy Jackson, Karla Diogardi – cough).  Rumour is that Nigel really wants Elton John to come in to replace Simon Cowell (whom he makes look like Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm), but Elton supposedly wants too much money and has touring committments he can’t get out of.   Boo.

Stay tuned….

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Pure gold.

You knew given his narcissism and ego, it was only a matter of time before Kanye West, he of the ALL CAPS FORM OF WRITING joined Twitter.

Apparently, the stage rusher joined yesterday and it’s been one Tweet after another since.  Not sure if he’s hawking stuff on the social media network for money (although it wouldn’t surprise me).  Kanye’s new album drops this fall, so he’ll be using Twitter to help promote it.

Here are some instant Kanye classics.  May there be many more.

I specifically ordered persian rugs with cherub imagery!!! What do I have to do to get a simple persian rug with cherub imagery uuuuugh

Dating models I had to learn to like small dogs and cigarettes

awwwww man this is addictive I might get in trouble on here!!!!

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