Mon:17-11-2008

- News Ticker - The Weekend Roundup

Gab Cilmi, Miriah Carey, Athony Keidis, Rihanna

- Australian music darling Gabriella Cilmi is about to unleash her hit single 'Sweet About Me' onto the US market! The 17 year old Dandenong teenager, who scored an incredible six ARIA Awards at the recent ceremony on the strength of her break though debut album 'Lessons To Be Learned', has already topped the charts in Australia, New Zealand, The UK, Ireland and Europe and is sure to find the same success state-side. Represent girl!  We'll keep you posted.

- Mariah Carey has admitted that she came up with her hit song 'Hero' on the dunny! According to Hollyscoop.com, the diva was using the toot during a break from recording when the idea came to her.  Outside the bathroom, other ideas come to Mimi in the early hours of the morn - because she dreams up tunes in her sleep.   Mariah told U.K. TV show This Morning, "Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and have an idea and have to get up and record it straight away before I forget it. Or with 'Hero', I was in the studio and someone was telling me about this film Hero with Dustin Hoffman in it. I took a walk to the bathroom and when I came back I had this idea for a song, and that was what then became Hero."  Erm, a little too much information M!

- No matter how many times we've heard this rumour, it never fails to work us into lather! According to MTV.co.uk, Blur members Damon Albarn and Graham Coxon have put aside their beef and sparked rumours of a reunion.  Even though there have been wishful whispers claiming the group would hook up ever since their last album release in 2003, it was the UK's The Sun who touted Blur as headliners for Glastonbury 2009.   When asked about the possibility of a reunion David Albarn said: "I can tell you genuinely I'm getting on really well with Graham at the moment, so it's distinctly possible." Coxon and bassist Alex James were both at Wednesday's premiere of Damon's musical 'Monkey: Journey To The West'.  He continued: "Graham and I have been hanging out together a bit. We had lunch the other day. It's very possible I'll go back to Blur It's fantastic to get my old friend back." Damon Albarn has made two Gorillaz records since his first band split up and an album as 'The Good The Bad And The Queen'.  Enough monkey malarky - bring it on boys!

- Eminem fans will be gutted at the news his new album won't be available by the end of the year, as widely rumoured.  Only recently publishing a best-selling biography, 'The Way I Am,' (read story here), many were theorizing an album release would come soon after.  A source told Page Six, "Eminem has been through a lot. He is being a perfectionist and is completely obsessive-compulsive about this album. There's a 50-50 chance it will be done by the end of this year - but most likely it'll be the first quarter of next year. There was never a release date set." Just gonna have to be patient ya'll!

- Rihanna has cancelled a concert in Indonesia over security concerns.  The 'Disturbia' singer was due to perform before a sold-out crowd of 5000 in the capital Jakarta on Friday.  But according to Dive Purnomo, a spokeswoman for the event, Ri changed her mind while in Australia due to the travel warnings that were issued after the weekend executions of the Bali Bombers. The men called on followers to carry out revenge attacks if their deaths by firing squad went ahead.  There are hopes the 'Umbrella' singer will come to Jakarta in January instead.

- Those who want to read the unputdownable 'Scar Tissue' by Anthony Kiedis but are unable to focus on anything weightier than a mag, will be stoked to hear that the Red Hot Chilli Peppers frontman is reportedly working with HBO on a series based on his childhood. Anthony left Michigan at a young age to live with his celeb drug dealer dad Spider, who supplied to The Who and Led Zepplin on Sunset Strip.  "He introduced me to the arts, to a more culturally magnificent life," said Anthony, who lost his virginity at 12 to his dad's girlfriend.  "But some of it was this heavy, adult matter that I wasn't quite capable of digesting. It was a very rich but kind of challenging period of my life. I was thrust into this adult mentality by age 11." The series will focus on Kiedis' relationship with his dad and life in rock-n-roll LA in the 70's.  He plans to be heavily involved in the series and chats with Daddy Kiedis on a regular basis to record the memories of his life in West Hollywood.   "I love mulling over all this raw material. (My father's) into it too," he says. "He sees it as our last great hurrah. For us to be reconnecting to construct these memories - the women and the rock bands and the doormen of these clubs - is exciting."

By Penelope Quinn

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