Queen For a Day
First Rod Stewart has a contest to recruit backup singers for his Las Vegas run and now, as part of this year’s celebration of Queen’s 40th anniversary, Queen drummer/songwriter/singer Roger Taylor is launching a North American talent search that will offer “s**t hot vocalists and musicians” the opportunity to star in the Queen Extravaganza Live Tour.
Taylor will attempt to assemble the most talented band to perform Queen’s music, outside of Queen themselves, of course, to carry on the celebration. We suspect that he’s just been watching too much reality TV. Auditions begin September 19 and the tour, booked by powerhouse agency CAA, launches in 2012.
The audition process involves two video audition rounds to be judged by both a panel of appointed judges and the public. Taylor will be present to judge the final audition round, which will be held live in Los Angeles in early December.
Britney Engaged? You Decide.
Britney Spears is in London, where she’s promoting the upcoming European leg of her “Femme Fatale” tour. Last Thursday she stopped by UK's Radio 1 for an interview, and while there she flashed what looked like an engagement ring. Which makes a certain amount of sense, because according to 411.mania.com, a few days earlier, Spears' boyfriend Jason Trawick was spotted browsing in Mouawad Jewelry store in Los Angeles.
"They discussed diamonds from the Mouawad private collection," a source told the website, without revealing more. But apparently it had nothing to do with engagement. Or so they say. Spears' rep told People, "There is no truth to that report with regards to engagement rings. However, Jason was there to discuss other matters with [jewelry store owner] Pascal, but nothing relating to him personally."
Aerosmith Producer Takes a Break from Album
Yes, that didn’t just look like Aerosmith producer Jack Douglas in Whole Foods in Berkeley; it was Aerosmith producer Jack Douglas. How do we know? Because every five weeks, the distinguished producer — who has produced six Aerosmith albums, and worked with such high quality talent as Miles Davis, Alice Cooper, Cheap Trick, The Who, Patti Smith, and John Lennon, engineering Imagine, and later producing Double Fantasy with Lennon and Yoko Ono — returns to Emeryville, California to teach Studio Etiquette and Psychology, a course focused on developing interpersonal skills specific to the studio environment.
Wow, that’s a nice way to explain how he kept Joe Perry and Stephen Tyler from killing each other. If you take his course, you can ask him about that, how he dealt with Yoko Ono in the studio, as well as some of the more colorful war stories about working with Miles Davis, and how he recovered from Lennon’s death. But all that said, this isn’t just a walk in the park. Douglas’ students are required to complete a professionally packaged demo reel.
Douglas has been on the staff of the Ex’pression College for Digital Arts for the past ten years.
You Can Take the Girl Out of Texas, But You Can’t Take Texas Out of the Girl
You know when someone is over you and there’s no road back. Clarity comes rushing through small, telling details. Like when Ashlee Simpson told her almost ex, Fall Out Boy’s Pete Wentz, that she wanted him to find his own apartment—we get that—but that she no longer wants their son Bronx to return from visits with daddy wearing nail polish.
For the record, while the Simpson/Wentz divorce isn’t final yet, she and her new boyfriend Vincent Piazza, who plays Lucky Luciano on Boardwalk Empire, have gone public with their romance.
Gwen Stefani Mani/Pedi
Speaking of manicures, Janet Charlton revealed that Gwen Stefani is pinching pennies. She used to have weekly manicures and pedicures at her home for $200 plus tip. That was fine for awhile, but recently she figured out that the same service was only $36 if she had it done in the salon! Now she goes to the salon and saves $164 - the only problem is the paparazzi waiting outside.
