+ It's Pete Wentz's birthday today! He just turned dirty 30! May he drink Bacardi... and Caprisun... like it's his birthday. (Twitter)

+ Electrik Red assure you that they're not corny, like the Spice Girls. That'd better be a promise. (Bossip)

+ Soulja Boy Tell' Em is JUST NOW getting around to "getting" Jay-Z. Better late than never, I guess. (MTV News)

+ Method Man and Redman have some choice words for Kanye West. (Buzzworthy)

+ Toronto Raptors' Chris Bosh will be releasing a CD compilation of his favorite songs and music by new artists. Ballin'! (Baller Status)

+ British Band the Horrors blame blogs and Facebook and everything else FUN for ruining EVERYTHING. You know what? SCREW 'EM. It's not like they're reading this anyway! (Independent)

+ Pour some out for polka -- the Recording Academy pulled polka from its list of Grammy categories. We hardly knew ye! (New York Times)

+ Poison, Dolly Parton, AND Elton John will all be performing at the Tony Awards this Sunday. And LAAAAAAYYYYDIES, keep your eyes a-peeled for Constantine Maroulis, who's up for Best Actor in a Musical. Best. Tonys. Ever? (Billboard)

We're still totally exhausted from watching the American Idol season premiere … did it really need to be four hours spread over two nights? We like laughing at the crazy and crappy singers just as much as the next guy, but sometimes, as Chris Daughtry rightfully pointed out, it's a bit much. What we really get into is watching the top 12 duke it out and placing our bets on who will be crowned the next Idol. But does winning really mean anything anymore?

In recent weeks, past winners Taylor Hicks and Ruben Studdard and season 5 runner-up Katharine McPhee were all kicked to the curb by their record labels. For every Daughtry or Jennifer Hudson, there's a Justin Guarini or Constantine Maroulis or Diana DeGarmo or … well, you get the point. And, in last week's Entertainment Weekly, the show's executive producer clearly dissed all of the season 6 contestants, saying, "We had nobody outstanding." Um … we're guessing that this is news to Jordin Sparks and Blake Lewis, who better hope their albums pick up some serious sales momentum fast or they could be axed next.  

As season 7 gets underway, we're wondering if there's another Kelly Clarkson or Carrie Underwood waiting to be discovered. What do you think … is American Idol still the place to find gems or is it just a joke?

You never know who you'll run into around here. The other day, one guy who sits near us saw the Backstreet Boys (minus Kevin, natch) in the lobby on their way to TRL, and someone else was in an elevator with Tom Cruise. But sometimes the star spottings start first thing in the morning, before you've even entered the building... Read more...

Constantine Maroulis' album dropped last week (apparently sometime around when he also dropped his last name), and we recently read in Entertainment Weekly that the sixth place-finishing season 4 American Idol finalist was expecting his CDs to fly off the shelves. So much so, in fact, that the studly soap star started his own label, Sixth Place Records (get it?), and spent $35,000 on the self-titled debut. There are now 150,000 copies of the thing floating around in the universe somewhere, and he told EW that if he sells every single one of them he'll be "laughing all the way to the bank." So, of course, we couldn't wait to see what kind of damage he did. Yet, despite having a totally rabid fanbase of middle-aged housewives, he sold a paltry 9,000 albums in the first week, according to Nielsen SoundScan, which landed him at No. 75. Who's laughing now? Probably his former Pray for the Soul of Betty bandmates, that's who.

Read more...