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+ Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez had quite a weekend in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. They smooched at a hockey game, Bieber once again rented out a movie theater where they watched "Real Steel," AND there are reports that they ADOPTED A PUPPY. (Entertainment Wise)

+ Happy 25th birthday, Drake! The birthday boy partied it up in Vegas, and bought 200 shots and bottles for those on the dance floor at Tao nightclub on Saturday. (Rap-Up)

+ Beyoncé gets the first lady moving. When Michelle Obama was asked what she jammed to while exercising, she said, "I always love Beyoncé, so anything that's fast-paced that she's doing is good for me." (Just Jared)

+ Katy Perry and hubby Russell Brand took to their bikes and ran into Def Jam's Russell Simmons over the weekend at the Occupy Wall Street protest. (Just Jared)

+ Neil Young was joined by Beck, Mumford & Sons, Eddie Vedder and others who performed during his annual Bridge School benefit in San Francisco. Watch Young and Arcade Fire duet on "Helpless." (Rolling Stone)

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Tags Arcade Fire, Beck, Beyonce, Buzz Bites, Celebrity, Drake, Eddie Vedder, justin bieber, Katy Perry, Mumford & Sons, Neil Young, Russell Simmons, Selena Gomez

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It being a Tuesday afternoon, you, dear reader, are likely in a post-lunch food coma. So we thought we'd make that food coma positively hallucinogenic by directing your attention to "Expecting To Fly," a totally trippy new video from Metric.

A little background info. Metric is a Canadian indie-rock band fronted and fueled by the charismatic presence of frontwoman Emily Haines. This long-running group, with tangential ties to Broken Social Scene, makes nervy, New Wave-ish pop. A good place to start is their '09 album, Fantasies, which features standout songs like "Gold Gun Girls" and "Satellite Minds."

"Expecting To Fly" is a cover of a song by the seminal classic rock band, Buffalo Springfield, which featured legendary older dudes Neil Young, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash. Metric's cover of the track is sort of atypical for them; it's a piano-driven dirge, full of dreamy atmosphere, sort of reminiscent of Mazzy Star.

The video, directed by Christopher Mills, really ups the dreamy factor. We see a collage of imagery, one blurring into the next. It's sure to make your post-lunch daze that much more memorable.

"Expecting To Fly" is available on Metric's iTunes Session. Check out Metric's video for "Expecting to Fly," here.

Tags Broken Social Scene, Mazzy Star, Metric, Neil Young, video

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+ According to Akon, Lady Gaga's new album, Born This Way, will be a "notch up" from her debut. (MTV News)

+ Rihanna has some interesting opinions about blogs that have negative opinions about Rihanna: "It’s a community for people who don’t have anything else to do and hate themselves." (Celebuzz)

+ Nicki Minaj performed her crossover hit, "Right Thru Me" on "The Wendy Williams Show" yesterday. (Idolator)

+ You must watch Jimmy Fallon (dressed up as Neil Young) and Bruce Springsteen cover Willow Smith's "Whip My Hair." (PopEater)

+ Beyoncé's new perfume ad has been deemed too hot for England and has been banned by the BBC. (TheFABlife)

Tags Akon, Beyonce, Bruce Springsteen, Jimmy Fallon, Lady Gaga, Neil Young, Nicki Minaj, Rihanna, Willow Smith

This past Friday night, MTV's Hope For Haiti Now: A Global Benefit For Earthquake Relief helped raise over $58 million dollars for the people of Haiti, and the star-studded event sent a new record for donations made by the general public during a disaster-relief telethon, and the "Hope for Haiti Now" album became the biggest one-day album pre-order in iTunes history.

The evening wasn't about promoting vanity projects, red carpet fashions, or Hollywood heartthrobs. It was about putting aside the fact that our country is in need and giving to those whose need is so great that ours pales in comparison.

And the Hope For Haiti Now: A Global Benefit For Earthquake Relief was about the power of music -- from Justin Timberlake's cover of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" to Stevie Wonder's "Bridge Over Troubled Water," to Bono, The Edge, Jay-Z and Rihanna's brand-new song, "Stranded -- Haiti Mon Amour," and, of course, Wyclef Jean's "Rivers of Babylon"/"Yele" medley -- to unite and bring us hope.

Watch all of the Hope For Haiti Now: A Global Benefit For Earthquake Relief performances below. Plus, pre-order the Hope for Haiti Now full-performance album for just $7.99 on iTunes. And please, donate.

Alicia Keys, "Prelude To A Kiss"

Coldplay, "A Message"

Bruce Springsteen, "We Shall Overcome"

Shakira, "I'll Stand By You"

John Legend, "Motherless Child"

Taylor Swift, "Breathless"

Christina Aguilera, "Lift Me Up"

+ Watch more performances after the jump.

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Tags Alicia Keys, Beyonce, Bono, Bruce Springsteen, Christina Aguilera, Coldplay, Dave Matthews, Emeline Michel, Haiti, Hope For Haiti Now, Jay-Z, Jennifer-Hudson, John Legend, Justin Timberlake, Keith Urban, Kid Rock, Madonna, Mary J. Blige, Matt Morris, Neil Young, Rihanna, Shakira, Sheryl Crow, Stevie Wonder, Sting, Taylor Swift, The Edge, video, Wyclef Jean

Is it possible that, despite what history and everyday logic would tell you, that Soul Asylum invented the Seattle sound... in Minneapolis? Dave Pirner and co started seasoning Neil Young loner folk with country twang and punk aggression back in 1981, the same year  Kurt Cobain was picking out Cars covers on his first guitar at 14.

The sound they came up with was definitely grunge. Whether or not Soul Asylum was the first band to play it doesn't really matter. It's usually impossible to attribute the origins of musical styles to single artists, anyway.

But the fact that Soul Asylum didn't come out of the '90s as notorious as Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Smashing Pumpkins did, is a little bit surprising -- I mean come on. Look at Dave Pirner! He was like Meg Ryan with dreadlocks! And that scratchy crybaby voice... Man. Sweetest dude ever. No wonder Winona Ryder was so wild for him. Now you can't even find a decent photo of him on the internet. WEIRD.

In the Unplugged performance below, Soul Asylum go easy on their classic Grave Dancers Union opener, "Somebody To Shove," fleshing it out with an orchestra. Watch the video, and tell me that song's not just as good as "Bullet With Butterfly Wings."

Tags Kurt Cobain, Neil Young, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Smashing Pumpkins, Soul Asylum, The-Cars, vintage-video

The Canadian border that separates Vancouver from Washington State is slimmer than you might give it credit for. In fact, it's arguable that grunge started in Vancouver when one of its most famous sons, Neil Young, moved his flannels south to California. No matter what the origin, that grungy out-West attitude has been ping-ponging between Seattle and Vancouver for ages, and producing extraordinary musical results along the way.

Vancouver's latest contribution to the woodsy-rocking world is Vince Vaccaro, a Canadian longhair with ties to hometown hero, Sam Roberts. Forever in Chucks and a bandana, Vaccaro builds new-school classic rock ballads out of heartbreak guitars and his unstoppable voice. The soaring, heartfelt results are as much Snow Patrol as they are Journey. Sounds pretty irresistible, right? Well, it is. Get familiar with this charismatic Canadian on his website, watch the acoustic performance video after the jump and spread the word!
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Tags Journey, Neil Young, Sam Roberts, Snow Patrol, The Buzz On, Vince Vaccaro