Pop Shots - Break Ups & Break Downs


Welcome to your weekly dose of pop world musings. Covering all things pop culture, this week Pop Shots is hitting you with thoughts on everything from R.Kelly’s bank telling him it’s over between him and his house, to J.Lo and Marc Anthony calling it quits, to Cheap Trick’s stage falling apart under inclement weather, and since it’s Pop Shots you know everything is seasoned with a little bit of attitude.

* R. Kelly is about to be homeless. The singer/alleged pedophile has apparently been neglecting to pay the mortgage on his house for the past year and the bank is ready to foreclose. Maybe he’d have gotten some help with his $24,345.12 monthly payments if any of his roommates were old enough to be legally employed.

* Did Beyonce’s dad steal from her during his long tenure as her manager? That’s was some are alleging, although he, of course, is denying it. The singer’s father didn’t just deny it, though, he threw in a few jabs at the people his daughter’s working with, and married to, filing papers in a Texas court alleging that members of Beyonce’s camp, including Columbia Records, Live Nation Entertainment, and Jay-Z’s Roc Nation, have made “negative comments” about him. According to reports, Beyonce and her father haven’t spoken since she fired him two months ago. I don’t know how this is gonna turn out, but one thing’s for sure, Thanksgiving is gonna be really really awkward at the Knowles house.

* Ryan Seacrest, who many may have forgotten was a dater on the reality show Blind Date, has announced he’s starting his own music festival. The inaugural iHeartRadio Music Festival, which is being produced by Clear Channel, aka the company that destroyed radio, will be held in Las Vegas over two days in September and feature a who’s who of who’s been on the radio that past few years. Seacrest is calling it a “once in a generation gathering of artists and fans.” The good news is if it’s really a once in a generation gathering it means we’ll only have to endure it every decade or so.

* In what comes as shocking news to the seven people who cared about it, Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony decided to split up. Their marriage was rarely in the news as neither of them were really doing much of anything until J.Lo landed her gig with American Idol. J.Lo seems like the most high maintenance woman on the planet, so I’m actually surprised the marriage lasted as long as it did (seven years). Now she’ll have to find someone new to bark orders to. If you’re searching CraigsList for jobs in entertainment and see something about an assistant to a Latin star, run away as fast as you can!

* One member of the rock band Coheed and Cambria really is suffering. Bass player Michael Todd was arrested and charged with armed robbery and drug possession after sticking up a Massachusetts Walgreens for prescription pain pills using a note typed out on his cell phone. The note said he had a bomb and demanded the painkillers. The band released a statement saying they were “truly surprised,” but if that’s the case then they truly haven’t been paying attention, because it’s really obvious when someone’s a drug addict.

* Bruce Springsteen made a surprise appearance at the Wonder Bar in Asbury Park, NJ, on Sunday night because the bar was having a tribute to Clarence Clemons, the E Street Band saxophonist who recently passed away. The Boss jumped on stage with J.T. Bowen and the Soul Cruisers, who were the night’s headliners, and performed a 45 minute set. Bowen was the lead singer of Clemons’ band, The Red Bank Rockers, in the 80s. In a related story, J.T. Bowen and the Soul Cruisers are now booked at every bar in New Jersey until the end of time.

* Cheap Trick were caught in the middle of an epic disaster on Sunday as gale force winds caused their stage to sway backwards and collapse twenty minutes into their set at Ottawa’s Bluesfest. Amazingly, the band escaped uninjured, and only one person was hurt in the entire mess. For a much better Cheap Trick concert experience, check out this live clip from 1979:


And with that, my time is up for the week, but I'll be back next week with more shots on all things pop.

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