Pop Shots - We’re Skewing Old This Week

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 the passing of Dick Clark, to a virtual Grateful Dead experience, to Paul McCartney’s major faux paw. Don’t worry, there’s still some non-AARP related news in here, too, with shots on Kim Kardashian and the Billboard Music Awards, and since it’s Pop Shots you know everything is seasoned with a little bit of attitude.

* Citizens of Glendale, California, Kim Kardashian wants to be your mayor. This according to a story in the LA Times which quotes the arm candy of {enter well paid celebrity’s name here} saying “I decided I’m going to run for the mayor of Glendale.” This won’t happen right away, though, as Kim added “it’s going to be in like five years.” I know she has less political experience than Mayor McCheese, but I want to see Kim win that election, because if she does Ray J will get to say he peed on a mayor.

* The Tupac hologram that appeared at Coachella may now be going on tour. To put this in perspective, people will be paying a premium to essentially watch TV and listen to a CD. In a related story, there are DVDs available of ACTUAL Tupac performing.

* Dick Clark passed away last week. You know someone at ABC is already planning on trotting out a hologram of him for New Year’s Eve.

* Continuing in the virtual world, the Grateful Dead now have an online video game titled Grateful Dead Game: The Epic Tour. In the game players create an adventure by going through Grateful Dead history. There’s one major snag in The Epic Tour, though. According to Reuters “Epic Tour has none of the drug use or talk normally associated with the band and its followers.” Isn’t the Grateful Dead without drugs kind of like basketball without a hoop?

* Carrie Underwood, Justin Bieber, LMFAO and The Wanted have been announced as performers for this year’s Billboard Music Awards. Shut out for the sixth consecutive year - K-Fed. They just don’t like the way he plays with fire.


* Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers had their missing guitars found and returned this past week, and a security guard has been arrested on suspicion of stealing the instruments. I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t want to get into a legal battle with Tom Petty. You know he won’t back down.

* In sad news from down under, Greg Ham, the flute and sax player for 80s icons Men at Work, was found dead in his home in Melbourne, Australia. Hopefully he’s enjoying a Vegemite sandwich in the sky.

* In obscenely big money news, a Sony-led consortium won EU approval this past week to buy EMI’s music publishing business for $2.2 billion. Before the deal, Sony was the fourth biggest player in music publishing, behind Universal Music Group, EMI and Warner Music, but this agreement will push them into first place. Sony’s first order of business? Making super cool foam fingers for every employee.


* Paul McCartney learned a valuable lesson this past week. If you’re going to make a video that reaches out to the deaf, you might want to consult the deaf to make sure your sign language is correct. In McCartney’s “My Valentine” it isn’t, and this mistakes are pretty hilarious. The clip features Johnny Depp signing “enemy” instead of “valentine,” and Natalie Portman signing “tampon” instead of “appear.” Of course, if you’ve ever given an inappropriate gift on Valentine’s Day you know how quickly your “valentine” can become an “enemy,” and maybe Portman’s mistake was actually a cry for help. THIS could have happened to her...


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