Pop Shots - Five Years of Shots

Welcome to your weekly dose of pop world musings. Covering all things pop culture, this week Pop Shots is celebrating a very big anniversary as the column turns five today! That’s right, I’ve been lovingly mocking pop culture every week for the past five years, and I don’t plan on stopping anytime soon. This week I’m taking aim at everything from Katy Perry’s new charitable venture (I used that birthday picture of her for two obvious reasons), to Justin Bieber being told to stay at the kids’ table, to Beyonce and Gwyneth Paltrow doing an opulent quasi-zen version of Thelma and Louise, and since it’s Pop Shots you know everything is seasoned with a little bit of attitude.

* Katy Perry is teaming up with office supply chain Staples to “celebrate and support” teachers via the Make Roar Happen initiative. Yeah, OK, it’s a nice, charitable, thing and all, but we all read that and thought, "Stop trying to make roar happen,” right?

* According to the occasionally reputable Star Magazine, a shirtless Maple Leif Garrett (aka Justin Bieber) attempted to hang out with Leonardo DiCaprio at a nightclub this past week. The Biebs sent his bodyguard ask Leo’s permission to, essentially, sit at the cool kids table. Star Magazine quotes a source as saying, “Justin was nodding and smiling in Leo’s direction, but Leo just shook his head no and waved him off.” It’s a bold move that most of us applaud, although Leo, more than anyone, should be able to understand a young star’s Growing Pains.


* Brian Wilson, of The Beach Boys fame, is working on a new album that will feature collaborations with the likes of Kacey Musgraves, Lana Del Ray, and Zooey Deschanel. If Wilson hasn't come up with a title for the record yet, I have a suggestion – Creepy Old Man.

* Members of Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Queens of the Stone Age and Off! have been recording together for a new, as of yet unnamed, side project. The group consists of Soundgarden’s Ben Shepherd, Soundgarden/Pearl Jam’s Matt Cameron, Off!’s Dimitri Coats, and Alain Johannes from QOTSA, Them Crooked Vultures, and Eleven. Much like with Brian Wilson's album, I have a suggestion for a name for this supergroup – Temple of the Dog: The Next Generation.


* Because sometimes the entertainment world likes to double down on annoying self-importance, Gwyneth Paltrow and Beyonce reportedly went on a four-day retreat together at an exclusive complex in California’s central coast. The tiresome twosome reportedly meditated, went on long walks and sampled local wine. It was a welcome respite from their difficult lives of meditating, going on long walks, and sampling local wine.

* Moby is penning a memoir. For the book, the electronic music artist who is a hero to quirky bald guys with glasses everywhere will be chronicling a ten year period of his life from the late 80s through the recording of his album PLAY, which had the ridiculously awesome single, “South Side” featuring Gwen Stefani. Those years included moving to NYC’s LES during the height of the AIDS epidemic, and the rise of EDM. All of that sounds really interesting, but it still will won’t address the gun wielding, party hopping, “Not Moby” from How I Met Your Mother, and why he thought he could get away with stealing Barney's Get Psyched Mix.


* Pharrell is giving people more G I R L. Yes, like a pimp with a rewards program (which I’m pretty sure doesn’t exist in real life), Pharrell’s following up his album G I R L with an art show in Paris bearing the same name. The exhibit, which will run through June 25th at Galerie Perrotin, features 48 pieces handpicked, or commissioned, by The Neptunes super producer himself, all of which celebrate women, and femininity. In a related story, Pharrell wishes more folks would hand pick his G I R L album, specifically all those people who claimed to be so excited about it.

* Amazon has jumped into the streaming music business... sort of. The site, which recently increased its annual Amazon Prime membership fee from $79 to $99, has launched Prime Music to go along with the service. Unfortunately, as of now Prime Music only has one million songs available, compared to Spotify and Beats Music’s 20 million songs, and Prime Music doesn’t have Universal Music Group on board. In other words, music fans should be Amazon Primed for a letdown.

* Finally, this collaboration between PSY and Snoop Dogg is either the absolute greatest, or the absolute worst, thing I’ve ever seen in my entire life. I'm honestly not sure which it is, but I know it’s one of the two.


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