January 11, 2008

Friday’s Sly Music News Day

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  • Okay, I knew that pneumonia story was suspicious. It turns out Eminem wasn’t just in the hospital for a cough. The rapper has apparently ballooned into a “fat Elvis,” this according to his mom, who’s quoted in a gossip blog saying the 5 foot 7 rapper now weighs over 200 pounds and was hospitalized for possible heart problems as well as the pneumonia. Apparently the rapper is “depressed.” But it feels so empty without you!

  • Following in the wake of Radiohead‘s post-EMI success, both Coldplay and Robbie Williams are reportedly considering leaving the label as well. Well if you have a “pay what you want” internet site, please do it in dollars so I don’t screw it up again. Oh wait, I don’t buy music from either of you.

  • Soulja Boy has set a digital sales record. His irrepressible hit “Crank Dat (Soulja Boy),” whose eponymous subtitle confuses and infuriates me, has become the first track to sell 3 million downloads. The music videos have been viewed over 50 million times on YouTube. Soulja Boy responded to the news by saying, “Yuuuuaaaa!!” Seriously.

  • This year’s Coachella music festival near Palm Springs is set for the weekend of April 25-27, and now Idolator has what they call the “first fake line-up” for this year’s festival, although Stereogum posted one back in November. Nothing, however, beats the one you can see after the jump:
    •

    mojo-photo-fakecoachella.jpg

    Toto and Crash Test Dummies on the same stage? Don’t tease me.

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    If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

    Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

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