Madonna took the big stage for her anticipated Super Bowl halftime performance this Sunday. She gave Super Bowl XLVI attendees and viewers at home quite a show, full of energy and spirit, ending with a message for world peace!

The elaborate performance kicked off with her classic “Vogue.” accompanied by an army of Roman soldiers.

LMFAO joined her for a mashup of “Music” and their No. 1 song, “Sexy and I Know It.” During the performance Madonna danced her way out of a tumble when she slipped for a moment.

Then Madonna, M.I.A and Nicki Minaj performed as cheerleaders “Give me all your luving” the first single of the material girl upcoming album M.D.N.A.

Madonna closed it out — with the help of Cee Lo Green — with “Open Your Heart” “Express Yourself” and “Like A Prayer.”

Watch the video

Openly gay artist Ari Gold releases new music video for his latest single “My Favorite Religion”

“My Favorite Religion” is the third video/single off Ari Gold’s “Between the Spirit & the Flesh.” Directed by Alessandro Calza & David Graham.

Ari Gold is not only an Award-Winning Billboard Top 10 Recording Artist, but has had his music featured on VH1, MTV, NPR, IFC, BBC, HBO, and LOGO. His music always pushes the boundaries of what it means to be Pop, and audiences and critics all take heed. “[His music] takes the listener to fresh places,” says People Magazine. Ari’s recognition range from an Independent Music Award, to multiple Outmusic Awards, to “Decade Of Achievement” Award from the LGBT Expo. Sir Ari was even knighted by the Imperial Court of New York.

An advocate and icon for the gay community, Ari has performed alongside other legendary and iconic artists such as Chaka Khan, Debbie Harry, and Cyndi Lauper. Fans of Sir Ari include music mogul Clive Davis, Whoopi Goldberg, Rupual and Boy George, who took to twitter offering his praise on the self-empowering message of Between the Spirit & the Flesh.

Between the Spirit & the Flesh is available on iTunes.

Visit ARI GOLD WEBSITE for more info.

Follow him via TWITTER, FACEBOOK and MYSPACE.

Controversial pop singer Sir JET has Lunched his debut book titled “I’m Enough: How to Live Life like a Popstar and Find Your True Self in the Process”

What is a popstar? A popstar is a person who embodies all the qualities we love: they always look their best, behave with total confidence in everything they do, and exert a sense of love to all they come in contact with. I’m Enough: How to Live Life Like a Popstar and Find Your True Self in the Process, the first ebook written by the ever alluring and often controversial pop singer Sir JET, aka Joel Evan Tye, is about how to discover how you can become a popstar in your own right,  physically, mentally, and spiritually.

JET explains, “I’ve seen the reports about the anti-bullying campaigns, and I thought, ‘the world is ready to make a conscious shift, because we as adults want to prevent young people from getting hurt and feeling victimized. What can I do to help this movement?’ The idea came to write a book about what I did to overcome my issues with feeling not good enough, in hopes it would reach the people who needed it most.” The beauty of I’m Enough is it’s written in very simple language.

JET writes with an essence of familiarity with the reader, and the tips and instructions are very easy to follow. The book starts with things one can do to physically improve themselves and gradually goes deeper into the thought process to help one find him/herself both inside and out. Most notably is the chapter on gender anxiety. JET’s take on how people can explore the masculine and feminine within themselves without judgment is an innovative perspective that at the same time is very understandable.

“I’m Enough“  is currently available through amazon, itunes, and kobo.com, and coming soon to barnes&noble, sony ebookstore, thecopia.com, and as a physical book via amazon. And at only $4.99, it’s definitely worth checking out.

For more on Sir JET, check out www.facebook.com/iamsirjet, twitter @iamsirjet, and the official “I’m Enough” blog www.iamsirjet.blogspot.com

Photos by Ninon Nguyen

The Magnetic Fields have announced their spring tour in support of Love at the Bottom of the Sea and tickets are on sale now!

About Magnetic Fields:

The Magnetic Fields’ debut album Distant Plastic Trees was released in 1991. In 1999, The Magnetic Fields’ three-CD collection, 69 Love Songs, established Stephin Merritt as one of his generation’s most talented songwriters. That breakthrough was followed by three albums on Nonesuch Records: i in 2004, Distortion in 2008 and Realism in 2010. Between Magnetic Fields releases, Merritt has recorded side projects and albums with his various other bands, Future Bible Heroes, the Gothic Archies and the 6ths, as well as soundtracks to the films Eban and Charley and Pieces of April. In 2006, Nonesuch also released a collection of songs Merritt wrote under the name The Gothic Archies to accompany the Lemony Snicket books, The Tragic Treasury: Songs from a Series of Unfortunate Events. In 2009, Merritt scored the Off-Broadway adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s novel Coraline.

The Magnetic Fields on tour:

Mar 6 Hudson, NY Helsinki Hudson
Mar 7 Philadelphia, PA Union Transfer
Mar 11 Minehead, UK All Tomorrow’s Parties
Mar 14, 15, 16 Austin, TX SXSW
Mar 18 Vancouver, BC The Vogue
Mar 19 Seattle, WA Neptune Theater
Mar 20 Seattle, WA Neptune Theater
Mar 21 Portland, OR Roseland Theater
Mar 23 Los Angeles, CA Orpheum Theater
Mar 24 Oakland, CA Fox Theater
Mar 26 Chicago, IL Vic Theater
Mar 27 Chicago, IL Vic Theater
Mar 28 Iowa City, IA Englert Theater
Mar 30 Toronto, ON Sound Academy
Mar 31 Montreal, QC Le National
Apr 3 New York, NY Beacon Theater
Apr 6 Boston, MA Berklee Performance Center
Apr 7 Boston, MA Berklee Performance Center
Apr 9 Washington, DC 9:30 Club
Apr 11 Carrboro, NC Cat’s Cradle
Apr 12 Carrboro, NC Cat’s Cradle
Apr 14 Atlanta, GA Variety Playhouse

RACHEL ZOE, HIV ACTIVIST FORTUNATA KASEGE FEATURED IN PSA FOR HIV VACCINE AWARENESS

Abzyme Research Foundation releases the first of several multimedia facets to a yearlong PSA series titled “Voices For A Vaccine”. Celebrity and stylist Rachel Zoe teamed with HIV activist and spokeswoman for the Elizabeth Kaiser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, Fortunata Kasege in the first made-for-web video.

The media project’s objective is to amplify the affect an HIV vaccine will eventually have on the lives of individuals who have been touched by HIV. While celebrities lend their public images, activists lend their strong voices for online and broadcast videos. Through Zoe’s image, the voice of Kasege can be heard retelling her story of preventing HIV transmission to her daughter during pregnancy.

“We believe that by openly discussing HIV/AIDS vaccine development,” said Zach Barnett, Abzyme Research Foundation founder, “We grow closer to potentially providing accessible prevention, treatment, and a cure for the over 33 million HIV-positive people worldwide.”

About Abzyme Research Foundation:

All HIV/AIDS organizations agree that a vaccine is essential to eradicate HIV/AIDS and Abyzme Research Foundation believes that abzymes are the key. During the 2012 calendar year, Abzyme Research Foundation will raise $1.5 Million to propel HIV E-VAC, an innovative therapeutic HIV vaccine candidate developed at University of Texas Houston, into human trials. The international philanthropic community spends $15 Billion dollars annually fighting AIDS, yet .09% of this funding is dedicated to cure/therapeutic vaccine research. Even smaller is the percentage dedicated to translational research.

Abzyme Research Foundation was formed in 2010 after the afore mentioned HIV E-VAC was not granted funding from the NIH for human trials despite having received an extremely prestigious top 10 percentile score in peer review. Founder Zachary Barnett was shocked that vaccine candidates that were shown to be safe and efficient in pre-clinical studies were not being tested due to shrinking government budgetary restrictions. Paired with a lack of investments in cure research by the for-profit medical industry, the Foundation had sufficient cause to raise public and private support to move the vaccine into human trial.

Our goal is to validate the preclinical studies that show that abzymes are capable of destroying HIV’s ability to replicate in HIV-positive human tissue samples. Abzymes are naturally produced in long-term HIV survivors, and in Lupus patients, and their potency shows great promise as a therapy. A majority of deaths in the developing world due to AIDS related illnesses occur because there is a lack of access to treatment. A more effective and less frequently required treatment would save countless lives.

Visit www.endHIV.com for more information.

Adam Lambert has confirmed he is set to join Queen as the band’s new frontman for a tour this summer.

The Daily Star reports:

ROCK gods Queen are reforming again and I can reveal they’re headlining Sonisphere festival this summer.

Freddie Mercury’s place will be taken by Adam Lambert, the American Idol winner.

He wowed fans by singing with original members Brian May and Roger Taylor at MTV’s EMAs in Belfast last November.

Adam told me he can’t wait to sing with guitarist Brian, 64, and drummer Roger, 62.

The flamboyant 30-year-old revealed: “The intention is to pay tribute to Freddie and the band by singing some f*****g great songs. It’s to keep the music alive for the fans and give it an energy that Freddie would have been proud of.”

Read the full article via THE DAILY STAR

WNET/Channel Thirteen’s new online news and culture magazine MetroFocus has an interesting post by Christopher Bram, the author of the newly released book “Eminent Outlaws” on prominent 20th century gay writers. In his post he examines what drew the likes of Tennessee Williams, Truman Capote, James Baldwin and other prominent writers to New York City.

Here’s an excerpt:

For a long time, I believed that my first set of reasons for coming to New York — work and culture — were lies and that the second set — love and sex — were the truth. But while I wrote my literary history, “Eminent Outlaws: The Gay Writers Who Changed America,” I realized that all of my reasons were good, and they were all true.

Most of the writers I included in the book came to New York, and they came here for both art and sex. Tennessee Williams moved from New Orleans to break into the theater but also to meet what he called “companions.” Gore Vidal arrived after World War II and discovered both the baths and the publishing world. (One night he went to the baths with a new friend, Truman Capote.) James Baldwin was born here, but he moved from Harlem to Greenwich Village to be around other writers and to meet men. Frank O’Hara came from Massachusetts to work at the Museum of Modern Art and to find a boyfriend. Edmund White arrived directly from college as a playwright and happily pursued men while he found a new career as a novelist.

Read the full article via METROFOCUS

About the book:

In the years following World War II, a small group of gay writers established themselves as literary power players, fueling cultural changes that would resonate for decades to come, and transforming the American literary landscape forever.

In EMINENT OUTLAWS, novelist Christopher Bram brilliantly chronicles the rise of gay consciousness in American writing. Beginning with a first wave of major gay literary figures-Tennessee Williams, Gore Vidal, Truman Capote, Allen Ginsberg, and James Baldwin-he shows how (despite criticism and occasional setbacks) these pioneers set the stage for new generations of gay writers to build on what they had begun: Armistead Maupin, Edmund White, Tony Kushner, and Edward Albee among them.

Weaving together the crosscurrents, feuds, and subversive energies that provoked these writers to greatness, EMINENT OUTLAWS is a rich and essential work. With keen insights, it takes readers through fifty years of momentous change: from a time when being a homosexual was a crime in forty-nine states and into an age of same-sex marriage and the end of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.

Visit CHRISTOPHER BRAM WEBSITE for more info.

Sexy American actor Tervor Donovan, best know for his charming role of Teddy on the TV Hit show 90210, posed naked in a photoshoot for US Magazine

“It was supposed to be a 60s Steve McQueen/James Dean-type shoot mixed with ‘naked in Atlantis,” the actor, 33, tells Us Weekly of the exclusive photo, taken at a pal’s house in, naturally, Beverly Hills. “But the zip code was not 90210!” jokes the hunky blond.

What did it take for Donovan to strip down? “Shots of tequila,” he tells Us. “Just kidding! Listen, there is nothing shameful about the human body. It’s a beautiful thing!”

Read the full article via US MAGAZINE

The first track to released from Sam’s upcoming album “RETURN TO PARADISE” is The Shallow End. The track was produced by Jesse Rogg and Greg Kurstin and is about life in Los Angeles. The video is compiled of home video footage of the making of the record and was filmed in LA, New York, London and Spain.

RETURN TO PARADISE, will be released in the spring of 2012. Inspired by soul and funk music from 78-84, “Paradise” is the product of 2 1/2 years of writing and recording in Los Angeles, London and New York.

The album features a wide range of musicians from all over the world. Production credits on most tracks go to long time Sparro collaborator Jesse “Golden Touch” Rogg and Sam himself. Other Production work was done by Grammy Producer of the Year Nominee, Greg Kurstin, Jono Sloan (Empire of the Sun), Tim Anderson (Ima Robot) and Lester Mendez . Players on the record include Jamiroquai founding bass player, Stuart Zender, Violinist Caitlin Moe, The Horn Section from Hercules and Love Affair and Midnight Magic, Charlie Wilcocks, Dave Wilder, Felix Bloxsom and Sam’s own brother and father on guitars.

Sam also worked with Best Coast’s Bethany Cosentino, Florence and the Machine’s Isabella Summers and Swedish singer/songwriter Erik Hassle on some of the song writing.

The results are an eclectic collection of songs about love lost and the quest for happiness. Stylistically, there are songs that range from 80′s electro soul and disco dance floor numbers to Pop songs and beautiful ballads.

What does Sam have to say about his new record? “I’m so proud of these songs and can’t wait to share them. It’s been a long time coming.”

Watch the video

 Official website – http://bit.ly/samsparro-officialwebsite

Official facebook – http://on.fb.me/samsparro-facebook

Official twitter – http://bit.ly/samsparro-twitter

Today M.I.A.’s video for her brand new track, “Bad Girls,” premieres exclusively on Noisey — VICE’s new music channel on YouTube.

The video was shot in Ouarzazate, Morocco, and is directed by Romain Gavras (M.I.A. “Born Free” and JUSTICE “Stress”)

Watch the video for “Bad Girls”

“It was dope to have so many people from so many different backgrounds speaking so many different languages come together to create something that we believed in,” says M.I.A about the video. “I thought I was gonna die on the shoot when I saw the drifting.  It was a four day shoot so everyone was on edge the whole time specifically ME when I had to do bluesteel singing to the camera while the cars did doughnuts on the wet road ten feet away. In my mind I was thinking how I was gonna deliver the video to Vice with no legs.”

The track “Bad Girls” was released via all major digital retail outlets January 31st following a well-received premiere on Pitchfork January 30th.

REACTION TO “BAD GIRLS”

“Her pop instincts and talents remain as sharp as ever.” - Pitchfork

“It’s got all the hallmarks of a M.I.A. song: Punjabi-tinged production, deadpan delivery, booming drums, lyrics about having sex in cars, etc. This is some real hype shit! Turn it up and go punch a cop.  I’m betting this new one will break her all over again.” – Black Book Mag

ABOUT M.I.A

Named one of the ten defining artists of the 2000′s decade by Rolling Stone and one of the world’s 100 most influential people by Time magazine, British singer-songwriter M.I.A. has been nominated for an Academy Award and two Grammys (“Paper Planes” and “Swagga Like Us”).  Her most recent original album, 2010′s Maya, went Top 10 on the Billboard 200 album chart and #1 on the Dance/Electronic chart.  M.I.A.’s fourth album is due in the summer.

ABOUT NOISEY

Noisey, VICE’s new music channel on Youtube, will offer music fans the most extensive slate of original online music programming to date. Noisey’s Youtube programming will cover not only the artists that matter most, but the trends and opinions that make up today’s music culture.