Bring in some Good Tidings with The Enemy

Last week on Jo Whiley's Live Lounge, she hopped from home to home visiting some of today's big music makers. On day four of the Live Lounge's tour, Whiley paid Coventry's own The Enemy a visit. After chatting about the holidays, band history and the Spice Girls comeback (and yes, they're excited as well), the trio brought in the holidays with this lovely ditty by Wham!.



You can catch more of The Enemy as well as the other stops on the tour (including the Stereophonics, McFly, Jack Penate and Mika) on the Live Lounge site.

The Boys are Back in Town

...Or should I say Chipmunks. Old school toon, Alvin & the Chipmunks is back and look realer than ever. Voiced by Justin Long as Alvin, Matthew Gray Gubler as Simon, and Jesse McCartney as Theodore, the trio not only bring to the screen their adorable cuteness and higher-than-any-soprano voices, but they also bust out with a bunch of new tracks for their old and new fans.

Here's Alvin, Simon & Theodore with their rendition of Daniel Powter's Bad Day. (So cute!)


And of course who could forget this memorable track...

Walk Hard

Another Judd Apatrow piece of genius with Walk Hard, which releases on Dec. 21. This clip shows the movie's protagonist, Dewey Cox, meeting with the Beatles. Hilarious!

Brit Awards Will Honor Sir Paul

For his impact to the music scene and a career that's spanned five decades, former Beatle, Paul McCartney will receive the outstanding contribution to music honor at the Brit Awards 2008. Held at Earl's Court in London on Feb. 20, the awards will show live on UK network ITV.

Other honorees include U2, Paul Weller, Tom Jones, Sting, David Bowie, Fleetwood Mac, Eurythmics, the Who, and Oasis.

And in honor of Sir Paul's new award, here's his new video from his own YouTube channel.

Stairway to Zeppelin

Not too sure if this is just only the beginning, but for one night at the O2 Arena Led Zepplin rocked it out.

2008 Grammy Nominations Announced

Nominations this time around seem to have come from left field with Kanye West leading with 8 nods, and Amy Winehouse following with 6. Considering the downs in their lives right now, let's hope that these nominations will be a little pick-me-up.

Here are the lists of the top four nominee lists...

Record of the Year


Irreplaceable by Beyonce


The Pretender by Foo Fighters


Umbrella by Rihanna featuring Jay-Z


What Goes Around ... Comes Around by Justin Timberlake


Rehab by Amy Winehouse


Song of the Year

Before He Cheats by Josh Kear & Chris Tompkins (Carrie Underwood)


Hey There Delilah by Tom Higgenson (Plain White T's)


Like a Star by Corinne Bailey Rae


Rehab by Amy Winehouse


Umbrella by Shawn Carter, Kuk Harrell, Terius "Dream" Nash & Christopher Stewart (Rihanna featuring Jay-Z)


Best Album

Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace by Foo Fighters

These Days by Vince Gill

River: The Joni Letters by Herbie Hancock

Graduation by Kanye West

Back to Black by Amy Winehouse


Now onto something no one expected. An all girl category? 2008's new artist nominees are all of the female persuasion (Remember Hayley Williams is Paramore's frontgirl). Do we see a little cat fight in the making?

Best New Artist

Feist


Ledisi


Paramore


Taylor Swift


Amy Winehouse


For a complete list of all the nominees, you can visit the grammys.com.

The 2008 Grammy Awards will be on February 10 in Los Angeles. But if you can't make the trip, you can catch it on CBS.

2008 Grammy Nominations

In only a matter of hours, the Recording Academy will be announcing the nominations for next year's Grammys, which will be at the Staple Center on Feb. 10. Kanye West, Bruce Springstein and Amy Winehouse are among some of the hopefuls to be nominated. Tune in to see if your favorites may be well on their way toward that golden phonograph.

This may be one of the records of the year...

Unplugged 2.0

MySpace has embarked on a new endeavor. Welcome Transmissions. With James Blunt as its first featured artist, the section strips the artist down to its acoustic bones and includes exclusive interview content and videos of the performances. It definitely reminds me of MTV Unplugged of the '90s and Sundance Channel's recent creation, Live from Abbey Road. But for all web surfers, this will be their way of getting their acoustic fixes.

Here's James Blunt's rendition of Peter Bjorn and John's Young Folks

There's No Stopping Ben Lee

Releasing his follow up to Awake is the New Sleep--Ripe--in September, Ben Lee didn't waste any time getting back into the studio. He's been working with Aussie pop diva Kylie Minogue on a new album called Mixtape From Ben Lee. Other guests on the album include Tim Wheeler from Ash, E from the Eels, Ian Ball from Gomez and actress/singer Zooey Deschanel (yes, she can sing).

Hot Hot Heat & Amy Winehouse Drop Their New Videos

NME has just exclusively released Amy Winehouse's new video, Love is a Losing Game. Click here!

Meanwhile, on Spinner you can catch Hot Hot Heat's new video or you can just click play here. An ode to a throwback kareoke video, you can sing along with the band.

To Take Clothes Off or Not To Take Clothes Off

Just like the conversation about Beautiful Girls between Sean Kingston and Jojo. And then there's the Walk This Way cover by Brit girl groups Sugarbabes and Girls Aloud for Comic Relief's charity event, Red Nose Day 2007. It looks like 17-year-old Lil Chris (think a British Aaron Carter before the tattoos and reality show) has honed in on this trend and has assured the Gym Class Heroes that there's no need to undress.



But of course, we can't ignore the original.


Now you can be the judge on who makes the cut.

Travis Barker Cranks Dat and Rihanna Drops by the Live Lounge

With Soulja Boy Tellem's huge succes, it looks like Travis Barker wants to get in on the action and add his own flair to the track. Here's the Blink 182 drummer boy doing what he does best to Crank Dat.





Last month, BBC Radio 1's very own Jo Whiley even got into this dance craze that she decided to take some time while on the air.


Speaking of the Live Lounge host, Ms. Whiley aired her interview with the Umbrella girl herself, Rihanna, today. Now I know the song has been out since the summer, but with so many covers of the song created each day, I just had to highlight it. During the interview, Whiley revealed that Umbrella was so popular that it was on top of the UK charts for 10 weeks straight and also shared Biffy Clyro's cover of the song.

And make sure to tune into Whiley's radio show next week when, she takes the Live Lounge on the road. Here's more info on who she'll be visiting.

School Girls Return to Their Homeland

No, Britney's not revisiting her Hit Me Baby days. The duo known for underage lesbian image, t.A.T.u., has just released a new video in Russia. Called Beliy Plashchik, the video was filmed in L.A. and is pretty reminiscent of the days of Hitler.

This edited version premiered on MTV Russia on Nov. 29.

Tesco Brings More Spicy Cheer in 2007

Perhaps Tesco has been doing better since the start of its Spice Girl Christmas campaign because only a few days ago did its second Spice Girl commercial premiere.



Meanwhile, it's only a a matter of hours till the Spice Girls officially kick off their reunion tour in Vancouver. Unfortunately, Ginger's baby, Bluebell, has gotten the chicken pox and will have to stay home. But of course, the show must go on...so here's a behind-the-scenes look at the preparations for the tour.

Bring in Some Holiday Cheer With the Fat Budgie

What's a budgie you ask?



That is a fat budgie. Originally designed by the Mr. Lennon himself in 1965. And if you're interested in getting a copy of this limited edition doodle, Oxfam is one of the few places you can get it...unless you head across the Atlantic.

New Music Festival on Jersey Soil

It looks like Melvin Benn's plans of expanding on American soil will become reality. Partnering with C3 Presents (famous for Austin City Limits), Benn's Festival Republic will be presenting the Vineland (New Jersey) Music Festival on August 8-10. Yep, you heard it right. Unlike Bamboozle -- located at the Giants Stadium parking lot in Meadowlands, Vineland is halfway between Atlantic City and Philly.

It'll definitely be a rock fest, but planners promise to a variety of artists on the bill. Guess we'll have to see who makes the cut to play.

Hawthorne Heights Loses One of Its Own

Hawthorne Heights Guitarist Casey Calvert was pronounced dead on Saturday afternoon after police came to the band's tour bus outside DC's 9:30 Club where he was found unconscious. He was 26.

According to the Washington Post, this was one day before Wintour 2007 that started in Detroit on Friday. Casey's cause of death is still to be determined by an autopsy.

Friends of the band, Paramore's thoughts:

• MTV
• Music Videos
• MTV Shows
• Entertainment News

The band has written a message on their website urging fans to respect the band as well as Casey's family and not to believe any rumors. More information will come as it becomes available, but our thoughts are with Casey's loved ones.

Movies to Look Out For

Despite what reviews say, I thought August Rush was so beautifully done. Following the chronology of an opus and musical performances that just strike the heart, this modern-day fairy tale (complete with a little love story) shows us that there are still some people out silver lining even in the worst of situations.


This Christmas is another family-friendly-film where music is quite central. Chris Brown takes a breather from dancing up a storm in this movie to show everyone his singing skills. Of course, that is only one of the many twists and turns in this holiday film. Here's Chris showing he isn't just all moves but voice, too.

Kanye Breaks Down

Kanye West couldn't hold back the tears while performing Hey Mama this weekend in Paris.

Our hearts go out to him.

2007 AMA Highlights

(courtesy of the AP)

*will.i.am's dance skills reminiscent of Charlie Chaplin

*Jimmy Kimmel Cranks Dat

*Although Akon took away the year's soul/R&B male category, he was more than willing to hand the award over to T-Pain.

*Avril's hot pink microphone

*Maroon 5 hot in their formal wear

*Pop boy bands are back! The Jonas Brothers' SOS performance had screaming girls running down the aisle, only to tug at the Brothers' clothing. And two (fans) even managed to get on stage at the end of the song -- only to be dragged out by security. (And of course Joe's little spill, which didn't stop him from rocking out and jumping over his mic stand.)

*Ne-Yo & Rihanna decked in Hollywood glamour and a beautiful rendition of Hate That I Love You

*Sugarland's rendition of Beyonce's Irreplaceable only to be joined by Miss Knowles herself during the second verse.


*Celine's comeback performance followed by Lenny Kravitz' piano ballad I'll Be Waiting

*Chris Brown's glow in the dark upside down choreography and T-Pain's Zack Morris phone

*No One Reggae Remix complete with Junior Reid, Beanie Man, Chaka Demus & Pilars and Alicia Keys Dance Routine (Oh yeah, it's official As I Am debuts at #1 this week)



*Duran Duran performs new JT-produced-single Falling Down and viewer's-voted Hungry Like the Wolf

*Beyonce's is the 1st female (and 6th person) to receive the International Artist Award

*Mary J. Blige's rocks out just fine

*Night's fashion trend - it's all about the short, tight and metallic or black for girls and the dashing, dapper gentlemen who can rock the kicks

*Queen Latifah belts out a jazzy performance

*Daughtry's acoustic (and still very heartfelt) version of Home

*Lastly, the American Idol vets were the one to take the night with Daughtry and Carrie Underwood winning three awards each. Looks like no matter how long you last on that show, you can still hit it big on the charts.

Here's the complete list of the night's winners.