I watched parts of Idol Gives Back last night and was pleasantly surprised by some of the performances. Annie Lennox's cover of "Many Rivers to Cross" was amazing; Carrie Underwood sang a cover of George Michael's "Praying for Time" and showed that her Idolness was warranted. Other Idol Chris Daughtry visited Uganda and turned a village singalong into a plea for help for Africa. Fergie singing and cartwheeling while performing "Barracuda" with Heart was just......

A group of enterprising young researchers in UCLA's graduate Computer Science department have discovered a fun new way of using your iPod playlist: Wi-Fi enabled software sends your music preferences to whatever computer is nearby. Then music tailored to your preferences pumps out of the speakers -- can you imagine walking into a coffee shop, and the Carrie Underwood track playing shuts off, and a Matthew Good album slides into the rotation instead? How......

How would they fill up two hours in the American Idol finale? That was the question on LAist's mind tonight. (And we were particularly bummed since we had to give up the first hour of Lost for this!) Since the show seemed just as long as the Oscars, it was only fitting that AI had filler like the "Golden Idols" -- awards for the freaks during the early part of the show. Remember the......

LAist is proud to offer a weekly chart roundup of Billboard Magazine's most coveted rankings. Join us as we revel in the conventional standard of musical success. Let us cross our fingers, hoist our lighters, and dream together of the supreme resurrection of artist-driven recordings that will forever eclipse the dark cloud of big label greed, A&R sleaze and disposable audio. Amen. Here are this week's chart toppers. Behold the #1s. ___________________________________________________________________________________________ Billboard Charts......

Country music proved to be an Achilles heel for many of our American Idol contestants. The night started off on a good note, with baldiePhil Stacey doing a decent job on Keith Urban's "Where the Blacktop Ends" and Jordin Sparks doing an even better job on coach Martina McBride's song "Broken Wing" (which is a lot of chutzpah for a 17-year-old). Then came Sanjaya. With permed hair in a do-rag, he butchered a song......

Through an amazing fluke of luck I got on the list to see last week’s Saturday Night Live dress rehearsal. After a bit of a mixup with a friend who was supposed to join me I got escorted up to the 8th floor of 50 West 50th Street in Rockerfeller Center – this is the studio floor, not the bleachers. I sat down at 7:40 p.m. with about 20 other people lucky enough to......

I've been on hiatus a few days this week because my other job, the one that pays the bills, was superdemanding but this weekend the TV Junkie is in New York on assignment to cover the dress rehearsal of SNL - the one with Peyton Manning and American Idol winner Carrie Underwood. I've only been here a couple hours and I (think) I got some really bad pics of Gerard Butler (300) going into......

Tonight - Thursday - March 8th, 2007 The Yakuza Papers (IFC, 5:00 p.m.) All 5 flicks from the gangster saga. Survivor: Fiji (CBS, 8:00 p.m.) More shenanigans from paradise. American Idol (Fox, 8:00 p.m.) Carrie Underwood performs, top 12 finalists revealed. Scrubs (NBC, 9:00 p.m.) Sad news for the Army guy. Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader? (Fox, 9:00 p.m.) Well, are you? 30 Rock (NBC, 9:30 p.m.) Last one before show goes......

LAist is proud to offerer a weekly, chart roundup of Billboard Magazine’s most coveted rankings. Join us as we revel in the conventional standard of musical success. Let us cross our fingers, hoist our lighters, and dream together of the supreme resurrection of artist-driven recordings that will forever eclipse the dark cloud of big label greed, A&R sleaze and disposable audio. Amen. Here are this week’s chart toppers. Behold the #1s. __________________________________________________________________________________________ A selection......

Nothing says I love you, quite like poor compression. Here to express how I feel about this week’s On The Charts, using only this week’s Billboard No.1s, is a video diary of my deepest sentiments. Well, really it’s only one video. And really it's only one sentiment -- Go Slash Go. In honor of Guns N' Roses' number one grab in the Pop Catalog category, and the impending floodish weather forecast for the Los......

LAist is proud to begin offering a weekly, chart roundup of Billboard Magazine’s most coveted rankings. Join us as we revel in the conventional standard of musical success. Let us cross our fingers, hoist our lighters, and dream together of the supreme resurrection of artist-driven recordings that will forever eclipse the dark cloud of big label greed, A&R sleaze and disposable audio. Amen. Here are this week’s chart toppers. Behold the #1’s. Billboard Charts......

Sunday. Usually, a quiet, contemplative day in the Blogosphere. But not here in the Ist-a-Verse. Nonono! Just look below and see all of the wild and crazy stuff our staffs are up to. In Austin, bands are beginning to confirm for SXSW and the rumor mill is up and running. Good thing, too, because we all know how much Austinites love live performances. Austin also found itself in the national spotlight, with Longhorn Legend......

Seven months. It was seven months ago today that the Clippers had won their last road game, prior to last night’s 89-82 breakthrough against Memphis. In that time, Kid Rock and Pam Anderson got married three times and divorced, Carrie Underwood was still the reigning American Idol, and Mel Gibson and Michael Richards were still best known for their body of work instead of their big mouths. It’s been a long time. Now, a......

Leona Lewis, a contestant on a Simon Cowell + Sharon Osbourne judged American Idol type program, who turns Cowell on so much he made out with Sharon and then dissed Kelly Clarkson, Fantasia, and Carrie Underwood: Across this show, across Idol, across all the other shows. Let's be honest: all the girl singers haven't been very good, until now! You are absolutely the best contestant I have ever had across any of these shows.......

One of the fun things about celebrity birthdays is seeing what famous people are born on the same day you are. Well, March 10 babies, we apologize. Celebrating his 49th birthday today is Osama Bin Laden, in an undisclosed location. Sharon Stone says she's celebrating her 48th today. Although if any women in Hollywood have ever fudged their age (no!) we'd wager Sharon Stone is among them. We believe that Jasmine Guy from "A Different......

Tomorrow, California joins the eleven other states that participate in the Mega-Millions lottery game. It is the nation's largest game with the potential for the most prize money (and the worst odds). The expected jackpot for tomorrow is $42 million (Saturday's California only Super Lotto Plus is a piddling $10 million). The new game doesn't come without controversy, though. As discussed on Which Way, LA? last night, the state legislature doesn't believe that the......