Pop Shots
Stuffed With Turkeys
By: Adam Bernard
Last updated November 24th , 2010

Welcome to your weekly dose of pop world musings. Covering all things pop culture, this week Pop Shots is hitting you with thoughts on everything from some Turkey Day music specials, to a turkey who can't seem to keep himself out of prison, to news on a group that's likely to routinely dine on early bird specials, and since it's Pop Shots you know everything is seasoned with a little bit of attitude.

* Had your fill of football by the end of Thanksgiving? Well, you're in luck as two of pop's biggest names will have TV specials to cap of your night before you go into your tryptophan induced coma. Both Taylor Swift and Beyonce have prime time holiday shows this Thursday, with Swift's at 8pm on NBC and Beyonce's at 9:30pm on CBS. With Beyonce's featuring an appearance by Kanye West, one can expect him to say Taylor's special was good, but Beyonce's was the greatest of all time (I really didn't want to make that joke, but when the universe makes it that damned easy I'd be remiss if I didn't).

* DMX, who goes to jail more often than Rick Ross did when he was employed by one, is back in the bing once again. This time it's for allegedly violating his probation for using drugs, notably cocaine and OxyContin. Court documents also allege the rapper failed to submit to drug testing, which actually seems like a sound decision if he was taking drugs, and drove with a suspended license. If you're keeping track of DMX's jail stints on your DMX jail time punch card... well, there probably isn't very much of that card left.

* Lindsay Lohan has lost the most talked about role she's had in years. Matthew Wilder, director of the upcoming Linda Lovelace biopic Inferno, told E! this past week that they're moving on without Lohan and recasting the role of Linda Lovelace. Don't worry Lindsay, there's always actual porn.

* In what is undoubtedly the strangest success story of the week, Pamela Anderson is seeing a resurgence in popularity in the unlikeliest of places - India. Starring in the country's version of Big Brother, titled Bigg Boss, Pam helped the show's ratings skyrocket for her very brief stay in the house, which only lasted three days. Hopefully this will lead to what the world really needs, a Bollywood version of Baywatch. With Hasselhoff's singing chops he could still be the lead!

* Because Fox feels the nation won't be sick of Glee by the time the Super Bowl rolls around in February, there's going to be a special post game Glee that will feature the cast performing a mash up of "Thriller." If anyone buys THEIR version of "Thriller" after this instead of Michael Jackson's they deserve to be eaten by a zombie, and not the well choreographed dancing kind from the "Thriller" video, I'm talking about the kind you see on The Walking Dead. In fact, can we just drop Glee into the middle of The Walking Dead? Sing your way out that, kids!

* When rockers are old enough to be in the AARP they sometimes have trouble reaching a young audience. The Rolling Stones have always had their core fan base, but they've found a way to skew that fan base a little younger thanks to a song placement in a commercial for the video game Call of Duty: Black Ops, and another placement within the game. The Stones' "Gimme Shelter" is featured in a commercial for the latest CoD, and "Sympathy for the Devil" was licensed as background music for the game. "Gimme Shelter," which had 2,000 digital single sales the week of October 31st, saw that number jump to 5,000 the next week, and 11,000 the week after that. "Sympathy for the Devil" saw a 100% spike in sales. When asked how they felt about their newfound video game success the band asked what a video game was, and then demanded some prune juice before Matlock came on.

* In news I'm personally very stoked about, Cake will be releasing a new album, titled Showroom, in January. The band has spent six years between new albums, but there's a very good reason for that, not only are they going the self-produced indie route now, but they built their own solar powered recording studio in Sacramento, CA. The band spent nearly five years building the studio, and the album took two and a half years to finish. It will be released on their own label, Upbeat Records, and distributed through Warner's Independent Label Group. In celebration of their upcoming new work, let's kick it old school, with a little "Frank Sinatra."



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

[Tags] POP

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