Cee-Lo dropped from Rihanna tour

Whoa, you guys. Live Nation has just announced that singer Cee-Lo Green, who recently had a Twitter run-in with local City Pages/Gimme Noise music editor Andrea Swensson, has been dropped from the remainder of Rihanna's tour.


Via Gimme Noise sister blog Rocks Off, according to a brief press release, the singer is no longer with the tour due to "unforseen scheduling conflicts." But it seems too much of a coincidence, happening so quickly after his Twitter beef with Swensson, in which he called her "gay" and said she must be "threatened by my masculinity." In a followup tweet, he said that instead of calling Swensson "gay," he would have hit on her if he knew she was a girl.


Green has since apologized, deleted the tweet and several others pertaining to the review and his comment, and vowed he was quitting Twitter.

But we think @danhuiting puts it best:


Earlier: Cee Lo Green Attacks Local Writer on Twitter
Local writer's feud with Cee-Lo lands on Oh No They Didn't!

Submitted by @jahnapeloquin

Cee Lo Green Attacks Local Writer on Twitter

Cee Lo Green does not take criticism well, as witnessed by a tweet he sent today to City Pages/ Gimme Noise writer Andrea Swensson. Green, who opened for Rihanna last night at Target Center, did not think Swensson's review of his performance was honest and he told her to.. well, see for yourself:

So much for respecting criticism.

Yes, we are baffled too. This, though, made us laugh.


Oh the irony: he can't spell the name of his own song.

UPDATE: Swensson responds!

UPDATE: Cee Lo deleted all his tweets from yesterday, and signed off with a tweet that seemed to insinuate he was quitting Twitter.

Other fun links:

The Tangential tells us other things Cee Lo deems gay

Cee Lo defends himself via US Weekly

TC Daily Planet does a tweet roundup on the sitch

The Hollywood Reporter chimes in


Via @gimme_noise and @CeeLoGreen.

Submitted by @marrina.

53 things you might not know about Prince

In honor of Prince's 53rd birthday, City Pages' Gimme Noise just posted a great list of "53 things you might not know about Prince."


Our favorites:

1. In 1985, Prince owned a white T-bird and could often be seen driving it around North Minneapolis.

6. Prince was called "Skipper" when he was a little boy.

8. When Prince's alias was the unpronounceable symbol, some staffers at Paisley Park just referred to him as "the dude."

28. Spaghetti and orange juice was Prince's favorite meal during his early years with the Revolution.

48. Prince was just blocks away from the site of John Lennon's murder when it happened.

Read the rest here.

Via @gimme_noise

Submitted by @jahnapeloquin

Gayngs Return to 1st Ave, Announce Spring Tour

Gayngs are throwing another biiig party at First Avenue and this time, they're bringing friends. The Gimme Noise folks have announced the "GAYNGS AFFILIYATED SHOWCASE", happening on Sunday, March 6. The roster is quite impressive: GAYNGS, Doomtree, Solid Gold, Megafaun and more in the Mainroom; Har Mar Superstar, Slapping Purses, Marijuana Deathsquads and more at the Entry; plus DJ sets by various artists at the Record Room. We can't wait!

Gayngs also made another announcement just this morning about their spring tour that kicks off in Minneapolis, continues at SXSW festival and ends in San Diego. You can see the full schedule here.



According to Gimme Noise: "The Gayngs showcase at First Avenue will serve as a precursor to some exciting events that Gayngs, Gimme Noise, and First Ave have planned down in Austin, Texas this year at the SXSW music festival in mid-March."

Submitted by @marrina.

The Jayhawks family tree

Our pal Andrea Swensson over at City Pages' Gimme Noise put together this ingenious family tree-style chart of local alt-country legends The Jayhawks - connecting them to everything from Soul Asylum to Prince to the Jonas Brothers. This girl's knowledge of local music - not to mention her handy chart-making skills - totally blows us away!

(Click to enlarge)

Via Andrea Swensson on Facebook

Submitted by @jahnapeloquin

Turf Club changing management

We've got the scoop (thanks to Gimme Noise) on Saturday's cancellation of the Marijuana Deathsquads show and the impromptu closing of the Turf Club. Mere hours before the doors were to open Saturday, a sign was placed on the window that stated "Closed for Repairs" and Deathsquads honcho Ryan Olson posted on Facebook that the show was canceled. Fishy, right?

Speculations raged, but on Sunday word came from Turf Club owner Tom Scanlon that the bar is simply changing management. 15-year Turf staffer and ousted manager Dave Wiegardt was integral in turning the divey Midway club from a bland blue collar watering hole into one of the epic mainstays of the Twin Cities music scene. Reasons behind his departure were not released. Taking the reigns as of January 11th is Josh James, a veteran Turf employee.

According to the press release, "New hours of operation and a new direction will be the hallmarks of the re-working of the venerable jewel of the midway," and "Focus on local music will remain the cornerstone of the business."

We don't like the words "new direction" when it comes to something as classic and iconic as the Turf, but be won't get our pitchforks and torches out quite yet. The fact that the new manager is an internal hire is absolutely a good thing, so we're trying not to get our Turf-lovin' panties in a bunch.

Word has it that the Turf Club will re-open as of January 11th. Re-booking of displaced shows in the interim is currently being hashed out - most notably, next Saturday's MC/VL goodbye show.

Read more on Gimme Noise here.

Photo by Andrea Swensson

Submitted by @theiverson

Awesome First Avenue Infographic

Our friends over at Gimme Noise created a super cool infographic as a tribute to First Avenue's 40th Anniversary that is coming up in December. We. Love.

Click here to read more.

Click image to enlarge

Submitted by @marrina.

Gayngs forced to cancel performance at Austin City Limits

This just in via Gimme Noise!

In a strange turn of events, hometown supergroup Gayngs was forced to nix their performance this Sunday at big-deal-festival Austin City Limits due to the groups tour bus driver making off with all their gear!

The group is keeping the deets underwraps for the most part, due to legal implications, but apparently the driver dropped them off in Austin and promptly took off to Nashville, TN with all the gear in tow - including Ryan Olson's laptop which held necessary components to Gayngs' set.

The bus and gear has been located and will apparently be recovered, but we can't help but wonder HOW and WHY something like this could happen. That driver will be passing down bad karma for generations to come!

Read more about it on City Pages, where Andrea Swensson's got the exclusive!

Pink Mink meets Scott Seekins

Gimme Noise posted something awesome today! Apparently, local band Pink Mink had never actually met the catalyst for their rockin' tune "Seekin' Scott Seekins." But Tuesday night at Nick & Eddie proved to be the inadvertent meeting grounds for the band and notorious local artist, Scott Seekins. And in true Seekins style, he ate up the attention, even standing on a chair in the middle of the bar during the song.

We're crossing our fingers that sometime he'll join them on stage. And we know damn well he'd star in a music video if asked (crossing toes)!

Click HERE to read about the encounter on Gimme Noise.

Arzu & Christy with Seekins / photo by @thebitchelor

Gimme Noise posts their "Top Ten Local Music Nerds to Follow on Twitter"

This is a great and well thought out list! We sort of expected to see the usual suspects, but (well-documented music nerd and Gimme Noise editor) Andrea Swensson had pulled out some real gems! Check out their Top Ten Local Music Nerds to Follow on Twitter.

Our favorite? The @TheRoyWilkins response to tweeps calling it "The worst venue ever." Hilarious!


Submitted by @letoilemagazine

WE LOVE DESSA.

This morning the local lovely Facebooked about the exclusive release of her new video for "Alibi" via City Pages Gimme Noise blog. The video is awesome and beautifully done, of course. Would you expect anything less from Ms. D?

Dessa will be playing the Varsity Theater Saturday Night with No Bird Sing for City Pages' "Best of the Twin Cities" Bash and tix are still available!



Submitted by @letoilemagazine

Take a 'gamble' on this new summer concert series

This just in via @gimme_noise: The Minnesota Lottery is promoting a new line of musically themed scratch-off tickets with a (free) Cash & Concert series, which kicks off this Sunday at the Triple Rock. Red Pens, Alarmists, The Idle Hands are just some of the bands on the pretty impressive roster the lottery officials were able to put together. See full schedule at the lucky.mn website.

And how do we feel about even more free summer entertainment? We like! But we just hope it doesn't land some of our jaded hipster brethren in Gamblers Anonymous. Scratch offs are addicting!

Submitted by @marrina.

Just read this.

Completely hilarious!!!!

Andrew Flanagan and Nikki Miller discuss Gayngs on their laptops at Nick & Eddie.

Submitted by @letoilemagazine

Oh my Gaga!

City Pages @gimme_noise tweeted some very exciting news this morning! The one and only LADY GAGA will be playing a show on August 30th at the Xcel Energy Center! Deets are scant thus far, but Xcel has the confirmation on their site already. We're already planning our outfits.

If you haven't watched Gaga's crazy new vid for "Telephone" yet, watch it now!



Submitted by @letoilemagazine

MN at SXSW 10

South by Southwest announced the final roster for their official showcases and 17 bands will represent Minnesota at the annual music festival happening in Austin, March 17-21. Sold Gold, Ruby Isle and Jeremy Messersmith will be returning with a bunch of local favorites like Grant Hart and Peter Wolf Crier. Also heading towards Austin: managers, sound guys, lovers, fans and stalkers. Gimme Noise has the full list of all 17 as well as a schedule of performances by local bands, so make sure you check it out!

Have you booked your ticket yet?

Ssubmitted by @marrina.

Now we have the Situation too

Our pals over at Gimme Noise broke the news today that Mike "The Situation" of Jersey Shore fame, will be bringing his famous abs to Bootleggers, Saturday, February 27. He's no Snooki, but we'll take what we can get. Don't hate, even Betty White loves the Situation!



Submitted by @marrina.

City Pages hearts Haiti

City Pages music editor Andrea Swensson piqued our interest last night when she posted a Facebook status update about "a big announcement tomorrow morning." Well, true to her word, this morning Swensson posted the details about a rockin' benefit show on February 6th called "Gimme Shelter: A Benefit for Haiti." The show features an all-star local band lineup featuring co-headliners Mark Mallman and Solid Gold along with Peter Wolf Crier and Zoo Animal, and DJs Jimmy2Times and Mike 2600. Also on hand will be artists Chuck U and Anthem Heart, who will be selling their work at reasonable prices for the benefit. City Pages says 100% of the proceeds for the night will go to benefit the Red Cross Haiti Relief & Development Fund and Architecture for Humanity.

Bonus: The event will be hosted by CP cuties Swensson and Jen Boyles! Hott!

Know of any other great Haiti benefits going on around town? Post them in the comments section! MNSpeak suggests a few HERE.


submitted by @letoilemagazine

Best New Band Showcase video recap a la City Pages

We perked up at an excited tweet by @Gimme_noise this morning announcing that they "made a movie!" If you missed First Avenue's Best New Band Showcase on Friday night, City Pages brings you the full video recap with the help of MplsTV, Anthem Heart, and editor/DP Dan Huiting. City Pages music editor Andrea Swensson interviews all the bands (complete with musical interludes) including Slapping Purses, Leisure Birds, Moonstone, No Bird Sing, Peter Wolf Crier, The Twilight Hours, and Red Pens.

Read the full article on City Pages' Gimme Noise blog HERE and check out a slew of photos from the event by Jon Behm HERE.

First Avenue's Best New Bands of 2009 from MPLS.TV on Vimeo.