Dr. Blackwell's BLOG

   Madonna released the video for her single “Celebration” from her forthcoming 2-disc greatest hits anthology Celebration today. Not expecting anything less from the Queen of Pop, the video is awesome and fun and even features Madonna’s daughter Lourdes. Madonna has only released the video for 2 days. If you miss it, watch MTV for it. Celebration releases September 29th and will mark the final release for Madonna and her former label Warner Brothers Records.”Celebration” is available now in retailers nationwide or through digital dowload from iTunes.

Metro UK is covering the release of Michael Bolton’s new single, “Murder My Heart” written by none-other-than pop sensation Lady GaGa: “Bolton, 56, said it was Gaga who first approached him. And he was won over in just one listen of her catchy chart-toppers. ‘I was taking a break from production when my manager and the label tag-teamed me on the phone about writing with a young artist named ‘Lady Gaga’ who I had never heard of – but they were raving about – they said that she was a huge fan of mine and wanted to write with me,’ Bolton revealed. ‘No one I knew had heard of her,’ he said. But Bolton was quickly won over: ‘Less than a minute into ‘Just Dance’, I thought ‘this CD is gonna be huge!”‘ He added: ‘When I met her in the studio later that night, I realised she was not only about to have a big hit record but Gaga was a superstar about to launch – her energy was so high and her focus excited me. She reminded me of a young Madonna – with more exuberance and emphasis on the art rather than the marketing.'” Listen below:

It looks like the US isn’t the only country that is becoming a mega-fan of pop sensation Lady GaGa. Although she had a 20 minute delay leading up to her performance, she more than made up for it last night as she performed in England’s V Festival. Watch the video below as GaGa performs “Paparazzi” from The Fame. While similar to her Fame World Ball staging in Orlando’s House of Blues in April, it appears a band has been added. Enjoy:

Erasure Information Service (EIS) released some information today about Andy Bell’s forthcoming solo album and Bell mentioned a little about Erasure re-teaming soon to record their new album:

I was lucky enough to meet up with Andy last week to talk about all sorts of online bits and pieces, and I was lucky enough to hear some finished tracks from his forthcoming solo album and I have to say they sound brilliant! Obviously I will bring you all the news on that as soon as I’m able, but I just wanted to let you all know that it’s in the pipeline… in the meantime I’ve updated Andy’s website with a couple of pictures I took of Andy in the studio with Pascal Gabriel back in May. Andy also confirmed that he is meeting up with Vince again shortly to start work on the new Erasure album!

One of my all-time favorite rock bands, LIVE, have announced they plan to take a 2 year break from recording and touring. Although the band hasn’t released an official announcement, several band members have told fans through their Facebook and Twitter boards they plan to work on some other projects and take a breather from LIVE. Lead singer Ed Kowalczyk reiterated LIVE is not breaking up: “Live is not breaking up. We’re not boyfriends and girlfriends. [We’re just] creatively moving around in different spaces…all good.” Kowalczyk is working on his first solo album while the other members of LIVE are teaming-up with rock group Candlebox to record a new album. Luckily, I was able to see LIVE’s second to last performance last Saturday in Cleveland, Ohio. The show was incredible and was another example of LIVE’s incredible talent and musicality. Hopefully, the band will get some of their solo “itch” out of their system and bring LIVE back together very soon.

Madonna’s new single “Celebrate” which will be one of the few brand new tracks on her upcoming greatest hits collection Iconography will hit radio stations on August 3rd. Although there hasn’t been an official release date set for either the new single (which may not be sold as a single digital download or purchase) or album, the Material Girl did spend some time recently filming its video. Madonna is currently on the second  (international) leg of her Sticky & Sweet Tour, which will have a DVD release soon. Iconography will also be Madonna’s final album with her long-time record label Warner Brothers. Future releases and all concert tours will be coordinated through Live Nation. Madonna’s $120 million contract is a record for Live Nation and is one of the highest ever paid to a recording artist.

As the Material Girl sets sail on the second leg of her Sticky and Sweet Tour, an awesome trailer of the concert’s upcoming DVD release has been posted to madonna.com (see the video by clicking on the link below). Already grossing more money than any tour by an individual artist, Madonna announced several months ago that she would be taking her show to multiple foreign territories this Summer. Of the 4 concerts I have seen by Madonna, the Sticky and Sweet Tour was definitely my favorite! Madonna performed a handful of songs from her Hard Candy album in addition to a ton of her classic songs and selections from 1996’s Best Picture (Golden Globes) Evita (Madonna also received the Best Actress Award for her portrayal of Eva Peron in the film). A release date for the DVD has not been set. But hopefully very soon after the tour finally ends, we’ll be able to enjoy it from the comfort of our living rooms time and time again! Check out this trailer–This show is absolutely incredible!

Green Day has released their second single from their absolutely spectacular album 21st Century Breakdown. “21 Guns” will be released as a single on Tuesday and will be available at retailers nationwide and for digital download through iTunes from Reprise Records. I cannot give this album enough praise–it is by-far the best album to be released thus far this year and even eclipses the band’s previous high-quality album American Idiot. Green Day will be making a stop in Orlando on August 5th for a performance of their Green Day Tour 2009 at Amway Arena. Here’s a look at the new video “21 Guns” which had its premiere on MySpace and MTV on Sunday:
Green Day – "21 Guns" – HD

Coupled with the release of their hot-selling new album Yes (which has sold more copies in North America since their 1993 album Very), the Pet Shop Boys are launching a North American tour (entitiled Pandemonium: On Tour), which will make a stop at the House of Blues in Orlando on September 11, 2009. Tickets can be purchased either as General Admission or as a VIP Package, which includes a meet and greet with the Pet Shop Boys before the concert. To purchase presale tickets, visit ConcertMaps official Site @ http://tix.concertmaps.com/petshopboys/. I’ll be there for sure! This concert’s sure to sell-out and sure to be a ton of fun!