Friday, September 30, 2011

Australian Singer Cody Simpson Signs with Justin Bieber Manager Scooter Braun

As teen sensation Justin Bieber and his crew head for Mexico to jumpstart their South American “My World” tour, news is out that Bieber’s manager Scooter Braun is now running the ship for young 14-year-old Australian singer Cody Simpson.

Braun, whose real name is Scott Samuel Braun, not only discovered Bieber on YouTube but got him signed to Island Records under L.A. Reid.

Braun will now try to duplicate his Bieber success with Cody Simpson.

Cody says,

“I’m a big fan of Justin’s. We support each other a lot. He was talking to me yesterday about the songs he liked off my album. People say we’re in a competition, but it’s really like being friends and part of a family. It’s definitely not something that should be seen as a rivalry.”

Scooter Braun, who was born in New York, got his start by organizing parties while attending Emory University.

His events attracted celebrity performers like Ludacris and Britney Spears, and when he was 19-years-old created his own party-promotion company.

In 2002, Jermaine Dupri hired him as Director of Marketing of So So Def Records, and at age 20 was named Executive Marketing Director.

In addition to Justin Bieber, Braun also manages singer Asher Roth and has business connections to wake board guru and champion Paulie Koch.

Scooter currently owns and operates two music labels - Raymond-Braun Media Group (RBMG) which is co-owned with Usher, and Schoolboy Records.

Even though Simpson was just signed and is already getting asked about collaborations with Bieber.


Simpson has released one album and just completed a short U.S. tour with friend and fellow teen singer Greyson Chance who was also discovered on YouTube and signed by Ellen DeGeneres’ label “eleveneleven”.

Follow @InfoStar on Twitter – We don’t have a label…

Final picture from Italy

This is the last picture I'm going to post from my Italy trip. (I'm saving a half dozen or so for the magazine articles I'm writing).

This is Pesaro's fountain at night. We left six hours after this picture was taken.

As the Rupert Turns

On this morning's episode we find out that the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors, an organization of 42 super funds managing $250 billion in assets, has asked its members with News Corp shares to recommend opposing the re-election of the Murdoch brothers (James and Lachlan) at next month's annual general meeting.

Why would they do such a thing? Because they are actually paying attention to the details of this phone hacking case, even if Americans are not. It's just a matter of time before this scandal brings down the entire family.

The Streets of Italy

The thing that I really found interesting in this part of Italy was how narrow the streets were. This one was in Urbino...

Sights & Sounds


The final Sights & Sounds of the year at JOBC features Pat Brickhouse explaining how the Jack Brickhouse statue came to be, and Bryant Gumbel discussing his beloved Cubs.

Watch and listen here.

The Streets of Italy

The thing that I really found interesting in this part of Italy was how narrow the streets were. This one was in Fano...

The Streets of Italy

The thing that I really found interesting in this part of Italy was how narrow the streets were. This one was in Loreto.

Sylvia Robinson

The New York Times obit calls her the "mother of hip hop", but I had no idea she played a prominent role in the beginning of that genre.

I just knew her as "Sylvia" from the "Mickey & Silvia" team in the 60s, and "Sylvia" from the 1973 song "Pillow Talk".

She passed away yesterday at the age of 75.

The Streets of Italy

The thing that I really found interesting in this part of Italy was how narrow the streets were. This one was in Pesaro.


The Onion

Would you believe the Capitol Police are investigating the Onion? That's not a made up Onion story.

The details are here.

Bank of America

The country's second biggest bank (Bank of America) is going to start charging their customers $5 a month for having a debit card.

You may remember them as the bank that we bailed out and rescued a few years ago. The bank that wouldn't exist at all if American taxpayers didn't save their butts.

Explain again what service banks provide? We make something like 0.01% interest for letting them use our money, we are gouged with obscene credit card interest rates, they won't loan money anymore unless you promise your first born child as collatoral, and now it even costs money to use a debit card.

I'm this/close to being the person that stuffs all his money in the mattress.

Video - First Listen – Justin Bieber “Under the Mistletoe” Collaboration with The Band Perry

Bieber "On Set"
Justin Bieber and his crew were in Franklin Tennessee earlier this week working on his Christmas Video and we got to hear the first sounds of one of the new songs!

Well, we actually got to hear a somewhat garbled version of the backing track used during the video shoot for “Under the Mistletoe” featuring The Band Perry.

Somebody on the crew was recording the shoot while the backing track was being played – maybe not realizing the implications of his actions if it got leaked to YouTube.



Bieber’s Christmas Album titled “Under the Mistletoe” is already being presold on Amazon and will be released on November 1st.



Bieber's friend and mentor Ryan Good showed off his personal interpretive Christmas dance skills while hundreds of fans cheered him on, and at one point the crowd grew so large that production had to be temporarily stopped while Bieber addressed the crowd during a break.

Bieber then led the crowd of fans in a medley of Christmas songs and danced with Santa before resuming production of the music video.





Now that filming is done Bieber and his team are headed to Mexico to kick of the South American segment of his popular My World Tour.

JB will hit up Mexico, Peru, Chile, Brazil, Argentina and Columbia before returning to the United States to officially kick off his Christmas Album release.

Before hitting the road, Justin did have time this week to spend with his family and took the time to snap a few Bieber family photos of his younger brother and sister for his supporters.

Merry Bieber Christmas!

Follow @InfoStar on Twitter – We like snow and candy…

Hidden Girl in Photo Frame Illusion

This one is bit simply. see the below trees carefully from branches to its trunks and try to find a hidden girl or her body in it.

Hidden Girl in Frame Illusion

Courtesy: Anh Pham

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Video - Hundreds of Fans Descend on Justin Bieber’s Christmas Video Shoot

Just one day before hitting the road to resume his “My World Tour” in South America, Justin Bieber got quite a surprise.

It seems that Bieber and his team were at an undisclosed location shooting video for his upcoming Christmas Album and Video when fans discovered what was going on.

Within minutes, fans started to crowd around the area where the production was taking place and started cheering and screaming.

Production had to be halted for a short time so Bieber could address the crowd and try to bring order to the set.

So what did he do to calm everybody down?

He started singing Christmas songs and encouraged the crowd to sing along with him!

Justin took to his twitter account saying,

“Pretty wild yesterday. we didn't even say our location and thousands of people showed up. my fans go hard! #goodtimes”

Here is a video of  how it went down...



After belting out a few Christmas songs the crowd was asked to stay quiet and move back from the immediate area and filming continued.

At one point Justin was seen dancing the “Dougie” with the actor playing Santa Clause.

Tomorrow Bieber and his team head to Mexico for the start of his South American Concert tour.

Related: Bieber announces South American Concert dates

Bieber’s Christmas Album will be released November 1st and Amazon is already taking preorders.

We suspect brisk sales and millions of happy teenage girls Christmas morning as they discover something besides mistletoe under the tree with their name on it!

Also this week Justin had the chance to visit with his dad Jeremy Bieber and his younger brother and sister Jaxon and Jazzy.

Related: Justin Bieber shares family photos with fans
Related: Meet Jeremy Bieber - Justin's divorced dad

Merry Christmas boys and girls!

Follow @InfoStar on Twitter – We love Mistletoe

The Ceilings of Italy

After spending time in Italy, I realized that I've been wasting all the ceiling space in my home by painting them plain white.

This might be another way to go...

The Cubs on Catalina Island

From 1921-1951, the Cubs had their spring training on Catalina Island...

Sweetness

The portrait of Walter Payton painted by a new book (and this article in Sports Illustrated) is obviously not a very flattering one.

I knew about some of this, and ran into the bad Walter once or twice during my radio career, but I will always remember him for his football greatness. He made it a pleasure to watch the Bears during some very dark years.

Despite his less than attractive side, he also had a great sense of humor, and a big heart. I ran into the good Walter a few times at charity events. I also fondly recall the time he appeared on the John Landecker show.

The Ceilings of Italy

After spending time in Italy, I realized that I've been wasting all the ceiling space in my home by painting them plain white.

This might be another way to go...

The Ceilings of Italy

After spending time in Italy, I realized that I've been wasting all the ceiling space in my home by painting them plain white.

This might be another way to go...

Artie's Back

I've been rooting for Artie Lange to make a comeback, and the extremely talented but troubled comedian/radio sidekick has apparently done it.

Artie has a brand new show starting on Monday. It's a sports-talk show with Nick DiPaulo.

TMZ has the details here.

The Ceilings of Italy

After spending time in Italy, I realized that I've been wasting all the ceiling space in my home by painting them plain white.

This might be another way to go...

John Williams

I don't often listen to John Williams on WGN (mainly because I'm not in the car during his show), but I did catch a little bit about this the other day. His show is attempting to set a world record by enlisting listeners to play the shortest round of golf in history.

Details are here.

The Ceilings of Italy

After spending time in Italy, I realized that I've been wasting all the ceiling space in my home by painting them plain white.

This might be another way to go...

Stan Musial in Wrigley Field

There were two "Cubs-like" epic collapses in baseball this season, though most of us missed it in Chicago because we stopped paying attention. Both the Braves and the Red Sox had huge leads for the wild card lead, and both of them blew it.

Because of that, the Tampa Rays and the St. Louis Cardinals are going to the playoffs. In light of that, it seems only fitting to talk about a Cardinal, so the last Tale from a Bad Century this season at JOBC is about Stan Musial's big career moments in Wrigley Field.

You can read it here.

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Justin Bieber Shares Family Photos of Sister Jazzy With the World – Aww, How Cute!

Jazzy, Jeremy, Justin and Pattie
On the eve of leaving for Mexico to kick off the next leg of his My World South American Concert Tour, Justin Bieber took some time earlier this week to reunite with his divorced Father, Jeremy Bieber, his little sister Jazzy and brother Jaxon.

Jazzy, now three years old, lives with Justin’s Dad in Canada and doesn’t get a lot of opportunities to see her big brother. Jazzy has a younger brother named Jaxon who was born last year.

Related: Meet Jeremy Bieber – Justin’s divorced dad

But this week the three reunited and took the opportunity to snap a few family photos to share with the world.

Justin and Jazzy Bieber enjoy breakfast at Waffle House
Justin And Jaxon Bieber share a tender moment
Jeremy, Justin and Jazzy shopping at Walmart
Justin and Jazzy catch some zzz's before leaving on tour
Justin and Selena Gomez with their "Extended" family
In addition to the family pictures, Jazzy is now the proud owner of her very own twitter account.

Jazzy’s twitter account can be found at @JazzyKBiebz, and while she has not tweeted anything yet has over 100,000 followers.

And that is not going over very well with @Justins_Cat, a twitter account setup by “Spaz” – Justin Bieber’s pet cat who has taken to twitter to share funny pictures, stories, and inside information about all things Justin.

Related: Justin Bieber’s pet cat Spaz takes to twitter to humor JB’s fans

For now the entire Bieber family is on their way to Mexico to kick of the next leg of Justin’s tour and will hit up Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela.

Good luck on tour JB and keep the family safe!

Follow @InfoStar on Twitter – We like cats…

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Legless Torso Book Promotion

I just posted my weekly Suburban Dad contribution to Kim Strickland's City Mom blog at ChicagoNow. This week's column is about the unique way I handled the challenges of book promotion when my first novel came out.

You can read it here.

Bridget in Italy

In Pesaro at night, with her husband.

The Great War


Today's Tale from a Bad Century is about the Cubs during the first World War.

Read all about it here.

Video - Michael Jackson’s Dead Body Shown in Court Along With Slurred Speech Tape – Bombshells!

Dr. Conrad Murry in Court
Wow.

Yesterday kicked of the Conrad Murray murder trial. Murray is accused of killing Michael Jackson with an overdose of the drug Propofol in 2009.

The proceedings yesterday included the opening statements by both the prosecution and defense teams and the battle lines have clearly been drawn.

The prosecution says Dr. Conrad Murray killed Jackson and the defense says Jackson killed himself by self-administering the Propofol on top of a terrible Demerol addiction.

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There were a few bombshell moments during the proceedings yesterday such as the following photo of Michael Jackson lying dead on a hospital gurney at the morgue.

Michael Jackson Dead at the Hospital

That really set the stage for the day, but another piece of evidence was presented by the prosecution that actually seemed to play into the hands of the defense.

They played an audio tape of Jackson the first day Murray took over as his Doctor showing the singer slurring his speech in what is clearly some type of drug induced stupor.



Some felt Dr. Murray recorded Jackson to document the “current state” that he found Michael, and others felt there were more nefarious motives.

Regardless, this case is truly going to be the trial of the century.

If anything it is shedding fascinating insight on the process of producing a huge concert tour with a huge World famous artist who is deeply troubled and addicted to drugs.

Follow @InfoStar on Twitter