The holiday weekend's top shows: Japandroids, Dum Dum Girls

Although Thanksgiving isn't traditionally a rock 'n' roll holiday -- Beyonce's ABC television special notwithstanding -- there are a couple of strong music options over the next few days, at least for those who can escape the family duties.

Japandroids at the Echo. "Let's get to France," the duo of Brian King and David Prowse holler in "Wet Hair," kicking up a racket of guitar-and-drum noise. The pounding rhythms and distortion-drenched riffs may hint at a garage-punk anthem about escaping their Vancouver, Canada, homes for Europe, but it's really just youthful longing that permeates the songs of the Japandroids. What's in France? "French girls." Loud and fast, the Japandroids at times recall the early '90s with their low-fi, scuzzy-sounding anthems, but once one adjusts to the rush, there's brisk hooks and sharp one-liners to be found beneath the thundering notes. On "Heart Sweats," for instance, King yowls, "You're such a mess," through gritted teeth, all while the song threatens to devolve into one. But his put-downs are researched. "I should know; I used to date a stylist." The Echo, 1822 W. Sunset Blvd. Tickets are $10. 

Review: Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers' 'The Live Anthology'

It's invigorating to see musical veterans make the most of new opportunities. Earlier this year Neil Young issued the "Archives, Vol. I," a massive box set that utilized Blu-ray technology to give fans comprehensive access to 10 discs' worth of Young's early material.

Tom Petty, another classic rocker, has assembled an impressive collection of his live work with his band the Heartbreakers that's similar in spirit to Young's remarkable anthology if not quite as expansive.

At its simplest, "The Live Anthology" is a four-CD set featuring 48 live tracks that span the Florida rocker's career from 1978 through 2007. That version is a bargain, listing for $24.98 and available for less than $20 at Amazon.com and elsewhere. Where things get fun, though, is in the expanded versions that tap into the heightened aural quality of the Blu-ray disc format and the possibilities of the Web.

A box set being offered as a retail exclusive at Best Buy and on Petty’s official fan club site -- listing for $149.98 but discounted to just under $100 -- fleshes out the basic box with a 14-track fifth CD and one audio-only Blu-ray disc. The Blu-ray disc is said to be the first of its kind using only the audio capability of the high-end audio-visual system and includes all 62 tracks in high-resolution stereo and 5.1 surround sound.

The bigger box also has two DVDs, one with a never-released documentary on the group's 1995 "Wildflowers" tour by director Martyn Atkins, the other containing audio and video from the band's 1978 New Year's Eve show at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. There's also an LP of an "Official Live 'Leg" bootleg album. 

Grammy countdown: The best new artist front-runners (Part 2)

Always one of the more controversial categories, best new artist remains, perhaps, the most difficult Grammy field to get just right. The vaguely defined category is open to interpretation.

Read the Grammy rules: "A new artist is defined as any performing artist who releases, during the eligibility year, the recording that first establishes the public identity of that artist as a performer." The "recording" in question doesn't have to be a full album, either. Witness alterna-rockers MGMT, which are on the ballot for the upcoming Grammy Awards, but released their "Oracular Spectacular" during last year's eligibility period.

Looking at the ballots for the 2010 Grammys, nominations for which will be announced next Wednesday, here's our second look at the front-runners for best new artist. On Tuesday, Pop & Hiss highlighted Diane Birch, the Zac Brown Band, MGMT, Laura Izibor and Wale. Pop & Hiss would love to see a Bat for Lashes or a Grizzly Bear sneak in, but they're not among the best bets to get nominated.

Who is? Read on.

Daedelus talks Low End Theory and the Boxer Rebellion

Back before “beat music” operated as the umbrella term encompassing the Low End Theory sound, there was Daedelus, the Santa Monica-born musician known for breaching genre constraints and for a set of stellar muttonchops that could humiliate Martin Van Buren. Hovering at the nebulous nexus between hip-hop, drum and bass, jazz and musique concrete, the musician, born Alfred Weisberg-Roberts, forged a singular aesthetic back when break beats and B-Boy poses still ruled the Los Angeles underground.

Only eight years into his career, the prolific producer already has released 10 solo albums, more than a dozen EPs and miscellaneous projects, plus full-length collaborations with prolix Project Blowed emcee Bus Driver, his wife Laura Darlington (under the moniker the Long Lost) and Dublab doyen Frosty (Adventure Time). Somehow, he found time to remix everyone from Wax Tailor to Sa-Ra, while amassing the finest collection of Edwardian coats this side of Roger Daltrey circa “A Quick One, While He’s Away.”

The Adam Lambert brouhaha resulting in a sales winner

As evidenced by Miley Cyrus just a few months ago, a little controversy rarely hurts in the sales department. Adam Lambert is on track to beat retail expectations for his RCA release, "For Your Entertainment," according to early returns compiled by keeper-of-the-charts Billboard Magazine.

The artist appeared on the "The Early Show" this morning on CBS, noting that some of his more aggressive moves on his American Music Awards appearance weren't all rehearsed. "The song lyrically is sexual, and I was just performing the lyrics of my song," Lambert said. "I think in the future I will probably make a little bit more of an effort to stay consistent with what I do during rehearsal to what I do during the show. That's something I'm learning now, and that way if anyone has a problem with what I'm doing, it can be explored during rehearsal."

But all the chatter and debate isn't stopping people from picking up his first post-"American Idol" release. Billboard writes that "For Your Entertainment" should sell at least 225,000 copies when it debuts on next week's chart, and could possibly move more with post-Thanksgiving shoppers invading retailers. Lambert's promo tour continues tonight with an appearance on the "Late Show With David Letterman."

Spotify plans to rock the U.S. digital music landscape early next year

A tidal wave is washing over Europe, and it has already begun to transform the digital music landscape overseas. In the next few months, the company expects to make its way to the U.S.

Spotify is a program similar to iTunes that lets users listen to just about any song on demand. For free. The application takes a page from the Google model -- give a fantastic product away and plan to make money from ads.

It also has a "freemium" component -- that is a business model where the cow and milk are free, but the bells and hormones cost extra.

In order to play music on smart phones (including a spiffy iPhone app) or store songs to be played without an Internet connection, users must subscribe to Spotify Premium, a 10-euro-per-month plan. Each subscriber can sync three devices with up to 3,333 songs.

But Spotify has said in prior interviews that it expects the majority of users to stick with the free version. For that reason, U.S. record labels are skeptical, according to a recent story in the Financial Times. Subscription services such as Napster and Rhapsody have failed to attract significant followings.

The Financial Times also claims that Spotify delayed its launch in America due to roadblocks in talks with the labels here. Spotify spokesman Andres Sehr maintains that it's still on track to make its way stateside early next year, as the Swedish company has told Pop & Hiss for weeks.

Because "the U.S. is the largest music market in the world," Sehr said, "it's a long process."

Compared with the back-and-forth with European labels when Spotify was just starting out, this is nothing. "We negotiated with the record labels for two years before we launched," Sehr said.

"We've shown that we're really popular," Sehr said in a phone interview from Stockholm. "There's data, and we see how things work."

"Really popular" might be an understatement. According to firsthand accounts from folks across the pond, Spotify is practically ubiquitous in some circles. Barely a year old, the service hit the ground running in the half-dozen countries it operates in.

We've been testing the software for about three weeks. It blows the doors off of anything on the market and poses a major threat to several music services fighting for attention.

Grammy countdown: The best new artist front-runners (Part 1) [UPDATED]

Always one of the more controversial categories, best new artist remains, perhaps, the most difficult Grammy field to get just right. The vaguely defined category is open to interpretation.

Reads the Grammy rules: "A new artist is defined as any performing artist who releases, during the eligibility year, the recording that first establishes the public identity of that artist as a performer." The "recording" in question doesn't have to be a full album, either. Witness alterna-rockers MGMT, which are on the ballot for the upcoming Grammy Awards, but released their "Oracular Spectacular" during last year's eligibility period.

It's also the field, perhaps, most easy to criticize. For the 2009 awards, the Jonas Brothers managed to nab a best new artist nod, but the young Disney rockers had scored high-charting albums in prior eligibility periods. On the flip side, however, it's one of the few Grammy categories where there are bound to be genuine surprises. R&B newcomer Jazmine Sullivan was an artist who rode some late-year success straight to a nomination for the 2009 awards. 

Looking at the ballots for the 2010 Grammys, nominations for which will be announced next Wednesday, here's a look at the front-runners for best new artist. Pop & Hiss encourages comments, and please note this is only Part 1 of the best new artist run-down. Come back later this holiday week for Part 2.

2010 Grammy Hall of Fame recordings announced

The newest additions to the roster of Grammy Hall of Fame recordings remind music fans that “a kiss is still a kiss,” “I wish they all could be California girls” and to “Shake it up, baby!”

Among the 25 recordings being inducted for 2010 are Dooley Wilson’s 1944 version of “As Time Goes By” from “Casablanca,” the Beach Boys’ “California Girls” from 1965 and the Isley Brothers’ 1962 party hit “Twist and Shout.”

The pop, rock, jazz, R&B, gospel, reggae and comedy selections also include Janis Joplin’s 1971 album “Pearl,” Duke Ellington’s 1940 single “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore (Never No Lament),” Bob Marley & the Wailers’ 1973 album “Catch a Fire,” George Carlin’s  1972 album “Class Clown,” Mahalia Jackson’s 1958 single “His Eye is on the Sparrow” and Jose Feliciano’s 1970 Christmas classic “Feliz Navidad.”

Recordings must be at least 25 years old to be eligible. The full list is available at the Recording Academy’s Grammy Hall of Fame website.

-- Randy Lewis

Adam Lambert and TV scandal: A match made in rock heaven

Adam Lambert has taken the better part of a year to unfold his shiny wings on national television. He finally took flight Sunday on the American Music Awards -- but not in the direction that many, including some devoted fans, had hoped. The singer's decision to take some exhibitionist risks onstage, starting with the kind of simulated foreplay that Madonna's been including in her concerts for years and culminating in a libidinous lip-lock with his male keyboard player, apparently has alienated as many observers as it's impressed. But there's a third way to view Lambert's staged provocation: not as a new low for pop's moral standards, nor as a revolutionary act, but as one of the most traditional things he's done so far.

Lambert's sexy moves, which he's saying were at least partly spontaneous, were a gamble. "Good Morning America" booted him off its schedule after a reported 1,500 viewer complaints came in to ABC, the network that airs that show and the annual AMAs. Such a cancellation could have set Lambert's career rolling down fame's incline, which is where Kanye West has found himself since publicly challenging Taylor Swift's global domination at the MTV Video Music Awards in September. (For the record, I'd like Kanye to make his comeback soon).

But Adam's bouncing back, at least for now: CBS immediately stepped in with an offer for him to appear on "The Early Show," and Lambert's "American Idol" colleague Ryan Seacrest gave him room to make some witty and substantive rejoinders on his syndicated radio show.

Lissie's alt-folk packs a bit of a fist

The young alt-folk singer Lissie Maurus might have recorded much of her debut EP,  "Why You Runnin'," at home on GarageBand, but that doesn't make the record any less rustic.

"It's funny, instead of it being like me and my horse, it's me and my laptop," Maurus said from her home in Ojai, where she decamped after a stint in L.A. to look for a quieter life. "I lived for five years in Beachwood Canyon, but I needed a yard and a house and space to do projects. Today, I'm drying pomegranates."

While fruit-craft is a perfectly adorable way to spend a weekend, don't dare mistake Maurus for domesticated. "Runnin'," now out on Fat Possum Records, is both as ethereal as a before-dawn walk up the canyons and as tough as old leather. 

Recorded with Band of Horses cohort Bill Reynolds, the EP opens with the jangly "Little Lovin'," before taking a sharp turn for the deliciously miserable on "Wedding Bells," a ballad of rueful singledom that nonetheless has a streak of resilience in it.

The Muppets do Queen better than Adam Lambert

Here's a little unexpected holiday gift from the Muppets Studio, and it's arriving at just the right moment.

With all the talk the last few days of whether or not Adam Lambert went too far or not on the American Music Awards, here's  a handy reminder of how theatrical rock is done right, as the Muppets tackle one of Lambert's favorite songs, Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody." No over-the-top sexual posturing, no singer-on-the-verge-of-tears and no clumsy falls -- just a fake bear, singing chickens and a vocal solo from one Dr. Bunsen Honeydew. 

That's not to say this is all silly. There's some old-fashioned pyro, and things threaten to get violent with a cleaver-wielding Swedish Chef. As Lambert would say, "All hail freedom of expression and artistic integrity." 

-- Todd Martens

RELATED:

Adam Lambert 'GMA' concert canceled; 'Early Show,' Letterman book him

Adam Lambert on his racy American Music Awards performance: 'There's a huge double standard'

Adam Lambert: Cool, calm and eclectic

Jay Leno & Lady Gaga: Someone give the host a copy of the Grammy rulebook

This will be the final post in which Pop & Hiss mentions Lady Gaga not being in the running for a best new artist Grammy nod. Lady Gaga went on "The Jay Leno Show" on Monday night, with the host proclaiming in an interview with the artist that she is "kinda getting screwed here," as Recording Academy rules stipulate that an artist who has been previously nominated for a Grammy cannot be considered a best new artist.

As noted Monday, Lady Gaga will not be in the running for a best new artist award at the 2010 ceremony, despite being the year's most obvious breakout star. Yet let's be clear -- nobody is getting screwed here. If anything, the Recording Academy is getting unfairly beaten up over this complete non-issue.

Slash brings his considerable Rolodex to LAYN benefit at Avalon

Onstage at the Avalon during Sunday night's benefit for the Los Angeles Youth Network, comedian George Lopez assured the audience that donations to the homeless-services organization worked promptly. "If you donate tonight, you can save Paula Abdul," Lopez said, to general snickering. "She was sleeping under the 101 last night."

The ex-"American Idol" host might be looking for work these days, but the real goal of the benefit -- a round-robin concert hosted by Slash with a bevy of classic-alt guests including Dave Navarro, Tom Morello, Chester Bennington and Billy Idol -- was to keep the organization's doors open in light of both tough financial straits and a big uptick in the need for its services.

The mix of a purposefully rowdy rock crowd (and open bar) with charitable impulses made for some unexpected moments of earnestness. At a rock-memorabilia auction in the adjoining Bardot nightclub, a young graduate of the program relayed how her life could have been derailed by drugs, prostitution or suicide, but that LAYN helped her pull though. A very blond woman in a clingy white ensemble adjacent to the stage offered encouragement- "But you did not commit suicide, and you are here tonight!"

A man donating $15,000 to fix the organization's roof earned respectful cheers, before he felt a need to clarify his bid to the crowd. "I'll fix the roof. I mean, not personally with a hammer," he said. "But I will pay for someone else to fix it."

Backstage, Slash held court among his assembled band mates, including former Guns N Roses players Duff McKagan and Steven Adler. Together, they know from the trials of youth homelessness -- Slash's self-titled biography offers plenty of firsthand detail on early GNR's world of squats, the temptations of drugs and alcohol, and the band befriending strippers to get cash for meals.

"When I was a kid, no adults knew how bad life was on the streets of Hollywood. Since I've gotten involved with LAYN, I've really related to the kids," Slash said. "They want to write and make music and be trapeze artists. Who else is going to give them a chance to do that?"

Slash came into the program through his wife, Perla, who is on LAYN's board. Introducing the show at the Avalon with her son Cash, she was far afield of a typically austere non-profit director, peppering her pleas for donations with endearingly salty language. She didn't so much as blush when her son chastised the audience -- "If you took a picture of my mom tonight, frickin' delete it!" 

The show opened with an appropriate cover of Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song," with Slash backed by, among others, Navarro and Travis Barker. Throughout the cover-centric night, singers and instrumentalists rotated on and off stage -- one minute, Andrew Stockdale of Wolfmother was plowing through "Woman," then Idol would earn an unexpectedly rapturous response to "Rebel Yell." Bennington served as the de facto Axl for a take on "Paradise City," and by the time Ozzy Osbourne came out for the set's close, the show had become a perpetually giddy tour through the classic rock heyday by artists who, in the eyes many of the kids they were helping that night, might have to soon claim that genre for themselves. 

-- August Brown

Photo of Slash and host George Lopez, albeit at a recent Lakers game, by Lori Shepler / Associated Press

Album review: Susan Boyle's 'I Dreamed a Dream'

Since she first raised her arms in what now seems like a blessing on the talent show "Britain's Got Talent," revealing herself as the new queen of pop's Island of Misfit Toys, Susan Boyle has come to mean several things to her fans: hope, the triumph of the ordinary, the reality-television embodiment of the Euro-American Dream. As a singer, though, she offers something else: relief.

Boyle's clear but warm tone and stolid phrasing turns everything it touches into a more songful version of New Age music. It's relaxing to listen to those drawn-out syllables, gradually building toward a gentle, wavelike climax. Boyle possesses neither an impulse to swing nor an ounce of the blues; whether she's covering the Monkees, the Rolling Stones or Madonna, Boyle sings like she's in a place of worship, surrounded by white walls and soft light, cooking up some chicken soup for the soul.

Her unearthly calm and gently piercing timbre are her best qualities. It's what makes her version of the Rolling Stones' "Wild Horses" so touching. Instead of Mick Jagger's moaning, slightly derisive take on heartache, hers is truly resigned, the sound of someone who really understands and accepts life's limitations.

Album review: Lady Gaga's 'The Fame Monster'

Lady Gaga lives by the credo of "Go big or go home" -- that goes for her wardrobe, her choruses and her sexual innuendo. So it makes sense that in an age of skimpy cash-grab reissues, Gaga would buck the system with "The Fame Monster," a deluxe version of her 2008 debut that comes equipped with eight new tracks. The New York dance-pop diva is even selling the extra tunes as a standalone EP to avoid ripping off early adopters; by major-label standards, that's more value than you shake a disco stick at.

In her music videos and live shows over the past year, Gaga has worked hard to demonstrate her creative ambition and stylistic range, and that project continues on "The Fame Monster," which includes the turbocharged Euro-soul of lead single "Bad Romance," the bubbly, ABBA-style pop of "Alejandro" and "Speechless," and a sweeping glam-rock number seemingly modeled after David Bowie's "Ziggy Stardust" phase.

Album review: Rihanna's 'Rated R'

Judging by the arc of her still-young career, Rihanna is not what you'd call a "girl's girl." She began her professional ascent when, at 15, she dumped the gal pals in her vocal trio and moved to the U.S. to be closer to her male producer. Her mentor is hip-hop father figure Jay-Z; her main association with another female artist was with his longtime companion, Beyoncé, when rumors (later disproved) of a tryst between the younger singer and the mogul set the two up as rivals.

Her image evokes a style of female empowerment that predates and still stands outside of feminism: the lone female warrior who summons strength and endures danger to make progress in a man's world.

So it's ironic that, of all young female pop stars, it was Rihanna who became the subject of a classic feminist concern after an assault at the hand of her then-boyfriend, Chris Brown. At first she seemed unwilling (or unable) to embrace the role of advocate that's often assumed by prominent survivors of domestic violence, but apparently her sense of responsibility toward young women is what motivated her to finally leave Brown.

"Rated R," the album that will forever be viewed as Rihanna's statement on Brown's attack and her recovery, bears that burden of responsibility, but in a way that has little to do with conventional expressions of female liberation. Unlike Beyonce, who has an all-female band, or Christina Aguilera, who's often collaborated with the songwriter Linda Perry, or even Britney Spears, who's made a big show of being Madonna's inheritor, Rihanna still prefers working with men.

Aside from two songwriters who seem less than primary (one, Ester Dean, actually had a recent hit collaborating with Brown), the tracks here come from male producers and co-songwriters.

As much as it's a personal statement from Rihanna, "Rated R" also reflects how several of pop's male major players -- including Ne-Yo, Justin Timberlake, The-Dream, Tricky Stewart, will.i.am -- responded to her accounts of what happened between her and Brown, and how she's moved on from the incident. (She's said in interviews that talking about it with her collaborators helped her work through the experience and turn it into art.) 

Sorry Lady Gaga, no Grammy changes to best new artist category -- for now

 

One of the breakout artists of 2009, fashion-conscious pop-star Lady Gaga showed off her ability to break glass on last night's "American Music Awards." But there are limits to her power.

Speculation that the Recording Academy would consider changing its eligibility rules for the best new artist category was shot down this morning by an official spokeswoman for the group. Ballots already have been returned for the 2010 gala, nominees for which will be announced Dec. 2, and there are no further rule changes on tap until after the Jan. 31 ceremony.

"First-round ballots were due back in early/mid-October, so it would be extremely challenging to change the rules now with nominations being announced next week," said the Recording Academy spokeswoman. "Any changes to be made will be considered after this year's show and therefore would not affect the current rule, which does disqualify her."

Lady Gaga was nominated at the 2009 awards for her single "Just Dance," which was submitted in the best dance recording field. The fine print says an artist who has previously received a nomination at a prior ceremony cannot be in the running for best new artist at future Grammys -- unless, of course, the artist was a "non-featured" performer on the previously nominated track, such as a minor guest on a song.

Sunday night, Entertainment Weekly's Music Mix blog wrote that Recording Academy chief Neil Portnow was considering changes to the best new artist category that would allow Lady Gaga to be nominated. Said the EW post: "We asked Portnow if the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences might consider a rule change to let the year’s biggest breakout act compete for the prestigious prize. 'Yes,' Portnow said. 'The awards and nominations committee meets to review the rules every year. We change the rules frequently. We recognize that situation is not perfect, and we are looking at ways to figure it out.' "

Ladies' night at the AMAs [UPDATED]

Sure, the guys performed on the show Sunday evening, but it was the women who blazed.

Are guys even making relevant pop music right now? That's a ridiculous question, obviously, but after Sunday's American Music Awards telecast, it seems almost reasonable. Though plenty of men performed during this roundup of both trending and reliable chart toppers, the show's heat emanated from the feminine sphere.

[FOR THE RECORD: A review of the American Music Awards in Monday's Calendar section incorrectly said Whitney Houston sang "I Turn to You" on the show. Houston  sang "I Didn't Know My Own Strength."]

Lady Gaga playing a blazing piano, Whitney Houston giving a touchingly rough-edged vocal performance, a startled Taylor Swift grabbing the top prize from the spectral grip of Michael Jackson -- this show wasn't just another ladies' night: It marked a notable shift in American pop music.

The AMAs always offer spectacle, in part because the awards themselves feel less meaningful than either the Grammys or more genre-specific fetes like the Country Music Assn. Awards. Won in a public vote after nominations are made according to radio airplay and retail sales, these prizes always have seemed somehow less prestigious than those determined by industry insiders or artistic peers.

What's fun about the AMAs is the breadth of the show, as top draws in many genres work to generate the most glitz in what amounts to a pop free-for-all.

This year, rock bands such as Daughtry and Green Day played and sang earnestly, and Eminem (assisted by 50 Cent) and Jay-Z (partnering with Alicia Keys) both rapped at the top of their game. Yet these moments felt like standard fare on a buffet overflowing with more scintillating choices.

It's not that rock or rap no longer speak to the mainstream; Eminem's album rather quietly became one of the year's bestsellers, as did the latest from Kings of Leon, who were nominated for artist of the year yet did not perform Sunday evening.

Adam Lambert on his racy American Music Awards performance: 'There's a huge double standard'

Ryan Seacrest was there to introduce Adam Lambert on Sunday night, but his American Music Awards performance of "For Your Entertainment" was a long way removed from the family-friendly confines of "American Idol." There was groping, dragging and bondage outfits, bringing the ABC program to an end with theatrical images of sexual slavery.

"It's about to get rough," Lambert sings in the song's opening moments, and for many of Pop & Hiss'  readers, it went too far. Within minutes of the American Music Awards coming to an end, irate viewers had begun writing in. Reader Kathie Kunish declared that the telecast should have been rated "PG-14," and user "penny" noted that she had to cover the eyes of her 10-year-old daughter.

Reader Richard Bowen agreed, posting on Pop & Hiss, "I know he wants to break out and show the world his dangerous side, but why alienate an entire population of kids to do it?"

Lambert wasn't the only former "American Idol" contestant to get risqué. Earlier in the night, Carrie Underwood strutted in a pants-less outfit, but the country star was still a long way removed from Lambert's sexually suggestive performance. With a crotch rub and a make-out session with a band member, Lambert sent tongues wagging and the Twittisphere erupting in controversy, bolting to the top of the site's trending topics.

"The energy felt good. Adrenaline is a crazy thing to feel," Lambert said to Pop & Hiss after the show. "That's what I love about performing. I'm hoping people were entertained. For those who weren't, maybe I'm not their cup of tea."

When asked if he thought the most extreme moments would be edited out of the West Coast broadcast, Lambert wasn't shy about how he would react to such a move.

American Music Awards: Notes from backstage

Paula Abdul might not be returning as a judge on reality TV juggernaut "American Idol," but backstage at the American Music Awards on Sunday night -- where she was one of the few presenters and performers to visit the press -- she was still every bit the proud "relative" of the "Idol" alums. "It's very surreal and very exciting," she said of being around so many of the young performers she helped mentor over her years with the series. "Its amazing to see them. While presenting, I could see Carrie [Underwood] and [Adam] Lambert. And just now I watched Kelly [Clarkson]."

As for what's next for her career post-"Idol," Abdul remained tight-lipped. "You'll be hearing about it very soon," she said.

After winning the country male artist prize, Keith Urban had only one thing on his mind: some downtime with his family -- wife Nicole Kidman and the couple's young daughter, Sunday. "This is the first time we'll be able to take her to Australia," Urban said.

Urban said he remains grateful for his success: "I just love playing music. I've come from a place where I've played in front of three people to a place where I play in front of thousands."