The disappearing Kanye West, Lady Gaga tour dates

Is Kanye West about to make good on his promise to take some time off? Could the fallout from his interruption of Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech actually persuade the artist to stay home this fall?

That all may sound a bit drastic -- and perhaps a bit unlikely -- but there appears to be a burgeoning mystery surrounding his upcoming Fame Kills tour with Lady Gaga, which was reported to go on sale this week. The full dates were first revealed on the website for industry trade Pollstar yesterday morning, but no official information from either West or Lady Gaga’s camp has followed.

This morning, however, a smattering of tour dates for the trek were listed in the Ticketmaster website. They have since been removed. As of 6 p.m. Tuesday, Ticketmaster currently lists no upcoming dates for West.

Thanks to the power of Google cache, one can call up one of the first listings – a Dec. 12 date in Greensboro, N.C. Internet presales for some of the dates were initially listed to go on sale Wednesday morning at 10 a.m., but now that seems unlikely as it's only hours away and no official information on the tour has been released.

West and Lady Gaga are reported to be scheduled to play the Staples Center on Nov. 16 in Los Angeles, according to the dates released on Pollstar.com. AEG Live, which owns the downtown arena, declined to comment and instead referred questions to Live Nation, which is promoting the tour.

A spokesman for Live Nation, based in Los Angeles, said he had no information regarding a West/Lady Gaga date in Los Angeles and no details on when the tour would be announced.

A spokesman for Lady Gaga says the initial run of dates circulating the Web are not confirmed, adding that the package tour has not even been announced. “Live Nation has yet to officially announce the tour and the correct routing,” says the spokesman. The tour was initially revealed by West on “The View” back in June.

Lady Gaga designs high-end headphones

One of the few artists able to make an impression during the Kanye West/Taylor Swift-dominated 2009 MTV Video Music Awards was Lady Gaga.

Her elaborate, fake blood-smeared performance of single “Paparazzi” was equally disturbing and engrossing, yet another example of Gaga putting her own indelible mark on the world around her.

Lady Gaga is proving herself to be just as creative when it comes to capitalism. Her forays into unusual merchandise (from school supplies to hooded leather jackets) have been readily documented. But she ups the ante via a new collaboration with audio accessories company Monster to design her own signature brand of high-performance in-ear headphones.

“Heartbeats by Lady Gaga” feature space-age aesthetics, innovative design (the flat cables are simple yet ingenious, all but eliminating tangles) and crisp, loud sound sure to shame your stock iPod ear buds. Monster is the same company that designed the popular “Beats by Dr. Dre” studio headphones, and Lady Gaga’s brand boasts comparable quality. They retail for $99.99, and pre-orders are available through Best Buy.

-- Scott T. Sterling

Photo: Lady Gaga attends Marc Jacobs Spring 2010 fashion show on Monday in New York City. Credit: Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images

Taylor Swift accepts Kanye West's apology

The fourth time, apparently, was the charm.

Kanye West phoned Taylor Swift this morning to express his regrets for hijacking her acceptance speech at the MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday night, and the country star officially accepted his apology, Swift told ABC News Radio. "Kanye did call me, and he was very sincere in his apology, and I accepted his apology," Swift said to ABC's Andrea Dresdale.

For those keeping score at home, this was the fourth time West had apologized for stealing the microphone away from Swift and proclaiming that Beyoncé deserved the award for best female video. It was, however, the first time West had spoken with Swift since the incident. During an interview on "The View" this morning, Swift revealed that Kanye had not yet reached out to her.

The Sunday night incident has kept the media busy. Last night, a sullen West appeared on the debut of "The Jay Leno Show," and proclaimed that his VMA antics were "rude, period." It was a fortuitous booking for Leno, as West was originally scheduled simply to appear with Jay-Z, who has a new album to promote. West helped Leno get off to a smashing start in the ratings, as the talk show pulled in 17.7 million viewers and easily won its time slot, our sister blog Show Tracker reports. 

Kanye West apologizes for his VMA outburst again: 'It was rude, period.'

 

Outspoken rapper Kanye West told Jay Leno that he’s taking some time off to reflect on his actions after his controversial outburst over the weekend at the MTV Video Music Awards.

Leno didn't waste time poking fun at the situation in the opening monologue of his new hourlong prime-time program on NBC: "It's been a busy week for President Obama. I understand he's having Kanye West and Taylor Swift [over] to the White House for a root beer summit. See, she's only 19 so it's gotta be root beer."

West was lined up to perform with Rihanna and Jay-Z on Monday night’s premiere of “The Jay Leno Show” but was not originally scheduled to chat with the host. However, after West drew criticism for hijacking the stage at Sunday night’s VMA ceremony during Swift's acceptance speech for her best female music video prize, the rap star decided to take the hot seat for some damage control.

“It was rude, period,” West, wearing all black, told Leno prior to the performance.

When asked how his mother, who died in 2007 of complications from cosmetic surgery, would have reacted to his outburst, West struggled to form words. "I've never taken the time off to grieve," West said. "It's just a shame my hurt caused someone else's hurt."

He ended the brief interview by adding he would take time off to analyze his actions and how he can "improve."

No word on how that might effect his previously announced plans to tour with Lady GaGa later this year.

--Yvonne Villarreal

Photo: Kanye West and Taylor Swift/ Associated Press

Rep. West, you have the floor...

Man, it's been a rough week for civil public debate with Kanye West in the audience, hasn't it?

Beyonce and Taylor Swift: Sisterhood is powerful, especially when male-directed

Plenty of men know what it's like to cross a line and discover that nothing -- not flowers, not tears, not emotional blog posts -- can eradicate the skunk-like scent of jerkiness once it's sprayed. Kanye West can't seem to apologize enough for bursting in on Taylor Swift during her acceptance speech for Best Female Video at last night's MTV Video Music Awards, even though a replay of the moment reveals that West's imposition started with the words, "I'm sorry, Taylor." Whatever motivated West's words, his aggressiveness read as impossibly rude, not in small part because he is a 32-year-old man and the target of his scorn was a young woman of 19.

From one vantage point, it was a case of chivalry gone horribly wrong. West meant to stand up for Beyonce Knowles, whose "Single Ladies" video is in fact much more memorable than the one for Swift's "You Belong With Me," which took the prize in question. Knowles herself made it fairly clear that she doesn't require the blustering gallantry of West or any other guy when, upon winning Video of the Year for "Single Ladies," she ceded her own acceptance speech slot to Swift. The two women staged a quick sisterly embrace, adding another layer of meaning to an already complicated moment. Now this controversy was about women sticking up for each other, too.

If, as some bloggers are suggesting, West's intervention was staged, there had to be a reason Knowles and Swift agreed to participate. And even if his tirade was spontaneous, that climactic hug between Queen B and Princess Taylor had clearly been arranged (if only within the previous hour) and benefited both parties.

MTV Video Music Awards: Was it Kanye being Kanye, or was his outburst something more?

In Monday's Calendar, the Times' pop critic Ann Powers discusses the MTV Video Music Awards. An excerpt and link to the full piece is below:

At least the shocker this year was related to music.

The MTV Video Music Awards are always willfully chaotic, keeping alive the myth of pop as the provenance of rebels by placing a bunch of moderately edgy celebrities within a festive environment and fueling the mood with sexy performances, off-color jokes and "incidents" that are often staged, but good for a thousand Twitter tweets. One of these mostly bogus controversies usually goes a bit deeper, hinting at real issues of identity, status, personal power and self-expression -- the sticky stuff from which pop music is, in fact, made.

When Kanye West jumped up during Taylor Swift's acceptance speech for best female video Sunday night, put his hand over her microphone and declared that Beyoncé's losing "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" clip was "one of the best videos of all time," he did a stupid thing. He seemed like a bully inexplicably targeting an honors student, and he further damaged his rather unstable reputation without managing to make his point clear.

A couple hours later, Beyoncé received the Moonman trophy that MTV's execs had designated for her -- every superstar gets one, apparently, in this predetermined coronation of pop's latest prom court of ingenues and enduring hotties. Ever the lady, she ceded her thank-you time to Swift, who emerged seemingly quite prepared for the moment and gave a totally inconsequential speech. (She was really grateful to her video director and her fans.) It was a nice gesture of female solidarity in the face of West's boorish and, yes, macho move.

But let's consider what might have motivated West's outburst. Swift was the bestselling artist of 2008, according to Nielsen SoundScan. She's transcended her base in country music to become a top 40 juggernaut and, arguably, the current face of young female America. Beyoncé is a slightly older superstar who's also topped plenty of sales lists; like Swift, she makes chart-toppers strongly rooted in a specific genre that appeal to a wider audience. Her home base is R&B, and, through her marriage to Jay-Z and her brilliant singing style, she's strongly connected to hip-hop.

Perhaps West, who later apologized, felt that Swift's little love story mirroring the current plot of the new prime-time hit "Glee" genuinely wasn't as deserving as Beyoncé's Bob Fosse-inspired volcanic eruption of a dance routine, which has inspired thousands of tributes by fans, including Justin Timberlake and Barack Obama. Maybe he was miffed that this young black pop queen's heels were being nipped at by a blond Ivory Girl whose fans tend to look quite a bit like her.

Is that reading too much into the situation?

Read more Was it Kanye being Kanye, or was his outburst something more?

Photo: Beyonce and Taylor Swift. Credit: Getty Images

Kanye West apologizes to Taylor Swift

Before the MTV Video Music Awards even came to an end, rap star Kanye West had taken to his blog and issued an ALL-CAPS apology to country star Taylor Swift and her mother. "I spoke to her mother right after and she said the same thing my mother would've said," Kanye wrote in his explanation for interrupting Swift's VMA win.

Moments after Swift won the MTV VMA for best female video for "You Belong With Me,"  West appeared onstage and interrupted her speech. Swift was in the midst of talking about the difficulty country artists face in crossing over on MTV when West declared that the award should have gone to Beyoncé for her "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)." 

Throughout the remainder of the night, the VMA crowd at New York's Radio City Music Hall let West hear it, booing loudly anytime his name was mentioned. Pink, a performer on the telecast, took to her Twitter, and blasted Kanye -- its R-rated language prevents us from linking to it. 

MTV Video Music Awards live performance reviews: Kanye West, Taylor Swift, Green Day and more

The MTV Video Music Awards are set to feature performances from the likes of Janet Jackson, Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga and more. Pop & Hiss presents somewhat instant reviews of all the performances at the show -- typos and all.

1. Janet Jackson's tribute to Michael Jackson. Madonna opens the show as a surprise guest, telling an extended story about having dinner with Jackson, as well as revealing her thoughts on the pop star. The crowd stands as Madonna, in a slick black outfit, drops a bevy of personal details into her speech about Michael. "I never had a mother, but he never had a childhood," Madonna observed. "When you never get to have something, you become obsessed by it." She notes that she and Michael were "not great friends," but talks of going to dinner and movie with him, and having to coax Michael into removing his sunglasses. She ends by saying, "My sons, age 9 and 4, are obsessed with Michael Jackson. There's a whole lot of crotch-grabbing and moonwalking going on in  my house."

Then it cuts straight to a dance tribute, which may have been a lot fun if you were in Radio City. Our pals in New York insist it was brilliant live, in the audience. But on television, it just didn't translate. The live moves were professionally grand, and gave a wham-bang highlight of Jackson's career, But on the small screen, the moves were completely overshadowed by clips of Jackson's videos, including "Thriller" and "Bad." Janet wasn't seen until a few minutes in, when she came out for "Scream," her glitchy rock 'n' roll duet with Michael from 1995. She was fierce, fast and held back the tears, but it doesn't justify multiple days of hype, nor was it as clever as MTV's gloves-raining down on Manhattan videos. Madonna: A. The rest of the tribute: C+

2. Katy Perry, "We Will Rock You." The pop star comes out to show off her rock 'n' roll side, covering the Queen classic for a few minutes. It's mainly a gratuitous intro for host-comedian Russell Brand, and not so much a performance. Her white circus outfit isn't as fun as her giant fruit props from last year, and it's a song that begs for crowd pandering. Perry's cover follows suit. D.

MTV Video Music Awards: Live chat now

Pop & Hiss will be updating throughout the MTV Video Music Awards, bringing readers instant reviews of all the performances. Janet Jackson, Lady Gaga, Green Day and more are set to perform. Stay tuned to Pop & Hiss for some quick analysis, complete with typos.

But if you need more immediate action, join our live MTV Video Music Awards chat. Contributors to the Envelope and the Los Angeles Times are in there now, and they need company. Join them below.