Knitting Factory to close Hollywood club

The rock ‘n’ roll continues to disappear from Hollywood Boulevard.

All-ages music venue the Knitting Factory is opting not to renew its lease at its current location and looks to shut its doors this fall, confirms the company’s CEO Morgan Margolis.

Concerts that include shows by metal act A Static Lullaby and Scottish indie rockers Frightened Rabbit are currently booked through mid-October at the venue, but barring last-minute renegotiations the Knitting Factory’s final show will be around Oct. 31, Margolis said. A representative from property manager CIM Group declined to comment, but did confirm that the club’s lease is expiring.

“Our lease is up Oct. 31,” Margolis said. “I’ve opted not to extend it. We’re closing that location, but we are not out of the L.A. market.”

Margolis said he was speaking to Pop & Hiss while inspecting a possible new location. Rumors of the Knitting Factory’s closure have persisted for more than a year. Last summer, neighbors' complaints threatened the club’s conditional use permit, which a venue needs to operate, and subjected the club to zoning hearings. The Knitting Factory was able to make its case to the city, but Margolis said the battle cost him $200,000.

Margolis said he’s been aiming to leave Hollywood since before the struggle to keep his permit began. “I’ve been looking two years now for the right space,” he said. “I’m looking all over -- downtown, Silver Lake, Los Feliz, North Hollywood, Studio City. I’ve looked as far as Alhambra.

“I don’t want the community to think that the Knitting Factory is done in Los Angeles,” Margolis said. ”I’m looking, and have a couple deals on the table. If one of these goes through, there may be a full-on lateral move and no shutdown. It may just be a week or two changeover."

But before anyone gets too optimistic, he adds, "Or it could be a year.”

With the Knitting Factory on target to exit Hollywood Boulevard, it will be the second major music-related operator to disappear from the neighborhood. Earlier this summer, Virgin closed its last remaining Virgin Megastore in Los Angeles, which was a short walk from the Knitting Factory (a Hard Rock Cafe will move in to the Virgin Megastore space).

The romantic comedy “(500) Days of Summer” doesn’t come with a parental advisory. It looks and feels harmless and whimsical enough, even coming complete with a mid-movie dance sequence to Hall & Oates’ early ‘80s hit “You Make My Dreams.”

But don’t be fooled -- “(500) Days of Summer” has the potential of inflicting lifelong damage to young music geeks. Witness an early scene in the film between Zooey Deschanel’s Summer and Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s Tom. She a compendium of adorable quirks (she name-checked Belle & Sebastian in her high school yearbook!), and he a music-obsessed twentysomething -- the guy who pulls out the Clash and the Pixies at karaoke parties but needs significant prodding to even attend one.

Sharing an elevator, Tom is too shy, too flustered and insecure to say hello to Summer. No matter – she recognizes that he’s blasting the Smiths -- a cinematic signal for a romantic intellectual -- and observes that Tom has good taste in music.

That is how we know this is a fairy tale, as it’s a movie moment that can forever doom those of a certain disposition. “Those who are expecting someone to hear them listening to the Smiths in an elevator?” Deschanel laughs after being told of my fear. “That’s funny.”

Fans continued to feverishly purchase Michael Jackson albums in the days after his Staples Center memorial last week. More than 1.1 million copies of Jackson's catalog were sold through Sunday, according to Nielsen SoundScan figures released to Billboard.

Jackson was expected to be the week's hot seller, but it was a bit of a surprise to see the numbers increase once again. Overall, Jackson's sales jumped 37% over the previous week. His sales were led by "Number Ones," which sold 349,000 copies, followed by "Thriller," which sold 264,000 copies.

Jackson again, however, is relegated to Billboard's catalog charts, as are any albums that are older than 18 months and have fallen below No. 100 on the U.S. pop chart. In two and a half weeks, Jackson titles have sold 2.3 million copies.

On the current U.S. pop charts, R&B singer Maxwell leads. His "BLACKsummers'night" opened with 316,000 copies, and Billboard reports that's a career best. His last album, 2001's "Now," debuted with 296,000 copies.

Also new is Miley Cyrus' latest soundtrack to the "Hannah Montana" TV series. The album lands at No. 3, having sold 137,000 copies in its first week. That number is significantly lower than some past "Hannah Montana"-branded titles. A 2006 soundtrack to the Disney Channel series sold 281,000 copies in its first week, and a double-disc effort in 2007 bowed with 326,000 copies.

Yet don't make the mistake of thinking that "Hannah Montana" has run its course.

One has to give Mariah Carey credit here. She certainly knows how to stay in the headlines. Her first single from her upcoming album, "Obsessed," may or may not be a response to Eminem's recent "Bagpipes From Baghdad," and in the clip, she may or may not be dressing up as Eminem. 

Husband Nick Cannon says he's not totally positive but is pretty sure she isn't. And Carey took to Twitter to clarify the issue, writing: "I am NOT at any point in the video playing a specific person. I'm dressed as a 'stalker' in 3 different ensembles." All well and good, but it's still a stalker that looks an awful lot  like Eminem, what with the hoodie and hip-hop mannerisms in front of a set that occasionally looks like it was ripped from Eminem's "Stan" video. Oh, celebs and their feuds. 

You can watch it below (for now), or see a cleaner version tonight during NBC's "America's Got Talent." Yahoo initially said the clip would be available online Tuesday night, but it hasn't materialized, at least officially. 

But if the song saw Carey dropping one-liners at her undisclosed obsessee, labeling him "delusional" and snapping "You're a mom and pop / I'm a corporation," the video, directed by frequent Carey collaborator Brett Ratner, seems more about fear. The Eminem lookalike is tailing Carey out on the street, and there he is again in one of Carey's photo shoots -- representing anyone and everyone who isn't part of Carey's circle. 

Rather than highlight the snappy put-downs of the song, it showcases the closed-off inner-sanctums of the rich and famous. But Carey still gets her revenge, albeit with the help of public transportation, in a somewhat abrupt and uncomfortable ending.

Some of us at P&H HQ believe today should be a national holiday -- a midsummer moment to pause and reflect on baseball's halfway point. However, despite the Los Angeles Dodgers being in first place and on a collision course for a rematch with the Chicago Cubs in October (there's a lot of baseball left, St. Louis),  our superiors shockingly disagree. Alas, this blog post is the best we can do to make the workday go faster.

The final Major League Baseball game heading into the All-Star break saw the Cubs splitting a four-game series with the St. Louis Cardinals. Since the broadcast was carried on ESPN, viewers missed Green Day singing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" during the seventh inning stretch.

But apparently the Bay Area punk rockers had such a good time at Wrigley Field that they added the tune to the repertoire. Hey, if there's room for a rock opera, there's room for a little baseball ditty. YouTube user "dingster89" has been kind enough to upload a clip of Green Day performing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" before "Brain Stew" at Chicago's United Center. Not sure if Green Day was root-root-rootin' for the San Francisco Giants or the Oakland A's here, as the band was drowned out by the pro-Cub crowd.

-- Todd Martens

The MTV Video Music Awards will head back to New York for its Sept. 13 telecast, once again tapping English comedian Russell Brand as host. Unknown at this point is whether or not he'll have the Jonas Brothers to push around again, but country superstar Taylor Swift and Brit rockers Muse are scheduled to appear. 

The MTV VMAs will air one week prior to the Emmys, which had to re-jigger its date so as to not conflict with MTV's mutli-hour pat-on-the-back (the latter, by the way, officially announced Neil Patrick Harris as host Monday). This year's VMAs will air live from Radio City Music Hall in New York. Last year's telecast was staged on the Paramount Pictures lot in Hollywood. 

While Brand was far from truly controversial last year, MTV got plenty of mileage out of having him host the show. He poked fun at the Jonas Brothers for wearing purity rings,labeled President George W. Bush as a "retarded cowboy" and didn't shy away from mocking Bristol Palin. 

In her post-gala assessment, The Times' Ann Powers gave a more positive than not review of Brand. "Brand's focused transgressiveness was a relief amid this happily hedonistic, conformist bunch," Powers wrote. "Nobody seems to remember when rockers were supposed to rattle the jewelry of the folks who attend glittery galas. But then, MTV has long trafficked in turning rebelliousness into a commodity. Brand, saying uncontainable things, upset the apple cart."

-- Todd Martens

Photo: Getty Images

The final four shows from Trent Reznor's Nine Inch Nails are set for the first week in September in Los Angeles, wrapping with a Sept. 6 date at the Echoplex in Echo Park. Tickets for the Echoplex date will be available exclusively via Nine Inch Nails' website, where fans can register for a free membership to purchase tickets.

Nine Inch Nails will also perform at the Hollywood Palladium on Sept. 2, the Henry Fonda Theater on Sept. 3 and the Wiltern on Sept. 5. Tickets will go on sale on July 17 via NIN.com, and will be available to the general public July 31.

However, tickets for the Echoplex and the Henry Fonda will only be available via the Nine Inch Nails website.

Thus far, the city of Los Angeles has collected about $17,000 to help pay for the Michael Jackson memorial held Tuesday at Staples Center. Our news blog L.A. Now has the latest, and reports that the city now places the final costs at $1.4 million.The LAPD says it spent at least $1 million, according to L.A. Now.

The city has been asking for donations to help deter the costs of policing and other public services needed for the event. The city also missed out on receiving some donations (potentially), as its website was down for 12 hours Tuesday evening.

L.A. Now has the statement from the mayor's office:

"After collecting more than $17,000 from hundreds of donors in support of the Michael Jackson Memorial Tuesday morning, the City's Information Technology Agency could not handle the high volume of traffic or adequately respond to frequent and prolonged server crashes," Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's office said in a statement.

The city's donation site  -- of which a screen shot is above -- is now up and running, for those who tried and failed to contribute. Earlier today, newly elected City Controller Wendy Greuel was unhappy with the amount spent to feed the city's first responders during the memorial. The box lunch total: $48,836.

Read the latest on Michael Jackson on L.A Now.

-- Todd Martens

The posthumous sales dominance of Michael Jackson continues at music retailers this week, and momentum may not slow for the foreseeable future. Jackson albums sold a total of 800,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan, almost doubling the 422,000 sold last week.

The increase was to be expected, as SoundScan's tabulates its numbers through Sunday, and this marked the first full week of sales since Jackson's passing on June 25. With massive interest in Tuesday's memorial at Staples Center, interest in the artist's music isn't expected to slow any time soon.

Jackson's sales were led by his hits compilation "Number Ones" (Sony), which moved a total of 339,000 copies, up from the 108,000 it sold in the previous sales week. To date, the album has sold 2.3 million copies.

Jackson's "Thriller" is a distant second to the hits package, having sold 187,000 copies this week. Often cited as the bestselling album of all time, with reports putting its total worldwide sales at anywhere between 40 million and 100 million, "Thriller" has sold 4.8 million copies since SoundScan began tracking data in 1991, an impressive figure for an album released in 1982.

Of Jackson's 800,000 albums sold, about 140,000 came from the digital sector. Last week, that number was higher, as 241,000 of Jackson's 422,000 albums sold were downloads. Billboard reports that distributors ran out of physical CDs in the wake of Jackson's death, and online purchases were no doubt fueled by the sudden surge of interest in the wake of his passing.

Jackson's top-selling digital single in North America last week was "Man in the Mirror," which moved 217,000 downloads. "Billie Jean" was behind that with 199,000 downloads. All told, Jackson sold about 2.7 million digital singles over the last week. If you include the Jackson 5 in Nielsen SoundScan's totals, Jackson has been responsible for more than 6.2 million downloads.

Jackson's titles are eligible only for Billboard's "top pop catalog" chart, as they are older than 18 months and have fallen below the top 100 on the main pop chart. But no matter, as there's little to distract from Jackson at the top of the main pop chart.

The current U.S. pop chart is topped only by the latest edition of the hits compilation series "Now! That's What I Call Music." The 31th volume in the collection opens this week with 169,000 copies sold.

But there is some action further down.

So Trent Reznor's recent comments from the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival stage that he had played his last shows on U.S soil? Strike those from the record. Here's some good news for those who missed Nine Inch Nails' supposedly last Southern California show in Irvine this May.

Reznor posted today on the band's official website that the act will perform a string of dates in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles beginning August 22. Individual dates weren't announced, but Reznor writes that NIN will grace the stages at the Wiltern, the Henry Fonda Theatre, the Palladium and, in what will surely be one of the hottest, most-packed shows in Los Angeles in 2009, the Echoplex.

 Mew is tapped as the opening act on Nine Inch Nails' four-date L.A. residency.

'(500) Days of Summer': A tale of dangerous rock 'n' roll romanticism?

The romantic comedy “(500) Days of Summer” doesn’t come with a parental advisory. It looks and feels harmless and whimsical enough, even coming complete with a mid-movie dance sequence to Hall & Oates’ early ‘80s hit “You Make My Dreams.”

But don’t be fooled -- “(500) Days of Summer” has the potential of inflicting lifelong damage to young music geeks. Witness an early scene in the film between Zooey Deschanel’s Summer and Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s Tom. She a compendium of adorable quirks (she name-checked Belle & Sebastian in her high school yearbook!), and he a music-obsessed twentysomething -- the guy who pulls out the Clash and the Pixies at karaoke parties but needs significant prodding to even attend one.

Sharing an elevator, Tom is too shy, too flustered and insecure to say hello to Summer. No matter – she recognizes that he’s blasting the Smiths -- a cinematic signal for a romantic intellectual -- and observes that Tom has good taste in music.

That is how we know this is a fairy tale, as it’s a movie moment that can forever doom those of a certain disposition. “Those who are expecting someone to hear them listening to the Smiths in an elevator?” Deschanel laughs after being told of my fear. “That’s funny.”

Fans continued to feverishly purchase Michael Jackson albums in the days after his Staples Center memorial last week. More than 1.1 million copies of Jackson's catalog were sold through Sunday, according to Nielsen SoundScan figures released to Billboard.

Jackson was expected to be the week's hot seller, but it was a bit of a surprise to see the numbers increase once again. Overall, Jackson's sales jumped 37% over the previous week. His sales were led by "Number Ones," which sold 349,000 copies, followed by "Thriller," which sold 264,000 copies.

Jackson again, however, is relegated to Billboard's catalog charts, as are any albums that are older than 18 months and have fallen below No. 100 on the U.S. pop chart. In two and a half weeks, Jackson titles have sold 2.3 million copies.

On the current U.S. pop charts, R&B singer Maxwell leads. His "BLACKsummers'night" opened with 316,000 copies, and Billboard reports that's a career best. His last album, 2001's "Now," debuted with 296,000 copies.

Also new is Miley Cyrus' latest soundtrack to the "Hannah Montana" TV series. The album lands at No. 3, having sold 137,000 copies in its first week. That number is significantly lower than some past "Hannah Montana"-branded titles. A 2006 soundtrack to the Disney Channel series sold 281,000 copies in its first week, and a double-disc effort in 2007 bowed with 326,000 copies.

Yet don't make the mistake of thinking that "Hannah Montana" has run its course.

One has to give Mariah Carey credit here. She certainly knows how to stay in the headlines. Her first single from her upcoming album, "Obsessed," may or may not be a response to Eminem's recent "Bagpipes From Baghdad," and in the clip, she may or may not be dressing up as Eminem. 

Husband Nick Cannon says he's not totally positive but is pretty sure she isn't. And Carey took to Twitter to clarify the issue, writing: "I am NOT at any point in the video playing a specific person. I'm dressed as a 'stalker' in 3 different ensembles." All well and good, but it's still a stalker that looks an awful lot  like Eminem, what with the hoodie and hip-hop mannerisms in front of a set that occasionally looks like it was ripped from Eminem's "Stan" video. Oh, celebs and their feuds. 

You can watch it below (for now), or see a cleaner version tonight during NBC's "America's Got Talent." Yahoo initially said the clip would be available online Tuesday night, but it hasn't materialized, at least officially. 

But if the song saw Carey dropping one-liners at her undisclosed obsessee, labeling him "delusional" and snapping "You're a mom and pop / I'm a corporation," the video, directed by frequent Carey collaborator Brett Ratner, seems more about fear. The Eminem lookalike is tailing Carey out on the street, and there he is again in one of Carey's photo shoots -- representing anyone and everyone who isn't part of Carey's circle. 

Rather than highlight the snappy put-downs of the song, it showcases the closed-off inner-sanctums of the rich and famous. But Carey still gets her revenge, albeit with the help of public transportation, in a somewhat abrupt and uncomfortable ending.

Some of us at P&H HQ believe today should be a national holiday -- a midsummer moment to pause and reflect on baseball's halfway point. However, despite the Los Angeles Dodgers being in first place and on a collision course for a rematch with the Chicago Cubs in October (there's a lot of baseball left, St. Louis),  our superiors shockingly disagree. Alas, this blog post is the best we can do to make the workday go faster.

The final Major League Baseball game heading into the All-Star break saw the Cubs splitting a four-game series with the St. Louis Cardinals. Since the broadcast was carried on ESPN, viewers missed Green Day singing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" during the seventh inning stretch.

But apparently the Bay Area punk rockers had such a good time at Wrigley Field that they added the tune to the repertoire. Hey, if there's room for a rock opera, there's room for a little baseball ditty. YouTube user "dingster89" has been kind enough to upload a clip of Green Day performing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" before "Brain Stew" at Chicago's United Center. Not sure if Green Day was root-root-rootin' for the San Francisco Giants or the Oakland A's here, as the band was drowned out by the pro-Cub crowd.

-- Todd Martens

The MTV Video Music Awards will head back to New York for its Sept. 13 telecast, once again tapping English comedian Russell Brand as host. Unknown at this point is whether or not he'll have the Jonas Brothers to push around again, but country superstar Taylor Swift and Brit rockers Muse are scheduled to appear. 

The MTV VMAs will air one week prior to the Emmys, which had to re-jigger its date so as to not conflict with MTV's mutli-hour pat-on-the-back (the latter, by the way, officially announced Neil Patrick Harris as host Monday). This year's VMAs will air live from Radio City Music Hall in New York. Last year's telecast was staged on the Paramount Pictures lot in Hollywood. 

While Brand was far from truly controversial last year, MTV got plenty of mileage out of having him host the show. He poked fun at the Jonas Brothers for wearing purity rings,labeled President George W. Bush as a "retarded cowboy" and didn't shy away from mocking Bristol Palin. 

In her post-gala assessment, The Times' Ann Powers gave a more positive than not review of Brand. "Brand's focused transgressiveness was a relief amid this happily hedonistic, conformist bunch," Powers wrote. "Nobody seems to remember when rockers were supposed to rattle the jewelry of the folks who attend glittery galas. But then, MTV has long trafficked in turning rebelliousness into a commodity. Brand, saying uncontainable things, upset the apple cart."

-- Todd Martens

Photo: Getty Images

The final four shows from Trent Reznor's Nine Inch Nails are set for the first week in September in Los Angeles, wrapping with a Sept. 6 date at the Echoplex in Echo Park. Tickets for the Echoplex date will be available exclusively via Nine Inch Nails' website, where fans can register for a free membership to purchase tickets.

Nine Inch Nails will also perform at the Hollywood Palladium on Sept. 2, the Henry Fonda Theater on Sept. 3 and the Wiltern on Sept. 5. Tickets will go on sale on July 17 via NIN.com, and will be available to the general public July 31.

However, tickets for the Echoplex and the Henry Fonda will only be available via the Nine Inch Nails website.

Thus far, the city of Los Angeles has collected about $17,000 to help pay for the Michael Jackson memorial held Tuesday at Staples Center. Our news blog L.A. Now has the latest, and reports that the city now places the final costs at $1.4 million.The LAPD says it spent at least $1 million, according to L.A. Now.

The city has been asking for donations to help deter the costs of policing and other public services needed for the event. The city also missed out on receiving some donations (potentially), as its website was down for 12 hours Tuesday evening.

L.A. Now has the statement from the mayor's office:

"After collecting more than $17,000 from hundreds of donors in support of the Michael Jackson Memorial Tuesday morning, the City's Information Technology Agency could not handle the high volume of traffic or adequately respond to frequent and prolonged server crashes," Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's office said in a statement.

The city's donation site  -- of which a screen shot is above -- is now up and running, for those who tried and failed to contribute. Earlier today, newly elected City Controller Wendy Greuel was unhappy with the amount spent to feed the city's first responders during the memorial. The box lunch total: $48,836.

Read the latest on Michael Jackson on L.A Now.

-- Todd Martens

The posthumous sales dominance of Michael Jackson continues at music retailers this week, and momentum may not slow for the foreseeable future. Jackson albums sold a total of 800,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan, almost doubling the 422,000 sold last week.

The increase was to be expected, as SoundScan's tabulates its numbers through Sunday, and this marked the first full week of sales since Jackson's passing on June 25. With massive interest in Tuesday's memorial at Staples Center, interest in the artist's music isn't expected to slow any time soon.

Jackson's sales were led by his hits compilation "Number Ones" (Sony), which moved a total of 339,000 copies, up from the 108,000 it sold in the previous sales week. To date, the album has sold 2.3 million copies.

Jackson's "Thriller" is a distant second to the hits package, having sold 187,000 copies this week. Often cited as the bestselling album of all time, with reports putting its total worldwide sales at anywhere between 40 million and 100 million, "Thriller" has sold 4.8 million copies since SoundScan began tracking data in 1991, an impressive figure for an album released in 1982.

Of Jackson's 800,000 albums sold, about 140,000 came from the digital sector. Last week, that number was higher, as 241,000 of Jackson's 422,000 albums sold were downloads. Billboard reports that distributors ran out of physical CDs in the wake of Jackson's death, and online purchases were no doubt fueled by the sudden surge of interest in the wake of his passing.

Jackson's top-selling digital single in North America last week was "Man in the Mirror," which moved 217,000 downloads. "Billie Jean" was behind that with 199,000 downloads. All told, Jackson sold about 2.7 million digital singles over the last week. If you include the Jackson 5 in Nielsen SoundScan's totals, Jackson has been responsible for more than 6.2 million downloads.

Jackson's titles are eligible only for Billboard's "top pop catalog" chart, as they are older than 18 months and have fallen below the top 100 on the main pop chart. But no matter, as there's little to distract from Jackson at the top of the main pop chart.

The current U.S. pop chart is topped only by the latest edition of the hits compilation series "Now! That's What I Call Music." The 31th volume in the collection opens this week with 169,000 copies sold.

But there is some action further down.

So Trent Reznor's recent comments from the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival stage that he had played his last shows on U.S soil? Strike those from the record. Here's some good news for those who missed Nine Inch Nails' supposedly last Southern California show in Irvine this May.

Reznor posted today on the band's official website that the act will perform a string of dates in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles beginning August 22. Individual dates weren't announced, but Reznor writes that NIN will grace the stages at the Wiltern, the Henry Fonda Theatre, the Palladium and, in what will surely be one of the hottest, most-packed shows in Los Angeles in 2009, the Echoplex.

 Mew is tapped as the opening act on Nine Inch Nails' four-date L.A. residency.

Michael, Maxwell and Miley: The music you bought this week

Fans continued to feverishly purchase Michael Jackson albums in the days after his Staples Center memorial last week. More than 1.1 million copies of Jackson's catalog were sold through Sunday, according to Nielsen SoundScan figures released to Billboard.

Jackson was expected to be the week's hot seller, but it was a bit of a surprise to see the numbers increase once again. Overall, Jackson's sales jumped 37% over the previous week. His sales were led by "Number Ones," which sold 349,000 copies, followed by "Thriller," which sold 264,000 copies.

Jackson again, however, is relegated to Billboard's catalog charts, as are any albums that are older than 18 months and have fallen below No. 100 on the U.S. pop chart. In two and a half weeks, Jackson titles have sold 2.3 million copies.

On the current U.S. pop charts, R&B singer Maxwell leads. His "BLACKsummers'night" opened with 316,000 copies, and Billboard reports that's a career best. His last album, 2001's "Now," debuted with 296,000 copies.

Also new is Miley Cyrus' latest soundtrack to the "Hannah Montana" TV series. The album lands at No. 3, having sold 137,000 copies in its first week. That number is significantly lower than some past "Hannah Montana"-branded titles. A 2006 soundtrack to the Disney Channel series sold 281,000 copies in its first week, and a double-disc effort in 2007 bowed with 326,000 copies.

Yet don't make the mistake of thinking that "Hannah Montana" has run its course.

One has to give Mariah Carey credit here. She certainly knows how to stay in the headlines. Her first single from her upcoming album, "Obsessed," may or may not be a response to Eminem's recent "Bagpipes From Baghdad," and in the clip, she may or may not be dressing up as Eminem. 

Husband Nick Cannon says he's not totally positive but is pretty sure she isn't. And Carey took to Twitter to clarify the issue, writing: "I am NOT at any point in the video playing a specific person. I'm dressed as a 'stalker' in 3 different ensembles." All well and good, but it's still a stalker that looks an awful lot  like Eminem, what with the hoodie and hip-hop mannerisms in front of a set that occasionally looks like it was ripped from Eminem's "Stan" video. Oh, celebs and their feuds. 

You can watch it below (for now), or see a cleaner version tonight during NBC's "America's Got Talent." Yahoo initially said the clip would be available online Tuesday night, but it hasn't materialized, at least officially. 

But if the song saw Carey dropping one-liners at her undisclosed obsessee, labeling him "delusional" and snapping "You're a mom and pop / I'm a corporation," the video, directed by frequent Carey collaborator Brett Ratner, seems more about fear. The Eminem lookalike is tailing Carey out on the street, and there he is again in one of Carey's photo shoots -- representing anyone and everyone who isn't part of Carey's circle. 

Rather than highlight the snappy put-downs of the song, it showcases the closed-off inner-sanctums of the rich and famous. But Carey still gets her revenge, albeit with the help of public transportation, in a somewhat abrupt and uncomfortable ending.

Some of us at P&H HQ believe today should be a national holiday -- a midsummer moment to pause and reflect on baseball's halfway point. However, despite the Los Angeles Dodgers being in first place and on a collision course for a rematch with the Chicago Cubs in October (there's a lot of baseball left, St. Louis),  our superiors shockingly disagree. Alas, this blog post is the best we can do to make the workday go faster.

The final Major League Baseball game heading into the All-Star break saw the Cubs splitting a four-game series with the St. Louis Cardinals. Since the broadcast was carried on ESPN, viewers missed Green Day singing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" during the seventh inning stretch.

But apparently the Bay Area punk rockers had such a good time at Wrigley Field that they added the tune to the repertoire. Hey, if there's room for a rock opera, there's room for a little baseball ditty. YouTube user "dingster89" has been kind enough to upload a clip of Green Day performing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" before "Brain Stew" at Chicago's United Center. Not sure if Green Day was root-root-rootin' for the San Francisco Giants or the Oakland A's here, as the band was drowned out by the pro-Cub crowd.

-- Todd Martens

The MTV Video Music Awards will head back to New York for its Sept. 13 telecast, once again tapping English comedian Russell Brand as host. Unknown at this point is whether or not he'll have the Jonas Brothers to push around again, but country superstar Taylor Swift and Brit rockers Muse are scheduled to appear. 

The MTV VMAs will air one week prior to the Emmys, which had to re-jigger its date so as to not conflict with MTV's mutli-hour pat-on-the-back (the latter, by the way, officially announced Neil Patrick Harris as host Monday). This year's VMAs will air live from Radio City Music Hall in New York. Last year's telecast was staged on the Paramount Pictures lot in Hollywood. 

While Brand was far from truly controversial last year, MTV got plenty of mileage out of having him host the show. He poked fun at the Jonas Brothers for wearing purity rings,labeled President George W. Bush as a "retarded cowboy" and didn't shy away from mocking Bristol Palin. 

In her post-gala assessment, The Times' Ann Powers gave a more positive than not review of Brand. "Brand's focused transgressiveness was a relief amid this happily hedonistic, conformist bunch," Powers wrote. "Nobody seems to remember when rockers were supposed to rattle the jewelry of the folks who attend glittery galas. But then, MTV has long trafficked in turning rebelliousness into a commodity. Brand, saying uncontainable things, upset the apple cart."

-- Todd Martens

Photo: Getty Images

The final four shows from Trent Reznor's Nine Inch Nails are set for the first week in September in Los Angeles, wrapping with a Sept. 6 date at the Echoplex in Echo Park. Tickets for the Echoplex date will be available exclusively via Nine Inch Nails' website, where fans can register for a free membership to purchase tickets.

Nine Inch Nails will also perform at the Hollywood Palladium on Sept. 2, the Henry Fonda Theater on Sept. 3 and the Wiltern on Sept. 5. Tickets will go on sale on July 17 via NIN.com, and will be available to the general public July 31.

However, tickets for the Echoplex and the Henry Fonda will only be available via the Nine Inch Nails website.

Thus far, the city of Los Angeles has collected about $17,000 to help pay for the Michael Jackson memorial held Tuesday at Staples Center. Our news blog L.A. Now has the latest, and reports that the city now places the final costs at $1.4 million.The LAPD says it spent at least $1 million, according to L.A. Now.

The city has been asking for donations to help deter the costs of policing and other public services needed for the event. The city also missed out on receiving some donations (potentially), as its website was down for 12 hours Tuesday evening.

L.A. Now has the statement from the mayor's office:

"After collecting more than $17,000 from hundreds of donors in support of the Michael Jackson Memorial Tuesday morning, the City's Information Technology Agency could not handle the high volume of traffic or adequately respond to frequent and prolonged server crashes," Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's office said in a statement.

The city's donation site  -- of which a screen shot is above -- is now up and running, for those who tried and failed to contribute. Earlier today, newly elected City Controller Wendy Greuel was unhappy with the amount spent to feed the city's first responders during the memorial. The box lunch total: $48,836.

Read the latest on Michael Jackson on L.A Now.

-- Todd Martens

The posthumous sales dominance of Michael Jackson continues at music retailers this week, and momentum may not slow for the foreseeable future. Jackson albums sold a total of 800,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan, almost doubling the 422,000 sold last week.

The increase was to be expected, as SoundScan's tabulates its numbers through Sunday, and this marked the first full week of sales since Jackson's passing on June 25. With massive interest in Tuesday's memorial at Staples Center, interest in the artist's music isn't expected to slow any time soon.

Jackson's sales were led by his hits compilation "Number Ones" (Sony), which moved a total of 339,000 copies, up from the 108,000 it sold in the previous sales week. To date, the album has sold 2.3 million copies.

Jackson's "Thriller" is a distant second to the hits package, having sold 187,000 copies this week. Often cited as the bestselling album of all time, with reports putting its total worldwide sales at anywhere between 40 million and 100 million, "Thriller" has sold 4.8 million copies since SoundScan began tracking data in 1991, an impressive figure for an album released in 1982.

Of Jackson's 800,000 albums sold, about 140,000 came from the digital sector. Last week, that number was higher, as 241,000 of Jackson's 422,000 albums sold were downloads. Billboard reports that distributors ran out of physical CDs in the wake of Jackson's death, and online purchases were no doubt fueled by the sudden surge of interest in the wake of his passing.

Jackson's top-selling digital single in North America last week was "Man in the Mirror," which moved 217,000 downloads. "Billie Jean" was behind that with 199,000 downloads. All told, Jackson sold about 2.7 million digital singles over the last week. If you include the Jackson 5 in Nielsen SoundScan's totals, Jackson has been responsible for more than 6.2 million downloads.

Jackson's titles are eligible only for Billboard's "top pop catalog" chart, as they are older than 18 months and have fallen below the top 100 on the main pop chart. But no matter, as there's little to distract from Jackson at the top of the main pop chart.

The current U.S. pop chart is topped only by the latest edition of the hits compilation series "Now! That's What I Call Music." The 31th volume in the collection opens this week with 169,000 copies sold.

But there is some action further down.

So Trent Reznor's recent comments from the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival stage that he had played his last shows on U.S soil? Strike those from the record. Here's some good news for those who missed Nine Inch Nails' supposedly last Southern California show in Irvine this May.

Reznor posted today on the band's official website that the act will perform a string of dates in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles beginning August 22. Individual dates weren't announced, but Reznor writes that NIN will grace the stages at the Wiltern, the Henry Fonda Theatre, the Palladium and, in what will surely be one of the hottest, most-packed shows in Los Angeles in 2009, the Echoplex.

 Mew is tapped as the opening act on Nine Inch Nails' four-date L.A. residency.

As subtle as being hit by a bus: Mariah Carey's 'Obsessed' video

One has to give Mariah Carey credit here. She certainly knows how to stay in the headlines. Her first single from her upcoming album, "Obsessed," may or may not be a response to Eminem's recent "Bagpipes From Baghdad," and in the clip, she may or may not be dressing up as Eminem. 

Husband Nick Cannon says he's not totally positive but is pretty sure she isn't. And Carey took to Twitter to clarify the issue, writing: "I am NOT at any point in the video playing a specific person. I'm dressed as a 'stalker' in 3 different ensembles." All well and good, but it's still a stalker that looks an awful lot  like Eminem, what with the hoodie and hip-hop mannerisms in front of a set that occasionally looks like it was ripped from Eminem's "Stan" video. Oh, celebs and their feuds. 

You can watch it below (for now), or see a cleaner version tonight during NBC's "America's Got Talent." Yahoo initially said the clip would be available online Tuesday night, but it hasn't materialized, at least officially. 

But if the song saw Carey dropping one-liners at her undisclosed obsessee, labeling him "delusional" and snapping "You're a mom and pop / I'm a corporation," the video, directed by frequent Carey collaborator Brett Ratner, seems more about fear. The Eminem lookalike is tailing Carey out on the street, and there he is again in one of Carey's photo shoots -- representing anyone and everyone who isn't part of Carey's circle. 

Rather than highlight the snappy put-downs of the song, it showcases the closed-off inner-sanctums of the rich and famous. But Carey still gets her revenge, albeit with the help of public transportation, in a somewhat abrupt and uncomfortable ending.

Some of us at P&H HQ believe today should be a national holiday -- a midsummer moment to pause and reflect on baseball's halfway point. However, despite the Los Angeles Dodgers being in first place and on a collision course for a rematch with the Chicago Cubs in October (there's a lot of baseball left, St. Louis),  our superiors shockingly disagree. Alas, this blog post is the best we can do to make the workday go faster.

The final Major League Baseball game heading into the All-Star break saw the Cubs splitting a four-game series with the St. Louis Cardinals. Since the broadcast was carried on ESPN, viewers missed Green Day singing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" during the seventh inning stretch.

But apparently the Bay Area punk rockers had such a good time at Wrigley Field that they added the tune to the repertoire. Hey, if there's room for a rock opera, there's room for a little baseball ditty. YouTube user "dingster89" has been kind enough to upload a clip of Green Day performing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" before "Brain Stew" at Chicago's United Center. Not sure if Green Day was root-root-rootin' for the San Francisco Giants or the Oakland A's here, as the band was drowned out by the pro-Cub crowd.

-- Todd Martens

The MTV Video Music Awards will head back to New York for its Sept. 13 telecast, once again tapping English comedian Russell Brand as host. Unknown at this point is whether or not he'll have the Jonas Brothers to push around again, but country superstar Taylor Swift and Brit rockers Muse are scheduled to appear. 

The MTV VMAs will air one week prior to the Emmys, which had to re-jigger its date so as to not conflict with MTV's mutli-hour pat-on-the-back (the latter, by the way, officially announced Neil Patrick Harris as host Monday). This year's VMAs will air live from Radio City Music Hall in New York. Last year's telecast was staged on the Paramount Pictures lot in Hollywood. 

While Brand was far from truly controversial last year, MTV got plenty of mileage out of having him host the show. He poked fun at the Jonas Brothers for wearing purity rings,labeled President George W. Bush as a "retarded cowboy" and didn't shy away from mocking Bristol Palin. 

In her post-gala assessment, The Times' Ann Powers gave a more positive than not review of Brand. "Brand's focused transgressiveness was a relief amid this happily hedonistic, conformist bunch," Powers wrote. "Nobody seems to remember when rockers were supposed to rattle the jewelry of the folks who attend glittery galas. But then, MTV has long trafficked in turning rebelliousness into a commodity. Brand, saying uncontainable things, upset the apple cart."

-- Todd Martens

Photo: Getty Images

The final four shows from Trent Reznor's Nine Inch Nails are set for the first week in September in Los Angeles, wrapping with a Sept. 6 date at the Echoplex in Echo Park. Tickets for the Echoplex date will be available exclusively via Nine Inch Nails' website, where fans can register for a free membership to purchase tickets.

Nine Inch Nails will also perform at the Hollywood Palladium on Sept. 2, the Henry Fonda Theater on Sept. 3 and the Wiltern on Sept. 5. Tickets will go on sale on July 17 via NIN.com, and will be available to the general public July 31.

However, tickets for the Echoplex and the Henry Fonda will only be available via the Nine Inch Nails website.

Thus far, the city of Los Angeles has collected about $17,000 to help pay for the Michael Jackson memorial held Tuesday at Staples Center. Our news blog L.A. Now has the latest, and reports that the city now places the final costs at $1.4 million.The LAPD says it spent at least $1 million, according to L.A. Now.

The city has been asking for donations to help deter the costs of policing and other public services needed for the event. The city also missed out on receiving some donations (potentially), as its website was down for 12 hours Tuesday evening.

L.A. Now has the statement from the mayor's office:

"After collecting more than $17,000 from hundreds of donors in support of the Michael Jackson Memorial Tuesday morning, the City's Information Technology Agency could not handle the high volume of traffic or adequately respond to frequent and prolonged server crashes," Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's office said in a statement.

The city's donation site  -- of which a screen shot is above -- is now up and running, for those who tried and failed to contribute. Earlier today, newly elected City Controller Wendy Greuel was unhappy with the amount spent to feed the city's first responders during the memorial. The box lunch total: $48,836.

Read the latest on Michael Jackson on L.A Now.

-- Todd Martens

The posthumous sales dominance of Michael Jackson continues at music retailers this week, and momentum may not slow for the foreseeable future. Jackson albums sold a total of 800,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan, almost doubling the 422,000 sold last week.

The increase was to be expected, as SoundScan's tabulates its numbers through Sunday, and this marked the first full week of sales since Jackson's passing on June 25. With massive interest in Tuesday's memorial at Staples Center, interest in the artist's music isn't expected to slow any time soon.

Jackson's sales were led by his hits compilation "Number Ones" (Sony), which moved a total of 339,000 copies, up from the 108,000 it sold in the previous sales week. To date, the album has sold 2.3 million copies.

Jackson's "Thriller" is a distant second to the hits package, having sold 187,000 copies this week. Often cited as the bestselling album of all time, with reports putting its total worldwide sales at anywhere between 40 million and 100 million, "Thriller" has sold 4.8 million copies since SoundScan began tracking data in 1991, an impressive figure for an album released in 1982.

Of Jackson's 800,000 albums sold, about 140,000 came from the digital sector. Last week, that number was higher, as 241,000 of Jackson's 422,000 albums sold were downloads. Billboard reports that distributors ran out of physical CDs in the wake of Jackson's death, and online purchases were no doubt fueled by the sudden surge of interest in the wake of his passing.

Jackson's top-selling digital single in North America last week was "Man in the Mirror," which moved 217,000 downloads. "Billie Jean" was behind that with 199,000 downloads. All told, Jackson sold about 2.7 million digital singles over the last week. If you include the Jackson 5 in Nielsen SoundScan's totals, Jackson has been responsible for more than 6.2 million downloads.

Jackson's titles are eligible only for Billboard's "top pop catalog" chart, as they are older than 18 months and have fallen below the top 100 on the main pop chart. But no matter, as there's little to distract from Jackson at the top of the main pop chart.

The current U.S. pop chart is topped only by the latest edition of the hits compilation series "Now! That's What I Call Music." The 31th volume in the collection opens this week with 169,000 copies sold.

But there is some action further down.

So Trent Reznor's recent comments from the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival stage that he had played his last shows on U.S soil? Strike those from the record. Here's some good news for those who missed Nine Inch Nails' supposedly last Southern California show in Irvine this May.

Reznor posted today on the band's official website that the act will perform a string of dates in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles beginning August 22. Individual dates weren't announced, but Reznor writes that NIN will grace the stages at the Wiltern, the Henry Fonda Theatre, the Palladium and, in what will surely be one of the hottest, most-packed shows in Los Angeles in 2009, the Echoplex.

 Mew is tapped as the opening act on Nine Inch Nails' four-date L.A. residency.

Happy All-Star Game Day: Green Day sings the 'stretch'

Some of us at P&H HQ believe today should be a national holiday -- a midsummer moment to pause and reflect on baseball's halfway point. However, despite the Los Angeles Dodgers being in first place and on a collision course for a rematch with the Chicago Cubs in October (there's a lot of baseball left, St. Louis),  our superiors shockingly disagree. Alas, this blog post is the best we can do to make the workday go faster.

The final Major League Baseball game heading into the All-Star break saw the Cubs splitting a four-game series with the St. Louis Cardinals. Since the broadcast was carried on ESPN, viewers missed Green Day singing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" during the seventh inning stretch.

But apparently the Bay Area punk rockers had such a good time at Wrigley Field that they added the tune to the repertoire. Hey, if there's room for a rock opera, there's room for a little baseball ditty. YouTube user "dingster89" has been kind enough to upload a clip of Green Day performing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" before "Brain Stew" at Chicago's United Center. Not sure if Green Day was root-root-rootin' for the San Francisco Giants or the Oakland A's here, as the band was drowned out by the pro-Cub crowd.

-- Todd Martens

The MTV Video Music Awards will head back to New York for its Sept. 13 telecast, once again tapping English comedian Russell Brand as host. Unknown at this point is whether or not he'll have the Jonas Brothers to push around again, but country superstar Taylor Swift and Brit rockers Muse are scheduled to appear. 

The MTV VMAs will air one week prior to the Emmys, which had to re-jigger its date so as to not conflict with MTV's mutli-hour pat-on-the-back (the latter, by the way, officially announced Neil Patrick Harris as host Monday). This year's VMAs will air live from Radio City Music Hall in New York. Last year's telecast was staged on the Paramount Pictures lot in Hollywood. 

While Brand was far from truly controversial last year, MTV got plenty of mileage out of having him host the show. He poked fun at the Jonas Brothers for wearing purity rings,labeled President George W. Bush as a "retarded cowboy" and didn't shy away from mocking Bristol Palin. 

In her post-gala assessment, The Times' Ann Powers gave a more positive than not review of Brand. "Brand's focused transgressiveness was a relief amid this happily hedonistic, conformist bunch," Powers wrote. "Nobody seems to remember when rockers were supposed to rattle the jewelry of the folks who attend glittery galas. But then, MTV has long trafficked in turning rebelliousness into a commodity. Brand, saying uncontainable things, upset the apple cart."

-- Todd Martens

Photo: Getty Images

The final four shows from Trent Reznor's Nine Inch Nails are set for the first week in September in Los Angeles, wrapping with a Sept. 6 date at the Echoplex in Echo Park. Tickets for the Echoplex date will be available exclusively via Nine Inch Nails' website, where fans can register for a free membership to purchase tickets.

Nine Inch Nails will also perform at the Hollywood Palladium on Sept. 2, the Henry Fonda Theater on Sept. 3 and the Wiltern on Sept. 5. Tickets will go on sale on July 17 via NIN.com, and will be available to the general public July 31.

However, tickets for the Echoplex and the Henry Fonda will only be available via the Nine Inch Nails website.

Thus far, the city of Los Angeles has collected about $17,000 to help pay for the Michael Jackson memorial held Tuesday at Staples Center. Our news blog L.A. Now has the latest, and reports that the city now places the final costs at $1.4 million.The LAPD says it spent at least $1 million, according to L.A. Now.

The city has been asking for donations to help deter the costs of policing and other public services needed for the event. The city also missed out on receiving some donations (potentially), as its website was down for 12 hours Tuesday evening.

L.A. Now has the statement from the mayor's office:

"After collecting more than $17,000 from hundreds of donors in support of the Michael Jackson Memorial Tuesday morning, the City's Information Technology Agency could not handle the high volume of traffic or adequately respond to frequent and prolonged server crashes," Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's office said in a statement.

The city's donation site  -- of which a screen shot is above -- is now up and running, for those who tried and failed to contribute. Earlier today, newly elected City Controller Wendy Greuel was unhappy with the amount spent to feed the city's first responders during the memorial. The box lunch total: $48,836.

Read the latest on Michael Jackson on L.A Now.

-- Todd Martens

The posthumous sales dominance of Michael Jackson continues at music retailers this week, and momentum may not slow for the foreseeable future. Jackson albums sold a total of 800,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan, almost doubling the 422,000 sold last week.

The increase was to be expected, as SoundScan's tabulates its numbers through Sunday, and this marked the first full week of sales since Jackson's passing on June 25. With massive interest in Tuesday's memorial at Staples Center, interest in the artist's music isn't expected to slow any time soon.

Jackson's sales were led by his hits compilation "Number Ones" (Sony), which moved a total of 339,000 copies, up from the 108,000 it sold in the previous sales week. To date, the album has sold 2.3 million copies.

Jackson's "Thriller" is a distant second to the hits package, having sold 187,000 copies this week. Often cited as the bestselling album of all time, with reports putting its total worldwide sales at anywhere between 40 million and 100 million, "Thriller" has sold 4.8 million copies since SoundScan began tracking data in 1991, an impressive figure for an album released in 1982.

Of Jackson's 800,000 albums sold, about 140,000 came from the digital sector. Last week, that number was higher, as 241,000 of Jackson's 422,000 albums sold were downloads. Billboard reports that distributors ran out of physical CDs in the wake of Jackson's death, and online purchases were no doubt fueled by the sudden surge of interest in the wake of his passing.

Jackson's top-selling digital single in North America last week was "Man in the Mirror," which moved 217,000 downloads. "Billie Jean" was behind that with 199,000 downloads. All told, Jackson sold about 2.7 million digital singles over the last week. If you include the Jackson 5 in Nielsen SoundScan's totals, Jackson has been responsible for more than 6.2 million downloads.

Jackson's titles are eligible only for Billboard's "top pop catalog" chart, as they are older than 18 months and have fallen below the top 100 on the main pop chart. But no matter, as there's little to distract from Jackson at the top of the main pop chart.

The current U.S. pop chart is topped only by the latest edition of the hits compilation series "Now! That's What I Call Music." The 31th volume in the collection opens this week with 169,000 copies sold.

But there is some action further down.

So Trent Reznor's recent comments from the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival stage that he had played his last shows on U.S soil? Strike those from the record. Here's some good news for those who missed Nine Inch Nails' supposedly last Southern California show in Irvine this May.

Reznor posted today on the band's official website that the act will perform a string of dates in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles beginning August 22. Individual dates weren't announced, but Reznor writes that NIN will grace the stages at the Wiltern, the Henry Fonda Theatre, the Palladium and, in what will surely be one of the hottest, most-packed shows in Los Angeles in 2009, the Echoplex.

 Mew is tapped as the opening act on Nine Inch Nails' four-date L.A. residency.

MTV Video Music Awards once again turns to Russell Brand

The MTV Video Music Awards will head back to New York for its Sept. 13 telecast, once again tapping English comedian Russell Brand as host. Unknown at this point is whether or not he'll have the Jonas Brothers to push around again, but country superstar Taylor Swift and Brit rockers Muse are scheduled to appear. 

The MTV VMAs will air one week prior to the Emmys, which had to re-jigger its date so as to not conflict with MTV's mutli-hour pat-on-the-back (the latter, by the way, officially announced Neil Patrick Harris as host Monday). This year's VMAs will air live from Radio City Music Hall in New York. Last year's telecast was staged on the Paramount Pictures lot in Hollywood. 

While Brand was far from truly controversial last year, MTV got plenty of mileage out of having him host the show. He poked fun at the Jonas Brothers for wearing purity rings,labeled President George W. Bush as a "retarded cowboy" and didn't shy away from mocking Bristol Palin. 

In her post-gala assessment, The Times' Ann Powers gave a more positive than not review of Brand. "Brand's focused transgressiveness was a relief amid this happily hedonistic, conformist bunch," Powers wrote. "Nobody seems to remember when rockers were supposed to rattle the jewelry of the folks who attend glittery galas. But then, MTV has long trafficked in turning rebelliousness into a commodity. Brand, saying uncontainable things, upset the apple cart."

-- Todd Martens

Photo: Getty Images

The final four shows from Trent Reznor's Nine Inch Nails are set for the first week in September in Los Angeles, wrapping with a Sept. 6 date at the Echoplex in Echo Park. Tickets for the Echoplex date will be available exclusively via Nine Inch Nails' website, where fans can register for a free membership to purchase tickets.

Nine Inch Nails will also perform at the Hollywood Palladium on Sept. 2, the Henry Fonda Theater on Sept. 3 and the Wiltern on Sept. 5. Tickets will go on sale on July 17 via NIN.com, and will be available to the general public July 31.

However, tickets for the Echoplex and the Henry Fonda will only be available via the Nine Inch Nails website.

Thus far, the city of Los Angeles has collected about $17,000 to help pay for the Michael Jackson memorial held Tuesday at Staples Center. Our news blog L.A. Now has the latest, and reports that the city now places the final costs at $1.4 million.The LAPD says it spent at least $1 million, according to L.A. Now.

The city has been asking for donations to help deter the costs of policing and other public services needed for the event. The city also missed out on receiving some donations (potentially), as its website was down for 12 hours Tuesday evening.

L.A. Now has the statement from the mayor's office:

"After collecting more than $17,000 from hundreds of donors in support of the Michael Jackson Memorial Tuesday morning, the City's Information Technology Agency could not handle the high volume of traffic or adequately respond to frequent and prolonged server crashes," Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's office said in a statement.

The city's donation site  -- of which a screen shot is above -- is now up and running, for those who tried and failed to contribute. Earlier today, newly elected City Controller Wendy Greuel was unhappy with the amount spent to feed the city's first responders during the memorial. The box lunch total: $48,836.

Read the latest on Michael Jackson on L.A Now.

-- Todd Martens

The posthumous sales dominance of Michael Jackson continues at music retailers this week, and momentum may not slow for the foreseeable future. Jackson albums sold a total of 800,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan, almost doubling the 422,000 sold last week.

The increase was to be expected, as SoundScan's tabulates its numbers through Sunday, and this marked the first full week of sales since Jackson's passing on June 25. With massive interest in Tuesday's memorial at Staples Center, interest in the artist's music isn't expected to slow any time soon.

Jackson's sales were led by his hits compilation "Number Ones" (Sony), which moved a total of 339,000 copies, up from the 108,000 it sold in the previous sales week. To date, the album has sold 2.3 million copies.

Jackson's "Thriller" is a distant second to the hits package, having sold 187,000 copies this week. Often cited as the bestselling album of all time, with reports putting its total worldwide sales at anywhere between 40 million and 100 million, "Thriller" has sold 4.8 million copies since SoundScan began tracking data in 1991, an impressive figure for an album released in 1982.

Of Jackson's 800,000 albums sold, about 140,000 came from the digital sector. Last week, that number was higher, as 241,000 of Jackson's 422,000 albums sold were downloads. Billboard reports that distributors ran out of physical CDs in the wake of Jackson's death, and online purchases were no doubt fueled by the sudden surge of interest in the wake of his passing.

Jackson's top-selling digital single in North America last week was "Man in the Mirror," which moved 217,000 downloads. "Billie Jean" was behind that with 199,000 downloads. All told, Jackson sold about 2.7 million digital singles over the last week. If you include the Jackson 5 in Nielsen SoundScan's totals, Jackson has been responsible for more than 6.2 million downloads.

Jackson's titles are eligible only for Billboard's "top pop catalog" chart, as they are older than 18 months and have fallen below the top 100 on the main pop chart. But no matter, as there's little to distract from Jackson at the top of the main pop chart.

The current U.S. pop chart is topped only by the latest edition of the hits compilation series "Now! That's What I Call Music." The 31th volume in the collection opens this week with 169,000 copies sold.

But there is some action further down.

So Trent Reznor's recent comments from the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival stage that he had played his last shows on U.S soil? Strike those from the record. Here's some good news for those who missed Nine Inch Nails' supposedly last Southern California show in Irvine this May.

Reznor posted today on the band's official website that the act will perform a string of dates in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles beginning August 22. Individual dates weren't announced, but Reznor writes that NIN will grace the stages at the Wiltern, the Henry Fonda Theatre, the Palladium and, in what will surely be one of the hottest, most-packed shows in Los Angeles in 2009, the Echoplex.

 Mew is tapped as the opening act on Nine Inch Nails' four-date L.A. residency.

Details released on NIN's final gigs at the Echoplex, Henry Fonda

The final four shows from Trent Reznor's Nine Inch Nails are set for the first week in September in Los Angeles, wrapping with a Sept. 6 date at the Echoplex in Echo Park. Tickets for the Echoplex date will be available exclusively via Nine Inch Nails' website, where fans can register for a free membership to purchase tickets.

Nine Inch Nails will also perform at the Hollywood Palladium on Sept. 2, the Henry Fonda Theater on Sept. 3 and the Wiltern on Sept. 5. Tickets will go on sale on July 17 via NIN.com, and will be available to the general public July 31.

However, tickets for the Echoplex and the Henry Fonda will only be available via the Nine Inch Nails website.

Thus far, the city of Los Angeles has collected about $17,000 to help pay for the Michael Jackson memorial held Tuesday at Staples Center. Our news blog L.A. Now has the latest, and reports that the city now places the final costs at $1.4 million.The LAPD says it spent at least $1 million, according to L.A. Now.

The city has been asking for donations to help deter the costs of policing and other public services needed for the event. The city also missed out on receiving some donations (potentially), as its website was down for 12 hours Tuesday evening.

L.A. Now has the statement from the mayor's office:

"After collecting more than $17,000 from hundreds of donors in support of the Michael Jackson Memorial Tuesday morning, the City's Information Technology Agency could not handle the high volume of traffic or adequately respond to frequent and prolonged server crashes," Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's office said in a statement.

The city's donation site  -- of which a screen shot is above -- is now up and running, for those who tried and failed to contribute. Earlier today, newly elected City Controller Wendy Greuel was unhappy with the amount spent to feed the city's first responders during the memorial. The box lunch total: $48,836.

Read the latest on Michael Jackson on L.A Now.

-- Todd Martens

The posthumous sales dominance of Michael Jackson continues at music retailers this week, and momentum may not slow for the foreseeable future. Jackson albums sold a total of 800,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan, almost doubling the 422,000 sold last week.

The increase was to be expected, as SoundScan's tabulates its numbers through Sunday, and this marked the first full week of sales since Jackson's passing on June 25. With massive interest in Tuesday's memorial at Staples Center, interest in the artist's music isn't expected to slow any time soon.

Jackson's sales were led by his hits compilation "Number Ones" (Sony), which moved a total of 339,000 copies, up from the 108,000 it sold in the previous sales week. To date, the album has sold 2.3 million copies.

Jackson's "Thriller" is a distant second to the hits package, having sold 187,000 copies this week. Often cited as the bestselling album of all time, with reports putting its total worldwide sales at anywhere between 40 million and 100 million, "Thriller" has sold 4.8 million copies since SoundScan began tracking data in 1991, an impressive figure for an album released in 1982.

Of Jackson's 800,000 albums sold, about 140,000 came from the digital sector. Last week, that number was higher, as 241,000 of Jackson's 422,000 albums sold were downloads. Billboard reports that distributors ran out of physical CDs in the wake of Jackson's death, and online purchases were no doubt fueled by the sudden surge of interest in the wake of his passing.

Jackson's top-selling digital single in North America last week was "Man in the Mirror," which moved 217,000 downloads. "Billie Jean" was behind that with 199,000 downloads. All told, Jackson sold about 2.7 million digital singles over the last week. If you include the Jackson 5 in Nielsen SoundScan's totals, Jackson has been responsible for more than 6.2 million downloads.

Jackson's titles are eligible only for Billboard's "top pop catalog" chart, as they are older than 18 months and have fallen below the top 100 on the main pop chart. But no matter, as there's little to distract from Jackson at the top of the main pop chart.

The current U.S. pop chart is topped only by the latest edition of the hits compilation series "Now! That's What I Call Music." The 31th volume in the collection opens this week with 169,000 copies sold.

But there is some action further down.

So Trent Reznor's recent comments from the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival stage that he had played his last shows on U.S soil? Strike those from the record. Here's some good news for those who missed Nine Inch Nails' supposedly last Southern California show in Irvine this May.

Reznor posted today on the band's official website that the act will perform a string of dates in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles beginning August 22. Individual dates weren't announced, but Reznor writes that NIN will grace the stages at the Wiltern, the Henry Fonda Theatre, the Palladium and, in what will surely be one of the hottest, most-packed shows in Los Angeles in 2009, the Echoplex.

 Mew is tapped as the opening act on Nine Inch Nails' four-date L.A. residency.

And how much did you donate to the city for the Michael Jackson memorial?

Thus far, the city of Los Angeles has collected about $17,000 to help pay for the Michael Jackson memorial held Tuesday at Staples Center. Our news blog L.A. Now has the latest, and reports that the city now places the final costs at $1.4 million.The LAPD says it spent at least $1 million, according to L.A. Now.

The city has been asking for donations to help deter the costs of policing and other public services needed for the event. The city also missed out on receiving some donations (potentially), as its website was down for 12 hours Tuesday evening.

L.A. Now has the statement from the mayor's office:

"After collecting more than $17,000 from hundreds of donors in support of the Michael Jackson Memorial Tuesday morning, the City's Information Technology Agency could not handle the high volume of traffic or adequately respond to frequent and prolonged server crashes," Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's office said in a statement.

The city's donation site  -- of which a screen shot is above -- is now up and running, for those who tried and failed to contribute. Earlier today, newly elected City Controller Wendy Greuel was unhappy with the amount spent to feed the city's first responders during the memorial. The box lunch total: $48,836.

Read the latest on Michael Jackson on L.A Now.

-- Todd Martens

The posthumous sales dominance of Michael Jackson continues at music retailers this week, and momentum may not slow for the foreseeable future. Jackson albums sold a total of 800,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan, almost doubling the 422,000 sold last week.

The increase was to be expected, as SoundScan's tabulates its numbers through Sunday, and this marked the first full week of sales since Jackson's passing on June 25. With massive interest in Tuesday's memorial at Staples Center, interest in the artist's music isn't expected to slow any time soon.

Jackson's sales were led by his hits compilation "Number Ones" (Sony), which moved a total of 339,000 copies, up from the 108,000 it sold in the previous sales week. To date, the album has sold 2.3 million copies.

Jackson's "Thriller" is a distant second to the hits package, having sold 187,000 copies this week. Often cited as the bestselling album of all time, with reports putting its total worldwide sales at anywhere between 40 million and 100 million, "Thriller" has sold 4.8 million copies since SoundScan began tracking data in 1991, an impressive figure for an album released in 1982.

Of Jackson's 800,000 albums sold, about 140,000 came from the digital sector. Last week, that number was higher, as 241,000 of Jackson's 422,000 albums sold were downloads. Billboard reports that distributors ran out of physical CDs in the wake of Jackson's death, and online purchases were no doubt fueled by the sudden surge of interest in the wake of his passing.

Jackson's top-selling digital single in North America last week was "Man in the Mirror," which moved 217,000 downloads. "Billie Jean" was behind that with 199,000 downloads. All told, Jackson sold about 2.7 million digital singles over the last week. If you include the Jackson 5 in Nielsen SoundScan's totals, Jackson has been responsible for more than 6.2 million downloads.

Jackson's titles are eligible only for Billboard's "top pop catalog" chart, as they are older than 18 months and have fallen below the top 100 on the main pop chart. But no matter, as there's little to distract from Jackson at the top of the main pop chart.

The current U.S. pop chart is topped only by the latest edition of the hits compilation series "Now! That's What I Call Music." The 31th volume in the collection opens this week with 169,000 copies sold.

But there is some action further down.

So Trent Reznor's recent comments from the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival stage that he had played his last shows on U.S soil? Strike those from the record. Here's some good news for those who missed Nine Inch Nails' supposedly last Southern California show in Irvine this May.

Reznor posted today on the band's official website that the act will perform a string of dates in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles beginning August 22. Individual dates weren't announced, but Reznor writes that NIN will grace the stages at the Wiltern, the Henry Fonda Theatre, the Palladium and, in what will surely be one of the hottest, most-packed shows in Los Angeles in 2009, the Echoplex.

 Mew is tapped as the opening act on Nine Inch Nails' four-date L.A. residency.

Wilco, Paisley, Jeremih debuts overshadowed by Michael Jackson

The posthumous sales dominance of Michael Jackson continues at music retailers this week, and momentum may not slow for the foreseeable future. Jackson albums sold a total of 800,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan, almost doubling the 422,000 sold last week.

The increase was to be expected, as SoundScan's tabulates its numbers through Sunday, and this marked the first full week of sales since Jackson's passing on June 25. With massive interest in Tuesday's memorial at Staples Center, interest in the artist's music isn't expected to slow any time soon.

Jackson's sales were led by his hits compilation "Number Ones" (Sony), which moved a total of 339,000 copies, up from the 108,000 it sold in the previous sales week. To date, the album has sold 2.3 million copies.

Jackson's "Thriller" is a distant second to the hits package, having sold 187,000 copies this week. Often cited as the bestselling album of all time, with reports putting its total worldwide sales at anywhere between 40 million and 100 million, "Thriller" has sold 4.8 million copies since SoundScan began tracking data in 1991, an impressive figure for an album released in 1982.

Of Jackson's 800,000 albums sold, about 140,000 came from the digital sector. Last week, that number was higher, as 241,000 of Jackson's 422,000 albums sold were downloads. Billboard reports that distributors ran out of physical CDs in the wake of Jackson's death, and online purchases were no doubt fueled by the sudden surge of interest in the wake of his passing.

Jackson's top-selling digital single in North America last week was "Man in the Mirror," which moved 217,000 downloads. "Billie Jean" was behind that with 199,000 downloads. All told, Jackson sold about 2.7 million digital singles over the last week. If you include the Jackson 5 in Nielsen SoundScan's totals, Jackson has been responsible for more than 6.2 million downloads.

Jackson's titles are eligible only for Billboard's "top pop catalog" chart, as they are older than 18 months and have fallen below the top 100 on the main pop chart. But no matter, as there's little to distract from Jackson at the top of the main pop chart.

The current U.S. pop chart is topped only by the latest edition of the hits compilation series "Now! That's What I Call Music." The 31th volume in the collection opens this week with 169,000 copies sold.

But there is some action further down.

So Trent Reznor's recent comments from the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival stage that he had played his last shows on U.S soil? Strike those from the record. Here's some good news for those who missed Nine Inch Nails' supposedly last Southern California show in Irvine this May.

Reznor posted today on the band's official website that the act will perform a string of dates in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles beginning August 22. Individual dates weren't announced, but Reznor writes that NIN will grace the stages at the Wiltern, the Henry Fonda Theatre, the Palladium and, in what will surely be one of the hottest, most-packed shows in Los Angeles in 2009, the Echoplex.

 Mew is tapped as the opening act on Nine Inch Nails' four-date L.A. residency.

Nine Inch Nails not done yet: Reznor plotting four dates in L.A.

So Trent Reznor's recent comments from the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival stage that he had played his last shows on U.S soil? Strike those from the record. Here's some good news for those who missed Nine Inch Nails' supposedly last Southern California show in Irvine this May.

Reznor posted today on the band's official website that the act will perform a string of dates in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles beginning August 22. Individual dates weren't announced, but Reznor writes that NIN will grace the stages at the Wiltern, the Henry Fonda Theatre, the Palladium and, in what will surely be one of the hottest, most-packed shows in Los Angeles in 2009, the Echoplex.

 Mew is tapped as the opening act on Nine Inch Nails' four-date L.A. residency.