• Ray Stevens Defends 'Ahab the Arab' Song Many Call Racist

    Ray Stevens is a dyed-in-the-wool conservative, but he has long maintained his 1962 country hit "Ahab the Arab" is not a political statement. In fact, he has defended the song several times over the years, and he has recently been forced to do so again. The 75-year-old was asked by Nashville Gab if he still gets criticism."Yeah, only from screaming liberal idiots," he replied, via The Boot. "You know, some guy on MSNBC called me a racist; I doubt if he'd ever heard the song."Stevens explained how the song, about a young Arabian man with a camel named Clyde who secretly courts one of the sultan's women, came to be."When I was a kid, my mom gave me a book called 'Arabian Nights,' and I wrote the song just from information I learned outta that book," he said. "You know, the book talked about Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves and 'Open sesame' and, you know, all the fun stuff that is in that book. And so I thought, I'll write a [song] about this guy, and he's messing around with one of the sultan's girls in the harem. There's nothing racist about it."Here is a sampling of the lyrics:"And he'd say "[alleged Arabic content] "Which is Arabic for, 'Stop, Clyde! "Clyde would say "[alleged Arabic content] "Which is camel for, 'What the heck did he say anyway?'"Stevens sat down with Fox News's Bill O'Reilly in 2010 to discuss the tune. Here was part of the transcript, according to ThinkProgress:

  • Foo Fighters Invite Alice Cooper, Slash, Jack Black and More Onstage for 32-Song LA Forum Set

    The Foo Fighters wanted to celebrate Dave Grohl's 46th birthday in style, and they certainly accomplished that Saturday night, Jan. 10, at the Los Angeles Forum. The boys invited Slash, David Lee Roth, Jack Black, Perry Farrell, Paul Stanley and more onto the stage during an action-packed setlist, with Alice Cooper making an appearance for covers of "School's Out" and "I'm Eighteen."Check out the latter appearance below:

  • Spoon 'Austin City Limits' Gig Now Available for Streaming [WATCH]

    Spoon had never taken a four-year break between albums before the gap between 2010's "Transference" and 2014's "They Want My Soul." Singer Britt Daniel and Co. recently taped an "Austin City Limits" gig that proved the group is back in the groove, but Daniel also explained why Spoon was gone for so long."When we finished that last tour in November of 2011 — it was at some festival in Germany — we kind of just said, 'Well, that's the last show for awhile, and who knows what's going to happen,'" Daniel told "Entertainment Weekly." "And we were all a little ground down at that point. It had just been too long that we were touring that record. So we went our separate ways without really saying anything."After a few months of "getting a girlfriend" and lying low, Daniel decided to found the Divine Fits with Dan Boeckner. That project kept him going until Spoon were ready to record again last winter.Now, they have — another — critically acclaimed album and appear to be back in the flow of things."I really feel like you can hear that variety on the record, and I feel like it ended up being a good thing," Daniel said. "The second batch [of] songs are a bit wilder. I think they're kind of wilder songs, to begin with, but the recordings of them are a little more out there, and I think that the record needed that."You can check out their recent ACL performance below:

  • Lenny Kravitz Joins Katy Perry Super Bowl Halftime Performance as 'Special Guest'

    Last year, Bruno Mars got the Red Hot Chili Peppers to join his Super Bowl halftime performance. There was really no need for the addition, from an aesthetic point of view, because Mars killed it on his own — but the NFL and Fox decided they needed to appeal to an older audience. This year, Katy Perry was expected to have enough firepower to perform her own gig, but the "Teenage Dream" singer just announced she is adding Lenny Kravitz to the show."My first special guest is going to be an incredible rock & roll icon, a guitar god," Perry told NBC's Willie Geist in an interview set to air Monday, Jan. 12, on "The Today Show," via "Rolling Stone."E! reports the 30-year-old singer was pumped about the addition of Kravitz, an international sensation with two U.S. mainstream rock No. 1 hits — "Are You Gonna Go My Way" and "Fly Away" — under his belt.

  • Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt Had a Civil Service in the States Long Before Their French Wedding

    Is it really surprising to learn that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie were actually legally married long before they formally swapped vows last August in France? The actress recently decided to come clean and admit that she and Pitt called a justice of the peace and signed on the dotted lines to make their 10-year union a legally binding situation before they even considered planning a French celebration.According to a source at "Us Weekly," as far back as last March Jolie was telling one of its reporters that she was already married and now it sounds like she may have been telling the truth even then. None of this is really surprising because, according to French law, in order to marry legally in that country you need to be a permanent, full-time resident of whatever part of the country you are choosing to marry in. While Jolie and Pitt have fabulous property in France, their main home is in the U.S., so they needed to be legally married here first in order to even have a French wedding.What is interesting is how for years Jolie really downplayed the importance of another marriage and, when it came time to go ahead and marry Pitt, she made it sound like she was doing it for the kids. But if they really were married for months before their August ceremony, then maybe it really was more important to Jolie and Pitt than they originally let on. It is interesting because this is one of those A-list couples that proves that if a celebrity really wants to keep things private, they can. There are always ways to get around the paparazzi in order to have normal life events — even for people like Jolie and Pitt!

  • Kim Kardashian Claims That She 'Bought' Her Sister Kourtney a Career

    Kim and Kourtney Kardashian do not always get along. Anyone who has tuned in to an episode of "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" has likely seen them clash, mainly because, at root, the sisters are two different people. Kim is all about fame and looking the part while Kourtney is more an earth mother who she tends to back away from fame in favor of her kids. The trailer for the new season of the reality show dropped, and in it Kim is being more disrespectful than ever to her big sister.During one exchange caught on camera, Kim claims she is not buying Kourtney shoes because "I bought her a f--king career!"Leave it to Kim to think her sister's success is because of her help, right? If you think back to when we first started to pay attention to this family seven to eight years ago, it was Kourtney who was entrenched in running their Dash stores. While Kim has just wanted to look good, Kourtney has always actually worked in order to succeed, so for her to try and say she bought her sister's career is ridiculous.There is probably a lot more going on between these two than they actually allow the cameras to see. We recently learned that Kim was struggling to get pregnant with baby No. 2 and she was resenting the fact that her sister just had a third child with her loser baby daddy Scott Disick.Plus, Kourtney does not respect her sister's parenting style. She has insinuated about how ridiculous it is to take a 9-month-old baby to fashion week shows and use North West like an accessory to her outfits whenever she parades her around.

  • Tyler, The Creator Cries on Eric Andre Show [WATCH]

    Tyler, The Creator is not known for keeping his thoughts and emotions to himself. His appearance on the Eric Andre Show reveals a very real side of the rapper — a side that shamelessly is able to cry real human tears during an interview.

  • Kid Ink & Chris Brown Release 'Hotel' From 'Full Speed'

    Kid Ink is preparing for the release of his new album "Full Speed" and is pulling out all of the stops to get eyes and ears on his new material. He calls upon R&B star Chris Brown to provide a catchy hook over the Featherstones produced beat, while Ink toes the line between sensual R&B and hip hop with his verses.

  • Katy Perry and John Mayer Back Together? Couple Spotted at Hollywood Restaurant on a Date

    Nothing is official, as per usual, but it looks like Katy Perry and John Mayer are back together. The couple went to dinner at the Tower Bar in Hollywood Thursday (Jan. 8) and a source told the New York Post's Page Six that the superstars looked like they were on a date. Rumors of the rekindled romance surfaced at the beginning of the month after Mayer and Perry were spotted for the first time since their split in February 2014.

  • Kanye West Stops by Def Jam to Reportedly Play New Album [PHOTO]

    Kanye West began his 2015 making fans cry with the heartfelt collaboration with Paul McCartney that featured lyrics written in the perspective of West's deceased mother speaking to his daughter, North West. Starting the year off on that note, fans are hopeful for more new music from West, who has been relatively secretive and vague about new forthcoming projects. It was reported that West stopped by Def Jam headquarters last night in New York City to play some new music off of the album.

  • Madeon Switches Things Up With Special After-Hours Mix For Pete Tong [LISTEN]

    French producer DJ Madeon is not the most prolific artist, but when he does put something out to the world he makes it count. Whether it is a DJ mix, which there are few and far between from the 20-year-old, or singles, Hugo Leclercq puts his 100 percent into it. He was tabbed by BBC Radio One radio DJ, Pete Tong to do an hour-long mix as part of his "past, present, and future" special. It is not the Madeon we would expect from Madeon with his festival sets or productions, but much more subdued and groove driven — perfect for the after-hours billing that it was given by Pete Tong.
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