I was online earlier today chatting with the members of the band Theory Of A Deadman. (Shameless plug. New TOAD cd is Scars and Souvenirs. If you like rock music, buy it. It’s terrific and has quickly become one of my favorites.) I wrote to Tyler, the singer, that I was a bit bummed they weren’t headlining the local show later this month. Why am I bummed you ask? Their new album is so good I’d love to see a whole set that would allow me to hear the album played live. Anyway. Tyler told me they are headlining most of the shows on their tour right now but that one is a “one off” and that’s why they aren’t in that case. After finishing the chat, I was talking to hubby about concerts and it got me to thinking. When a band is really big sometimes a concert will be offered on pay per view. Why wait until a band is big? Why not do it when a band is still on the new side?

Why don’t the record companies invest the money to expand pay per view type concert offerings? This would bring in more money for the bands and the labels, and offer fans more opportunities to see bands they want to see. No, I’m not saying send cameramen to every show that every band does in every location they play. Here’s what I’m thinking. A record labels could get a cable or satellite tv station. Then they’d need to outfit a couple of popular clubs in each state with cameras that can catch the show as if the person watching was in the front row. The show could then be made available for viewing to pay per view audiences.

Here’s an example. Label X gets themselves a station and place cameras in venues nationwide. New Jersey could have cameras at the Starland and the Stone Pony. Now whenever any band signed to that label plays those clubs, the label could make the shows available for pay per view viewing. So, band Y plays a club that sells out with 300 tickets at $20 per ticket. Typically, that’s it, you can’t see that show. If this idea was ever put into use it would expand the audience by countless numbers. Now people all over the country could pay $5 or $10 to see that soldout show. This idea would allow people that are totally nuts about a band to watch all of the shows from that bands tour. If anything like this were in place you can bet I’d be buying almost every show that was available from Hinder, as would all of my other fellow Hinder maniacs. I know the idea sounds costly to set up, and it might be. It would pay for itself within a period of time. But I do believe it could be made to work and make money as well. What do you think?

Has anyone seen the new GoPhone commercial? It features Meatloaf singing his big hit Paradise By The Dashboard Light with changes to the lyrics just for GoPhone. I loved the song Paradise By The Dashboard Light, and it’s almost a guarantee that I will be singing along anytime I hear it on the radio or my iPod. Especially the Phil Rizzuto part. The woman in the commercial is Tiffany, who was a pop star back in the 80s. I’m not sure who the teenage boy is, but he has quite a resemblance to Meatloaf. Has anyone else seen this commercial? Were they as surprised as I was to see Meatloaf singing new words to his old hit?

Mariah Carey’s been around for a long time. One of my brothers has had a thing for her for as long as I can remember, and I’m talking years. I had the tv on the other day but wasn’t paying particular attention, and I looked up and Mariah was on my tv. She was in a Macy’s commercial, as were Carlos Santana, Donald Trump and Martha Stewart. I wondered what she was doing for Macy’s so I went online to see what I could learn.

The first thing I found out is that Mariah has her own perfume M, and that is why she was in the Macy’s commercial. The other thing I found out is that Mariah has a new album coming out called E=MC2. I found myself on the Walmart Soundcheck page where there is an almost ten minute interview with Mariah about the album and how she got to where she is today.

In the Soundcheck interview Mariah mentions she started singing when she was about four years old. She cites classical r&b artists as her biggest influences. I didn’t know that she began her career when she was in middle school, in seventh grade, as a backup singer. She discusses learning to enjoy performing and bettering herself while learning to produce. Mariah calls this album extremely diverse when it comes to the styles of songs on it, and said she had a lot of fun making it. The diversity is evident to anyone that listens to the five song samples included with the interview. Fans will definitely be interested in the part of the interview where she discusses each of the songs on the new album.

Mariah’s new album E=MC2 is on sale now.

I’m always fascinated by the different homes and living spaces on television. When I’m watching a show I always find myself wondering if the set has been recycled from another show, or if an exterior was used in anything else. One of my favorite interior sets was from a television show I watched for all ten years from beginning to end, 7th heaven. I would love a house laid out like that. What a lot of people might not know is that the exterior shot shown in the pilot is of a real house in California that was used in a number of movies including Risky Business, the Babysitters Club and How Stella Got Her Groove Back. One of the giveaways that it was the same house were the columns on the front of the house (although I do now know if they were fiberglass columns or not). What’s your favorite tv show home interior set?

Seriously. Now I enjoyed ZZ Top’s music back in the day, and still do. But as I look at them on my big tv performing live at the California Speedway for the Nascar race they look like they need to call it a day. The drummer is the only one that doesn’t look absolutely ancient. Back in the day their beards made them look funky and unique. Now their beards jut look gray and aged. They opened with Gimme All Your Lovin. The singer’s voice is, well, old and weak. They’re not hitting their own notes and sound out of tune vocally. The guitar work isn’t awful but it sounds much slower than it used to. Now they’ve moved on to I’m Bad, I’m Nationwide and it’s just bad.

One of my favorite places to shop online in Buy.com. I bet you’re wondering why I’m telling you this on an entertainment themed blog. I’ll tell you why. They have great prices on everything they sell, and they sell just about everything. If you want to check out how their pricing stacks up against the other guys, just use their price comparison search engine. They’ve even been known to offer free shipping from time to time. I’ve bought lots of things from them including a rug that’s in my dining room, some cables, a memory card and some books. Want another reason why Buy.com rocks? They rock because they also carry the latest music cds. I got the new Foo Fighters cd from them before Christmas last year for free. Yes I said free and I meant it. Want to know how? Here’s how. The cd was quite reasonably priced at pennies under $10.00. Buy.com offers buyers the chance to use Google checkout, and when I bought my cd I’d never used the Google checkout before so I got $10 off my order, making the cd free. How terrific is that! Last but far from least in the list of reasons why Buy.com rocks are the videos. Buy.com offers video reviews and interviews. The interview with Nikki Sixx for The Heroin Diaries is phenomenal, it’s a must see! If you’ve never shopped Buy.com before you need to check them out. And in case you’re worried you won’t recognize them, look for Howie Mandel out in front. He cracks me up.

So my son’s got Rock Band connected to the big tv and is playing the guitar. He loves to watch Guitar Hero and Rock Band videos on You Tube, so I thought he’d like it if I got a good one of him to put up. He was playing a Nine Inch Nails song and was doing a great job. I was on his right and hubby was on his left on our giant sectional couch, which could probably pass as a form of home theater seating. We were both videoing him, I the tv screen and hubby our son. Part way through the video my hubby decided to announce his batteries died. I ignored him and continued to video. A minute later another announcement came that his batteries had died. My son finished shortly after, with an expert rating of 99%. I told him I’d gotten the whole thing on video and that I had stayed still the whole time to keep it steady. Then I told him Yappy had ruined it. I’m going to try it again.

Britney had a busy week, didn’t she. On Thursday she was taken out of her home on a stretcher after a 5150 was called in to the police. She’d locked herself in the house in a four hour standoff when someone came to pick the kids up from visitation to go back to Kfed. One of the kids was heard screaming over the phone. She was taken to Cedars Sinai, which she checked herself out of on Saturday. She lost visitation rights on Saturday as well.

Nicole Ritchie and Christina Aguilera both gave birth on Friday. Ritchie gave birth to a girl and Aguilera gave birth to a boy.

Nicole Kidman and hubby Keith Urban are expecting.

With Sweeny Todd coming out we’re of course seeing more interviews with Johnny Depp and Tim Burton. When I saw the first one I couldn’t believe that Tim Burton still hasn’t combed his hair. Sweeny Todd opens in movies on 12/21/07.

David Beckham is the new ad persona for Armani underwear. He looks very hot in the pics I saw.

Jessica Alba has confirmed she’s pregnant. The baby is due in late spring or early summer.

Brad Pitt’s gotten himself a job. No, it isn’t because acting doen’t pay. It’s to help his Make It Right cause to rebuild New Orleans, which is where proceeds of the sales of hats and tshirts are going.

Scott Baio finally got married!

Britney was caught on videotape stealing a disposable lighter. The gas station owner of the store she stole it from isn’t filing a police report, and a member of the paparazzi went back in and paid for it. How crazy is that! Let’s enable her some more.

In more Britney news, had a court date regarding the custody of her children but didn’t show up, reportedly due to anxiety over the amount of press outside her home. Riiight.

Within hours after winning Dancing with the Stars, news got out that Helio Castroneves’ engagement was called off. People who saw footage of the onscreen kiss between Helio and dance partner Julianne Hough wondered if that had anything to do with the breakup.

DVD’s releasing this week include SpiceWorld Special Edition, Waitress, I Know Who Killed Me and Mr Bean’s Holiday.

Top Three Movies
#1 Enchanted, $17 million
#2 This Christmas, $8.4 million
#3 Beowulf, $7.9 million

Britney says she is not pregnant again with JR Rodem’s baby.

I did not know that Drew Barrymore was dating the Mac commercial guy Justin Long.