Justin Bieber, Taylor Swift Nab CMT Music Awards Nods

Bieber recognized for 'That Should Be Me' featuring Rascal Flatts.
By Jocelyn Vena


Justin Bieber (file)
Photo: Michele Crowe/MTV

The nominees for the 2011 CMT Music Awards are out, and it seems that there's no awards show Justin Bieber won't be nominated for.

The Canadian superstar managed to nab a CMT nod for his collaboration with Rascal Flatts on the reworked version of "That Should Be Me." He's up against Jason Aldean with Kelly Clarkson for "Don't You Wanna Stay," Kid Rock featuring Sheryl Crow for "Collide," Aaron Lewis featuring George Jones and Charlie Daniels for "Country Boy" and Loretta Lynn, Miranda Lambert and Sheryl Crow for "Coal Miner's Daughter" in the Collaborative Video of the Year category.

Taylor Swift got three nods for her video for "Mine": She's up for Best Web Video of the Year (for her performance at her Speak Now album-release party), Female Video of the Year and Video of the Year. Carrie Underwood is up for two prizes, facing off against Swift in the Female Video of the Year and Video of the Year categories with her video for "Undo It."

Other Female Video of the Year nominees include Sara Evans ("A Little Bit Stronger"), Miranda Lambert ("The House That Built Me") and Reba McEntire ("Turn On the Radio").

A number of other crossover acts such as Sugarland, Lady Antebellum and Miranda Lambert are up for the night's big award, Video of the Year. Other nominees in the category include Jason Aldean, Kenny Chesney, Rascal Flatts, Zac Brown Band and The Band Perry.

Fans can vote for the winners on the CMT website. The show takes place June 8 in the home of country music: Nashville, Tennessee.

Tell us your predictions for the CMT Music Awards in the comments below!

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Michael Jackson Doctor's Trial Delayed

Judge pushes start of Conrad Murray's trial back to May.
By Gil Kaufman


Conrad Murray
Photo: AFP/ Getty Images

LOS ANGELES — Though Conrad Murray's lawyers had been pressing for a speedy trial, a judge in the involuntary manslaughter case against Michael Jackson's doctor ruled on Wednesday to delay opening statements in the proceedings until May.

The Associated Press reported that Murray's attorneys consented to the postponement after they discussed the matter with prosecutors and both agreed they could be ready for trial by May 9.

According to a transcript from the closed-door session, though opening statements will not begin for several months, Murray told Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor that he did not want to forfeit his right to a quick trial, but agreed to the delay if screening of prospective jurors begins as scheduled on March 24.

"It is only acceptable to me if this is not strung along over a long period of time," Murray told the justice. "I don't want to lose my constitutional right to speedy trial." Murray — who has pleaded not guilty to the charges — reportedly has been in favor of having the proceedings begin as soon as possible because he is facing financial troubles, but he said he understands that the delay is necessary to allow both sides to prepare for the trial.

Pastor consented because he said he didn't want to lose a jury pool, and believed a month-long delay might let potential jurors shuffle their schedules for the case, which could take up to two months to decide. The judge has reportedly clashed with Murray's defense team in recent weeks, pressing them for answers about why they had not turned over more witness notes and other potential evidence to prosecutors in the run-up to the trial.

Cardiologist Murray was hired to be Jackson's personal physician while the King of Pop prepared for his planned 50-date comeback series of shows at London's O2 arena in the summer of 2009. The doctor told police that he provided the then-50-year-old Jackson with sedatives and the surgical anesthetic propofol in order to combat the singer's chronic insomnia. He said he did so on the morning of June 25, 2009, when Jackson died of what a coroner deemed acute propofol poisoning.

Murray's lawyers reportedly plan to argue that Jackson was already in weak health before he died, that it's unfair to blame propofol for his passing and that, if the anesthetic was to blame, the pop superstar may have given himself the fatal dose by drinking the drug in a panic.

A status hearing in the case has been set for this Wednesday.

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Michael Jackson Doctor Conrad Murray's Trial To Be Televised

Judge rules that camera will be allowed in the courtroom for manslaughter case.
By Gil Kaufman


Conrad Murray
Photo: AFP/ Getty Images

For what promises to be one of the most bizarre and riveting legal proceedings in years, a Los Angeles judge ruled on Monday that a television camera will be allowed in the courtroom when Michael Jackson's doctor goes on trial for involuntary manslaughter.

Reuters reported that Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor, approved the presence of a camera in the trial of Dr. Conrad Murray as long as it does not interfere with the proceedings in the closely watched case.

The judge asked for the "absolute least-intrusive placement" of a TV camera in the courtroom, but blocked cameras from documenting jury selection.

Pastor also announced that he would bump up the opening date of the trail by four days to March 24, at which point jury selection will begin. Murray, who faces up to four years in prison if convicted, has pleaded not guilty to the charges, and the trial is expected to last around six weeks.

Cardiologist Murray was hired to be Jackson's personal physician in the run-up to the King of Pop's planned 50-date comeback series of shows at London's O2 arena in the summer of 2009. The doctor told police that he provided Jackson, 50, with sedatives and the surgical anesthetic propofol in order to combat the singer's chronic insomnia. He said he did so on the morning of June 25, 2009, when Jackson died of what a coroner deemed acute propofol poisoning.

TMZ reported on Tuesday (February 8) that Murray's lawyers plan to argue that Jackson was already in weak health before he died and that it's unfair to blame propofol for his passing. Unnamed sources close to the case told the gossip site that at the time of his death, Jackson's body was already failing him in part because concert promoter AEG Live had "driven [him] over the edge" with a rigorous rehearsal schedule for the shows.

Murray's lawyers reportedly plan to call witnesses to say that Jackson was not showing up for rehearsals and when he did he showed "clear signs" of frail health. They also reportedly plan to argue that it was Jackson who administered the final, fatal dose of propofol to himself while Murray was out of the room.

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Lady Gaga Says 'Judas' Video 'Celebrates Faith'

' 'Judas' is a metaphor and an analogy about forgiveness and betrayal,' Gaga says of song and video.
By Jocelyn Vena


Lady Gaga
Photo: Michael Loccisano/ Getty Images

Next week, fans will finally get to see Lady Gaga's "Judas" video, when it premieres during "American Idol." But while we wait, Gaga opened up about the video in a recent interview, giving fans a better sense of what they might see in the clip.

"Well, the video, in essence, suggests that forgiveness and betrayal are hand in hand," she told MSN Entertainment in Canada. "The video puts destiny above all things and postures that the mistakes in your life are in fact not mistakes at all, they are just part of your overarching potential and your destiny."

Though she didn't want to give away the full concept, Gaga did describe the clip's biblical and cultural references. "Well, I want to allow the video to speak for itself, but I will say that the theme of the video and the way that I wanted to aesthetically portray the story was as a motorcycle Fellini movie, where the apostles are revolutionaries in a modern-day Jerusalem. And I play Mary Magdalene, leading them into the town where we meet Jesus, and I will leave the rest for you to see," she teased further about the video, which she co-directed with Laurieann Gibson. "But it's meant more to celebrate faith than it is to challenge it."

While there has been some debate about the song's use of religious icons, Gaga said she doesn't mean for it to be a direct interpretation of Bible stories. "Well, I wouldn't necessarily say that my schooling [in Catholic school] informed the songwriting on that record in particular. 'Judas' is a metaphor and an analogy about forgiveness and betrayal and things that haunt you in your life, and how I believe that it's the darkness in your life that ultimately shines and illuminates the greater light that you have upon you," she said.

"Someone once said to me, 'If you have no shadows then you're not standing in the light.' So the song is about washing the feet of both good and evil, and understanding and forgiving the demons from your past in order to move into the greatness of your future," she continued. "I just like really aggressive metaphors — harder, thicker, darker — and my fans do as well. So it is a very challenging and aggressive metaphor, but it is a metaphor."

Gaga said that Born This Way will be more about the religion of pop culture than anything taught in Sunday school.

"Well, I'm fascinated with iconography, and I'm fascinated with the way that iconography is taught in terms of education to the world, whether it be through institutionalized religion or through symbolism or through movies or through music," she said.

"In a lot of ways it's about faith and hope, but not in the religious sense," she added. "It's about faith and hope in culture, especially in a time all over the world where many are in need of hope, in need of understanding, in need of love, in need of lack of prejudice, in need of no judgment, in need of acceptance. How can we look to culture for faith?"

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New Led Zeppelin On The Way? Jason Bonham Hints At 'Jam' Sessions With Jimmy Page -- But Not Robert Plant

Drummer admits he doesn't know what will come of 'new material.'
By Chris Harris


Jason Bonham
Photo: Larry Marano/ Getty Images

On Friday morning, mere hours before he was due to take the stage with classic rockers Foreigner at Detroit's GM Renaissance Center, drummer Jason Bonham — the son of late Led Zeppelin kitman John Bonham — told Jim Johnson and Lynne Woodison of local rock station 94.7 WCSX that he'd be an ex-member of Foreigner as of September 1. But that's not the only thing he said.

Much to the delight of Led Zeppelin fans everywhere, Bonham revealed that he's been meeting up with Led Zep guitarist Jimmy Page and bassist John Paul Jones in recent months and that they've been "trying to do some new material and writing."

It was the first time since Led Zeppelin announced they would re-form for a single performance (which happened late last year at London's O2 Arena, in honor of the late Ahmet Ertegün, who signed the band to Atlantic Records in 1969) that anyone connected to the band has confirmed publicly that new music could be on the horizon for the iconic rockers. While the bandmembers have stopped short of definitively ruling out such a reunion, singer Robert Plant insisted in the wake of last year's show that he intended to focus on promoting and touring behind his critically lauded album with bluegrass artist Alison Krauss, Raising Sand.

Not that Bonham knows what — if anything — will happen with the new material he's been working on with Page (who collaborated with pop singer Leona Lewis on an uneven version of Zep's "Whole Lotta Love" at the Olympic closing ceremonies in Beijing on Sunday night) and Jones. He said he just shows up and takes his seat behind the kit.

"I've been over [to England] a couple of times," Bonham said. "I've been working with Jimmy and John Paul and trying to do ... some new material and some writing. I don't know what it will be, but it will be something. At the moment, all I know is I have the great pleasure to go and jam with the two guys and start work on some material. When I get there, I never ask any questions. If I get a phone call to go and play, I enjoy every moment of it. Whatever it ends up as, to ever get a chance to jam with two people like that, it is a phenomenal thing for me. It's my life. It's what I've dreamed about doing."

He said it's still too early to tell what will become of these "jam" sessions, but admitted that the "possibility of doing something is in the cards. I really felt it was in the cards from the moment we walked offstage at the O2." Bonham also explained that, before there could be a Led Zep LP, "lots of politics [would need to] get ironed out," but added that recording with Zep is "something I've always wanted to do."

Bonham noticeably didn't mention frontman Plant's name during the discussion. A spokesperson for Page's management had no comment on the matter, and a spokesperson for Jones' management could not be reached by press time.

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