Keith Urban is set to bring his special brand of Aussie-fied country cool to Canada for an extended tour that will take the star from Ottawa to all the way out west.

Urban will arrive in Canada next summer for his Get Closer 2011 World Tour according to a press release distributed by his record label EMI. The North American tour will comprise of 60 stops in all, with nine of those in Canada.

The country star, who makes his home in Nashville with his Hollywood wife, fellow Aussie Nicole Kidman, will hit the road to promote his new album, Get Closer. The first single off the disc, Put You In A Song, is currently rocketing up the charts.

The Canadian leg of the tour kicks off September 9th, 2011 in Ottawa. New country sensations The Band Perry – known for the hit record If I Die Young – will accompany Urban on the tour.

‘GET CLOSER 2011 WORLD TOUR’ CANADIAN LEG
DATE            CITY                        VENUE                           ONSALE
Sept. 9         Ottawa, ON              Scotiabank Place                March 4
Sept. 10       Toronto, ON             Air Canada Centre              March 4
Sept. 12       London, ON             John Labatt Centre              March 4
Sept. 15       Winnipeg, MN          MTS Centre                         March 4
Sept. 16       Regina, SK              Brandt Centre                      March 4
Sept. 17       Saskatoon, SK         Credit Union Centre            March 4
Sept. 21       Edmonton, AB          Rexall Place                       March 4
Sept. 23       Calgary, AB             Scotiabank Saddledome     March 4
Sept. 26       Vancouver, BC        Rogers Arena                      March 4

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When Dave Grohl made the decision that the next Foo Fighters album would be done “old school” few fans could have guessed the extent to which he would take the big idea.

Grohl made the call to record the album not in his studio, but in his garage; and instead of high-falutin’ modern digital machines the tracks were all recorded in good old fashioned analog.

But it’s the folks Grohl brought into the studio to work with him that demonstrate his desire to get back to how he did things in the early days. The former Nirvana drummer brought Nevermind producer Butch Vig in to record the sounds and called-in Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic to play on a track.

The recording sessions in Grohl’s garage have been filmed for a documentary about the recording of the album, to be released as a companion piece to the still-untitled disc.

“In my hotel room in Perth, Australia, on a Them Crooked Vultures tour, it all came to me,” he tells England’s Q magazine. “I was sitting writing a new song and I thought, ‘OK, we should make a documentary about the recording of this new album and make it a history of the band too.

“Rather than just record the album in the most expensive studio with the most state-of-the-art equipment, what if Butch and I were to get back together after 20 years and dust off the tape machines and put them in my garage?’ I literally backed the minivan out of the garage, pulled the lawnmower out, put a drum set in it and set up mics. We soundproofed the garage door so that my neighbors wouldn’t call the f*****g cops.”

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Sir Elton John will perform a concert on Wednesday, January 19 at a private home in Beverly Hills to raise funds for the American Foundation for Equal Rights (AFER).

AFER is a non profit organization “dedicated to protecting and advancing equal rights for every American,” according to its website, and is the sole sponsor of the federal court challenge of California’s Proposition 8, known as Perry v. Schwarzenegger. Proposition 8 was 2008 ballot initiative that amended the California Constitution to state that “only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California,” prohibiting the recognition of same-sex marriages performed on or after November 5, 2008.

AFER will argue its case before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on December 6.

“We are deeply honored to have the support of Sir Elton John,” Chad Griffin, Board President of the American Foundation for Equal Rights, said in a statement. “The American Foundation for Equal Rights stands for the enduring principle that all Americans are created equal, and believes that ending state-sanctioned discrimination is a critical step we must take toward ending the hate crimes and suicides that continue to claim the lives of young Americans.”

The event will be held at the “Green Acres” estate of Ron Burkle.

The statement says Sir Elton John’s performance follows a New York art auction that raised $600,000 for the Foundation that drew support from Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Barbara Bush (daughter of President George W. Bush), and Google Chairman Eric Schmidt. The auction included works by Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and Diane Arbus.

Elton John entered into a civil partnership with his Canadian partner David Furnish in 2005 in London, England.

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Rihanna is sick of talking about the time she was assaulted, back in 2009, by her then-boyfriend Chris Brown. While she understands that it’s important to address issues of domestic violence, she is also concerned about appearing “bitter” and “spiteful.” And she says it’s others who just won’t drop it and are always pressing her to talk about it.

In a series of tweets posted this week and found via MTV, the singer addressed the issue with a fan when the fan asked the Umbrella singer to stop talking about the infamous incident in interviews, asking “How r people gonna move on?”

“AGREED!” Rihanna replied. “People won’t stop asking about it! It’s f**kin’ annoying! Nobody wants to relive that, but some ppl can’t respect that!

“I get it,” she continued. “They wanna raise awareness to young girls! But it ends up just making me look bitter, pitiful, spiteful and angry!”

Chris Brown also expressed some frustration with the issue when, on Sunday, he sent a message to his and Rihanna’s fans, presumably because they too won’t lay off the subject.

“Y’all starting to sound extremely childish! #teambreezy and #rihannanavy, it’s pointless,” Brown wrote. “Love team breezy & thank you rihannanavy for supporting ya girl.”

Meanwhile, Brown is clearly busy in the recording studio, as he announced in a follow up tweet: “in studio with Dallas Austin making musical history!!!!”

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Actor and 30 Seconds to Mars rocker Jared Leto is annoyed that his band’s most recent video, Hurricane, has been banned from several U.S. TV networks due to its sexual content.

Leto took to his blog to post a sample letter, which he says is one “out of several,” he received from network people, explaining their decision. The letter offers a timed-coded breakdown and shot by shot explanation:

“04:25 – girl in leather bunny outfit on knees briefly kisses a man
04:40 – man pulls a key on a ribbon chain from his mouth”

These are not the most problematic moments and the letter says that one shot will have to be removed entirely to qualify for even a post 10 pm airing.

Leto, the band’s frontman, spoke to EW’s Music Mix about the ban. “We always knew there would be some images that would have a tough time getting through,” he told them. “But we didn’t expect this kind of pushback that we’re getting now.”

He also said that the Hurricane clip they submitted for TV had already been edited. “I had always planned on having an explicit version and then a version that was not so explicit,” Leto said. “The version that we were trying to get on broadcast is not the explicit version, and that’s still having a really difficult time.”

He added that he’s “not interested in provocation for provocation’s sake” and went on to point out the apparent incongruity between the acceptance of extreme violence and the eschewing of sexuality that has befuddled pundits, probably since media was invented. “I just think it’s interesting that when you turn on the news or whatever else catches your interest, how much violence and negativity is available out there. As soon as it comes time for sexuality, it’s a big shock that people are sexual beings. It’s an interesting double standard to me.”

The video will, of course, be available online.

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