Black Kids: At Studio B on Tuesday and Bowery Ballroom on Sunday.
Los Campesinos: At Music Hall of Williamsburg on Thursday, the Living Room on Sunday and Bowery Ballroom on 5.19.
Tegan and Sara: At Terminal 5 on Monday.
Jesse McCartney: At Zootopia on Saturday.
Bishop Allen: At Music Hall of Williamsburg on Friday.
Black Keys: At Terminal 5 on Thursday.
Pizzicato Five: Just because.
Rihanna: Opening for Kanye West at Madison Square Garden Tuesday.
Lupe Fiasco: Opening for Kanye West at Madison Square Garden Tuesday.
Death Cab for Cutie: “Narrow Stairs” CD in stores Tuesday.

Madonna will kick off the North American leg of her Sticky and Sweet Tour at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, N.J., on Oct. 3, followed by shows at Madison Square Garden on Oct. 6 and 7.
    The tour supports her “Hard Candy” album, which debuted at No. 1 this week on sales of 280,000, featuring the hit “4 Minutes” with Justin Timberlake and Timbaland. Tickets for the North American tour go on sale on May 19 through Ticketmaster, with prices ranging from $55 to $350. Citi Cards holders will have access to tickets at a pre-sale that starts at 10 a.m. Tuesday.
    Madonna’s tour, directed by Jamie King, will start in the stadiums of Europe in August and run through November, ending at Dolphins Stadium in Miami.

PHOTO: Madonna by Steven Klein for Warner Bros.
 

“After performing with Beyonce at The Grammy Awards, the response was overwhelming,” said Turner. “Everywhere I went people were asking me when I was going back on tour. So after a lot of thought and planning, I can answer the only way I know how: See you in Kansas City where we'll kick the tour off ”

Tickets go on sale through Ticketmaster on May 19.

PHOTO: TinaTurnerLive.com 

It seemed "American Idol" had stopped being fun for him and, let's face it, he wasn't going to win. He didn't really apply himself for a few weeks, no longer trying to come up with ways to showcase his talent as he did with "Hallelujah" or "Over the Rainbow."

So America gave him his wish.  They voted for someone else -- apparently Syesha Mercado, since Ryan Seacrest said that only a million votes separated the Top 3.

There's a growing anti-Davids movement, but an Archuleta vs. Cook showdown seems inevitable, no matter what happens next week.

Will Castro have a great post-Idol career? Hard to say. The Jack Johnson model may look laid back, but it really does involve a lot of work. At this point, it's not clear that Castro wants to put in all that work.

Madonna lands her seventh No. 1 album this week, as "Hard Candy" (Warner Bros.) debuts with sales of 280,000 copies. Among all female performers, only Barbra Streisand has more chart-topping albums now, with eight.

"Hard Candy" pushes Mariah Carey's "E=MC2" down to No. 2, with sales of 95,000, and Leona Lewis' "Spirit" to No. 3, with sales of 84,000, making it all about girl power this week.

Lyfe Jennings' "Lyfe Change" debuts at No. 4 and Def Leppard's "Songs from the Sparkle Lounge" debuts at No. 5.

PHOTO: Madonna by Steven Klein for Warner Bros. 

The pics on the left are from Mariah Carey's new video "Bye Bye," shot in March and reportedly the first time she met Nick Cannon. The pic on the right is from this week's People magazine, in stores on Friday, where she confirms to the magazine that the couple got married at her Bahamian home on April 30. Wow.

Now I'm the first to admit that I thought this was some weird, elaborate practical joke/publicity stunt to drum up interest in "Bye Bye," which, frankly, didn't need it. It just seemed out of character for the driven, methodical Mariah to do something so impulsive -- and in the middle of her album rollout, no less. And yet she did it. "I never felt a love like this was in the cards for me," she tells People.

Mimi must really be emancipated now. Good for her.

Check out the "Bye Bye" video, which could pretty much double for their wedding video anyway, below. 

Taking Back Sunday introduced its new guitarist/singer Matt Fazzi, formerly of the band Facing New York, to its hometown crowd at a “secret” show last night at the Crazy Donkey in Farmingdale.
    “We told him if you guys didn’t like him he was out of the band,” joked singer Adam Lazzara onstage, as Fazzi received a huge ovation from the capacity crowd that even included the band Metro Station, featuring Trace Cyrus, Miley’s brother, who plays the club tonight.
    Fazzi replaces guitarist/singer Fred Mascherino, who left the band late last year to head his own band The Color Fred. “It’s a trip because it automatically puts me in a place where I’ve been trying to go by myself for a long time – playing music for a living, as my livelihood,” Fazzi said after making his public debut. “I’m just trying to soak it all up and have a good time.”
     The Rockville Centre-based band picked Fazzi in February, after a series of auditions with several indie rockers. “When [TBS guitarist Ed Reyes] texted me, I hadn’t even realized that Fred had left the band,” Fazzi said. “I went and we just vibed really well and played a lot of songs.”
    Reyes said when Mascherino left, Fazzi was the first person he thought of to bring in. “He was in this amazing band called Facing New York, which was one of my favorite bands that nobody knew about,” Reyes said. “He’s such a talented guy and he became one of my best friends over the years... We’ve always talked about starting another band and jamming together.I called him up and said, ‘Fazz, you wanna try?’ and he said, ‘Give me a week.’”
    Fazzi, who turns 23 on Saturday, will certainly get a trial by fire. His first official show in the band is Friday night’s show at Madison Square Garden, with high-profile festivals following later this summer. Immediately after joining the band, they began work on the follow-up to the album “Louder Now,” which hit No. 2 in 2006.
    “He’s got his own spice,” Reyes said. “Kid’s got a groove like you wouldn’t believe and everyone will hear when the new record comes out. He’s a big part of it.”
    So how are they going to deal with having two Matts in the band? Well, bassist Matt Rubano said last names are going to become very important. "His last name is cool," Rubano said. "So he's been going by Fazz and I'm answering to 'Bano. But whenever someone says Matt, there's going to be a bunch of guys going, 'Huh?'"

SETLIST: You Know How I Do / Error Operator / Liar / Set Phasers To Stun / One-Eighty by Summer / (untitled new song) / Cute Without the ‘E’ / Miami / Spin / Up Against / Bonus Mosh Part Two / (untitled new song) / A Decade Under the Influence / What It Feels Like To Be A Ghost / MakeDamnSure 

PHOTO: Matt Fazzi by Wayne Herrschaft for Newsday.

PHOTO: The Police by Duane Michaels for thepolice.com

Trent Reznor is taking free Internet distribution very seriously. This morning the Nine Inch Nails mastermind is giving away the band's new CD "The Slip" away on his website, saying "Thank you for your continued and loyal support over the years - this one's on me."

He's hoping fans will pick up the next round -- especially as tickets for the band's new arena tour start to go on sale. And judging by the reaction to the limited editions of his "Ghosts" CDs, he's probably right. 

PHOTO: Trent Reznor by Rob Sheridan 

So what should the Final Four sing tomorrow night?

Billy Joel, "Just the Way You Are" (what David Cook should be singing)

Jason Castro: Dude needs to apply himself a little while still maintaining his dudeness, so he’ll probably go reggae, mon, with The Wailers’ “Get Up, Stand Up” or Toots & The Maytals’ “Pressure Drop.” But he’d be better off with Jimmy Cliff’s “Many Rivers to Cross” and something earnest and vulnerable that he can bat his eyes to like The Beach Boys’ “God Only Knows.” He’s on the bubble this week, after last week’s dismal showing, but if he turns on the charm, Syesha will have a tough time.

David Cook: Oh, the temptation for Other David to do Pearl Jam’s “Jeremy” may prove too much, though he should also stay away from Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” Maybe he should take U2's “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” instead and then rework another classic like Billy Joel’s “Just the Way You Are” or James Taylor’s “Fire and Rain” and slow it down and make it snarly in the same Cookian style that has practically guaranteed him a spot in the finals.

Syesha Mercado: Please don’t go for Aretha’s “Chain of Fools” or “Respect,” dear. It only proves the point of you biting off more than you can chew. Instead, she should take a lesser-known big soul song like Sam Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come” and pair it with something bluesy and musical-theaterish like Ruth Brown’s “Mama He Treats Your Daughter Mean.” She has the edge on Jason by being the only woman left and the fact that she’s peaking at just the right time, but she still needs to work it to survive the week.

Hayes Carll paused a moment for a confession.

"I don't have a lot of love songs," he told the Bowery Ballroom crowd. "I have a lot of sex songs."

He also has a lot of songs about drinking, playing in bars and love gone wrong. Do you really need any more reasons to run out and buy his fine "Trouble in Mind" album?

Well, Carll delivered many more, with his winding Dylanesque rockers like "A Lover Like You" and his engaging stories about playing in Crystal Beach, Texas, roadhouses where he was part of the daily specials ("All the fried chicken you can eat and Hayes Carll - $4.99").

All that experience has made him quick on his feet, too. When he started his gorgeous ballad "Willing to Love Again" with the line "I drink too much" and received an inappropriate "Woooo!" as a response for the somber confession, he smiled and started over, saying, "You're fun."

Well, he would know. 

SETLIST: Faulkner Street / Beaumont / I Don't Wanna Grow Up / A Lover Like You / Drunken Poet's Dream / Willing To Love Again / I Got a Gig / Wish I Hadn't Stayed So Long / Down the Road Tonight / Bad Liver and a Broken Heart 

PHOTO: Hayes Carll by Keith Carter for Lost Highway