I watched the Super Bowl halftime show mostly to see what Madonna was going to do to shock her way back into the public consciousness via the biggest game of the year. The answer: Not much to shock, other than still look so frigging awesome in her 50s. The thing that I noticed the most was that when Madge was on stage, even in her obvious nervousness, that I couldn’t take my eyes off of her, no matter which of her special co-stars – from Nicki Minaj to M.I.A. to even high priest of funky crazy Cee Lo Green – showed up.

So it wasn’t until after the Super Bowl was over and I was fighting with my DVR over what it did with my recording of ”The Voice” (curses!)  that I found out that rapper M.I.A. had flipped the bird, presumably to corporate America, traditional ideals, traditional American, corporate ideals and your sweet grandmother. And while NBC and the NFL point fingers trying to blame the foul-up on each other, I say that she who bore the finger bears the blame.

And to her I say: Oh, stop. Really. You’re embarrassing yourself.

I know that it helps one’s cred to be the person that tells the Man what they can do with their corporate acceptance and what not, and that appearing on one of the most American of Americana events hasn’t changed you. I mean, Clint Eastwood did a commercial during it about the American spirit. That’s some traditional stuff right there. And I can see that if you were an artist who built their reputation on being raw, rude and outspoken, then you might want to stand up in front of the largest audience you’re probably ever gonna have and say “I bow to no one, suckers! I am my own voice, and I will use your big corporate American dealie-do to spread that to the masses!”
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Technically, this telephone press conference with Simon Cowell is a preview of the ninth season of “American Idol,” whose first live performances Tuesday start the season in earnest. But instead of focusing on beginnings, the acerbic Brit finds himself fielding questions about endings – specifically the end of Cowell’s tenure as the show’s go-to, no-nonsense judge of record.

“I want to go out on a high,” Cowell says. “This is my last season, and I want to be successful. We will do everything we can to make it happen.”

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MCHINJI, Malawi (AP) — Madonna and her four children have visited the orphanage that kept one of her sons before his 2008 adoption from the impoverished southern African country.

Home of Hope Child Care Center director Lucy Chipeta says she showed Madonna and her son David his crib during their Tuesday visit to the orphanage near the Zambian border. Siblings Lourdes, Rocco and Mercy – who was adopted from Malawi earlier this year – joined their mother on the tour of the orphanage, where Madonna’s Raising Malawi charity has built several new buildings. Read the full story

Mary J. Blige, Chris Brown and Natalie Cole will be among the top artists performing at a Sept. 26 Michael Jackson tribute concert in Vienna, organizers said Tuesday.

But they left open the possibility that major stars such as Madonna might still be part of the show that will take place outside a 17th-century palace in the Austrian capital.

“Just hold your horses!” Jackson’s brother Jermaine told reporters at a packed news conference in Vienna’s city hall.

Event promoter Georg Kindel said that up to 25 performers are expected to participate in concert that is being billed as the main global tribute for the King of Pop, who died June 25 in Los Angeles. More names will be unveiled later this week in London and Berlin, Kindel said.
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BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — At first, fans politely applauded the Roma performers sharing a stage with Madonna. Then the pop star condemned widespread discrimination against Roma, or Gypsies – and the cheers gave way to jeers.

The sharp mood change that swept the crowd of 60,000, who had packed a park for Wednesday night’s concert, underscores how prejudice against Gypsies remains deeply entrenched across Eastern Europe.

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MARSEILLE, France (AP) — The roof of a stage being built for a Madonna concert in the French port city of Marseille collapsed Thursday, leaving one worker dead and six injured, city officials said.

The roof at the Stade Velodrome stadium fell apart on top of several workers.

One worker was killed and two were injured in very serious condition, said Maurice Di Nocera, Marseille city councilor in charge of major events, said on France-Info radio.

The four other injured fractured bones, he said. All of the injured were taken to local hospitals.

He said the roof had been about two-thirds complete and that it collapsed gradually on top of several workers.

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Madonna can get “Mercy,” Malawi’s highest court ruled Friday. The court overruled a lower court, saying the pop star can adopt 3-year-old Chifundo “Mercy” James.

“I am ecstatic,” Madonna said in a statement in which she also thanked the court. “My family and I look forward to sharing our lives with her.”

Madonna’s lawyer Alan Chinula said he would now arrange a passport for Chifundo, which could take several days, and was awaiting word from Madonna on travel plans for the girl.

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Summer is finally upon us, and while our favorite celebrities are sipping glamorous warm weather cocktails at the swankiest resorts, cafes, and rooftop bars, we regular people are still dragging that bucket of beer next to the kiddie pool in the backyard.

This year, put down the six-pack and sip in style with cocktails inspired by the A-list’s favorites; compiled by the experts at Three Olives Vodka, whose 16 flavor infusions make it easy to mix up the perfect summer sippers.

Pomegranate Martini (Madonna):

1 1/2 oz. Three-O Pomegranate Vodka
1 oz. Pom Wonderful pomegranate juice
1 1/2 oz. fresh blackberry puree
1 oz. cranberry juice

Shake well with ice and strain into a chilled martini glass.

Cherry Bomb (Paris Hilton):

1 1/2 oz. Three-O Cherry Vodka
4 oz. Red Bull
Mix in a highball glass filled with ice
Garnish with a cherry

Blackberry Vodka Collins (Lauren Conrad):

2 oz. Three-O Berry Vodka
2 slices lime
3 fresh blackberries
1 oz. simple syrup
Splash of soda water

Muddle the lime, blackberries and simple syrup, add the vodka and shake with ice; serve on the rocks.

First Class Punch (Megan Fox):

1 1/4 oz Three-O Vodka
1 oz Domaine Canton Liquor
1/2 oz agave nectar
1/2 oz fresh lime juice
1 strawberry
4 basil leaves

In a mixing tin, muddle the strawberry, basil, and Agave nectar. Add the rest of the ingredients, shake very well with ice and strain into a glass. Garnish with a strawberry.

The artist: The Jonas Brothers

The single: Paranoid (Hollywood), from the upcoming album Lines, Vines and Trying Times

The spin: Fame is getting to the teen-pop juggernaut known as the Jonas Brothers. At the start of their new dance-floor friendly single Paranoid (definitely not a Black Sabbath cover), Nick, Joe and Kevin are “freaking out” from the stress. Of what? The endless touring, the movies, the new TV show? The pressures of fame are “like a poison in my brain,” Joe emotes. Not only that, but ex-girlfriends are treacherous, untrustworthy and require background checks. (Taylor Swift, anyone?)

The paranoia is so bad they’re taking “doctor’s meds” and the walls seem to be closing in. If on their last album, they were Burning Up with teen-pop puppy lust, it seems like Jonas Inc. is feeling the post-euphoria hangover. More likely, these talented young pop culture sponges are playing with form, trying for an edgier, adult lyric and a bit of dance-floor/synth-pop shimmer a la Madonna and post-Thriller MJ. Trouble is, the song never quite achieves pop-bliss liftoff, though it’s got some nice guitar riffing on the choruses. And I like the lyric about feeling so feverish that “I’m avoiding the lines because they just might split.” These brothers can’t be snottily dismissed.

The fan reaction: Here’s one easy way to judge how insanely popular the Jonas boys are. On Thursday night, there were 2,000-plus “reviews” by fans on iTunes. Coolkid said “The Jonas Brothers continue to make great progress in their music,” and others applauded their desire to mix up their sound, while others just hate, hate, HATE them. One of the haters urges Disney to “Quit using these guys to bring down the music industry.” Wow, that sounds sort of…paranoid.

The grade: B

Sample the new single:

The Jonas Brothers come to the BankAtlantic Center on Aug. 19.

BLANTYRE, Malawi (AP) — Malawi’s highest court heard arguments Monday on Madonna’s bid to adopt a 3-year-old girl from the southern African country, as a dispute erupted over whether a man trying to stop the proceedings is the girl’s father.

Madonna was not at Monday’s hearing at the Malawi Supreme Court of Appeal, which was held in public after the judges reversed an earlier decision to hold a closed session.

The three judges adjourned after hearing from lawyers for the pop star and for two independent children’s rights groups. The judges did not immediately set a date for the next session in the case, at which a decision was expected to be announced.

Madonna is fighting a lower court’s decision that she cannot adopt Chifundo “Mercy” James because she had not been screened over time by Malawi authorities. The court said the rules were bent when Madonna adopted her son David from Malawi last year.

The pop star’s Malawian lawyer, Alan Chinula, said he was “hopeful” the appeal would succeed, and argued the lower court had relied on outdated law to block the girl’s adoption.

A renowned Malawi constitutional expert, Modechai Msiska, joined Madonna’s legal team, arguing in court Monday that although the issue of residence was a factor, it would be unconstitutional if adhering to it negated “certain rights of the child.”

Johns Gulumba, lawyer for Eye of the Child, an independent group that opposes the adoption, argued that following the rules kept the doors closed to potential child abusers. He added foreign adoptions should be the last resort, “when all other options, like foster parenting in country of residence, have failed.”

Madonna found the girl in 2006 at Kondanani Children’s Village, an orphanage in Bvumbwe just south of the commercial capital of Blantyre. It was the same year she adopted David, whom she found at another orphanage in the central Mchinji district.

On Sunday, a man told The Associated Press he was the girl’s father, and has sought help from the Malawi Law Society to stop the adoption.

James Kambewa, a 24-year-old security guard, acknowledged he has never seen the child. According to court documents, she was placed in the orphanage when her 14-year-old mother died a few weeks after giving birth to her.

But Kambewa said he now wanted to claim custody of Chifundo.

“I may be poor, but I think I have what it takes to raise a daughter,” he said. “I will fight the adoption.”

The brother of the girl’s mother told the AP the family does not know Kambewa.

“How can he claim he is the father when he hasn’t been around all this time?” said Peter Baneti, who explained that the girl was put in the orphanage because there was no one to breast-feed the baby.

Baneti said he had agreed to the adoption on behalf of the family, and that Kambewa was “just an opportunist.”

Madonna spokeswoman Liz Rosenberg said in an e-mail message she doesn’t know if Kambewa is the father.

“All I know is that Mercy has been in an orphanage since the day she was born,” Rosenberg said.

Kambewa, in an interview to be aired Monday on CBS’ “The Early Show,” said he has only seen the girl “in newspapers and TV – not face to face.” But he told CBS the girl “is a Malawian – so (I) need her to grow as a Malawian as well with our culture.”

On the show, Kambewa wore a necklace bearing the girl’s name.

Madonna has founded a charity, Raising Malawi, that helps feed, educate and provide medical care for some of Malawi’s more than 1 million orphans, half of whom have lost parents to AIDS.