Dear SNL:

It’s been suggested lately that when I write these blogs about you, that I go out of my way to point out the negative things about you and never, ever write about your good points. I don’t think that’s true, but since I just watched your most recent episode, featuring the delightful Taylor Swift (see, I said she was delightful!), I figured I would clearly mark my kudos and concerns with some helpful suggestions in the form of Dos and Don’ts.

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The Orlando Sentinel‘s Hal Boedeker is reporting that Saturday Night Live has announced its next three hosts and musical guests for upcoming new episodes.

The new shows begin Nov. 7 with Taylor Swift holding down both roles, as previously announced.

On Nov. 14, in the footsteps of Jon Hamm’s exceptional work last season, his Mad Men wife, January Jones, will be the host. Black Eyed Peas is musical guest.

On Nov. 21, A man who was in both (500) Days of Summer and G.I. Joe (in consecutive weeks!), Joseph Gordon-Levitt, will be the host, while Dave Matthews Band will play Studio 8H for the first time in nearly 10 years.

When singer songwriter Jimmy Wayne was a teen, he scraped up $30 and bought an old Harmony guitar at a yard sale. That was a small fortune to a kid who grew up in foster and group homes. A kid who, when he was homeless, sometimes snuck into houses to steal leftover food. He had to — if he wanted to eat that day.

While in foster care, a social worker suggested writing a journal to deal with the difficult emotions that came from abandonment, drug abuse, violence and poverty. He still keeps one.

“I’ve been writing since I was 12,” he said by phone last week. “One-liners. Bumper stickers.”

One line became a poem, poems became lyrics, lyrics became songs, and songs became his salvation.

Music was a blessing, and Wayne liked to sing. It was something he was good at, that set him apart from other people in a good way. But when Wayne bought that guitar, he never imagined he’d have a house with a spare room and more than 40 guitars — not to mention a fistful of Billboard Top Ten country songs.
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The 43rd annual Country Music Association awards will offer fans one of the last chances to see Brooks & Dunn before they split next year.

The popular duo joins a star-studded lineup, including all five entertainer of the year nominees, scheduled to perform during the Nov. 11 ceremony.

CMA also announced Monday that Kenny Chesney, Taylor Swift, Reba McEntire, George Strait, Sugarland, Darius Rucker and Keith Urban will perform. Also scheduled to play songs are co-hosts Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood.

Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn plan to tour next year, then will dissolve a partnership that’s sold 30 million albums and had 23 No. 1 hits. They’ll be competing for their 15th vocal duo award and are also nominated for top musical event with McEntire.

The Fame Kills tour, which was to feature Kanye West and Lady Gaga, has been canceled.

Live Nation announced the news in a brief statement Thursday that did not offer any explanation. Refunds are available for those who brought tickets for the tour. It was to kick off Nov. 10 in Phoenix and was scheduled to run through at least January.

Tickets were to go on sale on Saturday for the tour’s Miami stop, which would’ve taken place Dec. 9 at AmericanAirlines Arena.

The name of the tour was to be “Fame Kills” – a sentiment West may have been feeling in recent weeks. The Grammy-winning rapper has endured a firestorm of negative publicity since he hijacked the award-winning moment of country-pop sweetheart Taylor Swift at last month’s MTV Video Music Awards.

Tickets are on sale this weekend for:

• Chilled-out rockers Rusted Root head to Revolution Live in Fort Lauderdale on Nov. 28.

• Galactic, a jam band who knows their way around big-time beats, plays Revolution on Jan. 9.

To get mobile concert info, text CONCERT to 21321 or click here.

After at first announcing a world tour earlier this week, Kanye West’s live shows with Lady Gaga may well be in doubt, according to a few sources including the Los Angeles Times.

Dates for the tour, which were announced Wednesday and included a stop at Miami’s AmericanAirlines Arena on Dec. 9, are appearing on neither Ticketmaster’s nor Live Nation’s Web sites.

The Times’ music blog, Pop & Hiss, reported that while dates were announced on Pollstar, an industry trade magazine site, no further information from either West’s or Lady Gaga’s camp have followed.
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Kanye West’s outburst at the MTV Video Music Awards at the expense of Taylor Swift has — whether you like it or not — become a major news story. This one in particular has played out pretty much entirely in front of the cameras and in turn on the Internet.

Let’s take a look at the entire incident, from West’s VMA appearance through President Obama calling the rap star a jackass.

First, here’s the original incident, after Swift won Best Female Video for “You Belong With Me” at the VMAs on Sunday:

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Photos from Sunday’s big show | Moonman winners

Taylor Swift was relishing her unlikely win of best female video at the MTV Video Music Awards. The 19-year-old knew that the network doesn’t exactly make a habit out of giving their moonman trophies to country music stars.

“I was standing on the stage and I was really excited because I had just won the award,” Swift said after Sunday’s show at Radio City Music Hall. “And then I was really excited because Kanye West was on the stage. And then I wasn’t so excited anymore after that.”

Taking the microphone, the rapper protested Swift’s selection and announced that Beyonce, also nominated, should have won because her Single Ladies (Put a Ring on it) was “one of the best videos of all time.”

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Taylor Swift will be on the cover of August’s Glamour Magazine available in newsstands July 7th.

She’s all glammed up and looking ultra chic and sophisticated with a pair of jeans and a cotton shirt.

The country phenom dishes on life, love and being a workaholic in August’s Glamour.

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Last night’s CMT Awards were fun but predictable, with the usual names taking home buckles: Rascal Flatts, Brad Paisley, Sugarland and of course Taylor Swift.

Truthfully, I was a little bit overwhelmed by Taylor Swift’s domination of the 2009 CMT Music Awards show last night. I fully agree that her video “Love Story” earned its position as Video of the Year, but did we really need to see three performances from her?

Don’t get me wrong: I love Taylor. Always have. But I find some of her antics contrived, and it seems like no one wants to question Taylor’s judgment. Like the bathrobe behind the fake window during “You Belong To Me”? Did we really need all this overly-orchestrated stuff?

And I was dreading the rap I’d heard about and the Def Leppard number, “Pour Some Sugar On Me”, but I have to say, her rap with T-Pain was cute. And you have to love someone who can make fun of herself.

It also shows Swift’s open-mindedness to other genres and her depth as a musician that she can morph so easily with rap and rock. And the preamble to the pre-taped rap had Swift in Vulcan ears on the bridge of the USS Enterprise and then in NFL gear. “It’s my dream,” was the hook. I doubt Swift dreamed that she’d become the face and name of country music in 2008-09.

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