Billboard Bits serves up the best bite-sized nuggets of music news and gossip every afternoon.




They definitely won't call him Senator Cougar, but the push for John Mellencamp to seek the Democratic nomination to replace the retiring Evan Bayh is gaining steam. According to the AP, an online campaign to encourage the singer to run is running rampant on Facebook and Twitter.


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Elvis Presley returns to the Vegas strip this weekend, in the guise of a Cirque du Soleil extravaganza entitled "Viva Elvis." The show, similar in scope to the Cirque/Beatles collaboration "Love," will be housed at the 2,000-seat theater at the new Aria Resort & Casino inside CityCenter in Las Vegas, Nevada.


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Lil Wayne may be entering prison in a world of pain, considering the amount of dental surgery he just endured. According to TMZ, Wayne had eight consecutive root canals, work on his grill, several tooth implants redone, more implants added and had the few real teeth he had left repaired. Ouch.


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Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins has assembled an all-star cast for the second album with his other band, Coattail Riders. According to NME, the record features Queen's Brian May and Roger Taylor, who previously played with Foo Fighters at London's Hyde Park in 2006, bandmate Dave Grohl and The Cars' guitarist Elliot Easton.


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Turns out the world's greatest snowboarder has rockin' musical tastes too. Shaun White, fresh off a win at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, talked about his love of hard rock with Spinner, including bands like Wolfmother, Guns N' Roses and AC/DC. He's also hoping to hit the Coachella festival in April.