Billboard Bits serves up the best bite-sized nuggets of music news and gossip.
Eminem Wins Big at Detroit Music Awards
Eminem might have been slighted at the Grammy Awards, but he still has the love of his home town. The rapper won three Detroit Music Awards on Friday (April 15), receiving trophes for Outstanding National Major Label Recording for his 2010 album “Recovery” while “Not Afraid” won the Outstanding National Single and Outstanding Video/Major Budget honors. Eminem was not on hand for the ceremony, where Insane Clown Posse received a Distinguished Achievement Award and closed the night with a typically raucous performance where confetti was substituted for the traditional Faygo shower. The night’s top winner was singer-songwriter Ty Stone, a Kid Rock protege who took home six awards in the rock and country fields.
Although Simon Cowell has yet to select a third judge to join L.A. Reid and himself on “The X Factor” this week, he did reveal that Mariah Carey “will have a role” in the series. “Her idea was to be the judge of the judges, which only Mariah could come up with,” Cowell said on a Spokane, Wash. radio show 92.9ZZU last week. “She’ll be involved in some form. I literally adore her. I love her to bits.” ( Us Magazine)
Titus Andronicus’ Amy Klein Offers Stage Presence Tips
Amy Klein, guitarist for thriving New Jersey punk rockers Titus Andronicus, offers tips on how to own the stage, explaining what she has learned about overcoming fears, taking up space, and the value of the “freakishly unexpected” in a two-part series for Billboard Pro. Check it out here.
Kid Rock filled the gap between his recent Chillin’ The Most cruise and the resumption of his tour promoting 2010’s “Born Free” with a rare club gig Saturday night (April 16) for about 500 people at the Machine Shop in Flint, Mich. Rock and his Twisted Brown Trucker band played a one-hour, 13-song set — including the seldom played “Wasting Time,” a blues version of “So Hott,” an acoustic take on “Purple Sky” and a show-closing “Born Free” dedicated to two troops in attendance who were headed to Afghanistan the next day — as part of the Jim Beam Live Music Series (Rock endorses and is sponsored by the spirit maker’s Red Stag brand). Forty-five minutes of video from the show will be posted at Beam’s web site this week, while some tracks will be made available for customer downloads.
In his ESGN sports column for Rap Radar today (Apr. 18), Freddie Gibbs provided some foul-mouthed by spot-on analysis of the 2011 NBA playoffs, which kicked off on Saturday. Regarding the New York Knicks’ loss to the Boston Celtics, Gibbs wrote, “Carmelo [Anthony] spoiled it in the end when he took that 30 foot shot wit all that time on the clock… Shit like that makes me glad you didn’t come to the BULLS. You can’t be fuckin’ off playoff games because you wanna be a hero.” ( Rap Radar)
(Reporting by Jason Lipshutz, Phil Gallo and Gary Graff)