My Daily Joe

Jasmina Anema, the spunky 6-year-old Manhattan girl who captured the hearts of President Obama, Rihanna and others with her courageous fight against leukemia, has died. “Today, January 27, at 10:55 p.m., Jasmina lost her fight against leukemia,” her grief-stricken mother, Thea Anema, wrote on the Caring Bridge blog she had set up to keep thousands of well-wishers apprised of Jasmina’s progress. The news sent shockwaves throughout the community that had rallied around the little girl who had inspired a worldwide public campaign to find bone-marrow donors. From the White House, President Obama said, Read more »

In a hilariously candid interview in our current issue, Taylor Swift opens up about her Shakira impression and the koi pond she’s building in her new apartment. Here’s more from the Q&A that you won’t find in the magazine: Swift on her love of John Mayer, bling and last-minute song-writing binges.

How did you spend the holidays?
I was back in Nashville, and it was pretty cool — my brother’s leaving for college next year and I’m moving out in a few months, so this was sort of a moment in time for me, I was definitely recording all of it in my mind, the last Christmas with all of us being in the same place. Read more »

Bright lights cascading off countless casinos and luxury hotels lining the strip aren’t the only things lighting up the Vegas skyline lately. Airamis, the hefty R&B recording artist who hails from the city of sin, is creating his own spark as well.

Although temptation surely surrounds him, Airamis — who is signed to Maynea Records out of Sweden — keeps a level head intact as he states, “I’m always true to my core values and I don’t allow any outside influences to alter who I am.” 

It’s with great honor that I introduce you to Airamis, someone you really need to keep an eye, and ear, on. Airamis is part of my special showcase series that I am releasing to the masses called “10 Artists to Watch in 2010″.

CLICK HERE for the 6-Page Airamis: The Red Carpet Interview

A month after Brittany Murphy’s death, her mother and husband say they are convinced the actress died of natural causes, not drugs or an eating disorder. The strain to be perfect under the scrutinizing microscope of Hollywood ultimately lead to her demise, her husband Simon Monjack said on ‘The Today Show.’ Monjack claims Murphy suffered a lot of stress in her career after Warner Brothers pulled back on an original offer to let her do ‘Happy Feet 2′ after rumors surfaced that Murphy was fired from a film. “Hollywood broke her heart,” he said. “They have blood on their hands, and I hope they wash them with very hot water because of the way they treated Brittany Murphy while she was alive,” Monjack said. Read more »

Despite the fact there has been no confirmation of Steven Tyler officially leaving the band, Aerosmith are reportedly sending out feelers for a new lead singer. Guitarist Joe Perry told Canada’s QMI Agency that the band are “already getting the word out there, the word’s been out there for a while.” He added that Aerosmith will “start having some auditions, making some phone calls. Hopefully we’ll have found a new singer by the summer and Aerosmith will be able to go back out on the road.” Tyler remains troubled by an addiction to painkillers and checked into rehab at the end of 2009. At the time he quashed reports he was leaving the band, but with his problems ongoing it seems Perry’s desire to set Aerosmith moving again might leave the singer behind. Any replacement singer for Tyler however, may be temporary. Perry stated, “The rest of the band wants to play. And I want to play with the other guys in Aerosmith. So the four of us are just making our plans. We’re gonna find somebody to get in there and fill that spot. Just like when Tom was sick — we got David Hull to come in and play bass. When Brad was sick, we got somebody else to come in and play for him. That’s basically how I look at it; we need another singer to fill in.”

Source: Spinner

At first, the thought of The Hughes Brothers (‘From Hell,’ ‘American Pimp,’ ‘Menace II Society’) directing an overtly religious movie seemed a bit unbelievable. Perhaps ‘The Book of Eli’ just features Denzel Washington as a weapon-wielding badass with a penchant for quoting the Old Testament like Samuel L. Jackson in ‘Pulp Fiction,’ right? Wrong…

Well, OK, Washington’s post-apocalyptic loner Eli is a master at killing AND quoting Scripture, but the critical buzz about the overwhelming spiritual themes is correct: ‘The Book of Eli’ contains just as much (if not more) Christian imagery as ‘The Chronicles of Narnia.’ Read more »

Though Jay-Z and Beyonce were recently dubbed Hollywood’s richest couple of 2009 by Forbes magazine, money can’t buy Hov everything.

Jay recently lost a lengthy court battle with 51-year-old celebrity chef Terry Miller over Miller’s “Rockafella” restaurant, which Jay felt infringed on his infamous Roc-A-Fella record label.

The lawsuit began in 2006, after Miller won $250,000 on cooking reality show ‘Hell’s Kitchen,’ and named his restaurant after his specialty dish, the King Prawn Rockafella. In the suit, Jay claimed that the name of Miller’s restaurant mislead people into believing that it was associated with his record label.

However, the Newcastle, UK court ruled in favor of Miller, granting him the trademark and exclusive rights to use the name. A similar case came up in the U.K. in 2007, when Sean “Diddy” Combs was forbidden the use of his chosen nickname after losing a court case with Richard “Diddy” Dearborn, who held the rights to the name in the U.K.

In any event Jay-Z and Beyonce raked in a reported $122 million in 2009, so Hov can definitely brush the dirt off his diamond-encrusted shoulders.

Source: Theboombox

The violence that has gripped Haiti in the wake of the massive earthquake has claimed the life of at least one aid worker — a teenage boy killed working for Haitian born-rapper Wyclef Jean’s charity, according to reports.

“Somebody wanted to carjack him,” Jean told London’s Telegraph.

The boy, whose name wasn’t released, was shot dead as he was leaving a Port-au-Prince cemetery after dropping off corpses, the paper reported.

And two Dominican workers were shot as they were giving out food in the increasingly dangerous city, the country’s police told MSNBC.

Source: NYPost

Matisyahu has explored a number of musical styles over the course of a relatively short, whirlwind career, but his universal message of peace and unity has always remained the same. The reggae MC is continuing his pursuit of positivity on ‘One Day,’ the first single of his third studio album, ‘Light,’ due in late August.

“‘One Day’ is the song I’ve been wanting to make since I started my career,” Matisyahu tells Spinner. “It is an anthem of hope with a big beat — the kind of song that makes you bob your head and open your heart at the same time.”

Listen to ‘One Day’ on Spinner

This is gonna be a huge radio hit!

Matisyahu’s latest, One Day, is one of those songs you know will have everyone singing along in their cars. It is pleasing on the ears, uplifting and extremely commercial. The track also features Akon.

Watch the Official Video on Youtube

Source: Spinner