Arch MUSIC NEWS

Peter Frampton‘s tour is getting off to a rough start due to his being involved in a car accident in Southern California on Tuesday. He tweets that a “texting woman driver” ran into his car as he was sitting in traffic on the 101 Freeway, and adds, “can u say whiplash? People put the phones down!” And he’s not joking about his injuries. Frampton adds that his back and neck are “not good,” and that he’d be seeing a doctor after his flight Tuesday.

Sometimes it pays to hang on to things. Rhode Island’s “Providence Journal” says ten longtime Who fans still had their unused tickets to the group’s 1979 show in Providence, which was cancelled following the trampling deaths at the band’s show in Cincinnati a couple of weeks earlier. The Dunkin’ Donuts Center recently announced that anyone with those 33-year-old tickets could bring them in and exchange them for tickets to The Who’s upcoming Providence concert next February –  their first there since the 1970s.  There are plans for the cashed-in 1979 tickets and they don’t involve going into the trash. The venue’s general manager has donated them to the Rhode Island Special Olympics, which will auction them off to raise money for the organization.

Rihanna and Katy Perry are on the nominations leader board as MTV heads into its next round of Video Music Award presentations. Rihanna ties with rapper Drake for the most nominations with five each. Perry landed four nominations and his competing with gal pal Rihanna in the coveted Video of the Year category. Katy got the nod for her “Wide Awake” video, while Rihanna got a nod for “We Found Love” and her collaboration with Drake on “Take Care.” Other Video of the Year contenders include Gotye for “Somebody That I Use To Know” and M.I.A. for “Bad Girls.” MTV will broadcast the 2012 VMA Awards on September 6th.  Here is a partial list of nominees:

Video Of The Year:

Katy Perry — “Wide Awake”
Gotye — “Somebody That I Used to Know”
Rihanna — “We Found Love”
Drake feat. Rihanna — “Take Care”
M.I.A. — “Bad Girls”

New Artist:

Fun. feat. Janelle Monae — “We Are Young”
Carly Rae Jepsen — “Call Me Maybe”
Frank Ocean — “Swim Good”
One Direction — “What Makes You Beautiful”
The Wanted — “Glad You Came”

Male Video:

Justin Bieber — “Boyfriend”
Frank Ocean — “Swim Good”
Drake feat. Rihanna — “Take Care”
Chris Brown — “Turn Up the Music”
Usher — “Climax”

Female Video:

Rihanna — “We Found Love”
Katy Perry — “Part of Me”
Beyoncé — “Love on Top”
Nicki Minaj — “Starships”
Selena Gomez & the Scene — “Love You Like a Love Song”

Pop Video:

One Direction — “What Makes You Beautiful”
Fun. feat. Janelle Monae — “We Are Young”
Rihanna — “We Found Love”
Justin Bieber — “Boyfriend”
Maroon 5 feat. Wiz Khalifa — “Payphone”

Video With A Message:

Demi Lovato — “Skyscraper”
Rise Against — “Ballad of Hollis Brown”
Kelly Clarkson — “Dark Side”
Gym Class Heroes — “The Fighter”
K’Naan feat. Nelly Furtado — “Is Anybody Out There?”
Lil Wayne — “How to Love”

Choreography:

Chris Brown — “Turn Up the Music”
Rihanna — “Where Have You Been”
Beyoncé — “Countdown”
Avicii — “Le7els”
Jennifer Lopez feat. Pitbull — “Dance Again”

Jermaine Jackson is taking his name out of the letter that has launched a war of words among members of his family. In a statement to CNN, the singer said he would rescind his signature from the letter that was sent to the estate of his late brother Michael Jackson. The letter, which was originally signed by Jermaine, Tito, Janet, Rebbie and Randy Jackson, accused executors of Michael’s estate of falsifying the late pop star’s will, which left much of his fortune to his mother and children and nothing to his siblings. Tito Jackson was the first to withdraw his signature from the letter last week. In following his brother’s lead Jermaine says he hopes his gesture will be seen as an “olive branch” in the ongoing feud that has fractured the family.

The Rolling Stones‘ 50th anniversary documentary is coming to TV. HBO will show “The Rolling Stones: The Greatest Rock ‘n’ Roll Band in the World” which covers the group’s history, from their days playing London clubs through their breakthrough and rise to becoming one of the biggest rock bands ever. Director Brett Morgan received input on the project from Stones frontman Mick Jagger, guitarists Keith Richards and Ron Wood, and drummer Charlie Watts. The band’s former bassist Bill Wyman and guitarist Mick Taylor also contributed to the film. Morgan says the documentary will include new interviews along with lots of never-before-released archival footage spanning the group’s five-decade career. The film will debut on HBO this fall, but a specific air date has yet to be announced.

Jeff Lynne is revisiting his past with “Mr. Blue Sky – The Very Best of Electric Light Orchestra,” and he’s offering new versions of ELO classics. Lynne explains his motivation behind the record, saying the vintage tracks “don’t sound the way I thought they did when I first wrote and recorded them.” While he says he likes the old versions of the songs, he now wants to present them as he originally intended. Lynne adds that improvements in technology and the experience he’s gained over the decades are enabling him to make the new versions of the songs “sound much more solid and tight.”

Eminem has a new record — a Facebook record that gives him the record for the most “Likes” by a living person with 60-point-one-million Facebook users giving him the thumbs up.  He’s reportedly picking up close to 179-thousand new “Likes” a week and is slightly ahead of Rihanna who has 59-point-four-million “Likes” and roughly 167-thousand new “Like” pickups a week.  But while Eminem might be the new King of Facebook, Lady Gaga still rules Twitterverse.  She’s still the undisputed Queen of Twitter with more than 27-point-eight-million followers. Eminem ranks 19th among the most-followed on Twitter with eleven-point-eight-million followers.