Madonna may have added writer and director to her resumé this past year, but she’s still first and foremost a pop star who promotes religion, sex and the old adage that “age ain’t nothin’ but a number.” News of Madge’s 2012 tour leaked earlier this year, and now Toronto group Azari and III are rumoured to be the opening act. While the band’s management can’t confirm or deny rumours about the tour, the Sun newspaper reports Madonna is a big fan of the band’s electronic sound—the quartet is made up of producers Dinamo Azari and Alixander III and singers Starving Yet Full and Fritz Helder (formerly of Fritz Helder and the Phantoms). Find out more about the group that may or may not be opening for Madonna’s new tour after the jump.
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Will Toronto’s Azari and III open for Madonna on her next tour?
Paulina Gretzky to flaunt her Great Ones on Twitter no longer
Paulina Gretzky (Image: Twitter)
Paulina Gretzky, daughter of Wayne, triggered lamentations from 24,000 slavering horndogs followers this weekend when she shut down her racy Twitter account. Gretzky is apparently Internet-famous for posting sexy photos of herself—and holy mackinaw, there are some spicy shots. Rumour has it that Daddy was behind the account’s demise—we were particularly tickled by the Toronto Star headline “Too Sexy for Gretzky?” Shortly before posting her farewell message on Saturday, the 22-year-old tweeted, “Having a nice sit-down dinner with my dad about social media..haha #SIKEEE.” The buxom dame has done some professional modelling as well, making the cover of Flare in 2005 and landing roles in 2009’s Fame and this year’s Guns, Girls and Gambling. She also produced a single called “Collecting Dust,” which was featured on MTV’s Laguna Beach. For some choice shots of her better-known work (including three pics of her planking), check out the gallery after the jump.
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SPOTTED: Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel at Downward Dog, Ella’s Uncle and biking down Queen West
Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel have been spotted on more than one occasion in the past few days taking full advantage of Toronto’s many gems. Biel has been routinely visiting Downward Dog studios for a dose of yoga, and the duo—who may or may not be rekindling their old flame—stopped in at Ella’s Uncle yesterday for raspberry scones. If scones and yoga aren’t twee enough for you, the two were also spotted enjoying a bike ride down Queen West. Bless.
(Images: Jessica Biel, Maggie; Justin Timberlake; Audrey Pilato; Scones, Neil Conway; Bike, Electra)
Is hometown boy Drake dating Serena Williams?
Is the ball in Serena Williams’ court? (Image: paddynapper)
Just weeks after being spotted buying sex toys with Rihanna in Ottawa, homegrown rapper and Degrassi alum Drake appears to have moved on to someone even better (and buffer): recent Roger’s Cup champion Serena Williams. Rumours of the pair’s involvement were sparked last week when they were seen flitting off to a Florida resort together. Later, Drake suggestively tweeted (or propositioned?) Williams, writing, “I cannot wait to put it on you and make you sweat……….during our match this weekend.” On Saturday, he was spotted cheering as Williams tore up the courts at the Roger’s Cup Tournament. It’s a pretty good catch for Drake—Williams is, after all, a super-built warrior princess. We hope Drizzy can keep up.
SPOTTED: Martha Stewart eats, Rihanna walks and Robert Pattinson drinks
Martha Stewart, Rihanna and Robert Pattinson have been spotted in Toronto
It figures that once the weather gets nice, Toronto is the go-to destination for the stars. If we had this kind of sun all year round, we bet Hogtown could really give Hollywood a run for its money. No, seriously, it seems the city was teeming with celebrities this past week. Check out a roundup of star sightings after the jump.
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Mark Wahlberg may be seen shirtless more often in his rumoured Yorkville property
Mark Wahlberg can make Rhea Durham do this, but what will he do for Toronto? (Image: WEBN-TV)
Unless someone is shooting a movie or revisiting a favourite Toronto haunt, we’re typically limited to boldface Hollywood types on our less-glistening Toronto streets during TIFF. At least that was the case before we heard that Dirk Diggler Mark Wahlberg is scouting property in the Yorkville area. Shinan Govani reports that the actor was heard saying, “I love the fact that it’s a smaller building,” which we thought we’d never hear from a celebrity who makes countless millions every year (especially considering that Lady Gaga just announced that her decadence has essentially bankrupted her). Apparently its micro size and a nudge from other local small property Tie Domi seem to be enough to hold Wahlberg’s interest in the to-be-renovated building that once belonged to St. Basil’s Catholic School (and, well, it doesn’t cost $28 million). Nothing has been signed, but Govani seems confident that there’s a good chance he might, which will mean more abs and pecs for everyone.
Playboy Magazine thinks Western is a fun place to party, but not as fun as Boulder, Colorado
Playboy Magazine is a fan of Western’s “play harder” attitude (Image: Better Than Bacon)
Students at the University of Western Ontario in London will be celebrating extra hard this weekend with the news that their reputation as a party school has been cemented in Playboy (we only read it for the articles, which is how we got this information). Rated the No. 4 party school in North America, UWO was the only Canadian university to make the top 10. (The school is no stranger to notoriety—most readers will recognize the name of the campus’s largest residence, Saugeen-Maitland Hall, thanks to a 2005 incident that led to a Toronto Star cover story about the 18-year-old Saugeen Stripper.)
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Yoko Ono’s publishing company pulls Stephen Harper’s “Imagine” performance off YouTube
It looks like the video of Stephen Harper and Maria Aragon singing John Lennon’s “Imagine” (a clip that both amused and confused us) has been pulled from YouTube. The page says it was removed “due to a copyright claim by Lenono music”—the publishing company behind Lennon and Yoko Ono’s music. We don’t know if Ono herself took the thing down, but she has a history of making sure conservatives don’t use her late husband’s song (back in 2008, she went to court to try to stop a creationist film from doing just that). So maybe the sight of Canada’s Conservative prime minister singing Lennon’s lyrics was a bit much. The person we feel bad for here is Maria Aragon, the young YouTube sensation from Winnipeg who sang with Harper. Then again, thanks to Lady Gaga she’s already way more popular than Harper.
Shania Twain’s alleged stalker arrested at the Juno Awards
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Shania Twain was in for a surprise at last Sunday’s Juno Awards. It wasn’t her induction into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, which was announced ahead of time, but rather the unexpected appearance of Dr. Giovanni Palumbo, Twain’s alleged stalker. According to the Toronto Sun (who else?), Palumbo had stalking charges against him withdrawn earlier this month but was ordered to stay at least 500 metres away from the midriff-baring Canadian country superstar. When a member of Shania’s people spotted Palumbo in the Juno Awards audience, police were contacted and he was arrested for breaching court orders.
Dave Foley allegedly owes $500,000 that he just doesn’t have
Dave Foley in summer 2010 (Image: Frederick M. Brown/Stringer/Getty Images)
Comic Dave Foley is back on the stand-up circuit in the United States, but he won’t be taking the act to his native Toronto anytime soon. Allegedly, Foley owes about $500,000 in child support to his ex-wife, Globe and Mail columnist Tabatha Southey, with whom he has two teenage sons. As Foley succinctly put it via Twitter in December, “Family court in Ontario ruled I have to pay 1st wife 3X my monthly income or go to jail because I used to be rich.”
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Six things we learned about Ken Finkleman from his interview on CBC’s Q this morning
Ken Finkleman, the creative mind behind CBC hits like The Newsroom and Paramount non-hits like Grease 2, has a new show coming out called Good Dog. So it’s not surprising that he would come to a CBC Radio show like Q to sit and chat with host Jian Ghomeshi. What is surprising, however, is that the two of them almost managed to talk about everything but Good Dog.
The interview can be heard here, but we’ve compiled six things that we learned about the storied media man.
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Battle of the big-screen porn stars: Toronto’s Malin Akerman on replacing Lindsay Lohan
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Late last year, we found out that North Toronto C.I.’s own Malin Akerman would be starring as Linda Lovelace in Inferno, a big-screen, big-budget adaptation of the porn star’s life. The announcement (a big career boost for Akerman, who has thus far played mostly best friends and/or babe sister roles) came hot on the three-inch heels of word that the movie’s original star, Lindsay Lohan, had been dropped from the project because her wild child ways have made her all but uninsurable. (Or definitively uninsurable, depending on whom you believe.)
How much does Marilyn Monroe’s face cost? The Torontonian who just bought the rights to her image isn’t telling
(Image: Ralph Hogaboom)
The Toronto-based head of Authentic Brands Group, Jamie Salter, recently purchased the rights to Marilyn Monroe’s name, image and likeness. This is a historic purchase, to say the least—few could fail to recognize the buxom blonde. But what’s the dollar value of the iconic visual made famous by The Seven Year Itch and Andy Warhol? Salter isn’t saying, but we’re betting it’s big.
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Michael Cera ♥ Who’s the Boss: awkwardlicious star spotted eating fro-yo with Tony Danza
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Yesterday, WENN got its hands on some photos of local boy Michael Cera catching up with a highly unlikely pal (the shots are re-published by Lainey here). Okay, so we can’t say for sure that they’re pals, but we can say that Cera and Tony Danza were spotted going for fro-yo yesterday in L.A. They were accompanied by that weird guy who played the bearded stoner in Knocked Up (a.k.a. Martin Starr). WTF? Or, to put it in Tony-speak: Eh-oh, oh-eh?
Scandal alert: Katie Holmes’ Kennedy movie canned
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Seeing the words “Kennedy” and “scandal” in the same sentence is old pillbox hat, if you will. “Scandal” and “Cobourg, Ontario,” not so much. But how else to describe the somewhat shocking cancellation of the highly anticipated and already completed Kennedy miniseries that was shot in Ontario’s feel-good town last year? The Kennedys, starring Greg Kinnear as JFK and Katie Holmes as Jackie, was originally set to air on the History Channel next spring. So why did the multimillion-dollar project (and guaranteed ratings juggernaut) end up on the cutting room floor?
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