Kanye West hosted an incredible, nearly two-hour Town Hall-style meeting at Rolling Stone this afternoon, where he played songs from his fall album, jumped up on a board room table to spontaneously rap, and fielded questions about everything from his diet ("Eating celery is not hip-hop!") to his Italian internship …

In the early Seventies, Jackson Browne relied on sideman David Lindley so heavily, Browne named his touring band "The Lindley Brothers." The musician played everything onstage and in the studio: guitar, slide, Hawaiian steel, banjo and violin. This summer, Lindley returns to the stage with Browne for 37 American dates …

The Beach Boys may or may not reunite for a 50th anniversary tour next year, but they have already come together in the studio to record one song for Al Jardine's new solo album A Postcard From California. Jardine began the track, "Don't Fight the Sea," as part of a …

An all-new Michael Jackson collection featuring 10 unreleased songs will be released this November, a rep for the Jackson estate exclusively tells Rolling Stone. At the time of his death Jackson reportedly left hard drives filled with unheard music, much of it recorded during the King of Pop's '80s peak. …

After only one season on American Idol, Ellen DeGeneres has announced she is leaving her judging job on the Fox reality show because the role wasn't the "right fit" for her. "Dim the lights… I've voted myself off American Idol," the talk-show host wrote on Twitter last night. DeGeneres was …

Ciara is back with a vengeance thanks to the album’s first single “Ride,” which is at No. 5 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart at No. 42 on the Hot 100.  

Here’s our round-up of singers’, rockers’ and rappers’ 20 coolest and funnest tweets from the past seven days. Be sure to tag @billboarddotcom to your favorite music retweets (and don’t forget to follow us!)

Our national obsession with the tanned, gelled, fist-pumping cast of MTV’s “Jersey Shore” doesn’t look like it will end anytime soon. 

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

“Sometimes, y’know, s*** happens — in this case literally,” Kings of Leon drummer Nathan Followill tells Billboard.com. 

(Credit: Brian Appio/MTV)

Meet the new Amber Pacific. Despite being in existence for most of the last decade, this Seattle-based pop-punk band has gone through some pretty significant personnel changes over the last few years, most notably in the form of vocalist Matt Young.

The band didn’t lose its voice for long though, as Young was replaced with Jesse Cottam, who has fit nicely into the frontman role. With this new blood the band recorded and released a new album, Virtues, picking up right where the original lineup left off.

Whether it’s the absolutely raucous rave up of “Anthem For The Young At Heart” or the pure pop of “The Girl Who Destroys,” Amber Pacific make hook-filled pop-punk for the broken-hearted of the mosh pit.

Virtues is out now and you can check out music from the album (and the new lineup) at Amber Pacific’s MySpace. In the meantime, get familiar with their older material in the form of their ‘07 clip for “Fall Back Into My Life.”

Anarbor have had a pretty good year. The Arizona band with a Michigan-referencing name released their full length album, The Words You Don’t Swallow and were named The Favorite of The Freshmen 5 on mtvU. But, judging by the video premiere for “Gypsy Woman,” their luck is about to change.

Set in a room that looks more like a dungeon than a band rehearsal space, “Gypsy Woman,” finds Anarbor rocking out while the titular gypsy woman practices some dark magic on the boys, stabbing voodoo dolls with pins and causing all manner of chaos among the band.

Directed by Jesse Eweles, “Gypsy Woman,” features some charmingly lo-fi effects and a overall, tattered and ragged vibe that fits the classic-rock feel of the song.

Check out the video below. The Words You Don’t Swallow is out now.

Considering Iggy Pop has spent most of his career half-naked, it's ironic to see the punk legend going into the shirt business. But Pop made an appearance at Barney's Co-Op in New York last night to promote his new T-shirt line. "There's tons of irony," Pop tells Rolling Stone. "Especially …

Kanye West's tour of social network headquarters continued yesterday. The rapper, who just launched a verified new Twitter account, visited the site's offices in California to debut another verse a cappella from his upcoming, still-untitled album, Rap Radar reports. "Lyrically, can't none of y'all murder 'Ye, cuz y'all raps ain't …

Four months after Big Star drummer Jody Stephens and I talked about his late bandmate, singer-guitarist Alex Chilton, who died in March, we talked again – about bassist Andy Hummel, who passed away on July 19th of cancer at his home in Weatherford, Texas. Hummel was 59. His death leaves …

The California Attorney General's office has announced that it won't seek charges against seven doctors and one nurse who were under investigation following Michael Jackson's death for prescribing drugs to the King of Pop. A spokeswoman for Attorney General Jerry Brown said that the investigators did not find sufficient evidence, …

Lady Gaga hearts Michael Bolton? That’s apparently the case — and how the two came to collaborate on “Murder My Heart,” a track on Bolton’s latest album, “One World One Love.”

“Idol” producers have reportedly chosen not to renew DioGuardi’s contract and will return to a “three-judge format,” with Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler replacing DioGuardi on the panel.

Stone Temple Pilots fans can expect to hear some treats on the next — and most extensive — leg of the group’s tour promoting its new, self-titled album, according to guitarist Dean DeLeo.

Jack White performed “Mother Nature’s Son” in honor of Paul McCartney for the “Paul McCartney: The Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song In Performance at the White House” presentation.