Rihanna + Nicki Minaj Serve 'You Can't Sit With Us!' Face At Alexander Wang's NYFW After-Party

While it's still #unclear whether Rihanna gave any effs about posing for a pic with Harry Styles at the VMAs, we're pretty sure that she gives some MAJOR EFFS about the above selfie featuring her girl Nicki Minaj at designer Alexander Wang's New York Fashion Week after-party! 

I mean, if Ri halfway sucking her thumb doesn't mean that she's psyched to be in the "Clappers" rapper's presence, then we're not sure what does! Also, side note: #FASHIONMULLET!

 

Rihanna and Nicki Minaj -- too much to handle!

Check out more photos of Rihanna and Nicki Minaj at the Alexander Wang after-party after the jump.

On hand to give a surprise performance at the NYFW after-party, Nicki took a moment to give good face with her "Fly" collaborator. Taking to Instagram, Rihanna shared the tender moment with the #RihannaNavy, captioning: "Got to see my West Indian main lastnight! Hi @nickiminaj."

Rihanna werqs the Miley tongue in honor of Alexander Wang's insane new collection! 

Obviously, we would've given anything to be a fly on the wall during the girls' catch-up chat, but if Alexander Wang could send over some items from his spring 2014 ready-to-wear collection -- especially this! NEEDS IT NOW! -- it might soften the blow!

Britney Spears Gives 'Dirty, Flirty' Sneak Peek Of New Video

The femme fatale tweets photo from set of her clip for upcoming single, likely called 'Work Bitch.'

Britney Spears is still about a week away from her big September 17 announcement, but over the weekend she got fans hyped for her next single, which, based on some well-placed hints, is most likely called "Work Bitch."

The pop princess took to social media to tweet from the set of the video, giving her fans tiny teases about what they should expect from the clip. On Saturday she tweeted, "Hot day on set... ;) A little dirty, little flirty, danced my ASS off. Stoked for tomorrow!" She then tweeted out a still of herself posing in a yellow and black bra with long, black gloves.

Britney Spears @britneyspears

Hot day on set... ;) A little dirty, little flirty, danced my ASS off. Stoked for tomorrow!

12:34 AM - 8 Sep 2013

Vivendi Chair, Investor Feud Over CEO Search

The chairman of French media and telecom conglomerate Vivendi and one of the company's other powerful board members are locked into a showdown over who should be the next CEO, a source confirmed Monday.

Jean-Francois Dubos last year became CEO on a temporary basis after previous head Jean-Bernard Levy left amid disagreements over future strategy. Dubos was charged with developing a strategy for Vivendi and rejig its business portfolio in line with it. The company has since refocused on its content assets and decided to divest its majority stake in video game maker ActivisionBlizzard and its stake in Maroc Telecom. It has also signaled it could look for a spin-off of French telecom firm SFR down the line.

That could leave Vivendi focused on Universal Music Group and French pay TV company Canal Plus before possible acquisitions.

French newspaper Les Echos reported late Sunday that Vivendi chair Jean-Rene Fourtou wanted to bring in Bertelsmann CEO Thomas Rabe to run the conglomerate. Via deals and a push into new sectors and emerging markets, Rabe has been looking to boost the German media giant's financial growth.

But large Vivendi shareholder Vincent Bollore, who also sits on the board, has thrown his hat into the ring as the next CEO, Les Echos said. He was previously seen as a possible future chairman, but his goal now is to stop the board from making a decision on a new CEO too quickly, even though he has so far supported the company's asset strategy, the paper said.

The Wall Street Journal later reported that when Fourtou started the search process for a permanent CEO by picking a recruitment firm without announcing a time for his own departure, Bollore saw that as a challenge and "power grab."

The nominating committee of Vivendi board is expected to meet on Wednesday to talk about the CEO search. The full board is meeting on the topic later this month.

Vivendi wasn't immediately available for comment.

A Bertelsmann spokesman said: "Thomas Rabe is Bertelsmann CEO, and he isn't available for any other position."

"Vincent Bollore recently stepped down as chairman of [advertising giant] Havas (to be succeeded by his son, Yannick), which seemed a strange decision at the time but now makes sense in the light of this development," said Liberum Capital analyst Ian Whittaker.

Bollore is Vivendi's largest shareholder with a 5 percent stake, plus he sits on its board. "It is likely other CEO candidates may be deterred from standing, given the political considerations," Whittaker said.
"Therefore Mr. Bollore could become CEO, almost by default."

He said that Bollore has supported asset changes at Vivendi, but "is dissatisfied with the slow progress of the restructuring." Added the analyst: "A Bollore CEO is likely to accelerate the break-up process, with GVT (the Brazilian broadband/pay TV business) and SFR (the French telecom business) the areas of attention."

Chris Brown Signs With Resolution For Worldwide Representation

Chris Brown has signed with Resolution for representation worldwide, PMG has learned exclusively. The Grammy-winning multiplatinum singer/songwriter will be repped by agents Phil Casey and Everly Lee. Brown is managed by Bu Thiam of Bu Vision and Tina Davis of the Tina Davis Company. His attorney is Kenneth Meiselas.

“Chris is a uniquely talented entertainer and we are privileged to be working with him and his team,” Phil Casey said in a statement.

Brown has also wrapped recording on his sixth studio album, “X,” which will feature collaborations with Nicki Minaj, Rihanna and Ludacris. The release is slated for November 2013 with a world tour set for early 2014. 

“X” is the follow-up to the artist’s 2012 album “Fortune.” Debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, the set has sold 462,000 to date per Nielsen SoundScan. 

Brown has won a Grammy in 2011 for Best R&B Album with “F.A.M.E.” He is also the recipient of three American Music Awards, two NAACP Image Awards, and nine BET Awards.

Brown, a co-star in such movies as “Stomp the Yard,” “This Christmas,” “Takers” and “Think Like a Man,” will next appear in the Screen Gems film “Battle of the Year” directed by Benson K. Lee.

Divided vote foreshadows Obama challenge on Syria ...

Senate Divided on Syria

A Senate panel’s deep divide over giving President Barack Obama the authority to use U.S. military force against Syria underscores the commander in chief’s challenge in persuading skeptical lawmakers and wary allies to back greater intervention in an intractable civil war.

The administration was pressing ahead Thursday with its full-scale sales job, holding another round of closed-door meetings for members of Congress about its intelligence on Syria. On another continent, Obama was certain to face questions from world leaders when he arrives in St. Petersburg, Russia, for an economic summit.

The event’s host, Russian President Vladimir Putin, stands as a reminder of resistance to U.S. pleas for Moscow to intervene with its ally Syria and President Bashar Assad.

Obama has called for military action after the administration blamed Assad for a chemical weapons attack on Aug. 21 that it says killed more than 1,400 civilians, including at least 400 children. Other casualty estimates are lower, and the Syrian government denies responsibility, contending rebels fighting to topple the government were to blame.

Responding to Obama’s request, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted 10-7 Wednesday to authorize the “limited and specified use” of the U.S. armed forces against Syria, backing a resolution that restricts military action to 90 days and bars American ground troops from combat.

Obama’s deputy national security adviser, Tony Blinken, picked up the sales pitch for the absent president Thursday, appearing on several morning news shows.

In an appearance on MSNBC, Blinken said he believes the American people will be more supportive of Obama’s request once they see the Syrian situation as a separate and distinct problem as opposed to viewing it “in the prism of the last decade” of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“This is not open-ended. This is not boots on the ground. This is not Afghanistan. This is not Iraq. This is not even Libya,” Blinken said.

He said that if the United States does not stand up to Assad and against the use of chemical weapons, some world figures will believe “it’s OK to use them with impunity.”

Secretary of State John Kerry, testifying for the second consecutive day before Congress, insisted that the U.S. military response would be restricted as Americans fatigued by more than a decade of war in Iraq and Afghanistan show little inclination to get involved in Syria.

“I don’t believe we’re going to war, I just don’t believe that,” Kerry told the House Foreign Affairs Committee, citing the ground troops and long-term commitment that he said wars entail. “That’s not what we’re doing here. The president is asking for permission to take a limited military action, yes, but one that does not put Americans in the middle of the battle.”

In the Senate, five Republicans, including potential presidential candidates Rand Paul and Marco Rubio, and two Democrats opposed the resolution, which is expected to reach the Senate floor next week. The timing of a vote is uncertain.

“I believe U.S. military action of the type contemplated here might prove to be counterproductive,” Rubio said. “After a few days of missile strikes, it will allow Assad, for example, to emerge and claim that he took on the United States and survived.”

Paul, a Kentucky conservative with strong tea party ties, has threatened a filibuster, although he acknowledged that proponents have the votes to prevail in the Senate, and he pinned his hopes on the House.

The notion of a contained operation has failed to sway many Republicans and Democrats in the House, who question why the U.S. should get involved now in a Syrian civil war that has killed an estimated 100,000, displaced millions and is in its third year. While House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., have expressed support for military action, but rank-and-file Republicans remain reluctant or outright opposed.

Republican Rep. Chris Collins said voters in his western New York district are “overwhelmingly against involvement.” The freshman congressman is undecided.

“Really, I’m looking for the president to justify limited military strike and establish what are the objectives he’s seeking and what is the mission,” Collins said in a phone interview.

Kerry told the Foreign Affairs Committee that he believed Obama would address the nation on Syria in the next few days. The president returns home from overseas Friday night.

Speaking in Sweden on Wednesday, Obama left open the possibility he would order retaliation for the deadly chemical weapons attack even if Congress withheld its approval.

“I always preserve the right and responsibility to act on behalf of America’s national security,” he told a news conference. In a challenge to lawmakers back home, he said Congress’ credibility was on the line, not his own, despite saying a year ago that the use of chemical weapons would cross a “red line.”

The Senate panel’s vote marked the first formal response in Congress, four days after Obama unexpectedly put off an anticipated cruise missile strike against Syria and instead asked lawmakers to unite behind such a plan.

The vote capped a hectic few days in which lawmakers first narrowed the scope of Obama’s request and then widened it.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., a proponent of aggressive U.S. military action in Syria, joined forces with Democratic Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware to add a provision calling for “decisive changes to the present military balance of power on the ground in Syria.”

At their urging, the measure was also changed to state that the policy of the United States was “to change the momentum on the battlefield in Syria so as to create favorable conditions for a negotiated settlement that ends the conflict and leads to a democratic government in Syria.” McCain, who long has accused Obama of timidity in Syria, argued that Assad will be willing to participate in diplomatic negotiations only if he believes he is going to lose the civil war he has been fighting for more than two years.

Tupac Musical Fueling Up For Broadway

Tupac is coming to Broadway.

You heard it correctly — Kenny Leon, the theater director responsible for versions of "A Raisin in the Sun," "Gem of the Ocean," "The Mountaintop" and "Stick Fly," is preparing his first musical, dubbed "Holler If Ya Hear Me."

Director Kenny Leon says a full cast is ready for the production, which is looking for a home in NYC.

Although the musical won't be biographical, the director tells the Wall Street Journal that it's an anti-violence, "unconditional love story" featuring Shakur's music. It's based on the book by Todd Kreidler.
"When you look at the lyrics of his music, he was always talking about universal things like honor, betrayal, family," Leon told WSJ about the rapper, who was fatally shot in 1996 at 25 years old. "[Tupac] was just trying to talk about life and say something about the country and being an American and raising a family here."

First news of the musical broke in June, but since then, Leon says he has gained a full cast of 24 actors. Leon says the musical has already been workshopped three times.

"We had to have a group of actors that could sing, that could rap, that could dance — that could do hip-hop dance as well as straightforward Broadway musical dance. We had to have a good mix of 24 people who could do it all, but above all we needed actors who could tell the story," he said.

Leon has gotten permission from the late rapper's mother, Afeni Shakur, who is producing the musical with Eric Gold, to use the music. Earlier this year, she announced she would be releasing his full body of work, saying, "My son left many incomplete pieces and even more unfinished ideas. Using the blueprints he gave us, I am committed to fulfilling this duty."

The musical is most likely on its way to the 2013-2014 season, but is still in search for a theater to house it.

Lollapalooza Expands to Argentina, Buenos Aires Fest Planned for 2014

Lady Gaga crowd surfs at g Lollapalooza festival in Grant Park 2010 in Chicago, Ill

Lollapalooza organizers will announce today the expansion to Buenos Aires with Lollapalooza Argentina, a partnership between Lolla founder Perry Farrell, festival co-owner William Morris Endeavor Entertainment, Austin-based promoter/producer C3 Presents, and Latin American promoter Fenix Entertainment Group.  The date and venue for 2014 are yet to be announced, as well as the lineup and ticket pre-sale information. 

Lollapalooza first landed in South America in 2011 in Santiago, Chile, and in 2012 expanded to São Paulo, Brazil. Lollapalooza is the only international festival brand of its kind, including its flagship event at Chicago’s Grant Park. In addition to a diverse slate of music, the festivals also feature local restaurants, green art and vendor markets, a commitment to environmental sustainability, and the rock culture that Lollapalooza has been known for since it was founded by Farrell as a multi-act touring event headlined by his band Jane’s Addiction in 1991. The last Lolla tour was in 2004, and the brand was resurrected in 2005 when Austin-based C3 Presents partnered with WME and Farrell to launch Lollapalooza as a festival in Chicago.
“In the same way that each child is unique born into a family, each Lollapalooza that we spawn is unique,” Farrell says. “I look forward to getting to work with the newest members of our musical family -- Argentina!”