– Everyone’s talking about how irrelevant the VMA’s have become, and I guess my response is “what took you so long?” But there HAVE been moments on the VMA’s over the years that stand out. Madonna writhing on the stage, Diana Ross feeling up Lil’ Kim, Howard Stern attempting to mainstream Fartman…it’s all happened there. But in the grand scheme of the music, which is supposedly something they care about, they lost any cred a long time ago by NOT PLAYING IT. So thanks, MTV, for relegating music to a Friday night show for new music, and the unwatchable TRL. I’ll stick with VH1 Classic over some of the crap you’re showing these days.

– Beyonce announced today that she is hitting the industry with both barrels blazing, releasing “If I Were a Boy” and “Single Ladies” to radio in early October. Whether these songs will be released to different radio formats wasn’t mentioned in the press release, but it’s an interesting strategy. Her as-of-now untitled follow-up to 2006’s “B’day” is slated to drop November 18, which arrives just in time for the holidays. I’m sure this pleases the suits at Columbia, but I’m wondering what happened to “Beautiful Nightmare”. No full track listing has been released yet, so it remains to be seen whether this jam ends up on the final or not.

This should be an interesting record to watch, as a lot of Beyonce’s contemporaries have fallen flat on their faces after promising starts. After fast starts in their first weeks, heavy hitters like Mariah, Madonna and Usher haven’t been able to sustain any consistent sales on their newest CD’s, and none of them are likely to regain any momentum this late in the cycle. Between B and Kanye, it may turn out to be a bright holiday for retailers.

– Just got a little reminder from a work-related newsletter that the Janet Jackson tour hits Detroit the day I drive out of Michigan for Colorado, which leads me to wonder if this tour is actually generating interest. I really haven’t seen a lot of buzz on it, but they do keep adding shows. Although I don’t know if the Turning Stone Casino in Verona, NY (outside of Syracuse, my hometown) really counts as a big addition…

– Several reviews coming up in the next week, including The Game, NKOTB, and Little Jackie.