News Roundup: 2/10/2011

The Grammys saved the announcement of some of the best — or at least biggest — names to perform on Sunday’s awards show for last. Bob Dylan will perform a tribute to acoustic music, joined by the Avett Brothers and Mumford & Sons. Mumford & Sons, who are nominated for Best New Artist and Best Rock Song, will play their song “The Cave,” while the Avett Brothers will follow with “Head Full of Doubt, Road Full of Promise” and Dylan will close the tribute with an original song. Meanwhile, Dr. Dre and Eminem will also perform at the show, marking Dre’s Grammy debut. Lady Gaga, Arcade Fire, Barbra Streisand, Gwyneth Paltrow and Cee Lo Green and Miranda Lambert are among the other artists on the event’s star-studded set list. [Billboard.com]
Speaking of the Grammys, nominee Janelle Monae was honored at Essence magazine’s second-annual Black Women in Music pre-Grammy event. Monae, whose album The ArchAndroid is up for Best Contemporary R&B Album and whose song “Tightrope” is nominated for Best Urban/Alternative Performance, thanked P. Diddy and OutKast’s Big Boi for giving “a girl from Kansas” a shot. [AOLNews.com]
After 11 weeks on the Billboard Hot 200 Albums Chart, Nicki Minaj’s Pink Friday reached the number one spot. The album has sold over one million copies. [Gigwise.com]
Once seen as the potential saving grace of the music and video game industries, the Guitar Hero is no more. Activision announced on Wednesday that it had canceled the series and its like-minded spinoff DJ Hero. Said Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg in an investor call, “Despite a remarkable 92 rating on DJ Hero 2, a widely well-regarded Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock, as well as a 90-plus rated release from our most direct competitor [Rock Band 3], demand for peripheral-based music games declined at a dramatic pace. Given the considerable licensing and manufacturing costs associated with this genre, we simply cannot make these games profitably based on current economics and demand.” However, Activision has also stated that downloadable content for both music game series will continue to be available. [ConsequenceofSound.net]
First came the Wavves marijuana grinder, then the Wavves rolling papers, and now, Nathan Williams is working on a strain of Wavves-branded weed. Also in Williams’ pipeline is a comic book co-written with a friend. [Spinner.com]
American Idol rolled into San Francisco for Wednesday night’s auditions show, spotlighting talent like the Adam Lambert-esque James Durbin, who sang Aerosmith’s “Dream On” after getting permission from Steven Tyler. [MTV.com]
A/V Roundup: The Black Keys’ video for “Howlin’ for You” plays like a B-movie trailer; Hot Chip’s Alexis Taylor lends his vocals to Win Win’s “Interleave”; J Mascis shares another song from his upcoming album Several Shades of Why; and the Kills turn in a dark and slinky video for their single “Satellite”. [HitFix.com; FactMag.com; SlicingUpEyeballs.com; SomeKindofAwesome.com]