Black Eyed Peas Take The Super Bowl Gig, But Who Should The Producers Have Hired?

After a few weeks of speculation, both the NFL and the band confirmed that the Black Eyed Peas will provide entertainment during halftime at Super Bowl XLV. The quartet, whose new album The Beginning hits store shelves on Tuesday (November 30), will take over the field at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas on February 6 (right after the New York Jets inevitably take the lead over the Green Bay Packers in the big game). They join the likes of U2, Bruce Springsteen, Prince, the Who and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers among contemporary halftime acts who have run the show all by themselves.
Of course, being the Super Bowl halftime headliner is generally a thankless job, as it demands that a group distill their best efforts into only a handful of minutes and puts them in front of a lot of people who wouldn't normally be fans. While the Black Eyed Peas are a reasonable choice for the show (they totally dominated the Billboard charts last year and will probably do the same with The Beginning), but who else might have been better? Here are five picks we might have made before we settled on will.i.am and company.

Kanye West
The guy can do just about anything (he managed to convincingly perform at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, after all) and he put out one of the biggest albums of the year in My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. What better way to complete West's victory lap than with 15 minutes of his particular brand of spectacle?
U2
They had to cancel a bunch of concert dates in the United States this year because of singer Bono's back problems, and even though they're coming back for make-up dates next spring, shouldn't their return to the States be on one of the biggest stages of them all? They've done the gig before, and they have no trouble blowing the roof off of stadiums.
ZZ Top
What's more Texas than ZZ Top? Nothing. The answer is nothing.
Taylor Swift
She already has experience playing in stadiums, and she'll have a lot country music fans hanging around for support. Really, her biggest problem would be figuring out what songs to leave behind in order to present the show on time.
Guns N' Roses
Because Axl is just about due for yet another comeback, and the biggest television stage of the year seems like an appropriate place for it. Plus, "Paradise City" only gets better with age.
Who would you book for the Super Bowl halftime show? Let us know in the comments!

Black Eyed Peas are headed to the Super Bowl

The Black Eyed Peas have sold 28 million albums worldwide, 31 million digital tracks, picked up some Grammys along the way and fresh off their win for Best Pop Group at the American Music Awards, the Peas will be headlining the Super Bowl Halftime Show at Cowboys Stadium on Feb. 6. This marks the first time a pop group has played the Bowl since the 2004 Justin Timberlake/Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction.
And the timing is great. Out this week is "The Beginning," the new album from the Black Eyed Peas featuring the single "The Time (Dirty Bit)" which incorporates a few lines from Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes' Dirty Dancing song "(I've Had) The Time Of My Life." Blending hip hop and dance pop with perfection, pick up "The Beginning" on iTunes or in stores and get ready for a great Superbowl Halftime Show on Feb. 6.
Music Buzz!
Axl Rose has filed a $20 million lawsuit against "Guitar Hero" maker Activision claiming its use of the Guns And Roses song "Welcome to the Jungle" violated a deal not to include any imagery of ex-guitarist Slash on "Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock." Rose said he originally granted the company permission to use the song as long as there were no Velvet Revolver songs in the game, the band co-founded by Slash. The game not only featured Velvet Revolver, but Slash was on the game's cover and was available as a playable avatar. Rose filed his lawsuit last week. "Guitar Hero III" was released in 2007.
Lady Gaga's "60 Minutes" interview with Anderson Cooper will air in February 2011, around the time of the Grammy Awards. Gaga's new album, "Born This Way," is due early next year.
Jason Mraz is the latest artist in a stellar group of performers who have contributed a track to the "A Very Special Christmas" holiday music series benefiting Special Olympics. His recording of "Winter Wonderland" is available now on iTunes. The track will also be offered as a bonus to the purchase of 2009's acclaimed "A Very Special Christmas Volume 7," featuring Colbie Caillat, Miley Cyrus, Kristinia DeBarge, Vanessa Hudgens, Sean Kingston, Leighton Meester, Mitchel Musso, Kellie Pickler, Ashley Tisdale and Carrie Underwood.
Joe Friar is the Program Director at radio station 95 KVIC and the host of the Breakfast Buzz morning show. Weekdays from 6 to 10 a.m. on 95.1 FM in Victoria.

Super Bowl may be in reach after Bears find a new ways to win

CHICAGO — The Bears showcased a new way to win Sunday.

They didn’t convert a third down in the first half, yet still led 21-13 against the hottest team in football.

They called only seven running plays in the first half, yet never trailed after the first 10 minutes.

They torched the Eagles with six plays of at least 28 yards, but also beat them with the drip-drip-drip of a 10-minute, third-quarter drive.

And they won despite forcing just one turnover.

The Bears are not Super Bowl contenders because they beat the NFC-leading Eagles 31-26. They showed the Super Bowl may be within their reach because of how they beat the Eagles.

For 25 years, the Bears have tried to win a Super Bowl with defense and turnovers.

With the exception of the 2000 Ravens, you don’t win that way. Even the 1985 Bears needed a healthy Jim McMahon. Lovie Smith’s Bears also have the Devin Hester factor on kick returns, but that’s still a long-shot. You can’t depend on kick return score every game. Not even with Hester.

Nor can you depend on turnovers.

Philadelphia, tied with Chicago for the NFL lead with 26 takeaways, learned that Sunday when the Bears didn’t turn it over once.

“There are going to be games where you don’t have a turnover,” Eagles coach Andy Reid said. “You’re going to keep battling and fighting and trying to get one, but there are games when that doesn’t happen.”

It didn’t happen much for Chicago, either. The Bears had just one takeaway, an end-zone interception by safety Chris Harris.

“This defense thrives off turnovers,” Harris said. “When we don’t get turnovers, normally we don’t win.”

This was the second time in five years Chicago beat a winning team without creating at least two turnovers. The other was the 2008 season opener against the Colts.

The best teams can stop good teams even when the ball doesn’t bounce their way.

Chicago recovered none of Philadelphia’s four fumbles and still dominated. That’s an impressive sign.

So are runs of 61 and 28 yards by Matt Forte and passes of 39 and 34 yards to Devin Hester, 34 yards to Johnny Knox and 30 yards to Earl Bennett. That is the explosiveness promised by the hiring of offensive coordinator Mike Martz. Yet it wasn’t the all-or-nothing Martz the Bears have often seen. He also mixed in a Ron Turner-like 17-play field goal drive.

“You can’t ask for anything more than that,” Harris said.

The best teams can score quick. And they can score slow. And now the Bears can, too.
“We can hit you from a lot of different places,” Forte said.

As long as they pick the right order to hit from. The Bears called more than twice as many passes as runs in the first half, but finished with more official runs (counting scrambles) than passes for the fourth week in a row.

“The last couple of games it’s been more balanced and you can see the difference between that and the beginning of the year,” Forte said. “If we continue to keep it balanced between the run and the pass, we’ll continue to get better.”

Balance works only when the Bears get off the bus passing and then come out for the second half running. You pass to take the lead in the NFL and run to protect it. Jay Cutler’s 247 yards passing created room for Forte’s 117 yards rushing, not vice versa.

If the run truly set up the pass, Cutler wouldn’t have passed (or scrambled) on 17 consecutive third downs in the win over Minnesota. Nor would Cutler have passed on every third down in that 17-play drive Sunday, when he needed 5, 8, 2 and 5 yards.

“That was the signature moment in the game for us,” Cutler said of the long drive.

It could be the signature win for the Bears. As long as they remember how they won. By passing first, running second, mixing big gains with small ones and playing a defense that doesn’t need to depend on an avalanche of turnovers.

NFL to offer a Super Bowl of Black Eyed Peas

Eating a bowl of black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day will bring prosperity...or so goes the timeless Southern tradition. The National Football League plans to have a prosperous halftime at Super Bowl XLV by serving up The Black Eyed Peas as the featured performer.

At last Thursday’s Dallas Cowboys' game against the New Orleans Saints, the NFL made the announcement that the Grammy award-winning group will perform Feb. 6 at Cowboys Stadium.

The Peas have sold more than 28 million albums worldwide and close to 31 million digital tracks since forming in 1998. Earlier this year, the band made history when Nielsen SoundScan validated the Peas’ history making chart topper “I Gotta Feeling” as the first song to ever hit the 6 million mark in digital downloads.



The song was the triumphant, front running single from the group’s multiplatinum album, The E.N.D., camping at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for fourteen weeks. The successful album spawned The Peas’ first three No. 1 hits. Along with “I Gotta Feeling”, the disk produced “Boom Boom Pow” (twelve weeks at No. 1) and “Imma Be” (two weeks at No. 1).

The Peas’ follow-up album, paradoxically named The Beginning, is set for release on Tuesday.

Based on the response of concert-going fans, the group is just hitting their stride. The Black Eyed Peas were the sixth highest grossing tour (29.5 million) for the first half of 2010 according to Pollstar’s Top 100 North American Tours.

The Peas follow on the heels of some legendary featured performers, including The Who, U2, The Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, Paul McCartney and Prince.

Ravens aren't playing like a Super Bowl contender yet

When the Baltimore Ravens signed explosive receiver Anquan Boldin and brought in veteran T.J. Houshmandzadeh, I thought this team finally had the offensive fire-power to go along with a punishing defense.

No longer would the Ravens be feared on only one side of the ball. With this much talent, hell, 15-1 and 14-2 was very doable. And I know I wasn’t alone in thinking that the Ravens were Super Bowl champions in waiting.

Well, I’m still waiting.


After watching the Ravens limp past Tampa Bay 17-10 in front of 70,989 chilled fans at M & T Bank Stadium, I’m still waiting for this team to get its act together on offense.

I’m still waiting for this team to play the complete game, offensively, defensively and on special teams. Frankly, I’m still waiting for this team to play up to its potential.

Sure, the Ravens are 8-3 and leading the AFC North heading into a monumentally big home contest against rival Pittsburgh. Yes, the most important thing is just winning games and positioning yourself for the playoffs.

But come on, there has to be some concern or sense of urgency about not putting together a dominating performance on both sides of the ball in the same game?

Sunday was a perfect example of what has been wrong with the Ravens this season.

The defense was ferocious. Linebacker Terrell Suggs and the defensive front harassed Bucs quarterback Josh Freeman, holding him to 162 yards and the Bucs offense to only four plays of 15 yards or more.

They contained the angry running LeGarrett Blount to 55 meaningless yards and held the Bucs offense to three points through three quarters. And yet, this was still a football game.

Why, because of an offense that struggled to move the ball and put points on the board. Again.

The Ravens amassed 349 yards of offense, 92 of which were on the ground. That is 24 yards below the rushing average for the season.

The Big O scored 17 points, all of which came in the first half. Are you kidding me? Against a Bucs defense that is 16th overall and 29th against the run!

Keep in mind, 65 of those yards came on a busted play in which Todd Heap got behind linebackers Barrett Ruud and Quincy Black for a second quarter touchdown.

There was also a pass interference call near the end of the first half that could have been a no-call and put the Ravens inside the red zone. On the next play, Joe Flacco hit Derrick Mason for a 10-yard score.

“We are putting the pieces together every day,” RB Ray Rice said. “No matter what you see, we are still winning.

“There is only one ball to go around. That’s tough on us, because we all want the ball. But we are playing together, and we are going to get it. In the meantime, we are still winning.”

That’s nice. But it didn’t happen in Cincinnati. It didn’t happen in New England. And it didn’t happen in Atlanta two weeks ago.

The good news is that the defense was able to watch the final seconds tick off the clock. You can thank Rice for that, as he touched the ball on five straight plays on the final drive and picked up three first downs.

“That was huge,” Rice said. “The defense trusted us. They played their butt off, and we took it from there. They do for us, and we needed to do it for them.”

Now all they have to do is do it for each other, for four quarters in the same game.

Next week against the Steelers would be a good time to start. If not, all those Super Bowl dreams might go up in smoke.