Everyone knows that through fan voting, the NBA All-Star game is really more of a popularity contest than it is about seeing the best in the game; and this year the two just happen to coincide. We don’t know who will make up the final teams for either conference yet, but we do know who the front-runners are.

The current poll results were announced by the NBA on Thursday of last week and according to that, Dwight Howard has received 1.16 million votes to take the spot of the starting center for the Eastern conference; that’s more votes than any other player in the league has received for any position during voting so far. As for whom he’ll play with, LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony will most likely take the spots of starting forwards, with 970,000 and 780,000 votes respectively.

It’s the guard position that’s got all the votes in the West, and Bryant’s name is at the top of the list. While Byrant did receive over 1 million votes, he was still short of Howard’s numbers by about 50,000 votes. Other top contenders for the spot were Chris Paul (835,000 votes) and Ricky Rubio (600,000 votes.) As for whom Howard will most likely face at tip-off time? That will probably be Andrew Bynum, who’s currently ahead of his stiffest competition, DeAndre Jordan, by about 500,000 votes. Kevin Durant will also likely represent the West as the starting forward, with just about 1 million votes so far; Dirk Nowitzki and Blake Griffin are both his biggest competition, with the latter being ahead in the voting by about 260,000.

Of course looking at the numbers right now only gives us a good guess at who the teams will be. But with the starting lineup being solely based on these votes, a look at the numbers may be all we need. As for the reserve teams? Those will be decided by the coaches of the teams, which will be the coach of the team in each conference that holds the best record of the season as of January 31.

The announcement of who the coaches will be should come shortly after January 31, as it only takes a peek at the stats to find out. Meanwhile, the starting lineups for both teams will be announced on February 2, with the complete lineups being released on February 9.

Voting hasn’t been closed just yet and those who want to do so have until January 31 to get their say in. Those who want to place their vote need to visit the NBA website here, sign up to become an NBA All-Access member and then place their vote. With the game coming up on February 26, it’s a great way to get in on the action!

Thursday night proved to be one of the moments that makes hockey so great. Going into their game against the Boston Bruins, all the talk was about the comments power forward Mike Cammelleri had made to the press the day before. As the hockey game continued, that talk would get louder.

Coming off the ice after practice with his Montreal Canadiens teammates on Wednesday, Cammalleri was quoted saying to two reporters, “I can’t accept that we will display a losing attitude as we’re doing this year. We prepare for games like losers. We play like losers. So it’s no wonder why we lose.” The comments were harsh, even if they were what everyone in Montreal was thinking, and frowned upon in the world of hockey etiquette. But just how bad were those words, really? And how much would Cammalleri have to pay for saying them?

Prior to the game, head coach Randy Cunneyworth said that Cammalleri “had a right to his own opinion” and that “if he wanted more ice time, he’d have to play better.” While Cunneyworth did seem poised during his own statement, it seems he and Canadiens execs were fuming inside. After dressing Cammalleri for the Boston game, and allowing him to play for two periods, the forward was told to leave the ice, go back to the hotel and await further instructions. Those, as he and the world were soon to find out, were going to be to get on the next flight to Calgary, where he was now a member of the Flames.

The deal gives Cammalleri to the Flames along with Karri Ramo and a fifth round draft pick in 2012, in exchange for Rene Bourque, who will go play for Montreal in addition with Patrick Holland and a second round draft pick in 2013. Jay Feaster, Calgary Flames GM, said that the deal has been in the works for weeks and has little to do with Cammalleri’s remarks, but the timing seems odd for it and many are saying that even dressing Cammalleri for the game shows the lack of organization and professionalism that Montreal has shown all year.

So how does Cammalleri feel about the trade? Well, he’s going back to a team he’s played for before, and a team and city that he loves. And his new general manager, says “When I called him, the first thing out of his mouth was ‘What are we? Four points back? I can’t wait to get there. I’ll tell you — there’s an excited hockey player coming to Calgary.”

And how does Feaster feel about having a somewhat loose cannon as part of his team? In his own words, “For me to hear the passion, the emotion, the enthusiasm, that he had when I called him, I’ll take that. Because that’s what I want — I want that passion. That’s something we need in our locker room.”

“This is how you remind me…” to buy Nickelback concert tickets, that is!  Nickelback is back with a brand new album and is touring the U.S. once again.  This Canadian rock band has been together since 1995 and rose to fame in the 2000s.  Since then, they have sold more than 50 million albums worldwide.  Since the start, Chad Kroeger has done lead vocals with Mike Kroeger on bass and Ryan Peake on guitar.  The drummer position has fluctuated a bit, though the current drummer has been with the band since 2005 and his name is Daniel Adair. 

Nickelback’s 2011 album Silver Side Up was their breakthrough album, which went six times platinum in the US.  “How You Remind Me” was the best single from the album, as it hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100.  Other great singles from the album included “Too Bad”, “Never Again” and “Woke Up This Morning”.  Chad Kroeger is the real deal, as he writes many of the song lyrics himself.  Fans love this band’s powerful rock anthems and the lyrics have often been said to be very personal to Kroeger himself. 

In the band’s spare time, they try to do a little charity work.  In 2011, they donated $50,000 dollars to the British Columbia’s Children’s Hospital, which specializes in health care for sick children and those with developmental disabilities.  The band also performed for the WWE Tribute to the Troops. 

In September 2011, Nickelback gave the announcement of their newest album to be released entitled “Here and Now”.  The album includes the singles “Bottoms Up” and “When We Stand Together” which they performed live at Ford Field in Detroit.  The album was officially released in November 2011.  Have you heard the latest album?  Many fans are giving it high reviews, and are dying to hear the new songs sung live and in person. 

Nickelback is currently touring with a number of other well known bands and is scheduled to make many stops across the United States and Canada.  If you want to hear your old favorite or brand new songs sung live then be sure to get tickets before they sell out! 

The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, better known to festival-goers as simply Coachella, was set to have a huge lineup this year with Black Sabbath coming together for a reunion hard rock fans weren’t soon to forget. It was a huge disappointment when just prior to the official lineup announcement, Black Sabbath had to withdraw after finding out that guitarist Tony Iommi had been diagnosed with lymphoma. Coachella organizers seemed to be fully prepared for such an event, quickly coming out with the fill-in lineup. But sloppy seconds these are not.

Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg are set to fill in for the show’s finale spot which it’s thought had been originally slotted for Black Sabbath. It seems the two hip hop stars may have already been scheduled for the show, but The Black Keys did not appear in the original lineup and they now too, along with Radiohead, will step in to fill out the show.

The lineup switch-up sets the tone for another twist the show will take: this is the first year that the festival will run for two weekends in a row, with the same lineup playing all dates. Those dates are April 13 – 15 and April 20 – 22 and the festival will be held in Indio, California. Other artists to take the stage include Pulp, the Arctic Monkeys, and the High Flying Birds, which is a band formed by former Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher.

The festival is sure to be three days full of some great hip hop and rock from all around the world! You can buy a full-weekend festival pass, and they go on sale on this week.

Who’s aching to see some new David Lee Roth material? We’re right there with you, and that’s why we couldn’t be more excited about the new tour and the new album that Van Halen has planned for release! Of course, Van Halen has released albums in the past, but it’s been over a decade since any new material has been released, and 28 long years since fans have heard that classic rocker voice of Roth. But now, the time has come!

In less than one week, on January 10 to be exact, the band will release the first album off their 12^th studio album. That song is called “Tattoo” and it’s just a teaser, not only for their album but for their huge upcoming tour too! That news was announced at about the same time news of the new record was released, and Van Halen announced it in the same fashion you’d expect — through a series of rocker videos set to some of their best songs. The videos don’t actually say too much about the tour, except that tickets for the tour will go on sale on January 10^th as well. And yes, that’s the same day you can download the band’s new “Tattoo.”

This album will be the first time David Lee Roth has performed with the band since the album 1984, which was released the same year. Soon after recording that album, Roth left the group and was replaced by Sammy Hagar. Hagar will not be performing, nor will original bassist Mike Anthony, who’s now left the band to play with Hagar in a band called Chickenfoot. But, Alex and Eddie Van Halen will be there along with, of course, David Lee Roth.

A complete listing of dates and venues for the tour has not yet been released by the band, but there are promises that we’ll have those by the time tickets start going on sale. We do know that the tour will kick off in Louisville, Kentucky next month and if you want more information,visit the StubPass.com Van Halen tickets page.

So go ahead and “Jump!” Van Halen is coming soon to a city near you!

Toby Keith has been a busy boy this year, first traveling around on the “Locked and Loaded” tour with Eric Church and JT Hodges, and then performing on Fox’s New Year’s Eve special. It seems that latter performance was a warm-up for a slew of festival and casino dates that he’s scheduled for 2012, and we can only hope that there are many more to come!

The first show for Keith will be held on February 2, where he’ll perform at the Turning Stone Casino in Verona, New York before playing on February 3 at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut. Following those shows Keith will take a few months off before playing two nights each for the months of June, July and August at various festivals throughout the United States and Canada.

The scattered tour will be in promotion of his 15^th studio album, “Clancy’s Tavern,” which was released on October 21, 2011, and which also helped Keith earn the Artist of the Decade award at the American Country Music Awards on April 3, 2011. It was during his acceptance speech that Keith talked about how much he loved being on tour when he said, “You guys keeps us out on the road and keep requesting stuff and keep us in business. We had a great decade, and I hope we have another one.”

From the looks of it, he’s going to get it! To check out all the dates and venues, at StubPass.com. You never know when more dates will be added! Get your Toby Keith tickets today.

He may have started off as Captain Kirk of the Starship Enterprise, but now he’s mostly known for that charming, quirky personality. And whether he’s playing Denny Crane on The Practice or just showing audiences weird and wacky things on Weird or What, Shatner’s own unique personality shines through. Now, Broadway audiences will get the chance to sit through two hours of Shatner’s personality as he’s bringing his own one-man show to the big stage!

Shatner may seem like an odd choice for the Broadway stage, but it’s actually where the actor began his career over 50 years ago. But the audiences of “Shatner’s World: We’re Just Living In It,” won’t be able to tell any time has passed at all, as Shatner will recount experiences he’s had with fans while promoting his books.

The show comes at a time when Broadway had a spot to fill after “Private Lives“ starring Kim Catrall, had its show scheduled to be cut short on December 31. The show will begin running in February before going on a 15-week national tour; but people are already talking that this show is going to be such a hit that it won’t be long before it comes back to Broadway for a longer sting.

First Hugh Jackman and now William Shatner, looks like one-man shows are coming back to Broadway! Who would you like to see in a one-man show?

The simple line “and it was all yellow” is enough for true fans to know exactly what band we are talking about.  The hit song “Yellow” was released in 2000 by the British alternative band known as Coldplay.  Coldplay was formed in 1996 and key members include singer Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman, and drummer Will Champion.  Their musical style has been referred to as “blue romantic” or “melodic pop”.

So far, the band’s albums have included the beloved Parachutes (featuring the singles “Yellow”, “Trouble”, and “Shiver”), A Rush of Blood to the Head (released in 2002, with popular singles “Clocks”, “The Scientist” and “In My Place”), X&Y (in 2005, which had a number of hits including “Talk”, “Fix You”, and “Speed of Sound”), and Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends (released in 2008 with hits “Viva la Vida” and “Strawberry Swing”).

The band’s latest album was released October 24, 2011 and is titled Mylo Xyloto.  Already it has received three Grammy nominations for the singles “Paradise and “Every Teardrop is a Waterfall”.  Besides great music and talent the band is also known for being active supporters for many major causes. 

In between writing their next big hit and touring the world, the band finds the time to support Amnesty International, the “Make Trade Fair” campaign, “Make Poverty History” campaign, as well as playing for charity at concerts such as Band Aid 20, Live 8, Sound Relief, and Teenage Cancer Trust.  They have also teamed up with famous band member and activist Paul McCartney in the food campaign “Meat Free Monday”, which is trying to encourage people to help slow down the climate change.  They have also had their share of controversy because of strong political opinions, most recently with their opinions on the “Freedom for Palestine” music video.

From their charity work to fantastic music, there is plenty to love about the band Coldplay.  Listening to the newest album is great, but nothing beats hearing them performed live and in person!  Coldplay is on tour again and may be making it to your hometown. 

Come hear the band that has been nominated for over 20 Grammy Awards live!

Some of the biggest acts are coming from around the country but for this music festival, it’s all about the local feel! The Jukebox Music Festival is going to hit the Shasta District Fair grounds in Anderson in Redding, California in July of 2012. It’s the first time for the festival to be held, and it’s all for a good local cause.

The money raised from the event will go right back into the Shasta District Fair, an event that saw much of its funding cut from the state’s budget last year. The current budget sits just under $1 million but organizers are hoping to recover some of those losses by making $15,000 – $20,000 over the course of the fair, an amount that’s about 10% of what was cut. From the sounds of the lineup, and the course of events that are scheduled, it sounds like they might just be making up all of the losses, and then some.

Alan Jackson is the biggest name, and will be headlining the event but other huge country acts will also be there including: Kellie Pickler, Joe Nichols, Ricky Skaggs, Pam Tillis, Mark Chestnutt, Daryle Singletary, and Asleep at the Wheel. In addition to that, people can set up camp anywhere on the fairgrounds in an RV or tent and spend the entire three days right in the middle of everything. To keep them entertained and refreshed, there are currently about 100 vendors also set up to serve festival-goers.

Tickets for the July 2012 Jukebox Music Festival have already gone on sale for a limited time until Friday, December 23. Once they go back on sale on February 1, they’ll cost about a bit more. Stay tuned for the Jukebox Music Fesival tickets on StubPass.com.

Rihanna has teased fans before, but this time she does it with her new video for “You Da One,” the full version of which is going to be released soon and comes from her sixth album, “Talk That Talk,” which came out on November 21. The teaser preview is more than just clips and pieces of the new video though, in it Ri-Ri takes fans behind the scenes in the making of the video. Not a new idea for artists but when it comes to Rihanna, just about everything seems fresh.

The video touches on a lot of different sides of Rihanna, but if there’s one thing that’s clear it’s that Rihanna can be just about anybody, wear just about anything, and flash just about any style, and she’ll pull it off flawlessly. In the video Rihanna goes back and forth between working the Clockwork Orange look with a white bowler hat and cane to elegant leather pants (yes, Rihanna can make even leather pants look elegant,) and there’s lots of bling in every scene!

The video does show a more subdued side of Rihanna, and perhaps that’s because she was so tired from string of concerts she was performing at the O2 Arena at the time. The video was shot in East London, in between concert performances. Much of the behind-the-scenes footage shows Rihanna talking about how tired she is and how she “won’t even remember this tomorrow!” 

The only word so far about when the full video will be released is “very soon.” Other than that, all Rihanna has to say about the video is that “it’s kind of infectious. The more you listen to it, the more you want to listen to it. It’s kind of dirty, I like it.” Fans are saying otherwise though, as Rihanna does seem to keep herself entirely clothed in the video, at least from what we’ve seen so far. To check out the teaser clip and find out if you want to see more, find it here.