In an interesting twist of fate, newly-appointed Smashing Pumpkins bassist Nicole Fiorentino has admitted to being one of the two girls on the cover of Siamese Dream. A former member of Spinnerette and Veruca Salt, the 31 year-old musician says she was initially reluctant to tell Billy Corgan the news, fearing that he wouldn’t let her join the group. [NME.com]

John Strauss, celebrated composer of the Car 54, Where Are You? theme music and the “Amadeus” soundtrack, passed away earlier this week after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease. [Spinner.com]

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R.I.P. Rick Kulwicki of the Fluid, the first band that Sub Pop signed that wasn’t from Seattle. Kulwicki, a Denver, CO-based guitarist, died on Tuesday at age 49; the cause of death has not been released. He also played with the punk band the Frantix and more recently performed with the Buckingham Squares. A single father to two sons, Kulwicki is also survived by his mother and two sisters. [Spinner.com]

Lady Gaga already made headlines earlier in the week for her Grammys getup, but she wore something nearly as outrageous for her Thursday morning appearance on Good Morning America. The singer appeared on the show in a pink latex outfit inspired by condoms to promote AIDS awareness and discussed the success of her single “Born This Way,” saying, “… The song, when I wrote it, I just knew it was destined to reach so many people all over the world, and the most humbling thing for me, this past weekend, has been watching the fans just harness onto the record—and people that weren’t my fans before, really, really enjoying the music and feeling uplifted and a sense of positivity.” [Idolator.com]

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A concert is in the works by a bevy of artists to perform ’70s cult rock icon Big Star’s infamously troubled final album Third/Sister Lovers. Included in the live show are such artists as Norman Blake of Teenage Fanclub, Mitch Easter of Let’s Active, Ira Kaplan of Yo La Tengo, and others. The concert, which will feature the album’s entire tracklist as well as other Big Star and Chris Bell songs, is set to take place March 26th at Baruch College’s Mason Hall in New York City. [Jambase.com]

Blur guitarist Graham Coxon says it’s likely that the Brit-rock ensemble will record new music this year. Speaking to NME, Coxon says it might take as long as six years for the album to be released. As for his solo career, Coxon says he has two solo albums in the works, as well as a single with singer Paloma Faith and former Coral guitarist Bill Ryder-Jones. The trio recorded the single for Converse, and it’s set for release in April. [NME.com]

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About ten seconds into your first listen to Dream Diary’s debut album You Are the Beat, you’ll know that the New York band is well acquainted with the Sarah records catalog. You’ll get the idea that their favorite incarnation of Primal Scream is the one who released “Velocity Girl;” that they are well-versed in the melodic arts as practiced by groups from the Monkees (“Daydream Believer”) to Belle & Sebastian (“Another Sunny Day”); and that they’ve had their young hearts broken a few times. Though their sound has clear antecedents, don’t get the idea that their tenderly constructed, brilliantly played songs are merely recreations of the past glories of bands like Brighter, the Orchids or East Village.

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The lineup for Bonnaroo’s 10th annual festival was announced earlier this afternoon. Headliners include Arcade Fire, Eminem, and Bonnaroo mainstays Widespread Panic, while the rest of the lineup includes 2010’s crop of best new artists (Florence + the Machine, Mumford and Sons) 2011’s crop of up-and-comers (The Head and the Heart), enduring legends (Loretta Lynn, Buffalo Springfield), and more than 100 other groups. [Bonnaroo.com]

Lady Gaga, who took home three Grammy Awards on Sunday night, will tape a concert special for HBO this month. “Lady Gaga Presents the Monster Ball Tour at Madison Square Garden” will be filmed next week during Gaga’s two-night residency at the Manhattan venue. The concert will air on HBO on May 7th. [MTV.com]

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Almost seven years have passed since the release of Teedra Moses’ debut album, Complex Simplicity. One of the finest pop-R&B albums of the last 10 years, it dealt penthouse soul via the street, with some of the slickest, most sophisticated productions — featuring collaborations with pre-fame Ne-Yo on several vocal arrangements — as a backdrop for raw lines like “And listen daddy I’m too cute to fight/You better get that bitch told tonight” and “When I spit my ‘g’ at you, I bet you won’t know how to act.” Even when factoring Top 20 placement on Billboard’s R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and a couple minor hits, including “Be Your Girl,” spun by DJ Quik at the Bat Mitzvah of Ari Gold’s daughter in a 2005 episode of Entourage, the album did not get the amount of promotion or attention it deserved. Moses’ label, TVT, was more invested in Lil Jon, Ying Yang Twins, and Pitbull, and it went bankrupt in early 2008, as the singer and songwriter was poised to release her follow-up.

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Sunday night’s 2011 Grammy Awards were full of surprises going way beyond Lady Gaga arriving to the show in an egg. The night’s biggest upset was either Arcade Fire’s The Suburbs winning Album of the Year over albums by Eminem, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga and Lady Antebellum, or Esperanza Spalding winning Best New Artist over Justin Bieber. The other Album of the Year nominees didn’t go home empty handed, however. Eminem’s Recovery won Best Rap Album, Lady Gaga’s The Fame Monster won Best Pop/Vocal Album and Lady Antebellum’s Need You Now won Best Country album, while its title track won Song of the Year. La Roux’s self-titled debut won Best Electronic/Dance Album; Muse’s The Resistance won Best Rock Album; the Black Keys’ “Brothers” won Best Alternative Music Album and Usher’s Raymond V Raymond won Best Contemporary R&B Album. Standout performances during the show included Cee-Lo Green and Gwyneth Paltrow’s Muppet-assisted duet “F*ck You” and John Mayer, Norah Jones and Keith Urban’s cover of Dolly Parton’s “Jolene.” [Hitfix.com; Billboard.com; Popdust.com; Spinner.com; CoverMeSongs.com]

R.I.P. jazz pianist and composer George Shearing, who died of cardiac arrest Monday in New York at age 91. Shearing, who was blind since birth, began his career in his native England and moved to the U.S. after World War II, playing with large groups as well as his critically acclaimed quintet. The group’s hits included “September in the Rain” and the standard “Lullaby of Birdland,” which Shearing wrote. [WashingtonPost.com]

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