Jay Z

How is a two-day concert on the Parkway gonna charge for tickets and keep people from just standing around watching free? We're still waiting for the city and concert promoter Live Nation to answer this one. But Monday morning, Jay-Z joined Mayor Nutter atop the Art Museum steps to announce what we reported Saturday at PhillyGossip.com and had in print Monday, that the Budweiser Made in America festival will take place Sept. 1 and 2. Tickets are $99 for a two-day pass and are on sale May 23 at LiveNation.com and Ticketmaster.com.

Two-day passes for Philadelphia's Made in America music festival were set to go on sale at 10 this morning via Ticketmaster and LiveNation.com . Admission for both days of the Sept. 1-2 Parkway party ranges from $99 to $655 for the priciest VIP packages. For details about a shot at the limited number of $99 tickets, check Made in America's Facebook page . Along with Jay-Z's considerable star power and unassailable skills, Made in America mixes in one classic rock-friendly headliner in Pearl Jam with a significant dose of hip-hop, R&B and an especially impressive selection of electronic music, plus a smattering of indie-rock.

With Mayor Nutter as his opening act, hip-hop mogul and rapper Jay-Z stood atop the Philadelphia Museum of Art steps. His theme: Made in America, the music festival - announced Monday morning - that will take over the Benjamin Franklin Parkway on Labor Day weekend. Jay-Z, whose given name is Shawn Carter, was saying he embarks on a venture only if it has potential to be great. Just then, a fan shouted, "You're the best, Hov!", a shortening of "Jayhova," one of the MC's noms de rap. Without missing a beat, Jay-Z answered back: "I agree.

Pearl Jam, the Seattle grunge survivors fronted by Eddie Vedder who closed down the Spectrum in South Philadelphia in 2009 with four sold-out shows, will headline the "Made in America" festival in Philadelphia on Sept. 1 and 2 along with Jay-Z. Other notable acts added to the lineup on Monday included Skrillex, the electronic producer and DJ (born Sonny Moore) who won three Grammy Awards this year and has become the face of dubstep, the throbbing, bass-heavy dance music; Maybach Music, the alliance of hip-hop heavyweight Rick Ross, Washington rapper Wale, and Philadelphia's Meek Mill; the formerly reclusive, now resurgent soul man D'Angelo; Dutch DJ Afrojack; the acclaimed Brooklyn indie-rock band Dirty Projectors; genre-smashing avant-pop acts Janelle Monáe and Santigold (the Philadelphia-reared songwriter Santi White)

AT MONDAY'S news conference announcing Jay-Z's Budweiser music festival, a fan shouted out, "You're the best, Hov!" "I agree," he said. I don't. Not to sound like an old fogy, but hits of his such as "99 Problems" may be catchy, but I can't get with all the b-words and other misogynistic lyrics in Jay-Z's music. It felt bizarre to me to see the performer of such awful songs as "Big Pimpin'" and "Girls, Girls, Girls" standing with Mayor Nutter acting like some kind of hero.

JAY-Z WILL join Mayor Nutter atop the Art Museum steps at 10:30 Monday morning to announce a multiday concert festival on Labor Day weekend called Made in America. The New York Times reported Sunday night that the Budweiser Made in America festival will feature 28 bands over two nights, Sept. 1 and 2, in Fairmount Park. The location of Monday morning's announcement could indicate the Parkway. A portion of proceeds are to benefit the United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey.

Several weeks back, when Jay-Z performed with break-dancing hoopsters on the steps of the Met for the MTV Video Music Awards, I thought Jigga had gone performance-art. The stage set up for Monday's sold-out Roc-A-Fella-label jam at the Electric Factory reinforced the thought. With a stocked bar, saloon stools occupied by Jay's peeps, and a DJ where a barkeep might be, the Lounge Tour production came across as a hip-hop talk show with Jay as intelligent, opinionated, humorous, boasting host.

For the final song before his encore, during his electric, 90-minute show at the Fillmore at the TLA on Monday, Jay-Z did "Big Pimpin'. " Or, rather, his audience did it for him. The 37-year-old rapper, mogul and boyfriend of Beyonc? is that rare MC who commands a room without raising his voice. In this instance he didn't even have to open his mouth. There were about a thousand souls packed into the South Street venue, making for a rare, intimate gathering for an arena-size act like the rhymer born Shawn Carter.

If you're an amazing athlete, musician or artist, staying in school may not help you with your career. But most people aren't one-in-a-million talents. They need an education. Jay-Z gets that. So even though he didn't graduate high school, he's not recommending that as a path to wealth and fame. Beyonce 's husband announced yesterday that he will perform two shows at Carnegie Hall in February to benefit the Shawn Carter Scholarship Foundation and the United Way of NYC. "Education is super important," he said.

Sorry, I don't wish to be a "party pooper" but the grandstanding of Mayor Nutter and Jay-Z on the Art Museum steps was not cute at all! It sent a bad message! America is not a "straight country" anymore. Too many mixed messages. Sell drugs and shoot people (including family members) to get your start-up money and just maybe … just maybe one day you will stand next to the mayor of a major city. Why? To promote a concert called "Made In America. " In addition to that, just maybe … just maybe you will own a percentage of an NBA basketball team.

Two-day passes for Philadelphia's Made in America music festival were set to go on sale at 10 this morning via Ticketmaster and LiveNation.com . Admission for both days of the Sept. 1-2 Parkway party ranges from $99 to $655 for the priciest VIP packages. For details about a shot at the limited number of $99 tickets, check Made in America's Facebook page . Along with Jay-Z's considerable star power and unassailable skills, Made in America mixes in one classic rock-friendly headliner in Pearl Jam with a significant dose of hip-hop, R&B and an especially impressive selection of electronic music, plus a smattering of indie-rock.

Pearl Jamand Philly-raised Santigold are among top artists who will perform along with Jay-Z at the Budweiser Made in America festival over Labor Day Weekend. Dirty Projectors, Skrillex, Afrojack, Odd Future and Mike Snow are also performing over the two-day event, Sept. 1 and 2, along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. We reported the lineup's biggest names Monday morning at PhillyGossip.com after noting that an apparent Ticketmaster goof had prematurely listed acts online Friday.

AT MONDAY'S news conference announcing Jay-Z's Budweiser music festival, a fan shouted out, "You're the best, Hov!" "I agree," he said. I don't. Not to sound like an old fogy, but hits of his such as "99 Problems" may be catchy, but I can't get with all the b-words and other misogynistic lyrics in Jay-Z's music. It felt bizarre to me to see the performer of such awful songs as "Big Pimpin'" and "Girls, Girls, Girls" standing with Mayor Nutter acting like some kind of hero.

With Mayor Nutter as his opening act, hip-hop mogul and rapper Jay-Z stood atop the Philadelphia Museum of Art steps. His theme: Made in America, the music festival - announced Monday morning - that will take over the Benjamin Franklin Parkway on Labor Day weekend. Jay-Z, whose given name is Shawn Carter, was saying he embarks on a venture only if it has potential to be great. Just then, a fan shouted, "You're the best, Hov!", a shortening of "Jayhova," one of the MC's noms de rap. Without missing a beat, Jay-Z answered back: "I agree.

JAY-Z WILL join Mayor Nutter atop the Art Museum steps at 10:30 Monday morning to announce a multiday concert festival on Labor Day weekend called Made in America. The New York Times reported Sunday night that the Budweiser Made in America festival will feature 28 bands over two nights, Sept. 1 and 2, in Fairmount Park. The location of Monday morning's announcement could indicate the Parkway. A portion of proceeds are to benefit the United Way of Greater Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey.

How is a two-day concert on the Parkway gonna charge for tickets and keep people from just standing around watching free? We're still waiting for the city and concert promoter Live Nation to answer this one. But Monday morning, Jay-Z joined Mayor Nutter atop the Art Museum steps to announce what we reported Saturday at PhillyGossip.com and had in print Monday, that the Budweiser Made in America festival will take place Sept. 1 and 2. Tickets are $99 for a two-day pass and are on sale May 23 at LiveNation.com and Ticketmaster.com.

I HAVE STRONGLY resisted the urge of accepting the concept of a post-racial America often pushed by members of the right, as well as their cries for less government. In part this is due to a sneaking suspicion on my part that has some significant historical basis. To some, less government is a good thing, and certainly there should be a happy medium. I am less inclined to have a knee-jerk reaction to say "yay" to such a concept. You see, it was government intervention that passed Brown v. the Board of Education regarding equality in education, and laws striking down miscegenation, as well as host of other draconian post-slavery legislation meant to continue the enforcement of social-exclusion policies (i.e., equal access to public places, transportation, voting rights etc.)

Blue Ivy Carter made her public debut Saturday when Beyoncé Knowles and Jay-Z took their 7-week-old daughter to lunch at Sant Ambroeus in Manhattan's West Village. The "Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)" singer, 30, held her newborn close in a blue BabyBjorn. Moving on Mary Jo Buttafuoco , who was shot in the face by her husband's teenage lover nearly 20 years ago, remarried in Las Vegas on Saturday. TMZ.com reports she used her maiden name, Connery , when she exchanged vows with Stu Tendler , said to manage a Vegas print shop.