Celebrity Mound

The pop princess was slated to perform tomorrow at M2 — the West 27th Street nightclub that used to be Crobar and Mansion — as part of the launch of her “I Am . . . Sasha Fierce” North American tour. M2 owner Joey Morrissey agreed to pay the singer $200,000 for the gig, he says.

But on Wednesday, Beyoncé’s people suddenly pulled the plug on the performance, despite having signed a contract that had prompted Morrissey to spend $100,000 preparing for the show, according to the clubowner. “They said they were too busy with the launching of the tour and that they wouldn’t have time to do the kickoff party,” Morrissey tells Page Six.

To make up for the cancellation, Morrissey says Beyoncé offered to stop by the club “to hang out for an hour” on Sunday. He adds, “I mean, we sold tables for thousands of dollars for the show, and spent $100,000 renting a soundboard and other equipment, as per their stipulations. What good does her showing up for an hour do me? They’ve been totally unwilling to agree to another show.”

As a result, Morrissey says he’s now preparing to file suit against Beyoncé, claiming his place has suffered a “loss of reputation” in addition to the sunk cash. “We had an overwhelming response from our clubgoers, who were lining up to buy tickets and tables. This will come as a great disappointment to all of them,” he claims, adding, “If Beyoncé cancels and doesn’t give us a new date, this hurts our credibility in night life.”

The gig, which was initially posted on the singer’s Web site, has since been taken down. A rep for Beyoncé at Sony did not respond to our phone calls and e-mails.

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Talk about curbside service!

While in London, Beyonce Knowles reportedly took a caravan of cars to transport herself and her entourage across the street.
The singer, who was staying at the Madarin Oriental hotel in Hyde Park, left her abode to go shopping at the famed Harvey Nichols department store.

The request sounds easy enough. That is, until you see the distance between the two locations.

Harvey Nichols is located about 45 feet away from the singer’s hotel.

Instead of walking across the street, Beyonce, 27, took two vehicles full of bodyguards and personal assistants to drive down the road and make a U-turn in order to be dropped off in front of the store.

Sporting a jumpsuit, oversized sunglasses and Louis Vuitton heels, the singer was given a 20-minute guided tour around the department store.

As for after the shopping excursion?

The spectacle of cars took the same short route back to the hotel.

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In order to make her concerts affordable to all of her fans, pop culture superstar Beyoncé set aside 2,000 seats for each of her North American shows for the special-value price of $20. The final 1,000 specially-priced $20 tickets for each of Beyoncé’s North American concerts will be made available to the public on Friday, May 29.

The last 1,000 (per show) specially-priced tickets for Beyoncé’s North American concert tour are being made available through Ticketmaster (www.ticketmaster.com/beyonce).

All of the concerts on Beyoncé’s North American itinerary will have 1,000 specially-priced tickets made available with the exception of the artist’s four-night residency at the Encore at Wynn Las Vegas.

Currently playing to sold-out arenas throughout Europe, Beyoncé’s “I AM…” World Tour is shaping up as one of 2009’s hottest concert attractions. The artist kicked off the European leg of her world tour in late April with an electrifying sold-out performance in Zagreb, Croatia where more than 17,500 ecstatic fans — the largest single audience for an international artist in Croatian concert history — danced, sang-along and partied with the iconic superstar during a history-making two-hour show. Her first of four sold-out shows at London’s 20,000-seat O2 Arena, Europe’s largest in-door concert venue, inspired the Telegraph.co.uk to headline its review: “Beyoncé Knowles raised the bar for what can be done in an arena show at the O2.”

Beyoncé is bringing her 2009 “I AM…” World Tour to North America this summer with a series of full-length concerts beginning at New York’s Madison Square Garden in June and ending with a four-night residency at Encore at Wynn Las Vegas July 30-August 2. Overwhelming demand for premium packages and general tickets for the shows have made the “I AM…” tour one of the fastest selling concert events of the year. A second Madison Square Garden concert date has been added in New York City on June 22 (please see full itinerary following).

Beyoncé is co-sponsoring food drives along her tour itinerary as part of the Show Your Helping HandTM initiative, a national hunger relief campaign created by General Mills’ Hamburger Helper® in partnership with Beyoncé and her Survivor Foundation. The campaign goal is to help Feeding America deliver more than 3.5 million meals to local food banks.

Consumers can get involved in the effort by submitting codes on specially marked boxes of Hamburger Helper®, by donating non-perishable food items at Beyoncé’s concerts in select cities across the U.S., or by donating money at www.showyourhelpinghand.com. Please visit www.showyourhelpinghand.com for more information.

The most heavily-anticipated concert event of 2009, Beyoncé’s “I AM…” world tour marks the artist’s first full-length concert series since 2007’s sold-out “The Beyoncé Experience” shows. Beyoncé’s current tour premieres live performances of songs from I AM…SASHA FIERCE, her latest international #1 chart-topping album.

Thierry Mugler, world-renowned designer, is serving as creative advisor and costume designer on Beyoncé’s “I AM…” world tour. He has designed 71 new costumes for the event, highlighted by his bold signature look.

The “I AM…” world tour production showcases the music and film superstar like you’ve never seen her. Beyoncé’s extraordinary all-female band joins her again to perform musical hits, classics, and surprises in a newly-created high-tech state-of-the-art concert environment. Winners of Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies” Video Dance contest will see themselves on-screen during one of the centerpiece sections of the “I AM…” extravaganza.

The Beyoncé “I AM…” North American Concert Tour is co-sponsored by L’Oreal Paris and General Mills and produced by Live Nation and Music World Entertainment.

As the first woman to ever win an Indy car race, Danica Patrick wants all girls to find the need for speed – especially Beyoncé.
“I want to help her out!” Patrick said after hearing that the songbird is learning to race for a video. “She’s a ‘conquer all’ kind of woman, and I’m sure she’ll be great.”

The petite driver, who was celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Indy 500 at Macy’s Herald Square when we caught up with her, is often called on to help music artists. In fact, she piloted a $350K Pagani Zonda Roadster in a video for Beyoncé’s other half, Jay-Z.

“The theme was that the girls kept winning, beating the guys at everything,” Patrick said of the “Show Me What You Got” clip. “I zoomed in front of Jay-Z’s car. It was exactly my kind of video.”

The driver clearly adores being part of the boys’ club. “I started [racing] when I was 10, so I don’t really know any different. I know guys better than girls [because] I’ve spent so much of my life around them.”

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Beyoncé can take a joke that she can’t sing. But the songstress wonders why the media can’t.

The seven-time Grammy winner made headlines last week after a audio clip of her singing “If I Were a Boy” on the “Today” show surfaced online. But her vocals weren’t quite as smooth as silk — Matthew Zeghibe, a Connecticut college student/prankster, had altered the diva’s pitch and turned her performance into an off-key screech-fest. After countless YouTube hits and a hefty helping of press, Zeghibe came forward to say it was all in good fun — and Beyoncé agrees.

“I knew it was a joke. I knew it was supposed to be silly,” the beauty said at the Cinema Society/MCM premiere of her film, “Obsessed.” “Something like that I don’t even take seriously. I thought it was hilarious.”

Howard Stern found it hilarious, too. But when he played the clip on his Sirius show, the shock jock thought it was a legit recording — and that’s what really shocked B.

“The craziest thing was journalists were asking me about it when they hadn’t even listened to it,” Beyoncé said. “If you had heard it, it was obviously a hoax! More than anything, it’s amazing that someone can do something so obviously funny, and have the whole world take it the wrong way.”
Touché.

Besides, Beyoncé is more content to focus on her acting career at the moment. As the lead role in

“Obsessed,” Knowles plays a woman who has to defend her family and husband from a crazy stalker who’s taken with her hubby.

“To prepare, I tried to tap into things that are available to a lot of people,” she said. “I thought about my sister and what it would be like if someone were threatening her child. I used my life experiences and my nephew to get my mind right.”

Ali Larter, who plays the maniacal stalker, has a cringe-worthy brawl with Beyoncé during the flick.

“Our fight scene was so fun!” Larter told us.

Um, fun? We were terrified.

“Good!” Larter said. “We went all the way to make sure it looked real. I was bruised all over, scraped up. That’s the fun of it! Neither of us are girls who phone things in.”

As for any real-life obsessions, “Oh, I have many,” Beyoncé laughed. “I love to make my own little movies. I spend most of my time putting together footage I’ve shot and editing it. I do that a lot.”

Co-star Jerry O’Connell admitted he’s addicted to his fantasy sports leagues. “You would think I’m into Internet porn because I spend so much time online, but it’s fantasy football or baseball,” he said.

“There I am, hunched over the computer, and my wife is like, ‘What’ve you been doing for the last three hours? Let me see that computer!’ And it’s just my fantasy draft league.”

A far worthier hobby, Jerry!

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Ignore that screeching version of “If I Were a Boy” making the rounds on the web.

Beyonce says she can sing.

On Tuesday, Howard Stern played what he claimed was an unedited sound board recording of the singer, 27, performing the song on the Today show last year. She sounds excruciatingly off-key as she wails through the number.

At a junket Wednesday for her new thriller Obsessed, Beyonce said that she hasn’t heard the recording, but the story “sounds completely ridiculous.”

“Everyone’s heard me sing and it’s perfect timing, actually, because I’ll be on the Today show tomorrow singing ‘Halo,’ or tonight you can watch me sing live on David Letterman!” she told MTV News. “It’s perfect promotion, whoever came up with that idea.”

Earlier in the day, her dad (and manager) Mathew Knowles claimed the tape was “obviously altered.”

“If no one took the time to look at the biggest Inauguration in the history of America then shame on them,” he wrote. “If no one took the time to listen to Beyoncé sing ‘America the Beautiful’ and ‘At Last’ at the Neighborhood Ball for the first dance of President Obama and the First Lady, and they question Beyoncé’s vocal ability, they’ve gotta be an idiot,” he said in a statement.

He continued, “At 12 years into her career, the last thing someone should be questioning is her vocal ability. That would be like questioning if Kobe Bryant could shoot a jump shot.”

The prankster who made the tape later told TMZ.com: “No one in their right mind would sound like that — and no one would cheer for someone singing like that.”

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Carline Balan and Beyonce

Chris Paul and Jay-Z

Gabrielle Union and Beyonce

Nicole Mitchell and Michael Strahan

Jay-Z and Lebron James

Grant Hill and Gayle King

Jay-Z and Young Jeezy

Lebron James and Kobe Bryant

Lebron James, Jay-Z, Steve Stoute, Mavrick and Young Jeezy

Vanessa Bryant, Kobe Bryant, Beyonce and Jay-Z

The look Vanessa is giving Kobe Bryant is PRICELESS!