The socialite apparently threw a huge birthday party for her boyfriend, Joel Madden. A “witness” described Nicole Richie’s surprise for Joel Madden: “There was a lot of laughing and even some speeches. Nicole and Joel were nestled in the center of the big group and looked as happy as they could be to be celebrating with their friends. They were beaming in the soft terrace lighting. The highlight of the evening was when Joel was presented with a huge birthday cake, accompanied by a rousing rendition of “Happy Birthday. It was so big I’m surprised it didn’t set off the fire alarms.” Either this witness has very poor description skills or there was nothing really amazing about the party Nicole Richie threw for Joel Madden. Where are the dancing monkeys, the resurrected dinosaurs and the performing wizards? I mean, it would at least take that to make a party be big enough to set off fire alarms.

The couple’s wedding supposedly lasted a staggering eight minutes. This was of course Mandy Moore’s intention all along as she had previously said about the ceremony: “I want the wedding to be less of a big deal. Hopefully, it can happen and slip by unnoticed by everybody. I guess we have to be sort of sneaky about it, but I’ll see what I can accomplish.” It looks like Mandy Moore’s plan succeeded, with co-operation from Ryan Adams and the pastor who married them. The pastor had this to say about the “wedding”: “I thought it was either somebody famous or somebody really bad. Mandy was thrilled to be getting married. She was giddy but not in a childish way. She was so happy.” In truth it’s nice what Mandy Moore and Ryan Adams did, a nice and short ceremony which leaves more time for drinking… or other activities.

Hilary Duff and Carrie Underwood cheer on their men at the game between the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Ottawa Senators this past Wednesday at the Scotiabank Place in Ottawa, Canada. Hilary was there to support her Senators boyfriend Mike Comrie and Carrie was there for her own Senators boyfriend Mike Fisher. The two blondes may have been good luck charms for their guys as their team won over the Lightning, 3-2 in overtime. Carrie was even seen jumping up and down after her Mike scored a goal. These ladies sure love their hockey and they sure love their respective Mikes.

The guitarist has recently admitted that he will be giving up women for a while since his current lifestyle and way of being is not too suited for relationships. Pete Doherty had this to say about the matter: “I just don’t want to inflict myself on any girl. I wouldn’t want her to have anything to do with me or the people I know or my life as it is at the moment. They just don’t need it.” Well enough of a noble thought on Pete Doherty’s behalf, still, another one of his comments gets me thinking: “I’m off that kind of stuff. Complete abstinence is what they advocate – but the odd gin and tonic’s alright isn’t it?” Out of the frying pan and into the fryer, as one may say. But surely Pete Doherty will hold true to his words and not seek female companionship… at least not too soon.

The singer has recently admitted her impatience to get married and altogether her frustration that her boyfriend has not proposed yet. Jessica Simpson said: “I know Tony Romo loves me, but I don’t know if he’ll ever propose.” A source was also quoted on revealing Jessica Simpson’s wishes for an engagement ring: “Jessica was really hoping she was going to get an engagement ring. She wanted one for Christmas, then she thought maybe New Year’s Eve. Her last hope was that Tony Romo would propose on Valentine’s Day – but he didn’t.” In the old days women would usually be eager to get married because they had desires that in those times could only be satisfied through marriage, but now? Jessica Simpson should be a bit careful, though. Don’t rush the man, you’ll scare him away!

Kate Voegele is gearing up for the May release of A Fine Mess, the highly anticipated follow-up to her 2008 debut album, Don’t Look Away (MySpace/Interscope). Voegele recorded the album in Los Angeles with producer Mike Elizondo (Rihanna, Maroon 5, Pink).

The 22-year-old has been racking up frequent flier miles of late, jetting back and forth between L.A. and Wilmington, North Carolina, where she’s also shooting new episodes of the CW Network’s hit TV series “One Tree Hill.” This season sees Voegele reprising her role as singer-songwriter Mia. She made headlines last year by performing several songs on the show, all from Don’t Look Away.

In their year-end issue, Billboard magazine spotlighted the 10 biggest film and television placement/appearances of 2008 and put Voegele’s involvement with “One Tree Hill” at No. 1. Wrote Billboard Sr. Editor Ann Donohue, “There’s getting a song placed in a prime-time show and then there’s getting cast in that show to play your own music and have the show’s creator write storylines for you inspired by your songs. Such was the case for Kate Voegele…”.

The new season of “One Tree Hill” will see Voegele giving audiences sneak previews of songs from the upcoming album, beginning with the March 16th episode, when she will premiere a brand-new track titled “Manhattan From The Sky.”

Voegele, hailed by Entertainment Weekly for being among the best of “the new golden age of female singer-songwriters,” spent the majority of 2008 touring in support of debut album Don’t Look Away, the record that earned her “Artist To Watch In ‘08” accolades from Billboard. Over the course of the year, she shared stages with Natasha Bedingfield, The Veronicas, Ben Lee, Cary Brothers and launched her own headlining tour.
Voegele performed on “Live with Regis and Kelly” and CBS’ “The Early Show,” and also appeared on “TRL” and Fuse-TV’s “The Sauce.” She recently gave a special acoustic performance on the ABC-TV’s “The Bachelor.” She’s also been featured on the cover of USA Today’s “Life” section and appeared in the pages of People, CosmoGirl, TV Guide and Giant, to name but a few.

Check out Kate’s latest video blog to sneak a peek inside the studio while she works on the new album.

Video blog:

Teresa Palmer

Australian actress Teresa Palmer has gone out and announced her love for actor Topher Grace and has added that he’s “everything I could ask for” in a blog post. Teresa had previously dated British funny man Russell Brand.

Until now Teresa had a close wrap on her new love interest and there was always interest whether the two were a couple. But recently Teresa took Grace to Adelaide, Australia to meet her parents and now is looking forward to starting a family with him soon.

Palmer has written on her Facebook page: “He’s the most genuine person I know – giving and kind, talented and smart, loving and honest.” There so much excitement with new love, it brings such a lot of happiness and hope to life. You feel that there is so much more to look forward to.

You want to get everything right that you couldn’t with your last relationship. Maybe Jennifer Aniston can take a clue or lead from Teresa. God Bless the two!

U2.com today confirms that the U2 360¡Æ tour will open at the Nou Camp Stadium in Barcelona on 30th June. The U2 360¡Æ Tour is sponsored by BlackBerry¢ç and it is the band¡¯s first stadium outing since the Vertigo Tour 05/06 and follows the release of their acclaimed album, No Line On The Horizon. Their 12th studio album, No Line On The Horizon is already number 1 in the UK, Ireland, France, Germany, Belgium, Finland, Japan and the Czech Republic with further chart positions to be announced this week.
Produced by Live Nation Global Touring, U2 360¡Æ will visit 14 cities across Europe including dates in Milan, Gothenburg, Amsterdam, Paris, Nice, Dublin, Chorzow, Berlin, Gelsenkirchen, London, Sheffield and Glasgow before finishing at Millennium Stadium in Cardiff on 22nd August. The European tour will be followed by dates in North America beginning at Chicago¡¯s Soldier Field on September 12th, 2009.

EUROPEAN TOUR SCHEDULE:

30-JUNE BARCELONA, SP NOU CAMP
07-JULY MILAN, IT SAN SIRO
11-JULY PARIS, FR STADE DE FRANCE
15-JULY NICE, FR PARC CHARLES EHRMANN
18-JULY BERLIN, DE OLYMPIC STADIUM
20-JULY AMSTERDAM, NL ArenA
24-JULY DUBLIN, IE CROKE PARK
31-JULY GOTHENBURG, SE ULLEVI

06-AUG. CHORZOW, PL SLASKI STADIUM
10-AUG. ZAGREB, HR MAKSIMIR STADIUM
14-AUG. LONDON, UK WEMBLEY STADIUM
18-AUG. GLASGOW, UK HAMPDEN PARK
20-AUG. SHEFFIELD, UK DON VALLEY STADIUM
22-AUG. CARDIFF, UK MILLENNIUM STADIUM

NORTH AMERICAN TOUR SCHEDULE:

12-SEPT. CHICAGO, IL SOLDIER FIELD
16-SEPT. TORONTO, ON THE ROGERS CENTRE
20-SEPT. BOSTON, MA GILLETTE STADIUM
24-SEPT. NEW YORK, NY GIANTS STADIUM

In September and October, U2 360 will also visit: Atlanta, GA; Charlottesville, VA; Dallas, TX; Houston, TX; Las Vegas, NV; Los Angeles, CA; Norman, OK; Phoenix, AZ; Tampa, FL; Washington, DC and Vancouver, BC. Complete Tour and ticketing information to follow.

Check out a behind the scenes look of Pussycat Dolls on the set of their new Thomas Kloss (Britney Spears, Miley Cyrus) directed video for “Jai Ho (You Are My Destiny).” The Dolls headed to snowy Vienna to shoot the video for their interpretation of the Oscar-winning track from Slumdog Millionaire. Nicole talks about how she felt when they were first asked to do the song and shares the amazing experience of shooting the video.

You Are My Destiny video: