Culturite

After a brief stint at Island Records, R&B/pop superstar Janet Jackson is terminating her deal with the label. Jackson’s departure shouldn’t come as much of a surprise considering the diva expressed some discontent with the promotion of her last album, ‘Discipline.’ “I’m trying to figure out a way to say this, but just to say it and to be quite honest, they just stopped all promotion whatsoever on the album, so I don’t think you’re going to hear another single off this album,” the singer said in an interview.

Jackson’s rep made the announcement today and it seems that with singer’s decision to sever ties with Island without another deal in place means that she’s a free agent. “At her request, the record label has agreed to dissolve their working relationship,” Jackson’s rep said in a statement to People. “Now more than 20 years after the release of her iconic album, ‘Control,’ Janet will have autonomy over her career, without the restrictions of a label system.”

Run-D.M.C. could “Walk This Way” into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

The 1980s rap act, along with Metallica and the Stooges are among the nine nominees for next year’s hall of fame class, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation announced Monday.

The other nominees are guitarist Jeff Beck, singer Wanda Jackson, Little Anthony and the Imperials, War, Bobby Womack, and disco and R&B group Chic, the only nominee back from last year’s ballot.

The five leading vote-getters will be announced in January and inducted April 4, 2009, in Cleveland.

The ceremony typically has been held in New York but is returning to Cleveland after more than a decade-long absence. Tickets will be made available to the public for the first time.

Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five opened the door for rap at the Rock Hall as the first hip-hop act to be inducted in 2007. Now, Run-D.M.C., nominated in the first year of its eligibility, has the chance to follow on the strength of rock and rap blends such as the 1986 cover of Aerosmith’s “Walk This Way” and classics like “It’s Tricky” and “My Adidas.”

Metallica jumped on the heavy metal wave of the ’80s and 25 years later is still selling out arenas. This month the group released “Death Magnetic,” which marks a return to its early speed metal days.

The Stooges, recently given props in the film “Juno,” get another shot after last appearing on the ballot two years ago.

Left off the ballot were Stevie Ray Vaughan and Bon Jovi. Both had been eligible for the first time. To be nominated an act must have released its first single or album 25 years prior.

Magician David Blaine strung himself upside down above Central Park’s Wollman ice skating rink in New York City on Monday morning and planned to stay there for 60 hours — despite doctors’ warnings that he could go blind.

Wearing a safety harness attached to a crossbar, Blaine dangled by his feet from a large steel scaffold structure.

“Live with Regis and Kelly” host Kelly Ripa also put on a harness and hung upside down with Blaine on her show Monday morning.

Blaine stopped eating “about a week ago,” he told Ripa, so that he won’t have to go to the bathroom, other than using his catheter.

“I’ll need lots of liquids so I won’t have to go into organ failure again, which has happened twice,” he said.

Other medical difficulties: Swelling of the eyes and “there’s the possibility of blood hemorrhaging in the brain,” he told Ripa, along with going into an altered state due to sleep deprivation.

Doctors, who will be monitoring him throughout the feat, say the increase in blood pressure raises the risk of stroke or blindness, and gravity could restrict the blood flow to his lower extremities.

Blaine will have control of the cables suspending him and will have front-to-back and side-to-side maneuverability. He said he will periodically lower himself closer to ground to interact with fans during the stunt.

The spectacle is set to conclude in an ABC television special Wednesday night when Blaine takes what he calls the “Dive of Death” and falls 44 feet to the ground.