Justin Timberlake has been appointed a musical ambassador by Memphis Mayor Willie W. Herenton to help the city organize the 50th anniversary of rock and roll. Events are being planned throughout 2004, including on July 5, exactly 50 years after Elvis Presley recorded Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup's "That's All Right," which Memphis considers the first rock and roll song. B.B. King, Isaac Hayes and former Presley sideman Scotty Moore will join Memphis native Timberlake as ambassadors. "The many sounds of Memphis shaped my early musical career and continue to be an inspiration to this day," Timberlake said in a statement. ...

Just in case you didn't get enough of Jessica Simpson's advice from her previous how-to book, "I Do: Achieving Your Dream Wedding," the singer wants to do a follow-up, now that she's had her first anniversary with her husband, Nick Lachey. "How to Survive the First Year of Marriage" would be written by both Simpson and Lachey as part of a three-book deal her agent is currently shopping to New York publishers. While part of the proposed deal would be to take over distribution of the existing Simpson wedding book, the other tome would be called "Jessica's Rules," and would be a compendium of her "wisdom." ... After announcing the return of Body Count earlier this year, Ice-T continues to record with the collective — which now has a title for its forthcoming album: Murder for Hire. The rapper, who said the group's first album in seven years should be ready for release by 2004, held court Wednesday night with Iggy Pop at the rocker's record-release party at New York's Trust Lounge. Also in attendance were actress Shannen Doherty, members of Sum 41, Bright Eyes' Conor Oberst, Minutemen/ Firehose bassist Mike Watt and "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" food-and-wine connoisseur Ted Allen. ...

Early '90s hip-hop heroes Arrested Development, who recently reconvened to record their first album in 10 years, have filed a trademark-infringement suit against the creators of the FOX sitcom "Arrested Development." The suit alleges the show dilutes the meaning of the band's name, according to Reuters. ... Androgynous British '90s rockers the London Suede are going on an indefinite hiatus. On Wednesday they issued a statement saying that the bandmembers plan to work on individual projects starting next year, and there are no immediate plans to continue as a group. "There will not be a new studio album until the band feels the moment is artistically right to make one," they said. The last London Suede album was released in Europe last year. There is no U.S. release date for the record. ...

A free screening of the Pearl Jam DVD "Live at the Garden" will take place Tuesday in Seattle at the JBL Theatre inside the Experience Music Project. The DVD, which comes out November 18, will also be screened at various college campus theaters. ... A Black Rebel Motorcycle Club show in Leeds, England, was cut short on Wednesday night when a crack appeared in the floor of the Town Hall stage. After the promoter determined the situation presented a safety hazard, the audience was told a fire alarm went off and they needed to evacuate the building. ...

Foo Fighters have set a November 25 release date for the live DVD "Everywhere But Home." Meanwhile, Dave Grohl is filming the first video for his Probot side project, "Shake Your Blood," November 15 and 16 in Los Angeles. ... Johnny Cash won Album of the Year for American IV: The Man Comes Around and Single and Video of the Year for "Hurt" at Wednesday's Country Music Association Awards, which also featured a tribute to the Man in Black. Alan Jackson was the other big winner at the Nashville ceremony, taking home Entertainer of the Year, Male Vocalist of the Year and Vocal Event of the Year for his duet with Jimmy Buffett, "It's Five O'Clock Somewhere." ...

The Beta Band and producer Nigel Godrich are nearly finished recording the band's third full-length album. The LP is due in February and will be accompanied by a DVD, according to a note on the group's Web site. ...

11.05.2003

Monday's sentencing hearing for Mystikal, who pleaded guilty to extortion and sexual battery in June, was adjourned again until December 1. The rapper faces up to 10 years for his involvement in an attack on his hairstylist in July 2002. ...

He can teach you how to stunt, but 50 Cent knows that Allen Iverson can teach him how to ball. The two Reebok signees teamed up for a party Tuesday night at New York's Capitale to introduce A.I.'s Answer 7 and 50's G6 sneakers. Earlier in the day, the duo played a game of one-on-one. ... The adaptation of the semi-autographical book Britney Spears co-wrote with her mother is moving forward at ABC Family. Though no director is attached and the lead roles remain to be cast, the TV film version of "A Mother's Gift" — called "Holly" in its development stage — has a start date of January 7 in Toronto, according to a rep for the channel. Shooting will take place for four weeks for the two-hour movie of the week, which focuses on a singer from a small town in Texas who gets a music scholarship to a classical academy and moves across the country to begin a new life. Producers are looking for an actress who is able to sing and "move" well for the role of Holly Lovell, who is based loosely on Spears. The pop princess is not expected to appear in the movie, but both she and her mother are executive producers for the project. ...

Leaving her "Glitter"-paved trail far behind her, Mariah Carey will soon take on a new acting role. This time she'll star in a role originated by Marilyn Monroe for a stage production of "Sleeping Beauty" in London, according to Variety. The play is actually best known by its 1957 movie adaptation, "The Prince and the Showgirl," which starred Laurence Olivier and Hollywood's most famous blonde bombshell. ... Ever-ebullient Dirty South rapper Bone Crusher has moved the release of his next album, Fight Music, to January 27. The follow-up to this year's Attenchun! was originally slated for release in December. Its tentative first single, "Bachelor Party," was produced by DJ Smurf. ...

A video of late Metallica bassist Cliff Burton playing with his former band Trauma has been unearthed and is available for viewing at www.simulstream.com/cliff/. The 19-minute recording was made in 1982 a mere 24 hours before Metallica founder Lars Ulrich discovered him. ... Ruben Studdard and Clay Aiken will perform at the 77th Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, which airs live from New York on November 27. Hilary Duff, Aaron Carter and Mya are also scheduled to sing atop floats. ...

A second Elliott Smith tribute concert in the Los Angeles area will take place at the All Tomorrow's Parties festival on Sunday at the Queen Mary in Long Beach. Smith was scheduled to perform at the event, but in his place Lou Barlow will cover his songs, backed by Smith's band and featuring special guests, such as Minders frontman Martyn Leaper. ... A Perfect Circle have added five dates to their North American tour. The first is December 6 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Also added are shows in South Bend, Indiana (December 8), Grand Rapids, Michigan (December 9), Springfield, Missouri (December 11), and Lincoln, Nebraska (December 12). ...

Jason Mraz recorded a recent Milwaukee concert for a live CD and DVD due in early spring. Blues Traveler frontman John Popper and members of the Ohio Players joined the singer/songwriter during the show. ... Australia's Big Day Out touring festival is continuing to grow into a bigger day than first expected. Kings of Leon, the Darkness, Muse, Felix Da Housecat, Thursday, Afrika Bambaataa, Poison the Well, Sleepy Jackson, Audio Bullys and Lost Prophets have been added to an already huge roster of more than two dozen bands. The festival begins its trek through Australia and New Zealand January 16 in Auckland. ...

Mos Def has been tapped to star in "Something the Lord Made," an upcoming HBO film currently in production. The movie focuses on heart-surgery pioneers Alfred Blalock, a white surgeon played by Alan Rickman ("Harry Potter"), and Vivien Thomas, a black lab technician. ...The Color Red, a Riverside, California, band that released two records, including last year's Clear, have broken up. No reason was given for the split, and only drummer Preston Nash has announced future plans — he will continue working with his side project, Nash. ...

Outkast have discovered another benefit of recording separately. The duo's pairing of solo albums, Speakerboxxx/ The Love Below, which has shipped more than 1.5 million copies, has been certified triple-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, which considers each unit in a multidisc set when calculating figures. ... Also in October, the RIAA certified Faith Hill's Faith as six-times platinum, Pink's Missundaztood and Hank Williams Jr.'s Greatest Hits as five-times platinum, Jennifer Lopez's J. Lo as four-times platinum and Evanescence's Fallen as triple platinum. Reaching the double-platinum mark were 3 Doors Down's Away From the Sun and the "Chicago" soundtrack, while Dave Matthews' Some Devil, Hilary Duff's Metamorphosis, John Mayer's Heavier Things, Nickelback's The Long Road and Mary J. Blige's Love & Life were certified platinum. ...

The self-destructive members of S.T.U.N. have expanded their reign of chaos. The bandmembers, who regularly get so worked up in concert they do themselves bodily harm, sent a drum tech to the hospital on November 3 following a show mishap in Allentown, Pennsylvania. The accident occurred when singer Christiane J. swung the mic stand as the tech, Robby Kallenberger, ran onstage to untangle the mic cord. Kallenberger was nailed in the head and required eight stitches. ... Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds has created a new song, "It's Still Okay to Dream," for a Save the Children benefit album of the same name that comes out November 19. Other artists who donated tracks include Sarah McLachlan, Sting, Eric Clapton and Barbra Streisand. ...

• Justin Timberlake
• Jessica Simpson
• Pearl Jam
• Arrested Development
• Iggy Pop

Arrested Development, the Atlanta group that disbanded in 1996 after releasing two albums of socially conscious songs mixing hip-hop, soul, blues and Sly Stone-inspired funk, have reunited.

The group is putting the finishing touches on a new album, The Heroes of the Harvest, expected to be released early next year on an as-yet unnamed label.

Originally including group frontman Todd "Speech" Thomas, co-founder Timothy "DJ Headliner" Barnwell, dancer Eshe, stylist/vocalist Aerle Taree, percussionist Rasa Don and spiritual adviser Baba Oje, the group now consists of all the original members minus DJ Headliner and Taree.

Arrested Development were catapulted to international prominence after the release of their 1992 album, 3 Years, 5 Months and 2 Days in the Life of ..., which spawned the hits "Tennessee," "People Everyday" and "Mr. Wendal," and sold 5 million copies. Their 1994 follow-up, Zingalamaduni, sold half a million copies but won far less critical acclaim than their cutting-edge debut.

Speech said The Heroes of the Harvest is vintage Arrested Development with a twist: It features vocals by all members of the group, and production by Speech, Eshe and Rasa Don.

"You'll recognize it right off the bat," Speech said. "We decided to go vintage because our feel is people wanna hear what they already heard from AD. ... That was a real challenge for us because this time around all of us wanted to be more involved in the writing, and that was different from Arrested Development in the past, when I did most of the writing."

Eshe agreed. "The new stuff blows the old stuff out the water," she said. "Now you're really hearing Arrested Development; you're hearing all the voices. At that time, Speech was the main lead man and you really heard him. Now you're hearing me, Baba and Ras; you're hearing our stories, and it just meshes so well together. We have great chemistry together."

The AD reunion comes after an unsuccessful attempt at reconciliation two years ago. "We all had a big meeting trying to rectify things of the past," Speech said. "It just didn't work out. We wanted to do it and everyone was sort of in it, but the business terms weren't all worked out and people just weren't happy, so we didn't wanna do it."

"Some people wanted to do it, some people didn't, and you never know, some people might not be over it. Everybody is different. They deal with things differently," Eshe said.

Speech said Taree, who recently underwent corrective surgery for her voice, will likely be working with the new Arrested Development. "She always helped us with styling; she was an integral part of the whole image of the group, so she'll be involved in some form or fashion, hopefully, but not as a vocal member."

Speech and Eshe say they don't know why DJ Headliner chose not to return to the group he co-founded.

"I really don't understand what it was. He just said, 'I'm not interested,' so we'll just move forward and continue to do some music," Speech said.

DJ Headliner, who would not comment on his reasons for not rejoining the group, said, "I wish them the best on the record."

When AD broke up in 1996, Speech, labeled by other members as controlling, bore the brunt of the blame, but Eshe said all members of the group were responsible for the breakup.

"You never know how you're gonna react to fame until you actually experience it," she said. "Everybody had their own personal issues, whether it be greed or envy or wanting to be in control. ... I blame each and every member of the group for the breakup, because none of us was really trying to compromise the way we felt about things."

But, she said, Arrested Development 2000 will be a different story.

"Just like anything in life, you grow. So you're not gonna get a 'Tennessee' part two. It's just not gon' happen, so you just gotta open your heart and your mind to the new stuff. It's fresh, it's new, it's not like anything you hear on the radio at all. It's Arrested Development, but it's a new Arrested Development."

• Arrested Development

Former Arrested Development frontman Speech is set to release his sophomore album, entitled "Hoopla," in August. The record marks Speech's first solo work since his 1996 self-titled debut, and in the time since that release, he has done extensive touring, released another album in Japan, and tied the knot.

• Arrested Development

Former Arrested Development frontman Speech has inked a new solo deal with TVT Records. The label plans to issue the alt-rapper's sophomore album, "Hoopla," this summer.

• Arrested Development

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