Bloc Party's Kele Okereke
Photo: Tim Mosenfelder/ Getty Images

Are you a hard-core Bloc Party fan? So devoted, in fact, that you can't wait three more months for the band's third LP? Well, you don't have to wait — you can actually get a copy of Intimacy, which doesn't hit record stores until October 28, right this second ... so long as you've got a solid Internet connection.

Taking a cue from the likes of Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails and Stars, the British indie rockers are debuting their latest studio set online. At BlocParty.com, fans can download the 10 tracks three months ahead of the disc's physical release.

According to bassist Gordon Moakes, the online leak of the band's sophomore album, 2007's A Weekend in the City, three months before its official release was part of the reason why Bloc Party wanted to get Intimacy, to their fans as soon as humanly possible.

"It wasn't a 'rushed' release," Moakes explained of the album they began working on in February. "It would be a rush if it wasn't ready, I suppose, but in terms of the recording, we finished it in late June, early July. But the way media can be disseminated these days, we figured if it's finished, then it's ready to be heard. I think, certainly, if we'd decided to go the other route — the CD being the first thing people heard — I think we would have had to have a conversation about how we might tackle that this time around. Obviously, the Internet is such a tool for people, so a lot of people don't think twice about going online to try and find music. So why not use that to your advantage, I suppose."

For Intimacy, Bloc Party enlisted two producers — Paul Epworth (the Futureheads, Babyshambles), who'd helmed their 2005 debut, Silent Alarm, and Garret "Jacknife" Lee (U2, Snow Patrol), who handled production on A Weekend in the City — and split the disc down the middle, giving five tracks to each of them.

"We had one foot on each island, as it were, and, in a way, we were trying to remember what's been the heart of what we do," Moakes said. "If anything, with the second record, there was a bit of a compromise behind it, in that we were trying to marry up the two elements and not quite landing on either sort of level, I suppose. So why not just take it a bit further in each direction and actually follow it through a bit further?

"I think we just wanted to revisit some of the ways of working we'd enjoyed and be a bit more choosy about where we split the various talents of those two guys and marry it up with the songs we had at that point," he continued. "It's a bit more disjointed, in terms of the continuity. It was just a different approach, but I'm not sure if it was better or worse — just a different attack, and one that suited this record."

While Bloc Party have no immediate plans to tour the States, Moakes said they'll likely spend the whole of 2009 on the road. He also said that, when Intimacy hits stores, it will most likely feature some bonus material, as an added incentive to those who had already purchased it online.

Moakes said the band had a more enjoyable experience working on Intimacy than they'd had on Weekend, because they didn't face the same pressures heading into the project.

"When making that second record, we did feel a lot of pressure, and there were lots of expectations, so we had to get through that, to the other side, so that we could feel like we'd gotten past that hurdle," he said. "That, in itself, was a huge relief for us. It did get a bit hairy, just as a band being on the road for such a long time, trying to create spontaneity night after night. But we got through to the other side of that and had some time out, time to reassess. This year, there's been a lot less pressure for us, really. It's quite nice to crown that with a new release, because usually, it's quiet stressful putting together a record."

• Bloc Party

Britney Spears
Photo: Hot Shots Worldwide / Splash News/ Newscom

Looks like there's finally some good news for Britney Spears. The singer has been passing her court-ordered random drug tests and has a 50/50 chance of regaining custody of her children, her lawyer Sorrell Trope told People. Also, while Spears has lots of court dates to keep track of these days, she has one less for her calendar this week — her arraignment on misdemeanor driving charges (for hit and run, causing property damage and driving without a valid California license). Though her arraignment was scheduled for Wednesday, a Los Angeles judge decided Tuesday (October 9) that Spears could have until October 25 to enter a plea. The judge also ordered the singer to be booked by police and show proof of that booking by her arraignment, according to a court clerk. Spears' next hearing in her custody case will be the following day, on October 26. ...

Kiefer Sutherland will serve 30 days in Los Angeles County Jail as part of a plea deal in his DUI arrest, The Associated Press reports. He must also enroll in an 18-month alcohol-education class and go to weekly alcohol-therapy sessions for six months. On Tuesday, Sutherland's attorney Blair Berk entered a no-contest plea on the actor's behalf for driving with a blood-alcohol level over the legal limit, though a second misdemeanor DUI charge was dropped. The actor was most recently arrested for driving under the influence in Los Angeles in September — he was already on probation for a DUI arrest stemming from 2004. He will be sentenced December 21. ...

Justin Timberlake, Beyoncé, Linkin Park and — yes, you're reading this right — Daughtry are tied for the most American Music Awards nominations this year, it was announced Tuesday. Each artist earned three nods for various categories. In terms of pop/rock, Akon, Timbaland and Timberlake are facing off for Favorite Male Artist; Beyoncé, Fergie and Avril Lavigne are vying for Favorite Female Artist; Linkin Park, Maroon 5 and Nickelback are competing for Favorite Band, Duo or Group; and Daughtry, LP's Minutes to Midnight and JT's FutureSex/LoveSounds are going head to head for Favorite Album. As for rap/hip-hop, Fabolous, T.I. and Young Jeezy are vying for Favorite Male Artist; Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Pretty Ricky and Shop Boyz for Favorite Band, Duo or Group; and Bone Thugs' Strength & Loyalty, T.I.'s T.I. vs. T.I.P. and Jeezy's The Inspiration for Favorite Album. And on the soul/R&B front, Akon, Ne-Yo and T-Pain are up for Favorite Male Artist; Beyoncé, Fantasia and Rihanna are squaring off for Favorite Female Artist; Beyoncé's B'Day, R. Kelly's Double Up and JT's FutureSex/LoveSounds have been nominated for Favorite Album. There are also Favorite Artist categories for adult-contemporary music (Daughtry, Norah Jones and John Mayer); alternative rock (Linkin Park, My Chemical Romance and the White Stripes) and Latin music (Daddy Yankee, Juan Luis Guerra y 440 and Jennifer Lopez). Daughtry, Plain White T's and Robin Thicke have been noticed for Favorite Breakthrough Artist, while Carrie Underwood landed two country-music noms: for Favorite Female Artist and Favorite Album (Some Hearts). For the first time, the AMAs are opening up voting to the general public online — it began Tuesday on the AMA site and ends November 2. The show, to be hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, will be broadcast live at Los Angeles' Nokia Theatre on November 18 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC. ...

John Graziano, the young Marine who was injured in Nick Hogan's car crash in late August, is on life support and will require lifelong care, Florida's St. Petersburg Times reports. According to documents obtained by the newspaper, the 22-year-old Graziano will, at best, be able to open and close his eyes from time to time. His mother is petitioning a judge to let her assume guardianship of her son, who remains in critical condition. A hearing will be held Wednesday. ...

Rehab was a "sobering" experience for Lindsay Lohan, she told In Touch in her first interview since leaving Utah's Cirque Lodge Treatment Center on Friday. The actress also insisted that while she went to the clubs right after finishing a rehab stint in July, she's not going to be rekindling her nightlife anytime soon — to avoid distractions, she'll be staying in Utah until she starts shooting the upcoming flick "Dare to Love Me." "Going out all the time was very self-destructive," she said. "Partying and having all of those pictures taken distracts from the work that I do. It's not why I started acting. I didn't get into acting to be written about. ... I want to act like a woman rather than a teenager. I am doing the best I can." Lohan also opened up about seeing her estranged father for the first time in more than three years, while at Cirque Lodge. "It was really good for me ... it was really important for me to get a connection back with my dad, because I hadn't had that in a while." And if you heard those rumors about Lohan developing a relationship with a man while in rehab ... well, apparently they were true. "Yes, I am seeing someone," she confirmed. "His name is Riley. I am really happy and taking it day by day." The Riley in question is Riley Giles, a 25-year-old snowboarder from California. Last but not least, just as Paris Hilton said she was committing herself to philanthropic efforts after her own debacle, Lohan revealed that she's trying to put together a December trip to Africa with the Red Cross. ...

"Hannah Montana" fans will want to change the channel from Disney to ABC on Tuesday night when Miley Cyrus breaks out a new duet with her father, Billy Ray, on "Dancing With the Stars." The two will perform "Ready, Set, Don't Go" on the results show, with the single hitting country-radio stations immediately afterward. ... What do Diddy, Panic! at the Disco's Ryan Ross and Fred Durst have in common? They've all earned the less-than-distinguished honor of being selected for Blender's "The 40 Worst Lyricists in Rock" list. Will.I.Am, Billy Corgan, Anthony Kiedis, Common, Dashboard Confessional, Timbaland and, of course, Kevin Federline, also make the (F) grade, with Sting landing in the #1 spot. The list appears in the magazine's November issue, which streets October 16. ... Kid Rock commented to Dave Letterman about his ex-wife Pamela Anderson's recent remarriage — she got hitched to Rick Salomon in Las Vegas over the weekend. After making a salty remark about the couple on "The Late Show With David Letterman," he quipped, "I wish them much happiness." ...

Wyclef Jean seems to be the go-to guy for special causes these days. After playing at "CGI and MTV Present: Giving - Live at the Apollo" late last month, he's now been tapped for another special performance, at supermodel Petra Nêmcová's upcoming Heart of Gold Ball benefit auction. The event, to take place Wednesday at Cipriani Wall Street in New York, will have various sports, travel and event packages up for auction. All proceeds will go to Nêmcová's Happy Hearts Fund, which supports education and medical and emotional support for children affected by natural disasters. ... Say what you will about those rumors of Britney Spears putting in an application for a fall-back bartending gig while staying at the Viceroy Hotel in Santa Monica, California, last week. The manager at the hotel's Cameo Bar tells MTV News that while Spears has been there in the past, anyone applying has to have one to two years of fine-dining experience and must pass a drug test. The manager didn't confirm whether Spears had in fact submitted an application. ...

Avenged Sevenfold will play a free gig at the Key Club in West Hollywood, California, on October 20. The set will be taped for later broadcast on MySpace's "The List." Want in? No problem. Just show up in your Halloween costume and get there early — entry to the show will be on a first-come, first-served basis. ... Jimmy Eat World are going all in with their new single "Big Casino," fashioning their Chase This Light album-release party after the gambling concept. On Monday, the band will turn Los Angeles' El Rey Theatre into a faux casino, with fans able to play poker, blackjack, craps and other games for prizes — a flyaway to see the band perform in another city, JEW merchandise, El Rey tickets and more. The band will end the evening with an intimate set as Chase This Light drops at midnight. Entrants will get gambling money and a commemorative poster. ...

Causes, a charity album benefiting three organizations working to stop the genocide in Darfur, will be released on iTunes on November 27 and feature exclusive and rare tracks from Bloc Party, the Shins, Bright Eyes, Animal Collective, the Cure, Death Cab for Cutie, the (International) Noise Conspiracy, Travis and Spoon. All proceeds will go to Doctors Without Borders, Human Rights Watch and Oxfam America. The album will only be available on iTunes for 90 days, though a limited-edition CD can be ordered right here. ... Queens of the Stone Age are booked for "The Late Show With David Letterman" on Wednesday and are expected to perform their latest single, "3's & 7's." ...

R.E.M. are teeing up a new album for the spring, and what better place to reveal some of it than on ... CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360"? On Wednesday, Michael Stipe and company will perform "Until the Day Is Done," which will be synced up to clips of CNN's "Planet in Peril" environmental documentary. The song will also play over the doc's closing credits and appear on the band's yet-untitled spring LP. R.E.M. Live, a CD/DVD that stands as the band's first concert release, is due October 16. ... Hot Rod Circuit have called it a day. The band issued a statement about the split but didn't offer a reason for it. The boys thanked their fans for supporting them and said they'll miss playing live gigs. ... Senator Hillary Clinton's 60th birthday bash has just gotten a little bit sweeter: Elvis Costello will perform at the Thursday concert, to be held at New York's Beacon Theatre. Tickets range from $250-$2,300 for the bash, for which 2,800 people are expected to attend. Let's hope Costello isn't planning to jump out of a cake. ...

Capitol/Priority is putting some shine on classic rap material with a pair of releases from the vault. N.W.A's Straight Outta Compton is getting the 20th-anniversary treatment via a bonus-track-laden reissue due December 4. The set will feature five extras: a live version of "Compton's N the House" performed by Dr. Dre and MC Ren, and covers of Compton tracks by Snoop Dogg and C-Murder, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Mack-10 and WC. Also on the way is the label's Featuring ... Eazy-E, which pulls together his top collaborations and hard-to-find solo recordings. Four out-of-print tracks are getting new life on the disc, including his "Beverly Hills Cop III" soundtrack contribution, "Luv 4 Dem Gangsta'z," and a rare "We Want Eazy" remix. That disc hits stores December 4 too. ...

Jammie Thomas, the woman who was hit last week with the first-ever copyright infringement jury verdict, said she plans to appeal the $220,000 fine. She announced the decision on her MySpace page, explaining that her lawyer's appeal will take issue with the jury's decision that making songs available online violates copyright laws. "This would stop the RIAA dead in their tracks," she wrote. "Every single suit they have brought has been based on this making-available theory, and if we can win this appeal, they would actually have to prove a file was shared." At press time, Thomas announced that more than $3,800 had been raised so far on FreeJammie.com. ... TiVo has announced that it will offer users of its set-top boxes access to Rhapsody's library of more than 4 million songs. (Rhapsody is part of a joint venture with Viacom Inc., MTV's parent company.) TiVo subscribers with broadband boxes will be able to listen to music streamed over the Internet from Rhapsody in the coming months, though they won't be able to download songs through their TiVo box.

08.08.07

Mariah Carey has a suggestion for troubled young female celebs: Find your center. When asked by Glamour what words of advice she would give Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears, she replied, "I wouldn't want to speak to those people specifically, but I would say you need to be very centered, and spiritually know where you're at, all the time. Don't read the tabloids. Don't be obsessed with what people are writing or saying. Live your life for you. My lifestyle has changed since making it. It's not a financial struggle, but I'm still struggling in a lot of ways." Carey graces the cover of the magazine's November issue. ...

Diddy has had a tumultuous few days — first he was sued by a former associate who claimed the hip-hop mogul owes him $19 million for work by the Notorious B.I.G., and then he accepted legal responsibility for his sixth child, The Associated Press reports. In the suit, James Sabatino claims he flew the late rapper to Miami in 1994 to play a gig and hit the studio — he recorded a 17-minute freestyle session, and 90 minutes of Biggie video was allegedly captured on video as well. Since Sabatino paid for the travel expenses and studio time, he says it was understood that the music and video belonged to him, even though a contract was never signed. Diddy claims the delay was due to Los Angeles police naming Sabatino as a person of interest in Biggie's death and that it might be misconstrued if people discovered Bad Boy had paid Sabatino. The ex-associate was later imprisoned on unrelated charges but continued trying to get the money from Diddy and was told it would be coming soon, the suit alleges. Sabatino is seeking $19 million for actual and punitive damages. While that dilemma recently emerged, Diddy put another one to rest when he took legal responsibility for his 15-month-old daughter, Chance — who is said to have factored into his split with ex-girlfriend Kim Porter. Diddy previously denied he had fathered the child of an Atlanta woman, Sarah Chapman, but has acknowledged that DNA tests have confirmed that he is the father. Diddy has arranged support terms and visitation over his daughter with Chapman. ...

Trent Reznor is a free man. According to a post on Nine Inch Nails' Web site, he and his band have fulfilled their contractual obligations to Interscope. "I've waited a long time to be able to make the following announcement: As of right now, Nine Inch Nails is a totally free agent, free of any recording contract with any label," he said in the post. "I have been under recording contracts for 18 years and have watched the business radically mutate from one thing to something inherently very different and it gives me great pleasure to be able to finally have a direct relationship with the audience as I see fit and appropriate. Look for some announcements in the near future regarding 2008. Exciting times, indeed." NIN were signed to TVT prior to joining Interscope in 1994. ...

Beanie Sigel's attorney says the rapper will surrender to authorities next week after an arrest warrant was issued for his failure to return a rented car, AP reports. Sigel (real name: Dwight Grant) is planning to face the charges on October 15, Fortunado Perri told the news service, elaborating that the Payless rental car — which was due back in August and reported stolen September 6 — is being covered. "Whatever money is owed to the company has been paid or will be paid shortly," Perri added. The car was returned to Payless on Friday as detectives were on their way to arrest Sigel at his home in the Philadelphia suburb of Lansdale. It is not yet known who returned the vehicle, which had accumulated $5,000 in late fees. ...

Paris Hilton's alleged bean spillage during VMA weekend aside, Christina Aguilera isn't doing too good a job keeping her supposed pregnancy under wraps. "Access Hollywood" reports that Aguilera picked out a baby registry at a trendy boutique in West Hollywood, California, on Saturday night. With husband Jordan Bratman and his mother and sister in tow, the singer shopped for blankets, bottles, bags and other items for what "AH" called an "upcoming baby shower." ...

Want to live just like Ozzy and Sharon? Your chance is about to arrive. The Osbournes are planning to auction art, furniture and collectibles from their homes in Southern California and England, with a portion of proceeds going to the Sharon Osbourne Colon Cancer Foundation. Items up for sale include Jack Osbourne's black leather bedroom furniture, a cast-iron crucifix that was hung in Ozzy's den and other memorable objects that appeared on "The Osbournes." The auction will be held November 30-December at the Gibson Guitar Showroom in Beverly Hills — although bids can also be placed by phone or online — and Ozzy will also perform a related benefit show at Los Angeles' Staples Center the first night. Expect to hear plenty more from Ozzy in the near future, by the way: In addition to his upcoming tour with Rob Zombie, he'll likely be headlining Ozzfest next year, according to Billboard. When asked if he would be at the top of the bill, he said, "As far as I know." He did not say whether the fest would be free again, stipulating that it was Sharon's decision. He did, however, say he's still up for recording a new Black Sabbath album, though the band's plans are up in the air. ...

Amy Winehouse, the Arctic Monkeys, Paul McCartney and Kylie Minogue were honored at the annual Q awards on Monday (October 8). Winehouse's Back to Black earned Best Album, the Monkeys were named Best Act in the World Today, Macca was awarded as a Q Icon and Minogue landed Q Idol honors. ... Speaking of Winehouse, producer Mark Ronson tells RollingStone.com, "As soon as I finish up the Daniel Merriweather record, I am going back into the studio with Amy Winehouse to work on her new record. ... She is actually dying to go back into the studio already. ... She can't go in November because she is on tour, so we are figuring it out." Winehouse's second album, Back to Black, hit U.S. stores in March. ...

A new book claims that Bono's daughter, Jordan Hewson, was nearly kidnapped by Irish criminals as part of an abduction plot 10 years ago, according to The Irish Examiner. Author Frances Cahill, daughter of murdered crime boss Martin Cahill, says in her recently released book, "Martin Cahill, My Father," that her dad stopped the alleged plot, through which five other Irish criminals were hoping to get a multimillion-dollar ransom from the singer (the U.S. equivalent of roughly $8 million). "He told them it was a bad idea," Cahill reportedly writes in the book. "Martin had nothing against Bono's family. They had never done him any harm and he wasn't going to get involved." ...

Deftones have begun work on the follow-up to last year's Saturday Night Wrist, which took the band more than three years to record and release. According to a MySpace post from the guys, they've been working on the effort since late July and will maintain a blog to document the recording process. ... In addition to the standard CD version of their new self-titled album, Avenged Sevenfold will also be releasing a MVI version of the effort on October 30. The interactive DVD will feature a making-of featurette, a studio tour, pre-encoded MP3s of all the tracks, an animated short and more. ...

Cribs bassist Gary Jarman was hospitalized over the weekend and has been treated for blood poisoning, his publicist confirmed to MTV News. It's believed the rocker contracted the condition after accidentally cutting himself with the strings of his bass during a recent gig. He had complained of pains in his arms on Saturday but managed to make a gig in Sheffield, England, that same night. He was admitted early Sunday morning and is doing fine, according to his publicist. ... Want to get down and dirty with Moby? Stop by New York's Hiro Ballroom on Thursday night when he, Juan McClean, Stretch Armstrong and DFA artist Alex Frankel christen his new DJ series, called "Degenerates." Moby will tinker around with new material as part of the residency, which is expected to be ongoing and will encompass additional DJs. ...

Jena, Louisiana, Mayor Murphy R. McMillin is lashing out over John Mellencamp's new track "Jena," which the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame-nominated rocker recently wrote and posted online (with an accompanying video) in support of the Jena Six. "The town of Jena has for months been mischaracterized in the media and portrayed as the epicenter of hatred, racism and a place where justice is denied," McMillin reportedly told AP. "However, the Mellencamp video is so inflammatory, so defamatory, that a line has been crossed and enough is enough. ... I do not want to diminish the impression that the hanging of the nooses has had on good people. I do recognize that what happened is insulting and hurtful. ... [But] to put the incident in Jena in the same league as those who were murdered in the 1960s cheapens their sacrifice and insults their memory." Prior to the mayor's reaction, Mellencamp discussed his intention behind the track via a post on his site. "The song is not written as an indictment of the people of Jena but, rather, as a condemnation of racism," he wrote. ...

Bruce Springsteen defended his anti-war stance in an interview with "60 Minutes" that aired Sunday, telling correspondent Scott Pelley that it would be "unpatriotic" not to speak out on his new album, Magic, and accompanying tour. "It's unpatriotic at any given moment to sit back and let things pass that are damaging to someplace that you love so dearly and that has given me so much," Springsteen said. "I still feel and see it as a beacon of hope and possibility. That part of America is live and well." He also sounded off on other political issues of the day, saying, "When people think of the American identity, they don't think of torture. They don't think of illegal wiretapping. They don't think of voter suppression. They don't think of no habeas corpus. No right to a lawyer ... you know. Those are things that are anti-American." ...

Not too long ago, the thought of a Police reunion tour was inconceivable. Now comes news that the rock legends, who are currently on tour in Europe, might throw together a new studio effort while they're at it. "I would see it as a challenge, to make an absolutely brilliant pop album at this stage of our career, and that would be something quite remarkable," guitarist Andy Summers told reporters in Dublin, Ireland, over the weekend, according to AP. But he added that the trio have not discussed the project in detail and that the reunion tour is "all-devouring." ...

Maybe the third time will indeed be the charm for Pamela Anderson, who married Rick Salomon — perhaps best known for making that sex tape with Paris Hilton — on Saturday in Las Vegas. Anderson wore a white denim Valentino dress, People reports, and the vows were squeezed in between the 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. shows of Hans Klok's "The Beauty of Magic," which Anderson is a part of, at the Planet Hollywood resort. It's Anderson's third marriage and Salomon's second.

• Britney Spears' Ongoing Saga: What's Next?

• Britney Spears
• Lindsay Lohan
• Justin Timberlake
• Beyoncé
• Diddy

Lindsay Lohan
Photo: Mark Mainz/Getty Images

Lindsay Lohan is getting sued again — this time for assault and negligence by one of the passengers who was traveling in the car the actress allegedly chased last month while driving under the influence. Tracie Rice, the woman who filed the suit and was in the car driven by Michelle Peck — the mother of one of Lohan's former assistants — claims that Lohan "put me through one of the most frightening experiences of my life," according to a statement obtained by The Associated Press. "What Miss Lohan did that night was extremely dangerous and reprehensible. Someone could easily have been killed or seriously hurt because of her irresponsible decisions that evening." The suit also alleges that Lohan intentionally inflicted emotional distress upon the woman, and it seeks unspecified damages as well as payment of medical and other emotional-distress-related expenses. ...

Britney Spears and Kevin Federline's divorce lawyers were supposed to help resolve their clients' child-custody dispute at a Los Angeles Superior Court hearing on Tuesday (August 14), but instead the attorneys used the court date to try to protect the former spouses' privacy. According to a court clerk, legal representatives from Los Angeles TV news channel KNBC, "Access Hollywood" and People magazine jointly filed papers Tuesday morning to prevent court records in the former couple's child-custody battle from being permanently sealed. The move came after news outlets got wind that Federline's attorney Mark Vincent Kaplan was planning to bring to court a folder of documents "about an inch and a half thick," according to a source close to the matter. Federline's team has already subpoenaed Spears' cousin and former assistant, Alli Sims, and Spears' bodyguard Daimon Shippen; more subpoenas to give depositions about the care of the children are due to come for those close to Spears, the source said. Superior Court Commissioner Scott M. Gordon will hear the opposition to seal the records in a separate hearing on September 14, while the custody dispute will continue in court on September 17. ...

Wu-Tang Clan covering the Beatles' "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" ... with George Harrison's son Dhani ... and Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante playing along? That's the news the RZA spilled to RollingStone.com late last week, saying the collabo for the ages will surface on the Clan's November 13 album, 8 Diagrams. The track will sample the original George Harrison-written song, with the group rapping over the track, Frusciante wailing on lead guitar and Dhani Harrison playing acoustic. ... Amy Winehouse's touring band, the Dap-Kings; Jamiroquai's Stu Zender and other to-be-announced singers will make guest appearances with Mark Ronson when he mans the decks at the VMAs on September 9. ...

Don Imus back on the airwaves? AP reports that the shock jock has reached a settlement with CBS Radio over his contract and is in negotiations with New York's WABC-AM radio — home to another inflammatory jock, Rush Limbaugh — to return to broadcasting. The settlement would preempt Imus' threatened $120 million breach-of-contract suit, a CBS spokesperson told AP, although the terms were not disclosed. ...

Arcade Fire and LCD Soundsystem must really be enjoying each other's company these days — the tour partners are planning to release a split 7-inch while on the road, RollingStone.com reports. The record will include the Fire's cover of Serge Gainsbourg's "Poupée de Cire, Poupée de Son" and LCD's take on Joy Division's "No Love Lost." ... Perry Farrell and his Satellite Party will descend on jam-band Moe.'s eighth annual Moe.Down fest, to be held August 31-September 2 in Turin, New York. The Party will be filling in for Ryan Adams & the Cardinals, who had to bail from the fest for personal reasons. ...

The tentative track list for the soundtrack to the upcoming film "Resident Evil: Extinction" has been announced. The set will include cuts from Shadows Fall, Flyleaf, Bayside, the Bled, Chimaira, Poison the Well and It Dies Today. Look for it to hit stores September 18 and the film to hit theaters three days later. ... Gwar have been added to the Viva la Bands Tour, which will also feature Cradle of Filth, CKY and Vains of Jenna. The trek kicks off September 24 in Baltimore and runs through November 3 in Worcester, Massachusetts. ... The lineup for the Radio Rebellion Tour has been released, and extreme-metallists Job for a Cowboy and Polish death-metal specialists Behemoth will be co-headlining. Gojira and Beneath the Massacre will be the opening acts on the trek, which will hit 28 North American cities, beginning October 18 in Baltimore and wrapping November 18 in New York. ...

Lana Clarkson's mother Donna took the stand Monday in the Phil Spector murder trial, testifying about shopping with the deceased actress shortly before she was shot on February 3, 2003, the Los Angeles Times reports. Refuting claims that Lana Clarkson was despondent over a failed acting career — the defense has argued that she was driven to suicide — the prosecution attempted to show instead that she was optimistic about the future. The defense asked Donna Clarkson to testify about apparently forged documents the actress used to try to get a loan, but prosecutor Alan Jackson said the documents would only provide "a look at what kind of person she is, not who pulled the trigger." Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler has allowed the letters to be admitted. ...

Sixteen solo albums by John Lennon debuted on iTunes on Tuesday, and for the next 30 days, exclusive video content will accompany six of them — including John Lennon/ Plastic Ono Band and Milk and Honey. The albums are available in iTunes Plus, which offers DRM-free tracks, and each song costs $1.29. ...

Phil Rizzuto, the New York Yankees shortstop who later became a longtime announcer for the team and was best-known for catchphrases like "Holy cow!" and "Unbelievable!," died Tuesday. He was 89. Rizzuto, whose nickname was "Scooter," will also be remembered as the voice providing the play-by-play commentary in Meat Loaf's infamous 1977 song, "Paradise by the Dashboard Light."

08.13.07

Britney Spears' assistant was served with court papers Sunday morning to give a deposition in a legal matter between the singer and Kevin Federline. Mark Vincent Kaplan, Federline's attorney, told The Associated Press that Alli Sims will be asked to offer a statement "in connection with the Britney Spears/ Kevin Federline issue," although he didn't elaborate. He added that Sims is "believed to have relevant information" but didn't go into specifics about that either. On Wednesday, Kaplan filed documents in Los Angeles Superior Court for primary physical custody of Federline's two sons with Spears. ...

Diddy will executive produce the upcoming biopic of the Notorious B.I.G., Variety reports. "Soul Food" director George Tillman will be behind the lens for "Unbelievable: The Life, Death and Afterlife of the Notorious B.I.G.," for which an open casting call was launched nationally on Sunday. ...

Jennifer Lopez has pegged October 9 as the release date for her English-language album Brave, her second LP of the year and sixth studio disc overall. The set is highlighted by the just-released single, "Do It Well," and will be produced by J.R. Rotem (50 Cent, Christina Aguilera), among others. J. Lo's other album this year, Como Ama Una Mujer, is the best-selling Spanish-language debut LP ever. ... Amy Winehouse, who was hospitalized last week for severe exhaustion, has scrapped two planned shows in Germany opening for the Rolling Stones, RollingStone.com reports. The singer told Britain's News of the World, "I don't know how to explain what happened. ... I can't remember what I looked like. I couldn't recognize myself. It was terrifying." ...

Smashing Pumpkins, Foo Fighters, Kid Rock and Velvet Revolver will anchor Los Angeles radio station KROQ's Inland Invasion fest — which has been renamed the L.A. Invasion, since its relocation from a venue in Devore, California, to one in Carson. Against Me!, Chris Cornell, Hot Hot Heat, Satellite Party, Paramore and Cypress Hill round out the bill for the show, which will take place September 15. ...

The French publisher of the "Harry Potter" series will not seek damages against a 16-year-old who allegedly posted online an unauthorized French translation of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," publishing house Gallimard Jeunesse said Monday (August 13), The Associated Press reports. The case is still being investigated by French authorities, who will decide whether to bring it to trial. ... Robert Smith of the Cure, Julian Casablancas of the Strokes, Frank Black and Tom Waits will judge this year's International Songwriting Competition, RollingStone.com reports. ...

Bloc Party, Múm, Of Montreal and more have been confirmed for the ninth annual Iceland Airwaves festival, set for October 17-21 in downtown Reykjavík. ... The Shins have beefed up their fall tour schedule with a smattering of new U.S. dates. After playing Seattle's Bumbershoot festival on September 1 and Chicago's Download Festival the following day, the band will take a month off, then hit the road again beginning October 5 in Berkeley, California. From there, the Shins will play more West Coast and Southwest dates before dipping down South and winding their way up the East Coast for a two-day stand at New York's Terminal Five on October 23-24. They'll cap the tour with a pair of gigs at Las Vegas' Joint in the Hard Rock Hotel on October 27-28. ...

Wilco are bumping a pair of concerts because guitarist Nels Cline has come down with the chicken pox, according to the band's site. The Tuesday night show in Duluth, Minnesota, will now be staged September 4, and a concert scheduled for Winnipeg, Manitoba, will be postponed or scrapped entirely. ... "You Hear It First" vets the Shout Out Louds will tour for a month after they drop their new album, Our Ill Wills, on September 11. The indie-pop quintet will embark at the LA Weekly Detour festival in Los Angeles on October 6 and stay on the road through a November 3 show in Dallas. ...

According to Killswitch Engage bassist Mike D'Antonio, the band will head out for a co-headlining run with Lamb of God this winter. Suicidal Tendencies and Every Time I Die are in talks to open the gigs. ... Alice in Chains have been working on its first new material in more than a decade, according to frontman William DuVall. He said working with the band has "been deeply rewarding" and the new material sounds "insane." No word yet on when the reunited grunge rockers will release their next LP. ...

"Big Lebowski" fans who incessantly re-enact scenes and dialogue from the cult flick are about to be able to make their interpretations even lifelike: action figures are on the way. Seven-inch scale figures devoted to the Dude and Walter will be available in October and can be preordered here. ... Barenaked Ladies will host another cruise in 2008 called Ships & Dip III and leaving Miami on January 27. Tickets go on sale March 22. Meanwhile, Lynyrd Skynyrd (with guests the Marshall Tucker Band) are also hosting another cruise, while Sister Hazel and Toad the Wet Sprocket are signed on for Rock Boat VIII. ...

According to the Asbury Park Press, police charged 33 people with underage drinking last week at the Family Values Tour's Wednesday stop at the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, New Jersey. Thirteen others were arrested on various other charges, including resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and assaulting a trooper. In all, 46 people, ranging in age from 16-47, were taken into custody during the gig, which was headlined by tour founders Korn. ... A James Brown trustee accused of misappropriating $350,000 of the late singer's money has resigned, the Chicago Tribune reports. David Cannon turned over a check for the sum at a hearing on Friday. A follow-up hearing has been slated for September 24 as wrangling continues over Brown's estate.

• Lindsay Lohan
• Britney Spears
• Wu-Tang Clan
• Mark Ronson
• Amy Winehouse

Beyoncé
Photo: Frazer Harrison/ Getty Images

Beyoncé made a surprise visit in an emergency room Sunday after her St. Louis show — two people were injured at the concert when pyrotechnics reportedly spilled into the front row, according to The Associated Press. Darryl Williams, head nurse at the hospital, told AP that Beyoncé, who met with the victims for 45 minutes, "was just very concerned about the people injured in the audience. [Her visit] was unannounced and we kept it very low-key so that she could spend time with them." A spokesperson for Barnes-Jewish Hospital told the news service that the injuries were minor and both victims were expected to make full recoveries. A spokesperson for Music World entertainment, which represents the singer, did not comment to the news service. ...

Taking a page out of Kanye West's book, the equally dapper T.I. hosted an album-release party over the weekend for T.I. vs. T.I.P. at the Louis Vuitton store in Atlanta's posh Buckhead district. (West struck first with LV, recently holding his 30th birthday bash at the store's New York branch.) Big Boi, Jazze Pha, Jermaine Dupri, Polow Da Don, Mya and Young Jeezy attended the festivities. ...

If Maroon 5's red-hot "Makes Me Wonder" song has you wondering when the band will be hitting a city near you, you're in luck. Adam Levine and his cohorts — with Swedish punks the Hives in tow, weirdly — will swing through 28 North American cities in support of their recently released It Won't Be Soon Before Long album. The jaunt begins September 29 in Detroit and ends November 10 in Las Vegas. ...

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Chairman Julian Bond took a swipe at Jay-Z over the weekend during the group's annual convention in Detroit, according to the Detroit Free Press. "There are certain words that ought not to be spoken, and the N-word is just one of them," he said in regards to the symbolic "burial" of the term to be staged with Kurtis Blow and others at the city's Hart Plaza on Monday (July 9). "I heard somebody say that when Jay-Z talks about ho's, he gets a gold record. When Don Imus talks about ho's, he gets fired," he later remarked. "We believe in equal justice and equal justice for everyone." ...

The Virgin Festival is ratcheting up the theatrics — Panic! at the Disco have been added to the fest's second day, set for August 5 at Baltimore's Pimlico Race Course. Explosions in the Sky and Dan Deacon have also climbed onboard. ... Finally, Bloc Party are scheduled to headline a real block party — Chicago's Hideout Block Party, that is, on September 7. The band has lined up a slew of September and October dates, taking the indie-rockers from Montreal on September 9 through the States, down to Mexico City for a gig on the 19th, then back up through the States and into Canada again — and then finally to the Theatre at Madison Square Garden for a closing gig on October 3. Might want to bring a TripTik for that one, guys. ...

Jurors will be able to hear from a security guard who testified controversially in 1993 that he heard Phil Spector say all women should be shot in the head, AP reports. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler had previously chosen not to allow the testimony but reconsidered when prosecutors raised the issue again. Fidler said he thought before that the testimony wouldn't be admissible because the remark was made too long ago and wasn't specific to the shooting death of Lana Clarkson — who died after a bullet was fired through her mouth. But he changed his mind upon further research. "In this case, you have a woman who is shot in the head. It is highly particularized," he said. ... Almost 19 million people watched Live Earth on NBC and its affiliates, AP reports — far short of the 2 billion event organizers had hoped for. On the other hand, the organizers' estimate was also supposed to include online viewers, whereas the 19 million figure only includes viewers who watched at least six minutes of the telecasts. ...

Amid all the Live Earth happenings over the past week, Axl Rose found time to vent about why Guns N' Roses wouldn't be performing at the event's Rio de Janeiro installment. "We were not asked until the last couple weeks while we were on tour in Australia and have upcoming sold-out dates already rescheduled in Japan," he said in a press release issued Friday. "I was asked to perform individually with Lenny Kravitz by the promoters and Mr. Gore. As we were working this out, Lenny unfortunately became injured and temporarily canceled his involvement from the event." Rose claims he wasn't made aware that Kravitz's performance was reconfirmed until it was too late. "Guns N' Roses or I were not asked to play anywhere else, such as Japan or Australia (as we are already in the regions on tour), and in which we have formally offered to perform, but the offer of our involvement was declined." ...

Did Madonna's onstage hookup with gypsy punks Gogol Bordello at Live Earth London over the weekend leave you scratching your head? This might shed some light: Frontman Eugene Hutz, who starred alongside Elijah Wood in "Everything Is Illuminated," has been working with Madge on her directorial debut, "Fifth & Wisdom." "It was super-fun and perfectly respectable, and it ended up being quite a collaborative project," he told Billboard.com about the flick. ...

J.K. Rowling is taking Harry Potter on the road. The author will launch the Open Book Tour in October, answering fan questions and signing copies of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" during three events for schoolchildren and one special evening gathering for a lucky group of Harry Potter fans. Students from select schools will be randomly chosen at the start of the new school year for the Los Angeles (October 15), New Orleans (October 18) and New York (October 19) student events, while readers of all ages can enter at Scholastic's Harry Potter site beginning July 30 for a chance to score one of 1,000 tickets to Rowling's evening tour stop at New York's Carnegie Hall on October 19. ...

Diana Ross performed at Tao Restaurant in New York on Sunday night as part of a charity auction hosted by the New York Giants' Michael Strahan. Ja Rule, Nicole Murphy, and Dawn Richards of Danity Kane also made appearances at the event, which raised over $300,000 for the Supportive Children's Advocacy Network and was sponsored by the Dreier LLP law firm. ... Prince played three shows over 12 hours in his hometown of Minneapolis from Saturday into early Sunday, ending his live streak when police shut down his early morning homecoming show at the legendary First Avenue club — featured in "Purple Rain" — 70 minutes into a 24-song set, AP reports. After playing 15 songs, Prince pulled the plug on the show — which didn't start until nearly 2:45 a.m. — announcing, "The authorities say we gotta go. We always listen to the authorities. I promise I'll be back." Prince played a 45-minute set at Macy's for his fragrance launch early Saturday, followed by a full concert at the Target Center. ...

Nicole Richie is due in court on Wednesday to answer a misdemeanor charge of driving under the influence, but dad Lionel Richie isn't coming down hard on his daughter, who he said is "just in an unfortunate situation." The singer, who spoke to the AP at the Essence Music Festival in New Orleans, said Nicole is sorry for her mistakes. "She keeps apologizing to me," he said. "I told her, 'You're doing exactly what you're supposed to be doing to your father at this age.' " Because Richie's case contains an allegation of a prior DUI conviction, she faces 90 days in jail and a suspension of driving privileges if found guilty. ... As for the Nicole Richie pregnancy reports, Lionel told People that he's a little out of touch ("Nicole, baby, call me!") and isn't sure whether he has a grandchild on the way. "I don't know if I'm going to be grandpa," he said. "I don't know if I'm ready to be called grandpa." ...

Foo Fighters will strike back on September 25 with Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace, their sixth studio album. Aside from rocking a totally grammatically correct title (Dave Grohl hates stodgy commas) the album will feature 12 tracks, with titles such as "The Pretender," "Long Road to Ruin," the emo-baiting "Cheer Up, Boys (Your Make-Up Is Running)" and "Ballad of the Beaconsfield Miners," no doubt a tribute to the two Tasmanian miners who, while trapped in a collapsed mine, listened to songs by the band until they were rescued — and later met, and shared a beer with, Grohl and company. ...

Clay Aiken tangled with a fellow passenger on a flight to Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Saturday morning, AP reports, leading to an FBI investigation but no arrests. The FBI told Tulsa World that there was a dispute on the aircraft between a male former "American Idol" contestant and a woman on the plane, but would not confirm Aiken's identity. The argument allegedly began over the male passenger's putting his foot on the woman's armrest, and the female passenger reportedly gave the man "a minor shove." There were no injuries reported, though Aiken did joke onstage Saturday night that he'd been beaten up by a girl earlier in the day. ...

Afeni Shakur — Tupac's mother — lost a North Carolina guest home in a fire late Friday night, according to local outlet News 14 Carolina. The blaze completely destroyed the property, which is part of a larger estate owned by Shakur, but according to the report, no one was injured. In a statement, Shakur thanked authorities and community members for responding to calls for help. "I would sincerely like to thank the professional and volunteer firefighters and our neighbors who quickly came to our rescue and helped extinguish the fire," she said. "We are truly blessed to have their vigilant and neighborly care. We were fortunate that no one was at the home at the time." ...

Drowning Pool have teamed up with the organization Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America and 15-year-old YouTube video producer Lizzie Palmer for the This Is for the Soldiers campaign, encouraging young people to support the Lane Evans Mental Health Care Reform bill, legislation extending health-care benefits for veterans. ... Snow Patrol keyboardist Tom Simpson was arrested Saturday in London following the band's performance at Live Earth, on charges of failing to appear in court on drugs charges, U.K.'s ITV News reported. Simpson was released from custody on Sunday, in time to headline the T in the Park festival in Scotland after agreeing to appear in court in Glasgow, Scotland, on Tuesday. The keyboardist missed the band's Saturday night performance at Ireland's Oxegen fest.

07.06.2007

Barry Bonds isn't viewed too kindly by many baseball fans, and now he's digging himself even deeper: He plans to skip out on the Major League Baseball All-Star Game Home Run Derby on Monday night in San Francisco so he can co-host a party with Jay-Z instead. Bonds said the derby would be too physically exerting and made additional comments on the matter Thursday, according to The Associated Press. "My party's been planned," he said. "It's something I'll remember forever. I'll have a party with whoever I can have a party with. I will be thankful I got to be in the All-Star game in San Francisco." ...

TMZ.com has noticed something funny in Kelly Clarkson's recently released My December: She thanks her recently fired manager in the credits. "Thank you to my manager Jeff Kwatinetz for arguing with me and fighting for me! I hate 'yes' people and you are far from that, always wanting the best out of me and for me. Sometimes I want to punch you but most of the time you inspire me and make me laugh because you are one of the most passionate and driven people I have ever worked with. Thank you for believing in me! I still can't believe we got this record out, haha!!" ...

Ludacris performed — without cussing, no less — Thursday night at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans to help kick off the Essence Music Festival. Ciara also entertained with a set, as did R&B stars the Isley Brothers, Johnny Gill, Keith Sweat and Eddie Levert, who paid tribute to his late son, Gerald. ...

Finishing up the final Harry Potter book is going to be a bittersweet moment for fans, but imagine what writing the last words was like for the author. J.K. Rowling said that completing "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" was "the most remarkable feeling I ever had," in an interview on the BBC talk show "Friday Night With Jonathan Ross," scheduled to air in the U.K. on Friday (July 6). She described wrapping up the series as a "relief" — but it left her feeling both euphoric and devastated. "When I finished one chapter near the end I absolutely howled," she explained, "it had been planned for so long. I was in a hotel room on my own. I was sobbing my heart out. ... That was really tough." Rowling didn't spill any key details in the interview, and she said she's intent on keeping even the very last word of the book under wraps. "Scar? It was so for ages," the author said, "and now it's not. Scar is quite near the end, but it's not the last word." The book will be released in the U.S and the U.K. on July 21. ...

Panic! at the Disco, Wu-Tang Clan and the Shins will light up Seattle's Bumbershoot, which is pegged for September 1-3. Gym Class Heroes, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Sean Paul, Kings of Leon, Devendra Banhart, Joss Stone and Lupe Fiasco are also on the bill. ... Common, Lil Jon and the Clipse are hyping the Microsoft Zune with a handful of free shows dubbed "Live at the BBQ." UGK, David Banner, Collie Buddz, E-40, Cham, Bilal, Large Professor and Mos Def are also participating in the gigs, which are slated for Thursday (Los Angeles), July 22 (Chicago) and August 4 (New York). ...

Al Gore announced Friday on CBS' "Early Show" that Washington, D.C., has been added as a Live Earth host city. The Museum of the American Indian is staging a smaller-scale show on the Mall — the park between the Capitol building and the Lincoln Memorial — that will include performances by American Indian band Blues Nation as well as country singers Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood. The concert kicks off at 10 a.m. For full coverage of Saturday's events — and to share your own Live Earth photos and video — visit MTV's Live Earth site. ... In less celebratory news for Live Earth organizers, a Brazilian public defender is again trying to put the kibosh on the Live Earth show slated to be held at Rio de Janeiro's Copacabana Beach, AP reports. Denise Tarin is appealing a court's decision on Thursday that upheld the concert — which was briefly tabled after Tarin argued that police can't guarantee the safety of the 700,000 people expected to attend. ...

Jim Carrey will play Ebenezer Scrooge in a computerized remake of "A Christmas Carol" to be directed by Robert Zemeckis, Reuters reports. Carrey will also play the three ghosts who haunt the miser in the flick, which will be based off Zemekis' own script and blend 3-D digital animation with the "performance capture" technology he employed for "The Polar Express." ... Have you heard enough about Paris Hilton? Pity Shira Barlow, the University of California, Los Angeles, student who is stuck with her old cell number. In an effort to conserve phone numbers, her wireless company gave her the recycled number, after which she started receiving late-night calls and text messages directed at the heiress, AP reports. Barlow told the news service she's going to stick with the number anyway, as it's provided plenty of amusement. Just don't tell the person who just paid $305 on eBay for an empty can of dog food found in Hilton's garbage. ...

Alicia Keys' Keep a Child Alive has scored a $100,000 bid for an iPhone the organization put up on eBay as part of an auction that ends Friday night. Proceeds will provide antiretroviral drugs for children with AIDS in Africa. The winner gets the iPhone as well as two Bluetooth headsets, two round-trip plane tickets and two passes to Keys' annual Black Ball benefit. The singer will personalize the phone with a voice-mail greeting and present it to the winner at this year's Black Ball, which will honor Bono on October 25 in New York. ... John Legend covered the Nina Simone perennial "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" as part of a performance on Santa Monica, California, radio station KCRW's "New Ground" program. He also opened up about his adoration of the singer, meeting Kanye West in college and more on the show, which will air Saturday at 2 p.m. PT and subsequently be made available on its Web site. ...

Amid rumors that Matt Damon and Ben Affleck are joining forces for their first joint screenplay in 10 years, the acting pals played poker as part of Ante Up for Africa in Las Vegas on Thursday. The event, which is raising funds to help the victims of the Darfur crisis and was co-organized by Don Cheadle, also featured Adam Sandler, Kevin James and Ray Romano. ... The California Department of Justice has launched a criminal investigation relating to doctors who wrote prescriptions for Anna Nicole Smith, TMZ.com reports. Earlier this year, the Medical Board of California investigated two of the doctors in question. ... Elton John has won the equivalent of roughly $150,000 in damages and costs from an art dealer who sold him phony sculptures, AP reports. ...

Representatives for Fergie and Candie's are denying a Times Online report that the singer will include product placement in upcoming songs, NME.com reports. "She does have a commercial deal with the clothing brand Candie's, but it has nothing whatsoever to do with the creation of her music," a spokesperson for the singer explained. Candie's confirmed that the company "does not have any arrangement with whereby she will incorporate the Candie's brand into her lyrics." ... Nelly Furtado is engaged to Loose sound engineer Demacio "Demo" Castellon, People reported Thursday. Collaborator Timbaland confirmed the engagement, according to the magazine. ... Former Backstreet Boys member Kevin Richardson and his wife Kristin welcomed a baby boy on Tuesday, the singer announced on his MySpace page. Richardson's wife and their son, Mason, "are perfect," he wrote, "and I am a new man. Thank you for your positive vibes and prayers." ...

"Laguna Beach" castmember Jessica Smith pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor drunk-driving charge on Monday and was sentenced to three years' probation, 80 hours of community service and ordered to pay $1,300 in fines and penalties, AP reports. The 19-year-old Smith was arrested on suspicion of a felony count of driving under the influence of alcohol in March after crashing her car on the San Diego Freeway. Officials reported that the felony charge was dropped to a misdemeanor because injuries — Smith's passenger and the driver of the other car were hurt in the collision — were not serious. ... The first-ever live concert DVD of the annual South by Southwest music festival is slated for release on August 21. The DVD, recorded in March, will feature 18 performances from artists including the Bravery, Aqualung, Peter Bjorn and John, Razorlight, Polyphonic Spree, Ozomatli, Stars of Track and Field and Kraak & Smaak. ... Also on August 21, Rilo Kiley will release Under the Blacklight, the follow-up to their 2004 breakthrough More Adventurous. Recorded in Los Angeles in late 2006 through early '07, Blacklight is co-produced by Mike Elizondo (Fiona Apple's Extraordinary Machine) and features tracks including "The Moneymaker," "15," "Dreamworld" and "Breakin' Up."

• MTV Rough Cut: Daniel Radcliffe
• Harry Potter Clips Made To 'Order'
• 'Harry Potter': Rupert In Love, Kreacher Awaits
• 'Order Of The Phoenix' Set Visit: A Harry Problem

• On The Set Of "Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix"
• "Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix"

• Beyoncé
• T.I.
• Young Jeezy
• Maroon 5
• Jay-Z

The Arcade Fire's Régine Chassagne
Photo: Jim Dyson/ Getty Images

On The Record: The (Sorta) Sophomore Slump

Remember the Arcade Fire? Buncha Canadians ... liked John Kennedy Toole, one of 'em poo'ed clouds or something like that.

How about Bloc Party? Not the Dave Chappelle flick — the British band. Had a drummer with a collapsible lung, opened for Panic! at the Disco a while back (then bailed after a couple of gigs, reportedly due to that collapsible lung). They ruled!

This is not some conversation lifted from the snobby ILX message board in the year 2014 (provided both ILX and message boards still exist in 2014 — maybe by then we'll all be sharing our longwinded diatribes about the Boredoms via mental telepathy). It's the kind of thing that goes on in my head at 3:43 p.m. on a Saturday while sitting in McCarren Park — deep in the hipster epicenter of Brooklyn, New York — watching a buncha bearded dudes play kickball. Ah, the Williamsburg Weekend ...

But getting back to the fast-fading flavors of the month mentioned above, it's not exactly breaking news that we live in an era of, well, breaking news: a time of decreased attention spans and increased ways of consuming information. And in that era, the concept of "fame" has been morphed and stretched into ... well, who knows what (see: Hilton, Paris; Hilton, Perez). And perhaps nowhere is that more apparent than in the ever-crowded and tumultuous blogosphere, where, through endless hyperbole and a steady stream of blurry photos, kings are crowned — then subsequently dethroned — quicker than a Shane Douglas IC title reign.

Of course, no one seemed to notice this in the heady days of 2004-2005, when both the Arcade Fire and Bloc Party — plus acts like the Arctic Monkeys and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah — rode waves of "blog buzz" into the mainstream. Back then, the quick-to-pick foibles of the hype machine were lauded as revolutionary, and authors of blogs from here to Helsinki were being touted as tastemakers. Composing breathless odes to undiscovered bands became less of a hobby and more of an honest-to-goodness job (you could get paid for sitting around in your underwear and writing about the Hong Kong!) — a job that thousands were interested in landing. And shouting the loudest was the easiest way to be heard through the crowds.

But then, something rather unfortunate happened: All those "next big things" turned out to be nothing more than, well ... bands. They toured, did interviews, landed some high-profile gigs. And then, perhaps reacting to the fast-tracked success they were afforded, they all got back to doing what bands do: making their follow-up records. And suddenly, none of them really seemed to matter much any more.

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah's Some Loud Thunder bowed in January, and has, to date, sold less than one-third of what their self-titled debut did — and has garnered thoroughly middling reviews, to boot. Bloc Party's sophomore album, A Weekend in the City, followed in February — though, to be honest, I had to Wiki that — and has all but disappeared from the cultural zeitgeist (as has the band, save frontman Kele Okereke's ever-entertaining, grammatically enlightened feud with Oasis). Most notably, the Arcade Fire's Neon Bible hit shelves in March, and though it debuted at #2 on the Billboard albums chart, it's quickly begun to drop down the charts and hasn't had nearly the, er, "life-affirming" effect that Funeral did (read: these guys no longer care).

And on Tuesday, the Arctic Monkeys' second album, Favourite Worst Nightmare, dropped, and though it's still early, I'll go out on a limb and say that it's not gonna have the same Stateside impact that Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not did. Call it a hunch.

Of course, this phenomenon is in no way the fault of the artists. They did what good bands are supposed to do: release interesting sophomore albums that were stylistic departures from their debuts (some of them, like Weekend and Nightmare, are arguably even better than their predecessors).

It's just that the hype machine worked so well that nothing they did could possibly live up to the expectations. Everyone associated in the process was looking for a brilliant follow-up along the lines of Paul's Boutique or The Bends, and what they got was a series of Second Comings: perfectly serviceable — though certainly not world-changing — albums.

And there's nothing necessarily wrong with that. After all, the sophomore album has been the bane of the music industry. What's troubling is that, in our rush to the next big thing, we tend to be too dismissive, too close-minded. We miss too much. And though you get the feeling that most bands welcome the return to (relative) obscurity, it's certainly a bummer to see a lot of really good albums go unloved.

It's both frustrating and comical to see the wheels of the hype machine keep spinning, but we're living in an era when careers are measured in months, not years, when success is measured not just in sales but cyber-picas. And it doesn't look like that's gonna change anytime soon. So you're left with two options: You can rage against the machine ... or you can hype the New Young Pony Club. The choice is yours.

B-Sides: Other Stories I'm Following This Week

This is exactly the kind of insightful, socially responsible political commentary I'd expect from a guy who spells his first name Deryck: "Sum 41 Kill President In New Song — Deryck Whibley Says It's 'A Metaphor'."

My Chemical Romance bassist ties the knot. Millions of MCR fans "OMG!" and "WTF?" in unison: "My Chemical Romance's Mikey Way Gets Married, Takes Break From Band."

Chris Cornell covers Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" on his new solo album with predictably hilarious and horrifying results: "Chris Cornell Ready To Carry On As Solo Artist: 'I'm Best In My Own World.' "

Lists Are Lazy: A Hastily Assembled Collection Of "15-Minutes-Till-Deadline" Musings

A few weeks back, news broke (and I use that term rather loosely) that Swedish popsters Rednex were auctioning themselves off on eBay for the low, low price of $1.5 million dollars. Amazingly, they didn't find a buyer. But that hasn't stopped them from posting the auction again. (It ends on Friday, in case you are trying to get your funds in order.) Initially, I thought about bidding, but after realizing that I was a few bucks short (1,499,873 of them, to be exact) I decided to look elsewhere for a cleaning service. But upon discovering that the auction was still going on, I got to thinking: If I did own some of today's rock acts, how would I put them to work for me? Here's a partial list of what I came up with:

Panic! at the Disco: Responsible for organizing my vast menagerie of gauzy blouses and newsboy caps, procuring circus-themed entertainment for any and all soirées.

TV on the Radio: Officially in charge of updating my blog and going completely ballistic over seemingly inconsequential issues (Dave Sitek is particularly adept at this).

White Stripes: Duties to include color-coordination, updating and drafting my various numerological charts, periodic throttling of the Von Bondies' Jason Stollsteimer. Member-specific: Jack to convert all my MP3s into sufficiently retro phonograph form; Meg to giggle slightly, stare vacantly into the distance.

Björk: Continue to rival Manny Ramirez for the title of "Most certifiably nuts person I spend an inordinate amount of time IMing friends about"; assembling and training the army of robed, effervescent background singers that I got on loan from the Polyphonic Spree.

Deftones: Breaking in my collection of massive boardshorts and tube socks; delivering my long-awaited-yet-ultimately-disappointing new album (this will happen every four to five years).

Questions? Concerns? Quick and easy quiche recipes? Hit me at BTTS@mtvstaff.com.

• Arcade Fire
• Arctic Monkeys
• Bloc Party
• Clap Your Hands Say Yeah

Iggy Pop and The Stooges perform on Saturday night
Photo: Tim Mosenfelder/ Getty Images

AUSTIN, Texas — Every March, the music industry throws on a pair of shorts, slathers on the SPF 45 and heads on down to Austin for South by Southwest, a weeklong celebration of bands, BBQ and (sometimes free!) beer. It's a brutal bacchanal and music marathon powered by thousands of acts playing in hundreds of venues — at all hours — plus an unreal number of complimentary drinks and fancy private parties.

Sleep is not exactly a top priority, so MTV News dispatched three of its most tireless reporters into the fray. They filed reports twice each day and, as you'll see below, endured all kinds of hardship — endless lines, hipster infestation and a diet consisting almost entirely of fried food — to bring you incisive reportage on the event's hottest happenings. Saturday's report is below, and at the bottom you'll find links to coverage of the previous days. Dig in: If you spill a little BBQ sauce on your shirt, it's the next best thing to being there.

The Afternoon

James Montgomery, MTV News writer: Growing tired of the SXSW rigmarole — a routine that could charitably be described as "Get up, shake off the cobwebs, eat something fried, drink, walk to a field, drink, watch some band, drink, walk to a dingy club, eat something else fried, drink, watch another band, drink, drink, pass out" — I decided to take my pal (and Beirut/ Bishop Allen multi-instrumentalist) Jon Natchez up on his promise of a full-blown "BBQ excursion, deep into the wilds of Texas."

And deep we went, indeed, heading way west through the dusty foothills ... driving for more than two hours (we got lost) until we came upon the sleepy town of Llano, home to a BBQ mecca by the name of Cooper's Old Time Pit Bar-B-Que. Joining us on the excursion was Isaac Green, head honcho of Almost Gold Records (home of Peter Bjorn and John) and self-described BBQ connoisseur. He told me that SXSW vets swear by Cooper's, a true carnivore's cornucopia of smoked meats.

We downed pounds of ribs, brisket and Cooper's famous BBQ pork chops; talked about some of our festival faves (a list that included Midlake, Beach House and Jamie T) and reveled in the fact that we were literally miles away from the SXSW buzz. Oh yeah, and we had some cobbler, too.

But now it's back to the grind as we enter the festival's final raucous hours ... of course, there's more rumors of a Rage Against the Machine reunion Saturday night (March 17), plus the triumphant return of the Stooges. What'll happen? Nobody knows ... but we're certainly gonna close with a bang. And some of the brisket I brought home.

John Norris, MTV News correspondent: Just what Austin needed this week — another reason to drink!

But yes, it is St. Paddy's Day ... so by early afternoon, the South by Southwest-ers were tying on the booze bag again, and I found myself among a 50-percent-green-wearing crowd at the Cedar Street Courtyard, an outdoor patio wedged between Irish pubs. But taking the stage at this party sponsored by Filter magazine was a trio of not Irish but English lasses: the Pipettes. Their names are Becki, Rose and Gwenno. Think Lisa Loeb, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Linda Evangelista in polka dots. Musically, think '60s girl group meets punk sass — a combination in full effect as the ladies ran through songs like "Tell Me What You Want" and "Your Kisses Are Wasted on Me." Shangri-Las for the 21st century? Bananarama with a backing band? Time will tell.

Since one music-publication event deserves another, we made our way from the Filter party to the Blender house, where I met up with those Southern-indie-twang-rock-sons of a preacher man, the Kings of Leon. The brothers Followill and cousin Matthew have a third album, Because of the Times, just a few weeks away, and they're in town to play their first-ever SXSW. When I reminded them that they are one of the three or four biggest bands at this year's fest, they said there is still a challenge.

"There are so many of these beautiful girls around here hanging out with these new bands," famously randy frontman Caleb Followill laughed. "We feel like, hey, we're supposed to get our pick of the girls."

Something tells me the Kings have no problem in that department.

That said, their "kingly" status in the U.K. has yet to be replicated on their home turf, where the guys are still pretty much princes. Will that change with Because of the Times, a much more expansive record — with a seven-minute opening track called "Knocked Up" and forays into jam-band territory? Whether it does or not, the Kings are loving life.

"We'll play our show [Saturday's Esquire party at Stubb's]," Caleb said, "then sit back and watch Iggy Pop and the Stooges. And probably party."

No doubt. Good luck guys.

Gil Kaufman, MTV News writer: We've entered the dead zone: My feet hurt from standing on cement club floors 14 hours a day, my eyes hurt from constant smoke and cavelike conditions, and my soul aches from constantly denying my urge to pummel every clown I see wearing a headband and ripped-to-shreds low-top Keds.

The day started off promisingly with some smokin' Afro-Cuban funk from the 11-piece Los Angeles band Rhythm Roots Allstars. Then not-so-hot mess Mickey Avalon took the stage looking like a cross between Pauly Shore and a down-on-her-luck gutter-punk girl and sounding like the Beastie Boys on a bad day. The only saving grace was when he handcuffed an audience member to a chair and then lost the key and practically dragged her across the stage by her wrist in search of release.

Not wanting to fight the inevitable lines, I camped out at Red 7 and saw a mix of horrible "indie" comedy — OK, portly comedian Brian Posehn's set about how the closest he'll ever come to a sex scene in a movie is playing the demented killer who offs the comely teen couple was kinda funny, and David Cross was great as usual — and yet another set by the Black Lips. No vomit this time, just lots of spitting and bad wigs. The best part was when some fan tried to give Cross a copy of early porn actress Linda Lovelace's autobiography, "Ordeal," and he looked puzzled and politely declined in favor of bobbing his head to the Lips.

Toronto hardcore band F---ed Up thrilled an afternoon audience with a set of smashing tunes and lived up to their name when frontman Pink Eyes bashed his forehead bloody with the microphone and then put a drumstick where the sun don't shine. The crowd later went nuts when hardcore punk legend and original Circle Jerks singer Keith Morris took the stage and yelped one out while swinging his hip-long graying dreadlocks.

And finally: How can you tell an indie-rocker is tired? They cop a squat on the squalid, sticky floor of Red 7 and close their eyes for a quick catnap in the middle of a show.

The Evening

James Montgomery: Well, it's over. More than 100 hours of non-stop rock (and the occasional hip-hop act looking for directions back to the interstate) came to a close on a hectic, dude-master-terrific Saturday night in Austin. And as if the last night of SXSW 2007 weren't enough to pack the streets, it was also St. Patrick's Day (WOOOOOOOOOO!!!) which meant that every steakhead within a 30-mile radius was required to thrown on a green T-shirt — or backwards ball cap — and head down to Austin to gawk at girls, get in fights and get really really inebriated (Sixth Street will surely be awash in green vomit come sun-up — WOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!) ...

Quote-of-the-night honors went to the — ahem — gentleman in the cocked fedora and black tank top, who bellowed into his RAZR, "No, we're down here on Fifth Street and Colorado ... No, Colorado — like the city."

Yeah, man. And after spending more roughly 30 minutes trying to navigate the packs of heavily gelled dudes (careful to avoid brushing their shoulders and setting off a testosterone OD), I sorta gave up and ducked into Habana Calle 6, where, as luck would have it, the Changes, four clean-cut young men who make strummy, summery pop, were just launching into an exceedingly nice set (seriously, these dudes make the Shins look like Turbonegro — your mom totally wants your sister to marry one of them immediately). Then, in one of those "Woah, look who's playing?!?" moments that totally makes SXSW worth it, I glanced at my schedule and noticed that former Helium frontwoman/my teenage crush Mary Timony was about to take the stage at Emo's tiny "IV" venue. So I rushed over and heard her unspool songs from her upcoming album The Shapes We Make, which were pretty excellent in that spacey, super-proggy "Revolution of Hearts, Pt. 1 & 2" kind of way (OK, 14 people in the world know what I'm talking about right now, and most of them were probably at the show) ...

Then, I bade farewell to SXSW '07 with a late-night performance from Australia's finest hirsute rockers (Jet be damned) Youth Group, who were great, but didn't hold my attention as I was starting to see spots. Soon after that I was making the seemingly 17-mile walk back to the Embassy Suites, and as I crossed over the Congress Avenue Bridge, I began to mull over my SXSW experience.

And you know what? I don't have any definitive closing statement. As I re-read my notebook, I found myself thinking things like "Wait, I saw that band?" and "Wow, I went there?" And maybe it's because, after three straight years of SXSW, things tend to blur together — or maybe because there just wasn't that much interesting stuff going on this year. I mean, I know which bands I truly liked (a discussion we'll delve deeper into when we all return back to the office on Monday), but I can't pick any that I particularly loved or hated. For better or worse, the year's SXSW was one of the more average fests in recent memory: There didn't seem to be a real defining moment or breakout star to speak of.

Then I thought, "Wait: In just five days, I spent less than $200, ate roughly seven pounds of BBQ, saw a ton of rock shows, went for a drive in the Texas flatlands, linked to a photo of the Ultimate Warrior in one of my earlier posts and saw Duke lose in the first round of the NCAA tournament — what the hell do I have to complain about?" So maybe the problem wasn't SXSW; it was me.

But that's clearly a whole other ball of wax. Right now, it's time to get some sleep, make my ears stop ringing and head back home. Plus, maybe I can finally get around to eating a salad — and you have no idea how happy that last sentence has just made my small intestine.

John Norris: Some final thoughts on the final night of South by Southwest 2007:

For some reason, the festival seemed more sane this year. Not sure if it was the absence of one hugely hyped "must-see" show on the order of last year's Arctic Monkeys gig, but the biggest this week — Bloc Party, the Cold War Kids, Lily Allen, Beirut, the Good, the Bad and the Queen — didn't feel as out of control.

Credit, as always, is due to the host city for proving yet again that it's one of America's greatest music capitals. Voxtrot, Okkervil River and Ghostland Observatory are three of the better known local heroes who played the festival, but plenty more showed that Austin not only knows how play host to great music, but produce it as well.

Also, the schedule provides a multiplex's worth of opportunities to see certain bands: Some artists play one or two gigs during SXSW week, others play eight. It's hard to imagine that anyone in Austin who wanted to see the Pipettes, the Ponys or the Fratellis this week didn't have the opportunity to do so. And speaking of the Fratellis, Interscope Records wins the Golden Sledgehammer Promotion Award for them: from the Fratellis hotel room keys to the ubiquitous Fratellis flyers all over town to the Fratellis cocktail glasses in every other club ... and I've already used the word "Fratellis" six times in this paragraph! Aaargh!! The champ for the most Austin shows this week? I'm pretty sure that title goes to Peter, Bjorn and John with NINE. That'll earn you a Swedish massage.

Mucho thanks to our team here in Austin this week — not just James and Gil, but also Alyssa Vitrano, Damian Vaca, Matt Elias, Aaron Pinkston and above all, my musically maniacal producer, Chris "CJ" Smith. They are the best, and we'll all be bringing you lots more coverage from SXSW on MTV News this week. Till then — later, pardner.

Gil Kaufman: The apocalyptic atmosphere on Sixth Street described above made it feel as if all hell could break loose at any moment, and that's kind of what it sounded like at Elysium during the scorched-earth show from Pennsylvania psychedelic rockers Black Moth Super Rainbow (that's the best band name ever), who performed with Austin's equally trip-tacultar Octopus Project. The instrumental experimentalists created a thundering, paisley explosion of beats and noise that might be the sound of a spaceship taking off — if its engines were made of two sets of drums, a bass, guitar, sitar, two glowing tambourines, a Theremin and four keyboards.

The true apocalypse, though, came a short time later with a set that was the perfect capper to a chaotic five-day journey. To say that reunited Detroit punk godfathers the Stooges blew the roof off Stubb's would be an understatement (and not only because the outdoor venue has no roof). The always shirtless Iggy Pop gyrated like a demented go-go dancer and kicked off the show with five classic Stooges songs that sounded so raw and snarling they made you forget the band took a 33-year break between their last two albums. "Loose," "I Wanna Be Your Dog," "TV Eye," "1970" and "Funhouse" were crackling with chaos and electricity and the permanently amped Pop was clearly sucking up the energy from the crowd.

During this year's festival I saw a ton of great new bands and I have a whole new arsenal of things to add to my iPod. But nothing gut-punched me like the Stooges. It's something you can't buy in a bottle, ink on your arms or piece together from a thrift-store wardrobe. As Iggy told me shortly after the show, "We're the last great rock and roll band, man."

For more SXSW coverage, check out the week's earlier reports:

· "Tom Morello's SXSW Gig Turns Into Raucous All-Star Jam With Slash, Perry Farrell"

· "Grunge Rebirth, Beyonce Nod — And Flavor Flav! — More SXSW Surprises"

· "Amy Winehouse Raises Eyebrows, Bloc Party Draw A Mob As SXSW Wakes Up"

· "Pete Wentz Clones Descend, Lily Allen Warbles As SXSW Gets Under Way"

For more sights and stories from concerts around the country, check out MTV News Tour Reports.

[This story was originally published at 10:16 p.m. EST on 03.17.07]

• Five Coolest Things At SXSW 2007
• Morello Jams With Slash, Farrell At SXSW

• Kings Of Leon, Mastodon, Flava Flav, More Rock SXSW '07

• Iggy Pop & The Stooges
• Peter Bjorn and John
• Kings Of Leon
• Lily Allen
• Rage Against the Machine

Bloc Party's Kele Okereke performs at SXSW on Thursday
Photo: Tim Mosenfelder/ Getty Images

AUSTIN, Texas — Every March, the music industry throws on a pair of shorts, slathers on the SPF 45 and heads on down to Austin for South by Southwest, a weeklong celebration of bands, BBQ and (sometimes free!) beer. It's a brutal bacchanal and music marathon powered by thousands of acts playing in hundreds of venues — at all hours — plus an unreal number of open bar tabs and fancy private parties.

Sleep is not exactly a top priority, so MTV News has dispatched three of its most tireless reporters into the fray. They'll be filing reports a few times each day (scroll down for the evening report), which will chiefly serve as a way of keeping you up to speed about what's going on deep in the heart of Texas, but also double as a convenient way — for us, anyway — of making sure everyone's still alive.

The Day

James Montgomery, MTV News writer: Just had my first totally random, totally awesome moment here at SXSW. I was waiting at a crosswalk on Congress Avenue when a dusty wood-paneled station wagon pulled up at the light and all the dudes inside, clearly in a band, clearly trying to look super-cool — think vintage vests, scraggly beards, wide-brim hats and bellbottoms straight out of Haight-Ashbury — were summarily laughed at by a gaggle of passing females. Next time get a tighter ride, bros.

Spent Thursday afternoon (March 15) baking in the sun at the Levis/Fader fort, where Interscope was debuting Queens of the Stone Age's upcoming Era Vulgaris record. Expect plenty of spooky, windswept guitars à la Lullabies to Paralyze — plus a whole lot of stompers circa their Songs for the Deaf era.

Then I headed over to Waterloo Records for an interview with Lily Allen, who was nice in an "I don't give a f----" kind of way. She talked about her plans to hit the studio in May and dismissed any notion of working with a producer du jour like Timbaland: "I don't want to be Nelly Furtado," she hissed. "And I don't want to spend $250,000 on a song I didn't write." She also got down to dissing the world-famous BBQ at Stubb's, declaring it "too gristly" (I would, respectively, have to disagree.)

Then it was back to the Fort for the Black Lips, who were missing a bassist ("He's still down in Mexico," one bandmember said) but still managed to fill the air with the kind of bludgeoning blooze-rock — and onstage French kissing — that they've been garnering much attention for in recent months. ...

Just back at the hotel for a minute, as I'm off to go interview the Cold War Kids at La Zona Rosa, then an evening filled with Elvis Perkins, Lo Fi Fink and (hopefully) the absence of heat stroke.

John Norris, MTV News correspondent:

"John Norris!!"

"Dude, I've been watching you since I was 5!"

"Nice to see you guys actually covering music!"

Ah yes — just a sampling of the greetings you get trying to shoot a news brief at 11 a.m. in the middle of Sixth Street on day #2 of SXSW. Who said they don't get up before noon at this festival? In fact, one person who was up early was none other than Chris Kirkpatrick. Yes, as in, formerly of 'NSYNC Chris Kirkpatrick ... though decidedly more tattooed than the last time I saw him. Chris has been to South By before but was ready to proclaim this one "maybe the wildest one yet." (Uh, totally awesome, bro.)

Other sights and sounds on a sunny Thursday in Austin:

"Nothing like a matinee. We're from Montreal. It's our first time in Texas. We want some chicken-fried chicken, whatever that is." · Canadian ambient rocker Patrick Watson, during a 1:45 p.m. set at Emo's

"We hope you find happiness and places to park." · Will Sheff, frontman for local band Okkervil River, to the packed afternoon crowd at Bourbon Rocks. Great band by the way: They've been playing SXSW for seven years and have a deservedly faithful following. Folk-rock sound that would not be out of place on a Bright Eyes bill.

"Doesn't that bicycle seat hurt your ass?" · The Flaming Lips' Wayne Coyne, to a cycling semi-drag queen (gray hair and beard, painted nails, tiara, butterfly thong and, apparently, breasts). Wayne was last seen on Sixth Street at SXSW 2006 as a pied piper in a huge bubble; this year he's a roving reporter for "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno."

Gil Kaufman, MTV News writer: Not a whole lot of time to file right now, as I'm putting in a marathon day of shows (Amy Winehouse, Daniel Johnston, El-P). But I wanted to share this gem from Wednesday night with you all: Sometimes even the most horrible band can teach you something.

Walking down Sixth Street, you hear so much music bleed out of every hole-in-the-wall bar that it's hard to figure out who you're hearing, even if you consult your festival guide. British blues yelpers Kava Kava, with a lead singer who looked like Bo Bice on a bender, were totally unexceptional, except for this genius bit of technology: The keyboardist had a little LED display taped onto his instrument that said "read me" and scrolled the band's name over and over in red 2-inch-high letters. Genius.

P.S.: No truth to all those "Rage Against the Machine played a reunion show last night" rumors floating around Austin. Tom Morello's manager told me the axeman was in Los Angeles on Wednesday night and that the supposed show "couldn't have happened." Though Morello's show Thursday night at Parish — where he is slated to perform as his alias, the Nightwatchman — is being billed as featuring "special guests," so ... who knows?

The Evening

James Montgomery: Important SXSW Lesson, Number One: No matter how boring you think the Cold War Kids may be, do not — under any circumstances — avoid their live show, which from the sound of things will be one that fest vets will be talking about for remainder of the week. Of course, I wasn't there, having dipped out to go watch Lo Fi Fink goof around onstage for 20 minutes, but apparently — from the roughly 37 text messages I received about it — I missed an epic effort, culminating with a mega-jam involving hotly tipped folkster Elvis Perkins.

(Check out exclusive front-row footage of Morello's jam session with Slash, Perry Farrell and more, right here.)

Important SXSW Lesson, Number Two: No matter how inconsequential you think Tom Morello might be, do not — under any circumstances — skip out on a performance by his side project, the Nightwatchman, especially when said performance is billed as "featuring special guests." Sure enough, I missed out on another sure-to-be-blogged about highlight — but don't worry, other members of the MTV News crew were in the front row, cameras and notebooks in hand (see "Morello's SXSW Gig Turns Into Raucous All-Star Jam With Slash, Perry Farrell").

Important SXSW Lesson, Number Three: I am a huge dumbass.

Thursday night wasn't all bad though ... I did get to witness a blistering set of anthemic, honest-to-goodness punk rock from Gainesville, Florida's Against Me!. (Of course, I had to sit through 45 minutes of Jack's Mannequin to do it, so let's call it a Pyrrhic victory.)

The fiercely DIY quartet turned the punk community on its collective head in late 2005 when they announced that they had signed with — gasp! — a major label, but if their sweaty set at the Sire Records showcase was any indication, all those old wounds have healed. Many fists were pumped, many hard-charging choruses bellowed and many unfortunate tattoos revealed, and the band seemed to be having a ball unveiling songs from their upcoming album New Wave, which displayed a decidedly dance-y streak.

Hey, even comedian David Cross, who caught the show in his "official undercover celebrity uniform" (read: a flannel shirt and a ratty ball cap) approved. And if it's good enough for America's foremost indie humorist, then it's certainly good enough for you.

John Norris: Now that's the South by Southwest I know and love. After a kinda sleepy Wednesday on Sixth Street ("Pete Wentz Clones Descend, Lily Allen Warbles As SXSW Gets Under Way"), on Thursday night things were back to the Bourbon-Street-with-a-great-soundtrack vibe that defines this week in Austin. Not always easy to maneuver, especially when every block there's another two or three CDs shoved into your hand. And — note to the guy who said, "You probably just throw these things away" — rest assured I try to make a point of listening to each and every record that comes my way.

Anyway, making it to see four artists at four different clubs in five hours does require a plan, and that's what I and my friend Chris, who was in from New York, had. For the most part, it worked.

First stop: Norway's Sondre Lerche, a power pop guy whose records seem to just be getting better. Not only is his latest, Phantom Punch probably his best to date, it also brings him closest to one of his musical heroes, Elvis Costello. Sondre and his very tight band had the crowd at Antone's — part of a showcase for Astralwerks that also included Sparklehorse — rocking.

The same could also be said for Mute Math. The electronic outfit — and former "You Hear It First" artist — is a band that, it is said, is best appreciated live. Tonight, everyone packed into the Dirty Dog found out why.

No doubt one of the three or four "biggest" bands at SXSW 2007 is Bloc Party — hence their show at Stubb's amounted to a mob scene. Thankfully Chris and I got in about 10 minutes before they took the stage, to tear through close to an hour's worth of songs from the still-genius 2005 album Silent Alarm, plus the recently released record titled — as frontman Kele Okereke implored the crowd to shout out — A Weekend in the City. On a warm night like tonight, the amphitheatre setting of Stubb's is Austin's best venue to see music — and favorites like "Banquet" to the new stuff, including the sweetly nostalgic "I Still Remember," swelled through the night air.

Finally, when it's 1 a.m. and you need a final burst of energy, what better way than the Smiths-y jangle pop of Austin's Voxtrot? This was one of the most-seen bands at last year's South By, and with a new album on the way, Ramesh Srivastava and the boys sent the crowd at Emo's off into the Austin night feeling good.

It was a long night, and a great night, and I'm done.

Gil Kaufman: I'm a bit ashamed to admit it, but while walking by the English showcase, I might have pretended to be from Leeds to squeeze in with some genuine Brits when they said the show was closed. Luckily, I snuck in, grabbed a soggy taco and got to see a mesmerizing, kinda scary acoustic set from mega-hyped British train wreck Amy Winehouse.

Impossibly thin with a towering black beehive hairdo and a sailor-worthy menagerie of tattoos, wearing tightly pegged jeans, a food-stained white undershirt and dirty pink ballet slippers, Winehouse played a four-song set that showed off her strong, soulful pipes on songs including her hit single, "Rehab." It was hard to ignore the deep scratches all over her left arm and her twitchy mannerisms, though.

Say what you will about the relevance of grunge progenitors the Melvins, but watching lead singer Buzz Osborne smash out dinosaur riffs while wearing a long black caftan covered in skulls and birds was the bomb. But the most important news of the day came during a brief set by beloved eccentric Daniel Johnston, who announced, "Ladies and gentlemen, I am not running for president today. I came here to this town today to rock this town."

The afternoon ended nicely with a ribcage-rattling set of thick hip-hop rock by El-P, who tried mightily to avoid cursing during a live broadcast on a local station. Unfortunately for them, he slipped up within the first five seconds he was on air.

Then, in the evening, I decided to check out a full set from Winehouse, and I'd like to take back (some) of what I said earlier; maybe she's just not an early riser. Dressed in the same get-up, but with a clean black T-shirt, she slayed an adoring, sweat-drenched crowd with a high-energy set that, unfortunately, started two hours later than advertised. But with her coquettish stage moves and dangerous-looking come-hither smile and teasing hand gestures — not to mention that smoky voice — all was forgiven.

After Amy, I checked out Minneapolis' Cloud Cult, who impressed with their Flaming Lips-style psychedelic rock, and the two onstage artists doing "action painting" during their set. James winced when I used the phrase "action painting," saying, "That sounds horrible!" I didn't tell him about the pregnant cello player with Christmas lights in her hair.

And finally, I caught up with an old pal, Warped Tour founder Kevin Lyman, during Straylight Run's gig. Dressed in his signature board shorts, loose t-shirt and flip-flops, Lyman said he was just hanging out and doing a bit of business, hoping to check out Willie Nelson on Saturday. Now that's punk rock.

And if you'll excuse me, I've got to crash. I'm exhausted, officially.

Will James actually make it to one of these buzz shows? Can the rest of the fest beat John's stellar Thursday? And could anything out-weird Gil's "action painting" experience? Check back all week for our SXSW coverage!

For more sights and stories from concerts around the country, check out MTV News Tour Reports.

[This story was originally published on 3.15.2007 at 8:44 p.m.]

• Five Coolest Things At SXSW 2007

• Kings Of Leon, Mastodon, Flava Flav, More Rock SXSW '07

• Amy Winehouse
• Queens of the Stone Age
• Lily Allen
• Black Lips
• Cold War Kids

Fall Out Boy's <i>Infinity on High</i>
Photo: Island Def Jam

When Fall Out Boy released their third full-length album, From Under the Cork Tree, no one realized just how well the LP would do. It ended up being one of the surprise breakout hits of 2005 and sold more than 2.5 million copies in the U.S. alone — making for much less surprising first-week sales totals for the band's follow-up effort, Infinity on High.

With close to 260,000 copies flying off record store shelves last week, FOB's Infinity on High has earned the Chicago rockers a career first: a #1 debut on Billboard's albums chart — a debut one could say was foreshadowed by the group's cross-country, three-gigs-in-one-day stunt last week (see "Infinity Ends: Fall Out Boy Wrap Epic Trek With L.A. Rooftop Gig"). Comparatively, From Under the Cork Tree opened at #9 the week after its release on 68,000 scans. But it was still a tight race for the chart's peak position, with last week's #1, Norah Jones' Not Too Late, selling close to 236,000 units, and slipping one spot to #2, according to the latest SoundScan totals.

But Fall Out fans weren't just snatching up copies of Infinity on High — many evidently also grabbed a copy of Cork Tree, and that album returns to the top 200 this week at #168, selling 5,300 units.

Elsewhere on the chart, for a third straight week, Daughtry, the self-titled debut from "American Idol" finalist Chris Daughtry's rock outfit, holds at #3, with 76,000 copies sold, while Akon's Konvicted climbs two places to #4, selling 64,700 copies. Bowing at #5 on next week's chart is Headstrong, the debut studio offering from Ashley Tisdale, who plays Sharpay Evans in the Disney Channel original movie "High School Musical." The LP sold close to 64,000 copies and was one of just three albums to debut in the chart's top 10; the other, country singer Jason Michael Carroll's Waitin' in the Country, claims the #8 slot, with 57,600 scans.

Robin Thicke's Evolution of Robin Thicke jumps three positions this week to #6, with sales reported at 60,800 (a 17 percent sales surge). The 2007 Grammy Nominees compilation — featuring 23 tracks from this year's award contenders, including Gnarls Barkley, John Mayer, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Justin Timberlake and James Blunt — follows at #7, selling just 50 fewer copies than Thicke's LP. Meanwhile, Grammy nominee Corinne Bailey Rae's self-titled album — which enjoyed a 32 percent spike in sales — takes the chart's #9 spot, with 51,500 scans, and Justin Timberlake's FutureSex/LoveSounds enjoys a 24 percent sales boost to round out the top 10 with 48,400 copies sold.

A total of 11 new releases found their way onto next week's chart, including Bloc Party's latest, A Weekend in the City, which bows at #12 with 47,700 sold. Patty Griffin's Children Running Through debuts at #34 with 26,600 scans, while Jordan Pruitt's No Ordinary Girl fills the #64 slot, selling 14,000 units; Pruitt was the opening act for "High School Musical: The Concert." The Used's live Berth set follows at #71, with 12,800 copies sold, while Bayside's Walking Wounded opens at #75 with 12,600 scans. The Barenaked Ladies' Barenaked Ladies Are Men claims the #102 spot with 9,800 copies snatched up, while Rickie Lee Jones' Sermon on Explosion Boulevard opens at #158 with sales of 5,800.

Prince's Super Bowl halftime performance two weeks ago helped boost sales of his third hits collection, Ultimate, by a whopping 170 percent. The album sold close to 4,800 copies — around 3,000 more than the album had netted the week before.

• Fall Out Boy's Flight 206: Hop Onboard!
• MTV News RAW: Fall Out Boy In Flight

• Fall Out Boy
• Daughtry
• Akon
• Robin Thicke
• Justin Timberlake

50 Cent
Photo: Rob Loud/ Getty Images

50 Cent is at it again. After a heated exchange with Cam'ron last week on New York radio station Hot 97, the G-Unit general took aim at the Diplomats top dog on the track "Funeral Music," which made its debut on DJ Kay Slay's MySpace page Thursday night. In the YouTube video clip, 50 poked fun at Cam being shot last year and mocked the Harlem, New York, rapper's rhyme style before adding, "I'm not gonna destroy Dipset, just gotta make some changes." He then proceeded to rearrange the Dipset ranking order to put Jim Jones and Juelz Santana over Cam in the hierarchy. "From now on, Jimmy's the boss of Dipset and Juelz is the capo," 50 says in the clip. "Cam's demoted to soldier!" ...

We've learned that Ozzfest will be free this summer — but how will one gain admission to the traveling metal monstrosity? Well, tickets will be paid for and distributed by the festival's sponsors, including Jägermeister and Monster Energy Drink. Those signed up at Ozzfest.com will get info on how to score their free tickets first. Once you've landed one, you'll need to print it out and bring it to Ozzfest the day of the show. The shows will be general admission and seats will be divvied out on a first-come, first-to-claim-a-seat-and-watch-the-show-from-there basis. The prices of merchandise, beer, soda, water and food will not be raised at all, according to organizers. A limit on tickets has yet to be determined, and more information on the free fest will be revealed in the coming weeks. ...

Bloc Party are in need of a fill-in for drummer Matt Tong, who has a serious respiratory condition that caused his lung to collapse during the band's last U.S. tour. Tong is likely to suffer complications from his condition during the band's upcoming U.K. tour, and the temporary replacement should help Bloc Party avoid cancelling any gigs. ... Tha Dogg Pound aren't ready to be muzzled just yet. After reconciling in spring 2005, Snoop Dogg, Daz Dillinger and Kurupt dished up a reunion LP, Cali Iz Active, in June. Now they're ready to issue that LP's successor less than a year later: Dogg Ch--, due March 27. The album was completely produced by the group, but it features a veritable guest list to boot, including the Game, Jayo Felony and Too Short. ...

Cartoon Network General Manager and Executive Vice President Jim Samples resigned Friday (February 9) in the wake of the network's botched "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" publicity campaign, CNN reports. "I deeply regret the negative publicity and expense caused to our company as a result of this campaign," Samples wrote in a letter to employees, referring to the stunt that led to a terrorism scare in Boston last week. "As general manager of Cartoon Network, I feel compelled to step down, effective immediately, in recognition of the gravity of the situation that occurred under my watch." The Cartoon Network's parent company, Turner Broadcasting System — along with marketing company Interference Inc. — agreed earlier this week to pay $2 million to reimburse local agencies and fund homeland-security programs. ...

Weeks after bloggers began posting unofficial lists of artists they claimed would play this year's South by Southwest music conference, organizers have confirmed an initial lineup for the annual fest, which will hit Austin, Texas, on March 14-18. The Stooges, Bloc Party, Mastodon, the Strokes' Albert Hammond Jr., Kings of Leon, Jack's Mannequin, Chingo Bling, Dirty on Purpose, the Horrors, Spoon, Apples in Stereo, the Bravery and Amy Winehouse are among the acts on the fest's current list of performers. For more information on the conference, visit SXSW.com ...

The reunited Stooges — who will release The Weirdness, their first album in more than 30 years, March 20 — have announced several shows planned for the spring. The band will play its SXSW gig March 17, followed by concerts in Boston (April 7), New York (April 9), Detroit (April 13), Denver (April 17), San Francisco (April 19) and Seattle (April 27). ... Gus Van Sant has agreed to an alcohol-diversion program after being arrested on drunken-driving charges in December, The Associated Press reports. The director appeared briefly in a Portland, Oregon, court Friday morning. Those who enter the program have to plead guilty or no contest, but a DUI conviction can be avoided if the participant successfully completes the program. ...

Saves the Day's next album has a title, even though the band hasn't started working on the LP just yet. Frontman Chris Conley revealed that the group's next record will be called Under the Boards, in a statement posted on the band's MySpace page. Saves the Day have demoed 13 tracks for the effort but have no plans to enter the studio anytime soon. Conley said he hopes the album will be in stores before the end of the year. ... Gomez are chasing their recently released Five Men in a Hut (A's, B's & Rarities: 1998-2004) CD anthology with a similarly titled DVD: "Five Men in a Hut: Singles 1998-2004." The career-spanning collection, due February 20, compiles 12 music videos along with six unreleased performance clips, two interviews and more. ...

Maybe Steve Jobs is on to something. Just days after the Apple Inc. boss wrote an open letter saying he'd support removing copy protection from the iTunes store, one of the major labels, EMI Group PLC — home of the Rolling Stones, Beastie Boys, Beatles and Coldplay — has revealed that it is talking to online retailers about possibly selling its digital catalog without copy protection, according to The Wall Street Journal. Citing people familiar with the talks, the Journal reported that EMI asked retailers to submit proposals telling the company what size advance payments it would offer in exchange for the right to sell EMI's music as unprotected MP3s. A decision on whether to go ahead with the plan could come soon. Over the past few months EMI has experimented with copy protection-free MP3 by Norah Jones, Lily Allen and Relient K, getting positive results from fans.

02.08.2007

Dust off your record players, Coldplay fans: The band is compiling all 14 of its singles on vinyl, each pressed as a 7-inch in a sleeve with its original artwork. The box set, dubbed The Singles 1999-2006, will also include 1999's The Blue Room E.P. — the band's first Parlophone item — and is set for a March 26 international release. A U.S. release date is not scheduled, and Coldplay have stipulated that a CD version will not be made. ...

(+44)'s injured drummer, Travis Barker, won't be returning to the road anytime soon. According to a MySpace post by frontman Mark Hoppus, Barker continues to recover from a broken arm — his bones were so brittle that they broke while he was playing drums back in October. Barker is to strap a bone stimulator, a device that encourages the healing process, to his forearm, and doctors also ordered a casual return to the drums as rehabilitation. There's no word on when Barker will be back behind the kit. ...

Jadakiss was indicted Thursday (February 8) in a New York state court on weapon and drug-possession charges stemming from an arrest last year, according to The Associated Press. The Yonkers native and three other men were pulled over by police October 7 after authorities allegedly smelled marijuana coming from the car the rapper was in — and then discovered a gun in the vehicle. In the police report, Jada's lawyer, Clement Patti, said he had "yet to see or hear of any evidence connecting my client to possessing this weapon." If convicted, the rapper could face up to seven years in prison. Through an Interscope spokesperson, Jadakiss declined to comment to MTV News regarding the matter. ...

The performer list for Sunday's 49th annual Grammy Awards keeps growing, with the latest additions including T.I. and James Blunt as well as Earth, Wind & Fire, who will join a previously announced hook-up between Mary J. Blige and Ludacris. More presenters have also been added, including Mandy Moore, Common, Quentin Tarantino, Luke Wilson, Reba McEntire, Natalie Cole and legendary songwriter Burt Bacharach. The Grammys air Sunday at 8 p.m. ET/PT on CBS. MTV News' "All Up in the Grammys" preshow begins at 7:30 p.m. on MTV. ... And the Grammys' star-studded green room won't be green at all this year. The Recording Academy and Gap have teamed up to create the first (RED) Room backstage at the 49th annual Grammy Awards in honor of Product (RED), an initiative spearheaded by Bono to help combat HIV/AIDS in Africa. ...

Dr. Dre is setting himself up for the next act in his creative life: movie mogul. According to Variety, Dre has signed a multiyear feature production deal with New Line through his new company, Crucial Films. Dre plans to produce alongside longtime collaborator Phillip Atwell, focusing first on dark comedies before moving on to genres such as horror. He'll be heavily involved in the music side of the film projects. "This is a natural switch for me, since I've directed a lot of music videos," Dre said. "And I eventually want to get into directing." ...

Aching for a night with Justin Timberlake or the celebrity treatment at the VMAs? That wish can come true for the right price. R.S.V.P. to Help, an online charity auction led by Jon Bon Jovi and designer Kenneth Cole, includes a VIP package to see Timberlake perform in London in July, a meet-and-greet with the next batch of "American Idol" finalists on their summer tour, two spots on a Habitat for Humanity build crew with former President Jimmy Carter, a design lesson with Cole and spots on the red carpet and in the celebrity-packed green room at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards. The auction ends February 15, with all proceeds benefiting Habitat for Humanity, Help USA and the Philadelphia Soul Foundation. Visit RSVPtoHelp.org for more information. ...

The Isley Brothers — who were nominated for two Soul Train Music Awards earlier this week — will embark on a U.S. tour March 14 in Las Vegas. The group — featuring Ronald Isley, a.k.a. Mr. Biggs — will bring the R&B fun to a close April 28 in Philadelphia. ... The Who announced a European tour Thursday that will take them to 28 cities, beginning with Lisbon, Portugal, on May 8 and ending in Helsinki, Finland, on July 9. Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey performed a four-song acoustic set at their London news conference, AP reports, and they said they will continue touring elsewhere once they're done with Europe. ... The Blood Brothers and Celebration will head out March 15 on a 31-date North American trek that begins in Salt Lake City. The tour will make stops in Denver, Minneapolis, Chicago, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Atlanta, and Los Angeles before wrapping April 27 in Seattle. ...

New York State Senator Carl Kruger launched a war on what he called "iPod oblivion" this week, proposing a $100 fine for people who are caught walking, jogging or biking across city streets while jamming tunes. The proposed bill would also outlaw the use of cell phones, Blackberrys, video games and other electronic gear while crossing the street, according to an AP report. Kruger cited the death of a 21-year-old man who was listening to music when he stepped off a curb and was hit by a bus in Brooklyn, New York, in September, and also referred to a 23-year-old iPod user's death last month. ... AP reports that Daniel Baldwin was in Detroit working on a horror flick when a judge in Newport Beach, California, issued a warrant for the actor on charges that Baldwin skipped a court hearing pertaining to the theft of a car. ...

Nike has commissioned underground hip-hop hero Aesop Rock to compose the third installment of its Nike + Original Run music series. The 45-minute continuous mix will be available Tuesday on iTunes. ... Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley and his brothers Stephen, Ky-Mani and Julian have organized a concert to commemorate the birthday of their late father, reggae icon Bob Marley. The peace-promoting event, titled Smile Jamaica, will take place on Saturday, four days after the 62nd anniversary of Marley's birth. Rita Marley, Marley's widow, is also expected to attend the show, which will be held in Jamaica's St. Ann parish. ... Sitting in front of the TV for hours playing video games could be good for your eyesight, despite what your parents may have told you. A University of Rochester study found that non-gamers who played action video games for a few hours per day actually experienced a 20 percent improvement in vision over the course of a month. "These games push the human visual system to the limits and the brain adapts to it," Professor Daphne Bavelier said in the study, published Tuesday. "That learning carries over into other activities and possibly everyday life."

• Grammy Race: Can Mayer Sprint Past JT?

• 50 Cent
• Cam'ron
• Snoop Dogg
• Game
• Bloc Party

Fall Out Boy's <I>Infinity on High</I>
Photo: Island Def Jam

It's been a slow year so far for rock fans, with a best-of Unwritten Law CD and new Shins effort among the most prominent releases so far in 2007. Now it's finally time to strap on the guitars: With nary a rapper in sight — save Jay-Z, who drops a verse on the new Fall Out Boy album — this week is all about the rock.

Doing It Up Right: Say what you will about Fall Out Boy, but they sure do know how to sweeten a deal. In the wake of their Infinity on High being leaked online, the band promised to reward fans who actually buy the set with online access to a live EP, Leaked in London, that was just recorded January 29. But the pop-punk princes aren't stopping there: A limited-edition deluxe digipak comes with five tarot cards and an exclusive booklet cover, while fans who preordered have been treated with an exclusive pack of five buttons.

Party On: Believe it or not, there's actually a second-degree connection between FOB and this week's other heavyweights, Bloc Party. Infinity on High features guest guitar licks by Ryan Ross of Panic! at the Disco — last year, Bloc bailed from a tour with that same band. The sophomore hipsters are feeling less generous than FOB, though: Fans who preordered A Weekend in the City have received only a bonus remix of the song "The Prayer," and the CD itself is frill-free. The album — which lead singer Kele Okereke has called "the living noise of a metropolis" — includes "Song for Clay (Disappear Here)," "Hunting for Witches" and "Waiting for the 7.18."

Get Used To It: One of the most annoying ways record labels try to make an extra buck is by releasing a band's live CD and DVD separately — sometimes at different intervals and sometimes without warning. On that count, fans of the Used have nothing to worry about: The pop-punk group's Berth contains both the CD and DVD versions of its 2005 headlining show in Vancouver, British Columbia. Better yet, the Used have stuffed the package with videos, making-of features and clips of them answering fan questions — and if you order Berth through TheUsed.net, you'll get a T-shirt too.

Snoop Dogg piped up a month ago with a new cut on the "Arthur and the Invisibles" soundtrack, and now he's contributing a fresh slice to another musical companion disc — albeit to a slightly different type of movie. The alternately funny and gory "Hood of Horror" — its tagline is "It ain't all good in da 'hood" — stars the rapper alongside choice B-actors Ernie Hudson and Danny Trejo. Snoop chipped in "Welcome to the Hood" for the soundtrack, which also includes his "Shake That Sh--" (featuring Young Walt, Terrace Martin and Tiffany Foxx), plus selections from Cool & Dre, Al Kapone and, bizarrely, blues-rock fiends the North Mississippi Allstars.

They Do Not Rock: But if your ears are ringing from all the rock and roll this week, don't worry: There are some lower-volume alternatives, as always. "High School Musical" darling Ashley Tisdale — who made history as the first female artist to debut two songs simultaneously on the Billboard Hot 100 — proves how Headstrong she is with her new LP. Fans who got a head start and ordered through AshleyMusic.com have been gifted with an autographed copy of the disc and a sticker pack.

Someone else who is decidedly not rocking is Jessica Simpson hero Patty Griffin, whose Children Running Through trots out R&B- and gospel-inflected tracks including "Up to the Mountains (MLK Song)," "Burgundy Shoes" and "Someone Else's Tomorrow." Griffin gets a boost from Emmylou Harris on "Trapeze."

Also toning things down is ex-Gus Gus lead singer Daníel Ágúst, whose Swallowed a Star was crafted with Madonna remixer Bix and features mild, bleep-y tunes. U.K. trio Fujiya & Miyagi take it one step further with Transparent Things, which is heavy on kraut and other electronic sounds, and was named after a Vladimir Nabokov novel.

Comp'd: This week also sees the release of a litany of compilation CDs, some slightly more freakish than others. While you're likely to find Yes, I'm a Witch filed in the CD bins under "O," the Yoko Ono collection was largely crafted by other artists. Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips, Cat Power and Antony scooped up chunks of previous Ono recordings — mostly her vocals — and spliced them with new musical tracks. Also participating are the Apples in Stereo, who drop their own New Magnetic Wonder LP this week — the album is the first one distributed through Elijah Wood's Simian Records.

The long-winded but self-explanatory 8-Bit Operators: The Music of Kraftwerk Performed on Vintage 8-Bit Video Game Systems is another odd tribute of sorts, blipping and bleeping its way through 15 chestnuts by the electro-kraut pioneers. The roster involves an array of international artists who have delved deep into the genre also known as "chiptune" or "bitpop."

Unlike those tributes, Brian Wilson actually participated directly in a salute to himself that was staged by MusiCares, a group that helps people in the music industry with financial and medical assistance. Everyone and their mother turned up for the 2005 event, and their renditions of classic Wilson/ Beach Boys cuts are captured here: the Red Hot Chili Peppers tackle "I Get Around," John Legend re-creates "I Just Wasn't Made for These Times," the Backstreet Boys reinterpret "When I Grow Up to Be a Man," and more. Wilson helps cap the show by running through "Pet Sounds," "Heroes and Villains" and three more numbers.

Polishing off this week's batch of bizarre comps is A Date With John Waters, a set of 14 love songs handpicked by Mr. "Pink Flamingos" himself. Claiming to go "back to the first record Waters ever shoplifted, 'Tonight You Belong to Me' by Patience and Prudence," the album also encompasses selections by Ike & Tina Turner and Ray Charles, as well as the more obscure Elton Motello and Eileen Barton, the latter of whom appeared in a long list of Waters flicks. And no, the disc doesn't come with a chicken.

Song Title of the Week:

"They're Not Horses, They're Unicorns" from Bayside's The Walking Wounded

Other Notables:

Aereogramme's My Heart Has a Wish That You Would Not Go: The fourth album by the Scottish ensemble doesn't sound all that much like the band's previous releases — instead of alternating big blasts of distorted guitar with introverted, mellow passages, this effort is much more even-tempered. That's largely because a nasty throat infection left singer Craig B mute for a portion of the recording session, which took place in Glasgow. The band can't take credit for the powerful album title, though: It's a line from William Peter Blatty's book "The Exorcist" that didn't make it to William Friedkin's big-screen version.

Jesse Sykes & the Sweet Hereafter's Like, Love, Lust & the Open Halls of the Soul: Jesse Sykes's career has an enormous span, what with her having once been a member of alt-country commandos Whiskeytown but more recently collaborating with the likes of doom-noise metallers Boris and Sunn0))). Her latest with backing band the Sweet Hereafter is their third outing, and it continues the minimalist approach forged with 2002's Reckless Burning and 2004's Oh, My Girl. Scandinavian singer/songwriter Nicolai Dunger lends a hand, but the entire effort was produced by Decemberists collaborator Tucker Martine.

The Makes Nice's Candy Wrapper & Twelve Other Songs: In yet another example of a musician doing the unexpected this week, Josh Smith of Bay Area stoner-metal faves the F---ing Champs and Drunk Horse has come up with ... an R&B album? Recalling the Zombies and Small Faces, Smith gangs up with Aaron Burnham — who graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, with a music degree — and software engineer Jack Matthew for the 13-track opus. Trans Am's Phil Manley, who is also a member of the F---ing Champs, helped the band record Candy Wrapper.

New Releases:

· Aereogramme - My Heart Has a Wish That You Would Not Go (Sonic Unyon) [Buy Now] · Daníel Ágúst - Swallowed a Star (One Little Indian) · Angels & Agony - Unison (Metropolis) · Animal Collective - People (EP; Fat Cat) [Buy Now] · The Apples in Stereo - New Magnetic Wonder (digipak; Simian/ Yep Roc/ Elephant 6) [Buy Now] · Backyard Tire Fire - Vagabonds and Hooligans (digipak; O.L.E.) [Buy Now] · Bayside - The Walking Wounded (Victory) [Buy Now] · Peter Bjorn and John - Writer's Block (with bonus CD; Almost Gold) · Bloc Party - A Weekend in the City (Vice/Atlantic) [Buy Now] Read: "After Failed Panic! At The Disco Tour, Bloc Party Look Ahead To New LP" · Stefano Bollani - Piano Solo (ECM) · Belinda Carlisle - Voila (with bonus CD; Rykodisc) · Car Bomb - Centralia (Relapse) [Buy Now] · Jason Michael Carroll - Waitin' in the Country (Arista Nashville) · The Cat Empire - Two Shoes (Velour) [Buy Now] · Clouds - Legendary Demo (Hydra Head) · Danny Cohen - Shades of Dorian Gray (Anti-) · The Colour - Between Earth & Sky (Rethink) · Dead Child - Dead Child (EP; Cold Sweat) · Dear and the Headlights - Small Steps, Heavy Hooves (Equal Vision) · The Dexateens - Hardware Healing (Skybucket) · Elliott Brood - Ambassador (Six Shooter) · The End - Elementary (Relapse) · Fall Out Boy - Infinity on High (limited-edition digipak with tarot cards due same day; Island) [Buy Now] Read: "Jigga What? Fall Out Boy Get A Hand From Jay-Z On Infinity" · Fat Freddy's Drop - Based on a True Story (Quango) · Ruthie Foster - The Phenomenal Ruthie Foster (Blue Corn) · Fujiya & Miyagi - Transparent Things (Deaf Dumb & Blind) · Goldfrapp - Ride a White Horse EP (enhanced; Mute) [Buy Now] · Patty Griffin - Children Running Through (ATO) Read: "Kelly Clarkson's 'Favorite Person' Is On Jessica Simpson's Playlist Too" · Ernie Halter - Congress Hotel (Rock Ridge) · Rickie Lee Jones - The Sermon on Exposition Boulevard (digipak; limited deluxe edition with bonus CD due same day; New West) · Sondre Lerche - Phantom Punch (Astralwerks) · Little Brazil - Tighten the Noose (Mt. Fuji) · Lonely, Dear - Lonely Noir (Sub Pop) · Love Arcade - Love Arcade (enhanced; Atlantic) [Buy Now] · The Makes Nice - Candy Wrapper & Twelve Other Songs (Frenetic) · Eleni Mandell - Miracle of Five (digipak; Zedtone) · David Martin - Something in Your Eyes (Astonish) · Mnemic - Passenger (digipak; Nuclear Blast) · Phonograph - Phonograph (Arclight) · Pornopop - And the Slow Songs About the Dead Calm in Your Arms (Dynamophone) · The Postmarks - The Postmarks (Unfiltered) · Jordan Pruitt - No Ordinary Girl (with DVD; Hollywood) · John Reuben - Word of Mouth (Gotee) · Secret Mommy - Plays (Ache) [Buy Now] · The Tierney Sutton Band - On the Other Side (Telarc) · Jesse Sykes & the Sweet Hereafter - Like, Love, Lust & the Open Halls of the Soul (Barsuk) · Ashley Tisdale - Headstrong (Warner Bros.) · Titan - A Raining Sun of Light and Love for You & You & You (Tee Pee) · The Used - Berth (live CD with DVD; Reprise) [Buy Now] Read: "The Used Hate Los Angeles But Love To Write About It" · Tyrone Wells - Hold On (Republic) · Keller Williams - Dream (digipak; Sci Fidelity) · Winning - This Is an Ad for Cigarettes (Ache) · Various artists - 8-Bit Operators: The Music of Kraftwerk Performed on Vintage 8-Bit Video Game Systems (Astralwerks) · Various artists - "Hood of Horror" soundtrack (Chime Entertainment) · Various artists - Ono: Yes, I'm a Witch (Astralwerks) · Various artists - Take Action! Volume 6 (digipak with DVD; Hopeless/ Sub City)

Notable Reissues and Archival Material:

· Arab Strap - Ten Years of Tears! (Chemikal Underground) · Barenaked Ladies - Barenaked Ladies Are Men (enhanced; Desperation) [Buy Now] · Freddie Jackson - Greatest Hits (Capitol/EMI) · Monty Python - Another Monty Python Album, Monty Python's Life Of Brian, Monty Python's The Meaning Of Life and Monty Python's Previous Record (Virgin/EMI) · Public Enemy - Fight the Power! Greatest Hits Live! (with DVD; Pyramid) [Buy Now] · Rhino Bucket - No Song Left Behind and Pain & Suffering (Acetate) · The Sleeping - Believe What We Tell You (with bonus DVD; Victory) · Sun Kil Moon - Ghosts of the Great Highway (with bonus CD; Caldo Verde) · Teddybears - Soft Machine (Big Beat) · Various artists - A Date With John Waters (New Line) · Various artists - Celebrate! Songs of Praise (Sony Urban/Legacy) · Various artists - "Romeo+Juliet" soundtrack (Capitol/EMI)

Music DVDs:

· Apocalyptica - "The Life Burns Tour" (Red Ink) · Crowbar - "Live: With Full Force" (Candlelight) · Deep Purple - "Deep Purple's In Rock: The Essential Albums of All Time" (Classic Rock Legends) · Bob Marley - "Music in Review" (Classic Rock Legends) · Pink Floyd - "Pink Floyd's Atom Heart Mother: The Essential Albums of All Time" (Classic Rock Legends) · Paul Weller - "Hit Parade" (Yep Roc) · Various artists - "Liberation: The Songs of the New Cuban Underground" (Petrol) · Various artists - "MusiCares: A Tribute to Brian Wilson" (Eagle Vision) · Various artists - "Romeo+Juliet: Music Edition" (Capitol/EMI)

Coming Attractions:

February 13: · Gerald LeVert - In My Songs (Atlantic) · Bobby Valentino - Special Occasion (Def Jam) Read: "Bobby Valentino Asks Sean Garrett, Rodney Jerkins To Attend Special Occasion" · Lucinda Williams - West (digipak; Lost Highway)

February 20: · Calla - Strength in Numbers (Beggars Banquet) · Kittie - Funeral for Yesterday (X of Infamy) · Various artists - Kidz Bop 11 (Razor & Tie)

February 27: · Beck - The Information (deluxe-edition reissue; Geffen) · Fabolous - From Nothing to Something (Def Jam) [Preorder] Read: "Fabolous Opens Up About Shooting Incident; Hooks Up With Jeezy, Ne-Yo" · Slim Thug & Tha Boss Hogg Outlawz - Serve & Collect (Koch)

• Fall Out Boy: Behind The 'Scene' Clip

• Fall Out Boy
• Bloc Party
• The Used
• The Apples in Stereo
• Bayside

Paramore, Lil Wayne, More At Virgin Mobile Festival 2008

• Lil Wayne
• Paramore
• Lupe Fiasco
• Wilco
• Bloc Party

Kings Of Leon, Mastodon, Flava Flav, More Rock SXSW '07

• Lily Allen
• James Iha
• Kenna
• The Bravery
• Razorlight

Bloc Party

• Bloc Party

AFI, Kanye West, Snoop Dogg, More At San Diego's Street Scene

• Kanye West
• RZA
• Wolfmother
• She Wants Revenge
• Queens of the Stone Age

Bloc Party In Concert

• Bloc Party

2005 Austin City Limits Festival

• Coldplay
• Franz Ferdinand
• Kaiser Chiefs
• Arcade Fire
• Jason Mraz

Foos, Audioslave, Interpol, Killers Play Weenie Roast 2005

• Transplants
• My Chemical Romance
• Interpol
• Bloc Party
• The Killers

Coachella Valley Music Festival 04.30 - 05.01.2005

• Nine Inch Nails
• Arcade Fire
• Bloc Party
• The Bravery
• The Futureheads

MTV.com Exclusive: Bloc Party Photos 04.07.2005

• Bloc Party

You Hear It First: Bloc Party

• Bloc Party