The 2002 MTV Video Music Awards will once again pitch its tent in New York City. The 2002 VMAs will be broadcast live from Radio City Music Hall on August 29. ...

Cher's final tour will begin June 14 and hit 50 North American cities before ending September 15 in Minneapolis. The Living Proof - The Farewell Tour will promote Cher's latest album, Living Proof. ...

Industrial rock purists KMFDM will hit the road for the first time in five years to promote their just-released 11th album, Attak. Pig will open on the outing, which kicks off May 31 in Seattle and returns there for the tour wrap-up July 3. ...

Meanwhile, KMFDM frontman Sascha Konietzko has been in the studio remixing singles for Kittie and the Kidney Thieves. ...

Mike Patton, of Faith No More, Mr. Bungle, Fantômas and Tomahawk fame, contributes vocals on the upcoming EP from New Jersey metal band the Dillinger Escape Plan. The record, Irony Is a Dead Scene, is due August 13. ...

Mancunian ethereal slow rockers Doves and Elbow will begin a U.S. tour in Seattle on June 3, the day before Doves' second disc, The Last Broadcast, hits shelves. The 11-date tour runs through June 20 in New York ...

04.30.02

'NSYNC's Challenge for the Children Foundation received a $1 million donation this week from the Coca-Cola Company, which will be the title sponsor for the Challenge for the Children IV celebrity basketball tournament in Orlando in July. The foundation raises money and awareness for various children's charities and programs nationwide. ...

Latin singer Marc Anthony will launch a North American summer tour on July 6 in Boston in support of his May 21 release, Mended. Anthony will play 30 cities before wrapping up September 20 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. ...

Foo Fighters, Jane's Addiction, Incubus, Sum41, the Strokes, Slipknot, the Offspring, Weezer, Puddle of Mudd and Andrew W.K. are among the artists scheduled for the U.K.'s Reading and Leeds Festivals, taking place August 23-25. ...

The Goo Goo Dolls performed a surprise concert at Monrovia High School in Monrovia, California, on Friday. The show was the result of a student at the school winning MuchMusic USA's Class Dismissed contest. ...

Jamiroquai keyboardist Toby Smith has left the funk rock group to spend more time with his family. Singer Jay Kay, who has left the door open for future studio projects with Smith, said in a statement, "It is sad to see him go but I totally understand the commitment Toby feels for his family and the strains of being away from home for long periods." ...

A decade retrospective collection from pop punkers MxPx is set for release May 21. Ten Years and Running features 19 of the band's choice cuts, including a re-recording of "Punk Rawk Show" and two new songs, "Running Away" and "My Mistake." ...

On May 2 at the Malibu Country Club in California, Mötely Crüe singer Vince Neil will host the sixth annual Skylar Neil Tournament in memory of his daughter who died of stomach cancer at the age of four in 1995. The Doors' Robbie Krieger, porn star Jenna Jameson and Dennis Rodman are the golfers lined up for the event, which will benefit the Neil Bogart Memorial Fund and T.J. Martell Foundation. ...

• Cher
• KMFDM
• Mike Patton

German industrial bands KMFDM and Rammstein have been subject to some bad publicity since last Tuesday's tragedy at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado.

• KMFDM
• Rammstein

Sobbing, shell-shocked survivors of Tuesday's massacre at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado continue to grieve for their dead and wounded classmates, victims of teenage gunmen Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold.

The two Columbine juniors, armed with shotguns and pipe bombs, brutally (and, many witnesses say, joyfully) slaughtered at least 13 classmates and teachers and wounded 23 others before taking their own lives Tuesday afternoon.

While speaking with Columbine High School students on Wednesday, MTV News' Chris Connelly heard details of two young men with problems far beyond the "Trenchcoat Mafia" tag they adopted and the Goth style that has been attributed to them.

"They really didn't go into a Gothic thing," a Columbine student named Nick said of the two shooters.

Many students who discussed the Trenchcoat Mafia with MTV News noted that the group was fairly innocuous, but that Harris and Klebold's fascination with Adolf Hitler made them far more dangerous.

a Columbine High student named John said of the Trenchcoat Mafia. "They made themselves into outcasts because that's what they like to be. They like to cause trouble. They're not very menacing, usually. And, I guess they're all holding it back and then one day they just let [it] out." [RealVideo]

Reports have also surfaced that one of the students involved in the shooting may have been behind a Webpage that featured pipe bomb instructions, gruesome sketches, and lyrics from the KMFDM song "Son of a Gun." In response, the band issued a statement on Wednesday saying, "First and foremost, KMFDM would like to express their deep and heartfelt sympathy for the parents, families and friends of the murdered and injured children in Littleton. We are sick and appalled, as is the rest of the nation, by what took place in Colorado yesterday."

As part of MTV's "Fight For Your Rights: Take A Stand Against Violence," MTV News will broadcast "Warning Signs," a special report that might help you spot signs of violent behavior in your classmates or even yourself.

"Warning Signs" airs Thursday at 4:30 p.m. (ET), following "Total Request Live," which will feature more reports from Littleton.

You can find out more by checking out MTV's site at www.fightforyourrights.mtv.com.

• KMFDM

The haze-shrouded, serpentine-like career path of the group formerly known as KMFDM has taken yet another turn.

• KMFDM

Industrial rockers KMFDM have called it quits after 15 years together… or have they?

The group's founder, Sascha Konietzko, issued a statement on Friday that simply declared, "KMFDM is dead." The band offered no further comment, other than to say that they were adhering to a "media black out" until March 1, the date that would mark the group's 15th anniversary.

A spokesperson for the group's record label, TVT Records, told MTV News that he could not elaborate on the statement, except to say that KMFDM's last album with TVT Records, "Adios," will hit stores on April 13.

The group has released nine albums, including the recent collections "AGOGO" and "RETRO."

• KMFDM

The much anticipated remix album from industrial legends Skinny Puppy finally has a release date. A spokesperson for Nettwerk Records confirms the record should be out October 20.

The latest notables to be added to mix include the Deftones, KMFDM and Puppy vocalist Nivek Ogre. Orge's appearance will be in tandem with his WELT mate Mark Walk.

The Deftones have chosen the song "Spasmolytic," KMFDM is taking on "Addiction," and Ogre and Walk are bringing life back to "Smothered Hope."

As previously reported by MTV News, they join God Lives Underwater, Josh Wink, Chris Vrenna, Adrian Sherwood, Autechre, Rhys Fulber, Gang Starr and Ruby, among others.

Meanwhile, Ogre and Walk are also set to resurrect WELT, which never did see the light of day thanks to problems with the label, American Recordings. And Ogre has also recently teamed up with Martin Atkins to form a project they're calling "Ritalin." They've just released an album titled "Bedside Toxicology."

Skinny Puppy recorded eight albums including their full length debut in 1985, and 1996's "The Process," released after the band disintegrated.

• Deftones
• KMFDM
• Skinny Puppy