Beck has been working with producer Dan "the Automator" Nakamura on material for his next LP, according to Beck's label, Interscope Records. Nakamura's résumé includes Gorillaz, Handsome Boy Modeling School, Deltron 3030, Lovage and Dr. Octagon. ... On February 2, the day before the Super Bowl, P. Diddy will host the United We Stand Jam at Zephyr Field in New Orleans, Louisiana, to raise funds for children and families of African-American firefighters and a pilot who lost their lives in the events of September 11. Performers include Fabolous, Bubba Sparxxx, Jermaine Dupri, Jadakiss and Black Rob, with guest DJ Biz Markie on the ones and twos. ... Former Helmet and Orange 9mm guitarist Chris Traynor gave it a shot at Monday's tryouts for a new Limp Bizkit axeman at a Guitar Center in Queens, New York. ...

Ever wanted to see a Backstreet Boy covered in rats? You just might get your chance when Kevin Richardson guests on an upcoming celebrity edition of the NBC series "Fear Factor," according to TVGuide.com. ... Drowning Pool, Coal Chamber and Ill Niño will be drinking in the atmosphere during the Jägermeister Music Tour, which kicks off March 8 in Orlando, Florida, and wraps April 23 in a venue to be announced. The outing is scheduled to hit over 30 cities in the U.S. ... Linkin Park signed a sponsorship deal with Microsoft's Xbox gaming system, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The first fruits of the marriage will be giveaways of band-autographed Xbox systems during their Projekt: Revolution Tour. ... In her contract-termination lawsuit against the Universal Music Group, Courtney Love can legally challenge a California labor code amendment that exempts recording artists from labor laws that pertain to other entertainers, the California Court of Appeal ruled on Monday. According to the Los Angeles Times, the court denied a petition by Universal to remove that challenge from Love's suit, which was filed in response to Universal's breach-of-contract suit against her. ...

Will Smith is the actor most likely to get your tail in a movie-house seat in 2002, as he'll be named Male Star of the Year in March at the ShoWest convention, an annual gathering of motion picture industry bigwigs. The "Ali" and "Men in Black 2" star will be feted at a banquet in Las Vegas in recognition of his positive affects on both critics and the box office. ... On March 19 — eight months after its U.K. release — Super Furry Animals' fifth album, Rings Around the World, will hit Stateside stores via XL Recordings. The band will tour the U.S. in April to support the record, which was nominated for the 2001 Mercury Music Prize. ... Theatrical metal outfit Mushroomhead have firmed the first month of dates for their spring tour to promote last year's major-label debut, Xx. The outing, with openers 18 Visions, Lamb of God and Five Point 0, begins February 20 in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, and ends at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas, on March 15. ...

Thin-skinned troubadour Dashboard Confessional, a.k.a. Chris Carrabba, begins his second headlining tour March 1 in Fort Worth, Texas. The six-week jaunt supports his second album, The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most (Vagrant Records); released in May, the LP will yield a single, "Screaming Infidelities," on modern rock radio next week with a video to follow. ... Mike Doughty launches a solo outing on February 13 in Northampton, Massachusetts, with 12 dates confirmed thus far. He'll perform new material as well as acoustic versions of favorites by his former band, Soul Coughing. ... Playful punk-turned-pop trio Bananarama ("Cruel Summer," "Venus") will celebrate the 20th anniversary of their top 10 debut in the U.K. with a reunion concert and TV special, according to Britain's The Sunday Times. Joining original members Sarah Dallin, Keren Woodward and Siobhan Fahey will be Jacquie O'Sullivan, who replaced Fahey after she left for Shakespear's Sister. ...

01.28.02

Lil' Bow Wow is doing double duty behind the camera this week. Currently filming the movie "Like Mike" in Los Angeles, the rap pup will shoot the video for his next single, "Take Ya Home," out there on Tuesday. ... Dru Hill are at the halfway point in recording their third album. Woody, who left the group after its last LP to pursue gospel music, has returned to the fold. ... Metallica singer/guitarist James Hetfield and his wife, Francesca, welcomed their third child, daughter Marcella Francesca, into their family earlier this month. ... Kelly Price has been working with producers Warryn Campbell and Stevie J. on her next LP, Priceless, which is expected in June, with a first single due this spring. Among Price's guests in the studio are Faith Evans, Yolanda Adams and Raphael Saadiq. ...

Justin Timberlake, Brian McKnight and Jamie Foxx will join hoops stars and legends (including Earvin "Magic" Johnson) in the inaugural 989 Sports' All-Star Hoop-It-Up tournament. The games, which will put a celebrity, an NBA star, a WNBA star and an NBA legend on each team, will be held at the First Union Center in Philadelphia on February 9 during the NBA's All-Star Weekend. ... Björk is the first artist confirmed to play the third incarnation of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, which will take place April 27 at the Empire Polo Field in Indio, California, according to a spokesperson for the singer. Last year's festival featured Jane's Addiction, Weezer and the Roots. ... Jessica Simpson will speak to young women about inner strength as one of the "Cheerleaders of Life" at the sixth annual NFL Super Bowl Cheerleading Spirit Clinic Saturday afternoon at the Louisiana Superdome. Lesslee Fitzmorris, choreographer of the Super Bowl Pregame Show, will teach more than 1,000 attendees football fundamentals and cheering skills. ...

Macy Gray is the latest artist tapped to perform at next month's Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, joining previously announced artists Dave Matthews Band, Foo Fighters and Creed as part of the Hallmark Olympic Celebration Concert Series, which runs from February 8-24. The raspy-voiced singer's set is slated for February 12, and more artists are expected to be announced in the days leading up to the event. ... Lo-Fidelity Allstars will release Don't Be Afraid of Love on March 5. The LP, which features a guest appearance by former Afghan Whig Greg Dulli, is their studio follow-up to 1999's How to Operate With a Blown Mind, which spawned the dance hit "Battle Flag." ... Ministry of Sound, one the UK's premier electronic music brands, is latest to join the chillout fray with the release of the double-disc The Chillout Session on February 5. Soothing tunes from Radiohead (a rare Zero 7 remix of "Climbing Up the Walls"), Massive Attack, Air, Badly Drawn Boy, Sigur Rós and Underworld are included on the 29-track compilation.

• Beck
• Diddy
• Bubba Sparxxx
• Jermaine Dupri
• Jadakiss

Lovage
Photo: 75Ark

To get inspired during the creation of Lovage's sensual debut album, Nathaniel Merriweather Presents... Lovage Music to Make Love to Your Old Lady By, the group — producer/songwriter Dan "The Automator" Nakamura (Gorillaz, Deltron 3030), vocalist Mike Patton (Faith No More, Fantômas) and vocalist Jennifer Charles (Elysian Fields, Firewater) — relied on various forms of mood-setting including candles, endless screenings of "The Ladies Man" and cognac mixed with passion fruit juice.

There were also more carnal methods.

One late night last spring, the supergroup was holed up in Nakamura's San Francisco studio. As they were getting ready to pack it in for the evening, Nakamura and Patton called for Charles, but she didn't answer, so they figured she had already left. Then, they heard a strange noise coming from the control room.         "It sounded like a wounded animal in heat, and I went over and looked through the window [of the vocal booth], but I didn't see anything," recalled the reclusive Patton from his Bay Area home during a rare interview. "The track's going and the moaning's continuing. So, Dan goes into the control room, and Jennifer's down on the floor ... It was creativity in action."

The resulting moans, yelps and gurgles are sprinkled throughout ...Music to Make Love to Your Old Lady By, an album that combines the artistry of romantic vocalists like Barry White and Tom Jones, trip-hop pioneers such as Portishead and Massive Attack and the creative, atmospheric hip-hop beats that have made Nakamura famous.

"I wanted to do this because I felt there was a need for love records," Nakamura said. "I don't think there have been any great love records in the past 20-something years. Love songs today are all like, 'C'mere, let me do you.' Love is a far more complex thing than that. I don't know about you, but I'm not gonna pop on Limp Bizkit if I'm trying to put down the candles and turn on the fireplace."

The group named itself after an alcoholic cordial brewed in the southern part of England which, when mixed with brandy, supposedly creates an aphrodisiac. "Brandy is a sharp drink," Nakamura said. "It's got a lot of fire to it. But when you mix the lovage in, it becomes much more of a smooth experience. That's kind of the metaphor for the record."

Smooth, textural and cheekily seductive, the album features guest musicianship by Kid Koala and spoken word appearances by Prince Paul, Damon Albarn (Gorillaz, Blur) and Afrika Bambaataa, who, in "Herbs, Good Hygiene & Socks," urges listeners to "wash your ass every day" and wear sweat socks to prevent girls from getting pregnant.

"I just figured if you're gonna make a record about love, you should put on the well-known sexperts," Nakamura said. "Obviously, Bambaataa comes to mind."

"Pit Stop (Take Me Home)," which is built around an eerie piano part, clanging bells, a tangled undistorted guitar line and an insistent beat, highlights Patton's half-rap and Charles' little-girl croon. And "Book of the Month," one of the catchiest ditties on the record, features Charles' breathy voice and Patton's sinister groan overlapped with such clever, suggestive lines as, "You and me are a disease and the germs are spreading/ Use me like Listerine keeping your breath fresher/ Feel the stroke of your paintbrush, my blank sheet of paper/ I'm your book of the month, redefine print later."

Perhaps the greatest inspiration for Lovage was '60s French cabaret-pop composer Serge Gainsbourg, whose sexually explicit material went over big across Europe, but never really gelled in the U.S. While they worked on ... Music to Make Love to Your Old Lady By, Nakamura and Patton exchanged Gainsbourg CDs, DVDs and books and giggled gleefully like junior high kids who've discovered a stack of Hustlers in a dresser drawer.

"Something like that can only happen in France," marveled Patton. "You have this grimy, foul-mouthed guy in his 50s who wrote a novel about his own farts. And he's dating every movie star known to mankind and making incestuous videos with his daughter. And the guy's at the top of the charts! You've got to be f---ing kidding me! Hats off!"

Nakamura started working on Lovage material as long as two years ago, but it wasn't until December 2000 that he began focusing intently on the project. By the middle of last year, when he finished the instrumental frameworks for the songs, he began brainstorming about appropriate vocalists. He decided to ask Charles to participate because he liked her sensual voice, but he was stuck for a male vocalist. He was planning to work with Patton on his upcoming rock project Peeping Tom, but hadn't considered him for Lovage.

"I was over at his home studio and we were in the early stages of firing Peeping Tom up, and he said he had to get this Lovage thing out of the way before we started working," Patton recalled. "He played it for me, and I flipped out. My eyes lit up and my tail started wagging and I started foaming at the mouth, so he asked me to do it."

A few months later, the album was in the can. As appropriate as Patton's voice sounds on the record, his involvement in the tuneful, mellow project might seem a bit strange

considering his other recent endeavors, Fantômas and Tomahawk, which have been cacophonous and chaotic. However, longtime fans should recall the R&B-flavored numbers recorded by Faith No More, not to mention Patton's obsession with confounding expectations.

"Lovage feels real natural to me and I see some kind of musical progression — however twisted it may be — in lots of things I've done," he explained. "Besides, over the last 10 years I seem to have constantly either disappointed or confused a whole hell of a lot of people. Why stop now?"

• Lovage