Usher
Photo: MTV News

WASHINGTON, D.C. — When we caught up with him among the inaugural hoopla, Usher made us a promise: new music very soon. Maybe the record could be a Pharrell Williams/ Neptunes production, because a photo of Usher, Skateboard P and Maroon 5's Adam Levine collaborating in the studio recently hit the Net.

"It's a little bit of everything," Usher said of what they've been working on. "Pharrell has his Web site where he lets you come inside his world and lets you know what's happening. A few pictures did leak online, just to let you know what he's been working on. There's some synergy between all of us and the record we're working on is gonna be an incredible record. I'm a fan. Adam is incredible — far beyond what I even fathomed.

"[The studio session] was a loose thing," Ush added. "[Adam] came in, picked up a guitar and went to work."

Usher and Pharrell obviously have a rich history of working together. "U Don't Have to Call" was a blockbuster, but the Atlanta crooner says he isn't looking to "yesterday" for inspiration — his sights are on right now.

"We want to create music like you never heard before," Usher explained. "Once we create something in the studio that everybody is crazy about, then we try to beat that. Once we create another one, we try to beat that. It's like we're challenging ourselves in the moment, as opposed to chasing what's in the past. Although 'U Don't Have to Call' is always a great reason for us to come back again — it was more or less a celebration."

• Usher
• Pharrell Williams
• Maroon 5

John Legend at Declare Yourself's inaugural ball on Sunday
Photo: Dan Gorder/ Getty Images

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Even though the carpet wasn't red at Declare Yourself's "A New Birth of Citizenship" inaugural ball at the Renaissance Hotel on Sunday night, celebrities like John Legend, Maroon 5, Jamie Foxx and Hayden Panettiere came out to celebrate the youth vote.

The thrill of Barack Obama's victory resonated with guests, who shared with us their feelings of pride and a new sense of hope for the new administration. Some, like Jamie Foxx, shared their experience meeting the soon-to-be president. "He got to hear my Obama impression and I saw him laugh," said Foxx, who shared his "best Barack" with everyone on the whole carpet (after doing it for the whole country at the "We Are One" concert earlier on Sunday.)

Declare Yourself is a nonprofit campaign intended to encourage eligible young people to register and vote in the presidential primaries and election. According to the organization, 2.2 million young people either used its online registration tool or registered through its "Ultimate College Bowl" contest.

The evening was hosted by Jessica Alba and featured powerful performances from Maroon 5, John Legend, spoken word artists Steve Connell and Sekou (Tha Misfit), and Nuttin' But Stringz. The celebration, which highlighted the impact of young voters in the 2008 election, started off calmly but quickly turned into a Democratic partay!

DJ Samantha Ronson kept the party jumping while her girlfriend, Lindsay Lohan, played the texting turntables in the background. At one point in the evening, LiLo ran to accompany Ronson on the carpet so she wouldn't be left alone with the paparazzi.

King Anyi Howell is a regular contributor to Youth Radio/Youth Media International (YMI), a Peabody Award-winning youth-driven converged media production company that delivers the best youth news and culture and undiscovered talent to a cross section of audiences.

"Be the Change: Live From the Inaugural" will air live on MTV on Tuesday, January 20, at 10 p.m. ET/ 7 p.m. PT. MTV News will have wall-to-wall coverage of the event and of the scenes in Washington, D.C., New Orleans and Kenya in the days leading up to the event and in the days that follow.

• Inauguration Celebrations Fill D.C. With Music
• 'We Are One' Inaugural Concert: Highlights

• 2009 Inauguration Week Events Celebrating Barack Obama

• John Legend
• Maroon 5

Maroon 5's Adam Levine and Rihanna on the L.A. set of their "If I Never See Your Face Again" video
Photo: MTV News

Another day, another big-name artist gearing up to promote an album re-release with a big, shiny music video. Only this time it's different: It's two big-name artists. At the same time.

On Wednesday, Maroon 5 and Rihanna joined forces on a Los Angeles soundstage to film a video for a remake of "If I Never See Your Face Again" — originally the lead track on M5's 2007 effort, It Won't Be Soon Before Long — which will appear on reissues of both artists' albums.

"We're both re-releasing our albums — mine's out June 17," Rihanna told MTV News. "This is the only collaboration on my re-release, because I always wanted to work with Maroon 5. They're one of my favorite bands. When they called me to do this record with them, I was so honored."

"The song was basically done, but we wanted to try something different, so we had her come in and do bits and pieces," Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine added. "It came together so quick. The only other collaboration I had done before was with Kanye, and it was the same way. It sounds cheesy, but if the magic is there, if the chemistry is there, you don't even have to think about it."

A spokesperson for Rihanna's label, Island Def Jam, confirmed that the reissue of her Good Girl Gone Bad album will hit stores June 17. A rep for Maroon 5's label, A&M/Octone, couldn't be reached by press time.

So what about that video? Well, it's directed by Anthony Mandler, who has helmed clips for everyone from Snoop Dogg to the Spice Girls, and from what we could gather — and from what Rih Rih and Levine were wearing when we caught up with them on the set — the whole thing is a fairly glam affair.

"It's this kind of ultra-glamorous, photography-based, late-'70s/ early-'80s situation. It's really stylish and really beautiful," Levine said. "It's the most choreographed thing I've ever done, because usually I just get up there and screw around. But with Rihanna, it's completely different and so cool."

"I don't do a lot of videos where I have so much chemistry with the other artist, and this is only my second duet in a video," Rihanna added. "It's really intense, because you have to work with each other so much. It's new for me, but I'm enjoying it."

While the dynamic duo look forward to working together again in the future, Levine seems like he'd like the collaboration to be somewhat different — like, perhaps, a "Project Runway"-style partnership.

"I've been doing her styling lately, especially for this video," he laughed. "That's my other passion: styling."

• Rihanna, Maroon 5 'Face' Off In New Video

• Rihanna
• Maroon 5

Prince and Alicia Keys at the Grammy Awards on Sunday
Photo: Kevin Winter/ Getty Images

With most of this year's Grammy Awards handed out before the show even started, the early winners list included Amy Winehouse, Alicia Keys, Kanye West, Justin Timberlake and more.

(Check out the list of 2008 Grammy Award winners right here.)

Winehouse and Keys were big winners early, taking Best New Artist and Best Female R&B Vocal Performance for "No One," respectively. Kanye landed a pair of victories before the televised ceremony started, grabbing Best Rap Solo Performance for the hit single "Stronger" and Best Rap Song for "Good Life." Maroon 5, meanwhile, won Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocals for "Makes Me Wonder." The win meant that even though Plain White T's singer Tom Higgenson brought the inspiration for the band's hit "Hey There Delilah" to the show with him, he wasn't going to be able to wave a Grammy in her face at the end of the night. Amy Winehouse also struck early pay dirt with a Best Pop Vocal Album win for Back to Black and a Best Female Pop Vocal Performance victory for "Rehab."

Former and once-again Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant won Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals for his song "Gone Gone Gone (Done Moved On)" with bluegrass singer Alison Krauss. Justin Timberlake scored a Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for "What Goes Around ... Comes Around" and Best Dance Recording for "LoveStoned/ I Think She Knows" and the Beastie Boys beat out a galaxy of jazz stars for the Best Pop Instrumental Album for The Mix-Up, while former "American Idol" Carrie Underwood won Best Female Country Vocal Performance for "Before He Cheats," though former "Idol" finalist Chris Daughtry's eponymous band was 0-3 in the early running.

Other early wins included Best Electronic/Dance Album for the Chemical Brothers' We Are the Night, and Best Rock Song and Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance for Bruce Springsteen's "Radio Nowhere," with the latter denying Beck the chance to be the first artist to win a Grammy for an online-only single. The White Stripes struck gold with "Icky Thump," which won for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocals and Best Alternative Music Album, the Foo Fighters won Best Hard Rock Performance for "The Pretender," and Slayer took Best Metal Performance for "Final Six."

A pair of R&B legends won awards as well, with Prince nabbing the Best Male R&B Vocal Performance for "Future Baby Mama" and Chaka Khan taking Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocals for "Disrespectful" (featuring Mary J. Blige); Khan also won Best R&B Album for Funk This, which denied buzzed-about singer Ledisi one of her two potential Grammys. Gerald Levert, who passed away in late 2006, won Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance for his tune "In My Songs." Lupe Fiasco made his pal Kanye proud with a Best Urban/Alternative Performance for "Daydreamin' " from his 2006 debut, Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor.

Other early winners included Keys for Best R&B Song ("No One"), Ne-Yo for Best Contemporary R&B Album (Because of You) and Common for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group ("Southside"). Mark Ronson was awarded the Producer of the Year prize for his work on albums by Winehouse, Lily Allen and his own solo album, while controversial director Tony Kaye won Best Short Form Music Video for his stark, star-filled video for the song "God's Gonna Cut You Down" by the late Johnny Cash.

In other categories, the "Dreamgirls" track "Love You I Do" was named Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media, while composer Michael Giacchino's musical accompaniment to "Ratatouille" picked up Best Score Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media.

And in a grudge match worthy of the presidential primary season, Senator Barack Obama bested former President Bill Clinton — as well as Maya Angelou and another former president, Jimmy Carter — in the Best Spoken Word Album category for the audio-book version of his book "The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming The American Dream."

Geek out on the Grammys with MTV News' complete coverage right here!

[This story was originally published at 8:10 pm E.T. on 2.10.2008]

• Grammys 60-Second Recap: Celebrating Amy Winehouse And The AARP

• 2008 Grammy Award Nominees: Akon, Fergie, T.I., More
• 2008 Grammy Awards Performers And Presenters
• 2008 Grammy Parties
• Beyonce, Fergie, Miley, More Rock The 2008 Grammy Red Carpet

• Amy Winehouse
• Alicia Keys
• Kanye West
• Justin Timberlake
• Maroon 5

Fergie
Photo: Interscope Records

iTunes users have spoken — and, boy, do they like Maroon 5 and Fergie.

On Tuesday (December 11), Apple released the lists of iTunes' top 10 most-downloaded albums and songs of 2007 ... and, as it turns out, downloaders are a lot like you (or your parents).

Maroon 5's It Won't Be Soon Before Long was the year's most-downloaded album, followed by Amy Winehouse's Back to Black and Kanye West's Graduation. Fergie's "Big Girls Don't Cry (Personal)" was the most-downloaded song, ahead of West's "Stronger" and Soulja Boy's ubiquitous "Crank That."

The top 10s are perhaps most shocking because they are so similar to the Billboard albums chart and Hot 100 singles chart, both of which measure sales at traditional retailers (as well as online sales). To wit: Billboard ranks Daughtry's self-titled debut, Linkin Park's Minutes to Midnight and the "High School Musical 2" soundtrack as three of the best-selling albums of 2007, and they each appear on the iTunes list too. Meanwhile, the most-downloaded songs list features Hot 100 mainstays like Akon, the Plain White T's and Gwen Stefani.

A spokesperson for Apple told MTV News that the company does not release information about just how many times a specific song or album was downloaded, but did point out that since the iTunes Music Store launched in 2003, more than 3 billion songs have been sold through it.

Earlier this year, reports had placed iTunes as the third-largest music retailer in the U.S., behind Wal-Mart and Best Buy.

The best-selling albums of the year, according to Apple:

1. Maroon 5 - It Won't Be Soon Before Long
2. Amy Winehouse - Back to Black
3. Kanye West - Graduation
4. Daughtry - Daughtry
5. Colbie Caillat - Coco
6. Linkin Park - Minutes to Midnight
7. Various artists - "High School Musical 2" soundtrack
8. Timbaland - Timbaland Presents: Shock Value
9. John Mayer - Continuum
10. Various artists - "Hairspray" soundtrack

The best-selling songs of the year, according to Apple:

1. Fergie - "Big Girls Don't Cry (Personal)"
2. Gwen Stefani - "The Sweet Escape"
3. Plain White T's - "Hey There Delilah"
4. Avril Lavigne - "Girlfriend"
5. Fergie - "Glamorous"
6. Kanye West - "Stronger"
7. Maroon 5 - "Makes Me Wonder"
8. Akon - "Don't Matter"
9. Timbaland (featuring Keri Hilson & D.O.E.) - "The Way I Are"
10. Shop Boyz - "Party Like a Rock Star"

• Fergie
• Maroon 5
• Amy Winehouse
• Kanye West
• Avril Lavigne

Pete Wentz
Photo: Ethan Miller/ Getty Images

MySpace plans to rock the planet on November 10 with a series of 37 concerts aimed at raising awareness about the Darfur conflict and funds for relief. Rock for Darfur will find Fall Out Boy, Maroon 5, the Academy Is ..., Cartel, Coheed and Cambria, Colbie Caillat, Hot Hot Heat and the Decemberists donating to the cause a portion of the proceeds from their already-scheduled shows around the world on that day.

Some of the proceeds from the second annual series of shows will go to Oxfam International and the Save Darfur Coalition to help combat the humanitarian crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan as a result of the ongoing devastating civil war. The shows are being held on four continents, giving more fans the opportunity to support the cause. Last year's 22 Rock for Darfur concerts raised $50,000 for relief efforts, according to a MySpace spokesperson. Oxfam will use the funds to help provide those in Chad and the Darfur region with basic supplies such as clean water, shelter, blankets, soap and disease-prevention programs.

"As I watch the fire around my Southern California home, I know that the devastation of losing treasured personal property, a house or even a whole city cannot compare to the evil atrocities that the children and parents of Darfur have had to endure under the ongoing genocide," Megadeth singer/guitarist Dave Mustaine said in a statement. "I hope and pray you too will join in helping the people of Darfur in a small way by attending a 'Rock for Darfur' concert on November 10. All donations, large and small, are very necessary to help overpower this tragedy. I am doing my part, will you do yours?"

MySpace is also teaming with Warner Independent Pictures on the upcoming documentary "Darfur Now," which opens in select theaters on November 2 and features an appearance from Academy Award nominated actor Don Cheadle.

Here's the list of artists and locations where they will be performing:

· The Academy Is ..., Armor for Sleep, the Rocket Summer & Sherwood -- Buffalo, NY @ Evolution
· Clare Bowditch and the Feeding Set -- Adelaide, Australia @ Fowler's Live
· John Butler Trio -- New York, NY @ Terminal 5
· Butterfingers -- Brisbane, Australia @ The Zoo
· Colbie Caillat -- Asheville, NC @ The Orange Peel
· Cartel -- Memphis, TN @ Skate Park of Memphis
· Charlie Hunter Trio -- Milan, Italy @ Blue Note
· Coheed & Cambria -- San Diego, CA @ SOMA
· Dardanelles -- Launceston, Australia @ James Hotel
· The Decemberists -- Washington, D.C. @ 9:30 Club
· Enter the Haggis -- Chicago, IL @ Martyrs'
· Envy on the Coast -- Syracuse, NY @ SUNY Oneonta
· Fall Out Boy, Gym Class Heroes and Cute Is What We Aim For (as part of the Young Wild Things Tour) -- Bridgeport, CT @ Harbor Yard Arena
· Family Force 5 -- Buffalo, NY @ Xtreme Wheels
· Gabby Glaser -- New York, NY @ The Annex
· The Heavy Pets -- Teaneck, NJ @ Mexicali Blues Café
· Hellogoodbye and Say Anything (as part of the MySpace Music Tour) -- Dallas, TX @ Palladium Ballroom
· Hot Hot Heat -- Glasgow, Scotland @ The Venue at Oran Mor
· Josh Kelley and Pat McGee Band -- Nashville, TN @ Exit/In
· Maroon 5 -- Las Vegas, NV @ The Pearl
· Megadeth -- Perth, Australia @ The Metro
· The Minus 5 -- Portland, OR @ Towne Lounge
· Mutemath and Eisley -- Dallas, TX @ House of Blues
· Emmitt Nershi Band -- Chicago, IL @ Abbey Pub
· NOFX -- Durban, South Africa @ Wave House
· Now On, Buff1 and Othello (as part of the Elevation Tour) -- Denver, CO @ Club 156
· Puddle of Mudd -- Sauget, IL @ Pop's
· Rogue Wave -- Birmingham, AL @ Bottle Tree Cafe
· Xavier Rudd -- Sydney, Australia @ Enmore Theatre
· Brandi Shearer, Coby Brown, Quincy Coleman and Meiko (an Amoeba Music showcase) -- Los Angeles, CA @ Hotel Cafe
· Sick of It All -- Cleveland, OH @ Agora Theater
· State Radio -- Chicago, IL @ House of Blues
· Streetlight Manifesto -- New York, NY @ Grand Ballroom at Manhattan Center
· Three Days Grace and Seether -- Belton, TX @ Bell County Expo Center
· Suzanne Vega -- Seattle, WA @ Neumos
· Bob Weir & RatDog -- Myrtle Beach, SC @ House of Blues
· Zion I -- Santa Cruz, CA @ The Catalyst

• 'Darfur Now': Putting A Spotlight On Genocide

• 2nd Annual Rock For Darfur Concert Performers

• Fall Out Boy
• Maroon 5
• The Decemberists

Jermaine Dupri
Photo: Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images

NEW YORK — Jermaine Dupri just released his autobiography, "Young, Rich, and Dangerous: The Making of a Music Mogul," and his Y'All Know What This Is ... the Hits collection drops October 23, but what has his girlfriend been up to? Well, the hitmaker said fans can expect to hear new Janet Jackson material sometime next year.

"Probably in February or March or the summer," JD said. "It's 45 percent done. [Singer/songwriter] The-Dream has a song on her album, [as does] Rodney Jerkins. It's gonna be a crazy album. It's a Janet record. I'm A&R-ing, and I'm probably going to be the [executive producer]. But I'm getting records she likes [and] pulling records from other people. She has a duet with Maroon 5. Just little things."

One huge thing people have been asking Dupri about is a potential duet between Janet and Mariah Carey, especially since they are now labelmates. (JD went so far as to promise a duet featuring the divas on Janet's last album, but it never materialized.) Nelly, for one, wanted to try and pull off the collaboration on his upcoming Brass Knuckles LP, but he couldn't come up with a good enough idea for the song.

"The thing about that is, I don't force an idea," Dupri explained. "It's a great idea if you can come up with the record. It has to be something that's organic. It can't be something we force just because the voices is together. I believe the last couple of records we saw where there are two big artists that came together and collaborated, they don't live up to be the record we want them to be. I was a little disappointed with the R. Kelly and Usher record ['Same Girl']. I thought the record should have been bigger than what it was. ... I wouldn't want to do a song with [Mariah] and Janet and it don't live up to them being as big as they are. ... But [the collaboration] is gonna surface one day. Something is gonna come up, and we gonna say, 'This is it.' "

JD accompanied Janet to the New York premiere of her new movie, Tyler Perry's "Why Did I Get Married?," earlier this week, and he says the couple could relate to parts of the film — especially the part where one person in the relationship is working too much.

"There are times she wants to be alone with me, and I have to pay attention to my Blackberry," he said.

He also beamed about her performance in the flick.

"She's got more parts than Tyler Perry [in the movie]," he said. "It's a Tyler Perry film, but she's telling what's happening from the start. It was good. But for me, with her and her acting, I'm not always psyched out because that's how we know her. We knew her from making movies and acting before the music. I know that's her first love, the acting."

• Janet Jackson
• Jermaine Dupri
• Maroon 5

Maroon 5's Adam Levine performs at the VMA Fandemonium benefit for Lifebeat on Saturday
Photo: Kevin Winter/ Getty Images

LAS VEGAS — "It's that time! It's time to get naughty," Robin Thicke teased the crowd in between crotch grabs. "We are in Vegas, you know."

Just because the VMA Fandemonium concert was benefiting HIV/AIDS awareness group Lifebeat didn't mean it couldn't also be steamy. Indeed, Thicke and Adam Levine were playing a high-stakes sex-appeal game on Saturday night, trying to outdo each other in a bid to win over the ladies in the audience. When it was time to follow up Thicke's act, Levine told the crowd, "I was like, 'Sh--, I gotta bring it.' So thank you, Robin Thicke, thank you for stepping on my game."

(Check out pics of Robin Thicke, Nelly, Britney, Ciara and others stunting in Vegas.)

Thicke's take throughout his hour-long set was more sultry sweet — alternating between hiding behind the piano for falsetto love ballads and stepping out in front, using his whole body to express urgings that were more euphemistic in the music alone. Thicke cut Lil Wayne's rap out of "Shooter," and thrusted his hips — and the crowd loved it. "We're going to do a bit of everything tonight," he told them. "Some love, some loss, some lust, some regret, and hopefully we're all going to feel better."

Before nearly every song, he told the crowd what provoked him to write it — a bad relationship, losing faith in himself, issues with his family — but none of the songs required explanation. If they weren't clear through the lyrics (which are pretty straightforward in songs like "Wanna Love U Girl" and "Lost Without U"), they were made clear through his body language. On "2 the Sky," he reached one arm heavenward while playing piano with the other. Before "Teach U a Lesson," he said, "You know when you're in a relationship and it's time to try new things? We're all adults here. Try talking dirty or role-playing? I was doing a bit of both when I wrote this one." Caressing his mic, he tore his tie off, unbuttoned his shirt and swiveled his hips. "How many bad girls in Vegas tonight? Fellas, pay attention."

Maroon 5 did, at least — because the first thing Adam Levine did was make sure everyone knew, despite his falsetto singing voice, that he's 100 percent red-blooded male. By comparison, Thicke's antics were subtle. Levine, wearing a vest that bared his muscular arms, played it hard. Instead of stopping between songs to chat, Maroon 5 pummeled through one hit after another, treating each as if it were a showstopper — so that when they were through, despite being the headliner, the band had spent less time onstage than its opening act.

With his legs askew, Levine ripped open his vest to reveal even more skin during "Makes Me Wonder" — leaving less to wonder about — and by "Harder to Breathe," was gesturing for the crowd to give him something back. Turns out all he wanted was a little audience participation, which he got during "The Sun." "Come on!" he urged. "That was good! That was really cool." His job done, he strapped on his guitar and started dancing while the crowd sang for him. The rest of the band got a break too, because by the chorus of "This Love," the crowd was singing a cappella.

It wasn't all a love fest — Maroon 5 made sure the element of danger was still present, with Levine reminding the crowd that "Wake Up Call" was about his fantasies of committing murder. "It's about things that I think most people do, in a sick way, fantasize about," he said, before bringing things back to where he started: "So dudes, you have no excuse [not to get any action] tonight. It's Vegas."

Wait -- don't cash out on the VMAs just yet! From Britney's sultry comeback performance to the big winners, you saw it all -- well, almost everything! Get yourself even richer with our wall-to-wall show coverage, party reports, videos and loads more at www.VMA.MTV.com. For reports, photos, video and much, much more from previous VMAs, dive into the VMA archives.

• VMAs 2007: The Vegas Honeymoon

• Paris Hilton, Diddy, Timbaland, Janet Jackson, More Hit The Vegas Party Scene
• Adrian Grenier, Nelly, Shia LaBeouf, Britney And More Stars Spotted In Vegas
• The 2007 MTV Video Music Award Nominees

• Maroon 5
• Robin Thicke

Rihanna on the August 2007 cover of <i>Vibe Vixen</i>
Photo: "Vibe Vixen"

Seems like Rihanna may be listening to too much T.I. (or is that T.I.P.?) lately. In the August/September issue of Vibe Vixen, the cover starlet told the magazine about resolving her own split-personality issues, one being her crafted stage persona, Rihanna (her actual middle name), and the other being her given namesake and usual self, Robyn. "It wasn't that [my management or the label] told me what to do," she explained. "It was more of what I couldn't do. I couldn't wear red lipstick. I couldn't wear my hair in a ponytail; all kinds of stupid things. Being 'Rihanna' wasn't natural. So I rebelled. I'm doing me. Now, Robyn and Rihanna are much more similar." In the issue, hitting newsstands August 7, the Bajan singer also addressed the Jay-Z rumors once more, revealing at one point she couldn't even look him in the eye she was so embarrassed by all the gossip. But, according to Rihanna, Jay approached her and told her to just ignore the lies. " 'It is what it is,' " she quoted him as saying. ...

On Thursday (July 26) the Santa Monica Police Department in California released the 911 call made by the mother of Lindsay Lohan's former personal assistant — in the three-minute call, which was made at 1:30 a.m. Tuesday morning, the woman begged for help after a GMC began trailing her and appeared not to know that Lohan was driving it. When the dispatcher asked where she was, the woman said she was heading to the police station, and she wound up parking at the nearby Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. Muffled yells can be heard near the end of the call, after which the woman can be heard apparently identifying people to the police. According to The Associated Press, police said Lohan and the woman were having a heated debate when they showed up, and that two men had accompanied Lohan in the car. ...

The Lohan debacle is getting even messier: In an e-mail sent Wednesday to 24/Sizzler's David Caplan, Ali Lohan defended her mother against father Michael Lohan, who has been making the media rounds to comment on Lindsay's arrest. "My father is telling all lies to people and saying he was such a great dad and was always there for us, my father was never there for us. I think that the whole reason why my sister is upset with herself and not as confident is because of my dad not being around and always staying out late and not coming home for days." ...

And Dina Lohan isn't too happy about Rob Schneider spoofing her daughter Lindsay on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" Tuesday night. A statement issued to "Access Hollywood" and attributed to "Dina and family" reads: "We have a great respect for Jay Leno, but we are disappointed in the path he chose to allow a guest to make light of a very serious situation concerning Lindsay. Thank you to Craig Ferguson for not making a mockery of such a serious situation to which teens and young adults are facing across the country." ...

Maroon 5 have been tapped to join previously announced performers Alicia Keys, Usher, Avril Lavigne and Fall Out Boy at this year's Fashion Rocks event, taking place September 6 at New York's Radio City Music Hall. The event will be hosted by "Entourage" star Jeremy Piven and air the following day on CBS at 9 p.m. ET. ...

Chuck D handed out vouchers for free copies of Public Enemy's new album, How You Sell Soul to a Soulless People Who Sold Their Soul?, at Union Square in Manhattan, New York, on Thursday (July 26). The project, due August 7, is being released by the PE frontman's label, SlamJamz Records, and TuneCore, a digital distribution company that offered fans at the event a chance to make their own music available on online stores like iTunes. ...

Island Def Jam Records launched a campaign on Thursday for Ronald "Mr. Biggs" Isley in hopes of securing an executive pardon for the singer, who was indicted on tax-evasion charges in September. A federal judge originally ordered Isley to three years in prison, but his sentencing hearing had been postponed until next month. The label is citing Isley's declining health and his efforts to pay down the IRS debt as reasons for the pardon. ...

Don't expect to see a sexy starlet in the new Marc Jacobs ad campaign — Michael Stipe is doing the honors, RollingStone.com reports. The bare-and-hairy-chest R.E.M. frontman wears baggy blue pants in the ad. He's not the only rocker cropping up in clothing ads these days: John Mayer is part of the new Gap ad campaign. ... Jamie Reynolds of the Klaxons broke his leg stage-diving at a show in France over the weekend, and the band has had to table four concerts in Australia as a result, according to its MySpace page. ... Take a bite out of this: Apple shipped 9.82 million iPods last quarter, helping boost profits 73 percent. The company expects to ship 1 million iPhones this quarter. ...

A man who demanded $1 million not to publish stolen photos of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes' wedding has been arrested, The Associated Press reports. David Hans Schmidt was caught Tuesday, a bail bond was set at $100,000 and he is being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles. The FBI had been contacted after Schmidt approached Cruise's representatives six weeks ago with the photos. ... Naomi Watts gave birth to a baby boy on Wednesday. The dad is longtime boyfriend and actor Liev Schreiber. ...

Izzy Stradlin fan site ChopAway.com says the guitarist sent along an e-mail letting it know that he might turn up for the 20th anniversary celebration of Guns N' Roses' Appetite for Destruction, set to take place Saturday at West Hollywood, California's Key Club. In the note, Stradlin added that Appetite drummer Steven Adler will be performing, and, according to RollingStone.com, L.A. Gun Tracii Guns will also be there. The site reports that Slash and Duff McKagan are "maybes." ...

To mark the 30th anniversary of the release of the Sex Pistols' Never Mind the Bollocks ... Here's the Sex Pistols, the band is planning to release a special edition of the LP on October 29 — but not on plastic. The album will be reissued in heavyweight vinyl with a 7-inch insert of "Submission" and a poster — just as the record was originally released October 28, 1977. The Pistols will also reissue their four classic singles "Anarchy in the U.K.," "God Save the Queen," "Pretty Vacant" and "Holidays in rhe Sun" on vinyl as well throughout the month of October. ...

Veteran rock/industrial drummer Martin Atkins, who has played with Ministry, Public Image Ltd. and Killing Joke, has compiled his 30-plus years of knowledge about how to survive on the road into a 530-page bible called "Tour: Smart ... and Break the Band." Due in September, the book has tips on everything from how to write contracts, pick tour vans and market yourself to making a guest list, decorating the stage, getting paid and what to do when your gear gets stolen. Among the contributors to the book are Steve Albini, Warped Tour founder Kevin Lyman, Henry Rollins and former Marilyn Manson guitarist Zim Zum.

07.25.07

Don't believe Kanye West has a sense of humor? He's posted a hilarious new "Can't Tell Me Nothing" clip, starring underground comedian Zach Galifianakis and indie-folkie Will Oldham, on his site. According to Billboard.com, the hilarious low-budget clip — which features Galifianakis and Oldham mouthing the words to the song while they hang with cows and gyrate against tractors — was filmed at Galifianakis' farm in North Carolina. Galifianakis also made a memorable appearance in Fiona Apple's "Not About Love" video, but he recently told Impose Magazine that it was his clip for Anita Baker's "You Bring Me Joy" that won over West. ...

Beyoncé took a big spill at her concert in Orlando, Florida, on Tuesday night, tumbling headfirst down 12 steps at Amway Arena. Video capturing the gaffe is making the rounds on the Web — even though the singer told the crowd not to post the clip on YouTube. "Beyoncé's fall onstage last night ... was a case of her coat's hem getting caught in her shoes," her publicist Yvette Noel-Schure said in a statement issued Wednesday (July 25), "but Miss Knowles picked herself right up, without missing a beat, showing to all that she is the best." ... The Backstreet Boys have pegged October 30 as the release date for their new, yet-untitled album, which will be led by first single "Inconsolable," Billboard.com reports. Don't expect to hear Kevin Richardson on there, though — he left in June 2006 (and wasn't replaced). ...

Wyclef Jean has snatched up Akon, Lil Wayne and newcomer Niia for "Sweetest Girl (Dollar Bill)," the first single from his forthcoming album Carnival II (Memoirs of an Immigrant). The Columbia release will hit stores in November. ...

Has "Deathly Hallows" left you with a question or two? You might be able to get an answer from the author herself — on Monday, "Harry Potter" publisher Bloomsbury will hold a live chat with J.K. Rowling on Bloomsbury.com. In other Potter news, publisher Scholastic says a few hundred of the 12 million copies of "Deathly Hallows" are missing pages, The Associated Press reports. The company said defective books can be replaced by bringing them back to point of purchase, but some fans are stowing them away as keepsakes. ...

Lindsay Lohan might have even more problems on her hands — according to TMZ.com, she pulled an illegal U-turn in April in Los Angeles that wound up causing an accident between vehicles driven by her bodyguard Jaz Bennett and another woman, Signe Dupuy. Dupuy says Bennett gave her a fake name and number after the accident and that she's considering filing suit against him and Lohan. A representative for Lohan told TMZ that a letter sent by Dupuy was filed away because it was assumed that it would also be sent to Lohan's lawyers. In yet another legal case involving Lohan, TMZ.com reports that she filed documents in Los Angeles County Superior Court last week pertaining to the October 2005 car crash in which she hit a parked van in Beverly Hills, California. Last month, Raymundo Ortega, the owner of the van, filed a lawsuit claiming Lohan was drunk at the time of the accident. In the documents she filed, Lohan claims the suit is "nothing more than an attempt to extort money from a celebrity by setting forth false and scurrilous allegations in a complaint." She said the police report claims, "Ms. Lohan had not been drinking. I did not observe any objective signs of either alcohol or drug intoxication and determined that no further investigation regarding intoxication was warranted." ...

It might not be showtime for Swizz Beatz if police in Camden, New Jersey, get their way. According to AP, authorities are threatening to drop their sponsorship of a peace rally due to the producer's scheduled appearance and his perceived anti-snitching stance on his single "It's Me Snitches." But Swizz released a statement to AP explaining the track, which has no anti-snitching content, was renamed for radio from its original title "It's Me Bitches." "If I supported violence or the 'Stop Snitching' campaign, I wouldn't have agreed to be a part of the event [in the first place]," he said in the statement. ...

Devo can't get any satisfaction these days — thanks to Korn. The New Wavers are lashing out at Jonathan Davis and the gang for allegedly biting the group's "devolution" concept in a fake movie trailer posted on EvolutionDevolution.com. "We denounce this as imposters playing with fire," Gerald Casale wrote in a post on Devo.com. He told RollingStone.com that Korn fans have been sending him hate mail since he posted the note on the site. "We went, 'Wow, this is insane. This is a perfect example of devolution. ... Gee, I'm sorry we thought all this up 30 years ago and have been putting it out there and preaching it ever since.' " ... A medical examiner was "hasty" in calling actress Lana Clarkson's death a homicide, forensic pathologist Dr. Werner Spitz testified for Phil Spector's defense on Wednesday (July 25), AP reports. "In my opinion, it was most likely a suicide," said Spitz, who added that he has seen autopsy reports. Spitz testified that Clarkson died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the mouth. ...

Mya and Claudette Ortiz, formerly of City High, headlined the weekly R&B Live showcase at Spotlight Live in Manhattan, New York, on Tuesday night. Music industry bigwigs Steve Stoute, Sylvia Rhone and Jacob "The Jeweler" Arabo were in attendance as D-Nice manned the DJ booth. ... Don't worry about calling Bartman — the Simpsons have the United Nations on their side. The World Intellectual Property Organization, a UN agency, ruled Wednesday that the ownership of the domain name TheSimpsonsMovie.com must be turned over to 20th Century Fox after the company complained about the address registered to Keith Malley of Brooklyn, New York. Malley had demanded a $50,000 fee to cede the domain name, but the WIPO found that he "has no rights or legitimate interests" to it. ...

Pearl Jam will perform an intimate concert at Chicago's Vic Theatre on August 2 — which will warm the guys up for their headlining set at Lollapalooza three days later. Tickets will go on sale Thursday, but only for members of the band's Ten Club fan organization; tickets won't be made available to the general public. ... Chevelle have rolled out a new set of tour dates for the late summer and early fall. The first show is set for August 25 in Grayslake, Illinois, and the tour is scheduled to run through September 16 in Dayton, Ohio. ...

In a recent interview, Disturbed guitarist Dan Donegan discussed the progress of the songwriting sessions for the band's next album. "Musically, [the next LP will be] a lot ballsier," he said. Donegan added that there will be "those signature things that are us, just 'cause stylistically that's the way we perform, and [frontman] David [Draiman], vocally, is always going to sound like him, so ... he's got some big melodic moments, but there's some still aggressive stuff. [We're] trying to get a good blend of the elements of the past three CDs to try to evolve into something fresh and new for us as well." The band will hit the studio in the fall and is planning an early 2008 release for the yet-untitled offering. ...

Indie "death-rapper" Necro has bailed from the Sounds of the Underground Tour because "the tour's demographic was not receiving hip-hop well," he said in a statement. "I was facing hostile, disrespectful crowds and was returning the same energy back tenfold by being more aggressive than them. It was making a lot of people in the tour crew nervous and there was concern someone might get hurt (not me)." ... The Eagles of Death Metal are starting to write material for the follow-up to 2006's Death by Sexy. According to frontman Jesse "The Devil" Hughes, the guys "hear your cries for boot-skootin', guitar-rock-tootin', sex-rock music, honeybabies," and promise a 2008 release for their next set. "EODM will quench your musical thirsts with a burst of mantastic-fantastic!!! Album #3 will be the greatest EODM release to date." ...

Don't expect to see the cast of "High School Musical" lighting up anytime soon — Disney has become the first major Hollywood studio to ban depictions of smoking in its family-oriented films, Reuters reports. In a letter to Representative Edward Markey — whose House committee recently held a hearing on how movie images affect children — Disney Chief Executive Robert Iger said Disney would "discourage" smoking in films distributed by its labels Touchstone and Miramax. He added that anti-smoking public-service announcements would appear on DVDs of films that do depict smoking and would encourage theaters to show similar PSAs along with such films. Markey called the move "groundbreaking."

• Rihanna Opens Up Umbrellas, Becomes Vibe Vixen

• Rihanna
• Jay-Z
• John Mayer
• Guns N' Roses
• The Sex Pistols

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

Diddy, Mischa Barton, Charlize Theron, More At 2008 Sundance Film Festival

• Chamillionaire
• Method Man
• Nick Cannon
• Maroon 5
• The Bravery

2007 VMA: Red Carpet Fashion Look Book

• Maroon 5
• Peter Bjorn and John
• Nelly Furtado
• Rihanna

Paris Hilton, Diddy, Timbaland, Janet Jackson, More Hit The Vegas Party Scene

• Britney Spears
• Justin Timberlake
• Timbaland
• Nick Cannon
• Lil Jon

VMA Fandemonium: A Concert To Benefit LIFEbeat

• Robin Thicke
• Maroon 5

2007 VMA: Fashion By The Numbers

• Nicole Scherzinger
• Maroon 5
• Yung Joc
• Cobra Starship
• Boys Like Girls

The 2007 MTV Video Music Award Nominees

• Beyoncé
• Justin Timberlake
• Shakira
• Amy Winehouse
• Kanye West

50, Kanye, Diddy, Lil Wayne, Eve, Adam Levine Set For 2007 MTV Video Music Awards

• Rihanna
• Fall Out Boy
• Timbaland
• Justin Timberlake
• Foo Fighters

Photos From Maroon 5's "Midnight Miles"

• Maroon 5

Jamie Foxx, Ashlee Simpson, Ciara, More At The Clive Davis Pre-Grammy Party, 2.7.06

• Jamie Foxx
• Ashlee Simpson
• Ciara
• Mary J. Blige
• Ludacris

Britney Spears, Kevin Federline, Maroon 5, More At Kanye's Pre-Grammy Party, 2.6.06

• Britney Spears
• Kevin Federline
• Maroon 5
• Chingy
• Christina Milian