Nicole Scherzinger
Photo: Ethan Miller/Getty Images

Reports have recently surfaced that Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger will be involved in a staging of Andrew Lloyd Webber's sequel to "The Phantom of the Opera," and MTV News has confirmed the report that Schzeringer is working with Lloyd Webber on his new play, "Love Never Dies."

Scherzinger's level of involvement with the production is still unknown, and her rep said that no further details are available at this time.

The Los Angeles Times reported that Lloyd Webber made the announcement about the follow-up to the highly successful "Phantom" in a statement. As of now, the show will open at the Adelphi Theatre in London on March 9, and a Broadway opening will follow on November 11, 2010. There are also plans to bring the show to Australia in 2011.

The story will follow the play's heroine Christine as she and the Phantom have run off to Coney Island, New York, 10 years after the end of "Phantom." "There's unfinished business," Lloyd Webber told reporters in London. "I don't regard this as a sequel; it's a stand-alone piece."

Recently, Pussycat Doll Melody Thornton told MTV News that the group is on hiatus, but assured fans it was in no way an official breakup. "Right now the Pussycat Dolls are on a break. It's actually a much-needed break," Thornton said. "It's like when you're with your sisters for 24 hours a day and you need to take your own shower."

• Nicole Scherzinger
• Pussycat Dolls

Nicole Scherzinger
Photo: MTV News

In a story published on the Desi Hits! Web site on Friday, Pussycat Dolls lead singer Nicole Scherzinger admitted that she initially "kind of didn't want to" re-record an English-language version of A.R. Rahman's "Slumdog Millionaire" hit, "Jai Ho."

"I was really scared and I kind of didn't want to do it," she told the site. "I heard the song and fell in love with it ... and I was scared to death to touch it. I was afraid for people to hear it before I even wrote it." But she said her producers and label exec gave her the courage to see the project through. "Every night I would pray" for it to turn out right," she said. "If people like it, then I'm really grateful."

Last month, when MTV News spoke with Scherzinger at the kickoff to Britney Spears' Circus tour, she detailed the long and fairly complicated process of making "Jai Ho," while not being quite so outspoken about her anxiety.

"The people at the label, Jimmy Iovine and Ron Fair, asked me to see the movie and listen to this new producer, A.R. Rahman, so I studied him, and I saw the movie and was captivated and thought it was the most genius thing ever," Scherzinger explained. "And they said, 'Well, that's good, because you're going to have to rewrite it and do your own version of it.'

"So, we were on tour at the time — we were in London, and we all went to go see the movie — and while we were doing our shows, I just worked on the song," she continued. "It's an honor to be part of this project in any way, before all the Oscars happened, because the story is unbelievable."

So after finding out she would have to not only rewrite the song's Hindi lyrics, but do it while PCD were wrapping their Doll Domination tour, Scherzinger had no choice but to buckle down and work.

"It's crazy how the whole thing came about," she said. "It just happened so quickly. I'm a writer, and I've been fortunate enough to write for the Dolls, but when they asked me to look at the movie and do my own version, I was really afraid to take on the task of rewriting the lyrics," she said. "Because I thought the movie was so profound, I didn't know how to make sure I kept the integrity of the movie and the love story, but also make it cool enough for the Pussycat Dolls and for people all over the world to connect to.

"I just followed my heart and I came from a very spiritual place," she continued. "I just wanted people no matter where they are, whatever relationship they're in — be it spiritual or a guy/girl relationship — to be able to connect to the song. So it was kind of unbelievable to be able to do that. I hope people don't hate it!"

• Pussycat Dolls
• Nicole Scherzinger

Ne-Yo at his pre-Grammy party on Saturday night
Photo: Rebecca Sapp/ WireImage

HOLLYWOOD — It's happened to the best of us — all of us, as a matter of fact. That miserable feeling of the "long-line reality check" ...

For some us, it's as simple as seeing said line — whether to get into the new Will Smith movie, a Miley Cyrus autograph-signing session or to purchase playoff tickets — and its ridiculous length. You know there's no way you're getting to the front in a timely fashion, so you give up.

Others, like the dozens trying to get into Ne-Yo's pre-Grammys party here, which was hosted by Def Jam Recordings and Microsoft Zune, at Hollywood 86 on Saturday night, are so relentless they get in said line. They wait, wait, wait ... until a police officer, or in this case a fire marshal, tells them to go home. It is kind of tough to put your tail between your legs and bail after you've dressed up all hoity-toity and have seen all these other beautiful people get in with either their pure legendary status — as in the case of Stevie Wonder — or some serious verbal Olympics ... or running game on the gatekeeper at the door ... or doing some politicking so serious Barack Obama would hire you for his campaign ... or, of course, if you happen to be with MTV News!

On Saturday night, a fire marshal literally shut Ne-Yo's door — counting the number of people who left before he'd let others in — before the four-time Grammy nominee had even arrived. When he got there, waiting for him inside were the likes of Jay-Z, Sanaa Lathan and Nia Long, while Chrisette Michele and Nicole Scherzinger from the Pussycat Dolls greeted him on the red carpet.

"It wasn't supposed to be this big," Ne-Yo explained about the enormity of his little get-together, which was also in honor of Jay, Kanye West, Rihanna and all the other Def Jam-related artists nominated for Grammy Awards.

"I love my team," Ne-Yo smiled. On the menu was the "brunch" as promised: omelets however you liked, roast beef, waffles and fried chicken. (Tequila shots were optional.)

Outside, Nick Cannon was getting so antsy, he talked about jumping the steel barrier that separated the street from the red carpet, joking in a "please-don't-let-me-show-my-'hoodness-out-here-in-front-of-everybody-but-Lord-knows-I-will" type of way.

"You have to pay off the fire marshal in advance," Cannon joked — but he did get in.

Ne-Yo kept his smile on the carpet, assuring the media that all his famous friends would get in. Inside, songs like Brandy's "Full Moon" and Cassidy's "My Drink N' My 2 Step" played.

Jay-Z — who had business partner Steve Stoute, Lathan and Long at his table — hugged Rihanna when she came in. The singer soon found her way to Chris Brown, and the rumored couple danced — as much as they could in the bumper-to-bumper traffic, anyway. It was hard for shawty to get low, low, low in the lounge, but Rihanna and Brown seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Mario entered the party as easy as possible (he had people call ahead to say, "Mario is not accepting shade tonight, so please make way"). Alicia Keys (who performed earlier in the night at Clive Davis' legendary party) made a stress-free entrance as well, but Polow Da Don and Keri Hilson both had to wait a few minutes.

As the night crawled to a close, Prince arrived — fashionably late as usual — around 3:15 a.m., accompanied by several people. He sat at Stevie Wonder's table and the two talked for about 45 minutes.

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

• Ne-Yo At The Grammys: Nothing Can Stand In His Way
• Grammys 60-Second Recap: Celebrating Amy Winehouse And The AARP

• Nicole Scherzinger, Nick Cannon And More At Ne-Yo's Grammy Party
• 2008 Grammy Parties

• Ne-Yo
• Rihanna
• Mario
• Jay-Z
• Nicole Scherzinger

Photo: MTV News

On The Record: The Numbers Of The Year

If you go by the numbers (or, really, any other indicator), 2007 was the worst 12-month period the music industry has ever seen. Sales of albums were down some 15 percent from '06, continuing an eight-year trend of redefining the term "scraping the bottom of the barrel." The "Dreamgirls" soundtrack set the record for the lowest chart-topping sales total (66,000 copies) then shattered it the following week (60,000). Will.I.Am's solo effort, Songs About Girls, was outsold by an Iron and Wine record, The Shepherd's Dog. By 10,000 copies. People quibbled over the difference between 320 and 160 kilobits, debated whether the Billboard 200 even mattered anymore and tried very hard to tell the difference between Finger Eleven and OneRepublic (hint: one of them is from Canada).

Yes, it was bad times all around ... so bad, in fact, that no mere essay could encapsulate it all. But the numbers don't lie. So, in order to rub salt in the wounds/ kick a man when he's down/ flog a dead horse/ get out of writing an actual column this week since it's almost the end of the year and I've mentally checked out, I'm presenting 2007: By the Numbers, a list of figures, digits and stats that accurately sums up the year that was, and is almost entirely based in fact (surely a first for Bigger Than the Sound).

I'm also including a couple of reader top 10s that were submitted after my massive 20 Best Albums of 2007 column from last week. Boy, you guys sure hate Against Me!

(Oh, and this will be my final BTTS of the year. I'll be back in 2008, provided the contents of this column don't get me fired. Happy holidays, everyone.)

And now ... let's get numeric:

» Total sales of Nickelback's All the Right Reasons, Daughtry's Daughtry, Carrie Underwood's Carnival and Some Hearts, Fergie's The Dutchess and Miley Cyrus' Hannah Montana 2: Meet Miley Cyrus as of December 9: 19,847,303 copies

» Total number of "High School Musical" soundtracks sold as of December 9: 7,004,406 copies

» Total sales of the Arcade Fire's Funeral, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah's Some Loud Thunder and LCD Soundsystem's Sound of Silver as of December 9: 455,347 copies

» Approximate number of year-end lists topped by any of those three albums: 4,589,668 (and counting)

» Approximate size of the chasm between consumers and critics, in miles: 5,879 (and counting)

» Projected first-week sales of Will.I.Am's Songs About Girls: 100,000 to 120,000 copies

» Actual first-week sales of Will.I.Am's Songs About Girls: 20,876 copies

» Rumored age of "teen" sensation Lil Mama: 29

» Approximate number of times I made the exact same joke in this column: 4

» Amount of time, in days, between the release of Good Charlotte's Good Morning Revival and them falling completely off the cultural radar: 5

» Number of people who just read that and went, "Holy crap, Good Charlotte released an album this year?!?": 4,477

» Total worth of 50 Cent's "I'll retire if Kanye West beats me" promise, if you held it in one hand and a quarter in the other: 25 cents

» Despite realizing that, the percent of my entire being with which I hoped it would be true: 100

» Number of promised (threatened?) release dates for Nicole Scherzinger's solo debut, Her Name Is Nicole, multiplied by number of singles released from the album that failed to impact in any way whatsoever: 12 (4 dates x 3 singles)

» Percent sure I am that Her Name Is Nicole will see the light of day in 2008: 23

» Amount of feet my jaw dropped when I was informed what Soulja Boy's "Crank That" was really about: 5

» Number of countries that is probably illegal in: 27

» Number of times I was actually afraid of bodily harm because of something I wrote: 4

» Number of times that fear was brought on by the phrase "50 Cent is filming a live concert a couple of floors below us, and he's not happy": 1

» Number of times I had to follow something negative I said about much-buzzed-about act the Black Kids with the phrase " ... the band" so as not to offend those around me: 548-plus

» Pounds of crow I was forced to eat when I ended up putting the Black Kids' "Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance With You" on my Best Singles of 2007: 16

» Total number of people who downloaded Radiohead's In Rainbows on October 10: somewhere between 0 and 10,000,000

» Total amount of money Radiohead made in the In Rainbows windfall: somewhere between $0 and $10,000,000

» Total difference, in kilobits per second, of the encoding on the download-only version of In Rainbows and a "high-quality" MP3: 160

» Number of Radiohead fans enraged by said kilobit-per-second difference, who are apparently also bats gifted with supersonic hearing: somewhere between 0 and 10,000,000

» Actual audible difference between download-only version of In Rainbows and a "high-quality" MP3: 0

» First-week sales for Britney Spears' Blackout: 289,712

» Total number of times I was convinced Britney Spears would be dead within the next two days, and therefore refrained from writing mean things about her in my column: 289,712

» Number of conversations I had with fellow employees about Rihanna, Hannah Montana and/or Jordin Sparks that were borderline disturbing/illegal, given the age of the subjects: 98

» Number of pornographically harrowing/amazing blog posts written by Deerhunter frontman Bradford Cox: 65

» Number of said posts that were actually pornographic: 1

» Number of Bigger Than the Sound columns published in 2007: 35

» Number that didn't contain petty, somewhat baseless insults hurled at Panic! at the Disco, Gym Class Heroes, New York Jets running back Thomas Jones and/or Rivers Cuomo: 6

» Number that disappeared from the Internet soon after complaints from publicists at large and a multinational corporation that rhymes with "Tunaversal Fusic Troop": 1

» Number of angry e-mails I received from radio DJs with names like Spike, Lazlo or Dash after the Why Are Radio DJs So Dumb column of June 6: 55

» Number of angry e-mails I got from a Thrice fan/employee at the Guitar Hangar in Brookfield, Connecticut, that encouraged me to "go [eat] sh-- from a dying whale's ass" and were signed "Someone with far better musical taste than you": 1

» Number of apologetic e-mails I received from the owner of Guitar Hangar after he read his employee's e-mail and "spoke to him about sending out this kind of e-mail from our company's e-mail system": 1

Cleaning Out My Inbox (Or "Interactivity, While A Touchstone Of So-Called 'New Media,' Is Actually Overrated And Kind Of A Waste Of Time")

Like I said, last week I dropped my 20 Best Albums of 2007 list. And I asked for your feedback. What I got was a couple of angry e-mails (one from a really indignant dude with an AOL account named after a Thursday record who chided me about "only focus[ing] on supposedly 'indie' records that are packed with just enough hooks and retro influence to gain attention from the undeservedly pretentious 'blogosphere,' " then included a list containing several of said "indie" records) and a bunch of really good lists. I've compiled some of them below.

1. The National, Boxer
2. Spoon, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
3. LCD Soundsystem, Sound of Silver
4. Apples in Stereo, New Magnetic Wonder
5. Jens Lekman, Night Falls Over Kortedala
6. The Rosebuds, Night of the Furies
7. The Good, the Bad & the Queen, The Good, the Bad & the Queen
8. Menomena, Friend and Foe
9. Georgie James, Places
10. Radiohead, In Rainbows
-Rusty, Stranded in Stereo

1. M.I.A., Kala
2. Wu-Tang Clan, 8 Diagrams
3. Boys Noize, Oi Oi Oi
4. Jesu, Conqueror
5. Underworld, Oblivion With Bells
6. The End, Elementary
7. Atreyu, Lead Sails Paper Anchor
8. White Stripes, Icky Thump
9. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Baby 81
10. Hail Social, Modern Love & Death
11. Ulrich Schnauss, Goodbye
12. Patrick Wolf, The Magic Position
13. El-P, I'll Sleep When You're Dead
-Corey, New York City

1. Silverchair, Young Modern
2. Kenna, Make Sure They See My Face
3. Ween, La Cucaracha
4. Radiohead, In Rainbows
5. Lily Allen, Alright, Still
6. Lyle Lovett and His Large Band, It's Not Big, It's Large
7. The Projection People, Monotony Forgotony
8. Malajube, Trompe-L'Oeil
9. The Sleepy Jackson, Personality
10. Björk - Volta
-Tyler, Madison, Wisconsin

1. Radiohead, In Rainbows
2. Thrice, The Alchemy Index, Vol. I and II
3. Caspian, The Four Trees
4. The National, Boxer
5. Moving Mountains, Pnuema
6. Crime in Stereo, Is Dead
7. Look Mexico, This Is Animal Music
8. Battles, Mirrored
9. A Wilhelm Scream, Career Suicide
10. Daggermouth, Turf Wars
11. Jesu, Conqueror
12. Cassino, Sounds of Salvation
13. Maritime, Heresy and the Hotel Choir
14. Modern Life Is War, Midnight in America
15. Say Anything, In Defense of the Genre
16. Crippled Black Phoenix, A Love of Shared Disasters
17. The American Dollar, The Technicolour Sleep
18. The Kidcrash, Jokes
19. The Allstar Project, Your Reward ... A Bullet
20. Sunset Rubdown, Random Spirit Lover
-Angry dude with Thursday-inspired AOL address, somewhere in the wilds of the Internet (but probably Sayreville, New Jersey)

OK, I'm out ... but if you have any questions, concerns or quandaries, feel free to hit me up at BTTS@MTVStaff.com.

• 50 Cent
• Nicole Scherzinger
• Daughtry
• Soulja Boy Tell'em
• Lil Mama

Madonna
Photo: Dave Hogan/ Getty Images

Time to pucker up for Madonna's next album — Billboard.com reports that the singer has settled on the title for it: Licorice. The effort, which will reportedly feature "Candy Shop" and "The Beat Goes On" (featuring Pharrell), is due in late April and will be Madge's last effort for longtime label Warner Bros. Kanye West is said to be a guest on "The Beat Goes On," according to the site, which also reports that Madonna's vintage track "The Devil Wouldn't Recognize You" will get an update on the new disc. ...

Jessica Sierra pleaded not guilty on Thursday (December 6) to charges of disorderly intoxication, resisting arrest and violating conditions of her parole on earlier felony battery and possession charges, according to The Associated Press. The former "American Idol" finalist was arrested early Sunday morning outside a bar in Ybor City, near Tampa, Florida, after causing an unspecified disturbance while working inside the establishment. Sierra's lawyer reportedly said he is consulting with doctors to map out a comprehensive drug and alcohol plan for the ex-"Idol" contestant, who is currently being held without bail. Sierra is to remain in jail at least until her next hearing on December 20. ...

Gym Class Heroes, the Academy Is ... and Relient K will help anchor next year's Warped Tour, according to Alternative Press. Every Time I Die, From First to Last and the Bronx are also among the first 18 bands named for the summer trek, with the dates yet to be announced. ... Speaking of summer fests, Bonnaroo will take place June 12-15 in Manchester, Tennessee, Billboard.com reports. The lineup will be revealed in late January or early February. ... Your chance to download Radiohead's In Rainbows is about to end. The band has announced that the InRainbows.com Web site will close Saturday. But you can still plunk down $80 for the box set at Radiohead's online w.a.s.t.e. store, while supplies last. ...

Ne-Yo and Macy Gray are joining Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy and others as they pitch in for presidential aspirant Senator Barack Obama. Ne-Yo and the Goo Goo Dolls will play at an Obama fundraiser in Universal City, California, on Monday, while Gray, Tweedy and others will perform at the senator's Friday event in Obama's hometown of Chicago. On a related note, Wilco will set out for a two-week U.S. tour in February. ... Paris, you've got nothing on Britney — Spears outdid Hilton on eBay in terms of related items sold this year. AP reports that 34,345 Brit-related items were sold, compared with 27,377 for Paris. A mere 8,099 items related to Lindsay Lohan were auctioned, while on the movies front, "Transformers" beat out Harry Potter with 442,342 and 344,825 related items sold, respectively. ...

Indie-rockers, state attorneys general and anti-smoking activists are finding themselves on the same side, oddly enough — some of them are reportedly peeved about an ad for Camel cigarettes that appeared alongside a cartoon-heavy indie-rock feature in the magazine's November 15 issue, Pitchfork reports. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. has stopped promotions for its "The Farm" marketing campaign after nine attorneys general sued the company over the ads, according to North Carolina's Winston-Salem Journal. More states are reportedly expected to also sue R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., which could face a fine of more than $100 million for violating a 1998 agreement between 46 states and tobacco manufacturers. The Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement banned the use of cartoons to sell market cigarettes in 1997, effectively killing off Joe Camel. Also being debated, according to Pitchfork, are Camel-sponsored concerts that have featured the Flaming Lips, Band of Horses and the Faint. ...

Alicia Keys will ring in the new year with a performance on the roof of New York's Rockefeller Center as part of Carson Daly's shindig on NBC, People.com reports. The show, which will air December 31 at 11:35 p.m. ET, will also feature Lenny Kravitz performing in Times Square. Keys will sing two songs from her latest album, As I Am. ... LL Cool J, Rev Run, Petra Nemcova, Brett Ratner and other celebs have ponied up items for an ongoing online charity auction staged by Russell Simmons' Diamond Empowerment Fund. "Diamonds Give" features 15 lots of donated diamond pieces and runs through December 16 on eBay. ...

It sounds like U2 might be going back to the future on their upcoming album. The band, which flirted with dance beats and techno on such albums as 1991's Achtung Baby, is incorporating trance, metal and Moroccan influences on its new disc, according to an interview with Bono in The Independent. The singer said fans will "feel the difference. ... Normally when you play a U2 tune, it clears the dance floor. And that may not be true of this. There's some trance influences." He also said the yet-untitled and unscheduled album has some "very hardcore guitar" and "real molten metal" from guitarist the Edge that doesn't sound "like anything we've ever done before, and we don't think it sounds like anything anyone else has done either." Though he wouldn't categorize the album as "world" music, Bono said its sound was inspired in part by a religious music festival the guys attended in Fez, Morocco, where they were exposed to Sufi music. "It was a real humbling thing for a punk-rock shouter, listening to these people who just close their eyes for 40 minutes and sing the most sophisticated melodies." So far, U2 have recorded enough material for two records, he added. ...

Owen Wilson and Woody Harrelson recently hung with locals, bathed in an irrigation ditch in their boxers and visited an orphanage in Peru this week, according to AP. An image that surfaced shows the two, who reportedly stayed at a cheap hotel room that cost less than $50 per night, smiling and waving in Cuzco. Cameron Diaz, Bill Gates and others visited the area earlier this year. ... Courtney Love has a new video on her hands ... kind of. A clip featuring manga character Princess Ai — whose universe of properties was co-created by Love — will premiere at the New York Anime Festival on Saturday. "Princess Ai: Broken Leash," which includes live action, animation and music, will appear as part of a CD/DVD anthology due in fall 2008. ... It's hard to keep old punks down. After their recent reunion tour of England this year, punk grandfathers the Sex Pistols will hit the road again next summer, according to Reuters. Guitarist Steve Jones did not give any specifics about the 2008 tour on his Los Angeles radio show on Wednesday, other than to say that the group might play an upcoming charity show at London's Royal Albert Hall organized by Who singer Roger Daltrey. ...

And the battle over James Brown's estate goes on. According to AP, two former trustees for the late singer's estate say the judge who is handling the disputes made them resign in late November. In recently filed court documents, Buddy Dallas and Alford Bradley reportedly said they want to retract their resignations and that South Carolina Circuit Judge Jack Early used "improper judicial influence." They are also seeking for the appointment of their successors to be overturned.

12.5.07

Unlike Lindsay Lohan and Nicole Richie, Kiefer Sutherland is not getting off easy with his DUI — the "24" actor has been sentenced to 48 days in a Los Angeles County jail for his September 24 arrest and violating his probation. The actor must start serving his sentence at the Glendale City Jail prior to March 30, UsMagazine.com reports. He has also been sentenced to five years of probation, must finish a year-and-a-half-long alcohol-education program and go to weekly therapy sessions for a half-year. Sutherland, who had a previous DUI before his fall arrest, had been pulled over by police after making an illegal U-turn and reportedly blew twice the legal blood-alcohol level during a breathalyzer test. He issued a statement after entering a no-contest plea in early October, saying, "I'm very disappointed in myself for the poor judgment I exhibited recently, and I'm deeply sorry for the disappointment and distress this has caused my family, friends and co-workers on '24' and at 20th Century Fox." ... Contrasting with Sutherland's devastating news, Richie caught a break on Wednesday when her court-mandated anti-drinking program granted the socialite a leave of absence, according to People. Coordinators at the program were reportedly worried for Richie's safety, with her rep saying such leaves of absence are granted to people with medical conditions and that she did not get special treatment. Richie is eight months pregnant and has to complete the 18-month program as part of her DUI plea deal ...

Bad news for Vanessa Hudgens: A Los Angeles judge ruled Wednesday (December 5) that a breach-of-contract suit by her former lawyer can go forward, according to CBS News. Brian L. Schall is suing the "The High School Musical" star for breach of contract, although Hudgens has argued that she was a minor at the time she signed the agreement and therefore isn't bound to it. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Tricia Ann Bigelow said the matter of Hudgens disaffirming her contractual obligations within a reasonable time period is a "factual issue," and that Hudgens' decision to wait until she was 18 years and 9 months old to reject the contract is an issue for either a jury decision or a motion for summary judgment. The next hearing in the case is slated for January 15. ... Lindsay Lohan might be facing another setback too: Raymundo Ortega, the busboy who is seeking $200,000 in damages stemming from Lohan's collision with his van in October 2005, says he has proof the starlet was drinking before the crash, according to The Associated Press. He reportedly filed papers Tuesday. ...

An interview with T.I. that was conducted prior to his October arrest on gun charges appears in the December/January issue of Rap-Up magazine, which features him and Nicole Scherzinger on alternate covers. The rapper said he has a new urban-clothing line on the way — called "A King of Oneself" — and also revealed his interest in a different type of endeavor: commercial construction. "I want to build a Home Depot or a Wal-Mart, shopping centers," he told the mag. Tip cited Tupac as the rapper who had the most influence on him growing up — and called out some other big names for keeping him out of trouble. "Sometimes I be wildin' out, then [Suge Knight says,] 'Man, you got too much going on, you can't do that. It ain't like the old days,' " said the rapper, who is currently under house arrest. "[Jay-Z] will tell me the same thing, [Diddy] tell me the same thing, Kevin Liles — everybody trying. Wyclef is another one. People, I guess, just care." ...

For her part, Nicole Scherzinger named Beyoncé, Justin Timberlake, Gwen Stefani, Diana Ross and Michael Jackson as the singers she admires the most. She also talked about someone else you may have heard of — Kanye West — and why the tracks he produced for her solo debut didn't make the cut. "I wasn't able to really finish them in time," said the singer, whose Her Name Is Nicole LP is due January 29. "When I have the right time and the right album, I wanna finish those songs. There was talks of putting Common on one of them." Scherzinger also talked about shooting her "Whatever U Like" video with the other Rap-Up cover artist, T.I. "When we did the video it was crazy 'cause we were all up in each other's grills, like [director] Paul Hunter really made us go there, but it was great. He's a professional. Paul was making us tug on each other; we were hard-core for a hot second." ...

Jay-Z celebrated his 38th birthday with Beyoncé in Paris on Tuesday, according to People.com. The couple reportedly holed up in a hotel suite, took a drive around the city, ate at L'Avenue restaurant and caught a cabaret show. ... Pete Wentz, Chris Brown, the Jonas Brothers and Corbin Bleu all made Teen magazine's list of the 50 Hottest Guys in Hollywood — but Zac Efron takes the cake by topping the bunch. ... Keira Knightley stripped down for the revealing cover of the latest issue of Interview magazine. "How does that always happen?" the "Atonement" actress asked herself, in the interview, of taking off her clothes. "Because I say yes, I suppose." ...

Styles P, Hurricane Chris and Fabolous will bring some yuletide cheer to Russell Simmons and Rev Run's eighth annual Youth Holiday Party in New York on Tuesday, with MTV News' own Sway acting as one of the emcees. For the festivities, the Simmons brothers and their Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation will turn the Fillmore at Irving Plaza into a winter wonderland, raffling off prizes like an Xbox 360 and tickets to a taping of "106 & Park." Kids will also get Target gift cards. ...

Journey are counting a new singer among their ranks: Arnel Pineda. The Filipino crooner, who previously covered the band's songs with his group the Zoo, is the third Journey singer in two years — he follows Jeff Scott Soto, who left the fold earlier this year after filling in for Steve Augeri, who split with the band in 2006 due to medical reasons. "I know they'll expect me to sound exactly like 'the voice,' " Pineda said in a statement, referring to yet another former Journey singer: Steve Perry. "But that will never happen. I know there's only one Steve Perry in this world." "Arnel doesn't sound synthetic and he's not emulating anyone," added guitarist Neal Schon, who discovered the singer's Zoo clips online. "I tried to get a hold of him through YouTube and I finally heard from him ... but it took some convincing to get him to believe that it really was me and not an imposter." ...

Deerhunter, Black Dice, Fischerspooner and others have chipped in unreleased new songs for Living Bridge, a two-CD collection of songs by bands who have previously recorded at Brooklyn, New York's Rare Book Room Studio. The 25-song package will hit stores February 26 and christen Rare Book Room Records, a new label. ... The Breeders will be back in '08 with a new disc hitting stores April 8. Mountain Battles will arrive six years after the band's previous effort, Title TK, which the band took nine years to put out following its most successful album, 1993's Last Splash. The Pixies-affiliated group is also due to tour throughout the year, hitting up South by Southwest and Coachella along the way. ... Peaches will sweeten up New Year's Eve this year by counting down the clock in downtown Los Angeles as part of Hard NYE's bash. She will also perform, as will Justice. ...

Paula Abdul was a "disaster" on "Saturday Night Live" when she hosted the show two years ago — so says Tina Fey in the January issue of Playboy. "I was pregnant at the time and probably a little moody, but I remember thinking, 'She's a disaster!' " Fey said. ... Vivica A. Fox booked herself on Wednesday on charges of driving under the influence, TMZ.com reports. A judge ordered on Monday that the actress be booked or face a bench warrant. ... Charges were dropped against Jonathan Rhys-Meyers after he apologized for creating a drunken fracas at an airport in Ireland earlier this year. The actor, who faced two charges of public drunkenness and breach of peace, said through his lawyer that he intends to make a donation to an unspecified charity. ...

The one guy who seemed kind of charmed by Borat's antics in last year's "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan" has joined the parade of people suing the fake Kazakh reporter. According to Reuters, driving instructor Michael Psenicska's suit against the film's makers and star Sacha Baron Cohen claims that he was tricked into participating in a film that he was led to believe was a "documentary about the integration of foreign people into the American way of life." Psenicska said he was paid $500 in cash to give Borat a driving lesson and described the experience as "surreal," saying Cohen drove erratically down residential streets, drank alcohol and yelled to a female pedestrian that he would pay her $10 for "sexy time." Psenicska is seeking $100,000 in compensatory damages and additional punitive damages for being misled, and for the emotional harm he allegedly continues to suffer. Psenicska said if he had known the true nature of the film, he never would have participated. The studio behind the flick said the suit had no merit and that Psenicska was a willing participant in the film. ...

Eddie Vedder is making his first video appearance since his spot in Pearl Jam's "Jeremy" clip 15 years ago. Mr. Ed is supporting his soundtrack to "Into the Wild" with a video for "Guaranteed." ... Saosin can't get enough of the road — the band, which toured for most of 2007, has rolled out a new 2008 itinerary. The California rockers will take Armor for Sleep and the Bled along for their jaunt, which starts January 21 in Tucson, Arizona, and ends February 14 in Chico, California. ... The sounds made by the creepy creatures in Will Smith's new movie "I Am Legend" might seem familiar to Faith No More fans — Mike Patton is the one behind them. The always-busy musician, who previously lent his voice to video games like "The Darkness" and "The Portal," is also delving into the film world with "A Perfect Place," a noirish short film for which he composed the music. ...

The family of Justin Barker, the white student who was allegedly beaten by six black classmates last year in Jena, Louisiana, has filed a civil lawsuit against the teens, their parents, the local school board and a seventh student who was not charged in the case, USA Today reports. The lawsuit claims that the attack on Barker was of "such extreme nature so as to require emergency medical care and treatment for the harm inflicted by the attack, and resulting in extensive and permanently disabling injuries." The suit, filed Thursday, also alleges that employees of the LaSalle Parish School Board were not adequately supervising students or maintaining discipline. ...

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama will flex his rock muscle on Friday at a fundraising show featuring Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy performing solo alongside buzz band the Cool Kids, Third Eye Blind singer Stephan Jenkins, Jill Sobule and local indie bands the Changes and Canasta. The "Change Rocks" show will take place at the Riviera Theatre in Obama's hometown of Chicago, with tickets ranging from $50 to $500 apiece. ... Hillary Clinton's campaign has had a change of heart. Less than a month before the Iowa caucuses, Clinton has dropped her controversial campaign theme song, "You and I" by Celine Dion, and replaced it with "Blue Sky" by Colorado 1990s college faves Big Head Todd and the Monsters, according to ABC News. ...

We can see now why comedian Dave Chappelle might have walked away from that $50 million Comedy Central deal: He'd rather be doing stand-up. Chappelle broke his own endurance record on Sunday with a set at the Laugh Factory in West Hollywood, California, that lasted six hours and 12 minutes, besting his previous mark, set in April, by a good five minutes. Club owner Jamie Masada told AP that Chappelle was on a mission. "Dave was determined to keep his record because he recently heard that Dane Cook was planning on trying to break [his] record," Masada said. ... R&B singer Avant has signed to Capitol Records to release his next album, due in the summer. The multiplatinum crooner was previously signed to MCA, before the label folded into Geffen Records, through which he released four albums and a string of hit singles, including his breakout "Separated." Avant's yet-untitled next album is expected to include production from Rodney Jerkins and Mr. Collipark, among others.

• Madonna
• Gym Class Heroes
• Alicia Keys
• Radiohead
• The Academy Is...

Nicole Scherzinger on the November cover of <i>Blender</i>
Photo: Blender Magazine

Nicole Scherzinger is on the November cover of Blender and, beyond showing skin (naturally), she reveals that she was uncomfortable with herself in the early days of the Pussycat Dolls. "At my first photo shoot, I looked at the costumes and cried. I wasn't used to showing so much of my body." The singer makes another revelation: that she's been single since August — when she broke up with "Laguna Beach" star Talan Torriero. She explained her frustration with dating, oddly dropping Ryan Gosling's name — who she has not been romantically attached to — along the way. "You get these crushes on guys, and then you meet them and you realize you just loved the role they were playing. Like, who doesn't love Ryan Gosling after you see 'The Notebook'? Then you meet the person and you're like, 'Huh? What?' " Scherzinger added that she's holding out for "the hottest man in the universe." The magazine hits newsstands Tuesday. ...

Foxy Brown refused to get on a correction-department bus twice on Friday (October 12) for a court arraignment, The Associated Press reports. The rapper (real name: Inga Marchand), who is serving a one-year jail term for violating her probation, refused to take the bus from New York's Rikers Island prison to a court in Brooklyn. She's now due in the court Tuesday instead, and if she again refuses to get on the bus, authorities might put her in handcuffs and force her to go. ...

Is Lindsay Lohan leaving L.A. for good? Her dad, Michael, told People that she's been looking for a house in Utah and plans to return there to live, receive counseling and go to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings after filming her upcoming movie "Dare to Love Me" in Los Angeles. He also said when she leaves for L.A. on Monday to begin shooting the movie, she'll be accompanied by a sober companion trained to deal with people overcoming addiction. "Lindsay's companion is really, really tough, and she's really nice, she's an amazing lady, a great influence on Lindsay's life," he said. ...

Beyoncé in your ear? The singer has her own clothing line and a handful of fragrances — now a new cell phone is being devoted to her. Samsung's limited-edition Beyoncé Special Edition B'Phone handsets comes out November 4 on Sprint.com and at select Wal-Mart stores. The phone, an update to the UpStage model, plays MP3s, has a preloaded Beyoncé-style start-up screen and has access to premium video and music content — including a tune she sung when she was 10 — that can be downloaded onto the phone from the Sprint site. The B'Phone also features the Sprint Music Manager, through which unprotected songs can be transferred from a PC to the handset via a USB cable. B previously appeared in ads for Samsung's Ultra Music campaign earlier this year. ... In other merchandise news, starting Monday, White Stripes cameras will be on sale on the band's Web site, if you can believe it. The "Jack" Holga Camera comes with a fisheye lens accessory, while the "Meg" Diana+ Camera has a ring-flash accessory. Both come with custom filters as well. The first 333 orders will come with a "mystery gift." ...

Columbia has pegged November 6 as the release date for Nas' 12-track Greatest Hits album. Don't miss two new cuts on the disc: "Less Than an Hour," the theme to "Rush Hour 3"; and "Surviving the Times," which features Cee-Lo. ... Speaking of rap release dates, Pitbull has locked in November 27 for his next effort, Boatlift. Look for featured-guest spots by Trina ("Go Girl"), Jim Jones ("Sticky Icky") and Lloyd ("Secret Admirer"). ... Last we heard about the new Coldplay album, the band was recording at church altars and developing a "strengthening Hispanic theme" for the effort. Well, it appears the lads are one step closer to bringing the yet-untitled release to fruition — BBC Radio 6 reports they've hit the rehearsal and remix stage. ...

J.K. Rowling might be the second-richest female entertainer in the world according to Forbes, but she can't always get her way when it comes to money. An Indian court tossed out a claim made by the "Harry Potter" author that sought damages from the organizers of a four-day religious carnival for building a replica of Hogwarts Castle. Rowling and her publishers wanted the equivalent of $50,000 from the organizers, but the Delhi High Court disagreed. The court did, however, order that characters from the massively popular book series not be used in the event and say that permission to exhibit the castle would expire on October 26. The castle is constructed out of canvas, papier mâché and bamboo. ...

In the months following Anna Nicole Smith's accidental death from a drug overdose in February, much of the attention has been placed on the fate of her daughter, Danielynn, and former boyfriends. But on Friday, attention turned back to the model's death as California Department of Justice agents raided the homes and offices of two doctors connected with Smith: Dr. Sandeep Kapoor, who prescribed methodone to her, and — according to People — psychiatrist Dr. Khristine Eroshevich, who reportedly authorized the 11 prescription medications that were found in the Florida hotel room in which Smith died. The Medical Board of California said in April that it was investigating Eroshevich. California Attorney General Jerry Brown held a press conference Friday in which he said the raids, which were conducted at six locations, pertained to the "prescribing and dispensing practices of several California licensed doctors and pharmacies." He said no arrests have been made but added, "You don't go to a judge and get a search warrant for somebody's home unless you think some rather serious crime has been committed." He also said he didn't know if Smith's body, which is buried in the Bahamas, might be exhumed due to the investigation. ...

There's one more reason to catch Coheed and Cambria at the CMJ Music Marathon in New York next week — the band will be playing for a good cause. The prog-sters will put on a show October 19 at the Highline Ballroom, and all proceeds will go to the New York chapter of the Alzheimer's Association. The band, which issues its No World for Tomorrow album October 23, will also be asking for donations online. ... Four kids have been named grand-prize winners of the Kidz Bop talent-search contest: Desiree Jimenez (age 11; from Virginia Beach, Virginia); Jacob Muck (age 13; from Splendora, Texas); Jesse O'Brien (age 12; from Schwenksville, Pennsylvania); and Dalton Watts (age 13; from Theodore, Alabama). The winnerz will get to co-star in an upcoming Kidz Bop video that will be shot in November in the Turks and Caicos Islands. They'll get all-inclusive family vacations there too. ...

Dinosaur Jr. will roar again next month with a new tour set to start November 20 in Millvale, Pennsylvania, and last until December 15 in Aspen, Colorado. ... Depeche Mode singer Dave Gahan is scheduled to release his second solo album, Hourglass, October 23. Gahan wrote and produced the follow-up to his 2003 solo debut, Paper Monsters, which will feature the songs "Saw Something," "Use You," "Endless," "21 Days" and "Love Will Leave." The album is also available as a CD/DVD set, with the video disc containing a four-song studio session, an EPK, the "Kingdom" video and B-roll. ... Red-hot indie-rock band the National — who call Brooklyn, New York, home these days — played the opening gig at Terminal 5, the first major venue to open in midtown Manhattan in more than 10 years, according to Billboard. Against Me!, the Shins, the Decemberists, M.I.A. and others are booked to play the venue in the coming weeks. ...

Robert Rodriguez and Rose McGowan's trip to "Planet Terror" was apparently very romantic — the director and actress are engaged, People reports. McGowan was previously engaged to Marilyn Manson, while Rodriguez has five children from a prior marriage. ... Celebrity stylist Cher Coulter, who has worked with Britney Spears and Brad Pitt among others, suffered a fractured neck and cut on her head after being involved in a minor car crash in Hollywood early Friday morning. She was apparently riding in the back seat of Orlando Bloom's car — the actor was not injured. Bloom filed a report with police after a vehicle reportedly cut him off, causing the actor to hit a parked car.

10.11.07

Amy Winehouse might have missed the VMAs, but she's hoping to make up for her absence with a rare performance at the mtvU Woodie Awards next month. The performance by the singer — who made it to mtvU's "Freshman 5" earlier this year — is only one of two she has on her U.S. itinerary for the rest of the year. The Academy Is ... and Spank Rock will also grace the stage at the ceremony, which will be held November 8 at New York's Roseland Ballroom and air on mtvU and mtvU.com on November 15 at 8 p.m. ET. The program will also air November 18 on MTV2 at 12:30 a.m. ET, and highlights will be shown on MTV as well. ...

It's probably safe to say that when Snoop Dogg made the movie "The Wash" with Dr. Dre back in 2001, he wasn't anticipating that he'd have to be washing cars in real life down the line. But the rapper (real name: Calvin Broadus) has agreed to do just that — as well as clean toilets, rake leaves and pick up debris — as part of his 160 hours of community service for illegal possession of a dangerous weapon, according to Southern California newspaper The Orange County Register. The punishment stems from his weapon-possession arrest at John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana in September 2006, when he attempted to bring a collapsible 21-inch police baton onto the aircraft. It's not known when Snoop will begin his service, and the name of the park at which he will be working has not been released. ...

Did Busta Rhymes and Linkin Park become friends while they were at the "Transformers" premiere over the summer? The rapper tells RollingStone.com that he has cut a new song, "It Looks Like We Made It," with the rock squad and that it will surface on his next LP. "It feels like Rocky won the fight or something," he says of the song, which was reportedly produced by Cool & Dre. "It reminds the people who are successful to go and help those that haven't been so successful, and represent the unity between people." The rapper also said his LP title has changed from Before Hell Freezes Over to Back on My BS, and that it's due December 4. ...

Vocal Britney Spears critic Perez Hilton has a bit of a problem on his hands. The Zomba Label Group — home to Spears' label, Jive Records — has hit the super-blogger (real name: Mario Lavandeira) with a suit claiming he illegally obtained and posted on his gossip Web site at least 10 of the singer's songs and unfinished demos for her new LP, Reuters reports. Zomba alleges the posts took place over the past three months and that it moved up the release date for Spears' Blackout due to online leaks. The suit requests real and punitive damages as well as legal costs, although the amount of the damages wasn't specified. ...

So where did Ashlee Simpson celebrate her 23rd birthday over the weekend? Her parents' house, of course! The singer held an '80s-themed party on Saturday, and more than 200 guests showed up — including sister Jessica, Wilmer Valderrama, Kenna and, of course, boyfriend Pete Wentz, who was the prom king to Ashlee's queen as they danced to Bryan Adams' "Everything I Do." "Now we can say we are high school sweethearts!" the Fall Out Boy bassist told People. He also made a wisecrack to the mag, saying he and his girlfriend take the same amount of time to get ready to go out "because I'm actually just her purse." But apparently Saturday night didn't totally exhaust the couple — the following night, they went to the Hollywood Style Awards at the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood, California. Russell Simmons was presented with the Hollywood Soul award for his work with the Diamond Empowerment Fund, a nonprofit that raises money to support education initiatives in diamond-producing African countries. Wentz and Simpson wore Simmons Jewelry Company Green Initiative bracelets, as did Vanessa Minnillo, Kim Kardashian, Cindy Crawford and other celebrities in attendance. And that's not the only place Simpson and Wentz turned up this week — she was seen busting some more moves a few nights later at FOB's show at Paramount Studios in Hollywood. Pharrell also headlined the event, which marked the finale of the invite-only Hennessy Artistry Concert Tour. ...

First Trent Reznor became a free agent earlier this week, now is Madonna about to follow in his footsteps and break free from a major label? Liz Rosenberg, Madonna's representative at her longtime label, Warner Bros., told MTV News that a move is likely. "Madonna has a new CD coming out on Warner Bros. Records at the end of this year or early next year," she said. "She also has a greatest-hits package on WB. After that she is a free agent, and I believe her managers are in talks with Warner Bros. as well as Live Nation regarding her future as a recording and touring artist." According to The Associated Press, a proposed $120 million, 10-year agreement would give Madge a signing bonus of $18 million and $17 million in advance for each of three LPs, with a portion of the compensation involving stock. The deal would also give Live Nation the exclusive right to promote her tours, and any revenue generated by her merchandise or name would be split 50/50 between the company and the singer. Madonna, who has been nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, signed with Warner Bros. in 1984. In more, um, illustrious Madonna news, her co-manager Guy Oseary has pulled together photos he took on last year's Confessions tour and compiled them into a 256-page volume of the same name. It's due June 10. ...

Mobb Deep's Prodigy was sentenced on Tuesday to serve three-and-a-half years behind bars after pleading guilty to a 2006 weapons charge, according to New York's Daily News. Prodigy, whose real name is Albert Johnson, was indicted on one charge of gun possession at Manhattan Supreme Court in New York — the charge related to Johnson's arrest in October 2006 after New York police pulled his Chevy Suburban over for making an illegal U-turn. Police noticed a gun inside the rapper's vehicle during the stop. ... Good Charlotte bassist Paul Thomas injured his ankle after taking an unintended stage dive at the show in Brisbane, Australia, on Tuesday night — but that didn't stop him from playing, according to The Sydney Morning Herald. The rocker reportedly continued slapping his bass after tumbling from the stage just two songs into the band's set. Thomas sprained his ankle as a result of the fall. ...

Do you like to sing along to Chris Brown? Well, here's your chance to do so with him in person. Screen Gems, the studio behind Brown's upcoming movie "This Christmas," has put together an "American Idol"-like singing contest that will be co-hosted by urban-radio stations in 35 markets this weekend. Contestants will have a minute to sing either "This Christmas" or "Silent Night," and the 35 winners will then tape performances for AOL Black Voices starting October 19. The public will be allowed to vote for their favorite singer, and voting will end October 24. The three semifinalists will be flown to New York to sing their tune on "106 & Park," after which viewers will vote online and the winner will be announced on the show November 1. The winner will get an all-expenses-paid trip to New York to perform on a "This Christmas" holiday special with Brown, David Banner, Columbus Short and other actors from the flick, which opens November 21. ... Michael Jackson has issued a new letter to fans in which he thanks them for their birthday gifts and cards. He also found room to hint at future plans. "I've been really busy lately. Hopefully, you've all seen the results of my recent photo shoot with L'Uomo Vogue," he said of the designer-clothes magazine, which features Jackson on its October cover. "Soon, I will be sharing exciting and surprising news with you from my other efforts." ...

Jonathan Davis' long-delayed solo-acoustic trek is finally a go again. While the Korn frontman announced the outing way back in October 2006 and had sketched out a February start date, he now has November 10 in Verona, New York, pegged as the new beginning date, with shows running through December 8 in Ventura, California. ... The Dave Matthews Band have signed up to play the "World's Loudest Pep Rally." The nationwide AT&T-sponsored contest for more than 100 NCAA Division I schools with college-football teams will award a free live concert by the DMB to the school that submits the most online invitations (texts, e-mails, photos, videos, songs) on AT&T devices relative to the school's enrollment. The contest runs until Monday, and fans can submit up to 50 invitations a day. ...

Metallica, who have been working on new material for what's turning into their own personal Chinese Democracy, have posted an update on their progress over at their Web site in the form of a series of photos and a fairly uneventful post. "There is nothing new to report," the missive reads. "Things are as you would call it, status quo, consistent, constant, invariable, unaltered, unchanged, unfailing, uniform, unvarying. Pretty much what we are trying to say is: work is continuing and all is good in the Metallica 'hood. As soon as we do have something new to report, you will be the first to know of course." ...

Bobby Brown now says he didn't suffer a heart attack after all on Tuesday, despite reports to the contrary. "I did go to the hospital ... to just get a checkup, get everything tested out so that I could go on [my upcoming] tour, and everything is fine," he told AP. On Wednesday, his representative Paedra Parks said Brown was in "great spirits and [had] a great prognosis from his doctor" after it had been reported that Brown was rushed to the Tarzana Regional Medical Center in Tarzana, California, for chest pains. ...

Bob Mould (Hüsker Dü, Sugar) is quite the label-hopper — after putting out solo material on Virgin and Ryko in the '90s, he then started up his own label, Granary Music — only to then jump over to Yep Roc for 2005's Body of Song. Now he's moved to yet another label, Anti-, for the release of his new album, District Line, on February 5. The album will feature drumming by Fugazi's Brendan Canty and 10 songs, including "Miniature Parade," "Old Highs New Lows" and "Return to Dust." ... Jude Law has been cleared of charges for allegedly assaulting a photographer outside his home in London in September, Reuters reports. No further action will reportedly be taken against the actor. ...

Legendary stuntman Bud Ekins died over the weekend of natural causes at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Times reports. Ekins was the Steve McQueen double who made the famous motorcycle jump in the classic 1963 film "The Great Escape," and also served as a stuntman in "Animal House," "Diamonds Are Forever" and "The Blues Brothers." He was 77.

• Nicole Scherzinger
• Beyoncé
• Coldplay
• Amy Winehouse
• Snoop Dogg

Joel Madden
Photo: Evan Agostini/ Getty Images

Joel Madden spoke on Ryan Seacrest's radio show on Tuesday (September 18) about his plans to marry Nicole Richie, People reports. The Good Charlotte rocker — who saw his marriage-proposal secret slip after Regis Philbin spilled the beans — told Seacrest, "Obviously, marriage is in our future. I don't know when or where or how, but right now our priority is our family and is the baby. That's all we've been thinking about. We are in love and are really happy." Richie announced on "Good Morning America" in late July that she was four months pregnant. And it looks like Madden is taking on some of the shopping responsibilities. "I already went to Target and got a stroller and a playpen," he told Seacrest. ...

Vanessa Hudgens, who has recently been dogged by leaked nude photos, is facing a new problem: The "High School Musical" star's attorney is suing her for $150,000 in unpaid fees, TMZ.com reports. The suit, filed by Brian L. Schall, alleges that she owes him for contract-signing services dating back to October 2005 and that he wants 5 percent of her earnings. ...

Kanye West and Jay-Z were all smiles on Tuesday, the day before the first-week-sales figures for 'Ye's Graduation and 50 Cent's competing Curtis were due to be released. "Everyone is coming up to me and telling me how proud they are of me," West told The Associated Press, adding, "it feels overwhelming." Jay was a bit more cautious in his enthusiasm over the yet-unannounced results, saying, "We're not gloating. He's celebrating his win ... in his mind, he believed he could win the whole time." ...

Hell has frozen over ... and Zack de la Rocha has finally put the finishing touches on his forever-in-the-works solo LP, Billboard reports. According to the news outlet, sources say de la Rocha plays keyboards on the yet-untitled effort — which has been in the works since the singer initially left Rage Against the Machine in 2000 — and that it sounds like a cross between Led Zeppelin and Dr. Dre. Ex-Mars Volta drummer Jon Theodore also collaborated heavily on the album, according to Billboard, and some of it was recently recorded at Jack Johnson's Los Angeles studio. De la Rocha is reportedly unsigned and considering offers for how to distribute the LP. ...

Nicole Scherzinger is launching her second single this week, "Baby Love" (featuring Will.I.Am). But the Black Eyed Pea doesn't get to play her love interest in the video, despite the song being "about us being in love." "I love Will, but I'm not in love with Will," the singer laughed. "I have a guy playing my lover, a sweet guy with a great energy that I cast for it." Francis Lawrence (Britney Spears, Gwen Stefani) directed the clip, which takes place off the coast of Southern California's Catalina Island. ... Fat Joe has hooked up with Imperial Records — a division of Capitol and Terror Squad — for the release of his eighth album, The Elephant in the Room. The LP, due early next year, will be studded with stars: Diddy, Rick Ross and Fabolous make guest appearances, while Scott Storch, Danjahandz and DJ Khaled lend their production skills. ...

The last of four secret Van Halen rehearsal shows reportedly took place Sunday night in Los Angeles before more than 500 fans — including guitarists Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine and Kirk Hammett of Metallica. Also on hand, apparently, was Ozzy Osbourne guitarist Zakk Wylde, who attempted to get onstage during the set but was denied by frontman David Lee Roth. In a video making the rounds on the Internet, Wylde, who appeared to be in the front row, tried to hoist himself onto the stage. Security shuffled in to remove him, but Roth took to the microphone. "Nah, nah, nah. Are you in show biz?" he said. "Then get off the stage. Get off the f---ing stage." ...

Legendary punk rockers the Sex Pistols have announced that they'll squeeze into their bondage pants again for one night only on November 8 at the Brixton Academy in London for a 30th anniversary celebration of the release of their landmark 1977 album, Never Mind the Bollocks ... Here's the Sex Pistols. Original singer John Lydon, guitarist Steve Jones, drummer Paul Cook and bassist Glen Matlock will be on hand for the show, the group's first in more than four years. Bollocks, the only studio album recorded by the Pistols, features such punk classics as "God Save the Queen" and "Anarchy in the U.K." ...

The Gorillaz are prepping their second B-sides collection, D-Sides. The 22-track double-disc is slated for release November 6 and will feature demos; B-sides ("68 State," "Murdoc Is God," "Hongkongaton"); and remixes of songs like "Kids With Guns" and "Dare" by everyone from DFA and Hot Chip to Jamie T and Soulwax. ... Our long national nightmare is over ... sort of. After years of holding out, Radiohead have finally begun offering their albums for download. The group, which has held back from offering landmarks like The Bends and OK Computer to iTunes in the past because of its dislike for the site's practice of allowing individual songs for download, is now offering all its albums and some early singles in a high-quality, DRM-free format on 7digital.com. The albums will only be sold as complete packages. ...

David Bowie has made a $10,000 donation to the Jena Six Legal Defense Fund and is lending his voice to aid the six black teenagers who defenders have said faced overly aggressive prosecution and extended incarceration over their role in an alleged altercation with a white classmate in the small town (population: 3,000) of Jena, Louisiana, last year. The teens are alleged to have assaulted a white student in December, months after an incident on campus in which three nooses were hung on a tree at the local high school set off a series of tense, racially charged confrontations. "There is clearly a separate and unequal judicial process going on in the town of Jena," Bowie said in a statement. "A donation to the Jena Six Legal Defense Fund is my small gesture indicating my belief that a wrongful charge and sentence should be prevented." Thousands of people, including rapper Mos Def, are expected to descend on the town on Thursday to protest the prosecution of the five teenagers and a minor. ...

Perry Farrell — whose Satellite Party has stumbled out of the starting gate with poor sales of their Ultra Payloaded debut — is kissing the major labels goodbye and launching his own indie label, Bells Are Ringing. Although it was originally released by Columbia in late May, Ultra Payloaded will now act as the first Bells Are Ringing release. "I'm very excited to become part of this new independent trend where artists will have more creative freedom, make higher profits on the sales of their music, and most of all, it allows me, the artist, to own my art, my masters," Farrell said in a statement. ... Don't tell Neil Young: Alabama Governor Bob Riley has announced that the state's tourism agency will be using Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama" to market the state next year, AP reports. The classic-rock song was released in 1974 as a response to Young, who was critical of the South. ...

The Dead Kennedys will release a greatest-hits collection on October 9 called Milking the Sacred Cow. The set will feature a dozen tracks, including "Holiday in Cambodia," "Too Drunk to F---" and "Halloween." ... The dates for Sevendust's upcoming Ladies Get Out of Jail Free Tour '07, along with 10 Years, Black Light Burns and Neverset, have been revealed. The trek launches October 19 in Maplewood, Minnesota, and gigs are booked through November 10 in Atlanta. ... 3rd Strike have re-formed with a brand-new lineup. The band is currently working on new songs and posted one of them, "Battlecry," on its MySpace page. The band has booked an October 19 gig at West Hollywood, California's Whisky A Go Go, and the gig will also feature Drowning Pool and the Exies. ...

Expect to see even more kids accompanying Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie in the future. "We're not done," Pitt recently told AP. "[People] say, 'Any plans for a fifth?' And I say, 'And a sixth, and a seventh, and an eighth and a ninth.' That's my answer," he said. The actor, who stars in Friday's "Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford," also let it be known that he and Jolie have crafted a 9-foot-wide bed that fits them and their four children. "One more [child] and we'll have to go to 11 feet," he said. ...

Wesley Snipes must pay United Talent Agency $1.7 million in a default judgment issued Tuesday, according to CBS News. The company, which helped the "Blade" actor get roles in multiple films, sued him in July 2006 for an alleged breach of oral contract. UTA claims Snipes agreed to pay 10 percent of any money he earned for movie roles the talent agency got for him, but he did not pay commissions for "The Shooter," "Chaos" and other films.

09.17.07

Dave Grohl has opened up to U.K. newspaper The Guardian about the death of his former Nirvana bandmate Kurt Cobain. "Kurt dying shocked me into running away from music for a while," he divulged. "I started Foo Fighters because I didn't want to retreat. I couldn't imagine joining another band and sitting behind the drum set, because I would always think about Krist [Novoselic] and Kurt." Grohl also revealed that while one of the Foos' earliest songs, "I'll Stick Around," was not directed at Cobain's ex-wife, Courtney Love, he wouldn't be surprised if similar comparisons are made over "Let It Die." The song, featured on the Foos' new album, Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace, features the lyric "A simple man and his blushing bride/ Intravenous, intertwined." The tune was "written about feeling helpless to someone else's demise," Grohl said. "I've seen people lose it all to drugs and heartbreak and death. It's happened more than once in my life, but the one that's most noted is Kurt. And there are a lot of people that I've been angry with in my life, but the one that's most noted is Courtney. So it's pretty obvious to me that those correlations are gonna pop up every now and again. I still remain a little secretive about it all." ...

Even at Sunday night's Emmys, where he wasn't nominated for anything, Kanye West couldn't win. The rapper notorious for loudly expressing his award-show-freeze-out frustrations playfully lampooned his sore-loser reputation during a skit in which actor Rainn Wilson ("The Office") beat Kanye at a game of "Don't Forget the Lyrics" based on 'Ye's song "Stronger," with the loser doomed to retiring from show business. After West slipped up and sang "that's how long I've been on you," comedian Wayne Brady joked that Mr. West picked "the wrong time to speak properly," pointing out that the lyric ends with the words "on ya." A smiling West exclaimed, "I never win!" The consolation? West had a front-row seat for the Los Angeles ceremony, right next to multiple winner Tony Bennett. Later on in the evening, he popped over to Justin Timberlake's concert at the Staples Center for a rendition of West's "Stronger," according to TMZ.com. ...

The stars of "High School Musical" are still in negotiations for a third flick, Corbin Bleu told People magazine. "Truthfully as long as it's a good script and as long as everybody is being paid fairly, I would be more than happy to go and have one last hurrah," he said. The 18-year-old actor also revealed that he's never actually been to an "HSM" premiere due to various scheduling conflicts. ... Comic book fan Ghostface Killah is partnering with Adult Swim for a free tour set to hit college campuses next month. The trek, which will feature Witchdoctor as the opening act, will begin October 1 at the State University of New York in Albany and run through an October 19 gig at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. Indie-rockers ... And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead and Dethlok — the once-fictional animated band featured on the Adult Swim program "Metalocalypse" — are joining forces for a separate free trek, but shows have not been announced beyond the October 29 start date. ...

Will Ferrell isn't your typical actor, so it makes sense he wouldn't be your typical charity donor either — he's raising money for a friend's cancer foundation by auctioning a cameo spot in his new flick, The Associated Press reports. Online bidding for an appearance in "Step Brothers" began Monday and ends September 26, and the opening bid was $5,000. The winner will be announced September 27; get to meet with Ferrell at the Cancer for College golf tournament dinner at Temecula Creek Inn in Temecula, California; and shoot a scene with the actor in October. The proceeds will go to Craig Pollard's Cancer for College foundation — Pollard and Ferrell were fraternity brothers at the University of Southern California. ...

Apparently Nine Inch Nails mastermind Trent Reznor plans to disband the group's current lineup following the final gig on its current tour, which is set for Tuesday in Honolulu. Reznor told Honolulu's Star-Bulletin that he wants "to switch things around a bit." Nine Inch Nails, he said, "as a rock band configuration [has] done it and we've done it again. I see other ways I can present the material in concert, more challenging, something new. I don't want it to go stale." The band has been touring together for more than two years and currently includes drummer Josh Freese, guitarist Aaron North, bassist Jeordie White and keyboardist Alessandro Cortini. ... Marilyn Manson is teaming up with a French family-run distillery, Matter-Luginbuehl, to produce thousands of bottles of his own brand of absinthe, called "Mansinthe." Production on the line started last month, and so far, 6,000 bottles have been made. No word on when "Mansinthe" will be commercially available, or for that matter, where. ... Former Evanescence members Ben Moody and David Hodges have collaborated with Celine Dion for a track slated to appear on the singer's forthcoming Taking Chances LP, due November 13. The duo wrote and produced one track for Dion, called "This Time." ...

Live Nation, which runs the House of Blues chain, has either canceled or moved to alternate venues five heavy-metal concerts previously scheduled at House of Blues clubs located on Walt Disney Co. property in Anaheim, California, and Orlando, Florida, according to the Los Angeles Times. In Anaheim, a gig that had been booked two months earlier and was set to feature Machine Head, Arch Enemy, Throwdown and Sanctity on September 7 was moved to a different venue; a show that was supposed to feature Cannibal Corpse, the Black Dahlia Murder, the Red Chord and the Absence on September 13 was also shifted to a different club; and Obituary's planned September 26 concert has been canceled. Two other shows, scheduled for the House of Blues in Orlando, have been moved as well. John Vlautin, vice president of communications for Live Nation, said in a statement that "House of Blues offers a range of entertainment to match the audience at our venues. It was determined that the mix of entertainment at our two Disney locations should be different from our other venues." ...

After months of delays, the free-download site SpiralFrog finally launched on Monday, offering users the chance to choose from more than 700,000 songs and 3,500 videos from a number of independent labels and Universal Music Group acts like Amy Winehouse, Timbaland, Rihanna and Fall Out Boy. The ad-supported site requires users to wait 90 seconds while downloading tracks and sign in every month to answer some questions about their buying habits. Unfortunately for iPod users, the site doesn't work with the biggest-selling MP3 player, and users can't burn the songs onto CDs.

• Good Charlotte
• Nicole Scherzinger
• Will.I.Am
• Van Halen
• Fat Joe

Kanye West and 50 Cent at the 2007 VMAs
Photo: Kevin Winter/ Getty Images

Kanye West's Graduation is proving to be quite the bear. The album leads with 781,000 copies sold over the 603,000 moved by 50 Cent's Curtis according to projections, Billboard reports. "It's just a few days out," Fiddy told the news outlet, qualifying the numbers. He said the music industry "would consider me to be a hip-hop favorite because of my sales history, and people like to root for the underdog." He also took some time Thursday to sound off about Sunday's VMAs on New York's Hot 97, saying he was shorted compared to 'Ye — even though West has also been complaining he didn't get enough airtime during the show. Fif also managed to take a swipe at his record label, Interscope, during the VMA rant: "As far as the VMAs were concerned, Kanye received the upper hand. I ain't going to front. He had four looks — his song 'Stronger,' his new record 'Good Life,' he had a performance with Soulja Boy, 'Crank [That],' and then he came out with me. So I feel like Def Jam is doing a better job of promoting the CD than Interscope. Interscope is just relying on my base and the actual music. I was on the VMAs for one minute and 20 seconds. I should've just stayed home." ...

Last weekend, Britney Spears had the VMAs to worry about — this weekend, it's her kids. On Friday (September 14), a Los Angeles Superior Court judge postponed making a ruling on whether court documents relating to the singer's divorce and custody case with ex-husband Kevin Federline should be sealed or open to the public. "Access Hollywood" and People magazine were among the media outlets representing the public's interests. Outside the courtroom, Spears' divorce attorney Laura Wasser spoke to reporters, telling them this is a frustrating time for the singer. "I think she just wants to be a mom," Wasser told reporters, "and both of her kids' birthdays are this week, and I think she would've liked to celebrate with them without having to worry about the entire nation — the entire world — being concerned about what's going on with her personally and her custody battle with Mr. Federline." On Monday, the judge will hear Federline's order to show cause for primary physical custody of the couple's two children: Sean Preston, who turned 2 on Friday; and Jayden James, who turned 1 on Wednesday. ...

Earlier this week, the "American Idol" judges had at Britney Spears' VMA performance — now "Dancing With the Stars" judge Carrie Ann Inaba is following suit. "When I watched it, I think they gave her a great place to make a comeback," she told Newsweek. "It was more mature than we've seen in the past. The thing that was unfortunate is that the center of the performance was Britney, and she was only giving about 30 percent. That's why it fell short. The backup dancers focused all the energy right to Britney, and she was the weakest link. ... I think fear got the best of her." ... Jamie Foxx got a place on Hollywood's Walk of Fame on Friday, and when he chatted with reporters at the induction ceremony, he inevitably gave his two cents on Spears' performance. "I think Britney's gonna be fine," he said. "I think that she was courageous to get up there and do her thing. I wish her well for that." ...

Common and Q-Tip will co-headline this year's 2K Sports Bounce Tour, which will kick off September 22 in Milwaukee and conclude October 14 in Los Angeles, according to Filter magazine. Q-Tip is featured in "NBA 2K8" as a playable character and is on the video game's soundtrack as well. ... Mark Ronson — who manned the ones and twos inside the Palms' Pearl Theatre during last weekend's Vegas VMAs — has slapped two U.S. tour dates onto his itinerary: October 3 (Los Angeles) and October 5 (New York). ...

A fire broke out at the Austin City Limits Music Festival on Friday afternoon, injuring four people, according to Austin360.com. The flames erupted inside a trailer located behind the beverage-vendor tents between two of the festival stages, and Pete Yorn's set was stopped as the fire was extinguished. All four people were transported to Brackenridge Hospital, and two are in critical condition. ...

Madonna, Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher attended a Kabbalah conference in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Friday to celebrate the Jewish New Year, according to The Associated Press. She reportedly didn't speak with the media, and the conference was closed to TV cameras. ... Master P visited Monroe Middle School in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Thursday and spoke to roughly 800 students about the importance of education, good financial management and a vision for success, AP reports. The rapper was approached by math teacher Bonnie Mwanda, who reportedly heard he would be in town and thought his success might be an inspiration for her students, many of whom come from similar backgrounds as the hip-hop mogul. "If the principal tells me y'all have a good year, I'm going to bring Romeo back to do a concert," he told the students, according to AP. ...

Fred Durst has been keeping a relatively low profile these days, but the Limp Bizkit frontman was given a 120-day suspended jail sentence after pleading no contest to seven misdemeanors way back on August 16, AP reports. He was also ordered to perform 20 hours of community service and fined $1,500 for assault, battery and reckless driving, for deliberately hitting two people with his car in Los Angeles in October 2006. Moreover, Durst was hit with a restraining order, is not allowed within 100 yards of the two victims — whose names have not been revealed — and cannot possess a firearm. ...

Elton John made a surprise appearance onstage during a Prince concert at London's O2 arena Thursday night. BBC News reports that John joined Prince for a cover of the Beatles' "The Long and Winding Road." After the two-hour-plus show, Prince ducked into the O2's smaller theater and played another two-hour gig, which included covers of Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love" and another Beatles song, "Come Together." ... Led Zeppelin fans are getting more time for a chance at tickets to see the band perform a one-off reunion gig November 26 at London's O2 arena. Organizers behind the concert — a tribute to late music icon Ahmet Ertegun — are extending the lottery-application process to Wednesday, Billboard reports. The Web site set up to handle registrations received 89.5 million attempts in a 12-hour period on Thursday, according to the news outlet. ...

Members of underground-rock heroes Shudder to Think will reconvene for a one-off gig at New York's Mercury Lounge on Monday, Pitchfork reports. Frontman Craig Wedren and guitarist Nathan Larson — whose conflicts were part of the reason the band broke up in the late '90s — will get together with drummer Kevin March for the gig, although bassist Stuart Hill will not be accompanying them. ... Glassjaw have booked three California dates for next month. The reunited band will play October 28 in Hollywood; October 29 in San Diego; and October 30 in Pomona, California. ... Iconic punk band Operation Ivy's 1991 self-titled compilation LP will be reissued on November 6 on Hellcat. The classic release has been remastered and will also be available for download for the first time. ... PJ Harvey's White Chalk album has shifted from a September 25 release date to October 2. ...

AT&T's Blue Room, the site where political comments made by Pearl Jam during Lollapalooza were censored a month ago, has announced a new policy to avoid repeating that controversial practice during its webcast of this weekend's Austin City Limits Music Festival. According to AT&T spokesperson Steven Schwadron, "AT&T has developed an AT&T Blue Room policy to maintain integrity of the live performances featured on the site. AT&T will not edit any audio during the live webcast, of performances. We may edit visual content — either through camera angle changes or video blackouts — if there is strong sexual content. Also, we are going to have a clear viewer-discretion messaging both before and during the webcasts. The terms and conditions of the site, which users accept when they choose to view the webcast, requires users to be at least 13 years of age." ...

It's been 42 years since Johnny Cash's arrest in Starkville, Mississippi, for picking flowers from a resident's garden. But a judge who is reviewing the matter could potentially pardon the late musician, according to BBC News, and the city plans to instead honor him with the Johnny Cash Pickin' Festival from November 2-4. Cash wrote the track "Starkville City Jail" — which he performed at his legendary live At San Quentin prison LP — after spending a night in the city's prison.

09.13.07

50 Cent, Common, Nicole Scherzinger and others have all had their say about Britney Spears' VMA performance — now the "American Idol" judges are having at her. "We've decided that we're all going to collectively manage Britney," Simon Cowell remarked at a press conference earlier this week, according to "Access Hollywood." "We're going to manage Britney, take her career over," Randy Jackson added. Cowell snickered that he would "keep her away from the stupid friends, buy her some underwear," while Paula Abdul — as always — tried to put a positive spin on her VMA performance: "I never count her out." Spears' fellow former teen icon Joey Fatone has also chimed in on the performance, telling "Extra," "I felt bad but didn't. It looked like she was really lost. A lot of people ... really want her to seek help ... there's something not right here, something needs to obviously be done before anything tragic happens. She's a great girl ... I've known her for many years." ...

In other Brit news, she attended an unscheduled meeting with Kevin Federline and his attorney on Wednesday — five days before they were due to meet before a family court judge. The meeting was reportedly held at the Century City, California, offices of Spears attorney Laura Wasser. Federline has been trying to seek full custody of the former spouses' two sons, Jayden James and Sean Preston. ...

Lil' Kim — who took a swipe at 50 Cent on her 2005 LP, The Naked Truth — is finding herself right alongside him in a new lawsuit filed by a record producer, The Associated Press reports. Carlos Evans claims in papers recently filed in a New York court that he was contracted to produce, engineer and mix Kim's "Magic Stick" (featuring 50 Cent), a song that sold 2 million copies, but that he wasn't paid the royalties he was promised. He adds that while he was paid the $7,500 advance he was guaranteed for the song, his requests for a royalties audit have been ignored. His suit seeks $1 million in compensatory damages and $1 million in punitive damages. Theodore Sedlmayr, a lawyer for Rotten Apple Records — which is also named in the suit — told AP the late-royalty problems stem from the fact that Evans put a lengthy sample, which had to be licensed and paid for, in the song. "Atlantic is trying to get it straightened out. If after the accounting Mr. Evans is entitled to anything, he'll get it then," Sedlmayr told the news service. ....

Snoop Dogg, Talib Kweli, Mobb Deep, DMC and others will come together November 29 at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York for the J.A.M. Awards, a Jam Master Jay- and Run-DMC-inspired event intended to reflect the positive aspects of rap. The event — being put on by Hot 97, the Jam Master Jay Foundation for Music and other organizations — will be co-hosted by DMC, who said in a statement that it "is not designed merely for music fans, but also for people who want to see hip-hop answer its critics with a resounding voice of hope and inspiration." Eminem has also donated money for the cause, and the shindig will also feature Raekwon, Papoose and other to-be-named artists. ...

Beyoncé, Gwen Stefani and Jennifer Lopez are this year's best-dressed women, according to People. Kirsten Dunst and Janet Jackson aren't so lucky, though — they're cited for wearing the worst red-carpet dresses of the year in the magazine's "Best & Worst Dressed" issue, out Friday. Angelina Jolie, Jessica Biel, Cameron Diaz, Avril Lavigne, Lily Allen and Reese Witherspoon are also noted in the issue, as are a handful of men: Terrence Howard, Johnny Depp, Brad Pitt and George Clooney among them. ... Shakira, teacher's pet? Perhaps: PeopleEnEspanol.com reports that the singer has been taking Western-civ classes at the University of California, Los Angeles, over the course of the summer. ...

The White Stripes, who announced earlier this week that their U.S. tour would be scrapped due to Meg White's acute anxiety, have tabled their U.K. tour as well, BBC News reports. The band's eight-date arena tour, which was slated for October 24-November 2, would have been its largest U.K. trek to date. ... Foo Fighters have drummed up four shows in addition to their scheduled Saturday performance at Southern California radio station KROQ's LA Invasion. The band — which drops its Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace on September 25 — will grace New York (September 20); New Orleans (October 2); Atlanta (October 4); and Atlantic City, New Jersey (October 6). The rock act will also tape a performance for the "Nissan Live Sets on Yahoo! Music" series on Tuesday and be the featured musical guest on "Saturday Night Live" on October 13. ...

Queens of the Stone Age — who performed with the Foos during the VMAs — apparently have an unlikely fan in "chef-at-large" Anthony Bourdain. They stopped by his "No Reservations" Travel Channel show last week to shoot an appearance for the program. In the episode, Bourdain is cooking a holiday meal in his Connecticut home while the band is performing in the basement. QOTSA emerge wearing cheesy Christmas sweaters, dine with Bourdain and perform the holiday jingle "Silver Bells," retitled "Turkey Bells." The ep also allegedly features karaoke, Christmas carols and a Japanese businessman, so stay tuned. ... System of a Down frontman Serj Tankian — who also performed with the Foos — has announced a bunch of tour dates in support of his solo debut, Elect the Dead, which hits stores October 23. His North American tour kicks off October 12 at the Vic Theatre in Chicago and will make stops in Toronto, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Dallas, Las Vegas and Los Angeles, before concluding October 28 in San Francisco. ...

Led Zeppelin are getting a whole lotta love from fans after announcing a one-off reunion gig on Wednesday. More than 20 million fans have attempted to get tickets for the November 26 concert at the O2 arena in London in honor of late music icon Ahmet Ertegun, according to Agence France Presse. The venue can hold up to 20,000 people, and a lottery is being held in which tickets will be drawn at random. ...

Prince is planning to sue eBay, YouTube and other Web sites as part of an effort to "reclaim the Internet," according to the MediaGuardian.co.uk. Lawsuits pertaining to his material will be launched in the U.S. and U.K. through the anti-piracy firm Web Sheriff, which represents Prince. Over the course of the past two weeks, the artist's legal reps have asked for the removal of more than 2,000 videos that are alleged to have been uploaded illegally online. Web Sheriff Managing Director John Giacobbi said Prince "wants to create a template for other artists" but that he "doesn't really want to go around suing people — he'd much rather people just respected his rights. He will be victorious." ...

A security guard who worked a Guns N' Roses concert nearly 11 years ago is suing Axl Rose for battery and negligence, according to court documents filed in Los Angeles Superior Court in late August and obtained by TMZ.com. Gary Armijo claims that he was positioned at the front of the stage at the GN'R show in Universal City, California, on December 20, 1996, and that the singer came to the front of the stage and intentionally kicked the guard in the head, causing injuries. Armijo says he has experienced pain and suffering, sleeplessness, headaches and loss of earnings, and has incurred medical expenses as well. ...

The Cure have rescheduled for next year 18 of the 19 gigs they had intended to play in North America this year. The band's 4Tour North America run will now take them from May 9 in Washington, D.C., through June 20 in New York. In between will be an additional performance at the Sasquatch! Music Festival in George, Washington, on May 25 — the band has been promised a show-closing 150-minute slot for the fest. Those who want refunds on their 2007 tickets can do so at the original point of purchase until November 1. ... "Spawn" creator and toy magnate Todd McFarlane told Reuters he's spawning plans to direct a feature flick. He said he's eyeing low-budget concepts: "You're going to have some young kid do those anyway, so let me have a crack at it." McFarlane was at the annual GameStop convention, showcasing a new lineup of toys based on "Halo 3." ...

Bobby Byrd, James Brown's longtime sideman and co-singer, died of cancer on Wednesday, according to The Augusta Chronicle of Georgia. Byrd sung the classic "get on up" refrain in "Get Up I Feel Like Being a Sex Machine." He was also the co-founder of the Famous Flames, which became Brown's first backing band.

• Travis Barker, 50 Cent, Common On Britney's VMA Performance
• 2007 VMA: The Entire 2007 MTV Video Music Awards On-Demand
• Kanye Lectures On The Importance Of Graduation

• Shooting Stars: A Celeb's Eye View Of The VMAs
• 50 Cent's 5 Borough Tour Hits Manhattan
• Paris Hilton, Diddy, Timbaland, Janet Jackson, More Hit The Vegas Party Scene
• Britney's VMA Weekend: From Los Angeles To Las Vegas

• 50 Cent
• Kanye West
• Britney Spears
• Madonna
• Master P

Photo: MTV News

• Britney Spears
• 50 Cent
• Nicole Scherzinger
• Common
• Travis Barker

Rihanna onstage at Sunday's 2007 MTV Video Music Awards
Photo: John Shearer/ WireImage.com

LAS VEGAS — No snakes. No same-sex kisses. No magic tricks. No skimpy outfits. OK, plenty of skimpy outfits. After all, it's Britney, bitch, right? With one of the most anticipated openings in VMA history, Britney Spears tried to get the party started Sunday night with a James Bond-meets-underground S&M club slither through her new single, "Gimme More." But the evening belonged to Rihanna and Britney's old beau, Justin Timberlake, who both scooped up two awards, including the coveted Video of the Year for Rihanna in honor of her inescapable smash "Umbrella." Timberlake videos also won Best Choreography and Best Direction.

After weeks of relentless hype and endless accounts of her preshow partying, Britney's much-discussed comeback performance opened with a close-up of the back of her head. Staring straight into the camera, she purred the beginning couplet to "Trouble," made famous by the ultimate Las Vegas legend, Elvis, "If you're lookin' for trouble, you came to the right place/ If you're lookin' for trouble, look right in my face." The camera panned out to reveal Spears decked out in Vegas-appropriate bling, including a black, jewel-encrusted bra and hot pants, black boots and nothing else. Sashaying in and out of dancers in skin-tight leather, Spears literally stepped over the back of a male dancer and got intimate with another.

(Watch video clips of Britney Spears' chaotic weekend, including her VMA rehearsal, club-going with Criss Angel and more.)

With images of chandeliers floating on the screen behind her mixed with silhouettes of women befitting the intro reel to a James Bond flick, Spears walked across the stage as her scantily clad dancers worked a series of stripper poles scattered throughout the room. And then, after all that hype, a relieved-looking Brit gave a shy smile, whispered "thank you" and exited after a low-key performance that was quickly overshadowed by the likes of high-energy sets from the Foo Fighters, Chris Brown, Kanye and the most talked-about hookup (or is it right hook?) of the night: a scuffle between Pamela Anderson's former husbands, Kid Rock and Tommy Lee, that had Diddy and Jamie Foxx pleading with rock stars to end the violence.

Sarah Silverman gave her instant take on Britney with a slash and burn mini-monologue that managed to dis Spears' kids, Madonna and the bits of Brit we hope are kept under wraps from now on. The comedian seemed willing to ease up on her favorite recent target — Paris Hilton — but still managed to get one roundhouse in before paving the way for the night's first award, Monster Single of the Year. And who else could have taken that one home besides Rihanna? The humble songstress thanked fans and her producers for helping craft the year's truly monster smash, "Umbrella."

That award turned out to be just a prequel for the big one — and Rihanna accepted the Video of the Year honor from one of the night's biggest surprise guests, super-producer Dr. Dre. The clearly buffed-out Dre, who promised his long-rumored final album Detox is coming, handed the statue to Rihanna, who looked stunning in a floor-length pink gown and said the win was definitely the "most important" and "unexpected" of her two victories.

Even with way less categories than in the past, it was still an awards show and people were hyped to see who won what, but this lean, mean, retooled VMAs focused on the music, with performances raining down like $100 bills at 50's hectic poolside show Saturday night.

Like no other awards show before, the night's broadcast slammed into and out of commercial breaks with a series of live performances from the Palms Casino Resort's luxury suites.. They included bits of Kanye rocking "Stronger" amid a gang of fans wearing his now-signature Venetian-blind shades; Akon working the main stage solo for a run through "Smack That"; Fall Out Boy destroying their equipment after a hyped "Thnks Fr Th Mmrs"; and the Foo Fighters sweating through their new single, "The Pretender," with an assist from singer Dave Grohl's onetime Foos (and Nirvana) bandmate Pat Smear. The band also popped up later with special guest Cee-Lo, who got his rocker on during a sizzling cover of Prince's "Darling Nikki."

Midway through the show, Kanye strolled through his customized Sky Villa suite with pal T-Pain, making the rounds during "Good Life" like the exquisite party host he is, even gliding his way out to one of the cantilevered balconies that overlook the Vegas skyline. And, surrounded by women bouncing to his beats and with the Strip running out over his shoulder, you can bet he knew what it felt like when he rapped, "Everybody wants the good life."

In addition to having the honor of backing the night's big winner, Rihanna, for a guitar-heavy take on her new single "Shut Up and Drive," Fall Out Boy snagged the Best Group award, accepting it surrounded by their Decaydance Record pals. Hell, the bunny from Gym Class Heroes' "Clothes Off" handed bassist Pete Wentz the award as he traded his "three-peat" sign for the Moonman while wearing a frog mask on the back of his head. They kept it in the family, with Gym Class Heroes taking the Best New Artist trophy and eschewing the usual thank-yous for a chug-a-lug beer-spilling scrum that looked like a locker room after a Big Ten upset.

She's been gone from record stores almost as long as Britney, but Alicia Keys was clearly not a bit nervous as she strutted out, dress all in black, and unleashed the reggaefied first single from her upcoming album, "No One," before sliding into a gospel-fired cover of George Michael's "Freedom 90." And Linkin Park didn't hold back during a throat-shredding "Bleed It Out," which featured a big-beat intro from the night's music maestro, Timbaland.

But it was definitely Brown — who signaled his arrival with an electrifying performance that improbably melded hip-hop and Charlie Chaplin-style silent movie antics — whose act had people talking all night. Stepping out of a giant coin-operated machine, Brown did some slapstick dancing, hopscotching between disco-light-flashing platforms on the main floor of the Pearl, then chilling out for a minute to let Rihanna sing "Umbrella." He came back for a spot-on homage to Michael Jackson's legendary "Billie Jean" performance at the Motown 25th-anniversary celebration, complete with the hat toss, crotch grabs and impossibly liquid footwork. The VIPs surrounding his platform signaled their approval with a standing ovation and some high fives.

As for Justin, you know it's your year when you beat out Bono, Beyoncé, Jay-Z and Kanye for the inaugural Quadruple Threat of the Year award (see "MTV VMA Race Is On: Justin Timberlake, Beyonce Lead Nominations"). And Timberlake, grinning ear to ear and surrounded by a bevy of female fans, definitely seemed to sense it as he accepted the award, promising to keep the party going all night. It was just a good thing Kanye was nowhere to be seen when JT scooped the prize for Male Artist of the Year, because he might very well have bum-rushed after his second blank. Justin gave props to Kanye and fellow nominee Robin Thicke, as well as to Brown for his athletic performance earlier in the night. He also took the opportunity to mention for the second time (OK, we get it) that he thought MTV should play more videos.

JT was seemingly everywhere during the show, popping in to drop his butter-smooth hook on 50's "Ayo Technology" and closing the show along with Nelly Furtado and their mutual pal, Timbaland. Furtado's sexed-up "Do It" melded into Tim's throbbing "The Way I Are," which snaked into JT's "Love Stoned," as the former Mickey Mouse Club member reminded the crowd (and maybe someone else) that he can not only dance and sing, but can kill doing both, at the same time.

By now, they've talked up their upcoming chart battle at every possible opportunity, but 50 and Kanye played nice — after a clearly jesting staring contest — when it came time to hand out an award. Akon might have been on seemingly every hit collabo this year (at least when Weezy wasn't), but he was in good company with 'Ye as he rolled snake eyes on two chances in the Most Earth-Shattering Collaboration category, losing out to Beyoncé and Skakira's "Beautiful Liar." Fergie wasn't on hand, but Shia LaBeouf was happy to accept the award for Female Artist of the Year on her behalf, and also drop the super-secret word on the title of the new Indiana Jones flick he's co-starring in, "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull."

Before Brown had them pounding the stage in excitement or Britney had them scratching their heads in confusion, Pussycat Dolls lead kitten Nicole Scherzinger got the party started early during the preshow with a sizzling hookup with Lil Wayne. Weezy enthusiastically filled in for T.I. during a performance of Scherzinger's first single, "Whatever You Like." (Check out Nicole Scherzinger and Lil Wayne's rehearsal right here.) As she shimmied beside him in a barely there red cocktail dress, black boots and leather gloves, a grinning Weezy rapped, "Her name be Nicole, oh man, she fine/ Standin' there lookin' like a glass of time/ You should make it hours, yours and mine/ I can't pronounce her last name so it should be mine!"

They made an interesting team on a night that was full of many different varieties of hookups ...

The complete 2007 MTV Video Music Awards winners' list.

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.

• 2007 VMAs In 60 Seconds — What A Rush!

• 2007 VMA: Show Highlights
• Shooting Stars: A Celeb's Eye View Of The VMAs
• Britney's VMA Weekend: From Los Angeles To Las Vegas
• Adrian Grenier, Nelly, Shia LaBeouf, Britney And More Stars Spotted In Vegas
• Paris Hilton, Diddy, Timbaland, Janet Jackson, More Hit The Vegas Party Scene

• Britney Spears
• Nicole Scherzinger
• Lil Wayne
• Justin Timberlake
• Beyoncé

Diddy And Ashton Kutcher's White Party

• Diddy
• Nicole Scherzinger
• Cassie
• Mariah Carey
• Nick Cannon

Miley Cyrus, Jonas Brothers, More On The 2008 American Music Awards Red Carpet

• Miley Cyrus
• Jonas Brothers
• Ashley Tisdale
• Akon
• Christina Aguilera

The Pussycat Dolls Perform At Hollywood & Highland

• Pussycat Dolls
• Nicole Scherzinger

2008 Grammy Parties

• Ashlee Simpson
• Fall Out Boy
• Rihanna
• Paris Hilton
• Miley Cyrus

Christina Aguilera, Nicole Scherzinger, More at Rock The Vote Red Carpet

• Christina Aguilera
• JC Chasez
• Nicole Scherzinger
• Blake Lewis
• Samantha Ronson

2007 MTV Europe Music Awards: Red Carpet Couture

• Joss Stone
• Avril Lavigne
• Nicole Scherzinger
• Will.I.Am
• Tokio Hotel

2007 MTV Europe Music Awards: Show Highlights

• Snoop Dogg
• My Chemical Romance
• Avril Lavigne
• Foo Fighters
• Will.I.Am

MTV.com Exclusive: Nicole Scherzinger

• Nicole Scherzinger

Adrian Grenier, Nelly, Shia LaBeouf, Britney And More Stars Spotted In Vegas

• Jay-Z
• Beyoncé
• Britney Spears
• Boys Like Girls
• Common

2007 VMA: Very Vegas

• Nicole Scherzinger
• Robin Thicke
• Ashanti
• Jennifer Hudson
• Paris Hilton