Lindsay Lohan and Samantha Ronson
Photo: MTV News

• Lindsay Lohan
• Mark Ronson
• Perry Farrell's Satellite Party
• Perry Farrell
• Slash

Velvet Revolver's Scott Weiland and Slash
Photo: MTV News

During Velvet Revolver's show on Thursday night in Glasgow, Scotland, frontman Scott Weiland — who finished another stint in rehab just before the start of the band's European tour — made a rather peculiar and unexpected announcement, one that stirred considerable debate among VR fans all weekend.

According to several media and fan accounts, Weiland told the sold-out crowd that they were "watching something special ... the last tour by Velvet Revolver." At least one account of the evening's proceedings suggests Weiland's revelation was news to the rest of the band; the tour concludes on April 1 in the Netherlands.

"[Guitarist] Slash, [bassist] Duff [McKagan], [drummer] Matt [Sorum] and [guitarist] Dave [Kushner] all looked at each other. ...They sang 'Fall to Pieces,' [and] then Scott goes over to the side of the stage and argues with the sound guy," one eyewitness reported on a forum devoted to the group. "After a couple of songs, he threw his [microphone] down and walked off. After a long wait, Duff came out with the band and sang the start of 'It's So Easy.' Scott shows up about half way through, sang really half-assed, then [was] gone again."

At press time, the band's rep had not responded to MTV News' request for comment, and there's no official word on the VR site (which was last updated on Thursday), but Sorum — who, along with Slash and McKagan, is a former member of Guns N' Roses — took to his blog to comment on Weiland's announcement.

"[We] had a little band turmoil on stage, as you probably all could tell," he wrote. "Being in a band is a lot like being in a relationship. Sometimes, you just don't get along. I guess there has been more turmoil lately, with the cancellations and all. It has been frustrating; I am not going to lie. My career and life in rock and roll has come with its ups and downs. Unfortunately, some people in this business don't realize how great of a life they have. Touring the world, meeting great people, and fans all over the world — and just playing music for a living. I feel truly blessed. But sometimes the road can be draining for some.

"Being away from home and family does grind on you sometimes," Sorum continued. "Personally, I love this sh-- and sometimes can't believe I am so lucky to still be doing what I do for a living. Everybody could see who was unhappy [at the Glasgow show], but all I can say is let's keep the rock alive, people. In this life, you just pick up and keep moving. And don't ever let anybody stand in your way."

Perhaps it wasn't the clarification Velvet Revolver fans were hoping for, but Sorum's blog post did inspire Weiland to issue his own, slightly vicious statement on the matter.

"The state of my family affairs is really none of [Sorum's] business, since he is too immature to have a real relationship, let alone children," Weiland said, in a statement issued to Blabbermouth.net. "So don't attempt to stand in a man's shoes when you haven't walked his path. I've made many attempts to remain cordial with the members of VR, but mainly, the likes of you. Funny though — this is your first band, as opposed to being a hired gun. I've been making records (now, on my ninth), which have sold over 35 million copies worldwide and have maintained a level of professionalism regardless of how many drugs I've ingested into my system. I have only cancelled one tour during the entire course of my 16-year run and that was the 'make-up' Australia tour. Now, shall I open that can of worms, Matthew? Release the Kraken? Serve ... volley! You cancelled the Aussie tour in the fall because you went to rehab, but I won't say why."

Again, Weiland didn't exactly come right out and say "Velvet Revolver are no more" in his statement, but he did stop short of that admission. "I will sweat, bruise, and bleed for you," he continued, directing his words to the band's fans. "[I] will continue to do so until the end of this tour. However, you deserve to hear Velvet Revolver playing ... not certain individuals singing along to get a muddied-up sound. It's a shame ... we were a gang. But ego and jealousy can get the better of anyone. I wish the best and plan to annihilate the stage in the last few shows."

Weiland, who will be reuniting with the Stone Temple Pilots this summer for a string of dates and possibly a full U.S. tour, then went on to express the excitement he's been experiencing over the revival of STP.

"We did an STP photo shoot before this tour and it was fun, inspiring and it gave me that thrill — that feeling that got my rocks off from the get-go," he said.

And it didn't take fans long to express their disappointment over the possibility of there being no more Velvet Revolver.

"I hope you guys work through all the crap and keep rocking," wrote one fan. "You all are one hell of a rock band, in a time when rock seems almost extinct. I just pray VR as a whole can get through these issues and continue to rock, and I hope to buy a third VR album."

"I hope that it was just a bad night," wrote another. "Moods were obviously in a raw state for some. I actually think Scott should've stayed off the road a tad bit longer from his stint in rehab. I pray that as a band and as a group of friends, you guys can get back to a solid healthy place that will work for you onstage, but more importantly, offstage."

• Velvet Revolver
• Scott Weiland
• Slash
• Stone Temple Pilots
• Guns N' Roses

Amy Winehouse
Photo: Dave Hogan/Getty Images

Amy Winehouse is once again at the center of a viral fiasco, according to a new video posted on TMZ.com. The clip has been making the rounds ... we're not sure exactly what's happening in it, but check it out for yourself right here. Meanwhile, after her tour got off to a rough start earlier this week — she reportedly cried and was booed at during her Wednesday show in Birmingham, England — Winehouse's publicist said she was in better form at her Friday gig in Glasgow, Scotland. The singer's publicist also addressed rumors that her tour manager had recently quit, confirming that Winehouse has indeed changed tour managers. In other related news, a sixth man has been charged with obstruction of justice in the case involving Winehouse's husband, Blake Fielder-Civil, BBC News reports. His friend Michael Brown — who, along with Fielder-Civil, is accused of assaulting a bartender on June 20, causing grievous bodily harm with intent — was remanded in court on Friday (November 16). He, Fielder-Civil and four other men are due in court November 23. ...

And the "Hannah Montana" ticket saga goes on. First the massive rush to get tickets for Miley Cyrus' Best of Both Worlds Tour spurred authorities to launch investigations, then a class-action lawsuit was filed against her fan club, MileyWorld.com — now comes news that a woman bid a whopping $13,000 for a set of four tickets as part of a radio auction, according to Indiana ABC affiliate RTV6's Web site, TheIndyChannel.com. The woman — who reportedly wanted to stay anonymous but revealed that she will be going with her husband, 8-year-old daughter and 6-year-old son — made the bid for Cyrus' December 9 show in Indianapolis on "The Bob & Tom Show," a radio program based in the city. Proceeds from the sale of the tickets are going to be used to buy games and technology for kids at the cancer center at Peyton Manning Children's Hospital. ...

In the next Harry Potter film, it'll be easy to see how Ralph Fiennes became Voldemort — and not just because the actor's nephew Hero Fiennes Tiffin will play a younger version of himself. Tiffin, who is 9, will play Tom Riddle at age 11, just as Dumbledore comes to visit him in an orphanage in "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" and tell him that he's off to Hogwarts. Something about young Tom tips off the wise old wizard that the boy has been using his magic for selfish and cruel reasons. Sixteen-year-old Frank Dillane will play the teenage Tom, who starts asking his professors about dark magic. The young actors were announced Friday by Warner Bros. President of Production Jeff Robinov, who said the casting process had been completed. ...

Protesters descended on Washington, D.C., on Friday, demanding that new Attorney General Michael Mukasey, a former judge, launch a federal investigation into the Jena Six case. According to The Associated Press, organizers said more than 100 busloads of people — who also demanded the enforcement of hate crimes involving nooses being hung in public — had joined the march, which was organized by the Reverend Al Sharpton. Mukasey reportedly responded with a statement saying his agency is working to "investigate aggressively dozens of noose-hangings and other recent racially and religiously motivated" crimes across the country, and that such investigations aren't visible to the public. On Friday, a state judge allowed the juvenile trial of Mychal Bell, the only member of the Jena Six to stand trial, to be made open to the public. In related news, the Jena Six are part of Essence magazine's new list of this year's most influential people. Readers voted Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama to the top of the list, which also includes Sharpton, Beyoncé, Don Cheadle, Timbaland, Barry Bonds and Oprah Winfrey. ...

John Legend is hooking up again with Kanye West for his third album, for which he says he already has "three songs I love already," according to Billboard.com. The singer/pianist revealed that he's already worked with Will.I.Am and singer/songwriter Rick Knowles for the yet-untitled effort, and that he plans to also get together with Pharrell, West "and we'll see who else" next. He expects to be done with the project by the end of the spring and get it out by late summer or early fall. Legend also commented on the passing of West's mother, Donda West, saying, he plans to go to her funeral next week. "She loved him and supported him unconditionally," he said. "She was really there for him a lot and was ... really a great example for him. You could tell how close they were, and I just can't imagine how devastated he is right now." ... Jay-Z's November 11 show at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York will be webcast on MSN.com on Tuesday. Diddy and Lil Wayne made guest appearances during the show. ... Blake Lewis had been pining for collaborations with Will.I.Am and Gnarls Barkley, but for the time being, the "American Idol" runner-up will have to be content with Lupe Fiasco instead. He's landed a featured spot by the Chicago MC on "Know My Name," a song included on Lewis' debut album, Audio Day Dream. The effort, due December 4 on 19 Recordings/ Arista, also features collaborations with One Republic's Ryan Tedder — he produced and co-wrote many tracks on the album, including the first single, "Break Anotha." ...

Madonna is hooking up with Gucci to raise money for orphans in the impoverished southern African nation of Malawi. According to a Reuters report, the singer will host a fundraising dinner with a musical performance and party on February 6, as part of the opening of the biggest Gucci store in the world, on New York's Fifth Avenue. Madonna said the event will benefit UNICEF and Raising Malawi, a charity she co-founded in 2006 to help end poverty in the country. The event is expected to raise $2 million and will feature such co-chairs as Salma Hayek, Adrien Brody, Lucy Liu, Demi Moore, Ashton Kutcher and Gwyneth Paltrow. Madonna and husband Guy Ritchie's bid to adopt a child from Malawi has been unresolved since last year. ... Europe, prepare yourself for another dose of the Smashing Pumpkins. The band will stage an arena tour starting January 27 in Serbia and ending March 3 in Finland, swinging through England, Italy, France and elsewhere along the way. The trek will be the Pumpkins' third overseas outing in support of the Zeitgeist album they dropped earlier this year. ...

A James Brown trustee was threatened with contempt of court on Thursday over his involvement in the late rock icon's finances, according to Georgia newspaper The Augusta Chronicle. David Cannon, who resigned in August after facing allegation that he had misappropriated at least $7 million of Brown's money, reportedly invoked the Fifth Amendment after refusing to answer questions about how much money he made while he was employed by the singer. If Cannon is found in contempt of court, he could face up to six months in jail. ...

Velvet Revolver guitarist Slash and his wife, Perla, have filed a civil suit against a real-estate agent, claiming they were duped into buying a house, according to TMZ.com. The suit, filed this week in Los Angeles County Superior Court, names Gregory Holcomb and Sotheby's International Realty as defendants. The suit claims the couple "thought they had found their dream house" — but were wrong. Slash (real name: Saul Hudson) and his wife claim they were told the house was on a private, gated street, but it turns out it was on a public street with very little parking. They also say it was much smaller than the 7,800 square feet it was listed as being and that there were other issues with the home's title, the suit reads. The couple are seeking $1 million for "grief, shame, humiliation, embarrassment, anger, worry, disappointment, nervousness, stomach disorders, backaches, loss of appetite and inability to concentrate on work," all of which was allegedly brought on by the house purchase. ... In related news, the members of Velvet Revolver are at a loss for why they were denied entry to Japan. The band had to cancel four scheduled concerts in the country after immigration officials denied the band's request for visas. Velvet Revolver are appealing the decision, but the process could take months to resolve. "We want to apologize to our fans in Japan that we won't be able to perform our scheduled concerts," the band said in a statement. "We don't understand why the authorities won't give us visas when they granted them for us in 2005 for what was a successful tour and a great experience. We love Japan and look forward to our return there." ...

Van Halen have begun unveiling 2008 tour dates on their Web site. So far the reunited band has lined up five gigs, in Oklahoma City (January 22); Houston (January 28); Omaha, Nebraska (February 4); Fort Lauderdale, Florida (February 12); and St. Louis (March 30). More are expected to be announced. ... The reunion outing by the Police was named the top-grossing and top ticket-selling tour of 2007 at the fourth annual Billboard Touring Awards on Thursday night. The band's first tour in more than 20 years grossed more than $171 million from 53 shows attended by 1.5 million people. Justin Timberlake won the Breakthrough award for his FutureSex/LoveShow tour, which grossed more than $115.8 million from 100 shows attended by 1.5 million people. Prince took home the Top Boxscore award for his 21-date stand at the O2 arena in London. ...

The Kaiser Chiefs are planning to deliver new music soon, but it remains to be seen whether they will be dishing it up in the form of a new album or something else, according to their publicist. The group believes fans are more interested in tracks than LPs these days, the publicist said. ... Spreading the love: Lenny Kravitz has teamed with MySpace for a contest that will enable 10 of the rocker's friends on the social-networking site to hop aboard his Get on the Bus With the Love Revolution Tour. Interested? Go to Kravitz's MySpace page, submit a photo and explain why you think you should be part of his tour. The winners will travel on a customized Love Revolution Tour bus during the tour, get full backstage access and take part in a magazine photo shoot. ...

The Sweet Relief Musicians Fund — a Los Angeles nonprofit group that helps musicians who are in financial need in the face of illness, disability or other problems — is offering an original Clash shirt screened by bassist Paul Simonon to a lucky donor. Simonon gave the shirt to punk poet Patti Smith 30 years ago, and after she passed it to her drummer, Jay Dee Daughtery, he in turn donated it to Sweet Relief. Go to SweetRelief.org for more info. ... Underground musicians are continuing to step up to help Callum Robbins — the infant son of Jawbox founder J. Robbins and his wife, Janet — who is suffering from spinal muscular atrophy. Gordon Withers, a cellist who plays with indie-rock band Betwixt, is offering up string versions of Jawbox songs in the form of a new CD. Jawbox on Cello: A Benefit for Cal Robbins will be released digitally on December 18 through Ioda and available at Withers' concerts as well. All proceeds from sales of the disc will go to the Cal Robbins Care Fund. ...

Castmembers of "30 Rock" and "Saturday Night Live" will put on a pair of one-time-only sold-out live performances this weekend at New York's Upright Citizens Brigade Theater to benefit a strike fund established by the Writers Guild of America, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The "SNL" show will take place on Saturday at 11:30 with host Michael Cera ("Superbad") and musical act Yo La Tengo. The "30 Rock" show will be on Monday at 8 p.m. ... As the strike nears the end of its second week, the Reporter also notes that Universal Media Studios began notifying regular actors on "Bionic Woman," "The Office" and "30 Rock" on Thursday that they will be suspended on half-pay for five weeks, citing the "force majeure" clause in their contracts that allows studios to withhold pay if production is suspended. ...

Meanwhile, Variety reports that back channel talks are underway to get "Late Show With David Letterman," "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" and "Late Night With Conan O'Brien" back on the air. The most positive estimate of when that could happen is after Thanksgiving, though early December is more likely. None of the shows wants to be the first to go back, so discussions are partly aimed at trying to get at least two of the shows to return on the same date. ... With awards season on the horizon, several kudoscasts are facing serious problems if the strike continues, according to Variety. The Golden Globes, Grammys, SAG Awards, Independent Spirit Awards and the Academy Awards all rely on writers, and at this point, the show-runners haven't commented on how they'll deal with the issue. ...

Is Courtney Love taking a cue from Radiohead? On her MySpace blog, the rocker claims she'd like to let fans name their price for online downloads in the future. "The kamikaze pilot in me wants to do the same damn thing," she said. "I'm grateful for Radiohead for making the first move. I'd do it differently. That's why B-sides are no longer B-sides, but have to be A-sides, to an extent. I love risk, and most everything I've ever done well has been because everyone said I was crazy to do it. That's why words like 'risk management' and 'time management' are resonating with me now."

11.15.07

Lindsay Lohan pulled a Nicole Richie on Thursday (November 15), checking in and out of jail in less than an hour and a half, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Web site. She checked into the Century Regional Detention Facility in Lynwood, California — the same jail Richie and Paris Hilton were at — at 10:30 a.m., and she checked out shortly afterward, at 11:54 a.m. Lohan was fingerprinted, searched — without having to give up her street clothes — and then put into a holding cell in the inmate reception area, according to The Associated Press. "She was cooperative," Los Angeles Sheriff's Department spokesman Steve Whitmore told AP. He added that she did not receive preferential treatment and said 30-50 women are granted early releases from the facility on a daily basis. Her brief, 84-minute stay in jail was related to her July DUI arrest following a bizarre car chase, and she had been ordered to serve her time before January. Lohan subsequently entered rehab and was released from the Cirque Lodge Treatment Center in Utah early last month. According to a People report, she began serving her community service at an American Red Cross blood-services facility in a Los Angeles suburb on Monday. ...

Alicia Keys' new album is all about self-empowerment, and it's no wonder why: The singer recently revealed to Entertainment Weekly that she has battled depression. When a family member fell ill in summer 2006, "It made me finally stop," Keys said. "Nothing else was more important — no work, no costumes, no anything. I was forced to slow down, look at my life and decide who I wanted to be. It all got very low at first because I was very depressed and I didn't understand why." After taking a monthlong trek across Egypt — during which she was only accompanied by a tour guide — and returning to the States, she promised herself that she "was going to be courageous enough to tell whoever is in my life what was going on. I became brutally honest. I would go straight up to people and say, 'Guess what? This is over. So what's gonna happen from now on is this: If you're feeling that, great. If not, bye.' Some people didn't like it, and they didn't like me being so clear and set on what I wanted. But I found that I took their power away." The issue hits newsstands Monday. ...

With her husband in jail, accused of trying to obstruct an investigation, the last thing Amy Winehouse needed was to have fans turn their backs on her. But according to BBC News, that's exactly what happened on Wednesday night, when the troubled singer played her first gig since husband Blake Fielder-Civil's arrest last week. Throughout Winehouse's show in Birmingham, England, the singer was reportedly crying, and "streams" of people walked out before the end. At one point during the show, she warned the boo birds, "To them people booing, wait till my husband gets out of incarceration. And I mean that." She later dedicated the song "Wake Up Alone" to Fielder-Civil, and while performing an encore cover of the Zutons' "Valerie," she reportedly stopped singing, dropped the mic and walked offstage. ...

Kanye West, who reportedly canceled his planned Thursday appearance at the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show on Monday, has also scrapped the kickoff to his U.K. tour, which was set for Monday in Amsterdam, Netherlands, according to CNN. Further evidence is found on his Web site, which does not feature the previously scheduled date in its tour section, although a string of other European tour dates (through December 4) are still listed. That includes his planned performance at the O2 arena in London on November 22, and CNN reports that the show will go on. Meanwhile, Will.I.Am has stepped in to fill West's shoes for the Victoria's Secret show, according to AP. West's mother, Donda, passed away Saturday. ...

Regina Spektor's sold-out Wednesday night show at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium was canceled shortly before it started after the singer collapsed. She "was taken to a local hospital after collapsing due to a severe inner ear infection which caused a sudden case of vertigo," according to a statement issued by her publicist. "Regina was released late last night and is resting comfortably. Regina is extremely disappointed that she had to cancel on her fans but will return to the Ryman on December 6th, where all tickets will be honored or refunded." Spektor has also postponed her planned Thursday show at the Tabernacle in Atlanta to December 5. All tickets will be honored or refunded at the show. The rest of her North American tour will continue as planned beginning Friday in Norfolk, Virginia. ...

What's the deal with Britney Spears running over people's feet? The singer did it for the fourth time on Wednesday night, according to a video on TMZ.com, as she headed into the parking lot at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills, California. In the video, a man is heard warning the paparazzi as Spears begins driving her Mercedes, after which a photographer is heard screaming and the man responds, "Back off the drive, gentlemen, this won't happen if you back off the drive." The men are subsequently heard shouting at each other. UsMagazine.com reports that the incident took place at 9:30 p.m. Spears previously ran over a cop's feet and those of other photographers as well. ...

The deal is done: Jadakiss has signed with Roc-A-Fella, it was announced Thursday. His yet-untitled first album in four years, a collaboration between Roc-A-Fella and Ruff Ryders, is due next year. Jay-Z told Mixtape Monday late last month that the deal was almost done and that he had been in negotiations with Ruff Ryders to get the black Babe Ruth on his label through Def Jam. "Well, I've been actually trying to get Jadakiss to come to Roc-A-Fella/ Ruff Ryders for a minute," he said. Jada's last album, 2004's Kiss of Death, debuted at #1 on the Billboard albums chart. ...

M by Mariah Carey, the singer's new fragrance, is launching a Virtual Ford Model Search to find the new face of MTV's Virtual Hills. The campaign is being put on by MTV Networks, Elizabeth Arden and Ford Models. Starting Monday, viewers can go here to make their own customized avatar, and while in the virtual world, they'll be able to get beauty tips from Ford Models experts and given a virtual bottle of the perfume and Ford Models portfolio book. "With Elizabeth Arden and Ford Models, we're tapping into their twin drivers of fashion and beauty and creating a social campaign where they can seek status and project a confident sense of self with others," Courtney Holt, executive vice president of Digital Music and Media for MTV Networks' Music & Logo Group, said in a statement. In early January, models will be requested to flaunt their virtual acting abilities by posing with the M by Mariah Carey bottle, acting out a commercial for it, walking a virtual runway and competing in a virtual dance competition. The winning avatar, to be determined by reps for MTV, Elizabeth Arden and Ford Models, will be used as the face of a marketing campaign for MTV's virtual worlds, Ford Models' inaugural virtual-world model and will appear in a spot co-branded by MTV and Elizabeth Arden. Finalists will be chosen by an expert panel on January 14, and the winner will be announced on air January 31. ...

Game won a motion to retrieve $40,000 that was seized from his home in Glendale, California, in May, according to TMZ. The rapper (real name: Jayceon Taylor) got the legal win in court on Wednesday. Game is charged with three counts of making a criminal threat, possession of a firearm in a school zone and exhibiting a firearm in the presence of an officer stemming from an incident in February. The rapper, who is free on $50,000 bail, faces more than five years in state prison if convicted. ... According to England's NME, My Chemical Romance are down another man. Guitarist Frank Iero has reportedly dropped out of the band's world tour following Sunday's show in Newcastle, England, due to an undisclosed family member's illness. He will be temporarily replaced by guitar tech Matt Cortez, who previously stood in for bassist Mikey Way when he went on a six-month hiatus from the group earlier this year. The news comes less than a week after drummer Bob Bryar explained his absence from the band's recent shows due to a persistent wrist injury. The sidelining of Iero leaves the band with just three permanent members taking the stage each night. A spokesperson for the band could not be reached at press time. ...

Hurting to see the Foo Fighters? The wait is almost over. The band, which is still hammering away at its U.K. tour stretch, has firmed up six Stateside dates in support of its recent Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace album: January 23 (Dallas); January 25 (Memphis, Tennessee); January 26 (Nashville); February 18 (Worcester, Massachusetts); February 21 (Philadelphia); and February 24 (Detroit). Aficionados will be pleased to know that former guitarist Pat Smear will be back with the Foos while they're on the road — keyboardist Rami Jaffee (ex-Wallflowers) and violinist Jesse Greene are also along for the ride. A limited number of premium tix being made available through Ticketmaster auctions will benefit TreeBank, which plans to distribute the proceeds to local branches for tree-planting in communities the tour will hit. ... Velvet Revolver canceled their four scheduled concerts in Japan after immigration officials there denied the band's request for visas. According to concert promoter Creativeman Productions, the band was "looking forward to their tour of Japan [because] the upcoming trek was an opportunity to reconnect with their fans in Japan, where the band has toured before — without incident — back in 2005. But now it's a different story as [the band's] request for visas has just been denied. The increasingly tough Japanese immigration officials are taking exception with the backgrounds of various bandmembers, which have included arrests." ...

Kelly Rowland, Nick Lachey, Patti LaBelle and others have been tapped to create America's "greatest" choir for an upcoming competition show that will air live from New York over the course of four nights, from December 17-20. For "Clash of the Choirs," Rowland, Lachey and the three other celebrities involved in the competition will go back to their hometowns and recruit 20 singers, and the choirs will be eliminated one by one until the final evening. The winning choir and respective hometown celeb will get to choose a prize to be donated to their community. ... Carrie Underwood will sidle up alongside Tim McGraw, Rascal Flatts and other country heavyweights for the 2008 Stagecoach country-music festival, which will be held May 3-4 at the same venue that hosts Coachella: Indio, California's Empire Polo Field. Another "American Idol" vet, Kellie Pickler, will also be performing at the event. ... Queens of the Stone Age have lined up a benefit gig that will take place in their native Palm Desert in California on December 9. Proceeds from the show, which will also feature their homies the Eagles of Death Metal, will go to Palm Desert High School, youth-outreach nonprofit Operation SafeHouse and other various Coachella Valley charities. ...

Ne-Yo, Vanessa Hudgens, Colbie Caillat and Katharine McPhee will headline the annual Christmas in Washington benefit show slated to air on TNT on December 12. ... Kelly Clarkson and Reba McEntire can't seem to get enough of each other. First McEntire welcomed the "American Idol" onto her recent Reba Duets album for a rendition of Clarkson's "Because of You." Then the two promoted it with an appearance on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" that also featured Justin Timberlake. Now the ladies are hitting the road together for the 2 Worlds 2 Voices tour, which will launch January 17 in Dayton, Ohio, and wind down February 16 in Kansas City, Missouri, according to Billboard. ...

A judge in Michigan tossed a civil suit Kid Rock filed earlier this year after the rocker failed to appear for a court-ordered deposition. The rocker (real name: Robert James Ritchie) had filed suit against Kelly Ann Kozlowski, claiming she embarrassed and defamed him, but on Wednesday, Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Shalina Kumar nixed the suit and expressed her annoyance at Rock's absence, according to AP. "What's special about him? Why does he get to violate a court's order?" she reportedly asked of Rock's attorney, William Horton, after learning the musician ignored a deposition she had ordered to take place by the end of October. The lawyer blamed scheduling conflicts for the no-show. Kozlowski had sued Rock, claiming he roughed her up outside his Clarkston recording studio back in March. Her claims were investigated by authorities, but no charges were ever brought against Rock. Meanwhile, the judge entered a default against Rock in Kozlowski's complaint, which seeks more than $25,000 in damages. The ruling prevents Rock from contesting Kozlowski's lawsuit at trail in February. ...

Some rare Kurt Cobain memorabilia is up for sale on Craigslist. A seller claims to have gotten hold of four original, signed drawings the late Nirvana frontman made in high school, and he's selling them for $10,000 each, according to Harp magazine. The classified ad reads, "I have four original and signed drawings by Kurt Cobain. Various sizes, mostly Fender guitar-related subject matter. These were done when Kurt was in high school in the 1980s. Quite rare and unusual." ... My Bloody Valentine have rolled out a batch of concert dates after frontman Kevin Shields made the official reunion announcement in an interview broadcast Monday on VBS.tv. According to Billboard, the group will play three dates in the U.K. — June 20 (London), June 28 (Manchester) and July 2 (Glasgow) — and are mulling an offer to participate at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival in Indio, California, in late April. ...

Of Montreal and Battles have snatched up seven PLUG Independent Music Award nominations, including Album of the Year and New Artist of the Year. The Arcade Fire and Justice landed six nominations each while Band of Horses and the National nabbed five, and Spoon earned four. Radiohead, Animal Collective, Okkervil River, Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, Panda Bear, El-P, Om, Boris, Dan Deacon, Andrew Bird and others were also noticed. The awards ceremony will be held March 6 at Terminal 5 in New York. ...

Multimedia company Guerilla Union — which produces the Rock the Bells and Paid Dues tours — has donated $100,000 to Linkin Park's Music for Relief project on the part of the band and SanDisk Corporation, a flash-data-storage-card company, after staging an event over the weekend. The SanDisk Sunset Strip Block Party served as a launch for the company's new marketing campaign and other products, but also drew attention to the recent wildfires in the area. A handful of bands performing in various venues on West Hollywood, California's Sunset Strip were involved, including LP, Common, the Crystal Method, Z-Trip and others. ... Current and former members of Cave In, Jawbox, Isis, Sunn0))), Dälek and other underground acts have lent their talents to Decimal, the new album by Ringfinger. At the center of the project is Tracy Wilson, who previously sung for now-disbanded group Dahlia Seed. ...

A former Paris Hilton business partner has been arrested on rape charges, according to Florida's Orlando Sentinel. Fereidoun "Fred" Khalilian, the heiress' former partner in Orlando's Club Paris, turned himself in to police on Wednesday after his home was raided by a police SWAT team earlier in the day. He faces charges of false imprisonment and sexual battery stemming from an incident on Friday. ... Lindsay Lohan's father, Michael, is planning to open a restaurant that his daughter "can be around people she can trust — where she can hang her hat and call her own," according to People. He is reportedly looking for a location in Los Angeles for the restaurant, for which he said Lindsay will be part-owner, although the opening date and menu are not yet known. Michael Lohan has another item on his agenda: He's participating in the ninth annual Great Thanksgiving Banquet for homeless people at the New York City Rescue Mission on Monday. Meals will be served from noon until 7 p.m., and 1,000 shelter-based homeless people are expected to attend. ...

According to an interview with HHNLive.com, Flipmode Squad member Rampage said the group founded and relentlessly hyped on wax by Busta Rhymes has abandoned its name and is no longer working with Busta. He said the group is now just "Rah Digga, Baby Sham, Spliff Starr and myself. We just changed the name of the group, and it's now called FMS. ... We just decided to do our own thing. ... It's not under Flipmode anymore. It's under FMS, [which] stands for Famous Millionaire Squad."

• Why Is The Writers' Strike Important?

• Amy Winehouse
• John Legend
• Lupe Fiasco
• Kanye West
• Pharrell Williams

Snoop Dogg
Photo: MTV News

Snoop Dogg struck a plea deal on Thursday (September 20) in his weapon-possession case stemming from an arrest at John Wayne Airport in Orange County, California, in September 2006, The Associated Press reports. The rapper (real name: Calvin Broadus) was sentenced to 160 hours of community service and three years' probation, and ordered to make a $10,000 charitable donation. In the September incident, Snoop was found carrying a collapsible baton — while he claimed it was for a video shoot, authorities considered it to be a dangerous weapon. If he doesn't violate the law again, his felony conviction will be reduced to a misdemeanor after one year. "We are very pleased with the outcome," his attorney Donald Etra told AP. "He wants to get on with his life." ...

Game (real name: Jayceon Taylor) was given a conditional discharge on Thursday in the case involving the rapper allegedly impersonating a police officer in New York in November, AP reports. Per Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Marc Whiten's order, if Game is not arrested again within six months, the misdemeanor criminal-impersonation charge will be dismissed. Claiming innocence, Game had rejected previous plea deals that would have kept him out of jail in exchange for a guilty plea. He was arrested after allegedly telling a cab driver he was an undercover cop and instructing him to run red lights, but Game denied that claim and instead argued that the driver decided to run the red lights on his own. Game's lawyer, Jeffrey Lichtman, pointed out Game's facial tattoo and said it was doubtful the driver would have believed the rapper to be a police officer. "I've never seen a cop with writing all over his face," Game said. ...

First Dr. Dre makes an appearance at the VMAs, and now he's got an interview in the latest issue of GQ — maybe Detox really is on the way. The notoriously reclusive producer appears in the 50th anniversary issue of the men's magazine and, for the first time, goes on record about the rift between his Aftermath artists 50 Cent and Game. "It was definitely a conscious thing," he said of his decision to not speak up in the past about the feud. "This is something that's between labelmates. I've said, 'When you guys are ready to make some music, let's get down. Let's get in the studio.' All that other stuff, that's not for me. This is something they created, so it's something they have to handle. I don't feel like I have to choose a side." Dre also revealed that, at the behest of Interscope Chairman Jimmy Iovine, he once asked Game not to dis 50 during a New York show. "I knew that this one wasn't gonna go away," he said. "I know these guys, and I know nobody is gonna back down." ...

Gerard Way had some kind words to say to the University of Maine's campus newspaper, The Maine Campus, about Bon Jovi — his band, My Chemical Romance, will open for the rock legends October 25-26 as part of the christening of Newark, New Jersey's Prudential Center. "I grew up as a Bon Jovi fan. Whenever you're dealing with Bon Jovi or Springsteen, it's just a great honor and at that point; it doesn't really matter what genre you play. It really just kind of matters that you're all from New Jersey." Way also had a thing or two to say about MCR being labeled "emo," although his words on that subject weren't so kind. "Emo bands were being booked while we were touring with Christian metal bands because no one would book us on tours. I think emo is f---ing garbage, it's bullsh--. I think there's bands that unfortunately we get lumped in with that are considered emo and by default that starts to make us emo. All I can say is anyone actually listening to the records, put the records next to each other and listen to them and there's actually no similarities. I think emo's a pile of sh--." ...

Yung Joc will perform at the 100th anniversary of Zeta Beta Tau fraternity's Cornell University chapter, according to the campus' paper, The Cornell Daily Sun. The October 12 concert, to be held at the Zeta Beta Tau house, will serve to benefit the Children's Miracle Network, an alliance of hospitals for children. ... Jennifer Lopez has a new album on the brain — Brave, which drops October 9 — but that hasn't stopped her from hooking up with Carlos Santana for a new slice set to be featured on the rock icon's Ultimate Santana collection, due October 16. Baby Bash also surfaces on "This Boy's Fire," which was partly produced by Sean Garrett. Two more previously unreleased collabos — "Into the Night" with Nickelback's Chad Kroeger and "The Game of Love" with Tina Turner — also beef up the best-of disc. ...

Missy Elliott posted a teaser on her Web site announcing that she's back in the lab cooking up a new album that she hopes to release in the spring. No other information was given on the album, which would be her first since 2005's The Cookbook. ... As huge as the Kanye West/ 50 Cent album showdown appeared to be, LP sales are still down 9 percent compared to the same week last year, Billboard reports. ... Tired of seeing Kanye West all over the place? Too bad. The recent Gradu-ee will perform September 29 on "Saturday Night Live." Spoon will play on the show the following week. ...

Sammy Hagar says he wouldn't have toured with the reunited Van Halen without founding bassist Michael Anthony, who has been replaced with Eddie Van Halen's son, Wolfgang Van Halen, for the band's reunion tour with singer David Lee Roth. According to the Web site for Internet radio station KNAC, Hagar said, "I wouldn't do it without Mike. ... If Eddie wants to play with his son, fine. I love my son too, but I got him a different job. ... I just think the fans are gonna walk away with a little bit of a disappointment because Mike's a big part of that band." ... In related news, Van Halen have tossed three more California dates onto their much-anticipated reunion tour, which kicks off September 27 in Charlotte, North Carolina. The band will hit Fresno on November 29, Anaheim on December 18 and will now bring the jaunt to a close in Oakland on December 22. ...

The inaugural Girlfrenzy concert scheduled for October 27 at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Irvine, California, has been postponed. Though organizers have not given any reason for the show's cancellation, they said in a post on the show's MySpace page that it will be rescheduled for 2008. The show was to feature Avril Lavigne, Fiona Apple, Sheryl Crow and Colbie Caillat. ... After three years, Scratch magazine is calling it a day. The hip-hop mag's final issue features 50 Cent and Timbaland on the cover and is due out at the end of September. No reason was given for the magazine's shuttering. ...

The 10th anniversary edition of Rock 'N' Roll Fantasy Camp will get an extra dose of power this year with appearances from Slash, Who singer Roger Daltrey, Vince Neil and Eagles guitarist Joe Walsh. Also on the roster for the event, to be held November 7-11 in Las Vegas, are Cream bassist Jack Bruce, as well as members of Iron Maiden, Yes, Steely Dan, Bad Company, Megadeth and Winger. ... Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band will give Asbury Park, New Jersey, fans a sneak preview of their upcoming tour in support of their upcoming album Magic, which is due October 2. The Boss has scheduled a pair of benefit shows for Monday and Tuesday night at the Asbury Park Convention Hall, with the $100 tickets selling out almost immediately when they went on sale Thursday morning (September 20), according to the promoter. ...

Gene Simmons, glam-rocker, reality-TV star, magazine entrepreneur and ... science-fiction author? You read it right — the Kiss frontman has penned the first installment of a planned sci-fi series, "Zipper," for release in November. The heavily illustrated book tells the story of a drone soldier from another planet who "begins to question his purpose and contemplate his autonomy ... he realizes his own capacity for individualism and wishes to explore it further," according to Simmons' Web site. ... Hardcore heroes Snapcase are getting back together for a one-off show to benefit Callum Robbins, the son of Jawbox's J. Robbins who is suffering from spinal muscular atrophy. The gig will go down at the Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn, New York, on November 24 and also feature 108 and Triple Threat. The show is being organized by 108 member and author Norman Brannon, whose "The Anti-Matter Anthology: A 1990s Post-Punk & Hardcore Reader" — a tome revolving around the defunct fanzine — is due in stores November 6. ...

Gina Gershon can't stop the rock. The "Showgirls" actress, whose 2004 reality show chronicled her attempted crossover into the world of rock and roll, will preview songs from her upcoming album In Search of Cleo during a residency at the New York club the Box every Sunday and Monday night in October. Backed by a five-piece band and three dancers, Gershon will unveil the suite of songs — all of which she wrote or co-wrote — that tell the true story of the search and recovery of her lost cat, Cleo. According to a press release, the 10 songs focus "on the literal and metaphoric experience of the search, not just for Cleo, but for love," using "biting humor, country, blues and jazz-influenced singing and a splash of sexy."

09.19.07

So a judge orders Britney Spears to submit to random drug tests and abstain from alcohol, and what does she apparently do next? Goes partying! The singer reportedly went clubbing into the wee hours Tuesday night in West Hollywood, California, hitting both Winston's Bar & Grill and the Hyde Lounge — with a flurry of paparazzi on her tail, of course. Observers told People magazine that the singer was brought shots at Hyde, though it's unclear whether she actually drank them. Meanwhile, Spears has changed legal counsel again. On Monday, her divorce attorney Laura Wasser had stepped down to be replaced by Marci Levine, and on Wednesday (September 19), Levine prepared to step down to be replaced by Sorrell Trope. Trope's office told MTV News on Wednesday that the firm was in the process of being retained by Spears and anticipated that the necessary paperwork would be signed and taken care of by the end of the day. ..

In other Britney news, Justin Timberlake talked a bit about the singer Wednesday on "Oprah." When asked what he thinks is "going on" with her, Timberlake said, "I don't know, to be honest with you. I haven't spoken to her in years. I mean, there's no ill will — I have nothing but love for her. It's funny because we dated each other at a time ... wow, I haven't talked about this in a long time. It's interesting. ... We were teenagers, you know? I think that's basically the best way to describe what happened to us. I think she's a great person, and I don't know her as well as I did. ... What I do know about her is she has a huge heart, and she is a great person." ...

Talk about adding insult to injury. After pounding 50 Cent in the first week of their album showdown, Kanye West has bested his rival a second time by clinching the Music of Black Origin Award for Best Hip Hop artist. Amy Winehouse scored the Best U.K. Female prize, surprisingly, while Rihanna nabbed Best International Act honors, and Ne-Yo's "Because of You" earned Best R&B Title and Best Song. ...

If you caught Ashlee Simpson giving her yet-untitled album a test-drive at the VMAs earlier this month, you probably noticed the Cure's Robert Smith didn't make it onto the LP. In July, Smith voiced doubt about the supposed collabo taking place, and while Simpson told MTV News during her "Chicago" run in London late last year that "To work with Robert Smith would be an honor," she recently told Rolling Stone, "I am a huge fan, but would never expect to write with Robert Smith from the Cure." Boyfriend Pete Wentz also doesn't appear on the November disc — "We both keep our music separate from each other," she told Rolling Stone — however Timbaland, the Neptunes, Kenna and Gym Class Heroes' Travis McCoy did make the cut. ...

Game better be game to take on a new lawsuit — an Indian music-and-film company is suing him and Timbaland over "Put You on the Game." The song was featured on the Compton, California, rapper's Aftermath debut, The Documentary, and produced by Timbaland. According to documents obtained by MTV News, Saregama India — which filed a similar copyright-infringement suit in 2002 against then-Aftermath artist Truth Hurts — claims the duo used the song without its permission and also cites a number of additional parties, including Aftermath Entertainment, G-Unit Records and producer Danjahandz, who co-produced the track. The company is suing for a yet-undetermined sum. ... But everything isn't so dire these days for Timbo — the super-producer is soaping up for a scheduled appearance on an upcoming episode of "One Life to Live" scheduled to air October 9. He will perform two songs from his recent Shock Value LP, with the artists who accompanied him on the studio tracks: "The Way I Are" with Keri Hilson and "Apologize" with One Republic. ...

Let's set one thing straight: Chris Brown does not dislike Ciara, even though he's quoted as saying "I don't want Ciara" in the current issue of Vibe. "I didn't say I didn't like her," the singer recently told MTV News. "They mixed it around. Ciara, you know you're my homie." The article states that Brown's face "curls up as if he'd just noticed a foul odor" when the topic of Ciara is broached. "They made it seem totally bogus," he explained. "I don't have any grudges. I'm not a negative person. And I don't have a certain type. I don't care if you're a model or if you work at a gas station. Everyone's human. Everyone's a loving human being. And everyone has a chance with me." ... The New York Times loves Justin Timberlake's Southern Hospitality — the "SexyBack" singer's baby-back ribs in particular. "The most confounding thing about Southern Hospitality is those baby back ribs. Because they are, against tall odds, good," Peter Meehan wrote in his review, which was published Wednesday. "They are juicy but not fatty, seasoned simply and evenly and scented with a strong but not overpowering hit of smoke." ...

Australian Web site Undercover has reported that Rage Against the Machine are tipped to be one of the headliners of the upcoming Big Day Out festival. Though organizers haven't yet announced the lineup of the January shows, the group has reportedly booked gigs in Sydney and Melbourne on January 22 and 30, respectively, which closely coincide with BDO shows in those cities. ... The Foo Fighters will serve as the musical guest on "Saturday Night Live" on October 13, little more than two weeks after the band's Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace lands in stores. ...

Mya is stepping up for a good cause: The singer will perform at Skool'd, a benefit event to be hosted by Richie Rich on Wednesday night at Sol in New York. Eve DJ Miss Saigon and Le Tigre's JD Samson will spin at the benefit, the proceeds from which will go to the Ali Forney Center and the Reciprocity Foundation — organizations that assist lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender homeless youth in New York. Later Wednesday evening, she will host a party celebrating the launch of travel and lifestyle magazine Terrace at New York's Pink Elephant. ... A number of hip-hop and R&B acts have signed on to play a September 29 concert in support of the Jena Six, the black teens charged in connection with the beating of a white teen in Jena, Louisiana. Among the acts scheduled to play the Jena 6 Empowerment Concert at Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex in Birmingham, Alabama, according to the event's promoter, are Lloyd, Baby Boy, Twista, Jagged Edge, Tank, Killer Mike, Disturbing Tha Peace's Small World, B5, LAX Boys and Hurricane Chris. ...

Prince gave London Fashion Week the royal treatment on Wednesday when he delivered an unannounced performance during Matthew Williamson's catwalk show, Reuters reports. Once Prince's "U Got the Look" song reportedly began playing at the show, two models started dancing on the runway — after which the singer, who was sitting in the front row, started singing into a microphone from his seat. Prince them hopped on the runway and was joined by his band for the performance. "He really wanted to do this, and you don't say no to Prince," Williamson told the news service after the show. ... Bo Bice has seen the light, and it's Wal-Mart. The former "American Idol" finalist is planning to release his new album, See the Light, through the retail giant on October 23, with a presale on Walmart.com taking place beforehand. Wal-Mart will be the only terrestrial store carrying the disc, although it will be available through other online outlets. Bice, who parted ways with RCA last year, is putting out his second album through Sugar Money/ StratArt. "We had no inhibitions about what this was going to be," Bice said in a statement about the disc. "We just went in and did whatever we wanted to. The freedom shines through." ...

The Shins hope to indie-rock the mtvU Woodies this year — the band has scored three nominations, including Woodie of the Year. Lily Allen, Gym Class Heroes and Linkin Park have picked up two noms apiece, while Amy Winehouse, Common, Lil Wayne, TV on the Radio, M.I.A., Thom Yorke and Spoon have also been noticed. Don't miss the show when it airs November 15 on mtvU. ... A source told the Chicago Sun-Times that Michael Jackson is planning big things for his long-gestating comeback album. Comparing the music being recorded to the tunes on Jackson's landmark Thriller album, the source speculated that the yet-untitled, unscheduled disc might contain appearances by sister Janet Jackson and some of the other Jackson siblings. ...

Millions have watched Chris Crocker scream "Leave Britney alone!" on his hugely popular viral-video clip that recently made the rounds, and now reality-TV programmer 44 Blue Productions is hoping to parlay that success onto the small screen. Variety reports that a TV documentary soap is being developed around the 19-year-old Internet sensation — who still lives with his grandparents in Tennessee. ... According to reports from London, Babyshambles frontman Pete Doherty — who has publicly stuggled with drugs — has written a song for fellow hot English mess, Amy Winehouse. The tune, "Amy on the Mend," was reportedly intended to lift Winehouse's spirits as she deals with her recent health issues and an alleged drug overdose last month, and was allegedly sent to Winehouse in a frame and signed, "Love, Pete." The Daily Star reported that the tune, timed with Winehouse's 24th birthday, features the lines, "Amy on the mend, all that passion to spend/ Like a paper Boadicea in a battle to the end, end, end." ...

Barry Bonds has piped up about Marc Ecko's move to let fans decide the fate of the baseball slugger's record-breaking 756th home-run ball, which Ecko won in an auction over the weekend, on Vote756.com. "He's stupid," Bonds said. "He's an idiot. He spent $750,000 on the ball and that's what he's doing with it? What he's doing is stupid." He added of the fans' voting, "All of those options don't weigh anything. In baseball, that number [756] stands." According to The Associated Press, Ecko issued a statement Wednesday saying he would make a custom T-shirt reading, "Marc Ecko paid $752,467 for my ball, and all I got was this 'stupid' T-shirt.' " Meanwhile, the hip-hop fashion mogul's philosophy has caught on — the man who submitted Bonds' record-tying home-run ball also plans to let fans vote on whether the item should go to Cooperstown or be destroyed. "I give [Ecko] a lot of credit in all sincerity," Ben Padnos told AP. "I understood the potential value in this." Speaking of which, there is one difference in Padnos' approach: He's selling ads on his Web site, EndtheDebate.com. ...

Owen Wilson was only supposed to have a minor cameo in Ben Stiller's "Tropic Thunder" flick, but all the same, Matthew McConaughey has stepped in to fill the actor's shoes after Wilson dropped out of the film following a suicide attempt last month, Variety reports. The movie, which is filming in Hawaii, will also star Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr. and others. ...

Former Great White tour manager Daniel Biechele is now eligible for parole, having served one-third of his four-year prison sentence, AP reports. Rhode Island's parole board will meet on Wednesday to decide whether to grant parole to Biechele, who was imprisoned for igniting pyrotechnics that sparked a deadly fire four years ago at the Station nightclub in West Warwick, Rhode Island. The blaze killed 100 people and injured more than 200 others.

• Snoop Dogg
• Dr. Dre
• 50 Cent
• Game
• Missy Elliott

"Guitar Hero III"
Photo: Activision

To make this year's most anticipated music-based video games, you need the right credentials.

Helen McWilliams, associate producer on "Rock Band" at development studio Harmonix Music Systems, sings for a punk band in Boston when she's not working on the guitar-drums-vocals game coming to the Xbox 360 and PS3 in the fall. She spends a lot of her development time playing the new game: "I mostly get to run around the country touring with a fake rock band playing with the game."

Randy Guillote, associate producer on "Guitar Hero III" at development studio Neversoft, used to spend his time working on the "Tony Hawk" games his studio has long developed. His team got the call to take over the "Guitar Hero" franchise after Harmonix was purchased by MTV. Guillote said they qualified for the assignment: "We're the 'Tony Hawk' guys, but every Friday night we would have two kegs of Stella and 'Guitar Hero' on a projection screen on the wall. That's all we would do: Play 'Guitar Hero' and get drunk. And eventually 'Guitar Hero' was looking for a new developer that was under the Activision developer. All they said was, 'Guitar,' and we were like, 'Yes! Absolutely we want to work on the game.' "

With the impending fall releases of "Guitar Hero III" and "Rock Band," careful attention is being paid to ensure that both games exude a true rock spirit. Having the right credentials counts, and at E3 earlier this month, the pedigree of both games was showcased.

Activision produced a guitar legend to authenticate and promote its game: Slash. The Velvet Revolver guitarist recorded a solo for the song and makes a virtual appearance as the game's final boss. Slash told GameFile that he hasn't played the game yet, but he has enough "Guitar Hero" experience to be involved in the project: "I was taking a Gibson tour bus to some charity event and they had it plugged in, in the back, and that was the first time I was exposed to it. And then soon after that I got one and just started doing it."

He admitted the game gave him some trouble and that being a skilled guitar player might actually be a liability. "I'm not great at it," he said. "And a lot of that has to do with the fact that it's hard for me to get rid of 30 years — whatever it is — 20-some-odd years of playing in a certain way and then all of the sudden become accustomed to pressing some buttons and stuff. I have these little things that I'm so used to doing that when I'm playing 'Guitar Hero' it sort of screws me up."

If Slash's involvement and Neversoft's love of the series insulate "Guitar Hero III" from any doubts that a skateboarding-game studio is now handling Activision's franchise, what can Harmonix do to guarantee rock respect for its new project?

At E3, Harmonix announced that Steven Van Zandt, better known to some as Little Steven or Silvio Dante from "The Sopranos," would chair the game's music advisory board. He was chosen less for his ability to play a member of the mob and more because of his lengthy music career, which includes a long tenure as a member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band and his continued support and promotion of garage rock.

The makers of "Rock Band" also used E3 to announce that Metallica songs will be featured in the game and that the title will support downloads of full-length albums. The first announced Metallica song is "Enter Sandman." The first "Rock Band"-playable album will be the Who's Who's Next, with future downloadable albums and tracks promised to be part of a weekly "Rock Band" update following the game's release.

Those may have been the headlines used to command "Rock Band" respect. But little factors may help as well. McWilliams told GameFile that she's also the head writer on the game. Writing isn't an aspect paid much attention by fans of rhythm games, but she said the game's text — be it instructions, exclamations or pop-up trivia — plays a key role in setting the tone.

"A lot of it is making sure the voice is pretty true to the spirit of rock and roll," she said. "You realize as you start looking at it that there are words that are acceptable in the rock universe and words that are totally unacceptable. It tends to be a lot of me going through and saying we are not saying 'groove' and we are not saying 'jam.' "

Ultimately it may be song selection that dictates whether a gamer buys "Guitar Hero III" or "Rock Band." It may also be console ownership: "Rock Band" is only set for the PS3 and Xbox 360 this year, whereas "GHIII" is slated for all home consoles. But what neither game seems vulnerable to yet is being accused of faking it. The games have the rock cred. The battle of these bands will be decided on other criteria.

More from the world of video games:

What did Bungie do before making the leap to "Halo"? The Microsoft developer's first major foray into first-person-shooter development, "Marathon," is resurrected this week. "Marathon: Durandal" will be released Wednesday for Xbox Live Arcade, the downloadable games service on the Xbox 360. Bungie let development studio Freeverse handle the work of updating the mid-'90s series. ...

Follow the pattern: A few years ago, the Lego company was making "Star Wars" toys. LucasArts tapped game-development studio Traveller's Tales to make the critically acclaimed "Lego Star Wars" video game series. Lego made Batman toys. Traveller's Tales got the gig to make next year's Lego "Batman" video game. Lego recently announced plans for Indiana Jones Legos. Keeping the pattern going, LucasArts announced at Comic-Con last week that Traveller's Tales will be making a Lego "Indiana Jones" game for release in summer 2008. Go here to see the trailer. ..

Last year game publisher Ubisoft announced plans to create a "Lost" video game. Late last week the company announced that Ubisoft's Montreal studio is working on the title for an early 2008 release on the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. The third-person adventure game will star the player as a passenger on Oceanic flight 815, though so far exactly who the player will be and when in the series' complex timeline the game will take place have not been revealed. Show producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse said in a statement, "The sense of adventure and suspense that we strive for in the show is also captured in the 'Lost' video game." The game's release will coincide with the start of the hit show's fourth season in February.

Recent gaming stories from MTV News:

· " 'Donkey Kong' King Reclaims Top Score — And He's Got Witnesses To Prove It"
· " 'Simpsons' Video Game Loaded With Inside Jokes; Mocks EA, Gamestop, 'GTA' Protesters"

Check out the new MTV News Multiplayer blog, updated daily and delivering loads more news coverage, exclusive video interviews and more.

• Velvet Revolver
• Guns N' Roses
• Slash

Alexi Murdoch, Queen V and Slash join Tom Morello onstage at SXSW on Thursday
Photo: MTV News

AUSTIN, Texas — It might not have been the Rage Against the Machine gig that rumors had predicted, but Tom Morello's late-night set on Thursday at the Parish was pretty remarkable nonetheless. While many took the show's billing — "Tom Morello with special guests" — to mean his Rage bandmates, instead, the crowd got an impromptu supergroup for a large chunk of the set.

Indeed, even those expecting a surprise were flabbergasted to see Morello and his backing musicians walk onstage accompanied by Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash, former MC5 guitarist Wayne Kramer, and Jane's Addiction singer Perry Farrell — and immediately launch into Jane's classics "Mountain Song" and "Ain't No Right." Farrell, dapper in a dark waistcoat and ruffled shirt, grinned and bobbed while he sang; actor Breckin Meyer turned in a strong performance on the drums (who knew?); Slash peeled off stinging leads; and Morello and Kramer — both more commonly associated with crushing power chords — incongruously bashed away on acoustic guitars.

(Check out front-row video from the show.)

The all-stars then ceded the stage to Morello for his Nightwatchman set (the name of his politically inspired, folk-singing alter-ego: see "Nightwatchman, Rage Reunion Have Morello Fired Up For Political Fights"), but not before Farrell pointed to him and said to the crowd, "If there was ever a candidate for the next president, you're looking at him right there."

Morello then promised more surprises to come, and after he and his band performed several politically outspoken songs from the Nightwatchman LP, along with a version of Rage Against the Machine's "Guerilla Radio," introducing it with, "This one is for the people who couldn't get tickets to Coachella" (see "Rage Against The Machine To Reunite For Coachella Festival").

The guests then returned, and Kramer broke into the legendary introduction for the MC5's 1968 rabble-rousing anthem, "Kick Out the Jams" — oddly, in what seemed like a Borat-inspired accent. The band tore through the song — with another fiery solo from Slash — before bringing singer/songwriter Alexi Murdoch onstage for one of his songs. Finally, the assembled musicians broke into a rocked-up take on Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land," trading off verses; Farrell gamely attempted to read the lyrics from a sheet but soon tossed it aside, laughing. Primus bassist Les Claypool came out toward the song's end, and did not sing a verse but instead served up a typically mellifluous bass solo. (Former Extreme guitarist Nuno Bettencourt, who has recently worked with Farrell, was on and offstage throughout the night as well.)

As the shambolic song wound down to the end, people onstage and off were all smiles at what had transpired at the end of a night that already had plenty of excitement (see "Amy Winehouse Raises Eyebrows, Bloc Party Draw A Mob As SXSW Wakes Up").

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

• Morello Jams With Slash, Farrell At SXSW

• Slash, Perry Farrell, Wayne Kramer In Tom Morello's SXSW All-Star Jam

• Tom Morello
• Rage Against the Machine
• Slash
• Perry Farrell
• MC5

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

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

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

The Day

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

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

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

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

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

John Norris, MTV News correspondent:

"John Norris!!"

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

"Nice to see you guys actually covering music!"

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

Other sights and sounds on a sunny Thursday in Austin:

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Evening

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

• Five Coolest Things At SXSW 2007

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

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

Scott Weiland
Photo: Andrew H. Walker/ Getty Images

Forgive Velvet Revolver for not yet having picked a single from their just-completed second album, Libertad.

"We had this joke in the studio that it's all A-sides, no B-sides," singer Scott Weiland said recently. "So it's really kind of hard to pick. There are just a lot of great songs."

VR credit the greatness to two factors, the first being producer Brendan O'Brien, who worked with Weiland during his Stone Temple Pilots days.

"He has really helped the guys challenge themselves on a musical level," Weiland said. "[Libertad] definitely still rocks, but it's incredibly more musical. There's a lot more textures, and Slash and Duff [McKagan] have really sort of risen the bar. It just goes places that the first album didn't go."

"He is the best musician in the room," guitarist Dave Kushner added. "I talked to Tom Morello because he has done records with Brendan, and he said the same thing. And to have a producer who is so musical, you can't just skate by. He'll say, 'Why don't you try this chord?' And I'm like, 'I've never heard of that chord!' "

The second factor is that, unlike with their debut, Velvet Revolver actually feel like a band now.

"We toured for two years," Weiland said. "And [because of that] we've really gotten close during the making of this record."

While he admits the bandmembers got a bit sick of each other touring behind 2004's Contraband, Weiland says the guys are now looking forward to returning to the road.

"We're actually going to do a short American tour of some intimate clubs and small theaters, just to warm up," Weiland said. "Then we're going to South America and Europe, then back for a big American tour at the end of the summer."

Moreover, according to the band's publicist, Weiland and Slash will give the induction speech for honorees Van Halen during the 2007 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, set to unfold inside New York's Waldorf-Astoria hotel on March 12. In light of recent rumors, it's unclear whether Velvet Revolver will perform at the event in Van Halen's place — and whether any of the members of the latter band will even be present to accept the honor (see "Van Halen Reunion Tour Might Not Happen After All").

In the meantime, Weiland is also finishing his second solo album, which he plans to release at the end of 2007 (see "Scott Weiland Pumped For Velvet Revolver LP, Solo Collabo With Pharrell").

"It kind of goes all over the map like the first one, but a bit more focused because I'm not using drugs anymore," Weiland said. "It has a little bit of Latin jazz, some R&B-oriented stuff, some stuff with beats. There's some stuff that's really kind of out there. I'm into creating sounds, but it's all about melody, really."

Before finishing, Weiland hopes to collaborate with Mick Jones of the Clash.

"We wanted to work with him with Velvet Revolver, but we didn't get the chance to do it," he said. "So I'm thinking about getting a hold of him, working on a track or two."

Libertad is due this spring.

• Van Halen, The Early Years

• Velvet Revolver
• Scott Weiland
• Slash
• Van Halen

Rihanna
Photo: Frazer Harrison/ Getty Images

Rihanna, Ludacris and KT Tunstall have been added to ABC's "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve 2007." All three acts will perform at Nokia Theatre Times Square in New York. In the meantime, Lady Sovereign has hopped onto the roster for "MTV Goes Gold: New Year's Eve 2007," for which she'll join other performers Nas, Gwen Stefani, Ciara and more. The show airs live December 31 at 11 p.m. ET, with a tape delay on the West Coast. And last but not least, Ruben Studdard is playing a free New Year's Eve show in Hawaii. The Honolulu Symphony will join the "American Idol" winner for the event, dubbed Gospel Goes Classic. ...

Kelis hosted Trace magazine's 10-year anniversary bash Wednesday night at Room Service nightclub in Manhattan. The R&B vixen was joined by her husband Nas, "Project Runway" winner Jay McCarroll and current Miss Universe Zuleyka Rivera as they all toasted to the cultural mag reaching its diamond mark. Kelis, Snoop Dogg, supermodel Iman and Mya are set to appear in Trace's 10-year anniversary issue. ...

Harry Potter has a home in Georgia after all, The Associated Press reports. On Thursday (December 14), the state's Board of Education upheld a Gwinnett County school board decision denying a mother's request to have the volumes removed from library shelves. "It's mainstreaming witchcraft in a subtle and deceptive manner, in a children-friendly format," said Laura Mallory, the mother in question. She might challenge the board's ruling. ... Trick Daddy is hosting Christmas toy drives in Miami on the next two Saturdays in conjunction with his Trick Luvs Da Kids Foundation. Pitbull will also be in attendance. ...

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt aren't done adopting children, the actress told "Good Morning America" on Thursday, according to AP. "Now the questions are more when you have a mixed-race family, do you balance the races so there's another African person in the house for Z? So there's another Asian person in the house for Mad?" Jolie said, referencing Zahara and Maddox, two of the couple's three children. ... Katt Williams pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor count of carrying a concealed weapon and was sentenced to three years of probation on Thursday, AP reports. The Los Angeles judge also told him to pay restitution but gave him credit for the three days he spent in jail early last month. ...

Taking Back Sunday have recorded a version of "12 Days of Christmas" for AOL Sessions. A fan-made animated video is also circulating. ... Editors have released an EP of remixed tracks from The Back Room exclusively on iTunes. The U.K. rockers are currently recording their proper follow-up. ... The ultra-rare copy of The Velvet Underground & Nico that was "won" by a hoax bid last week is about to be up for auction on eBay once again. The LP, which was to be sold for $155,000, was expected to be back on the site Thursday afternoon. ...

After months of legal wrangling, a federal judge ruled Wednesday that "Alpha Dog" — a crime thriller starring Justin Timberlake — can be released in theaters January 12 despite objections from murder suspect Jesse James Hollywood, on whom the movie is based. According to The Hollywood Reporter, an attorney for Hollywood said he will file an appeal on the ruling based on his belief that releasing the film will make it impossible for his client to get a fair trial. The film, which also stars Bruce Willis and Sharon Stone, changes the characters' names, but Hollywood's attorney is concerned that the big-screen retelling of his client's alleged kidnapping and murder of California teen Nicholas Markowitz over a $1,200 drug debt could taint a jury pool. ...

According to a post written on Nine Inch Nails' Web site, not only is Trent Reznor hard at work on a new NIN album, but it's "possible" he's finished already. "We begin mixing in January," Reznor wrote on NIN.com. "Juggling fifteen all-new tracks around. Testing sequences. No leftovers from [2005's] With Teeth. Highly conceptual. Quite noisy. F---ing cool." ... Less than a week after an album's worth of demos she recorded as a gift for her pal Dave Sitek were leaked to the Internet, Yeah Yeah Yeahs frontwoman Karen O has weighed in on the situation. Her take: "Sh-- happens." Writing on the YYYs' site, O took the high road — as opposed to Sitek, who practically wished karmic castration on those responsible for the leak of the KO at Home album. She said she felt "a little grossed out" by the idea of her song sketches hitting various file-sharing sites but shrugged the whole thing off and even ended her post with some advice for curious fans. "If you happen to get your mits on one of those old demos ... my personal favorites and the only ones I would have released for anyone to enjoy [are] 'Pumpkin' and 'Snakes and Worms,' " she wrote. "The rest I would have pitched or buried." ...

Slash and Chris Robinson were among the guests who popped up onstage with Jet at a Los Angeles club show over the weekend. Former Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones also took part in the show, which ended in an all-star jam of the Faces' "Ooh La La." ... Army of Anyone will headline the 2007 installment of the annual SnoCore Tour, which kicks off in Houston on January 18. Hurt have been tapped to open. Dates are currently scheduled through February 8 in Hartford, Connecticut, with a full run of shows to be announced in the coming weeks. ... Hinder have rolled out a whole host of tour dates for the coming year. Two dozen stops have been scheduled from January 13 in Ketchum, Idaho, through February 23 in St. Petersburg, Florida. Black Stone Cherry and Finger Eleven will open on most of the dates. ...

Yoko Ono alleges that her chauffeur threatened to release private audiotapes and photographs and to kill her and her son, Sean Lennon, if she didn't give him $2 million, The New York Times reports. Koral Karsan, 50, who worked for Ono for 10 years, was arrested at his home in Amityville, New York, on Wednesday and was charged with attempted grand larceny, which carries a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison. Following his arrest, Karsan claimed that Ono had fabricated the charges to stop a sexual harassment suit. Police said the charges followed a confrontation with Ono in her apartment on Friday, in which Karsan presented Ono with a list of his complaints along with a photo of her in her pajamas and a tape that contained her "personal opinions on people and events." During a meeting on Tuesday, Karsan met with Ono's lawyer and allegedly demanded $2 million and threatened to kill Ono, Sean Lennon and himself if his demands were not met.

12.13.2006

Diddy and Snoop Dogg have rolled out the itinerary for their 18-city 2007 European tour. The co-headliners will open the trek with a March 12 gig in Oslo, Norway, and close it with an April 2 concert in Nottingham, England. Expect Diddy and Snoop to mine their respective new releases, Press Play and Tha Blue Carpet Treatment. ...

Dates for the Red Hot Chili Peppers' upcoming tour with openers Gnarls Barkley have been announced. The 17-date run will kick off in Oklahoma City on January 12 and wrap in Houston on March 7, with just one concert scheduled for February. The trek will make stops in Dallas (January 13); Nashville (January 17); Cincinnati (January 20); Washington, D.C. (January 25); Orlando, Florida (January 30); Des Moines, Iowa (March 2); and San Antonio (March 6). ...

There's more No Doubt on the way, Gwen Stefani tells MTV News, but she'd rather just revel in her Sweet Escape for now. "This record puts me on the yellow-brick road to the No Doubt record I might do. I can smell it. 'Sweet Escape' and some other melodies remind me of the No Doubt feeling." OK, so she can smell it, but when will we hear it? "They were in the studio earlier this year," Stefani said of her bandmates, "and I've been trying to get prepared. I didn't know creatively what kind of record we could do. I couldn't picture it, but now I have an idea in my head. But can't we just enjoy the moment? Everyone asks me what's going to happen next, but the album just came out a few days ago." ... AFI and Tenacious D are performing at Spike TV's Video Game Awards, set to air Wednesday (December 13) at 10 p.m. ET/PT. Samuel L. Jackson is hosting. ...

Daughtry will ring in 2007 from New York, performing on Fox's "New Year's Eve Live," hosted by Cat Deeley of "So You Think You Can Dance?" The band fronted by former "American Idol" contestant Chris Daughtry will play their single "It's Not Over" live from a Times Square stage in New York. Toni Braxton will also perform on the special. ... Aretha Franklin is taking her life story to the stage, the Detroit Free Press reports. The Queen of Soul plans to turn her 1999 autobiography, "Aretha: From These Roots," into a touring stage production. The show will follow Franklin from her youth in Detroit through her friendships with Sam Cooke and Dinah Washington up to her status as an R&B icon. The singer said she will hold auditions to cast singers that will portray her at various stages. ...

Stephen Colbert has one regret about his controversial speech at the White House Correspondents Association dinner in April — he didn't go far enough. During "An Evening With 'The Colbert Report' " at New York's John Jay College of Criminal Justice Tuesday, the comedian revealed that, midway through his routine, he scrapped one joke because he thought it wouldn't go over well. "I thought, the president is always giving awards, it's time for him to get one," Colbert said, "and what's the highest award I could give him? A certificate of recognizance: 'That I, Stephen Colbert, recognize, you, George W. Bush, as the president.' I had the certificate handy and everything. I thought he could hang it on the fridge. Instead I have it hanging on my fridge, as my 'woulda, coulda, shoulda' award." ...

"Borat" has inspired yet another lawsuit — this time from a man who didn't even make it into the film. The Associated Press reported that a man claims in a suit that he was "accosted" in a South Carolina restaurant restroom by comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, who was posing in character as a bathroom attendant. The man, who is not named in the suit, seeks unspecified punitive damages and requests that the scene — which was featured as part of a Comedy Central movie special and made the Internet rounds — be excluded from the DVD release. ... George Clooney was in Egypt Wednesday lobbying the Egyptian government for support in helping the victims of Sudan violence, AP reports. He met with the foreign minister, as well as the son and wife of the country's president, to discuss relief options. Clooney, who visited China last week for similar discussions, is traveling with actor Don Cheadle and two former Olympians. ...

Clinic, Richard Swift, Vic Chestnutt, French Kicks, Earlimart, Autolux and Hella have entered the Noise Pop 2007 fold. The festival, celebrating its 15th anniversary, will take place in San Francisco February 27 through March 4. ... J. Robbins — who used to be in Jawbox and Burning Airlines but more recently has been producing for bands like Murder by Death and Against Me! — is asking for financial aid to help him and his wife support their newborn son, Cal. The baby is suffering from spinal muscular atrophy, and the family is facing rising medical bills. Go to DesotoRecords.com/cal/index/shtml to find out how you can help. ...

Veteran actor Peter Boyle died Tuesday in a New York hospital, CNN reports. He was 71. Best known in recent years as the cranky patriarch on the sitcom "Everybody Loves Raymond," Boyle racked up dozens of film and TV credits over his nearly 40-year career — which he started after leaving an order of Christian monks — including the role of the monster in the Mel Brooks comedy "Young Frankenstein" (1973) and a supporting part in "Taxi Driver" (1976). Boyle's publicist said that the actor, who survived a stroke in 1990 and a heart attack in 1999, suffered from heart disease and a blood disorder. ...

It is the worst of times for rock musicals on Broadway. Just a month after the Bob Dylan musical "The Times They Are A-Changin' " folded up its tent after less than a month, the Great White Way version of "High Fidelity" has been silenced as well. Producers of the show, based on the popular 1995 hipster book by Nick Hornby (which was turned into a memorable John Cusack movie in 2000) will pull the plug on Sunday after just 10 days of playing to half-full houses, according to Variety magazine. "Fidelity" has suffered from slow advance sales and poor reviews since it began in previews on November 20, with some insiders saying the plot — about a rock snob and the girl who broke his heart — was too targeted toward young heterosexual men, the group least likely to check out a Broadway musical.

• Rihanna
• Ludacris
• Lady Sovereign
• Kelis
• Nas

Velvet Revolver
Photo: Dan Winter

If Slash were ever to look at his Caller ID and see Axl Rose's name, what would he do?

"Oh, I'd answer it," the former Guns N' Roses guitarist said recently. "But I know he would never call me. I've actually sent him Christmas cards, just to be cordial, but he never returns anything."

In other words, rumors from last month that Saul "Slash" Hudson would perform with Rose and his new GN'R in New York were just that (see "Guns N' Roses Live: No Reunion Of Classic Lineup, But Great Anyway"). In March, just two months before those gigs, Rose filed suit against his former bandmate to confirm his "ownership of his own creative works" in response to an action Slash and former GN'R bassist Duff McKagan had filed over royalties (see "Axl Files Suit Against Slash, Lashes Out At Ex-Bandmates").

"I don't know where [the rumors come] from, but I haven't dealt with Guns N' Roses any more than I have in the last 10 years," which is not much at all, Slash said. "So it's not really a thing with me. I have, in the foreseeable future, no re-involvement with that band whatsoever."

Instead, Slash is fully focused on his multiplatinum new band, Velvet Revolver, and their forthcoming second album, the follow-up to 2004's Contraband.

"We're in preproduction and it sounds amazing," Slash said. "I'm just really excited 'cause hopefully we'll get this thing out before the year's over. The material is amazing and ... we've grown so much as a band."

While frontman Scott Weiland has called the material a concept album and bassist McKagan said the band will record with a variety of producers (see "Velvet Revolver Bassist Promises 'Stinky' Pharrell Collabo"), all Slash would reveal is that the LP is coming together naturally, and "it's not phony in any way, shape or form, and the band's whole-heartedly into it."

Well, that and the album title.

"I don't want to say [anything specific about] the songs, but the name for the album is Libertad, which is Spanish for 'liberty,' " Slash said. "It's something that we feel strongly about: liberty, freedom, you know ..."

Slash did take a break from writing Velvet Revolver material to pen a song and score some music for the just-released movie "The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift."

"It's one of those things where you don't really know what you're doing, but they feed you what you need to see, certain scenes," Slash said. "It's easy to [write rock material] when you're watching cars going on their sides at breakneck speeds."

In the end, Slash reported that he enjoyed watching the film's action scenes, but not quite as much as he enjoyed the footage he saw on TV of Rose getting into a fight with Tommy Hilfiger.

"I thought that was pretty funny," Slash said. "That sounds about right."

• Slash
• Velvet Revolver
• Guns N' Roses

Fergie, John Legend, Slash, Randy Jackson Perform At The Peapod Benefit Concert

• Slash
• Fergie
• John Legend
• Black Eyed Peas
• Ne-Yo

Sundance Live

• Slash
• Slash's Snakepit