M.I.A. performs at CMJ on Friday
Photo: Roger Kisby/Getty Images

NEW YORK — The CMJ Music Marathon is always a magical confluence of several hundred bands; scores of odd-size venues scattered all about the boroughs of NYC (and New Jersey too); air-tight, no-room-for-encores scheduling; clueless, map-clutching out-of-towners; and perilous, late-night subway rides deep into the heart of Lord-knows-where.

That this goes on for four never-say-die days and nights is a testament to the veracity of the fest's name: CMJ is not a sprint. It is 26.2 grueling, bloody miles of music. Nothing is easy. Tough choices need to be made. The wounded are left behind. That people actually seem to enjoy all of this is a testament not just to the will of the human spirit, but to the boundless energy of the pure-hearted, unspoiled music fan.

Because unlike South By Southwest — the Marathon's bratty, down-South brother (which, in the minds of many, has surpassed the elder as the premier fest in the States) — CMJ is a musical festival for people who actually like music festivals and all the headaches and heartbreaks that come along with them. There is no Sixth Street (the Austin thoroughfare that hosts the majority of SXSW's action) to speak of, no label-sponsored cocktail hours at swank Texas hotels, no delicious Bar-be-que to demolish. SXSW is easy, sort of like an industry-wide booze cruise with bands playing on the pool deck. CMJ is complicated, a sometimes-miserable mess, with bands playing in apartments in Bushwick, Brooklyn.

But despite all that — or, perhaps, because of it — CMJ also offers rewards beyond your wildest dreams. If you're willing to put in the work, then the Marathon will deliver the goods, and the battles you fight along the way make the end results that much sweeter. Bands feel like tiny pearls, discovered only after hours of prying, swearing, sweating and bleeding. And for that fact alone, it's pretty great.

In that regard, CMJ 2007 was probably the pearliest in recent memory, though perhaps not for the reasons you'd expect. After all, the concept of "discovering" a band at any music fest is about as antiquated as the concept of fests themselves, thanks in no small part to the rise of taste-making blogs, yet there was something incredibly satisfying about witnessing acts like Black Kids and Yeasayer deliver sets that more than lived up to the hype surrounding them.

The former — a quintet from Jacksonville, Florida, that currently does not have a record (though it does have a record label: Almost Gold, the home of Peter Bjorn and John) — overcame an overly chatty crowd and a malfunctioning amp at the Annex on Thursday to deliver a herky-jerky set that sounded like the Cure on DFA Records. The latter, a bunch of Brooklyn weirdos with a predilection for droning electronics and delicate African melodies, owned Saturday night, washing through the borough's Glasslands art space like some sort of mythic flood, leaving the beards-and-glasses crowd soaked and awed in their wake.

Deerhunter, No Age and Dan Deacon — a trio of acts also not unfamiliar with blog love — kicked off the Marathon Wednesday night at the Bowery Ballroom with sets that were, in order: bizarre-yet-impactful; scarily spazzy; and, well, sweat-drenched. Earlier that day, Vampire Weekend shuffled their way through an afternoon set at the tiny Cake Shop, debuting a new track or two from their upcoming debut. And Los Angeles' Health howled, chanted and flailed their way to the top of a w-a-a-y packed noise-core bill (Japanther! AIDS Wolf! Sightings!) on Friday at the Knitting Factory.

But it wasn't all up-and-comers delivering the goods. There were also pearls to be found if you managed to brave the lines to see established acts like Spoon, Band of Horses and M.I.A. French DJ duo Justice had the crowd at newish venue Terminal 5 swaying and pumping, and the Meat Puppets — yeah, the Meat Puppets — were way too excited to be playing the tiny club Pianos. There was also a fair amount of hip-hop on display — truly one area in which CMJ trumps SXSW — from a feisty Wednesday night party at the sleek Hiro ballroom that featured Kanye West's DJ A-Trak and Chicagoans Kid Sister and the Cool Kids, to a fiery Saturday set by Brother Ali.

In the end, attempting to recap something as chaotic and hydra-headed as CMJ is nearly impossible. There is no unifying theme, ever, and the 2007 edition was even more fractious than any previous year. But, as we've tried to encompass in our on-air coverage, that's part of what makes the Marathon great: it's the searching, the scheduling, the "Holy sh--, I almost died, but I made it to Simian Mobile Disco's set!" that makes this unlike any music festival in the world. There's real danger here.

And will any of the bands we mentioned above even matter in a few years' time? Probably not, but that's nearly beside the point. You don't come to the Marathon to get discovered anymore — you come here to build upon a fleeting legend, to tough out roughly 47 different shows, to traverse shadowy alleyways, to party until the sun comes up and to wear yourself down. And perhaps the most amazing thing about CMJ is that the previous sentence applies to both the bands and the fans.

Check out our complete CMJ 2007 coverage, including reports, video and photos, in the You R Here blog.

• CMJ '07: Who Have We Discovered This Year?

• M.I.A.
• Spoon
• Justice
• Deerhunter

Britney Spears
Photo: Hot Shots Worldwide / Splash News/ Newscom

Looks like there's finally some good news for Britney Spears. The singer has been passing her court-ordered random drug tests and has a 50/50 chance of regaining custody of her children, her lawyer Sorrell Trope told People. Also, while Spears has lots of court dates to keep track of these days, she has one less for her calendar this week — her arraignment on misdemeanor driving charges (for hit and run, causing property damage and driving without a valid California license). Though her arraignment was scheduled for Wednesday, a Los Angeles judge decided Tuesday (October 9) that Spears could have until October 25 to enter a plea. The judge also ordered the singer to be booked by police and show proof of that booking by her arraignment, according to a court clerk. Spears' next hearing in her custody case will be the following day, on October 26. ...

Kiefer Sutherland will serve 30 days in Los Angeles County Jail as part of a plea deal in his DUI arrest, The Associated Press reports. He must also enroll in an 18-month alcohol-education class and go to weekly alcohol-therapy sessions for six months. On Tuesday, Sutherland's attorney Blair Berk entered a no-contest plea on the actor's behalf for driving with a blood-alcohol level over the legal limit, though a second misdemeanor DUI charge was dropped. The actor was most recently arrested for driving under the influence in Los Angeles in September — he was already on probation for a DUI arrest stemming from 2004. He will be sentenced December 21. ...

Justin Timberlake, Beyoncé, Linkin Park and — yes, you're reading this right — Daughtry are tied for the most American Music Awards nominations this year, it was announced Tuesday. Each artist earned three nods for various categories. In terms of pop/rock, Akon, Timbaland and Timberlake are facing off for Favorite Male Artist; Beyoncé, Fergie and Avril Lavigne are vying for Favorite Female Artist; Linkin Park, Maroon 5 and Nickelback are competing for Favorite Band, Duo or Group; and Daughtry, LP's Minutes to Midnight and JT's FutureSex/LoveSounds are going head to head for Favorite Album. As for rap/hip-hop, Fabolous, T.I. and Young Jeezy are vying for Favorite Male Artist; Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Pretty Ricky and Shop Boyz for Favorite Band, Duo or Group; and Bone Thugs' Strength & Loyalty, T.I.'s T.I. vs. T.I.P. and Jeezy's The Inspiration for Favorite Album. And on the soul/R&B front, Akon, Ne-Yo and T-Pain are up for Favorite Male Artist; Beyoncé, Fantasia and Rihanna are squaring off for Favorite Female Artist; Beyoncé's B'Day, R. Kelly's Double Up and JT's FutureSex/LoveSounds have been nominated for Favorite Album. There are also Favorite Artist categories for adult-contemporary music (Daughtry, Norah Jones and John Mayer); alternative rock (Linkin Park, My Chemical Romance and the White Stripes) and Latin music (Daddy Yankee, Juan Luis Guerra y 440 and Jennifer Lopez). Daughtry, Plain White T's and Robin Thicke have been noticed for Favorite Breakthrough Artist, while Carrie Underwood landed two country-music noms: for Favorite Female Artist and Favorite Album (Some Hearts). For the first time, the AMAs are opening up voting to the general public online — it began Tuesday on the AMA site and ends November 2. The show, to be hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, will be broadcast live at Los Angeles' Nokia Theatre on November 18 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on ABC. ...

John Graziano, the young Marine who was injured in Nick Hogan's car crash in late August, is on life support and will require lifelong care, Florida's St. Petersburg Times reports. According to documents obtained by the newspaper, the 22-year-old Graziano will, at best, be able to open and close his eyes from time to time. His mother is petitioning a judge to let her assume guardianship of her son, who remains in critical condition. A hearing will be held Wednesday. ...

Rehab was a "sobering" experience for Lindsay Lohan, she told In Touch in her first interview since leaving Utah's Cirque Lodge Treatment Center on Friday. The actress also insisted that while she went to the clubs right after finishing a rehab stint in July, she's not going to be rekindling her nightlife anytime soon — to avoid distractions, she'll be staying in Utah until she starts shooting the upcoming flick "Dare to Love Me." "Going out all the time was very self-destructive," she said. "Partying and having all of those pictures taken distracts from the work that I do. It's not why I started acting. I didn't get into acting to be written about. ... I want to act like a woman rather than a teenager. I am doing the best I can." Lohan also opened up about seeing her estranged father for the first time in more than three years, while at Cirque Lodge. "It was really good for me ... it was really important for me to get a connection back with my dad, because I hadn't had that in a while." And if you heard those rumors about Lohan developing a relationship with a man while in rehab ... well, apparently they were true. "Yes, I am seeing someone," she confirmed. "His name is Riley. I am really happy and taking it day by day." The Riley in question is Riley Giles, a 25-year-old snowboarder from California. Last but not least, just as Paris Hilton said she was committing herself to philanthropic efforts after her own debacle, Lohan revealed that she's trying to put together a December trip to Africa with the Red Cross. ...

"Hannah Montana" fans will want to change the channel from Disney to ABC on Tuesday night when Miley Cyrus breaks out a new duet with her father, Billy Ray, on "Dancing With the Stars." The two will perform "Ready, Set, Don't Go" on the results show, with the single hitting country-radio stations immediately afterward. ... What do Diddy, Panic! at the Disco's Ryan Ross and Fred Durst have in common? They've all earned the less-than-distinguished honor of being selected for Blender's "The 40 Worst Lyricists in Rock" list. Will.I.Am, Billy Corgan, Anthony Kiedis, Common, Dashboard Confessional, Timbaland and, of course, Kevin Federline, also make the (F) grade, with Sting landing in the #1 spot. The list appears in the magazine's November issue, which streets October 16. ... Kid Rock commented to Dave Letterman about his ex-wife Pamela Anderson's recent remarriage — she got hitched to Rick Salomon in Las Vegas over the weekend. After making a salty remark about the couple on "The Late Show With David Letterman," he quipped, "I wish them much happiness." ...

Wyclef Jean seems to be the go-to guy for special causes these days. After playing at "CGI and MTV Present: Giving - Live at the Apollo" late last month, he's now been tapped for another special performance, at supermodel Petra Nêmcová's upcoming Heart of Gold Ball benefit auction. The event, to take place Wednesday at Cipriani Wall Street in New York, will have various sports, travel and event packages up for auction. All proceeds will go to Nêmcová's Happy Hearts Fund, which supports education and medical and emotional support for children affected by natural disasters. ... Say what you will about those rumors of Britney Spears putting in an application for a fall-back bartending gig while staying at the Viceroy Hotel in Santa Monica, California, last week. The manager at the hotel's Cameo Bar tells MTV News that while Spears has been there in the past, anyone applying has to have one to two years of fine-dining experience and must pass a drug test. The manager didn't confirm whether Spears had in fact submitted an application. ...

Avenged Sevenfold will play a free gig at the Key Club in West Hollywood, California, on October 20. The set will be taped for later broadcast on MySpace's "The List." Want in? No problem. Just show up in your Halloween costume and get there early — entry to the show will be on a first-come, first-served basis. ... Jimmy Eat World are going all in with their new single "Big Casino," fashioning their Chase This Light album-release party after the gambling concept. On Monday, the band will turn Los Angeles' El Rey Theatre into a faux casino, with fans able to play poker, blackjack, craps and other games for prizes — a flyaway to see the band perform in another city, JEW merchandise, El Rey tickets and more. The band will end the evening with an intimate set as Chase This Light drops at midnight. Entrants will get gambling money and a commemorative poster. ...

Causes, a charity album benefiting three organizations working to stop the genocide in Darfur, will be released on iTunes on November 27 and feature exclusive and rare tracks from Bloc Party, the Shins, Bright Eyes, Animal Collective, the Cure, Death Cab for Cutie, the (International) Noise Conspiracy, Travis and Spoon. All proceeds will go to Doctors Without Borders, Human Rights Watch and Oxfam America. The album will only be available on iTunes for 90 days, though a limited-edition CD can be ordered right here. ... Queens of the Stone Age are booked for "The Late Show With David Letterman" on Wednesday and are expected to perform their latest single, "3's & 7's." ...

R.E.M. are teeing up a new album for the spring, and what better place to reveal some of it than on ... CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360"? On Wednesday, Michael Stipe and company will perform "Until the Day Is Done," which will be synced up to clips of CNN's "Planet in Peril" environmental documentary. The song will also play over the doc's closing credits and appear on the band's yet-untitled spring LP. R.E.M. Live, a CD/DVD that stands as the band's first concert release, is due October 16. ... Hot Rod Circuit have called it a day. The band issued a statement about the split but didn't offer a reason for it. The boys thanked their fans for supporting them and said they'll miss playing live gigs. ... Senator Hillary Clinton's 60th birthday bash has just gotten a little bit sweeter: Elvis Costello will perform at the Thursday concert, to be held at New York's Beacon Theatre. Tickets range from $250-$2,300 for the bash, for which 2,800 people are expected to attend. Let's hope Costello isn't planning to jump out of a cake. ...

Capitol/Priority is putting some shine on classic rap material with a pair of releases from the vault. N.W.A's Straight Outta Compton is getting the 20th-anniversary treatment via a bonus-track-laden reissue due December 4. The set will feature five extras: a live version of "Compton's N the House" performed by Dr. Dre and MC Ren, and covers of Compton tracks by Snoop Dogg and C-Murder, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Mack-10 and WC. Also on the way is the label's Featuring ... Eazy-E, which pulls together his top collaborations and hard-to-find solo recordings. Four out-of-print tracks are getting new life on the disc, including his "Beverly Hills Cop III" soundtrack contribution, "Luv 4 Dem Gangsta'z," and a rare "We Want Eazy" remix. That disc hits stores December 4 too. ...

Jammie Thomas, the woman who was hit last week with the first-ever copyright infringement jury verdict, said she plans to appeal the $220,000 fine. She announced the decision on her MySpace page, explaining that her lawyer's appeal will take issue with the jury's decision that making songs available online violates copyright laws. "This would stop the RIAA dead in their tracks," she wrote. "Every single suit they have brought has been based on this making-available theory, and if we can win this appeal, they would actually have to prove a file was shared." At press time, Thomas announced that more than $3,800 had been raised so far on FreeJammie.com. ... TiVo has announced that it will offer users of its set-top boxes access to Rhapsody's library of more than 4 million songs. (Rhapsody is part of a joint venture with Viacom Inc., MTV's parent company.) TiVo subscribers with broadband boxes will be able to listen to music streamed over the Internet from Rhapsody in the coming months, though they won't be able to download songs through their TiVo box.

08.08.07

Mariah Carey has a suggestion for troubled young female celebs: Find your center. When asked by Glamour what words of advice she would give Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears, she replied, "I wouldn't want to speak to those people specifically, but I would say you need to be very centered, and spiritually know where you're at, all the time. Don't read the tabloids. Don't be obsessed with what people are writing or saying. Live your life for you. My lifestyle has changed since making it. It's not a financial struggle, but I'm still struggling in a lot of ways." Carey graces the cover of the magazine's November issue. ...

Diddy has had a tumultuous few days — first he was sued by a former associate who claimed the hip-hop mogul owes him $19 million for work by the Notorious B.I.G., and then he accepted legal responsibility for his sixth child, The Associated Press reports. In the suit, James Sabatino claims he flew the late rapper to Miami in 1994 to play a gig and hit the studio — he recorded a 17-minute freestyle session, and 90 minutes of Biggie video was allegedly captured on video as well. Since Sabatino paid for the travel expenses and studio time, he says it was understood that the music and video belonged to him, even though a contract was never signed. Diddy claims the delay was due to Los Angeles police naming Sabatino as a person of interest in Biggie's death and that it might be misconstrued if people discovered Bad Boy had paid Sabatino. The ex-associate was later imprisoned on unrelated charges but continued trying to get the money from Diddy and was told it would be coming soon, the suit alleges. Sabatino is seeking $19 million for actual and punitive damages. While that dilemma recently emerged, Diddy put another one to rest when he took legal responsibility for his 15-month-old daughter, Chance — who is said to have factored into his split with ex-girlfriend Kim Porter. Diddy previously denied he had fathered the child of an Atlanta woman, Sarah Chapman, but has acknowledged that DNA tests have confirmed that he is the father. Diddy has arranged support terms and visitation over his daughter with Chapman. ...

Trent Reznor is a free man. According to a post on Nine Inch Nails' Web site, he and his band have fulfilled their contractual obligations to Interscope. "I've waited a long time to be able to make the following announcement: As of right now, Nine Inch Nails is a totally free agent, free of any recording contract with any label," he said in the post. "I have been under recording contracts for 18 years and have watched the business radically mutate from one thing to something inherently very different and it gives me great pleasure to be able to finally have a direct relationship with the audience as I see fit and appropriate. Look for some announcements in the near future regarding 2008. Exciting times, indeed." NIN were signed to TVT prior to joining Interscope in 1994. ...

Beanie Sigel's attorney says the rapper will surrender to authorities next week after an arrest warrant was issued for his failure to return a rented car, AP reports. Sigel (real name: Dwight Grant) is planning to face the charges on October 15, Fortunado Perri told the news service, elaborating that the Payless rental car — which was due back in August and reported stolen September 6 — is being covered. "Whatever money is owed to the company has been paid or will be paid shortly," Perri added. The car was returned to Payless on Friday as detectives were on their way to arrest Sigel at his home in the Philadelphia suburb of Lansdale. It is not yet known who returned the vehicle, which had accumulated $5,000 in late fees. ...

Paris Hilton's alleged bean spillage during VMA weekend aside, Christina Aguilera isn't doing too good a job keeping her supposed pregnancy under wraps. "Access Hollywood" reports that Aguilera picked out a baby registry at a trendy boutique in West Hollywood, California, on Saturday night. With husband Jordan Bratman and his mother and sister in tow, the singer shopped for blankets, bottles, bags and other items for what "AH" called an "upcoming baby shower." ...

Want to live just like Ozzy and Sharon? Your chance is about to arrive. The Osbournes are planning to auction art, furniture and collectibles from their homes in Southern California and England, with a portion of proceeds going to the Sharon Osbourne Colon Cancer Foundation. Items up for sale include Jack Osbourne's black leather bedroom furniture, a cast-iron crucifix that was hung in Ozzy's den and other memorable objects that appeared on "The Osbournes." The auction will be held November 30-December at the Gibson Guitar Showroom in Beverly Hills — although bids can also be placed by phone or online — and Ozzy will also perform a related benefit show at Los Angeles' Staples Center the first night. Expect to hear plenty more from Ozzy in the near future, by the way: In addition to his upcoming tour with Rob Zombie, he'll likely be headlining Ozzfest next year, according to Billboard. When asked if he would be at the top of the bill, he said, "As far as I know." He did not say whether the fest would be free again, stipulating that it was Sharon's decision. He did, however, say he's still up for recording a new Black Sabbath album, though the band's plans are up in the air. ...

Amy Winehouse, the Arctic Monkeys, Paul McCartney and Kylie Minogue were honored at the annual Q awards on Monday (October 8). Winehouse's Back to Black earned Best Album, the Monkeys were named Best Act in the World Today, Macca was awarded as a Q Icon and Minogue landed Q Idol honors. ... Speaking of Winehouse, producer Mark Ronson tells RollingStone.com, "As soon as I finish up the Daniel Merriweather record, I am going back into the studio with Amy Winehouse to work on her new record. ... She is actually dying to go back into the studio already. ... She can't go in November because she is on tour, so we are figuring it out." Winehouse's second album, Back to Black, hit U.S. stores in March. ...

A new book claims that Bono's daughter, Jordan Hewson, was nearly kidnapped by Irish criminals as part of an abduction plot 10 years ago, according to The Irish Examiner. Author Frances Cahill, daughter of murdered crime boss Martin Cahill, says in her recently released book, "Martin Cahill, My Father," that her dad stopped the alleged plot, through which five other Irish criminals were hoping to get a multimillion-dollar ransom from the singer (the U.S. equivalent of roughly $8 million). "He told them it was a bad idea," Cahill reportedly writes in the book. "Martin had nothing against Bono's family. They had never done him any harm and he wasn't going to get involved." ...

Deftones have begun work on the follow-up to last year's Saturday Night Wrist, which took the band more than three years to record and release. According to a MySpace post from the guys, they've been working on the effort since late July and will maintain a blog to document the recording process. ... In addition to the standard CD version of their new self-titled album, Avenged Sevenfold will also be releasing a MVI version of the effort on October 30. The interactive DVD will feature a making-of featurette, a studio tour, pre-encoded MP3s of all the tracks, an animated short and more. ...

Cribs bassist Gary Jarman was hospitalized over the weekend and has been treated for blood poisoning, his publicist confirmed to MTV News. It's believed the rocker contracted the condition after accidentally cutting himself with the strings of his bass during a recent gig. He had complained of pains in his arms on Saturday but managed to make a gig in Sheffield, England, that same night. He was admitted early Sunday morning and is doing fine, according to his publicist. ... Want to get down and dirty with Moby? Stop by New York's Hiro Ballroom on Thursday night when he, Juan McClean, Stretch Armstrong and DFA artist Alex Frankel christen his new DJ series, called "Degenerates." Moby will tinker around with new material as part of the residency, which is expected to be ongoing and will encompass additional DJs. ...

Jena, Louisiana, Mayor Murphy R. McMillin is lashing out over John Mellencamp's new track "Jena," which the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame-nominated rocker recently wrote and posted online (with an accompanying video) in support of the Jena Six. "The town of Jena has for months been mischaracterized in the media and portrayed as the epicenter of hatred, racism and a place where justice is denied," McMillin reportedly told AP. "However, the Mellencamp video is so inflammatory, so defamatory, that a line has been crossed and enough is enough. ... I do not want to diminish the impression that the hanging of the nooses has had on good people. I do recognize that what happened is insulting and hurtful. ... [But] to put the incident in Jena in the same league as those who were murdered in the 1960s cheapens their sacrifice and insults their memory." Prior to the mayor's reaction, Mellencamp discussed his intention behind the track via a post on his site. "The song is not written as an indictment of the people of Jena but, rather, as a condemnation of racism," he wrote. ...

Bruce Springsteen defended his anti-war stance in an interview with "60 Minutes" that aired Sunday, telling correspondent Scott Pelley that it would be "unpatriotic" not to speak out on his new album, Magic, and accompanying tour. "It's unpatriotic at any given moment to sit back and let things pass that are damaging to someplace that you love so dearly and that has given me so much," Springsteen said. "I still feel and see it as a beacon of hope and possibility. That part of America is live and well." He also sounded off on other political issues of the day, saying, "When people think of the American identity, they don't think of torture. They don't think of illegal wiretapping. They don't think of voter suppression. They don't think of no habeas corpus. No right to a lawyer ... you know. Those are things that are anti-American." ...

Not too long ago, the thought of a Police reunion tour was inconceivable. Now comes news that the rock legends, who are currently on tour in Europe, might throw together a new studio effort while they're at it. "I would see it as a challenge, to make an absolutely brilliant pop album at this stage of our career, and that would be something quite remarkable," guitarist Andy Summers told reporters in Dublin, Ireland, over the weekend, according to AP. But he added that the trio have not discussed the project in detail and that the reunion tour is "all-devouring." ...

Maybe the third time will indeed be the charm for Pamela Anderson, who married Rick Salomon — perhaps best known for making that sex tape with Paris Hilton — on Saturday in Las Vegas. Anderson wore a white denim Valentino dress, People reports, and the vows were squeezed in between the 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. shows of Hans Klok's "The Beauty of Magic," which Anderson is a part of, at the Planet Hollywood resort. It's Anderson's third marriage and Salomon's second.

• Britney Spears' Ongoing Saga: What's Next?

• Britney Spears
• Lindsay Lohan
• Justin Timberlake
• Beyoncé
• Diddy

Kevin Federline
Photo: Ethan Miller/Getty Images

Britney Spears' assistant was served with court papers Sunday morning to give a deposition in a legal matter between the singer and Kevin Federline. Mark Vincent Kaplan, Federline's attorney, told The Associated Press that Alli Sims will be asked to offer a statement "in connection with the Britney Spears/ Kevin Federline issue," although he didn't elaborate. He added that Sims is "believed to have relevant information" but didn't go into specifics about that either. On Wednesday, Kaplan filed documents in Los Angeles Superior Court for primary physical custody of Federline's two sons with Spears. ...

Diddy will executive produce the upcoming biopic of the Notorious B.I.G., Variety reports. "Soul Food" director George Tillman will be behind the lens for "Unbelievable: The Life, Death and Afterlife of the Notorious B.I.G.," for which an open casting call was launched nationally on Sunday. ...

Jennifer Lopez has pegged October 9 as the release date for her English-language album Brave, her second LP of the year and sixth studio disc overall. The set is highlighted by the just-released single, "Do It Well," and will be produced by J.R. Rotem (50 Cent, Christina Aguilera), among others. J. Lo's other album this year, Como Ama Una Mujer, is the best-selling Spanish-language debut LP ever. ... Amy Winehouse, who was hospitalized last week for severe exhaustion, has scrapped two planned shows in Germany opening for the Rolling Stones, RollingStone.com reports. The singer told Britain's News of the World, "I don't know how to explain what happened. ... I can't remember what I looked like. I couldn't recognize myself. It was terrifying." ...

Smashing Pumpkins, Foo Fighters, Kid Rock and Velvet Revolver will anchor Los Angeles radio station KROQ's Inland Invasion fest — which has been renamed the L.A. Invasion, since its relocation from a venue in Devore, California, to one in Carson. Against Me!, Chris Cornell, Hot Hot Heat, Satellite Party, Paramore and Cypress Hill round out the bill for the show, which will take place September 15. ...

The French publisher of the "Harry Potter" series will not seek damages against a 16-year-old who allegedly posted online an unauthorized French translation of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," publishing house Gallimard Jeunesse said Monday (August 13), The Associated Press reports. The case is still being investigated by French authorities, who will decide whether to bring it to trial. ... Robert Smith of the Cure, Julian Casablancas of the Strokes, Frank Black and Tom Waits will judge this year's International Songwriting Competition, RollingStone.com reports. ...

Bloc Party, Múm, Of Montreal and more have been confirmed for the ninth annual Iceland Airwaves festival, set for October 17-21 in downtown Reykjavík. ... The Shins have beefed up their fall tour schedule with a smattering of new U.S. dates. After playing Seattle's Bumbershoot festival on September 1 and Chicago's Download Festival the following day, the band will take a month off, then hit the road again beginning October 5 in Berkeley, California. From there, the Shins will play more West Coast and Southwest dates before dipping down South and winding their way up the East Coast for a two-day stand at New York's Terminal Five on October 23-24. They'll cap the tour with a pair of gigs at Las Vegas' Joint in the Hard Rock Hotel on October 27-28. ...

Wilco are bumping a pair of concerts because guitarist Nels Cline has come down with the chicken pox, according to the band's site. The Tuesday night show in Duluth, Minnesota, will now be staged September 4, and a concert scheduled for Winnipeg, Manitoba, will be postponed or scrapped entirely. ... "You Hear It First" vets the Shout Out Louds will tour for a month after they drop their new album, Our Ill Wills, on September 11. The indie-pop quintet will embark at the LA Weekly Detour festival in Los Angeles on October 6 and stay on the road through a November 3 show in Dallas. ...

According to Killswitch Engage bassist Mike D'Antonio, the band will head out for a co-headlining run with Lamb of God this winter. Suicidal Tendencies and Every Time I Die are in talks to open the gigs. ... Alice in Chains have been working on its first new material in more than a decade, according to frontman William DuVall. He said working with the band has "been deeply rewarding" and the new material sounds "insane." No word yet on when the reunited grunge rockers will release their next LP. ...

"Big Lebowski" fans who incessantly re-enact scenes and dialogue from the cult flick are about to be able to make their interpretations even lifelike: action figures are on the way. Seven-inch scale figures devoted to the Dude and Walter will be available in October and can be preordered here. ... Barenaked Ladies will host another cruise in 2008 called Ships & Dip III and leaving Miami on January 27. Tickets go on sale March 22. Meanwhile, Lynyrd Skynyrd (with guests the Marshall Tucker Band) are also hosting another cruise, while Sister Hazel and Toad the Wet Sprocket are signed on for Rock Boat VIII. ...

According to the Asbury Park Press, police charged 33 people with underage drinking last week at the Family Values Tour's Wednesday stop at the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, New Jersey. Thirteen others were arrested on various other charges, including resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and assaulting a trooper. In all, 46 people, ranging in age from 16-47, were taken into custody during the gig, which was headlined by tour founders Korn. ... A James Brown trustee accused of misappropriating $350,000 of the late singer's money has resigned, the Chicago Tribune reports. David Cannon turned over a check for the sum at a hearing on Friday. A follow-up hearing has been slated for September 24 as wrangling continues over Brown's estate.

08.10.07

Think 50 Cent is taking his upcoming face-off with Kanye West lightly? In an interview posted on SOHH.com on Friday (August 10), Fiddy threatened to end his rap career if he gets upstaged by 'Ye when their albums go head to head on September 11. "If Kanye West sells more records than 50 Cent on September 11, I'll no longer write music," he said. "I'll write music and work with my other artists, but I won't put out anymore solo albums." 50's Curtis will square off against West's Graduation. ...

Lily Allen has canceled gigs once again, this time because she has strep throat and sinusitis, she says in a post on her MySpace blog. "I'm back in London eating my mum's chicken soup, 'cause I'm afraid the traveling has caught up with me," she wrote in the post. "Before anyone starts trying to accuse me of neglecting my fans, I want to apologise and say how sorry I am, but I can't risk causing any permanent damage." Defending herself further, the singer also posted an image of her holding her doctor's note. ...

D'Angelo received suspended jail sentences Friday after pleading guilty to charges of driving under the influence and driving with a suspended license, AP reports. A Virginia judge revoked his license for 13 and a half months and fined him $1,250, with additional penalties suspended. A reckless-driving charge was dropped. ... Beastie Boys finally said hello to Brooklyn, New York, on Thursday night with — if you can believe it — their first-ever concert in the borough. RollingStone.com reports that the group, which played at McCarren Pool in Greenpoint, aptly opened the set with "Hello Brooklyn" and closed it with "No Sleep Till Brooklyn." ...

Norah Jones, Corinne Bailey Rae and Joss Stone are chipping in for Goin' Home: A Tribute to Fats Domino, which arrives in stores September 25. Paul McCartney, Elton John, Robert Plant and other classic-rock vets also salute the bluesman on the two-disc set, the sales from which will go toward buying instruments for public schools in New Orleans, rebuilding Domino's home there and helping other Crescent City-related programs. ... Emma Bunton, a.k.a. Baby Spice, gave birth to a, um, baby boy in London on Friday. It's the first child for the singer and boyfriend Jade Jones, who used to be in a pop act of his own: boy band Damage. ...

Bright Eyes are lighting up their tour schedule with seven additional dates: September 14 (Boise, Idaho); September 15 (Spokane, Washington); September 18 (Fairbanks, Alaska); September 19-20 (Anchorage, Alaska); September 23 (Eugene, Oregon); and September 24 (Chico, California). ... Waiting for a Cure LP? Well, the wait just got a bit longer. The band's new album was supposed to drop earlier this year, got bumped to the fall — and now won't be ready until the spring, Billboard.com reports. The band is busy touring and frontman Robert Smith hasn't finished writing yet. ...

Underoath will hit the road with Every Time I Die, Maylene and the Sons of Disaster and Poison the Well for a fall tour beginning September 22 in Houston and ending November 6 in Orlando, Florida. ETID, who are still on the Sounds of the Underground Tour, will drop their new Ferret release The Big Dirty on September 4. Earlier this week, they posted "No Son of Mine" — a track from the Steve Evetts-produced (Dillinger Escape Plan, Sepultura) effort — on their MySpace page. ... Queens of the Stone Age will not perform as part of Samsung and AT&T's free Summer Krush series on Monday in Los Angeles, as previously reported by Billboard.com. Plain White T's will play the gig instead. ...

As promised, Pearl Jam have posted the edited and unedited videos of their performance of "Daughter" at Lollapalooza on their Web site. Some segments of the performance were missing in AT&T's live "Blue Room" webcast, including critical remarks frontman Eddie Vedder made about President Bush. A spokesperson for AT&T recently told MTV News the omissions were not intentional and were mistakenly made by a webcast vendor. ...

Spoon, Coheed and Cambria, Devin the Dude and others have been confirmed for this year's CMJ Music Marathon, going down October 16-20 in New York, Billboard.com reports. UNKLE will play one of their first gigs ever with a live band, and surprise VMA Video of the Year nominees Justice will also hit up the fest. ... Franz Ferdinand, Hot Chip, Deerhoof, Grizzly Bear and David Byrne are among the acts who are contributing performances of songs written by David Shrigley for Worried Noodles, an unusual package containing two CDs and a hardcover book by the Scottish artist. The book of words and drawings was previously issued and caught the attention of the musicians, who have chalked up new songs for the set. ...

Martin Scorsese's Rolling Stones flick is rolling into next year. The film, originally slated for an August 26 theatrical release, will open in April instead, to allow the band more time to promote it. ... Speaking of rock docs, IFC has secured the rights to "Joe Strummer: The Future is Unwritten," a flick about the former Clash frontman that will hit select theaters November 2 and be televised on the cable channel thereafter. ... An unreleased Mick Jagger song produced by John Lennon in Los Angeles in 1973 will surface on The Very Best of Mick Jagger, due October 2. Jagger recorded the song, which has been on bootlegs for decades, with a cast of all-stars that included Harry Nilsson, Jack Bruce, Al Kooper and others. ...

In honor of the 40th anniversary of the release of Pink Floyd's first album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, a special edition of the album will be released August 28. The three-disc collection will look like a cloth-covered book, and include remastered stereo and mono versions of the album plus bonus tracks. The effort will also include a 12-page reproduction of Syd Barrett's notebook. ... Notorious ex-David Bowie manager Tony Defries will release his autobiography, Gods and Gangsters, in 2008. Also known for his work with the Beatles and Stevie Wonder, Defries is best remembered for helping to fashion the string of iconic characters rolled out by Bowie in the 1970s, as well as helping launch the solo careers of Iggy Pop, Lou Reed, Luther Vandross and John Mellencamp. ... The world's leading record label, Universal Music Group, has announced that it will experiment with offering a large part of its catalog for download without copy protection at least through January. According to The New York Times, Universal (home to 50 Cent, Amy Winehouse and Akon) will offer the songs without DRM through RealNetworks, Wal-Mart, Amazon.com, Google and some artists' sites — but not on top download service iTunes.

• Britney Spears
• Kevin Federline
• Jennifer Lopez
• Amy Winehouse
• The Smashing Pumpkins

50 Cent
Photo: Bryan Bedder/ Getty Images

Think 50 Cent is taking his upcoming face-off with Kanye West lightly? In an interview posted on SOHH.com on Friday (August 10), Fiddy threatened to end his rap career if he gets upstaged by 'Ye when their albums go head to head on September 11. "If Kanye West sells more records than 50 Cent on September 11, I'll no longer write music," he said. "I'll write music and work with my other artists, but I won't put out anymore solo albums." 50's Curtis will square off against West's Graduation. ...

Lily Allen has canceled gigs once again, this time because she has strep throat and sinusitis, she says in a post on her MySpace blog. "I'm back in London eating my mum's chicken soup, 'cause I'm afraid the traveling has caught up with me," she wrote in the post. "Before anyone starts trying to accuse me of neglecting my fans, I want to apologise and say how sorry I am, but I can't risk causing any permanent damage." Defending herself further, the singer also posted an image of her holding her doctor's note. ...

D'Angelo received suspended jail sentences Friday after pleading guilty to charges of driving under the influence and driving with a suspended license, The Associated Press reports. A Virginia judge revoked his license for 13 and a half months and fined him $1,250, with additional penalties suspended. A reckless-driving charge was dropped. ... Beastie Boys finally said hello to Brooklyn, New York, on Thursday night with — if you can believe it — their first-ever concert in the borough. RollingStone.com reports that the group, which played at at McCarren Pool in Greenpoint, aptly opened the set with "Hello Brooklyn" and closed it with "No Sleep Till Brooklyn." ...

Norah Jones, Corinne Bailey Rae and Joss Stone are chipping in for Goin' Home: A Tribute to Fats Domino, which arrives in stores September 25. Paul McCartney, Elton John, Robert Plant and other classic-rock vets also salute the bluesman on the two-disc set, the sales from which will go toward buying instruments for public schools in New Orleans, rebuilding Domino's home there and helping other Crescent City-related programs. ... Emma Bunton, a.k.a. Baby Spice, gave birth to a, um, baby boy in London on Friday. It's the first child for the singer and boyfriend Jade Jones, who used to be in a pop act of his own: boy band Damage. ...

Bright Eyes are lighting up their tour schedule with seven additional dates: September 14 (Boise, Idaho); September 15 (Spokane, Washington); September 18 (Fairbanks, Alaska); September 19-20 (Anchorage, Alaska); September 23 (Eugene, Oregon); and September 24 (Chico, California). ... Waiting for a Cure LP? Well, the wait just got a bit longer. The band's new album was supposed to drop earlier this year, got bumped to the fall — and now won't be ready until the spring, Billboard.com reports. The band is busy touring and frontman Robert Smith hasn't finished writing yet. ...

Underoath will hit the road with Every Time I Die, Maylene and the Sons of Disaster and Poison the Well for a fall tour beginning September 22 in Houston and ending November 6 in Orlando, Florida. ETID, who are still on the Sounds of the Underground Tour, will drop their new Ferret release The Big Dirty on September 4. Earlier this week, they posted "No Son of Mine" — a track from the Steve Evetts-produced (Dillinger Escape Plan, Sepultura) effort — on their MySpace page. ... Queens of the Stone Age will not perform as part of Samsung and AT&T's free Summer Krush series on Monday in Los Angeles, as previously reported by Billboard.com. Plain White T's will play the gig instead. ...

As promised, Pearl Jam have posted the edited and unedited videos of their performance of "Daughter" at Lollapalooza on their Web site. Some segments of the performance were missing in AT&T's live "Blue Room" webcast, including critical remarks frontman Eddie Vedder made about President Bush. A spokesperson for AT&T recently told MTV News the omissions were not intentional and were mistakenly made by a webcast vendor. ...

Spoon, Coheed and Cambria, Devin the Dude and others have been confirmed for this year's CMJ Music Marathon, going down October 16-20 in New York, Billboard.com reports. UNKLE will play one of their first gigs ever with a live band, and surprise VMA Video of the Year nominees Justice will also hit up the fest. ... Franz Ferdinand, Hot Chip, Deerhoof, Grizzly Bear and David Byrne are among the acts who are contributing performances of songs written by David Shrigley for Worried Noodles, an unusual package containing two CDs and a hardcover book by the Scottish artist. The book of words and drawings was previously issued and caught the attention of the musicians, who have chalked up new songs for the set. ...

Martin Scorsese's Rolling Stones flick is rolling into next year. The film, originally slated for an August 26 theatrical release, will open in April instead, to allow the band more time to promote it. ... Speaking of rock docs, IFC has secured the rights to "Joe Strummer: The Future is Unwritten," a flick about the former Clash frontman that will hit select theaters November 2 and be televised on the cable channel thereafter. ... An unreleased Mick Jagger song produced by John Lennon in Los Angeles in 1973 will surface on The Very Best of Mick Jagger, due October 2. Jagger recorded the song, which has been on bootlegs for decades, with a cast of all-stars that included Harry Nilsson, Jack Bruce, Al Kooper and others. ...

In honor of the 40th anniversary of the release of Pink Floyd's first album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, a special edition of the album will be released August 28. The three-disc collection will look like a cloth-covered book, and include remastered stereo and mono versions of the album plus bonus tracks. The effort will also include a 12-page reproduction of Syd Barrett's notebook. ... Notorious ex-David Bowie manager Tony Defries will release his autobiography, Gods and Gangsters, in 2008. Also known for his work with the Beatles and Stevie Wonder, Defries is best remembered for helping to fashion the string of iconic characters rolled out by Bowie in the 1970s, as well as helping launch the solo careers of Iggy Pop, Lou Reed, Luther Vandross and John Mellencamp. ... The world's leading record label, Universal Music Group, has announced that it will experiment with offering a large part of its catalog for download without copy protection at least through January. According to The New York Times, Universal (home to 50 Cent, Amy Winehouse and Akon) will offer the songs without DRM through RealNetworks, Wal-Mart, Amazon.com, Google and some artists' sites — but not on top download service iTunes.

08.09.07

Gwyneth Paltrow wasn't so into the initial idea of singing onstage last year with Jay-Z at London's Royal Albert Hall, she admitted to W magazine for its September issue. "Jay was playing at the Albert Hall on my birthday, and he said, 'Will you sing on this song?' " the actress told the mag. "At first I didn't want to do it!" Paltrow also talked a little about her husband, Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, who was also onstage for the strange collabo. "When Chris gets home, we're not going to do anything other than what any regular couple does," she said. ...

A day after Amy Winehouse canceled two European festival dates following a trip to a London hospital to deal with what her label termed "severe exhaustion," a spokesperson for the singer said doctors have ordered Winehouse to rest in bed. For now, she's still expected to perform at the Virgin Festival in Toronto on September 8 as well as a string of U.S. dates in September. Winehouse's spokesperson would not comment on British tabloid reports that said the collapse that lead to the singer's hospitalization was possibly drug-related. ...

A woman is peeved that no one from Britney Spears' camp has contacted the woman about her car, which the singer was seen driving into earlier this week in Studio City, California. Kim Robard-Rifkin told CelebTV.com on Wednesday that, "It was simply like my car didn't matter to her, my inconvenience didn't matter to her." Robard-Rifkin, who filed a police report Thursday (August 9), added, "I'm not asking for money. I'm not asking for a new car. ... I simply want my car fixed, the same as I would fix somebody's car if I had done that." ...

Hilary Duff is branching out. The singer/actress has partnered with Michaels stores for Stuff by Hilary Duff, a new fashion-crafts line that includes bracelets, necklaces, charms, patches and more. All Michaels stores will host in-store demonstrations of the products on August 26 from 1-3 p.m. local time. ... An "American Idol" hopeful went into labor during her audition on Monday at Texas Stadium and had contractions as she was singing, People reports. After that, Antoria Gillon, who was taken to a local hospital, gave birth to a healthy son. She will be on the next round of the show. ...

John Mayer has been confirmed for the upcoming season of "Austin City Limits," Pitchfork reports — but the program will be heavily weighed toward indie-rock acts too. Bloc Party, Arcade Fire, Decemberists, Regina Spektor and Wilco have also been booked for the PBS series, which will start airing in October. ... The lineup for the first-ever Monolith Music Festival, to be held September 14-15 at Denver's historic Red Rock Amphitheatre, will include the Flaming Lips, Kings of Leon, the Decemberists, Editors, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Spoon, Cake, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, the Brian Jonestown Massacre, Das EFX and many more acts. ...

Thrice have pegged October 16 as the release date for The Alchemy Index: Vols. I & II - Fire & Water, the first two parts of a four-volume concept effort. The other two chapters, Vols. III & IV - Earth & Air, will be released in the spring. Both sets will be issue by Vagrant, the new label the band calls home after parting ways with Island in June. Earlier this year, frontman Dustin Kensrue called the Alchemy project "daunting" in an interview with MTV News. ... If you've been exchanging MySpace messages with Chris Cornell in recent weeks, chances are you were dealing with an imposter. The real Cornell logged onto his MySpace page on Wednesday to clear up matters. "Over the past several months, several incidents have taken place where others felt the need to engage in activities pretending to be me," he wrote. "I have been wanting to make a clear statement to fans, friends and anyone this may concern." He added the confounding remark, "Under no circumstances, under any name or address, do I or have I ever communicated or corresponded with anyone online or otherwise." ...

Want to get up close and personal with Velvet Revolver? You can get your chance for $250, thanks to meet-and-greet packages being offered for the hard-rock group's Tuesday gig at the Tweeter Center in Mansfield, Massachusetts. The package includes a VIP laminate, personal photograph with the band, exclusive 8x10 color poster and autograph. ... Three unaired Alice in Chains performances taped during the band's "Unplugged" session in April 1996 are being unearthed for a revitalized version of the package, Billboard.com reports. The new Unplugged will drop September 18 and feature a bonus DVD boasting "Angry Chair," "Frogs" and "The Killer Is Me." ...

Expect to catch an eyeful of U2 rehearsing songs from their new album in "Here It Is," a documentary about the band's longtime producer Daniel Lanois that is set to debut at the Toronto International Film Festival in September, RollingStone.com reports. The feature film captures Lanois and the band in a studio in Morocco, with Billy Bob Thornton, Willie Nelson and others making guest appearances. ... Ricky Martin wants to start creating "a family of many colors" this year by adopting "one [child] from each continent," the singer told reporters Wednesday in his Puerto Rico homeland. The 35-year-old Martin is not married. ...

A fifth woman will be allowed to testify that Phil Spector threatened her with a gun, the judge in the music producer's trial ruled Wednesday, the Los Angeles Times reports. Former Spector employee and girlfriend Devra Robitaille was expected to testify Thursday after jurors returned from a tour of Spector's mansion in Alhambra, California, where he allegedly killed actress Lana Clarkson. The defense — which on Wednesday called to the stand a neuropathologist who said the way Clarkson's body was found was consistent with a suicide — objected strongly to the decision to let Robitaille testify.

• 50 Cent
• Lily Allen
• Spice Girls
• Bright Eyes
• The Cure

Lupe Fiasco
Photo: MTV News

• Lupe Fiasco
• Ben Harper
• Amy Winehouse
• Juliette & the Licks
• Kings Of Leon

T.I.'s <i>T.I. vs. T.I.P.</i>
Photo: Grand Hustle/Atlantic

Did all of you Smashing Pumpkins fans miss the memo about the band — well, frontman Billy Corgan and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin, along with a bunch of hired guns — reuniting to record an album, its first in nearly a decade? We ask because only 144,800 of you hit the bricks last week to purchase Zeitgeist, the Pumpkins' sixth studio LP and the first since their 2000 breakup and subsequent 2005 re-formation.

Music-industry know-it-alls figured Zeitgeist would fare better on next week's Billboard top 200, bumping T.I. from the albums chart's #1 position. But it didn't work out that way. Instead, the Pumpkins debut at #2, after being outsold by T.I.'s T.I. vs. T.I.P. by more than 30,000 scans, despite the rapper suffering a 63 percent sales slide from last week. Hence, T.I.'s reign as Billboard's champ remains intact for a second straight week, thanks to reported sales of more than 175,000, according to the latest SoundScan figures.

If the Pumpkins had prevailed, they would have earned the second #1 opener of their career; 1995's Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness bowed on top, selling 246,500. But it just wasn't in the cards — in fact, Zeitgeist is the Pumpkins' worst performer, sales-wise, since 1993's Siamese Dream, which opened at #10 with 71,900 copies sold.

Following the Pumpkins at #3, falling one chart position, is Hannah Montana 2: Meet Miley Cyrus, the latest release from the star of the Disney Channel original series "Hannah Montana"; the LP sold another 128,000 copies. Kelly Clarkson's My December slips two spots to #5 with 58,600 scans; at #6, with 55,000 sold, it's Bon Jovi's newest, Lost Highway. Linkin Park's Minutes to Midnight hangs tough at #7, with sales of 54,000, while Fergie's Dutchess pops up at #8 with 49,700 scans. Amy Winehouse's Back to Black drops one spot to #9, having sold 48,700 units.

A couple of other rockers make their debuts in next week's top 10. Our Love to Admire, the third LP from Interpol, becomes the band's first outing to debut in the top 5, coming in at #4 with 73,200 scans. And just making the cut at #10 are Austin, Texas, indie darlings Spoon, whose Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga generated sales of more than 46,000. In total, 17 new releases make their debuts on next week's chart, including Aly & AJ's Insomniatic, which bows at #15 with sales of 39,200.

Entering at #20 is the soundtrack to the film "Hairspray," which features the vocal stylings of John Travolta, Zac Efron, Queen Latifah, Nikki Blonsky, Michelle Pfeiffer and more. The set sold 36,700 copies during its first week. Following at #35 is the latest from seminal punks Bad Religion, New Maps of Hell, selling to the tune of 20,750. Another soundtrack debuts at #43, this one for the hit film "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," which scanned more than 15,900 units. Crowded House's Time on Earth trails in the #46 spot, having sold 15,500 copies.

Opening at #57 is the latest from Against Me!, New Wave, which sold more than 12,300 copies during its first week in stores. Further down on the chart, finishing at #106 with 6,800 sold, is Monkeys for Nothin' and the Chimps for Free, the new one from Reel Big Fish. Darkest Hour's latest, Deliver Us, follows at #110 with 6,600 scans. Gogol Bordello's Super Taranta! comes in at #115, thanks to first-week sales of 6,250, while They Might Be Giants' The Else takes the #118 slot, with 6,000 copies moving off store shelves.

Mark Ronson's latest, Version, bows at #129, thanks to 5,600 scans, while comedian Patton Oswalt's Werewolves and Lollipops finished at #137, with more than 5,200 copies snatched up. Country star Tracy Lawrence's The Very Best of Tracy Lawrence opens at #163 with 4,630 scans, followed at #164 by Danzig's double-disc collection The Lost Tracks of Danzig, which sold 4,600 units.

• MTV News RAW: T.I.

• T.I.
• The Smashing Pumpkins
• Interpol
• Spoon
• Aly & AJ

Spoon's Britt Daniel (file)
Photo: MTV News

NEW YORK — To be an indie-rock fan is no easy task.

There are enough up-and-coming acts playing enough can't-miss shows to keep you out eight nights a week. There are innumerable blogs to peruse, all fluid with overzealous opinions on the hippest and hottest underdog of the moment. Not to mention that the jeans keep getting tighter, the cigarettes more expensive and pulling off that greasy shag is a lot tougher than it looks. Keeping up to speed and in the know is, like, a full-time job, man.

Because fans of indie rock are accustomed to a struggle when it comes to their musical endeavors, truly torrential rainfall didn't stop Spoon fans from pouring into Battery Park City on Wednesday night to catch a free concert. Summer-loving college kids, nine-to-fivers fresh off Wall Street and eager out-of-towners waited patiently for the skies to clear and for the band to dry off their gear and get going.

With the release of their well-received and long-awaited sixth album, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, the previous morning, Spoon fans brought their high hopes along to the community-sponsored show. When the sky ceased its spitting, the show began with an introduction by a middle-age woman in a fuchsia pantsuit and a new tune called "Eddie's Ragga."

For a song that just landed in record stores 32 hours earlier, spoonfuls of fans managed to sing along to the catchy and distinctively raw opening jam. Moving along, they headed into a guitar-heavy rendition of "Don't Make Me a Target," the minimal-yet-political opening track from their latest release. Returning to older material and turning up the reverb, "My Mathematical Mind" and "Small Stakes" were up next.

Perhaps it was the gloomy atmosphere and the unrelenting threat of thunderstorms, but one might feel as though they rushed through the first half of the set at lightning speed, sans the electric energy.

But just as the energy was waning — cue the horns! With sprinkles beginning to sputter, Spoon dished out their slightly ska-like latest single, "Underdog," complete with a brass trio. "Stay Don't Go," treated to the horn accompaniment, had the crowd all smiles with encouraging head-bobs and hand-claps. Followed by "Turn My Camera On," the less die-hard of Spoonsters were fulfilled and content.

Running through the next few jams in competition with the storm scare, the band plugged through a few more from their current album. Meanwhile, concertgoers who weren't up to speed with the new material squeezed in some quality time to chat — perhaps about hair care, Parliament Lights and wet skinny jeans.

And then, just as the rain began to let loose yet again, frontman Britt Daniel and the guys wrapped things up with the familiar "I Summon You," sending the soaked scenesters back to the subways giddy but perhaps a tad underwhelmed.

While being an indie-rock fan isn't a cakewalk, Daniel makes indie rockin' look like apple pie. He pulls off the raw-though-unflawed sound without a struggle, but is it not the struggle that draws us to indie rock in the first place? Seriously, you try to put on a pair of those jeans in the rain. Now that takes real dedication, man.

Been to a cool show lately? Wanna share? Check out MTV News' You R Here blog to find concert reviews and submit your own reports, pictures and video.

• Spoon

Franz Ferdinand's Nick McCarthy performs during KCRW's A Sounds Eclectic Evening
Photo: Karl Walter/Getty Images

UNIVERSAL CITY, California — There's always a few welcome surprises at KCRW-FM's annual A Sounds Eclectic Evening, but this year's concert featured one after another.

There were surprise sets (Franz Ferdinand, Spoon singer Britt Daniel), surprise collaborations (Ben Harper with Gomez, Ziggy Marley with Harper), and for Australian singer Sia, a surprise standing ovation from the Gibson Amphitheatre audience Saturday.

Franz's appearance was predicted by some since the Scottish dance rockers are touring with the benefit's headliners, Death Cab for Cutie. Franz Ferdinand brought a ferocious energy to what had mostly been an acoustic showcase, put on by the taste-making Santa Monica-based public radio station.

Opening with "Do You Want To," Franz instantly brought crowd members to their feet and kept them there with dance-floor favorites from 2005's You Could Have It So Much Better. After "The Fallen" and "Walk Away," both subtly rearranged from their album versions, the band slowed down slightly with singer Alex Kapranos announcing "Eleanor Put Your Boots On" as being "about missing someone across the Atlantic."

For the second half of their set, Franz went back to their self-titled debut, showcasing guitarist Nick McCarthy's mouth-watering hooks on tracks like "Michael" and "This Fire."

"The first radio station to invite us on in the States was KCRW," Kapranos said in introducing "Take Me Out." "And this was the first song we played."

In their closing slot, Death Cab followed Franz by relying mostly on their high-energy tracks, opening with "The New Year" and getting to single "Soul Meets Body" four songs in. Singer Ben Gibbard and cohorts also kept things interesting by switching around instruments, adding keyboards to various tunes, and playfully commenting on the dissipating audience. "I will not be silenced by your indifference," Gibbard deadpanned.

Earlier, former Jamiroquai backup singer Sia, filling in last minute for Lewis Taylor, balanced her smoky, seductive voice with a charming giddiness as she giggled her way through a 30-minute set. When she stopped a new tune because she and her band had screwed up and insisted they start over, the crowd ate up her honesty.

	Check out photos from KCRW's A Sounds Eclectic Evening In Universal City, California, 3.25.2006.

Sia had played A Sounds Eclectic Evening once before, with Zero 7, and paid tribute to her British friends with a rendition of "Somersault." Her clear standout was "Breathe Me," the song featured in the final scene of the "Six Feet Under" finale that has given her 2004 album, Colour the Small One, new legs.

Gomez — made up of principal songwriters Ben Ottewell, Tom Gray and Ian Ball for the show — mainly used the set to introduce their new album, How We Operate, and ear-catching tunes like the title track and "Girlshapedlovedrug."

For one track, though, the British band called on technology, using a laptop to connect with its rhythm section from a studio back home. "I can't believe that actually worked," Gray joked afterward.

To close their set, Gomez welcomed Harper, who played slide guitar on a Hawaiian-style version of the band's 1998 breakthrough single, "Whippin' Piccadilly."

During the set with his Innocent Criminals band, which included a four-piece string section, Harper also used a special guest to amplify a tune. While jamming through "With My Own Two Hands," the group segued into Bob Marley's "War," and Ziggy Marley took the stage to handle vocals.

Harper also showcased his new double record, the just-released Both Sides of the Gun, channeling his Marvin Gaye and Curtis Mayfield influences and focusing on some of the most political tunes, like "Engraved Invitation," "Better Way" and "Black Rain," about the Hurricane Katrina aftermath.

Spoon's Daniel, accompanied only by a pianist, was the other unannounced guest. Highlights included the toe-tapper "Way We Get By" and a cover of John Lennon's "Isolation."

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

• Franz Ferdinand
• Death Cab For Cutie
• Ziggy Marley
• Ben Harper
• Spoon

Kanye West
Photo: Getty

Kanye West criticized President Bush's response to Hurricane Katrina during a live telethon, not in a song, but two Houston rappers have taken his remarks and matched them with his song "Gold Digger," the Los Angeles Times reports. Damien Randle and Micah Nickerson of the Legendary K.O. also altered the lyrics, commenting on the disaster's aftermath from the evacuees' point of view: "Screwed 'cause they say they're coming back for us too/ But that was three days ago and I don't see no rescue." A spokesperson for West told the Times the rapper had no comment on the remix. ...

After filing for an emergency restraining order against her husband, R. Kelly, earlier this month, Andrea Kelly went to a Chicago court Friday on (September 23) not to ask the judge to extend the protective order, but to get it dismissed. The singer's wife had submitted in a petition on September 2 that she was at risk of physical abuse, harassment, stalking and interference with her personal liberty at her husband's hands, and had scrawled on the petition that she didn't want any contact with him, "at all, by any means." She's apparently changed her mind. ... Britney Spears' "Fantasy" doesn't end with perfume. The singer plans on expanding her beauty line next month to include makeup, with eye shadow (in colors called Midnight, Pixie, Enchanted Forest and Flicker), shimmer (called Fairy Dust), and lip gloss. ... Mariah Carey wants to take you to dinner — if you buy her new remix. The singer is offering an opportunity for fans to win a chance to wine and dine her, if they download the remix to "Shake It Off" at iTunes. Details are listed on her Web site, www.MariahCarey.com. ...

Austin, Texas, anti-heroes Spoon — they of the snarling interview and snarky lyric — will be bringing the acrimony to a town near you starting in late October. They've just announced dates for a late fall/ early winter U.S. tour in support of Gimme Fiction beginning October 27 in Louisville, Kentucky. Former Helium singer Mary Timony will serve as the opening act on several dates. The tour is scheduled to run until November 18. For a list of dates, check out SpoonTheBand.com. ... Fans of Elvis Costello can soon enjoy a vast collection of the British rocker's best music videos. "The Right Spectacle: The Very Best of Elvis Costello" DVD will feature 27 of the celebrated songwriter's clips, including "Armed Forces," "Get Happy" and "Veronica." The disc, due Tuesday, will come with special features such as audio commentary by Costello recorded for each video, rare TV performances, production notes and hidden surprises. ...

Vanessa Carlton's going to play charades for charity, along with actors Philip Seymour Hoffman, Mariska Hargitay, Kyra Sedgwick, Bebe Neuwirth and designer Cynthia Rowley, among others. Celebrity Charades will take place at New York's St. Patrick's Youth Center on Monday and will benefit the LAByrinth Theater Company. ... Taking Back Sunday have entered a Los Angeles recording studio to start work on their third opus, which hasn't yet been named but is being produced by Eric Valentine (Queens of the Stone Age, Third Eye Blind); the band's eyeing a mid-2006 release through Warner Bros. ...

Record producer Phil Spector — who's about to go to trial on first-degree murder charges — has sued his agent for allegedly embezzling nearly half a million dollars from his personal bank accounts. Spector claims in his lawsuit, filed this week in Los Angeles Superior Court, that Michelle Blaine admitted she and her son spent the money but promised to pay it back. Spector claims he found out from his accountants this week that Blaine had actually transferred $425,000 from his pension plan to two companies she co-operates, BT Productions and 3:15 Productions. Spector is seeking a court order barring Blaine from using his funds and compelling her to return the money. He also wants unspecified compensatory damages. ...

Ex-Red House Painters singer Mark Kozelek is fond of covering other artists' work. After releasing acoustic interpretations of AC/DC, John Denver and Neil Diamond, Kozlek is reprising the concept with Tiny Cities, an album of acoustic Modest Mouse tracks, under his Sun Kill Moon moniker. Due November 1, the album features drastically different takes on songs like "Neverending Math Equation" and "Jesus Christ Was an Only Child." ... Meanwhile, Modest Mouse are re-releasing Good News for People Who Love Bad News as a DualDisc on October 11. The CD will feature the album along with the bonus track "I've Got It All (Most)," while the DVD will feature an interview with singer Isaac Brock and videos for "Float On" and "Ocean Breathes Salty" as well as a new clip called "Stiff Animal Fantasy" set to the song "World at Large." ...

09.22.2005

R. Kelly isn't due back in court for his child-pornography case until October 7, but he's got a new legal matter on his hands. His wife, Andrea, got an emergency order of protection against him earlier this month. She asked the court in a petition filed on September 2 to prohibit him from alleged physical abuse, harassment, stalking and interfering with her personal liberty, and she also asked the court to prevent him from removing their three children from their home or disposing of their personal property. Since the emergency restraining order expires Friday, she's due in court that morning to ask the judge to extend it. ...

The trailer for Usher's first movie in four years, "In the Mix," premieres Thursday (September 22) at 8 p.m. PT on MTV's Overdrive broadband channel. The romantic comedy, formerly titled "Dying for Dolly," also stars Emmanuelle Chriqui ("On the Line") and Chazz Palminteri ("Poolhall Junkies") and features Usher as a bodyguard who falls in love with his boss' daughter. "In the Mix" opens November 23. ... The Gorillaz have announced plans for a revolutionary world tour in 2007. According to management, Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett — the masterminds behind the band — are working with the animation house known as Passion Pictures to produce a holographic version of the band, which they intend to take around the world. In the meantime, Albarn and Hewlett are also planning a five-night stand at the International Festival in Manchester, England, in November. The shows will feature all the human collaborators on the Gorillaz's hit album Demon Days, including the Happy Mondays' Shaun Ryder and U.K. emcee Roots Manuva. ...

Designer clothes worn by Beyoncé, Nicole Richie, Wyclef Jean, Kelly Osbourne, Amerie and others at last week's Naomi Campbell-organized Fashion for Relief runway show in New York are being auctioned beginning Thursday at FashionForRelief.Yahoo.com. Proceeds from the auction, which ends September 29, are going to AmeriCares' Hurricane Katrina relief fund. ... Osbourne, Courtney Love and Nancy Sinatra are donating signed items (including a pair of Sinatra's boots made for walkin') for a raffle to benefit the American Red Cross and New Orleans' Musician's Hurricane Relief Fund. The Scissor Sisters and Lady Miss Kier will DJ at the event, to be held September 28 at New York's Luke and Leroy's. ...

Foxy Brown told reporters Thursday that she's going on a performance hiatus to undergo surgery for a hearing defect. Brown would not elaborate on the problem, speaking outside the Manhattan Criminal Court, where a judge set a December 5 trial date for the rapper. Brown has been charged with misdemeanor assault, attempted assault and harassment in an incident with two Manhattan nail-salon workers in August 2004. Brown was offered a plea bargain to serve 10 days of community service but refused. ... St. Louis production duo TrakStarz (best known for discovering Chingy) have joined forces with Timbaland and Lil Jon for the aptly titled track "Producers' Anthem." The song will be featured on TrakStarz's debut album, Star Studded, due in November and also featuring Chingy, David Banner, Twista, Nate Dogg, Juvenile and Bun B. ...

Kanye West has already started work on his next album, but he doesn't want to give up too much about it yet. While he has three songs finished already for his third LP, which he's going to call Graduation, West told MTV Europe that if he talks about what he's planning to do, there will be eight songs out just like that before he gets the chance. He compares the in-the-works Graduation to Jay-Z's The Blueprint, not for its sound, but for the influence it will have. He's hoping to have 12 songs on the album and put it out by the end of next year. ... Alicia Keys is going to serve up a tasty treat — she's one of the contributors to Morgan Freeman's upcoming cookbook, "Caribbean Cooking for a Cause," which will feature an exotic blend of island recipes from the actor's many celebrity friends, including Hilary Swank, Tom Hanks and Michael Douglas, as well as tips from well-known chefs and restaurant owners throughout the Caribbean. The book, which will be published next fall, will benefit the Grenada Relief Fund, an organization spearheaded by Freeman after the small island was devastated by Hurricane Ivan last year. ...

Ever since admitting she felt the biological clock ticking, Gwen Stefani says everyone is on baby watch. She told Allure magazine (she's on its October cover) that in one paparazzi photo taken as she was grocery shopping with husband Gavin Rossdale in 2003, the caption asked if she was already expecting. "What, do I look fat or something?" she told the mag. "I get asked when I'm having a baby in every interview. Like today, I talked to these morning-show announcers, [imitating a DJ voice] 'Gwen! So when are you going to have a baby?!' When I get pregnant, I will tell everybody, trust me. And I want a big friggin' shower, OK?" ... Cameron Diaz is also feeling the tabloid glare, especially when it pertains to her relationship with singer Justin Timberlake. The actress told GQ (she's on the October cover) that stories written about the couple aren't even accurate, they're just chapters of fictitious "romance novels." "I'm getting married or breaking up; Justin and I are moving in together, or I want to get married. None of it's true. Not any of it!" she told the mag. "The idea that people are together just to get married and have children — not every relationship ends up that way." Besides, she's committed to keeping her private life private, at least until she catches reality show bug. "Maybe I'll start carrying around a video recorder to document me and Justin's tongue wrestling," she joked. "Or I'll invite the entire staff of Us Weekly to my annual pap smear. We could spin it off into a new reality series: E!'s 'Celebrity Gyno-Challenge.' I'm probably the only one who is laughing at that, right?" ...

U2 will release the DVD "U2//Vertigo//2005: Live From Chicago" on November 15. Directed by Hamish Hamilton, who also helmed the recent "Elevation: Live From Boston" and "U2 Go Home: Live From Slane Castle, Ireland," the DVD was shot during four shows in May. ... In a posting on his Web site, Korn frontman Jonathan Davis confirmed the band's forthcoming record will be called See You on the Other Side and that it would surface on December 6. The outing is the group's first for Virgin Records and is expected to contain more than a dozen tracks, including "Liar," "Politix," "Last Legal Drug Le Petit Mort," "It's Me Again," "Coming Undone," "I've Seen It All" and "Souvenir of Sadness." ... Former Stone Temple Pilots bassist Robert DeLeo and his wife, Kristen, welcomed a new son, Duke Vincent, on August 7. According to the band's Web site, the infant "came in weighing 7 pounds and sporting a full head of black hair." ...

Remember Michael Jackson's charter jet flight with his attorney from Las Vegas to Santa Barbara, California, to surrender himself to authorities on child-molestation charges almost two years ago? That flight — and their privileged conversation — was taped without the singer's knowledge and permission, and now, two men have been indicted on federal charges for that secret recording: the owner of the charter jet company, Jeffrey Borer, and Arvel Jett Reeves, the owner of the jet's maintenance company, Executive Aviation Logistics. They're charged with conspiracy, endeavoring to intercept oral communication and witness tampering. ... Pink is returning to the stage for a benefit for breast cancer research, a cause which has long associated itself with her color namesake. The singer's free show at New York's South Street Seaport on September 30 will be opened by DJ Laurent and Butch Walker, one of the producers on her new album. "If fame is good for one thing, it's that it gets people's attention," Pink said. "And when what you are talking about is as serious as the fight to cure breast cancer, I can't think of a better way to express myself." Concertgoers can raise funds for the cause by buying pink-themed products, including bracelets, baseball caps and compilation CDs (available online at Target.com/breastcancer), with profits benefiting the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. ...

The Motion Picture Association of America and the Recording Industry Association of America reported to Congress on Wednesday that 670,000 of the nation's 17 million college and university students now have access to legal music downloading services, with the number of schools offering those services tripling to nearly 70 in the past year. It's unclear how many students are actually using the legitimate services versus swapping songs illegally on file-sharing networks, but the report said solid progress is being made, sometimes through schools instituting a "three strikes" rule that in some instances ends with expulsion. Among the problems that still need to be worked on, according to the report, are illegal student-run file-sharing groups on school-hosted local area networks and illegal hacks of iTunes and other legitimate services. ... Former Cars singer Ric Ocasek will make rare live appearances September 29 at a New York fundraiser for CBGB and October 10 in his home city of Boston at Harper's Ferry. Ocasek, who will be backed by the Hong Kong, the first band he signed to his Sanctuary Records imprint, Inverse, is releasing a solo album, Nexterday, on September 27. ...

• Kanye West
• Britney Spears
• Mariah Carey
• Spoon
• Elvis Costello

Perry Farrell performs on Sunday at Lollapalooza
Photo: Getty Images

CHICAGO — OK, it wasn't the traveling festival that defined a generation a decade ago. But Lollapalooza — a pair of shows in downtown Chicago on Saturday and Sunday — seemed reinvigorated in its new setting despite withering heat, dust storms and some performers' inappropriately dark stage clothing.

(Click here for photos of Weezer, The Pixies, The Killers and more at Lollapalooza 2005.)

Scorching sets by the Killers, the Pixies, Weezer, Spoon, Louis XIV, a reunited Dinosaur Jr. and the Arcade Fire were among the weekend's highlights. But with 60 performers on six stages, whether you were into hippie jams (Blue Merle, Widespread Panic), Latintronica (Los Amigos Invisibles), psychedelic freakouts (the Dandy Warhols, the Warlocks), or new-wave power pop (OK Go, the Changes), festival co-founder Perry Farrell had something for each of the nearly 66,000 people who showed up over both days — even if the lineup lacked the diversity of past Lollas in favor of lots of indie rock played by (mostly) young white guys.

Rather than the usual outdoor sheds Lolla has played in the past, this year's festival was located among four baseball fields in the middle of the Chicago waterfront's sprawling Grant Park. With the four main stages alternating activity at opposite ends of the field all day, attendees ebbed and flowed like a large dusty amoeba. By early Saturday, the field was filled with couples, clusters — and families.

Yes, families. With free attendance for kids younger than 10, strollers appeared as hip a fashion accessory as lip rings. Parents with shorties in tow steadily rolled over to Kidzapalooza, located in a shady grove off the main drag. Kid-friendly performers, an instrument "petting zoo" where wee ones could try out real rock gear, and a tentful of professional stylists sculpting punk hairdos offered diversions for the strollerpalooza set.

Saturday's early performers hit a thematic get-back groove, ranging from the Beatles-y pop of Chicago's Redwalls and the psychedelic goth noise of Los Angeles' Warlocks to the electronic jams of France's M83 and the Dead 60s' Clash-inspired dub-reggae rock.

Pleasant surprises included former Porno for Pyros guitarist Pete DiStefano's kids-stage set of acoustic songs from his new album. While some tykes looked a bit bewildered during "Hypocrisy," their parents perked up when Farrell emerged to jam on a few Porno songs. In addition to "Pets" (who knew it could be a children's song?), the pair unveiled the new "Agua." Farrell — wearing a striped shirt, brown pants and a short, dazzling clownlike tie — said the tune, written while he vacationed in Samoa, was about "being like a dolphin and swimming away when people try to talk to you." This time the kids nodded while parents looked confused.

Former Chicagoan Liz Phair got off to a rocky start, seeming nervous and somewhat out of step with her band on "Supernova" and the midtempo title track from her upcoming album, Somebody's Miracle, due in October. But Phair hit her groove a few songs in with the decidedly family-unfriendly "F--- and Run."

Across the field, meanwhile, the Kaiser Chiefs were throwing down a sweaty "I Predict a Riot" during which singer Ricky Wilson climbed up a lighting rig to get a better view of the growing crowd. Dashboard Confessional's emo set was nearly drowned out by the shambolic Brian Jonestown Massacre, who punctuated their allotted hour of whispered dreamy folk pop (and repeated slagging of Dashboard) with long bouts of tuning up and knob-twiddling by frontman Anton Newcombe.

Unlike past Lollas, this year's event was light on sideshow diversions, DJs and hip-hop. A far-flung side stage featured Cypress Hill DJ Muggs' mash-up set, a b-boy breakdance demonstration and sparsely attended DJ sets over the weekend from Mark Farina, Z-Trip and Chicago house legend Derrick Carter.

The main stages, though, drew huge late-afternoon crowds for Cake, the Bravery and buff old-school punk Billy Idol. When Billy yelled "Sweat, sweat, sweat!" during "Dancing With Myself," it wasn't hard for the audience to comply as the temperature rose to a steamy 95-plus degrees. Listeners got a brief break when a light rain fell, but by the time Ohio duo the Black Keys took the stage an hour later for a blistering set of Delta blues, the only thing to remind the weary crowd of water were the two huge inflatable ducks onstage with Primus.

It was a rough night to be New York's Walkmen, with most of the crowd checking out the sunset gig by alt-rock gods the Pixies. The crowd chanted along to alterna-hits such as "Bone Machine" and "U Mass" and shouted out the choruses to lesser-knowns like "Caribou" and "I Bleed." A surprisingly large contingent also threw up six fingers during "Monkey Gone to Heaven" in conjunction with the line, "And the devil is six." As the sun set behind Sears Tower, profusely sweaty singer Frank Black sang about "big, big love" in "Gigantic," making for a postcard-perfect end to a long peaceful day in the grass.

But not before the day's only main-stage hip-hop act, the reunited Digable Planets trio, lost out attendance-wise to show closers Weezer. Rivers Cuomo and company hit a home run with a mix of classics ("Undone — The Sweater Song") and recent hits ("We Are All on Drugs," "Beverly Hills"). If the Pixies are the unofficial rulers of the aging alternative nation, Lollapalooza's national anthem is "Buddy Holly," which even the weariest 'Paloozers were crooning as the night wound to a close.

Sunday

With news that Sunday's temperature would creep dangerously past 100 degrees, it seemed probable that day two's crowd would be thinner — and it was, at first. While many families stayed away, diehards slathered on sunscreen, guzzled water and bopped along to OK Go's unironic noontime rendering of their hit, "You're So Damn Hot." Sunday's only mainstage hip-hop performer, conscious poet Saul Williams, mesmerized the lunchtime crowd with a flaming set of rhymes about black identity and antimaterialism complemented by a thick stew of piano samples and DJ Ad Lib's beats.

Following a set by reunited indie-rock legends Dinosaur Jr., Farrell used a midday slot to debut his latest project, Satellite Party. The unlikely mash-up of No Doubt bassist Tony Kanal and former Extreme guitarist Nuno Bettencourt played a meandering set of jam-funk originals with such titles as "Revolution Solution" and "Flash Mob," with Farrell musing aloud about space travel and parties among the planets.

Just when it seemed the 33,000 brave souls who endured another scorching day had nothing left in them — although, surprisingly, only 60 people were treated for heat over the course of the weekend — Montreal's Arcade Fire turned up the temperature another notch. Dressed in black like an Amish party band, the nine-piece group played a manic set of songs from their 2004 debut, Funeral. Singer Win Butler was treated like a conquering hero when he jumped into the audience after a lovely extended take on "Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)," wading all the way to the rear as the crowd parted before him and offered hundreds of sweaty high fives and hugs.

Unlike Sara Quin of Tegan and Sara (who succumbed to the heat during their set), Las Vegas' Killers seemed unfazed by the setting sun's glare as natty singer Brandon Flowers worked the stage in a plaid jacket over a black T-shirt and tight black pants. He barely broke a sweat during "Jenny Was a Friend of Mine" and worked what looked like the weekend's biggest crowd into a frenzy during their hit "Smile."

Though Flowers and company were wisely booked for the day after their nemeses in the Bravery, you could be forgiven for thinking things were going to get ugly when Jonestown Massacre's Newcombe was spotted sitting onstage during the Dandy Warhols' set of droning freak rock. Although portrayed as his arch enemies in last year's acclaimed rock documentary, "Dig," the Portland band invited Newcombe to join them for a long rambling take on the Massacre's "Oh Lord" and "Jesus," thus confounding at least some Dandy fans.

Farrell was surely smiling somewhere as the sticky night ended with Death Cab for Cutie's emo anthems and Widespread Panic's second set of extended improv rock bouncing off one another from opposite ends of the park. He'd earlier envisaged a satellite party in space, and now, rather than emptying out into a generic parking lot, his people were instead wandering through Grant Park's urban oasis, stopping to gaze at majestic Buckingham Fountain's changing colors and temporarily transforming at least one corner of Chicago into an earthbound version of his cosmic dream.

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

• Weezer
• The Pixies
• The Killers
• Spoon
• Louis XIV

Bonnaroo 2007 Performances

• The National
• Lily Allen
• Damien Rice
• Regina Spektor
• Damian "Junior Gong" Marley

Spoon live at the Warfield San Fancisco 11.16.2005

• Spoon

MTV Exclusive: Spoon Photos

• Spoon

SXSW 2003 Highlight Photos

• D4
• Death Cab For Cutie
• The Flaming Sideburns
• Idlewild
• Me First and the Gimme Gimmes