Metallica's James Hetfield
Photo: MJ Kim/ Getty Images

This summer, the annual heavy-metal circus named for one of the genre's most outspoken rebels will return, but in a scaled-down form. This year's Ozzfest won't be traveling the country, but will be a one-day destination festival, set for Pizza Hut Park in Dallas on August 9.

Headlining the day's events will be Metallica and Ozzy Osbourne himself. Also set for the main stage are System of a Down frontman Serj Tankian, Hellyeah, Korn frontman Jonathan Davis, Cavalera Conspiracy, Shadows Fall, Apocalyptica and In This Moment. There will also be a special all-star tribute to slain Pantera guitarist "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott.

On the second stage, the Ozzfest camp has secured Sevendust, DevilDriver, Kingdom of Sorrow, Soilent Green, Witchcraft and Goatwhore. Meanwhile, a third stage, dubbed the "Texas Stage," will feature local favorites the Sword, Drowning Pool and Rigor Mortis.

"Ozzy just finished an 11-month world tour, so I think he deserves a summer off," Sharon Osbourne, the brains behind Ozzfest, said in a statement. "We're going to be a stadium destination festival for now — we have gone past doing the sheds every summer. We've given everyone else the blueprint, and we have to keep evolving Ozzfest. This is just the beginning. Ozzy has great relationships with all of the bands that have played Ozzfest. We're the only real festival for harder-edge bands, and these artists have been very loyal to us — there is lots of love on this lineup."

Tickets for this year's Ozzfest will go on sale May 31.

Rumors that Ozzfest would be diminished to a two-day destination festival began earlier this year, after Warped Tour mastermind Kevin Lyman announced the inaugural run of his Rockstar Energy Mayhem festival, which boasts a lineup featuring Slipknot, Disturbed, Mastodon, DragonForce, Airborne, Five Finger Death Punch, 36 Crazyfists, Machine Head, Black Tide, Suicide Silence, the Red Chord and Walls of Jericho. That tour will get under way July 9 in Seattle and runs through August 19 in Buffalo, New York.

Many speculated that the competition would be too much for the Ozzfest camp, which offered free admission to last year's gigs. None of the bands that played last year's Ozzfest were paid, outside of merchandise sales, and they were encouraged to play shows on off-nights. In recent years, critics have slammed Ozzfest, saying that the festival's influence and grandeur has started to wane.

• Lamb Of God, Lordi, More At Ozzfest In Devore, California, 7.21.07
• Ozzfest: A Look Back
• Building Ozzfest 2006

• Metallica
• System of a Down
• Korn
• Ozzy Osbourne

Scars On Broadway
Photo: Greg Watermann

For Daron Malakian, there is no System of a Down — there's only Scars on Broadway, the band he formed with System's drummer, John Dolmayan, soon after the Serj Tankian-fronted act went on an indefinite hiatus back in 2006. Let there be no confusion on the matter: Scars is not a side project, it's Malakian's band — his only band. And we'd all better get used to it.

"There's no talk of System doing anything," said Malakian, System's gifted guitarist and one of the chief creative forces behind the alt-metal maniacs. "We're not planning on doing anything. If anyone's holding their breath for a System record, they're going to turn blue and pass out. It's a long ways away, if it ever even happens. We don't even talk about it — none of us. This is my band right now."

In fact, Malakian said he plans on releasing at least two Scars on Broadway records before he even starts to think about System's next opus. And with the way he's been writing songs lately, chances are there might be a third Scars LP before System's triumphant return.

"I should be finished with vocals in the next couple of weeks," he said of his band's forthcoming self-titled album, which he doesn't expect in stores until after the summer. "All we have to do after that is mix the record. I've been in the studio for months now, and we had 15 songs when we first hit the studio in September. We tracked those 15 songs, and then I had, like, maybe five or six songs I felt I really needed to get off my chest. So I took the band back to my house where we were rehearsing, and in a matter of a month, we had those songs written, and we headed back into the studio in late November and tracked those additional songs."

That gives Malakian 21 songs he can use for Scars' inaugural offering. "Now the tough part's choosing which songs will make the album," he explained. "About 18 of them compete well with each other, when it comes to the quality of the song and how I feel about them. If it's not some of the best material I've ever done, I don't want to use it."

With all these songs on tape, would Malakian consider releasing two albums back-to-back, as System did in 2005 with Mezmerize and Hypnotize? "I don't want to do that again," he said with a relieved chuckle. "I mean, it's possible. I do want people to hear the rest of the songs in some way, shape or form. Maybe we'll release an EP or just get them out there online."

Of course, Scars on Broadway have been percolating for some time now, but no one knows just what to expect from the album — some might listen to the record thinking they're getting System of a Down Lite. But Malakian, who compliments Dolmayan's drum work on the LP, said that's the wrong approach to take with Scars.

"I think [John is] playing better now than he ever has," Malakian said. "The music on the record is more rock-driven. ... See, there's two sides to my writing: this really aggressive, heavy, attitude side, and then there's the softer, vulnerable side. You got both sides with System, and I feel Scars has that same dynamic, but it seems like the heavier stuff is more driven, in a rock way, and a lot of the stuff is more ... I hear a lot of my '60s influence coming out in these songs. I hear it as being less of a metal band too. Nothing against metal ... I think there are some overtones that are still there, in the music. But we're more of a rock band than a metal band, and that's just the natural evolution of where I am with my writing."

Working on the Scars record wasn't much different from working on a SOAD record, Malakian said. But it was different — and the guitarist is nervous about how his new band is going to be accepted by the System faithful.

"Most people assume that the process was different for me, but it wasn't," he said. "My approach of how I write and how I've written songs — nothing's changed. The only difference is ... I knew I was singing these songs. Usually, if I have somebody else in mind to sing a song, that person automatically comes out in my writing. It's sort of like writing for a character in a script. This time, there weren't two characters — just me. So it catered more to my style, my range, my vocals, my lyrics. The one difference is I didn't have Serj on my mind while I was writing these songs, because I knew he wouldn't be singing these songs.

"And I have to admit, I am nervous, but I have always been nervous when it comes to putting out an album," Malakian continued. "I always want to grow and top myself."

While Scars on Broadway have no definite touring plans yet — they've assembled a band of hired guns and are hoping to hit the road late this summer after debuting at the Coachella Festival in April — Malakian can't wait for people to hear what he's been working on.

"It's another evolution," he said. "Everyone who hears it says [that]. Anyone who has heard it says it feels like it's a natural evolution, and it is an evolution. It's a different sound that doesn't completely branch away from what my signature stuff is. It does have its own life, its own identity, which was not easy to achieve. But I'm still growing as an artist, and personally, I'm still writing stuff I feel is powerful. I haven't lost my fire as a writer yet."

• System of a Down

Himsa
Photo: Century Media

There are three things Himsa frontman John Pettibone has always wanted to accomplish as a musician — he's been keeping a mental list ever since he started making music. So far he's checked off one of the goals, but he hopes Himsa's latest record, Summon in Thunder — which came out in mid-September — will help him with the other two.

"I always wanted to be on 'Headbangers Ball,' because I grew up watching Riki Rachtman," said Pettibone, who is also an avid fan of horror films and has been skateboarding the last 23 years. "We were on the show twice, so I was pretty excited about that. I would also love for Himsa to be on a horror-movie soundtrack. And I've always wanted to be in Thrasher magazine. So I've got one of the three done." For good measure, he added: "Oh, and if we ever toured or played a show with Slayer, I'd be set."

Those are modest goals for a band like Himsa, who have been around since 1998. But according to Pettibone, the Seattle-hailing metalcore madmen are prepared to take their career to the next level, as he says they did with their sound on Summon in Thunder.

"We've really progressed with this record, and we're all really proud of it," he said. "We've all been playing in bands for quite a lot longer than Himsa's been around, and it's one of those things where we're completely proud of what we've done, and we've gotten to a point where we have a definite sound. ... We've gone through all the struggles, and that's what keeps all of us sane. We've been on really bad tours, slept on floors for many years, and it's that drive and ethic that we've always kept in the band that makes it a little more special. We've seen the worst, and we've been through the worst, so any gain we're happy with."

For those of you who haven't heard the new album yet, Pettibone says the album is a perfect mixture between their 2003 album, Courting Tragedy and Disaster, and 2006's Hail Horror.

"I think the aggression of the record will surprise people," he said. "There is melody there, but not like before. ... We steered clear of the way the metal scene has been going, with thick breakdowns and clean vocals — we didn't want to do what's popular right now. We went for more of that thrash sound that we love. We grew up in the '80s on East Bay thrash, and we took those elements and went the opposite way the scene's going, and people are digging it. So I can't complain.

"It's a record that, even if I wasn't in the band, I'd be like, 'God, I love these guys,' " he continued. "It sounds like a band I would truly follow."

So what exactly is the new Himsa sound?

"Honestly, we didn't change anything besides working with a new producer," the singer said, adding that he partnered with Strapping Young Lad frontman/producer Devin Townsend (Lamb of God, Soilwork) to work on his vocals. "It was great. Our intention was to try and get him for the whole record, but because of his schedule, we had about a [weeklong] span where he could fit us in. His specialty is vocals anyways, but I was a little nervous to work with him, because I work at a local club in Seattle, and Strapping always played there, and I'd see how manic he'd get. I didn't know what it would be like to work with him. But the first minute I met him, we were instant friends."

The band also worked with Steve Carter (Cradle of Filth, Alien Crime Syndicate), who helmed Courting Tragedy and Disaster, and reunited with Tue Madsen (Aborted, Suicide Silence), who mixed and engineered Hail Horror.

"All of us combined got us to that next level," he said. "We also had some more time to work on this record than we'd had before. We used to do tours, then come home, write for a month, record for a month, and then go back on the road. This time, we had about a year off. We were home for a while, and the creative juices just started flowing. Seattle's a very gray, somber city — even the look of it — and we were surrounded by forest. That environment plays a big part in how we write, too."

Pettibone said he pulled 12-hour days for an entire week while working with Townsend at his studio in Vancouver, British Columbia. "I've never felt more comfortable in any project I've ever done," he explained. "I'd definitely love to work with him again. We're all big fans of Devin's work. ... We'd like to nail him down as [our next] album's producer, but we'll see if that happens.

"The thing about Devin is, he didn't push me," Pettibone continued. "We kept doing take after take, but he's so focused on pronunciation, and I'd never had a problem with that before — people told me they could understand what I was saying, not like a lot of other bands these days. But with Devin, he'd tell me to give him more 'R' in this word, or more 'P' in that one, and slowly, I understood what he was getting at, and by the end of the week, I knew what he wanted."

Fans who pick up Summon in Thunder will find inside the package a DVD featuring a three-part segment on the making of the album. One segment, Pettibone said, was shot during his week with Townsend, and as you might imagine, hijinx definitely ensued.

"It's pretty hilarious — just me and Devin, messing around in Vancouver, filming people on the streets," he said. "It's pretty damn funny."

More craziness will likely ensue later this month, when Himsa launch a U.S. with Amon Amarth, Sonic Syndicate and, at least tentatively, Decapitated. The trek kicks off November 19 in San Diego and wraps December 19 in Los Angeles. According to the band's publicist, it's still unknown whether Decapitated will make the tour, considering two of their members are still in the hospital after sustaining serious head injuries during a car accident in Russia. The band hasn't been officially removed from the bill as of yet.

Himsa also have a pair of music videos that are making the rounds online — one for "Unleash Carnage," which features a faux heated tennis match inspired by Wes Anderson's 2001 film, "The Royal Tenenbaums," and another for "Big Timber," which also has an interesting concept.

"We're all sasquatches, and we're playing these instruments in the forest," Pettibone explained. "A friend of ours made it using puppets. In the video, we have to cut down this tree to make the instruments, and the tree seeks revenge on us. It's kind of cool."

The rest of the week's metal news:

There's some sad news to report Friday (November 2), as Decapitated drummer Witold "Vitek" Kieltyka died in a Russian hospital from injuries he'd sustained in a recent road collision. He was 23 years old. According to reports, Vitek underwent trepanation, a form of surgery in which a hole is drilled or scraped into the skull, and was due to be transported to a hospital in Krakow, Poland, for further treatment. ...

Opeth frontman Mikael Åkerfeldt has revealed that the Swedish metallers have started recording their next studio album, the follow-up to 2005's Ghost Reveries. "The album is now written and the demos sound fantastic," he wrote in a statement. "I don't wanna say too much but ... gee, it is so f---ing good — if I may say so myself." Åkerfeldt said fans can expect the album in stores in the spring. ... While System of a Down singer Serj Tankian revels in the success of his debut solo album, Elect the Dead, drummer John Dolmayan and guitarist Daron Malakian are knee-deep in writing and recording the debut album from their new band, Scars on Broadway, which is tentatively scheduled for release in the summer. But Dolmayan's got a solo venture of his own — and it's got nothing to do with music. On Thursday, Dolmayan launched the Web site TorpedoComics.com, an Internet retail store that carries more than 15 million items, including comic books, toys, graphic novels, trade paperbacks, superhero action figures and other comic book-related memorabilia that range in price from 99 cents to over $100,000. ...

"Fight: War of Words - The Film" will debut in select movie theaters before its DVD release on November 20. The movie chronicles the history of the band frontman Rob Halford formed after initially leaving Judas Priest in 1991, and features professional footage shot in the studio and on the road. Along with the DVD, Halford will release Fight K5 - The War of Words Demos, which includes original album demos and five new Fight tracks. ... Talk about DIY: Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson will be the one flying the plane when the band flies from city to city on its upcoming tour. Dickinson, a licensed pilot, will fly the band from Tokyo to Los Angeles for its February 19 show at the Forum, after which he will take Maiden to their next gig, in Mexico. Similarly, Dickinson will shuttle the group from Puerto Rico the day before its March 14 show in New Jersey, and leave for Toronto the day after. Traveling will be conducted on a specially commissioned and customized Boeing 757, with eager groupies likely to be among the passengers. ...

New York doom-metal band Unearthly Trance have finished their fourth full-length album, Electrocution, which is scheduled for a spring release. The disc was recorded with producer Sanford Parker (Rwake, Minsk) at Chicago's Volume Studios. Tracks include "Diseased," "The Scum Is in Orbit" and "Burn You Insane." ... Dynamic Canadian outfit Protest the Hero have settled on a January 29 release date for their second disc, Fortress. The album — constructed over the summer with producer Julius "Juice" Butty (Alexisonfire) at Silo Studios in Hamilton, Ontario — was originally scheduled for release this month but was bumped for logistical reasons. "Bloodmeat," "Bone Marrow" and "Limb From Limb" are three of the 10 tracks on the disc, which will be the follow-up to the band's 2006 debut, Kezia. ... The debut album by pummeling Swedish thrash-groove band Scarpoint, The Silence We Deserve, will be released Tuesday. The disc was produced by Daniel Bergstrand (Meshuggah, In Flames) and includes "Imposture," "Behind the Shadows" and "Disorder." ...

Las Vegas melodic thrash band Hemlock are hard at work on their fourth, yet-untitled album, which will be released on their new label, Blind Prophecy Records, in 2008. The group has scheduled a batch of shows starting November 10 in El Paso, Texas, and running through December 1 in Gallup, New Mexico. Hemlock's last release was 2006's Pigeonholed. ... A set of vinyl picture discs by late Swedish black-metal forefathers Bathory will be released November 27. The box will feature all 12 of the band's studio albums, each encased in a hardcover Bathory logo sleeve. Pre-orders begin November 13. The collection will be the first release in a distribution deal between Black Mark Records and Relapse Records. "Black Mark is glad to announce that we have become a part of the Relapse family," Börje Forsberg, father of Bathory frontman Quorthon and co-owner of Black Mark, said in a statement. "There is no doubt that Relapse and Black Mark work well together: Metal for the World!" ... French death/black-metal band Belphegor will release the follow-up to 2006's Pestapokalypse VI on April 15. Frontman Helmuth started writing the album in May 2006, and on November 9, the band plans to begin recording the disc's nine songs with producer Andy Classen at Stage One Studios in Kassel, Germany. The yet-untitled disc will be tracked in three sessions before being mastered in mid-January. "I'm so motivated, and it feels extremely good to be creative again," Helmuth said in a statement. "This album is the next logical chapter for the band's development. I would go into the deepest fire and give my last drop of blood for this work. Lemme tell you, the nine sound collages sound huge. It's f---ing TNT."

• Himsa
• Opeth
• System of a Down
• Iron Maiden

Serj Tankian
Photo: MTV News

It's six days until Serj Tankian's inaugural solo debut, Elect the Dead, hits record stores, and yet, the wild-eyed System of a Down frontman is already mulling his next album and the direction he wants to take with it. In fact, the dude's stockpiled about 4,500 songs he's written over the last few years from which to mine.

"They're not all like [the songs on Elect the Dead]," he said (see "System Of A Down Frontman Serj Tankian On Intimate Solo LP: 'I Believe In It' "). "They're not all rock or pop or anything like that. I've got classical music, electronic compositions, experimental songs, noise, punk, metal — I have a lot of different types of music because when I have free time, I write music, regardless of what project I'm working on at the time. I will always have more material than I can afford to release."

For album numero dos, Tankian is thinking he'd like to take his sound in a more orchestral direction, with jazz numbers interspersed throughout.

"I have some songs written and recorded for it, and I think it will be a more jazzy, orchestral record, which is kind of what I wanted to do with this [Elect the Dead]," he said. "If you strip down all these songs from Elect the Dead into their original form — with pianos, strings, acoustic guitars — they're very classically written songs, but they kind of asked for the rock instruments. I kind of ended up with a rock record without even anticipating it myself because the songs asked for those dynamics — of drums and guitars. So I started arranging them that way, and when I was done, I was like, 'Damn, I came up with a rock record again.' For the next one, I think I want it to be a really heavy, guttural record without the heavy instruments. That's the next challenge for me."

With System of a Down on an indefinite hiatus (see "System Of A Down Aren't Breaking Up — They're Going On Hiatus"), Tankian will surely have plenty of time to work on Elect the Dead's follow-up. Like the rest of his bandmates, Tankian felt it was time to take a break from System, so he could "make the record [he] was meant to make." And no, he hasn't been approached to work with Achozen, System bassist Shavo Odadjian's project with Wu-Tang Clan's RZA; or Scars on Broadway, the side project started by SOAD guitarist Daron Malakian and drummer John Dolmayan. Not yet, anyway.

"I think it would be too much like System if that were the case," he explained, "but I am looking forward to hearing [Scars on Broadway's] music. The stuff I've heard from Shavo is amazing though. The thing is, we're all friends. We started out together, and we formed this amazing band that we've been a part of for 11 years. We put out five records, and we're supportive of each other and what we're all doing."

For the foreseeable future, Tankian will be on his own — well, that's not entirely true. On Friday in Chicago, the setting for Serj's first live gig as a solo artist and the first date on Tankian's tour with opener the Nightwatchman (a.k.a. Rage Against the Machine's Tom Morello), he revealed his backing band to the world: the Flying Cu--s of Chaos, or "FCC" for short. The group features Primus' Larry LaLonde and Buckethead collaborator Dan Monti on guitars, Mario Pagliarulo on bass, and others.

"The FCC stands for Federal Communications Commission, the agency that penalizes people, journalists, artists — people that cuss in the press," he said. "Not the politicians; they're obviously immune to it. So I thought it would be cool to make the FCC a cuss word. That way, they can penalize themselves."

Tankian and the FCC will soon head over to Europe, the singer said, to open for the Foo Fighters, who he teamed up with during the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards for a cover of the Dead Kennedys' "Holiday in Cambodia." He said he plans to spend much of next year on the road in support of Elect and also admitted that he's slightly nervous about playing live without System behind him.

"It's more like nervous-excitement energy, to get up and do it again with a different outfit and stuff," he said. "But I've been onstage at different events in the past with different bands by myself, so it won't be that bad. Yes, I'm a little excited, a little nervous, but it's what I do."

On Elect, Tankian does what he's always done — expressed his thoughts on political issues and "life in general." He said that "romantic relationships, the war in Iraq, hypocrisy over genocide denial, film, other music, poetry and other artists" all had a bearing on the project. But Tankian's political musings aren't anything new; he's long been one of the artists whom fans have relied on to take a stand on political issues. These days, speaking out is in vogue, with several artists finally publicly chiming in with their views and ire over the current state of the world. But why did it take so long for others to join the crusade?

"Part of it is the backlash from commercial culture on people that speak out, and I felt a lot of that after September 11 when I wrote 'Understanding Oil,' " an essay he posted on System of a Down's Web site soon after the attacks on New York, he said. "We had a lot of people dropping [System single] 'Chop Suey' from radio at the time because of that essay. There was a strong reactionism prevailing in the country, based on what happened on September 11, which is understandable. Years later, when we can look at things with more intellect, in a more balanced way, and see how our democracy's been hijacked into abusing our patriotism to do things in other countries — like occupying other countries, wreaking havoc in other places based on oil concerns or strategic geopolitical concerns — then we're a little more aware. People are saying, 'Yes, our name was abused to do all of these things, but I am not for those things anymore.' And that's where we're at right now. Public opinion has drastically changed, and a lot of artists are speaking out, which is encouraging. But it's always easier to speak out when public opinion is on your side."

Beyond touring and working on his next LP, Tankian recently teamed up with Wyclef Jean on a track called "Trouble Again" for the ex-Fugee's forthcoming offering, Carnival II: Memoirs of an Immigrant, which is due December 4.

"He sent me the track and said, 'Check it out, and let me know what you think and if you want to do something on this,' and I thought it was a very progressive song," Tankian said. "I like progressive music — things that change, tempo changes, parts that change. I thought it was a really great song, and I did my own poetic, rhythmical talking — if you want call that rap, go ahead, but I wouldn't — and some other little taglines here and there."

• Serj Tankian Channels The Great Beyond On Solo LP

• Serj Tankian
• System of a Down

Mary J. Blige
Photo: Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images

Word to Mike Seaver and Boner: Mary J. Blige has some Growing Pains of her own. The singer has settled on that as the title for her new album — and has bumped its release by a week, from November 20 to November 27. The first single is called "Just Fine" and will be released to radio on Thursday (September 27). The track was produced by Jazze Pha and Tricky Stewart (Britney Spears, Mya), and is an uptempo party record with a dance/disco sound. On the track, Mary expresses the joy of having high self-esteem. "No time for moping around/ Are you kidding?" she sings. "And no time for negative vibes, 'cause I'm winning ... Got my head on straight, got my vibe right, ain't gonna let you kill it/ See, I wouldn't change, my life's just fine." ...

Is Kanye West the next MLK, Gandhi or Jesus? His mother, Donda West, didn't shy away from such comparisons in a recent interview with the Baltimore Sun — she was in town to promote her recent book, "Raising Kanye." "Kanye keeps it real," she said. "He touches the people. You never know how words can save a person's life, physically or otherwise. People like Martin Luther King or Mahatma Gandhi or, in my view, Barack Obama, or Jesus Christ — people whose job it is to tell the truth — I see that in Kanye. Now, people like you are gonna go, 'Oh, Kanye's mom said he's like Jesus!' but ... when you have a gift, you didn't get it by yourself. ... Your truth is your truth." ...

Amy Winehouse isn't one to hold back either — the troubled U.K. starlet has named her new DVD "I Told You I Was Trouble," according to Uncut magazine. Packed onto the disc is a documentary, a full concert she played in April at London's Shepherds Bush Empire, her "Rehab" performance from the Brit Awards, an early acoustic version of "There Is No Greater Love" and more. "I Told You I Was Trouble" will drop November 6, her publicist confirmed to MTV News. ...

Paul Wall's next album is going to have more of a rock edge, now that Travis Barker is producing it. "Paul usually stays around the same element," Barker told MTV News in Las Vegas while he was in town for the VMAs. "Most of the Houston stuff is slow and real feel-good. This has faster tempos. Still feel-good, but it'll be different for Paul." ... Before he took his wild imagination to the big screen with "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," French director Michel Gondry was best known for his frequent collaborations with Björk, perhaps most memorably on the video for her song "Human Behaviour." Now the two are at it again. Gondry revealed to MTV News that a month from now, he will be directing the music video for "Declare Independence," from the Icelandic singer's latest album, Volta. ... Dave Grohl is getting axed — Gibson Guitar has come up with a new specialized model, the DG-335, for the Foo Fighters frontman. The instrument — which has a rare Pelham blue finish and looks like Grohl's signature guitar — will be available October 4. The price tag for the blue model is $4,468, while the ebony version is a bit cheaper at $3,880. ...

Evan Rachel Wood apparently isn't too afraid of boyfriend Marilyn Manson's fans. "I do feel [some of] his fans like me," she told People for its new issue, which streets Friday. But the actress revealed that she was a little more nervous about Manson seeing her sing onscreen in the new flick "Across the Universe." "I was shy because I didn't want to scare him off," she said. "I'm a singer too! Listen to me! But he's been really supportive, it's great. He's encouraged me about my singing more than anybody." The shock-rocker wasn't the only one who inspired Wood to sing, however — she also name-dropped David Bowie and let it be known that she has a tattoo of his Aladdin Sane lightning bolt. She also has matching tattoos with Manson. "We both got black hearts," she said. "It represents mad love." ...

The Smashing Pumpkins have issued a statement regarding the death of a man at their concert in Vancouver, British Columbia, Monday night, in what police believe was a crowd-surfing accident. "The Smashing Pumpkins were deeply saddened to learn about the passing of a young man who attended their Vancouver show Monday night," read the statement, which was posted on their Web site. "As they and everyone else await news from the investigation into the nature of his passing, the band wants to express their sincerest condolences to his family and friends." ... Vivica A. Fox pleaded not guilty to two misdemeanor counts of drunk driving on Thursday, The Associated Press reports. The actress, who was arrested after being caught speeding in March, could face up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine if convicted. ...

Paris in Rwanda: Hilton is making good on her promise to engage in philanthropic efforts by traveling to the impoverished African country, according to "Access Hollywood." The heiress will travel with a member of Playing for Good, a group that connects celebrities with charity organizations, and she is expected to make a financial contribution as well. According to TMZ.com, Hilton will go to Rwanda in November after she finishes filming her horror rock opera "Repo! The Genetic Opera." ... Will Ferrell's charity auction has been won by a Dallas man, and his 10-year-old son will get the chance to play an extra in Ferrell's upcoming "Step Brothers" flick, People reports. The man, who has chosen to remain anonymous, put in a winning bid of $47,000, which will go to the Cancer for College foundation run by Ferrell's friend Craig Pollard. ...

Looks like it's almost Tool time again: The indefatigable heavy-rock band is putting together yet another stretch of dates in support of 10,000 Days, which came out way back in May 2006. Dates have yet to be confirmed, but according to Tool's site, they're stirring up a stretch across the West Coast that will begin in mid-November and last until Christmas. ... Lollapalooza founder Perry Farrell recently told MTV News' Tim Kash that he wants to see the fest travel across the world "before I die," but while those plans haven't come about yet, the dates are in place for next year's annual Chicago installment. Lolla will go down August 1-3, once again at Grant Park. ...

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band's Magic isn't happening until Tuesday, but they snuck out a vinyl version of the release on Wednesday that will allow it to be considered for the Grammys, according to the Los Angeles Times. ... The Wu-Tang Clan's Killah Priest has been added to several dates on Bury Your Dead's upcoming headlining run. Look for him to take the stage in Richmond, Virginia (October 17); Wilmington, North Carolina (October 18); Jacksonville, Florida (October 19); and Tampa, Florida (October 20). ... Bad news for fans of hardcore hip-hoppers Twiztid: The band's upcoming Toxic Terror Tour, featuring openers Mower, has been nixed following a recent car accident involving Twiztid's Monoxide. He suffered a torn ACL muscle in his knee, which will require he stays off it for the next month or so. ...

While System of a Down's members go off and do their own things — what with the band on hiatus — drummer John Dolmayan has firmed up plans for his new comic book site, TorpedoComics.com. The Internet retail shop goes live November 1 and will boast some 15 million items, including comics, toys, graphic novels, trade paperbacks, superhero action figures and other related memorabilia. Dolmayan has also teamed with guitarist Daron Malakian for a new project, Scars on Broadway. ... Former Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee, former Anthrax frontman Joey Belladonna, ex-Megadeth bassist Dave Ellefson and Sevendust singer Lajon Witherspoon are among the celebrities who'll appear at the Morgan Rose Celebrity Golf Classic, scheduled for November 15-16 at the Heritage Golf Club in Tucker, Georgia. Proceeds from the event will help support the Atlanta Children's Shelter. ...

Mudvayne will release their latest LP, By the People, for the People, on November 27. The disc will boast several live recordings, rarities, demos and two new studio tracks, "Dull Boy" and a cover of the Police's "King of Pain." The album will be entirely fan-generated; the band is asking its fans to participate in creating the album's contents. Fans can visit the band's Web site and MySpace pageMySpace page to help pick the track list, submit fan-generated album artwork and participate in creating the video for "Dull Boy," the first single. ...

Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth," which has been shown in some college and high school classrooms, got blowback earlier this year when a Washington school put a moratorium on the global-warming movie. Now a British school governor is taking an even stronger measure by suing the British government for distributing the movie to more than 3,500 secondary schools, according to AP. Paul Downes, a lawyer for Stewart Dimmock, said, "Given the serious inaccuracies in the film and the misrepresentations it contains, the film is irredeemable." The lawyer added that even though the movie has already been shown to some students, the High Court could still rule that the government had acted unlawfully and cease distributing it. ...

There's no stopping the Martin Scorsese rock-doc train. The esteemed director, who has directed films about the Rolling Stones, the Band and Bob Dylan in the past, will focus his lens next on the life of George Harrison, according to Variety. Scorsese will produce the yet-untitled picture with Harrison's widow, Olivia, and the late guitarist's former Beatles bandmates Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr will also participate. The flick will revolve around Harrison's time in the Beatles and his later years, and also touch on his involvement with Eastern spirituality as well. In related news, McCartney and Starr are participating in Liverpool, England's European Capital of Culture celebration. Macca will perform at the Anfield soccer stadium on June 1. Starr will return to the city — where the Beatles hailed from — for a ceremony at St. George's Hall on January 11, and he will also appear at the Echo Arena on January 12.

09.26.07

Mariah Carey got a win in court last week when a federal judge decided that a copyright-infringement case against her had no merit. Singer Rachele Chafir had sued Carey in April 2006, claiming that Carey's hit "It's Like That" was copied from her song "Sexy" and lifted key pieces, including the music, for the chorus. Chafir, who copyrighted the song in 2004, claimed Carey had access to "Sexy" since it was available on a Web site, but U.S. District Court Judge Kimba Wood decided that wasn't proof Carey or her collaborators had gone to the Web site or lifted the material, which wasn't "strikingly similar" enough to be considered infringement. With "no genuine issues of material fact," Wood closed the case. "It was the right decision," Carey's lawyer Ilene Farkas told MTV News. "The record was clear in this case." Meanwhile, Carey is moving on with her yet-untitled follow-up to The Emancipation of Mimi, which her record label confirmed is now due December 4. ...

Going, going ... to Cooperstown. And with an asterisk on it. Baseball star Barry Bonds' record-breaking home-run ball, which was purchased two weeks ago in an online auction by hip-hop fashion mogul Marc Ecko, will be heading to the National Baseball Hall of Fame & Museum after all. Ecko bought the ball and launched a Web site giving fans the chance to vote on the ball's final destination: outer space or to Cooperstown, with or without an asterisk signifying Bonds' alleged steroid use in helping him become the all-time home-run king. The announcement was made Wednesday morning (September 26) on the "Today" show after a week of voting. According to Vote756.com, over 10 million votes were cast, of which 47 percent chose to send the tagged ball to the famed baseball museum. ...

The twisted saga of the investigation into the unsolved 1997 murder of the Notorious B.I.G. took another turn this week when Waymond Anderson, an inmate serving life for murder, recanted testimony in which he had implicated the Los Angeles Police Department in the rapper's murder. The Los Angeles Times reports that Anderson said in a recent deposition that he lied about LAPD involvement as part of a "scam" cooked up with two other convicts to get a big monetary settlement from the city of Los Angeles. Most shockingly, Anderson accused the rapper's family — which has filed a wrongful-death suit seeking damages from the city — and its lawyer of taking part in the scheme and offering to pay him a percentage of the settlement for false testimony against the LAPD. In the August 20 testimony, Anderson said he had never met the officers he implicated, despite earlier statements in which he described conversations with the two disgraced ex-LAPD cops. A lawyer for Biggie's family, Perry Sanders, called Anderson's allegations "100 percent, demonstrably false," adding yet another twist to the already-knotted-up story by saying that Anderson appeared to be changing his story at the behest of Chuck Philips, a Times reporter who has written extensively about the murder investigation and has questioned the theory of LAPD involvement. Phillips and the Times dismissed the allegations. ...

In other Biggie news, the recently released documentary "The Notorious B.I.G.: Bigger Than Life" follows the rapper's life from his early days to his death with interviews from many of the behind-the-scenes music-industry figures and friends who watched the rapper rise from a street-corner hustler to one of the biggest rap stars in the world. The film also features several minutes of previously unreleased footage shot by a bystander of the scene on the night Biggie was gunned down. The fan's video — which director Peter Spirer ("Beef," "Tupac Shakur: Thug Angel") said has been reviewed by authorities — doesn't capture the moment Biggie's car was shot at, but it does have audio of the shots and shaky footage of the chaotic aftermath. ...

Embattled football player Michael Vick is facing stricter release conditions after testing positive for marijuana earlier this month, The Associated Press reports. On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson imposed the new conditions, which include restricting Vick to his home between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. with electronic monitoring and making him submit to random drug tests. He was ordered to continue participating in substance-abuse and mental-health counseling. Vick was put under pretrial release supervision in July, and the restrictions included refraining from the use of narcotic drugs or other controlled substances. The Atlanta Falcons quarterback, who pleaded guilty in August to federal dogfighting charges, is awaiting sentencing December 10 — and Vick's violation of the conditions of his release could be taken into consideration by the judge. He faces up to five years in prison for the federal charges, and has been indicted on additional state charges in Virginia as well. ...

A second woman has filed a lawsuit against Lil Wayne over a melee that broke out during one of his shows at Morgan State University in Baltimore in October. According to an AP story, Carlisa Dixon said she was impaled on a metal pole after the crowd surged to snatch up money that was being tossed from the stage. Dixon is seeking $1 million from Wayne's record label and touring companies, and another $1 million from the university, claiming she underwent surgery for a puncture wound as a result of the crowd surge. A lawsuit was filed in August by another woman who claimed she was trampled in the same money-throwing incident. A spokesperson for Wayne could not be reached for comment at press time. ...

A man died at a Smashing Pumpkins concert in Vancouver, British Columbia, on Monday night in what police think may have been a crowd-surfing or moshing accident. The Canadian Press reports that Vancouver police say the man was unconscious when he was dragged out of the crowd at the Pacific National Exhibition Forum during the show and worked on by first-aid personnel on site before being transported to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Police have ruled out foul play. ... The Voodoo Music Experience is shifting locations, but just slightly. The fest, to take place October 26-28, has a new site in New Orleans City Park to accommodate ongoing restoration and improvement of the park. The shift brings the fest closer to Tad Gormley Stadium, where Voodoo was first held in 1999. ...

Do you march to Nelly's beat? The rapper is cobbling together a marching band for his performance at the BET Hip-Hop Awards on October 13. Auditions will be held Sunday starting at 11 a.m. in New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta, New Orleans and St. Louis, and Nelly is looking for girls who can play drums, tri-toms, bass drum, tuba or trumpet. Prospective players need to know how to perform his song "Grillz" and move to the beat of the song while playing their instruments. Final auditions will be held October 8 in Atlanta, and those who can't make the auditions in person can post a one-minute video clip on Nelly's drum-line-audition site. ... If you've been doubting Swizz Beatz's fashion sense, think again — Gap has tapped the hugely popular producer for its spring ad campaign. ...

VH1 Rock Docs picked up its first Emmy win on Monday as "DMC: My Adoption Journey" earned the award for News & Documentary Emmy for Outstanding Arts & Culture Programming. The program, which revolves around the Run-DMC member's search for his birth mother, premiered in February 2006 and will re-air on VH1 on Saturday at 10 p.m. ... Have you already imported Babyface's Playlist into your own playlist? Then mark you calendar — the singer is putting together a tour in support of his recently released LP. Babyface will play a gig in the Philippines on October 13, followed by a stretch in Japan; after that he'll hit Oakland, California, on November 23, and Sparks, Nevada, the following day. ...

During a recent visit to "The Howard Stern Show," Mötley Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx spoke out about drummer Tommy Lee and his apparent departure from the band. He told Stern that Lee quit, and Sixx blamed the current legal problems the band is having with one of its former managers for the turmoil. Sixx said that, since Lee isn't the Crüe's frontman or chief songwriter, the band should be fine without him. He added that he harbors no ill will toward Lee. ... Snow Patrol keyboardist Tom Simpson was expected to appear in court in Glasgow, Scotland, on Tuesday to answer to drug-possession charges filed against him this summer. While the charges weren't dropped, the prosecution doesn't intend on taking "further action," meaning the charges will either have to be re-raised again or dropped altogether. ...

Pearl Jam guitarist Stone Gossard's side project Brad are getting back together for a one-night-only show on October 17 at New York's Webster Hall. The benefit event will also feature Billy Bragg and be hosted by Tim Robbins. It is being held to support Woody and Marjorie Guthrie, and the 40th anniversary of the Huntington's Disease Society of America, which was founded by Marjorie. ... Puddle of Mudd aren't ones for Southern hospitality, apparently. Frontman Wesley Scantlin has been banned from Memphis' Graceland after hopping in the pool in Elvis Presley's mansion during a tour on Monday. ...

The Eagles will perform on an awards show for the first time when they take the stage at the Country Music Awards, which will air November 7 at 8 p.m. ET on CBS. Carrie Underwood is also slated to perform. ... The Rolling Stones' recent tour didn't just carry the band to the top of Forbes' list of biggest-earning music acts — it landed them in the Guinness World Records, according to Reuters. The classic-rockers' A Bigger Bang tour took $437 million dollars to give them a new record, for the world's most successful music tour. ...

Killswitch Engage and Lamb of God will be teaming up for a late-fall co-headlining tour, which is set to kick off November 28 in Lowell, Massachusetts, with dates booked through December 17 in Rio Rancho, New Mexico. DevilDriver and Soilwork will open on all dates. ... Chris Cornell has added another round of dates to his North American tour, which began in the spring. He has booked another 28 gigs, meaning the trek will continue through November 23, when he's expected to perform at the Pearl Concert Theater at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas. ...

A photo from Elton John's collection has been pulled from a British gallery where it was to be displayed over concerns by police that it might be child pornography. The photo — which was taken by award-winning American photographer Nan Goldin — shows two young girls, one with her legs spread apart, and was to be displayed at the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art in northern England before it was seized by police, according to London's Times Online. John released a statement, explaining, "The photograph entitled 'Klara and Edda belly-dancing' (1998) is one of 149 images comprising the 'Thanksgiving' installation by renowned U.S. photographer Nan Goldin ... The photograph exists as part of the installation as a whole and has been widely published and exhibited throughout the world [and] has been offered for sale at Sotheby's New York in 2002 and 2004, and has previously been exhibited in Houston, London, Madrid [Spain], New York, Portugal, Warsaw [Poland] and Zürich [Switzerland] without any objections of which we are aware."

• Mary J. Blige
• Travis Barker
• Paul Wall
• Marilyn Manson
• The Smashing Pumpkins

Mariah Carey
Photo: Mariah Carey/Getty Images

Mariah Carey got a win in court last week when a federal judge decided that a copyright-infringement case against her had no merit. Singer Rachele Chafir had sued Carey in April 2006, claiming that Carey's hit "It's Like That" was copied from her song "Sexy" and lifted key pieces, including the music, for the chorus. Chafir, who copyrighted the song in 2004, claimed Carey had access to "Sexy" since it was available on a Web site, but U.S. District Court Judge Kimba Wood decided that wasn't proof Carey or her collaborators had gone to the Web site or lifted the material, which wasn't "strikingly similar" enough to be considered infringement. With "no genuine issues of material fact," Wood closed the case. "It was the right decision," Carey's lawyer Ilene Farkas told MTV News. "The record was clear in this case." Meanwhile, Carey is moving on with her yet-untitled follow-up to The Emancipation of Mimi, which her record label confirmed is now due December 4. ...

Going, going ... to Cooperstown. And with an asterisk on it. Baseball star Barry Bonds' record-breaking home-run ball, which was purchased two weeks ago in an online auction by hip-hop fashion mogul Marc Ecko, will be heading to the National Baseball Hall of Fame & Museum after all. Ecko bought the ball and launched a Web site giving fans the chance to vote on the ball's final destination: outer space or to Cooperstown, with or without an asterisk signifying Bonds' alleged steroid use in helping him become the all-time home-run king. The announcement was made Wednesday morning (September 26) on the "Today" show after a week of voting. According to Vote756.com, over 10 million votes were cast, of which 47 percent chose to send the tagged ball to the famed baseball museum. ...

The twisted saga of the investigation into the unsolved 1997 murder of the Notorious B.I.G. took another turn this week when Waymond Anderson, an inmate serving life for murder, recanted testimony in which he had implicated the Los Angeles Police Department in the rapper's murder. The Los Angeles Times reports that Anderson said in a recent deposition that he lied about LAPD involvement as part of a "scam" cooked up with two other convicts to get a big monetary settlement from the city of Los Angeles. Most shockingly, Anderson accused the rapper's family — which has filed a wrongful-death suit seeking damages from the city — and its lawyer of taking part in the scheme and offering to pay him a percentage of the settlement for false testimony against the LAPD. In the August 20 testimony, Anderson said he had never met the officers he implicated, despite earlier statements in which he described conversations with the two disgraced ex-LAPD cops. A lawyer for Biggie's family, Perry Sanders, called Anderson's allegations "100 percent, demonstrably false," adding yet another twist to the already-knotted-up story by saying that Anderson appeared to be changing his story at the behest of Chuck Philips, a Times reporter who has written extensively about the murder investigation and has questioned the theory of LAPD involvement. Phillips and the Times dismissed the allegations. ...

In other Biggie news, the recently released documentary "The Notorious B.I.G.: Bigger Than Life" follows the rapper's life from his early days to his death with interviews from many of the behind-the-scenes music-industry figures and friends who watched the rapper rise from a street-corner hustler to one of the biggest rap stars in the world. The film also features several minutes of previously unreleased footage shot by a bystander of the scene on the night Biggie was gunned down. The fan's video — which director Peter Spirer ("Beef," "Tupac Shakur: Thug Angel") said has been reviewed by authorities — doesn't capture the moment Biggie's car was shot at, but it does have audio of the shots and shaky footage of the chaotic aftermath. ...

Embattled football player Michael Vick is facing stricter release conditions after testing positive for marijuana earlier this month, The Associated Press reports. On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson imposed the new conditions, which include restricting Vick to his home between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. with electronic monitoring and making him submit to random drug tests. He was ordered to continue participating in substance-abuse and mental-health counseling. Vick was put under pretrial release supervision in July, and the restrictions included refraining from the use of narcotic drugs or other controlled substances. The Atlanta Falcons quarterback, who pleaded guilty in August to federal dogfighting charges, is awaiting sentencing December 10 — and Vick's violation of the conditions of his release could be taken into consideration by the judge. He faces up to five years in prison for the federal charges, and has been indicted on additional state charges in Virginia as well. ...

A second woman has filed a lawsuit against Lil Wayne over a melee that broke out during one of his shows at Morgan State University in Baltimore in October. According to an AP story, Carlisa Dixon said she was impaled on a metal pole after the crowd surged to snatch up money that was being tossed from the stage. Dixon is seeking $1 million from Wayne's record label and touring companies, and another $1 million from the university, claiming she underwent surgery for a puncture wound as a result of the crowd surge. A lawsuit was filed in August by another woman who claimed she was trampled in the same money-throwing incident. A spokesperson for Wayne could not be reached for comment at press time. ...

A man died at a Smashing Pumpkins concert in Vancouver, British Columbia, on Monday night in what police think may have been a crowd-surfing or moshing accident. The Canadian Press reports that Vancouver police say the man was unconscious when he was dragged out of the crowd at the Pacific National Exhibition Forum during the show and worked on by first-aid personnel on site before being transported to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Police have ruled out foul play. ... The Voodoo Music Experience is shifting locations, but just slightly. The fest, to take place October 26-28, has a new site in New Orleans City Park to accommodate ongoing restoration and improvement of the park. The shift brings the fest closer to Tad Gormley Stadium, where Voodoo was first held in 1999. ...

Do you march to Nelly's beat? The rapper is cobbling together a marching band for his performance at the BET Hip-Hop Awards on October 13. Auditions will be held Sunday starting at 11 a.m. in New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta, New Orleans and St. Louis, and Nelly is looking for girls who can play drums, tri-toms, bass drum, tuba or trumpet. Prospective players need to know how to perform his song "Grillz" and move to the beat of the song while playing their instruments. Final auditions will be held October 8 in Atlanta, and those who can't make the auditions in person can post a one-minute video clip on Nelly's drum-line-audition site. ... If you've been doubting Swizz Beatz's fashion sense, think again — Gap has tapped the hugely popular producer for its spring ad campaign. ...

VH1 Rock Docs picked up its first Emmy win on Monday as "DMC: My Adoption Journey" earned the award for News & Documentary Emmy for Outstanding Arts & Culture Programming. The program, which revolves around the Run-DMC member's search for his birth mother, premiered in February 2006 and will re-air on VH1 on Saturday at 10 p.m. ... Have you already imported Babyface's Playlist into your own playlist? Then mark you calendar — the singer is putting together a tour in support of his recently released LP. Babyface will play a gig in the Philippines on October 13, followed by a stretch in Japan; after that he'll hit Oakland, California, on November 23, and Sparks, Nevada, the following day. ...

During a recent visit to "The Howard Stern Show," Mötley Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx spoke out about drummer Tommy Lee and his apparent departure from the band. He told Stern that Lee quit, and Sixx blamed the current legal problems the band is having with one of its former managers for the turmoil. Sixx said that, since Lee isn't the Crüe's frontman or chief songwriter, the band should be fine without him. He added that he harbors no ill will toward Lee. ... Snow Patrol keyboardist Tom Simpson was expected to appear in court in Glasgow, Scotland, on Tuesday to answer to drug-possession charges filed against him this summer. While the charges weren't dropped, the prosecution doesn't intend on taking "further action," meaning the charges will either have to be re-raised again or dropped altogether. ...

Pearl Jam guitarist Stone Gossard's side project Brad are getting back together for a one-night-only show on October 17 at New York's Webster Hall. The benefit event will also feature Billy Bragg and be hosted by Tim Robbins. It is being held to support Woody and Marjorie Guthrie, and the 40th anniversary of the Huntington's Disease Society of America, which was founded by Marjorie. ... Puddle of Mudd aren't ones for Southern hospitality, apparently. Frontman Wesley Scantlin has been banned from Memphis' Graceland after hopping in the pool in Elvis Presley's mansion during a tour on Monday. ...

The Eagles will perform on an awards show for the first time when they take the stage at the Country Music Awards, which will air November 7 at 8 p.m. ET on CBS. Carrie Underwood is also slated to perform. ... The Rolling Stones' recent tour didn't just carry the band to the top of Forbes' list of biggest-earning music acts — it landed them in the Guinness World Records, according to Reuters. The classic-rockers' A Bigger Bang tour took $437 million dollars to give them a new record, for the world's most successful music tour. ...

Killswitch Engage and Lamb of God will be teaming up for a late-fall co-headlining tour, which is set to kick off November 28 in Lowell, Massachusetts, with dates booked through December 17 in Rio Rancho, New Mexico. DevilDriver and Soilwork will open on all dates. ... Chris Cornell has added another round of dates to his North American tour, which began in the spring. He has booked another 28 gigs, meaning the trek will continue through November 23, when he's expected to perform at the Pearl Concert Theater at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas. ...

A photo from Elton John's collection has been pulled from a British gallery where it was to be displayed over concerns by police that it might be child pornography. The photo — which was taken by award-winning American photographer Nan Goldin — shows two young girls, one with her legs spread apart, and was to be displayed at the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art in northern England before it was seized by police, according to London's Times Online. John released a statement, explaining, "The photograph entitled 'Klara and Edda belly-dancing' (1998) is one of 149 images comprising the 'Thanksgiving' installation by renowned U.S. photographer Nan Goldin ... The photograph exists as part of the installation as a whole and has been widely published and exhibited throughout the world [and] has been offered for sale at Sotheby's New York in 2002 and 2004, and has previously been exhibited in Houston, London, Madrid [Spain], New York, Portugal, Warsaw [Poland] and Zürich [Switzerland] without any objections of which we are aware."

09.25.07

While her fellow Black Eyed Pea Will.I.Am is hyping his new project, Songs About Girls, Fergie isn't slowing down with her own solo affair, last year's The Dutchess. The singer just shot a clip for the song "Clumsy" with directors Marc Webb (Diddy, the Pussycat Dolls) and Rich Lee (Chamillionaire, Dashboard Confessional). The surreal, humorous clip features Fergie falling head over heels — get it? — for love in various scenarios. ...

A House panel cast a congressional light on hip-hop lyrics on Tuesday (September 25), with David Banner and Master P giving sharply different views. The Associated Press reports that the latter rapper (real name: Percy Miller) told the Energy and Commerce subcommittee that he is determined to create clean lyrics. "I want to apologize to all the women out there. I was honestly wrong," he said of his prior material. Banner (real name: Levell Crump), on the other hand, defended his profane lyrics, saying, "Change the situation in my neighborhood, and maybe I'll get better." But while P and Banner didn't see eye to eye in terms of who is responsible for derogatory language in hip-hop, they agreed that the government shouldn't censor lyrics. "If by some stroke of the pen hip-hop was silenced, the issues would still be present in our communities. Drugs, violence, sexism and the criminal element were around long before hip-hop existed," Banner said. According to AP, the hearing was similar to the 1985 event in which late rocker Frank Zappa made a feisty appearance also railing against censorship. ...

Like the sound of the "Rocawear Arena" instead of the "Continental Airlines Arena"? Yeah, so does Jay-Z. The ambitious hip-hop mogul is bidding for the arena's naming rights, according to New Jersey's Star-Ledger. Although he is the co-owner of the New Jersey Nets and his Rocawar is a sponsor of the NBA team — which currently plays at Continental — sportswear maker Southpole has made the highest bid so far, $2 million. But there's a catch: The reason the name is up for grabs is because Continental is backing out of its deal with the arena, and both the Nets and hockey team the New Jersey Devils are planning to move to other venues. ...

Life isn't getting any easier for Britney Spears. Kim Robard-Rifkin, the reported woman whose car the singer hit in August — for which she was charged with two misdemeanors on Friday — has spoken out to CelebTV.com. "I was not surprised with the criminal charges — this is what happens when somebody hits your car and runs — especially when it is all caught on video," she said in a statement. Spears' former bodyguard Tony Barretto also spoke out on Monday, telling "Today" show host Matt Lauer that he had witnessed her using drugs on two occasions. While Barretto did not specify which drugs he supposedly saw her taking, he said both incidents occurred at a nightclub in Los Angeles, one at the table she was sitting at and the other in a private restroom. When Lauer asked him about a third incident in which he alleges to have seen her strung out in a Los Angeles hotel room, Barretto replied, "I did." ...

Sarah Silverman was surprised by the reaction that met her controversial VMA monologue, in which she flung derogatory insults at Britney Spears, among others, she told Us Weekly. Regarding one of her saltiest remarks — that Spears' kids "are the most adorable mistakes you will ever see" — Silverman replied, "The joke that everyone was upset about ... was the most innocuous joke. It never occurred to me that [it] would be deemed hurtful or over the line." She also told the magazine for its new issue, which streets Friday, "I don't want to get into feuds with girls half my age. I'm in it to be funny and not for the drama. It's embarrassing." ...

Look, up in the sky, it's a new Gnarls Barkley album! And as Cee-Lo recently told MTV News of the follow-up to St. Elsewhere, "It sounds otherwordly. ... It sounds like an original, if I do say so myself. The theme is progression and how there's a first time for everything. You just have to go for it." Beyond that, though, Cee-Lo didn't want to give up too much. Asked about collaborators, he demurred: "Danger Mouse is my special guest. He's my counterpart in the enigma of Gnarls Barkley." No duh — we meant, anyone else? "Let me continue to surprise you," Cee-Lo smiled. For those who caught Cee-Lo's take on Prince's "Darling Nikki" with the Foo Fighters at the VMAs, he wants fans to know that his performance at the show was supposed to be a surprise appearance with Amy Winehouse, "believe it or not." But since she had to bail from the show, he's saving that collaboration for a future appearance. ...

The Sex Pistols — who just tacked two more gigs onto their upcoming November reunion in London, according to BBC News — have another trick up their collective sleeve: A newly recorded rendition of their punk staple, "Anarchy in the U.K." The band entered the studio for the first time in 30 years to record the track, which will surface on "Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock." ... As I Lay Dying clearly have more than a few gasps left — the metal band edged out Switchfoot, Jason Mraz and others to win the San Diego Music Award for Artist of the Year. AILD nabbed the same honor in 2005. ... Canadian singer/songwriter Patrick Watson and his band have pulled off an arguably more impressive feat: The Montreal quartet have nudged by Arcade Fire and Feist to land the Polaris Music Prize for Best Album. ...

Despite the recent head injuries sustained by guitarist Brent Hinds, Mastodon have booked a gig, opening for the Queens of the Stone Age on October 29 in Los Angeles. The band is also scheduled to appear at the Vegoose festival on October 27 in Las Vegas, where Hinds was jumped following Mastodon's performance at the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards. Police claim Hinds was attacked outside the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino on September 10 during an encounter with System of a Down bassist Shavo Odadjian and his friend William Hudson. According to police, Hudson assaulted Hinds, and Odadjian witnessed the incident. ... While at the VMAs, Mastodon told MTV News that they wrote their best song ever — even though it's not quite finished yet — while on the way to the big show. "It's pretty much the best record we've yet to write," guitarist Bill Kelliher said before singing a couple of the riffs with Hinds. "That's how it goes — du-duh-du-duh na-nah-nah. We wrote it in the car on the way over here, at least the intro of it. Part one. We're at the really beginning stages. It's going to be awesome, though. Everything we do is amazing." ...

The Game entered his expected not-guilty plea on Tuesday to three felony counts stemming from a pickup basketball game in Los Angeles in February. The rapper (real name: Jayceon Taylor) is free on $50,000 bail and has a pretrial hearing set for October 30. ... Jack Bauer might not be such a hero after all: Kiefer Sutherland was arrested early Tuesday morning for drunken driving in Hollywood, Reuters reports. The actor was pulled over after making an illegal U-turn and blew more than the .08 legal limit upon taking a breathalyzer test. He posted $25,000 bail at a Hollywood police station and is due in court on October 16. ...

The Phil Spector murder trial is in the hands of the jury now, but that hasn't stopped more bizarre developments from emerging in the case. According to AP, over the weekend, a threatening post appeared on a MySpace page possibly belonging to the music producer's wife, Rachelle. "I love Phil Spector!!! The Evil Judge Should Die!!!! Xoxo Chelle," read the post, a police spokesperson told the news outlet. The page, which features an image of Rachelle wearing a "Team Spector" tee, was referred to a sheriff's department unit that investigates such threats. The post has since been removed. ...

Amazon's new digital-music store is up and running, with songs going for 89 to 99 cents and albums selling for around $6-$10. The songs, which don't have copyright protections, can be burned onto CDs and copied to multiple computers. Record-label giants Universal and EMI, in addition to a flood of indie labels, are selling their songs through the site. ... A former trustee in James Brown's estate might have misappropriated up to $7 million of the late music legend's money, special administrators told a South Carolina judge on Monday. State Circuit Judge Jack Early told David Cannon, the former co-executor of Brown's will, to pay $400,000 and produce additional documents. Early also said Brown's family could pursue the claims. ...

The Cult will headline the fall installment of the Jägermeister Music Tour, which is set to launch October 17 in Pala, California, and run through mid-December, with the full list of dates coming soon. Rounding out the bill will be Vietnam, the Cliks and Action Action. ... Former L7 leader Donita Sparks is going out on her own with her debut solo effort, Transmiticate, due January 22. The effort, which will feature her new backing band, the Stellar Moments, shifts away from the grunge and metal sounds that defined L7 and tinkers with more pop and dance elements. ...

Fans of Los Angeles ska act Hepcat are mourning the passing of bassist Dave Fuentes, 36. While details are scarce, the band did issue a statement, saying, "We are sad to announce that our brother, beloved bandmate and amazing friend, David Fuentes, is no longer with us. He will be missed by everyone but especially everyone in the Hepcat family." He leaves a wife, Yohanna, and two sons, Andrew, 7, and Darren, 3. A memorial fund has been established to help his family. ... A special-effects technician working on the set of the Batman sequel "The Dark Knight" was killed when a truck carrying a camera platform rammed into a tree on Monday in London, AP reports. Filming was not taking place at the time of the accident, which is under investigation.

• Mariah Carey
• Notorious B.I.G.
• Lil Wayne
• The Smashing Pumpkins
• Killswitch Engage

Britney Spears (file)
Photo: Ethan Miller/ Getty Images

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

09.12.07

From all indications, it doesn't look like we'll be getting a new Eminem album anytime soon. The seldom-heard-from MC called up New York's Hot 97 on Wednesday afternoon (September 12) to congratulate 50 Cent on the release of Curtis. Em also told host Angie Martinez he was "in limbo" and "debating" about when — and if — he would put out another LP. Later he elaborated: "I'm always working, I'm always in the studio. It feels good right now, the energy of the label. For a while, I don't wanna go back to the negative stuff. ... Going through some personal things, coming out of those personal things, it feels good." Em also noted that he has been in the studio every day working on projects for his Shady label. ...

While we're on the subject, it's only a day in, but the retail cage match between 50 and Kanye West could be headed for a blowout. Billboard says 'Ye's Graduation is on track to sell about 575,000-700,000 copies its first week out, while 50's Curtis is on pace for about 550,000. Kenny Chesney, this week's other big contender, is on track to sell 400,000-550,000 units of his Just Who I Am: Poets & Pirates. The mag reports that SoundScan has tallied the one-day figures as well: West sold 437,000 copies while 50 moved 310,000. To add insult to injury, West even appears to be crushing at some stores in 50's hometown of New York. ...

Despite the poor reception Britney Spears received for her performance at the VMAs on Sunday night, early reaction to her forthcoming LP appears surprisingly tame. People magazine's Chuck Arnold has reportedly heard five tracks from the yet-untitled November 13 release, one of which he called an "early fave" ("Heaven on Earth"), and Entertainment Weekly's Leah Greenblatt likens one song, "Break the Ice," to Nelly Furtado's "Say It Right" — both tunes were produced by Danjahandz. ...

Looks like Remy Ma has gotten herself into more trouble, according to TMZ.com. The site reports that the rapper has been released on $250,000 bail and was forced to hand over her passport after allegedly roughing up a man at the Players Club in the Bronx, New York, in mid-August. The man was allegedly the boyfriend of a possible witness in her July 14 assault case — during the incident, Remy Ma is alleged to have shot her longtime friend Makeda Barnes-Joseph after a disagreement over money. In addition to the assault and weapons charges she's been hit with for the July incident, a district attorney's office spokesperson reportedly told the site that she will now also face charges of gang assault, tampering with a witness, intimidating a victim and third-degree assault. She is due in court September 20 to review her bail privileges. ...

Aretha Franklin has been hammering away at her duets LP for more than three years, and now — shortly before Reba McEntire's star-studded Reba Duets LP hits stores Tuesday — comes news that she's got the disc in the can. Jewels in the Crown: All-Star Duets With the Queen, due November 13, is bolstered by Mary J. Blige ("Don't Waste My Time," "Never Gonna Break My Faith"); Mariah Carey ("Chain of Fools"); John Legend (on the new track "What Y'All Came to Do"); Whitney Houston ("It Isn't, It Wasn't, It Ain't Never Gonna Be") and Fantasia (on the album's first single, "Put You Up on Game"). Also featured on the album is a rendition of the Rolling Stones' "Jumpin' Jack Flash" (featuring guitarist Keith Richards) and two collaborations with late male crooners: "What Now My Love" (Frank Sinatra) and "Doctor's Orders" (Luther Vandross). ...

The three living members of English hard-rock legends Led Zeppelin — singer Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page and bassist John Paul Jones — have confirmed their long-rumored performance at a November 26 concert at the O2 arena in London in honor of late music icon Ahmet Ertegun. The show, in support of the Ahmet Ertegun Education Fund, will pay tribute to the Atlantic Records founder and feature the Zeppelin trio joined by Jason Bonham, son of late Zep drummer John Bonham. Though Page and Plant have played and recorded together since the group's demise in 1980 following Bonham's death, they have been estranged from Jones for much of that time and the trio have not performed together since an Atlantic Records anniversary concert in 1988. The O2 show will also feature Who guitarist Pete Townshend, Bill Wyman and the Rhythm Kings, Foreigner and Paolo Nutini. "During the Zeppelin years, Ahmet Ertegun was a major foundation of solidarity and accord," Plant said in a statement. "For us he was Atlantic Records and remained a close friend and conspirator — this performance stands alone as our tribute to the work and the life of our longstanding friend." ...

Show your bling, Diddy: Per a motion filed Monday, the hip-hop mogul is being asked to present photos of his jewelry for inspection in the assault case filed against him, TMZ.com reports. Gerald Rechnitzer alleges that Diddy hit him in the jaw as he was leaving an Oscar afterparty in Hollywood on February 25. According to TMZ, the motion — which was filed by Michael M. Marzban, Rechnitzer's lawyer — claims, "Needles to say, [Sean] Combs does not wear simple rings ... the rings he wore when he struck (Rechnitzer) are important and critical to the bio-mechanics of this case." The motion also requests that Diddy produce additional documents and reveal how much alcohol he may have consumed at the nightclub where the party was held. ...

Lindsay Lohan may have avoided serious jail time for her two DUIs, but the actress/singer isn't totally off the hook. On Tuesday, a judge refused to dismiss portions of a lawsuit against Lohan over an October 2005 accident in which her Mercedes crashed into a van, according to The Associated Press. The judge rejected a motion that the suit lacked legal weight and set an April 7 date for the trial, in which the driver of the van — who police said caused the accident with an illegal U-turn — has sued Lohan seeking $200,000 in damages. The suit by the driver, Raymundo Ortega, claims that Lohan was speeding away from the paparazzi and was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the wreck. ...

She probably won't be around to see it hit stores, but Koch has pegged November 20 as the release date for Foxy Brown's new album. The jailed rapper's Brooklyn's Don Diva was bumped up from its originally scheduled December 4 release date and will feature "Don't Surrender" (featuring Graf) as its first single. The rapper also released a statement, insisting that her jailing "is just a temporary situation. I made my bed and have no problem lying in it. My will is steady. What doesn't kill me will only make me stronger." "I think there are greater injustices in America that require our immediate attention, like what's going on in Jena, Louisiana," she added, referring to the group of black students who are being charged with attempted murder for allegedly beating up a white student. "I will not surrender, I'm fine, free Jena Six!" Brown's manager, Chaz Williams, also took the opportunity to dismiss rumors that the rapper is expecting: "She is not pregnant!" he said. ...

Ludacris, Usher, Talib Kweli and Wyclef Jean have been added to the roster for a concert to raise funds for a Martin Luther King Jr. memorial at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday. They will join John Legend, Robin Thicke, Stevie Wonder, Joss Stone and other previously announced acts. ... Chamillionaire is hoping for an Ultimate Victory after his new LP drops Tuesday, and what better way to score big than by joining forces with MySpace? As part of AllHipHop Week, the Grammy Award-winning rapper will roll out his new song "Hip Hop Police" and "The Bill Collecta" with a MySpace-sponsored September 20 performance at Sol in New York. ...

Scott Weiland doesn't like sitting around these days — his band Velvet Revolver had a day off from their North American tour in Nashville on Thursday, and the singer used it to make a special appearance at the Second Fiddle. Weiland performed the Marshall Tucker Band's "Heard It in a Love Song" with country singer Tommy Joe Wilson and his group. ... Avenged Sevenfold will hit the road starting October 29 in Los Angeles for a string of 18 gigs scheduled through November 25 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The band will be touring in support of its forthcoming self-titled LP, which is due October 30. ... Former "You Hear It First" artists Paramore have sketched out a U.S. trek with the Starting Line that will take them from Sayreville, New Jersey, on October 23 to New York on November 28. ... Hold Steady frontman Craig Finn is heading back to school for a master class with an American Studies professor at his alma mater, Boston College, Pitchfork reports. Finn will talk for 90 minutes about his life, career and music at the school's Lyons Dining Hall on September 25. ...

A benefit concert aiming to raise money for a Kurt Cobain memorial will take place Saturday at 6 p.m. at the 7th Street Theatre in Hoquiam, Washington — where he spent the first six months of his life. Funds raised through the event will be used to start a future youth center and park in the late rocker's name. Slated for the bill are Jed, the Whore Moans, Don't Even Know, Black Top Demon, Bench Grinder, the Bimm Quaid and Clouded Minds. ... Is Jon Stewart the new Billy Crystal? The late-night comedian has been tapped to host the Oscars again, repeating a duty he first took on in 2006. The New York Times reports that the official announcement of the gig at the 80th annual awards show, which will take place on February 24, would be made on Wednesday. ...

The White Stripes aren't the only ones shelving tour dates these days — so is Holly Golightly, who has collaborated with the band in the past, coincidentally. The British singer-songwriter is going to reschedule the first three shows on her upcoming U.S. tour due to visa issues. Fellow Brits the Kaiser Chiefs are making a more drastic move by putting the kibosh on their scheduled North American trek — so they can concentrate on recording new material instead. "We'd like to apologize to fans in America and Canada, especially those who have already bought tickets, but something had to give," drummer Nick Hodgson said in a statement. "We've been extremely busy all year and had no time to focus on the future. We plan to have new material out as soon as possible and we've wanted to record all summer. This needs to happen before our European and U.K. shows at the end of the year so we can play a few of our new songs live. We're keen to explore new ground, beyond the sound of our first two records, so we're headed back into the studio to begin that process."

• VMA Parties Heat Up Vegas!
• Travis Barker, 50 Cent, Common On Britney's VMA Performance

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

• Britney Spears
• Lil' Kim
• 50 Cent
• Snoop Dogg
• Beyoncé

Lil Jon and Metal Skool perform at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino
Photo: Denise Truscello/WireImage.com

LAS VEGAS — "If you don't like this f---ing song, blame Van Halen, dude," sneered Metal Skool guitarist Satchel, a rocker who flashes his tongue at the ladies while fondling his chest. The Los Angeles-based glam-metal lampoon act then prepared to launch into the Halen classic "Jump." But before the song's synth-laden opening began to chime, the band — a parody of every hair-metal band there ever was, wrapped up in one tight spandex package — invited old pal Lil Jon up to handle lead vocals (See snaps of Lil Jon jamming onstage with Metal Skool, plus pipin'-hot party-scene pics featuring Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake and many more.)

But Jon was nowhere to be found -- at first. "Dude, I can't find him," frontman Michael Starr said as he gazed out into the audience. "That's 'cause he's lil'!", Satchel shot back.

The rapper, rocking an enormous gold chain around his neck and a diamond-encrusted bracelet around his right wrist, eventually emerged from the darkness to take control of the mic. In between lyrics like, "I get up, and nothing gets me down" and "You got it tough, I've seen the toughest around," Jon belted out his trademark "Whaaaat?!"s and scurried around the stage, pogoing furiously. The MC's constant movement was enough to send foam spurting out the neck of the beer that never left his hand.

Metal Skool, one of the only bands on the planet that'll have you doubled over with laughter while still managing to throw the horns, performed in Las Vegas Thursday night at the Hard Rock Hotel's Body English club. The concert was one of several pre-MTV Video Music Awards events being held in Sin City and perhaps one of the strangest, teeming with odd collaborations.

The gig attracted a bevy of scantily clad beauties and a strange assortment of rockers and celebrities, including Pauly Shore, the Bravery's Sam Endicott, System of a Down drummer John Dolmayan and mixed martial-arts fighter Tito Ortiz and his girlfriend, former porn star Jenna Jameson, who spent much of the night canoodling in one of the corners of the club's V.I.P. section.

With their long teased hair, zebra-print spandex pants (complete with requisite bulge), ripped T-shirts and over-the-top makeup (bassist Lexxi Foxxx touched up his lip gloss between each and every song of the band's set, which included Guns N' Roses' "Paradise City" and Mötley Crüe's "Kickstart My Heart"), Metal Skool's takeoff on '80s Aqua Net metal is nothing short of perfect. They've even got the whole song-dedication thing down: Before honoring Journey with a brilliant version of "Don't Stop Believin'," Starr sent the track out to all of the well-endowed ladies in the crowd, without whom "there would be no reason to wear green spandex."

At one point, Metal Skool even threatened to "play Hoobastank all night" if the crowd didn't respond vigorously enough to their performance.

Jon guested on two songs: "Jump" and an impromptu jam session with Skool and System bassist Shavo Odadjian, who, when joining the band onstage, was himself joined by two women who pranced around him like strippers on acid. "Show us your [breasts]!" Jon shouted at one of them, encouraging the audience to chant along with him. When the woman refused, Jon let his frustration get the best of him. "Get your a-- offstage if you're not going to show us those [breasts] — this is a f---ing rock show!"

The special guests didn't end there. During the Skool's cover of Def Leppard's "Pour Some Sugar on Me," Incubus bassist Ben Kenney hopped onstage to sing, but he didn't know the song's lyrics — but then redeemed himself by strapping on Foxxx's bass for a rendition of Bon Jovi's "Livin' on a Prayer."

"Make some noise for that guy from Incubus," Starr said. "He's famous ... whatever his name is."

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

• VMAs 2007: The Vegas Honeymoon

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

• Lil Jon
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• Incubus

Bow Wow and Omarion at the 2007 Teen Choice Awards on Sunday
Photo: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

There were surfboards and gleeful squeals aplenty Sunday night at the Teen Choice Awards — not to mention a whole lot of plugging going on from the stars MTV News caught up with on the red carpet at the event, which took place in Universal City, California. "American Idol" champ Jordin Sparks let it be known that even though she plans to record the majority of her yet-untitled debut after she wraps the Idols Live Tour at the end of September, she's still hoping to have it in stores on November 20. Actress Emmy Rossum promises that her upcoming album Inside Out will package "ambient pop ... in a really sexy, new and fresh way," and Bow Wow and Omarion said that their upcoming album Face Off will be a guest-star-heavy good time: "We just left Chicago, working with R. Kelly, and we still got to work with T-Pain, Timbaland, Lil Ronnie (who produced 'I'm a Flirt'), so we're definitely bringing the noise," Bow Wow said. "We got the chance to give people what they want: There's been a drought in the music, there hasn't been a lot of fun in music, so with the videos and everything, we're gonna do that." ...

(Catch up with Fergie, Bow Wow, Omarion, Jordin Sparks, Emmy Rossum and more at the Teen Choice Awards in these video clips.)

Vincent "Don Vito" Margera saw his first court date on two counts of sexual assault on a child once again pushed back on Monday (August 27) — to October 22. But the news wasn't all positive for Bam Margera's uncle, as he was hit with 12 counts of violating his bail-bond conditions. Pam Russell, a spokesperson for Colorado's Jefferson and Gilpin County district attorney's office, confirmed that each unspecified violation is a felony, but said she was not allowed by law to provide specifics on how Margera is alleged to have violated his bail. A hearing on the bond-violation charges is slated for September 5. Margera, 51, has been out on $50,000 bond since last year, when he was charged in the incident that allegedly involved inappropriate contact with two underage girls at a promotional event in Colorado. He was ordered to return to his home in Pennsylvania, submit to random urine tests, have no contact with children under 18 and supply his bond supervisor with his itinerary if he travels for business. Margera's attorney could not be reached for comment. In addition to a maximum of six years in prison on the assault charges, The Associated Press reported that he could face up to 18 months in prison for the bail violations. ...

Britney Spears' and Kevin Federline's lawyers appeared at a last-minute hearing on Monday to discuss a Department of Child and Family Services child-abuse investigation and the former spouses' child-custody battle. According to a Los Angeles Superior Court clerk, the hearing was closed to the public and held in the judge's chambers, with documents on both sides filed soon thereafter. The documents remain sealed while the judge determines whether they may be released to the public. According to a source in Federline's camp, he could end up with temporary custody of his two children with Spears, Sean Preston and Jayden James. There's no word yet on who filed the complaint that prompted the DCFS investigation, the third the pop singer has faced since having children — the first was prompted when she was photographed driving without a car set for Sean Preston, the second when the child fell out of his high chair. The custody battle will continue September 4. ...

In the meantime, Spears' former manager Larry Rudolph doesn't want to be involved in the child-custody dispute for fear that he might have to reveal certain information about the singer, People reports. Ryan Seacrest said on his "On Air With Ryan Seacrest" radio show on Monday morning that he was in contact with Rudolph over the weekend and that the lawyer "doesn't want to have to go under oath and talk about certain things that might hurt [Spears]." In related news, the singer was cleared by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals after questions were raised about a leg injury sustained by Spears' Yorkshire terrier. The group said Spears had been cooperative and that the dog received proper medical attention. ...

Authorities unearthed the remains of two more dogs that had been buried in the backyard of DMX's residence in Cave Creek, Arizona, and discovered a half-pound of what they believe to be illegal narcotics, Maricopa County sheriff's office spokesman Captain Paul Chagolla told MTV News on Monday. At a press conference on Saturday, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said more information regarding the raid will be released Tuesday. ...

Nick Bollea, Hulk Hogan's 17-year-old son, was discharged from a hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida, on Monday morning after being involved in a car accident the previous evening. Police said Bollea, who was featured in VH1's "Hogan Knows Best" reality series, was driving his Toyota Supra at a high speed along state Route 60 when he lost control of the vehicle and slammed into a raised median at 7:30 p.m. in Clearwater. The car reportedly flipped over, and the rear of the vehicle collided with a palm tree. Bollea and one of his car's passengers, 22-year-old John Graziano, were airlifted to the Bayfront Medical Center following the crash. The nature of both Bollea's and Graziano's injuries was not immediately known, but a police spokesperson characterized them as serious. Graziano remains under the hospital's care in critical condition. Alcohol is not believed to have played a role in the accident, but police continue to investigate the crash. No criminal charges have been filed. "My son Nick and a friend were involved in a car accident last night," Linda Hogan said in a statement reportedly obtained Monday by TMZ.com. "Nick suffered minor injuries and has been treated and released from the hospital. At this time, his friend John Graziano remains hospitalized. Nick is currently at the hospital with John and his family. His sole concern is for the well-being of his friend. On behalf of my family, we ask that your thoughts and prayers be with John and his loved ones." ...

The White Stripes have a full fall ahead, as they plan to continue to back their recent Icky Thump LP with additional touring. But that's not stopping the tireless Jack White from giving some love to his other project, the Raconteurs, as well. He and bandmate Brendan Benson posted a humorous and slightly enigmatic exchange on their band's Web site on Monday morning, letting slip a few details about the follow-up to last year's Broken Boy Soldiers. "The 'Teurs have a lot of new songs in the works people, the writing and structure of them has dissipated and reinvigorated and many times over since we came home from our last shows," the post read. "The new songs are coming together strong, I hate to even attempt to describe them." ...

The Cure have put the brakes on their planned September/October tour in North America, deciding instead to push it to April/May. "The schedule as it stands only gives us a couple of weeks to finish our new double album before we hit the road again, and we know this just isn't enough time to complete the project to our total satisfaction," the band said in a statement posted on its site, TheCure.com. Tickets purchased for the originally scheduled shows will be honored. ... Phil Spector's top lawyer, Bruce Cutler, announced Monday that he is leaving the case due to a "difference of opinion between Mr. Spector and me on strategy," according to AP. Spector later told reporters that it was his decision for the attorney to leave, saying Cutler "shouldn't do the closing argument because it wouldn't be in my best interest to stay on. He agreed. ... I thought he would be a target with the judge and prosecutors and that he wouldn't be taken as seriously as he should. With his television show, he wasn't here as much as he should have been." Defense lawyer Roger Rosen is taking over as Spector's top lawyer. Also on Monday, the defense called two witnesses — Lana Clarkson's friends Jennifer Hayes-Riedl and Elizabeth "Punkin Pie" Laughlin — to reiterate their testimony. Defense lawyers also started showing jurors e-mails recently extracted from the hard drive on the deceased actress' computer. In the messages, Clarkson detailed her depression over her acting career and turning 40, and wrote about her use of pain pills and alcohol. ...

Madonna and her family are planning to head back to Israel in September — and this time Demi Moore, Ashton Kutcher and possibly Bruce Willis are expected to go participate in the trek, The Jerusalem Post reports. The celebrities will join thousands of Kabbalah Center students for the 10-day High Holiday pilgrimage, which begins with Rosh Hashanah (September 12-14) and ends with Yom Kippur (September 21-22). The paper reports that the press will be asked to keep its distance from the celebrities after Madonna — who only plans to go to the first few days of the event — was hounded by media when she made a similar visit three years ago. ... Kevin Smith is no stranger to TV — from subbing for Roger Ebert on "Ebert & Roeper" to cropping up on "Veronica Mars," he's definitely made his presence known on the small screen. Now the "Clerks" director is set to helm episodes of "Heroes: Origins" — a spinoff of the action show — "Reaper" and "Battlestar Galactica." Smith told AOL TV he's especially excited about "Battlestar": "It's cool, but it is scary because it is like, 'What the f---?' I can't bring anything to that show." ...

Matt Costa is putting off his second album a bit longer — Unfamiliar Faces, produced by No Doubt's Tom Dumont, has shifted to January 15. But the California singer/songwriter is staying busy — he's tacked onto his schedule a handful of dates opening for Modest Mouse: Monday (Portland, Oregon); September 10 (Salt Lake City); September 14 (Santa Barbara, California); and September 15 (Las Vegas). ... Rousing indie-rockers the Hold Steady and Art Brut are ganging up for NME's Rock 'N' Roll Riot Tour, which will hit the States this fall for the first time. The run stretches from an October 21 gig in Providence through a November 21 concert in New York. ... My Bloody Valentine are close to signing a deal that would reunite the seminal shoegazer band for a performance at next year's Coachella in April — and a subsequent tour to boot, TheDailySwarm.com reports. The band hasn't been active for a dozen years, but reports have suggested that a new album might be in the works.

08.24.07

Jordin Sparks doesn't have a name for her debut album yet, but she's got a release date set in stone: November 20. In anticipation of the 19 Recordings/ Jive disc, the "American Idol" champ drew back the curtains on her first single on Friday, debuting "Tattoo" on AOL's Pop Eater blog. The track hits radio Monday. Sparks told The Associated Press that the effort was partly modeled after one of her own idols, Kelly Clarkson — but that she's a bit nervous to be following in the wake of Clarkson and Carrie Underwood's success. "They've risen the bar so high and I'm like, 'I hope I can reach it,' " she said. "Hopefully [my LP will] sell well and people will like it." ...

The runner-up to Sparks, Blake Lewis, is following suit — he just signed to 19 Recordings/ Arista and is planning to drop his first album late this year as well. Hit-maker du jour J.R. Rotem is already on board for the effort. ...

It's no McDonald's parking-lot tour, but Missy Elliott will be featured in a new Doritos ad campaign debuting September 17, Billboard.com reports. In the clip, she is seen working on a new song and snacking on Doritos Collision, different-flavored chips that spur her to fuse a little country into her hip-hop track. A contest to be held on SnackStrongProductions.com will allow visitors to create their own mash-ups using Elliott's track, although the prizes have yet to be determined. The site also features a help section in which Elliott will give tips. ...

Listen up, punk-rockers: Unreleased and rare tracks by Panic! at the Disco, Gym Class Heroes, the Used, Cute Is What We Aim For, Sparta, Head Automatica and more fill up Press Play: Volume 1, a new comp that was put together by Photo Finish and Alternative Press. A portion of the proceeds from the September 25 release will go to the Keep a Breast Foundation, a nonprofit organization that fights breast cancer. ...

The Disney Channel will air a special dance-along version of "High School Musical 2" on September 8 at 8 p.m. ET, People reports. Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens and other castmembers will instruct viewers on how to mimic their dance moves during the opening and closing numbers. ... Russell Simmons has stepped down from his post as CEO of Phat Fashions, the company he founded in 1992 that spawned Phat Farm clothing. "I leave the division and the brand in great hands. There are so many things I want to achieve, and this is the appropriate moment for me to move on to my next business venture," the hip-hop mogul said in a statement. ...

Mos Def is sounding off about José Padilla, the Guantánamo detainee who was convicted earlier this week of supporting terrorism. "We all know the history of insufficient evidence or testimony under duress — at the very least, legal circumstances that demand some sort of reinvestigation ... basically saying these people are not the criminals they're being made out to be," he told The Associated Press on Thursday. Mos Def will participate this weekend in the 10th annual Black August benefit concert at New York's Nokia Theatre. The event serves to create awareness about people who its organizers, the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, believe have been unfairly convicted — Talib Kweli, Saigon and Dead Prez are also on the bill. ...

Music, martial arts and chess ... how could members of the Wu-Tang Clan not be involved? RZA and GZA are participating in the Hip-Hop Chess Foundation's first-ever Chess Kings Invitational, set for October 13 at the San Francisco Design Center. The rappers will talk on the tournament's Life Strategies panel about how music, martial arts and chess — activities the organization uses to promote nonviolence — have affected their lives. ...

Muse have plotted a handful of September dates with Juliette and the Licks: Seattle (September 9); Portland, Oregon (September 10); Orem, Utah (September 12); Dallas (September 16); Morrison, Colorado (September 18); Mesa, Arizona (September 20); and Irvine, California (September 21). Muse will also hit the San Diego Street Scene on September 22. ... Ben Kweller just squeezed out a new seven-track live EP, Ben Kweller: Live and Solo at the Artists Den, that was recorded December 13 at New York's Solo House. The disc of rarely performed songs is available now at digital outlets. ...

System of a Down frontman Serj Tankian will shoot a video for "Praise the Lord, Pass the Ammunition," from the rocker's solo debut, Elect the Dead, at an undisclosed venue in Hollywood next week with director Greg Watermann (Mudvayne, Lamb of God). Extras are needed for the video — those interested in auditioning can e-mail Watermann at serjvideo@gregwatermann.com. ... The track list for Thrice's upcoming LP The Alchemy Index: Vols. I & II - Fire & Water has been revealed. Fire will boast six cuts, including "The Messenger," "Backdraft" and "Burn the Fleet"; Water will also contain six tunes, among them "Open Water," "Night Diving" and "Kings Upon the Main." Look for the discs to hit stores October 16. ...

A writer/producer who worked on "In Living Color" and created Nickelodeon's "Roundhouse" is suing the Walt Disney Company, claiming it stole his idea for "Hannah Montana," Reuters reports. In the suit, Morris Taylor "Buddy" Sheffield says he pitched Disney Channel executives the idea for a kids' show about a high school student who leads a secret life as a pop star. Sheffield also claims Disney could owe him and his production company millions in lost profits and damages, and he wants compensation for legal fees. A Disney Channel spokesperson told the news service the network had no comment. ...

Kirsten Dunst's penthouse suite at a hotel in Manhattan, New York, was robbed earlier this month, according to court records obtained by AP. Thieves got away with a $13,000 handbag, cell phone, $2,500 in cash, an iPod, two digital cameras and ID cards belonging to the actress, who had been in the city to shoot scenes for her upcoming flick "How to Lose Friends and Alienate People." One suspect was arraigned Wednesday on burglary and grand-larceny charges, and is being held on $50,000 bond. ...

Hellyeah — the band featuring members of Mudvayne, Pantera and Nothingface — are on the hunt for a dozen women they'd like to act as their "Hellyeah girls." The winners will be featured in the band's 2008 calendar — to enter, contestants need to post an audition video to Break.com and send a link to the clip to hellyeahtv@gmail.com. ... The Dillinger Escape Plan will headline a U.S. tour this fall set to kick off October 4 in Cleveland, Ohio. Just five dates have been confirmed, but more will be announced in the coming weeks. The trek will also feature A Life Once Lost, Behold ... the Arctopus and Genghis Tron. Dillinger's forthcoming LP, Ire Works, lands in stores November 13. ...

The resurrected Jesus & Mary Chain are heading back to the studio to record their first studio album in nine years. The band will also treat four West Coast cities to more concerts: Las Vegas (October 20); Anaheim, California (October 22); Los Angeles (October 23) and San Francisco (October 26-27). ... Queen guitarist Brian May has finished his doctorate in a crazy little thing called astrophysics — he was awarded his Imperial College qualification on Thursday in London. May had been an astrophysics student before joining the band 37 years ago but dropped out as Queen became successful. His thesis? "Radical Velocities in the Zodiacal Dust Cloud." ...

Ted Nugent is at it again. The controversial right-wing rocker went on a profanity-spewed tirade at a concert last week, according to video footage posted on LiveLeak.com. With machine guns in his hands, a camouflaged Nugent yelled, "Obama, he's a piece of sh--, and I told him to suck on my machine gun. ... And then I was in New York. I said, 'Hey Hillary, you might want to ride one of these into the sunset.' " He also went off on Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer before saying, "Any questions?" and shouting, "Freedom!"

• Bow Wow, Omarion, Fergie At Teen Choice Awards
• DMX's House Raided; 12 Pit Bulls Removed

• Fergie, Lauren Conrad, Chingy, Kelly Clarkson, More On The 2007 Teen Choice Awards Red Carpet

• Bow Wow
• Omarion
• R. Kelly
• The White Stripes
• Raconteurs

Nick Bollea's car after the Sunday crash
Photo: Tim Boyles/ Getty Images

Nick Bollea, Hulk Hogan's 17-year-old son, was discharged from a hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida, on Monday morning (August 27) after being involved in a car accident the previous evening. Police said Bollea, who was featured in VH1's "Hogan Knows Best" reality series, was driving his Toyota Supra at a high speed along state route 60 when he lost control of the vehicle and slammed into a raised median at 7:30 p.m. in Clearwater. The car reportedly flipped over, and the rear of the vehicle collided with a palm tree. Bollea and one of his car's passengers, 22-year-old John Graziano, were airlifted to the Bayfront Medical Center following the crash. The nature of both Bollea's and Graziano's injuries was not immediately known, but a police spokesperson characterized them as serious. Graziano remains under the hospital's care in critical condition. Alcohol is not believed to have played a role in the accident, but police continue to investigate the crash. No criminal charges have been filed. ...

Jordin Sparks doesn't have a name for her debut album yet, but she's got a release date set in stone: November 20. In anticipation of the 19 Recordings/ Jive disc, the "American Idol" champ drew back the curtains on her first single on Friday, debuting "Tattoo" on AOL's Pop Eater blog. The track hits radio Monday. Sparks told The Associated Press that the effort was partly modeled after one of her own idols, Kelly Clarkson — but that she's a bit nervous to be following in the wake of Clarkson and Carrie Underwood's success. "They've risen the bar so high and I'm like, 'I hope I can reach it,' " she said. "Hopefully [my LP will] sell well and people will like it." ...

The runner-up to Sparks, Blake Lewis, is following suit — he just signed to 19 Recordings/ Arista and is planning to drop his first album late this year as well. Hit-maker du jour J.R. Rotem is already on board for the effort. ...

It's no McDonald's parking-lot tour, but Missy Elliott will be featured in a new Doritos ad campaign debuting September 17, Billboard.com reports. In the clip, she is seen working on a new song and snacking on Doritos Collision, different-flavored chips that spur her to fuse a little country into her hip-hop track. A contest to be held on SnackStrongProductions.com will allow visitors to create their own mash-ups using Elliott's track, although the prizes have yet to be determined. The site also features a help section in which Elliott will give tips. ...

Listen up, punk-rockers: Unreleased and rare tracks by Panic! at the Disco, Gym Class Heroes, the Used, Cute Is What We Aim For, Sparta, Head Automatica and more fill up Press Play: Volume 1, a new comp that was put together by Photo Finish and Alternative Press. A portion of the proceeds from the September 25 release will go to the Keep a Breast Foundation, a nonprofit organization that fights breast cancer. ...

The Disney Channel will air a special dance-along version of "High School Musical 2" on September 8 at 8 p.m. ET, People reports. Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens and other castmembers will instruct viewers on how to mimic their dance moves during the opening and closing numbers. ... Russell Simmons has stepped down from his post as CEO of Phat Fashions, the company he founded in 1992 that spawned Phat Farm clothing. "I leave the division and the brand in great hands. There are so many things I want to achieve, and this is the appropriate moment for me to move on to my next business venture," the hip-hop mogul said in a statement. ...

Mos Def is sounding off about José Padilla, the Guantánamo detainee who was convicted earlier this week of supporting terrorism. "We all know the history of insufficient evidence or testimony under duress — at the very least, legal circumstances that demand some sort of reinvestigation ... basically saying these people are not the criminals they're being made out to be," he told The Associated Press on Thursday. Mos Def will participate this weekend in the 10th annual Black August benefit concert at New York's Nokia Theatre. The event serves to create awareness about people who its organizers, the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, believe have been unfairly convicted — Talib Kweli, Saigon and Dead Prez are also on the bill. ...

Music, martial arts and chess ... how could members of the Wu-Tang Clan not be involved? RZA and GZA are participating in the Hip-Hop Chess Foundation's first-ever Chess Kings Invitational, set for October 13 at the San Francisco Design Center. The rappers will talk on the tournament's Life Strategies panel about how music, martial arts and chess — activities the organization uses to promote nonviolence — have affected their lives. ...

Muse have plotted a handful of September dates with Juliette and the Licks: Seattle (September 9); Portland, Oregon (September 10); Orem, Utah (September 12); Dallas (September 16); Morrison, Colorado (September 18); Mesa, Arizona (September 20); and Irvine, California (September 21). Muse will also hit the San Diego Street Scene on September 22. ... Ben Kweller just squeezed out a new seven-track live EP, Ben Kweller: Live and Solo at the Artists Den, that was recorded December 13 at New York's Solo House. The disc of rarely performed songs is available now at digital outlets. ...

System of a Down frontman Serj Tankian will shoot a video for "Praise the Lord, Pass the Ammunition," from the rocker's solo debut, Elect the Dead, at an undisclosed venue in Hollywood next week with director Greg Watermann (Mudvayne, Lamb of God). Extras are needed for the video — those interested in auditioning can e-mail Watermann at serjvideo@gregwatermann.com. ... The track list for Thrice's upcoming LP The Alchemy Index: Vols. I & II - Fire & Water has been revealed. Fire will boast six cuts, including "The Messenger," "Backdraft" and "Burn the Fleet"; Water will also contain six tunes, among them "Open Water," "Night Diving" and "Kings Upon the Main." Look for the discs to hit stores October 16. ...

A writer/producer who worked on "In Living Color" and created Nickelodeon's "Roundhouse" is suing the Walt Disney Company, claiming it stole his idea for "Hannah Montana," Reuters reports. In the suit, Morris Taylor "Buddy" Sheffield says he pitched Disney Channel executives the idea for a kids' show about a high school student who leads a secret life as a pop star. Sheffield also claims Disney could owe him and his production company millions in lost profits and damages, and he wants compensation for legal fees. A Disney Channel spokesperson told the news service the network had no comment. ...

Kirsten Dunst's penthouse suite at a hotel in Manhattan, New York, was robbed earlier this month, according to court records obtained by AP. Thieves got away with a $13,000 handbag, cell phone, $2,500 in cash, an iPod, two digital cameras and ID cards belonging to the actress, who had been in the city to shoot scenes for her upcoming flick "How to Lose Friends and Alienate People." One suspect was arraigned Wednesday on burglary and grand-larceny charges, and is being held on $50,000 bond. ...

Hellyeah — the band featuring members of Mudvayne, Pantera and Nothingface — are on the hunt for a dozen women they'd like to act as their "Hellyeah girls." The winners will be featured in the band's 2008 calendar — to enter, contestants need to post an audition video to Break.com and send a link to the clip to hellyeahtv@gmail.com. ... The Dillinger Escape Plan will headline a U.S. tour this fall set to kick off October 4 in Cleveland, Ohio. Just five dates have been confirmed, but more will be announced in the coming weeks. The trek will also feature A Life Once Lost, Behold ... the Arctopus and Genghis Tron. Dillinger's forthcoming LP, Ire Works, lands in stores November 13. ...

The resurrected Jesus & Mary Chain are heading back to the studio to record their first studio album in nine years. The band will also treat four West Coast cities to more concerts: Las Vegas (October 20); Anaheim, California (October 22); Los Angeles (October 23) and San Francisco (October 26-27). ... Queen guitarist Brian May has finished his doctorate in a crazy little thing called astrophysics — he was awarded his Imperial College qualification on Thursday in London. May had been an astrophysics student before joining the band 37 years ago but dropped out as Queen became successful. His thesis? "Radical Velocities in the Zodiacal Dust Cloud." ...

Ted Nugent is at it again. The controversial right-wing rocker went on a profanity-spewed tirade at a concert last week, according to video footage posted on LiveLeak.com. With machine guns in his hands, a camouflaged Nugent yelled, "Obama, he's a piece of sh--, and I told him to suck on my machine gun. ... And then I was in New York. I said, 'Hey Hillary, you might want to ride one of these into the sunset.' " He also went off on Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer before saying, "Any questions?" and shouting, "Freedom!"

08.23.07

In one minute, out the next: Nicole Richie checked herself into the Century Regional Facility in Lynwood, California, on Thursday (August 23) to start serving her DUI sentence — only to find herself checking out less than an hour and a half later due to overcrowding. Richie had been sentenced to serve four days in jail. "At this time, the criteria for a female arrestee sentenced to 30 days or less for a nonviolent offense is as follows: the arrestee is booked, screened and usually released within 12 hours," the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said in a press release issued to MTV News. "This procedure is based on jail overcrowding to manage population levels mandated by federal court guidelines. Based on the mandated guidelines and Ms. Richie's 96 hours sentence, she will be treated in the same manner as other inmates with a similar sentence." The jail is the same one where Paris Hilton served a portion of her DUI sentence. ...

The Kelly Clarkson train is slowly getting back on the tracks. After the early-summer one-two punch of dumping her manager and canceling the tour in support of My December, the singer has booked the first two shows of what is expected to be a fall/winter outing. The dates — an October 10 show at Verona, New York's Turning Stone casino and another on October 15 at New York's Beacon Theater — are in venues decidedly smaller than some of the arenas Clarkson had been originally booked to hit as part of her scotched 35-date summer tour. The full itinerary for her rescheduled trek is expected in two weeks, according to a management spokesperson. ...

Justin Timberlake is joining the cast of "The Love Guru," a sports comedy starring Mike Myers, Verne Troyer and Jessica Alba. The Myers-produced film is set to begin production next month in Toronto and tentatively be released in theaters June 20. Timberlake will play a hockey player tangled in a love triangle with the top player on a team owned by Alba. ...

Though she's not likely to attend the ceremony given her doctor's orders to take a break from touring and making appearances for the rest of the year, Amy Winehouse is one of the leading nominees for England's Music of Black Origin awards with four nominations for Best U.K. Female, Best R&B Act, Best Video and Best Song for "Rehab." Also nominated for four awards is rapper Dizzee Rascal. The show will take place September 19 at the O2 arena in London, with the winner chosen by a tally of public votes on the event's Web site. A number of American acts are also nominated, among them Kanye West, Common and 50 Cent in the Best Hip-Hop category; and Amerie, Robin Thicke and Ne-Yo, who will battle Winehouse in the Best Song category. Rihanna has a pair of nominations, including one for Best International Act, in which she'll face off against Diddy, Akon and T.I.. ...

In related news, Paolo Nutini has reshuffled his tour plans following news that tour partner Winehouse tabled her U.S. trek until next year. The Scottish singer/songwriter's jaunt will now run from September 7 in Buffalo, New York, through October 28 in New Orleans. "I'll be thinking a good thought for her, she is a remarkable talent. In the meantime, I'm truly excited about this upcoming tour of North America — I guarantee it will be my best yet," Nutini said in a statement. ...

Rapper Saigon was arrested at 1:45 a.m. on Wednesday in New York on Manhattan's West Side after police stopped him for a traffic violation and allegedly found a switchblade-like knife in the car console. According to his lawyer Scott Leemon, the rapper (born Brian Daniel Carenard) was pulled over while driving someone else's car in what Leemon called "another example of NY's finest targeting a member of the rap and entertainment industry ... the small pocket knife was found in a console in the car, not in his possession. As such, I am hoping after further investigation this will be another example of a rapper being wrongfully arrested." Because of a prior felony assault charge, the weapon-possession charge was bumped up to a felony, according to Leemon. Saigon was released on $1,500 bail and is due in court again December 5. ...

On the hunt for killer B-sides? How about Killers B-sides? The band — which put out its last studio album, Sam's Town, less than a year ago — is planning to pump out a rarities disc before the end of the year, Brandon Flowers recently told Billboard.com. The band's cover of Joy Division's "Shadowplay," rendition of Mel Tillis' "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town" and "Spider-Man 3" soundtrack contribution "Move Away" are all on the tentative track list, which may include new material. The Killers have also teed up a different new song for release December 1: "Don't Shoot Me Santa," the band's next Christmas charity single for the Red Campaign. "Last year we were able to raise over $100,000 from the one song ['A Great Big Sled'], and hopefully we'll be able to do it again," Flowers said. ...

The Decemberists aren't planning just any old tour — on their upcoming trek, dubbed "The Long and Short of It," the indie-rockers will mix it up by playing at least two nights in 13 cities. They're also parsing the trek into "long" and "short" shows — the former ones will showcase their poppier material and the latter gigs will revolve around the band's epic songs. The jaunt runs from October 28 in Chicago through December 9 in Seattle. The Decemberists have also slapped together a new EP — The Perfect Crime #2 drops September 25 and features four tracks, including a remix by Junior Boys. ... Morrissey's tour plans are perhaps even more ambitious: For what is expected to be his last sweep through the States for a while, he'll hole up in Los Angeles for a marathon 10-night stand at the Palladium (October 1-13), play a four-night stand at San Francisco's Fillmore and a five-night one at New York's' Hammerstein Ballroom (October 28). Dates for the full trek are from September 21 (Las Vegas) through November 4 (Atlanta). ... Last but not least, Bright Eyes have beefed up their tour regiment, stretching their run from September 13 in Denver through November 19 in New York. ...

Sonic Youth frontman Thurston Moore doesn't have too many kind words to say about Avril Lavigne and John Mayer these days — although he's got plenty of respect for a certain avant-garde legend and another classic-rock hero. "I am playing with Yoko Ono, and she's well past 70 and she rocks," he told Spin for the magazine's September issue. "Neil Young rocks. It's certainly not John Mayer or Avril Lavigne. Those people don't rock. If that's the young generation in the culture, then [forget] it. In the underground, the old guys are cool. I like the fact that the older we get the more we can rock." ... Ramones fans, get ready to be bombarded: More than four hours of unreleased and rare concert material is being piled onto "It's Alive 1974-1996," a double-DVD set poised for an October 2 release. With performances of a whopping 118 songs, the set is highlighted by unissued video footage of the band's New Year's Eve 1977 gig at London's Rainbow Theatre — the show was previously captured in audio form, as the band's noted It's Alive live album. ...

Pearl Jam singer Eddie Vedder will perform at the world premiere of the Iraq war documentary "Body of War" at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 11. The movie, which tells the story of paralyzed Iraq war vet Tomas Young — who appeared on stage with PJ at Lollapalooza — features two new songs written by Vedder, "No More" and "Long Nights." ... Talk about product placement. Southern-rap-news Web site MemphisRap.com claims Master P and his son Romeo have teamed up with T-Mobile to promote the new Sidekick LX by writing a song called "Sidekick" for their upcoming Miller Boyz album, due September 4 on P's new profanity-free label, Take a Stand Records. ... Fred Durst is in negotiations to direct "Comeback," an inspirational Pop Warner football drama starring Ice Cube, according to The Hollywood Reporter. ...

Samuel L. Jackson will emcee Save the Children's 75th anniversary event at New York's Lincoln Center on September 6. The event, to feature a performance by Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars, will also serve as a tribute to former Presidents Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush, as well as Melinda Gates, for their humanitarian efforts. ... If you have tickets to see enigmatic metal-masked rapper MF Doom anytime soon and the guy onstage doesn't look, or even sound like, the Super Villain you know and love, you might be onto something. Bloggers have been abuzz over the past week about several recent West Coast Doom shows that have reportedly featured an impostor taking the stage in place of the rapper and performing (some say lip-synching) in Doom's place. The first sign that something was up, according to a fan who wrote into the Byron Crawford blog, was that cameras at a recent San Francisco show were strictly prohibited. The disgruntled fan wrote that Doom appeared 100 pounds lighter than usual during the 20-minute headlining performance. A spokesperson for Doom had no comment. ...

A forensics expert backed up defense claims made in the Phil Spector murder trial — and refuted by a prosecution witness on Wednesday — that Lana Clarkson might have continued breathing after she was shot at the music producer's mansion. Prosecutors sparred with the expert, Dr. Werner Spitz, afterward. ... The biggest ticketing agency in the country and the world's biggest concert promoter appear headed for a breakup. According to reports in Hits magazine online and Variety, internal documents about the negotiations from Ticketmaster said it is "doubtful" that Live Nation will renew its agreement with Ticketmaster when their current agreement expires at the end of this year. The loss of the Live Nation business, which Variety said accounted for about 15-20 percent of Ticketmaster's U.S. business in 2006, could mean Live Nation is gearing up to launch its own ticketing venture.

[This story was originally published at 8:00 pm E.T. on 8.23.2007]

• System of a Down
• Thrice
• Hellyeah
• Dillinger Escape Plan
• The Joseph & Mary Chain

Foo Fighters And Serj Tankian Rehearse For The 2007 VMAs

• Foo Fighters
• System of a Down

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

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

2007 VMA: Foo Fighters And Guests Live From The Fantasy Suites

• Foo Fighters
• Gnarls Barkley
• System of a Down
• Mastodon
• Queens of the Stone Age

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

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

Ozzfest: A Look Back

• Rob Zombie
• Mudvayne
• Iron Maiden
• Black Label Society
• Andrew W.K.

System Of A Down, Coldplay, More At KROQ-FM's Almost Acoustic Christmas

• Nine Inch Nails
• System of a Down
• Thrice
• Korn
• Fall Out Boy

MTV Europe Music Awards 2005

• Coldplay
• Green Day
• Madonna
• Sean Paul
• Pussycat Dolls

System of A Down Live at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion in The Woodlands, TX 08.13.2005

• System of a Down

System Of A Down At The Long Beach Arena 08.04.2005

• System of a Down

2005 MTV Video Music Awards Nominees

• Green Day
• Gwen Stefani
• Missy Elliott
• U2
• Coldplay