While pop culture won out at the governor's mansion in California, it wasn't doing so well in Maryland, where first lady Kendal Ehrlich took it to task last week when she went gunning for Britney Spears. Speaking at a domestic-violence conference at Hood College on Friday, Ehrlich wanted to blame pop culture for taking precedence over education, so she took a shot at Spears. "It is incredibly important to get that message to young women," she said, when stressing the importance for young women to educate themselves to avoid becoming dependent on anyone else. "You know, really, if I had an opportunity to shoot Britney Spears, I think I would." On Tuesday, she apologized for her unfortunate phrasing, which she called an "inadvertent figure of speech" via her spokesperson. Spears' rep, on the other hand, said that the governor's wife had shot her own self in the foot by promoting violence. Spears is shooting something far less violent, we assume -- her video for "Me Against the Music" with Madonna this week in New York with director Paul Hunter. ...

Joining the ranks of her hip-hop peers, Beyoncé is adding "fashion designer" to her growing list of job titles. The diva announced to the fashion world she's launching two clothing lines with her stylist -- and mom -- Tina Knowles. There's no name or timetable on either yet, but one will be ghetto fabulous couture and the other more hip-hop and street clothes for the masses. ... Vibe magazine announced its nominees for the inaugural Vibe Awards. Artists, cities and icons from hip-hop and R&B are nominated for such distinctions as Tightest Team Players (Lil Jon, Outkast, B2K, Neptunes, the Roots) and Coolest Collabo (Beyoncé and Jay-Z, Snoop and Pharrell, Busta and Mariah Carey, David Banner and Lil' Flip, Lil' Kim and 50 Cent) along with more traditional categories like Artist of the Year (50 Cent, Beyoncé, Sean Paul, Missy Elliott, R. Kelly). There are 10 categories in all, voted on by tastemakers in the music, fashion and film worlds. The ceremony will be broadcast November 21 on UPN. ...

An attorney for Coldplay frontman Chris Martin has asked police in Byron Beach, Australia, to drop a charge of malicious damage against the singer, the BBC reports. The charge was filed in July after Martin allegedly threw a rock at a photographer's windshield, then let the air out of his tires. The magistrate for the case adjourned it until November 21. ... A Perfect Circle will begin a tour on Halloween in San Antonio, Texas. The stint will include a stop at the Voodoo Music Experience on November 2. The tour ends in Louisville, Kentucky, on November 29. ...

The executives at Miramax said it killed Quentin Tarantino to miss the New York premiere of his "Kill Bill" Tuesday night at the Ziegfeld Theater. Tarantino, who couldn't make it because of illness, missed the chance to hang out with the movie's stars, Uma Thurman, David Carradine, Vivica A. Fox, Sonny Chiba, Lucy Liu and Darryl Hannah, who all made it. RZA, who masterminded the movie's score, was also in the place to be. Afterwards, most of the stars trooped over to club Noche. ...

People expecting an end-of-year rush of Roc-A-Fella releases are going to have to be satisfied with Jay-Z's The Black Album until 2004. According to a label spokesperson, the Young Gunz's Tough Luv will now drop January 13, Kanye West's College Dropout is due on January 27 and Cam'ron's Purple Haze is set for a February 17 release. Meanwhile, Ghetto Warfare, the Roc debut from Brownsville screamers M.O.P., will be out sometime before spring. ... Papa Roach entered the studio on Monday to start tracking their new record, tentatively titled Dancing in the Ashes. The disc is being produced by Howard Benson (P.O.D., Cold), and will feature 12 or 13 new songs which the band will winnow from the 15 it has written. ...

Just as all the Backstreet Boys pursue their various solo projects, so do their mothers -- and strangely enough, at least two of them are penning books about what it's like to be phenom moms. A.J.'s McLean's mother, Denise, is getting set to publish "Backstreet Mom," due in December, and Nick Carter's mom, Jane, is working on the similarly titled "BSB's Mom," due early next year. Though she's previously written bios on her sons Nick and Aaron ("The Heart and Soul of Nick Carter" and "Aaron Carter: The Little Prince of Pop"), this time, Jane Carter is focusing on her own life, including what she alleges to be "constant physical and emotional abuse" from the boys' father, Bob, who was arrested for domestic abuse this summer. ... On the heels of her first children's book, "The English Roses," Madonna is getting set to publish her second installment in the five-book series. "Mr. Peabody's Apples" is described as a "story about words and the importance of teachers." The book will available in stores starting November 10. ...

After an initial run of select solo acoustic dates, Jewel is continuing her theater tour sans band for 11 more dates next month. The singer's second leg starts November 21 in Thousand Oaks, California, and continues through December 2 in Long Beach, California. Full dates are listed on her Web site at www.jeweljk.com. Jewel's original tour was canceled due to the death of her touring bassist, Terome "T-Bone" Hannon, who died from a brain aneurysm in September. ... Pete Doherty, frontman for the U.K. band the Libertines, was released from prison on Wednesday (October 8) after a Middlesex court agreed to reduce his sentence. On September 8, he was jailed on charges of burglary after pleading guilty to breaking into his ex-bandmate Carl Barat's apartment on July 25 while the band was in Japan. Doherty admitted to stealing an antique guitar, a VCR, a laptop computer, a CD player and a mouth organ. ...

Former Alice in Chains guitarist Jerry Cantrell played full sets with his backing band on Friday and Saturday at Sammy Hagar's Cabo Wabo Mexican Meltdown in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Musicians included two members from Comes With the Fall -- guitarist William Duvall and bassist Adam Stanger. After the second show, which featured a cover of Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon," Cantrell joined in on an all-star jam, which also included Hagar, Tommy Lee and Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith. ... Vanessa Carlton is midway through recording her second album, which boyfriend Third Eye Blind singer Stephan Jenkins is producing. The sessions are being filmed for a documentary to be released with the album next year. ...

The whole world may not know who Jacki-O is, but the music industry does. Pras and DJs Kay Slay and Red Alert joined some industry insiders Monday night at New York hot spot Lemon for an advance preview of Jacki's debut LP, Poe Little Rich Girl. Besides contributions from Timbaland, Trick Daddy, Ludacris, Jazze Pha and Red Spyda, the LP features the record "Nookie," which is buzzing in the South and Midwest. ... 50 Cent's five nominations leads the contenders for the 15th annual World Music Awards scheduled for Sunday at the Monte Carlo Sporting Club in Monaco and based on international sales figures. Prince Albert of Monaco will present Mariah Carey with an award for sales in excess of 100 million. ...

Bill Yukich, who recently directed a short film for Jay-Z, will helm the video for the first single from Probot, Dave Grohl's death metal side project. Along with guest singer Lemmy from Motörhead, the "Shake Your Blood" clip will feature the SuicideGirls' burlesque troupe. After the video, the girls are touring nationally and hosting a contest through their Web site (www.suicidegirls.com) for local bands to open for them. ... Nas, Outkast's Big Boi and the Chemical Brothers will headline the Audiotistic festival October 18 at the Los Angeles Sports Arena. Talib Kweli, Blackalicious, El-P, Dan the Automator, DJ Q-Bert, Z-Trip, Sandra Collins, DJ Dan, Bad Boy Bill, King Britt, Seb Fontaine and Dave Audé are also on the bill. ...

Mike Doughty has finalized dates for a fall tour, which will kick off October 9 in Farmingdale, New York, and wrap up November 23 in Los Angeles. Three of the shows -- November 13 in Chicago; November 14 in Madison, Wisconsin; and November 15 in Minneapolis -- will feature the former Soul Coughing singer's new band, which played on his as-yet-untitled second solo album, produced by Semisonic singer Dan Wilson. ... On October 15 at 7 p.m., Thursday and Thrice will perform at Apple stores in New York and Santa Monica, California, respectively. The performances will be broadcast live at www.apple.com/quicktime, and recordings of the shows will be available for purchase at Apple's iTunes Music Store. ...

Next month, Iron Maiden's pugilistic drummer, Michael "Nicko" McBrain, will appear in Hempstead District Court in New York to face third-degree assault charges. On Tuesday, a judge set a November 7 date for the case, which involves McBrain intentionally running his car into a parking-lot attendant before an Iron Maiden show in July. ... The Federal Communications Commission has determined that sometimes it's OK to say "f---" on television, much to the chagrin of the Parents Television Council. The PTC had accused dozens of TV stations of violating restrictions on obscene broadcasts by airing the portion of last year's Golden Globe Awards in which U2 frontman Bono said, "This is really, really, f---ing brilliant" after winning an award. On Tuesday, the FCC decided that in the context Bono used it, the word may have been "crude and offensive," but wasn't indecent because it didn't describe "sexual or excretory organs or activities." ...

10.07.2003

Puddle of Mudd are catching Wonka fever. Like labelmate Obie Trice, Puddle will include five golden tickets in the first pressing of copies of their new album, Life on Display. The lucky winners will be flown to Hawaii to hang with the band for a day and watch their display of life during their next tour. ...

Korn fans will have to wait another week before they can Take a Look in the Mirror. The band's sixth album has been bumped a week to a November 25 release. ... A skateboard deck tagged by Metallica is going for $338, at press time, on an eBay auction to raise money for Amnesty International. An array of decks decorated by Audioslave, Dashboard Confessional, N.E.R.D. and Tony Hawk, among many others, are up for bid through November. More info is available at www.musicforhumanrights.com. ...

Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith, known collectively as Tears for Fears, will release their first album together in 15 years this spring. The as-yet-untitled effort will follow 1993's Elemental and 1995's Raoul and the Kings of Spain, both of which were recorded without Smith. Tears for Fears scored big hits in the 1980s with "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" and "Shout." ... Hyper-driven rocker Andrew W.K. has lined up a handful of East Coast tour dates in support of his second album, The Wolf, which dropped last month. The dates begin October 17 at a radio show in Norfolk, Virginia, and culminate with a CMJ showcase October 24 in Brooklyn, New York. ...

Revolution Smile drummer Jeremy White split with the band last week. Failure's Kelli Scott will temporarily replace him on three California dates of the Cold tour. Revolution Smile's remaining dates to support their debut, Above the Noise, have been canceled while they look for a permanent replacement. ... The Donnas were forced to scrap the remaining dates of their European tour due to drummer Torry's (Donna C)'s tendonitis. The quartet hopes she's well enough to play the Voodoo Music Festival in New Orleans on November 1, and Australia and New Zealand's Big Day Out touring festival in January. In the meantime, the group will start writing the follow-up to last year's Spend the Night. ... Other news from Big Day Out finds A Perfect Circle withdrawing from the lineup, which includes Metallica, the Strokes, Dandy Warhols and Flaming Lips. The jaunt runs from January 18 to February 1. ...

J.D. Kimball, the original singer for the '80s power metal band Omen, died on Friday after a three-year fight with cancer. Kimball appeared on four of the band's releases, Battle Cry, Warning of Danger, Nightmares and The Curse. He left the band in 1987. ... Dancehall producers Fat Eyes will release A Dancehall Twofer: Fat Eyes Deelite and Dancehall Attack, a compilation of tracks they produced for Beenie Man, Bounty Killer, Elephant Man and others, on October 21. A separate Fat Eyes collection, Dancehall Deelite, featuring Buju Banton, Morgan Heritage, Sizzla and others, will be released the following week. ...

Sarah McLachlan will release a new EP, Acoustic Live EP 2003, exclusively through Apple's iTunes Music Store on October 21. The record includes two songs from her upcoming LP, Afterglow, including the single "Fallen," plus three older tunes. ...