Britney Spears has hired a new boyfriend: Stephen Dorff. The actor plays her beau in her upcoming video for "Everytime," which was shot recently in Los Angeles. ... The man involved in a 2002 car accident with Kanye West is suing the rapper/producer, demanding that West pay his hospital bills. West immortalized the incident in his hit "Through the Wire," but Miguel Villasana says he was caused significant injury due to West's reckless driving. West initially told police he fell asleep at the wheel, but he changed his story two months later to say he was cut off by Villasana. ...

In what has to be the most unlikely drive to register voters, Trick Daddy, Trina and Luke Campbell will be gearing up for Election 2004: The Movement Tour. Kicking off March 27 in Miami, the artists will perform at 11 events around the state of Florida with the aim of registering 40,000 new voters and raising awareness about issues that affect the hip-hop community. One reason the tour is limited to Florida is because Trick Daddy is still on supervised probation stemming from a drug charge last September. ... Turk, the former Cash Money rapper who is currently being held on $750,000 bond for attempted murder of a Memphis sheriff's deputy, will release his third solo album, Penitentiary Chances, on April 27. The album was recorded prior to Turk's arrest. ...

Joss Stone, Deborah Harry and Cyndi Lauper have been added to VH1's annual "Divas" special, which will air live April 18 from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Jessica Simpson and Patti LaBelle are also on the bill. ... The Federal Trade Commission has reached a $40,000 settlement with three Utah-based companies that bought dozens of phone numbers similar to the toll-free "American Idol" voting lines and charged about 25,000 misdialers up to $3 per call. The callers during the 2002 and 2003 seasons who got one of the wrong numbers were directed to dial a 900-number to place their vote. ...

Who said Limp Bizkit's leader can't laugh at himself? On Wednesday, while the band continued its European tour behind Results May Vary, Fred Durst posted a hilarious video of himself lip-synching to the 1982 Modern English hit "I Melt With You" while dancing in the street. The clip was filmed last year while in Southeast Asia. After the European trek concludes at the end of the month, the band is slated to play a pair of shows in South Africa in early April before heading home. ... The latest stop on Russell Simmons' Hip-Hop Summit Action Network's drive to register voters will be in Chicago on March 27. Co-hosting a panel discussion will be Chi-Town natives Kanye West and Common. Among the artists participating are R. Kelly, Ludacris, Mya, Twista, Foxy Brown and Damon Dash. Only people who are registered to vote or do so on site are allowed to attend. ...

Tina Turner will take on the role of the Hindu goddess Shakti in the upcoming period film "The Goddess," which is being made by Merchant Ivory Productions. ... Sarah McLachlan, Bryan Adams and over 100 other prominent Canadians recently sent a letter to their government asking that Canadian Primer Minister Paul Martin pull out of talks with the United States on participation in a space-based anti-missile shield. The letter said that Canadian involvement in the U.S. defense system would represent the country's "acquiescence and willingness to become an active participant in a permanent nuclear future," and that as such, "it would directly collide with the wishes of the Canadian people who have expressed overwhelming support for nuclear disarmament." ...

Tatsuhiro Fujiwara, a toy designer in Japan, has sculpted two styles of Marilyn Manson wind-up dolls that stand around five inches tall. The first, which features Manson in arm-length black gloves, military cap, suspenders and combat boots, is modeled after the rocker's fascist-dictator look in the "Fight Song" video. The second features Manson in the black top hat and suit taken from the "Mobscene" clip. ... Early this week, the Elvis Presley museum in Las Vegas, Elvis-A-Rama, was broken into, and thieves ran off with over $300,000 worth of goods. The robbers entered the building after ramming the back door with a stolen trunk. They used lead pipes to smash into three display cases, snatched rings, a gold-plated pistol and other articles, and were out again in just five minutes. The museum's most valuable possession, a pair of the King's blue suede shoes, remained intact. ...

Following their performance at the South by Southwest music conference in Austin, Texas, two members of multi-culti rockers Ozomatli, along with their manager, were arrested early Thursday morning. At the end of its set at Exodus, the band led the crowd out onto Sixth Street, which didn't sit too well with Austin PD and a scuffle ensued. Officers had to use pepper spray on some members of the crowd who refused to disperse, witnesses told the Austin-American Statesman. Percussionist Jiro Yamaguchi was charged with assault on a public servant, bassist Willy Aberswas was hit with failure to obey a public servant, and manager Amy Sue Blackman-Romero was charged with violating a city ordinance and interfering with the duties of a public servant. Yamaguchi was released from jail on a $5,000 bond. Aberswas and Blackman-Romero were processed and released ... With a can of Pabst Blue Ribbon in hand, Bright Eyes frontman Conor Oberst joined Omaha, Nebraska, quintet Neva Dinova onstage for a pair of songs Thursday night at New York's Knitting Factory. The two bands share credit on the split EP One Jug of Wine, Two Vessels, due April 20. ...

03.18.2004

In Washington, D.C., recently to perform at the An American Celebration at Ford's Theatre event with Patti LaBelle and Michelle Williams, Jessica Simpson was given a tour of the White House and was introduced to Interior Secretary Gale Norton. "You've done a nice job decorating the White House," Simpson told her, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. ...

Jack White joined Bob Dylan onstage Wednesday at Detroit's State Theatre. The White Stripes frontman played guitar and sang backup vocals to Dylan's cover of "Ball and Biscuit," a track off the Stripes' latest album, Elephant. ... Staind, N.E.R.D., Disturbed and Hoobastank are on board for the fifth incarnation of the Rolling Rock Town Fair, taking place July 31 near the beer's birthplace of Latrobe, Pennsylvania. Three smaller, "travel-size" versions of the show will precede the main event in Boston (June 12), Philadelphia (June 19) and Seattle (June 26). Sevendust, the Crystal Method, Finger Eleven, Three Days Grace and local bands round out the lineup. ...

Jennifer Lopez must have kept some contacts at FOX from her days as a Fly Girl on "In Living Color." Her Nuyorican Productions company has signed a deal with the network to develop comedies, dramas and specials for the small screen. ... Janet Jackson is scheduled to visit the "Late Show With David Letterman" on March 29, the eve of the release of her new album, Damita Jo, for her first network television interview since the Super Bowl incident on February 1. ...

Lisa Marie Presley has clarified remarks she made on an Australian television program, issuing a statement Wednesday saying her comments about her ex-husband Michael Jackson were taken out of context. Though she said on the program she saw things she "couldn't do anything about," she said in her statement that she was "in no way referring to seeing something inappropriate with children, as I have stated publicly before. I never have. In saying I saw things, I was specifically referring to things in that relationship with us that went on between us at the time as husband and wife." ... Meanwhile, attorney Gloria Allred held a press conference on Wednesday saying that Los Angeles County officials have turned down her request that Jackson's three children be removed from his custody, but that she's still bringing the matter to a juvenile court judge, according to an application she filed Wednesday. Allred said Jackson should lose custody of the children because of the child-molestation charges against him, and said she was acting because she believes his children are in danger of physical or sexual abuse. ...

'NSYNC's Lance Bass and actor Omar Epps are about to strut their stuff on the catwalk. The two will model for a Tommy Hilfiger fashion show at Macy's in New York on Thursday (March 18) at 6:30 p.m. ... It's been called the new-millennium "Breakin'," and on May 18 you can watch it at home. The DVD version of "You Got Served," which stars B2K and Marques Houston, boasts such special features as commentary on some of the dance sequences by Omarion and Houston's manager, Christopher Stokes, who also wrote and directed the film. ...

Billy Corgan will perform his first hometown solo acoustic show April 19 at the Metro, the Chicago venue where his band Smashing Pumpkins played their final gig. The show will be filmed and possibly included on an upcoming DVD centered on Corgan's recording sessions for his solo debut. ... Switchfoot's concert DVD "Live in San Diego" will be released on Tuesday. The show was filmed on November 7, 2003, at the club Soma. ...

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club will launch a tour of North America on March 30 in Towson, Maryland. The trek wraps May 2 at the Coachella fest. The band has been off the road since early February, when it had to cancel the rest of its U.K. tour because guitarist Peter Hayes fell off the stage during a show in Brighton and broke his left thumb. He underwent surgery and has fully recovered. ... Last week a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit brought against "Bachelor" Bob Guiney and Wind-Up Records. "The Bachelor" 's production company, And Syndicated, accused Guiney and the label of breaching his contract by promoting his album, 3 Sides, without their permission. Guiney is currently on the road supporting the LP through May 6 in Memphis, Tennessee. ...

Sammy Hagar is expanding his Cabo Wabo Cantina franchise to the U.S. He'll open one of the restaurants at Harveys Resort Casino in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. To celebrate the joint, dubbed Taho Wabo, Hagar will perform at Harrah's across the street April 30 through May 2. ...