Britney Spears yelped in pain when she injured her knee at her Onyx Hotel Tour stop in Moline, Illinois, last week, and now MP3s of her cries are floating around on various fan sites, including EverythingBritney.net and WorldofBritney.com. Snippets of the minute-length audio clip include the singer saying, "I just went down ... Oh my god ... it hurts! You don't even ..."

Brandy's as-yet-untitled fourth album is slated for a June 22 release. The album's first single, "Talk About Our Love," co-written and produced by Kanye West, who is also featured on the track, is expected to surface at radio next week. ... The day after being released from a Massachusetts jail, Bobby Brown stood before a family court judge once again on Friday to answer her questions on how he plans to make future child-support payments to the woman whose complaint to the court put him in jail for a day on Wednesday. Brown had paid the $63,500 he owed in order to get out of jail, but April's payment is due on Thursday. If he misses that one, ex-girlfriend Kim Ward can file another contempt-of-court complaint and the process may start all over again. ...

Former Poison frontman Bret Michaels is going country. Michaels is reportedly close to signing a deal with a Nashville indie label and intends to record a countrified version of the hair-metal band's 1988 power ballad "Every Rose Has Its Thorn." ... Now that "Jersey Girl" has hit theaters, Jennifer Lopez has plans to return to the small screen, this time to liven up "Will & Grace." She's shooting her guest part next week for the NBC sitcom's one-hour season finale, which will air April 29. ...

Outkast's Big Boi, Ween, J-Kwon, Jason Mraz and Me'Shell Ndegeocello have been added to Atlanta's Music Midtown 2004 lineup. The music festival takes place April 30 to May 2. ... A Mosrite Gospel Mark IV guitar that belonged to Kurt Cobain is being auctioned off April 17 at the 27th Annual Dallas Guitar Show and Music Fest. The solid-bodied axe comes in its original case, which has been whitewashed, though the words "Nirvana" and "F--- Elvis" are still visible. ...

Following the lead of the Ramones and Aerosmith, the Distillers have recorded a version of the "Spider-Man" theme for the "Spider-Man 2" video game, expected to hit stores in late June. ... New Era has launched a line of limited edition "59Fifty" baseball hats custom designed by a range of celebrities. Director Spike Lee and hip-hop personality Bobbito launched their hats in recent weeks. Coming soon are customized lids from Cam'ron, Fabolous, Fred Durst, Dizzee Rascal, Danny Masterson and others. Each issue is limited to 288 hats; they're available in boutiques in New York and Los Angeles and also online (www.59fiftyat50.com). ...

The next single from "salt shakers" the Ying Yang Twins is the crunk jam "What's Happnin!," featuring Trick Daddy. The video for the song was filmed over the weekend in Atlanta. ... Rob Zombie, Fat Joe, Cypress Hill, Ghostface Killah and Dead Prez guest star on Revolutions, the X-ecutioners' follow-up to Built From Scratch, due in May. The turntablist ensemble will hit the road in June, with dates to be announced soon. ...

"So Stupid," a bootleg song which samples a Kylie Minogue radio interview, was yanked from an unofficial Kylie Web site after the radio station threatened legal action. In the interview,  the Aussie chanteuse snapped at a batch of stupid questions, including one about whether or not she's ever had plastic surgery. ... Scream-o quartet From Autumn to Ashes have parted ways with guitarist Scott Gross. This Day Forward's Vadim Taver is filling in until the band finds a permanent replacement. ...

Hair-metal supergroup Brides of Destruction, featuring Mötley Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx and L.A. Guns guitarist Tracii Guns, will embark on the month-long Honeymoon From Hell Tour, beginning April 30 in Clifton Park, New York. The trek supports the band's debut, Here Come the Brides, which dropped March 9. ... Between 1989 and 1992, the pioneering British metal band Venom existed with only two original members, guitarist Mantas and drummer Abaddon. For Venom's upcoming, yet-untitled disc, founding bassist/vocalist Cronos has returned, but the other two dudes have bailed. The band's new guitarist is a guy named Mykus, and Antton, who joined in 2000, will play drums. ...

Seal will launch a three-week tour on April 16 in Lake Tahoe, Nevada; dates run through May 7 in Gulfport, Mississippi. The outing will correspond with the expanded reissue of Seal's IV album as a DVD-A with surround-sound mixes of the songs, plus three music videos. ... Pixies guitarist Joey Santiago will release Smitten, the second album by his side project the Martinis, on June 8. The band also features singer Linda Mallari, bassist Paul Delisle and drummer Josh Freese. Tracks include, "Flyer," "You Are the One" and "People of the World." ... Southern California metalcore band Atreyu will release their second full-length album, The Curse, on June 29. Atreyu will perform on the second stage of this year's Ozzfest, and will be playing with new bassist Marc McKnight, who replaced Chris Thomson in early March. ...

03.25.2004

Bobby Brown is scheduled to be released on Thursday (March 25) from the Massachusetts jail holding him for missing several child-support payments. Brown paid the $63,000 he owed but is ordered to stand before Judge Paula Carey on Friday for further inquiry into how Brown plans to make future payments, since his reason for not making the earlier payments was that he had no job or assets. ...

Hilary Duff has pulled out of her deal to develop a sitcom for CBS. According to Duff's spokesperson, producers Nina Wass and Gene Stein ("Less Than Perfect") failed to come up with a script the singer/actress liked. ... Howie Day was arrested early Thursday in Madison, Wisconsin, for allegedly using physical contact to stop a woman from leaving his tour bus and another from calling the police. After being jailed on charges of disorderly contact, criminal damage to property and intimidation of a victim, Day was released on $850 bail. The singer, who is touring with the Barenaked Ladies, was ordered to appear in court on April 1. ...

Aretha Franklin was released from Sinai-Grace Hospital on Wednesday, five days after she was admitted for a severe allergic reaction to antibiotics. The legendary singer released a statement thanking her doctors and the many friends who supported her, including Chaka Khan, Clive Davis, and Ron and Lee Maten. Franklin went home just in time to celebrate her 62nd birthday with friends and family, "taking it real easy," on Thursday. ... Marc Anthony has responded to tabloid reports about his broken marriage to Dayanara Torres and alleged relationship with Jennifer Lopez with a heated personal message on his Web site. "Let me start by saying that even having to write this letter goes against everything that I believe in, for I have always cherished and protected my privacy," the letter begins. The singer later adds, "The specifics about my marriage and who I was with while I was separated is nobody's business. But I would like to make clear that the fact that the demise of my marriage is being blamed on infidelity is laughable." About Lopez, he writes, "The fact that Jennifer Lopez has been unjustly dragged into this is wrong. In no way, shape or form did she have anything to do with the rupture of my marriage. I want to make that 100 percent clear." ...

Ex-Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic has written a book called "Of Grunge & Government: Let's Fix This Broken Democracy!," which is scheduled for release in September. The book, part memoir, part political dissertation, will be published by Akashic Books/RDV Books. Novoselic is currently actively involved with various political organizations including Music for America, which encourages young people to vote. ... Korn have released a remix of their latest single, "Y'All Want a Single," with commentary from Howard Stern on www.korn.com. The embattled disc jockey has used the anti-record and radio industry track as something of an anthem in recent weeks, as he has been waging a war against the FCC and Clear Channel, which pulled Stern's morning radio show off its stations last month. ...

Kim Mathers, Eminem's ex-wife, was back in a Macomb County Jail Tuesday after dropping out of a court-mandated drug-treatment program. Mathers was released from jail to the program on March 1 but left well short of her 90-day term. The sentence stems from her guilty plea to drug and traffic charges. ... Downhill Battle, the group that organized the "Grey Tuesday" online protest in support of Danger Mouse's The Grey Album, have launched a virtual record label for outlawed music. BannedMusic.org will offer peer-to-peer network downloads of albums targeted by the RIAA and publishing companies for not having been legally cleared. The site is currently offering The Grey Album, the Metallica/ Jay-Z mash-up The Double Black Album and a mix-CD history of sampled music. ...

Bassists who are miffed about not being called to audition for Metallica can seek solace in being invited to try out for Disturbed. Of course, the two audition sessions are open, so everyone's invited, but that's beside the point. The first audition will be in Los Angeles on Saturday at a rehearsal studio called the Swinghouse and the second will be in Chicago on April 4 at the club Oasis One Sixty. The band's former bassist, Fuzz, left in December because of personality conflicts. ... Courtney Love's glass coffin from her "Mono" video, in which she arises from a fairytale-like beauty sleep, is being auctioned off on eBay. The highest bidder will also be the proud owner of the pink "sugar" satin pillow, flower wreath, and pink assorted flowers which were inside. ...

In January, Elvis Costello started shopping around a book proposal, and his witty write-up has paid off. Costello now has a two-book deal in place with Simon & Schuster, which said in a statement that he "resisted the rewards for writing a traditionally scurrilous and scandalous biographical memoir" and will instead focus on a work of semi-fiction, due next year, that takes its cue from the styles, themes and characters found in his lyrics. His second book, "How to Play the Guitar, Sing Loudly and Impress Girls ... or Boys," would be a "work of comic philosophy" about taking a more punk approach to learning music. ... Mudvayne -- Chad Gray, Greg Tribbett, Ryan Martinie and Matt McDonough (no stage names this time around) -- are working on their third album in a rented ranch in northern California. The band will appear on Sunday's episode of HBO's "The Sopranos," in a scene where AJ attends a Mudvayne concert. ...

Following in the footsteps of Culture Club, ABBA and Billy Joel, George Michael and his former musical mate Andrew Ridgeley are fielding offers from producers wanting to do a musical about their '80s group Wham! ... System of a Down have recruited Bad Acid Trip, political rapper Saul Williams and Hella drummer Zach Hill to open up their Armenian Genocide awareness benefit on April 24 in Los Angeles. ...

A retooled lineup of punk pioneers MC5, featuring Michael Davis, Wayne Kramer and Dennis Thompson along with a rotating cast of special guest musicians, will hit the road for a tour this spring. Dates will be announced shortly, but confirmed collaborators include Evan Dando, Mark Arm of Mudhoney and Marshall Crenshaw. Meanwhile, "Sonic Revolution," a documentary on the band's history and influence, will be released on DVD on July 6. ... The first single from the Roots' upcoming Okayplayer compilation will be "Take It Back" from rapper Skillz. The collection, due in May, includes new music from artists affiliated with the Philly hip-hop group. ...

Lou Reed will be one of several artists presenting new fiction works at "Where's My Democracy?," a reading supporting the political-action committee Downtown for Democracy, in New York Thursday night. Other readers include authors Dave Eggers, Jonathan Safran Foer and Colson Whitehead. ...