Outkast want to teach you to be just like them -- they're planning a book called "The Outkast Guide to the Galaxy." The duo are shopping the book proposal as a way to encourage people to learn about the band's likes and dislikes, as well as to teach people to think on their own and to be a true outcast in the traditional sense of the word, according to their literary agent. The book will also include fashion tips. ...

One of Hilary Duff's upcoming flicks has undergone a name change. "Heart of Summer," starring Duff as a girl from a small town who spends the summer at a performing-arts school in Los Angeles, will now be called "Raise Your Voice." The movie will open in theaters nationwide on October 9. ... Meanwhile, Duff recently added 23 more dates to her summer tour. The trek still kicks off on July 20 in Worcester, Massachusetts, but will now end on September 8 in Portland, Oregon. ...

Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich has commented on the "episode" he suffered on his plane ride to England's Download Festival, which caused him to land in Germany and enter a hospital for tests. "I think that the last six months of playing super-duty metal and traveling all over the world at my age kind of caught up to me a little bit," he said in a statement. Ulrich thanked Slipknot's Joey Jordison, Slayer's Dave Lombardo and Metallica's drum tech Flemming Larsen for filling in on drums during Metallica's set. "God, I wish I could have seen that," he said, then added, "No, on second thought, it's probably better that I don't see it." ... Eleven and counting. LL Cool J has set an August 3 release date for DEFinition, his follow-up LP to 10. L's first single will be the Timbaland-produced "Headsprung." Other producers on the album include N.O. Joe and Dame Grease. ...

Just a month after her album So-Called Chaos was released, Alanis Morissette's already thinking ahead to her next single. She's planning a video shoot with Liz Friedlander for the song "Eight Easy Steps." ... Voter-registration tables will be set up on all dates of the summer tours of the Dave Matthews Band, Phish and the Dead, reaching an estimated audience of 2 million people. The nonprofit, nonpartisan group HeadCount, which is organizing the registration drive, will also be present on the Lollapalooza tour. ... Live at the Gorge, due June 29, documents the Dave Matthews Band's three-night stand, September 6-8, 2002, in George, Washington. The two audio discs, which were compiled with the help of the band's fan organization, the Warehouse, are augmented with a DVD. ...

"Survivor" and "The Apprentice" mastermind Mark Burnett is developing a new reality series that gives contestants the chance to front '80s Australian rockers INXS. The show is described as a cooler version of "American Idol" with a bit of competition a la "The Apprentice." INXS' frontman, Michael Hutchence, hanged himself in 1997 ... Thomas "Quorthon" Forsberg, the frontman for pioneering Swedish metal band Bathory, has died of heart failure at the age of 39. Bathory's combination of garage-quality production and hardcore tempos, raw metal riffs and satanic lyrics through the '80s was instrumental in influencing the death metal scene. And Quorthon's inclusion of Nordic themes and orchestral flourishes in the '90s had a substantial impact on nascent Scandinavian black metallists, who fancied themselves Vikings. In a statement, video director Jonas Akerlund, who formed the band with Quorthon in 1983, said, "People like Marilyn Manson, Billy Corgan and the members of Metallica have all come up to me and have told me that they listened to Bathory. It is so sad. He had much more to offer." ...

To coincide with the release of "Driv3r", the long-awaited video game's soundtrack will be released independently on June 22. Phantom Planet's "Big Brat," the Raveonettes' "Bowels of the Beast" and the Stooges' "Gimme Danger" are among the 14-track album's highlights. ... Comedian George Lopez will host the fifth annual Latin Grammy Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on September 1. The show will be broadcast live on CBS. ...

One California winery is making a drink fit for a king ... or more specifically the King. Signature Wines' Elvis-inspired Graceland Cellars line features Blue Suede Chardonnay, King Cabernet Sauvignon and Jailhouse Red Merlot. ... New York quartet Interpol have completed their second album. The follow-up to 2002's Turn on the Bright Lights is expected to surface this fall. ... Following a summer spent writing and demoing new material, Brand New hope to enter a studio in September to record their third album, the follow-up to last year's Deja Entendu. ...

Middleweight boxing champion and State Property clothing spokesperson Winky Wright celebrated his new business venture as part owner of Long Island, New York's Street Dreams Automotive Accessories with a party on Saturday. Joe Budden, video starlet Gloria Velez and radio personality Doctor Dre were on hand. ... Beautifully morose Down Under dirgers Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds will release two albums packaged together in September. The double-disc set, Abattoir Blues/ The Lyre of Orpheus, is Cave's 13th studio effort. A U.S. tour is expected to coincide with the release. ...

06.07.2004

Lindsay Lohan is under fire from a group that advocates the rights of people with mental disabilities, since she's been using the word "retarded" to respond to press inquiries about her alleged breast implants and her supposed rift with Hilary Duff. The Arc plans to send the actress a letter explaining why it's upset with her use of the word, something the group did once before with Britney Spears when she used the word, according to a spokesperson. ...

After teasing the collaboration in a recent interview, Lil Jon has entered a Los Angeles studio with Ice Cube for a new, as-yet-untitled track. The song will appear on Jon's upcoming album, Crunk Juice, due in the fall. ... Festival organizers say all members of the Wu-Tang Clan have been confirmed to headline the Rock the Bells daylong concert in San Bernardino, California, on July 17. It would be the first time all the MCs of the Clan have performed together in almost seven years -- if it happens. Several times in recent years promoters have booked the group with no success. Other acts confirmed for the concert include Redman, Dilated Peoples, Sage Francis and members of Jurassic 5. ...

Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich, who suffered an undisclosed medical emergency and missed the band's performance at the Download Festival in England on Sunday, will rejoin his bandmates Tuesday night (June 8) at a show in Ludwigshafen, Germany, according to the band's German Web site. ... Green Day cleaned up at the 2004 California Music Awards on Sunday by nabbing awards in four categories. The band took Most Downloaded Song for "I Fought the Law," and frontman Billie Joe Armstrong, bassist Mike Dirnt and drummer Tre Cool each picked up Outstanding Musician awards in their respective categories. AFI also won big with three awards: Outstanding Group, Outstanding Rock Album and Outstanding Debut on a Major Label for Sing the Sorrow. Other winners included the Red Hot Chili Peppers for California Favorite, the Offspring for Outstanding Alternative Album, No Doubt's Gwen Stefani for Outstanding Female Vocalist, Metallica's Kirk Hammett for Outstanding Guitarist, Blink-182 for Outstanding Hard Rock Album and Black Eyed Peas for Outstanding Hip-Hop Album. The awards ceremony, now in its 27th year, took place in downtown Oakland. ...

Ludacris was given the key to the city of Atlanta on Monday. The city council wanted to thank the boisterous rapper for his work through the Ludacris Foundation, which has provided college scholarships and organized young children to volunteer in their communities. The city also proclaimed June 7, 2004, to be Ludacris Day. ... Courtney Love got another breather in the felony drug case against her in California on Tuesday. The court postponed her pretrial hearing until July 15, one day before her sentencing in her misdemeanor drug case. ...

The corpses of two ex-members of Italian metal band Beasts of Satan were found in a two-meter deep grave in the woods in Northern Italy, Reuters reported. The two were allegedly murdered by their bandmates six years ago as part of a satanic human sacrifice. The musicians, 19-year-old Chiara Marino and 16-year-old Fabio Tollis, were last seen in January 1998 leaving a pizza restaurant. Four of their former bandmates were arrested for murder. ... Contestants in the Los Angeles area hoping to win a spot on the Ozzfest main stage through the tour's unsigned-band contest now have some direction. Bands will be interviewed Friday, beginning at 9 a.m., at the Hollywood Palladium. Applications are available at www.ozzfest.com, and bands are asked to leave their instruments at home. ...

Public Enemy's Chuck D is taking over the TRIO channel for one week in July. Not only did the rapper pick the programming, but he'll also introduce each selection and provide personal commentary on how the various films and documentaries shaped his life as an artist. Among his picks: the network television premiere of Nick Broomfield's documentary "Biggie & Tupac," the coming-of-age film "Cooley High," the 1964 segregation drama "Nothing But a Man" and Mario Van Peebles' historic film about the origins of the Black Panthers, "Panther." Chuck D's week on TRIO, which will also include the world premiere of "Public Enemy: Live From the House of Blues," starts July 2. ... A back ailment has forced Loretta Lynn to scrap a bunch of dates in support of her latest album, Van Lear Rose. The 69-year-old country legend canceled a show in Birmingham, Alabama (June 20), and postponed the remainder of her shows through June 26 in Jackson, Mississippi. ...

"Baywatch" and "Knight Rider" semi-hunk David Hasselhoff was arrested over the weekend on suspicion of driving while intoxicated, according to Ventura, California, police. The 51-year-old actor and sometime singer was arrested Saturday night and released Sunday morning. Hasselhoff has a history of drinking problems; in 2002 he checked himself into the Betty Ford Center for treatment of alcoholism. ... It's no "Highway to Hell," but AC/DC might soon have a street named after them in Melbourne, Australia. City officials are considering renaming a downtown alley currently called Corporation Lane to AC/DC Lane. The decision on the name change is expected within the next month. ... The Raveonettes will play two weeks of shows in the U.S. starting August 14 in New York and running through August 29 in Chicago. The band continues to support its 2003 album, Chain Gang of Love, which came out in September. ...