Former Creed singer Scott Stapp will be in St. Louis Wednesday night (October 27) to sing "God Bless America" at game 4 of the World Series. Should the Boston Red Sox be victorious, break the supposed curse of Babe Ruth and win their first October Classic since 1918, superstitious fans might offer him the seventh-inning gig full time. When not singing patriotic songs, Stapp continues to work on his first solo album, which is now expected to drop next year. ...

Jay-Z is said to be in final negotiations to be named president of Def Jam Records. The deal could be finalized by next week, according to The Associated Press. Representatives for Jay-Z and Def Jam declined to comment. ...

Vibe magazine and UPN have announced the lineup of artists scheduled to perform at the second annual Vibe Awards. Performers will include multiple nominee Alicia Keys, Nelly, Snoop Dogg with Pharrell, Jadakiss with Anthony Hamilton, Elephant Man, Beenie Man, Kevin Lyttle and Ashanti, who will debut her new single, "Only U," during the show. The host, award presenters and additional performers will be announced shortly. Scheduled to be held November 15 at the Barker Hangar at the Santa Monica Airport, the show will be broadcast the following night at 8 p.m. ... Fan favorites Usher, Eminem, Alicia Keys and Outkast are among the nominees for this year's People's Choice Awards (January 9), the awards show in which winners are chosen by the public. While in past years votes were tallied by the Gallup Organization, this year Entertainment Weekly gathered a group of 6,000 readers to nominate their top choices from a group of candidates in the categories of film, music and television, according to Reuters. Their top five selections are listed at www.pcavote.com, where the public can vote for its favorites. ...

Kanye West will headline the New Life Project Inaugural Concert on November 5 at New York's Hammerstein Ballroom. Special guests Common, Musiq and the X-ecutioners are also scheduled to appear. The concert will celebrate the launch of the New Life Project, a nonprofit organization dedicated to ending homelessness in the United States by raising funds through unique special events and creative projects featuring music, poetry and film. Billy Crystal, Larry David, Al Green, Q-Tip and Kanye are just a few of the prominent honorary board members. ... Beyoncé is an aunt. Solange Knowles, whose Solo Star was released last year, and husband Daniel Smith gave birth to Daniel Julez J. Smith on October 18. ...

Hoobastank and Three Days Grace are heading out on the road together. They kick off their tour November 16 in Kansas City, Missouri, and wind down December 18 in Tampa, Florida. ... A Perfect Circle feel so strongly about unseating President George W. Bush on November 2 that the band is streaming a new song from its Election Day release, the politically charged eMOTIVe, each day on http://krunch.org/apc_sotd. Fans who visit the band's official Web site, www.aperfectcircle.com, are greeted with an anti-Bush poster on the main page. ...

Courtney Love appeared Wednesday in a Los Angeles court, where a judge deemed there was sufficient evidence to send Love to trial for an incident in April, when Love allegedly attacked a woman with a liquor bottle. Love's alleged victim, Kristin King, and a witness testified. Love will be arraigned November 10 on one count of felony assault with a deadly weapon. If convicted, she faces up to four years in prison. ...

Former "American Idol" contestant Tamyra Gray will guest star on this week's episode of "What I Like About You." Playing a character named Danielle, Gray helps the gang get ready for Halloween by dressing in costume as Tina Turner to Gary's Ike (played by Wesley Jonathan). Also coming up on the sitcom will be a guest appearance by Gavin DeGraw, who will tape his episode the second week of November; he'll be performing a song at Val's wedding. Gray's episode airs Friday, while DeGraw's will air November 19 on the WB at 8 p.m. ... In other guest-star news, Xzibit will appear on the UPN's "All of Us" in an episode airing November 9. ...

Madonna's a doll -- literally. Different phases of her career are portrayed on a new set of handmade and handpainted wooden Russian nesting dolls, available for pre-order on her Web site. Only 5,000 of these four-in-one dolls are being made. ... Forgoing the tedium of performing in conventional music venues, Fatboy Slim will perform in a variety of unconventional settings when his tour behind Palookaville kicks off November 10 in Toronto, where he'll recreate the set of the video for "Slash Dot Dash." In New York, he'll play a loft party at Drive-In Studios on November 13, and on December 8, he's set to kick it with the Neanderthals and dinosaur bones at Los Angeles' Natural History Museum. The short trek wraps up December 11 in Dallas. ...

An Ohio musician has filed a petition in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office against Staind, claiming that the band obtained legal use of the name Staind through fraudulent practices. If Jon Stainbrook, who fronted a band called the Stain, wins, Aaron Lewis' band could be forced to change its name. Stainbrook had prevailed previously in a similar dispute, resulting in the Los Angeles band Lit having to change their name from Stain. ... The songs of the Smashing Pumpkins will be reinterpreted by some of emo-punk's biggest acts on a tribute album due out next year. My Chemical Romance, A Static Lullaby and Poison the Well are among the bands that will be featured on the album, to be released on indie label Law of Inertia Records. ... Aaron Carter is set to tour with Fan_3 (whose song "Digits" is on the "Shark Tale" soundtrack) on Radio Disney's second annual Jingle Jam outing, which kicks off November 6 in Pittsburgh and wraps New Year's Day in Hartford, Connecticut. ...

The television special "National Anthem: Inside the 'Vote for Change' Concert Tour" will be rebroadcast on the Sundance Channel Saturday at 6:30 p.m. The show mixes behind-the-scenes footage from the politically minded tour's October 11 stop in Washington, D.C., with performance footage of Pearl Jam, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, the Dave Matthews Band, R.E.M., Jurassic 5, Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, the Dixie Chicks, Jackson Browne, James Taylor, John Fogerty, John Mellencamp and Bonnie Raitt. ...

10.26.2004

Will Donald Trump get to fire Lil Jon? Probably not, but the rapper/producer and his East Side Boyz cohorts are in talks to appear on "The Apprentice," according to sources close to the group. There's currently no word on what the Atlanta-based trio would do on the show. ...

Usher, who could easily take home the award for most awards won in a single year, was honored with trophies for Hip-Hop Artist of the Year and Hip-Hop Song of the Year at the Radio Music Awards on Monday night, according to reports. Destiny's Child opened the ceremony at Las Vegas' Aladdin hotel-casino with a performance of "Lose My Breath," while Ashlee Simpson poked fun at her "SNL" lip-synching debacle when she took the stage to sing her latest single, "Autobiography." Linkin Park won for Alternative Rock Song of the Year and Rock Artist of the Year. Nominees for the RMAs are based on radio's most played songs, and winners are chosen based on votes from radio program directors and music directors across the country. ... John Kerry supporters have been hearing a recorded version of Bruce Springsteen's "No Surrender" played at the Democratic presidential candidate's rallies across the country, but in the coming days, they will be treated to live performances by the Boss himself. Springsteen, who before this election had never gone public with his support of one particular candidate, will join Kerry's rallies in Madison, Wisconsin, and Columbus, Ohio, on October 28 and in Cleveland on November 1. He is expected to speak on behalf of the Kerry/ Edwards campaign and perform one or two songs at each rally. ...

Fresh from "Charmed," Nick Lachey already has his next guest-starring role lined up -- on ABC's "Hope & Faith." Lachey tapes his episode in two weeks; he'll play a single dad who is so attractive to Faith (Kelly Ripa) that she tries to make him think she's also a single parent by claiming her nephew is really her son. Meanwhile, Lachey's upcoming variety special with wife Jessica Simpson, "Nick & Jessica's Family Christmas," airs December 1, also on ABC. ... As part of South Africa's 10th anniversary of democracy celebrations, the Black Eyed Peas will perform their first shows in the country November 20 at Johannesburg's Coca-Cola Dome and November 23 at Cape Town's Bellville Velodrome. Before heading to South Africa, the Peas will play three weeks of shows, mostly at colleges, across the U.S., beginning November 3 in Chicago. ...

Cam'ron is shooting the video for "Girls," the first single from his new album, Purple Haze, on Wednesday and Thursday in Miami. The LP hits stores December 7. ... Alicia Keys is jumping into the DVD game with "Alicia Keys: The Diary of Alicia Keys." Due November 16, the home video is said to give viewers a glimpse into the daily life of the singer, through behind-the-scenes footage of her at photo and video shoots as well as at recording sessions and her live shows. ...

Slayer frontman Tom Araya has been diagnosed with vocal fatigue, which has forced the cancellation of the first two dates of the Jägermeister Music Tour: Friday in Springfield, Missouri, and Saturday in Des Moines, Iowa. His doctor advised him not to sing or speak for at least a week, and then not to sing for four consecutive days. Therefore, the November 9 show in Belle Vernon, Pennsylvania, and the November 26 show in Tampa, Florida, have also been scrapped. ... Korn's Jonathan Davis will host Thursday's episode of the button-pushing animated series "South Park," which airs at 9 p.m. ET on Comedy Central. The episode is a repeat of "Korn's Groovy Pirate Ghost Mystery," which aired in 1999 and found Davis and his bandmates spoofing Scooby-Doo as they helped the South Park kids get revenge on mean fifth graders. ...

Bruce Willis has been cast as the father of the main character in "Alpha Dog," Justin Timberlake's latest movie, which starts shooting this week. ... Billboard magazine is adding a new chart that will show weekly sales of cell-phone ringtones. Debuting November 6, the chart will list the top 20 ringtones, including each ringtone's previous-week chart position and number of weeks on the chart. ... A lot of bands nowadays release albums in some sort of "deluxe" format. But leave it to U2 to take that notion to the extreme. Their new album, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, out November 23, will be released in three deluxe formats. Aside from the standard CD release, there will be a double-album CD/DVD version, which includes the documentary "U2 and 3 Songs"; a deluxe limited edition, which includes not only the CD/DVD combo, but also a color hardback book that features original notes, paintings and photography from the band; and finally, a vinyl LP release. …

Philadelphia radio station Power 99 has announced the lineup for this year's Powerhouse, its annual concert. The roster includes LL Cool J, Jadakiss, G-Unit's Lloyd Banks and Young Buck, Fabolous and Mase, among others. The show will take place Friday at the Wachovia Center. ... Wilco, the Flaming Lips and Sleater-Kinney will ring in the new year with a New Year's Eve show at Madison Square Garden in New York. Meanwhile, Wilco showed their support for the Kerry/ Edwards ticket by appearing with John Edwards at a rally Tuesday morning (October 26) at the University of Minnesota. ...