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For The Record: Quick News On 50 Cent And Game, Ashanti, Kelly Clarkson, Shakira, Paris Hilton, Pennywise & More

50 and Game team up again, Kelly's bottle up for auction, Shakira readies two new albums.

50 Cent and the Game will team up Thursday to donate $200,000 to the Compton Unified School District's Education Foundation, to bring back music- and arts-education programs. 50's share comes from his G-Unity Foundation, while the Game procured his donation through Aftermath Entertainment, Interscope Records and his own Black Wall Street organization. "This is what Black Wall Street is all about," Game said in a statement. "Building an empowerment within our community. I've seen firsthand what music can do, so I'm hoping this can make a difference in people's lives." 50 seconded the thought, and noted, "G-Unity's goal is to lend a hand to the people who need it most. This donation is just the beginning of what we're hoping to do." ...

Ashanti is not only acting in "The Muppets' Wizard of Oz," she's singing in it, too. The Inc. princess recorded three songs for the soundtrack, which comes out May 17: two solo songs, "Gotta Get Out of Kansas" and "It's a Good Life"; and a collaboration with Kermit the Frog, Gonzo and Fozzie called "When I'm With You." The movie airs May 20 on ABC. ... Shakira is putting out not one, but two albums to follow up her first English-language album, Laundry Service -- one in Spanish, one in English. The Spanish-language album Fijación Oral 1 is due June 7, setting up its sequel, the English-language Oral Fixation 2, in November. The first single (in Spanish) is called "La Tortura," and features Alejandro Sanz. "I did not set out to make two albums," Shakira said in a statement, "but suddenly I realized I had written 60 songs, some in English and some in Spanish. Many times I let the melody suggest which language the song should be." Both albums were executive-produced by Rick Rubin. ...

Kelly Clarkson fans thirsting for that special keepsake from her April 2 concert in Omaha, Nebraska, may want to check out the water bottle that one eBay seller is hawking online. The seller claims the first-season "American Idol" champ drank out of the plastic "Dasani" bottle; a front-row ticket stub from that evening is also included for those who require convincing. Bidding will end on Sunday, and as of press time, the price was already up to $36.50. ... Paris Hilton is going high-tech to promote her new flick, "House of Wax." Starting on April 29, you'll be able to eavesdrop on the heiress as she "shops, parties, poses and publicizes" the movie via podcast in advance of its May 6 opening. "The Paris Hilton Podcast - Countdown to 'House of Wax' " works on any portable media player and can be downloaded at http://houseofwaxpodcast.com/rss.xml. If you don't already have podcasting software, you can download a custom version at http://houseofwaxmovie.warnerbros.com/. ...

Talib Kweli spent his Friday morning at the Gibson Studios in New York collaborating with about 100 elementary school students from P.S. 34 and P.S. 188. The Brooklyn-born MC was there to launch the eighth season of "Harman: How to Listen," a music-education program designed to expose children to a variety of musical genres. One bunch of kids even re-did the chorus to "Get By" and performed it for Kweli, according to a rep for the event. Roots affiliate Martin Luther also made an appearance and performed his new single, "Daily Bread," for the kids before letting them onstage to give his computerized drum pad a try. The program will ultimately reach 21 schools in five cities: New York, Detroit, Phoenix, Miami and Baltimore. ... ?uestlove from the Roots is joining the lineup for the Jammys -- along with Buddy Guy, Travis Tritt and the Disco Biscuits. Ryan Adams, Les Claypool, Bruce Hornsby, Burning Spear and Medeski, Martin and Wood are already on the bill for the fifth annual awards ceremony, which will take place April 26 at New York's Madison Square Garden. ...

Pennywise will rev it up in Cali at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach on Saturday. "We always love playing extreme sporting events, and as long as Sylvester Stallone isn't driving this year, this should be pretty extreme," guitarist Fletcher Dragge said in a statement. "We're also big racing fans so it will be an awesome weekend." The SoCal punk band is currently in the studio in Redondo Beach, California, working on its eighth album, The Fuse, due out in July. The group has demoed more than 30 new songs, and is focusing on the 16-18 strongest tracks to record, including "Lies," "Disconnect," "Closer" and "Eighteen Soldiers." ... P. Diddy's ex-girlfriend -- and mother of his 11-year-old son, Justin -- won a child-support award of $21,782 a month in court on Thursday. Misa Hylton-Brim was originally awarded $35,000 a month, as well as $398,451 in back support and $60,000 for legal expenses, but an appellate court on Thursday slashed two of those numbers, but kept the ruling that the music mogul has to pay her legal expenses. ...

Following weeks of breakup rumors, Portland, Maine, rockers 6Gig have made it official: They're done. In a posting on its Web site, the band simply stated, "It was time to do some other things," adding that the split was amicable. While the members of the band are said to already have new projects lined up, they haven't ruled out "getting together again in the future." ... The Queers have booted bassist J.J. Nobody from the band, for what was characterized as "gross negligence." They have already filled that hole in their lineup with Phillip Hall, most recently of Even in Blackouts. ...

04.07.2005

On April 19, the final 12 "American Idol" finalists will release a cover of Diana Ross' "When You Tell Me That You Love Me" to benefit the American Red Cross. Desmond Child produced the song as well as the B-sides, covers of Ray Stevens' "Everything Is Beautiful" and "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother," made famous by Cher, Neil Diamond and the Hollies. ...

The Osbournes have been hit with yet another health scare. Aimee, the eldest child of the Osbourne clan, is currently being treated at an undisclosed hospital in Los Angeles after a lump was removed from her breast, The Associated Press reports. Sharon, who battled colon cancer in 2002, released a statement on Wednesday saying the operation went well and she expects her daughter to make a full recovery. ... Officials at Duke University announced on Wednesday that the school will continue with its iPod initiative, the goal of which is to integrate the device into the university's courses. A few important changes will be taking effect in the coming school year, though -- the iPods will now only be given out to students who are enrolled in a course integrating it specifically into the curriculum, rather than handing out iPods to the entire freshmen class, which the school did last fall. ...

Michael Jackson's inner circle continues to collapse, as one of his former publicists and another family friend have teamed up to write a tell-all book. Former PR rep Bob Jones and Stacy Brown have written "The Man Behind the Mask," to be published in May by Select Books, which will detail Jackson's alleged relationships with young boys such as Macaulay Culkin and Kieran Culkin. The older Culkin has previously denied that anything inappropriate happened. ... Jackson's sister Janet, meanwhile, is slated to be one of the presenters at the fourth annual Atlanta Heroes Awards, along with Big Boi, Jon Bon Jovi, and Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. The ceremony, which will take place April 21, will honor Usher and the B-52's, among others. ...

Andre 3000 will be honored at the 2005 General Motors International Style Awards in Atlanta on May 6. The Style Atlanta award, as it is known, will also be bestowed upon another high-profile Andre at the black-tie event: Andre Leon Talley, editor-at-large at Vogue magazine. ... Toni Braxton is back recording and her new, still-untitled album should be out by September. Braxton, who has a recurring role on "Kevin Hill," has the first single ready; the song is produced by Scott Storch and titled "Please." ...

Riding high on the rock-radio success of their new single, "The Clincher," Chevelle are heading back out on the road for another round of tour dates. Having just wrapped their headlining stint on the 2005 SnoCore Tour, they'll start all over again on April 8 in Louisville, Kentucky. Their new jaunt runs across most of the South before finishing up on May 21 in Urbana, Illinois. ... Travis Meeks from Days of the New (best known for their 1997 hit "Touch, Peel and Stand") may not have made the cut to be the singer for Velvet Revolver, but he's got something on Scott Weiland -- a reality show chronicling his recovery from drug addiction. Meeks will be featured on an upcoming episode of "Intervention," A&E's new documentary series, where he reveals that he's addicted to crystal meth while his girlfriend and family try to get him into treatment. Meeks gets out of rehab in about two weeks; the show airs shortly before then, on April 17 at 10 p.m. ET. ...

Fall Out Boy's lyricist and bassist Peter Wentz wants to be the next Emily Strange -- he's got a dark and twisted clothing line inspired by his book called "The Boy With the Thorn in His Side" that features bats, monsters and other figures from his childhood nightmares and slogans like "We Are All Gods and Monsters" and "Girls Love Monsters Too." The clothing line includes men's and women's wear, jewelry, belt buckles, hats, patches, buttons, stickers and wristbands, and is available via mall chain Hot Topic and online at www.clandestineindustries.com.

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