J. Lo isn't the only diva launching a new scent this fall -- Britney Spears is expanding her fragrance franchise as well with Fantasy, her sequel to Curious. Where Curious was supposed to be fun and flirty, Fantasy is designed to reflect the singer's marital status, by being more romantic and seductive, with top notes of red lychee and kiwi, as well as cupcake, jasmine petals, orchids and musk in the mix. It will be available in Sephora and department stores such as Macy's and Nordstrom in September. ...

Sean Paul made a surprise appearance Thursday night at the New York club Crobar. Just after midnight he took the stage to do two new tracks off his upcoming album, The Trinity. He performed first single "We Be Burnin' " as well as "Breakout." Sean will be shooting a video next week for "We Be Burnin' " with director Jessy Terrero in California. The Trinity is due September 20. ... Kevin Liles, who started as an intern at Def Jam and is now an executive VP at Warner Music Group, is writing an inspirational book to help others rise in the music industry. "Make It Happen: The Hip-Hop Generation Guide to Success" is due in September via Atria Books and will be co-written with Samantha Marshall, a senior reporter at Crain's New York Business. Topics include finding out what you really love to do, discovering your own "flava," finding mentors, getting connected and learning to be flexible and humble. ...

The Flaming Lips are giving it away for free. Limited copies of a companion CD to their recently released "The Fearless Freaks" documentary were given out at the movie's premieres, and now the eight-track disc has made it onto the Internet -- just as planned. In the opening track, "Wayne's Intro," Lips frontman Wayne Coyne says, "This CD is meant as a bootleg giveaway that will be presented to all those who attend the first showing of 'The Fearless Freaks.' There's lots of embarrassing clips of us with weird haircuts and bad clothes, and though this CD has a very limited run of only a few hundred, all who can are urged to copy it and put it on the Internet and do whatever you can do with it. Please, please do not pay hard-earned money for it." ... The re-release of songwriter/producer Linda Perry's 1996 album, In Flight, has been pushed back from September 13 to October 11, according to the former 4 Non Blondes singer's publicist. ...

Seminal punk icon Richard Hell was essential in defining New York's '70s scene with tenures in Television, the Voidoids, the Neon Boys, the Heartbreakers and Dim Stars, so Rhino Records is going to give him his due with Spurts: The Richard Hell Story on August 2. Spanning Hell's career from 1973-2004, the 21-track retrospective is remastered (in some cases remixed by Hell himself) and contains numerous alternate versions and previously unreleased tracks. ... Beloved D.C. indie-rock act Q and Not U have, after seven years, decided to disband. The group said on its Web site, "We feel that we've reached all of our shared goals as Q and Not U and we're ready to move on to other projects in life. We all hope to play music together again someday, but we feel that it's a beautiful and natural time to bring this band to a close." The band still has several summer shows lined up and will officially throw in the towel once those have been satisfied. Q and Not U are also planning a spate of farewell shows in their hometown for September. ...

Atlanta's DJ Drama is going to keep putting out mixtapes, but he just signed a deal to get on the air. Drama will host a Gangsta Grillz radio show on Hot 107 in Atlanta, which he said will almost be like listening to his mixtapes, since listeners will hear lots of exclusives and remixes. The show airs Saturdays from 8 to 10 p.m. ... Former Pink Floyd leader Roger Waters' opera "Ca Ira" will be released as a CD/DVD package September 27. The three-act operatic history of the French Revolution will come in a double-SACD package with a 60-page color booklet with lyrics, original illustrations and production notes as well as a DVD making-of documentary. ...

07.07.2005

Jennifer Lopez is getting ready to launch her fourth fragrance, an upbeat, fruity, floral perfume called Live Jennifer Lopez, due in October. Live's top notes include orange and pineapple; the heart of the scent is red currant, peony and violet; and beneath that will be caramel, vanilla and sandalwood. J. Lo claims this perfume will "reveal the core of her inner being." ...

Now that Britney Spears is entering a new phase in her life, so is her summer camp. The Britney Spears Camp for the Performing Arts is "spinning off" to become its own entity, the Summer Stars Camp for the Performing Arts. It will still be funded by the Britney Spears Foundation, the singer wrote on her Web site. The foundation will also be making new grants to City of Hope and Gida's Club Worldwide, she said, "which represents the beginning of our work on behalf of children battling cancer." ... Going to this summer's Warped Tour? If so, tour founder Kevin Lyman's got some advice for you: Don't trust scalpers. A number of fans have been punk'd by scammers trolling the areas outside the festival stops, peddling counterfeit tickets, laminated backstage passes and all-access wristbands, Lyman said Thursday. "Do not buy anything in the parking lot," Lyman cautioned, "because you will be wasting your money." Others are hawking fake goods on eBay. Some of the forged tickets are so convincing, he said, that at first glance it's almost impossible to tell that they're not Ticketmaster-issued. ...

Cam'ron might have one of the meanest rides in New York -- a new Lamborghini -- but it was an NYPD patrol car that upstaged him Thursday. Police pulled the Diplomats general over in Harlem for a routine traffic stop and ended up arresting him for outstanding traffic tickets, according to a source close to the case. Cam was later released. ... Whoever is chosen to be the new singer of INXS (via the band's new reality show, "Rock Star: INXS," premiering Monday on CBS at 9 p.m. ET/PT) also wins a label deal. The band has just signed with Epic Records to do a new album, their first since the death of Michael Hutchence in 1997. "We can't wait to get back into the studio to record again," INXS' Andrew Farriss said. "It's been too long." The band is also planning a tour. ... Fans of My Morning Jacket are going to have to be patient. The release date for the Southern rockers' upcoming fourth studio LP, Z, has been pushed back two weeks from September 26 to October 5, according to their publicist. ...

In a posting on the message board of Chevelle's Web site, former bassist Joe Loeffler tore his bandmate brothers a new one and refuted the group's assertion that his departure was self-imposed. According to Joe, his bros -- drummer Sam and singer/guitarist Pete -- gave him the boot. "This is exactly what I expected from them. Try and make it look like I didn't want to be in the band. I was fired, plain and simple; in fact, there wasn't even a discussion about it -- they just dropped it on me," he wrote. "I made no decision and am not taking a break. I will be working on getting a new job immediately. A break also means there's a chance to come back, and nothing could be farther from reality. I was fired and they have not said a word to me since. I would never ask to be back in." Epic Records, the band's label, would not comment on Joe's allegation. ...

Dropsonic, the first rock band on Dallas Austin's Rowdy Records, will release their third album, Insects With Angel Wings, on August 23. The Atlanta trio have been likened to Led Zeppelin and Fugazi. ... Rhino Records will release a three-CD, single DVD box set on August 16 called Weird Tales of the Ramones. The 85-song collection includes rare, demo and album versions of cuts like "Beat on the Brat," "Judy Is a Punk," "Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment," "Do You Remember Rock & Roll Radio?," "The KKK Took My Baby Away" and, of course, "I Wanna Be Sedated." The DVD is chock-full of videos, as well as a live version of "Blitzkrieg Bop." ...