Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey are doing a tribute to recognize the fourth anniversary of September 11 -- they'll sing "America the Beautiful" prior to the start of the Chicago Bears and Washington Redskins game on that day. Their performance will be televised on both CBS and FOX, live from FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland, at 12:58 p.m. ...

Cincinnati mayoral candidate Justin Jeffre will be joined by his former groupmates in 98 Degrees on Saturday at a campaign fund-raiser. "Newlyweds" star and Cincinnati native Nick Lachey will join brother Drew, Jeff Timmons and Jeffre at the city's Purgatory nightclub for just the second live performance by the group in four years. Jeffre told The Cincinnati Enquirer that the boy band will perform "Invisible Man" as a nod to how the local media has ignored his campaign. ... The settlement in a class-action suit brought against Apple by irate iPod owners was approved last week by a California judge. The agreement, which was tentatively approved in June, paves the way for owners of the first two generations of iPods to get either $25 in cash or $50 in credit at an Apple store, and for third-generation owners to get a replacement battery if theirs conks out. The settlement, which is valued at around $15 million, could affect up to 1.3 million iPod users. ...

Ruben Studdard and Chaka Khan are among the acts joining Yolanda Adams on the Yolanda Today Tour, which kicks off October 4 in Houston and wraps in early November in Miami. Adams' first album in four years, Day to Day, hit stores Tuesday (August 30). ... "Jimi Hendrix Live at Woodstock," a DualDisc DVD that captures the legendary guitarist's closing performance at the 1969 music festival in its entirety, is slated for release on September 13. The DVD set will also include the documentary "The Road to Woodstock" plus other bonus material. ...

Former Guided by Voices leader Robert Pollard has recorded his first movie soundtrack, for director Steven Soderbergh's indie murder mystery "Bubble." The low-budget drama, due out next year, features a cast of unknown actors playing employees at a doll factory. Pollard recorded two vocal tracks and eight instrumentals for the movie, some of which will appear on an EP, Music for Bubble, slated for release next month. ... "The Electrifying Conclusion," a DVD featuring the final live performance by Guided by Voices, which was recorded at Chicago's Metro on December 31, 2004, will hit stores on November 15. The band performed more than 60 songs during its last set, but it is unclear at this point which of those tracks will make the cut. ...

Hoover High School in Birmingham, Alabama, disinvited Louis XIV from performing at a post-football-game dance this past Saturday after parents objected to the band's explicit lyrics and album covers. The school's football team had played a nationally televised game on ESPN. ... No matter who ends up being the next lead singer of INXS, fans of the "Rock Star: INXS" show can get a serving of some of the most popular performances on the talent show with the upcoming Rock Star: A Night at the Mayan Theatre. The 17-track album, due September 20, features dreadlocked singer Jordis Unga doing the Who's "Baba O'Riley" and David Bowie's "The Man Who Sold the World"; sensitive belter Mig Ayesa singing Peter Frampton's "Baby, I Love Your Way" and Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit"; and covers by the other finalists. ...

The Beta Band are putting out one last album, a career retrospective called The Best of the Beta Band, due October 4. The double CD includes tracks from all of their full-length albums, plus a complete live performance from their farewell show at Shepherd's Bush in London. The double DVD includes their videos, short films, live footage from the farewell tour and more. ...

08.29.2005

Ashlee Simpson has mapped out nine club shows this fall to help generate some buzz for her forthcoming LP, I Am Me, which lands in record stores on October 18. The first of those dates, according to Simpson's Web site, is set for September 21 in Portland, Oregon. The trek will end in New Orleans on October 9. ...

This fall, after a three-week break from the road, 3 Doors Down will head back out for 14 more gigs, according to the band's Web site, this time with Shinedown and Alter Bridge as the opening acts. The tour kicks off in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on September 29 and wraps in Columbus, Georgia, on November 9. ... On November 1, Blink-182 will drop a Greatest Hits album, with 16 classic Blink cuts, including "Dammit," "What's My Age Again?," "All the Small Things," "Adam's Song" and "Rock Show." The disc will also include a live version of "Man Overboard" as well as a previously unreleased cover of the Only Ones' "Another Girl, Another Planet." ...

Guns N' Roses frontman Axl Rose has fired back at his former bandmates Slash and Duff McKagan, through his attorney. Two weeks ago, Slash and Duff filed a federal lawsuit against the singer, charging that Rose transferred the publishing rights to the band's back catalog without their permission and knowingly pocketed royalty payments that were owed to the rest of the band. But on Monday morning (August 29) Axl's attorney, Howard Weitzman, issued a statement characterizing the lawsuit as "frivolous" and "premature." He claims the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, which collects money for songwriters, issued a check for the band's collective royalties to Axl's publisher -- a clerical error, he said. The check was returned and ASCAP was notified of the mistake. "Rather than pick up the telephone and contact Axl or his representatives, his former partners scurried to file a lawsuit that contained false statements about Axl rather then making an effort to learn the truth regarding ASCAP's mistake," the statement reads. "Slash and Duff have an unfortunate pattern over the past few years of filing sensational but baseless lawsuits for the purpose of generating anti-Axl propaganda." ...

The Deftones' forthcoming B-Sides & Rarities, a CD/DVD package that drops on October 4, will feature several previously released and hard-to-find covers, including versions of the Cocteau Twins' "Wax and Wane," Helmet's "Sinatra," Duran Duran's "The Chauffeur," Jawbox's "Savory," the Smiths' "Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want" and the Cure's "If Only Tonight We Could Sleep." The disc will also boast a previously unavailable acoustic version of "Digital Bath." ... Garbage have canceled the European leg of their current tour, deciding instead to wrap things up at the end of September in Australia. Dates had been scheduled for October in France, Belgium and the United Kingdom. According to a statement from the band's label, Garbage have "been constantly on the road since the beginning of March" and "feel they have somewhat overextended themselves and have mutually decided to conclude their tour at the end of September. The band wishes to extend their apologies to all Garbage fans in the territories involved and thank them profusely for their support." All tickets will be refunded. ...

Don't worry, it doesn't mean Erasure are breaking up, but frontman Andy Bell is going the solo route with his upcoming album, Electric Blue, due October 4. Bell is planning to support the album, which includes a duet with Jake Shears from the Scissor Sisters, with live dates in late 2005 and early 2006. ... You Hear It First alum Nellie McKay is graduating to her next album, the follow-up to her 2004 debut, Get Away From Me. Pretty Little Head, due January 3rd, features duets with Cyndi Lauper ("Beecharmer") and k.d. lang ("We Had It Right"), as well as songs about gay marriage ("Cupcake") and tenants' rights ("The Big One"). ...

Live will release their first Epic Records album, Songs From Black Mountain, in mid-November. The first single, "The River," will hit radio stations in mid-September. ... The law firm representing Patricia Santangelo -- the New York mother of five who is countersuing the RIAA over a file-sharing accusation -- has started a blog called "RIAA vs. the People." The site (recordingindustryvspeople.blogspot.com) will track the case as it progresses and has already posted a number of legal documents and a host of links to stories about Santangelo. According to lawyer Ray Beckerman, "We have set up this blog in order to collect evidence and input about these oppressive lawsuits." The recording industry has filed 13,000 lawsuits against Internet users since September 2003, with nearly 3,000 of those accused settling for an average of $4,000-$5,000. ...