Attorneys on both sides of the R. Kelly child-pornography case asked a Chicago judge on Thursday to prevent the public from viewing the singer's alleged sex tape with an underage girl. They said only the jurors, prosecution, defense and judge should see it -- the prosecution contended that a public viewing of the tape would do the underage girl "irreparable harm." Defense and prosecution lawyers said the media could view the tape, however, a request Judge Vincent Gaughan is expected to rule on June 8, at the next hearing.

Meanwhile, the R&B singer is fighting another battle over a guardhouse in front of his gated estate in the Chicago suburb of Olympia Fields. Kelly built the guardhouse two years ago but only asked the village board for permission to do so in April. The village trustees rejected the request, so on Tuesday, the singer filed a civil suit, asking a judge to reverse the board's decision. In a previously filed suit, the village board also accused Kelly of improperly parking tour buses and trailers in front of his mansion, violating local zoning laws. ...

Alicia Keys and Gavin DeGraw will present and perform at the Songwriters Hall of Fame awards dinner, to be held June 15 at New York's Marriott Marquis Hotel. Whoopi Goldberg and Dr. John will join them at the event, which will honor John Mayer, Kris Kristofferson and Peter, Paul & Mary, among others. ...

Looks like Guns N' Roses won't be opening for the Rolling Stones after all. The Stones put their European Bigger Bang tour on hold after Keith Richards was sidelined with a head injury last month, and now the band has announced that the Nürnberg and Leipzig, Germany, shows that Axl and the gang were set to play in July have been canceled. Richards is ready to get back on the road, however, and the Stones' European tour will kick off July 11 in Italy. "Excuse me, I fell off my perch," Richards said in a statement on the band's site. "Sorry to disrupt everyone's plans but now -- it's full steam ahead! Ouch!" Rescheduled dates for postponed European shows are expected to be announced soon. ... Ghostface Killah, Mates of State, We Are Scientists Stellastarr, Northern State and You Hear It First veterans Margot & the Nuclear So and So's have been added to the lineup of the inaugural Desdemona Music Festival, set for June 23-24 at Sawyer Point Waterfront Park in Cincinnati. The 30-act lineup also includes previously announced artists the Walkmen, Fiery Furnaces and Annie. ...

Incubus singer Brandon Boyd will host the Surfrider Foundation's Celebrity Surf Jam, set for June 10 at Huntington Beach Pier in Southern California. "My friends and I have grown up surfing in California and we try to do everything we can to preserve the beaches and oceans that have afforded us the opportunity to surf," Boyd said in a statement. "Through our band, Incubus, we've been lucky enough to raise funds to donate to the Surfrider Foundation in the past. Celebrity Surf Jam is just one more way I can help raise awareness for the need to protect our coastal environments." ... Constantine Maroulis made a surprise appearance at the Vibrato Club in Los Angeles' Bel Air neighborhood on May 26 to debut a few new songs with producer Robin Di Maggio, who worked on the latest Paul Simon album. Ryan Cabrera and Sean Lennon were in the audience. ...

After recording portions of his Life album in Cairo, Ricky Martin returned to Egypt earlier this week to play a sold-out, two-hour show at Cairo's Media City. The Latin-music star had incorporated Middle Eastern music -- as well as Asian music, reggaetón, and hip-hop -- to make more of a global sound. The next stop on Martin's international tour is Tel Aviv, Israel, on Saturday. ... Ziggy Marley will release his second solo CD, Love Is My Religion, exclusively through Target stores. "One of my father's goals was to release an album independently," Ziggy said in a statement. "This album and the way it is being sold is important to me in honoring my father's spirit." ... Jurassic 5's Feedback is due in stores July 25, and the week before, the hip-hop group will launch a three-month tour set to make three-dozen stops across the U.S. The trek, which kicks off July 18 at Seattle's Showbox, will visit cities including San Francisco, Dallas, Atlanta and Chicago before wrapping up in Las Vegas on September 13. ... The Zutons have set an August 22 release date for their second album, Tired of Hanging Around. Stephen Street (Blur, the Smiths) produced the disc, which includes the single "Valerie."

06.01.2006

Ludacris and Kanye West scored a courtroom victory Thursday (June 1) when a jury decided they did not copy another group's material for "Stand Up," the 2003 Luda track they co-wrote, according to The Associated Press. After less than a day of deliberating, the jury concluded that "Stand Up" did not sound like "Straight Like That," an obscure song by New Jersey's I.O.F. Luda capped off the two-week trial by signing autographs outside the courthouse; West did not appear in court. ...

The long-awaited Justin Timberlake film "Alpha Dog" has a new studio (Universal Pictures is taking over for New Line), release date (early 2007) and a line on the Oscars. Whether it's Timberlake's performance or something else about the film that has Universal thinking about gold statues, Variety reports that the studio may give "Alpha Dog" a limited run in December so that it qualifies for the next Academy Awards. ...

Mariah Carey is proud of her legs -- even if she won't admit whether she's insured them for $1 billion, as rumored, to protect her stake as Gillette's new celebrity spokesperson. The razor company honored the singer on Tuesday at New York's Radio City Music Hall for having "Celebrity Legs of a Goddess," unveiling a 16-foot replica of Carey's stems. ([article id="1533238"]Click to see Mariah with her giant likeness[/article]). "It's a little overwhelming," Carey told MTV News. "I'm not saying that I have [legs of a goddess], Gillette said it." She attributes her leg appeal to genetics, dieting, and working out. Though she was a fast runner in school ("I beat everybody but a boy named Ricky in my sixth-grade class"), Carey said that she prefers to work out in the water. "Other than that, exercise is not my favorite. It is what it is." ...

After trekking through Europe and Australia this summer, Death Cab for Cutie will return to the States for an August stint. The tour begins August 3 at the Kuyahoga Festival in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, and ends August 15 in San Diego. ... Courtney Love has signed up for a new human-rights exhibition from Amnesty International, which features 100 celebrities posing with placards printed with messages including "Protect the Human," "Torture Is Terror," "Control the Arms Trade," and "Stop Violence Against Women." Patrick Stewart, Christian Slater, Billy Zane, Dougray Scott, John Hurt, Alex Kingston, director Anthony Minghella and producer Harvey Weinstein are among those featured in the photographs. Instead of being incorporated into an advertising campaign, the photos will be on display at London's Covent Garden until Tuesday. ...

Pete Doherty was searched for drugs and cleared for release at an airport in Spain on Thursday, according to The Associated Press. Doherty and his band Babyshambles were en route from London to Barcelona when their easyJet captain noticed the troubled British rocker was spending too much time in the bathroom and alerted police in Barcelona. An easyJet spokesperson said the airline had found a bloody syringe in the bathroom -- recalling Doherty's incident with MTV News Germany last week; see video of the incident on MTV Overdrive) -- but the Spanish authorities denied that claim. Regardless, Babyshambles have been banned from flying on easyJet. ...

The brothers Jonas -- or the Jonas Brothers, as they prefer to be called -- have at long last confirmed August 1 as the release date for their debut record, It's About Time. Originally scheduled for the spring, the record was delayed so the group could swap in an acoustic version of "Please Be Mine," "Year 3000" and "What I Go to School For" and swap out "Dear God" and "Hey We're Gonna Be Alright." The Brothers hit the road with another set of siblings, Aly & AJ, Wednesday in Westbury, New York. They'll wrap up the 15-date trek July 8 in Arlington, Texas. ... Swedish neo-new-wavers the Sounds released a four-song live EP featuring tracks from their current album, Dying to Say This to You, this week. The band hits the festival circuit this summer and joins the Vans Warped Tour July 17 in Vancouver, British Columbia. ...

Hip-hop oral history tome "Rakim Told Me" is about to get the remix treatment. Though a self-published version, covering the most influential albums from the 1980s, came out last year, the book will be updated with new chapters on albums from the 1990s. Hip-hop journalist and XXL scribe Brian Coleman is including interviews from artists such as the Fugees, De La Soul, Ice-T, Cypress Hill, the Roots, the Wu-Tang Clan, Digable Planets, A Tribe Called Quest and Naughty by Nature, which he says will make it the "definitive" version of the book, with more than 30 all-new chapters. "It may or may not have the same title when it comes out," Coleman said. Villard, a division of Random House, said the company is aiming to put out the new version by next June, by which point the previous version will be withdrawn from the market, Coleman said. ...

Boxing legend Bernard Hopkins is stepping into the ring for the last time on June 10, and he'll have Houston rap heavyweight Bun B by his side as he steps through the ropes at Atlantic City, New Jersey's Boardwalk Hall. "It's an honor to be able to be part of a legend's career in this way," Bun B said in a statement. "I'm honored to be able to walk with him." Bun B is currently putting together a performance for the 12-round, light heavyweight "Fight to the Finish" match, which will air live on HBO Pay-Per-View, beginning at 9 p.m. ET.

More dates have been revealed for the resurrected Family Values Tour, which will feature Korn, the Deftones, Stone Sour, Flyleaf and Dir En Grey. The tour will hit Noblesville, Indiana (August 29); Holmdel, New Jersey (September 1); Hartford, Connecticut (September 3); Cleveland (September 6); Pittsburgh (September 8); Clarkston, Michigan (September 9); Darien Center, New York (September 10); Cincinnati (September 12); and Columbus, Ohio (September 13). ... Coheed and Cambria will be heading out with Dillinger Escape Plan, Chiodos, and 3 in August for a brief U.S. tour. Only four dates have been revealed for the trek: August 3 in Columbus, Ohio; August 4 in Indianapolis; August 7 in Grand Rapids, Michigan; and August 8 in Toledo, Ohio. Additional dates will be announced in the coming weeks. ...

Hopesfall have parted ways with drummer Adam Baker, replacing him with Jason Trabue. The band has offered no official statement on the lineup shift, but a spokesperson for the band confirmed the moves. ... Baseball writer and ESPN "Baseball Tonight" analyst Peter Gammons will release his debut LP, Never Slow Down, Never Grow Old, on July 4. The album will feature Gammons, who sings and plays guitar, doing covers of Warren Zevon's "Model Citizen" and the Clash's "Death or Glory." George Thorogood, Juliana Hatfield, former Letters to Cleo vocalist Kay Hanley, Boston Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein and big leaguers Bronson Arroyo, Trot Nixon, Tim Wakefield and Jonathan Papelbon will be making guest appearances on the disc.