Plenty of artists release special editions of their new CDs with bonus tracks a few months after the discs hit stores. But a few weeks? Paris Hilton didn't authorize an early update of her disc, but British graffiti artist Banksy has placed 500 doctored copies of the heiress' debut CD in 48 U.K. record stores, replacing Hilton's album with 40 minutes of remixes and altering the cover to advertise titles including "Why Am I Famous?" and "What Am I For?," according to BBC News. The guerrilla artist also changed pictures of Hilton on the CD sleeve to show her topless and with a dog's head, but kept the original barcode intact -- which means that some may buy the LP thinking it is the real thing. A representative for record chain HMV told BBC News that it has recovered seven altered copies from stores but no customers have returned a tampered version of the disc. The altered copies also include a Hilton remix CD credited to "DM," which Danger Mouse's management confirmed is him. "It's hard to improve on perfection, but we had to try," the Gnarls Barkley mastermind said in a statement. Danger Mouse and Banksy are believed to have met while shopping for costumes in SoHo, New York. ...

In other Paris news, the actress/singer is getting ready to shed her babe-on-the-beach image from her "Stars Are Blind" video for something a little more wholesome. Well, just a little. For her next video, "Nothing in This World," Hilton's playing a girl-next-door role, and she promises the clip will be hot. "It's going to be really sexy," she said. Though Hilton was originally considering pairing up once again with Chris Applebaum or David LaChapelle for the clip, instead, she's picked director Scott Speer (Teddy Geiger, Switchfoot). "He's a hot new director," she said. "I'm very excited." Also raising the temperature is Elisha Cuthbert, who is making a cameo in the clip. ...

The Arctic Monkeys beat out Thom Yorke and the Editors on Tuesday (September 12) to win the coveted Mercury Prize for the best British album of the year. While most past Mercury winners were not big sellers, Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I Am Not smashed the British record for the fastest-selling debut album, with 363,700 copies sold in its first week. ... "American Idol" season one finalist Tamyra Gray married producer and former Color Me Badd singer Sam Watters in Capri, Italy, on Saturday, according to People. Gray and Watters, who met when he was hired to produce her last album, were wed on a cliff overlooking the ocean. ...

First Young Jeezy wanted you to get your mind right -- now he wants you to get your money right too. The trap star will join Russell Simmons and his Hip-Hop Summit Action Network on September 16 for the group's financial-empowerment tour, "Get Your Money Right," at Atlanta's Morris Brown University. Jeezy and a host of rappers, executives and financial consultants will discuss credit history, home ownership and other related money matters. "Joining with Jermaine Dupri and Ludacris to host the Atlanta Hip-Hop Summit is a special blessing," Simmons said in a statement. "This city is known for its great contributions to hip-hop, as well as being a center for social change in our nation and world." Get Your Money Right will make three additional stops on September 30 (Los Angeles), October 14 (Dallas) and October 28 (Toronto). ...

Guess will celebrate its 25th anniversary at New York's Capitale on Tuesday night with performances by K.T. Tunstall and Natasha Bedingfield. It is the first of many Fashion Week kickoff parties, which runs Friday through September 15. Black-and-white photos from Guess ads will be set up in an art-gallery setting, and models will be re-creating them in a live vignette. Expected guests include Dean Winters, Famke Janssen, Kristin Cavallari, Taryn Manning, Zoe Saldana and Nelly Furtado. ... It's a glamour-ific world: Former MAC Viva Glam spokesperson Pamela Anderson is handing over the reigns to Debbie Harry, Eve, Lisa Marie Presley and Dita Von Teese, who have been appointed the new spokespeople for the MAC Viva Glam VI campaign, which is helping fund the fight against HIV/AIDS. Christina Aguilera and Missy Elliott are also former Viva Glam spokesmodels. ...

A judge sentenced R&B singer Ronald Isley, 65, to three years and one month in prison for tax evasion on Friday. The Isley Brother was also ordered to pay $3.1 million in back taxes to the Internal Revenue Service, The Associated Press reports. Isley was convicted last year of five counts of tax evasion and one count of willful failure to file a tax return. The singer's lawyer argued for probation because of Isley's recent health problems and his attempts to pay down the IRS debt, but the judge in the case refused, saying, "the term 'serial tax avoider' has been used. I think that's appropriate." ...

An attorney for Academy Award-winning rappers Three 6 Mafia filed a motion last week in a Pennsylvania court asking for the dismissal of a lawsuit brought by a fan who claimed he was severely beaten at one of their shows. According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Ramone Williams, who was 19 at the time, said he became concerned when the group started performing the song "Let's Start a Riot" at the August 26, 2003, show at a now-defunct Pittsburgh nightclub. By the time "Riot" ended, Williams claimed, he was thrown to the floor, hit with a chair, stomped on and kicked in the face, suffering injuries including a fractured jaw. The group's attorney asked for the dismissal based in part on First Amendment protections for the lyrics. ...

Jury selection is scheduled to begin Tuesday in the trial for one of the owners of the Station nightclub in Warwick, Rhode Island, where a pyrotechnics stunt gone awry during a Great White show in 2003 killed 100 concertgoers. Michael Derderian's trial on 200 counts of involuntary manslaughter is expected to last several months and will be followed by a trial for his brother, Jeffrey, according to AP. ... Pete Doherty appeared before a London court Monday to face sentencing for drug violations, but a judge instead ordered him to continue his drug rehabilitation, AP reports. District Judge Jane McIvor deferred the sentencing to December 4 and explained to the Babyshambles singer -- who has passed recently administered drug tests -- that he could avoid jail if he sticks with his rehab program and commits no other offenses. The judge also said that the Babyshambles track "The Blinding" is a "good tune." ...

Expect to see Thrice walking in the Orange County Race for a Cure benefit in Newport Beach, California, on September 24. Proceeds from the 5K fundraiser go toward the Syrentha Savio Endowment and the Shirts for a Cure Project. Thrice are promising an exclusive "special thank you" the night of the event for those who join them in the walk. ... "Crocodile Hunter" host Steve Irwin was killed Monday in the waters off Australia's Great Barrier Reef when a stingray's barb stabbed him through the heart while he was snorkeling, AP reports. Irwin, who came under fire in 2004 for holding his infant son while feeding a crocodile, hosted several Animal Planet series, starred in the 2002 film "The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course" and was filming a new program titled "Ocean's Deadliest" before the accident. He is survived by his wife, Terri, and their two children.

09.01.2006

Ashlee may be keeping mum, but Jessica Simpson has 'fessed up to having some work done. In the October issue of Glamour, the singer admitted that, as speculated in some tabloids, she plumped up her lips. "I had that Restylane stuff," she told the magazine, referring to the protein-based, collagen-like gel. "But it fades -- it went away in like four months. My lips are back to what they were. Thank God! It looked fake to me. I didn't like that." Asked about whether she has had any cosmetic surgery, Simpson quipped, "The only thing I've ever wanted is a boob reduction! I have to wear two sport bras when I jog. I create a 'uniboob.' " ...

Simpson also opened up about her loneliness. "There are moments when I would love to fall asleep with my head on somebody's shoulder," she said, "just because I was so used to that for so long. I miss that." Unlike ex Nick Lachey, though, Simpson said she'd rather not talk about her divorce, calling it a "sacred" subject that she discusses only with her friends, family and God. Asked for her reaction to Lachey's candid interview with Rolling Stone magazine earlier this year, Simpson said, "people kept that away from me." The singer also vowed to never invite cameras into her private life again. ...

In yet more Jessica news, she finally sang again on Friday (September 1) after injuring her throat a week ago -- even if she could barely make it through one song. Simpson sang "I Belong to Me" on the "Today" show, although toward the end, she admitted, "All right, I tried that one," according to The Associated Press. She said she had "busted a blood vessel in my vocal cord" and was nursing a remedy that co-host Matt Lauer called "gnarly looking." ...

Good Charlotte, Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics and producer Glen Ballard (P.O.D., Alanis Morissette) are collaborating on a song to celebrate the 35th anniversary of environmental organization Greenpeace. The song, which will feature additional yet-unannounced singers, will be recorded September 9 at SIR in Hollywood. ... Some choose Christie's. Others go with Sotheby's. Self-described "Internet junkie" Christina Milian, however, knew exactly where to go when it came time to get rid of some of her clothes -- she went to eBay. Going by the Internet handle "beatdownprincess," Milian put 13 items up for sale on the online auction house, including a tight black dress worn on "TRL" and a pair of boots from Lil' Romeo's "It's All Gravy" music video. According to Milian, money from the sale of the items will go to various charities. ...

J Records honcho Clive Davis promises that a new album from Whitney Houston is in the works, explaining that they're currently working on songs together and have already picked out six that she'll record. But don't expect Whitney to change the way she works or her creative style for her comeback album -- she won't be writing, and she won't be doing anything that her producers say could be musically groundbreaking. "Whitney doesn't write," Davis said. "It's a gift -- you either got it or you don't. I've seen more artists lose a career over trying to do that. Ella Fitzgerald didn't write. Lena Horne didn't write. Whitney is Whitney, and there ain't nobody like her. It'll be Whitney. It won't be somebody reaching for a current trend, that's for sure." Davis said they'll be heading to the studio in a few weeks. ...

He's done reality TV, so now "Rock Star" host Dave Navarro is going the fictional route. The Panic Channel guitarist has teamed with "Entourage" writer Cliff Dorfman and writer Neil Strauss -- who co-wrote Navarro's biography, "Don't Try This at Home" -- to write the pilot for a one-hour drama for FX called "The Product," which chronicles the backstage life of the dysfunctional rock band Load, according to Variety magazine. The show will follow the band as it records its new album, following a three-year hiatus in which the members haven't spoken to one another. ... Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler is getting in a little TV time of his own. He'll guest on the September 25 episode of "Two and a Half Men," playing a rock-star neighbor who clashes with Charlie Sheen's character. Tyler previously did a voiceover on the show in 2003. ...

New York rockers Revelation Theory will be touring this fall with Evanescence. The group will be the support act on the Amy Lee-led band's North American tour, which kicks off in Toronto on October 5. Revelation Theory's debut LP, Truth Is Currency, is in stores now. ... Le Tigre's Johanna Fateman, a devout feminist, is the new co-owner of Seagull, a salon in New York's West Village that became the city's first unisex barbershop when it opened in 1971. Fateman and longtime friend/ hair stylist Shaun Cottle have remodeled shop as a beauty parlor and recruited in-demand stylists, with Fateman occasionally playing the role of receptionist. ... Rapper Jin has created the first webcam-based battle rap Web site, dubbed Spitcam. Jin moderates the competition and hosts Web chats. ...

A beach party honoring late Queen frontman Freddie Mercury planned for Saturday in Zanzibar, Tanzania, has been criticized by a local Muslim leader. Azan Kalid of Zanzibar's Association for Islamic Mobilation and Propagation said the singer, who died of AIDS in 1991, violated Islam and that the party should be canceled. Simai Mohammed, manager of the Mercury restaurant hosting the party -- and named for the singer -- said the event will go on as planned. "Our main idea is to promote tourism, and Freddie Mercury was from Zanzibar," Mohammed said. "It's part of our history. We are all Muslims and it's not our intention to offend any religion." Mercury would have been 60 on September 5.