Panic! at the Disco will help usher in 2007 as part of NBC's third annual "New Year's Eve With Carson Daly." The band will perform two songs from A Fever You Can't Sweat Out during the one-hour special, which will air December 31 at 11:30 p.m. ET/PT. ...

Young Jeezy held two listening sessions at New York's Sony Studios Monday night for his album The Inspiration: Thug Motivation 102. Island Def Jam chairman L.A. Reid was among those in attendance. Among the tracks played was "3 in the Morning," produced by Timbaland, and "Dreamin," a collaboration with Keyshia Cole. ...

The initial dates for the Red Hot Chili Peppers' upcoming North American run with Gnarls Barkley have been revealed. The trek will hit Oklahoma City (January 12); Dallas (January 13); St. Louis (January 15); Nashville (January 17); Cincinnati (January 20); Raleigh, North Carolina (January 22); Washington, D.C. (January 25); Charlottesville, Virginia (January 26); Tampa, Florida (January 28); Orlando, Florida (January 30); Sunrise, Florida (January 31); Rosemont, Illinois (February 27); Des Moines, Iowa (March 2); Champaign, Illinois (March 3); San Antonio (March 6); and Houston (March 7). In related news, the Flaming Lips and Gnarls Barkley will ring in the New Year together in Los Angeles, with a special concert scheduled for December 31 at the University of Southern California's Galen Center. ...

The Chili Peppers, T.I., Queens of the Stone Age, Lupe Fiasco and Secret Machines played secret clubs shows around the country Monday night to celebrate the launch of Microsoft's iPod competitor, the Zune. "Should we do a duet with Bill Gates?" Anthony Kiedis joked at the Chilis show at the Roxy in West Hollywood, California. Rick Rubin, Heath Ledger and David Blaine were among those who caught the 70-minute, hit-filled set. ...

Jay-Z, Jamie Foxx, Akon, Snoop Dogg, John Mayer, Lionel Richie and Barry Manilow will join Beyoncé and other previously announced performers at the American Music Awards on November 21. Airing live on ABC from Los Angeles, the show will also feature presenters Chris Brown, Ashlee Simpson, Paris Hilton, Nicole Richie, Linkin Park, Nickelback, Taylor Hicks, Katharine McPhee, Clay Aiken, Tommy Lee, Dave Grohl, Gavin Rossdale, Chamillionaire, JC Chasez, Ice Cube, Chingy, Sean Paul, Tyrese, Frankie J, JoJo, Jesse McCartney, "Weird Al" Yankovic, Cheetah Girls and castmembers from "High School Musical." ...

My Chemical Romance, Foo Fighters, Fall Out Boy, AFI, 30 Seconds to Mars, Incubus, (+44), Wolfmother, Papa Roach and Saosin will perform at the first night of KROQ's annual Almost Acoustic Christmas concert on December 9 in Universal City, California. The lineup for the second night will be announced Wednesday. ... "Jackass" heroes Steve-O and Preston Lacy will host the inaugural Arby's Action Sports Awards in Los Angeles on November 30. Xzibit, Wilmer Valderrama, John Cena, Tom Green, Jamie Kennedy and others are also expected to attend the ceremony, which will air December 10 on Fox. ... Gwen Stefani, Ludacris, Mary J. Blige and the Fray join Fergie, the Killers and Janet Jackson on the list of artists performing at the 2006 Billboard Music Awards, set for December 4 in Las Vegas. Three 6 Mafia, Carmen Electra, Dave Navarro, Flavor Flav and "American Idol" veterans Carrie Underwood, Katharine McPhee and Chris Daughtry will also appear at the ceremony, which will air live on Fox. ...

Members of Christina Aguilera's Baby Jane Fan Club are getting another crack at some of the remaining limited-edition three-LP versions of the singer's Back to Basics album. The vinyl set, limited to 4,000 copies, is stamped with silver foil and has lyrics and more. ... Jennifer Lopez makes Harper's Bazaar's best-dressed list -- and the cover of the magazine's December issue, which hits newsstands Monday. In an interview with Bazaar, Lopez shared her favorite looks of the moment, including hats and head wraps à la Audrey Hepburn and "clothes that are closed up to the neck with bows." Lopez, who says she's "not into 'sexy, sexy,' " also said she's not into events that show off her great sense of style. "That going-out-and-being-glam thing gets old fast. People keep saying to me, 'You're not out there anymore.' And I say, 'That's because I don't want to be.' " ...

If you're planning to catch one of the three exclusive one-week showings of "Dreamgirls" beginning December 15, you'll be in for more than just an early viewing of the Beyoncé-starring flick. The three theaters premiering the movie -- New York's Ziegfeld, Arclight Hollywood at the Cinerama Dome and San Francisco's Metreon -- will feature making-of displays, costume designs, exclusive merchandise and more. The film opens in wide release December 25. ... And while Beyoncé's big-screen star is on the rise, one actress is shooting down rumors that she's B's next co-star. Eva Longoria tells People magazine that reports of the two playing lovers in a film adaptation of Sarah Waters' novel "Tipping the Velvet" are not true. "Believe me, I would love to work with Beyoncé one day," Longoria said. "She's so talented. But this is definitely not something we are doing together." ...

O.A.R. and Gomez will hit the road together in January. The trek begins January 18 in Cincinnati and includes a January 27 show at Madison Square Garden in New York. ... Glassjaw will reunite December 31 to take part in this year's Stillborn Fest. The two-day event, to be held December 30-31 in New Haven, Connecticut, will be headlined on both nights by Hatebreed. Overcast, Suffocation, Full Blown Chaos and Subzero are also on the bill. ... Mike Shinoda (Linkin Park, Fort Minor) will display his artwork for two days only at Gallery 1988 in Los Angeles. The collection will open to the public Sunday at 7 p.m., and Shinoda will be on hand for a signing session. A VIP-only event follows on Monday. Along with Shinoda's solo artwork, the collection will feature five collaborative efforts, including one with Linkin Park's Joe Hahn. ...

Following the five U.S. gigs that Staind have planned next month -- their December 2-10 run will hit cities including Mobile, Alabama; Jackson, Mississippi; and North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina -- frontman Aaron Lewis is embarking on a run of solo shows. Lewis will go it alone for five nights at Connecticut's Mohegan Sun between December 27 and 31, and then heads to California for shows in Jackson (January 11); Temecula (January 13); Indio (January 20); and Verona (January 26) as well as a gig January 12 in Reno, Nevada. Staind's The Singles: 1996-2006 is out now. ... Hip-hop bling king Jacob "The Jeweler" Arabo filed a lawsuit in New York against Scarface last week, the New York Post reported. In the suit, Arabo asserts the veteran Houston rhyme-spitter owes $37,000 in unpaid bills. The jeweler's filing didn't specify the merchandise or services provided to Face, but alleges that Arabo has repeatedly attempted to collect the debt to no avail. ... The mother of the boy at the center of Michael Jackson's 2005 child-molestation trial pleaded no contest Monday to welfare fraud and was ordered to perform 150 hours of community service and repay more than $8,600 to Los Angeles County.

11.13.2006

Gwen Stefani can rest easy now that she's figured out which songs will end up on The Sweet Escape, due December 5. Besides first single "Wind It Up," she's also including four other Neptunes-produced tracks: "Orange County Girl," "Breakin' Up," "U Started It" and "Yummy," the last of which also features Pharrell. She also relied on production from No Doubt bandmate Tony Kanal on three tracks: "Don't Get It Twisted," the ballad "4 In The Morning" and "Fluorescent," which features Fishbone's Angelo Moore on saxophone. Depeche Mode's Martin Gore guests as a guitarist on the Nellee Hooper-produced "Wonderful Life" (which Stefani originally co-wrote with Linda Perry), while Keane's Tim Rice-Oxley guests as a pianist/keyboardist on another Hooper-produced track, "Early Winter." Swizz Beatz produced "Now That You Got It," while Akon produced the title track. ...

Mariah Carey's production company filed a $1 million suit late last week seeking reimbursement for the singer's expenses for a show in Hong Kong that was canceled. Carey's suit claims that she had prepped for the show when the One Group Investments Private Limited breached its contract and canceled at the last minute. For the One Group's part, the company claims the cancellation was due to poor ticket sales and unreasonable demands. Meanwhile, Carey performed at New York's Chelsea Piers on Friday at the fourth annual gala for the Joe Torre Safe at Home Foundation, which funds the New York Yankees manager's efforts to end domestic violence through education. ...

My Chemical Romance, currently touring Europe, will return to the U.S. later this month for a handful of live gigs. The band will perform at radio-station-sponsored holiday shows in Providence, Rhode Island (November 29); Richmond, Virginia (November 30); Norfolk, Virginia (December 1); West Palm Beach, Florida (December 2); Tampa, Florida (December 3); Seattle (December 7); Sacramento, California (December 8); San Diego (December 10); Milwaukee (December 13); Detroit (December 14); and Chicago (December 15). ... Young Jeezy is set to include a long-format video of the album track "Child of God (Bury Me a G)" in the limited-edition version of his upcoming sophomore project, The Inspiration: Thug Motivation 102. In a press release, the rapper described the track as him envisioning his own death and judgment. The Inspiration drops December 12. ...

A limited-edition Pink PSP value pack is now available. It includes a pink PSP, white headphones, remote and wrist strap, plus a special Pink UMD video featuring the clips for "Stupid Girls," "Who Knew" and "U + Ur Hand"; live performances of "Who Knew," "I'm Not Dead," "Family Portrait" and "Get This Party Started"; and the bonus track "Crash and Burn." ... Ludacris and Avril Lavigne will be signing limited-edition World AIDS Day tote bags on November 28 at Aldo in Beverly Hills, California. Adrien Brody, Rosario Dawson and Eva Mendes will also be on hand. ... Chris Brown, Ciara, "American Idol" season-three runner-up Diana DeGarmo and the cast of "High School Musical" will spend an upcoming Thursday morning on the streets of New York -- as part of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. The broadcast of the 80th anniversary event kicks off November 23 at 9 a.m. on NBC. ...

Ms. Dynamite was injured Sunday while filming U.K. reality show "The Race." A car driven by AC/DC singer Brian Johnson clipped the U.K. rapper's vehicle while she was going about 100 m.p.h., causing the crash. Dynamite was airlifted to a hospital but suffered no serious injuries. Johnson won the race, edging out Gary Numan. ... Kylie Minogue played her second show since undergoing breast-cancer treatment last year Saturday night in her hometown of Sydney, Australia, with a special assist from Bono. The U2 singer joined Minogue, 38, for "Kids," her 2000 duet with Robbie Williams, during the second show of her Showgirl Homecoming Tour, according to Australia's Herald Sun. The two-and-a-half-hour concert featured such hits as "Can't Get You Out of My Head" and "Burning Up." ...

Snoop Dogg is putting an iced-out twist on the classic golden-ticket promotion. Nine copies of Snoop's November 21 album, Tha Blue Carpet Treatment, will include tickets redeemable for diamond Ice Link watches worth $5,000 to $100,000. ... Bad news for Bloc Party fans: The band has been forced to pull out of all dates on the current Panic! at the Disco arena tour, due to drummer Matt Tong's collapsed lung. Originally, doctors said Tong's injury -- which he suffered moments after BP left the stage at the Atlanta stop -- would only keep Bloc Party off a handful of dates. But now they're gone for good, according to a statement from the band's publicist. "While Matt is on the road to recovery, doctors have advised that he not travel or play again for another few weeks in order to give his lung time to properly heal," the statement read. Bloc Party will be replaced on the bill by Plain White T's until November 28, and then Cobra Starship on all remaining dates. ...

Guns N' Roses frontman Axl Rose performed Paul McCartney's Wings song "Live and Let Die" -- also featured on Guns' Use Your Illusion I -- on Saturday at a fundraiser for the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research. The event, held at New York's Waldorf-Astoria, also featured appearances and performances from Sheryl Crow and Rob Thomas, and helped raise more than $5 million for the cause. ... Celeb blogger Perez Hilton will make his recording debut on the second album from P-1, due November 21. Perez contributes a Spanish rap interlude on "Ladrona." ... Elton John spoke out against organized religion in an interview published over the weekend in a supplement to London's Observer. "Religion promotes the hatred and spite against gays," he said. "I think religion has always tried to turn hatred toward gay people." John admitted that he knows many religious gay people, but said, "From my point of view, I would ban religion completely. Organized religion doesn't seem to work. It turns people into really hateful lemmings and it's not really compassionate." ...

"Spider-Man" star Tobey Maguire's fiancee, Jennifer Meyer, gave birth to the couple's first child on Thursday, according to People. No word yet on the baby girl's name. ... Joe Jagger, the father of Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger, died of complications from pneumonia at a hospital in Surrey, England, The Associated Press reports. He was 93. Jagger flew home in the midst of the Stones' A Bigger Bang tour on Friday to see his father and returned in time to perform with the band in Las Vegas on Saturday. ... Slayer will mount a North American headlining run next year with Unearth in the main support role. Just a few dates have been confirmed thus far, with the full routing expected to be announced in the coming days. Slayer's trek will hit Las Vegas (January 25); Los Angeles (January 26); Myrtle Beach, South Carolina (February 22); and Lake Buena Vista, Florida (February 23). The tour is also due to make stops in Providence, Rhode Island; New York; Tucson, Arizona; and Washington, D.C. ... Pennywise are working on their ninth studio LP, which should be ready for release this coming summer. ... Air guitar is going high-tech. A group of Australian engineers have developed an air-guitar shirt with sensors that pick up the strumming and picking motions of the wearer and wirelessly send them to a computer that generates the appropriate riffs. The unfortunately named Wearable Instrument Shirt can also be used to replicate the sounds of the less popular air tambourine.