When asked backstage at last week's "American Idol" finale who he would most like to work with in the future, Ruben Studdard appropriately answered, "Fantasia Barrino!" Only time will tell, but in the meantime, Studdard has just logged studio time with Kanye West for a remix of "What If." The season-two winner, who's still deciding on the third single from his debut, has also started recording a Christmas album. The project will once again pit him against Clay Aiken, who also has a holiday record in the works. ... In other "Idol" news, Randy Jackson has a full schedule for the off-season. He and songwriter Diane Warren are launching a record label (with Kimberly Caldwell as the first release), and he's producing both Mariah Carey and his fellow judge Paula Abdul. Jackson also manages Nikka Costa, whose next album is due September 28. ...

ESPN2 is preparing to show the world several celebrity hook-ups, but it has nothing to do with dating. As part of the station's new Tuesday night two-hour block of programming called "The Block Party," the network will air "The Hook-Up," where we'll see athletes switching places with entertainers for a day. Notable pairings include Snoop Dogg switching up with Pro Bowl wide receiver Randy Moss, and Master P trading places with NBA all-star Baron Davis. Other shows on "The Block Party" include the Jermaine Dupri-hosted "Cuttin' Up" and "Street Ball: The AND 1 Mixtape Tour." ... Despite concerns over potential violence, Luther Campbell's annual Memorial Day hip-hop festival, held in Miami Beach, was declared a relative success by the city. Police made 61 arrests, the majority of which were for disorderly conduct. One man was shot and killed in an incident that occurred as three carloads of people were driving to the festival. ...

Versions of Coldplay's "Politik," U2's "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and R.E.M.'s "Pretty Persuasion" recorded live at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colorado, will be released on Carved in Stone Volume 2, a benefit album for the Preserve the Rocks fund, which restores the famous venue. The Roots, Tori Amos and Ben Harper are also on the album, due June 15. ... Ex-Enuff Z'Nuff guitarist Derek Frigo died on Friday in Los Angeles at the age of 36. The cause of his death is not yet known. Frigo, the son of professional violinist Johnny Frigo, joined the band in 1988 and played with Enuff Z'Nuff until 1992. Last year, Derek reunited with frontman Donnie Vie and drummer Vik Fox to play a handful of Los Angeles-area shows, and last month, he worked with Vie in his home studio tracking new material for the next Enuff Z'Nuff album. ...

Apparently the Gary Cherone years don't count as The Very Best of Van Halen. The band's two-disc retrospective, due July 20, features only tunes sung by original frontman David Lee Roth and his replacement, Sammy Hagar. ... Four sons of late reggae legend Bob Marley will stage the traveling Roots Rock Reggae Festival this summer, starting in Portsmouth, Virginia, on August 7. Ziggy, Stephen, Julian and Damian "Junior Gong" Marley will perform on the trek, as will Toots and the Maytals, Slightly Stoopid and Looner. Dates run through August 29 in Berkeley, California. ...

Canadian rapper K-Os, voted Best International Hip-Hop Artist at The Source Awards, will follow up his debut album with Joyful Rebellion, due September 21. The LP is said to showcase his reggae, jazz and rock influences. ... Jurassic 5's DJ Nu-Mark will release Blend Crafters, an instrumental hip-hop side project produced in collaboration with Los Angeles-based newcomer Pomo. The 11-song album is due out July 27. ...

05.28.2004

Amidst the cavalcade of stars — including Prince, Jack Nicholson and Eddie Murphy — sitting courtside Thursday night at Los Angeles' Staples Center for game four of the Lakers/ Timberwolves playoff game were Justin Timberlake and Usher, seated side by side, looking like old chums. ... Though Timberlake's upcoming film "Edison" has yet to find a distributor or secure a release date, initial images from the movie are starting to become available. Timberlake co-stars with Morgan Freeman, who plays a semi-retired investigative journalist who helps Timberlake's rookie character make sense of evidence he's uncovered in a big city crime scandal. ...

Rapper T.I., who was sentenced to three years in Cobb County, Georgia, last month, was recently moved to a work-release program for the rest of his sentence. He'll now be able to go back to recording. A spokesperson for the Cobb County district attorney's office noted it was a common occurrence, saying they like to encourage those with jobs to continue working. T.I. is expected to only serve nine months to a year of his sentence. ... Bidding started at $5,000 two weeks ago for the Britney Spears room at Boston's Onyx Hotel, even though details about the room weren't fully available. Now, as it turns out, the room has been designed by Britney's mother, Lynne Spears, to resemble Britney's bedroom at home in Louisiana — with soft green shades and gold accents. The room will feature rare glass-beaded wallpaper, an honor bar stocked with Britney's favorite snacks and all of her CDs, and a 42-inch plasma-screen TV. Ten percent of the room's revenue supports the Britney Spears Camp for the Performing Arts. Bidding continues on the room through June 11 on www.stubhub.com and www.onyxhotel.com. ...

Want to smell like Paris? The Hilton heiress has signed on to develop, manufacture and distribute fragrances under her name via Parlux Fragrances (who've also done the honors for Perry Ellis, Ocean Pacific and Guess?). ... Courtney Love has added more tour dates to her schedule, including stops in Asbury Park, New Jersey, on June 22, Detroit on July 6, Chicago on July 7, Minneapolis on July 8, San Diego on July 14, Las Vegas on July 18 and San Francisco on July 21. ...

Wyclef Jean, Rah Digga, MC Lyte and Chuck D will be participating in the National Hip-Hop Political Convention this year, June 16-19 in Newark, New Jersey. A film festival, voter registration and, of course, concerts are all set to take place. ... Aussie garage rockers the Vines have canceled Friday's (May 28) show in Sydney, Australia, due to illness, according to the band's label. No other information was given. The cancellation comes a day after bassist Patrick Matthews walked offstage halfway through the first song of a radio show in Sydney, leaving singer Craig Nicholls and the rest of the band to continue the hour-long set without him. ...

Slipknot recorded a four-song live session earlier this week for London's BBC radio. The session, which features "(sic)," "The Blister Exists," "Duality" and "Pulse of the Maggots," can be heard in its entirety on bbc.co.uk. ... Mudvayne have completed a dozen songs for their third studio album. The as-yet-untitled follow-up to 2002's The End of All Things to Come is due this fall. ...

As they've been doing on their North American tour, the Pixies will be making available limited-edition live recordings of each of their four U.K. shows, June 2-5. The double-CD sets, limited to 1,000 copies per show, are being made available through DiscLive starting next week, while an additional 1,000 downloads of each set will be available through the company's NetBurn brand. The Pixies also plan to issue CD recordings for each of the shows on their expanded North American tour in the fall. ... The Beatnuts, the hip-hop duo responsible for a handful of club classics in the '90s, will return with a new album, Milk Me, on August 31. It'll feature such guests as Freeway, Rahzel and Akon. ...

A double-DVD 20th anniversary edition of Prince's film "Purple Rain" will be released on August 24 along with single DVDs of his other films, "Under the Cherry Moon" and "Graffiti Bridge." "Purple Rain" 's extra discs will include a number of bonus materials, including a featurette on the making of the movie and eight of Prince's music videos. ... A three-disc deluxe reissue of Jeff Buckley's classic Grace will include the newly remastered original album, 13 rare tracks (some previously unreleased) and a DVD with four videos, in-studio footage, interviews and live performances. The package is set to street August 23. ... A meeting between the ACLU, Luther Campbell and Miami city officials ended abruptly Thursday after a dispute over the number of police officers assigned to patrol Campbell's annual Umoja Festival this weekend in South Beach. Campbell and the ACLU feel that police are unnecessarily putting the festival under extra scrutiny. ...