Joey Fatone married his fiancee, Kelly Baldwin, in a private ceremony on Thursday, in Cold Spring Harbor, New York. In attendance were the other four members of 'NSYNC. ...

Despite the many recent paparazzi shots showing Britney Spears barefoot with her clothes falling off, the singer's mother is coming to her defense and insisting that her daughter isn't "trashy." On the singer's Web site, Lynne Spears posted over the weekend that what happened to her superstar daughter (stepping on a floor-length skirt and it pulling down too low) has happened to many girls, but "luckily, there weren't hordes of paparazzi around to capture it in photos." As for Britney's tendency to walk barefoot, even in public restrooms, Lynne said that her daughter is under doctor's orders "to wear Uggs or tennis shoes and it's just too hot for that." "I guess it's easy to find these 'flawed' human moments when there's 10-14 cars of paparazzi documenting your every move," she wrote. "My daughter is not one that is going to give into the pressures of dressing up every single day in order to impress the paparazzi vultures that await her outside ... Britney always lets all of this roll off her back and not care about what they say." ...

Simon Fuller, the creator of "American Idol" and its British predecessor "Pop Idol," has sued the creators of the U.K.'s new talent contest "The X Factor," including notorious "Idol" judge Simon Cowell and "Idol" co-producers Fremantle Media. Fuller made the copyright-infringement and breach-of-contract charges after viewing the show's first episode Saturday. In a statement, Cowell and Freemantle insisted the shows are different, and said that although they hope to resolve the matter amicably, they are willing to defend themselves in court. "The X Factor," which features Cowell and Sharon Osbourne among the judges, began similarly to "Idol" but will later find the judges pitted against each other as they coach certain contestants. Cowell is still scheduled to be a judge on Fuller's "American Idol" when it returns in January. ...

It looks like Gwen Stefani's upcoming solo album has a name after all. Though she first planned to title it What You Waiting For?, she's now calling it Love Angel Music Baby, four words whose initial letters spell "LAMB," the name of her clothing line, her rep confirmed. The first single, "What You Waiting For?," was written with Linda Perry and produced by Nellee Hooper, and the video was shot by Francis Lawrence. ... An unauthorized version of the Streets song "Dry Your Eyes," featuring Coldplay singer Chris Martin, has found its way to several Internet sites and radio stations across the country, prompting the British rapper's management to issue a statement denouncing the leak. "We have no idea how anyone heard it outside of the closest people to both bands and aren't particularly pleased," they said, clearly upset that a song featuring one of the world's most recognizable pop voices would create a buzz on their artist in the U.S. ...

Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme is temporarily leaving the Eagles of Death Metal, the side band he drums in under the alias Carlo Von Sexron. In a cryptic letter posted on www.qotsa.com, Homme said he was being replaced by sometime Homme-collaborator Joey "Sexy Mexy" Castillo on the group's upcoming West Coast tour. According to a band spokesperson, Homme hopes to return as the Eagles' "sleazy manager." ... Frank Black, who was known as Black Francis during the Pixies' initial tenure more than a decade ago, is releasing a double-disc collection of Pixies-related tunes. Due October 12, Frank Black Francis will feature one disc of 15 pre-Pixies demos and another of 13 new versions of Pixies classics re-recorded with Andy Diagram and Keith Moline of Two Pale Boys. Black also has the acoustic Honeycomb, a record he made in Nashville with several noted session musicians, due later this year. ...   The Backstreet Boys have designated the Special Olympics to be the charity benefiting from the band's concert in Beijing on September 24. The boy band will donate a portion of the ticket sales to Special Olympics International, which will use the funds to support educational-related initiatives in Beijing. ... "Did Korn inspire you to be who you are today?" That's what the bandmembers want fans to tell them to help promote their upcoming Greatest Hits album. Fans in the Los Angeles area are eligible to appear in a TV spot advertising the release by sending an e-mail to kornstory@hotmail.com describing how Korn's music influenced, inspired or helped them "connect with someone important." Check out the band's official site for details. ...

Modest Mouse have finalized their All Tomorrow's Parties festival lineup. Lou Reed, the Walkmen, Explosions in the Sky, Sufjan Stevens, White Hassle and others will join previously announced performers the Flaming Lips and the Shins at the two-day alternative festival November 6-7 in Long Beach, California. ... Motörhead are canceling their U.S. tour, which was scheduled to start this month, due to a foot injury suffered by frontman Lemmy Kilmister when he was touring Europe a month ago. Kilmister had originally ignored the pain and went against his doctor's recommendation by completing that summer festival tour, but it made the injury worse and his doctor is now insisting that he stay off his foot for several weeks. Motörhead will return for a U.S. tour in March. ...

Red Hot Chili Peppers' John Frusciante has set an October 26 release date for Inside of Emptiness, the fourth of the six albums he plans to release this year. The third, produced by Ian MacKaye, is due Tuesday. ...

9.10.2004

Blink-182 are lending a tattooed helping hand to Tony Hawk. On October 6, the band will play a benefit show for Stand up for Skateparks, a charity that builds skate parks for kids in low-income communities. The concert is just part of an afternoon-long fund-raiser for the Tony Hawk Foundation, Stand up for Skateparks' sponsor. The event will be held at the Pinz Bowling Alley in Studio City, California. Tickets start at $500. In other Blink news, they're scheduled to appear September 17 at the mtvICON tribute to the Cure. The event, hosted by Marilyn Manson, will take place in London. ...

It's Modest Mouse's party and they'll bring the indie-rockers if they want to. Despite some minor setbacks last year, the All Tomorrow's Parties festival has rallied and the Pacific-Northwest rockers are curating the event. Set for November 6 and 7 in Long Beach, California, Modest Mouse will headline the first night while the Flaming Lips and the Shins will perform the following day. Many more bands are expected to be announced. ... Kid Rock and Staind will top the bill at the 11th annual Bocktoberfest on October 16 at the Spoetzl Brewery in Shiner, Texas, home of the Lone Star State's very own Shiner Bock. Nickelback played the festival last year. ...

While recording "Lonely This Christmas" for the soundtrack to the '60s remake "Alfie," Joss Stone shared some studio time with a Rolling Stone. Stone and Mick Jagger covered the song, a hit single for glam rockers Mud in 1974. Stone also recorded a cover of the movie's title track, which was written by pop purveyors Burt Bacharach and Hal David. ... New Found Glory, Something Corporate and the Mighty Mighty Bosstones are among the bands banging out Christmas-themed tunes for A Santa Cause: It's a Punk Rock Christmas. A portion of the proceeds from the compilation, due November 2, go to the Pediatric AIDS Foundation. ...

A Perfect Circle's next album, eMOTIVe, is due on Election Day, November 2. To fit with the LP's political positioning, it features 10 covers of civic-minded tunes such as John Lennon's "Imagine," Nick Lowe's "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace Love and Understanding," Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On" and Black Flag's "Gimme Gimme Gimme." A video for one of the two new songs on the album, "Counting Bodies Like Sheep to the Rhythm of the War Drums," is posted on the band's Web site. Later in November, APC will release their remix/DVD album, aMOTION. ...

October 20 begins Helmet's comeback tour in support of their first album in seven years, Size Matters. The trek, which kicks off in Vancouver, British Columbia, dips into the United States before heading eastward to wrap November 10 in Toronto. ... It's been awhile since we've heard from Powerman 5000, but that's all about to change. On October 26, the band will release The Good, the Bad and the Ugly Vol. 1, a collection of B-sides and rarities recorded between 1991 and 1996. They've also got three new songs on the soundtrack to the wrestling video game "WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw." And Powerman promise a new studio album in early 2005. ...

After vacating the ranks of Mushroomhead, his band for the last dozen years, J. Mann has launched Fractured Transmitter. The imprint's first release will be an EP which contains a solitary 21-minute song, "I," by Swedish metal weirdos Meshuggah. It's due September 14. ... Celestial electronic outfit M83 are down a man. Now solely guitarist Anthony Gonzalez, the project's third album, Before the Dawn Heals Us, is due January 25. The lead single will be the track "Don't Save Us From the Flames." The French artist will begin his inaugural North American tour, backed by a three-piece band, on Monday in Philadelphia. ...