Eminem's been called a lot of things, but "priest" hasn't been one of them ... until now. The extreme cult the Raeleans, who, in addition to being pacifists, believe that the higher being that many call God is really an alien, have bestowed the honorary title on Em for his anti-war/anti-Bush tune "Mosh." ...

Usher, Kanye West and Sleepy Brown are among the acts scheduled to perform with Earth, Wind & Fire at the Los Angeles chapter of the Recording Academy's Grammy Jam December 11 at the Wiltern LG. Jill Scott, Anthony Hamilton, Van Hunt, Randy Jackson, John Legend, Brian McKnight and Yolanda Adams are also performing at the event, which will benefit the Entertainment Industry Foundation's National Arts Education Initiative. ... Usher continues to be the star of this awards-show season. After picking up a whole mess of trophies already, the singer leads the pack of finalists for this year's Billboard Music Awards with nods in 13 categories including Artist of the Year and Billboard 200 Album of the Year. His "My Boo" buddy, Alicia Keys, raked in 12 nominations of her own, including Artist of the Year and Songwriter of the Year. Other finalists with multiple nominations include Maroon 5, Outkast, Jay-Z and Kanye West. ...

Franz Ferdinand were forced to play their Sunday show in Nagoya, Japan, without bassist Bob Hardy, who was taken out of commission with a severe case of gastro-enteritis. Hardy had begun to feel ill during the band's trip to Osaka, Japan, on Friday, and played most of Saturday's show in considerable pain, and mostly seated. Franz Ferdinand enlisted the help of bassist Dino from their supporting act the Beat Up for the Sunday show. Though Hardy performed at the band's Monday night concert in Tokyo, he is returning to the hospital, where he will remain until Thursday, when he flies to New York to join the band for its U.S. tour. For the first two Stateside dates, Franz Ferdinand will employ bassist Toshi Yano of the Fiery Furnaces. ... The final few dates of Coheed and Cambria's tour have been canceled due to personal tragedies that affected the band recently. A post on the group's Web site cites two car accidents and a life-threatening illness for why the shows from Tuesday in Providence, Rhode Island, to Sunday in Clearwater, Florida, were scrapped. ...

Christmas cards designed by Avril Lavigne, Barenaked Ladies, Billy Talent, Sarah McLachlan and other Canadian artists are being sold by the nonprofit War Child Canada (www.warchild.ca). Proceeds from the holiday greetings will benefit War Child's relief efforts in Sudan, Iraq and Afghanistan. ... Alicia Keys knows how to get to "Sesame Street." The songstress will sing and dance with Elmo on the season premiere of the show, slated to air on April 4. ...

Pharrell has called rapper T.I. the "Jay-Z of the South," and it looks like Tip has taken another step toward living up to that title. T.I., whose third album, Urban Legend, hit stores Tuesday, is the new spokesperson for Jay's latest S. Carter shoe, the all-white Basketball Low. ... Even though he's been holed up recording the new Limp Bizkit album, you can still catch Fred Durst putting the boots to haters in the new video game "Fight Club," out this week. Durst appears as an unlockable character in the game, which is based on his favorite film and available for Xbox, Gamecube and PlayStation2. ...

Sheryl Crow is slated to perform for Arnold Schwarzenegger and his wife, Maria Shriver, at the California Governor's Conference on Women and Families in Long Beach, California. Her audience at the December 7 event will also include Oprah Winfrey, Jamie Lee Curtis and Queen Noor of Jordan. ... Death Cab for Cutie's Chris Walla will pose for PETA in New York on Wednesday for a new campaign. In a scene inspired by the end of "2001: A Space Odyssey," everything surrounding the guitarist will be white, save for a few brightly colored veggies. The tagline will read, "Add some color to your life — try vegetarianism." ...

The Panic Channel, the new band featuring former Jane's Addiction members Dave Navarro, Chris Chaney and Stephen Perkins and fronted by singer Steve Isaacs, will make their debut Thursday at the Key Club in Los Angeles. Indie 103.1 will be broadcasting live from the show, which will also feature Doheny (Camp Freddy founder Billy Morrison's band) as well as the Tints, which includes Flea's daughter Clara on drums. Camp Freddy singer Donovan Leitch is hosting the event, which has an admission charge of $1.03 and a can of food for the Food Bank. ... Lil' Kim and actress Rosie Perez will serve as special guest hosts of Move Against AIDS: Return of the Dance-a-thon on December 11 at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York. ...

In honor of World AIDS Day on Wednesday, Wyclef Jean will ring the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange. On hand with Jean will be Viacom chairman and CEO Sumner Redstone. ... Luther "Uncle Luke" Campbell may be the hip-hop equivalent of legendary football coach Vince Lombardi — at least on the Pop Warner football level. Campbell's Liberty City Warriors will be playing in the Pop Warner Super Bowl national championship, competing for the #1 spot from December 8-11 in Orlando, Florida, at Disney World's World of Sports Complex. ... Underground MC Saigon is finally surfacing in more mainstream waters. The rapper has signed with Atlantic via producer Just Blaze's Ft. Knox Entertainment imprint. There's no word from Atlantic on when Saigon's major-label debut, The Greatest Story Never Told, will hit the streets. ...

11.29.2004

It's only been about a week since Mariah Carey's first single from her forthcoming album, The Emancipation of Mimi, leaked on the Internet, and now a second song from the album is making the rounds as well. Carey's song "Tonight," featuring Nelly and Pharrell Williams, is spreading on fan sites and message boards, with fans debating how the first song, "Say Something" (with Snoop and Pharrell), and this one stack up. "Tonight" features Carey crooning in an extended, whispered falsetto, with Nelly singing hook lines like, "It's all going down tonight" and "To the floor, everybody to the floor." ...

Michael Jackson's team lost one battle and won another in court on Monday (November 29). While the judge rejected the singer's request to have a psychologist examine his accuser, the defense may still get its hands on employment, banking, military, psychiatric and medical records involving the alleged victim's family, including the gynecological records of the boy's sister and mother. Judge Rodney Melville said that the defense could seek the records, but ordered them to notify the people referenced in those records, and gave those people five days to challenge the records' release. Melville also granted the defense's request to release grand-jury transcripts. ...

Coldplay's third album, the follow-up to 2002's A Rush of Blood to the Head, is due in March. The as-yet-untitled LP features the production work of Ken Nelson, who helmed the band's previous two albums. ... Items from Beyoncé, Madonna, Dave Matthews, Aerosmith and the Red Hot Chili Peppers are on the block for the annual Hope for the Holidays online charity auction. Proceeds from the eBay auction, which runs through December 9, will benefit MusiCares, a nonprofit organization that provides financial and medical assistance to members of the music community. ...

Last year around this time, Britney Spears busied herself posing bottomless and topless for magazines like Esquire and Rolling Stone, but now that she's a married woman, she's re-imagining herself as a happy housewife for Redbook. Spears will be the magazine's January cover girl; the story inside promises to reveal Britney's take on "in-laws, stepkids, [and] keeping post-honeymoon sex hot." Of course, Britney's name can no longer appear in print without the word "baby" right behind it, and Redbook follows suit by touting the potential for Spears-Federline offspring sooner rather than later. ... Gwen Stefani plays a queen of sorts in her video for "What You Waiting For?," but she's going to get to hang with real royalty when she performs for the Prince of Wales at this year's Royal Variety Performance, which will take place at the London Coliseum on December 14. Joining her on the bill will be Ozzy Osbourne, Elton John and Liza Minnelli. ...

It might take years for Christina Aguilera fans to get a refund if they bought VIP tickets for her summer tour through her now-defunct fan club, FansRule, if they haven't gotten them already through their credit-card companies. FansRule's proposition for over $1 million in financing was turned down in bankruptcy court, and resolution of the company's liquidation could run up to three years. Aguilera's lawyer, however, is hoping the process can be settled within a year. FansRule still owes about $320,000 to Christina fans. ... The parents of Jessica Michalik, the 16-year-old fan who was killed in the pit while Limp Bizkit were performing at the Sydney, Australia, stop of the 2001 Big Day Out festival, have started legal proceedings against the band, the promoters and the security company that worked the show. A 2002 legal investigation found the band to be not responsible for the girl's death. ...

You don't know what it's like to be a misfit until you walk a mile in their shoes. Horror punks the Misfits are the latest group to put out a line of footwear. In conjunction with Select Distribution and Vision Street Wear, the new merch, available through the band's Web site (www.misfits.com), also includes skateboard decks and wheels. ... Brit-rock past and present met over the weekend when the Libertines' Pete Doherty joined former Blur guitarist Graham Coxon onstage in London for a cover of the Libertines' "Time for Heroes." Coxon was performing to support his solo album Happiness in Magazines. ...

If your idea of a great New Year's Eve includes monsters, Japanimation and a visit from the chicken-bucket-wearing ex-guitarist of Guns N' Roses, New York's Irving Plaza is the place to be. Funk/electronica band Particle will headline an evening that includes appearances by monster-mayhem wrestling group Kaiju Big Battel, Buckethead and Japanese punk group Peelander-Z. ... Somnambular trio Low are turning up the volume — well, a little anyhow. The Minnesota group has enlisted Flaming Lips producer Dave Fridmann for its seventh full-length album, The Great Destroyer. The 13-track disc is due January 25. ...