Nelly's 4Sho4Kids Foundation joined forces with Feed the Children on Monday (May 2) in St. Louis to help distribute three semi-tractor-trailer trucks' worth of food and supplies. Murphy Lee, Big Gipp, the St. Louis Rams' Marshall Faulk and ousted "American Idol" finalist Nikko Smith turned out to help the group, whose efforts will aid 1,200 families. ...

Justin Timberlake may have announced plans to join girlfriend Cameron Diaz and funny guy Mike Myers in "Shrek 3," but he's keeping mum on rumors that in real life he plans to join her at the altar. A report out of the U.K. claims the couple booked Nice, France's tony Grand-Hotel Du Cap-Ferrat for a secret wedding ceremony this coming weekend. Timberlake's publicist said he wouldn't comment on his client's personal life and that he was not aware of any plans for the singer to travel to France. ...

In what was likely the prosecution's second-to-last day of presenting its case in the Michael Jackson molestation trial, prosecutor Mag Nicola on Monday showed jurors phone records documenting dozens of phone calls made between the singer's staff and the accuser's mother around the time of Martin Bashir's damaging documentary. Prosecutors are expected to say in closing arguments that the calls show a frantic effort to cover up the damage done by "Living With Michael Jackson." Detective Robert Bonner said during cross-examination, however, that the calls are not traceable to Jackson himself. Also on Monday, a bank manager testified that Marc Schaffel, alleged to be one of the conspirators working on damage control, cashed checks from the singer in April 2003 for $1 million and $500,000. Schaffel has said he and Jackson had other business. ...

Common recently recorded a remix of his hit single "The Corner," according to his publicist, with Scarface and Mos Def. ... Linkin Park have a bone to pick with their record label, Warner Bros. In a statement issued Monday by the band's management company, Linkin Park claim the Warner Music Group, which last week announced plans to go public, stands to earn "more than $750 million" in the wake of its IPO, and that "only about $7 million" of that cash will be put toward Warner's operations, with the artists receiving nothing. The statement goes on to read that Linkin Park are concerned that "WMG's diminished resources will leave it unable to compete in today's global music marketplace," and as a result, they want out of their contract. But Warner disagrees with the band's mathematics, releasing a statement that reads, "While Linkin Park's talent is without question, the band's management is using fictitious numbers and making baseless charges and inflammatory threats in what is clearly a negotiating tactic." Linkin Park's follow-up to 2003's Meteora was scheduled to hit stores in spring 2006. No word on how this spat will affect those plans. ...

Alicia Keys, Avril Lavigne, Kelly Clarkson and Fantasia are among the ladies featured on the upcoming Totally Hits 2005, due May 17. Missy Elliott guests twice by virtue of her protégés Ciara ("1,2 Step") and Tweet ("Turn Da Lights Off"), while Fat Joe, T.I., Trick Daddy and Fabolous round out the rap contingent. ... Mary J. Blige, Ludacris and Kanye West are all participating in the inaugural Vibe MusicFest. The festival will take place June 10-12 at Atlanta's Georgia Dome. T.I., Faith Evans and Big Boi of Outkast will also be on hand. ...

System of a Down are smack-dab in the middle of their "guerrilla" concert series — where they've been staging shows that are announced just days before the band arrives in town, with tickets usually only on sale at venue box offices — and the latest guerrilla date is scheduled for Tuesday in Chicago. A spokesperson for System confirms there will be a handful of new dates to be announced over the coming days. The band is also scheduled to play "Saturday Night Live" this weekend, with host Johnny Knoxville. ... According to their Web site, the Roots are augmenting their Gymnasium Invasion Tour. Floetry will join the group for a string of dates running from May 13 in Baltimore to June 15 in San Francisco. ...

On August 16, heavy-metal dinosaurs Stryper (an acronym for "Salvation Through Redemption Yielding Peace Encouragement and Righteousness"), the Christian rockers with an affinity for yellow-and-black spandex, will release Reborn, their first batch of new studio material since 1990's Against the Law. Original Stryper members Michael Sweet (lead vocals, guitar), Oz Fox (lead guitar) and Robert Sweet (drums) will be joined by new bassist Tracy Ferrie and are set to embark on a North American tour in support of the record this fall. Big3 Records also plans to release a live DVD by year's end. ... Social Distortion will hit the road on May 12 with punk upstarts Lost City Angels for a 15-city club run, according to Social D's Web site. The punk-rock vets will kick things off in Johnson City, New York, and hit Baltimore; Albany, New York; New Haven, Connecticut; Detroit; and Providence, Rhode Island, before taking the stage at the UC Davis Recreational Hall in Davis, California, on June 8. ...

Built to Spill have expanded their U.S. tour. Though the jammy beard-rockers won't release the follow-up to 2001's Ancient Melodies of the Future until the fall, the band will road-test its new songs starting Wednesday in Minneapolis. The 24-date tour will end — sort of — on May 29 in Salt Lake City. The group will go back to the studio and then head out for one last date, July 9 in Anaheim, California. ... When you think of former Bauhaus frontman Peter Murphy, what comes to mind? Creepy cemeteries? Foggy London streets? Patchouli? How about sunny Lake Buena Vista, Florida? Because on May 12, that's where Murphy is kicking off his U.S. tour in support of his upcoming album, Unshattered. The goth god will hit up 12 cities on the tour, which concludes on May 28 in Anaheim, California. ...

04.29.2005

The prosecution had hoped to go out with a bang in wrapping up its case against Michael Jackson, but ex-wife Debbie Rowe's testimony proved to be more like a whimper, so the district attorney's office is presenting a few last-minute pieces of evidence they hope will stick with the jury more than Rowe's rather inconclusive testimony. On Friday (April 29), prosecutors introduced two books, seized from Jackson during a 1993 molestation investigation, called "Boys Will Be Boys" and "The Boy: A Photographic Essay," which contain nude or partially unclothed pictures of adolescent males, in an effort to establish that Jackson could be a pedophile. Meanwhile, an audio expert, Harry Koons, also testified about possible explanations for the 34 gaps in a taped conversation between the accuser's mother and a Jackson associate, saying that the gaps could have been caused by someone pushing pause or mute, rather than by editing. ...

R. Kelly appeared in a Chicago court Friday to ask a judge if he could leave his jurisdiction and go to Miami and shoot a video for the song "Players Only" from his upcoming album. Judge Vincent Gaughan granted permission. Though he's due back in court on May 13, Kelly's scheduled to leave town that same day and will be back in Chicago May 20. ... Hip-hop's crown jewels are on display in the upcoming book "Bling Bling," by former MTV News writer Minya Oh (a.k.a. Hot 97's "Miss Info"). Ludacris wrote the introduction for "Bling Bling," which features Jay-Z, P. Diddy, Lil' Kim, Slick Rick, Mary J. Blige, Run-DMC, Fat Joe and Ghostface talking about the history and culture of rap-star jewelry and never-before-seen photos of hip-hop's original kings of bling, including DJ Kool Herc, the Sugar Hill Gang, LL Cool J and Afrika Bambaataa. The book is due in August. ...

Aaron Carter, Corey Feldman and LeAnn Rimes appear on Friday's "20/20" to talk about how early success led to family friction. Carter, for instance, is outspoken about his fallout with his mother and former manager, Jane Carter. "It was all about money," he told the show. "And the funny thing was, every time I went to my mom and I asked her, 'Hey, mom, you know, do I make money? Because you never really told me that.' And she would get mad at me about that. And she would ground me. I don't talk to her because she not my ... she's not like a mother anymore." He said the price of fame for his family was "self-destructing, completely being torn up ... like a tornado just came through our house and our family got tossed everywhere." Jane Carter, who denies mismanaging Aaron's money, told "20/20" that she learned "all the material things in the world are not important compared to the amount of time that you can spend with your children." The show airs on ABC at 10 p.m. ET/PT. ...

On Wednesday, Ice-T had a "T-Party," a Tupperware party to raise awareness for the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. The rapper/actor was joined by his "Law and Order" co-star Mariska Hargitay and other celebrities at New York's KOS (a Bowery lounge co-owned by Lenny Kravitz and Denzel Washington, a big supporter of the charity). The event raised some $30,000. ... A double-DVD set from last year's Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival is due May 17. "Live from Bonnaroo 2004" will feature performances from 30 artists, including Dave Matthews and friends, the Dead, Trey Anastasio, Kings of Leon, Guster and Damien Rice. ... Seether have set a May 24 release date for their second album, Karma and Effect. Dean Karr (Queens of the Stone Age's "No One Knows") recently directed a video for the first single, "Remedy." ... Good news, Depeche Mode fans. The electro-pop band's back in the studio, according to the group's Web site, and has begun work on the follow-up to 2001's Exciter. The new album, which hasn't yet been named, is expected to hit stores this fall, and the band's said to be co-producing the disc with Ben Hiller (Doves, Blur). ...