Say what you will about those supposed Britney Spears tracks floating around online, but the singer is planning to debut the first single from her new album as early as this weekend. The single is called "Gimmie More," was produced by Danjahandz and is an up-tempo dance track — and is also the song for which the singer was seen shooting a video last month. "It's about feeling good, celebrating womanhood," Danja told MTV News earlier this year. "And if you don't dance to it, I really don't know what you're listening to. It's a new Britney." In related news, Spears will host the grand opening of Las Vegas nightclub LAX at the Luxor on Friday. DJ AM — who, along with Christina Aguilera, is an investor in the club — will man the decks. And the infamous Versace gown Spears was supposed to wear during her aborted OK! magazine shoot went up for auction on eBay on Wednesday (August 29). USA Today reported that bidding on the dress started at $5,700, with proceeds going to Mothers Against Drunk Driving. ...
Amy Winehouse can add the VMAs to the growing list of shows she won't be playing this year. The U.K. starlet — who last week postponed her U.S. tour until 2008 — has canceled her scheduled performance at the awards show on September 9. ... Lindsay Lohan plans to meet with her estranged father, Michael, while she is in rehab, a source told People.com, according to the site. People.com says multiple sources have revealed that Lohan's lawyer Blair Berk is helping negotiate Michael Lohan's visit to the Cirque Lodge in Sundance, Utah. ...
Christina Aguilera is on for the Emmy Awards. The singer will perform the Tony Bennett standard "Steppin' Out (With My Baby)" with the jazz legend at the ceremony, which will air September 16 on Fox. The two sang the song together on the TV special "Tony Bennett: An American Classic," which is nominated for eight Emmy Awards. ...
Gwen Stefani has gotten together with Hewlett-Packard for a creative twist on her Harajuku Lovers line. Starting Wednesday at HP.com/Gwen, fans can make and print CD labels, stationary and more by mashing HL content into their own customized designs. ... Jay-Z and Eve hosted a Rocawear party at the Venetian in Las Vegas on Tuesday night in celebration of the weeklong Magic Fashion Convention. The shindig — which was sponsored by Giant magazine and Mercedes-Benz — also featured cameos by Nick Cannon, Travis Barker and Young Jeezy, among others. ...
Lil Wayne is being sued by a concertgoer who alleges that she was knocked to the ground and trampled at the rapper's October show at Baltimore's Morgan State University, according to the Baltimore Sun. Tyrique Layne, who was a student at the university at the time, claims she needed to stay in the hospital overnight as a result of the injuries she sustained at the concert when a large amount of cash was thrown into the crowd. Layne's suit claims she is suffering headaches, neck and back pain, fatigue and other symptoms as a result of her injuries, and she is seeking $1 million plus interest and costs. ...
A mysterious white powdery substance authorities discovered in a locked bedroom inside rapper DMX's Cave Creek, Arizona, home is not a drug after all, according to Maricopa County Sheriff's deputies. Police — who initially believed the substance to be a drug — have not disclosed what it actually is. But officers also seized a useable amount of marijuana during the Friday morning raid, as well as drug paraphernalia, the carcasses of three dogs and a dozen other dogs that seemed malnourished. Police are working with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives to determine whether DMX was legally permitted to own the weapons. It still hasn't been determined what the three dogs that were found buried in the rapper's backyard died from, but police do not believe they had been used for dogfighting. ...
Beyoncé and Shakira have more than just VMA nominations to get excited about — their "Beautiful Liar" debut is also up for a Latin Grammy, for Record of the Year. Ricky Martin and Calle 13 have four noms apiece, while Juan Luis Guerra leads the pack with five. ... Wyclef Jean keeps inviting more and more guests to take part in his new album The Carnival Volume ll (Memoirs of an Immigrant), which is set to drop November 6. The ubiquitous Lil Wayne and, more surprisingly, System of a Down singer Serj Tankian, have stepped in to help out. ... Kelly Clarkson's live comeback is hitting an early stride. According to her label, tickets for the singer's October 15 and 16 shows at New York's Beacon Theatre sold out in under 20 minutes, prompting the addition of a third show on October 14, which also sold out over the weekend. ...
Ashlee Simpson, Madonna and Hilary Duff are among the loads of artists featured in a new book of photography that revolves around the weekly Saturday night party thrown in New York by trendsetters the Misshapes. Simply called "Misshapes," the book — which also showcases My Chemical Romance, Mandy Moore, Bloc Party, the Killers and more — will be released Tuesday by MTV Press. (See "Misshapes" snaps of Ashlee Simpson, Joel Madden, Pete Wentz, Madonna and more.) ... Nikki Sixx will be the first-ever rock star to act as featured speaker at the National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month luncheon in Washington, D.C., on September 6. Sixx's autobiography, "Heroin Diaries: A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star," hits bookshelves September 18. ...
Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown's battle isn't over — the divorced couple have been wrangling over their 14-year-old daughter, Bobbi Kristina. In newly released legal papers filed last month and obtained by People.com, Brown claims he hasn't spoken with his daughter since June. "Since Whitney has been awarded sole legal and physical custody of Bobbi Kris, she has attempted to eliminate me from Bobbi Kris' life," the suit reads. "I did all I could to see my daughter ... I also paid approximately $10,000 for Whitney and Bobbi Kris to live in a nice hotel while Whitney was going through rehab ... I basically lived out of my car." In Houston's declaration to the court, she claims Brown has been "almost totally uninvolved in taking care of" Bobbi Kristina and warns, "Bobby is going to try to get child or spousal support from me ... Bobby is fully capable of working and earning substantial sums of money if he would control his personal behavior." Despite the feud, the couple have been spotted together in public recently, having dinner and posing for photos with fans, according to People.com. ...
Linkin Park have already proven themselves to be good Samaritans — they've been donating $1 from every ticket on their Projekt Revolution tour toward planting trees in the hurricane-damaged areas of the Gulf Coast. Now Chester Bennington and the gang are taking their goodwill efforts one step further by actually building a home for a low-income Gulf Coast family themselves. The band has launched a contest named after its recent single "What I've Done" in which the winner and a guest will be able to join LP to construct the house at an undisclosed location in an area affected by Hurricane Katrina. To enter, fans must submit to Contest@MusicForRelief.org a video clip that is less than two minutes long and explains what the person has done to improve the world. Fans can also participate by recording their video at the Music for Relief booth at Projekt Revolution, but all entries must be in by September 29. "We will help build [the home] alongside the family that will move into the house," bassist Phoenix said in a statement. "We hope to remind people that there is still a lot of work to be done." ...
Hulk Hogan's son Nick Bollea was racing another car before he crashed into a tree on Sunday night, according to a Florida woman who told The Associated Press she witnessed the accident. "We knew something was going to happen. You know that this is a bad situation and these guys are hot-dogging," said Frances Vitalis, who claimed to be riding on a motorcycle with a friend behind the cars. A police spokesperson declined to comment to the wire service, citing an ongoing investigation. ... Lawyers in the Phil Spector trial, along with the judge, have agreed that the jury should only consider a second-degree murder charge, as opposed to a lesser charge like manslaughter, the Los Angeles Times reports. Attorneys have now finished the last procedural steps before closing arguments begin September 5. On Tuesday it was announced that Spector had retained San Francisco attorney Dennis Riordan to replace Bruce Cutler, although Riordan will not act as lead counsel. ...
Hard-to-find tracks by Beastie Boys, Interpol and the Decemberists populate the fourth installment in the Give.Listen.Help series, a charity comp available at Urban Outfitters outlets. Most proceeds are going to Art of Elysium, a group that promotes art therapy for hospitalized children. ... Bloc Party will head up the second LA Weekly Detour festival, set for October 6 in downtown Los Angeles. Justice, Satellite Party, Shout Out Louds, Raveonettes, Turbonegro, Kinky and others flesh out the roster for the outdoor throwdown. ... Two of a kind? Mary-Kate Olsen and Ben Kingsley engage in a passionate kiss in their new flick "The Wackness," which finished shooting last week. The 21-year-old Olsen plays a pot dealer's customer in the movie, and the 63-year-old Kingsley acts as the dealer's therapist. ...
Hellogoodbye and Say Anything have been tapped to headline the MySpace Music Tour. The bands will christen the social-networking site's new concert series with a Seattle show on October 16 and plow through a gig in Las Vegas on November 23. MySpace Records artists Polysics will open many dates, from the Seattle show through the Halloween concert in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Presale tickets will be made available exclusively to MySpace members beginning Friday. ... Slayer are pulling together footage from last year's Unholy Alliance Tour with Lamb of God and Mastodon for a DVD due October 30. The simply titled "Unholy Alliance Tour" DVD captures the July 13, 2006, stop in Vancouver, British Columbia, and also includes footage of the other two acts on the bill, Children of Bodom and Thine Eyes Bleed. Behind-the-scenes clips and interviews, many of which were conducted by the bandmembers, flesh out the set. ...
The fire sale of houses and gear from disgraced former boy-band mogul Lou Pearlman — who is currently in jail in Florida and is being accused of defrauding investors of more than $500 million — continues. According to Florida's St. Petersburg Times, in addition to a deal to sell Pearlman's Atlantic City, New Jersey, condo for $335,000 as part of his ongoing bankruptcy proceedings, a deal is under way to sell his Orlando estate for $7.1 million. A Saturday auction of "boy toys" owned by Pearlman — including life-size R2D2, Anakin Skywalker and Han Solo figures, a pimped-out Escalade-style golf cart and a host of weapons — brought in another $280,000. ... Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards doesn't like what the Swedish papers have been saying about the band, so he's taking the fight straight to them. Reuters reports that Richards is demanding that newspapers Expressen and Aftonbladet apologize for their stinging reviews of the Stones' performance in Stockholm earlier this month. "Never before have I risen to the bait of a bad review," Richards said in a statement. "But this time ... I have to stand up for our incredible Gothenburg audience and for our fans all over Sweden ... to say that you owe them, and us, an apology." ...
The free ride for Grateful Dead fans is over. Rhino Records, which controls most of the Dead's music, announced recently that the formerly downloadable live tracks that were posted on the Taper's Section on the band's Web site will now only be available as audio streams. The Section's webmaster, David Lemieux, explained in a note to fans on Monday that the site was always intended "for streaming only." ... A judge ruled Friday in favor of the Recording Industry Association of America, agreeing with RIAA lawyers that "making available" copyrighted works on peer-to-peer networks constitutes copyright infringement, according to a story on Wired.com. The ruling makes clear that it is illegal to share a song in a P2P folder, even if there's no proof that someone else downloaded it.
08.28.07
Chris Brown, who's about to drop his sophomore album, Exclusive, let Vibe magazine in on a few other exclusives — about his love life. The magazine's new cover boy reveals that he's "girl crazy — very girl crazy," but there are limits. For instance, the nude photos that turned up on the Internet in March were not actually him. "First of all, I don't take pictures of myself," Brown told the mag. "If I'm gonna show somebody that, I'd rather show the person that's gonna be in the room with me at that time." So who might that person be? Not Ciara, that's for sure. When asked about her, his face "curls up as if he'd just noticed a foul odor," Vibe observed. "I don't want Ciara," Brown said. "I don't want any industry girl." He'd prefer a "regular girl" — that is, provided she's also "a model." No wonder he hasn't had more than two girlfriends (the last when he was 14), or been on a proper date in more than three years. "I've had girlfriends, but it's different," he said. "Not jumpoffs! Like, you don't be like, 'That's my girl,' but you know when you hang with her, it's like ... friends with benefits. If I'm singling out one girl, think about all the other girls who are falling in love with me in that club. What they gon' think? So it's like, I have a relationship with every girl. It's like every girl is my girlfriend." The magazine hits newsstands September 11, while Exclusive is out October 30. ...
Foxy Brown can't catch a break these days. The Brooklyn, New York, rapper will remain jailed until her September 7 court date after a Manhattan Criminal Court judge rejected her bid to be sprung early due to alleged unlawful treatment by the New York Corrections Department. According to the Daily News, Foxy claimed her jailing by another judge was "unlawful" and "arbitrary." Brown was imprisoned Wednesday after violating the terms of her probation. ...
DMX has spoken out through his lawyer about the recent raid of his Arizona home, during which police discovered three dead dogs, a dozen mistreated pit bulls, a large weapons cache, cars with license plates that didn't match and what police believe to be illicit narcotics. Attorney Murray Richman told The Associated Press that DMX is "devastated" over the deaths of his dogs and added that his "client is totally innocent of all the charges." ...
Britney Spears' former manager Larry Rudolph told That Other Blog on Tuesday (August 28) why he is trying not to get involved in the singer's child-custody dispute with ex-husband Kevin Federline. "I have consulted with my lawyers and I do understand that eventually the time will come when they will find me, but until then, I'm trying to avoid being brought into this mess," said Rudolph, who has been laying low. "She's going through so much right now, and I wish Britney the best." ...
Amy Winehouse's father and father-in law spoke with BBC Radio on Tuesday, revealing that both sides of the singer's family have been struggling with reports of her alleged drug use. Giles Fielder-Civil — the father of Winehouse's husband, Blake — said fans should stop buying her records because that will force the U.K. starlet to seek help for what he called a drug addiction. He said the two have used cocaine, crack cocaine and heroin and are in "abject denial" about their problem. "I think they believe they are recreational users of drugs and they are in control. Clearly they are addicts." Amy's father, Mitch Winehouse, later responded, saying that strategy "won't send any message to Amy at all. People are clutching at straws. ... At some point they are going to reach rock bottom. Maybe they've reached it — I don't know. At that point they will say, 'I don't want to do this anymore. I've got responsibilities, I've got families that love us and I don't want to hurt them anymore.' That's their decision to make." ...
John Legend is injecting an exclusive track, "Sun Comes Up," into Grey's Anatomy Soundtrack: Volume 3, due September 11. The disc also has unreleased tune-age from Gomez and Mat Kearney, not to mention additional slices from Peter Bjorn and John, Paolo Nutini and Feist. ... Ghostface Killah, Cat Power and others will play a batch of daytime shows at the four-day Musicfest NW, which will take over Portland, Oregon, from September 6-9. Cat Power and Bobby Bare Jr. will play their early gig September 6; Grizzly Bear and Deerhunter will perform September 7; and Ghostface and the Bronx are set for September 8. Clipse, Spoon, Rilo Kiley and Okkervil River will also anchor the shindig. ... Lil' Kim and DJ Clue were among those in attendance Sunday night at Crash Mansion in downtown Manhattan to help NFL star Thomas Jones celebrate his welcome to New York. The newly acquired New York Jet was also joined by his girlfriend, actress Meagan Good. ...
Hot Hot Heat have lined up their next run, which will support their Happiness Ltd. LP after it drops September 11. After hitting up Southern California radio station KROQ's L.A. Invasion, the Canadian indie-rockers will embark on a string of dates beginning in their British Columbia hometown on September 18. The tour will continue through a San Francisco concert on October 30. ... Jimmy Eat World's next stretch will happen right around the same time: The band will hype its October 16 release, Chase This Light, with gigs from September 29 in Queen Creek, Arizona — at Edgefest — through October 20 in Las Vegas. ...
Korn have sketched out a bunch of dates that will get them back on the road after the Family Values Tour. According to the band's MySpace page, the rap-rockers will breeze through Reno, Nevada, on September 22 and stick to the tarmac through a Nashville concert on October 5. ... If you're planning to pick up Foo Fighters' Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace, you might want to do so sooner than later: Fans who preorder the disc through iTunes will get downloads of two songs — "The Pretender" and "Seda" — and a code providing advance access to concert tickets. ...
Brace yourself: Keanu Reeves will star in a remake of the iconic '50s sci-fi flick "The Day the Earth Stood Still," Variety reports. The film — which revolves around an alien who visits Earth and warns humans to live peacefully — will be directed by Scott Derrickson ("The Exorcism of Emily Rose") and begin production in late fall or early next year. ... Speaking of extraterrestrial life, Daft Punk have been soaring after their headlining Lollapalooza performance earlier this month. The Paris house-music heroes are piecing together a concert set, Alive 2007, for release November 20. And the duo have also staged more screenings of their cult-favorite flick "Electroma" from September 8 in Montreal through December 1 in San Diego. ...
The producers of "American Idol" are at it again, coming up with a new talent series — "The Next Great American Band" — that will premiere October 19 and feature a judging panel including Sheila E. and the Goo Goo Dolls' John Rzeznik. Like with "Idol," the judges will narrow down auditioning bands to a field of 10. Then the bands will perform original music and covers of various styles each week in front of a studio audience. Judges will comment but viewers will vote on who stays. The three surviving bands will compete for a contract with Simon Fuller's 19 Recordings in the season finale. ... A Malawian official will be able to leave the country after all to visit Madonna and her family in the U.K. on September 4 and determine whether she and husband Guy Ritchie will be able to adopt David Banda. The official had previously been prevented from going because he accepted a plane ticket and money from the singer without the government's approval. ...
Avenged Sevenfold fans will have to wait until October 30 to get a copy of the band's self-titled LP, as the record has been pushed back from its previously announced October 16 release date. It will feature 10 tracks in all, including "Critical Acclaim," "Unbound the Wild Ride" and "A Little Piece of Heaven." ... Chiodos, Scary Kids Scaring Kids, Emery and the Devil Wears Prada will hit the road together for a U.S. trek that begins October 19 in Lawrence, Kansas, and ends November 30 in Detroit. ...
As I Lay Dying have booked a fall tour that will feature openers All That Remains, Haste the Day and Through the Eyes of the Dead. The trek kicks off October 27 in Tempe, Arizona, and runs through November 30 in San Diego. ... Bad Brains have unveiled a string of West Coast dates in support of their latest effort, Build a Nation. The band is set to play San Diego (September 22); San Francisco (September 24); Anaheim, California (September 25); and Los Angeles (September 26). ... The Misfits are planning to bring their 30th Anniverscary Tour to the U.S. in the fall, including a Halloween gig in New York. ...
Bo Diddley was moved from intensive care to cardiac care on Tuesday morning at a Florida hospital, where he has been in recovery after suffering a heart attack during a routine medical checkup Friday, his representative told MTV News. The rock legend is listed in stable condition.
[This story was originally published at 2:08 pm E.T. on 08.29.2007]
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