Linkin Park's upcoming Meteora will include a 40-page booklet of photos and commentary, as well as an enhanced CD featuring "The Art of Meteora," a 17-minute documentary about the album cover. A limited-edition version of the LP will include a DVD featuring a film about the band. ...

Memphis' Saliva are shooting a video for "Rest in Pieces," the second single from their latest album, Back Into Your System, in Los Angeles on Monday and Tuesday, with director Diane Martel (Christina Aguilera, Snoop Dogg). The tune, co-written by Mötley Crüe's Nikki Sixx, will surface at radio on the heels of "Always" in the coming weeks... When the Boss talks, his fans listen. Especially in tune are Bruce Springsteen's Tri-State Area fans, who scarfed up the tickets to seven shows with the E Street Band, from July 15-27, at New Jersey's Giants Stadium in record time. Never before in the history of Ticketmaster have seven stadium shows sold out in a single day. ...

Pop singer Anastacia, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in January, has undergone a successful operation. Following the seven-hour procedure, she remained in the hospital two days before being released to recuperate at home with the supervision of a private nurse. Doctors said early detection and prompt action probably saved her life. Anastacia will begin six weeks of radiation therapy in the coming weeks. ... Hank Ballard, lead singer of the Royals (later called the Midnighters) and the songwriter who penned the 1960 #1 hit "The Twist," died of throat cancer in his Los Angeles home on Sunday. Ballard was 76 years old. ...

Newcomer Roscoe, the younger brother of Kurupt, shot a video for his single "Head to Toe" in Atlanta over the weekend with director Bryan Barber (Outkast). Pat "Sleepy" Brown of the production crew Organized Noize (Bubba Sparxxx) is featured on the track, and Goodie Mob's Big Gipp appears in the video. ... Matchbox Twenty and Sugar Ray will embark on the More Than You Think You Are tour on April 25 in New Orleans. The 50-date trek concludes July 6 in Raleigh, North Carolina. Maroon 5 will open through May 31. ... Oasis leader Noel Gallagher will turn up as a guest on the songs "One to Grow On" and "Polaris," the title track from The North Mississippi Allstars' forthcoming album. The follow-up to the blues-rockers' Grammy-nominated 51 Phantom hits stores April 22. ...

Melodic power metal merchants Iced Earth will enter the studio in April to record the follow-up to 2001's Horror Show and last year's covers album, Tribute to the Gods, according to a Web post from founding guitarist and songwriter Jon Schaffer. Schaffer, who is opening a world-history related collectables store in Columbus, Indiana, plans to hire the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra to work on three songs about the Battle of Gettysburg for the album. ... Following months of auditions, black metal veterans Dark Funeral have found an as-yet-unnamed replacement for guitarist Dominion. "While [drummer] Matte [Modin] is out touring with Defleshed, I will practice with this demonic new guy," guitarist Lord Ahriman wrote on the band's Web site. ...

The National Academy of Popular Music/Songwriters Hall of Fame announced on Monday (March 3) that Clive Davis will receive the Hitmaker Award as part of their 34th annual ceremony, taking place June 12 in New York. Martin Bandier, chairman and CEO of EMI Music Publishing, was announced as the Patron of the Arts Award recipient. Phil Collins, Queen, Van Morrison and Little Richard are among those being inducted into the Hall this year. ...

Samoan gangsta rappers Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E. will appear in the end credits for the upcoming Christopher Coppola film "Bloodhead." The group's footage -- which will feature members dancing on a giant spinning turntable and surrounded by smoke and fire -- was shot February 10 to 12 at Raleigh Studios in Hollywood. Coppola is Nicolas Cage's brother and Francis Ford Coppola's nephew. ... This year's version of the annual Detroit Electronic Music Festival will be called Movement 2003 - Detroit's Electronic Music Festival, according to techno pioneer Derrick May, who's producing the event for the first time. The former producers own rights to the DEMF title. ...

02.28.03

Christina Aguilera's "Beautiful" video will be honored by the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) for its use of gay and transgender images to demonstrate self-respect and empowerment. The singer will accept a special award for the Jonas Akerlund-directed clip at a ceremony April 26 at Los Angeles' Kodak Theatre. ...

It's looking like Limp Bizkit and the WWE are continuing to show love for one another. The rap-rockers will perform at the Wrestlemania pay-per-view event on March 30, according to an announcement Thursday night on the wrestling program "Smackdown!" Fans of famed grappler the Undertaker might remember he used to play Limp's "Rollin' (Air Raid Vehicle)" as his theme music when entering the ring. ... Following the Grammys, Michelle Branch posted a message on her official Web site that her upcoming album was nearly finished and had a release date. "The album will be available for your listening pleasure on June 10," she wrote. "It's a lot later than we thought, but we need set-up time ... and I need a slight break before being on the road again." Branch is slated to tour with the Dixie Chicks. ...

'NSYNC's Lance Bass will be the main judge in NBC's new reality series, "The Search for the Most Talented Kid in America." Mario Lopez will host the four episodes, which begin airing March 21 and will feature two other guest judges (to be named later) for each show. ... Swedish rockers Blindside have been tapped to open for Linkin Park on the band's two-week stretch of free shows for members of its fan club. The trek begins March 11 in Worcester, Massachusetts, and runs through March 25 in Los Angeles. ...

Beck makes a cameo on Macy Gray's new song "It Ain't the Money" from her upcoming album, The Trouble With Being Myself, which drops May 13. The track, a funk-fueled hybrid of rap and R&B, features the chameleonic rocker mirroring Gray's vocals in a sedated breathy voice. ... New York City garage rockers the Mooney Suzuki have lined up a string of tour dates, beginning April 10 in New Haven, Connecticut. The quartet will bring along fellow Big Apple residents, retro punk-poppers the Realistics, to open the brief outing, which winds down April 27 in Los Angeles. ...

On the heels of a successful battle against cancer, Testament vocalist Chuck Billy is back in rehearsals with his band, gearing up for a San Francisco gig next month and a European tour scheduled for April. "On Valentine's Day, I had my final two operations to remove a port from my chest and both surgeries were a complete success," Billy posted on the veteran thrash metal band's Web site. "[My] surgeon, Dr. Sweezer, the coolest cat out there ... said, 'Get out there and enjoy your life, you're done!' "

Singer Bryan Adams plays himself in "House of Fools," Russia's official submission for the foreign-film category at the Academy Awards. In the flick, Adams is the object of a pretty mental patient's deep and delusional obsession. The film hits U.S. theaters on April 25. ... German glitch-pop pioneers the Notwist will embark on their first North American tour on April 2 at the Black Cat in Washington, D.C. The group's 17-date jaunt in support of its recently released Neon Golden will end with a two-night stand at Los Angeles' Knitting Factory on April 14 and 15. ...