Puddle of Mudd are catching Wonka fever. Like labelmate Obie Trice, Puddle will include five golden tickets in the first pressing of copies of their new album, Life on Display. The lucky winners will be flown to Hawaii to hang with the band for a day and watch their display of life during their next tour. ...

Korn fans will have to wait another week before they can Take a Look in the Mirror. The band's sixth album has been bumped a week to a November 25 release. ... A skateboard deck tagged by Metallica is going for $338, at press time, on an eBay auction to raise money for Amnesty International. An array of decks decorated by Audioslave, Dashboard Confessional, N.E.R.D. and Tony Hawk, among many others, are up for bid through November. More info is available at www.musicforhumanrights.com. ...

Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith, known collectively as Tears for Fears, will release their first album together in 15 years this spring. The as-yet-untitled effort will follow 1993's Elemental and 1995's Raoul and the Kings of Spain, both of which were recorded without Smith. Tears for Fears scored big hits in the 1980s with "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" and "Shout." ... Hyper-driven rocker Andrew W.K. has lined up a handful of East Coast tour dates in support of his second album, The Wolf, which dropped last month. The dates begin October 17 at a radio show in Norfolk, Virginia, and culminate with a CMJ showcase October 24 in Brooklyn, New York. ...

Revolution Smile drummer Jeremy White split with the band last week. Failure's Kelli Scott will temporarily replace him on three California dates of the Cold tour. Revolution Smile's remaining dates to support their debut, Above the Noise, have been canceled while they look for a permanent replacement. ... The Donnas were forced to scrap the remaining dates of their European tour due to drummer Torry's (Donna C)'s tendonitis. The quartet hopes she's well enough to play the Voodoo Music Festival in New Orleans on November 1, and Australia and New Zealand's Big Day Out touring festival in January. In the meantime, the group will start writing the follow-up to last year's Spend the Night. ... Other news from Big Day Out finds A Perfect Circle withdrawing from the lineup, which includes Metallica, the Strokes, Dandy Warhols and Flaming Lips. The jaunt runs from January 18 to February 1. ...

J.D. Kimball, the original singer for the '80s power metal band Omen, died on Friday after a three-year fight with cancer. Kimball appeared on four of the band's releases, Battle Cry, Warning of Danger, Nightmares and The Curse. He left the band in 1987. ... Dancehall producers Fat Eyes will release A Dancehall Twofer: Fat Eyes Deelite and Dancehall Attack, a compilation of tracks they produced for Beenie Man, Bounty Killer, Elephant Man and others, on October 21. A separate Fat Eyes collection, Dancehall Deelite, featuring Buju Banton, Morgan Heritage, Sizzla and others, will be released the following week. ...

Sarah McLachlan will release a new EP, Acoustic Live EP 2003, exclusively through Apple's iTunes Music Store on October 21. The record includes two songs from her upcoming LP, Afterglow, including the single "Fallen," plus three older tunes. ...

10.06.2003

Jersey City, New Jersey, police think the shots fired outside a Doubletree Hotel on September 10 allegedly targeting 50 Cent could be linked to the rapper's feud with Lil' Kim, according to the New York Daily News. The newspaper reports that police are investigating Damion "World" Hardy, a 28-year-old ex-con who is also reportedly Kim's boyfriend. 50 and Kim have been engaged in a war of words ever since 50 pulled out of Kim's video for "Magic Stick," a hit record he wrote for her. Only hours before the incident, 50 was on New York's Hot 97 unleashing a scathing freestyle dis directed at Kim. ...

Ludacris will be serving up Chicken-N-Beer on Tuesday -- literally. Beginning this week, patrons of the Gladys Knight & Ron Winans Chicken & Waffles restaurant in Atlanta can order the "Ludacris Special," which includes two chicken breasts, two legs or two thighs with sides of macaroni and cheese, collard greens and a cold Bud Light. ...

The performance lineup for the American Music Awards has beefed up to include Sheryl Crow, Outkast, Ruben Studdard and nominees Kid Rock (Favorite Male Artist, Favorite Album), Ricky Martin (Favorite Latin Artist) and Clay Aiken (Favorite Male Artist). The 31st annual American Music Awards, which has already slated Ashanti, Hilary Duff, Metallica and Britney Spears to perform, will air November 16 on ABC. ... Though Hell on Earth promised a live suicide as part of their act this weekend, whether or not they actually delivered is a matter of debate. The little-known Florida metal band had planned to let a terminally ill friend commit suicide onstage, but when local authorities filed an injunction against the group, the band decided to host the suicide at a separate, undisclosed location, which would be broadcast over the Internet. But that, too, ran into difficulties, when Hell on Earth's Web site was locked up due to a flood of data, which the operator of the host site characterized as a denial-of-service attack. No video was shown on the Web page, and no suicides were reported in the St. Petersburg area, according to the St. Petersburg Times, though an Internet shock jock for www.radiofreesatan.com claims he has video of what purports to be a man committing suicide, but even he says he doesn't believe it's real. ...

The digital age catches up with Guns N' Roses when three of the band's home videos get reissued on DVD. "Welcome to the Videos," originally released on VHS in 1998, and "Use Your Illusion I" and "Use Your Illusion II," both issued in 1992, are slated to come out on DVD on October 28. ... November 4 is the date that feels most right for Bon Jovi to release their reworked greatest-hits set This Left Feels Right. A dozen new versions of hits such as "Wanted Dead or Alive," "Bad Medicine" and "Everyday" are paired with new tunes "Last Man Standing" and "Thief of Hearts." In other Bon Jovi news, singer and namesake Jon and his wife Dorothea are expecting their fourth child this spring, according to www.BonJovi.com. ...

A double album from Led Zeppelin's frontman is on the way. Sixty Six to Timbuktu, due November 4, features all of Robert Plant's solo singles, along with material from Listen and the Band of Joy, groups he was in prior to joining Led Zeppelin in 1968. ... Alleged drunk driver Diana Ross' trial has been postponed from December 9 to January 14. ... Despite the loss of founding member Charlie Colin, Train aren't off the rails of their current U.S. tour. The bassist has been replaced by Johnny Colt, formerly of the Black Crowes. Colin and the band parted on good terms and the possibility of working together in the future has not been ruled out. ...

While a lack of medical benefits has been the bane of many signed artists, that may soon be a problem of the past. As part of a union pact, all five major U.S. record companies have agreed to provide health care for all of their musicians. In the past, artists who didn't earn enough in album royalties weren't eligible for coverage. The pact could take effect before the end of the year. ... If you thought the Rolling Stones' greatest-hits package 40 Licks was a must have, you might also want "Four Flicks," a four-DVD set of live Stones footage, which goes on sale November 11. Three discs feature recent full concerts from Madison Square Garden in New York, Twickenham Stadium in London and the Olympia Theater in Paris. The final disc features two Stones documentaries, "Licks Around the World" and "Tip of the Tongue." ...