Like J. Lo and Jessica Simpson before her, Britney Spears is becoming her own brand by getting into the fragrance, skincare and cosmetics business. Elizabeth Arden announced on Friday (March 12) that the singer would develop and market her own line of products, with personal involvement in all aspects of development. "I love perfume and cosmetics, and am so excited to develop my own line with Elizabeth Arden," Spears said in a statement. She'll first roll out a fragrance, to debut this fall. ...

The Miami Beach Black Host Committee will meet Friday to outline its concerns to the city's mayor and police chief regarding a report that local police are specially monitoring rappers and their associates. The committee, formed by the city's mayor to help improve relations with black residents and visitors, said it was deeply offended by the police's strategy, according to The Miami Herald. ... On Thursday, the judge in the Michael Jackson molestation case ordered that an audiotape with defense interviews with the alleged victim and his family remain sealed, as it could identify areas of defense strategy. The tape was of an interview conducted early last year by an investigator for Jackson's attorney Mark Geragos. However, several videotapes that were deemed "innocuous and unrevealing of defense strategy" will be released. Jackson is due back in court on April 2. ...

New Found Glory are shooting the video for "All Down Hill From Here," the first single from their new album, Catalyst, on Sunday in Los Angeles. Meiert Avis, best known for early U2 and Bruce Springsteen videos, is directing the clip, which will see the band performing in an animated world. Catalyst is due May 18. ... The launch of the Pixies' reunion tour will no longer be in Winnipeg, Manitoba, on April 14 -- the first date of the trek is now April 13 in Minneapolis, where the band is currently rehearsing. Tickets for the "secret" show at the Fine Line Music Cafe sold out in four minutes on Thursday, when it became a secret no more. ...

Dan the Automator and Prince Paul have resurrected their Handsome Boy Modeling School and will follow up 1999's So ... How's Your Girl? with a summer album featuring appearances by Pharrell Williams, RZA, Musiq, Jack Johnson, the Deftones and Mike Patton. Meanwhile, the duo will make a rare public appearance during South by Southwest opening for N.E.R.D. on March 20 at the Austin Music Hall. Glassjaw's Daryl Palumbo, who has a project with Dan the Automator called Head Automatica, as well as Encore and Casual will join the School onstage. ... Metallica, Jane's Addiction, Pink and Johnny Cash have all been nominated for 2004 Prism Awards, which are given annually to actors, musicians and comic-book artists who accurately depict the dangers of drug, alcohol and tobacco use. The awards, now in their eighth year, are presented by the Entertainment Industries Council Inc. This year, Jane's Addiction's "Suffer Some" will compete with Pink's "Save My Life" and others for the Music Recording Award, and Metallica's "Frantic," Johnny Cash's "Hurt" and Three Days Grace's "I Hate Everything About You" will be amongst those to duke it out for the Music Video Award. ...

After he is inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on Monday, Prince will perform a midnight show at Club Black in New York. Tickets are on sale now on his Web site and will be available through Ticketmaster beginning Saturday. ... Every person who attends one of Prince's concerts on his upcoming Musicology tour will get a copy of his new CD of the same name. Those who don't catch him live can download a copy from his NPG Music Club (www.npgmusicclub.com) starting March 29. ...

The Dead drummer Mickey Hart and pedal-steel guitarist extraordinaire Robert Randolph will co-host the 2004 Jammy Awards, which will take place Tuesday at the Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York. Jane's Addiction frontman Perry Farrell and Edie Brickell will join the list of performers, which already includes Steve Winwood, Chris Robinson, Dr. John, Slick Rick, Dickey Betts and others. ... The Dave Matthews Band is in the beginning stages of organizing a July 4 weekend festival in New York after a survey on the band's Web site found fans were most interested in that date and location. Another survey is out now to gather more input. ...

From the Sugarhill Gang to 50 Cent, a new four-CD box set called The Hip-Hop Box will collect the biggest hits and turning points in the 25-year history of hip-hop music. It's due on April 20 from Hip-O Records and includes tracks from Public Enemy, A Tribe Called Quest, Main Source and others. ... Wu-Tang Clan's RZA is attempting to traverse the globe for a brief tour in May. Beginning May 1 in Spain, he'll go on to perform in Athens, Greece; Cairo, Egypt; Rome; Moscow; St. Petersburg, Russia; and Pozen, Poland; wrapping up May 23 at the Istanbul Hip & Hop Festival in Turkey. ...

Fresh from winning Best Comedy Album for Poodle Hat at last month's Grammys, "Weird Al" Yankovic is launching a five-week tour beginning March 24 in Akron, Ohio. The outing wraps up May 2 in Pompano Beach, Florida. ... 311 celebrated 311 Day (March 11) Thursday in New Orleans with a colossal five-hour performance. The band played 68 songs, including rarities like "Juan Bond," "Let the Cards Fall" and "Right Now" and covers of the Clash's "(White Man) In Hammersmith Palais," the Cure's "Love Song" and Led Zeppelin's "D'yer Mak'er." The show, which featured burlesque dancers, stilt walkers and fire eaters, and other events tied into the celebration (including a tailgate and pre-party) were recorded for a DVD due at the end of the year. ...

03.11.2004

Christina Aguilera, in jeans and with her hair slicked back, made a surprise appearance Wednesday night at the premiere of "Dawn of the Dead." Disturbed's David Draiman and members of the Murderdolls also joined stars Mekhi Phifer, Ving Rhames and Sarah Polley at the Beverly Center Mall in Beverly Hills, California, for the event. ...

Former Crazy Town guitarist Rust Epique died Tuesday morning of a heart attack in Las Vegas. He was 35. After parting ways with the rap-rock band, best known for their 2000 hit "Butterfly," Epique founded the trio Pre)thing, who were on the verge of releasing their debut, 22nd Century Lifestyle, in April. "Faded Love," the album's first single, had just surfaced at radio at the time of Epique's death. ... Dave Blood, bassist for '80s punk band the Dead Milkmen, committed suicide on Wednesday. In January, Blood's mother died, and in a post on the band's message board, the bassist's sister wrote, "Inner peace seemed to elude him for the last many years. Maybe David just had had enough." Blood was a founding member of the band, which formed in 1983 and made a name for itself with novelty hits like "Bitchin' Camaro" and "Punk Rock Girl." The Dead Milkmen broke up in 1995. ...

Lionel Richie has recorded three songs with Lenny Kravitz, two of which will appear on his next album, Just for You, due May 4. The third, "Destiny," will appear on Kravitz's next release. Richie also collaborated on the album with 7 Aurelius (Ashanti, Mariah Carey), Paul Barry and Mark Taylor (the duo behind Cher's smash "Believe") and Daniel Bedingfield, who produced and co-wrote a song called "Do Ya." ... Metallica have announced a new batch of tour dates that start in the late summer after the band returns from Europe. The first date is August 16 in St. Paul, Minnesota, and there are dates confirmed straight through September 1 in Wichita, Kansas, and then intermittently through October 10 in Buffalo, New York. ...

Guitarists Jerry Cantrell (Alice in Chains) and Billy Duffy (the Cult) will join forces with members of Puddle of Mudd and other musician friends for a cover band that will headline a concert series benefiting the Sweet Relief Musicians Fund, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary. The series, taking place April 5, 12 and 19 at the Troubadour in West Hollywood, California, will also feature the reunited American Music Club, Michelle Shocked, Paula Cole, Grant Lee Phillips, Michael Penn, Glen Phillips, an acoustic set from Concrete Blonde, and Norah Jones songwriter Jesse Harris. ... Coachella may be grabbing all the headlines, but Atlanta's Music Midtown 2004 is shaping up to be a cool festival, too. The 11th annual concert will feature performances by Foo Fighters, Twista, Parliament/ Funkadelic, Lil Jon, Cee-Lo, Fountains of Wayne, Journey and three dozen other artists. The three-day festival kicks off April 30. ...

The original lineup of Duran Duran, currently prepping their first studio album together since 1983's Seven and the Ragged Tiger, continue to prime the pump for their comeback with reminders of their glory days as well-coiffed, Capezio-wearing pop heartthrobs. In the wake of a club tour, song on the "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" soundtrack and DVD of their classic videos, the group is now planning to release two concert films on DVD this spring. "Arena," which captures a 1984 performance by the band in Oakland, California, and "Sing Blue Silver," a behind-the-scenes documentary filmed throughout the three-month Arena tour, will both hit shelves May 4. ... Actress Juliette Lewis and her band have recorded a demo with producer Linda Perry (Christina Aguilera, Pink) and are preparing to join the Warped Tour this summer. "I think we are going to put some tunes on iTunes and Napster," Lewis said. "We are just going to play more and if [the major-label offers] come they come, otherwise I am just going to record stuff myself and put it out." ...

During a March 1 Switchfoot video shoot in Los Angeles for "Dare You to Move," a friend of the band was hit by a truck, bassist Tim Foreman revealed in a post on the band's Web site. Despite the "horrible accident," the woman "was immediately coherent, talking and able to move all extremities. This seemed to all who witnessed the accident to be miraculous," the Christian rocker wrote. At a hospital doctors determined that she suffered two fractured ribs and a lacerated liver. ... A judge in Tucson, Arizona, has ordered singer Diana Ross to go back to jail for two days. Ross, who last month pleaded no contest to DUI charges in the city, was sentenced to 48 hours behind bars. She served her time in Greenwich, Connecticut, where she now lives. Or so she thought. After asking for a full account of her whereabouts during her term, City Court Magistrate T. Jay Cranshaw determined that Ross had spent only 47 hours in jail over three days. Arizona law requires DUI offenders to spend at least 24 hours in a row behind bars. In a written statement, a crabby Cranshaw said, "To avoid questions of impropriety, the defendant is ordered to return to Tucson to serve 48 consecutive hours in the Pima County Jail." A hearing will take place April 1 to determine when she will serve the time. ...

On Tuesday night, Damageplan guitarist Dimebag Darrell and drummer Vinnie Paul, both longtime Van Halen fans, got to jam onstage with ex-VH singer Sammy Hagar at the Las Vegas nightclub Rain inside the Palms Casino. They didn't rip through "Why Can't This Be Love?" or "When It's Love," instead pounding into versions of the Troggs' "Wild Thing" and the Kinks' "You Really Got Me" (which Van Halen covered on their 1978 self-titled debut, with David Lee Roth on vocals). Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith also joined Hagar, for a take on Led Zeppelin's "Rock and Roll." ... North Carolina hip-hop group Little Brother will open up for Kanye West and Dilated Peoples on the first five dates of their spring tour, which begins March 16 on the campus of Virginia Tech. Little Brother features the production talents of 9th Wonder, who produced a track for Jay-Z's The Black Album. ... Disco-garage metal band Electric Six will play 14 U.S. shows this spring, starting in Chicago on April 21 and running through May 22 in Northfield, Minnesota. On May 1, the band will perform at Coachella. ...