The Britney Spears Foundation Room at the Onyx Hotel (the real Onyx Hotel in Boston) is now open to the public. It was designed by the singer's mother to resemble her daughter's bedroom back home in Kentwood, Louisiana. Two 14-year-old girls from the Boston area won a radio contest and were the first to stay in the room on Tuesday. The room goes for $259 a night with 10 percent of the proceeds donated to the singer's charity. ...

Futures, Jimmy Eat World's follow-up to 2001's breakthrough Bleed American, is due October 19. The band will debut some of the material August 27 at San Diego's Street Scene festival and September 3 at Milwaukee's Summerfest. ... John Mayer is going to raise the roof -- literally. The singer/songwriter is teaming up with Habitat for Humanity to build a house on Sunday in San Antonio, Texas, and four fans will get the chance to join him as well as see a concert of his that evening. The home is being built for Angelia Brown, a working mother and cook at a hospital in San Antonio. The contest will run on various radio stations in the Southwest. ...

The soundtrack to the Josh Hartnett film "Wicker Park" will have a decidedly indie bent. Due August 24, the disc will feature tracks by Death Cab for Cutie, the Shins, the Stills, Broken Social Scene, Snow Patrol and Mogwai. The soundtrack will also feature previously unreleased songs highlighted by the Postal Service's cover of Phil Collins' "Against All Odds" and a Johnette Napolitano (Concrete Blonde) and Danny Lohner (Nine Inch Nails) rendition of Coldplay's "The Scientist." ... Artists in search of potentially unpaid royalties now have more flexibility to audit record companies thanks to a law California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed Friday. The law allows artists to conduct annual audits of record companies doing business in California. ...

The Foo Fighters plan to release a double-CD set to follow up 2002's One by One. Frontman Dave Grohl hopes to write one disc of lightweight material and the other of stomping, crashing heavy rock. The band is currently building a studio in Los Angeles to record the album. Their last few discs were created in a studio in Grohl's basement in Virginia. ... PJ Harvey, Nick Cave and Damon Albarn from Blur have written songs for Marianne Faithfull's new album, Before the Poison, due September 27. The disc is the follow-up to 2002's Kissin' Time, which featured collaborations with Beck, Billy Corgan and Jarvis Cocker of Pulp. ...

Saturday's Axis of Justice benefit in Hollywood ended with the "house band" -- Serj Tankian and Maynard James Keenan on vocals, Pete Yorn on guitar and vocals, Tom Morello on guitar, Flea on bass and Brad Wilk on drums -- covering U2's "Where the Streets Have No Name." Each of the musicians played solo earlier in the show, which also featured Jurassic 5. ... Having been described as conceptual, ethereal and emotional, A Perfect Circle may soon add "political" to that list. According to statements made by frontman Keenan at the Axis of Justice concert, he's planning on a civic-minded release for November, the same month an APC remix album is due. Although that album is still coming together, it's expected to include a remix of "The Hollow," a tune off the band's 2000 debut, by former bassist Paz Lenchantin, who is also contributing violin and piano parts to the band's next album. ...

The X-ecutioners and Biz Markie will perform at a Rock the Vote-sponsored kickoff party at the Democratic National Convention in Boston next week. Jon Stewart, Natalie Portman and the Clintons will attend the July 25 show, which will be followed on later nights by Black Eyed Peas (July 27) and Maroon 5 (July 29) concerts. ... Godsmack frontman Sully Erna has pulled out of his deal with the co-owners of Dorsia, the New York nightclub he went in on in 2003. Erna plans to sue his former business partners for improper management, sources close to the band said. ...

The death of Doors singer Jim Morrison, of an apparent overdose in 1971, has been as shrouded in mystery as the demise of Elvis Presley. A new book titled "Jim Morrison: Life, Death, Legend" by Stephen Davis, author of the classic Led Zeppelin biography "Hammer of the Gods," raises the possibility that Morrison's girlfriend Pamela Courson may have had a part in the singer's death. ... Forget about your regular Friday night poker game, the first Vegas Rock Star Poker Tournament and Sweepstakes is giving fans a chance to put on their best poker face and throw down against rockers Dave Navarro, Tommy Lee and Johnny Rzeznik. The weekend tournament kicks off August 26 at the Palms Casino Resort. Contest entries and more information is available at vegasrockstarpoker.com. ...

7.16.04

Courtney Love's Los Angeles sentencing for the misdemeanor drug charge of being under the influence of a controlled substance has been pushed back from Friday (July 16) to August 6. The charge stems from an October 8 incident outside the home of her ex-boyfriend/manager. Love is currently being treated in an undisclosed facility. ...

Metallica will make every show from their recent European tour, except Paris, available for download the first week of August on www.livemetallica.com. Like all the other downloads on the site, the shows will be available as FLAC files for $12.95 per show and MP3 files for $9.95. The band originally planned to post the shows in mid-July, but that didn't leave enough time to remix the recordings. ... Incubus have added new shows to their current tour with Sparta, which now runs through November 12 in Richmond, Virginia. Incubus are supporting A Crow Left of the Murder, which came out February 3. ...

Hoobastank are giving fans another reason to get excited. The band, in conjunction with Winterfresh, is offering one lucky fan the opportunity to win a pair of tickets to see the group live in Orlando, Florida, and meet the band after the show. For more information on the contest, which runs through July 25, check out the band's Web site. ... Linkin Park will release a package containing a DVD, comic book and T-shirt on July 27. The disc will contain the animated music video for "Breaking the Habit" and behind-the-scenes footage, and the comic and T-shirt will be illustrated in an anime style reminiscent of the animation in the video. ...

A Perfect Circle bassist Jeordie White will guest on guitar with the garagey metal band Burning Brides on several dates of their North American tour, which runs through August 31 in Atlanta. ... The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion have shortened their name to Blues Explosion, and they're readying a new disc, Damage!, for release on September 28. The album was produced by a variety of talent including DJ Shadow, David Holmes, Dan the Automator, Steve Jordan and Alan Moulder. Public Enemy's Chuck D guests on the record. ...

Want a piece of Flea, Vince Neil, James Hetfield, New Found Glory or Richie Sambora? Those artists as well as professional skateboarders Tony Hawk and Paul Rodriguez and assorted actors and snowboarders have lent jackets and/or guitar straps to watchmakers Nixon to use for the upcoming LTD Collection. Proceeds from the one-of-a-kind watches will go entirely to the Musicians' Assistance Program, which helps musicians recover from drug and alcohol addiction. The collection will hit 10 stores worldwide in late summer, including Fred Segal in Los Angeles and Barneys in New York. ...

A three-disc collection of Bryan Ferry and Roxy Music called The Platinum Collection will be released on August 24. The package will feature 45 songs including "Love is the Drug," "Dance Away" and "Avalon." The collection will include songs from Ferry's last two solo albums As Time Goes By and Frantic. ... Los Angeles indie rockers Earlimart have set a September 28 release date for their album, Treble & Tremble. Granddaddy's Jim Fairchild produced the record along with frontman Aaron Espinoza. ...