If it weren't for his band headlining the Vans Warped Tour, New Found Glory's Jordan Pundik would have been married by summer's end. The singer had planned to get married on Labor Day weekend, according to a band spokesperson, but the nuptials are now set for September 5, 2005. Pundik got engaged to his longtime girlfriend earlier this year. ...

Missy Elliott has finished mapping out "The Road to Stardom" for 13 contestants in her new reality show. Madonna, Busta Rhymes and Jermaine Dupri all make appearances on the show, while music producer Dallas Austin will join co-executive producer Elliott to judge the aspiring hip-hop stars. Combining elements of "American Idol" and "Survivor," contestants must endure mental and physical challenges to prove their talent. ...

With two studio albums under their fashionably hip belts, the Strokes are now planning their first live album, to be released before the end of the year. Taped in December, the London concert featured on the live album included hits from their latest LP, Room on Fire, and their debut, Is This It. A new studio album isn't expected until next year. ... Courtney Love's Japanese manga comic, "Princess Ai," is the #1 graphic novel in the country, according to Nielsen BookScan sales reports. The first volume of "Princess Ai," called "Destitution," in which a Love-like character finds herself lost in Tokyo and must piece together clues about who she is and why she's on Earth, topped the Adult Fiction Overall Trade Paper Graphic Novels list for the week ending July 25. Volume two, "Lumination," will be released in February 2005. ...

Lenny Kravitz is hitting the road for a 19-city fall tour to promote his latest album, Baptism. The outing will begin and end at casinos in two gambling capitals; the first show takes place September 11 at the Borgata in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and the last on October 16 at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. ... Michael Jackson's lawyers are suggesting in court documents that prosecutor Tom Sneddon violated a gag order when he made remarks about the case to a conference of district attorneys in Vancouver, British Columbia, on July 20. At the event, Sneddon told his fellow prosecutors, "We sent letters to some people saying we intended to call them as witnesses in order to keep them off TV." Jackson's lawyers are asking the court to decide if Sneddon's speech violated or misused the gag order. ...

After seven years and three studio albums (including this year's Heroes to Zeros), U.K.'s Beta Band has called it quits. A DVD collection of videos and films made by the band will surface in 2005. A farewell tour is planned for the fall, after which each member will pursue individual projects. ... Almost 10 years after her debut album, 1000 Fires, was released, Traci Lords is prepping a follow-up. There's no word yet on when the new album will be released, but the ex-porn star and actress plans to post songs on her Web site, TraciLords.com, in advance of the release. ...

With the release of Super D on August 17, piano rocker Ben Folds completes his online EP trilogy series. The final installment features three original songs as well as a pair of inspired covers: the Darkness' "Get Your Hands Off My Woman" and an early Ray Charles track, "Them That Got." The EPs are available online as downloadable tracks at attackedbyplastic.com, and a new full-length album is expected in early 2005. ... Singer/stripper Har Mar Superstar (alter-ego of Sean Tillman/ Sean Na Na) has called on some fellow indie heroes for his third album, The Handler, due September 14. Adding spiky sass are Karen O and Nick Zinner of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, rap group Northern State and longtime Elvis Costello drummer Pete Thomas. ...

Concertgoers hitting the Road Rage Tour stop Tuesday (August 3) in Cleveland are in for a surprise when Chimaira take the stage. Citing visa issues, drummer Richard Evensand has left the band and has been replaced by ex-Misery Index beatkeeper Kevin Talley. The band will continue to tour as scheduled, with trips to Japan and Australia planned for September. ... Staind's Aaron Lewis and ex-Candlebox singer Kevin Martin and his band the HiWatts are performing to combat drug abuse. The musicians are this year's special guests at the third annual Layne Staley Benefit Show, taking place August 27, a concert to raise money for heroin recovery. ...

Twenty-six years after the fact, the never-broadcast "Rock & Roll Circus," the legendary 1968 Rolling Stones concert extravaganza, is being readied for a DVD release. The taped-for-television show, which had previously been available on VHS, included performances by Jethro Tull, Marianne Faithfull, the Who and the supergroup collaboration of John Lennon, Eric Clapton, Keith Richards and Jimi Hendrix drummer Mitch Mitchell. The DVD will also include previously unreleased performances and participant commentary. ... Jimmy Eat World's four-song Firestarter EP is now available for download through iTunes, and more songs are on the way, as the band has just finalized the details for its upcoming album, Futures, due October 19. The 12-song album will feature tracks called "Just Tonight," "Work," "Kill," "Pain," "Drugs or Me," "Polaris," "Night Drive" and "Jen." ...

Shelby Lynne is set to make her film debut in the Johnny Cash biopic "Walk the Line," which stars Joaquin Phoenix as the Man in Black. Lynne has been tapped to play Cash's mother and will shoot her scenes in Memphis. ... The largest and most complete greatest-hits album from the Boomtown Rats will hit stores on August 31. The 19 tracks on Best of the Boomtown Rats -- including their best-known track, "I Don't Like Mondays" -- were chosen via an Internet fan poll, digitally remastered from the original tapes and then personally approved by frontman Bob Geldof. ...

8.2.2004

Former Meat Puppets bassist Cris Kirkwood was sentenced to 21 months in an Arizona federal prison Monday (August 2) for assaulting a post-office security guard with his own baton in December. Prosecutors also requested $7,000 in retribution to be paid to the victim, and three years' supervision upon his release. Kirkwood pleaded guilty to a charge of assault with a dangerous weapon in May. ...

It's not the Pope. It's not the Medici family. It's Kanye West, the new patron of the arts. West revealed in an interview with Q magazine that he commissioned a painter to re-create Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling for his dining room. "It's gonna have over 50 cherubs and saints," West boasted. ... If Barbara and Jenna Bush want to follow in the Olsen twins' footsteps, a New York modeling agency will help them take the first step. Ambassador Promotions has offered a modeling contract to the first daughters, for what the company says could be a multimillion-dollar deal if the Bush twins accept. "Whether the president wins re-election or not, the girls could be true winners for the fashion world," the company's president, Dave D'Orazio, said in a statement. ...

Britney Spears' soon-to-be stepson is named Michael Jackson -- kind of. Shar Jackson revealed to Us Weekly that she named her baby boy (fathered by Spears' fiancé, Kevin Federline) Kaleb Michael Jackson after Paul Walker's character in the movie "The Skulls," while the middle name is after Federline's father. "Yeah, it's funny that 'Michael Jackson' is in there, but his name is Kaleb Michael," she told the magazine. Jackson said that Federline arrived after her nearly eight-hour labor and delivery was over, and since then, they've been talking almost every day. ... Former Dream member Melissa Schuman posted on her message board that next week she's scheduled to record a duet with Backstreet Boy Nick Carter. The song is called "Still There for Me," and it's for an upcoming film, but she wouldn't disclose which one. ...

Want 50 Cent on your phone? The rapper's signed a ring tone, voice and image deal with mobile content provider Zingy, so mobile users can get original recordings from him. "I'm doing things that don't usually go with artists of my lyrical content," 50 said in a statement. "I will continue to break boundaries through all industries as long as people embrace it." The 50 goodies will be available on AOL, Boost Mobile, *MTV, Nextel, Sprint PCS, T-Mobile and Zingy.com. ... Bryan "Baby" Williams (a.k.a. Birdman) has settled a lawsuit that alleged he had failed to pay King's Jewelers in Florida $85,000 for jewelry he ordered. According to The Associated Press, Williams and the jewelry company settled for $57,000. The settlement stipulated that the rap boss may keep the jewelry and that neither party admits liability or wrongdoing. Baby reportedly ordered a $23,500 pendant that said "BM" in white gold and diamonds, as well as nine white gold, diamond-studded pendants reading "Cash Money Records," worth a total of $54,000. Williams' publicist could not be reached by press time. ...

The eighth album from De La Soul is also the first hip-hop LP released by the Sanctuary Urban label, a new imprint run by Mathew Knowles (Beyoncé's dad). The trio's follow-up to 2001's AOI: Bionix is due September 28 and features appearances by Common, Carl Thomas, Ghostface, and, on its title-track first single, Bonz Malone. A second single, "Shopping Bags," is expected to surface simultaneously in August. This fall, look out for a De La-designed model in Nike's Dunk line of shoes. ...

Badly Drawn Boy will launch a North American fall tour on October 5 in Vancouver, British Columbia, to support his new album, One Plus One Is One. The first leg will conclude October 28 in Houston. ... "Ramones Raw," unreleased video footage shot by Marky Ramone, is being released on DVD later this year. "Raw" includes backstage interviews, as well as home video of the pioneers of punk dating from the early '80s. ... The Pixies have added a pair of Los Angeles dates, September 22 and 23, to their fall tour schedule. The gigs mark the band's first shows in the L.A. area in 12 years. Grant Lee Phillips will open both shows, with the Distillers joining him on the first night and the Thrills on the second. The Pixies' North American fall tour starts September 4 in Bend, Oregon. ...

Courtney Love got a last-minute visa to perform at the Fuji Rock Festival in Japan, where she proclaimed, "They let me in, they let me in." ... Fans attending the Projekt Revolution tour at New Jersey's PNC Bank Arts Center on Friday got more than they bargained for when Jay-Z came out to perform an encore with headliners Linkin Park. The rap-rockers and the Roc rapper performed "Dirt Off Your Shoulder," "Jigga What?" and "Big Pimpin'." ...