Madonna and husband Guy Ritchie were spotted on the streets of London Thursday night dressed as a nun and the pope for a kabbalah party to celebrate the Jewish holiday of Purim, which commemorates the day Queen Esther saved the Jewish people living in ancient Persia from extermination. "Yes, she was dressed as a nun and Guy was dressed as the pope," Madonna's publicist, Liz Rosenberg, said. "Some Catholic groups are saying stuff, but Purim is a joyous holiday occasion. Madonna and Guy had a great time drinking and dancing. It's funny, because she said that she was happy that the pictures of her are out there because her father would be so proud. She said that when she was a girl she wanted to be a nun and she guesses that she's still a nun at heart." ...

Forget Xzibit, P. Diddy now wants to pimp your ride. The hip-hop mogul is extending his Sean John brand into the automobile industry with a new line of custom-designed aluminum rims dubbed "Sean John Wheels," according to The Associated Press. The rims, which are expected to retail for $700-$3,000 each, will hit stores next month. ... The bulk of her legal struggles behind her, Courtney Love may be back to making whoopee again, at least on film. The singer is in the running to play "Deep Throat" star Linda Lovelace in an upcoming biopic named after the infamous adult-film actress, according to Daily Variety. ...

The White Stripes' still-untitled follow-up to 2003's Elephant is due June 14, V2 Records has announced. ... If you can't wait to hear Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee's upcoming star-studded solo album, Tommyland: The Ride (August), just wait until you hear what the tattooed rocker has in mind for an encore. "My next album is going to be an all-dance record," he said. "I've been DJing a lot lately and I want to make one just for the club kids. I've been recording beats and I'm going to work on it after the Mötley tour." ...

Despite being one of the most celebrated acts of the college-rock era (or perhaps because of that), Dinosaur Jr. never performed on national television. But now that the band has re-formed with its original lineup -- frontman J Mascis, bassist Lou Barlow and drummer Murph -- to play a couple of overseas summer festivals, it's also going to make the leap to living rooms across the country when it performs on "The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson" on April 15. The following night, J Mascis + the Fog, plus, as a press release puts it, "VERY special guests," will take the stage at Los Angeles rock club Spaceland. ... Between the time he spends with girlfriend Parker Posey, not combing his hair or recording his new album, Cold Roses, you'd think Ryan Adams would like to savor what little free time he has. But that's not the case. Because according to a post on Ryan-Adams.com, the messy-mopped troubadour will be hitting the road with his new band, the Cardinals, for a string of dates starting April 27 in Northampton, Massachusetts, and running until May 9 in Asheville, North Carolina. Cold Roses is due in stores on May 3. ...

Cave In frontman Stephen Brodsky has a new side project called the Octave Museum. The band features Brodsky on vocals and guitar, Johnny Northrup of Thee Electric Bastards on bass and Kevin Strongbow of Scissorfight on drums. The band's set to make its live debut in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on April 20. Meanwhile, a collection of mostly unreleased Cave In demos should hit stores this summer through the band's former label home, Hydra Head. ... Billy Idol is kicking off a tour to support his first album of new material in more than 10 years, Devil's Playground, starting April 9 in Philadelphia. In addition to new tunes such as "Scream," "Bodysnatcher" and "Super Overdrive," expect to hear fresh takes on classics "White Wedding" and "Rebel Yell." The 31-date tour wraps in Atlantic City, New Jersey, on May 27. ...

03.25.2005

According to sources close to both MCs, T.I. and Lil' Flip were involved in a melee on the streets of Houston on Thursday. Sources say T.I. was at a local radio station telling listeners he was going to be out in Lil' Flip's 'hood of Cloverland. When T.I. and his crew finally arrived in the area, Flip and his entourage confronted them; a fight ensued, but no one was injured and no arrests were made. Representatives for Tip and Flip declined to comment. ...

On the eve of the 10-year anniversary of Eazy-E's death, the rapper's label has announced it will re-release Eternal E: The Best of Eazy-E with the addition of a DVD of videos. The Gangsta Memorial Edition of the album, due in stores August 30, will feature the 16 tracks released on the 2003 version, along with videos for Eazy's "We Want Eazy," "Only If You Want It," "Eazy-er Said Than Dunn" and "Neighborhood Sniper," and N.W.A's "Appetite for Destruction," "100 Miles & Runnin' " and the title track from the group's landmark gangsta rap album, Straight Outta Compton. ... Testimony in the Michael Jackson trial on Friday continued to center around fingerprint evidence found on the adult material seized from Neverland. Fingerprint testimony had started on Thursday but had mostly focused on the techniques of the science instead of the evidence found. On Friday, though, detectives testified that five prints found among the "adult material" were identified as the accuser's, two were from the accuser's brother, and 12 were identified as Jackson's. "I can't take anymore," Judge Rodney Melville joked about the dry testimony when he ended court 15 minutes early. Meanwhile, Jackson attorney Brian Oxman returned from his brief hospitalization for pneumonia. ...

Showing she definitely just wants to be "Friends" with hubby Brad Pitt, Jennifer Aniston filed for divorce on Friday (March 25), citing irreconcilable differences, The Associated Press reports. Pitt and Aniston were married in July 2000; the Hollywood power couple had announced a separation in January via a joint press release. ... Farnsworth Bentley celebrated his birthday with a few hundred of his closest friends Thursday night at New York's Cielo, where he also screened his BET "Rip the Runway" hosting debut. Among those in attendance were Kanye West, Swizz Beatz, Common, Jean Grae, Pharoahe Monch, DJ Absolut, Black Sheep's Dres, Miri Ben-Ari, the Alchemist, and "America's Next Top Model" winner Eva Pigford and her former fellow contestants Yaya and Toccara. ... Later that night, Just Blaze kept the party jumping over at club Table 50, where he acted as the house DJ. While Just spun early '90s classics from Brand Nubian, N.W.A, and others, Q-Tip, one of the top MCs of that era, got on the mic and acted as hype man. Farnsworth, 3LW and Irv Gotti were a few of the luminaries who popped up on the scene. ...

This week, 50 Cent became the first artist since 1964 to score four simultaneous top-10 hits on Billboard's singles chart. "Candy Shop" and "Disco Inferno" -- from his chart-topping album The Massacre -- and the Game's "Hate It or Love It" and "How We Do" tracks, which feature 50 on guest vocals, are sitting at #1, #5, #6 and #8, respectively. The Beatles were the last act to achieve such a feat, with songs dominating the chart's top five spots. ... In his latest crusade against violence in rap music, the Reverend Al Sharpton has asked the FCC to deny airplay for 90 days to artists who encourage or take part in violent acts, according to The Associated Press. Sharpton also wants to target radio stations that encourage this type of violence by having them fined and their licenses reviewed. So far, the FCC has declined to comment. ...

While in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to play the tsunami-aid concert Force of Nature on March 18, Will.I.Am toured the area to view the devastation, and has since decided to help rebuild the area more directly. The Black Eyed Peas rapper has hooked up his charitable foundation, the Will.I.Am Foundation, with Octogon, LLC and Force of Nature to construct new homes in the region. "Seeing the disaster with my own eyes has been life-changing," he said in a statement. "Seeing the children on the street and families displaced makes it clear that we need ... to help rebuild the homes lost." ... The African Well Fund will launch its third annual Build a Well for Bono's Birthday fund-raiser on March 27 at the Hard Rock Cafe in San Diego -- the same night and city where U2 kick off their Vertigo Tour. The AWF raises funds to build wells in African countries like Uganda and Ethiopia, where clean drinking water is scarce. Donations will be collected until March 10, Bono's birthday. For more information, check out AfricanWellFund.org. ...

The Flaming Lips and the Pussycat Dolls rocked out Thursday night to usher in the new Mazda MX5 Convertible at an event called "Hot in the City" at New York's Gotham Hall. Those in attendance included Ashanti, Danger Mouse, Carson Kressley, and actresses Samaire Armstrong and Bree Turner (Lindsay Lohan's co-stars in her upcoming film "Just My Luck"). ... A live DVD of Ben Harper playing with the Blind Boys of Alabama at the historic Apollo Theater in New York's Harlem is slated for release on Tuesday, according to Harper's official Web site. ...

U.K. rapper and grime poster child Dizzee Rascal is gearing up to tour North America for the first time, in support of his most recent album, Showtime. Dizzee's trek starts March 30 in Vancouver, British Columbia, and wraps April 30 in Chicago. ... Just because Guided by Voices broke up doesn't mean that former leader Robert Pollard is slowing down his deluge of releases. He's just released a four-song EP called Zoom and is prepping reissues of the band's 1986 debut EP, Forever Since Breakfast (due Tuesday), on hand-numbered red vinyl with bonus tracks. For true collectors, look for the rare, vinyl-only live album from 2000 recorded under the name Hazzard Hotrods (October), which was improvised live in a video store in 1990. December will bring another massive compilation of GBV songs, Suitcase 2, with more than 100 never-before-heard versions of classic and unreleased songs. And look for albums by the side projects Moping Swans and the Circus Devils in May. ...