Don't believe the hype. Christina Aguilera's rep has denied reports that the singer was slashed in a Paris bar fight with a drunken fan earlier this month. "She's fine, she got cut at home with a piece of glass. It had nothing to do with a fan," publicist Jill Fritzo said. Though the injury -- sliced tendons -- has put Aguilera's right arm in a cast and a sling while she recovers, Fritzo said it didn't stop the singer from attending the recent European fashion shows or continuing work on her new album, which is slated for an early 2006 release. ...

Usher dropped by for the first day of the new summer program he recently launched for minority youth in his hometown of Atlanta. Camp New Look will be home to 150 campers (ages 8-18) for the next two weeks as these prodigies-in-training hone their skills -- whether it be singing, dancing or basketball -- and learn the ins and outs of the business side of sports and entertainment, according to The Associated Press. "This truly is about learning the business side," the singer said Monday. "You're not going to learn it all overnight, but maybe, just maybe, you'll learn enough to change your life." The kids will put what they've learned to the test July 23 when they will have to coordinate a celebrity basketball game and headline its halftime show. ... Pearl Jam have signed on to headline an August 29 benefit for U.S. Senate candidate Jon Tester in Missoula, Montana. The show at the Adams Event Center in bassist Jeff Ament's native state will help raise money for the Montana Senate president's campaign. "I have known Jeff Ament for years and I think it is wonderful that Pearl Jam want to come out and lend their support and help me raise awareness about my campaign and to help raise the money I will need to defeat a sitting U.S. senator," Tester said. ...

Eminem, Talib Kweli and Motörhead axeman Phil Campbell will pop up on Detroit rapper Hush's forthcoming Geffen debut, Bulletproof. The album's slated for an August 23 release. ... The Roots, Redman, Common, Lyrics Born and Little Brother are some of the artists featured on the upcoming soundtrack to the video game "NBA 2K6 Basketball," titled The Tracks. Those artists will also be featured celebrity characters in the video game itself. The Tracks hits stores on October 4. ... Already embracing his Southern roots with next month's "Dukes of Hazzard" movie, Johnny Knoxville will be taking it one step further on July 26, when his cousin's country album hits stores with the former "Jackass" acting as producer. All Likkered Up marks the recording debut of Roger Alan Wade, the quirky singer/songwriter whose songs include such Howard Stern favorites as "My Baby Loves Malt Liquor" and "Fryin' Bacon Nekkid." The album shines the spotlight for the first time on Wade, whose two-decade musical career has seen him pen hits for the likes of Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings and his cousin's "Hazzard" co-star Willie Nelson. ...

Juliette Lewis' forthcoming video for her Licks song "Got Love to Kill" takes its inspiration from Flock of Seagulls' "I Ran" and Blondie's "Heart of Glass" clips -- with a feminine '80s disco aesthetic, according to director Alex Smith. "It's a girl's answer to the tomboy punk video we made previously," Smith said. ... Did you know that one of the Foo Fighters is making his debut in a major motion picture? It's bassist Nate Mendel, and the movie is actually a recently released straight-to-DVD release. The flick, called "Our Burden Is Light," features Mendel in a supporting role and an original score that he wrote. "Burden" also includes music from the Dave Matthews Band and David Gray. ...

Fresh from hosting "Rock Star: INXS," Dave Navarro already has his next gig lined up -- as a card shark in the second annual Vegas Rock Star Poker Tournament. He'll play alongside Kiss' Gene Simmons and former Alice in Chains guitarist Jerry Cantrell, as well as sweepstakes winners and their guests, at the Palms Casino Resort during the weekend of August 25-27. To enter to play, visit vegasrockstarpoker.com through August 15. The top prize is $10,000. ... Not only are INXS opening up their singer search to the world on their current reality show on CBS, but they're also opening up in another way -- by writing their first autobiography. "INXS: Story to Story" is due out this fall, to coincide with the band's 25th anniversary. "A number of books have been written about us over the years, most of them in the wake of Michael Hutchence's tragic death, but none of them has been authorized by us or is in any way reflective of our point of view," INXS's Kirk Pengilly said. "This book is the band's history whilst Michael was alive ... It's our self-portrait and a true and honest account of our lives." ...

07.13.2005

Beyoncé is facing a lawsuit over her song "Baby Boy." A Minneapolis singer/songwriter by the name of Jennifer Armour claims in a suit filed Tuesday in Houston that the song's lyrics and musical hook were stolen from her song "Got a Little Bit of Love for You," which she says made its way into Beyoncé's hands when Armour shopped the track around in March 2003. A hearing in the copyright-infringement suit has been scheduled for October 28. ...

Tween queen Hilary Duff and funnyman Rob Schneider have been tapped to host the 2005 Teen Choice Awards in Los Angeles on August 16, The Associated Press reports. Gwen Stefani, who will be presented with the Teen Choice Visionary Award, will kick off the show with a performance of her hit single "Hollaback Girl." ... Missed any of the episodes of Britney Spears' reality show? No worries -- you can catch up when it comes out on DVD, on August 23. The "Britney and Kevin: Chaotic" collection will also include previously unseen footage and the video for her song "Someday (I Will Understand)." ...

The White Stripes have chosen "My Doorbell" as the second single off their Get Behind Me Satan album, according to their publicist. The tune features Jack White's previously unheralded piano playing and his ruminations on, well, people ringing his doorbell. The song is due to hit radio next month, and the Stripes will begin looking at treatments for a video over the next few weeks. ... Drug charges filed back in 2003 against Velvet Revolver frontman Scott Weiland have been dropped, according to the Los Angeles Times. On Tuesday, a Pasadena court commissioner dismissed the offense after Weiland successfully completed a court-directed rehabilitation program. The rocker had been arrested for cocaine and heroin possession. ...

Wilmer Valderrama will be the host of this year's G-Phoria, the video game awards show airing on G4 (video game TV). The Black Eyed Peas, the Bravery and Tony Yayo are slated to perform. G-Phoria will take place July 27 at 7 p.m. at the Los Angeles Center Studios and will air on August 9 at 8 p.m. ET. ... Snoop Dogg is slated to headline a two-day charity event for members of the military and their families, in Hawaii on July 22-23. The rapper will perform for Bodog Salutes the Troops, which will benefit the military charity Fisher House Foundation. Comedians Wanda Sykes, Colin Quinn and Paul Rodriguez and singer Bif Naked will also take the stage that evening to entertain the troops. ...

Carrie Underwood is not just following in the footsteps of former "American Idol" winners, but also pop princesses Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera, as she's just signed a deal to be the next Skechers girl. Underwood's ads will launch this fall and run through December 2006. "I've been wearing Skechers for years, so for me this is a really great project," Underwood said. ... "American Idol"'s caustic Simon Cowell has found a new set of dreamers to crush -- budding businessmen. He's signed on for ABC's new reality show "The Million Dollar Idea" to help sort through the competition's hopeful entrepreneurs in search of the best business idea or product. The winner will get -- like the title says -- $1 million worth of business support, including cash, counsel and physical resources to turn the dream into a reality. "Right now, someone in America may be sitting on the best new idea in the world," Cowell said. "This show gives everyone the chance to fulfill that dream. I have no idea who or what is going to turn up, and that is the fun of this new series." ABC has ordered nine episodes of the series so far. ...

Tori Amos has posted the video for her latest single, "Sweet the Sting," from her album The Beekeeper, on her Web site. The clip provides a behind-the-scenes look at a live Tori performance, including her interaction with fellow musicians and backup singers during rehearsals. ... Queen, who postponed a gig in London's Hyde Park by a week due to the terrorist attacks, have announced that they will invite thousands of emergency services personnel to Friday's show to thank them for their work, according to The Associated Press. Paul Rodgers, currently filling the band's vocalist slot, said the group wants the concert to serve as a tribute to the "extraordinary response" of the police officers, firefighters and paramedics who aided the victims in last week's bombings. ...

On the same day that Nielsen SoundScan reported that album sales were off 7 percent from last year and sales of paid song downloads had tripled in the first half of the year, the Recording Industry Association of America issued its annual commercial piracy report, which brought some bad news. According to the RIAA report, "The illegal copying and trafficking of pirated music has become increasingly sophisticated in the past year." The report said music pirates are increasingly manufacturing and selling high-quality fakes that resemble legitimate CDs, even as "large criminal enterprises" become more involved in illegally burning huge numbers of CDs, some with ties to organized crime. The RIAA says it seized more than a million counterfeit CDs last year. ...