Before she heads to jail for perjury and conspiracy on Monday, Lil' Kim will be chronicling her last days as a free woman for her own reality show, the rapper's publicist said. The project, tentatively titled "Lil' Kim Goes to the Big House," will be headed up by entertainment big shot Tracey Edmonds, wife of beatmaker/crooner Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds and CEO of Edmonds Entertainment. Several networks are currently vying for rights to the show, but the Queen Bee has yet to make a decision. ...

Opportunities to sit in on recording sessions with Usher, Alicia Keys or Kanye West are among the experiences and items being auctioned on eBay October 11-20 to benefit the Step Up Women's Network, a nonprofit organization dedicated to strengthening community resources for women and girls. Various autographed items by Dave Matthews Band, Metallica and Carrie Underwood will also be available in the auction. ... Coldplay have posted their four-song Fix You EP exclusively at Apple's iTunes Music Store. The proceeds from sales of the EP will go to the American Red Cross and the Recording Academy's MusiCares Hurricane Relief Fund. The collection includes studio and live versions of the new single "Fix You," plus the previously unreleased "Pour Me" and "The World Turned Upside Down." In other Coldplay news, the band was forced to cancel Wednesday's show in Tampa, Florida, due to an unspecified illness, but the group is planning to reschedule. ...

What do New Found Glory bassist Ian Grushka and pop sensation Britney Spears have in common? Their sons have the same birthday. On Wednesday, just as Spears was giving birth to her baby, Grushka and his wife Stormy welcomed their first son, Oliver Layne, to the world. Grushka is the first member of NFG to become a dad. ... 'NSYNC are putting out a greatest-hits album. Called simply 'NSYNC's Greatest Hits, the 11-song compilation is due October 25, and includes such chart-topping singles as their first hit, "I Want You Back" (from March 1998), collaborations with Nelly ("Girlfriend") and Gloria Estefan ("Music of My Heart"), as well as "Bye Bye Bye," "It's Gonna Be Me," "Pop," "Tearin' Up My Heart" and "Gone." ...

So it looks like CBGB will remain open at least for the month of September. A hearing scheduled for Thursday morning (September 15) in New York's Civil Court, what was to be the first public holdover proceeding in the Bowery Residents' Committee's efforts to evict the iconic club from its current locale at 313 Bowery, was postponed until October 3. ... The "Saw II" soundtrack, due October 25, will feature a remix of Marilyn Manson's "Irresponsible Hate Anthem" by former Nine Inch Nails multi-instrumentalist Danny Lohner, Limp Bizkit guitarist Wes Borland and Charlie Clouser; a remix of Queens of the Stone Age's "Burn the Witch" by UNKLE; and a remix of Puscifer's (Maynard James Keenan and Lohner's new side project) "REV 22:20" by Lohner. Also contributing tracks are the Used, Papa Roach and Mudvayne, whose "Forget to Remember" is the first single. ...

Grammy-winner Tom Waits has filed suit in Germany against General Motors' Opel division and an ad agency, claiming that after he turned down their request to sing in a commercial, they hired a soundalike to mimic his signature gravelly tone. The ads aired in Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Norway in late 2004 and early 2005. GM has denied that it sought out Waits -- who has a long-standing policy against appearing in commercials -- for the spots. In a statement Waits said, "Apparently, the highest compliment our culture grants artists nowadays is to be in an ad -- ideally naked and purring on the hood of a new car. ... While the court can't make me active in radio, I am asking it to make me radioactive to advertisers." ... Henry Rollins' Independent Film Channel series "Henry's Film Corner" is getting something of a revamping. "The Henry Rollins Show," which will launch in March, will incorporate a wider range of guests, a more expansive array of topics, and musical performances. Rollins will also have a segment called "Teeing Off," an irreverent take on the traditional monologue as Henry rants on everything from pop culture to politics to the guy who annoyed him at the grocery store. ...

Ex-Meat Puppets singer Curt Kirkwood, best known for collaborating with Nirvana on their "Unplugged" performance, will release his first solo album, Snow, on September 27. Pete Anderson, who produced the Puppets' Forbidden Places, produced the album. ... Musicians continue to take the lead in fund-raising for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. The Cincinnati band Kelp recently launched the Rock Together initiative, in which they hope to recruit 1,000 bands across the country to donate the proceeds from 1,000 gigs to benefit those affected by the hurricane. So far, according to Kelp guitarist Kent Meloy, 90 bands have played shows in Cincinnati, Kentucky, Miami, New York and Los Angeles, raising approximately $25,000. He encourages any band that's interested to visit rocktogether.org for more information. ...

9.14.2005

The title of Usher's upcoming movie "Dying for Dolly" has been changed to "In the Mix." In the romantic comedy, which also stars Emmanuelle Chriqui from "On the Line" and Chazz Palminteri, Usher plays a bodyguard who falls in love with his boss' daughter. "In the Mix" hits theaters November 23. ...

Jon Heder reprised his role as Napoleon Dynamite for a Microsoft-sponsored video which was shown for a buttload of software developers on Tuesday during a conference in Los Angeles. According to Reuters, in the clip, Napoleon faces off with Microsoft's Bill Gates in a slapping match. The prize? Gates' post as head of the software behemoth. Of course Napoleon wins, and the video is said to end with Gates, sporting a tightfitting brown suit, darting into his new boss' office. ... Limp Bizkit fans who're just itching for The Unquestionable Truth (Part 2) might want to invest in some Gold Bond medicated powder, as there's no definitive release date for the second dose of Truth. But Bizkit will offer some temporary relief on November 8 in the form of Greatest Hits. According to a spokesperson for the band's label, the album's track list is still being ironed out. ...

A new piano-laden track by Radiohead, "I Want None of This," surfaced online this week at the War Child Music Web site. Radiohead are one of 22 bands -- including the Gorillaz, Bloc Party and Coldplay -- who participated in the creation of HELP: A Day in the Life. Each band recorded a single track over the course of 24 hours, and the fruit of their rushed labors is now available for download. Proceeds generated through the downloads will be used to help children in war-torn regions of the world. ... Conor Oberst, an outspoken opponent of Clear Channel Communications, the multimedia giant that owns radio stations and venues coast to coast, recently canceled a scheduled Bright Eyes gig at the Pageant in St. Louis when he learned that there was "an association" between the club and the corporation. According to a post on Saddle-Creek.com, the band is now looking into other venues in the St. Louis area to hold the show. ...

Wilco are taking a break from their exhaustive touring to put the finishing touches on an album that celebrates their exhaustive touring. On November 1, they'll release Kicking Television - Live in Chicago, a two-disc set recorded during their two-night stand at Chicago's Vic Theatre. Wilco's break from the road won't last long, though -- they're scheduled to play Farm Aid in Tinley Park, Illinois, on Sunday and will launch another U.S. tour on September 21 in Columbia, Maryland. ... Xzibit, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony and Warren G will be on hand when the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network's 2005 Financial Empowerment National Tour hits the Wiltern LG in Los Angeles on Saturday. Mike Concepcion is hosting the event. ...

Story of the Year's Determination Tour, featuring Funeral for a Friend, Anberlin and He Is Legend, will kick off on September 22 in Wichita, Kansas, and hit 20 cities before winding down in Louisville, Kentucky, on October 16. The band's new album, In the Wake of Determination, will be in stores on October 11. ... A number of bands are scrambling to book gigs at New York's CBGB now that the iconic punk club is on its proverbial death bed. The latest of these acts is Disturbed, who'll grace the rock-and-roll landmark's beer- and spit-soaked stage on September 20 -- the same day the band's new disc, Ten Thousand Fists, hits store shelves. Tickets will be hard to come by, however, unless you're a member of Disturbed's official online fan club, thedisturbedones.com. ...

Nominees for the 48th annual Grammy Awards will be announced December 8 at Gotham Hall in New York, exactly two months before the show is scheduled for the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Meanwhile, nominees for the 33rd annual American Music Awards will be announced Tuesday at the Beverly Hills Hotel in Beverly Hills, California. The AMAs are scheduled for November 22 at the Shrine Auditorium in L.A.. And in other awards-show news, the 2005 Billboard Music Awards have been set for December 6 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. ...