Christina Aguilera has shed a bit more light on her new album on her paid fan site, where she posted that the work in progress is a "throwback to the 1920s, '30s and '40s," which also explains her pinup-glamour-queen look of late. "I like my look to mirror where I am at musically and lyrically," she wrote. "Some of the songs are kept authentic, sticking to a really raw, old-soul sound, where others combine elements of old blues, jazz and soul with a hard modern-day edge." Aguilera calls the still-untitled album, due in the spring, her "best work yet." "It's been really fun experimenting, challenging and pushing myself to bring you something completely different and revealing," she wrote. Plus, being in love this time around didn't hurt. While her fiance, Jordan Bratman, didn't exactly collaborate with her -- he's not a musician -- his influence will be heard in other ways: "We have introduced each other to whole new worlds of music, so it will definitely show!" Aguilera said that she's never been "so in love, so happy, or felt so alive." "I start to cry when I think of all he has brought to my life," she wrote. "As a team, we make each other stronger, wiser ... just better. Before, I used to have so many walls up, and he has taught me to trust and shown me I can open up." ...

John Legend, Nickelback's Chad Kroeger, Patti LaBelle and Natasha Bedingfield are among the performers announcing the nominations for the 48th annual Grammy Awards. The nominations announcement is set for December 8 at New York's Gotham Hall, while the Grammys will take place February 8 in Los Angeles and will be broadcast on CBS. ... After releasing his autobiography, "From Pieces to Weight," 50 Cent is now creating his own book line, called G-Unit Books, as a joint venture with MTV/ Pocket Books. The street fiction, which will be in the form of hip-hop novellas and graphic novels, will feature members of the G-Unit as characters. The first novella, which will be written by Nikki Turner, will be released in 2007. ...

Not only is "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" the fastest-selling advance movie ticket right now on Fandango and MovieTickets.com, but the IMAX version is also selling out in record numbers. The film is slated to debut in a record 72 IMAX theaters with an additional 18 to open in the weeks following. IMAX is also reporting that the shows are sold out in major markets, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Boston, Philadelphia, Salt Lake City and more, driving more advance sales than any other Hollywood blockbuster in IMAX's history. ... Britney Spears is putting up the cash for her own B in the Mix: The Remixes release party, which is being hosted by her fan site WorldOfBritney.com. "I just wanted to say that I love the idea of all my fans getting together to celebrate the release of my new album," Spears wrote in a statement to the site. "I was happy to help! I hope you have a great night out at the club and dance all night long!" The party -- which is being held at an unspecified club in Los Angeles on November 22, the night of the album's release -- is open to those who sign up through WOB or her official fan club, and will be limited to 500 fans. Details will be posted on both sites this week. ...

Mandy Moore is playing a "klutzy" love interest for Zach Braff's J.D. character on "Scrubs." The actress is currently in production on two episodes for the show, after having appeared last summer in several episodes of "Entourage" as an alternate-universe version of herself playing a love interest for Adrian Grenier's character Vince Chase. There's no air date yet for her "Scrubs" episodes. ... Korn are planning a pre-album-release show November 29 at Hammerstein Ballroom in New York. It'll be the first U.S. concert in which they perform material from See You on the Other Side, due December 6. ...

Mark Lanegan, occasional Queens of the Stone Age collaborator and former Screaming Trees frontman, has found a new muse -- Belle and Sebastian chanteuse Isobel Campbell. The two have teamed up for an album due in the spring, Ballads of the Broken Seas, but before that, they'll release an EP on December 13 called Ramblin' Man. ... Funeral for a Friend will kick off their first headlining North American tour on November 30 in Ottawa. Hopesfall, A Static Lullaby and Lovehatehero will open on most of the trek's dates. The 14-city trip will wind down on December 17 in Toronto. ...

In their continuing effort to keep releasing music without ever returning to the recording studio, Interpol have announced plans for a special Internet-only EP. It'll be available for download starting Tuesday at the iTunes music store, and will include live versions of old standards "Evil," "Length of Love," "C'mere" and "Public Pervert." ... Diecast were forced to drop off their U.S. tour with American Head Charge last week following the departure of drummer Jason Costa. The reason for Costa's exit? "It all started with an argument about Brendan Fraser's acting skills," according to a posting on the Boston hardcore band's Web site -- things no doubt got ugly when "Airheads" was brought up. The fight ended "with a valued member of the Diecast family sneaking off onto a bus in the middle of the night without explanation or warning. We aren't sure why he left, but when we know more we will make everyone privy to the information." On Monday (November 14), American Head Charge pulled the plug on the next three weeks' worth of dates on the tour, although a specific reason was not offered as of press time. They'll resume touring on December 8 in Omaha, Nebraska. ...

WWE superstar Eddie Guerrero died of unknown causes in a Minneapolis hotel Sunday morning. He was 38. During a press conference, his nephew and fellow WWE grappler Chavo Guerrero told reporters he was staying in the same hotel as Eddie and had spoken to him around 1 a.m., a little after they both checked in. Around 7 a.m., security alerted Chavo that his uncle had missed his wake-up call. Chavo and security entered Eddie's room, found him motionless and were unsuccessful in trying to revive him. Eddie, who has won numerous titles throughout his 20 years in the business, rose to great heights after adopting the nickname "Latino Heat" a few years ago. One of his trademarks was driving to the ring in lowrider cars. ... Current Guns N' Roses guitarist Richard Fortus and his wife, Jen, welcomed a baby daughter, Paisley Piper, on November 5. According to his Web site, Fortus continues his work on the long-anticipated GN'R disc Chinese Democracy, which, to this day, has no definite release date. ...

11.11.2005

Behind those hazel eyes is a perfectionist. Before being diagnosed with bronchitis and canceling five concert dates, Kelly Clarkson played one last show at UC Berkeley's Greek Theatre on September 4, which she felt could have been better. So now the singer is returning to nearby San Jose, California's HP Pavilion on December 21 for a free concert for those with ticket stubs from the Berkeley show. Additional tickets will be made available for purchase since the new venue is larger. Clarkson is also making up four of those five canceled dates, beginning December 10 in Las Vegas, and will play a few additional shows in Texas and California. ...

Jessica Simpson really roughed it during her 10-day Operation Smile mission to Kenya, where she served as a goodwill ambassador. She told People magazine that she stayed in touch with husband Nick Lachey, who was in Sweden at the time, via cell phone, calling him to say, "'Nick, you would be so proud of me. I had spiders in my bed and I didn't even care because I was so tired.' " ... Justin Timberlake may have arrived solo when he launched his William Rast clothing line last week at Bloomingdale's in New York, but he made sure to bring an entourage for the L.A. launch. Joining the singer/actor Thursday night at Kitson were his "Black Snake Moan" co-star Christina Ricci, Elisha Cuthbert and Kelly Monaco. ...

Paris Hilton is launching a line of limited-edition luxury watches. She's just teamed up with Tourneau, giving the company the exclusive rights to retail the timepieces, which will be white-diamond-encrusted and will sell for $100,000 a pop. ... Usher is offering two new Visa gift cards emblazoned with his image this holiday season. Cards are available in denominations from $25 up to $500, and each prepaid debit card is personalized with the cardholder's name. A portion of the proceeds will go to Usher's New Look Foundation, a nonprofit aimed at giving disadvantaged kids more educational and real-world opportunities. "It's very important for me to give back," Usher said. The cards are available at suntrust.com/usher. ...

Travis Barker, who produced "Late Night Creepin' " on Bun B's just-released Trill, is getting into the remix game. His recent projects include Pharrell and Gwen Stefani's "Can I Have It Like That" and Bubba Sparxxx's "Back in the Mud." ... Meanwhile, Bun B recently shot a video for his "Draped Up Remix" featuring more than 25 guest stars, including Kanye West, Chingy, Baby and Rob Aston from the Transplants. Several of Bun's fellow Texans, like Slim Thug, Mike Jones and Scarface, appear as well. ... Ja Rule will release a 19-track greatest-hits collection called Exodus on December 6. Along with such hits as "Holla Holla," "Put It on Me" and "New York," the album will feature three new tracks: "Me," "Exodus (Intro)" and "Exodus (Outro)," the latter two produced by 7 Aurelius. ...

Shakira, Frankie J, Sean Paul, Chris Brown, Rihanna and the Pussycat Dolls will perform at Los Angeles radio station KIIS-FM's annual Jingle Ball (taking place at a "secret location") on December 6. ... Los Angeles' KROQ has revealed the lineup for the first night of its Almost Acoustic Christmas 2005 concert. The event will feature System of a Down, Nine Inch Nails, Korn, Fall Out Boy, Avenged Sevenfold, Thrice and Rise Against, and will take place at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, California, on December 10. ...

Good Charlotte's Joel Madden is hitting the turntables in New York this Saturday night. He'll be filling in as a guest DJ for MisShapes, a revolving DJ party that will take place at West Village nightclub Luke & Leroy. Past MisShapes guest DJs have included Madonna, Kelly Osbourne and Madden's girlfriend, Hilary Duff. ... "Heavy Metal Parking Lot," Jeff Krulik and John Heyn's 16-minute documentary shot 20 years ago in the parking lot outside the Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland, before a Judas Priest concert, is now available on DVD. The film captured mid-1980s suburban metal mania so accurately, affectionately and hilariously that it became a word-of-mouth classic. Marketed as an "unvarnished anthropological study of American metalheads," the DVD is packed with all the spandex, muscle cars, bleached-blond perms and hellish mullets you could ask for, along with several additional features, like blow-by-blow commentary from the film's directors, a reunion involving some of the flick's original subjects and a "Dub-O-Vision" option, which allows the viewer to watch the film as a 10th-generation bootleg. ...