Jessica Simpson, who is "in talks for many projects," according to her rep, has a new one to add to the list -- "Employee of the Month." If she signs up for the role, her first since "The Dukes of Hazzard," the singer would play a new cashier at a discount superstore who makes fellow employee Dane Cook try to win her over by competing for the "Employee of the Month" title. The movie is slated to start shooting in the spring. ...

Anxious for new music from the Foo Fighters (even though they just put out a double album in, like, June)? Well, you're in luck, provided there's a Best Buy in the neighborhood. Joining the ranks of artists like Usher and the Rolling Stones, the Foos just released an untitled EP exclusively through the home-entertainment store. The EP features a live version of "Best of You," a demo of their current single, "D.O.A.," plus B-sides and a cover of Cream's "I Feel Free." ... Missy Elliott, Eve and 3 Doors Down are among the final presenters announced for Tuesday's American Music Awards. Michelle Branch, Pamela Anderson, Jenny McCarthy, Babyface, James Denton, Katherine Heigl and Serena Williams have also been added. ...

Link Wray, the guitarist credited with inventing the power chord, died on November 5 of undisclosed causes in Copenhagen, Denmark, according to a post on his Web site. He was 76. On tunes such as his landmark 1958 instrumental "Rumble," Wray produced a fuzzed-out sound that influenced generations of rock, punk and metal bands. He said he achieved the blown-out effect by purposely punching holes in the speakers of his amps. ... The Edge has launched a campaign to raise funds to replace the lost instruments of musicians affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The U2 guitarist, who started Music Rising after visiting New Orleans last week, has teamed with Gibson Guitar for the nonprofit undertaking. ...

Police in Vietnam arrested British glam rocker Gary Glitter (born Paul Gadd) on Saturday morning on child-molestation charges. According to reports, the "Rock and Roll Part 2" singer was detained by immigration police at Ho Chi Minh City's Tan Son Nhat airport as he was attempting to board a plane to Bangkok, Thailand. He is under investigation for allegedly taking home several girls who were 15 or younger, according to a Reuters report. Glitter was sentenced to four months in jail in Britain in 1999 after authorities found child pornography on his computer's hard drive. ... Kylie Minogue is bringing it back home. The 37-year-old pop diva, who had to cancel the homecoming leg of her Showgirl: The Greatest Hits Tour earlier this year after being diagnosed with breast cancer, has announced that she'll tour at the end of 2006, according to The Associated Press. ...

Anthrax will reunite for three dates next year: January 7 in New York, January 13 in Chicago and January 21 in Hollywood. God Forbid and Sworn Enemy are opening. ... Supergrass will be back on the road to promote Road to Rouen starting February 6 in Toronto. The 15-date North American trek wraps February 26 in Vancouver, British Columbia. ...

Attention man-machines: We have the perfect holiday gift for you. On December 6, Kraftwerk will release "Minimum-Maximum," a two-DVD set documenting their 2004 world tour. The discs feature more than two hours of live music, recorded in Japan, Europe and the U.S. ... On December 6, Glaswegian popsters Belle & Sebastian will release a live version of their 1996 album, If You're Feeling Sinister, for download at the iTunes music store, with all proceeds going to Disasters Emergency Committee's Asian Quake Appeal. The album was recorded at London's Barbican club during the All Tomorrow's Parties festival in September. ...

11.18.2005

"Laguna Beach" star Talan Torriero's just wrapped his first movie role, for an indie film called "Driftwood," about an attitude-adjustment correctional facility for teens that's haunted by the ghost of a kid murdered there. Torriero plays Yates, a security guard who beats on the kids. Meanwhile, he's also nearly completed his debut album, and anticipates that "by the end of the week, it'll be done." ...

In two weeks, Madonna's 1998 album, Ray of Light, will be rather hard to come by if you live in Belgium. That's because a Belgian judge has ordered the disc pulled from store shelves in the country, as part of a ruling he handed down Friday morning (November 18). Back in May, Salvatore Acquaviva, a Belgian songwriter, sued the Material Mom, claiming she bit the melody for the track "Frozen" from his 1993 song "Ma Vie Fout L'camp (My Life's Getting Nowhere)." According to Reuters, Acquaviva's attorney's claiming victory against Madonna, and said the ruling further barred the airing of the song or video on radio and television in the nation. It's unknown whether Acquaviva was awarded monetary damages. ... Ashanti will be on hand at a dance workshop in Hollywood, Florida, on Sunday to help raise money for the Hurricane Bank Relief Fund. The hip-hop dance workshop is being taught by the singer's choreographer Brice Vick, "You Got Served" choreographer Shane Sparks and Gwen Stefani's Harajuku Lovers Tour choreographer Shotyme. You can register for the class at popstarzinc.com. ...

Scott Stapp will sing the national anthem at NASCAR's Ford 400 race, the final race of the Nextel Cup Series, which takes place at the Homestead-Miami Speedway on Sunday. The race will be broadcast on NBC at 3 p.m. ET. Meanwhile, Stapp's first solo album, The Great Divide, will hit stores Tuesday. ... AC/DC's Angus Young has gotten his fair share of accolades, but he's probably never received an honor quite like this. The manic guitarist, who stands at 5 foot 2, tops Maxim's list of the "25 Greatest Short Dudes of All Time." For its December issue, the magazine is fighting back against women's "shallowness" when choosing a partner, boosting a host of praiseworthy shorties into the limelight. "The Daily Show" host Jon Stewart, director Martin Scorsese, NBA player Spud Webb, Prince and Kurt Cobain also claimed spots on the list, as did "Star Wars" Jedi master Yoda and "Lord of the Rings" hobbits Elijah Wood and Sean Astin. ...

Queens of the Stone Age's Josh Homme is getting busy with foul-mouthed electro-clash star Peaches. He's contributed a song to her new album, due this spring, and she's returning the favor by joining him at his Rancho De La Luna studio in Joshua Tree, California, for his next round of Desert Sessions, for which Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins is also supposed to tag along. Meanwhile, in addition to Homme, Peaches has snagged Eagles of Death Metal's Jesse Hughes, Joan Jett, and Imperial Teen's Will Schwartz for her third album, which she's working on in Los Angeles. ... Nine Inch Nails will close out their current North American tour with Queens of the Stone Age this weekend, and will then head to South America for a quick visit. After that, the group plans to return for three newly announced West Coast gigs: Santa Cruz, California, on December 6; San Luis Obispo, California, on December 7; and Reno, Nevada, December 8. ...

Tommy Boy Records is celebrating its 25th anniversary in style. The label is releasing a 12-CD retrospective called Hip-Hop Essentials 1979-1991, with the first four volumes in stores now, to be followed by the next four on January 24 and the final four on March 7. Among the artists on the set are the Beastie Boys, Run-DMC, LL Cool J, Ice-T, Grandmaster Flash, N.W.A, Salt-N-Pepa and Eric B. & Rakim. ... Can't make the John Mayer Trio show on Wednesday at the Bowery Ballroom in New York? Don't worry, you'll be able to hear it via Network LIVE, which is simulcasting the show on XM Satellite Radio and AOL at 9 p.m. ET. Try! John Mayer Trio Live in Concert, which was recorded throughout various venues during a six-week tour, is out Tuesday, featuring new songs and covers of Jimi Hendrix and Ray Charles classics. On the day of release, the band will play an in-store at New York's Tower Records in the East Village. ...

Gary Glitter, the '70s British rocker behind the ubiquitous sports anthem "Rock and Roll Part 2," is on the run from Vietnamese authorities. The Associated Press reports that police are searching for the 61-year-old singer to talk about his relationship with a 15-year-old Vietnamese girl they found staying in his home in the Southeast Asian country. If charged with sexual abuse, Glitter could face punishment as severe as the death penalty. In 1999, Glitter served a four-month prison sentence after thousands of pornographic photos of children were found on his personal computer. He still remains on Britain's sex-offender registry. ... The Cure plan on hitting the studio in January to begin work on a new album, according to a post written (in all CAPS) by frontman Robert Smith on the band's Web site. In the post, he writes that a host of Cure-related projects, including reissues of older albums like 1984's The Top and '87's Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me, has delayed work on the new album. "We will now not be in the studio 'for real' until January 2006, but we are still on course for a summer release, as it's all in the preparation," he wrote. ...

Motorola has plans to roll out two new versions of its iTunes-enabled Rokr cell phone next year. After the somewhat chilly reception the first phone received thanks to its limited music capacity and clunky design, the second generation of the phone will be sleeker and should allow users to tap download services besides iTunes. A more stylish phone is expected in the first quarter, followed by another one mid-year that will be able to download songs wirelessly, according to a Reuters report. ...