Christina Aguilera is getting Back to Basics with her third album, and she's finally settled on a release date: August 15. Songs include "I Got Trouble," "Candy Man," "Save Me From Myself," "Nasty Naughty Boy," "Thank You" -- and in case you thought she wasn't, "Still Dirrty." "This is a concept album that follows a bold, set vision," Aguilera said. "The touchstones are Billie Holiday, Otis Redding, Etta James and Ella Fitzgerald ... what I used to call my 'fun music' when I was a little girl." The first single, "Ain't No Other Man," is out June 12, but Aguilera will world-premiere the song on the MTV Movie Awards, airing June 8 at 9 p.m. ET/PT. ...

Jennifer Lopez isn't touring overseas after all -- after pushing the dates back for later this month, the singer has canceled stops in Athens, Greece; Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Mumbai, India; Sofia, Bulgaria; and Istanbul, Turkey. For the Dubai event, 15,800 tickets had been sold, while more than 20,000 had been sold for the Sofia stop. Tour promoters are providing full refunds to ticket holders. ...

Snoop Dogg has taken responsibility for his role in the April 27 brawl at London's Heathrow Airport. On Thursday (May 11), Snoop appeared at a Heathrow police station and "accepted a caution for a Section Four Public Order Act matter, using threatening words or behavior," police told The Associated Press. A caution means a person accepts responsibility for their offense and a record is made but no further action is pursued. Snoop was one of five men charged with violent disorder and starting a brawl at Heathrow after members of his entourage were denied entry into British Airways' first-class lounge. British Airways has since banned Snoop from traveling on the airline. ... Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards has been discharged from a hospital in New Zealand following surgery to relieve pressure in his head, according to AP. The injury stemmed from his recent accident in Fiji. According to his publicist, Richards will remain in patient care at the Ascot Hospital in Auckland for an undisclosed period of time and will return for checkups. ...

Professional best-gal pal Cacee Cobb has called it quits. She gave notice to Jessica Simpson on April 26, prompting the singer to give her a send-off shindig at Arnie Morton's steakhouse in Los Angeles on Sunday, her last day on the job. Simpson toasted Cobb, telling her, "You are my best friend. I will be your best friend forever," Us Weekly reports. ... Carmen Electra -- who has been the subject of many a male fantasy -- becomes the object of a female one in Joan Jett's new video, "A.C.D.C." Shot Tuesday and Wednesday in New York, Electra and Jett play a would-be couple in the Greg Oliver-directed clip -- but Electra's character can't decide if she'd rather be with a man or woman. Le Tigre's Kathleen Hanna and actor Chuck Zito also have cameos in the video for "A.C.D.C.," the first single from Jett's June 6 release, Sinner. ...

Depeche Mode tabled their Thursday night show at the Allstate Arena in Chicago due to lead singer Dave Gahan's laryngitis. The band cut short its Wednesday performance in Kansas City, Missouri, for the same reason. Tickets for the Chicago gig will be refunded at point of purchase, as the group has not yet determined if it will make up the date. ... TV on the Radio have been added to the Sasquatch Festival lineup. The band will play the first day of the three-day shindig: Friday, May 26. ...

The Universal Music Group -- the world's largest record label -- has agreed to pay a $12 million penalty and stop the practice of trading cash and gifts for radio airplay in a settlement with New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer over allegations of payola. According to a statement from Spitzer's office, the company -- home to Island Def Jam, Interscope and many more imprints -- offered gifts including vacations, tickets to concerts and laptop computers to station employees to get airplay for songs by artists including Nick Lachey, Ashlee Simpson and Lindsay Lohan. The settlement calls for Universal to hire a compliance officer to monitor its promotional practices and put a system in place to stop future abuses. Previous payola settlements in Spitzer's ongoing probe have resulted in payments of $10 million by Sony BMG and $5 million by the Warner Music Group. ...

Fantasia will sing at the American Red Cross 125th Anniversary Gala on Thursday, performing the national anthem to kick off the event as well as her debut single, "I Believe," for an audience of Washington dignitaries, philanthropists and Red Cross leaders. The event -- a tribute to the aid organization and the employees, volunteers and partners who keep it running -- will be held at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. ... Melissa Etheridge and Aretha Franklin are among the musicians who will be presented with Honorary Doctor of Music Degrees at the prestigious Berklee College of Music on Saturday. Etheridge will also serve as the school's commencement speaker, addressing more than 800 graduates and their guests at Northeastern University's Matthews Arena. ...

Björk is getting the DualDisc box-set treatment June 27. Surrounded will include the Icelandic singer's six studio albums -- Debut, Post, Homogenic, Vespertine, Selmasongs and Medúlla -- plus the recent soundtrack for the "Drawing Restraint 9" film by her partner, Matthew Barney. The music will be remastered in 5.1 stereo and the box will also include additional video content. ... Japanese noisemakers the Boredoms are returning to U.S. shores this summer, but they will only make a handful of appearances. Their six-date jaunt kicks off with an appearance at the Intonation Music Festival in Chicago on June 24 and wraps up in New York with two free art shows at the New York Deitch Projects July 7 and 8. This fall, Vice Records will reissue five of the group's long out-of-print Super Roots discs from the early '90s. ...Stone Sour have found a permanent replacement for drummer Joel Ekman in Roy Mayorga, formerly of Soulfly and a recent touring member of Sepultura. "Aside from being a cool guy, Roy did one hell of a job playing on the [new] album, and we're looking forward to going on the road with him in a few weeks and seeing all of you as well," reads a statement on the band's Web site. Stone Sour's forthcoming sophomore outing, Come What(ever) May, is slated to hit stores August 22.

Slayer frontman Tom Araya underwent minor gallbladder surgery last week, according to the band's publicist. While Araya's doing fine and recuperating at home, the operation will end up delaying the launch of Slayer's Unholy Alliance Tour: Preaching to the Perverted -- featuring Lamb of God, Mastodon, Children of Bodom and Thine Eyes Bleed -- by four days. Originally set to kick off June 6 in San Diego, the tour will now commence June 10 in Peoria, Illinois. The tour's original first three dates have been postponed: the San Diego gig will take place July 20, the June 7 date in Las Vegas has been bumped to July 24, and the June 9 show in Denver has been pushed back to July 26. On June 6, Slayer will issue Eternal Pyre, a limited-edition EP that previews "Cult," a new song from the band's still-untitled LP, due to drop July 25. The EP, which will be available at Hot Topic locations, will also feature a live version of "Dead Skin Mask," exclusive behind-the-scenes footage of the making of the new album, and -- originally available only on 1995's now out-of-print "Live Intrusion" video -- a five-minute clip of the Slayer fan who carved the band's name into his forearm.

05.10.2006

Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie might not be speaking to each other these days, but they sure are speaking a lot about each other. While Paris told Out magazine that her song "Jealousy" isn't exactly about her former best friend, judging from the description she gave, it sure sounds like it is. "It's a song about any girl," Hilton told the magazine for its latest cover story. ([article id="1531375"]Don't miss pics from the spread right here.[/article]) "Any girl has a girlfriend that's jealous of you. It's the meanest, most evil thing that can take over you." As for Richie, Hilton said, "I brought her on ['The Simple Life'], and all of a sudden she became this different person. She dropped her old friends and now she's someone else. That's not the girl I know. That's similar to the lyrics in 'Jealousy.' " In the meantime, Richie told Vanity Fair she didn't drop her old friends because of any green-eyed monster. "When I got out of rehab, I had to figure out what path to go down, and part of that included taking certain people out of my life," she told the magazine, adding that one of those people was Paris. "I just decided I didn't want to be her friend anymore. We're just two completely different people; we don't have that much in common." As for rumors that she screened Paris' sex tape, Richie said, "A, I don't watch porn, and B, I don't want to see someone I've known forever having sex. I mean, that's gross!" ...

Now that Britney Spears has finally confirmed that she's pregnant, how does she feel about that controversial statue? "It's one of the most hysterical things I've ever seen in my life," the singer told the U.K. version of Glamour for the magazine's June cover story. "Me and my assistant Felicia were totally dumbfounded when we saw it. We couldn't believe somebody actually did this." So does that mean Spears would buy it? "No thanks," she said. "They can display it somewhere, but not in my beautiful home." Meanwhile, Spears said she's been writing music "at home in my sweatpants" and "meeting with different people to work on the album," including Sean Garrett (Jamie Foxx, Keyshia Cole) and Jonathan "J.R." Rotem (50 Cent, Destiny's Child). But she's also been reading scripts in search of her next acting venture. She said she'd love to play a superhero -- "maybe Supermom," whose powers would be telepathy and invisibility -- or do something with George Clooney, because he's "pretty cute. ... But don't tell my husband." ...

At this rate, 50 Cent might go an entire year without releasing an album. The rapper-turned-thespian has just signed on to star in his fourth movie, this one set within the street-racing scene. According to The Hollywood Reporter, 50 is attached to "Live Bet," a New York-set heist flick about underground betting clubs in Manhattan where wagers are placed on illegal car races. 50 will also produce the movie. ... Ashanti is getting evil. The singer has joined the cast of "Resident Evil: Extinction," the third film in the action series, which starts shooting Monday in Mexico. She will play the Nurse Betty character alongside Milla Jovovich's Alice and Mike Epps' L.J. Ashanti will next hit the big screen in the romantic comedy "John Tucker Must Die," due in theaters July 28. ...

Snoop Dogg headed back to London on Wednesday (May 10) to meet with police and find out whether or not he will be charged for the brawl that broke out at Heathrow Airport last month, according to The Associated Press. ... A Catholic high school in suburban Detroit is saying no-no to Ne-Yo. Students at Mercy High School won a recent radio-sponsored contest that was to bring the singer to the private school for a concert, but officials canceled the event after reviewing his In My Own Words debut and determining that those words were too objectionable. ...

Angels & Airwaves canceled their two-night stand at the Troubadour in Hollywood after frontman Tom DeLonge was advised by doctors to rest his voice. In a statement released by the band's management, A&A apologized for backing out of the gigs, which were scheduled for Wednesday and Friday, but said they were left with no other choice when DeLonge's vocal cords became infected. "After a few days of treatment, Tom should be back to his old self again, and the band will be ready for the KROQ Weenie Roast on Saturday." The band is offering fans who had tickets to the Troubadour shows the chance to trade them in for tix to A&A's upcoming tour with Taking Back Sunday. Exchange information will be made available at AngelsAndAirwaves.com in the next few days. ... In other cancellation news, Radiohead tabled a Wednesday show in Amsterdam -- just their fourth gig since emerging from a near two-year hiatus -- because of "a sudden family bereavement." According to a post on the band's blog, Dead Air Space, Radiohead are scrapping their performance at the Heineken Concert Hall, but are trying to reschedule the show for later this summer. "We are especially sorry to those people who have made a special effort to travel and see us play," the post read. "At least it's been a sunny day here, and there's no finer place in the sun than Amsterdam." ...

Want to hear AFI's forthcoming Decemberunderground weeks before its June 6 release date? Well, you can. The band has scheduled a bunch of listening parties, the first of which is scheduled to happen Wednesday night Chicago. Seven other shindigs have been booked: Thursday in Seattle, Toronto and Sacramento, California; Friday in Boston; Tuesday in Minneapolis; and May 17 in Detroit and Washington, D.C. ... Dates for Rancid's summer tour have been revealed. The punks will hit the road July 6 in Tempe, Arizona, and, seven gigs later, wrap up the jaunt in Atlanta on July 25. The band will be touring in support of its yet-untitled DVD, which should be in stores in late July. ... Teddy Geiger and Lionel Richie performed Tuesday at New York's Gotham Hall for a Candies Foundation event designed to raise awareness about teen pregnancy. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, Seventeen Editor-in-Chief Atoosa Rubenstein and CNN anchor Paula Zahn were honored for educating youth about the consequences of teen pregnancy. ...

She Wants Revenge, Stars and the Stills are among the indie-riffic acts confirmed for the sixth annual Village Voice Siren Fest, to be held July 15 at Coney Island in New York. Other buzz bands on the bill include Art Brut, Tapes 'N Tapes and Dirty on Purpose. More acts are expected to be announced in the coming weeks, and like always, the Siren Fest is totally free. ... And speaking of the Stills, while the Montreal rockers are in the middle of a Canadian tour, they've announced a monthlong U.S. trek with Bay Area indie-pop outfit Rogue Wave beginning June 2 in Hoboken, New Jersey. The tour wraps up June 25 at the Desdemona Festival in Cincinnati. ...

U.K. disco-pop singer Goldfrapp is finally hitting U.S. shores in support of Supernature, which was released overseas last year but came out in North America in March. The brief tour -- which kicked off Monday in San Francisco -- will find the singer opening for Depeche Mode in New York on Saturday and performing on "The Late Show With David Letterman" on May 17. A full U.S. tour will follow in the fall. ... Even though former MC5 member Michael Davis is still in the hospital after getting into a motorcycle accident May 8, he's expected to make a full recovery. According to his wife and manager, Angela Davis, the bassist was driving his Harley Davidson on a Los Angeles freeway and couldn't steer clear of a massive muffler that had fallen off one of the vehicles in front of him. Davis suffered a fractured spine, bruised ribs and several abrasions. ...

Eccentric spiritual musical collective -- and Sufjan Stevens pals -- Danielson will launch a massive North American tour in support of their new album, Ships, and the documentary film "Danielson: A Family Movie," currently playing film festivals to critical acclaim. The band will be supported on the 45-date trek by various artists, including Saturday Looks Good to Me, Oneida and Goblin Cock. ... Nancy Sinatra -- who reached #1 with "These Boots Are Made For Walkin' " 29 years before Jessica Simpson put her spin on the tune -- will receive the Hollywood Walk of Fame's 2,312th star Thursday. The ceremony, featuring guest speakers including her brother, Frank Sinatra Jr., will be held in front of the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.