After helping anchor Coachella and Wango Tango, Kanye West has signed on for another big extravaganza: San Diego's Street Scene 2006. Slated for August 4-5, the 22nd installment of the fest will feature Snoop Dogg, Tool, Wu-Tang Clan, My Chemical Romance, Yellowcard, AFI, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Queens of the Stone Age, Bloc Party, She Wants Revenge, Sean Paul and tons more. Two-day passes can be bought starting Monday (May 22), while single-day tickets will go on sale in July. ...

Cam'ron shared some crew love at New York's Nokia Theatre early Sunday morning, coming onstage to support comic Katt Williams, who headlined a show that started a little past midnight. Williams' debut LP, It's Pimpin', Pimpin', drops on Cam's Diplomat Records later this year. ...

During an interview Friday with Los Angeles radio station KROQ, Guns N' Roses frontman Axl Rose discussed the run-in he had Thursday with fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger in New York. Rose said the altercation, inside the Plumm nightclub, started over a drink. "I moved his girlfriend's drink so it wouldn't spill," Rose explained, adding that Hilfiger then smacked his arm and told him to put the drink back. "He just kept smacking me," said Axl. "It was the most surreal thing, I think, that's ever happened to me in my life." Rose filled out a police complaint against the designer. Following the fracas, which took place at Rosario Dawson's birthday party, Guns N' Roses performed an acoustic set, and Axl dedicated the song "You're Crazy" to "My good friend Tommy Hilfiger" during the performance. ...

"Veronica Mars" star Kristen Bell and music legend Prince have won the annual World's Sexiest Vegetarians poll put on by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Natalie Portman, Anne Hathaway and Joaquin Phoenix were also in the running. ... Three 6 Mafia are performing live at WWE's "Friday Night Smackdown!" which will be taped Tuesday in Bakersfield, California, to air Friday on UPN. WWE: Wreckless Intent -- featuring "Some Bodies Gonna Get It," the Mafia's theme song for wrestler Mark Henry, along with tracks by Saliva, Silkk the Shocker and P.O.D. -- hits stores Tuesday. ...

The Arctic Monkeys will embark on their upcoming North American tour without bassist Andy Nicholson, who will miss the shows due to exhaustion. "Owing to fatigue following an intensive period of touring, Andy shall be taking a rest," the band's management said in a statement. Nick O'Malley will stand in for Nicholson on the tour, which begins in Vancouver, British Columbia, on May 27. Of course, the British press has interpreted the news to mean that Nicholson is out of the band, but a U.S. spokesperson for the Monkeys said Nicholson will rejoin them after the North American tour wraps. ...

Queen Latifah will be honored with the William "Jazz" Jones Brightest Star Award by the Boys & Girls Clubs of Newark at the organization's 18th annual Evening of the Stars on Monday (May 22) in New York. The gala, featuring Kenan Thompson and Miri Ben-Ari, recognizes contributions toward improving the quality of life of inner-city children and their families. John Sykes, president of network development for MTV Networks, will be presented with the 2006 Award for Caring, and one young person will receive the organization's Youth of the Year Award at the ceremony. ... Salma Hayek is hosting Wednesday's Colombia sin Minas concert, a special acoustic showcase featuring Juanes, Alejandro Sanz and Ana Gabriel. The benefit concert, held at Los Angeles' Gibson Amphitheatre, will raise money to aid children victimized by antipersonnel mines in Colombia. ...

Staind, Flyleaf, Nonpoint, Wicked Wisdom and Dope are among the bands confirmed for the JJO Band Camp 2006 festival, scheduled for August 6 at Willow Island in Madison, Wisconsin. More acts will be announced in the coming weeks. ...Primus and the Flaming Lips have been confirmed as the headliners for this year's Hedgpeth Festival, set to take place July 28 and July 29 in Twin Lakes, Wisconsin. Mike Patton's Peeping Tom, They Might Be Giants, the Kings of Leon, Blue October and Minus the Bear are also on the festival's bill. ... When it comes to Las Vegas entertainers, few can fill Wayne Newton's shoes, but Toni Braxton is going to give it a try. The singer will take over for Newton as the headliner at the Flamingo Las Vegas hotel and casino, she announced at a press conference Friday. "Toni Braxton: Revealed" kicks off August 3 and is set to run six nights per week through March 2007. ...

Chevelle have been forced to pull out of the first eight dates of their forthcoming tour with Nickelback and Hoobastank after bassist Dean Bernardini sustained an injury to his left hand. The canceled dates run from the tour's June 30 opener in Cincinnati though a July 26 stop set for Columbia, Maryland. The trek is scheduled to wrap up September 16 in Kansas City, Missouri. ... Me First and the Gimme Gimmes have been busy recording material for their forthcoming album. The band, featuring members of Foo Fighters, NOFX, Lagwagon, No Use for a Name and Swingin' Utters, has been working in the studio since April, putting its spin on songs written by Johnny Cash, the Dixie Chicks, Garth Brooks and Hank Williams, among others. There's no word yet on when the yet-untitled release will be in stores. ... Conan O'Brien will host the 58th annual Primetime Emmy Awards, which will air live August 27 from Los Angeles' Shrine Auditorium on NBC. Emmy nominations will be announced July 6. O'Brien previously hosted the ceremony in 2002. ...

Freddie and the Dreamers leader Freddie Garrity died Friday while hospitalized in Wales, The Associated Press reports. He was 69. Freddie and the Dreamers, a British band best known for the 1965 U.S. hit "I'm Telling You Now," sparked a loose-limbed dance called "The Freddie," inspired by Garrity's bouncy onstage moves. ... Longtime Grateful Dead crewmember Lawrence "Ramrod" Shurtliff died of lung cancer Tuesday, the AP reports. Guitarist Bob Weir called the 61-year-old, who served as president of the Dead's board of directors when the band incorporated in the 1970s, "our rock."

05.19.2006

Brandy has signed on to judge "America's Got Talent," a televised contest created by "American Idol" judge Simon Cowell, The Associated Press reports. David Hasselhoff and British newspaper editor/TV personality Piers Morgan will also be on the panel that decides the fates of aspiring entertainers vying for a $1 million prize. The series, set to debut June 21 on NBC, will be hosted by Regis Philbin. ... Staind will perform at the 90th running of the Indianapolis 500 as part of ABC's pre-race telecast, beginning at noon EST on May 28. A day earlier, the band will headline Indianapolis' annual X-103 May Day concert, which also features Three Days Grace and Flyleaf. ...

Stephen King has posted an angry rant aimed at ABC on his Web site. "Those of you who are familiar with the wonderful world of television may have noticed that 'Desperation' -- probably the best TV movie to be made from my work -- has been scheduled by ABC to run, not just against 'American Idol,' but against the 'American Idol' finals!" the author wrote. "Am I bitter? Hell, yes, I am bitter!" ... The name Nevaeh (pronounced "neh-VAY-ah") is proliferating faster than any baby name in more than 100 years -- and, according to The New York Times, it all stems from Sonny Sandoval of P.O.D., who appeared on MTV in 2000 with his baby daughter, whose name is "heaven spelled backwards," he explained. According to the paper, there were just eight newborn American girls named Nevaeh in 1999, and last year there were 4,457 -- the fastest climb among all names in more than a century, the entire period for which the Social Security Administration has such records. ... The Dillinger Escape Plan will issue an iTunes-exclusive EP on June 13. The release will feature new versions of "Unretrofied" and "The Perfect Design," along with four covers: Nine Inch Nails' "Wish," Massive Attack's "Angel," Soundgarden's "Jesus Christ Pose" and Justin Timberlake's "Like I Love You." ...

William Hung will be crowned this year's Artichoke King at the Castroville Artichoke Festival this weekend in Castroville, California. Marilyn Monroe was the first "Artichoke Queen" in 1947. ... They Might Be Giants are going to help creep up "Coraline," the stop-motion animation adaptation of "Sandman" writer Neil Gaiman's award-winning book. The band will provide songs to the film, while Dakota Fanning will lend her voice to the young girl who walks through a secret door in her new home and discovers an eerie alternate version of her life, complete with counterfeit parents and children sucked dry. Henry Selick ("James and the Giant Peach," "The Nightmare Before Christmas") will direct the film, which is due in 2007. ...

Warped Tour stalwarts and self-described "gypsy punks" Gogol Bordello will host a concert to benefit the Romani Jag Organization, a group that raises awareness about the struggle of Roma gypsies in Ukraine and, most recently, an increasing trend of anti-Roma police brutality. The event will be held June 9 at New York's Irving Plaza. ... Montreal stoner rockers Priestess haven't even released an album in the U.S., but that's not stopping them from heading out on tour this summer. Their debut, Hello Master, drops on June 13 and two days later the power rock quartet will hit Los Angeles' Spaceland for their tour opener. The trek wraps up July 12 in Philadelphia and will see the band on the road with the Bronx, Riverboat Gamblers and the Electric Six. ...

The Senate voted Thursday to approve a drastic hike in fines for television and radio stations that violate indecency rules. According to Reuters, the tenfold increase in fines per violation from $32,000 to $325,000 for airing profanity or sexually explicit material still pales in comparison to the bill passed by the House last year, which would push fines up to $500,000 per violation and require the Federal Communications Commission to consider revoking a station's license after three indecency violations. House and Senate leaders will now have to hash out a compromise before an increase becomes law.