Lindsay Lohan is ready to "milk" her 21st birthday for all it's worth. According to The Associated Press, the singer/actress said Wednesday (May 2) on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" that she plans to party in Las Vegas and have a dinner in Malibu, California, with family and friends for her birthday, which falls on July 2. The birthday has "been a long time coming" for friends who own L.A. clubs, said Lohan, who also revealed a white tattoo of the word "breathe" on one of her wrists. "I forget to breathe sometimes," she said. ...

Looks like Mikey Way's brief hiatus from My Chemical Romance couldn't have been better timed. The band and tourmates Muse were forced to cancel several dates after members of both groups were struck with serious food poisoning. The trek came to a stop on Sunday when the musicians "became violently ill after the show at William and Mary College in Williamsburg, Virginia," according to a statement issued by both bands. With the sick scattered throughout area hospitals, the bands nixed Sunday night's gig in State College, Pennsylvania, and postponed Tuesday night's show in Columbus, Ohio, to Wednesday night "provided everyone has recovered." The bands were previously scheduled to play in Pittsburgh on Wednesday; that show has been canceled. Both bands "would like their fans to know that they hope to resume the tour as soon as possible," the statement concluded. ...

Beyoncé is the first non-Hispanic honoree to make People en Español's "Most Beautiful" list. The singer -- who included six Spanish-language songs on her B'Day - Deluxe Edition, -- is featured on the cover of the magazine's June "Los 50 Más Bellos" issue, alongside Mexican actress Angélica Vale, Puerto Rican actress Adamari López and Mexican singer Alejandro Fernández. Jennifer Lopez, Ricky Martin, Salma Hayek, Penélope Cruz and "Ugly Betty" star America Ferrera also made the cut. ...

Looks like the Beastie Boys don't have all that much to say right now, even though they have a new album dropping June 26. The Mix-Up will be the band's first all-instrumental album and won't feature any samples or scratches, either. Among its 12 tracks are "Electric Worm," "The Kangaroo Rat" and "Dramastically Different." ...

Ciara is pretty excited for the 2008 election, she told Rap-Up in an interview in the magazine's May/June issue. "This will be my first time voting," the 21-year-old singer said. "Hopefully I can contribute to something that will better our country. I'm going to be very serious about who I'm picking." What about a woman president? " I'm for a great president," she said. "Man or woman. ... I feel a woman is capable of what a man is capable of doing." ...

No, you're not seeing things: Blur are getting back together this summer with founding guitarist Graham Coxon to create a new album, bassist Alex James has confirmed to Dotmusic. "We're gonna see if we've still got it," said James, who releases his "Bit of a Blur" autobiography in June. "If not, I think we'll just call it a day." Coxon split from the band during the recording of 2003's Think Tank ...

Melanie Brown -- a.k.a. Spice Girl Mel B. -- is taking Eddie Murphy to court to force him to take a paternity test, she said in an interview with "Access Hollywood" on Tuesday. The singer claims Murphy fathered her newborn daughter, Angel Iris Murphy Brown. "He won't do a DNA test and he won't sign the birth certificate, so now we're having to go through lawyers because he won't do either," she said of Murphy. ... Joan Baez isn't welcome at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., The Washington Post reports. The folk singer says she accepted John Mellencamp's invitation to perform with him Friday but the offer was subsequently disapproved by Army officials. Baez is a prominent anti-war activist. ...

GZA will perform his 1995 hip-hop masterpiece, Liquid Swords, in its entirety at Chicago's Pitchfork Music Festival on July 13 as part of the ongoing Don't Look Back concert series. Girls Against Boys are also joining the action -- they're slated to perform 1993's Venus Luxure No 1 Baby July 20 at New York's Bowery Ballroom. ... John Legend will be in the Crescent City on Saturday to perform at New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival -- and he'll also make an appearance at the Tide CleanStart mobile laundromat, a truck that provides free laundry services to families in need in St. Bernard Parish. Tide will be selling T-shirts to benefit the St. Bernard Project, a nonprofit organization aiding families in the area, which was hit hard by Hurricane Katrina. For more information on the fundraising effort, visit TideCleanStart.com ... Is John Legend the next John Mayer? Apparently so, according to the Songwriters Hall of Fame, which is honoring him with the Hal David Starlight Award at a dinner to be held June 7 at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York. The award was created in 2004, and previous recipients include Mayer, Alicia Keys and Rob Thomas. ...

Mastodon and Against Me! got their tour off to a roaring start Tuesday night at Los Angeles' Wiltern LG. Against Me! gave a rousing set, with the bandmembers flinging a seemingly limitless supply of spit across the stage and frontman Tom Gabel wishing everyone a happy May Day. The punks in attendance streamed out after that band's performance, but the metalheads stayed for Mastodon's challenging set of prog-metal mayhem. The head-scratching bill -- rounded out by spiffily dressed indie squad Cursive and Denver experimental noise-rockers Planes Mistaken for Stars -- hits San Francisco's Warfield Wednesday night. ...

Zakk Wylde will perform "In This River," his tribute to "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott, at the RockWalk induction honoring the late Pantera/Damageplan guitarist. The ceremony will be held May 17 in Hollywood. ... The Black Dahlia Murder have set Nocturnal as the title of their forthcoming album, which is expected to hit stores later this year. ... Social Distortion will release a best-of collection simply called Greatest Hits on June 26. The set will feature 10 tracks, including a new one, "Far Behind." Look for the CD to also feature "Ball and Chain," "Ring of Fire" and "I Was Wrong." ...

Tori Amos performed at the Spotlight Live in New York on Monday night during a listening party to celebrate the release of American Doll Posse. Eighty lucky fans gathered at the club -- which even had a drink named after Tori. Those who didn't make the performance haven't missed out completely. Sirius Satellite Radio will broadcast the show on the Spectrum channel Friday at 11 p.m. with repeats Saturday at 8 a.m. and Sunday at midnight. ... Can't wait for the new Polyphonic Spree album The Fragile Army? Check out the band's eight-minute mash-up of the whole shebang right here. The 11-track LP is due June 19 and will be preceded by a six-date tour starting May 7 in Nashville and ending May 14 in Athens, Georgia. ... "American Idol" veteran Constantine Maroulis' role on the CBS soap "The Bold and the Beautiful" will begin airing May 15. Maroulis is playing a music producer named Constantine -- what a coincidence -- and will perform songs from his solo debut over the next several months on the daytime drama.

05.01.2007

R. Kelly is stepping up to help Virginia Tech heal. The R&B singer has penned a new track, "Rise Up," about recovering after the April 16 shootings, The Associated Press reports. The inspirational ballad, which will be available digitally May 15, features the lyrics "Rise up, when you feel you can't go on, rise up, and all of your hope is gone, rise up, when you're weak and you can't be strong." All proceeds from sales will go to the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund, which was created to aid the families of the victims. ...

Pete Wentz, Ashlee Simpson and Jay-Z -- plus almost everyone associated in any way with Fall Out Boy -- descended upon New York's East Village on Monday night to celebrate the opening of Angels & Kings, the new bar co-owned by Wentz and members of Gym Class Heroes, the Academy Is ... and Cobra Starship (FOB's labelmates Panic! at the Disco wanted to invest too, according to their management, but they weren't old enough to legally own part of a bar). Pete, Ashlee and Jay held court at a corner table, while GCH's Travis McCoy spun a hip-hop-heavy set and TAI frontman William Beckett chatted up Cobra Starship's Gabe Saporta at the bar. A good time was had by all ... save the residents of the apartments above A&K, who showered the paparazzi assembled outside with buckets of water -- and "Sopranos" star James Gandolfini, who attempted to parallel-park his SUV out front only to get blinded by a flashbulb, give the offending paparazzo the finger and drive away. Good times, indeed. (See Jay-Z and Ashlee at the Angels & Kings opening, and find out why other musicians are in on the venture, right here.) ...

Wilmer Valderrama, meet Simon Cowell? While the actor probably won't be competing on "American Idol" anytime soon, he has hooked up with the show's producers for new series projects, The Associated Press reports. The "first-look" deal includes scripted and reality shows, and Valderrama may wind up with a starring role in addition to developing them. FremantleMedia North America and the actor's WV Enterprises will soon set up offices in Burbank, California. ...

Bruce Willis hosted a screening for "The Hip-Hop Project," which he helped executive produce, Monday night at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York. Busta Rhymes, Q-Tip, Ice-T, Fonzworth Bentley and the Reverend Al Sharpton attended the star-studded event. ...

Larry Birkhead and Danielynn, his daughter with Anna Nicole Smith, left the Bahamas and arrived in his home state of Kentucky on Tuesday (May 1), AP reports. "It just feels good to be home," Birkhead said after stepping off a private plane. ... Testimony in the Phil Spector trial is now postponed until next week due to defense attorney Bruce Cutler's illness, Reuters reports. ...

Bono pushed lawmakers on Tuesday to expand basic education across the globe, AP reports. "I can't vote for any of them, but I'm thankful for what they're doing," the U2 frontman said via a conference call with Senator Hillary Clinton and other members of Congress in Washington, D.C. "This is why I'm a fan -- and an annoying fan at times -- of America." Bono and the lawmakers are trying to revive long-dormant legislation that would add $10 billion to an international fund providing education to children in Africa and elsewhere. ... Steven Spielberg, Michael Douglas, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and other stars and politicians honored Jack Valenti on Tuesday at the Cathedral of Saint Matthew the Apostle in Washington, D.C., AP reports. The legendary movie-industry lobbyist died Thursday. ...

Kanye West, Chris Brown and DJ Clue were among the celebs who turned out Monday night to help Ne-Yo celebrate the release of his album with a party in the Marc Ecko showroom in New York. ... LL Cool J popped into New York's Pacha over the weekend and surprised partygoers at a T-Mobile/Samsung event, performing "Control Myself" for the shocked crowd. ... Big Boi is teaming up with the Atlanta Ballet -- and he'll be performing onstage with the dance troupe, according to a report in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The Outkast rapper and his Purple Ribbon Entertainment artists will collaborate with choreographer Lauri Stallings for a performance that will begin its run in April 2008. ... "High School Musical 2" is set to air August 17 on the Disney Channel, AP reports. ... More release-date news: Snoop Dogg's "Hood of Horror" hits theaters Friday. ...

Blaqk Audio, the electronic side project of AFI frontman Davey Havok and guitarist Jade Puget, have started mixing their forthcoming debut album with producer Dave Bascombe (Depeche Mode, Tears for Fears). Although there's no official release date for the disc, Havok says fans can look for it this summer. "I'd expect the album to be available somewhere between the beginning of July and the end of August," he wrote in a MySpace post. "That's my guess." ...

Hinder, Papa Roach and Buckcherry are teaming up for this summer's Badboys of Rock Tour, which will kick off July 13 in Lansing, Michigan, and run through mid-September. Only a handful of dates have been confirmed, including stops in Dubuque, Iowa (July 18); Lima, Ohio (August 19); and York, Pennsylvania (September 12). ... Underoath, Norma Jean, Maylene and the Sons of Disaster and the Glass Ocean will hit the road this month under the Dirty South Tour banner. The trek launches May 13 in North Jacksonville, Florida, and will hit Southern cities including Columbia, South Carolina (May 14); Louisville, Kentucky (May 17); and Nashville (May 18-19). As I Lay Dying will join the lineup for two shows in Atlanta (May 15-16). The tour is scheduled to wrap up May 23 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. ...

Kali Bowyer, who has claimed Chris Rock is the father of her 13-year-old son, says she wants a DNA test because she's not positive who the dad is, AP reports. Rock has said he is willing to take one, according to Bowyer, and last month the actor asked Georgia's Bulloch County Superior Court to start paternity proceedings to determine the father. Bowyer filed court papers in March, claiming Rock is the dad. ... Nearly a year after a woman was assaulted while leaving an Ozzfest show in Tinley Park, Illinois, a man has been arrested in connection with the attack. Police arrested Patrick Miller, 33, on Friday and charged him with one count of criminal sexual assault after police linked him to the crime using DNA evidence, according to the Daily Southtown newspaper's Web site. Bail was set at $35,000 for Miller, who is accused of sexually assaulting a 20-year-old woman in the parking lot of the First Midwest Amphitheater on July 16. ...

Boy George was arrested and released on bail after a 28-year-old man accused him of false imprisonment and assault in an incident that took place early Saturday in London, Reuters reports. The former Culture Club frontman is due to return for further questioning in July. ... The Explosion have imploded. The band announced its decision to disband on Monday but offered no reasons for the move. The Explosion's final LP, Bury Me Standing, has not yet been released. The band was among those dropped during Capitol's recent merger with Virgin Records. ... Tom Poston, who played a clueless everyman on "Newhart" and "Mork and Mindy," has died, AP reports. He was 85.