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Lily Allen Nixes VMA Appearance; Plus Yung Joc, Jordin Sparks, Paris Hilton, Jamie Foxx, Jack White, NIN & More, In 'For The Record'

Joc launches aspiring-music-mogul contest; 'Idol' winner plans debut; Hilton's clothing-line launch causes frenzy.

Lily Allen has been forced to postpone six West Coast tour dates, as well as her previously announced appearance at this year's MTV Video Music Awards on September 9, as her work visa has been revoked. Allen's publicist said in a press release that authorities revoked the visa earlier this month when Allen was entering the U.S., and that because the reinstatement process is taking longer than expected, she won't be able to launch her tour September 6 in San Diego. There's no word yet on when the concerts -- which were set to take place in San Francisco, Las Vegas and Seattle, among other cities -- might be rescheduled. "I am so disappointed that I won't be able to come to the States at this time," Allen said in the press release. "I was really looking forward to playing these shows and being part of the Video Music Awards. I want my fans to know that I'll be back as soon as I possibly can." ...

Yung Joc has partnered with Rockport to launch the "Roc With Joc" contest, a multi-city talent search for the next aspiring music mogul. The search kicked off Thursday in Detroit and will make stops in New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Atlanta, where contestants can call into radio stations to list their various skills. The Bad Boy rapper will then bring the finalists to the album-release party for his August 28 LP, Hustlenomics, after which the winner will hit the road with Joc to put their talents to the test. ...

Jordin Sparks has signed to -- what else? -- 19 Recordings/ Jive Records, the label run by "American Idol" creator Simon Fuller. Her lead single "Tattoo" -- produced by Stargate (Beyoncé and Ne-Yo) and co-written with Amanda Ghost (James Blunt's "Beautiful," Beyoncé and Shakira's "Beautiful Liar") -- will hit radio August 27, while her yet-untitled debut is set to street in November. ... Paris Hilton had another encounter of sorts with police on Thursday when she launched her new clothing line at Kitson, a Los Angeles boutique. The store was mobbed -- cops and city workers were called to manage the crowd, and a traffic lane had to be shut down. ...

Jamie Foxx will portray another musician on the big screen -- but this time, it's probably not someone you've heard of. In "The Soloist," which is based on a 12-part Los Angeles Times series, the actor will play a homeless schizophrenic who dreamed about playing at Los Angeles' Walt Disney Concert Hall. "Atonement" director Joe Wright and "Ghost Rider" producer Gary Foster are also on board for the DreamWorks flick. ... A video clip of Jack White playing a kung-fu Elvis Presley in the upcoming flick "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story" is making the rounds online. The comedy, co-written by Judd Apatow, will also star John C. Reilly and Jenna Fischer. ...

Nine Inch Nails have surreptitiously revealed on their Web site that a Year Zero remix album, Y34R Z3R0 R3M1X3D, is in the works. ... Beck has pumped out a new track, "Timebomb," his first new material since October's The Information. The song will be available exclusively on iTunes on Tuesday, then be made available to other digital outlets starting a week later. Interestingly, the single is not preceding an album -- Beck doesn't have any LP plans at the moment. ... Flea joined Patti Smith onstage for a free outdoor concert at the Santa Monica Pier in Santa Monica, California, on Thursday night. Playing to a massive crowd that virtually spilled over into the Pacific Ocean, the Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist helped Smith burn through "Gloria," "Pissing in a River" and the show-closing "People Have the Power," as well as covers of the Rolling Stones' "Gimme Shelter," Elvis Presley's "Love Me" and Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit." ...

After an investigation, what authorities originally thought was a sexual assault on a 15-year-old girl by a male college student during Tuesday's Dave Matthews Band concert at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center in Saratoga Springs, New York, has taken a bizarre turn. According to Albany TV station WNYT, the unidentified girl actually had consensual sexual contact with a 15-year-old male in the woods at the venue, and authorities said she was drunk at the time on alcohol provided by the mother of one of her friends. The woman, Lisa Vedder, reportedly bought a bottle of vodka on the way to the venue and provided it, in sports bottles, to her daughter and several friends. Vedder, 42, has been charged with three counts of unlawfully dealing with a child and could face additional charges of endangering the welfare of a child for providing the alcohol to her daughter. ...

Police are investigating the "suspicious" deaths of two men who attended Thursday's Ozzfest stop at the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, New Jersey. According to New Jersey State Police Captain Al Della Fave, paramedics were summoned to the venue at 3:15 p.m. to treat Raymond Guarino, 26, of Forked River, who went into cardiac arrest. Guarino was resuscitated on site and then transported to nearby Bayshore Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 11:25 p.m. Police, who searched his vehicle and found small amounts of cocaine and marijuana, have received information that Guarino ingested both drugs, as well as alcohol, during the concert. An autopsy is being performed, but it could be up to six weeks before toxicology results come in. Police believe that another concertgoer -- Patrick Norris, 24, of Coram, New York -- who died at the same hospital at 10 p.m., had also ingested the same combination of drugs and suffered cardiac arrest. Meanwhile, police arrested 83 people during Ozzfest's Thursday stop. Fifty-nine were charged with underage drinking, while 30 others were booked on a variety of charges. ...

Kid Rock's onetime DJ Uncle Kracker was arrested Friday morning (August 17) in Raleigh, North Carolina, and charged with a second-degree forcible-sex offense, The Associated Press reports. According to police spokesman Jim Sughrue, a 26-year-old woman complained that a man had committed an unwanted sexual act against her at the Ess Lounge, a downtown nightclub. Kracker, 33, whose real name is Matthew Shafer, was arrested at a nearby hotel and is being held at the Wake County Jail on a $5 million bond. There are no additional details regarding the arrest, and Kracker is due to appear in court Friday afternoon. ...

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Larry Fidler admonished Phil Spector's defense attorneys on Thursday, saying they made a "deliberate and egregious" violation of discovery rules pertaining to forensics expert Dr. Michael Baden's testimony. Without the jury present, Fidler said he would give an instruction to jurors at the end of the case to make sure they knew what happened.

08.16.07

Allure magazine didn't get its scheduled interview with Britney Spears, but it did complete its photo shoot, which features the star topless. ([article id="1567329"]Check out excerpts right here[/article].) The accompanying article is an amusing meditation on Britney's past, Dick Cheney (!) and the writer's experiences waiting for the interview to happen. For more, check out allure.com/go/britney. ...

Always bank on Jay-Z: The hip-hop mogul has topped Forbes.com's list of "Hip-Hop Cash Kings" after earning an estimated $34 million in 2006. 50 Cent ranks second with an estimated $32 million, and is followed by Diddy ($28 million), Timbaland ($21 million), Dr. Dre ($20 million), Eminem ($18 million), Snoop Dogg, Kanye West ($17 million), Pharrell ($17 million), Scott Storch ($17 million), Ludacris ($16 million), T.I. ($16 million), Outkast ($14 million), Lil Jon ($14 million), Ice Cube ($13 million), Jermaine Dupri ($12 million), Swizz Beatz ($12 million), Chamillionaire ($11 million), Game ($11 million) and Yung Joc ($10 million). ...

Joel Madden was caught in an interesting predicament on "Live! With Regis and Kelly" on Thursday morning (August 16) when Philbin let a little secret slip: the Good Charlotte frontman has a "surprise" for girlfriend Nicole Richie. "You're going to present her, maybe, with -- did I hear the right thing, or should I not even talk about this?" Philbin said on the program, to which Madden, who was appearing on the show with his band, coyly replied, "Uh, what?" After Philbin clarified by saying, "A little ring or something," Madden answered, "I was hoping it would be a surprise, but now. ..." Philbin tried to change the subject after that, turning to Joel's brother Benji and asking who he is dating. Nicole is four and a half months pregnant with her and Joel's child. ...

A judge is allowing the four parties who are suing Brandy over the fatal multi-car crash she was involved in late last year to combine their civil-court cases, TMZ.com reports. The trial will start January 28. ...

Rock the Bells just got a little quieter. The show that was slated for Sunday at Sacramento, California's Sleep Train Amphitheatre -- but wasn't set to feature Nas, Rage Against the Machine and the Roots, among others -- has been scrapped due to poor ticket sales, The Sacramento Bee reports. The Saturday gig at San Francisco's McCovey Cove parking lot is still a go, and promoters just released 5,000 more tickets for the show. ...

Mike Jones, OK Go and the Rapture are getting a kick out of "MLS Represent," a new Major League Soccer/ Adidas campaign that is asking artists to come up with theme songs for MLS teams. The Polyphonic Spree, Meg & Dia, Barenaked Ladies, Kinky and Bad Brains are also involved in the effort, the results of which can be heard here. ... Elvis Costello covering Christina Aguilera? Why not? The esteemed singer/songwriter has contributed a rendition of Xtina's "Beautiful" to the "House" soundtrack, due September 18. ...

Serj Tankian recently debuted his new solo track "The Unthinking Majority" and accompanying video on his Web page, and now his System of a Down pals Daron Malakian and John Dolmayan are following suit by getting their Scars of Tomorrow project rolling. "Accompanied by some great musicians, we are preparing to go into the studio really soon to record our debut album," Malakian wrote in a post on the band's just-launched MySpace page. ...

Blaqk Audio are setting out to prove that CexCells on the road. AFI's Davey Havok and Jade Puget will bring their recently released project to the masses with 13 North American dates starting August 30 in San Francisco and ending September 27 in Los Angeles. And in the event that you're in Southern California this week, the group will sign copies of its debut LP at Best Buy stores in West Hollywood and Oceanside on Friday and Saturday, respectively. ...

Seether have canceled two upcoming concerts -- in Idaho Springs, Idaho (Saturday), and Southaven, Mississippi (August 24) -- after frontman Shaun Morgan's brother Eugene passed away Monday. In a MySpace post, the band said Morgan's brother "was an awesome human being, the type of person you want to be around. He never failed to put a smile on the face of all who he met and left a lasting impression on all whose lives he touched." ...

A new Pearl Jam release? No way. The band got together with famed photographer and rock-doc director Danny Clinch for "Immagine in Cornice (Picture in a Frame)," a film that provides highlights of five concerts Eddie Vedder and the gang played in Italy last year. The flick also follows PJ as they travel through the country, and includes interviews and more. Fans who preorder the DVD on the band's site during a pre-sale on August 22 will get a bonus limited-edition tee. ...

Violent Femmes have a new blister to pick at: Founding bassist Brian Ritchie has sued Gordon Gano, claiming the singer wrecked the band's reputation by allowing its best-known song, "Blister in the Sun," to be used in a Wendy's commercial. Ritchie also alleges that he wasn't given credit for, and proper account of, some of the band's songs. Gano told The Associated Press that the suit was "a complete surprise. ... We just played a really, really good tour [in South Africa]." Ritchie is seeking unspecified damages, a ruling that would declare him to be half-owner of the Femmes' catalog, and an accounting of royalties. ...

Bruce Springsteen will release his first album in five years with the E Street Band on October 2. The 11-song Magic was produced by Brendan O'Brien (Velvet Revolver, Red Hot Chili Peppers), and features "Radio Nowhere," "You'll Be Comin' Down," "Livin' in the Future," "Your Own Worst Enemy," "Gypsy Biker" and "Girls in Their Summer Clothes." ... Eric Clapton dropped $120,000 this week for 12 paintings by graffiti artist Lee Quinones, RollingStone.com reports. Each painting portrays the artist shoplifting a different '70s album, from James Brown's Sex Machine to Isley Brothers' Get Into Something. ...

And the remakes keep coming: "The Shield" producer Kurt Sutter will write and direct a new take on Bruce Lee's landmark martial-arts flick "Enter the Dragon," to be called "Awaken the Dragon." The cast and shooting schedule have yet to be revealed. ... Phil Spector murder-trial defense witness Dr. Michael Baden's credibility was called into question on Wednesday when prosecutors scrutinized the fact that the forensics expert is married to defense attorney Linda Kenney Baden. ...

Legendary jazz drummer and bebop founder Max Roach died Wednesday night in New York. Roach, considered to be one of the greatest jazz drummers of all time, worked with everyone from Duke Ellington and Sonny Rollins to Miles Davis and Charles Mingus.

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