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Britney Spears Reportedly Goes Partying; Plus Justin Timberlake, Kanye West, Amy Winehouse, Ashlee Simpson, Game & More, In 'For The Record'

JT says he hasn't spoken with Brit in years; West, Winehouse score MOBO Awards; Simpson talks new LP.

So a judge orders Britney Spears to submit to random drug tests and abstain from alcohol, and what does she apparently do next? Goes partying! The singer reportedly went clubbing into the wee hours Tuesday night in West Hollywood, California, hitting both Winston's Bar & Grill and the Hyde Lounge -- with a flurry of paparazzi on her tail, of course. Observers told People magazine that the singer was brought shots at Hyde, though it's unclear whether she actually drank them. Meanwhile, Spears has changed legal counsel again. On Monday, her divorce attorney Laura Wasser had stepped down to be replaced by Marci Levine, and on Wednesday (September 19), Levine prepared to step down to be replaced by Sorrell Trope. Trope's office told MTV News on Wednesday that the firm was in the process of being retained by Spears and anticipated that the necessary paperwork would be signed and taken care of by the end of the day. ..

In other Britney news, Justin Timberlake talked a bit about the singer Wednesday on "Oprah." When asked what he thinks is "going on" with her, Timberlake said, "I don't know, to be honest with you. I haven't spoken to her in years. I mean, there's no ill will -- I have nothing but love for her. It's funny because we dated each other at a time ... wow, I haven't talked about this in a long time. It's interesting. ... We were teenagers, you know? I think that's basically the best way to describe what happened to us. I think she's a great person, and I don't know her as well as I did. ... What I do know about her is she has a huge heart, and she is a great person." ...

Talk about adding insult to injury. After pounding 50 Cent [article id="1570001"]in the first week of their album showdown,[/article] Kanye West has bested his rival a second time by clinching the Music of Black Origin Award for Best Hip-Hop artist. Amy Winehouse scored the Best UK Female prize, surprisingly, while Rihanna nabbed Best International Act honors, and Ne-Yo's "Because of You" earned Best R&B Title and Best Song. ...

If you caught Ashlee Simpson giving her yet-untitled album [article id="1569231"]a test-drive at the VMAs earlier this month,[/article] you probably noticed the Cure's Robert Smith didn't make it onto the LP. In July, Smith voiced doubt about the supposed collabo taking place, and while Simpson told MTV News during her "Chicago" run in London late last year that "to work with Robert Smith would be an honor," she recently told Rolling Stone, "I am a huge fan, but would never expect to write with Robert Smith from the Cure." Boyfriend Pete Wentz also doesn't appear on the November disc -- "We both keep our music separate from each other," she told Rolling Stone -- however Timbaland, the Neptunes, Kenna and Gym Class Heroes' Travis McCoy did make the cut. ...

Game better be game to take on a new lawsuit -- an Indian music-and-film company is suing him and Timbaland over "Put You on the Game." The song was featured on the Compton, California, rapper's Aftermath debut, The Documentary, and produced by Timbaland. According to documents obtained by MTV News, Saregama India -- which filed a similar copyright-infringement suit in 2002 against then-Aftermath artist Truth Hurts -- claims the duo used the song without its permission and also cites a number of additional parties, including Aftermath Entertainment, G-Unit Records and producer Danjahandz, who co-produced the track. The company is suing for a yet-undetermined sum. ... But everything isn't so dire these days for Timbo -- the super-producer is soaping up for a scheduled appearance on an upcoming episode of "One Life to Live" scheduled to air October 9. He will perform two songs from his recent Shock Value LP, with the artists who accompanied him on the studio tracks: "The Way I Are" with Keri Hilson and "Apologize" with One Republic. ...

Let's set one thing straight: Chris Brown does not dislike Ciara, even though he's quoted as saying "I don't want Ciara" in the current issue of Vibe. "I didn't say I didn't like her," the singer recently told MTV News. "They mixed it around. Ciara, you know you're my homie." The article states that Brown's face "curls up as if he'd just noticed a foul odor" when the topic of Ciara is broached. "They made it seem totally bogus," he explained. "I don't have any grudges. I'm not a negative person. And I don't have a certain type. I don't care if you're a model or if you work at a gas station. Everyone's human. Everyone's a loving human being. And everyone has a chance with me." ... The New York Times loves Justin Timberlake's Southern Hospitality -- the "SexyBack" singer's baby-back ribs in particular. "The most confounding thing about Southern Hospitality is those baby back ribs. Because they are, against tall odds, good," Peter Meehan wrote in his review, which was published Wednesday. "They are juicy but not fatty, seasoned simply and evenly and scented with a strong but not overpowering hit of smoke." ...

Australian Web site Undercover has reported that Rage Against the Machine are tipped to be one of the headliners of the upcoming Big Day Out festival. Though organizers haven't yet announced the lineup of the January shows, the group has reportedly booked gigs in Sydney and Melbourne on January 22 and 30, respectively, which closely coincide with BDO shows in those cities. ... The Foo Fighters will serve as the musical guest on "Saturday Night Live" on October 13, little more than two weeks after the band's Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace lands in stores. ...

Mya is stepping up for a good cause: The singer will perform at Skool'd, a benefit event to be hosted by Richie Rich on Wednesday night at Sol in New York. Eve DJ Miss Saigon and Le Tigre's JD Samson will spin at the benefit, the proceeds from which will go to the Ali Forney Center and the Reciprocity Foundation -- organizations that assist lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender homeless youth in New York. Later Wednesday evening, she will host a party celebrating the launch of travel and lifestyle magazine Terrace at New York's Pink Elephant. ... A number of hip-hop and R&B acts have signed on to play a September 29 concert in support of the Jena Six, the black teens charged in connection with the beating of a white teen in Jena, Louisiana. Among the acts scheduled to play the Jena 6 Empowerment Concert at Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex in Birmingham, Alabama, according to the event's promoter, are Lloyd, Baby Boy, Twista, Jagged Edge, Tank, Killer Mike, Disturbing Tha Peace's Small World, B5, LAX Boys and Hurricane Chris. ...

Prince gave London Fashion Week the royal treatment on Wednesday when he delivered an unannounced performance during Matthew Williamson's catwalk show, Reuters reports. Once Prince's "U Got the Look" song reportedly began playing at the show, two models started dancing on the runway -- after which the singer, who was sitting in the front row, started singing into a microphone from his seat. Prince them hopped on the runway and was joined by his band for the performance. "He really wanted to do this, and you don't say no to Prince," Williamson told the news service after the show. ... Bo Bice has seen the light, and it's Wal-Mart. The former "American Idol" finalist is planning to release his new album, See the Light, through the retail giant on October 23, with a presale on Walmart.com taking place beforehand. Wal-Mart will be the only terrestrial store carrying the disc, although it will be available through other online outlets. Bice, who parted ways with RCA last year, is putting out his second album through Sugar Money/ StratArt. "We had no inhibitions about what this was going to be," Bice said in a statement about the disc. "We just went in and did whatever we wanted to. The freedom shines through." ...

The Shins hope to indie-rock the mtvU Woodies this year -- the band has scored three nominations, including Woodie of the Year. Lily Allen, Gym Class Heroes and Linkin Park have picked up two noms apiece, while Amy Winehouse, Common, Lil Wayne, TV on the Radio, M.I.A., Thom Yorke and Spoon have also been noticed. Don't miss the show when it airs November 15 on mtvU. ... A source told the Chicago Sun-Times that Michael Jackson is planning big things for his long-gestating comeback album. Comparing the music being recorded to the tunes on Jackson's landmark Thriller album, the source speculated that the yet-untitled, unscheduled disc might contain appearances by sister Janet Jackson and some of the other Jackson siblings. ...

Millions have watched Chris Crocker scream "Leave Britney alone!" on his hugely popular viral-video clip that recently made the rounds, and now reality-TV programmer 44 Blue Productions is hoping to parlay that success onto the small screen. Variety reports that a TV documentary soap is being developed around the 19-year-old Internet sensation -- who still lives with his grandparents in Tennessee. ... According to reports from London, Babyshambles frontman Pete Doherty -- who has publicly stuggled with drugs -- has written a song for fellow hot English mess, Amy Winehouse. The tune, "Amy on the Mend," was reportedly intended to lift Winehouse's spirits as she deals with her recent health issues and an alleged drug overdose last month, and was allegedly sent to Winehouse in a frame and signed, "Love, Pete." The Daily Star reported that the tune, timed with Winehouse's 24th birthday, features the lines, "Amy on the mend, all that passion to spend/ Like a paper Boadicea in a battle to the end, end, end." ...

Barry Bonds has piped up about Marc Ecko's move to let fans decide the fate of the baseball slugger's record-breaking 756th home-run ball, which Ecko won in an auction over the weekend, on Vote756.com. "He's stupid," Bonds said. "He's an idiot. He spent $750,000 on the ball and that's what he's doing with it? What he's doing is stupid." He added of the fans' voting, "All of those options don't weigh anything. In baseball, that number [756] stands." According to The Associated Press, Ecko issued a statement Wednesday saying he would make a custom T-shirt reading, "Marc Ecko paid $752,467 for my ball, and all I got was this 'stupid' T-shirt.' " Meanwhile, the hip-hop fashion mogul's philosophy has caught on -- the man who submitted Bonds' record-tying home-run ball also plans to let fans vote on whether the item should go to Cooperstown or be destroyed. "I give [Ecko] a lot of credit in all sincerity," Ben Padnos told AP. "I understood the potential value in this." Speaking of which, there is one difference in Padnos' approach: He's selling ads on his Web site, EndtheDebate.com. ...

Owen Wilson was only supposed to have a minor cameo in Ben Stiller's "Tropic Thunder" flick, but all the same, Matthew McConaughey has stepped in to fill the actor's shoes after Wilson dropped out of the film following a suicide attempt last month, Variety reports. The movie, which is filming in Hawaii, will also star Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr. and others. ...

Former Great White tour manager Daniel Biechele is now eligible for parole, having served one-third of his four-year prison sentence, AP reports. Rhode Island's parole board will meet on Wednesday to decide whether to grant parole to Biechele, who was imprisoned for igniting pyrotechnics that sparked a deadly fire four years ago at the Station nightclub in West Warwick, Rhode Island. The blaze killed 100 people and injured more than 200 others.

09.18.07

Joel Madden spoke on Ryan Seacrest's radio show on Tuesday (September 18) about his plans to marry Nicole Richie, People reports. The Good Charlotte rocker -- who saw his marriage-proposal secret slip after Regis Philbin spilled the beans -- told Seacrest, "Obviously, marriage is in our future. I don't know when or where or how, but right now our priority is our family and is the baby. That's all we've been thinking about. We are in love and are really happy." Richie announced on "Good Morning America" in late July that she was four months pregnant. And it looks like Madden is taking on some of the shopping responsibilities. "I already went to Target and got a stroller and a playpen," he told Seacrest. ...

Vanessa Hudgens, who has recently been dogged by [article id="1569166"]leaked nude photos,[/article] is facing a new problem: The "High School Musical" star's attorney is suing her for $150,000 in unpaid fees, TMZ.com reports. The suit, filed by Brian L. Schall, alleges that she owes him for contract-signing services dating back to October 2005 and that he wants 5 percent of her earnings. ...

Kanye West and Jay-Z were all smiles on Tuesday, the day before the first-week-sales figures for 'Ye's Graduation and 50 Cent's competing Curtis were due to be released. "Everyone is coming up to me and telling me how proud they are of me," West told The Associated Press, adding, "it feels overwhelming." Jay was a bit more cautious in his enthusiasm over the yet-unannounced results, saying, "We're not gloating. He's celebrating his win ... in his mind, he believed he could win the whole time." ...

Hell has frozen over ... and Zack de la Rocha has finally put the finishing touches on his forever-in-the-works solo LP, Billboard reports. According to the news outlet, sources say de la Rocha plays keyboards on the yet-untitled effort -- which has been in the works since the singer initially left Rage Against the Machine in 2000 -- and that it sounds like a cross between Led Zeppelin and Dr. Dre. Ex-Mars Volta drummer Jon Theodore also collaborated heavily on the album, according to Billboard, and some of it was recently recorded at Jack Johnson's Los Angeles studio. De la Rocha is reportedly unsigned and considering offers for how to distribute the LP. ...

Nicole Scherzinger is launching her second single this week, "Baby Love" (featuring Will.I.Am). But the Black Eyed Pea doesn't get to play her love interest in the video, despite the song being "about us being in love." "I love Will, but I'm not in love with Will," the singer laughed. "I have a guy playing my lover, a sweet guy with a great energy that I cast for it." Francis Lawrence (Britney Spears, Gwen Stefani) directed the clip, which takes place off the coast of Southern California's Catalina Island. ... Fat Joe has hooked up with Imperial Records -- a division of Capitol and Terror Squad -- for the release of his eighth album, The Elephant in the Room. The LP, due early next year, will be studded with stars: Diddy, Rick Ross and Fabolous make guest appearances, while Scott Storch, Danjahandz and DJ Khaled lend their production skills. ...

The last of four secret Van Halen rehearsal shows reportedly took place Sunday night in Los Angeles before more than 500 fans -- including guitarists Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine and Kirk Hammett of Metallica. Also on hand, apparently, was Ozzy Osbourne guitarist Zakk Wylde, who attempted to get onstage during the set but was denied by frontman David Lee Roth. In a video making the rounds on the Internet, Wylde, who appeared to be in the front row, tried to hoist himself onto the stage. Security shuffled in to remove him, but Roth took to the microphone. "Nah, nah, nah. Are you in show biz?" he said. "Then get off the stage. Get off the f---ing stage." ...

Legendary punk rockers the Sex Pistols have announced that they'll squeeze into their bondage pants again for one night only on November 8 at the Brixton Academy in London for a 30th anniversary celebration of the release of their landmark 1977 album, Never Mind the Bollocks ... Here's the Sex Pistols. Original singer John Lydon, guitarist Steve Jones, drummer Paul Cook and bassist Glen Matlock will be on hand for the show, the group's first in more than four years. Bollocks, the only studio album recorded by the Pistols, features such punk classics as "God Save the Queen" and "Anarchy in the U.K." ...

The Gorillaz are prepping their second B-sides collection, D-Sides. The 22-track double-disc is slated for release November 6 and will feature demos; B-sides ("68 State," "Murdoc Is God," "Hongkongaton"); and remixes of songs like "Kids With Guns" and "Dare" by everyone from DFA and Hot Chip to Jamie T and Soulwax. ... Our long national nightmare is over ... sort of. After years of holding out, Radiohead have finally begun offering their albums for download. The group, which has held back from offering landmarks like The Bends and OK Computer to iTunes in the past because of its dislike for the site's practice of allowing individual songs for download, is now offering all its albums and some early singles in a high-quality, DRM-free format on 7digital.com. The albums will only be sold as complete packages. ...

David Bowie has made a $10,000 donation to the Jena Six Legal Defense Fund and is lending his voice to aid the six black teenagers who defenders have said faced overly aggressive prosecution and extended incarceration over their role in an alleged altercation with a white classmate in the small town (population: 3,000) of Jena, Louisiana, last year. The teens are alleged to have assaulted a white student in December, months after an incident on campus in which three nooses were hung on a tree at the local high school set off a series of tense, racially charged confrontations. "There is clearly a separate and unequal judicial process going on in the town of Jena," Bowie said in a statement. "A donation to the Jena Six Legal Defense Fund is my small gesture indicating my belief that a wrongful charge and sentence should be prevented." Thousands of people, including rapper Mos Def, are expected to descend on the town on Thursday to protest the prosecution of the five teenagers and a minor. ...

Perry Farrell -- whose Satellite Party has stumbled out of the starting gate with poor sales of their Ultra Payloaded debut -- is kissing the major labels goodbye and launching his own indie label, Bells Are Ringing. Although it was originally released by Columbia in late May, Ultra Payloaded will now act as the first Bells Are Ringing release. "I'm very excited to become part of this new independent trend where artists will have more creative freedom, make higher profits on the sales of their music, and most of all, it allows me, the artist, to own my art, my masters," Farrell said in a statement. ... Don't tell Neil Young: Alabama Governor Bob Riley has announced that the state's tourism agency will be using Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama" to market the state next year, AP reports. The classic-rock song was released in 1974 as a response to Young, who was critical of the South. ...

The Dead Kennedys will release a greatest-hits collection on October 9 called Milking the Sacred Cow. The set will feature a dozen tracks, including "Holiday in Cambodia," "Too Drunk to F---" and "Halloween." ... The dates for Sevendust's upcoming Ladies Get Out of Jail Free Tour '07, along with 10 Years, Black Light Burns and Neverset, have been revealed. The trek launches October 19 in Maplewood, Minnesota, and gigs are booked through November 10 in Atlanta. ... 3rd Strike have re-formed with a brand-new lineup. The band is currently working on new songs and posted one of them, "Battlecry," on its MySpace page. The band has booked an October 19 gig at West Hollywood, California's Whisky A Go Go, and the gig will also feature Drowning Pool and the Exies. ...

Expect to see even more kids accompanying Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie in the future. "We're not done," Pitt recently told AP. "[People] say, 'Any plans for a fifth?' And I say, 'And a sixth, and a seventh, and an eighth and a ninth.' That's my answer," he said. The actor, who stars in Friday's "Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford," also let it be known that he and Jolie have crafted a 9-foot-wide bed that fits them and their four children. "One more [child] and we'll have to go to 11 feet," he said. ...

Wesley Snipes must pay United Talent Agency $1.7 million in a default judgment issued Tuesday, according to CBS News. The company, which helped the "Blade" actor get roles in multiple films, sued him in July 2006 for an alleged breach of oral contract. UTA claims Snipes agreed to pay 10 percent of any money he earned for movie roles the talent agency got for him, but he did not pay commissions for "The Shooter," "Chaos" and other films.

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