Fergie is Blender magazine's Woman of the Year -- but don't get too excited, guys, she's "practically married" to actor Josh Duhamel. "I'm madly in love with him," the Black Eyed Pea said in the cover-story interview, during which she dropped more than a few F-bombs. "He understands how to treat a woman and give me respect. And I'm gonna miss him on tour." Fergie reportedly started to cry after making that comment, as she did at the top of the chat, when she was told she had earned the Woman of the Year honor. "It feels like such an accomplishment. ... And -- I can't believe you made me cry. I'm so embarrassed. And I'm f---ing up my eyeliner." ...

Ashley Tisdale is saying sorry to fans for scratching two shows over the weekend because of her recent nose job. "When my surgery was scheduled, we didn't think it would be necessary to cancel the shows because my doctor thought I would heal in time," she wrote on her Web site. "Unfortunately, the deviated septum was more significant than we originally thought so the healing process is taking longer." The "High School Musical" star, who missed her gigs in Miami and Philadelphia, was also absent at New York's Jingle Ball on Friday. ...

50 Cent played for thousands of fans at a soccer stadium in Pristina, the capital of the Serbian province of Kosovo, on Monday, The Associated Press reports. Twenty-five thousand tickets were reportedly sold for the show, which featured fireworks, according to AP. ...

Hawthorne Heights frontman JT Woodruff will participate in a conversation at an event being staged in memory of [article id="1576570"]fallen bandmate[/article] Casey Calvert. The late guitarist's favorite charity, To Write Love on Her Arms -- a group aimed at helping teens at risk for suicide -- will put on "Heavy and Light: An Evening of Songs, Conversation and Hope" on December 29 in Orlando, Florida. The event will also feature acoustic performances by Red Jumpsuit Apparatus singer Ronnie Winter; Aaron Gillespie (Underoath, the Almost); Josh Moore; and Bayside frontman Anthony Ranieri. In related news, Ranieri has mapped out a series of 10 additional solo acoustic shows that will happen before and after the TWLOHA benefit. He will play Wednesday in San Francisco; Friday in Anaheim, California; and then perform a handful of more shows from January 11 in Edinboro, Pennsylvania, through January 19 in Troy, New York. ...

Stephen Stills, best known for his work with David Crosby, Graham Nash and Neil Young, has been diagnosed with prostate cancer, Reuters reports. According to the news service, Nash disclosed the news to Larry King in a telephone interview late Monday. Stills is scheduled to have an operation on January 3, which, as it turns out, also marks his 63rd birthday. Referring to folk singer Dan Fogelberg, who was afflicted with prostate cancer and passed away Sunday, Nash reportedly said on "Larry King Live," "Unlike Danny, who left it too long to be seriously checked, Stephen found his at an early stage" and might have potentially saved his own life by getting an early diagnosis. ...

Did you hear that one about Remy Ma's supposed sexual encounter with another woman? Well, surprise -- it's not true. According to TMZ.com, the rapper has responded to an online video of a woman "confessing" to having had a sexual experience with Remy Ma. "The fraudulent video hoax that has surfaced of an alleged female lover of Remy Ma is completely false, and reps for Remy Ma emphatically deny these claims," the statement reportedly read. "Remy Ma has not, nor has she ever been, involved in a same-sex relationship with the accuser or any other woman, however Remy is respectful of those who choose the alternative lifestyle." ...

Foo Fighters are thinking big for their next tour -- the band is planning to break out two stages for it, according to Billboard.com. The trek, which starts January 16 in Sunrise, Florida, will feature a main stage and an acoustic stage, with the eight-piece band that supported the Foos on their [article id="1539820"]acoustic tour[/article] last year returning to supplement Dave Grohl's group on select songs. In other Foo news, Grohl told TheRockRadio.com that the band, which supported Senator John Kerry's presidential bid in 2004, hasn't picked a candidate to back in next year's election. "If a candidate that we all believed in asked us to give them some support, then we would do it," he said. "It wouldn't necessarily be as the Foo Fighters, it would be as four American citizens." ...

AFI frontman Davey Havok has declined an offer to return to his old side project, Son of Sam, but the band will carry on nonetheless. "We asked Davey [to participate], but he declined, which is a bummer, but we understand and he gave us his full blessing with looking for a new singer," the band said in a statement. ... Circus Diablo, the band featuring the Cult's Billy Duffy, Camp Freddy guitarist Billy Morrison and others, has lost a member. Bassist Brett Scallions, who was once the frontman for Fuel and is the current singer for Riders on the Storm, is out, according to the band. "Brett is deeply involved in being a new dad ... and has plans with Riders on the Storm, so with much love and respect, we will be moving forward with Patrick Cornell playing bass," reads a statement from the band. ...

Jimmy Kimmel will tag along with Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien when the late-night talk-show hosts return to TV on January 2 -- albeit without writers. "Though it makes me sick to do so without my writers, there are more than a hundred people whose financial well-being depends on our show," Kimmel said in a statement issued by ABC, according to AP. "It is time to go back to work." David Letterman is also planning a return, with a union representing the [article id="1573641"]striking writers[/article] reportedly talking about negotiating a deal with Letterman's Worldwide Pants and other indie production companies. ...

Minor Threat were a force to be reckoned with, having paved the way for the U.S. hardcore straightedge movement in the early '80s. But a new hot sauce that bites the band's name is actually pretty mild -- according to maker Wheelhouse Pickles, its Minor Threat Sauce is "made from a rare, mild breed of habanero [pepper] grown specifically for us [and] mysteriously privileges the pepper's fruitiness over its notoriously overwhelming heat." Wheelhouse boss Jon Orren has 'fessed up to copping the hardcore band's name for the product, according to Gothamist.com, and the band's former frontman, Ian MacKaye, reportedly doesn't mind the unconventional tribute. "I don't have an occasion to eat a lot of hot sauce, but I also thought the Minor Threat stuff was nice," he reportedly told the site. ...

Jason Bonham, current member of Led Zeppelin and son of deceased original drummer John Bonham, says "only time will tell" if the band chooses to do a full-fledged reunion tour following its widely hailed [article id="1576186"]comeback gig[/article] last week. "I'm still the new guy, and I wouldn't know," the drummer told Billboard.com about potential tour plans. "There's been no talks except to Jimmy [Page] and Robert [Plant] and John Paul [Jones], just to say thanks for the best Christmas present I could ask for. It really meant a lot to me. ... If they do it again, of course I would love to. But that's up to them." ... Rob Zombie has piled more solo-show off-dates during his North American tour with Ozzy Osbourne. The metal monster will play additional gigs Wednesday (Indianapolis); Friday (Rochester, New York); January 4 (Poughkeepsie, New York); January 6 (Norfolk, Virginia); January 11 (Scranton, Pennsylvania); January 13 (South Burlington, Vermont); January 18 (Kitchener, Ontario); January 22 (Buffalo, New York); January 23 (Columbus, Ohio); January 24 (Grand Rapids, Michigan); and January 28 (Albuquerque, New Mexico). ...

Legendary singer Burt Bacharach, classic-rock group the Band, iconic jazz drummer Max Roach and others will be honored with Recording Academy Lifetime Achievement Awards on February 9, during Grammy week. The recipients -- which also include Doris Day, Cab Calloway, Itzhak Perlman and Earl Scruggs — will also be recognized during the [article id="1575921"]Grammy telecast,[/article] which airs at 8 p.m. ET/PT on CBS the following day. ...

British Sea Power, Panther and Holy F--- have planted themselves on the bill for next year's Noise Pop festival, which will go down February 26-March 2 in San Francisco. Badges for the fest are currently on sale. BSP's Do You Like Rock Music? streets February 12. ... Expect another installment next year of True Colors Tour, the Cyndi Lauper-created jaunt that featured Rufus Wainwright, the Gossip and others as part of its inaugural run this year. Dates and artists for next year's stretch have yet to be announced. ...

Joel Dorn, a veteran jazz and R&B producer who won multiple Grammy Awards and was part of Atlantic Records' in-house production staff, died Monday from a heart attack. He was 65 years old. The prolific producer, along with Roberta Flack, earned Record of the Year honors in 1972 and 1973 for the singer's "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" and "Killing Me Softly With His Song," respectively. He also led Rhino's reissue campaign when it began in 1993, taking the reins for the campaign, production and annotation of almost two dozen releases. "The recording industry has lost a true music lover and respected professional, and our deepest sympathies go out to his family, his friends and all who have benefited from his gift," Recording Academy President Neil Portnow said in a statement issued Tuesday.

12.17.07

Never ones to steer clear of grisly details, the folks at TMZ have posted the eight-minute 911 call made in the wake of Donda West's [article id="1573999"]collapse last month.[/article] The disturbing recording consists primarily of a dispatcher attempting to coach a panicked, unidentified caller on how to perform CPR. The post has garnered a heated reaction, with TMZ users calling it "tasteless," "insensitive," "sick," "morbid" and "worse than grave-robbing." Users also called the site's staffers "pigs." ...

On Monday (December 17), Killers frontman Brandon Flowers was cross-examined for a second day in front of the California Labor Commissioner by lawyers for the band's ex-manager, according to TMZ.com. Braden Merrick is suing the group for $3 million in unpaid commissions, while the Killers are trying to void their management contract, arguing that the manager booked employment without a license. ...

Fall Out Boy guitarist Joe Trohman is ticked about a recent report in New York's Daily News suggesting the band is blaming Ashlee Simpson, bassist Pete Wentz's girlfriend, for its lack of [article id="1575921"]Grammy nominations.[/article] In a blog post on FriendsorEnemies.com, Trohman said the story "just irked me. ... We don't have any 'pals' that gossip to the tabloids over our business. We also don't blame a certain someone (Ashlee) for our lack of a Grammy nod. Don't believe the gossip columns out there. This 'poisonous' person that was mentioned is nothing short of awesome, and we fully back her. Everything in Camp FOB is all good." ...

Timbaland played the new Justin Timberlake and Madonna collaboration, "4 Minutes to Save the World," at the Jingle Ball concert in Philadelphia on Sunday night, according to RollingStone.com. The song is supposed to be the first single from Madge's yet-untitled new album, which is due in 2008. ... Mark Vincent Kaplan, lawyer for Kevin Federline, will go to court Tuesday to ask Los Angeles Superior Court Commissioner Scott Gordon to delay a January hearing in which Britney Spears was going to try to gain back some of her child-custody rights, according to TMZ.com. The site reports that a Spears lawyer will try to oppose Kaplan's request, and that if Federline's lawyer gets his wish, the singer won't have a chance of getting some custody rights back until April. ...

Singer/songwriter Dan Fogelberg, whose hits include "Leader of the Band," Longer" and "Same Old Lang Syne," passed away Sunday in his Maine home, following a lengthy battle with prostate cancer. He was 56. A statement from Fogelberg's family that appears on his Web site reads: "Dan left us this morning at 6:00 a.m. He fought a brave battle with cancer and died peacefully at home in Maine with his wife Jean at his side. His strength, dignity and grace in the face of the daunting challenges of this disease were an inspiration to all who knew him." Fogelberg was diagnosed with cancer in 2004. ...

Pam Anderson's husband, Rick Salomon, was on the verge of joining Kid Rock and Tommy Lee as the celeb's latest divorcé, but apparently there was a change of heart. According to TMZ.com, she recently filed divorce papers from the sex-tape king, with whom she married on October 6 -- but divorce is now reportedly off, with Anderson writing in a post on her Web page, "P.S.: We're working things out ... ." ... Actress Helena Bonham Carter and her beau, Tim Burton, have welcomed their second child, a girl, in London, AP reports. The couple -- the star and director, respectively, of the upcoming film "Sweeney Todd" -- are said to be "absolutely delighted." The couple also have a 4-year-old boy, Billy. ...

Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien are returning to TV on January 2, but brace yourselves -- they won't have their writers supplying them with any jokes. According to AP, David Letterman is planning to make a similar return, but without the same hitch. A union representing the [article id="1573641"]striking writers[/article] is reportedly willing to negotiate deals with Letterman's Worldwide Pants and other production companies on an individual basis. ...

Some Led Zeppelin fans are paying a fortune for stubs from the band's [article id="1576186"]recent reunion gig[/article] at London's 02 arena. In online auctions, the stubs are going for as much as $252. Wrote one seller: "I was one of the lucky ones. This is the ticket from the show 20 million wanted to see." ... Remember the Presidents of the United States of America? Well, on March 11 they return with These Are the Good Times People, the band's first album in three years. The set will feature 14 tracks, including "Mixed Up S.O.B.," "Sharpen Up Those Fangs" and "Rot in the Sun." The band will tour the U.S. beginning March 14 in Portland, Oregon, and concluding March 27 in Boston. ...

Former Blood Brothers members Jordan Blilie, Mark Gajadhar, Devin Welch and Morgan Henderson have started a new band called Past Lives. The Blood Brothers split in early November, citing creative differences. The group is in the midst of writing material for its forthcoming debut LP. ... Franz Ferdinand have revealed the lyrics to one of the songs from their upcoming album. The lyrics to "Lucid Dreams," from the band's third LP, appear in the latest edition of FF's official fan-club magazine as notes handwritten by frontman Alex Kapranos. The band has yet to release any new music from the yet-unnamed outing.