In honor of the late Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s car will sport a black stripe under its left headlight at the Pontiac Excitement 400, and some members of Earnhardt's pit crew are planning to duplicate the look. The race takes place in Richmond, Virginia, on Sunday (May 5). ... PSAs featuring 'NSYNC's Justin Timberlake, Alicia Keys, Nelly, Eve and Destiny's Child can be viewed at the official Web site for the YouthAIDS organization (www.youthaids.org). In the clips, the performers encourage young people to take measures to prevent the spread of HIV. ...

Pop hotties a-plenty fill the ranks of People magazine's "50 Most Beautiful People" list this year, including Britney Spears, Alicia Keys, Mandy Moore, Craig David, Shakira and — wait for it — Sharon Osbourne. Yes, the mag says the 50-year-old matriarch and bride of Ozzy has "great skin," among other attributes. ... Rob Zombie, P.O.D., Jimmy Eat World, Papa Roach and the Strokes have signed on for Live 105 (KITS-FM)'s ninth annual BFD concert at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, California, on June 14. A portion of the proceeds from the three-stage event will go to coastal conservation advocates The Surfrider Foundation and Greenaction. ... Marilyn Manson has painted a nude portrait of Andy Dick in the crucifix position to be used as the album cover of the comedian's debut album, Andy Dick & the Bitches of the Century, due August 20. ...

Missy Elliott and Rockwilder have remixed "Pocketbook," the first single from Me'Shell Ndegeocello's new album, Cookie: The Anthropological Mixtape, due June 4. R&B newcomer Tweet and rapper Redman provide additional vocals on the remix. ... Metallica frontman James Hetfield joined his bandmates — guitarist Kirk Hammett and drummer Lars Ulrich — in their Northern California studio on May 1 to resume work on the band's eighth studio album. The outfit has been without a bassist since Jason Newsted quit in January 2001. ... Sultry newcomer Rosey, whose debut album, Dirty Child, comes out in June, has been tapped to open all the dates on Melissa Etheridge's three-month summer tour. The jaunt will visit 39 cities, beginning with Clearwater, Florida, on June 7. ... Perhaps Björk should trade in her swan dress for a stork dress. The singer is five months pregnant by her sculptor/filmmaker boyfriend, Matthew Barney, according to her London management company. ...

05.02.02

Tenacious D heavy-hitter Jack Black and vampire-slayer Sarah Michelle Gellar will host the 2002 MTV Movie Awards, which are set to be doled out on June 1 at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. The show, which again boasts categories such as Best Kiss, Best Villain and Best Fight, will be broadcast June 6 at 9 p.m. ET/PT. ... Ashanti is keeping busy. She started shooting the video for her second single, "Happy," in New York City on Wednesday, and on Friday (May 3), she'll receive the keys to her home city of Glen Cove, New York, from Mayor Mary Ann Holzkamp. ...

It's more than two months away, and already Filter's new album, The Amalgamut, has just about spanned the gamut of mid-summer release dates. Originally expected to be released in early July, the group's third album was officially set for August 6, then July 23, and now carries a release date of July 30. ... Ed Harcourt is packing up his toybox and heading out on his second North American tour to support his debut LP, Here Be Monsters. The multi-instrumentalist crooner begins the two-week jaunt May 7 in San Francisco and wraps it up May 21 in Boston. ... Maya and Last Train to Lhasa, the first albums by global ambient figurehead Banco De Gaia (a.k.a.Toby Marks), will be reissued next Tuesday, and a two-CD retrospective, tentatively titled 10 Years, is in the works for September. ...