Jessica Simpson will sing the national anthem at this year's Indianapolis 500, which takes place on May 30. ... Just a few days after Hilary Duff announced plans for her upcoming tour, the teenage pop star added a few more dates to her summer trek. Following a couple of newly announced performances in Los Angeles, May 15 at KIIS-FM's Wango Tango show and May 16's benefit concert for Radio Disney, Duff spliced in a pair of shows in the Tri-State Area. On July 25, she'll be in East Rutherford, New Jersey, while on the following day, Duff travels to Uniondale, New York, for a show at Nassau Coliseum. ...

The White Stripes' Jack White and country legend Loretta Lynn will be making the promotional rounds together on the heels of the release of Lynn's new album, Van Lear Rose, which dropped Tuesday. The pair are scheduled to perform their duet "Portland, Oregon" on the "Late Show With David Letterman" on Monday, followed by appearances on the "Today" show and "Larry King Live." White produced, arranged and plays multiple instruments on Lynn's latest album. ... Kiss' blood-spitting bassist, Gene Simmons, will release his version of the Prodigy's 1997 hit "Firestarter" as the first single from his second solo album, A--hole, which comes out June 8. Directors Mark Klasfeld and Tony Perossian shot a video for the song on Sunday in Los Angeles. On Friday and again on May 7, Simmons will guest star as a vengeful father on NBC's "Third Watch." ...

The Beastie Boys are planning to write an anthology book. To be released in October, "Beastie Boys Anthology: The Sounds of Science" chronicles the creation of "Fight for Your Right," "Hey Ladies," "So What'cha Want," "Sure Shot," "Intergalactic" and more, with photographs taken by Spike Jonze, Danny Clinch and others. The book comes with two CDs of their hits and B-sides. ... Seven albums and 122 tracks of Beastie Boys music was made available to the iTunes music store this week, coinciding with the digital release of the trio's new single, "Ch-Ch-Check It Out." The music in the store also includes 21 exclusive non-album mixes of Beasties songs. ... To celebrate the first anniversary of iTunes, which has sold more than 70 million songs so far, Apple has given its online music store some new features. The service's third generation now features radio charts from more than 1,000 radio stations, on-demand music videos, movie trailers, and the ability to play songs on up to five personal computers. Previously, users could only transfer songs to three computers. ...

The forthcoming book "Fool the World: An Oral History of the Pixies" started out as a project by a playwright who wanted to make a musical out of the alternative rock band's history, and though the book project ultimately came to fruition first, the play is still forthcoming. Author Josh Frank said the musical will premiere in New York in September. "It actually would have been better if they had not reunited," Frank said. "It's harder to produce a musical about rock history when it suddenly becomes the present again. That doesn't happen much! It's an interesting artistic problem." ... White Trash Beautiful, the fourth solo album from Everlast, is due May 25. The LP follows the former House of Pain rapper's last LP, 2000's Eat at Whitey's. ...

Before he joins Lollapalooza, Danger Mouse, the producer behind The Grey Album, is hitting the road for a six-week tour that kicks off this weekend at Coachella and wraps up in June at the Bonnaroo Festival. Danger Mouse and his rhyme partner, Jemini, will also be joined by Money Mark on the tour. ... After talking about it for months, the Dandy Warhols' The Black Album is finally available on the band's Web site. The 11-track LP was supposed to follow the group's 1995 debut, Dandy's Rule OK?, but had been shelved until now. ... Two live offerings are available on the Web site of Mondo Generator, which features ex-Queens of the Stone Age bassist Nick Oliveri. The album Live at the LA Troubadour and Live at Cain's in San Diego and DVD "Live in the U.S. and Europe" will set you back $14 and $22, respectively. ...

04.28.2004

More than just a J-Kwon music video got shot Tuesday in St. Louis -- so did a police van parked near the set. The rapper was filming a video for his next single, "Hood Hop," in his hometown when shots were fired from a passing vehicle blocks away. No one was hurt. Police had been brought into the area to control the crowd of fans who had gathered at the shoot. A spokesperson for the rapper had no comment. ...

The recording industry took legal action against another 477 file-sharers Tuesday. Sixty-nine of those suspected of copyright infringement come from 14 different universities in 11 states, including Brown, Georgia Institute of Technology, Gonzaga, Princeton, Texas A&M, and Virginia Polytechnic Institute. ... The video for the Beastie Boys' new single, "Ch-Check It Out," was directed by MCA's alter ego, Nathaniel Hornblower. The single hits the airwaves Wednesday (April 28), while the clip is expected to surface on Friday. ...

Kanye West will appear on "Selfish," the first single off Detroit Deli: A Taste of Detroit, the new album by Slum Village. The group's follow-up to 2002's Trinity (Past, Present and Future) is due June 1 and also features an appearance by Ol' Dirty Bastard on the cut "Dirty." ... Following his foray into the world of fish tacos, Blink-182's Travis Barker will launch his label, LaSalle Records, next month with the release of What Are You Listening To?, the debut album by the Kinison. The second band signed to the imprint, the Nervous Return, have just finished recording their debut and can be seen on the side stage of the upcoming Blink-182/ No Doubt summer tour. Barker's other band, the Transplants, who'll start work on their second album next month, will release their LP on LaSalle. ...

Cat Power, the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, J Mascis, Chavez and Har Mar Superstar are joining forces to curse out cancer. They're all set for the F--- Cancer Benefit, taking place May 11 at New York's Bowery Ballroom. Proceeds from the show will benefit Jackie Farry, a staple of the New York indie-rock scene who has worked with the Breeders, Hole, Stereolab, the Lemonheads and Elliott Smith. ... The fourth annual Siren Music Festival is set for July 17 at Coney Island in Brooklyn, New York. The lineup of Death Cab for Cutie, Blonde Redhead, Har Mar Superstar, TV on the Radio, the Fever, the Constantines, and the Fiery Furnaces is expected to draw a crowd of over 150,000. ...

After a quick break following the end of their U.S. tour on May 8 in Baltimore, the Raveonettes will start work on their follow-up to last year's Chain Gang of Love. The Danish band plans to hit the studio in late summer and have the album out by early next year. ... Judas Priest have announced three summer non-Ozzfest shows in North America: July 26 in Nampa, Idaho; August 4 in El Paso, Texas; and August 18 in Toronto. Venues have not yet been announced. Last week, Hatebreed announced they would open at least two shows with Slayer and Priest. ...

The ex-bassist for Soilent Green, Scott Williams, was the victim of a murder/suicide on Monday in Gretna, Louisiana. According to TV news reports, neighbors heard shots, then called police, who arrived to find two dead men, one man with a gunshot wound to the head and the other to the chest. ...

Testament have hired Painmuseum guitarist Mike Chlasciak (ex-Halford) as a temporary tour replacement for Steve Smyth, who quit earlier this month to join Nevermore. Testament continue to work on the follow-up to their last album of new material, 1999's The Gathering. ... There's no question that the cover art for the upcoming Great White compilation album, Double Dose -- a shark in flames -- is in horrible taste. But don't blame the band, whose stage pyrotechnics burned down the Station nightclub in Rhode Island last year, killing 100. "Great White is disgusted by the cover and certainly did not approve it or the album's release," the group said in a statement. "We are demanding the immediate cancellation of this release and are taking all legal avenues available to stop it." Double Dose is scheduled for a May 11 release. ...