Fantasia will try to show the rest of America what the theater critics have been raving about when she performs June 10 at the Tony Awards. The "American Idol" champ has been lighting up Broadway lately with her starring role in "The Color Purple." ...

Marilyn Manson said he could have collaborated with Eminem -- if only the rapper weren't so "over-the-top." "The song he asked me to sing was -- and this may sound strange -- too misogynistic," Manson told Spin in the magazine's June issue. "It was the one about killing his girlfriend and putting her in a trunk. ... It was too over-the-top for me to associate with. First of all, I don't drive. And I wouldn't put a girl in a trunk; that's where I keep other stuff. That's my dry, deadpan humor kicking in." ...

Justin Timberlake is launching his own record label, a joint venture with Interscope Records, Chairman Jimmy Iovine announced Monday. Timberlake will be chairman and CEO of Tennman Records, distributed by Interscope Geffen A&M. "We are all excited about the talent we have to offer already on our roster, and I cannot wait to introduce the world to my new discoveries," Timberlake said in a statement. Tennman's first signings will be announced in the coming weeks. ...

Taboo of the Black Eyed Peas pleaded not guilty late last week to two counts of misdemeanor pot possession stemming from a DUI arrest in March, according to E! Online. A pretrial hearing has been scheduled for June 28. ... Actress Lana Clarkson's death was a homicide, a coroner testified in the trial of Phil Spector on Tuesday (May 29), according to The Associated Press. Dr. Louis Pena said in Los Angeles Superior Court that a gun may have been forced into Clarkson's mouth, causing a bruise, before she was fatally shot. "Something struck the tongue," he testified, adding that she also had bruises on her right arm and wrist. Pena also said Clarkson had no history of depression or suicide attempts. "I found her to be a hopeful person from the notes I read," he said. ...

The Police kicked off their reunion tour in Vancouver, British Columbia, on Monday night, starting the set with "Message in a Bottle" and playing hits including "Roxanne," "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" and "Walking on the Moon" for the 20,000-strong audience, which included Eddie Vedder and Penélope Cruz, according to a Reuters report. "Since we haven't been together in 25 years, I'd like to introduce the band," Sting joked. "Andy, this is Stewart." The trio ended the show with a performance of "Next to You." ... Think Prince's tour schedule couldn't look -- or smell -- any weirder? The artist, who has lined up unconventional residencies in London and Los Angeles for later this year, will hype his new 3121 perfume line with a July 7 gig at 4 p.m. on the eighth floor of Macy's in downtown Minneapolis, according to the city's Star Tribune newspaper. Seats to the show will be sold in "Ultimate Prince Xperience" packages, which will run $250 apiece but also feature a ticket to his show at Target Center later that night, as well as two special-edition bottles of his "Eau de Parfum." Prince's new scent for women goes on sale the same day. ...

DMX fans, don't get too excited about that upcoming collection you may have heard about. The Definition of X: Pick of the Litter, due June 12, will be a greatest-hits comp culling 20 tracks from his five Def Jam LPs. ... Tom Morello's Nightwatchman project is hitting the road next month with Thrice frontman Dustin Kensrue. The tour kicks off in Dallas on June 17, with gigs booked in Houston (June 18); New Orleans (June 19); Atlanta (June 21); Charlotte, North Carolina (June 22); Vienna, Virginia (June 23); Philadelphia (June 25); New York (June 26); and Cambridge, Massaschusetts (June 27). ... Ryan Adams, Amos Lee, the Meat Puppets and Medeski Scofield Martin & Wood will bulk up the eighth annual Moe.Down, organized by jam band Moe. The gala, which will be held August 31-September 2 at Turin, New York's Snow Ridge Ski Area, will feature Moe performing six sets. ...

Minus the Bear's upcoming LP, Planet of Ice, featuring the lead single "Knights," is due August 21. The band wrapped up a one-month tour with a performance at the Sasquatch! Music Festival on Sunday and is currently planning an extensive tour to support the disc. ... Grab the glow sticks: Klaxons will light up the U.S. by performing in six additional cities in a couple of months: Los Angeles (July 10); San Francisco (July 11); Seattle (July 12); Portland, Oregon (July 13); Chicago (at the Pitchfork Music Festival on July 15); and Minneapolis (July 16). ... The Cult are still conjuring up their first new studio album since 2001's Beyond Good and Evil, but now they've got a new label to issue it through: Roadrunner. The yet-untitled CD, due September 25, is being produced by Primal Scream collaborator Youth and will be released in conjunction with the band's new New Wilderness imprint. ...

Senator Hillary Clinton has narrowed her would-be campaign songs to five choices -- including U2's "Beautiful Day" and KT Tunstall's "Suddenly I See" -- and added five write-in contenders to the running, including Lenny Kravitz's "Are You Gonna Go My Way?" and the Police's "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic." Votes are now being accepted at Clinton's campaign Web site. ... Right Said Fred singer Richard Fairbrass was attacked by counter-protesters while taking part in a gay-rights march in Moscow on Sunday, BBC News reports. Fairbrass was detained by Moscow police after he was injured, and told BBC that he felt sorry for the man who hit him. "How threatened can he be, how insecure is he to be threatened by a bisexual pop singer who's most famous for singing 'I'm Too Sexy'?" ... Bo Diddley was released from Creighton University Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska, on Thursday -- where he had been since suffering a stroke May 13 -- and is now being treated at Shands Rehab Hospital in Gainesville, Florida, near his home. Diddley is expected to stay at the facility for two weeks and will continue speech and occupational therapy as an outpatient.

05.25.2007

Green meets yellow: "The Simpsons Movie" cast was more or less mum about Green Day's appearance in the flick when we spoke with them at the 400th episode party earlier this month, but now comes news that the band has recorded a punk version of the show's theme song for the score soundtrack. Billboard.com reports that Warner Bros. will issue a single of the song on July 24, three days before the flick hits theaters, while Fox Music will issue a digital version of the score through its Web site and Extreme Music will ship 25,000 copies of the set -- in pink doughnut cases! -- to Best Buy, Circuit City, Wal-Mart and Barnes & Noble. ...

Kanye West debuted the Hype Williams-directed video for his first Graduation single, "Can't Tell Me Nothing" on his Web site Friday (May 25). Graduation is due September 18. ...

Linkin Park will headline the Tokyo installment of the Live Earth festival on July 7, RollingStone.com reports. Joss Stone and UB40 will headline the show in Johannesburg, South Africa, while Lenny Kravitz and Pharrell will do the honors in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and Shakira will join Snoop and Chris Cornell at the show in Hamburg, Germany. ... Lily Allen sang a "Heart of Glass" duet with Blondie singer Debbie Harry on "The Today Show" Friday morning. ...

Young Jeezy was arrested outside a strip club in the Atlanta area on Thursday morning. According to police, the rapper was busted for disorderly conduct following a verbal altercation with several off-duty undercover police officers moonlighting as security guards at the Strokers Club in Clarkson, Georgia. Jeezy was charged with the local ordinance violation and was ordered to pay a $280 fine. There's no word yet on whether he will have to return to court to settle the charges. ...

Mickey Leigh, brother of the late Joey Ramone, has joined Courtney Love in speaking out against the Dr. Martens ad campaign that features images of Ramone and Kurt Cobain. "Obviously, we are in the same position as Courtney Love, as well as the estates of the others depicted (in the ad)," he said in a statement. "We were never consulted about this ad. We were never asked for permission to use Joey's image or paid for the use of it. As executor of my brother's estate, I never would have approved this ad as Joey never wore these shoes. And, not that my brother was terribly religious, but the fact that he was Jewish, and this ad is not exactly kosher, makes it that much more inappropriate, inconsiderate and contemptible. Though we were about to formulate a statement to the above effect, Courtney certainly has a louder, more influential voice, and I am thrilled that she got through to them." On Thursday, AirWair Ltd. -- the company behind Dr. Martens footwear -- fired Saatchi & Saatchi, the advertising agency behind the ad campaign. ...

Nick Cannon will be honored at the Cannes Film Festival on Friday with the Breakthrough Actor of the Year prize at the Studio Magazine/ Chopard Revelation Awards. Cannon, recognized for his work in "Bobby," is the first black actor to receive the award, and will share it with "The Last King of Scotland" star James McAvoy. Evan Rachel Wood will be presented with the Breakthrough Actress of the Year prize at the event. ... Queens of the Stone Age have announced a handful of U.S. dates in support of their forthcoming release Era Vulgaris, which hits stores June 12. The band has lined up four California shows -- Fresno on June 7, Ventura on June 8, Mountain View on June 9 and Costa Mesa on July 22 -- as well as gigs in Indianapolis (August 4) and Austin, Texas (September 16). ... Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich and his girlfriend, Danish actress Connie Nielsen, welcomed their first child together, a boy they've named Bryce Thadeus Ulrich-Nielsen, on May 21 in San Francisco. This is Ulrich's third child and Nielsen's second. ...

Ace Young is gearing up to release his debut album. The #7 finisher on season five of "American Idol" has signed a deal with S Curve Records (Fountains of Wayne, Joss Stone) for the yet-untitled disc, scheduled to drop in September and be preceded by a single in July. Young will be backed by a full band on the album, which is being executive produced by hitmaker Desmond Child (Kelly Clarkson), with songs written by Diane Warren ('NSYNC, Pussycat Dolls) and Andreas Carlson (Nick Lachey, Britney Spears). Young, who helped write pal Chris Daughtry's first hit, "It's Not Over," said he's writing or co-writing all the tunes on his album as well as working on songs with "everyone," though he declined to name names. "You'll hear it when it happens," he promised. ...

Rodrigo y Gabriela have sold more than 100,000 copies of their self-titled debut, and they hope to attract even more new fans with just-announced appearances at Lollapalooza in Chicago on August 3-5 and the Austin City Limits fest in Texas on September 14-16. ... Neptunes protégé Fam-Lay is set to shoot the video for his underground hit, "Da Beeper Record," featuring Pharrell, on Tuesday in Miami with director Hype Williams. ... Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley, along with his brother Stephen Marley, will headline the Festival Mizik Jakmel, Haiti's first international music festival, this weekend. Twenty-four other acts will also appear and during the event organizers will attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the largest drumming ensemble, collectively gathering 10,000-plus participants. ...

There's no more Free FM in New York. Almost a year and a half after the Big Apple rock station WFNY (92.3 FM) mostly abandoned music in favor of an all-talk format in the wake of Howard Stern's departure for satellite radio, the station is returning to its former call letters, WXRK, and nickname "K-Rock." The station brought back the music at 5 p.m. Thursday with a spin of Nirvana's "All Apologies." Though the Free FM format experiment will continue in a handful of other cities across the country, the New York outlet will lose comedian Nick Di Paolo, Leslie "the radio chick" Gold and a duo known as Ron and Fez, The New York Times reports. Another pair, [article id="1559682"]JV and Elvis, were fired earlier this month[/article] when they made an offensive prank phone call to a Chinese restaurant. The only talk remaining will be the cleaned up syndicated version of the Opie and Anthony radio show. The duo are currently on a 30-day suspension from their XM satellite radio gig after a bit earlier this month in which a character fantasized about sexually assaulting Condoleezza Rice and Laura Bush.

05.25.2007

Green meets yellow: "The Simpsons Movie" cast was more or less mum about Green Day's appearance in the flick when we spoke with them at the 400th episode party earlier this month, but now comes news that the band has recorded a punk version of the show's theme song for the score soundtrack. Billboard.com reports that Warner Bros. will issue a single of the song on July 24, three days before the flick hits theaters, while Fox Music will issue a digital version of the score through its Web site and Extreme Music will ship 25,000 copies of the set -- in pink doughnut cases! -- to Best Buy, Circuit City, Wal-Mart and Barnes & Noble. ...

Kanye West debuted the Hype Williams-directed video for his first Graduation single, "Can't Tell Me Nothing" on his Web site Friday (May 25). Graduation is due September 18. ...

Linkin Park will headline the Tokyo installment of the Live Earth festival on July 7, RollingStone.com reports. Joss Stone and UB40 will headline the show in Johannesburg, South Africa, while Pharrell will do the honors in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and Shakira will join Snoop and Chris Cornell at the show in Hamburg, Germany. ... Lily Allen sang a "Heart of Glass" duet with Blondie singer Debbie Harry on "The Today Show" Friday morning. ...

Young Jeezy was arrested outside a strip club in the Atlanta area on Thursday morning. According to police, the rapper was busted for disorderly conduct following a verbal altercation with several off-duty undercover police officers moonlighting as security guards at the Strokers Club in Clarkson, Georgia. Jeezy was charged with the local ordinance violation and was ordered to pay a $280 fine. There's no word yet on whether he will have to return to court to settle the charges. ...

Brandy is facing yet another lawsuit over the freeway car crash that resulted in the death of a woman in December, according to documents that were filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Friday and obtained by TMZ.com. Mallory Ham -- who was cited in a previous suit for alleged reckless and careless driving -- claims Brandy "recklessly, wantonly, unlawfully and maliciously" operated her car and is seeking compensation for unspecified medical bills, pain and suffering, legal costs and punitive damages. Brandy is facing additional lawsuits over the crash, including a $50 million suit filed by the parents of the victim. ...

Mickey Leigh, brother of the late Joey Ramone, has joined Courtney Love in speaking out against the Dr. Martens ad campaign that features images of Ramone and Kurt Cobain. "Obviously, we are in the same position as Courtney Love, as well as the estates of the others depicted (in the ad)," he said in a statement. "We were never consulted about this ad. We were never asked for permission to use Joey's image or paid for the use of it. As executor of my brother's estate, I never would have approved this ad as Joey never wore these shoes. And, not that my brother was terribly religious, but the fact that he was Jewish, and this ad is not exactly kosher, makes it that much more inappropriate, inconsiderate and contemptible. Though we were about to formulate a statement to the above effect, Courtney certainly has a louder, more influential voice, and I am thrilled that she got through to them." On Thursday, AirWair Ltd. -- the company behind Dr. Martens footwear -- fired Saatchi & Saatchi, the advertising agency behind the ad campaign. ...

Nick Cannon will be honored at the Cannes Film Festival on Friday with the Breakthrough Actor of the Year prize at the Studio Magazine/ Chopard Revelation Awards. Cannon, recognized for his work in "Bobby," is the first black actor to receive the award, and will share it with "The Last King of Scotland" star James McAvoy. Evan Rachel Wood will be presented with the Breakthrough Actress of the Year prize at the event. ... Queens of the Stone Age have announced a handful of U.S. dates in support of their forthcoming release Era Vulgaris, which hits stores June 12. The band has lined up four California shows -- Fresno on June 7, Ventura on June 8, Mountain View on June 9 and Costa Mesa on July 22 -- as well as gigs in Indianapolis (August 4) and Austin, Texas (September 16). ... Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich and his girlfriend, Danish actress Connie Nielsen, welcomed their first child together, a boy they've named Bryce Thadeus Ulrich-Nielsen, on May 21 in San Francisco. This is Ulrich's third child and Nielsen's second. ...

Ace Young is gearing up to release his debut album. The #7 finisher on season five of "American Idol" has signed a deal with S Curve Records (Fountains of Wayne, Joss Stone) for the yet-untitled disc, scheduled to drop in September and be preceded by a single in July. Young will be backed by a full band on the album, which is being executive produced by hitmaker Desmond Child (Kelly Clarkson), with songs written by Diane Warren ('NSYNC, Pussycat Dolls) and Andreas Carlson (Nick Lachey, Britney Spears). Young, who helped write pal Chris Daughtry's first hit, "It's Not Over," said he's writing or co-writing all the tunes on his album as well as working on songs with "everyone," though he declined to name names. "You'll hear it when it happens," he promised. ...

Rodrigo y Gabriela have sold more than 100,000 copies of their self-titled debut, and they hope to attract even more new fans with just-announced appearances at Lollapalooza in Chicago on August 3-5 and the Austin City Limits fest in Texas on September 14-16. ... Neptunes protégé Fam-Lay is set to shoot the video for his underground hit, "Da Beeper Record," featuring Pharrell, on Tuesday in Miami with director Hype Williams. ... Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley, along with his brother Stephen Marley, will headline the Festival Mizik Jakmel, Haiti's first international music festival, this weekend. Twenty-four other acts will also appear and during the event organizers will attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the largest drumming ensemble, collectively gathering 10,000-plus participants. ...

There's no more Free FM in New York. Almost a year and a half after the Big Apple rock station WFNY (92.3 FM) mostly abandoned music in favor of an all-talk format in the wake of Howard Stern's departure for satellite radio, the station is returning to its former call letters, WXRK, and nickname "K-Rock." The station brought back the music at 5 p.m. Thursday with a spin of Nirvana's "All Apologies." Though the Free FM format experiment will continue in a handful of other cities across the country, the New York outlet will lose comedian Nick Di Paolo, Leslie "the radio chick" Gold and a duo known as Ron and Fez, The New York Times reports. Another pair, [article id="1559682"]JV and Elvis, were fired earlier this month[/article] when they made an offensive prank phone call to a Chinese restaurant. The only talk remaining will be the cleaned up syndicated version of the Opie and Anthony radio show. The duo are currently on a 30-day suspension from their XM satellite radio gig after a bit earlier this month in which a character fantasized about sexually assaulting Condoleezza Rice and Laura Bush.