Bo Bice will return to "American Idol" Thursday (March 9) to perform his single "The Real Thing." The final 12 contenders will be determined during the show. ...

Following in the footsteps of prior cover girls Lindsay Lohan and Mischa Barton, 19-year-old teen queen Amanda Bynes is gracing the April cover of Elle Girl magazine -- as a brunette. [article id="1525759"](Check out pics right here.)[/article] She told the magazine how she's managed to sidestep the tabloids and avoid the mishaps that have plagued her colleagues. "I don't feel like I belong to that world," Bynes told the mag of the Hollywood scene. "The truth is I'm happy in my little life." Instead of party-hopping and making her rounds on the nightclub scene, Bynes said she'd rather stay home with her sister and grandmother, and as far as dating goes, actors need not apply. "There is nothing less attractive than a guy who is a jerk and has an ego," the actress explained. "And if a guy isn't into me, then I'll move on. I'm not wasting my time on that!" ... System of a Down have canceled their annual Souls concert, scheduled for April 23. No reason was given. ... The Black Eyed Peas will release an eight-track EP called Renegotiations: The Remixes March 21 on iTunes and a week later in Best Buy stores. Erick Sermon, DJ Premier, Jazzy Jeff and Pete Rock are among those who remixed Monkey Business tracks for the release. Meanwhile, the Peas' "My Humps" has passed the 2 million mark for sales of master tones (a ring tone taken from the master recording). ...

Beastie Boys will show their new concert film "Awesome, I F---in' Shot That!" on 200 screens across the country on March 23. Information on participating theaters is available at AwesomeIShotThat.com/March23. The screenings will also feature "A Day in the Life of Nathanial Hörnblowér," a 30-minute short created specifically for the event. ... Metallica frontman James Hetfield will be honored with the Stevie Ray Vaughan Award for his devotion to helping other addicts at the second annual MusiCares MAP Fund benefit concert May 12 at the Music Box @ Fonda in Hollywood. Promoter and manager Bill Silva is also being recognized at the event, which will raise funds to allow members of the music community access to addiction-recovery treatment. ... P.O.D.'s forthcoming Warriors Tour 2: Guilty by Association will kick off April 20 in Philadelphia, and so far 24 dates have been lined up. Pillar, the Chariot and Maylene and the Sons of Disaster have been tapped as the support acts on the trek, which is expected to wind down May 21 in Seattle. ...

The list of music icons who've been given the action-figure treatment increased by one this week, with the introduction of the forthcoming Diabolical Biz Markie beat-boxing doll. A mere 1,000 figures will be produced and sold for $70 apiece, and each one comes outfitted in a mesh jersey, hand-tailored jeans, the Biz's trademark old-school kicks, a hat and a Biz ring, as well as a detachable microphone and "booger-pickin' finger." Push his plush belly and sit back as the beat-boxing takes hold of you. ... Two more bands have been added to the Bamboozle bill. AFI and Alexisonfire will take the stage when the festival hits the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey, May 6 and May 7. ... Bruce Springsteen has been added to the lineup for this year's New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, which will be held April 28-30 and May 5-7. Springsteen will perform with the Seeger Sessions Band, who play on his April 25 release of Pete Seeger covers, We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions. Among the hundreds of acts also slated to perform are the Dave Matthews Band, Bob Dylan, Doug E. Fresh, Slick Rick and Robert Randolph & the Family Band. ...

Ghostface, Guster and the Dresden Dolls are among the variety of acts scheduled to perform at the inaugural Green Apple Music & Arts Festival April 20-23 in New York. Slick Rick, Mike Doughty and Blues Traveler are also slated for the show, the biggest Earth Day festival in the U.S. ... Scott Storch, who voiced his frustration with not being nominated for the producer of the year Grammy, is finally being honored by the Recording Academy -- the Philadelphia Chapter, at least. He will receive an Honors award at an April 10 dinner. ... Chris Cornell and wife Vicky opened a restaurant, Black Calavados (BC), in Paris last week with a launch party attended by Pink and several models and designers. Alexandre de Betak, best known for designing the annual Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, designed the restaurant. Cornell, meanwhile, has signed on as the new face of John Varvatos menswear and will perform at the designer's fourth Annual Stuart House Benefit in Beverly Hills, California. ...

Bad Boy Records rapper Black Rob (born Robert Ross) was in court on Wednesday. He agreed to waive extradition to New York to face charges of skipping bail after failing to turn himself in on January 24 to begin a two-to-six-year prison sentence for felony possession of stolen property. A Manhattan district attorney's office spokesperson said the rapper should be arriving in New York before the end of the week after being picked up on a fugitive warrant on February 24. It's possible he could face additional jail time. ... The second annual Intonation Music Festival will take place June 24 and 25 at Chicago's Union Park. Curated by Vice Records, announced headliners for the event include Bloc Party and the Streets. Tickets go on sale Monday. Last year's Intonation was curated by Pitchforkmedia.com. ... Psych-folk rockers Animal Collective are releasing the DVD/EP Grass March 28. The EP contains two new songs, "Must Be Treeman" and "Fickle Cycle," while the DVD features three videos, including ones for "Who Could Win a Rabbit?" and the title track. ... Silverstein drummer Paul Koehler made a recent trip to Capitol Hill to speak out about teen suicide. He joined Congressman Patrick J. Kennedy (D-RI) and Congresswoman Grace Napolitano (D-CA) to request government funding for the Garrett Lee Smith Memorial Act and the Paul Wellstone Mental Health Equitable Treatment Act. Silverstein are part of three tours this year: Warped, Taste of Chaos and Take Action! ...

03.08.2006

Lil Jon's long-awaited entry into adult cinema, "Lil Jon's Vivid Vegas Party," hit video stores this week after months of delays wrought by legal entanglements. According to a press release, Jon was instrumental in every aspect of the DVD, "from coaching the actresses in their fine art to writing a sensual score to accentuate the story line." The DVD is available in "explicit and non-explicit versions" and is the first of two flicks featuring the self-appointed King of Crunk alongside a bevy of adult-film starlets. Jon does not "act" in the movie, although he does pop up "throughout the film during its many intimate scenes and at one point exclaims, 'I love my job!' " ...

Diddy announced Tuesday that he will launch a young women's sportswear line, adding to his Sean John apparel collection, which already boasts sportswear for men. Sean John will team with G-Ill Apparel Group to distribute the contemporary collection, set to debut in spring 2007. ...

Only in Paris Hilton's world could a court issue a restraining order against the actress/celebutante that forces her to stay at least 100 yards away from an event producer who claimed she threatened him -- unless they're at a party together, in which case the distance is shortened to 25 feet. According to The Associated Press, a court commissioner signed off on the unusual three-year order against Hilton, 25, who must stay away from 37-year-old party planner Brian Quintana. Quintana testified last month that Hilton harassed and threatened him after their friendship ended. ...

Metallica will perform a number of classic Black Sabbath tunes in homage to the Ozzy Osbourne-led metal legends, who are part of 2006's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction. The members of Metallica will also introduce Sabbath during the 21st annual induction ceremony, set for Monday in New York. A post on Metallica's Web site states that Sabbath "wrote the book on heavy music, and like many other snot-nosed kids, we read it religiously over and over again. For all of us in Metallica, Black Sabbath are a major influence not only on our music, but on our lives." Kid Rock will also be on hand to present inductees Lynyrd Skynyrd, while Sting will introduce A&M Records founders Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss. ...

Boy George pleaded guilty to a charge of third-degree false reporting on Wednesday (March 8) in a deal that saved him from going to jail. According to an Associated Press report, the former Culture Club singer (real name George O'Dowd) agreed to pay a $1,000 fine, enter a drug-rehabilitation program in England and perform five days of community service in Manhattan to resolve his arrest last year on a cocaine charge. George, 44, was arrested in October after calling 911 to report an alleged burglary of his Manhattan apartment, and when police arrived they found a small pile of cocaine next to his computer. The charge of criminal possession of a controlled substance was dropped as part of the plea bargain. ... In other legal news, New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer filed a lawsuit Wednesday against one of the nation's largest radio chains, Entercom Communications, claiming that it engaged in payola by accepting gifts, trips and cash in exchange for playing certain songs on its 105 stations, according to an AP report. The move signals a switch from Spitzer's previous suits, which have targeted record labels he said used payola to gain airtime. An Entercom spokesperson denied the charges. ...

Smash Mouth singer Steve Harwell has been added to the cast of VH1's "The Surreal Life 6," which already includes Poison's C.C. DeVille, '80s video stalwart Tawny Kitaen and Sherman Helmsley of "The Jeffersons." Smash Mouth's upcoming single, "Story of My Life," is featured in the show, according to the band's publicist, and all the castmembers will appear in the song's video. ...

Good news for fans of Snow Patrol: The countdown to a new album is on. Reps for their label, Interscope Records, have confirmed that the Patrol's new LP, Eyes Open, will hit stores May 9. The albums features 11 cuts, including the first single, "Hands Open," and "Chasing Cars," a song Snow Patrol frontman Gary Lightbody has singled out as a personal favorite. Other tracks include "Beginning to Get to Me," "Make This Go on Forever" and "Headlights." ...

Saves the Day will precede the April 4 release of their forthcoming album, Sound the Alarm, with a 51-date North American tour, which kicks off Wednesday in Santa Cruz, California. The final stop on the trek will be May 7 in East Rutherford, New Jersey, as part of the Bamboozle Festival. ...

Vendetta Red announced Tuesday that they've decided to throw in the towel, confirming months of speculation that the band was inactive. The group released a statement via its MySpace page but offered no explanation as to what caused the split. Vendetta Red will perform for the last time April 8 at El Corazón in Seattle. ...

Argentinean director Alejandro Chomski ("Hoy y Mañana") has been tapped to direct "Reggaeton," which is being co-produced by Jennifer Lopez's Nuyorican Productions. According to Variety, the movie is expected first out of the gate in what is shaping up to be a bumper crop of films based on the bilingual hip-hop/Latin/reggae hybrid style of music. It is slated to begin filming in New York and Puerto Rico in the spring.