On Friday, Ja Rule celebrated his 27th birthday with friends and family at a private dinner party held in his honor at Barcode in Miami's South Beach. While the party happened on February 28th, the rapper's true birthday doesn't even exist this year -- he was born during the leap year on February 29th, 1976. ...

Korn are planning on producing their new, as-yet-untitled LP themselves. Singer Jonathan Davis told the Los Angeles Times that the pace at which the songs are coming together -- 10 songs in three weeks -- is the fastest the band has ever worked. Davis will soon board a bus and travel the country for lyrical inspiration. ...

Radiohead have long praised Sigur Ros in the press, and now they'll have the chance to idolize them in person. The two bands will convene in the coming months to work on a piece of music for a performance by the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, scheduled to debut in October at New York's Brooklyn Academy of Music. Sigur Ros will release a DVD of videos in the spring. Radiohead's new album is due June 10. ...The White Stripes have announced a string of U.S. concert dates set to kick off April 15 in their hometown of Detroit and wrap up April 30 in San Diego. The candy-striped duo are also playing the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on April 27 in Indio, California. ...

Those feeling like last year's Warped Tour passed by a little too quickly can relive the memories with the Vans Warped Tour DVD, set to drop April 1. Live performances from New Found Glory, Bad Religion, Mighty Mighty Bosstones and others from the 2002 trek are combined with backstage footage and interviews. Should you prefer your Warped in the here and now, pre-sale tickets for this summer's tour become available Thursday at www.warpedtour.com. ... Trust Company, Blindside, 30 Seconds to Mars and Pacifier make up the lineup for the fifth annual Cutty Rock the Boat Tour, which begins March 12 in Springfield, Missouri, and ends April 18 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Sevendust headlined last year. ...

Kelly Price has set an April 8 release date for her much delayed third album, Priceless. Eric Clapton, Faith Evans and Keith Murray make appearances. ... Peter Gabriel will return to North America this summer for a second outing to promote his fall album, Up. The amphitheaters tour will kick off June 7 in San Francisco. ...

Longtime friends and fellow frontmen Vinnie Caruana of the Movielife and Daryl Palumbo of Glassjaw have written a bunch of songs together for a side project they've dubbed H.A. Although Caruana noted in an interview that he'd like to record an album and embark on a tour, nothing specific has been set. ... Everclear will hit the road beginning April 1 in Kansas City, Missouri, to support their new album, Slow Motion Daydream, slated for release on March 11. The Exies are scheduled to open the tour, which ends April 22 in Washington D.C. ...

British rockers the Libertines canceled their European tour when vocalist and guitarist Carl Barat was diagnosed with bronchial pneumonia in Hamburg, Germany, on Thursday. The band plans to reschedule the tour in the near future. ... Guitar whiz George Lynch is once again rockin' with Dokken. No, he hasn't rejoined the band, he and his current group Lynch Mob have re-recorded 13 songs that chronicle his career, including four Dokken ditties, "Tooth and Nail," "Kiss of Death," "Breaking the Chains" and "Paris Is Burning." The tracks have all been revamped with different vocal lines and edgier guitar riffery, and will hit the streets April 29. ...

03.03.03

Linkin Park's upcoming Meteora will include a 40-page booklet of photos and commentary, as well as an enhanced CD featuring "The Art of Meteora," a 17-minute documentary about the album cover. A limited-edition version of the LP will include a DVD featuring a film about the band. ...

Memphis' Saliva are shooting a video for "Rest in Pieces," the second single from their latest album, Back Into Your System, in Los Angeles on Monday and Tuesday, with director Diane Martel (Christina Aguilera, Snoop Dogg). The tune, co-written by Mötley Crüe's Nikki Sixx, will surface at radio on the heels of "Always" in the coming weeks... When the Boss talks, his fans listen. Especially in tune are Bruce Springsteen's Tri-State Area fans, who scarfed up the tickets to seven shows with the E Street Band, from July 15-27, at New Jersey's Giants Stadium in record time. Never before in the history of Ticketmaster have seven stadium shows sold out in a single day. ...

Pop singer Anastacia, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in January, has undergone a successful operation. Following the seven-hour procedure, she remained in the hospital two days before being released to recuperate at home with the supervision of a private nurse. Doctors said early detection and prompt action probably saved her life. Anastacia will begin six weeks of radiation therapy in the coming weeks. ... Hank Ballard, lead singer of the Royals (later called the Midnighters) and the songwriter who penned the 1960 #1 hit "The Twist," died of throat cancer in his Los Angeles home on Sunday. Ballard was 76 years old. ...

Newcomer Roscoe, the younger brother of Kurupt, shot a video for his single "Head to Toe" in Atlanta over the weekend with director Bryan Barber (Outkast). Pat "Sleepy" Brown of the production crew Organized Noize (Bubba Sparxxx) is featured on the track, and Goodie Mob's Big Gipp appears in the video. ... Matchbox Twenty and Sugar Ray will embark on the More Than You Think You Are tour on April 25 in New Orleans. The 50-date trek concludes July 6 in Raleigh, North Carolina. Maroon 5 will open through May 31. ... Oasis leader Noel Gallagher will turn up as a guest on the songs "One to Grow On" and "Polaris," the title track from The North Mississippi Allstars' forthcoming album. The follow-up to the blues-rockers' Grammy-nominated 51 Phantom hits stores April 22. ...

Melodic power metal merchants Iced Earth will enter the studio in April to record the follow-up to 2001's Horror Show and last year's covers album, Tribute to the Gods, according to a Web post from founding guitarist and songwriter Jon Schaffer. Schaffer, who is opening a world-history related collectables store in Columbus, Indiana, plans to hire the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra to work on three songs about the Battle of Gettysburg for the album. ... Following months of auditions, black metal veterans Dark Funeral have found an as-yet-unnamed replacement for guitarist Dominion. "While [drummer] Matte [Modin] is out touring with Defleshed, I will practice with this demonic new guy," guitarist Lord Ahriman wrote on the band's Web site. ...

The National Academy of Popular Music/Songwriters Hall of Fame announced on Monday (March 3) that Clive Davis will receive the Hitmaker Award as part of their 34th annual ceremony, taking place June 12 in New York. Martin Bandier, chairman and CEO of EMI Music Publishing, was announced as the Patron of the Arts Award recipient. Phil Collins, Queen, Van Morrison and Little Richard are among those being inducted into the Hall this year. ...

Samoan gangsta rappers Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E. will appear in the end credits for the upcoming Christopher Coppola film "Bloodhead." The group's footage -- which will feature members dancing on a giant spinning turntable and surrounded by smoke and fire -- was shot February 10 to 12 at Raleigh Studios in Hollywood. Coppola is Nicolas Cage's brother and Francis Ford Coppola's nephew. ... This year's version of the annual Detroit Electronic Music Festival will be called Movement 2003 - Detroit's Electronic Music Festival, according to techno pioneer Derrick May, who's producing the event for the first time. The former producers own rights to the DEMF title. ...