Jay-Z's got new beef, this time with Fat Joe. Not really, but the rappers' respective basketball teams in this year's Entertainers Basketball Classic tournament at New York's famed Rucker Park got into a disagreement before the championship game on Monday night. A dispute over which team would occupy the home team's bench resulted in Jay-Z's team refusing to play. Rucker Park commissioner Greg Marius called the game a forfeit -- over a bench -- and said Fat Joe's squad would remain defending champions. ...

Good Charlotte will perform alongside Britney Spears, Aerosmith and Mary J. Blige at the NFL Kickoff Live 2003 event at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on September 4. The all-star performance will end with Aretha Franklin's singing of the national anthem. ... DMX debuted his line of dog apparel, dubbed Boomer 129, at the Q Lounge in New York on Monday night. Pit bulls and rottweilers modeled such items as rain jackets, doo-rags and tank tops. Meanwhile, Fox Searchlight Pictures has acquired the rights to X's next film, "Never Die Alone," and will release the flick later this year. ...

With so many artists already confirmed it's scary, the fifth annual Voodoo Music Experience will once again take place in New Orleans on Halloween, but this year it's a three-day affair. 50 Cent, Marilyn Manson, Godsmack, Queens of the Stone Age, P.O.D., A Perfect Circle and the Donnas top the list of 31 acts slated to perform at New Orleans' City Park. ...

Ricky Martin, Thalia and Alexandre Pires with Kelly Clarkson are among the first wave of performers announced for the fourth annual Latin Grammy Awards, to be held September 3 in Miami. ...

Marc Anthony and his wife, former Miss Universe Dayanara Muñiz, welcomed their new seven-pound bundle of joy into the world this weekend. The couple's second child, Ryan Anthony Muñiz, was born in New York at 11:40 a.m. on Saturday. ...

Old-school L.A. punk figure Brendan Mullen -- who promoted shows at the Masque, among other claims to fame -- is taking on Jane's Addiction for his next project. He's writing the first authorized biography on the band, to be called "Whores: An Oral History of Perry Farrell and Jane's Addiction." The book is due in 2005 from Da Capo Press. ... To promote his upcoming album, Some of My Best Friends Are DJs, due out in October, turntablist Kid Koala is staging a contest through mom-and-pop record stores around the country. One lucky winner will receive a private home performance by the DJ maestro and will get to keep all the equipment, including turntables, a Rane mixer and speakers. Koala's girlfriend has also promised to cook dinner for the lucky fan. For a list of participating stores, check the Coalition of Independent Music Stores site, www.cimsmusic.com. ...

While Scott Weiland focuses his energy on Velvet Revolver and Robert and Dean DeLeo anxiously await the reception to the Alien Ant Farm record they produced, Atlantic Records is gearing up to release a Stone Temple Pilots greatest-hits collection called Thank You that will include 14 songs culled from the band's five albums as well as an acoustic version of "Plush" and the previously unreleased track "All in the Suit That You Wear." Both the CD and a DVD (compiling all of the band's videos with live and home-video footage) are tentatively scheduled to be released November 4, according to the Stone Temple Pilots Web site. The Alien Ant Farm record truANT hit stores this week. ...

Icelandic critical darlings Sigur Rós have begun work on their fourth full-length album, according to the band's official news site. Live recordings of three new tracks -- "Gong," "Milanó" and "Salka" -- can be found at www.sigur-ros.co.uk. ... Illvastar, the ex-bassist of the Norwegian black metal band Svartahrid, has been sentenced to a year in prison for defiling a corpse. The metal maniac broke into a mortuary on June 14, decapitated a corpse with a knife, and brought the severed head to a party near the southeastern town of Skien. A guest at the party reported Illvastar to the police. The bassist, who had been drinking moonshine and smoking, had no memory of the beheading. ...

Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider's brother-in-law was shot and killed on Monday while walking to work in Midtown New York. Vincent Gargiulo, 34, was slain one block from where he was employed as a construction worker. Police have no substantial leads. ... Despite their name, Rush are in no hurry to release their massive triple-CD live album, Rush in Rio. It, and its accompanying double DVD, have been pushed back to a late October release. ...

Outtakes from Johnny Cash's work with producer Rick Rubin, which yielded four American Recordings albums over the last decade, will surface on the tentatively titled Unearthed box set. Expected to drop by Christmastime, four of the set's five discs will be composed of previously unreleased material, while the fifth will serve as a greatest-hits disc. ... Singer/songwriter Howie Day will follow-up his debut, Australia, with Stop All the World Now on October 7. The LP's first single, "Perfect Time of Day," has begun to surface at radio, and beginning September 28, Day will be accompanied by a full band on tour for the first time. ...

Ben & Jerry are watching their dreams melt before their eyes. A week before the ice-cream-making duo's scheduled 25th anniversary party in Middletown, New York, their One World One Heart Festival has been canceled because of poor ticket sales. The bash was to take place August 23 and 24 and feature such acts as Third Eye Blind, George Clinton and Parliament/Funkadelic, Tracy Chapman and others. But only 1,000 of the venue's 30,000 seats were sold. ... Chapman, Alicia Silverstone, Woody Harrelson and others have signed on to participate in We the Planet, an eco-friendly tour hoping to spark dialogue concerning global issues. The group will travel the country in hippie-like fashion, via a bus powered by vegetable oil and bio-diesel fuel, and hit up universities and communities across the nation from September 11 to November 9. ...

08.18.03

Jack Osbourne is making his big-screen debut alongside none other than the Olsen twins. In the Warner Bros. comedy "New York Minute," Osbourne will play the manager of Mary-Kate Olsen's character Roxy, a rebellious teen punk rocker. ...

A judge is deciding whether to throw out a civil lawsuit filed against Eminem by his alleged childhood bully, DeAngelo Bailey. Arguments were heard Monday in the Macomb County Circuit Court pertaining to a motion to dismiss filed by Em's defense attorney several weeks ago. A trial date remains set for August 26. ... Sean Paul wasn't present Saturday night, but Snoop Dogg was yelling for someone to just give him the light -- and the smoke -- at the Rock the Mic Tour stop at Jones Beach Theater in Wantagh, New York. The Dogg told the audience that he has officially ended his weed-smoking retirement, and he even had a song and dance to celebrate his return, which included the line "Smoke weed, get drunk and f---." ...

The video for Metallica's next single, "Frantic," is posted on the band's Web site (www.metallica.com) for early viewing. Two versions of the commercially released single, each with different B-sides, are due out September 15. ... Cam'ron has set a December 9 release date for his latest album, Purple Hayes. In the meantime, the rapper, who guests on R. Kelly's "Snake" remix, has invested in a nightclub in Columbus, Ohio, called Club Envy. ... Juelz Santana, Cam'ron's Diplomats mate, is also showing his entrepreneurial side, opening a boutique in New York's Harlem neighborhood featuring his own designs and named after his latest single, "Santana's Town." The rapper's solo debut, From Me to U, is due Tuesday. ...

There aren't too many things that robust rhyme ripper Bone Crusher can do without being noticed. But very quietly the Atlanta MC has been working on his second LP. His spokesperson said Bone is only three weeks away from being done and is scheduled to put the project out in December. ... It's going to be quite a while before we see the video for the Big Tymers' collaboration with R. Kelly, "Gangsta Girl." The single will no longer be the

first release from the duo's October release, Big Money Heavyweights. They have now decided to go with "This Is How We Do" and make "Gangsta Girl" the second single. ...

JC Chasez and DJ Rap make cameo appearances in the video for BT's "Simply Being Loved (Somnambulist)," the first single from the just-released Emotional Technology. BT is planning to launch a national tour with a full band in October. ... Xzibit is resurrecting his Rhyme Night hip-hop showcase on September 6 at Hollywood's Sixteen-Fifty. Defari will perform at the event, and rappers can audition for a slot in the show August 30 at the same venue. ... The CMJ Music Marathon has announced the first crop of confirmed bands for the annual festival and convention, set for October 22-25. The Broken Social Scene, My Morning Jacket, Mars Volta and the Shins are among the bands set to take the stage at dozens of New York clubs, while Yoko Ono has signed on as a featured speaker. ...

Influential Los Angeles radio station KROQ-FM is celebrating a resurgence in '80s-inspired rock with a Flashback to the Future theme for its third annual Inland Invasion concert. Hot Hot Heat, Interpol, Fountains of Wayne and Dashboard Confessional will join the Cure, Duran Duran, Violent Femmes, Echo & the Bunnymen, Psychedelic Furs, Bow Wow Wow, General Public, Soft Cell, Berlin and Flock of Seagulls at the event, September 20 at Hyundai Pavilion. ... The complete lineup for the annual Bumbershoot festival finds headliners R.E.M., Evanescence, Wilco, Common and De La Soul coupled with acts such as Kinky, the Decemberists and the Garfield High School Jazz Quintet. The highlight of Seattle's three-day music-and-arts festival, August 29-September 1, has to be the Amazing Space Harp -- the result of the Los Angeles-based MASS Ensemble attaching a 6,000-foot wire to the ends of the Space Needle landmark and playing it like a harp three times a day. ...

At a recent tour stop in Phoenix, self-professed metalheads Sum 41 were joined onstage by former Megadeth bassist David Ellefson for the song "Pain for Pleasure." ... Dan the Automator is teaming up with Glassjaw's Daryl Palumbo (on vocals, bass and guitar) and Larry Gorman (on drums) for a new project called Head Automatica. The band, which Palumbo described in a statement as "dark and futuristic, with a blend of garage and dance," will enter the studio next month to record its debut album. ...

Mark Lanegan, former Screaming Trees frontman and current member of Queens of the Stone Age, will be releasing a new EP in September. Titled Here Comes That Weird Chill, the album features the single "Methamphetamine Blues." ... Mos Def and Talib Kweli will deliver a joint keynote lecture at the Field Museum's International Hip-Hop and Social Change Conference to be held in Chicago October 3-5. The conference will focus on the significance of artistic activity in the hip-hop community and its relation to social change. ...

"I'm a Roustabout," a rare, unreleased Elvis Presley song, will be included on the compilation Elvis 2nd to None, due October 7. The song was recently unearthed after songwriter Winfield Scott mentioned the song offhandedly to a reporter. ... Carlos Santana joined Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals onstage Friday at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, California. Santana added his guitar flavor to the single "With My Own Two Hands" and a cover of Jimi Hendrix's "Voodoo Chile." ...

Scottish septet Belle and Sebastian have set October 7 as the release date for their fifth album, Dear Catastrophe Waitress. But this 13-song LP is not the only output expected from the group this year: Belle and Sebastian are also planning on hitting the shelves with "Fans Only," a DVD/VHS collection of their live performances and TV appearances. Look for it later this fall. ... KMFDM will tour in support of their next album, WW111, due September 23. The outing begins October 17 in Seattle and crosses the country before ending in the same city November 25. ...

Mick Jagger has finally discovered the Internet. Beginning Monday, Rolling Stones songs will be available through legitimate digital download services. RealNetworks' Rhapsody gets first crack at the tracks, offering tunes from the band's 1971 LP Sticky Fingers and beyond as burnable downloads two weeks ahead of its competition. The earlier material from the band's time spent on the ABKCO label, including the albums Let It Bleed and Beggars Banquet, are offered as streaming audio only. You really can't always get what you want. ...

Kings of Leon, currently on the Lollapalooza lineup, will embark on a headlining tour to support their debut album, Youth and Young Manhood, which drops August 19. The month-long stretch of dates begins September 4 in Philadelphia. ...

The Crystal Method's third studio album, Legion of Boom, will be released on V2 Records later in the year. Filter's Richard Patrick is among the album's guests. ... Maroon 5, whose "Harder to Breathe" is still gaining radio airplay more than a year after it was first released, will embark on their first headlining national tour this fall. The outing, with Gavin DeGraw opening, begins September 24 in Modesto, California, and wraps November 26 in Las Vegas. ...

Boy George and Rosie O'Donnell's Broadway musical "Taboo" isn't slated to open until November, but previews are going to start next month at New York's Plymouth Theater. "Taboo," which had a 15-month run in London, stars the former Culture Club singer as Leigh Bowery, a performance artist/designer in 1980s London who comes face to face with a brash young thing named ... Boy George (played by Euan Morton). Previews begin October 24, while opening night will be November 13. ... Billboard will honor Sting with the Century Award at the Billboard Music Awards December 10 in Las Vegas. Late Billboard editor Timothy White, a close friend of Sting's, created the award in 1994. Annie Lennox was honored last year. ...