Linkin Park have set a November 18 release date for their live CD and DVD package Live in Texas. The discs will chronicle the band's complete set recorded at their two Texas Summer Sanitarium dates. "The shows were so amazing this summer, we had to record them and share them with our fans," singer Chester Bennington said. Added rapper Mike Shinoda: "Until now, we've never put together anything that captures the energy of what we see at our concerts." ...

System of a Down are writing and rehearsing in Los Angeles for their new album. The follow-up to last year's Steal This Album! is expected in the spring. ... A clip of Korn's "Right Now," the first single from their upcoming album, Take a Look in the Mirror, has been posted on www.korn.com. The follow-up to last year's Untouchables is due November 25. ...

Jessica Simpson will join comedian Paul Rodriguez and members of the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders for the Wayne Newton USO Show, an annual United Service Organization fundraiser. The event will take place Friday at the Hilton Washington in Washington, D.C., and honor General Tommy R. Franks for his service, and entertainer Ann-Margret for her participation in previous USO tours. ... N.E.R.D., the Clipse and Spymob will headline the October 30 Rock the Vote Benefit Concert at the inaugural New Orleans Media Experience, a festival celebrating the best in film, music, advertising and video games taking place October 26 to November 1. ...

In a seeming attempt to rival Cher for the tour that would never end, Kiss and Aerosmith have added another leg to their North American trek. The new dates begin Friday in Mountain View, California, and run through December 20 in Fresno, California. ... The 13-date Tell Us the Truth Tour, for those who can handle it, features Tom Morello's Nightwatchmen, British bard Billy Bragg and Lester Chambers of the Chambers Brothers educating concertgoers on political issues and media and trade reform. Tour information and updates will announced soon. ...

The artists on Atlantic should probably start getting their jewels mailed to them when they travel. First somebody swiped Lil' Kim's Queen Bee necklace a few months ago, now it looks like somebody may have nabbed a chicken-foot charm and necklace belonging to Nappy Roots member Big V. On Wednesday while traveling from Los Angeles to Indianapolis, he put the necklace in his luggage when he checked his bag in the airport. The husky wordsmith thinks somebody working for LAX probably stole it because when the bags arrived in Indiana, his $15,000 worth of jewelry was gone. ... Ultimate Run-DMC, a two-disc CD/DVD package due October 28, commemorates almost two decades of music and video productions by the Kings of Rock. The set includes 18 of the group's hit singles such as "Raising Hell" and their collaboration with Aerosmith, "Walk This Way"; 14 videos, and more. ...

Without ever releasing an album together, INXS and new singer Jon Stevens have parted ways over musical differences. The replacement for the late Michael Hutchence and the surviving members of the band will remain friends, INXS said in a statement. ... A few landmark feathers were put in the RIAA's cap last week. Alan Davis received a six-month jail sentence for illegally selling more than 100 CD compilations via a Web site. Four members of a warez ring pleaded guilty to criminal copyright infringement. And a New Jersey flea market was hit with a lawsuit for selling pirated CDs and cassettes. ...

Influential pop-punk band the Descendents have recorded 20 songs for two upcoming projects. An EP is scheduled for January, and a full-length album will follow in March. The discs will be the band's first studio releases since 1996's Everything Sucks. ... Taking a break from recording his fourth album, British singer Damon Gough, a.k.a. Badly Drawn Boy, will hit the states for a three-week East Coast acoustic tour. The trek begins November 1 in Northampton, Massachusetts, and ends November 18 in Dallas. ...

Sex Pistols singer Johnny Rotten/ Lydon is working with director Penelope Spheeris ("Wayne's World," "Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years") to adapt his autobiography, "Rotten: No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs," to the big screen. The film has yet to be cast and no release date has been set. The 1994 book will be republished in January. ...

10.8.2003

While pop culture won out at the governor's mansion in California, it wasn't doing so well in Maryland, where first lady Kendal Ehrlich took it to task last week when she went gunning for Britney Spears. Speaking at a domestic-violence conference at Hood College on Friday, Ehrlich wanted to blame pop culture for taking precedence over education, so she took a shot at Spears. "It is incredibly important to get that message to young women," she said, when stressing the importance for young women to educate themselves to avoid becoming dependent on anyone else. "You know, really, if I had an opportunity to shoot Britney Spears, I think I would." On Tuesday, she apologized for her unfortunate phrasing, which she called an "inadvertent figure of speech" via her spokesperson. Spears' rep, on the other hand, said that the governor's wife had shot her own self in the foot by promoting violence. Spears is shooting something far less violent, we assume -- her video for "Me Against the Music" with Madonna this week in New York with director Paul Hunter. ...

Joining the ranks of her hip-hop peers, Beyoncé is adding "fashion designer" to her growing list of job titles. The diva announced to the fashion world she's launching two clothing lines with her stylist -- and mom -- Tina Knowles. There's no name or timetable on either yet, but one will be ghetto fabulous couture and the other more hip-hop and street clothes for the masses. ... Vibe magazine announced its nominees for the inaugural Vibe Awards. Artists, cities and icons from hip-hop and R&B are nominated for such distinctions as Tightest Team Players (Lil Jon, Outkast, B2K, Neptunes, the Roots) and Coolest Collabo (Beyoncé and Jay-Z, Snoop and Pharrell, Busta and Mariah Carey, David Banner and Lil' Flip, Lil' Kim and 50 Cent) along with more traditional categories like Artist of the Year (50 Cent, Beyoncé, Sean Paul, Missy Elliott, R. Kelly). There are 10 categories in all, voted on by tastemakers in the music, fashion and film worlds. The ceremony will be broadcast November 21 on UPN. ...

An attorney for Coldplay frontman Chris Martin has asked police in Byron Beach, Australia, to drop a charge of malicious damage against the singer, the BBC reports. The charge was filed in July after Martin allegedly threw a rock at a photographer's windshield, then let the air out of his tires. The magistrate for the case adjourned it until November 21. ... A Perfect Circle will begin a tour on Halloween in San Antonio, Texas. The stint will include a stop at the Voodoo Music Experience on November 2. The tour ends in Louisville, Kentucky, on November 29. ...

The executives at Miramax said it killed Quentin Tarantino to miss the New York premiere of his "Kill Bill" Tuesday night at the Ziegfeld Theater. Tarantino, who couldn't make it because of illness, missed the chance to hang out with the movie's stars, Uma Thurman, David Carradine, Vivica A. Fox, Sonny Chiba, Lucy Liu and Darryl Hannah, who all made it. RZA, who masterminded the movie's score, was also in the place to be. Afterwards, most of the stars trooped over to club Noche. ...

People expecting an end-of-year rush of Roc-A-Fella releases are going to have to be satisfied with Jay-Z's The Black Album until 2004. According to a label spokesperson, the Young Gunz's Tough Luv will now drop January 13, Kanye West's College Dropout is due on January 27 and Cam'ron's Purple Haze is set for a February 17 release. Meanwhile, Ghetto Warfare, the Roc debut from Brownsville screamers M.O.P., will be out sometime before spring. ... Papa Roach entered the studio on Monday to start tracking their new record, tentatively titled Dancing in the Ashes. The disc is being produced by Howard Benson (P.O.D., Cold), and will feature 12 or 13 new songs which the band will winnow from the 15 it has written. ...

Just as all the Backstreet Boys pursue their various solo projects, so do their mothers -- and strangely enough, at least two of them are penning books about what it's like to be phenom moms. A.J.'s McLean's mother, Denise, is getting set to publish "Backstreet Mom," due in December, and Nick Carter's mom, Jane, is working on the similarly titled "BSB's Mom," due early next year. Though she's previously written bios on her sons Nick and Aaron ("The Heart and Soul of Nick Carter" and "Aaron Carter: The Little Prince of Pop"), this time, Jane Carter is focusing on her own life, including what she alleges to be "constant physical and emotional abuse" from the boys' father, Bob, who was arrested for domestic abuse this summer. ... On the heels of her first children's book, "The English Roses," Madonna is getting set to publish her second installment in the five-book series. "Mr. Peabody's Apples" is described as a "story about words and the importance of teachers." The book will available in stores starting November 10. ...

After an initial run of select solo acoustic dates, Jewel is continuing her theater tour sans band for 11 more dates next month. The singer's second leg starts November 21 in Thousand Oaks, California, and continues through December 2 in Long Beach, California. Full dates are listed on her Web site at www.jeweljk.com. Jewel's original tour was canceled due to the death of her touring bassist, Terome "T-Bone" Hannon, who died from a brain aneurysm in September. ... Pete Doherty, frontman for the U.K. band the Libertines, was released from prison on Wednesday (October 8) after a Middlesex court agreed to reduce his sentence. On September 8, he was jailed on charges of burglary after pleading guilty to breaking into his ex-bandmate Carl Barat's apartment on July 25 while the band was in Japan. Doherty admitted to stealing an antique guitar, a VCR, a laptop computer, a CD player and a mouth organ. ...

Former Alice in Chains guitarist Jerry Cantrell played full sets with his backing band on Friday and Saturday at Sammy Hagar's Cabo Wabo Mexican Meltdown in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Musicians included two members from Comes With the Fall -- guitarist William Duvall and bassist Adam Stanger. After the second show, which featured a cover of Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon," Cantrell joined in on an all-star jam, which also included Hagar, Tommy Lee and Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith. ... Vanessa Carlton is midway through recording her second album, which boyfriend Third Eye Blind singer Stephan Jenkins is producing. The sessions are being filmed for a documentary to be released with the album next year. ...

The whole world may not know who Jacki-O is, but the music industry does. Pras and DJs Kay Slay and Red Alert joined some industry insiders Monday night at New York hot spot Lemon for an advance preview of Jacki's debut LP, Poe Little Rich Girl. Besides contributions from Timbaland, Trick Daddy, Ludacris, Jazze Pha and Red Spyda, the LP features the record "Nookie," which is buzzing in the South and Midwest. ... 50 Cent's five nominations leads the contenders for the 15th annual World Music Awards scheduled for Sunday at the Monte Carlo Sporting Club in Monaco and based on international sales figures. Prince Albert of Monaco will present Mariah Carey with an award for sales in excess of 100 million. ...

Bill Yukich, who recently directed a short film for Jay-Z, will helm the video for the first single from Probot, Dave Grohl's death metal side project. Along with guest singer Lemmy from Motörhead, the "Shake Your Blood" clip will feature the SuicideGirls' burlesque troupe. After the video, the girls are touring nationally and hosting a contest through their Web site (www.suicidegirls.com) for local bands to open for them. ... Nas, Outkast's Big Boi and the Chemical Brothers will headline the Audiotistic festival October 18 at the Los Angeles Sports Arena. Talib Kweli, Blackalicious, El-P, Dan the Automator, DJ Q-Bert, Z-Trip, Sandra Collins, DJ Dan, Bad Boy Bill, King Britt, Seb Fontaine and Dave Audé are also on the bill. ...

Mike Doughty has finalized dates for a fall tour, which will kick off October 9 in Farmingdale, New York, and wrap up November 23 in Los Angeles. Three of the shows -- November 13 in Chicago; November 14 in Madison, Wisconsin; and November 15 in Minneapolis -- will feature the former Soul Coughing singer's new band, which played on his as-yet-untitled second solo album, produced by Semisonic singer Dan Wilson. ... On October 15 at 7 p.m., Thursday and Thrice will perform at Apple stores in New York and Santa Monica, California, respectively. The performances will be broadcast live at www.apple.com/quicktime, and recordings of the shows will be available for purchase at Apple's iTunes Music Store. ...

Next month, Iron Maiden's pugilistic drummer, Michael "Nicko" McBrain, will appear in Hempstead District Court in New York to face third-degree assault charges. On Tuesday, a judge set a November 7 date for the case, which involves McBrain intentionally running his car into a parking-lot attendant before an Iron Maiden show in July. ... The Federal Communications Commission has determined that sometimes it's OK to say "f---" on television, much to the chagrin of the Parents Television Council. The PTC had accused dozens of TV stations of violating restrictions on obscene broadcasts by airing the portion of last year's Golden Globe Awards in which U2 frontman Bono said, "This is really, really, f---ing brilliant" after winning an award. On Tuesday, the FCC decided that in the context Bono used it, the word may have been "crude and offensive," but wasn't indecent because it didn't describe "sexual or excretory organs or activities." ...