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It's going to be in the desert. And when you fly into Las Vegas, it'll be the first thing you see. No, it's not the cracked skin of dazed gamblers emerging from casinos, nor errant golf balls whacked from ridiculously well-watered courses, nor even the modest Hooters Restaurant and Hotel across the street from the MGM Grand. No, what future travelers to Las Vegas may possibly first see as they descend into the Nevada desert is a 50 FOOT ROBOTIC REPLICA OF MICHAEL JACKSON WITH LASER BEAMS SHOOTING OUT OF IT. And people think our culture is crumbling. Even worse? Paul McCartney may be involved. Heather Mills messed with his brain, man.

Michael Jackson may build a 50-foot robotic replica of himself for Las Vegas if he decides to launch a regular show in the casino city, according to a US report.

The giant Jacko would be visible from incoming flights as it stalked the desert shooting laser beams, the firm behind the design told the New York Daily News.

The newspaper also reported that according to one source former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney was considering investing in the potential long-term show.

Andre Van Pier has apparently designed the Jackson robot and sketched out a stage set featuring a giant audience-interactive video game with human cyborgs controlled by the audience.

"Michael's looked at the sketches and likes them," said his partner at Luckman Van Pier, Mike Luckman.

He added of the robot: "It would be in the desert sands.

"Laser beams would shoot out of it so it would be the first thing people flying in would see.

"Neon is wonderful, but it's old school."

Last month Jackson's spokeswoman Raymone Bain confirmed he was "reviewing and evaluating" proposals for his future including several offers to perform in Las Vegas.

The star is currently living in the Nevada city. Ms Bain told the Daily News: "He hasn't made up his mind about whether a Vegas show is in the cards for him.

"He's been in the studio since November working on his music. He's been presented with various proposals. A Vegas show isn't a priority.

Tagged as: Music

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Sh*t Is On Fire, Yo

Posted on March 27, 2007 at 11:29 AM

Comically disturbing news from southern California today as Mary Weiland, of the Toluca Lake Weilands, AKA Mr. and Mrs. Velvet Revolver, was arrested for the awesomely rock n' roll charges of felony arson vandalism. Here's a brief rundown of the happy couple's weekend: Scott and Mary checked into a Burbank hotel. Mary trashed the place. The cops showed up. Scott and Mary went home. Mary took Scott's clothes into the yard and burned them. The cops showed up. What they were doing in a hotel not so far from their own house is anyone's guess, but the Weilands certainly made the most of their stay. As long as Slash's top hat is fine, I'm certainly OK with Scott's getups going up in flames. Deets:

The wife of Velvet Revolver singer Scott Weiland was arrested in the torching of his clothes outside their Toluca Lake home hours after the couple brawled at a luxury hotel, police said Monday.

Mary Weiland, 31, was booked for investigation of felony arson vandalism after officers responded to a call Saturday night that a female was burning clothes. They found a trash can full of smoldering clothes, Sgt. Mathew Ferguson said.

Officers called Weiland, who said the wardrobe was worth $10,000, Ferguson said. The couple’s children, ages 4 and 6, were placed in the custody of family friends.

The arrest culminated a rowdy weekend for Weiland and his wife.

Police were called to the nearby Graciela Burbank Hotel earlier Saturday after the couple got into an argument that left two rooms vandalized, Ferguson said.

“Both rooms had damage and items scattered, broken plates and things. It was looking definitely like items were deliberately destroyed,” Ferguson said. He said the amount of damage exceeded $400.

Mary Weiland was at the hotel with the couple’s children when police arrived. She voluntarily went to the police station to give a statement. Weiland, 39, showed up later with his attorney to give a statement.

“She is a suspect in the vandalism. He is not,” Ferguson said.

Ferguson said hotel owners would have to decide if they want Mary Weiland prosecuted for vandalism, which would be a felony because damage exceeded $400.

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Rock In A Hard Place

Posted on March 26, 2007 at 09:50 AM

If you are a regular reader of the Wall Street Journal's weekend edition (and who isn't), then you likely caught this fascnating piece that ran on Saturday. The article outlines the efforts of Armed Forces Entertainment (AFE), a private sector group, to bring rock and country acts to Iraq, Afghanistan and other parts of the world where U.S. troops are based. It's a win/win situation: troops are entertained - many seeing concerts for the first time in their lives - and bands get exposure, playing for several thousand overseas, compred to several hundred at home. Edison, the Niki Barr Band and Ballantine are just some of the acts featured in the piece. Snippet below, follow link for the entire read.

For the four members of Edison, a hard-rock group, the question of whether to go to Iraq prompted some heated discussions. The group had mainly been playing bars in Connecticut and New York City when AFE contacted singer Ethan Isaac to ask if he and his group would consider a tour to the Middle East. Mr. Isaac had done an AFE tour of Europe with a previous band.

Mr. Isaac and two other band members were enthusiastic, but lead guitarist Jonathan Svec refused. A staunch opponent of the war, he worried about the symbolism of working with the military. "Are we the entertainment cog that gets thrown in to help keep the war machine turning?" he remembers thinking.

He also had a paralyzing fear of flying in helicopters, which would be the group's main transportation in Iraq. His bandmates suggested he try hypnosis or counseling. Eventually, Mr. Isaac signed Edison up anyway, and Mr. Svec gave in, worrying that he was being selfish.

Mr. Svec assumed that his father, who had served as a drill sergeant during the Vietnam War, would support the idea. But instead, when Mr. Svec broke the news at a family party that he was going to Iraq, his father said, "No, you're not," and walked away. Three weeks before the band was to leave, a friend of Mr. Isaac's was killed in Iraq by a roadside bomb, and Mr. Isaac's family asked him to reconsider. Mr. Isaac was shaken but says the tragedy made the tour seem even more important.

Getting to Iraq was a challenge of its own. The group had to disassemble their amplifiers to meet weight restrictions on the commercial flights overseas. Half of their equipment got lost between England and the United Arab Emirates, resulting in a 10-day hiatus in Dubai that almost scuttled the tour.

Soon, though, the band was hovering over Iraq, strapped into the seats of a C-130 jet as the pilot made a swerving combat landing to avoid potential enemy fire. At their first shows, they played to fairly reserved audiences, partly due to the ban on alcohol. But at Forward Operating Base Sykes, near Iraq's border with Syria, something changed.

With the temperature outside topping 110 degrees, Edison took the stage in an air-conditioned mess hall packed with several hundred soldiers. The band launched into "Helter Skelter" by the Beatles. In front of the stage, a camouflaged throng sang, danced and pumped their fists. Some soldiers strummed their unloaded machine guns like electric guitars. "It was the most moving musical thing that has ever happened to me," Mr. Isaac says.

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Paul McCartney Signs To Starbucks

Posted on March 22, 2007 at 11:53 AM

Would you like some ex-Beatle living legend who has been slow to embrace the digital age which may be a key reason why Capitol Records has pulled back on the promo machine for his solo releases thus leading Sir Paul to look at other options which has led him to signing a deal with a coffee shop with your half-caf double shot venti mocha frappucino?

Starbucks said on Wednesday former Beatle Paul McCartney would be the first musician to release an album on the coffee shop chain's new Hear Music record label.

The announcement was made by Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz at the company's annual meeting in Seattle.

McCartney, 64, appeared at the meeting via satellite from London, and said his move reflected the challenges facing the ailing record business as acts look for innovative ways to sell CDs in the face of competition from Internet piracy and rival forms of entertainment, like videogames
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In the United States, overall album sales so far this year are down almost 17 percent from last year at 99.2 million units, according to tracking firm Nielsen SoundScan. CDs are increasingly being seen as mere marketing tools for more-lucrative endeavours such as touring and merchandising.

McCartney is a popular live act -- his 2002 tour was the top draw in North America with ticket sales of $103 million (52 million pounds) -- but veteran artists rarely see such success translate into album sales.

McCartney, who is going through a bitter divorce from wife Heather Mills, said he was aiming to release the as-yet-untitled album in early June.

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She's Out

Posted on March 21, 2007 at 09:28 AM

She's out. Britney Spears has completed her stint in rehab and, like her new website, is ostensibly a whole new poptart. And what a week to return to the real world - Kevin Federline is celebrating his 29th birthday! If you'd like to wish him a happy birthday, head to Eleven in West Hollywood tonight or Pure in Las Vegas on Saturday. I'll be there in spirit. Or not.

After nearly a month of seclusion in a luxurious rehabilitation center, Britney Spears has moved on.

The pop star checked out of Promises Malibu Alcohol and Drug Rehab Treatment Facility "after successfully completing their program," Spears' manager, Larry Rudolph, said in a statement released by Jive Records late Tuesday.

He asked that Spears' privacy be respected.

Spears, 25, entered the facility Feb. 22, after a bout of bizarre behavior that included shaving her head, getting tiny lips tattooed on her wrist and beating a car with an umbrella. Photos of the incidents were instantly beamed worldwide.

Federline, who released his debut album in November, is celebrating his 29th birthday on Wednesday. Two bashes have been planned — one on Wednesday at West Hollywood nightclub Eleven and another on Saturday at Pure Nightclub in Las Vegas, said Federline's publicist Marilyn Lopez.

"Shaving her head and getting a tattoo. It's the same as people cutting themselves with razor blades, cutters," Howard Samuels, a clinical psychologist at Wonderland residential treatment center, told The Early Show. "It's a way of acting out so you don't deal with the underlying issues that you're feeling at the time. To me, that's what that was all about."

With her stay there, Spears joined a long list of other celebrities who have trekked to the facility to overcome addictions. Promises alumni includes Ben Affleck, Charlie Sheen, Diana Ross and Matthew Perry.

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Tagged as: Current Affairs

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What Critics Say - Do You Care?

Posted on March 20, 2007 at 03:22 PM

Everyone hates Nickelback, and everyone knows that. Everyone except the millions of people who buy Nickelback's music. So do people listen to critics? Fall Out Boy were slaughtered by critics earlier in their career but have been picking up raves for their new album.

Do you care what critics say? Do you say you don't care but then secretly like it when critics like what you like?

Few bands inspire such intense hatred as Nickelback.

The post-grunge Canadian quartet has been trashed, bashed and hated on by countless critics, music snobs and other like-minded souls. So have much-maligned acts like Hinder, a rock band from Oklahoma; the Grammy-winning Black Eyed Peas, who have spawned infectious rap hits "My Humps" and "Don't Phunk With My Heart"; and Britney Spears, who in her heyday ruled radio but was condemned for everything from her voice to not writing her own songs.

Yet these acts have sold millions upon millions of albums. So are the critics wrong? Do music buyers have bad taste? Is this karmic payback to all the haters?

"There are some bands that, let's face it, are critic-proof," said Nathan Brackett, a senior editor at Rolling Stone. "Just like there are some movies that are critic-proof. Nobody is really reading the reviews for `Norbit,' you know? And nobody's reading Nickelback reviews either."

That might be a good thing. Nickelback's "All the Right Reasons," which debuted at No. 1 on the charts in the fall of 2005 and was still number 16 this week, was called "hard-rock ridiculousness" by The New York Times and "unspeakably awful" by Allmusic.com. Even the late Nirvana frontman and grunge icon Kurt Cobain would disapprove, suggested Rolling Stone, which called the disc "so depressing, you're almost glad Kurt's not around to hear it."

Young people who "are introduced to these bands on the radio, they don't have a lot of baggage," Brackett said. "A lot of kids don't care if an act, you know, kind of took their guitar sound from some other band."

Post-grunge outfits like Nickelback and Hinder continue to be popular — or wreak havoc, whatever your opinion — in part because they appeal to the estrogen set, said Craig Marks, editor in chief of Blender magazine. A "slightly hipper band" will sell more albums to guys than girls, he said.

"They're selling a lot of records to very casual music fans who don't buy a lot of CDs," Marks said. "When you're selling 5 million albums like Nickelback or 2 1/2 million like Hinder, and especially when you're making your mark with big ballads that are kind of wedding songs, then you're selling records to both males and females. And that's often how you get from selling 1 1/2 million records to selling 4 or 5 million records."

When "teenage girls or tween girls like an artist, that's often a sign that ... the artist isn't cool," said Marks, who also gives Spears as an example. "You know, `My little sister likes them.'"

Advertisements, music reviews and fashion trends tell us that "cool" is an edgy rapper, an up-and-coming hipster band or a British chanteuse like Amy Winehouse. Cool is not Nickelback or the Black Eyed Peas. They're not so uncool that they're cool, like Fountains of Wayne.

They're just, in a word, uncool.

Chris St. Peter, 26, of New York, witnessed this hatred years ago at a concert in Boston, where Nickelback was opening for another band in front of an indie-rock crowd.

"They threw batteries at them, which is also terrible but also really funny," St. Peter said. "Nickelback represented everything I think they hated."

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New Brit Site, New Brit Brit

Posted on March 19, 2007 at 09:56 AM

Let the P.R. cycle begin. Recently aerodynamically-headshaved and rehab-entered (and exited) Britney Spears has a whole new site, and it looks Britney. The old Britney, that is. Splashed right across the front page is a photo of the classic Spears - no sign of the current Britney. More importantly, the most prominent item on the page is a place to send your notes of inspiration to the demon-battling pop star. 2007 - the year of the new old Britney?

Tagged as: Current Affairs

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Embers Of Van Halen Appear At Ceremony

Posted on March 13, 2007 at 11:42 AM

How the mighty have fallen. In the 70s and 80s, Van Halen ruled the world. Even following the departure of David Lee Roth, the Sammy Hagar-led VH soldiered on successfully through the turn of the 90s. Then, Sammy left acrimoniously. Then Gary Cherone came in and lent his manliness. Then Eddie lost part of his tongue due to mouth cancer brought on by smoking. Then Michael Anthony released a line of hot sauces. Then Michael Anthony toured with Sammy Hagar. Then Eddie kicked Anthony out and replaced him with his FIFTEEN YEAR OLD SON, Wolfgang. Then they announced a reunion tour for this summer, featuring David Lee Roth (but of course no Michael Anthony). Then Eddie went into rehab last week. Then Van Halen was inducted into the Rock n' Roll Hall Of Fame last night. Who performed? Velvet Revolver (ugh) with Sammy and Michael hanging around. Van Halen, please, call it a day.

Eminent American rock combos R.E.M. and Van Halen, punk poet Patti Smith, pioneering hip-hop outfit Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five and influential girl group the Ronettes were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last night (March 12) during a ceremony at New York's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. For the first time, the event was broadcast live on VH1 Classic.

Van Halen, whose planned summer reunion tour with David Lee Roth derailed in recent weeks, was represented only by Roth's replacement, Sammy Hagar, and original bassist Michael Anthony, who was unceremoniously booted from the band in the past year. Roth reportedly refused to attend the ceremony after squabbling with Rock Hall organizers about what songs he would perform, and neither of the Van Halen brothers were on hand (Eddie Van Halen entered rehab for undisclosed reasons last week).

Instead, Velvet Revolver performed a medley of "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love" and "Best of Both Worlds," while Hagar and Anthony jammed on "Why Can't This Be Love" with the house band. "I can't tell you how much I wish everyone was here tonight," Hagar said. "[But] I think Eddie's going to come out the other side a better person, and maybe we'll get our buddy back. You couldn't have kept me from here with a shotgun." Added Anthony, "I'd like to say god bless you to Edward Van Halen. He's home getting some help. I love you, man."

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Click Five Temporarily Click Four

Posted on March 12, 2007 at 11:29 AM

Well this is a pickle. Looks like the Click Five are currently a Click Quartet - vocalist Eric Dill has left the band. No reason is given on their MySpace page, but perhaps he tired of the helicopter rides and those sweet, sweet three part harmonies. The band wish him luck on his future endeavors. Of course they do. In the meantime, they've gotten a new frontman. He'll whittle his fanny in front of fans on their next tour, which will support their second album, due this year. From their MySpace page:

Hey Everyone! We hope you are all doing great! We are excited to announce that we have brought on a new singer. After several years of playing together we have decided to part ways with Eric. We know he will be missed by many and we wish him the best success in his other endeavors. All that said, things are getting very exciting for The Click Five! Get ready because the first single off our sophomore record will be hitting the airwaves within the next month, and we'll be revealing the new singer as soon as we get some hot topless shots of him for you!

Changes come with the seasons and we are excited that this Spring is going to be the rebirth of everything we love about music. We'll see you in your city soon!

Tagged as: Music

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Your Friday Rehab Report

Posted on March 9, 2007 at 10:11 AM

This is nice and condescending: Joe Simpson, father and manager of Jessica Simpson and Ashlee Simpson vows her daughters will never end up like Britney Spears:

While Joe feels sorry for Spears' predicament, he believes his daughters would never follow the same path as the troubled Toxic star.

He says: "I would never let that happen to my daughters. Hopefully, her family will take care of the situation."

In other Britney news, Timbaland and ex-bf Justin Timberlake have volunteered to revive Britney's music career:

"I asked Justin, 'How would you feel about me working with Britney?' I had to ask him that. I said, 'Would you do it with me?'

"He said he would. Britney's just got to be serious. I just want to hold her hand. I want her to be in my camp, to be around Justin. I need Justin to talk to her. Help her, please!"

And finally, Eddie Van Halen [above] may have indefinitely delayed the proposed Van Halen reunion with David Lee Roth (but no Michael Anthony, which is BS) by entering rehab:

"I have always and will always feel a responsibility to give you my best. At the moment I do not feel that I can give you my best," Van Halen wrote.

"That's why I have decided to enter a rehabilitation facility to work on myself, so that in the future I can deliver the 110 percent that I feel I owe you and want to give you."

Van Halen's move seems to confirm earlier speculation that his band's ballyhooed summer tour, featuring the return of David Lee Roth on vocals, was off.

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Tagged as: Current Affairs

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Madden Gets Violent...

Posted on March 8, 2007 at 09:38 AM

...Film at 11. According to Bevery Hills Police Dept. sources, Good Charlotte vocalist Joel Madden is under investigation following an incident in which he allegedly struck a photographer. Not good. Also, the reporter is female. Really not good. The phemale photog claims he struck her on her left breast. Really, really not good. Good Charlotte? Really, really, really...

The Beverly Hills Police Department is investigating rocker Joel Madden, after a female photographer filed a "crime report" claiming he attacked her during a violent confrontation Sunday night, tmz.com reports.

According to police sources, the woman claimed Madden struck her on the left breast "with the heel of his hand" as the rocker tried to escort his girlfriend, Nicole Richie, out of the back door of Mr. Chow restaurant in Beverly Hills. The photographer told tmz that she has a welt to prove it.

Police representatives told tmz that they take every claim seriously, and a crime report was taken on this incident.

Madden, the lead singer for the band Good Charlotte, dated singer-actress Hilary Duff for 2 – years, but their relationship ended in 2006.

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Tagged as: Current Affairs

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Linkin Park To The End Of The World

Posted on March 7, 2007 at 11:10 AM

Take a wild guess as to how long it's been since the last Linkin Park album. Go ahead. That's right, it's been FOUR years. Meteora rocked our world way back in 2003. So what have the LP boys been doing since then? Well for one thing, they've been holed up with producer du millenium Rick Rubin. The Beastie Boys, Tom Petty and Red Hot Chili Peppers producer - to say nothing of Johnny Cash - was brought in to craft what Chester Bennington is implying is a departure from the band's established sound. The album title, Minutes To Midnight, refers to the famed Doomsday Clock meant to track mankind's march to self-destruction. So it's a happy record.

Linkin Park are set to release their new album 'Minutes To Midnight' on May 14.

The album will be the first new material from the band since 2003's 'Meteora'.

Frontman Chester Bennington declared the LP would change the way people think about the band.

He said: "What people have known Linkin Park as, and how they will know them as when they first hear the album ... that's going to change. The way we've been classified, and how people think they know us, that's all going to die."

Speaking about the concept behind the album he told MTV News: "The title is a reference to the Doomsday Clock, which was created by these scientists at the University of Chicago after the United States dropped the atomic bomb on Japan to end World War II.

"Given the idea that mankind now had this ultimate destructive power, they were contemplating what the repercussions of this would be and the idea and the idea that the end of the world could be imminent."

Bennington also had high praise for the new track 'The Little Things You Give Away', saying it was "the pinnacle of what we can achieve as a band...(it will) touch people in a way Linkin Park haven't touched people before... It's a huge explosion of sound, over six minutes long, and it's truly, completely amazing. And I can't wait for people to hear it".

The album is co-produced by band member Mike Shinoda and Rick Rubin.

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Jared Leto Breaks Nose

Posted on March 6, 2007 at 03:03 PM

That Jared Leto can take a licking and keep on ticking. The 30 Seconds To Mars frontman rushed into the crowd at an El Paso Taste Of Chaos show and was promptly trampled. Note to self: Never run into an El Paso crowd. Of course this isn't the first time Jared's gotten physical; last fall he famously scuffled with Elijah Wood. The moral of the story? Stay away from 30 Seconds To Mars shows. Or maybe the moral of the story is avoid El Paso. Or perhaps it's pass the old El Paso. Actually, here goes: if you're too popular, you'll break your nose.

Jared Leto suffered a broken nose after being trampled by his fans.

The 'Fight Club' star was performing with his band 30 Seconds to Mars when he ran into the El Paso crowd and was "rushed by fans". He suffered a broken nose and minor injuries to his foot, face and body.

Tour manager Kevin Lyman said: "In all my 25 years of producing shows this was one of the scariest moments I have seen. We all hope Jared has a speedy recovery."

Despite his injuries, Leto, 35, finished the show, even declaring it one of his best ever.

He later checked into hospital to discover if his injuries required surgery.

The 'Chapter 27' star and his band were performing in the Taste of Chaos tour, with other band including The Used and Senses Fail.

Last October, Leto had an altercation with Elijah Wood at an MTV awards ceremony after Elijah told him he wasn't impressed with his band.

Wood said: "He was basically upset at the fact that I said I didn't like his band.

"He said that initially and then walked away. I guess he thought I was laughing at him, but I was more shell-shocked and telling people around me, 'Whoa, I just got told off by Jared Leto for not liking his band.' And that's when he came back and grabbed me."

Tagged as: Current Affairs

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Don't Be, Um, Cruel

Posted on March 5, 2007 at 01:00 PM

Life is one big reality show. Or you could be forgiven for thinking so, especially following this bizarre episode from the Commonwealth Of Massachusetts (I watched The Practice too much) - Bobby Brown was arrested while watching his daughter compete in a cheerleading contest. He went to jail. He was bailed out by a radio station. They wanted to interview him. He said no. He paid them their bail money back. He is even more pathetic now than ever. Oh and he was arrested for failing to make child support payments.

Almost as soon he was sprung from jail by a radio station's money, Bobby Brown and Hot 99.5 FM bailed on the deal.

The 38-year-old R&B singer spent three nights in a Massachusetts jail last week for failing to pay child support. He was released after the station paid the US$19,150 he owed on the condition that Brown appear on "The Kane Show" for a week. He was to discuss the case and how he could turn his life around during studio appearances beginning Monday.

But Brown backed out of an on-air phone interview with the morning show Friday, saying he hadn't agreed to be an employee of the station.

"That wasn't our deal," said Brown, who hung up after Kane pressed him.

"We thought we clearly communicated to Bobby our intentions, but once we had him on the air this morning it was clear that we were not on the same page," said Kane, who goes by one name.

Both the station, which broadcasts in the Washington area, and Brown's attorney decided the deal wasn't in the singer's best interest and that Brown will return the money.

"We feel that there are better things we can do with the money locally," said Kane.

Brown was arrested while he was watching his daughter's cheerleading competition in Massachusetts.

Phaedra Parks, Brown's attorney in Atlanta, has said the singer has been struggling to meet monthly payments to Kim Ward, of Stoughton, Mass., the mother of two of his children.

Brown and pop diva Whitney Houston, who are divorcing after 14 years of marriage, have a 13-year-old daughter, Bobbi Kristina.

It was the latest in a series of child support troubles for Brown, a Boston native best known for the solo hit "Don't Be Cruel." In 2004, he was sentenced to 90 days in prison for missing three months of payments, but the sentence was suspended after he paid about $15,000. He also paid $11,000 in delinquent child support in October after being threatened with arrest.

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Tagged as: Current Affairs

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Icky Thump Soony Soon

Posted on March 2, 2007 at 10:45 AM

Here's some good news for a Friday - the White Stripes are back! Or make that, will be back. Billboard has details of the latest from the red and white and raconteured all over duo. The news? The album will be called Icky Thump. It will be out this year. It was recorded in Nashville. And it will rock.

The White Stripes are expected to release their sixth full-length album, "Icky Thump," this year. The garage rock duo revealed on its Web site that it has finished recording and mixing the set, which will be its first since 2005's "Get Behind Me Satan." There is no official word of a release date, though the group writes, "We are doing our best (whatever that is) to release the album as soon as corporately possible."

Jack and Meg white spent three weeks at Nashville's Blackbird Studio recording the effort. The group posted clips of one track, ""I'm Slowly Turning Into You," on its site, though "the actual music has been replaced with mid eighties sampling keyboard technology to prevent what industry analysts are now calling 'song poaching.'" Other tentative song titles unveiled include "Catch Hell Blues," "Little Cream Soda" and "You Don't Know What Love Is (You Just Do What You're Told)."

As previously hinted here, the White Stripes have inked a deal with Warner Bros., having exited now-defunct V2 records.

The group has been tapped to perform at the Bonnaroo festival June 14-17 in Manchester, Tenn., alongside of Widespread Panic and the Police. The Detroit-raised group is in the midst of planning a tour in support of "Icky Thump."

Jack White spent much of last year promoting and touring with his other band the Raconteurs, who released their debut, "Broken Boy Soldiers," in May.

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Diddy Done It Again

Posted on March 1, 2007 at 08:07 AM

Looks like Eddie Murphy wasn't the only guy causing trouble in and around the Oscars. Apparently, Diddy AKA Puffy AKA Puff Daddy - born Sean Combs - got into a bit of a ruckus post-show. The reason? Alas, a woman. Apparently, Diddy saw a hot chick and invited her to a party. Unfortunately for Diddy, the hot chick was engaged. And her fiancee was right there. Naturally, Diddy punched him in the face. That wasn't so smart.

A 27-year-old real estate broker claimed rapper Sean Combs punched him in the face at a post-Academy Awards party in Los Angeles.

Los Angeles Police confirmed the man filed a complaint against Combs, who uses the stage name Diddy, E! News reported Wednesday.

"Officers took a report and the investigation is ongoing," an LAPD spokeswoman said. TMZ.com identified the alleged victim as Gerard Rechnitzer.

The alleged incident occurred about 2:30 a.m. Monday at the Roosevelt Hotel, across the street from the Kodak Theater where the Academy Awards were presented hours before.

Combs allegedly invited Rechnitzer's fiancee to a party and then struck Rechnitzer when he tried to extricate his bride-to-be from the party, TMZ.com reported. Combs left before police arrived.

Rechnitzer was not seriously injured and refused medical treatment.

Oh and don't call him Diddy in Britain:

Combs' legal woes extended across the Atlantic. He lost a dispute over the use of his "Diddy" nickname in Britain.

London's High Court ruled Wednesday that Combs broke an agreement with record producer Richard "Diddy" Dearlove, who sued the entertainer last July for using the moniker "Diddy" in the cut "The Future" from Combs' latest release, "Press Play."

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Tagged as: Current Affairs

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