Lily Allen
Photo: Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images

Lily Allen has signed on for a low-budget spoof of the classic Jane Austen novel "Pride & Prejudice." MTV U.K. reports that Allen will play Lydia Bennett in "Jane Austen Handheld," joining a cast that includes "Star Wars" legend Carrie Fisher and British comedian Russell Brand. ...

Doug Neumann, general manager of Crush Management — home to Fall Out Boy, Panic! at the Disco, Gym Class Heroes, etc. — is making an unusual move by stepping out with a covers album of songs by said artists. Neumann, who also went to the Berklee College of Music (go figure!), is redoing the tracks with jazz arrangements and help from members of the bands on the Decaydance label, which is co-owned by FOB bassist Pete Wentz. Tracks include covers of FOB's "Dance, Dance"; Panic's "Time to Dance"; Cobra Starship's "Bring It (Snakes on a Plane)" and more. "One day we were at karaoke and he belted out [Def Leppard's] 'Pour Some Sugar on Me' like it was nobody's business!" Cobra Starship's Gabe Saporta said in a press release. Wentz added, "This dude had me when his shirt came off; the voice he belted out was just the icing on top of hot man cake." ...

Sarah Silverman actually has something nice to say about Paris Hilton, believe it or not. The salty-tongued comedian — who famously jabbed at Hilton at the 2006 VMAs, the 2007 MTV Movie Awards and, most recently, at 2007 VMAs — complimented the heiress on her recent appearance on the "Late Show With David Letterman," during which the host questioned her repeatedly about her time in jail. "I thought she handled herself well," Silverman told People, though she added that Letterman was "being a hilarious pain. I thought it was like old, classic Dave." She also reiterated that she doesn't regret her Britney Spears dis at this year's VMAs. "We're not hanging out like we used to," she said. ...

The track list for Jay-Z's musical accompaniment to the November 2 flick "American Gangster" is good to go, RollingStone.com reports. His American Gangster will include "And the Winner Is," "Welcome," "The Demise" and more. Meanwhile, Island Def Jam has firmed up the track list for the film's proper soundtrack. It will feature two new slices from Anthony Hamilton and classic cuts by Public Enemy, John Lee Hooker and more. ... Nick Cannon and actors Brian White and Keith Robinson were on hand at Nikki East in Manhattan, New York, on Tuesday night as Def Jam princess Chrisette Michele performed at the New York leg of the Hennessy Artistry Tour. ...

Jennifer Aniston tops Forbes.com's first-ever list of top-selling celebrity faces — the list is based on newsstand sales of People, Us Weekly, In Touch Weekly, Life & Style, OK! and Star over a six-month period ending June 30. The actress was on every one of the mags' covers, save In Touch Weekly, at least once during the half-year period, helping sell more than 5 million collective copies of the magazines. As it so happens, her ex-husband, Brad Pitt, is second on the list. ... Congrats are in order for Red Hot Chili Peppers frontman Anthony Kiedis, who is now a daddy — making many of us at MTV News feel really old. He and girlfriend Heather Christie welcomed a son in Los Angeles on Tuesday. ... Brace yourself: A Kidz Bop world tour is in the works. So far only U.S. dates — stretching from October 12-13 in Davenport, Iowa, through November 7 in Kalamazoo, Michigan — have been announced. ...

John Mellencamp has posted a raw acoustic track in support of the Jena Six. The clip, called "Jena," is accompanied by a black-and-white video that intersperses modern footage with clips from the '60s civil-rights era. In the chorus of the song, Mellencamp sings, "Whoa Jena, take your nooses down." ... The final tally for the Rolling Stones two-year A Bigger Bang world tour — which helped earn them a place in Guinness World Records — has been revealed: According to Billboard, the band grossed $558,255,524 between August 21, 2005, and August 26, 2007.

Tool have booked seven dates thus far for their upcoming trek. The band is scheduled to perform November 14 in Austin, Texas, and will hit Houston; New Orleans; and Casper, Wyoming, before playing a two-night stint in Los Angeles on December 10-11. More dates will be revealed in the coming weeks. ... The October 23 soundtrack to "Saw IV" will feature new songs from Avenged Sevenfold, Drowning Pool, Sixx: A.M., Ministry, Saosin, Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Every Time I Die, the Red Chord, Nitzer Ebb and more. Both the digital and CD release will feature exclusive tracks. ...

Phil Spector is seeking new lawyers for his murder retrial after his lead attorneys told a judge on Wednesday (October 1) that they were quitting the case, Reuters reports. The development means that the retrial, in which the music producer will again face a charge of murdering actress Lana Clarkson, will be delayed for several months. The music producer's first trial ended in a 10-2 deadlock, with the majority favoring conviction, last month. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler, who oversaw the first trial, said he wants the retrial to begin within four months. He set a hearing for October 23. "Of course now [Spector] is faced with this ordeal all over again, and I'm sure from that point of view he's not happy," his former lead attorney, Roger Rosen, reportedly said on Wednesday. ...

Microsoft has some new Zune portable media players just in time for the holidays, with a number of new features aimed at taking on the iPod. In addition to two new flash-drive based 4GB ($149.99) and 8GB ($199.99) models, there is now an 80GB version for $249.99. The devices have a new feature that lets users wirelessly sync their music to a PC, and though you can still only play them three times, Microsoft has done away with the three-day limit on sharing songs that have been transferred from one device to another. There is also a new online community called Zune Social, where users can chat about music and create a free, customizable Zune Card that automatically updates to show what music they're listening to on their Zune and lets others play samples of the songs. ...

Turns out that one-night-only reunion show by Pearl Jam guitarist Stone Gossard's Brad side project won't be one night only after all. In addition to the benefit gig they're playing October 17 at New York's Webster Hall — to help raise funds for the Huntington's Disease Society of America — Brad will play a warm-up gig the night before at NYC's Highline Ballroom, then treat their Seattle hometown to a show on October 19 at Neumos. A new album is also in the works. ... She Wants Revenge are setting out for a tour just in time for the release of their second album, This Is Forever, which drops Tuesday. The so-called "dark wave" band will fire up the trek Thursday in Los Angeles and continue through a November 13 show in Sacramento, California. ...

Mickey Mouse's beef with metal is apparently continuing, as more heavy shows slated at House of Blues clubs located on Walt Disney property have been moved to other venues. Two dates on the upcoming Operation Annihilation Tour — featuring Shadows Fall, Static-X, 3 Inches of Blood and Divine Heresy — have been adjusted. The October 31 gig, originally planed for the HOB in Anaheim, California, has been moved to the Galaxy Theater in Santa Ana; the October 20 show slated for the HOB in Orlando, Florida, has been canceled outright. "It is sad to say but it looks like Mickey can't handle the metal," Shadows Fall's Brian Fair said in a statement. "We have been informed that the [Walt Disney Co.] has decided to cancel all metal shows taking place at the House of Blues on Disney property in both Anaheim and Orlando. I, for one, am surprised that Disney isn't down with the metal. After all, what is more metal than freezing the decapitated head of your founder?" ...

During the first day of a landmark jury trial in Minnesota — the first file-sharing case to go to trial in the Recording Industry Association of America's four-year campaign to stop illegal downloading — a Sony executive admitted that the RIAA's battle against downloaders has cost the music industry millions of dollars and has been a money-losing proposition for the major labels. According to the Ars Technica blog, the executive also admitted under cross-examination that the music industry has no idea of what actual damages it is incurring because of file-sharing.

10.02.07

Hilary Duff is becoming a waitress for "Greta," an upcoming teen interracial romance, Reuters reports. In the flick, which is currently filming in New Jersey, Duff's character is hot for one of her co-workers, a cook (Evan Ross). The movie is being helmed by music-video director Nancy Bardawil (Bon Jovi, Reba McEntire). ...

Don't expect to hear much more from Eve this year. The rapper's first LP in five years, Here I Am — which has been bumped numerous times — won't drop until 2008, according to Billboard. No reason has been given for the delay of the album, which has already been preceded by two songs, "Tambourine" and "Give It to Me" (featuring Sean Paul). ... It looks like Eve can commiserate with the Wu-Tang Clan, at least a little bit: According to a post on the group's MySpace page, fans will have to wait three weeks longer for Wu's long-awaited fifth album, The 8 Diagrams. The album — which features guest appearances from P-Funk mastermind George Clinton and Dani Harrison, son of late Beatle George — is dedicated to the memory of Ol' Dirty Bastard and was originally scheduled to drop on the anniversary of his death, November 13. But now the LP has been bumped from that date to December 4. ...

Beyoncé has rescheduled the November 1 concert that was originally planned for Malaysia and will perform instead in Jakarta, Indonesia, on that day, Reuters reports. The Malaysia show was nixed last week amid protests by local Muslim groups upset that she reportedly refused to obey the country's strict dress code for performers. ... As previously hinted, Rage Against the Machine will headline Big Day Out, the fest that will roam through Australia and New Zealand early next year. The Arcade Fire, Björk, LCD Soundsystem and others will play all six dates on the trek, which runs from January 18 in Auckland, New Zealand, through February 3 in Perth, Australia. ...

According to an article in the upcoming issue of Vanity Fair magazine, financial improprieties aren't the only secret disgraced boy-band mogul Lou Pearlman may have been hiding. Interviews with Pearlman's former associates allege that the man behind the careers of 'NSYNC, the Backstreet Boys and LFO made advances toward a number of the young men he shepherded to fame. Speaking to former Pearlman protégés and their parents, the article relates stories of young singers emerging from Pearlman's room late at night, buttoning their pants and joking with each other about whether Pearlman had performed a particular sex act on them, with one former assistant referring to the man who enjoyed the nickname "Big Poppa" as a "sexual predator." According to the article, Pearlman — currently in jail and accused of embezzling more than $300 million from investors — acted inappropriately with members of the BSB to the point where several of the bandmembers' mothers suspected "there might have been some strange things going on." In another alleged incident, an aspiring singer was summoned to Pearlman's Miami mansion in the middle of the night to take out the garbage, and when he asked what he needed to do to get into the band, he said, "[Pearlman] leaned back in his chair, in his white terry-cloth robe and white underwear, and spread his legs. And then he said, and these were his exact words, 'You're a smart boy. Figure it out.' " The November issue of Vanity Fair will be on newsstands October 9. ...

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson seems to be taking his new pigskin-comedy flick to heart. The actor announced Tuesday (October 2) that he and his wife, Dany Garcia Johnson, are donating $1 million to help his alma mater, the University of Miami, renovate its football facilities. It's the largest gift a former Hurricane student athlete has ever given to the school's athletic department, and the football team's locker room will be named after Johnson according to The Associated Press. The actor separated from his wife, also a University of Miami alumna, earlier this year but the couple have said they are still close. "Dany and I have always said that being a student athlete here at the University of Miami has always been a tremendous part of our lives," Johnson said Tuesday. "The skill sets that we learned here as student athletes, talking about commitment, talking about sacrifice ... those skill sets are invaluable." ...

Courtney Love has settled a lawsuit brought against her by the attorneys who represented her in legal battles with the surviving members of Nirvana, the Seattle Weekly reports. Katherine Hendricks and O. Yale Lewis claimed that Love owed them more than $340,000, plus interest, for their work on a 2002 suit that Love filed against Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic and drummer Dave Grohl. Love, controller of the share of Nirvana's business that had belonged to her late husband, Kurt Cobain, allegedly did not fully pay her lawyers, even though she eventually earned at least $9 million as a result of that suit. Love settled with Hendricks and Lewis for an undisclosed sum, and the settlement went into effect on September 17. According to court records, Love paid the Seattle attorneys more than $1 million for their work on the Nirvana suit, but they claim she still owed them $341,000, plus as much as $200,000 in interest. ... Nicolas Cage encountered a most unwelcome houseguest when a man broke into the actor's home in Newport Beach, California, early Monday morning, "Access Hollywood" reports. Robert Furo, 45, has been charged with first-degree burglary and has pleaded not guilty. A pretrial hearing for Furo, who is in custody, is set for October 10.

Morrissey's marathon 10-night stand at the Palladium in Hollywood, which was due to be his last sweep through the U.S. in the near future, has hit a snag — and a burst water pipe is to blame. The shows planned for Tuesday and Thursday have been canceled due to the safety issue, leaving Moz with an eight-night stand beginning Friday. Tickets for the canceled gigs will be honored at either the Monday or October 9 shows, with refunds available at point of purchase for those unable to attend. ... Tuesday has been named "Bruce Springsteen Day" in Hartford, Connecticut, AP reports. Governor M. Jodi Rell announced the designation, which coincides with the Boss' decision to open his upcoming tour Tuesday night at the Hartford Civic Center. Also on Tuesday, Springsteen released his new Magic LP with the E Street Band. ... Matador Records plans to reissue post-punk outfit Mission of Burma's back catalog early next year. The first two discs, 1982's Vs. and 1985's The Horrible Truth About Burma, will be repackaged and expanded. ... Flyleaf will release a two-CD/one-DVD limited-edition version of their self-titled album on October 30. The set will feature a number of videos and acoustic versions of some of the album's tracks, as well as additional bonus content. ...

Placebo drummer Steve Hewitt has quit, according to frontman Brian Molko. "Being in a band is very much like being in a marriage and in couples — in this case, a triple," the singer wrote in a statement. "People can grow apart over the years. To say you don't love your partner anymore is inaccurate considering all that you've been through and achieved together. There simply comes a point when you realize that you want different things from your relationship and that you can no longer live under the same roof, so to speak." ...

Aaron Gillespie, drummer for Underoath and frontman for the Almost, has been sidelined temporarily so that he can heal from an infection on his hand. The infection was caused by a finger blister he incurred from performing, and he had to undergo minor surgery to take care of the problem. Gillespie will sit out the next week of the Almost's tour, with drummer Kenny Bozich filling in for him. ... Dillinger Escape Plan guitarist Ben Weinman broke his foot while filming two videos last week and will need four to six weeks for the injury to heal. The band plans to reschedule its U.S. and European tours and is also set to host a release party for its forthcoming album, Ire Works, at a yet-to-be-determined locale on November 13.

• 2007 VMA: Foo Fighters And Guests Live From The Fantasy Suites

• Lily Allen
• Jay-Z
• Fall Out Boy
• Panic at the Disco
• Gym Class Heroes

Notorious B.I.G.
Photo: Bad Boy

The family of slain rapper Notorious B.I.G. is trying to expand the wrongful-death lawsuit it filed against the city of Los Angeles back in 2002. Should a judge approve the request, the suit's reach could be extended to include additional defendants; as it stands now, the city is the sole defendant. According to the Los Angeles Times, the request was included within a 94-page motion that suggests that a police officer, Rafael Perez, was on duty at Petersen Automotive Museum the night of the killing. Biggie was gunned down on March 9, 1997, following a music-industry party at the museum on Los Angeles' Wilshire Boulevard. Perez was never named as a defendant in the suit, but last spring, an informant who claimed to have shared a cell with Perez said the police officer had told him he worked security detail for Death Row Records. It's been suggested in court documents that Perez and several others may have had a hand in the murder — including Perez's former partner, Officer David Mack; Death Row Records head owner Suge Knight; and former suspect Amir Muhammad — but none have been named in the suit as defendants. According to the Biggie family's lawyers, Vincent Marella, a private attorney who is defending the city, said during a court hearing last week that Perez was in uniform and was involved in the rapper's shooting. The transcripts from the hearing indicated Marella was merely repeating an informant's contention. ...

Foxy Brown's upcoming assault trial was supposed to begin in New York next week. But Wednesday morning (July 12), when Brown showed up in court with her third lawyer in less than two years, Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Melissa Jackson pushed the trial's start to August 28, according to The Associated Press. Brown was charged with assaulting two nail-salon workers during a scuffle back in 2004. During the Wednesday morning hearing, Jackson also extended an order of protection for the nail-salon employees against Brown. ...

Jessica Simpson isn't just a Teen Choice nominee — she's also the host. The singer/actress, who is up for three prizes at the eighth annual awards show — Choice Hottie, Choice Red Carpet Fashion Icon and Choice Breakout Performance (as Daisy Duke in "The Dukes of Hazzard") — will hold court at the August 20 ceremony. Simpson's co-host for the show, which will air live on Fox, has yet to be named. Teen Choice votes are being accepted until August 11 at TeenPeople.com ...

Former "American Idol" contestant Daniel James "DJ" Boyd, who was a semifinalist two years ago, has been charged with production of child pornography, possession of child pornography, unlawful sexual activity with a minor and unlawful supply of alcohol to minors, after police say he videotaped sexual encounters he'd had with two teenage girls. AP reports that the 27-year-old pleaded not guilty to the charges on Tuesday at the U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City. Boyd's due back in court July 25 for a preliminary hearing, and a trial date has been set for September 18. He faces up to 40 years behind bars if convicted. Boyd was booked last month after one of his alleged victims — a 14-year-old girl — contacted police. He's being held in the Salt Lake County Jail, as he has been since his arrest. ... Want a little taste of what's to come on Audioslave's forthcoming album Revelations? "Original Fire," the disc's leadoff single, has been posted on the band's Web site. The LP is slated for a September 5 release. ...

Anthony Hamilton is releasing "Sista Big Bones" as the next single from his fourth album, Ain't Nobody Worryin'. "It's for the full-figured sisters of all races," Hamilton told MTV News. "You see people with weight and they struggle with trying to pretend to be a size 1, or wish to be. They try to damage themselves, try to diet and everything, so I'm just trying to let them know that it's OK to be healthy and full-size and voluptuous." ... Avril Lavigne battles drug addiction with a role as a wayward teen in the video for Butch Walker's "Bethamphetamine (Pretty Pretty)," the first single from The Rise and Fall of Butch Walker and the Let's Go Out Tonites! The singer, who is working with Walker on her next record, did her own hair and makeup for the shoot. ...

Angels & Airwaves, 30 Seconds to Mars, Blue October, Ima Robot and "You Hear It First" artists Pink Spiders and Red Jumpsuit Apparatus are facing off for a spot on the Fashion Rocks 2006 lineup. The winner will perform on the marquee at New York's Radio City Music Hall for the September 7 event. Cingular subscribers who vote for their favorite will be entered for a chance to attend the Fashion Rocks concert — featuring performances by Christina Aguilera, Beyoncé, Kanye West and Jamie Foxx — set to air September 8 at 9 p.m. on CBS. ... The Pixies are releasing a DVD on August 22 of the band's rare acoustic performance at the 2004 Newport Folk Festival in Rhode Island. "Live in Newport" will include all 22 songs they performed, plus a documentary of the Pixies rehearsing and deconstructing their tracks, including "Debaser," which didn't make the final set list. ...

Pearl Jam are forking over $100,000 to nine environmental groups in an effort to promote renewable-energy technologies and solve the climate-change crisis. The band unveiled its 2006 Carbon Portfolio Strategy on its Web site Tuesday, saying in a post, "By working with these groups and others to mitigate our own carbon emissions, we ultimately hope to get Pearl Jam at 0 percent net emissions for our tours and businesses." ... Deftones have tentatively set Saturday Night Wrist as the title of their forthcoming new album. The effort has been recorded and mixed, and mastering is expected to start by the end of July. The album will be in stores October 10. ...

Sparta have set an October 10 release date for their third album, Threes. The first single, "Taking Back Control," which hit radio outlets this week, will also be featured in the new "Madden 07" video game. A Sparta tour is set to kick off July 29 in Los Angeles. ... Ben Roethlisberger will star in the new video from Pittsburgh country rockers the PovertyNeck Hillbillies. The Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback and the band are shooting the clip Tuesday at Heinz Field. ... One of MTV's earliest icons is teaming up with one of its freshest faces for a new Candie's ad campaign. Rock legend Pat Benatar and newcomer Cheyenne Kimball will appear in TV and magazine ads for a new collection of Vintage Candie's apparel, footwear and accessories — it's the first endorsement deal for both artists. Cheyenne performed tracks from her debut album, The Day Has Come, at New York's Canal Room on Monday. V Cast subscribers can watch the concert, which kicked off Verizon Wireless' "V Cast Performance" series, on their phones now. ...

They may not be friends any longer, but Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie are managing to keep their professional collaboration alive. E! Entertainment Television just picked up another season of "The Simple Life," starring the former friends. The fifth season of the reality series — the second season to air on E! — was announced by the network during a press tour, E! Online reports. ... Thrice have been writing new material for the follow-up to 2005's Vheissu, while frontman Dustin Kensrue heads out on a solo acoustic tour. The fresh tunes are "the most ambitious thing we've undertaken artistically, and we are really excited about it," the band said in a post on its MySpace page. ... Far-Less will be heading out on tour July 21 with Roses Are Red, Bedlight for Blue Eyes and the Panic Division. The brief road trip kicks off in Hackensack, New Jersey, with dates scheduled through an August 6 show in Philadelphia.

07.11.2006

Black Eyed Peas singer Fergie is on the cover of the August issue of Cosmopolitan and gets personal in an interview with the mag. She explains why she dropped the name Stacy, reveals what being in a group with three men has taught her about guys and says her onetime romance with Justin Timberlake had no future — "He was Mr. Right Now." Fergie, who battled drug addiction while she was a member of the vocal trio Wild Orchid, credits hypnotherapy with giving her the strength to turn her life around. "It's not some fruity thing," she said. "It's not like you're going to a psychic or something. We just talk. ... And I let it all out." ...

Auditions for the sixth season of "American Idol" will begin August 8 at the Forum in Inglewood, California. Producers will also travel to San Antonio; East Rutherford, New Jersey; Birmingham, Alabama; Memphis, Tennessee; and Minneapolis before ending September 19 in Seattle. Although this is the show's first time visiting Birmingham, Taylor Hicks, Ruben Studdard and Bo Bice are all from there. ...

Missy Elliott and Lloyd Banks have joined the lineup of the Red Stripe Reggae Sumfest, set for July 16-22 in Montego Bay, Jamaica. Banks will be joining 50 Cent, Sizzla and Lady Saw on the July 21 bill, while Elliott shares the stage with Rihanna, Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley and Buju Banton on the July 22 lineup. ...

At this rate, Ozzy Osbourne might just forgo the main stage and headline Ozzfest's second stage all summer. Ozzy will now be playing the smaller stage on nine of this summer's Ozzfest dates, including Sunday's stop in Chicago and the August 6 stop in Bristow, Virginia. If you simply must see Oz larger than life, he's still scheduled for mainstage duty in New York (July 29), Boston (August 1) and Camden, New Jersey (August 4). ...

Maroon 5 are celebrating the release this month of their book "Maroon 5: Midnight Miles" with a book signing July 20 at the Barnes & Noble in Costa Mesa, California. The book is a collection of intimate pictures from the band's worldwide tour in support of Songs About Jane taken by friend and photographer Christopher Wray-McCann. ... Lady Sovereign will release a new single, "Love Me or Hate Me," produced by Dr. Luke (Kelly Clarkson's "Since U Been Gone"). The song comes out August 7, while the British rapper's debut album, Public Warning, is due in October. ... Borrowing an idea from CowParade — a public art exhibit featuring life-size fiberglass cows designed by local artists and scattered throughout cities worldwide — the Aspen Filmfest has commissioned celebrities including Mariah Carey, Nick Lachey, Salma Hayek and Joaquin Phoenix to make their mark in paint on life-size Labrador Retriever statues, which will be displayed in Aspen, Colorado, and auctioned off August 1 to benefit Aspen Filmfest's youth-education programs. Additional dogs will go up on the block at CharityFolks.com beginning September 4. ...

Linda Perry protégé Sierra Swam is teaming with three California wineries for a summer tour that will combine music and wine tasting. The trek, which also features Mozella, kicks off July 31 in San Diego and wraps up September 3 in Tucson, Arizona. ... Former Marvelous 3 singer and producer Butch Walker will hit the road to promote his just-released The Rise and Fall of Butch Walker and the Let's Go Out Tonites album from July 18 in Atlanta to September 14 in Hollywood. Walker just shot a video for his first single, "Bethamphetamine (Pretty Pretty)," which features Avril Lavigne. ... The bio for "Real World: Key West" castmember Paula Ann Meronek says "chaos seems to follow her." Which is what seemingly happened early Sunday morning, when the 25-year-old was arrested after an altercation with her boyfriend in Cromwell, Connecticut. According to the The Middletown Press, Meronek was charged with third-degree assault after she allegedly bit her boyfriend at least five times on the arms and hands when he refused to allow her into their home. Police said the incident was the culmination of an argument that had begun earlier in the evening. Meronek's 24-year-old boyfriend, John Alyward, was charged with disorderly conduct, and she was released on bond and arraigned Monday. She is due back in court August 11. ...

The final lineup for the 36th annual Bumbershoot Music and Arts Festival has been revealed, and As I Lay Dying, Blondie, Spoon, the New Pornographers, Steve Miller Band and "You Hear It First" veterans the Like are among the latest additions to the three-day concert event, which hits Seattle over Labor Day weekend (September 2-4). Kanye West, AFI, Lady Sovereign, Yellowcard and the Veronicas are also on the bill. Bumbershoot's comedy lineup includes New York stand-up show "Tinkle," featuring hosts David Cross, Todd Barry and Jon Benjamin, as well as "Best Week Ever Live." ... Michael Jackson's former lawyer Zia Modabber testified Monday that he broke the news to Jackson about producer F. Marc Schaffel's past work as a director of pornographic films, The Associated Press reports. And that led to the delay of Jackson's "What More Can I Give" charity project, the attorney explained. Jackson — who is being sued by Schaffel — told Schaffel he was off the "What More Can I Give" charity single project, Modabber told the court. The lawyer explained that he was hired to protect Jackson's ownership of the song so that it could be released. "My focus was on doing what I could to get the rights to release the single," Modabber said. "I got involved with trying to clean up that mess." ...

Sean Lennon will release his second solo album, Friendly Fire, September 26. A short film promoting the album release on Lennon's Web site features cameos from Lindsay Lohan, Jordana Brewster, Devon Aoki, Carrie Fisher, Asia Argento, Bijou Phillips and Harper Simon, with the latter two contributing backing vocals and guitar to the album along with guest players Jon Brion (Kanye West, Fiona Apple) and Cibo Matto's Yuka Honda. Lennon, who produced the album, has shot short films for each of the record's tracks, with the entire Michele Civetta-directed suite of shorts making up a conceptual movie about the failure of love. ... Commodores keyboardist Milan B. Williams died Sunday following a battle with cancer, the AP reports. He was 58. Williams was one of the band's founding members, and wrote the group's early single "Machine Gun." "He was once, twice, three times a brother, and we love him," bandmate Walter Orange said, borrowing a line from the group's hit "Three Times a Lady." "He gave all that he could to the Commodores. He'll always be remembered."

• Jessica Simpson
• Audioslave
• Angels & Airwaves
• Avril Lavigne
• Notorious B.I.G.

Beyoncé, Ashlee Simpson and Chris Brown
Photo: Scott Gries/ Getty Images

Nothing says "I love you" like diamonds. But if times are a little tight (or you're only 90 percent sure you're in love), a mixtape can say almost as much.

Of course, the key is choosing the right songs. And to best serve the hopeful Romeos in our audience, we asked a hodgepodge of stars and music-business types — ranging from Ashlee Simpson and Kelly Clarkson to Paul Stanley of Kiss and J Records head Clive Davis — to help us assemble the perfect Valentine's Day mix CD. Don't miss "Date Movie" actor Eddie Griffin's very, er, scientific approach to the art at the end ...

Chris Brown "Sam Cooke, 'Cupid'! [He sings,] 'Cupid, draw back your bow/ And let your arrow go.' Just bring the old-school feel back, then let her know that you love her."

Ashlee Simpson "Sade, 'No Ordinary Love.' That's always a good one. If you're a guy, Sade always gets the girls."

Beyoncé "[Anything by] Luther Vandross. He was nice, so sweet, and he had great love songs: 'A chair is not a chair, a house is not a home.' What's the best love song I've ever written? 'Dangerously in Love.' "

Farnsworth Bentley "You gotta have [Stevie Wonder's] 'Ribbon in the Sky,' 'cause I think it's probably one of the most beautiful love songs ever written. And then you need to have something really freaky and kinky, just in case it gets too mushy. You gotta stay focused: You just put on anything by Prince where he's screaming a little bit, and that's gonna get her like right where you need her to be. It's all about the balance: Get it mushy and then just go for the freaky."

Chad Hugo of the Neptunes "[Anything by] Marvin Gaye or Al Green, or 'Moments in Love' by the Art of Noise, 'cause it's sexy, man. You gotta throw that on."

	Prince's "Diamonds and Pearls"  John Legend's "So High"  Goo Goo Dolls' "Iris"  50 Cent's "21 Questions"

Kelly Clarkson "I'm weird — I'd pick some kind of sexy song to be on it, like, 'Pink' by Aerosmith."

Jamie Foxx " 'Always and Forever' [performed by Heatwave and Luther Vandross, among others]."

Carrie Underwood "You could go, like, really cheesy and play things like 'You Are So Beautiful' [made famous by Joe Cocker]. Or if you wanted to do newer things, there are so many great love songs out there right now." [She did not elaborate.]

Bo Bice "If I made my wife a mix, it would probably start with 'I'll Have to Say I Love You in a Song' by Jim Croce and 'Your Song' by Elton John and [the version of the Beatles'] 'Something' by James Taylor. That would be my mix. I like 'Love Song' because the guy kind of opens up and shares a little bit of himself and seems a little bit vulnerable. It's good when women think they're seeing that raw breakdown."

Dido "One of my favorite love songs is Whitney Houston's 'My Love Is Your Love.' It's such a great song, I've just always loved it. If I ever got married — which is far-fetched — then that would be a cool wedding song."

Duff McKagan of Velvet Revolver "Anything Prince — 'Diamonds and Pearls' is good. It's very sexy stuff."

Jason Biggs (of "American Pie") " 'Ding-Dong! The Witch Is Dead,' I think, would be the highlight. Umm, let's see ... 'Who Let the Dogs Out?' and 'The Macarena.' ... Actually, if you gave that to your girlfriend on Valentine's Day, I hope you're planning on being dumped! If you're planning on extricating yourself from a relationship, give her a mixtape that starts with 'Ding-Dong! The Witch Is Dead," and I'm pretty sure that you'll see yourself right to the door."

DMC of Run-DMC "Anything by Barry White, because he didn't get it twisted. Like Marvin Gaye, he was political and a lover. When you put that on, you know what time it is. I mean, that's what he was put on this earth for."

Joe Simpson (father/manager of Ashlee and Jessica) "My wife is a Barry White fan, so anything Barry White does, I'm a winner."

Anthony Hamilton "Just the sound of my baby breathing next to me, it's the best song I've ever heard in my life [laughs — Hamilton's wife was standing right next to him]. No, our wedding song was great: It's a song I wrote for my wife called 'Beautiful, Wonderful' and it's amazing. It's on the U.K. release of my album [the brand-new Ain't Nobody Worryin'], so it's definitely one of our favorite songs. And 'So High' by John Legend."

Clive Davis (Chairman and CEO, BMG North America/ founder, J Records) "When I grew up, it was Johnny Mathis."

Natasha Bedingfield "There's a song by the Goo Goo Dolls, I can't remember what it's called, [she sings] 'And I don't want the world to see me.' ['Iris'], I love that song. Maybe they can sing it to me personally or maybe I sing it to them, that would be more appropriate."

Jimmy Jam (producer for Janet Jackson, Mary J. Blige, Jessica Simpson) "Janet Jackson's 'Anytime, Anyplace.' I was definitely thinking about that. Oh, I've got an obscure one: We did a remix for [Jackson's] 'Together Again' called 'A Deeper Remix' that was a total ballad. It's dope."

Paul Stanley of Kiss "I would go everywhere from Led Zeppelin to Tony Bennett and stop at the Beatles' 'In My Life.' It's a great song: succinct, not a lot of frills, from the heart and simple."

Kerry "Krucial" Brothers (producer for Alicia Keys, Angie Stone) "I would put the Isley Brothers' 'Voyage to Atlantis.' Just the whole vibe of it — and the ocean. It's just kind of like an imaginary place to be — paradise, old empire or whatever it was — that's unseen now."

Maurice White of Earth, Wind & Fire "You gotta have a little Barry White 'You're the First, the Last, My Everything,' perhaps a little Marvin Gaye and then you can top it off with a little Earth, Wind & Fire, 'After the Love Has Gone.' "

Eddie Griffin and Sophie Monk from "Date Movie"

Eddie: 50 Cent, Barry White, Jimi Hendrix, Parliament-Funkadelic. 50, most definitely, 'cuz you know females like thugs. See what I mean? You got to get your thug on. Start off aggressive, a'ight, and then Barry White, when he comes on with that voice, it gets the clothes off. You understand me? Then Jimi Hendrix: Her mind is open to receive the game that you're spitting into her subconscious. You understand me? Then P-Funk, 'cuz it's all about the coming together of the masses. If you get what I'm saying to you, holla back!

Sophie: You've done this mixtape before, haven't you?

MTV: Sophie, who would you like to have on your mixtape?

Sophie: Mariah Carey's Merry Christmas is my favorite.

Check out the feature Love Me, Love Me Not for Valentine's Day DVD picks.

Get your MTV News fresh daily as a podcast — in video or audio. Click on Mac or PC for more info.

• Beyoncé
• Ashlee Simpson
• Chris Brown
• Kelly Clarkson
• Jamie Foxx

Eminem
Photo: Interscope

At the finale of last season's "American Idol," Carrie Underwood was crowned the victor, besting runner-up Bo Bice and scoring a major-label recording contract. Bice inked a deal of his own and released his debut offering, The Real Thing last week. And according to the latest SoundScan figures, the Billboard albums chart stacks up in much the same fashion that the "Idol" finale played out.

Bo's stab at #1 was spoiled by Underwood — who passes the 1-million-sold mark and climbs to the chart's #2 slot with Some Hearts — and Eminem, who holds court at the top of this week's chart for a second week with Curtain Call: The Hits Em outsold Carrie by more than 50,000 copies to end the week with close to 324,000 scans, bringing the two-week sales total for Mr. Mathers' latest to over 766,000. The 20th installment in the Now That's What I Call Music! compilation series — including tracks from Fall Out Boy, Ciara, Kelly Clarkson, the Pussycat Dolls and Black Eyed Peas — netted sales of over 259,000 for a comfortable third-place finish.

Bice's The Real Thing opens on Billboard's albums chart at #4, with 227,000 copies sold during its first week in stores. Underwood's Some Hearts debuted at #2 with sales of more than 314,000 when it was released last month. And Carrie isn't the only "Idol" veteran to top Bice's initial take. 2004's "American Idol" champ Fantasia sold more than 239,000 copies of her 2004 LP Free Yourself. 2003 winner Ruben Studdard's 2003 debut Soulful topped Billboard with 416,000 scans, while runner-up Clay Aiken's Measure of a Man, released that same year, also debuted at #1 with 613,000 copies sold. And Kelly Clarkson's inaugural LP, 2003's Thankful, opened at #3 with 297,000 sold.

Kenny Chesney's The Road and the Radio follows The Real Thing on the latest albums chart, finishing at #5 with 217,000 copies sold. Nickelback's All the Right Reasons is up one to #6 with 192,000 scans. Mariah Carey's The Emancipation of Mimi finished the week out at #7 with sales of 191,000, and Clarkson's latest, Breakaway, sold 180,000 copies to climb back into the top 10 at #8. Black Eyed Peas' Monkey Business finished ninth with 158,000 copies sold. The late Johnny Cash rounds out the top 10 with the career-spanning collection The Legend of Johnny Cash garnering sales of 154,000.

In addition to Bice, there were a handful of newcomers to this week's chart, including Ludacris Presents Disturbing Tha Peace. The disc, featuring five solo artists, four groups and guest appearances by Jamie Foxx, Stat Quo, Rich Boy, and Gangsta Boo, opens at #11 with 151,000 copies sold. R&B artist Anthony Hamilton's Ain't Nobody Worryin' cracks the top 20 with a #19 showing, thanks to sales of more than 112,000. And reggaetón heavyweight Daddy Yankee enters the chart at #24 with 100,000 plus scans of his Barrio Fino en Directo. Youngbloodz's Ev'rybody Know Me debuts at #44, with sales nearing 58,000.

Offerings from two prominent artists managed to penetrate the top 200, but just barely. Snoop Dogg's Bigg Snoop Dogg Presents: Welcome to Tha Chuuch - Tha Album, a collection of tracks from Snoop's mixtape series, opens at #184 with sales nearing 15,000; the album features contributions from Nate Dogg, Daz Dillinger and Kurupt. And Beck's Guerolito, featuring tracks from his album Guero remixed by the likes of the Beastie Boys' Ad-Rock, the Dust Brothers' John King and Boards of Canada, debuts at #191 with 14,000 plus scans.

For more on Eminem, see the feature "Anger Management: Behind The Anger." And check out "Bo Bice: Live on the Sunset Strip" for more on the "Idol" runner-up.

• Eminem
• Carrie Underwood
• Bo Bice
• Kenny Chesney
• Nickelback

Britney Spears in "Britney and Kevin: Chaotic"
Photo: UPN

Britney Spears bravely showed us she was afraid to fly in last week's episode of her reality show, "Britney and Kevin: Chaotic," and in this week's, she reveals that she's afraid to love, too. Perhaps too afraid. In "Scared to Love You" (which airs Tuesday at 9 p.m. on UPN), the singer keeps asking Kevin Federline to reassure her that their relationship is not just a "hook-up." Their exchange goes like this: She asks, "Are you sure?" He says, "I'm positive." She asks, "Are you sure this was not planned?" He says, "I'm positive." She asks, "Do you promise?" He says, "I swear. I promise. It's one of those things that's too good to be true." ...

(Click for photos from the show.)

If you're a fan of Green Day — and have a spare $50,000 laying around — then maybe you can own a four-wheeled piece of punk-rock history. Currently up for bid on eBay is the 1985 Ford Econoline 150 formerly owned by none other than Green Day drummer Tre Cool, which the band piloted on two U.S. tours back when it was an unpolished and unsigned bunch of kids. The inside of the van is wood-paneled and covered in Green Day graffiti — including Cool's signature — and stickers. The starting bid is a cool $50k, and the auction runs until June 7. ... Blink-182/ Transplants drummer Travis Barker and his wife, Shanna Moakler, the stars of MTV's reality show "Meet the Barkers," are expecting their second child in December. The couple already have a 1-year-old son, Landon, and Moakler also has a 6-year-old daughter, Atiana, whose father is boxer Oscar de la Hoya. ...

With their new album, Monkey Business, swinging into stores on June 7 and a major headlining tour to promote it, the Black Eyed Peas already have the video for their second single in the can. Taboo told MTV Europe that filming for the new video, "Don't Lie," was done over two days and even overlapped one day with their performance at Wango Tango in Los Angeles on May 14. The Peas have been busy, but, according to Taboo, "It was pretty fun. We were home for a minute, for four days, actually 30 seconds, but at the same time we got to see our families, we got to breathe a bit of Los Angeles smog, which is always good. And we got to see a lot of our friends." ... The legacy of Justo Faison will live on. Since Faison — founder of the annual Mixtape Awards — died in a car accident two weeks ago, it has been unclear if the ceremony would in fact go on. But Faison's loved ones announced on Tuesday (May 31) that plans for the 10th Mixtape Awards have been set in motion; it looks like the event will take place in either November or December. ...

Anthony Hamilton is working on his next album for Jermaine Dupri's So So Def label, but before that LP sees the light of day, the singer has an album coming out on June 28. Atlantic/Rhino is releasing Hamilton's Soulife, which features 10 tracks the singer recorded in 1999. ... Sorry, kids, but this summer's Zooma Tour has been scrapped, according to an announcement on the tour's Web site. "The Zooma Tour was conceived to provide fans with an exceptional music and entertainment experience, [but] due to unforeseen circumstances, it has become clear that it would not be possible to provide that experience at the level initially envisioned," producers wrote in the letter. "Rather than go forward with a tour that falls short of what was conceived, everyone involved has mutually agreed that it is best to cancel the tour altogether." The trek, which was to feature Trey Anastasio and Ben Harper, was scheduled to run from June 13 to July 31. Refunds for all dates will be available through the outlets where the tickets were originally purchased, through June 2. ...

The full lineup for the inaugural Intonation Festival in Chicago has been announced. The two-day fest (July 16-17) will feature two stages, a DJ tent, record fair and vendors in Union Park. Among the bands slated to perform are Tortoise, Death From Above 1979, the Go! Team, Broken Social Scene, Four Tet, Magnolia Electric Co., A.C. Newman, Beans, the Decemberists, Les Savy Fav, the Wrens, Deerhoof, Andrew Bird, Out Hud and DJ sets by Jean Grae and Palace's Will Oldham. ... Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins has inked a solo deal with indie label Thrive Records, and plans to release his solo debut in early 2006. The group, which Hawkins has dubbed Taylor Hawkins and the Coattail Riders, includes former Jane's Addiction bassist Chris Chaney and guitarist Gannin. Their debut album is said to sound a bit like the Foos, but with "'70s guitar and prog rock scenes." A preview of the material is available at TaylorHawkins.com. ...

05.27.2005

There was stunned silence in the courtroom on Friday (May 27) when both sides in the Michael Jackson trial announced that they've rested, even ahead of the schedule that was announced earlier the same day. The prosecution finished their rebuttal, contingent upon a motion that will be heard Tuesday, by playing a videotape of the accuser's first interview with the police. The defense opted out of their rebuttal case altogether, resting unconditionally. As for the videotape, Judge Rodney Melville instructed the jury to only observe the "demeanor, manner and attitude" of the accuser, and that the accuser's statements were "not to be considered for the truth of the matter stated." Observers witnessed at least two alternate female jurors holding Kleenex after the video was screened. After adjournment, Jackson stood on the side all alone, until his defense team came over to comfort him: Robert Sanger touched him on the arm, Thomas Mesereau shook his hand and embraced him, and Susan Yu hugged him tightly.

Remember when Cassidy said a few weeks ago that he would gladly take on a battle with 50 Cent? Well, stay tuned — according to a source close to the project, in his new video for "B-Boy Stance," Cassidy is going to be parodying 50. Word is that Cass pokes fun at the "21 Questions" video and will have an oiled-up G-Unit general look-alike in his clip. ...

Nearly 36 years after a young man was stabbed to death during a Rolling Stones concert at Altamont Speedway near San Francisco, investigators have finally closed the case, The Associated Press reports. After a two-year renewed investigation, authorities concluded the assailant acted alone. Eighteen-year-old Meredith Hunter was killed by a member of the Hell's Angels motorcycle gang — hired by the Rolling Stones to work as security — during the December 6, 1969 show that drew a crowd of 300,000 people. The ill-fated concert — and stabbing — were captured on tape and featured in the 1970 documentary "Gimme Shelter."... Talib Kweli, who joins Cameron Diaz in Tanzania on the Monday episode of her MTV reality show, "Trippin'," has another trip he's about to embark on — with the Black Eyed Peas. He's just announced he'll be joining the hip-hop group on its upcoming summer tour, which kicks off June 11 at Atlanta's Music Midtown Festival. ...

Xzibit doesn't just want to pimp your ride anymore — he's starting a shoe line called (what else?) Pimp Your Kicks. The collection will include his trademark silver "X" insignia and will come in a variety of styles, colors and fabrics. The rapper's shoes will hit stores in August. ... Mandy Moore posted on her Web site that she's planning on going into the studio "around June 10 or so" in Los Angeles, but will have to juggle her schedule around a film that starts shooting in July. "I'm really excited about that," she wrote. "I am so ready to go into the studio and get this record going!" ...

Tommy Lee's band Mötley Crüe is suing NBC for a "lifetime ban," but that doesn't mean the drummer's reality show won't see the light of day on the network. "Tommy Lee Goes to College" will premiere on August 16 with two back-to-back episodes starting at 9 p.m. ET. The six-episode show follows Lee's studies and extracurricular activities at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, such as finding a roommate, trying out for the marching band and cramming for finals. Lee is also one of the producers of the series. ... Emo-rockers Sparta have lost a member. According to the band's Web site, guitarist Paul Hinojos has decided to leave the fold, but the band plans to continue working on its next record — as it has been since mid-April, when a ruptured disc in Hinojos' back forced the cancellation of the group's spring tour. Sparta have no immediate plans to replace Hinojos. ...

Henry Rollins is going on yet another USO tour to bolster the morale of the troops, this time to the Pacific. He's heading to stations in Japan, Korea and Guam between June 13 and June 23, where he will meet with service members, tour a variety of job posts and sign autographs. The beefy singer has visited troops in Kuwait, Iraq, Afghanistan, Honduras and several other locations in the past. ... Southern rap sextet the Nappy Roots will release The Humdinger, the group's follow-up to 2003's Wooden Leather, on August 16. The collective previewed some of its newest material, including the album's first single, "Rewind," on Thursday night at New York's members-only club NA. ...

Norah Jones is among a handful of celebrities who have autographed a VIP gift bag that will be auctioned off on eBay to support the 20th annual AIDS Walk in New York. Bidding on the package, which has a retail value of $1,800, begins on May 30 and wraps June 9. Other celebs who donated their John Hancock for the event's cause are Hal Sparks of "Queer as Folk"; Ted Allen, Jai Rodriguez and Kyan Douglas of "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy"; and John Spencer of "The West Wing." ...

• "Britney And Kevin: Chaotic"

• Britney Spears
• Green Day
• blink-182
• Black Eyed Peas
• Anthony Hamilton

Common
Photo: Walik Goshorn

NEW YORK — After getting the requisite questions out of the way — "Is Brooklyn in the house?" and "Where my ladies at?" — Jin, the diminutive 20-year-old Chinese rapper and the latest addition to the Ruff Ryders camp, asked a question to the crowd at B.B. King's, there to see MTV's You Hear It First Tour: "Where the f--- are my Asians at?"

Those in the crowd screamed to make their presence known. "Yeah," Jin said, "shout out to all nine of ya'll."

Jin, dressed in a white Ruff Ryders warm-up jacket with his name embroidered in green on the front said, "Hip-hop is all about interaction. I talk to you, you talk to me." And he started his set with a call-and-response song called "Oh No!" from his forthcoming debut album, Almost Famous (October 7). Shortly after that, he brought out his "big brother," fellow Ruff Ryder Drag-On. The two of them performed a freestyle, which ended with the classic hip-hop the "song's over" sound: shattering glass.

"Who's drinkin' tonight?" Jin asked as a segue into the next song, the one where Jin and Drag-On promote Drag's new material by performing "Put Your Drinks Down," the first single from his upcoming album, To Hell and Back, due on September 16. "What we gon' do is party right now. So get out your seats and put your drinks down," the two chanted.

Next up came "Peel Off" from the "2 Fast 2 Furious" soundtrack, the movie in which Jin appeared as "a fake-ass mechanic." "Who saw the movie?" he asked. The crowd applauded faintly. "Who's gonna rent it at Blockbuster?" Another lukewarm reply. "Who's gonna watch it on UPN when it comes on [on a] Saturday?" The crowd erupted into applause.

After "Peel Off," Jin took a moment to introduce himself to the crowd. This was, after all, a You Hear It First moment. So Jin gave his 30-second autobiography: "I wanted to get a record deal. No one would give it to me. So I went on [BET's] '106th and Park' [where he won the freestyle competition on Freestyle Fridays for seven straight weeks]. And I got a deal through Ruff Ryders. It's the good old-fashioned American way."

Then he urged the audience to scream "f--- you!"

Not because of the way he got a label deal, but because he was going into his next song about the "haters," "I Don't Know," which led him to his last song of the night.

"If you like Chinese food, make some f---in' noise!" he said, and the beat dropped on "Learn Chinese," the first single from Almost Famous, which features Wyclef Jean. On the song he assures us that we're "all gon' learn Chinese" and we'll even want to be Chinese.

When Jin finished his set, he said, "You know what? Ya'll gon' learn Chinese." Then, as he was leaving the stage, he joked, "but I barely speak that sh--."

Next up, as signaled by the banjo music, came a slimmed down Bubba Sparxxx, wearing, but not for long, a black button-down shirt and a white T-shirt underneath.

He opened with "We Ready" and went right into "Lovely" before talking to the crowd. After reminding everyone that he was from the backwoods of Georgia, he said he had a very special announcement to make: "My father is in town tonight. He came from a dirt road in Georgia. And he been drinkin' too!" He asked that the audience say a special chant to bring his father out: "Jimmy Mathis please come out he-ah!" "That's simple enough even for New York," Bubba cracked. When the crowd called for Johnny, an overweight, overalls-and-aviators-clad man wearing a straw hat and swilling a beer emerged from backstage and the new song "Johnny Mathis" from Bubba's upcoming album, Deliverance (September 16), began playing as Bubba's "father" roamed the stage. To prove his southern roots once again, Bubba ended his songs not with shattering glass, but with the crow of a rooster.

Then things started getting ugly. Bubba ripped off his shirts and threw them into the crowd as "Deliverance" began playing, on which he lovingly talks about his "fishing pole and bottle of 'shine" before handing the stage over to DJ Scientist, who is also a country boy and was wearing a Rolling Stones tongue-logo T-shirt. Bubba asked, "Hip-hop started in New York, right? I'm just a simple-minded country boy so I do be forgetting stuff sometimes." Then he offered a "buffalo nickel to anyone can find a better DJ."

DJ Scientist dropped the "Ruff Ryders Anthem" and cut it up into a drum-and-bass song, which got the crowd cheering and dancing immediately. The DJ did a little breakdance move and then put on the Notorious B.I.G.'s "Hypnotize," to which Bubba, still shirtless, started belly dancing. Then DJ ScienTIST turned "Hypnotize" into "Mary Had a Little Lamb" with fancy fader tricks. When he put "Good Times" on by Chic, he started mixing not only with his hands, but with his feet and knees as well, while he spun around, played backwards, licked his fingers and pushed his glasses back up at the same time.

When the DJ set was over, Bubba's hype man asked the audience if the in-shape Bubba looked pretty. Bubba answered before anyone else could. "I know I'm pretty, but I sure do see a lot of ugly sons of bitches in the crowd tonight." And then Bubba's first single "Ugly," from his debut album, Dark Days, Bright Nights, kicked in with its Timbaland-produced bounce beat. When the song was over and Sparxxx ripped his set, he kindly told the crowd, "Bubba loves you."

Anthony Hamilton, the epitome of a neo-soul singer with his dreadlocked, trucker hat-clad band, and wearing his own camouflage version with the word "obey" on it, opened his show with theatrical singing by him and his three backup singers. Hamilton ran through his collaborations, which included Tupac Shakur's "Thugz Mansion" and the Nappy Roots' Grammy-nominated "Po' Folks" before moving on to his own new material. From his debut album, Coming From Where I'm From (August 26), he performed "Charlene," a song "about a relationship gone wrong." He finished the set by raising his right fist in the air and walking quietly off the stage.

Everyone was ready for the headliner, Common, by the time the hour after he was supposed to be off the stage finally rolled around.

Common got to the mic and welcomed the crowd. "We gonna party tonight like we in the basement of your mother's house ... all you see around you is family. I'm going to be your host tonight. My name is Common."

Also wearing a camouflage hat and a khaki shirt, Common, who sported a bushy beard and a diamond earring, opened the hour-long set with "Soul Power" and then moved into "Time Travelin' (A Tribute to Fela)."

At the end of "Nag Champa (Afrodisiac for the World)," Common barely spat the lyrics while doing the Robot.

"Me and Mos [Def] were on the horn [one day]," Common explained of the next song, and applause broke out when Mos' name was mentioned — either because it was a crowd of his fans or because they knew what song was coming. "He said that when you rock that sh-- in New York, you know you got to be live." Then, he said, he got call-waiting. "Ya'll know Talib Kweli?" The crowd cheered again. When he was on the phone with Kweli, also apparently getting performance advice from him, Common asked, "What do you want me to say?" His answer? The opening line to "Respiration."

At the end of the song, strobe lights came on and Common started doing the Pogo. "Scream!" he yelled as "Electric Wire Hustler Flower" began. The frenetic energy got the crowd nearly moshing and had Common thrashing about on the stage, banging the mic stand on the floor so much and so hard that it bent in half.

Then, calming down a bit and taking a page from his friends the Roots' concert playbook, Common, backed by a live band, started singing Nas' "The World Is Yours" as he began a selection of old-school rap songs. From that, he went into an initials medley: the Notorious B.I.G.'s "Big Poppa," and then the Wu-Tang Clan's "C.R.E.A.M." From there, he went into his own early-'90s song "I Used to Love H.E.R." He then played what could be called the follow-up to that song, his collaboration with the Roots, "Act Too ... The Love of My Life." Common moved straight into Run-DMC's "Sucker MCs" and then the Pharcyde's "Passin' Me By" before Audio 2's "Top Billin.' " He concluded the trip down memory lane with his own recent hit, the collaboration with girlfriend Erykah Badu, "Love of My Life."

"We like to kick it, but we like to slow it down, too. Show a little love," Common said. "People love cars or chains or rims. But we're here to love ourselves, the Most High, and our mates as reflections of ourselves."

With that he chose a woman from the audience to come onstage to serenade for "Come Close." The woman, Kristin, knew every word to the song to sing back to Common and didn't even mind when Common, drenched in sweat, gave her a big bear hug.

Of course, it was after he escorted Kristin off the stage that Common mopped himself off and told the audience, "This is one love that I can't shake," as his shoulders twitched. "Hip-hop, hip-hop, hip-hop," he repeated as the lights came up and down. "The foundation of hip-hop is the DJ," he said as he introduced DJ Dummy.

DJ Dummy played Rob Base and DJ EZ Rock's "It Takes Two" as he spun with his back to the turntables, his eyes closed, and even with a woman all hugged up on him.

Common performed a freestyle rhyme with the chorus, "Girl, It's a freestyle," before going into "Funky for You," during which he jumped into the crowd and danced for fans.

He ended the show with an extended version of "The Light," so he could introduce the Electric Circus players and thank everybody for attending the basement party.

Funked-up circus music played for about 10 minutes, until Common, standing center-stage, flashed a black power fist and then a peace sign before the lights came up.

For more sights and stories from concerts around the country, check out MTV News Tour Reports.

• Common
• Jin
• Bubba Sparxxx
• Anthony Hamilton

Common
Photo: MCA

Common and Bubba Sparxxx are teaming up with up-and-comers Kenna, Anthony Hamilton, Jin, the Exies and Fiction Plane to take the emerging artist showcase You Hear It First on the road.

The artists, most of whom have been featured as part of MTV News' weekly new-artist series, have signed on for the first MTV You Hear It First Tour. The trek's rock leg — featuring sets from Kenna, the Exies and Fiction Plane — will kick off July 15 at the House of Blues in West Hollywood, California. An urban leg — featuring Bubba Sparxxx, Common, Anthony Hamilton and Jin — gets rolling on July 27 in New York.

Since its launch in early 2000, the YHIF franchise has spotlighted a steady stream of artists who were relatively unknown at the time, including Sean Paul, T.A.T.U., the Vines, Ms. Dynamite, Rooney, the Mooney Suzuki, the Distillers and others. Bubba Sparxxx, the Exies, Fiction Plane, Anthony Hamilton and Jin are all YHIF alums.

Here's how the MTV You Hear It First Tour breaks down:

Kenna, the Exies and Fiction Plane

• 7/15 - West Hollywood, CA @ House of Blues
• 7/18 - Anaheim, CA @ House of Blues
• 7/21 - Las Vegas, NV @ House of Blues

Common, Anthony Hamilton, Bubba Sparxxx and Jin

• 7/27 - New York, NY @ B.B. Kings
• 7/28 - Washington, DC @ 930 Club
• 7/29 - Philadelphia, PA @ Trocadaro
• 7/30 - Boston, MA @ Roxy

• Common
• Bubba Sparxxx
• Kenna
• Anthony Hamilton
• Jin

• Anthony Hamilton

Anthony Hamilton: You Hear It First Photo Gallery

• Anthony Hamilton

MTV Exclusive: Anthony Hamilton Photos

• Anthony Hamilton