Clay Aiken To Be A Father

We're told 50-year-old Foster, who produced several Aiken CDs, is due in August. We're told Foster was artificially inseminated. But Clay is a lot more than sperm -- we're told he will have an active role in raising the child. - more on this story

Only 37 Bucks For New Metallica CD

idolator reports: You thought Nine Inch Nails and Radiohead were making good use of the Internet? Well, Metallica have revealed the pricing tiers for the Mission: Metallica Platinum experience.

For $25, you'll get MP3s of the album on the street release date. (At midnight! How awesomely retro is that!) And for $12 more, they'll throw in the actual CD. (Shipping included!)

But true fans will cough up another $90 for a 5-LP box set of God knows what, and a Mission: Metallica lithograph. (Ow!) - Before you fire up your favorite P2P program, you need to find out what else is being offered.

50 Cent House Fire 'Suspicious'

Jam! reports: A multimillion-dollar Long Island home at the centre of a dispute between Grammy-nominated rapper 50 Cent and his former girlfriend was destroyed by a suspicious fire early Friday.

The blaze occurred just days after a heated confrontation inside the woman's attorney's office over the home. 50 Cent does not live in the home and apparently wasn't there at the time.

Investigators from the Suffolk County arson squad were called to the scene after Dix Hills Fire Chief Larry Feld deemed the blaze suspicious. - more on this story

Radiohead & Prince Creep Controversy

Jam! reports: After word spread that Prince covered Radiohead's "Creep" at Coachella, the tens of thousands who couldn't be there ran to YouTube for a peek. Everyone was quickly denied -- even Radiohead. All videos of Prince's unique rendition of Radiohead's early hit were quickly taken down, leaving only a message that his label, NPG Records, had removed the clips, claiming a copyright violation. But the posted videos were shot by fans and, obviously, the song isn't Prince's.

In a recent interview, Thom Yorke said he heard about Prince's performance from a text message and thought it was "hilarious." Yorke laughed when his bandmate, guitarist Ed O'Brien, said the blocking had prevented him from seeing Prince's version of their song.

"Really? He's blocked it?" asked Yorke, who figured it was their song to block or not. "Surely we should block it. Hang on a moment." Yorke added: "Well, tell him to unblock it. It's our ... song."
- more on this story

Dave Grohl to Jam With McCartney

Liverpool Daily Post reports: Foo Fighters' frontman Dave Grohl is set to play at Sir Paul McCartney's Liverpool Sound concert this Sunday.

The American, who is known to be a fan of The Beatles, is understood to have been "very keen" to be involved in the gig on Sunday, June 1, that will also feature the rock stars Kaiser Chiefs.

The Culture Company had promised a "very special international superstar guest" for Sir Paul's concert, and Grohl, the former drummer of 1990s grunge band Nirvana, appears to be that person. - more on this story

Limp Cube Movie, How Sean Levert Died, Britney's Back Up Plan?, Manson Terminator, Bumbershoot Expands, L.A. Guns Chaos, Liz Adds Dates and more

antiMusic reports: Here are some quicks for Friday: Idolator has the trailer for The Longshots (formerly Comeback), the film that Fred Durst and Ice Cube's careers have been building toward for a long time. Who better than the authors of "Nookie" and "Givin' Up The Nappy Dug Out" to tell the story of the first female quarterback in a Pop Warner football tournament. more info on the film and the trailer

A coroner ruled Thursday that R&B singer Sean Levert died of natural causes after falling ill in jail, and his family reacted by saying his death possibly could have been prevented. more

TMZ has learned Britney Spears took a meeting yesterday with a big time producer and may be headed to the small screen in a starring role. Sources say Britney and her team met with Roy Bank, President of Merv Griffin Entertainment, and discussed several TV projects in which Brit would star in and possibly produce. We're told one of the projects is a music show. more

Shirley Manson is set to pursue a full-time acting career, having landed a regular role on a US TV series. The Garbage lead singer will appear in a recurring role on 'Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles' which airs on Fox. more

The 38th annual Bumbershoot music, arts and comedy festival just announced a few more additions to their already stellar line-up. Joining in this years festivities will be Minus The Bear, Battles, Sondre Lerche, T.I, Thao and The Get Down Stay Down, Langhorne Slim and The Whigs - to name a few. more

The L.A. Guns version featuring guitarist Tracii Guns has parted ways with vocalist Paul Black. An as-yet-undisclosed replacement singer with "blond" hair has already been found and will be officially announced soon. [Is Tracii still looking in beauty shops for singers?] The band has also enlisted a new guitarist, Alec "Big Al" Bauer. more

In celebration of the 15th year anniversary of the groundbreaking album, Exile in Guyville and its long awaited reissue on June 24th, Liz Phair will perform the entire album at two additional performances on June 23rd at the Fillmore in San Francisco and on the day of release, the 24th at The Vic Theatre in Chicago.

On Tuesday, June 3, Current's weekly music series, "Fix Extended Play," will be graced by the presence of music's very own Renaissance man, Mark Ronson. The episode will feature a few of the artists with whom Ronson has made beautiful music (literally) including Santogold and Wale. In addition, the show will air a "Daily Fix" segment with the "godfather of alternative rock" Lollapalooza founder, and Jane's Addiction, Porno for Pyros and Satellite Party frontman Perry Farrell as he chats up British indie/electronic sensation Ting Tings, who last week knocked Madonna out of the number one spot on the UK charts with their single, "That's Not My Name." more info

Little Big Town hosts the second annual Ride For A Cure motorcycle ride on Sunday, June 8, 2008 benefiting the T.J. Martell Foundation. The ride will kick off at the Harley-Davidson of Cool Springs and end at the future location of Harley-Davidson of Columbia for a post-ride barbecue lunch followed by a special jam session with Little Big Town and friends.

Can you imagine an American Idol winner that can actually sell music? Looks like the latest winner is breaking the trend. David Cook's "American Idol" win is already paying dividends on the music charts. The 25-year-old singer raked in 942,000 digital downloads in just a week, according to figures released Thursday by Nielsen SoundScan. The numbers are from the week ending Sunday. more

Santogold will make a special appearance, performing live at the Hollywood & Highland central courtyard (6801 Hollywood Blvd), followed by a CD signing in the Virgin Megastore at Hollywood & Highland on Monday, June 9th at 6pm. Fans can purchase the CD at Virgin Megastore to receive a wristband and have it signed by Santogold. This will be Santogold's first performance in Los Angeles since the release of her smash self-titled album on Downtown/Lizard King in April.

New Jersey-based metal band Delian League is proud to announce that they have changed their identity for their upcoming EP, Before The Body Gets Cold, and will henceforth be known as The New Affliction. The EP will feature five brand-new songs, and introduce a new lineup. Three tracks from Before The Body Gets Cold will be available on their official MySpace site which will launch May 30.

Moby is holding a special global video contest in which a winner will scoop a $10,000 prize - as well as having their video used for his next single, 'Ooh Yeah'. more

Live Nation unveiled a Facebook application that lets users search for and buy concert tickets directly from their profile on the popular social networking site. The application is simply an extension of the My Live Nation Web site, which lets users create customized concert searches - more

Radiohead DVD

PR reports: Parlophone Records and Capitol Records have announced that the much anticipated CD, 2-CD, quadruple vinyl LP and digital release, Radiohead: The Best Of will also be available June 3 as a DVD video collection.

The collection's details are announced today. 21 videos are featured on the new Radiohead: The Best Of DVD, including "Just," "Street Spirit," "Karma Police," "Paranoid Android," "No Surprises," "Knives Out," "Pyramid Song" and "There There." The DVD also includes the more experimental visuals created for Radiohead songs not released as singles, and nine videos make their DVD release debuts on the new collection.

The story of Radiohead is not solely about the band's extraordinary music. Radiohead has also made some of the greatest music videos of all time. Working with music video's most innovative directors, including Jonathan Glazer, Michel Gondry, Jamie Thraves, Shynola, Jake Scott, Sophie Muller, Grant Gee, and others, the band's commitment to visual creativity has resulted in some of the most memorable, groundbreaking and influential music videos in the history of the medium. - more on this story

Deep Purple DVD Boxset

PR reports: On June 17, 2008, Eagle Rock Entertainment will release Deep Purple: Around The World Live, a 4-DVD boxed set chronicling live shows in 1995 India, 1999 Australia and 2002 England. The fourth disc, Access All Areas, is a documentary of the band, from inception on.

Deep Purple is one of the most beloved Hard Rock bands in music history. Seen as one of the key precursor bands to what ultimately became Heavy Metal, it is also in the Guinness Book Of World Records as the loudest band ever. Its debut album, Shades Of Deep Purple, came out in September of 1968. By year's end, The Book Of Taliesyn was also out and 12 months later, in 1969, its self-titled third album made them stars. Superstar status was achieved in the '70s, and there was no looking back from there. All during the '80s and '90s, Deep Purple continued to make new fans, performing its music on stages all over the world. With 18 studio albums, six live albums, and 14 of Hard Rock's greatest musicians (including guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, organist Jon Lord, vocalist David Coverdale, guitarist Joe Satriani, and the late Tommy Bolin) who have filled its ranks at one time or another, Deep Purple has sold millions of records, and are considered one of the greatest bands of alltime. (The current lineup, which has been solvent for six years, consists of vocalist Ian Gillan, guitarist Steve Morse, bassist Roger Glover, keyboardist Don Airey and drummer Ian Paice.) - more on this story

Lamb Of God Set DVD Premier

PR reports: Lamb Of God will World Premier the full-length feature from their brand-new 2 DVD set, 'Walk With Me In Hell', at Chelsea Cinemas in New York City on June 30 at 7PM, with the full band in attendance at the premiere! Fans can get their ticket to the premiere by pre-ordering the special double DVD bundle while supplies last.

Not in NYC? Well, you can order the double DVD set and have your own premiere OR vote at www.lamb-of-god.com or www.myspace.com/lambofgod to have a LAMB OF GOD premiere in your town. Use the Eventful widget on the sites to "Demand" a premiere be held in your city. The city with the most "Demands" by June 16 gets a premiere that will be held around the release of the 'Walk With Me In Hell' double disc set! - more on this story

Wanna Buy Death Row Records?

TMZ reports: First Suge gets knocked out cold out at an L.A. club, now he's being forced to sell off his once mighty Death Row empire

After filing for bankruptcy in 2006, a judge has ordered that all assets for Death Row be auctioned off to the highest bidder on June 24.

That's some serious stuff, as it includes the rights to all the recordings of Tupac Shakur, Snoop Dogg, and Dr. Dre. The minimum starting bid is a measly $24 mil. - more on this story

Linkin Park Excessive Art Show Details

PR reports: Mike Shinoda will premiere Glorious Excess, his most ambitious and powerful series of paintings and digital works to date, on July 12. The special engagement features large-scale pieces that blend Shinoda's personal experiences in the spotlight with pop commentary and classical vanitas influences. The first in a two-part series, the exhibition will be displayed in the George and Sakaye Aratani Central Hall of the Japanese American National Museum from July 12 to August 3.

Glorious Excess is a subversive interpretation of the classic art movement "vanitas," a type of symbolic still life painting commonly executed by Northern European painters in Flanders and the Netherlands in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.[1] Following a central character through various facets of celebrity life, the exhibition explores the motivations behind contemporary society's fascination with fame, excess and instant gratification, from the unique perspective of an outsider on the inside of rock superstardom. - more on this story

Coheed and Comics

PR reports: Claudio Sanchez, the mastermind behind the rock band Coheed and Cambria, has debuted a new comic strip, called KILL AUDIO, on Myspace. The first four mini-issues in the series will also be included in Image Comics' collaborative graphic novel, PopGun, this summer.

"I really wanted the strip to be a fun read," admitted Sanchez, "so I decided to tie some elements of music and pop culture into a more satirical story than I've done in the past."

KILL AUDIO is a dark, comedic tale of a man growing annoyed with his own immortality. Along with a long list of eccentric companions and a bumbling, yet tenacious villain at his heels, he embarks on a quest to find his purpose in life. - more on this story

Trey Anastasio Sets Live Return at Music Fest

PR reports: Rothbury is honored to welcome Trey Anastasio to the already stellar artist lineup. Rothbury marks Trey's first official performance since December 2006. Also new to the lineup: Holland's Kraak & Smaak, Los Angeles' Underground Orchestra, Boulder's DJ Harry, Pnuma Live PA, and England's Fiction Plane.

On July 4th weekend 2008, Rothbury emerges as a new American celebration. For this next generation of the rock and roll music festival, Rothbury sets forth as a huge party with a purpose. Hosted at the one-of-a-kind Double JJ Ranch in Rothbury, Michigan, the unique festival site offers trails, forests, fields, lakes and beach fronts, and even on-site lodging, bars and eateries. The four day, environmentally sustainable music and camping festival promises to be an inspiring cultural assembly; one where music fans, artists and progressive thinkers gather to celebrate much more than music.

Music is the soul of Rothbury. Confirmed musical acts include Dave Matthews Band, Widespread Panic, John Mayer, 311, Phil Lesh and Friends, Modest Mouse, Primus, Snoop Dogg, Michael Franti and Spearhead, Thievery Corporation, STS9, Colbie Caillat and many others. - rothburyfestival.com

Eric Clapton, Ben Harper, Jesse Harris, and Keb Mo For Solomon Burke CD

PR reports: This June will see the release of Solomon Burke's highly personal new album, Like A Fire. Burke has had a long illustrious career which includes a Grammy award and an induction into the Rock and Roll hall of fame. His influence as an artist has long reached across generations, as is evident here on this soulful new project featuring songs written specifically for the album by an all-star team of songwriters, including Eric Clapton, Ben Harper, Jesse Harris, and Keb' Mo'.

The songs on Like A Fire are based on Burke's reflections on life, and his concern for the state of the world. A spare, honest and emotionally raw album, Like A Fire was produced by Grammy-winning master drummer Steve Jordan, who has worked with Bob Dylan, Keith Richards, Stevie Wonder, John Mayer and countless other greats, and who also wrote three tracks for the album. - more on this story

Rare Beach Boy Reissue

PR reports: Eternal Beach Boy Dennis Wilson's much sought-after 1977 solo album, which Mojo Magazine has heralded as a "buried treasure", will return to circulation on the occasion of its 30th anniversary, and the 25th anniversary of Wilson's untimely death in 1983, at age 39. The double-CD PACIFIC OCEAN BLUE – LEGACY EDITION will arrive in stores June 17th on Caribou/Epic/Legacy, a division of SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT. A vinyl edition of the LP will also be released at the same time, on the Sundazed label.

In 1977, Dennis Wilson's Pacific Ocean Blue became the first solo LP to be released by a member of the legendary Beach Boys. Dennis, the band's surfer, drummer and free spirit, emerged from the shadow of his older brother, pop genius Brian Wilson, and shocked the industry with a sound and style unlike any other. Over thirty years later Pacific Ocean Blue remains arguably the greatest solo work by a Wilson. - more on this story

Lonn Remembers Michelle Meldrum

antiMusic reports: In Lonn Friend's latest column he recalls some of his favorite memories of Michelle Meldrum, who lost her life to a brain tumor earlier this month. Here is one of the antidotes Lonn offers in his column about when he turned Metallica on to Michelle's band Phantom Blue. Here is Lonn:

As referenced in the Metallica chapter of Life on Planet Rock, I picked up James Hetfield one evening during Metallica's Black sessions and while he was cracking my windshield with a rough mix of "Holier Than Thou," I suggested we check out this all-girl metal band, Phantom Blue, playing at the Roxy. Former Elektra Records publicist, Byron Hontas, PR point man on Ride the Lightning and Master of Puppets, touted them. What I have never written anywhere are the circumstances under which Byron and I met. I was an editor at HUSTLER, not sure what my exact title was at the time but I had my content hands in just about everything (except the photo shoots – I know…lame). I get a call from the Elektra publicity department which was perhaps the first time I ever spoke to someone who worked at a record company. I had longed to share time and ramble with musicians.... Bryon pitches me this idea; "Metallica, a big thrash band from San Francisco, and has a new LP coming out called Master of Puppets," says the man nicknamed Poca Hontas. "I was thinking how cool it would be to shoot the band with four hot HUSTLER models on strings." Get me more chips, I'm all in. Fortunately for the legacy of the band I would later come to know as 'family' (or fairly close), Q Prime management put a screeching halt to our misogynistic marionette fantasy. The project's death birthed a friendship with Byron that's thrived to this day.

Four songs into the Phantom Blue set, the mighty Hetfield giggles, "Chicks shouldn't play this sh*t." No one heard the comment, especially the blonde on lead guitar named Michelle Meldrum.... As time and tide passed, chops were honed, new bands were formed, and life in studio and on the road was experienced full scale. As Michelle's rock got harder and more focused on her 'shred', she caught the eye of her testosterone driven peeps. Opinions on the woman's role in metal have evolved. Didn't Avril Lavigne perform at Metallica's MTV Icon ceremony? The shift is on. - Read the full article for some more cool Michelle stories

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