Brian McKnight will sing the national anthem and Ashanti will perform at halftime during the WNBA All-Star Game tonight in Washington, D.C. . . . New York City police charged Fat Joe with assault on July 11th. The charges stem from a May 12th altercation in which he allegedly punched a man and broke his jaw . . . A guitar signed by Keith Richards and a bass autographed by the Red Hot Chili Peppers are among the items being auctioned by eBay to benefit the Casey Ball Foundation, which funds juvenile kidney research . . . Guitarist Ry Cooder and saxophonist Michael Brecker are among the guests on James Taylor's next album, October Road, due August 13th . . .

Tom Morello and System of a Down have established the Axis of Justice installation for each stop of Ozzfest 2002. It will provide "information on worker's rights, racism, freedom of speech and stopping this international cycle of violence," according to Morello . . . Guy Clark will release The Dark on September 10th. The album features a cover of Townes Van Zandt's "Rex's Blues" . . . Ice T will host Beyond Tough, a new show about people who work in dangerous professions. The show will air on the TLC network later this year . . . Jazz pianist Brad Mehldau covers Radiohead's "Paranoid Android" and the BEATLES' "Dear Prudence" on Largo, his Jon Brion-produced album, due in August . . .

Songs by the Deftones, Jimmy Eat World, Dashboard Confessional, Hoobastank, the Get Up Kids and others will be included on MTV Road Rules: Don't Make Me Pull This Thing Over Vol. 1, due August 6th . . . John Entwistle was laid to rest in his hometown of Stow-on-the-Wold, England, on July 10th; band mates Pete Townshend, Roger Daltrey and Kenny Jones were in attendance . . . Chicago bluesman Jimmie Lee Robinson died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound on July 7th at age seventy-one . . . Josh Rouse has lined up a seventeen-date tour with Archer Prewitt and the National Trust, starting tomorrow night in Boston . . .

Jack Johnson's tour van was robbed while he gave a in-store performance in Australia on July 8th . . . Alanis Morissette and the Deftones' episodes of Music in High Places will be released on DVD on August 27th . . . Japanese pop duo Puffy Amiyumi will begin their first ever U.S. tour with an in-store performance at the Virgin Megastore in Chicago on July 17th . . . Iron Maiden will release Rock in Rio, their first DVD, on August 20th . . . Bo Diddley was forced to cancel two performances, July 11th at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut, and July 13th at the Fleet Blues Fest in New York, after suffering chest pains over the weekend . . .

Tori Amos will release her seventh album, Scarlet's Walk, on October 15th . . . Mick Jagger and Keith Richards will make a guest appearance on an episode of The Simpsons that will air in November . . . Weezer's Rivers Cuomo has contributed a guitar solo to "Hurt," a track from Crazy Town's next album . . . Madonna has been confirmed to make a cameo appearance in Die Another Day, the next James Bond film, due later this year; next month she'll shoot a video for the film's title track in Los Angeles . . . Jimmy Eat World, the Promise Ring, Cave In and others will perform at the second annual Plea for Peace/Take Action Tour, which begins September 13th in Worcester, Massachusetts; a benefit CD from the tour will be released on August 20th . . .

'N Sync's Joey Fatone has signed on to star in the Broadway musical, Rent, starting August 5th and running through December 22nd . . . Sharon Osbourne was released from the hospital earlier this week after undergoing surgery for colon cancer . . . Eddie Van Halen and Valerie Bertinelli announced that they separated ten months ago, after twenty years of marriage . . . Lil' Romeo will host Nickelodeon's A Walk in Your Shoes that will air on July 14th . . . The Manic Street Preachers will release their new single, "Forever Delayed," in October . . . Lange, Yves Deruyter and Graham Gold are among the performers at the eighth annual World Electronic Music Festival, which is scheduled for August 2-4 in Bobcaygeon, Ontario . . .

Oasis' Heathen Chemistry debuted Number One on the U.K. charts eight years after the group had its first Number One with Definitely Maybe . . . Travis were forced to cancel four European tour dates after drummer Neil Primrose suffered a head injury while swimming in Belfort, France . . . Uncle Kracker and Grateful Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann will perform at Dare to Dream 2002: A Concert for Hope, a benefit to provide cancer care for underprivileged patients; the benefit will be held at the Mohegan Sun casino in Connecticut July 26th and 27th . . . Soul Asylum frontman Dave Pirner will begin a fourteen-date tour on July 27th in Columbus, Ohio; his first solo album, Faces and Names, is due July 30th . . . Phil Collins will release Testify, his first new album in six years, on November 12th . . .

Incubus have lined up a thirty-nine-date tour to begin on August 31st in Reno, Nevada . . .Kylie Minogue will be featured in a pair of commercials for Bally Total Fitness that will launch this week . . . Paul Westerberg will begin a fourteen-date tour behind Stereo/Mono on July 25th in Los Angeles . . . Songs by Ginuwine, Fabolous, P. Diddy, Jagged Edge, Glenn Lewis and others will be featured on the soundtrack to The Barbershop, due August 27th . . . Bif Naked will release her new album, Purge, on September 3rd . . . David Gray will begin a U.K. tour on November 11th in Belfast, Ireland . . . Gnutella founder Gene Kan died on June 29th at age twenty-five; no cause of death has been cited . . . The Foo Fighters fourth album will be released on October 22nd . . .

The Red Hot Chili Peppers will celebrate the release of their new album, By the Way, and support the revitalization of downtown New York, with a "Pep Rally" performance on historic Ellis Island tomorrow. A number of tickets were made exclusively available to local businesses and the Twin Towers Fund for families of September 11th victims . . . A U.K. judge ruled last week that Michael Abram, the man who stabbed George Harrison in 1999, was fit to be released from a psychiatric facility in Liverpool . . . Al Green, Ashanti, Tweet and the Isley Brothers will perform at the Rochester MusicFest July 14-21 in Rochester, New York . . . Rapper Project Pat (a.k.a. Patrick Houston) has asked for a new trial after he was convicted of felony gun possession last month, claiming that the jury was improperly influenced by his lyrics . . . A Vespa scooter signed by the Who's Pete Townshend, Roger Daltrey and John Entwistle, is being auctioned by the Virgin Megastore at virginmega.com . . . Tony Bennett was forced to cut short a concert at London's Royal Albert Hall late last week, after a fire broke out in the venue . . .

Grant-Lee Phillips' first solo album, Ladies Love Oracle, will be reissued by Zoe/Rounder on August 20th; Phillips will join John Doe and Kristin Hersh for an eight-date fall tour starting September 18th in Atlanta . . . The Best of Fairport Convention, which features music by Sandy Denny and Richard Thompson, will be released on August 6th . . . Tortoise, the Chicago Underground Duo, Eleventh Dream Day, the Sea and Cake and others will celebrate Thrill Jockey's tenth anniversary with three New York City shows, September 5-7 . . . Joni Mitchell and Bruce Cockburn have been appointed to the Order of Canada, which recognizes outstanding lifetime achievement . . . More than 100 acts, including Lonnie Mack, Phat Boi, Penguins of Destruction and Kiss Army will play at the Mom's Music Festival in Louisville, Kentucky, on Saturday July 13th . . .

(July 12, 2002)