ASHANTI will release a holiday album, Ashanti's Christmas, on November 18th. The set will feature four new songs along with more traditional fare like "Silent Night" . . . The Supreme Court refused to hear former BEACH BOY AL JARDINE's appeal after a Circuit Court ruled that he couldn't tour under a variation of the group's name . . . BOB WEIR AND RATDOG, DE LA SOUL, BLUES TRAVELER, PETE YORN and the DEREK TRUCKS BAND will perform at the Great Southern Music Harvest, which runs October 10-12 in Live Oak, Florida . . . ICE CUBE has signed on for the starring role in the sequel to the action movie smash XXX, which begins production next summer . . .

A fan was stabbed to death on October 4th in the bathroom of the Hyundai Center near Los Angeles during the P3 concert, which featured performances by SNOOP DOGG, LUDACRIS and others . . . U.S. MAPLE will release their fourth album, Purple on Time, on November 4th . . . . Bassist CHUBBY JACKSON, who had played with DUKE ELLINGTON, LOUIS ARMSTRONG, WOODY HERMAN and others, died of cancer last week in San Diego; he was eighty-four . . . BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN AND THE E STREET BAND wrapped a fourteen-month tour in New York's Shea Stadium over the weekend. BOB DYLAN joined the band for a take on "Highway 61 Revisited" . . .

(October 6, 2003)