Ashanti will release her second album, Chapter 2, on July 1st . . . Bbow Wow has enlisted the Neptunes and Lil' Jon to work on his next record. The teenage rapper has also signed on to star in a new feature film, Mr. President, which will begin shooting next year . . . Bonnie Raitt, Michelle Shocked, Victoria Williams, Odetta and Joan Osborne will cover songs associated with gospel blues legend Sister Rosetta Tharpe for a new tribute album, Shout, Sister, Shout, due August 12th . . . Norah Jones has recorded more than ten songs for her next album, due next year . . . Queens of the Stone Age's Nick Oliveri will release "A Drug Problem That Never Existed," with his side project Mondo Generator, next month . . .

Eddie Vedder and Noel Gallagher make guest appearances on the Who'S Live at the Royal Albert Hall CD, due July 22nd. The album also features a bonus CD with four tracks from a 2002 concert that would be bassist John Entwistle's last with the band . . . Devandra Banhart will begin a twenty-three-date tour on June 27th in Seattle . . . Master P was arrested at Newark International Airport last week when airport officials found eight hollow-tip bullets accompanying his registered handgun . . . Jeff Beck and Galactic will perform on the B.B. King Music Festival, a twenty-eight-date tour set to begin July 25th in Las Vegas . . .

Phish are hosting a contest to let a fan create a T-shirt for the band's "It Festival." Designs can be submitted at phish.com through June 25th . . . Eve 6 singer Max Collins was fined $400 plus court costs after pleading guilty to charges of disorderly conduct stemming from a nude rampage through a Pittsburgh hotel last month . . . 50 Cent has signed a deal with Reebok for his new G-Unit line of footwear, which will debut in the fall . . . The Wallflowers will begin a month-long acoustic tour on July 1st in San Diego . . . Sonic Youth and the reunited Stooges will perform in Detroit on August 14th . . . Courtney Love has pulled out of this summer's Reading and Leeds Festivals due to recording commitments . . . Morrissey has signed with Sanctuary Records' Attack imprint, and will release a new album later this year . . .

The Stray Cats will reunite for their first show in more than ten years at the Rockabilly Music and Car Fest in Fullerton, California, on July 7th . . . Gwen Stefani will star as Jean Harlow in Aviator, an upcoming feature film about the life of Howard Hughes . . . R. Kelly's request to travel to California to shoot a video was denied by a Chicago judge because of the singer's pending indictment on child pornography charges . . . Iron Maiden will release its next album, Dance of Death, on September 9th . . . Desaparecidos guitarist Denver Dalley has started a new band, Statistics, which will release a self-titled EP later this month . . .

A remix of Jennifer Lopez's "I'm Glad" will appear on Gay.com's Summer 2003 sampler, available from this week until July 31st. Songs by Vivian Green, Lisa Marie Presley and Liz Phair are also included . . . Four of Santana's Seventies albums -- Caravanserai, Moonflower, Love Devotion Surrender and Welcome -- will be reissued with bonus tracks on August 12th . . . Dave Gahan, Robert Smith, Solomon Burke and other guests from Junkie XL's upcoming album, Radio JXL: A Broadcast From the Computer Hell Cabin, will perform at his June 9th performance at the Pinkpop festival, in Holland . . .

Avril Lavigne and Our Lady Peace will perform at the 2003 MuchMusic Awards, scheduled for June 22nd in Toronto . . . Former Screaming Trees frontman Mark Lanegan has enlisted PJ Harvey, Izzy Stradlin, Queens of the Stone Age and Greg Dulli to guest on his new album, Bubblegum, due later this year . . . Kenneth "Supreme" McGriff, whom federal investigators believe laundered money through Irv Gotti's Murder Inc. label, was sentenced to thirty-seven months in prison on Tuesday for illegal possession of a firearm . . . Patty Loveless will release her new album, On Your Way Home, on September 30th . . . Jason Mraz and Blues Traveler will perform at Detroit Lions quarterback Joey Harrington's June 26th concert in Portland, Oregon, to raise money for the Portland Shriners Hospital for Children . . . The Ying Yang Twins will release their new album, Me and My Brother, on TVT records in June . . .

Jay-Z, Fat Joe, Erykah Badu, Sean "P. Diddy" Combs, Nas, Busta Rhymes, Carly Simon and the Beastie Boys will attend a rally at New York's City Hall tomorrow urging lawmakers to overturn the controversial Rockefeller Drug Laws . . . The New Amsterdams, featuring Get Up Kids singer/guitarist Matt Pryor, will release a new album, Worse for the Wear, on July 22nd . . . Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers have lined up a ten-date tour, starting August 15th in Charleston, South Carolina . . . Songs released as 45s by Australian acts including Radio Birdman and the Birthday Party have been compiled on the new collection, Tales From the Australian Underground . . . Stone Temple Pilots frontman Scott Weiland pleaded not guilty on June 2nd to drug possession charges stemming from a May arrest . . .

Peter Gabriel will begin a sixteen-date run of shows starting June 8th in Los Angeles . . . David Byrne, Citizen Cope and members of Sonic Youth will perform at a June 9th fundraiser in New York to benefit the Brooklyn-based Carter Woodson Cultural Literacy Program . . . The Pharcyde and Tha Liks will guest on Ghetto Pop Life, the new album by Danger Mouse and Jemini, due later this year . . . James Brown's "Make It Funky" has been remixed by the Neptunes to become the theme song for the new soft drink Sprite Remix. The song will be featured in an ad series featuring Biz Markie, P. Diddy and Muhammad Ali . . . The Foo Fighters, the White Stripes, Godsmack, the Deftones and Blur will perform at the KROQ Weenie Roast in Los Angeles on June 14th . . .

Slipknot bassist Paul Gray (a.k.a. Number Two) was arrested on June 1st in the band's hometown of Des Moines, Iowa, and charged with possession of cocaine, marijuana, drug paraphernalia and failure to obey a traffic device. Gray allegedly ran a red light in his Porche and collided with another vehicle. Police found a small amount of marijuana and cocaine, along with two syringes in his car. Gray also failed a pair of sobriety tests. His arraignment is set for June 10th . . .

Pete Yorn is heading out on the road this week for nine dates opening for the Foo Fighters . . . The All Tomorrow's Parties Festival in Los Angeles, which was set for June 20-22 and was to feature acts chosen by Matt Groening including Patti Smith, Daniel Johnston, Wire and Yo La Tengo, has been postponed until September . . . Metallica have moved up the release of St. Anger from June 10th to this Thursday to combat piracy . . . System of a Down guitarist Daron Malakian has started EatUrMusic, a new imprint on Columbia . . . R.E.M., Common, Wilco, Nickel Creek, Macy Gray and Solomon Burke are among the performers slated for the thirty-third annual Bumbershoot Festival in Seattle, set for Labor Day weekend . . . Producer Mickie Most, who had worked with Jeff Beck, the Animals and others, died of cancer at his home in London last week; he was sixty-four . . .

Stephen Malkmus will open for Radiohead on their upcoming North American tour, to launch in August . . . Dixie Chicks singer Natalie Maines is suffering from a sore throat that forced the band to postpone its June 1st show in Cleveland . . . Paul McCartney wrapped his massive world tour behind Driving Rain with a hometown show in Liverpool on June 1st . . . Willie Nelson and Ray Price will release a new album of duets, Run That By Me One More Time, on June 24th on Lost Highway . . . Australian band You Am I will release their U.S. debut, Deliverance, on August 19th . . . Merle Haggard, Marty Stuart and BR5-49 will begin the twenty-four-date Electric Barnyard Tour on July 6th in Sierra Vista, Arizona . . . Echo 7 will release their next album, One Step Away, on July 29th . . .

(June 6, 2003)