Nonesuch Records has made six songs from BRIAN WILSON's newly recorded version of the BEACH BOYS' scrapped Sixties album Smile available for streaming audio prior to its September 28th release at smilethealbum.com . . . The STROKES and BLONDIE will headline an October 8th concert to benefit cancer research at New York City club Spirit. The show is being organized by JOHNNY RAMONE, who is currently battling prostate cancer (JOEY RAMONE died of lymphoma in 2001) . . .

ELVIS COSTELLO will tape his first concert DVD over two concerts at Memphis' Hi-Tone Cafe on September 17th . . . The YEAH YEAH YEAHS' DVD Tell Me What Rockers to Swallow, chronicling the band's recent gig at San Francisco's Fillmore, is due October 12th . . . MOTORHEAD cancelled the U.S. leg of their tour due to a foot injury frontman LENNY KILMINSTER suffered a month ago during a European show. The band plans to make up the shows next spring . . . The B-52'S have covered the BEATLES' "Paperback Writer" for a Buick television spot to air on September 19th and be released exclusively through the Apple iTunes store. The dance-happy camp heroes are at work on a new album, with plans to tour next summer . . .

Hill Country Blues, the first live album by the NORTH MISSISSIPPI ALLSTARS is due October 12th. The recording of the band's performance at this June's Bonnaroo festival in Tennessee features guest appearances by R.L. BURNSIDE and BLACK CROWES singer CHRIS ROBINSON . . . JUVENILE's Greatest Hits (Cash Money Records) will hit stores on October 19th. The nineteen tracks are led by the rapper's summertime Number One "Slow Motion" . . . CBS has pulled the plug on the MADONNA concert special set to shoot next week in Lisbon during her "Reinvention" tour. The singer and the network could not agree on terms for the production . . . PETER GABRIEL is at work in his Real World Studio remixing tracks for an upcoming DVD video compilation. Grammy winner DANIEL LANOIS is co-producing . . .

The MICHAEL JACKSON five-disc retrospective, The Ultimate Collection, will hit stores on November 16th. The set contains fifty-seven singles and unreleased material, including demos of "P.Y.T." and "Beautiful Girl." The release also includes a DVD of Jackson's 1992 Dangerous stadium show in Bucharest . . . The first single from GWEN STEFANI's solo debut, "What You Waiting For?", will be out in early October. The NO DOUBT frontwoman will also have her Hollywood coming-out in December, when she plays Jean Harlow alongside LEONARDO DICAPRIO in MARTIN SCORSESE's Howard Hughes biopic The Aviator . . . TWEET and CEE-LO will headline the Seagrams Gin Live Tour, which begins September 17th in San Jose . . . KANYE WEST leads this year's Source Hip-Hop Music Awards with six nominations; madcap Atlanta rapper LUDACRIS has five. The awards, held in Miami on October 10th, will be presented in combination with a political rally to which the Bush twins and Kerry daughters have been invited . . .

Capitol Records will release Acoustic, a compilation of seventeen acoustic JOHN LENNON tracks, including shriekers "Well Well Well" and "Cold Turkey," on November 2nd. On the same date, the label will issue a remastered version of Lennon's 1975 album Rock 'n' Roll with four bonus tracks. Both CDs were overseen by YOKO ONO . . . Vinyl copies of the sole 1961 recording of prep-school band the ELECTRAS -- featuring cover versions of rock hits like "Summertime Blues" -- have been selling for more than $2,000. The St. Paul's septet happened to feature budding bassist JOHN KERRY, whom the liner notes refer to as the "producer of a pulsating rhythm." The candidate's former bandmate JOHN RADCLIFFE told Rolling Stone that Kerry's musical approach was similar to his campaigning one: "If he hit the wrong note, he knew to shut up and move on" . . .

On September 14th, Hyena Records will release Aces Back to Back, a collection of BOBBY DARIN rarities, including the demo for his 1959 hit "Dream Lover." The accompanying DVD features never-before-seen footage from a documentary Darin was making about his life after a dropping out of the business for three years. The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer died during heart surgery in 1973 at the age of thirty-seven . . . Felony assault charges against LOON were dismissed by a Beverly Hills judge on Wednesday because of lack of evidence. The rapper was charged in relation to the February stabbing of a bouncer at L.A.'s House of Blues . . . HOOTIE AND THE BLOWFISH have donated $80,000 to needy school districts in South Carolina, frontman DARIUS RUCKER's home state . . . Country star WYNONNA JUDD will join lesbian lifestyle company's Olivia's cruise through the Caribbean on January 29th. The five-time Grammy winner will serenade guests with an acoustic set as they head to a private island for some, um, snorkeling . . .

Items from the estate of JOHNNY and JUNE CARTER CASH will be auctioned off September 14th through 16th. Cash's guitars, black leather boots, an embroidered three-piece suit and a tin cup from Folsom Prison are among the items currently on view to the public at Sotheby's in New York City (Cash's seven Grammys will also be sold). Cash and Carter Cash, who were married thirty-six years, died last year within months of each other . . . Australian rockers JET, who recently won Best Rock Video at the MTV Video Music Awards, will release their first DVD, Family Style, on October 26th. The set includes a complete live gig in London as well as plenty of shirt-doffing, behind-the-scenes tour footage . . .

The VERVE's greatest hits CD This Is Music: The Singles 92-98 is due November 1st in the U.K. It will feature "This Could Be My Moment" and "Monte Carlo," two previously unheard songs the British rockers initially recorded for their breakthrough album Urban Hymns . . . The British Music of Black Origin awards rescinded the nominations of Jamaican reggae artists ELEPHANT MAN and VYBZ KARTEL Tuesday for failing to apologize for their anti-gay lyrics . . . Austin guitar-smashers AND YOU WILL KNOW US BY THE TRAIL OF DEAD will begin their twenty-seven-date North American tour in their hometown on October 7th. The band will release its fourth album, Worlds Apart, in January . . . DOLLY PARTON will head out on a three-month U.S. tour, beginning in South Carolina on October 14th . . .

Before kicking off their tour (expect powder-blue tuxedos), the BEASTIE BOYS are scheduled to shoot the video for "Right Right Now Now" Tuesday night in Times Square. In addition to TALIB KWELI, another opener has been added to the tour: traveling dog show the Madcap Mutts . . . TBS will be featuring NICKELBACK's cover of ELTON JOHN's "Saturday Night's Alright (For Fighting)" as the theme song for Saturday-night college football broadcasts . . . Former LIARS bassist and drummer PAT NOECKER and RON ALBERSON, who left the band after the release of the 2002 debut, have formed a new group called NO THINGS. Though there are no plans to record as of yet, No Things will play East-Village rock-dive Lit on September 11th . . .

Following their European reunion tour this summer, the STRAY CATS have recorded their first new track since 1992. Titled "The Mystery Train Kept A Rollin'," the single will be featured on their upcoming Rumble in Brixton CD, out November 9th on Surfdog Records . . . Los Angeles-based Waxploitation Records will release a CD to benefit the Sudanese refugees. The album, "Genocide in Sudan," will hit stores in late November, and will include tracks by GORILLAZ, SYSTEM OF A DOWN, JILL SCOTT, THIEVERY CORPORATION, JURASSIC 5, BAD RELIGION, YOKO ONO, the PRETENDERS and DJ SPOOKY . . . "Edgeplay: A Film About the RUNAWAYS" will be released on DVD by Image Entertainment in January . . . JOE BARRY, whose 1960 gold record "I'm a Fool to Care" landed him on American Bandstand, died last week at the age of sixty-five. Barry, who worked with famed New Orleans producer Cosimo Matassa, was perhaps the best-known "swamp pop" artist, combining rhythm & blues and Cajun influences in his music . . .

The much-delayed NIRVANA box set, featuring three CDs' worth of previously unreleased recordings and a bonus DVD of the band playing a 1987 house party, will hit stores November 23rd . . . R.E.M., JET, DAVID GRAY, BADLY DRAWN BOY and PRIMAL SCREAM will contribute songs to Songs for Sudan, a benefit album to help the approximately 1 million victims of violence in the country's Darfur region. The download-only CD is available through bignoisemusic.com . . .

U2 have covered the KRAFTWERK song "Neon Lights" as a B-side for "Vertigo," the first single off their upcoming album . . . VANESSA WILLIAMS has signed a two-record deal with Lava Records, the first of which will be the holiday-themed "Silver & Gold," due out October 12th . . . DONNA SUMMER, the BEE GEES and BARRY WHITE are among the disco greats who will be inducted into the Dance Music Hall of Fame on September 20th at New York nightclub Spirit . . . JAMIROQUAI frontman JAY KAY had his driver's license revoked this Tuesday in Scotland for driving over 100 miles per hour.