CHINGY will release a CD/DVD version of his hit album Jackpot on November 18th, featuring live footage and remix of his hit singles . . . JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE's October 19th hometown show in Memphis will be broadcast on November 25th. The show features a guest spot by soul legend AL GREEN . . . MICHAEL STIPE, MOBY, JACK BLACK and MICHAEL MOORE are on a panel organized by Moveon.org to judge a nationwide contest to find the best television ad that critiques the polices of President George W. Bush . . . CHRIS ROBINSON has signed with Vector and is working on his second solo album with producer PAUL STACEY . . .

ABBA's AGNETHA FAELTSKOG is working on her first album in sixteen years, due in March . . . BLUES TRAVELER will release Thinnest of Air: Live From Red Rocks on DVD on November 18th. The two-DVD set will include concert footage, ninety minutes of interviews and backstage footage . . . PEARL JAM were joined by CHRIS CORNELL, JACK JOHNSON, JOHN FRUSCIANTE and their former drummer JACK IRONS at their October 28th show in Santa Barbara, California . . . DAVE CLARK FIVE drummer MIKE SMITH was paralyzed from the waist down from a September 12th fall at his home in Spain. He remains hospitalized in London . . .

DAVID BOWIE and his wife IMAN have signed on to appear in an ad campaign for clothing designer Tommy Hilfiger next year . . . Two new COUNTING CROWS songs (both produced by BRENDAN O'BRIEN) will be included on Films About Ghosts, a new compilation due November 25th . . . One copy of PUDDLE OF MUDD's November 25th release Live on Display will contain a Platinum Pass earning a fan the right to accompany the band for a week on tour . . . HANOI ROCKS have reunited and on January 27th, the band will release Twelve Shots on the Rocks, its first album in seventeen years . . .

A memorial ELLIOTT SMITH t-shirt is being sold through ripelliottsmith.com with proceeds going to Smith's foundation for abused children . . . TOM PETTY AND THE HEARTBREAKERS received the Legend Award at the 2003 Radio Music Awards in Las Vegas on Monday night . . . While attending the Radio Music Awards, NELLY had more than $1 million worth of jewelry stolen from his hotel room . . . Actor TIM ROBBINS will host the November 10th tribute to JOHNNY CASH at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville . . . RICKIE LEE JONES will begin an eighteen-date tour on November 2nd in Rochester, New Hampshire . . .

MICHAEL JACKSON's 9/11 charity single, "What More Can I Give," which features guest vocals by JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE, MARIAH CAREY, BEYONCE and others, will premiere tonight when its video airs on the Radio Music Awards in Las Vegas . . . ANDREW W.K. kicks off a twenty-one-date tour on October 31st in Columbia, Missouri . . . LIT will release their next album, tentatively titled "Weapons of Mass Distortion," next year. The group begins an eight-date tour on November 8th in Portland, Oregon . . . DMX, LINKIN PARK, PAPA ROACH and PENNYWISE will perform at the sixth annual Cypress Hill Smokeout, set for November 15th in San Bernardino, California . . .

ARETHA FRANKLIN added a guest vocal to KRS-ONE's "I Remember," which will be included on his next album, Double Trouble . . . The YEAH YEAH YEAHS will begin a twelve-date tour on November 8th in Washington, D.C. . . . LED ZEPPELIN bassist JOHN PAUL JONES has been enlisted to produce the next album by the DATSUNS, due next year . . . METALLICA were forced to cancel their South American tour (which would have begun last Friday) due to exhaustion and drummer LARS ULRICH's rotator cuff injury . . . Bluegrass vet DEL McCOURY was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry over the weekend . . . ROSEY NIX ADAMS, daughter of JUNE CARTER CASH, was found dead on a tour bus in Clarksville, Tennessee, of apparent carbon monoxide poisoning. She was forty-five . . .

(October 29, 2003)