COURTNEY LOVE was in New York City yesterday where she pleaded innocent to charges of assault and reckless endangerment stemming from a March incident. Love is accused of hitting photographer Gregory Burgett in the head with a microphone stand during a club show on March 18th. The singer was two hours late for her arraignment and afterwards held an impromptu press conference in the courthouse's ladies room. The case was adjourned until June 28th . . .

CARLOS SANTANA has joined the lineup for QUINCY JONES' global humanitarian concert in Rome on Sunday . . . DESTINY'S CHILD's KELLY ROWLAND is engaged to marry Dallas Cowboys safety ROY WILLIAMS . . . Hershey's has teamed with JESSICA and ASHLEE SIMPSON who will endorse the new Ice Breakers Liquid Ice brand breath mints . . . The ALLMAN BROTHERS will release a two-CD, career-spanning collection, "Stand Back: The Anthology," on June 8th . . . DAVE MATTHEWS donated an autographed, custom guitar to the Northwest Film Forum as part of the organization's fundraising efforts that include a May 15th auction . . .

The Warner Music Group, under new ownership led by EDGAR BRONFMAN JR., is planning to cut $250 million in costs. Part of the cut is whittling down about half of the roster at its Atlantic Records label, which was recently merged with Elektra and Lava. According to reports, THIRD EYE BLIND is among more than eighty bands who have been cut loose from the label . . .

P. DIDDY has dismantled DA BAND, cutting loose three members and signing NESS and BABS to his Bad Boy label. DYLAN and DJ SICKAMORE fired back with a new mixtape titled "Life After Diddy" . . . AIMEE MANN launches a fifteen-date tour on June 11th in Solana Beach, California . . . The SECRET MACHINES kick off an eighteen-date-tour on May 24th in Orlando to support their debut, Nowhere Is Now Here . . . MORRISSEY will make a rare television appearance on "The Late Late Show With Craig Kilborn" on May 24th where he'll perform and sit down for an interview . . . VINCE NEIL's 2004 Skylar Neil Memorial Golf Tournament raised more than $100,000 for the T.J. Martell Foundation, which funds leukemia research . . . BONNIE PRINCE BILLY begins a twenty-one-date tour on May 25th in Denton, Texas . . .

OUTKAST, USHER and JANET JACKSON will perform at the 2004 BET Awards, set for June 29th in Los Angeles. OutKast lead all acts with six nominations . . . TRUTH HURTS will release her next album, Ready Now, on RAPHAEL SAADIQ's Pookie Entertainment on June 1st . . . ANGIE STONE has set a July 6th release for her new album, Stone Love . . . Veteran rapper HEAVY D. has signed with SEAN "P. DIDDY" COMBS' Bad Boy Records and will release a new album this fall . . . JESSICA SIMPSON, AVRIL LAVIGNE, MAROON 5, LIZ PHAIR, SEAN PAUL and JC CHASEZ will perform at the KISS Concert at the Tweeter Center in Mansfield, Massachusetts, on May 22nd . . . ROSANNE CASH begins a ten-date tour on August 7th in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania . . .

A nine-CD PAUL SIMON box set is scheduled for release in late June. Studio Recordings 1972-2000 covers the singer-songwriter's solo career from his early Seventies departure from SIMON AND GARFUNKEL to the release of his most recent studio album, You're the One in 2000. In other S&G news, due to the success of last year's reunion tour, the duo has lined up another twenty-date tour to launch June 10th in Albany . . .

The ISLEY BROTHERS have signed with Def Soul Classics and will record a new album for release in early 2005 . . . The three-CD Something Grand will collect SHRIMP BOAT's recordings from 1985 to 1993. The group featured the SEA AND CAKE's SAM PREKOP and drummer BRAD WOOD (Liz Phair) . . . Three albums by Seventies prog rockers NEKTAR will be reissued later this month. The group is planning a U.S. tour for September . . . PAUL WELLER will release a new EP in the U.K. next month. The songs are also available for streaming at paulweller.com . . . QUINCY JONES and BILL COSBY's The Original Jam Sessions: 1969 will be released on June 22nd, followed by The New Mixes, Vol. 1 on July 13th . . .

A.F.I. and GRANDADDY are scheduled to appear at the twenty-seventh annual California Music Awards, set for June 6th in Oakland. NIGHT RANGER and TESLA will perform . . . Actor GUY PEARCE has recorded songs written by JOE HENRY, ROBYN HITCHCOCK and RON SEXSMITH for the soundtrack to A Slipping Down Life, due July 13th. The set is produced by Henry . . . PEARL JAM licensed their song "Yellow Ledbetter" to NBC's Friends for the series finale last week, the first time the group has allowed one of its songs to appear on a television show . . . CLASH guitarist MICK JONES is in the studio with the LIBERTINES recording their second album . . . PINK GREASE's debut, This Is for Real, will be released on June 15th . . .

MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE will release their next album, Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge, on June 8th . . . OTEP will release their second album, House of Secrets, on July 27th . . . I AM THE WORLD TRADE CENTER singer AMY DYKES was diagnosed last month with Hodgkin's Disease and is receiving treatment. The group is offering daily updates on her condition on its Web site . . . Former SUEDE members BRETT ANDERSON and BERNARD BUTLER are working on songs together for the first time since 1994 . . . JOHN FAHEY's only live album, Live in Tasmania, will be reissued by Fantasy on June 8th. The late avant garde guitarist recorded the set in 1980 . . . A collection of remixes of GOLDFRAPP's Strict Machine will be released on May 18th . . .

SPOON have lined up a twelve-date tour to launch June 16th in their hometown of Austin. The group will be showcasing songs from their new album, due this fall . . . The DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS have recorded a cover of TOM PETTY's "Rebels" for the May 16th episode of Fox's King of the Hill. Petty will also add his voice to the episode . . . The BEE GEES will receive honorary degrees from the University of Manchester today. ROBIN and BARRY GIBB will attend and their brother MAURICE, who died last year, will receive a posthumous honor . . . YO LA TENGO kick off a fourteen-date tour on May 24th in Vancouver . . . SUPERJOINT RITUAL will headline MTV2's Headbanger's Ball on May 15th. Frontman PHIL ANSELMO will use the occasion to address the status of his old band PANTERA . . .

JOHN MAYER, STING and BLINK-182 will perform on the WB's Pepsi Smash concert television show, set to debut May 27th . . . JET will return to the U.S. to plug their platinum debut Get Born, with a twenty-one-date tour starting July 1st in Buffalo, New York . . . ISAAC HAYES, BUDDY GUY and the BLIND BOYS OF ALABAMA will perform at the sixth annual Indy Jazz Fest set for Indianapolis June 18-20 . . . Country star CHARLIE PRIDE is expected to make a full recovery after undergoing brain surgery last week to fix a subdural hematoma . . . CELINE DION had to cancel three shows at her Las Vegas engagement this week on doctor's orders as she recovers from a strained neck . . . GLORIA ESTEFAN begins her first tour in eight years on July 30th in McAllen, Texas . . .

BEYONCE will portray a pop singer in STEVE MARTIN's Pink Panther prequel, set to begin production later this month, with a release planned for 2005 . . . A custom made Gibson Les Paul guitar signed by KID ROCK and PUDDLE OF MUDD is being auctioned by eBay to raise money to help with medical costs for the son of artist Tim Robinson, who was hit by a car and severely injured in January . . . WENNER BOOKS announced a partnership with Hyperion Books to print, sell and distribute its list of non-fiction that will focus on music, politics, culture and style, adventure and biography . . . 50 CENT and members of his entourage were involved in a fracas at a Springfield, Massachusetts, early Saturday morning. Two people were arrested . . . LOU BARLOW will release a new EP on Merge Records on October 12th . . .

ROONEY, OZMA and STRAYLIGHT RUN will perform at the Hudson River Rocks concert series on June 6th . . . Four classic BRIAN ENO albums -- Another Green World, Before and After Science, Here Come the Warm Jets and Taking Tiger Mountain -- will be reissued by Astralwerks on June 1st . . . JACK JOHNSON will take G. LOVE AND SPECIAL SAUCE and DONAVON FRANKENREITER out on a sixteen-date tour, starting August 25th in Lake Tahoe, Nevada . . . LEFTOVER SALMON, KELLER WILLIAMS and the DEL McCOURY BAND will perform at the tenth annual Hookahville Music Festival, set for May 28th and 29th in Columbus, Ohio . . . MIKE DOUGHTY kicks off an eighteen-date tour on June 5th in Hoboken, New Jersey . . . RADIO 4 will release their third album, the politically-charged Stealing of a Nation, on September 7th . . . Jazz guitar legend BARNEY KESSEL died of brain cancer on May 6th; he was eighty.