The Goo Goo Dolls were lucky to have a backlog of good karma yesterday afternoon. The do-good Dolls were wrapping up a five-date tour of European military bases, during which they brought holiday cheer to countless U.S. service men and women, when a rainstorm caused their plane to skid off a runway at the Naval Air Station Sigonella. According to a statement released by the band's spokesperson, the U.S. Naval-operated DC-9 aircraft tried three different landing approaches and, when it finally touched down, slid off the runway and back on again. Fortunately, none of the thirty passengers or crew members were seriously injured ...

British tabloids reported this weekend that the SPICE GIRLS have decided to throw in the spice rack and call it a day after the release of their third album. A British news source insisted that the feisty foursome met at London's Metropolitan Hotel early Friday morning (Dec. 17) prior to heading over to Virgin Records' London office, where they reportedly worked out a strategy on how to break it to their fans. But the band's publicist says it ain't so. "It's absolutely baloney. It's hogwash," huffed Elizabeth Freund. "They love what they're doing, they're on a high, and they're looking forward to their future, not planning their demise." Rumors began circulating when the Spice Girls released the single "Goodbye" earlier this month, even though the song's chorus promises "Goodbye my friend / It's not the end." If that wasn't clear enough, MEL C. posted a message on the band's official Web site (http://www.virginrecords.com/newspice/news.html) that reads, "So for all those people who think we're breaking up, we're not" ...

METALLICA know what they're going to wear for their New Year's Eve show at Pontiac, Mich.'s Silver Dome, but not what they're going to play, so they've put a plea out to hardcore fans to help them compile their set list. JAMES HETFIELD and Co. are taking requests at the band's official touring Web site (www.metontour.com). So far submissions have tended to be rather obscure, with requests for "Dyer's Eve," "Blackened," "The Frayed Ends of Sanity," "(Welcome Home) Sanitarium," "Don't Tread On Me," and, of course, the perennial favorite of headbangers everywhere, "Fade to Black" ...

Canadian born Grand Ole Opry star HANK SNOW, who gave the world the immortal rambler's anthem "I've Been Everywhere," died at his Nashville area home Monday morning at the age of eighty-five. An autopsy is pending to determine the exact cause of death, but Snow's son Jimmy told Reuters that his father had been in failing health for years and died peacefully in his bed. Over the course of his half-century career, Snow recorded more than 2,000 songs, including the hits "Movin' On," "Golden Rocket" and "Hello Love" . . .

STING's tenth annual Rainforest Foundation Benefit is scheduled for April 13 at New York City's Carnegie Hall. The Foundation fights to preserve the rainforests and ensure the rights of its indigenous peoples. JAMES TAYLOR and ELTON JOHN will be among those also on the bill...

Jazz saxophonist GROVER WASHINGTON, JR. died of an apparent heart attack in New York on Friday after taping a segment for CBS's The Early Show. He was promoting a compilation CD Prime Cuts: The Greatest Hits 1987-1999. Growing up in Philadelphia, Washington began playing the sax at ten and performing professionally shortly after. He composed the themes to the TV series The Cosby Show and Moonlighting, and his biggest hit -- 1981's "Just the Two of Us," a collaboration with singer Bill Withers -- earned him two Grammy awards. Washington was fifty-six...

BILL CRANDALL, JENNY ELISCU, CHRISTINA SARACENO, RICHARD SKANSE, JAAN UHELSZKI
(December 20, 1999)