Michelle Branch will give a free concert on top of Madison Square Garden on June 2nd to help the WNBA's New York Liberty celebrate their home opener; the performance will be the first time an artist has ever performed on top of the New York City arena . . . Snoop Dogg received a $250 fine and a suspended thirty-day jail sentence on May 29th after pleading no contest to charges of marijuana possession in Oberlin, Ohio . . . Natalie Merchant has started the "My Generation" essay contest; high school students must submit entries by June 20th through www.nataliemerchant.com to win prizes . . . Aaron Carter will take the Rock, Rap and Retro Tour out for thirty dates starting August 6th in Nashville . . . Diana Ross entered a Malibu, Califorinia, drug and alcohol abuse center eleven days ago. She is still scheduled to tour the U.S. this summer . . .

Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton, the Jordanaires, Delbert McClinton and Marty Stuart are among the guests on Pam Tillis' It's All Relative, a tribute to her father, Mel Tillis, due August 27th . . . Joi will play eight dates with former Lucy Pearl band mate Raphael Saadiq starting June 3rd in Chicago; she is promoting her new solo album, Star Kitty's Revenge . . . Dave Mason will give a free concert on June 8th in Champion, Pennsylvania . . . The Dixie Chicks will receive the CMA's Flameworthy Video Visionary Award in Nashville on June 12th . . . The Derek Trucks Band, the Alison Brown Quartet and the Dark Star Orchestra will perform at a thirty-fifth anniversary celebration of the Summer of Love in Brandywine, Maryland . . .

The Reel 'N Sync, a behind-the-scenes film, shot by Joey Fatone, has just been released on DVD/VHS through www.nsynchomevideo.com . . . Moby has lined up six tour dates prior to the launch of his Area2 tour. The new string of performances begin on July 10th in St. Paul, Minnesota . . . Steven Tyler, No Doubt, Ja Rule, Pink, Alanis Morissette, India.Arie, Kelly Osbourne and others will perform at KIIS FM's All American Wango Tango at the Rose Bowl in Los Angeles on June 15th . . . Sharon Osbourne has been tapped to host VH1's coverage of Queen Elizabeth II's Golden Jubilee concert on June 3rd; Ozzy Osbourne is scheduled to perform at the event . . . Wynonna and the A*Teens have covered classic Elvis Presley tracks for the soundtrack to Lilo and Stitch, due June 11th . . . Annie Lennox will receive the 2002 Billboard Century Award in Las Vegas in December . . . Baaba Maal will sing the Senegalese National Anthem at the May 31st World Cup game between Senegal and France in Korea . . . Singer-songwriter Lis Harvey is planning to enter the Guinness Book of World Records by launching a fifty-state promotional tour behind her new record, Topography, in sixty-one days; the tour launches on August 15th in Portsmouth, New Hampshire . . . Blues guitarist Joe Bonamassa will release his second solo album, So, It's Like That, on August 13th . . . Jan Hammer will release the two-CD Miami Vice: The Complete Collection on July 23rd. Korn will celebrate the release of their fifth album, Untouchables, with a June 10th performance in New York City. The group has struck a deal with United Artists that will allow the concert to be digitally simulcast in forty UA theaters in thirty U.S. cities. The broadcast will begin at 10 p.m., and includes a thirty-minute segment on the making of the new album, followed by the group's hour-long show. Tickets for the screening are available at participating theaters and through Moviefone. Untouchables arrives in record stores on June 11th . . .

The Minus 5 (featuring R.E.M.'s Peter Buck), Tuatara, Wayward Shamans and Cedell Davis will take part in the Fast Horse Summer Hootenany, a twenty-four-date tour that will launch on July 10th in Seattle . . . Hall and Oates have lined up a twenty-seven date tour to begin on July 19th in Atlantic City, New Jersey . . . Motorhead frontman Lemmy Kilmister's trademark lucky hat was stolen on May 17th at a show in San Francisco; the group is offering a reward for the hat's return, with more information available at imotorhead.com . . . B.B. King won the Entertainer of the Year Award for the fourth straight year at the twenty-third annual W.C. Handy Blues Awards on May 25th in Memphis . . . The Recording Industry Association of America filed suit against Audiogalaxy, a Napster-like online music swapping service, on May 24th for copyright infringement . . .

Nate Dogg, was sentenced to a year of probation after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge of marijuana possession, stemming from an April 12th arrest . . . The Dixie Chicks have sent their new single, "Long Time Gone," to radio, suggesting that their nearly yearlong legal battle with Sony Music Entertainment has nearly been resolved. The trio has completed its third album, which will likely be released later this year . . . Puffy Amiyumi will begin a ten-date U.S. tour on July 6th in West Hollywood . . . Dennis Quaid and the Sharks will perform and Mick Fleetwood will make an appearance at the fourth annual Emerging Artists and Technology in Music Conference, which will run May 29-31 in Las Vegas . . . Silverchair were forced to cancel two Australian concerts due to frontman Daniel Johns' reactive arthritis . . .

(May 30, 2002)