ASHLEE SIMPSON has organized an eBay auction, ongoing through February 14th, to benefit UNICEF's tsunami relief efforts. Simpson and NEW FOUND GLORY are offering tickets to their shows and passes to meet the artists, while artists including JESSICA SIMPSON and GOOD CHARLOTTE have donated autographed memorabilia . . . NAS has written and recorded the theme for the Spike Lee miniseries Miracle's Boys, about a group of brothers growing up in Harlem, set to premiere February 18th on the N network . . . JOHN MELLENCAMP will bring DONOVAN along for his Words and Music tour in support of last year's double album of the same name. The outing begins March 23rd in Savannah, Georgia . . .

MOTLEY CRUE's MICK MARS' former girlfriend Robbie Mantooth has filed a $10 million palimony suit, claiming Mars pulled out of a promise to support her financially for life . . . OZZY OSBOURNE's four-disc, fifty-one track Prince of Darkness box set will be released March 22nd . . . DIZZEE RASCAL kicks off the North American leg of his tour on March 31st in Portland, Oregon, wrapping on April 30th in Chicago . . . Starbucks Hear Music will release two JONI MITCHELL-themed CDs on February 16th. Joni Mitchell: Artist's Choice is a collection of songs that influenced the singer-songwriter, while Joni Mitchell: Selected Songs are Mitchell's best recordings as selected by artists including BOB DYLAN and ELVIS COSTELLO . . . WARRANT have returned to the studio to begin recording a new album with producer Pat Regan (KISS) set for summer release . . . The BOREDOMS will play a string of North American shows kicking off May 17th in Los Angeles . . .

The BEASTIE BOYS have joined Al Sharpton in a PETA campaign to boycott Kentucky Fried Chicken for the chicken chain's alleged cruelty to animals. The group's open letter of protest to the KFC CEO is posted at peta.org . . . NELLY, ICE CUBE, MARK McGRATH, RYAN CABRERA, JERMAINE DUPRI and BRIAN McKNIGHT will lace 'em up February 18th in Denver for a celebrity basketball game, to be televised live on ESPN, as part of the NBA All-Star Game weekend. CIARA will perform during halftime of the NBA All-Star Game on Sunday . . . ELTON JOHN will headline the Philadelphia Freedom Concert and Ball on July 4th in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The event is expected to draw 1.5 million people and raise $2 million for HIV/AIDS awareness . . . KANYE WEST's The College Dropout and FRANZ FERDINAND's "Take Me Out" topped the Village Voice's annual "Pazz and Jop" critics poll as last year's best album and single, respectively . . .

Former GRATEFUL DEAD drummer MICKEY HART has joined electronic rock band PARTICLE to form HYDRA. The new band kicks off its spring tour April 7th in Santa Cruz, California, wrapping up April 24th in Washington, DC . . . BRIAN WILSON, CLINT BLACK, FIVE FOR FIGHTING and VANESSA WILLIAMS will perform on February 20th in the Nextel Tribute to America show during the Daytona 500 . . . DIO release Evil or Divine on February 22nd . . . BEYONCE will join JOSH GROBAN to perform his Oscar-nominated "Believe," from the animated film The Polar Express, at this year's Academy Awards on February 27th at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles . . . BILLY JOEL admitted himself into a New York Hospital after suffering from stomach pains. He is now undergoing a series of tests . . . FANTASIA will co-host this year's Soul Train Music Awards on March 12th with BRIAN McKNIGHT, NICOLE RICHIE and NICK CANNON . . . T-shirts from Brooklyn Mint, the clothing line late rapper NOTORIOUS B.I.G. began in 1996, will finally hit stores March 9th . . .

Hard rockers THEORY OF A DEAD MAN, BREAKING BENJAMIN and the EXIES will kick off a joint tour March 1st in State College, Pennsylvania . . . California indie rockers OUT HUD will release their new album Let Us Never Speak of It Again in March . . . Record producer and guitarist STEVE BURGH, 54, died Monday of a heart attack. Burgh worked with artists such as BILLY JOEL, WILLIE NELSON, PHOEBE SNOW and GLADYS KNIGHT. Burgh also founded Baby Monster recording studio, used by the RAMONES, CYPRESS HILL and LUSCIOUS JACKSON . . . STAN RIDGEWAY will release his 2002 album Holiday in Dirt on DVD February 22nd . . . On the same day ALANA DAVIS will release her new album, Surrender Dorothy . . . Veteran British folk singer VASHTI BUNYAN will guest on ANIMAL COLLECTIVE's Prospect Hummer EP, due in May . . .

ELTON JOHN's face will appear on twenty AirTran airplanes beginning this week to promote the Orlando-based airline's use of XM Satellite Radio at each passenger seat. AirTran donated $50,000 to the Elton John AIDS Foundation . . . GWEN STEFANI and EVE, MAROON 5, FRANZ FERDINAND, BLACK EYED PEAS and LOS LONELY BOYS will be featured in a multi-artist, three-stage performance to open the forty-seventh annual Grammy Awards this Sunday. There will also be an all-star rendition of the BEATLES' "Across the Universe," featuring BONO, STEVIE WONDER, NORAH JONES, ALICIA KEYS, VELVET REVOLVER, BRIAN WILSON and TIM McGRAW. It will be recorded and sold on iTunes to benefit tsunami relief . . . USHER, ALICIA KEYS and KANYE WEST are among the Grammy-nominated artists whose songs are available for free download through MSN Music until Sunday, as a celebration of the awards ceremony . . . Charged with robbery and blackmail, former LIBERTINES co-frontman PETE DOHERTY has been released from a London jail after six days. He is expected to enter rehab, but must surrender his passport and observe a curfew . . .

JACKSON BROWNE, COLLECTIVE SOUL and MICHAEL McDONALD will headline the Hear and Now concert, February 12th at the Arlington Theater in Santa Barbara, California. Proceeds will aid the victims of last month's La Conchita landslide . . . That same night, the ROOTS will host their second annual pre-Grammy party at an undisclosed location in Los Angeles. KANYE WEST, JILL SCOTT, MOS DEF and PHARRELL WILLIAMS are expected to perform . . . NEIL YOUNG, the RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS, MICHELLE BRANCH, the BACKSTREET BOYS, and EARTH, WIND AND FIRE will play the music of BRIAN WILSON this Friday at Hollywood's Palladium, where the BEACH BOYS' leader will be honored as the MusiCares Person of the Year . . . Drummer DANIEL ADAIR has left 3 DOORS DOWN, who just released their third album, Seventeen Days, on Tuesday. PUDDLE OF MUDD's GREG UPCHURCH will replace him on the band's winter tour, kicking off Saturday in Daytona, Florida . . .

AVRIL LAVIGNE scored five nominations Monday to lead the field for the 2005 Junos. NEIL YOUNG will perform at the annual Canadian awards show, to take place April 3rd in Winnipeg . . . The recently reunited BLACK CROWES and hip-hop group JURASSIC 5 have joined the lineup for the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival, June 10th to June 12th in Manchester, Tennessee . . . ROBERT PLANT and his band STRANGE SENSATION will release Mighty Rearranger on May 3rd . . . LAURYN HILL played two new songs -- "Walk" and "Politician's Spirit" -- Sunday at Ethiopia's Africa Unite concert, a celebration of Bob Marley's sixtieth birthday . . . KANYE WEST's performance at Los Angeles' House of Blues on Wednesday night will be Web cast live at AOLMusic.com. The concert kicks off the American Express "Jam Sessions" series to benefit VH1's Save the Music . . . Veteran singer-songwriter PETER HIMMELMAN will release his new album, Imperfect World, on March 29th . . . The Berklee College of Music will honor SHEILA E. on February 10th. The drummer will be on hand as student bands perform her material . . .

NELLY will be the first rapper ever to perform at the Star of Texas Rodeo on March 23rd in Austin, Texas. MAROON 5, the CHARLIE DANIELS BAND and BRAD PAISLEY are among the other artists to perform at the two-week long festival, now in its sixty-eighth year . . . YOKO ONO, SEAN LENNON, guitarist SMOKEY HORMEL (BECK, TOM WAITS) and MIHO of CIBO MATTO are among the artists who will play at the Benefit for Tonic concerts. The shows, February 11th, 12th and 19th at New York City's Tonic, will raise money to keep the club open . . . Rap mogul SUGE KNIGHT was arrested in Barstow, California, Saturday evening after being pulled over by the police for making an illegal U-turn. Knight was arrested after the police allegedly found marijuana in his Ford pick-up truck, and he is being held on suspicion of violating parole . . .

BRITNEY SPEARS is suing eight insurance companies for refusing to reimburse Spears for the canceled shows on last summer's Onyx Tour. The tour was cancelled after the pop singer injured her left knee while filming a video in New York . . . SUM 41 postponed three shows due to singer DERYCK WHIBLEY'S recent throat ailment. The two Toronto shows scheduled for February 3rd and 4th have been rescheduled for April 7th and 8th, while the February 5th London performance will take place on April 11th . . . NICK CAVE will release the three-disc, fifty-six-track compilation album B-Sides and Rarities on March 22nd . . . WILLIE NELSON will release the greatest-hits collection Songs on February 15th, a week after he launches his spring tour . . . Classical pianist CHRISTOPHER O'RILEY will release Hold Me To This, his second volume of RADIOHEAD interpretations, this spring . . .