Okay, maybe it was just a cell phone, after all. A Brooklyn, N.Y., grand jury has cleared rapper Ol' Dirty Bastard of charges of attempted murder stemming from an alleged shootout with police last month. ODB was arrested Jan. 15 after plainclothes police officers claimed he fired shots at them when they pulled his sport utility vehicle over in Brooklyn for a traffic violation. A gun was never found, however, and the beleaguered Wu-Tang Clan member claimed he had in fact been holding a cellular phone. ODB pleaded innocent, and a jury yesterday spared him an indictment after hearing the testimony of a forensic expert and six other witnesses. The rapper is due to return to court on Friday for the formal dismissal of the charges. At a press conference held today (Feb. 4) at his lawyer's offices, ODB restated his innocence and said he was going to sue the NYPD. The hip-hop star's attorney, Peter Frankel, echoed the sentiment: "According to what he said today, [ODB] plans on filing a lawsuit, but it remains to be seen." Stay tuned for further details . . .

As a puberty-ridden Peter Brady once said, "When it's time to change, you've got to rearrange ..." Now facing similar baritone-blossoming problems, the middle brother of another illustrious family group, Hanson, is taking that sage advice to heart this winter. Sixteen years old next month, Taylor Hanson has written approximately twenty-five new songs with his brothers Isaac and Zac for a new, more mature Hanson album. "I'm sure it will be groundbreaking," says an unbiased management representative regarding the trio's third studio album, which is tentatively scheduled for release late this summer. So far, the group has cut demos for five new tunes at their home studio in Tulsa, Okla., and hopes to begin banging out full-fledged studio tracks next month. In the meantime, the threesome will begin sorting through crates of love letters from potential producers and inviting candidates to their Midwestern retreat for auditions/rap sessions. Perhaps George Martin will shelve his retirement plans if his letter is picked ...

Mamas don't let your babies grow up to be ... ABC News reports that Courtney Love is releasing a video called The Lecture that teaches women how to become rock stars. We knew she was up to something when she appeared in Rockrgrl last year, the magazine devoted to empowering women in the music business. She spent the entire interview giving advice to the nascent celebs. According to the piece, Courtney sidled up to a charismatic looking woman at her video shoot for Celebrity Skin to ask a question she's posed a thousand times before. "'Do you play guitar?'... It's been my pick-up line since I was in sixth grade" . . .

Seems The Million Dollar Hotel is ready to slide onto its foundation at last. The Bono and Nicholas Klein-penned Wim Wenders production, a black comedy set in 2030 about a billionaire's son who dies in a skid row hotel and the detective who tries to uncover the truth about his demise, will begin filming in Los Angeles this week. Mel Gibson and Milla Jovovich star in the flick. Although the musical co-author is not on our shores at the moment, sources close to the U2 camp tell us that Bono, who has a small part in the film, will be in the city of angels next week to film . . .

Save some celluloid for me. The Web site Artnet reports that David Bowie has accepted a supporting role in the new Julian Schnabel movie, Before Night Falls, based on the biography of Cuban novelist Reinaldo Arenas who killed himself in 1990 after being jailed by Fidel Castro for being gay. Besides Bowie, the movie -- which is scheduled to start filming in June -- will star Johnny Depp and Sean Penn. Artist-turned-filmmaker Schnabel last made cinematic waves in 1996 with Basquiat, which bombed despite a bevy of talent that included Dennis Hopper, Gary Oldman, Courtney Love, Willem Dafoe and the Thin White Duke as Warhol himself . . .

The devil's music comes in many forms, and not all of them require a leather-clad, leather-lunged singer -- just ask Dave Lombardo, the former Slayer drummer who's turned his infernal attention to the sounds of composer Antonio Vivaldi. Lombardo, whose day job now places him in the drum chair of Grip Inc., decided to go for baroque last summer when he was approached about taking part in Vivaldi: The Meeting by conductor Lorenzo Arruga. After backing the bellowings of Tom Araya for so long, you'd think that the skinsman might have some difficulty adjusting to the serenity of soprano Paola Quagliata and contralto Caterina Calvi. Not so, according to Lombardo, who calls the seven-song suite "one of the most exciting and enjoyable improvisational projects I've ever been involved with." While we can personally understand how he could prefer "The Four Seasons" to "Raining Blood," we'd advise Lombardo to avoid taking this thing on the road -- unless he's prepared to duck the assorted pig parts Slayer fans are probably already stockpiling . . .

When you think of high-quality, intellectually-minded television, you usually come around to thinking about the Monkees, right? Well, it's likely that you will soon, since former Prefab Four member Mike Nesmith might well end up owning the cerebral clearinghouse known as PBS after winning a $46 million lawsuit against the network earlier this week. Nesmith was awarded the dough by a federal court jury that found PBS guilty of breaching contracts with Pacific Arts, a film distribution company he founded a decade ago. The former Monkee alleged that PBS promised to step in and help save Pacific Arts, which had gone deeply into debt after launching massive promotions for a video line built around such PBS offerings as Masterpiece Theater and Ken Burns' acclaimed Civil War series. When Pacific Arts ran into financial trouble, however, Nesmith claims that the broadcasters pulled a fast one and convinced series producers to walk away from contracts with Pacific Arts and return all rights to PBS. The jury agreed with Nesmith's charges that the network acted in "an unethical and duplicitous manner" -- but the musician won't be seeing the millions anytime soon: A PBS spokesman says that higher-ups plan to fight the verdict, and ask that it be set aside by a higher court . . .

Candlebox has found drummer number three -- and they didn't have to look farther than their own management company to find him. Shannon Larkin, who previously played in the band Amen, which is also managed by Candlebox's Freeze Artists, will assume the position vacated by Dave Krusen, who departed the band last month for personal reasons. Larkin's resume includes session work with Ugly Kid Joe, Poundhound and, most recently, Vanilla Ice. Candlebox are scheduled to resume their tour with Larkin on Feb. 19 in Missoula, Mont . . .

Madonna has graduated from adorning her extremities with henna tattoos to fine Swiss watches. Last year, the Material Girl's bank account swelled a little more after she inked a deal to appear in a worldwide advertising campaign for the upscale Ebel timepieces. Well, not all of her. The diva's wrists were festooned with five of the expensive time-keepers, which have replaced Rolexes as the status watch in the monied set. The company is so pleased with the singer that they've now offered her a deal to design her own Madonna line, which is described as the "first co-branded prestige watch ever." As if that wasn't enough, Madonna joins Celine Dion, Mariah Carey, and Kiss at Sony Signatures. The San Francisco-based company will now have the exclusive right to sell all Madonna T-shirts, souvenir corsets and other tour-related paraphernalia to her fans. According to Andy Cohan, VP of the company, they'll be honing in on fashion, apparel, fragrances, cosmetics, accessories and collectibles. And, yes, that could very well mean we can expect a Madonna doll on the shelves soon. Madonna, who is about to begin filming The Next Best Thing, written by and co-starring Rupert Everett and directed by John Schlesinger, decided to celebrate all her recent good fortune this week when she painted the town a tasteful pink with Chloe designer and Beatle offspring Stella McCartney. According to the New York Daily News, the new twosome resurrected the Bump and danced hip-to-hip to some hot Latin sounds at Moomba . . .

Van Morrison was stricken with the same flu that felled Mick Jagger last week, but to his credit he didn't cancel a single show during his five-day run in San Francisco, which ended last Wed. (Jan. 27). Some might say he should have, however, given that his voice was hoarse, his temper foul, and that he kept dashing backstage to sit down. In fact, he sang much of the set from a wooden chair off-stage. But this past Saturday, Morrison's temperature -- and temper -- seemed back to normal. The Man harangued a North Beach waitress at the old-school watering hole Vesuvio when she demanded that he butt out his cigar. According to restaurant manager Janet Clyde, a waitperson asked the musician to extinguish the cigar and he refused, telling her, "I just bought it here, why can't I smoke it? Does that mean if a buy a beer here, I can't drink it?" The waitress told him, "I'm happy to take you outside where you can smoke it legally . . . Hell, I'll even smoke it with you, but you can't smoke it inside." A disgruntled Morrison put it out reluctantly, he and his pals finished their bottle of wine, and ambled out to the rainy San Francisco night at 2 a.m. In case you're wondering, Morrison, who is a regular customer (as are Sean Penn and Johnny Depp) did leave a tip . . .

Everyone always thinks that Cake's John McCrea is so hard-boiled -- what with casting off band members with nary a look back, giving journalists a piece of his jaundiced mind, trashing his hometown of Sacramento, and launching into diatribes about the snobbery of alternative radio. But this past weekend, McCrea proved that he really does have a heart when he and Cake played at a fan's Bar Mitzvah on Jan. 30 and didn't charge the kid's parents a dime. According to the band's spokesperson, the musician decided to show up at the celebration because he was touched by a letter he received from thirteen-year- old Mitchell Schops of Deerfield Beach asking if the band would perform at the shindig. What really swayed McCrea was the sentence "I hope you can perform at my Bar Mitzvah, if you can't I understand." After he read that, McCrea decided to rearrange Cake's schedule so the band could make an appearance there. The group arrived to play a short set for sixty of Schops nearest and dearest, and even allowed the young man to come aboard their tour bus and see what really goes on behind those shiny doors. Not only did the band do this free of charge, but their label, Capricorn Records, gave the kid a savings bond for $100 . . .

Those of you sad to see Public Enemy remove the downloadable version of Bring the Noise 2000 from their Web site can still get your online PE fix. On Sunday, the seminal rappers launched BringtheNoise.com, an "underground worldwide Internet radio" station. No, it's not in MP3 format, and it's not downloadable to your PC, but it does stream old-school hip-hop favorites all day long, and Chuck D, although busy firing verbal (and typed) ammo at the music industry, still finds time to host the Sunday night countdown. The radio station comes on the heels of Chuck's Jan. 23 plea on the Public Enemy site to "boycott corporate owned black radio stations because it's a total front ... actions and selections are endorsed, chosen and approved by other folk that don't even live under the signal. I know it sounds crazy but we refuse to pay money for airplay." Now he'll only have to pay a DJ to spin vinyl all day and night . . .

Just when you thought it was safe to wash up on an enemy shore ... you get picked up by a pop star's husband. Such was the fate of eleven Cuban refugees who were spotted by Emilio Estefan, husband to Gloria, just as their handmade boat was about to hit the sands of freedom in South Beach, Fla. According to CNN, Estefan caught the expats as they hit land and offered them a warm American welcome with some Cuban coffee. And though they were happy to see Emilio and Gloria, they weren't quite as excited when the U.S. Border Patrol took them into custody shortly thereafter . . .

Red Hot Chili Pepper singer Anthony Kiedis and high-wattage pals Chris Rock, Maverick exec Guy Oseary, Ben Stiller and Ed Norton made the Miami Superbowl party scene in a big way last weekend, showing up for a dinner in honor of k.d. lang at Joia, then moving on to a fab Tommy Hilfiger bash. But they didn't stay for as much revelry as most folks -- Stiller and Kiedis took the Fox jet home on Sunday night to prep for a 3.2 mile race around Lake Hollywood the next day. This proves, once and for all, that the musician -- whose dalliances under the bridge were quite apparent -- is in the peak of health. He had to be to muster up the energy to finish recording twenty-two new songs for the forthcoming Red Hot Chili Peppers album, due to be released in the vast expanse between July and September. Fans will be able to check on Kiedis' health at the Euro Festival this summer . . .

Charlotte Hornets head coach Dave Cowens likely sabotaged his chances for a free No Limit skull-cap when he cut rapper Master P from the team's roster. The No Limit CEO sported a Fort Wayne Fury jersey for only two months before catching the eye of Charlotte general manager Bob Bass last month. The six-foot, four-inch guard then trained for two weeks with the Hornets and survived the team's first cut, but performed poorly in two pre-season games against the Atlanta Hawks last weekend and was subsequently waived by the Hornets. Now, the renaissance rapper can return to what he does best: music, movies, sports management, running the South and so on . . .

Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis are expanding their universe a little. Not only is the infamous producing duo masterminding the new Mary J. Blige album, they had Sporty Spice and Baby Spice at their Minneapolis studio last month to pen a song for the truncated band's U.K. TV commercial. They all got along famously, but Emma Bunton didn't let on that the new Sindy doll (Barbie's U.K. arch rival) is modeled on her -- which caused the plastic fashion doll to alter her breast size from an incredible 39 inches (in scale) to a more realistic 34 inches. As for Baby's plastic boyfriend, he's modeled on Robbie Williams . . .

When Ron Howard says, "Jump!" his assistants ask "David Lee Roth or Kris Kross?" What Opie wants, Richie Cunningham gets, and this time it just happens to be Eighties heartthrobs Bon Jovi. Reunited in the studio for the first time since 1995's These Days, Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora and the boys have recorded a brand new song for the soundtrack to Howard's forthcoming film, EDtv. The song, "Real Life," will appear alongside an edited and remixed version of the Barenaked Ladies' "Call and Answer" as well as a tune from UB40 titled "Holly Holy." Other new songs include Meredith Brooks' "Careful What You Wish For" and soul father Barry White's cover of the Sly Stone classic, "Thank You (Falentinme Be Mice Elf Agin)." The remainder of the album reads like an R&B bible with contributions from James Brown, Al Green, Otis Redding, and others . . .

Nothing livens up a day quite like a spot of good old necrophilia -- just ask a death-obsessed Brit named James Brown who's well on his way to becoming the biggest British novelty act since Boy George hung up his muu-muu. The 31-year-old singer (who ditched his exceedingly recognizable moniker for the equally well-known stage name The King)is, not surprisingly, an Elvis impersonator. But rather than just rob that crypt, The King has cornered the market on his imminently-released debut, the appropriately-titled Graveland. On the disc, Brown interprets the work of a dozen performers -- all deceased, of course -- as Elvis might have done. To tell you the truth, we're not sure The King (the first one, that is) would have ever bothered covering songs like Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama" or Nirvana's "Come as You Are," but Brown's conceptual takes on the array of tunes is mighty entertaining. Yes, The King does deign to cover The King (a rendition of "That's Alright, Mama," to be precise), but we must express grave disappointment in the lack of a G.G. Allin tribute on the disc. Maybe Volume Two . . .

Radiohead's next attempt to woo another batch of cerebral music critics begins today, when the quintet enters a Paris recording studio with producer Nigel Godrich (OK Computer, The Bends) to continue work on approximately twenty songs that the band has already begun sculpting. "We don't really do demos," says Godrich. "It's kinda against our rules now. You have to be recording them at the right time when they're ready to be recorded, 'cause the songs will never sound as good again." Eventually, Radiohead will up and move their operation to another recording studio in England, but for now the album will be made in France. As for what direction the group plans to take the new material in, Godrich says that's still an unknown but "it's not like 'Okay, let's all play mandolins.' It's been three years since we did OK and I've done a lot of things and hopefully learned a lot of things. I know I wanna come out fresh. When we did OK it was very much in our minds that we didn't wanna make The Bends 2. It's the case of just throwing it at the wall and seeing what sticks " . . .

Looks like Neil Young will be joining his old cronies, Crosby, Stills and Nash, in a Los Angeles recording studio, just as we predicted after finding David Crosby's cryptic posting on his Web site. Last week, Crosby revealed that the reunited trio's studio album features a "special guest," adding the tantalizing line, "& Y not?" Graham Nash confirmed the fact during an interview on CNN a few days ago, claiming that Young indeed will appear on the album. "David and Stephen and I have been in the studio for about six months," Nash told Showbiz Today. "And in the last ten days Neil came down, and we've been making a lot of music. He's on about eight tracks right now ... it sounds great and Neil's very happy and we're very happy" . . .

Late last week, Creation Records issued a statement denying any involvement by Oasis singer Liam Gallagher in the 1996 death of roadie James Hunter, in Loch Lomond, Scotland. Hunter died just yards from the main stage where Liam and Noel Gallagher were completing their sound check, when he was crushed between a forklift and a truck. The statement emphasized that Liam had been "shocked" at allegations linking him to the death, and highlighted the decision on Friday by a British court to clear the two workers involved in Hunter's tragic death. "Liam was standing on the stage soundchecking, unaware there was a problem with one of the lorries being stuck in the mud, and certainly made no request for any vehicles to be removed," the statement read. Site manager Alexander Prasher was acquitted of failing to ensure the safety of the area, while William Murray was absolved of driving the truck, which backed into Hunter, without proper training. Hunter's family was distraught at the failure of the court to prosecute the two workers, but are forcing Murray and Prasher to answer to charges in a fatal accident inquiry later this year . . .

Speaking of Beatle-wannabes, Londoners prone to bad acid flashbacks were running for cover this past Saturday when a Beatles tribute band took to the former roof of Apple Records to commemorate the thirtieth anniversary of the Fab Four's final live appearance on the same rooftop. While the Beatles were shut down by cops when they pulled the stunt back in 1969, their imitators did things the '90s way -- applying for permits, greasing the palms of local bobbies and so on -- and thus were able to get through their half-hour appearance without incident. The tribute show, which was part of a charity fundraiser put together by the Apple building's current owners, the Building Societies Association, didn't draw as many screaming fans as the original. Still, it should end up garnering plenty of attention down the road, since it was captured for posterity by director Peter Howitt, best known in this country for last year's sleeper hit Sliding Doors . . .

Pub-rocker Graham Parker will release a collection of his work exclusively on the Razor and Tie record label's Web site (www.razorandtie.com) for one month only, beginning March 15. After that date, the record, which includes music from 1983-1986, will be available via the artist's own Web site located at www.punkhart.com, and possibly through other Web-based music stores. The limited edition collection is set to include demos, previously unreleased recordings and rarities . . .

RSN STAFF
(February 4, 1999)