Pras is showing what he's really made of. The erstwhile Fugee has been riding higher than ever during the band's hiatus, especially since Madonna's movie company contacted him about turning his Ghetto Supastar album into a feature film -- which gives the opus a third life, since Pras is already morphing the album into a book based on some of the songs. In addition, the rapper-cum-producer-cum-author is also making his movie debut in Mystery Men, based on the Dark Horse comic. Since it's been such a good year, Pras decided to make a deposit in the karma bank and gave away bags of presents Monday (Dec. 21) to underprivileged kids via the Toys for Tots program at Bedford-Stuyvesant and Brownsville 'hoods in Brooklyn, New York . . .

In the midst of all Mick Jagger's marital woes of late, it's probably some consolation that the new owner of the Old Stone Cross pub in Staffordshire, England, has given the singer an early Christmas present. Jagger was barred from the pub back in 1963 after he urinated in the bar -- and we're not talking in the W.C. As a result, the owner barred him from his establishment for life. But the new proprietor has lifted the ban, telling reporters that thirty-five years is long enough, and extended an invitation to the Rolling Stone, telling him he would be welcome back if he wants a beer . . .

Speaking of the good ol' days, Motley Crue's Nikki Sixx is turning his back on his -- and he doesn't seem to mind. Why? Because when the bass player turned forty recently, his gorgeous Baywatch babe wife, Donna D'Errico, gave him a present he'll never forget. She leaped onstage at the Crue's show in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., according to the New York Post, and ripped off her scanty top to reveal her own personal birthday greeting. She had penned a large "4" on her right breast and, on the left, an equally large "O." According to Motley's ever-patient spokesperson, regardless of what you may have read elsewhere, the marks were not tattoos. In other Sixx family news, last week the couple reported to the L.A. County Sheriff's department that they too had a private sex tape stolen from their home. According to reports, the tape was stolen from a safe inside their Malibu home (sound familiar?), and the couple suspect it was taken by a female employee whom they had recently fired. A spokesperson at IEG Entertainment, the company that put out the infamous Tommy Lee and Pamela Anderson tape says, "We have not been contacted about this, however we might be interested, but only if it could be obtained legally" . . .

Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio has never done a solo acoustic show before, but he's debuting his act on Feb. 22 at a benefit for the Tibet House at Carnegie Hall, according to Phish's official Web site. Not to worry, he'll have plenty of support. The artistic director is Philip Glass and, in addition to Anastasio, he has rounded up Patti Smith, Lyle Lovett and Shawn Colvin, as well as some classical Tibetan musicians. Tickets went on sale Dec. 22, and range in price from $25-75. Order them by phone at 212-247-7800 . . .

Jonny Lang will be racking up the frequent flyer mileage next month when the blues prodigy makes a special trip back to his home state of Minnesota to support Governor Elect Jesse "the Body/Brain" Ventura in a bash honoring the folks who put him in office. Lang will travel from Atlanta on Jan. 15 to headline the Jan. 16 "People's Celebration" at Minneapolis' Target Center. The following day, he'll head back down to Orlando, Fla., to play a gig in the Sunshine State. All this traveling will surely give Lang plenty of practice for his 1999 full-scale world tour. A source close to the seventeen-year-old guitarist said Lang is determined to travel all over the globe next year, playing to crowds in Europe and the U.S., and possibly heading to Australia and Japan. Wander this world, indeed . . .

Kate Moss recently bid a grateful goodbye to London's Priory Clinic, where she's spent the past month being treated for "exhaustion." On the very same day of her departure, Eric Clapton told Britain's Telegraph that he's been working as a part-time unpaid member of the staff there for the past six years -- although Clapton's spokesperson says the two stars' paths didn't cross. But that's not to say that ol' Slow Hand isn't -- if you'll excuse the expression -- hands on. He told the august rag that he works at the clinic four mornings a week as a peer supporter when he's in London. The vet musician also noted that he no longer buys designer suits, or much else for that matter, and that his entire touring wardrobe consists of three sweaters and two pairs of jeans. In addition, Clapton has sold all his expensive paintings and rendered the interior of his Chelsea townhouse a pristine white, so that "it's like the inside of my head." And we were betting is was blue . . .

The original punk brigade will rear its unwashed head once again this February when Lookout! Records plans to release Avengers Died for Your Sins. Thankfully, this isn't a tribute to the crapola Ralph Fiennes film, but rather a showcase for lost and unheard music by Seventies pioneering punk outfit the Avengers. Heralded as forerunners to the era of Black Flag and X, the Avengers self-destructed four years before their first full-length album was released in 1983. This forthcoming Lookout! release will contain anthems from the band's mid-Seventies heyday as well as three new tracks from singer Penelope Houston and the boys . . .

Everyone's favorite emotion-purging rock singer, Alanis Morissette, is embarking on a major world tour to support her new album, Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie. She begins her jaunt on Jan. 30 in New Orleans and will be hitting thirty-three U.S. cities before heading off to Europe, South America, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, the Far East and Canada. According to the singer's publicity firm, indie-queen Liz Phair will be opening up until Feb. 13, and thereafter will be replaced with electronica-tinged rockers Garbage, who will play through April 27. Witness intense female catharsis on a grand scale at a stadium near you . . .

You've got to give it to Steven Tyler, a rock dad who tirelessly tours just to keep his offspring in designer duds. But sometimes a dad just has to do what a dad can do, and that might mean missing the occasional birthday. Such was the case as Tyler took the stage in Washington, D.C., to entertain the shell-shocked throngs who were still reeling from the impeachment. Despite the hubbub, Tyler still managed to give his daughter Mia a thoughtful gift for her twentieth birthday bash at New York's Limelight club: a male stripper. Well, it's probably a lot tamer than a copy of his band's autobiography, Walk This Way, which is due out in paperback on Jan. 6. Speaking of road stories, the Boston band has just added yet another leg of their tour, which kicks off on April 13 at Memphis, Tennessee's Pyramid . . .

David Bowie has been rounding up his pals to chat on BowieNet, his own personal Internet service provider. To launch the U.K. version of the service, the Thin White Duke not only drummed up cyber-support from producer Tony Visconti and photographer Mick Rock, but he also made an unexpected appearance himself -- trading ribald jibes and revealing nothing. Visconti, who produced a number of Bowie albums and recorded two songs with the maestro this past summer, took the opportunity to trash Velvet Goldmine, the Todd Haynes film that is loosely based on Bowie and Iggy Pop's lives during their halcyon days in London in the Seventies: "I think it was unfair to borrow from Bowie's life and distort it so much, and create the illusion that it was Bowie and not some fictional character. Basically I thought it was a gay porn film disguised as a musical" . . .

If the thought of Sofia Coppola gracing the silver screen makes you cringe, then the next sentence will no doubt have you doubling over in agony. Come spring, one of the world's most famous daughters will slip into her father's shoes behind the camera and bring the world her full-length directorial debut, The Virgin Suicides. Adapted from the award-winning novel by Jeffrey Eugenides, the film also boasts hipster credentials beyond its director's family ties -- according to a spokesperson at Astralwerks Records, Coppola has secured the french duo Air to compose the score. Although no notes have yet been written, we can expect lots of synths and loops accompanying the Lisbon sisters' jump out of their suburban windows . . .

Clarification: In our article on the Clash tribute album (Dec. 10), the line that read, in part, "[Joe] Strummer did have the final approval on all the tracks" should have read "Strummer did have the final approval on the track listing." And although Strummer did make some calls to artists participating on the tribute album, he did not call all of the artists involved with the record . . .

The RSN Staff
(December 21, 1998)