T.A.T.U. will represent Russia at the Eurovision Song Contest on May 24th. The duo will perform the new song, "Ne Ver, Ne Bojsia" . . . Offspring drummer Ron Welty has departed the band after fifteen years to work with a new project called Steady Ground. Josh Freese (A Perfect Circle) will sit in during the sessions for the band's next album . . . Everclear will begin a twenty-eight-date tour in support of their sixth album, Slow Motion Daydream, starting April 1st in Kansas City . . . Paul Simon will perform his Oscar-nominated "Father and Daughter" during the seventy-fifth annual Academy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles on Sunday. U2 will also perform, though Eminem, nominated for Best Original Song for "Lose Yourself" will not attend . . . Radiohead have lined up a seven-date club tour of the U.K. for May . . .

Songs by Justin Timberlake, P. Diddy, Nas, Aaliyah, Nelly and others will be included on Now That's What I Call Music! 12, due March 25th . . . Jay-Z will release a single-disc version of last year's The Blueprint 2: The Gift and the Curse, on April 8th. The release will be padded with two new songs . . . Keb' Mo' will launch an eight-date tour of House of Blues venues starting April 4th in Orlando . . . Eric Clapton, Bonnie Raitt, Willie Nelson and B.B. King are among the artists who appear on It'll Come to You: The Songs of John Hiatt, due May 13th . . . A Phil Collins documentary, A Life Less Ordinary, will be released on DVD on May 20th . . .

Rod Stewart is planning to release a sequel to his left-field hit, It Had to Be You: The Great American Songbook, in October. The first collection of standards, released last fall, has sold more than 1 million copies . . . Howie Day will release the five-song Madrigals EP on April 29th, before he begins work on the follow-up to last year's Australia . . . Limp Bizkit will perform at the World Wrestling Entertainment's Wrestlemania XIX on March 30th in Seattle . . . Mark Knopfler broke six ribs and a collarbone in a motorcycle accident on March 17th. He was treated and released and his upcoming tours of Europe and America won't be affected . . . Ringo Starr will begin a twenty-eight-date tour with his All-Starr Band (featuring Colin Hay, Sheila E and others), starting July 24th in Toronto . . .

Robbie Williams has recorded a new anti-war song (with a tip to JOHN LENNON), "Happy Easter (War Is Coming)," to be the B-side to his April single, "Come Undone" . . . Bonnie Raitt and John Mayer will perform at an April 26th benefit for the Songbird Foundation in Seattle . . . Jimmy Dawkins, Willie Kent and others will perform at Buddy Guy's Legends club in Chicago on May 9th to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of Delmark Records. The label is also planning a pair of two-CD sets to mark the anniversary, representing its jazz and blues output . . . The Sea and Cake will release Glass, a seven-song EP, on May 8th . . . The Mavericks will record their first album in six years this spring, followed by a fall tour . . .

The Goo Goo Dolls and Hootie and the Blowfish have joined the lineup for the inaugural Dale Earnhardt Tribute Concert, set for June 28th at the Daytona International Speedway in Florida. Sheryl Crow and Brooks and Dunn will also perform . . . Eric Clapton will perform at his daughter's school, Birkdale in Sheffield, tonight. Proceeds from ticket sales will go to Clapton's Crossroads drug rehabilitation center in Antigua . . . Carl Thomas, Syleena Johnson and the Cash Money Millionaires' Mikkey will perform at a March 26th benefit in Chicago to aid families of victims of the February 17th stampede that killed twenty-one . . .

Radiohead's sixth album will be released in June. The first single, "There There," is scheduled for a May release in the U.K. . . . Del Rio, Texas, will unveil a statue honoring late, legendary DJ Wolfman Jack on Halloween this year . . . Lou Pearlman was found in contempt of court for failing to produce documents ordered by a Florida judge pertaining to a lawsuit filed by Aaron Carter. Carter and his family say they're owed outstanding royalties . . . Country Music Hall of Famer Jumpin' Bill Carlisle died this week after suffering a stroke; he was ninety-four . . .

Fred Durst will serve as co-host this week on ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live" . . . Yo La Tengo, And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, Daniel Johnston, Wire and the Breeders have been selected by cartoonist Matt Groening for the All Tomorrow's Parties Festival, set for June 20-22 in Los Angeles . . . System Of A Down has teamed with director Michael Moore to shoot a video for the band's "Boom!" The video will feature footage from various anti-war demonstrations held across the world earlier this year . . . The Ascension, the classic 1981 album by art rock composer Glenn Branca, featuring Sonic Youth's Lee Ranaldo, will be issued on CD for the first time this spring . . . Mambo legend Israel "Cachao" Lopez received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on March 14th . . .

Vic Chesnutt will begin a twenty-two-date tour on April 4th in Atlanta . . . A five-song bonus EP will be included in the first 25,000 copies of Stephen Malkmus' new album, Pig Lib. Malkmus will launch a European tour on March 28th in the Netherlands, before returning to the U.S. for a string of dates starting May 3rd in Austin . . . Toni Braxton has left Arista and will release her next album on September 16th on Blackground Records . . . Lyle Lovett will release his first collection of new, original songs in seven years in September . . . A tape of Merle Haggard's unreleased music that was stolen from a tour bus has been returned to the singer. A woman returned it after initially placing it for auction on eBay . . .

(March 20, 2003)