Anger Management tour partners Xzibit and Papa Roach will join forces one last time in 2000 to perform at this year's MTV New Year's Eve 2001 show. Marilyn Manson and BBMak will also offer performances from the network's studios in New York City's Times Square, where house DJs Samantha Ronson and DJ Quik will spin. Carson Daly, actress Rachael Leigh Cook and Mandy Moore, as well as several other VJs, will host the festivities. In addition to performing, Xzibit will take on some of the hosting duties from the World at WWF, the World Wrestling Federation's entertainment complex just down the street from MTV's studios. MTV will also give viewers glimpses into Lance Bass' private New Year's party at the Roseland Ballroom in New York. The celebration goes from 10 p.m. Dec. 31 to 12:30 a.m. . . .

Backstreet Boy A.J. McLean will perform as Johnny No-Name on Dec. 30 at the Hard Rock Cafe in Orlando, Fla. For those who didn't already know, McLean occasionally takes on the alter-ego of a Manchester, England, native turned Nashville hell-raiser turned sultry, Tom Jones-esque pop star and performs for charity. The complete Johnny No-Name history can be viewed at the singer's official web site, www.johnnyno-name.com. The Dec. 30 performance is billed as "Johnny No-Name's Pre-New Year's Bash 2000." Tickets for the show are $15 and available through Tickemaster, with all the proceeds from the performance going to children's charities . . .

Salt from Salt-N-Pepa, or as they refer to themselves on their Official Web site (www.saltnpepa.org) "the original Spice Girls," will release her solo debut in January. Salt of the Earth is on Salt's (a.k.a. Cheryl James) own label, GavFam, a joint venture with her longtime boyfriend and new husband Gavin Wray. The couple, who have been together ten years and have two children together, were married this past Christmas Eve. As for Salt-N-Pepa, the group is on hiatus while Pepa and DJ Spinderella pursue other projects . . .

Santana fans awaiting the follow-up to 1999's Supernatural still have a while to wait. After spending the better part of 1999 and 2000 on the road in support of the album, Santana has announced that he's reserving the first half of 2001 for himself and his family. "I am going to be daddy/husband until May," he said. "Then, I'll be returning to the studio to prepare for the release of our next album, which should be ready this fall." No word yet on any special guests for the album but Santana did give a little insight into his intention for the record, "My main goal is to create music that will dismantle violence and, hopefully, work with other musicians that have that kind of intention." . . .

Britney Spears proved to be most searched for celebrity in a survey of an estimated 133 million Web surfers. Spears, naturally, was also the most searched for female on the net. The co-honoree of most searched for male went to Eminem. Phish was named the top concert Webcast, while They Might Be Giants' song "Rest a While" and album Working Undercover for the Man were the most commercially downloaded (i.e., for a fee). All the tallies for 2000 are revealed in the latest issue of Yahoo! Internet Life magazine . . .

The American Music Awards have added Kid Rock , Marilyn Manson, OutKast and 3 Doors Down as performers for the twenty-eighth show. Rock, whose friend and band member Joe C died earlier this year, will spearhead a salute to artists who died this year. The AMAs already boasts an impressive roster set for it's Jan. 8 event, with Britney Spears, Ricky Martin , Toni Braxton, Jennifer Lopez, Martina McBride, SheDaisy, and Jessica Simpson are set to perform. Adding to the glitter will be high profile presenters such as Destiny's Child, Marc Anthony, Aaron Carter , Melissa Etheridge, Everlast, Lonestar, Run-D.M.C. and Nelly , among others. Spears and LL Cool J will co-host . . .

Macon, Ga. will again honor its most prominent son, as Mayor Jack Ellis is planning on renaming the Macon City Auditorium after Otis Redding. Though the town already boasts an Otis Redding Bridge and Otis Redding Coliseum, the Auditorium was a performance spot for Redding and was also the site for his funeral in 1967 . . .

Toni Braxton will marry musician Keri Lewis next year. The R&B diva met the Mint Condition guitarist/keyboardist three years ago when the band served as the opening act on Braxton's tour . . .

Nelly and the Cash Money Millionaires cancelled the final three dates of their co-headlining tour, as the St. Louis-based rapper was feeling fatigued. The tour missed stops in San Jose, Sacramento and Los Angeles on Wed., Thurs. and Fri. respectively. The latest cancellations are the tour's most recent headache, which included cancelled apperances by Lil' Kim and others who were originally billed as part of the package . . .

Looks like DMX has temporarily dropped his Rottweiler attitude and has started acting like Lassie. On Dec. 20, DMX, a.k.a. Earl Simmons, and his family spent were at Harlem Hospital in New York handing out gifts to children in the AIDS ward . . .

Papa Roach are making sure they don't go away anytime soon. Staring Feb. 9, the boys will start shooting the video for their new single, "Between Angels and Insects." On board to direct is Joseph Kahn, who has done videos for the Backstreet Boys, Sisqo and Britney Spears. "Between the Angels and Insects" is the third single from P. Roach's first album, Infest . . .

Jazz legend Milt Hinton died in a Queens, N.Y., hospital on Dec. 19, at age ninety, after an extended illness. Hinton was an immensely popular bassist who appeared on scores of albums by Cab Calloway, Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Aretha Franklin, Dizzy Gillespie, Billie Holiday, Benny Goodman, Coleman Hawkins among many others. Hinton was also an accomplished photographer of the genre, with several books of his collected photography still in print . . .

The Red Hot Chili Peppers have lent their talents to trip-hop guru Tricky for an upcoming album. According to www.redhotchilipeppers.com, the punk-funk legends lent their skills to three songs, including a cover of, "Wonder Woman." The songs will not appear on Tricky's upcoming EP for Epitaph imprint, Anti. which will be in stores Feb. 6. In other Chili Pepper news, Flea aided drummer Cliff Martinez, who used to bang the skins for the Chilis, with the soundtrack to the film Traffic. The soundtrack will hit stores Jan. 9 and includes tracks by Fatboy Slim, Morcheeba, Kruder & Dorfmeister, and seminal jazz-funkster, Herbie Handcock. . .

Eminem will not be offered a plea bargain from Oakland County (Mich.) prosecutors in his weapons possession case. On Monday, a judge set an April 23 trial date, with a pre-trial hearing on April 9. The incident stems from a June altercation in which the rapper allegedly threatened an associate of the Insane Clown Posse, just a day before another incident in which he is accused of assaulting a man in a skirmish outside of a Macomb, Mich. nightclub . . .

Mos Def will back in the studio recording a follow up to his 1999 album, Black on Both Sides, according to reps at his label. His new, currently untitled album will drop sometime in the summer and will feature his rock band, Jack Johnson, which includes Will Calhoun, Doug Wimbish of Living Color, Dr. Know of the Bad Brains and Bernie Worrell of Parliament/Funkadelic. The band has been making appearances on the Lyricist Lounge Tour. . .

LL Cool J is joining Britney Spears in co-hosting the twenty-eighth annual American Music Awards. In addition to hosting, Spears will perform (she's also nominated for three awards). Other performers include Ricky Martin, Jennifer Lopez, Martina McBride, SheDaisy, Jessica Simpson, Toni Braxton and Aerosmith (who are set to be the first rock group to receive the AMA's Special Award of Achievement). Also presenting are 'N Sync (who, like Spears, are nominated for three awards), Brian McKnight and Lil' Bow Wow. Faith Hill leads all nominees with five nominations. The show airs live from the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on Jan. 8 ET on ABC . . .

Brian Wilson got so into the holiday spirit this year that he was moved to write a new song, one of his first solo writing projects in years. "I just wanted to thank you for a great year the best way I know how," he writes on his Web site, www.brianwilson.com, "through the gift of music." Inspired while attending his three-year-old daughter Delanie's parent-teacher conference, Wilson asked the woman sitting next to him if he could borrow a pencil and started writing "On Christmas Day" while the rest of the parents were doing arts and crafts. The next morning, he gathered his backing band, taught them the song -- which is well crafted and simple at the same time -- and cut the recording live in the studio. The song and a slideshow of the session are up on the site now . . .

Bruce Springsteen's two benefit concerts in Asbury Park Convention Hall in N.J. on Dec. 17-18 brought about a slew of on stage guests including the E Street Band. Springsteen was backed by E Street drummer Max Weinberg's band, the Max Weinberg 7, for both shows, but the remainder of his E Street ensemble also made appearances, as did his manager Jon Landau. Fellow Jersey boy Southside Johnny Lyon also joined Springsteen on stage as they ran through a few of Lyon's own tunes. The holiday season also informed the set as takes on "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" and "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town" shared space with Springsteen's catalogue of older material, as well as a new tune, "My City in Ruins." The two performances benefited eight local charities . . .

Sean Lennon and Cibo Matto are slated to perform in yet another benefit concert being held for injured violinist Petra Haden. The first one, held in Los Angeles in November, featured Beck and members of the Go-Go's with guest vocalists, raised over $13,000 towards Haden's medical expenses, which the uninsured musician incurred after being stuck by a car in August. Lennon and Cibo Matto's benefit for Haden, which will feature surprise guests, will be held Jan. 21 at New York's Bowery Ballroom . . .

"We've accessed a place we haven't been to before," Steven Tyler says of the recording process for Aerosmith's upcoming, though untitled, album. The band has been holed up at guitarist Joe Perry's home studio, the Boneyard, near Boston. "We didn't want to do a color-by-numbers with a big name producer," Perry said in a statement. "My stomach would get in a knot when we were considering other producers. Now it feels more organic. We just let go and the sparks flew." The band has an eye on a spring release for the album, followed by "a massive world tour" . . .

A Burien, Wash. woman is suing Garth Brooks for violating the Americans With Disabilities Act, claiming that he limited wheelchair seating at a concert in Seattle so that only "pretty women" could sit in the two front rows. Joanne Lawrence, who works with Disabled Americans Have Rights, Too (DAHRT), a Washington-based organization whose mission statement is "to raise awareness about people with disabilities in the community through education," according to their official Web site (www.dahrt.org). On Friday, a judge ruled that Lawrence's complaint can proceed to trial, though Brooks' liability will be limited, as concert operations fall under the responsibility of Seattle's Key Arena . . .

ANDREW DANSBY, STEVE FLORIO, CHRISTINA SARACENO, JAAN UHELSZKI, JENNIFER VINEYARD
(December 29, 2000)