Rapper XZIBIT, who has found success on television hosting MTV's Pimp My Ride, will appear in an episode of CSI: Miami on May 10th . . . MATCHBOX TWENTY frontman ROB THOMAS will receive the Starlight Award by the National Academy of Popular Music's Songwriter's Hall of Fame on June 10th in New York . . . NEKO CASE's steel guitarist JON RAUHOUSE is recuperating at home in Arizona after surgery for a blocked artery, forcing Case to cancel four upcoming tour dates . . . DANGER MOUSE will launch a twenty-four-date tour on May 5th in Los Angeles . . . DAVID BOWIE is planning to release a DVD culled from his current Reality Tour by year's end . . . The ROOTS, 311 and MEDESKI MARTIN AND WOOD kick off a summer tour on June 18th in Santa Barbara, California . . .

COURTNEY LOVE entered a formal plea of not guilty to two felony drug possession charges in a Beverly Hills, California, courtroom on Friday. A pre-trial hearing is scheduled for June 4th, when a start date for the trial will be set. The charges stem from an October 2003 arrest, during which police retrieved pills revealed to be oxycodone and hydrocodone. Love's attorney told reporters that she had prescriptions for the pills and that he believes the charges will be dropped . . .

The CURE will release their new self-titled album on June 29th . . . Two MORRISSEY films, Hulmerist and The Malady Lingers On, will be released on DVD in late May . . . Actress MINNIE DRIVER has recorded a country music album and is in talks with Rounder Records about releasing it . . . Former THIRD EYE BLIND guitarist KEVIN CADOGAN is producing a new album for the CHEMISTRY, due this fall . . . K.D. LANG kicks off a twenty-four-date tour on April 30th in Houston . . . BOBBY BROWN admitted to drug binges that lasted "weeks at a time" in an interview with NBC's Dateline on Friday . . . BLUES TRAVELER and PUDDLE OF MUDD have signed on to appear at the NASCAR Rock and Racing series. Both groups will play at races in Chicago, the former on May 27th, the latter July 9th . . .

DAVID BOWIE's Sixties recordings for Decca are the basis for a new children's sing-along book, Musical Storyland, by illustrator JAMILLA NAJI . . . LORETTA LYNN and JACK WHITE will perform Lynn's "Portland, Oregon" on The Late Show With David Letterman on May 3rd . . . RAKIM was arrested before a performance at New York City's Roseland Ballroom on Wednesday night. The rapper appeared before a Suffolk County, New York, family court for failure to pay child support . . . SONIC YOUTH will release Corporate Ghost, its first DVD, in June . . . IRON AND WINE kick off a nine-date U.S. tour on June 21st in Arlington, Virginia . . . SWITCHFOOT won Best Rock Album (for The Beautiful Letdown) and Best Rock Song (for "Ammunition") at the Dove Awards in Nashville on Wednesday night . . .

The BEASTIE BOYS, D12 and the YEAH YEAH YEAHS will perform at the MTV Movie Awards, set for June 5th in Culver City, California . . . Pop duo VOKAL have filed suit against NELLY accusing the rapper of committing copyright infringement by calling his clothing line Vokal . . . An accused BRITNEY SPEARS stalker was arrested on Wednesday in Kentwood, Louisiana, and charged with criminal trespassing and stalking after he broke into her father's home . . . STEPHEN STILLS will be honored with the 2004 Children's Champion Awards by the U.S. Fund for UNICEF in New England on April 29th in Boston . . . TRANS AM launch a twenty-six-date tour on May 13th in Philadelphia . . . RAY DAVIES, JOSS STONE, STEVE MILLER and members of YO LA TENGO attended the Ponderosa Stomp Tuesday and Wednesday nights in New Orleans where JAMES BURTON, the FABULOUS WAILERS and LAZY LESTER were among the performers . . .

ELTON JOHN will perform with an orchestra and choir featuring students from the Juilliard School and London's Royal Academy of Music at New York City's Radio City Music Hall from July 13-18. Proceeds from the first concert will go to scholarship funds at both schools . . . A police van was hit with four bullets near the set where J-KWON was shooting a music video in St. Louis. No injuries were reported and no suspects have been arrested . . . BLINK-182 drummer TRAVIS BARKER has started his own label, La Salle Records, which will release new albums by the KINISON, the NERVOUS RETURN and the TRANSPLANTS . . . The BETA BAND will release Heroes to Zeros on May 4th . . .

PERRY FARRELL, DAMIEN RICE, MACY GRAY and MICHELLE BRANCH will perform at a June 8th benefit in Los Angeles to raise money for AIDS charities in India . . . ZERO 7 will return to the U.S. for a summer tour in support of "When It Falls" to begin May 14th in Louisville, Kentucky . . . CAT STEVENS: Majikat Earth Tour 1976 will be released on DVD on May 18th and will feature an interview with the reclusive singer-songwriter, now known as YUSUF ISLAM . . . SLUM VILLAGE has enlisted KANYE WEST to produce their new single, "Selfish." The group's album, Detroit Deli, is due June 29th . . .

SEAN "P. DIDDY" COMBS made his Broadway debut last night in a production of "Raisin in the Sun," taking the role of Walter Lee Younger popularized by SIDNEY POITIER . . . DIDO and BELLE AND SEBASTIAN are among the nominees for the U.K.'s prestigious Ivor Novello songwriting awards, set for May 27th in London . . . WU-TANG CLAN mastermind the RZA has signed on to score the third film in the Blade trilogy later this year . . . The NEPTUNES PHARRELL WILLIAMS makes his acting debut this month in The Ecology of Love, available through filmmovement.com . . . The PIXIES have added another eleven dates to their U.S. tour, including stops in Denver, New Orleans, Houston and Dallas . . .

BILLY CORGAN, JOHN CALE, GIANT SAND, IAN HUNTER, the JAYHAWKS, the FLATLANDERS, VIC CHESNUTT and the COWBOY JUNKIES have contributed songs to Por Vida, an ALEJANDRO ESCOVEDO tribute album. The set was created to raise money for the alt-country musician's mounting medical bills (Escovedo was diagnosed with hepatitis C last year) and to help raise public awareness of the disease . . .

The POINTER SISTERS' JUNE POINTER WHITMORE was arrested last week in Los Angeles and charged Monday with cocaine possession . . . DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE, BLONDE REDHEAD, TV ON THE RADIO, the CONSTANTINES and HAR MAR SUPERSTAR are among the bands lined up for the fourth annual Siren Music Festival, set for Brooklyn, New York's Coney Island on July 17th . . . The MARSHALL TUCKER BAND will release their twenty-first album, Beyond the Horizon, on May 11th . . . PRINCE's recent performance at New York City's Webster Hall will air on MTV, MTV2, BET, VH1 and VH1 classic tomorrow night . . .

DAVID BOWIE is offering fans the chance to "mash up" his music. Bowie wants fans to take any track from his latest album, "Reality," and fuse it with any other song from his catalog. Several of the submissions will be placed on Bowienet (davidbowie.com) for visitors will vote on some of the submissions, with Bowie choosing the winner. The top entry will have his/her "mash up" released as an MP3 and will win a car . . .

A children's book based on the BEATLES' cartoon The Yellow Submarine will be published in September . . . HILARY DUFF has lined up a ten-date tour to launch July 20th in Worcester, Massachusetts . . . KITTIE will release their next studio album, Until the End, on July 27th . . . BOB DYLAN covers by EMMYLOU HARRIS, JOHNNY CASH, WAYLON JENNINGS and WILLIE NELSON will be included on Dylan Country, due May 18th . . . STYX are planning to record a version of "Blue Collar Man" at the legendary Chess Studios to benefit the Willie Dixon Blues Heaven Foundation . . . JAY-Z and BEYONCE appeared in a Philadelphia court on Friday to support rapper BEANIE SIGEL, who is on trial for attempted murder . . .

The CARDIGANS kick off an eleven-date tour on May 8th in Hoboken, New Jersey . . . RUN-D.M.C.'s REVEREND RUN lost his bid to become the poet laureate of his native Queens, New York, to poet ISHLE YI PARK . . . KINKY begin a fourteen-date headlining tour on April 29th in San Francisco . . . Former Grand Ole Opry star FRANKIE SCOTT died of a stroke on Saturday; she was eighty-four . . . The Dix Hills, New York, home where JOHN COLTRANE wrote A Love Supreme has been saved for demolition and will likely be turned into a museum honoring the jazz legend . . . Performances by BLOOD FOR BLOOD and WRECKING CREW will be included on the new DVD Boston Beatdown: See the World Through Our Eyes Vol. 2, due June 22nd.