In Brief: Billy Joel, Air

When famed choreographer Twyla Tharp's Broadway musical featuring BILLY JOEL's songs, Movin' Out, had its opening night in Los Angeles this Sunday, the Piano Man himself decided to take the stage for an encore. Joel, in town for the unveiling of his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, took over the piano and played a rendition of "Only the Good Die Young" . . . The nominees for the Shortlist Music Prize were announced this Monday. The nominees -- chosen by a panel including NORAH JONES, ROBERT SMITH, QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE's JOSH HOMME, the ROOTS' ?UESTLOVE and others -- ran the gamut from the godfathers of French ambient sounds AIR, to the little-band-that-could FRANZ FERDINAND and even country legend, LORETTA LYNN. The winner will be announced in Los Angeles in mid-November . . .

Four-time Grammy-winner RANDY TRAVIS will be planting his hands in the cement on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on September 29th when the country star receives the Walk's 2,264th star . . . CRADLE OF FILTH will headline the third Headbangers Ball Tour with special acts ARCH ENEMY and BLEEDING THROUGH. The tour will launch on November 4th in Sayreville, New Jersey, following the September 28th release of the two-disc, forty-track metal compilation, Headbangers Ball, Vol.2 . . . BLONDE REDHEAD kick off an eight-week tour with the LIARS on October 4th in North Carolina. . .

Having found some downtime in his burgeoning acting career, MOS DEF will release The New Danger, the follow-up to his solo debut Black on Both Sides, on October 12th. It includes the titles "Boogie Man," "Bed Stuy Parade and Funeral March" and "Ghetto Rock" . . . The FUGEES reunited this Saturday for a "block party" in Brooklyn's Fort Greene neighborhood organized by comedian DAVE CHAPPELLE. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind director MICHEL GONDRY was on hand to shoot the show for a concert film. Former bandmates LAURYN HILL, WYCLEF JEAN and PRAS performed tracks from their second and last album, The Score, including "Fu-Gee-La" and "Killing Me Softly," with HILL also dipping into her solo material with "Lost Ones." Locals MOS DEF, TALIB KWELI, COMMON and ERYKAH BADU were among the other performers to jump onstage . . .

JAY-Z and R. KELLY have announced the title for their latest collaboration, The Best of Both Worlds: Unfinished Business. The album -- which includes the tracks "Big Chip," "The Return" and "Never Let Me Die" -- will hit stores October 26th. Their joint tour kicks off on September 29th in Rosemont, Illinois . . . SEAN PENN will narrate the audiotape version of BOB DYLAN's autobiography, Chronicles, Vol.1, due next January . . . PATTI SMITH and TELEVISION will share a bill for the first time since 1977 on October 2nd at Roseland in New York City . . . SKEETER DAVIS, who sang on the Grand Ole Opry radio show for over four decades, died on Sunday of cancer at the age of seventy-two. She topped the pop charts in 1963 with the single "The End of the World," and toured with ELVIS PRESLEY and the ROLLING STONES . . . DJ SPOOKY is in the studio with SLAYER drummer DAVE LOMBARDO recording under the name DRUMS OF DEATH. MEAT BEAT MANIFESTO's JACK DANGERS is producing the project, due early next year, and guitarist VERNON REID will guest . . . MEGADETH are launching a twenty-two-date tour to kick off October 23rd in Reno in support of their new album, The System Has Failed.