In Brief: U2, Ludacris

The video for U2's latest single, "All Because of You," premieres during halftime of the Orange Bowl on Tuesday night and will be available through ESPN.com . . . LUDACRIS will parody the villains of Austin Powers in his combined video for the tracks "Number One Spot" and "Potion," set to shoot January 14-16, with MIKE MEYERS making an appearance . . . FRANZ FERDINAND are at work on the follow-up to their 2004 self-titled debut, to be completed in Scotland . . . THREE DOG NIGHT are set to perform at the inaugural ball for West Virginia governor-elect Joe Manchin on January 17th . . . The WONDER STUFF will release Escape From Rubbish Island, their first studio album in twelve years, on March 22nd with a tour to follow in April . . . The Free Design 'Redesigned' (Vol.2) -- a Light in the Attic sampler CD featuring remixes by STEREOLAB, MARS VOLTA's OKEY OWENS, DANGER MOUSE and MANITOBA -- is due late this month . . .

The BEASTIE BOYS, CHUCK D, LE TIGRE and MY MORNING JACKET are among the artists being sampled for Creative Commons' and Wired's "The Fine Art of Sampling" contest . . . Oscar-winning director JONATHAN DEMME will interview singer-songwriter STEVE EARLE at the New York Public Library on January 14th . . . SUPER FURRY ANIMALS will release their seventh album, Songbook: The Singles Volume One, on January 25th . . . KEANE and the ZUTONS kick off their international tour on January 24th in Dallas, wrapping up April 1st in Copenhagen . . . 50 CENT, G UNIT's LLOYD BANKS and the New York Jets' JOSH EVANS opened the Book Bank Foundation "superstore" at New York's Bowery Mission over the holidays, providing homeless children over $100,000 in new clothing, toys and medicine . . .

On January 19th, Starbucks will release Sweetheart: Love Songs, a collection featuring RUFUS WAINWRIGHT, NEKO CASE and SONDRE LERCHE, among others . . . Mobile media company Zingy are set to release tracks by KANYE WEST and the late AALIYAH as ringtones and ringbacks, adding them to a roster including SNOOP DOGG, LUDACRIS, 50 CENT and PRINCE . . . Following the success of 2003's The Very Best of SHERYL CROW, Crow will release two albums in 2005 . . . NEW FOUND GLORY will kick off their Back to Basics tour in April . . . VANESSA WILLIAMS' Everlasting Love, a collection of Seventies love songs, is due February 1st . . . TERROR SQUAD's REMY MARTIN guests on the remix of dancehall star LADY SAW's single "I've Got Your Man" . . .

GETO BOYS member BUSHWICK BILL was a guest model at the First Annual Makaveli Branded Fashion Show held on January 1st. The clothing line was launched by late rapper TUPAC SHAKUR's mother, AFENI SHAKUR . . . Pittsburgh's six-year-old Vocal Group Hall of Fame, whose inductees include the PLATTERS, the SUPREMES and the BEACH BOYS, has closed its doors due to financial trouble . . . BOY GEORGE, opera singer RUSSELL WATSON and Sixties British pop singer CLIFF RICHARD are releasing a charity single, "Grief Never Grows Old," to benefit victims of the tsunami disaster . . . ALKALINE TRIO will wrap up the follow-up to 2003's Good Mourning this month . . .