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• KISS‘ Gene Simmons proved he was more intelligent than the average elementary school student after raking in $500,000 on the game show Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader. Simmons will donate the sum to the Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation.
• Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong has become the latest rocker to get his own signature pair of Converse shoes. Portions of sales from Armstrong’s hemp-and-leather 1HUND(RED) shoes will go to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS.
• The Blind Melon reboot has ended after the band parted ways with their replacement singer Travis Warren and canceled their upcoming U.S. tour. The band explains Warren’s dismissal on their MySpace page.
• South African singer Miriam Makeba, known for her songs “Empress of African Song” and “Mama Africa,” died yesterday in Italy. She was 76. Makeba also performed with Paul Simon during the singer’s Graceland tour in 1987.