• Opening statements began today in R. Kelly’s child pornography trial. To familiarize yourself with the trial’s cast of characters, check out the Sun-Tribune’s profile of the judge, prosecutors and defense lawyers.
• After eight years, the marijuana charges that Whitney Houston faced after being caught with weed at a Hawaiian airport in 2000 have finally been dropped. Houston was busted, but not arrested, for having an ounce of marijuana and three rolled joints.
• 50 Cent is planning to release a new solo album later this year so he can bring an end to his current Interscope contract. 50, whose G-Unit releases T.O.S. on July 1st, hopes to sign a deal similar to Jay-Z’s Live Nation contract.

[Photo: Getty]

• Ticketmaster is planning on going the paperless route for some shows in hopes of preventing scalpers and frustrating the secondary-ticket market. The plan will be used for Tom Waits‘ Glitter & Doom tour. Click above for more details.
• During an online chat at their Web site, Korn’s Jonathan Davis admitted he misses original guitarist Brian “Head” Welch but said the guitarist is “not ready” to rejoin the band after devoting his life to Christianity.
• Phish’s Mike Gordon will unleash his solo album The Green Sparrow on August 5th. Gordon’s former bandmates Trey Anastasio and Page McConnell will appear on Sparrow.

• This Saturday night, Lou Reed will launch his satellite radio show Lou Reed’s New York Shuffle. According to Reed, the Sirius show will feature “audio from all parts of the world that covers the whole musical spectrum.”
• Courtney Love has abandoned Nobody’s Daughter, the album she was working on with Linda Perry and Billy Corgan, and will instead start over.
• The Dave Matthews Band is a “long way” from completing their new album, but violinist Boyd Tinsley says they hope to finish it after DMB’s tour ends in September.
• Santogold, Pharrell Williams and the Strokes‘ Julian Casablancas have come together to work on a new song for Converse shoes.

• Contrary to reports, Fatboy Slim will not retire his moniker and instead keep the name “Fatboy Slim.” The DJ’s new album The PBA will be released later this year.
• Love Story, a documentary about Arthur Lee and his band Love, will hit DVD on July 29th. The doc will feature exclusive interviews Lee, who died in 2006.
• Madonna will have to wait a little longer before finding out whether the Malawian boy she adopted can officially join her family, as the ruling in the case has been pushed back to next week.
• The nominees for this year’s BET Awards include T-Pain, Kanye West and Keyshia Cole. The ceremony takes place June 24th in Los Angeles.

• Tracks by Linkin Park the Eagles have been confirmed for Guitar Hero IV. The new game will also allow users to create and upload their own songs.
• Famed artist Robert Rauschenberg died Monday at the age of eighty-two. Rauschenberg won a Grammy for his work designing the Talking Heads‘ Speaking in Tongues album art.
• Duff McKagan discussed the possibility of the original Guns N’ Roses reuniting for one-night-only during a video interview with “The Heyman Hustle,” which can be watched here.
• OutKast’s Big Boi is hoping to complete his solo album Sir Luscious Left Foot… Son of Chico Dusty by the end of August. The rapper plans to shoot a video for first single “Royal Flush.”

• After having her wedding foiled, rapper Remy Ma got more bad news, as a judge sentenced her to eight years in prison for being involved in a shooting outside a Manhattan night club last summer.
• Jay-Z responded to Noel Gallagher’s criticism of him in regards to his headlinging the Glastonbury Festival. “We don’t play guitars, Noel, but hip-hop has put in its work like any other form of music. This headline show is just a natural progression.”
• According to Us Magazine, Pete Wentz and his possibly pregnant fiancée Ashlee Simpson will be married this Saturday.
• Arcade Fire are working on a score for the new film The Box, a thriller starring Cameron Diaz and directed by Donnie Darko helmer Richard Kelly.

• John Mellencamp announced a July 15th release date for his new, T-Bone Burnett-produced album Life, Death, Love and Freedom, which will be distributed by the Starbucks-run label Hear Music. The album will be the first released in a new high-def format called “CODE,” which will make the digital tracks sound as warm as the master tapes.
• According to Whitesnake frontman and former Jimmy Page collaborator David Coverdale says a full-scale Led Zeppelin reunion tour was “very likely” and could happen by the end of the year.
• The jury selection is underway in the R. Kelly trial in Chicago. If found guilty of fourteen counts of child pornography, he could face as much as fifteen years in jail.
• ’90s indie cult favorites Ned’s Atomic Dustbin (most famous for the single “Kill Your Television”) will reunite for a show at London’s Astoria in December, after more than ten years apart.

[Photo: Getty]

• Still questioning why Neil Young would release his mega Archives on Blu-Ray DVD and not compact disc? This short trailer for the DVD assuages all fears you might have had, as photos, video clips, interactive menus and music all merge for the first ten-disc volume of the Archives, focusing on Young’s work from 1963 to 1972.
• After triumphantly returning to the stage at last night’s Jammy Awards, Trey Anastasio will next tackle this year’s Newport Folk Festival, to be held August 1-3 in Rhode Island’s coastal city.
• P. Diddy is “spooked” by how much rapper Gravy resembles the Notorious B.I.G. in the upcoming biopic Notorious. “Gravy’s killing it,” Diddy said. He also complimented actor Derek Luke, who will play Puff Daddy in the film.
• The “Divas in Dubai” concert, set to feature Mariah Carey and Fergie, has been postponed after “unforeseen logistical complications” forced the show to be pushed back to the fall ‘08.

• Pete Doherty was released from jail today after serving only twenty-nine days of his fourteen-week sentence for violating probation. Upon leaving prison, Doherty proudly showed off a medical certificate signifying he was completely clean of drugs.
• Bootsy Collins has collected various alumni of James Brown’s backing bands for the upcoming “A Tribute to James Brown” tour. Collins performed in Brown’s band in 1970 and ‘71.
• Common has joined the cast of the fourth installment of the Terminator series, Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins. The PG-13 film will also star Christian Bale and be directed by McG.
• The nominees for this year’s MTV Movie Awards have been announced, including categories like Best Fight and Best Summer Movie So Far. Mike Myers will host the live event on June 1st.

[Photo: Getty]

• Avril Lavigne was forced to postpone dates on her current U.S. tour after suffering a bout of acute laryngitis. No make-up dates have been announced.
• To celebrate the brewing of Bud Light Lime, the beer company is offering a free downloadable remix of Santogold’s “Lights Out.”
• Prince will publish his first book, 21 Nights, in the fall. The multimedia book will document the Purple One’s historic twenty-one-night run at London’s O2 Arena last year.
• Mary J. Blige and rap executive Steve Stoute are set to launch FFAWN, the Foundation For the Advancement of Women Now. The foundation is dedicating towards inspiring women to reach their goals and will distribute scholarships, grants and other programs.

• American Idol executive producer Cecile Frot-Coutaz says that despite Paula Abdul’s judging gaffe on Tuesday’s program, the show will not “get rid of Paula.” Meanwhile, AI’s ratings took a 1.2 million viewer dive this week, marking it the lowest rating the show has had in five years.
• The British government is once again seeking to ban Snoop Dogg from entering the country.
• Former KISS guitarist Ace Frehley remarked that the band’s current lineup is “getting embarrassing.” “What KISS is doing right now reminds me of like what some great fighters have done in the past when they come out of retirement.”
• Ticketmaster, hoping to keep stride with Live Nation (who also plan to launch their own ticketing service), has acquired the assets of SLO Limited, a company that specializes in VIP ticketing services.

[Photo: Getty]

• The reunited New Kids On The Block will release the single “Summertime,” their first new song since 1994, on May 13th on all digital music services. They also plan to release their comeback album this fall.
• For whatever reason, the Rolling Stones‘ Keith Richards is not fond of David Bowie, saying that “Changes” is the only Bowie song that he could remember. “It’s all fucking posing. It’s nothing to do with music. He knows it too,” Richards said.
• Rapper Lil Wayne will co-star in the upcoming basketball drama The Patriots alongside Forest Whitaker. The film revolves around players from opposing teams forced onto one roster by Hurricane Katrina.
• The Hold Steady have revealed both the tracklist and the release date for their fourth album, Stay Positive: July 14th.

• Albert Hofmann, the chemist who discovered LSD, died of a heart attack yesterday in his native Switzerland. He was 102. While researching a fungus, Hofmman synthesized the compound into lysergic acid diethylamide, which eventually helped influence every piece of music written in 1967.
• Record labels Too Pure and Beggars Banquet will close and fold into the 4AD label as part of restructuring. Artists contracted under the two labels, including Mark Lanegan, The National and John Cale, will now be released under 4AD.
• Country’s Glen Campbell will cover the Foo Fighters, Tom Petty and U2 on his new, genre-busting album Meet Glen Campbell.
• Perez Hilton will join the staff of NY rap station Hot 97’s morning crew to provide daily minute-long gossip updates. Hilton’s tenure begins May 5th.

• Lupe Fiasco, the Black Keys, Liars and Kaki King are among the performers that have been added to the inaugural Outside Lands Festival in San Francisco. The fest, to be held August 22-24, already boasts headliners Radiohead, Beck, Wilco, Ben Harper and more.
• Vivid Video, proud sellers of sex tapes starring Kim Kardashian and Pamela Anderson, are getting set to release a video that supposedly features Jimi Hendrix cavorting with two brunettes. Critics have dismissed the man in the grainy video (selling for $39.95) is Hendrix, while two former lovers of the rocker insist it’s Jimi.
• As promised, Coldplay are now allowing fans to download the song “Violet Hill,” the first single from the band’s Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends for free free one week. If you don’t want to submit your email info, you can also listen at the band’s MySpace page.
• John Lennon’s handwritten lyrics for “Give Peace a Chance” will hit Christie’s auction block in July. The lyrics are expected to retrieve between an estimated four and six hundred thousand dollars.

[Photo: Getty]

• Despite sharing the alias Tony Starks with the man who doubles as Iron Man, Ghostface Killah’s cameo in the new Iron Man film has been edited out of the film. However, Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello’s quick cameo as a terrorist remains in the final cut. Both Ghostface and Morello contribute music to the film’s soundtrack.
• The prolific Damon Albarn will release a new album this summer featuring over 130 musicians, including a Chinese choir and an orchestra. Albarn declined to elaborate under what moniker this album would fall, only saying the title had “something of monkeys in there.”
• Check out the first of many remixes of Lil Wayne’s chart-topping hit “Lollipop,” with this version featuring rapper Young Jeezy.
• Yo La Tengo will score the upcoming film Adventureland, starring Ryan Reynolds. The film is “centered around a recent college grad who takes a nowhere job at his local amusement park.”