JESSICA SIMPSON's And the Band Played On is scheduled to hit stores in November. Simpson acts as executive producer on the new album, which features production from JIMMY JAM and TERRY LEWIS, COREY ROONEY, and SCOTT STORCH, who lends his hand on the prospective single "Fire It Up" . . . 50 CENT has set a September 6th date for the re-release of his latest CD, The Massacre. The set contains a remix of "Outta Control" featuring the newest addition to the rapper's G Unit Records, MOBB DEEP. 50 will make his big screen debut in Get Rich or Die Tryin' on November 11th followed by the release of his video game, Bulletproof, on the 15th . . . BOB DYLAN, ERIC CLAPTON, RINGO STARR and RAVI SHANKAR are featured on the The Concert for Bangladesh -- George Harrison and Friends CD/DVD, due October 25th. The DVD will include performances from 1971's benefit concert at Madison Square, organized by the former BEATLE, as well as a forty-five minute documentary with exclusive interviews with BOB GELDOF and UN Secretary-General KOFI ANNAN . . . RUFUS WAINWRIGHT, BEN FOLDS and BEN LEE will perform at the Celebrate Brooklyn festival on August 4th in Brooklyn, New York. The benefit concert will raise money to keep the festival free . . .
BRAD PAISLEY will headline the Country Music Television tour Time Well Wasted, which is named after Paisley's new album, due August 16th. SARA EVANS and SUGARLAND are also on the trek, which begins September 23rd in Portland, Oregon, and finishes up December 11th in Salem, Virginia . . . DON McLEAN will release the retrospective, Rearview Mirror, on October 11th. The album includes live performances, the original recording of his hit "American Pie" and his new song "Run Diana Run" . . . DIERKS BENTLEY was invited to perform on the Grand Ole Opry radio show. The country singer will join the likes of HANK WILLIAMS, PATSY CLINE, JOHNNY CASH and ELVIS PRESLEY, who have all performed on the show, which turns eighty this year . . . PAUL SHAFFER will host a benefit/tribute concert for DAVE CLARK FIVE lead singer MIKE SMITH, who is now paralyzed from the ribcage down as a result of a 2003 accident in Spain. The show will feature performances by the ZOMBIES, the reunited duo PETER AND GORDON, BILLY J. KRAMER and the BEATLES tribute band the FAB FAUX . . . QUEENSRYCHE will release Operation: Mindcrime II, the sequel to the band's 1988 blockbuster concept album, early next year. The veteran rockers will hit the road for a five-week North American tour on September 13th in Victoria, British Columbia . . . The family of late rapper BIG PUN have launched the Big Pun Clothing Line in his memory. The line, which features T-shirts with Pun's picture airbrushed on, will be sold exclusively at BigPunShop.com . . .