RICKY MARTIN has filmed television ads for his foundation People for Children. The spots, to be aired in the U.S. in the coming weeks, are part of a campaign against the sex-trafficking of minors . . . TOBY KEITH was the big winner at the Academy of Country Music Awards Wednesday night. The singer took home four trophies, including Entertainer of the Year . . . Auditions for unsigned bands to land a slot on this summer's Ozzfest main stage will be held in Los Angeles on June 11th and New York a week later. From eight finalists one winner will be picked to play before BLACK SABBATH, SLAYER and JUDAS PRIEST . . . LIL' JON, DAVID BANNER and 8 BALL AND MJG will be featured in Dirty States of America, a documentary about southern rap to be released on DVD on June 1st with an accompanying soundtrack . . .
U.K. electronic veterans the ORB's will release their new album, Bicycles and Tricycles, August 3rd . . . JOHNNY CASH's A Concert Behind Prison Walls and the BEACH BOYS' Good Timin' at Knebworth 1980 DVDs will be released by Eagle Rock on June 15th . . . The Portrait of Billy Joe, a documentary about singer-songwriter BILLY JOE SHAVER, will be screened June 17th and 18th at the CineVegas Film Festival . . . Songwriter SHAWN CAMP will release Live at the Station Inn on August 31st . . . PRINCE is releasing live concert footage exclusively through the Musicology Download Store at the NPG Music Club Web site . . . Members of GODSMACK took a lap in the official Indianapolis 500 Pace Car on Sunday to kick off the eighty-eighth running of the car race . . .
An ailing MORRISSEY had to cancel a planned residence on The Late Late Show With Craig Kilborn this week. The former SMITHS singer, whose new album, You Are the Quarry," debuted Number Eleven this week planned to tape two songs on Monday and three on Wednesday to air each day through tonight's show. A statement from Morrissey's label cited doctor's orders due to "the strain of his schedule and a recent bout of meningitis" as the cause of the cancellations . . .
ALICIA KEYS, LUDACRIS, KANYE WEST and OUTKAST's BIG BOI are just a few of the headliners set to perform at the 11th annual Hot 97 Summer Jam on June 12th at Giants Stadium . . . STROKES frontman JULIAN CASABLANCAS recently announced his engagement to the band's assistant manager . . . A limited number of the PIXIES concert CDs are available through DiscLive, but all copies being offered at the reunited group's shows are sold out . . CROSBY, STILLS and NASH will launch their forty-seven date North American tour beginning July 1st in Minnesota. GRAHAM NASH will publish a book of photography entitled Eye to Eye: Photographs by Graham Nash this month . . .
MADONNA has settled a copyright lawsuit that claimed she used the work of French photographer Guy Bourdin in her video for "Hollywood" . . . JONI MITCHELL's compilation of political songs, The Beginning of Survival, will hit streets on July 27th . . . MINIBAR will tour the west coast this summer with the WALLFLOWERS beginning June 12th in Palm Springs . . . MEDESKI MARTIN AND WOOD's new album, End of the World Party (Just in Case), will be released September 7th . . . GOV'T MULE's WARREN HAYNES will release his solo acoustic record, Live at Bonnaroo, on June 8th. Haynes will support the release with shows on June 7th, 8th and 9th in New York City . . . CHERIE will appear on CBS' As the World Turns on June 20th. Her self-titled debut will be available this summer . . .
Rock legends including ELVIS PRESLEY, ALICE COOPER, WILLIE NELSON, and BLONDIE have been chosen by Miller Brewing Company to adorn commemorative cans celebrating fifty years of rock & roll. The celebration takes its bow with concerts on September 17th and 18th at the Roseland Ballroom in New York City . . . JAMES BROWN is slated to support the RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS for three gigs in June at London's Hyde Park . . . Bad Boy Records will release a remastered version of the NOTORIOUS B.I.G.'s classic Ready to Die on July 13th . . . BLACK REBEL MOTORCYCLE CLUB will join this year's Lollapalooza line-up in support of their recent release, Take Them On, On Your Own . . . MADONNA cancelled the second night of her Re-Invention tour on Tuesday citing the stomach flu as the cause . . .
ALANIS MORISSETTE will perform a free concert on May 29th in Los Angeles prior to embarking on her European Tour . . . The BLOOD BROTHERS will debut new material from their upcoming fall release, Crimes, during a twenty-city headlining North American tour beginning July 2nd in Minneapolis . . . TONY FURTADO is set to release his new album, "These Chains," on July 27th . . . KRS-ONE's new album, Keep Right, hits streets July 13th . . . MAZE featuring FRANKIE BEVERLY Greatest Hits is set for release on August 10th . . . BLUES TRAVELER have cancelled their remaining May tour dates while frontman JOHN POPPER recovers from minor surgery . . . The Americana Music Association will hold its 2004 conference over September 23-25 in Nashville . . .
BILLY CORGAN has signed on as Chicago's official "Cub's Correspondent" for WXRT-FM with his "Wrigleyville Report" airing Mondays and Fridays on the Lin Brehmer morning show . . . SNOOP DOGG filed for divorce from wife of seven years citing "irreconcilable differences" . . . MARC ANTHONY postponed his Nada Personal Tour until further notice to complete work on a pair of new albums . . . NEW ORDER recently said that their next album will be closer to their Eighties' "dance" period than their more recent recordings . . . BEASTIE BOYS, EVANESCENCE, HILARY DUFF and KANYE WEST are slated to perform on the 15th Annual MuchMusic Video Awards to be held in Toronto . . . SPEARHEAD frontman MICHAEL FRANTI will release an acoustic album, Songs From the Front Porch, on July 13th . . .
B.B. KING, GOV'T MULE and JONNY LANG will headline the 11th annual Telluride Blues and Brews Festival held September 17-19 in Colorado . . . CORMEGA launches a sixteen-city tour on June 6th in New York in support of his latest album, Legal Hustle: Vol. 1. GHOSTFACE will headline . . . ROBI "DRACO" ROSA kicks off a six-city U.S. tour in support of his album, Mad Love, on June 8th in San Diego . . . ALISON KRAUSS, JOHN PRINE, RAUL MALO and OLLABELLE contribute to Beautiful Dreamer: The Songs of Stephen Foster, scheduled for release on August 24th . . . The tenth anniversary of the restoration of the historic Ryman Auditorium will be celebrated on June 6th in Nashville . . .
COURTNEY LOVE cut short her trial on a misdemeanor count of being under the influence of a controlled substance yesterday in Los Angeles by changing her plea to guilty. Love will return to court July 16th for sentencing. She faces up to a year in prison, but the plea could make her eligible for Proposition 36, which would require drug counseling in lieu of jail time. A charge of disorderly conduct was thrown out due to Love's plea. The charges stem from Love's infamous arrest last October, which also led to felony drug possession charges . . .
SEAN "P. DIDDY" COMBS will host the tentatively titled "Project Change," a new politically oriented show for MTV. In other news, the rap mogul has teamed with Estee Lauder to create a new fragrance for his Sean Jean fashion line . . . Three new wines bearing JERRY GARCIA's name are being bottled as part of a partnership between the late GRATEFUL DEAD guitarist's estate and the Clos du Bois vineyard . . . MIKE WATT AND THE SECONDMEN will headline the Solar Sound Stage at this summer's Lollapalooza tour, which will be powered exclusively by solar energy . . . KEITH RICHARDS made a surprise appearance on stage at a club show by DAVID "HONEYBOY" EDWARDS show in Fairfield, Connecticut on Friday night . . . SHAGGY and BEENIE MAN attended the funeral of reggae producer CLEMENT DODD in Kingston, Jamaica, on Saturday . . .
The Stax Museum of American Soul Music will host the rare photo exhibit, "The BEATLES: Backstage and Behind the Scenes," from June 12th through September 12th . . . PRINCE, MARY J. BLIGE, MISSY ELLIOTT and NEW EDITION will perform at the tenth annual Essence Music Festival set for July 2-4 in New Orleans . . . SOUL ASYLUM bassist KARL MUELLER is recovering at home after receiving treatment for throat cancer. The group has delayed sessions for its tenth album until July . . . Nearly fifty people were hospitalized for heat exhaustion during the HFStival in Washington, D.C., over the weekend. The CURE, OFFSPRING and JAY-Z were among the performers . . . BURNING SPEAR will kick off the 59th Earthday Tour, a forty-three-city jaunt, on June 12th in Cleveland.
