An appeals court judge ruled on Wednesday that Deborah Rowe's
parental rights were not relinquished under law to former husband Michael Jackson, which gives her a chance to
win back custody of their two children. Rowe gave Jackson full custody of their son Prince Michael and daughter
Paris in an October 2001 court proceeding. Jackson's agreement with Rowe (allegedly paying her $4 to $5 million
up front with $900,000 a year payments for a number of years) was broken after she violated their confidentiality
agreement by publicly speaking about him according to transcripts from a hearing last June. The trial judge commented
on the marriage in the decision claiming it was an arranged deal from the beginning. Meanwhile, Jackson's Hurricane
Katrina charity single, currently titled "I Have A Dream," is nearing completion.
Gary Glitter is scheduled to go on trial on Mar. 2nd on charges of committing obscene acts with two under-aged
girls in Vietnam. The trial will be held in a closed session at the request of the girls' families however a verdict
and possible sentencing will be open to the public.
Guns N' Roses manager and/or attorney have reportedly been sending "cease and desist" letters to radio
stations playing 'leaked' tracks ("The Blues," "IRS," "Better," and "Twat")
from the group's upcoming album, Chinese Democracy, which is rumored to be released in March.
Sir Elton John's has accepted undisclosed damages in his libel lawsuit against the Sunday Times reprinting of content
that first appeared in the Daily Mail on June 24th 2005. The Daily Mail is facing legal action overt the publication
of the story about the singer's behavior during a charity ball.
Lou Reed was forced to cancel two concerts in New York on Feb. 11th and 13th due to an undisclosed illness. Reed
is scheduled to perform at the 20th Winter Olympics' medals ceremony on Feb. 23rd.
Madonna underwent a minor operation for a hernia at a hospital in Los Angeles after her performance with the Gorillaz
at the Grammys on Feb. 8th. She was on hand to accept the Best International Female Artist Award at Wednesday's
Brit Awards in London and her spokeswoman has confirmed she has fully recovered. Madonna will be honored with a
lifetime achievement award and Bono for his international humanitarian efforts during the 4th annual TRL Awards
airing on MTV on Feb. 25th.
Bonn Scott's grave site in Fremantle Cemetery in Western Australia was classified with a heritage listing on Feb.
15th. Usually the listings are for buildings but, due to the popularity of his former band AC/DC, thousands of
fans visit the place each year. The WA Bon Scott fan club is campaigning to raise $60,000 for a statue to be erected
in his honor in Pioneer Park.
Ozzy Osbourne and wife Sharon have sold their Hollywood mansion (seen on the reality TV series The Osbournes) for
$10.8 million. The home had been on the market since early last year.
Former Camper Van Beethoven member David Lowery's band Cracker will see rival compilations released this week.
The band are appealing to fans to not purchase Get On With It: The Best Of Cracker as they will receive little
or not royalties from the compilation. Instead, they have reworked new versions of their classic songs for a package
entitled Greatest Hits: Redux which will be released via Cooking Vinyl Records.
Surviving Bee Gees Barry and Robin Gibb reunited on stage for the Diabetes Research Institute's annual benefit
on Saturday night for the first time since the death of brother Maurice 3 years ago.
Vince Gill has signed on to host a television special next month for The Grand Ole Opry At Carnegie Hall on Mar.
12th. The 2-hour show will feature performances by Gill, Alan Jackson and many more.
John Tempesta formerly of Testament, Exodus and White Zombie has been hired as the new drummer for The Cult and
will make his debut performance with the band on CBS' The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson on Feb. 24th.
Cyndi Lauper has joined the cast for an upcoming revival of Bertolt Brecht's musical, The Threepenny Opera. Performances
begin Mar. 24th at New York's Studio 54 with Apr. 20th set as opening night.
Rick Rubin has been confirmed as producer for Metallica's follow-up to 2003's St. Anger. The band have been spending
the last few weeks jamming and writing in the studio and Rubin has been stopping by here and there to listen to
some of it.
Willie Nelson released a new song last week entitled "Cowboys Are Frequently, Secretly (Fond Of Each Other)"
via iTunes. Nelson plans to include the song on an upcoming album and produce a music video for it. According to
Nelson, "The song's been in the closet for 20 years. The timing's right for it to come out. I'm just opening
the door." Nelson dusted off the recording in homage to the film Brokeback Mountain for which he recorded
a cover of Bob Dylan's "He Was A Friend Of Mine" for the soundtrack.
Audioslave have been busy in the studio working on their third album and are reportedly about halfway done. No
name or release date have been announced.
Former Toad The Wet Sprocket frontman Glen Phillips will release his new 11-track studio album, Mr. Lemons, on
May 2nd via his own Unami label. The album includes a cover of Huey Lewis And The News' hit "I Want A New
Drug."
Metal Mania Stripped Across America Live! will be released on DVD via Sidewinder Music this week featuring rare
and never before seen performances by Great White, Kip Winger, L.A. Guns, Slaughter, Alias, Ratt's Stephen Pearcy
and many more.
"Thunder In My Heart Again" by Meck featuring Leo Sayer held off all comers last week to retain the #1
spot on the U.K. singles chart. The reissued Jam compilation, Snap!, debuted at #10 on the U.K. album chart after
Paul Weller was honored last week at the Brit Awards for outstanding contribution to music.
Kiss frontman Paul Stanley has been shopping his new solo studio album, Live To Win, to record labels worldwide
to find the right label to promote the album.
Several performances from Tony Joe White (1980), Merle Haggard (1985) and Waylon Jennings (1989) from the long-long
running PBS series, Austin City Limits, hit stores on DVD and CD this week. Meanwhile, the feud between the California
towns of Bakersfield and Oildale for naming streets after the singer has been resolved. Bakersfield (where he was
born) will name a street Haggard Way while Oildale (where he was raised) has permission to use his full name on
a street in the future.
David Byrne and Brian Eno's 1981 collaborative effort, My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts, will be reissued on Mar.
28th featuring 7 previously-unreleased tracks from the original recording sessions.
LL Cool J will release his new studio album, Todd Smith, on Mar. 21st featuring the first single "Control
Myself" with Jennifer Lopez. James Todd Smith is LL Cool J's given name and a Todd Smith high-end clothing
line and TS active wear line will be launched this fall.
Former Cure keyboardist Roger O'Donnell will release his solo album, The Truth In Me, on May 16th via his new record
label 99 X Out Of 10. The first single from the album will be "The Truth In You."
Sony BMG's Legacy Recordings will spend 2 years reissuing virtually everything Roy Orbison ever recorded. The reissue
of 1987's Black & White Night started things off. A 40-track compilation, The Essential Roy Orbison, will be
released on Mar. 28th. His 1989 final studio album, Mystery Girl, is also expected to be remastered as well as
a DualDisc edition of the 1992 posthumous King Of Hearts album.
The Offspring have entered the studio to start working on the follow-up to 2003's Splinter. No word on a title
or release date at this time.
Kenny Rogers will see his Gambler television movies (Kenny Rogers as The Gambler, The Adventure Continues and The
Legend Continues) released as a 3-DVD set commemorating the 25th anniversary of their debut on May 2nd with single
DVDs expected out next year.
Billy Joel will see 8 of his albums (including 1980's Glass Houses and 1981's Songs In The Attic) re-issued in
Japan on Apr. 19th with other territories to be announced soon.
Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine is currently weighing 3 record contract offers that he considers will be his last
record contract. "It's either going to be great and I'll stay there forever or it's going to suck and I'll
be so bitter with the music industry that I'll just quit and go play Cat Stevens songs up in Tibet. Meanwhile,
the band has added bassist James Lomenzo to the group.
Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty of KLF/JAMMS/Timelords have recently been rumored to have created a hoax based around
the Libertines, Pete Doherty and Babyshambles. Reports claim that the duo created the band, sensational releases
of fictional concerts and a staged robbery to test the media. Whether the "surprise" press conference
was about this was also a hoax or the story itself, remains to be seen.
Barry Manilow is planning a series of live DVD releases starting with Manilow: Music And Passion on Mar. 28th.
The DVD chronicles the 100th stage performance of his show at the Las Vegas Hilton.
Dolly Parton will perform her Academy Award-nominated original song "Travelin' Thru" from the movie Transamerica
during this year's Oscars and present an award with actress Uma Thurman.
Former New Kid On The Block Jordan Knight, Salt-N-Pepa's Pepa and Poison guitarist C.C. DeVille have signed on
for The Surreal Life Fame Games hosted by Robin Leach that will kick off this spring.
W.A.S.P. have amicably parted ways with drummer Stet Howland after 16 years according to Howland's official statement
at the band's Web site.
A spokesperson for CBS Entertainment has denied the Van Halen involvement in their Rock Star series. They also
don't have an act firmly established yet but hope to shortly as try-outs will be conducted throughout North America
starting Mar. 1st in Austin, TX. Rumors about Van Halen involvement previously spiked after David Lee Roth said
he thought they are going to do the show during his syndicated radio show and opted for a reunion with him instead.
Velvet Revolver have plans to record their follow-up to their chart-topping 2004 debut, Contraband, in March.
Unforseen production issues have forced Sanctuary Records/Sony BMG to delay the release of Iron Maiden's Death
On The Road DVD this week. U.S. premiere theater screenings have also been postponed as well with a new release
date to be announced shortly.
Garth Brooks only needs to sell 500,000 albums to top Elvis Presley as the best-selling solo artist in American
music history. Currently he has surpassed the 116 million mark.
Pantera will see their 3 Vulgar Videos From Hell released by Rhino Home Video in April which includes all the band's
videos as well as live footage from the Monsters of Rock in Moscow.
Joe Satriani will release his 12th solo album, Super Colossal, on Mar. 14th via Epic Records supported by a west
coast tour beginning the same day.
Venom will release their new studio album, Metal Black, in April.
Latin jazz percussionist and bandleader Ray Barretto, 76, died on Feb.
17th in Hackensack, New Jersey, after post-surgical complications
(after a quintuple bypass) and pneumonia hospitalized him on Jan. 30th.
Aside from working with many groups, Barretto released over 50 albums
during his solo career (7 from 1980 to 1988) with Grammy nominations in
1994 and 1998. Barretto continued to record up until the time of his
death and released Time Was-Time Is last year.