Britney Spears reportedly hit another paparazzo with her car on Monday, according to TMZ. The site says the singer accidentally ran into a photographer with her Mercedes-Benz as she was leaving a shopping complex in Beverly Hills, California. Spears is said to have apologized repeatedly for the incident, which the pap insisted was his fault anyway, and a photo on TMZ's site shows the singer apparently on the verge of tears. Spears apparently ran over a photographer's foot on Thursday while attempting to leave a doctor's office in Beverly Hills, according to videos that circulated online. And in potentially more bad news for Britney, according to TMZ, on Monday her parenting coach submitted to Los Angeles Superior Court a report that says Spears has ignored the coach's presence and that the coach has been unable to teach the singer anything. The coach also reportedly wrote that Spears often ignores her children and often wasn't around them while the coach was present. The report will likely be critical in determining what level of custody Spears will have with her children, according to TMZ. ...
For fans disappointed in 50 Cent's last salvo, the glossy, guest-filled Curtis, a much grittier 50 project hit stores Tuesday (October 23) — and it's not Fif's next album, Before I Self Destruct. The G-Unit rapper's new book, "50 x 50: 50 Cent in His Own Words," written with Complex magazine Editor in Chief Noah Callahan-Bever, is out, and 50 will appear at a Barnes & Noble store in New York City on Tuesday afternoon to sign copies. The project is patterned as a pseudo-scrapbook and includes photos from his childhood in Queens, along with page-long anecdotes, which cover his mother's murder to his rise to rap dominance. ...
Radiohead are close to signing deals with a pair of independent labels to distribute the physical version of their In Rainbows album, which they released on the Net themselves earlier this month. According to an article published Tuesday in The New York Times, the band is planning to sign with Coran Capshaw's Side One Recordings to distribute Rainbows domestically, and XL Recordings (which released Thom Yorke's solo album, The Eraser, last year) internationally. Capshaw manages the Dave Matthews Band through his company, Red Light, and co-founded ATO Records — home to acts like My Morning Jacket and Ben Kweller — with Matthews in 2000. Side One is his newest endeavor, operating under the Red Light/ ATO umbrella. Until recently, ATO had a distribution deal with Sony BMG, but it now distributes its music independently, through RED distribution. When contacted for comment, Radiohead's U.S. publicist, Steve Martin, told MTV News he could "neither confirm nor deny" the Times story, and a spokesperson for Red Light had no comment. ...
Vincent Margera, better known as Don Vito to viewers of "Viva La Bam," was described as a "man out of control" by prosecutors on Tuesday, the first day of his sexual-assault trial in Colorado, according to The Denver Post. Margera was accused of being "extremely intoxicated" and groping three 12- to 14-year-old girls during a mall appearance in August of 2006, prosecutor Jim Stanley said in his opening remarks. Margera's attorney, Pamela Mackey, told the jury that Margera was playing his "goofy, outrageous and vulgar" TV character because "that's what got the laughs," she said. "It was entertainment." Mackey said to support a charge of sexual assault, the intent must be proven to have been sexual. Margera is charged with three counts of sexual assault on a child. He has pleaded not guilty. ...
Jamie Foxx is gearing up for a big awards-show performance next month — at the Country Music Association Awards, if you can believe it. The singer will join Rascal Flatts for "She Goes All the Way," a duet that was featured on the Nashville band's recent Still Feels Good LP. Carrie Underwood will also perform at the ceremony, which will air November 7 at 8 p.m. on ABC. ... Good Charlotte, Korn, Chris Cornell, Kaiser Chiefs and Muse will head to South Africa next year to headline the My Coke Fest, set to take place in Johannesburg on March 21 and Cape Town three days later. ...
Speaking of Korn, it appears that they have not booted Droid — who are signed to guitarist James "Munky" Shaffer's label — off their B---h We Have a Problem Tour, contrary to rumors. Reports of a fight between Shaffer and Droid guitarist Jamie Teissere, however, are true — albeit exaggerated — according to Droid's publicist. In a press release, a spokeswoman for Droid's label said the two got into a scuffle last week during the tour's stop in Little Rock, Arkansas. "Jamie and Munky have been best friends for years, and the reported fight they got in was nothing more than a drunken scuffle that ended in apologies — all is well in both camps and Droid are moving forward to finish the tour," Christy Priske said. ...
Amy Winehouse is apparently very candid about her recent troubles on her new concert DVD "I Told You I Was Trouble: Live in London," which hits stores November 13. "I'm quite an insecure person," she says on the disc, according to RollingStone.com. "I'm very insecure about the way I look. I mean, I'm a musician; I'm not a model. The more insecure I felt, the more I'd drink." But, she adds, "Life's short — just do it, do you know what I mean? Life's short, and I've made a lot of mistakes, you know." Surprisingly, her record label is offering a "very cool" pint glass and ashtray, each engraved with Winehouse's logo, to coax fans to preorder the set. ...
Led Zeppelin fans are already eagerly awaiting November 13, the day when the band's albums will finally be made available online and a new two-CD collection, Mothership, hits stores. Well, now there's another treat in store: Apple announced Tuesday that it will also pack all 13 of the group's albums into a digital box set. The Complete Led Zeppelin will contain 165 tracks and be available exclusively on iTunes. Preorders for that collection and Mothership began Tuesday, and fans who preorder either set will be entered into a contest to win a pair of tickets to the group's reunion show at London's O2 Arena on November 26. The winner will also get round-trip airfare and accommodations. ...
Team Sleep, Deftones frontman Chino Moreno's side project, will release a series of EPs online for free download over the next year, along with videos and other visual extras. "We want to give our fans new music while they are waiting for our next full-length, which we have started writing for," Moreno said in a statement. The band has scheduled a series of headlining shows, beginning November 29 in Orangevale, California, and continuing through December 16 in San Francisco. ... Ozzfest 2007 veterans Daath have parted ways with singer Sean Farber and are currently seeking a replacement. No reason has been given for the departure. ...
... And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead have parted ways with Interscope Records, although a reason hasn't been given for the split. The band hasn't signed with another record company yet but plans to hit the studio in February to record the follow-up to 2006's So Divided. ... What do R. Kelly and Danzig have in common? Probably not much — but they will on November 20, when both artists find themselves covered by indie folkie Will Oldham on his new Bonnie "Prince" Billy LP, Ask Forgiveness. Pitchfork reports that Oldham takes on Kelly's "The World's Greatest" and Danzig's "Am I Demon," in addition to Björk's "I've Seen It All," on the disc. ... Guster guitarist/singer Adam Gardner, along with representatives from biofuel companies and environmental groups, will speak at a hearing on Capitol Hill Wednesday called "The Grass Is Greener: The Future of Biofuels." Gardner and his wife head up the nonprofit organization Reverb, which educates and engages musicians and fans about eco-friendly alternatives on tours. ...
Phil Spector has whittled down his choice of a new attorney for his second murder trial to an unidentified California lawyer, according to The Associated Press. Christopher Plourd, Spector's remaining attorney, reportedly informed Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler of the news on Monday, after which Fidler granted a delay for a new lawyer until November 6 and said the attorney would likely take more than 60 days after that date to prepare for trial. The jury in Spector's first murder trial over the death of Lana Clarkson ended up in a deadlock in mid-September. ...
Senator Barack Obama is coming under fire from gay-rights groups over a controversial gospel singer's planned participation in the Democratic presidential candidate's Embrace the Change tour, set to start in South Carolina this weekend. Singer Donnie McClurkin believes homosexuality is a choice, telling AP on Monday, "I don't believe that it is the intention of God. Sexuality, everything is a matter of choice." He added, however, that he doesn't think gays should be discriminated against. According to USA Today's On Politics blog, McClurkin is a former homosexual who detailed his "bout" with homosexuality in his book "Eternal Victim/ Eternal Victor." Obama reportedly replied with a statement in which he said gays and lesbians are "our brothers and sisters," and that he strongly disagrees with McClurkin's views.