JAMES BROWN will be honored on May 6th in his hometown of Augusta, Georgia, with a life-size bronze statue. The unveiling will come three days after his seventy-second birthday . . . The KILLERS, LOUIS XIV, DINOSAUR JR., ELVIS COSTELLO AND THE IMPOSTERS featuring EMMYLOU HARRIS, LYLE LOVETT, STARS, DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE and MODEST MOUSE are scheduled to perform during Central Park's SummerStage Benefit Concerts. The concerts will take place from June to August to support the thirty free shows taking place in Central Park this summer . . . JESSICA SIMPSON and NICK LACHEY will perform this week at the Rammstein Air Force Base in Germany for the ABC special Nick and Jessica's Tour of Duty, airing May 24th . . . The DAVE MATTHEWS BAND will perform at New York's Roseland Ballroom on May 9th, the night before the release of Stand Up. The performance will air live via AOL Music . . .
KENNY LOGGINS and JIM MESSINA will kick off their first tour together in thirty years on June 24th in Boise, Idaho. The tour will follow the May 24th release of the Seventies duo's The Very Best of Loggins and Messina . . . DAVE NAVARRO is being honored by MusiCares on May 20th in Hollywood for his dedication to helping drug addicts through their recovery. The event, hosted by actor TOM ARNOLD, will include performances by JERRY CANTRELL and Navarro's band PANIC CHANNEL. All proceeds will benefit the MusiCares MAP Fund . . . R.KELLY's appearance in an Illinois court for the pre-trial hearing in his child-pornography case has been postponed to April 29th . . . Idaho indie-rockers BUILT TO SPILL will kick off a tour on May 4th in Minneapolis . . .
KANYE WEST premiered the song "Diamonds," on New York's hip-hop radio station Hot 97, Wednesday. The track is the first single off Late Registration, the follow-up to 2004's College Dropout, due in stores July 12th . . . TAYLOR HANSON's wife Natalie gave birth to the couple's second child, daughter Penelope, on Tuesday . . . BRIAN SETZER will release the twenty-three track Rockabilly Riot Vol. One -- A Tribute to Sun Records on July 26th. The album pays tribute to the early songs of ELVIS PRESLEY, JERRY LEE LEWIS, JOHNNY CASH and CARL PERKINS . . . JASON MRAZ will open for ALANIS MORISSETTE on her acoustic tour before releasing his second album, Mr. A-Z, on July 26th . . .
Singer-songwriter PETER HIMMELMAN kicks off his tour in support of his latest release, Imperfect World, on May 15th in San Francisco . . . JULIETTE LEWIS' band JULIETTE AND THE LICKS will release their debut album, You're Speaking My Language, on May 17th . . . JOHNNY CASH's seven original Sun Records label albums will be re-released as a limited-edition box set called The Original Sun Albums -- The Complete Collection on May 24th . . . Koch records will release Beatles ReGrooved on June 7th. The CD features fourteen Fab Four song interpreted by DJs including SKYLAB2000, JOHN SELWAY and EROS . . .
BILLY IDOL has joined the lineup for this summer's Warped Tour. The veteran rocker will join the OFFSPRING, MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE, THRICE, FALL OUT BOY and the TRANSPLANTS for seven dates from July 6th to 24th on the traveling punk fest . . . The DAVE MATTHEWS BAND will headline two concerts at New York's Randall's Island on July 30th and 31st. The first night will feature BARENAKED LADIES, while BLACK EYED PEAS will play the second night. ROBERT RANDOLPH AND THE FAMILY BAND, MIKE DOUGHTY, JEM and RAY LAMONTAGNE will be aboard for both nights . . . STING will be featured in Stand In, airing April 25th on the MTV twenty-four-hour college network MTVu. The former teacher surprised the University of Illinois college students when he performed during their music composition class on April 18th . . . JAY-Z has launched a line of luxury watches co-designed by the rapper and watchmaker Audemars Piguet to commemorate his ten years in the music industry. The timepieces will retail for $23,500 to $69,500 with a portion of the proceeds to benefit the S. Carter Scholarship Fund . . . BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN will star in VH1's Storytellers, airing Saturday. The boss will play his most popular songs while explaining the song's composition to the studio audience . . .
MARY J. BLIGE has joined the GAME on the remix to the West Coast rapper's song "Hate It or Love It." The remix, called "MVP," is Blige's unofficial first single off her as-yet-untitled upcoming album . . . AMERICAN HEAD CHARGE guitarist BRYAN OTTOSON was found dead in his bunk on the band's tour bus Tuesday. The band, currently on tour with MUDVAYNE, has cancelled remaining dates until further notice. An autopsy will be conducted to determine the cause of death . . . SARAH McLACHLAN has re-recorded her song "World on Fire," from 2003's Afterglow, as a duet with singer/songwriter ROBBIE ROBERTSON. The song will be used as a promotion for the TNT six-week series Into the West, premiering June 10th . . . FRANZ FERDINAND are allowing fans to view their progress as they work on the follow-up to their 2004 self-titled debut through video clips on their Web site, franzferdinand.co.uk . . . KATHLEEN EDWARDS will launch her U.S. tour on May 6th in Portland, Maine, wrapping up on June 20th in Austin, Texas . . .
ANITA BAKER, bassist RON CARTER and The Tonight Show With Jay Leno's KEVIN EUBANKS will receive Honorary Doctor of Music degrees at Boston's Berklee College of Music's commencement on May 7th . . . DIGABLE PLANETS, GOMEZ, GALACTIC and UMPHREY'S McGEE are among the artists confirmed for this year's Jam Cruise, setting sail January 7th . . . Gospel artists RICHARD SMALLWOOD, KAREN CLARK-SHEARD, BYRON CAGE and KIM BURRELL will be featured on "United Nations, Together We Can." The song -- which is being recorded next week -- will debut on the United Nation's World Environment Day, June 5th . . . Reggae artists T.O.K. are touring high schools in Jamaica to promote AIDS awareness. The politically conscious boy band recently released their anti-violence single "Footprints" . . .
MISSY ELLIOTT has set a June 28th release date for her new album, The Cookbook. The follow-up to 2003's This Is Not a Test features collaborations with CIARA, FAT MAN SCOOP, the NEPTUNES and TWEET . . . P. DIDDY cancelled his April 15th appearance at Las Vegas' Aladdin hotel-casino, where the mayor was set to proclaim "Diddy Day." Plans for prospective business ventures between the rapper and the city have now been put on hold . . . JENNIFER LOPEZ, GWEN STEFANI, BLACK EYED PEAS, KELLY CLARKSON and the BACKSTREET BOYS are among the scheduled performers for New York radio station Z100's annual Zootopia concert, taking place on May 22nd at Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey. SIMPLE PLAN, GAVIN DeGRAW and JESSE McCARTNEY will also perform . . .
LINKIN PARK's MIKE SHINODA has recruited hip-hop and R&B acts COMMON, the ROOTS' BLACK THOUGHT, KENNA and JOHN LEGEND for his side project, Fort Minor. The album, The Rising Tied, will be released in late summer . . . TREY ANASTASIO and BEN HARPER AND THE INNOCENT CRIMINALS will headline the inaugural Zooma tour, which kicks-off June 16th and runs through July 31st . . . LEANN RIMES has cancelled this week's hosting duties for USA's Nashville Star, due to a vocal-cord injury suffered as a result of severe viral bronchitis. Popular country artist SARA EVANS will fill in . . . JOHN HIATT will release a new album, titled Master of Disaster on June 21st, featuring special guests the NORTH MISSISSIPPI ALLSTARS . . . Tejano music star LAURA CANALES died April 16th from complications of a gall bladder operation. She was fifty . . .
U2 will launch the Good Morning America summer concert series next month. The ABC morning show will interview the band on a stop of the current Vertigo tour and air live songs on May 20th and 21st . . . YOKO ONO will headline the U.K. festival All Tomorrow's Parties, which also features Ono's son SEAN LENNON, the RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS' JOHN FRUSCIANTE, PJ HARVEY and JON SPENCER BLUES EXPLOSION. The festival -- curated by director and musician VINCENT GALLO -- will take place April 22nd to 24th . . . The ROLLING STONES, the BEATLES, AC/DC, KISS, OZZY OSBOURNE, METALLICA, PEARL JAM, U2 and the RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS are donating rare guitars, albums and gear for the Save the Earth Foundation's Earth Day charity online auction, beginning April 23rd at auctions.overstock.com/earthday. EMINEM, JENNIFER LOPEZ, JAY-Z, BEYONCE, NELLY, DR.DRE, SNOOP DOGG and CHRISTINA AGUILERA will donate autographed microphones . . . FISCHERSPOONER will perform a string of dates in support of their sophomore album, Odyssey, kicking off on April 29th in Orlando, Florida . . .
WYCLEF JEAN will visit PBS' Sesame Street on Friday to perform a duet with Cookie Monster about eating healthy foods. ALISON KRAUSS AND UNION STATION will stop by to perform with the Count on May 4th . . . ARETHA FRANKLIN will be a presenter at the thirty-second annual Daytime Emmy Awards airing May 20th on CBS. The soul legend will perform at the McDonald's GospelFest, June 3-5, shortly before the release of her upcoming album, A Woman in Love . . . JASON MRAZ cancelled three shows off his current college tour due to a respiratory infection that has affected his vocal cords . . . Eighties pop singer TAYLOR DAYNE will star in the VH1 reality series, Remaking: Taylor Dayne, premiering April 21st. The show follows Dayne's attempts to rebuild her career with the help of producer RODNEY JERKINS (DESTINY'S CHILD, JENNIFER LOPEZ), a choreographer and two personal trainers . . . Vancouver bluegrass band the CLUMSY LOVERS will release their seventh album, Smart Kid, on June 7th . . .