Metallica star enters rehab: When Metallica's press people start riding the coattails of the Backstreet Boys' press people, you know there's a problem. I guess alienating 85% of their fanbase wasn't enough; Metallica wasn't going to rest easy until they hammered that last nail into their careers' coffin.

Stars hit back at Brass Eye hoax: Alternate headline: Phil Collins takes self far too seriously AGAIN. Kiddie porn isn't funny, but neither are witchhunts. Making people think before slinging around damaging accusations and hamstringing legitimate uses of the Internet can only be a good thing. At any rate, Phil should slap himself for thinking that anything that marketed itself with a T-shirt that says, "Nonce Sense" was a serious endeavor.

Singles, singles, singles: I scanned the Billboard chart today for the first time in about a month. While I'm happy for the success Blu Cantrell has had, I must say that I'm heartily sick of a particular radio station in Boston playing her song into oblivion. Ditto with Eve's "Let Me Blow Ya Mind". Meanwhile, when will the evil juggernaut that is "Lady Marmalade" go away? Isn't everyone sick of this version of this song now? The only enjoyment I can get from it is remembering how horrible Christina Aguilera looks in the video.

Hot singles to watch:

13: Where The Party At - Jagged Edge featuring Nelly
17: Someone To Call My Lover - Janet
23: Purple Hills - D12 (Why did WJMN play the "Purple Pills" version the other day? Wasn't that banned from the airwaves?)
30: Fallin' - Alicia Keys

buddyHead - g o s s i p (shhh): Featuring for a limited time only Fred Durst's phone number. I haven't called it to verify its authenticity; I leave that as an exercise for the reader. (If it is his real phone number, feel free to tell me. I will giggle.)

'I'll Have Seven Dwarves,' Says Iggy Pop: Don't let anyone tell you that the stories about ludicrous rock star demands aren't true. Clearly, the more ludicrous they are, the more likely it is that they're real demands. (Link comes from Ally via ILE.)

For those curious, I will post my impressions of the Tanglewood gigs I did on Friday and Saturday before the end of the week.

Gravediggaz' Poetic dies after long batle with cancer: RIP. I recommend everyone go out and get the two Gravediggaz albums because they're slammin' and listening to them this week would be a fitting tribute.

Britney Spears TV Special "Shocking And Edgier": There's only one direction this can go, folks:

FULL! FRONTAL! NUDITY!

I mean, honestly. The girl wears macrame coasters tied together with dental floss and full-on booty pants on a regular basis. How much more adult and grown up can she get? (Of course, what will really happen is that she's going to come out in the world's fiercest Donna Karan suit and be demure and smouldering rather than all out on display like the tired spread at Old Country Buffet...)