411 Music's Friday News Bootleg 03.07.03

Welcome to The Bootleg: First Mania Edition. All of us site writers got an email last Saturday from Widro and Ashish, which dropped a few hints of what’s in store for the redesigned site. Stick around, y’all, because there’s loads of free prizes forthcoming, more interactive material and exclusive member’s only thangs that are slightly better than the jacket of the same name.

So the bad news is that I’ve been sick as a dog for about a week. The even worse news is that I wasn’t able to get away from work for a day off until yesterday. The even worser news is that the wife took the day off, too. So, while she looks over my shoulder and asks if “Widro” and “Ashish” are really somebody’s names, let get on with the goodness that is the news.

American Idol Meets Hee Haw

From the network that brought you Duckman and Farmclub.com comes what some are calling the country music version of Fox’s craptacular reality music contest. Nashville Star premiers tomorrow night at 9 PM ET here in the States with Nancy O’Dell from Access Hollywood as the host. You know the routine: 12 people, one dream and lots of lyrics involving rainstorms and pickup trucks. Apparently the winner will have his or her career sponsored by Mr. Lisa Hartman, Clint “Hat Act” Black.

What’s Left When All the Pumpkins Have Been Smashed?

Billy Corgan recently announced that the American leg of his tour with his new band, Zwan, has been extended through the middle of April. The new dates include stops in Houston, Dallas, Phoenix and my hometown (by way of Long Beach) Los Angeles. Sure, Zwan may be all over modern rock stations with their first single, Honestly but call me when they nab a guest spot on The Simpsons…or don’t.

The Dixie Chicks and Ticketmaster…A Winning Combination!

Everyone’s favorite girl-next-door group broke all sorts of box office records last Saturday. March 1 was the first on-sale date for their “On Top of the World” tour. When all the credit card numbers were tallied and all the mark-up ticket brokers were finally off the phones, the Dixie Chicks moved nearly 900,000 tickets with $49 million in first day sales. They’ve already sold out 51 of their arena shows, with numerous concert venues reporting only single-seat tickets are available. In related news, my wife spent two hours online last Sunday trying to obtain tickets for the San Diego Padres on their first onsale day. We’ll be there Opening Day, in June versus Minnesota, in September versus Houston and for the last game ever at Qualcomm Stadium.

Kelly Osbourne on Broadway? (or Thank God I Live in California)

If you can’t get enough of the drugged out dialogue or that dry rapier wit, it’s rumored that Kelly Osbourne will be joining forces with both Rosie O’Donnell and Boy George. No, not on some kind of new UPN reality series (although, the possibilities of all three living in a one bedroom dive in South Central is intriguing in a potential drive-by sort of way). Nope, it’s possible that Kelly could hook up with the O’Donnell and George produced version of Taboo. Osbourne has also been linked to another run of Hairspray. Gee, I wonder whom’ll she’ll play?

Nelly Buys into NASCAR

That high-pitched wail you heard was thousands of good ol’ boys choking on their loaded omelet biscuits at Hardee’s. It seems the most annoying man in hip hop has joined forces with the most annoying psuedo-sport in the world. His new racing truck team will make its debut on March 14 somewhere in South Carolina. Hey, are fireworks still legal down there? Anyway, this is a pretty transparent attempt by Nelly to pimp his Vokal clothing line to what we’ll politely call “an untapped market”.

The Eagles are Set to Fly

If you’ve got just $170, you can get the best seats available when the Eagles “Farewell I” Tour comes to your town. The tour starts in Virginia this May, goes as far west as Texas then concludes in Boston. It’s a 19-date swing and rest assured it is certainly not a farewell tour. I don’t own any of their albums, but the folks in the 45-55 demographic where I work play them constantly. For my money, when it comes to musical groups named after birds of prey, it begins and ends with The Freebirds. Tell me Badstreet, USA didn’t kick eleven kinds of ass! Hey, if you know where I can get a copy, drop me a line.

Quick Hits

Donatella Versace has designed a brand new clothing line inspired by pop diva Christina Aguilera. One of Versace’s favorite items of this new line is the underwear-that’s-really-outerwear. It’s sure to be a favorite with upscale hookers everywhere.

Norah Jones reclaims top Billboard spot. Her sales were obviously fueled by her Alicia Keys-like run at the Grammys, but fear not Norah-haters: role model and former crack dealer 50 Cent should reclaim the top spot next week.

A former American Idol contestant is now facing a possible involuntary manslaughter charge. This should be a lesson to all of us not to tease any of the gay male contestants who have appeared on that show.

411 Fun Facts (Series Two) Collect ‘Em All!

Sure, you’ve read this far, but do we really know each other?

#10: I’ll be in Baltimore, MD, San Antonio, TX and Warner Robins, GA later this year on business!
#11: I hate heavily sugared breakfast cereals!
#12: My AOL IM and Yahoo Messenger name is ajcameron13

Confidential to my dawg, Smitty & his daughter, Allison: Happy Birthday and the gifts are in the mail.