Backstage Pass

Supporting the excellent "Detours," her best album since her breakthrough "Tuesday Night Music Club," Sheryl Crow is set for Nikon at Jones Beach Theater on Monday and Live Nation is offering a ticket deal tomorrow from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. for the show, selling seats for $10. That's quite the deal for a great package tour that also includes James Blunt and Toots and The Maytals.

Crow told me recently that she knows there's a lot of competition for the summer touring dollar this year. "I feel like the airlines," she said. "I know there's a lot of choices out there and I'm very thankful that they chose to come see me."

She also knows she's not getting the same radio support she has in the past because of some of the album's more political songs. "People know the truth and they don’t want to face it and there’s a lot of fear about it. ‘Out of Our Heads’ is the song that we get the biggest reaction from all night almost and it’s a new song. I know it’s the emotion of it and people are experiencing that, but radio’s really afraid of it and that’s just where we’re at right now, which is fine with me. That, in and of itself, is a statement. But the song’s not ever going to go away and it will remain pertinent and it will have its moment and it’ll find its way because that’s what art does. But that’s a testament too to where we are, that there’s a fear and facing the reality that we have gone to sleep." (She has plenty more to say in our Fanfare interview on Sunday.)

PHOTO: Sheryl Crow for A&M

The release of Rihanna 's repackaged "Good Girl Gone Bad" is apparently a serious deal, as Miss Umbrella takes a bow all over town.

She'll be signing CDs at Virgin Megastore in Times Square at 3 p.m. today (if you buy a copy of the new CD first) and online at 6 p.m. at www.defjam.com.

You can also catch her at Rockefeller Plaza for the "Today" show at 8:30 a.m. tomorrow. Then, she heads to CBS' "The Early Show" for a taping at 11:15 a.m. on the corner of 5th Ave. and 59th Street.

Considering how well the new single "Take a Bow" is doing, all this additional attention for the already hit-packed "Good Girl" album may land her another big sales week.

PHOTO: Rihanna for Def Jam

Because "Fashion Rocks" is more a TV show than an actual concert experience, there's a lot of downtime between performances, meaning there are lots of entertainment that won't make it on the air in the two-hour special tonight at 9 on CBS.

BEST JOKE YOU WILL PROBABLY SEE: Host Jeremy Piven's bit on how he has always been an inspiration for fashion designers. With childhood pics, he showed how his feathered hair and puka-shell necklace inspired looks from Kristy McNichol and Benjamin McKenzie from the "O.C." and how he one rocked the "jullet," a Jewish mullet.

BEST JOKE YOU MAY OR MAY NOT SEE: Denis Leary setting the scene -- "Backstage is full of rock stars and models, so there's plenty of food, but we're running out of alcohol and cigarettes."

BEST JOKE YOU WON'T SEE: Greg Giraldo discussing Rolling Stone's naming of President George W. Bush as "Worst President Ever." "Is that even possible? Remember the president of the Selena Fan Club? She was pretty bad. She actually shot Selena. That's bad for a president. That's more of a vice president thing to do."

PHOTO: Fergie and Steven Tyler of Aerosmith perform do "Walk This Way" at Fashion Rocks by Jeff Christensen of Associated Press.

MORE: Full concert review / Setlist on the jump

To drum up more interest in his "Graduation" album, Kanye West is set to hand out diplomas and sign CD booklets at FYE, 1290 Avenue of the Americas, in Manhattan, at 10 a.m. tomorrow.

Also tomorrow, Mr. West finds out if his single "Stronger" goes to the top of the Billboard singles chart.

Kanye West's "Graduation" is now fully streaming at Clear Channel Music, making it the first of next week's Big Three albums to make it (on purpose) online in its entirety.  Will 50 Cent put "Curtis" out there too? And how has Kenny Chesney avoided having his album leak at all?

Hear "Graduation" here 

MORE 50 vs. KANYE: The leaks / 50 Cent will not lose The Bet

“It’s nerve racking to perform a new song on television,” Hill said in a statement. “But we added ‘Red Umbrella’ to the set for the last three Soul2Soul dates and the fans reaction was fantastic. So at least that gives me a bit of comfort. Fact is that it has the ingredients of any great song – it’s cleverly crafted and its message is sincere.”

Now I know the song, which will be featured on her upcoming greatest-hits compilation, was written by Aimee Mayo, Chris Lindsey, and Brett and Brad Warren. But am I be the only one who is hoping for a bit of a mash-up with Rihanna’s “Umbrella”? Can’t you just hear Faith sing “Umbrella-ella-ella, eh! eh!”? No? I guess I’ll have to settle for Mandy Moore’s Lilith-Fair-ish version.

Mandy Moore, “Umbrella”