Backstage Pass

After two decades of being one of the most underappreciated groups around, De La Soul is getting a bit of its due tonight at VH1's Hip-Hop Honors at Hammerstein Ballroom.

"They were poets of that time and were the basis for a lot of other movements," the show's executive producer Lee Rolontz told me earlier this week. "It's long overdue that they be honored."

I'm heading to the show and plan to tweet from the Strong Island celebration, which will feature Chuck D and Flavor Flav and EPMD paying tribute. (You can follow along here if you don't wanna get a Twitter account.) The show will also honor Cypress Hill, Naughty by Nature, Slick Rick and Too $hort.

De La Soul, "A Roller Skating Jam Named Saturdays"

Robin Thicke’s new album, “Something Else,” hits stores today. (More on that from the Newsday preview here.) But the ardent Barack Obama supporter also had more to say about race in America and how he picks his collaborators, including Glen Cove’s Ashanti.

I read somewhere that you’ve said, “Everything now comes down to race in America.” Is that true?

I think I was talking about the presidential election. The whispers about it are all around. There are still people asking, “Are we ready for an African-American president?” It’s kind of interesting that we’re still asking that question. But, across the country, people are changing their tunes. There are groups like the Hell’s Angels who said they’re going to vote for Obama because they can’t afford things to keep going the way they are... It’s only 45 years since the “I Have a Dream” speech. I think what Americans don’t realize is how electing Obama would change the perception of America in the rest of the world. To go from Bush to a black president? That would show why we are leaders in the world.

Do you feel that race affects you in your career? That because you’re white you can’t sing soul music?

Normally, only white people say that. (Laughs) It’s like Jimi Hendrix playing rock and roll. I think if the artist lets that get in the way, they’ll never accomplish anything. If you keep making great music, that’s what gets into peoples hearts. If you make great music that I want to listen to, then I’ll let all those other bygones be bygones... Depending on the room I walk into I could catch a lot of hater energy or I could catch a lot of “You’re the real thing and people are finally getting to know it.” It depends which corner I turn.

Well, considering all the collaborations you’ve done recently – Lil Wayne, 50 Cent, Jennifer Hudson, Ashanti – you’ve certainly won some respect with artists. How did you come to work with Ashanti?

She came to a listening session that I was having for my album. She came in smiling and looking beautiful and she played me this record that she wanted me to be on and we did it right there. When those things happen organically, it’s great. People always say, “You should do a record with this person because it will help your career.” I never do it for those purposes. I only do it because I’m excited about the artist or I’m inspired.

PHOTO: Robin Thicke from Interscope Records.

File this under: Things I Can't Wait to Hear.

Fountains of Wayne's Adam Schlesinger and David Javerbaum, executive producer of "The Daily Show," have written an hour-long musical called "A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All," which will air Nov. 23 on Comedy Central nd be released on DVD.

The eight new songs include: "There Are Much Worse Things To Believe In," a duet between Stephen Colbert and Elvis Costello, "Nutmeg," which pairs Colbert with John Legend, "Little Dealer Boy," which teams him with Willie Nelson, and "Hanukkah," where he joins Jon Stewart. Toby Keith will handle "Have I Got a Present for You" and Feist will sing "Please Be Patient."

A portion of the proceeds from the DVD sale will go to Feeding America.

PHOTOS: Elvis Costello by Zach Cordner for THE WORD magazine; Stephen Colbert for Comedy Central. 

Britney Spears and David Cook staked their claim on increasingly scarce fourth-quarter release dates yesterday, with Spears picking out her birthday, Dec. 2, for her album "Circus." The first single "Womanizer" hits radio Monday.

Cook, the current "American Idol," will release his major-label debut Nov. 18 on 19/RCA, with hit-maker Rob Cavallo as the producer. Cook's single, "Time of My Life," has proven surprisingly durable, climbing to No. 1 on the adult contemporary chart this week, after being linked to the Olympics and showing up on "Oprah" last week.

However, Cook will have to battle Beyonce on Nov. 18, when she releases her still-untitled album, which includes a collaboration with Justin Timberlake and features only songs that she co-wrote and co-produced. The first singles, "Single Ladies" and "If I Were a Boy," hit radio Oct. 7.

And will there be another Kanye West vs. 50 Cent battle? Well, at the moment, 50 Cent's new album "Before I Self Destruct" is due Dec. 9 and West's "808s & Heartbreak" arrives Dec. 16, but you never know.

PHOTO: Victorious Britney Spears at the VMAs. MTV Photo.

Oasis has canceled its "secret" show at Terminal 5 tomorrow night due to the injuries Noel Gallagher sustained after being tackled onstage at a concert Sunday night. However, fans can still get a sneak preview of songs from the band's forthcoming "Dig Out Your Soul" album at several subway platforms tomorrow, performed by New York street musicians.

The musicians will get the sheet music and rehearse four new songs from the album -- "The Turning," "Bag it Up," "(Get Off Your) High Horse Lady," and the new single
"The Shock of the Lightning" -- and then go out to more than a dozen subway platforms, including the LIRR corridor at Penn Station from 1-3 p.m. and 6-9 p.m.,  to perform them. [Full list of times and locations]

PHOTO: Oasis by Andrew Macpherson for oasisinet.com

Remember when we (along with pretty much everyone else not working at Atlantic Records) said pulling Estelle's album "Shine" off of iTunes was a bad idea? Well, apparently someone at Atlantic realized that this strategy was, um, flawed.

Guess what the ad on top of the iTunes store is right now? Yes, it's Estelle's "American Boy." Imagine that. The song has already rebounded to No. 20 on the iTunes chart today. However, the momentum it had two weeks ago when it was at No. 11 on Billboard's singles charts has been sapped.

And did yanking it from iTunes spur sales of the "Shine" CD as Atlantic execs hoped it would. Um, not exactly. "Shine" sales did jump 16 percent last week, moving about 5,400 copies, but those aren't really Kid Rock numbers.

In exchange for those sales, Atlantic funneled about 100,000 sales to the Studio All-Stars' knockoff version of "American Boy" and another 7,000 sales to the Starlite Singers' knockoff version, according to Soundscan. It also knocked Estelle's "American Boy" from No. 11 to No. 57 in two weeks. Fair trade?

PHOTO: Estelle for Atlantic Records.

Maybe MTV will be able to make next year's Video Music Awards even more disjoint and off-putting because, apparently, that's what America wants. This year's show, much like last year's Britney-fueled debacle, was a ratings winner, according to the network.

The show landed an 8.1 rating among the cherished 12-to-34 demographic, up 26 percent from last year and 37 percent higher than the 2006 show, with about 23 million tuning in at some point Sunday night. The VMAs also funneled 18 percent more visitors to MTV.com compared to last year's event.

Perhaps the strategy of telling how many minutes were left to the next performance and Russell Brand's ongoing recap of what had just happened were exactly what intermittent viewers wanted, even though those who stuck with/were forced to watch the show all the way through found that annoying. The bait-and-switch with the Britney Spears opening, however, will probably not work again next year. Or will it?

PHOTO: Russell Brand by MTV.

Oasis' Noel Gallagher was taken to the hospital Sunday night in Toronto after a man jumped onstage and pushed Gallagher from behind, causing him to fall on his monitor speakers. Gallagher was examined for a possible rib fracture and ligament damage.

The band said it is unclear whether tonight's show in London, Ontario, will go on. It is not clear whether the band's "surprise" show set for Terminal 5 in Manhattan on Friday, drumming up publicity for the forthcoming "Dig Out Your Soul" album, will be affected.

No word on the motive for the attack, which came as the band played "Morning Glory." The unidentified man was tackled as he headed for singer Liam Gallagher and the band took a five-minute break to regroup before continuing with the show.

Ever outspoken, Noel Gallagher's most recent beef has been with Jay-Z over whether the rapper should have been the headliner at this year's Glastonbury Festival.

PHOTO: Oasis by Andrew Macpherson for oasisinet.com

What is going on with the VMAs? Aside from Rihanna's crazed attack of mutant dancers for "Disturbia," her duet with T.I. on "Live Your Life," and Christina Aguilera's bizarre new single "Keeps Getting Better," it's kind of been a snooze. That must be why Russell Brand keeps reminding us of the things that just happened because after the commercial break we've pretty much forgotten that they've happened. And the clock that tells how many minutes until some other boring thing only encourages people to go check out "Entourage" and come back. This is only made worse by the fact that they have actual nominees playing the bumper music into commercials, even Katy Perry.

Also, the Kanye West song "Love Lockdown" may be one of those that grow on you, but initially it reminds us that he's a much better rapper than a singer.

Anyway... The winners:

For those waiting for a repeat of last year’s MTV Video Music Awards debacle, Britney Spears offered a different kind of letdown.

    Her much-hyped opening of the show last night, which involved no singing, was limited and straightforward. Then, she won her first VMA after 16 previous nominations, taking home best female video for “Piece of Me.”

    “I’m speechless,” said Spears, wearing a far classier, far more flattering dress than last year’s outfit. “This is an honor. I just want to thank God first and foremost for blessing me like this, my beautiful family, my two beautiful boys for inspiring me everyday and my fans, this is for you.”

     Yes, her comedy bit with Jonah Hill was a bit flat, but that wasn't really her fault. But otherwise, Spears performed quite admirably.

Gnarls Barkley's "Run" won two VMAs -- for best art direction and best choreography.

Also winning pre-show awards:

-- The White Stripes' "Conquest" for best cinematography

-- Erykah Badu's "Honey" for best direction

-- Kanye West's "Good Life" for best special effects, meaning Kanye won't be shut out again this year 

MTV’s Video Music Awards were always less about the awards and more about creating a spectacle, but now the awards part is almost an afterthought.

The evening’s nominations leaders – inexplicably The Pussycat Dolls’ “When I Grow Up” video (below) which landed six nods – aren’t even set to perform. (That may be a contract thing, though, since they will be on “Fashion Rocks” on Tuesday.)

The other big nominees – Chris Brown and Katy “I Kissed a Girl” Perry, who both have 5 nods, – will perform, though, Perry is expected to pay tribute to Madonna’s “Like a Virgin.” This is expected to be horrible. (Side note: Rihanna’s tribute to Madonna’s “Vogue,” which will be part of “Fashion Rocks” on Tuesday, was actually quite good live.)

Denis Leary, who hosted “Fashion Rocks,” offered his own preview, saying his show was “gonna be a lot like the VMAs only with actual real musicians.” He added that he would launch his own tribute to Britney Spears: “I’m gonna chug a bottle of Nyquil, shave my head, make out with a member of the paparazzi and leave my kids with Lil Wayne for three and a half weeks.”

Spears is set to open the show tonight by “saying hello” to her fans – whatever that means. I guess we’ll find out soon enough.

Pussycat Dolls, "When I Grow Up"

While folks were still reeling about the "surprise" of Britney Spears opening the MTV Video Music Awards Sunday night (um, she was part of the ad campaign promoting the show, how could she not be involved?), MTV dropped a real surprise yesterday, announcing that Kanye West would close the show.

Yes, Kanye "I Will Never Return to MTV" West has apparently gotten over his snubbing at last year's awards, though it's not really clear why. The notorious tantrum-thrower actually had a point when he questioned why a clearly not-ready Spears got the opening slot instead of him, in the wake of his massive "Stronger" hit. He also had a point about being forced to perform in a suite, while Justin Timberlake and others performed on the main stage. And yet he's signed on again and is still not opening the show. Why, 'Ye, why? (You know, other than the chance to promote your new single "Love Lockdown" and forthcoming album.)

Christina Aguilera was also announced as a performer, joining Jonas Brothers, Lil Wayne Pink, T.I. with Rihanna, and Katy Perry doing Madonna's "Like a Virgin." Sadly, that's serious.

After last year's train-wreck ratings bonanza, though, people will, no doubt, have to tune in Sunday at 9 p.m. And yes, we'll be live-blogging the nightmare here as well.

PHOTO: West from last year's VMAs from MTV.

The new charity single “Just Stand Up” is a great idea, a way to raise funds for cancer research and awareness for the “Stand Up to Cancer” special to be aired on ABC, CBS and NBC on Sept. 5.
In practice, though, the song, produced by L.A. Reid and Babyface, is a bit of a diva pile-up, with 15 singers crammed into a song that clocks in around three-and-a-half-minutes. And telling one from another, especially in the middle, gets a bit dicey.

So here’s a handy guide to tell who’s who:

Beyonce is clearly the opener, followed by a pop-sounding Carrie Underwood. Next is Rihanna, with her cute accent and distinctive phrasing that makes her lines sound a bit like “Umbrella,” and a line from Sheryl Crow. Crow and Beyonce team up for the first pass through the chorus.

The second verse starts with Fergie’s distinctly not-cute accent, before she starts trading lines with Leona Lewis and then Keyshia Cole. Rihanna returns for her bit, trading lines with Miley Cyrus, before handing off to LeAnn Rimes and Natasha Bedingfield. Underwood picks up the Sheryl Crow line and they all head into the chorus together, with some powerful vamping from Melissa Ethridge.

Mary J. Blige handles the first half of the bridge, with some support from Ciara, Rihanna and Underwood. Mariah Carey takes over for the second half, supported by Ashanti – leading to an All-Long Island oasis. Then Mary and Mariah head back into the chorus, ad libbing over the group, complete with Mariah’s trademark high-register notes.

Fergie comes back for the outro and we’re out.

"Just Stand Up" goes on sale on iTunes on Sept. 2 and will make its live debut during the Sept. 5 special.

The futures of two popular ways for adventurous music-hunters to find new artists are now threatened.

Muxtape, the easy-to-use mixtape creator and sharer, took down the site yesterday saying they needed time to "sort out a problem with the RIAA."

Pandora, the Music Genome Project's streaming radio site, may fold because of the higher royalty rates for webcasters that the U.S. Copyright Royalty Board enacted last year. Thanks to lobbying from SoundExchange, an arm of the RIAA, the board doubled the rates, even though terrestrial radio doesn't pay any fees and satellite radio pays fees that are far less per song than webcasters are now being charged.

Pandora founder Tim Westergren told The Washington Post that the company will now pay 70 percent of its revenue to webcasting fees. "We're approaching a pull-the-plug kind of decision," he said. "This is like a last stand for webcasting."

Maybe the thriving record industry feels it doesn't need all the help it can get introducing music fans to new artists. Oh. Wait. Hmm.

The convention line-ups are set -- well, at least the musical ones.

Daughtry, Everclear and up-and-comers Flobots will appear at the Democratic convention on Aug. 26, as part of the Grammy Foundation's "Rock the Conventions," an attempt to convince conventioneers of the importance of music education and lobby them on other "issues that affect the creative community."

For the Republican convention, they have Brett James, who wrote Carrie Underwood's "Jesus Take the Wheel," and singer-songwriter Greg Laswell on Sept. 2. Um, really, Grammy Foundation? Was Ted Nugent not available? Are there really no musicians willing to even hang out with the Republicans?

After all, the Creative Coalition Gala at the Republican convention will have Spike Lee, Susan Sarandon and Maggie Gyllenhaal on Sept. 3.

UPDATE: Rage Against the Machine will play the Denver Coliseum on Aug. 27 as part of the Tent State Music Festival, with Flobots, The Coup and Wayne Kramer. Tent State is meant to confront the Democratic convention about stopping the war in Iraq.

PHOTO: Daughtry by Danny Clinch for 19/RCA

De La Soul, "Me, Myself & I"

De La Soul, the Amityville-based trio that broke the barriers of hip-hop with its breakthrough album “3 Feet High and Rising,” is among this year’s honorees for VH1's “Hip Hop Honors,” along with Cypress Hill, Naughty by Nature, Slick Rick, and Too Short.
Tracy Morgan was announced as the event’s host yesterday, but performers for the event, set to air Oct. 7 on VH1 and VH1 Soul, have not yet been named. “‘Hip Hop Honors’ has come to represent the pinnacle of innovation and achievement in hip hop music,” said Tom Calderone, VH1's executive vice president and general manager.

Diddy is nothing if not pre-emptive.

Sensing MTV News' James Montgomery was going to trash Donnie Klang's new video "Take You There" on "FNMTV," the way he has criticized videos from Klang's "Making the Band 4" co-stars Danity Kane and Day 26, Diddy rushed the stage to lean on Montgomery to do the chorus of Maino's "Hi Hater."

When Montgomery tries to gingerly say there was nothing new in the video, Diddy, who is featured in the video and on the track, says, "Who are you? Where did you come from? What hit records have you ever made? The guy is a star! Donnie Klang is a star!"

Time will tell who's right. Klang's debut "Just a Rolling Stone" hits stores on Sept. 2.

Diddy Goes After MTV News' James Montgomery on 'FNMTV' -- Why? [MTV]

PHOTO: Diddy gives Jordin Sparks a kiss after trying to "intimidate" MTV's James Montgomery (left) into saying something nice about Donnie Klang. Photo by Chris Polk for MTV.

If there's one thing U2 has plenty of it's confidence. And that serves Bono and company well nearly every time. The band is releasing remastered deluxe versions of its first three albums next week, but instead of hiding all those bonus tracks away due to worries that sales of the albums will suffer, U2 has made them all available at a special imeem site today. Not 30-second samples, not a handful of tracks, all of them in their entirety, with embedding not disabled.

U2 is banking on fans being so excited about the new albums that they'll buy them in all their enhanced glory even if they've heard the previously unreleased songs. That's a pretty good bet. And it just goes to show that confidence in your work and your fans can still pay off.

Here's the expanded "War" edition in its entirety:

After being criticized for being unmarried and possibly being pregnant, Erykah Badu took to the OkayPlayer forums to set some anonymous commenters straight. "I've never been so disgusted in all of my life. There is no other place I used to enjoy more. I post nowhere else.
You guys have taken an all time low, tho."

As with so many Internet battles, even her supporters are divided over whether she should have taken on the criticism or not. Some wish she wouldn't have bothered letting it get to her. Others say her well-crafted response was the right move.

In either case, Badu boldly says she doesn't care if she loses fans over her personal decisions or her decision to speak out. "WHO NEEDS YOU... CERTAINLY NOT ME... KICK ROCKS ... CALL TYRONE ..." she writes. And her sign off is even better: "If this post is not clear, kiss my placenta."

Okayplayer.com Boards [via Idolator]

PHOTO: Erykah Badu by Marc Baptiste for Universal Motown Records

Whether it's good enough to launch a serious music career remains to be seen, but Ali Lohan's new single "All the Way Around" is light years better than her big sis Lindsay's debut. Not only does Ali roll out a nice pop song that's decently song, but it's age appropriate and will serve as a good introduction for what her album may be like.

One of the most impressive pieces in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum collection is John Lennon's handwritten lyrics to "Imagine" because of its simplicity.

For me, it's always been moving to see how a few words scrawled on a piece of paper can be turned into a work of art that somehow changes the world.

Apparently, other folks feel the same. Yesterday, the handwritten lyrics to "Give Peace a Chance," which Lennon gave to then-teenager Gail Renard when she snuck into the Montreal bed-in in 1969, were sold at Christie's auction for $833,000.

Lennon told her "one day they will be worth something." He was right in more ways than one.

PHOTO: Lyrics to "Give Peace a Chance" from Christie's rock memorabilia auction.

Though 50 Cent has been remarkably quiet about the fire that destroyed his Dix Hills mansion in May and the ongoing battle with his ex-girlfriend Shaniqua Tompkins over their son, Marquise, he did open up to MTV yesterday about why. "I really don't wanna talk about it, because my son at some point will have the opportunity to see the tapes," he said. "She's still his mother, and I'm still his father, regardless. He's gonna love both of us."

He also talks about missing Marquise on tour. "In the summertime, for the first two years I was successful, my son has traveled with us on those tours," Fitty said. "He was on the Rock the Mic Tour, he was on the Anger Management Tour. This summer, when he's free, it's, like, no communication. It's tough."

Asked how he wants this all to turn out, he said: "I'd like to be able to just see my baby."

50 Cent opens up about strained relationship with his ex after house fire [MTV]

So Kanye West took to his blog last night to bat down rumors that he's in anger management classes, saying, "I have never had any conversations about anger management. If anything, I need anger enhancement!! lol!" Um, OK.

He then goes on to say, "I don't know if everyone has realized this yet but I don't do interviews. If there's anything I wanna say I'll say right here on my own blog." Now Mr. West has had a rough year and maybe he's just stressed out or jet-lagged (he blogged from Hawaii), but it'll be interesting to see how long this "no-interview" thing holds up once he's promoting the follow-up to "Graduation" ("Master's Degree"?) or some other project he wants attention for.

Are people going to hold him to this pledge? No. Just like no one really expected 50 Cent to retire after his album's opening sales week lost to West's opening week.

PHOTO: A portion of the magazine covers West has been on recently from www.kanyeuniversecity.com

Girl Talk (a.k.a. Gregg Gillis) finished his new album "Feed the Animals" earlier this week and he put it up on the website for his label Illegal Art this morning, available for download for whatever price people want to pay.

If you pay more than $10, you get a copy of the CD when it's released in September, access to the album as a single, uninterrupted file (the way Gillis would want you to hear it) and high-quality MP3 versions. For more than $5, you get the single file and all the MP3s.

Now the buzz of hearing 300 different samples in a little over 50 minutes is a bit dizzying, but "Feed the Animals" is as much fun as Gillis' breakthrough "Night Ripper" and, if nothing else, a great party trick. Who can resist the mix between Kelly Clarkson's "Since U Been Gone" and Nine Inch Nails' "March of the Pigs" on "Here's the Thing," which opens with Quad City DJs' "The Train" rapped over Chicago's "Saturday in the Park"?

PHOTO: Girl Talk's "Feed the Animals" on Illegal Art

Though Coldplay's "Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends" is a bit of a mixed bag, the roll out for it has been pretty much a perfect primer for the Music Industry 2.0.

They gave away the first single "Violet Hill" for a week on their website to generate free publicity and then announced free concerts in London and at Madison Square Garden to promote it further. Then, they saved the hotter single "Viva La Vida" for use in an iPod commercial, letting Apple (and its way deeper pockets for advertising) to drum up even more publicity for them.

The results so far have been huge. "Viva La Vida" is now the band's biggest American hit ever, poised at No. 2 to become their first No. 1 single here. And first-week sales of "Viva La Vida" in their United Kingdom base may be their biggest ever, though because of the release date, it will be split between two weeks on the chart. Nevertheless, in its first three days of sale in England, the album went platinum, selling 300,000 copies and selling more than the rest of the Top 5 albums combined.

(All those sales came with many leaks of the album available on the Internet and the band has made the entire album available on I Heart Music for days.)

It's been great news for EMI, which has been the major label that has been struggling most with the changing music industry landscape. Whether Coldplay's results are good enough to save the company remains to be seen, but they are certainly off to a good start.

Hear "Viva La Vida or Death and All is Friends" here 

PHOTO: Coldplay -- Will Champion, Guy Berryman, Chris Martin, Jonny Buckland -- by Stephan Craneanscki for Capitol Records.

Joan Jett and Gibson Guitar announced the launch of the Joan Jett Signature Melody Maker guitar line today, making Jett the first female artist to have her own Gibson signature model.

“This is my guitar -- Gibson was successfully able to replicate my custom velvet hammer pick ups which have not been available for 20 years," Jett said in a statement. "For those of you performing live, you may understand the value of being able to shave off those split seconds between playing and interacting with the audience, especially if you use your hands to communicate. I can move between the killswitch, which mutes the guitar, and playing, and then back again without a lot of in-between motion."

The model, based on the Melody Maker version the Long Beach rocker used on "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" and "Do You Wanna Touch Me," is also similar to the Les Pauls of the late '60s.

“Joan Jett is a true icon of rock and roll," said Henry Juszkiewicz, Chairman and CEO of Gibson Guitar, in a statement. "Since the beginning she has been a groundbreaking artist and a trailblazer for women in the genre. Gibson is proud to be working with such an influential guitar player."

PHOTO: Joan Jett for Gibson 

While The Academy Is... and a few journalists listened to "About a Girl" from the band's still-untitled forthcoming album, singer William Beckett raised his hands over his head during the future hit's impossibly catchy chorus, a sign that he's already thinking about performing the song for big, big crowds.

It's a good plan, since the handful of songs I heard last week at Fresh Kills studio in Greenwich Village shows the band embracing its poppier side and looking to make another quantum leap in their careers. "About a Girl" is a smash in the making, a straight-up power-pop gem with loud guitars and clever lyrical twists. Another song, possibly called "His Friday Girl," is nearly as infectious.

Beckett says the new album, currently slated for an Aug. 19 release on Fueled by Ramen, is "a celebration of youth" and filled with songs about enjoying life. The band plans to unveil a couple of new songs during its sets on the Warped Tour, which stops at the Nassau Coliseum parking lot on July 26. Hopefully, including "About a Girl."

They may even have a title for the album by then, which Beckett says is important "for a band whose last album was called 'Santi.'" Producer Sam Hollander joked that since the bulk of the album was recorded at the Manhattan studio where Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run" and Madonna's "Like a Virgin" was done, they try "Born a Virgin," which struck a chord with the band, though maybe not as a title. It's probably more likely than "Santi II," though. 

For those who somehow missed it, Ashanti has a new album "The Declaration" and today she is seemingly everywhere promoting it.

She started at "Good Morning America," where she talked about still living in Glen Cove and performed "The Way That I Love You" and, unexpectedly, "Always on Time" with Ja Rule.

Then she was on "Live With Regis and Kelly," where she also sang "The Way That I Love You," and, unexpectedly, did a cooking segment where she taught Regis and Kelly how to cook her "Good Good" Grilled Teriyaki Salmon with Grilled Asparagus. (Want