Britney Spears avoided court on Thursday, but in her absence her attorney told jurors the pop star calls Louisiana home and should be cleared of a charge of driving without a California license. more. So she doesn't own a home in California? Or even reside there? Anyone have a Twinkie? Apparently the prosecution have rested their case, at least according to Jam!.

X Factor winner Leona Lewis was booed by fans at the Mobo Awards ceremony in London after failing to turn up. The 23-year-old picked up awards for best album and video, but was booed after it was revealed she was not there to pick her awards up in person. more

DJ AM was back on the decks for the first time since surviving a fiery plane crash. The visibly scarred celebrity disc jockey, whose real name is Adam Goldstein, joined Jay-Z at a special concert Wednesday celebrating the reopening of the Hollywood Palladium more

Former Iron Maiden singer Paul Di'Anno will return for his first U.S. tour in 15 years in November-January. The first dates to be announced are here

Motown will celebrate its 50th anniversary with a mammoth boxed set, "Motown: The Complete No. 1's." Due December 9, the 10-disc package features 191 songs, all of which have topped a chart in the United States or internationally. more

Oasis will play a series of outdoor gigs in the UK and Ireland next summer. The band announced the shows, which include dates at London Wembley Stadium and Manchester Heaton Park, at a press conference on Thursday. more

Bands are competing for the chance to play to half-filled halls across the nation and we received an update that they have picked their semi-finalist. Here it tis: Guitar Center and Motley Crue announced today the 30 semi-finalists for the Guitar Center On-Stage � Your Chance To Make Rock History. Details about this and what they win are here

TMZ sent this can't miss 411 over: Contrary to news reports, Stevie Wonder's house did not burn down in the L.A. fires. He just called to say it's bulls**t.

Hot Chip's Alexis Taylor has been hard at work on a solo album. The new debut record (out now on Treader) is called Rubbed Out and according to Taylor himself, "it was created in places, planes, hotel rooms and home." It also includes a cover of Paul McCartney's "Coming Up." more

Neal Hefti, a Big Band trumpeter, arranger and composer of themes for the movie "The Odd Couple" and the "Batman" television series, has died. He was 85. Hefti died Saturday at his home, said his son Paul. more

Buzzcocks will be reissuing their first three full length albums. Each reissue will have "two discs per reissue full of associated singles, demos, live versions, backing tracks, and Peel sessions, some of which are previously unreleased." more

Ill Bill have posted a video for "War Is My Destiny" Intro/Outro Live in Vancouver, BC on YouTube. "The Hour Of Reprisal" CD/DVD is in stores now but before you head out to the store you can watch the video here

Diana Ross will headline artists performing at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in honor of the 2008 laureate, Finnish peace mediator Martti Ahtisaari, organizers said Thursday. The show's hosts, generally Hollywood superstars, are to be announced next week. more

Headline? Former Korn guitarist Brian "Head" Welch will guest on the nationally syndicated radio show "Rockline" with host Bob Coburn on Monday, October 27 at 8:30 p.m. PT / 11:30 p.m. ET. more

No Rush to the stores: According to Amazon.com, the release date of RUSH's forthcoming "Retrospective 3" set has been pushed back to January 27, 2009 from the previously announced December 9, 2008. more

Y&T have moved their upcoming New York City and the Springfield, VA shows to April 2009. The reason given on the band's message board was the fact that AC/DC were scheduled to the play the same nights across town. Ironically Y&T were reportedly in the running to support that tour. The NYC will happen on 4/16/09 and the Springfield show will be the following night.

The family of Decapitated singer, Adrian "Covan" Kowanek, who was seriously injured a year ago in a automobile accident while on tour in Eastern Europe, has issued a terse statement regarding Kowanek's condition read it here

Begin sarcasm. The Bon Jovi lawsuit we reported about last week has now gone from a John Grisham novel to an out and out conspiracy theory. Bart Steele posted a new blog where he says the press is twisting his lawsuit for sensational purposes and says that he isn't claiming that Bon Jovi stole his song or lyrics as many in the press have reported, but rather TBS and Major League Baseball used his song as the template for their advertisement and Bon Jovi may have been a unknowing accomplice. That's not how we read the complaint, but that is how he is clarifying things now. But we're not lawyers so something might have been lost in legalese translation. To understand the concept of the template, a possible frame of reference would be how Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" album mysteriously matches up with 'The Wizard of Oz.' Was that intentional or not? Only Roger Waters knows for sure. Did something like that happen in this case? That will be up to a jury to decide if the case makes it that far. But be warned that we may have this new twist all wrong too. For now it's kind of fun for us to be considered part of a complicated conspiracy theory. For the record, when he sent us a copy of the lawsuit, we did ask Mr. Steele if he could provide a statement explaining his allegations but he did not provide one. But we didn't intentional twist anything and did provide the copy of the lawsuit so the readers could review it for themselves. This report may or may not have been unintentionally inspired by copyright infringement claims we have reported about in the past or a bad Mel Gibson movie. We're not sure ourselves. Maybe the Wizard knows? Sarcasm off. You can read Bart's new blog where he explains the case as well as read the lawsuit and some of the history - right here

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