16 minutes ago

BURBANK, Calif. - Minnie Driver says she’s got the bump.

The 38-year-old actress and singer confirmed during an appearance Thursday on NBC’s “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno” that she’s pregnant with her first child.

Leno joked that she appeared to have gained weight.

“Are you calling me fat? You’ve noticed my tummy, haven’t you?” Driver said.

“Are you pregnant?” Leno replied.

“Yes, I am,” she said.

Driver said she loves being pregnant but is frequently sick.

“I don’t know why they call it morning sickness,” she said. “I am sick morning, noon and night, but it’s a fair trade-off.”

Driver didn’t reveal the name of the father.

A call to her publicists seeking comment wasn’t immediately returned Friday.

Driver stars on the FX cable TV series “The Riches,” which premieres Tuesday.

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NBC is owned by the General Electric Co. FX is owned by News Corp.

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On the Net:

NBC:

http://www.nbc.com/

FX:

http://www.fxnetworks.com/

By NEKESA MUMBI MOODY, AP Music Writer 31 minutes ago

AUSTIN, Texas - Katy Perry might have gotten dumped by her boyfriend, but the guy is probably having a more difficult time dealing with the aftermath of the breakup since her song about him became the buzz of the Internet.

“Ur So Gay,” in which she pokes fun at her skinny-jean-wearing, guyliner-sporting emo ex, has gotten the Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter plenty of attention since it was released last fall. The caustic song contains plenty of zingers, with the refrain, “Ur so gay, and you don’t even like boys.”

“‘Ur So Gay’ was mainly written for a couple of different reasons — mainly because I got dumped, and it was a nice outlet, a way to be like, `OK, you wanna play?’” Perry told The Associated Press after one of her performances at the South by Southwest music festival Friday.

“It also takes a shot at the whole indie scene: The guys who are using the eyeliner, the straight irons, and my ex-boyfriends who would borrow my jeans and never give them back!”

And though it could come across as a politically incorrect taunt, Perry says most everyone understands the humor behind it.

“The reaction is always somewhat positive, and everybody gets the joke,” Perry said, laughing. “Everyone knows what it’s about and all my gay friends know what it’s about too.”

Though she’s garnering plenty of attention these days with her “Ur So Gay” EP, Perry has been working toward her music career about five years, and was signed to two major labels before landing at Capitol Records, which plans to release her CD in June.

“I’ve been in these situations before, with a major label … at each time we’d gear up to do something and it would never happen,” said Perry.

Still, she didn’t let those disappointments dissuade her: “Every door that shut, a bigger door opened and it was always a reason.”

Perry, a Santa Barbara native who moved to Los Angeles seven years ago, has also been a face on the city’s party scene, but she says she’s no longer interested in hitting the bars and staying on the social circuit.

“Now it’s time to take it to the next level,” she said. “I can’t be hungover anymore, I have to be focused. There are too many girls who are (messing) up and they are creating a nice little pathway for those people who really want to own it like myself.”

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On the Net:

http://www.katyperry.com

By Gary Graff and Jonathan Cohen 27 minutes ago

AUSTIN, Texas (Billboard) - Lou Reed is lashing out at new modes of audio technology, saying that "people have got to demand a higher standard" than current MP3 music files.

The edgy rocker delivered the keynote speech at the South By Southwest Music Festival + Conference, which is underway in Austin, Texas.

Reed was interviewed Wednesday by producer Hal Willner, who recently worked with him on the opulent "Berlin" concerts in which the musician delivered a theatricalized concert version of his under-appreciated 1973 concept album of the same name. Those shows are the subject of "Lou Reed's Berlin," a documentary by Oscar-nominated director Julian Schnabel that had its American premiere at SXSW.

In typically glib and dry-witted form throughout the wide-ranging 55-minute conversation, the bespectacled Reed bemoaned the current state of audio and other digital technologies, noting that "it's like the technology is taking us backwards. It's making it easier to make things worse.

"Here's our song reduced to a pin drop — what, what, what?!" Reed explained. "It's like if no one knows any better or doesn't care, it's gonna stay on a really, really low level and people who like good sound are gonna be thought of as some kind of strange zoo animal."

Reed did express some hope that "you hear they've got a newer version (of MP3) that sounds better, and you suddenly hear the other instruments that are on the song. They've got to bring up the standard. You have the world open to you now; you can get almost any song in the world as an MP3, and I suppose if you like it you can go out and try to find a version you can actually listen to — if you like good sound. If you don't like good sound, none of this matters for a second."

During the session, Reed said he plans to stage the "Berlin" shows in Europe this summer but not in the United States. The "Berlin" concert concept "wasn't an audition to do more of these things" with any of his other albums, though he said 1992's "Magic and Loss" and 1978's "Street Hassle" would be good candidates if he did want to try it again.

Reuters/Billboard

45 minutes ago

NEW YORK - Britney Spears is relishing her new role on “How I Met Your Mother.” Spears has been taping her much-hyped cameo on the CBS sitcom for the March 24 episode, in which she portrays a receptionist in a dermatologist’s office named Abby who crushes on Ted (Josh Radnor).

“Working at `How I Met Your Mother’ has been so terrific,” Spears said in a statement Thursday. “Everyone, including the cast, the crew and the producers, has been wonderful and Abby is such a fun girl to play. I’m having a blast!”

CBS spokesman Kelli Raftery said Spears attended a table reading with the cast on Monday, did a “run-through” on Tuesday and filmed scenes Wednesday. Raftery confirmed reports that Spears’ divorced parents — James and Lynne — dropped by the “Mother” set on Wednesday.

Spears was scheduled to shoot scenes Thursday.

Radnor told People.com that “on the first day of the shoot, Britney knew her lines better than I knew mine. She’s been great to work with.”

Spears has previous TV sitcom experience playing a character on a 2006 episode of “Will and Grace.” She was also the host and musical guest on “Saturday Night Live” in 2000.

“How I Met Your Mother,” returning Monday with all-new episodes following the writers strike, co-stars Radnor, Jason Segal, Alyson Hannigan, Cobie Smulders and Neil Patrick Harris as twentysomethings living in New York City.

Spears has been under the conservatorship of her father, James, following bizarre behavior and two hospitalizations. She is also locked in a custody battle with ex-husband Kevin Federline over the former couple’s sons, Jayden James, 1, and Sean Preston, 2.

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CBS is owned by CBS Corp.

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On the Net:

CBS: http://www.cbs.com/primetime/how_i_met_your_mother/

30 minutes ago

NEW YORK - First it was serialized in a San Francisco newspaper. Then came a parade of best-selling novels, followed by a popular television miniseries — and now a Broadway musical, with music by members of the glam pop band Scissor Sisters.

“Tales of the City,” based on the Armistead Maupin novel, will open on Broadway during the 2009-10 season, producers Robyn Goodman, Kevin McCollum and Jeffrey Seller announced Friday.

The story focuses on a young woman from the Midwest who moves to San Francisco in 1970s and meets an unusual collection of characters while living at 28 Barbary Lane.

7 minutes ago

NEW YORK - Snoop Dogg is bringing some street cred to “One Life to Live.”

The 36-year-old rapper will make an extended cameo on the ABC soap opera to perform two songs from his new album, “Ego Trippin’,” at the Ultra Violet club in the town of Llanview, the network said Thursday.

Snoop’s episodes will air May 8 and May 9, and feature his re-mixed version of the show’s theme song. He will also act in scenes.

“I’ve been a fan of `One Life to Live’ since I was a baby,” said Snoop, who’s set to perform “Sensual Seduction” and “Life of Da Party.”

“My momma always had it on the tube in tha crib growing up. The opportunity to change up the theme song and give it some of my flavor will make the show the Life of The Party.”

Mary J. Blige, Nelly Furtado, Chris Botti, Erykah Badu, Timbaland and Keri Hilson have also performed on the show.

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ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Co.

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On the Net:

ABC:

http://abc.go.com/daytime/onelifetolive/

Snoop Dogg:

http://www.snoopdogg.com/

By Mariel Concepcion and Hillary Crosley 31 minutes ago

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Could Ashley Alexandra Dupre, the aspiring singer embroiled in the prostitution scandal that toppled New York governor Eliot Spitzer, have a music career?

Top talent scouts are weighing in on her chances after the 22-year-old racked up millions of MySpace views and launched much-sought-after new songs on priced-by-demand Web site AmieStreet.com since the Spitzer story broke.

Before Dupre's MySpace page was deleted Thursday, it had received 4,612,397 views and her song "What We Want" touted 711,334 plays. According to the New York Times, two tracks Dupre released to AmieStreet.com this week received thousands of listens and their prices rocketed from free to the maximum price of 98 cents Thursday. The number of blog posts mentioning Dupre also rose over 750% in the last 48 hours according to Nielsen BuzzMetrics.

Here is what some major A&R (artists and repertoire) executives told Billboard.com about her prospects:

"I think her song is absolutely terrible. If people are interested in signing her, then they shouldn't be in the music business. It'd be a shame to exploit her talent based on the unacceptable reality that she was involved in. Most importantly, it destroyed multiple families. I don't think the scandal will help her at all. In fact, I think the public is a bit smarter than we think they are. Even though she's had over a million hits on her MySpace, I think people are just going there to see her pictures and laugh at her attempt to pursue a music career."

– CHRIS ANOKUTE, Capitol Records Senior A&R Director

"The funny thing about this is that I read the story this morning, about (Dupre) wanting to be a singer, and I thought to myself that I really wanted to reach out to her. I'd be interested in what the music sounds like. I sit around hours and hours every day trying to figure out ways to break new artists. Right now, she has a platform to reach the masses, which is the toughest thing for a new artist to attain. Whether it's a good platform or a bad one, either way she has it. It all comes down to the music at the end of the day. If the music is good, she'll be able to get it heard."

– BRIAN BERGEN, Atlantic Records A&R Manager

"As an A&R (person) I wouldn't be interested in her music solely because of … Spitzer. But people do say any publicity is good publicity and her recent headlines would help get her some exposure. She has a platform; its just a matter of spinning off negative and making it positive. Part of being good (at) A&R is knowing where the talent is, regardless of background. If the music is good, it's enough for me to keep my ears open and follow the story. Who knows, maybe a year from now she'll be in a completely different place."

– CONRAD DIMANCHE, A&R consultant for Bad Boy Records.

Reuters/Billboard

46 minutes ago

LOS ANGELES - Sheryl Crow says she’ll soon be singing with Fleetwood Mac, a move sure to give new life to the classic rock band, which hasn’t toured in several years.

“I don’t want to make any official announcements, but I will say that we definitely have plans for collaborating in the future, and we’ll see what happens,” Crow told the AOL music Web site Spinner.com in a story posted Thursday.

The 46-year-old singer didn’t give a date, but said it could happen next year.

She’s already thinking about what she’d like to perform. “I’d love to do `The Chain,’ I’d love to do `Second Hand News,’” Crow said.

Crow said she looked forward to working with friend Stevie Nicks.

“I think the person I learned the most hands-on from is Stevie Nicks because she allowed me not only to co-write with her but also to produce her, and she’s a true artist,” she said.

Crow would give the band and Nicks a boost. According to Spinner.com, Nicks had said she wouldn’t continue with Fleetwood Mac without keyboardist Christine McVie, who retired from touring in 1998. McVie joined Fleetwood Mac in 1970 shortly after marrying the band’s bass guitarist, John McVie.

Fleetwood Mac last toured in 2004.

Crow is currently touring after the release of her latest album, “Detours.”

Phone and e-mail messages left with representatives for Fleetwood Mac and Crow were not immediately returned.

By JOHN ROGERS, Associated Press Writer 22 minutes ago

LOS OLIVOS, Calif. - Michael Jackson still has Neverland, having cut an 11th-hour deal Thursday to keep it off the auction block.

But the magic that once made the financially troubled entertainer’s 2,500-acre paradise in the rolling hills of central California’s wine country one of the most talked-about places on Earth seems to have vanished along with its reclusive owner.

Jackson hasn’t been seen in this bucolic area of oak-studded hills since he was acquitted in June 2005 of molesting a 13-year-old visitor to his estate, and his absence leaves the future of Neverland, a sort of Hearst Castle for 12-year-olds, in doubt.

“We’re all, of course, wondering what’s going to happen. We’ve heard rumors but we don’t know anything,” said Kim Morrison, one of the administrators of a private school located just across the road from Neverland.

One of those rumors has soccer star David Beckham interested in the property.

“I wouldn’t mind having a new neighbor. It would be nice to have Beckham there,” laughed Morrison, although she quickly added that Jackson “was always a good neighbor.”

The pop star’s attorney, L. Londell McMillan, told The Associated Press his client has worked out a confidential agreement with Fortress Investment Group LLC allowing him to retain ownership of the estate.

Whether he’ll keep it for long, however, remains to be seen. Jackson is said to be living in various places, including overseas, and his family has said that when dozens of sheriff’s deputies raided the place in 2003 they destroyed the fond feelings he once had for Neverland.

Before Thursday’s deal was announced, the property was scheduled to be auctioned March 19 because Jackson had gone into default. Financial Title Co. of San Francisco said he owed $24.5 million on the former cattle ranch he bought from real estate baron William Bone in 1988.

Jackson, then just 29, was at the height of his career when he purchased Neverland, naming it after the mythical land of Peter Pan — where boys never grow up. He had become a pop superstar before his 12th birthday, and he has said he created Neverland in an effort to obtain the childhood he never had.

Soon he had installed a merry-go-round, bumper cars, a Ferris wheel, roller coaster, a game arcade and a private train to rival that of Disneyland’s. He brought in a zoo that included flamingos, giraffes, elephants, orangutans and reptiles and brought in a veterinarian and snake handler to care for them.

“It’s like stepping into Oz,” he once said. “Once you come in the gates, the outside world does not exist.”

These days all is quiet at Neverland except for the squawking of a few of exotic birds that continue to roost in the trees. The other animals are gone and the only outward thing to distinguish Jackson’s home from any other is the guard shack with its satellite dish just inside the locked front gate.

“Nobody is living here,” says a friendly but otherwise reticent guard who has been ordered not to talk to anyone.

The shuttered amusement park sits out of sight, but recent aerial photos show it beginning to fall into disrepair.

It’s a far cry from Jackson’s heyday in the 1980s and ’90s, when hundreds of children might be playing there.

“People would line up for a quarter mile or more just to get in the gate,” recalled longtime resident Carol McCarley, out for a morning walk past the ranch.

Although he was rarely seen around town, many say Jackson always gave off the impression of a friendly neighbor.

When a rattlesnake would get into a classroom at The Family School, Morrison said, a call to Neverland would bring the snake handler over to dispose of it. If a child got hurt on the playground, the ranch doctor and Neverland’s own fire department would arrive sooner than the local paramedics.

Jackson, meanwhile, would invite children by the thousands to enjoy the ranch.

Many were disadvantaged or seriously ill. Some were simply local school kids lucky enough to be granted a field trip to Neverland.

“My son knew Michael’s nephews and would hang out at the ranch a lot. It was a wonderland for kids,” said Skip Biolley, taking a break from putting a fresh coat of paint on J. Woeste’s knickknack shop in the heart of downtown Los Olivos, an area that stretches all of two blocks in one direction and two in another.

“He had nothing but good experiences there,” Biolley said of his son, adding the family remains friendly with one of the nephews.

Jackson’s presence in Neverland and his financial empire began to unravel when one of his visitors accused the pop star of molesting him.

His trial, coupled with his often bizarre public behavior, turned him into a pariah in the eyes of many.

But not in this town of 1,000 residents 150 miles north of Los Angeles. Here, it is hard to find anyone who will say a bad word about Jackson. Some, like Fred Chamberlin, whose ranch abuts Jackson’s, believe he was the victim of an overzealous prosecutor and are quick to note he was never convicted.

Now that he’s gone, people are torn in trying to decide who their new neighbor should be.

Although Jackson’s presence sometimes brought in gawkers who were a nuisance, Biolley noted that having a pop superstar does add a certain cachet.

“Maybe Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt will buy it for their kids,” he speculates.

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Associated Press Music Writer Nekesa Mumbi Moody contributed to this story.

28 minutes ago

DENVER (Billboard) - The online release of the new Nine Inch Nails album, "Ghosts I-IV," resulted in just under 800,000 transactions in its first week, totaling $1.6 million in revenue, the industrial-rock band has revealed.

The tally includes free and paid downloads, as well as advance orders for physical configurations like various limited-edition vinyl releases, CDs, and a boxed set.

"Ghosts I-IV," the band's first release since becoming a free agent last October, went on sale March 2 at its Web site, http://www.nin.com. Fans can receive the first nine songs from the 36-track project for free, or can pay $5 for the entire digital album.

NIN will not release traditional sales figures to SoundScan, whose data are used to compiled the Billboard 200 albums chart.

A $10 double-CD set will reach stores on April 8. A $70 deluxe edition and a $300 autographed version will ship May 1.

After Nine Inch Nails' contract with Interscope expired, the label released a remix album, "Y34RZ3R0R3MIX3D." The band's last studio release, "Year Zero," debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 last April with 187,000 copies.

Reuters/Billboard