When his best-selling autobiography, “The Way I Am,” came out last month, it was reported his album would soon follow in December. Wrong. “Eminem has been through a lot,” an insider said. “He is being a perfectionist and is completely obsessive-compulsive about this album. There’s a 50-50 chance it will be done by the end of this year - but most likely it’ll be the first quarter of next year.” The good news? “It’s great.” A rep refused to comment, but a pal of the rapper said, “There was never a release date set.”

(source)

• Christina Aguilera: “Inspired” to Record After Having Baby
• All is forgiven; McCain returning to Letterman

At Wednesday’s “Stand Up for Heroes” benefit at Town Hall for the Bob Woodruff Foundation as part of the NY Comedy Festival, The Boss was the highlight among performers Ricky Gervais, Regis Philbin and Darrell Hammond, reports The Post’s Mandy Stadtmiller. The rock superstar rode onstage on his 1994 Harley, which he was donating - but when bid ding stalled at $40,000, Springsteen literally took off the leather jacket he was wearing to up the ante. The final price was $70,000. After his duet with wife Patti Scialfa, guest auctioneer Whoopi Gold berg said, “No one can follow Bruce.” And who knew CNN’s Christiane Amanpour was such a fan? She bought the guitar he played that night, which he autographed for her backstage, for a whopping $50,000.

(source)

• Demi Moore’s daughters know it all
• Christina Aguilera: “Inspired” to Record After Having Baby

A year ago, when the guys in Def Leppard heard that Taylor Swift wanted to do an episode of the Country Music Television show “Crossroads” with them, they had just one question: Who’s Taylor Swift?

“There’s always a first time when you discover a band, whether it’s the Beatles or Taylor Swift,” Def Leppard singer Joe Elliott said.

“So we Googled her and iTuned her and listened to it all and said ‘Wow.’ And you look at how many records she’s selling and how lovely and pretty she is and how exciting it is to be at that point in your career, because we were there once - before you were born,” he added glancing over at the 18-year-old Swift at a recent press conference.

The show, a popular series on CMT that pairs country artists with pop and rock acts, will air 9 p.m. EST Friday.

Swift didn’t have to Google the British rock band to find out about them. Her mom is a big fan.

“Before she met my dad she listened to them and all through while she was pregnant with me and when I was a little kid. It’s just so cool to have that - my favorite songs are the same as my mom’s favorite songs.”

She said the band’s hits like “Photograph” and “Pour Some Sugar on Me” were a blast to sing.

“It fits really well,” she said. “The harmonies that they do on their songs are perfect for my range.

“There’s a line in the song `When Love & Hate Collide,’ the first line, and it says `You could have a change of heart, if you would only change your mind.’ I’ve always been obsessed with that line and the melody of it, and I get to sing that line, and I’m so excited,” said Swift, whose self-titled debut album has sold 3 million copies with hits such as “Our Song” and “Teardrops on My Guitar.”

Her second album, “Fearless,” comes out Tuesday. The first single, “Love Story,” is No. 2 on the Billboard country chart (and No. 16 on the Billboard Hot 100).

This is Def Leppard’s second collaboration with a country star this year. They teamed with Tim McGraw on the song “Nine Lives” from their latest album, “Songs from the Sparkle Lounge.”

“Country is a state of mind rather than a place, I think,” Elliott, 49, said in his thick English accent.

(source)

• Christina Aguilera: “Inspired” to Record After Having Baby
• Avril Lavigne wanted songs to support her live performances!

Def Jam executive VP Shakir Stewart reportedly committed suicide today (Nov. 1) in Atlanta, according to sources. No other details were available at deadline.

“L.A. Reid and all of us at Island Def Jam Music Group are deeply saddened by the passing of our dear friend and colleague Shakir Stewart,” read a statement sent from the label today. “Shakir was an amazing man in every sense of the word. A truly incredible friend and father who was an inspiration to not only our artists and employees, but to his family and the many people that had the privilege of counting him as a friend. Our hearts and prayers go out to his family at this very difficult time.”

Stewart succeeded Jay-Z at the top of the Def Jam ladder in June and also retained his duties as senior VP of A&R at Island Def Jam. The Oakland, Calif., native signed such artists as Rick Ross, Young Jeezy and newcomer Karina Pasian.

Stewart cut his teeth as a music executive at Hitco Music Publishing, where he was creative director and later senior VP of creative/GM and signed Beyonce Knowles.

Even before he gained a rep for promoting rap concerts during his Morehouse College days, Stewart was “the guy who was the head of passing out fliers at seven clubs a night, seven days a week in 20-degree weather,” he told Billboard this summer.

Stewart said at the time it was his goal to help develop “new, young executives … The hot executive who’s 21, 22 years old and has a serious passion for music and the desire to work 27 hours a day. That’s where I was at that time in my life. And that’s who I’m looking to mentor. I don’t see many people like that. Instead, I see a lot of kids who want to live the lifestyle but don’t want to put in the work and do what it takes.”

(source)

• Christina Aguilera: “Inspired” to Record After Having Baby
• All is forgiven; McCain returning to Letterman

Doesn’t Britney look LOVELY on the cover?! SO CUTE!

And here are the tracks!

1. Womanizer
2. Circus
3. Out From Under
4. Kill The Lights
5. Shattered Glass
6. If U Seek Amy
7. Unusual You
8. Blur
9. Mmm Papi
10. Mannequin
11. Lace and Leather
12. My Baby

Bonus Track:
13. Radar

(source)

• Britney’s Album to Be Named ‘Blackout’
• Demi Moore’s daughters know it all

For Simon’s 50th birthday, John, Nick and Roger gave him an unusual present. Inside the giant silver DJ box were 50 albums, one released in each of the years since Simon’s birth. The three of them argued long and hard about which choice was appropriate for each year, and of course, many years had several great albums known to be favourites of Simon’s, which made the task even harder. Over a period of several months they gathered the collection from far and wide, and although most were found in the US and the UK, the Cocteau Twins “Blue Bell Knoll” and Kraftwerk’s “Man Machine” were found by Nick and John on a shopping spree in Rimini, Italy!

When the gift was finally presented to Simon, he was actually visibly taken aback. The choices ranged from Elvis to Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, from David Bowie to Dr. Dre, but admittedly there is one Duran Duran album - they included “Rio” for the year 1982.

The Wild Boys of Duran Duran gave Simon LeBon a wonderful gift for his 50th birthday. Now I am going to go in to a corner and cry becasue I feel old. 

(source)

• Duran Duran gets some Love!
• All is forgiven; McCain returning to Letterman

PLEASE say it ain’t so - but sources say highly talented Kanye West was sucking face with bimbonic pop tart Aubrey O’Day . We’re told the duo were recently at 1Oak making out. “Either they actually kissed, or Aubrey was just telling people they kissed,” said our source. The buxom “Hairspray” star made headlines recently when she was kicked out of her MTV band, Danity Kane, and then romantically linked to Donnie Wahlberg. Reps on both sides had no comment.

(source)

• Christina Aguilera: “Inspired” to Record After Having Baby
• Nic’s movie set damaged by flooding!

Poor Carrie Underwood. She gets a wax figure molded after her and it looks more like it should be her mother than her.

(source)

• Sexy Carrie Underwood Hot Pictures
• Carrie Underwood Twins!!!

The Jonas Brothers will perform during halftime of the Dallas Cowboys’ nationally televised Thanksgiving Day game against the Seattle Seahawks.

The band will officially kick off the 2008 Salvation Army Red Kettle Christmas campaign at the November 27 contest. The fundraising drive continues through Christmas Eve.

Since its partnership with the Cowboys, which began in 1997, the annual Red Kettle campaign has raised more than $1 billion, helping the Salvation Army serve 30 million people each year nationwide. Last year, the campaign raised a record $118 million.

Previous halftime performers include Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, Sheryl Crow, Destiny’s Child, Toby Keith, LeAnn Rimes, Jessica Simpson, Randy Travis and Reba McEntire.

(source)

• T.O. to Jessica Simpson: Back Off Romo
• JONAS BROTHERS SCORE REALITY SHOW

IT was no secret that Def Leppard guitarist Steve Clark could party hard, but in her new memoir, “Runway Runaway,” the rocker’s former model girlfriend, Lorelei Shellist, reveals his tortured side. Shellist told Page Six, “I was 24 when Steve and I met . . . he was the love of my life.” She said Clark’s death by accidental overdose at 30 in 1991 was a result of “living on the other side of glamour. Nobody talks about the lonely side of it, traveling from city to city living out of a suitcase. I believe [Clark] had serious manic-depressive disorders and OCD [obsessive-compulsive disorder]. He had a lot of voices he was trying to quiet in his head. He was a brilliant musician and songwriter, but he would wake up in the middle of the night and write. He could never get a good night’s sleep . . . he was haunted.” Her book, based on her life as a teenage runaway turned runway model, also tells of her longtime friendship with Eagles rocker Don Henley.

(source)

• Christina Aguilera: “Inspired” to Record After Having Baby
• All is forgiven; McCain returning to Letterman

In light of the terrible plane crash that left Travis Barker and DJ AM badly burnt and four others dead, Barker’s Famous Stars and Straps clothing line is producing exclusive T-shirts in memory of the former Blink 182 drummer’s personal assistant Chris Baker and security guard Charles Still. The shirts were designed by pro skater and Famous team manager Felix Arguelles and Famous art director and artist Maxx “maxx242? Gramajo. All the proceeds from sales of the shirts will benefit the memorial funds set up for Chris Baker and Charles “Che” Still. A source said, “Everyone that is a part of the Famous family are really close, so Chris and Che were brothers to everyone. The shirts were made to honor them and support their families.” The memorial T-shirts will be available exclusively at Famoussas.com and at The Fast Life store in L.A.

(source)

• Travis Barker Crash: Memorial Fund Established for Victims
• Travis Barker Trying to Stay Upbeat

A publicist for Meat Loaf says the 57-year-old rocker was hospitalized in London for three days following an awards ceremony earlier this week.

Publicist Kirt Webster says Meat Loaf was admitted to a private hospital in central London on Monday, immediately after winning Q Magazine’s “Classic Song” award for his rock epic “Bat Out of Hell.”

Webster said in an e-mail Friday that Meat Loaf stayed at The London Clinic for three days for “testing and evaluation.” The reason for the hospitalization wasn’t disclosed.

Webster says Meat Loaf has been cleared to travel back to the U.S. He’s set to perform in Clearwater, Florida, on October 17 and Pompano Beach, Florida, on October 18.

(source)

• MEAT LOAF THE ACTOR RIGHT OUT OF HELL
• Avril Lavigne is politically correct always!

George Michael was arrested in a London public bathroom for alleged drug possesion according to theBBC.

“A 45-year-old man was arrested on 19 September on suspicion of possession of drugs in the Hampstead Heath area,” a Metropolitan Police spokesman said.

The singer was taken to a police station and given the caution for possessing class A and class C drugs.

You would think by now that George Michael would have learned that public bathrooms and him don’t go well together!

(source)

• AMY WINEHOUSE VISITING THE POLICE AGAIN
• George Michael officially going to tour the US!!!

Lil Chris Baker and Charles “Che” Still, who were killed by impact-related injuries in the plane crash that injured Travis Barker and DJ AM, are being honored with a memorial fund.

“With heavy hearts we offer our deepest condolences to their family and friends,” Barker’s clothing line, the Famous Family, said in a statement Monday that expressed “utmost sympathy and regret.

“They will always remain in our thoughts and prayers,” the statement added.

A coroner in South Carolina, where the crash of the Learjet occurred, determined Monday that the pilot and co-pilot died from smoke inhalation and burns while Baker and Still were killed by impact-related injuries.

Barker, the former drummer for Blink 182, and DJ AM, suffered second and third degree burns from the incident but are expected to make full recoveries. Barker has burns on his torso and lower body and DJ AM has burns on his arm and part of his head.

Shanna Moakler, who is now back with Barker, released this statement Monday:

“There are not enough words to express how thankful we are for the outpouring of love and support we have received during this very difficult time. We can only ask for prayers as we heal and mourn the loss of our dear friends who we considered part of our family. Our lives will be changed forever.”

The National Transportation Safety Board has said the Learjet’s black box recording device showed the crew were aware of a blown tire before the private plane crashed into an embankment on takeoff.

Donations may be made to the funds below, for the benefit of Baker and Still’s families.

Chris Baker Memorial Fund
1840 South Milliken
Ontario, CA 91761

Charles Still Memorial Fund
1840 South Milliken
Ontario, CA 91761

(source)

• Travis Barker Trying to Stay Upbeat
• Travis Barker Remembers His Friends With T-Shirts

Shortly before midnight, in a plane carrying six people, four were killed and Travis Barker and DJ AM were critically injured. Both are in a burn unit of of a Georgia hospital.

When the plane was attempting to takeoff, it went off the end of the runway and crashed into a nearby road.

Two of the four people killed were crew members of the Lear Jet. The remaining two were passengers, but as I write this, their identities have not been released. The plane was headed back to Los Angeles.

I have certainly given both of these guys a hard time in the past, but now is not time for snark, it is time for prayers and best wishes, for them, their families, and the families of those killed.

(source)

• UPDATE: Doctor: Travis Barker and DJ AM Expected to Make Full Recovery
• Travis Barker Trying to Stay Upbeat