Print-friendly Version

Return to the full version

Briefly: Elvis Costello, Music Midtown, Bobby Brown, RIAA

Elvis Costello has signed a two-book deal with the publishing house Simon and Shuster, according to a press release.

The first book is due in the fall of 2005, and is described as a "series of intimate narrative chapters taking their cue from the styles, themes and characters found in a number of Costello's lyrics."

The second, titled "How to Play the Guitar, Sing Loudly and Impress Girls ... or Boys," is described as "a work of comic philosophy."

* * *

Big Boi of OutKast , Jason Mraz , Ween, J-Kwon, Me'Shell Ndegeocello, Scar and Karl Denson's Tiny Universe have been added to the lineup for Atlanta's 2004 Music Midtown festival.

The event takes place on a 42-acre site between Midtown and downtown Atlanta from April 30 through May 2.

* * *

R&B singer Bobby Brown reportedly was sentenced to 90 days in a Massachusetts jail on Wednesday (3/24) after he said he was unable to pay the $63,500 in child support he owes to the mother of two of his children. To attend Wednesday's hearing, he was released three days early from a 60-day stay in a Georgia jail, where he was serving out a probation-violation sentence.

Brown is also scheduled to appear in a Georgia courtroom on May 5 to face a misdemeanor battery charge for allegedly hitting his wife, Whitney Houston.

* * *

The Recording Industry Association of America this week filed another batch of 532 lawsuits against people it accuses of copyright infringement.