JENNIFER LOPEZ's ex-husband Ojani Noa filed a lawsuit against the pop singer on Tuesday seeking damages, alleging that in 2002 she fired him from his job managing her Los Angeles restaurant Madres without cause after only six months . . . SNOOP DOGG has filed a lawsuit against an unidentified woman, claiming she demanded $5 million from the rapper in exchange for her silence about an alleged assault . . . A second soundtrack for the RAY CHARLES biopic Ray, Ray: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Vol. 2, will hit stores on February 1st, featuring tracks re-recorded by the late Charles for the movie . . . Gold and silver records awarded to BLACK SABBATH stolen in a burglary of their former manager's home last week have been found. The discs had been stashed behind a London trash can . . . BEN HARPER and the BLIND BOYS OF ALABAMA are set to release a DVD of their October concert at New York's Apollo Theatre early next year. The disc also feature Harper's band the INNOCENT CRIMINALS . . . SIGUR ROS have finished recording their as-yet-untitled follow-up to 2002's (), due in late spring or early summer . . .
DAMON DASH and Rocawear have designed a Save the Children t-shirt-sporting teddy bear to benefit the cause. Damon's Debonair Dash Bear, now available via eBay, will hit stores in January . . . Producer Chuck Gordon (Field of Dreams, October Sky) has bought the film rights to TIM MCGRAW's Grammy-nominated song "Live Like You Were Dying" . . . Surviving members of the MC5 are set to play a show with the SU RA ARKESTRA at London's Royal Festival Hall on February 25th, with LISA KEKAULA (BASEMENT JAXX, BELLRAYS) on vocals . . . ERASURE will launch their spring tour on April 14th in support of Nightbird, due January 25th . . . PREFUSE 73 will release Surrounded by Silence -- featuring the WU-TANG CLAN's RZA, GZA, and GHOSTFACE, as well as BLONDE REDHEAD -- on March 22nd . . . PAUL WESTERBERG will play a string of West Coast dates in support of his new album, Folker, starting February 18th in Seattle . . .
The PIXIES are readying a live DVD compiling footage from up to seven of their 2004 reunion shows for release next year. Also in 2005, frontman FRANK BLACK is set to release two solo albums, while bassist KIM DEAL will head into the studio with the reunited BREEDERS . . . WILCO frontman JEFF TWEEDY, STEVE ALBINI and the MEKONS' JON LANGFORD are set to take part in Second City's Letters to Santa Benefit on Tuesday and Wednesday nights, with Tweedy auctioning off a private concert for twenty friends and the chance to record a duet with him . . . DAFT PUNK will release the ten-track Human After All, their follow-up to 2001's Discovery, on March 21st . . . ROBERTA FLACK is seeking another $2 million towards opening a music school on 126th Street in Harlem next fall, complete with a recording studio, auditorium and caf . . . ANI DIFRANCO's Knuckle Down will hit stores on January 25th, with a four-week tour to follow in February . . . FAT JOE's next solo album, Things of That Nature, will hit stores in March, and includes a collaboration with JUST BLAZE ("Safe to Say") and a guest spot from NELLY ("Get It Poppin'") . . .
KEITH URBAN, TIM MCGRAW, LYNYRD SKYNYRD and ZZ TOP are set to perform at the five-day Country Thunder U.S.A. Festival, kicking off in Wisconsin on July 20th . . . BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE and STARS will launch a Japanese tour in May, with BSS' next album due in late March or early April . . . MICHAEL JACKSON's request that his trial date be moved back was denied on Tuesday, and proceedings will begin on January 31st as planned . . . JAY-Z, LINKIN PARK's MIKE SHINODA, JESSICA SIMPSON and HOWARD STERN have all created holiday cards for auction on eBay to benefit the Lustgarten Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research . . . BLACK SABBATH bassist GEEZER BUTLER will release his solo album, Ohmwork, in late April . . . FOUNTAINS OF WAYNE's "All Kinds of Time," off Welcome Interstate Managers, is currently being used in a thirty-second TV clip for the NFL and a sixty-second clip in arenas . . . JOE JACKSON and TOD RUNDGREN will kick off a joint tour on April 13th in Melbourne, Florida, wrapping up on May 21st in Redwoods, California . . .
LUDACRIS' Ludacris Foundation is set to give more than $20,000 in toys to community centers and hospitals in Los Angeles, New York and the rapper's hometown of Atlanta this holiday season, through December 23rd . . . U2 frontman BONO has recorded a version of "Ave Maria" with opera tenor LUCIANO PAVAROTTI to be included as the B side to "Sometimes You Can't." The DVD single also features a TRENT REZNOR remix of "Vertigo" . . . JUDAS PRIEST, reunited with frontman ROB HALFORD, will release the studio record Angel of Retribution on March 1st, to be packaged with a DVD of a concert in Valencia, Spain. The group will launch a European tour on February 23rd in Denmark . . . An MTV online auction featuring memorabilia from WYCLEF JEAN, JENNIFER LOPEZ and BRITNEY SPEARS will benefit hurricane victims in the Caribbean . . .
Pre-trial hearings to introduce new evidence in the child molestation case against MICHAEL JACKSON -- including evidence discovered in a recent Neverland Ranch search -- began Monday and will continue through Wednesday . . . An Intimate Evening With MARY J. BLIGE, Blige's second live DVD, features guest spots from ELTON JOHN and STING as well as interviews with JESSICA SIMPSON, LIL' KIM and the OSBOURNES . . . The RESIDENTS will release a DVD compilation of their music videos, Icky Flicks, on February 15th . . . YO LA TENGO is set to release Prisoners of Love, a double-disc best-of set with a bonus disc of rarities and unreleased material, on March 22nd . . . MOGWAI will release Government Commissions, their selection of BBC Sessions from 1996 to 2004, recorded for JOHN PEEL, on February 22nd . . .