Carey will spice up song with pal's help

Carey will spice upsong with pal's help
NEW YORK -- Mariah Carey is tapping a longtime friend -- "American Idol" judge Randy Jackson -- to help her mix things up a bit on her "Adventures of Mimi" tour, which kicks off in August. "With this tour, I'm going to be working on some different arrangements for some of the older songs, to kind of like, give it a little more life to them," Carey recently told The Associated Press. "That's not to say they're going to sound totally different and to freak anybody out ... [but] I love re-singing songs to different music." Carey and Jackson have been meeting to discuss how she'll spice up some of her old hits, and Jackson might even join her on a few dates. "Randy Jackson is my musical director, and he has been for many years, even before 'American Idol,"' she noted. Carey, who hasn't toured since 2003, is still riding high off the success of last year's "The Emancipation of Mimi" album..
Clapton will tour U.S.
NEW YORK -- Eric Clapton, who last landed stateside for a Cream reunion tour, will return to the U.S. with his own band for a fall tour.
The first leg of his North America tour will begin Sept. 16 in Minneapolis and continue to cities including St. Louis, Chicago, Detroit, Toronto, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington, Miami and New York, where Clapton will play two nights at Madison Square Garden. Twenty-two dates were announced Wednesday, but more shows are expected to be added. The Robert Cray Band will open for the U.S. concerts. The 61-year-old rock legend recently completed a European tour that included a seven-night run at London's Royal Albert Hall and ended with a show in Moscow's Red Square. Clapton, who is now touring with a band including guitarist Derek Trucks, has been playing both old classics ("Layla," "Cocaine") and songs from his 2005 disc, "Back Home."
Dolls plan is dumped
PAWTUCKET, R.I. -- Hasbro Inc. shelved plans Wednesday to release a line of dolls based on the Pussycat Dolls, an all-female music group known for risqu & eacute; lyrics and skimpy outfits. Hasbro, the nation's second biggest toy maker, said that it decided the dolls were "inappropriate" for the company to market and that the pop group catered to a more mature audience. The move comes amid criticism from a national advocacy group, Dads & amp; Daughters, that had campaigned against the doll line. The company had reached a deal with Interscope Records, the group's label, to release dolls modeled after the popular sextet. But it released a statement saying it had abandoned plans for the doll line. "Interscope's current creative direction and images for the recording group are focused on a much older target than we had anticipated at the time of our original discussions, thereby making a doll line inappropriate for Hasbro," the company said.
Today's birthdays
Actor James Arness is 83. Actor Alec McCowen is 81. Sportscaster Brent Musberger is 67. Rock singer-musician Levon Helm (The Band) is 66. Country musician Gates Nichols (Confederate Railroad) is 62. Rock musician Garry Peterson (Guess Who) is 61. Singer Stevie Nicks is 58. Actress Pam Grier is 57. Actor Philip Michael Thomas is 57. Country singer Hank Williams Jr. is 57. Former astronaut Sally K. Ride is 55. Actress Margaret Colin is 49. Country singer-songwriter Dave Robbins (BlackHawk) is 47. Actor Doug Hutchison is 46. Actress Genie Francis is 44. Comedian Bobcat Goldthwait is 44. Singer Lenny Kravitz is 42. Actress Helena Bonham Carter is 40. Rock musician Phillip Rhodes is 38. Actor Joseph Fiennes is 36. Rhythm-and-blues singer Joey Kibble (Take 6) is 35. Actor-producer-writer Matt Stone is 35. Contemporary Christian musician Nathan Cochran is 28.