• 50 Cent Drops War Angel Mixtape
• Taylor Swift Owns the Night at CMTs
• Eddie Van Halen Sues Nike Over Shoe Design
• Courtney Love Resurrects Hole for Next LP
• Dads Who Rock: Family Photos
• Breaking: Amazing Baby
• McCartney to Score Animated Film
• Courts Deny Chris Brown Delay Request
• Black Eyed Peas’ E.N.D. Tops the Charts
• Flaming Lips’ Embryonic Due in Fall
• Jordin Sparks’ New Music Report
• Os Mutantes Confirm New Studio Album
• The Birth of Green Day’s American Idiot Show
• Mariah Fires Back at Eminem in “Obsessed”
• Ventures’ Bob Bogle Loses Cancer Fight
• Trio of Lil Wayne “Rock” Songs Leak
• Yusuf Backs Off Coldplay Legal Claim
• Gossip on Rick Rubin Sessions for New LP
• White Stripes Turning Tour Into Doc
• Jenny Lewis Goes “Acid” for “Black Sand”
• Sonic Youth Honor Punk Ladies in Video
• “Weird Al” Mocks Doors, Craigslist
• New Reviews: Jonas Brothers, Danger Mouse
• Springsteen Joins Phish to Close Out Bonnaroo
• Aerosmith’s Whitford Plots Return From Injury
• Lil Wayne, Jeezy, Drake Team for Tour
• Hear the Donnas’ Pissed-Off “Get Off”
• Worst Heavy ’80s Covers: Videos

Scroll down for full news stories, commentary and much more in Rock Daily.

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Last year’s American Idol champ David Cook extends The Declaration Tour through August and adds a gig at New York’s Central Park for the GMA Summer Concert series. Plus, Journey and new singer Arnel Pineda continue their support of last year’s Revelation and Ra Ra Riot embark on a headlining jaunt. Full dates for all three treks, after the jump. (more…)

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The California Supreme Court opted not to intervene and delay Chris Brown’s preliminary hearing, setting the stage for Rihanna to testify at the June 22nd court date, the Los Angeles Times reports. As Rock Daily reported earlier today, Brown’s lawyer Mark Geragos requested a delay so the defense could attain police personnel records that may shed light on the photo leak that led to TMZ publishing an unauthorized photograph of Rihanna’s “horrific” injuries following the alleged February 8th altercation. Geragos believes the photo will taint potential jury pools, preventing his client from having a fair trial.

However the courts all indicated that Geragos could request those files 30 days before the actual trial, ruling the request wasn’t sufficient grounds for a delay. Brown has been charged with felony assault and making criminal threats; he pleaded not guilty to both charges. Rihanna’s lawyer Donald Etra previously said his client would cooperate with the Los Angeles District Attorney, who will likely call Rihanna to the stand June 22nd.

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Paul McCartney will record a score for an animated film based on the children’s story Macca co-wrote, High in the Clouds. According to Variety, the film will be produced by former New Line Cinema founders Bob Shaye and Michael Lynne and directed by The Lion King’s Rob Minkoff. “Paul [McCartney] said he would commit to a score of original songs as part of it,” Lynne said. “Bob and I had never focused on animation in our career, but that got our attention.”

High in the Clouds tells the story of a squirrel’s quest to find an animal sanctuary, Variety writes. The film will be McCartney’s first heavy involvement in an animated project since 1968’s Beatles cartoon Yellow Submarine, and his first time composing music for a movie since 1967’s The Family Way. McCartney does have a long history of contributing songs to films, however, penning the hit “Live and Let Die” for the James Bond film of the same name and the title track of 2001’s Vanilla Sky soundtrack. In both cases, McCartney was nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Original Song category.

Who: A Brooklyn-based quintet who broke out at this year’s SXSW on the strength of their free debut EP The Infinite Fucking Cross who have since gone on to open for Cold War Kids and MGMT. Bummed with their jobs working as ringtone designers, Will Roan and Simon O’Connor initially formed Amazing Baby as something to do after hours. “We would just sit around getting really wasted and work on songs,” says Roan. “We didn’t think we’d be very popular.”

Sounds Like: On their stunning debut album Rewild (out this month), Amazing Baby deliver tunes that are at times thoroughly vintage and refreshingly futuristic: “The Narwhal” sounds like Led Zeppelin at their druggiest and most mystical; “Invisible Place” soars and swoops like Pink Floyd’s “Echoes” and “Kankra” builds into such an anthemic frenzy, you’ll be oozing serotonin for days. The crew also have a wonky sense of humor, especially on tunes like the scuzzed-out jam “Smoke Bros,” which features stoner-appropriate ruminations like “She protects her animals/ We are starving cannibals.” “We’re all like super emotional screwed up dudes,” says Roan. “It’s not all about raging songs — we’ve got a pretty strong sense of musical aesthetics, even if our lyrics are totally ridiculous sometimes.”

Vital Stats:

• Amazing Baby are part of Brooklyn’s crew of neo-psychedelic bands, which also includes MGMT and Chairlift. In fact, O’Connor used to room with MGMT’s Ben Goldwasser at Wesleyan. “We’ve all slept with the same girls,” says Roan. (more…)

After numerous delays and false starts to her solo album Nobody’s Daughter, Courtney Love will resurrect Hole and release the album under the band’s name, Love revealed to the NME during a recent studio visit. Love has recruited guitarist Micko Larkin to join the new Hole, and also said that former bassist Melissa auf der Maur will contribute background vocals at the least and possibly return as Hole’s bassist on a forthcoming tour.

In a video of the studio visit, with Love fittingly surrounded by doll parts, Love said that because the scope of Nobody’s Daughter had changed — it was originally conceived as an introspective “Blood on the Tracks,” but Love now likens it closer to the bombast of Davie Bowie’s Diamond Dogs — that the return of “Rock Courtney” meant the return of Hole. Nobody’s Daughter will still feature some of the tracks that resulted out of Love’s collaborations with both the Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan and songwriter Linda Perry. The album is finally expected out in late 2009 or early 2010. While we’ve heard estimated release dates in the past, NME reports they’ve heard the entire album and will post a track-by-track of the disc tomorrow.

Photo: Mazur/WireImage

Snoop Dogg starred in a recent reality show called Father Hood, and the Prince of Darkness famously aired his family’s dirty laundry (and dog poop) in his career-changing The Osbournes. Bottom line: being a dad and being a rock star are clearly not mutually exclusive. So in honor of Father’s Day, Rolling Stone presents Dads Who Rock, a photo gallery looking back at rockin’ fathers with their kids.

In the spirit of Rock & Roll Moms and Hot Rock Offspring, flip through photos of Kurt Cobain with Frances Bean, plus Chris Martin, George Harrison, T.I., James Hetfield, Billie Joe Armstrong, Johnny Cash, Flea and many more right here:

• Dads Who Rock: Slash, Snoop, Elvis, Ozzy and More Rock Stars With Their Families

Photo: Tercero - Harris/FilmMagic

As promised, 50 Cent dropped his new mixtape War Angel as a free download last night on his ThisIs50 Website. The mixtape is the first of three that 50 is plotting to release before his oft-delayed Before I Self Destruct comes out in September. War Angel includes the gritty “Redrum” and a sequel of sorts to Wu-Tang Clan’s “C.R.E.A.M,” fittingly called “C.R.E.A.M. 2,” with 50 rapping, “Cash rules I keep a shooter ’round me, Queens get the money, I’ll have a nigga kill y’all.” Taking a page from the Jay-Z playbook, 50 declares “Goons don’t use Auto-Tune” in the opening track “I Line Niggas”

Given the mixtape’s name and subtitle (”Prepare For Total Destruction”), it’s not surprising that the majority of War Angel’s tracks are heavy on violent lyrics, especially cuts like “Better Come On Your a Game” and “Get The Message.” However, 50 does take a brief two-song break from the gunfire with the soulful “I’ll Do Anything” (”This one’s for the bitches,” he says) and “London Girl,” which seems like 50’s response to Estelle and Kanye West’s “American Boy.” Other highlights include perhaps the funkiest song ever about drug trafficking, “Cocaine,” featuring Robin Thicke hitting the Prince falsetto as 50 raps about re-upping and claiming corners. (more…)

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Eddie Van Halen’s red, white and black splatter-striped “Frankenstrat” guitar is one of the Van Halen leader’s true signatures. In fact, it’s so closely associated with the guitarist, Van Halen had the color scheme copyrighted in 2001. Now he’s suing Nike because he says the sportswear giant put a similar design on one of their Dunk Lows sneakers, Spinner reports.

In the lawsuit Eddie and his ELVH Inc. accuse Nike of treading on his trademark, saying the NYX sneaker did “irreparable harm and damage” to his design. He is seeking both monetary retribution and “the impoundment and destruction of all footwear.” While the sneaker does feature red, white and black stripes on the sole — a popular tri-color combination — it doesn’t seem identical to Van Halen’s pattern, and in response to the suit, a Nike spokesperson said, “Nike’s Dunk shoe design is not substantially similar to any of the Van Halen designs, and Nike has not referenced the ‘Van Halen’ name or image as part of any marketing campaign or promotional material associated with the shoe.” (more…)

The New Music Report is pleased to welcome a special guest host for this week’s guide to the best fresh releases: American Idol winner and “Tattoo” singer Jordin Sparks.

Up first, Sparks praises Will.i.am’s production on the Black Eyed Peas’ brand-new Number One album The E.N.D. “It’s been way too long without the Black Eyed Peas,” she says, admitting her latest obsession is the group’s throbbing banger “Boom Boom Pow.”

Sparks also shouts out the Jonas Brothers’ Lines, Vines and Trying Times, and draws attention to the track “Don’t Charge Me With the Crime,” which includes a cameo by Common. “The Jonas Brothers … Common — would anybody ever think that? I don’t know,” she says. Full disclosure: Sparks is going on tour with Jonas Brothers and says she’s looking forward to hearing their latest and songs from their first and second albums all summer long.

>>Watch every episode of our weekly New Music Report video podcast by subscribing via iTunes (when prompted, click “Launch application”). Every Tuesday, a new episode will be delivered to your iTunes. [If you don’t have iTunes, download it here.]

Photo: Kohen/WireImage

The Big News: On the strength of hit single “Boom Boom Pow,” the Black Eyed Peas cruised to the top of the sales chart as The E.N.D. just eclipsed 304,000 copies, giving Fergie, Will.i.am and the rest of the Peas the first Number One album in the group’s career (2004’s Monkey Business peaked at Two.) Dave Matthews Band’s Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King, last week’s champ, settled into the Number Two spot with an additional 128,000 copies, while Eminem’s Relapse passed the platinum mark in its fourth week and took third place. Rock supergroup Chickenfoot’s self-titled disc remained in fourth for the second consecutive week, with Bronx Bachata group Aventura and Last debuting at Five.

Debuts: Two more debuts managed to crack the Top 10 as Mos Def’s The Ecstatic scored Nine with 39,000 copies and Pleasure P’s Introduction of Marcus Cooper took 10. Nearly 30 years and 16 albums into their storied career, Sonic Youth claim the best charts debut in their history as their latest masterpiece The Eternal entered the charts at 18. Last week’s Breaking artist the Dirty Projectors came in at 65 with Bitte Orca. (more…)

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Brazilian psychedelia pioneers Os Mutantes have inked a new record deal with Anti-, Pitchfork reports, and will release Haih — their first album in 35 years — on September 8th. The Tropicalia legends made their U.S. live debut in 2006, sharing the stage with the Flaming Lips’ Wayne Coyne at the Hollywood Bowl. (The band famously turned down Kurt Cobain’s request to perform with him in 1993, and Beck and David Byrne are among their other famous fans.) Founding singer Rita Lee didn’t participate in the group’s 2006 tour — their first since 1973 — and is reportedly not on the new album, which features collaborations with Tom Zé and Jorge Ben. The band is also on the lineup for this summer’s Outside Lands Festival.

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With Rihanna set to hit the witness stand June 22nd to answer questions regarding her February 8th altercation with Chris Brown, Brown’s legal team is looking to delay the court date — again. Last week, Brown’s lawyers filed a request with the judge presiding over the case asking to push back the preliminary hearing until they get a look at police personnel records. At issue: the leak of a photo of Rihanna showing visible injuries. Because the judge denied the request, Brown’s lawyers have filed papers with California’s Supreme Court with the same request, the Los Angeles Times reports, as attorney Mark Geragos tries to get his hands on records he considers essential for cross-examining police witnesses.

In denying Geragos’ delay, the trial judge argued that the defense can request the information in question 30 days before the trial actually starts, so the demand shouldn’t affect preliminary hearings. The California Supreme Court has not yet responded to Brown’s motion, and it’s possible that Geragos won’t receive an answer until after the June 22nd hearing. (more…)

T-Swizzy, or Taylor Swift as she’s occasionally called, was the star of last night’s CMT Music Awards in Nashville, winning two trophies, performing with Def Leppard and making her rap debut with a little help from T-Pain. The “Thug Story” video — a clip worthy of a Saturday Night Live Digital Short — that opened the show saw T-Swizzy poking fun at her good-girl image by rhyming, “I’m so gangsta, you can find me baking cookies at night/You out clubbin’, but I just made Caramel Delight.” Other qualities that make our recent cover star a “thug”: her ability to knit and the fact that she still lives with her parents. Swift reportedly wrote the lyrics for the track, with T-Pain contributing his trademark (and in this case, hilarious) Auto-Tune harmonies.

(Check out photos of Swift, Def Leppard, Kid Rock and more onstage and backstage at the CMTs.)

Brad Paisley led the winners’ list with three awards, and Swift took home both Video of the Year and Female Video of the Year for “Love Story” from her blockbuster 2008 disc Fearless. Kid Rock also walked off with a trophy, scoring the “Wide Open Country video buckle” for “All Summer Long.” Still, it was Swift who owned the night, taking the stage twice more before event ended. Midway through the ceremony, Swift returned to perform her hit “You Belong To Me,” and she was back again to close out the show with her heroes, Def Leppard. (more…)

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Contrary to popular belief, churning out a double album isn’t easy, the Flaming Lips‘ Wayne Coyne tells the BBC’s 6 Music blog. Nailing down a track list has been hard, he says, “Because we want to go in so many strange directions and sometimes we’re unfocused and sometimes we’re just so wishy-washy.” The two-disc set is due in September, and though song names and a track order have yet to be determined, Coyne is ready to wrap up the follow-up to 2006’s At War With The Mystics: “I think it must be like being a cook in the kitchen you’re preparing this great thing but by the time it’s ready you’re sick of it because you’ve been smelling it, you’ve got it in your hair and in your fingers and all that.” Of course, a two-disc set isn’t the most ambitious project the Lips have tackled: in 1997 they released Zaireeka, four albums meant to be played simultaneously. The Lips most recently recorded a cover of Madonna’s “Borderline” and had “Do You Realize???” named Oklahoma’s official rock song.