Smash Mouth To Join *NSYNC On 2002 Celebrity Tour

source: launch

*NSYNC's 2002 Celebrity tour, in support of the group's latest Jive Records release, is beginning to take shape, with rockers Smash Mouth tapped as the group's special guest on select dates. *NSYNC is scheduled to visit more than 30 arenas in North America beginning March 3 at the Rose Garden in Portland, Oregon, and wrapping on April 28 in Orlando, Florida. A complete itinerary will be released shortly.

-- Jason Gelman, New York









Justin, Britney and Elton in new video?

source: launch

Elton John would like to play Britney Spears's father in his next music video, according to Spears's official website (britneyspears.com), which cited entertainment news sources. Spears's boyfriend, *NSYNC singer Justin Timberlake, is currently featured in John's latest music video, "This Train Don't Stop Here Anymore." Timberlake portrays a young Elton John in the clip for the song, which is from John's new album, Songs From The West Coast.

John explains in the report, which is located in the "breaking news" section of Spears's website: "I like this concept and my director wants to do a continuation of the same night--the same era but from a fan's perspective. Justin will come onstage and we want to use a girl, get it from a fan's perspective."

John adds, "If we do it, my personal favorite would be Britney Spears. I want to play her dad in the video. That would be incredible. It'll be along the lines of...I won't let her out and she wants to go to the concert and she runs away." Spears taped an hour-long segment for The Oprah Winfrey Show on January 23, and the episode will air on Monday (February 4). Check local listings. This weekend (February 2) Spears will host and perform on NBC's Saturday Night Live.

-- Jason Gelman, New York






Frankie Muniz *NSYNC's new drummer?

source: ???

Little Frankie Muniz is growing up on movie sets.

He even considers the cast of his TV show Malcolm in the Middle his second family.

But Muniz has a secret ambition to be a drummer.

"I've never taken a lesson. I learned to play drums on my own and now I'm being sponsored by Pearl drums and Sabian Cymbals," says Muniz, 16.

"I was a huge fan of Hanson. The drummer Zac was my age, so I wanted to do what he was doing."

Word of just how good a drummer Muniz has become has begun to leak out.

"*NSYNC has asked me to play a song in their upcoming Las Vegas show."


*NSYNC's Kirkpatrick Bringing FuMan Skeeto To New York's Fashion Week

source: launch

-- *NSYNC singer Chris Kirkpatrick will be debut his FuMan Skeeto spring and summer sportswear clothing lines for teens at Girls Rule!, a fashion show in New York City on February 11. The event, which is sponsored by Teen magazine, is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. ET in the Skylight Room of the Puck Building in SoHo.

The event marks the first major fashion show for Kirkpatrick's company, and it will kick off New York Fashion Week. Kirkpatrick told LAUNCH that it took nearly four years of hard work to get his company to the point where it is ready to tackle this major fashion-industry occasion.

"It's been so much work," he said. "When we started out, I thought it was just going to be T-shirts--printing our logo on some T-shirts and seeing how kids liked it--and it has just evolved into designs, into fashion lines where you have to have tops and pants. And I'm just glad that I have a lot of great people working for me that are all over it--(people) that are on the trends and that are on what we're doing."

-- Jason Gelman, New York