Elton John lost a libel case in London's High Court against Britain's The Guardian for printing a spoof which satirized his annual White Tie and Tiara Ball fundraiser for his AIDS Foundation. The Guardian reported that Elton had filed suit against last summer's humorous diary entry credited to Elton called A Peek At The Diary Of..., which joked about the gala, saying, "Naturally, everyone could afford just to hand over the money if they gave that much of a toss about AIDS research -- as could the sponsors, but we like to give guests a preposterously lavish evening because they're the kind of people who wouldn't turn up for anything less."

In his suit, Elton claimed the piece was, "... gratuitously offensive, (with a) nasty and snide tone." The presiding judge Justice Tugendhat stated in his 17-page ruling, "The transparently false attribution is irony. Irony is a figure of speech in which the intended meaning is the opposite of that expressed by the words used... The attribution is literally false but no reasonable reader could be misled by it... Irony is not always a form of sarcasm or ridicule."

The Guardian's editor, Alan Rusbridger applauded the High Court's decision: "We're sorry that Elton John lost his sense of humor over this article. The judge -- and, we suspect all readers -- saw the article for what it was: a piece of mild satire. Newspapers have published satire since the 17th century in this country. The judgment is an important recognition of the right to poke the occasional bit of fun."

Reclusive Guns N' Roses leader W. Axl Rose answered questions from fans on two separate Guns message boards on Thursday (December 11th) and another on Friday (December 12th). Posting on the sites MyGNR.com, ChineseDemocracy.com and Here Today...Gone To Hell!, Rose responded to fan queries about the new Chinese Democracy album, his low profile and whether a reunion of the original Guns lineup was ever possible. Rose also announced that a video for the song "Better" would arrive next week, with "monumental promotion" to begin soon. He mentioned the possibility of touring in passing but gave no specifics.
Some of the more interesting items are below (thanks to Blabbermouth for collating).

When asked about rumors of another two or three albums worth of material left over from the 15-year Chinese Democracy sessions, Rose replied, "For now, we'll concentrate and keep our focus on this album, but I will say I've always thought of it as a double... The issues are a bit more complex than anyone would like."

On Kanye West's new album outselling Chinese Democracy in their first week of release: "I met Kanye at the Versace awards. He was very gracious. I love 'Gold Digger' and told him so ... Before our release, I sent him a message that any nonsense from the media had nothing to do with us and wished him the best. I'm humbled we've done as well as we have considering."

On possibly suing Dr. Pepper over the "free soda" stunt: "Maybe the guy who got it rolling originally meant well, but it turned out sour and maybe it's just me, but he seems like maybe he wants a bit too much attention."

When asked why the original lineup fell apart and why it took Chinese Democracy so long to come out, Rose writes, "What I can say now is you've been told a lot of things in order for others to promote themselves that factually they cannot back up in regard to either. They are complicated legally, financially and have devoured a good portion of my life. ... The record Chinese Democracy you may have is nothing short of a miracle in almost each and every way that either it or I exist, in my opinion, under the bizarre and ugly conditions of the last over 15 years."

As for whether the original lineup could ever get back together, Rose says, "You've been lied to and misled for such a long time that sorting through all that here is virtually impossible ... that doesn't give you what you want, so this dance just goes on and on."

Rose also mentions that he was recently sued by former Guns members Slash and Duff McKagan over a merchandise matter related to his ex-manager, and denies that he has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

While most of the exchanges are friendly, Rose does mix it up with a couple of edgier fans. When one criticizes him for his reclusive nature, Rose replies, "Your misconceptions and fantasies along with your misguided sense of entitlement don't dictate my actions."

British songstress Leona Lewis has been named Billboard magazine's Top New Artist of 2008. Lewis earned the title based on the success of her hit single "Bleeding Love" and the selling strength of her debut album Spirit. The Billboard honor is the latest in a string of good news for Lewis -- she was nominated for three Grammy awards earlier this month and "Bleeding Love" was the best-selling digital single of 2008 with 3.2 million copies sold through iTunes.

How is Lewis dealing with all of her success? She told Billboard, "I'm just going day by day and just enjoying everything. I got a fantastic opportunity to come here and do this and so far it's been going really well."

American Idol winner Jordin Sparks, rapper Flo Rida, and singer Katy Perry were runners-up to Lewis for Billboard's Best New Artist honors.

John Mayer is publicly throwing his support behind gal pal Jennifer Aniston. He attended the premiere of her new movie, Marley & Me, last week in Los Angeles, but he wanted to make sure the focus was on her. According to OK! magazine, he said, "I want her moment to be her moment. She worked so hard on this movie. I want her to be in the pictures... I want her to be in the frame. I don't want my mug in there." He added, "You know why I'm out here tonight -- because I'm a good man and I want to see the movie." He also revealed that Aniston is actually a really good singer. He says, "She does it when she doesn't think anybody's paying attention. I said to her the other night, 'There's a track in there.' I think she could do this 'Light of Mine' and kill it." Meanwhile, Mayer doesn't seem to mind Aniston's racy new photo spread in GQ magazine. He said, "If you have a problem with that cover, go make bagels!"

Madonna and Guy Ritchie could be spending the holidays together for the the sake of their children. According to the U.K.'s Daily Mail, Madge will arrive in Britain on December 23rd with their son Rocco, adopted son David and her daughter Lourdes. They are expected to spend several days there, including Christmas Day at Ritchie's Ashcombe House estate. An insider says, "Madonna and Guy want the best for the kids and so she has decided to come over to the U.K .so they can be with their father." Ritchie hopes to treat the kids to nice holiday. One source says, "Because of what the kids have been through this year he wants to treat them to a really special Christmas with stockings of presents and a big tree."

Chris Brown has a busy year ahead. He's going to be hard at work on his new album, along with a handful of other projects and collaborations. According to Billboard.com, he's planning to do some work with his girlfriend Rihanna, revealing, "I actually have a couple of songs written already that would be dope collaborations between me and her. And I'm writing for her new album now."

He's also teaming with country star Tim McGraw on a song called "Human." He says, "It's incredible. I wanted to do something more along the country line. That's a bigger and different audience for me." He has also written tracks for the Jonas Brothers, Backstreets Boys and the Pussycat Dolls. There's no exact word on when Brown will release his upcoming album. He says, "Then I'm going to go away for a little while so people won't get tired of me. After that I'll come back and give them some bangers."

A gift given to Jennifer Hudson's sister Julia on her 31st birthday sparked the jealous rage that allegedly drove William Balfour to kill Hudson's mother, brother, and nephew this past October. According to People.com, Julia Hudson's estranged husband Balfour went to Hudson's Chicago home the morning after her small birthday party celebration and spotted a present he believed was given to her by a new boyfriend. Prosecutors believe that Balfour was so upset about the gift that he waited until Hudson left for work, shot her mother and brother, and kidnapped her son Julian King. Seven-year-old King was found dead in Balfour's SUV a couple of days later.

Balfour's attorneys say their client is innocent and is a convenient scapegoat for the murders because of his tumultuous relationship with Julia Hudson. Balfour is being held without bail and is charged with three counts of first-degree murder.

Jennifer Hudson has kept a low profile since the murders despite the success of her self-titled album.

The album debuted at Number Two on the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.

3 Doors Down has confirmed its first tour dates of 2009, according to Tunelab Music. The band will kick off a string of gigs on January 22nd in Reading, Pennsylvania with Hinder along as support on at least the first three dates. Only seven shows have been announced so far, with more on the way.

The Mississippi-based act is currently finishing up a run of shows that were rescheduled earlier this fall when singer Brad Arnold had to rest his voice. Guitarist Chris Henderson told us that Arnold and the rest of the guys give it their best every night even when not in the best shape: "You just gotta suck it up and go, man. It's the only way I can explain it. I don't know any other way. If Brad's having a bad night, you're just gonna hear a bad rendition of our song. Even on a bad night, he sounds really good."

3 Doors Down is touring in support of its self-titled fourth album. The group next plays in Greensboro, North Carolina on Wednesday (December 17th) before wrapping up the year in Atlanta on the 20th.

Newly announced 3 Doors Down tour dates (subject to change):
January 22 - Reading, PA - Sovereign Center (w/ Hinder)
January 24 - Johnson City, TN - Freedom Hall (w/ Hinder)
January 27 - Tallahassee, FL - Leon County Civic Center (w/ Hinder)
January 28 - Orlando, FL - Hard Rock Live
February 13 - Lafayette, LA - Cajundome
February 14 - Boosier City, LA - CenturyTel Center
February 24 - New York, NY - Hammerstein Ballroom

Eminem, who has been in the studio working on his new album, Relapse, recently emailed Billboard.com to clear up a few things about the forthcoming album especially a report that said he and Swizz Beatz worked on a sequel to his hit, "Stan." The rapper wrote, "I haven't worked with Swizz on this album. There isn't a 'Stan 2,' and there won't be. ... Stan drove his car off a bridge and I'm not writing a song as Stan's ghost. That would just be really corny."

The rapper also shared that he and Dr. Dre have been busy. He said, "Me and Dre are back in the lab like the old days, man. Just him banging away on tracks and me getting that little spark that makes me write to it. I don't have chemistry like that with anyone else as far as producers go -- not even close. Dre will end up producing the majority of the tracks on Relapse. We are up to our old mischievous ways. ... Let's just leave it at that."

The superstar also shared that a song, "Crack A Bottle," was leaked before he was finished with it. He explained, "It wasn't close to finished, and it even has me doing guide vocals for Dre as a suggestion of how he could lay his verses down. It's like someone catches you peeping in your window before you got the Spider Man costume all zipped up! Nobody is supposed to see that. We are gonna finish it up, though, and get it out there how it's supposed to be."

No release date has been set for Relapse.

Jamie Foxx is his best promoter and nowhere was that more evident than in Hollywood on Thursday (December 11th) at an invitation-only event to preview his new album Intuition. The guests at the party were mostly music industry types who heard the album blaring from the Green Door club's sound system as soon as they walked in the door. Foxx joined the crowd after doing some press interviews, and entertained them with jokes and anecdotes while offering a track-by-track explanation of the disc.

Foxx has said that Intuition has more up-tempo beats than his last effort Unpredictable, and collaborations with Timberland, T-Pain, Lil Wayne, and Kanye West seemed to back up that claim. The audience at the Intuition preview moved to the beats of singles like "Just Like Me" and "Number One," and showered Foxx with applause after he'd finished talking about the album.

"Just Like Me" debuted at Number 48 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.

Foxx's last album, Unpredictable, has sold 1.98 million copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

In honor of its most famous sons, Hartford, England has renamed several streets in tribute to Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and the Rolling Stones. According to The Associated Press, the new streets will be part of a new housing and business development, and will include Sympathy Street named after "Sympathy For The Devil," Cloud Close after "Get Off My Cloud," Rainbow Close after "She's A Rainbow," Dandelion Row after "Dandelion," and "Little Red Walk" after "Little Red Rooster."

Other streets will be named Satisfaction Street, Ruby Tuesday Drive, and Stones Avenue.

Keith Richards says that despite their advanced ages, the Stones feel like a young band: "All I can say about this band is, in essence, they're still very youthful physically in the way they feel about things. I guess maybe rock and roll does that for you. At the same time we are apparently growing up -- signs of maturity are showing -- and in a way maybe that's what we're supposed to be doing. How do you make rock and roll grow up? We grow up with it but also with the same fervor of youth."