Due in stores this week:

NEW YORK After delivering one of the worst performances in the history of the MTV Video Music Awards, Britney Spears has a chance to be crowned this year as the absolute best.

LOS ANGELES Jackson Browne doesn't want John McCain running on anything fueled by his lyrics. The singer-songwriter sued McCain and the Ohio and national Republican committees in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles on Thursday, accusing them of using his song "Running on Empty" without his permission.

BEIJING I was in the mood to have blood spurt from my ears, so I decided to take in the Beijing rock scene.

Reprinted with permission

DENVER Rage Against the Machine will perform at an anti-war music festival during the Democratic National Convention.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. Dailey & Vincent lead all nominees for this year's International Bluegrass Music awards with 10, including for entertainer of the year.

LOS ANGELES Online music thieves can't interfere with the hundreds of songwriters Hanna Rochelle Schmieder has on her payroll.

NEW YORK Kid Rock is returning to the Video Music Awards for another hit performance - and this time it doesn't involve a fistfight with Tommy Lee.

Due in stores Tuesday:

RECENTLY ANNOUNCED

NEW YORK Quiet time is a rarity for the Jonas Brothers these days.

NEW YORK The Source, which was in bankruptcy last year, is relaunching with a 20th-anniversary issue and a new focus - a direction that its co-publisher says will restore the magazine, once known as hip-hop's bible, to prominence.

Jazz Lovers of the Lowcountry has announced its fourth season of Third Sunday Concerts, which will kick off on Sept. 21 at the Coligny Theatre on Hilton Head Island.

RECENTLY ANNOUNCED

Take an exploration of one of the richest periods in jazz history and combine that with three interpreters of the modern jazz age, and the result is "Swingin' the Benny Goodman Songbook," a toe-tapping show presented by the trio of vocalist Terry Blaine, clarinetist Allan Vache and pianist Mark Shane.

Hall of Fame rockers Lynyrd Skynyrd and country star Blake Shelton will play Hilton Head Island next month as part of the new Hilton Head Island Music Festival.

The show is a jam band-y mix of psychidelia, rock and funk complete with a light show that'd make any prog-rock band proud.

Kevn Kinney -- no "i" in there -- the frontman for Southern rockers Drivin' n' Cryin', performs a solo show tonight at the Big Bamboo, 1 North Forest Beach Dr., No. 210, Hilton Head Island.

The long-running Southern rock stalwarts, based just up the road in Spartanburg, continue their never-ending tour with a stop at the Shoreline Ballroom at the island's Ocean Center at 7 p.m. today. Local blues-teen Luke Mitchell opens. Tickets are $15 in advance and $18 at the door and available by calling 843-842-0358 or going to www.shorelineballroom.com.

Chicago vocalist Lisa Roti, who last performed at the Jazz Corner in the Village at Wexford almost a year ago to the day, returns for a weekend engagement at the venue at 8 p.m. today and Saturday.

They say it all the time when a young singer-songwriter talks about experiences beyond his years: You have to have loved to write a love song; experience loss to write its bitter foil.

THIS WEEK

Country singer Blake Shelton has spent a good bit of time outside the country arena lately: He was seen serving as a team leader in the 2007 reality show "Clash of the Choirs," and his most recent single is a twanged-up cover of a song written and popularized by Canadian jazz singer Michael Bublé.

THIS WEEK

THIS WEEK

All summer long, island pop-rockers Lost in the Media are hosting regular all-ages shows at the Shoreline Ballroom on Wednesday evenings. Each week the show will feature a rotating cast of special guests; this week's features Time Vane. Tickets are $10 on the day of show. Shoreline Ballroom is located at Ocean Center, 40 Folly Field Rd., Hilton Head Island. For information, call 843-842-0358 or go to www.shorelineballroom.com.

RECENTLY ANNOUNCED

Universal recording artists Safetysuit, a modern rock outfit that hails from Nashville, visits Stages in Park Plaza on Hilton Head Island at 7 p.m. Tuesday behind its debut album, "Life Left To Go." Tickets are $5; opening the show is City Sleeps.

If Dickey Betts isn't a Southern rock guitar hero, no one is. The guy virtually invented Southern rock -- the genre -- as a founding member of the Allman Brothers back in 1969, taking over as lead guitarist following the death of brother Duane.