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MOVED: New albums from rappers Eminem and Snoop Dogg are being released ahead of schedule due to piracy concerns, Billboard reports. Eminem's Encore will be available to fans on Nov. 12 instead of Nov. 16 as originally planned. Snoop Dogg's R&G (Rhythm & Gangsta): The Masterpiece will be out Nov. 16 rather than its originally scheduled date, Nov. 23? In other Eminem news, the rapper has produced 12 songs based around previously unreleased verses from late rapper Tupac Shakur for the album Loyal to the Game, set to go on sale Dec. 14, reports Billboard.com. The 16-track set will be the seventh posthumous album of Shakur's music (the rapper was shot and killed in 1996). The album reportedly will include guest appearances from such hip-hop superstars as 50 Cent, Jadakiss and Lloyd Banks, as well as Nate Dogg, Eminem protege Obie Trice, Outlawz, Sleepy Brown, Young Buck and Ronald Isley.
SNUBBED: Prince Charles and his companion, Camilla Parker Bowles, will not attend the wedding of his godson this weekend, sparking reports in newspapers that they refused to be seated apart. (Parker Bowles apparently was assigned a seat in Chester Cathedral several rows behind Charles.) As the Daily Telegraph said in its front-page headline: "Camilla boycotts wedding over snub." Charles's office, however, says that he was passing up the wedding of godson Edward van Cutsem and Lady Tamara Grosvenor to meet with families of the Black Watch Regiment, which was recently redeployed nearer Baghdad, Iraq.
WON: Quiz-show king Ken Jennings, 30, has broken another record on Jeopardy! He won $45,099 on the episode that aired Wednesday, bringing his total earnings to $2,197,000 to make him the top TV game-show winner ever. He beat the previous record of $2,180,000, set by Michigan engineer Kevin Olmstead on ABC's Who Wants to be a Millionaire in 2001.
OPERATED: Oscar winner Patty Duke underwent single bypass surgery Wednesday and was in fair condition, officials said. The actress, 57, was in the intensive care unit at the North Idaho Heart Center, AP reports. "Her husband said everything went well," said Kootenai Medical Center spokeswoman Teri Farr. The heart center is part of the medical facility.
FELLED: Barry Manilow, 61, canceled three concerts this weekend because of severe bronchitis, his public relations firm says. Shows in Denver, Houston and Dallas have been rescheduled to Nov. 10, Nov. 17 and Nov. 20, respectively. Shows in Phoenix on Nov. 12 and Anaheim on Nov. 13 were not affected.
KILLED: Andre Hicks, 34, known as Mac Dre, a San Francisco Bay area underground rap star who police say was also a member of a gang of robbers, was killed in Kansas City, Mo., when a gunman shot into a van in which he was riding, AP reports. He was killed about 3:30 a.m. Monday when another vehicle pulled up beside the driver's side of the van he was in and began shooting, police said, adding that they are trying to determine a motive.
SIGHTED: A California rape victim spotted her alleged attacker – who had been at large for a year – on the TV reality show Blind Date and promptly had him arrested, the Smoking Gun Web site reports. The alleged victim, 35, witnessed a female contestant on the show refer to handyman and private security guard Ulrick White, 31, by his nickname, Aswah and then recalled his distinctive Jamaican accent. The woman made a tape of the show and brought it to authorities. "We reviewed it here," said Ventura police Detective Russ Robinson. "She said, 'Yeah, that's the guy.'" White was arraigned Tuesday.
