R KELLY MIGHT ACTUALLY FIND WORKING WITH JACKO IMPROVES HIS IMAGE

As people start to wonder exactly when Michael Jackson's Katrina single is going to turn up, one of those supposed to be involved, R Kelly, could probably do with a bit of decent publicity, as his wife takes out a restraining order against him.

Meanwhile, MTV news has finally caught up with itself and realised that there might just not be a Katrina single on its way from Camp Jackson - "hey, wasn't there meant to be a 9/11 single?" it asks. And, oddly, while none of the acts who Jackson claims to have signed up deny that he asked, equally, none claim they've accepted.

In an ongoing series of benefits, Twista offers a benefit for United Way this evening in Chicago ; he's asking his label to help out, too:

Twista is personally making a plea to Atlantic Records staff and artists to donate their time and talent to aid the event.

There doesn't seem to be a press release from Atlantic offering anything, yet. Perhaps they thought he was taking the piss when he said "talent".

We're wondering if the people who complained in our comments section over the last couple of weeks because we suggested that Bush should shoulder the responsibility for the poor central government response to the crisis will now be slamming Bush for suggesting that he should accept responsibility. Although having said that, since all he's done is a "yeah, that was my bad, never mind", maybe they won't bother. As we write this, tucked away on the Oxford opt-out from the South Today opt-out from BBC ONE, they're reporting that after the RAF scrambled to respond to American requests, the British food parcels which were delivered to America were impounded by the US government who are refusing to let them be distributed because they have meat in them. They're still cocking up all over the place, then.

Politics mixed again with the fund-raising at the jazz world's higher ground benefit event:

"When the hurricane struck, it did not turn the region into a Third World country ... it revealed one," actor and activist Danny Glover said in a speech with Harry Belafonte in which both criticized the government, not only for the response to the hurricane but for the conditions prior to it.

"Katrina was not unforeseeable," Belafonte said. "It was the result of a political structure that subcontracts its responsibility to private contractors and abdicates its responsibility altogether."

Elvis Costello - most recently seen signing letters calling for the government to give the RIAA whatever it wants - seemed to remember his reputation:

Elvis Costello, who performed with jazz giant Allen Toussaint, said he heard conservatives were worried about Katrina's rebuilding cost: "I just hope we keep in our minds that an effort like this can never be too expensive."

Kanye West, though, is suffering a cold wind in light of his attack on George Bush on the NBC telethon: not only is Fox now reaching for a really, really poor-quality videotape of him whenever they want to chill the blood of their viewers, but he's now been co-opted onto the U2 tour as opening act. We don't know that Bono issued a statement saying "See? I'm radical! Woo! Go me!", having first run it past his Wall Street advisors, but we're taking it as read.

music katrina hurricane katrina kanye kanye west U2 harry belafonte elvis costello twista r kelly michael jackson