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Officials in Gainesville have renamed the city's downtown plaza after rock 'n' roll legend and former Florida resident Bo Diddley.

Diddley died in June 2008. Officials honored him Friday by unveiling a mural and renaming the downtown space the Bo Diddley Community Plaza. Diddley lived in Archer, a few miles southwest of Gainesville, and played at the plaza in 2006.

Diddley's grandson Garry Mitchell thanked the city at the ceremony, and he and other family members gave city officials one of Diddley's guitars.

"Gainesville's been really good to my granddad," Mitchell said. "Thank you for your encouragement and your prayers. Long live Rock and Roll!"

Diddley's family plans to unveil his tombstone in Bronson, also southwest of Gainesville, at 10 a.m. Sunday

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More than 10 years ago, a slew of young stars hit the pop charts. Although the queen bees were Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera, back then, Mandy Moore held her own with hits like "Candy" and "I Wanna Be With You."

With Spears and Aguilera continually reinventing themselves but staying true to what Moore considers their "formula," the singer/actress has moved on with a throwback to a " '70s sort of Southern California pop sound" on her new album, Amanda Leigh.

"I kind of always knew we would all differentiate ourselves from one another," she told MTV News. "Musically, they've stuck to a formula that works for them and, obviously, has always proven successful. I don't think I found that same success singing music that really, at the end of the day, I wasn't happy singing."

But Moore said she wasn't trying to prove anything by jumping off that bandwagon. "It wasn't a bold gesture to try and show that I was an adult," she explained. "I sort of have taken my baby steps to get to where I am today. I feel comfortable singing the music that I'm singing, because it's coming from me, finally."

In fact, Moore helped write all the music on Amanda Leigh, making the album in Boston to stay away from the distractions of her life in New York and Los Angeles. "It's the record I've always wanted to make," she said of the LP, which debuted at #25 on the Billboard albums chart this week. "And I'm excited for people to hear it. It's sort of got a tinge of all the artists that I love and listen to on a consistent basis."

The album — which she said was inspired by Brian Wilson, Joni Mitchell and "maybe even a little McCartney" — was recorded on vintage equipment and with Moore's more mature view of life. Partly thanks to her marriage to rocker Ryan Adams, it is a far cry from the music and themes she sang about back in the day.

"I think I have a lot more information now, be it life experience, discovering new music. ... I know what I'm singing about now," she said. "Everything is really personal now, whereas before, I had no connection to it. It's deeper now. It's a bit more organic, because it's what I want to say."

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Kanye West is back in the lab, and there's only word to describe his new rhymes: "awes-mazing" (we're guessing that's a cross between awesome and amazing?).

"I kill that rap sh--, that's what I do," he said of his upcoming opus. "Lyrics right now, they're awes-mazing. They're basically untouchable. I'm about to take it to a whole 'nother level. I'd be scared if I was not me."

Kanye said he's always making an album, because he comes up with lyrics just by having conversations with people. He still doesn't write his rhymes down and hasn't in six years. The composing process is obviously working out for him.

"As far as rapping goes, how can I say this? Jordan, Michael Jackson — it's what I do," West told us recently comparing his greatness on the mic to what the Mikes do in their respective arenas. "It's time for me to bust another rap album."

It's the good life for 'Ye. He has his book "Thank You and You're Welcome" going to stores July 14, and Mr. West even gets a chance to party with Madonna occasionally. A racy picture popped up on the Net of Kanye sandwiched between Madge and girlfriend Amber Rose. The rumor mill went into overdrive, and Kanye quickly killed the chit-chat that he and Rose were involved in anything sexual with the pop icon.

He reiterated that sentiment to MTV News. "Madonna's a cool girl," he said of the woman he collaborated with last year. "We were just partying, drinking, having a good time. It's interesting people would make such a big deal out of photographs. I'm happy they make a big deal out of it. It's better for me."

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Soul man Raphael Saadiq has documented his live show supporting last year's "The Way I See It" with his first-ever concert DVD, "Raphael Saadiq: Live From the Artists Den," which comes out July 21 from Artists Den Entertainment and Columbia Records.

The 18-track performance was filmed on December 3 during a private show at the Harvard Club of Boston. Portions of it aired on the "Live at the Artists Den" Public Television series, but the DVD will feature songs not included in the broadcast plus bonus interview clips. Public Television will make the DVD available as a pledge drive promotion at publictelevisionrocks.org for 30 days before the street date.

"It was a great night," Saadiq tells Billboard.com about the performance. "The set was good and it was shot very well -- that was important to me -- and it sounded very good. It exposed everybody in the band, and that's what I was really excited about. I thought it was a piece that could show me in a light I wanted to be seen in."

Saadiq says he was also surprised by how many people saw the original broadcast of the concert.

"You never find out how many people watch PBS that you know until that show comes on," he notes. "A lot of people called me up and told me they saw it and were like, 'Oh, God, we saw this PBS show. It was great. When did that happen? When was that?' That was pretty cool."

Saadiq is preparing to film a video for "Let's Take a Walk," the next, and probably final, single from "The Way I See It." He has another month of festival dates planned, including performances at the Bonnaroo Music Festival on June 13, the Essence Music Festival on July 5 and a European swing with stops at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, the Pori Jazz Festival in Finland and the Festival De Nimes in France.

After that, Saadiq says, he plans to get to work in earnest on his next album.

"Once I start thinking about it is when I start it, and I've been thinking every day for the last three months," he says. "I do have some music I put together, but I didn't put any lyrics to it yet. I think it's going to stay in a soulful, tricky vein. I'm just figuring how I'm going to take it to the next level. You never know what's going to happen until you get in that room."

Saadiq has done a bit of production recently as well, working on tracks with Ledisi, Fantasia and Mary J. Blige. He's also done some scoring for the upcoming film "Holy War."


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Jane's Addiction has joined Trent Reznor's effort to raise money for a fan who's urgently in need of a heart transplant.

Reznor has been selling special VIP packages to nine inch nails' NIN/JA tour with Jane's Addiction to raise the funds for Eric De La Cruz, the 27-year-old brother of former CNN reporter Veronica De La Cruz, who alerted Reznor of his plight. De La Cruz, who will die without the transplant, has been unable to secure a heart because he's on Medicaid, which will not pay for the transplant search and procedure. Reznor has raised nearly $860,000 by selling three tiers of VIP packages for the tour: $300 for a soundcheck and meet-and-great; $1,000 to also hang out with the band before the show, have a backstage dinner and watch the concert from the side of the stage; and $1,200 for an additional two tickets.

The promotion was so successful that Reznor had to stop selling the packages -- "We had no idea this would generate THIS MUCH interest and simply can't accommodate any more people," he Twittered -- and has been selling autographed copies of nin's "Still" and Tony Hawk skateboards to raise additional money.

Jane's cast its lot starting with Wednesday night's concert in Boston. For a $1,000 donation, the group is allowing up to 10 fans per show to watch the quartet's nightly pre-show dressing room jam and then watch the concert from the side of the stage and receive an autographed item. "The guys saw what a meaningful cause it was and said, 'OK, we'd like to help. What can we do?' " Jane's manager, Peter Katsis of Prospect Park, tells Billboard.com. "This is a promotion they've done before but never sold.

"We worked with Trent's team to figure out a price that might make sense for such a VIP experience. We got a great response as soon as we put it up, so the guys are just excited they found a way to help, and that their fans are responding."

Katsis says the warm-up period serves as "a private little concert for 10 people. They play for a good while, just loosen up and have fun and play covers songs, Jane's songs. It's about as intimate as it gets."

Fans can purchase the VIP package through the group's web site, janesaddiction.com, which will link them to the page Reznor maintains for the program. Katsis says the packages will be offered for the remainder of the NIN/JA tour, which wraps June 12 in Charlotte, N.C.


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NEW YORK — Ladies love him, girls adore him. No, we're not talking about old-school rap legend Rob Base — we're talking about Heartbreak Drake. The Lil Wayne protégé has incredible buzz surrounding his breakout hit, "Best I Ever Had."

The song is from Drake's recent mixtape, So Far Gone, released in February of this year. The track is a favorite during his live shows, and it's also taken off on radio recently.

Drake told MTV News before his show at Manhattan's S.O.B.'s that he's in the process of putting together a video for the song.

"I been working with a couple people on some ideas," he explained. "I don't wanna say who yet, because everything isn't confirmed yet. It should be pretty solid in the next few days. The biggest thing about that song is that a lot of women come up to me and say, 'That's my song, because it really makes me feel special.' So I told the directors that were interested that I just want the visuals to coincide with that feeling. I want women to feel special when they watch the visual and say, 'I wish that was me,' or 'I know that feeling.' That's the goal with the video — to be genuine and not sappy. Be sexy and keep it together, but still make women smile."

The Toronto-based MC said he hopes to finish the clip by next month's BET Awards. In June, the currently unsigned artist will also begin working on his debut album. Drake is rumored to be working with Jay-Z, Kanye West and Lil Wayne, among others.







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