Melody Plant

No Doubt has released a new promo picture on their official website which also has a scrolling instant messenger chat conversation between all of its band members, Gwen Stefani, Tom Dumont, Tony Kanal and Adrian Young. It seems that they are all itching to play in front of crowds. Gwen said “I think we should go out now, I don’t think we should wait. Pack up the babies and get a bunch of nannies. So fun! Would be so spiriting to get out there and play all those songs again. I think that if we go on route, it will inspire us to write. I need to see the fans out there.” Tony responded to that with “I’m down to play. We need to play. It’s been too long… ND 2009… I’ll call management. It’s time to play.”

Gwen Stefani is set to reinterpret Dorothy’s famous ruby slippers from ‘The Wizard of Oz’.

The No Doubt singer is one of 19 designers who have been chosen by Warner Bros. Consumer Products and CRYSTALLIZED(TM) - Swarovski Elements to create their own version of Dorothy’s footwear in honour of the 70th anniversary of the classic movie next year.’The Wizard of Oz Ruby Slipper Collection’ will be unveiled in a special event on September 4 at New York’s famous department store Saks Fifth Avenue.

The 19 pairs of shoes – designed by fashion icons including Alberta Ferretti, Christian Louboutin, Diane von Furstenberg, Jimmy Choo, Manolo Blahnik, Moschino and Oscar de la Renta - will then be displayed as part of New York Fashion Week, in the city’s Bryant Park, before being taken around the US on a tour and then being auctioned off, with proceeds going to the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation.

Gwen, who is considered one of the world’s most stylish women, already has her own fashion line L.A.M.B.

Justin Timberlake is a singer, songwriter, producer and actor. Now, he can add model to his ever-growing resume as he is the new face of Givenchy’s latest men’s fragrance. The President and CEO of Parfums Givenchy Alain Lorenzo says that “Beyond his huge celebrity appeal, we have chosen Justin Timberlake because he is a world recognized trendsetter who redefines modern elegance.” People is reporting that the new Givenchy campaign featuring the very talented Mr. JT will be unveiled in June of this year. I say someone needs to focus more on music and dancing. It’s what he does best. Acting and modeling – leave that to the pros.

We first saw Sheryl Crow do it with adopted son Wyatt, then we saw Liv Tyler do it with her son and her father and now we have Gwen Stefani. For the last concert of The Sweet Escape Tour on Saturday at the Santa Barbara Bowl in Santa Barbara, California, the platinum blonde singer brought out her 17-month old son Kingston on stage with her.

Kingston wore the same kid-friendly noise-canceling headphones that the other babies did when they were brought on stage. A video of his on-stage appearance has made it onto YouTube. There was an ‘aww’ moment when the littly tyke started banging on the keyboard on stage. How cute!

Gwen Stefani was seen leaving her New York City hotel early Friday morning with her 17-month old son Kingston. This was the day after she attended the Black Ball 2007 which was held to honor the work of Bono for the AIDS movement.

Gwen performed at the event and did a duet with Alicia Keys. Rolling Stone reports that their performance was “an elegiac version of ‘Sunday, Bloody Sunday” which was originally done by Bono’s band U2. The magazine also says the Alicia’s vocals lingered in the air and was long, haunting and elegant.

The song was haunting by itself, now I’m curious how Alicia made it even more so.

Calling herself “a geeky Orange County girl, a chola girl, a rasta girl and an English girl – all mixed together,” Gwen Stefani has no mixed feelings about one thing: producing a sibling for her 1-year-old son Kingston.

“Obviously I’m in a race to have another, but I don’t want to do it while on tour,” the singer, 37, tells .”But I can’t wait to get pregnant again. It’s so fun and consuming and romantic.”

Being a mom already, she admits, means “I definitely don’t get enough sleep, but I’d rather spend time with him. I’ve got this extra-fun, amazing, little guy who just wants to hang out with me.”

Before she hits the stage while on tour, Stefani sings Kingston lullabies like “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” as he falls asleep. “But he sings a lot to himself,” she says. “He’s just getting into music. He does the whole head-bouncing thing.”

Kingston’s being musical should come as little surprise. His dad is Stefani’s husband, rocker Gavin Rossdale. “I love him so much,” Stefani says of Kingston. “He’s the best thing that has ever happened to me.”

Rossdale, she also says, is “super into being a dad.” On his domestic prowess, Stefani says of her husband, “He’s a creative cook. He makes whatever I crave, even when nothing seems to be left in the fridge.”

And while Stefani may be in a rush to get pregnant again, there’s another aspect to life she wishes to put the brakes on: raunch.

“Everyone’s in such a rush to show they’re sexy,” she says. “Anyone can be sexy. We all have the same body parts. It’s pretty boring. Life’s not so short that you need to give it all away in five seconds. That was never my thing.”

There will be no revealing costumes at U.S. singer Gwen Stefani’s concert in Malaysia this month, a newspaper said on Saturday, after a Muslim student group demanded that the event be cancelled as being too obscene.

Although Malaysia is a moderate Muslim country with sizeable non-Muslim minorities, conservative groups often frown upon departures from strict Koranic injunctions.

Malaysian mobile phone firm Maxis Communications, which is promoting the August 21 show as part of Stefani’s “Sweet Escape” tour, promised it would feature no revealing costumes, the Star newspaper said.

“She will abide by the Malaysian authorities’ guidelines to ensure that her show will not be offensive to local sensibilities,” it quoted a Maxis statement as saying.

Malaysia’s official guide for performers says women must be covered from the top of the bosom to the knees, the Star said.

Jumping, shouting and the throwing of objects are barred, while performers may not hug, kiss or wear clothes with obscene or drug-related pictures or slogans, it added.

On Tuesday, an official of the 10,000-strong National Union of Malaysian Muslim Students said Stefani’s video promotion clips were obscene and the event would clash with local Asian and Islamic values.

“We want the organizers to cancel the concert, failing which we will ask the authorities to intervene,” said Mohamad Hilmi Ramli, the group’s president.

Ethnic Malays, who are by definition Muslims, make up just over half of Malaysia’s 26 million people, while ethnic Chinese and Indians, who are mostly Buddhists, Christians or Hindus, account for most of the rest.

Surprise!

When Gwen Stefani shouted that to her hometown crowd at the Verizon Ampitheather in Orange County on Friday, she definitely did not disappoint.

As an encore performance of her solo concert, the big screen flashed a huge ‘No Doubt’ sign as she was joined onstage by her band mates. The crowd predictably went wild.

The audience at Irvine may have been the luckiest out of everyone as they heard and saw the band perform for the first time since Gwen went solo. They performed three songs – Just A Girl, Spiderwebs and It’s My Life.

The band has been hitting the recording studio for a new record. Watch for that next year.