LOS ROUNDUP DEL RITMO

IT'S LIKE THE AMERICAN VERSION,
ONLY WITH SUBTITLES
U.K. pop star Robbie Williams is the front-runner for the 2000 MTV Europe Music Awards, nabbing five nominations, including Best Pop Act, Best Male, Best Song, Best Video and Best U.K. & Ireland act. Sonique scored four nominations: Best New Act, Best Dance Act, Best Song and Best UK & Ireland act. Scoring three nominations each were Bon Jovi, Eminem, Britney Spears, Melanie C, Travis and Madonna. Wyclef Jean will host the awards program on Nov. 16 from The Globe in Stockholm, Sweden. Performers include the Backstreet Boys, Moby, the Spice Girls, Williams and U2. Oddly enough, David Hasselhoff has not been asked to participate.

HE WAS ALSO WEARING A "BORROWED" SUIT
Meanwhile, Robbie Williams has been found guilty of "substantially" copying a song originally penned by Woody Guthrie, according to the BBC. High Court Deputy Judge Nicholas Strauss ruled that Williams' song "Jesus in a Camper Van," from the albums, "I've Been Expecting You" and "The Ego Has Landed," was in breach of copyright law. Williams was accused of lifting from the late Guthrie song, "I Am The Way" and from an adaptation by Loudon Wainwright III. A trial will determine the amount of royalties/damages that Williams, EMI and BMG Music Publishing owe Ludlow Music, the owners of the original copyright. "Bollocks," Williams said. "MTV knows how great I am. Why can't those bloody stuffy magistrates recognize it?"

BUT MY NAPSTER DOWNLOADS ARE STILL OK, RIGHT?
European fans of Radiohead will have to wait a while longer to hear the band's new album, "Kid A," after EMI said Monday it had recalled 150,000 faulty CDs. The discs, victims of a mastering error, are being recalled from Germany, France, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands and Belgium. Production of replacements has already begun. "Funny thing is ‘Kid A' is so out there, no one even realized that the CDs were damaged," whispered an EMI employee.

STRANGER THAN FICTION?
When VH1 was trying to find a producer for its new sitcom about the misadventures of a down-on-his-luck R&B star, they naturally turned to blood- and fire-spewing Kiss bassist Gene Simmons. According to Variety, as reported by Launch.com (and now reported here), the new show, "Smash," centers around an African-American performer in his late 20s who has never been able to recreate the success he achieved as teen performer Phat Boy. "It was either this project," Simmons said, "or an Air Supply biopic."