Poor, poor Whitney! It seems she just can’t shake these persistent rumors of her problem with the pipe (and we don’t mean the one she was using prior to her recent bust in Hawaii)! It seems Miss Houston was scheduled to film a series of videos to accompany her recent album featuring duets with various artists. During the filming of the first one with George Michael, sources say Whitney was such a mess, the director cancelled the subsequent shoots, and the crew was put on indefinite leave until she "pulls herself together". At this point, you would think she would be checking in to Betty Ford just to regain some dignity.

Speaking of musicians that can’t admit there is a problem. Smashing Pumpkins’ front man Billy Corgan just announced the break up of the band on KROQ, a Los Angeles based radio station. He says "there is nothing wrong with the band.   It’s hard to keep fighting the good fight against the Britneys." Many industry insiders feel that this is merely a publicity stunt by Corgan in an effort to pump life into lackluster sales of the most recent Pumpkin’s release Machina – Machines of God. Despite his comments to the contrary, it appears that there might be some problems with the band, as bassist D’Arcy Wretzky left last September, and Melissa Auf Der Mar, Darcy’s replacement, is reportedly regretting her move from Hole.  To top it all off, the band has been in the midst of lawsuits with management, their records company, and others.

Saying only that "there is no reason to comment on a fight that doesn’t exist", Britney Spears took the high road regarding the attacks by Corgan. If by fight, Corgan was referring to album sales, it seems that bowing out really is his only option. Britney’s aptly titled second album Oops – I Did It Again, debuted at number one, and ranked second of all time for first week sales, inching out Backstreet Boys Millenium, but not quite selling as many as N’SYNC. Smashing Pumpkins on the other hand saw their album Machina slip from #150 to #159.

Recently engaged Boy Brian Littrell wasn’t able to make his discreet trip into a suburban Atlanta K-mart. Littrell slipped into the store with fiancée Leighanne Wallace, hoping to buy some party supplies. Turns out the heartthrob made quite a splash as he was quickly surrounded by a group of giggling girls.  In the midst of the chaos, a thief was able to exit the store with a television. Alarms went off and Littrell and Wallace were detained until the crook was apprehended.

It seems the real Slim Shady has a real serious habit of offending anyone he wants. While getting on the bad side of his mother (who recently sued him) and artists like Christina Aguilera and Will Smith, this time he has raised the wrath of the Chief Versace Vixen. Apparently Donatella Versace, who isn’t known for her sense of humor under the best circumstances, is not at all pleased with cruel lyrics referring to her slain brother Gianni. "Hey it’s me Versace, look somebody shot me, and I was just checking the mail, get it?/ Checkin’ the MALE." Let’s just hope Dre has some of his old contacts watching over the boy in the event Donatella calls in the Cosa Nostra.