Before the weekend starts, we thought we'd let you know about a few stories we worked on today:

Amy Winehouse is back in trouble! The Brit soul sensation threw another assault charge onto her ever-growing rap sheet for allegedly beating a fan who requested a photo with her last September. In other news, it's Friday.

There's a lot to be said about last night's episode of "American Idol," (TATIANA, I MISS YOU ALREADY!) but much of the wild-card show was centered on Anoop Desai. In addition to being chosen as lucky number 13 to round out this year's hopefuls, Desai gave a shout-out to an elusive "Eve" at the end of his song and critique. Curious? We've demystified the announcement.

Taylor Swift just fulfilled her ultimate dream! No, it wasn't to have the #1 album for the past zillion weeks. Rather, she was killed on an episode of "CSI." Did you see it last night? What did you think of her performance?

Have a great weekend!

"There was a lot of equipment (mics, pre-amps, monitors, turntables, guitars, amps, computers, etc.) stolen and damaged," label co-founder Gabriel Roth wrote in an e-mail to bloggers. "It is going to take us a while to go through everything and take full stock of what was stolen, and we are not supposed to touch anything until the cops come back to collect fingerprints, so we can only guess what's missing from some mic drawers and cabinets. ... And no, we did not have insurance."

Ouch, bad luck indeed. But you can still catch a glimpse of what Daptone Records looked like before the break-in, because Gabriel and his crew were nice enough to give us a tour last fall. Take a look inside to see where Winehouse, Sharon Jones and others found their vintage sound:

The singer's British spokesperson, Chris Goodman, confirmed today that Winehouse had "gone for some checkups," that she had a chest infection last week and that, given her earlier treatment for lung damage, doctors wanted to make sure everything was OK. In June, the 25-year-old singer was hospitalized with a severe lung ailment that her father, Mitch, attributed to smoking cigarettes and crack cocaine. At the time, he told reporters that she was suffering from the early stages of the incurable disease emphysema. Winehouse is expected back home today.

"He is convinced that one of her hangers-on was responsible, and he's waiting for a toxicology report to show what caused her to fit," an unnamed source said. "If his suspicions are proved right, he wants someone to be punished. He is seriously unhappy about Amy's flat being a stop-over for randoms and wants an end to it."

Then again, another infamous British paper, The Mirror, has reported that the singer was playing a drinking game for four hours before the incident and had downed "dozens" of rum shots before taking her 11 prescription pills, and the reaction nearly resulted in paramedics having to put a tube down her throat. A spokesperson for Amy Winehouse could not be reached for comment at press time.

Do you believe Papa Winehouse's supposed theories?

Check out the full story here.

With the biggest names in baseball flying into town this week for what will be the last-ever
All-Star Game to be played at New York's legendary Yankee Stadium, we here at MTV News' New York offices have been stricken with baseball fever. It's hard to escape baseball this week. No matter where you turn, there's some sort of reminder that the fastest fielders, the strongest arms and the biggest bats in the game are all here, to ensure home-field advantage for their respective league in the fall classic.

All this baseball in the air got us thinking about music's all-stars — the artists who've shattered sales records this year, produced hit after hit and have been packing out arenas coast to coast. If music had an all-star game, who would we want to see in the dugout? After careful consideration, here are some of our picks — and feel free to let us know who'd go in your team in the comments section below. So, here goes.

Disturbed: With their new album, Indestructible, topping Billboard's albums sales chart last month, selling 252,800 copies its first week of release, there's no denying Disturbed are some of rock's heaviest hitters. Over the course of their career, they've sold millions of records and have seen three of their records debut at #1. With that kind of consistency, Disturbed might be a solid starting pitcher for our all-star team, and with them co-headlining the inaugural RockStar Mayhem Festival with Slipknot this summer, there's no question they're big draws. Plus, frontman David Draiman does a wicked impression of late baseball announcer Harry Carey, which is kind of awesome.

Katy Perry: In three short weeks, Perry has gone from unknown to flavor of the month, and her debut LP, One of the Boys, has sold nearly 115,000 copies, mostly on the strength of her infectious summer hit, "I Kissed a Girl," which is dominating the nation's airwaves. While a rookie, this kid's got some spunk and could be a perfect fit for first base. She'd also be valuable at the plate, because, let's face it — she's a self-proclaimed switch hitter.

Santogold: Andrew Millard's casting his vote for this former lead singer of Philadelphia-based ska-punk outfit Stiffed. After spending nearly seven years in the minors writing music for Res, Lily Allen and Ashley Simpson, Santogold finally earned a call up to the "Show" when she released her eponymous debut album back in April. Though this Cracker Jack's indie-rock/electronic-dub sound seemed straight out of right field, it scored big with some industry Hall of Famers (Rolling Stone gave her four out of five stars). Not only can she come through with hits, but she can pitch, too. Singles "Creator" and "Lights Out" got major playing time in Bud Light commercials — what's more American than that? And most recently, she teamed up with Pharrell of the Neptunes and Julian Casablancas of the Strokes to record "My Drive Thru," a tune performed for team Converse.

Girl Talk: Could he be the perfect head coach for our team? John Ochoa thinks so. "Compare his music to any release of the year, and you'll see that his broad knowledge and embrace of musical genres and influences will drive the team's overall offense (sound)," Ochoa explained. "Plus, he's perfect party music for the halftime show."

Spencer Krug: Between Wolf Parade and Sunset Rubdown, Spencer's been responsible for at least one of the top 10 albums of the year (in Matt Harper's humble opinion), for the past four years, his most recent being Wolf Parade's At Mount Zoomer. Talk about consistency. How many musicians can say that they front two bands that are both amazing? With his versatility and speed (his two bands aside, he also finds time to work with side-projects Swan Lake, Frog Eyes and Fifths of Seven), perhaps Krug would be an ideal outfielder and lead-off hitter.

Lil Wayne: The man comes through in a clutch. When you need a single, you can always count on Weezy, and he's music's MVP right now. The ultimate team player, sparking every guest appearance he's on (and there a million of them) like a ninth-inning rally, and at the plate, he took out the park with a mammoth shot called Tha Carter III. He's your slugging third baseman, makes the entire infield better and is a Barry-Bonds-in-his-prime threat to go deep every time at the plate.

T-Pain: According to our hip-hop editor, Shaheem Reid, T-Pain is "my Derek Jeter." Like Jeets, Pain would make any team better, à la his guest appearances. Also, like Jeter, when he does his thing on his own (solo LP and singles), his stats aren't monster, but mostly above average and formidable.

The Ting Tings' Katie White: Aside from her fun, poppy indie-rock creations, some of us feel she could probably win in a fistfight. That winning spirit could come through big for our team when the chips are down. Plus, she can do backflips. With that kind of athleticism and spring in her step, she'd be dangerous at the warning track, climbing the outfield wall and pulling those deep shots back into the park.

Slipknot: If White can't handle the yard, Slipknot certainly could. Not only do these guys have egos bigger than Steinbrenner, there are so many of them, we could stick all nine guys out there, and nothing would get by them — although they may lose some pop-ups if they insist on wearing those masks on the field. Unfortunately, we'd have to relegate all of their fans to the bleachers — don't want them ruining the game for everyone else.

Nas: Rahman Dukes' pick for our team. According to Rahman, the veteran Queens native "releases the best hip-hop album of 2008 (sorry Lil Weezy), arguably the best in his 10-plus-year career, so it's only fitting Esco represents the East Coast rap squad, which this year has seen OK releases from G-Unit, Prodigy and Fat Joe." Because his album's called Untitled, the verdict's out on his exact position. But Rahman thinks "he'd be a great umpire, only because Nas calls the shots."

Mariah Carey: Our resident Mariah fanatic Kristin Grimmett thinks Mrs. Cannon would provide a nice boost to our all-star squad, because of her sales prowess and her five-octave range. She's one of music's best comeback stories and, unlike Jason Giambi, she didn't have to cultivate a mustache to turn her career around. And don't be fooled by the fact that she couldn't even reach the plate when she tossed out the first pitch during a major-league game in Japan a few months back — when the pressure's on, Mariah steps up her game and could prove a valuable asset for our team. But, of course, there are no bikinis in baseball, so perhaps Mariah would be best suited as a bench coach.

Amy Winehouse: Gil Kaufman's pick for our fantasy team is Wino, "because her antics — from the alleged drug snorting in videos to the emphysema diagnosis, fan-punching and banana-sandwich diet — are like the drama of an extra-inning World Series game seven between the Yankees and the Red Sox, multiplied by a seventh-inning stretch featuring a slow tango by A-Rod and Madonna across home plate ... times two." Assuming she wouldn't have the strength to actually stand for an entire inning, let's make Amy our designated hitter. After all, you can't really rely on her to show up to play her position, and it's hard to balance a smoke, a highball and a mitt when trying to catch a pop fly.

Now, you go. Who's on your all-star music team?

· Nobody here is trying to tell Amy Winehouse how to live her life. But does it really make sense for the troubled "Rehab" singer to be launching her own club night at London's Camden Monarch on Thursday (July 10)? Love the name, though: "Snakehips at the Monarch."

· Vanessa Hudgens has finally revealed who leaked those nude photos of her last year: "stupid people."

· Here's the rehearsal footage of the Flaming Lips practicing their cover of the Who's "Tommy" in preparation for Saturday's VH1 Rock Honors concert (airing July 17). All we can say is: fish-eye lens, lots of smoke, a strobing gong, alien helium vocals and some kind of silver tassel rah-rah drum stick being waved around by singer Wayne Coyne. Have we mentioned how much we love the Lips?

· After the free Bon Jovi All-Star Concert in Central Park on Saturday, Sheryl Crow, 3 Doors Down and Josh Groban are getting in on the musical action at the All-Star Game in Yankee Stadium on July 15.

Well, the beautiful weather in London was short-lived, but that didn't stop Amy Winehouse from soundchecking Friday in Hyde Park. Despite the drizzle, Amy (who was featured in a bizarre Rolling Stone article this week) is at least that much closer to performing at Friday night's concert honoring Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday, which also features Annie Lennox, Simple Minds, Queen, Leona Lewis and the Soweto Gospel Choir. More than 40,000 people are expected to attend the show, according to CNN.

We weren't on site for Winehouse's soundcheck, so unfortunately we don't have pictures. But a source confirmed that Winehouse was there, alive, and singing. She hit the stage during a break in the storm and performed "Rehab" — adding to the already obvious irony of the song selection, a bottle of vodka was sitting right next to her. Seriously!

(Britain's Telegraph does have a shot of the singer apparently buying booze before soundcheck.)

The show's finale is expected to be feature Queen, Winehouse and Jerry Dammers (of British ska legends the Specials) performing "Free Nelson Mandela," a Dammers-penned song from 1984 that was quickly adopted as an anti-apartheid anthem at the time.

According to CNN, concert organizers say Mandela plans to use the concert to mark the beginning of his retirement.

"I am supposed to be retired, but my friends and the charitable organizations that bear my name want to use my 90th birthday year to raise funds to continue our work and so, of course, I want to help them," he said in a statement released earlier this month. "So, we have a bargain — I am going to London and they will host a concert in Hyde Park, which will raise awareness of our continuing work and much-needed funds."

Be sure to check back for a report on the show!

We frequently write about Amy Winehouse's travails, but, truth be told, we don't get to talk to the British popwreck very much. Which is why we should have just walked up to her London flat and knocked on the door at four in the morning, like Rolling Stone did. If we had, we'd have gotten a glimpse at a place littered with potato-chip bags, crumpled bits of tin foil, beer bottles, lingerie boxes and credit cards strewn about. Oh, and we totally would have been offered one of her signature, Elvis-worthy white-bread and banana with potato-chip sandwiches.

According to a story in the new issue of Rolling Stone, one of their reporters hung around outside Winehouse's place in North London earlier this month — before the singer was
hospitalized for fainting and found out that she showing early signs of emphysema — and, shockingly, the musician invited the reporter in and provided a rare glimpse into her cloistered, cluttered and predictably chaotic world.

The reporter visited the day after the then-latest Winehouse scandal — the one about the
racist playground-chant video — and instead of the usual rush of publicists and managers doing damage control, she found only a bedraggled Winehouse and her best friend, singer Remi Nicole, who appears to be a calming presence in an otherwise shambolic home life.

We watch as Winehouse tidies up her blistered face, disheveled hair and smudgy, apparently resin-lined fingernails before stepping out to the inevitable crush of paparazzi huffing outside her door for that day's inevitably unflattering shot of the Grammy winner. (The parade of bad Winehouse pictures has even inspired a comic-strip confrontation with TV's Judge Judy.)

Like Britney Spears, Winehouse plays cat-and-mouse with her pursuers, feeding the paps tea, asking them to go on errands for her and joking with them, but occasionally throwing a slap their way if they get too close. We're told Winehouse makes few concessions to healthy living, using a tanning bed daily and subsisting on a frat-boy-worthy diet of pizza and little or no sleep. The writer makes frequent mentions of Winehouse's "trips upstairs" to her bedroom, which seem like not-so-thinly veiled references to some nefarious activity.

As for the thing that sets her apart from the legion of other bad girls with careers (and health) in jeopardy, Winehouse half-heartedly says her next album will be the "same stuff as my last album but with some ska." Asked if she's started work on it, she says, "It's not so much about recording, it's about whatever." She talks nonchalantly about her split with Mark Ronson, accusing the producer of being "uptight" and not getting her new direction.

The glimpse at Winehouse is about as sad as you might expect, but even more so given that she doesn't appear to care about the thing that brought her to our attention in the first place — her music.

(This report comes straight from London, where MTV News is covering the Police's final U.K. show. Check out the first post here.)

We spent the morning touring the festival grounds for the Hard Rock Calling in Hyde Park. Before we were allowed on site, we had to throw on some very stylish neon-orange-and-yellow vests (since the stage is still being built).

After walking around the grounds, I have to say that this might be one of the nicest locations for a festival, rivaling Lollapalooza's Grant Park in Chicago. There is a freakin' pond right behind the backstage entrance, plus people are riding horseback throughout the park — it's gorgeous.

Before the fest kicks off Saturday, there will be a special concert on Friday in the same spot, celebrating Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday. Among the performers, Amy Winehouse is "scheduled" to play, and the talk around town is whether she'll actually show up. One of the local gossip rags reported that her backstage dressing room has been turned into a makeshift clinic, just in case anything goes wrong. Oh, and there will be an ambulance standing by — you gotta love that free British health care.

Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to peep any of this. My neon-orange vest didn't give me the level-four clearance. Fortunately, the good folks at Hard Rock scored us tix to the event, so check back here Friday night to read my full report.