Every day a multitude of stars wanders through the halls of MTV News to talk about their latest projects and goof around with our intrepid correspondents. But sometimes we catch stars elsewhere, and that's why we put together Spotted!, a daily compendium of stars in the wild.

While most of North America begins to settle into the crisp, cold winter months, Britney Spears is enjoying the birth of the Australian summer. She has taken her Circus tour down under for a series of shows, marking the first time that Spears has performed live in Australia. Though the shows have been wildly entertaining, things haven't gone entirely to plan. According to reports, fans walked out on the first few shows while complaining that the performance was "boring" and "stiff." That news reportedly upset Spears, whose tour promoter said, "I'm embarrassed, with such a big international entourage here with Britney, to be part of the Australian media when I see that kind of totally inaccurate reporting" and claimed the stories about fans exiting were total fabrications. There has also been a bit of controversy over Spears' lip-synching during the shows — in fact, the Fair Trade Minister of New South Wales suggested that tickets should come with a disclaimer letting buyers know which parts of the concert were pre-recorded. Despite all the controversy, Spears seemed to be in good spirits on her way out of her hotel in Perth.

Elsewhere, Kristen Stewart teamed up with Sugar Ray Leonard to fight juvenile diabetes in Los Angeles and a whole host of stars — including Anthony Kiedis and Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers — hung out at the Staples Center for the Lakers game on Sunday. Click here for these photos as well as the entire "Spotted!" archive, which contains more than 350 candid shots of stars like Beyoncé, Justin Timberlake, Lady Gaga, Madonna, Adam Lambert, 50 Cent, the Jonas Brothers, Rihanna and Taylor Swift!

Put 47 candles on the cake for Michael Balzary today, as it's another birthday for the man known as Flea. Back in the early 1980s, Flea and friends Anthony Kiedis, Hillel Slovak and Jack Irons formed the Red Hot Chili Peppers, a band that infused Los Angeles hardcore punk with Sly Stone-esque psycho funk, surf-friendly reggae and twists of metal and hip-hop. Flea's bass grooves stood at the center of the band's sound, so it's no surprise that on the band's biggest hits — including their 1991 smash "Give It Away" — the elastic low end acts as the hook. Throughout the band's long and sometimes troubled career, the diminutive bassist has always provided energy, creativity and plenty of pants-free performances.

He's also made a career as a coveted collaborator. He filled in on bass during the first Jane's Addiction reunion in 1997, formed a band with Johnny Depp called P, provided grooves for Alanis Morissette's smash debut Jagged Little Pill and was recently recruited for a still-unnamed project by Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke. He's also a passionate advocate for music education, and was so put off by the lack of music programs in Los Angeles public schools that he founded his own conservatory.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers have always had a stunning visual sense and have collaborated with some of the best video directors of all time. Flea's finest performance came in the 1995 video for the lead single from One Hot Minute, the only album the band made with Dave Navarro as their guitarist (and a total "Bargan Spin" if there ever was one). "Warped" is a supremely odd clip that nevertheless expresses the sort of energy that Flea has brought to the proceedings for more than 25 years.

By Cara Alwill

It seems like you can't throw a stone without hitting some kind of supergroup lately. The likes of Chickenfoot (Red Hot Chili Peppers' Chad Smith, guitar virtuoso Joe Satriani and former Van Halen members Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony) and the planned Trent Reznor/Gary Numan collaboration have brought together like-minded artists from disparate backgrounds and so far produced some interesting results. The latest marriage of rock royalty sees Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke joining forces with Red Hot Chili Peppers' Flea, OK Computer producer Nigel Godrich, Beck drummer Joey Waronker and percussionist Mauro Refosco (who has worked with They Might Be Giants and David Byrne). Yorke made the announcement on Radiohead's website earlier today that the group will make its live debut this Sunday and Monday, October 4 and 5, at Los Angeles' venerable Orpheum Theatre.

"In the past couple of weeks I've been getting a band together for fun to play The Eraser stuff live and the new songs to see if it could work," Yorke wrote. "We don't really have a name and the set will not be very long, but come and check it out if you are in the area."

Though Yorke has spent much of his time recently performing solo, and this new musical alliance should satiate his desire to bring The Eraser to the stage with a full band. Considering Yorke recently called his new song "The Hollow Earth" a "bass monster," Flea should be able to put his magical touch on that and other songs on the album.

By Cara Alwill

There are certain bands which seem to have boundless energy and vigor, and rarely disappoint when challenged with creating new music. The Red Hot Chili Peppers are undoubtedly one of those bands.

After taking a two year break from making music together and getting involved in a host of side projects, the boys are back and ready to hit the ground running. "We've decided to write some songs," frontman Anthony Kiedis told Rolling Stone recently. "We imposed a two year hiatus, which we felt we needed, then we went back to the roundtable and the decision was, 'Let's do this.'"

The Los Angeles natives have always had a unique, always-morphing sound. Led by Flea's funky bass grooves and Anthony Kiedis' half-soul, half-punk vocals, the Chili Peppers have consistently delivered hit after groundbreaking hit, from "Knock Me Down" to "Give It Away" to "Aeroplane" to "By the Way." But now that the quartet has regrouped after spending time apart, where will that leave their sound?
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A few big earthquakes hit the California coastline today, sending shocks into Baja, San Diego, Phoenix and Mexico. The series of four peaked at a magnitude of 6.9, though no major damage has been reported yet (probably because they originated off the coast). It's always a scary thing when the planet's plates decide to shift, but it's good to hear everybody appears to be okay.

If there's one band that lives and dies by the fortunes of southern California, it's the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The band — who recently announced that they would be getting back together in October after a two year hiatus — got its start in the greater Los Angeles punk scene and have since become a massive worldwide phenomenon. But even as they became one of the biggest bands in the world, their hearts never really left the city that gave them their start. A number of RHCP songs cite specific details and areas of L.A. (most notably "Under the Bridge"), but the triology of tunes they wrote about the character "Dani California" (spread over three albums) seem to capture the energy and feel of what it's like to live in the SoCal sprawl. The Peppers even gave rise to the term "Californication." They didn't invent it, but they certainly gave it meaning. The word — as well as the accompanying song and video — captures both the highs and the lows of Los Angeles better than any modern rock song. So as a tribute to anybody in SoCal who may have been freaked out by today's quakes, here's something to soothe.

After executive producer Al Jean mentioned it last week, representatives of the band confirmed today that Coldplay would make a guest appearance on an episode during the upcoming season of "The Simpsons." They'll join an impressive list of bands who have gone yellow for the show, including U2, the Ramones, the Who, Smashing Pumpkins and Metallica. Coldplay don't necessarily have the same cool cred as the bands above, but are they the most mediocre act to ever play a note with yellow skin? Here are the musical guests that give them a run for their money.

Shawn Colvin: Remember Colvin? She had a brief bit of success during the Lillith Fair era with her hit "Sunny Came Home," and she's one of the few musicians to appear on "The Simpsons" as a character and not herself. She played a singer in a Christian rock band who wooed Ned Flanders following the death of his wife Maude. Verdict: She appeared well after her caché had expired, though she was in the guise of a character and not herself, making it seem more like an acting performance than anything else. Plus, she appeared in more than one episode — no small feat for a "Simpsons" guest star.
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His dad was a small-time 1970s Los Angeles drug dealer known as "Spider" who hung out with rock stars and had a parade of girlfriends, one of whom he encouraged his then-12-year-old son to take topless photos of, but only after he'd gotten the tyke properly stoned. A year later, dear old dad arranged for his boy to lose his virginity, and, well, the rest is history. Or will be soon, as Variety reported today that Red Hot Chili Peppers singer Anthony Kiedis' colorful rock-and-roll upbringing will be the basis of an HBO series tentatively titled "Scar Tissue."
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By Elena Torres

Ever since I was 13 and bought the Californication CD back in 1999, I've always found some kind of weird way to identify with the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Since then I've seen them in concert three times, bought every CD they've ever made, read Anthony Kiedis' autobiography "Scar Tissue" and done everything else that goes along with being a superfan.

This weekend I got to add another item to my list of personal RHCP milestones: I got to interview Flea. The band's bassist held a charity event for the Silverlake Conservatory of Music, and MTV News was invited to the shindig. The Chili Peppers are currently on hiatus, and we wanted to get an update on what Flea has been up to in the meantime. Of course I made sure to be there. Read more...

Chili Pepper Anthony Kiedis is set to curate a new summer fest in...Pittsburgh?

The two-day New American Music Union will give attention to 15 new college bands -- and other little-known acts such as the Raconteurs and Gnarls Barkley. The college acts taking part will also be judged (like "American Idol"!), with the winner given a full day of recording in a top LA studio for free. American Eagle, which is sponsoring the fest, will also promote the band's record in their stores.

Tickets go on sale tomorrow.

The lineup thus far -- including the college acts in competition -- after the jump. Read more...

Prince has made a habit of busting out the odd cover now and then during his shows, from the Foo Fighters (“Best of You”) at the Super Bowl to Joan Osborne’s “One of Us,” you just never know what he’s going to hit you with. He pulled a major surprise over the weekend during his headlining set at Coachella, though, covering not only the Beatles’ “Come Together” but also Radiohead’s 1993 debut single, “Creep,” which he flipped from a grungy anthem of angst and self-loathing into a towering soul jam about longing that sounded like it could have been on his seminal Purple Rain album.

That got us thinking about all the other oddball Radiohead covers out there. No, not the cheesy business like Korn’s lounge-pop version of “Creep,” but things like Bilal and the Roots funking up “Everything In Its Right Place” at Clive Davis’ Grammy party last year, jazzer Brad Mehldau getting all meditative on “Exit Music (For a Film)” and Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante taking “Lucky” to the acoustic side.

Hell, everyone has taken a swing at “Creep” -- from Moby to Tears For Fears -- but one of the weirdest, non-hit-single covers is the glam-metal, high-kicking falsetto-rama of “Street Spirit (Fade Out)” unleashed by late, lamented English rockers the Darkness. The boys made it sound like a lost Judas Priest single from the early 1980s. And remember Panic at the Disco’s Queen-like emo take on “Karma Police,” complete with xylophone and cello?

Certain Radiohead tracks have been covered to death by a wide swath of pop and rock singers: “Fake Plastic Trees,” Alanis Morissette; “Karma Police,” Howie Day; “Knives Out,” Flaming Lips; “No Surprises,” Iron & Wine. But covers have also emerged from artists of just about every genre, perhaps taken with the English band’s majestic arrangements. From NPR-favorite classical piano player Christopher O’Riley, to string quartets, bluegrass pickers, and even dub reggae fanatics. (Awkward? Yes.)

And then, of course, there’s John Mayer, who not only raved about Radiohead’s “Kid A” but covered it and put it on the bonus disc of his Heavier Things album. That surely gives the kid more cred than that tattoo sleeve.