Fresh off her announcement that she would tour Australia for the first time ever, Britney Spears on Wednesday revealed that she will also come back to North America for an extension of her  “The Circus” tour.

Spears will play arenas in 20 cities, starting with an Aug. 20 show in Hamilton, Ontario, and ending on Sept. 27 in Las Vegas. In between, Spears and company will touch down in Atlanta, Chicago, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Miami and Los Angeles, amid other stops.

Before Spears opened her “Circus” tour in March with a show in her native Louisiana, some had questioned whether she was ready for the stress of hitting the road again. The 27-year-old singer is under the conservatorship of her father, Jamie Spears, following a high-profile meltdown in 2007 and early 2008 that included stints in psychiatric care, an ugly divorce, shaving her head and partying without panties.

But the comeback tour seems to be going all right for the pop diva, who is currently performing in Europe. Concert trade publication Pollstar says her elaborate revue is one of the hottest tickets in North America this year with ticket sales of $61 million. The show features 50 dancers, magicians, clowns and acrobats and a production budget of $50 million and it travels in 34 trucks, her Jive Records label said.  

So with the November release of her chart-topping album “Circus” and with her song “Womanizer” scoring the singer her first No. 1 single in almost a decade, Spears seems to have proven that, if nothing else, she can still sell albums and pack music venues.

Does the tour prove that Spears is all the way back? And if you saw one of her shows, what did you think?

Game on. The race to 1 million followers on Twitter has a new player, after singer Britney Spears’ manager made it known she has joined the competition.

For those who have not heard about it, the race started earlier this week when actor Ashton Kutcher challenged cable news channel CNN to a Twitter duel, promising to ring CNN founder Ted Turner’s doorbell if he wins. Not one to shy from attention, CNN broadcaster Larry King put out a video online responding to Kutcher’s challenge. “CNN will bury you,” King vowed, as he also lectured Kutcher that Turner no longer runs CNN.

Then on Wednesday, Spears’ manager posted the following statement on her Twitter page. “Let’s get Brit across the million mark!,” he wrote. It was the equivalent of the United States joining World War I after sitting on the sidelines, because Spears is a Twitter powerhouse with more than 940,000 followers as of Thursday afternoon.

So far, Kutcher’s Twitter page sports more than 966,000 followers while CNN’s breaking news Twitter page has an impressive tally of more than 973,000 followers. 

The race goes on, but it could obscure the fact that even many avid Internet users are hardly fans of Twitter, which allows anyone to update friends and followers on the most minute aspects of their day. But it’s all for a good cause. Kutcher has pledged to donate to the Malaria No More fund if he wins, and CNN has agreed to also donate to the cause if it beats the 31-year-old actor and star of the movie “Dude, Where’s My Car?”

Britney Spears walked off the stage early during her concert in Vancouver on Wednesday, leaving stunned fans to boo and chant for half an hour while her handlers dealt with what they later delicately described as “a ventilation issue.” Translation: some of her crew members were reportedly sickened by the cigarette – or perhaps another sort of – smoke.

According to the Vancouver Sun review, the pop princess sang a few songs after taking to the stage at GM Place a little after 8:17 p.m. local time. But soon the stage mysteriously went dark, inspiring a few outbursts from impatient fans. A voice eventually came over the loudspeaker: “It’s become uncomfortable and unsafe for the performers, including Ms. Spears,” according to the report. “The show will resume as soon as the air around the stage is clear.”

The fans were not impressed, chanting and howling. The mood was “sour,” the Sun report said.

Spears returned to the stage about 9:05 p.m., performing for another hour or so as if nothing had happened. And the crowd’s spirits also appeared to lift, the report said.

Spears’ camp later issued a statement, saying: “We want to apologize to all the fans who attended our Vancouver show tonight for the brief pause in Britney’s set.  Crew members above the stage became ill due to a ventilation issue.”

Blogger Perez Hilton said Spears’ people were concerned that technicians high above the stage could become dizzy from fans’ marijuana, and he said Spears jokingly warned the crowd, “Don’t smoke weed!” as she left the stage at the end of the concert.

A spokesman for Orca Bay Sports and Entertainment, which owns the venue where the show took place told E! Online that early reports about dope smoking were unfounded and that the smoke was believed to be from cigarettes.

But, without being there, one wonders. Pot smoking has been taking place at concerts since the 1960s, and if it is true, one big mystery remains: Do Spears’ young fans roll their own, or get their parents to do it for them?

Lindsay Lohan’s breakup with celebrity DJ Samantha Ronson is good news for Eminem, who eloquently expresses his passion for the actress in his new video. 
    
The reclusive rapper took a swipe at the couple in “We Made You,” which was released on Tuesday, days after the women broke up.
    
In one scene, Eminem is driving a big rig while Lohan and Ronson lookalikes are making out next to him.
    
“He does not mean to lesbian offend, but Lindsay please come back to seeing men,” Eminem intones in his rapid clipped style. “Samantha’s a two, you’re practically a 10. I know you want me, girl. In fact I see you grin.”
    
Declaring that he’s “looking for more women to torture,” Eminem also claims he would be a better lover for actress Portia de Rossi than her wife Ellen DeGeneres. He also fantasizes about Sarah Palin, while a scantily clad lookalike of the former vice-presidential candidate poses seductively on her desk. 
    
Other targets of Eminem’s rapier wit include tabloid starlet Kim Kardashian, and singers Britney Spears, Jessica Simpson and Amy Winehouse.
    
“You think that’s bad. You should hear the rest of my album. Never has there been such finesse and nostalgia,” he promises in the video.
    
That album, “Relapse,” the follow-up to his 2004 release “Encore” is due in stores on May 19.

The critics largely enjoyed their trip to the circus with Britney Spears, as the 27-year-old troubled pop diva opened her latest Circus tour in New Orleans on Tuesday night to mostly positive reviews.
     
The New Orleans Times-Picayune said Spears, who was performing in her home state of Louisiana, nailed the first stop on her comeback.

“With so much at stake, and so much to prove, on the tour’s first night, she was fully focused on executing the complex concert. And execute she did,” Times-Picayune reviewer Keith Spera reported in a blog.

Los Angeles Times music critic Ann Powers wrote that  despite singing with a backing track, relying on “nothing special” dance moves and looking less strikingly beautiful than when she first gained fame at 17, Spears “nonetheless renewed her claim as one of the world’s most adept manipulators of the public interest.”

But People magazine writer Chuck Arnold was left feeling like the Circus Tour was full of hot air. “Don’t call it a comeback quite yet,” Arnold wrote, adding that Spears appeared nervous and hardly acknowledged or talked to the audience.
    
Arnold also said the show reminded him of Cirque du Soleil. “When she wrapped the concert about 90 minutes after emerging, she seemed more relieved than anything that it was all over,” he wrote.
    
Most agree the Spears show was heavy on spectacle and technically impressive, and almost everyone noted her lip syncing.  Some felt the production overwhelmed the star, while others said Spears looked great but seemed overburdened and distant. The show also was heavy on erotica, even though Spears still attracts many families with children in tow.

Spears will shuttle across the country at a dizzying pace in the coming months. She performs in Atlanta on Thursday, followed by Miami on Saturday and another show in Tampa the next night. Until the tour ends on June 14 in London, Spears will perform on many consecutive nights, as her Circus tour makes stops in Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and other cities.

 Will she be able to keep up with it all, or will the newly resplendent Spears start to get frayed at the edges?  
(Additional reporting by Kathy Finn)

Photo credit: Britney Spears performs for “Good Morning America” December 2008.  Lucas Jackson/Reuters

Pop diva Britney Spears will start her Circus Tour on Tuesday in New Orleans, and in advance of that show her camp released an online video glimpse of how the tour will look.

In many ways, the new Britney looks a lot like the old Britney. Video of rehearsals posted on MySpace show the pop star decked out in skimpy and outlandish costumes, including an imperial jacket with shaggy epaulets, a military jacket festooned with medals and a stripper-like outfit with long boots and a low-cut top. It’s a collection of looks familiar to those who have seen Spears’ past tours.

The  short video also shows the tour’s Circus theme. There are plenty of rings flying around and in one segment a magician in a top hat pulls his cape open, revealing Spears as she crawls out of a box.

Also, a set list for Spears’ tour was released on her Web site. It includes the songs “Piece of Me” and “Baby One More Time” from her previous albums, and the sexually suggestive song ”If You Seek Amy” from her latest album, which has upset parents’ groups.

Spears will be closely scrutinized during her 26-city Circus Tour. Her album “Circus,” released on her 27th birthday in December, topped the pop charts, but after a series of embarrassing incidents in 2007 and early 2008 that included attacking the paparazzi with an umbrella and being hospitalized for a psychiatric evaluation, celebrity watchers will pay close attention to the tour to see how Spears handles the pressure and to determine if her comeback is complete. Her 2007 performance at the MTV Video Music Awards was also billed as a comeback show, but she came off as badly prepared with feeble and confused dance steps, in a show that was roundly panned.

How does the video glimpse of Spears’ tour look? Is she bound to wow audiences with her singing and dancing again, or is there a danger of a repeat performance from her 2007 VMA show?

Curious about what your favorite singer listens to on their iPod?

Here comes a chance not only to find out, but to buy the personal playlist and the autographed iPod of 70 celebrities ranging from Madonna and Beyonce to Carrie Underwood, Britney Spears and fashion designer Marc Jacob.

Philanthropic Web site Tonic.com is auctioning off  between one and five of  the signed iPods every week from now until August and sending all the money directly to benefit Music Rising — an organization that replaces musical instruments that were lost or destroyed by Katrina and other hurricanes in the Gulf Coast region.

First up is Mariah Carey (clearly a big hip-hop fan), Gwen Stefani whose tastes range from Prince to Joni Mitchell, country star Faith Hill (who seems to have a fondness for someone called Tim McGraw?!) and Pete Wentz ( Mamma Mia! and the musical Wicked!??).

(Writing and reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis)

It’s been an eventful year in celebrity news, and even if it has been light on scandals , stars held the attention of fans. 
    
But some big names, notably Michael Jackson and Miley Cyrus, appear to have worn out their welcome, according to a fan poll from celebrity Web site Parade.com.

Some  41 percent of respondents said Jackson, who turned 50 in 2008 with no sign of making good on repeated promises of a comeback,  should officially retire. They also said the pop star’s antics are the most disturbing behavior from any Hollywood star. 

Fans chose Disney star Miley Cyrus as the most overexposed celebrity. At the age of 16.

The wedding of comedian Ellen DeGeneres and actress Portia de Rossi ranked as the year’s most exciting nuptial, with 29 percent of respondents choosing it as their favorite. The wedding was made possible by a California court ruling allowingt same-sex weddings that voters rejected in November,  but not before several gay and lesbian stars were married.

Singers Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale clinched the year’s craziest baby name spot by naming their son Zuma Nesta Rock Rossdale. Some 48 percent of poll respondents called the name, which brings to mind famous Zuma Beach in Southern California, the most out-there name of the year. 
     
 Fans thought  pop diva Britney Spears had the most improved reputation. As for the relationship between singer Lindsay Lohan and celebrity DJ Samantha Ronson, only 1 percent of respondents said that couple is “most likely to succeed.” 

How would you have voted?  Have Miley and Jacko really outstayed their welcome or would you still like to have them around for another few years?

(Writing and reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis)

Jason Alexander, not the “Seinfeld” star but the 27-year-old first ex-husband of  Britney Spears,  has been sent to jail on his court conviction for driving under the influence.
    
A judge has sent Alexander to jail for 10 days for violating his probation in the case,  the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, said on Thursday.
    
Because of jail overcrowding, Alexander could be released after serving about seven days, officials said. 
    
Alexander’s jail stint comes as Spears launched a career comeback with the release of her new  album “Circus” and the announcement of a U.S. and British tour. 
    
Spears and Alexander, a childhood sweetheart, were married in Las Vegas in January 2004, but the the marriage was annulled a couple days later on the grounds that Spears “lacked understanding of her actions.”

(Reporting and writing by Alex Dobuzinskis)

As she works on her comeback, singer Britney Spears awaits the release of her album “Circus” on Dec. 2. But fans can start delving into the album now with the release of extended segments from six “Circus” songs that were posted on Thursday at the Web site of New York radio station 103.5 KTU.

One of the songs, “Womanizer,” was already released in September, and another song “Kill The Lights” turned up on the Web site YouTube this week, then was taken down within hours and later reposted. With lyrics that include the words “Mr. Photographer, I think I’m ready for my close up tonight,” the song is a clear reference to her paparazzi-filled life. The video posted online for the song features images of Spears pole-dancing, demonstrating that Spears shows no signs of changing gears from the sex-fueled persona that helped shoot her to pop stardom.
    
Other songs included in the nearly 8-minute segment posted on Thursday at KTU’s Web site were: “Circus,” “Out from Under,” “If U Seek Amy” and “Unusual You.”
    
It remains to be seen how far the album “Circus” will propel Spears as she seeks to make a career comeback from the public meltdown she suffered in 2007 and early 2008. Since the album will be released on her birthday, the singer stands a chance to give herself an outsized present if “Circus” is a hit.