Britney's coming to the RBC. This time, my daughter's not been bugging me to get tickets.

Between Katy Perry, Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift (scheduled to return in November after playing there last year), Raleigh's RBC Center is fast becoming Diva Central. And here are two more shows to add to that tally, Britney Spears and Sade.

Spears has already been announced for Aug. 24, with an "official" on-sale date of June 25. As for Sade, a tour schedule released by her record label lists RBC on Sept. 9 -- although that is one of five dates flagged with a "subject to change" asterisk, meaning that it's probably still tentative at this point. Sade's on-sale date and ticket prices are still pending. Meantime, she's confirmed for Charlotte on July 31.
 

There's no agency that monitors the ingredients of cosmetics, and there's no law that says cosmetic companies have to disclose all their ingredients.

Kinda scary when you think about it.

With that in mind, you might find "Not So Sexy," a report on perfumes from the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics and the Environmental Working Group interesting.

Okay, that's catty and unfair of me, declaring a show a "trainwreck" nearly three months before it happens. Who knows, maybe it will go off like clockwork and be an artistic masterpiece -- or maybe it will be one of those shows that generates puzzling headlines.

Either way, you can find out on Sept. 5, when the Britney Spears Circus Tour hits North Carolina. It isn't coming to the Triangle, of course. So if you care, you'll have to journey over to the Greensboro Coliseum. Tickets go on sale June 19 at 11 a.m.

Expect to see part of Britney Spears' comeback in Candie's clothes and shoes.

Her latest gig as spokeswoman for Candie's will show up in print, television, in-store and online marketing and advertising at Kohl's stores, which is where Candie's is sold.

Britney said the line "has such cool clothes and accessories."

There also will be plenty of integration with Britney's tour. In fact, Candie's hosted Britney's "First Look" tour video, which debuted yesterday at www.candies.com. The video gives fans a sneak peek into Britney's tour. Then look for Britney wearing Candie's apparel, footwear and accessories in upcoming music videos.

Toward the end of her interview on WUNC's "The State of Things" last week, Triangle expatriate Alina Simone mentioned that she's writing a book about her "strange adventures in Russian indie-rock." Plenty of raw material there, given that Simone has spent the past few years reclaiming her Russian heritage. Curiously, however, she's devoting a chapter in the book to Britney Spears, an object of fascination for Simone ever since she discovered that Spears' 2003 hit "Toxic" was inescapable even in deepest Siberia.

Simone says she's also going to record an EP of Spears covers, including "Toxic," "...Baby One More Time" -- and, of course, "Oops!...I Did It Again," a jailbait anthem that might be the skeeviest song in Spears' catalog. Saturday night at the Carrboro ArtsCenter, Simone closed her show with a jagged guitar version of "Oops!," to general confusion and amusement. Simone transposed the titillation of Spears' original to something like anguished paranoia, and it took most of the first verse for everyone to recognize the song. There were audible snickers the first time Simone got to the money-shot line: I'm not. That. Innocent.

It was a great shock-value moment, even if Richard Thompson beat her to it by a couple of years. How much you want to bet Thompson covers that one, too, when he plays the ArtsCenter in March?

ADDENDUM (1/26/09): Here's what was happening right next door to the ArtsCenter Saturday night.

SECOND ADDENDUM (7/21/09): More strange Britney covers.

...was the sound of several million political junkies frantically trying to remove the "Yes We Can" bumper stickers from their cars:

Guess you could call this payback for that anti-Obama "celebrity" commercial that John McCain's presidential campaign put out there. Here's a response of sorts, which nominates one of the unwitting stars of that spot as the perfect running mate for the McCain ticket.

Way tasteless -- but way funny.

(Thanks, Brian.)

ADDENDUM (8/19/08): Hey, John Rich, leave Johnny Cash out of this! And Obama "covers" Rick Astley.