FROM THE NEWS DESK: Will Britney Take The Stage? (May 1, 2007)

by McKay Heim and George Larrimore

WILL SHE OR WON’T SHE:We probably won’t know until showtime whether Britney Spears will actually go on stage at the House of Blues in San Diego tonight. The show by the cryptically-titled band “The M&Ms” was still on the HOB website as we were going online, despite rumors that she would pull out at the last minute. We’re told the show will be brief, about six minutes long. Regardless, the good news for Ms. Spears is that there is Buzz and Curiosity about her as a performer for the first time in ages. Two other shows are currently scheduled at the HOB in Anaheim Wednesday and at the House of Blues on the Sunset Strip on Thursday.

GOING HOME: Larry Birkhead and baby daughter Dannielynn are finally in her new hometown… Louisville, Kentucky. Our Bahama boys, Tony Potts and Buddy Singer, were on the plane as they finally left the islands today. Wonder how long it’ll be before there are no paparazzi parked in front of the house of The World’s Most Famous Infant.

GET A PIT BULL:Pamela Bach has hired a very high profile and very tough attorney to wage her side of the custody/visitation war with her ex-husband, David Hasselhoff. Debra Opri (widely known for repping Larry Birkhead in his custody battle and for her work with the Jackson family) hinted today (just before she and her client went to court) that this could turn out to be an ugly fight… very ugly. More on the charges she’s making tomorrow on Access Hollywood.

BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT: Often trouble-plagued singer R. Kelly watched the coverage of the shootings at Virginia Tech and it inspired him to write a new song called ‘Rise Up.’ It will be available digitally on 5-15 with all the money going to the Hokie Spirt Memorial Fund. Kelly says he hopes it will help people heal..

MAKE UP YOUR MIND: A Georgia woman who reportedly claimed that comedian Chris Rock is the father of her child now tells the AP that she’s not 100% sure. Rock says he’s more than willing to help support the child, if he’s the father.

FAREWELL, JACK: Hollywood and Washington came to say goodbye to legend Jack Valenti today. Kirk and Michael Douglas, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Steven Spielberg and other long time friends were at the Cathedral of Saint Matthew the Apostle – blocks away from the White House where Jack worked under President Lyndon Baines Johnson. “If you were Jack’s friend, your troubles became his troubles,” Kirk Douglas said. “When the time comes for me to be upstairs waiting for St. Peter to see me, I expect Jack to find me and bring me to the big man.” Others attending the service were Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Maria Shriver, Clint Eastwood and Warren Buffet where parts of Jack’s memoir, “This Time, This Place,” were read. Jack will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery on May 9.

MAY DAY TRIBUTE: Lastly, a May Day tribute to Francis Gary Powers, a name you probably won’t know. Powers was caught in the middle of a global crisis when his U-2 spy plane was shot down over what was then the Soviet Union on this day in 1960. He was killed in 1977 while piloting a helicopter for Los Angeles TV station KNBC. He had a wry sense of humor about his eventful life. When someone asked how high he was flying over the USSR he said “not high enough.”

We needs news and lots of it… e-mail McGeorge.News@nbcuni.com.