Fast Track: Van Halen rocks NYC

A roundup of entertainment headlines for Friday.

Van Halen played a private show for journalists and music industry insiders at a tiny club in Greenwich Village Thursday night. (Wall Street Journal)

Will.i.am is becoming a car maker? (Wall Street Journal)

Josh Duhamel, Megan Fox, Robin Williams and Vinnie Jones star in the new trailer for... the Oscars (Los Angeles Times)

Doctors say Nick Cannon is likely suffering from acute kidney failure, a “silent” disease. (Los Angeles Times)

Ken Burns’ next project is “The Dust Bowl.” In 2012... prepare to get dusted. (He can use that if he wants). (Los Angeles Times)

Matt Damon has reportedly dropped out of his own directing debut film just three months after announcing the movie. (New York magazine)

Papers reveal that J.R.R. Tolkien was snubbed by the 1961 Nobel Prize jury for not writing stories up to snuff. (BBC)

HBO isn’t selling Netflix DVDs of its shows anymore. (CNET)

Yesterday, a Gawker writer used the N-word in reference to Kanye West’s Twitter rant. Today, that writer no longer writes for Gawker. (New York Observer)

Florida police are investigating director David O. Russell over whether he inappropriately touched his 19-year-old pre-op transgender niece. (TMZ)

Will Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis be the next celebrity couple to split? (Radar Online)

-- Patrick Kevin Day

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