Thanks to Rachel for the following article!

Gwen Stefani’s been harping on the whole Harajuku look for a while now, and today is no exception.

Mrs. Rossdale’s backup singers will be doing a grand tour of New York’s Bloomingdale’s locations - first, they’ll perform at the 59th St location today at 12:30pm, then again on Friday at noon before they head downtown to the Bloomingdale’s Soho location for another performance at 3pm.

Their mini-concerts are meant to celebrate Harajuku Lovers’ new handbag collection, but this probably has more to do with not getting lost in the Fashion Week shuffle, being that Gwen will only attend as a guest, if that.

It’s not a bad idea - though we would have much preferred a window performance by Siri.

Source

More print ads have been added to the HL Flickr.

Harmonix gave a preview of full albums that will be avaliable to download and play along with for the computer game Rock Band 2.
No Doubt will have a special ‘Best of Compilation’ allowing No Doubt fans to play along with No Doubt’s greatest hits.
Other albums which will be available include Foo Fighters’ The Colour and the Shape, the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Blood Sugar Sex Magik, Jane’s Addiction’s Nothing’s Shocking, Megadeth’s Peace Sells… But Who’s Buying and Stevie Ray Vaughan’s Texas Flood.

There is no release date for the albums at this time but is expected within the coming months. Rock Band 2 is released on the Xbox 360 on 14 Sept, PS3 on 19 Oct and on the Wii & PS2 on 18 Nov.

Just a quick update on the latest offerings from Whatever It Takes, L.A.M.B. and Harajuku Lovers.

WHATEVER IT TAKES
Whatever It Takes have expanded their Gwen Stefani collection even further with yet more bags featuring Gwen’s artwork.
You can view/purchase at Regencies (with an unfortunate spelling error of Gwen’s) and Jennifer Kaufman. Items include wallets, duffle bags and totes.

HARAJUKU LOVER’S FRAGRANCE
A short while ago we mentioned a Harajuku Lovers promotional bracelet, avaliable as a gift with the purchase of all Harajuku Lovers fragrances from Nordstrom stores. This ebay auction has photographs of the bracelet (and is also selling the bracelet with 2ml rollerballs of all the scents).

Macy’s are also now selling solid compacts which are are the shape of the girl’s heads. We’re *assuming* it’s the bottom item show here, the set can be viewed at this ebay auction. The bag is Macy’s gift with purchase. The solid set retails for $60.

The fragrance bag is approx. 10 inches tall by 11 inches wide. It opens to 7 inches across in size and has two drawstrings to close.

If you spend $125 on Harajuku Lovers fragrances at Macy’s a ‘disco ball is the gift with purchase, viewable here

There are also Harajuku Lovers promotional purchase available as seen in this auction

L.A.M.B.

Girlabout at The Giant Peach (HL and L.A.M.B. retailers) have posted photographs of the upcoming L.A.M.B. sneakers for Spring 2009.

Katella tex called circles & triangles ($130)

A new style called “yorba” in “blizzard” ($200). The brown boot is called “lyden”.

A new style “caza” called “tribe b” ($135).

Here is an actual photograph of the shoes which Gwen Stefani and L.A.M.B. designed to re-interpret Dorothy’s red slippers from ‘The Wizard of Oz’.
The shoes are quite similar to L.A.M.B’s Dominic heels from last season, but of course adapted for it’s theme.

The entire Wizard of Oz Ruby Slipper Collection will be unveiled at Saks Fifth Avenue (New York) on 4 September before being displayed at New York Fashion Week in Bryant Park. The shoes will then go on a US tour before finally being auctioned off with proceeds going to theElizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation.

Other designers who participated are Alberta Ferretti, Christian Louboutin, Diane von Furstenberg, Jimmy Choo, Manolo Blahnik, Moschino and Oscar de la Renta.

Credit goes to Justanexgurl7/Niky

L.A.M.B’s annual fashion show at New York Fashion Week is looking doubtful according to sassybella.com.

Gwen has always shown determination to put on a show, even during a busy schedule. Four months after the birth of Kingston, L.A.M.B. delievered a low-key show for press and buyers for the Spring 2007 collection. After this, L.A.M.B’s Spring 2008 show happened half-way through Gwen’s Sweet Escape world tour. Gwen took out two weeks from touring and slotted the show inbetween two concerts in Hawaii and just before the start of her European dates.

New York Fashion Week starts in less than two weeks, how would the same be possible after Gwen only gave birth to Zuma a week ago?

Despite there being no official confirmation Sassybella states:

L.A.M.B. will indeed lay fallow this season. A presentation of the line IS NOT mentioned on the official Mercedes Benz Spring 2009 Fashion Week schedule nor is a private presentation listed off-site.

However, L.A.M.B. do have other plans.

Sassybella will give an exclusive report on L.A.M.B. Spring 2009 from the L.A.M.B. showroom, probably during New York fashion week. Other press and media is expected to report from here.

This will mark L.A.M.B.’s 10th clothing collection since its debut in Spring 2004.

We would all like to wish Tony Kanal a happy 38th birthday today.
Tony Kanal was born 27 August 1970 and was raised in London, England. He moved with his family to the US when he was 11. Here they opened the store “Kanal’s Gifts and Fashion”.
Dave Carpenter (the brother of saxophonist, Eric Carpenter) taught Tony the bass when he was 15. He joined No Doubt in 1987 after an audition and took on the roles of bass player and band manager.

In his personal life, Tony has been dating actress Erin Michelle Lokitz since 2002.

As part of our mini tribute, behind the cut is Tony Kanal performing London Calling with various other artists at The Grammy Awards.
(more…)

Some online websites are reporting that Gwen Stefani has been discharged from hospital meaning little Zuma is well and healthy.
There are no paparrazi photographs of her leaving, or of Zuma yet, so let’s hope that they get to enjoy this special moment in private.

Nevermind, it looks like Pinkisthenewblog have a photograph of Gwen and Gavin leaving in their car (without any sign of a baby, but they are presuming he is there).

Picture is taken from Pinkisthenewblog, originally fromINF Daily (though their site doesn’t seem to have any more photographs).

We would all like to wish Adrian Samuel Young a happy 39th birthday today.
Born August 26, 1969 in Long Beach, California, Adrian joined No Doubt in 1989 after being a fan of the band for 2 years.
On 16 January 2000, Adrian married Nina Kent. Their son, Mason James Young was born on 9 February 2002.

Some Adrian quotes;

“It was weird because at the MTV awards, the Spice Girl’s manager tried to get me to back off when I went to change in their wardrobe room. I was just getting out of my p*ss-filled diapers’”.

“I used to be a hard-core partyer. But Mason needs me. I am more cautious about everything now,”

For the latest news on Adrian, check our Adriannews feed.

View personal photos of the band and their trainer, Mike Heatlie, on his Flickr account.

Baby-name experts have graded the name, Zuma Nesta Rock Rossdale a C- on the Associated Press website. They analysed the structure for flow and also it’s inspiration.

All experts seemed to agree that Gwen and Gavin have picked a unique and strong name, perfect for growing up in the ‘creative community’, it should encourage a future career in music or acting. However, their main problem seems to be that Zuma and Nesta are both too feminine and are intended to be names for girls.
Jennifer Moss, founder of babynames.com even suggests that Zuma goes by the name Rock Rossdale “because that’s probably the only normal name in there.”

There’s only one percent of people (surveyed on Babynames.com) that said they loved it. And 50 percent said they hated it.

Read the feature on Associated Press.

Currently our own poll (a few posts down), shows that more visitors love the name, than those who hate it, although it’s still very close.Thanks to those who voted and commented.

Whatever it Takes have added even more products featuring the same artwork by Gwen.
There are two different bags, each are available from Bakers Shoes, priced at $45.

Choose your favorite celebrity’s design to show your support for the charities that will be collecting from our handbag purchases. Dimensions 14.5″L x 9.5″H x 6″W. Material/Canvas.

They only ship within the U.S.
One is already listed on ebay, visit for more photos.

Thanks Ellen

From the official No Doubt YouTube page (NoDoubtTV).
No Doubt perform Sixteen on Grad Night at DisneyLand in June 1995 (Gwen wears the red Tragic Kingdom album sleeve dress).
After the performance, the video switches to a clip of Gwen singing It’s a Small World while at the ride in Disneyland.

Baby name expert Pamela Redmond Satran explains to US Magazine, the reason behind the name Zuma.

“They’ve continued their own place-naming tradition by naming their son after Zuma Beach in Malibu,” Satran explains, citing a profile of Rossdale which said he had an epiphany that began his career.

“He was standing on Zuma Beach in the early morning after working all night as a production assistant on a music video and was quoted as saying he realized he was wasting his time,” Satran says. “He drove up the coast, slept in his car, and started making the moves that would launch his career.”

Full article here

Douglas Rossdale also spoke to US Magazine.

“Everyone is just so very happy,” Rossdale’s father Douglas told Usmagazine.com Friday morning. “It’s fantastic news, and I’m just so happy.”

He said he “can’t wait” to meet the little guy.

“I’m always proud of Gavin and my grandchildren,” he added.

Full article

Not sure how we missed this one, but apparently Kingston and Britney Spears’ son, Sean Preston, had a little play date in their neighborhood recently.
Check X17 Online for more photos and information.

Zuma is rare as a first or surname in the US. It comes from the name Zulema, of Arabic origin, and its meaning is “peace”. It sounds like Cyma, Syma, Sima, Cima and Soma. Other similar baby names are Zuba, Yuma and Zulma.

Nesta is pronounced NESS-tah. It is of Welsh origin and avariant of Agnes. It means “pure and holy”.

Rock is a variant of Rocco (German and Italian origin). Actor Rock Hudson, who was originally named Roy Scherer, made the name famous. It means “rest”.

Other name trivia;

Zuma Rock (together) is a large monolith located in Nigeria. It is sometimes referred to as “Gateway to Abuja.”

As mentioned before Bob Marley’s birth name was Robert Nesta Marley. He also passed down ‘Nesta’ onto his son Ziggy Marley (real name David Nesta). Ziggy then went on to pass ‘Nesta’ down to his second son by naming him Gideon Robert Nesta.

Official statement from Gwen Stefani’s website

Zuma Nesta Rock Rossdale

Kingston, Gwen and Gavin Rossdale welcomed the newest member of their family- Zuma Nesta Rock Rossdale - at 12:46 PST on August 21, 2008. The couple’s second son, Zuma was born weighing 8.5 lbs. Mother, baby and family are all happy and healthy.

View here at Gwen Stefani .com

Also no doubt .com

MTV reports:

It’s also unclear how the 38-year-old Stefani and 40-year-old Rossdale settled on the name Zuma, although it’s worth nothing that there’s a Malibu, California, beach called Zuma not far from the couple’s Los Angeles home. Neil Diamond named one of his albums Zuma in honor of the same beach. Zuma is also a popular surname in South Africa. Also, the baby shares one of his middle names, Nesta, with Bob Marley.

mtv

from E! News

UPDATE: E! News has confirmed Gwen Stefani gave birth this morning. We still don’t know whether it’s a boy or girl, but sources say the baby’s name is Zuma. More details to come as we get them!

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Love, angel, music…baby?

An early-morning hospital run for Gwen Stefani has set tongues wagging that the pop star may finally be ready to deliver baby No. 2 with rocker hubby Gavin Rossdale.

Photographers have set up camp outside Los Angeles’ Cedars-Sinai Medical Center after the singer was spotted entering the hospital early this morning, though at least one family member said there’s no big announcement to make…yet.

“That’s not…that didn’t happen today,” the No Doubt frontwoman’s sister-in-law, Jennifer Burke Stefani, told E! News.

When that does happen, it will be the second child for the 38-year-old singer and the 40-year-old rocker, who already have a 2-year-old son, Kingston.

It’s not the first time a hospital run has set off reports of an impending delivery.

On Aug. 7, Stefani also got paparazzi in a tizzy when she showed up at Cedars-Sinai for what turned out to be a simple 30-minute checkup.

Stefani-Rossdale family members have an uncanny knack for serving as reliable mouthpieces for the couple. News of the pregnancy was first broken back in January, when Gavin’s father, Douglas Rossdale, confirmed the bun in the oven.

News broke out earlier this morning that Gwen has checked in and is ready to deliver baby #2.
Get updated by visiting the official No Doubt Community thread.
We’ll post more updates later.

As you all probably know, Harajuku Lovers perfume is being released in the US at the moment.
The fragrances won’t be released in the UK until 1 February 2009 (official word from Coty).

In the US, buy all 5 fragrances and receive an exclusive Harajuku Lovers charm bracelet.
View our Harajuku Lovers community for more information.