NAMES & FACES

Springsteen's Mea Culpa

Despite appearances, the Boss still cares about the Worker.

Bruce Springsteen, who is scheduled to perform the halftime show at tomorrow's Super Bowl, says he shouldn't have made a deal with Wal-Mart. This month, the retailer began exclusively selling a Springsteen greatest-hits CD.

Some fans criticized Springsteen because he's known as a longtime supporter of workers' rights, while Wal-Mart has faced criticism for its labor practices. Springsteen told the New York Times that his team didn't vet the issue as closely as it should have, and that he -- in full Super Bowl mode, fittingly invoking sports metaphors -- "dropped the ball on it."

Springsteen admitted flat-out it was a mistake, saying: "We missed that one. Fans will call you on that stuff, as it should be."

DMX Gets 90 Days

After more than a month in police custody, DMX has been sentenced to another 90 days in a Phoenix jail.

The rapper, whose real name is Earl Simmons, was also placed on 18 months' supervised probation, the Associated Press reports.

The sentencing follows a string of run-ins with law enforcement for Simmons, 38. He has been jailed since Dec. 9, when Miami police with a warrant arrested him for failing to appear in a Phoenix court. Simmons later pleaded guilty to theft, marijuana possession and animal cruelty charges.

An August 2007 raid at his suburban Phoenix home turned up guns, ammunition, three dead dogs and drug paraphernalia, authorities said. During a later search of the home, Simmons briefly barricaded himself in his bedroom before surrendering.

Aretha's Hat Dilemma

Love it or hate it, Aretha Franklin's hat might be here to stay.

That would be the gray wool hat with the huge, Swarovski crystal-encrusted bow that Franklin wore while singing "My Country, 'Tis of Thee" at President Obama's swearing-in Jan. 20. The Smithsonian Institution has asked Franklin to donate the hat to its collection, where it would join other items -- including Michelle Obama's white Jason Wu inaugural gown -- as part of an Obama inauguration exhibit.

In a statement released by her rep, Franklin said she's mulling it over. "It would be hard to part with my chapeau since it was such a crowning moment in history," she said. "I would like to smile every time I look back at it and remember what a great moment it was in American and African American history."

In the meantime, the hat is more popular than ever: It even has its own Facebook page.