Britney taking a tour break

Oops. Britney Spears won’t be doing it again soon. Touring, that is.

The newly-married singer is telling fans that, while she’s not quitting the business, as some have said, she’s taking a couple of years off before touring again. During that time, Britney says, she’ll concentrate on developing other artists. And doing her kid sister’s make-up.

“My new hobby is experimenting with all different types of art lessons,” Spears wrote in a new letter to fans. “Maybe I’ll even do my sister’s make-up next year for big events. ... At this point and time, what I want is not my face on every [magazine] cover, but someone else’s instead. I really want to help other people achieve their dreams and possibly even develop new artists.”

Spears also says she’ll be busy decorating her house and starting a family. She goes on to reflect, somewhat critically, on her last album, “In the Zone.”

“Looking back, I feel now that on my 4^th album ‘less is more’ should have been the way to go,” she muses.

Spears also promises that we’ll be seeing more of her new hubby, Kevin Federline . “When I really come back, things will be totally different,” Spears says. “Until then, there are some things close to me that you might be interested in seeing. For one, you will be able to get a taste of my fine hubby on a few covers.”

If we took a holiday

Maybe Madonna’s next single will be “Like a Tourist.”

The singer is becoming a pitchwoman for Israeli tourism, according to a source, who says that the Kabbalah-studying Material Girl is starring in 30-second TV ads urging people to visit the embattled country. “The message will be that Israel is a safe place to visit,” says a source. “She filmed the ads when she was in Israel recently.”

Tourism officials were so delighted with the publicity from that five-day visit, that they gave her an ancient oil lamp and a coin from the Byzantine period.

Madonna’s rep wasn’t available for comment, but the source says the ads may start airing as early as this week.

Notes from all over

Looks like the other woman in Mick Jagger and Jerry Hall’s marriage has struck again. Luciana Morad, whose pregnancy with Jagger’s son prompted the long-suffering Hall to finally dump the rocker — has been linked to another divorce. Morad now works as an entertainment reporter at Rede TV in Brazil, where she was spotted about town with Marcelo de Carvalho, the vice president of the station. For months, the married Carvalho denied that there was any hanky panky, and now he and his wife have split, and Cavalho and Morad are officially a couple. “Almost no one believes their claims that the affair started after his marriage was through,” says our source in Brazil. “Now that it’s official they’ve been photographed zillion times and she declares to be in love and happy not to be alone anymore.” The couple is denying rumors that they are expecting.  . . . Pierce Brosnan’s suggestion that Colin Farrell should play the next James Bond were picked up world-wide, but apparently he was only joking. “Enjoying the festive nature of the [Irish Film and TV Awards], Brosnan offered a playful description of his impression of the idea of bad boy Irishman turned Hollywood hell-raiser Colin Farrell contending with more respected actors for the role,” reports ElitesTV.com. “ ‘I’ll give it to Colin Farrell. He’ll eat the heads off them all,’ he joked.”  . . . Michael Moore actually has something nice to say about some members of George W. Bush’s family. Following the president’s re-election, the Bush-hating Moore has posted “17 Reasons Not to Slit Your Wrists.”  Reason #12: “Admit it: We like the Bush twins and we don’t want them to go away.”

Jeannette Walls Delivers the Scoop Mondays through Thursdays on MSNBC.com

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