THE WAITING GAME: Bell Biv DeVoe’s “Hootie...

THE WAITING GAME: Bell Biv DeVoe’s “Hootie Mac” album--the last remaining blockbuster still to come before Christmas--will be released Dec. 8 rather than the planned Nov. 24 due to delays in clearing the rights to recording samples used on the collection.

What, meanwhile, about all the rumors about a reunion of New Edition, the group that included the BBD members, as well as Bobby Brown, Ralph Tresvant and Johnny Gill? BBD’s Ricky Bell believes the reunion album and tour will happen within two years. “New Edition is the mother of everything,” he says. “That’s the ultimate goal, to get back together and tell our story, do a movie and a book, do the big concerts.”

Bell also denies rumors that BBD’s Michael Bivins might leave the group to concentrate on his alternate career in artist management and development. He currently oversees the careers of both Boyz II Men and Another Bad Creation. “We had to pull his collar a little bit,” says Bell. “But it never got to the point where we were uncertain about him staying. That was a given.”