Incident nags Chris' career

Despite his various apologies, Chris Brown's efforts to atone for assaulting Rihanna may not be enough to satisfy fans.

The proof may be in the disappointing ticket sales for his upcoming ''Fan Appreciation'' tour -- tied to the release of his new album ''Graffiti,'' recently moved up a week to Dec. 8.

Sources at Jive Records tell the Sun-Times they are worried, believing Brown's core audience of young fans (and their parents) have yet to forgive him.

According to the New York Daily News, ticket sales for Brown's new concert dates -- beginning in Houston Nov. 14 and coming to Chicago's House of Blues on Nov. 26 -- are lagging, even though many of the venues are relatively small. Promoters worry there is a lingering backlash to Brown's conviction on charges of beating Rihanna in February.

The entertainer's manager disagrees and points to the weak economy as affecting the concerts, which he says will ultimately sell out.

Meanwhile, Brown again takes to the airwaves at 5 tonight on MTV, telling correspondent Sway, ''How do you go from point A to point B? How do you learn from your mistakes, turn it into a positive and help other people with the situation, and at the end of the day become the person that you want to be?''

Bill Zwecker,

Sun-Times columnist