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| January 13, 2007 |
| Michael Jackson vs. the Medicine Man |
he good news is Michael Jackson appears to be taking his meds, if not actually paying for them. On time, that is.
A Beverly Hills pharmacy filed suit against the reclusive pop star Wednesday, claiming that Jackson was $101,926.66 behind on payments for prescriptions filled. On Friday, Jackson's rep, Raymone Bain, issued a statement saying the pharmacy "has been paid" and that the lawsuit was due to trouble the singer had with his former business managers, who he's now suing.
Mickey Fine Pharmacy sued Jackson for breach of oral contract and common count, meaning simply that the business' proprietors were after the money they were owed. According to the complaint, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, they sought the remainder of Jackson's bill as well as court costs and any other relief the court decided to award them. Jackson made his last payment to Mickey Fine in mid-2005 for prescriptions filled over the last two years, the lawsuit stated. Moreover, per court documents, the Thriller artist had not responded to monthly bills requesting payment. Sadly, the notion that Jackson hadn't made good on a pharmacy bill isn't exactly shocking. The legally beleaguered performer has been plagued with financial issues for years, coming close to bankruptcy at least several times and becoming the target of multiple lawsuits demanding payment for services rendered.
A sampling: In an April 2003 article on Jackson's finances in Vanity Fair, it was reported that, from October-December 2000, Jackson owed $62,645 to Mickey Fine, as well as $250,000 to his music attorney, $15,000 to his dermatologist, $99,831 to some place called Celebrity Costumes, $114,847 to the Hôtel d'Angleterre in Switzerland and $850,000 for "payroll." Another article about Jackson by Fox News in 2002 that focused on that same time period reported that Jackson also owed more than $500,000 to his litigation firms, more than $78,000 to two PR firms, $214,000 to two different limo companies and $200,000 to Santa Monica Video & Audio Center (which, on Jackson's behalf, is an authorized Sony dealer, after all). And that was before Jackson's 2005 trial on child molestation charges.
Since being acquitted of all charges, the erstwhile King of Pop has mainly been living abroad, shuttling between the Persian Gulf island of Bahrain and Europe and promising, then reneging on, plans for a comeback. He finally touched down in the U.S. last month, appearing to speak at the public memorial for James Brown in Augusta, Georgia last month. |
posted by viraks @ 6:49:00 AM  |
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| Madonna Urges Others to Adopt from Malawi |
Madonna and Angelina Jolie may have to agree to disagree on the matter of international adoption.After Jolie criticized Madonna's intended adoption of 16-month-old David Banda as "illegal" in a recent interview, Madonna has countered with her belief that she was "saving a life" by taking the Malawian boy into her home.
The Material Mom appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman Thursday and urged more potential parents to consider adopting from the impoverished nation, despite the complex legal issues surrounding the process.
"There's over a million orphans in Malawi, and in my opinion the laws need to change because these children need to be rescued," Madonna said.Just don't expect Jolie to look to Malawi when it comes time to add a new member to her family.
"Personally, I prefer to stay on the right side of the law," the Oscar winner and veteran adopter recently told French magazine Gala. "I would never take a child away from a place where adoption is illegal."
Even so, Jolie expressed sympathy for Madonna, stating she was "horrified" by the attacks to which the singer had been subjected and urging others to be supportive.Madonna acknowledged that she had been warned that adopting a child from Malawi would be difficult.
"My social worker...said, 'Good luck. You're going to be making it up as you go along,' " she recalled Thursday. "She didn't say don't do it, but she just said expect challenges, and, boy, did we get them."In the wake of the singer's controversial adoption, a coalition of 67 Malawian human rights groups challenged a judge's decision to grant Madonna and husband Guy Ritchie interim custody of David, accusing the couple of using their celebrity status to fast-track the process. |
| posted by viraks @ 6:38:00 AM |
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| Placido Domingo _ on the big screen |
That's the new role the superstar tenor is playing on Saturday at more than 100 movie theaters in the United States, Canada and Norway that are showing a live performance from the Metropolitan Opera — for little more than the price of a movie ticket.
In high definition, starting at 1:30 p.m. EST, Domingo will be performing the lead role of Oscar award-winning composer Tan Dun's "The First Emperor," which the 65-year-old singer premiered on the Met stage last month.The simulcast opera at movie theaters is part of an effort by Peter Gelb, the Met's new general manager, to popularize opera and draw bigger audiences to actual performances. (The Met sold only 77 percent of available tickets last season, down from 93 percent in 1999-2000.)
But it seems the Met at the movies is selling like hot cakes.Theaters nationwide showing a simulcast of Mozart's "The Magic Flute" on Dec. 30 reached 91 percent capacity, on average, selling out in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, Miami and Washington, D.C.
"The First Emperor" is the third of six Met movie-theater simulcasts this season."We're already an aging art form and we now have to make sure we are undertaking initiatives like this that will create audience development ... and connect the Met generally with its local, national and global fan base in a way that has not been possible previously," said Gelb, who took over the Met from Joseph Volpe last year.
He also has initiated broadcasts over the Internet and on digital radio.
While Met box-office figures for the current season are not in yet, it appears the high-tech, long-distance reach is paying off: All nine actual performances of "First Emperor" are sold out. So now, the only way to see Domingo as he performs the emperor's part is at the movies, in the 124th role of his career.The next movie theater simulcast is Tchaikovsky's "Eugene Onegin" on Feb. 24, starring Renee Fleming and Dmitri Hvorostovsky and conducted by Valery Gergiev. |
| posted by viraks @ 6:34:00 AM |
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| The Feeling : album review |
Changing life as we know it in England from where the band hails, the Feeling are likely to try the same on US shores as soon as they can get the music out. This four track EP (with video) precedes the 2007 release of their debut Twelve Stops And Home and gives a quick introduction that should leave you with the impression that these young men will one day be recording a concept album. They have a playful ambition underneath their sunshiny veneer. “All You Need to Do” may jolt like they’re on a magical mystery tour, but those are Pink Floyd-like noises happening underneath. So while building their own modest walls, the Feeling also recall several other folks they claim as influences in their approach. You’re free to think of Elton John and the Carpenters in your assessments, though they’re a tad more upbeat. A rainy day or a Monday might get them down, but not for long. |
| posted by viraks @ 6:29:00 AM |
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| Toni Braxton sues her former manager |
Toni Braxton sued her former personal manager Friday, saying he owes her at least $10 million for maneuvering to have her abandon a long, lucrative relationship with her record company and jump to his own record label.
The lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Manhattan accuses Barry Hankerson of putting his financial interests ahead of Braxton's and using fraud, deception and double-dealing to get her to leave Arista Records.
"Hankerson actively sought to destroy Braxton's relationship with Arista through underhanded `double-talk,' telling Braxton that Arista was not interested in working with her anymore, while telling Arista that Braxton no longer wanted to record for Arista," the lawsuit said.There was no public telephone listing to reach Hankerson for comment Friday, and a telephone listing for his company, Blackground Records, was not in service.
In March 2003, Braxton ended the business relationship she had begun with Arista in 1991, when she signed a contract that led to her 1993 debut album, "Toni Braxton." That recording rose to No. 1 on the "Billboard 200" and sold more than 10 million albums worldwide.Braxton received the Grammy Award for best new artist in 1993, and she won Grammys that year and the next for best female R&B vocal performance.The singer said in the lawsuit that she hired Hankerson as her personal manager in late 1997 and a year later the singer negotiated a new five-album deal with Arista, receiving more than $20 million in advances on the records.
In 2002, the lawsuit said, Hankerson began trying to drive a wedge between Arista and Braxton by fabricating creative disputes over the selection of songs, producers and video directors. |
| posted by viraks @ 12:44:00 AM |
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| Tenacious D, Two preteens perform with Tenacious D |
Jack Black turned his "The School of Rock" role into reality when he plucked two preteen musicians from obscurity and asked them to perform with his rock band. Black played a teacher who turns his class into a rock band in the 2003 comedy, directed by Richard Linklater.
The 37-year-old actor-musician was touring New Zealand's South Island with his two-man band, Tenacious D, when he spotted the boys performing for money in central Christchurch on Monday.
Impressed, Black asked the young duo to open Tenacious D's Christchurch gig on Tuesday, according to media reports.Drummer Max Tetley, 11, and guitarist Alex Philpott, 10, said they didn't sleep the night before the concert and had practiced their song — Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower" — only about 10 times before the performance.
"We'll be scoring heaps of chicks," Christchurch's The Press newspaper quoted the duo as saying. |
| posted by viraks @ 12:41:00 AM |
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| January 12, 2007 |
| Justin Timberlake Diaz call it quits, they say |
Justin Timberlake and Cameron Diaz are officially kaput.
The duo — dating since 2003 — confirmed their split Thursday in a joint statement.
"We have, in fact, ended our romantic relationship, and have done so mutually and as friends, with continued love and respect for one another," the pair said.
The two said they usually prefer not to comment on their relationship, but recent speculation and inaccuracies prompted them to issue the statement.
Timberlake just launched his "FutureSex/LoveSounds" tour and his feature film, "Alpha Dog," is scheduled to open Friday. Diaz most recently appeared in the romantic comedy, "The Holiday," with Kate Winslet. |
| posted by viraks @ 12:00:00 AM |
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| January 11, 2007 |
| James Brown |
The 5-year-old child of James Brown and his partner, Tomi Rae Hynie, is not included in the will read Thursday to six of the entertainer's children, attorneys for the late singer say.While the will provides for six children, Hynie's son, James Jr., is not one of those listed in the document, attorney Strom Thurmond Jr. told The Associated Press.
The will was read Thursday in Aiken but has not been filed in probate court, said Buddy Dallas, another Brown attorney.
Brown died Christmas morning at age 73.The gates to his home were locked soon after his death, Dallas said, until attorneys could get the estate's legal affairs in order.
The house is owned by the trust and "has been that way since August of 2000," Dallas said. "Technically, the trustees own it for the benefit of the trust. It was not in the name of James Brown and hasn't been that way for years."
Hynie's attorney, Thornton Morris, said he doesn't know anything about the will.
"She was locked out of the house so she doesn't know where the will that's being probated was found," Morris said of his client. "She has no knowledge to when this particular will was executed." |
| posted by viraks @ 11:48:00 PM |
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| January 8, 2007 |
| Elvis-Nixon meeting has fans shook up |
The meeting between two of the most improbable cultural icons of the 1970s lasted all of 30 minutes, but it has fascinated the nation for years.A photo of a cloaked and bejeweled Elvis Presley solemnly shaking hands with a grim-faced President Nixon remains the No. 1 requested document from the National Archives, nearly four decades after the secret meeting took place on Dec. 21, 1970.
Now, on what would be the King's 72nd birthday, the Richard Nixon Presidential Library & Birthplace is giving the curious public a good, long look at the relics of the coming together of The King and The President — and it's got Elvis fans all shook up.The free exhibit Monday includes the outfit Elvis wore (a black velvet overcoat, a gold-plated belt and black leather boots); Nixon's outfit (a gray woolen suit, tie and size 11 1/2 black shoes); letters; and a World War II .45-caliber Colt revolver that Elvis gave to Nixon.
"The two of them together somehow is almost incomprehensible," said Bud Krogh, Nixon's former deputy counsel who set up the impromptu meeting that day 36 years ago. "The king of rock and the president of the United States shaking hands in the Oval Office doesn't compute for a lot of people."The chain of events that led to the meeting began when a stretch limousine carrying Elvis pulled up outside the White House. One of his guards handed over a letter from Elvis addressed to Nixon requesting a meeting to discuss how the rock star could help Nixon fight drugs — including getting credentials as a "federal agent at large." |
| posted by viraks @ 12:50:00 PM |
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| Rihanna wins top Barbados music award |
Rihanna has won the top entertainer award for the second consecutive year at the Barbados Music Awards.The 18-year-old R&B singer, who was born Robyn Rihanna Fenty on this Caribbean island, won several other categories including best album for "A Girl Like Me" and best song for the Top 10 single "Unfaithful."
"I am always delighted to win awards, but it's especially great to win awards at home," she said. "I'm actually working on my third album, so you will be seeing and hearing a lot from me in the upcoming months."She closed the event by performing "Unfaithful" for a capacity crowd Friday night that included her mother, Monica Fenty, and Prime Minister Owen Arthur.
Rihanna, who moved to the United States from Barbados in 2005, edged out Mary J. Blige and Beyonce for the best female artist of the year award last month at the Billboard Music Awards
In November, she received the best R&B award at the MTV Europe Music Awards. She won the same category at September's Music of Black Origin awards in London.Her albums, "Music of the Sun" and "A Girl Like Me," were released on the Def Jam label. Island Def Jam Group is a unit of Universal Music Group, a subsidiary of Vivendi, a French media and telecommunications company. |
| posted by viraks @ 12:48:00 PM |
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| Van Halen, R.E.M. lead Rock Hall class |
Van Halen made a "jump" into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on Monday, along with Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five — the first rap act to be inducted into the hall — and R.E.M., the Ronettes and Patti Smith.A panel of 600 industry figures selected the five acts to be inducted at the annual ceremony, to be held March 12 in New York. To be eligible, artists must have issued a first single or album at least 25 years before nomination.
"R.E.M. and myself in particular are really terrible of looking backward," R.E.M.'s lead singer, Michael Stipe, told The Associated Press via phone from London. "I'm just really honored that they thought of us."Van Halen was the 1980s hard rock quartet led by guitarist Eddie Van Halen, outrageous lead vocalist David Lee Roth, and later, rocker Sammy Hagar, that put out hits such as "Jump" and "Dreams."Eddie Van Halen stood out with his blistering guitar solos; his feud with Roth led to Hagar's run with the band, which produced hits into the 1990s.
R.E.M. (Bill Berry, Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Stipe) was the quintessential indie rock band until breaking through to mass success in the early 1990s with songs like "Losing My Religion." |
| posted by viraks @ 12:45:00 PM |
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| Midler, Aguilera fete billionaire Hardy |
The billionaire owner of 84 Lumber could have only one 84th birthday party, so Joe Hardy's children were determined to make it one to remember.Christina Aguilera sang "Happy Birthday" to Hardy, who turned 84 Sunday, and Bette Midler performed with an orchestra. Robin Williams was the after-dinner performer.
"When they told me I was going to Semi-colon, naturally I said, `Why? Am I being punished?'" Midler quipped, referring to Nemacolin Woodlands Resort, Hardy's posh resort and spa in southwestern Pennsylvania, where the party was held.The celebration ran from 2 p.m. Saturday until 2 a.m. Sunday, so the 500 guests — including Gov. Ed Rendell, former Gov. Tom Ridge and Pittsburgh Steeler Troy Polamalu — could ring in Hardy's birthday as the clock struck midnight.
After Williams' performance, the comedian joined Hardy for a quiet chat in the cigar bar as the other partygoers danced to music provided by a disc jockey, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported Monday. |
| posted by viraks @ 12:40:00 PM |
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