BITS AND PIECES 01/30 Part 1
PUSSSYKATT
--Senator Joe Lieberman asking MTV to cancel, tone down or move Jackass to a
later hour after a Connecticut youth set himself on fire in an apparent attempt
to imitate a stunt performed on the show.
--The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences reportedly negotiating to
have acid-tongued nominee Eminem perform at the 43rd annual Grammy Awards
February 21 on CBS. But the rapper has not decided whether he wants to take
part, his label tells Reuters.
--The New York Daily News reporting that Michael Jackson plans to open his
Neverland Ranch in California for a two-day conference on the fundamental needs
of all children. The King of Pop has invited leading child advocates from
around the world to share their opinions.
--Former Playboy Playmate Anna Nicole Smith acknowledging she has expensive
tastes, but denying that she married her late 90-year-old husband only for his
oil fortune. "It's very expensive to be me," Smith told jurors in a Houston
probate trial to determine who will get the $1.6 billion estate.
--While attending Italy's Rudolph Valentino Awards Saturday, Leonardo DiCaprio
reveals the initial W. in his middle name stands for "Wilhelm." It comes from
his mom's family, which is German.
--Robert Downey Jr.'s lawyers have succeded in postponing Monday's scheduled
hearing in his latest drug case. The actor's reps say they need time to analyze
lab tests. If convicted, the actor would face more than four years in prison.
He's due back in court February 21.
--French actor Jean-Pierre Aumont, who garnered acclaim on stage and screen
with films such as Day For Night and 1995's Jefferson in Paris, died Tuesday.
He was 92.
E! ONLINE...by Chuck Kim
--Mr. Bean might be foiled by those meddling kids and their dog. British
funnyman Rowan Atkinson is in negotiations to play the bad guy in the
live-action version of Scooby-Doo opposite Sarah Michelle Gellar and Freddie
Prinze Jr. Cameras roll February 13.
--The always experimental Harvey Keitel has signed on to the Spanish-language
film Ninguna Parte. Keitel, who speaks his role in English, plays a Vietnam vet
in South America who schemes on freeing five political prisoners. Cameras roll
in March.
--William Shatner is going where he has gone before--as host of a beauty
pageant. Fresh off his knee-slapping turn as a smarmy emcee in Miss
Congeniality, Shatner beams aboard the Miss USA Pageant. The show, which
organizers promise will be radically different from years past, airs March 2 on
CBS.
--The Full Monty's Mark Addy punches the clock with Guy Pearce in The Time
Machine. In the latest adaptation of the H.G. Wells classic, Pearce stars as
the inventor who builds the vehicle capable of projecting travelers into the
future, and Addy is on board as the best friend. Shooting begins in February.
NY POST/MICHAEL STARR.....
--Lifetime won the prime-time cable crown (over 1.6 million households) in
January for the first time in its history. It's also the first time in memory
that a "niche" network (women, in this case) has accomplished this feat in
prime-time territory long dominated by USA and TNT. Helping Lifetime snag the
honor was its original series "Strong Medicine" and "Any Day Now" and the
record-breaking premiere of "The Division," the highest-rated series in
Lifetime history. Lifetime's "Intimate Portrait" bio series was also up 25
percent over Jan. 2000, while the movie "What Makes a Family" (starring Brooke
Shields) and the documentary "All Kinds of Families" pulled stellar numbers.
--Robert Urich, last seen doing an electric toothbrush infomercial, is headed
back to prime time. Urich (too many series to name) and Pat Morita ("The Karate
Kid") have been cast in an episode of NBC's "First Years," airing later this
spring. The show, an ensemble drama, follows recent law school grads as they go
out into the "real" legal world. It stars Mackenzie Astin (son of John Astin
and Patty Duke), Ken Marino, Samantha Mathis and Eric Schaeffer, among others.
In the episode, Urich plays Miles Lawton Sr. (father of Marino's characater), a
well-regarded architect with a history of sexual harassment accusations and
out-of-court settlements who finds himself at his son's law firm to fight yet
another allegation (apparently unfounded). Morita plays a man with a Santa
Claus fetish who has a dispute with his local homeowners association. "First
Years" is scheduled to launch in mid-March.
--Leon Spinks emerges from the "Where Are They Now?" bin on tomorrow's "Judge
Mathis" to sue a fighter Spinks claims reneged on an appearance fee.
--Erin Brockovich guest-hosts "Live with Regis" tomorrow. Guests include Craig
T. Nelson.
NY POST/PAGE SIX...
--BEING rap royalty didn't guarantee you time on the karaoke stage at p.r.
powerhouse Lizzie Grubman's 30th birthday bash at Moomba on Monday night. Jay-Z
and rapresario Damon Dash had to cool their heels in a booth with Ja Rule and
Loud Records honchos John and Steve Rifkin, while mouthwatering mannequins
Carmen Kass, Frankie Rayder and May Anderson monopolized the mike, warbling an
off-key version of Madonna's "Borderline." Also getting down were Carson Daly
and Tara Reid, Lisa Ling, Veronica Webb, Rhea Durham and Shoshanna Lonstein.
--SOME women might be proud to be associated with Marc Rich, the Belgian-born
billionaire who was just given a presidential pardon on his tax troubles. But
Catherine Oxenberg isn't one of them. When we mentioned the other day that the
former fugitive was rumored to be the father of Catherine's child, we received
a threatening letter from her lawyers claiming the story defamed her good name.
Oxenberg - the daughter of Princess Elizabeth of Yugoslavia - has never
publically identified her child's father. But the sperminator must be a man of
real quality. Catherine wants it known she has never even met Marc Rich.
--A man named Chad Michael Milligan, 28, petitioned the court in Jackson
County, Ore., to change his name to Donald Trump Jr. The petition was denied .
. .
--Playboy's March issue will be its first ever "music issue" and feature the
girls of the Hard Rock casino/hotel in Las Vegas . . .
--Jazz-loving pundit Stanley Crouch sounds like Barry White for good reason.
They went to grammar school together in Los Angeles.
--FORMER Bloomingdale's boss Marvin Traub got more than he bargained for when
he turned his $7.5 million mountaintop mansion into a party pad at the Sundance
Film Festival. The 75-year-old mogul allowed p.r. vixen Cygalle Dias to host a
string of upscale soirees at his new Utah digs, dubbed "Synergy Spa at
Sundance," in the hopes of building a buzz about the house before selling it.
Traub was thrilled when Justin Timberlake, Billy Zane, Danny Glover, Rita
Wilson, Piper Perabo and Patrick Swayze partied at the red-hot house, but
wasn't prepared for the rambunctious revelry that inevitably accompanies
nightly bashes. After one impatient partygoer rammed his car through the
security gate during a blowout for the Spike Lee-produced movie "3 a.m.,"
Traub's fun-hating daughter Peggy shut the party down and kicked everyone out.
The next morning, the Traubs discovered soiled carpets, a hole near their front
door, frozen beers mysteriously hissing in the fridge, and two balls missing
from the pool table. Traub wasn't the only one ill-prepared for a full week of
Synergy soirees. Model/actress James King and Mariel Hemingway - who bunked at
the house along with Carmen Electra, Shannon Elizabeth, Jeff Goldblum and Guy
Pierce - both moved out in favor of quieter digs.
--"BASIC Instinct II" just won't die, even though directors and leading men
have been shunning the sequel. The latest to drop out is David Cronenberg, who
Sharon Stone describes as "best of friends." "His absence from this project is
a sad loss," she told PAGE SIX. "However, the producers are in negotiations
with a terrific director, and we are thrilled about him." Stone wouldn't name
the director, or the leading man who's been signed up. "It's her secret," said
her spokeswoman.
--TALK show host Montel Williams is pursuing a new passion - snowboarding. The
chat king surfed the slopes in Utah last week and takes snowboarding sojourns
to Italy and Lake Tahoe next month. "Snowboarding is one of the only things
that counteracts what's going on inside of me with MS [multiple sclerosis],"
Williams told PAGE SIX at the Fall/Winter 2001 preview party at the Cerruti
showroom Monday night.
NY POST/NEAL TRAVIS...
--PEOPLE are wondering about Cher’s apparent hiatus from recording and films,
but I hear she’s very keen to star in a movie about the life of wealthy
17th-century eccentric Elizabeth Bathory. Like Cher, this lady searched for the
fountain of youth - and believed she’d found it through bathing in the blood
of virgins. That’s one cure we can be pretty sure dear Cher hasn’t tried.
--WHILE I reported the other day that some in the Kennedy clan have been slow
to praise and promote Kevin Costner’s fine film "13 Days," you can’t say
that about Sen. Edward Kennedy. Teddy, who was there for the Cuban Missile
Crisis, was recently on CNN saying nice things about the movie and suggesting
that Costner got it right.
--SEEMS Madonna is a bit forgetful. One of the presents she got at her recent
wedding to director Guy Ritchie was a copy of "Cooking From Lake House,"
written by her pal, Sting’s wife, Trudie Styler, who originally introduced
the couple. It was inscribed: "To Mrs. Ritchie from Mrs. [Gordon] Sumner
[Sting’s real name] - put your pinnie on, love." (That’s English for apron,
or pinafore.) Madonna forget to take the book with her after the wedding, but
honest staff people have now returned it to her, and I guess she’s cooking up
an organic storm.
NY POST/CINDY ADAMS...
--LAST June, Newmarket Press published "Gladiator: The Making of the Ridley
Scott Epic," an illustrated volume on the bringing of old Rome to the big
screen. Now publisher Esther Margolis, who obviously goes to the movies, has
picked another winner. "Traffic." Just put out its screenplay in her company's
Shooting Script imprint. Coming up next . . . and fast . . . in time for the
Oscars, are her books on "Cast Away," "Erin Brockovich," "Nurse Betty,"
"Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon." Scientologist L. Ron Hubbard's bomb, the one
John Travolta made, did not make the cut.
--TV's journalism community is saying not nice things about CNN's mammoth
cutbacks. Always the last bastion in terms of unconditionally reporting pure
news, all news, the best news, the fastest news, the absolute first one out
there internationally wherever everywhere anywhere with the news, its news
department has just been bastardized. Ted Koppel calls it "a tragedy."
--Last week. Golden Globes. Renee Zellweger racing up belatedly when her name
was mentioned? It's thanks to Barry Diller, chairman of USA Networks, who's
savvy enough to pull a female awardee out of the can. He and Renee's agent,
Kevin Huvane, were standing right outside as Renee chatted up Anne Heche
inside. When Hugh Grant announced Renee as the winner, Barry corralled Erika
Christensen - who plays Michael Douglas' drug-addicted daughter in "Traffic" -
to run in and get her.
--THOSE old broads Elizabeth Taylor, Shirley MacLaine, Debbie Reynolds, Joan
Collins - with their bawdy humor, ability to rebound from life's challenges,
and combined total of 15 husbands, 10 kids, 12 grandkids - dish their coming TV
movie, "These Old Broads," in Family Circle's Feb. 20 issue. Collins, MacLaine,
Reynolds play ex-musical stars who loathe one another. Taylor's their
man-crazy, pot-smoking agent. Author Carrie Fisher says: "It was like having
four mothers. Joan wanted the last word, Shirley wanted to include all her past
lives, Elizabeth wanted the confrontation scene with my mom to be the real
deal." On the set they told war stories. Like Elizabeth about taking Debbie's
then-husband, Eddie Fisher, away: "I did you a favor." Debbie: "I was perfectly
capable of losing him myself." Like Debbie to Shirley: "Hey, stop talking on
the phone to your other life." Or to Joan Collins: "Let's go, dear. You can
only put on so much lipstick."
NY POST/LIZ SMITH...
--JENNIFER LOPEZ has the Midas touch. Her career is sizzling with the release
of "The Wedding Planner," which took the top movie spot over the weekend. And
her club, Conga Room in L.A., co-owned with Jimmy Smits is also hot. Celebs and
just plain folk gather nightly for Nuevo Latino eats and steamy salsa dancing.
Just the other eve, Joe Roth of Revolution Studios threw a bash for the
completion of his "American Sweetheart" movie at Conga Room. On hand - Julia
Roberts, Catherine Zeta-Jones, John Cusack, Billy Crystal and others who love
all things Latin . . .
--SAMANTHA RONSON, one of N.Y.C.'s top deejays was flown into Sundance last
week to spin for the fabulous ones attending a series of Hugo Boss soirees in
Park City, Utah. Dancing shoes were donned by the likes of Patrick Swayze,
Stephen Baldwin, Julie Delphy, Paris Hilton, Ione Skye and inveterate
party-girl Rachel Hunter. Everybody agreed that Ronson knew how to keep them on
the floor and twirling . . .
--ALSO IN Sundance, much fun was had at Nike-hosted Celebrity Snowboarding
Clinic where amateur bravehearts such as Matt LeBlanc, were shown the ropes by
the likes of professionals Matt Donahue and Janna Manfredi . . .
--AND HERE'S one last bit of fun from Sundance, which illustrates the perils of
partying. Josh Hartnett and Andrew Keegan nicely invited their driver to come
on into a mixer and join the fun. Half a dozen hot-toddies later the driver was
so wasted that Hartnett and Keegan had to drive their tipsy charioteer home!
--RONALD REAGAN will be 90 years old on Feb. 6. He is only the third former
president - following Herbert Hoover and John Adams - to reach that milestone.
Hoover lived only 21/2 months after his 90th and Adams lived eight months. The
United States now has six living presidents for the first time in its history -
Reagan, Gerald Ford, George Bush, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and current White
House occupant, George W. There are seven living first ladies - Lady Bird
Johnson, Betty Ford, Rosalyn Carter, Nancy Reagan, Barbara Bush, Hillary
Clinton and Laura Bush, our reigning first lady. Incidentally, didja know that
the Secret Service code name for Vice President Dick Cheney is "Clear" Is that
clear?
--ENDQUOTE: "The last 10 minutes are over the top - even grotesque, ghastly and
horrific. But at the same time elegantly done!" So says one TV producer who
attended the all-media screening of "Hannibal" in L.A. Well, there's nothing
like a little elegant grostesquerie, a genre in need of resurgence since the
passing of the great Vincent Price.
NY DAILY NEWS/RUSH AND MOLLOY....
--Prince William is learning that it's good to have friends in high places. The
principal of the college he'll be attending in the fall, Dr. Brian Lang, has
warned students that they'll face expulsion if they leak stories about their
new classmate. The prince is due to start a four-year course of study in art
history next October at St. Andrew's College in Scotland. Lang is also doing
his part to protect the prince physically: according to London's Telegraph,
he's giving up his official residence, a mansion near the fabled St. Andrews
golf course, so that the art-history department can be consolidated under one
roof — presenting fewer photo opportunities for the paparazzi. London's Daily
Express reports that a recent security sweep of the town of St. Andrews
uncovered a number of sophisticated bugging devices that would have allowed
snoopers to monitor Will's phone calls and online activity.
--Is Jennifer Love Hewitt living in fear? A law enforcement source reports that
the actress has a stalker. Spies on the New York set of "The Devil and Daniel
Webster" say the threat is serious enough for Hewitt to have a bodyguard.
Hewitt's spokeswoman assures us: "She doesn't have that kind of issue." Let's
hope not. Frank Zappa's daughter Moon just went to L.A. Superior Court to apply
for a temporary restraining order against a man who allegedly threatened to
kill her. Mark Brownfield, who claims the then-14-year-old Moon and her father
stole the lyrics of the 1982 hit "Valley Girl" from him, pleaded not guilty
last month to making death threats against Zappa. Nevertheless, a judge ordered
him confined to a psychiatric ward based on a threatening letter.
--John Priest got off on the wrong foot at the Golden Globes last week. The
comic, known for routines like what happens when you're behind Madonna and
Gwyneth Paltrow in a power yoga class, thought he'd gotten lucky on the red
carpet when Lucy Liu started chatting him up. "But she's very soft spoken, so
I had to lean in real close to hear what she was saying," Priest, who's at
Carolines Comedy Club tonight, told us. "It was, 'You're standing on my
dress!'"...
--Tom Arnold is not fooling around about sobriety. When the comedian was
offered a canned soft drink at Maxim's Super Bowl party Saturday night, sources
say, he mistook the drink for a beer and went ballistic. "He started freaking
out and yelling 'No way! I can't drink that! I'm an alcoholic!'" our source
says. Magic Johnson, Patty LaBelle, LeAnn Rimes, Nelly, Kirstie Alley, 'N Sync,
98 Degrees, Jay-Z, Brian McKnight, Marcus Allen,
--Wyclef Jean and Run-DMC were also on hand for the charity event that raised
money for the Hollyrod Parkinson's Disease Foundation.
--Mick Jagger and Matchbox 20 frontman Rob Thomas came together at PR wizard
Lizzie Grubman's birthday party at Moomba on Monday.. .
USA TODAY...
--The network that launched reality television with The Real World and Road
Rules will look at this pop culture phenomenon in a new weekly half-hour comedy
series, Kathy's So-Called Reality. Kathy Griffin and her "Motley Crew," a
rotating group of friends, relatives and co-workers, will show highlights of
reality programming and then discuss them. Griffin will also regularly
interview reality program celebrities. "Ten years ago, we recognized that there
was a whole new genre of programming and we launched two extremely successful
reality shows, Real World and Road Rules," said Brian Graden, MTV's president
of programming, in a statement. "With the reality craze now under way in full
force, MTV feels like it's time to look at the shows out there and have a
little fun dissecting the genre." The first show will air at 10 p.m. EST
Sunday, MTV said this week.
--Former Beverly Hills 90210 star Jason Priestley will get more time to
complete a treatment program ordered after his drunken driving conviction last
year. The 31-year-old actor had been ordered by a court to complete a
three-month alcohol counseling program. His attorney said Priestley has been
unable to enter a program in Los Angeles because he has been working in New
York and England. On Tuesday, Superior Court Judge H. Randolph Moore gave
Priestley until July 2 to complete a program, and allowed him to do so in New
York, where he now lives. Priestley was not present for the hearing. He was
charged with driving under the influence after a December 1999 car crash. He
pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor DUI charge on March 28, 2000, and was
sentenced to five days in jail, three years' probation and the treatment
program. Priestley served his jail sentence this month, his attorney said.
--Frankie Muniz will be in the middle of Mardi Gras madness. Muniz, star of the
TV sitcom Malcolm in the Middle, was named celebrity grand marshal of the Krewe
of Endymion parade, one of the largest of about 50 parades that snake through
New Orleans during the six-week Carnival season. Perched atop a massive float,
the 15-year-old actor will join the roughly 2,000 members of Endymion in
tossing prized beads to onlookers. Other notables in the Feb. 24 parade will be
country singers Brooks and Dunn, New Orleans Saints head coach Jim Haslett and
disco group K.C. and the Sunshine Band. The celebrity grand marshal at last
year's Endymion parade was Britney Spears, a native of nearby Kentwood, La.
--R&B singer and rising action star Aaliyah, 22, has joined the cast for the
two sequels to The Matrix, her spokesman confirmed Tuesday. Larry and Andy
Wachowski's second Matrix movie will be filmed this spring in Australia. The
sci-fi trilogy cast also includes Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss , Laurence
Fishburne and Jada Pinkett Smith. Aaliyah broke into film last year with Romeo
Must Die.
--Members of the Kennedy family will join President Bush at the White House on
Thursday for dinner and a screening of Thirteen Days , the current film about
President Kennedy and the Cuban missile crisis. Sen. Ted Kennedy , Maryland Lt.
Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend and U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island
will be there.
--Singer/songwriter Paul Simon will be honored as the MusiCares Person of the
Year as part of the festivities surrounding the 43rd annual Grammy Awards.
Simon will be toasted by dozens of celebrities, including Elton John, Stevie
Wonder, Tony Bennett, Gloria Estefan and wife Edie Brickell . The event will be
broadcast live on QVC Feb. 19 from 9-11 p.m. ET.
--Conductor Lorin Maazel , 70, has been chosen as the 24th music director of
the New York Philharmonic, the nation's oldest orchestra. Maazel currently is
music director of the Symphony Orchestra of the Bavarian Radio in Munich. His
four-year contract with the 158-year-old Philharmonic begins in 2002-2003.
Maazel, an accomplished violinist, was a child prodigy who made his conducting
debut at age 8. He also has worked with the Cleveland Orchestra, the Vienna
State Opera and the Pittsburgh Symphony. Maazel is composing an opera based on
George Orwell's 1984, set to premiere in 2005.
SEND EMAIL TO PUSSS...@aol.com
AGC FAQ and FUN STUFF
http://members.aol.com/pusssykatt/agcfaq.html