BITS AND PIECES 03/29 Part 1
AGC Queen
--According to the Recording Industry Association of America, the Eagles have
become the third best-selling band in the United States with 83.5 million in
total sales. Only the Beatles and Led Zeppelin have sold more.
--The Recording Industry Association of America filing a complaint Tuesday in
U.S. District Court accusing Napster of failing to comply with a federal
court's order to remove all copyrighted works from its song-swapping system.
The RIAA called Napster's filtering system, which is based on file name, song
name and artist name, "archaic."
--Bob Marley's first album, Catch a Fire: The Deluxe Edition, being reissued
for the first time on CD by Island Def-Jam Records. It's the first in a series
of releases aiming to introduce young people in the United States to the reggae
legend's early music.
--Disney planning to sell for the first time to international broadcasters a
package of its recent animated hits, including Pocahontas, Mulan, The Hunchback
of Notre Dame, Toy Story, Toy Story 2 and A Bug's Life.
E! ONLINE...by Victoria Withey
--A six-alarm fire on March 27 forced 'N Syncers Lance Bass and Joey Fatone to
relocate production of their movie On the L. Bass, who's coproducing and
starring in the buddy comedy, and costar Fatone were not present when the fire
broke out, according to Miramax, the studio releasing the film. The blaze
started in a building adjacent to the Toronto set and forced the evacuation of
the entire crew. It took 100 firefighters to control the blaze.
--Bruce Springsteen's lawyers returned to court March 28 in an attempt to block
a British company from releasing 19 songs Springsteen recorded before he became
famous. The rocker won a 1998 court battle against Masquerade Music Ltd. for
breach of copyright, but Masquerade is now challenging that ruling in London's
Court of Appeals. The Boss told the court in the original hearing that the
recordings, done 26 years ago, were never meant to be released.
E! ONLINE...by Chuck Kim
--It's back to school for Saved by the Bell and Beverly Hills, 90210 alum
Tiffani Thiessen. The young actress has signed aboard her second sitcom pilot
this year. Her first pilot, Something About Tiffani, was slated for ABC but
didn't make the cut. The second, a still-untitled NBC project, stars Thiessen
as a grad student helping a male pal with his thesis. Filming starts before the
looming actor and writer strikes, in hopes of making the fall schedule.
--William H. Macy could receive a warm greeting in Welcome to Collinwood. Macy
is in talks to join the indie ensemble flick, which also includes Isaiah
Washington, Luis Guzman, Jennifer Esposito and George Clooney. Macy would play
an ex-con who reluctantly joins up with a neophyte group of criminals to score
bail money for his imprisoned wife. Filming begins in April.
--HBO looks to spread its wings with a small-screen version of the Tony- and
Pulitzer-winning play Angels in America. Director Mike Nichols, who just
brought Wit to HBO, is teaming up with the cable net to obtain rights for the
sprawling adaptation, which would likely be a miniseries. An earlier attempt to
produce the play as a feature in 1994 never took flight. In that version, Al
Pacino was a candidate for a role and may be again. Meryl Streep is another
possible cast member for the HBO version. No dates have been set.
NY POST/PAGE SIX...
--KIM Basinger, a crossover artist? Eleven years ago, Alec "Bloviator"
Baldwin's estranged wife recorded a pop album for Giant Records. "It's a cross
between Madonna and Bette Midler," an insider said. But we won't hear
Basinger's warblings. The Oscar-winning actress had a change of heart. "She has
gone to great lengths to stop its release, and the recordings are locked
somewhere in the Giant archives," our source added. Basinger's rep Annett Wolf
told us: "I don't think she was available at that time to launch the album, and
a decision was made to have it not come out."
--HALF of the world-famous deejay duo Sasha & Digweed is out of commission.
Sasha was forced to skip a performance Saturday night at Crobar in Miami after
he ruptured his eardrum in a car accident in his native England. The
turntablist apparently became alarmed when he was in the shower "and he tasted
soap in his mouth that had gone into his ear," says our source. Sasha's doctor
banned him from flying to Miami before the ear healed. His partner Digweed made
the flight solo and spun for the club's gyrating masses until 7 a.m.
--THE life story of Adam Clayton Powell Jr. starts shooting Monday in Toronto
with Vanessa Williams playing the legendary Harlem congressman's second wife,
Hazel Scott. Harry Lennox, whose credits include "Titus" and "The Five
Heartbeats," plays the dashing Democrat who made women of all colors swoon,
while his bankroll ballooned and prosecutors gnashed their teeth in
frustration. The project was pushed by State Assemblyman Adam Clayton Powell IV
and his Keep the Faith Productions ever since he was first elected to the City
Council 10 years ago. "Everybody thought it was a great idea, but no one wanted
to put the money up," Powell said. Finally, Showtime gave the project a $6
million budget. "Vanessa signed on and things started going 150 mph."
--The heirs of Jackson Pollock are so worried about future income, they forced
Eliot Cuker to cancel a show at his Cooper Classics' Collection on Perry Street
of the fake paintings made for the movie "Pollock." The drippy canvases show
how easy it is to fake a Pollock . . .
--David Blaine has dropped his longtime manager Johnny Podell, who nurtured his
magical career from the beginning, for Ari Emmanuel at the Endeavor Agency.
--HUNKY superstar Brad Pitt wants to play a character based on hunky cult
rocker Jeff Buckley. Pitt has been obsessed for years with portraying the
darkly romantic crooner, who drowned in Memphis in 1997, reports Spin magazine
gossip Marc Spitz. Apparently Pitt even contacted Buckley's mother, Mary
Gulbert, to get permission to use his life story and music for a fictional
movie, and commissioned British screenwriter Emma Forrest to pen the script.
"It concerns a Buckley-esque character who's referred to as ‘The Musician,'"
a source tells Spin. "There are a lot of flashback sequences. It's not ‘La
Bamba.'"
--THE couple that pierces together, stays together, according to Kylie Bax. The
kiwi cutie was partying away at the Nylon magazine party at L.A. nightclub Blue
and told our spies that she is still with Pamela Anderson's well-endowed ex,
Tommy Lee. "I just got my belly button pierced because Tommy has so many
piercings," she mused to our mole - and proceeded to pull up her shirt and show
him the new navel novelty.
NY POST/CINDY ADAMS....
--JACKIE Collins may lose all her girlfriends plus her sanity - although not
her career - with her next novel. This shy retiring flower rooted around in
each of the ladies’ past lives. Enough dirt for a new landfill on Staten
Island. The book is Hollywood Wives: The New Generation and Simon & Schuster is
paying to import her to New York to hustle it. Says Jackie: Today they’re
elegant housewives. Major hostesses. Married to the most important executives.
They have the biggest homes, biggest staffs, ritziest dinner parties. They’re
the blondes with the jewels. Yeah, so? So, I know their backgrounds. Where they
came from, how they started, who they did to get where they are. A great read
for you, not a great thing for them. Hollywood’s a small community. Each will
recognize herself and the others. How did sweet Jackie garner all this info?
Years of dishing, late night telephone chats, ladies’ luncheons, shared
stories about orgasms. Hey, if not for my friends I couldn’t have written any
book. The problem is, after this one I might have to get out of town.
--HAS contender Joan Allen’s little daughter Sadie seen The Contender? No,
says Joan. Nor have I kept videos of anything either. I somehow don’t even
have my ‘Searching for Bobby Fischer’ copy. I actually had to go out to
Blockbuster and rent it for Sadie to see.
--CHRISTIAN Slater on Jeff Bridges, who was up for Best Supporting: He makes it
look easy. He seems to do so little. On film it’s sooo huge. . . .
--Together recently at Harley Baldwin’s Caribou Club in Aspen: Oscar host
Steve Martin and ex-Oscar host Billy Crystal . . .
--Suzanne Pleshette [husband Tommy Gallagher died two years ago] and Tom
Poston’s wedding is early summer. In New York, where they met 35 years ago
when both were hungry actors. She’s 60ish, he’s 80ish, they’re like
teenagers in heat . . .
--At one point lovingly attentive Benjamin Bratt left his Julia’s side to
say, Darling, I’m going for a drink. Be right back.
--JAMES Schamus, that Mandarin movie’s screenwriter: Ang Lee and I first met
in New York. Where else does anyone meet interesting people? . . .
--Zhang Ziyi, boy lover in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Westerners like kung
fu. We Chinese are used to that. To us the love story made this movie good. . .
.
--Sigourney Weaver kept her over-the-top Heartbreakers costumes but says: God
knows where I can wear them. Maybe if I do an act at the Rainbow Room. . . .
--Before Night Falls director Julian Schnabel on Johnny Depp’s role: In the
red wig he looked like Sophia Loren. He has a great ass. . . .
--Fashionistas on Bjork’s swan dress: It costs a lot to look cheap.
NY POST/LIZ SMITH...
--‘IT WAS all an accident - Hollywood, that is . . .," writes David Wallace
in his new book "Lost Hollywood." According to the Washington Post this week,
perhaps the entire Oscar experience is a big overblown nothing - the Mortons
party, the fashion manias, the loaned jewelry, the red carpet entrance turned
into high-style critiques. Next year, maybe we'll cover the Oscars up in The
Bronx or over in Brooklyn. And next year, maybe ABC will be smart enough not to
match their Academy Awards coverage against HBO's "The Sopranos." It made an
unholy choice. Incidentally, the classiest people in Hollywood the other night
were the two women wearing their very own clothes and their very own jewelry -
I do mean Barbara Davis and Denise Hale. Loaned jewelry? Sometimes diamonds
aren't a girl's best friend. Publicity-garnering clothes? Not as good as your
own simple choice maybe.
--Celebs were polled to see if they would vote for Arnold Schwarzenegger for
governor of California. Chris Rock said: "Are you kidding? We'd be the first
state to go to war!"
--HERE'S A touching story overheard the other night after the fund-raiser for
Cedars-Sinai Research for Women's Cancers in the Regent Beverly-Wilshire. Kirk
Douglas, with his arm around Robert Downey Jr., said, "Son, if you don't stay
straight, it will break my heart." Downey reacted with tears in his eyes. He
said softly, "That really touched my heart, especially coming from Kirk. My
son, Indio and I just watched his last film, ‘Diamonds.' He had overcome such
incredible odds and continues on. What an inspiration." Kirk had just watched
his son, Michael and Catherine Zeta-Jones, receive "The Courage Award" from
Cedars-Sinai and Saks Fifth Avenue.
--I SEE that a very dear actress friend of mine, someone I've known since
childhood, is off to Prague to make a movie with another old director friend of
mine. Brooke Smith, the girl left to starve in the well in "The Silence of the
Lambs," is going to play a CIA agent for Joel Schumacher in Disney's "Black
Sheep." Jerry Bruckheimer, in all his power and glory, is behind this project.
Brooke, whose mama is one of the founders of the PMK p.r. firm, has managed to
overcome the handicap of having a superflack for a mom. Now she'll find herself
in yet another movie with Sir Anthony Hopkins. They had no scenes together in
"The Silence of the Lambs," but listen, there's always a chance in Prague.
--THE GRAND old man of "Ocean's Eleven" in Las Vegas with all those young Turks
- Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, George Clooney, Julia Roberts - is Elliott Gould. For
a while Elliott was identified as Barbra Streisand's husband, but he came into
his own in "Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice" (1969) and then the world called
him Trapper John after he made "M*A*S*H" for Robert Altman (1970). But these
days Elliott is enjoying an entire new identity, thanks to his role as the
father of Monica and Ross Geller on the TV hit "Friends." The Gould One is just
back from making an independent movie called "Puckoon," which takes a satirical
look at Ireland. He starred with Sir Richard Attenborough and David Kelly of
"Waking Ned Devine" fame.
NY DAILY NEWS/RUSH AND MOLLOY...
--James Taylor is about to become a papa again — times two. The 52-year-old
Sweet Baby James and his third wife, 47-year-old Caroline (Kim) Smedvig, are
awaiting the arrival of twins, courtesy of a surrogate mother. According to
published reports in Boston, the biological mom is a close friend of Smedvig's.
Taylor's rep didn't deny he and his bride, who wed in February, were
infanticipating but added, "It is way too soon, and too personal, to comment
upon." Taylor has two grown children, musicians Ben and Sally, from his first
marriage, to Carly Simon.
--Talk about nice work if you can get it: In "Tomcats," which opens tomorrow,
Jake Busey is practically forced to make love to Shannon Elizabeth. "It's
almost a love scene," Busey tells us. "Until it becomes a bit of a one-man
show." Busey and Jerry O'Connell play the last of six friends who've built up a
$500,000 pot that goes to the last unmarried guy. The competition was also
fierce off-camera. "We had to compete to see whether [Jerry] or I would get
more laughs on the set," says Busey. "I resorted to running around in a thong."
(Yes, ladies, the thong made it into the flick.) Jake, the son of Gary Busey,
admits that "men are afraid of commitment," but not him. He's engaged and this
summer will marry a lady he wouldn't name. Would $500,000 be temptation enough
to get him to break the engagement? "Never!" said the actor. That was the
right answer.
--Jerry Seinfeld may be aching for yet another Porsche. The comic was first to
buy tickets to the second annual Tailgate Party and preview of the 101st New
York International Auto Show at the Javits Center April 11....
--Katie Holmes grabbed a bite at Zocalo Restaurant in Grand Central
Terminal....
--Michael J. Fox, who has Parkinson's disease and his own foundation to find a
cause and a cure, has been invited by Page Morton Black to her Parkinson's
Disease Foundation dinner Monday at the Pierre....
NY DAILY NEWS/MITCHELL FINK...
--Andy Rooney does not limit his complaining to his weekly segment on "60
Minutes." Although the 82-year-old curmudgeon was not listed in the official
program for Tuesday night's New York chapter of the NFL alumni dinner at the
Marriott Marquis hotel, Rooney sure made his presence felt when he stepped to
the podium for some impromptu remarks. A longtime Giants season ticket holder,
Rooney took the opportunity to blast team management for the high prices
charged for tickets and refreshments at the Meadowlands. Rooney's comments drew
a big ovation from a crowd that included former Giants Harry Carson, Sean
Landeta and Joe Morris. After Rooney spoke, another ex-Giant, Phil Simms, took
the microphone and said to Rooney, "If you look in the mailbox when you get
home, you'll find information about another ticket hike from the Giants."
--Same circus, different PETA protest. Any time the Ringling Brothers and
Barnum & Bailey Circus comes to town, count on People for the Ethical Treatment
of Animals to stage a protest. Tomorrow is no exception. When the circus opens
Friday at Madison Square Garden, ticket holders will have to pass a caged woman
painted in tiger stripes. Model Kashanna Evans, who is in the upcoming Ben
Stiller movie "Zoolander," is going to be confined in a cage outside the
Garden, her body painted like a tiger. She will be protesting animal suffering
in the circus under a banner reading "Free the Animal Slaves — Boycott
Ringling Bros." As for Evans' thoughts on standing outside behind bars, she
says: "Freedom is as important to animals as it is to us."
--Rapper Juvenile was arrested outside a Miami comedy club early Wednesday for
allegedly knocking a man unconscious with a Moët champagne bottle. Police say
that when they showed up, the rapper grabbed an officer and demanded to be
arrested. The officers obliged, and Juvenile, 26, faces an April 18 court date
on charges of assault and battery. Juvenile, who was born Terius Gray, is known
for hits Ha and Back That Thang Up.
--Shaggy remains at the top of the Billboard album chart for his second week in
a row and sixth altogether after selling 189,000 copies last week, according to
SoundScan. R&B act 112, on Sean "P. Diddy" Combs' Bad Boy label, nearly
unseated the chart-topper, selling 182,000 copies of its Part III album. The
remainder of the top 10: Dave Matthews Band, debuting rapper Trick Daddy,
Aerosmith, debuting R&B stylist Jon B., Dido, the debuting soundtrack to Exit
Wounds, Limp Bizkit and Tank. Additional debuts included the soundtrack to
Brothers at No. 32, twin solo releases by Bone Thugs-N-Harmony members L-Burna
and Bizzy Bone at Nos. 43 and 44 (separated by just 12 unit sales), rappers The
Beatnuts at No. 51, and Lionel Richie at No. 62.
--The line from Hollywood to the London stage just keeps growing. On Wednesday,
Just Shoot Me star George Segal announced he will make his London stage debut
next month in Yasmina Reza's hit comedy Art.
--The estate of Gone With the Wind author Margaret Mitchell has sued to stop
publication of a novel that retells the classic tale from a black writer's
perspective. The Wind Done Gone, by Alice Randall, is due to be released in
June via publisher Houghton Mifflin. The estate's trustee, SunTrust Bank, calls
the novel "blatant and wholesale theft" of the 1936 original. "Once upon a time
in America, African-Americans were forbidden by law to read and write," Randall
said in a statement. "It saddens me and breaks my heart there are those who
would try to set up obstacles for a black woman to tell her story."
Send email to: PUSSS...@aol.com
For more intriguing stories visit Jim Romenesko's www.obscurestore.com
Jeg7777
"AGC Queen" <agcq...@aol.comBillie> wrote in message
news:20010329090552...@ng-fd1.aol.com...
>
> NY POST/CINDY ADAMS....
>
> --At one point lovingly attentive Benjamin Bratt left his Julia's side to
> say, Darling, I'm going for a drink. Be right back.
>
This is gossip? zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Is Cindy Adams for real?
--
Joe
Jeffy: "A 'B'! You mean you think Mercutio had a thing for Romeo, too?"
Daria: "No, but you argued your point well and I thought your ideas for
keeping him out of the locker room were original, if a little
closed-minded."
Billie
>> NY POST/CINDY ADAMS....
>>
>> --At one point lovingly attentive Benjamin Bratt left his Julia's side to
>> say, Darling, I'm going for a drink. Be right back.
>>
>
>This is gossip?
Rush and Molloy were on Howard Stern yesterday and they said that at this point
Liz no longer does gossip...she considers herself a friend to celebrities, not
a gossip columnist....no kidding!
Billie
"STUPIDITY IS NOT A HANDICAP. Park elsewhere!"
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