BITS AND PIECES 03/07 Part 3
PUSSSYKATT
-- Adam West has more than fond memories of playing superhero Batman in the
1960s television series. West kept old costumes and all the original scripts
with his handwritten notations from the ABC show that aired for three seasons.
``I've gotten calls from people in Japan. They want to pay a lot of money for
my scripts,'' West told The Associated Press recently. Asked if he would sell,
West replied, ``Not unless I have to put another kid through college.'' The
actor and his third wife have six grown children between them. West and Burt
Ward, who was Batman's sidekick Robin, play themselves in ``Back to the
Batcave: The Misadventures of Adam and Burt'' airing Sunday on CBS. West said
he's excited about the TV movie after some initial doubts about reviving the
franchise. ``In the wee small hours, you might have an anxiety or two, `Am I
riding a dead horse here?''' he said. ``I realize I'm not. This `Batman' is a
very spirited, lively thoroughbred I'm riding. I might as well enjoy it.''
--NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. - Former 2 Live Crew rapper Luther Campbell faces a
felony charge after police said he led a sexually charged performance at a
Dorchester County nightclub. An arrest warrant was issued Wednesday for the
42-year-old Florida-based rapper on a charge of presenting or participating in
an obscene performance. The October show reportedly featured naked people on
stage at the End Zone nightclub. "That might go over in South Beach or wherever
he's from, but it's not going to fly in Dorchester County," prosecutor Walter
Bailey said. Police began their investigation the day after Campbell's show,
when a 23-year-old woman reported she was dragged onto the stage, stripped
naked and sexually assaulted. After reviewing videotapes of the performance,
police determined the woman had been a willing participant and charged her with
filing a false police report. It's unclear when or how the warrant will be
served if Campbell doesn't surrender to police. Campbell's spokeswoman, Rebkah
Funk, said the rapper had no immediate comment on the charge.
--PORTLAND, Maine - Yoko Ono has agreed to be the commencement speaker at the
Maine College of Art's graduation ceremony in May, the college announced
Thursday. College president Christine Vincent said graduating seniors selected
Ono as the commencement speaker because "she embodies their ideals both as an
artist and as a citizen." "As a pioneer in conceptual art, Yoko Ono exemplifies
the artist as innovator, risk-taker, leader and global citizen," Vincent said.
Ono, 70, is the widow of the late John Lennon, the ex-Beatle who was shot to
death in 1980 in New York. She has been involved in painting, drawing,
sculpting, photography and film for more than 40 years. "Yes Yoko Ono," a
retrospective of her paintings, sculpture, music and memorabilia of her peace
efforts with Lennon, exhibited in seven cities two years ago. The school's
graduation ceremony will take place May 18 at Portland City Hall's Merrill
Auditorium.
--"Scrubs" star Zach Braff will start shooting his feature directing debut
"Large's Ark" on April 23. Braff, who also wrote the script, will star
alongside Natalie Portman and Ian Holm, with Peter Sarsgaard negotiating to
join them. Braff set up the romantic drama at Danny DeVito's Jersey Films last
fall. It revolves around a young man who returns home for his mom's funeral
after being estranged from his family for a decade. Braff impressed Portman
enough that she agreed to fit the picture in before shooting the third "Star
Wars" prequel this summer. "Large's Ark" will shoot in New Jersey and L.A.
Camelot Pictures will finance.
--Rachael Leigh Cook is getting "Fearless" for the WB. In the drama "Fearless,"
Cook ("She's All That") will portray a woman born without the gene for fear who
is recruited by her godfather to join the FBI specialized crime division in New
York. The actress next will appear in the features "Stateside" and "11:14."
--Jennifer Esposito ("Summer of Sam"), a cast member of "Spin City" during the
1997-98 and 1998-99 TV seasons, has joined "Violent Crime" after ankling
another CBS project, the comedy "Harry's Girl." Christine Taylor has since been
cast in the latter. In "Violent," Esposito will portray a Boston detective, who
along with her female partner (as yet uncast) is at the center of the show.
Matthew Rhys ("Columbo Likes the Nightlife") has joined the cast as a
detective. Robert Pastorelli already has been cast.
--Ken Marino ("Joe Somebody") clinched the lead role in the WB's revival of
"The Courtship of Eddie's Father," now being called simply "Eddie's Father."
Marino's character is a San Francisco widower with a 9-year-old son. Credits
for the thesp include "Wet Hot American Summer" and NBC's "Leap of Faith."
--"Sisters" star Julianne Phillips will return to television as Howie Mandel's
wife in the comedian's untitled NBC laffer. Mandel plays himself -- a standup
comedian who produces hidden-camera pranks for a latenight talkshow.
--One-name-only thesp Indigo has joined the cast of ABC drama pilot "10-8" as
Officer Graves, a sheriff trainee. Indigo, formerly known as Alyssa Ashley
Nichols, has guested on skeins including "Any Day Now" and "NYPD Blue."
Neil Haislop's Nashville Update
--The Dixie Chicks are in Europe this week to do some preliminary promotion to
set up their European leg of The Top of The World Tour that will begin across
the pond after the domestic leg of the tour finishes in August. While there
next week the Chicks will give fans in England and Germany a sample of the fun
to come later this year. They're set to perform two sold-out concerts in London
and Munich before returning home to continue plans for the homeland tour that
begins May 1st in Greenville, S.C. and ends August 4th at Nashville's Gaylord
Arena.
--Gary Alan's "Man to Man" is Number One now on both Billboard and R&R charts
and he credits his first chart topper to hard work, "We worked really hard for
this, and it is a great feeling to see it pay off for us." Gary Allan was home
in his California beach community when he got the good news about his song's
move up to #1. Gary told us he still surfs whenever he's home and it's now
become a family affair. "All my kids are into surfing too," Gary says. Does he
worry about sharks when he's surfing? Not really he says, "You think about it.
When you're on the board it's better not to hang your feet and arms over,
because you look like a seal to a shark." Gary says his closest encounter with
a shark was years ago when he and some buddies saw the fin of a big shark swim
right in front of them. "The shark actually turned toward another surfer who
was paddling out from the beach and the shark headed toward that noise. We all
then hustled toward the shore and hollered at the other guy to look out. The
shark didn't bother him though."
--That's the title of Jo Dee Messina's upcoming new album that has been two
years in the making. Jo Dee's writing will star on the new album. "I had to
live through some of these emotions, put them on paper and get it to make
sense. It takes time," Jo Dee tells MJI. Release date, early summer.
--According to New York magazine, Faith Hill has renewed her search for just
the right part to star in a movie and has read for a part in the re-make of
"Stepford Wives." If she gets the part of a Stepford wife, that means she'll
play the part of a robot or cyborg "perfect wife replacement" for a murdered
real life woman. OF COURSE… if you talk to Tim McGraw, he'd tell you playing
the "perfect wife" would be type-casting for Faith.
--Hollywood has its "Walk of Fame," Toronto, Canada has theirs to honor
famously successful countrymen and women…and recently Shania Twain's name was
inlaid in a sidewalk of stars. Shania's been invited to the official ceremony
to honor her and 10 other inductees on June 25th according to MJI.
--Darryl Worley's plea to remember America's troop on the line in Arabia, "Have
You Forgotten," has spawned an increasing demand from fans for a copy of the
single. Right now the only way to get the song has been to wait on the new
special mini CD titled FORGOTTEN that will include four new songs and some
unreleased songs from his first two albums. SPECIAL DOWNLOAD OF SINGLE - a
special downloadable copy of the single available directly to fans may be
announced officially as early as TODAY. Details were still being worked out at
DreamWorks yesterday, but basically, after making an online, advance purchase
of the new CD, a fan will then be able to download a free copy of the single
perhaps as early as next week. ALSO, it appears that some radio stations may
join in the pre-purchase campaign by offering actual CD singles at the station
when listeners come by with their e-mail confirmation/proof of purchase. (NOTE:
The album was tentatively scheduled for release in early Summer, but DreamWorks
may announce today moving the release up to the end of April.) To folks that
feel Darryl's song was written to support a war, he tells us it's not that he's
pro-war…just pro military, the people that have the job of fighting our wars
whenever called on. "I don't love war, I'm not into conflict, don't want to see
another American life lost, or any life for that matter. But the cold, hard
truth is sometimes there are conflicts, that's the way historically we've had
to settle some things. It's a shame but that is why we have the lifestyle we
have today, we had to go and take care of business. And it's our soldiers,
that's what they're trained to do. If you want to protest war, go do it. But,
you've got to find it in your heart somewhere to support those people who,
without them, you wouldn't have the choice to stand up and protest."
--Rebecca Lynn Howard, has earned two nominations for the 2003 ACM Awards; a
nod for Top New Female Vocalist and one for Song of The Year for her
breakthrough hit "Forgive." Rebecca was sitting in a meeting with the MCA Radio
Promotions team yesterday when she heard the news. "Being a songwriter, I
thought it would be easy to find the words to describe how I felt when I found
out I was nominated. I can only say that I am greatly honored." Rebecca will be
in Las Vegas in May for the live telecast of the 2003 ACM Awards and is
currently writing and recording songs for her new album due later this year.
--With the consolidation of radio and major record labels, it isn't too often
one finds a maverick in the record industry these days. But Leland Martin and
IGO Records are setting benchmarks in that area, ever since the late fall, 2002
release of Martin's Simply Traditional, an album of stone country songs that
bucks the system. Now, the label is doing it again. "Hey Love, No Fair,"
Martin's third single from the CD, shipped to radio two weeks ago and goes for
adds this week.
--On March 15th, Lee Greenwood will be among the major industry names aligning
in the ring for "Celebrity Fight Night" to be held in Phoenix - a fund raiser
charity event benefiting Muhammad Ali's much publicized organized fight against
Parkinson's Disease. Other celebrities set with Greenwood for the match with
The Champ include Kenny Rogers, Reba McEntire, Rod Stewart, Hallie Berry, Billy
Crystal, and Jack Nicklaus. Larry King will host the event. Following Phoenix,
Lee will plunge ever westward to L.A. to co-host the "Movie Guide Awards,"
along with Louise DuArt, co-star of the ABC Family Network's "Larger Than
Life." The awards promote television and films that extol positive family
values. The awards telecast will air on PAX-TV.
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Peter J.
>
>--One-name-only thesp Indigo has joined the cast of ABC drama pilot "10-8" as
>Officer Graves, a sheriff trainee. Indigo, formerly known as Alyssa Ashley
>Nichols, has guested on skeins including "Any Day Now" and "NYPD Blue."
She was also on "Buffy" only weeks ago as a potential slayer who hung herself.
Podkayne Fries
wrote:
Wasn't it Lalaine, from LIZZIE McGUIRE, who hung herself?
--
Regards, Podkayne Fries
Necrophilia means never having to say you're sorry.
Peter J.
>
>Wasn't it Lalaine, from LIZZIE McGUIRE, who hung herself?
Yes. I got the one-named girls confused.