John Lennon's son unveils monument on anniversary

LIVERPOOL, England | Sat Oct 9, 2010 2:15pm EDT

LIVERPOOL, England (Reuters) - John Lennon's son Julian and first wife Cynthia unveiled a monument to the late singer Saturday, the 70th anniversary of his birth, and said the time for mourning the former Beatle was over.

The presentation of a $350,000 18-foot structure, designed to promote peace, was one of several events being held around the world to celebrate one of pop music's most influential singers and songwriters who was murdered in New York in 1980 at the age of 40.

Internet search site Google paid tribute to Lennon with a hand-drawn logo and mini-video based on his hit "Imagine."

Manhattan planned a benefit concert and Lennon's widow Yoko Ono was to perform alongside their son Sean as the Plastic Ono Band in Reykjavik.

Cynthia, 71, and Julian Lennon, 47, looked on in Lennon's birthplace Liverpool as a choir performed his music. A crowd of several hundred people gathered in Chavasse Park for the event.

"I think the mourning is over for John," said Cynthia, who was married to Lennon between 1962 and 1968. "I think it's time to celebrate, which is what we're doing."

Musician Julian added: "I think most things have been said. We come here with our hearts to honor dad and to pray for peace and say thank you to each and every one of you and everyone involved in the celebrations today."

As one half of the songwriting partnership in the Beatles alongside Paul McCartney, Lennon was responsible for much of the band's catalog, including seminal hits like "She Loves You," "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and "A Hard Day's Night."

The band is widely credited as being the most successful in pop history, and Lennon went on to make his mark as a solo artist after the group split in 1970 with classic songs including "Imagine."

Ono said his influence continued to be felt, 30 years after his death.

"It's very interesting, you know, that songs like 'Gimme Some Truth' mean a lot now, and of course 'Give Peace a Chance' ... 'Imagine'," she said in Reykjavik Friday.

"All his political songs really have a lot of meaning right now for people," she said.

Lennon remains big business, and the anniversary, just months before the 30th anniversary of his death, has seen the release of a new wave of Lennon-related merchandise and music.

Ono oversaw the making of a digitally remastered Lennon catalog that includes eight studio albums and several newly compiled titles on the EMI Music label.

(Reporting and writing by Mike Collett-White; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

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Jury gets case in Anna Nicole Smith drug trial

LOS ANGELES | Fri Oct 8, 2010 9:54pm EDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The trial of three people charged with keeping former Playboy model Anna Nicole Smith loaded up on painkillers went to the jury on Friday after two months of testimony.

Prosecutors ended final arguments, allowing the judge to hand the case to the 12-member jury that will decide whether Smith's companion, Howard K. Stern, and her two doctors, Khristine Eroshevich and Sandeep Kapoor, are sent to prison.

Jury deliberations will begin on Tuesday.

Smith, the fashion model and TV actress who was famous for marrying an 89-year-old billionaire, died in Florida in 2007 at age 39 from an accidental prescription drug overdose.

Stern and the doctors are not charged in her death but with unlawfully providing drugs and controlled substances to a known addict. If convicted, they could be sentenced to more than five years in prison.

All three have pleaded not guilty, and defense attorneys have offered several arguments, including that the case might never have gone to trial had Smith not been a Hollywood star.

Defense lawyers have said their clients cared for Smith and would not harm her. They add that the prosecution wants to paint her as an out-of-control drug addict when, they say, she used drugs to help her sleep and control severe pain.

Prosecutors said the defendants conspired to get Smith anti-depressants, muscle relaxers and anti-anxiety drugs by using false names and other means when they knew Smith had a history of drug problems. Smith was first treated for addiction in 1996, they said.

Judge Robert Perry last week threw out some of the charges against the defendants and criticized the prosecution for being overly aggressive.

(Editing by Peter Cooney)

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Taylor Swift's ex-manager sues over contract dispute

By Matthew Belloni

Fri Oct 8, 2010 10:25pm EDT

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Did Taylor Swift's father conspire to cheat her former manager out of millions of dollars earned by launching the Grammy-winning country star?

That's the question before a federal judge in New York in a case brought by Dan Dymtrow, a music manager who claims he's owed millions in commissions because he discovered Swift, signed her in April 2004 when she was 14 and played a key role in building her career before being dumped in July 2005, just before Swift signed with Big Machine Records and became an international sensation.

Dymtrow says his management deals with Swift and parents Scott and Andrea Swift provided that he be paid between 5 percent and 10 percent commission (or more) from Taylor's music career. But after developing Swift and introducing her to industry heavyweights like Big Machine CEO Scott Borchetta, Dymtrow says he was strung along by the family and then fired to avoid paying him.

"They delayed and delayed and got rid of my client and subsequently signed the deal and kept his commissions for themselves," Dymtrow attorney Fernando Pinguelo said.

In response, the Swifts claim that because Dymtrow failed to obtain the required court approval of his management contract with Taylor, then a minor, she legally disaffirmed the deal in 2005, months before she signed the Big Machine deal and a full year before she released her debut single, "Tim McGraw."

"For him to claim that her success and her major contracts were procured by him is ludicrous," said Swift's lawyer, Paul LiCalsi of Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp. "And even if there were some merit to his claims, paying him on the contract would defeat the whole purpose of the law in New York, which is to protect minors who sign contracts."

Pinguelo retorted: "What the Swifts fail to realize is that the law also protects managers like Dan Dymtrow against minors and parents who take full advantage of his services without paying him what is owed."

The two sides have been battling under the radar since 2007, when Dymtrow, who also has represented Britney Spears, sued Taylor Swift and her parents, claiming they breached a management contract by paying him only $10,000 for his work launching Taylor's career. In March, U.S. District Judge Richard Sullivan shot down six of Dymtrow's claims against the Swifts and Big Machine, leaving an unjust-enrichment claim against the Swifts intact.

On Wednesday, the two sides submitted a joint letter to the court seeking documents they hope will prove their cases.

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Comic book legend Stan Lee gets real

By Basil Katz

NEW YORK | Fri Oct 8, 2010 5:35pm EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - Legendary comic book author Stan Lee is all set to cash in on reality TV -- sort of.

Lee, 87, who helped create Spider-Man, Iron Man, and The Incredible Hulk, told Reuters his new comic "Stan Lee's 7," will launch early next year featuring none other than himself as a key character, and it will be the first series from his new venture, Stan Lee Comics.

The stories, which will have a multi-media component on TV and the Web, tell of seven aliens who find themselves stranded on Earth after their spaceship crashes, and they are befriended by Lee. He becomes their leader and enables them to resume their lives as superheroes on earth.

"I wanted to cash in on the reality TV show craze," he said. "It's not only a new comic book with new super heroes, it is the world's first reality comic book," Lee said.

"Just as there are reality television shows, this comic book features real people in the superhero story. It features me. I am part of the cast of characters."

Lee, who said he keeps a cabinet stocked with 40 to 50 new comic book ideas at his New York office, is certain the appetite for superheroes and fantastic stories will never ebb, despite the recent explosion of TV shows and movies featuring people with extra-human powers.

"I don't think you ever outgrow your love for things that are bigger and more colorful than real life, and that's what superhero stories are: they're really fairy tales for older people," he said.

Lee's POW! Entertainment is working with Archie Comics, whose franchises include "Sabrina The Teenage Witch," and Los Angeles-based multimedia company A Squared Entertainment on the project which will also have a digital component in which the stories will be spun off into cartoons on TV or Webisodes.

The next two series Lee will write for Stan Lee Comics will be called "Airwalker" and "Legions," Archie Comics co-chief executive Jon Goldwater said.

"Stan Lee's 7" is not the first time Lee has put himself in his own work. In 1963, he and then collaborator Jack Kirby appeared as themselves on the cover of a "Fantastic Four" comic, and Lee has appeared in cameo roles in many movies based on the characters he helped to create for Marvel Comics.

(Reporting by Basil Katz; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

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Warner Bros scraps 3-D plans for next "Harry Potter"

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