Entertaining Posts

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Mel Gibson booked by police on battery plea

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Pink Floyd founder Barrett put painting before pop

By Mike Collett-White

LONDON | Thu Mar 17, 2011 10:35am EDT

LONDON (Reuters) - He helped create one of rock's greatest bands, but the late Syd Barrett always considered himself a painter before a Pink Floyd founder. Speaking at an exhibition of the troubled musician's canvases and letters, his sister Rosemary Breen said Barrett could never understand why people put his brief success with Pink Floyd ahead of his lifelong passion for art.

"His art was the real him," Breen told Reuters in an interview, surrounded by dozens of works left behind by Barrett, who died of cancer in 2006 aged 60.

"He was firstly an artist and secondly a musician. If ever he was asked what he did, the reaction would always be 'I'm an artist', never 'I'm a musician.'"

Barrett, she added, did not understand why he was so famous, despite being an original Pink Floyd member and its creative force before the English group hit the big time.

The band was formed in 1965, but Barrett left three years later due to his erratic behavior brought on by drug abuse.

After his exit, Pink Floyd produced a series of seminal records including "The Dark Side of the Moon," "Wish You Were Here" and "The Wall," and sold more than 200 million albums.

Their composition "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" is believed to be a tribute to Barrett.

"He never ever understood celebrity," Breen said of her brother. "He never sought it and he didn't want it. It was just a complete mystery to him why people wanted to see him.

"He was an artist who had got sidetracked half way through his life into playing music which he'd always enjoyed as a hobby and then came back to art. He thought he was the same as everybody else: he didn't see anything special about himself."

Breen said she hoped the show, "Syd Barrett: Art and Letters" at Idea Generation Gallery in east London from March 18 to April 10, would help dispel the myth that Barrett was an aggressive, deranged loner, just another rock'n'roll burnout.

DRUG ABUSE

While she believed that Barrett was brain damaged due to heavy LSD use in the 1960s and 1970s, and that he lived in virtual seclusion in his final years, Breen said he was "kind" and "loveable" and found fulfillment through his art.

"I would like people to come and see it and laugh at it and enjoy it and see the fun that he was," she said.

"In the last years of his life he was very reclusive and he could be quite sharp with people wanting to talk to him -- it's only because he couldn't cope with talking and he couldn't cope with society really.

"He wasn't unhappy. He just wanted to be very quiet and paint and live a contented life, which I think he did."

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Charlie Sheen in setback in lawsuit with Warner Bros

By Matthew Belloni

Wed Mar 16, 2011 9:34pm EDT

LOS ANEGLES (Hollywood Reporter) - Charlie Sheen has been dealt a procedural blow in his lawsuit against Warner Bros. Television (WBTV) and "Two and a Half Men" co-creator Chuck Lorre over his firing from TV's No. 1 comedy show.

Sources tell The Hollywood Reporter that the private dispute-resolution company JAMS on Tuesday sided with WBTV and Lorre in deciding that its own arbitrator has jurisdiction over the dispute.

The move means the confidential arbitration will go forward despite Sheen's request that the fracas be litigated publicly via the $100 million lawsuit he filed in Los Angeles Superior Court.

The decision, communicated in a letter from a JAMS lawyer to all the parties, makes it much more likely that Sheen's high-stakes legal war with Warners and Lorre will be resolved in private -- and not in a public trial, as Sheen has said he is entitled to under the law.

The moves are the latest legal maneuvers stemming from Sheen's abrupt dismissal from TV's most-watched comedy.

Sheen's lawyer Marty Singer on Wednesday criticized the decision, and his partner William Briggs fired off a response letter to JAMS challenging the ruling.

Singer told The Hollywood Reporter that the dispute-resolution company should let a court decide the matter.

"JAMS is wrong," Singer said. "This case involves many different parties and different issues, and it should not be subject to an arbitration agreement between Charlie Sheen and Warner Bros."

Singer's letter, a copy of which was obtained by THR, also threatens to ask a judge to stop JAMS from going forward with the arbitration.

"In the unfortunate event that JAMS decides to proceed with the arbitration process, JAMS will force my client to seek judicial relief, which may include enjoining JAMS from proceeding with this matter," the letter states.

Warner Bros. asked JAMS to initiate an arbitration on March 4 in response to threats by Sheen and Singer that the actor would sue over his termination. Sheen's contract with the studio includes a broad arbitration clause providing that disagreements be resolved by a JAMS arbitrator, but Sheen has no contract with Lorre, his Chuck Lorre Prods. or CBS, which airs "Two and A Half Men."

Singer last week filed a bombshell $100 million lawsuit on behalf of Sheen and the "Men" cast and crew alleging a conspiracy among Warners and Lorre to shut down the series.

Lorre asked JAMS to consolidate Sheen's disputes with Warners and Lorre into one private arbitration.

Now has JAMS decided -- over Singer's objections -- that it has the authority to settle both the Sheen vs. Lorre and Sheen vs. Warners battles.

If Singer can't stop the whole mess from going to private arbitration, Sheen would lose a significant piece of leverage in the case. Juries tend to side with high-profile celebrities and the prospect of Sheen getting a public venue in which to expose Warner Bros.' private financial information and attack the studio and producer, might have prompted Warners to settle.

Rapper Nate Dogg dead at 41

LOS ANGELES | Wed Mar 16, 2011 2:56pm EDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Rap artist Nate Dogg, known for his collaborations with such hip-hop stars as Dr. Dre, Warren G and longtime friend Snoop Dog, has died at age 41.

The cause of death was not immediately known, but Nate Dogg, born Nathaniel D. Hale, had suffered from recurrent health problems, including strokes in 2007 and 2008, The Hollywood Reporter said.

News of his death on Tuesday was first reported in the Long Beach Press-Telegram, his hometown newspaper, and Snoop Dogg send out a Twitter message on his friend's passing a short time later.

"We lost a true legend n hip hop n rnb. One of my best friends n a brother to me since 1986 ... I am so sad but so happy I got to grow up wit u and I will c u again n heaven cuz u know d slogan all doggs go to heaven," he tweeted.

Other entertainers posting tweets included comedian Dave Chappelle and singer Erykah Badu.

A contemporary of Snoop and the late Tupac Shakur (aka 2Pac), Nate Dogg made his recording debut with the single "Deeez Nuuuts" on Dr. Dre's landmark 1992 album "The Chronic," and appeared on 2Pac's seminal double-disc set "All Eyes on Me."

Other collaborators included Eminem, 50 Cent and Ludacris.

Described by AllMusic.com as "the soul man of G-funk," Nate also teamed up with Warren G for one of the biggest hip-hop hits of the 1990s, "Regulate," which reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in 1994.

He and Warren G later parted company, but Nate Dogg hit the charts again in 1996 with "Never Leave Me Alone," featuring Snoop, and released his own debut album, "G-Funk Classics, Vols. 1 & 2," early the following year on Interscope Records.

He followed that with two more solo collections, the latest, titled "Nate Dogg," was released in 2008.

(Reporting by Steve Gorman; Editing by Jill Serjeant)

A Minute With: Lucinda Williams tackles aging, death

By Dean Goodman

LOS ANGELES | Wed Mar 16, 2011 12:01pm EDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Age is more than a number to Lucinda Williams. It's also a song lyric.

The singer/songwriter confronts the sensitive subject in one of the first songs on her new album "Blessed."

In a lament to her late manager, she reveals her shock at hearing of his death. "I'm 57 but I could be seven years old," she sings in "Copenhagen."

Not many entertainers of a certain age, especially female rockers in an industry powered by fresh-faced sensations such as 17 year-old Justin Bieber, are so willing to acknowledge the passage of time.

But middle age is also a badge of honor, a sign of survival, especially when her sprightly peers include Steve Earle, Dave Alvin and Chrissie Hynde.

Others went before their time, though, including wheelchair-bound singer/songwriter Vic Chesnutt, who committed suicide in 2009, aged 45. Williams, now 58, pays tribute to him in the song "Seeing Black."

Q. "Seeing Black" is one of a handful of melodically up-tempo songs, yet the subject is obviously dark. It seems you're more inquisitive about the subject. You're not condemning him, are you?

A. "No, not really. I've always tried to stay away from that -- whenever I'm writing, whoever the subject is in the song -- and try to be empathetic, even though I might be a little angry or whatever the word is. I'm still trying to be empathetic."

Q. Can you be angry at someone like Vic Chesnutt who spent the better part of his life in a wheelchair and was obviously in a lot of pain and frustrated by his situation?

A. "I didn't know the situation that well. I didn't know if he was in physical pain. I knew that he was in a wheelchair, but I didn't realize that he had mounting medical bills, that he also had a history of depression and apparently had attempted suicide before. So I didn't know that. You always want to think someone would have come to you for help before they made that kind of decision. The action inspired the song, but it certainly goes deeper than that."

Q. Are you inquisitive about the subject?

A. "Well, aren't we all?! What happens during those last final moments, and everything."

Q. The reference to your age, 57, most women in showbiz are pretty shy about being so upfront and honest about the passage of time. But you get straight to the point.

A. "I don't have to worry about that, really. What I do doesn't depend on that."

Q. Do you look out at the crowd, see all these young kids and you go, Jeez!