Veteran British rocker Rod Stewart has been ordered to pay US$2 million to a Las Vegas casino for cancelling a show in December 2000.
A federal jury said Stewart should return the sum which he received as an advance from the Rio Hotel Casino for a New Year's Eve show which he cancelled after undergoing throat surgery.
"We felt it was only fair that if Mr Stewart didn't perform the concert that he should give the money back," said Jury foreman Stevan Jorgensen.
PHOTO: AP
US$25,000 worth of diamonds and platinum sit in Paul Wall's mouth, and syrupy Texas slang drips out of it. With the upcoming Tuesday release of his major label debut, The People's Champ, the rapper -- who's also basking in the spotlight of his appearance on Mike Jones' hit ode to cruising, Still Tippin -- keeps busy by selling jewel-encrusted teeth to his celebrity friends.
The rapper relies on a dizzying array of local vernacular to describe everything from attractive females ("honey dips") to rims ("swangaz") and tires ("vogues").
With the waters of Hurricane Katrina yet to recede, Randy Newman sang about a long-ago flood in Louisiana 1927 to open a benefit program spread across dozens of television networks Friday. Dr John ended a show suffused with the spirit of a musical city with a song that's only a wish now: Walkin' to New Orleans.
ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, UPN and the WB -- the six biggest broadcast networks -- aired it along with several cable networks. Viewers in nearly 100 countries were able to tune in.
"We've all heard the question," comedian Chris Rock said. "Why didn't these people just leave when they had the chance? But now we realize that not everybody can just jump into their SUVs and drive to a nice hotel. These people depend on public transportation and these people can't afford a nice hotel, because some of them work there. Now it's your chance to help them."
Mariah Carey and Neil Young were backed by gospel singers and Alicia Keys was joined by several gospel stars. U2 needed only one powerful voice, singer Mary J. Blige's, to enliven the rock band's anthem One.
BET was also appealing for help Friday for victims of a tragedy that struck the black community hard. Keys sang her hit If I Ain't Got You, and Patti LaBelle sang the Pretenders song I'll Stand By You.
Rappers Jay-Z and Diddy were 15 minutes late, but they made it worthwhile, presenting a US$1 million check to the Red Cross from the New York hip-hop community.
A city council committee has approved the demolition of a childhood home of former Beatles drummer Ringo Starr, despite protests from opponents of a redevelopment plan.
The council's Housing Select Committee has decided that the property had no historical significance. The full council is expected to make a decision on Sept. 16.
"Ringo Starr lived in the Madryn Street house for about three months before he moved to Admiral Grove, where he lived for about 20 years," said Flo Clucas, the council's executive member for housing.
"John Lennon and Paul McCartney's childhood homes were preserved because they spent a significant part of their lives in them," Clucas said.
Renegade author Hunter S. Thompson lamented the onset of old age and his physical limits, then concluded, "Relax -- This won't hurt," in an apparent suicide note published by Rolling Stone magazine, his literary springboard.
The scrawled words -- perhaps the last he ever committed to paper -- were written on Feb. 16, four days before the self-described "gonzo" journalist shot himself to death at his secluded home near Aspen, Colorado, the magazine said.
The brief message, scrawled in black marker and titled "Football Season Is Over" (an apparent reference to the end of the NFL season he avidly followed as fan), reads as follows:
"No More Games. No More bombs. No More Walking. No More Fun. No More Swimming. 67. That is 17 years past 50. 17 more than I needed or wanted. Boring. I am always bitchy. No Fun -- for anybody. 67. You are getting Greedy. Act your old age. Relax -- This won't hurt."
Sept.16 to Sept. 22 The “anti-communist train” with then-president Chiang Kai-shek’s (蔣介石) face plastered on the engine puffed along the “sugar railway” (糖業鐵路) in May 1955, drawing enthusiastic crowds at 103 stops covering nearly 1,200km. An estimated 1.58 million spectators were treated to propaganda films, plays and received free sugar products. By this time, the state-run Taiwan Sugar Corporation (台糖, Taisugar) had managed to connect the previously separate east-west lines established by Japanese-era sugar factories, allowing the anti-communist train to travel easily from Taichung to Pingtung’s Donggang Township (東港). Last Sunday’s feature (Taiwan in Time: The sugar express) covered the inauguration of the
The corruption cases surrounding former Taipei Mayor and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) head Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) are just one item in the endless cycle of noise and fuss obscuring Taiwan’s deep and urgent structural and social problems. Even the case itself, as James Baron observed in an excellent piece at the Diplomat last week, is only one manifestation of the greater problem of deep-rooted corruption in land development. Last week the government announced a program to permit 25,000 foreign university students, primarily from the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia, to work in Taiwan after graduation for 2-4 years. That number is a
This year’s Michelin Gourmand Bib sported 16 new entries in the 126-strong Taiwan directory. The fight for the best braised pork rice and the crispiest scallion pancake painstakingly continued, but what stood out in the lineup this year? Pang Taqueria (胖塔可利亞); Taiwan’s first Michelin-recommended Mexican restaurant. Chef Charles Chen (陳治宇) is a self-confessed Americophile, earning his chef whites at a fine-dining Latin-American fusion restaurant. But what makes this Xinyi (信義) spot stand head and shoulders above Taipei’s existing Mexican offerings? The authenticity. The produce. The care. AUTHENTIC EATS In my time on the island, I have caved too many times to
In a stark demonstration of how award-winning breakthroughs can come from the most unlikely directions, researchers have won an Ig Nobel prize for discovering that mammals can breathe through their anuses. After a series of tests on mice, rats and pigs, Japanese scientists found the animals absorb oxygen delivered through the rectum, work that underpins a clinical trial to see whether the procedure can treat respiratory failure. The team is among 10 recognized in this year’s Ig Nobel awards (see below for more), the irreverent accolades given for achievements that “first make people laugh, and then make them think.” They are not