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Hell hath no fury like a model who's lost her luggage. PHOTO: AP

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice may have attended just four rock concerts in her life, but the rock band Kiss apparently thinks she is pretty cool.

After a day-long international conference on Iraq, Rice was dining Thursday evening with Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt at a 19th-century villa when a call came in that Kiss was in the Nordic capital on a tour and wanted to see her, aides said.

The US group had heard Rice was in town.

“It was really fun to meet Kiss and Gene Simmons,” Rice told reporters on her plane en route to Iceland on Friday.

Simmons, who sings and plays bass, is famed for posing while wagging his long tongue.

Rice and her entourage returned to their hotel and gathered with the rock stars in a conference room where photos were taken of the occasion — without the band members wearing their trademark black-and-white facial make-up.

Rice, who plays the piano and considered a career in music before turning to Soviet studies, told reporters she enjoyed “the whole range of music” but had only been to four rock concerts. She proceeded to list them.

Condoleezza Rice may not be a stuffy government official after all. PHOTO: AP

At age 10, she saw Paul Revere and the Raiders. At age 16, on her first date with an Air Force cadet, she saw Smokey Robinson and the Miracles.

Later Rice saw Earth Wind and Fire, and she said she has also been to a U2 concert.

Dueling lawsuits between singer Marilyn Manson and an ex-bandmate could be headed back to the deposition table.

Lawyers for former Manson keyboardist Stephen Bier maintain the singer would not answer inquires about his alleged use of illegal drugs and whether he made racist comments in a deposition last month.

But attorneys for Manson contend that during his deposition, Bier refused to answer questions about his own alleged drug use and whether he was ever too impaired to perform on stage.

Attorneys for both men told their clients not to respond to the questions to protect their privacy.

Bier — known by his stage name, Madonna Wayne Gacy — sued Manson in August for more than US$20 million, claiming the singer stiffed him on salary and medical support. Bier claimed Manson used the money instead to buy himself a mansion, pay for drug treatment, produce a movie, buy Nazi memorabilia and hold a fancy wedding.

Manson struck back and claimed Bier did not carry out obligations to take part in master recordings, concerts and the selling of band merchandise.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Stern is scheduled to hold hearings June 19 and July 1 on the separate motions to compel the additional deposition answers.

The supermodel Naomi Campbell was charged on Thursday with six offences after allegedly assaulting two police officers at Heathrow, London, during last month’s baggage chaos at the airport’s new terminal five.

She allegedly became abusive towards British Airways cabin crew after they told her one of her checked-in bags had not been loaded on to a Los Angeles-bound flight. The cabin crew had apparently told her she could either fly to Los Angeles without her bag or disembark and book on to a later service.

During the fracas she was handcuffed and taken off the jet by police officers and held in custody for eight hours. If convicted, Campbell, 38, who appeared at Heathrow police station yesterday to answer bail, could face 18 months in prison and a fine for the assault.

The UK’s Crown Prosecution Service said the charges included two of using threatening, abusive words or behavior to cabin crew and one of disorderly conduct.

Reading a statement on her behalf her lawyer, Simon Nicholls, said: “Miss Campbell is bitterly disappointed that the prosecutors have advised her she is to be prosecuted for various offences. Prosecutors in this case have decided she needs to be prosecuted at Magistrates Court. She respects that decision and she hopes this matter is dealt with expeditiously.”

After a half-hour interview with Heathrow police, the model was whisked away in a chauffeur-driven Mercedes. Nicholls said his client was due to appear at Uxbridge Magistrates Court on June 20.

There have been previous run-ins with celebrities at Heathrow. In 2006 a fracas in a British Airways lounge resulted in the arrest of the US rapper Snoop Dogg and several of his 30-strong entourage.
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