Following is a summary of current entertainment news
briefs.
DeAndre Brackensick shown the door on ”American Idol”
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – DeAndre Brackensick, a curly-haired
contestant adored by judge Jennifer Lopez, on Thursday became
the third contestant booted from ”American Idol,” leaving seven
of the original 10 finalists remaining on the top-rated TV
singing contest. Brackensick received a hug from Lopez before
exiting the stage. The pop superstar revealed she had voted to
use the ”save” allotted to the judges, but fellow panelists
Randy Jackson and Steven Tyler had not agreed with her.
Guitar amplifier pioneer Jim Marshall dies aged 88
LONDON (Reuters) – Jim Marshall, dubbed the ”Lord of Loud”
for his pioneering work on guitar amplifiers used by some of
the greatest names in rock music, has died aged 88. A
spokeswoman for the company he founded said he passed away in
Milton Keynes, southeast England, on Thursday morning. She
could not confirm reports that he had been suffering from
cancer and had a series of strokes.
Keith Olbermann sues Current TV over ouster
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Fired TV commentator Keith
Olbermann on Thursday filed a breach of contract lawsuit
against Current TV, calling its management amateurs and
claiming he is owed as much as $70 million. Olbermann, who was
fired a week ago after about a year on the small progressive
public affairs channel, said he was ”enticed to leave” his old
job at cable channel MSNBC and join Current with the promise of
editorial control and professional support.
Older, raunchier ”American Pie” gang back for ”Reunion”
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – It’s been 13 years since the hit
teen comedy ”American Pie” introduced a pack of horny
high-schoolers out to lose their virginity before graduation
and made an unlikely star of a warm pie. Now the gang is back –
a little older if not much wiser – in a fourth sequel,
”American Reunion,” in theaters on Friday, and they are again
pushing the boundaries of good taste with plenty of
full-frontal nudity and outrageous behavior.
Houston drowned in very hot water, cocaine in system
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Whitney Houston drowned in a hot
bathtub in a Beverly Hills hotel room with cocaine in her
system and white powder nearby, a final coroner’s report
revealed on Wednesday. Detectives found white powdery
substances, a rolled-up piece of paper, a small spoon and a
mirror in the bathroom shortly after Houston’s naked body was
found face down in the bathtub on February 11, the 40-page Los
Angeles County coroner’s report said.
Beyonce shares family photos on new fan website
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – R&B; superstar Beyonce gave fans
some insight into her private life on Thursday with the
relaunch of her website, featuring intimate snapshots of her
daily routines the singer has carefully shielded from the
public until now. ”This is my life, today, over the years –
through my eyes. My family, my travels, my love. This is where
I share with you. This will continue to grow as I do,” the
singer wrote on her new website.
Oprah’s next mission: Win advertisers with OWN vision
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Oprah Winfrey appears in New York
on Thursday before her most important audience: potential
advertisers who will decide how many more seasons her
struggling cable network has to promote her mantra to ”live
your best life.” The ”queen of talk,” having admitted in a CBS
interview this week to ”101 mistakes” in launching the Oprah
Winfrey Network last year, must convince the media buyers who
will crowd Lincoln Center that her formula of uplifting
programs will attract more viewers than it did in its first
year.
Disney Channel stars speak out against cyberbullying
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Even some young Disney Channel
stars, as popular as they seem to be, have suffered at the
hands of bullies, and now dozens of them are urging kids to
stand up against bullying – not by lashing out, but by speaking
up. In a campaign launching on Thursday on Disney Channel,
Disney XD and Disney.com, actors like Billy Unger, Bridgit
Mendler and Bella Thorne are urging 6 to 14-year-olds to treat
each other better, both in the playground and online.
Claude Miller, director of ”La Petite Voleuse,” dies at 70
PARIS (Reuters) – Claude Miller, a French director best
known for discovering young actress Charlotte Gainsbourg in the
1985 film ”La Petite Voleuse,” has died at the age of 70 after
a long illness, one of his production companies said on
Thursday. A student of ”Nouvelle Vague” directors Robert
Bresson, Jean-Luc Godard and Francois Truffaut, Miller carried
their artistic approach into the 21st century, writing,
directing and producing dozens of films.
London music fest gambles on little-known Nancarrow
LONDON (Reuters) – Avant garde rock star Frank Zappa said
his music sounded like ”bionic ragtime,” the U.S. government
considered him an unwelcome communist and Spanish dictator
Francisco Franco’s soldiers wanted to kill him. So what else
was Conlon Nancarrow, a native of Texarkana, Arkansas, to do
but move to Mexico, give up his U.S. citizenship and write
music mostly for the player piano, of all the instruments under
the sun, that is now considered to be among the most
influential produced in the 20th century?
