Friday, September 26th, 2008

The Scandalist Scoop: Friday, Sept. 26

AP
LaBeouf won’t be charged in crash

LOS ANGELES - Shia LaBeouf will not be charged with drunken driving for his involvement in a traffic accident that badly injured his hand, but could have his license suspended because sheriff’s officials said he refused a breathalyzer test.
Celebs launch YouTube poverty campaign at UN
NEW YORK - Musicians will.i.am and Angelique Kidjo, actress Kristin Davis and model Elle Macpherson helped launch a new campaign Thursday to cut global poverty in half by 2015.

Star power meets philanthropy with celeb charities
NEW YORK - Bono battles the AIDS epidemic. Leonardo tries to make the world a greener place, and Martha has a soft spot for animals.

Shakira highlights children’s poverty during talk
NEW YORK - Shakira, a longtime activist for Latin American’s poor children, plans to make her Colombian children’s foundation a global one in the near future.

Paul McCartney performs for thousands in Tel Aviv
TEL AVIV, Israel — Paul McCartney performed his first concert in Israel for some 40,000 fans, kicking it off with the familiar Beatles’ song “Hello, Goodbye.”

“Heroes” star’s dad charged with battery
LOS ANGELES - Prosecutors say they have charged the father of “Heroes” star Hayden Panettiere with misdemeanor battery for an incident in which he allegedly hit his wife.

Rapper Busta Rhymes briefly detained at UK airport
LONDON - Rapper Busta Rhymes was briefly detained at a London airport Thursday by immigration officers who said he should not be allowed into the country, a concert promoter said.

Emilio, wife injured in crash
SAN ANTONIO - Grammy-winning Tejano singer Emilio Navaira, still recovering from major injuries suffered in a bus wreck six months ago, was back in the hospital Thursday after another traffic accident.

Daily News

Clay Aiken talks about being gay, fatherhood on ‘Good Morning America’
New father Clay Aiken sat down with Good Morning America’s Diane Sawyer Thursday morning in his first television interview since revealing to People mag that he is gay. The ‘Idol’ star told People magazine he hopes his Claymate crazies can handle the news. “Whether it be having a child out of wedlock, or whether it be simply being a homosexual, it’s going to be a lot,” Aiken said, adding that his fans “know that I never intended to lie to anybody at all.”

Rigbys’ marriage in a musical junkyard
Everything sounds blurry and addled on the new CD by Wreckless Eric and Amy Rigby, as if the instruments themselves had downed a few brews before they allowed themselves to be played. Fuzzy guitars, blotchy basses and a rash of screwy synthesizers stumble around the songs, mirrored in the boozy vocals of Eric, and the wobbly ones of Rigby. “We both have a great love of broken-down junk,” Rigby says. “We have an awning at our place which all of our friends say we should replace. But it took years to get it to just the right point of decay.”

The Cold War Kids are all right on ‘Loyalty to Loyalty’
Nathan Willett shakes wildly when he sings, letting his vibrato waver and wail without mercy. It’s the sound of someone losing control. It also recalls the sound of two other singers who have a similar edge: Jeff Buckley and Jack White. That’s just one disconcerting feature of the music Willett makes with his Cold War Kids. The whole band sounds like it’s coming apart when they play. By design, the songs lack solid centers, with all four players orbiting in their own universes.

New York Post

ROCKER Pink has found a rebound man. Six months after splitting from husband and “best friend” Carey Hart, the pop star was spotted cozying up to a “slim, tall, casually dressed Italian guy” at Cuba on Thompson. “They were drinking sangria and cuddling and laughing. He was really into her,” said our spy, who saw the duo there the other night. Pink’s spokeswoman told us, “She was with a friend.”

ANOTHER day, another Lohan family drama. Lindsay , who told us several days ago that her father, Michael, “needs to be on medication,” is so scared of him, sources said, that she’s “taking out an order of protection. He’s behaving so erratically that she’s terrified he’ll do something to her. She’s contacted her lawyer to arrange this.” Lindsay’s sister, Ali, “already has an order of protection against him, as does [mom] Dina. No one is speaking with him until he gets help.” Lindsay’s rep declined to comment.

FANS ENJOY AND JOIN
WEEZER was greased and in top form for their Madison Square Garden debut Wednesday, but the playfully wacky quartet got even better with a little help from some musical New Yorkers.

HIP-HOP HELP FOR ‘FELA!’
‘THE Color Purple” had Oprah - and “Fela!” may get Jay-Z. According to my vast network of sources in the hip-hop world, Jay-Z and Beyoncé have fallen completely under the spell of Bill T. Jones’ thrilling new musical at 37 Arts. Now, as plans take shape to move the show to Broadway, word is that Jay-Z may get behind it in a very big way.

USA Today

Prince - Behind the stylish clothes and sensual image is a spiritual, celibate
Downstairs in a dimly lighted screening room crowded with sofas, Prince leafs through the first authorized book of his career. “I wanted to document something that was never done before,” he says, pausing at a photo of himself immersed in fog onstage. “I don’t expect that record to be broken unless I break it.”

Enduring Stewart makes it ‘Definitive’
Spanning 33 years, The Definitive Rod Stewart chronicles the music legend’s breakthrough (Maggie May), Faces stint (Stay With Me), solo hits (You Wear It Well, Tonight’s the Night, Hot Legs, Young Turks) and collaborations (The Motown Song with The Temptations), plus the previously unreleased Two Shades of Blue. The singer’s involvement in his Definitive statement? “Absolutely nothing,” he says with a laugh. “I dug up a few old cassettes, which were remastered, and I searched for videos. I put my work in for the last 45 years.”

LA Times

The dark-glam style of Uh Huh Her
IF YOU think wearing high heels to work is a grind, try tramping around stage at the Viper Room in stilettos with a guitar strapped to your back. But spiky shoes — along with skinny jeans and loads of black eyeliner — are part of what defines the slinky, dark-glam look of new L.A. band Uh Huh Her. “People are totally astonished that I can play bass in heels,” says Camila Grey, lead vocalist for the electro-indie duo, which she co-founded with singer and keyboard player Leisha Hailey — the elfin blond actress who costars in the Showtime series “The L Word,” about fashion-savvy lesbians living in L.A.

New York Times

Myspace Starts a Music Service, but Indie Labels Cry Foul
A group of independent labels still negotiating for a presence on MySpace Music objected that the service, which began on Thursday, was started without their participation.

Hollywood Reporter

Kathy Griffin sues KathyGriffin.com owner
OK, here’s the thing, Kathy Griffin has filed a cybersquatting lawsuit against a company that owns KathyGriffin.com, claiming they are making money off her name and image. In a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court Sept. 16, the comedian, who just won another Emmy for her reality show, “My Life on the D-List,” was contacted in July by the owners offering the site for sale for $3,500.

Billboard

T.I. Back Atop Hot 100, Kanye Debuts High
T.I.’s “Whatever You Like” returns to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for a fourth non-consecutive week, rising 2-1 to trade places with Pink’s “So What.” “Like” is the fastest-growing track at radio and also sold more than 202,000 digital downloads, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Flaming Lips Unveil ‘Mars’ CD/DVD Details
The Flaming Lips’ long-in-the-works film “Christmas on Mars” will arrive Oct. 28 on DVD via Warner Bros. A separate edition bundles the Lips’ original score on CD with the DVD.

Bon Jovi Unveils Clips From New Documentary
Jon Bon Jovi showed off footage for the first time in public from the upcoming Phil Griffin-directed documentary about his band during a question-and-answer panel today (Sept. 25) as part of Advertising Week in New York.

Friday, September 26

David Letterman: Lance Armstrong, Kristen Wiig, TV on the Radio
Jay Leno: Jimmy Kimmel, Jennifer Hudson
Late Late Show: Drew Carey, Tony Parker, Lady Antebellum
Conan O’Brien: Brooke Shields, Amos Lee
Last Call: Miranda Kerr, Rachael Harris, Seether (R 5/8/08)
Jimmy Kimmel: Martin Short, Solange Knowles (R 9/10/08)
The View: Julianne Moore, Candace Bushnell
Regis and Kelly: Victoria Beckham, Usain Bolt, guest co-host Nick Lachey
Ellen DeGeneres: Shia LaBeouf, Mario Lopez, Humane Society president Wayne Pacelle
Tavis Smiley: Geoff Canada, Paul Tough
Chelsea Lately: Finesse Mitchell, Gary Valentine, Erin Foley
George Stroumboulopoulos: Russell Peters, Spike Lee
Bonnie Hunt: Allison Janney, Thom Beers, Michael Clarke Duncan