Yoko Ono to attend Paul McCartney's Liverpool gig & other: June 2008

Thursday, 19 June 2008

Renamed Caesars Windsor opens after $43M fix-up; Billy Joel set to perform

WINDSOR, Ontario - Caesars Windsor casino is opening under its new name after a C$439-million makeover designed to compete with expanded casinos in nearby Detroit.

Operators of Casino Windsor announced its re-branding as Caesars Windsor in December 2006. The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. underwrote the project.

The casino includes a 27-storey, 369-room Augustus Tower hotel and 9,300 square metres of convention space.

The opening is to feature Billy Joel performing for invited guests Thursday night at the 5,000-seat Colosseum theatre. Performers this summer include Patti LaBelle, Michael Bolton, Ringo Starr, Reba McEntire, Randy Travis, Neil Sedaka and Donna Summer.

Windsor's first casino opened in 1994. Detroit has three state-chartered casinos.

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On the Net:

Caesars Windsor:

http://www.harrahs.com/casinos/casino-windsor/hotel-casino/property-home.shtml

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Friday, 13 June 2008

All Eyes On 'Blindness' At Cannes

The 62nd annual Cannes Film Festival gets under way tonight (Wednesday) with a screening of Brazilian director Fernando Meirelles apocalyptic thriller Blindness, about a plague of blindness that sweeps the world. The opening-night film is also competing for the festival's top prize, the Palme d'Or. In recent years, the Cannes jury -- this year's is headed by Sean Penn -- has made selections for the prize that have stunned many film journalists and critics in attendance -- but few have complained about the choices. Writing in today's International Herald Tribune, Joan Dupont commented that the festival "has a way of pumping up the action and planting a surprise" during its final days. Nevertheless, the film receiving the most publicity at the festival is George Lucas and Steven Spielberg's Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which is being screened on May 18, four days before its worldwide theatrical bow. In an interview with the Associated Press, producer Frank Marshall said that Cannes provides "the perfect launching pad, because we can bring the whole world there." Meanwhile, today's (Wednesday) Los Angeles Times warns that along with the movie world's glitterati the festival sees a swarm of criminals arrive in town each year, although the town actively attempts to play down the annual crime spike. Some victims told the newspaper that they were encouraged by their hotels not to speak publicly about their losses. Emilie George, managing director of France's Memento films, charged that there is an effort afoot "to stifle all sense of any criminal doings during the festival in order to protect its image." But Nikki Parker, who is in the business of protecting images as head of international publicity for PR firm Rogers & Cowan, told the Times that she has been robbed -- twice -- at the festival by cat burglars. Even A.O. Scott, the New York Times film critic, said that he was robbed while he slept in his hotel room by burglars who took his wallet and his principal tool of the trade, his laptop computer.

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Saturday, 7 June 2008

Woman questioned about R. Kelly sex tape

Friend of alleged victim in video takes stand

CHICAGO -- Prosecutors trying to prove that a woman appeared in a sex tape with R. Kelly when she was underage -- over her protestations that she didn't -- have turned to one of her childhood friends, the friend's father and two relatives.
The R&B superstar is accused in the child pornography trial of videotaping himself having sex with a girl who may have been as young as 13. His attorneys have said Kelly is not on the tape and the alleged victim, now 23, denies she's the person in the video.
To try to make their case, prosecutors put Simha Jamison, 24, on the stand Wednesday. She said she and the alleged victim were best friends for about 10 years, until their junior year in high school, and that she recognizes her friend as the one in the tape.
When prosecutors asked Jamison if she recognized the man in the tape, she leaned forward in the witness stand, peeked around the corner of the judge's bench and identified Kelly.
She testified that she and her friend visited Kelly at his recording studio and at a Chicago basketball court dozens of times, starting when they were around the age of 12.
Her friend first introduced her to Kelly as "her godfather," Jamison said, adding that the singer frequently gave her friend cash gifts -- "no less than $100 and no more than $500."
She said the two also visited the home where authorities say the sex tape was filmed between Jan. 1, 1998, and Nov. 1, 2000. Jamison said her friend never mentioned a sexual relationship with the star.
Defense attorney Sam Adam Jr. said the reason the alleged victim never told the witness she was having a sexual relationship with Kelly was because there wasn't one and "because it's not her on the tape."
"Are you asking or telling me?" Jamison shot back.
Adam also showed pictures of a shirtless Kelly and asked Jamison how she knew it was his body on the video. "His head was attached to it," she responded, drawing laughter from several jurors.
During the cross-examination, the defense revealed another of its strategies may be to suggest Kelly's image was computer-generated.
"Something could have been done to put a different head on that body," Adam said. He also referred to movies where characters had been digitally altered.
The singer, who appeared grim-faced Tuesday when the sex tape was shown to jurors, looked more relaxed during testimony Wednesday, listening carefully to the witnesses. Jurors also appeared more at ease, taking detailed notes during some five hours of testimony. The 41-year-old Kelly, who has pleaded not guilty, faces up to 15 years if convicted.
An aunt and an uncle of the alleged victim also identified the female on the tape as their niece on Wednesday. Jamison's father, Peter Thomas, testified that the alleged victim's involvement in the video was the talk of their neighborhood.
The most highly charged cross-examination came after the aunt of the alleged victim -- and a Chicago police officer -- described how she and other relatives viewed and discussed the tape in late 2001, several weeks before someone mailed the tape to the Chicago Sun-Times, which turned it over to authorities.
Adam repeatedly asked the aunt, Delores Gibbon, why she didn't immediately go to authorities with the tape if she suspected it was child pornography. Gibbon said she was torn between her job and concern for the alleged victim and her parent.
At one point, Adam pounded his fist, saying the aunt didn't go to authorities because someone in the family wanted to "get back at Mr. Kelly" for a business dispute and hoped to "extort Kelly" in a possible civil lawsuit.
The aunt said she didn't know anything about an alleged extortion plot.
R. Kelly won a Grammy in 1997 for the gospel-tinged "I Believe I Can Fly," and also is known for such songs as "Bump N' Grind," "Ignition," and "Trapped in the Closet," a multipart saga about the sexual secrets of a lively and ever-expanding cast of characters.

Friday, 6 June 2008

ITV1 to screen Mandela's 90th concert

ITV1 is to air "as live" coverage of the all-star London concert planned to mark Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday.

Among those on the bill for the Hyde Park event are Amy Winehouse, Leona Lewis, Annie Lennox, Queen, Sugababes, Razorlight and Dame Shirley Bassey.

Acts will be introduced by stars including Will Smith, while "special, surprise guests" are promised as additional headliners.

The former president of South Africa chose London for the June 27 celebrations which will benefit his HIV/AIDS awareness charity, 46664.

"Nelson Mandela coming to London to celebrate his 90th birthday is about as good a reason as it gets for having a party," said Guy Freeman, controller of ITV music and events.

"This will be such an exciting, historical event with an amazing lineup of artists already taking part and I

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CD review: Here I Stand - Usher

Usher, what are you doing? Why isn't your best song to date - the brilliantly bonkers leaked single Dat Girl Right There - on your new album? Are you an idiot?

If you haven't heard it, Dat Girl Right There features woozy synths, crazy off-kilter rhythms and an inspired cameo by rapper Ludacris that renders T-Pain's trademark computerised vocals impotent.

It's Usher's best ever song, but it's not on his new album. Perhaps it was because it was leaked. Perhaps there wasn't room. Or perhaps it was just too strange.

Whatever the case, it would have helped add some heat to Here I Stand - an unfilfulling album packed full of Usher standards with only occasional flourishes of inspiration.

It proves R&B's biggest selling star is resting firmly on his laurels.

Here I Stand reaches its nadir early with the downright awful will.i.am duet What's Your Name, while This Ain't Sex finds Usher crooning, "We're not having sex, we're making moments that will outlast the world."

Yuck. Has Usher turned into Tom Jones?

Thankfully, marriage hasn't completely tamed him. On the single Love In The Club, Usher doesn't even bother taking the girl of his affections home before having his way with her.

Whew. That's a bit more like the Usher we know and love.

There's also the stunningly epic ballad Moving Mountains, while Jay-Z and Lil Wayne help break up some of those endless ballads and add some hip-hop cred later on in the 18-track affair.

But Usher is at his best when his songs are dripping in sex, and there are precious few of those moments here. It's just one song, but Dat Girl Right There would have made all the difference.

*Usher's Here I Stand is out on May 27 through SonyBMG.

*What do you think of Usher's new album? Post your comments below.

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Emmerdale star leaves Dancing on Ice

'Emmerdale' star Linda Lusardi has become the latest celebrity to be voted off 'Dancing on Ice'.
The actress failed to secure the judges' votes after she was placed in the bottom two and forced to skate-off against former 'Coronation Street' star Zaraah Abrahams.
Lusardi and her skating partner Dan Whiston scored 19 points out of a possible 30 after performing their routine.
Judge Karen Barber told them: "My marks were low because there was a trip and then the lift went wrong. This week the jumps have created so many nerves out there."
Fellow judge Ruthie Henshall said: "I'm a big fan and I think you are a pleasure to watch and your personality always shines through."

Are You a Saturday Night Fever Fan?

Send GMA your video tribute to the iconic '70s film, which came out 30 years ago

Miss Kitten and The Hacker

Artist: Miss Kitten and The Hacker

   Genre(s):
Electronic

Discography:

First Album

Year:
Tracks: 14

Heavy Load

The Goo Goo Dolls Release Second Volume Of Hits

The Goo Goo Dolls [ tickets ] will release a two disc CD/DVD set, "Volume Two," Aug. 5, according to a press release. "Volume Two," which is the follow-up to last year's "Greatest Hits Volume One: The Singles," will feature previously unreleased tracks, b-sides, rarities, live performances and music videos. The CD also will include eight cover songs, including the band's renditions of The Plimsouls' "A Million Miles Away," INXS's "Don't Change," Fleetwood Mac's "I Don't Wanna Know," and live versions of Tom Petty's "American Girl" and Supertramp's "Give A Little Bit."The DVD features all 24 of the Goo Goo Dolls' videos, including their three No. 1 hits: "Name," "Iris" and "Slide." In addition, the DVD features six live tracks from their June 2007 show at Colorado's Red Rocks Amphitheatre, including "Before It's Too Late," from "The Transformers" soundtrack.The band is expected to perform several shows across the UK and in Ireland in July, including an appearance at the O2 Wireless Festival in London's Hyde Park on July 6.

Van Halen tour grosses $93 mil

Nearly 1 mil in attendance

NASHVILLE -- Although not without setbacks, the Van Halen reunion tour ended up a massive success, wrapping Monday in Grand Rapids, Mich., with a total gross of more than $93 million and close to 1 million in attendance from 74 shows.
The tour featured founding members David Lee Roth, and Eddie and Alex Van Halen, along with Eddie's son Wolfgang Van Halen.
After initially being set up as an amphitheater tour for the summer of 2007, the Live Nation-produced reunion temporarily derailed when guitarist Eddie Van Halen entered rehab. But it was resurrected as a fall arena run that stretched into 2008.
The tour was delayed again in March because of health issues for Eddie, then returned to the road in April to finish with a flourish.
The shows marked the first time Roth had performed with the band in more than 23 years. Van Halen's handlers say it was the top-grossing tour in the band's history.