A king's ransom for a stone's book
NEW YORK -- Publishers vying for the rights to rocker Keith Richards' autobiography have pushed up the Rolling Stones co-founder's advance to $7.3 million (3.6 million pounds), according to a report. The bidding has narrowed down to two publishing houses, HarperCollins, a unit of News Corp., and Little Brown, a division of Hachette Filipacchi, the New York Post reported on Thursday.
Can't keep Beyonce down
Beyonce Knowles made a dramatic misstep when she fell face-first down a flight of stairs during a concert. Ever the stage professional, she got right up and continued her performance as if nothing had happened. The 25-year-old singer -- flipping her hair dramatically and wearing a long red trench coat and high heels -- was performing her song "Ring the Alarm" during a concert Tuesday in Orlando, Fla., when she tripped and stumbled down several stairs. Knowles quickly regained her footing, reclaimed her microphone and went on with the show. A spokeswoman for the singer didn't immediately return a phone call from The Associated Press on Thursday. Amateur videos of the tumble had nearly 900,000 hits on the YouTube.com Web site Thursday morning. Posting of the videos began Wednesday.
Etta James was in stable condition Thursday after being hospitalized for complications from abdominal surgery she had last month, her manager said. The 69-year-old blues singer was being treated at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. "Her condition is stabilized" but she had to cancel upcoming tour dates with B.B. King and Al Green, her manager, Lupe De Leon, said in an e-mail. De Leon did not indicate when James was admitted but said the hospitalization was caused by "post-op complications" from her mid-June surgery. The complications and the nature of the surgery were not specified. "We feel confident (that) by postponing her participation until Aug. 23, she will be in good shape to put on the kind of performance that Etta James' fans know and love," De Leon said. During her 50-year career, James has scored a string of hits that include "At Last," "Trust in Me" and "A Sunday Kind of Love."
An Arizona man who allegedly demanded more than $1 million not to publish Tom Cruise's stolen wedding photographs has been arrested, the actor's lawyer said Thursday. David Hans Schmidt, known for brokering deals involving compromising celebrity photos and videos, approached Cruise's representatives about six weeks ago with photos from the actor's Italian wedding last year to Katie Holmes, attorney Bertram Fields said. The FBI was contacted. "He was looking for money, lots of money," Fields said. Schmidt, 47, was arrested by federal agents Tuesday, said FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller, but she said the criminal complaint charging him was under seal in federal court and she refused to comment. Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles, said a judge set bond at $100,000. Schmidt was being held Thursday at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles, according to jail records. Schmidt has also been trying to auction off Paris Hilton's diaries, along with photos of her in various stages of undress and other personal items that had been locked away in a Los Angeles-area storage locker until a few months ago. Hilton's publicist, Elliot Mintz, has said the belongings were "illegally seized" from the storage facility.
Mindy McCready was in jail Thursday, accused of violating probation on a 2004 drug charge after a scuffle with her mother and authorities in Florida, officials said. The 31-year-old country singer was taken into custody Wednesday at Nashville International Airport and booked into the Williamson County jail just south of Nashville. She was arrested last week in Fort Myers, Fla., her hometown, on misdemeanor charges that she scratched her mother on the face during a scuffle and resisted sheriff's deputies. She could serve up to three years in prison if convicted of violating probation. The singer was on probation after receiving a suspended three-year sentence for obtaining the painkiller OxyContin at a pharmacy in 2004 by getting a prescription in another person's name.