Monday, October 10, 2005

People: Boy George, Robbie Williams, Madonna

International Herald Tribune.- The singer Boy George has returned to Britain after his drug arrest in New York, refusing to comment on the affair as he arrived at London's Heathrow airport. The British musician, known for his hits with Culture Club, was arrested Saturday after the police found a small amount of cocaine at his New York apartment. He was released after appearing at Manhattan Criminal Court, but he must return to New York for another hearing on Dec. 19. "I am not speaking to anybody about it," George told reporters at Heathrow. "Don't ask me any questions because you are not going to get any answers at all." His lawyer, Lou Freeman, told the New York Post that "it was a small amount of drugs" and that Boy George "does not know where it came from. He's had a lot of people in his house." Boy George himself had called the police to his apartment to investigate a burglary. The drugs were found during that investigation, the police said.

The British pop star Robbie Williams launched his first album in two years this weekend with a high-tech concert in Berlin that was also shown live across Europe in select cinemas and on mobile phones. Williams beamed his 90-minute performance into 27 cinemas and nightclub venues in high-definition with surround sound technology in 11 countries. More than 100,000 mobile phone users also watched a live stream of the concert for the first time. "To everyone in the cinema and watching on your phones, this is the future, baby, and I'll see you next year," Williams said after his crowd-pleasing performance, seen by 7,500 in Berlin and another 10,000 in cinemas from Amsterdam to Dublin and Zagreb, Croatia. His new album is "Intensive Care."

A song on Madonna's next album dedicated to a Kabbalist rabbi is drawing criticism from other rabbis, the Israeli Maariv daily reported. The album, "Confessions on a Dance Floor," is to be released on Nov. 15 and features a track entitled "Isaac" about Yitzhak Luria, a 16th-century Jewish mystic and Kabbalah scholar. Rabbis who oversee Luria's tomb and a seminary in the northern town of Safed are unimpressed with Madonna's musical tribute and see the inclusion of the song about Luria on the album as an attempt by the pop star to profit from his name.

Jackie Chan hit back at reports he is anti-South Korea and accused the media of distorting his comments, according to reports. Speaking at a promotional event in South Korea for his latest movie "The Myth," Chan denied that he said South Korean stars were feted in the Chinese media, but the same could not be said for Chinese stars in South Korea. South Korean popular culture, from TV series to pop idols, has taken Hong Kong and the rest of Asia by storm.

The actor Nathan Lane got an unwanted accessory only days before the much-anticipated Broadway revival of "The Odd Couple" began for previews: a broken finger swathed in a huge white bandage. Lane, who teams again with "The Producers" co-star Matthew Broderick in the comedy, accidentally slammed his right index finger in a door and required 14 stitches, Time magazine reported. Lane said he would take off the splint and bandage for the performance. Lane plays slovenly Oscar and Broderick is fastidious Felix in the show opening Oct. 27. Nearly every show scheduled through April is sold out, giving it an advance box office of $21.5 million - the most of any play in the history of Broadway.


The singer Boy George has returned to Britain after his drug arrest in New York, refusing to comment on the affair as he arrived at London's Heathrow airport. The British musician, known for his hits with Culture Club, was arrested Saturday after the police found a small amount of cocaine at his New York apartment. He was released after appearing at Manhattan Criminal Court, but he must return to New York for another hearing on Dec. 19. "I am not speaking to anybody about it," George told reporters at Heathrow. "Don't ask me any questions because you are not going to get any answers at all." His lawyer, Lou Freeman, told the New York Post that "it was a small amount of drugs" and that Boy George "does not know where it came from. He's had a lot of people in his house." Boy George himself had called the police to his apartment to investigate a burglary. The drugs were found during that investigation, the police said.

The British pop star Robbie Williams launched his first album in two years this weekend with a high-tech concert in Berlin that was also shown live across Europe in select cinemas and on mobile phones. Williams beamed his 90-minute performance into 27 cinemas and nightclub venues in high-definition with surround sound technology in 11 countries. More than 100,000 mobile phone users also watched a live stream of the concert for the first time. "To everyone in the cinema and watching on your phones, this is the future, baby, and I'll see you next year," Williams said after his crowd-pleasing performance, seen by 7,500 in Berlin and another 10,000 in cinemas from Amsterdam to Dublin and Zagreb, Croatia. His new album is "Intensive Care."

A song on Madonna's next album dedicated to a Kabbalist rabbi is drawing criticism from other rabbis, the Israeli Maariv daily reported. The album, "Confessions on a Dance Floor," is to be released on Nov. 15 and features a track entitled "Isaac" about Yitzhak Luria, a 16th-century Jewish mystic and Kabbalah scholar. Rabbis who oversee Luria's tomb and a seminary in the northern town of Safed are unimpressed with Madonna's musical tribute and see the inclusion of the song about Luria on the album as an attempt by the pop star to profit from his name.

Jackie Chan hit back at reports he is anti-South Korea and accused the media of distorting his comments, according to reports. Speaking at a promotional event in South Korea for his latest movie "The Myth," Chan denied that he said South Korean stars were feted in the Chinese media, but the same could not be said for Chinese stars in South Korea. South Korean popular culture, from TV series to pop idols, has taken Hong Kong and the rest of Asia by storm.

The actor Nathan Lane got an unwanted accessory only days before the much-anticipated Broadway revival of "The Odd Couple" began for previews: a broken finger swathed in a huge white bandage. Lane, who teams again with "The Producers" co-star Matthew Broderick in the comedy, accidentally slammed his right index finger in a door and required 14 stitches, Time magazine reported. Lane said he would take off the splint and bandage for the performance. Lane plays slovenly Oscar and Broderick is fastidious Felix in the show opening Oct. 27. Nearly every show scheduled through April is sold out, giving it an advance box office of $21.5 million - the most of any play in the history of Broadway

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