Entertainment News

Avril Lavigne, Drake, Nelly Furtado help cover K'naan single for Haiti relief
TORONTO - Canada's musical stars have aligned to help Haiti. Avril Lavigne, Drake and Nelly Furtado are among the 57 artists performing together on a remixed version of K'naan's anthem "Wavin' Flag," which was to be available for sale digitally at 12:01 a.m. ET on Friday morning.
      

Judge rules in favour of Pink Floyd in battle with EMI over online sales
LONDON - Album lovers may rejoice a little at last: a British court says Pink Floyd, purveyor of iTunes-unfriendly concept records, cannot be unbundled. The High Court ruled Thursday that record label EMI Group Ltd. can't sell Pink Floyd tracks individually without the band's permission. A judge said that the band's contract applied both to physical albums and Internet sales.
      

Conan brings 'Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour' to Canada
NEW YORK - Without a TV show to do every night, Conan O'Brien is taking his act on the road. And he's coming to Canada. The former host of "The Tonight Show" announced a 30-city theatre tour on Thursday. Sidekick Andy Richter and the former "Tonight Show" band will join O'Brien for what he promises to be "a night of music, comedy, hugging and the occasional awkward silence."
      

After an Internet campaign, 88-year-old Betty White to host 'SNL'
NEW YORK - The Internet has gotten its way: Betty White will host sketch comedy show "Saturday Night Live." NBC said Thursday that the 88-year-old actress will host the show May 8. "SNL" executive producer Lorne Michaels says he can't think of a better way to spend Mother's Day weekend than with White.
      

Museum explores why media saw Elvis as nothin' but a hound dog
WASHINGTON - A spark that helped ignite Elvis Presley's fame more than 50 years ago was lit by the newspaper editors and critics who hated him. They detested his voice and thought his moves were unfit for family publications, all while teenagers went wild. It's that shocking style and clash with the media that also will make Elvis the subject of a new exhibition at the Newseum, a history museum that celebrates the First Amendment in Washington.
      

Venezuela's Chavez thanks actor Penn for defending him against US media critics
CARACAS, Venezuela - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is grateful that actor Sean Penn has defended him against his critics within the U.S. media. In an appearance on HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher" last week, Penn slammed Chavez critics who refer to the socialist leader as a dictator.
      

Tyler Labine thankful for blunt parental advice that got him through tough times
When Tyler Labine was starting to get some success as a young actor in Canada his parents gave him some blunt advice: "There's nothing special about what you do." "Thankfully my parents were very savvy," says Labine, whose latest series, "Sons of Tucson," premieres Thursday at 9:30 ET on Global and can also be seen Sunday on Fox.
      

HBO brings Second World War veterans to memorial to promote 'Pacific' miniseries
WASHINGTON - Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg and Elizabeth Dole welcomed 250 veterans to the Second World War memorial Thursday to honour their service and introduce a TV miniseries on the battles of the Pacific. HBO and a non-profit group brought the veterans to Washington to mark the premiere of a 10-part series called "The Pacific." It begins Sunday and focuses on the lives of U.S. Marines fighting the Japanese after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
      

Author assumes guise of kid in letters punking the famous, infamous in new book
WASHINGTON - Over the years, "Little Billy" learned much from the country's top minds. Secretaries of state, touched by the 10-year-old's handwritten letters on grade-school notepaper, wrote back advising him how to settle a treehouse dispute with his sister.
      

Michael 'Big Mike' Lynche draws tears from Kara, raves on 'American Idol'
LOS ANGELES - Michael "Big Mike" Lynche made Kara DioGuardi cry and turned the rest of the "American Idol" judges giddy with a moving performance of "This Woman's Work." Lynche, a mountain of a guy who lives up to his nickname, performed last among the eight male semifinalists Wednesday and emerged as the star of the Fox TV show.
      

Disney shoots adventure film southern Indian Telugu dialect
HONG KONG - Encouraged by the reception of its Hindi animated movie, Disney is shooting a new adventure film in the southern Indian dialect of Telugu as it deepens its localization drive in the populous country. The still-unnamed production is about a 9-year-old girl with special healing powers who tries to save her homeland from a tyrannical queen, assisted by a blind swordsman, The Walt Disney Co. said in a statement Thursday.
      

Stage adaptation of John Grisham's 'A Time to Kill' planned for Washington
NEW YORK - A stage adaptation of John Grisham's first novel, "A Time to Kill," will have its world premiere next year in Washington in what is being billed as a "pre-Broadway" production. Arena Stage's artistic director Molly Smith said Thursday the play will run May 6, 2011, through June 19, 2011, at Arena's Kreeger Theater. The best-selling novel will be adapted by Rupert Holmes, who wrote the musical "The Mystery of Edwin Drood."
      

Famous Van Gogh work "The Bedroom" undergoing restoration before blog’s cameras
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - One of Vincent van Gogh's most famous paintings, "The Bedroom," has been taken away for restoration, but art lovers don't have to miss it. They can follow the cleanup on a blog on the Van Gogh Museum's website. The 1888 painting of Van Gogh's room in the French city of Arles, with its brilliant lavender walls and pine-coloured bed, was one of the artist's favourite works.
      

Group is $3M away from buying land near Hollywood sign as deadline approaches
LOS ANGELES - It's a Hollywood cliffhanger, in more ways than one. The Trust for Public Land said Thursday it's about US$3 million away from the $12.5 million it needs to buy and preserve hilltop property beside the world-famous Hollywood sign. Its purchase option expires April 14.
      

'Lost Boys' star Haim remembered as bright 'firecracker' who struggled with drugs
TORONTO - In the 1980s, Corey Haim became a teen pin-up favourite, a baby-faced idol with an infectious grin and a "firecracker" personality. But as he shot to stardom with a string of hit films including the 1987 vampire smash "The Lost Boys," the promising Toronto-born actor fell into a debilitating battle with drugs and alcohol that he later blamed for ruining his career and destroying his health.
      

Charlie Sheen due back at work on CBS' 'Two and a Half Men' after rehab
LOS ANGELES - A spokesman for Charlie Sheen says the actor will soon be back at "Two and a Half Men" after undergoing rehab that temporarily halted production of CBS' top-rated sitcom. Publicist Stan Rosenfield says Sheen will be returning to work and shooting will resume next Tuesday in Los Angeles.
      

John English wins Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Pierre Trudeau biography
OTTAWA - John English of Kitchener, Ont., has won the $25,000 Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing for his latest biography on Pierre Trudeau. The former MP and history professor at the University of Waterloo nabbed the prize Wednesday night at the Politics and the Pen gala in Ottawa.
      

'Valleys of Neptune' tops HMV Canada CD sales chart; 'Need You Now' top country CD
TORONTO - The following is HMV Canada's top 10 CDs based on national sales for the week ending March 13.
      

Girlicious band member arrested in California on suspicion of cocaine possession
Girlicious was arrested after Glendale officers found more than a dozen plastic bags of cocaine in her Gucci purse during a traffic stop. Police Sgt. Tom Lorenz says 21-year-old Natalie Mejia (meh-HEE'-ah) was being held Wednesday in jail in the Los Angeles suburb on suspicion of cocaine for sale or distribution.
      

Country superstar Carrie Underwood is flying high as "Play On Tour" starts
NASHVILLE - After selling more than a million tickets to her last concert tour, Carrie Underwood is aiming higher this time. Really high. She plans to fly over the audience, for starters. "We're kind of going for broke on this one just because I feel like it's time," Underwood said in an interview this week. "At this point, the only thing it's about is putting on a great show and we're going out with that in mind. I definitely think we have delivered."