ENTERTAINMENT. Cont'd.
Photo:
Gwen Stefani of No Doubt performs during the Billboard Music Awards.(AP /Joe
Cavaretta)
NEW YORK (AP) -- No worries: No Doubt isn't breaking up. "I thought it would be a good publicity stunt to say we were breaking up, but really we're not," the group's lead singer, Gwen Stefani, tells Cosmopolitan magazine for its June issue. "We decided after our album Rock Steady that we were going to take some time apart to pursue independent projects," she says. "And I really wanted to do a movie." That movie is The Aviator, the Howard Hughes biography starring Leonardo DiCaprio and directed by Martin Scorsese. "It's very small," the 34-year-old says of her role as Jean Harlow. "I was only shooting for four or five days so I'll barely be on screen for two minutes, which is so hilarious, because they're making it sound like I'm the star of the movie." Stefani's new solo CD, which comes out in August, is "going to be a fun '80s-inspired retro dance album."
Joel's wrecked car grill up for auction
WEST BABYLON, N.Y. (AP) -- Proving the adage yet again that one man's trash is another's treasure, a radio station has collected the smashed front grill from Billy Joel's car wreck last month and is auctioning it off for charity. Joel suffered minor injuries April 25 when he lost control of his vintage 1967 Citroen on a rain-slicked road near his Long Island home and slammed into a house. The singer-songwriter received a small cut on his left ring finger but refused medical attention. The wreck was the third in two years for Joel. Last year he was hospitalized after smashing his car into a tree along a highway on far eastern Long Island and he escaped serious injury in a crash in East Hampton in June 2002. WBLI morning show co-host Steve Harper said Monday that the grill is being offered on eBay, where it will remain until 12:45 p.m. Thursday. The station's Slam the Stunt Man, collected the debris off the street at the crash site, Harper said. A Nassau County police spokesman said Joel has not asked for the grill back, so there's no legal reason the station can't sell it. A spokeswoman for Joel didn't immediately return a call for comment. Proceeds will go to Long Island charities, although Harper said station officials are still discussing the exact beneficiaries.
"Love tested positive for drugs", said prosecutor.Arrested after allegedly trying to break into boyfriend's home
Photo:
Courtney Love at the Los Angeles County Superior Courthouse April 30. (AP
/Nick Ut )
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The prosecutor in the misdemeanour drug case against Courtney Love said Monday she tested positive for cocaine when she was arrested last year. After a hearing, Assistant City Attorney Jerry Baik told reporters outside the courtroom that Love tested positive for several illegal drugs after the October arrest, including cocaine. He declined to identify the other drugs. Love, the widow of grunge rocker Kurt Cobain and former lead singer of the rock band Hole, recently released a solo album, America's Sweetheart. Love did not appear at Monday's hearing, one of two cases stemming from Oct. 2 incidents. She faces misdemeanour charges of being under the influence of a controlled substance and disorderly conduct after being arrested for allegedly trying to break into the Los Angeles home of a former boyfriend. After her release, emergency workers were called to her home and took her to a hospital for a drug overdose. Police have testified she handed one officer a plastic bag of pills, which were later identified as oxycodone and hydrocodone -- painkillers for which her lawyer claims she had prescriptions. Love was charged with two felony counts of possession of controlled substances. She faces more than three years in prison if convicted. The felony and misdemeanour cases are being tried separately.
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