US-ENTERTAINMENT Summary
Massive demand for Jackson memorial tickets
LOS ANGELES - More than half a million fans from around the world applied for 17,500 free tickets to Michael Jackson's public memorial service next week, organizers said on Friday as a massive security operation got underway. The life and music of the self-proclaimed "king of pop," who died of sudden cardiac arrest last Thursday, will be celebrated on Tuesday at the Staples Center, a basketball arena in downtown Los Angeles.
Fans overlook Michael Jackson's dark side
LOS ANGELES - Just as people choose to forget that Elvis Presley was a bloated drug addict when he died, so Michael Jackson is now the subject of posthumous veneration that overlooks the dark side of his life. Jackson's career was all but comatose four years ago when he stood trial for child molestation in California. Despite lurid testimony from a 13-year-old boy who said that Jackson conducted sexual acts with him, a jury decided he was not guilty. But damage had been done.
"Slumdog" child star moves into new Mumbai home
MUMBAI - A child star of the Oscar-winning movie "Slumdog Millionaire" moved into his new home in an upmarket Mumbai suburb Saturday, a far cry from his family's former dwelling -- a shanty by the railway tracks. Azharuddin Ismail, 9, played the youngest Salim in British director Danny Boyle's rags-to-riches film about a slum dweller trying his luck on a TV gameshow.
Michael Jackson book a headache for Jackie O
LOS ANGELES - Michael Jackson crossed swords with a lot of people when he was alive, but perhaps none more important than Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. The former first lady, in her capacity as an editor at Doubleday Books, secured a coveted book deal with the pop star in 1984, when he was still riding high on the success of his "Thriller" album released two years earlier.
Prince booked to return to Montreux jazz festival
GENEVA - Prince will return to the Montreux stage, closing out the famed jazz festival on July 18, with high-priced tickets expected to be snapped up quickly, organizers said on Friday. The Minneapolis-born star last played at the Swiss event two years ago and then showed up at 3 a.m. to jam with his band at a late-night jazz cafe. That year, tickets sold out in a record 10 minutes for his performance at Stravinski Auditorium.
Potter is back: box office big bucks assured
LONDON - Boy wizard Harry Potter is back in cinemas later this month with the sixth installment of the movie franchise, and another box office bonanza looks assured for the Warner Bros. studio. "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" hits screens on July 15, promising high-speed action, dark and dangerous battles with the forces of evil, budding romance at Hogwarts school for wizards and the expected death of a prominent character.
Stone Temple Pilots accentuate old faves
LOS ANGELES - For a reunited band bent on having a future, Stone Temple Pilots spent most of its House of Blues show Wednesday visiting the past -- the distant past. Fifteen of the 19 songs were from the first two albums, most played with meticulous attention to the recorded versions. It was a crowd-pleasing recital of radio hits with a couple of album cuts for the hardcore and no covers. Familiar riff after sing-along chorus.
R&B singer Maxwell ends seven-year break
NEW YORK .
"End of the Line" film rings alarm on fish supply
NEW YORK - If sushi lovers think the price of their favorite raw fish is too high already, then new documentary "The End of the Line" may shock them with its argument that the real cost may be some species' extinction. The film from director Rupert Murray, which is playing in art houses in the United States and United Kingdom, makes the case that consumer ignorance, clout of the fishing industry, and rising sushi demand in the West are causing "crashes" of numerous fish populations, leading to their "collapse."
Alice in Chains reunion "Gives Way" to album, tour
CLEVELAND - Alice in Chains singer-guitarist Jerry Cantrell and drummer Sean Kinney say the band's new album, their first in nearly 14 years, doesn't stray too far from the Seattle band's influential catalog. "Black Gives Way to Blue," due out September 29 on Virgin/EMI,is also the group's first effort with new singer-guitarist William DuVall.