Buzz Briefs: Cheri Oteri, Clemens
Nashville Songwriter Charged In Death of Cheri Oteri's Dad
Nashville police arrested a country songwriter in the stabbing death of his roommate - the father of TV comic Cheri Oteri.
Authorities charged 61-year-old Richard William Fagan with criminal homicide in the Saturday night incident.
Police identified the victim as 69-year-old Gaetano Thomas Oteri.
Authorities said his daughter, an actress who was on the cast of "Saturday Night Live," is aware of her father's death.
Fagan told police he has written songs recorded by several country artists.
Fagan is listed as co-writer on hits by singer John Michael Montgomery, including "Sold (the Grundy County Auction Incident)," "Be My Baby Tonight," and "I Miss You a Little."
Report: Clemens Had Relationship With Mindy McCready
Clemens' lawyer, Rusty Hardin, confirmed a long-term relationship but told the newspaper it was not sexual.
"He flatly denies having had any kind of an inappropriate relationship with her," Hardin said. "He's considered her a close family friend. ... He has never had a sexual relationship with her."
Clemens was 28 and a married father of two when he first met McCready, the newspaper reported.
Photos: Clemens, McNamee Testify
The story, which appeared on the newspaper's Web site Sunday night and in editions Monday, quoted several people who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the situation.
McCready had a No. 1 single in 1996 with "Guys Do It All the Time."
The revelation could undermine Clemens' reputation, which is central to the defamation suit the former pitcher has filed against former personal trainer Brian McNamee. McNamee contends Clemens used performance-enhancing substances during his major league career.
"If true, it's just another example of Roger's pervasive prevarications which will be at the core of any defamation case," said McNamee's attorney, Richard Emery, in an e-mail to The Associated Press.
Coldplay Offers Free Download Of New 'Violet Hill' Single
"Violet Hill," the first single from "Viva La Vida," will be available on www.coldplay.com from 7:15 a.m. EDT Tuesday, one week before it goes on sale at digital retailers.
It will be available as a free download from the Web site for one week, a statement said.
The Web site will also give preliminary details about free shows at London's Brixton Academy on June 16 and at New York's Madison Square Garden on June 23.
Coldplay also announced Monday that the UK release of their new album has been moved up four days to June 12. That's the same day the album will be released in much of the world.
Carmen Electra, Hilton Sisters Enjoy Coachella After-Party
Paris Hilton and Benji Madden arrived just before midnight Saturday, greeting DJ Steve Aoki with hugs at an airport hanger transformed into a makeshift nightclub about eight miles from the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.
While Nicky Hilton and David Katzenberg held court in a corner booth at the invite-only T-Mobile Tone Def After Party, Electra and Rob Peterson wandered with their hands firmly clasped.
Electra announced her engagement to the musician on Thursday.
Photos: Worlds Sexiest Women
Paris Hilton and Madden were inseparable throughout the evening as they snapped photos of each other and friends, watched partygoers perform karaoke in the PlayStation 3 "SingStar" Lounge, and scarfed down nachos and hot dogs from food trucks parked inside the event.
During the celebration, attendees were invited to customize T-Mobile devices and Michael Stars T-shirts, receive makeup makeovers from Too Faced Cosmetics, lounge on beds underneath vintage posters, and dance to tunes provided by Aoki, Adam "DJ AM" Goldstein and "That '70s Show" actor Danny "DJ MomJeans" Masterson, who all operated from separate booths on the dance floor.
Kenny Chesney Injured During Concert
CMT reports Chesney played through the pain Saturday night in Columbia, South Carolina, after an equipment malfunction crushed bones in his foot at the start of his performance.
Chesney's foot apparently became stuck between an elevator lift device and the stage. After prying himself loose, he stood up and kept holding his hand on his knee as he began to sing.
Chesney was visibly limping and holding his knee during instrumental breaks. After the show, Chesney's boot was cut off, and a doctor treated the injury.
Photos: 2008 CMT Music Awards
Chesney issued a statement after his performance saying, "I took one look at those fans, and there was no way I wasn't going on."
S.C. State Plans To Display James Brown Memorabilia
An exhibit of James Brown memorabilia is being organized at South Carolina State University.
Interim university President Leonard McIntyre told The (Charleston) Post and Courier that he secured the rights to show the items, which include clothing, shoes, awards, furniture and sheet music, through a contact he has with the late singer's estate.
Brown died on Christmas Day 2006 of heart failure. He was 73.
The exhibit, which is expected to be ready by the middle of the summer, will be at the university's IP Stanback Museum & Planetarium.
Time For Matt Lauer To Collect More Frequent Flier Miles
A poster of Muhammad Ali looms over Matt Lauer's cluttered office up the stairs from NBC's "Today" show studios. Both men are accustomed to training for grueling physical feats.
Lauer ate better, stepped up his workouts and slept more during the past few weeks in preparation for his ninth "Where in the World is Matt Lauer?" marathon, which begins Monday morning.
The big difference with Ali's regimen: Nobody's punching Lauer in the face.
Each morning this week, Lauer will open "Today" from a different location. His destination is kept a mystery from both his on-air colleagues and viewers, adding to the fun of his exotic travelogue. The stunt has become his signature, something a one-time rival privately calls the best idea in morning television in 25 years, and a reminder of his show's continued dominance.
Lauer has logged 210,721 miles on his trips, turning up at the base of Mount Everest, by the Pyramids in Egypt, at the casinos of Monte Carlo and at the Taj Mahal in India.
"It's really hard to keep your body from getting completely ruined on this," he said, "so I come home and I say that I'm never going to do this again. And that usually lasts for three or four months."
A folder on Lauer's desk outlined with a map of the world contains research for this year's destinations.
Bell offered only one hint, saying the series opens at a place "of particular interest to Americans looking to travel, particularly with the economy the way it is."
Ex-CNN Anchor Aaron Brown Returns To TV On PBS' 'Wide Angle'
Aaron Brown, the former CNN anchor who found cable TV an awkward fit, is joining PBS' "Wide Angle" series and ending his on-air absence of more than two years.
"If I was going to do broadcast journalism again, be a public person again ... then it had to be something different from what I'd done," Brown told The Associated Press. "You can count on one hand how many gigs there are like this."
Anchoring "Wide Angle," a weekly public affairs series with a global focus, offers the chance "to work in an environment where people just think about making good TV and good journalism," Brown said.
Brown, 59, who left CNN in November 2005 during a shake-up that gave his time slot to rising star Anderson Cooper, said he was contractually barred from working in TV until last June. He's been teaching at Arizona State University as its first Walter Cronkite Professor of Journalism.
Besides serving as anchor of "Wide Angle" and helping prepare episodes for broadcast, Brown plans to do field work on a story, possibly involving Venezuela or the Middle East. Topics to be covered this season include the crisis in the Sudan and the changing role of Japan's military.
"Wide Angle" begins its seventh season July 1. PBS planned to announce Brown's hiring on Monday.