Buzz Briefs: Chrissie Hynde, McCartney
Music Legend Hynde Protests Horse Drawn Carriages
Chrissie Hynde, who earned herself legend status in the music industry during her time with The Pretenders, led a PETA protest today on Central Park South.
Hynde, who was married in a horse-drawn carriage in the 80's, urged tourists to boycott them today to save the horses from their usual labor, pulling carriages and passengers through Manhattan's streets.
"Learning about how horses have died in accidents and seeing their pathetic stalls have caused me to change my tune about the carriage horses," Hynde said. "I love horses and hate seeing them reduced to beasts of burden."
Hynde was not only in the protest today, but is supporting NYC councilmember Tony Avella's bill to ban horse-drawn carriages from the city and advising all New Yorkers to do the same.
They have been banned in several U.S. cities, as well as Paris, Toronto, Beijing, and Hynde's adopted hometown, London.
Paul McCartney: I Didn't Have Heart Surgery
"People are ringing and texting me saying, `Are you OK?"' he writes in a posting on his newly redesigned Web site. "I hadn't seen the report so I was puzzled by so many enquiries about my health. So I think it's a good time to put this rumor to rest."
The 65-year-old ex-Beatle says that during a routine medical examination over a year ago, "there was a minor irregularity which I needed to have tests for and which I have now been assured is completely fine."
Recent media reports "completely distorted the story, calling it an angioplasty, which is entirely untrue, and this is why so many friends have been concerned about my health," he writes.
"I am happy to say that I feel great and I have passed my most recent medical with flying colors."
McCartney, who is nominated for a Grammy Award for his latest album, "Memory Almost Full," says he wants to assure friends and family that he's in good health.
He adds: "I have secretly been enjoying all the sympathy I've been getting!"
George Clooney Holds Press Conference At The U.N.
Clooney is returning from accompanying Assistant Secretary-General Jane Holl Lute on a technical assessment mission that included visits to UNAMID, the joint African Union/United Nations Hybrid operation in Darfur; MINURCAT, the United Nations Mission in the Central African Republic and Chad; and MONUC, the United Nations Organization Mission to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He also visited India, a major United Nations Peacekeeping Troop Contributing Country (TCC).
Clooney will also participate in a closed meeting of Troop Contributing Countries at United Nations Headquarters, at which Lute will brief the TCC community on the start-up of the UNAMID and MINURCAT operations.
Participants in the press conference are: Mr. Clooney, Kiyo Akasaka, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information; and Lute, Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations and Acting Head of the Department of Field Support.
Man Arrested For Trespassing At Jolie/Pitt Home
Officer Karen Smith says a housekeeper called police around noon Wednesday after she saw a silver car blocking the actor's driveway. She told officers the man, who described himself as a freelance reporter, got out of the car and asked "Which one is Brad Pitt's house?"
The man, identified as Eric Ray Mitchell, was arrested for investigation of trespassing.
Smith says Mitchell was taken into custody on a "private person's arrest" and it will be up to the housekeeper to decide whether or not to press charges.
Smith says neither Pitt nor Angelina Jolie was home at the time.
Hugh Hefner's 'Girls Next Door' To Appear On March Cover Of Playboy
Holly Madison, Bridget Marquardt and Kendra Wilkinson; better known as Hugh Hefner's trio of blonde girlfriends from E!'s "The Girls Next Door" reality series; will appear for the third time on the cover of Playboy.
"It kinda happened by accident," Hefner told The Associated Press. "It was not the original plan. I knew we were overdue for a cover featuring the girls. For our annual sexiest celebrities list, we always get votes from readers on the Internet of who should be on the top of the list. Lo and behold, as the votes were coming in, we found the girls moving up higher and higher on the list."
Madison, Marquardt and Wilkinson will be featured together in three different covers for the "25 Sexiest Celebrities" issue. In the newsstand edition cover image, out Feb. 8, the women are clad in glittery lingerie in front of a starry backdrop.
"To be perfectly frank, I have unexpectedly fallen in love," Hefner said of his ongoing relationship with the three women. "It is the relationship with Holly that will probably last forever. The others will last for as long as they want it to last before going on with their careers and lives."
Among the celebrities to make Playboy's list are Jennifer Love Hewitt, Alicia Keys, Cameron Diaz, Beyonce, Christina Aguilera and Britney Spears. Hefner said the top three online celebrity vote-getters were Angelina Jolie, Scarlett Johansson and Jessica Alba, with "The Girls Next Door" coming in fourth place.
"Yes, there was some favoritism involved," Hefner joked. "I know them personally."
Devo band leader to get honorary Kent State degree
Devo frontman Mark Mothersbaugh, whose work was influenced by the National Guard campus shootings while he was a student at Kent State University in 1970, will receive a honorary degree from the school.
Mothersbaugh was an art major who studied print-making and painting from 1968 to 1973.
Devo members frequently point to the May 4, 1970, shootings at the university as a seminal moment that influenced their music and political message. Four students were killed by Guardsmen during a protest against the Vietnam war.
Devo, an experimental rock group originally performing under the name Sextet Devo, gave its first concert on the Kent State campus in April 1973. The band is best known for its 1980 hit "Whip It."
University trustees approved the honorary doctor of humane letters on Wednesday.