Buzz Briefs: Braxton, Blanchett, Colbert
Braxton's April Shows In Vegas Canceled
Toni Braxton won't return to the stage on the Las Vegas Strip until at least next month.
The Flamingo Las Vegas says Braxton's show will remain dark this week while the 40-year-old Grammy winner has more medical tests following her April 7 hospitalization for chest pain. Braxton was released the following day, but last week's shows were canceled.
Flamingo President Don Marrandino said her Tuesday-through-Saturday shows are also off, and Braxton will take advantage of a previously scheduled two-week break.
She is due to resume her show at the Flamingo Showroom on May 6.
The Flamingo is offering refunds for the canceled shows.
The exact cause of Braxton's chest pain hasn't been made public. She has been treated in the past for pericarditis, a viral inflammation of the heart.
Braxton is a six-time Grammy winner for songs including "Un-break My Heart." Her Las Vegas act, "Toni Braxton: Revealed," is in the midst of a two-year run at the Flamingo.
Cate Blanchett Has Third Son
"All are well and very happy," McKeough said Monday.
The baby weighed 7 pounds, 9 ounces, he said.
Blanchett and husband Andrew Upton have two other sons: Dashiell, 6, and Roman, 3.
The actress, who won an Oscar for her portrayal of Katharine Hepburn in "The Aviator," next appears with Harrison Ford in the movie "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," due in theaters in May.
Photos: Stork Club
Stephen Colbert Takes Show To Philly
On Monday, "The Colbert Report" begins a week of broadcasts in Philadelphia, where the all-important Democratic Pennsylvania primary is looming. Colbert hopes the relocation will return him to center stage in the election.
"I don't need to be president. I don't need to be president," repeated the comedian in a recent interview, as if trying to convince himself. "If somebody else needs that, if Hillary Clinton or John McCain or Barack Obama need that title to make themselves feel good, that's fine.
"I just want the power to decide who will be president and I'm going to Philly to help exercise that."
Photos: People of Influence
It's the first time the Comedy Central show (11:30 p.m. EST, Monday-Thursday) has broadcast anywhere but its snug Manhattan studio. Taping at the University of Pennsylvania's 900-seat Zellerbach Theater will be a drastic change.
"It's like doing the show all over again," said Colbert. "It's like October 2005 because it's a new set, new graphics, coming up with a new opening every night, trying to give everything special touches."
Among those touches will be a filmed tour of Philadelphia and hometown guests including John Legend (who will sing the "Star Spangled Banner"), Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, Governor Ed Rendell and rap group the Roots.
This is Colbert's most notable foray into the thick of presidential politics since his failed bid to be added to the South Carolina Democratic primary ballot last fall. Though at the time Colbert was polling ahead of several candidates, party officials voted 13-3 to keep him off the ballot, claiming he "serves to detract from the serious candidates."
Photos: Sexiest News Anchors
Advertisements for the upcoming shows have come with typical Colbert bravado. In one, he announces: "Philadelphia, you're about to get a new brother to love. No tongue."
"The Colbert Report" recently won a Peabody for broadcasting excellence. To Colbert, the award is further proof of his sway.
"I'm a king maker," he said. "It's not a dirty word."