Buzz Briefs: Britney Spears, Lil Wayne
Britney Spears' Driver's License Case Delayed
Britney Spears' lawyer won more time Friday to work on the pop star's case in which she is charged with driving without a valid license.
Attorney Michael Flanagan appeared with prosecutor Michael Amerian before a judge and said they had been unable to agree on what law applies. They asked for more time and were given until Feb. 20.
But Superior Court Judge T.K. Herman said that he was not going to grant any more delays after that, and if the parties could not agree he would order a trial. "It's this court's intention to force both sides to go to trial within 30 days of that date," he said.
The case stems from an August incident in which Spears was videotaped as she bumped another vehicle while parking her Mercedes-Benz. She left after looking over the damage from the fender-bender.
The owner of the other vehicle later filed a police report and Spears was charged in September with misdemeanor hit-and-run and driving without a valid license. The hit-and-run charges were dismissed in October after Spears paid an undisclosed sum to the owner.
Flanagan said outside court that Spears was driving with a Louisiana license that was valid because she owns homes in that state. But he said that when a person is "domiciled" in California they are required to get a California license and that Spears did so within a week after the charges were filed.
"There's no dispute about the facts here," he said. "The dispute is about what the law is that's appropriate to the facts."
Drug And Weapons Charges Filed Against Lil Wayne
The Yuma County Attorney's Office filed felony drug and weapons charges Friday against Lil Wayne.
The 25-year-old rapper, whose real name is Dwayne Michael Carter Jr., was charged in justice court in Wellton, Ariz., with one count each of possession of a narcotic drug for sale, possession of dangerous drugs, misconduct involving weapons and one count of possession of drug paraphernalia.
He is scheduled to appear Feb. 12 at a preliminary hearing.
Carter was in court, where a judge lifted a bail restriction prohibiting him from leaving the state. He was arrested after his tour bus was stopped in southern Arizona late Tuesday and is free on bail.
Carter's bus was stopped at a U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint near Dateland, Ariz., 78 miles east of Yuma. He was traveling with 11 other people.
Ramona Sanchez, a spokeswoman for the Drug Enforcement Administration, said earlier that a Border Patrol canine unit alerted agents to the presence of illegal drugs on the bus. A search of the bus yielded nearly 4 ounces of marijuana, just over an ounce of cocaine, 41 grams of ecstasy and miscellaneous drug paraphernalia.
Officials also found a .40-caliber pistol registered to Carter, who has a concealed weapons permit in Florida.
In October, Carter and several other rappers were named in a federal lawsuit filed by music publishing companies, accusing them of sampling other artists' songs without paying licensing fees.
Birdman and Lil Wayne won a viewers' choice award for their song "Stuntin' Like My Daddy" at Black Entertainment Television's 2007 Hip-Hop Awards.
After Almost 30 Years, UB40 Singer Quits Band
His bandmates, however, said the 48-year-old singer left to pursue solo projects.
In a statement on his Web site, Campbell said Friday that "management difficulties, which have been ongoing for almost five years, had become intolerable."
"No words can express how upset I feel today that I have been forced to make this decision," he wrote.
The British band, whose reggae-tinged hits include, "Red Red Wine," "I Got You Babe" and "(I Can't Help) Falling in Love With You," was named after Unemployment Benefit Form 40, the government document used by welfare claimants.
In a separate statement, UB40 said Campbell "has taken the decision to focus on his solo career and in doing so, could not give his full commitment to UB40."
"The other band members of UB40 are naturally disappointed and saddened after being together as a band unit and as good friends for almost 30 years," the statement said.
Their upcoming album "24/7" is still expected to be released in May.
Roger Ebert Recovering From Surgery
The 65-year-old film critic had successful surgery Thursday in Houston to address complications from previous operations, his lawyer said in a statement.
"Chaz and Roger Ebert are grateful to everyone for the continued prayers and concern," lawyer Eliot Ephraim said Friday. "The surgery went well, and the Eberts look forward to giving you more good news about Roger's recovery in the days to come."
Ephraim did not give further details.
Ebert has been a film critic at the Chicago Sun-Times for more than 40 years.
He has undergone a series of operations, including the removal of a growth on his salivary gland and a tracheostomy, a procedure that opens an airway through an incision in the windpipe, that left him unable to speak.
Garth Brooks Concerts Help Wildfire Victims, Firefighters
"I'm from Oklahoma," the country-music superstar said at a press conference at the Staples Center. "I know a lot about grass fires. I know a lot about wind and fire. I've never, ever seen wind and fire like I saw on the television."
All proceeds from the "Garth Brooks Live In L.A!" concerts will be donated to the "Southern California 2008 Fire Intervention Relief Effort (F.I.R.E.)." Brooks will perform two shows Friday and three Saturday at the Staples Center, with only about an hour between each.
The money will go to agencies helping victims and the first responders, and provide financial assistance to state firefighting departments.
Brooks, 45, announced his retirement in 2001, saying he would not return to work until his youngest child, Allie, turned 18. But even Brooks acknowledged one wouldn't know he'd ever stopped working.
On Nov. 6, 2007, the latest Brooks compilation set, "The Ultimate Hits," was released. At the presser, it was announced that "Hits" had been certified five-times platinum.
"We delivered our last piece of project for this Christmas, '07," Brooks said. "(We) promised them that we would support all the way until the first of February. So, we're getting ready to now drop off the face of the earth musically. Charity-wise, it never stops."
The tickets, which cost $41, sold out in less than an hour, organizers said. The first hour of the first concert will broadcast live on CBS, with viewers encouraged to call in and make pledges to F.I.R.E.
Brooks announced the concerts a few months ago after wildfires ravaged Southern California last fall, destroying more than 2,000 homes and killing 10 people as they blackened some 800 square miles.
Dennis Quaid Gets Emotional Over His Newborn Twins' Overdose
The actor, whose newborn twins were given an overdose of a blood thinner in November, choked up with emotion at the sight of himself holding two healthy babies in the final shots of "Smart People."
"It actually really gets me when I see this. I'm a little verklempt," Quaid said onstage at the movie's Sundance Film Festival premiere this week. "The character came to have hope for himself but in a sense it came true for me."
The twins born to Quaid and his wife Kimberly by a surrogate mother have now recovered from the overdose of heparin administered at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. The couple sued the drug maker.
In the film, Quaid plays Lawrence Wetherhold, a schlumpy English professor struggling to get over the death of his wife. He slowly finds happiness with a former student and ER doctor, played by Sarah Jessica Parker, who treated him for a seizure.
By the conclusion of the romantic comedy, his character is the father of twins.
"Kimberly and I weren't even pregnant when we shot (the movie). We'd been trying for three years," Quaid said. "When I read the script a couple years ago, the end scene always got me emotionally. It made me well up. And of course having our own twins now, it really gets me verklempt."
"It's a wonderful thing. For me, it's just life imitating art."
Obama Pokes Fun At Himself And Campaign On Letterman
Sen. Barack Obama is making some campaign promises we can be pretty sure he won't keep.
Appearing Thursday on the "Late Show With David Letterman," the Democratic presidential candidate delivered a tongue-in-cheek list of his top 10 campaign promises, including a pledge to rename the tenth month of the year "Barack-tober."
Also on the list is a vow to "appoint Mitt Romney secretary of lookin' good" and another to "put Regis on the nickel."
And the No. 1 campaign promise?
"Three words: Vice President Oprah."
Obama, the latest in a string of candidates to show up on Letterman's show, appeared just briefly to deliver the night's list. Earlier this week, candidate John Edwards came on the show only to have his carefully coifed hair messed up by the host.
On Thursday, Obama joked that Letterman couldn't repeat that prank, telling him: "you can't muss my hair."
Will Ferrell Wins James Joyce Award
Will Ferrell has received the James Joyce award, but concedes he's no literary expert.
"As I perused my leatherbound volumes of `Ulysses,' `Finnegans Wake,' `Dubliners,' `Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man,' standing in my mahogany library, a lot of feelings ran across my mind. Like: `Damn, I should have read these books,'" Ferrell deadpanned in front of more than 1,000 University College Dublin students Wednesday night.
Ferrell, 40, has just spent two weeks traveling throughout Ireland goofing around with his dad, Lee, and brother, Patrick.
They spent time tracing family roots in the ancestral County Longford of the Ferrells much more commonly spelled "Farrell" in Ireland and his deepening sense of Irishness was evident as he arrived at the university clad in a snug-fitting Irish rugby jersey, shorts and cap.
"I'm so committed to my Irish roots that I intend to continue wearing this outfit upon my return to the United States," Ferrell told his audience. "I will also continue to drive on the left-hand side of the road. Will it be dangerous? Yes. Is it illegal? Highly. But that's just how committed I am."
Ferrell offered observations on pub life and Ireland's national beer during a 40-minute monologue.
"I love the taste of Guinness on the back of your throat, when it repeats on you the next morning," he said. "I love sitting in a cozy pub talking with a local, whose accent is so thick it sounds like he's gargling phlegm."
The Joyce award, run by the university's Literary and Historical Society, has been bestowed on a wide range of politicians and celebrities, including U.S. civil rights activist Jesse Jackson, former South African President F.W. de Klerk and former U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix.
Tom Petty To Rock The Super Bowl And Go On Summer Tour
Tom Petty says he's not much of a football fan, but playing the Super Bowl halftime show was an offer he couldn't refuse.
"The most significant thing about it is the people watching worldwide ... it's probably the biggest audience you can have I would imagine," the 57-year-old singer told The Associated Press.
"It's quite an honor to be asked, if you look at the people who have done it, it's a very elite crowd ... it's a great opportunity to play for the whole world at once," Petty said.
Tickets for Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers' North American tour go on sale the day after their Feb. 3 performance at the Super Bowl halftime in Glendale, Ariz. Steve Winwood is slated to be the special opening act.
The band last went on tour in 2006. Back then, Petty told the AP that it could be their last. But, Petty said recently, "The band wants to go really bad, so we had a meeting about it, and we decided, why not? ... We're doing a shorter tour that we did the last time."
This tour will be "drastically different in content," Petty said.
"I would like to see a set list that changed every night. I think it's more fun. It's harder on the production people," he laughed.
While there's no new Heartbreakers album on the horizon, Petty just finished a disc with his pre-Heartbreakers band, Mudcrutch.
"We just thought it would be fun; we've stayed in touch over the years," he said. "It went far better than expected. ... it was so much fun that it should be illegal."