Buzz Briefs: Britney Spears, Wayne Newton
Alleged Britney Driving Tape Will Be Used In Custody Case
A video believed to show Britney Spears running a red light was submitted to a Los Angeles Superior Court on Friday, the latest piece of evidence entered in the child-custody battle between the pop star and ex-husband Kevin Federline.
Mark Vincent Kaplan, Federline's attorney, declined to comment after the closed-door hearing before Los Angeles County Superior Court Commissioner Scott Gordon. Kaplan also said Gordon issued a sealed order that he could not discuss.
"I can't tell you what was discussed, I can't tell you what was in the papers, I can't even tell you what was in the order," Kaplan said.
Photos: Britney Goes To Court
The celebrity Web site TMZ.com reported the video showed the 25-year-old singer running a red light at a Hollywood Hills intersection while driving with the couple's two young sons in the back seat of her car.
An unidentified witness who had been subpoenaed also appeared briefly at Friday's court hearing. His testimony was postponed.
The case is due back in court Nov. 26.
Last month, Gordon ruled that Spears could have sleepovers with her two boys if she has regular drug tests, childproofs her home and ensures the children are buckled into their car seats when she takes them on a drive.
He had previously suspended Spears' custody rights, ruling she engaged in "habitual, frequent and continuous use of controlled substances and alcohol."
Heart Infection Causes Wayne Newton To Cancel Shows
The "Danke Schoen" crooner and Las Vegas icon has cardiomyopathy, an infection of the heart muscle for which he has been treated in the past, said Harrah's official Deanna Pettit.
Newton, 65, has said he was diagnosed with the virus after returning from a USO trip to Afghanistan in 2001. He told People magazine his doctor was confident that he'll be able to resume his performance schedule after two months of rest.
Newton canceled a two-month holiday engagement at Harrah's Las Vegas, and will not be able to perform on the Nov. 27 finale of the ABC television show "Dancing With the Stars," although he should be doing well enough to make an appearance, Pettit said.
"I really want to apologize to the fans that were going to see me in those shows," Newton told People. "I'm terribly apologetic. And for those who want to paint this situation with a black brush, they're not going to get their wish. I'm going to be fine."
Cardiomyopathy impairs heart function, and the ability to pump blood. Untreated it could lead to congestive heart failure or pulmonary edema, a buildup of fluid in the lungs.
Charity, Not Candidacy For Stephen Colbert
When Colbert announced last month that he was running for president, the Charleston native and host of Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report" also asked viewers to give to DonorsChoose.org, which helps fulfill teacher wish lists for books, globes or other classroom materials in schools in the United States.
"So I encourage everyone, go on, make donations to teachers in South Carolina, let's make a difference," Colbert said.
The brief comment by the 43-year-old talk-show host - who has since dropped his bid for the White House - raised $59,000 in 10 days and reached 13,000 public school students in South Carolina, said Peter Bloom, the group's national chairman.
"If anyone gets the chance to thank Stephen Colbert, please do so, because he made a big difference in this state with that simple announcement," Bloom said Thursday at a National Philanthropy Day luncheon in Charleston.
The DonorsChoose program has raised more than $15 million for school projects since 2000, when it was pioneered by teachers at a public high school in New York City.
Colbert abandoned his presidential bid after the South Carolina Democratic party voted to keep him off its primary ballot.
Michael Flatley Will Put An Irish Spin To "Dancing With the Stars"
The champion Irish step dancer-choreographer will perform with members of his dance team on Tuesday's show, Scott Gorenstein, a representative for Flatley, said Thursday.
Photos: Dancing With the Stars"
Herb Alpert Shares The Wealth With UCLA
The University of California, Los Angeles, is singing the praises of Herb Alpert after the Tijuana Brass bandleader pledged $30 million to the school's music program.
The Grammy winning trumpeter, who was the "A" in A&M Records, pledged the money through his Herb Alpert Foundation.
It will bring the university's departments of ethnomusicology, music and musicology under a single umbrella for the study and performance of world, popular and classical music, jazz and other genres.
"The landscape of music has changed so dramatically in the last few years and the ways of making, delivering and sharing music have become so diverse, there needs to be a new approach to music education," Alpert said.
The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music will be housed in existing facilities in the university's Schoenberg Hall.
Alpert became an overnight star when the Tijuana Brass released the trumpet-drive instrumental "The Lonely Bull" in the early 1960s. He and business partner Jerry Moss also formed A&M Records.
Time For Garth Brooks To Take A Break From Touring
The show was simulcast to fans in movie theaters across North America and Europe on Wednesday. The 45-year-old country singer had retired from touring to be a stay-at-home dad.
As he had done for the other eight Kansas City shows, Brooks opened by rising from a hole in the stage while playing "The Fever." But he appeared stiff during the first 90 minutes of his performance as he played a string of hits that included "Friends in Low Places" and "The Dance," wrote Timothy Finn, a reviewer for The Kansas City Star.
Brooks then told fans the simulcast had ended and promised the rest of the night was for them.
Photos: In Concert
"Instantly, his mood changed and so did theirs," wrote Finn.
The next 45 minutes included Brooks singing "That Summer," "Much Too Young (To Feel This Damned Old)" and "Two Pina Coladas." He also offered a solo acoustic medley of songs from James Taylor, Bob Seger and George Strait.
The crowd joined in as Brooks closed with "American Pie."
Paris Hilton: Party-Goer, Not Party Planner
With just days to go before she co-hosts a baby shower for her "Simple Life" co-star and friend Nicole Richie, Paris Hilton gave E! Online's Planet Gossip co-host Tina Dirmann an exclusive peak into all shower details.
"It's going to be really nice, with just us girls," Hilton said. "Just Nicole's closest girlfriends and female relatives."
Since Hilton is perplexed about what kind of music to play, she said she will buy a book to help her figure out her party plans.
"I don't know what to get her," Hilton said. "Because most of us don't know yet what she's having. She doesn't know if she's having a boy or a girl. I thought for sure she'd want to know, but she decided to wait."
Shady Transactions Occur At James Brown's Company?
A company that handles royalties and income from commercials and other projects for James Brown's estate has significantly less money than it should, a lawyer for the late soul singer's family said.
Much of the money that was supposed to be going to James Brown Enterprise Inc. instead ended up in a company established by a former trustee accused of misappropriating $7 million from the singer, attorney Louis Levenson said Thursday after a court hearing to sort through Brown's finances.
The company collected money earned by Brown's endeavors while he was alive and continued to do so after he died on Christmas, but never gave the money to the singer, Levenson said.
David Cannon, who quit working for the estate in August after being accused of taking money from it, testified that Brown's work earned millions of dollars a year.
Photos: A Final Bow For James Brown
He said he would give Brown $100,000 a month for "walking-around spending money" because the singer had difficulty managing his finances. Cannon said his company would pay expenses such as plane tickets and equipment needed when the singer went on tour.
Cannon told the judge his attorney advised against answering several questions, including how much he made during the nearly 16 years he worked for Brown.
Judge Jack Early ordered Cannon to pay $373,000 to Brown's estate within five days, but Cannon said he couldn't afford that. He instead offered his beach property in South Carolina, which he said was valued at nearly $2 million.
Cannon acknowledged that in August he made an $866,000 deposit to build a house in Honduras, where he planned to retire next year. He said he was currently unemployed and being audited by the IRS.
In addition, the "I Feel Good Trust" established by Brown to help poor children attend school in Georgia and South Carolina has run out of money, said Levenson, the family attorney.
Several people claiming to be Brown's previously unacknowledged children, and at least two women who say they were married to him, have come forward wanting a piece of his estate.
Barry Manilow's Former Tour Manager Drops Lawsuit
A wrongful termination lawsuit against Barry Manilow by his former tour manager has been dropped, according to court papers obtained Thursday.
Arthur F. Silbergeld, an attorney for Manilow's companies, said the parties reached a mutual agreement in which plaintiff Liberato Fabro agreed not to pursue the lawsuit. He wouldn't comment on whether there was a financial settlement.
Fabro, of Pasadena, sued Manilow's companies in September, alleging he was wrongfully fired because of a disability and for divorcing his boss' daughter, who also worked for the singer.
Court papers show Fabro contended that in February 2006 he took a leave of absence to deal with complications from knee surgery and also because his marriage was failing. Fabro was married to the daughter of his immediate boss, Garry Kief, president of Barry Manilow Production Inc.
In March 2006, Fabro said, he was asked to accept a divorce settlement that was less than what he thought was fair, the suit stated. When Fabro refused, he was fired by Kief, who also told him his knee injury was now an issue, according to court papers.
Fabro filed a lawsuit claiming wrongful termination, employment discrimination because of marital status and because of a disability, plus fraud and misrepresentation.
Fabro oversaw the entertainer's concert tours and television appearances from 1999 to 2006 at an annual salary of $180,000.