Buzz Briefs: Rihanna, Kevin Bacon

Rihanna Delays Malaysia Show After Alleged Assault

Pop superstar Rihanna has postponed a concert in Malaysia this week, organizers said Tuesday, following reports that she accused her longtime boyfriend Chris Brown of assault.

Rihanna's Los Angeles-based representatives informed Malaysia's Pineapple Concerts that the Feb. 13 show would have to be rescheduled to an unspecified date "in light of recent events involving Rihanna," Pineapple Concerts said in a statement to The Associated Press.

Rihanna had been slated to visit Indonesia and Malaysia on her "Good Girl Gone Bad" tour.

Her planned stop in Kuala Lumpur drew publicity after organizers said she would shun skimpy outfits to conform with Muslim-majority Malaysia's strict rules on performers' dress.

Kevin Bacon Taken By New HBO Film

Actor Kevin Bacon has come to the nation's capital for the premiere of an HBO film.

"Taking Chance" is based on the first-person account of Lt. Col. Michael Strobl, who escorted the remains of a soldier killed two months after arriving in Iraq.

Marine Lance Cpl. Chance Phelps was killed while in a convoy. Bacon portrays Strobl, who now works for the Pentagon. Strobl escorted Phelps' remains to the Marine's hometown in Dubois, Wyo.

Bacon says the film has "more weight" because it's a true story. His previous credits include "Footloose," "A Few Good Men," and "Mystic River." "Taking Chance" premieres Feb. 21 on HBO.

Duo's Grammy Wins May Up The Ante For Nashville's Profile

Alison Krauss and Robert Plant won big at the Grammy Awards for their album "Raising Sand," but they weren't alone. Nashville's music industry also won a slap on the back.

Country Music Television executive Brian Phillips predicts the success will mean "a lot of people will look at the idea of Nashville collaborations in a different light."

What began as an unorthodox pairing of the 60-year-old Led Zeppelin singer and the 37-year-old bluegrass chanteuse captured five Grammys on Sunday, including album of the year. They also won record of the year for "Please Read the Letter."

The last Nashville projects to win the Grammy's top album award were the Dixie Chicks' "Taking the Long Way" in 2006 and the "O, Brother, Where Art Thou?" movie soundtrack in 2001.

Diane Keaton's Ode To Her Late Mother

Diane Keaton is talking all about her bond with her mother.

The Academy Award-winning actress, whose films include "Annie Hall" and the three "Godfather" movies, is working on a memoir - currently untitled - that the Random House Publishing Group plans on releasing in 2012.

Keaton's mother, Dorothy Keaton Hall, died last fall and had suffered from Alzheimer's. The actress began working on her book shortly after her mother's death.

Actor-Comedian Faizon Love Charged With Assault

Actor-comedian Faizon Love has been charged with felony assault for allegedly punching another man outside a West Hollywood hotel.

Love was booked Monday at the sheriff's station in West Hollywood.

Prosecutors say Love was involved in a verbal altercation outside the Standard Hotel on Jan. 7 that turned violent. He is accused of punching a man twice.

The district attorney's office says the 40-year-old could face up to four years in state prison.

Love has appeared in the movies "Friday," "Days of Wrath" and "Of Boys and Men."

Jazz Singer Blossom Dearie Dies At 82

Blossom Dearie, a classically trained pianist who transformed herself into a jazz singer with a unique baby-doll voice heard in New York and London cabarets for three decades, has died at 82.

Dearie died of natural causes Saturday at her Manhattan home, said her manager, Donald Schaffer. No specific cause of death was given.

"She lived for her music, and she lived to perform her music. She had impeccable taste," Schaffer said.

Born April 29, 1926, in East Durham, New York, Marguerite Blossom Dearie dropped her first name to bolster a musical career that began with early training in piano and moved to jazz vocals. By the mid-1940s, she was a member of the Blue Flames, associated with Woody Herman's orchestra and with the Alvino Rey band.

Walt Disney Studios, DreamWorks Reach Deal

The Walt Disney Co.'s motion picture arm said Monday it has agreed to a long-term exclusive distribution deal with Steven Spielberg's DreamWorks SKG production company after a similar agreement between DreamWorks and Universal Pictures fell apart last week.

Burbank-based Walt Disney Studios will handle distribution and marketing for around six live-action DreamWorks films a year, for a total of 30, under its Touchstone Pictures brand beginning in 2010.

Robert Anderson, "Tea And Sympathy' Author, Dies

Playwright Robert Anderson, author of such Broadway hits as "Tea and Sympathy" and "You Know I Can't Hear You When the Water's Running," has died at age 91.

His stepdaughter, Mary-Kelly Busch, said Anderson died Monday of pneumonia at his Manhattan home and had Alzheimer's disease for the last few years.

Anderson also wrote Hollywood screenplays, TV scripts and several novels, but it was his stage work that brought him the most fame.

He's best known for "Tea and Sympathy," a drama about the relationship between the wife of a headmaster at a New England prep school and a student suspected of being gay.