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 Bush
nominates conservative Judge Samuel Alito to U.S.
Supreme Court
Photo: Judge Samuel Alito.
WASHINGTON, DC - President
George W. Bush, stung by the rejection of his first
choice, nominated conservative judge Samuel Alito to
replace moderate Justice Sandra Day O'Connor in a bid to
reshape the U.S. Supreme Court and mollify his political
base. "Judge Alito is one of the most accomplished and
respected judges in America," the president said in
announcing Alito's selection Monday. "He's got a mastery
of the law and a deep commitment to justice." The choice
was likely to spark a political brawl. Unlike the
nomination of Harriet Miers, which was derailed Thursday
by Bush's conservative allies, Alito faces opposition
from Democrats. "The Senate needs to find out if the man
replacing Miers is too radical for the American people,"
said Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, (D-Nevada).
Studio takes
down 50 Cent billboards
 Photo:
50 Cent performs at the MTV Awards at the American
Airlines Arena in Miami.
LOS ANGELES, California- Paramount
Pictures is removing some billboards promoting the
upcoming 50 Cent film "Get Rich or Die Tryin'" after
community activists complained they promoted gun
violence. The billboards depict the rapper, whose real
name is Curtis Jackson, holding a gun in his left hand
and a microphone in his right. At least two were near
schools. A studio spokesman said Friday that Paramount
was evaluating the locations of the billboards and
taking some down. He declined further comment. One of
the signs was located in front of a charter school in
Altadena and another sign was near a school in south Los
Angeles, areas that have struggled with gang violence.
Activists in a south Los Angeles neighborhood staged a
rally Tuesday to protest the signs. Los Angeles County
Supervisor Michael Antonovich sent a letter Wednesday to
Paramount President Brad Grey calling for immediate
removal of the billboards." The billboard conveys to
students a disturbing message actively promoting gun
violence, criminal behavior and gang affiliation,"
Antonovich wrote. "Get Rich or Die Tryin'" stars Jackson
as a drug dealer who turns away from crime to pursue his
true passion — music. It is scheduled to open Nov. 9.
Cherryholmes is tops at bluegrass
awards
 NASHVILLE,
Tennessee- The family group Cherryholmes won the top
award -- entertainer of the year -- at the International
Bluegrass Music Awards on Thursday. Jere and Sandy
Cherryholmes were inspired to start a family band after
attending a bluegrass festival to lift their spirits
after their oldest daughter died in 1999. A self-titled
debut last month landed at No. 3 on the Billboard
bluegrass chart. "We just want to thank the Lord for all
of his blessings of talent and for the stamina and
energy of youth," Jere Cherryholmes said. Daughters Cia,
21, and Molly, 13, and sons B.J., 17, and Skip, 15,
round out the group. Larry Sparks won male vocalist for
the second consecutive year. He also received awards for
top album and recorded event for his album, 40, a
reference to the length of his career. "Well, we done it
again, didn't we?" said Sparks, who performed John Deere
Tractor, a song about a young man who comes to the city
and discovers, "I'm like a John Deere tractor in a
half-acre field, trying to plow a furrow where the soil
is made of steel."
 Alison
Krauss and her band Union Station entered the evening
with the most nominations -- 14 individually or
collectively. Krauss and bandmate Dan Tyminski both won
in recorded event of the year for their contribution to
40. Rhonda Vincent broke her own record by taking home
her sixth straight female vocalist award. "This is like
a homecoming, coming to the show and seeing all of our
friends and our peers," Vincent said. The Grascals, who
recorded a bluegrass version of Elvis Presley's Viva Las
Vegas, won emerging artist of the year. The group also
won song of the year for Me and John and Paul, a tune
written by Harley Allen. The awards are voted on by the
professional membership of the International Bluegrass
Music Association, the trade association for the
bluegrass music industry. Fiddle player Benny Martin and
singer Red Allen were also inducted into the Bluegrass
Music Hall of Honor. Martin who penned Ice Cold Love and
the autobiographical Me and My Fiddle, is most
recognized for his fiddle playing. He died March 13,
2001. Allen helped pioneer the "high lead" vocal harmony
format in the 1950s. His signature songs include
Thinking Tonight of My Blue Eyes and Whose Shoulder Will
You Cry On. Allen died April 3, 1993. -John Jerome.
The Fascinating world and
Success of Kate Bush
 Photo:
Kate Bush.
Singer-songwriter Kate Bush is about to release her
first album in 12 years, Aerial. She remains one of UK
music's most important -and influential - female
artists. In 1978, with British music still reeling
from punk, a doctor's daughter from the south London
suburb of Bexleyheath released her debut single
Wuthering Heights, a song inspired by the Emily Bronte
novel. The eerie song could have been derided as an
out-of-date progressive oddity. But Wuthering Heights
was a haunting treasure. Few could believe a
19-year-old had penned it. But this odd song topped
the charts and a British musical legend was born.
Bush's first album, The Kick Inside, was recorded soon
after Wuthering Heights' success and sold more than a
million copies when it was released. Both her debut
and the follow-up album Lionheart, released the same
year, featured songs Bush had written in her early
teens, including The Man with the Child in His Eyes.
 Bush had been discovered by a friend of the family,
Ricky Hopper, and a demo recorded when she was only 15
made its way to Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour
when she was 16. He insisted she be signed to EMI. In
stark contrast to the hot-housing approach of record
companies in 2005, EMI insisted she be allowed to
develop at her own pace. As part of the process she
studied mime and dance as well as singing. She
released five albums by 1985, the last of which,
Hounds of Love, is cited as an influence by other
artists such as PJ Harvey, Alanis Morissette, Tori
Amos and even 21st Century rock bands such as the
Futureheads. Her last album, The Red Shoes, was the
first to debut in the US Top 30 in 1993. Since then,
her career has not so much waned, as been turned off
at will. Bush remains one of the music industry's most
reclusive artists. She has toured only once, in 1979.
Photo: Bush drew upon mime and modern dance for her
live shows.
Embraces motherhood: She now
records mostly at her home studio in Berkshire and
prefers to lead a quiet, family-orientated life. "I
suppose I do think I go out of my way to be a very
normal person and I just find it frustrating that people
think that I'm some kind of weirdo reclusive that never
comes out into the world," she told an interviewer
recently. In 1998, she became a mother for the first
time at the age of 41, giving birth to a son, Bertie,
who is apparently a major influence on the new record.
Music Week's A&R editor Stuart Clarke said Bush remains
a major figure in the British music industry. "It's not
like some artists who have a 12-year break and people
forget about them.
Photo: Bush appeared on Delia Smith's cookery show
in 1979.
This is more than a break. There is
this mystery and fascination there about what she has
been doing," he said. Mr Clarke added that Bush's
"fanatical" fanbase is another part of the equation.
"In many ways she seems closer to them than she does
to the music business or her manager," he explained.
Mark Sutherland said: "Even after more than 20 years
we really don't know much about her." She is pretty
much the only artist who could go 12 years between a
record and people would still be interested. "You're
guaranteed to hear something incredibly interesting."
Sutherland said part of the delay in releasing music
may be because she is a perfectionist - and with her
own studio to record in, she can work to her own
timetable.
Photo: Bush's single Wuthering Heights regularly
makes all-time great lists
Major influence: "I get the
feeling that making records isn't something she
necessarily wants to do, but has to do." New artists
continue to state her importance. "At the Mercury
Prize, pretty much the first thing the winner Antony
of Antony and the Johnsons said was the first artist
he obsessed about was Kate Bush," Mr Sutherland said.
"She attracted people who were different. Before Kate
Bush, these people couldn't imagine being on Top of
the Pops. "After seeing her, they realised they could
make music themselves."-Steven Bowling.
Esquire Magazine names
Jessica Biel sexiest alive
 
Photos: 1. Jessica Biel at her
unveiling as Esquire magazine's 2005 'Sexiest Woman Alive' in New York
Thursday. 2. Posing by the upcoming magazine cover
NEW YORK- Jessica Biel has been
proclaimed "the sexiest woman alive" by Esquire magazine. The actress
dons the cover of Esquire's November issue, following last year's
honouree, Angelina Jolie. The 23-year-old Biel, who began as a
teenager on the family TV series 7th Heaven, plays a supporting role
in the upcoming Elizabethtown and starred earlier this year in
Stealth.
ROYAL BANK OF
SCOTLAND
"It seemed like it would be great -- having named Anglina
Jolie sexiest woman of the year last year -- to try to come up with
somebody who was on everyone's radar screen, but who was also fresh,"
said Esquire editor-in-chief David Granger. "It just seemed like
Jessica Biel's moment." The magazine also picks a woman for three
older age brackets: the Chinese actress Gong Li, 39; the 47-year-old
Sharon Stone; and Rene Russo, 51. "It's easy to appreciate womanhood
without any consideration of age," Granger says. "Youth isn't the
automatic turn-on it used to be."
Britney Spears bra
brings $47,000 US on the auction website
Photo: Singer Britney Spears on July 10, 2005,
in Los Angeles.
NEW YORK -- Britney Spears stripped her
charity auction of a jewel-encrusted bra, but still raised thousands of dollars
for hurricane relief efforts. Spears auctioned dozens of personal items on eBay,
with proceeds going to The Britney Spears Foundation to benefit the Mississippi
Hurricane Recovery Fund. On Saturday, she posted a message on her website saying
she was "concerned that some of you might be confusing this bra with something
that it's not." The 23-year-old pop star said she wore the white stone bra, for
which bids had risen to over $47,000 US on the auction website, during her HBO
special, but not during her performance of... Baby One More Time.
Photo: Britney Spears stripped her charity
auction of a jewel-encrusted bra, but still raised thousands of dollars for
hurricane relief efforts
"I feel the correct thing to do is remove this
item from the auction because I don't want any of you to feel misled," she said.
It was the second time the bra had been removed from the auction. Earlier, an
eBay staffer pulled it because it violated the website's policy of not selling
used undergarments. The decision was reversed, though, because the bra fit under
the category of memorabilia. The auction otherwise concluded with an I Have the
Golden Ticket tank top going for $1,200, her ottoman selling for $510, her
Chanel high heels for $770, her two-piece sectional sofa for $3,050 and her
red-tab jeans for $4,001.
MORE NEWS NEXT
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IN THE NEWS
C4 reveals Blair's lost rock past
Photo: Christian Brassington plays the future
prime minister.
Tony Blair's rock star past is to be depicted in
a mock documentary as part of Channel 4's winter line-up. Tony
Blair Rock Star depicts the future PM as a fame-seeking student,
played by Christian Brassington, who dreams of making it big in the
music world. This winter also sees the return of 80s comedy show, The
Comic Strip Presents. Rik Mayall, Peter Richardson and Nigel Planer
will be reunited for the one-off programme, which will also feature
Doon Mackichan and Robert Bathurst.
Other comedy shows airing this winter include The IT
Crowd, a new sitcom from Father Ted's Graham Linehan, and the second
series of Green Wing. Hit US drama Desperate Housewives will also
return for a second series.
Photo: The hospital comedy Green Wing returns for
a second series.
Prejudice: Other returning programmes
include topical quiz show Eight Out of Ten Cats and reality show Rock
School, while Shameless begins its third series with a feature-length
special. Among the station's drama offerings this winter will be
Karim's Story, which examines the Bradford riots of 2001 from the
perspective of a group of young Asian men. US imports include My Name
is Earl, a sitcom starring Jason Lee as a petty crook who wins the
lottery, and Invasion, about a family that finds itself at the heart
of an alien takeover. In The Root of All Evil, evolutionary biologist
Richard Dawkins will accuse the religious establishment of preying on
people's desire to believe in a greater being. Gay Muslims, meanwhile,
explores the prejudice homosexual Muslims face in their own
communities. The channel will also present a series of programmes
about the ageing population. And it announced that All in the Game, a
drama about corruption in Premiership football starring Ray Winstone,
will begin filming in January 2006.
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