Beach Boys lawsuit tossed out by judge

LOS ANGELES -- A Superior Court judge rejected a lawsuit by original Beach Boys member Al Jardine against two of his ex-bandmates, noting that a federal court already has dismissed similar allegations.

Jardine, the band's lead guitarist, sued fellow Beach Boys members Brian Wilson and Mike Love, claiming he had been frozen out of the surf rock group. He also alleges that he was excluded from a series of concerts last year.

Jardine, 59, is seeking $4 million and additional unspecified damages.

Superior Court Judge James Dunn said Wednesday that issues raised in Jardine's state court lawsuit were previously addressed in a federal lawsuit that was later dismissed.

Although he rejected Jardine's lawsuit, the judge allowed him to amend and refile the complaint. A hearing is scheduled for May 30.

Detroit officials sue rap musician Dr. Dre

DETROIT -- Five current and former city officials have sued rapper Dr. Dre and others involved in the production of a DVD, saying their privacy was invaded.

Defendants in the lawsuit, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court, include Up In Smoke Tour headliner Dr. Dre; Magic Johnson, whose company helped produce the tour; AOL Time Warner, which distributed and marketed the DVD; Best Buy, which sold it; and Panavision, which provided cameras for the concert staff.

The lawsuit alleges that "a hidden camera and microphones were secretly used to intercept, eavesdrop upon and record" exchanges between city officials and tour organizers.

Talk show host Sally Jessy bids farewell

NEW YORK -- Sally Jessy Raphael smashed her eyeglasses, but no tears flowed as she taped her daytime talk show's farewell episode.

"I thought it would be sad and it wasn't -- it was very happy," Raphael insisted Wednesday upon ending nearly two decades of daily TV appearances. "There'll be plenty of crying. It'll just be done a little later in the day."

Her finale, with guests including the Four Tops and Dick Cavett, also featured video vignettes that showed her destroying her trademark red-frame eyeglasses in various humorous ways.

"They belong to the company," she explained afterward, pledging she wouldn't wear them anymore.

Raphael, a 59-year-old former disc jockey, began the show as a local St. Louis program in 1983, and went national the next year, specializing in relationship topics.

Her show, the longest-running of its genre, lately had sunk to ninth in the ratings among talk shows, after being third only to Oprah Winfrey and Jerry Springer three years ago. It's distributed to some 190 U.S. stations.

The finale is scheduled to air May 22.

Morgan Freeman gets honored by Brazilians

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil -- Morgan Freeman will be the guest of honor at the opening of Afrofest, Brazil's first film festival celebrating the contributions of people of African descent.

The actor, who won a Golden Globe for 1989's "Driving Miss Daisy," was presenting his new film, "High Crimes," to open the weeklong festival on Thursday.

The festival, sponsored in part by the U.S. Consulate in Rio de Janeiro, also will feature Spike Lee's "Bamboozled" and Carlos Diegues' "Xica da Silva."

Sylvester Stallone named top action star

LOS ANGELES -- Movie tough-guy Sylvester Stallone has been selected "Action Star of the Millennium" by a home video trade group.

The "Rambo" and "Rocky" star will receive the honor in July at the Las Vegas convention for the Video Software Dealers Association.

"As an actor, writer and director, Mr. Stallone has endowed his artistic achievements with excellence and has created some of the most memorable characters in cinema history," VSDA president Bo Andersen said Tuesday.

--From wire reports