People talk 9/17/02

Roxette member's doctors find brain tumor

STOCKHOLM, Sweden -- Marie Fredriksson of the Swedish pop duo Roxette has been diagnosed with a brain tumor, her manager said Monday.

The small tumor was found after Fredriksson fainted and hit her head against a sink last Wednesday at her Stockholm home.

The 44-year-old singer was examined at the Karolinska hospital and is resting in her home while doctors decide how the tumor can be treated, said her manager, Marie Dimberg.

"A number of tests have been made showing that Marie has a small tumor in the back of her head," Dimberg said. "We do not know how serious it is but hope for the best."

Fredriksson and her partner, Per Gessle, had hits in the late '80s and early '90s including "It Must Have Been Love" from the "Pretty Woman" soundtrack and "The Look."

They'd planned to launch the duo's new single, "A Thing About You," on Oct. 14 and start a European tour later the same month, said Johan Olsson of their record label, EMI Sweden. It was unclear how her illness would affect those plans.

Nicholson attends premiere of small play

MALIBU, Calif. -- Jack Nicholson was among the celebrities attending the opening of "Fellow Traveler" at the Malibu Stage Company.

"Fellow Traveler," a story of the collapse of communism in Russia, was written by John Herman Shaner and directed by Charles Marowitz and stars Harold Gould, who's appeared in "Stuart Little" and "Patch Adams."

Shaner said Sunday he was proud that Nicholson made it to Thursday's premiere, which took place at a small converted theater in Point Dume that once was a Lutheran church. Harry Dean Stanton, Stephanie Zimbalist, Rose Marie, Sally Kellerman and Sally Kirkland also were in the audience.

"I think it was the first play Jack's attended in about 30 years," he said.

Shaner and Nicholson have been friends for about 45 years and have collaborated on film projects including "Goin' South." Shaner has just completed "Goin' South II."

In 1958, Shaner, Nicholson, Kellerman, and screenwriter Robert Towne ("Mission Impossible," "Chinatown") built the 54-seat Store Theater in Hollywood to showcase their work.

Seinfeld's movie chronicles own effortsNEW YORK -- At first, Jerry Seinfeld didn't think anyone would want to watch a movie about how he comes up with his ideas.

He'll soon find out.

"Comedian," scheduled for release in New York and Los Angeles on Oct. 11 and in 20 more cities two weeks later, chronicles his efforts to build an entirely new act. He was approached with the idea for the film by Christian Charles and Gary Streiner, with whom he has worked on commercials.

"I assured them that this is not a process that anyone would enjoy watching," he told The New York Times in Sunday's editions. "It's very tedious and very painful and very slow. Most of the way along, I kept saying to them, 'Do you really think this is going to be something?' Because I was pretty convinced it wasn't."

He said he became convinced that "Comedian," would be interesting to someone other than fellow comedians when he saw footage from the film about eight or nine months into the project.

Seinfeld decided to retire his old material when he returned to stand-up comedy after his hit sitcom ended. He said he knows he has nothing to prove after the wild success of "Seinfeld."

"I've kind of graduated from show business," the 48-year-old said. "I have no further need of this business. It's not about money anymore, and it's not about fame. Now, it's just about maintaining a creative arc."

Joel changes residences in search for life partner

NEW YORK -- Billy Joel says he's looking for someone to spend his life with, and plans to rent an apartment in Manhattan to meet women.

"I'm not going to meet anyone out here," said Joel, who lives in East Hampton, a posh community in nearby Long Island. "The happiest times in my life were when my relationships were going well -- when I was in love with someone, and someone was loving me. But in my whole life, I haven't met the person I can sustain a relationship with yet. So I'm discontented about that. I'm angry with myself. I have regrets."

Joel will go on tour this fall with Elton John, and Twyla Tharp will take to Broadway a play called "Movin' Out," featuring modern dance interpretations of Joel's songs. But he said his success -- including a place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame -- is little consolation.

"You can't go home with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame," the 53-year-old told The New York Times Magazine. "You don't sleep with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. You don't get hugged by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and you don't have children with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I want what everybody else wants: to love and to be loved, and to have a family. Being in love has always been the most important thing in my life."

Byrne wants audience participation for show

LOS ANGELES -- Former Talking Heads frontman David Byrne, who has been exhibiting his quirky photographs for more than a decade, is looking for audience participation in his latest show.

A computer sits at the center of the exhibit at Santa Monica's Track 16 gallery, and visitors can search its hard drive for photos, then print and add them to the exhibit.

Byrne knows it's a risky proposition.

"Audience participation can be unpleasant and gimmicky, so it's a tricky kind of balancing act to pull it off," Byrne, 50, told the Los Angeles Times. "When it works, everyone feels more involved in incorporated than ever. When it doesn't, everyone just squirms and feels uncomfortable."

Images in the show include hotel bedspreads, scissors hovering above a farm, parking lots, a woman's eyes and empty cafeterias.-- From wire reports