NewsAugust 16, 2003

CLARKSTON, Mich. -- A high wattage rock band and a venue named after a power company couldn't make the show go on during the blackout that hit the state. Iggy Pop & the Stooges had finished a sound check Thursday at DTE Energy Music Theatre and were headed back to their Auburn Hills hotel when the power went out, the Detroit Free Press reported on its Web site...

CLARKSTON, Mich. -- A high wattage rock band and a venue named after a power company couldn't make the show go on during the blackout that hit the state.

Iggy Pop & the Stooges had finished a sound check Thursday at DTE Energy Music Theatre and were headed back to their Auburn Hills hotel when the power went out, the Detroit Free Press reported on its Web site.

It was supposed to be the biggest Detroit rock reunion of the year: Iggy with brothers Ron and Scott Asheton performing their first hometown show in three decades, in front of what would have been a packed crowd of fans.

The concert was rescheduled for Aug. 25.

Fans seeking refunds can get them at their point of purchase. That may not be much consolation for those who'd trekked from England, California and elsewhere to witness the big night.

Bicyclist files lawsuit against CNN anchor

NEW YORK -- A bicyclist has filed a $10 million lawsuit against CNN anchor Jack Cafferty for leaving the scene of an accident.

The lawsuit, filed Thursday in state Supreme Court in Manhattan, alleges Cafferty was "reckless and grossly negligent" when he knocked Billy Maldonado off his bike with his Cadillac and drove away on May 14.

A call to Cafferty's attorney was not immediately returned.

Earlier this month, the anchor was ordered to pay a $250 fine and perform 70 hours of community service after pleading guilty to leaving the scene of an accident.

A traffic officer and about five pedestrians ran after Cafferty's car to stop him after the accident, but Cafferty drove through at least two red lights and around other vehicles without stopping, dragging the bike beneath his car, according to a police complaint.

Photographer ordered to stay away from Diaz

LOS ANGELES -- A photographer charged with using photos of Cameron Diaz in an extortion attempt was denied release on his own recognizance and was ordered to stay away from the actress.

John Rutter, 41, had been scheduled to enter a plea Thursday in Superior Court, but Commissioner Jeffrey M. Harkavy postponed the arraignment to Aug. 28 to allow him time to hire a private attorney.

Rutter was arrested Tuesday and held on $250,000 bail. Harkavy said that if Rutter could post bail, he was not to contact Diaz.

The photographer faces charges of attempted extortion, grand theft, perjury and forgery for allegedly trying to use photos of the 30-year-old actress to try to extort $3.3 million from her. He faces up to six years in prison if convicted, the district attorney's office said.

Attorneys for Diaz and Rutter have declined to describe the photos or discuss the contents of a videotape taken from Rutter's Venice apartment. Rutter told the syndicated news program "Inside Edition" in mid-July he took the pictures well before Diaz's big break in the 1994 film "The Mask."

Timberlake/Aguilera show back on track

HARTFORD, Conn. -- The Justin Timberlake/Christina Aguilera concert in Hartford that was canceled this week is back on.

The show has been rescheduled for Aug. 22, a week after the original concert date. The Hartford Civic Center will honor all tickets from the first date, promoters said.

Concert organizers canceled after three stagehands were injured when a lighting grid above the stage at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J., collapsed Aug. 9.

About 30 people were working below the 100-by-100-foot grid when it buckled and lurched before falling, forcing postponement of the sold-out Boardwalk Hall show.

Concerts scheduled for this past Monday in Albany, N.Y., and Wednesday in East Rutherford, N.J., were also postponed.

Singer's fashion brand to hit shelves this fall

NEW YORK -- Gwen Stefani's new fashion brand, L.A.M.B., is making its first mark this fall with a limited-edition collection of handbags and accessories in a partnership with LeSportsac.

Receive Daily Headlines FREESign up today!

L.A.M.B. stands for love, angel, music, baby -- words Stefani says are meaningful to her and often appear in her songs.

Many of the Gwen Stefani-L.A.M.B. for LeSportsac bags are made of black rip-stop nylon and covered with words and phrases in a white gothic font. The handles, made of graphic-print grosgrain tape, are fashioned to resemble guitar straps.

Of course, there's a "concert bag," a small 8-by-8 1/2-inch pouch.

"I was flattered that someone would give me the chance to design something. I've designed tons of things for myself, which is no big deal because I'm wearing it. But to do something for other people -- that's cool," the 33-year-old singer said in a recent statement.

Following the accessories line will be a L.A.M.B. ready-to-wear collection in the spring that matches Stefani's own fashion aesthetic -- a mix of "punk and Paris, of rock and roll, or color and pattern."

------

On the Net:

http://www.nodoubt.com/

------

LIVE OAK, Calif. -- Nelson Markham finally has the dog tags he lost 35 years ago when his helicopter was shot down in Vietnam.

The tags were returned during a ceremony Tuesday at the Live Oak Veterans of Foreign Wars Post.

More than 200 men from Markham's 501st infantry unit of the 101st Airborne Division were killed in the battle where he lost his tags, a bloody showdown that inspired the movie "Hamburger Hill."

"Wow," Markham said as he gazed at the still shiny but dinged tags that had last hung around his neck in 1968. "Oh my God, I can't believe it. That's them."

He blinked, looked at the crowd and quipped, "They look like they've been through a war."

The tags were found for sale in a Saigon shop by Bob McMahon, a disabled veteran from New Hampshire who's been retrieving the tags of Americans who fought in Vietnam.

So far, McMahon has found and bought 5,700 identification tags and returned 475 to Vietnam veterans and their families.

Four living recipients of tags retrieved by McMahon, including Markham, are being featured in a History Channel film to be broadcast later this year.

------

ROSINE, Ky. -- The Jerusalem Ridge bluegrass festival was supposed to be a celebration and homecoming for Bill Monroe's famed Gibson mandolin.

Instead, the Aug. 28-31 event will be a fund-raiser for an effort to return the instrument that Monroe, recognized as the father of bluegrass, used to create the music form.

The foundation is trying to raise nearly $1 million it owes to Monroe's son, James, who has sued in a Nashville, Tenn., court to regain title to the instrument. It was to have paid Monroe the remaining $962,000 it owes him for the instrument last October, but was unsuccessful in raising the money or in securing a bank loan.

Campbell Mercer, executive director of the Bill Monroe Foundation, envisions the battered mandolin as the centerpiece of a museum honoring the performer, who died in 1996 and is buried in Rosine.

Mercer said he's hopeful the festival, which attracted about 2,800 people last year, will generate up to $200,000 to be used toward the purchase of the mandolin.

Forty-seven bluegrass bands and entertainers, including former members of Monroe's band, will perform.

"It's a historic outpouring really of love for Mr. Monroe and this culture and tradition," Mercer said.

Story Tags

Connect with the Southeast Missourian Newsroom:

For corrections to this story or other insights for the editor, click here. To submit a letter to the editor, click here. To learn about the Southeast Missourian’s AI Policy, click here.

Advertisement
Receive Daily Headlines FREESign up today!