People talk 5/6/02

Comic shows interest in minor league team

BROCKTON, Mass. -- Comedian Bill Murray is taking such an active interest in Brockton's new minor league baseball team he may eventually become part owner.

The star of "Caddyshack" and "Stripes" is a baseball fanatic and unofficial "director of fun" for the Brockton Rox, who start play this month in the independent Northern League in a new $17 million stadium.

"Bill Murray is an old friend of mine and he's going to be actively involved," Rox principal owner Van Schley said. "He may become an owner in the future."

Murray, 51, who lives in New York, showed up unannounced at the team's offices last month and toured the stadium.

He's known Schley since the late-1970s and has owned minor league baseball teams with him in the past.

Murray told Rox officials he was impressed.

Pink battles to have things done her way

LAS VEGAS -- There's no misunderstanding Pink.

The themes of her current album, "M!ssundaztood," find Pink fighting against bad relationships in her own strident, independent way.

"To me, it was all about freedom," she told the Las Vegas Review-Journal of her music. "Life is not always flowers and chocolates, and I figured people could relate to that."

Pink, 22, broke into radio and MTV in 2000 with the hit "There You Go." In 2001, she was one of four singers teaming up for the hit remake of "Lady Marmalade." And in the past few months, she raced up the pop charts with the single "Get the Party Started."

Now, she is on her first headlining tour, arriving Sunday at the Palms in Las Vegas. She will tour with rocker Lenny Kravitz later in the year, a gig she convinced Kravitz should be hers.

"A couple of months ago, I heard" he was going on tour, she said. "So I called him."--From wire reports

I said, 'You should come down to my rehearsal.' He's, like, 'Why? What are you rehearsing for?' I said, 'Your tour.' "

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ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- There he goes -- to court.

Former Miss America Pageant CEO Robert L. Beck, 63, is suing the Miss America Organization for wrongful termination, severance pay and other issues surrounding his firing from the $235,000-a-year job.

The case was to come to trial last month, but it was removed from the docket at the last minute to give the parties more time to settle the dispute out of court.

They couldn't, and a settlement conference was scheduled with Superior Court Judge Daryl Todd late last week. Those too were fruitless.

"It's not settled, that's all I can tell you," said Linda Kenney, Beck's attorney said Friday.

"There's no settlement. We're done," said Jay Greenblatt, who represents the Miss America Organization.

Beck was fired within weeks of a controversy over the pageant's plan to let women who had been divorced or had abortions compete for Miss America.

From wire reports