Canadian pop crooner cancels show for terror scare
JP/20/GUESS
Buble cancels show due to terror scare
JAKARTA: Due to its perception of a renewed terror threat in the country, the management of Canadian pop crooner Michael Buble has decided to call off the singer's one-date concert in Jakarta, originally slated for Oct. 16.
The show's local promoter Nepathya said in a statement made available to The Jakarta Post on Monday that Buble's management was concerned at worsening security conditions in the country after the Oct. 1 Bali bombings that killed 23 people and injured dozens of others.
Nepathya said it failed to convince the artist and his management about the possibility of going ahead with the concert here despite the terror scare.
"We have done our best to persuade Michael Buble and his management to do a concert here to the point where we asked a favor from the Canadian Embassy here, but to no avail," Juanita Rustandi of Nepathya said.
Nepathya said that fans who had purchased tickets for the show could obtain a refund at designated spots.
In his early 20s, Buble has sung songs that have a semblance to tunes from Frank Sinatra, Bobby Darin and Motown legend Stevie Wonder.
His strong live performance was highlighted in his debut Come Fly With Me while his sophomore album It's Time has been a chart- topper in Canada and shot to No. 1 in the U.S. Jazz chart. -- JP
;AP; ANPA ..r.. Britain-Michael Jackson Fans turn out to see Michael Jackson attend London show JP/20/GUESS
Fans turn out to see Michael Jackson attend London show AP Photos LON820-821, 824[
Jackson fans turn out for London show
LONDON: Hundreds of Michael Jackson fans turned up outside a London theater on Saturday to catch a glimpse of the pop star as he arrived to see the stage version of hit movie Billy Elliot.
Security staff forced a path for Jackson, 47, through a crowd of admirers and photographers standing outside the Victoria Palace theater so he could reach the front door. But the singer fell to the ground in the commotion.
Jackson's children accompanied him to the show but had their faces covered by clothing as they entered the theater.
Jackson was staying at the Dorchester Hotel in Park Lane. His fans had gathered outside the luxury hotel in hope of seeing him before heading to the theater.
"We were outside his hotel and there was a rumor that he was coming here, so we came down," said admirer Phillip Goldstone, 22, from east London.
During the performance interval, Jackson mingled with other spectators, chatting and signing autographs.
"He talked to us, saying hello and there were a lot of people around him," said Roxanne Wisenberg, 47, from San Diego, California. "He was very nice and his children were with him."
Jackson was in London to work on recording a song to benefit Hurricane Katrina victims. The visit to Britain was believed to be his first since his acquittal in June of child molestation charges. He has spent much of his time in Bahrain since. -- AP
GetAP 1.00 -- OCT 9, 2005 02:06:30
;AP; ANPA ..r.. US-People-Ashlee Simpson Back to the scene, Ashlee Simpson makes it through "SNL" song JP/20/GUESS
Back to the scene, Ashlee Simpson makes it through "SNL" song without incident[
Simpson gets through 'SNL' song OK
NEW YORK: Ashlee Simpson sang -- really, she did -- without incident on Saturday Night Live in her return to the scene of last year's lip-synch fiasco.
"I wrote this song after my last Saturday Night Live appearance," she said, introducing the mournful Catch Me When I Fall.
She belted out the song with gusto, the only boost seeming to come with a brief echo effect on her vocal in the chorus. When she was done, Simpson smiled and hopped in relief.
It was nearly a year after Simpson's embarrassing appearance on the same stage, where her voice was heard singing the wrong song when she held her microphone at her waist. She danced an awkward jig and then walked off the stage.
The fakery made her a laughingstock and Simpson was booed lustily when she appeared at the Orange Bowl a few months later.
Leading up to this week's appearance, Saturday Night Live executive producer Lorne Michaels promised it would be her singing - not some tapes - when she went on the air.
Who will be the one to save me from myself? Simpson sang in the ballad. Who's going to catch me when I fall?
Later in the show she came back for a peppier number, Boyfriend, where her vocal was augmented by a backup singer.
"Thank you so much!" she said at the end, blowing a kiss to the audience. -- AP
GetAP 1.00 -- OCT 9, 2005 12:30:06
;AP; ANPA ..r.. US-People-Nathan Lane U.S. actor Nathan Lane broke finger days before the Broadway revival JP/20/GUESS
U.S. actor Nathan Lane broke finger days before the Broadway revival of "The Odd Couple"[ AP Photo NY121 of Lane[
Lane broke finger before Broadway show
NEW YORK: Actor Nathan Lane got an unwanted accessory days before the much anticipated Broadway revival of The Odd Couple began for previews: a broken finger swathed in a huge white bandage.
Lane, who teams again with The Producers costar Matthew Broderick in the comedy, accidentally slammed his right index finger in a door and required 14 stitches, Time magazine reported. Lane said he would take off the splint and bandage for the performance.
"I'm not going to wear this in the show," Lane said, quipping: "Have you met my finger puppet Melvin?"
Broderick asked, "Is it, like, throbbing?"
"Yes, it's throbbing," Lane said. "And I mean that in the nicest possible way."
Lane plays Oscar and Broderick is Felix in the show opening Oct. 27. The entire run is already sold out, Time reported, with an advance box office of US$21.5 million -- the most of any play in the history of Broadway.
GetAP 1.00 -- OCT 10, 2005 02:10:26