Friday, December 26, 2003
Simon, Garfunkel donate$1M to children's fund
NEW YORK -- The recently reunited Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel announced another collaboration Tuesday: a joint $1 million donation to The Children's Health Fund.
The singers, who launched a reunion tour earlier this year, made a two-part donation. Half the money will go to CHF's national network for poor and homeless children; the other half will go to a pediatric preparedness program run by CHF at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health.
"Paul and Artie are American icons, and their actions today show that they are committed to improving the quality of life and opportunities for all of America's children," said Dr. Irwin Redlener, president of the fund.
The Simon and Garfunkel tour this fall was their first since their 1982 to 1983 tour.
Redlener and Simon co-founded the Children's Health Fund in 1987 to provide medical help for New York's homeless children. The nonprofit organization has since expanded to cover 16 communities nationwide.
Injured Neve Campbelltrains for dance role
WASHINGTON -- Neve Campbell knew she'd be in pain training 81/2 hours a day for six months to play a ballerina in "The Company," but she was hurting even before she started.
Campbell dislocated her knee while dropping from a helicopter to snowboard on a glacier in the Canadian Rocky Mountains -- a move she said was "really dumb." Then she broke a rib in training while doing a lift wrong and had to film the whole movie that way.
The former "Party of Five" star began dancing when she was 6, but her dreams of a ballet career ended when she had a nervous breakdown at 14.
"I found that I'd lost my passion for dance. ... Emotionally I couldn't handle things anymore," the 30-year-old told AP Radio Tuesday.
"I think I have the faculties to be able to handle things" now, she said.
The film, directed by Robert Altman, takes an in-depth look at a professional dance company. Campbell plays a ballerina whose inner conflicts jeopardize her advancement to a starring role in her dance troupe, which features members of the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago.
Campbell said the company offered her a job after filming, but she declined.
"It wouldn't really make sense for my career," she said. "The dancers go through all this pressure and all this discipline. They make so many sacrifices, and on average, the career ends at 35, so if I were to start again, I'd be done in five years."
Wayne Newton winsin suit brought by casino
OXFORD, Miss. -- A federal jury has ruled in favor of Wayne Newton and his corporate production company in a civil case brought by a Mississippi-based casino.
The Isle of Capri Casinos Inc. lawsuit sought almost $20 million from the singer and Erin Miel Inc. for an alleged breach of a joint-venture relationship.
In its complaint, the corporation claimed it had made a verbal agreement with Newton in March 1999 to develop theaters at its casinos across the country, where he would perform. The first theaters were built at the new Isle of Capri in Tunica with plans to use Newton's name in marketing.
Attorneys for Newton and EMI argued that the singer never entered into any such joint venture, and the notion that Isle of Capri could rely solely on Newton's name to invest in the Tunica market was not reasonable.
Newton's lawyers claimed negotiations ended once Newton became a full-time performer in Las Vegas, where he now lives.
Today's birthdays
Actor Richard Widmark is 89. Comedian Alan King is 76. Actor Donald Moffat is 73. Rhythm and blues singer Abdul "Duke" Fakir (The Four Tops) is 68. Record producer Phil Spector is 63. "America's Most Wanted" host John Walsh is 58. Baseball Hall of Fame catcher Carlton Fisk is 56. Former baseball player Chris Chambliss is 55. Rock musician James Kottak (The Scorpions) is 41. Country musician Brian Westrum (Sons of the Desert) is 41.