Billy Joel's car grill raises money for charity

Billy Joel's car grillraises money for charity
WEST BABYLON, N.Y. -- Busted-up pieces of the grill from the car Billy Joel was driving when he skidded into a house on Long Island last month have sold at a charity auction for $1,075.
WBLI morning show co-host Steve Harper said Friday that an unidentified bidder from Lindenhurst was the winner of the online auction sponsored by his radio station. He said the bidder has two weeks to come forward.
Harper said the money will be donated to the Maurer Foundation, a Long Island-based group that helps in the fight against breast cancer.
Joel lost control of his vintage 1967 Citroen on a rain-slicked road near his home April 25, slamming into a house. The 55-year-old singer received a small cut on his left ring finger but refused medical attention.
The wreck was the third in two years for Joel. Last year he was hospitalized after smashing his car into a tree along a highway on far eastern Long Island, and he escaped serious injury in a crash in East Hampton in June 2002.
The debris was collected off the street at the crash site by the station's "Slam the Stunt Man," Harper said. A Nassau County police spokesman has said Joel did not say he wanted the grill parts back, so there was no legal reason to stop the auction.
No offers yetfor 'Idol' castoff
WILLIAMSVILLE, N.Y. -- John Stevens, the red-headed crooner who was ousted from "American Idol," returned to high school Friday and said he's still hoping to get a record deal.
"As of now, I've received no offers besides just singing at weddings and other local events," he said.
Stevens, 16, looked slightly embarrassed as Williamsville East High School principal Neal Miller declared Friday "John Stevens Day" in front of 1,000 students at an assembly.
"Sing us a song, Johnny!" a few students shouted. He smiled but didn't oblige.
Since being voted off the Fox television talent show about two weeks ago, the lanky teenager has crooned with Regis Philbin, bantered with David Letterman and come face-to-face with look-alike Conan O'Brien.
Jane Fonda kgets back intothe swing of acting
ATLANTA -- Jane Fonda, who recently came out of her 14-year retirement from acting, says shooting a movie is a lot like sex.
"How to do it just comes right back," she said Thursday at a party for patrons of the Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention.
Fonda will appear in the film "Monster-in-Law" opposite Jennifer Lopez, playing the difficult mother of Lopez's fiance. Fonda, 66, last appeared in the 1990 film "Stanley & amp; Iris." She retired from acting after marrying her now ex-husband, media mogul Ted Turner.
Other guests at Thursday's event included singer Kenny Rogers and wife Carolyn and former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young.
Actress tours Selma, Ala.for voting documentary
SELMA, Ala. -- Actress Drew Barrymore toured Selma, the birthplace of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as part of a documentary she's filming on the importance of voting. The actress visited the National Voting Rights Museum on Thursday before traveling 20 miles to the tiny community of Suttle, where she met with children involved in youth leadership.
Barrymore, 29, and her crew taped interviews with state Sen. Hank Sanders and his wife, activist Faya Rose Toure, at the youth leadership center. She declined interviews, saying the details of her project will be announced later.
Notable death
Barney Kessel, a high-profile jazz guitarist who performed with Billie Holiday, Charlie Parker, and Art Tatum and backed countless other music greats, has died, his wife said. He was 80.
Today's birthdays
CBS News correspondent Mike Wallace is 86. Actor-writer Alan Bennett is 70. Actor Albert Finney is 68. Actress-turned-politician Glenda Jackson is 68. Musician Sonny Curtis (Buddy Holly and the Crickets) is 67. Producer-director James L. Brooks is 64. Singer Tommy Roe is 62. Singer-musician Richie Furay (Buffalo Springfield and Poco) is 60. Actress Candice Bergen is 58. Singer Billy Joel is 55. Rock singer-musician Tom Petersson (Cheap Trick) is 54. Actress Alley Mills is 53. Actor John Corbett is 43. Singer Dave Gahan (Depeche Mode) is 42. Rapper Ghostface Killah is 34. Singer Tamia is 29. Rock musician Dan Regan (Reel Big Fish) is 27. Actress Rosario Dawsonis 25.