‘Hannah Montana’ fans sue fan club over tickets

‘Hannah Montana’ fans
sue fan club over tickets

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Thousands of “Hannah Montana” fans who couldn’t get concert tickets are suing the teen performer’s fan club over memberships they claim were supposed to give them priority for seats.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of a New Jersey woman and anyone else who joined the Miley Cyrus Fan Club based on its promise that joining would make it easier to get concert tickets from the teen star’s Web site. Cyrus, 14, is the daughter of country singer Billy Ray Cyrus and star of the Disney Channel’s “Hannah Montana” TV show. Her sold-out “Best of Both Worlds Tour” is the hottest concert ticket of the year, with shows selling out in as little as four minutes and scalpers getting four or five times face value. The suit names Interactive Media Marketing Inc. and Smiley Miley Inc. as defendants and seeks triple damages for all members of the lawsuit and attorneys’ fees. “They deceptively lured thousands of individual into purchasing memberships into the Miley Cyrus Fan Club,” plaintiffs’ attorney Rob Peirce said. His Pittsburgh firm and a Memphis firm filed the suit Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Nashville.

The fan club costs $29.95 a year to join, according to the lawsuit, which alleges that the defendants should have known that the site’s membership vastly exceeded the number of available tickets.

Boy George faces charge
of false imprisonment

LONDON — Boy George was charged Tuesday with falsely imprisoning a 28-year-old man, British police said. The 46-year-old former Culture Club frontman, whose real name is George O’Dowd, has been ordered to appear before a court Nov. 22. A message was left with O’Dowd’s spokesman seeking comment. The Sun newspaper reported in April that a Norwegian man, Auden Karlsen, claimed he was chained and threatened at O’Dowd’s London flat, where he had gone as a photo model.

Colbert finds success
in quest for office

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. — Stephen Colbert may have abandoned his brief bid for the White House, but he ended up in a three-way tie for a seat on the Colonial Soil and Water Conservation District Board. His electoral success will be fleeting, however. When the Williamsburg Electoral Board draws a name from a hat to decide the winner, Colbert’s name won’t be among the three: He’s not a registered voter in the former colonial capital of Virginia. Colbert, 43, and two students from the College of William and Mary each received three write-in votes in the Nov. 6 election for a seat on the board that oversees natural resources. Earlier this month, Colbert abandoned his bid for the presidency after the South Carolina Democratic Executive Council voted to keep the host of Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report” off the state’s primary ballot.

Uncle Kracker denies
sex assault accusation

MOUNT CLEMENS, Mich. — Uncle Kracker says he didn’t sexually assault a woman in a North Carolina nightclub, and he’s not entirely happy that he pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of misdemeanor assault to avoid a trial. The 33-year-old singer, whose real name is Matthew Shafer, told The Detroit News and The Oakland Press of Pontiac on Monday that he struck a 26-year-old woman after she hit him. He said it started when he bumped into her during a party after a concert in Raleigh in August. Authorities alleged Shafer had put his hand up the woman’s skirt at the club. She later reported the incident to an off-duty police officer. Shafer pleaded guilty in September to a misdemeanor assault charge. A judge sentenced him to 12 months’ probation, fined him $1,500 and ordered him to undergo an alcohol assessment. “There was no sexual anything involved,” Shafer told the News.

Today’s birthdays

Former U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali is 85. Jazz musician Ellis Marsalis is 73. Writer P.J. O’Rourke is 60. Zydeco singer-musician Buckwheat Zydeco is 60. Britain’s Prince Charles is 59. Rock singer-musician James Young (Styx) is 58. Singer Stephen Bishop is 56. Pianist Yanni is 53. Rapper Reverend Run (Run-DMC) is 43. Actor Patrick Warburton is 43. Actor Josh Duhamel is 35. Contemporary Christian musician Robby Shaffer is 32. Rapper Shyheim is 30.