NEWSMAKERS | ‘Home on the Range’ cabin needs repairs

NEWSMAKERS

‘Home on the Range’ cabin needs repairs

SMITH CENTER, Kan.

The cabin in north-central Kansas where “Home on the Range” was written is badly in need of repairs, and Kansans are stepping up to try to save it.

Brewster Higley wrote the six-verse poem “My Western Home” at the cabin in Smith County in 1872. It was later put to music and renamed “Home on the Range” and became the Kansas state song.

The cabin is on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Wichita Eagle says supporters have raised more than $2,000 but that it will take up to $100,000 to rebuild the cabin in an authentic manner.

Orin Friesen, operations manager at the Prairie Rose Chuckwagon Supper, says the project will be supported with funds raised at a May 5 concert and the upcoming Prairie Rose Western Days festival.

‘Paul Reiser Show’ axed after 2 weeks

NEW YORK

NBC has yanked “The Paul Reiser Show” after just two little-watched airings.

The comedy, which attempted a TV comeback for the former star of “Mad About You,” attracted a dismal 3.4 million viewers to its premiere. That same week TV’s highest-rated comedy, “Modern Family” on ABC, had 9.6 million viewers.

The “Reiser” audience then dropped last week to 2.4 million viewers.

NBC says it will air repeats of “The Office” in the time slot — Thursdays at 8:30 p.m. — for the final month of the TV season.

Eminem to release EP with rapper Royce

DETROIT

Eminem plans to release an EP of new material that he recorded with fellow Detroit rapper Royce da 5’9”.

The pair first worked together in the late 1990s, calling themselves Bad Meets Evil, with Royce da 5’9” as the “bad“ and Eminem as the “evil“ half of the duo.

One of the songs they recorded in those days, called “Bad Meets Evil,” appeared on Eminem’s major label debut, “The Slim Shady LP.”

In a statement released Monday by Interscope Records, Eminem says he and his old friend “started hanging out again” and that it inevitably” led them “back into the studio.”

The new material will be released June 14 on Shady/Interscope Records.

Interscope says the EP’s title will be unveiled “soon.”

Flavor Flav’s chicken eatery closes in Iowa

CLINTON, Iowa

A fried-chicken restaurant in Iowa founded by Flavor Flav has abruptly closed its doors after the reality TV star and his business partner cut ties and exchanged harsh words.

Flav’s Fried Chicken in Clinton, Iowa, closed Sunday, just four months after opening to much fanfare.

Flav told WQAD-TV that he was pulling a license that allowed restaurant manager Nick Cimino to use his name in the restaurant because he “isn’t running the business right.” Some former employees had complained they were not paid.

Cimino told the station Flav was “a fraud” who was trying to get rich off of his ideas and work.

Flav, a founder of the hip-hop group Public Enemy and later a star of VH1’s “The Surreal Life,” opened the business with Cimino in January.

Injured ‘Spider-Man’ actor rejoins show

NEW YORK

An actor seriously injured at the Broadway musical “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” has returned to work only four months after he plummeted 35 feet from an onstage platform.

Christopher Tierney said he felt “amazing” as he reported for rehearsals Monday at the Foxwoods Theatre. He said the accident in December didn’t leave him fearful. Said Tierney: “I’m ready to put on the harness right now and fly around.”

The 31-year-old actor who did most of Spider-Man’s aerial stunts suffered a fractured skull, four broken ribs and three broken vertebrae. He had to wear a back brace and had eight screws put in his back.

The $65 million show is on hiatus and reopens June 14. In March, director Julie Taymor was replaced and the show is being reworked.

Vindicator wire reports