Search Results for: the driver era

Real celebrities are forever complaining about being chased by nasty paparazzi, but that hasn’t harmed the growth of a cottage industry in the UK of paparazzi available for hire to celebrity wannabes. If you’re desperate to feel like a former Big Brother contestant, it’s one step up from renting a pink limo for your hen night. VIP for a Day is a package from the “experience gift” company Treatme.net and costs £629 for the evening. It provides a driver and “bodyguard” for your big night out, and sends along a chap with a camera who will aggressively take photos. Unfortunately,… Read more »

R. Kelly may have just traded the closet for the great state of Illinois. Either way, he could be trapped. The rapper managed to avoid arrest Thursday morning by appearing, at last, in a Chicago courtroom for a hearing in his long-pending child-pornography case. But his good fortune–and travel privileges–may end there. Patience-tried Cook County Criminal Court Judge Vincent Gaughan said he was “very disappointed” about Kelly’s Wednesday no-show, not just because of its lack of respect toward the court but because the rapper had specifically requested his hearing be moved to that date for “financial reasons.” He further told… Read more »

Busta Rhymes was sued in New York State Supreme Court on Monday by a Bronx man who alleges he was roughed up by The Big Bang rapper and his posse last summer after spitting on Rhymes’ SUV. The plaintiff, Roberto LeBron, 20, claims he was repeatedly punched and kicked in the body and face by the 35-year-old Rhymes during the wee hours of Aug. 12 as the hip-hopster’s nine bodyguards stood by and watched. LeBron was treated at a nearby medical center for a concussion, split lip and injury to his wrist and later released. Rhymes, whose real name is… Read more »

Some of the world’s biggest names in music were all about Saving Our Selves this weekend. SOS, of course, referring to the campaign being touted Saturday across the globe at the seven-continent, 24-hour Live Earth concert extravaganza, a worldwide shout-out to individuals, political leaders, corporations and every other entity capable of helping put a stop to the environmental scourge that is global warming. In a partnership with Al Gore’s Alliance for Climate Protection and other U.S.-based and international organizations, Live 8 executive producer Kevin Wall put together a bill that included the Police, Madonna, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Metallica,… Read more »

People tend to look at you funny when you jump into the pool with your iPod strapped to your arm and a pair of waterproof headphones stuck in your ears. Having access to music and podcasts while knocking through a few laps at the gym cuts down on the monotony of this type of exercise — but it’s probably not for self-conscious folks who mind getting a few double takes. Mixing electronics with water is generally discouraged, after all. Yes, Apple’s digital-music revolution has extended to the swimming pool, thanks to devices like this waterproof contraption, called an OtterBox, I’ve… Read more »

Waving their arms in the air and dancing with 70,000 fans at London’s Wembley Stadium, princes William and Harry celebrated the life of their mother, Princess Diana, on what would have been her 46th birthday Sunday at a concert they organized. William, 25, rocked his hips as Canadian pop star Nelly Furtado belted out her song “Man Eater” – to the embarrassment of younger brother Harry, who shook his head and laughed. Harry, 22, said they asked Elton John to play “Candle in the Wind,” the song he sang at Diana’s 1997 funeral in Westminster Abbey. Originally about Marilyn Monroe,… Read more »

SOMERSET, Pa. — Members of rock band Relient K had a rude awakening on the Pennsylvania Turnpike at about 3:20 a.m. Thursday. Asleep on their tour bus, en route to a show in Illinois, they were roused by the bus driver yelling for them to exit the bus immediately. It was on fire. While the band — which includes Stark County natives Matt Thiessen and Matt Hoopes — and crew members escaped uninjured, the damage was extensive. Fire Chief Terry Shaffer of the Shanksville Volunteer Fire Department said the fire started in the engine compartment located just below the rear… Read more »

Independent merchants selling and buying used CDs across the United States say they are alarmed by stepped-up pawn-broker-related laws recently enacted in Florida and Utah and pending in Rhode Island and Wisconsin. In Florida, the new legislation requires all stores buying second-hand merchandise for resale to apply for a permit and file security in the form of a $10,000 bond with the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. In addition, stores would be required to thumb-print customers selling used CDs, and acquire a copy of state-issued identity documents such as a driver’s license. Furthermore, stores could issue only store credit… Read more »

OLYMPIA, Wash. — During the morning rush hour on Dec. 5, the 53-year-old driver of a blue Dodge Caravan was traveling north on Interstate 5 outside Seattle when he took his eyes off the road to scan an email on his BlackBerry, the State Patrol says. And that’s how he hit the white Mazda, which clipped the green Honda, which rammed the black Toyota SUV before spinning into the other lane and plowing into a city bus. Nobody was seriously hurt. But the episode sparked a chain reaction of a different sort in the state legislature, in the form of… Read more »

AUSTIN, Texas – Every March, the music industry throws on a pair of shorts, slathers on the SPF 45 and heads on down to Austin for South by Southwest, a weeklong celebration of bands, BBQ and (sometimes free!) beer. It’s a brutal bacchanal and music marathon powered by thousands of acts playing in hundreds of venues – at all hours – plus an unreal number of open-bar tabs and fancy private parties. Sleep is not exactly a top priority, so MTV News has dispatched three of its most tireless reporters into the fray. They’ll be filing reports a few times… Read more »