NBC to keep Golden Globes for years, judge rules

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A federal judge ruled Monday that producers of the Golden Globe Awards acted properly when they negotiated a deal keeping the glitzy gala on NBC through 2018.

U.S. District Judge A. Howard Matz's 89-page ruling states that the production company, dick clark productions, has a right to negotiate the deal and work on the show as long as it airs on NBC. That right was a key part of a long-running dispute between the company, known as dcp, and the Globes' organizers, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

The association sued over the broadcast deal in November 2010, but the two sides have worked together on the past two awards shows. The production company has claimed it has a perpetual right to work on the show as long as it airs on NBC, but the association argued that it never agreed to those terms and it was facing the loss of its creation.

The Globes have become big business, with Hollywood A-listers appearing each year. The journalists' group and producer split the multimillion-dollar annual profits evenly.

There was no immediate comment from the HFPA. Matz has said he doesn't expect his ruling will end the dispute, but that it will likely lead to an appeal.

Matz's ruling states the dcp only has a right to work with NBC, but that it does not need to receive approval for its broadcast deal directly from the HFPA anymore because of a 1993 amendment to their working relationship.

"We are pleased the court affirmed our contract and look forward to working with the HFPA and NBC to nurture and expand the Golden Globes franchise for years to come," dcp wrote in a statement.

The company's CEO, Mark Shapiro, said he wished Dick Clark, who died April 18, had lived to see the ruling.

"My only sadness is that Dick wasn't here to see the win," Shapiro said. "This was the brainchild of Dick Clark. It was his idea to do a long-term deal."

The judge stated the unusual agreement came about largely because of HFPA's own leadership problems. "HFPA suffered from the absence of sound, business-like practices," Matz wrote.

He noted the group's complicated internal politics and frequent elections, some of which "triggered bitter feelings."

"HFPA members have always been dedicated to the success of the Golden Globes Award Show," Matz wrote. "But often they succumbed to bouts of pronounced turmoil and personal feuds."

The judge's ruling came after he heard nine days of testimony earlier this year over the deal negotiated by dcp. Clark sold the last of his interest in the company in 2007, but the dispute focused heavily on events that took place while he still owned it in 1993.

The judge had to determine whether a 1993 agreement between the HFPA and dcp gave the production company the right to work on the show perpetually, provided it airs on NBC. The association contended it never agreed to the perpetuity clause, and that if it were upheld it would the HFPA control over its signature property, the Globes.

Attorneys for dcp argued that the clause was to ensure continuity and protect the production company, which had just negotiated a multi-year deal to return the Globes to broadcast airwaves for the first time since a scandal knocked them from CBS in the early 1980s.

Matz noted the contrast between the production company and the journalists' group in his ruling.

"In contrast, dcp acted in a consistently business-like fashion, and for almost all of the 27 year relationship it had with HFPA before this suit was filed dcp was represented by one experienced executive who was adept at dealing fairly and effectively with the often amateurish conduct of HFPA," he wrote.

The disputed deal is worth $150 million, but the association contends the broadcast rights are worth much more now. The show, while not a reliable predictor of Oscar night glory, attracts the top stars from both television and film and attracts millions of viewers each year. The booze-filled gala is more unpredictable and less staid than other major reality shows, which has only been amplified by host Ricky Gervais in recent years.

Matz noted that the agreement between the HFPA and dcp — and his ruling — tie the two groups together as long as the show remains on NBC. If the network drops the show, the production company's rights to work on the gala would also end.

Shapiro said that despite the trial and the cloud of uncertainty it has cast over the Globes, dcp has a strong relationship with NBC that includes several other shows.

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Anthony McCartney can be reached at http://twitter.com/mccartneyAP .

Source & Image : Yahoo

A Ten-Volume Look at Jewish Culture

Yale University Press and the Posen Foundation are embarking on a 10-volume anthology that covers more than 3,000 years of Jewish cultural artifacts, texts and paintings. “This monumental project includes the best of Jewish culture in its historical and global entirety,” the editor in chief, James E. Young, a professor of English and Judaic Studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, said in a news release. “It will provide future generations with a working legacy by which to recover and comprehend Jewish culture and civilization.”

The series, called the Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, is starting at the end, with Volume 10, a collection of works that date from 1973 through 2005 and include cultural figures like the writers Saul Bellow and Judy Blume, the architect Frank Gehry, the sculptor Louise Nevelson, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the Harvard law professor Alan M Dershowitz. (Volume 1 will begin in the second millennium B.C.) More than 120 scholars are expected to work on the project, according to John Donatich, director of Yale University Press.

Volume 10 is scheduled for publication in November, as is a companion book titled “Jews and Words” by the Israeli author Amos Oz and his daughter, Fania Oz-Salzberger, a history professor.

Source & Image : New York Times

Breathing Fire With Ballads

“Blown Away,” the new album by Carrie Underwood, the shiny but tough country star, starts out loud, sassy, rollicking and wise. “Good Girl” is the first song — a little Pat Benatar, a little Tanya Tucker — and it plays out like a sequel to Ms. Underwood’s 2006 smash “Before He Cheats,” except, instead of taking out her rightfully stoked dissatisfaction on her ex, she opts for unity and warns the next woman instead.

After that it’s a one-two punch of brutality: a quick-paced “Blown Away,” in which a young woman hides in her basement, waiting out a tornado that she hopes her abusive, alcoholic father sleeping upstairs doesn’t survive; followed by “Two Black Cadillacs,” in which a wife and a mistress conspire to kill the man they share, not a murder ballad so much as a murder celebration.

Ms. Underwood enjoys rage; her huge voice, both naïve and muscular, is well suited to it. Her best songs have historically been in the range between fury and resentment. “Blown Away” is only her fourth album, but that number belies her concrete-hard place in the country firmament, with a combination of vocal ambition and toughness that recalls a younger Martina McBride.

While the album starts bold and mechanically impressive, it gets progressively quieter over the course of its first half, as if she were taking a break from fire-breathing. “Do You Think About Me” is tepid; “Nobody Ever Told You” is bland and blithe; and “One Way Ticket” — part Jimmy Buffett, part Jason Mraz — is Ms. Underwood at her least convincing. Relaxation is not her milieu. She needs muscles pulled taut, veins popping through the skin. Hearing her sing about flip-flops and drinks with pink umbrellas is an affront.

“Blown Away” builds steam again from that point. Ms. Underwood holds back her voice on “Good in Goodbye,” which has echoes of “So Small,” her inspirational 2007 hit. But by the rowdy and sinister “Cupid’s Got a Shotgun,” her nostrils are practically flaring:

I pulled out my Remington

And I loaded up these shells

He’s about to find out

I’m a dang good shot myself.

On a few of this album’s early songs , a perplexing number of digital effects are applied to Ms. Underwood’s vocals, processing she neither needs nor benefits from, even if it is par for the course for other country singers. She may be unhappy, but hearing her tense up is half the fun.

CHELLE ROSE

“Ghost of Browder Holler”

(Lil’ Damsel)

“I don’t know who I trouble more / The mean old Devil or the good old Lord,” Chelle Rose sings on her second album, “Ghost of Browder Holler,” and she’s bragging more than worrying. It’s an album filled with rasp, drawl, twang and tenacity.

Ms. Rose (whose first name is pronounced as “Shelly”) grew up in East Tennessee (where Browder Holler is) and lives in Nashville. She released her first album, “Nanahally River,” in 2000, then withdrew into family life. “Alimony” may or may not be a song about what eventually happened; its snarling electric guitars back the tale of a woman who leaves a stultifying suburban marriage to be a musician.

“I wasn’t askin’ for much, just make some noise with my boys,” she sings. “He was supposed to be my lover, we was Hatfield and McCoys.”

As a songwriter, Ms. Rose works in the realm of Lucinda Williams, Townes Van Zandt, Steve Earle, Alejandro Escovedo and other terse, unflinching songwriters on the rock fringe of country. She sings about hard-nosed characters — herself, perhaps, among them — and ways to face tough situations, and the answer is as much in the grain of her voice and the sinewy guitars as in her words.

The album was produced in Austin by the Texas-based songwriter Ray Wylie Hubbard, who links country to the Rolling Stones, the Band and the Staple Singers. “Rufus Morgan (Preacher Man)” is Southern soul, while “I Need You,” a song by Julie Miller, hints at “Gimme Shelter.”

Although the album was made in Texas, the songs look back to rural Tennessee. Over minor-mode chords, with an Appalachian-flavored melody, Ms. Rose stares down a flood in “Shady Grove Gonna Blow,” advising, “Run down to the graveyard you tell all your kin/River rises up we’ll be together again.”

In “Browder Holler Boy,” a woman’s dreams are haunted by a dead lover: “I tried to save you from the Devil’s violent brew/My skin ain’t soft enough my kisses would not do.”

There’s more sorrow and loss than solace in these songs, but Ms. Rose hasn’t given up on humanity. “If I Could,” a hymnlike song tucked quietly in the middle of the album, offers simple kindness: “Whatever it would take, I’d be willing to give,” she sings, with a stoic reality check, “If I could.” JON PARELES

DIRTY DOZEN BRASS BAND

“Twenty Dozen”

(Savoy Jazz)

Thirty-five years in, the temptation is to see the Dirty Dozen Brass Band as an engine of commerce or a piece of New Orleans culture vulgarized for tourist consumption. “Twenty Dozen,” the band’s new album, doesn’t strain to dissuade you. Recorded at the Music Shed, a prominent hometown studio, it has a bright, clear, presentable mix. It has a lot of crispness and not much grit. It has a version of “When the Saints Go Marching In.”

But to characterize the album as some kind of concession would be missing the point, along with the aspects of “Twenty Dozen” that reflect a band chugging at full steam. Five of the seven original members of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band are still in the group, a remarkable retention rate, even for an institution that runs on collectivity. And those charter members — the saxophonists Roger Lewis and Kevin Harris, the trumpeters Gregory Davis and Efrem Towns, and the sousaphone player Kirk Joseph — make up the band’s crucial front line. It’s no shock that as a unit, they sound impeccable here.

A lot of the material on “Twenty Dozen” is original, and much of it nods at Caribbean rhythm, from calypso (“Best of All”) to lite reggae (“Tomorrow”). That buoyant feel suits the strengths of the drummer Terence Higgins and the guitarist Jake Eckert; it also clears space for solos.

What’s rarer is the counterpoint that this band can do so well. You hear it on “Jook,” over an Afrobeat pulse, but for the most part the horns move in a coordinated mass rather than a syncopated bramble.

The exception arrives during a medley that represents the band at its crowd-pleasingest: “Paul Barbarin’s Second Line” into “E-Flat Blues” into “When the Saints Go Marching In.” And to carp about that sequence of songs would be to ignore the gusto that the band still manages to bring to their execution.

The album follows “Saints” with another fan favorite, “Dirty Old Man,” featuring a gruff lead vocal by Mr. Lewis. It’s the closest thing to the experience of hearing the band at a bar like the Maple Leaf, where the blurts of the sousaphone lodge in your chest.

But then the Dirty Dozen has long broadcast at multiple frequencies. On Thursday it’s scheduled to play the largest stage at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, in the slot preceding Jimmy Buffett; on Friday it will play d.b.a., a smallish club on Frenchmen Street. And both shows, at this point, are true to the spirit of the band. NATE CHINEN

Source & Image : New York Times

An Olympic Champion, a Symbol and an Awkward Partner With Fame

If all you know about Jesse Owens is Hitler, four gold medals and, oh yeah, didn’t he run against a horse?, then the “American Experience” documentary “Jesse Owens” (Tuesday night on PBS stations) will fill some gaps in brisk and entertaining fashion.

The sections about Owens’s pre-Olympic career will introduce you to his epochal day at the Big Ten track and field championships in 1935, when he set or tied four world records in less than an hour, an achievement that dwarfs, in purely athletic terms, what he achieved at the Berlin Olympics the next year.

They also give some much deserved attention to Eulace Peacock, a fellow African-American sprinter who beat Owens in 7 of 10 head-to-head races in 1935 and was favored by some to best Owens in several Olympic events. If not for a bad hamstring, the histories of sports and World War II might read differently. The Eulace Peacock story cries out for its own film.

“Jesse Owens,” directed by Laurens Grant and written by the frequent PBS collaborator Stanley Nelson (“Freedom Riders”), is a smooth and handsome production that suffers from its brevity: about 52 minutes, after credits and promos. There’s not much time to get below the surface, and Owens’s troubled post-Olympic life gets particularly quick treatment.

That may also reflect a desire to stay on message, the message being that Owens represents, as the sociologist Harry Edwards puts it, the shoulders on which Jackie Robinson stood. No doubt Owens is an almost preternaturally graceful and heroic figure, asserting his will despite isolation and scorn even greater than Robinson had to face.

But a more interesting and complex documentary would take a closer look at Owens’s accommodations with the systems that both celebrated and oppressed him, and his lifelong reluctance to be seen as a spokesman for change, issues that are noted briefly in “Jesse Owens.” Mr. Edwards appears frequently on screen, but no mention is made of the public battle between him and Owens over Owens’s criticism of the black-power salutes delivered at the 1968 Olympics, or of the Owens quotation, “The only time the black fist has significance is when there’s money inside.”

What Ms. Grant does put on screen, though, is unimpeachable. Perhaps no athlete has looked as beautiful in motion as Owens, and the copious film of him running and jumping is mesmerizing, even when his opponent is a horse.

“Jesse Owens” includes several examples of the demeaning exhibitions in which he took part after his Olympic success did not translate into cash. It also features, memorably, one of the commercial endorsements Owens garnered after his reputation was revived in the 1960s: his face next to a can of Dinty Moore stew, with the tagline “The man who ran against a horse.” Don Draper never would have let that happen.

American Experience

Jesse Owens

On PBS stations on Tuesday night at 8 (check local listings).

Produced for American Experience by Firelight Films, in association with WDR. Directed by Laurens Grant; written by Stanley Nelson; produced by Ms. Grant and Mr. Nelson; Andre Braugher, narrator. Stacey Holman, associate producer; Aljernon Tunsil, editor; Elena Brodie-Kusa, archival researcher; Tom Phillips, composer.

Source & Image : New York Times

Tony Nominations Coming Tuesday: Let the Combat Begin

Photographs by Sara Krulwich/The New York TimesLeft, Steve Kazee and Cristin Milioti in “Once”; Jeremy Jordan and Kara Lindsay in “Newsies the Musical.”

The starting bell for Broadway’s biggest horse race rings at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday when nominations for the 2012 Tony Awards will be announced. By 8:35 a.m. the shrieking and moaning from armchair critics and show queens should be underway as well, about which productions and performers were robbed of Tony nominations and about which of the lucky ones were – how shall we put it? – undeserving.

While some Broadway insiders complain that the coming Tonys lack breakout hit shows like the 2011 contenders “The Book of Mormon,” “Anything Goes,” and “War Horse,” this year’s competition is expected to be more ferocious than usual in several races, especially for plays, while some of the musical categories are harder to predict. Most years there is a heavy favorite for best musical – “The Book of Mormon” was a shoo-in last season – but all bets are off at this point, with strong arguments for/against the all-but-certain nominees “Newsies” and “Once” (with six other musicals competing for two other best musical slots).

What are you going to be watching or rooting for when the nominations are announced on Tuesday? Here are a few categories, and shows, that are likely to drive the conversation at Bar Centrale throughout May. (The Tonys ceremony is June 10.)

Best play: There will be more than a few disappointed play producers and fans on Tuesday, because there are too many new plays – 14 – competing for the four nominations. Plays that were widely admired last fall, like “Chinglish” and “Venus in Fur,” may find it tough to edge out the latest hits: “Clybourne Park,” “The Lyons,” “One Man, Two Guvnors,” and “Peter and the Starcatcher.” And what of the critically acclaimed “Other Desert Cities” and the audience favorite “Seminar,” which are still running (as is “Venus”) and have their passionate partisans? All eight plays could easily land a nomination in almost any other year. Assuming the frontrunners “Clybourne Park” and “Other Desert Cities” are nominated, which other plays will make the cut?

Best actress in a play: Similar problem, with more than a dozen actresses who drew critical plaudits eligible for five nominations. Nina Arianda received Star-Is-Born media attention last fall for “Venus in Fur,” and the Tony was hers to lose back then. Now she seems likely to face a race from several likely nominees, like Tracie Bennett (“End of the Rainbow”) and Linda Lavin (“The Lyons”), whom some Tony prognosticators are favoring. But what of Stockard Channing in “Other Desert Cities”? Or Tyne Daly (“Master Class”) and Cynthia Nixon (“Wit”)?

Best actor in a play: A lot of the betting comes down to a very funny Brit, James Corden in “One Man, Two Guvnors,” versus a very intense American, Philip Seymour Hoffman in “Death of a Salesman.” But could Stacy Keach upend expectations as the oak-tree-of-a-dad in “Other Desert Cities”? Will screen stars like Alan Rickman (“Seminar”) and John Lithgow (“The Columnist”) receive nominations?

Best actress in a musical: Audra McDonald, who plays Bess in the revival of “The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess,” has received hosannas for her performance, and a Tony for Bess would be her first in the best actress category. (The 41-year-old Ms. McDonald has won the best featured actress award four times before, twice for plays and twice for musicals.) Can another nominee – possibly Jan Maxwell for “Follies,” Cristin Milioti for “Once,” or Elena Roger for “Evita” – make it a contest? (And speaking of Ms. Roger – will she feel the love from Tony nominators for a performance that has left some theater-goers wanting, er, more?)

“Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark”: A moment of reckoning is at hand. The endless preview performances of 2011, the cast injuries, and the controversial firing of the director Julie Taymor turned “Spider-Man” into the biggest Broadway story of many a season. The show is now eligible for Tonys. Will the record-setting $75 million production be a best musical contender? Will Ms. Taymor be recognized in the best director category – and/or will she and her friend-turned-foe Glen Berger be nominated for best book? Will Reeve Carney and Patrick Page receive best actor and featured actor nods for their sheer endurance playing Peter Parker and the Green Goblin since performances began that fateful day in November 2010?

“Newsies”: Will the musical receive enough Tony nominations for Disney to end its campaign of lowering expectations and finally announce an open-ended run for its latest hit show?

Shut-outs: And who wuz robbed?

Source & Image : New York Times

Ballet Star Gazes Down and Rises Up

Youth America Grand Prix Honors Natalia Makarova, Ballerina

On Saturday at the David H. Koch Theater a dozen or so of the foremost ballet dancers in the world performed. And yet the star of the evening — there was never any doubt about this — did not appear onstage until after all the dancing was over.

She was Natalia Makarova, the great Russian ballerina, retired since 1989, and the evening was a tribute to her, a gala presented by the Youth America Grand Prix, an annual ballet scholarship competition. The other stars were on hand to dance excerpts of the ballets for which she was best known. But Ms. Makarova was the dominant presence.

Her image, larger than life, was projected onto a screen. Video, astutely selected from documentaries, outlined her storied biography: the Kirov beginnings in the ’50s, the defection to the West in 1970, the world fame. And video revealed the sources of that fame: her extraordinary dancing and the charisma with which she could talk about her art or tell a funny story.

Since this video continued before each of the 13 danced excerpts, the live dancers had to work in comparison with the legend, often following a projected snippet of Ms. Makarova in the very same role. As they danced, a huge still image of Ms. Makarova sometimes looked down. In the case of Catherine Hurlin, a student from the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School giving a fresh, unfinished reading of the Princess Florine variation from “Sleeping Beauty,” Ms. Makarova’s first role, the image looked down benevolently, as if in blessing. Elsewhere it seemed to say, “Nice try.”

The guest ballerinas reflected aspects of the guest of honor, and it was only fitting that the Russians fared best. Diana Vishneva, in the bedroom pas de deux from Kenneth MacMillan’s “Manon,” was all ebullience. Ekaterina Kondaurova brought remarkable flow to the contortions of William Forsythe’s “In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated” and made an imperiously seductive Black Swan. Natalia Osipova, light enough to drift away, bouncing like the world’s prettiest pogo stick, demonstrated what Ms. Makarova meant by calling Giselle “all spirit.”

There were men present too. Ivan Vasiliev, partnering Ms. Osipova, earned huzzahs for his jackknife jumps in “Giselle.” Marcelo Gomes, partnering Ms. Kondaurova and Ms. Vishneva, showed his usual gracious force. Sergei Polunin, a figure of curiosity since his recent departure from the Royal Ballet, was boyish and buoyant, supporting the Royal’s Tamara Rojo in “Black Swan.” And David Hallberg, the American danseur noble now with the Bolshoi Ballet, shined all too briefly with Ms. Kondaurova in a bit of “La Bayadère.”

Clocking in at less than three hours, the production moved quickly, even through its honoree’s moment of glory. The appearance of the 71-year-old Ms. Makarova during the bows naturally brought the audience to its feet, and the frenzy increased as Mr. Hallberg and Mr. Gomes lifted her high. Just then, the curtain abruptly closed.

Soon after, Ms. Makarova reappeared in front of the curtain, giving each dancer a kiss. In physical size she was the smallest person onstage. In every other way she was the giant.

Source & Image : New York Times

Police tap teen in theft of chef's Lamborghini

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A celebrity chef's Lamborghini sports car has been recovered from a teenager's storage container a little more than a year after it was reported stolen from a San Francisco exotic car dealership.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported Monday (http://bit.ly/JJthFf ) that Marin County sheriff's investigators found Guy Fieri's bright yellow Spyder convertible in the city of Richmond while looking into the 17-year-old boy's connection to a shooting in Mill Valley.

The teen was arrested Saturday in the shooting and for being in possession of a stolen car.

Fieri thanked officers for cracking the case, saying he felt better knowing justice is being served.

Fieri drives around the country in a 1967 Camaro convertible checking out greasy spoons as star of the Food Network's "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives."

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Information from: San Francisco Chronicle, http://www.sfgate.com

Source & Image : Yahoo

'Crocodile Dundee' star Paul Hogan ends tax battle

SYDNEY (AP) — "Crocodile Dundee" star Paul Hogan has resolved his seven-year battle with Australian tax authorities over alleged unpaid taxes dating back to his first international hit movie in the 1980s.

Hogan and his friend and producer John Cornell said through their lawyer, Andrew Robinson, on Monday that the pair had reached a settlement with tax authorities to resolve more than 150 million Australian dollars ($156 million) in alleged unpaid taxes and penalties.

Tax officials barred the Australian actor from returning to his Los Angeles home for two weeks over the matter in 2010 when he returned to Sydney for his mother's funeral. Hogan's lawyers eventually secured a deal that allowed him to leave Australia.

The 72-year-old comedic actor became an international star with the 1986 movie "Crocodile Dundee."

Source & Image : Yahoo

Judge: Golden Globes broadcast deal with NBC valid

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A federal judge ruled Monday that producers of the Golden Globe Awards acted properly when they negotiated a deal keeping the glitzy gala on NBC through 2018.

U.S. District Judge A. Howard Matz's 89-page ruling states that the production company, dick clark productions, has a right to negotiate the deal and work on the show as long as it airs on NBC. That right was a key part of a long-running dispute between the company, known as dcp, and the Globes' organizers, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

The association sued over the broadcast deal in November 2010, but the two sides have worked together on the past two awards shows. The production company has claimed it has a perpetual right to work on the show as long as it airs on NBC, but the association argued that it never agreed to those terms and it was facing the loss of its creation.

The Globes have become big business, with Hollywood A-listers appearing each year. The journalists' group and producer split the multimillion-dollar annual profits evenly.

There was no immediate comment from the HFPA. Matz has said he doesn't expect his ruling will end the dispute, but that it will likely lead to an appeal.

Matz's ruling states the dcp only has a right to work with NBC, but that it does not need to receive approval for its broadcast deal directly from the HFPA anymore because of a 1993 amendment to their working relationship.

"We are pleased the court affirmed our contract and look forward to working with the HFPA and NBC to nurture and expand the Golden Globes franchise for years to come," dcp wrote in a statement.

The judge stated the unusual agreement came about largely because of HFPA's own leadership problems. "HFPA suffered from the absence of sound, business-like practices," Matz wrote.

He noted the group's complicated internal politics and frequent elections, some of which "triggered bitter feelings."

"HFPA members have always been dedicated to the success of the Golden Globes Award Show," Matz wrote. "But often they succumbed to bouts of pronounced turmoil and personal feuds."

The judge's ruling came after he heard nine days of testimony earlier this year over the deal negotiated by dcp. Dick Clark sold the company in 2007, but the dispute focused heavily on events that took place while he still owned it in 1993.

The judge had to determine whether a 1993 agreement between the HFPA and dcp gave the production company the right to work on the show perpetually, provided it airs on NBC. The association contended it never agreed to the perpetuity clause, and that if it were upheld it would the HFPA control over its signature property, the Globes.

Attorneys for dcp argued that the clause was to ensure continuity and protect the production company, which had just negotiated a multi-year deal to return the Globes to broadcast airwaves for the first time since a scandal knocked them from CBS in the early 1980s.

Matz noted the contrast between the production company and the journalists' group in his ruling.

"In contrast, dcp acted in a consistently business-like fashion, and for almost all of the 27 year relationship it had with HFPA before this suit was filed dcp was represented by one experienced executive who was adept at dealing fairly and effectively with the often amateurish conduct of HFPA," he wrote.

The disputed deal is worth $150 million, but the association contends the broadcast rights are worth much more now. The show, while not a reliable predictor of Oscar night glory, attracts the top stars from both television and film and attracts millions of viewers each year. The booze-filled gala is more unpredictable and less staid than other major reality shows, which has only been amplified by host Ricky Gervais in recent years.

Matz noted that the agreement between the HFPA and dcp — and his ruling — tie the two groups together as long as the show remains on NBC. If the network drops the show, the production company's rights to work on the gala would also end.

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Anthony McCartney can be reached at http://twitter.com/mccartneyAP .

Source & Image : Yahoo

Seacrest Assembles TV Empire

Three months ago, when the news, sports and entertainment worlds converged on Indianapolis for the Super Bowl, Ryan Seacrest was at home in Hollywood — and feeling uncharacteristically jealous.

He sent an e-mail to Steve Burke, the chief executive of NBCUniversal, whose NBC network was broadcasting the football game. “I’m going nuts not being there,” Mr. Seacrest wrote.

The next time NBC shows a Super Bowl, in 2015, it’s likely that Mr. Seacrest will be there.

On Friday he signed a new contract with NBCUniversal that will have him contribute to the “Today” show, Olympics coverage, election coverage and other special events. But not exclusively. He will remain at Fox Broadcasting, hosting “American Idol”; at Clear Channel, hosting radio shows; and, most likely, at ABC, hosting the New Year’s Eve special that Dick Clark started 40 years ago.

Already Mr. Seacrest makes well more than $50 million a year from his current jobs, but his busy days are increasingly about businesses behind the scenes, as he tries to do what Mr. Clark did decades ago: build an entertainment empire. (Mr. Clark died in April.)

The exact shape his holding company, Ryan Seacrest Media, will eventually take is unclear to many in the media industry and may even be unclear to Mr. Seacrest, 37, who declined an interview request for this article last week. But he appears to be placing several important bets — a few on broadcasting, a couple on cable, a couple on the Web.

“He wants to build a major worldwide lifestyle brand with TV production as just one part of that empire,” said Richard J. Bressler, a managing director of the private equity firm Thomas H. Lee Partners. That firm, and Bain Capital, which together control Clear Channel, announced last winter a $300 million commitment to work together on investments and acquisitions.

“Ryan’s a rare breed: a great creative talent but also a very good business person,” said Bob Pittman, the chief executive of Clear Channel.

Mr. Seacrest, who started hosting radio shows as a teenager, became nationally known a decade ago when he was named the host of “Idol,” which became the biggest reality show on television. With “Idol” as his foundation, he started making more deals: radio shows for Clear Channel, newscasts for E! and a spot next to Mr. Clark on “New Year’s Rockin’ Eve.” He was made a producer as well as a host of each, giving him more financial and editorial control.

Then his company started making its own shows. The misses, like “Momma’s Boys” on NBC, have been mostly forgotten, but the hits, like “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” on E!, have persuaded channels like Bravo and CMT to buy its shows. On Monday E! announced it had ordered another, a reality show starring Kevin Jonas, of the Jonas Brothers, and his wife, Danielle Deleasa.

In this way Mr. Seacrest may be modeling himself on Mr. Clark, who once said he made money from his “American Bandstand” “horizontally, vertically, every which way you can think of.”

Mr. Seacrest’s production company is developing scripted TV and film projects as well. Eager to gain a toehold in TV production, Clear Channel took a minority stake in the company this year. When its new shows begin (like Bravo’s “Shahs of Sunset,” which started in March, and was recently renewed), Clear Channel’s radio stations will promote them aggressively, Mr. Pittman said, describing the cross-pollination as an advantage in “this fragmented media world.”

Clear Channel is expected to announce that Mr. Seacrest’s $20-million-a-year deal there has been extended two more years, through 2015, at a value of more than $25 million each year. The company declined to comment.

Source & Image : New York Times

NJ Gov. Christie shrugs off Kimmel's fat jokes

PLAINSBORO, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie says having a sexy television star seated beside him made it easier to absorb the fat jokes Jimmy Kimmel made at his expense during the White House Correspondents' Association dinner.

Christie told reporters Monday that "when you have (Sofia Vergara) next to you to console you, let me tell you, you don't care what the heck Jimmy Kimmel is saying about you."

Vergara stars on the ABC sitcom "Modern Family."

Kimmel made three jokes about the overweight governor during a monologue Saturday night that also cracked on President Barack Obama's thinness. He suggested Christie misunderstood his state's nickname, saying: "It's not the Olive Garden State."

Christie says that when Kimmel started joking about the president's weight, "I figured I was in the zone of danger."

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New Orleans concert marks International Jazz Day

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — As the morning sun spilled over the New Orleans' skyline Monday, jazz musicians Herbie Hancock, Ellis Marsalis and others kicked off International Jazz Day with a sunrise concert that included ritual drumming and a string of performances.

Trumpeters Terence Blanchard and Kermit Ruffins, singer Stephanie Jordan and others performed "On the Sunny Side of the Street" and "Afro Blue" as the sun rose on Congo Square, an area near the French Quarter neighborhood where slaves once gathered on Sundays to play music.

Hundreds crowded the stage, some dancing and waving white handkerchiefs to the music.

The New Orleans concert was one of two to be held in the U.S. on Monday. The other was set for Monday at 7:30 p.m. EDT in New York with performances by Tony Bennett, Stevie Wonder, Candido, Robert Cray, Sheila E., Chaka Khan, Bobby Sanabria and others.

International Jazz Day was launched in Paris on Friday by the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization in partnership with the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, of which Hancock is chairman. The Paris event included roundtable discussions, improvisational workshops and performances by artists from various countries.

"Jazz is something very special, and it belongs to the world," said UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova, who traveled from Paris to New Orleans for Monday's sunrise concert. "Jazz music is an expression of freedom, of human rights and of human dignity."

Still, the genre's roots cannot be denied, Hancock said. Jazz was born out of slavery, "the positive and creative response to slavery to elevate and lift the hearts of the slaves," he said.

"It really touches people's hearts because they can identify and feel the sense of hope and voice of freedom that really comes from jazz," Hancock said. "This is what makes it truly international."

In all, thousands across the globe were expected to participate in International Jazz Day at events in Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Japan, Algeria, New Guinea, Russia and elsewhere.

"This is the international celebration of jazz, which in a sense, is a loss for America because UNESCO is proclaiming that jazz is not just American," Hancock said.

"But it's been international from the very beginning," he said, citing Africa and Europe as influences for jazz music.

Jordan, who replaced Dianne Reeves in Monday's lineup after Reeves had a family emergency, said she was honored to be asked to join the celebration.

"Jazz is the most inclusive music we have," the New Orleans-born singer said. "It crosses all barriers. It transcends race and economics. ... I'm so glad that the world recognizes how great this music is, the tradition, and keeping it alive."

Ruffins said it was fitting that the U.S. launched its celebration of jazz in Congo Square.

"It's almost like we're standing in the heart, the birthplace of jazz, where the slaves used to come and celebrate on Sundays and create this beautiful culture that we have in the city today," he said.

Today, Congo Square is part of Armstrong Park, a public green space with fountains, statues of musicians and lush tropical gardens. The park is named for Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong, one of the city's founding fathers of jazz.

Hancock performed his funky standard "Watermelon Man" with high school students from around the world via an Internet link. Then he was scheduled to fly to New York for sunset all-star jazz concert for the international diplomatic corps at the U.N. General Assembly Hall, Morgan Freeman, Robert DeNiro, Michael Douglas and Quincy Jones were expected to host.

For Hancock, the two concerts symbolize the jazz globalization he has observed since he launched his career a half century ago.

As Monk Institute chairman, Hancock has seen more foreign musicians selected as finalists in its yearly competitions as well as fellows for its two-year jazz performance college program at UCLA. The fellows include guitarist Lionel Loueke from Benin, who's now a member of Hancock's quartet.

Hancock's 2010 CD, the double Grammy-winning "The Imagine Project," features pop and world music stars from 10 countries. He and Ruffins are also scheduled to perform this weekend at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, which runs Thursday through Sunday.

___

Online:

International Jazz Day: http://www.unesco.org/days/jazzday

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APNewsBreak: 'Three Cups of Tea' lawsuit rejected

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — A federal judge on Monday dismissed a civil lawsuit against author Greg Mortenson, calling claims "flimsy and speculative" that the humanitarian and his publisher lied in his best-selling "Three Cups of Tea" and "Stones Into Schools" books to boost sales.

The lawsuit by four people who bought Mortenson's books claimed that they were cheated out of about $15 each because the books were labeled as nonfiction accounts of how Mortenson came to build schools in central Asia. They had asked U.S. District Judge Sam Haddon to order Mortenson and publisher Penguin Group (USA) to refund all the money collected from Mortenson's book sales.

The readers from Montana, California and Illinois filed the lawsuit after "60 Minutes" and author Jon Krakauer reported last year that Mortenson fabricated parts of those books.

The plaintiffs said Mortenson, co-author David Oliver Relin, Penguin and Central Asia Institute were involved in a fraud and racketeering conspiracy to build Mortenson into a false hero to sell books and raise money for CAI, the charity Mortenson co-founded.

Haddon wrote in his ruling that their racketeering allegations "are fraught with shortcomings" and the plaintiffs' "overly broad" claims that they bought the books because they were supposed to be true were not supported in the lawsuit.

The ruling is good news for Mortenson and his charity after the Montana attorney general earlier in April announced a $1 million agreement to settle claims that Mortenson mismanaged the institute and misspent its funds. The agreement removes Mortenson from any financial oversight and overhauls the charity's structure, but it does not address the books' contents.

Mortenson, who was traveling to Pakistan and Afghanistan, said in an email Monday to The Associated Press that the past year has been challenging as he faced the Montana investigation, the lawsuit, the media reports, plus surgery for a small hole doctors found in his heart.

"At times, facing so much was overwhelming and devastating, however, my attorneys always offered steadfast encouragement to stay positive and keep the high ground, even when subjected to false allegations, vicious name-calling and slander," Mortenson said in his first public statement in a year.

The judge's ruling "upholds and confirms my belief and faith that our American legal and judicial system is honorable and fair," he added.

"Three Cups of Tea," which has sold about 4 million copies since being published in 2006, was conceived as a way to raise money and tell the story of his institute, founded by Mortenson in 1996.

The book and promotion of the charity by Mortenson, who appeared at more than 500 speaking engagements in four years, resulted in tens of millions of dollars in donations.

The book recounts how Mortenson lost his way after a failed mountaineering expedition and was nursed back to health in a Pakistani village. Based on the villagers' kindness and the poverty he saw, he resolved to build a school for them.

The lawsuit claimed, as did the Krakauer and "60 Minutes" report, that Mortenson fabricated that story and others in the book and its sequel, "Stones Into Schools."

Mortenson has denied any wrongdoing, though he has acknowledged some of the events in "Three Cups of Tea" were compressed over different periods of time.

The judge did not address allegations of fabrications, but wrote that the plaintiffs can't simply rely on general allegations of lies in making a claim.

Haddon wrote that many of the items that the lawsuit lists as lies made by the defendants after the books were written, such as CAI paying for Mortenson's expenses and purchasing his books, "do not actually appear to be untruthful or illegal, and are overly vague."

Haddon also ruled that the plaintiffs can't rewrite their complaint to address those shortcomings, noting that the case has been pending for nearly a year and the lawsuit already has been changed five times.

"The imprecise, in part flimsy, and speculative nature of the claims and theories advanced underscore the necessary conclusion that further amendment would be futile," Haddon wrote.

Plaintiffs' attorney Zander Blewett did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

The yearlong state investigation found that Mortenson's poor record keeping and personnel management resulted in unknown amounts of cash spent overseas or for management costs without receipts or documentation. CAI's two other board members were Mortenson loyalists who generally did not challenge him, and he resisted or ignored other employees who questioned his practices, the investigation said.

Mortenson also reaped financial benefits at the charity's expense, including the free promotion of his books, and the royalties from thousands of copies the organization bought to donate to libraries, schools, churches and military personnel, the state found.

The organization spent more than $2 million on Mortenson's charter flights to speaking engagements, and Mortenson and his family charged personal items to the charity, according to the report.

Anne Beyersdorfer, CAI's interim executive director, has said Mortenson will remain the face of the charity but not as executive director, and that he is barred from being a voting member of the board of directors as long as he draws a paycheck from CAI.

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Parents cheer autism-friendly 'Mary Poppins'

NEW YORK (AP) — The afternoon performance of "Mary Poppins" was marked by loud yips, shouts and moans — and that was just fine.

It was the second autism-friendly performance of a Broadway show, and for many families with a child who suffers from the disorder, it turned out to be a practically perfect day.

"It is an amazing opportunity to bring our families here and enjoy the show, not be stressed, and relax and know that everyone in the theater is in our situation," said Paige Bravin, sitting with her 11-year-old daughter, Alexa, in the second row of the New Amsterdam Theatre.

The Theatre Development Fund, a nonprofit organization focused on providing access to live theater, bought all 1,797 seats for Sunday's matinee and offered reduced price tickets to families with an autistic member. They sold out in two days.

It was the second experiment following the autism-friendly showing of "The Lion King" in October. The Theatre Development Fund plans a third such show at "The Lion King" on Sept. 30. Tickets for that go on sale this summer on the fund's site.

At Sunday's matinees, about 40 autism specialists — many of them master's students at Hunter College, special education experts or social workers — roamed the theater, providing comfort and help to families. They wore black Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious T-shirts and held flashlights.

"They love participating and being part of this day and to see the magic," said Dr. Jamie Bleiweiss, a professor of early childhood special education at Hunter College and co-founder of the consultant and support group Autism Friendly Spaces. "It's such a rewarding way to give back and to share. This experience is pretty powerful."

To prepare the children, character guides and song lists had been made available ahead of the show so there were few surprises. Calming corners and activity areas were created in the cavernous New Amsterdam Theatre, where overwhelmed children could sit in beanbag chairs and watch a live stream of the show.

There were coloring books, puzzles, games and handy toys for fidgety patrons. Signalers on either side of the stage raised green glow sticks to warn theatergoers of upcoming loud noises or to signal that clapping was ahead.

"We're learning each time," said Victoria Bailey, TDF's executive director, who also credited Disney Theatrical Productions for allowing two of their shows to participate. "It's really clear that the demand is there."

To accommodate the special audience, a few changes were made to "Mary Poppins," including removing all strobe lights, lowering the tap sounds of "Step in Time," softening some transitions and lowering some pitches. The cast and musicians had rehearsed for several hours the day before to ensure that events at No. 17 Cherry Tree Lane were smooth.

"The power of the story remains," said David Caddick, the music supervisor. "We changed some elements to avoid a sensory overload but it doesn't in any way diminish it for the other family members."

Anthony Lyn, the show's associate director, said his team was happy to welcome a whole new audience. "I know everyone in the cast and in the building was incredibly delighted about doing today's performance," he said.

Autism disorders affect 1 in 88 U.S. children, according to U.S. government estimates. Children with the diagnosis are often sensitive to loud noises and harsh lights, and find it hard to sit still or remain quiet. Autism spectrum disorders include both severe and relatively mild symptoms.

The audience at the matinee illustrated the vast range of disabilities, from those with difficulty walking to those who just seemed shy. Many wore headphones to drown out loud sounds. Some grew tired sitting and preferred to wander the aisles or go to the unisex bathrooms. As the show progressed, some children who had been moaning or screeching became calmer. Some happily bopped along to the music.

"You don't have to worry. You're in the same position as everybody else is. You don't have to be embarrassed. It's OK that your kid is screaming, crying or carrying on," said Lisa Brodwin, whose 10-year-old daughter, Morgan, charmed the volunteers with her easy, outgoing nature.

"She loves music, she loves dancing and I wanted to take her and my other son, who's not autistic, as a family. So the four of us can do something together," said Brodwin, who is from Long Island. "I think this is so monumental. I think this is so beneficial."

The Theatre Development Fund, which also operates the TKTS booths, hopes to make such autism-friendly performances a regular event on Broadway and is happy to share what it's learned with other theater communities. It's already had several inquiries from across the nation.

"I think we're developing more awareness in the Broadway community and it's clear from surveys that we did after the first one that there's an appetite for 'Spider-Man,' there's an appetite for 'Wicked,' there's an appetite for Radio City," Bailey said. "Over time, I hope we would be able to do that."

___

Online:

Theatre Development Fund: http://tdf.org

Autism Friendly Spaces: http://autismfriendlyspaces.com

___

Follow Mark Kennedy on Twitter at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits

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APNewsBreak: 'Three Cups' author was 'overwhelmed'

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — "Three Cups of Tea" author Greg Mortenson says he has been overwhelmed by all the issues facing him this past year, but that the dismissal of a civil lawsuit confirms his faith that the U.S. judicial system is fair.

Mortenson made his comments Monday in a statement to The Associated Press after U.S. District Judge Sam Haddon rejected claims that Mortenson, his publisher, his co-author and his charity engaged in fraud and racketeering.

The lawsuit alleged Mortenson fabricated book passages to boost sales and increase donations to the Central Asia Institute.

In Mortenson's first public statement in a year, he says facing open-heart surgery, a state investigation into his charity and the lawsuit was overwhelming.

But he says Central Asia Institute is stronger than ever and will continue its work.

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APNewsBreak: 'Three Cups' author lawsuit rejected

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — A federal judge on Monday dismissed a civil lawsuit against author Greg Mortenson, calling claims "flimsy and speculative" that the humanitarian and his publisher lied in his best-selling "Three Cups of Tea" and "Stones Into Schools" to boost book sales.

The lawsuit by four people who bought Mortenson's books claimed that they were cheated out of about $15 each because the books were labeled as nonfiction accounts of how Mortenson came to build schools in central Asia. They had asked U.S. District Judge Sam Haddon to order Mortenson and publisher Penguin Group (USA) to refund all the money collected from Mortenson's book sales.

The readers from Montana, California and Illinois filed the lawsuit after "60 Minutes" and author Jon Krakauer reported last year that Mortenson fabricated parts of those books.

The plaintiffs said Mortenson, co-author David Oliver Relin, Penguin and Central Asia Institute were involved in a fraud and racketeering conspiracy to build Mortenson into a false hero to sell books and raise money for CAI, the charity Mortenson co-founded.

Haddon wrote in his ruling that their racketeering allegations "are fraught with shortcomings" and the plaintiffs' "overly broad" claims that they bought the books because they were supposed to be true were not supported in the lawsuit.

The ruling is good news for Mortenson and his charity after the Montana attorney general earlier in April announced a $1 million agreement to settle claims that Mortenson mismanaged the institute and misspent its funds. The agreement removes Mortenson from any financial oversight and overhauls the charity's structure, but did not address the books' contents.

"I think ultimately it frees Greg up to be able to speak to the allegations," said Anne Beyersdorfer, the charity's interim executive director, of Haddon's ruling. "He stands by his books."

Mortenson said in an email that he was traveling to Pakistan and Afghanistan on Monday and could not immediately comment. His attorney, John Kauffman, also declined comment, saying Haddon's ruling speaks for itself.

"Three Cups of Tea," which has sold about 4 million copies since being published in 2006, was conceived as a way to raise money and tell the story of his institute, founded by Mortenson in 1996.

The book and promotion of the charity by Mortenson, who appeared at more than 500 speaking engagements in four years, resulted in tens of millions of dollars in donations.

The book recounts how Mortenson lost his way after a failed mountaineering expedition and was nursed back to health in a Pakistani village. Based on the villagers' kindness and the poverty he saw, he resolved to build a school for them.

The lawsuit claimed, as did the Krakauer and "60 Minutes" report, that Mortenson fabricated that story and others in the book and its sequel, "Stones Into Schools."

Mortenson has denied any wrongdoing, though he has acknowledged some of the events in "Three Cups of Tea" were compressed over different periods of time.

The judge did not address allegations of fabrications, but wrote that the plaintiffs can't simply rely on general allegations of lies in making a claim.

Haddon wrote that many of the items that the lawsuit lists as lies made by the defendants after the books were written, such as CAI paying for Mortenson's expenses and purchasing his books, "do not actually appear to be untruthful or illegal, and are overly vague."

Haddon also ruled that the plaintiffs can't rewrite their complaint to address those shortcomings, noting that the case has been pending for nearly a year and the lawsuit already has been changed five times.

"The imprecise, in part flimsy, and speculative nature of the claims and theories advanced underscore the necessary conclusion that further amendment would be futile," Haddon wrote.

Plaintiffs' attorney Zander Blewett did not immediately return a call for comment.

The yearlong state investigation found that Mortenson's poor record keeping and personnel management resulted in unknown amounts of cash spent overseas or for management costs without receipts or documentation. CAI's two other board members were Mortenson loyalists who generally did not challenge him, and he resisted or ignored other employees who questioned his practices, the investigation said.

Mortenson also reaped financial benefits at the charity's expense, including the free promotion of his books, and the royalties from thousands of copies the organization bought to donate to libraries, schools, churches and military personnel, the state found.

The organization spent more than $2 million on Mortenson's charter flights to speaking engagements, and Mortenson and his family charged personal items to the charity, according to the report.

Beyersdorfer has said Mortenson will remain the face of the charity but not as executive director and that he is barred from being a voting member of the board of directors as long as he draws a paycheck from CAI.

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