ROCK 'N' BRAWL: Hard rockin' bad boys Tommy Lee and Nikki Sixx spent some quality time in a Phoenix jail after roughing up a security guard at the Motley Crue concert last night. Lee and Sixx knocked over the guard after he tried to keep fans off the stage. Both Crue-men were booked on assault charges and let go early today--which also happens to be Sixx's 39th birthday.
ROCK 'N' BRAWL II: Members of the band Everclear have been named in a lawsuit brought by a woman who says she suffered serious neck injuries when the rockers encouraged two New England Patriots football players to jump from the stage into the audience at a concert in Boston last month.
SPIELBERG SUED (AGAIN): A New Jersey man--acting as his own lawyer after a dozen legal eagles refused to take his case--has sued Steven Spielberg, claiming the famed director ripped off dozens of special effects ideas from his video Critical Scrutiny for the movies Jurassic Park and Forrest Gump (on which Spielberg has no on-screen credit.)
ROYAL VISIT: The artist formerly known as Prince returned his former hometown known as Minneapolis Wednesday. The sold-out show marked the rocker's first appearance in his hometown in 10 years.
BIG BREW: Miller Brewing Co. has been ordered to post a $30-million bond while it appeals a jury verdict that found it liable for $24 million in the firing of an employee who related a joke from Seinfeld to a coworker.
MUSIC AWARDS: Rap mogul-turned-performer Puff Daddy led the way Wednesday with five nods as nominations were announced for the 25th annual American Music Awards. The Spice Girls and the Wallflowers were other top multiple-nominees with three each.
STAMPED: The Doors are going postal. The island nation of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is getting set to issue a series of six stamps honoring the seminal band. Each will feature a different album cover.
FISTFUL OF AVOCADOS: Clint Eastwood and ex-wife Maggie have donated a 134-acres worth $6 million to the Big Sur Land Trust. The move keeps the landmark property--a historic avocado farm--on the central California coast from being developed as a housing subdivision.
PIANO MAN: A two-day auction of the personal effects of composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein took in a total of $1.1 million, including a signed piano that went for $387,500.
SLATER'S VOW: Actor Christian Slater, sentenced this week to 90 days in jail for attacking his girlfriend and a police officer, says, in a statement, that he is "ready to take responsibility for [his] actions." When you're a celebrity, Slater says, you start believing you can live "any way you want without consequence."
VINDICATED: A judge has tossed out a sexual harrassment suit against Montel Williams--and fined an attorney $15,000 for adding a gay male plaintiff to the case. The suit was designed to embarrass the talk-show host, and encourage him to fork over hush money, the judge ruled.
BUSTED: More trouble for rap group Wu-Tang Clan. Member Dennis Coles--aka Ghostface Killah--has been charged with weapons possession in New York, after police found a loaded .357 Magnum in his car Wednesday in Harlem. Coles also faces a rap sheet for unlawfully wearing a bulletproof vest.
CASE DROPPED: Police in South Carolina have ended their probe of a sexual assault allegation against actor Edward James Olmos. Olmos' 38-year-old accuser asked officials to drop the investigation Wednesday, after the two sides apparently reached a settlement. In a joint statement, Olmos and the unidentified woman called the incident at the Rock Hill Howard Johnson's Lodge "a misunderstanding between two adults."
CHILD WELFARE: Country singer Tanya Tucker has asked a Tennessee court to bar an ex-boyfriend from violating her custody rights to their two children. Tucker says Ben Reed kept the kids for more than two weeks last month without her permission.
JUDGMENT DAY: Autumn Jackson, the would-be illegitimate daughter of Bill Cosby convicted of trying to extort $40 million from the entertainer, has apologized for acting "inappropriately," in court papers. The 23-year-old Jackson is scheduled to be sentenced tomorrow.
NO CIGAR: CNN is going to get a complex. It's been spurned by yet another big-name newsie--this time, ABC's Charles Gibson. The Good Morning America coanchor wasn't keen on relocating to Atlanta.
IN THE GAME: In this corner: Disney vs. Fox. That'll be the match-up on the West Coast, where Disney-owned EPSN is launching a regional network of cable sports outlets to go head-to-head with Fox Sports West. The system launches next October.
WHAT, HIM WORRY? NBC President Bob Wright says he's disappointed by the performance this season of his top-rated, but struggling network. Not only that--he's worried, worried about upcoming key negotiations: with the NFL, with the producers of ER, with the producers of Seinfeld. Other than that, he expects the company to turn a hefty $1.2 billion profit.
HOLIDAY TRADITION: Well, at least NBC will always have It's a Wonderful Life. At least through 2003. NBC has extended its exclusive broadcast rights to the Jimmy Stewart Yuletide classic.
TOON IN: Serious news guy Ted Koppel will broadcast tomorrow's Nightline from cartoon land. Thanks to some camera trickery, Koppel's backdrop will appear to be sketched out, just like the New Yorker cartoons that the ABC News show will spotlight in the episode.
VIEWER SERVICES: Jay Leno personally telephoned a Minnesota woman who accused him of making a racist joke on The Tonight Show. The viewer--who is white--was offended that Leno asked black bandleader Kevin Eubanks to "tell me a heartwarming story about life in the ghetto." Leno actually said "'hood," not "ghetto," but no matter. The woman, who said she was impressed Leno called, still thinks the host cracked a racist remark.
LOST BOND: George Lazenby--the trivia-contest question among the relative luminaries who have played James Bond--is doing the indie film thing, cast in the black comedy, Gut Feeling. Lazenby played Bond only once--On Her Majesty's Secret Service in 1969. For all the latest casting info, see The Dotted Line.
MEN IN GREEN: The big bucks keep rolling in for Men in Black. The sci-fi shoot-'em-up hauled in $7.3 million in video revenue last week--making its two-week take of $20.8 million the biggest ever.
EXPENSIVE TRAMP: A collector has paid $28,500 at a London auction for a 38-minute, never-released Charlie Chaplin silent short, The Life of Charlie Chaplin. The man, also a composer, hopes to distribute the film--complete with a new musical score, courtesy him.
LAST FLING: Monkees tambourine specialist Davy Jones says he's organizing a concert tour of old geezers, er, former teen idols. On the bill: Bobby Sherman and Herman's Hermits Peter Noone.
NO. 2 SON: Sean Lennon, the youngest son of Beatle John Lennon, has signed a record deal with the Beastie Boys. The 22-year-old will release his debut record on the Beasties' Grand Royal label next spring.
EMCEE CITY: Rosie O'Donnell will reportedly do a repeat performance on Broadway as host of next summer's Tony Awards...Drew Carey, meanwhile, is on tap to usher the upcoming American Music Awards.
STONES BILL: The Dave Matthews Band, saxophonist Joshua Redman and bluesman Taj Mahal will join the Rolling Stones for tomorrow night's show at the TWA Dome in St. Louis--to be broadcast live on pay-per-view TV.
HOME OF HOMER: A 63-year-old great-grandmother from Kentucky is the "winner" of that full-size replica of the bright yellow-and-orange house on The Simpsons. Actually, if--and when--the woman moves into the abode, work crews will repaint the thing (located in Henderson, Nevada) a more palatable hue.