FIRST LOOK: The News in Brief, November 14, 2002

HIS STORY: Michael Jackson failing to show up Thursday morning for further testimony in a $21 million breach of contract lawsuit against him over two canceled millennium concerts. Jackson did return for the afternoon session, but only after the press photographer left the courtroom

ROMPER STOMPER: London newspapers reporting that Russell Crowe got into yet another brawl, this time with a New Zealand businessman early Wednesday morning in chic London restaurant Zuma. Police are investigating the incident.

IS ALF NEXT? Muppet mainstay Kermit the Frog getting a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame Thursday.

MASTER THESPIAN: Gene Hackman to receive the Cecile B. DeMille Award for "outstanding contribution to the entertainment field," it was announced Thursday. Hackman will be honored at the 2003 Golden Globe Awards, January 19.

PROBED: Police raiding the Beverly Hills office of hip-hop label, Tha Row Records (formerly Death Row Records) on Thursday, serving search warrants related to murder investigation. Police said Row CEO Marion "Suge" Knight was not a suspect and did not elaborate on what murder was being investigated.

CLOONEY'S BUTT WINS! Steven Soderbergh winning his appeal with the Motion Picture Association of America over the rating on his upcoming Solaris. Soderbergh convinced the panel to give the film a PG-13 instead of an R and keep its shots of George Clooney's bare butt.

STAYING PUT: The California Supreme Court on Wednesday denying actor Robert Blake bail. Blake has been jailed since April on charges of murdering his wife, Bonny Lee Bakley.

STAYING PUT, PART TWO: The TV Academy voting Wednesday to keep the Primetime Emmy Awards on the Big Four networks instead of HBO. ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox will pony up $52 million over eight years for the right to take turns airing the show. HBO had offered more than $50 million over five years.

DARK DAYS: Legendary comedian Jerry Lewis announcing he's finally free of back pain thanks to surgery to implant a "pain pacemaker" in his back. He said the pain was so excuciating that he once considered suicide.

SETTLED: The operators of Miss Cleo's psychic phone lines agreeing to pay the federal government $5 million in fines to settle claims brought by the Federal Trade Commission involving deceptive advertising, billing and collection practices.

TINSELTOWN BARBIE: The world's most popular doll, Barbie, immortalizing her tiny plastic hands and feet in cement at Hollywood's Egyptian Theater on Wednesday--a first for a toy.

WILD ON GOTHAM: E!'s Jules Asner moving from Los Angeles to New York. Although she's giving up her anchor gig on E! News Live, she will continue to file special reports, as well as host Revealed and E! red-carpet award show coverage.

READY FOR THEIR CLOSE-UP: Six of Hollywood's top talent manages banding together to form a new company to represent such A-listers as Reese Witherspoon, Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, Julianne Moore, Kiefer Sutherland, Mariah Carey, Holly Hunter and Salma Hayek.

BIG MUSIC NIGHT: The MTV Europe Music Awards kicking off Thursday night for an expected audience of 1 billion people. Eminem, Christina Aguilera, Coldplay, Pink, and Shakira are each up for four awards.

START YOUR ENGINES: Disney in talks with Dennis Quaid about starring in a drama about NASCAR's Petty clan. Quaid would play Lee Petty, the patriarch of the racing family who teaches son Richard the ropes. No word who'll play Richard Petty yet.

SOME LIKE IT HOT: Hollywood officials installing a sign Wednesday declaring the intersection of Sunset Boulevard and La Brea Avenue as "Billy Wilder Square" in memory of the legendary writer-director.

EVENFLOW: Pearl Jam slated to perform two nights in a row on CBS' The Late Show with David Letterman. The band will appear tonight and Friday.

LOVE THEM TENDER: As part of a new agreement with the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority Board of Directors, Elvis Presley impersonators receiving a pay raise of $650 per daily appearance, up from $350.

THE FORCE IS STRONG: Consumers picking up an estimated 4 million DVDs of Star Wars--Episode II: Attack of the Clones in the first 24 hours to earn about $75 million, according to Daily Variety. Only Spider-Man (7 million units) and Monsters, Inc. (5 million) have done better this year.

TRUCKIN': The surviving members of the Grateful Dead regrouping as the Other Ones and kicking off a 14-city tour Thursday night in Roanoke, Virginia.

SAVING HISTORY: U2 reaching a compromise with developers to save the Dublin recording studio where the band made much of its music in the early '80s. The studios will be relocated to the top two floors of a high-rise so the old building can be demolished. The band will also get a say on the architectural design for the new building, expected to be completed in 2005.

NEW PAIR OF EYES: Elton John, who claims to own some 4,000 pairs of eyeglasses, announcing he plans to have laser surgery so that he won't need corrective lenses. The 55-year-old Rocket Man will have the procedure in February.

RENEWED: HBO green-lighting a fourth season of Curb Your Enthusiasm, the offbeat comedy starring Seinfeld creator Larry David. Curb just wrapped its third season on Sunday.