When It Comes To Pals, Mike Sure Had An Excess

Amid the mass of press over the death of INXS singer Michael Hutchence, much of it angers the remaining members of the band.

Hutchence, who co-founded the Australian band more than 20 years ago with Farriss brothers Andrew, Tim and Jon, Kirk Pengilly and Garry Beers, was found three weeks ago in a hotel room hanging from a belt.

“Nothing makes you more sick to the guts than reading about someone who really hardly knew him at all selling their story about how they knew Michael.” Tim Farriss said during a press conference. “I mean, what are they going to say? They hardly knew him, you know.”

The group, which says it will release an already recorded single “Searching” as planned, will take a long break. They plan to provide for Hutchence’s girlfriend, Paula Yates, and the couple’s daughter, Tiger.

Loose talk

Quentin Tarantino on his forthcoming film (“Jackie Brown”): “It’s definitely not ‘Pulp Fiction II.”’

For her, birthday cake works fine as a fifth element

Milla Jovovich turns 22 today.

He’s looking for another way to raise some royal revenues

“Charles is our new manager,” Geri Halliwell, better known as Ginger Spice, said Monday. Halliwell and her four sister singers, better known as the Spice Girls, welcomed Prince Charles and his sons, 15-year-old Prince William and 13-year-old Prince Harry, to the premiere of their movie, “Spice World. “I am very expensive,” Charles responded.

Maybe the princess should have gone down with the ship

You may have missed it, but Queen Elizabeth II actually cried in public recently. “It was the most remarkable display of feelings in her 45-year reign,” said the London Mirror. The occasion? Not the funeral of Princess Diana but the retirement of the royal yacht Britannia.

This time it’s the vermin who is home alone

So how does Nathan Lane, star of the forthcoming “Mouse Hunt,” describe the movie? “It’s not a sunny Disney comedy,” he said. “It looks like a Coen Brothers film with Laurel and Hardy.”

Actually, we can’t imagine chasing her through Paris

You may have been wondering, but the Duchess of York promised on Wednesday that she would never turn into the second coming of the late Princess Diana. “I would never dream of stepping into her shoes,” Sarah Ferguson said. “I’m just going to carry on doing the best job I can in helping children.”

She’ll wait until the kid’s a toddler and use Twinkies

Tea Leoni, once a blond is now a brunette. The reason? She says it’s because she’s pregnant (by husband David Duchovny) and she doesn’t want to poison her baby with hair dyes.

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The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Compiled by staff writer Dan Webster