People: And the legal chase is on
Lindsay Lohan is being sued by a passenger in the car she’s accused of chasing last month while under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
Tracie Rice says the 21-year-old actress “put me through one of the most frightening experiences of my life.
“What Miss Lohan did that night was extremely dangerous and reprehensible. Someone could easily have been killed or seriously hurt because of her irresponsible decisions that evening,”
Rice was a passenger in a car being driven by the mother of Lohan’s former personal assistant, who had just quit.
She “was convinced that their lives were in danger and that they had to outrun the pursuing car or they might be killed,” according to the lawsuit filed Tuesday.
It seeks unspecified damages for assault, negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress, as well as payment for medical and other expenses.
Lohan, meanwhile, is spending time in a Mormon-run rehab center in Utah where she must clean up after herself, scrub toilets and do other chores, according to TMZ.com.
Don’t jump to conclusions
The regrouped Van Halen, with original singer David Lee Roth, will begin their comeback tour Sept. 27 in Charlotte, N.C., and wrap up Dec. 11 in Calgary, Alberta.
The itinerary includes dates Dec. 1 in Portland and Dec. 3 in Seattle. Tickets go on sale Saturday.
Along with Roth, whose relations with other band members have been stormy, the lineup features Van Halen brothers Eddie on guitar and Alex on drums, and Eddie’s son Wolfgang in place of original bassist Michael Anthony.
“We’re not rockers with walkers,” Roth insists. “Meet us in the future, not the pasture.”
The fat man sings again
Luciano Pavarotti, who was admitted to an Italian hospital last week with a fever, is expected to be released “imminently” and plans to resume recording a new album, his manager said Tuesday.
Doctors have cleared the 71-year-old tenor to leave the hospital where he has been undergoing tests since last Wednesday, Terri Robson said, adding that reports he had pneumonia were “completely exaggerated.”
Pavarotti, who underwent surgery for pancreatic cancer in July 2006, is “looking forward to getting back to teaching his young singing pupils as soon as he is out of hospital and next month plans to get back into his Modena recording studio to resume work on his new album of sacred songs,” Robson said.
He’s just doing it
James Gandolfini will follow up his role as fictitious mobster Tony Soprano by playing a real-life corporate sports scout in an HBO film.
“ABCD Camp” is a drama about the youth basketball camp established by Sonny Vaccaro, the man who got Michael Jordan to sign the first million-dollar shoe deal at Nike.
The birthday bunch
Actress Rose Marie (“The Dick Van Dyke Show”) is 84. Actor Mike Connors is 82. Actress Tess Harper is 57. Actress Debi Mazar is 43. Actress Debra Messing (“Will and Grace”) is 39. Actor Anthony Anderson (“Barbershop”) is 37. Actor Ben Affleck is 35. Actress Natasha Henstridge (“Species”) is 33.