At least the NFL didn’t totally pass on Motown
MOTOWN FANS MIFFED by the NFL’s choice of the Rolling Stones for Super Bowl halftime entertainment are getting some satisfaction. Stevie Wonder will play three or four songs before the Feb. 5 game in Detroit. He’ll be joined in the pre-game show by other artists still to be announced.
Wonder performed during halftime of the NFL championship game in 1999.
The selection of the Stones as the halftime act prompted an uproar in Detroit, original home of Motown Records, the label for artists such as Wonder, Smokey Robinson, the Supremes and the Four Tops.
A local radio personality gave out the phone number of an NFL official and urged listeners to call and complain.
NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said it was always the league’s intention to honor Motown in the pre-game show. But halftime, he said, is bigger than Detroit.
“The Super Bowl transcends the host city and even the country,” he said.
Imagine, all those people
The Black Eyed Peas, The Cure and Avril Lavigne are among the artists recording songs by John Lennon to raise funds for Amnesty International.
The first four tracks will be released on Saturday, International Human Rights Day, as downloads from www.amnesty.org/noise. They include the Black Eyed Peas’ version of “Power to the People,” The Cure’s take on “Love,” “Isolation” by Snow Patrol and “Grow Old With Me” by The Postal Service.
More songs, including one by Lavigne, will be released next year as part of the “Make Some Noise” campaign.
Lennon was shot dead outside his New York apartment building 25 years ago today.
I now pronounce you Manson and wife
Shock rocker Marilyn Manson married his longtime girlfriend over the weekend in Ireland.
Brian Warner – Manson’s real name – took Heather Sweet to love and cherish in front of about 60 guests at Castle Gurteen in Kilsheelan, County Tipperary.
Sweet, 33, is a burlesque dancer who uses the stage name Dita Von Teese. She and Manson, 36, dated for four years; it’s the first marriage for both.
Might as well jump
On the other hand, it’s officially over for actress Valerie Bertinelli and her rock star husband, Eddie Van Halen, who are divorcing after 24 years of marriage.
A Bertinelli spokeswoman called the split “amicable,” adding that the couple had been separated for four years. They have one son, 14-year-old Wolfgang Van Halen.
Will he melt in her arms?
Rap superstar Eminem says he is back together with his ex-wife and may remarry.
Eminem (aka Marshall Mathers) went through an ugly custody battle over his young daughter with Kimberly Mathers. They married in 1999 and were divorced in 2001.
His greatest-hits album, titled “Curtain Call,” was released Tuesday following rampant rumors of his retirement.
“I’m at a point in my life right now where I feel like I don’t know where my career is going,” he said. “This is the reason that we called it ‘Curtain Call,’ because this could be the final thing. We don’t know.”
The birthday bunch
Actor-producer-director Maximilian Schell is 75. Actor David Carradine is 69. Musician Gregg Allman (Allman Brothers) is 58. Actress Kim Basinger is 52. Actress Teri Hatcher is 41. Rapper Bushwick Bill (Geto Boys) is 39. Singer Sinead O’Connor is 39. Actor Dominic Monghan is 29. Actor Ian Somerhalder (“Rules of Attraction”) is 27.