New url for Peach Buzz
Bookmark this new url for Peach Buzz.. We have moved to Wordpress!
Access Atlanta > Blog > Archives > 2006 > February > 17 > Entry
Sir Elton wins award for libel, helps charity
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
On behalf of his charity, Peachtree Road resident Elton John accepted an undisclosed financial settlement Thursday of a libel lawsuit against the Sunday Times in London.
His lawyer, Hanna Basha, said in court that the newspaper had repeated a false rumor in June that the rocker acted in “a self-important, arrogant and rude manner” by telling guests at a fund-raising ball not to address him unless spoken to.
The 58-year-old singer wasn’t in court for the announcement of the settlement.
Times Newspapers Ltd. said it had agreed to pay damages to John, who will donate the funds to the Elton John AIDS Foundation.
The settlement came complete with some sweet groveling from the newspaper’s suits too: “As soon as the defendant found out the story was untrue — it had been picked up from another newspaper — it immediately apologized to Sir Elton and it is happy to repeat that apology here today,” said the newspaper’s lawyer, Alastair Brett.
Meanwhile, Atlantans heading to Los Angeles for the singer’s 14th annual Oscar party fund-raiser for the foundation, to be at the Pacific Design Center in Los Angeles, will be serenaded by singer-songwriter John Legend. An e-mail sent to Buzz Central from Sir Elton’s reps announced that Legend will perform selections from his latest disc, “Get Lifted.” Via a statement, Sir Elton says: “I have been a huge fan of John’s since I first heard his album. I am so thrilled that he won three Grammys last week and even more thrilled that he will be playing at our Oscar party. “
Reader e-mail of the week
Oddly, getting stiffed on an interview with Star Jones Reynolds isn’t our fave part of this gig. It’s actually getting drop-dead, laugh-out-loud funny e-mails from readers. In response to our monthlong tribute to “The View” co-host’s new self-help book, Roswell’s Don Sadler wrote : “Now that you’re able to remove the tongue that has for so long been lodged in your cheek, I wish to thank you for taking the bullet for the rest of us. That you were willing to slog through ‘Shine’ instead of your loyal readers is no less a testament to your courage than were you to have fallen on a live grenade. I trust your psyche’s scars aren’t permanent.”
In fact, we were so touched by Sadler’s note that Buzz Central has relented and is semi-proud to leave you with …
The very last (we mean it) final moment to ‘Shine’
“Remember: You can’t do all the exercises, all the time. You can do some of them, some of the time.” — the author on her gym regimen
‘Home Plate’ chef likes ATL
“Home Plate” cooking show host Marvin Woods is eyeing Atlanta locations for a new restaurant.
Woods, who travels here several times a year to shoot episodes for the Turner South series, wants to bring his lightened Southern specialties somewhere he gets TV exposure.
He closed his Miami restaurant, M. Woods, in January and chalks up problems to an out-of-the-way location and no “Home Plate” airings in South Florida.
Woods, in town while taping episodes for next season at the show’s new location in the Westye Group Southeast’s Sub-Zero/Wolf showroom in Duluth, likes Midtown as a venue for his Caribbean- and South American-influenced Southern food.
That would put the restaurant within convenient drop-in distance of Turner headquarters, as well as netting him a cable audience of would-be diners. “It would be a win-win for us and for Turner,” Woods says.
Sick bay
Columnist and novelist Art Buchwald is in a Washington-area hospice after having part of his leg amputated, his assistant said.
Cathy Crary said Thursday the leg was amputated below the knee because it wasn’t getting enough blood due to a vascular condition.
She said the 80-year-old Buchwald also has a kidney problem but wasn’t undergoing dialysis.
“He’s really doing very well,” Crary said.
Buchwald’s column, which began in the Paris edition of the New York Herald Tribune in 1949, is not running currently.
He won a Pulitzer Prize for commentary in 1982, and his 80th birthday was celebrated last fall at the French Embassy in Washington.
Court docket
Country singer John Michael Montgomery was arrested early Thursday in Lexington, Ky., and charged with driving under the influence and possession of a controlled drug, jail officials said.
The 41-year-old vocalist also was charged with having a prescription drug not in its proper container, two counts of carrying a concealed deadly weapon, disregarding a traffic control device and improper turning, said Darin Kelly, a spokesman for the Lexington jail.
Montgomery was released several hours later, Kelly said.
The singer’s publicist, Erin Morris of Morris Public Relations in Nashville, said Montgomery didn’t have any immediate comment.
Kelly said the police report listed the controlled substance as Endocet, which is a painkiller. Or a breakfast food washed down with coffee if your job description happens to include thumbing through a copy of “Shine” for weeks at a time… .
Celebrity birthdays
Hal Holbrook is 81. Actress Rene Russo is 52. Actor Lou Diamond Phillips is 44. Singer Chante Moore is 39. Actress Denise Richards is 35. Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day is 34. Actor Jerry O’Connell (“Crossing Jordan”) is 32. Actor Jason Ritter (“Joan of Arcadia”) is 26. Paris Hilton is 25. Actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt (“3rd Rock from the Sun”) is 25.
Contributing: Elizabeth Lee and news services. If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
Permalink | |
