Is Crowe tempting Kidman on Fiji island?
THE CITY OF SAN FRANCISCO wanted the head of Mayor Willie Brown, so he got busted. Brown, smiling for the camera, poses for Monterey artist Richard MacDonald as he chips away at a likeness.
Coincidence, most likely a coincidence. Still, fellow Aussies Russell Crowe and Nicole Kidman could conduct some interesting beachside chats at a Fiji luxury resort, where both happen to be vacationing now.
According to the Fiji Sun newspaper, Kidman and her two children arrived last Friday aboard a private jet, while Crowe arrived on his private jet four days later. Fiji Visitors Bureau marketing director Bill Whiting confirmed both were staying there at the Wakaya Club, whose accommodations include beach-front, palm-thatched cottages known locally as bures. Doesn’t that sound romantic?
OUR LITTLE GIRL IS GROWING UP: Lisa Marie Presley had the honors of cutting the ribbon for the opening of Presley Place recently, a 12-unit, rent-free apartment building for the homeless in Memphis, Tenn.. Presley, who donated $1.3 million to Metropolitan Inter-Faith Association for the buildings near Graceland, also made a public debut with her current companion, Nicolas Cage. (Uh, when did that happen?) The twosome reportedly arrived hand-in-hand.
Elvis Presley Enterprises, which handles the licensing and marketing of everything with Elvis Presley’s name and image, will pay the operating costs for Presley Place for five years.
PROFESSIONAL COURTESY TO YOU LEECHES? I DON’T THINK SO: What’s your name? Mick Jaguar? Oh, Mick Jagger? Sorry, if you want to see Madonna play, you gotta pay. Celebrities whether they’re named Elton John, Angelina Jolie, George Michael or Naomi Campbell won’t get their freebie handouts to the sold-out Drowned World Tour.
“The policy is there are no comped tickets, not even for celebrities,” Madonna’s spokeswoman, Liz Rosenberg, told The New York Post. “If you want a ticket for one of her shows, you have to pay. Everyone is the same.” So the poor slobs had to pay $125 and a booking fee to see her in London unless they scalped their tickets to other celebrities (hey, aren’t celebrity-scalped tickets worth even more?). After a weeklong break, the golden-haired one will hit 12 cities in the United States.
THERE GOES HER DR. SCHOLL’S MODELING CAREER: It’s not easy on the feet to be blonde. Yes, there is logic in that, thank you very much. Reese Witherspoon had to totter on high heels for her comedy, “Legally Blonde,” and as all women and drag queens know, high heels are an underhanded, dastardly attempt to enslave an entire sex by ruining their feet, throwing their spine off-kilter and messing with their sense of gravity.
“Seriously, I had a huge podiatrist’s bill after making this movie,” the actress told TV Guide Online. “I’m only 25 and I’m at the podiatrist having things shaved off my feet and (getting them) cracked. It was challenging!” A collective “ick” is in order.
A ROYAL POSTPONEMENT: Prince has scrapped the remaining dates on his summer North American tour scheduled to run through early August. The rocker did not give a reason for the cancellation (no big surprise there), but a spokesman says the artist may still return to the road later this summer.
On Prince’s official Web site, a message says: “Costumes and set pieces r still ordered 4 The World Tour, as well as a physical therapist, cook and tutors 4 studying’ band members All r hopeful that b4 the summer is out, Prince will b coming ur way soon!”
YOU CAN’T GO HOME HEY, THAT’S A BULLDOZER: Jay Leno says he wouldn’t have sold his Massachusetts boyhood home if he had known some developer would tear it down. “I remember when I sold it, the real estate agent said, It’s not really the kind of house people want,’ and I remember I was slightly insulted,” Leno told The Associated Press on Thursday. After all, the collector of mighty-pricey motorbikes could have afforded to keep the 1950s blue-shuttered gray Cape in Andover, Mass. Now, character and heritage will be torn down in a few weeks to make room for yet another bloated, soulless $2.6 million, five-bedroom house under construction a few feet away.
“Since they built the mansions next to it, my house looks like a trailer parked behind it. It’s like my neighborhood went into the witness protection program,” he said. “We just had a good time in that house, we didn’t lock the doors.”
The Andover Preservation Commission is expected to approve the demolition permit this month, member Ann E. Constantine told the Eagle Tribune of Lawrence. The commission recently photographed the house to document what many townspeople believe to be a historic residence, because a picture speaks a thousand words, but a five-bedroom house is a couple mil. The commission could delay the demolition for up to six months, but is not likely to do so, Constantine said.
Show deal signed : By Carmen Electra. The former “Baywatch” star and Playboy model has signed a two-year deal to star in her own show, “Lumiere,” at the Aladdin hotel-casino on the Las Vegas Strip. The show is scheduled to begin early next year.
Birthdays: Actress Gloria Stuart (91), former President Gerald R. Ford (88), movie and stage director Ingmar Bergman (83), actor Dale Robertson (78), actor Harry Dean Stanton (75), actress Nancy Olson (73), actress Polly Bergen (71), former football player Rosey Grier (69), country singer Del Reeves (69), actor Jerry Houser (49), actor-director Eric Laneuville (49), actor Stan Shaw (49), movie producer Scott Rudin (43), actor Jackie Earle Haley (40), actor Matthew Fox (35), rock singer-musician Tonya Donelly of Belly (35), actress Missy Gold (31), R&B singer Tameka Cottle Xscape (26), hip-hop musician Taboo of Black Eyed Peas (26).
Today’s People Column was compiled by Vera H-C Chan from staff and wire reports. Comments? Write to us c/o the Times, P.O. Box 8099, Walnut Creek, CA 94596-8099. Or call 925-943-8262, fax 925-943-8362, or e-mail spin@cctimes.com.