Prince plans to jam after local concert
Hysteria! Chaos! Prince! The singer is planning to have a lot of stamina with back-to-back concerts this weekend. Tickets for his After Concert Jam at The Fillmore will go on sale at noon today. The jam takes place tonight (technically 2 a.m. Sunday), following his 9 p.m. Oakland Arena concert.
The $50 tickets are available through Ticketmaster outlets and at The Fillmore box office, 1805 Geary Blvd., San Francisco. No tickets will be sold over the Internet or by phone yes, you read that right, this is the old-fashioned way to see an act. Only two tickets will be sold per person. And the caveat: All dates, acts and ticket prices are subject to change without notice.
LISTENING TO YOUR ELDERS: A sold-out San Francisco Film Festival audience watched San Francisco-born Clint Eastwood be the first local filmmaker to accept the festival’s lifetime achievement award Thursday. Fans also got an earful of opinion on the current state of film.
Eastwood accepted the Akiro Kurasawa award. According to Bruce Newman of the San Jose Mercury News, during the interview portion the director admitted that he doesn’t care for filming schedules that take longer than eight weeks, disdains flashy camera movements and says “a lot of people now feel like, I’ve got to zoom in here, slide in there, whip around over here,’ because they saw it on a Chevy commercial. American cinema has become extremely infantile in recent years.”
The craggy-faced one also revealed that he never intended to be an actor, but found himself addicted to acting classes he took after getting out of the Army in the early ’50s. “It sort of gets into your blood,” he said.
Dressed in a conservative gray suit that made him look more like the owner of a Lexus dealership than an action-movie hero, Eastwood also said his decision to become a director came late nearly two decades into his acting career.
As for influence, he credits Italian director Vittorio de Sica, with whom he worked on an experimental piece called “Le Streghe.”
MY ANCHOR IS THE CENTERFOLD: Is it CNN, Entertainment Tonight or the Playboy Channel? CNN Headline News has hired former “NYPD Blue” actress Andrea Thompson to be an anchorwoman for the network, according to a CNN executive who would only speak on the condition of anonymity because of actual guilt over deserting news values? Or was it because, days later, a story in Friday’s New York Post reported on Internet nude photos of Thompson taken from the 1986 Italian film “Manhattan Gigolo” and Black and White magazine.
“I did pose for Black and White magazine, a prestigious, artistic publication, several years ago,” Thompson, 41, said. “I did this as a piece of art and make no apologies for the creative decisions I’ve made as an artist in my 20-year career.” For its part, CNN officially accepted the explanation.
Thompson, who played “NYPD Blue” detective Jill Kirkendall until 1999, switched careers to have more time with her child and to study economics. She had been working as a reporter and fill-in anchor on an Albuquerque station since last May.
STING TOUR OFF TO A ROCKY START: Organizers of a Sting concert at the pyramids on the outskirts of Cairo have filed a complaint against an Egyptian singer who abandoned the show and urged the audience to leave, police said.
Concert organizers refused to comment on the complaint, but police officials said it accused the singer Hakim of “inciting the audience” to walk out.
Hakim, an Arab star, took the stage for a half-hour late Wednesday night. He accused Sting’s crew of removing his band’s equipment and said that all Egyptians were being humiliated.
“Let anyone who can accept that an Egyptian be insulted stay here,” Hakim said. He then walked off the stage.
The audience cheered “Hakim! Hakim!” pleading for his return. An organizer said Hakim could not sing because he had arrived late.
Sting performed for two hours in front of an illuminated Sphinx. Toward the end, Algerian singer Cheb Mami accompanied Sting on the hit song “Desert Rose.”
BERRY, BENET BUMMED: Actress Halle Berry and her musician husband, Eric Benet, have sued the Star tabloid for libel for describing their marriage as “on the rocks.”The couple, who wed in January, also accused the tabloid of invasion of privacy and infliction of emotional distress in the lawsuit filed in state Superior Court on Wednesday. It seeks $5 million in damages. Folks from the Star had no comment, of course.
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.
Book deal made: By Anne Robinson. The British host of NBC’s “Weakest Link” will publish her “Memoirs of an Unfit Mother” this fall for an advance almost certainly worth at least six figures. The network has already renewed the show for another 26 episodes.
Family memoir begun: With Sandra Day O’Connor. The Supreme Court Justice is collaborating with her brother H. Alan Day on a family memoir called “Lazy B,” due for a spring 2002 release by Random House. The title refers to O’Connor’s Arizona ranch and covers three generations of the Day family.
Birthdays: Author Harper Lee (75), former Secretary of State James A. Baker III (71), Iraqi president Saddam Hussein (64), actress-singer Ann-Margret (60), actress Marcia Strassman (53), actor Bruno Kirby (52), “Tonight Show” host Jay Leno (51), actress Mary McDonnell (48), rock singer-musician Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth (48), rapper Too Short (35), actress Simbi Khali (30), actor Chris Young (30), rapper Big Gipp of Goodie Mob (28), actor Nate Richert (23).