BOSTON: A Massachusetts judge has issued an arrest warrant for singer Bobby Brown after he failed to show up at a hearing on overdue child support payments for two of his children, a court official said yesterday (Oct 3, 2006).

The singer, who is in the process of getting a divorce from singer-actor Whitney Houston, had been expected to turn up at court in Canton, Massachusetts on Monday (Oct 2, 2006) for the hearing on payments to Kim Ward, mother of two of his children. - Reuters

Barbra is back! Streisand launches her biggest tour

LOS ANGELES: Six years after declaring she was giving up live performances, Barbra Streisand returns to the stage today (Oct 4, 2006) to launch her first proper concert tour in well over a decade, and the biggest of her career.

It will be only the second national tour by Streisand in the four decades since she became the toast of Broadway, launched a Grammy-winning recording career and won her first Oscar in the 1968 musical "Funny Girl." - Reuters

Cher's possessions go on sale in Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES: An auction of hundreds of personal items belonging to Cher kicked off yesterday (Oct 3, 2006) as fans and memorabilia shoppers vied for the singer/actress's rhinestone costumes, Bentley coupe and a pair of Sonny's old fur boots.

The sale at a Beverly Hills hotel drew about 200 people, who chuckled as the auctioneer offered his own observations of taste, describing a yellow plastic portable record player, circa 1976 as "a thing of beauty." It sold for $1,400. - Reuters

Film director seeks art fans for sex-filled 'bus'

LOS ANGELES: Since its debut at the Cannes film festival in May, director John Cameron Mitchell's film "Shortbus" has been labelled many things for its full on depictions of sex, including porn, for everyday audiences.

But Mitchell, whose first film "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" in 2001 became a cause celebre among fans of movies made outside Hollywood, said the movie is far from pornography because it uses sex with artistic licence to comment on how people's lives are impacted by sexual thoughts and feelings. - Reuters

T-shirt mystery makes CSI:NY television debut

LOS ANGELES: The founders of a new T-shirt company are hiding clues to an online murder mystery in the graphics of their apparel - and inspiring an episode of one of television's hot crime shows along the way.

The episode of television's CSI:NY, dubbed "Hung Out to Dry," airs Oct 11 on CBS and illustrates how television is paying close attention to other mediums like the Internet, mobile phones and gaming. - Reuters

Actors, musicians oppose U.S. media consolidation

LOS ANGELES: Hollywood actors, producers and musicians on Tuesday crowded into a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) hearing to clamor for the retention of curbs on the growth and power of big media conglomerates.

The five FCC commissioners, who are considering overhauling ownership limits, found themselves centre stage as participants, ranging from Mike Mills, bassist for the rock band R.E.M., to "Rockford Files" producer Stephen Cannell, criticised media mergers they said were drowning out independent voices. - Reuters

Dior's Galliano goes back to basics in Paris show

PARIS: Christian Dior's showman designer John Galliano, who astounded the fashion world with gothic chic and mermaid gowns, yet again took his audience by surprise yesterday (Oct 3, 2006), this time by going for straight forward and understated.

To loud hip hop beats and "going back to basics, this is where it all began" lyrics, models with Joan of Arc hair styles paraded in sober gray and beige cotton or wool suits, or a khaki Audrey Hepburn-like sleeveless dress. - Reuters

Gaultier, Westwood jostle fashion world in Paris

PARIS: Jean-Paul Gaultier and Vivienne Westwood showed in their latest ready-to-wear collections that they have lost none of the cutting edge that has made them the enfants terribles of fashion since the punk years in the 1970s. Gaultier, who is celebrating his 30th anniversary in fashion treated the industry's glitterati with a pre-show retrospective of some of the iconic clothes that made his fame - Madonna's famous bustier cone, the denim sheath dress fringed with ostrich feathers, or the floor-length sailor gown. - Reuters

Ex-TV talk show host Griffin now into real estate sales

CHICAGO: Merv Griffin, the former U.S. television talk show host and producer who became a real estate investor and hotel and casino operator, said yesterday (Oct 3, 2006) he had formed a new residential real estate brokerage.

Worldwide LP, the new unit, has more than $65 million in inventory in Southern California, New York, the Bahamas, Italy, Spain and Belize, according to a statement from The Griffin Group, the 80-year-old's entertainer's company. - Reuters

Murdoch says eldest son may return to News Corp: FT

LONDON: Lachlan Murdoch might return to a senior post in his father's media empire, News Corp., Rupert Murdoch told the Financial Times today (Oct 4, 2006).

"Lachlan might come back," Murdoch senior said in an interview, saying that he spoke to his son two or three times a week and they remained "very close" despite past tensions. - Reuters

Bluegrass Dobro artist 'Uncle Josh' dies at 79

NASHVILLE, Tennessee: Veteran Dobro musician Burkett Howard Graves, known as country music's "Uncle Josh," has died at 79, his family said on Monday. A member of the International Bluegrass Music Association's Hall of Honor, Graves played with the Earl Scruggs Revue in the 1970s and contributed to albums by Kris Kristofferson, John Hiatt and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. - Reuters