No Lavigne, Lil Wayne collaboration | Virile Gibson dubs himself 'Octomel'
Published Wednesday May 27th, 2009
An official close to a Paris burglary investigation says an apartment belonging to movie star Monica Bellucci and her husband, French actor Vincent Cassel, was the target of a theft.
The official says the thieves made off with about 80,000 euros (about $126,000) worth of jewelry, two laptop computers and Bellucci's Italian passport.
The thieves broke into the apartment, in a four-storey building in Paris' gritty 20th district, through the balcony on Sunday evening.
The official was speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record about an ongoing investigation.
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They were portrayed as rivals on Laguna Beach, but Lauren Conrad has nothing but praise for the decision to have Kristin Cavallari take her place on The Hills.
Conrad announced she was leaving the hit MTV reality series at the end of this season. Cavallari will replace Conrad on the show, making her debut on the Season 5 finale on May 31.
Another Hills co-star, Whitney Port, has left for her own MTV reality series The City. With all the departures, Conrad said bringing Cavallari on board was a "very good decision."
"I think if they were going to carry on the show, they've lost about half their main cast, and they need to make up for that and I think she will be very great," she said in an interview Monday, prior to what will likely be her final appearance on The Hills Live Aftershow on MTV.
"I think she will give the show the boost that it kind of needs."
Conrad also noted that she doesn't know how long co-star and former roommate Audrina Patridge is going to stay on the show "so they need to get some new blood in there."
Conrad, who still lives with Lauren (Lo) Bosworth, said while she maintains contact with Port and Stephanie Pratt, she and Patridge don't really speak anymore.
"We always kind of lived different lives and the show is what we had in common, so no not really."
As for newlyweds Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt, whose public feuding with Conrad has been well-documented on the show, in blogs and the tabloids, the tensions appears to have eased. Conrad even attended the couple's recent wedding which she described as a "beautiful, nice ceremony."
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It seems the too-strange-to-be-true collaboration between Canadian pop-punk princess Avril Lavigne and New Orleans rapper Lil Wayne was just that.
A representative for Lavigne says the 24-year-old Napanee, Ont., native has not collaborated with Lil Wayne, contrary to reports published online.
Lavigne was reportedly going to be featured on Lil Wayne's upcoming rock record, Rebirth.
The reports seemed to stem from a March story on Rolling Stone's website about a leaked version of the oft-delayed album. The story made a vague reference to a cameo from Lavigne, news that then made the rounds in blogs.
"Avril did not collaborate with Lil Wayne," a representative for Lavigne said Monday through her label.
Lil Wayne won four Grammy Awards for last year's Tha Carter III, which went platinum three times in the U.S. and twice in Canada. He then announced plans to release his first rock record and has since dropped the first single, Prom Queen.
Lavigne released her third album, The Best Damn Thing, in 2007.
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Legendary Canadian rocker Neil Young is among the headliners for this year's Glastonbury Festival.
Young will play opening night on June 26, with Bruce Springsteen and reunited British rockers Blur scheduled to perform at the U.K. fest the next two nights.
Young, who's also headlining the Isle of Wight Festival this summer, is supporting his latest album, Fork in the Road, and the release of his long-awaited archives collection, which is due out June 2.
Lily Allen, Spinal Tap, Dizzee Rascal, Black Eyed Peas and Franz Ferdinand will also perform at Glastonbury this year. Last year's headliners were Jay-Z and Amy Winehouse.
Canadian performers scheduled to play the fest include Metric and Toronto DJ/producer Deadmau5.
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Mel Gibson says he and his girlfriend, Russian musician Oksana Grigorieva, are expecting a baby.
The announcement comes only six weeks after Gibson's wife filed for divorce.
Gibson confirmed that 39-year-old Grigorieva is pregnant on Monday night's airing of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.
The baby will be his eighth.
Gibson's wife Robyn cited irreconcilable differences in her April 13 divorce petition to end their marriage of 28 years.
The 53-year-old Oscar winner has seven children with Robyn but the couple has been separated for almost three years.
Teased by Leno about having so many children, Gibson said, "I guess I'm the Octomel now."
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Jay Bennett, a former member of the band Wilco, has died at age 45, according to his record label.
"We are profoundly saddened to report that our friend died in his sleep . . . Jay was a beautiful human being who will be missed," read the posting Sunday on Undertow Music Collective's Web site.
Wilco lead singer Jeff Tweedy said in a statement Monday he was "deeply saddened" by Bennett's death.
Tweedy said Bennett made significant contributions to Wilco's songs and the band's evolution. He said Bennett would be remembered "as a truly unique and gifted human being."
Bennett died at his Urbana home early Sunday and an autopsy was being performed, friend and fellow musician Edward Burch told the Chicago Sun-Times in a story posted online late Sunday.
A cause of death was not immediately available. The Champaign County Coroner's office did not return messages.
Bennett worked as a sound engineer and played instruments for Wilco from 1994 to 2001.
Earlier this month, Bennett sued Tweedy, claiming he was owed royalties for songs during his seven years and five albums with the group.
In the breach-of-contract lawsuit filed in Cook County Circuit Court, Bennett also claimed that he deserved money from the band's 2002 documentary, I Am Trying to Break Your Heart. The film documents the making of Wilco's album Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.
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