EXPECTING
Skating With Celebrities champs Kristy Swanson (Big Daddy), 36, and
Lloyd Eisler, 43, an Olympic medalist in the sport, are expecting a
child. When? Valentine's Day, of course.
SPLIT
MTV's reality-matrimony curse continues! Blink-182 drummer Travis
Barker, 30, filed for divorce from his actress wife and Meet the Barkers costar Shanna Moakler, 31, Aug. 8 in L.A.
CONTROVERSY
Madonna, 47, courted scandal again on Aug. 6 after staging that
now-infamous mock crucifixion during her show in Rome. Despite
pre-emptive protests from the Roman Catholic Church, the concert went on
without a hitch, and Her Madgesty was raised onto a glittery cross while
wearing a fake crown of thorns.... On Aug. 2, Philadelphia's art
commission once again rebuffed an attempt by Sylvester Stallone's lawyer
to have an 8½-foot statue of Rocky Balboa — donated by Stallone, 60—placed
permanently in front of the city's art museum. (The museum sits atop
those famous stairs from the first Rocky film.) ''It is not art,'' insists
commission member Moe Brooker. ''It was a prop.''
AMERICAN IDOL UPDATE
Season 6 auditions started this week, but before you line up, consider
the following. Katharine McPhee, who's already battled bronchitis and
laryngitis, fractured her foot before an ''Idols Live!'' concert on Aug.
1.... And while Taylor Hicks is living large — he's being paid $750,000
for his memoir, due next fall — Clay Aiken was sued Aug. 4 for $260,000 by
Jeannie Holleman, who penned the ''unauthorized tribute,'' Out of the
Blue: 'Clay' It Forward. Holleman claims Aiken conspired to stifle the
book's sales; Aiken has instructed his attorneys to ''vigorously dispute''
the claims. Us? We'd just like to ''vigorously dispute'' that title.
AILING
Crooner Barry Manilow, 63, will undergo hip surgery after performing at
the Aug. 27 Emmy Awards ceremony. He plans to reschedule 20 concerts in
Las Vegas to accommodate the eight-week rehabilitation.
RECOVERING
CBS correspondent Kimberly Dozier, 39, was discharged from a Maryland
hospital on Aug. 2 — two months after being critically wounded in an Iraq
car-bomb attack that claimed the lives of two of her colleagues.
COURTS
Rapper Dr. Dre (né Andre Young), 41, and Interscope record-label
impresario Jimmy Iovine, 53, filed a suit for $1 million on July 28
against Jibe Audio and SLS International. The music titans claim the
companies broke a verbal agreement by producing Dre-designed headphones
without permission. Jibe could not be reached for comment.
DEATHS
Harold Scott, 70, an Obie-winning actor-producer-director who broke
racial barriers in theater productions like Arthur Miller's After the
Fall, of natural causes, July 16, in Newark.
LEGACY
ARTHUR LEE 1945-2006
The creative force behind Love, the psychedelic rock group best known
for its landmark 1967 album Forever Changes, singer-guitarist Lee died
Aug. 3 after a battle with leukemia in Memphis. ''He showed us that
music, like life, could be a melting pot of ideas,'' says E Street Band
axman Nils Lofgren, one of the many rockers (including the Doors and
Pink Floyd) who cite Lee as an influence. ''He gave us permission to
explore those possibilities.''
