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Yoko Ono turns 70NEW YORK (AP) -- More than 30 years after the breakup of the Beatles and on the brink of her 70th birthday, Yoko Ono has become philosophical about the days when many Beatles fans hated her and blamed her for the band's demise.
"I think that through that kind of incredible, strange confrontation, people started to understand me," the widow of John Lennon told the New York Post for a story in Sunday's editions. Ono turns 70 on Tuesday and more than 200 guests are expected to attend a cocktail reception in her honor at a Manhattan restaurant, the Post said. Ono keeps busy these days managing the legacy of her late husband and producing dance mixes of his music and her own. She is about to release a dance mix of "Walking on Thin Ice" -- the song Lennon was working on the night he was murdered in 1980. "If he's observing me from up there, I'm sure he's proud of me," Ono said. "It's going to go on and on. This is what I love now, so it's great." 'N Sync's Pearlman probedORLANDO, Florida (AP) -- Boy-band hitmaker Lou Pearlman is the target of a state probe into complaints that hundreds of aspiring models and actors were duped into paying up to $1,500 each for spots on his company's Web site.
Clients say they were led to believe that Pearlman's company, Trans Continental Talent Inc., would help them find work -- not just post their pictures online. The investigation, which began in August, has turned up "hundreds of potential violations" but no one who actually landed a job through the company, Assistant Attorney General Jackie Dowd said. Pearlman, best known for launching the Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync, issued a statement Friday saying he was unaware of the investigation. Florida law prohibits talent agencies from collecting fees upfront, but the promoter said Trans Continental was exempt because it is a "scouting" company that finds talent without marketing it. The company's Web site warns hopeful models that "chances of becoming a superstar in this industry are slim" and the company "will not book you directly." But Trans Continental claims more than 1,000 agencies and clients are registered with it. O'Toole in Oscar gameLOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Peter O'Toole has agreed to accept an honorary Academy Award after politely balking because he thought the honor meant his career was over, an Oscar official said.
The 70-year-old Irish actor, who has never won an Oscar despite being nominated seven times, will appear at the March 23 ceremony, Frank Pierson, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, said Friday. "It looks like that may indeed happen, and we couldn't be happier," Pierson said. O'Toole's manager, Johnnie Planco, declined to confirm the academy's announcement, saying the matter was being kept a surprise. O'Toole initially mistook the offer as a sign that his peers thought he could no longer win a competitive award. He sent a handwritten letter last month saying he was "enchanted" at the thought of an honorary Oscar but that he was "still in the game, and might yet win (the award) outright." He asked if it were possible for the academy to "please defer the honor until I am 80?" O'Toole has earned best-actor nominations for "Lawrence of Arabia," "Becket," "The Lion in Winter," "Goodbye, Mr. Chips," "The Ruling Class," "The Stunt Man" and "My Favorite Year." Michael Jackson fights lawsuitLOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Michael Jackson's attorneys say they will ask a judge to throw out a lawsuit by the singer's former business manager who claims Jackson owes him $13 million.
According to court documents, Jackson alleges someone forged his name on an agreement to pay Myung Ho Lee for business advice. Lee sued last April alleging Jackson backed out of a deal he signed on September 14, 2001. In an affidavit Jackson said, "This is untrue ... I was not even in Los Angeles" on that day. Lee, head of Union Finance and Investment Corp., handled the singer's business affairs starting in 1997. In his lawsuit, he argues that Jackson was aware of Lee's fees and commissions when he authorized him to make deals. The Associated Press & Reuters contributed to this report.
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