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Monday, March 01, 1999 3:14:08 PM EST

• Fan wins $75,000 judgement over Cure scrap
• Sawyer Brown raises $13,000 for tornado-damaged town
• Phillippe: Nice by nature
• Why Pavarotti likes pop

The Cure's Robert Smith

SANTA ANA, California (CNN) -- A fan of the Cure has been awarded $75,000 after claiming a bodyguard with the band attacked him after a 1996 concert in Irvine. Mark Perry, 25, filed a lawsuit alleging the bodyguard beat him up when he tried to get an autograph. He suffered injuries to the face, lips and teeth and had to undergo root canals and need surgery to repair a scar on his lip, his attorney said.

The judgment was handed to Perry after the band failed to respond to the suit. But the Cure's attorney denied all allegations and said he'll ask a judge to overturn the judgment issued last week because the lawsuit wasn't properly served. The British band is known for such songs "Fascination Street" and "The Walk."

CLARKSVILLE, Tennessee (CNN) -- Country rock band Sawyer Brown raised more than $13,000 during a free concert Friday to benefit victims of the January 22 tornadoes that ravaged this small town. About 3,000 people attended Friday's performance at Austin Peay State University, which also sustained significant storm damage.

"God has blessed this town," said lead singer Mark Miller. "Sometimes he lets us know you can knock down buildings, but you can't kill the human spirit." Sawyer Brown's hits include "Some Girls Do," "All These Years" and "Thank God for You." The tornadoes caused extensive damage, but no one was killed.

Phillippe

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Ryan Phillippe tells the New York Daily News he might play a bad guy in the movies, but he's not one in real life. Phillippe currently stars as a manipulative jerk in the movie "Cruel Intentions."

"I have a really dark sense of humor, so I loved how we'd say such horrible things in such a flippant way," Phillippe says in Sunday's Daily News. "But my character is the exact opposite of me. I never had friends like that because I never liked guys on the make. They were full of themselves and slick. I don't have those sexuality issues of having to be macho. I'm fine with being sensitive and crying."

Talk about sensitive -- Phillippe claims that when he did a scene in "Cruel Intentions" where his character breaks up with a girl played by Reese Witherspoon, who is his girlfriend in real life, he "threw up." Phillippe got his career start playing a homosexual teen-ager on the soap opera "One Life to Live." His film credits include "I Know What You Did Last Summer," "White Squall," "Homegrown," "54" and "Playing by Heart."

Pavarotti

COLUMBUS, Ohio (CNN) -- Fans of Luciano Pavarotti may have noticed that the famed tenor has been performing with pop singers more often -- and there's a reason. He says today's classical composers don't write music like they used to.

"No one is writing music for someone like me today," Pavarotti said backstage while rehearsing for a Sunday appearance with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra. Pavarotti describes himself as "someone very romantic, someone who likes melody."

He continued, "Being a composer of opera today, one has to write dissonant music or one is considered antique. That is why I like to sing with pop singers."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.