Dave Clark Five bassist Rick Huxley dies aged 72

(Reuters) - Rick Huxley, the bassist for the 1960s British Invasion pop-rock group the Dave Clark Five, has died, the band's leader said on Tuesday. He was 72.

Huxley died unexpectedly at his home in the English countryside on Monday, Dave Clark told Reuters.

The band scored No. 1 hits on both sides of the Atlantic during its decade-long run from 1960-1970.

"Glad All Over" holds the honor of knocking the Beatles' "I Want to Hold Your Hand" out of the top spot on the UK chart in 1964, while "Over and Over" topped the U.S. chart in 1965.

The cause of death was not immediately known, said Clark, who added that Huxley had been "sprightly and in good shape" despite suffering from emphysema for several years.

"I spoke to him on Friday and he was in great spirits," Clark said in a telephone call. "He went through a recent doctor's check and had a good, clean bill of health. This came totally out of the blue, and I'm just devastated."

Clark remembered Huxley for his modest demeanor and humor.

"He always made me smile and I'll miss that immensely," Clark said. "He was never arrogant and flashy. He was a gentleman and very low key. He was a very, very talented musician and a great friend."

The Dave Clark Five was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008.

Huxley was born in Dartford, England, east of London, the same town that is home to the Rolling Stones lead singer Mick Jagger and guitarist Keith Richards.

Huxley is survived by two sons and a daughter.

(Reporting by Eric Kelsey in Los Angeles; Editing by Jill Serjeant and Mohammad Zargham)

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Lady Gaga suffering from joint inflammation, postpones shows

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Pop star Lady Gaga said on Tuesday she was suffering from a severe inflammation of the joints that left her temporarily unable to walk, forcing her to postpone a handful of upcoming shows on the North American leg of her world tour.

"I am completely devastated and heartsick. I've been hiding this injury and pain from my staff for a month, praying it would heal, but after last night's performance, I could not walk," the singer said in a statement.

Her condition is called synovitis, an inflammation that sometimes follows a sprain, strain or injury.

Gaga posted a similar message in a series of tweets to her 34 million Twitter followers.

"I will hopefully heal as soon as possible and be at 500 percent again, which is what you deserve," she said.

"The Edge of Glory" singer postponed shows in Chicago on Wednesday and Thursday, in Detroit on Saturday and in Hamilton, Ontario, on Sunday.

Lady Gaga, 26, has been on the road for two years on her "Born This Way Ball" world tour. Her website showed tour dates through March 20.

The 200-plus date tour has taken the singer across six continents and was ranked as the sixth top-grossing tour of 2012 by Billboard magazine.

(Reporting By Piya Sinha-Roy, editing by Jill Serjeant and Cynthia Osterman)

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"30 Rock" star Alec Baldwin expecting child with new wife

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Actor Alec Baldwin and his new wife Hilaria Thomas Baldwin are expecting their first child together, a representative for the "30 Rock" star said on Tuesday.

"If I really shared with you how I felt, I would probably burst out crying," Baldwin told U.S. television program "Extra."

Baldwin, 54, married the yoga teacher, who is 26 years his junior, in a July 2012 wedding in New York.

The child is expected in the summer, the spokesman said, but gave no other details.

"It was a surprise, a wonderful surprise," said his wife, who also works as a correspondent for the TV show.

"Now I'm showing and it's getting to be much more, like, 'Oh, my God, this is actually going to happen'."

The award-winning actor most recently played egotistical television executive Jack Donaghy on the NBC comedy "30 Rock," which broadcast its last episode in January.

Baldwin was married to actress Kim Basinger from 1993-2002. The couple has one daughter, Ireland, who was born in 1995.

(Reporting by Eric Kelsey; Editing by Jill Serjeant and Todd Eastham)

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Sarah Palin jabs Washington Post over fake Al Jazeera story

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Sarah Palin, ever-eager to skewer the "lamestream media," took Washington Post blogger Suzi Parker to task Tuesday after the writer mistakenly claimed the former Alaska governor was hired by the TV network Al Jazeera America.

Parker, who writes for the She The People blog, cited the satirical news site the Daily Currant in a story that claimed Palin had joined the Qatari-owned network as a talking head.

"Hey @washingtonpost, I'm having coffee with Elvis this week," Palin quipped on Twitter, claiming she was meeting with the long-dead King of Rock. "He works at the Mocha Moose in Wasilla. #suziparkerscoopers #idiotmedia."

Earlier on Tuesday, Parker had reported that Al Jazeera America hired the former vice-presidential candidate and former Fox News contributor in a post titled "Sarah Palin's plan to reach 'millions of devoutly religious people' through al-Jazeera."

In her original post, Parker called it "a cautionary tale about what can happen when politics and celebrity meet."

Kris Coratti, a Post spokeswoman, pointed TheWrap to a correction on the post, which acknowledged the error. And Al Jazeera said "no discussions have taken place" to hire Palin, whose most recent employer, Fox News, called Al Jazeera "an anti-American terror mouthpiece."

Palin parted ways with the News Corporation-owned network after three years. She had a roughly $1 million contract per year and made more than 150 appearance on air.

But Palin hadn't finished with Parker just yet.

"A @washingtonpost writer once promised not to write about me for a month," Palin tweeted. "That was a good month for me. #idiotmedia."

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Trump may have trouble collecting on $5 million orangutan bet

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A comedian, a millionaire and an orangutan. It may sound like the beginning of a screwball joke, but Donald Trump isn't laughing.

The famously outspoken real estate magnate has sued famously outspoken television host Bill Maher, demanding the $5 million Maher offered to give to charity if Trump could prove his father is not an orangutan.

But legal experts say Trump is unlikely to get a dime from Maher, the host of the HBO series Real Time With Bill Maher, because his offer was clearly made in jest.

"It's parody," said Bryan Sullivan, a Los Angeles entertainment lawyer. "You know Bill Maher is a comedian and a satirist. The offer is so ridiculous."

Trump, however, has taken the comic at his word.

"Attached hereto is a copy of Mr. Trump's birth certificate, demonstrating that he is the son of Fred Trump, not an orangutan," Trump's lawyer, Scott Balber, wrote to Maher last month.

When Maher did not respond, Trump filed a breach of contract lawsuit last week in Los Angeles Superior Court.

A Maher spokeswoman referred to his show Friday, in which he ridiculed Trump's lawsuit.

"It's never a joke when someone reneges on a commitment that benefits worthy charities," said Michael Cohen, special counsel to Trump, in response. "The tone of Mr. Maher's diatribe on Friday evening suggests he is far more concerned with the lawsuit than he wants the public to believe."

Last year, during the presidential campaign, Trump offered to give $5 million to charity if President Barack Obama would release his college records. Trump, who flirted with a possible White House run, previously questioned Obama's citizenship and boasted that he prompted Obama to release his birth certificate.

As a guest on NBC's The Tonight Show last month, Maher offered to give $5 million to charity if Trump could prove he was not the son of an orangutan, since the ape's orange fur matches the color of Trump's trademark gravity-defying coiffure.

"He can donate to a charity of his choice," Maher said. "Hair Club for Men; the Institute for Incorrigible Douchebaggery. Whatever charity."

Under contract law, a verbal offer can create a contractual obligation. But courts make exceptions for obviously satirical offers.

In a New York federal case, Leonard vs. Pepsico, a man sued the soft drink maker after it refused to honor a TV advertisement "offer" of a fighter jet for redeemable Pepsi Points.

District Judge Kimba Wood in Manhattan said an offer made "evidently in jest" is not a contract and noted the commercial featured a teenager using the jet to get to school.

"This fantasy is, of course, extremely unrealistic," Wood wrote.

Trump's lawsuit alleges that Maher's show is political commentary, not comedy. In a Fox News appearance last week, Trump said he was certain Maher's offer was not a joke.

"That was venom," Trump said. "That wasn't a joke."

(Reporting by Joseph Ax. Editing by Andre Grenon)

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Actor Steven Seagal trains Arizona posse on school security

FOUNTAIN HILLS, Arizona (Reuters) - Action film star Steven Seagal, who racks up big body counts in his on-screen battles with bad guys, took on a new role on Saturday, training posse volunteers for controversial Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio in how to use guns to protect schools in shooting incidents.

Arpaio, who styles himself as "America's Toughest Sheriff," enlisted Seagal to train his Maricopa County posse members at a school in Fountain Hills, a suburb northeast of Phoenix, with children used as stand-ins for scared students.

Seagal, a burly martial arts expert turned actor, guided 48 volunteers through various aspects of responding to a shooting, including room-to-room searches, and critiqued their work.

"I am here to try to teach the posse firearms and martial arts to try to help them learn how to respond quicker and help protect our children," Seagal said.

Arpaio, whose tough stances on crime and illegal immigration have made him a national figure, has dispatched the volunteer posse to patrol schools in response to the shooting rampage that killed 20 children and six adults at a Connecticut school in December.

Those killings touched off a renewed debate over gun violence in the United States. President Barack Obama proposed a sweeping package of gun-control measures, including a ban on assault weapons.

The National Rifle Association, which opposes the gun-control proposal, has advocated placing armed security guards in schools.

Arpaio's volunteers, some trained and qualified to carry the same guns as deputies, can intervene if there is an imminent threat to life. To add realism to the training event, guns firing non-lethal rounds that leave a color mark were used.

"It's important to help protect our children and our schools and we need to do that with whatever means we have," said Rick Velotta, a posse member and retired General Electric manager who attended the training.

About a dozen people protested the event.

"No gun should ever be in a school," said protester Cynthia Wharton, a Fountain Hills resident.

Arpaio's 3,450-strong posse of unpaid men and women has for years helped the sheriff target drunken drivers and illegal immigrants, and chase down fathers who are behind on child support.

Last year, Arpaio sent posse members to Hawaii to investigate the authenticity of Obama's birth certificate at the request of local Tea Party activists, a key Arpaio constituency.

A sometime resident of the Phoenix Valley and member of Arpaio's posse, Seagal, 60, starred in big-budget films in the 1980s and early 1990s, earning a reputation as an action star in movies like "Above the Law" and "Under Siege."

He more recently played a corrupt Mexican drug lord in the 2010 film "Machete."

Seagal also has been sworn in as a sheriff's deputy in a Texas county along the border with Mexico and appeared in a reality TV show detailing his work as a reserve deputy in New Orleans.

(Reporting by Aron Ranen; Writing by Tim Gaynor and Dan Whitcomb; Editing by David Bailey and Eric Beech)

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Chris Brown shows up at Grammys smiling after car crash

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - R&B singer Chris Brown showed up smiling at the Grammy Awards show on Sunday, saying he was just a little banged up after crashing his car into a wall on the eve of the annual music industry awards.

"Little bit of bumps, I'm good though," Brown, 23, dressed in a white Lanvin suit, told E! News on the red carpet.

Brown crashed his Porsche into a wall in Beverly Hills on Saturday and told police he was trying to elude aggressive paparazzi.

"I'll get another one," Brown, laughing, told E! News on Sunday. "Insurance is good."

"Paparazzi tend to get out of hand. It's all good, though. No injuries," he added.

Brown's "Fortune" was nominated for best urban contemporary album at Sunday's Grammys, but Frank Ocean walked off with the award.

The crash came almost exactly four years after Brown assaulted his girlfriend, singer Rihanna, the night before the awards show in 2009.

Rihanna and Brown have recently rekindled their relationship, but the pair walked the red carpet separately on Sunday. Rihanna won a Grammy for Best Short Form Video for her hit "We Found Love" and performed during the awards show.

Brown pleaded guilty in 2009 to beating and punching Rihanna and is still on probation. Last week, a Los Angeles judge ordered a new report on the community service that Brown was told to carry out as part of his sentence after prosecutors alleged that he had cut corners.

(Reporting By Susan Zeidler; Editing by Jill Serjeant and Stacey Joyce)

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"Midnight Express" editor Gerry Hambling dead at 86

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Gerry Hambling, the British film editor whose credits include "Midnight Express," "Pink Floyd: The Wall" and "Mississippi Burning," died February 5 in England. He was 86.

Hambling, who entered the film industry at 16 as an editor's apprentice, was a longtime collaborator of director Alan Parker, editing 14 of his films.

"He was undoubtedly one of the finest film editors that the British film industry has produced," Parker remembered.

John Grover, vice chairman of the Guild of British Film Editors, which Hambling helped found in 1966, remembered Hambling as a man of "warmth and understanding."

"He was a hard working technician who loved loud music and fast action sequences; he was rather hard on equipment but never got used to editing electronically as he preferred to handle film, something he could 'see and feel,'" Grover said. "He will be missed by friends and colleagues for his warmth and understanding. It was an honor to have known him."

Hambling won three BAFTA Awards, and received the Career Achievement Award from the American Cinema Editors in 1998. He had also been nominated for six Oscars.

Hambling's last editing job was on the 2003 Parker drama "The Life of David Gale," starring Kate Winslet and Kevin Spacey.

Hambling died in Burwell, Cambridgeshire.

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A Minute With: Soderbergh about his new film "Side Effects"

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Oscar-winning filmmaker Steven Soderbergh delves into the world of prescription drugs in his new film "Side Effects," a psychological thriller that opens on Friday.

Rooney Mara and Channing Tatum play a couple whose lives unravel when she begins taking a new anti-anxiety medication prescribed by her psychiatrist, played by Jude Law.

Soderbergh, 50, spoke with Reuters about his own experiences with prescription drugs, shooting in New York and what he plans to do on his self-imposed hiatus from film-making.

Q: "Side Effects" shows characters either taking medication or prescribing them. Have you ever needed to take medication for your mood, for example?

A: "Luckily, my equilibrium is fairly consistent, so I've never been in a position of wanting or needing something to stabilize my mood. The Inderal beta blocker, what they call the "speaking drug," is miraculous. I use that. A buddy of mine turned me on to it because I said, "I really hate getting up in front of people." He says, "You've got to try Inderal." It keeps you calm and keeps you from getting anxious. That's my only pill experience."

Q: No pain-killing drugs that have landed so many in rehab?

A: "I had kidney stones once, which were not fun. They give you (pain-killer) Oxycontin and I thought, 'Oh boy, this is the one.' People turn their lives upside down to try and get this stuff. But it did nothing for me."

Q: You shot "Side Effects" in New York, which is where you live. What were some of the challenges shooting there?

A: "I was really fascinated by how the paparazzi came around when we were shooting out on the street. The unwillingness on the part of the city to give you certain physical parameters to work within that allow some amount of privacy to do your work was shocking. There were times where I was literally bumping in to them while we were trying to work."

Q: You're officially taking a break from film. How are you staying busy?

A: "I'm still working on stuff, just not movies. I've got this website (Extension765.com) that's going to go up sometime in March or April where (personal and movie items will be) accessible to get or buy."

Q: Like what?

A: "I have closets full of memorabilia, slates, scripts with my notes in them, badges from film festivals ... I can auction it off (online) and give the money to charity. I will also have my photography and a whole line of film related T-shirts."

Q: What's the concept behind the T-shirts?

A: "When they were being designed, I would test them out by wearing them to the set to see if people knew the movie references. There was this one Black Pony Scotch shirt. That's a very, very obscure reference from a famous film noir from the 1940s where there is a five-second pan across a table and you see this bottle of Black Pony Scotch."

Q: What's the movie?

A: "Laura" (by director Otto Preminger).

Q: Is the name of your site another obscure film reference?

A: "'The Conversation.' Whenever Gene Hackman calls to find out what's going on, Harrison Ford answers the phone and says, 'extension 765.'"

Q: Are you up to anything else at the moment?

A: "Yes. I've also designed a pair of super high-end audiophile headphones - what will be limited edition. I've been work working (on them) with the RED (digital) camera people."

(Reporting By Zorianna Kit; Editing by Eric Kelsey, Patricia Reaney and Vicki Allen)

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California boy to be arraigned in "swatting" prank on actor Kutcher

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Prosecutors charged a 12-year-old boy on Thursday with making a false emergency call that sent police swarming to the home of actor Ashton Kutcher in a "swatting" prank.

The name of the boy, who was arrested by Los Angeles police in December, was withheld due to his age. He was scheduled to be arraigned in a juvenile court in Los Angeles on Friday.

The trend toward placing false emergency calls is known as "swatting" because SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) officers often are sent to the purported crime scenes. Authorities say such situations can be dangerous due to the risk of a misunderstanding between police and occupants of a building.

The boy has been charged with two felony counts each of making false bomb threats and computer intrusion in connection with the October 3 emergency call that drew police to the Hollywood Hills home of Kutcher, star of the sitcom "Two and a Half Men," and a similar call on October 10 that sent police to a Wells Fargo Bank.

Authorities have accused the boy of having reported men armed with guns and explosives in Kutcher's home and that several people had been shot. Dozens of emergency personnel were sent to the house. Kutcher was not home at the time.

Swatting calls in recent months have also sent police to the homes of singers Justin Bieber and Miley Cyrus.

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Bill Trott)

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