Jesse Jackson adds voice to Grammy protest

LOS ANGELES |
Fri Jan 27, 2012 8:05pm EST

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Power couple Jay-Z and Beyonce joined a list of top music executives, led by Live Nation Entertainment chairman Irving Azoff, on Billboard magazine’s first Power 100 chart on Friday.

Only a handful of artists broke onto the list that sought to name the recording industry’s most influential people and was dominated by businessmen and women.

LOS ANGELES |
Fri Jan 27, 2012 8:00pm EST

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The doctor convicted of killing Michael Jackson asked on Friday to be released from jail, pending an appeal that could take a year to be heard.

Dr. Conrad Murray said in court papers filed in Los Angeles that he would agree to electronic monitoring or other conditions. But he asked to be set free while

By Christine Kearney

PARK CITY, Utah |
Fri Jan 27, 2012 6:19pm EST

PARK CITY, Utah (Reuters) – A tense British thriller about a mother deeply entrenched in the IRA and forced to choose between the organization and the family she loves has earned high praise among the foreign films at this week’s Sundance Film festival.

“Shadow Dancer,” set against a backdrop of a Northen Ireland

By Tim Ghianni

NASHVILLE, Tennessee |
Fri Jan 27, 2012 5:38pm EST

NASHVILLE, Tennessee (Reuters) – Country music singer Merle Haggard was resting at home in Northern California on Friday after a long stint in a Georgia hospital, his publicist said.

Haggard, 74, was hospitalized on January 17 for treatment of double-pneumonia. While in the hospital in Macon, Georgia, doctors discovered a number of other conditions

LOS ANGELES |
Fri Jan 27, 2012 10:23am EST

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Late pop star Michael Jackson was immortalized in cement on Thursday when his three children stamped the “Thriller” singer’s glove and shoe prints in the hallowed concrete courtyard of Grauman’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood.

Well over a hundred fans of the King of Pop and celebrities including Justin Bieber and Jackson family members watched the

LOS ANGELES |
Fri Jan 27, 2012 1:56pm EST

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Actress Demi Moore suffered convulsions and seemed only semi-conscious after smoking an undisclosed substance before being rushed to hospital earlier this week, according to the tape of a medical emergency call released on Friday.

“She smoked something, it’s not marijuana but it is similar to incense. She seems to be having convulsions of some sort,”

Fri Jan 27, 2012 1:44pm EST

(Reuters) – David Milch first visited a horse racing track when he was six years-old. Sixty years later he is bringing his passion for the behind-the-scenes world of jockeys, gamblers, horses and trainers to television with the HBO series “Luck”.

Milch, 66, the creator of Emmy-winning TV western “Deadwood”, says there is no better setting for storytelling than a horse track whether you are

By Zorianna Kit

LOS ANGELES |
Fri Jan 27, 2012 1:33pm EST

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Katherine Heigl has headlined several romantic comedies such as “27 Dresses” and “The Ugly Truth,” but for her newest film, the former “Grey’s Anatomy” TV star toplines an action comedy “One for the Money,” in theaters of Friday.

The film is based on author Janet Evanovich’s best-selling novel about Stephanie

BERLIN |
Fri Jan 27, 2012 12:10pm EST

BERLIN (Reuters) – The 62nd Berlin film festival opens on Thursday February 9. and ends on February 19., with the awards ceremony taking place on February 18.

Following are the 22 films in the main competition line-up, along with the production countries, the name of the director and the names of major stars. Five are not in the running for