Entertainment News

Michael Moore plans Traverse City comedy festival

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. – Oscar winner Michael Moore has more big plans for his adopted northern Michigan hometown of Traverse City, where he's already established a film festival.

Moore said Saturday that he and comedian Jeff Garlin, a star and executive producer of the HBO series "Curb Your Enthusiasm," will organize the Traverse City Comedy Arts Festival. It will run over a weekend and feature movies, stand-up and sketch comedy and other entertainment. A date has not been chosen yet for next year's kickoff event.

"We've actually talked to some great people — I don't want to mention any names right now — who are going to come to Traverse City for this first comedy festival," said Moore, a filmmaker, author and Michigan native. "I think you'll be very pleased."

He and Garlin revealed their plans during a standing-room-only panel discussion at the fifth annual Traverse City Film Festival, which ends Sunday. A formal announcement with more details will be made soon, Moore said.

Moore, who won an Oscar for his 2002 documentary "Bowling for Columbine," said that if the comedy festival goes well, he'll look into starting a local book festival in fall 2010.

Burns' new PBS film reawakened childhood memory

PASADENA, Calif. – Ken Burns says working on a documentary about America's national parks reawakened a long-forgotten memory about a painful time in his childhood.

Burns was filming in Yosemite for PBS' "The National Parks: America's Best Idea," when he recalled a 1959 visit with his father to Shenandoah National Park in the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia. Burns, then 6 years old, said it was a difficult period for the family because of his mother's fight against cancer.

Burns told the Television Critics Association on Saturday that the splendor of Yosemite allowed him to reclaim memories of the trip, including hiking with his dad in Shenandoah.

Burns' films include "The Civil War" and "Baseball." The six-part "National Parks" will premiere Sept. 27 on PBS.

Jackson's personal doctor was in financial trouble

LOS ANGELES – Dr. Conrad Murray was in dire financial shape when he signed on as Michael Jackson's personal physician earlier this year at $150,000 a month.

The Las Vegas cardiologist owed a total of at least $780,000 in judgments against him and his medical practice, outstanding mortgage payments on his house, delinquent student loans, child support and credit cards.

Court records chronicling Murray's woes in Las Vegas, where authorities searched his home this week as part of a manslaughter investigation into Jackson's death, might help explain why — beyond the chance to get close to a celebrity — Murray seized the chance to keep the pop star healthy through a series of concerts in London.

But more than that, the financial pressures on Murray could help prosecutors establish a motive if he ends up facing charges.

"Here he is, dealing with one of the most famous people in the world. There may have been a great deal of pressure to do what Michael Jackson wanted, give him the drugs he wanted, treat him the way Michael Jackson wanted to be treated, even if it wasn't in keeping with medical protocol," said Steve Cron, a criminal defense attorney and adjunct professor at Pepperdine University's law school.

Authorities investigating Jackson's death at his rented Los Angeles mansion believe Murray gave the star a fatal dose of the powerful anesthetic propofol to help him sleep, according to a law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is still going on.

Propofol is commonly used for surgery and is not meant as a sleep agent or to be given in private homes. Because of its potency, only trained anesthesia professionals are supposed to administer it, and patients are supposed to be constantly monitored.

If prosecutors bring charges, Murray's financial trouble "does potentially provide evidence of good motive for financial-based crimes, including prescribing when there is not a medical necessity," said Rebecca Lonergan, a University of Southern California law professor and former federal prosecutor of health care fraud cases.

Murray, 56, has not spoken publicly since Jackson's June 25 death. His lawyer, Edward Chernoff, has said the doctor did not prescribe anything that "should have" killed Jackson.

Murray was hired through Jackson's promoter in May, as his bleak financial picture threatened to worsen. He was under court orders to pay more than $363,000 for equipment for his heart clinic, and was ordered in April to repay $71,000 in student loans dating to the 1980s. Two lawsuits claiming he owes $240,000 more for unpaid equipment are pending in Nevada courts.

Also, Murray's 5,268-square-foot home near the 18th hole of a golf course is in "pre-foreclosure" after he failed to make payments on his $1.66 million loan, records show. He stopped paying the $15,000-per-month mortgage in December and could lose the home by November, said Mary Hunt, the foreclosure officer handling the case.

Neither Jackson nor AEG Live, the promoter for the London concerts that was prepared to pay him $150,000 a month, paid Murray for the two months the doctor worked for the pop star, according to Chernoff.

"Dr. Murray has lost the ability to make a living as a result of this investigation," Chernoff said. "His hope is he can forestall foreclosure until he can once again begin working as a doctor."

Murray's cresting financial woes fit into a history of money problems. He filed for bankruptcy in California in 1992 and had a string of tax liens in California and Arizona between 1993 and 2003. Also, a former business partner in an energy-drink distribution venture claimed Murray owed him $68,000.

John Thomas, distributor of a drink called Pit Bull, said that in 2005 and 2006 Murray had the rights to distribute the product in Trinidad and Tobago, the Caribbean island nation where Murray lived and worked before coming to the United States in the 1980s to study medicine.

The drink never gained popularity there. Murray paid his bill for a first shipment, then didn't pay for three subsequent shipments, Thomas said.

New Orleans great Toussaint feted in hometown

NEW ORLEANS – Over music and gumbo served in a historic New Orleans nightclub, pianist and hit songwriter Allen Toussaint will join the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame.

Sunday's celebration was planned in a perfect spot for Toussaint and his fellow inductee, the late rhythm and blues singer Ernie K-Doe.

The Mother-in-Law Lounge is named for K-Doe's biggest hit from the '60s, "Mother-In-Law," which was written by Toussaint. And after being destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, the rebuilt club stands as a living monument of Big Easy musical history.

"It's fitting and proper to have the ceremony there," said Toussaint, 71, whose painted image was recently added next to K-Doe's on the club's outside entrance. "I wrote that song for Ernie all those years ago. This will be refreshing, and with the new painting, like a new grand opening."

The lounge was run for years after K-Doe's 2001 death by his widow, Antoinette, who died of a heart attack during Mardi Gras this year. The club is now being run by Betty Fox, Antoinette's daughter from a previous marriage.

"For Antoinette and Ernie, it goes on and on and on, and I love that," Toussaint said. "I love that their legacy goes on."

Toussaint has hundreds of hits to his name and received the Recording Academy Trustees Award during this year's Grammy Awards. He penned the 1966 Lee Dorsey classic "Working in a Coal Mine" and produced Dr. John's 1973 hit "Right Place, Wrong Time" and 1975's "Lady Marmalade" by the vocal trio Labelle. In 1998, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Besides "Mother-In-Law," K-Doe had a handful of notable songs, such as "T'aint it the Truth," "Come on Home" and "Te-Ta-Te-Ta-Ta." Ernie, who dressed in funky, flamboyant outfits that included emperor regalia, was a beloved character in New Orleans and thousands turned out for his funeral.

"He was a very cocky individual, but he would get in the ring and knock them out," Toussaint said. "I liked his great zeal for being front-stage and center. He was a real star."

The Louisiana Music Hall of Fame is currently a "virtual museum," available for viewing online, but executive director Mike Shepherd said the hall plans to open next year in a downtown space with two performance stages, a recording studio and multimedia exhibits.

"Since Katrina, so much of the New Orleans stuff is just gone," Shepherd said. "It wiped out so much archive material and people's possessions. We're just trying to keep them around. We want the music and the artist to be preserved."

Jury awards $675K in Boston music downloading case

BOSTON -

A federal jury on Friday ordered a Boston University graduate student who admitted illegally downloading and sharing music online to pay $675,000 to four record labels.

Joel Tenenbaum, of Providence, R.I., admitted in court that he downloaded and distributed 30 songs. The only issue for the jury to decide was how much in damages to award the record labels.

Under federal law, the recording companies were entitled to $750 to $30,000 per infringement. But the law allows as much as $150,000 per track if the jury finds the infringements were willful. The maximum jurors could have awarded in Tenenbaum's case was $4.5 million.

Jurors ordered Tenenbaum to pay $22,500 for each incident of copyright infringement, effectively finding that his actions were willful. The attorney for the 25-year-old student had asked the jury earlier Friday to "send a message" to the music industry by awarding only minimal damages.

Tenenbaum said he was thankful that the case wasn't in the millions and contrasted the significance of his fine with the maximum.

"That to me sends a message of 'We considered your side with some legitimacy,'" he said. "$4.5 million would have been, 'We don't buy it at all.'"

He added he will file for bankruptcy if the verdict stands.

Tenenbaum's lawyer, Harvard Law School professor Charles Nesson, said the jury's verdict was not fair. He said he plans to appeal the decision because he was not allowed to argue a case based on fair use.

The Recording Industry Association of America issued a statement thanking the jury for recognizing the impact illegal downloading has on the music community.

"We appreciate that Mr. Tenenbaum finally acknowledged that artists and music companies deserve to be paid for their work," the statement said. "From the beginning, that's what this case has been all about. We only wish he had done so sooner rather than lie about his illegal behavior."