Peter Frampton's Grammy

Well, I'm just about old enough to remember Frampton Comes Alive, beofre he went and spent all the money on cociane. So this is good news, he gets a Grammy:

British rock guitarist Peter Frampton, whose 1976 album "Frampton Comes Alive!" was one of the biggest-selling releases of all time, won the first Grammy of his career on Sunday for an album of instrumentals featuring an all-star cast of musicians.

Frampton, 56, took home the pop instrumental album Grammy for "Fingerprints," on which he played Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts, guitarist Hank Marvin, and two members of Seattle rock band Pearl Jam.

The other nominees were Gerald Albright, Larry Carlton, Fourplay, and Spyro Gyra.

Frampton was also nominated in the rock instrumental performance statuette for "Black Hole Sun," originally recorded by Seattle rock band Soundgarden, but lost to the Flaming Lips for "The Wizard Turns On ..."

Don't spend the money the same way this time, eh?

 

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Tomi Rae Hynie

Well, no one is really quite sure whether Tomi Rae Hynis is in fact James Brown's widow but she certainly had a child by him: bit unfair if she doesn't get something from the estate.

Tomi Rae Hynie is takin' it to the man. Or to the man's estate, at least. 

James Brown's longtime partner sued Thursday for half of the late singer's estate, maintaining that she was married to Brown at the time of his death and that she's entitled to a portion of his assets despite the fact that the Godfather of Soul didn't provide for her in his will. 

"I have a long hard battle to fight for my husband's rights, for my rights and for my son's rights that have been completely violated during this time," Hynie told the Associated Press. "I am his wife. It's my home." 

Brown's attorneys have maintained that his marriage to Hynie—they swapped vows in 2001—was never legal because she was married to someone else at the time, a union that was eventually annulled. Hynie and Brown never made things official after the annulment, however, the lawyers say.

There's something I never understand abot these fights: there's plenty of money in the estate, why are his other children willing to spend so damn much on legal fees?

 

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Sean "Diddy" Coombs

Here's the problem with making up a name for yourself:

A London-based record producer launched his bid on Thursday to force U.S. rapper and hip-hop music producer Sean "Diddy" Combs to change his alias or stop using the hugely popular MySpace and YouTube Internet sites.

Richard "Diddy" Dearlove says that Combs has breached an earlier undertaking not to use the name "Diddy" in Britain, because people there can see Combs' pages on the international MySpace and YouTube sites were he appears as "Diddy."

"We want him either to use a neutral name like P. Diddy or to shut them down," said Iain Purvis, Dearlove's lawyer at the High Court in London where the case is being heard.

Both Internet sites have become key marketing platforms for international artists, and Combs' site on www.myspace.com showed that his profile had been visited nearly 10 million times.

The problem is, someone else might already have taken that made up name for themselves. After all, what was wrong with Puff Daddy anyway?

 

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Russell Crowe as the Sherriff of Nottingham?

Now here's a little bit of revisionist history going on:

Universal Pictures has scored a bull's-eye, winning a heated bidding war for a revisionist take on the legend of Robin Hood with Russell Crowe attached to play the Sheriff of Nottingham.

The script revolves around Crowe's character's investigation of a series of murders in which Robin Hood is the suspect.

The project hails from Ethan Reiff and Cyrus Voris, creators of the series "Sleeper Cell." Imagine Entertainment is producing

Part of the strength of the script was the simple idea of doing Robin Hood by making the sheriff the good guy," Reiff said.

The bidding war came down to Universal Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures and New Line Cinema, though Regency Enterprises, DreamWorks Pictures and Columbia Pictures were said to be involved as well. About 36 hours after the script had gone out, Universal won. And the writers -- whose "Sleeper Cell" Showtime had canceled on January 25 -- became part of one the biggest deals in some time.

Me, I'd put this down to the American idea that the lawman is always the good guy. It's us, the Brits, through bitter historical experience, who remember that that is not always so.

 

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