Michael Jackson-
Jackson Angry at GQ for Spoof Photos
NEW YORK (AP) - A recent GQ article spoofing Michael Jackson has the singer demanding the magazine apologize and pull the issue from circulation.
In a statement released Friday, Jackson's representative, Raymone K. Bain, said Jackson is "furious" about a series of photos featuring a Jackson impersonator in the magazine's May issue, now on newsstands.
The photos accompany an article called "Where's Michael?" which documents writer Devin Friedman's quest to find Jackson in Bahrain, the Middle Eastern country where he lives.
In one photo, a Jackson look-alike sits in a darkened movie theater amid a row of children.
Another photo shows him standing in the desert draped in a black cloak and headscarf, with his trademark glittery white glove.
The statement said: "Mr. Jackson is furious that his image has been used in such a misleading way, and is demanding an apology from the editors of GQ, and its publisher, Conde Nast. Mr. Jackson is also demanding that the magazines be pulled from newsstands."
Jim Nelson, GQ editor-in-chief, responded with a statement Friday: "It is very clear that the pictures in the story ... are satirical, whether it's a picture of a Michael Jackson imitator sitting in a Bahraini cinema or an image of The Gloved One standing flamboyantly in the desert.
"Mr. Jackson may feel that the person in the photographs is an 'impostor,' but he is merely an imitator," said Nelson.
Jackson, 47, moved to the Gulf state soon after being acquitted of child molestation charges in California last year.
Madonna-
Madonna Stars in 58-Page Photo Spread
NEW YORK (AP) - Madonna is back in the saddle again. The Material Girl/Mom, who broke nine bones in a horse riding accident last year, stars with six Andalusian stallions in a 58-page photo spread in W magazine's June issue, on newsstands May 19.
On the magazine's cover, she wears equestrian-inspired garb, complete with a riding crop and fishnet stockings.
Madonna, 47, suffered three cracked ribs, a broken collarbone and a broken hand after falling off a horse on Aug. 16.
Her "Confessions Tour" kicks off in Los Angeles on May 21. She will be supporting her 2005 album, "Confessions on a Dance Floor."Madonna
Fats Domino-
Fats Domino Back on Stage for Jazz Fest
HARVEY, La. (AP) - Sitting at a keyboard in the bedroom of his post-Katrina home in this New Orleans suburb, a smiling Fats Domino joked, laughed and tenderly sang to a handful of close friends.
"Never thought my heart could be so yearny ... Gotta take that sentimental journey, sentimental journey home," he sang Thursday afternoon, swaying gently as longtime friend Herbert Hardesty, who's shared the stage with Domino for 50-plus years, chimed in.
Though Hardesty has been playing his saxophone at gigs with other musicians since Hurricane Katrina, including New Orleans bluesman Dr. John, he couldn't wait to reunite with Domino for Sunday's closing of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.
Domino, too, is excited - even nervous - about his first performance since Katrina struck last August.
"I'm ready," said the 78-year-old Hall of Fame performer, chuckling as he joked about the possibility of passing out on stage. "God gave me the gift ... Yeah, I'm ready to play."
In his spacious new home in a gated community, Domino seemed most comfortable in his bedroom. Though large with high ceilings and filled mostly with new furniture, the room had personal touches and a cozy feel. Friends plopped on his king-size, four-poster bed, the sheets and blankets unmade.
"Herb's making me a book," Domino said, noting that Hardesty has photos of Domino with Nat "King" Cole and other celebrities - treasures to a man who's experienced so much loss.
The Mississippi River now divides Domino's newfound home from the one he was forced to flee when Katrina flooded 80 percent of the city. He lived for a time in a New Orleans hotel. Harvey isn't home, Domino says, but "it's close enough."
As he chatted with friends - among them Hardesty, Hardesty's wife and daughter Adonica Domino, one of his eight children - Domino pointed out the few pieces of salvaged furniture among the new, including chairs that surrounded an upstairs bar in the Ninth Ward home he shared with his wife of almost 60 years, Rosemary. They'd lived in the house since 1960.
In one room sits a black baby grand donated by the Baldwin piano company. The walls are empty except for two framed gold records - one for "Rosemary," the other for "Blue Monday." The records were refurbished by the Louisiana State Museum. Another 23 gold records and eight platinum records are being reissued to replace the ones destroyed in the flood.
Domino's classic New Orleans R&B sound and relaxed piano style led him to sell more records than any other black musician of the 1950s. His long list of national hits, mostly spanning from the mid '50s to the early '60s, includes "Ain't That a Shame,""Blueberry Hill,""Whole Lotta Loving" and "Blue Monday."
Grounded in his hometown, hits like "Walking to New Orleans" and "Jambalaya" resonate with New Orleans natives. Jazz Fest producer Quint Davis has said he can't think of a better way to close this year's festival than with a performance by Fats.
Sitting at the new piano on a black leather bench, tapping the keys, Domino said it's good to have a piano in the house again. Since being evacuated, he'd been playing on a keyboard he bought while on hiatus in Texas.
The 81-year-old Hardesty, a New Orleans native, has been living in Las Vegas since his home flooded. He and Domino met as teenagers in the mid-1940s and together recorded a number of hits, including "Blue Monday,""I'm Walking,""Ain't That a Shame" and "Let the Four Winds Blow."
"Each song has a meaning, a memory," Hardesty said. "When we get on that stage, we're happy."
Sipping from a bottle of Heineken between songs, Domino lulled friends with emotional verses of "Valley of Tears": "I want you to take me where I belong, where hearts have been broken with a kiss and a song..."
Even as he rehearsed with Hardesty, Domino wouldn't give away Sunday's playlist.
"Whatever comes to me," he said, "that's what I'll play."New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
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