The Rolling Stones have confirmed two April concert dates in China — their first in the country — after Chinese authorities gave approval, the BBC reports. Proceeds will be donated to some of the country’s disabled groups.
Rapper 50 Cent has hit the jackpot: His album Get Rich or Die Tryin’ debuts on top of the Billboard 200 albums chart. The rapper’s major-label debut CD sold 872,000 copies in four days. 50 Cent, whose real name is Curtis Jackson, gained fame in rap circles for the 2000 single “How to Rob,” a rhyme that mocks celebrity rappers and envisions sticking them up in the street. The song earned the wrath of other rappers. He has been shot, stabbed and beaten in the months since.
Mexican actress-singer Pilar Montenegro and Spain’s female trio Las Ketchup lead finalists in the 2003 Billboard Latin Music Awards with seven nominations each. Colombian “Rock en Espanol” sensation Juanes followed with nominations in six categories. Winners will be announced May 8 in Miami.
THEY SAID IT
“My feeling was that Superman was more than a hero. He was a friend.” Christopher Reevewho will appear soon on ‘Smallville’
CELEBRITY
Former Good Morning America host Joan Lunden says she and her husband, Jeff Konigsberg, are becoming parents of twins to be born to a surrogate mother. The children, a boy and a girl, are due in June. Lunden, 52, has three daughters ranging in age from 15 to 22 from a previous marriage.
Playwright Arthur Miller, rapper Mos Def and at least four former U.S. poets laureate will be among the artists and performers appearing at “Poems Not Fit for the White House,” an anti-war gathering Monday at Lincoln Center.
Charlton Heston is back as “Ben-Hur” — this time in cartoon form. The 79-year-old, who won a lead actor Oscar for his role in the live-action 1959 epic, supplies narration and the voice of the title character in the new animated version, set for release on DVD and video Feb. 25. The cartoon includes more scenes between Ben-Hur and Jesus, and the climactic chariot race has less violence than previous incarnations of the story. The title also drops a hyphen — making the new version Ben Hur.
