Monday, May 22, 2006

Not Abusing the Prince's Trust

Ozzy Osbourne rocked the Tower of London Saturday at a celebration marking the 30th anniversary of a British charity, and perhaps we should be grateful he did so without submitting to medieval behavior -- like beheading furry creatures. Lionel Richie , Annie Lennox , former Boyzone member Ronan Keating , Pink , the U.K.'s own Embrace and the Bee Gees also performed in honor of the Prince's Trust, created by Prince Charles to help disadvantaged youth.

Among the 2,000 people squeezed onto the grounds of the historic tower were Charles and his wife, Camilla, accompanied by Princes William and Harry . Magician David Blaine made a surprise appearance but left his fish tank stateside.

Duane "Dog" Chapman, the bounty hunter and former convict who has his own reality TV show, "Dog the Bounty Hunter," wed his longtime fellow fugitive hunter Beth Smith in a sunset ceremony Saturday in Hawaii. The couple decided to proceed with the wedding despite the death of Chapman's daughter Barbara Katy Chapman , who was killed in a car accident Friday near her home in Fairbanks, Alaska.

Chapman, 53, said of his bride-to-be before the ceremony, "I've already been cuffed and shackled by Beth anyway -- she's Italian and tough." The wedding favors included dog tags inscribed "Dog & Beth. Captured. May 20, 2006." The couple were expected to postpone their honeymoon.

The Dixie Chicks' Natalie Maines has revoked her 2003 apology to President Bush in an interview with Time magazine that hits newsstands today. "I don't feel he is owed any respect whatsoever," Maines says.

In 2003 she told a London audience, "Just so you know, we're ashamed that the president of the United States is from Texas" -- the trio's home state. Maines received death threats after the remark, which plunged the Dixies into controversy and stalled their ascendant career, though Maines issued an apology to Bush shortly afterward for her "disrespectful" remark.

Band member Martie Maguire is also unrepentant now. She tells the magazine: "I'd rather have a small following of really cool people who get it, who will grow with us as we grow and are fans for life, than people that have us in their five-disc changer with Reba McEntire and Toby Keith . We don't want those kinds of fans. They limit what you can do."

· Pearl Jam's new headquarters is in jeopardy of demolition as Seattle plans to put a dump in its place. "We hadn't even finished unpacking and moving into our new space when we heard about the city's waste management site," spokeswoman Nicole Vandenberg told the Associated Press. Area residents hope their high-profile new neighbors will help fight the plan. " Eddie Vedder's for the little guy, and Pearl Jam would have a lot of clout," neighbor John Bennett told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

"You can smell the fear in Hillary Clinton . What happened to that fearless woman? Everything she does is poll-tested. As a result you have a politician that stands for nothing. You wonder if she remembers what she stands for. That's not even an attack on her, or maybe it is."

-- Arianna Huffington at Saturday's BookExpo America luncheon, as reported by The Post's Juliet Eilperin.

-- Compiled by Ashby Strassburger from staff and wire reports