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Trey Anastasio Goes to Jail

Following a career in which, publicly, he was the kind of guy you'd introduce to your parents, ex-Phish frontman Trey Anastasio can't seem to stay out of trouble. The guitar hero of patchwork nation is currently enrolled in a mandatory drug court program in Washington County, New York, where he was apprehended last year for a DUI and for possession of drugs and prescription medication (minus the prescription). Last week, according to a report from Albany, NY television station WNTV, Anastasio spent two days in the slammer for failure to show up at a court-ordered appointment. Guess the judge didn't get the memo that Phil Lesh already pardoned Anastasio last year when Lesh was awarded honorary mayor of Glens Falls, N.Y.
Björk attacked a news photographer at the Auckland International Airport on Sunday, after arriving for a scheduled performance at the annual Big Day Out festival, according to the New Zealand Herald. The Icelandic singer tore Glenn Jeffrey's shirt after he took a few photos, but not before a request that no pictures be taken.

"I took a couple of pictures and I got about three or four frames of her ... and as I turned and walked away she came up behind me, grabbed the back of my black skivvy and tore it down the back," Jeffrey said. "As she did this she fell over, she fell to the ground. At no stage did I touch her or speak with her."

This incident isn't the first of its kind. Bjork infamously attacked a journalist at Bangkok's airport in 1996, after a long flight to Thailand. She later apologized.

Jeffrey said that he does not plan to file charges.

Continue reading Bjork Attacks Another Photographer

Shins keyboardist Marty Crandall was arrested on January 4 for an alleged domestic violence charge against his long-term girlfriend, Elyse Sewell, but it was announced Tuesday that the Sacramento district attorney's office dismissed the case due to insufficient evidence against the couple.

"We looked at the police reports and there was no way to make a determination of a crime," officer Paul Durenberger explained.

Sewell, a former 'America's Next Top Model' contestant, posted a blog entry about the alleged abuse she endured, which was later removed at the advice of her legal team. An update was made to her Live Journal, confirming the end of their seven-year relationship. "Expect few updates to this journal in the next couple of weeks as I will be untangling the web of seven years of cohabitation with my ex-boyfriend, packing up my shit, and thickening up a plot to travel and work in more temperate climes."

As per papers filed on Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, Marilyn Manson is countersuing his former keyboardist Stephen Bier for breach of contract. He claims his ex-bandmate did not carry out obligations to take part in master recordings, concerts and the selling of band merchandise.

In August, Bier (aka Madonna Wayne Gacy) filed his own breach of contract suit against the shock rocker, claiming he was shortchanged in salary and medical support while Manson squandered the group's earnings on his luxurious lifestyle and "sick and disturbing purchases of Nazi memorabilia and taxidermy." Bier's suit seeks more than $20 million.

Manson's countersuit claims he and Bier's business partnership dissolved in 1996, when the singer rose as the leader of the band. He also accuses Bier of showing up late for band recordings, performances and promotional appearances, and releasing confidential band information without Manson's consent.

Continue reading Marilyn Manson Countersues Ex-Bandmate

Phil Spector is back in the news -- and that mean the Spinner Spector Detector®, though it may be giving off a slight whiff of mothballs, is once again back on the case! The reason America's number-one pistol-packing producer's mop-maned mug is staring you in the face once again is that Spector has decided he hasn't had quite enough courtroom fun after his recent mistrial in the shooting death of Lana Clarkson. We're happy to report that the allegedly murdering music mogul will next have the privilege of hiring a new lawyer to sue the pants off one of his old lawyers.

Spector has thrown down a $1 million lawsuit to recover the cool million retainer collected by his original attorney Robert Shapiro, to whom the Hall of Fame music figure gave the sack and blamed for formal murder charges being filed in his case. The legendary producer charges that Shapiro, most famously a part of O.J. Simpson's "dream team," "took unfair and unscrupulous advantage of his friendship and position of trust with Mr. Spector, and decided to use Mr. Spector's arrest as an opportunity to make a financial windfall and garner publicity for himself."

Rich, crazy and trigger-happy -- these days, Spector has pretty much become a twisted old money tree for the legal profession to get fat off.
Fresh off her (slightly disturbing, somewhat promising) resolution to get clean in the new year, Amy Winehouse is facing trouble with the law ... again.

It appears that the embattled singer is wanted for questioning in an alleged evidence-tampering scam associated with husband Blake Fielder-Civil's assault case. After raiding her home in November, officials believe that James King, the victim, was offered bribes to change his story and leave the country.

According to Britain's News of the World, the singer and her equally troubled husband (it's not a contest, kids) have made a suicide pact in the event that they are handed long jail sentences. "She's determined they'll end it together," a friend of the Grammy-nominated singer told Britain's News. "She's really terrified this time. She's teetering on the brink."

Winehouse's father, Mitch, agrees that "she's depressed about Blake being in prison." And while he's supportive of her marriage to Blake, he's vehemently against who his daughter's keeping company these days: Fellow troubled talent Pete Doherty. "He's a scumbag," he told Grazia magzazine. "I flipped when I saw him sitting with Amy backstage at her Brixton gig. That night I went crazy. My wife thought I was going to have a heart attack. I was apoplectic."

UPDATE: Amy Winehouse has been arrested. "It was voluntary and pre-arranged," a representative at her publicity agency said. Read the full story here.

Continue reading Amy Winehouse Questioned for Evidence Tampering

Scott Weiland Arrested for D.U.I.

Scott Weiland was arrested for driving under the influence after he crashed his car in Los Angeles on November 21. There were no injuries from the accident, but according to TMZ, the former Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver frontman was taken into custody after an officer said he showed "signs of impairment" and failed sobriety tests.

The police report stated that 40-year-old Weiland refused to take a blood or urine test at the Van Nuys Jail, where he was booked and released on $40,000 bail. He is scheduled to appear in court on December 13.

"Scott was not driving under the influence of a drug, legal or illegal," Weiland's publicist Kristine Ashton-Magnuson said in a statement. "He voluntarily took a breathalyzer test which the defense believes registers well within the legal limit. He is anxious to get to court ... and clear this matter up."
There won't be much celebrating for Amy Winehouse and her embattled husband, Blake Fielder-Civil, who will be spending the holiday season in jail.

Fielder-Civil, 25 -- who was arrested and charged earlier this month for conspiring to throw a trail -- remains in police custody following an appearance in a London court last Friday, where he was denied bail. He was remanded in custody until January 18, when the case is due to go to trial.

"I'll call you," Fielder-Civil mouthed to Winehouse, 24, as he was led away from the defendant's box at the Snaresbrook Crown Court. The British singer waved and blew two kisses to her husband. If found guilty, Fielder-Civil could face a maximum sentence of life for the crime. Read the full story.

Continue reading Winehouse's Husband Spending Christmas in the Clink

Red Hot Chili Peppers Sue Showtime

What's in a name? If you're the Red Hot Chili Peppers, a lot, actually. The SoCal rock group have filed a lawsuit against Showtime Networks over the show 'Californication,' a title shared by the band's 1999 multi-platinum album.

The suit claims federal trademark law and state unfair competition law, and alleges that the Chili Peppers' 'Californication' album achieved "extraordinary critical and commercial recognition." The band request that the show stop using that name, and turn over any profits made while using it. "'Californication' is the signature CD, video and song of the band's career," frontman Anthony Kiedis said in a statement. "For some TV show to come along and steal our identity is not right."

Showtime has filed an application to trademark 'Californication' as an ongoing television series, but the rights have not yet been granted. However, federal registration is not essential to claim rights in a mark. The popular series, starring David Duchovny, first aired on August 13.

Boy George is in trouble yet again. The 47-year-old '80s pop singer, born George O'Dowd, was charged today with with falsely imprisoning a 28-year-old man, British police said. Auden Carlsen claims he was threatened and chained to a wall by the singer at his east London flat in April.

"I was convinced I was going to die," Carlsen told the Mirror. "George handcuffed me to a hook by the bed as they held me down."

Carlsen, a Norwegian male escort, was hired by the former Culture Club singer to model for photographs in exchange for money. O'Dowd, has been ordered to appear before a court on Nov. 22. Read the full story.
Natavia Lowery, the personal assistant of former Ramones manager and "Realtor to the stars" Linda Stein, has been arrested and charged with the Oct. 30 murder of Stein. According to the New York City police commissioner, the 26-year-old Lowery beat Stein to death with an implement known as a "yoga stick" after an argument in Stein's Manhattan apartment. In Lowery's confession to the police, she stated that after Stein blew marijuana smoke into her face and shouted racially abusive comments at her, she beat the 62-year-old to death with the exercise tool.
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Police raided Amy Winehouse's north London home Thursday, and later arrested her husband, Blake Fielder-Civil, for conspiring to throw a trial. Winehouse has not been charged or arrested.

Fielder-Civil, 25, was taken away from an east London flat by eight officers, as Winehouse kissed and hugged him, sobbing, "Baby, I love you. Baby, I'll be fine."

According to the Daily Mail, Winehouse's husband was arrested on suspicion of plotting to pay off a key witness in an assault trial due to start next week. If found guilty, Fielder-Civil could face a maximum sentence of life for the crime. Three other men were also arrested in connection with the plot.
The legal fight over the ownership of medical items used on Elvis Presley may be coming to an end. The Delaware Supreme Court is upholding a ruling in favor of California businessman Richard Long, who, along with his business partners, purchased the collection from Presley's personal physician, Dr. George Nichopolous, last year for $1 million.

The collection of memorabilia includes a black doctor's bag containing Presley's prescription bottles, a glass device reportedly used to irrigate the singer's sinuses, jewelry, guns and a laryngeal scope used to examine Presley's throat.

Long put up the money and alleged in his lawsuit that Gallagher and Franklin refused to surrender access to the items, and would not provide the paperwork needed to obtain insurance.

In July, Gallagher and Franklin repeatedly failed to appear in court and ignored court orders, so a default judgment was made, holding the two in contempt and giving Long authority to dissolve the partnership and sell the collection. The Supreme Court turned down Gallagher's appeal on Tuesday.
Amy Winehouse will appeal the fine she paid last month after being arrested for marijuana possession in Bergen. The singer, who, along with her husband, Blake Fielder-Civil, forked over $715 on charges of possessing seven grams of the herb, claims Norwegian police made mistakes in the case.

According to Winehouse's lawyer, Ole Kvelstad, the singer didn't understand that under Norwegian law, to accept a fine is essentially the same as pleading guilty. Kvelstad also claims that the 24-year-old singer was questioned without any legal representation, and furthermore, without an interpreter. Meanwhile, Rudolf Christoffersen, the Bergen Police Attorney, claims otherwise, saying Winehouse was questioned by an English-speaking officer, who both translated and explained in detail the repercussions of accepting the fine.

If the court allows Winehouse, who is currently on a European tour, to withdraw her acceptance of the fine, under Norwegian law, the original charges are due to go to trial.
Amy Winehouse was arrested and jailed for possession of a marijuana in Norway, it was reported Friday.

The embattled singer -- whose unapologetic lyrics often reference her decadent alcohol and drug indulgences -- was carrying a small quantity (seven grams) of pot when she, her husband Blake Fielder-Civil and the person who is responsible for crafting Amy's beehives were caught in their hotel room Thursday night.

Their punishment for bad behavior? Each of them were ordered to hand over 500 euro to the Bergen police department.

See why Amy's song 'Back to Black' made our list of the Saddest Songs Ever.

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