Category: People

I Think I’ll Go And See This
The Smithsonian Institution has gathered symbols and artifacts from the September 11 attacks for a commemorative exhibition that will open to the public on the first anniversary of the attacks.

Wendy’s Ads to Tribute Dave Thomas
Wendy’s will honor its late founder, Dave Thomas, by adding a reference to him in commercials next month and putting posters of him in restaurants.
Wendy’s International Inc. will describe food as being “prepared Dave’s way” in the commercials touting the slogan “It’s better here,” which promote the low-priced “Super Value Menu,” company spokesman Bob Bertini said Monday.
Thomas, who died of liver cancer in January, was the company’s premier pitchman in a 12-year advertising campaign that featured his folksy, sometimes self-effacing humor.
The advertising campaign is a way to acknowledge customers’ connection to Thomas, Bertini said. He said Wendy’s has no plans to use Thomas’ image or voice in the new commercials.
Roger Blackwell, a marketing professor at Ohio State University and a retailing consultant, said the new ads will be effective.
“This is an example of customers wanting to see Dave because of the great respect he had among consumers,” he said.
The new commercials will build on current ones portraying Dublin ó the upscale Columbus suburb of 30,000 people that is headquarters to Wendy’s ó as a friendly, multiracial community.
The new commercials will air mid-June, Bertini said.
Jack Russo, an analyst with A.G. Edwards & Sons Inc. in St. Louis, said it’s to early to tell how the new commercials will affect the company.
“They clearly had success with him before,” Russo said. “He was a good spokesman for the firm. You just can’t forget that overnight.”
Wendy’s, the nation’s third-biggest hamburger chain, has nearly 6,100 restaurants in the United States, Canada and other countries and more than 2,000 Tim Hortons, a Canadian-based chain acquired in 1996.
Share of Wendy’s stock closed Monday at $37.49, down 25 cents, on the New York Stock Exchange.
Guess where I’m going for lunch today!

THAT’S A NASTY CURVE
Tawny Kitaen launching the latest salvo in her ongoing and increasingly catty divorce/custody battle with pro baseball pitcher Chuck Finley. She says Finley drives drunk, smokes pot and uses steroids. Finley had earlier blamed Kitaen’s drug problems for the fight that led to her arrest last month.

Springsteen Says No To Candidacy
Bruce Springsteen decided he wasn’t born to run for political office after all.
Doug Friedline, a consultant who helped professional wrestler Jesse Ventura win the Minnesota governor’s race in 1998, had hoped to recruit Springsteen to run as an independent in November’s U.S. Senate race. The Boss would have faced off against incumbent Sen. Robert Torricelli, a Democrat, and whichever Republican emerges from the June 4 primary.
However, a spokeswoman for the 52-year-old singer told the Asbury Park Press of Neptune on Wednesday that he had no desire to seek office. In a statement sent to the newspaper, Springsteen paraphrased a rebuff by Civil War Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman to the GOP convention of 1884: “If nominated, I will not run. If elected, I will not serve.”
Friedline, who also served as campaign manager for the unsuccessful New Jersey gubernatorial bid last year of then-state Sen. Bill Schluter, said volunteers from Schluter’s campaign thought of drafting Springsteen because they think the current contest is boring.
The coalition calling itself “The Independence for New Jersey” had launched a petition drive to get the 800 signatures of registered voters required by June 4 to place Springsteen on the ballot.

Group Wants Springsteen for Senate
Sure, Bruce Springsteen was born to run. But was he born to run for office?
Political consultant Doug Friedline thinks so. He’s leading a campaign to get the Boss elected as New Jersey’s next U.S. senator.
A coalition calling itself “The Independence for New Jersey” launched a petition drive Tuesday to get the 800 signatures of registered voters required by June 4 to place Springsteen on the ballot.
It’s not that simple though, officials said. Springsteen would have to sign on to consent to becoming a candidate. His publicist did not return a call seeking comment.
Friedline, of Brooklyn Park, Minn., managed Jesse Ventura’s successful Minnesota gubernatorial campaign in 1998.
Not having talked with Springsteen, Friedline is uncertain of the 52-year-old singer’s ideology, but knows this: “His record shows that if he believes in a cause, he’ll get involved.”
Volunteers hope Springsteen would run as an independent this fall against incumbent U.S. Sen. Robert Torricelli, a Democrat, and whichever Republican emerges from the June 4 primary. The Republican candidates are state Sen. Diane Allen, state Sen. John Matheussen and businessman Doug Forrester.

A St. Louis jewelry salesman who sold Penthouse Magazine a video of a topless sunbather misidentified as Anna Kournikova testified on Tuesday he mistook the woman for the tennis star because of the diameter of her nipples.
Umm, if you don’t mind, I’d like to see exhibit’s “A” and “B.”

IT’S THE GLADI-EATER
A British paper reports “Gladiator” heartthrob Russell Crowe is now fighting flab in preparation for his next big warrior movie role.
Britain’s Sun newspaper says Crowe has packed on more than 20 pounds since his flex-flaunting role as general Maximus – and needs to tone up for a new role as a seafaring war hero.
The paper says Crowe hired a former star of the television show “Gladiators” to whip him into shape.
Lourene Bevaart, a martial-arts expert known as Glacier on the Australian version of the show, has signed on to be his personal trainer.
The new film, “The Far Side of the World,” stars Crowe as navy Capt. Jack Aubrey, a hero of the Napoleonic wars.
But “Captain Jack” needed to cut down on the booze and fatty foods, and has embarked on a rigorous training regimen to get himself shipshape, the paper says.
Shooting is set to begin next month in Mexico. The epic will be directed by Peter Weir.
Crowe is coming off rave reviews – and lingering controversy – over his portrayal of a schizophrenic math genius in “A Beautiful Mind.”
Some panned the movie for omitting mathematician John Nash’s supposedly close relationships with men and his divorce and remarriage. The film’s supporters countered that the criticism was part of a sleazy campaign to help the film’s competition on Oscar night.
His work on the other side of the camera may be a warm-up for his directorial debut later this year.
The film, titled “The Long Green Shore,” is set in the South Pacific just after World War II.

So it’s true. You can’t buy him love. Paul McCartney says that his kids are unhappy about his upcoming nuptuals.

Roberts Pleads for Research Funds
Actress Julia Roberts, choking back tears as she described the death of a 10-year-old girl with Rett syndrome, appealed Thursday for more money to research the neurological disorder that mainly afflicts young girls.
“This is very impressive and nerve-racking,” Roberts said as she took her seat in a crowded room for a hearing of the House Appropriations subcommittee responsible for public health spending.
“I usually ramble, but this is important, so I’ll read,” she said.
The disease, which affects about 200,000 girls and women worldwide, leaves them unable to communicate and control body movements and functions. Most develop severe disabilities by age 3.
“These are the voices that we hear today in the halls of Congress,” Roberts said over enthusiastic outbursts from children sitting behind her. “They listen but cannot speak. They struggle to do the many things we take for granted everyday.”
Roberts told lawmakers she decided to help raise public awareness for the condition after meeting Abigail Brodsky of Brooklyn, N.Y. Abigail, who filmed a one-hour documentary with the actress for the Discovery Health Channel, died in June at age 10.
“Abigail was my pal,” Roberts said, choking back tears. “We spent time together without words. We connected with our eyes.”
Roberts asked for the subcommittee to set aside $15.5 million in its 2003 budget, which starts Oct. 1. This year, research on Rett syndrome got $3.5 million in federal funds.

Osbournes Get $3 Million Book Deal
Dyslexic rocker Ozzy Osbourne and his colorful clan, the stars of MTV’s hit reality series “The Osbournes,” are now making waves in the publishing world.
In a deal worth more than $3 million, the ratings-smashing first family of metal has sold world rights to two books to Pocket Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.
The deal, signed on the floor of last weekend’s publishing trade convention, Book Expo America, is for a trade paperback tie-in to their MTV show and a hardcover family memoir. The tie-in will be published in November, and the memoir, to be narrated by each member of the Osbourne family, including the heretofore-unseen fifth Osbourne, Aimee, will appear the following spring.
The book deal comes on the heels of the Osbournes’ reported $20 million deal with MTV for two more seasons of their show.
“The Osbournes are a popular phenomenon of the first magnitude” said Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group president Carolyn Reidy, who negotiated the deal with Trident Media Group and Endeavor. “Their appeal is multi-generational and covers the entire political and cultural spectrum. We’re bleeping delighted to publish them at Simon & Schuster.”
Simon & Schuster and MTV are both units of Viacom Inc.