People talk 05/07/03

Giuliani joins Reagan foundation board

SIMI VALLEY, Calif. -- Former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani is now on the board of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation.

"We are privileged to have Rudy join the Ronald Reagan Library Foundation's board of trustees," former first lady Nancy Reagan said in a statement Monday announcing Giuliani was joining the board.

In March 2002, Nancy Reagan presented Giuliani with the Ronald Reagan Presidential Freedom Award, saying the former mayor's calm, forceful leadership of New York City in the days after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks made him the obvious choice.

He's still 'Pal Joey' to Mary Jo Buttafuoco

LOS ANGELES -- Joey Buttafuoco and his wife, Mary Jo, who was shot in the face by "Long Island Lolita" Amy Fisher, are divorcing after 26 years of marriage.

"It's OK. To move on you've got to get a divorce," Buttafuoco said in a telephone interview Monday. "She's with another guy. His name is Stew. I've been with a girl for awhile, too."

His attorney, Leon F. Bennett, said the two remain friends and are "trying to work out an amicable resolution."

Mary Jo Buttafuoco filed divorce papers Feb. 3 in Ventura County Superior Court.

Fisher was 17 when she knocked on Mary Jo Buttafuoco's door and then shot her in the face. She served seven years in prison.

Buttafuoco initially denied having an affair with Fisher, but pleaded guilty in 1993 to one count of statutory rape and served six months in jail. He said Monday he only pleaded guilty because he'd run out of money and wanted to put the case behind him.

"She was never a girlfriend, never a lover," said Buttafuoco, 48. "The prosecutors spent so much time and money coming after me they had to get a conviction."-- From wire reports

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ATLANTA -- One of the most recognizable faces of the civil-rights movement got a little freshening, with some help from talk-show host Oprah Winfrey.

Coretta Scott King, the 76-year-old widow of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., unveiled new makeup, hair and clothes before a national audience Monday on "The Oprah Winfrey Show," which was dedicated to "age-defying makeovers."

"Even living legends need to spice it up every decade or so," Winfrey said on the show, which was taped April 23.

Winfrey brought together an all-star team to redo King's look, including her own hairstylist, Andre Walker, and makeup guy, Reggie Wells. Fashion designer Bradley Bayou dressed King in a black pantsuit.

The stylist gave King's hair a sleek, shiny look with a little bounce.

Winfrey said she tried hard to give King a look she would be happy with, and King wasn't disappointed.

"I feel great," she said.

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LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- Billy Bob Thornton plans to return to his native Arkansas this month to film scenes for a new movie, said Ozark Film Society director James Nash Alford.

The film, titled "Chrystal," also will star Lisa Blount. Blount's husband, Ray McKinnon, wrote the film about an Ozark Mountain couple. The pair's company, Ginny Mule Productions, is developing the movie.

Alford said the cities of Fayetteville and Eureka Springs offered incentives to lure producers. Filming will take place at locations between the two cities for five weeks, he said.

"We're trying to kick-start a production industry in northwest Arkansas that hasn't been in existence," Alford said recently.

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NEW YORK -- Four years after Amadou Diallo was shot to death by police, his mother is telling her story.

Kadiatou Diallo, whose son was killed by officers who said they mistook him for a criminal, is preparing to go on tour to promote a book about her experiences.

"My Heart Will Cross This Ocean" will be published this month by Ballantine Books, the publisher said recently.

Co-written with journalist Craig Wolff, Diallo writes about her early years in Guinea, West Africa, and her travels with her ex-husband, Saikou, and family, including Amadou. She also describes her son as a man who was determined to survive in the melting pot of New York.

"Amadou was not alone," she writes. "Hundreds of young men in the early part of the 1990s had left for America. They were the modern settlers."

On Feb. 4, 1999, four New York City police officers fired 41 shots at Diallo, hitting him 19 times. They were later acquitted. Since then, supporters have demanded justice for the 22-year-old street vendor.

The Diallos have filed a lawsuit against the city that is still pending.

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NEW ORLEANS -- Rapper Juvenile did not steal his most successful song from a rival New Orleans performer, a federal jury has ruled.

Juvenile, whose real name is Terius Gray, was sued by Jerome "DJ Jubilee" Temple, who claimed he created "Back That A-- Up," Juvenile's 1998 hit that sold millions of records. Jubilee and his record label, Positive Black Talk Inc., claimed Juvenile, Cash Money Records and Cash Money's national partner, Universal Records, violated copyright laws by using the song without permission.

A federal court jury ruled Monday in Juvenile's favor, deciding that the song was his creation and was not cribbed from a Jubilee song with a similar title. Both rappers testified in the trial, as did two experts: a University of New Orleans music professor who said the versions were similar; and a Tulane University professor, who testified they were not.

Jubilee is considered a pioneer of the New Orleans brand of rap, known as "bounce," which features singsong, call-and-response refrains and beats. His singles are popular locally, but national success has eluded him. He works as a high school special education teacher.

In interviews, Jubilee has cast himself as the unsung originator of songs and catch phrases that other local rappers copied, earning millions. His attorneys claim Juvenile is among them.

Juvenile became one of rap's biggest new stars in 1999 with the success of "Back That A-- Up" and its video. Cash Money grew into a powerful label in the rap world.

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NEW YORK -- "The World According to Mister Rogers," a collection of Fred Rogers' "inspirational sayings, advice and anecdotes," will be published this October by Hyperion.

"Fred Rogers' messages -- that we respect each other's uniqueness, that we be gentle with each other, that we understand that feeling frightened or sad are part of feeling human -- will live beyond him in this small but powerful book," Hyperion President Bob Miller said Monday.

From 1968 to 2000, Rogers, an ordained Presbyterian minister, produced "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" at Pittsburgh public television station WQED. The final new episode, which was taped in December 2000, aired in August 2001, though Public Broadcasting Service affiliates continued to air back episodes.

Rogers composed his own songs for the show and began each episode in a set made to look like a comfortable living room, singing, "It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood," as he put on his sneakers and a zip-up cardigan.

Rogers died in February at age 74, following a bout with stomach cancer.

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COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Country station KKCS has suspended two disc jockeys for playing the Dixie Chicks, violating a ban imposed after the group criticized President Bush.

Lead singer Natalie Maines said during a March concert in London that she was "ashamed the President of the United States is from Texas."

"We pulled their music two months ago, and it's been a difficult decision because how can you ignore the hottest group in country music?" station manager Jerry Grant told The Gazette newspaper.

He said there's been discussion about whether to reinstate the music, but DJs Dave Moore and Jeff Singer became impatient and played some of the trio's songs Monday.

"They made it very clear that they support wholeheartedly the president of the United States. They support wholeheartedly the troops, the military," Grant said. "But they also support the right of free speech."

Grant said the disc jockeys will be out a couple of days.

"I gave them an alternative: Stop it now and they'll be on suspension, or they can continue playing them and when they come out of the studio they won't have a job."

The station plans to play the group's music again eventually. "Most stations are starting to play them again anyhow -- a song here, a song there," he said. "I just have a problem with the way this was done."

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NEW YORK -- A surgeon who treated 50 Cent for bullet wounds three years ago has sued the rapper for more than $32,000 in unpaid medical bills.

Dr. Nader Paksima says in papers filed in Manhattan's State Supreme Court that he operated on 50 Cent, whose real name is Curtis Jackson, at a hospital in May 2000 for several gunshot wounds. The papers don't say how many wounds 50 Cent had.

Paksima says the bill for 50 Cent's medical care, including follow-up treatment in June, was $32,511.87. Court papers say the 26-year-old rapper hasn't paid any of it.

"He had significant surgery," Paksima's lawyer, Christopher D. Galiardo, said Tuesday. "Fortunately for him, he's doing nicely. My client provided very good medical care and he (50 Cent) is in a position to pay for a very valuable service."

The rapper's lawyer, Mark Gann, didn't immediately return calls for comment.

In interviews, 50 Cent has said he peddled crack while growing up in Queens, and that he's been shot nine times. No one was arrested for the May 2000 shooting.

Once the protege of slain rap icon Jam Master Jay, 50 Cent has a top-selling CD and was the musical act last weekend on NBC's "Saturday Night Live."

-- From wire reports