People talk 3/10/03

Pop singer's video wardrobe is elementary

WILKESBORO, N.C. -- An elementary school is cashing in on a wardrobe decision by pop singer Avril Lavigne.

She wears a Wilkesboro Elementary School T-shirt in the video for her song "Sk8er Boi."

The green-and-gold T-shirts hadn't been sold for at least four years, but with the Canadian singer giving them new currency, the school's Parent Teacher Organization ordered 500.

Principal Mike Dancy said he learned from a Canadian writer that Lavigne probably found the shirt in a New York thrift store. The writer was doing a story on how the singer popularizes almost everything she wears, he said.

About 300 of the shirts have been sold on eBay to buyers as far away as Sweden and Thailand, said Marcia Reynolds, the school's PTO president.

"It's kind of exciting that people all over the world are seeing our school's name," Reynolds said.

The shirts sell for $20 online or $10 at the school. The proceeds will be used to buy computers.

"This is going to end up helping our students and we're grateful for that," Dancy said.

Robert Duvall does double duty twice

AUSTIN, Texas -- Directing a film and starring in it sounds like a lot of work, but Robert Duvall says doing double duty is a pleasure.

Duvall wears both hats, and added another -- that of script writer -- for "Assassination Tango," in which he plays a hit man who's sent on a job to Argentina and falls in love with a dancer.

"To be in something and direct something, they say it's impossible," the 72-year-old actor told an audience Saturday at the South by Southwest film festival, where his film is making its United States premiere. "After 'The Apostle' I said, 'I want to do it again."'

Duvall also wrote, directed and starred in that 1997 film, which earned him an Oscar nomination for his role as a Texas preacher.

"Assassination Tango," co-starring Duvall's longtime girlfriend, Luciana Pedraza, and Ruben Blades, opens March 28 in New York and Los Angeles, and in other cities later.

Rapper charged with obscene performance

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. -- An attorney for former 2 Live Crew rapper Luther Campbell says his client was surprised to be charged with wrongdoing after cooperating with police investigating his performance at a nightclub.

An arrest warrant was issued Wednesday for Campbell, 42, on a felony charge of presenting or participating in an obscene performance. The October show reportedly featured naked people on stage at the End Zone nightclub.

Attorney Barry Krell said the Florida-based rapper will comply with the warrant and surrender if necessary.

Campbell's representatives said in a statement Friday that he and his staff had cooperated with an October police investigation into an alleged sexual assault at the show.

Campbell gave police a videotape that led investigators to determine a 23-year-old woman who said she was sexually assaulted on stage was a willing participant. Police charged her with filing a false police report.-- From staff reports

State honors outstanding Kentucky women

FRANKFORT, Ky. -- A portrait of the late singer and actress Rosemary Clooney is one of four new portraits hanging in the Kentucky Capitol.

Clooney, a Maysville native, died in 2002 at age 74.

Other portraits are of Kentucky First Lady Judi Conway Patton, in honor of her advocacy for victims of domestic violence, child abuse and breast cancer; Katherine Peden, the first female U.S. Senate candidate in Kentucky and a leader in economic development; and Jean Ritchie, a songwriter, author and champion of traditional folk music.

The portraits are part of the Kentucky Women Remembered exhibit, which honors women who made outstanding contributions to the state.

Gibson has faith in new church, new movie

NEW YORK -- Actor Mel Gibson is the person behind a 9,300-square-foot, Mission-style Catholic church complex in Malibu, Calif., that is not affiliated with any diocese.

The star of "Braveheart," "Lethal Weapon" and "Mad Max" financed the building for about 70 fellow members of the ultraconservative group Holy Family, according to today's The New York Times Magazine.

Among other things, Holy Family and other so-called traditionalist congregations conduct Sunday Mass in Latin.

Gibson has never minimized the importance of his religion, but of late it is even showing up in his work, the magazine noted.

Last year he portrayed two characters deeply affected by their religion -- a former minister in "Signs," about an alien invasion, and a Catholic lieutenant in the war drama "We Were Soldiers."

Currently, Gibson is directing a film that depicts the last 12 hours in the life of Jesus Christ. The movie, "The Passion," is in production in Rome, with the actors speaking only Latin and Aramaic.

Gibson declined to comment for the Times article, but at a news conference to announce the film last September, he acknowledged difficulty in finding a U.S. studio or distributor for the film.

"Obviously, nobody wants to touch something filmed in two dead languages. They think I'm crazy, and maybe I am. But maybe I'm a genius," Gibson said.

-- From staff reports