Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
2 of 3 charges against rocker dropped
The government dropped drunken driving and reckless driving charges against Bruce Springsteen on Wednesday stemming from an incident in November, admitting that the rocker’s blood-alcohol level was so low that it didn’t warrant the charges.
Springsteen pleaded guilty to a third charge, consuming alcohol in a closed area, the Gateway National Recreation Area.
Facing a judge and more than 100 onlookers in a videoconference, Springsteen sat next to lawyer Mitchell Ansell and admitted he was aware it was illegal to consume alcohol at the park. “I had two small shots of tequila,” Springsteen said in response to questions from an assistant U.S. attorney.
U.S. Magistrate Anthony Mautone fined Springsteen $500 for the offense, plus $40 in court fees.
In an emailed statement, Ansell wrote that Springsteen “is pleased with the outcome” of the hearing.
McCartney memoir due out in November:
Paul McCartney is finally ready to write his memoirs, and will use music — and a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet — to help guide him.
“The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present” will be released Nov. 2, according to a joint announcement Wednesday from British publisher Allen Lane and from Liveright in the U.S.
McCartney, 78, will trace his life through 154 songs, from his teens and early partnership with fellow Beatle John Lennon to his solo work. Irish poet Paul Muldoon is editing and will contribute an introduction.
“More often than I can count, I’ve been asked if I would write an autobiography, but the time has never been right,” McCartney said in a statement.
“… I know that some people, when they get to a certain age, like to go to a diary to recall day-to-day events from the past, but I have no such notebooks. What I do have are my songs, hundreds of them, which I’ve learned serve much the same purpose. And these songs span my entire life.”
Wilson empathizes with Spears:
Actor and author Mara Wilson has penned a powerful essay for The New York Times about Britney Spears and the perils of child stardom.
On Tuesday, the NYT published an opinion piece in which Wilson, 33, recalled feeling manipulated and sexualized by the media from a young age.
Wilson’s reflection comes weeks after the release of FX’s documentary “Framing Britney Spears,” which illuminates the many ways in which media figures sexualized Spears as a minor. Wilson could relate.
“I never appeared in anything more revealing than a knee-length sundress,” Wilson wrote of her early acting credits. “This was all intentional: My parents thought I would be safer that way. But it didn’t work. People had been asking me, ‘Do you have a boyfriend?’ in interviews since I was 6. …
“Before I even turned
12, there were images of me on foot fetish websites and photoshopped into child pornography. … I was never sexually harassed on a film set. My sexual harassment always came at the hands of the media and the public.”
Feb. 25 birthdays: Actor Ann McCrea is 90. TV host Sally Jessy Raphael is 86. Newsman Bob Schieffer is 84. Writer Jack Handey is 72. Musician John Doe is 68. Model Veronica Webb is 56. Actor Sean Astin is 50. Comedian Chelsea Handler is 46. Actor Rashida Jones is 45. Actor Jameela Jamil is 35. Actors James and Oliver Phelps are 35.