Entertainment News

By Bryan Lark
Daily Arts Writer

Cleveland rocks just a little bit harder now that the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame Class of 1999 was announced Tuesday, according to Variety.

This year's crop of the musically legendary, to be inducted at a ceremony at New York's Waldorf-Astoria hotel on March 15, is headed by Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney, Billy Joel and Curtis Mayfield.

Also making the grade are Dusty Springfield, Del Shannon and the soul-gospel greats the Staple Singers.

Fans of biting the heads off bats will be disappointed to learn that Ozzy Osbourne and his Black Sabbath bandmates failed to get a nod this year, their first of eligibility.

To be eligible to have their signature etched in their great glass hallway of the I.M. Pei-designed Hall of Fame & Museum in Cleveland, an artist or band must have released their debut album at least 25 years ago.

Even money is on the hunks of N'Sync in 2023.

The smell of fete is apparently in the air, as the American Film Institute announced Tuesday, according to Variety, that its prestigious Life Achievement award will be given to Dustin Hoffman.

Honored for his career that stretches from his role in 1967's "The Graduate" to his Oscar-nominated performance last year in "Wag the Dog," Hoffman joins the enviable ranks of such Hollywood luminaries as Jimmy Stewart and last year's honoree Martin Scorsese as an AFI lifer.

For the ceremony on February 18 in New York, Hoffman will take time off filming Luc Besson's "Joan of Arc," starring Milla Jovovich as the martyr.

Sacrificing high salary and back-end profits for the honor of working with hot director Neil Labute ("In the Company of Men" and "Your Friends and Neighbors") are the recently assembled cast of Labute's low budget ensemble comedy "Nurse Betty," Variety reports.

Oscar nominee Greg Kinnear and Aaron Eckhart, are the latest additions to an A-list cast that already includes Morgan Freeman, Renee Zellweger and Chris Rock.

Known for his scathing social satires, Labute's latest is a tale of a waitress (Zellweger) who falls for a soap star (Kinnear) and takes off after him with mobsters in tow, so the target of his unflinching satiric eye here is anybody's guess.

Principle photography on the Gramercy picture is scheduled to begin on Dec. 7.

Meanwhile, the principle hoopla for the "Star Wars" prequel rolls on, with the announcement earlier this week that trailers for "The Phantom Menace" will begin appearing in theaters next Friday and the printing of the poster for the film has begun, Entertainment Weekly reported.

In the interest of secrecy, a Twentieth Century Fox supervisor was present at the printing of all posters to ensure that none of the posters grew legs or somehow found their way onto the Internet.

And in the interest of hype, the poster's image, featuring a boy, Jake Lloyd as Anakin Skywalker, casting a shadow of Darth Vader, was released days later by Lucasfilm.

Also from a galaxy far, far away, or maybe just the super-freaky galaxy known as Los Angeles, comes the news that singer Rick James suffered a stroke on Monday, according to Billboard.

The possibility for recovery is extremely high, as the stroke, caused by the constriction of a blood vessel in James' neck, was minor.

James' spokesperson and doctor agreed that their patients' condition is a case of "the repeated rhythmic whiplash motion of the head and neck."

James, from his head down to his toenails, will reschedule 15 concert dates when he recovers.

11-12-98