Entertainment Briefs May 3, 2010
John Rich video fireworks, chopper rile neighbors
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Police were called to the home of country musician John Rich when neighbors complained about the noise from a night video shoot that used fireworks and a helicopter.
Police spokeswoman Kristin Mumford told The Tennessean that officers went to Rich's Nashville home twice after neighbors reported a raucous party.
Mumford said there were no citations issued but Rich's security crew was asked to keep the noise down.
Warner Music Nashville spokeswoman Tree Paine said the filming was done with the proper permits.
Rich's neighbors have complained before about the large, ultramodern home the singer calls Mount Richmore.
The newspaper reports that a sign on his gate warns people to keep out and adds, "Violators may be shot. Protected by the 2nd Amendment."
Drug case dismissed against Mackenzie Phillips
LOS ANGELES - A drug charge against Mackenzie Phillips was dismissed Friday after the actress successfully completed a drug diversion program.
Phillips, 50, appeared in a Los Angeles courtroom for a final hearing in the case.
The television actress pleaded guilty in October 2008 to a felony drug possession charge and agreed to enter drug treatment.
She had been arrested two months earlier by airport screeners who said they found a small amount of narcotics.
"Mackenzie deserves great credit for seizing the opportunity she was given to get clean and prove she was worthy of the dismissal of her case," her attorney Blair Berk said in a statement.
In a video posted on the celebrity website TMZ.com, Phillips is seen telling the judge the case changed her life.
Phillips had a history of drug abuse and was fired from the TV series "One Day at a Time" in 1982.
She claimed in a memoir last year that she had a decade-long sexual relationship with their father, pop star John Phillips of the Mamas and the Papas.
Wonder, Cosby receive honorary degrees at Oberlin
OBERLIN, Ohio - Stevie Wonder was performing on an electronic keyboard and harmonica before a crowd of about 700 as he and Bill Cosby and Cosby's wife, Camille, were awarded honorary doctorates at Oberlin College in northeast Ohio.
Motown great Wonder says: "It is exciting to be at this college, the first northern college to accept African-Americans."
The school with a history of tolerance and activism first accepted black students in the 1830s.
Earlier Friday, Wonder had performed with Oberlin musicians for local school children. Cosby also gave a performance on campus.
- The Associated Press