Morning Briefing:
It's all U2 at the Grammys: Despite her eight nominations, it was a slow night for Mariah Carey during the Grammys on Wednesday, or at least during the televised portion of the show. She won three awards (best contemporary R&B album, best female R&B performance and best R&B song award) earlier in the day, but watched as Kelly Clarkson won best female pop vocal and best pop vocal album. Kanye West was also up for eight awards, but pulled in only three; instead, the night belonged to U2, who went five-for-five and won best rock album and album of the year. Read Salon's play-by-play of the Grammys, and see a full list of winners (it's long!) here. (Hollywood Reporter)
Sambora gives good mail? People magazine has some background on what may have led to the Heather Locklear/Richie Sambora split: Locklear apparently happened upon a "suggestive e-mail sent to Sambora by an acquaintance," which included some photos of the friend in scantily clad poses. Rush & Molloy cite Star magazine's sources claiming the woman in question is Stephanie Heaton, Sambora's former assistant, and she shows up in one photo wearing only boots and fishnet stockings. As for Locklear, "She's devastated," a friend tells People. "Richie's saying nothing ever happened, that he never asked for the pictures." (People)
Page Six, the magazine: Page Six, the magazine, has made its debut, tucked into today's edition of the New York Post. What does the magazine offer that the tabloid column does not? Pictures of a young Angelina Jolie, "hot" restaurant tips to places like Nobu 57 and Cipriani. (Jossip offers a not-exactly-flattering review here.) But the best part is Richard Johnson's editor's letter, which opens: "You are holding in your hands the culmination of 30 years of blood, sweat and tears -- and plenty of threatened lawsuits. When Page Six launched in 1976 -- the first column ever to meld gossip with hard-nosed reporting -- no one could have foreseen it would become the preeminent brand in gossip, a household word often mentioned in movies and books." (N.Y. Post, Jossip)
The Redbook curse? Blogger Jim Hanas has identified a new and potentially quite serious media curse -- the tendency of Redbook cover subjects to split up with their significant others not long after (and sometimes, apparently, just before) appearing in the pages of the magazine. Hanas writes: "I began tracking the Redbook curse a year ago, when Charlie Sheen and Denise Richards graced the February cover, then promptly hit the rocks. Since then, cover subjects Nick and Jessica (March 2004), Jennifer Aniston (June 2003), and Heather Locklear (October 2001 and July 2005) have all taken up residence in Splitsville. Hilary Swank (March 2005) has also been pricing real estate there ... Lance Armstrong and Sheryl Crow, however, didn't even wait for their cover to come out. That's right, the March issue of Redbook, due on newsstands in mere days, features Crow on the cover." (Encyclopedia Hanasiana via Jossip)
Also:
Proving that conservative Christian groups aren't the only ones sensitive to their portrayal in popular culture, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is up in arms about HBO's new "Big Love," which centers around Bill Paxton as a Mormon with three wives. "Polygamy was officially discontinued in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1890," said a church spokeswoman. "It will be regrettable if this program, by making polygamy the subject of entertainment, minimizes the seriousness of that problem." (Page Six) ... Newly minted "American Idol" contestant Tatiana Ward can be added to the growing list of "Idol" hopefuls with criminal records: She was picked up for shoplifting at Macy's in 2002. (TMZ) ... Nick Lachey has launched a social networking site for teens, YFly.com. (Agenda Inc. via Encyclopedia Hanasiana) ... The 10-day Berlin Film Festival opens today in Germany. (BBC)
Money Quote:
Burt Bacharach at the Grammys, on why he decided to make his most recent album, "At This Time," a political statement: "I never like to be lied to by a girlfriend or agent and certainly not the president of the United States." (Yahoo! News)
Gwyneth Paltrow on how she thinks alcohol and two X chromosomes shouldn't mix: "I don't like drunk women. It's such a bad look." (FemaleFirst)
Turn on:
Valentine's Day comes to "The Office" (NBC, 9:30 p.m. EST), while the Sci-Fi channel brings you scary fish: "Snakehead Terror" (7 p.m. EST) and "Frankenfish" (9 p.m. EST).
-- Scott Lamb
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