Hong Kong film giant Jackie Chan is to headline a star-studded concert at Beijing’s Bird’s Nest stadium, the centrepiece of last year’s Olympic Games, Chinese press reported Thursday.
“Descendants of the Dragon: Jackie Chan and Friends,” will be the first large-scale concert to be held in the stadium that came to symbolise China’s modernisation drive at last year’s Olympics, the Beijing Youth Daily said.

The event will be held during China’s May Day holiday, and is expected to include a cast of stars, the report said.

“When they asked me whether or not I would perform a concert at the Bird’s Nest I could not help asking myself if I was qualified for this,” the paper quoted Chan as saying at a Wednesday press conference.

“Now with such a precious opportunity, I must spare no effort to do this well and put on a spectacular concert.”

Chan, who is best-known for his often hilarious martial arts comedies, has starred in Hollywood blockbusters such as “Rush Hour” and takes a lead role in this year’s “Shinjuku Incident.”

Hong Kong singer-songwriters Jonathan Lee and Emil Chau are slated to perform with Chan, but other performers were not named.

The Bird’s Nest Stadium, named after its exterior lattice work of steel and concrete beams, hosted the Olympics’ opening and closing ceremonies, but has been largely idle since the Paralympic Games ended in September last year.

International Jazz sensation Laura Fygi is making her acting debut in Singapore with Zebra Crossing Productions’ “Victor/Victoria” later this year.

The Dutch singer known for her soulful renditions of classic ballads said acting requires more discipline, but she found it difficult to turn down the opportunity to star in her favorite musical.

“This is my favourite musical ever, I love it. I’ve seen the movie, I’ve got the CD, I know almost every song already,” said the Dutch singer.

In “Victor/Victoria”, based on an Oscar-winning 1982 movie starring Julie Andrews that was later adapted as a Broadway musical, Fygi plays Victoria Grant, a struggling British singer looking to fulfill her dreams in 1930s Paris. She agrees to play a female impersonator – Count Victor Grazinski – in a swanky nightclub in order to get noticed and becomes the toast of the town. However, things get complicated when a gangster falls for “her” and Victoria has to choose between love and her passion.

Singapore director Loretta Chen invited Fygi vie email to star in “Victor/Victoria.” It was an offer she just could not refuse.

The pop superstar Britney Spears is a “prisoner” in her own life.

Spears’ former manager Sam Lutfi has told Los Angeles Superior Court the star is suffering “emotional distress” under her father’s strict conservatorship.

Britney’s father Jamie was given control of the singer’s personal and financial affairs last year and quickly took out a restraining order against Lutfi.

In the current court hearing, Jamie is seeking to extend the order because he claims Lutfi is still harassing his daughter and conspiring to disrupt his legal control over her.

Lutfi’s younger sister Christina also gave evidence in court Thursday, claiming Britney asked her to buy a cell phone and sneak it into the Beverly Hills Hotel where she was staying.

Christina said: “Britney told me she wanted to get a hold of Sam. She wanted him to help her find a lawyer, and wanted someone to get a prepaid cell phone to her.

“She was scared because her father was blackmailing her with visitation rights over her kids.”

The 27-year-old singer allegedly told Christina to meet her in the gym at the Peninsula Hotel. Christina claims she gave Britney the phone in the sauna, and then watched her hide it in a locker.

Christina added: “She asked me, ‘Will Sam be able to help me?’”

The phone was later discovered by her security team and confiscated.

Earlier on Wednesday, Jamie’s lawyer Blair Berk testified that Britney “was in such fear of Sam, she asked if I could get him arrested, to keep him away from her.”

Berk denied Britney was unhappy under the conservatorship and insisted she is not seeking outside legal help.

He also claimed an internet sound clip – which purports to be a recording of Britney asking for a lawyer’s help to escape her father’s control – was not made by the singer.

Closing arguments in the restraining order case will be heard on April 21 and Lutfi is forbidden to contact Britney until then.

Meanwhile, Britney has reportedly found love with her agent Jason Trawick.

An insider said: “Britney and Jason have been an item for quite a few months now. They are trying to keep it quiet in Hollywood because it’s not a good reputation for an agent to have.”

Jamie is said to be thrilled with his daughter’s new relationship.

The source added: “Jamie really likes Jason. He has done everything he can to get them together.

“Jamie controls exactly who is around Britney and has allowed Jason one hundred per cent access to Britney at all times. Within their circle Jason and Britney are quite open and kiss in front of people they trust.”

U.S. singer-songwriter Chris Brown pleaded not guilty to charges that he attacked his girlfriend, pop singer Rihanna, on Monday in a Los Angeles court.

The 19-year-old R&B star entered the pleas during his arraignment in Los Angeles Superior Court, and nearly 100 media representatives jammed the downtown courthouse entrance as Brown came through.

A judge set a hearing for April 29, when a preliminary hearing could be scheduled.

Although Rihanna’s attorney, Donald Etra, was in court, the pop star did not attend the hearing. According to the attorney, Rihanna would testify against Brown if required.

Los Angeles prosecutors have said Brown attacked Rihanna during a roadside dispute in his rented Lamborghini last February. A photo of Rihanna’s bruised and battered face was leaked onto the Internet.

The formal charges accuse Brown of assaulting Rihanna “by means of force likely to produce great bodily injury” and threatening to commit a crime “which would result in death and great bodily injury.” He could face up to nearly five years in prison if convicted of the charges.

Britney Spears may take her “Circus” act down under.

Attorneys for the pop singer and Spears’ father and conservator, James Spears, discussed the idea of expanding her current “Circus” tour to include dates in Australia and Europe during a Wednesday hearing. Nothing was decided in court, and another hearing was scheduled for April 14.

Spears is currently touring the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. The tour is currently scheduled to end in Manchester, England, on June 17.

The 27-year-old singer and her estate have been under the conservatorship of her father since last year.

Coldplay has denied in federal court that it copied parts of Joe Satriani’s music for its hit song, “Viva La Vida.”
In a response filed in Los Angeles on Monday, attorneys for Coldplay’s band members also argued that any similarities between “Viva La Vida” and Satriani’s “If I Could Fly” weren’t enough to warrant damages.

Satriani’s song “lacks originality,” Coldplay’s response claims, and shouldn’t receive copyright protection.

Satriani sued Coldplay in December, claiming the British band used “substantial, original portions” of Satriani’s “If I Could Fly,” which was released in 2004.

Satriani’s lawyer, Howard E. King, said Coldplay’s response was typical for copyright infringement cases and he reiterated that he thought the matter could have been resolved without a lawsuit.

An international music festival, featuring composers, music directors, and musicians in and out of South Korea, will be held in Seoul next month, the event’s organizers said Tuesday.

The Seoul International Music Festival, organized by the Korea Foundation, will run from May 22 through 30 at four major art halls in Seoul under the theme “All Together in Music.”

The musicians performing in the festival include Poland’s Krzysztof Penderecki, Maestro Ralf Gothoni of the English Chamber Orchestra and Finnish cellist Arto Noras.

The “Emperor Piano Trio,” formed by South Korean violinist Kim So-ock, Chinese cellist Li Wei and Japanese pianist Naomi Iwase, will play for South Korean audiences for the first time.

Organizers of the festival plan to expand its size and establish it as an annual event, according to its director, Ryu Jae-joon.

Facing a series of doubts, Miley Cyrus said that she was smarter than what people thought Thursday.

After a year of publicity, the 16-year-old Disney star Miley Cyrus left fans and parents wondering if she might be growing up too fast.

First, there was the “Vanity Fair” cover shot last June in which Cyrus was draped only in a bed sheet. Parents complained that it was an inappropriate move.

Then there were personal pictures of her leaked on the Internet showing a strip of her green bra.

More recently, a snapshot of her making “slant eyes” prompted an Asian group to say it was “mocking and denigrating” to people of Asian descent.

She has apologized, said pictures were taken out of context and complained that the media were trying to turn her into Hollywood’s latest “bad girl.”

“I almost feel like people think of me as dumb,” said Cyrus, who recently created her own personal “Rumor Patrol” blog on MileyCyrus.com.

“I’m like, I’m smarter than you think. You know, I understand what you’re trying to do. It’s all a mind game and what not,” she said.

Miley Cyrus, the daughter of country music singer Billy Ray Cyrus, spent her first 13 years in Tennessee.

In 2006 she landed a role on the Disney Channel’s (DIS.N) “Hannah Montana,” a sitcom about a teenage girl named Miley Stewart who has a secret identity as rock star Hannah Montana.

Since then, Cyrus has sold more than 7 million albums, raked in 65 million U.S. dollars at the box office with her concert film “Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour 3-D,” and started her own fashion line.

Xu Wei may be one of Chinese mainland’s biggest music stars but he didn’t look the part as he stepped on to the stage to announce his concert tour, The Day, which kicks off at Beijing Workers Gymnasium tomorrow. Sitting around in black T-shirt, jacket and jeans, Xu answered questions in leisurely fashion and only warmed up when he picked up his guitar and started singing some of his hits, like Journey and Blue Lotus. The chilly, cramped room suddenly felt more like an arena.

As it happens, Xu, 41, doesn’t need to talk too much – tickets were sold out about a month ago. Back in 2005 when he held his second solo concert, Forever Youth, his guitar skills and classic songs delighted 30,000 fans, who sang along on a glorious summer evening.

Xu is totally relaxed about how it will go at the same venue this time.

“I feel comfortable and relaxed because for me the concert is much more like a friends’ gathering,” he says. “All I need to do is sing for them and they will join in.”

Born and raised in Xi’an, Shaanxi province, Xu’s love affair with rock ‘n’ roll began when he got his first guitar at the age of 14 and since that is more than 20 years ago, his lyrics tell of a rebellious youth, courtships and yearning for lost romance. What lifted him to his lofty pedestal, though, was the heartfelt music that echoes in people’s hearts.

Mainland singer Pu Shu, a guest performer tomorrow night, says: “His songs are my life. I remember sitting in my bedroom, listening to his albums and thinking ‘How does he know what I’m going through better than I do?’”. The two are longtime friends and share similar tastes in music but surprisingly, tomorrow will be their first time on stage together.

Xu has his own band called Fly, made up of like-minded friends from Xi’an. They joined the rebellious teenager in 1992 and hit the road to pursue their dreams, singing at clubs and small venues to make ends meet.

The gloomy music scene then meant times were tough and even a music contract with Red Star, an independent rock label in Beijing, didn’t improve his living conditions.

Patience paid off, though, and a two-year wait for the release of his debut album, allowed him to reflect. It also brought him high-profile collaborations, like the singles he made for Tian Zhen and Faye Wong.

In 1994, he released his first single, Two Day but it was not until his debut album Elsewhere three years later that he made his name in Beijing. Produced by Zhang Yadong, the album is commonly regarded as a rock classic which sold 500,000 copies.

People identified with his struggle between dreams and reality, both embracing and escaping the material world. But he was deflated by Red Star’s collapse and he retreated to his hometown’s slower pace of life.

Xu made his second album That Year in 2000 with a small indie music label. He wrote, composed and produced all of the songs and the album sold almost 300,000 copies without any promotion.

The year 2002 looked like being his biggest year yet. He returned with the album Time, Roam under EMI and its blend of modern drum machines and traditional bamboo flute was testament to a profound change. People sensed in the album a much more peaceful and light-hearted mood.

His fifth album, Love like Youth, which came out in last October, carried a message that life may pass us by but the feelings and memories of our youth never fade. From the rhythmic tone of Story to the funky bass and steady drum beat on Four Seasons, each track is different but his fans have found all of them easy to relate to.

“The albums are like a reminder of what’s happened to me the past few years and the way my life and thoughts have changed,” he says.

Hailed as a modern-day poet, Xu says the pressure to be a great music figure became too much for him to handle. “The good thing is I don’t have to worry about my next meal now,” he jokes.

Songs from three of his albums reached No 1 on the capital’s radio charts. The mainstream music station even had a “Xu Wei Day” in 2005, broadcasting all of his popular songs since 1995 and inviting people of different fields, writers, actors, singers, students and office workers, to share their feelings and experiences relating to his music. “That was the first such event in the station’s history and we received lots of feedback, more than 100,000 text messages that day,” says event organizer, Zheng Yang, a veteran DJ on Music Radio in Beijing. “We have witnessed how his songs touched listeners all these years and we are looking forward to his next 10 years.”

Groups of funs sent flowers Wednesday to the park facing Lake Washington in memory of the U.S. Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain.

“I miss your beautiful face and voice,” one dedication reads. “Thank you for inspiring me,” says another.

Fifteen years ago, at a house adjacent to the park, Kurt Cobain’s dead body was discovered by an electrician.

The Nirvana frontman, 27, had committed suicide, police later ruled, killing himself with a shotgun while high on heroin and pills.

Cobain’s death ended a battle with hard drugs and added Cobain to a long list of legendary musicians, such as Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin, whose careers were cut short by their addictions.

His ashes were reportedly scattered in a Washington state river and a New York Buddhist temple.

Nirvana band mates Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl eventually formed other bands. Cobain’s widow, Courtney Love, stayed in the limelight with an acting career and legal problems surrounding her own drug problems. Frances Bean, the couple’s daughter, has largely lived outside the public eye.

“At point I thought, 15 years on, no one would really know who Kurt Cobain was outside of a group of diehard fans,” said Jeff Burlingame, a Cobain biographer who grew up with the musician in Aberdeen, Washington, and knew him when he was a teenager who, without a place to sleep, crashed on mutual friends’ couches.

But Nirvana’s music endured, and Cobain even found fans in his hometown of Aberdeen, which he had derided as a small-minded town.

“The old-timers who were there when Kurt was around really took offense to some of the things he said about the area, so they had no real reason to honor him,” said Burlingame, who co-founded the Kurt Cobain Memorial Committee.

A famous son is a famous son, though. Now, visitors arriving in Aberdeen are greeted with a sign that reads “Come As You Are,” after a famous Nirvana song.

A concert will be held Friday in Seattle to honor Cobain.