Leif Garrett Charged with Heroin Possession

Former 1970s teen idol Leif (LAFE) Garrett has been charged with felony possession of heroin after his arrest in a Los Angeles subway station.

The 48-year-old singer and actor was charged Friday and is free on bond. He is scheduled to be arraigned Feb. 24. Los Angeles County sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore says deputies confronted Garrett at the downtown Metro Red Line station Monday. They say he admitted having black tar heroin in his shoe.

Garrett was also arrested for heroin possession at an LA subway station in 2006.

A phone message left for publicist Barbara Papageorge was not immediately returned, and it was not clear if Garrett had an attorney.

Garrett had a handful of hit songs and was a constant cover boy on teen magazines in the 1970s.

Super Bowl Ads:Who is behind them?

By VICTOR GODINEZ /
Super Bowl ad-watching is as much of a sport as the football game itself, and a company based in Irving makes almost all of it possible.DG FastChannel Inc. is the clearinghouse for most of the multimillion-dollar ads that will be shown on CBS during Sunday's game.

Advertisers shoot their spots and send them to DG, which digitally transmits them to broadcasters.

You won't see DG's name anywhere on the screen as talking animals and dancing babies and the various extravaganzas battle for your attention during halftime and timeouts, but the company's presence will be huge nonetheless.

"If you look at the Super Bowl, there will be 120 commercials, and our company will ship the vast majority to the broadcaster," said Scott Ginsburg, chairman and chief executive at DG FastChannel.

DG gives big advertising agencies and big broadcasters a single contact to deal with. Advertisers pay DG to distribute their content to TV stations.

"We've taken out a lot of that stress between the two, and we've also allowed the consolidation of a whole series of people between the four large agencies," Ginsburg said. "We deal with every single agency in the country and the world, and allow them to get all their material to these broadcasters and cablecasters."

DG FastChannel can also handle last-minute edits to commercials, such as tagging local car dealer names onto the end of national automaker ads.

But as much hype as the Super Bowl gets – according to a new Nielsen survey, 51 percent of people prefer the ads to the game – this is actually DG's slowest time of year.

"The fourth quarter is our busiest quarter," Ginsburg said. "First quarter, we certainly like the Grammys. We like the Super Bowl. But those are really just deliveries to one location."

Over the last few years, DG expanded its expertise in high-definition video and is distributing a growing number of online ads.

"Last year was not a good year for any traditional media, and it was somewhat mediocre for most of the online business compared to most of the growth they had seen," he said. "But it was still a growing business. So there is a secular shift away from traditional media into new media."

DG FastChannel is growing steadily. Its third quarter sales in 2009 rose to $48.3 million from $41.4 million a year ago.

Profit jumped to $5.4 million from $2.3 million.

DG has 750 employees, including 180 locally, and that number is also set to expand.

"In 2010, for all our businesses, we're looking for revenue growth, and with the revenue growth, we're going to be hiring both operations and salespeople," Ginsburg said.

But even if you snag a job there, don't expect any previews of next year's hot Super Bowl ads.

Many are closely kept secrets right up until they air. Thirty-second spots sold for a minumum of $2.5 million this year.

Ginsburg himself hasn't seen any of the current batch.

"Privacy is important, and it wouldn't do [the advertisers] any good to have ... a bunch of people talking about them on the Internet," he said.

'Dear John' And Super Bowl Excitement Top Today's Tweet Dreams

It's no coincidence that "Dear John" is opening on Super Bowl weekend. For all the gals out there who want to get away from touchdowns and halftime shows, there's Channing Tatum, Amanda Seyfried and a whole lotta tears. The plan already worked as Channing (pictured) reported that ladies were coming out in droves to watch the movie based off the Nicholas Sparks book, "Gettin sold out reports from AL, Virgina & more.Thx 2 all the fans 4 the support!" Channing's wife Jenna Dewan showed her support for her hubby's flick, posting, "it goes without saying, but go see Dear John this weekend!" Meanwhile, "Vampire Diaries" star Nina Dobrev posted her support for pal Amanda, tweeting, "I can’t wait 2 see my friend Amanda Seyfried in @DearJohnMovie!"

But, this weekend's other big event, Super Bowl Sunday, simply could not be ignored in the Twitterverse today. "Hills" star Holly Montag was Super Bowl bound, telling followers, "MIAMI here we come!!!!!!" No word on whether Holly is on Team Kim Kardashian (for her boyfriend Reggie Bush's New Orleans Saints) or Team Kendra Wilkinson (for hubby Hank Baskett's Indianapolis Colts), both of which who played cheerleaders for their men today. Kim wrote, "Go Saints!!!" while Kendra exclaimed she was "SOOOOO EXCITED!!!!! http://bit.ly/coUYOc"

Keep reading to get the rest of today's best celebrity tweets and find out how Pink reacted to meeting Oprah and Jessica Simpson's response to Pete Wentz's Rolling Stone embarrassment. Don't forget to follow us all weekend on Twitter @hollywoodcrush to keep up with all that's going on in movies, TV, and music.

@amywinehouse How cool is Glee? it's funny sh-- reminds me of school. wicked that they did rehab sounds the nuts. Thanks Glee ♥
-Amy Winehouse, Singer

@mrnjonas Its midnight and I cant sleep, all I have on my mind Is whether Pokerface is really about Facebook? You can read on my...Pokerface?
-Nick Jonas, Musician

@mrnjonas Oprah was fun. She's very beautiful and her energy is pure power. I don't think I sound my "best" at 7 am, but atleast sound came out.
-Pink, Musician

@ddlovato Yeah! They're blaring paramore in between takes today on set. Freaking love my job
-Demi Lovato, Singer, Actress ("Sonny With a Chance," "Camp Rock")

@yelyahwilliams RIP dear Sidekick... I had so much faith in you but then you had to go and make me hurl you down the steps and now I have a Blackberry.
-Hayley Williams, Singer (Paramore)

@whitneycummings When a rapper asks "what time it is," it's safe to assume they don't hang out with Flava Flav.
-Whitney Cummings, Comedian, Actress ("Made of Honor")

@mylifeasliz_liz Who should be my doppleganger? I'm leaning towards William hung....
-Liz Lee, Reality Star ("My Life As Liz")

@rainnwilson Is it bad my wife and I now refer to ourselves as Snooki and The Situation, respectively?
-Rainn Wilson, Actor ("The Office," "The Rocker")

@petewentz why did i take my shirt off for the cover of rolling stone? thats official douchbag behavior.
-Pete Wentz, Musician (Fall Out Boy)

@jessicasimpson Ha! Heck I took my pants off!!
-Jessica Simpson, Singer, Actress ("Employee of the Month")

Howard Stern to replace Simon Cowell

By Tony Hicks
Contra Costa Times

Howard Stern is being considered to replace Simon Cowell when he leaves "American Idol" after this season.

Apparently Satan was out of Fox's price range.

Producers' first pick to fill the seat is Stern, reports the New York Post (which is owned by Rupert Murdoch, who happens to own Fox).

"It's one of the few shows that could compete with Stern's $100 million-a-year Sirius contract (which expires this year), and 'Idol' bosses think he'd be even nastier than Simon," one of the Post sources said.

"They know he would be great TV and would clash with the other judges, such as Ellen DeGeneres, and the contestants. Idol will do what it takes to sign him."

Of course, another source says, "Howard isn't ready to leave radio."

That source clearly hasn't met Ryan Seacrest, who proves you can do "Idol," radio and a thousand other things at the same time.

SHEEN'S CAR OVER A CLIFF: A Mercedes that actor Charlie Sheen reported stolen was found overturned hundreds of feet down a cliff near his Sherman Oaks home early Friday.

Police got an emergency call around 4 a.m. from an OnStar-style alert system that calls emergency officials when there is a problem with the vehicle, Officer Wendy Reyes said.

About the same time, Sheen called police to say his four-door Mercedes-Benz had been stolen, Officer Bruce Borihanh said.

Police and firefighters found
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the car 300 to 400 feet down a cliff, upside-down in the brushy ravine.

They found nobody in or around the car, Borihanh said.

Which just proves that, even in his 40s, Charlie Sheen still runs pretty fast.

Actually, police say Sheen wasn't in the car because he would have been badly injured in the accident and "I don't know how he would have gotten back up," the cliff, Borihanh said.

With everything Sheen's body already has survived, we can't rule out super powers at this time.

TMZ.com said Sheen left the keys in the ignition and the garage door open, as he often does after returning home from work around 8 p.m. Thursday

Sheen lives in a gated community where other residents sometimes leave their garage door open as well.

Police said other cars in the gated community were burglarized.

TMZ also reported a photographer discovered another car in the ravine while photographing Sheen's. Firefighters were investigating the scene Friday afternoon.

JOHN MAYER IS NICE: John Mayer — who isn't just dreamy, but charitable as well — is once again throwing his support behind the American Red Cross relief efforts in Haiti.

The singer-songwriter has donated his song "The Heart of Life," from his 2006 album "Continuum," for a national TV and radio public service announcement about the devastating Jan. 12 earthquake.

Mayer also donated $500,000 to the American Red Cross and performed on the CNN special "Haiti: How You Can Help," which raised more than $5.8 million for the Red Cross.

BOSS SAYS NO DICE: Bruce Springsteen wants his name off a lawsuit demanding licensing fees from a Manhattan bar where a band played his songs.

A statement on Springsteen's Web site Thursday said he didn't know about the lawsuit that was filed Wednesday in federal court and wouldn't have agreed to be a plaintiff if he had been asked.

It says Springsteen's representatives demanded the immediate removal of his name Thursday morning after learning about the lawsuit filed by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. ASCAP didn't immediately return a telephone call seeking comment Thursday night.

The suit claims Connolly's Pub violated Springsteen's copyrights by letting an unidentified band perform two of his songs for profit.

Jackson death case to be filed Monday

By LINDA DEUTSCH and THOMAS WATKINS, Associated Press Writers Linda Deutsch And Thomas Watkins, Associated Press Writers – 18 mins ago

LOS ANGELES – Michael Jackson's doctor wanted to seek his day in court Friday by surrendering before being charged in the singer's death, but prosecutors upstaged the plan by announcing that no case would be filed until next week.

District attorney's spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons released the plan less than two hours before Dr. Conrad Murray and his attorneys were going to show up at an airport-area courthouse in an effort to force the prosecution's hand while avoiding having the physician arrested and handcufffed.

Gibbons' statement did not mention Murray, but said information on charges will be released after the case is filed on Monday.

A news conference that had been scheduled Friday afternoon by Murray's defense team in lieu of his surrender was canceled an hour before it was to begin at a park near the courthouse.

Murray's attorneys have said they expect the Texas cardiologist to be charged with involuntary manslaughter for administering drugs to Jackson before his death on June 25. It was not immediately clear if Murray would return to Houston, where he has a practice, or remain in Los Angeles through the weekend.

Lead defense attorney Ed Chernoff spoke Thursday with prosecutor David Walgren and was told to be at the courthouse at 1:30 p.m. PST Friday, only to have the county sheriff's department, which handles court security, publicly say hours later that it was called off, defense team spokeswoman Miranda Sevcik said earlier Friday.

"What does it take to surrender in L.A.?" Sevcik said. "I feel like Ed should show up in the courthouse with a big white flag."

Walgren declined to comment Friday.

The legal gamesmanship over Murray's surrender followed several days of negotiations in which his lawyers tried to arrange with prosecutors for the doctor to surrender for booking and arraignment.

Those plans were derailed by haggling between prosecutors and law enforcement officials over whether the physician should be arrested or allowed to turn himself in.

"It seems ridiculous to us that it's been dragging on this long," Sevcik said. "We've been here all week long, for God's sake. What's the holdup? To us this is showmanship and we are just done."

In the seven months since Jackson's sudden death at 50 while rehearsing for a major comeback concert series, Murray has largely stayed out of view. His lawyers have spoken very little. And prosecutors and investigators have been tightlipped.

Sevcik said prosecutors told Murray on Thursday he'd face one count of involuntary manslaughter.

Murray became the focus of the probe into Jackson's death shortly after he called 911 on June 25 to report that the singer wasn't breathing. Murray told police he gave the Jackson a powerful anesthetic and other sedatives that were blamed on his death.

The doctor maintains nothing he gave Jackson should have killed him but sees a charge as inevitable, Sevcik said.

"We know he's going to be charged with involuntary manslaughter and we are ready with a counter argument," Sevcik said. "He's not guilty — that's our argument."

Various factors weighed into the desire of the Los Angeles Police Department to arrest Murray, including the possibility he might flee before arraignment, just as O.J. Simpson did, a law enforcement official close to the investigation told The Associated Press.

Top brass at the LAPD, which spent the past seven months investigating Murray, were unhappy with the idea of him surrendering because it could appear Murray was being given special treatment, according to the official who was not authorized to speak publicly and requested anonymity.

The official said the district attorney's office opposed an early plan for detectives to make the arrest Friday morning.

___

Associated Press writers Anthony McCartney in Los Angeles and Ken Ritter in Las Vegas contributed to this report.

WHY BRANGELINA MIGHT SPLIT

Amid reports that Hollywood power couple 'Brangelina' has decided to separate, a new revelation says it was Brad Pitt's brother who begged the actor to leave Jolie, as their family was being torn apart.

Pitt-Jolie have reportedly struggled during the last 12 months of their five-year relationship and the actor's brother Doug, 41, visited him in New York over Christmas urging him to pull the plug on the relationship because it was making his family unhappy, the Sun reported online.

"It's no secret they have been in a pretty loveless relationship for about a year. They barely spend time together and when they do it is very fraught. They want different things from life," a source said.

"Brad's family are being more vocal with their doubts over the relationship. The only thing they still have in common is their kids. That's keeping them together at the moment," the source added.

Pitt and Jolie fell for each other while shooting Mr and Mrs Smith in 2004 where they played a warring couple on screen while the actor was still married to Jennifer Aniston, whom he divorced in 2005 to be with the Changeling star.

Pitt, 45 recently spent the weekend taking part in George Clooney's Haiti telethon, while 34-year-old Angelina was doing a photoshoot for Vanity Fair magazine. Earlier, it was reported that the couple has signed a 205 million pound split deal after meeting a top divorce lawyer.

Rihanna's Hair Rocks

Sure, we've been down this road before with Rihanna, but never quite to this extent.

The singer is quickly becoming as well known for her ever-changing hairstyles as she is for her music.

And now she has taken her fondness for frosting up a notch by making even more of her locks lighter.

Seeing RiRi's new 'do on full display as she made her way into New York City lounge Avenue on Tuesday night got us thinking about her other mane makeovers.

So let's reminisce, shall we?


Is there one you prefer over the others? Or is choosing just too tough because, let's face it, even without hair she'd still look fabulous?