LOS ANGELES - Beach Boys founder Brian Wilson is asking for help in finding a Swedish cellist swept away in the South Asian tsunami.
Markus Sandlund, 29, of the Stockholm Strings n' Horns, performed on Wilson's Grammy-nominated "Smile" album and Wilson's recent "Smile" tour. Sandlund and his girlfriend, Sophia, went to Thailand after finishing the "Smile" tour in Australia and New Zealand, according to a statement Wednesday on Wilson's Web site.
The couple, vacationing at the Orchid Beach Resort at Khao Lak, were in the hotel pool when the enormous wave hit. Sophia was swept away and later rescued, but Sandlund has not been found.
"I have been devastated since I heard the news that Markus is missing in Thailand," said Wilson. The 62-year-old singer-songwriter said he has sent an "agent" to try to find Sandlund but has turned up no trace of him. He asked that anyone with any information contact his Web site.
"My prayers go out to all of the victims and their families and I would ask you to say a prayer for Markus' safe return," Wilson added.
Sandlund was one of 22 musicians and a dozen singers Wilson assembled to record "Smile," a 47-minute rock opera.
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On the Net:
http://www.sthlmstringsnhorns.com/
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NEW YORK - Jimi Hendrix not only had the skills to become a rock legend - he apparently had the right look as well.
A recent poll found that Hendrix had the best "guitar face" - the look guitarists get when trying to nail a high note or power chord.
Hendrix received 24 percent of the 3,000 votes cast online by the public and a poll by some 20 celebrity judges. B.B. King captured 18 percent of the vote, followed by Angus Young of AC/DC with 16 percent.
Gary Lucas, guitarist for Gods and Monsters, said he voted for Hendrix because he "channeled all the soulful ecstasy of the universe through his hands, and this was naturally mirrored in his face."
The poll by on-demand television service Mag Rack accompanied a contest to find the best amateur guitar face. Les Campbell of Nicholasville, Ky., was chosen the winner from more than 600 contestants.
In his photo, Campbell, a sound and recording engineer, showcases a classic headbanging, Fu Manchu mustache and Elvis Presley sneer - as well as a resemblance to Metallica frontman James Hetfield, according to several of the judges.
He said his entry was from his heavy-metal playing days in the 1980s with the band Jack-in-Irons.
"Guitar face is a spur of the moment thing, something you have no awareness or control over," Campbell said in a statement. "Guitar playing is... all about energy, transferring your spirit to a hungry crowd through six strings and a wall of amps. You can't help sharing what you feel with a look, whether it's serious or maybe a little silly."
Besides bragging rights, Campbell won a trip to New York to pick up his prize, a Les Paul "Black Beauty" electric guitar and case.
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NEW YORK - Mark your %&.! calendars - the Ozzy Osbourne clan will be back Jan. 17 with the final season of their reality show, MTV announced Thursday.
"The Osbournes" chronicles the lives of goth-rock star Ozzy, his wife, Sharon, and two of their children - daughter Kelly and son Jack. They first allowed MTV cameras into their Beverly Hills, Calif., home in 2002.
The hit TV series showcases the offbeat antics of the family as Ozzy and Sharon deal with the complexities of running a household - usually with a slew of obscenities.
"After three years, the MTV cameras became part of the family, documenting what is possibly the most dramatic year we have had," Sharon Osbourne said in a statement. "Though it was rough sometimes, we are truly blessed to have had this amazing experience."
The show will wrap up with 10 new episodes, MTV said.
"Since we began our journey with the Osbournes we have been through serious subjects like Sharon's cancer, Jack's rehab, Ozzy's life-threatening ATV accident and more humorous subjects like Ozzy's dental visits, the Osbournes' planning a family vacation, and more dog drama then I can remember," said MTV executive Lois Curren.
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KEY WEST, Fla. - Former Philadelphia 76ers President Pat Croce wielded a replica pirate's sword for "ribbon slashing" festivities to open his pirate museum in the Florida Keys.
Now a "life" coach as host of the daily TV reality show "Pat Croce: Moving In," part-time Key West resident Croce is a passionate collector of pirate memorabilia who says he uses a pirate's philosophy to steer his business ventures.
"It's that whole adventure attitude: go at life with an attack mode in mind, no holds barred, take no prisoners and 'carpe diem' - seize the day," Croce said Wednesday. "I did it with the Sixers' business; we went from worst to first, just with that attack mode in mind."
The Pirate Soul museum features nearly 500 artifacts, many from Croce's private collection, depicting piracy's golden age from 1690 to 1730. The 5,000-square-foot, $10 million museum uses audio-animatronic elements to explore the lives of notorious buccaneers such as shipmates Anne Bonny and Mary Read, and Florida Keys pirate Black Caesar.
According to Croce, museum highlights include one of the only two authenticated pirate flags in the world and the world's only authenticated pirate treasure chest, which experts have traced to Capt. Thomas Tew.
Visitors also can view the original journal of Capt. Kidd's last voyage, a blunderbuss owned by Blackbeard, a 1696 "wanted poster" for the dreaded Henry Every, centuries-old surgical and navigational instruments, and an assortment of rare pirate gold and weapons.
Besides being president, Croce was also part-owner of the 76ers basketball team.
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On the Net:
http://www.sonypictures.com/tv/shows/patcroce/index.php-
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NEW YORK - Father-daughter duo Gus and Hera McLeod couldn't row, row, row a boat on CBS' "The Amazing Race" fast enough, making them the fifth team eliminated in the sixth edition of the race around the world.
Gus, 50, and Hera, 24, told The Associated Press Wednesday their downfall on the sixth leg of the race began when Hera was knocked in the head by a pivoting gate at the Heritage Rail Museum in Budapest, Hungary. All seven teams were gathered at the barrier in a melee to reach the next clue.
"I think I was in a state of shock," Hera told the AP. "I was dizzy and disoriented. And then we pulled the last number. All I could think was that we're in trouble."
Fellow competitor and model Freddy Holliday, who was also hit, accused the other remaining teams of pulling the metal gate down on him and threatened "one of you I will break in half."
"I was really upset," said Gus. "Here my daughter might have a concussion and Freddy is screaming about getting his face cut. I guess that's an incident for a model."
At the next challenge, the McLeods were the only team to choose paddling a boat on the Danube River instead of scoring a goal against a Hungarian water polo player.
"We had no idea that the national team was so terrible," said Hera. "They didn't block one shot. If I would have known that, I would've said, 'Dad, put a Speedo on. We're playing water polo.'"
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On the Net:
http://www.cbs.com/primetime/amazing-race6/
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LONDON - Director Oliver Stone said he was surprised by the critical reaction to his historical epic "Alexander" - and put the blame on the fundamentalist morality in some parts of the United States.
Critics lambasted the movie, which stars Irish actor Colin Farrell, and some conservative groups condemned Stone's depiction of the Macedonian conqueror's sexuality.
"I was quite taken aback by the controversy and fierceness of the reviews about a character we don't really know too much about," Stone told reporters in London Wednesday before the film's British premiere.
"I operate on my passion and sometimes I'm naive, I don't think about the consequences," he said.
Stone said the commercial failure of "Alexander" in the United States could be linked to "a raging fundamentalism in morality."
"From day one audiences didn't show up," he said. "They didn't even read the reviews in the South because the media was using the words, 'Alex the gay.' As a result you can bet that they thought, 'We're not going to see a film about a military leader that has got something wrong with him.'"
Stone, director of "Platoon," "JFK" and "Natural Born Killers," said "Alexander" was "the epic of my life."
"I'm very happy with the result and I think Colin's work is extraordinary," he said. "He's had some tough reviews but he'll ride it out."
Said Farrell: "If Oliver ever wanted to work with me again I would do it in a heartbeat."
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LONDON - "Small Island," Andrea Levy's saga of Jamaican immigrants in postwar Britain, was named novel of the year in the Whitbread Book Awards.
The book was selected from a shortlist that included Louis de Bernieres' "Birds Without Wings" and Alan Hollinghurst's Booker Prize-winner, "The Line of Beauty."
"What could have been a didactic or preachy prospect turns out to be hilarious, moving, humane and eye-popping. It's hard to think of anybody not enjoying it," the judges said of Levy's book, which has already won the Orange prize for fiction by women.
Winners were announced Wednesday in each of the Whitbread awards' five categories - novel, first novel, biography, poetry and children's book. Each receives $9,500.
One of the five, chosen by a judging panel that includes actor Hugh Grant, will win the $58,000 book of the year prize on Jan. 25.
Bookmakers made Levy the favorite to take the overall prize. The other finalists are Susan Fletcher's "Eve Green," which won the first novel prize; John Guy's biography "My Heart Is My Own: The Life of Mary Queen of Scots"; Geraldine McCaughrean's children's story "Not the End of the World"; and Michael Symmons Roberts' poetry volume "Corpus."
The Whitbread awards were established in 1971 and are Britain's longest-running literary competition. They are open to residents of Britain and the Republic of Ireland.
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On the Net:
http://www.whitbread-bookawards.co.uk/
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LONDON - Queen Elizabeth II got a glimpse of tsunami relief efforts, visiting a telephone call center set up to help families locate missing loved ones.
The queen was accompanied Wednesday by her husband, Prince Philip. She met some of the 400 volunteers who have worked since Dec. 26 logging details of missing people at the Metropolitan Police center in north London.
"She said she was impressed with the hard work of all the officers and volunteers and thanked them for all they were doing," said Detective Chief Superintendent Nick Bracken, one of the police officers in charge of the center, which has received thousands of calls from Britons worried about relatives in the disaster region.
The queen - dressed in black to mourn the recent death of Sir Angus Ogilvy, husband of her cousin Princess Alexandra - also saw facilities where police arranged tests of DNA and dental records to help identify British victims.
Forty-one Britons have been confirmed dead in the disaster, and another 159 are listed as missing.
Buckingham Palace has said the queen has made a substantial donation to charities involved in disaster relief.
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NEW YORK - Now that she's written one book, Catherine Crier's got the itch.
The Court TV host, author of "The Case Against Lawyers," says she has three more books in the works. The first will be ready in a few months, but she says its topic is a secret.
Her network threw her a swanky party at Manhattan's Four Seasons restaurant Wednesday, celebrating the fifth anniversary of her daily program, "Catherine Crier Live," Court TV's signature show.
Writer Dominick Dunne was there, and NBC's Matt Lauer popped by to offer his best wishes.
A former Texas judge and district attorney, Crier worked at CNN, ABC and Fox News Channel before coming to Court TV. She said she's found a comfortable home that allows her to discuss the legal and political issues that interest her.
"This is an organization that stands behind you and gives you freedom," she said. "It really has given me the reins to let me do the things that make me feel valuable to the industry, to the public. If you can't have that, why not go to Montana and raise horses?"
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