LOS ANGELES - Of all the classes Tommy Lee took at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln for his NBC reality show, "Tommy Lee Goes to College," the subject he really connected with was botany.
"I think I was a tree or something in a past life," the 42-year-old rocker told reporters recently, according to AP Radio. "I've always been attracted to nature. After owning several homes and landscaping them, and going to the nurseries and picking stuff out that I love, I just always have liked trees and plants and flowers.
"Call me kooky, but that's just the way it is."
Lee, who unveiled his People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals poster at a Manhattan nightclub Monday, was hesitant about doing the TV show.
"First I was like, I don't know about this. This is kind of crazy. And then once the location came together and it was like middle America, Lincoln, Neb. - and me... I can just see all these crazy scenarios start poppin' up in my head," he said. "I was like, this is going to be bananas."
Lee was on campus for about a month last fall to film the program, which was endorsed by UNL officials as a way to possibly increase enrollment.
Promotional clips of the six-part series, which was to premiere Tuesday night, include shots of Lee playing drums with the Huskers marching band during halftime of last year's Baylor game at Memorial Stadium.
The Motley Crue drummer thought auditioning would be a snap.
"Drum line? I'm going to nail this," he said. "So all of a sudden, first day out there, it's around the football field, there's no like, 'Oh, you're just in.'"
Said Lee: "I hadn't read sheet music since I was in high school."
On the Net:
http://www.nbc.com/nbc/Tommy-Lee
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NEW YORK - Kathie Lee Gifford will join anchor Pat O'Brien on "The Insider" next month as a special correspondent for the syndicated entertainment-magazine show.
Beginning Sept. 12, Gifford will appear at least two days a week to cover "big name celebrity interviews and the Broadway beat," Paramount Domestic Television announced Monday.
Gifford was co-host of the syndicated "Live With Regis & Kathie Lee" with Regis Philbin for 15 years. She left the show five years ago.
"Being a member of 'The Insider' family gives me an opportunity to do what I know, television, with what I love, theater," Gifford, 52, said in a statement. "I'm looking forward to finally casting a well-deserved spotlight on the world of theater. And it's no secret that I love to talk, but the real secret is I love to listen, too."
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COLUMBIA, S.C. - Bill Pinkney relished the shuffle and slide steps of beach music fans on a parquet floor as they helped celebrate his 80th birthday.
"I hope that I live to be 100 years old," Pinkney, one of the original members of The Drifters, said as he blew out an "80" candle on his birthday cake Monday.
Beach music is a distinctive brand of rhythm and blues associated with shag dancing and the Carolinas.
The music the Dalzell native's band helped launch is South Carolina's official "popular music." The shag is the state's dance.
Bringing people together is the enduring thing about this music, said Pinkney.
"A lot of people have come up to me and said, 'Bill, it's your music that kept me and my wife together' or 'we got married on your music because of such and such a song. And we're still together,'" he said.
The Drifters' hits include "Money Honey," "Honey Love," "Under the Boardwalk" and "Save the Last Dance for Me."
Pinkney left the band in 1958 in a rift over cash.
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MINNEAPOLIS - A public radio station in Kentucky has reversed its decision to cancel Garrison Keillor's "The Writer's Almanac" over concerns about offensive content, after what station officials said was an outpouring of support.
WUKY-FM, based in Lexington, canceled the show in early August. The daily spot runs a few minutes and features Keillor noting important milestones in writing history, after which he typically reads a poem.
Recent poems had included words such as "breast" and the phrase "get high." Another included suggestive sexual content, according to WUKY General Manager Tom Goddell.
He said there were no listener complaints, but station officials had worried about recent moves by the Federal Communications Commission to crack down on language it considered obscene.
"There's been something like $18 million in fines in the last year," Goddell told The Associated Press. "That's enough to get our attention."
A newspaper article last week about the cancellation prompted a flood of phone calls and e-mails demanding the show stay on the air, Goddell said. He said that was enough for the station, since the FCC is charged with considering community standards in its content decisions.
"I think our community has spoken and I think this isn't an issue for them," Goddell said.
Keillor said Monday he was mystified by the initial decision to pull the show, noting the word "breast" has been used literally and figuratively by poets since Shakespeare.
"We've had a lot of response to 'The Writer's Almanac,' most of it favorable," Keillor said. "I don't think it's ever been taken off or been censored before."
Keillor added, with a laugh: "It's an honor to be taken off the air. I had to wait until I was 63. You are nobody in radio until you've been fired at least once, and I've never been fired. At least it's vindication."
"The Writer's Almanac" is part of an American Public Media syndication package that also includes Keillor's "A Prairie Home Companion" and "Marketplace," a daily business show.
On the Net:
http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/
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NEW YORK - Jason Mraz understands that smoking isn't good for the body. But that doesn't mean it's not good for his soul.
"My whole belief in life is if it makes you happy, it's good for you," the 28-year-old singer-songwriter told The Associated Press in a recent interview.
"My dad is always getting after me about smoking. It's not good for you. My dad is like 300 pounds. Well, neither is your diet. Well, who's at fault? None of us. You love popcorn, I love smoking, you and I are both happy folks," he said. "Why can't we just be happy?"
Mraz did stop - well, at least once, anyway.
"I quit smoking for a while," he said. "(But) I was on the road for too long. Deadlines, I needed to write more things, and to me, writing and smoking go hand in hand. Panic attacks, mood swings, all that (stuff)."
His sophomore album, "Mr. A-Z," was released last month.
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On the Net:
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NEW YORK - Wilmer Valderrama, who plays Fez on "That '70s Show," will host a trash-talking competition series, "Yo Momma," set to air on MTV next year.
"Wilmer is wired into our audience. His humor, style and approachable personality make this a great fit for MTV," Brian Graden, president of entertainment, said in a recent statement.
Adds Lois Curren, executive vice president, MTV Series Entertainment: "Wilmer joins a list of series creators/hosts that includes Ashton Kutcher, P. Diddy, Nick Cannon and many more who have found a home on MTV for their creative, genre-defining ideas."
In a four-week daily afternoon format, Valderrama, 25, will go into different neighborhoods to find the most astute trash-talkers. The top two contestants each day will compete for a cash prize and bragging rights, as well as the opportunity to move forward in the tournament-style competition.
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