The Word

Newcastle Herald

Saturday May 10, 2008

with Amy Edwards and Anita Beaumont

'He was so, like, different. He was a shy boy. He didn't have any money.'

- Singer Cher, who says she once dated Tom Cruise.

WHAT A BALL ... GOWN

LOOK OF THE WEEK

NAOMI WATTS

DOING her best Marilyn Monroe impersonation,

Aussie actress and mother of one Naomi Watts

arrives at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in

New York.

MAGGIE GYLLENHAAL

GYLLENHAAL goes gorgeous: The

actress arrives in a beautiful frock

at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Costume Institute Gala in New York

City on May 5.

KATIE HOLMES

A KNOWN fan of red, Holmes steps out

in this lovely frock. Unfortunately, the footwear

doesn't work. Yo Holmes, give Elvis

his blue suede shoes back. She is at the

Metropolitan Museum of Art.

IVANKA TRUMP

TRUMP tries Grecian goddess instead

of a work suit and looks great.

She is at the Metropolitan Museum

of Art on May 5.

EMMY ROSSUM

SEXY, sophisticated and stylish, Rossum

nails the perfect red carpet look.

She is at the Metropolitan Museum of

Art Costume Institute Gala.

MOLLY SIMS

SIMS looks red hot in yellow at

the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

What about Bob?

BINDI Irwin will be able

to deal with the death of

her famous father better

than her younger

brother Bob, says

Lorna Luft, who was

a teenager when she

lost her mother, Judy

Garland.

Luft, whose father

was Garland's third

husband, Sid Luft,

was just 16 when her

screen legend mother

died of an overdose in

London in 1969. She has

lived her life in her

mother's shadow and says

she knows what the Irwin

children will go through.

'I think Bindi Irwin has an amazing

legacy,' Luft said.

'She will grow up and everybody will ask her the

same questions when they interview her as they ask

me - about legacies and shadows.

'I think Bindi Irwin will be fine because her

mother seems incredibly grounded and she knew

what her dad was about.'

But Luft said Bob, who was not yet three when his father

was killed by a stingray barb to the heart in 2006,

would struggle more with the loss as he grows up.

'The one person that I'm sure will feel more of a

loss is [Bindi's] brother, because he was so little,'

she said. 'So he has really nothing to go on except

for a lot of the footage, and that's how he will get

to know his dad. I think he's going to have a tough

time.'

Luft is in Australia for a series of performances

showcasing her album Songs My Mother Taught Me.

She will perform at Newcastle's Civic Theatre on

June 16.

What's cooking?

AS 1233 ABC Newcastle calls on entries for

this year's music awards, former winners Fish

Fry are making noises of their own.

The jive, jazz, swing and R&B exponents

won the jazz category of the ABC music

awards in 2003 and 2004.

Fish Fry, who will be at Wandin Valley Estate

for the Lovedale Long Lunch next weekend,

will perform a concert in Newcastle at

Souths Leagues Club from 8pm tonight.

The Newcastle-based musos have been

stacking dance floors throughout the country

since 1993.

They have performed regularly at music

festivals throughout the state, and have supported

greats such as Shirley Bassey, Michael

Crawford, James Morrison and Don Burrows.

The group's third album, Platter, featuring

a mixture of original tunes and rare classics,

is available now and includes the band's

award-winning songs from the 1233 ABC Music

Awards.

Q&A

QUESTION TIME

MARCUS WESTBURY

WRITER, FESTIVAL DIRECTOR AND

TV SERIES CREATOR.

NEWCASTLE-BRED Marcus

Westbury is about to return

to the region's airwaves for a

guest weekend shift at 1233

Newcastle.

Lucky for him, really, given

that his usual weekend activities

are not working out too

well.

'I tend to spend them reading,

watching sport on TV and

occasionally making plans for

the world's most indefinitely

delayed wedding,' he said.

'I also had a pretty good

vegie garden for a while there

until possums and rats ate it,

which pretty much crushed

my will to garden.'

Westbury, who attended

Jesmond High School, worked

as a producer at 1233 ABC

Newcastle about 10 years ago.

He is now based in Melbourne,

where he created

the three-part TV series Not

Quite Art for the ABC, which

screened in October 2007.

Westbury is a founder of

Newcastle's This Is Not Art

Festival and the artistic

director of Melbourne's New

Wave Festival.

He will be on air at 1233

Newcastle next Saturday, May

17, from 10am to noon.

WE HEARD JENNIFER

HAWKINS STOLE YOUR

LIMELIGHT AT THE LOGIES

THIS YEAR. DID YOU TELL

HER TO BACK OFF?

Yes, Our Jen and I ended up

in fisticuffs on the red carpet.

Actually, that's a total lie.

I'm D-list and she's A-list so I

have never actually met her,

but I have been in the same

room.

WERE YOU CHUFFED BY THE

RESPONSE TO NOT QUITE

ART?

Very happy! I felt a lot like

I was a TV work experience

guy rather than an actual

writer and presenter so I was

shocked that it turned out

well. It was the most successful

thing that the ABC did in

that timeslot all year.

WHAT'S THE PLAN FOR YOUR

SHIFT AT 1233 NEWCASTLE?

Try really hard not to stuff it

up so badly that they never let

me come back.

WHAT PROJECT ARE YOU

WORKING ON AT THE

MOMENT?

I'm working on a book and

another TV series which I'll

be filming in July. I'm also

doing a project for the ABC

where I'm taking on Olympic

athletes at sports like pole

vault, gymnastics, rowing and

shooting, and recording it for

radio and the web. Basically,

I'm humiliating myself on behalf

of every unfit bloke who

has ever sat in front of the

telly during the Olympics and

said 'how hard can that be?'

BBQ STOPPERS

* HIT series Underbelly

concluded on Wednesday

night after 13 savage and steamy

episodes. But trainspotters

won't have to wait long to get

another fix from the Melbourne

underworld. Two of the characters

portrayed in the show, Mick Gatto

and Tony Mokbel, will be in the news

in coming weeks. Gatto is in Jeff

Fenech's corner as the Marrickville

Mauler prepares for a rematch

with his great foe Azumah Nelson.

Greece's Justice Minister has

approved the extradition of Tony

Mokbel within the next fortnight.

Mokbel has been sentenced

in absentia to 12 years in

the big house for cocaine

smuggling. He is also

wanted for the murder

of shonks Lewis Moran and

Michael Marshall.

HATCHES

The Office's Angela Kinsey has

given birth to a baby girl. The

actress, who plays Angela in

the American version of the

show, and her hubby Warren

Lieberstein, welcomed baby

Isabel Ruby last weekend.

FRIENDS and family of Jamie

Lynn Spears (including big

sis Britney) have celebrated the

17-year-old's impending motherhood

with a baby shower. A

party of 30 guests gathered

for the ladies-only affair at the

Spears family's Serenity mansion

in Kentwood, LA.

MATCHES

HOLLYWOOD screen beauty Scarlett

Johansson is to marry Canadian

boyfriend Ryan Reynolds after a year-long

relationship. Johansson, 23, the star of The

Nanny Diaries, Lost In Translation and Match

Point, is said to be 'thrilled' about the

engagement. No wedding date has been

set but Johansson was pictured this week

wearing her engagement ring. Reynolds,

31, films include Blade Trinity and

Definitely Maybe.

TOM Cruise has returned to the

Oprah Winfrey show and talked

about his love for Katie

Holmes. However, this time

he was denying marital

problems instead of

jumping on the couch

to prove his passion

for the young actress.

'That's laughable to me,'

Cruise said when Winfrey

told him there was speculation

that 'what you and Katie have

is not real'.

AUSSIE Dannii Minogue says

she is ready for romance if she can

find a boyfriend willing to put up with

her jobs hosting TV shows Australia's Got

Talent and the X Factor in London. 'I'd love to meet

someone,' said Minogue, who split from racing car

driver Jacques Villeneuve in 2001.

FRACTURES

PEACHES Geldof, the wildchild

daughter of Sir Bob

Geldof and Paula Yates,

has been caught on

camera allegedly buying

drugs. The 19-year-old,

who last year became

'the face' of Australian

fashion chain Dotti,

reportedly has been filmed

handing a drug dealer #190

($402) in cash and saying: 'I'm

going to need Valium tomorrow

after this.' British tabloid News of the

World said police would question Peaches, whose

mother died of a heroin overdose eight years ago

following the death of her lover and INXS frontman

Michael Hutchence, about the video.

AVRIL Lavigne has laryngitis and has postponed

shows on her US tour. The 23-year-old singer,

whose hits include Complicated and Girlfriend, put

off performances in Los Angeles and Anaheim, California.

She was also supposed to perform in Santa

Barbara, San Jose and Washington.

PATCHES

A SMILING Britney Spears

left a Los Angeles court this

week after winning the right to

spend more time with her two

children. The singer, 26, did not

comment following a closed

hearing where her lawyers

were believed to have asked

for increased visitation with her

sons, Sean Preston, 2, and Jayden

James, 1. Spears's ex-husband, Kevin

Federline, currently has legal and physical custody

of the children. Spears's visitation rights were restricted

amid spiralling personal problems and fears

for her mental health. However, the pop star appears

to have been getting her life back on track in recent

months.

TOP 10 NEWSMAKERS

THIS WEEK LAST WEEK

1 BRIAN SMITH 3

2 MORRIS IEMMA 5

3 DANNY BUDERUS 1

4 KURT GIDLEY 2

5 KEVIN RUDD 4

6 MICHAEL COSTA -

7 BEN CROSS 9

8 DARREN LOCKYER -

9 WAYNE BENNETT -

10 JOHNATHAN THURSTON 7

© 2008 Newcastle Herald

Back to News Index | Back to Home