February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
As he waited to take the stage for a sell-out concert at Dublin’s National Concert Hall on Sunday night, one of Ronan’s prosthetic legs broke down. For the bilateral amputee, this was a serious setback, but he kept his cool.
“The one leg just fell apart about 90 minutes before the start [of the show],” he said in a statement. “
With his spare set of “regular” prosthetics in New York, Ronan’s only other choice was to use the devices usually reserved for his equestrian activities.
“The only ones in Ireland were my riding legs,” he said. “They were rushed from Kilkenny to Dublin with no time to spare.”
The substitute legs were a foot shorter than the ones the singer normally uses. But to the crowd, which included Irish President Mary McAleese, his presence had never loomed so large.
What’s in a name?
It’s been tough slogging for those poor, wee Westlife boys of late. Last year, they lost 20 percent of their “cute” factor when Brian McFadden jumped ship to launch a solo career. Then, they tossed away whatever vestiges of street credibility they had when they donned tuxedos and crooned their way through a bunch of Sinatra covers on their latest CD, “Allow Us to be Frank.” (Er, no.)
Then came the inevitable whispers that the band would go the way of the dinosaur — or is that, Boyzone — as their original fan base grew up and discovered the joys of high school and dating. But the four insist that the good times are not over, with manager Louis Walsh declaring that there’s at least one more album left in them. But now comes the cruelest blow of all: an EU judge has denied the band’s application to trademark the name Westlife. Apparently, a German tobacco company got in there first.
IrelandOnline reports that the European Court of First Instance rendered its decision in favor of the West cigarette manufacturers, on the grounds that the names “West” and “Westlife” could be easily confused by the general public. The upshot is that the band can continue to put its name on merchandise, but they would not have exclusive rights to the name.
Ooops! She did it again
Back in the days when they were just annoyingly precocious Mouseketeers, Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera were best buddies, the kind who traded “Hello Kitty” lipgloss and giggled over that cute boy, Justin Timberlake. Fast-forward a decade or so, and the girls were now rival pop tarts, duking it out in the gossip columns and on the record charts, wearing the kind of outfits that no doubt have “Uncle Walt” Disney spinning in his cryogenic tank. Then came the infamous MTV Video Music Awards, when Brit and Chris vamped it up (to put it politely) with Madonna. One would think that they’d kiss and make up, right?
Wrong.
The twenty something singers, who are each half Irish, are still at odds, this time over issues of etiquette. Wedding etiquette, to be precise. It seems that bride-to-be Christina is still miffed over not being invited to Britney’s wedding to her babydaddy, Kevin Federline. It sounds like someone really wanted one of those pink velour tracksuits embroidered with “Hot Mama” that Brit gave out at her bridal shower.
“There’s no way she’s getting an invite to my wedding,” Christina sniffed to Contactmusic.com. “She snubbed me, so I’m going to snub her, too.” Which might be a bit of “Dirrty” pool, but the smell of the orange blossoms should take care of that.
In more Britney news, the singer was, like, bummed when her idol, Madonna, turned down the chance to be godmother to the newest little Federline production, who’s due to make an appearance at the end of the year. According to London’s Sun newspaper, the Material Girl has her hands full with, um, other stuff.
“Britney was so disappointed,” a snitch told the paper. “But [she] told Madonna she understands.”
The good, the bad, and the . . .
It’s an immutable law of celebrity that those with spotless reputations are secretly falling all over themselves to be “bad,” while the fallen angel types are eager to shine up heir halos.
This phenomenon is most noticeable among young actresses, for whom outward virtue can spell career death — or, even worse, consignment to the kiddie feature ghetto. As soon as these girls are old enough to vote, they’re releasing dodgy pop CDs, club hopping and snogging Colin Farrell. (Hello, Lindsay Lohan.)
One of the later bloomers in this coming-of-age category is former “Dawson’s Creek” star Katie Holmes. The 26-year-old actress, who has achieved tabloid nirvana thanks to her blossoming romance with superstar Tom Cruise, is eager to assure the public at large that she is not as demure as she seems.
“I’m not as sweet as you think I am,” she told Giant magazine. “I’m human.”
Which is, coincidentally, exactly how Katie’s beau likes her.
“She’s an extraordinary woman,” he gushed to the TV show “Extra,” in an appearance to promote “War of the Worlds,” his upcoming movie. “I’m more than enamored.”
Also wrestling with the good girl/bad girl dilemma is everyone’s favorite ditzy-yet-wholesome blonde, “Newlyweds” star Jessica Simpson. The singer, who is married to fellow pop star Nick Lachey, is up in arms over whispers that she had a fling with Limp Bizkit front man Fred Durst.
The two were spotted at a party at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas, but Jessica’s publicist insisted, in a statement to Contactmusic.com, that proximity does not always equal propinquity. In other words, just because they were together — or, as the Las Vegas Review-Journal newspaper reported, “all over each other” — doesn’t mean they were, um, together.
“Jessica and Fred Durst have mutual friends, and were both at the event,” huffed Simpson’s spokesperson. “The rest is absolutely untrue.”
Bringing up the rear in our starlet trifecta is notorious bad girl Tara Reid, whose reputation as a hard-drinking party animal has quickly become the stuff of legend. The “American Pie” ing