Jackson's wealth getting skinny too
LOS ANGELES, Nov. 28 (UPI) -- Despite outward appearances, Michael Jackson's fortune is approaching the endangered level, the New York Times reported Friday.
The 45-year-old has debt totaling near $200 million, which comes due in several years, the newspaper said. Then, there are at least four liens on his 2,700-acre Neverland Ranch, and even the state of California laid claim to the property to force Jackson to pay his taxes.
Most of his assets are from his half ownership of the Beatles catalog, valued conservatively at $272 million.
So troubled are his finances, his advisers tried to limit his spending to $1 million a month this summer, said a person apprised of Jackson's situation who spoke on condition of anonymity.
In 1993 he settled for millions with a 13-year-old boy who claimed Jackson sexually molested him. In January, the art auction house Sotheby's sued Jackson for $1.6 million for backing out on the purchase of two 19th-century French paintings.
With each successive record costing more and earning less than the last, he is finding it increasingly difficult to maintain his lavish lifestyle, the report said.
AIDS webcast to be biggest ever
CAPE TOWN, South Africa, Nov. 28 (UPI) -- Nelson Mandela's Aids Day Concert Saturday will be the world's biggest charity event ever on the Internet, the BBC reported.
The concert will be available globally, and is free, although each song performed by stars including Queen, Bono, Ms Dynamite and Beyonce will also be downloadable for a small fee.
The concert will feature a special song, "46664 Long Walk to Freedom," by Joe Strummer, Bono and Dave Stewart.
46664 was the prison number of Nelson Mandela on Robben Island, Cape Town where he was held in captivity for 18 years.
The concert will begin at 10:30 a.m. Eastern Standard Time from Cape Town at the web site 46664.com
Among the acts are Peter Gabriel, Eurythmics, The Corrs, Jimmy Cliff and Ready D.
Casting call for 'Survivor' contestants
NEW YORK, Nov. 28 (UPI) -- CBS has started taking applications for the ninth edition of the million-dollar game "Survivor," which will air in fall 2004, Zap2it.com said Friday.
The location of the shooting has yet to be announced, but the deadline for applications is Jan. 27.
Would-be contestants must submit a three-minute videotape explaining why he or she would make a good contestant. CBS will also hold open casting calls at some of its affiliates, but those details will be announced later.
Applications and more information are available online at CBS.com.
The current edition of the game, "Survivor: Pearl Islands," attracts about 20 million viewers a week.
Lucille Ball's remains moved
NEW YORK, Nov. 28 (UPI) -- The ashes of Lucille Ball have been moved from California to her New York hometown, the New York Daily News reported Friday.
At the request of her children, Lucie Arnaz and Desi Arnaz Jr., the comedienne's urn was disinterred from a grave beside her mother, Desiree Eveline Hunt-Ball, in the Forest Lawn Cemetery in Los Angeles and moved to Jamestown, N.Y.
The town honors Ball and her husband, Desi Arnaz, every year with a Lucy-Desi Days festival in May.
"I know she's happier there, because she loved the seasons," Lucie Arnaz told friends at the Little Babyface Foundation benefit, attended by committee members Jaid Barrymore, Dylan Baker and Katherine Rothman.
