Bruce Springsteen highest paid rock tour
LOS ANGELES, Dec. 27 (UPI) -- Rocker Bruce Springsteen and his E Street Band was the highest paid touring performer in the United States in 2003, making $156.5 million with 47 shows.
Singer Celine Dion made $108.6 million this year from live shows in a specially-built theater in Las Vegas, while the rock bands Eagles and Fleetwood Mac each made $93 million, the BBC reported.
Cher ranked fifth in earnings with $92 million, followed by Simon and Garfunkel at $87 million, Aerosmith/Kiss at $86.5 million each, Dixie Chicks at $82 million, Billy Joel/Elton John each at $69 million and Metallica at $66 million.
The tally was compiled by industry magazine Pollstar which estimates the U.S. concert business will make $2.4 billion in 2003 -- its fourth record-setting year in a row.
Kate Winslet and Sam Mendes have a boy
NEW YORK, Dec. 27 (UPI) -- Oscar-nominated actress Kate Winslet and Oscar-winning movie director Sam Mendes had a boy on Dec. 22, in New York, Sky News reported Saturday.
The baby boy, named Joe, weighed 7 pounds and 13 ounces.
Winslet is best known for her role in 1997's "Titanic," for which she was nominated for an Academy Award. She was also nominated for best supporting actress in "Sense and Sensibility" in 1995 and "Iris" in 2001.
The 38-year-old Mendes won the best director Oscar for the 1999 film "American Beauty," starring Kevin Spacey and Annette Bening.
The couple wed in a secret ceremony in the West Indies in May with only four friends present.
The 28-year-old actress has a three-year-old daughter, Mia, by her former husband, film producer Jim Threapleton, whom she divorced in 2001.
U.K.: 'Gone With the Wind' best epic
LONDON, Dec. 27 (UPI) -- "Gone With The Wind" has been voted the greatest epic of all time in a survey by Blockbuster's United Kingdom division, SkyNews reported.
The 1939 movie, starring Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh as Rhett Butler and Scarlett O'Hara, beat out "Titanic," starring Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio, in a poll of 6,500 customers for the Blockbuster video chain.
"I have no doubt we sleep through most of them, but Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without the endless hours of epic movies," said Steve Foulser, vice president of Blockbuster UK.
"Our survey demonstrates how much people still love their epics. This is why blockbusters "Gladiator" and soon-to-be-released "Troy," will always prove popular with our customers at this time every year."
"Cleopatra," starring real-life husband Richard Burton and wife Elizabeth Taylor, placed third, followed by Ben Kingsley's in "Gandhi" and "The Lord Of The Rings."
Ben Affleck's "Pearl Harbor" was voted worst epic.
Simon Cowell: 'Not a big brain'
LONDON, Dec. 27 (UPI) -- "American Idol's" judge Simon Cowell admitted he's not the biggest brain in Britain after winning $56,000 on a celebrity edition of a game show.
Colwell, who is also a judge on the British version of the singing contest reality show "American Idol," teamed with fellow "Pop Idol" judge disc jockey Neil Fox, to play "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" ITV reported.
"Obviously it would have been good to play for longer and raise more money but, unfortunately, Neil and I are not exactly the brains of Britain," Cowell said.
Cowell donated his winnings to the Battersea Dogs' Home in England while Fox donated his share of the winnings to the Princess Alice Hospice, which helped treat his father in the final weeks of his life.
