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Artie Shaw, Swing era icon, dies at 94

NEWBURY PARK, Calif., Dec. 31 (UPI) -- Artie Shaw, an innovative clarinetist and prominent Swing era bandleader, has died at the age of 94, the Los Angeles Times reported Friday.

The cause of his death Thursday at his California home was not disclosed.

Born Arthur Jacob Arshawsky, Shaw scored his first hit in 1938 with Cole Porter's "Begin the Beguine."

"He was a real master of the clarinet, virtually incomparable in the beauty of his tone and unique in his flawless control," said composer Gunther Schuller, who has written extensively about jazz.

Despite the decline of Swing music, he lived to see later generations recognize and embrace his genius.

Reissues of his recordings continued to sell well and a 2003 retrospective album, the 95-track "Self Portrait," was released by Bluebird/BMG and nominated for a Grammy as the best historical album.

Besides his musical talents, he was often in the public eye for his eight marriages, all of which ended in divorce, including nuptials with Hollywood legends Ava Gardner and Lana Turner.

Court strips Anna Nicole of inheritance

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- A U.S. appeals court has overturned a lower court's decision to give Anna Nicole Smith $88.5 million of her late billionaire husband's fortune.

The former stripper and Playboy playmate had won that amount from a Texas judge in 2002, despite opposition from one of the sons of J. Howard Marshall II after lawyers argued he was his father's sole heir, E! Online reported.

A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Thursday Judge David Carter had no authority to overturn a Texas probate court's decision giving the son, E. Pierce Marshall, his father's estate.

In 1994 Smith, then 26 and a stripper, married the 80-year-old Marshall. He died 14 months later but not before pledging his love for the buxom blonde, her lawyers argued.

The decision is a second major setback for Smith: In 2000 a federal bankruptcy judge awarded her a massive $474 million chunk of her late husband's estate, a ruling that was overturned within months.

Feds say, 'Pay My Fine' to Pimp My Ride

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- Federal authorities have fined a California car shop made famous by MTV's "Pimp My Ride" show for disabling or removing safety equipment.

The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration said West Coast Customs and another TV customizer, Unique Autosports of Uniondale, N.Y., are facing fines for disabling or removing safety equipment from vehicles as part of the overhaul work they do, Zap2it.com reported Friday.

The NHTSA fines are part of a crackdown on illegal customization.

The NHTSA slapped a $16,000 fine on "Pimp My Ride," which follows the Inglewood, Calif., crew of West Coast Customs as they turn decrepit vehicles into high-glitz, rolling entertainment platforms.

The $16,000 fine was for removing air bags to install video monitors in the steering column of some cars.

"It's not only a bad idea to disable the air bag, it's against the law," agency spokesman Rae Tyson told The New York Times." If you have a DVD player there instead of an air bag, it's not going to protect you in a crash."

Paris Hilton misses opening of club

ORLANDO, Fla., Dec. 31 (UPI) -- Patrons of an Orlando, Fla., club who had come expecting to see Paris Hilton got only regrets when it turned out she had missed her flight from Switzerland.

Club Paris owner Fred Khalilian, who had promised that the hotel heiress and entertainer would personally unveil the new nightspot, had to give the bad news to more than 200 VIP partygoers, the Orlando Sentinel reported Friday.

Instead Nicky Hilton substituted for her sister.

"She's so upset that she isn't here," Nicky Hilton told the crowd of Orlando politicians, lawyers and assorted hipsters.

Celebrity hounds had to settle for Catherine Bach, the original Daisy Duke from the Dukes of Hazzard TV show and boy band impresario Lou Pearlman.