Polo, posh dinner in line for royals in LA
LOS ANGELES, July 9 (UPI) -- Fine weather was forecast Saturday for a polo match north of Los Angeles where British Prince William was to mount up as his new wife Catherine watched.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge arrived in Los Angeles Friday afternoon from a nine-day visit to Canada for a three-day stay largely to promote British arts and enterprises.
At an evening reception Friday, the prince told guests most of the questions he got about the couple's elaborate wedding two months ago were from men were about the Aston Martin car he drove afterward, The Los Angeles Times said.
The prince is a Royal Air Force helicopter-rescue pilot and practiced an emergency water landing in a Canadian craft last week, but was to take up a more royal tradition by playing in the "Foundation Polo Challenge" at the Santa Barbara Polo & Racquet Club.
Kate was to present awards after the match, where the weather forecast was polo perfect -- mostly sunny with a high in the low 70s.
Saturday evening, the couple was to attend a black-tie party for the British Academy of Film and Television Arts at the Belasco Theater in Los Angeles, meant to promote British actors and crew to Hollywood executives, CNN said.
Before departing for London Sunday, the couple's agenda included a visit to a low-income Los Angeles neighborhood to tour an arts program for inner-city children.
Matthews festival rocks Chicago South Side
CHICAGO, July 9 (UPI) -- Organizers say nearly 30,000 fans turned out for the opening of The Dave Matthews Band Caravan on Chicago's far South Side Friday.
The music festival runs through Sunday at the old U.S. Steel plant site along Lake Michigan and is expected to draw nearly 100,000 people, making in the biggest entertainment event on the South Side since the 1933 Worlds Fair, the Chicago Sun Times said.
Matthews and more than 30 other bands were on the bill for the Caravan, including Friday's performances by the Drive By Truckers and Ray Lamontage. Matthews himself played a three-hour set on one of the venue's three stages.
The festival was more than a music event. It was a christening of sorts for Chicago's Lakeside Development, a massive real estate project that will eventually turn the old steel works site into housing for 50,000 people plus retail space, a marina, and even a high school.
Developers of the ambitious project said the Caravan provided concessions jobs for some of the locals and could become an annual event.
Stage fire scrubs Rihanna show in Dallas
DALLAS, July 9 (UPI) -- Rihanna assured her fans in Dallas she would be back some day after a small fire brought a premature end to Friday night's concert.
A curtain caught fire at the American Airlines Center, sending fans to the exits but causing no injuries, KXAS-TV in Dallas reported Saturday.
The blaze was out by the time firefighters arrived, but some fans said they wanted their money back, KXAS said.
Fans told WFAA-TV in Dallas-Fort Worth that Rihanna hustled off stage as stage hands tackled the flames with a fire extinguisher.
Rihanna was a trooper after the disruption. She fired off Twitter tweets joking about setting the stage on fire and expressing disappointment and disappointing her customers.
"Glad u guys are safe!!! I promise I'll be back!!!" the pop princess said. "Heading into a production meeting to find out exactly what happened!!! Keep u posted."
Nancy Grace regroups after Tot Mom verdict
LOS ANGELES, July 9 (UPI) -- Television host Nancy Grace says she still believes in the U.S. legal system despite the blockbuster acquittal of accused Florida killer Casey Anthony.
The outspoken Grace covered the disappearance of Anthony's little daughter, Caylee, along with Anthony's subsequent trial like a rug, and says she still has faith in the courts despite the not-guilty verdict.
"It's a very hard thing to digest when your justice system fails you," Grace told The Hollywood Reporter, "but … you cannot stop believing in it because it is the best system in the world."
Grace was hardly sympathetic to the seemingly callous "Tot Mom" on her HLN network show and says she has been getting some backlash for her views. But, she said, she did not expect it to affect her ratings going forward.
"I know that a lot of people hate me and say rotten things about me," Grace said. "Ratings are great, but my contract is not tied to ratings, and I do not have incentives in my contract that are ratings based."
People magazine said Grace doesn't plan to dwell on Casey Anthony too long and would begin focusing her show on new cases.
