Powter's 'Bad Day' keeps up charts run
NEW YORK, April 20 (UPI) -- Daniel Powter's "Bad Day" ranked No. 1 Thursday on the Billboard Hot 100, Pop 100 and Hot Digital Songs charts for a fourth straight week.
Sean Paul's "Temperature" was No. 2 on the Hot 100 while T.I.'s "What You Know" was No. 3 on the Hot 100 and No. 1 for a second straight week on the R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.
LL Cool J's "Control Myself" featuring Jennifer Lopez was No. 4 on the Hot 100 followed by Natasha Bedingfield's "Unwritten" at No. 5 and No. 6 Rascal Flatts' "What Hurts the Most," which chalked up its fifth week atop the Hot Country Songs chart.
James Blunt's "You're Beautiful" fell to No. 7 on the Hot 100, but held at No. 1 on the Adult Contemporary chart for a second week.
Mary J. Blige's "Be Without You" was the Hot 100's No. 8 single, the Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Dani California" was No. 9 and the Top 10 was filled out with Dem Franchize Boyz' "Lean Wit It, Rock Wit It" featuring Lil Peanut & Charlay.
The Hot Ringtones chart was led a third week by Bubba Sparxxx' "Ms. New Booty" featuring Ying Yang Twins and Mr. ColliPark, Anais' "Lo Que Son Las Cosas" ruled the Hot Latin Songs chart for a third week and Godsmack's "Speak" was No. 1 for a fifth week on the Mainstream Rock chart.
Cannes announces 19 film competitors
CANNES, France, April 20 (UPI) -- Richard Linklater's "Fast Food Nation" Thursday was named one of 19 films to compete during France's 59th Cannes Film Festival.
In addition to Linklater's film starring Patricia Arquette, Ethan Hawke and Greg Kinnear, other U.S. contestants include Richard Kelly's "Southland Tales," starring the Rock, Seann William Scott, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Mandy Moore; and Sofia Coppola's "Marie-Antoinette," starring Kirsten Dunst and Jason Schwartzman, The Hollywood Reporter said.
Also competing for the top Palm d'Or prize will be "Babel" from Mexican director Alejandro Gonzalez and starring Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett and Gael Garcia Bernal.
Britain will be represented by director Andrea Arnold's "Red Road" starring Natalie Press and Ken Loach's "The Wind That Shakes the Barley."
Only one Asian film was chosen, Chinese director Ye Lou's "Summer Palace."
The festival opens May 17 with the world premiere of Ron Howard's "The Da Vinci Code."
Rapper skips court hearing for funeral
NOVI, Mich., April 20 (UPI) -- A district judge in the Detroit suburb of Novi has issued a warrant for a D12 rapper who missed a court date to attend the funeral of his bandmate Proof.
Swift, whose real name is Ondre Moore, was an honorary pallbearer for the funeral of Proof and missed his Wednesday court date for an alleged probation violation, the Detroit News reported Thursday.
Judge Brian MacKenzie had moved the hearing from morning to afternoon to try and accommodate the rapper, the newspaper noted.
While acknowledging the importance of attending a funeral, MacKenzie said "there is a requirement that he make some effort to comply with a court order. There's been no effort."
Swift is accused of failing court-ordered drug tests last week, the News said. He had been ordered to remain sober after pleading guilty in October to a charge of operating a vehicle while visibly impaired.
He could be sentenced to 93 days in jail if convicted of the probation violation.
FCC mounts radio payola probe
WASHINGTON, April 20 (UPI) -- The Federal Communications Commission has launched the biggest federal investigation into U.S. radio corruption since the congressional payola hearings of 1960.
The FCC is investigating whether officials at Clear Channel Communications Inc., CBS Radio Inc., Entercom Communications Corp. and Citadel Broadcasting Corp. took cash and gifts in exchange for playing songs by certain artists, sources told Thursday's Los Angeles Times.
The radio groups could face sanctions ranging from fines to the loss of broadcast licenses if payola allegations are proven, the newspaper noted.
The FCC refused to comment on the investigation and reps for the radio stations could not be reached for comment, the Times said.
New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer has been investigating pay-for-play violations since 2004 and currently has a suit pending against Entercom. Spitzer has reportedly shared his evidence with the FCC.
The payola laws came out of the 1960 pay-for-play congressional hearings, which buried the career of disc jockey Alan Freed.
