Morning Briefing:
Katrina spares MTV: Choosing instead to head toward New Orleans, Hurricane Katrina did little to interrupt the MTV Video Music Awards Sunday night in Miami. The weekend of showbiz parties and free swag giveaways wasn't hampered much by the storm, and the awards show on Sunday night went off without a weather-related hitch, though it was a bit more subdued than normal. Green Day dominated the show, picking up seven awards, while rapper Kanye West won best male video for "Jesus Walks," and Kelly Clarkson of "American Idol" fame nabbed the best female video award for "Since U Been Gone." (AP, N.Y. Daily News)
Suge shot: The awards ceremony may have gone on, but not everybody dodged bullets in Miami over the weekend. Rap mogul Marion Suge Knight was shot in the thigh during Kanye West's awards show party at the Shore Club. Witnesses say a man walked up to the VIP table where Knight was sitting and opened fire. In the ensuing chaos, the shooter was able to get away, and police say no one is talking. "We don't have any physical description. We don't know how many subjects were involved, which is mind boggling, with all those people around," a police spokesman said. The police are following up several versions of what might have happened, including the possibility that Knight actually shot himself. Knight, whose label Death Row Records helped launch Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre and Tupac Shakur -- and whose legacy of violence includes rumors linking him to the murder of rapper Notorious B.I.G. -- is due to undergo surgery to remove the bullet and repair a broken bone. (AP, N.Y. Daily News)
Maybe he wants a part in "Glitter 2": In yet more VMA-related news, the awards show's many and varied pre-parties also provided perfect cover for Eddie Murphy to pursue Mariah Carey. After leaving the Shore party where Suge was shot, Murphy invited the singer to come meet him at a club with Quincy Jones and Ice-T. The two later went out through a back door and drove off to a nearby hotel. (Rush & Molloy)
Also:
The always-endearing Axl Rose is being sued by his former band mates, again. The monosyllabic duo Slash and Duff filed suit against Rose last year for claiming ownership over the group's assets, and now say he has named himself sole administrator of the band's U.S. music rights. The suit says Rose has been paid $500,000 a year for the music rights, an amount Rose's lawyer chalks up to a clerical error. ... Britney Spears has apparently passed the happy-hormones stage of pregnancy. Last week, she went to the set of the Nickelodeon show her little sister Jamie Lynn co-hosts, "Zoey 101," to bawl out the other host, 13-year-old Alexa Nikolas -- and Britney reduced the girl to tears. ... Robert Downey Jr. was married to his longtime girlfriend Susan Levin at a ceremony in the Hamptons over the weekend. Keanu Reeves, Billy Joel and Sting were all on hand on witness. ... Chris Farley got a posthumous star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Friday. The "Saturday Night Live" comedian, who died of an overdose of morphine and cocaine in 1997, was honored at a small ceremony of friends, family and former colleagues. Chris Rock, who worked with Farley on "SNL," said, "I think every fat comedian owes him 80 bucks that's working today." ... The newest lead in the search for Olivia Newton-John's boyfriend: Crew of the fishing boat that Patrick McDermott was last seen on now say he went missing at some point while the vessel was still at sea. The boat's captain still claims no one realized McDermott was gone until long after the ship had returned to port.
Money Quotes:
Oasis songwriter Noel Gallagher on the band's influence on rock music: "We were the first people to come out and say, 'The world's a great place, life is for living. Forget grunge music. Get a pint of Guinness down your neck, and pick that guitar up.'" (Billboard) "The Brothers Grimm" director Terry Gilliam on what he thinks of his contemporaries: "I was the perfect guy to do 'Harry Potter.' I remember leaving the meeting, getting in my car, and driving for about two hours along Mulholland Drive just so angry. I mean, Chris Columbus' versions are terrible. Just dull. Pedestrian ... I saw 'War of the Worlds' and I thought, Steven Spielberg is a man who makes brilliant scenes but can't make a movie anymore." (Page Six)
Turn On:
A special two-hour series debut of "Prison Break" airs at 8 p.m. EDT on Fox. Also, see "Cinderella Man" stars Russell Crowe and Paul Giamatti along with director Ron Howard as they sit down to talk with "Charlie Rose" (PBS, check local listings).
-- Scott Lamb
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