PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The mean streets of the City of Brotherly Love are once again coming to television. “Wreck Chasers,” a reality show about the city’s notoriously aggressive tow truck drivers, is shooting and is slated to premiere in late October on TLC. Production crews are following several drivers with one unidentified Philadelphia towing company, often on nights and weekends when more crashes occur, as they try to beat the competition to wrecks. Filming started in May and is expected to continue until sometime in October, Jim Kowats, the show’s executive producer, said Thursday. “They’re very colorful, they’re larger than life, they’re very Philly,” he said of the show’s soon-to-be stars. The city was chosen because of the unusual and competitive nature of its towing businesses, he said. It’s the second series focusing on the daily difficulties for Philadelphia drivers. “Parking Wars,” in its third season on the A&E cable network, features Philadelphia Parking Authority employees as they write tickets, clamp yellow locking “boots” to traffic scofflaws’ car wheels, take plenty of flak from furious drivers and generally deal with the chaos that comes with trying to park in Philadelphia. “Wreck Chasers” comes amid renewed scrutiny over Philadelphia’s long-criticized tow truck drivers, who police and lawmakers say combatively compete for business as soon as an accident comes across their scanners. Rival companies getting to a crash simultaneously can resort to blows, or worse. A driver from J & Son’s Towing is accused of shooting a competitor from Mystical Complete Auto Service in the thigh on July 19 because he thought his rival was trying to swoop in on a job, police said. Two days later, 13 cars on the J & Son’s lot were torched and Mystical’s offices were riddled with six bullets. TLC had contacted city officials about shooting “Wreck Chasers” weeks earlier, said Sharon Pinkenson of the Greater Philadelphia Film Office. Kowats said the crew profiled in the show are “dedicated, likable” people who view their work removing wrecks and clearing accident scenes as providing a service that the city doesn’t. “They do take it seriously. They’re passionate about what they do,” he said. “They see what the ambulance drivers see, what the cops see, the injuries, the fatalities. There’s a lot of emotions involved.” Philadelphia’s attempts to tame its anarchic wreck chasers have failed to stop the free-for-all. Two years ago, the city began requiring police to rotate towing jobs among 96 tow companies. Wreck chasers skirt the system, however, by monitoring police radio and even beating officers to crashes. After the July shooting, police began using laptop computers in cruisers instead of police radio to report accidents. Now they believe some of the towing companies are instead monitoring Fire Department radio calls for rescue units being dispatched to crashes. Councilman Jim Kenney has called for a suspension of the rotation system while the city reviews the licensing status of the 96 companies, including the two involved in what he called a “Wild West shootout.” Numerous complaints or violations have been lodged against 19 companies on the list, Kenney has said, while others are not properly licensed or simply changed names after losing their licenses. Some wreck chasers also have been accused of signing up unwitting drivers to contracts that commit them to expensive repairs. ? 2010 The Associated Press . All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use .
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DUBLIN (AP) — Axl Rose, it seems, needs a little more patience – and a much louder alarm clock. The 48-year-old singer of U.S. hard-rock band Guns N’ Roses irritated thousands of his Dublin fans at the 02 Arena on Wednesday night by showing up nearly an hour late – a recurring problem on his band’s European tour – and then walking off after an unruly minority in the crowd hurled water bottles on the stage. Most of the fans left, but Irish concert promoters MCD wouldn’t let Rose leave until he finished the gig. The band went back on stage an hour later to a mostly empty venue and didn’t stop playing until nearly 1 a.m. MCD and the 02 issued a joint statement criticizing Rose for having “a long history for being late on stage,” but emphasized that “no artist should be subjected to missiles and unknown substances being thrown at them.” Rose’s patience snapped after he warned the crowd to stop throwing things on stage. “Here is the deal. One more bottle up here and we go. We don’t want to go. Your choice,” he told the crowd during an abrupt break to the band’s second song, “Welcome to the Jungle.” But when introducing his other band members before a following number, up came another bottle – and off Rose went to a chorus of boos. “OK, that’s it. Good night. Have a nice evening,” he said. Politicians called on the promoters to refund tickets that cost an average of euro72 ($92). MCD declined to say whether anyone would get their money back. “Reports say that the lights came on and the security people told concertgoers to go home. Confusion reigned and thousands of fans had left by the time the band came back again on stage to complete their set,” Irish senator Michael McCarthy said. Rose is the only remaining original member of Guns N’ Roses, which was founded in Los Angeles in 1985 and achieved chart-topping successes with its first two albums, “Appetite for Destruction” in 1987 and the double-album “Use Your Illusion” in 1991. The band effectively collapsed in the mid-1990s and Rose became a Malibu semi-recluse. He re-emerged in recent years with a completely new band that, after missing a decade of production deadlines, unveiled the album “Chinese Democracy” in 2008. It has received generally positive reviews but sold poorly compared to the band’s heyday. The European tour has been marred by late starts. At the first stop Aug. 27, an open-air festival in Reading, west of London, Guns N’ Roses arrived an hour late and had their microphones and amplifiers cut off by organizers during their encore. Two nights later in the northern English city of Leeds, Guns N’ Roses again was ordered to cut its performance concert a half-hour short because of an hour-late start. The tour has 22 cities in 13 more countries to go. Such tardiness is nothing new for Rose. Guns N’ Roses kept Irish fans waiting two extra hours during its 1992 European tour. — Online: http://web.gunsnroses.com/index.jsp ? 2010 The Associated Press . All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use .
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NEW YORK (AP) — Lanvin will be the next high-fashion house to become a partner of fast-fashion retailer H&M. The joint collection, featuring womenswear and menswear, will go on sale Nov. 20 in North America and then to the rest of the world three days later. “H&M approached us to collaborate, and see if we could translate the dream we created at Lanvin to a wider audience, not just a dress for less. I have said in the past that I would never do a mass-market collection, but what intrigued me was the idea of H&M going luxury rather than Lanvin going public,” said Alber Elbaz, artistic director of Lanvin. Elbaz will oversee design with menswear designer Lucas Ossendrijver. H&M has made a habit, a fairly successful one, of joining with top fashion names for limited-edition, buzzed-about collection. Previous partners included Karl Lagerfeld and Stella McCartney. Those names, however, were generally well known to the mass-market audience; Paris-based Lanvin is much more of a fashion insider’s favorite brand. H&M will preview the collection to the public in an online film on hm.com on Nov. 1. “This has been an exceptional exercise, where two companies at opposite poles can work together because we share the same philosophy of bringing joy and beauty to men and women around the world,” Elbaz said in a statement. ? 2010 The Associated Press . All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use .
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LONDON (AP) — Physicist Stephen Hawking says God wasn’t necessary for the creation of the universe. In his new book, “The Grand Design,” the British scientist says unraveling a complex series of theories will explain the universe. The book, written with American physicist and author Leonard Mlodinow, will be published Sept. 9. In an extract published Thursday in The Times, Hawking wrote that it was “not necessary to invoke God.” “The Universe can and will create itself from nothing,” Hawking wrote. “Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the Universe exists, why we exist.” In “A Brief History of Time,” Hawking had appeared to accept the possibility of a creator, saying the discovery of a complete theory would allow humans to “know the mind of God.” ? 2010 The Associated Press . All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use .
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COPENHAGEN (AP) — Denmark’s National Gallery is displaying 40 acrylic paintings by Bob Dylan that have never before been shown to the public. Curator Kasper Monrad says the paintings in Dylan’s “Brazil Series” were specifically made for the Danish exhibition, which opens Friday. The collection includes figurative scenes from Brazilian slums, farms and beaches. The 69-year-old folk singer sketched the scenes during visits to the South American country and then painted them on canvas in a studio. Monrad said there were connections between Dylan’s music and his art. Dylan was not at Thursday’s presentation of the exhibition, which runs through Jan. 30. ? 2010 The Associated Press . All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use .
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VENICE, Italy (AP) — Vietnamese-French director Tran Anh Hung crossed cultural and linguistic borders to direct his latest film, “Norwegian Wood,” based on the cult coming-of-age Japanese novel. The Oscar-nominated director, who has taken home prizes from both Cannes and Venice, filmed the love story with an entirely Japanese cast. Tran told reporters Thursday, the day his film is premiering at the Venice Film Festival in competition for the Golden Lion, that he didn’t try to make a Japanese film – and in fact sought a set design that would not be completely familiar to Japanese audiences. “I want the Japanese viewer to have a different take and see their own decor in a different way, that it is somewhat exotic and different in their eyes,” Tran said. He called in a set designer from previous movies who would understand his aims. “Otherwise this staggered view would not have been possible with just a troupe that was completely Japanese.” The film, like the book, is set in Tokyo in the late 1960s. Watanabe, played by Kenichi Matsuyama, is a young university student struggling to choose between two women, one the girlfriend of his best friend who committed suicide, and the other self-confident and independent, representing the future. The novel by Haruki Murakami has won worldwide popularity, and many directors had approached the author to adapt it to film. More than 10 million copies of the book have been sold in Japan alone, with 2.6 million more sold in another 33 languages. Tran said he didn’t know why he was chosen, but producer Shinji Ogawa said Murakami wanted an Asian director to project the region’s aesthetic. “Obviously we did meet with Murakami. Not just once,” Tran said. Murakami made many notes on the first screen play, which Tran called “a fairly important document,” but said they were too numerous to elaborate. “After this exchange of comments and notes, Murakami said, ‘Go with the film you have in your head. What you have to do is make the most beautiful film possible.’” “Norwegian Wood” is among 22 films, plus a still-to-be announced surprise film, competing for the Golden Lion, which will be awarded Sept. 11. Tran won the Golden Lion in 1995 for “Cyclo,” which tells the hard-life tale of a young rickshaw driver, and his first film, “The Scent of Green Papaya,” took home the Camera d’Or from Cannes and was nominated for an Academy Award. “Norwegian Wood” is his fifth film. ? 2010 The Associated Press . All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use .
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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Grammy-winning rapper T.I., who is still on probation after spending time behind bars on gun charges, was arrested along with his wife on drug charges after police smelled alleged marijuana coming from their car, authorities said. The Wednesday night arrests for possession of a controlled substance occurred in West Hollywood during a traffic stop, Los Angeles sheriff’s deputy Mark Pope told The Associated Press. “Deputies smelled a strong odor of marijuana emitting from the vehicle,” the department said. “A narcotics investigation ensued” that resulted in the arrests. The department’s media office said it didn’t yet have details on which specific drug the possession charge concerned. The arrests reflect that last week of socialite Paris Hilton, whose is being investigated for felony cocaine possession after a motorcycle officer smelled pot wafting from her car. The Atlanta-based T.I., 29, whose real name is Clifford Harris Jr., and Cottle, a 36-year-old singer who sang with the 1990s group Xscape and has recently been the star of the BET reality series “The Tiny & Toya Show,” were booked at the West Hollywood sheriff’s station. Bail was set at $10,000 each. Pope said Thursday that he didn’t know if they were still being held. T.I.’s publicist declined to comment. T.I., the multiplatinum hitmaker who has a key role in the current top box office movie “Takers,” served seven months in an Arkansas federal prison and three months in a Georgia halfway house on federal weapons charges and was released in March. He is on three years’ probation. Since that case, T.I., who had spent time behind bars for drug offenses before, vowed to live a better life. He spoke to kids about the dangers of drugs and guns, and former United Nations Ambassador Andrew Young was one of his supporters. As he prepared for his most recent sentence, he starred in the MTV reality show “T.I.’s Road to Redemption: 45 Days to Go.” The father of five married Cottle in late July. “Takers,” a shoot ‘em up about an armored truck robbery that goes bad, was released last week and topped the box-office chart. In a recent interview with The Associated Press, T.I. talked about living a more positive life. “Right now, it’s all about moving forward and just acknowledging the blessing that are here today. … Just moving past the regrets of yesterday – the things that could’ve been done better,” T.I. said in a July interview. T.I., who is known as the “King of the South,” has emerged one of music’s most profitable stars over the last few years. He is working on a new album, “King Uncaged,” which may be released this year. — Associated Press Music Writer Nekesa Mumbi Moody contributed to this report. ? 2010 The Associated Press . All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use .
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AMSTERDAM (AP) — Vincent van Gogh must have been horrified when he returned from the hospital to his studio in Arles early in 1889 to find one of his favorite paintings damaged by moisture. He pressed newspaper to the canvas to protect it from further deterioration, and later rolled it up and sent it to his brother Theo in Paris. Ella Hendriks could still see traces of newsprint when she looked at “The Bedroom” under a microscope, as she picked and scraped at earlier restorations of the canvas and removed yellowing varnish that had been brushed on 80 years ago. Hendriks has completed a painstaking six-month restoration of the masterpiece, which returns to its place on the wall of the Van Gogh Museum on Friday. “The idea is to create a sort of balance, a feeling of rest,” Hendriks said of her task. The Bedroom is a familiar image. It has been reproduced in countless hotel rooms, on calendars and coffee mugs, and in art books on the Impressionists and post-impressionist period of the late 19th century. Van Gogh liked it so much he painted two copies. One now hangs in the Art Institute of Chicago. A smaller version that he made for his mother and sister is in the Musee d’Orsay in Paris. “When I saw my canvases again after my illness, what seemed to me the best was the bedroom,” the Dutch artist wrote his brother in Paris after several weeks in the hospital. But he found paint was flaking from dampness following flooding in the street outside his house while he was gone. Moisture also caused the canvas to shrink, pulling apart some paint at the edges as it dried. “It looks much fresher and brighter now,” said curator Leo Jansen. “It’s more … as Van Gogh intended it to be. It’s more peaceful.” Van Gogh painted his own bedroom in what he called the Yellow House in the southern French town of Arles, where he had fled from the squabbling artist community of Paris. It was October 1888, in the midst of a critical six months that defined him as a painter, a period in which he also painted “Sunflowers.” “He felt liberated in the south,” Jansen said in an interview. It was there that he “found those wonderful colors” and extraordinary original style. At the end of 1888 Van Gogh began suffering a series of psychotic breakdowns. In 1889 he checked himself into an asylum in Saint-Remy where he stayed a year, producing 150 paintings, among them some of his most stunning works. After he left, despair continued to stalk him, and he died in 1890 from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He was 37, and his career spanned just 10 years. The Bedroom has been restored several times, most recently in 1931 and retouched by the same man 27 years later. Successive restorers tried to retouch the cracks, each time covering up a bit more of the original paint, Hendriks said, pointing to flaw lines in the unframed work as it stood on an easel in her laboratory. After Van Gogh’s death, a layer of glue-paste and canvas was ironed onto the back of the original canvas to make it more firm – Van Gogh suggested it himself – and in 1931 this process was repeated with a wax-resin adhesive. A layer of varnish was applied to the painted surface for the first time. Over time, these actions served to dull the vibrancy of color and flatten the spacial appearance. Hendriks gently cleaned off most of the varnish with solvents. Then she scratched off microscopic layers of old overpaint with a surgical scalpel and used Japanese toothpicks to pluck out residues of varnish. She discovered two white points of light that had been painted over, apparently because the earlier restorer had misunderstood Van Gogh’s intention to show pinpoints of reflected sunlight from partially opened shutters. As she worked, she and other experts at the museum kept a blog detailing their progress, their discoveries and the choices they faced. The blog had 115,000 page views over the life of the project. Nearly one-third of the viewers were from the U.S. and another third from the Netherlands. There was no ambition to make the painting exactly as Van Gogh had painted it. “You’re always weighing up the advantages and disadvantages, what’s safest for the painting, how was the painting meant to look, what impact will it (restoration) have,” she said. And her work is reversible if ideas change. “We don’t want to retouch everything. We want to show that the painting has a history and achieve much more of a balance,” she said. “We don’t have the illusion that we should return the picture to an undamaged pristine state.” Hendriks, who has worked on restorations at the museum for 11 years, said she felt “privileged” to work on the Bedroom. “Just the fact of looking at this painting over such a long period of time, millimeter by millimeter – it was a fantastic experience.” Still, you get used to it. “I wouldn’t say that it’s intimidating. That’s the work that I do.” ? 2010 The Associated Press . All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use .
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HAMMOND, Ind. (AP) — Indiana State Police say an extra at a “Transformers 3″ production site was seriously injured during the filming of a stunt. Authorities say the “Transformers 3″ crew was filming late Wednesday in the Chicago suburb of Hammond, Ind., using several vehicles and drivers. Police say something went wrong and an object went through the windshield of a car, hitting the driver. In a statement, police said the vehicle kept going for a mile before stopping. Police did not release the driver’s name. The person was airlifted to a hospital. “Transformers 3″ crews have been filming in the Chicago area all summer. The movie stars Shia LaBeouf, Patrick Dempsey, Frances McDormand, John Malkovich and model Rosie Huntington-Whitely. ? 2010 The Associated Press . All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use .
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NEW YORK (AP) — A New York woman has sued rapper-producer Sean “Diddy” Combs, saying he fired her because of her age two decades after she helped launch his career. Fifty-one-year-old Francesca Spero filed the age discrimination lawsuit Wednesday in federal court in Manhattan. The lawsuit says the Malverne resident introduced Combs to hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons and Uptown Records after meeting Combs in 1988. It says she worked at Combs’ Bad Boy Entertainment record label as an executive for 12 years before being fired in March. The lawsuit says Spero was fired after having hip surgery and confiding to an executive that she was treated for a drug dependency relapse. A publicist for Combs says “there are many reasons why Ms. Spero is no longer employed by Bad Boy, but age discrimination is not one of them.” ? 2010 The Associated Press . All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use .
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