Morning Report - News from Dec. 28, 1999

POP/ROCK

Rock Singers, Golden Fingers: Steep ticket prices (an average of $110) kept the Rolling Stones atop the list of 1999’s highest-grossing North American concert tours, with the venerable Brit rock band grossing $64.7 million in just 34 shows, fewer performances than given by any of the next seven top-grossing acts. The other Top 10 tours, according to an annual industry audit by Pollstar magazine: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band ($61.4 million in 54 shows), ‘N Sync ($51.5 million, 121 shows), the Dave Matthews Band ($48.5 million, 62 shows), Shania Twain ($40.8 million, 62 shows), Cher ($37.7 million, 57 shows), the Backstreet Boys ($37.1 million, 56 shows), Elton John ($32.5 million, 58 shows), George Strait’s Country Music Festival ($32.4 million, 17 shows) and Bette Midler ($31.7 million, 34 shows).

Family Feuds: Rap artist Eminem, already facing a $10-million defamation of character suit filed against him in September by his mother after he made remarks about her in the press, is now having a public feud with another family member. His grandmother, Betty Kresin, is upset with his plans for an upcoming album to include a rap tape he made 13 years ago with his uncle, Ronnie Polkingharn, who died after an accidental shooting in 1991. “It gives me the creeps to think about it,” Kresin told the Detroit News. “I will not let my grandson destroy my dead son with this garbage. He’s a bitter boy with sad songs who wants to make fame. Ronnie was a godly person.” Kresin added that since becoming famous, her grandson has “changed for the worse. He talks filthy to me and is angry and disrespectful.” Eminem’s debut album, “The Slim Shady LP,” has sold more than 3 million copies.

TELEVISION

Master of the Marriage Domain: Jerry Seinfeld, whose television character had a phobic fear of commitment, married 28-year-old Jessica Sklar on Saturday evening in a traditional Jewish ceremony attended by close friends and family. Seinfeld, 45, and his bride wrote their own vows for the ceremony in New York, and comedian George Wallace was best man. Seinfeld’s former sitcom co-stars--Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jason Alexander and Michael Richards--did not attend. The groom--who eluded the press camped outside his apartment building by using a decoy limousine--donned a traditional black tux and bow tie, while Sklar wore an ivory satin slip dress designed by her boss, Tommy Hilfiger (she works in his public relations department). There was no word on where the couple--who met last year just weeks after Sklar married Broadway producer Eric Nederlander, from whom she was soon divorced--were spending their honeymoon. They reportedly plan to live in Seinfeld’s $6-million Central Park West apartment.

Cyber Moves: CBS stations including KCBS-TV have picked up “The Cindy Margolis Show,” a syndicated late-night weekend talk show to be hosted by the Internet personality dubbed by the Guinness Book of World Records as the “Most Downloaded Woman in the World.” The Miami Beach-based show--aimed at a young party-oriented audience--will premiere in the fall of 2000. Meanwhile, Paramount Pictures is at work on a big-screen action movie about another cyber personality, the fictional video game character Lara Croft.

QUICK TAKES

Eddie Murphy’s wife, Nicole, gave birth to the couple’s fourth child, daughter Zola Ivy, on Christmas Eve. The couple’s other children are 10, 7 and 5. . . . The Sci-Fi Network has picked up all 13 episodes of the short-lived 1998 ABC series “Prey,” starring “Will & Grace’s” Debra Messing, to be shown Sundays at 5 and 8 p.m. starting Jan. 9. . . . KNBC-TV will premiere “The Ainsley Harriott Show,” an entertainment-talk-cooking show hosted by the popular British personality, on Jan. 10, airing Mondays through Fridays at noon. . . . Accompanied by his former flame, Gwyneth Paltrow, actor Ben Affleck slipped quietly into a Massachusetts courtroom last week to pay $135 in traffic fines. Affleck was pulled over for speeding Aug. 11 while on his way to see Paltrow, who was performing at the Williamstown Theater Festival, authorities said. . . . KRLA-AM (1110) host Kenny “Mr. Traffic” Morse will outline new driving laws that take effect on Saturday on his 3-5 p.m. New Year’s Day program. . . . The talent directory Web site https://www.iam.com is holding an online casting call through Friday for aspiring actors, musicians, dancers and models for a 90-second commercial to premiere during ABC’s Academy Awards broadcast.