Madonna led a prayer for peace at her sold-out Los Angeles concert Friday, urging President Bush to show restraint in retaliating for the attacks America suffered on Tuesday, Reuters reported.
Wearing a skirt made from the American flag, the pop singer urged her fans at the Staples Center to join her in prayer.
“Tonight I’d like to say a prayer for peace,” she told the crowd. “Violence begets violence, and I don’t know about you, but I want to live a long and happy life, and I want my kids to live a long and happy life.”
Madonna resumed her tour on Thursday night after canceling her show there on Tuesday because of the tragedies. Attendees had their bags inspected by officers and bomb-sniffing dogs.
“It was horrible (on Tuesday), but I’d like to think of it as a wake-up call. There’s terrorism every day all over the world,” Madonna said.
Arrested
Actress Yasmine Bleeth (Baywatch, Nash Bridges) spent Wednesday night in jail after patrol officers found four syringes containing what police suspect was a liquid form of cocaine, plus a small plastic bag containing cocaine residue in her purse during their investigation of a car accident, police told the Associated Press on Friday. She could be charged with operating a motor vehicle under the influence of drugs, a misdemeanor, and possession of a narcotic, a felony that carries a prison sentence of one to seven years, police said.
In General
Alanis Morissette is working on a relief concert in support of the victims and relatives of people lost in the September 11, 2001, terror attacks on the U.S, Reuters reported. In a letter posted on her Web site, she told fans “the purpose of the show is to reach out to those who have been touched by all that has happened this week.”
The Backstreet Boys paid tribute to the loss of crew member Danny Lee during their Toronto performance on Wednesday, AP reported. Lee, a set carpenter for the group’s current Black & Blue tour, was on board the hijacked plane on his way to Los Angeles to await the birth of his second son. The BSB asked the audience to observe a moment of silence for Lee and the other victims of the attacks, and also announced they were donating $1 from each ticket to a relief fund established by ClearChannel.com, the tour’s sponsor. The fund will raise money for the American Red Cross and other organizations helping with rescue and relief efforts.
Macy Gray has postponed her live performance on the Today Show in Manhattan scheduled for early Friday morning, as well as her autograph-signing session at a Wherehouse Records store back home in Los Angeles scheduled for September 21, a spokesperson for store told Launch.com. Her second album, The Id, hits shelves on Sept. 18.
Alan Jackson’s induction ceremony into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame, originally set for Saturday in Macon, Ga.., will be rescheduled because of this week’s terrorism attacks, Jackson’s spokesman, Ivey Lindsey, told AP on Thursday.
Sting has canceled the 50th birthday party he had planned to hold at Amanjena hotel in Marrakesh, Morroco, on Sept. 27, “because of the recent dramatic events in the United States and their psychological effect on the artist and his guests,” a local official told Reuters on Thursday.
