Law & Order actress sues co-op board

NEW YORK — Law & Order actress S. Epatha Merkerson has filed a lawsuit against her Manhattan co-op board.

Merkerson alleges the co-op managers turned off the ventilation to her gas stove without telling her in 2008. She claims that left her “in jeopardy of her life” because the gases could have built up.

The suit also alleges that the roof of the Riverside Drive co-op overlooking the Hudson River was in such bad repair she had to move out for a year.

She bought the apartment in 2002 for a reported $1.7 million.

The co-op board and manager, Midboro management, did not immediately return calls for comment.

Merkerson played Lt. Anita Van Buren on the TV series for 16 years.

— Associated Press

LMFAO Taking a Break to 'Do What’s Natural'

LMFAO members Redfoo and Sky Blu are taking a break from party rocking together to focus on their own personal and professional interests, The Associated Press reports.

"I feel like we've been doing this for so long, five or six years," Redfoo said earlier this week. "And we're kind of like saying, well, let's just do what's natural and just kind of explore that, instead of like forcing it all the time."

So what comes natural for the uncle-nephew duo ? Well, Redfoo has been working on some solo material that he says "is always going to be LMFAO-ish . . . I was really passionate about bringing party music to the world, so I will always be making some kind of party music." 

He's also branched into the world of sports, writing a song for the New England Patriots at the request of the team's owners, and performing at some dates on the U.S. women's gymnastic team's gold-medal victory tour. He's even coaching tennis, working with Las Vegas-based junior player Ayaka Okuno. 

"I kind of use the Phil Jackson approach which I teach her some vague things – I teach her how to think for herself on the court," Redfoo said. "She's really good at self-analyzing."

While LMFAO certainly isn't finished, Redfoo said he's not sure when he'll reunite with Sky Blu, saying the two are going in "different directions." 

"I think that we naturally just started hanging with two different sets of people, two different crowds, but we're always family," he added. "He'll always be my nephew, I'll always be his uncle."

Earlier this year, before LMFAO embarked on their Sorry for Party Rocking tour, the duo dismissed rumors that there was a rift in the group: "It's completely false," Sky Blu said at the time. "We're family at the end of the day. Blood is stronger than anything."

Sale of Promoter AEG Would Radically Alter Concert Business

If billionaire Philip Anschutz sells his Anschutz Entertainment Group – which controls portions of the Lakers and Kings sports teams as well as Los Angeles' Staples Center, London's O2 Arena, 98 other entertainment venues and the Coachella music festival – he could drastically change the modern concert business. For the past decade, the company's aggressive executives have been a thorn in the side of competitor Live Nation, the world's largest promoter, by signing not every major tour, but certain key winners – Prince in 2004, Bon Jovi the last several years, Justin Bieber in 2010 and Taylor Swift in 2011.

"I've been accused of being a cherry-picker, sometimes, for the tours we buy. I can live with that," Randy Phillips, chief executive for AEG Live, the company's entertainment division, told Rolling Stone in 2010, claiming robust sales while many of its competitors were plagued with empty seats and canceled tours all summer. "We'll buy everything we believe in, and we'll work our asses off to make it work."

Reps for AEG – which sold 12.2 million tickets to its events last year, compared to Live Nation's 22 million, according to Pollstar – did not respond to requests for comment on a potential sale. The company's availability was made known on Tuesday.

AEG's approach, while providing a key Number Two for Live Nation in the concert business, may not be profitable forever, according to promoters and artist managers. These days, touring stars such as Jimmy Buffett have enough leverage to negotiate 110 percent of the overall ticket sales, leaving promoters to cover their own expenses through service fees, beer and parking – costs that have ballooned in recent years and irritated music fans. Plus, the biggest, most reliable stars, from the Rolling Stones to Madonna, are aging, and few have emerged to replace them in arenas and stadiums.

John Scher, a veteran New York City promoter who frequently bids for shows against AEG and Live Nation, estimates concert-business profit margins at three to five percent. The famously reclusive Anschutz has not explained his reasons for selling AEG, but such margins may be too low.

"There's not a big upside to being in the concert business," Scher says, adding that Anschutz may be thinking, "I'm not necessarily sure there's much growth here . . . Probably my millions of dollars that are invested in this can be put to better use to make more money. Let me sell it while it looks like a good business."

Possible buyers for the Anschutz Entertainment Group, according to reports and concert-business sources, include Live Nation itself and music companies such as the Universal and Warner record labels; private-equity firms such as Thomas H. Lee Partners, Bain Capital and Colony Capital; and wealthy businesspeople like Patrick Soon-Shiong, Liberty Media's John Malone and longtime concert-promotion investor Robert Sillerman.

When Anschutz offered AEG for sale Tuesday, the company stipulated that it not be broken up into pieces – which suggests, sources say, that top executives such as Phillips and AEG President Tim Leiweke could stay in their existing positions even after the sale. Reports have estimated the company could draw between $6 billion and $8 billion, which could put the company out of reach for entertainment-only entities such as Live Nation or Universal.

AEG's recent bad press regarding Michael Jackson's final days may be an additional reason for its sale. During preparation for Jackson's O2 shows in 2009, Phillips told reporters Jackson was in great health; however, a few weeks ago, the Los Angeles Times printed emails that indicated Phillips knew more than he was letting on. "MJ is locked in his room drunk and despondent," Phillips had written to his boss, Leiweke. "I [am] trying to sober him up." The emails came out after two insurers sued AEG, trying to nullify a $17.5 million policy the promoter reportedly took out on Jackson.

Some in the concert business speculate Anschutz, a deeply religious billionaire, may be embarrassed by what has come out – and may still come out – regarding the Michael Jackson tragedy. "He's a guy that doesn't like the limelight," says a source.

But Gary Bongiovanni, editor-in-chief of concert-business magazine Pollstar, disagrees, recalling AEG's bookings of morally questionable pop stars such as Marilyn Manson and Rob Zombie.

"Anschutz is supposedly a highly religious man, a very conservative billionaire," he says. "However, he has not let his politics influence the operations of the company, as far as I can tell." In the end, Bongiovanni knows exactly who will buy the company: "It's going to have to be somebody who can write an enormous check."

New Bills Seek Internet Radio Royalty Parity

U.S. Representatives Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), Jared Polis (D-CO) and Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) introduced versions of Internet Radio Fairness Act on Friday to address the high royalties paid by some digital radio platforms.

The bills are an attempt to change how royalties are negotiated. Internet radio services pay a statutory royalty that is set by a three-person Copyright Royalty Board. The new bills aim to use what is called an 801(b) standard that is used for satellite radio and cable, both of which pay a far lower percent of revenue.

Different businesses with different business models do indeed pay different royalties as a percent of their revenues. Satellite radio company Sirius XM Radio will pay SoundExchange 8% of its revenue for performance royalties in 2012. In contrast, Pandora paid over 50% of revenue for content in 2011 and nearly 63.9% in the six-month period ending July 31, 2012.

The bills had been expected for a new of months. Internet radio company Pandora has been active in Washington, D.C., in recent months and has been especially outspoken about parity in royalties this year.

"It is a very important bill for Pandora," Pandora founder Tim Westergren wrote at the company's blog on Friday. "For the first time since 1998, it will finally bring fairness to the way performance royalties are determined for Internet radio."

Various trade groups immediately voiced their support for the bills. The Consumer Electronics Association called it "a common sense bill," while the National Association of Broadcasters said it "strongly supports legislative efforts to establish fair webcast streaming rates."

But the musicFIRST Coalition, a trade group representing artists and performers, argued the Internet Radio Fairness Act would repeal the current fair market rate being paid by services like Pandora.

"There's nothing fair about pampering Pandora, with its $1.8 billion market cap, at the expense of music creators," musicFIRST coalition executive director Ted Kalo said. "Going from a fair market, 'willing buyer, willing seller' rate to a government mandated subsidy will break the backs of artists, while Pandora executives pad their pockets.  We support rate parity that addresses the greatest inequity of all, the lack of a performance right for terrestrial radio, and is fair to music creators."

Lady Gaga lit up Amsterdam's Ziggo Dome

Lady Gaga lit up Amsterdam's Ziggo Dome quite literally on Monday, taking time to smoke some weed onstage at her Born This Way Ball tour stop. Sampling some funny cigarettes, Gaga sniffed a few before tossing them aside. Eventually, she encountered one that she hoped "was real."

After further inspection, the joint was in fact deemed "real," and Gaga promptly fired up the fatty before tossing most of its unsmoked remains to the crowd. Yes, the audience was cheering quite enthusiastically, but Gaga assured them that those few drags weren't nearly enough to get her "high," whatever that means.

Gaga then wrapped up her blaze session by sharing some marijuana-inspired clothing items, because weed apparently sparks creativity. Boldly enough, she even declared taking action in the fight for medical marijuana. "I will one day be meeting with the President, and talking to Oprah in the next day. I will be talking to you about the medical wonders of marijuana," she said, with a giggle. 

The joyous look on her face says it all.

Shakira Pregnant With Her First Child

Shakira announced on her website yesterday that she and Spanish soccer star boyfriend Gerard Piqué are expecting her first child. "As some of you may know, Gerard and I are very happy awaiting the arrival of our first baby!" she wrote. "At this time we have decided to give priority to this unique moment in our lives and postpone all the promotional activities planned over the next few days."

Shakira also canceled her slot at this weekend's iHeartRadio Music Festival in Las Vegas, but hasn't announced any further cancelations, or a due date for the baby. She'll still keep busy, joining The Voice as a judge for the show's fourth season next spring.

Panera Bread settles discrimination suit

PITTSBURGH (AP) — An Ohio franchisee who runs several western Pennsylvania Panera Bread stores has agreed to pay more than $76,000 to settle discrimination claims by current and former black employees.

Chief U.S. District Judge Gary Lancaster on Monday told attorneys for Guy Vines, the black worker, and the company he sued in January, Warren, Ohio-based Covelli Enterprises, to advertise the settlement in newspapers in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Florida, Kentucky and West Virginia, where Covelli operates Panera stores.

Vines sued claiming he was denied promotions and made to work in the kitchen because company owner Sam Covelli didn’t want black employees in areas where the public was served. About 200 to 300 black workers may be entitled to money, Vines’ attorney, Samuel Cordes told the judge.

According to online court records, Vines will receive $10,000 for being the lead plaintiff and Cordes will receive $66,000 in legal fees. In addition, Covelli must pay a yet-to-be determined amount based on how many current and former employees respond to the advertisements and file claims.

Those workers will get 70 cents an hour for each hour they worked in excess of one year at any of Covelli’s Panera’s stores. That’s based upon how much money Covelli’s workers stood to gain had they been promoted after their first year.

The settlement covers all current or former black employees who worked for Covelli for at least a year between Jan. 11, 2008 and Jan. 11, 2012 — the day Vines filed his lawsuit. Vines contends he was hired in November 2009 and quit in August 2011 over his alleged mistreatment.

Cordes and Covelli’s attorney, Brad Funari, declined to comment after the hearing.

Covelli continues to deny wrongdoing as part of the settlement.

“Covelli maintains that is it an equal opportunity employer that does not discriminate, nor has it ever discriminated, in its employment decisions,” the settlement said, and Covelli has pledged not to discriminate in the future.

The litigation against Covelli didn’t begin with Vines’ lawsuit, but rather with one filed by a white man, Scott Donatelli, who was fired as manager of Covelli’s store in the upscale Pittsburgh suburb of Mount Lebanon in September 2011. The company claimed in court papers that Donatelli violated policies pertaining to medical leave, though Donatelli’s lawsuit alleged he was fired for refusing to stop giving cash register duties to Vines, who was not identified by name in Donatelli’s suit.

Donatelli claimed a district manager reprimanded him and said Covelli would “(expletive) if he got a look at ‘that’” — referring to Vines working anywhere customers could see him.

Vines was identified as the employee in question when he sued in January, prompting Covelli to release a statement which called both lawsuits “completely unfounded” and “a coordinated attempt by two disgruntled former employees to discredit the company for a profit motive.”

Cordes, who represented both men, said in Vines’ lawsuit that “African Americans were routinely assigned to jobs either in the back of the store washing dishes or doing food preparation so customers would not see them” and that top Covelli managers dictated that “people who are ‘Black, Fat, and/or ugly’ should never be permitted to work the cash registers.”

Donatelli’s lawsuit settled earlier this year. The terms weren’t disclosed.