Hizzoner tires of Rudy-worship
Rudolph Giuliani isn't sure he likes all the Rudy-worship.
After leading New York after the Sept. 11 attacks, the former mayor found himself idolized and even named Time magazine's Person of the Year.
At the first baseball game in New York after the attacks, featuring the Mets, Giuliani got a standing ovation from the Shea Stadium crowd even though he roots for the rival Yankees.
"I was expecting 'Get outta da stadium, ya bum! Go back to da Bronx,' but they were cheering me and I realized I enjoyed it more the other way," he said in an address to the Television Critics Assn.
Giuliani spent two days in California, appearing on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno," hosting a fund-raiser for the Twin Towers Fund, filming parts of an HBO documentary about the attacks, and stumping on behalf of Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Simon.
Show me the Walk of Fame
Academy Award-winning actor Cuba Gooding Jr. beamed as his star was unveiled Thursday on Hollywood's Walk of Fame.
Gooding, 34, was honored with the 2,190th star, which is in front of Disney's restored El Capitan Theatre. He stars in the new Disney comedy "Snow Dogs."
Gooding won the Oscar for best supporting actor for his role as the football star who kept demanding, "Show me the money!" in the 1996 film "Jerry Maguire."
His other movies include "Pearl Harbor," "Men of Honor" and "A Few Good Men."
Subway ride from hell
A new ballad by singer-songwriter Loudon Wainwright III likens the Sept. 11 attacks to a nightmarish subway ride.
His song "No Sure Way" describes a subway trip through New York. The lyrics refer to "Chamber Street a closed ghost station" and compare subway riders to "prisoners inside compartments on some house of horrors ride."
"The horror that was the emotion I was trying to get, the scariness of it," the New Yorker said.
Wainwright is one of many songwriters who have written about the attacks. He has been closing his concerts with the song since October.
"Rarely have I dealt with a topical issue that's been this much of a personal issue," he said.
Piano Man in harmony on tour
Billy Joel says if he'd been in a band all these years, "I would have broken up a long time ago."
Now he's touring with Elton John, and couldn't be happier.
"When I went with Elton, it's different than just being Billy Joel. It's Billy Joel and Elton John. I get to play Elton John music. He plays my music. We play both our music together. I play with his band. He plays with my band. ... We play piano on our own. We jam. We have piano duels. It's kinda like joining a piano band," Joel told AP Radio.
Looking back on his career, the 52-year-old said, "I was the guy. And I brought a band with me. Now let's say since 1970 I've been doing this. If I had been a band, man ... I would have hated my guts."
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