People

Racial comments get Nugent removed from future gig

Muskegon, Mich. — Derogatory racial remarks from rocker Ted Nugent have cost him a gig at the Muskegon Summer Celebration.

Festival officials canceled Nugent’s concert after an interview last week with two Denver disc jockeys in which the DJs said he used slurs for Asians and blacks. The festival was scrambling to find a replacement.

“If we can (replace Nugent) with something in the classic rock genre, that’d be great, but right now we want to get the best possible acts we can find,” Summer Celebration President Joe Austin told The Muskegon Chronicle.

Rick Lewis and Michael Floorwax, morning talk-show hosts on radio station KRFX-FM, stopped the live interview with Nugent on May 5 after they alleged he made the remarks.

Martin offers efforts of ‘Silencio’

Los Angeles — Ricky Martin is back with a new album he hopes will sway those who wrote him off as a one-hit wonder.

Martin’s 1999 smash hit, “Livin’ La Vida Loca” sold 15 millions copies worldwide, but his 2000 follow-up, “Sound Loaded” dropped to 4 million.

His latest, “Almas del Silencio” (Souls of Silence), hits stores Tuesday. It’s the first Spanish-language album for Martin in five years. It’s also more introspective than much of his recent work.

“I really needed to go back to my focus, to my center, to the beginning,” says Martin, 31, who got his start 20 years ago as a child star in the Puerto Rican teen group Menudo.

White shows his staying power

Los Angeles — Barry White is “in great spirits” as he recovers from a stroke affecting his speech and the right side of his body, his daughter said.

The deep-voiced soul singer suffered the stroke earlier this month while waiting for a kidney transplant needed because of complications from years of chronic high blood pressure.

His daughter, Shaherah White, said the singer must be stabilized before he could undergo a transplant operation.

“He’s had a minor setback, but have no fear, he’ll be fine,” she said Friday. “He will definitely be performing again.”

‘Satanic Verses’ author ready to change the subject

Rio De Janeiro, Brazil — Salman Rushdie would be content to talk about books — just books. For the author of “The Satanic Verses,” that hasn’t often been the case.

“I would very happily not discuss radical Islam any time in the near future, but it is a part of my life that I have obviously had to think a great deal about,” Rushdie said Friday.

In 1989, Rushdie was forced into hiding for nine years after the late Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini called on Muslims around the world to kill the novelist because “The Satanic Verses” had allegedly insulted Islam.

“Fury,” which is set in New York, again thrust Rushdie into the question of radical Islam. The book was released Sept. 11, 2001, the day terrorists attacked the United States.