More nominees announced for Rock Hall of Fame

New York — Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five are among the nominees for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame — the first rap artists to get that distinction — joining U2, Randy Newman and the O’Jays on the ballot.

Other nominees include blues guitarist Buddy Guy, rockabilly pioneer Wanda Jackson, rock band the Pretenders, soul singer Percy Sledge, “Centerfold” singers the J. Geils Band and the late country singer Conway Twitty.

Previous nominees on the ballot: the Sex Pistols, Patti Smith, the Stooges, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Gram Parsons.

Musicians, industry professionals and journalists vote, and results of the 20th annual election will likely be announced in December.

Kimmel reprises role

Los Angeles — Jimmy Kimmel’s doing it again.

The late-night funnyman will host the American Music Awards for the second consecutive year when the three-hour special airs live on ABC Nov. 14.

Dick Clark, who produces the annual American Music Awards, said Monday he was excited to have Kimmel back as the show’s host. “He showed last year that his unpredictability and ability to react to situations around him allows him to bring a unique sense of humor to the stage and to keep the show moving at a fast pace,” Clark said.

Nominations for the 32nd annual American Music Awards, meanwhile, will be announced today.

Olbermann sexiest newscaster

New York — The countdown to the No. 1 sexiest male newscaster ends with … Keith Olbermann — at least according to a Playgirl magazine online poll.

The host of MSNBC’s nightly “Countdown with Keith Olbermann” had linked his Web site to the Playgirl Web site and urged viewers to vote for him. The strategy worked: he came away the winner with 24 percent of the 50,000 votes cast.

Fox News Channel’s Sean Hannity came in second and Anderson Cooper of CNN was third. Andy Rooney of CBS’s “60 Minutes” — who’s 85 — tied for fifth place with the boyish Bill Hemmer from CNN. And Fox’s Bill O’Reilly received about 200 write-in votes.

Complete results will be listed in the October issue.

‘Guess’ again

Madison, N.J. — Shooting for a remake of a great movie classic brought some Hollywood stars to the area and to the borough’s restored, 88-year-old train station.

The movie, tentatively titled “The Dinner Party,” is based on the 1967 film, “Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner,” starring Spencer Tracy, Katherine Hepburn and Sidney Poitier, about a white couple whose daughter brings a black boyfriend home to dinner.

Columbia Picture’s remake reverses the racial roles and stars Ashton Kutcher, Bernie Mac and Zoe Saldana. Kutcher plays Saldana’s white boyfriend, and Mac has taken on Spencer Tracy’s old role — the father. In scenes filmed Saturday, Kutcher’s character leaves New Jersey to take a train back to New York City while Mac’s character tries to persuade him to stay.