People

Not too sexy for his shirt

New York — He may be leader of the Free World and Time magazine’s Person of the Year, but a new international survey of women makes certain that President Bush is far from being the Sexiest Man Alive, reports ABC News.

In a recent online poll conducted by Esquire magazine, 11,000 women in 15 countries were asked to rate Bush’s sex appeal on a scale of one to 10, and America’s commander in chief failed to register much more than a two.

Women in Australia, Germany and the Netherlands were the harshest judges of George W.’s sexual allure, giving him an average rating of 1.4 each, Esquire said in its survey released earlier this week. By contrast, Indonesian women were the most generous, giving Bush an average score of 2.2. American women found their president slightly less appealing, rating him a 2.1

Other countries contributing to the survey were Austria, Brazil, Britain, Israel, Italy, the Philippines, Russia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.

Pavarotti bows out of show

Rome — Luciano Pavarotti has canceled one performance and rescheduled three others on his farewell world tour because of a medical procedure planned for June, his manager said Friday.

The procedure is a follow-up to a March 9 operation when Pavarotti underwent successful neck surgery to repair two vertebrae.

“It’s nothing serious,” manager Terri Robson said, adding that doctors said the tenor recovered very quickly from his first operation.

Pavarotti is calling off a June 22 performance in Toledo, Spain, which could not be rescheduled because no alternative date was available, she said. Two dates in Britain and one in Nimes, France, are being rescheduled, she said.

The performances were part of the 69-year-old tenor’s “Farewell Tour,” which includes 40 performances in venues across the world.

Pavarotti retired from staged opera in March 2004. He has said he will retire from singing after the farewell tour.

Tiny Twist to get monument for role in B.B. King legacy

Little Rock, Ark. — The Arkansas Legislature has approved a $5,000 expenditure to build a monument honoring bluesman B.B. King in the tiny Delta town of Twist.

More than 50 years ago, King’s famed guitar Lucille earned its name after a dance hall brawl in Twist. King’s trademark Gibson guitars have been called Lucille ever since.

“B.B. put Twist, Ark., on the map,” Allan Hammons, interim director of the planned B.B. King Museum in Indianola, Miss., said Thursday. “I think it’s very important that the state of Arkansas took the opportunity to memorialize that great American story.”

State Sen. Steve Bryles said he pushed the funding through for the monument because too little was known of King’s connection to the state. Bryles also hopes the marker will draw tourists to the area.

Hammons said the $10 million museum and Delta cultural center was set to break ground on June 10. He said Arkansas’ efforts highlighted another part of King’s legacy.

“Fate was kind to him,” Hammons said of the 79-year-old blues singer.

“The guitar got a name and Twist was known around the world. It is a piece of American history.”

Birthdays

Actor-comedian Martin Lawrence is 40. Singer Bobby Vinton is 70. Basketball Hall-of-Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is 58. Actress Ellen Barkin is 51. Singer Jimmy Osmond is 42. Actor Lukas Haas is 29.