Springsteen does impromptu performance at airport

New York – After playing to sold-out audiences throughout Europe, Bruce Springsteen added one last impromptu gig to his overseas itinerary: an airport terminal in Iceland.

Springsteen was headed back to the United States after playing a show in Berlin when his plane stopped early Wednesday to refuel at Keflavik International Airport. The Boss strolled into the terminal with his acoustic guitar and played a six-song set for the airport’s overnight shift, an airport official confirmed.

“He just came in and did some songs,” said Federick Johnson, a service manager at the airport 30 miles southwest of Iceland’s capital, Reykjavik.

The 2 a.m. mini-set reportedly included Springsteen staples “Dancing in the Dark,” “Bobby Jean” and “This Hard Land,” along with “Working on the Highway,” “Does This Bus Stop at 82nd Street?” and “I’m on Fire.”

The European shows were supporting Springsteen’s “Devils & Dust,” his first new studio album in three years. Springsteen launches a second leg of his North American solo acoustic tour on July 13 in Toronto, with 16 more dates planned in venues from Greensboro, N.C., to Seattle. The last tour date is Aug. 13 in Ottawa, Canada.

Judge wants specifics from R. Kelly prosecutors

Chicago – A judge is asking prosecutors to be more specific about when they believe singer R. Kelly engaged in sex acts with an allegedly underage girl.

Judge Vincent Gaughan made it clear that prosecutors have to be more specific than simply saying the crime took place sometime between November 1997 and February 2002, and said he would hold a hearing on the issue on July 20.

After a half-hour meeting with the attorneys, Gaughan suggested that it was not sufficient for prosecutors to say that the 15-minute tape was made sometime in a 51-month-period.

The Cook County State’s Attorney’s office contends that they should not have to narrow the time period.

“Our burden is to prove the people on the tape are the defendant and the victim and that the victim is under 18,” said spokeswoman Marcy Jensen.

Kelly is charged with 14 counts of child pornography. He appeared in court on Friday, but he and his attorney left without commenting to reporters.

Parks’ lawyers seek fees in wake of Outkast lawsuit

Detroit – Lawyers for Rosa Parks are asking for legal fees in the civil rights pioneer’s settled lawsuit against rap duo OutKast.

The April settlement ended a 1999 lawsuit in which Parks’ lawyers accused OutKast of wrongly using her name in a song title. The amount of the settlement wasn’t disclosed, but Parks was to receive money to be used for her care and to pay bills.

Parks, 92, has suffered from dementia since at least 2002.

On Thursday, Gregory Reed, a Detroit lawyer who sued OutKast on Parks’ behalf, asked U.S. District Judge George Steeh to award his law firm $220,000 and to divide another $70,000 among three other firms. He made public a 1999 letter from Parks authorizing him to file the lawsuit and promising him one-third of any settlement.

Court records cited by The Detroit News show the settlement fund has paid out $150,000 in fees and costs to date, including payments to law firms and to cover some of Parks’ bills.

Steeh scheduled another hearing for July 14.

Parks refused to give up her seat to a white passenger on a Montgomery, Ala., bus in December 1955. Her arrest triggered a 381-day boycott of the bus system organized by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., a landmark event in the modern civil rights movement.

Mighty Sparrow to sing on 70th birthday

Port-of-Spain, Trinidad – Calypso singer Mighty Sparrow will perform next week in Trinidad to celebrate his 70th birthday, the government announced.

In 1956, Mighty Sparrow won the Carnival Road March Competition. In protest against the small amount of prize money, he wrote “Carnival Boycott,” a denunciation of Trinidad’s carnival industry. He refused to participate in the event for the next three years.

Mighty Sparrow was born Slinger Francisco on July 9, 1935, in Grandroy Bay, Grenada. He moved to Trinidad when he was young.

He has won the national Monarch and the Road March eight times, more than any other calypso singer.

The shows will take place July 7-10, the government said.

Judge dismisses lawsuit against James Brown

Chicago – A federal judge has dismissed a $106 million lawsuit that alleged singer James Brown was to blame for a woman contracting Graves’ disease because he allegedly raped her 17 years ago.

On Wednesday, U.S. District Court Judge Sidney I. Schenkier dismissed the lawsuit filed by Jacque Hollander in January. The judge cited a law that requires such lawsuits be filed within two years of an alleged act.

Hollander’s lawyer, Donald Rosen, said his client would appeal.

Rosen argued the lawsuit was still valid because Hollander’s doctor told her in January 2003 that the thyroid disease was caused by the alleged attack. She had been diagnosed in 2000.

Brown’s lawyer, Debra Opri, said she wasn’t concerned about an appeal.

“It was a frivolous lawsuit in this court and it will be frivolous in any court,” Opri said.

Graves’ disease is a type of autoimmune disease in which the immune system overstimulates the thyroid gland. According to the National Graves’ Disease Foundation, stress can contribute to the onset of the disease, but many times the exact cause is unknown.