Garrison Keillor’s bookstore only holds old favorites

St. Paul, Minn. – You won’t find “The Da Vinci Code,” Harlequin romance novels or the “Dummies” series of how-to books in Garrison Keillor’s new bookstore, and if you find the latest John Grisham novel, it could be on the “Quality Trash” table.

The man behind “A Prairie Home Companion” wasn’t around Wednesday when Common Good Books opened in a basement nook in St. Paul’s Cathedral Hill neighborhood, but his literary tastes were on display.

There’s a special focus on local and regional authors and Keillor’s favorite poetry. The works of another Keillor favorite, St. Paul native F. Scott Fitzgerald, fill an entire shelf.

“We’re not trying to be all things to all people,” said store manager Sue Zumberge. “It’s not because we look down on those; it’s just because you can find them elsewhere.”

Keillor also folded the typical genres of sci-fi, classics, mysteries and thrillers into plain old fiction.

“Reading is reading. Fiction is fiction,” said assistant manager Martin Schmutterer. “We’re not so intent on categorizing good books.”

Add Prince to growing list of must-see shows in Vegas

Los Angeles – Prince fans, fire up that Little Red Corvette and head for Las Vegas: The purple one will be performing there every weekend starting Nov. 10.

The diminutive rocker will play Friday- and Saturday-night shows at 3121, a nightclub inside the Rio hotel, according to a Wednesday news release by P R Plus, a Vegas firm representing the club.

Tickets for the 21-and-over shows cost $125.

Prince joins a growing contingent of songsters who have settled in Vegas hotels as regularly featured acts, including Celine Dion, Elton John, Barry Manilow and Toni Braxton.

Seventh child on the way for rapper Flavor Flav

New York – Flavor Flav, who’s dating “Flavor of Love” winner Deelishis, is expecting a child – his seventh – with another woman, his manager, Clifton Johnson, confirmed Thursday.

When things didn’t work out with Nicole “Hoopz” Alexander, who won the first season of his hit VH1 reality show, Flav resumed an “on and off” relationship with the baby-to-be’s mother – “hence, the conception,” Johnson said. The baby is due in early January, he said.

Johnson would not reveal the mother’s identity.

Deelishis (real name London Charles), whom Flav chose in the recent second-season finale of “Flavor of Love,” is reportedly standing by her man.

Flavor Flav (real name William Drayton Jr.), 47, founded the hip-hop group Public Enemy in the ’80s. He found fame anew in 2004 on the third season of VH1’s “The Surreal Life.” He has since starred in the network’s “Strange Love” and “Flavor of Love.”