Seeking a ‘Heroes’ role

Tokyo – Less than a month after being crowned Miss Universe, Riyo Mori is hoping to land another job – a role on the NBC sci-fi series “Heroes.”

“As soon as I won Miss Universe I had this big chance,” Mori said in an interview Monday. “I’ve never acted before. I went to the casting audition and read a script in English and Japanese, and they said it was really good. So I hope I can be in the show.”

Mori said the role of Yaeko would be a love interest for one of the main characters on “Heroes.”

The 20-year-old dancer won the 2007 Miss Universe contest last month in Mexico City. The only other time Japan has won the pageant was in 1959, when Akiko Kojima became the first Miss Universe from Asia.

“I’m only here for a week, then it’s back to New York” and a tour around the world, Mori said.

“It’s funny because I’ve never been surrounded by so many people, so many cameras,” she said. “Japanese people never cared about beauty pageants before. But this is a huge thing in Japan now.”

Mellencamp to join Pops

New York – John Mellencamp will celebrate Independence Day with the Boston Pops.

Mellencamp will join conductor Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops for the annual Fourth of July concert and fireworks show on the banks of the Charles River. He will perform some of his hits during the concert, said a statement on Mellencamp’s Web site.

The “Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular,” hosted by Craig Ferguson of “The Late Late Show,” will air live on CBS.

Live Earth to be Red Hot

Nashville, Tenn. – If you saw the Red Hot Chili Peppers whispering to Al Gore when they accepted their Grammy Award for best rock album in February, that’s the moment they committed to playing Live Earth.

Gore said he met with band members for more than an hour before this year’s televised awards show, trying to persuade them to perform at one of the concerts.

While receptive to the idea, they weren’t sure they could fit the July 7 concert into their schedule, Gore said.

“I was pushing and pushing them that no matter how difficult it was, that it was important,” he said.

The former vice president, who lost the 2000 presidential election to George Bush despite winning the popular vote, is promoting the Live Earth concerts to raise climate change awareness.

Gore, who presented the Grammy for the best rock album with Queen Latifah, said that amid their celebration for winning the award for “Stadium Arcadium,” band members “came over to me on stage and whispered in my ear: ‘We’re in.”‘

The Red Hot Chili Peppers are among the headliners for the London concert. Other shows are slated for New York; Tokyo; Shanghai, China; Johannesburg, South Africa; Sydney, Australia; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Hamburg, Germany; and Istanbul, Turkey.

Organizers have also promised an event in Antarctica.