James Brown’s turkey giveaway to continue

Augusta, Ga. – A Thanksgiving tradition sponsored by James Brown is being continued in this first year after the soul pioneer’s death with the annual turkey giveaway in his hometown.

In his place, longtime confidant and civil rights activist Al Sharpton will hand out the first turkey Monday.

Brown started the turkey tradition in 1991. He died of heart failure last Christmas at age 73.

More than 1,000 turkeys are usually distributed at the pre-Thanksgiving event, said the Rev. Larry Fryer, who assisted Brown with previous giveaways. The Brown family also will continue Brown’s annual Christmas toy giveaway on Dec. 20.

“We’re the ones who decided to do what we know Dad would have wanted us to do,” his daughter, Deanna Brown Thomas, said Friday. “These are two events that held dearest to dad’s heart.”

Thomas said her father left no doubt that he wanted his children to carry on this tradition.

Broadway stagehands, producers resume talks

New York – Broadway’s stagehands and theater producers resumed talking Saturday, a week after a walkout by Local 1 shut down more than two dozen plays and musicals.

The two sides met at an undisclosed location, their first meeting since Nov. 8 when Thomas C. Short, president of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, gave the local authority to strike. The walkout two days later forced 27 productions to cancel shows during the run-up to one of the most lucrative times of the year for Broadway, Thanksgiving week.

Local 1 and the League of American Theatres and Producers would not comment on the resumption of talks.

Pressure to settle the contract dispute is increasing as the holiday approaches and losses mount for the shows, which include some of Broadway’s biggest hits.

Ticket sales for Thanksgiving week could easily top $1 million for several of those shows.

The stagehands, who include scenery and prop handlers, carpenters, electricians, and lighting and sound technicians, have been working without a contract since the end of July.

Spears’ ‘red light’ video entered as evidence

Los Angeles – The video of Britney Spears apparently running a red light with her children in the car was submitted into court Friday, a week after anyone with an Internet connection could judge it for themselves.

There was no word on the possible impact of the latest piece of evidence entered in the child custody battle between the pop star and ex-husband Kevin Federline in a Los Angeles Superior Court.

Mark Vincent Kaplan, Federline’s attorney, declined to comment after the closed-door hearing before court commissioner Scott Gordon. Kaplan also said Gordon issued a sealed order that he could not discuss.

The paparazzi video, posted Nov. 9 on the celebrity Web site TMZ.com, shows the 25-year-old singer appearing to blow a red light at a Hollywood Hills intersection, taking a left in front of stopped oncoming traffic while cameras flash and someone yells, “Red light, red light!”