DeGeneres gives away pooch she adopted

Los Angeles – Ellen DeGeneres is in the doghouse with a pet rescue agency after giving a pooch away to her hairdresser because it didn’t get along with her cats.

The talk show hostess and her partner Portia de Rossi adopted Iggy, a Brussels Griffon mix, on Sept. 20. But when things didn’t work out, DeGeneres gave the dog to her hairdresser.

In doing so, DeGeneres violated an agreement with the Mutts and Moms dog rescue agency by not informing them of the handoff.

When the agency called DeGeneres to ask about Iggy, she said she found another home for the dog. The agency sent a representative to the hairdresser’s home Sunday and took the dog away.

DeGeneres went public about the situation Monday while taping an episode of her show to air Tuesday. She admitted she didn’t read all the paperwork involving the adoption.

DeGeneres said she spent $3,000 having the dog neutered and trained to be with her cats. But the dog had too much energy and was too rambunctious, she told her television audience.

J.K. Rowling makes weeklong visit to U.S.

Los Angeles – J.K. Rowling made a rare U.S. appearance, reading at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood in front of scores of wand-clutching would-be wizards and witches.

Seated on a gold throne with plush red cushions, Rowling read Monday from the seventh and final of her novels on Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.”

She then took a dozen preselected questions from the dressed-up and dazzled kids and teens.

To accommodate a crushing demand for tickets, Rowling’s American publisher sent a “sorting hat” like those used to divide students into houses in the novels to 40 randomly selected Los Angeles schools. Forty students from each school were then selected from the hat.

The reading was part of a weeklong visit by Rowling to the states known as the “Open Book Tour.”

Brooks to simulcast K.C. concert in theaters

Kansas City, Mo. – Garth Brooks said Tuesday he will simulcast the final night of a sold-out series of nine shows here in more than 300 movie theaters nationwide.

Tickets to see the simulcast of the country star’s Nov. 14 show will go on sale Friday for $10, plus handling fees, at fathomevents.com and garthbrooks.com, with a limit of 10 tickets per person. Tickets will also be sold for a rebroadcast of the show Nov. 15.

Brooks, who hasn’t toured since 1998, tied his own record for selling the highest number of tickets in any city in North America with the sale of the Kansas City shows at downtown’s new Sprint Center.

The Nov. 14 concert will be aired through National CineMedia, an in-theater advertising and promotions company operated by the three largest theater chains, Regal Entertainment Group, AMC Entertainment Inc. and Cinemark USA Inc.

Jorja Fox says goodbye to ‘CSI’ next month

New York – Jorja Fox is waving goodbye to “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.”

Fox, 39, tells EW.com she has quit the Las Vegas-based forensics drama, saying she wants to explore other opportunities.

“There are all these things I want to do,” she said in a story posted Monday on the Web site. “Some are personal. Some are professional. And I really need to do some of them before I get too old.”

Fox has wrapped up filming on the hit CBS series, and will make her last appearance as Sara Sidle in an episode to air next month, according to the Web site.

Fox’s run on “CSI” nearly ended in 2004 when she and co-star George Eads were fired during tense contract negotiations. They were later hired back.

Madonna abandons Warner Music

Los Angeles – Madonna and concert promoter Live Nation Inc. announced a deal Tuesday that will give Live Nation a stake in her albums, tours, merchandising, films and other music-related projects.

Financial terms were not disclosed in the joint statement released by Madonna and Live Nation. A person familiar with the agreement previously told the Associated Press it was worth about $120 million over 10 years.

The official announcement came after weeks of speculation that the Material Girl would abandon Warner Music Group Corp., which refused to match the Live Nation deal.

Madonna said in the statement that she was drawn to the all-encompassing deal with Live Nation because of the changes the music business has undergone in recent years.