Famed choreographer Merce Cunningham dies

New York — Choreographer and dancer Merce Cunningham was hailed Monday as a revolutionary artist who remade the very definition of dance.

Cunningham — who was still working as he marked his 90th birthday just 3 1/2 months ago — died on Sunday at his Manhattan home, said Leah Sandals, spokeswoman for the Merce Cunningham Dance Company. She said he died of natural causes but declined to elaborate.

The onetime Martha Graham dancer was credited with remaking modern dance by creating works of pure movement divorced from storytelling and even from musical accompaniment.

“I’d rather find out something than repeat what I know,” he once said. “I prefer adventure to something that’s fixed.”

In a career that spanned more than 60 years, Cunningham determined steps by chance — saying it freed his imagination — and shattered unwritten rules such as the need for dancers to face the audience and keep time with the music.

Cunningham worked closely with composer John Cage, his longtime partner who died in 1992, and with visual artists such as Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns. But, he said, “I am and always have been fascinated by dancing, and I can just as well do a dance without the visual thing.”

Killer of Grammer’s sister denied parole

Colorado Springs, Colo. — A man convicted of killing the sister of “Frasier” star Kelsey Grammer in 1975 was denied parole Monday.

Freddie Glenn, 52, is serving a life sentence for the first-degree murder of Karen Grammer when she was 18.

Glenn won’t be eligible for parole again until 2014, said Department of Corrections spokeswoman Katherine Sanguinetti.

Grammer had planned to attend the parole hearing at a state prison in Limon, about 90 miles southeast of Denver, but rain caused him to miss a connecting flight, Sanguinetti said.

Efforts to find a spokesperson for Grammer were not immediately successful.

Karen Grammer was abducted, raped and stabbed in Colorado Springs on July 1, 1975.

Myanmar democracy leader is honored

Dublin — Myanmar’s long-detained democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, is receiving Amnesty International’s highest honor, U2’s Bono publicly announced Monday before 80,000 cheering fans.

The human rights watchdog earlier said it hoped the Ambassador of Conscience Award would help protect her as she faces a potential prison sentence.

“Her crime is that, if she was free to participate in elections, she would win. This week the brutal force that has her incarcerated will decide if she spends the next five years in prison,” Bono said. He added his wish that Suu Kyi’s latest international honor “will help keep her safe.”

Amnesty International leaders said the award was timed to coincide with the 20th anniversary of Suu Kyi’s initial arrest on July 20, 1989, as she led a campaign to oust Myanmar’s military dictators.

Suu Kyi’s opposition party, the National League for Democracy, won national elections in 1990 but the military refused to relinquish power. She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 but has been under house arrest for 14 of the past 20 years.

Suu Kyi, 64, is on trial for allegedly harboring an American who swam out to her residence uninvited. The offense of violating house-arrest rules carries a potential five-year prison sentence.

Judge orders guardian for octuplets’ finances

Orange, Calif. — A California judge appointed a lawyer Monday to oversee the estate of Nadya Suleman’s octuplets, saying he wanted to ensure they weren’t exploited by reality television shows, tabloid photo spreads or other paid ventures.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Gerald Johnston dismissed arguments for family privacy and ruled Monday that an independent party should be appointed to scrutinize the finances of Suleman’s octuplets.

The petition was filed on behalf of Paul Peterson, a former Disney Mouseketeer who is an advocate for the fair treatment of children in entertainment.

During a brief hearing, Arthur J. LaCilento, a lawyer for Suleman, called for the petition to be dismissed based on the family’s needs for privacy.

Suleman appeared in court wearing a light suit, her hair pulled back in a bun, and didn’t speak during the hearing.

Labor abuses have been at issue with the octuplets in recent months. Four citations were brought against Web site RadarOnline by state regulators for the video taping of the first two octuplets to go home from the hospital on March 17.

It’s unknown exactly how much Suleman has amassed through her dealings.

Madonna’s love letters, erotic tapes in auction

New York — Madonna’s love letters and erotic answering machine messages to an ex-boyfriend are up for sale in New York City.

The Material Girl’s material is among nearly 500 personal celebrity items including Jimi Hendrix’s $1 performance contract and Muhammad Ali’s training robe being offered in an online auction ending Aug. 5.

The Gotta Have It! auction house says the 1965 contract between Hendrix and PPX Enterprises is believed to be his first.

Ali trained in the terry cloth robe for his third fight against Ken Norton in 1976 at Yankee Stadium. Ali won.

Madonna faxed love letters to her then-boyfriend Jim Albright and left naughty messages on his answering machine in the early 1990s. The messages are on two micro-cassette tapes estimated to sell for up to $40,000.

The items belong to 150 consigners including collectors.