By Anna Mudeva 1 hour, 1 minute ago

SOFIA (Reuters) - Yordanka Hristova was once called "the bride of all Cubans" and was so popular on Fidel Castro's island that Cuban families named their daughters after her.

Forty years on, the 64-year-old Bulgarian pop diva keeps the gossips guessing about her relationship with the revolutionary icon himself, saying all that matters is her love for Cuba and her admiration for its leader with the beautiful brown eyes.

The singer was first introduced to Castro during his visit to communist-ruled Bulgaria in 1972 and fell for what she called his macho charisma. He praised her for her good Spanish rather than her looks, she recalled.

"I was impressed with his eyes, which looked very beautiful, brown, slightly transparent," she told Reuters.

Dismayed by the collapse of ties between Havana and Sofia after the end of communist rule in eastern Europe in 1989, Hristova has helped set up a foundation to revive cultural links, named after Cuba's national hero, Jose Marti.

Marti, a poet and writer, died in a cavalry charge in 1895 in the fight against Spanish colonial rule. Hristova says his life mirrored that of Bulgaria's own revolutionary hero Hristo Botev, also a poet, who died in an uprising against Ottoman rule in 1876.

The foundation has erected a statue of Marti on a small square in Sofia and is pushing the capital's mayor to name the square after the fighter for Cuban independence.

In the communist era about 40,000 Bulgarians worked in Cuba, mainly as engineers and agriculture experts. The Balkan nation exported chemicals, machinery, wine and canned food to Cuba and imported the Caribbean island's sugar and citrus fruit.

Bulgarians still have fond memories of Cuban bananas and oranges, which reached their shops in winter and were so popular they had to be rationed.

These days trade is negligible and cultural ties have faded away, much to Hristova's disappointment. "The Cubans loved us very much. They considered us relatives and used to say that we were the Latin Americans of Europe…"

Hristova first sang in Havana in 1967, when Castro had embraced Soviet-style communism and the Beatles and other "decadent" Western rock groups were banned.

"It was mutual love at first sight with the Cuban audience. That's probably why they started naming baby girls after me."

Yordanka is now a common name for Cuban women in their 30s.

PASSION FOR LATIN RHYTHM

With her passion for Latin rhythms and dances, Hristova made a splash at the Varadero Song Festival in 1967 and has performed in Cuba almost every year since, often passing the winter there.

Of all the Soviet bloc singers who toured their country, Hristova won the warmest reception, her open manner earning her the affectionate title of "bride of all Cubans," her repertoire including Cuban, Italian, French and English songs.

Hristova's own loyalty to Castro and his socialist vision is unswerving. "I bow down to Fidel, to a person who has devoted his life to a cause — Cuba's independence," she said.

"All this is at the expense of the Cubans and severe shortages. But they think it's meaningful. That helps them to be a spiritual rather than a consumer, material society."

Asked whether Castro was a fan, she said: "He is not a music aficionado and a bohemian. He doesn't like to dance, unlike his brother (Raul) who is a much more typical Cuban.

"The Cubans like to have fun, they like music. He is different, he is an intellectual, he likes to read."

Middle-aged Cubans still recall Hristova's sex appeal.

"She was pretty sexy and had a lot of Latin rhythm, especially compared to the Russian singers," said computer technician Guillermo Orosa.

The singer, a widow with two children who speaks at least five languages and is still a star at home, admitted her looks played an important part in winning Cubans' hearts.

"The Cuban men don't like skinny women, they prefer them plump," Hristova claims. "I am that type — more sporty, plump, and I was very popular," said the singer, who favors shawls, hats and bright red lipstick.

Hristova attended Castro's 80th birthday celebrations in Havana in 2006, just a few months after he had emergency surgery for an undisclosed stomach illness.

She regularly receives his writings from the Cuban embassy in Sofia and occasionally sends him telegrams, signed "your friend, Yordanka Hristova."

(Additional reporting by Anthony Boadle in Havana)

(Editing by Tim Pearce)

14 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - The Beatles are about to become radio stars in a whole new way.

NASA on Monday will broadcast the Beatles’ song “Across the Universe” across the galaxy to Polaris, the North Star.

This first-ever beaming of a radio song by the space agency directly into deep space is nostalgia-driven. It celebrates the 40th anniversary of the song, the 45th anniversary of NASA’s Deep Space Network, which communicates with its distant probes, and the 50th anniversary of NASA.

“Send my love to the aliens,” Paul McCartney told NASA through a Beatles historian. “All the best, Paul.”

The song, written by McCartney and John Lennon, may have a ticket to ride and will be flying at the speed of light. But it will take 431 years along a long and winding road to reach its final destination. That’s because Polaris is 2.5 quadrillion miles away.

NASA loaded an MP3 of the song, just under four minutes in its original version, and will transmit it digitally at 7 p.m. EST Monday from its giant antenna in Madrid, Spain. But if you wanted to hear it on Polaris, you would need an antenna and a receiver to convert it back to music, the same way people receive satellite television.

The idea came from Martin Lewis, a Los Angeles-based Beatles historian, who then got permission from McCartney, Yoko Ono and the two companies that own the rights to Beatles’ music. One of those companies, Apple, was happy to approve the idea because is “always looking for new markets,” Lewis said.

By MICHAEL ASTOR, Associated Press Writer 51 minutes ago

NAZARE DA MATA, Brazil - As morning breaks over the rolling green cane fields, the 19-year-old sugar cane cutter takes an herbal bath and offers a prayer to indigenous and African spirits before transforming himself into something resembling an electric, Day-Glo lion from outer space.

Josenildo Estevao da Silva dons colorful pantaloons, hoists a rack of cow bells onto his back and tops off the outfit with a brilliantly sequined poncho and a screaming headdress of neon ribbons. Then he marches several miles down dirt roads to rehearse with hundreds of other lance-wielding revelers who will converge on the state capital of Recife Sunday.

“When I’m all dressed up I become a warrior. It’s a very powerful feeling,” says Silva, a member of Cambinda Brasileira, a group of Maracatu revelers founded in 1898.

The most visible manifestation of carnival occurs more than 1,000 miles to the south in Rio de Janeiro, where nationally televised samba parades have fans rooting for their favorite groups with a passion usually reserved for soccer teams.

But nearly every region of Brazil has its own carnival traditions. In recent years, a growing number of revelers turned off by the commercialism of Rio’s grand spectacle have begun looking elsewhere, to states such as Bahia and Pernambuco, where more homegrown rhythms dominate the celebrations.

Perhaps none of these traditions has benefited as much from renewed attention as maracatu, a deeply secret, semi-religious ritual born among former slaves in the sugarcane fields of Pernambuco state, with roots stretching back to African and indigenous cultures.

“We have the most democratic carnival in Brazil. It’s open to everyone and it’s free. You don’t have to sit in a stadium like in Rio or pay to party in a cordoned-off area like in Bahia,” says Recife Mayor Joao Paulo Lima Silva, who for eight years has dressed up as a maracatu lance-bearer to kick off the party.

Anthropologists say the origins of the ritual are mysterious, a mixture of several traditions with the dancers fancying themselves warrior members of an Indian tribe for reasons that are not entirely clear.

The music of maracatu consists of improvised verses sung a capella and answered by the thundering of trumpets, trombones and host of percussion instruments — a very different sound from the drums of Rio’s samba schools.

Maracatu was disappearing in the 1980s, and in 1989 only 11 groups remained in Pernambuco state.

But then an association was formed to promote the tradition, and authorities cracked down on violence by maracatu groups who would often attack their rivals to steal their costumes.

The number of groups grew to 112 as they admitted women and children. Women cannot perform as lance-bearers, but take on roles that had previously been performed by men in drag.

Maracatu also received a boost from popular musicians Chico Science and Nacao Zumbi, who dressed as maracatu lance-bearers in their video for “Maracatu Atomico,” a huge hit on MTV Brazil. Science died in a car crash in 1997, after working to restore Brazilian music’s reliance on traditional rhythms rather than American pop.

The success of that movement sent hordes of middle-class Pernambuco residents into rural areas and slums to study at the feet of long-forgotten masters, breathing new life into maracatu and other traditions.

But some say the growing popularity of maracatu is watering down the tradition.

“Some groups today have lost their religious link and a lot of the younger people no longer respect the rules. They are interested in the look (of the costumes) but have no interest in sustaining the meaning of the ritual,” said Sumaia Viera, a researcher of traditional cultures at the Federal University of Pernambuco.

The groups themselves are secretive about their spiritual preparations, which include abstaining from sex for two weeks and imbibing special potions, including one made of sugarcane brandy and gun powder.

But many maracatu supporters welcome the newcomers.

“If you’re going to be picky about who is going to dance, you’re not going to have too many people dancing,” says Manoelzinho Salustiano, vice president of the Association of Maracatus Baque Solto of Pernambuco. He says old-timers teach the new arrivals about the rituals, and “the more they learn about it the more interested they get.”

By SOLVEJ SCHOU, Associated Press Writer 23 minutes ago

LOS ANGELES - It seems everyone has advice for breakdown diva Britney Spears these days, including those glittering examples of stable living themselves — other celebrities.

From teen phenom Miley Cyrus to rehab rocker Courtney Love, a slew of performers, politicians and religious figures, some with their own background of drug abuse or mental illness, are all here to help.

For every bizarre moment of her surreal, paparazzi-punctuated life, the 26-year-old pop star has not only gained a devoted media following, but also a fragile persona famous people love to comment on — their kids, too.

When asked by TV’s “Extra” about Spears, “Crocodile Hunter” widow Terri Irwin took a cue from her daughter.

“Bindi’s the one who said … ‘People who are having trouble should go in the bush with us when we do our crocodile research work’ … and if Britney and her family want to go in the bush with us, we’d love to have them.”

Comic and goofy pot activist Tommy Chong, who served a nine-month sentence four years ago for trying to sell marijuana pipes on the Internet, offered his own brand of advice for the tabloid princess.

“Enjoy the attention because it’s not going to last,” he told The Associated Press. “The serious advice is someone needs to check out her diet, and if cocaine is part of the diet then cut down, eliminate cocaine from the diet.”

Rock star Love, known for her own history of drug abuse and court foibles, took a more serious stance, telling “Access Hollywood” Spears “definitely needs help.”

“Having been there, here is what’s going to happen. If she doesn’t get help something very, very bad is going to happen,” added Love.

Love said younger starlets with recent troubles, such as Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton, listen to her as if she’s their “cool aunt.”

Spears’ weird behavior has progressed from her head-shaving incident a year ago to being carted away in a daze by paramedics earlier this month when she refused to relinquish one of her two young sons to ex-husband Kevin Federline, who has custody of the boys.

Then, early Thursday, Spears was taken from her home yet again by ambulance and escorted to the hospital by more than a dozen police officers on the ground and in the air. A police source said she was taken to the hospital to “get help.”

“Other than me and Britney, no one’s been strapped to a gurney,” said a wide-eyed Love.

Rapper-turned-actor Ice-T, once known for his gangsta scowl, looked to his own mom for advice for Spears.

“My mama used to say, ‘You keep using the same ingredients, you’re making the same cake. If you want to make a new cake, you got to change the ingredients,’” he told People magazine, adding that Spears should “come with a clean slate.”

Fifteen-year-old Cyrus, whose “Hannah Montana” TV show and concerts have sparked a high-pitched tween frenzy similar to Spears in her younger heyday, cited her own family support.

“If I didn’t have them, I’d probably be in the same position,” as Spears, Cyrus told “Extra.” “You just got to know who your true friends are and I think for me, that is my mom.”

Tracy Morgan said Spears should plug into a higher power. The “30 Rock” comedian wore a court-ordered bulky alcohol monitoring device on his own ankle for a few months last year.

“Britney needs to pray. She needs to get connected spiritually and she needs to join the real world and leave that artificial stuff alone and go get her kids,” Morgan told People.

Kathy Griffin, who’s forged something of a second career out of taking wiseacre potshots at celebrities, mostly wanted to make over the frequently frazzled-looking singer, known to wear dresses skimming her underwear.

“I’d like her just to wash her hair,” the comedienne cracked to TMZ.com.

Sure, not everyone cares about Spears. TMZ recently caught Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Rodham Clinton on video laughing when asked by a reporter about the troubled star.

Republican presidential nominee Mike Huckabee actually did have some advice when questioned about Spears by TMZ — albeit pretty lukewarm.

“I’d tell her to be careful,” he mumbled.

By DERRIK J. LANG, AP Entertainment Writer 22 minutes ago

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - 50 Cent captained an all-star team during his pre-game Super Bowl concert.

Between performing hits like “Candy Shop” and “Ayo Technology” with his crew, the rapper welcomed Deion Sanders and Ludacris on the Pontiac Garage Stage during Thursday’s performance at the 944 Super Village, a makeshift venue constructed by 944 magazine in an empty lot adjacent to Scottdale’s Fashion Square Mall.

Paris Hilton also made a cameo about halfway through 50’s performance. Hilton — who appears topless on the February cover of 944 magazine — emerged from the front row and partially danced her way onstage with 50, drawing the attention of both professional photographers’ lenses and audience members’ cell phones.

“Get off my cameras,” 50 joked to the heiress.

Meanwhile, two men dressed as Ooompa Loompas from “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” danced on tables in a VIP section.

Backstage, reality TV stars Kourtney and Chloe Kardashian, actor Mekhi Phifer and two women wearing nothing but G-strings and Trump Premium Vodka bottles painted on their nude bodies were spotted. Tickets to the concert went for anywhere between $100 to $1,000.

___

On the Net:

944 Super Village: http://www.944game.com

Gina Serpe Fri Feb 1, 4:33 AM ET

Los Angeles (E! Online) - Amy Winehouse's stay in rehab isn't just a drag—it's also a drip.

The Back to Black chanteuse was briefly transferred from her undisclosed rehab facility to a London hospital Thursday night, after reaching dangerous levels of dehydration.

Winehouse's press-friendly father Mitch told BBC radio station 1Xtra that the overnight stay was necessary "to rehydrate her after she'd been vomiting" while going through detox.

Once at the hospital, where the 24-year-old was moved due to insufficient medical facilities at the rehab clinic, was placed on an intravenous drip. After spending the night at the hospital, doctors deemed her hydrated enough to return to rehab, where she remains under "medical supervision."

"Everything is going according to plan and she's perfectly okay," the Winehouse patriarch told the BBC of the brief hospital scare.

On Monday, the Winehouse papa spoke frankly to the Sun tabloid about his daughter's travails in rehab, saying she was "very ill" and "suffering horrific withdrawal symptoms—shivering and constantly throwing up. Her body is expelling all the rubbish."

While the "Rehab" singer's reps have kept mum on the expected duration of her detox save to assure music fans upon her admittance last week that she was still expected to take the stage alongside über producer Mark Ronson at the Grammy Awards Feb. 10, her father recently cast doubt on any pending performance arrangements.

"I'm not sure the Grammys are going to happen," papa Winehouse told the Mirror tabloid. "I don't want her to go—I think it might be a bit too son for her. She's not well—that's why she's in rehab."

Still, the concerned father said that his six-time Grammy-nominated daughter was making progress.

"She's doing okay," he said. "She's getting good treatment."

Winehouse entered treatment, reportedly at central London's Capio Nightingale Hospital, on Jan. 24, a day after Scotland Yard confirmed they had launched an official investigation into footage of the troubled singer smoking what appeared to be a crack pipe, snorting an unidentifiable substance, and admitting to haven taken six Valium.

By Vivi Lin 24 minutes ago

BEIJING (Reuters) - Taiwan pop star Chang Hui-mei, once banned from performing in China, is hoping she will be chosen to sing at the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, her past political problems forgiven and forgotten.

Chang has recorded a song in English called "Forever Friends" which, if chosen, she will perform in front of a global audience of billions on the night of August 8, when the Olympics open.

It would mark an amazing comeback for a singer, affectionately known as A-Mei, who in 2000 sang the Taiwan anthem for anti-China President Chen Shui-bian's inauguration.

China was incensed and stopped her from performing there until the summer of 2001. Though later allowed to return, in 2004 she cancelled a performance in Hangzhou after a protest by nearly 100 people accusing her of supporting Taiwan independence.

Chang, 35, declined to talk directly about those incidents in a recent interview with Reuters at a Beijing recording studio.

"I cannot say that my 10-year career path has been very smooth," the petite singer said.

"But at least in the past 10 years, I have had highs and lows and I am glad to have walked safely through it all," she added.

China views self-ruled, democratic Taiwan as part of its territory. The island has been ruled separately since defeated Nationalist forces fled there at the end of a civil war in 1949.

Beijing has threatened to take Taiwan, by force if necessary, but over the past few years has sought favor with Taiwanese people by promoting cultural exchanges.

Taiwanese and Hong Kong singers are hugely popular in China, despite its own growing pop scene, with many fans seeing those singers as more glamorous and fashionable.

"SMALL MISTAKE"

Chang, who grew up singing for fun in her native Puyuma village, stands out because of her strong voice on light rock tracks covering matters such as love and race.

Mandarin songs like "Can I hold you?," "Bad Boy" and "When I started secretly to miss you" were big hits not just in Taiwan and China, but across Southeast Asia.

The singer's top priority now is to rehearse and record "Forever Friends," composed by Chinese musician Kong Xiangdong and Italian Giorgio Moroder, producer of the Seoul Olympic theme song "Hand in Hand."

"A-Mei made a small mistake," Kong said of Chang's previous political problems. "But the audience did not forget her after all these years."

The song has already won recognition with the Beijing Olympic organizers, who have praised it as one of their top five candidates, despite Chang's checkered past in China.

"The Olympics and music are beyond borders and beyond politics," said Wang Pingjiu, a senior official who is in charge of Olympic song selection.

"Personally, I like this song very much. But as for the future of the song — whether it is able to make it as the Olympic theme song — you might need to wait until the Aug 8. Olympic opening ceremony to find out the answer," he added.

Previous Olympics have seen performances by Celine Dion, Bjork and Kylie Minogue.

(Writing by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Katie Nguyen)

35 minutes ago

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Flo Rida's "Low" starts a sixth week at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

The track also is still making noise on Hot Digital Songs, where it matches a record of nine weeks at the top, set by Gwen Stefani's "Hollaback Girl" in 2005.

On the Hot 100, Alicia Keys' "No One" holds at No. 2, while Chris Brown's "With You" inches up from No. 4 to No. 3, trading places with Timbaland's "Apologize" featuring OneRepublic. Rihanna's "Don't Stop the Music" is the greatest digital gainer and climbs from No. 7 to No. 5, while Fergie's "Clumsy" slips one rung to No. 6.

Sean Kingston's "Take You There" rises from No. 8 to No. 7, while Snoop Dogg earns his fifth top 10 as a lead artist with "Sensual Seduction," which jumps from 11th position to No. 8. Sara Bareilles' "Love Song" moves from No. 10 to No. 9, and Chris Brown's "Kiss Kiss" featuring T-Pain drops from No. 6 to the 10th slot to round out the top tier.

Rapper Lupe Fiasco scores a career-best position on the chart as "Superstar" rockets from No. 60 to No. 36, thanks to the week's largest airplay increase. The top debut is Natasha Bedingfield's "Pocketful of Sunshine" at No. 65; the U.K. vocalist's album of the same name debuted January 30 at No. 3 on the Billboard 200.

Also new this week is the 2008 edition of Michael Jackson's "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin"' featuring Akon, at No. 81. The original track peaked at No. 5 in 1983; this version appears on the 25th anniversary edition of "Thriller," due February 12 via Epic.

Reuters/Billboard

By CHARLES J. GANS, Associated Press Writer 45 minutes ago

NEW YORK - Chris Botti can’t quite figure out how he ended up competing for a Grammy with the Beastie Boys, but he did get a kick out of finding his melodically romantic CD “Italia” nominated with the funk-rock group’s “The Mix-Up” for best pop instrumental album.

The trumpeter never knows what to expect come Grammy season because he’s essentially created his own musical genre — mixing jazz, pop and, on “Italia,” even classical influences — which means his music doesn’t fit neatly into any category.

“It’s sometimes hard to figure out what the committee is going to do, but I think it’s fantastic that we’re up against the Beastie Boys … That’s something you don’t think about when you’re a kid growing up in Oregon,” laughed Botti, during a conversation over lunch at his hotel before his band was to perform at the Blue Note jazz club.

Botti shares more in common with the other pop instrumental album nominees: Spyro Gyra (”Good to Go-Go”), Kirk Whalum (”Roundtrip”) and Dave Koz (”At The Movies),” on whose album Botti guests on “The Shadow of Your Smile.” But he no longer can be lumped together with R&B-influenced smooth-jazz musicians as he was early in his career.

“With my music … there’s this constant dance that I’m doing between my affection for pop music and being around artsy pop musicians … and my affection for Miles Davis … and how do you marry those two together,” said the 45-year-old Botti. “I think there’s a huge appetite for jazz-influenced music which is melodic, accessible and reins it in but doesn’t dumb it down at all.”

Botti recalls that as a teenager in Corvallis, Ore., the jazz that really inspired him to make music his career was Davis’ spacey, melancholy ballad playing on early 1960s quintet recordings like “My Funny Valentine.”

Botti also realized shortly after arriving in New York in 1986 to study with jazz trumpeter Woody Shaw that it was pointless for him to try to outdo Wynton Marsalis at rapid-fire bebop improvisations.

“If there’s one strength I’ve ever had during the course of my career is realizing what I’m not good at,” joked Botti, who didn’t release his debut album, “First Wish,” until 1995 at age 33.

Instead, he embraced working with the most sophisticated pop musicians: including Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell and Sting, who hired the trumpeter as the featured soloist on his 1999-2001 “Brand New Day” tour.

“Sting’s the guy that’s solely responsible for breaking the sound of my trumpet to the world,” said Botti. “He’s been on my CDs, DVDs and he’s been family to me. I’ll never be able to repay him.”

Sting did a guest turn on Botti’s breakthrough 2004 CD “When I Fall In Love,” on which the trumpeter seductively slowed the tempos, used lush orchestral arrangements and emphasized American Songbook standards.

Boosted by an appearance on Oprah Winfrey’s show, it not only topped the jazz charts but reached No. 37 on Billboard’s Top 200, a rarity for a largely instrumental album. It also didn’t hurt that Botti, with his tousled blond hair and green eyes, had the good looks to be named one of People magazine’s “50 Most Beautiful People” in 2004 and make the gossip columns when he briefly dated Katie Couric.

His duets album, “To Love Again” (2005) with guest singers including Gladys Knight and Steven Tyler, was an even bigger hit, resulting in a PBS special and a Grammy for best instrumental arrangement accompanying a vocalist for “What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?” with Sting.

“Italia,” his 10th album, is a heartfelt personal statement reflecting Botti’s romantic connection to his ancestral homeland. He even lived in Italy for two years as a child when his father, an Italian teacher, led a college exchange program.

Botti sculpted the album around the title track which he composed with producer David Foster, a 14-time Grammy winner, with lyrics by Italian pop star Lorenzo Cherubini. Tenor Andrea Bocelli gives an impassioned performance of “Italia” with Botti’s trumpet lines tenderly wrapping around the lyrics.

“It really is a beautiful kind of love letter to Italy expressing the longing of someone who’s not there,” said Botti.

“Italy has a romantic quality about it even for someone who’s never been there … the food, the fashion, the art, the landscape, the way the people live their life,” added the trumpeter, who was dressed casually but elegantly in a black sweater from Italian designer Costume National and hand-crafted, custom-fit Earnest Sewn Jeans.

It’s that sophisticated vision of Italy that Botti celebrates with a tasteful collection of classical music, Italian pop tunes like “Caruso” and “Estate,” and Ennio Morricone film themes as well as standards linked to Italian-American crooners like Frank Sinatra.

Among the highlights is the trumpeter’s relaxed duet with Dean Martin on “I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face,” which blends well the original 1957 vocal track because it was recorded in the same Capitol Records studio in Los Angeles.

Botti takes the greatest pride in his almost classical trumpet playing on Morricone’s haunting “Deborah’s Theme” (from “Once Upon a Time in America”) and the Puccini aria “Nessun Dorma.”

Botti describes “Italia” as “more of a classical pop album than it is jazz” because there’s less improvising than on any of his previous albums. “It’s a much more buttoned-up record … I kept this a much more melodic record.”

But there were no such restraints when Botti took the stage at the Blue Note with his band — drummer Billy Kilson, bassist Robert Hurst, pianist Peter Martin and guitarist Mark Whitfield.

Botti engagingly bantered with the audience before each tune, introducing the saloon song “One For My Baby” with a tale of how he made a complete fool of himself in front of Sinatra on his first professional gig.

“The live shows are completely different from the records, which are all kind of dreamy,” said Botti. “I like to interject some humor and try to up the octane level and let the band flex their muscles a little bit musically.”

Botti keeps a grueling schedule that finds him doing 220 concerts a year and spending his off days traveling, doing promotional work and recording, including such projects as playing on Marc Shaiman’s soundtrack for the film “The Bucket List.” He keeps himself in shape by practicing yoga.

Last year, he bought Sting’s former Manhattan apartment, but sold it after six months because he was hardly ever home. He now considers himself “homeless.”

“I don’t live anywhere,” he said. “I have no storage locker. Every single possession I own fits in one suitcase, one carry-on and there’s my trumpet. … But I feel unbelievably lucky that I have an opportunity to be on the road 365 days a year.”

Needless to say the bachelor trumpeter has no time for serious relationships. But he has his band, or as he calls them “my dysfunctional family,” and his trumpet for companionship.

___

On the Net:

http://www.chrisbotti.com

By Jill Serjeant 41 minutes ago

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Troubled pop star Britney Spears was in a Los Angeles hospital on psychiatric hold for the second time in a month on Thursday after being taken from her home by ambulance under a police escort.

Spears, 26, whose life has grown increasingly erratic in the past 12 months, is being held for a three-day mental evaluation on the orders of her psychiatrist, her self-styled manager, Sam Lutfi, told celebrity news media.

"She went willingly. It was like something in her heart was telling her she should go. She knew something was wrong," Lutfi told People magazine.

News video showed more than a dozen police motorcycles and squad cars leaving Spears' Los Angeles home shortly after midnight on Thursday and taking her to the UCLA Medical Center.

The hospital declined to confirm Spears was a patient, citing confidentiality.

Road blocks were set up in a vain bid to deter paparazzi who have trailed the former pop phenomenon round the clock as her life has spun out of control.

Spears' estranged mother, Lynne, and her father, Jamie, were pictured leaving the hospital on Thursday along with Lutfi. Asked if her daughter was OK, Lynne Spears told a throng of reporters, "Yes."

Celebrity web site TMZ.com said the pop star's psychiatrist felt Spears was a danger to herself because of reckless driving and a recent deterioration in her behavior.

BIPOLAR DISORDER?

Friends and family have said they believe the former teen pop phenomenon is suffering from bipolar disorder — which is characterized by abrupt mood swings — or other psychiatric problems.

In recent days, the Louisiana native has assumed a British accent and has been photographed sitting in the street in tears clutching her dog, and arguing loudly with friends.

An unnamed source told Us Weekly that Spears had not slept since Saturday and that the "intervention" by her family and psychiatrist had been planned for several days.

Spears' personal life went downhill after she filed for divorce from Kevin Federline in November 2006. She was seen out partying without wearing panties. She shaved her head, attacked paparazzi and spent a month in rehab.

Spears lost custody and visiting rights with her two young sons and was ordered last year to undergo random drug and alcohol tests by the court handling her bitter custody dispute with Federline.

She was hospitalized on January 3 after apparently locking herself in a bathroom in hysterics and refusing to hand back her two sons to representatives of Federline. Spears discharged herself after two days.

The National Alliance on Mental Illness on Thursday pleaded for Spears' privacy during her treatment.

Executive director Michael Fitzpatrick condemned the "media circus and reckless speculation" surrounding the health of the singer. He also criticized the professional ethics of mental health experts who are not directly involved in her diagnosis or treatment but speak to the media about her case.

(Reporting by Jill Serjeant, editing by Dan Whitcomb and Mohammad Zargham)