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By The Associated Press

SINGER GRETCHEN WILSON FORCED TO LEAVE NEW MEXICO HOTEL

LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) — Country singer Gretchen Wilson was removed from a New Mexico hotel after she performed at a weekend music festival.

The Las Cruces Sun-News reported Wednesday that police were called to Hotel Encanto in Las Cruces around 3 a.m. Sunday after numerous noise complaints about Wilson’s room.

Police spokesman Dan Trujillo says she and her team left voluntarily.

Wilson took to her Twitter account on Tuesday to criticize the hotel.

According to the “Redneck Woman” singer, she got to her room at 12:30 a.m. and was reprimanded for talking.

She says she was later kicked out “for no reason.”

In a 911 call, a hotel employee said Wilson’s volume level for talking was the equivalent of yelling.

A representative for Wilson did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

CBS SIGNS STEPHEN COLBERT TO 3-YEAR EXTENSION

NEW YORK (AP) — Stephen Colbert will be sticking around for four more years.

CBS announced Thursday that Colbert has signed a new contract that will keep him as the “Late Show” host through at least August 2023. His current pact was set to expire next August.

Terms were not disclosed. But it’s a safe bet Colbert is in line for a healthy raise. He took over for David Letterman in 2015 and currently reigns as the most popular host on late-night television. The “Late Show” averages nearly 4 million viewers each night, with a widening lead over the second-place “Tonight” show with Jimmy Fallon.

Colbert quips that he’s been asked to stay “and I have every intention of honouring their subpoena.”

COUNTRY ARTISTS BRING TEARS, PRAYERS TO CMT AWARDS SHOW

NASHVILLE, Tennessee (AP) — Country music artists cried together and prayed together at an emotional CMT Artists of the Year awards show on Wednesday that reflected the tight-knit community of artists who supported each other through success and loss.

One of the night’s honorees, Kane Brown, cried as he dedicated the award to his 27-year-old drummer, Kenny Dixon, who died in a car accident over the weekend. Country singer Thomas Rhett, also an honoree, used his acceptance speech to lead the audience in a prayer for the families of Brown and Dixon.

And Reba McEntire, who was given artist of a lifetime, told Rhett it took guts to lead a prayer on live television. Other honorees included Dan + Shay, Luke Combs, Carrie Underwood and Ashley McBryde.

DAVE MATTHEWS REACTS TO GETTING ROCK HALL NOMINATION

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Dave Matthews says his band’s nomination for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s 2020 class was unexpected and a “little bit insane.”

The Dave Matthews Band frontman told The Associated Press on Wednesday that he feels honoured to be among a list of music’s elite. The seven-member group is among 16 acts nominated for the Hall, including Whitney Houston, Notorious B.I.G. and the Doobie Brothers.

The nominations were announced Tuesday.

The 35th annual Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction ceremony will take place May 2 in Cleveland.

Matthews also spoke about his nomination while promoting two board games called Chickapig and 25 Outlaws. He co-created the games with Brian Calhoun, a longtime friend and popular guitar maker.

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FOR SPRINGSTEEN, ‘WESTERN STARS’ MADE SENSE AFTER BOOK, PLAY

NEW YORK (AP) — “Western Stars” was just the change of pace that Bruce Springsteen needed after baring his soul over the past few years.

He shared his darkest secrets in the memoir “Born to Run.” Then he spent more than a year telling his story five nights a week in Springsteen on Broadway. An album set in the American West with an accompanying documentary seemed like the perfect bookend.

Springsteen says “there was the book and then from the book we did the play. And out of the play really came this film.”

The film’s star-studded New York premiere was Wednesday night. It opens in theatres Oct. 25. The album was released in June.

Springsteen performs in the film before a live audience under the ceiling of his family’s giant old barn.

PLACIDO DOMINGO’S EUROPEAN CULTURAL AWARD DELAYED

MILAN (AP) — Placido Domingo will not receive a European cultural award this weekend in Vienna as previously announced.

It was the first change in the opera legend’s European schedule since numerous accusations of sexual harassment in the United States were reported by The Associated Press.

Officials at the European Cultural Forum based in Dresden, Germany, said Thursday that Domingo will instead receive the prize next year at a ceremony in Bonn. No reason for the change was cited.

Other winners this year include Italian actress Sophia Loren and British fashion designer Vivienne Westwood, along with the Vienna State Opera and singers Nina Stemme and Rene Pape.

Domingo is to perform Thursday in Moscow, his fourth European appearance since the allegations were first published in August. All U.S. engagements have been cancelled.

‘SPIRITED AWAY,’ OTHER STUDIO GHIBLI FILMS HEAD TO HBO MAX

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The vast catalogue of storied Japanese animation house Studio Ghibli is heading to the new HBO Max streaming service.

Films such as “Princess Mononoke,” ”My Neighbor Totoro” and Oscar-winner “Spirited Away” will be among the titles available to stream when HBO Max launches in spring 2020.

The deal — the first time the studio’s library will be available on a streaming platform — was announced Thursday for unspecified terms.

Studio Ghibli has a passionate fan base of its richly animated epic films from directors like Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata.

HBO Max is owned by WarnerMedia, which is assembling streaming content from its networks that include TNT, TBS, Cartoon Network and Warner Bros. studio.

“Spirited Away,” about an abandoned village that’s a getaway for spirits and demons, won the best animated Oscar in 2002.

ICONIC LAS VEGAS WEDDING CHAPEL IS NO LONGER UP FOR SALE

LAS VEGAS (AP) — The owner of a Las Vegas chapel where celebrity couples like Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner have gotten married is staying wedded to her business.

Charlotte Richards told KVVU-TV on Wednesday that she is taking A Little White Wedding Chapel off the market.

The iconic property had been listed for $12 million back in April. Richards says she received one offer but declined it.

After more consideration, she has decided to hold onto the business she operated since 1951.

The chapel has become a Sin City icon over the years hosting quickie wedding ceremonies including for pop singer Britney Spears in 2004.

“Game of Thrones” actress Turner and singer Jonas married there in May.

FARROW BOOKS SELLS ACROSS AUSTRALIA DESPITE LEGAL THREAT

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Ronan Farrow’s new book is being sold in Australia despite threats of defamation lawsuits that the Pulitzer-winning journalist believes led some Australian retailers to drop the bestseller.

“Catch and Kill” covers events leading to Farrow’s New Yorker magazine expose of Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein’s alleged sexual misconduct.

Farrow’s book also makes repeated references to former National Enquirer editor in chief Dylan Howard, whose lawyers sent letters to Australian booksellers threatening lawsuits.

Amazon Australia and Booktopia declined to comment Thursday on their decisions not to sell Farrow’s book.

A number of smaller Australian book retailers received the letters, but most did not.

Lawyer Andrew Thorpe, who signed the letters, did not respond when asked by AP who had received them.

CUBAN OFFICIAL SAYS REVERED BALLERINA ALICIA ALONSO HAS DIED

HAVANA (AP) — An official of the National Ballet of Cuba says the revered ballerina and choreographer Alicia Alonso has died at age 98. Miguel Cabrera says Alonso died Thursday at a hospital in Havana.

As founder of the National Ballet of Cuba, Alonso personified the island’s arts program under Fidel Castro’s communist rule and she kept vise-like control over the troupe past her 90th birthday despite being nearly blind for decades.

In New York in the 1940s and ’50s, Alonso was one of the earliest members of the company that became the American Ballet Theatre, helping it develop into one of the more important U.S. ballet troupes. She was recognized the world over for the stylized beauty of her choreography and named prima ballerina assoluta, the rarely bestowed highest honour in dance.

The Associated Press

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