DJ AM leaves hospital after crash

Celebrity disc jockey DJ AM has been released from hospital a week after he escaped a jet crash in which four people died, his spokeswoman has said.

The star and former Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker were the only survivors when their Learjet crashed onto a road shortly after take-off last weekend.

Both suffered second and third-degree burns and were rushed to a specialist hospital in Georgia.

DJ AM's spokeswoman Jenni Weinman said he was "deeply saddened" by the events.

She added that the disc jockey was "thankful for all of the love and support he has been receiving from fans and friends".

A hospital spokeswoman would not say when Barker was expected to be released.

Sparks seen

Goldstein and Barker, who perform together under the name TRVSDJ-AM, had been playing at a free concert in Columbia before boarding the jet.

Air traffic controllers had reported seeing sparks coming from the plane as it tried to take off.

Officials said it left the end of the runway before coming to rest, engulfed in flames, a quarter of a mile away on the embankment across a five-lane motorway.

Two pilots and two other passengers who were close friends of Goldstein and Barker were killed in the crash.

The musicians apparently escaped the wreckage by sliding down a wing.

Safety officials have said that a cockpit voice recording suggested the crew tried unsuccessfully to abort take-off after hearing a probable tyre blowout.

The US National Transportation Safety Board has not said what caused the crash, but spokesman Peter Knudson said he expects the agency to release a preliminary report next week.

BY-BBC NEWS

Chris Rock: It's simple, vote for the guy with one house

(CNN) -- Republican presidential candidate John McCain is just holding on like a boxer before he gets knocked out, comedian Chris Rock says.
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Comedian Chris Rock told Larry King he's proud of Barack Obama's character.

Rock, an avid supporter of Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama, spoke with CNN's Larry King on Thursday. He said Obama is more grounded with your average American -- not somebody like McCain with "12 houses."
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"The other guy [McCain] can lose five houses," Rock said.
"I'll go with the guy with one house. The guy with one house is scared about losing his house."

King began the interview by asking Rock about Thursday's economic bailout talks when Obama
and McCain went to the White House for discussions with the nation's top leaders.
KING: Obama and McCain at opposite ends of the table. What do you make of it?
ROCK: What do I make of it? If this was a boxing match, McCain would be holding.
KING: Holding on?
ROCK: Yes. It's like he got hit really hard in the stomach like, 'OK. I can't let him go. He's going to knock me out.' So that's what appears to be going on right now. Just a hold.
KING: Has the financial crisis affected you?
ROCK: Larry, I drove a cab over here tonight. When it's over, I'm going to try to pick up some more fares. I'm losing everything, Larry.
KING: Really downtrodden?
ROCK: Yes, it's real bad.
KING: Have HBO paid you already?
ROCK: They have paid me, but the money is worthless now. Haven't you heard? Your money's worth nothing.
KING: You must be ... proud that at this stage in our history a black man is running for president on a major ticket.
ROCK: Um, you know what? I'm proud Barack Obama's running for president. You know? If it was Flavor Flav, would I be proud? No. I don't support Barack Obama because he's black.
KING: I said just as a proud feeling. That's normal.
ROCK: There's a proud feeling because of the character of the man. You know, I was -- I supported John Kerry and, you know -- and what's my man? Al Gore.
KING: Al Gore.
ROCK: But this guy seems to be a little bit more. He seems to have watched other peoples' mistakes and, you know, seems to have a little bit more going on.
KING: From a comedic stand point, who is funnier, McCain or Obama? Seriously. Is Obama not -- it's hard to be funny about Obama?
ROCK: No, no. It's weird. People ask me that all the time. ... McCain jokes are just easy jokes, like I don't want a president with a bucket list. That's like a McCain joke. Those jokes are easy. It's like you basically, you know, you know, take the dust off your Reagan jokes and tell them again. You know?
But Obama, oh, this is a whole new set of jokes. I got to find a whole new move to the basket here. So I kind of hope he wins.
KING: Didn't you introduce Obama at a rally?
ROCK: I introduced Obama at the Apollo Theater not too long ago. I think Obama would be great. I mean, just look the big thing right now is the economy. And people are going broke. And here: The choice isn't Republican or Democrat. The choice is you got a guy that's worth $150 million with 12 houses against a guy who's worth a million dollars with one house.
KING: Well --
ROCK: The guy with one house really cares about losing a house, because he is homeless. The other guy can lose five houses and still got a bunch of houses. Does this make any sense? Am I the only one that sees this?
KING: It's unique way of ...
ROCK: I'm just saying, John McCain could lose half his houses.
KING: You got a point.
ROCK: And sleep well.
KING: You and Bill Clinton were on Letterman on Tuesday. You had some problems with the tone of his endorsement of Barack Obama. ... Do you think Bill is hesitant about Barack Obama?
ROCK: You know what? You know, he did a great speech in Denver. And Hillary's been on the campaign trail. Just at that moment, if you watched what happened on David Letterman, it appeared he was holding back. And when you tell a joke and everybody laughs, it is not because they disagree with what you're saying. So --
KING: They get it?
ROCK: Yes, they get it. The whole audience was in on it. But, you know, hey, the guy's in a weird position there. His wife ran for the thing and she didn't win.
KING: The next night, on "The Daily Show," Jon Stewart asked Clinton about the Letterman appearance and Clinton suggested that Obama supporters who questioned commitment are missing the point.
ROCK: It was great. It was great. And you're right, [Obama] does need to get some of the votes that went to Hillary and all that. I don't understand any Democrat that voted for Hillary that doesn't support Obama. Because their views are pretty similar. You know what I mean? ...
I understand people supporting Mr. McCain. But a Democrat that's going to just be mad is -- there's something kind of really messed up about that.
KING: Have you always done political humor?
ROCK: You know --
KING: When you started, did you do politics?
ROCK: I'm interested in the world. Jon Stewart does political humor. Bill Maher does political humor. I talk about stuff the way guys would talk about it at the barber shop. I don't belong on any panel on this show. You know what I mean? I don't deserve to be near Roland Martin and Anderson Cooper and all these guys. I try to talk about politics in a way a guy that works at UPS would understand.
KING: You did a lot of Brooklyn stuff.
ROCK: I do all sorts of stuff, Larry. All sorts of stuff. You know, I hope Obama wins just because, you know, the country needs it. The country needs a change. We kind of seen what this whole McCain thing is. And I'll go with the guy with one house. The guy with one house is scared about losing his house.
KING: I never thought of it that way.
ROCK: It is that simple.
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Emmys tap reality as 'perfect way to stay current'

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- For reality television, this weekend's Emmy ceremony promises heady and unprecedented attention.

"Survivor's" Jeff Probst is one of the reality-show hosts who will handle the Emmys.

For the Writers Guild of America, scant months from a bitter strike that fought and failed to unionize so-called unscripted programs, the star billing is salt in a wound.

The show will be hosted by five hosts from hit shows including "American Idol" and "Deal or No Deal," and the emcees are competing in a new category honoring their work. For the first time, a reality-made celebrity -- Lauren Conrad of "The Hills" -- will be a presenter.

And she and another reality-made star, "Project Runway" winner Christian Siriano, are creating gowns for the so-called "trophy girls."

Emmy organizers point out that the genre has established itself as a popular and vital part of TV and deserves its due, and that the 60th annual ceremony airing on ABC -- 8 p.m. ET Sunday -- is celebrating television as a whole.

The writers union concedes the point -- but says the focus still stings.

"I hesitate to call it an irony so much as an injustice," said Patric M. Verrone, president of the Writers Guild of America, West.

When the Emmy hosts, including Jeff Probst ("Survivor") and Heidi Klum ("Project Runway"), take the stage, their duties on the guild-covered ceremony will include "reading what somebody writes" under WGA contract pay and benefit terms, Verrone said.

"But when the hosts go back to their day job, they will be reading copy where writers don't get writing credit, much less benefits," he said.

Tom Bergeron of "Dancing with the Stars" is the sole Emmy host whose series has a WGA-covered writer, according to the guild. The WGA continues to pursue unionization of competition, game and variety programs after making contract gains in new-media compensation.

The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which bargains for the studios, has maintained its opposition to the guild's demand for blanket jurisdiction over reality shows. Other unions have made inroads at some reality productions.

Observers may see irony in Sunday's show: During the 100-day walkout that stopped scripted TV production before ending in February, the guild exercised its muscle by crushing the Golden Globes ceremony and threatening -- then sparing -- the Academy Awards.

Verrone doesn't allege industry payback is involved in the Emmys, nor does he find fault with the TV academy. There are no plans to stage a protest at the ceremony, he said.

The guild's concern is the producers who fight its jurisdiction over reality and animation shows, Verrone said.

But, he added, the Emmy's emphasis "ignores the fact that this is a year that writers proved you can't do any other kind of television without us. We shut it (the industry) down for three months" and forced networks to rely on reality and reruns.

The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences declined comment, saying the dispute is between the union and studios. Executive producer Ken Ehrlich also declined comment but detailed why reality shows deserves to be center stage.

The genre has been a part of TV since the early game shows, Ehrlich said. With the birth of programs like MTV's "The Real World" (1992), it has expanded and staked out more and more TV turf.

Taken together, the five Emmy hosts' shows average about 70 million weekly viewers.

"It just seemed like a perfect way to stay current with the state of television today," Ehrlich said.

That could be crucial to the ceremony's ratings. The Emmys, along with other awards shows, has seen viewership slump in recent years, with last year's telecast watched by the second-smallest Emmy audience on record, just under 13 million.

The Oscars get a ratings boost when a box-office hit like "Titanic" is in the trophy hunt. But the Emmys' most-nominated series, AMC's "Mad Men," has yet to garner an audience to match its critical acclaim: The latest episode drew just under 2 million viewers, compared to the 20 million weekly viewers who routinely watched "American Idol" last season.

Some writers accept or even embrace the idea that reality deserves a place in the annual tribute to TV's best, including "Mad Men" creator Matthew Weiner.

"I'm a reality TV fan," Weiner said, with his only criticism that "the Emmys were a little late to come to the party with reality shows."

"I understand television celebrating something that's become prime-time's bread and butter. I'm a sucker for `Survivor' and `Beauty and the Geek,"' said Ron Osborn, whose credits include cable series "Duckman," out on DVD, and "The West Wing."

But, Osborn added, writers have been "tremendously hurt by reality."

Weiner also draws a sharp distinction between respecting the breed and asserting that it employs people who function as writers and deserve guild protection.

"Anybody who thinks those shows aren't written, whether by editors or writers, is fooling themselves," he said. "It's an illusion that they're just filming what's happening. Casting directors and editors and nonunion writers are creating stories on paper."

Oprah makes latest book pick

NEW YORK (AP) -- Oprah Winfrey announced Friday she'd chosen David Wroblewski's "The Story of Edgar Sawtelle" as her latest book club pick, calling the debut novel a classic and the "best novel I've read in a long, long, long time."

"I think this book is right up there with the greatest American novels ever written, I really do," said Winfrey at the end of "The Oprah Winfrey Show." Winfrey raved for several minutes about the novel, comparing it to the work of John Steinbeck and even, she said, Harper Lee, author of "To Kill a Mockingbird."

"I will say that, yes I said it," Winfrey said.

The novel is already one of the summer's hottest reads and is this week ranked ninth on The New York Times best-seller list. It is certain to get a lot hotter with one of the biggest boosts any book can get these days: a little sticker on the cover proclaiming "Edgar Sawtelle" as one of Winfrey's book club selections.

"When you read it you will understand why I had to choose it," Winfrey told her audience. "It is so engaging, so gripping, so epic that I wanted absolutely everybody to share the joy of the story of Edgar Sawtelle."

"Edgar Sawtelle," which Wroblewski worked on for about a decade, is the story of a mute boy who communicates best with his dogs. Wroblewski grew up in rural Wisconsin, the setting for his book, and now lives near Denver with his partner, writer Kimberly McClintock.

Wroblewski appeared via satellite on Friday's program, telling Winfrey from his home in Colorado about writing the book in restaurants and waiting areas and at picnic tables whenever he could, as he worked full-time as a software developer.

Wroblewski said he has been amazed by the reception the book, which he called a "very private project," has received, saying that he wasn't even sure he would find a publisher for it.

"I expected there would be a few readers out there who would connect with it, but what happened this summer was not on my radar at all," he said.

Winfrey, saying the book was part mystery, cautioned viewers to avoid reading the inside cover because she felt that gave away too much of the story.

Winfrey said that sometime in the next few months Wroblewski will take part in a live Q&A webcast session with her for the nearly 2 million members of her book club. A date hasn't been announced.

Drummer Barker injured in crash

Former Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker has been seriously injured in a Learjet plane crash in South Carolina, in the US, that has killed four people.

A Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman said the plane, which was trying to take off, went off the runway and crashed on a nearby road.

She said air traffic controllers had reported seeing sparks coming from the plane, which was carrying six people.

Barker and US club DJ Adam Goldstein are being treated for burns.

A spokeswoman for the hospital in Augusta, Georgia, where they are being treated said Barker and Adam Goldstein - also known as DJ AM - were both in a critical condition.

The pair, who perform together under the name TRVSDJ-AM, had been playing in Columbia, South Carolina.

The plane crashed before midnight local time on Friday night.

In February 2005, pop punk trio Blink-182 announced they were going on an "indefinite hiatus" with no plans to work together in the future.

The band's record label Geffen said that Barker and bandmates Tom DeLonge and Mark Hoppus aimed to "spend some time enjoying the fruits of their labours with loved ones".

Blink-182 had nine UK hits including All the Small Things in 2000.

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George Michael arrest over drugs

Pop singer George Michael has been cautioned by police after being arrested in a public toilet in London for possession of drugs.

"A 45-year-old man was arrested on 19 September on suspicion of possession of drugs in the Hampstead Heath area," a Metropolitan Police spokesman said.

The singer was taken to a police station and given the caution for possessing class A and class C drugs.

Last month, he completed his 25 Live world tour, his first for 15 years.

After performing "final" dates at London's Earls Court and in Copenhagen, Michael said he would be retiring from arena and stadium shows.

'Quieter life'

He said he would leave the "bells and whistles" of large-scale tours behind after the tour because he wanted a "quieter life".

During the concerts, he performed his number one hit Outside in a police uniform in a jokey reference to previous arrests.

The song itself referred to his arrest in 1998 when he was detained by an undercover police officer for lewd conduct in a public toilet in Beverly Hills, California.

Until that time he had not "come out" in public, but the arrest and subsequent conviction forced him to reveal his homosexuality and his relationship with American Kenny Goss.

Michael also came into conflict with the law in October 2006 when he was found slumped over the wheel of his car.

And last May he was given a two-year driving ban after pleading guilty to driving while unfit through drugs.

Earlier this year, the 45-year-old singer signed a multi-million pound deal with publisher HarperCollins to write his autobiography, which he said would be a "no-holds barred" account of his life.

And during his final shows on stage, he revealed that he had written a Christmas song which would be released this December - his first festive song since Wham!'s Last Christmas, initially released in 1984.

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