Briefs: Local band is semifinalist in contest
Donora , a trio from the Gibsonia section of Richland Township, is a semifinalist in a nationwide contest, Calling All Bands. Sponsored by www.myspace.com and Verizon Wireless, Donora's "She's Just a Girl,'" is one of 15 from more than 4,500 songs that has made the semifinals. The winner of the contest will release a single and video on V Cast, Verizon's video broadcast component.
Donora features Casey Hanner on vocals and guitar, Jake Hanner on drums, and bassist Jake Churton . The Hanners are the children of Dave Hanner of Corbin-Hanner Band fame.
To listen to Donora, log on to www.myspace.com/donora. To vote in the contest, www.myspace.com/callingallbands .
-- Rege Behe
Pittsburgh Symphony changes concert program
Guest conductor Robert Spano has canceled his weekend concerts with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra because of bronchitis. The scheduled Pittsburgh premiere of John Adams' "Naïve and Sentimental Music" is also canceled and will be rescheduled in a future season.
Andres Cardenes will conduct the revised program, which will begin with Claude Debussy's "Petite Suite" and conclude with Antonin Dvorak's Symphony No. 7. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 23, with Lars Vogt as soloist, remains from the original program.
-- Mark Kanny
Cultural events in the city
Pittsburgh Public Theater presents the Reduced Shakespeare Company in "Completely Hollywood (abridged)" at 8 p.m. Performances continue through April 2 at the O'Reilly Theater, 621 Penn Ave., Downtown. $12.50 to $52.50. 412-316-1600.
City Theatre presents "Pyretown" at 8 p.m. Performances continue through April 2 at the Lester Hamburg Studio Theatre of City Theatre, 57 S. 13th St., South Side. $35. 412-431-2489.
Pittsburgh Cultural Trust presents "Dora's Pirate Adventure" at 7 p.m. Performances continue through Sunday at the Benedum Center, Seventh Street and Penn Avenue, Downtown. $14.50 to $38.50. 412-456-6666.
PEOPLE Band seeks dismissal of breach-of-contract suit
The Killers and their lawyer-manager have asked a federal judge to throw out a $16 million breach-of-contract lawsuit from the band's former manager.
In documents filed in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas on Monday, members of the rock band and their manager, lawyer Robert Reynolds , accused former manager Braden Merrick , of Los Angeles, of incompetence and dishonesty.
Merrick's lawsuit, filed Feb. 21, alleges that he was fired in May, after the Las Vegas-based band became successful. The two sides had been negotiating a settlement.
In a separate action filed Friday, the band asked the California Division of Labor Standards Enforcement to void any agreements between The Killers and Merrick.
A spokeswoman at the agency's San Francisco headquarters said Monday she wasn't immediately aware of the band's petition and didn't know when a hearing would be scheduled.
Merrick's lawyer, Howard King of Los Angeles, said the band's contract with Merrick, which was to have run through 2007, was in Nevada.
Although he hadn't seen Friday's or Monday's actions, King said they were expected. "You gotta take your shot if you don't want to pay what you owe," he said.
Reynolds didn't immediately respond Monday to a request for comment.
The Killers, formed in 2002, signed with Island Def Jam records and had a hit with their first release, "Hot Fuss." They recently began recording a second album.
-- The Associated Press
Filipino star to enter different drug program
Nora Aunor , one of the Philippines' most popular film and music stars, has left a Los Angeles drug court treatment program and will enroll in a different program that allows her to travel for concerts, officials said.
"The woman was in full compliance" during her time in drug court, said Aunor's lawyer, Claire Espina . "She tested clean every time."
Aunor, 53, was arrested March 30 at Los Angeles International Airport after security screeners allegedly found 8 grams of methamphetamine and a glass pipe in her carry-on bag.
She was accepted into the county's drug court program in December, at which time criminal proceedings against her were suspended.
On Thursday, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Bernard Kamins granted a motion by Aunor's lawyer to let her leave drug court. He scheduled a hearing on March 29 before another judge so she can enter a drug diversion program.
Criminal charges against Aunor will be dismissed if she successfully completes that program, according to the district attorney's office.
Aunor, whose real name is Nora Cabaltera Villamayor, has upcoming concerts in San Francisco, Boston, Washington and Ohio, and also must travel to meet the requirements of her visa, Espina said.
She retains her Philippine citizenship, but has spent much of her time in recent years at her home in Linda Vista, several miles north of San Diego.
Known as "The Superstar" to her fans, she has appeared in more than 170 films and recorded more than two dozen albums, including scores of hit singles.
On-screen, she has starred with leading men of her time, including Joseph Estrada , who became the country's president.
-- The Associated Press
Novel about convict wins Australian book prize
Australia's Kate Grenville won the 2006 Commonwealth Writers' Prize for "The Secret River," a novel about a convict's struggle to build a life for his family after being shipped to a 19th-century Australian penal colony.
The book "is a powerful historical novel which acknowledges the competing claims of settlers and Aborigines" during the time period, said a statement Tuesday from the judging panel's chairman, Chris Wallace-Crabbe , a professor at the University of Melbourne.
Grenville follows in the footsteps of Peter Carey , Richard Flanagan and Murray Bail -- previous Australian winners of the $17,350 best book prize.
The winners were announced at a ceremony in the southern city of Melbourne.
The best first book award, worth $5,200, went to Mark McWatt from Guyana for "Suspended Sentences: Fictions of Atonement."
The annual Commonwealth Writers' Prize rewards the best in fiction written in English, by both established and new writers, in the Commonwealth grouping of former British colonies.
Wallace-Crabbe said McWatt's book "presents a delightful caravan of stories that explore the changing character of Guyana."
-- The Associated Press
Manilow makes daily commute to Vegas by jet
Barry Manilow soars high above the traffic five days a week on his commute to the Las Vegas Hilton.
From his home in Palm Springs, Calif., the 59-year-old singer travels by jet to Sin City.
"There's just no quiet in Vegas," Manilow told the Los Angeles Times for a story Sunday.
But he embraces the five-shows-a-week gig, where his loyal fans -- "Fanilows" -- make up the bulk of his nightly audience.
He's also flying high on the success of his latest album, "The Greatest Songs of the Fifties," which debuted at No. 1 on U.S. pop charts.
Not even "Copacabana" did that.
"I was floored," he said. "It's unreal, absolutely unreal."
-- The Associated Press
