Prince plays Coachella, covers Radiohead

By JAKE COYLE, AP Entertainnment Writer

INDIO, Calif. (AP) — "Coachella, I am here." Prince hit the stage at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival with that announcement, heralding his arrival as the much-anticipated headliner of the summer festival.

Shortly after 11 p.m. Saturday, Prince strutted onto the stage wearing white pants and a white shirt with glittery fringe. His performance, the centerpiece of the three-day festival, was announced only two weeks ago, immediately making an already very hip festival of 125-plus bands significantly more in-demand.

And Prince knew it.

"You are the coolest place on earth right now!" Prince declared to a sea of tens of thousands.

Prince, who had been sought out to perform at Coachella since the festival was founded nine years ago, told the crowd that when he agreed to perform, he informed the organizers that he would not only play, but party too.

True to his word, Prince then launched his band — complete with a horn section and background singers — into "Jungle Love." Morris Day came out to sing his song, while Prince strolled around the stage with his guitar.

For the beginning of the show, Prince preferred to let his guitar do the talking. He also welcomed the singer and drummer Sheila E, who took the lead for a song and then joined Prince in an extended jam.

Finally, Prince satisfied the crowd with a celebratory performance of "1999." His classic "Little Red Corvette" soon followed.

One of the big surprises of Prince's concert was his cover of Radiohead's "Creep," which was sure to be one of Coachella's most talked-about performances. With some lyrics adjusted, a ripping guitar solo and extended falsetto crooning for a finale, Prince's "Creep" had the crowd slack-jawed.

To close the set, he gave another unique take on a song not his own: the Beatles' "Come Together." He urged the audience — whom he called his "choir" — to sing "Come together, yeah" over and over.

And just as trepidation was beginning to take hold in the crowd that Prince might actually leave without playing "Purple Rain," he returned to confirm that even in the desert, it could rain purple.

Even after the encore, though, he came back for more.

"They're telling me that we got to go, but I can't leave!" Prince shouted. He then flew through a torrid version of "Let's Go Crazy."

Prince had widely been considered the one act most all concertgoers — a diverse 60,000 of indie rockers, electronica dancers and pop fans — were certain to see. And by the end of "Let's Go Crazy," Prince had seemed to put his stamp on Coachella lore.

"From now on, this is Prince's house," he shouted before triumphantly strutting off stage and tossing his guitar 30 feet behind him.

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On the Net:

Coachella music festival: http://www.coachella

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Sean Bell Shooting Case -- Referenced In Songs By 50 Cent, Papoose -- Ends In Acquittal Of Three New York Police Detectives

Mood outside the Queens courtroom is upset, but still calm.

The scene outside the New York courtroom was tense but peaceful Friday morning, as a judge declared three police detectives not guilty of manslaughter, assault or reckless endangerment in the shooting death of Sean Bell, who was killed outside a strip club in New York in 2006 in a barrage of 50 bullets.

The verdict prompted a number of Bell's supporters to storm out of the courtroom, with screams audible outside the chambers moments later, according to The New York Times. Outside the courtroom, thousands more supporters of Bell — who was 23 years old when he was gunned down just hours before he was to marry — gathered, shouting and taunting police, who were out in force in case any violent protests broke out.

Bell's fiancee, Nicole Paultre Bell, and his parents were in the courtroom when the verdict was read in the case, which became a flashpoint for the city and many in the hip-hop community, including 50 Cent, Papoose and Prodigy — all of whom recorded songs or wrote lyrics about the shooting. After the incident, Nas released a statement to MTV News, saying, "The cops need to be charged the way gangsters are charged."

As the judge read his decision, CNN reported that Paultre Bell ran from the courtroom saying, "I've got to get out of here."

After a seven-week trial, Justice Arthur J. Cooperman said that many of the prosecution's witnesses, including Bell's friends and the two wounded victims, were simply not believable. "The testimony of those witnesses just didn't make sense," he said, adding that some of the witnesses contradicted themselves and that their demeanor on the witness stand helped to decide the case, CNN reported.

After reading through the timeline of the evening, Cooperman concluded that the response by Detectives Gescard F. Isnora, Michael Oliver and Marc Cooper, "with respect to each defendant, was not found to be criminal." The men were found not guilty of the eight counts — five felonies and three misdemeanors— they were facing. Among other charges, Isnora and Oliver had faced first- and second-degree manslaughter, with a possible sentence of 25 years in prison. Cooper was charged with two counts of reckless endangerment. According to the Times, they could still face disciplinary action from the police department, though a decision on that will be delayed until it is decided whether federal charges will be filed against them.

The prosecution attempted to show that the shooting was the result of a frightened, possibly enraged group of disorganized police officers who began their shift that night hoping to arrest a prostitute or two at the club, which was being investigated for prostitution, guns and drug dealing. Suspecting Bell and his friends of possessing a gun, the prosecution said the detectives quickly got in over their heads.

The defense portrayed the shooting as the tragic end to a justified confrontation in which Isnora had what his lawyers described as solid reasons to believe he was "the only thing standing between Mr. Bell's car and a drive-by shooting around the corner." Witnesses claimed to have heard talk of guns during a heated argument between an intoxicated Bell and a stranger outside the club. And witnesses said that as Bell and his friends left the club, the undercover detectives believed that one of the men was going to retrieve a gun from Bell's car, so they followed the men and called for backup.

According to testimony, Bell and two friends got in the car, with Bell driving, and the detectives drew their weapons. Bell panicked to get away from what he believed were armed men. The detectives, who said they thought Bell was trying to run them over and that their lives were in danger, began firing. No gun was found near Bell or his friends.

Once word of the verdict leaked out to the crowds gathered outside the courtroom, CNN reported that one woman shouted at a black police officer, "How can you be proud to wear that uniform? Stand down! Stop working for the masters!"

The case drew immediate response from the hip-hop community, with Papoose dropping a song just a week after the shooting titled "50 Shots," which sampled Sam Cooke's anthem "A Change Is Gonna Come" and featured the lines, "Mike Oliver said his gun jammed, he the main one/ 12-year veteran and don't know how to use a gun." Paultre Bell was featured in a controversial ad from Rocawear as part of their "I Will Not Lose" campaign, which launched just before the trial began. In addition, 50 Cent has referenced the case on cuts, and Prodigy also has several references to Bell on his just released album, HNIC2, on a track titled "Field Marshall P."

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Neil Gaiman's 'Anansi Boys' Gears Up For Big-Screen Adaptation

'Stardust' writer talks about a bevy of upcoming projects and the stars who want to be involved.

Twenty years after first publishing his legendary "Sandman" series, Neil Gaiman is busier and more in-demand than ever. Last year's movie adaptation of his 1998 novel "Stardust" wasn't a box-office hit, but "Beowulf," which he co-wrote, definitely was. And up next is the stop-motion version of his 2002 novella "Coraline" — starring Dakota Fanning and Teri Hatcher — as well as film adaptations of his 2005 best-selling novel, "Anansi Boys," and his old BBC series, "Neverwhere." And of course there's always the possibility of some sort of "Sandman" film to tantalize fans with — "Death," anyone? — although that doesn't seem to be high on his list of projects right now. We pressed him for a complete update.

MTV: You've already been doing readings for your upcoming novel, "The Graveyard Book" — a sort of "Jungle Book" with dead people raising the boy.

Neil Gaiman: And a lot of people in Hollywood are already trying to buy [the rights to] "The Graveyard Book."

MTV: But it hasn't even come out yet!

Gaiman: I don't know how they do it, but they got copies. I was going to hold off on sending it out until at least we had reading copies, because they're more impressive, but a week after the manuscript went in to my publishers, my agent was getting phone calls from people who had it on their desk.

MTV: So by the end of this year, you'll have "The Graveyard Book"; your new movie, "Coraline"; and then there's the 20th anniversary of "Sandman."

Gaiman: That's always been the way of my life — things I've done years and years apart always seem to come out more or less at the same time. Last year, I was at the "Stardust" premiere in the U.K., and then two weeks later, I was at the "Beowulf" premiere, two things that were done years apart. I would never have expected "Beowulf" to be made. It was a script I wrote in 1987 that I thought was dead in 1988. But it clawed its way out of the grave, pulled itself up and coughed, and then you're watching Angelina Jolie in it. That's what happens. Right now, I'm writing an "Anansi Boys" movie.

MTV: That's actually happening? What else is happening?

Gaiman That's actually happening. It suddenly came to life when a film producer was stuck at an airport with a star on a tour, and they picked up the book, just as something to read on the plane. Halfway through, they were reading it to each other. When they landed, I got a call saying, "Can we make this into a movie?" And the lovely thing about "Anansi Boys" is that it's more or less movie-shaped — it just needs a little trimming so it won't be a five-hour movie. So I have to write that. And "Neverwhere," which I walked off of in 1999, I was asked to come back and polish the script that I did then and bring that back to life, so I'm doing that.

"Death" was with New Line, and now that New Line has sort of expunged itself from existence, we are figuring out right now where in the Warner [Bros.] family it will be and what is happening with it. It's not back to the drawing board — we do have a script and a lot of stuff, we have people like Shia LaBeouf who have said, "I want to be in this thing" — but we're figuring out where and when.

MTV: Do you ever play the casting game and think about who you'd want in each role? Like who would be a good Spider for "Anansi Boys," or Richard Mayhew for "Neverwhere"? Rachel McAdams, for instance, just came to us recently and said she'd want to be Black Orchid, if that series is ever made into a film.

Gaiman: I love that. I hope she is. I hope they make it. Make "Black Orchid," people out there! And make Rachel McAdams Black Orchid.

You always start thinking about casting, because it's fun. But the problem with talking about casting is the moment that something is about to be made, it becomes problematic. You might say, "I would love Ellen Page to be Death. I've loved her since 'Hard Candy'; she'd make an amazing Death." And then suddenly you're negotiating for Ellen Page, and you say to her agent, "We can take her or leave her," and then they say, "No, we've seen the interviews. You really want her." You're in a slightly different world out there. If you start saying who you want, if it's going to be real, you want to shut up.

For something like "Anansi Boys," I get kind of torn. Half of me would love to just cast one actor as Fat Charlie and one as Spider and see what you get with one person playing both of them. Will Smith playing both of them, what are you going to get? But then what would you get if you have Will Smith playing one, and Chris Tucker the other? Beyond that, more than anything I would just want Morgan Freeman to play Mr. Nancy. Wouldn't that be fun? But I can only say that because I'm not negotiating for any of those people.

MTV: You're not going to take on a producer role, as you did with "Stardust"?

Gaiman: I probably will produce, but not quite as seriously as I did with "Stardust." With "Stardust," I was signing off on casting, I was watching auditions on the Web, and I don't know if I'd want to do that again. It's a strange and thankless thing to do.

MTV: Do you ever look back at "Stardust" and wonder what you could have done differently?

Gaiman: I loved the movie. I think the marketing should have been done better. The film company had no idea how to sell anything like this. If you could compare it to anything, it would be "The Princess Bride." But they said, "We can't mention 'Princess Bride,' that didn't make box office." But you're the only people in the world who know that in 1987, "The Princess Bride" was #3 at the box office. It was beaten by "Fatal Attraction" and a Dudley Moore movie. No one knows. No one remembers. It's just a movie that people love. And "Stardust" is set to be that, too.

MTV: Which Dudley Moore movie? "Like Father Like Son"? I was an extra in that.

Gaiman: You were? You beat "The Princess Bride," personally? I hope you're ashamed of yourself. Now I have to watch it.

MTV: No, now you have to do a cameo in one of your own movies.

Gaiman: The only thing they ever persuaded me to do a cameo in was the BBC adaptation of "Neverwhere." You see a running figure in a black coat in the title credits, and that was me. And that was just because everyone else was busy.

MTV: Can you please make sure they get the lighting right for the new movie? It's so cheesy in the BBC version.

Gaiman: They lit it for film and shot it for video. But it used to be that the only way you could see it was a fifth-generation copy, which would be blurred and moody, and people would think, "How cool." It wasn't until it was professionally released that people could see how cheesy it was. I definitely also want a great beast that's not a cow — more than anything, I want a great beast that's scary and terrifying. Beyond that, it's just a matter of doing it justice and doing it well, and doing it with a budget. The BBC had the best intentions, and these days, they come and apologize and they wish they could do it now. Too late. Harvey Weinstein owns it.

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