Jump! Reunited Van Halen Announces Plan To Tour U.S.

Published: Aug 14, 2007

It's official. Van Halen will tour with David Lee Roth for the first time since the flamboyant singer quit more than 20 years ago, it was announced at a news conference Monday.

Roth, 52, spoke virtually nonstop at the Los Angeles event, promising that the band's upcoming 25-date North America trek - which so far doesn't include a Tampa date - merely was the precursor to a world tour and to a new album.

"This is not like the Police," Roth said, referring to another band that recently papered over personality differences to launch a one-off reunion tour. "The idea is that this will continue on and on and on."

Roth's reunion with guitarist Eddie Van Halen and his older brother, drummer Alex Van Halen, fulfills the fantasies harbored by the band's fans since Roth quit in 1985 and was replaced by Sammy Hagar. Original bass player Michael Anthony has been replaced by Eddie's 16-year-old son, Wolfgang.

Stewart Has Stamp Of Approval

A stamp honoring Jimmy Stewart will be released Friday by the U.S. Postal Service at ceremonies in Indiana, Pa., and Hollywood.

The photo on the stamp is based on a portrait of Stewart as he appeared in a publicity photo for 1949's "The Stratton Story."

Stewart, who died in 1997, starred in more than 80 movies, including "It's a Wonderful Life," "Rear Window" and "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington." He won an Oscar in 1941 for "The Philadelphia Story."

Actor Scraps With Paparazzi

Brad Garrett is the latest celebrity to tangle with photographers.

Garrett, who stars in the Fox sitcom " 'Til Death," is shown slapping away a camera in a video posted online Monday.

The camera belongs to a photographer working for TMZ.com, which posted the video, TMZ Managing Editor Harvey Levin said Monday.

The 47-year-old actor was leaving a restaurant Sunday night, according to TMZ, when he was surrounded by paparazzi. He's seen chatting amiably with them as he walks to his car, and then one begins shouting insults.

He looks into the video camera of a TMZ photographer, says, "Excuse me," and slaps the lens.

"What are you hitting me for?" the videographer shouts, adding that he wasn't the one yelling at Garrett. Levin said the man suffered minor injuries, including a swollen eye.

Clooney Developing 'Escape From Tehran'

George Clooney's production company is writing a script for a movie based on the true story of a CIA fake-identity expert who smuggled six Americans out of Iran while dozens of others were being held hostage there.

"Escape From Tehran" is in development but hasn't been approved for production, Stan Rosenfield, a spokesman for Smoke House productions, told The (Hagerstown, Md.) Herald-Mail for a story published Monday.

The trade journal Variety has reported that the script will be a "dramedy" and that Clooney could direct and star.

Today's Birthdays

Actor Steve Martin is 62. Author Danielle Steel is 60. Actress Marcia Gay Harden is 48. Former basketball player Earvin "Magic" Johnson is 48. Actress Halle Berry is 41. Actress Mila Kunis is 24.

Sources: The Associated Press, MSNBC.com