Garth Brooks

An Oklahoma hospital in Garth Brooks' hometown must pay $1 million to the country singer because it failed to build a women's health center in honor of his late mother, jurors ruled Tuesday. Jurors ruled that the hospital must return a $500,000 donation to Brooks plus pay him $500,000 in punitive damages in Brooks' breach-of-contract lawsuit against IntegrisCanadian Valley Regional Hospital in Yukon. Brooks said he thought he'd reached a deal in 2005 but sued after learning the hospital wanted to use the money for other construction projects.

If you think that ventriloquism went out with Edgar Bergen and Shari Lewis, it's time to check out Terry Fator, the voice-thrower extraordinaire who riffs on celebrities and pop culture with his kooky cast of puppets. What makes the show so incredible is that Fator, a Vegas headliner for more than three years, is also an accomplished singer/impressionist with a five-octave vocal range. Fator does brilliant impressions of Tony Bennett, Axl Rose, Lady Gaga, Bill Withers, Aretha Franklin, Garth Brooks and dozens of others - all without moving his lips.

Tickets will go on sale Saturday for Garth Brooks' Jan. 26 concert at Staples Center in Los Angeles, which will benefit victims of recent Southern California wildfires and support firefighting programs in the state. Tickets are $40 and will be available online starting at 9 a.m. at ticketmaster.com and at Brooks' website, www.garthbrooks.com, but not at Staples' box office or other ticket outlets. There is a six-ticket limit per person. -- Randy Lewis

The three surviving Monkees aren't planning to attend Davy Jones' funeral because it would likely bring too much unwanted attention to his family during their time of grief, the group's Micky Dolenz said Tuesday. He and fellow Monkees Peter Tork and Michael Nesmith have talked of attending one of the memorials that Jones' family is planning to hold in New York and in the late singer's native England, Dolenz said. And he added he's considering organizing a memorial himself for Jones' friends in Los Angeles.

Country music superstar Garth Brooks' announcement Monday morning that he's releasing a special edition of his forthcoming three-disc "The Ultimate Hits" album to benefit Susan G. Komen for the Cure overwhelmed the breast-cancer awareness organization's website, forcing volunteers to switch to phones to continue fielding preorder requests. The "pink edition" of Brooks' album will be available exclusively on www.komen.org starting Nov.

In his new book "Rough Mix," Jimmy Bowen, the former head of Capitol Records' Nashville division, refers to Garth Brooks as an "800-pound gorilla." And the country superstar recently lived up to the billing, throwing a monkey wrench into Capitol's operation by putting a hold on plans to release a new album and single. Brooks, who last year joined the Beatles as the only artists with more than 60 million albums sold in the U.S.

'Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go," was the daily thought printed at the bottom of December in the 2007-2008 academic monthly calendar I bought at my son's college. The apercu, written by T.S. Eliot, was appropriate for a collegiate calendar, not only because it was perspicacious but because its author was an academic himself.

Winners of the 26th annual Academy of Country Music Awards handed out Wednesday night during ceremonies in Universal City: Duet: The Judds. Video: "The Dance," Garth Brooks. Single Record: "Friends in Low Places," Garth Brooks. Female Singer: Reba McEntire. Song: "The Dance," Garth Brooks. Album: "No Fences," Garth Brooks. New Female Singer: Shelby Lynne. New Group or Duet: Pirates of the Mississippi. New Male Singer: Alan Jackson. Male Singer: Garth Brooks. Group: Shenandoah.

Hundreds of thousands of country music fans converged on New York City's Central Park for a free concert by Garth Brooks. Fans flew in from Wyoming and hitchhiked from Florida. Hundreds camped out overnight to be among the first in when the concert area opened at 10 a.m. Brooks shared the stage with guests Billy Joel and Don McLean, singing backup on Joel's "New York State of Mind" and McLean's "American Pie." Police estimated attendance at 250,000. HBO televised the show.

Now that he's out of the house, Garth Brooks has decided to stay out a bit longer. Fresh off the nine sold-out shows he played this month in Kansas City, Mo., the country star will play L.A. Jan. 26 to raise money to help relief efforts following the recent wildfires that ravaged Southern California. Brooks will perform at Staples Center, with proceeds going to victims of the fire as well as toward programs to assist California's firefighters.

An Oklahoma hospital in Garth Brooks' hometown must pay $1 million to the country singer because it failed to build a women's health center in honor of his late mother, jurors ruled Tuesday. Jurors ruled that the hospital must return a $500,000 donation to Brooks plus pay him $500,000 in punitive damages in Brooks' breach-of-contract lawsuit against IntegrisCanadian Valley Regional Hospital in Yukon. Brooks said he thought he'd reached a deal in 2005 but sued after learning the hospital wanted to use the money for other construction projects.

SUNDAY Have your tickets and passports ready as "Travel Channel Uncut: Bloopers and Wrong Turns" shares previously unseen goofs and gaffes by the likes of "Bizarre Foods'" Andrew Zimmern and "Man vs. Food's" Adam Richman. (Travel, 8 p.m.) We Americans fought ? and won ? two wars against the British crown, and yet we still loves us some royalty. "William & Kate: Inside the Royal Wedding" is just one of many such specials airing in the run-up to the happy couple's big day. (TLC, 10 p.m.)

Ricky Gervais has "confirmed" a report that he's worth $80 million. But how much is his tongue in his cheek? He blogs: "Now this is out, I will have to get my family a million scratch cards each for Christmas. " ( Entertainment Weekly ) Garth Brooks will now be a part of the Songwriters Hall of Fame. ( Los Angeles Times ) "Star Trek," "Twin Peaks" and "Cheers" will soon be available to stream on Netflix. Time to call out sick. ( Los Angeles Times ) Or if you don't like Netflix, you can go across cyberspace to Amazon, which is also streaming movies now. ( Los Angeles Times )

Garth Brooks' concert series at Nashville's Bridgestone Arena in December is expected to bring in $5 million for flood relief in Tennessee. The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee said Wednesday it already has received $4.35 million from the nine sold-out concerts and money is still coming in. The flooding was one of Tennessee's worst natural disasters, causing more than $2 billion in damage in Nashville alone and killing 22 people around...

When Garth Brooks returns to his limited engagement next month in Las Vegas, some of those in line at the Encore box office may be surprised to find that the price of a ticket has nearly doubled. The increase — from $125 to $225 — has observers along the Strip — and, apparently, the country superstar himself — wondering whether the tickets are within reach of Brooks' exceedingly loyal but solidly middle-income fans. "My only concern is the audience," Brooks said in a statement issued by PR people at Wynn Resorts, owner of Encore.

Tucci to direct on Broadway Stanley Tucci's movie career has officially shifted into high gear. He is racking up acting nominations for his role in the film adaptation of "The Lovely Bones," including nods this week from the Golden Globes and the Screen Actors Guild. But his next big job will be on stage. Or more accurately, behind the scenes. Tucci is set to direct the Broadway revival of "Lend Me a Tenor," which will open April 4 at the Music Box Theater in New York. The production will star frequent Tucci collaborator Tony Shalhoub as well as Anthony LaPaglia, Brooke Adams and Jan Maxwell.

That was quick. Michael Bolton's "Timeless" had just one week in the No. 1 spot on the pop chart before being chased down by Garth Brooks' "The Chase." Brooks, who should be the hit-maker this holiday season, is moving into high gear, with four albums in the Top 30. His Christmas album, "Beyond the Season," which sold more than 2 million copies before the season, moved up a notch to No. 11 and should jump into the Top 5 in the next few weeks.

Singer Garth Brooks has achieved what most music-industry executives, even those at his own record company, wouldn't have dreamed possible 18 months ago. Not only has he become the biggest-selling artist in country music today, but his latest album "Ropin' the Wind," debuted at No. 1 on Billboard's pop chart in September--the first time ever by a country artist.

There's real genius at work on a couple of fronts in Garth Brooks' new Las Vegas gig, not the least of which is how utterly anti-Vegas it is. It's got not an ounce of glitz, and that's the selling point: just Brooks -- the top-selling solo act in pop music history -- up close and very personal in the intimate 1,500-seat Encore Theatre at Steve Wynn's namesake hotel and casino. FOR THE RECORD: Garth Brooks review: In Monday's Calendar, photos taken by Henry Diltz —not Dieltz, as the credits said -- accompanied the review of Garth Brooks' Las Vegas show.

In response to anti-scalping measures that Garth Brooks and the Wynn resort have put in place in connection with Brooks' forthcoming performances in Las Vegas, a consortium of ticket brokers criticized owner Steve Wynn on Tuesday for warning consumers that any tickets determined to have been sold for more than face value will be subject to cancellation and refund at face value. "Fans should have the right to buy and sell the tickets they want without having to RSVP their guests or risk cancellation based on new, arbitrary rules," the National Assn.