News Round-up

GH theme writer Koz supports Starlight Starbright
Besides being able to share music and musicians with the masses on his tours and radio shows, Dave Koz also finds time to help with several charities. One near to his heart is the Starlight Starbright Children’s Foundation.

"About 15 years ago, my brother Jeff and I wrote the theme song to a soap opera called GENERAL HOSPITAL, and we were at a party and met one of the stars, Emma Samms," Koz explained.

Samms and Koz visited for a while and she told him about a charity she worked with. He told her to give him a call if there was anything he could do.

"Very rarely do they call back," Koz said, "but the next day she called me and said she needed my help.

"Within a week I was working with her at a thing called Starlight, and I immediately saw what was just a special quality in this organization and what they were doing for the kids."

The foundation helps children around the world who are suffering from terminal diseases or have been hospitalized for a long period of time.

Diahann Carroll: viva la diva
The clothes! The failed marriages! The love affairs! The naked ambition! The character she played in DYNASTY has nothing on 's own soap-opera life. As she publishes her memoir, the actress tells all to Catherine Elsworth.

"I was quite young when I realized my parents were operating out of fear whenever we left the black community. That made me angry." Diahann Carroll is, in her own words, vain, superficial and a dedicated follower of fashion who has spent her life coiffed to perfection. At 73 she still agonizes over every detail of an outfit, however casual, and adheres to the mantra that you "cannot be a legitimate nightclub performer in sensible shoes," even after a recent tumble in a pair of perilously high aubergine leather boots.

Kylie to relaunch acting career
Australian pop singer-songwriter and former NEIGHBOURS actress Kylie Minogue is planning to reprise her acting career in the

INTERVIEW: DAYS OF OUR LIVES' Sandra Robinson
"You know, I jokingly say that the fans have a lot to do with storylines, and I don't think they realize that they do - but they do! I don't know what they really had in mind when they wrote this character [Dr. Charlotte Taylor] in, I think it was just going to be a couple of days, but now it's more than that for sure!"

MATT PURVIS: A Talk With Ellen Wheeler
"With her hair pulled back tightly, a wisp dangling along the side of her face, her eyes suddenly lit up, a bolt of energy running through her again as she told us, with a disarming mix of giddiness and grace, that the new adventure, the 'jump off' that everyone had spoken of that day, was something which had surpassed her expectations. 'Something we had hoped would happen, did happen,' she empathically declared with a sense of profound thankfulness. The new way of doing things had changed not only the look of the show, or the way that they can tell stories, but had transformed the entire creative process into something challenging, perhaps dangerous, and generally exhilarating."

Former ATWT actor Morrison in new Fox musical comedy
NIP/TUCK may be nearing its final season, but the fat lady — or rather, group of teenage boys — has not yet sung for creator Ryan Murphy. Fox has picked up 13 hour-long episodes of Murphy's latest creation, GLEE, which may start airing this spring. The musical comedy centers on a Spanish teacher, to be played by Matthew Morrison (ex-Adam, AS THE WORLD TURNS), who's tasked with directing his school's ailing glee club.

Do you have $4,000 for lunch with Hansis and Sibermann?
There are three hours left in the True Colors Online Charity Auction.

Tattoo artist loves interaction with people
Steve Ferguson, the brawny, Brooklyn-born, tattoo-covered owner of Ink Spot West doesn't mince words. But that tough exterior belongs to a nearly 50-year-old father of six, a faithful husband, a pet lover and a man who refers to himself as the Dr. Phil of tattoos. If clients aren't interested in staring at the tube, Ferguson said he loves to give advice, encourage budding actors -- Ferguson has had roles on the soap operas ONE LIFE TO LIVE and ALL MY CHILDREN -- or just talk shop. Ferguson, who also plays guitar and fronts a blues band, said he'll even jam on occasion with clients who share his passion for music.

WHERE ARE THEY NOW: John Bolger & Kaitlin Hopkins
The National Touring company of "Dirty Dancing: the Classical Musical Onstage" has settled in for a long run in Chicago. Most cast members will be spending the holidays with their stage "family" at the Cadillac Palace Theater where the hit show runs through January 17. Four of the cast members, who portray "Baby" Houseman and her family onstage, are sharing some of their favorite holiday recipes.

The cast includes: Amanda Leigh Cobb who plays "Baby;" John Bolger (GENERAL HOSPITAL; ANOTEHR WORLD; ONE LIFE TO LIVE), who plays Dr. Jake Houseman; Kaitlin Hopkins (ANOTHER WORLD) as her mother, Marjorie, and Katlyn Carlson, as sister Lisa, who studied English at the University of Chicago.

INTERVIEW: AMC's Melissa Claire Egan & ATWT's Van Hansis
Egan made a surprise appearance on Monday's "BuzzWorthy Radio" while fans waited for Hansis to arrive. The show had a record number of callers.


INTERVIEW: GH'S Brandon Barash
Barash appeared on "Stardish Radio" last night.