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Not Necessarily the News: Sade, Prodigy and 'The Man'

Not Such A 'Smooth Operator': Sade (alias Helen Folasade) was supposed to have her day in court on Wednesday to face charges of dangerous driving and disobeying a police officer, but was a no show. The Nigerian-born performer, best known for her hit single "Smooth Operator," was scheduled to slink into a Montego Bay, Jamaica courtroom as a result of a Feb. 27 incident in which the singer failed to obey a police officer's signal to stop while traveling on the main thoroughfare in Montego Bay, Reuters reports. The failure to stop escalated into a mini-chase and a trip to the police station during which the singer reportedly gave the cops a piece of her dirty mind. As of Wednesday afternoon, however, the singer's attorney, Victor Robinson, told the court he'd not spoken to his client in several months and had no explanation for her non-appearance. An arrest warrant was promptly issued. The court agreed, however, to stay the exectution of the warrant until June 30, when the case will be re-called.

Prodigy All Hyped Up: Prodigy mastermind Keith Flint said something he shouldn'ta oughta (maybe "Smack that bitch up?") and got booted from an Air UK flight this week. Flint, who engaged in some "lighthearted banter" with an Air UK flight attendant, according to a press release from his publicity agency, was yanked off the plane, along with his tour manager John Fairs, by German police before the flight even took off. The cops, armed with machine guns (in case he started any "Funky Shit"), grabbed the pair for questioning, detaining them for an hour, after which they caught a different flight. The rest of the band however, was similarly detained on arrival in UK's Stanstead airport, where the members were forced by police to remain seated until all passengers had disembarked. Then they were escorted through the airport. No charges were filed, but the "hype police" in the U.S. were alerted.

Rodney King's Rap ... Label, That Is: L.A. police brutality victim Rodney "Can't We All Just Get Along" King has taken his $3.8 million civil trial settlement and decided to do what any self-respecting 15-minutes-of-fame man would do: start a record label. Dubbed Straight Alta-Pazz Recording Co., for no discernible reason, the label's first act is rappers Papoose and Buzz, who go by the nom-de-rap Standard. Their debut, California Grindin' has yet to find a distributor.

Sting Almost Gets Stung: It took extra effort from a Frankfurt airport guard to help tree-hugger Sting play a gig in Germany last Friday. The doin'-it-all-night-long singer apparently left his ax behind on a baggage cart at the airport, prompting the rent-a-cop to drive 100 miles to the town of Korbach to reunite the singer and his instrument. His reward? Backstage passes to the gig. How about gas money?

Motley Who?: Motley Crue released a new album. Vince Neil colored his hair red. The earth yawned.

'Ill Na Na' Says So, So Sorry: Nasty 17 year-old rapper Foxy Brown (Inga Marchand) was forced by a judge to apologize to a pair of hotel clerks on Monday. The North Carolina judge suspended the rapper's 30-day sentence, ordered her to perform 80 hours of community service and fined her $500 for spitting on the hapless hotel workers when they were unable to provide an iron for her during a January stay at Raleigh's Holiday Inn. Now we know why they call her the "Ill Na Na."

Forgerty LP Huge... In Denmark: Press releases we didn't finish. "Blue Moon Swamp, John Fogerty's long-awaited new release on Warner Bros. Records, has become a Scandinavian sensation, from Denmark to the Arctic Circle, making it the best-selling album in the region." Wasn't it Matt Dillon's dunderhead character in Singles who coined the phrase "we're huge in Denmark?"

Hard Sell Cafe: Finally... Hard Rock Cafe International Inc. and Rhino Entertainment have teamed up to form their very own label, Hard Rock Records which is scheduled to release two new CD compilations, HARD ROCK CAFE: CLASSIC ROCK and HARD ROCK CAFE: NEW WAVE. The label claims to be breaking ground as it marks "the first time a "premium from a non-music based retail outlet will be available at traditional retail outlets." Right! Read on: If you order quickly, you, the music lover, are in for a treat, they tell us. The good people at Rhino and the Hard Rock Cafe are including inside the first 50,000 CDs "a special limited edition gift"-- a "Hard Rock Records" souvenir logo pin inspired by the chains most popular souvenir item, the "Hard Rock Cafe" souvenir logo pin. The "Classic Rock" pins will be blue, and the "New Wave" pins will be red. You might be interested in purchasing both albums to get the red and the blue pins, they add, as these exclusive pins "will only be available in the CDs and cannot be purchased separately." Sure.

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