US-ENTERTAINMENT Summary

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Comedian Conan O'Brien says he has no regrets on any of his decisions in January when NBC pulled the plug on his short-lived stint as host of "The Tonight Show" and installed Jay Leno in his place. In a second set of transcripts from his interview with television news program "60 Minutes" -- O'Brien's first talk with a reporter since leaving the "Tonight Show" -- the comic said he is "mostly very happy" right now.

Lindsay Lohan defends gun photo as "art"

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Lindsay Lohan on Thursday defended as "art" a photo of herself holding a gun to her mouth that sparked alarm about the former A-list actress whose life and career have spiraled downward in recent years. Lohan, 23, said the photo that she posted on Twitter was from a shoot for a book about the dark side of glamour by celebrity photographer Tyler Shields.

Two Dixie Chicks hatch offshoot Court Yard Hounds

NASHVILLE (Billboard) - Despite a combined sales total that tops 25 million albums and fame that can turn off-the-cuff comments into political firestorms, Dixie Chicks Emily Robison and Martie Maguire aren't relying on their past achievements to drive sales of their new project, Court Yard Hounds. Instead, the sisters and their label, Columbia, say they're treating the act -- whose self-titled album is out Tuesday (May 4) -- like a whole new entity. But some of the deals they're striking would make many emerging acts green with envy.
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"Family Guy" creator says Arizona law like Nazi Germany

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - "Family Guy" creator Seth MacFarlane has compared a tough new immigration law in Arizona to those of Nazi Germany. MacFarlane, whose irreverent animated TV comedies have themselves provoked controversy, said the Arizona law was more shocking than anything he had done on television.

Willie Nelson has more country tunes in the works

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Willie Nelson's "Country Music" album just arrived, but he's planning more country music in the very near future. Nelson has been in the studio with producer James Stroud, working on songs that he says "take up where the 'Country Music' album" -- an acoustic set produced by T Bone Burnett -- "left off, and then it went into the different sounds of drums and arrangements and more blending rock and country together. I think it's a natural evolution."

New film captures waning heyday of Chicago trading pits

CHICAGO (Reuters) - The loud, colorful traders who jostle for deals in Chicago's famed open-outcry pits now face an even greater threat than the advent of electronic dealing systems -- the algorithmic trade, says the director of a new documentary charting the demise of floor trading. More a living funeral than a eulogy, the film "Floored" that debuted on Friday recounts the transition from the bustling salad days of burly alpha males to a market dominated by faceless computer-based traders across the globe.

Spielberg, Scorsese, others call for Panahi release

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A group of film industry luminaries, including Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola, on Friday called on the Iranian government to release jailed director Jafar Panahi. In a petition signed by filmmakers and actors such as Robert De Niro and Robert Redford, the group denounced the March arrest of Panahi, whose movies include "The White Balloon" and "The Circle."

J.D. Salinger copyright case to be reconsidered

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A lawsuit blocking publication of a purported "sequel" to J.D. Salinger's classic novel "The Catcher in the Rye" will be reconsidered in federal court, but Salinger's trustees are likely to prevail, an appeals court ruled Friday. The unauthorized spin-off, "60 Years Later: Coming through the Rye," was barred from publication in the United States after Salinger -- who died in January at age 91 -- last year sued its Swedish author Fredrik Colting, who writes under the name J.D. California.

Neil Innes: And now for something completely different

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Neil Innes, sporting a black beret with a bathtub rubber ducky on the top, is standing on the stage of a 42nd St. blues club thumbing his nose. The whole audience is making the same gesture and blowing raspberries back at him.

German, U.S. films win top prizes at Tribeca festival

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A German film about a young woman who flees an oppressive life in Istanbul and moves to Berlin and a documentary about a Down Syndrome couple won the top prizes at the Tribeca Film Festival on Thursday. "When We Leave (Die Fremde)" by Austrian filmmaker Feo Aladag took two awards including best narrative feature and best actress for Germany's Sibel Kekilli. "Monica & David," by first-time director Alexandra Codina, won the best documentary prize for a portrait of an American Down Syndrome couple in love and preparing for their marriage.