MADRID, Spain (AP) – Woody Allen will open the 52nd San Sebastian Film Festival in September with the world premiere of his new film, “Melinda and Melinda.”

The 68-year-old Allen also is to be honored with a lifetime achievement award, and the festival will show a retrospective of his work as a writer, director and actor, organizers said Friday.

“It is, indeed a great honor for us, a dream come true, to premiere “Melinda and Melinda’ at our opening, and with the presence of Woody Allen himself, no doubt one of the greatest film directors ever,” festival director Mikel Olaciregui said in a statement.

Allen won a best director Oscar for 1977’s “Annie Hall” and a screenwriting Oscar for 1986’s “Hannah and Her Sisters.” His movies also include “Interiors,” “Broadway Danny Rose,” “Crimes and Misdemeanors” and “Bullets Over Broadway.”

“The Spanish people have always been very supportive of my films and it’s a great honor for me to come to the film festival in San Sebastian,” Allen said in a statement from London. “My family and I loved the city the last time we were there and we expect to have a wonderful time.”

His new romantic comedy stars Radha Mitchell, Chloe Sevigny and Jonny Lee Miller. It will not be competing for the festival’s top Golden Shell prize.

The festival begins Sept. 17 with 10 days of screenings in Spain’s northern Basque region.

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On the Net:

http://www.sansebastianfestival.com/

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – Naomi Judd didn’t want to miss watching her daughter Ashley’s latest film.

“I’m Ashley Judd’s mother, and Ashley would not approve of this,” said the 58-year-old country singer after a projector malfunction interrupted the showing of “De-Lovely” last weekend at the Green Hills Regal Cinema. The singer’s publicist said Judd made the remark to lighten the mood.

The crowd laughed and the movie later restarted.

The theater gave the filmgoers a refund.

“De-Lovely,” the story of the life of composer Cole Porter and his wife, Linda, also stars Kevin Kline.

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – The Dixie Chicks have added another baby to their brood.

Lead singer Natalie Maines has given birth to a baby boy, her second son with actor-husband Adrian Pasdar, the group’s Web site announced Friday.

Beckett Finn Pasdar was born July 14. He weighed 7 pounds, 7 ounces.

“Mother and baby are doing fine,” the Web site said.

The couple’s first child, Slade, is 3 years old.

Pasdar has appeared in movies and in a recurring role on CBS’ “Judging Amy.”

The Chicks’ hits include “Landslide,” “Ready to Run” and “Wide Open Spaces.”

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On the Net:

http://www.dixiechicks.com

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HAVANA (AP) – President Fidel Castro sat in the front row as Silvio Rodriguez, star of a ballad style known as Cuban trova, performed alongside conductor Leo Brouwer and a symphony orchestra at a free concert in Havana.

The event was dedicated to Antonio Gades, a noted Spanish flamenco dancer and choreographer who died Tuesday in Madrid, Spain, after a long illness. Gades, who was 67, had close ties to Cuba and supported its communist revolution.

Thousands of Cubans filled the Revolution Plaza Thursday night for the concert, which featured an orchestra comprised of 200 young musicians from various Cuban provinces.

Rodriguez performed nine songs spanning four decades, including “Quedate,” “El Problema” and “Canto Arena,” a crowd pleaser. He opened with “Oh, Melancolia.”

Cuban trova has its roots in the ballads that traveling singers – troubadours – composed during the island’s wars of independence.

Modern Cuban trovas recall American protest songs of the 1960s and 1970s that focused attention on social problems through musical storytelling.

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Lynn Johnston is going back home.

Her comic strip, “For Better or for Worse,” is returning to Universal Press Syndicate after seven years at United Feature Syndicate.

Johnston launched her comic strip 25 years ago with Kansas City-based Universal Press. Newspaper syndication of the strip moved to United Feature Syndicate in 1997. She’ll return to Universal Press in September, the company announced Thursday.

Universal Press said Johnston has committed to doing at least three more years of “For Better or for Worse.” The strip is published in more than 2,000 newspapers worldwide.

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On the Net:

http://www.fbofw.com/

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SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – The Dave Matthews Band is putting on a free concert in Golden Gate Park to benefit several San Francisco Bay area charities.

A general admission ticket is needed for the Sept. 12 concert at the Polo Fields, according to the band’s Web site. Tickets for the general public will be available through the Web site, www.davematthewsband.com, beginning Saturday.

Members of the Warehouse, www.warehouse.davematthewsband.com, the official fan association of the DMB, have had availability to tickets since July 20. A limited number of confirmed member orders will be selected at random to obtain access to an area in front of the stage.

Fans are encouraged to make voluntary donations of $25, $50 or $100 when requesting the free tickets.

Also a limited number of VIP passes at $250 will be available.

Donations will be given to The Taylor Family Foundation for the 2004 Golden Gate Park Bama Works Fund, and the proceeds will be distributed among various Bay Area charities that address issues of homelessness, pediatric AIDS and other terminal childhood maladies, Bay Area park improvement and music education resources.

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WOODSTOCK, Vt. (AP) – Bob Edwards, the former host of National Public Radio’s “Morning Edition,” isn’t saying whether he’ll stay with NPR after his book tour ends in two weeks.

“I’m on the road for the next two weeks continuing to do what I am doing, and then I’ll do something else,” he said in a phone interview with the Valley News of Lebanon, N.H.

When asked if that “something else” would include remaining on the air at NPR, Edwards said, “I’d rather not say.”

The interview was designed to promote Saturday’s appearance by Edwards at the Billings Farm and Museum in Woodstock, with Edwards as the featured guest at Vermont Public Radio’s annual listener picnic.

Edwards, who hosted “Morning Edition” for nearly 25 years – starting from its launch in 1979 – left the show on April 30. “Morning Edition” is a popular daily program offering news, analysis, commentary and coverage of arts and sports.

Fans were upset at Edwards’ departure. Journalist Linda Ellerbee wrote for the Los Angeles Times, “National Public Radio, apparently acting on the theory that if it’s not broke, break it, announced that Bob Edwards was no longer its choice to host “Morning Edition’ – the program he began, shaped and, for the last 25 years, informed with his intelligence, wit and grace.”

Edwards was reassigned as an NPR senior correspondent and then left on a book tour in early May to promote his latest book, “Edward R. Murrow and the Birth of Broadcast Journalism.”

“I knew I was going to go out on the book tour anyway, so it (the correspondent’s position) was a way of staying on the payroll while I went out and did this other thing,” Edwards said.

Besides promoting the book, the tour is designed to raise money for local NPR stations. The target was $1 million, an NPR staff member said in an e-mail, although Edwards said he has raised about $1.2 million so far.

“We’re trying to upgrade facilities and equipment” at NPR affiliate stations, Edwards said.

Edwards said he’s received about 20 job offers in the past three months from commercial and public TV and radio stations, as well as some teaching positions. “And I’m listening to those offers,” he said.

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On the Net:

http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/

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LONDON (AP) – Prime Minister Tony Blair received gifts of wine from French President Jacques Chirac, rugs from Afghan President Hamid Karzai – and a guitar from rocker Bono – last year.

The U2 lead singer gave Blair the guitar in May 2003, the same month he attended a meeting the prime minister held on AIDS in Africa, the prime minister’s office said Thursday.

Blair’s office disclosed the gifts in a written answer to a question posed in Parliament. Any gifts worth more than $252 go to his office, not to him personally. If he or other ministers want to keep such presents, they have to pay for the difference between their value and $252.

The only present Blair purchased for himself was a set of clothing worth $583 from Australian company Globe International.

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MADRID, Spain (AP) – Going, going, gone!

The ball David Beckham booted high into the crowd during the penalty shootout against Portugal in the European Championship quarterfinals has been sold to an Internet casino for $34,382 on the Spanish Internet auction site eBay.com.

GoldenPalace.com intends to use the ball to raise money for charity, a spokesman said Thursday. One plan, set for a soccer stadium in Britain, involves offering anyone willing to pay a chance to do what Beckham failed to do – kick the ball into the net.

Casino spokesman Drew Black said the ball also will be put on display at the Grand Prix of Belgium next month with donations going to charity. GoldenPalace.com sponsors the Minardi team on the Formula One circuit.

At one point last week, the bid was up to $12.2 million. But it was considered a hoax.

Copies of official competition balls sold for $123 in Portugal.

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MIAMI (AP) – Shaquille O’Neal’s favorite fitness-center chain will join him in Miami.

California-based 24 Hour Fitness Worldwide plans to open at least five centers bearing O’Neal’s name in South Florida, with the first expected to break ground by the end of the year.

“I spent the offseason last year with a certified personal trainer from 24 Hour Fitness and was thrilled with the results,” O’Neal said in a recent statement. “I really believe in what they stand for – fitness made fun and easy for everyone.”

The clubs will include basketball courts, swimming pools, cardio equipment, exercise classes, personal trainers and nutritional programs.

O’Neal was acquired last week by the Miami Heat in a trade that sent three starters to the Los Angeles Lakers.

AP-ES-07-23-04 1349EDT

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