Uncle says Lovett saved his life when bull attacked

Olympian news services

Originally published Sunday, March 31, 2002

KLEIN, Texas -- Lyle Lovett's uncle says he owes his life to the country singer, who came to his rescue when an enraged bull charged, knocked him to the ground and mauled him.

Lovett, 44, faces months of rehabilitation following surgery to repair a broken right leg he suffered when he slapped the bull away from his uncle, Calvin Klein, 67.

"If it wouldn't have been for Lyle, I wouldn't be here talking to you," Klein said in Saturday's edition of the Houston Chronicle.

Lovett was recovering at his home in Klein after being discharged Saturday morning from Memorial Hermann Hospital.

Klein, no relation to the designer, escaped with severe bruises after the incident Wednesday on his farm in suburban Houston. The bull, called Cotton, was Lovett's pet.

Lovett ran over and slapped the bull with his cap, and the bull turned on him, chasing him to a fence. The bull pinned Lovett's leg against the rail and raked him over to a post, shattering his shin bone.

Lovett, a singer-songwriter who has won several Grammy Awards, graduated from Klein High School in 1975.

LOS ANGELES -- Veteran rocker David Crosby isn't universally impressed with what he calls the "shiny and new" in the music world.

Crosby, 60, took a break from his "Tour of America" with longtime bandmates Stephen Stills, Graham Nash and Neil Young to assess the music scene.

"There's some good people out there, but there's a lot of fluff (too)," Crosby said. "Things like 'N Sync and Britney (Spears). These people are about as deep as a birdbath."

Crosby also said there seems to be a prejudice against old-timers by the media, even though the band, which formed in 1968, got a good review from Rolling Stone after its show in New York.

"They really don't even like having people like us still around," Crosby said. "They want to sell the newest product."

LOS ANGELES -- A veteran of the Beatnik era, a noted Chicano writer and a friend of the late jazz legend Miles Davis are finalists to become California's first official poet laureate.

By July, Gov. Gray Davis will nominate either Diane di Prima, Francisco Alaron or Quincy Troupe for confirmation by the state Senate.

"It is a great honor to be considered," Di Prima said. "California is my country, in a way. How we see the world is unique."

A committee selected the three finalists this past week from more than 50 applicants.

The applicants included the 11-member writing staff for the NBC sitcom "Will & Grace." "We are the poets of the Southern California landscape," said Jeff Greenstein, one of the show's executive producers.

However, their entry didn't survive the first judging round.

Di Prima, 67, was born in New York but is a longtime San Francisco resident whose poems and other writings helped capture the Beat Generation. She co-founded "The Floating Bear," which featured works by William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac.

Alaron, 48, heads the Spanish for Native Speakers program at the University of California, Davis. One of the nation's most prominent Mexican-American poets, Alaron's 10 volumes include "Snake Poems: An Aztec Invocation," which won the 1993 American Book Award.

Troupe, 59, of La Jolla, is a teacher at the University of California, San Diego. His work has won at the annual Taos Poetry Circus in New Mexico. He collaborated with Miles Davis on an autobiography and has a radio show, "The Miles Davis Project."

TOLEDO, Ohio -- Denzel Washington and Halle Berry made history with their Oscar wins, but director Spike Lee says he's going to wait and see if Hollywood will do the right thing.

"Is this a signal that once and for all Hollywood is colorblind and we're all on the same playing field? I don't think so. We have to see what happens," Lee told students at the University of Toledo Wednesday night.

Berry's win for "Monster's Ball" made her the first black woman in history to claim the best actress award. Washington won for his role in "Training Day," becoming the first black to be named best actor since Sidney Poitier for 1963's "Lilies of the Field."

"Let's not get too hyped up. Let's not go crazy and think we've been delivered because of what happened," Lee said. "When Sidney won for 'Lilies of the Field,' people probably felt the same way and it was another 40 years until Denzel won."

Lee, whose films include "She's Gotta Have It," "Do the Right Thing," "Malcolm X" and "Summer of Sam," said the problem is that the gatekeepers of the film industry -- directors and studio executives -- also have to be people of color.

NEW YORK -- Eminem and his record label have been sued in federal court by a French composer who claims the Grammy-winning rapper stole one of his tunes.

The copyright infringement lawsuit filed Thursday accuses Eminem and Interscope Records of lifting parts of "Pulsion" -- a jazz fusion work by Jacques Loussier -- for the caustic rap song "Kill You." The suit seeks unspecified damages.

A call to Interscope Records was not immediately returned.

"Kill You" appears on Eminem's best-selling album "The Marshall Mathers LP." The song talks about killing women, with the lyrics "I'm ready to play, I got the machete from O.J."

Loussier, 67, of Paris, gained fame by fusing classical music and jazz with his Play Bach Trio. He has released more than a dozen albums, selling 6 million copies worldwide, the suit said.

The Olympian Copyright 2002

back to People index