Taking Names

Lil’ trouble

Lil’ Kim has found herself in a lil’ hot water.

The rapper (real name Kimberly Jones) was charged yesterday with conspiracy to commit perjury, making false statements and obstructing justice in connection with a 2001 shootout involving her entourage that left one man wounded.

She turned herself in at U.S. District Court in Manhattan, where she was scheduled to appear in court later in the day, Reuters News Agency reports.

Miss Jones, who lives in Englewood, N.J., was accused in an indictment of not cooperating with authorities investigating a Feb. 25, 2001, shootout involving members of her entourage and associates of a rival hip-hopper outside the offices of radio station WQHT-FM, or Hot 97.

“These charges are baseless, and I’m confident that the case against her will be completely dismissed,” said her lawyer, Mel Sachs.

Queen of the outback

It was good to be Nicole Kidman in 2003.

Business Review Weekly reports that the Oscar-winning Aussie more than doubled her annual income last year, making her Australia’s richest entertainer.

In its annual survey of the top 50 entertainers, the magazine said Miss Kidman earned an estimated $18.6 million last year, catapulting her from eighth place to the top of the list.

Pride of place

Though he had 36 No. 1 country-chart singles during his career heyday from 1969 to the mid-1980s, Charley Pride isn’t heard on country-Western radio today.

He insists he’s not bitter. He has nothing against the modern country stars who have displaced traditionalists like himself, Buck Owens, Ray Price and others on country-radio playlists.

“It’s fine,” the Sledge, Miss., native said in a telephone interview while in transit yesterday from Phoenix to his home in Dallas. “I have nothing against the young fellas singing today.”

Mr. Pride, 66, best known for such hits as “Kiss an Angel Good Morning” and “Is Anybody Goin’ to San Antone?” says he likes neo-traditionalists like George Strait, Randy Travis and Alan Jackson.

“What I disapprove of is what I call the so-called [radio industry] ’moguls’ that tell you what you’re going to hear and who you’re going to hear,” he said.

Despite the lack of radio airplay, Mr. Pride continues to record and still tours, playing about 50 concert dates a year. He will perform Saturday night at Sailwinds Park in Cambridge on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. For tickets, call 410/228-7245.

— Peter Parisi

Spielberg honored

Some Italian-Americans are miffed at Steven Spielberg for the mafia caricatures in his forthcoming “Shark Tales” animated film, but that didn’t stop Italy from bestowing its highest decoration on the Oscar-winning director.

President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi awarded Mr. Spielberg the Cavaliere di Gran Croce for his work in preserving the history of the Holocaust through film and documentary. He also praised Mr. Spielberg for a planned documentary drawn from the testimony of hundreds of Italian Jews who survived the Holocaust.

Mr. Ciampi called Mr. Spielberg “a master of filmmaking and of the worldwide industry of dreams and realities.”

Prime-time ’Passion’

Mel Gibson’s Icon Productions has quietly started the process of shopping for TV licensing deals for “The Passion of the Christ,” according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Industry sources say each of the big four broadcast networks has been pitched the movie, along with HBO, Showtime and other major cable outlets.

Also, Icon apparently is insisting to prospective buyers that “The Passion” must run in its entirety — and not even a few of the more graphic scourging scenes may be edited.

Compiled by Scott Galupo from staff and wire reports.