Just the mention of her name, J.K. Rowling, had the audience screaming and on its feet. The "Harry Potter" author spoke for just over an hour before a capacity crowd Tuesday night at Manhattan's Lincoln Center in her sole U.S. public appearance to promote her first novel for grownups, "The Casual Vacancy."
She chatted on stage with fellow author Ann Patchett, read briefly from her new book and also responded to pre-selected questions from fans. Rowling spoke before some 2,500 people. Patchett, who has a wide following thanks to such novels as "Bel Canto," warned that she was not "particularly nice." But she gushed as she praised Rowling for inspiring countless readers and told Rowling how much she loved "The Casual Vacancy," which has received mixed reviews. It was a grownup, writerly conversation, with a few four-letter words thrown in and a brief detour into the latest phenomenon, EL James' erotic "Fifty Shades of Gray." When Patchett criticized James' writing as inferior, Rowling replied, "But that's porn."
Rowling reaffirmed that she's at work on a new book for young people. No new "Harry Potter" is planned, but Rowling still has her celebrated imaginary world in mind. Discussing literary works she'd like to live in, she mentioned Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice," then confided she also dreams of more personal territory, the old school of Harry and friends. "I do still walk in and out of Hogwarts," she said.
'I Get Around' roundabout The Beach Boys hit "I Get Around" took on a whole new meaning when one of the band members who co-wrote the 1964 song helped dedicate the first highway roundabout at Lake Tahoe. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member Mike Love is a longtime Incline Village, Nev., resident and a proponent of the new environmentally friendly roundabout. The roundabout is part of a $2.4 million project designed to promote safety, protect Tahoe's famed water clarity and celebrate public art.
IT'S A BOY: Actress Megan Fox announced the birth of her baby boy with her husband, Brian Austin Green. Fox posted on Facebook on Wednesday that they welcomed son Noah Shannon Green on September 27. She describes him as "healthy, happy and perfect." This is their first child together. Green has a son named Kassius from a previous relationship with actress Vanessa Marcil.
ARRESTED: Entertainer Flavor Flav, 53, was arrested Wednesday on felony and misdemeanor charges after allegedly throwing his fiancée to the floor twice and wielding two knives while chasing and threatening to kill her 17-year-old son during an argument in Las Vegas, police said. The report said the 53-year-old former hip-hop and reality television star -- whose legal name is William Jonathan Drayton Jr. -- cut his finger with one of the knives before police arrived about 3:30 a.m. Drayton denied threatening the teen. Drayton, who was an original member of the politically and socially militant rap group Public Enemy in the 1980s and '90s, has a criminal history that includes a month in jail for assaulting his then-girlfriend in 1991 and three months in prison for shooting at a neighbor in New York in 1993.
