Once the settlement is finalized, it would end a long battle between the industry and the family of Patti Santangelo, who was sued in 2005 for pirating music through file sharing computer networks. Santangelo, of Wappingers Falls, N.Y., denied the charge, saying she couldn’t have downloaded or distributed music because she didn’t know how. A federal judge described her as an “Internet illiterate parent, who does not know Kazaa from kazoo.” Santangelo refused to settle and pleaded her case in newspapers and on national TV. As the record companies sued thousands of people, supporters of online freedom used the Internet to raise money for her defense. In 2007, the industry dropped the lawsuit against Santangelo but sued two of her children, Michelle, then 20, and Robert, 16, saying they had downloaded and distributed more than 1,000 songs, including “Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)” by The Offspring, “MMMBop” by Hanson and “Beat It” by Michael Jackson. It said Michelle had admitted piracy in a deposition and Robert had been implicated by a family friend. The Santangelos have denied any wrongdoing. The Santangelos’ lawyer, Jordan Glass, said Friday that a settlement in principle had been reached and details should be finalized by March 18. Neither he nor Cara Duckworth, spokeswoman for the Recording Industry of America, would discuss the terms because they were not final. The industry had been seeking an injunction, unspecified damages for each download and court costs. “We are pleased to have settled our case with the Santangelo family,” Duckworth said

It has been claimed bosses on ‘The Tudors’ spoke to Jonathan Rys Meyers about his alcohol intake while filming the TV show’s upcoming third season. A source said: “Jonathan Rhys Meyers is one of the nicest guys in the world, he’s a pleasure to work with.  Jonathan Rhys Meyers has his demons all right, and he’s trying to cope with them as best he can.” This is the third time the 31 year old star has spent time at a clinic. In 2005, Jonathan Rhys Meyers  attended Promises in Malibu where Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears and Tara Reid have also been treated and returned for a second stint in 2007. Jonathan Rhys Meyers recently prompted concerns for his health when he was spotted looking dishevelled while purchasing what appeared to be a bottle of vodka. He has previously spoken about his battle with alcohol, saying: “When I do drink I’m like Bambi. I’m all over the place, hopeless, like a 16 year old kid. People notice.” In November 2007,  Jonathan Rhys Meyers was arrested after a drunken row with airport staff in Ireland. Days later he was seen walking down a London street drinking a can of strong cider. It was later revealed he was struggling to come to terms with the death of his mother.

The series, called “The Marriage Ref,” on NBC will feature a real life couple involved in a marital spat. A team of celebrities will provide commentary and a “referee,” whose identity hasn’t been determined, will give the final verdict on who is right and wrong. Jerry Seinfeld, in a statement, stressed that it’s a comedy show, not a therapy show. Jerry Seinfeld production partner, former “Oprah Winfrey” producer Ellen Rakieten, says it’s not clear yet whether Jerry Seinfeld will appear on the air. It’s also not clear when the series will start, but producers are shooting for next season. It is after all alotaboutnothing.

Barack Obama is getting a dog in April. First lady Michelle Obama tells People magazine that the target date for the arrival of the family pet is after her daughters’ spring break trip in April, though 7 year old Sasha is convinced the dog is coming April 1. Michelle Obama also says she favors Portuguese Water Dog. The family has been going back and forth on possible names. Among the two Michelle Obama mentioned and nixed Frank and Moose. Barack Obama and his wife had promised their daughters, Sasha and 10 year old Malia, that they would get a dog if he were elected president. The interview with  Michelle Obama appears in Friday’s editions of People.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says he’ll be shooting cameos for his appearance soon for a new movie by friend Sylvester Stallone. Arnold Schwarzenegger calls Sylvester Stallone a terrific director and writer, and a great actor.  Arnold Schwarzenegger says that since he became governor, he has done three cameos in films when friends have asked him to appear. As for the Oscars, Arnold Schwarzenegger calls “The Reader” one of the best movies he’s ever seen and that he hopes friend Mickey Rourke does well for his turn in “The Wrestler.”

Sean Penn won his second Academy Award for best actor Sunday night for his moving portrayal of slain gay rights leader Harvey Milk in “Milk” The win follows his first best actor award for 2003’s “Mystic River.” He earned a standing ovation from the starry crowd as his wife, Robin Wright Penn, tearfully looked on. “You commie, homo loving sons of guns,” Sean Penn began in accepting the prize. “I did not expect this and I want it to be very clear that I do know how hard I make it to appreciate me often.” In this highly competitive category, Penn was up against Mickey Rourke in “The Wrestler,” Frank Langella in “Frost/Nixon,” Brad Pitt in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” and Richard Jenkins in “The Visitor.” Penn had already won the Screen Actors Guild and Critics Choice awards as well as numerous honors from film critics groups across the country. The 48 year old actor deeply immersed himself for the part, which brought out a warmth and sweetness rarely seen throughout a career often marked by intense, complex characters. “How did he do it?” fellow Oscar winner Robert De Niro wondered in introducing Penn. “How for so many years did he get all those jobs playing straight men?” “Milk” was the first openly gay man elected to major public office in the United States when he won a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977. The following year, he was shot to death along with Mayor George Moscone by board colleague Dan White. But during his life, he inspired gays and lesbians to stand up and come out, helped turn the Castro neighborhood into the gay mecca it would become, and roused crowds with impassioned speeches that often began with the words, “My name is Harvey Milk and I am here to recruit you.” In wrapping up his own speech, Penn mentioned the protesters who lined the streets of Hollywood near the Oscar festivities, holding anti-gay signs: “We’ve got to have equal rights for everyone,” he said. Backstage, when asked what he would tell those protesters if he could speak to them, Penn responded: “I’d tell them to turn in their hate card and find their better self.”

The 19 year old country music phenom Taylor Swift has topped the pop charts with her first No. 1 hit, the first time a country crossover has crowned the Top 40 in the 16 year history of Billboard’s Nielsen BDS chart. “Love Story” is the lead single from Taylor Swift already triple platinum sophomore release Fearless. “Love Story” also has the distinction of being the country song with the most paid downloads in history, having spent two weeks at No. 1 on the country singles charts in November. “White Horse,” the second single released from Fearless, is currently climbing the country radio charts in the Top 10 and is the first video ever to debut at No. 1 on CMT’s Top 20 Countdown. Taylor Swift, who is featured on the cover of the March 5 issue of Rolling Stone for the second time in a year and just received two Academy of Country Music Award nominations is currently in the United Kingdom making promotional appearances in support of the upcoming European release of Fearless. Taylor Swift plans to hit 52 cities in the US and Canada with her headliner tour starting March 1 in Florida.

UMG’s Australian branch is being blamed for accidentally leaking the album, offering high quality downloads for purchase from their digital music site Getmusic.au. The downloads, which were being sold roughly two weeks before the album’s February 27th Irish release date, were available for about two hours before the error was noticed, Forbes reports. By then, it was too late. The album had been downloaded and passed along via P2P servers and message boards. Representatives for both Universal and U2 have yet comment, but it’s safe to assume they’re both enraged. UMG took several preventative measures to ensure the album wouldn’t surface before its street date no promotional copies were mailed to journalists, and reviewers were instead invited to listening parties where recording devices where banned. Perhaps to reward those U2 fans that weren’t tempted by the allure of an illegal leak, “No Line on the Horizon” is streaming in its entirety legally at the group’s Myspace page starting at some point today, according to a press release. And don’t forget, the Irish rockers will set up shop at the CBS Studios in New York for a Weeklong residency on “The Late Show with David Letterman” starting March 2nd.

TI the 28 year old performer, whose real name is Clifford Harris Jr., spoke to dozens of high school students  half serving juvenile sentences  gathered at the Georgia Supreme Court. “You can see from me that nobody is too rich, too famous, too cool, too good-looking or too young to make a mistake and pay a price for it,” said TI, dressed in jeans, a gray hooded sweat shirt and a blue knit hat. “More important than the mistake you make, though, is what you are able to take away from that mistake. How can you use that mistake to ensure you will never make a similar mistake again?” TI told them to work hard, stay in school and do what is necessary to get what they want in life. “Education is more important than any material thing you can have,” said TI, who only has a high school diploma. “The things you do not have in your life, the things you do not have in your possession, will be a reflection of the things you have not learned. TI warned the teens from high schools across metro Atlanta to learn from his mistakes, which include a 2008 federal firearms conviction that will send him to prison for a year starting next month. TI’s appearance was part of 1,000 hours of community service he must complete under that sentence. TI’s legal troubles didn’t start there. Harris grew up in one of Atlanta’s housing projects and dealt crack while trying to break into the music industry. The students listened intently as he described the prostitutes, drug dealers and junkies he encountered. TI was first arrested at 17 and spent time in jail for violating probation after several other arrests. In 2007, just an hour before he was scheduled to perform at the BET Hip Hop Awards in Atlanta, authorities arrested him for trying to buy unregistered machine guns and silencers. High School junior Stephen Murphy said he is trying to turn his life around after getting into trouble with drugs and driving without a license last year. TI’s speech was encouragement to keep working at it, he said. “Your life can go down the wrong path, and you’ll end up in prison, where he’s fixing to go,” he said. “I don’t want to go there.” TI, a Grammy winner, has a list of No. 1 hits on his resume, including two off his latest CD, “Paper Trail,” which also hit No. 1 hits on the Billboard charts.

They’re working long days to create 200 “sandwiches” or “beds” the intro and outros that will buffer each segment on the show. “Right now, my whole life is this show,” said drummer Ahmir Thompson, better known as ?uestlove, in a recent interview as he lazily adjusted his fro pick in his trademark Afro, slightly exhausted in between rehearsals. Since forming in Philadelphia in the early 1990s, the Roots have been one of the best regarded bands in hip hop and music, altogether. They were one of the first hip hop bands to take up instruments and under the steady pounding of Thompson they’ve been an acclaimed act for nearly two decades, with respectable album sales. So when word got out that the Roots would be following in the tradition of Paul Shaffer and Kevin Eubanks, the blogosphere and much of the music world erupted in say it ain’t so shock. Echoing the comments of many, Gawker.com wrote that the band “opening up for Jimmy Fallon every night is the cultural equivalent of Miles Davis playing his horn on the subway platform.” ?uestlove has heard the warnings about the Roots becoming a late-show band. He says his friend saxophonist Branford Marsalis who abruptly quit his gig as Jay Leno’s musical foil in the early 1990s cautioned against the move: “You’ll be neutered!” But ?uestlove says the band’s new job has “enabled us to survive. “This would basically match or surpass what we would make touring 200 plus days out of the year. And, two, this allows us to be home,” he said. It’s a welcome respite from the road for a band that has always toured extensively. The band most in their late 30s are looking forward to living like “normal men,” as ?uestlove says. “Initially I was a little leery,” said the Roots’ MC, Tariq Trotter, or Black Thought. “I initially was thinking, `Is this just going to be ammo for some other rapper to try to dis me for?’ Like, `Your career is so over now/ You’re a house band for  You have to be that many steps ahead of whatever move you’re going to make.” The idea gradually sunk in, though, Black Thought says, “the further we were sinking into economic disaster.” When the economy went into recession, ticket sales their chief source of income started to slow. And with album sales tanking and the industry in tatters, acts throughout music are considering different ways to make money. “It was just sounding better and better as the months went on,” said Black Thought. “The pros outweighed the cons.” But the job is already more than the Roots bargained for. NBC isn’t paying for publishing rights not even for the Roots own material so the band is left having to create a new TV ready repertoire. “It’s going to be a major challenge,” said ?uestlove. “Right now, we’re writing about 25 a day. I’m surprised we’re not running on fumes.” Fallon, the former “Saturday Night Live” cast member, has repeatedly touted having “the best band in late night.” The idea came from Fallon’s friend Neal Brennan, who had worked with ?uestlove when ?uestlove was music director of “Chappelle’s Show” on Comedy Central. Fallon described pitching the band while they gathered in the office of Lorne Michaels, the executive producer of “Late Night”: “Number one, you will raise the bar of what a house band is, because you’re the Roots and you’re amazing. Number two, I don’t know who to compare you to. You can play with Tony Bennett and on a separate occasion play with Jay Z and it works. Third, you live in Philly, so it’s an hour on the Acela train.” There are other upsides, too. The Roots will certainly raise their profile and attract new audiences. They will hold a residency at New York’s Highline Ballroom playing weekly shows and will continue working on a new album. They’ll still have ten weeks off to tour further afield than the New York metro area. And being based in New York will help ? uestlove, a frequent producer of acts like Al Green, D’Angelo and Common, to get back in the studio.