A winning bid of $3 million for a huge record collection offered on EBay was apparently a fraud. This seems to be a common occurence nowadays.

A bidder had claimed he would shell out $3,002,150 for the collection of nearly three million vinyl albums, singles and CDs being sold by Paul Mawhinney, 68, of Ross Township.

An agent for the sale, Paul Henderson, said an EBay executive notified him Friday night that the bid was not legitimate and that the bidder’s account had been suspended, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported.

Mawhinney said he began collecting the records when he opened his record shop, Record Rama, in 1968. He closed it Thursday, saying he wanted to spend more time with his family.

“I am legally blind,” he said. “I had a couple of strokes a few years ago … and it’s time at my age to think about doing something else with my life.”

Mawhinney said that he had already contacted six other bidders who had pledged more than $3 million on EBay and three others who approached him independently. So a sale might end up going through.

50 Cent does the pre-game Super Bowl concert.  Between performing hits like “Candy Shop” and “Ayo Technology” with his crew, the rapper welcomed Deion Sanders and Ludacris on the Pontiac Garage Stage during Thursday’s performance at the 944 Super Village, a makeshift venue constructed by 944 magazine in an empty lot adjacent to Scottdale’s Fashion Square Mall.

Paris Hilton also made a cameo about halfway through 50’s performance. Hilton — who appears topless on the February cover of 944 magazine — emerged from the front row and partially danced her way onstage with 50, drawing the attention of both professional photographers’ lenses and audience members’ cell phones.

Meanwhile, two men dressed as Ooompa Loompas from “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” danced on tables in a VIP section.

Backstage, reality TV stars Kourtney and Chloe Kardashian, actor Mekhi Phifer and two women wearing nothing but G-strings and Trump Premium Vodka bottles painted on their nude bodies were spotted. Tickets to the concert went for anywhere between $100 to $1,000.  The whole thing sounds very strange to me.

Pop star Kylie Minogue, currently in the top ten with comeback single 2 Hearts, has announced a bunch of European concerts for 2008.
The 24-date tour kicks off in Paris on 6 May and will touch down in Germany, Finland and Sweden, among others.  This is very exciting news for all her fans and supporters.

Branded KylieX2008, the tour hits the UK in June, culminating in 2 nights at the O2 arena in London.  The Australian singer, 39, promised fans a “fresh, exhilarating and innovative” set.

Minogue’s last tour was postponed after she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005.  Following treatment, she returned to the stage in Sydney last December with a revamped show designed to be less physically demanding.

Despite the scaled-back dance numbers and the introduction of an interval, Minogue had to cancel two concerts in Manchester in January 2007 after contracting a respiratory infection.  The dates were later rescheduled.

The star, whose tenth album, X, was released on Monday, said her new tour “will be a look to the future but will definitely include favourites alongside the new”.  Tickets for the UK dates go on sale on Monday 3 December and like most every fan I can’t wait!

Promoters are taking action after tickets for a rumoured Led Zeppelin comeback gig are being advertised.   Despite no official confirmation from the band, hotel and ticket packages are being sold for upwards of £269 for gigs at London’s O2 Arena.

The company offering the deal has now been reported to the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).    Promoter Harvey Goldsmith has issued a statement to warn the fans not to fall victiom to ticket touts:

“There have been at least four events advertised which I suspect either don’t exist or where no tickets are on sale or indeed dates finalized. These are the very people whom our industry has spent over a year trying to convince the DCMS to instigate outlawing.  The media should consider the consequences of giving credibility to those who rip the public off.

There are NO packages or tickets for some the events advertised at all, nor do some of the events even exist. We are concerned that the public will be fleeced. The bottom line is that unless official adverts have appeared for concerts, tickets are not on sale. Do not buy from unauthorized sources.”

Goldsmith is promoting Bruce Springsteen’s date and confirms that tickets are sold out and that there are no packages available at this time.   There is still no official word on whether Led Zeppelin’s rumoured comeback will happen.  So there is still hope!

Poor Briteny Spears looks to be headed for more legal and tabloid headaches.  A court commissioner said Tuesday he would consider a motion by a magazine and a TV station to unseal documents in the Britney Spears-Kevin Federline divorce case.

“They’re appropriate participants in here,” Superior Court Commissioner Scott M. Gordon said of the request by People magazine and KNBC, on behalf of the celebrity news show “Access Hollywood.”

Spears and Federline weren’t present for the hearing. Gordon scheduled another hearing for Sept. 14 to give their attorneys time to make their case for keeping the documents under seal. Spears’ divorce from Federline became official July 30.

After the hearing, Federline attorney Mark Vincent Kaplan said the documents contain information about the schedules of the couple’s children and other details that could put them in jeopardy.

“It would be best for the children that they not be exposed,” Kaplan said.

He gave no specific examples of threats to the children.

Spears attorney Laura Wasser did not address reporters at the courthouse and did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.

Lawyer Alonzo Wickers, who represents KNBC and People magazine, said in an interview that attorneys for the former couple have not been able to prove that their concerns outweigh the public’s right of access to court records.

“Celebrities have to meet the same high burden to justify the sealing of court records” as other people, he said.

Since February, Spears, 25, and Federline, 29, have shared joint custody of their sons, 22-month-old Sean Preston and 10-month-old Jayden James.

Kaplan said Federline is seeking additional custody because the two boys are “isolated from risks” when they are with his client. He declined to elaborate.

A hearing on the custody modification request is set for Sept. 17.  I am all for protecting the child but please let this media circus stop.

I am sure you’ve heard this one before: Pete Doherty may be going to prison on a litany of drug charges…or not.  A London judge is once again giving the arrest-prone rocker the benefit of the doubt, postponing his sentencing on drug charges for one month to better assess the progress of the Babyshambles frontman.

District Judge Davinder Lachlar issued a now familiar ultimatum to the 28-year-old, telling him that if sufficient progress has not been made to sober up, he will be put behind bars.  “What I have in mind is to adjourn this matter for four weeks to assess his motivation,” Lachlar said in court. “What I have in mind is a community order or prison…if he does not show his motivation, it’s prison—simple as that.”

I really hope this legendary rocker gets some professional help or his life might end up being sadly cut short.