Kanye, fiancee break off engagement

Kanye West is in the midst of his spaceship-themed Glow in the Dark tour, but he apparently has some more earthly matters on his mind as well. The Chicago rapper-producer and his fiancee Alexis Phifer have broken off their 18-month engagement, as Phifer confirmed to People.com.

"It's always sad when things like this end, and we remain friends," Phifer told the site. "I wish him the best in his future and all of his endeavors. He's one of the most talented people I've ever met." The couple had dated on and off since 2002 and got engaged in 2006 on a vacation in Italy.

"Kanye is possessed by the tour and everything going on and just couldn't keep it going," Usmagazine.com reported a source as saying. "They are still friends and have broken up and gotten back together before, so it could work out."

Snoop Dogg gets UK visa

A fracas between Snoop Dogg and his entourage and police at Heathrow Airport in London in April 2006, an incident that has prevented Snoop from entering Britain since then, was not the rapper's fault, according to a UK judge.

Judge Neha Bird overturned a decision to deny the rapper a visa to enter the country, concluding that there was no evidence that the star had been involved in any wrongdoing.

Bird watched DVD footage of the rapper quietly playing with children at the airport, then later being pushed by a police officer without retaliating and then cuffed on the ground without resisting. "The children were laughing and enjoying either dancing or singing or playing music," Bird said. The judge decided that the disorder reported was "precipitated by the decisions made by [British Airways] staff and the police."

Ono takes case against Lennon film to court

Footage of John Lennon smoking pot, writing songs, and discussing putting the hallucinogenic drug LSD in President Richard Nixon's tea is the focus of a court case starting in Boston next week over whether the video should be made public.

The case pits Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, against Lawrence, Massachusetts-based World Wide Video, which claims ownership of nine hours of raw footage of the former Beatle and Ono that was filmed just weeks before the Fab Four broke up in 1970.

World Wide, a New England consortium of Beatles collectors, wants to release the black-and-white footage as a two-hour film titled 3 Days in the Life about Lennon during a pivotal and turbulent time for the most celebrated band of the 1960s.

The company, which paid more than $1 million for the footage after legal costs and other expenses, nearly premiered it last year at the private Berwick Academy in Maine but abruptly scrapped the screening after the school received a stop order from Ono's lawyers, who assert copyright ownership of the videotapes.

World Wide has filed a suit in US District Court in Boston against Ono for copyright infringement. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for April 30.

Grateful Dead sends archives to UC school

The massive archives of the Grateful Dead, housed in a warehouse in Marin County, Calif., are heading south. The band has decided to move the archives, which include more than 30 years of memorabilia, to the McHenry Library on the campus of the University of California Santa Cruz. Band members Bob Weir and Mickey Hart announced the move today from the Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco.

The archive features virtually every imaginable remnant of the band's past, from press clippings and photographs to backstage passes, posters, and T-shirts.

Eileen Law, whom the band hired in 1972 to oversee its fan club, told the San Francisco Chronicle that "It's like sending your kids off to college: 'Oh, they're leaving home!' That's what it feels like, even though now I know it will be preserved and well taken care of. It's another stage of development."

The archive does not include the band's vault of recordings, which was shipped in August 2006 in four refrigerated 18-wheelers to Los Angeles, where it is maintained by Rhino Records.

Ray Charles' children, manager battle

Unlike the heirs of James Brown, the children of Ray Charles waited long after their father was buried before they began their sniping. But according to a report in the Los Angeles Times, several of Charles' 12 children are now accusing his longtime manager of mismanaging his estate and trusts, and tarnishing his legacy by releasing two posthumous CDs that the late singer never would have approved.

Several of Charles' 12 children are seeking a formal investigation and audit looking into their father's estate, trusts, and foundation for possible wrongdoing. They have complained to the California attorney general, the Los Angeles County prosecutor's office, and the FBI, claiming that manager Joe Adams has held too much power over Ray Charles Enterprises and the Ray Charles Foundation and has excluded them from business dealings.

Charles' children hope to win control of the marketing of their father's name and image, and a greater voice in foundation affairs. They said that during a family meeting in 2002, Charles said he placed $500,000 in trusts for each of the children to be paid out over the next five years. He also hinted that there would be more for them "down the line," and some of the children said they interpreted it to mean that they would inherit the right to license his name and likeness for profit.

But trust documents and a copy of Charles' will do not mention the rights to his image. Charles also did not leave anything to Adams in his will, the family said in a statement on Sunday.

Lou Reed weds longtime partner Anderson

Two New York City icons tied the knot this month, according to the New York Post. Rocker Lou Reed wed his longtime partner, performance artist Laurie Anderson, in a private ceremony in Colorado earlier this month.

The couple, who have lived together since 1995, celebrated in New York the other night with drinks and dessert at the East Village townhouse of a friend.

The 66-year-old rocker and former frontman for the Velvet Underground has a new Julian Schnabel-directed concert movie, Lou Reed's Berlin, and is in the midst of a US tour.