Paparazzi

In London, motorists shouted profanities at photographers outside Buckingham Palace. At the Paris hospital where Princess Diana died early Sunday, the epithets were worse: "Murderers," medical staff shouted at the men and women with cameras outside. And at the tunnel where the fatal car crash occurred, angry mourners scrawled red graffiti labeling paparazzi cowards.What had seemed a sort of game -- though an increasingly aggressive one -- changed early Sunday when probably the world's most photographed woman died after trying to elude paparazzi on motorcycles.

For those still searching for a valentine on this "holiday," Ronnie Ortiz-Magro - the hulking Ross to Sammi Sweetheart's Rachel on "Jersey Shore" - will be at the new Paparazzi Nightclub's (407 E. Saratoga St.) grand-opening party tonight. The Paparazzi Nightclub replaces the former concert venue Sonar. The flier on Paparazzi's Facebook page says there's an all-night open bar tonight for $20. Doors open at 9 p.m. for the 18+ event. The flier also mentions "Top 40," "Dance" and "Club" music will be spun.

They buzz around celebrities like bees around honey, and New York's swarm of paparazzi can pack a sting.Jane Fonda topless. Sophia Loren topless. Liz Taylor and Richard Burton embracing offscreen while she was still married to Eddie Fisher. Who can forget Jackie Onassis, so dogged by Ron Galella that she got a court order to keep him at least 25 feet away from her?American Photo magazine editor David Schonauer, whose current issue features a look at paparazzi, admires the men and women who "pump up the celebrities and keep them in the news, but also show them as normal human beings."

For months, music fans have wondered, "What's going to happen to the old Sonar?" Now, we might have the answer. Sonar's Twitter page (@Sonar_Baltimore) appears to have re-emerged late last week, rebranded as Paparazzi Club ( @paparazzibalt ). The Twitter bio reads, “New nightclub/concert venue coming soon to 407 E. Saratoga St.” Details remain scarce. When local R&B singer Von Tae' asked , “Hey, When Will The New Club Open Up ?” last Friday, Paparazzi Club replied, “gonna have the smaller side open for a few events in November.” Earlier today, the Paparazzi Club tweeted “JUST ANNOUNCED: REVOLUTION 11/15” and a link to a Facebook events page for an 18 and older “Baltimore rave” headlined by Bassdread, Wetsteppers, Confetti, DJ Black {Op}

WASHINGTON -- Ever since Britain's Princess Diana died in a Paris tunnel as her chauffeur tried to outrun a pack of paparazzi, the nation has been torn between its appetite for candid pictures of famous people and its distaste for the methods used to get them. Lawmakers have tried for years to rein in a tabloid media and still protect the public's right to know, each time running afoul of the First Amendment.But legislation sponsored by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and slated for introduction later this month could turn the tables in the skirmishes between the famous and the photographers who pursue them -- not to mention assuage the conscience of a nation hopelessly star-struck, but still believing that even celebrities need some space.

Barbara Walters interviews one of the oddest and most hunted men on the planet tonight on "20/20" (10 p.m.-11 p.m., WMAR, Channel 2).In light of the death of Princess Diana, Walters centers on the way Michael Jackson has dealt with intrusive press coverage and his thoughts on growing up in the public eye. Some samples of what he has to say:On selling his baby's pictures to the National Enquirer: "There's helicopters flying above us, flying over my house,...

Nicole Kidman scored last week with her testimony before an Australian court, telling of her terror at being chased by lensmen in Sydney. Because Ms. Kidman is a star of some rectitude, wildly popular as a person of ethics and taste, her testimony carried some weight. Then George Clooney, her American heavyweight opposite, talked to Entertainment Weekly about Hollywood paparazzi nearly causing accidents in his neighborhood. He said wisely, "They're not trying to catch me doing something stupid; they're trying to create me doing something stupid."

LONDON -- They hide in bushes, they hang from helicopters, they ride motorboats in hot pursuit of their prey. They are the paparazzi, the determinedly resourceful free-lance photographers who provide the world's print media with photos of celebrities in private and public moments.And now the paparazzi are under attack, because of the death of Britain's Princess Diana early yesterday in an auto accident in Paris after a high-speed chase by French press photographers on motorcycles and in cars.

Maybe the producers got confused, because filming for the movie Marley and Me has begun in Hollywood, but not the Hollywood where you usually see big stars and film crews. Part of the movie is being shot at the beach in Hollywood, Fla., but that hasn't spared stars Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston the constant presence of the paparazzi. One aggressive cameraman has been arrested on a charge of trampling plants in the Crandon Park nature preserve in nearby Key Biscayne. Not exactly a Kodak moment.

They buzz around celebrities like bees around honey, and New York's swarm of paparazzi can pack a sting.Jane Fonda topless. Sophia Loren topless. Liz Taylor and Richard Burton embracing offscreen while she was still married to Eddie Fisher. Who can forget Jackie Onassis, so dogged by Ron Galella that she got a court order to keep him at least 25 feet away from her?American Photo magazine editor David Schonauer, whose current issue features a look at paparazzi, admires the men and women who "pump up the celebrities and keep them in the news, but also show them as normal human beings."

FELICE QUINTO, 80 Paparazzo model in 'La Dolce Vita' Felice Quinto, a photographer who may have been the model for Paparazzo in the 1960 film "La Dolce Vita," from which the term "paparazzi" is derived, died of pneumonia Jan. 17 in Rockville. Mr. Quinto strolled with his camera among the cafes of the Via Veneto, waiting for opportunities to capture celebrities and royals acting like mere mortals. He hid in bushes, assumed false identities and raced around Rome on his motorcycle to get the pictures that fed gossip-hungry publications around the world.

Amanda Foreman's robust, elegant biography, Georgianna, Duchess of Devonshire, receives a cream rinse and a Princess Di job in The Duchess, a Minorpiece Theatre depiction of the great-great-great-great-aunt of Diana, Princess of Wales. Georgianna is a cultivated lass with an independent mind when she marries the fabulously wealthy and politically influential William Cavendish, the fifth duke of Devonshire. But she's also an intensely hopeful 17-year-old, so she's traumatized when she discovers that the duke is a cold cad who sees marriage as the process by which noble folk produce male heirs.

LONDON -- After six months of hearings and testimony by more than 250 witnesses, a jury at a British coroner's inquest found yesterday that Princess Diana and her lover, Dodi Fayed, were killed by the negligent driving of their chauffeur and photographers who pursued their speeding Mercedes-Benz into a Paris underpass more than 10 years ago. The case has seized attention in Britain and around the world since then, with rumors, conspiracy theories and...

Maybe the producers got confused, because filming for the movie Marley and Me has begun in Hollywood, but not the Hollywood where you usually see big stars and film crews. Part of the movie is being shot at the beach in Hollywood, Fla., but that hasn't spared stars Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston the constant presence of the paparazzi. One aggressive cameraman has been arrested on a charge of trampling plants in the Crandon Park nature preserve in nearby Key Biscayne. Not exactly a Kodak moment.

Prankster Ashton Kutcher, the actor-turned-producer who pulled fast ones on most of young Hollywood with the show Punk'd, is now punkin' the hand that feeds - the celebrity media. Heard the one about ditzy Paris Hilton consulting and cavorting but not quite canoodling with a bearded, be-robed spiritual adviser? While most antics from the ever-posing heiress would, at this point, be moderately believable, it turns out, the guru thing was merely Pop Fiction, a setup for Kutcher's new show that airs Sundays on the cable channel E!

So New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick was asked about quarterback Tom Brady's ankle and - shock of shocks! - he wouldn't talk about it. Actually, Belichick seemed to enjoy not talking about it - if it can be said that Belichick enjoys dealing with the media under any circumstances - and kind of taunted reporters by saying they'd just have to wait until the official injury report comes out next week.

A paparazzo as hero? Perhaps anti-hero would be the best way to describe Jake "Monster" McGowran. Chronically unshaven, unashamedly opportunistic and unapologetically uncouth, McGowran is the in-your-face protagonist of I, Paparazzi, a graphic novel written by Pat McGreal and illustrated by two Baltimoreans, photographer Stephen John Phillips and graphic artist Steven Parke. "Pat, I know, got really interested with paparazzi with the Lady Di thing, which basically made them out to look so terrible," Phillips says from his Towson home.

GOD BLESS Rabbi Martin Siegel. The Columbia clergyman's heart was in the right place last week when he asked supermarket chains to remove tabloids from their checkout counters.Rabbi Siegel argues, as many do, that tabloid exploitation of celebrities was responsible for Princess Diana's tragic death. He wants to remove these scandal sheets from the public's consciousness by convincing stores to hide them.Shoppers who delight in celebrity gossip would have to search the aisles for their weekly fix, if the rabbi has his way.Rabbi Siegel, who led the Columbia Jewish Congregation for 25 years, says Princess Diana's death brings a "window of opportunity" for change, and he intends to take advantage.

Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first," said Ronald Reagan. The third oldest profession must be the creation of award shows. And while we ponder the writers' strike and the end of "Hollywood" as we have known it, did anybody notice that most of the winners of the Golden Globe Awards were not notably the big talents here in the colonies? Great Britain, Australia, France and Spain triumphed with the following: best picture for the English Atonement, best movie acting awards to Julie Christie, Daniel Day-Lewis, Cate Blanchett, Marion Cotillard, Javier Bardem and two awards to the British TV drama Longford.

I've got nothing against fame. I'm famous myself. Sort of. OK, not Will Smith famous. Or Ellen DeGeneres famous. All right, not even Marilu Henner famous. I'm the kind of famous where you fly into some town to give a speech before that shrinking subset of Americans who still read newspapers and, for that hour, they treat you like a rock star, applauding, crowding around, asking for autographs. Then it's over. You walk through the airport the next day and no one gives a second glance.