CELEBRITY WATCH
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December 31, 1999
Web posted at: 5:32 p.m. EST (2232 GMT)

• Club-shooting victim sues Puffy for $100 million
• Sheen settles assault suit
• Phish has a phirst
• 'Big Brother': No one's watching

Sean "Puffy" Combs

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Sean "Puffy" Combs is facing a $100 million lawsuit filed by a Brooklyn man who says the rapper assaulted him in a shooting at a Times Square dance club.

The plaintiff, Julius Jones, 27, was one of three bystanders shot early Monday at Club New York, authorities say. He was hospitalized briefly with a shoulder injury.

Combs' attorney, Harvey Slovis, calls the civil suit "frivolous and without merit."

Police arrested Combs on a weapons charge after they found another gun in a car that had taken him and his girlfriend, actress-singer Jennifer Lopez, away from the club. He denies any wrongdoing.

A lesser-known rapper, Shyne (Jamal Barrow) was arrested carrying a handgun. He's been charged with three counts of attempted murder in connection with the shooting.

Jones says he was "was shot, battered and assaulted by Sean Combs" and other defendants. He's also seeking $100 million dollars each from Barrow, the club, club owner, Combs' record and production companies, his driver and bodyguard.

Sheen

LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- Charlie Sheen has settled a lawsuit with two women who accused his bodyguard of assaulting them and threatening their lives. Details of the agreement, announced Thursday, were not made public.

Erin Sieman and Christina Lee Stramaglia sued the 34-year-old star of "Wall Street" (1987) and "Platoon" (1986) in August on charges of battery, negligence and infliction of emotional distress. They sought unspecified damages.

Sieman and Stramaglia say they were "intimate friends" of Sheen who were invited to his Malibu home on July 26, only to find no one answering the gate. They say they climbed a fence to get in, but were met by bodyguard Curtis "Zippy" Hunt.

The women say he punched Sieman in the face -- breaking her nose and cheekbone -- and lifted Stramaglia her off the ground by her hair, then threw her down and kicked her. Curtis allegedly called Sieman the following day, at Sheen's instruction, and threatened to kill the women if they reported the incident.

Sheen currently is on probation for a battery conviction against a former girlfriend.

Phish's concert created a huge highway traffic jam

(CNN) -- Phish is banking on heavy traffic, this time on its Web site. The band is selling selected tracks from its New Year's Eve concert online shortly after each set.

This is believed to be the first time a recording artist for a major label has offered live concert tracks secured for sale via the Internet immediately after the performance. The tracks are in a secure MP3 format to prevent pirating.

Here's how it works: A computer user can listen to a track three times before deciding whether to buy it for $1. If the user decides to buy it, the song is downloaded onto the PC and can be played an unlimited number of times. The buyer can also e-mail the track to two friends, who can download the song.

The band, with its Grateful Dead-esque fan base, saw heavy traffic of another type this week. Concert organizers say they sold 75,000 tickets to the two-day concert at the Big Cypress Seminole American-Indian Reservation near Fort Lauderdale, Florida. There were so many concertgoers, with and without passes, a traffic jam formed stretching 25 miles.

"Big Brother"

ALMERE, Netherlands (CNN) -- Millions of Dutch voyeurs are going to have to get their fix elsewhere, now that the television show "Big Brother" has ended. The series, in which every minute of participants' lives was videotaped and played live on television and online, finished its 100-day run on Thursday.

When the program started, there were nine participants living in a house in Almere, about 20 miles east of Amsterdam. Twenty-four cameras and 59 microphones were placed throughout the home -- even in the bathroom -- simulating the idea of the omnipresent Big Brother in George Orwell's classic novel, "1984."

Every few weeks, participants would vote to boot out one of their housemates. That left three people, Bart, Ruud and Willem. On Wednesday, viewers voted for their favorite, with the $120,000 top prize going to 23-year-old Bart.