Taking names

Fiscal confessions

R&B crooner Usher has accused flashy hip-hop mogul Sean “P. Diddy” Combs of being a tightwad.

The singer, whose “Confessions” album has ruled the charts for months, said he turned to Mr. Combs early in his career and thought he had gained Mr. Combs’ trust.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Usher ranted: “I looked up to Puffy (Mr. Combs’ former nickname), but he turned his back on me. I went to him once when my record company wasn’t doing me so well, when I was about 17, and I’m like, ’Yo, Puff, you know, I need some money. I don’t have any money, man, and can I borrow $5,000?’

“And he’s like, ’Nah, man, I haven’t got it.’ And yet he was walking Versace, you know?”

Gere-ing up

Richard Gere was in New Delhi yesterday, attending a three-hour AIDS-awareness workshop in the Indian capital.

Associated Press reports that the actor stroked his Buddhist prayer beads while listening to speeches and watching street plays and a puppet show.

The Make Art, Stop AIDS workshop, funded mainly by the U.N. AIDS agency and the Gere Foundation India Trust, has been traveling around the South Asian country for the past six months.

The workshop will head to Bangkok next for the July 11 through 16 World AIDS Conference, said Dr. David Gere, director of the project and the actor’s brother.

“Arm yourselves with information; speak specifically of condoms and sex,” Dr. Gere told an audience of about 150 people.

Singular achievement

The wizards of “American Idol” have done it again.

“Idol” champ Fantasia Barrino and her debut torch song, “I Believe,” are on top of the Billboard Top 100 singles chart.

Billboard magazine explains that since the chart rules changed in December 1998, only one other single has managed to debut at No. 1.

That would be “This Is the Night” by — you guessed it — “American Idol” second-season runner-up Clay Aiken. The song was his second single.

Fantasia, as she’s known to fans, is the first artist in the history of the Hot 100 to debut at No. 1 with her first chart entry.

Speak, memory

The name is Connery. Sean Connery

Sir Sean, the man who has steadfastly refused to write an autobiography, is set to write his memoirs, according to BBC.

Publisher HarperCollins confirmed that Mr. Connery, most famous for his serial role as James Bond, had secured a six-figure deal for the book, which is to be published next fall.

“It’s rather scary but utterly exhilarating, and I’m looking forward to it,” said Mr. Connery, 73.

He added, “Having always vowed never to write my autobiography, here I am standing on the runway awaiting my journey into a new space.”

“He has promised that he is going to be very frank about his entire life,” a spokeswoman said.

’Spider’ sensational

Taken aback by the record-breaking box-office success of “Spider-Man 2,” Sam Raimi, who directed the summer blockbuster, said yesterday he’s too busy writing a second sequel to relax and enjoy the victory.

“The box office is just a surprise,” Mr. Raimi, who was in Japan ahead of the film’s opening there Saturday, told AP. “I’m flabbergasted.”

The “Spider-Man 2” showing was well above the previous best six-day opening of $146.7 million, set last year by “The Matrix Reloaded.” From Friday through Sunday, “Spider-Man 2” took in $88.3 million, missing out on the record for best three-day weekend of $114.8 million, held by the first “Spider-Man.”

Mr. Raimi said he felt pressure to repeat the success of the original “Spider-Man” — which has surpassed $820 million in global ticket sales, making it the fifth-highest-grossing film in U.S. history — but added that he was more concerned with the story than with the business of marketing the film.

“There was a lot of pressure, but I felt so much more pressure just to please the fans,” he said. “We don’t think about it as a big and loud production as much as a love story.”

Compiled by Scott Galupo from Web and wire reports.