Names and faces

NEW YORK (AP) -- Imagine Willie Mays coming back to baseball -- and picking the seventh game of the World Series for his return.

Switch home plate for Carnegie Hall, and that's pretty close to what 75-year-old tenor Carlo Bergonzi is doing by performing Giuseppe Verdi's fiendishly difficult opera ''Otello'' for his first time. Most tenors start fading in their 50s.

''There's little space left for me -- I'm going towards 80,'' the tenor said with a smile after a grueling four-hour dress rehearsal for Wednesday's performance with the Opera Orchestra of New York, Eve Queler conducting.

After a 50-year career, Bergonzi didn't need Carnegie Hall, which is a megaphone of a stage that draws fierce critics. But he couldn't resist this musical curve ball.

Since Jon Vickers retired in the 1980s, Placido Domingo has been the only truly stellar Otello, and Luciano Pavarotti sang the role to mixed reviews.

At Saturday's rehearsal, weeks shy of his 76th birthday, he sang full voice, hitting high notes that would be the envy of far younger men. ''He holds the high notes more than any tenor who sang Otello ever has,'' Queler said.

Tiger Woods joins in actors' strike, refuses to film Nike ad

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Tiger Woods just won't do it -- film a Nike commercial, that is.

The golf superstar has decided to honor a strike by TV and radio commercial actors and has refused to film an ad for the sportswear giant.

''There is a strike going on and we're abiding by it,'' said his agent, Mark Steinberg of International Management Group.

Woods had been scheduled to shoot a Nike commercial Tuesday at Islesworth Country Club, the golfer's home course near Orlando, Fla. Steinberg said no ad would be shot for several weeks.

Woods' decision was greeted enthusiastically by the Screen Actors Guild, which authorized the strike along with the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. About 135,000 actors are represented by the unions.

Woods' deal with Nike was being re-negotiated and could pay him a reported $80 million to $90 million over five years. Union membership is mandatory for anyone who appears in more than one commercial, athletes included.

Carey rips star-studded benefits

NEW YORK (AP) -- Drew Carey has had it with star-studded charity benefits.

''I have no patience for it,'' he says in the upcoming USA Weekend magazine. ''People are only there to schmooze, be seen and have their pictures taken. Just write a (expletive) check and shut up. That's what I do.''

The comedian and actor has a low tolerance for liars and fakes -- frequent targets of his regular-guy sitcom ''The Drew Carey Show.''

Arista Records ousts founder

NEW YORK (AP) -- Music executive Clive Davis, who helped launch the careers of pop stars like Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen, has been ousted as head of Arista Records, the company he founded 25 years ago.

BMG Entertainment, a division of German media conglomerate Bertelsmann, announced Tuesday that Antonio ''L.A.'' Reid will take Davis' spot on July 1.

''Antonio brings to Arista an inspired track record as a businessman, Grammy award-winning producer and deeply committed record man,'' said Strauss Zelnick, chief executive of BMG Entertainment, which owns Arista.

The move ends a six-month power struggle between Davis, 66, and his corporate bosses. Bertelsmann traditionally enforces a retirement age of 60 on its top executives.

At Arista, Davis presided over a pop empire that includes Whitney Houston, Sarah McLachlan, Sean ''Puffy'' Combs, Aretha Franklin and Monica.

Unlike many music executives who concern themselves strictly with business, Davis often took an active role in molding artists.