Who bassist dies

John Entwistle, bassist for the legendary rock band the Who, died in his sleep Thursday morning in his room at the Las Vegas Hard Rock Hotel and Casino. He was 57.

Entwistle’s body was discovered by his road assistant at around noon local time, said his manager Steve Luongo. The cause of death is still under investigation, but Luongo said it is believed that the bassist died of a heart attack.

While Entwistle had a heart condition, he seemed to be in good health and his death came as a complete surprise, Luongo said.

The Who had rehearsed together Wednesday night in Las Vegas and were due to launch a tour there Friday night. Just one day after Entwistle passed away, his bandmates Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey vowed to go forward with the trek.

Session bassist Pino Palladino will fill in for Entwistle on tour, according to a spokesperson for the Who’s label, MCA Records.

`Mr. Deeds’ has big weekend

Adam Sandler has done his good Deed: His star power paid off big as “Mr. Deeds” ended up the new number-one movie, with an estimated weekend take of $37.6 million.

Bouncing out of the abyss of his 2000 dud “Little Nicky,” and skirting generally negative reviews from critics, Sandler’s retooling of the 1936 Frank Capra homily “Mr. Deeds Goes to Town” pulled in his regular fan —mainly the young males who had made his yuk comedies “The Waterboy” and “Big Daddy” big hits.

“Minority Report,” the gloomy future adventure starring Tom Cruise and directed by Steven Spielberg, dropped 39 percent from its first-place debut. It ended up in third, earning just $21.6 million to bring the expensive production’s two-week total to $73.4 million.

The Disney cartoon “Lilo & Stitch,” which last weekend lost out the top slot to “Minority Report,” remained in second, dropping off 37 percent. Earning $22.2 million, the tale of the Hawaiian tot and her pet extraterrestrial has now grossed $77.8 million.

-News gathered by Trevor Fisher from eonline.com and mtv.com.