Hicks: Chris Brown will perform at Grammys

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FILE - In this July 15, 2011 file photo, singer Chris Brown performs on NBC's Today Show in New York. With his hit single Look at Me Now, Brown has dominated more than just the R&B territory: The track was Billboard's No. 1 rap song of 2011 and it's nominated for two Grammys _ in the rap category. (AP Photo/Charles Sykes, file)

Chris Brown will perform at this year's Grammy Awards, the event associated with the near-demise of his career three years ago.

Brown eventually pleaded guilty to assaulting then-girlfriend Rihanna at a pre-Grammy party in 2009 and is serving five years of probation for the felony attack. The Recording Academy announced Tuesday that Brown will take the Grammy stage on Sunday.

After the attack, Brown's reputation plummeted, but he has since bounced back, releasing multiple mixtapes and the multi-hit album, "F.A.M.E. (Forgiving All My Enemies)." He is nominated for three Grammys, including best R&B album.

That's nice of him to forgive all his enemies.

Rihanna will also perform at the

show. She's nominated for four awards, including the top prize -- album of the year -- for her platinum effort "Loud." Recent reports have said the two are still occasionally seeing each other.

Brown and Rihanna were supposed to perform at the 2009 Grammys, but that changed aft! er Brown attacked the singer in the early morning hours before the awards show. Since then, Brown hasn't attended the Grammys, though he was nominated for three awards last year.

A judge eased a restraining order last February after an attorney for Rihanna said she didn't object to removing the stay-away provisions. The former order required Brown to stay 50 yards away from 23-year-old Rihanna, but the restriction was reduced to 10 yards if they were at a

music industry event.

Brown, 22, has been nominated for Grammys in five of the last six years, though he has never picked up the top prize in music. His song "Look at Me Now," which features Lil Wayne and Busta Rhymes, is nominated for best rap song and best rap performance.

Rihanna has won four Grammys, three with Jay-Z. She won a Grammy last year for her No. 1 smash, "Only Girl (In the World)" for best dance recording. In addition to album of the year, her fifth CD "Loud" is up for best pop vocal album. Rihanna is also nominated twice for best rap/sung collaboration for another No.1 jam -- the Drake-assisted "What's My Name?" -- and for her guest appearance on Kanye West's "All of the Lights." The Grammys will air live on CBS from the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

CLINT EASTWOOD WANTS TO KNOW IF HIS CRITICS FEEL LUCKY: Clint Eastwood set the record straight Monday about his so-called controversial Chrysler ad that aired on Sunday's Super Bowl, about which a few critics like Karl Rove claimed it was an for President Obama.

Speaking to Ron Mitchell, a producer at Fox news Channel's "The O'Reilly Factor," Eastwood asserted, "I am certainly not politically affiliated with Mr. Obama. It was meant to be a message ... just about job growth and the spirit of America. I think all politicians will agree with it."

Then he got out a gun and told Mitchell to get off his lawn.

Eastwood, who served as mayor of Carmel in the 1980s, added that he is "not supporting any politician at this time" but noted that, if Obama or any other pol! itician "want to run with the spirit of that ad, go for it."

If Clint Eastwood told me to run with something, I'd be running before he finished the sentence.

In the ad -- dubbed "Halftime in America" -- Eastwood extols the resiliency of the American spirit, as exemplified by the auto industry's efforts to bounce back from its financial woes.

"This country can't be knocked out with one punch, we get right back up again," Eastwood growls in the ad.

This was interpreted by some -- notably among them, former Bush administration senior adviser Rove -- as a show of support for President Obama and the auto-industry bailout.

Declaring himself "offended" by the ad during a Fox News segment, Rove opined that the ad was "a sign of what happens when you have Chicago-style politics."

"I was, frankly, offended by it," Rove said. "I'm a huge fan of Clint Eastwood, I thought it was an extremely well-done ad, but it is a sign of what happens when you have Chicago-style politics, and the president of the United States and his political minions are, in essence, using our tax dollars to buy corporate advertising and the best-wishes of the management which is benefited by getting a bunch of our money that they'll never pay back."

Rove also suggested that Chrysler, et al, "feel the need to do something to repay their political patrons."

Eastwood's manager, Leonard Hirshan, was also dismissive of Rove and company's claim, telling New York magazine, "He rewrote it to make it suit his needs ... . People have to understand that what he was doing was saying to America, 'Get yourselves together all of you and make this a second half.' It's not a political thing."

THIS POOR KID: Because celebrities can't just name their kids, Robert Downey Jr. now has a son named ... Exton.

Exton?

It this so he can call him the X-man? So he can always sit in the back of the class? So when he plays sports, he be known as the X-factor?

Gwyneth Paltrow named her kid Apple, but at least i! t's a re al word. Even Nicolas Cage gave his kid a name that's real on Krypton.

Anyway, Downey Jr.'s wife Susan Downey delivered a healthy baby boy at 7:24 a.m. on Tuesday, his rep confirmed to Us Weekly.

Little Exton -- Exton? -- weighed 7 pounds, 5 ounces at birth and measured 20 inches long. It's the first child for producer Susan, 38; Sherlock Holmes star Downey, 46, has an older son, 18-year-old Indio, with ex-wife Deborah Falconer.

The actor, who took Susan on a romantic Hawaiian getaway back in November (probably in exchange for getting to name him "Exton"), revealed his baby-to-be's gender back in December.

Downey joked about second-time fatherhood to Jay Leno on "The Tonight Show" late last year. "I don't want to be presumptuous," he said. "But I think actually (the pregnancy) has been tougher on me (than Susan!). Just the hormones on and the mood stuff and the nausea and the whole thing."

MADONNA WANTS YOUR MONEY, PRONTO: Still basking in the glory and controversy of her Super Bowl Halftime show, Madonna has decided to strike while the iron is still hot and announce her upcoming tour. Which will include at least one Bay Area date.

The Madonna 2012 World Tour is set to touch down on Oct. 6 at HP Pavilion in San Jose. Tickets, priced $56-$361, go on sale at 10 a.m. Monday through www.Livenation.com, www.ticketmaster.com, or by phone (800-745-3000) and at the venue box office.

Right - $361. Not $350. Not even $360. It's $361. She probably needs the extra buck to tip the doorman or something.

Madonna's massive tour kicks off May 29 in Tel Aviv, Israel, and is currently set to stretch into mid-November. The North American portion includes 26 dates, beginning with an Aug. 28 gig in Philadelphia.

Judging by her energetic performance at the Super Bowl Halftime show, which was reportedly seen in more 200 countries, the 53-year-old vocalist already appears in tiptop touring shape! . Though she had to bring along someone else (M.I.A.) to do the offensive stuff. Hopefully she'll have that important aspect of her game back in tiptop shape by October.

The Madonna 2012 World Tour will be the singer's ninth globe-trotting endeavor. Her previous worldwide trek was the Sticky & Sweet Tour, which began in August 2008 and ended 13 months later. That tour was a massive success, as Madonna performed to more than 3.5 million fans in 32 countries. Overall, it brought in some $408 million, which makes Sticky & Sweet the fourth highest grossing tour of all time. And probably a lot sweeter than sticky.

The tour will support the singer's 12th studio album, "MDNA," which is due in stores March 26.

FEB. 8 IN HISTORY

Feb. 8 is Wednesday, the 39th day of 2012. There are 327 days left in the year.

1587: Mary, Queen of Scots was beheaded at Fotheringhay Castle in England after she was implicated in a plot to murder her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I.

1693: a charter was granted for the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg in the Virginia Colony.

1837: The Senate selected the vice president of the United States, choosing Richard Mentor Johnson after no candidate received a majority of electoral votes.

1862: The Civil War Battle of Roanoke Island, N.C, ended in victory for Union forces led by Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside.

1904: The Russo-Japanese War, a conflict over control of Manchuria and Korea, began as Japanese forces attacked Port Arthur.

1910: The Boy Scouts of America was incorporated.

1922: President Warren G. Harding had a radio installed in the White House.

1942: During World War II, Japanese forces began invading Singapore, which fell a week later.

1952: Queen Elizabeth II proclaimed her accession to the British throne following the death of her father, King George VI.

1968: Three college students were killed in a confrontation with highway patrolmen in Orangeburg, S.C., during a civil-rights protest against a whi! tes-only bowling alley.

1971: Nasdaq, the world's first electronic stock exchange, held its first trading day.

1989: An American-chartered Boeing 707 filled with Italian tourists slammed into a fog-covered mountain in the Azores, killing 144 people.

1992: The XVI Olympic Winter Games opened in Albertville, France.

2002: The Winter Olympics opened in Salt Lake City with an emotional tribute to America's heroes, from the pioneers of the West to past Olympic champions to the thousands who'd perished on Sept. 11. The Taliban's foreign minister (Mullah Abdul Wakil Muttawakil) turned himself in to authorities in Afghanistan.

2007: Model, actress and tabloid sensation Anna Nicole Smith died in Florida at age 39 of an accidental drug overdose.

2011: Wael Ghonim, a Google executive who'd helped ignite Egypt's uprising, appeared before protesters in Cairo's Tahrir Square for the first time after being released from detention; he told them, "We won't give up."

BIRTHDAYS

Composer-conductor John Williams (80), newscaster Ted Koppel (72), actor Nick Nolte (71), comedian Robert Klein (70), actress Brooke Adams (63), actress Mary Steenburgen (59), author John Grisham (57), actor Henry Czerny (53), rock singer Vince Neil (Motley Crue) (51), actress Mary McCormack (43), rock musician Keith Nelson (Buckcherry) (43), retired NBA player Alonzo Mourning (42), actor Seth Green (38), actor Josh Morrow (38), rock musician Phoenix (Linkin Park) (35), rock musician Jeremy Davis (Paramore) (27), actor Ryan Pinkston (24), actress Karle Warren ("Judging Amy") (20).

Associated Press