It's not too often that Dolly Partem, Vince Gill and Amy Grant turn up, unannounced, to sing, but that's what happened at the Nashville taping of Wave to the World, a CD on which 28 country artists sing to support the Paralympic Games for physically disabled athletes. Three days before recording the theme song, organizer Steve White was still short some big names. He dropped off a letter at Grant's home imploring her to come, concluding, "P.S. If you know anyone else who can sing (hint, hint, hint) pleaseeeeee bring him along." So Grant showed up with her hubby. Parton's office had said the star couldn't participate because she was recording that day. Turns out she was in the studio next door. White scribbled a note asking her to come by for 10 minutes. According to my source, just after Gill and Grant walked into the studio, Parton pushed through the doors saying, "Okay, you've got 10 minutes. What do you want me to do?"

Tipper Gore also performed unexpectedly at a recent event. The First Lady wannabe was invited to join the New Directions Chorus, a group of homeless Vietnam vets, at the L.A. launch of an exhibit about homelessness in America. As Tipper took the stage, her daughter Kristin moaned, "Oh, no! Mom's going to sing." Her despair wasn't just daughterly drubbing. "[Tipper] had good rhythm and she's an excellent dancer," said an observer, "but Kristin is right about the singing—she's awful!"

Gwyneth Paltrow's looking for a boyfriend. Potential candidates for what is sure to be a sought-after role include Mark Wahlberg and Ed Burns to star opposite Paltrow in How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. In the romantic comedy, a notorious womanizer bets that he can stay in a relationship for more than 10 days. (He meets his match.)

Actor Keanu Reeves electrified the audience—and the Key Club—when he and his rock band Dogstar played at the L.A. hot spot July 13, two days after their first domestic release, Happy Ending, hit record stores. Not only did the lights go out at one point, but Reeves blew out his bass amp in the middle of the show, prompting lead singer-guitarist Bret Domrose to ask him, "What do you have, some kind of electricity coming off of you?"

Fast takes: $50,000 was spent on makeup for Eddie Murphy, who plays eight characters in Nutty Professor II: The Klumps, which hits theaters July 28. Temperature on the set was kept at 60 degrees to keep Murphy, who wears a spandex-and-foam-latex fat suit for five of his roles, cool.... This year's Oops! award may go to Ellen DeGeneres, who, mistaking a young woman for a man, called her "sir" during the taping of the Q&A segment of DeGeneres's July 23 HBO special at New York City's Beacon Theater. "I'll never live this down," the comedian told the audience, which included Gillian Anderson, Chris Rock and Katie Couric.

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