People: Sep. 18, 2006

SCREEN TEST

Assess your celebrity intelligence quotient with this week's quiz on all the really important events in our culture:

1) During Katie Couric's first week anchoring the CBS Evening News, she:

A) Signed off each newscast by shouting "Stay perky, America!" B) Referred to the Taliban as "al-Qaeda's best friends" C) Co-hosted a fish-and-chips cooking segment with Tony Blair D) Read "The revolution will not be televised" from a teleprompter hacked by Dan Rather

2) Brad Pitt told Esquire that he and Angelina Jolie will consider marriage:

A) When everyone else in the country who wants to wed is legally able B) As soon as they find a media outlet willing to pay off all world debt in exchange for wedding photos C) Right after production wraps on Ocean's 45 D) When they can make it through one World Refugee Day family dinner without fighting

3) Which of the following did not happen last week?

A) President Bush revealed plans to appoint Clay Aiken to his Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities B) Former House majority leader Tom DeLay asked supporters to vote for country singer Sara Evans on Dancing with the Stars C) Three Senators nominated Jerry Lewis to receive the Congressional Gold Medal D) Congress passed an immigration bill ANSWERS: 1) B; 2) A; 3) D

Q & A FERGIE

This month Stacey (Fergie) Ferguson, the female voice of the Black Eyed Peas, gets it started with her first solo album, The Dutchess.

Ballads and love songs--is this the softer side of Fergie?

The sweet and sensitive side is who I am, but in a quartet where I'm the only girl, there's not much room for that.

What exactly does the line "My London Bridge want to go down," from your first single, mean?

I've made the decision to let people figure it out on their own.

Before you got together with the Black Eyed Peas, you fought an addiction to crystal meth. How did you kick it?

It was the hardest boyfriend I ever had to break up with. I dug deep as to why I got there. It's the drug that's addicting. But it's why you start doing it in the first place that's interesting. A lot of it was being a child actor; I learned to suppress feelings.

Now what do you do with those feelings?

We're on tour. I have an hour and a half of performing every night and improvising. If there's a rafter, I can climb right on.

You're working on Grind House, a movie with directors Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino. Intimidated?

It's a double feature. I'm in Robert's movie, but Quentin does the scenes with me. He runs alongside of me screaming things.

Have you ever met the other Fergie?

The Duchess of York? Yeah, she called me on the phone. We're talking about doing some charity work together, building schools.

What does your family call you?

Fergie. It's actually a family name. My grandpa's Fergie. My dad's Ferg. And I'm Junior.

WHAT ABOUT BOB?