Britney’s Big Day in Court

On the bright side, this time around Britney Spears actually has a valid reason not to show up for her court hearings.

With the 26-year-old singer holed up at UCLA Medical Center for at least the next two weeks, the star’s various legal teams are occupied at the Los Angeles County Courthouse for two separate hearings Monday for Spears’ custody and conservator dealings.

First up was a progress hearing in the singer’s ongoing battle with Kevin Federline over their two sons, which kicked off just after 8:30 a.m.

Cuba’s King of Congas Tata Guines dies at 77

Tata Guines, a Cuban percussionist who shared the stage with Josephine Baker and Frank Sinatra, has died at age 77.

Known as the “King of the Congas,” he introduced the driving Afro-Cuban beat to the U.S. jazz scene of the 1950s.

Cuban state media reported that Guines, whose real name was Federico Aristides Soto, died Monday of a kidney infection.