A Few More Things: Madonna, Plácido Domingo & Bounty Killer

She’s A Brick House

Madonna is about to see her dream of building her girls’ school become a reality and in turn, she is encouraging the future students to pursue their own dreams. During her weeklong charity trip to Malawi, the singer stopped by the site of Raising Malawi Academy for Girls on Tuesday to lay down the very first brick.

The brick was inscribed with the phrase “dare to dream.”

The $15 million academy is located on a plot of land in Blantyre near the capital of Lilongwe. The school, which is set to include modern environment-friendly features such as solar panels, will provide an education for 500 girls, the majority of whom will be from underprivileged households. It is scheduled to open in 2011.

On Tuesday Madonna also launched a telecommunications and fundraising initiative that will provide children around the world with secondary school scholarships in addition to assisting schools in developing countries in accessing the Internet.

Ericsson has promised to donate computers to a number of schools in 11 African countries through the United Nations Millennium Village initiative.

Last year Madonna adopted her now four-year-old daughter from Malawi and in 2008 she adopted her now four-year-old son from the central sub-Saharan African nation. In 2006 she founded Raising Malawi, a charity that helps feed, educate and provide medical care for the country’s orphans.

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Back On Stage & Out To Dinner

After taking six weeks off to recover from colon cancer surgery, opera tenor Placido Domingo is up and at ‘em, opening his newest restaurant in New York City and preparing for his first public shows since his operation.

In mid-February the 69-year-old Spanish singer experienced abdominal pain during shows in Tokyo. He returned to New York for surgery and on March 2 a malignant polyp was removed from his colon.

He was released March 7. Just four weeks later he spent Monday opening his new restaurant, Zengo. Domingo and restaurateur Richard Sandoval co-own the restaurant and together they also co-own two restaurants in Doha, Qatar.

Domingo says he is grateful he was alerted to the cancer through the pain he experienced in Japan – and urges fans and “every person in the word” to get a colonoscopy. 

The singer is set to return to the stage April 16 for a series of performances of Verdi’s “Simon Boccanegra” at Teatro Alla Scala in Milan, Italy.

Domingo has sung 130 roles over the course of his successful career and may be best known for his collaboration with José Carreras and Luciano Pavarotti as The Three Tenors. He is also the general director of the Los Angeles Opera and the Washington National Opera.

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Bounty Killer’s Xperience With The Law 

Rapper Bounty Killer has racked up yet another offense with his Monday arrest for allegedly assaulting a girlfriend.

The Jamaican dancehall star, whose real name is Rodney Price, is best known for his 1996 album My Xperience and his contribution to No Doubt’s 2002 hit “Hey Baby.”

He was arrested at his home in Jamaica. Police did not disclose details of the attack because of an ongoing investigation into the artist’s past charges.

Bounty Killer is set to return to court to be arraigned April 7. He is currently being prosecuted on previous charges of illegal possession of a firearm, marijuana possession, and unlawful wounding and assault.

Click here for the AP story.