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Sideshow | Tread-on-toe-and-go caper

Brit singer James Blunt, 32, and his g.f., the stunning Petra Nemcova, played footsie with a man initially described by wire services as an autograph-seeking fan outside a pre-Oscar party early Saturday morn. Well, more accurately, Blunt's car did the footsie-playing, by doing in the pedestrian's foot in a bizarre foot-runover-and-run.

Brit singer

James Blunt

, 32, and his g.f., the stunning

Petra Nemcova

, played footsie with a man initially described by wire services as an autograph-seeking fan outside a pre-Oscar party early Saturday morn. Well, more accurately, Blunt's car did the footsie-playing, by

doing in

the pedestrian's foot in a bizarre foot-runover-and-run.

Details are still being pieced together, with the LAPD confirming to TMZ.com and E!Online that it has begun an investigation into the incident, which has been classified as a hit-and-run. LAPD officer Martha Garcia tells E!Online that witnesses say Blunt's black SUV was the responsible vehicle.

Blunt's rep has been cagey, telling People mag the "You're Beautiful" singer was trying to maneuver through a sea of paparazzi outside the party. "They were invading his space," the rep said. "He was just trying to quietly leave the party."

He said Blunt does not concede he was the one who injured the man, who they insist wasn't a fan but one of the rabid photogs.

Smith case: The body

The

Anna Nicole Smith

Case drags on some more.

A Florida court of appeals will hear the case about where Smith's body ought be buried, starting today. Smith's boyfriend Howard K. Stern and her ex-beau want her remains to be buried in the Bahamas next to her son, who died in September. But Smith's mother, Virgie Arthur, insists the remains be taken back to her hometown.

Stern's lawyers said Arthur wants to "place [Smith] in death where she never wanted to be in life." That would be Texas.

Smith case: The baby

The awful craziness continues over Smith's 5-month-old baby,

Dannielynn

, with a legal stalemate: A Bahamas court has not made any decision on who should be granted custody of the child.

Stern, who has custody, is being challenged by Larry Birkhead, who says he's the baby's real father.

Meanwhile, Dannielynn's grandma Arthur is incensed that she has been denied access to the baby. Arthur's lawyer John O'Quinn complained in court, "We want a visit with the baby and Stern won't let us."

But the judge has ruled that people who want to see the girl must get permission from her current guardian, Stern, who so far has said no to Arthur.

A dirty deal?

Meanwhile, TMZ.com says Stern and Birkhead care little about the baby

per se

, but do care about her money - Dannielynn stands to get all her mom's considerable assets.

In a report attributed only to unnamed sources, the Web site says Stern privately concedes Birkhead is the dad, but is holding on to the baby while he negotiates with the photographer. Anon sources tell TMZ.com that Stern is angling for Smith's house and boat in the Bahamas. No comments have been sought from the two parties.

Foxy's tale of injustice

Embattled rapper

Foxy Brown

, who single-handedly destroyed the manicuring industry in New York when she assaulted two nail salon employees in '04 (she collected three years' probation last October), is speaking up about the most recent (alleged) eruption of her rage.

Showing up Monday at Brown Memorial Baptist Church in Brooklyn, Foxy said it was she who was the victim, not the aggressor, in the Feb. 15 incident at a beauty supply store in Pembroke Pines, Fla.

Cops say Foxy spat in the face of the store owner, who was trying to kick her out of the store at closing time, and then got physical with an officer in the parking lot.

But the 27-year-old star said she was dragged half-naked out of the store's restroom by the store owner, assaulted and insulted by cops because of her race.

"I was exposed from the waist down on the toilet," she said. "The only crime I'm guilty of is being a young black woman."

The store owner, Hayssam Ghoneim, said he wanted Foxy out because he was closing up.

Foxy, who is charged with simple battery and resisting an officer, could face jail this time for violating probation from that nail incident.

Harry strips down

The countdown to

Daniel Radcliffe

's first extra-Potter performance piece,

Harry Sans Vêtements

, is nearly over as I write. (And already over for you.)

The London premiere of the Radcliffe-starring play Equus, by Peter Shaffer, in which the 17-year-old thesp's character gets naked, the better to worship horses, both spiritually and sexually, was scheduled for last night at the Gielgud Theatre.

So who'd want to see the young wizard nekkid? The production has already sold $3.1 mil worth of tickets in advance.

Easton band gets the call

Hope the Rose brothers, Nick and Willie, aren't too incapacitated with nasty hangovers this a.m.

The Easton, Pa., natives and their homeboy Dave Goletz, who make up the dance rock act Settle, have plenty to celebrate. They've won a recording contract sponsored by indie label Epitaph Records and mtvU (that's the annoyingly mussed-up capitalization game of a name for MTV's college network).

"Our reaction," Nick Rose said yesterday, mulling over the question for a while. (He was without hangover.) "You know, other than that initial 'Holy [Moly]!' we couldn't understand what was happening," Nick said on his cell phone from Kutztown University, where he is studying English. (The 24-year-old has smarts: He's focusing on professional writing, not literature, which has ruined many an idealist's economic future.)

Nick, whose 19-year-old bro attends the University of the Arts in Philly, said this contest could fundamentally change everyone's lives in ways he can't imagine. It'd sure make a change for Goletz, 19, who Nick says "has an actual job" at a restaurant in Allentown.

At the same time, he said, "it's a paradox [because] we're still guys sitting around at our parents' house."

"We really won't get it until we're on the plane, eating the peanuts," said Nick, who'll soon be on a plane with his band to rock out as one of the featured bands at the beer chuggingest, crudest, wet T-shirtest spring break event, mtvU Spring Break '07 on March 9 in Cancun, Mexico. ("It's all drunken frat boys and girls gone wild," Nick quips. Rock on!)

According to mtvU, Settle beat out 124 other college bands.

In addition to the Mexico gig, Settle, which regularly plays at Quadrant Coffee House in Easton, will also record an EP for Epitaph, play a concert with one of the label's bigger stars and film a video.

There's more info about the band, and samples of its songs, on Settle's Web site, www.settlemusic.net.