Tattle: Ailing Jordin Sparks leaves Keys tour

VOCAL-CORD injuries have idled "American Idol"

Jordin Sparks

at least until May, forcing her to withdraw from

Alicia Keys

' tour. Sparks had been opening for Keys, slated to rock the Liacouras Center on Broad Street last night.

In a recent interview with the Daily News' Jonathan Takiff, Keys described Jordin as "such a sweetheart.

"She had 'American Idol,' but really, she's just starting out. People gave me a shout-out when I was starting, so now I'm doing it for her."

The New York Post described the 18-year-old's injury as "an acute vocal-cord hemorrhage" that could be career-threatening, but officially she's only taking a break and will rejoin Keys' tour in May.

"All of her April activities have been postponed or canceled so she can take care of her voice properly," 19/Jive Records spokeswoman Wendy Washington said. Sparks had been among the performers for the Earth Day Network & Green Apple Festival concert in Washington, D.C., today.

"Jordin Sparks is on vocal rest and is expected to make a full and complete recovery," read a statement from 19/Jive Records. "Sparks has been going nonstop over the past two years, and now she's going through the normal course of learning how to manage and care for her voice."

It's a big world, after all

As a young Tattlette back in the day, we learned about wildlife from "Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color." (Yeah, there really was a day when color TV was so new, they bragged about it in the show title.)

And we learned about wildlife management from Disney's big-screen classic "Bambi."

So it kind of surprised us that Disney bigs would need to create a special unit to make environmental films, but they are - just in time for Earth Day today - and they're calling it Disneynature.

Starting from the ground up, the first of seven planned documentaries will be "Earth," set for release on April 22, 2009. It'll offer a year in the life of three mothers - a polar bear, an elephant and a humpback whale - and their offspring.

Hells Angel scorned

We once walked into a bar and saw the baddest black-leather motorcycle jacket ever hanging on the back of a barstool.

It had massive epaulettes. It had more chrome than a custom Harley. It had skull studs. There were colors on the back. And its owner was nowhere in sight. He wasn't even in the bar.

Wasn't he afraid somebody would steal it, we wondered? And then we looked at the coat again. Right. Nobody was going to touch that coat.

Sonny Barger, founder of the Hells Angels motorcycle club, had an idea for a TV show. No surprise, it was about a tough motorcycle club in Arizona, the fictional Death Rangers.

He and Michael Tolkin

pitched the idea to HBO, which is about to start production on "1 percent," starring Donal Logue. Barger says HBO, production company White Mountain Co. and Tolkin, the show's writer/executive producer, cut him out of the deal.

Barger filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles federal court last week. HBO isn't commenting.

Guess Sonny wants his jacket back.

Roger, thumbs up

Despite recent hip surgery after a fall, along with his other daunting health problems, film critic Roger Ebert plans to attend his namesake film festival, now in its 10th year.

"The show must go on," Ebert said in a statement posted on his Web site. "I am doing fine and if the doctors clear me, I will be there to welcome our guests."

Among them are Ang Lee, Richard Roeper, Richard Corliss and Christine Lahti.

The 2008 "Ebertfest" will be tomorrow through Sunday in Champaign, Ill.

"Please keep those thumbs up in the hopes that Roger will be there to celebrate the tenth year of his film festival," Ebert's wife, Chaz, said in the statement. "He has an indomitable spirit."

Ebert, a film critic for more than four decades at the Chicago Sun-Times, has had several cancer operations in recent years, including surgery on his windpipe that left him unable to speak.

Sheen lets loose

"Extra" stopped by the "Two and a Half Men" set to chat with soon-to-be-wed Charlie Sheen. His bride is "Extra" special correspondent Brooke Mueller, though surely that had nothing to do with it.

Charle shared that he's looking for a casual feel this time around. (He wore Giorgio Armani for his 2002 nups to Denise Richards, and look how that turned out.)

"No ties at my wedding . . . It's going to be hot. I want people to be comfortable," said the father of three daughters.

Hopefully that means everyone's wearing pants.

Blood, very good

In a bit of destination casting, Moon Bloodgood (you glimpsed her in the quickly canceled NBC drama "Journeyman") is about to sign as the female lead in McG's "Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins," also starring Christian Bale.

Blood has always been good for the action-packed "Terminator" series, in which McG's effort will be the fourth. It's set for a summer '09 release from Warner Bros. Bloodgood's character plays a hardened member of the resistance in the never-ending human-against-machine saga. *

Daily News TV critic Ellen Gray and wire services contributed to this report.