Phish to reprise 3-night Labor Day stand at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park
Daily Camera, Boulder, Colo. (MCT)
April 10–Phish today announced the second leg of its summer tour, which will end with a repeat of its 2011 three-night stand at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City over Labor Day weekend.
The band is slated to play the soccer stadium Aug. 31, Sept. 1 and Sept. 2.
An online ticket request period for the Colorado shows currently is underway at phish.portals.musictoday.com. Tickets will go on sale to the general public beginning Friday, April 27.
Ticket prices for each specific date on the tour will include a free MP3 download of the evening’s entire show (a fully mixed soundboard recording) shortly after the band steps off stage.
Onsite camping also will be available in the soccer fields adjacent to the stadium. The campground will open on Friday, Aug. 31, at noon and close on Monday, Sept. 3, at noon.
Melissa Gilbert says she’s doing OK after ‘DWTS’ accident
In this April 2, 2012 photo released by ABC, actress Melissa Gilbert and her partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy perform on the celebrity dance competition series "Dancing with the Stars," in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/ABC, Adam Taylor)
Los Angeles Times (MCT)
LOS ANGELES — Melissa Gilbert is recovering from the mild concussion and whiplash she sustained on the set of “Dancing With the Stars” on Monday. But despite a trip to the hospital during the taping of the show, she tells fans she’s “alright.”
Gilbert was performing the pasodoble with partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy when she bonked her head on the hardwood dance floor. Though she was able to finish her dance and speak with the judges after, she later told fellow dancers that she was feeling dizzy and lightheaded, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
Gilbert was gone at the end of the broadcast, which is when host Tom Bergeron announced that she had been taken to the hospital.
But she later tweeted from her hospital bed, “I’m alright. Mild concussion and whiplash. Very soon I will be safely home resting and being taken care of.”
And she’s not holding any grudges against her dance partner. She tweeted, “@MaksimC you are my champion. I adore you. @GavinDeGraw bless your heart for carrying me down those stairs!”
Representatives from ABC did not respond to inquiries about whether or not Gilbert would be on Tuesday’s results show.
Eva Longoria talks politics, producing
Eva Longoria
NEW YORK (AP) — “Desperate Housewives” star Eva Longoria is leaving Wisteria Lane for 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
The 37-year-old actress was named a national co-chair for President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign in February, and she’s bidding farewell to her sassy, model-turned-housewife character Gabrielle Solis on the ABC drama’s May 13 finale.
But making the leap from the domestic affairs of the “Housewives” to a national political campaign hasn’t been an easy transition.
“People go, `Who cares about your opinion, you’re just pretty,“’ Longoria said. “And it’s like, `Why can’t I have an intellectual argument about immigration or health care reform just because I’m pretty?“’
The Mexican-American actress is also developing a dating reality series titled, “All About Love,” for NBC and is co-producing ABC’s upcoming telenovela-style TV drama “Devious Maids,” about the scandalous lives of the hired help.
“With any minority community, whether you’re female, Latino or black, there are limited roles out there in Hollywood because we need more people behind the camera,” Longoria said during a recent interview for the launch of the new low-sugar drink Pepsi Next.
“So if we women want to reflect ourselves in television or film more than we have to write the stories, we have to produce the stories, we have to direct the stories, we have to get behind the scenes to actually make that happen,” she said.
Longoria, who is working on her master’s degree in Mexican-American Studies at Cal State University, Northridge, said her biggest accomplishment will be making a difference at the voting booth in November.
“(I’m) doing my civic engagement by mobilizing voters and making sure they’re educated on the issues and operating from the belief that if you want to change something in this country you have the power to do that as a citizen. So those are probably the things I’m most proud of.”
Jessica Alba, others, mark National Poetry Month
Jessica Alba
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jessica Alba is adding her voice to National Poetry Month, helping to lure children into the art form.
Alba is among more than a dozen celebrity parents whose poetry readings are airing on the Disney and Disney Junior channels this month.
Readings by Viola Davis, Caroline Kennedy, Liev Schreiber and Katie Holmes also are featured in “A Poem Is ….”, a short-form series that sets verse to classic Disney animation.
Langston Hughes, Mary Ann Hoberman and May Swenson are among the writers whose work is included.
Alba, who has two daughters, chose a Mexican folk song, “De Colores” (”Of Colors”), which reflects her Hispanic heritage. Her segment will air at 11:55 a.m. EDT Monday and at 6:55 a.m. EDT April 29, on the Disney Channel, and will play at various times on Disney Junior.
Joining poetry and imagery is “just a really great way to introduce kids to poetry,” including those too young to read, Alba said.
It’s also reflects the “genius of `edu-tainment,’ a new word I’ve been introduced to since I’ve become a mother,” Alba said. Her definition: “tricking your kids into learning.”
The actress (”Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer,” “Dark Angel”) says her own poetry dabblings have taken a sharp turn.
“I have a lot of teen angst on paper,” Alba said. “Now I just kind of make up songs for my girls. I have little poems that I sing to them before they go to sleep, to the tune of `Twinkle Twinkle (Little Star).“’
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Don Rickles to receive Johnny Carson Award
Don Rickles
NEW YORK (AP) — He’s known for his comedic insults, but Don Rickles will be complimented when he receives a special honor at the second annual Comedy Awards this month.
The 85-year-old has been chosen to receive the Johnny Carson Award for Comedic Excellence.
Jon Stewart will present Rickles with the award.
Rickles credits Carson for giving him his big break on “The Tonight Show” when he first appeared in 1965. He went on to be a frequent guest, appearing more than 100 times and would even fill-in for Carson.
Rickles is the second recipient of the award. Last year it went to David Letterman.
The Comedy Awards will take place April 28 and will air on Comedy Central on May 6.
The event celebrates the world of comedy from stand-up to film to TV.
Comedian Aziz Ansari mows lawn in Central Park
Aziz Ansari
NEW YORK (AP) — “Parks and Recreation” star Aziz Ansari takes his parks persona seriously.
On Monday, the actor and comedian helped New York City’s Central Park get ready for spring by lending a hand mowing its 15-acre Sheep Meadow on a riding lawn mower. Ansari was assisted by several park crew members, also riding lawn mowers.
Central Park Conservancy spokeswoman Dena Libner says Ansari helped mow about an acre of the lawn. It’s used for relaxing and sunbathing.
The city is reopening all of its park lawns and ball fields on Saturday. They’re fenced during the off-season so the grass can be hearty in the spring.
Central Park gets more than 250,000 visitors a day.
Ansari portrays parks employee Tom Haverford on the NBC comedy show
It’s a girl for Bruce Willis and wife Emma Heming
Bruce Willis and Emma Heming
NEW YORK (AP) — Bruce Willis is a father again.
The actor’s wife, designer-model Emma Heming Willis, gave birth Sunday in Los Angeles to a baby girl. They named their daughter Mabel Ray Willis, who weighed 9 lbs. and 1 oz.
A statement Monday from Willis’ publicist said the couple are “overjoyed,” and both mom and baby are “healthy and doing beautifully.”
This is the couple’s first child together. Willis, 57, and Heming, 33, were married in 2009.
Willis has three daughters, 23-year-old Rumer, 20-year-old Scout and 18-year-old Tallulah, from his previous marriage to actress Demi Moore.
Streep gives $10K to Viola Davis’ RI student fund
Meryl Streep
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Actress Meryl Streep has donated $10,000 to a Rhode Island scholarship fund in honor of fellow Oscar nominee Viola Davis.
Davis established the fund with her sister in 1988.
Upward Bound Director Mariam Boyajian (boy-ah-JAHN’) said Thursday that the check for the Upward Bound Scholarship Endowment Fund arrived Monday. Boyajian says Streep’s donation is the largest single award the fund has received.
The Segue Institute for Learning in Central Falls also received $10,000 from Streep on Monday in Davis’ honor. Davis grew up in Central Falls.
Streep won an Oscar for best actress on Sunday for her portrayal of Margaret Thatcher in “The Iron Lady.” Davis was nominated for her role in “The Help.”
Boyajian says Davis and her sister, Deloris Grant, graduated from the Upward Bound program.
Actor Alec Baldwin engaged to marry Hilaria Thomas
Alec Baldwin and Hilaria Thomas are engaged.
NEW YORK (AP) — Alec Baldwin is giving marriage another shot. The actor popped the question over the weekend to his 28-year-old yoga instructor girlfriend, Hilaria Thomas. They began dating last year.
His publicist Matthew Hiltzik made the engagement announcement over Twitter.
Baldwin, who once starred in a film called “The Marrying Man,” turns 54 on Tuesday and an engagement, says Hiltzik, is a “great way to celebrate!”
Baldwin was previously married to Kim Basinger. They have a daughter together named Ireland. He published a book in 2008 called “A Promise to Ourselves” about his personal experience dealing with divorce and his battle with Basinger over custody of their daughter.
Sex change bars Canadian wannabe beauty queen
 In this image provided by Miss International Queen via YouTube, Jenna Talackova, of Vancouver, British Columbia, speaks during a video interview at the 2010 Miss International Queen Competition in Thailand. The transgendered blond that was kicked out of the Miss Universe Canada pageant is urging her supporters to sign an online petition calling for her reinstatement. (AP Photo/Miss International Queen via YouTube, via The Canadian Press) Associated Press VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Beach shots depict her as every inch a curvaceous beauty queen. But 23-year-old Jenna Talackova was born male, and that led the Miss Universe Canada organizers to disqualify her last week as a finalist in the 61st Miss Universe Canada pageant in May. The rules of the contest run by the Donald Trump organization say entrants must be “naturally born” females. The Vancouver woman underwent a sex change four years ago. “She did not meet the requirements to compete despite having stated otherwise on her entry form,” said a statement from Miss Universe Canada. “We do, however, respect her goals, determination and wish her the best.” The pageant’s New York-based parent backed the decision. “After review, organizers discovered that Jenna Talackova falsified her application and did not meet the necessary requirements to compete in the 2012 Miss Universe Canada pageant,” a statement said. The disqualification has won Talackova widespread sympathy and raised the question of whether the pageant has the right to decide who is female. Talackova is obtaining legal counsel and is expected to make a statement next week, said her spokesman, Rory Richards. Her change of gender was hardly a secret before the event because she had competed in the 2010 Tiffany Miss International Queen Competition for transgendered and transsexual women in Pattaya, Thailand. In a video interview for that pageant, she said she had lived her life as a female since age 4, began hormone therapy at 14 and changed sex at 19. “I regard myself as a woman with a history,” she said. Connie McNaughton, Miss World Canada in 1984 and first runner-up for the world crown, called the decision outdated and discriminatory. Some countries have their candidates undergo cosmetic surgery, she said, so what’s wrong with sex-change surgery “because in your heart and soul you believe yourself to be a woman?” A Vancouver transgendered activist, Jamie Lee Hamilton, said Talackova could sue for violation of her human rights. “She was born with male genitalia and is being treated as a second-class citizen,” Hamilton said. “Under the eyes of the law and the medical profession, she’s a legal female.” Prof. Patrizia Gentile of Ottawa’s Carleton University, who did a dissertation on beauty pageants, equated the ban with the exclusion of blacks and Jews from pageants in earlier times. “We’re seeing more and more transgendered women wanting to be beauty contestants,” she said. “The rule is incongruent with the culture.” Besides, she said, “Your genitalia have nothing to do with how you perform femininity.” Kathleen Lahey, a gender issues expert at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, said the organizers are looking at the issue wrongly; “If the organizers were being honest, they would recognize that this particular competitor was perhaps one of their most brilliant competitors ever — to make it into the finals having performed the female gender so very well.” Spencer Chandra Herbert is among members of the British Columbia provincial legislature who are pushing legislation to guarantee equal rights in the area of gender identity. He said Talackova’s exclusion shows how misunderstood the subject is. “She may have had male bits when she was born but she’s a female,” he said. “I think Donald Trump and his Miss Universe contest need to get into the current century and get in line with the current science and respect that.” Trump’s office said he was not commenting on the matter. From the conservative side of Canadian society, Gwen Landolt, national vice president of REAL Women of Canada, said the pageant was simply being realistic in barring Talackova. “Even though she had surgery and hormones, her DNA is still that of a man, his reproductive system is still that of a man,” Landolt said. “To consider yourself Miss Universe is to actually ask for more pain, suffering and rejection,” Landolt said. “I’m sorry this person has put himself (or) herself though this.” AP-WF-03-30-12 1548GMT |
Alicia Silverstone feeds baby ‘bear’ more like bird!
From www.thekindlife.com, Alicia Silverstone’s blog… Silverstone posted this yummy video of her feeding her son… baby bird style! OK, this is kinda gross.
She writes:
“I just had a delicious breakfast of miso soup, collards and radish steamed and drizzled with flax oil, cast iron mochi with nori wrapped outside, and some grated daikon. Yum! I fed Bear the mochi and a tiny bit of veggies from the soup…from my mouth to his. It’s his favorite…and mine. He literally crawls across the room to attack my mouth if I’m eating. This video was taken about a month or 2 ago when he was a bit wobbly. Now he is grabbing my mouth to get the food!”
Staind bassist’s gift helps buy ambulance in Mass.
In this Dec. 13, 2012 photo, The Band Staind poses for a photograph at the KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas held at the Gibson Amphitheater in Universal City California. An ambulance company that serves six rural western Massachusetts towns has purchased a new ambulance thanks to a $150,000 gift from the bass player for the hard rock band Staind. The gift from Johnny April (pictured third from left) enabled Highland Ambulance to buy a new vehicle to replace its aging 1998 model.(AP Photo/Shea Walsh)
GOSHEN, Mass. (AP) — An ambulance company that serves six rural western Massachusetts towns has purchased a new ambulance thanks to a $150,000 gift from the bass player for the hard rock band Staind.
The gift from Johnny April enabled Highland Ambulance to buy a new vehicle to replace its aging 1998 model.
Highland Ambulance director Michael Rock says the gift was a “godsend.” Rock tells The Recorder of Greenfield (http://bit.ly/uOM3IA) the old ambulance was nearing the end its useful life and the company would have been hard pressed affording a new one.
Highland serves the towns of Ashfield, Chesterfield, Cummington, Goshen, Plainfield and Williamsburg. It responds to about 550 calls per year.
April, although originally from Springfield, lives in Goshen.
Staind is best known for its 2001 song “It’s Been Awhile.”
Ziggy Stardust spot marked with heritage plaque
Trevor Bolder, left and Mick Woodmansey, center, members of the Spiders from Mars and Spandau Ballet band member Gary Kemp unveil a commemorative plaque to David Bowie's iconic creation, Ziggy Stardust, in Heddon Street, London, Tuesday March 27, 2012 to mark the 40th anniversary of the album "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders from Mars." The album cover was shot in Hedden Street. (AP Photo/ David Parry/PA)
LONDON (AP) — London authorities have put up a plaque to commemorate a small street with a big place in rock history.
Spandau Ballet star Gary Kemp on Tuesday unveiled the plaque in Heddon Street, 40 years after David Bowie stood on the spot for the cover photo of his album “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.”
Photographer Brian Ward’s picture of a guitar-toting Bowie, in futuristic jumpsuit, standing in the lamp-lit alley helped establish the British musician as a mold-breaking star.
Messianic bandleader Ziggy Stardust was one of several personas he adopted.
Kemp, a longtime Bowie fan, said Ziggy offered a dash of glamor in a “much darker, more impoverished London” than the city of today.
The plaque was approved by property owner the Crown Estate.
Bobby Brown arrested for driving under the influence… reports TMZ
Bobby Brown
TMZ is reporting that…..wait for it….
Bobby Brown has just been arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence.
TMZ reports that law enforcement sources say Bobby was busted moments ago in Los Angeles after cops pulled him over for driving while talking on a cell phone.
We’re told 43-year-old Bobby is currently in custody in Van Nuys jail.
Whitney Houston’s ex-husband already has a DUI conviction on his record.
He was also arrested for battery in 2003 and again for a parole violation in 2004.
Jimmy Kimmel to host Emmys for the first time
LOS ANGELES — Jimmy Kimmel has been picked to host the 64th Primetime Emmy Awards, which will air on Sept. 23 on ABC.
It is the “Jimmy Kimmel Live” host’s first time performing those duties for the Emmys, which is surprising considering the amount of hosting work he’s done for other awards show, including the American Music Awards and ESPN’s ESPY Awards.
Don Mischer will be executive producer of the show for a record 12th time. In a statement he said, “We love television and look forward to working with the Television Academy and ABC in creating a show that is fast-paced, humorous, unpredictable and at times irreverent, but clearly celebratory of our incredible industry.”
Kimmel has been on a bit of a roll himself lately. His positioning on ABC makes his live post-Oscars show a must-see event, and his fake trailer for “Movie: The Movie” became a viral sensation earlier this year. His show’s YouTube channel just surpassed half a billion views.
He’s also set to host the White House Correspondents Dinner in April, another high-profile gig made most notable by Stephen Colbert’s scathing routine in front of President George W. Bush in 2006. However, no one expects Kimmel to go all Colbert on President Obama.
The Primetime Emmy Awards will be broadcast live on both coasts.
Los Angeles Times (MCT)
Aretha Franklin celebrates 70th, talks new music
Aretha Franklin celebrates her 70th birthday,
NEW YORK (AP) — Aretha Franklin has a lot more than her 70th birthday to celebrate: She’s reuniting with one of her musical mentors, Clive Davis, for a new album.
In an interview at her swanky birthday party on Saturday, Franklin said she and Davis, who helped engineer her comeback in the 1980s, would be working on new music.
“I have re-signed with Clive Davis, so I’m recording with Clive again,” said Franklin of the music mogul, who is associated with Sony Music Entertainment.
Franklin said that after Davis’ birthday next month, “we’re going to sit together and decide what it is we’re going to record.”
Davis sat next to Franklin for most of the night at the soiree at the Helmsley Park Lane Hotel, which included a sit-down dinner, a dance performance and a mini-concert that featured rising jazz pianist Kris Bowers.
Other guests included Diane Sawyer, Rev. Al Sharpton, and Willie Wilkerson, Franklin’s longtime companion and briefly this year her fianci.
Wilkerson stood by Franklin’s side as she cut her three-tier, lime-green birthday cake while the crowd serenaded her with Stevie Wonder’s version of “Happy Birthday.”
When asked whether marriage might once again be in her future, the Queen of Soul simply said: “We’ll see what happens.”
As far as future work-related plans, she was looking forward to performances in California and said she was helping negotiate a record contract for her grandson. Her planned biopic is on hold. “It’s in a limbo position,” she said. “It’s just a lot going on.”
Franklin said she planned to spend her actual birthday — Sunday — relaxing with a paper, her feet up and watching TV.
But Saturday night, she hung out with friends long after the party’s designated end time.
At one point, she joked that she was turning back the hands of time.
“I was wondering, `What is it going to be like to be 50?’ I can tell you now it feels like 40,” she said as the crowd laughed.
She then made reference to the film “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” about a man who gets younger as he ages.
“So remember Benjamin Buttons?” she said. “Ree Ree Buttons!”
Country stars stampede to studio to help Richie
Lionel Ritchie
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Kenny Chesney was so excited about the idea of working with Lionel Richie that he drunk-dialed the pop legend to suggest a song. Darius Rucker tossed aside a lyric sheet in the studio, saying he’d been preparing for the moment his entire life. And so many people were clamoring to get on the project that stars like Keith Urban and Brad Paisley didn’t even make the cut — this time.
It’s not surprising that a musician would consider working with Richie a dream: The Grammy and Oscar winner is considered one of music’s all-time greats, having sold more than 22 million albums over a career that has spanned nearly four decades, from his time as a member of The Commodores to his illustrious solo career. Richie has also penned classics that include “Endless Love,” “All Night Long” and “Say You, Say Me.”
But the excitement over his country duets album also reflects Richie’s deep roots — and remarkable success — in the genre. Richie wrote one of country music’s enduring hits, Kenny Rogers’ “Lady,” and Conway Twitty’s take on the Commodores’ “Three Times A Lady” became a huge country hit. In addition, Richie collaborated with Alabama on “Deep River Woman,” another song that became a country classic.
So mix Richie’s rich pop history with his country music legacy, and you can see why his return to his country roots on the new duets album “Tuskegee,” named after his hometown in Alabama, is creating such a buzz in Nashville.
“It’s kind of surreal,” said Jason Aldean, who cut “Say You, Say Me” on the album. “I mean, he was one of the biggest stars on the planet when I was growing up. And to be in the studio with him and to have gotten to be friends with him over the last year, it’s just crazy.”
Richie was mobbed on the red carpet at the Country Music Association Awards last year, he was feted and joined by Rogers at South By Southwest Music Festival earlier this month in Austin, Texas, and he’ll receive a salute from the Academy of Country Music when he appears on Sunday’s awards show (he’s also the subject of its annual television special, which airs April 13).
Richie says his multi-genre success can be boiled down to one thing — storytelling.
“The storytelling is the same,” he said. “I have always said the honesty is in the lyrics, the honesty is in what’s the story about, whether you put a steel guitar in the middle of it or whether you leave the steel guitar out or put a choir in the background, or guitar or saxophone solo. It’s still the same.”
Chesney remembers Richie being on the mixtape that successfully won the high school student the heart of a girl. “Penny Lover” was the dominant song of the time and he was a fan of “My Love.” Chesney intended to claim the latter song immediately after deciding to join the project following a few bottles of wine.
“I just decided that I was going to call Lionel and tell him I wanted to sing on his record,” Chesney said. “It was a pretty spirited voicemail, I can tell you that, because I actually sang the verse and like half of the song of `My Love’ onto his voicemail.”
Richie took up the duets idea for his first album since 2009′s “Just Go.” When the California resident arrived in Nashville, to his surprise he found they still made music the way they did when he first hit town back in the early 1980s. They played their instruments live in the studio, made decisions on the fly, with no preprogrammed tracks and few preconceived notions. He felt comfortable and familiar for the first time in years. And before he realized it, he was turning the keys over to each new friend he brought into the studio, telling them to remake the song in their image.
“The most important thing was, we don’t change the melody,” the 62-year-old singer said. “We may change a little bit of the arrangements, but we didn’t change where the crowd comes in. So, yes we changed `Say You, Say Me’ from this anthemic thing to a little bit of a `Lay Lady Lay’ kind of feel, but the crowd still knows where to come in. … I wanted to put a little thing in there where each of my guest artists felt like they weren’t copping out.”
He let Tim McGraw turn “Sail On” from a gentle letdown into something much more final. Willie Nelson somehow makes “Easy” even mellower. And with Rascal Flatts, it was about bringing even more energy to “Dancing on the Ceiling.” So he invited them to play the track, not just cut the vocal.
“I don’t know if you can even sum it up,” Rascal Flatts lead singer Gary LeVox said. “He’s just a musical icon and a legend. And to be able to call him friend now and to watch him work in the studio, the whole time you’re watching him work with (producer) Dann Huff and throwing out ideas and all this, you can’t help but picture `We Are The World’ while it’s going down.”
Richie is so pleased with the success, he’s planning a second volume with stars that missed out the first time around. And he’s so energized he’s thinking about recording new material. In Nashville, it turns out, Richie found something he thought he’d lost.
“I’m probably as comfortable in my own space and in my own skin in the music world as I’ve been in 15 or 20 years,” Richie said, “because here, they specialize in melody here. Singers, melody, stylists. Not acrobatics.”
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AP Writer Caitlin R. King in Nashville contributed to this report.
Arrest warrant for actor Russell Brand in La
Russell Brand
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — New Orleans police have an arrest warrant out for actor Russell Brand.
Brand is in New Orleans to film an untitled movie. He faces a charge of simple criminal damage to property valued at $700.
Police spokesman Remi Braden on Thursday could not immediately release details of what happened on Monday.
Celebrity website TMZ said the charges stem from a confrontation with a photographer who was trying to take Brand’s photo from a car.
In a Twitter posting on Wednesday, Brand said, “Since Steve Jobs died I cannot bear to see anyone use an iphone irreverently, what I did was a tribute to his memory.”
Neither Brand nor his publicist could immediately be reached for comment.
Warhol portrait of Elvis could fetch $50M in NYC
This undated image provided by Sotheby's shows Andy Warhol's portrait of Elvis Presley depicted as a cowboy. The painting, with a silver background, “Double Elvis [Ferus Type}"
AP Photo NYR105
%reldate(2012-03-15T20:54:23
NEW YORK (AP) — An Andy Warhol portrait of Elvis Presley depicted as a cowboy is being auctioned in New York City and is expected to sell for between $30 million and $50 million.
“Double Elvis (Ferus Type)” will be offered at Sotheby’s on May 9.
It was exhibited at the Ferus Gallery in Los Angeles in 1963, the year it was executed.
The auction house says it’s the first “Double Elvis” to appear on the market since 1995.
The silver silkscreen painting shows the rock and roll heartthrob armed and shooting from the hip. A shadow Elvis figure is in the background.
Sotheby’s on Thursday identified the seller only as a private collector.
Warhol produced a series of 22 images of Elvis. Nine are in museum collections.
Charlize Theron adopts baby boy named Jackson
Charlize Theron
NEW YORK (AP) — Actress Charlize Theron is a mother: The actress has adopted a child.
In a statement to The Associated Press on Wednesday, Theron’s publicist said the actress is a “proud mom of a healthy baby boy named Jackson.”
No more details were provided.
Theron is from South Africa. This is the actress’ first child.
The 36-year-old won an Academy Award for her role as serial killer Aileen Wuornos in 2003′s “Monster.”
She was also nominated for an Oscar for 2005′s “North Country.” She next stars as an evil queen in “Snow White and the Huntsman.”
Man says Lohan grazed knee with her Porsche, Lohan Tweets denial
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A man says Lindsay Lohan’s black Porsche grazed his knee in Hollywood, and then she drove away.
Los Angeles police Sgt. Mark Ro says the man wasn’t hurt in Wednesday’s 12:20 a.m. incident.
The man is an employee at the Hookah Lounge. The sergeant says Lohan was trying to negotiate a U-turn in a tight spot outside the lounge when she came close to nudging the man’s car.
Photographers were surrounding Lohan’s car when the man came out and told her not to hit his car.
He told officers that Lohan’s sports car grazed his knee before she drove away.
The sergeant says there were no injuries or damage so officers didn’t take a hit-and-run report.
A voicemail message left for Lohan attorney Shawn Chapman Holley wasn’t immediately returned.
UPDATE:
Lohan tweets it’s a ‘lie’ that her car grazed man
Lindsay Lohan is calling allegations that her car grazed a man’s knee outside a Hollywood club “a complete lie.”
On her official Twitter account Wednesday, Lohan responded to accounts that her Porsche brushed a Hookah Lounge employee as she evaded paparazzi, saying “this is all a complete lie,” and “these false accusations are absurd.”
Lohan says she was going to a club to wish a friend a happy birthday, but had to leave because she was “freaked out” by paparazzi.
Police say Lohan was trying to make a U-turn in a tight space at about 12:30 a.m. Wednesday when she grazed the man and may have nudged his parked car.
Sgt. Mark Ro says the man was not hurt, his car wasn’t damaged and no hit-and-run report was taken.
Streep as Clinton? Tribute gets people talking
In this March 7, 2012 file photo, Academy Award winning actress Meryl Streep waves during a press conference to promote their movie "The Iron Lady" in Tokyo, Japan. Last weekend Streep, along with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton participated the Women in the World summit, a three-day gathering prominent women leaders. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)
NEW YORK (AP) — Meryl Streep is fresh off her Oscar win for playing Margaret Thatcher. But she had an entire theater at Lincoln Center wondering if an even better role for her would be a political icon closer to home: Hillary Rodham Clinton.
The question arose as Streep paid a glowing and affectionate tribute to the secretary of state at the Women in the World summit, an annual gathering of prominent women leaders and unsung heroines from across the globe that closed over the weekend.
“This is what you get when you play a world leader,” Streep said Saturday, hoisting up her best-actress Oscar for “The Iron Lady.”
“But if you want a real world leader,” Streep continued, “THIS is what you get!” Clinton strolled onstage at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts’ David H. Koch Theater, and Streep enveloped her in a hug.
The three-day summit, now in its third year, is organized by Tina Brown, editor in chief of Newsweek and The Daily Beast. Besides Streep and Clinton, feminist icon Gloria Steinem and former secretary of state Madeleine Albright, Brown harnessed the star power of Angelina Jolie, who came to read the words of Dr. Hawa Abdi, a Somali humanitarian facing danger from Islamist rebels there.
Also given star treatment was International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde, who delighted the delegates at dinner Thursday when she suggested that the financial crisis might have been averted, or at least been much less serious, if more women had been at the helm of financial institutions.
“If Lehman Brothers had been a bit more Lehman Sisters … we would not have had the degree of tragedy that we had as a result of what happened,” Lagarde said.
She added that recent studies have shown “what the level of testosterone in a given room can produce when you do trading.”
Many global problems were addressed by the dozens of panels attended by some 2,000 delegates each day. But a constant undercurrent was an issue at home: the debate in Washington over women’s reproductive health care.
Rush Limbaugh’s remarks about law student Sandra Fluke were referred to many times, obliquely and not, including by Clinton. But 2011 Nobel Peace Prize winner Leymah Gbowee, of Liberia, was the most blunt, saying women had been too passive: “Where are the angry American women?” she asked.
From Liberia to Egypt: Panelists discussed whether the Arab Spring risked becoming an Arab Winter for women, who were central to the popular uprising but now fear being marginalized.
“Tell people there is no spring without flowers and there is no Arab Spring without women,” said Dalia Ziada, Egypt director of the American Islamic Congress.
Other popular lines of the weekend included the definition of “glass ceiling,” from Jane Harman, the former California Democratic congresswoman: “It’s actually a thick layer of men.”
How do you puncture that layer? Kah Walla, a political leader from Cameroon, spoke of empowering women across Africa but added that in the United States, too, the level of female representation in politics was a serious issue.
“Every woman here needs to be involved with getting a woman elected,” she said.
The opposition leader in Israel, Tzipi Livni, of the Kadima Party, spoke about the nuclear threat from Iran. But she said she would not engage in what she called “megaphone diplomacy.”
“Maybe that’s something men do,” she quipped.
And Steinem had a good line — speaking on a panel about women leaders, moderated by Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg, she speculated on why some men feel uncomfortable with females in power.
“The last time a lot of powerful guys saw a powerful woman, they were 8,” Steinem said. “They feel regressed to childhood by a powerful woman.”
Yet men played a role in the summit, too, perhaps none more eloquently than Imam Demba Diawara, a village chief from Senegal. In a powerful discussion of the practice of genital cutting, Diawara, whose own family members had endured the procedure, spoke of how he had gradually come to understand that cutting was dangerous and sometimes fatal. He said he had since visited 378 communities to convince leaders of his view.
“By 2015, we will see the end of genital cutting in Senegal,” he predicted.
The conference came to a more lighthearted end with Streep, who spoke humorously of the similarities she shared with Clinton.
They’re roughly the same age, she said. They both have two brothers. They both had spirited, big-hearted mothers. They both went to women’s colleges and then to graduate school at Yale.
“But there our two paths diverged in the wood,” Streep noted, concluding that “I’m an actress, and she’s the real deal.”
Clinton arrived to deliver a call to arms for women around the world to get involved in effecting change. But not before expressing relief that there was one movie Streep had never made.
“I’m just glad she didn’t do a movie called `The Devil Wears Pantsuits,“’ Clinton quipped.
Clooney makes quiet visit to volatile Sudan region
George Clooney
Associated Press
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Actor and human rights activist George Clooney made a quiet visit to a volatile border region between Sudan and South Sudan last week ahead of testimony he’s giving before a U.S. Senate committee on Wednesday.
Clooney made the dangerous crossing from South Sudan into Sudan’s Nuba Mountains region, Jonathan Hutson, a spokesman for the anti-genocide group the Enough Project, said Tuesday. Clooney saw burned-out villages and met with residents forced to seek shelter in caves because of aerial attacks by Sudan’s military.
Violence has flared along the Sudan-South Sudan border since South Sudan seceded last year, and some experts worry the conflict could grow. South Sudan shut down its oil industry this year after accusing Sudan of stealing its oil.
Wednesday’s hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will examine the oil dispute and the limited access aid groups are being given to Sudan’s southern regions. Aid experts say people who live in Sudan’s Nuba Mountains will soon face a hunger crisis because they haven’t been able to plant crops amid fear of attacks from Sudan.
Clooney traveled to what is now known as South Sudan in January 2011 as the region cast votes to secede from Sudan. The vote was the culmination of a peace deal that ended more than two decades of civil war.
After that visit, Clooney helped found the Satellite Sentinel Project, which uses satellite imagery to track military movements and attacks in the hopes of bringing attention to and potentially heading off hostilities.
On his most recent visit Clooney, met South Sudan President Salva Kiir and the country’s defense minister.
John Prendergast, the co-founder of the advocacy group the Enough Project, also traveled to South Sudan last week. Prendergast and Princeton Lyman, the U.S. envoy to Sudan and South Sudan, are also scheduled to speak at Wednesday’s Senate hearing.
‘Kill Bill’ actor Michael Madsen jailed in Malibu
This image provided by the Los Angeles Coundy Sherrif's Department shows a booking photo of Michael Madsen. A Los Angeles County sheriff's statement says Madsen was arrested Friday afternoon March 7, 2012 at his home in Malibu, after deputies were called about a family disturbance. (AP Photo/Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department)
MALIBU, Calif. (AP) — Authorities say actor Michael Madsen has been arrested for investigation of cruelty to a child after a fight with his teenage son.
A Los Angeles County sheriff’s statement says Madsen was arrested Friday afternoon at his home in Malibu, after deputies were called about a family disturbance.
The statement says detectives from the Special Victims Bureau are investigating allegations that Madsen was under the influence of alcohol and fought with his son, who did not need medical attention.
Madsen was arrested without incident and booked at the Lost Hills sheriff’s station.
He is being held on $100,000 bail.
The 54-year-old Madsen is known for the Quentin Tarantino movies “Reservoir Dogs” and “Kill Bill.”
Phone and email messages seeking comment from Madsen’s representatives were not immediately returned.
Dennis Quaid’s 3rd wife files for divorce in Texas
Kimberly and Dennis Quaid
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Actor Dennis Quaid’s third wife has filed for divorce, saying the couple’s seven-year marriage has “become insupportable because of discord or conflict of personalities.”
Kimberly Buffington Quaid filed a petition in Travis County, Texas, using the initials “B.K.” and identifying Quaid as “W.D.” William is Quaid’s middle name, and two of the addresses in temporary orders issued as part of the case match up to those listed as among the Austin residences for Buffington Quaid.
There are also references to two children born in 2007, when the couple’s twins, Zoe and Thomas, were born. The papers were filed March 2. Word of them was first reported Friday by TMZ.
Lisa Kasteler and Cara Tripicchio of WKT Public Relations issued a statement on behalf of Quaid saying, “we can confirm that Kimberley Quaid has filed for divorce.”
“Contrary to what has been reported, a satisfactory settlement is being worked out for both parties,” the statement said, adding that no more information would be provided “on this private matter.”
Court documents show Buffington Quaid is seeking spousal support and attorney fees. They say she believes the couple will enter into a written agreement providing for “possession of, access to and support of” the twins.
According to a temporary order regarding the twins agreed upon by both parties on March 2, Buffington Quaid will be allowed to use a home in Austin and a Mercedes, while Quaid remains at another local residence with a Cadillac Escalade. The couple was to share a Range Rover already in Buffington Quaid’s possession.
The twins were newborns when they nearly died in 2007. While at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, they were accidentally given an overdose of the blood thinner heparin. Quaid and his wife became the very public faces of the harrowing family ordeal.
“There were 41 hours where their lives were in the balance,” Quaid told The Associated Press in 2010. He added that it was the most frightening day of his life and left him and his wife in “shock, anger and confusion.”
Quaid produced and narrated a documentary about medical mistakes called “Chasing Zero: Winning the War on Heathcare Harm” for the Discovery Channel. Documents that became public afterward show Quaid and his wife agreed to a $500,000 settlement with the hospital.
Buffington-Quaid was a real estate agent in Austin when she met Quaid.
The 57-year-old Quaid is a Houston native. He married actress P.J. Soles in November 1978 and the couple divorced in 1983. He married another actress, Meg Ryan, in 1991, before they divorced in 2001.
