Entertaining Posts

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Amy Winehouse cancels shows after Belgrade blunder

LOS ANGELES | Sun Jun 19, 2011 4:57pm EDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - English pop singer Amy Winehouse, whose promising career has been crippled by substance abuse problems, cut short a European tour on Sunday after fans in Belgrade jeered her shoddy opening-night performance.

Winehouse, 27, sporting her trademark bouffant hairdo and figure-hugging dress, struggled to perform her songs and keep her balance as her band gamely played on. On some tunes, the audience did most of the singing.

On other occasions, Winehouse lectured her bandmates, and anxiously clutched her arms. She appeared to be reading the lyrics from a teleprompter. The singer was headlining a Serbian festival, whose lineup included techno singer Moby.

A representative said upcoming festival dates in Istanbul on Monday and in Athens on Wednesday would be canceled. Her next show is scheduled for July 8 in Spain.

"Despite feeling sure that she wanted to fulfill these commitments, she has agreed with management that she cannot perform to the best of her ability and will return home," a statement said. "She would like to apologize to fans expecting to see her at the shows but feels that this is the right thing to do."

Belgrade media and fans heaped abuse on her in the aftermath of the show. One fan, writing on Winehouse's website, described her as "another punkass junkie and lush."

Another took a more sympathetic view. "I was there, and it was (a) sad thing to watch. Shame on her management, to allow her on stage in that state. She's not to blame -- she needs help."

Winehouse has been getting help for years as she struggled with addiction. She rose to mainstream fame in 2006 with the hit single "Rehab," and won four Grammys awards in 2008 including best new artist and album of the year. She was unable to attend the ceremony in Los Angeles because of legal problems, and she is yet to release a follow-up recording.

(Reporting by Dean Goodman; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Springsteen saxophonist Clemons dies: reports

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On wedding day, Hugh Hefner embraces single life

LOS ANGELES | Sat Jun 18, 2011 6:12pm EDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - On the day he was supposed to get married for the third time, Playboy founder Hugh Hefner said on Saturday he was probably better off staying single.

Hefner, 85, was dumped by 25-year-old fiancee Crystal Harris last weekend after she got jitters about living a tightly regimented life among dozens of attractive young women at the Playboy mansion in Los Angeles.

They were due to tie the knot on the grounds of the Gothic Tudor-style residence on Saturday afternoon, and to spend their honeymoon there.

"This was going to be my wedding day, but life is full of surprises. After all is said & done, staying single is probably for the best," Hefner said on Twitter.

Instead he will spend Saturday night watching "Runaway Bride," the 1999 romantic comedy that starred another real-life runaway bride, Julia Roberts.

For her part, Harris said she was leaving Los Angeles for a relaxing day trip with a Playboy public relations woman.

After Harris left Hefner, taking his beloved cocker spaniel Charlie with her, old friends and lovers descended upon the mansion to offer condolences. They included his second wife, Kimberley Conrad, and her mother; and former girlfriends Holly Madison and Bridget Marquardt.

A heartbroken Hefner immersed himself in romantic comedies, hosting screenings of films such as "Sleepless in Seattle" and "50 First Dates" for his coterie of Playmates.

He also rushed out "Runaway Bride" stickers to be affixed to the new issue of Playboy, which features Harris -- a.k.a. "Mrs. Crystal Hefner" -- on the cover.

Hefner said he was blind-sided by the split, and denied a tabloid report that there has been a nasty argument.

Harris told "Entertainment Tonight" that Hefner's mandatory agenda of activities, strict 9 p.m. curfews and his refusal to allow her to leave town to visit friends and family led to her decision to break up with him.

She was also stressed out by meetings with attorneys about the prenuptial contract and other issues, and by the realization that she would have to compete for Hefner's affections.

"I can honestly say I was not the only woman in Hef's life. And I didn't feel comfortable in my heart knowing that, and being able to get married to him," she said.

Hefner, known around the world by his nickname, Hef, has championed sexual freedom and civil rights, published stories challenging McCarthyism and the Vietnam War, and backed gay causes and the legalization of marijuana.

Raised in San Diego by British parents, Harris met Hefner at his annual Halloween party in 2008. She moved in to the mansion after a few weeks and became Playboy's Playmate of the Month in December 2009.

(Reporting by Dean Goodman; Editing by Xavier Briand)

Folk opera based on Bill Clinton to open in New York

By Suzi Parker

LITTLE ROCK, Ark | Sat Jun 18, 2011 8:33am EDT

LITTLE ROCK, Ark (Reuters) - An Americana folk opera based on a teenage Bill Clinton debuts this weekend in New York, featuring some of the exaggerated Southern characters who surrounded him growing up, such as his fun-loving mother.

It is the brainchild of Arkansan Bonnie Montgomery, who has spent the last four years composing "Billy Blythe."

The opera is based on a day in the life of a teenage Clinton. She enlisted a friend, Britt Barber of Atlanta, to write the lyrics. Last fall, Montgomery premiered a part of the opera in Little Rock.

The Metropolis Opera Project in New York debuts the entire opera at The Medicine Show Theater on Sunday and Monday.

"When we heard about it, it sounded completely intriguing," said Zach James, the opera's director. "It was very clear that it was an astonishingly beautiful piece and very much in the vein of what we want to do."

The Metropolis Opera Project, which is three years old, and Montgomery want to attract a new generation to opera, which is struggling to keep up with modern times. A contemporary opera like Montgomery's does just that, James said.

The opera's name derives from Clinton's birth surname. His biological father, Bill Blythe, died three months before the future president was born in 1946. Clinton later took his step-father's name.

Montgomery, an Arkansas native and classically trained musician, examines a summer day in 1959 in Hot Springs, Arkansas with a young Clinton who lives with his mother, the late Virginia Clinton Kelley, and his abusive stepfather, Roger Clinton.

"Growing up in Arkansas, I heard a lot of stories about Clinton," she said. "But the real inspiration came when I was reading his autobiography."

Montgomery focuses heavily on Clinton's relationship with his mother, a colorful character who enjoyed makeup, gambling and good times. Clinton wrote in his book that as a teenager he loved watching his mother apply her make-up every morning. That scene inspired Montgomery.

"It appeared to me on the stage with the lights, the set, the whole thing," Montgomery said. "His life story is full of action and exaggerated Southern characters. It's an amazing story that a man can come from where he came from and become the president. His personality is mythical and where he came from (Hot Springs) provides the perfect mythical backdrop."

Clinton is aware of the opera. Montgomery told him about the project in 2009 when she saw him in Little Rock. The Metropolis Opera Project has extended an invitation to him. They have not heard whether he will attend.

The Clinton Foundation did not return calls for a comment.

Over the years, other operas about presidents have been written.

"Nixon in China," which premiered in 1987 in Houston, was performed earlier this year in New York. In 2008, New Hampshire composer Roger Rudenstein conceived and composed "The Devil and George Bush." Rudenstein created the opera about the 43rd president specifically for the Internet and as downloads for MP3 players and mobile phones.

Last year, The Metropolis Opera Project produced "Bully Pulpit," an "opera electronica" that ventured into rap and hip-hop featuring Bush, Nixon and Andrew Jackson as characters.

"I think political operas definitely pique people's interest because we know these characters, these people who are a piece of our history," James said.

"It is an easier sell in a way because people become very intrigued when they hear about an opera about Bill Clinton."

(Editing by Corrie MacLaggan and Greg McCune)

Friday, June 17, 2011

Russell Brand, Beyonce invited to be Oscar voters

LOS ANGELES | Fri Jun 17, 2011 4:21pm EDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Even after struggling to establish himself as a Hollywood leading man, raunchy English comedian Russell Brand has been invited to become an Oscar voter.

He is among 178 actors, filmmakers and other Hollywood notables invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the organization said on Friday.

Brand was most recently in theaters with a critically mauled remake of "Arthur," which grossed just $33 million at the North American box office. Last year he was seen in "The Tempest" ($280,000) and "Get Him to the Greek" ($61 million).

Also on the list are R&B singer and occasional actress Beyonce Knowles, "Hangover" star Bradley Cooper, the husband-and-wife duo of David Duchovny and Tea Leoni, and a crop of 2011 Oscar nominees including Jesse Eisenberg, Mila Kunis, Jennifer Lawrence and Australian actress Jacki Weaver.

Tom Hooper, who won the best director Oscar this year for "The King's Speech," was among the eight directors invited. Danish filmmaker Susanne Bier whose "In a Better World" won for foreign-language film, also made the cut, as did Aaron Sorkin, the Oscar-winning writer of "The Social Network."

In a symbolic gesture, the list includes "Restrepo" co-director Tim Hetherington, who was recently killed during the Libya uprising.

The academy said its voting membership has held steady at just under 6,000 people since 2003.

(Reporting by Dean Goodman; editing by Christine Kearney)

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