John Legend, Kennedy Center to team in honor of Gaye
Singer John Legend is joining the Kennedy Center to start a program in honor of the late Marvin Gaye encouraging young artists to engage in social issues.
The project announced Tuesday echoes Gaye’s lyrics and asks young people to consider “What’s Going On … Now?” They can upload videos, photos, poems, music or any recordings of creative expression to the project’s website to answer that question.
Gaye’s album was the first from Motown to tackle difficult social issues such as war, drug addiction and poverty. His 1972 performance at the Kennedy Center marked a comeback for Gaye.
The Kennedy Center has partners in seven cities for the project, including Chicago, Cleveland, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Santa Fe, N.M.
Wolfgang Puck to receive James Beard Lifetime award
The so-called Oscars of the food world this year will give the ultimate nod to a man best known for feeding celebrities at the real Oscars.
The James Beard Foundation’s Lifetime Achievement award this year will go to Wolfgang Puck, whose menu for the Academy Awards Governors Ball is almost as eagerly anticipated as the awards themselves.
Mr. Puck - who has won multiple honors from the foundation and is the only chef to have twice received its Most Outstanding Chef award - was chosen for his talent as a chef and restaurateur, as well as for his history of revolutionizing how American chefs think about food, foundation president Susan Ungaro said in a release.
Mr. Puck, whose cooking combines classic French technique with a focus on seasonal and local ingredients, has been an iconic voice in California cuisine. Born in Austria, he moved to Los Angeles in 1975. In 1982, he opened Spago, the restaurant for which he remains best known. Today, he has 20 restaurants around the country.
Debbie Reynolds penning second memoir, ’Unsinkable’
Debbie Reynolds must have thought she’d said it all in her memoir a quarter-century ago.
But now she’s got plenty more to share, including her tale of betrayal by her third husband that left the film legend divorced anew, not to mention financially bankrupt.
William Morrow publishers said Tuesday that Miss Reynolds will release her tell-all tome, titled “Unsinkable,” next year.
In the book, Miss Reynolds, 79, will revisit important moments of her life as an actress during Hollywood’s Golden Age. She also will re-examine the scandalous end of her first marriage in 1959 when singer Eddie Fisher left her for their best friend, superstar Elizabeth Taylor, William Morrow said.
Is third time the charm for Hasselhoff proposal?
“Baywatch” and “Knight Rider” star David Hasselhoff on Tuesday proposed to girlfriend Hayley Roberts, 28 years his junior, on top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, Agence France-Press reports.
Mr. Hasselhoff, 59, posted the news on his Twitter account, but left his followers guessing over how Ms. Roberts, a Welsh factory worker, replied.
“Tried it again on top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge,” and “What do you think she said?” he tweeted, alongside a picture of him on one knee and another of the pair kissing during a climb to the top of the Sydney icon.
According to reports, the twice-married father-of-two has asked the 31-year-old to marry him before, once in his “Britain’s Got Talent” dressing room and again atop a mountain in Cape Town, South Africa.
• Compiled from Web and wire service reports.
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