Britain’s film academy is honoring Martin Scorsese for his “outstanding and exceptional” contribution to cinema, the Associated Press reports.
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts said Wednesday that Mr. Scorsese will receive its highest honor, the Academy Fellowship, at a ceremony next month.
Academy chairman Tim Corrie said the director of “Taxi Driver,” “Raging Bull” and “Hugo” is “a true inspiration to all young directors the world over.”
Mr. Scorsese said he was honored to receive the fellowship, whose previous recipients include Charlie Chaplin, Alfred Hitchcock and Elizabeth Taylor.
The British awards, popularly known as BAFTAs, are considered an important indicator of likely success at Hollywood’s Academy Awards.
They will be presented Feb. 12 at London’s Royal Opera House.
Peter Frampton reunited with guitar lost 31 years ago
Peter Frampton and his favorite guitar are together again following a 31-year separation, the New York Times reports.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, the singer, who played the Gibson Electric Guitar on his 1976 album “Frampton Comes Alive!,” assumed the instrument had been wrecked in 1980 when a cargo plane crashed in Caracas, Venezuela, en route to Mr. Frampton’s concert in Panama. As it happened, the guitar was recovered — and sold to a musician on the Caribbean island of Curacao.
“For 30 years, it didn’t exist — it went up in a puff of smoke as far as I was concerned,” Mr. Frampton told the Times in an interview.
Lo and behold, eons later, the 1954 Gibson Les Paul — made of Honduran mahogany — was back in Mr. Frampton’s hands last month, following two years of talks with the Curacao musician who owned it, the Times said. Also involved in negotiations: the head of the island’s tourist board, a Dutch Frampton fanatic and a customs agent who moonlights as a guitar repairman.
The tourist board official, named Ghatim Kabbara, wound up buying the guitar and personally dropping it off at Mr. Frampton’s Nashville, Tenn., home. Mr. Frampton, emotional over the return, said he had fallen in love with the instrument after receiving it as a gift during a 1970 Humble Pie concert in San Francisco.
Mr. Frampton is known for such 1970s hits as “Baby, I Love You Way,” “Show Me the Way and “Do You Feel Like We Do.”
Mayor Bloomberg compares New Year’s Eve kisses
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg wants the world to know that while he might have shared a New Year’s kiss with Lady Gaga it was nothing compared with the one he got later from his longtime girlfriend.
The 69-year-old politician and the youthful pop star locked lips shortly after leading a Times Square crowd in a final-minute countdown to midnight. They made quite a pair: He was in an old-fashioned American-flag sweater; she had her eyes hidden behind a sparkly mask.
When asked about the kiss Tuesday, Mr. Bloomberg said he’d “be remiss” if he didn’t say “the best kiss of the night came after that,” from girlfriend Diana Taylor.
Mr. Bloomberg also called Gaga “a young lady,” noting she’s about the same age as his daughter Georgina, who’s in her late 20s.
Bonnie Raitt readies first new album since 2005
Bonnie Raitt is releasing a new album this year, her first in seven years, the Associated Press reports.
“Slipstream,” out April 10, follows a long break from studio work for the Grammy-winning Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member.
“I hadn’t stopped moving in a very long time so I really wanted to take a total break and not concentrate on making a new record or what I was going to do next,” Ms. Raitt said. “So that was really valuable because I waited until I was really ready to come back.”
“Slipstream” is the 62-year-old slide guitarist’s first album since 2005’s “Souls Alike” and will be the first release on her own record label, Redwing Records. The 12-track album will feature four songs recorded with producer Joe Henry and his musicians, which she describes as experimental. The remainder of the album is self-produced with her touring band.
She said she’s thrilled with the resulting eclectic mix of blues, rock and soul that even includes a dash of reggae and Celtic sounds. She covers Bob Dylan’s “Million Miles” and “Standing in the Doorway,” and Loudon Wainwright III’s “You Can’t Fail Me Now” as well.
“It’s just a new batch of great songs,” Ms. Raitt said.
Nick Cannon hospitalized with ’mild kidney failure’
Nick Cannon is spending the first week of the new year in the hospital, with wife Mariah Carey by his side.
Ms. Carey tweeted that Mr. Cannon is suffering from “mild kidney failure.” His representative confirmed Mr. Cannon’s hospitalization. He is in Aspen, Colo., where he and Ms. Carey were vacationing.
Ms. Carey posted a picture on her website of a miserable-looking Mr. Cannon in a hospital bed as she lay beside him. She asked for prayers and said Mr. Cannon’s situation was “very painful.” She later called it a “serious moment that’s very tough on all of us.”
The pair became the parents of twins — a boy and a girl — last year.
Mr. Cannon is 31. His representative had no further information Wednesday about his condition, but said he is still hospitalized.
• Compiled from Web and wire service reports.
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