Country Music Hall of Fame performer Glen Campbell is canceling his tour of Australia and New Zealand with Kenny Rogers next month for health reasons.
A spokeswoman said Mr. Campbell is not up for “the very long flight that it would require.” The 76-year-old is battling Alzheimer’s disease.
It would have been Mr. Campbell’s last international stop on his “Goodbye Tour.”
Mr. Rogers is continuing the monthlong tour, kicking off Aug. 10 in Christchurch, New Zealand. Australian country artists will fill in as special guests. Mr. Campbell also was scheduled to do a solo show in Brisbane, Australia.
Mr. Campbell received the Recording Academy’s Lifetime Achievement Award this year. He is known for dozens of hits, including “Gentle On My Mind,” “Wichita Lineman,” and “Rhinestone Cowboy.”
’60s teen idol Bobby Rydell has double organ transplant
Sixties teen idol Bobby Rydell has undergone a liver and kidney transplant in Philadelphia.
The 70-year-old singer of hits including “Wild One” and “Volare” had surgery last week. He told KYW-AM that his doctor didn’t expect him to live much longer without the double organ transplant.
Doctors at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital say they were able to use part of the donor liver to help Mr. Rydell and the other part to help a child.
Mr. Rydell said he now wants to help raise awareness about organ donation. He is expected to be released from the hospital Wednesday.
Facebook campaign sends rapper Pitbull to Alaska
It’s not exactly “International Love,” but Miami rap star Pitbull is about to bring his act to a nonetheless far-flung site — Kodiak, Alaska.
The unlikely tour stop announced Tuesday will mark the first time the chart-topper will visit the state known as the Last Frontier, and it comes as a result of a marketing deal and perhaps a little mischief.
Pitbull, aka Armando Christian Perez, in a promotion with Wal-Mart and Sheets Energy Strips, agreed to visit whichever Wal-Mart got the most “likes” on its Facebook page.
David Thorpe, a writer for the Boston Phoenix, thought it would be funny to exile the “Give Me Everything” rapper to the most remote Wal-Mart possible, and encouraged people to “like” the Wal-Mart in Kodiak.
The store in a city with a population of about 6,100 wound up with more than 70,000 “likes.” The surrounding borough, which Alaska has rather than counties, has about 14,000 people.
Wal-Mart spokeswoman Sarah Spencer said details of the trip are still being worked out, including whether it will be a one- or two-day appearance.
Pitbull will spend time in the community and with Wal-Mart employees, Ms. Spencer said.
Pitbull appeared in a YouTube video Tuesday while on tour in Madrid.
“I heard that Kodiak, Alaska, has the most likes due to someone who thinks he was playing a prank,” Pitbull said on the video. “I said, ’OK, great, this sounds really good.’ You have to understand I will go anywhere in the world for my fans.”
And he doesn’t want to make the trip alone.
“I want to invite that someone who thinks it’s a joke to Kodiak, Alaska, with me,” he said.
It appears that invitation will be accepted.
In an email to the Associated Press, Mr. Thorpe said it’s “very likely” he’ll be in Kodiak. Mr. Thorpe said he had to “raise the funds to get to Kodiak on my own, since Pitbull’s invitation doesn’t include actually getting me there.”
Mr. Thorpe said he doesn’t really have anything against Pitbull, and instead saw this as a way “to disrupt a corporate social media campaign, since they really set themselves up for it.”
He said he did make a little fun of Pitbull in his column “for having to act enthusiastic about being sent to a random Wal-Mart, so I wanted to make sure he went somewhere interesting.”
’Motown’ producers seek young Jackson, Wonder
Producers of a musical based on the life of Motown Records founder Berry Gordy are seeking an exceptionally talented young actor — one who can play a preteen Gordy, a young Michael Jackson and a precocious Stevie Wonder.
Mr. Gordy launched an audition website on Tuesday to help find the young man between the ages of 8 and 11 who can sing, dance and act like the King of Pop in his Jackson 5 days and Mr. Wonder at about age 11.
“Motown” will open on Broadway next spring.
Mr. Gordy said he’s not looking for imitators, but someone who “can be themselves in the role” and give him “the same chills” he experienced when he first saw Jackson at age 10 in 1968.
Halle Berry injured on L.A. movie set
Halle Berry suffered a minor head injury during a movie-shoot fight sequence and was treated at a Los Angeles hospital and released.
Ms. Berry’s Los Angeles publicist Meredith O’Sullivan said the 45-year-old actress suffered the injury Tuesday night on the set of her upcoming movie “The Hive.” Ms. Berry was taken to a hospital as a precaution and released a short time later.
Ms. O’Sullivan said the Oscar-winning actress will continue work on the film.
Celebrity website x17online.com and TMZ.com were first to report the news, saying Ms. Berry was taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center at about 10 p.m. Ms. O’Sullivan wouldn’t confirm the name of the hospital.
Calls and emails seeking comment from Troika Pictures and WWE Studios, which are producing “The Hive,” were not immediately returned.
“The Hive” is a thriller co-starring Abigail Breslin and David Otunga.
• Compiled from Web and wire reports
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