Entertainment category, Page 157
‘Murder She Wrote’ actress Angela Lansbury dies at 96
NEW YORK — Angela Lansbury, the big-eyed, scene-stealing British actress who kicked up her heels in the Broadway musicals “Mame” and “Gypsy” and solved endless murders as crime novelist Jessica Fletcher in the long-running TV series “Murder, She Wrote,” has died. She was 96. Lansbury died Tuesday at her home...
Westmoreland Symphony season opener features classical saxophonist
The Westmoreland Symphony Orchestra will display its full range and power in its 2022-23 season-opening concert, at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in The Palace Theatre in Greensburg. “I wanted to choose a big piece with a lot of instrumental color, to capitalize on the sound the orchestra can make and the...
U.S. museums return African bronzes stolen in 19th century
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A bronze sculpture of a West African king that had been in the collection of a Rhode Island museum for more than 70 years was among 31 culturally precious objects that were returned to the Nigerian government on Tuesday. The Benin Bronzes including a piece called the...
Unpacking the wild twists, excessive vomit in ‘Triangle of Sadness’: ‘Maybe it was too much’Video
When Swedish filmmaker Ruben Ostlund won the top prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival for “Triangle of Sadness,” it put him in the rarified class of two-time Palme d’Or winners. The prestigious group also includes Francis Ford Coppola, Michael Haneke, Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, Emir Kusturica, Shohei Imamura, Bille...
Reunited Blink-182 returning to Pittsburgh in May
Reunited and it feels so good for Blink-182 fans. Multiplatinum, award-winning pop-punk rockers Blink-182 are embarking on an extensive tour next spring that will bring the group to PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh on May 17. The show will feature Tom DeLonge, Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker reuniting for the...
Review: WWII novel ‘Cradles of the Reich’ sets high bar for historical fiction
“Cradles of the Reich” by Jennifer Coburn (Sourcebooks Landmark) Gundi, Irma and Hilde all find themselves at a Lebensborn Society house for future mothers who are deemed to be racially fit. Each woman is there for the same reason: to usher life into the world. But the three main characters...
Graham Nash on longevity, ‘new’ album with David Crosby, and smoking pot at 80: ‘It doesn’t affect my voice’
Graham Nash was 25 when he wrote his classic 1968 song, “Teach Your Children.” He recorded it a year later on the debut album by the then-budding supergroup Crosby, Stills & Nash, which teamed him with David Crosby and Stephen Stills. Had anyone told Nash then that he would still...
Making the radical case for Sinéad O’Connor: She was right all alongVideo
Thirty years ago this month, Sinéad O’Connor tore up a picture of Pope John Paul II on “Saturday Night Live,” effectively destroying her mainstream career with a single act of protest against the Catholic Church. Then 25, the Grammy-winning Irish singer was an unlikely pop star. Known for the raw,...
Review: History of movie academy favors facts over melodrama
“The Academy and the Award: The Coming of Age of Oscar and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences” by Bruce Davis (Brandeis University Press) Film historians and others digging for a deeper vein of Oscar knowledge than mere trivia will turn up many nuggets in “The Academy and...
The king gets confused as ‘House of the Dragon’ dances on the edge of war
King Viserys Targaryen has made a lot of bad moves during the first season of “House of the Dragon.” His latest bad move wasn’t exactly his fault, but it certainly fit right...
Nikki Finke, sharp-tongued Hollywood columnist, dies at 68
NEW YORK — Nikki Finke, the veteran reporter who became one of Hollywood’s top journalists as founder of the entertainment trade website Deadline.com and whose sharp-tongued tenacity made her the most-feared columnist in show business, has died. She was 68. Finke died Sunday in Boca Raton, Fla., after a prolonged...
Kanye West’s Twitter, Instagram locked over offensive posts
NEW YORK — Kanye West’s Twitter and Instagram accounts have been locked because of antisemitic posts from the rapper, now known legally as Ye. Spokespersons for Twitter and Instagram parent company Meta said Sunday that Ye posted messages that violated their policies. In a tweet sent late Saturday, Ye said...
Local haunted attractions range from the super-scary to family-friendly
If there was any doubt the holiday season begins with Halloween, one need look no further than the investment of time, energy and money being put into ways to amuse area residents with spooky haunted houses and spine- tingling scare zones. From Kennywood Park in West Mifflin to Castle Blood...
Allman Brothers Band to release live recording of 1971 Pittsburgh debut
Many a classic rock fan made the trip to Pittsburgh’s Oakland neighborhood to see plenty of now-legendary bands perform at the former Syria Mosque. The 1916 building, with its multicolored facade and sphinx statues out front, hosted everyone from Bo Diddley and Chuck Berry to Bob Dylan and Simon &...
Robin Roberts, George Stephanopoulos hit milestone on ‘GMA’
NEW YORK — During a getting-to-know-you dinner shortly after being named co-hosts of “Good Morning America” in 2009, George Stephanopoulos told Robin Roberts that he didn’t really want to do the job. Nearly 13 years later, they’re passed an improbable milestone without public notice. They’re now the longest-serving pair of...
Judy Tenuta, brash ‘Goddess of Love’ comedian, dies at 72
LOS ANGELES — Judy Tenuta, a brash standup who cheekily styled herself as the “Goddess of Love” and toured with George Carlin as she built her career in the 1980s golden age of comedy, died Thursday. She was 72. Tenuta died Thursday afternoon at home in Los Angeles, with her...
What’s so controversial about the new Anthony Bourdain book? Plenty, it turns out
A new biography about the late chef and TV personality Anthony Bourdain, who took his own life while filming CNN’s “Parts Unknown” in 2018, has been raising hackles well in advance of its Oct. 11 publication date — especially among those who knew Bourdain best. The Times dipped into “Down...
‘Amsterdam’ review: A true-life plot against America, starring Christian Bale and some seriously wrong-headed storytellingVideo
David O. Russell’s “Amsterdam” is very plush in the looks department. Enjoying the costumes and cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki’s lighting and some of Russell’s shot designs will get you through it. But only if you don’t have to listen to it, or track it, or believe in the people on screen....
Silent films to live on in movie theater lobby card project
CONCORD, N.H. — “Missing Millions” is a 1922 silent film with a darkly prescient title — like the vast majority from that era, the movie all but vanished in the ensuing century, survived mostly by lobby cards. The cards, scarcely bigger than letter paper, promoted the cinematic romances, comedies and...
French writer Annie Ernaux awarded Nobel Prize in literature
STOCKHOLM — French author Annie Ernaux, who has fearlessly mined her own biography to explore life in France since the 1940s, won this year’s Nobel Prize in literature Thursday for work that illuminates murky corners of memory, family and society. Ernaux’s books probe deeply personal experiences and feelings — love,...
TV Talk: Western Pa. natives behind live-action ‘Monster High’Video
Now streaming on Paramount+ and premiering at 7 p.m. Oct. 6 on Nickelodeon, “Monster High The Movie” takes the 12-year-old Mattel fashion doll franchise, already adapted into an animated series, and brings it to live-action life as a movie musical directed by TV veteran Todd Holland (“Wonderfalls”), a Kittanning native...
Longtime Pittsburgh ‘Soul Show’ returns to airwaves this weekend
WYEP’s loss is WZUM’s gain. WZUM, an independent nonprofit jazz radio station, announced it will begin airing the “Soul Show,” with its longtime host Mike Canton returning to the airwaves and producing the show as well. The “Soul Show” will be broadcast Saturdays from 2-5 p.m., after the MCG Jazz...
Terrifying true ghost stories inspired by complicated real women
“A Haunted History of Invisible Women: True Stories of America’s Ghosts” by Leanna Renee Hieber and Andrea Janes; Kensington (368 pages, $16.95) —— Seeing isn’t always believing. A figure in an old gown is glimpsed at the top of the stairs, a face looms briefly from the shadows. But everyone...
Illustrator Alex Ross has new ‘Fantastic Four’ book out just as Marvel universe takes a next big step. Coincidence?
EVANSTON, Ill. — Everyone loves a good conspiracy theory. But what happened to good pop culture conspiracies? Like, Paul McCartney is dead. Stanley Kubrick faked the moon landing. Walt Disney was frozen. Lewis Carroll was Jack the Ripper. Katy Perry is JonBenét Ramsey. Political conspiracy has overtaken pop culture conspiracy,...
In Loretta Lynn’s voice, the unflinching truth about love, motherhood and women’s livesVideo
Loretta Lynn had a voice made for telling the truth. High and flinty, with a bone-deep coal-country drawl that refused to fade even as she ascended to a queenly position in the Nashville star system, her singing sliced through polished arrangements like a sharpened blade. It could embody both the...
