Entertainment category, Page 170
Westmoreland Symphony’s Summer Philharmonic to debut director’s concerto
The Summer Philharmonic of the Westmoreland Symphony Orchestra Academy of Music will debut a new piece by music director Morrie Brand during a free concert at 8 p.m. Tuesday in the Seton Hill University Performing Arts Center, 100 Harrison Ave., Greensburg. Brand’s Concerto for Flute and Chamber Orchestra was written...
Hanson brings ‘Red Green Blue’ album tour to Greensburg’s Palace TheatreVideo
Hanson, a trio of preteen brothers from Tulsa, Okla., burst onto the pop music scene with their catchy 1997 hit, “MMMBop.” Unlike so many boy bands who hit it big and then quickly faded away, Hanson has endured. The brothers are celebrating the 25th anniversary of their major-label debut with...
James Caan, Oscar nominee for ‘The Godfather,’ dies at 82
James Caan, the curly-haired tough guy known to movie fans as the hotheaded Sonny Corleone of “The Godfather” and to television audiences as both the dying football player in the classic weeper “Brian’s Song” and the casino boss in “Las Vegas,” has died. He was 82. His manager Matt DelPiano...
TV Talk: Billy Porter on ‘Who Do You Think You Are?,’ ‘Better Call Saul’ marches toward its finaleVideo
Pittsburgh native Billy Porter explores his ancestry on the season premiere of NBC’s celebrity genealogy show “Who Do You Think You Are?” (7 p.m. Sunday, WPXI-TV), which is similar to PBS’s “Finding Your Roots.” Pittsburgh cityscape beauty shots abound as Porter returns to Pittsburgh to begin his research before his...
Country station Y108 hires new morning show host
Audacy Inc. knew it would have a hard time finding a successor to popular WDSY-FM (Y108) morning show host “Stoney” Richards when he departed last December. And the company was right. Now, after a six-month search, Y108 has its new host. Audacy announced Thursday, it has hired country music radio...
Roger Waters drills down on ‘Not a Drill’ tour opener in Pittsburgh
To hear Roger Waters expound on the state of things in the world today, one is challenged to come away feeling hopeful about the future. “The ruling class are murdering you. They are destroying the Earth and everything that lives on it to make a few (bucks),” he says in...
George Michael spent his career singing about freedom. But he never quite found it
In 1984, George Michael released a song called “Freedom” with his pop duo Wham! Six years later, he put out one of his own called “Freedom! ‘90.” And six years after that? A song called “Free” closed his third solo album, “Older.” The specifics of the liberation he’s describing in...
Jury finds man guilty of 2019 murder of rapper Nipsey Hussle
LOS ANGELES — Jurors found a 32-year-old man guilty of first-degree murder Wednesday for the 2019 fatal shooting of rapper Nipsey Hussle. The Los Angeles County jury also found Eric R. Holder Jr. guilty of two counts of attempted voluntary manslaughter for gunfire that hit other men at the scene....
KDKA reporter leaving Pittsburgh for Denver
KDKA reporter/anchor Amy Wadas is leaving her hometown station for a new adventure in the Rocky Mountains. Wadas announced Monday on social media that July 14 would be her last day with KDKA-TV, which hired her in 2014. “This was one of the toughest decisions I’ve ever had to make,”...
Review: ‘Hatchet Island’ a mystery with contrived solution
“Hatchet Island” by Paul Doiron (Minotaur) Stacey Stevens’ old college roommate, now working at a bird sanctuary off the Maine coast, is in a panic. Lobstermen who have made a habit of harassing the facility’s staff are growing more aggressive, and now her boss has gone missing. “Can you please...
Santana’s Pittsburgh concert postponed after musician collapses onstage in Michigan
Santana’s Wednesday show at the Pavilion at Star Lake has been postponed after the group’s leader, Carlos Santana, collapsed onstage Tuesday in Michigan. The 74-year-old musician was hospitalized with heat exhaustion and dehydration. A representative told USA Today that Santana is being held for observation and is doing well. The...
76 million-year-old dinosaur skeleton to be auctioned in New YorkVideo
NEW YORK — The fossilized skeleton of a T. rex relative that roamed the earth about 76 million years ago will be auctioned in New York this month, Sotheby’s announced Tuesday. The Gorgosaurus skeleton will highlight Sotheby’s natural history auction on July 28, the auction house said. The Gorgosaurus was...
Painters take to the open air for Greensburg Art Center exhibition
Greensburg Art Center is takin’ it to the streets — and the forests, fields and farms — for the “Plein Aire 15601” exhibition opening Saturday at the center, 230 Todd School Road, Hempfield. Participating artists were tasked with painting outdoor scenes found in the 15601 zip code area, encompassing Greensburg...
Pittsburgh native Gene Stovall returns from overseas for hometown performancesVideo
From performing onstage at age 12 in a Pittsburgh Public Theater production of “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone,” to winning talent showcases as a teenager, to moving across the Atlantic Ocean to pursue music full time, Gene Stovall has a passion for performance. “I’ve been wanting this for my whole...
Review: A not-so-mighty ‘Thor’ sequel is painless but pointlessVideo
There are a few good things worth singling out in the otherwise not-very-good thing that is “Thor: Love and Thunder.” First up are two large screaming goats, whose digitally amplified screeches are a comic gift that rarely stops giving. Christian Bale delivers a genuinely skin-crawling turn as a zombified villain...
Review: ‘Bull Durham’ fans, rejoice at ‘Church of Baseball’
“The Church of Baseball: The Making of ‘Bull Durham’: Home Runs, Bad Calls, Crazy Fights, Big Swings and a Hit” by Ron Shelton (Knopf) Former minor-league ballplayer Ron Shelton has written and directed a host of sports-themed movies, but it’s doubtful anyone has told him they’ve named their children after...
105.9 The X’s July 420 countdown sees change at the top
There will be no threepeat for Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” In a bit of an upset, Pearl Jam’s “Jeremy” finished first in this year’s “July 420,” a countdown of 105.9 WXDX’s top 420 rock and alternative-rock songs of the 1990s. It’s the third straight year the station has held...
‘Minions’ set box office on fire with $108.5 million debut
Families went bananas for Minions this weekend at the movie theater. ” Minions: The Rise of Gru ” brought in an estimated $108.5 million in ticket sales from 4,391 screens in North America, Universal Pictures said Sunday. By the end of the Monday’s July Fourth holiday, it will likely have...
Better Than Ezra to headline Arts on the Allegheny concert
The alternative rock band Better Than Ezra will headline a free Arts on the Allegheny concert July 23 at the John P. Murtha Amphitheater in Kittanning’s Riverfront Park. The nonprofit offers free arts and entertainment events at the park and other venues. Last year, Blues Traveler drew upward of 7,000...
Actress Lindsay Lohan celebrates birthday as married woman
NEW YORK — Actress Lindsay Lohan is celebrating her 36th birthday on Saturday as a married woman. The “Freaky Friday” star said she was the “luckiest woman in the world” in an Instagram post Friday that pictured her with financier Bader Shammas, who had been her fiance. “I am stunned...
Song by song, country star Luke Combs grows into stadiums
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Singer-songwriter Luke Combs is making big leaps this year in his unprecedented rise to the top of country music, both personally and professionally. The North Carolina-born singer, who holds a Billboard record with 14 consecutive No. 1 country airplay singles with hits like “Beer Never Broke My...
Ibram X. Kendi on preparing children for the realities of racism
LOS ANGELES — Ibram X. Kendi has spent years studying racism’s history, and he is intimately familiar with its violence, horrors and brutalities. So when he became a father six years ago, the thought of exposing his daughter to the legacy and realities of racism deeply troubled him. The issue...
How the Doobie Brothers survived ’50-ish’ years to finally get their due
LOS ANGELES — When it finally happened last summer, the Doobie Brothers’ long-anticipated reunion with Michael McDonald took just more than a week to run into trouble. Nine days after they kicked off a tour marking the California group’s 50th anniversary — a year late due to a pandemic-forced delay...
Germany, Nigeria sign accord for return of Benin Bronzes
BERLIN — Germany and Nigeria on Friday signed an agreement paving the way for the return of hundreds of artifacts known as the Benin Bronzes that were taken from Africa more than 120 years ago — an accord that Nigerian officials hope will prompt other countries to follow suit. Governments...
Rock star Randy Bachman reunited with beloved stolen guitar
TOKYO — Canadian rock legend Randy Bachman’s long search came to an end Friday when he was reunited in Tokyo with a cherished guitar 45 years after it was stolen from a Toronto hotel. “My girlfriend is right there,” said Bachman, 78, a former member of The Guess Who, as...
