Entertainment category, Page 185
Will Smith, Chris Rock confrontation shocks Oscar audience
LOS ANGELES — A 94th Academy Awards that steadily maintained a buoyant spirit was rocked by an unbelievable exchange after Will Smith took offense to a joke made by Chris Rock about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith. After Rock joked to Smith that he was looking forward to a sequel...
Black News Channel shuts down days after ratings high
NEW YORK — The Black News Channel has pulled the plug after the 2-year-old venture failed to meet payroll and lost the backing of its biggest investor. Princell Hair, the company’s president and CEO, told employees Friday in a memo that the news network was ceasing live production and would...
Pittsburgh’s Girl Talk to release full-length album with Wiz Khalifa, Smoke DZA, Big K.R.I.T.
Pittsburgh music producer Gregg Gillis made an international name for himself mashing things together — the Spencer Davis Group and Texas rappers Underground Kingz. Procol Harum and Lil’ Jon. Black Sabbath and Ludacris. On April 8, Gillis — better known as Girl Talk — will debut his latest effort, but...
Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins dead at 50
LOS ANGELES — Taylor Hawkins, for 25 years the drummer for Foo Fighters and best friend of frontman Dave Grohl, has died during a South American tour with the rock band. He was 50. There were no immediate details on how Hawkins died, although the band said in a statement...
WWE star Triple H retires from wrestling, says heart condition will prevent him from working in-ring againVideo
“The Game” is over inside the squared circle, but he still goes on and it sounds like that is a blessing considering how things could have ended. That’s because WWE personality Triple H, whose real name is Paul Michael Levesque, told Stephen A. Smith during a “First Take” interview Friday...
TV Talk: Pam Surano exits KDKA-TV for job with Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh
KDKA-TV freelance reporter Pam Surano has left the station and joined the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh where she’s now working as producer/assignment editor for another former KDKA mainstay: Jennifer Antkowiak, who is the diocese’s executive director of communications and community relations. Surano said Antkowiak, who Surano had met previously...
Wedding officiant: Tom Hanks said ‘I will do it’ and performs ceremony for Bellevue couple
Krisna Poznik Stahl wrote a letter to actor Tom Hanks. She told the Academy Award-winning star a story about her and her fiancé, Tyson Stahl. They live in a 102-year-old house in Bellevue they’ve been renovating — reminiscent of the home in Hanks’ 1986 movie “The Money Pit.” The couple...
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra to play Beethoven symphonies in iconic local settings
The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra will break new ground — and cover new ground, too — with upcoming performances included in an extensive Beethoven in Your Neighborhood project. Under the baton of Music Director Manfred Honeck, the symphony will present all nine Beethoven symphonies in one week at iconic locations around...
Indie-pop violinist Kishi Bashi coming to Lawrenceville music hall
Audiophiles who were intrigued by “151a” — the trippy, melodic debut album by violinist/singer/songwriter Kishi Bashi — are in luck. The classically trained artist is in the midst of a tour celebrating the 10th anniversary of its release. The tour comes to the Thunderbird Cafe and Music Hall in Lawrenceville...
5 things to do in Westmoreland County: March 25-27
Travel photos Jeannette resident Rob McLaughlin will display his photos depicting the beauty and culture of Italy and Ireland from 4-9 p.m. Friday and noon-4 p.m. Saturday at the Jeannette Area Historical Society, 415 Clay Ave. The exhibition is offered in honor of the late John Howard, who was a...
Baldwin High School presents ‘How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying’
J. Pierrepont Finch is a man who knows what he wants. He climbs the corporate ladder from lowly window washer to a high-powered executive in the musical “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.” “I love Finch,” said Quintin Michalski, a senior who was cast as Finch for Baldwin...
Netflix cancels filmed-in-Pittsburgh ‘Archive 81’
This article contains spoilers for the first-season finale of Netflix’s “Archive 81,” released on Jan. 14. A Netflix publicist confirmed a Deadline.com report that the streaming service canceled filmed-in-Pittsburgh supernatural thriller “Archive 81” after just one season. No reason for the cancellation was given by Netflix which often considers the...
Popular kid’s book character Junie B. Jones returns to Greensburg stage
Popular children’s book character Junie B. Jones returns to Greensburg in the Greensburg Civic Theatre’s Greasepaint Players production of “Junie B. Jones is Not a Crook,” with three performances scheduled for Friday and Saturday at Greensburg Garden & Civic Center. As the play unfolds, someone at school has stolen Junie’s...
TV Q&A: Did a Pittsburgher have a hand in a recent ‘NCIS’ episode?
Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen answers reader questions every Wednesday at TribLive.com in a column that also appears in the Sunday Tribune-Review. Q: While watching “NCIS” a few weeks ago, I heard one character say to another … ‘he’s a jagoff.’ Then later in the show, another character...
Iconic Marilyn Monroe image by Andy Warhol tipped to sell at auction for $200MVideo
NEW YORK — An iconic image of Marilyn Monroe created by Andy Warhol is coming to auction, with Christie’s auction house estimating the price at around $200 million. The silkscreen image known as “Shot Sage Blue Marilyn,” a close-up of Monroe with her hair in yellow, her eyeshadow blue and...
Tom Hanks movie ‘A Man Called Otto’ to film in Oakmont; actor not expected to be in town
Portions of some Oakmont roads will be closed Thursday for filming of the Tom Hanks movie “A Man Called Otto.” No parking or travel will be permitted on Delaware Avenue between Fifth Street and Isabella Way, and Fourth Street between Washington and Maryland avenues. The closures will be from 6...
Sewickley’s Sweetwater Center for the Arts names new executive director
Sweetwater Center for the Arts in Sewickley has named borough resident Christine Brondyke as its new executive director. Brondyke brings experience in development and donor relations, event management and customer service in nonprofit organizations to the role. “We are really thrilled to have Christine leading an organization in the community...
Violinist Chee-Yun reunites with Westmoreland Symphony for ‘Nuevo Tango’
Violinist Chee-Yun will return to the Westmoreland Symphony Orchestra to perform Argentinian composer Astor Piazzolla’s tango masterpiece, “The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires.” The concert will begin at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in The Palace Theatre in downtown Greensburg. The whole program has a Latin inspiration,” said artistic director Daniel Meyer,...
TV Talk: Western Pa. teen advances on ‘American Idol;’ Joe Serafini will be back on ‘High School Musical’Video
Morgan Gruber of Franklin Township, Beaver County, made it through her first audition for the “American Idol” judges in the episode on Monday, getting three “yes” votes to continue on the singing competition series. The 17-year-old Riverside High School senior from Fombell already had judge Luke Bryan in her corner...
Remembering Rennerdale: In-progress book features Collier artist’s watercolors of homes
The sudden disruption of everyday life two years ago meant that practically everyone had to come up with a coping mechanism. For Kathleen Zimbicki, that was especially pertinent. “First, my husband died in ’19,” she said about Mike, to whom she had been married for 64 years. “I’m grieving over...
Pine-Richland grad Jake Pedersen joins national tour of ‘Wicked’
Jake Pedersen is following the yellow brick road to musical theater success. The 2017 Pine-Richland High School graduate recently joined the cast of the national Broadway touring company of “Wicked.” Pedersen, 23, is playing the part of Boq in the musical, which retells the story of “The Wizard of Oz”...
Machine Gun Kelly coming to Pittsburgh in August
Musician and actor Colson Baker, known professionally as Machine Gun Kelly (MGK), will play PPG Paints Arena on Aug, 2 in Pittsburgh as part of a North America and European tour. Produced by Live Nation, the tour features special guests Avril Lavigne and Travis Barker among others. It’s the first...
Ye no longer performing at Grammys
NEW YORK — Ye will not be performing at the Grammys this year. A report published in The Blast said that the musician was told Friday that his act had been pulled from the show, which is set to take place on April 3. A representative for Ye, who changed...
‘The Batman,’ still No. 1, crosses $300 million
“The Batman” is still going strong three weeks into its theatrical run, with a tight grip on the top spot at the box office. Robert Pattinson’s debut as the Dark Knight earned an additional $36.8 million over the weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday. It also slid past the $300...
Tom Hanks takes break from filming in Ambridge to wave hello to a mom and her boyVideo
Ashley Glass of Ambridge had a surprise celebrity encounter Thursday morning. Academy Award-winning actor Tom Hanks took a break from filming on Merchant Street to wave to Glass and her 2-year-old son, Charles. Glass, 35, a homemaker and mother of five, said the actor spotted them while filming scenes for...
