Entertainment category, Page 277
Celebrate Pride Month with these streaming picksVideo
June is Pride Month in the United States, timed to celebrate the birth of the American LGBTQ rights movement, which burst out of the underground on June 28, 1969, during a rebellion at the Stonewall Inn in New York City, where patrons fought back during a police raid. It has...
Oprah picks James McBride’s ‘Deacon King Kong’ for book club
Oprah Winfrey has chosen James McBride’s “Deacon King Kong” for her book club. McBride’s novel is set in a Brooklyn housing project in 1969 and centers on the shooting of a drug dealer by an aging and tipsy church deacon. But it also pays tribute to community and to McBride’s...
Pittsburgh’s Pride Month Reel Q film festival goes virtual
The Reel Q film festival, presented in conjunction with Pride Month in Pittsburgh, is moving online this year. Teaming up with other local organizations, Reel Q will offer films and virtual events from June 18 to the end of July, beginning at 7 p.m. Thursday with a screening of “Pier...
Warner Bros to hold massive virtual event for DC Comics fansVideo
Comic-Con may be canceled this year, but Warner Bros. will convene a 24-hour virtual gathering of the biggest names in the DC Comics universe. The studio announced Tuesday that DC FanDome will be held on Aug. 22 starting at 7 a.m.. The event will feature talent announcements and reveal new...
‘Top Chef’ host Padma Lakshmi working on picture book
Padma Lakshmi’s next book is designed for the children’s table. The “Top Chef” host and best-selling author is working on her first picture book, “Tomatoes for Neela.” Viking Children’s Books announced Tuesday that the book is scheduled for fall 2021. According to the publisher, “Tomatoes for Neela” is an intergenerational...
Pittsburgh jazz festival marks 10th anniversary with livestream event
The first-ever Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival Live Online will feature noted jazz musicians from around the world, including Sean Jones, Dianne Reeves, The Bad Plus, Laurin Talese, Jeff Watts, Brett Williams, Lakecia Benjamin and others. The one-time-only virtual event, curated by the August Wilson African American Cultural Center in collaboration...
Academy delays 2021 Oscars ceremony because of coronavirus
For the fourth time in its history, the Oscars are being postponed. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the ABC Television Network said Monday that the 93rd Academy Awards will now be held April 25, 2021, eight weeks later than originally planned because of the pandemic’s effects...
Review: Identical twins veer apart in moving ‘Thin Girls’
Dark, poignant and gripping, Diana Clarke’s “Thin Girls” is sure to be unlike anything else you’ve read. Identical twins Rose and Lily Winters are deeply connected, but in high school their relationship begins to grow complicated. Rose’s desperation to be cool leads her down a dangerous path of extreme dieting....
Kenny Chesney sets 2021 Pittsburgh concert date
Kenny Chesney will be back in the ‘Burgh on June 12, 2021. Earlier this year, the country superstar canceled his entire Chillaxification tour, which included a May 30 date at Heinz Field. The revived tour has 18 dates and will include same lineup of special guests, including Florida Georgia Line,...
Review: Ottessa Moshfegh offers an eccentric murder mystery
Dark doesn’t even begin to describe Ottessa Moshfegh’s latest novel, “Death in Her Hands.” Try horrifying, macabre, fashionably self-referential and exceptionally well-written — a book, as the publisher’s blurb says, that asks us to consider how the stories we tell ourselves both reflect the truth and keep us blind to...
PBS invites you to come up sometime and see a Mae West docVideo
Before there was Cher or Madonna, Beyonce or Rihanna, there was another savvy media star who unapologetically embraced her sex appeal and femininity. That would be Mae West, the bawdy, witty, sex symbol of the 1930s who pioneered a path for modern women with guts and a nod and a...
New roller coaster highlights Hersheypark’s reopening on July 3Video
After months of coronavirus precautions, Hersheypark is getting ready to reopen. And when guests finally start visiting on July 3, they’ll be able to experience a new ride that’s billed as the park’s fastest, tallest and longest roller coaster. Candymonium reaches 210 feet high with a max speed of 76...
Brandi Carlile, Brittany Howard lead Americana AwardsVideo
Singer songwriter Brandi Carlile has had a productive year and that’s led her to be the leading nominee at the Americana Honors and Awards for her roles as a solo artist, a member of the group The Highwomen, as a producer and as a songwriter. In the nominations announced Monday...
Drake tops BET Awards nods; show to air on CBS for 1st time
Drake is the leading nominee at the 2020 BET Awards, which will celebrate its 20th anniversary later this month. BET announced Monday that Drake is nominated for six honors, including video of the year and best male hip-hop artist. For both best collaboration and the viewer’s choice award, Drake is...
Concerts to benefit Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank rescheduled to Butler drive-in
A benefit concert for the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank has been rescheduled. Rockers Gene the Werewolf, the Hawkeyes and the Clarks will now perform June 27 at the Starlight Drive-In along North Main Street Extension in Butler. It was originally booked as a two-night performance with Gene the Werewolf...
George Floyd’s death hastens shift in police pop culture portrayals
NEW YORK — Gary Phillips, a prize-winning crime novelist from Los Angeles, grew up on TV shows that showed a world nothing like the one he lived in. “I watched them all, ‘Dragnet,’ ‘Adam 12,’ ‘The Wild, Wild West,’ ‘Mannix,’ ‘Cannon,’ ‘Peter Gunn’ reruns and on and on. Now these...
12-year-old Pittsburgh-area singer gets her shot on ‘America’s Got Talent’Video
Another young Pittsburgh-area singer is getting ready to show the country what she’s got. Ashley Marina, 12, of Kennedy Township will perform on “America’s Got Talent,” airing 8 p.m. Tuesday on NBC. She is a two-time finalist in the Williams SING-OFF Competition, through which area students are chosen to perform...
North Huntingdon singer hits No. 1 on country radio chart
When Ashley Puckett of North Huntingdon released her debut album, “Never Say Never,” this past Valentine’s Day, she didn’t expect recognition to come so quickly. The 28-year-old’s single, “Bulletproof,” secured the No. 1 spot on the country radio chart in the June 12 issue of New Music Weekly magazine. The...
Episode of UK sitcom ‘Fawlty Towers’ pulled over racist slurs
One of the most memorable episodes of one of the most popular British sitcoms of all-time has been withdrawn from a U.K. streaming service because of numerous racial slurs. UKTV, a streaming service owned by the BBC, confirmed Friday that it was temporarily removing the 1975 “Fawlty Towers” episode “The...
Kelly Clarkson seeks divorce from husband of nearly 7 years
Kelly Clarkson has filed for divorce from her husband of nearly seven years, Brandon Blackstock. The singer, talk show host and judge on “The Voice” filed court papers to end the marriage under her married name Kelly Blackstock on June 4 in Los Angeles. The 38-year-old Clarkson and the 43-year-old...
Chris Paul, JJ Watt to appear in Amazon’s ‘Regular Heroes’Video
NFL star J.J. Watt, NBA player Chris Paul and country singer Brad Paisley will appear in an Amazon series that highlights everyday people who are supporting their community during the coronavirus pandemic. Paul will make a guest appearance on the fifth episode of “Regular Heroes” on Friday. He has been...
Holland Taylor portrays larger-than-life ex-Texas governor in ‘Ann’
Although actress Holland Taylor has played everyone from Nancy Reagan to a tabloid queen, she says she never thought she’d aced it. “I never felt that I was a master,” she says. “I have felt that I was a member of the wedding, pretty much.” While most people know her...
Review: ‘Artemis Fowl’ is a regrettable fairy taleVideo
When the coronavirus pandemic hit, Disney quickly scrambled to cancel or postpone the theatrical releases of their highest profile titles. But with Kenneth Branagh’s “Artemis Fowl,” an adaptation of Irish author Eoin Colfer’s fantasy novels, the mouse house decided to dump it onto Disney+ two weeks after it was slated...
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame to reopen with new precautions
CLEVELAND — The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is reopening, but fans better practice social distancing by staying at least “two Stratocasters apart” and bring their credit cards, officials announced Thursday. Rock’s shrine will reopen on June 15 after closing on March 14 because of the coronavirus pandemic. Visitors...
Lady Antebellum changes name to Lady A
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Grammy-winning country group Lady Antebellum is changing its name to Lady A, with members saying they are regretful and embarrassed for not taking into consideration the word’s associations with slavery. The band, made up of Hillary Scott, Charles Kelley and Dave Haywood, made the announcement Thursday on...
