Entertainment category, Page 116
Guitarist Clay Melton: ‘At our heart, we’re a rock ‘n’ roll band’Video
Guitarist Clay Melton is promising an eclectic set and a high-energy show when his band plays hits Pittsburgh later this week. “We’re a blend of a lot of roots styles, a lot of Texas blues, but really at our heart, we’re a rock ‘n’ roll band,” Melton said Monday afternoon...
Review: Neil Young caught in his 1970s prime with yet another ‘lost’ album, ‘Chrome Dreams’
“Chrome Dreams,” Neil Young (Reprise Records) Neil Young is captured in his mid-1970s prime with “Chrome Dreams,” yet another “lost” — or “unreleased” — album officially seeing the light of day as Young originally envisioned nearly half a century ago. Young, 77, has been delving into his vast archive in...
Queen Latifah, Chuck D and more rap legends on ‘Rapper’s Delight’ and early hip-hop influencesVideo
LOS ANGELES — Remember the first rap song you heard? Some of your favorite rappers and DJs certainly do. While hip-hop celebrates 50 years of life, The Associated Press asked some of the genre’s most popular artists to recall their first memory of hearing rap and how the moment resonated...
‘Barbie’ joins $1 billion club, breaks another record for female directors
Greta Gerwig should be feeling closer to fine these days. In just three weeks in theaters, “Barbie” sailed past $1 billion in global ticket sales, breaking a record for female directors that was previously held by Patty Jenkins, who helmed “Wonder Woman.” “Barbie,” which Gerwig directed and co-wrote, added $53 million...
Review: Pink’s Summer Carnival tour reaches new heights at PNC Park
Pink may have made one of the grandest entrances in Pittsburgh concert history Saturday night at PNC Park. And then she raised the bar — literally — with how she closed out her latest show on the Summer Carnival Tour. The Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter bungeed down headfirst from behind a...
Movie weapons supervisor waives right to preliminary hearing in fatal shooting by Alec Baldwin
SANTA FE, N.M. — The woman who was overseeing the use of weapons on the movie set where Alec Baldwin fatally shot a cinematographer agreed Friday to forgo a preliminary hearing that would have provided court testimony from dozens of people, including eyewitnesses to the shooting. Arizona-based armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed,...
Actor Mark Margolis, murderous drug kingpin on ‘Breaking Bad’ and ‘Better Call Saul,’ dies at 83
NEW YORK — Emmy-nominated actor Mark Margolis, who played murderous former drug kingpin Hector Salamanca in “Breaking Bad” and then in the prequel “Better Call Saul,” has died at age 83. The actor died at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City following a short illness, according to a statement...
Pink at PNC Park: What to know before you goVideo
What will Pink bring to her Saturday concert at PNC Park? If it’s anything like other stops on her Summer Carnival Tour, the crowd can expect acrobatics, gymnastics, dancing, dazzling costumes, motorized flamingos, confetti, fireworks and smoke cannons. And that’s in addition to her music — a high-energy mix of...
Keith Urban, Kix Brooks of Brooks & Dunn to be inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame
LOS ANGELES — Country superstar Keith Urban and Kix Brooks of powerhouse country duo Brooks & Dunn will be inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame this year. The organization announced its newest inductees on Thursday. They also include Casey Beathard and David Lee Murphy, in the contemporary songwriter...
Assault trial for actor Jonathan Majors postponed until September
NEW YORK — Actor Jonathan Majors’ domestic violence trial was postponed until at least Sept. 6 after New York City prosecutors asked Thursday for more time to prepare. Majors, 33, appeared in court for what was to have been the start of his trial on charges stemming from a March...
Lizzo says she’s ‘not the villain’ after her former dancers claim sex harassment
LOS ANGELES — Lizzo said Thursday that she’s “not the villain” that three of her former backup dancers falsely accuse her of being in a sexual harassment lawsuit. The civil lawsuit filed Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court claims Lizzo pressured the dancers to engage with nude performers at a...
TV Talk: Music bolsters ‘Only Murders in the Building,’ ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’Video
Musicals play a key role in the new season of Hulu’s “Only Murders in the Building” and in a new episode of Paramount+’s “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.” ‘Only Murders’ For its third outing, the podcast created by Mabel (Selena Gomez), Charles (Steve Martin) and Oliver (Martin Short) investigates the...
Striking writers, studios will meet this week to discuss restarting negotiations
LOS ANGELES — Union leaders told striking Hollywood writers Tuesday night that they plan to meet with representatives for studios to discuss restarting negotiations after the first official communication between the two sides since the strike began three months ago. The Writers Guild of America sent an email to members...
Comedian Whatule brothers bring the funny to their native Jeannette
Rocky and Michael Whatule are sure people in Westmoreland County have a sense of humor. They’re just lacking places to exercise it. The brothers are aiming to remedy that with the weekend opening of their Pagliacci’s Comedy Club at Cafe Italiano in their native Jeannette. Pagliacci’s takes its name from...
Lawsuit by former dancers accuses Lizzo of sexual harassment and creating a hostile work environment
LOS ANGELES — Lizzo has been sued by three former dancers who accuse the Grammy winner of sexual harassment and allege the singer and her production company created a hostile work environment. The civil lawsuit filed Tuesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court claims Lizzo pressured the dancers to engage...
Taylor Swift gives $55M in big bonuses to Eras tour staffVideo
Pop star Taylor Swift recently shelled out more than $55 million in bonuses to her crew members on the heels of her sold-out Eras Tour, according to People magazine. From caterers to dancers, sound technicians to production staff, Swift gifted her tour employees hefty checks — including $100,000 “end of...
Fans can view Pee-wee Herman’s bike at Pittsburgh’s Bicycle Heaven museumVideo
With the July 30 death of actor Paul Reubens, also known as Pee-wee Herman, Craig Morrow is expecting an increase of visitors to Bicycle Heaven. The museum and bike shop in Pittsburgh’s North Side is home to one of the the prop bikes used in the 1985 film “Pee-wee’s Big...
Danny Elfman is rocking out again at 70, and the Oscar-nominated composer credits covid, Trump
SAN DIEGO — Danny Elfman had at least two compelling reasons to return to the rock concert stage and to resume writing and recording rock songs after a three-decade hiatus. But neither had anything to do with his former band, Oingo Boingo, his Oscar-winning work as a film composer, or...
Movie review: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are back, and maybe better than everVideo
There are some good gags and clever innovations in the animated “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem,” but there is one brilliant idea: casting Ice Cube as the voice of the movie’s mutant insect supervillain Super Fly. It might have once been hard to foresee the value of having the...
Angus Cloud, breakout star of ‘Euphoria,’ is dead at 25
LOS ANGELES — Angus Cloud, the actor who starred as the drug dealer Fezco “Fez” O’Neill on the HBO series “Euphoria,” has died. He was 25. Cloud’s publicist, Cait Bailey, said Cloud died Monday at his family home in Oakland, California. No cause of death was given. In a statement,...
SAG-AFTRA members rally in Pittsburgh as Hollywood strike drags on
Randy Kovitz is a middle-class actor. It’s a title he says he’s proud of, with a resume showing credits from film, television and commercials. His first role was in George Romero’s cult classic and genre-defining movie “Dawn of the Dead,” a cult classic, filmed at Monroeville Mall. He received $50...
Paul Reubens, aka Pee-wee Herman, dead at 70Video
Paul Reubens, the actor and comedian whose character Pee-wee Herman became a cultural phenomenon through films and TV shows, has died. Reubens died Sunday night after a six-year struggle with cancer that he did not make public, his publicist said in a statement. “Please accept my apology for not going...
Kanye West’s X account reinstated after antisemitism suspension
X, formerly Twitter, has reinstated Kanye West’s account after he was suspended eight months for a series of antisemitic posts. West, whose legal name is now Ye, had not sent any new posts as of Sunday afternoon. The “All of the Lights” artist, 46, assured X executives he would not...
Book review: True crime meets history in Sara DiVello’s 1920s murder mystery ‘Broadway Butterfly’
“Broadway Butterfly” by Sara DiVello (Thomas & Mercer) The unsolved murder of the beautiful Dot King captivated New York. But the hype around the case proved insufficient motivation to catch the killer. So what happened? In “Broadway Butterfly,” a jazzy true crime historical thriller, author Sara DiVello unearths piles of...
Q&A: Janelle Monae talks about freedom, how new album defines her and getting ready to tour again
LOS ANGELES — If you believe Janelle Monae’s hyper-sexual expression is a front, think again. These days, Monae is unapologetically living her truth in a bold manner while trying to avoid negativity. The star, once known for sporting custom-made suits, has shed that attire (at least for now) to nearly...
