Entertainment category, Page 202
Genesis and Phil Collins delight devoted Pittsburgh fans during farewell tour stopVideo
They lined up outside the gates of PPG Paints Arena Monday night, some of them looking as though they were heading to a wake. The pre-concert partying normally associated with a performance by an A-list rock group was fairly tame. These loyal Genesis fans had seen the images from earlier...
Concert industry ponders: What impact will omicron variant have in U.S. as live events in Europe start to be curtailed?
Can the world of concerts, theater and other performing arts survive another covid-fueled shutdown of live events? How many commercial and nonprofit arts organizations can weather going dark again without crucial government funding? And, if worse comes to worse, what happens to culture, the artists who create it and the...
Pittsburgh Pop: Reacting to that ‘Sex and the City’ shocker, Rick Sebak’s throwback interview of August Wilson
In this week’s episode of the “Pittsburgh Pop” podcast, host Tim Benz and TV Talk columnist Rob Owen discuss Pittsburgh pop culture news of the moment, including Rick Sebak’s latest WQED-TV special, “Brain Space Energy: My Interview with August Wilson.” Last week’s premiere of “Sex and the City” sequel series...
Shatner marvels at Blue Origin flight frenzy, ‘finite’ Earth
LOS ANGELES — William Shatner’s durable role as an avatar of space’s promise drew a frenzy of attention when fiction became fact with his rocket ride. The “Star Trek” actor says he was as surprised by it as he was gratified by the 10-minute, suborbital jaunt made possible by billionaire...
Golden Globes announce nominations to a skeptical Hollywood
NEW YORK — After widespread criticism forced the organization that puts on the Golden Globes to lose its televised award show and overhaul its membership, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association nevertheless went ahead announcing nominees for film and television awards on Monday despite a skeptical entertainment industry. Just as it’s...
Fox anchor Chris Wallace leaving network for CNN
NEW YORK — Veteran anchor Chris Wallace signed off his “Fox News Sunday” show after 18 years to join CNN’s new streaming service, dealing a blow to Fox’s news operation at a time its opinion side has become preeminent. CNN’s announcement that Wallace will join CNN+ as an anchor came...
Anne Rice, author of gothic novels, dead at 80
Anne Rice, the gothic novelist widely known for her bestselling novel “Interview With the Vampire,” died late Saturday at the age of 80. Rice died due to complications from a stroke, her son Christopher Rice announced on her Facebook page and his Twitter page. “In her final hours, I sat...
Michael Nesmith, the Monkee for all seasons, dies at 78
LOS ANGELES — Michael Nesmith, the singer-songwriter, author, actor-director and entrepreneur who will likely be best remembered as the wool-hatted, guitar-strumming member of the made-for-television rock band The Monkees, has died at 78. Nesmith, who had undergone quadruple bypass surgery in 2018, died at home Friday of natural causes, his...
2021 in Books: ‘Everything feels very magnified’
A 22-year-old poet became a literary star. The enthusiasms of young people on TikTok helped revive Colleen Hoover’s “It Ends With Us,” and other novels released years earlier. Conservatives pushed to restrict the books permitted in classrooms at a time when activists were working to expand them. And the government...
Van Gogh hot air balloon hovers over Oakland
Vincent Van Gogh has been called a larger-than-life character, and on Friday morning in Schenley Park, he was — kind of. A 92-foot-tall Vincent Van Gogh hot air balloon made a stop on Flagstaff Hill in Oakland. It was one of the balloon’s first stops as it travels around the...
2 stars of ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ look back at a classic
NEW YORK — It was just another job for child actor Karolyn Grimes. She was 6 and had already done four movies by the summer of 1946 when filming began on “It’s a Wonderful Life.” The only thing she recalls about the biggest movie of her career was being delighted...
Westmoreland Symphony’s ‘Home for the Holidays’ returns to Palace Theatre
“There’s no place like home for the holidays,” says the old Harold Arlen song. And there’s no place like The Palace Theatre for Westmoreland Symphony Orchestra’s annual “Home for the Holidays” concert. After going virtual for the 2020 performance, the orchestra will be back on stage at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 18...
Rocker Jack White coming back to Pittsburgh next year
Musician Jack White is hitting the road next year with a massive tour, including a stop at the Petersen Events Center in Oakland. He plays Pittsburgh on April 14 as part of his “The Supply Chain Issues Tour.” White last performed in Pittsburgh at Stage AE with his band The...
5 things to do in Pittsburgh this weekend, Dec. 10-12
It’s the weekend. Here are some ways to spend it. Wintergarden event The 10th annual holiday show from 6 to 10 p.m. on Sunday by Jason Kendall Productions will include soul, gospel, rock, folk and blues. The event held inside the Wintergarden at PPG Place, Downtown, benefits the Greater Pittsburgh...
5 questions with ‘RoboCop’ actor Peter Weller ahead of Steel City Con in Monroeville
Peter Weller wants people to know that he’s more than just RoboCop — a lot more. Weller, who has appeared in over 70 movies including “RoboCop” and “RoboCop 2” in which he played the title character and earned much acclaim, is scheduled to appear at this weekend’s Steel City Con...
5 things to do in Westmoreland County: Dec. 10-12
Mac attack If you’re a Fleetwood Mac fan, you need to get yourself to the Lamp Theatre this weekend. Tusk, the band billing itself as “The Number One Tribute to Fleetwood Mac,” will play shows at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the downtown Irwin venue. Tusk promises note-for-note renditions...
Sundance Film Fest unveils lineup for hybrid 2022 edition
The Sundance Film Festival is returning to the Utah mountains in January armed with documentaries about Bill Cosby, Princess Diana, Kanye West and Lucille Ball and the directorial debuts of Eva Longoria, Tig Notaro and Jesse Eisenberg. Festival organizers on Thursday unveiled the lineup for the 2022 edition, which includes...
TV Talk: Is the ‘Sex and the City’ sequel series worth watching?Video
There’s a simple question to ask yourself when weighing whether or not to check out the new “Sex and the City” sequel series: Are you comfortable with change? Or would you rather remember characters and a TV show as they were? Billed as “a new chapter of ‘Sex and the...
Reality TV’s Josh Duggar convicted of child porn possession
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Former reality TV star Josh Duggar was immediately taken into custody Thursday after a federal jury convicted him of downloading and possessing child pornography. The jury in Fayetteville, about 140 miles northwest of Little Rock, found the 33-year-old Duggar guilty on one count each of receiving and...
Pittsburgh Festival Opera brings ‘Ho-Ho-Holiday Extravaganza’ to Edgeworth Club
“It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…” Mezzo-Soprano Marianne Cornetti started singing those words when asked about the inspiration of holiday music for her upcoming performance. “I could listen to Christmas music all year long,” said Cornetti, who will be Mrs. Claus at the Ho-Ho-Holiday Extravaganza on Dec. 19...
How Jim Morrison’s final sessions with the Doors produced an LA classic out of chaos
LOS ANGELES — During the period in late 1970 and early ‘71 when Jim Morrison and his bandmates in the Doors were recording their sixth and final studio album, “L.A. Woman,” at their West Hollywood rehearsal space, the singer was drowning in a booze-fueled bender: drunk nearly every night but...
WTAE promotes Elena LaQuatra
WTAE-TV reporter Elena LaQuatra, who has been filling in as morning traffic reporter since July, has been promoted to that position as well as noon weekday newscast anchor on Channel 4, effective next week. LaQuatra, a Mt. Lebanon native, first worked at WTAE in 2015 as a digital content creator....
From classic to jazzy, ‘Nutcracker’ fans have choice of several productions
For ballet fans, holiday productions of “The Nutcracker” are part of what makes this the most wonderful time of the year. Adapted from “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King,” an 1816 story by E.T.A. Hoffmann, the ballet tells the tale of a girl who befriends a nutcracker that comes to...
Pittsburgh Pop: Talia Kirkland hired at WPXI; details on ACC Network coming to Comcast this month
In this week’s episode of the “Pittsburgh Pop” podcast, host Tim Benz and TV Talk columnist Rob Owen discuss Pittsburgh pop culture news of the moment, including WPXI-TV hiring a new reporter. Originally from Penn Hills, Talia Kirkland is a Duquesne University grad (an undergraduate degree in journalism and a...
Krampus returns to Pittsburgh for concert, celebration
Krampus is coming back to Pittsburgh. Tonight. Krampus is a mythic cloven-footed figure known to appear on Dec. 5, who acts as an anti-Santa, punishing the naughty and sparing the nice. He’s known to appear on the streets Dec. 5 (Krampusnacht), the day before the Feast of St. Nicholas celebrated...
