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Elton John, 75 Rocks Dodger Stadium For the Very Last Time

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Elton John, 75 Rocks Dodger Stadium

Elton John took the stage at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles in a sequined-studded baseball uniform as the world’s biggest pop star 47 years ago on Sunday night, dressed in a bedazzled Dodgers bathrobe, a uniform more fitting for a 75-year-old man on the verge of retirement.

The crowd of more than 50,000 erupted, which occurred in the final minutes of John’s final North American tour.

He stated, “I want to spend time with my family because I’ll be 76 next year.” “I want to show you why I’m retiring by bringing them out.”

He embraced and kissed his husband, David Furnish, while his two sons, 11-year-old Zachary and 9-year-old Elijah, waved gleefully at the crowd in matching Dodgers jackets with “Elton” on the back.

The inevitable final song that gave the tour its name, “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road,” was then performed by John.

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The crowd, full of rocket men and rocket women, blue jean babies and LA ladies, many John’s age but plenty in their 20s, 30s, and 40s, swayed and sang along to songs like “Rocket Man” and “Tiny Dancer” throughout the two-hour show. Some wiped away their tears.

Many were dressed up in sequins and spangles, sparkling spectacles, top hats, feather boas, and, in a few cases, Donald Duck suits, representing different eras of John’s 55-year career.

“Thank you all for dressing up,” John said, “it makes me so happy when you all wear the best costumes.”

When the last song finished, John removed his robe to reveal another retirement outfit, a green-and-red tracksuit, and climbed into a small, clear elevator that lifted him into a gap in the backdrop.

elton john

On a massive video screen, he could then be seen walking down a yellow brick road in the distance. Many others came to support Elton John on this special day.

Kiki Dee performed their duet “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart.”

“This woman was here with me in 1975, and we sang this song,” John explained as he brought out Dee. “I invited her to recreate that incredible moment.”

As his rehearsal piano player Adam Chester pounded the keys in his place, John jumped from his usual keyboard spot, grabbed a mic, and sang and danced with Dee.

In honour of the four bandmates who died during his career, John performed “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me,” After the first verse, he introduced another guest, shouting, “ladies and gentlemen, Brandi Carlile!”

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The moment was an unspoken tribute to another late collaborator, George Michael, who performed the song with Elton John in the same way in 1991.

Carlile, who played an important role in Joni Mitchell’s recent return to the stage, was dressed in her Dodger-themed spangled suit. As John wrapped his arm around her and soaked in the applause, she belted out her verses and made a “can you believe this?!” face to the crowd.

A drum machine pounded as Dua Lipa, dressed in a black gown that contrasted with everyone else’s sparkles, took the stage for the first of the encores, “Cold Heart,” her 2021 hit with John.

“I can’t tell you how it feels to be 75 years old and have the world’s No. 1 record,” John said afterwards. “And 52 years ago, this was my very first hit.”

He began playing piano chords and sang, “It’s a little bit funny, this feeling inside,” the opening line to “Your Song” from the 1970s.

elton john

“That was your song, Los Angeles!” Elton John exclaimed.

He explained the city’s significance to his music about two hours earlier, after taking the stage in a tuxedo with sequins that flared into a flame design and opening the concert with “Benny and the Jets.”

“All right, this is a very special, emotional night for me, and it’s been a long journey, and I first came here to America in 1970 to the City of Angels, Los Angeles, and I played a club called the Troubadour.”

elton john

The concert, live streamed on Disney+, was the last of three nights at the stadium (and his 103rd show in the LA area, he told the crowd). The Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour kicked off in September 2018 with the first of over 300 planned dates. It was halted in 2020 due to the COVID pandemic but resumed in 2021.

John will travel to Australia and New Zealand in January, followed by the United Kingdom and Europe. He’s scheduled to finish in Sweden in July, but he’s made it clear that he’s only done travelling and not making music.

Many of those backing him up have been with him since the beginning, including Nigel Olsson, his drummer since 1969, and Davey Johnstone, his guitarist since 1971, who led the band through a ripping version of “Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting” at the age of 71.

John also gave a rare on-stage glimpse of an even more long-running collaborator, lyricist Bernie Taupin, who wrote most of the lyrics that the audience sang along with all night.

“We’ve been writing together since 1967,” John said as he hugged Taupin, who, with his bald head and plain, earth-toned coat, couldn’t be more dissimilar to his writing partner. “We still love each other more than we ever have.”

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Scottie Scheffler Arrested Outside PGA Championship, Then Returns And Climbs Leaderboard

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Darlington said police pulled Scheffler out of the car, pushed him up against the car and immediately placed him in handcuffs.

“Scheffler was then walked over to the police car, placed in the back, in handcuffs, very stunned about what was happening, looked toward me as he was in those handcuffs and said, ‘Please help me,’” Darlington said. “He very clearly did not know what was happening in the situation. It moved very quickly, very rapidly, very aggressively.”

Scheffler was released by police and returned to the course at 9:12 a.m. Around 9:30 a.m., he arrived at the practice area to the cheers of fans; one yelled “Free Scottie!” and more followed later wearing “Free Scottie” T-shirts.

Scheffler seemed normal, relaxed, sharing a few laughs on the driving range.

“I was never angry. I was just in shock,” Scheffler said. “I was shaking the whole time. I was shaking for like an hour. It was definitely a new feeling for me.”

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AP – VOR News Image

Scottie Scheffler Arrested Outside PGA Championship, Then Returns And Climbs Leaderboard

He could see from a TV in the jail that tee times were pushed back 1 hour20 minutes because of the traffic situation, and realized when an officer knocked on the door and said, “Let’s go,” that he had a chance to play.

He made birdie on his first hole of the day after sticking his approach shot to 3 feet.

Darlington, the ESPN reporter, said police were initially unsure who Scheffler was. He said an officer asked him to leave, and when he identified himself as being with the media, he was told, “There’s nothing you can do. He’s going to jail.”

Darlington said another police officer later approached with a notepad and asked if he knew the name of the person they put in handcuffs.

Scheffler said he never told police who he was except to say, “I’m sorry, I’m just trying to get to my tee time.”

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AP – VOR News Image

Scottie Scheffler Arrested Outside PGA Championship, Then Returns And Climbs Leaderboard

Louisville police have attracted negative national attention in recent years after the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor in 2020 and a federal investigation into its policing practices.

A Department of Justice report released last year said Louisville officers use excessive force and conduct searches based on invalid warrants. The report said Black motorists in Louisville were more likely to be searched during traffic stops, and officers used neck restraints, police dogs and Tasers against people who posed no imminent threat.

Taylor, a 26-year-old Black woman, was shot by officers who had come to her apartment with a warrant that federal officials later said was falsified.

PGA of America, which runs the PGA Championship, offered sympathies for Mills’ family and said, “As it relates to the incident involving Scottie Scheffler, we are fully cooperating as local authorities review what took place.”

scheffler

AP – VOR News Image

Scottie Scheffler Arrested Outside PGA Championship, Then Returns And Climbs Leaderboard

Scheffler has won four of his last five tournaments, including his second Masters title. He has been home in Dallas the last three weeks, waiting for the birth of his first child, a son born May 8.

Scheffler is trying to become only the fifth player since 1960 to win the first two majors of the year.

SOURCE – (AP)

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2024 Cannes Kicks Off With Greta Gerwig’s Jury And A Palme D’Or For Meryl Streep

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CANNES, France — The Cannes Film Festival began Tuesday with the announcement of Greta Gerwig’s jury and the giving of an honorary Palme d’Or to Meryl Streep, as the French Riviera spectacle started its possibly tumultuous 77th edition.

The opening night picture, “The Second Act,” a French comedy starring Lea Seydoux, Vincent Lindon, Louis Garrel, and Raphaël Quenard, will usher in a 10-day parade of stars down Cannes’ iconic red carpet. During the opening ceremony, Streep will get her honorary Palme.

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AP – VOR News Image

Cannes Kicks Off With Greta Gerwig’s Jury And A Palme D’Or For Meryl Streep

In the coming days, Cannes will debut George Miller’s “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga,” Francis Ford Coppola’s self-financed “Megalopolis,” and anticipated new films from Paolo Sorrentino, Yorgos Lanthimos, Andrea Arnold, and Kevin Costner.

However, much of this year’s Cannes controversy has occurred off-screen.

French actor Judith Godrèche accused two film directors of rape and sexual assault when she was a teenager earlier this year, and the French film industry has been grappling with probably its defining #MeToo moment since. Godrèche’s short film “Moi Aussi” will premiere on Wednesday.

When asked about #MeToo’s expansion in France, Gerwig told reporters in Cannes on Tuesday that it is progressing.

“I think people in the community of movies telling us stories and trying to change things for the better is only good,” Gerwig stated. “I’ve witnessed significant shift in the American cinema scene, and I believe it’s critical that we continue to broaden that conversation. So I believe it’s only advancing things in the right direction. Keep the lines of communication open.”

Gerwig, fresh off the success of “Barbie,” is president of the jury that will decide Cannes’ top prize, the Palme d’Or. Thierry Fremaux commended her on Monday as “the ideal director” for Cannes, citing her ability to work in both arthouse and studio films and her passion for movie history. And, “We very much liked ‘Barbie.'”

Gerwig is joined on the jury by Lily Gladstone, star of “Killers of the Flower Moon,” French actor Eva Green, Spanish filmmaker J.A. Bayona, French actor Omar Sy, Lebanese actor and director Nadine Labaki, Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda, Turkish screenwriter Ebru Ceylan, and Italian actor Pierfrancesco Favino.

cannes

AP – VOR News Image

Cannes Kicks Off With Greta Gerwig’s Jury And A Palme D’Or For Meryl Streep

“I thought I just got over my imposter syndrome last year,” admitted the Oscar-nominated Gladstone. “But I’ll start all over again.”

The jurors were asked how the numerous real-world concerns outside the festival would influence their decision-making. One film in competition, Ali Abbasi’s “The Apprentice,” portrays Sebastian Stan as a youthful Donald Trump. And Labaki was asked if she was thinking about the war in Gaza.

“I truly believe that one of the tools to really change something in the situation we all live in right now, which is a situation I think is not that great, is really through art and through cinema,” Labaki stated. “It may propose a more tolerant way of seeing things and seeing each other as human beings.”

According to Favino, filmmakers have a vital role in reminding the world of where beauty can be found.

“This is why I decided that I could be here without feeling guilty as a human being,” stated Favino. “Because if we look for beauty, then we might look for peace.”

Other fears are circulating this year’s Cannes. Festival workers, frustrated with short-term contracts that make them ineligible for unemployment benefits between events, have threatened to strike.

On Monday, Iranian filmmaker Mohammed Rasoulof, whose film “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” will be shown in competition at Cannes next week, said that he had escaped Iran after being sentenced to eight years in prison and flogging. The film is described as a scathing depiction of the Iranian regime.

cannes

AP – VOR News Image

Cannes Kicks Off With Greta Gerwig’s Jury And A Palme D’Or For Meryl Streep

As Cannes continues, many will be fixated on the celebs who walk the festival’s iconic red carpet. Emma Stone, Anya Taylor-Joy, Demi Moore, Selena Gomez, Nicolas Cage, and Barry Keoghan will be among the cast. George Lucas will be presented with an honorary Palme d’Or during the closing ceremony on May 25.

Regardless, the 77th Cannes Film Festival will have many expectations to meet. Last year’s festival, which was universally praised for its impressive roster, yielded three Oscar best picture nominees: “Anatomy of a Fall,” “The Zone of Interest,” and “Killers of the Flower Moon.” To help reignite last year’s spirit, Messi, the canine hero of “Anatomy of a Fall,” has returned to Cannes for a series of quick French TV advertisements.

A successful Cannes will help France maintain the global spotlight throughout the summer. The French Open, Tour de France, and Summer Olympics in Paris will all take place after the festival. On May 21, the Olympic flame will be carried to the Palais des Festivals, the festival’s focal point.

SOURCE – (AP)

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Actor Steve Buscemi Is OK After Being Punched In The Face In New York City

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NEW YORK — Actor Steve Buscemi is well after being hit in the face by a man on a New York City street, his publicist confirmed Sunday.

The 66-year-old star of “Fargo” and “Boardwalk Empire” was beaten late Wednesday morning in Manhattan and transported to a local hospital for bruises, swelling, and bleeding in his left eye.

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Deadline – VOR News Image

Actor Steve Buscemi Is OK After Being Punched In The Face In New York City

“Steve Buscemi was assaulted in Mid-Town Manhattan, another victim of a random act of violence in the city,” according to a statement from his publicist on Sunday. “He is ok and appreciates everyone’s well wishes.”

The New York Post was first to report the assault.

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Actor Steve Buscemi Is OK After Being Punched In The Face In New York City

The New York Police Department issued a nameless statement regarding the assault on Wednesday. Steve’s representative confirmed Sunday that the anonymous assault victim in the police report was the actor.

According to the police department, no arrests have been made, and the investigation is ongoing.

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The Guardian – VOR News Image

Actor Steve Buscemi Is OK After Being Punched In The Face In New York City

Michael Stuhlbarg, Buscemi’s “Boardwalk Empire” co-star, was hit in the back of the neck by a rock while walking in Manhattan’s Central Park on March 31. Stuhlbarg chased his attacker, who was apprehended outside the park.

SOURCE – (AP)

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