Celebrity

Folk Singer-Songwriter Gordon Lightfoot Dies At 84

Published

1 year ago

2023-05-02

TORONTO, Ontario — Gordon Lightfoot, the folk singer-songwriter known for songs like “If You Could Read My Mind” and “Sundown,” as well as songs on Canadian identity, died on Monday. He was 84.

According to Representative Victoria Lord, the musician died at a Toronto hospital. His death cause was not immediately known.

Lightfoot was one of the most well-known voices to emerge from Toronto’s Yorkville folk club scene in the 1960s, recording 20 studio albums and writing hundreds of songs, including “Carefree Highway,” “Early Morning Rain,” and “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.”

Lightfoot had five Grammy nominations, three platinum records, and nine gold records for albums and songs in the 1970s. He played almost 1500 shows and recorded 500 songs.

He toured in his later years. He recently canceled future gigs in the United States and Canada, citing health concerns.

“We have lost one of our greatest singer-songwriters,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on Twitter. “Gordon Lightfoot captured the spirit of our country in his music, and in doing so, he helped shape Canada’s soundscape.” May his music inspire future generations, and may his legacy live on in perpetuity.”

Numerous musicians, including Elvis Presley, Barbra Streisand, Harry Belafonte, Johnny Cash, Anne Murray, Jane’s Addiction, and Sarah McLachlan, have recorded Lightfoot. Bob Dylan even referred to him as a “rare talent.”

Most of his songs are extremely autobiographical, with lyrics that frankly probe his experiences and discuss topics surrounding Canadian national identity. “Canadian Railroad Trilogy” depicted the railway’s construction.

“I just write songs about where I am and where I came from,” he previously explained. “I take real-life situations and write poems about them.”

Lightfoot’s music had its distinct style. “It’s not country, folk, or rock,” he declared in an interview in 2000. Nonetheless, it contains strains of all three.

“The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” is a mournful homage to the 29 men who died in the ship’s sinking in Lake Superior during a storm in 1975.

Lightfoot had five Grammy nominations, three platinum records, and nine gold records for albums and songs in the 1970s. He played almost 1500 shows and recorded 500 songs.

While his parents recognized his musical abilities early on, Lightfoot did not set out to become a famous balladeer.

He started singing in his church choir and aspired to be a jazz musician. At 13, the soprano won a talent competition at Toronto’s Massey Hall’s Kiwanis Music Festival.

“I remember the thrill of being in front of a crowd,” Lightfoot remarked in an interview in 2018. “It was like a stepping stone for me…”

The appeal of those early days lingered, and his barbershop quartet, The Collegiate Four, won a CBC talent competition in high school. In 1956, he strummed his first guitar and began dabbling in music in the following months. He flunked algebra the first time, possibly due to his musical tastes. He graduated in 1957 after retaking the class.

Lightfoot had already written his first serious work, “The Hula Hoop Song,” inspired by the popular toy at the time. Attempts to market the tune were futile, so at 18, he moved to the United States to study music for a year. The trip was partially sponsored by money saved from a job transporting linens to resorts near his hometown.

However, life in Hollywood was not for Lightfoot, and he soon returned to Canada. He promised to travel to Toronto to pursue his musical dreams, accepting any job he could find, including a job at a bank, until obtaining a role as a square dancer on CBC’s “Country Hoedown.”

His first job was at Fran’s Restaurant, a downtown family-run café that appreciated his folk inclinations. He met fellow musician Ronnie Hawkins there.

The singer was living with a few buddies in a condemned building in Yorkville, which was then a bohemian neighborhood where future stars like Neil Young and Joni Mitchell learned their trade in smoke-filled bars.

Lightfoot made his radio breakthrough with the single “(Remember Me) I’m the One” in 1962.

Lightfoot made his radio breakthrough with the single “(Remember Me) I’m the One” in 1962, which led to a string of hit tunes and collaborations with other local performers. Lightfoot bonded with the Mariposa Folk Festival in his hometown of Orillia, Ontario, that same year and became the festival’s most devoted returning artist.

By 1964, he spread positive word of mouth around town, and audiences began to assemble in greater numbers. The next year, Lightfoot’s song “I’m Not Sayin'” became a smash in Canada, helping to expand his popularity in the United States.

Several other artists’ covers didn’t hurt, either. Marty Robbins’ 1965 rendition of “Ribbon of Darkness” achieved No. 1 on the country charts in the United States, while Peter, Paul, and Mary charted Lightfoot’s original, “For Lovin’ Me,” in the United States. Hundreds of other musicians have covered the tune, which Dylan once claimed he wished he had recorded.

Lightfoot performed at the Newport Folk Festival that summer, the same year Dylan shocked audiences by ditching his folkie character in favor of an electric guitar.

As the folk music boom ended in the late 1960s, Lightfoot was already easing into pop music.

He earned his debut Billboard chart appearance in 1971 with “If You Could Read My Mind.” It peaked at No. 5 and has generated a slew of covers since.

Lightfoot’s success peaked in the mid-1970s when “Sundown,” his song and album, topped the Billboard charts for the first and only time.

Lightfoot won 12 Juno Awards during his career, including one in 1970 when it was known as the Gold Leaf.

He was inducted into the Canadian Recording Industry Hall of Fame, now known as the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, in 1986. He was inducted into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame in 2001 after receiving the Governor General’s Award in 1997.

SOURCE – (AP)

Celebrity

Judge Upholds Dismissal Of Involuntary Manslaughter Charge Against Alec Baldwin In On-Set Shooting

Published

14 hours ago

2024-10-26

Kiara Grace

Santa Fe, New Mexico – A New Mexico judge affirmed her decision to dismiss Alec Baldwin’s involuntary manslaughter allegation in the fatal shooting of a cameraman on the set of a Western film.

In a ruling issued Thursday, state District Court Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer upheld her July decision to dismiss an involuntary manslaughter allegation against Baldwin. She claimed that prosecutors did not present any factual or legal arguments to support altering the decision.

“Because the state’s amended motion raises arguments previously made and arguments that the state chose not to raise earlier, the court does not find the amended motion well taken,” the judge stated, adding that the request was also late.

Judge Upholds Dismissal Of Involuntary Manslaughter Charge Against Alec Baldwin In On-Set Shooting

A representative for Baldwin’s lawyers stated on Friday that they had no immediate reaction to the ruling.

Special prosecutor Kari Morrissey told The Associated Press that she disagrees with the court’s analysis and intends to appeal the decision. The Santa Fe district attorney appointed Morrissey to take up the case in March 2023, after a previous special prosecutor resigned due to errors in filing first charges.

The case was dismissed halfway through the trial due to allegations that police and prosecutors suppressed information from the defense in the 2021 death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the film “Rust.”

Baldwin’s trial was disrupted by discoveries that ammunition was brought into the Santa Fe County sheriff’s office in March by a guy who claimed it was related to Hutchins’ death. Prosecutors maintained the ammunition was unconnected and inconsequential, but Baldwin’s lawyers claim detectives “buried” the evidence in a different case file and successfully moved to dismiss.

Judge Upholds Dismissal Of Involuntary Manslaughter Charge Against Alec Baldwin In On-Set Shooting

Baldwin, the primary actor and co-producer for “Rust,” was pointing a gun at Hutchins during a rehearsal on a film set outside Santa Fe in October 2021 when the revolver fired, killing Hutchins and injuring director Joel Souza. Baldwin claims he pulled back the hammer but not the trigger, and the handgun fired.

In April, a judge sentenced Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the movie weapons supervisor, to a maximum of 1.5 years in a state prison for involuntary manslaughter in Hutchins’ death.

Last month, Marlowe Sommer denied Gutierrez-Reed’s plea to overturn her conviction or a new trial based on concerns that prosecutors failed to communicate potentially exculpatory evidence. She determined that the armorer’s attorneys failed to prove that there was a reasonable likelihood that the trial decision would have been different if Gutierrez-Reed had access to the evidence, which is now pending in a higher court appeal.

SOURCE | AP

Celebrity

Seth Meyers Is Trading Politics For Parenting In New Standup Special

Published

2 days ago

2024-10-25

Kiara Grace

NEW YORK — Seth Meyers reveals that whether he’s quarreling with his wife or in an odd circumstance with his children, he can’t help but think of turning it into a piece. The comedian and host of “Late Night with Seth Meyers” adapted numerous of those humorous stories for his latest HBO/Max standup special, “Dad Man Walking.”

Meyers’ most recent HBO special, “Lobby Baby,” which aired in 2019, also delves into his parenting adventures. Meyers adds that being holed up with his family during the pandemic forced him to write about his children and marriage to his wife, Alexi Ashe.

“I’ve always enjoyed how — unlike the nightly show, which is so tied to politics and the world we’re living in — this was more about sort of the universal experience of being part of a family,” Meyers said CNN in a recent interview. “It’s really fun to be on stage and realize that you are not alone in the way you are feeling about things.”

Seth Meyers Is Trading Politics For Parenting In New Standup Special

The program was shot live at the Vic Theatre in Chicago, where Meyers received large laughs talking about simple things like not understanding how to fold a stroller and the dangers of playing board games with his children, who are 8, 6, and 3 years old.

Meyers stated that his children have not complained about discussing the humorous things they say and do on stage. “I am very cognizant of saying things that I feel like they’ll be okay with,” he told me. They enjoy appearing on TV and serving as fodder for his act, but he knows that will change as they age. His oldest son suddenly appeared less enthusiastic about the traditional turkey costume contest for Thanksgiving.

“The minute someone at school busts him for being in a turkey costume, game over,” Meyers added, laughing. “But we will give them permission … because my wife did buy into being married to a comedian, whereas they didn’t choose it.”

One of the special’s highlight moments is Alexi attempting to pass through airport security with a tub of hummus. Meyers intended to keep it to himself, but he couldn’t resist testing it onstage. “I am literally in real time thinking … it’s not just that the story is so funny, but I realize this really is a perfect example of who we both are in this marriage,” he told me. “It kind of overlaps nicely with the theme of what I’m trying to do.”

The special’s director, Neal Brennan, believes the humor lies in Meyers’ relatable experiences despite his celebrity and acerbic persona. “He controls ‘Late Night’ and his personal life? “He is completely out of control,” Brennan added, chuckling.

Brennan, who also helmed “Lobby Baby,” claims Meyers has no pretense regarding family. “His conceit is, ‘I’m a very good businessman… and I have all the power.'” I have complete authority; everything I say goes. And when I get home, it’s just a lot of people taking advantage of me and wanting to speak about lava.”

Meyers, known for his stinging political satire, claims that the humor in his act originates from seeing how men and women fail each other and attempting to distribute blame equitably.

“I’m so loath to do that special about a man complaining about his wife,” Meyers joked. He appreciates it when both husbands and wives see themselves in his comedy. “For me, balance is extremely vital. Whereas both sides politically are a complete waste of time, I strive to do both sides through marriage.”

Seth Meyers Is Trading Politics For Parenting In New Standup Special

Meyers also commented on “Saturday Night Live”‘s 50th anniversary, saying he enjoyed seeing his period’s “big swings” on the show. “I loved just being there while you watched Kristen Wiig, Fred Armisen, Andy Samberg and Bill Hader all just become the people who would then be a massive part of show business for the next two decades.”

While some argue that “SNL” is no longer as hilarious as it once was, Meyers believes that being “beautifully uneven” is one of the show’s greatest enduring aspects compared to watching live sports.

“You don’t know until it happens how it’s going to be,” Meyers told the crowd. “I’ve always felt that the poorest show has something fantastic, while the best show has something dreadful. “And no host can guarantee consistency.”

As for whether he’ll continue performing standup, Meyers believes it’s a safe bet, given all the family drama. “They continue to provide stuff. So, sure, I can’t see it stopping very soon.”

SOURCE | AP

Celebrity

Harvey Weinstein’s Retrial Moved To Next Year, Lawyer Plans To Hire A Private Investigator

Published

4 days ago

2024-10-23

Kiara Grace

NEW YORK — Harvey Weinstein’s retrial on sex crimes charges in Manhattan will not begin until at least next year, and his lawyer intends to employ a private investigator to check into a fresh complaint against the movie mogul that will now be included in the case.

The fresh information was revealed as Weinstein appeared in court Wednesday for a preliminary hearing.

Harvey was already set for retrial on two sex offense charges after the state’s top court reversed his 2020 conviction earlier this year. Then, in September, he received a fresh charge for another attack. He’s pled not guilty.

On Wednesday, Judge Curtis Farber granted the prosecution’s plea to consolidate both cases and stated that he would set a new trial date by January 29, 2025.

Harvey Weinstein’s Retrial Moved To Next Year, Lawyer Plans To Hire A Private Investigator

The trial was originally slated to begin on November 12, but Harvey’s attorneys requested a date in March or April when the new accusation was added.

“We’ll need some time to investigate the case, hire a private investigator, and go deeper into discovery,” said Harvey’s lawyer, Arthur Aidala.

Prosecutors said they were not opposed to the date, but they were ready to go to trial in January.

Harvey was convicted of forcibly performing oral sex on a TV and film production assistant in 2006 and third-degree rape for an attack on an aspiring actor in 2013. In the latest complaint, authorities allege that he forced oral sex on a separate lady in a Manhattan hotel in the spring of 2006.

Aidala stated after the court session that the identity of the new accuser had not been formally disclosed.

Lindsay Goldbrum, the accuser’s attorney, has previously stated that the lady has never made her claim public and does not want to be recognized for the time being, but she “will be fully prepared to speak her truth at trial.”

The Manhattan District Attorney’s office argued that having a second trial on the additional charge would be “extraordinarily inefficient” and a waste of judicial resources. Harvey’s lawyers argued in court documents that the cases should be kept separate, accusing prosecutors of aiming to turn the retrial into “an entirely new proceeding.”

Harvey Weinstein’s Retrial Moved To Next Year, Lawyer Plans To Hire A Private Investigator

Harvey has been detained at the city’s Rikers Island detention facility, where he has suffered many health difficulties.

He was also convicted of rape in Los Angeles in 2022, but his lawyers have filed an appeal.

The sexual assault and harassment charges against Weinstein fueled the #MeToo movement in 2017.

The 72-year-old former producer co-founded Miramax and The Weinstein Company, both of which create films and television shows. He produced films such as “Shakespeare in Love” and “The Crying Game.”

SOURCE | AP