People in the News
By The Associated Press
NEW YORK – Grandmaster Flash ‘ the Furious Five are among the nominees for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame – the first rap artists to get that distinction -joining U2, Randy Newman and the O’Jays on the ballot.
Getting his start as a DJ at Bronx parties in the late 1970s, Grandmaster Flash later joined with the Furious Five for the social commentary of “The Message” and “White Lines (Don’t Don’t Do It).”
Other nominees include blues guitarist Buddy Guy, rockabilly pioneer Wanda Jackson, rock band the Pretenders, soul singer Percy Sledge, “Centerfold” singers the J. Geils Band and the late country singer Conway Twitty.
Previous nominees on the ballot: the Sex Pistols, Patti Smith, the Stooges, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Gram Parsons.
Singers of “Back Stabbers” and a string of other soulful hits, the O’Jays had their chart heyday in the 1970s. A singer of satirical songs like “Short People,” Newman is now one of the Hollywood’s most successful composers of movie music.
Musicians, industry professionals and journalists vote, and results of the 20th annual election will likely be announced in December. Artists are eligible to be inducted into the Rock Hall after at least 25 years have passed since their first record was released.
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On the Net: www.rockhall.com
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Jimmy Kimmel’s doing it again.
The late-night funnyman will host the American Music Awards for the second consecutive year when the three-hour special airs live on ABC Nov. 14.
“It is an honor to be nominated and I promise that my duet with Christina Aguilera will be a performance that will not be soon forgotten,” joked Kimmel, host of the network’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live.”
Dick Clark, who produces the annual American Music Awards, said Monday he was excited to have him back as the show’s host.
“He showed last year that his unpredictability and ability to react to situations around him allows him to bring a unique sense of humor to the stage and to keep the show moving at a fast pace,” Clark said.
Nominations for the 32nd annual American Music Awards, meanwhile, will be announced Tuesday.
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On the Net: www.abc.com
NEW YORK (AP) – The countdown to the No. 1 sexiest male newscaster ends with … Keith Olbermann – at least according to a Playgirl magazine online poll.
The host of MSNBC’s nightly “Countdown with Keith Olbermann” had linked his Web site to the Playgirl Web site and urged viewers to vote for him. The strategy worked: he came away the winner with 24 percent of the 50,000 votes cast.
“Voter turnout was phenomenal,” Michele Zipp, the magazine’s editor in chief, said Monday. “Our readers jammed our e-mail server extolling the virtues of all those sexy news guys on TV.”
Fox News Channel’s Sean Hannity came in second and Anderson Cooper of CNN was third. Andy Rooney of CBS’s “60 Minutes” who’s 85 tied for fifth place with the boyish Bill Hemmer from CNN. And Fox’s Bill O’Reilly received about 200 write-in votes.
Complete results will be listed in the October issue.
As winner, Olbermann won’t be taking it all off in Playgirl’s pages but he will choose a charity to receive $2,500 on his behalf.
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NEW YORK (AP) – Mary-Louise Parker came to the Luca Luca fashion show to see the cocktail dresses.
“I love his dresses, they are lovely and ladylike,” she said Sunday night from the front row at the Bryant Park tents in midtown Manhattan. The show was part of New York Fashion Week, which runs through Wednesday.
Parker, an Emmy nominee for the miniseries “Angels in America,” once had many occasions to get dressed up in designer Luca Orlandi’s gowns and dresses.
But now that she’s a mother, things have changed.
“I definitely don’t get out as much as I used to,” the 40-year-old actress said with a laugh.
Parker made a striking fashion statement at the Golden Globes earlier this year when she wore a form-fitting black gown with a plunging neckline just two weeks after giving birth to her son, Atticus. When she won the best supporting-actress award, for “Angels in America,” Parker thanked her son for helping her fill out her revealing gown.
However, at Luca Luca, Parker opted for a simple blue sweater.
Other celebrities sitting along the catwalk included Jessica Simpson, Anne Hathaway, Venus and Serena Williams wearing complementing salmon-pink dresses and R. Kelly.
Parker returns to Broadway this fall, where she won a Tony for her performance in “Proof,” to star in “Reckless.”
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COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) – More than 500 Buddhist monks marched in the Sri Lankan capital Monday expressing outrage and demanding a ban on an upcoming Hollywood movie, threatening to fast even to death if their objections were not heeded.
“Hollywood Buddha,” made by independent filmmaker Philippe Caland, will be released in California Sept. 24. It’s about a struggling Hollywood producer who rents a Buddha statue at the behest of a Buddhist friend who believes it will bring him luck selling his feature film.
Saffron-robed monks from the Patriotic National Movement marched to the U.S. Embassy denouncing an advertisement of the movie that shows a man seated on the head of a Buddha statue.
Some carried the advertisement while others waved Buddhist flags and staged a sit-down protest shielding themselves with black umbrellas against the blazing midday sun.
“We want the release of this film stopped,” said monk Mawarale Baddiya, holding a loudspeaker. “The film scoffs at lord Buddha, his character and his teaching.”
The protesters handed a petition to an embassy representative about their objections. But Baddiya warned that if action is not taken their next step would be to begin a fast outside the embassy.
Last week, lawmakers in predominantly Buddhist Thailand expressed similar outrage over the movie.
