Book Review: Novelist Amy Tan shares love of the natural world in 'The Backyard Bird Chronicles'

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Birdwatching has become a cherished pastime for many since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, when people stuck at home for months looked out their windows for entertainment and immersed themselves into the natural world, many of them for the first time.

Best-selling novelist Amy Tan of “The Joy Luck Club” fame is among about 45 million Americans the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has estimated are birders, with many investing seriously in their passion by purchasing birdseed and bird watching accessories.

Now, with entries from her nature journal and astonishing illustrations thanks to lessons in bird illustration, Tan has published “The Backyard Bird Chronicles” about an obsession that dates back to before the pandemic.

Tan's book is the latest to grab onto the popularity of birdwatching.

It joins “Better Living Through Birding: Notes from a Black Man in the Natural World," last year's memoir by Christian Cooper, who famously clashed with a white woman walking her dog in New York's Central Park. The confrontation came on May 25, 2020, the same day George Floyd was killed after a knee on his neck by a white Minneapolis police officer.

Coming out on May 7 is another book sure to delight amateur naturalists: “The Birds that Audubon Missed: Discovery and Desire in the American Wilderness” by Kenn Kaufman.

Kaufman, an avid birder since he was a boy, has authored or co-authored more than a dozen books, including his own Kaufman Field Guides.

In his latest, he tells of the vicious competition among naturalists and John James Audubon, who is known for his efforts in the 1800s to describe and illustrate all the birds he could find.

But amid the rivalries, fraud and plagiarism, "The Birds in America,” Audubon's seminal collection of 435 life-size prints, missed many winged creatures that were not discovered for years, including some common songbirds, hawks and sandpipers.

Tan could only identify three bird species when she first embraced birdwatching as a pastime.

The number of species she could identify steadily grew to 63 as she lured more birds to the area behind her home with a view of San Francisco Bay, dangling seed and nectar feeders from a stand and planting her rooftop garden with succulents sporting white, yellow and pink blossoms.

Her winged visitors amid the fragrant Meyer lemon trees and lavender bushes have included an American robin, mourning doves, dark-eyed Juncos, a purple finch and orange crowned sparrows.

“I’ve been spending more hours a day staring at birds than writing," she notes at one point. "How can I not? Just outside my office, four fledgling scrub jays are learning survival skills.”

"We’ve been shut down by COVID-19, required to stay home,” she wrote on March 19, 2020. “Almost everything seems like a potential transmitter of disease and death — the groceries, a door knob, another person. But not the birds. The birds are a balm.”

Like a loving mother, Tan watches in delight as fledglings learn how to get get food from her patio cage feeders, She worries whether they'll be affected by smoke from fires in California's north.

Tan eventually becomes controlled by birds, feeding them 700-800 squirmy beetle larvae a day at a cost of some $250 a month. She leaves alpaca yarn outside so an Oak Titmouse can line her nest with the soft fuzz. Tan hopes that the mealworms, tiny balls of suet and sunflower chips she leaves on the patio will ensure more fledglings reach adulthood.

As time passes, Tan becomes intentionally curious in nature, fascinated as a pair of Great Horned Owls take up residence in her backyard, depleting the rat population as they regurgitate pellets comprised of bits of indigestible bone and fur.

She learns to stay motionless for long periods, even in the cold, to silently observe.

“One must suffer for beauty, happily, for birds,” she writes.

___

AP book reviews: https://ift.tt/n2tFTfm

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May 01, 2024 at 03:47AM

Dua Lipa is all about 'Radical Optimism,' in her music and other pursuits

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NEW YORK -- NEW YORK (AP) — Dua Lipa is floating in the ocean, the sun just beginning to set behind her. She looks strong, serene — save for the looming threat of a massive shark, fin just breaching the surface a few feet away.

The image is the cover of her third album, “Radical Optimism,” out Friday. It is an apt visual representation for an album about finding and protecting your peace in dangerous waters — a thematic maturation for the Grammy-award winning pop superstar, who has long identified her sound as “dance-crying."

That cheeky term encapsulates the clubby jubilance of her biggest pop hits, but "Radical Optimism," with its psychedelic electro-pop, complicates it.

“There’s definitely something more cathartic that comes with the third album,” she told The Associated Press recently.

“'Future Nostalgia' was my chance for me to be able to do a very polished pop-dance-disco record,” she says of her 2020 sophomore release. “Radical Optimism,” alternatively, was informed by what she's learned from touring the world over the last few years — drawing influence from trip hop and Britpop and including newfound interest in live instrumentation.

“It was so much more free flowing,” she says of her latest album's creative process. “And it didn’t have a formula, per se, but I always had that pop sensibility in the back of my mind. But I wanted to just experiment and try and create something new. But I think this was always kind of the album that I’ve always wanted to make.”

In more ways than one: Around her first album, Lipa wrote down that she'd like to work with Tame Impala's Kevin Parker — specifically on her third album. The manifestation worked, and he became a crucial collaborator on “Radical Optimism."

"It was almost like something deep down, instinctively, was telling me that it was something earned," she says. “That over time I would be able to go in and work with a creative that I was so inspired by, and to be in a room and learn from him."

As for the album's title: “It’s euphoric, it’s togetherness,” she says.

“Dance music has such a long history of creating such a safe space. And I just want to embody that,” she adds.

She's been working hard to get there. Lipa, now 28, began her career at age 15, when she convinced her family to let her move from Kosovo to London, where she was born, to pursue a pop career. She went to school, modeled, and in 2017 released her eponymous debut album with the blockbuster dance-pop hits “New Rules” and “One Kiss.” Then came the nu-disco electropop of 2020’s “Future Nostalgia," which solidified her status as one of pop music's biggest players. Not bad for a unique voice in the streaming era, where capturing the attention of the masses — and sustaining it — has never been more of a challenge.

In 2024, her pop songs contain a kind of learned elasticity. The melodies stack atop unusual synth sounds, the vocal range stretches (particularly on the cut “Falling Forever”), the dance breaks inspired by U.K. rave culture and format-benders Primal Scream and Massive Attack — they're all elements Lipa says she wouldn’t have dared attempt on her last album. That came from working with Parker, producer Danny L Harle, songwriter Tobias Jesso Jr. (known for his work with Harry Styles and Adele ), and Lipa's longtime collaborator Caroline Ailin.

“She understands how to handle a lot of opinions in the room, including her own,” Jesso tells the AP. "She doesn’t value hers above anyone else’s, she simply uses the ones which work best for what she is trying to achieve.”

“We were a band,” Lipa says of the group. The first day they wrote “Illusion.” The second day, “Happy for You.” ("I’d never written a song like that before," she points out. “And I loved that version of myself.”) The third day, the post-disco pop of "Whatcha Doing." In bright, airy studios in London and Malibu, they finessed what would become Lipa's most ambitious — and euphoric-sounding — record to date.

That experimentation appears across Lipa's endeavors, too. She's acting more — “little baby roles!” she says with a smile — after playing Mermaid Barbie in the blockbuster “Barbie” (she also contributed the ubiquitous, Grammy-nominated song “Dance the Night” to the soundtrack ) and LaGrange, a sultry spy in “Argylle” (a brief performance AP film critic Jake Coyle described as the movie's best few minutes ).

In 2022, she founded a newsletter called Service95, what she views as an extension of a childhood blog, to “tell stories from all around the world, not solely from a Western lens,” she says. It has grown into a website, podcast and book club: “It's just another hobby of mine that I’ve somehow managed to turn into a job, which is just great,” she says, smiling.

“My day job, which is my music career, which I love, comes with constantly being online. And I think for me, at least now I’m searching for other things, and not doomscrolling on Twitter," she says of her media enterprise. "At least this way I’m like learning something new about the world. I love having that kind of duality in my life.”

It's a duality fueled by curiosity, like when Lipa made headlines late last year for challenging Apple CEO Tim Cook in an interview on her podcast over reports of children in the Democratic Republic of Congo mining cobalt for iPhones.

“That was scary, and really exciting,” she says. “You never really know what to expect when you go in to interview someone.”

A few days after visiting the AP's New York headquarters, Lipa appears at a public high school on the Upper East Side of Manhattan to speak to students in a conversation moderated by Drew Barrymore.

“One of the things I admire about her is how incredibly intelligent she is,” Barrymore says in her introduction, commending Lipa for not only being an “icon,” but someone who is “globally aware.”

In conversation, Lipa is generous and warm, particularly to a freshman drama student named Dolce, who is also Albanian, and expresses a desire to make it in the entertainment industry. Lipa tells her that identity, intentionally or not, is woven into her music.

At the end of the event, Lipa says she feels "optimistic about life overall, everything that comes with it,” and takes a moment to look out at the audience. “I'm the most optimistic about the next generation.”

And then, almost as swiftly as she arrived, Lipa leaves. A lingering positivity permeates the air. It recalls something she told the AP earlier in the week: that she strives to be “violently happy" in life and in her endeavors.

“You sometimes have to push yourself into that feeling,” she says. Remaining grateful is “definitely a muscle that needs to be exercised.”

On "Radical Optimism," she's written the workout soundtrack.

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May 01, 2024 at 12:03AM

'Shardlake' is a Tudor-era mystery series. It's also a win for disabled characters, its star says

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LONDON -- Matthew Shardlake steps out of the pages of the late C.J. Sansom's popular historical mystery novels and into a new show, bringing with him disability representation.

“We don’t see a lot of leading disabled characters,” says Arthur Hughes, who plays the title character. “Well, we might, but they might not be played by disabled actors.”

Shardlake is a clever lawyer who solves puzzles and problems during the reign of King Henry VIII. He is also disabled. The character is referred to as a “hunchback” by a rude rival in the books — an example of the attitude of the Tudor period, with no allowance or acceptance of differences.

“I really hope the disabled audience can see that and see maybe some of the parallels with the world we live in today. And also just to show that that a disabled actor can play a leading part,” says Hughes, who was born with radial dysplasia.

Joining him in the show are Anthony Boyle, as codpiece-wearing rogue Jack Barak, and Sean Bean portraying Thomas Cromwell, the notorious and real-life political player who sends Shardlake on a mission to solve a murder at a monastery. The show airs Wednesday on Disney+ in the U.K. and Hulu in the U.S.

The cast spoke to The Associated Press about the importance of casting, the comfort of a codpiece and coldness of old castles. The interview was conducted before Sansom's death Saturday at 71. Answers have been edited for brevity and clarity.

BEAN: I read the first three but a long time ago. Forty years or so.

BEAN: Yes, when I found out it was based on C.J. Sansom's books, I thought, I’ve read those, you know. It was something I really wanted to be involved with and when I was offered the role of Cromwell, (I was) delighted.

HUGHES: It was a really, really enjoyable role. He’s a complicated guy. Kind of strong but vulnerable and compromised in many ways within himself, within the job he’s got. But I think, ultimately, a really good, just man. And a great story to go through and an interesting world to navigate. It was a lot of fun. We had a ball.

HUGHES: Yeah, I found reading the books, he’s a very interesting character, but there’s something a little weak and afraid and meek in him and actually, I wanted him to be stronger and stoic. Still vulnerable and lonely and isolated and maybe somewhat awkward, but I wanted him to have a kind of inner strength. This is a disabled man navigating a really difficult world for him and I think he’ll need that kind of inner strength burning inside him.

BOYLE: Yes, let’s talk about it. It’s something.

BOYLE: I sort of had to go to myself — this is the leather jacket of the era. It was like getting your codpiece on and going out, like, this looks all right. Once I got over that hurdle, I loved it and I actually felt a bit naked without it. So I did take one from set. It’s in the wardrobe. I’m hoping if the show does well, people will watch it and it will be the new sort of fashion statement this summer. You know, everyone’s knocking about with codpieces.

BOYLE: Someone said to me, I’ve done so many period dramas, it looks like I’ve got a face that just can’t comprehend the internet. And they just keep putting me in these sort of random period dramas because I look like I don’t know how to work Deliveroo.

HUGHES: That’s brilliant.

BEAN: I’m not sure I quite liked him, but I admired his resolute character. He’s very headstrong and very, very sure about himself, about what he was doing. But he obviously takes a lot of pleasure in the dissolution of the monasteries and the robbing and everything that goes on changing the religion completely, to accommodate Henry VIII’s marriage to Anne Boleyn. And he sees Shardlake, he knows he’s a very intelligent, very gifted man and it’s an interesting relationship that we have.

HUGHES: I think having those leading roles, especially in this Tudor world that Shardlake lives in, which is built in ableism every day, but which is backed up by God and by everything that everyone’s taught. And also to show that that a disabled actor can play a leading part. And he’s written as a disabled man and even some of the smallest things about growing up a bit different, looking different — Shardlake will feel all those things and I’ve felt those things. Maybe I don’t have to kind of manufacture that so much.

BOYLE: It was very cold. We were up there in freezing Budapest and I was wearing tights and a codpiece. All I can remember from the whole shoot, how cold it was. I remember riding horses, which was a laugh. We had a good fun on those didn’t we?

HUGHES: We did.

BOYLE: It was a good craic. Riding into Scarnsea on the back of these horses. The sets were amazing. It really did make you feel like you were in that time period. Looking round you didn’t really have to act that much because it was 360. We were on set. We were in the muck. We filmed these amazing locations, these castles and monasteries. And you didn’t have to do much thinking, you were just in it.

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April 30, 2024 at 11:48PM

Ashley Judd speaks out on the right of women to control their bodies and be free from male violence

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UNITED NATIONS -- Actor Ashley Judd, whose allegations against movie mogul Harvey Weinstein helped spark the #MeToo movement, spoke out Monday on the rights of women and girls to control their own bodies and be free from male violence.

A goodwill ambassador for the U.N. Population Fund, she addressed the U.N. General Assembly’s commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the landmark document adopted by 179 countries at its 1994 conference in Cairo, which for the first time recognized that women have the right to control their reproductive and sexual health – and to choose if and when to become pregnant.

Judd called the program of action adopted in Cairo a “glorious, aspirational document” that has been “imprinted into my psyche … (and) has guided my 20 years of traveling the world, drawing needed attention to and uplifting sexual and reproductive health and rights in slums, brothels, refugee and IDP (internally displaced) camps, schools and drop-in centers.”

The Cairo conference changed the focus of the U.N. Population Fund, known as UNFPA, from numerical targets to promoting choices for individual women and men, and supporting economic development and education for girls. Underlying the shift was research showing that educated women have smaller families.

While Cairo recognized sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights for women, it did not recognize sexual rights. That came a year later at the 1995 U.N. women’s conference in Beijing.

On one of the most contentious issues at the Cairo conference, delegates recognized that unsafe abortion is a fact that governments must deal with as a public health issue to save women’s lives. But it did not condone abortion as a method of family planning or mention legalization, and 30 year later the issue remains contentious.

Judd recalled some of her travels including to Madagascar, where she said she spoke to women being commercially exploited by men. She said they were all forced into that work by the same root cause: “The sexual, reproductive, legal, political, social and cultural inequality of girls and women.”

In Turkey last August, Judd said she met with both Turkish families and refugees living in tents and containers “with one semi-functioning latrine for hundreds of people.”

Many said they were in no emotional, mental or physical condition to bring another baby into the world and Judd expressed gratitude that UNFPA was doing all it could “to provide modern family planning choices to those who want them, in spite of the government removing their availability in the public sector.”

A UNFPA goodwill ambassador since 2016, Judd stressed the importance of women choosing when to have children and “the ability to say no to sex free from retaliation.”

Natalia Kanem, executive director of UNFPA which now calls itself the U.N.’s sexual and reproductive health and rights agency, cited tremendous progress over the last three decades on the Cairo platform at the commemoration.

Maternal mortality declined by a third between 2000 and 2020, the number of women using contraceptives has doubled since 1990, adolescent births have dropped by a third since 2000, and rates of child marriage have decreased globally, she said.

Kanem also pointed to more than 60 countries passing legislation against domestic violence, and punitive laws against LGBTQ+ individuals “falling more quickly than ever.”

“And yet today, progress is slowing,” she said. “Annual reductions in maternal deaths have flattened, inequalities, between and within countries, are widening. And the rights of women, girls and gender diverse people are the subject of increasing pushback.”

U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed told the crowded General Assembly chamber that the great progress in 30 years “has been masked by those that have been left behind.”

She cited many developing countries whose child mortality rates remain too high and the 164 million women of reproductive age around the world with no access to family planning.

“We must remain vigilant and continue to address situations where sexual and reproductive health and rights are being rolled back,” Mohammed said. “We must respond and push back when women’s rights are being eroded.”

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April 30, 2024 at 11:26AM

Paramount Global replaces CEO Bob Bakish with a troika of executives

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NEW YORK -- Paramount Global on Monday announced that Bob Bakish is stepping down as CEO of the film, television and multimedia company.

Bakish will be replaced by a troika of executives who will form a new “Office of the CEO.” The group includes George Cheeks, the CEO of CBS; Chris McCarthy, CEO of Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios and Paramount Media Networks; and Brian Robbins, the CEO of Paramount Pictures.

The company said Cheeks, McCarthy and Robbins will work closely with Chief Financial Officer Naveen Chopra and the board of directors. Among the issues the new CEO trio must face are a reported $11 billion offer from private-equity firm Apollo Global to acquire the studio, which produces films and television programs and runs the streaming service Paramount+.

There have also been reports of a possible merger with Skydance, David Ellison’s media company that has helped produce such Paramount releases as “Top Gun: Maverick” and “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning.”

Co-CEOs are rare but far from unknown; roughly 100 public companies such as Salesforce, Netflix, Chipotle Mexican Grill, SAP and Oracle have all had co-CEOs for various periods of time over the past quarter century. A 2022 study published in the Harvard Business Review found that among 87 co-CEO led companies, dual leadership coincided with better-than-average stock performance. Roughly 60% of these companies outperforming.

CEO troikas, however, are far rarer, and their organizational issues can be much more complex. For instance, instead of being forced to compromise the way co-CEOs often are, two members of a troika can just outvote a third.

Paramount also released earnings for the quarter ended March 31 on Monday, reporting a net loss attributable to Paramount of $554 million, or 87 cents per share, a reduction from a $1.1 billion net loss, or $1.74 per share, in the same year-earlier period. The company reported revenue of $7.66 billion, a 5.8% increase from $7.27 billion a year earlier.

The earnings in the latest quarter, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, came to 62 cents per share. That topped expectations of 35 cents a share, according to a FactSet poll.

In what may have been a sly nod to the challenge it faces, Paramount closed out the Monday conference call in which it described the CEO changes and earnings with the theme to “Mission: Impossible.”

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April 30, 2024 at 05:47AM

Revival of vinyl records in Brazil spares a 77-year-old singer – and others – from oblivion

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SAO PAULO -- It took almost a half century for Brazilian singer Cátia de França to find her audience, but she finally has — with the help of a near-obsolete audio technology.

Born in Paraíba, a state in Brazil’s poor northeast region, 77-year-old de França’s blend of psychedelic rock with traditional rhythms and modernist poetry long went overlooked, even as she toured the nation in the 1970s and '80s.

During the pandemic, she retreated to a conservation area in the mountains above Rio de Janeiro, “where you can’t even imagine an internet signal,” she told The Associated Press.

Then one day in 2021 her phone rang. It was the co-founder of an independent label in Sao Paulo who wanted to reissue her 1979 debut album, “20 Palavras ao Redor do Sol" (20 Words Around the Sun), on vinyl.

“I thought, ‘This must be a prank,’” de França recalled. “He started talking to me, and I realized it wasn’t.”

De França has since been thrust into the limelight, with fans and concerts in the alternative circuit.

Her belated fame largely reflects a revival taking place in Brazil, where last year vinyl records outsold CDs and DVDs for the first time in decades. Revenue doubled to 11 million reais ($2.2 million) in 2023 from the prior year, and was more than 15 times higher than in 2019, according to Pro-Musica, an association of Brazil’s largest record companies. And those figures include only new releases, as second-hand sales are almost impossible to track.

The market for used LPs never fully died, and now is on the upswing, said Carlos Savalla, a 66-year-old music producer in Rio who owns more than 60,000 vinyl records.

There are thousands of vinyl traders on websites and Facebook groups, while local aficionados and foreign hunters scour fairs, flea markets and used record shops in search of the samba, bossa nova, tropicalismo and Brazilian Popular Music LPs to complete their collection.

Vinyl’s comeback in Brazil follows a global trend over the last 15 years. In the U.S. alone, revenues from vinyl records hit $1.4 billion in 2023, according to the Recording Industry Association of America. Recent renewed American interest is sometimes attributed to Taylor Swift, whose 2022 “Midnights” album became the first major album release to have its vinyl sales top CDs since 1987. That year, Swift accounted for one of every 25 vinyl albums sold in the U.S.

In Brazil, surging interest isn’t due to top-streamed artists, who aren’t even releasing records, said Marcelo Fróes, a music journalist and researcher. Rather, today’s buyers are listeners interested in getting classic albums and discovering new artists or once-obscure musicians.

By 2008, all of Brazil's vinyl factories had shuttered. But, inspired by a revival in Europe and the U.S., producer João Augusto and his partners decided to buy — and resuscitate — a former vinyl pressing plant: Polysom.

“We started reissuing old albums with significant commercial appeal and demand. So now, the factory serves record labels, independent artists and reissues old albums,” said Luciano Barreira, Polysom’s general manager.

Fifteen years later, Polysom has pressed 1.3 million records and competitors opened two other factories in Brazil. One of them pressed a small circulation of a grant-funded vinyl for da França in 2019.

Also finding his vinyl groove at the time was João Noronha, a 32-year-old sound engineer who teamed up with two friends to start the label Três Selos in 2019, offering subscribers a freshly minted record by mail each month.

“We didn’t expect much,” Noronha said, but in the first month of operations, 120 subscribers sought the reissue of “Sinceramente," a 1982 album by Sérgio Sampaio, a Brazilian singer from the 1970s and '80s.

One of Noronha's partners, Rafael Cortes, noticed de França’s rare 1979 debut album was fetching up to 700 reais ($135) in the second-hand market. Once the partners got the green light from her former label for a reissue, they decided it was time to phone the singer at her mountain hideaway.

“She was extremely suspicious, asking: ‘Who are you? Where do you come from?’” Cortes remembered.

“I think her mistrust comes from the fact that the industry often pushed her aside,” he said. “Imagine her, a Black, northeastern, lesbian woman in the 1970s, who never made any concessions and stood by who she was: a combative person, firm in her principles.”

De França started as a musical director in theater plays then moved into performing, touring alongside some of the country’s most popular artists in the 1970s. She avoided traditional arrangements and used off-beat instruments like the accordion and the 12-string guitar, rendering her music markedly distinct from the prevailing sound.

That sort of noncommercial output made her record label, the Brazilian subsidiary of Columbia Records, reluctant to spend money in promotion, music writer said Chris Fuscaldo.

“She didn’t receive a major marketing effort from the label or the promotional investment that others did,” said Fuscaldo, author of the book “1979 — O ano que ressignificou a MPB” (1979 — The Year that Redefined Brazilian Popular Music).

But Fuscaldo, who wrote her doctoral thesis on the erasure of women from Brazil's music history, believes de França's suppression back then is what makes her appealing today: Her unique style didn’t go stale.

The 2,000 copies of the “20 Palavras” reissue quickly sold out among Três Selos' club members and other individual buyers.

Isadora Attab, a 35-year-old designer, was hooked at first listen.

“She’s absolutely brilliant — the artist I wish I had known as a teenager when I started listening to crazy American rock stars like Bob Dylan,” Attab said at a recent concert, where she snapped up the second-to-last copy on sale. “I look at this cover and imagine how the album will be displayed in my house. I want this woman’s face looking over me all day.”

While small, independent labels focus on elevating exiles from the pantheon of Brazilian popular music, larger companies want a piece of the action, too.

The Brazilian subsidiary of Universal Music started its own vinyl club in 2022, repressing albums by some of the country’s all-time greats like Gilberto Gil, Chico Buarque, Rita Lee and Maria Bethânia. It also sells imported records of foreign artists ranging from Billie Eilish to The Beatles and Ella Fitzgerald.

De França may remain in their shadow, but now she has a spotlight to call her own. On April 19, she took the stage at a warehouse transformed into a coveted venue in São Paulo for independent artists. The house was packed with 30- and 40-somethings, some with their own kids in tow. They shouted “Marvelous!” and “I love you!” while stage lights reflected on de França's short, cloud-like hair that was radiant against her dark skin.

“I’m here presenting a new record, while many thought I wouldn’t make another,” she said, smiling widely. “These songs have always been with me, but were dormant.”

A 12-string played a hinterland melody as de França kept rhythm with Afro-Brazilian rattles known as caxixis. Then she launched into her first song, letting her lyrics flow:

“I was reborn, rising from the ashes like a phoenix, disquieting my enemies ...”

After her show, she walked off stage and someone draped woolen garments over her shoulders to shield her from the evening chill. One might have mistaken her for just another elderly woman — and not the rockstar she has finally become.

___

AP videojournalist Lucas Dumphreys in Rio de Janeiro contributed to this report.

___

Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://ift.tt/OWl9ZIV

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April 29, 2024 at 03:47PM

Sony’s ‘Kraven the Hunter’ release is delayed until December

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The summer movie season may kick off next weekend, but the release calendar is still a work in progress. The latest movie to shift spots is Sony’s comic book film “Kraven the Hunter,” which will now open in December instead of on Labor Day weekend.

The studio announced the move late Friday, leaving Disney and Marvel’s “ Deadpool & Wolverine ” as the only major superhero release of the summer. It's due out July 26.

“Kraven the Hunter” stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson as the Spider-Man villain in the J.C. Chandor-directed origin story, which will be rated R. The cast also includes Ariana DeBose, Alessandro Nivola and Russell Crowe. Its one of several Sony Spider-Man spinoffs, including “Venom” and “Madame Web.”

The new theatrical release date is Dec. 13, putting it up against the animated “The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim.”

The studio had previously scheduled its new “Karate Kid” film — with Ralph Maccio and Jackie Chan — to open on that date, but pushed it back to May 2025. The film is scheduled to follow the sixth and final season of “Cobra Kai,” which was delayed by Hollywood strikes.

Comscore analyst Paul Dergarabedian predicted previously that this summer's box office would come up short of 2023's $4 billion summer. The loss of a major wide release doesn’t help the forecast. Sony did add its Blumhouse horror story “They Listen," with John Cho, Katherine Waterston, to the Labor Day weekend spot as a replacement for “Kraven the Hunter."

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April 29, 2024 at 01:41AM

Biden will give election-year roast at annual correspondents' dinner amid protests

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WASHINGTON -- President Joe Biden is set to deliver an election-year roast Saturday night before a large crowd of journalists, celebrities and politicians against the backdrop of growing protests over his handling of the Israel-Hamas war.

In previous years, Biden, like most of his predecessors, has used the annual White House Correspondents' Association dinner to needle media coverage of his administration and jab at political rivals, notably Republican rival Donald Trump.

But with protesters pledging to gather outside the dinner site, any effort by Biden to make light of Washington’s foibles and the pitfalls of the presidential campaign will have to be balanced against concerns over the war and humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the perils for journalists covering the conflict. Criticism of the Biden administration's support for Israel's 6-month-old military offensive in Gaza has spread through American college campuses, with students pitching encampments in an effort to force their universities to divest from Israel. Counterprotests back Israel's offensive and complain of antisemitism.

Biden’s speech before an expected crowd of nearly 3,000 people at a Washington hotel will be followed by entertainer Colin Jost from “Saturday Night Live,” who is sure to take some pokes at the president as well as his opponents.

There will also likely be a spotlight on the many journalists detained and otherwise persecuted around the globe for doing their jobs, including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who has been imprisoned in Russia since March 2023.

But before the president gets to the Washington Hilton — where the event has been held for decades — he was expected to pass hundreds of people rallying along the path of Biden's motorcade and nearby to bring attention to the high numbers of Palestinian and other Arab journalists killed by Israel's military since the war began in October.

Law enforcement, including the Secret Service, have instituted extra street closures and other measures to ensure what Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said would be the "highest levels of safety and security for attendees.”

The agency was working with Washington police to protect demonstrators' right to assemble, Guglielmi said. However, “we will remain intolerant to any violent or destructive behavior.”

More than two dozen journalists in Gaza wrote a letter last week calling on their colleagues in Washington to boycott the dinner altogether.

“The toll exacted on us for merely fulfilling our journalistic duties is staggering," the letter states. “We are subjected to detentions, interrogations, and torture by the Israeli military, all for the ‘crime’ of journalistic integrity.”

One organizer complained that the White House correspondents' association — which represents the hundreds of journalists who cover the president — largely has been silent since the first weeks of the war about the killings of Palestinian journalists. WHCA did not respond to request for comment.

According to a preliminary investigation released Friday by the Committee to Protect Journalists, nearly 100 journalists have been killed covering the war in Gaza. Israel has defended its actions, saying it has been targeting militants.

“Since the Israel-Gaza war began, journalists have been paying the highest price— their lives—to defend our right to the truth. Each time a journalist dies or is injured, we lose a fragment of that truth,” CPJ Program Director Carlos Martínez de la Serna said in a statement.

Sandra Tamari, executive director of Adalah Justice Project, a U.S.-based Palestinian advocacy group that helped organize the letter from journalists in Gaza, said “it is shameful for the media to dine and laugh with President Biden while he enables the Israeli devastation and starvation of Palestinians in Gaza."

In addition, Adalah Justice Project started an email campaign targeting 12 media executives at various news outlets — including The Associated Press — expected to attend the dinner who previously signed onto a letter calling for the protection of journalists in Gaza.

___ Associated Press writers Mike Balsamo and Fatima Hussein contributed to this report.

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April 28, 2024 at 05:17AM

Harvey Weinstein's attorney says former media mogul has been hospitalized following his return to New York City jails

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April 28, 2024 at 03:26AM

News anchor Poppy Harlow announces departure from CNN

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ATLANTA -- Anchor Poppy Harlow is leaving CNN, according to the network.

Harlow, who joined CNN in 2008 and most recently co-hosted “CNN This Morning,” announced her parting from the cable news giant in an email to colleagues.

She called her time at CNN “a gift.”

“I have been inspired by you and learned so much from you – who are (and will remain) dear friends," Harlow wrote. “This place has shaped me as a leader, taught me resilience, shown me the value of perspective and how to make hard decisions."

At CNN, Harlow reported on the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings and the 2015 Paris terror attacks, among other stories.

“I got to experience what makes this country great,” Harlow wrote in her email. “I sat with people in their best moments and in their hardest. They taught me about the human condition and what binds us.”

Earlier this year, CNN announced changes to the time slot for “CNN This Morning” and moved it to Washington.

CNN Chief Executive Mark Thompson lauded Harlow's time at the network.

“Poppy is a unique talent who combines formidable reporting and interviewing prowess with a human touch that audiences have always responded to," Thompson said.

Harlow previously worked as an anchor for the Forbes Video Network and was an anchor and reporter for NY1 News, according to her bio on CNN's website.

She earned a bachelor's degree in political science from Columbia University and a master's degree in Studies of Law from Yale Law School.

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April 28, 2024 at 01:41AM

PEN America cancels World Voices Festival amid criticism of its response to Israel-Hamas war

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NEW YORK -- PEN America has canceled its annual World Voices Festival, as the literary and free expression organization continues to face widespread unhappiness with its response to the Israel-Hamas war. Earlier this week, PEN called off its awards ceremony after nearly half of the finalists withdrew from contention.

The festival, which brings in writers from around the world, was to have taken place next month in New York and Los Angeles. PEN CEO Suzanne Nossel expressed regret over the cancellation, saying it contrasted with why Salman Rushdie among others established the festival 20 years ago.

Naomi Klein, Michelle Alexander, Hisham Matar and dozens of other writers endorsed an open letter in March saying they would not participate in the festival.

“PEN America exists to unite writers in defense of free expression. The premise of World Voices is to engage across wide chasms of worldview and belief, including fostering direct conversation between and among those who disagree profoundly,” Nossel said in a statement Friday.

“A central feature of the planned festival was to have featured multiple Palestinian writers, enabling them to speak not just about the war but about their own books and works. We regret that this is not possible. We are grateful and express our deep sadness to the dozens of writers who voiced their commitment to remain in events, traveling from around the country and the globe.”

While Nossel acknowledged criticism of PEN's leadership, with many writers alleging that the organization has failed to fully condemn Israel's invasion or to fully support Palestinian writers and journalists, she also alleged that said some of her opponents were stifling discussion and pressuring others to boycott PEN events.

“Many writers explained their withdrawal from the event as an expression of protest directed toward PEN America’s response to the war in Gaza,” she said in her statement. “However, we have also heard from dozens of writers who have had to endure harsh attacks on social media and heavy demands to distance themselves from PEN America. Many expressed genuine fear to us.”

April and May have traditionally been the most high-profile months for PEN, when it hosts its award event, World Voices and a gala fundraiser at the American Museum of Natural History. A PEN spokesperson said Friday that the gala is still planned for May 16, with honorees including Paul Simon.

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April 27, 2024 at 06:17AM

John Oates' new album is called 'Reunion.' But don't think Hall & Oates are getting back together

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NEW YORK -- For many music fans, John Oates is most recognizable as one-half of the Grammy-nominated Hall & Oates, the multiplatinum soul-pop duo behind hits like “Rich Girl” and “Maneater" now riven by litigation. But he's also had a full career as a soloist.

His sixth solo album, “Reunion,” is out May 17. Just don't consider the title a thinly veiled attempt at getting the band back together — what he recognizes as “a true irony.”

In November, Hall sued Oates, arguing that his plan to sell off his share of a joint venture would violate the terms of a business agreement the duo had forged. He accused Oates of committing the “ultimate partnership betrayal” by planning to sell his share without the other’s permission. A few days later, a judge sided with Hall in his request to keep Oates temporarily blocked from selling his potentially lucrative share. The litigation is ongoing.

“There’s been no communication,” Oates says when asked if he’s in touch with Hall. “And it’s unfortunate that certain legal proceedings work in certain ways, which, of course, you know, I can’t discuss. But let’s put it this way. It’s working itself out. It’s going to be resolved, and it will be over. It wasn’t a fun two years, but you know what? I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.”

“Reunion" was actually inspired by Oates' 100-year-old father.

“He's not doing well, and he's going to be making the transition — a euphemism for, you know,” he told The Associated Press from Nashville. “He told me he's going to reunite with mom, who's passed away a number of years ago. And that really struck me because I thought of the true meaning of the word reunion, reuniting, in a more emotional and metaphysical way.”

He began applying the definition to different facets of his own life. “The fact that I'm moving on from my Hall & Oates experience, I'm basically reuniting with myself,” he says. “I'm trying to reunite with the essential part of who I am, not only as a man but a musician.”

But not a Hall & Oates reunion.

“I personally don’t see it happening. It's not in my plans at all. You can ask Daryl Hall what he thinks. But for me personally, no,” he says.

“I think we accomplished so much, published more than so many people could ever have dreamed of. Having a 50-year partnership and a 50-year legacy of creating music together is, you know, it’s more than anyone could ever hope for," he says. “I’m done. And I want to move on. I want to spend the last creative years of my life exploring things that I find interesting and things that give me personal satisfaction.”

And so, he's focusing on the 12 tracks of “Reunion," what he says make up his “most personal” album to date.

“I Found Love” and “All I Ask of You” were originally written in the '90s. Many of the songs double as musical history lessons, a passion of Oates’ — like in the ode to Piedmont blues-and-folk duo “Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee," or in covers of John Prine’s “Long Monday” and Canadian folk duo Fraser & DeBolt's “Dance Hall Girls."

With this album, Oates hopes “that people can finally see the man and musician outside of the ubiquitous fame and legacy of the Hall and Oates music."

"Because I’ve always felt that I’m an individual and I’ve always felt that I was not the same as that music, he says.”

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April 27, 2024 at 02:11AM

Ukrainian duo heads to the Eurovision Song Contest with a message: We're still here

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KYIV, Ukraine -- Even amid war, Ukraine finds time for the glittery, pop-filled Eurovision Song Contest. Perhaps now even more than ever.

Ukraine’s entrants in the pan-continental music competition — the female duo of rapper alyona alyona and singer Jerry Heil — set off from Kyiv for the competition on Thursday. In wartime, that means a long train journey to Poland, from where they will travel on to next month’s competition in Malmö, Sweden.

“We need to be visible for the world,” Heil told The Associated Press at Kyiv train station before her departure. “We need to show that even now, during the war, our culture is developing, and that Ukrainian music is something waiting for the world” to discover.

“We have to spread it and share it and show people how strong (Ukrainian) women and men are now,” added alyona, who spells her name with all lower case letters.

Ukraine has long used Eurovision as a form of cultural diplomacy, a way of showing the world the country’s unique sound and style. That mission became more urgent after Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied that Ukraine existed as a distinct country and people before Soviet times.

Ukrainian singer Jamala won the contest in 2016 — two years after Russia illegally seized the Crimean Peninsula — with a song about the expulsion of Crimea’s Tatars by Stalin in 1944. Folk-rap band Kalush Orchestra took the Eurovision title in 2022 with “Stefania,” a song about the frontman’s mother that became an anthem to the war-ravaged motherland, with a haunting refrain on a traditional Ukrainian wind instrument.

Alyona and Heil will perform “Maria & Teresa,” an anthemic ode to inspiring women. The title refers to Mother Theresa and the Virgin Mary, and the lyrics include the refrain, in English: “All the divas were born as the human beings” — people we regard as saints were once flawed and human like the rest of us.

Heil said the message is that “we all make mistakes, but your actions are what define you.”

And, alyona added: “with enough energy you can win the war, you can change the world.”

The song blends alyona’s punchy rap style with Heil’s soaring melody and distinctly Ukrainian vocal style.

“Alyona is a great rapper, she has this powerful energy,” Heil said. “And I’m more soft.”

“But great melodies,” alyona added. “So she creates all the melodies and I just jump in.”

Ukraine has been at the forefront of turning Eurovision from a contest dominated by English-language pop songs to a more diverse and multilingual event. Jamala sang part of her song in the Crimean Tatar language, while Kalush Orchestra sang and rapped in Ukrainian.

Ukraine’s Eurovision win in 2022 brought the country the right to host the following year, but because of the war the 2023 contest was held in the English city of Liverpool, which was bedecked in blue and yellow Ukrainian flags for the occasion — a celebration of Ukraine’s spirit and culture.

Thirty-seven countries from across Europe and beyond — including Israel and Australia — will compete in Malmö in two Eurovision semifinals May 7 and 9, followed by a May 11 final. Ukraine currently ranks among bookmakers’ top five favorites alongside the likes of singer Nemo from Switzerland and Croatian singer-songwriter Baby Lasagna.

Russia, a long-time Eurovision competitor, was kicked out of the contest over the invasion.

The Ukrainian duo caught a train after holding a news conference where they announced a fundraising drive for a school destroyed by a Russian strike.

The duo is joining with charity fundraising platform United 24 to raise 10 million hryvnia (about $250,000) to rebuild a school in the village of Velyka Kostromka in southern Ukraine that was destroyed by a Russian rocket in October 2022. The school’s 250 pupils have been unable to attend class since then, relying on online learning.

From the rubble, a teacher managed to rescue one of the school’s treasured possessions — a large wooden key traditionally presented to first grade students to symbolize that education is the key to their future.

Alyona and Heil have also embraced the key as a symbol, wearing T-shirts covered in small metal housekeys.

“It’s a symbol of something which maybe some people in Ukraine won’t have, because so many people lost their homes,” Heil said. “But they’re holding these keys in their pockets, and they're holding the hope.”

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April 26, 2024 at 01:11AM

'Deadpool & Wolverine' is (almost) ready to shake up the Marvel Cinematic Universe

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Shawn Levy is no novice when it comes to rumors around his projects. Years on “Stranger Things” taught him how to tune out the noise. Yet even he’s found himself astonished by the sheer volume of speculation around “Deadpool & Wolverine.”

“The rumors around this movie are overwhelming," Levy said in a recent interview with The Associated Press. “But so is the anticipation, which is a nice situation.”

Anticipation might be an understatement for a movie that is poised to be the theatrical event of the summer, when it opens on July 26. The first trailer, which aired during the Super Bowl, was viewed a record 365 million times online in its first 24 hours. The second, which dropped this week, broke another record – for the most “F-bombs” in the MCU (six in less than three minutes).

Much of that excitement is because this film marks the first time Ryan Reynolds’ foul-mouthed Deadpool/Wade Wilson and Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine are being folded into Kevin Feige’s Marvel Cinematic Universe. Both properties existed previously under the 21st Century Fox banner.

When Disney acquired the studio’s film and TV assets in early 2019, Wolverine had already died in “Logan,” a third “Deadpool” was in development and Marvel was still firmly in the PG-13 business, a rating that allows for only one F-bomb.

On a call with investors as the deal was going through, Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Iger was already reassuring people that a Disney Deadpool would remain R-rated. Soon after, Reynolds also posted a photo on social media showing his character with Mickey Mouse ears on a yellow school bus labeled “Disney." The meta humor, it seemed, was also firmly intact.

But what would the story be? Levy was announced as the film’s director in early 2022, coming in as a fan of Reynolds’ snarky tone and fourth wall breaking.

“There was no way I was going to reinvent a wheel, a tonal wheel, that works so beautifully,” Levy said. “Both Disney and Marvel, up and down the food chain, empowered Ryan and I to make this movie exactly as we dreamed.”

Things really started to really take shape when Jackman signed on that fall, however. It would mark the first time that the characters would be together in a movie since 2009’s “X-Men Origins: Wolverine.” In the years since, Reynolds and Jackman have staged a very tongue in cheek, very funny “feud” with one another on social media, dancing around the idea of sharing the big screen again.

The dream seemed to have died after “Logan” and Jackman’s retirement as Wolverine. But death is never exactly final in the multiverse, and, they promised, this film would not interfere with “Logan.”

“It’s a really interesting duo,” Levy said. “They’re built for huge conflict with each other because they’re so different individually. But that makes for a very interesting story, because the best two hander stories, whether it’s ‘Midnight Run’ or ‘48 Hours’ or ‘Planes, Trains and Automobiles,’ yes, it’s littered with conflict. But it’s ultimately about something more as well and that’s what audiences will see.”

The dynamic was also fueled by the real-life friendship between Levy, Jackman and Reynolds that goes back a decade off screen and includes films like “Free Guy” and “Real Steel.”

“The real benefit of being friends off set is that you can try crazy stuff without fear of falling. Because some of it won’t work and that will be momentarily embarrassing, but if you’re among friends, it’s okay to make a fool of yourself in the pursuit of something surprising and something unexpected,” Levy said. “This movie is filled with moments, both comedic and character based, that we didn’t expect and were the result of a freedom that that came from being friends.”

The Marvel multiverse has gotten a bit overwhelming in recent years for the more casual fans who may have seen most of the films but only dabbled in the Disney+ offerings that regularly introduce new concepts and characters that eventually find their way into the films. “Deadpool & Wolverine,” for instance, uses the Time Variance Authority (TVA) — a major part of “Loki” but new to the movies — to help get Deadpool to the MCU. But Levy promises that enjoyment of “Deadpool & Wolverine” requires no bingeing or studying beforehand.

“I was a good student in school. I’ll do my homework as an adult. But I am definitely not looking to do homework when I go to the movies,” Levy said.

“I very much made this film with certainly a healthy respect and gratitude towards the rabid fan base that has peak fluency in the mythology and lore of these characters and this world. But I didn’t want to presume that. This movie is built for entertainment, with no obligation to come prepared with prior research.”

Like many productions, “Deadpool & Wolverine” was affected by the strikes. It was “pencils down” when the writers walked out, including for Reynolds who is credited on the script, and a complete shutdown when the actors went to the picket lines.

“The impact was real,” Levy said. “For me as the director, and the producer, the multi-month pause happened right in the middle of filming. All I could do was edit and review the footage. But it taught me about my movie, and it really revealed what was working and what the movie wanted to be.”

When they resumed shooting post-strike, Levy wasn’t panicked about rushing to the finish. Instead, he felt like he’d come back with a deeper knowledge of what they needed to do.

“It really focused our work and I think improved our work in the second half,” Levy said. “That’s not a luxury we ever get in live-action filmmaking.”

So, what about what’s IN the film? Well, that’s something that Levy can’t really talk about. For one, he’s busy finishing the movie (“it’s coming together nicely,” he said). Also, “Deadpool & Wolverine” doesn’t need to tease out plotlines to stoke enthusiasm, what when there are near daily articles speculating about a Taylor Swift cameo (and a Wikipedia page that’s nearly 5,000 words). It’s unclear what the Venn Diagram overlap is for Swifties and Marvel fans but one thing is apparent: United, they’re a powerful bunch.

Marvel has had some Phase 5 bumps, with films like “The Marvels” underperforming financially and others underwhelming critics. And outside of the MCU, the industry is feeling the pains of so-called “superhero fatigue” that has sent DC back to the drawing boards to start anew. But “Deadpool & Wolverine” is not to be underestimated.

It could be the first MCU movie since “Spider-Man: No Way Home” to crack $1 billion, which would also put it in the running to become the highest grossing R-rated film of all time. That title currently belongs to “Joker” with its $1.08 billion.

“Audiences are hungry for a great time at the movies,” Levy said. “They want to be delighted, transported and entertained. And when they are given that, whether it’s ‘Barbie,’ ‘Oppenheimer’ or any number of other recent movies, they show up.”

He added: “The movie is built for audience delight. I think that (they’re) in for a very fun ride.”

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April 26, 2024 at 12:11AM

Cristian Măcelaru to become music director of Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in 2025-26

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CINCINNATI -- Cristian Măcelaru was hired Wednesday as music director of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra starting in the 2025-26 season.

The 44-year-old will be music director designate in the 2024-25 season and then will have a four-year term.

Măcelaru will succeed Louis Langrée, who leaves at the end of this season after serving as music director since 2013–14.

Măcelaru has been music director of the Orchestre National de France since the 2021-22 season and holds that job through 2026-27. He has been chief conductor of the WDR Sinfonieorchester in Cologne, Germany, since 2019-20 and is scheduled to step down after the 2024-25 season.

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April 25, 2024 at 03:02AM

Portrait by Gustav Klimt has been sold for $32 million at an auction in Vienna

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VIENNA -- A portrait of a young woman by Gustav Klimt that was long believed to be lost was sold at an auction in Vienna on Wednesday for 30 million euros ($32 million).

The Austrian modernist artist started work on the “Portrait of Fräulein Lieser” in 1917, the year before he died, and it is one of his last works. Bidding started at 28 million euros, and the sale price was at the lower end of an expected range of 30-50 million euros.

The painting went to a bidder from Hong Kong, who wasn't identified.

The Im Kinsky auction house said that “a painting of such rarity, artistic significance, and value has not been available on the art market in Central Europe for decades.”

The intensely colored painting was auctioned on behalf of the current owners, Austrian private citizens whose names weren't released, and the legal heirs of Adolf and Henriette Lieser, one of whom is believed to have commissioned the painting. It's not entirely clear which member of the Lieser family was the model.

Klimt left the painting, with small parts unfinished, in his studio when he died of a stroke in early 1918 and it was given to the family who had commissioned it, according to the auction house.

The Jewish family fled Austria after 1930 and lost most of their possessions.

It's unclear exactly what happened to the painting between 1925 and the 1960s, a period that includes the Nazi dictatorship. Austria was annexed by Nazi Germany in 1938.

The auction house says there is no evidence that the painting was confiscated then, but also no proof that it wasn't. It ended up with the current owners through three successive inheritances.

In view of the uncertainty, an agreement was drawn up with the current owners and the Liesers' heirs to go forward with the sale under the Washington Principles, which were drafted in 1998 to assist in resolving issues related to returning Nazi-confiscated art.

The auction house said it was very happy with Wednesday's result.

The sale price was an art auction record for Austria. The highest price previously paid at an auction in the country was just over 7 million euros for a work by Frans Francken the Younger in 2010.

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April 25, 2024 at 12:47AM

Ashley Judd and Aloe Blacc help the White House unveil its national suicide prevention strategy

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WASHINGTON -- Actor Ashley Judd and singer-songwriter Aloe Blacc, who both lost loved ones to suicide, on Tuesday helped the Biden administration promote its new national strategy to prevent suicide.

Judd's mother, country star Naomi Judd, died nearly two years ago. Blacc's frequent collaborator, Tim Bergling, died in 2018.

Both were on hand as Doug Emhoff, the husband of Vice President Kamala Harris, helped unveil the Democratic administration's blueprint for reducing suicides in the United States. Some 132 people a day kill themselves, he said.

“We’re here today because we know that we can and will change this,” Emhoff said. “Suicide is preventable.”

———

EDITOR’S NOTE — This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org.

———

Judd's mother had lived most of her 76 years with an untreated sickness and, on the day she died, “the disease of mental illness was lying to her," Ashley Judd said during a discussion moderated by Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy with Blacc and Shelby Rowe, executive director of the Suicide Prevention Research Center.

“She deserved better,” Judd said about her mother. Judd said she also has suffered from depression and has had a different outcome because of treatment.

“I carry a message of hope,” she said.

Asked what people can do to help someone in crisis, Rowe said people shouldn't worry about “if you're saying the right thing. Just say something and show up.”

Blacc suggested that people offer a “moment of joy” when they do reach out, such as a memory that sparks laughter or a song. He also encouraged people to remember that they are “the light.”

“There's no such thing as too much love. Let's give as much as we can," he said, before he led the audience in singing the chorus from “This Little Light of Mine.”

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April 24, 2024 at 04:47AM

US-Audiobooks-Top-10

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Nonfiction

1. Atomic Habits by James Clear, narrated by the author (Penguin Audio)

2. The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt, narrated by Sean Pratt and the author (Penguin Audio)

3. Supercommunicators by Charles Duhigg, narrated by the author (Random House Audio)

4. 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene, narrated by Richard Poe (HighBridge, a Division of Recorded Books)

5. I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy, narrated by the author (Simon & Schuster Audio)

6. Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss, narrated by Michael Kramer (HarperAudio)

7. An Unfinished Love Story by Doris Kearns Goodwin, narrated by the author and Bryan Cranston (Simon & Schuster Audio)

8. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F(asterisk)ck by Mark Manson, narrated by Roger Wayne (HarperAudio)

9. If I Did It by The Goldman Family, Pablo F. Fenjves and Dominick Dunne, narrated by Kim Goldman, Pablo Fenjves, G. Valmont Thomas and Grover Gardner (Blackstone Audio, Inc.)

10. Outlive by Peter Attia, MD and Bill Gifford - contributor, narrated by Peter Attia, MD (Random House Audio)

Fiction

1. The Women by Kristin Hannah, narrated by Julia Whelan and the author (Macmillan Audio)

2. George Orwell’s 1984 by George Orwell and Joe White - adaptation, performed by Andrew Garfield, Cynthia Erivo, Andrew Scott, Tom Hardy, Chukwudi Iwuji, Romesh Ranganathan, Natasia Demetriou, Francesca Mills, Alex Lawther and Katie Leung (Audible Original)

3. Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez, narrated by Christine Lakin, Zachary Webber and the author (Forever)

4. The Accidental Dating Experiment by Lauren Blakely, performed by Andi Arndt and Jacob Morgan (Audible Originals)

5. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas, narrated by Jennifer Ikeda (Recorded Books)

6. A Calamity of Souls by David Baldacci, narrated by the author, MacLeod Andrews, Sisi Aisha Johnson, Kiiri Sandy and Cary Hite (Grand Central Publishing)

7. A Murder to Remember by Brynn Kelly, narrated by Brittany Pressley and Max Roll (Audible Originals)

8. First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston, narrated by Saskia Maarleveld (Penguin Audio)

9. Dune by Frank Herbert, narrated by Scott Brick, Orlagh Cassidy, Euan Morton, Simon Vance, Ilyana Kadushin, Byron Jennings, David R. Gordon, Jason Culp, Kent Broadhurst, Oliver Wyman, Patricia Kilgarriff and Scott Sowers (Macmillan Audio)

10. Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros, narrated by Rebecca Soler and Teddy Hamilton (Recorded Books)

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April 24, 2024 at 01:03AM

Lithuanian soprano Asmik Grigorian makes belated Metropolitan Opera debut as Madame Butterfly

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NEW YORK -- Asmik Grigorian laughs when she recalls that she had been singing professionally for more than a decade when the International Opera Awards proclaimed her the “best young female singer” of 2016.

“So for 12 years I was nothing, and then I immediately became the best!” the Lithuanian soprano joked in an interview.

Now at the peak of her career and seemingly able to sing just about any role she chooses, from Dvorak’s lyrical “Rusalka” to Puccini’s dramatic “Turandot,” Grigorian is about to make her Metropolitan Opera debut in another Puccini classic, “Madame Butterfly.”

“My only regret is not having booked her sooner,” said Met general manager Peter Gelb. “Asmik is an operatic force of nature, one of the greatest and most complete vocal and acting packages in recent operatic history.”

Growing up in Vilnius she had plenty of exposure to opera. Both her parents, tenor Gegam Grigorian and soprano Irena Milkeviciute, were opera singers and both appeared at the Met, where Asmik traveled with them while a young girl.

When she launched her own career, she took pains not to trade on the family fame.

“I was pretty successful in that,” Grigorian said, “because even now many people say, ‘Oh you have the same name, you know he was a great tenor,’ and I say ‘Yeah, I know, he was my father.’”

It took her many years from her 2004 debut in Norway at age 23 as Donna Anna in Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” to achieve the combination of dramatic intensity and seamless vocalism that have opera houses around the world competing for her talents.

“In the beginning I always had a reputation as a pure stage animal who is not really 100% able to control my voice,” she said. “It was true.

“I was too young,” she added. “Control demands experience, so of course I failed a thousand, million times and this is an amazing thing to do. I think it’s the biggest sadness of the generation now because we are so visible and people are not allowing themselves to fail anymore, and how can you develop without failing?”

Eventually the lack of a dependable vocal technique caught up with her. “You come to the age where you can’t just rely on nature,” she said. “I hurt my voice, I hurt my body, I hurt everything.”

By 2012, she said, “I could not sing anything any more. And I decided, OK I have two choices: I can continue killing myself, or I start from the beginning.”

Grigorian worked hard for years to build her technique and knew she had succeeded when a critic said “she is perfect technically, and it’s so boring because she is not so interesting as an actress.”

“Then I thought, now I did it!” Grigorian, 42, said. “But when you are so focused on technique it’s a bit too cold.” Finding she could trust her voice allowed her to flourish again as a performer “and a different type of magic” started to happen.

Triumph after triumph followed. Of her 2018 Salzburg role debut as Salome in the Richard Strauss opera, Financial Times critic Shirley Apthorp raved that “hers is a Salome to end all Salomes … Grigorian’s charisma sweeps it all in her wake.”

Three years later when she made her debut at the Wagner shrine in Bayreuth, Germany, as Senta in “The Flying Dutchman,” Joshua Barone in The New York Times called her performance “luxuriously lyrical” and noted she was “met with a roaring ovation.”

Acclaim also greeted her last year when she took on two parts many thought would be too taxing for her voice: Verdi’s Lady Macbeth in Salzburg and Turandot in Vienna.

Her fellow singers seem as enthusiastic about her as critics and audiences.

“She is the best partner I’ve ever had on stage. End of discussion,” said tenor Joshua Guerrero, who recently sang opposite her in “Madame Butterfly” at London’s Royal Opera House. He cited in particular “her willingness to remove ego and to put the other person forward when they are singing their part.”

As Butterfly, Guerrero said she brought to the role “a beautiful stillness … She played it very naively, with a childlike approach.”

Grigorian explains: “I like to hear a lyrical sound with very tender colors because she’s a 15-year-old girl.

“But at the same time, it’s pretty challenging,” she said, because a singer with too light a voice will struggle to be heard over Puccini’s thick orchestral textures.

To avoid a steady diet of heavier roles, Grigorian is diligent about mixing up her repertoire.

“I definitely don’t consider myself a dramatic soprano or a Wagnerian soprano,” she said. “If I sing something dramatic, I put something lyrical in the middle so I keep my flexibility.”

That’s why it comes as only a mild surprise to hear that — despite misgivings — one of her new roles for next season in Vienna is the Druid princess heroine of Bellini’s “Norma,” a part that demands the utmost dexterity with its long lyrical lines and rapid ornamentation.

“I have no clue. I never did any bel canto,” she said. “I’m very nervous and probably I will be the worst Norma on the planet. But I do that because I need to keep my voice flexible. I want to learn many new things.”

Grigorian is at the Met this season for five performances starting Friday, with the last one on May 11 to be shown live in movie theaters. But she’ll be back in future seasons to sing “Salome,” Janacek’s “Jenufa” — and no doubt more.

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Lithuanian soprano Asmik Grigorian makes belated Metropolitan Opera debut as Madame Butterfly
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April 24, 2024 at 12:48AM

MLB players' union asks court to confirm arbitration decision against Bad Bunny firm

Repost Ent dalamlima.blogspot.com

NEW YORK -- The baseball players' association asked a federal court to confirm an arbitrator's decision denying an attempt by a baseball agent at Bad Bunny’s Rimas Sports firm to block the agent's decertification by the union.

In a complaint filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, the Major League Baseball Players Association asked that a federal judge issue an order to confirm what the union said was a decision by arbitrator Michael Gottesman to deny a request for a temporary restraining order requested by William Arroyo of Rimas Sports and Noah Assad and Jonathan Miranda, two executives of the company.

The union said it issued a notice of discipline to the three on April 10 and fined them $400,000 for misconduct. Arroyo was an agent certified by the union to represent players and represented New York Mets catcher Francisco Alvarez and infielder Ronny Mauricio.

Assad and Miranda had applied for certification, the union said.

“After detailing extensive, serious violations of the MLBPA regulations, including those prohibiting inducements and unlawful recruiters and requiring cooperation with MLBPA investigations, the MLBPA revoked Mr. Arroyo’s certification and denied certification to applicants Messrs. Assad and Miranda," the union said.

The union said it agreed to let Gottesman hear the application by the three for a temporary restraining order. Represented by lawyer Jeffrey Kessler, the union did not appear to file a copy of Gottesman's decision with its complaint, which was first reported by ESPN.

Bad Bunny is one of the top-selling artists in the world whose real name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio. The three-time Grammy winner launched Rimas Sports in April of 2023.

Rimas Sports did not immediately respond to a email seeking comment.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB

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MLB players' union asks court to confirm arbitration decision against Bad Bunny firm
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April 23, 2024 at 12:11PM