Broadway To Vegas

Copyright: June 14, 2020
By: Laura Deni
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DR. BRIAN MAY VOTED BEST ROCK GUITARIST OF ALL TIME

Dr. Brian May voted greatest rock guitarist of all time. Photo of May at Johns Hopkins University on December 31, 2018 prior to the New Horizons flyby of the Kuiper belt object 486958 Arrokoth.

Dr. Brian May, an astrophysicist worked his way through school by playing guitar in the legendary rock group Queen which he co-founded. Last week the the astrophysicist whose latest co-authored paper is on the origins of the shape of ‘rubble pipe’ asteroids like Bennu and Ryugu, published in Nature beat out Jimi Hendrix to be named greatest rock guitarist of all time.

The scientific article was published on the prestigious online journal Nature Communications. It is signed by Patrick Michel, CNRS research director, Lagrange laboratory (CNRS-UCA-OCA), Ronald-Louis Ballouz, OSIRIS-REx post-doctoral fellow at the University of Arizona (USA) and their collaborators, Dr. Brian May, astrophysicist and famous guitarist.

Earlier this year, Total Guitar asked its readers to vote for the greatest rock guitarist of all time – and have now published the results.

Regarding being voted into the top spot, May said, “I’m absolutely speechless. I’m blown away. I have to say it’s completely unexpected."

He continued, “Obviously I’m deeply touched that people feel that way about me. I’m not under any illusions that, technically, I’m even on the tree of great guitarists. I guess this tells me that what I’ve done has affected people, and that means a great deal to me.

"I will never claim to be a great guitarist in the sense of, you know, a virtuoso. I guess I just try to play from my heart and that’s about it.”

Asked about Hendrix who took second place, May said: “Jimi is, of course, my number one. And I’ve always said that. To me, he’s still something superhuman. It’s like he really did come from an alien planet, and I will never know quite how he did what he did.

Dr. May is more knowledgeable about why two asteroids Bennu and Ryugu in the galaxy between Mars and Jupiter are in the shape of a spinning top? Scientists stress that it is the story of the solar system that is at stake and the understanding of the appearance of life on earth.

In a video the astrophysicist/guitar player whose doctoral thesis was on the Motions of Interplanetary Dust received his PhD from Imperial College, London, in 2007, talks about an ambitious mission to save humanity from asteroids, which - at this point - is when not if.

May discussed the European Space Agency mission Hera which along with a NASA mission called the Double Asteroid Redirect Test (DART), will both visit a double asteroid called Didymos.

"Imagine a mountain in the sky, with another rock about the size of the Great Pyramid swinging around it," May said in the video. "That's Didymos. Just the seemingly tiny world is big enough to destroy a city."

Meanwhile, two spacecraft are examining asteroids up close right now. NASA's OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer) is orbiting asteroid Bennu, while the Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa2 is at asteroid Ryugu. Both spacecraft are expected to bring samples back to Earth for further analysis.

Animations showed the spacecraft zooming by Didymos and its moon, which is temporarily called Didymos B until the International Astronomical Union decides on a name. May said the mission would be "really, really hard," because the goal is for DART to deflect the moon — to change its path in space, which no other mission has ever done before.

The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission is directed by NASA to the Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) with support from several NASA centers: the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Johnson Space Center (JSC), Glenn Research Center (GRC), and Langley Research Center (LRC). DART is a planetary defense-driven test of technologies for preventing an impact of Earth by a hazardous asteroid. DART will be the first demonstration of the kinetic impactor technique to change the motion of an asteroid in space. The DART mission is in Phase C, led by APL and managed under NASA’s Solar System Exploration Program at Marshall Space Flight Center for NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office and the Science Mission Directorate’s Planetary Science Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC.

The plan calls for DART to launch July 22, 2021, then slam into the moon in September 2022 at more than 13,320 mph (21,440 km/h), with the aid of an onboard camera (named DRACO) and sophisticated autonomous navigation software, according to NASA. The collision will change the speed of the moonlet in its orbit around the main body by a fraction of one percent, but this will change the orbital period of the moonlet by several minutes - enough to be observed and measured using telescopes on Earth.

Hera will follow, launching in 2024 and arriving in 2026, to examine the impact crater DART leaves behind. The mission would also deploy a couple of small cubesats that will approach the asteroid and eventually land on the surface.

"The scale of this experiment is huge. One day these results could be crucial for saving our planet," May said. "If an asteroid ever poses a real threat to Earth, we'll be ready."

As for his music, May has penned 22 worldwide hits for Queen, among them the anthems We Will Rock You; The Show Must Go On and I Want It All, and powerful ballads, including Who Wants To Live Forever; No-One But You (Only The Good Die Young) and Save Me.

His songs continue to influence new generations of performers and have inspired recordings by artists as diverse as Elton John, Def Leppard, The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Shirley Bassey and Eminem. Brian has enjoyed collaborations with numerous artists, including Robbie Williams, Foo Fighters, Cliff Richard, Guns N’ Roses, Diana Ross, and Luciano Pavarotti. He was also proud to play feature guitar on the Winter Olympics 2002 opening music, The Fire Within for his friend and composer, the late Michael Kamen.

In July 2005, Guinness World Records announced that Queen had overtaken The Beatles to become the most successful albums act in UK chart history.

Perhaps the most memorable display of May's unique style and musicianship was his performance of his own arrangement of God Save the Queen, live from the roof of Buckingham Palace, to open HM the Queen’s 2002 Golden Jubilee celebrations in front of an audience of more than 200 million people around the world.

2018 celebrated the 10th anniversary of May's publishing house, the revived London Stereoscopic Company. Whilst specializing in Victorian 3-D Photography, the LSC’s latest publication Queen in 3-D features previously unseen images alongside Brian’s narration of his childhood discovery of stereoscopy and through his life with Queen from the early 1970s to present day. All LSC books include Brian’s own design OWL stereoscopic viewer.

May is a regular contributor to The Sky at Night for his long-time friend, Sir Patrick Moore, with whom he co-authored, along with Dr Chris Lintott, an illustrated astrophysics book entitled BANG! The Complete History of the Universe. First published in 2006, it has since been published in 20 languages, and gone to a second updated edition.

As a lifelong advocate of animal welfare, Brian set up the Save Me campaign to champion all, but predominantly British wildlife. Save Me works at grass roots level in conjunction with a local animal rescue and re-homing center as well as being a player alongside the major animal welfare groups. Brian has been a leading inspiration in the fight against fox hunting and badger culling.

Appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2005 for ‘services to the Music Industry’ and for his charity work, Brian is patron to a number of charities, also a vice president of the RSPCA.

He greatly enjoys interacting with his fans and credits them with helping him through a current difficult period.

In May 2020 while recovering from a ripped muscle and a trapped nerve which was caused by a gardening injury, he suffered a heart attack which required the insertion of three stents into three blocked arteries. May said he had been "very near death".

After he returned back home, he posted several pictures and videos of himself showing his improving health status to his worried fans.

However, the Queen star admitted: "This has been hell. I cannot tell you how it not only sapped my energy but killed my will to do things so that's why I didn't want to talk to anyone really. But I'm here and I'm back and I wanted to say hello," he explained.

“And this morning, my heart was so warmed by your wonderful comments. You’re all so supportive. It’s great that we can support each other in this way. I’m not out of the woods yet, but what I have been through reminds me that without health there is nothing.

I hope you will all take care of yourselves out there. As the wonderful Joni Mitchell said in a song …”You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone“. Bri“

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In the pages of How To Earn A Living As A Freelance Writer (the first to be lied to and the last to be paid) you'll find sex, celebrities, violence, threats, unethical editors, scummy managers and lawyers, treacherous press agents, sex discrimination; as well as a how-to for earning money by writing down words.

ART AND ABOUT

THE ANNENBERG SPACE FOR PHOTOGRAPHY has permanently closed its doors after initially shutting them in mid-March due to the spread of novel coronavirus.

For more than a decade, the Annenberg Space for Photography, created by founder Wallis Annenberg, has displayed a range of culturally relevant photography exhibitions and been visited by over a million patrons.

It was announced last Monday via a press release by Wallis Annenberg that the space will not reopen due to the uncertainty surrounding state-mandated social distancing regulations; instead founders will focus on philanthropy via the Annenberg Foundation.

“It’s been a joy to share my favorite art from with the Los Angeles community for these ten wonderful years,” Annenberg said via the release. “Because a photograph does much more than capture what’s in front of us. It captures what’s deep inside us, the trials and triumphs the naked eye rarely sees. That’s why the Annenberg Space has been so meaningful to me, and to everyone who’s been a part of it. We’ve staged some extraordinary exhibits; we’ve showcased some astonishing work; we’ve highlighted some critical issues. As hard as this moment is, I’m proud that we made so much stirring work so accessible.”

Though the physical space is closed, Annenberg said the foundation will continue to support the arts and build upon its commitment to social and economic justice issues.

The space was the “first solely photographic cultural destination in the Los Angeles area,” according to its website. Admission was always free.

The Photography Space opened in 2009 at the former site of the Shubert Theatre on Avenue of the Stars in Century City. Over the years, the 10,000 square-foot facility curated many culturally significant exhibits including Who Shot Rock & Roll; Contact High: A Visual History of Hip-Hop; National Geographic’s Photo Ark; Refugee; Generation Wealth; Identity: Timothy Greenfield-Sanders The List Portraits; and W|ALLS: Defend, Divide and the Divine.

The most recent exhibit, Vanity Fair: Hollywood Calling, showcased celebrity portraits from titular magazine’s annual Hollywood issues, as well as captures from past Oscar night parties.

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SWEET CHARITY

OLNEY ONWARD! COMES HOME A Free Event to Benefit Olney Theatre Center takes place Saturday, June 20 at 7:00 pm Live-streaming on their website, YouTube channel, and Facebook page

You're invited to a celebration of the Olney Theatre Center, home for extraordinary theatre. Jason Loewth and Debbie Ellinghaus will host a live-streamed party featuring OTC favorites: Rhett Guter, Mitch Hebert, Jade Jones, Greg Maheu, Donna Migliaccio, Robert Mintz, Mason Alexander Park, Malinda Kathleen Reese, and Christopher Youstra. And you’ll get to meet Jai’Len Josey from OTC’s upcoming production of the new musical A.D. 16.

They'll perform and share stories from backstage. You'll also learn a bit more about the many ways OTC brings the community together. It's free to RSVP and be automatically entered to win tickets to a future opening night.

SPREADING THE WORD

PART OF 92Y’s CONFRONTING HATE INITIATIVE 92Y in New York City announces a conversation with celebrated playwright, actor, and professor Anna Deavere Smith on Monday, June 15 at 7 pm ET. The conversation is free and is available to stream.

This timely discussion coincides with two of her most lauded works becoming available to stream: Twilight: Los Angeles, the filmed version of her 1994 one-woman play on the 1992 Los Angeles riots, will be aired on PBS’s Great Performances. Notes from the Field, a 2018 film based on her play by the same name which explores racial inequality in the justice system, is currently available via HBO's online platforms.

92Y Confronts Hate is a multidisciplinary response to racism and hatred, designed to foster understanding and inspire action and change. The series launched on June 7 with The Politics of the Pandemic, a panel discussion on where the federal and local response has fallen short and the disproportionate impact on communities of color, and has also included Building Bridges: Is it Possible on June 8 with 92Y’s Rabbi Peter Rubinstein and Reverend Jacques Andre DeGraff of Canaan Baptist Church in Harlem.

Rabbi Rubinstein is also slated for Praying with Our Hearts, Hands, and Feet, a talk with Imam Al-Hajj Talib ‘Abdur-Rashid, Spiritual Leader of The Mosque of Islamic Brotherhood in Harlem on June 18 at 5 pm ET. The two friends and spiritual leaders from different neighborhoods will discuss their search together for a way forward according to the values of their faith traditions.

ROYAL ALBERT HALL HOME brings exclusive sessions from artists’ homes to yours whie the Hall is shut. Martha Wainwright performs Wedneaday, June 24, 2020.

"With an unmistakable voice and an arsenal of powerful songs, Martha is a beguiling performer and a refreshing force in music. She began building a buzz with her well-noted EPs prior to her successful eponymous debut LP, which was followed by her highly regarded sophomore album, I Know You’re Married But I’ve Got Feelings Too and the acclaimed Goodnight City.

Martha is in the midst of finishing up a book and getting ready to record another full length album. Until then, she shares her latest single Wolves, featuring brother Rufus.

UAE YAZ ISLAND BECOMES FIGHT ISLAND as host to the much-hyped event. UFC President Dana White has announced that he will use Yas Island in Abu Dhabi for four events, starting with UFC 251 on pay-per-view on July 11. The next three fight cards will be July 15, July 18, and July 25.

Once there, nobody is permitted to leave the island.

UFC indicated that a 10-square mile safety zone will be established on Yas Island. It will include an arena, hotel, training facilities, and dining establishments that will be open only to UFC athletes and their coaches, UFC staff and event personnel and island employees necessary to operate the facilities. The island location will help international athletes who have a difficult time entering the United States because of Coronavirus pandemic travel restrictions.

Fighters will stay and train on the island, with White saying that fights will take place in the "Octagon out in the sand."

UFC 251 will feature three championship bouts, including a headline fight between Kamaru Usman and Gilbert Burns for the welterweight title.

It will also feature featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski's rematch against Max Holloway and Petr Yan against Jose Aldo for the vacant UFC bantamweight title.

Yas Island is an enormous entertainment destination only 30 minutes from the UAE capital and has been renowned as the home of the Yas Marina Circuit which holds its annual Formula One Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Among the theme parks are Ferrari World Abu Dhabi, the world’s first Ferrari-branded theme park offering over 20 rides and attractions, all with Italian themed surroundings, and the fastest roller coaster in the world clocked at 149 mph. Yas Waterworld is one of the largest in the world with 43 rides, slides & attractions. The futuristically styled waterpark also includes the world’s largest hydromagnetic-powered, six-person tornado waterslide, as well as the world’s largest surfable wave.

THE OLD GLOBE in San Diego, CA in collaboration with the George L. Stevens Seniors Resource Center, presents their fourth annual Juneteenth performance presentation as part of the Center’s Juneteenth festival. The event is hosted on their digital platforms in honor of the day and as a benefit for the Center. This event will include video excerpts from past coLAB Juneteenth performance presentations such as The Ruby in Us and Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley: From Slavery to Modiste; a reading of the new play Ode to My Mothers by Joy Yvonne Jones, directed by Delicia Turner Sonnenberg; music; spoken word; crafts; at-home activities; an educational presentation that shares the story and history of the holiday; and much more.

The Juneteenth Presentation event on Friday, June 19 will be live-streamed online from 12:00 noon to 4:00 p.m. PDT on The Old Globe’s Facebook page and The Old Globe Arts Engagement’s Facebook page, The Old Globe’s YouTube channel, and The Old Globe's website. All proceeds will go directly to the George L. Stevens Seniors Resource Center via a GoFundMe campaign available during the Facebook event.

ART MALIK PERFORMING AT THE OLD VIC IN LONDON the sixth of their archive monologues from 2018’s The Greatest Wealth will be released June 18, 2020 at 12pm ontheir YouTube channel.

Written by Courttia Newland and performed by Jade Anouka, Family Room explores the National Health Serivce NHS during the 1990s.

Curated by Lolita Chakrabarti and directed by Adrian Lester. Funded by the TS Eliot Estate.

THEATER RESOURCES UNLIMITED (TRU) announces the casting for the first virtual presentation of its 2020 TRU Voices New Plays Reading Series, The series, a benefit for Theater Resources Unlimited to help make up for financial losses due to COVID-19, will take place on Wednesday, June 17, 2020 at 2:30pm EDT.

The series will comprise world premiere reading of Disbelief, a Cassandra Tale by Garret Jon Groenveld, which uses the Cassandra legend to catalog the struggle of women being believed and having their voices heard.

Directed by Jess Cummings and produced by Molly Morris with Krista Swan as stage manager/tech director.

Disbelief is the story of Apollo's gift to Cassandra, rethought for today, from her point of view. This updated telling adds a contemporary perspective on how women are perceived and controlled and disbelieved (or dismissed). Scintillating language explores the parallels of belief in a higher power, with belief in a powerful man, versus a woman of power, struggling to be believed. And for the first time the two most famous women of the Trojan War, Helen of Troy and Cassandra, actually speak to each other, without a man around at all. "The play draws a gentle parallel to our 2016 election, and a candidate who told the truth, was systematically undermined and disbelieved."

Featuring: Marija Abney, Ceasar F. Barajas, Catherine LeFrere, Gerrard Lobo, and Alfredo Narciso.

This year's TRU Voices Series is being performed under an agreement with the Performers' Unions through the Theatre Authority. Tickets are being offered for free during this time of crisis, with the hope that those who are able will support TRU with tax deductible donations.

RECORDING ACADEMY ADOPTS MAJOR CHANGES FOR 63RD ANNUAL GRAMMYS AND RELEASES RULES & GUIDELINES

The Recording Academy which has come under fire for racial bias and discrimination has announced that it has made major changes to several rules and guidelines that reflect its ongoing commitment to evolve with the musical landscape and to ensure that the Grammy Awards nominating process and rules are more transparent and fair.

Among the changes are updates to the Best New Artist category, Latin, R&B and Rap Fields, Nominations Review Committees, and more. The new changes go into effect immediately for the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards. In addition, the Grammy Awards Rules & Guidelines are now, for the first time, available to the public.

"I'm excited to announce our latest changes, as we're constantly evaluating our Awards process and evolving it to ensure the Grammy Awards are inclusive and reflect the current state of the music industry," said Harvey Mason jr., Chair & Interim President/CEO of the Recording Academy. "The Academy accepts proposals for rule changes from members of the music community throughout the year that are carefully reviewed and, if accepted, ultimately ratified at our annual Board meeting, a process that we are proud to have continued in this challenging year." "As a peer-driven and peer-voted award, members of the music community are directly involved in the growth and preservation of the Grammy's process," said Bill Freimuth, Chief Awards Officer at the Recording Academy. "Each year we receive a number of rule change proposals from artists, producers and songwriters asking us to reevaluate our process to better reflect the current state of the music industry and how it's evolved over the past 12 months."

APPROVED RULE AMENDMENTS:

Best Urban Contemporary Album Category — Renamed and Redefined
Best Urban Contemporary Album has been renamed Best Progressive R&B Album to appropriately categorize and describe this subgenre. This change includes a more accurate definition to describe the merit or characteristics of music compositions or performances themselves within the genre of R&B.

Best Progressive R&B Album: This category is intended to highlight albums that include the more progressive elements of R&B and may include samples and elements of hip-hop, rap, dance, and electronic music. It may also incorporate production elements found in pop, euro-pop, country, rock, folk, and alternative.

Best Rap/Sung Performance Category — Renamed and Redefined
Best Rap/Sung Performance has been renamed Best Melodic Rap Performance to represent the inclusivity of the growing hybrid performance trends within the rap genre. The expanded category is defined as follows:

Best Melodic Rap Performance: This category is intended to recognize solo and collaborative performances containing elements of rap and melody over modern production. This performance requires a strong and clear presence of melody combined with rap cadence, and is inclusive of dialects, lyrics or performance elements from non-rap genres including R&B, rock, country, electronic or more. The production may include traditional elements of rap or elements characteristic of the aforementioned non-rap genres.

Latin Field: Placement of Latin Urban Recordings — Reclassify
Latin Pop Album has been renamed Best Latin Pop Or Urban Album and Latin Rock, Urban Or Alternative Album has been renamed Best Latin Rock Or Alternative Album to migrate the genres of Latin urban and represent the current state and prominent representation in the Latin urban genres.

Best Latin Pop Or Urban Album: This category is intended to recognize excellence in Latin pop or urban music recordings that utilize a stylistic intention, song structure, lyrical content, and/or musical presentation to create a sensibility that reflects the broad spectrum of Latin pop music style and culture. The category includes recordings from balladeers and commercial Latin music and is not limited to any one region.

Best Latin Rock Or Alterative Album: This category is intended to highlight Latin rock or alternative music recordings that utilize a stylistic intention, song structure, lyrical content and/or musical presentation to create a sensibility that reflects the broad spectrum of the Latin music style and culture.

Best New Artist — Eligibility
There is no longer a specified maximum number of releases prohibiting artists from entering the Best New Artist category. As such, the screening committees will be charged with determining whether the artist had attained a breakthrough or prominence prior to the eligibility year. Such a determination would result in disqualification.

Nominations Review Committees — Addressing Potential Conflicts of Interest

At the time of invitation to participate on a Nominations Review Committee, a conflict of interest disclosure form will be provided. Each person invited to be a member of such a committee must disclose to the best of their knowledge whether, in connection with any recording that may be entered in the current year's Grammy Awards process, (a) the person would be in line to receive a Grammy nomination or win for any recordings being considered in a particular category, (b) the person would have any direct or indirect financial ties to the recordings or creators under consideration, (c) the person has immediate familial ties to any of the artists in the top voter selections, and/or (d) any other conflict of interest, actual or perceived. If a recording listed by the invitee presents a conflict of interest, the Academy will notify the committee member that they cannot participate on the committee that year. If, in the unlikely event that, despite these proactive efforts, a conflict is discovered during the committee meeting, that person will be notified and recused from the meeting. Failure to voluntarily disclose any conflict of interest will result in the person being barred from future Nominations Review Committee participation.

LAUGHTER IS THE BEST MEDICINE

Mark Twain, a name Samuel Langhorne Clemens adopted while working in Nevada at the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise, was a writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was lauded as the "greatest humorist [the United States] has produced", and William Faulkner called him "the father of American literature". A few of his witticisms are:

The secret of getting ahead is getting started.

There are basically two types of people. People who accomplish things, and people who claim to have accomplished things. The first group is less crowded.

Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please.

Go to Heaven for the climate, Hell for the company.

Suppose you were an idiot, and suppose you were a member of Congress; but I repeat myself.

It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.

When your friends begin to flatter you on how young you look, it's a sure sign you're getting old.

All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence, and then success is sure.

We have the best government that money can buy.

OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY

RESTAURANT MARKETING STRATEGY with the world re-opening after the COVID-19 shutdown, restaurants have been hit particularly hard and are struggling to stay profitable.

Rory Sutherland, who is Vice Chairman at Ogilvy and Mather UK, a leading advertising agency is considered one of the pioneers of behavioral science in the context of commerce in the UK and globally. One of the things he's been interested in is the difference between perception and reality.

For a Warwick University class on behavioral science he discussed a marketing strategy of the Indian restaurant Dishoom in London "which has a loyalty program where at the end of the meal, actually, if you have this little coin, which is their loyalty card, it's a little Indian coin, you hand it over at the beginning of any meal, I think before 7:00 PM Monday to Thursday. And you order your food, just as per usual. At the end of the meal, they bring you a die. You throw the die, and if you throw a six, your meal's free. Now, if you're a very boring economist, that's exactly the same as a discount of 16.6%. Certainly, it costs the restaurant exactly the same as a discount of 16.6%, assuming the die is not loaded, which I trust them. I would argue to a diner, that's a completely different experience. So to a diner, in a sense, first of all, you will eat differently under those two circumstances.

"Because you feel a bit of an idiot winning a free meal if you just ordered a wrap and a Diet Coke. So you're probably going to order a bit more food as a result of that possibility of being let off the bill completely. If you're with a group of friends, it adds a huge amount of saliency and excitement. I would argue that a 16.6% discount is utterly boring and unmotivating, whereas this is charming and exciting. So that's obviously a very small scale example.

TYLER PERRY'S fabulous former mansion in Atlanta just sold to talk-show-host Steve Harvey for $15 million. Over the top for laid-back Atlanta, Perry built his home with a design based on the Palace of Versailles, but added features that would have left King Louis XIV speechless. In addition to a helipad, the 34,688-square-foot home has seven bedrooms and fourteen baths, stately formal rooms, a two-story library, infinity-edge swimming pool outside, resistance pool inside, lighted tennis court on top of a two-story parking garage, fully equipped gym, spa, theater, hobby house and an underground ballroom with catering kitchen. There are both formal and informal gardens, an entire estate generator, guard house, caretaker’s suite and presidential-level security system including two gated and secured residential entrances.

Tyler originally spent about $40 million to build the home and a good portion of the money went into full grown plants, trees and topiary shrubs. Lush greenery that now spills out into terraced formal gardens from the house with paths twisting through the trees, flowers and plants. The grounds include an outdoor pool with a Versailles-type painting on the bottom and seating areas among fountains where guests can relax on bar stools while enjoying drinks and conversation with swimmers. The house and grounds could easily accommodate over a hundred guests with plenty of space left over.

Televangelist David Turner purchased the house from Perry in 2016 and turned it into a production studio for a web-based Christian TV network, Jesus Live TV, and has now sold it to comedian, talk-show-host and self-help author Steve Harvey for $15 million. The agent for the Tyler Perry property, Chase Mizell of Atlanta Fine Homes Sotheby’s, listed the home for both the sale to Turner and the sale to Harvey.

Perry has homes in the Bahamas, Wyoming, Texas, Mulholland Estates in Los Angeles (currently on loan to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle), but chooses to live and work in Georgia on his 1,100-acre property where his film studios are located.

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO . . . .

PRINCE PHILIP AND HIS BRIDE QUEEN ELIZABETH Prince Philip turned 99 last Wednesday, June 10, 2020 while his wife, Queen Elizabeth celebrated her official birthday, yesterday, Saturday, June 13,t with a scaled down Trooping the Colour parade at Windsor Castle where the royal couple has been isolating since the Corvid-19 outbreak.

In honor of the royal birthdays the couple release a "new photograph of The Duke of Edinburgh and The Queen taken last week in the quadrangle at Windsor Castle to mark His Royal Highness’s 99th birthday,” the royal family’s Instagram caption read on Tuesday, June 9.

The celebratory photo shows Queen Elizabeth, 94, wearing a floral-printed Angela Kelly dress, 18.8 carat diamond brooch called Cullinan V, and a pearl necklace. The Duke of Edinburgh, is smart in a navy jacket, light blue shirt and navy and maroon Household Division striped tie.

Prince Philip retired from royal duties in 2017 and the birthday photo marks the first public sighting of the Duke of Edinburgh since he was spotted leaving a London hospital in December.

Although the queen’s actual birthday is April 21, she has traditionally had an official celebration every year on the second Saturday in June.

Prince Philip who is famous for not liking a fuss to be made over him, celebrated his birthday at Windsor with close family.



CICELY TYSON whose more than seven decades of work across stage, screen and TV includes iconic small-screen roles as Jane Pittman, Coretta Scott King and the mother of Rosa Parks, was announced as the recipient of the Peabody Awards’ Career Achievement Award.

The awards, handed out by the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia, seek to recognize those in television, radio, and online media that invigorate, inspire or educate - "whose work and commitment to broadcasting and digital media have left an indelible mark on American culture."

"Cicely Tyson’s uncompromising commitment to using her craft to address the big issues of her time—gender equality, racial and social justice, equity and inclusion—places her in rare company. And she did so when speaking up and speaking out invited stigma, isolation, and retribution,” said Jeffrey P. Jones, executive director of Peabody in a statement. “She was a seminal figure of her time, and ahead of her time.”

Tyson joins Rita Moreno and Carol Burnett, who have also received Peabody career achievement awards.

THE LATIN GRAMMY FOUNDATION awarded the Julio Iglesias Scholarship to piano and voice student Mar Giménez Marín. The Prodigy Scholarship - created six years ago to support musical education and the Latin music genres - holds a maximum value of $200,000 and allows Giménez Marín to pursue a bachelor's degree at Berklee College of Music in Boston starting this fall.

The native of Zaragoza, Spain was selected by the Foundation's scholarship committee from a highly-competitive group of hundreds of applicants worldwide.

"It gives me great pleasure to award our sixth Prodigy Scholarship to a talented music student, in order to cover the costs of a degree at Berklee," said Manolo Díaz, Senior Vice President of the Latin Grammy Cultural Foundation. "Thanks to the incredible generosity of a musical icon like Julio Iglesias, we can help foster the education of future generations of Latin music makers."

"Mar is an accomplished pianist and vocalist, and I am delighted to be able to help her accomplish her dream of pursuing a formal music education at such a prestigious institution like Berklee. Bolstering the talent of Latin music students, with the help of the Latin Grammy Cultural Foundation, is something that I'm very proud of," said Iglesias.

"Berklee is grateful for our partnership with the Latin Grammy Cultural Foundation and Julio Iglesias on this scholarship," said Berklee President Roger H. Brown. "The support of Julio and the Foundation gives a talented young musician the opportunity to study at Berklee, while at the same time strengthening the college's ties to Latin culture and music. We welcome Mar and look forward to following her progress."

To date, the Latin Grammy Cultural Foundation has allocated an extraordinary sum of $5 million in scholarships, grants, musical instruments, and educational events throughout the United States and Ibero-America. The artists that have previously co-sponsored the Prodigy Scholarships are Enrique Iglesias (2015), Juan Luis Guerra (2016), Miguel Bosé (2017), Carlos Vives (2018), and Emilio and Gloria Estefan (2019).

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This is not your typical, totally boring textbook.

In the pages of How To Earn A Living As A Freelance Writer (the first to be lied to and the last to be paid) you'll find sex, celebrities, violence, threats, unethical editors, scummy managers and lawyers, treacherous press agents, sex discrimination; as well as a how-to for earning money by writing down words.

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