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LAS VEGAS OPENS WAY FOR MORE ENTERTAINMENT - - THE OUTWIN: AMERICAN PORTRAITURE
- - FILM ADAPTATION OF ROALD DAHL'S THE WITCHES - - VALUE OF THE FIVE LARGEST NASCAR RACING TEAMS - -
STEPPENWOLF IN CHICAGO WYATT EARP ON STAGE - - LIVE AT THE LORTEL PODCAST - -
JASON ROBERT BROWN'S SONG FOR A NEW WORLD MUSICAL
- - ON LINE TRIVIA NIGHT - - DONATE . . . Scroll Down
Copyright: October 4, 2020
By: Laura Deni
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LAS VEGAS OPENS WAY FOR MORE ENTERTAINMENT: GOVERNOR SAYS NEVADA WILL SET GOLD STANDARD
Usher was one of the first artists to announce a new Las Vegas residency since the COVID-19 pandemic started. He has summer and early winter dates in 2021 planned at Caesars Palace. Last week Usher and his girlfriend Jenn Goicoechea became parents of a baby girl. The bundle of joy joins Usher's two older sons Naviyd Ely and Usher V from a previous marriage.
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Eagerly anticipated and widely heralded, Gov. Steve Sisolak has announced relaxation of COVID-19 rules.
Previously, no more than 50 individuals, including cast and crew, were permitted in a location.
Beginning last Thursday, October 1, the new Emergency Directive took effect.
The rules:
Venues with a maximum capacity of fewer than 2,500 people will have to adhere to the new 250-person limit (up from 50) or 50 percent capacity, whichever number is lower. This applies to most retail businesses, restaurants and similar venues.
He emphasized that the 250-person limit does not count those working at the event.
Sisokak said larger gatherings also will be allowed in event centers that have fixed seating for more than 2,500 people, “under very strict guidelines.”
He used as examples the Thomas & Mack and Lawlor Events Center as well as major centers like T-Mobile which seats 20,000 could hold events up to 10% of their fixed seating capacity. But in those gatherings, attendees would be divided into sections of no more than 250 people and have controls in place to prevent people from moving from one section to another. Venue staff also would be required to work in just one 250-person section with controls to prevent people from coming and going between those sections.
Sisolak said the controls are designed to prevent “cross mingling” by people attending the events or working at them.
He said live entertainment can resume under the same tough restrictions with 250 person limits and social distancing as well as wearing masks and sanitation.
He said this is a significant step toward revitalizing Nevada’s hospitality industry under the strongest conditions in the nation.
Sisolak emphasized Nevada is setting up rules to make the state the gold standard for restoring the hospitality industry and urged those planning conventions, conferences and other events to look carefully at what the state is doing compared to some other states which have become exasperating at the lockdowns and merely opening the doors and inviting people back.
He added that one new rule for all businesses and events centers is they must post their 50 percent capacity limit on all entrances, preferably in both English and Spanish.
Facilities with capacity limits greater than 2,500 will be allowed to host 10 percent of their total capacity, provided they follow requirements for spacing out groups and, for each event, submit a detailed plan which is approved by both the local health authority and the state oversight authority.
Using the 65,000-seat Allegiant Stadium as an example: if a specific application is approved by local and state authorities, the stadium could host up to 6,500 spectators. Those spectators would have to be limited to groups no larger than six people, and those groups would have to be separated into numerous 250 person sections or pods in order to meet the social distancing requirements. No pod couldn't-"cross-pollinate" meaning they must use separate entrances and exits, and section-specific restrooms, concessions and workers.
Conventions will again be permitted under the directive, with attendees capped at 250. But, similar to larger entertainment events, conventions could apply to host up to 1,000 attendees. Those conventions would have to be able to keep the conventiongoers in separate groups of no more than 250 people, and those groups must be separated by floor-to-ceiling walls and have separate facilities.
The new limits do not include staff, entertainers/crew, meaning that only the attendees will be counted toward the capacity limits. Other COVID-19 restrictions, such as requiring attendees to wear face coverings, will remain in place.
The convention entertainment segments are the economic lifeblood of the Las Vegas.
Sisolak is actively encouraging conventions and entertainment to look towards Sin City. The convention trade is also a staple employment opportunity for performers who regularly perform at corporate events, MC booths at trade shows or work as impersonation artists.
“I assure you today is only the first step in getting back to our new normal,” he said at a press conference. “Nevada is not only open for business, we are focusing on the long term, providing a safe experience, doing it responsibly.
“We will be the safest destination to bring your customers, employees and families,” he declared.
“Before you make a decision, understand that Nevada is not only open for business, we plan to be open for the long term. We are focusing on your safety, and providing you with a great experience. But a safe, great experience,” Sisolak emphasized. “We will be the safest destination to bring your employees, customers and families. We will open up in a safe, constructive manner where you will feel safe, your families will feel safe, and all of your event participants will feel safe.”
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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.
ART AND ABOUT
RICHARD MAYHEW'S On April 15, 2010, the Museums purchased Mayhew's Rhapsody. Oil on canvas. Photo: de Young.
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painting Rhapsody is on display in Gallery 27A at the newly reopened de Young museum in San Francisco, CA.
“My art is based on feeling - of music and mood and sensitivity and the audio responses of sound and space. I want the essence of the inner soul to be on the canvas.”—Richard Mayhew.
Richard Mayhew, 96, is an Afro-Native American landscape painter and arts educator. His abstract, brightly colored landscapes are informed by his experiences as an African American/Native American and his interest in Jazz and the performing arts. He lives and works in Aptos and Santa Cruz, California.
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Mayhew cites jazz musicians, such as Miles Davis and Cecil Taylor, as major inspirations. In addition to Rhapsody, he has titled several other works after music, including Sonata in G Minor (1987), Overture (2001), and Orchestration (2006). The titling indicates the artist’s ambition to create visual analogues of musical experiences. The qualities of a rhapsody - improvisation, wildly contrasting tonalities and moods - are indeed evident in this work. In its riotous plume of color, one can almost hear the soaring opening measures of one of George Gershwin’s epic pieces.
At the center of Mayhew’s Rhapsody, a flamboyant purple-and-blue copse of trees erupts in a vertical thrust, interrupting the horizontal rhythms of a smoldering orange sky and verdant meadow. These are natural forms, but it would be a mistake to call the work a landscape. Deeply influenced by the Impressionists’ exploration of light and the emotion of Expressionism, Mayhew captures the numinous, rather than the superficial, qualities of nature," said Janna Keegan, assistant curator, contemporary art and programming.
THE OUTWIN: AMERICAN PORTRAITURE Every three years, artists living and working in the United States are invited to submit one of their recent portraits to a panel of experts chosen by the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery in the museum's Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition. For the first time in the triennial’s history, the museum specifically asked that submissions respond “to the current political and social context,” and this resulting presentation offers perspectives on some of today’s most pressing issues.
Selected from more than 2,000 works, the 50 finalists create portraits in a wide range of media—painting, drawing, photography, sculpture, time-based media art, installation, and performance—and all are keenly aware of portraiture’s potential to insist on the presence, and importance, of every human being.
Prize Winners:
Hugo Crosthwaite, First Prize
ADA´L, People’s Choice
Sam Comen, Second Prize
Richard Greene, Third Prize (tie)
Wayde McIntosh, Third Prize (tie)
Natalia Garcia Clark, Commended
Lauren Hare, Commended
Adrian Octavius Walker, Commended
The Outwin first-prize winner Hugo Crosthwaite, is the first Latinx artist to receive this prestigious award since the national competition was founded in 2006. His prize-winning stop-motion drawing animation, “A Portrait of Berenice Sarmiento Chávez” (2018), recounts a woman’s journey from Tijuana, Mexico, to the United States in pursuit of the American dream.
The Outwin aims to advance the art of portraiture for future generations while encouraging visitors to empathize and locate meaningful connections.
The curators of The Outwin: American Portraiture Today are Taína Caragol and Dorothy Moss.
This exhibition has been organized by the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C. The competition and exhibition are made possible through generous support from the Virginia Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition Endowment.
Opens Saturday, October 3 at the D'Amour Museum of Fine Arts in Springfield, MA. On display through April 4, 2021.
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SWEET CHARITY
ON LINE TRIVIA NIGHT from State Theatre New Jersey takes place Wednesday, October 14 at 7pm.
Proceeds raised support State Theatre’s Community Engagement programs. A minimum donation of $5 allows patrons to participate in the trivia challenge.
All Trivia Nights will be composed of 50 multiple choice questions. The first-place winner gets bragging rights as well as a $150 State Theatre gift certificate and a State Theatre swag bag and the second-place winner gets a State Theatre swag bag. Online Trivia Night will be hosted on Zoom on each participant’s desktop computer and played on the smartphone-based trivia game APP called Kahoot. Closed Captioning for Trivia Nights can be made available by request by emailing info@stnj.org, one week prior to the event.
80’s Online Trivia Night on Wednesday, October 14, will feature questions on 80’s pop culture, including movies like The Breakfast Club and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off; music groups like Run DMC and The Bangles; fashion trends like leg warmers and spandex; to nostalgic games and toys like Pac Man and Care Bears; and much more.
SPREADING THE WORD
GUILLERMO RODRIGUEZ Jimmy Kimmel's sidekick on his intelligent and entertaining Jimmy Kimmel Live! show, recently let it be known that his empathy as a husband could use improvement. When the crew returned to the studio from isolation, Kimmel asked them what they had learned being sequestered at home. Clueless Guillermo, a former parking lot security guard, carped that his wife was hot all the time and wanted the air-conditioner running 24-hours a day and he was cold. Thoughtless Guillermo told his wife she was running up the electric bill, which - he claimed - he couldn't afford to pay; so he turned off the air conditioner at night.
Turn the air conditioner back on, you insensitive oaf. You're cold? Man up. Your wife can't control being hot. You can put on a sweater, warm pajamas or socks.
You can also afford your electric bill.
STEPPENWOLF IN CHICAGO is offering George Orwell's Animal Farm as a radio play, available for free streaming to students across the globe. Our Education team is building a comprehensive curriculum, including lesson plans and artist interviews, to accompany the play, and Steppenwolf teaching artists will “zoom” to classrooms.
The venue reports that "Almost 15,000 students world-wide are already registered!"
Teachers in the U.S. and around the globe, can register to stream the play for free for their students.
THE LUCILLE LORTEL THEATRE has announced its initial guest lineup for the second season of their popular “Live at The Lortel” podcast. The upcoming season is filled with award winning actors that grace stages off and on Broadway, leading theater administrators, and thought-provoking playwrights and directors.
The season launched October 2 with Tony Award winner BD Wong, followed by OBIE Award winner and Producing Artistic Director of the Classical Theatre of Harlem Ty Jones on October 9. Transgender actor and rights advocate Maybe Burke participates on October 16 while stage, screen and recording artist Telly Leung is October 23.
Future guests include Tony Award winner Karen Olivo, playwright Betty Shamieh, Tony Award winner Tonya Pinkins, actor, film maker and transgender activist Pooya Mohseni, and Drama Desk Award winner Andréa Burns.
Hosted by Eric Ostrow along with co-hosts John-Andrew Morrison and Daphne Rubin-Vega, Season 2 of Live at The Lortel is dedicated to amplifying the voices and stories of people of color, members of the LGBTQ community, and artists who stand in solidarity with the continued fight against institutional racism and racial injustice. Theater makers will delve into their thoughts on the future of theater during this period of radical change. They will also discuss their craft, as well as their professional and personal projects that help to make theatre and the world more equitable.
In accordance with social distancing guidelines, the podcast is being recorded via ZOOM rather than at the Lucille Lortel Theatre. These webcasts will offer theater fans the opportunity to watch live interviews and participate in a Q&A with artists.
JASON ROBERT BROWN'S SONG FOR A NEW WORLD MUSICAL is set to be performed live in two socially distanced shows at the London Palladium on October 11, 2020.
Brown’s song cycle / musical will feature David Hunter, Rachel John, Rachel Tucker, Cedric Neal and Shem Omari James.
Directed by the brilliant Séimí Campbell and with music direction by Adam Hoskins, this moving collection of powerful songs examines life, love and the choices that we make.
The show will be presented in line with existing government rules with social distancing and all patrons will be required to wear face masks.
COLIN QUINN & GARY GULMAN with opening act Brittany Carney perform Sunday, October 11, 2020 at at 4pm & 7:30pm outdoors under the tent at the Ridgefield Playhouse in Ridgefield, CT.
Comedian, writer, performer and fan favorite, Colin Quinn's thirty-year career has included stints on Saturday Night Live as the "Weekend Update" anchor, appearances on every cable comedy showcase and network talk show you can think of, including his own eponymous late-night show, and guest-starring roles in a wide swath of television shows and movies, including The Larry Sanders Show and Inside Amy Schumer. This month Quinn expands his creative portfolio with a brand new book entitled Overstated.
With 25 years in comedy, Gulman "has established himself as an eminent performer and peerless writer. His most recent standup special for HBO, “The Great Depresh,” is a universally acclaimed, tour de force look at mental illness, equal parts hilarious and inspiring."
FILM ADAPTATION OF ROALD DAHL'S THE WITCHES by Robert Zemeckis with a screenplay by Zemeckis, Guillermo del Toro and Kenya Barris. Dahl’s 1983 dark fantasy novel has been transported from England to 1960s Alabama with Jahzir Kadeem Bruno and Octavia Spencer cast as the young boy and his grandmother.
Other blue ribbon cast members include Kristin Chenoweth, Anne Hathaway, Stanley Tucci and Chris Rock.
Anne Hathaway plays the Grand High Witch, a role synonymous with Anjelica Houston from the 1990 film adaptation. Italian actress Eugenia Caruso, British comedian Morgana Robinson and Charles Edwards are also in the film.
The story follows a little boy who, whilst staying with his grandmother at a hotel, stumbles across a conference of witches plotting to kill children, and gets transformed into a mouse by the Grand High Witch.
The fantasy comedy was filmed at Warner Bros. Studio in Hertfordshire and on location in Surrey in the UK and in Alabama, Georgia in 2019. The film was originally schedule to open in cinemas October 2020, but has now been pushed for release in 2021.
WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP OF GODZILLA GOURDS
Bring it on beefy, burly behemoths! The excitement is building in Pumpkintown as the World’s Greatest Gourd Growers and their mind-blowing, Volkswagen-sized orange orbs hope to squash the world record on Monday, October 12 at the 47th Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off - the “Super Bowl of Weigh-Offs” - in the World Pumpkin Capital of Half Moon Bay, California.
Weigh-off organizers and title sponsor Safeway are offering a world’s biggest top prize of $7 per pound. Also at stake are thousands of dollars in super hefty prize money doled out to the top 20 plus the big carrot: a $30,000 total mega-prize for a new world record pumpkin entered at Half Moon Bay - considered the “Super Bowl of Weigh-Offs”. The weighing of monster pumpkins will begin at 7am and end around 11am.
Location is Long Branch Farms is a unique old western town nestled in the rolling countryside along the San Mateo coast.
Leonardo Urena with his 2,175-pound pumpkin. Photo: Miramar Events
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Two-time Half Moon Bay champion Leonardo Urena’s goliath 2,175-pound mega-gourd obliterated a formidable field of heavyweight contenders in winning the 2019 Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off and setting a new California record.
Beauty will share center stage with beefy brawn - a special $1,000 prize will be awarded to the “most beautiful pumpkin” as judged by our esteemed panel based on color, shape and size. Additional special prizes include: Biggest California Pumpkin - $1,000; Biggest Coastside Pumpkin - $1,000.
Using forklifts and special harnesses, the gargantuan gourds will be carefully placed on a 5-ton capacity, industrial-strength digital scale under the watchful eye of officials from the San Mateo County Agricultural Commissioner's Office of Weights, Sealers, and Measures. Half Moon Bay’s Weigh-Off will serve as an officially sanctioned Great Pumpkin Commonwealth (GPC) site.
Due to the COVID pandemic, the weigh-off will not be allowing spectators/the general public to attend the event. However, participating growers are allowed to have a limited number of family and assistants (max. 4 including grower). Event staff and members of the media will be the only other people allowed on-site.
Everyone will be required to wear a face covering during the weigh-off and adhere to proper physical distancing. Special weigh-off face coverings will be provided to everyone on-site.
The event will be livestreamed on Facebook.
Official Rules:
• This event is open to growers of giant competition-sized pumpkins only.
• Pumpkins must be grown, cared for, and entered by the weigh-off contestant.
• Each contestant is limited to one entry.
• Pumpkins that have won prizes in any other weigh-off competitions are not eligible.
• In the event of a tie, prize money will be distributed equally among the tied parties.
• Decisions of the judges are final in all cases.
•Pumpkins must be in healthy and undamaged condition, free of rot, holes and cracks through the cavity, chemical residue, and soft spots.
•To be classified as pumpkin, specimen must be 75% yellow/orange in color; all others will be classified as squash.
•The vine must be trimmed to one inch from the stem. No foreign material is permitted in the weighing.
•All pumpkins will be weighed without the use of tarps or other carrying devices.
•Pumpkins will be classified by division based on where the specimen is grown, not the residence of the grower.
•The weigh-off will be conducted in accordance with GPC rules.
There will be an awards luncheon to honor all contestants immediately following the weigh-off in the spectacular Long Branch Farms Reception Parlor.
World Record Mega-Prize – $30k
The Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off is offering a special $30,000 mega-prize for the world record breaking pumpkin. To receive the $30,000 mega-prize, the grower must break and hold the world record at the conclusion of the Half Moon Bay weigh-off. If two or more growers happen to break the world record at Half Moon Bay, the prize money would go to the grower of the heaviest pumpkin. The current world record pumpkin is 2,624 pounds set on October 9, 2016 by Mathias Willemijns of Belgium at the Giant Pumpkin European Championship in Ludwigsburg, Germany.
Here's how the $30,000 breaks down: the winner receives $7 per pound plus a $10,000 bonus mega prize for a new world record plus the difference to get to $30,000. So, a 2,000-pound pumpkin would net $14,000 (2,000 pounds x $7 per pound), plus $10,000 for a new world record, plus an additional $6,000 difference to get to the $30,000 threshold.
Prize Money:
1st Place — $7 per pound
2nd Place — $3,000
3rd Place — $2,500
4th Place — $2,000
5th–10th Place — $1,000 each
11th–20th Place — $200 each
OTHER PEOPLE'S
MONEY
WALT DISNEY CO has announced they intend to lay off 28,000 workers at their domestic theme parks which include Disneyland in Anaheim and Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. Reason given: Economic downturn caused by Covid-19.
The segment involved employs 177,000 people, and also includes Disney businesses such as its retail stores and four cruise ships. The layoffs affect about 13% of Disney’s 223,000-person global workforce.
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“As heartbreaking as it is to take this action, this is the only feasible option we have in light of the prolonged impact of COVID-19 on our business, including limited capacity due to physical distancing requirements and the continued uncertainty regarding the duration of the pandemic,” Josh D’Amaro, chairman of Disney's parks, experiences and products segment said in the memo to staff.
Disney will arrange appointments with affected salaried and nonunion hourly employees in the next few days. The company is also expected to soon discuss with union leaders representing Disney staffers, known as “cast members,” to determine further steps, D’Amaro added. Of the 28,000 workers affected by the layoffs, 67% are part-time, the company said.
VALUE OF THE FIVE LARGEST NASCAR RACING TEAMS SURPASS $1 BILLION WHILE FAN BASE DECLINES according to data presented by Safe Betting Sites which indicates that the five largest NASCAR teams have a cumulative value of $1.02 billion. The value was recorded as of the first quarter of 2020.
Hendrick Motorsports has the highest value at $315 million or 30.8% of the five team’s value. Joe Gibbs Racing team has the second-highest value at $230 million followed by Stewart-Haas Racing with a value of $165 million.
Richard Childress team has the fourth-highest value at $160 million. Out of the top five sampled teams, Team Penske has the least value at $152 million.
The research also overviewed NASCAR’s interests from fans where 66% of Americans are not fans at all. NASCAR’s casual fans account for 23% of the American population while only 10% are NASCAR’s avid followers.
NASCAR has been facing an array of challenges in recent years. According to the research report:
“NASCAR is also facing a hurdle in maintaining the fanbase which has been on a downfall due to various reasons. Notably, NASCAR’s fanbase is aging while young people have not shown interest in the sport. The emergence of alternative motorsport racing like Formula One is also posing a challenge to NASCAR's fanbase. The alternative motorsport races are usually broadcasted or streamed on the internet giving easy access to young people. The access to alternative motorsports event is now offering the same level of adrenaline-fueled excitement that NASCAR can provide.”
In terms of age group, NASCAR’s most avid fans are aged between 35-44 years and 45-64 years old. Both age sets account for 12% of NASCAR’s avid fans. Individuals aged between 18-34 account for 8% of NASCAR’s avid fans while those aged over 65 years account for 9%.
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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.
THE RECORDING ACADEMY has announced four-time Grammy-winning artist Yolanda Adams will join nationally-recognized songwriter Sue Ennis as Co-Chair of the Academy's National Advocacy Committee. Serving as the voice for all music creators alongside the Academy's Advocacy team in Washington, D.C., the committee is comprised of leading performers, producers, songwriters, and studio engineers, and works to determine specific policy positions of the Recording Academy and advance the interests of all music creators.
Adams brings a strong advocacy background to the committee. She recently testified at a congressional hearing on intellectual property, sharing her perspective on the monetary and moral implications of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act's Fair Use doctrine. Adams also participated in the Academy's 7th annual District Advocate Day on August 12, advocating alongside nearly 2,000 music professionals for critical support for the music community as it continues dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.
L.A.’s ECHO THEATER COMPANY has announced that Gideon Wabvuta, a playwright and teaching artist currently living in Los Angeles but originally from Zimbabwe, Wbatuva will join the staff as literary manager.
He earned hid MFA from USC's dramatic writing program in 2019.
The Echo is dedicated to creating new work, so the literary manager position is key. Responsibilities include soliciting, reading and evaluating scripts; casting weekly in-house readings; working with the artistic and associate artistic directors to determine programming and recommend plays for advancement towards production; and the ongoing organization and archiving of script files.
GINGOLD THEATRICAL GROUP has announced the appointment of Ilana Becker as New Associate Director.
Ilana Becker is a producer and director specializing in new play and musical development, investigative and verbatim material, community-driven projects, and arts education.
Now celebrating its 15th year, Gingold Theatrical Group's Project Shaw made history in December 2009 as the first company ever to present performances of every one of Shaw's 65 plays (including full-length works, one-acts and sketches). They are now also including plays by writers who share Shaw’s activist socio-political views embracing human rights and free speech, including work by Chekhov, Ibsen, Elizabeth Robins, Rachel Crothers, Pinero, Wilde, Barrie, and Harley Granville-Barker.
FINAL OVATION
HELEN REDDY whose 1970s feminist anthem I Am Woman spoke for the movement and placed the singer in the history books, died Tuesday, September 29, 2020 in Los Angeles. She had suffered from Addison’s disease and dementia. She was 78.
The Australian-born singer enjoyed a prolific career, regularly starring Las Vegas.
Her hit songs included the powerful I Don’t Know How To Love Him from Jesus Christ Superstar; Ain’t No Way To Treat a Lady; Delta Dawn; Angie Baby and You and Me Against the World.
She placed 25 songs on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart; 15 made the Top 10 and eight reached No. 1, six consecutively. In 1974, at the inaugural American Music Awards, she won the award for Favorite Pop/Rock Female Artist. On television, she was the first Australian to host a one-hour weekly primetime variety show on an American network, along with specials that were seen in more than 40 countries.
She won the best female vocal pop performance Grammy Award for I Am Woman, which would become her biggest hit.
Reddy’s death comes less than three weeks after the release of a biopic about her life called I Am Woman.
In the mid-1980s, Reddy embarked on a new career in the theatre. She mostly worked in musicals, including Anything Goes; Call Me Madam; The Mystery of Edwin Drood and – both on Broadway and the West End – Blood Brothers. She also appeared in four productions of the one-woman show Shirley Valentine.
Reddy retired from performing in the 1990s and returned to her native Australia, earning her degree in clinical hypnotherapy.
Divorced three times, she is survived by her children Traci and Jordan, and grandchildren.
MAC DAVIS Musician, actor and Elvis Presley songwriter died Tuesday, September 29, 2020. He has become critically ill following heart surgery in Nashville. He was 78.
In addition to penning some of Presley’s most memorable songs, including “In the Ghetto” and “A Little Less Conversation,” he regularly headlined in Las Vegas.
Born in Lubbock, Texas, in 1942, Rolling Stone said, Davis evolved into a country and adult crossover star with hits such as Baby Don’t Get Hooked On Me and One Hell of a Woman.
Davis played Will Rogers in the Broadway production of The Will Rogers Follies and in the national tour.
I had the pleasure of reviewing his shows and interviewing him many times. In a nasty profession, he was a gentleman and a sweetheart of a man.
Davis is a member of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame and the National Songwriters Hall of Fame, and also had his songs recorded by Kenny Rogers, Glen Campbell, Bobby Goldsboro, Dolly Parton, Tom Jones and Johnny Cash.
Divorced twice, Davis is survived by his wife of 38 years, Lise, and sons Scott, Noah and Cody, along with a number of other relatives, including his mother, Edith. He was buried in Lubbock.
MELISSA WARE ROWE founding member of the Hill Country Community Theatre in Horseshoe Bay, Texas died September 2, 2020. She was 82.
Melissa and her husband James G. Rowe (who died in 2010) were founding patrons and chose the theater's name to signify that the theatre was an enterprise for all the surrounding communities to participate in and enjoy.
While her husband served on the board and worked backstage, Melissa performed in numerous shows, including Love Letters; The Nerd, and The Actor's Nightmare which she called her favorites. Her last appearance at HCCT was in the staged reading of A Bench in the Sun with Bob and Preston Kirk on Valentine's Day, 2016.
CONDOLENCES TO CHRISSY TEIGEN AND JOHN LEGEND upon the loss of their baby boy, Jack. It’s unclear whether the baby was stillborn or died shortly after birth. Teigen said earlier in the week on Instagram that she was about halfway through her pregnancy.
In addition to his parents, Jack is survived by his brother Miles, 2, and sister Luna, 4, numerous other relatives and their friends.
Next Column: October 11, 2020
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