Orchestras team up to feed the hungry


February 11, 2009 at 12:00a.m.

Orchestras team up to feed the hungry

NEW YORK — “The Soloist,” an upcoming movie about a cellist who became homeless, has struck a chord with American orchestras. They are mobilizing to help feed the hungry.

The League of American Orchestras says at least 163 orchestras in 45 states are expected to participate in food drives in late March, a month before the movie’s release. Around a dozen orchestras in both Ohio and Pennsylvania have signed on, including the Cleveland Orchestra, the Akron Symphony Orchestra and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. As of Tuesday, the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra was not participating.

The food will be distributed to local assistance organizations associated with the group Feeding America.

“The Soloist,” starring Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey Jr., is based on the true story about a schizophrenic Juilliard-trained cellist who becomes homeless and is helped by a Los Angeles Times columnist.

Miss USA skydives with Golden Knights

YUMA, Ariz. — Miss USA Crystle Stewart traded her crown for a parachute when she went skydiving with the Golden Knights, the elite U.S. Army parachuting team.

Stewart, 26, jumped out of the plane in a tandem skydive from 13,000 feet in Yuma, Ariz., on Monday.

She’s the seventh Miss USA to jump with the Golden Knights. Her big leap was part of a two-day tour of the Yuma area and its bases.

Stewart took a humiliating tumble during the Miss Universe pageant in Hanoi, Vietnam, in July — the second year in a row an American contestant has taken a spill in front of the world.

Today’s birthdays

Actor Leslie Nielsen is 83. Actress Tina Louise (“Gilligan’s Island”) is 75. Actor Burt Reynolds is 73. Musician Sergio Mendes is 68. Actress Carey Lowell (“Law and Order”) is 48. Singer Sheryl Crow is 47. Actress Jennifer Aniston (“Friends”) is 40. Singer D’Angelo is 35. Vocalist Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park and of Fort Minor is 32. Singer-actress Brandy (“Moesha”) is 30. Actor Matthew Lawrence (“Boy Meets World”) is 29. Singer Kelly Rowland (Destiny’s Child) is 28.