Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Merce Cunningham, choreographer, dies at 90
NEW YORK — Merce Cunningham, one of the great choreographers and a revolutionary force in American culture, died Sunday night. He was 90.
“It is with great sorrow that we note the passing of Merce Cunningham, who died peacefully in his home last night of natural causes,” said a statement from the Cunningham Dance Foundation company. “He revolutionized the visual and performing arts — not for the sake of iconoclasm, but for the beauty and wonder that lay in exploring new possibilities.”
Along with his musical adviser and partner, John Cage, who died in 1992, Cunningham created art in which the dance, the music and the scenery exist independently from one another — separate but equal, as in life. In the early ’40s, as a dancer with the Martha Graham company, he turned away from storytelling, including her psychological dance-dramas.
“Dancing, for me, is movement in time and space,” he said.
Ticketmaster, Live Nation merger ‘causes concerns’
WASHINGTON — A key senator is warning that the proposed merger of ticketing company Ticketmaster Entertainment Inc. and concert promoter Live Nation Inc. raises “serious competition concerns.”
He is urging the Justice Department to review the deal closely.
Sen. Herb Kohl, a Wisconsin Democrat, chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee’s panel on antitrust issues. In a letter Monday to Assistant Attorney General Christine Varney, he says the Justice Department should approve the transaction only if it will lead to cost savings that are likely to be passed along to consumers.
Charges against ‘Girls Gone Wild’ associate
RENO, Nev. — Federal prosecutors brought trumped-up charges against a Hollywood associate of “Girls Gone Wild” creator Joe Francis, two ex-sheriff’s deputies and a jail worker to pressure them to implicate Francis in an alleged bribery scandal, a lawyer said.
Attorney David Houston said Francis, his client, was targeted by the FBI after Washoe County Sheriff Mike Haley told federal agents that his internal probe turned up allegations of misconduct at the end of 2007.
Francis was awaiting trial for nearly a year on U.S. tax evasion charges in Reno in 2007.
Prosecutors accuse Francis associate Aaron Weinstein, a video and marketing executive, of bribing the law enforcement officials, including former deputy Michon Mills, with money and gifts that included a Cartier watch and Oakland Raiders tickets in exchange for preferential treatment for Francis.
Kelsey Grammer misses hearing for sister’s killer
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — “Frasier” star Kelsey Grammer missed a parole hearing Monday for the man convicted of killing his sister in 1975.
There was no immediate word on whether the parole board had made a ruling.
Grammer had planned to attend the hearing at a state prison in Limon, 90 miles southeast of Denver. But rain caused him to miss a connecting flight, said Department of Corrections spokeswoman Katherine Sanguinetti.
Freddie Glenn, 52, is serving a life sentence for first-degree murder in the slaying of Karen Grammer. He became eligible for parole in 2006.
Karen Grammer was 18 when she was abducted, raped and stabbed in Colorado Springs on July 1, 1975.
Shakespeare’s Globe to tour United States
LONDON — Shakespeare’s Globe, the London theater that stages the Bard’s plays in an Elizabethan setting, is taking its show on the road in the U.S. The company says it will perform the comedy “Love’s Labour’s Lost” in eight American university cities starting in October.
Today’s birthdays
Actor Darryl Hickman is 78. Cartoonist Jim Davis (“Garfield”) is 64. Actress Linda Kelsey (“Lou Grant”) is 63. Actress Sally Struthers is 61. Drummer Simon Kirke of Bad Company is 60. Guitarist Steve Morse of Deep Purple is 55. Bassist Marc Perlman of The Jayhawks is 48. Actor Michael Hayden (“Murder One”) is 46. Actress Lori Loughlin (”90210,” “Full House”) is 45. Singer Afroman is 35.
Drummer Todd Anderson of Heartland is 34. Singer Jacoby Shaddix of Papa Roach is 33. Rapper Soulja Boy is 19.