newsmakers

August 17, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

newsmakers

$5M endowment for rock museum

CLEVELAND

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland has landed a big payday from last fall’s 25th anniversary concerts at Madison Square Garden. The hall announced Monday that its affiliated foundation in New York will create a $5 million rock-hall endowment from proceeds of the blockbuster concerts Oct. 29 and 30. The shows featured Simon and Garfunkel, Stevie Wonder, Bruce Springsteen, Aretha Franklin, U2, Metallica, Mick Jagger and others.

Robert Wilson dies; was Gap Band bassist

NEW YORK

Robert Wilson, the bassist for the funk and R&B group the Gap Band, has died. He was 53.

His death was confirmed by Karen Lee, publicist for his brother and Gap Band singer Charlie Wilson.

Robert Wilson had been touring over the past few weeks, including a stop in his hometown in Tulsa, Okla. The Tulsa World reported that he died in Los Angeles on Sunday.

Wilson provided the bass backbone for the trio, which also included another brother, Ronnie. They rocketed to stardom in the 1980s with hits such as “Outstanding,” “You Dropped a Bomb On Me” and “Yearning for Your Love.”

Neil Patrick Harris will become a dad

NEW YORK

Neil Patrick Harris and his partner, David Burtka, will become parents of twins this fall. A representative for Harris confirmed in an e-mail Monday that Harris made the announcement in a posting on Twitter.

The 37-year-old actor says he and Burtka are “super excited/nervous/thrilled.” He did not say whether they were adopting or using a surrogate. He stars in the CBS sitcom “How I Met Your Mother.”

James Cameron going under water

SANTA MONICA, Calif.

James Cameron is going from outer space to under water. The writer and director of “Avatar” says he’ll celebrate his 56th birthday Monday deep beneath Russia’s Lake Baikal. Cameron will be in a submersible about 5,200 feet from the surface of the world’s oldest and deepest freshwater lake — “unless it’s bad weather, in which case I’ll be getting drunk with the Russian crew in the port.”

A longtime ocean enthusiast, Cameron has other underwater projects in the works. He says he is building a submarine in Australia that will take him 36,000 feet underwater. He also is developing an upgraded 3-D underwater camera and has plans for an underwater feature film that he said he might make before taking on an “Avatar” sequel.

Hendrix items on show in former home

LONDON

Clothing, mementoes and handwritten lyrics belonging to Jimi Hendrix are going on display at his former London home to mark the 40th anniversary of his death. The guitarist lived during the late 1960s in an apartment in the Mayfair area of London. He died in the city Sept. 18, 1970. Composer George Frideric Handel lived next door in the 18th century, and Hendrix’s former home is now part of the Handel House Museum. The museum is having an exhibition devoted to Hendrix’s London years.

‘The Office’ opening branch in China?

BEIJING

“The Office” is up for a transfer to China. “We are about to start work on developing a Chinese ‘The Office.’ How cool is that?” show co-creator Ricky Gervais wrote on his blog recently. In addition to the original British “mockumentary,” there are versions in the U.S., France, Germany, Chile, Israel and the Canadian province of Quebec.

The show that mines office politics and corporate ineptitude for its laughs might face new challenges in China, where government censors tightly control media content. Gervais joked on his blog the show might not air if Beijing sees his latest project, “An Idiot Abroad,” where he sends a culturally clueless friend on a trip around the world.

Vindicator wire services