NEWSMAKERS

NEWSMAKERS

Sondheim to receive NYC arts award

NEW YORK

Broadway composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim will receive New York City’s highest honor for achievement in the arts.

The New York Times says Sondheim will receive the Handel Medallion on Nov. 1 at Alice Tully Hall.

Other honorees will include Mikhail Baryshnikov; arts advocate Alice Diamond; musician Jimmy Heath; artist Maya Lin; and the Theater Development Fund.

Sondheim has won more Tony Awards than any other composer.

Jurors get 1st glimpse of doctor’s personality

los angeles

Jurors who stared at the stoic face of Michael Jackson’s doctor across a courtroom for two weeks have had their first glimpse at his personality, and their impression of him could be as important as if he had taken the stand.

A more-than two-hour-long interview that Dr. Conrad Murray had with police provides an insight into the doctor’s thinking in the panicked moments when he realized he was losing one of the world’s most-famous superstars.

Prosecutors played the interview to jurors Friday at Murray’s involuntary manslaughter trial. Murray has pleaded not guilty.

When the trial resumes today, Murray’s account will focus on how he broke the news to Jackson’s children.

Dempsey’s bike run nets $1M for center

LEWISTON, Maine

Patrick Dempsey’s bicycle run in western Maine to raise money for his cancer center has netted about $1 million.

The Sun Journal of Lewiston reports that about 4,000 people took part in the third annual fund-raising effort to benefit the Patrick Dempsey Center for Cancer Hope and Healing at the Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston.

Hundreds of cyclists joined the two-day event, which ended Sunday.

Dempsey, a native of Buckfield, plays Dr. Derek Shepherd on TV’s “Grey’s Anatomy.” He founded the Dempsey Center in 2008.

Ono campaign to raise hunger awareness

NEW YORK

Yoko Ono is launching a global campaign to raise money and awareness to help fight childhood hunger and poverty.

The 78-year-old widow of John Lennon is asking that on Nov. 1, at 1 p.m., people “take a moment to imagine a nourished and abundant world, where ‘the world will live as one.’”

Hard Rock International and WhyHunger are partners with Ono for the campaign called “Imagine There’s No Hunger.” Various Hard Rock locations will host events on that day aimed at raising awareness.

Sunday would have been Lennon’s 71st birthday, and today is the 40th anniversary of his song “Imagine,” which Ono co-produced.

Vindicator wire reports