newsmakers

newsmakers

Shelton, Reba will co-host ACM Awards

NASHVILLE, Tenn.

Get ready for another dose of Blake Shelton as country’s hottest leading man joins Reba McEntire again this year as co-host of The Academy of Country Music Awards.

The 47th annual show is set for Sunday, April 1, at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Like Shelton, the ACM’s Fan Jam also will return for a second year. This time, Zac Brown Band will host the parallel event at the Mandalay Events Center.

The academy also announced Lionel Richie will host “ACM Presents: Lionel Richie and Friends — A Lifetime of Hits,” its annual television special taped the day after the awards and aired later on CBS. Kenny Chesney, Jason Aldean, Lady Antebellum, Kenny Rogers, Rascal Flatts, Martina McBride and others will join Richie on the show.

The appearance will continue country music’s love affair with Richie, who is preparing to release a country duets album this spring called “Tuskegee.”

Katey Sagal returns to first love: singing

NEW YORK

Somebody get Katey Sagal a record deal — no, really. Although she’s happy with her day job on the successful F/X series “Sons of Anarchy,” in her heart, she’s a singer — and she gets a chance to show it as part of a new collection of songs from the show’s first four seasons.

“I love being an actor, but there’s something about playing music that’s a gift,” the 57-year old Sagal admits.

In the past, Sagal recorded on Elektra and Casablanca Records.

“Music From Sons of Anarchy: Season 1-4” features three songs by Sagal and represents a return to her main love. Though Sagal gained her fame as an actress, her first big break in show business was in music.

Sagal sang with everyone from Gene Simmons to Bob Dylan to Etta James. She toured as a backup vocalist with Bette Midler. She was enjoying moderate success when a friend persuaded her to go for an acting job.

Sagal’s success began with her role as the tartish Peg Bundy in the sitcom “Married With Children,” which ran from 1987 to 1997.

Network chief: What’s wrong with ‘Work It’?

PASADENA, Calif.

ABC’s entertainment chief says he just doesn’t “get” complaints made by transgender people about the network’s new sitcom.

The series “Work It,” which debuted last week, portrays two men who dress as women to land jobs in a tough economy. The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation said it was offensive to transgenders because it makes fun of the idea of men wearing women’s clothes.

ABC Entertainment President Paul Lee said Tuesday: “I didn’t get it, but maybe it’s me.” He compared “Work It” to the movie “Tootsie.”

The Nielsen company said 6.2 million people watched the first episode. That’s a decent, but not fast, start.

Outspoken Chinese artist exhibits work

WASHINGTON

Sculptures by an outspoken Chinese artist are going on display at Smithsonian museums in Washington.

Chinese artist Ai Weiwei was detained for three months last year in China for speaking against the government. The Smithsonian’s Sackler Gallery said on Tuesday that it will display the contemporary art piece “Fragments” by Ai in May. The work has not been shown before in the United States.

The Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum also plans to open a companion exhibit later this year called “Ai Weiwei: According to What?”

Under terms of Ai’s bail, he is prohibited from leaving Beijing until June, so he is unlikely to see the Washington exhibits in person.

Vindicator wire services