NEWSMAKERS

NEWSMAKERS

Bradbury honored with statue in Ill.

WAUKEGAN, Ill.

The Chicago-area hometown of the late famed science fiction writer Ray Bradbury marked his birthday with dedication of a statue in his honor.

The 12-foot-tall stainless steel statue outside the Waukegan Public Library depicts Bradbury astride a rocket ship while holding a book. The (Lake County) News-Sun reports artist Zachary Oxman told those at Thursday’s ceremony that the statue tells the story of a man “beaming with unbridled imagination, curiosity and surprise,”

Bradbury was born in Waukegan in 1920 and often spoke of the hours he spent at the city’s library before his family moved to Los Angeles when he was a teenager. He died in 2012. He wrote hundreds of works, including “Fahrenheit 451” and “The Martian Chronicles.”

The $125,000 project was financed primarily through donations.

Beyonce, Sinatra among those on Obama playlist

NEW YORK

The Obama summer playlist has everyone from Drake and Beyonce to Steely Dan and Frank Sinatra. The former president calls it “some new, some old, some fast, some slow.”

Barack Obama tweeted 44 songs Saturday that he and his wife, Michelle, have been listening to. They include Drake’s “Too Good,” Steely Dan’s “Reelin’ in the Years” and the Sinatra standard “I’ve Got You Under My Skin.”

Other choices are “MOOD 4 EVA,” the “Lion King” song with Beyonce and Jay-Z among other artists; and such oldies as Van Morrison’s “Brown Eyed Girl” and Dobie Gray’s “Drift Away.”

Associated Press