Archive: December 2009 (241-250 of 319)

Dec 7 2009 08:13 AM ET

Diane Sawyer leaving 'Good Morning America'

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Categories: Television

Diane Sawyer announced on air Dec. 7 that this is her final week as co-anchor of ABC’s Good Morning America. A press release from the network said she will replace the retiring Charles Gibson as anchor on ABC’s World News in January 2010.

Dec 7 2009 05:25 AM ET

'Monk' finale sets ratings record

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Categories: Misc.

USA’s detective dramedy Monk ended its eight-season run with a finale that pulled in 9.4 million viewers, which is the “largest audience for a drama series on basic cable” ever, according to the Hollywood Reporter. It topped the previous record-holder, TNT’s The Closer, by around 200,000 viewers.

Dec 7 2009 05:15 AM ET

De Niro, Springsteen recognized at Kennedy Center Honors

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Categories: Movies, Music, Stage

Bruce Springsteen, Robert De Niro, Mel Brooks, Dave Brubeck, and Grace Bumbry all accepted Kennedy Center Honors last night. The festivities included tributes and performances from Jon Stewart, Meryl Streep, Jack Black, Ben Stiller, and Herbie Hancock. President Obama said at the ceremony, “These performers are indeed the bes. They are also living reminders of a single truth — and I’m going to steal a line from Michelle here — the arts are not somehow apart from our national life, the arts are the heart of our national life.” The ceremony will air on CBS on Dec. 29.

Dec 6 2009 10:42 PM ET

Off Broadway's 'Altar Boyz' to close

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Categories: Stage

After a nearly five-year run at Off Broadway’s New World Stages, the musical comedy Altar Boyz will close on Jan. 10, Variety reported on Sunday. The show, conceived as a faux concert by a Christian boy band crooning songs about values and abstinence (“There’s something about you, babe, that makes me want to wait”), will have run 2,032 performances.

Dec 6 2009 02:13 PM ET

Weezer lead singer Rivers Cuomo hospitalized after tour-bus crash

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Categories: Music

Rivers Cuomo, the lead singer of rock band Weezer, was in a bus accident Sunday that put him and another passenger in the hospital, EW has confirmed. Cuomo, who complained of rib pain after the incident, was traveling on the bus with his wife and daughter from Toronto to Boston for a Monday night show when the accident occurred around 7:30 a.m. At the time of the accident, the bus was on a New York state highway near the city of Amsterdam.

The band was traveling to Boston for a Monday night show at Boston University’s Agganis Arena. A post on Weezer’s official site said that Weezer’s three remaining December date have all been cancelled, with refund and/or rescheduling information pending. The post says that Cuomo remains hospitalized for observation of three cracked ribs, a lower-leg injury, and “some mostly minor but very painful internal damage.”

Dec 6 2009 12:07 PM ET

Alexa Ray Joel took a homeopathic drug, says a source

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Categories: Music

A source close to Alexa Ray Joel is downplaying events that led to the singer’s hospitalization on Saturday.

The singer took Traumeel, a homeopathic medication used often as an anti-inflammatory drug, says the source, and “became worried about her breathing, which is why 911 was called.”

Joel’s rep says the 23-year-old has been released from the hospital and that she was with her father late Sunday afternoon.

Although Joel had “moments of being despondent” over a recent breakup, the source tells EW.com that Joel — the daughter of Billy Joel and supermodel Christie Brinkley — is doing well.

“Alexa is actually very happy and healthy, is surrounded by a bunch of wonderful friends, writing new material and was looking forward to performing at the NYSE tree lighting on Wednesday,” says the source.

FROM THE EW ARCHIVE (2007): Alexa Ray Joel performs in NYC: On the scene

Dec 5 2009 07:30 PM ET

Alexa Ray Joel hospitalized in NYC

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Categories: Music

Alexa Ray Joel, the daughter of musician Billy Joel and supermodel Christie Brinkley, was hospitalized Saturday in New York City. A law enforcement official tells the Associated Press that the 23-year-old ingested eight pills. It wasn’t clear, according to the source, whether she had accidentally overdosed or had attempted suicide. She is hospitalized in stable condition and receiving treatment, Joel’s publicist Claire Mercuri told the AP Saturday.

UPDATE: Alexa Ray Joel source: She took a homeopathic drug, had breathing problems

FROM THE EW ARCHIVE (2007): Alexa Ray Joel performs in NYC: On the scene

Dec 5 2009 12:21 PM ET

L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center condemns anti-gay Buju Banton Grammy nod as 'affront to all LGBT people'

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Categories: Awards, Festivals & Events, Music, Music Biz

In a posting to their website on Friday, the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center condemned what they called “the appalling Grammy nomination for Buju Banton, a performer whose music promotes the violent murder of LGBT people.” The Recording Academy announced on Wednesday that Banton’s 2009 album Rasta Got Soul was nominated for Best Reggae Album.

“We’re shocked that Buju Banton, a singer with a long record of performing a song that glorifies the murder of gay people, would be honored with a Grammy nomination, regardless of the artistic merit of any of his work,” said the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center’s public affairs officer Jim Key, in a statement on the website. “Throughout his career, Banton has performed music that promotes a culture of violence against lesbian and gay people; he sings in ‘Boom, Bye Bye’ that ‘faggots get up and run’ when he comes, that ‘they have to die,’ and that he will shoot them in the head or ‘burn them up bad.’ He is completely unrepentant, refuses to stop performing the song.”

A rep at Gargamel Records, the label behind Banton’s last album, released this statement to EW: “Gargamel Music, Inc. is extremely proud of Buju Banton’s recent Grammy nod for Best Reggae Album for Rasta Got Soul. The fact that this is Buju Banton’s fourth nomination by the Recording Academy is a testament to his artistic excellence and career-long commitment to making quality music that can indeed touch the world.”

Meanwhile, a rep for Recording Academy, which oversees the Grammy Awards, said on Dec. 7 via a statement: “The Recording Academy and the Grammy Awards have a long history of supporting freedom of speech and creative expression, and of supporting artists and the music they create. Artists of a variety of political or cultural perspectives have been nominated or featured on the telecast, despite protests and backlash. The Academy acknowledges that there are very strong and diverse opinions on many issues and in many instances, we have helped initiate dialogue on matters that require education and further discussion. It takes tolerance to teach tolerance, and it is through dialogue and debate that social discovery may occur. The Grammy Awards is a celebration and recognition of outstanding musical achievement by music makers, regardless of politics, and that will continue to be our mission.”

Dec 5 2009 10:49 AM ET

'Anvil!' named best documentary of year by International Documentary Association

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Categories: Awards, Festivals & Events, Movie Biz, Movies

Anvil! The Story of Anvil took top honors at the International Documentary Association’s annual awards show, which took place Friday night at the DGA Theater in L.A., according to a post on the organization’s website. Anvil, which follows the fortunes of a Canadian heavy metal band, was also awarded the music documentary award. The other big award of the night went to Salt, which is about the landscape in Lake Eyre, South Australia and was named best short film.

Dec 5 2009 12:41 AM ET

Adam Lambert to appear on 'The View' on Dec. 10

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Categories: Television

Adam Lambert may be unsafe for Good Morning America and Jimmy Kimmel Live show, but the ladies of The View can handle him. At least that was the message ABC seemed to be sending when they announced Friday that the American Idol runner-up will appear on the talk show on Dec. 10 in a taped interview and performance. The appearance will air the morning after Barbara Walters includes Lambert as one of the year’s “Most Fascinating People” in her special airing the evening of Dec. 9.

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