RINGO STARR RICEVE HONORED WITH WALK OF FAME STAR
(from: www.msnbc.msn.com)
9 february 2010
LOS ANGELES - A star for former Beatles drummer Ringo Starr was added to the Hollywood Walk of Fame Monday evening during a whimsical ceremony that also marked the 50th anniversary of the sidewalk attraction's groundbreaking
Starr's name was the 2,401st to be unveiled on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
"This is the start of the next 50 years of stars," he said outside the Capitol Records building. "I'm proud to be the first one."
The Walk of Fame also includes individual stars for the drummer's former bandmates John Lennon and George Harrison, as well as the likes of musicians Roy Orbison and Ozzy Osbourne.
"It's cool to get one at night," said Starr. "I don't know about you, but where I live, the stars come out at night.
The Beatles as a group were given a star in 1998.
Those by Starr's side for the unveiling included actress-wife Barbara Bach, musicians Joe Walsh and Ben Harper, producer Don Was, director David Lynch and actor Noah Wyle.
The Hollywood Walk of Fame attracts an estimated 10 million visitors annually to the 18-block stretch lining Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street.
The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce conceived the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1953 in an effort to return glamour to the decaying neighborhood at time when the film and television industry was on the decline.
"We've seen positive changes," said Hollywood Chamber of Commerce senior vice president Bill Farrar. "We've seen an increase in housing, the opening of many new businesses, the significant reduction of crime and the continual influx of visitors. This walk represents much, much more. This is more than just a tourist attraction and a monument to art.
The Hollywood Walk of Fame's anniversary celebration will continue throughout the year with a community festival in July and a gala in November in which every living celebrity who has received a star will be invited to attend. Other celebrities due to receive stars this year include rockers ZZ Top, funnyman Adam Sandler and talk show host Jimmy Kimmel.
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press
CELEBRITIES, ATHLETES PLEAD FOR EARTHQUAKE SUPPORT
(from: Poder360.com)
15 January 2010
With Haiti in utter turmoil after being rocked by a 7.0 magnitude earthquake this week, a number of Hollywood celebrities and athletes have opened their wallets to help the impoverished country rebuild
.
...Haitian native and music producer, Wyclef Jean, has joined the relief effort on the ground, while others like Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Ben Stiller and Scarlett Johansson are all encouraging people to donate.
Jean was quick to encourage the general public to do all they could to help by texting “Yele” to 501501, which will automatically donate $5 to his Yele Haiti Earthquake Fund (charged to your cell phone bill), or by visiting www.Yele.org and clicking on "DONATE."
...Shakira posted a message on her personal website, asking everyone to donate cash to Jean’s Yele charity organization, while other stars including Mark Hoppus, Yoko Ono, and Kim Kardashian have all taken to their Twitter.com pages to raise awareness of the tragedy.
Madonna has also donated considerable funds to help end the unfathomable suffering. In a statement sent to PerezHilton.com, the singer says: “My prayers are with the people of Haiti. I can’t imagine the terrible pain and suffering they are experiencing. Sadly the depths of the tragedy are just becoming known and the need for our support grows more urgent with every passing moment.
George Clooney announced that he has signed on for a telethon to aid the devastated island nation. The Oscar-winning actor will take part in a fundraising program to be telecast on all MTV networks on Friday, January 22, according to a posting at MTV.com. The article notes that other actors and musicians will be announced as taking part in upcoming days...
By Melissa Arteaga Marti | PODER360.com
HELP HAITI – Here’s how
HELP HAITI NOW:
Please donate $5 by texting YELE to 501501 on your cellphone.
Please text YELE to 501501 to donate $ 5 to the Yele Haiti Earthquake Fund:
Yéle Haiti is a grassroots movement that builds global awareness for Haiti while helping to transform the country through programs in education, sports, arts and environment. It was founded by Grammy-Award winning musician Wyclef Jean in 2005.
GEORGE HARRISON 8th ANNIVERSARY MEMORIAL TRIBUTE
(from: BeatlesNews.com)
November 27, 2009
The Alliance for Survival peace group will be holding the George Harrison 8th Anniversary Memorial Tribute on this Sunday, November 29, 2009, at 12:00 Noon, at George's new Hollywood Walk of Fame Star.
At this free-to-the-public memorial tribute, George Harrison and Beatles fans will join hands to form a "Human Chain of Hope for World Peace" between Harrison's star and the John Lennon star on the same block.
George Harrison was born in Liverpool, England on February 25, 1943 and passed away on November 29, 2001 in Los Angeles after a long bout with cancer.
Also, on Tuesday, December 8 beginning at 6:00PM, a public John Lennon 29th Anniversary Memorial Tribute will take place at Lennon's Walk of Fame Star.
Olivia Harrison's message honoring George Harrison:
Chris Carter, host of "Chris Carter's 'Breakfast With the Beatles," got a message from Olivia Harrison for the anniversary of George Harrison's passing.
It read,
Thank you Chris and each one of you for remembering George today
The love we feel for him grows and grows.
I think of George and a million wonderful things flood my mind and heart. And a million things in the world remind me of him, from a leaf blowing across the sky to hum of a guitar string.
God bless us all. Send your warm loving thoughts to all the people in the spiritual sky and your kind actions to the people here in the material world, especially those in need.
Love from Olivia and Dhani
IMAGINE PEACE TOWER LIGHTS IN SECOND LIFE
(from: AFP)
October 10, 2009
SAN FRANCISCO - Just hours after Friday's annual lighting of the Imagine Peace Tower in Iceland, a virtual version of the tribute to late Beatle John Lennon opened in online world Second Life
"I hope we will all come to visit it when it lights up every sunset time, as it spreads our wishes of peace throughout Second Life," Lennon's widow Yoko Ono said Friday in a message at her imaginepeace.com website.
"Remember, each one of us has the power to change the world."
Ono's avatar spoke at the Second Life lighting ceremony, and then danced with others until a virtual dawn.
She left the online realm to dash on stage in Iceland to sing "Give Peace a Chance" with her son Sean and local musicians taking part in a Lennon tribute concert, according to organizers there.
The tower on an island in Second Life is modeled after the real-world version, which uses mirrors to bounce beams from powerful searchlights into the sky from a white platform 17 meters in diameter
Imagine Peace Tower was dedicated in Iceland on Oct. 9, 2007 on what would have been Lennon's 67th birthday. The Beatles band member whose songs included "Imagine" and "Give Peace a Chance" was shot dead in New York City in 1980.
The light blazing into the firmament from an island near Reykjavik is said to be powerful enough to be seen in space. The tower is annually lit each night from October 9 until the December day that Lennon died.
Time is accelerated in Second Life, resulting in a half-dozen dusks and dawns in a real-world day.
Above the virtual tower are a set of clouds where animated characters, or avatars, that are people's proxies in Second Life can socialize, meditate, or take in views.
Virtual hot springs were added in tribute to the fact that the real Imagine Peace Tower is powered by geothermal energy, according to Linden Lab, the San Francisco company behind Second Life.
Avatars can also ride above the island in Imagine Peace hot air balloon.
TORONTO LAWYER OUTLINES DAY WITH LENNON IN HIS BOOK, 'I MET THE WALRUS'
(from: winnipegfreepress.com)
May 2009
TORONTO - Nearly 40 years after quietly slipping into John Lennon and Yoko Ono's "bed-in for peace" in a Toronto hotel as a teen, Jerry Levitan still gets chills whenever he returns to the scene.
"I opened the door and I had goosebumps," the Toronto lawyer and eternal Beatles fanatic said in a recent interview inside Room 769, dubbed the John Lennon Suite, at the King Edward Hotel.
"It's the same room," he said. "They've changed the drapes but I think it's the same look of drapes and the configuration is basically the same."
Levitan was last in the room a year ago for an interview about his Oscar-and Emmy-nominated animated short, "I Met the Walrus," which recounts his glorious day with the late Beatle. Levitan returned again this year to talk about his new book of the same name.
"I tell the story of what it was like being a kid in those days, and I talk about me as a kid and why I was so drawn to the Beatles, particularly John," he said of the book.
"Then I talk about the Beatles and how they grew up along with me and millions of other kids and then the miraculous moment when I heard that John Lennon might be in my hometown, Toronto.
I trace that day and the aftermath of it, step by step."
Levitan was 14 when he took the bus with his camera to the hotel on May 26, 1969, and entered the room, pretending he was a reporter.
The rock legend and Ono took an instant liking to Levitan as he sat on the rug while they lounged on a couch. Later, they signed his copy of their album, "Two Virgins," and granted him an exclusive Canadian interview.
"The second I walked in here and looked at his face, I knew it changed me for life," said Levitan. "It made me think I could do anything."
A DVD with audio and video of the interview is included in the book. Also there are Levitan's never-before-seen photographs from the event and illustrations from James Braithwaite, who also worked on the animated short.
"I Met the Walrus" (Harper Collins) officially launches May 26, the 40th anniversary of the Toronto "bed-in for peace," one of three held by Lennon and Ono as a non-violent way of protesting war. The other two were held in Amsterdam and Montreal.
Though Levitan has told the story of his life-altering encounter with Lennon, his "hero," and Ono countless times before, the memories still excite him.
"I met what for me and for a lot of other people was the biggest star on Earth at the height of his fame. Someone I fantasized about, idolized, listened to the music constantly, looked at the pictures, whatever," said Levitan, who also acts and composes music.
"I could not have imagined him to be better, because not only was he the real deal - just the way he walked, the way he talked, the things he said, the look in his eyes - but he was so kind to me and so open to me. He gave me such respect."
"I Met the Walrus," the short film, was directed and written by Josh Raskin and produced by Levitan. It's up for a Daytime Emmy Award in the category of "new approaches - daytime entertainment," for its success on YouTube.
The Daytime Emmys will air live from Los Angeles on Aug. 30 on the CW network.
TEARFUL YOKO ONO TALKS ABOUT JOHN LENNON EXHIBIT
(from: nypost.com)
May 2009
NEW YORK -- A new John Lennon exhibit is particularly emotional for his widow, Yoko Ono. Besides Lennon's guitars, letters and other personal effects, it also includes a paper bag containing the bloody clothes from the night he was shot to death.
Ono received the items from the medical examiner in December 1980, when the former Beatle was gunned down in New York City at age 40.
"It was hard to include," Ono said. "And I thought it might be criticized as well.
But ultimately, Ono thought it was important to let people see the effects of gun violence
.
The Lennon items are part of a new exhibit that will launch Tuesday at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Annex. "John Lennon: The New York Years" includes Lennon's famous New York City T-shirt, his upright piano from his Dakota apartment, and a posthumous 1981 Grammy Award for the couple's album "Double Fantasy."
"I know it's a kind of a sad and very poignant kind of paradox I think that he loved this place so much and this is where he was killed," she said in an interview after a news conference for the exhibit.
There are also letters documenting Lennon's long-fought battle against deportation in the early 1970s, both from the government and supporters. Glass cases also contain a dozen or so handwritten lyrics.
Ono says Lennon's death still haunts her nearly 30 years later: "I still get affected by it."
"If it (his death) was a slow a process we could have talked about it or something," she added, holding back tears.
The exhibit will be on display throughout 2009.
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