A tearful Jimmy Kimmel turned his show’s monologue into an emotional recounting of his newborn son’s open-heart surgery — and a plea that all American families get the life-saving medical care they need.

“It was a scary story and before I go into it, I want you to know it has a happy ending,” Kimmel assured ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” studio audience Monday as he detailed how his son’s routine birth April 21 suddenly turned frightening.

Several hours after his wife, Molly, gave birth to William John, a “very attentive” nurse at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center alerted the couple and doctors to the baby’s purple-ish color and an apparent heart murmur, the host said.

The baby’s lack of oxygen was either due to a lung problem or heart disease, Kimmel said, and it was found to be his heart.

“It’s a very terrifying thing,” he said. He was surrounded at the hospital by very worried-looking people, “kind of like right now,” he told the audience, one of the jokes he managed despite choking up and having to pause at times.

A test showed his son had a birth defect called tetralogy of Fallot with pulmonary atresia — a hole in the wall separating the right and left sides of the heart and a blocked pulmonary valve, Kimmel said. The baby, nicknamed Billy, was taken by ambulance to Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles to undergo surgery to open the valve.

“The longest three hours of my life,” Kimmel said.

Billy will have another open-heart surgery within six months to repair the hole and then a third procedure when he’s a young teen, but he came home six days after the surgery and is “doing great,” Kimmel said. He shared photos of him with his wife, their 2-year-old daughter Jane and a smiling Billy.

After thanking by name the nurses, doctors and staff at the two hospitals, along with his colleagues and friends — “Even that (expletive) Matt Damon sent flowers,” Kimmel said of his faux rival — the comedian then gave an impassioned speech on health care.

He criticized President Donald Trump’s proposed cuts to the National Institutes of Health and praised Congress for instead calling for increased funding.

“If your baby is going to die and it doesn’t have to, it shouldn’t matter how much money you make. … Whether you’re a Republican or a Democrat or something else, we all agree on that, right?” he said.

Washington politicians meeting on health care need to “understand that very clearly,” he said. Partisan squabbles shouldn’t divide American on something “every decent person wants. We need to take care of each other.”

Former President Barack Obama took to social media, retweeting Kimmel and touting the benefits of the Affordable Care Act.

“Well said, Jimmy. That’s exactly why we fought so hard for the ACA, and why we need to protect it for kids like Billy. And congratulations,” he tweeted.

Kimmel said he would skip the rest of this week’s shows to be with his family while guest hosts take his place.

He was joined Monday by Dr. Mehmet Oz, who was a previously scheduled guest but jumped in to offer an illustrated description of Billy Kimmel’s heart problem. Also on the show at Kimmel’s request was Shaun White, the Olympic gold medal snowboarder who discussed overcoming the same heart defect as Kimmel’s son.
…

The surviving members of the legendary rock band The Eagles, are suing a Mexican hotel that calls itself Hotel California, which is also the title of what is likely the band’s most famous song.

The suit was filed Monday against the 11-room hotel in Baja California Sur, saying the hotel owners “actively encourage” the notion that the hotel is somehow associated with the band.

Allegedly one way the owners do this was through playing the song and other Eagles hits over the hotel’s sound system. The hotel also sold merchandise such as T-shirts calling itself “legendary.”

The suit, which was filed in Los Angeles, also claimed the hotel owners tried to register the Hotel California name with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

“Defendants lead U.S. consumers to believe that the Todos Santos Hotel is associated with the Eagles and, among other things, served as the inspiration for the lyrics in Hotel California, which is false,” according to the complaint.

The hotel opened in 1950 and was called Hotel California, but had gone by the name Todos Santos until it was purchased by a Canadian couple in 2001 who changed the name back to Hotel California.

Hotel California appeared on the 1976 album of the same name and took home a Grammy for album of the year.

 

The song, which is known for winding guitars and oblique lyrics, was written by Don Felder, Glenn Frey and Don Henley. Frey died in 2016 at age 67.

According to Henley, the song is about “a journey from innocence to experience. It’s not really about California; it’s about America,” he said in an interview with CBS News last year.
…

A thunderous drumbeat echoed through the cocktail reception at the Met Gala. Either an earthquake was hitting the Upper East Side of Manhattan, or the glittering assembly of guests was being called in to dinner.

 

Hasan Minhaj, a correspondent on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show,” was standing with the show’s host, Trevor Noah, and marveling about the week he was having. Just two days earlier, he’d made a huge splash with his blistering speech at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, and now he was at one of the most exclusive parties on the planet, rubbing shoulders (literally) with a ridiculous number of A-list celebrities, and getting praise for his performance.

 

“It’s been an insane week,” he said. “I keep thinking, what if the other night had gone poorly, what would tonight have been like?”

 

Like everyone, he was somewhat shell-shocked at the number of famous people present. He mentioned Matt Damon and Michael B. Jordan in particular, just two of hundreds of celebrities attending what often feels like a combination of the Oscars, Emmys, Grammys and Tonys, plus the worlds of fashion and sports.

 

The stars were packed so tightly together, in fact, that the major hazard of the evening seemed to be potential hem damage, from famous feet stepping inadvertently on long, delicate trains. Halle Berry, wearing a black-and-gold Atelier Versace jumpsuit, was one of those who had to stop and release her train from a stranger’s foot as she glided across the Carroll and Milton Petrie European Sculpture Court during cocktail hour.

 

The evening began with invited guests making their way past the assembled media and up the red-carpeted stairs, then into the huge entry hall of the museum, where a massive tower of hot pink and white roses, in the form of a flower, awaited them. Nobody seemed to know how many roses had been called into service. That tower and the rest of the evening’s decor was inspired, of course, by revered designer Rei Kawakubo, founder of Comme des Garcons and the subject of the Costume Institute’s spring exhibit.

 

After climbing up the huge interior staircase, and past a receiving line, many opted to head before cocktails to the exhibit, set in a pure white setting with geometric structures housing some of the designer’s most famous collections.

 

One of those displays had actor Ansel Elgort staring at the strange body forms dreamed up by Kawakubo for her 1997 collection “Body Meets Dress, Dress Meets Body,” in which garments are stretched over bizarre protrusions coming from the stomach, the back, the waist or the hip.

 

“It’s sort of a comment on what people are doing to their bodies these days. I think that may be what she’s doing here,” Elgort suggested.

Some of the guests were wearing Kawakubo’s designs, known for their boundary-pushing, avant-garde nature, but not for their wearability. One of them, Michele Lamy, wife of designer Rick Owens, was wearing a red-and-pink Comme des Garcons dress that looked like a pile of unfinished strips of fabrics, somehow hanging loosely together.

 

“Yes, she’s a visionary, she is hugely influential, but she also makes it fun,” Lamy said.

 

Isabelle Huppert, the French film star, was wearing a Dior leather beret as she examined the exhibit. “It’s amazing, really like an art installation, not a fashion exhibit,” she said.

 

Lucas Hedges, the young actor nominated for an Oscar this year for “Manchester by the Sea,” suggested that the exhibit felt “like a guided meditation on fashion, life and beauty.”

 

Broadway actress Laura Osnes was experiencing her first Met gala. Wintour, she said, had come to see her new show, “Bandstand,” the week before, and suddenly invited her. There followed a mad rush to find something worthy to wear. Osnes ended up with a dramatically voluminous – in other words, huge – pink skirt with rose appliques and a long train by Christian Siriano. It was one of the more striking outfits of the evening.

 

“I figured, who knows if I’ll be here ever again,” Osnes said.

 

She soon found other Broadway stars to compare notes with: Josh Groban was there, as was Tony-winner Cynthia Erivo, and Andy Karl, who stars in “Groundhog Day” and famously tore his anterior cruciate ligament just before the show opened. Karl seemed in good shape, saying he was progressing well in physical therapy.

 

Speaking of being in shape, two of the best tennis players in history were in the room. The pregnant Serena Williams was in bright green Versace – and yes, she was glowing. As for ever-dapper Roger Federer, he lived up to his reputation with a Gucci tux that held a huge, jeweled surprise on the back.

 

“Is that a dragon?” he was asked.

 

“No! It’s a king cobra,” he replied. Then he posed for a few more pictures, and headed into dinner.
…

Bette Midler, Cate Blanchett and Sally Field received best actress nominations in Broadway’s Tony Awards on Tuesday, while “Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812” scored a leading 12 nominations including the top prize, best musical.

Close behind was the hit revival of “Hello, Dolly!” which took 10 nominations, including one for actor David Hyde Pierce.

“Dear Evan Hansen,” “Groundhog Day The Musical” and “Come From Away” received best musical nominations as well.

Best play nominees included “Oslo,” “Sweat,” “Indecent,” and “A Doll’s House, Part 2,” which won nominations for stars Laurie Metcalf and Chris Cooper.

The Tony Awards will be presented on June 11 at Manhattan’s Radio City Music Hall in a ceremony headlined by film and stage star Kevin Spacey.
…

Singer Janet Jackson has announced she is going back on tour later this year, returning to the stage in the United States and Canada after taking time off to give birth to her first child.

In a video message to fans, the pop star also referred to media reports that she had split from her Qatari businessman husband Wissam al-Mana, saying: “Yes I separated from my husband, we are in court and the rest is in God’s hands.”

Jackson, 50, last year said she was postponing her “Unbreakable” music tour due to a “sudden change” in the couple’s plans to start a family. She gave birth to son Eissa in January.

“I’m continuing my tour as I promised, I’m so excited,” the singer said in the video posted on her Twitter feed, thanking fans for their patience and support.

“I decided to change the name of the tour, ‘State of the World’ tour. It’s not about politics, it’s about people, the world, relationships and just love.”

The youngest child in the famed musical Jackson family, the Grammy Award winning singer began her “Unbreakable” tour in summer 2015. She will kick off the four-month, 56-date North American “State of the World” tour on Sept. 7 in Lafayette, Louisiana.

“I am so excited,” Jackson said. “I cannot wait to see you on stage September 7th.”

 

 
…

 

Former President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama will visit Chicago for a community meeting to discuss their planned library and museum.

The Obama Foundation announced Monday the Obamas will host a round table discussion Wednesday to “update the community” on the progress of the Obama Presidential Center in Jackson Park on Chicago’s South Side. The Obamas are also expected to hear from community members on their ideas for the library.

 

New York-based Ralph Appelbaum Associates will head a team of several firms and individuals with expertise in media, lighting and acoustics in designing exhibits.

 

The foundation has said almost half of the exhibition design work for the museum will be performed by minority- and women-owned businesses.

 

The project is expected to cost hundreds of millions of dollars.

  

 
…

The color red made a dramatic show Monday night in the grand parade of fashion at the Met Gala, including co-chair Katy Perry’s look, as did glittery gold and blue feathers on the back of Blake Lively. But many of the evening’s highlights were courtesy of luminaries who channeled honoree Rei Kawakubo, including Rihanna encased in fluttery petal-like pieces by the Japanese designer.

WATCH: Met Gala Red Carpet Looks

Rihanna gestured to the crowd from the carpet in her Commes des Garcons look with stagey pink on her cheeks. Her look was two pieces and a sliver of stomach peeked out from the freewheeling design.

 

Perry wore a veiled dress created just for her by John Galliano, while Pharrell’s wife, Helen Lasichanh, wore one of Kawakubo’s avant-garde, bulbous and armless jumpsuits. Lively’s movie star gown with the feathered train was Versace.

 

While some of the celebs from the worlds of film, TV, fashion, sports and music were inspired by Kawakubo, others made a splash in more classic looks, including Jennifer Lopez in 1950s elegance, a baby blue Valentino gown by Pierpaolo Piccioli.

 

Perry wore a silver head piece and black accents around the eyes with an embroidered wool coat layered over a red tulle and silk chiffon dress, her sleeves elongated in a nod to Kawakubo, all by Maison Margiela Artisanal.

 

Music mogul Diddy, meanwhile, laid down on the carpet to watch girlfriend Cassie pose in a black gown with a huge, spikey train she wore with large, glittery ear cuffs. He wore an embellished cape in a spider web design that carried over to his Rick Owens tuxedo.

 

“It took a half-hour to get ready. We dress like this on the weekends,” he joked.

 

Speaking of the weekend, Selena and her date -The Weeknd – smooched on the carpet in a classic white, delicately embellished gown from Coach designer Stuart Vevers. Madonna went for green camo from Moschino, Tracee Ellis Ross in royal blue Comme des Garcons and Kim Kardashian West – without husband Kanye West – in understated, long-sleeve white from Vivienne Westwood.

 

Nicki Minaj, in a black bustier romper with a huge black-and-red cape from H&M, is a pro when it comes to arrivals.

 

“I stood up in the van the whole way,” she said of her trip to the Met in her larger-than-life ensemble.

 

Missing from the carpet: Stalwarts Sarah Jessica Parker, Beyonce and Lady Gaga.

 

Serena Williams in green Versace put in her first carpet appearance since announcing her pregnancy. Kylie Jenner was whisked up the stairs in a revealing sheer gold Atelier Versace gown, her platinum locks styled close to her head. Sister Kendall Jenner stunned in a revealing black look covered in 85,000 hand-painted crystals from La Perla Creative Director Julia Haart. It included a wide diagonal slit from shoulder to below the waist and took more than 160 hours of work by 26 craftsmen in five cities, the designer said in a statement.

 

Lasichanh, her blond hair high on her head, smiled from within her signature Kawakubo suit. Claire Danes also channeled the Japanese designer, whose work is featured in the Metropolitan Museum Costume Institute’s spring exhibition, “Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garcons: Art of the In-Between.” The sleeves of Dane’s flurry of ruffles in a white blouse extended well beyond her hands, paired with a simple pair of black pants.

 

Vogue’s Anna Wintour kicked off the star-studded gala a bit earlier as one of the evening’s co-host. The gala feeds the annual budget of the Costume Institute. Wintour opted for encrusted gold and ostrich feathers from Chanel and said of Kawakubo and her brand: She’s a genius. Not only does she think outside of the box, she doesn’t acknowledge the box.”

 

Priyanka Chopra’s floor-sweeping trench coat evening gown in camel from Ralph Lauren took up a lot of real estate on the carpet, which is actually blue this year. Gigi Hadid went with the color fawn in a geometric design that was short on one side and longer on the other. Her sister, Bella, dressed in a sexy sheer catsuit by Alexander Wang.

 

Thom Browne dressed Solange Knowles in a black coat dress, a quilted down-filled puffer with a train and a pair of his ice skate-inspired booties on her feet.

 

Lilly Collins, her hair in a black, banged crop with dark red lips, paid homage to Kawakubo in a black strapless bodice paired with a high-waisted full skirt in pink, from Giambattista Valli. Zendaya, was just Zendaya, her hair down and red parrots adorning a full, off-the-shoulder ball gown in gold by Dolce & Gabbana Alta Moda.

 

Celine Dion, in a silver bodysuit by Versace paired with high hair sculpture, was the last to walk, praising Kawakubo and saying: “To wear something, to be recognized, the whole thing is overwhelming. It’s great to be here.”

 
…

If you’re someone who likes a lot of guidance and explanation at the museum, you might want to dramatically recalibrate your expectations before heading into “Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garcons: Art of the In-Between,” the lavishly presented new show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute.

Arriving in a brilliant white space containing a series of geometric structures, you’ll find no one pointing you in the right direction, and no explanatory text next to the garments. That’s because for Kawakubo, the revered Japanese designer who’s been reinventing her clothes for nearly a half-century — to the point that she no longer calls them clothes, but “objects for the body” — there is no right answer. 

“I don’t like to explain the clothes,” the Comme des Garcons founder, now 74, was quoted as saying in 2013. “The clothes are just as you see them and feel them.”

There is a bit of guidance available. Andrew Bolton, star curator of this and other blockbuster Met fashion exhibits, has provided paper brochures with maps and context, though he cheerfully welcomes you to ditch them. And even this much explanation for the visitor was a hard-fought compromise with Kawakubo.

“It was a battle,” Kawakubo says in an interview with Bolton. “Are you going to write that we fought?”

They seem to have fought over various things. Showing a reporter around the exhibit a few days before opening, Bolton noted that although Kawakubo approached him 18 months ago saying she was ready for a show, she was resolutely opposed to a retrospective. She hates focusing on the past, because she has moved on.

“She finds it physically painful to look at her work. So, that took months of negotiation,” he said.

Fans of “Comme,” as fashion-lovers call it, would have been “screaming in my ears,” Bolton added, if he hadn’t included collections like “Broken Bride,” where Kawakubo explored the concept of marriage, and “Ballerina Motorbike,” in which she juxtaposed the very feminine — a filmy pink tutu — with the tough, muscular look of a black motorcycle jacket.

Her ‘ruptures’

Kawakubo wanted to focus exclusively on the last few years of designs — following her second “rupture” in 2014, when she said she was no longer making “clothing” in the sense of wearable garments.  (Her first rupture, in 1979, is known as the moment she decided to ditch her early, folklore-inflected designs and “start from zero.”)  “This was where her mind was at,” Bolton said. He convinced her otherwise, and sprinkled through the show are juxtapositions of the older, more functional clothes, and the new.

Pointing out a 2009 dress, he noted: “This still has arms, still has legs, still has openings.” Then, pointing to a post-2014 version: “Now you see the priority of form over function.” An example of her later work is three jackets, fused into one — with two of the jackets forming sleeves of the central jacket.

It is rare that the Costume Institute focuses on a single living designer — the last was Yves Saint Laurent in 1983. But Bolton had long wanted to work with Kawakubo. “For me Rei is not only the most important and influential designer of the last 40 years, but the most inspirational at the same time,” he says. “Her influence is enormous — especially on the vocabulary of fashion that we now take for granted, like asymmetry, like the unfinished, like black as a fashionable color.”

“She summarizes the last 50 years of fashion. She’s that important.”

‘Least dissatisfying’ collection

The exhibit, which began with the glitzy Met gala Monday night and opens to the public May 4, is divided into nine themes, all of them dualities in Kawakubo’s work: Fashion/Anti-Fashion, High/Low, Design/Not Design, and Clothes/Not Clothes are a few.

Passing by one display, Bolton notes that the collection is one of Kawakubo’s favorites — and then stops himself. “Well, she wouldn’t say favorite — she would say `least dissatisfying.”‘ That 1997 collection was called “Body Meets Dress — Dress Meets Body.” Garments in gingham-like fabric are stretched over bizarre protrusions on the body, coming out from the stomach or the back or the hip.

“I didn’t expect them to be easy garments to be worn every day,” Kawakubo has said about that collection. “It is more important … to translate thoughts into action rather than to worry about if one’s clothes are worn in the end.” (Of course, she has made more commercial collections that end up in stores, if not the runway.)

Scurrying around the exhibit the other day, Bolton described a classic anxiety dream he’d had two nights earlier: The exhibit opened, but it was in a huge airplane hangar — and nobody came. No one at all.

And Kawakubo, too, has not been immune to anxiety about the show. “Do you think the space is disorienting?” she asks him during the interview. “Do you think people will get lost?”

Getting lost, he assures her, is rather the point.
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Showtime cable network is presenting four hours of director Oliver Stone interviewing Russian President Vladimir Putin on four consecutive nights in June.

The network announced Monday that “The Putin Interviews” will air first on June 12 at 9 p.m. Eastern, with three additional hour-long installments on the following nights. Showtime said Stone interviewed Putin more than a dozen times over the past two years, most recently in February.

 

Showtime is comparing the project to conversations held by British TV host David Frost and former U.S. president Richard Nixon in 1977.

 

Stone had also interviewed Putin for his documentary “Ukraine on Fire,” which was said to take a sympathetic view of Russia’s involvement in the conflict there.
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The new federal spending bill would spare – and even slightly increase – funding for three arts-related agencies that President Donald Trump had proposed eliminating: the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the National Endowment for the Arts and National Endowment for the Humanities.

 

The agreement announced Monday calls for the CPB’s budget to remain the same, at $445 million. Spending for fiscal 2017 would go up for the NEA and NEH, each from $148 million to $150 million. The three organizations provide money for everything from public television programming to community theaters and scholarly research.

 

The arts community had denounced Trump’s proposed cuts, which have long been advocated by some conservatives. But members of both parties had supported the agencies, with former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, a Republican and Trump supporter, among those saying the NEA should be preserved.

 

The proposed arts budgets are part of a $1 trillion-plus spending bill that would fund most government operations through September. The 1,665-page bill was made public in the pre-dawn hours Monday and is tentatively scheduled for a House vote on Wednesday.
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The contract for television and film writers is nearing expiration and a costly strike looms that could send some popular televisions shows into reruns.

The writers contract expires at 12:01 a.m. PDT Tuesday and picketing could begin that morning. Representatives for the writers and producers are engaged in a media blackout, meaning it is unclear how far apart the sides remain or how likely a strike will be called.

 

The Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers have been negotiating off and on since March 13 but have been unable to reach an agreement on a new contract. The main sticking points are compensation and healthcare.

 

WGA’s members overwhelmingly approved a strike late last month. A strike would immediately end the jokes and witty banter on late-night talk shows, and could eventually impact everything from daytime soap operas to major motion pictures in development.

 

In a memo to WGA members Sunday, the writers’ negotiators warned to “be ready to strike Tuesday.”

 

“If you’ve got anything great in your office on a studio lot, consider packing it up on Monday — just in case,” it read.

 

The memo, though, also said negotiations could continue after the deadline.

 

A strike would be first work stoppage by writers in nearly a decade. In 2007 and early 2008, a 100 day writers strike halted productions on numerous shows, led to a shortened television season and even impacted major film releases.

 

The dispute is driven in large part by shifts in how television is consumed, with streaming platforms such as Netflix and Amazon joining broadcast and cable TV and garnering viewers, critical and audience love, and awards.

 

There are more television shows than ever, but the work for writers has changed. Most series run for fewer than the traditional 22 to 24 broadcast episode season.

 

The shorter seasons of eight to 12 episodes translate into less pay for writers, who are paid on a per-episode basis.

 

The film industry can better weather a shorter strike, but felt the impact of the 2007-08 strike. Several films, including “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” and “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” were affected and were met with poor reviews. Many of the filmmakers and stars involved later said the movies simply didn’t have the screenplay they needed.

 

That strike also affected numerous industries that support film and television production. A Milken Institute estimate found the strike cost the California economy $2.1 billion.

 
…

It’s nearly party time for Britain’s Princess Charlotte, who celebrates her 2nd birthday on Tuesday.

Her parents marked the occasion Monday by distributing a snapshot of Charlotte taken by her mother, the Duchess of Cambridge. Here are five things to know about the family as the landmark nears:

Why haven’t we seen more of Princess Charlotte?

 

Prince William and his wife, Kate, want to protect their daughter’s privacy. It’s not surprising that Kate took the official photo to mark Charlotte’s second birthday on the protected grounds of the family’s country estate. The royal couple has tried to keep Charlotte mostly out of the limelight and away from the paparazzi that often follow senior royals at events in London. An important exception was an official trip to Canada in the fall. William and Kate brought Charlotte and her older brother, Prince George, on the trip and Charlotte even attended a children’s party.

 

What does the photo show? What impact will it have?

 

Don’t be surprised if there’s a run on fluffy yellow cardigans with cute sheep decorations in British stores catering to kids – that’s what Charlotte is wearing in the official photo. It’s possible the outfit was chosen by the clothes-conscious Kate, who snapped the photo. Earlier outfits worn by Prince George in public have become extremely popular with British consumers charmed by the young royals.

 

Charlotte looks very proper and very British, with her hair styled by a clip and her blue-grey eyes looking directly at the camera at the outdoors photo session in April.

 

What is the birthday girl’s full name?

 

She is officially named Charlotte Elizabeth Diana, in tribute to her late grandmother Diana, Princess of Wales, and her great-grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II. She is also known as Princess Charlotte of Cambridge.

 

What’s next for Charlotte and her family ?

 

The family is expected to spend more time in London and less in the countryside as William takes up more royal duties and Prince George, 3, prepares to start school in the fall. Their London base is at Kensington Palace.

 

Will she ever be queen?

 

Charlotte is fourth in line for the throne, behind Prince Charles (her grandfather), Prince William and Prince George.
…

John Legend is expected on a Massachusetts college campus this week to receive a social justice award.

 

The singer-songwriter becomes the first recipient of the Salem Advocate for Social Justice award when he accepts the honor Tuesday at Salem State University.

 

Legend is to perform and also discuss his work on criminal justice, education and other issues.

 

The Salem Award Foundation for Human Rights and Social Justice bestows the award to recognize those who champion social justice issues and advocate for people who are underrepresented.

 

This is the first year the award will be given.
…

An English policeman wearing a gorilla costume while crawling the London Marathon has finally finished the race, almost a week after starting.

 

Metropolitan Police officer Tom Harrison, who goes by the name “Mr. Gorilla,” raised a reported 26,000 pounds ($33,650) for the Gorilla Organization, which is dedicated to conserving gorillas in countries including Rwanda and Uganda.

 

The 41-year-old Londoner started the 26.2-mile (42.2-kilometer) route last Sunday and crossed the finish line on Saturday.

Harrison slept at friends’ houses in the evenings after completing around 10 to 12 hours and 4.5 miles per day. He has swapped between crawling on his hands and knees and up on his hands and feet to save his blistered knees.

He crossed the finish line in central London flanked by his two sons – and beating his chest.
…

April 30 is International Jazz Day, with events and concerts being held throughout the world. It also marks the end of Jazz Appreciation Month in the United States. Sponsored by the National Museum of American History, it’s designed to stimulate and encourage people to participate, study and listen to a genre of music that is uniquely American. Jazz has a storied place in Voice of America’s 75-year history. For 40 years, millions of people worldwide listened to VOA’s Jazz Hour with Willis Conover. During the Cold War, Conover’s programs created a connection to the United States for millions of people living behind the Iron Curtain. Earlier this past week, Voice of America hosted The Frankie Addison Quintet to mark Jazz Appreciation Month and VOA’s part in keeping the free form music genre alive. Enjoy the music.
…

An award-winning Iranian filmmaker imprisoned over his work has been released after serving about five months of his yearlong sentence, though he doesn’t know whether he’ll make movies again in the Islamic Republic.

 

Keywan Karimi told The Associated Press on Sunday that he credited international pressure for his early release, as well as escaping the 223 lashes that were part of his sentence. Others, however, remain imprisoned in the Islamic Republic as part of a hard-line crackdown amid President Hassan Rouhani’s outreach to the wider world through the nuclear deal.

 

Karimi said in an interview over Skype that he served his sentence in Tehran’s Evin prison, which holds political prisoners and dual nationals detained by the security services. He described spending his first month in solitary confinement, a place he described as “very dirty, very cold.”

 

He said he suffered pain in his stomach and leg, but ultimately recovered. He later was put into the general prison population, sharing a room with 20 other prisoners.

 

“You’re far away from freedom, far away from something you love,” Karimi said.

 

Karimi was convicted of “insulting sanctities” in Iran, whose government is ultimately overseen by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The case involved footage from both a “video clip” and a film he directed called “Writing on the City,” which focuses on political graffiti in Iran from its 1979 Islamic Revolution to its contested 2009 election.

 

Karimi is perhaps best known by international film critics for his 2013 black-and-white minimalist film, “The Adventure of the Married Couple.” The short film, based on a story by Italian writer Italo Calvino, follows the grinding routine of a husband and wife working opposite shifts, she in a bottle factory and he at a mannequin store. Neither speaks, the only noise is the hum of the city they live in.

 

The film played in some 40 film festivals and won prizes in Spain and Colombia.

 

Karimi is one of several artists, poets, journalists, models and activists arrested in a crackdown on expression led by hard-liners who oppose Rouhani. His release comes ahead of Iran’s May presidential election, in which Rouhani is seeking re-election.

 

For now, Karimi said he was grateful to be out of prison, though he felt alienated from Iran and its people.

 

“I want to continue filmmaking, but I don’t know how and in which country,” Karimi said.
…

Al Pacino was considered too short, Marlon Brando was required to do a screen test, and director Francis Ford Coppola was almost fired.

The director and cast of The Godfather reminisced Saturday in a 45th anniversary reunion in New York about the trials, perseverance and inspiration that resulted in the Oscar-winning Mafia movies.

Coppola, Pacino, Robert De Niro, Diane Keaton, James Caan, Talia Shire and Robert Duvall watched back-to-back screenings of The Godfather (1972) and The Godfather: Part II (1974) along with an audience of 6,000 on the closing night of the Tribeca film festival.

“I haven’t seen these movies for years,” Coppola said. “I found (watching) a very emotional experience. I forgot a lot about the making of it and thought about the story, and the story used a lot of family and my personal stuff.”

Brando too difficult

The two films won nine Oscars and their tale of how an orphan from Sicily emigrated to the United States at the turn of the 20th century and formed the Corleone crime family became movie classics.

But the film had a less than auspicious start. Coppola recalled that Hollywood studio Paramount wanted to set the movie in the 1970s and make something “cheap and quick.”

Coppola was almost fired several times and met stiff resistance to the casting of Pacino as Michael Corleone and Brando as the titular Godfather.

Brando, who died in 2004, had made several box-office flops after a stellar career in the 1950s and had a reputation for being difficult.

“I was told (by studio executives) that having Brando in the film would make it less commercial than having a total unknown,” Coppola said.

The studio later agreed “if Marlon will do a screen test and do it for nothing and put up a $1 million bond that he wouldn’t cause trouble during the production.”

Brando created the rasping voice, jowly cheeks and oiled hair for Corleone in the screen test. Yet three weeks into shooting, there was more trouble.

“They (the studio) hated Brando. They thought he mumbled and they hated the film. … It was very dark,” Coppola said. Brando went on to win an Oscar for his performance.

Pacino too short

Newcomer Pacino had to screen test “countless times” for the role of Michael, the college-educated son who takes charge of the Corleone business of casinos, gambling and racketeering.

Studio bosses though he was too short and wanted to cast Robert Redford or Ryan O’Neal.

Yet Coppola persevered because “every time I read the script, I always saw his (Pacino’s) face, especially in the scenes in Sicily.”

Pacino said he originally wanted the part of the hot-headed son, Sonny, and thought Coppola “was really nuts” about wanting him to play Michael.

“I thought this is either a dream or a joke … and then started the whole trial of them not wanting me and Francis wanting me,” Pacino recalled. The film launched his career as one of the most honored actors of his generation.

Then some luck

Luck played a part in the creation of some of the most memorable scenes in the two films. The revelation by Corleone’s wife Kay (Keaton) that she had aborted their baby because of horror over her husband’s criminal activities was suggested by Talia Shire (Connie).

And the cat Brando cradles in the opening scene of “The Godfather,” making for a stark contrast with his intimidating presence, was a last-minute addition.

“I put that cat in his hands. It was the studio cat. It was one take,” Coppola said. 
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The White House press corps gathered Saturday for its annual black-tie dinner, a toned-down affair this year after Donald Trump snubbed the event, becoming the first incumbent U.S. president to bow out in 36 years.

Without Trump, who scheduled a rally instead to mark his 100th day in office, the usually celebrity-filled soiree hosted by the White House Correspondents’ Association took a more sober turn, even as it pulled in top journalists and Washington insiders.

Most of Trump’s administration also skipped the event in solidarity with the president, who has repeatedly accused the press of mistreatment. The president used his campaign-style gathering to again lambaste the media.

“I could not possibly be more thrilled than to be more than 100 miles away,” he told a crowd in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, calling out The New York Times, CNN and MSNBC by name.

‘Not fake news’

In Washington, WHCA President Jeff Mason defended press freedom even as he acknowledged this year’s dinner had a different feel, saying attempts to undermine the media was dangerous for democracy.

“We are not fake news, we are not failing news organizations and we are not the enemy of the American people,” said Mason, a Reuters correspondent.

Instead of the typical roasts — presidents of both parties have delivered their own zingers for years — the event returned to its traditional roots of recognizing reporters’ work and handing out student scholarships as famed journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein presented awards.

“That’s not Donald Trump’s style,” NBC News’ Andrea Mitchell told MSNBC, referring to the self-deprecating jokes presidents in the past have made despite tensions with the press.

Jokes for free speech

Instead, the humor fell to headline comedian Hasan Minhaj.

“We’ve got to address the elephant that’s not in the room,” Minhaj, who plays a correspondent on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show, told the crowd. “The leader of our country is not here. And that’s because he lives in Moscow. It’s a very long flight. As for the other guy, I think he’s in Pennsylvania because he can’t take a joke.”

He also joked about Trump, despite organizers’ wishes, saying he did so to honor U.S. constitutional protection of free speech: “Only in America can a first-generation, Indian-American Muslim kid get on this stage and make fun of the president.”

Trump in Pennsylvania

Trump was indeed in Pennsylvania, having scheduled a rally in Harrisburg to mark his 100th day in office. He began his remarks with a lengthy if familiar attack on the news media while dismissing the dinner and its participants.

 

“A large group of Hollywood actors and Washington media are consoling each other in a hotel ballroom in our nation’s capital right now,” Trump said. He added: “And I could not possibly be more thrilled than to be more than 100 miles away from Washington’s swamp, spending my evening with all of you and with a much, much larger crowd and much better people, right?”

Trump became the first president since Ronald Reagan in 1981 to skip the event — and Reagan was recovering from an assassination attempt. 

In a video message, actor Alec Baldwin, who has raised Trump’s ire playing him on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” program also encouraged attendees.

Fewer celebrities

Few other celebrities graced the red carpet, although some well-known Washingtonians, such as former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Republican Representative Darrell Issa of California, appeared.

Trump attended in 2011, when then-President Barack Obama made jokes at the expense of the New York real estate developer and reality television show host.

In an interview with Reuters this week, Trump said he decided against attending as president because he felt he had been treated unfairly by the media, adding: “I would come next year, absolutely.”

In Pennsylvania, Trump told supporters the media dinner would be boring but was noncommittal on whether he would go in 2018 or hold another rally.

Late night television show host Samantha Bee also hosted a competing event — “Not the White House Correspondents’ Dinner” — that she said would honor journalists, rather than skewer Trump.

Journalists honored

The WHCA awards and this year’s recipients: 

Aldo Beckman Memorial Award winner: Greg Jaffe of The Washington Post for stories on President Barack Obama’s speeches and policies that contrasted the realities of 2016 with the hopes of 2008. 
Merriman Smith Award winner for outstanding White House coverage under deadline: Edward-Isaac Dovere of Politico for his coverage of the historic meeting between Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro.
Edgar A. Poe Award winner: David Fahrenthold of The Washington Post for stories on Donald Trump’s philanthropic claims.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Washington’s once-glitzy “nerd prom” was briefly upstaged Saturday as comedians and Hollywood stars gathered for jokes and jests about President Donald Trump for a tongue-in-cheek event to counter the annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner.

Late-night TV star Samantha Bee pulled in celebrities for the first “Not the White House Correspondents’ Dinner'”: Alysia Reiner of “Orange Is the New Black,” Retta of “Parks and Recreation” and Matt Walsh of “Veep.” Bee’s show, a comedic tribute to American news organizations, featured actor Will Ferrell and other guests roasting Trump and his allies.

The star power of the real correspondents’ dinner took a hit this year when Trump declined to attend, the first president since Ronald Reagan in 1981 to skip it. In Reagan’s case, he was recovering from an assassination attempt. Trump did his own counter-programming, scheduling a rally Saturday night in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, to mark his 100th day in office.

The absence of the president himself at the WHCA dinner or even officials from the administration seemed to diminish attendance by big names in film, television and sports.

Barack Obama’s humorous remarks had become a highlight at the dinner. Last year, for Obama’s final appearance, the crowd included Will Smith, Emma Watson, Kerry Washington, Helen Mirren and model Kendall Jenner.

For years, the event offered Washington’s press corps an opportunity to wear black tie and stunning gowns while mixing with celebrities. With Trump out, organizers put the focus on the First Amendment and the role of the press in democracy.

The scheduled headliners were Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, set to present journalism awards. Woodward told The Washington Post the two planned to speak about “the First Amendment and the importance of aggressive but fair reporting.”

The dinner still booked a master of ceremonies: Hasan Minhaj of The Daily Show. Broadcast coverage was to begin at 9:30 p.m. on C-SPAN, followed by Bee’s event airing on TBS at 10 p.m.

Jeff Mason, the WHCA president, said this year would have been different even if Trump had attended, “based on the tension that has existed in the relationship and some of the things he has said about the press. We were preparing for a different dinner either way.”

Trump has called the media “fake” and “dishonest” and even “the enemy of the people.” In an emailed fundraising appeal before leaving for Pennsylvania, Trump cited among the accomplishments over his first 100 days, “We fought back against the media’s lies.”

Mason promised that Minhaj would use his comedy chops, without “roasting the president in absentia.”

“People don’t want to come to a dinner and feel bored or preached at. Hopefully neither of those things will happen,” Mason said.

Bee, who hosts TBS’ weekly show Full Frontal, said she cared deeply about the press.

“For God’s sake, we could not do our show if things were more restricted. So, boy, nobody needs press freedom more than we do,” she told The Associated Press in an interview.

Bee’s taped show singled out the Committee to Protect Journalists, the nonprofit group that will receive proceeds from the show. The show humorously assailed topics like “alternative facts,” a remark once made by Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway that drew heavy criticism.

The official WHCA dinner began in 1921. Most people trace the development of the celebrity guests to 1987, when Baltimore Sun reporter Michael Kelly brought Fawn Hall, the secretary at the center of the Iran-Contra affair.
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If you’ve been walking through downtown Nairobi lately, you may have seen Moses Odhiambo. The 29-year-old self-taught saxophonist has been drawing crowds and inspiring a love of music in young people who, like himself, are growing up on the streets.

Moses Odhiambo plays his saxophone amid the usual buzz of evening rush hour in Nairobi’s central business district.

 

He performs here every Tuesday and Thursday.

 

A small crowd gathers. Today marks one year since he started performing like this. But he is no stranger to the streets.

At 10 years old, he left home with his three brothers. Their mother couldn’t afford to feed them. Odhiambo spent several homeless years in the slums of Nairobi’s Kayole Soweto area. Through sponsorship programs, he was able to complete high school, where he played trumpet.

He showed a knack for music.   

“So the director called me and told me, before we get a professional teacher come and try teaching these students,” said Odhiambo. “So when I went there. I saw the saxophone and fell in love with it and I picked it up, taught myself from scratch up to where I am today”.

When he is not performing in the streets, Odhiamdo is teaching music in two public primary schools or giving private lessons. But the streets remain his source of inspiration.

“I could choose to be in the house and do my practice in the house but I saw that being not so productive for me so I wanted to go out and make a difference,” said Odhiambo. “Because of my background having been a street child, I thought of coming out into the streets and make a difference.”

After his performances, Odhiambo sets aside time to talk with street kids he meets.

“They can make a difference in life if indeed they pursue their passion,” he said.

Rafael Mwangi sings a song he composed. The 14-year-old has lived on the streets for over six years now.

He says “when I saw Moses play, it gave me so much hope. I felt it was time to also start singing… I started writing music and when I showed Mose my writings, he told me he could see my future.”

On Thursdays, Odhiambo is joined by another young musician, Steven Muthama, on the guitar.

 

Muthama says performing on the street creates a powerful connection.

“People just take time to come and listen,” said Muthama. “Tired people from work taking time to just stop in the street, not knowing you, just seeing you there, listening and appreciating, maybe dropping a shilling or two but just the time and the effort to stand there and listen is really amazing.”

 

Music has been Odhiambo’s ticket to a better life. He hopes to pass that opportunity on to the next generation.

 

 
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