Private funeral planned for Healey
TORONTO - Plans are underway to organize a public memorial for late Canadian guitarist Jeff Healey.
Healey's widow, Cristie, says details have yet to be finalized and that she appreciates the condolences and kind thoughts that have been sent her way. The renowned guitarist and bandleader died Sunday at age 41 following a battle with cancer.
Cristie Healey says a private funeral service will be held but that details are not being released.
She praised the guitar hero as "a loving husband and a committed family man."
In lieu of flowers, the family asked that donations be made to Daisy's Eye Cancer Fund, an international children's charity.
"We would like to thank our family, friends and Jeff's fans for their condolences and kind thoughts at this most difficult time," Healey said Tuesday in a release.
"Jeff's music touched many people on many different levels. More importantly, in his personal life, Jeff was a loving husband and a committed family man, generous and kind, extremely down to earth, and a loyal friend. Jeff had a determination that he brought to all aspects of his life, and this was an inspiration to all that knew him. Now we need to say our goodbyes in private; however, we respect the public need to participate in celebrating Jeff's life and music and we are planning a public memorial, with details to follow."
Healey was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, retinoblastoma, as a child, resulting in his loss of sight and predisposing him to other cancers later in life.
Bryan Adams plots short fall tour
Bryan Adams returns to the road this fall for a short spin on the tour circuit, with a couple of October dates alongside fellow veteran rocker George Thorogood on the schedule.
The Canadian singer/songwriter kicks off an eight-city run Sept. 28 in Seattle. The two Thorogood shows come at the end of the outing, a pair of Northern California shows. All dates are included below.
Adams, who is consistently voted one of the most popular entertainers in his home country, was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame last year, and celebrated his 25th year as a recording artist in 2005 with the release of "Anthology," his first double-CD retrospective. The singer also put out "Live in Lisbon," a concert DVD, which was filmed earlier that year.
"Room Service," Adams' most recent studio album, was released in the US in the spring of 2005. It marked his first set of new music in almost seven years, with the exception of the 2002 film soundtrack for "Spirit," which Adams composed and performed in English and French. A single from the "Spirit" album, "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You," scored a Grammy award for Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture.
Adams, who is also an accomplished photographer in addition to his music career, contributed an original song, "Never Let Go," to the soundtrack of the 2006 Ashton Kutcher/Kevin Costner vehicle "The Guardian."
In July, Billboard.com reported that Adams had been working on a new studio album, which would be the 11th of his career, "for a couple of years now," but no release date has been finalized as of yet.
September 2007
28 - Seattle, WA - WAMU Theater
29 - Portland, OR - Rose Garden
30 - Nampa, ID - Idaho Center
October 2007
2 - Pala, CA - Palomar Starlight Theater at Pala Casino
3 - Phoenix, AZ - Dodge Theater
4 - Universal City, CA - Gibson Amphitheater
5 - Murphys, CA - Ironside Vineyard (w/ George Thorogood)
6 - Berkeley, CA - Greek Theatre (w/ George Thorogood)
Dungeons & Dragons co-creator dies at 69
MILWAUKEE - Gary Gygax, who co-created the fantasy game Dungeons & Dragons and is widely seen as the father of the role-playing games, died Tuesday morning at his home in Lake Geneva. He was 69. He had been suffering from health problems for several years, including an abdominal aneurysm, said his wife, Gail Gygax.
Gygax and Dave Arneson developed Dungeons & Dragons in 1974 using medieval characters and mythical creatures. The game known for its oddly shaped dice became a hit, particularly among teenage boys, and eventually was turned into video games, books and movies.
Gygax always enjoyed hearing from the game's legion of devoted fans, many of whom would stop by the family's home in Lake Geneva, about 55 miles southwest of Milwaukee, his wife said. Despite his declining health, he hosted weekly games of Dungeons & Dragons as recently as January, she said.
"It really meant a lot to him to hear from people from over the years about how he helped them become a doctor, a lawyer, a policeman, what he gave them," Gail Gygax said. "He really enjoyed that."
Dungeons & Dragons players create fictional characters and carry out their adventures with the help of complicated rules. The quintessential geek pastime, it spawned a wealth of copycat games and later inspired a whole genre of computer games that's still growing in popularity.
Born Ernest Gary Gygax, he grew up in Chicago and moved to Lake Geneva at the age of 8. Gygax's father, a Swiss immigrant who played violin in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, read fantasy books to his only son and hooked him on the genre, Gail Gygax said.
Gygax dropped out of high school but took anthropology classes at the University of Chicago for a while, she said. He was working as an insurance underwriter in the 1960s, when he began playing war-themed board games.
But Gygax wanted to create a game that involved more fantasy. To free up time to work on that, he left the insurance business and became a shoe repairman, she said.
Gygax also was a prolific writer and wrote dozens of fantasy books, including the Greyhawk series of adventure novels.
Gary Sandelin, 32, a Manhattan attorney, said his weekly Dungeons & Dragons game will be a bit sadder on Wednesday night because of Gygax's passing. The beauty of the game is that it's never quite the same, he said.
Funeral arrangements are pending. Besides his wife, Gygax is survived by six children.
Chesney leads Academy of Country Music award bids
NASHVILLE, Tennessee (Reuters) - Kenny Chesney easily snagged 12 nominations on Tuesday to lead contenders for the annual Academy of Country Music awards, and Rodney Atkins, who has had four straight number one singles, was second with six.
Atkins, 39, whose "If You're Going Through Hell" was the most played country single of 2006, was Top Male Vocalist in last year's academy competition.
Chesney led in total nominations, including one for Entertainer of the Year, which he had already won three times. If he wins that again he would tie Garth Brooks for academy honors in that category.
The nominations were announced in Nashville along with the announcement that, for the first time, fans will choose the winner of the "Entertainer of the Year" award. Voting will start on May 5 and the awards will be presented on May 18 in Las Vegas in a program aired on CBS Television.
Coming in third on the nominations list was Brad Paisley with four individual nominations, while the duos Big & Rich and Sugarland each won four nominations.
Miranda Lambert and 18-year-old Taylor Swift both received three nominations.
In addition to the top entertainer award, Chesney's nominations included Top Male Vocalist, Album of the Year for "Just Who I Am: Poets & Pirates," Single Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Video of the Year for "Don't Blink."
Atkins was nominated for Top Male Vocalist, Song of the Year and Video of the Year for "Watching You" and Album of the Year for "If You're Going Through Hell."
Brad Paisley was nominated for Entertainer of the Year, Top Male Vocalist, Album of the Year for "5th Gear" and Video of the Year for "Online."
Big & Rich snared nominations for Top Vocal Duo and, for the song "Lost in this Moment," Single Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Video of the Year. John Rich was nominated for a producer and writer award, and Big Kenny for two producing awards.
Sugarland's four nominations were for Top Vocal Duo, and for the song "Stay," Single Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Video of the Year. Jennifer Nettles also received two nominations for writing and producing, and Kristian Bush received one for producing.
Besides Chesney and Paisley, other nominees for Entertainer of the Year were the duo Rascal Flatts, George Strait and Keith Urban. The nominees for female Vocalist were Lambert, Swift, Martina McBride, LeAnn Rimes, and Carrie Underwood. Top Male Vocalist nominations went to Atkins, Chesney, Paisley, Strait and Urban.
Coen brothers' next film to "Burn"
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Moviegoers won't to have wait long to see the next film from Joel and Ethan Coen, the Oscar-winning brothers behind "No Country For Old Men."
Their next project, the dark espionage comedy "Burn After Reading," will be released September 12 via Focus Features, the studio said Monday. The cast includes George Clooney, John Malkovich, Brad Pitt, Tilda Swinton, and Frances McDormand, Joel Coen's wife.
The Coens last month won the best picture, directing and adapted screenplay Oscars for "No Country For Old Men." The Miramax Films/Paramount Vantage co-production is the most commercially successful of their career, with domestic ticket sales of $69.7 million to date.
Genies golden for Polley
Shut out at the Oscars, Sarah Polley's Away From Here wins seven awards
This was one awards show that Sarah Polley wasn't going to let get away from her.
First-time director Polley -- whose heart-wrenching feature directing debut Away From Her came up empty at the Oscars last week (even in the best actress category it was favoured to win) -- was the big winner at last night's Genie Awards for Canadian movies.
The Alzheimer's-themed love story, taken from Alice Munro's short story The Bear Came Over The Mountain, received seven trophies from the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television. The awards were held last night at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.
Among them: Best Motion Picture, Direction (Polley), Actor (Gordon Pinsent), Actress (the also Oscar-nominated Julie Christie), Supporting Actress (Kristen Thomson) and Best Adapted Screenplay (a category for which Polley had earlier received an Oscar nom).
As well, Polley was the pre-announced recipient of the Claude Jutra Award for best feature film by a first-time director.
The seven wins was matched by Away From Her's main competition, David Cronenberg's Russian-mob crime thriller Eastern Promises. However, those wins were mainly in technical categories, including cinematography (Peter Suschitzky), editing (Ronald Sanders), original score (Howard Shore), overall sound (shared by five people) sound editing (shared by five people). It also garnered a supporting actor nod for Armin Mueller-Stahl and best original screenplay for Steve Knight.
Up and down at the podium all night, Polley acknowledged Atom Egoyan (who directed her in The Sweet Hereafter, and has produced her work) as her mentor. "The ridiculousness of me winning in this category is not lost on me," she said as she accepted best director. "I would like to thank my fellow nominees for teaching me so much. And I would like to thank the first filmmaker who ever inspired me. Thank you Atom for everything. Without you, I wouldn't be here." She also joined in the Bill C-10 bashing, enthusing over living in a country that had allowed her "to find my own vision without pandering to committees."
Producer Daniel Iron, who accepted the best picture award with Simone Urdl and Jennifer Weiss, joined in the love in. "We want to express our gratitude and awe to Sarah. The whole experience was a joy," he said.
For his part, Cronenberg was gracious in surrendering the moment. "It's fantastic for Sarah," he said. "I cast her in one of my movies (eXistenZ) and she's a fantastic actress and I'm not surprised that she turns out to be a wonderful director and writer also. We all knew that she was a star from the age of four. It's not so horrible if whoever wins is someone you respect and admire."
Another Oscar make-good was the animated short Madame Tutli-Putli, which won the Genie in its category for Maciek Szczerbowski, Chris Lavis and Marcy Page. Apres Tout won Best Live Action Short for Alexis Fortier Gauthier and Elaine Hebert, while Gary Burns and Jim Brown's "urban sprawl documentary Radiant City won in its category.
Only three feature films managed to break into the Away From Her/Eastern Promises tug-of-war. Andrew Currie's zombie comedy Fido won for art direction, Shake Hands With The Devil's Valanga Khoza and David Hirschfelder won for Original Song with Kaya and Silk won a costume design award for Carlo Poggioli and Kazuko Kurosawa.
The Winners
TORONTO -- The winners at the 28th annual Genie Awards handed out Monday in Toronto:
Best picture: "Away From Her."
Actor: Gordon Pinsent, "Away From Her."
Actress: Julie Christie, "Away From Her."
Supporting actor: Armin Mueller-Stahl, "Eastern Promises."
Supporting actress: Kristen Thomson, "Away From Her."
Director: Sarah Polley, "Away From Her."
Original screenplay: Steven Knight, "Eastern Promises."
Adapted screenplay: Sarah Polley, "Away From Her."
Editing: Ronald Sanders, "Eastern Promises."
Cinematography: Peter Suschitzky, "Eastern Promises."
Art direction/production design: Rob Gray, James Willcock, "Fido."
Costume design: Carlo Poggioli, Kazuko Kurosawa, "Silk."
Original score: Howard Shore, "Eastern Promises."
Original song: Valanga Khoza, David Hirschfelder, "Kaya" from "Shake Hands With the Devil."
Overall sound: Stuart Wilson, Christian Cooke, Orest Sushko, Mark Zsifkovits, "Eastern Promises."
Sound editing: Wayne Griffin, Robert Bertola, Tony Currie, Andy Malcolm, Michael O'Farrell, "Eastern Promises."
Best documentary: "Radiant City."
Live action short drama: "Apres Tout."
Animated short: "Madame Tutli-Putli."
Claude Jutra Award for outstanding achievement by a first-time film director: Sarah Polley, "Away From Her"