When "So You Think You Can Dance" returns to Fox on May 24 (at 8 p.m. EST), the popular competition series will look wildly different than seasons past.
"We're one show now, so we've got an action-packed show," producer Nigel Lythgoe told ET at the Fox upfronts this week. Fox ended the "So You Think You can Dance" results-show broadcast, meaning many changes needed to be made before the new season.
"This year we're doing an entirely new thing that we should have done years ago," Lythgoe said enthusiastically. "We're going to have a male winner and a female winner. With changing it around, to making it just one show, we sort of realized, 'Hey, why don't we do this?' We wanted to do it, now we have the opportunity to do so."
To make up for the lack of a results show, "SYTYCD" will have all its dancers perform in episodes one and two before revealing who goes home. "We'll watch them dance in the first week," Lythgoe told ET. "America will vote. We'll watch them dance in the second week, take into account America's vote and the week before's routine and make a decision."
Lythgoe said to TVLine.com that the dancers won't know before their routines if they're in danger because “we don’t want the [at-risk] contestants to be panicking [when they dance]."
As for the celebrity judges, Lythgoe would love to see Kristin Chenoweth and Jesse Tyler Ferguson return for season 9.
For more on the new rules and format of "So You Think You Can Dance," head over to TVLine.com.
On Friday night, the adaptation of the once-popular board game earned just over $9 million at the box office, well behind the $15.3 million grossed by "Marvel's The Avengers." That slow start means the costly "Battleship" will finish in a distant second when final numbers are tallied on Sunday. According to Deadline.com's Nikki Finke, "Battleship" could cruise to around $26 million for the three-day frame, a disappointment considering the film's reported $200 million price tag.
"Battleship" is the second big-budget film starring Taylor Kitsch to stumble out of the gate in the last two months; in March, the "Friday Night Lights" star opened "John Carter" to underwhelming returns as well. That film -- which cost at least $250 million -- grossed $30 million during its first weekend on its way toward only $77 million in North America. Internationally, "John Carter" earned just over $200 million.
"Battleship" is already ahead of that pace overseas (it has earned over $215 million in international territories since the beginning of the month), but its low returns in the U.S. could hurt Universal. The studio started the year strong with "The Lorax," "Contraband" and "Safe House," but saw "The Five-Year Engagement" stumble in April before "Battleship" washed ashore this weekend.
Like "Battleship," the weekend's other new releases faltered. "The Dictator" and "What To Expect When Expecting" will likely finish third and fourth, with $16 and $12 million, respectively.
Meanwhile, "The Avengers" continues to rake in cash money. It's the fastest film to ever cross $400 million in North American ticket sales (14 days), and it will surpass both "The Lion King" and "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest" at some point on Saturday to become the highest grossing domestic Disney release ever. Overall, "The Avengers" is closing in on $1.1 billion in global returns.
BEDFORD, N.Y. — Mourners gathered at a modest stone church north of New York City for the funeral of Mary Richardson Kennedy.
The estranged wife of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was found dead of an apparent suicide this week at her home in Bedford.
The service Saturday at St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church was private, but the list of celebrities attending was a testament to both the Kennedy star power, and Mary's knack for friendship.
Mourners included Susan Sarandon and tennis great John McEnroe. Glenn Close sang and "Seinfeld" co-creator Larry David spoke during the ceremony.
Mary's sister-in-law and lifelong friend, Kerry Kennedy, told reporters gathered outside the church that she was "brilliant" and "beautiful."
She says Mary Kennedy battled severe depression for years.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
Mourners gathered Saturday at a modest stone church north of New York City for the funeral of Mary Richardson Kennedy, the estranged wife of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
The services, held at St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church in the hamlet of Bedford, took place on a beautiful spring morning, three days after Kennedy, 52, was found dead of an apparent suicide at her nearby estate.
Guests arriving for the service included prominent members of the Kennedy family and celebrity friends like comedians Larry David, Dan Aykroyd and Chevy Chase, actor Edward James Olmos and tennis great John McEnroe.
The casket was carried into the church by a group that included three of Mary Kennedy's older children and one of her sisters.
Kennedy's sister-in-law and nearly lifelong friend, Kerry Kennedy, told reporters gathered outside the church that she was "brilliant, and she was beautiful, and she cared so very, very deeply about everybody around her."
She said that Kennedy battled depression and mental illness for many years, but loved her children deeply. Only Tuesday, she said, she was talking about where her daughter, Kyra, would go to school.
"Mary was an angel," she said, her voice breaking.
Mary Richardson married into the Kennedy family in 1994, but had been close to the clan since meeting Kerry at boarding school as a teenager. She had four children with Robert, the son of assassinated U.S. senator and Attorney General Robert Kennedy, but the couple separated years ago. He filed for divorce in 2010. The case was pending when she died.
Shortly after the split, her internal struggles became public when she was arrested twice on charges of driving while intoxicated.
The domestic turmoil extended into preparations for her funeral. One of Mary's brothers went to court to request custody of her body, which could potentially have spoiled a Kennedy plan to bury her near the family's seaside compound in Hyannisport, Mass.
Robert Kennedy and a lawyer for the Richardson family spent part of the day in court Friday arguing the case, before Mary's body was released to her husband just hours before her planned wake. Details of the case were sealed by a judge.
"It should be very interesting. I don't have much to say," said Legend, who is set to star in ABC's new singing competition, "Duets."
"It's interesting when people, you know, are judging singing competitions when they aren't really singers." Ouch!
We don't know who John has been listening to, but Demi is absolutely a singer! Has he heard her amazing vocals on "Skyscraper" or the pitch-perfect "For the Love of A Daughter?" We love you, John Legend. But, perhaps you need to give Demi a second listen.
What do you think of John Legend's comment about Demi? Dish in the comments!
CHECK OUT THIS SLIDESHOW OF LATINOS IN YOUNG HOLLYWOOD
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Right now, Sammy Hagar is awfully glad he's not in Van Halen anymore.
The legendary rock band he led for more than a decade after replacing David Lee Roth in 1986 launched a tour in February with Roth back at the helm. But Van Halen on Thursday postponed dozens of shows this summer that had been scheduled for months, without giving a reason.
Hagar thinks he knows why.
"They're hard people to get along with, those brothers," Hagar told The Associated Press on Friday. "Otherwise I'd still be in the band.
"I'm surprised it took this long" for the tour to experience major difficulties, he added. "I predicted this was going to happen a lot sooner. I lost money on that bet!"
A source familiar with the tour who was not authorized to speak publicly confirmed to The Associated Press on Thursday that some of the band's long-scheduled performances this summer are being postponed. The group's website lists active tour dates through June 26.
Representatives of the band and AEG, which is promoting the concerts in some regions, did not respond to messages from the AP.
Hagar actually had two go-rounds with Van Halen, but left each time after clashes with guitarist Eddie and drummer Alex Van Halen. Roth left the band in 1985 to launch a solo career after similar personality clashes with the Van Halens, but reunited with them in 2007.
In February, the band released its first studio album together in 28 years, "A Different Kind Of Truth," and has been touring to support it.
Hagar was in Atlantic City at his Sammy's Beach Bar on the Boardwalk, where he donated $10,000 to St. Nicholas Roman Catholic Church for its food pantry. He said he tries to donate to food banks in each city he visits while on tour with his current band, Chickenfoot, which was to play The House of Blues on Friday night.
"They make the money go so far," he said of the food pantries. "They can get 2 1/2 meals out of a dollar!"
Monsignor William Hodge said he's grateful for Hagar's donation, which will be used to fatten the grocery bags of the hundreds of people who come to the church's food pantry twice a week, many of whom work low-wage jobs but still don't have enough to eat.
"Some families come to us with six to eight children," Hodge said. "We'll make sure there's plenty of meat in their bags of groceries."
___
Associated Press Music Writer Nekesa Moody contributed to this story from New York.
In a positive twist to the bizarre story of Nick Stahl's disappearance, it seems the "Terminator 3" actor has reached out to friends, according to TMZ.
Sources tell the website the 32-year-old actor -- who was reported missing by his wife, Rose Murphy, earlier this week -- sent an email Friday apologizing to friends for worrying them, letting them know that he is currently receiving treatment and will be out of contact for the next 30 days.
CANNES, France -- If Shia LaBeouf has his way, this year's Cannes Film Festival is just a beginning.
After previous trips to the festival with blockbusters "Transformers" and "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps," LaBeouf is here with his first film in competition, the Prohibition-era "Lawless," as well as a short he directed, "Howard Cantour.com."
"Smaller hotel room, but a lot more pride," he said in an interview shortly before "Lawless" was to make its premiere Saturday.
In "Lawless," directed by John Hillcoat, LaBeouf stars as the younger, less violent brother of a trio of Appalachia bootlegging brothers (Tom Hardy, Jason Clarke) protecting their backwoods freedom from a savage lawman from Chicago (Guy Pearce).
The film, to be released by the Weinstein Co. this fall, is a clear departure for LaBeouf, whose young career has been more dominated by franchise action films than character-driven genre work like "Lawless."
"I've made a lot of movies about plot and device," says LaBeouf. "Now, I find myself being attracted to – and being allowed to make – more movies about people and characters."
Coming to Cannes for the 25-year-old LaBeouf, whose manner is intense and direct, is also something of a return to the scene of a crime. In 2010, he disparaged two of his own blockbusters – "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" and "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" – a severe break with Hollywood etiquette – particularly when the directors concerned are Steven Spielberg and Michael Bay.
"Cannes is a big part of my learning curve," he says. "I've lost friends. I've experienced extreme heartbreak here."
LaBeouf also drew from his past in Cannes for "Howard Cantour.com," which stars comedian Jim Gaffigan as a film critic. Though LaBeouf has now directed several shorts and music videos, he says he plans to keep making shorts before trying his hand at directing a feature.
"Lawless," adapted by Australian musician Nick Cave from Matt Bondurant's 2008 historical novel, "The Wettest County in the World," was in Hollywood purgatory for two years after losing studio backing, a period through which LaBeouf remained committed to the film.
The attraction, LaBeouf says, was Hillcoat, whose 2005 Australian western "The Proposition" – for which Cave composed the soundtrack – he admires.
"He has sensibilities closer to my sensibilities than my previous commanders," says LaBeouf. "When a man says to you, `I'm planning to make "Goodfellas" in the woods,' it's really hard to get away from that idea."
Hillcoat praised the more adult performance for LaBeouf.
"He's actually very nuanced and incredibly subtle and very real," says Hillcoat. "There's a real tenderness, as well. For him, it was something that he's been dying to do for some time."
The film drew mixed reviews at Cannes after screening for the media Saturday, but generally positive ones for its performances. The film blog IndieWire wrote that the movie "will silence (LaBeouf's) critics."
The actor is clearly gratified to be bringing "Lawless" to Cannes, an audience that reveres artistic filmmaking: "This is a community that otherwise would hate me," he says.
LaBeouf has said the third "Transformers" film, last year's "Transformers: Dark of the Moon," will be the last for him, regardless of whether more are made. He'll next star in Robert Redford's political drama "The Company You Keep."
Says LaBeouf: "I'm going to be doing things that I like for a while, until the business says `No, we need you to do this, or you can't work.'"
Let me tell you a story about Dan Harmon, who was fired from "Community" on Friday night.
Several years ago, when "The Sarah Silverman" program debuted, I wrote a review of it. I didn't like it much; it just wasn't my thing, and I said as much in my review.
Within a day or two of that review appearing, a comment appeared on that review -- a very negative one from someone named Dan Harmon. I confirmed with Comedy Central that the comment was, in fact, left by Harmon, who was then a writer/producer on Silverman's show. (I didn't want anything on my site that had been left under his name if it wasn't actually from him.) It was him. And then I noticed that my site was getting some traffic from MySpace (remember, this was more than five years ago).
Turns out Harmon posted a more stinging rebuke of me on his MySpace page, because what he'd left on my site apparently hadn't been harsh enough for him. Needless to say, both comments weren't complimentary toward me or my intelligence. They weren't easy to read. When someone writes, "You look like an idiot ... I'm looking into the 3 pixels that represent your eyes and right into your unremarkable soul," that tends to stick with you.
I'm not saying any of this to pile on Dan Harmon. I absolutely am not; he's had a bad enough week. I'm saying this because I want to make a point: He's probably as difficult to work with as all the stories say he is. But based on what he's achieved with "Community," he's worth it.
As I said, I didn't especially enjoy those comments when I read them for the first time. But here's something that's also true: I was able to realize that his comments about me were very well-written. Want proof?
A friend of mind, the writer Claire Zulkey, does a regular event called Funny Ha-Ha, where people get up and read amusing things they've written. She invited me to be part of it a couple of times, and I'm aware enough of my own limitations to know that I'm not all that funny. So twice (without saying who wrote it), I read Harmon's diatribe at Funny Ha-Ha, and ladies and gentlemen, it killed. Both times.
The rant has a point of view that Harmon meticulously, if angrily, got across. It's very far from being a generic angry Internet comment; it's just another instance of Harmon proving that he's unstoppable (and pretty diverting) when he's got something to say.
Now, you may wonder, did that withering comment make it harder for me to like "Community" at first? I wondered about that for a very, very long time -- trust me, I thought about it a lot. And I've come to two conclusions:
"Community" made it hard for me to like it, especially in its first season. I gave it a lot of chances in Seasons 1 and 2, and I appreciated what the cast was doing, but the show didn't quite click for me because of its distancing meta techniques, which weren't expertly tied to characters I cared about in the early days. It wasn't due to the fact that Harmon had called me an idiot, I don't think.
My little online experience with Harmon didn't affect my view of the show much, I don't think, but it did make it hard for me to see a lot of my colleagues in the media fawning over the guy. I'll admit that that rankled now and again. I'm only human, after all.
But you know what? The show itself eventually won me over. Last year, I became a late convert thanks to the overwhelming brilliance of "Remedial Chaos Theory," and when I love something, I tend to love it 150 percent. I recognize that not every episode of "Community" is great, and there are still certain things about it that bug me at times, but I sat down to watch that episode with an open mind and I completely fell for the Greendale Seven, which made me really happy. I went back and watched Season 2 and have faithfully watched Season 3, the finale of which was very pleasing, I thought.
What I'm trying to get at here is this: When something, or someone, is difficult, you work on it. When someone rubs you the wrong way, you acknowledge that, figure out how to move forward, and move forward. Why couldn't NBC and Sony do this?
After all, executives there are paid a lot more than I am to put up with the delicate egos and undeniable flaws of creative people. And I'm of the opinion that whatever baggage Harmon brought to the table was worth putting up with. For him to be shown the door without getting a single phone call from NBC or Sony Pictures Television, as he says in this post about being fired, is horrifying -- but more importantly, it's unprofessional on the part of those above him in the food chain.
I'm not saying every showrunner should get away with everything -- far from it -- but at the very least, there should have been discussions in the last few weeks with Harmon about his future with the show. And if NBC and Sony weren't going to go forward with Harmon as showrunner, they should have put on their big-boy pants and canceled the comedy. If Harmon at the helm of "Community" was just too more trouble than they wanted to deal with, they should have pulled the plug, but they didn't have the guts.
NBC and Sony are not making widgets and not merely replacing a manager who couldn't get his people to meet their widget quota. As much as the business might involve slicing and dicing Nielsen numbers, it's not, at the end of the day, about cold numbers and flow charts. Some shows do involve widgets and some shows are topped by executive producers who can be replaced at will. "Community" is not one of those shows, and for Sony and NBC keep the show going but without Harmon -- well, that's just dumb. That's not a knock on the new "Community" showrunners, that's a knock on short-sighted TV executives.
I will stipulate that Harmon can be a hard guy to get along with. My long-ago, minor experience aside, many credible articles and sources have said so. But I don't require him to be my friend, nor should the executives at Sony and NBC. I require him to make an inventive show with a lot of heart and wit, a show that is imbued with a particular gleeful/bittersweet point of view. Harmon did that, whatever problems Sony and NBC may have had with his management style.
Look, creative types can be a real pain in the ass. There aren't a ton of showrunners who make the trains run on time, make something approaching art and are also nice to everyone (there are a few, and they are worth their weight in gold). But that's the business "creative" executives are in. It's messy, it's not easy, but if TV executives wanted to go into something more predictable and less stressful, why not try accounting?
So, Dan Harmon, I forgave you a long time ago for what you wrote about me, even though it hurt my feelings at the time. I understood, even then, that what prompted your angry response was the fact that your feelings had been hurt. Sensitive types aren't always fun to be around (and this is something I can relate to). I understood, then and now, that you care about what you do. I'm sure you still care about "Community."
And as Alan Sepinwall wrote here, I think that shows with unique visions that lose their showrunners late in their runs are often much worse for it. I'm sadly sure that will be the case here. This is one of those cases where something like the thing you loved will just be a reminder of how much you miss the thing you loved.
I'll miss Harmon's "Community." And I think NBC and Sony executives have no idea of the shitstorm they just created. So I'll leave an angry Internet comment of my own: Whoever thought it would be a good idea to ditch Harmon is a business-casual potted plant. You're VH1, "Robocop 2," "Back to the Future 3."
"Battleship" hit theaters this weekend, and the film -- directed by Peter Berg and starring Rihanna, as the unlikely face behind the gun, and Taylor Kitsch, as the even more unlikely man in charge -- appears to be yet another critical shipwreck. While HuffPost Entertainment's own Mike Ryan loved the would-be blockbuster enough to compose a (sincere, we think) love letter in tribute to its charms, the majority of reviewers sided with Kyle Smith of the New York Post, who snarked, "It makes 'Top Gun' look like the work of Orson Welles."
Elsewhere in movie-critic land, the Los Angeles Times whomped "What to Expect When You're Expecting," the San Francisco Chronicle manhandled Morgan Spurlock's "Mansome" (try saying that five times fast) and the AV Club dismissed "Hysteria" as little more than a collection of "cheap laughs." Even "The Dictator," from erstwhile critical darling Sacha Baron Cohen, was panned by Slate for leaving the viewer "neither laughing nor shocked."
Musicians came under fire too, with the AV Club categorizing Norah Jones as a "fascinating boring musician," and house music producer Deadmau5 informing DJ Pauly D that his new sizzle reel has "nothing really creative about it."
Can these ink-stained wretches all be right? Are this week's offerings the cultural equivalent of the Spanish Armada in 1588? Or do some of these folks need some sunshine and a back massage? Let us know in the comments which critical torpedoes landed and which fell wide of the mark.
MANILA, Philippines -- Pop singer Lady Gaga arrived in the Philippines on Saturday to cheers from fans and protests from young Christians calling for the cancellation of her upcoming concerts.
About 200 Christian young people marched in Manila for a second straight day, holding placards urging the singer to "respect our faith, stop the blasphemy."
The Biblemode Youth Philippines members plan to hold a vigil starting Sunday near the concert venue. They said they are offended by Lady Gaga's music, particularly her song "Judas," which they said mocks Jesus Christ.
But throngs of shrieking, camera-toting fans mobbed her, seeking her autograph as she walked into her hotel surrounded by bodyguards. She arrived in Manila late Saturday on a private jet.
Authorities in the conservative, majority Roman Catholic country approved the concerts, set for Monday and Tuesday, but said they won't allow nudity or lewd acts.
Sold-out crowds and angry protests have followed Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" Asian tour.
Fans younger than 18 were banned from concerts in South Korea over complaints her lyrics and costumes were too provocative, and she was denied a concert permit in Indonesia by police under pressure from Islamic hard-liners.
Riot police stopped Saturday's marchers about a kilometer (half a mile) away from the concert venue. Phalanxes of security guards stood on alert in front of the arena.
"She declared a distorted view toward Jesus Christ and for us Biblical Christians it is offensive," said Ruben Abante, a protest leader. "Her music and everything about her is different from what our values are."
Organizers from Ovation Productions said they respect the beliefs of critics but promised that the performances "will not pose a threat to their sense of morality and conduct."
Under Philippine law, people who offend race or religion can be sentenced to up to six years in prison, although no one has been convicted recently.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Country music legend Loretta Lynn is three years older than she has led people to believe, an age change that undermines the story she told of being married at 13 in "Coal Miner's Daughter," documents obtained by The Associated Press show.
Lynn's birth certificate on file at the state Office of Vital Statistics in Frankfort, Ky., shows that Loretta Webb was born on April 14, 1932, in Johnson County, Kentucky. That makes her 80 years old, not 77. Also on file is her marriage license and two affidavits from her mother, Clara Marie Ramey, and S.W. Ward Jr., who was not related to the family, listing the same birthdate.
The records weren't filed until 1965, which meant that Lynn needed multiple documents to prove her age at that time. Lynn's signature appears on the document as Loretta Webb Lynn.
Melvin Webb lists his daughter "Loretta" as 7 years old for the 1940 Census, according to a digital copy on file at the Kentucky Historical Society. Lynn's marriage license, obtained by the AP from the Johnson County clerk's office lists her as 15 on Jan. 10, 1948.
In "Coal Miner's Daughter," the autobiography that became an Academy Award-winning film, Lynn told a different story – that she was married at 13 and was a mother of four by 18. Most books and public references to Lynn list her current age as 77.
When contacted by the AP, Lynn's spokeswoman, Nancy Russell of Nashville, Tenn., declined comment. She said that Lynn has told her before in no uncertain terms, "If anyone asks how old I am, tell them it's none of their business!"
Lynn's younger brother, Herman Webb, declined to disclose Lynn's age, although he said there might have been a "mix-up" with Lynn's paperwork after she moved to Nashville to launch her country career. Her parents and many other relatives are dead, including her husband, O.V. "Mooney" Lynn.
Certainly Lynn isn't the first celebrity of a certain age to be less than forthcoming about a birthday, but the discrepancy is significant because age isn't just a number for the Country Music Hall of Fame member. It is woven into her compelling life story, made famous in her 1976 bestselling autobiography, "Coal Miner's Daughter," and the subsequent film starring Sissy Spacek. The movie made $67 million nationwide and was nominated for seven Oscars; Spacek won for her portrayal of Lynn.
The Grammy-winning singer recently announced that it will become a Broadway musical, starring actress and singer Zooey Deschanel.
The way Lynn chose to tell it in the book, she was married at 13, moved with her husband to Washington State at 16 and was a mother of four by 18. Lynn has six kids in all. The marriage certificate shows that Lynn instead married just shy of her 16th birthday, which was not unusual in Kentucky at that time. Her husband was 21.
It would have been illegal for a girl under the age of 14 to marry in Kentucky in 1948, said R. Eric Henninger of the Kentucky State Law Library. At that time, he said, "lots of folks didn't have any sort of official proof of age."
An AP reporter recently found Lynn's birth certificate online that listed a different birthdate from the one listed in the news agency's database of celebrity birthdays. The reporter changed the date in the database; when the new birthday was used in a recent story, the Country Music Hall of Fame contacted the AP about the discrepancy.
Lynn addresses the perils of disclosing her age in her autobiography.
"When I was born, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the president for several years. That's the closest I'm gonna come to telling my age in this book, so don't go looking for it," she writes. "I'm trying to make a living singing songs. I don't need nobody out there saying, `She don't look bad considering she's such-and-such years old.'"
Lynn's co-author on "Coal Miner's Daughter," New York Times sports columnist George Vecsey, said in a phone interview that he did not verify the age claims in the book with official documentation.
"It's her book, and I never saw a birth certificate, marriage license. It's what they told me," he said. "I couldn't say that she was the one who told me first. Between her manager (David Skepner) who has passed and her husband who has now passed, it was at least three different people telling me that."
Vecsey said he did not want to speculate on what the age difference means to Lynn's narrative.
Lynn's daughter, Patsy Lynn Russell, did not respond to emailed requests for comment.
Webb, her brother who lives in their hometown of Van Lear, Ky., believes "there might have been a mix--up somewhere along the line" when Lynn first arrived in Nashville and signed with the Wilburn Brothers.
"When she was with Teddy and Doyle (Wilburn), she just don't tell her age after that," he said. "I think they got some of her paperwork messed up."
Webb declined to comment on Lynn's age. When asked his own birthday, like a good brother, he replied: "I was born a year and a half after she was."
Research supervisor Walter Bowman at the Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives said in the early `30s it was more common for people to register their prized horses or livestock than the births of their children.
Not until the Social Security system was founded in the mid-1930s did parents have a monetary reason to put their kids on record.
Social Security Administration officials said privacy laws prevent them from releasing information about any living person, including a birth date.
Music journalist and author Robert K. Oermann, who wrote "Finding Her Voice" about women in country music, said nothing can overshadow Lynn's accomplishments.
"In the 1960s, you didn't have the 24-hour news cycle, saturation of personality journalism that you have today. So what appealed to people was the fact that the songs were so extraordinary. Her singing was so great. Everything about her was so refreshing and country," he said.
"It wasn't until much later that people became aware of her backstory, but the music itself is what made her a star. The biography, the life story was just the icing on the cake."
In 1972, Lynn became the first woman to be named entertainer of the year by the Country Music Association. She is known for hits, including "Coal Miner's Daughter," `'You Ain't Woman Enough," `'The Pill," `'Rated X," and "Don't Come Home A' Drinkin' (With Lovin' on Your Mind)." Her last top 10 record as a soloist was "I Lie" in 1982.
King reported from Washington. Contributing to this report were Associated Press reporter Joni Beall in Washington_ who discovered the age discrepancy – Roger Alford in Frankfort, Ky., and Stephen Ohlemacher in Washington.
A few days before his face-off with Arsenio Hall on the finale of Donald Trump’s “The Celebrity Apprentice” (Sunday night on NBC), Clay Aiken was confident and comfortable.
“I hope I’ll win,” said the openly gay singer and actor who shot to stardom as a contestant and first runner up on “American Idol” almost ten years ago. “We have different styles. [Arsenio Hall is] a little more laid back. I’m a little more hands-on. I think the effects of my efforts were superior. I think we’ll see on Sunday when Mr. Trump makes his decision.”
Aiken also weighed in on his new-found role as a gay activist, taking on North Carolina’s antigay Amendment One and appearing on CBS’ “Face the Nation” opposite the Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins last week, an experience he laughingly still can’t believe happened.
“Wasn’t that crazy?” he asked, beaming with a smile, in an interview on my SiriusXM radio program. “So it did happen, you’re saying? Because I was thinking it was all a dream.”
Aiken never would have imagined in 2003, when he was on “American Idol” and not open about his sexual orientation amid the rumor mill that he was gay, that he would one day be out, let alone that he would be an activist speaking passionately about gay marriage and the politics of the state he grew up in, North Carolina, on national television.
“In 2003, [I] wasn’t even convinced [myself that I] was gay,” he chuckled. “Oh, no, no, no, no. You know, it’s a process for everyone. Even in 2008, when I came out publicly, I said, ‘I’m not going to be one of the activist people, who speak out publicly about it.’ That’s where I was in my own personal journey. I believed at that time that I was completely, perfectly out.”
But Aiken eventually felt a sense of responsibility to young people, he said, working with groups like the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network [GLSEN], becoming more aware of issues LGBT youth face today.
“It hasn’t been until the past two years that I really started realizing a part of this is going to be making sure other people don’t live through what I did,” he explained. “Making sure that people don’t have the same type of struggle that I did. I’ve realized now if I can be a a part of making it easier for a kid to be able to be comfortable with himself, then I have a responsibility to do it.”
Discussing his fan base, Aiken noted that the people to whom he appeals are the very people whose minds need to be changed in America.
"My fan base is very 'red state' typically,” he said. “I think a lot of people who are the most fervent supporters of mine are people who would have voted for a marriage amendment, but now might not. I speak more to people who are in the middle, sway-able area. I think some people, like Adam [Lambert] or maybe Rosie [O'Donnell], probably speak a little bit to a crowd where, it’s like, we already got them. But I think that Ellen [DeGeneres] and Neal Patrick Harris speak to that middle crowd too. I think you gotta have both. You gotta have people who stir the turd so that people can smell it. And you gotta have people who keep things as normalized as possible.You need to have Malcolm X so that Dr. King can be more effective.”
Regarding Donald Trump’s position against marriage equality and the controversy he stirred when he was flirting with running for president, speaking out on the issue, Aiken said it’s better for him and openly gay George Tekei to do the show and be able to talk with Trump.
“Avoiding people who disagree with you, unless they are the Tony Perkins’ of the world, who are never going to change their minds, is counter-productive,” he said. “I don’t see Mr. Trump as a Tony Perkins. He is a lot more gracious in person and down to earth and real than I think he wants people to know. This is how I have tried to do it. People who know a gay person are more likely to support a gay person.”
It’s with that calm sense of purpose that Aiken is heading into Sunday’s finale of “The Celebrity Apprentice, ” hoping to win the grand prize, $250,000, for the charity he co-founded, The National Inclusion Project.
“I try to avoid tension -- it’s impossible to avoid tension on a show like this, but I try my best,” he explained. “I think 85% of success in life is about paying attention, and I think 85 % of doing well on a show like this is [about] paying attention. And I think that’s why I’ve done well.”
While Donna Summer might be remembered most for her disco hits, Christianity had a profound impact on her life and music. She was brought up in a devout Christian family and began singing in church when she was eight-years-old.
"I opened my mouth and this voice just shot out of me. It shocked me and it shocked everyone in the room. I started crying and everyone in the room started crying and I heard the voice of God say, 'You're going to be famous and this is power and you are never to misuse this power,'" Summer told ABC News in 2008.
In 1983, Donna Summer had a born-again experience. Of this experience, she reportedly said, "Well, I was Christian my whole life, but I didn't really execute it -- I didn't live it. And I came back to realizing that without it I couldn't get through this stuff I had to go through. I need something that grounded me and it had to be really strong."
I just heard a story in the news about a family who had lost their dog. They did everything to find him -- putting up posters, checking shelters -- nothing. Then, after two years, they get a phone call. Their dog was found. The person who found the dog took him to be scanned for a microchip and it showed who his family was and they were reunited.
The chip's only as big as a grain of rice. It's usually implanted in the scruff of your dog's neck and doesn't cause any pain for your pet. And it only costs around $25 to $50, depending on your vet.
I think it's so much safer than other forms of identification. If your dog gets lost, he might lose his collar and tags; if your dog is stolen, the thief might remove his collar and tags. With a microchip, you can help people who find your dog find you and if someone else says it's their dog, you can prove it's yours.
They make some neat stuff that works with your dog's microchip, too. Like a pet door that recognizes your dog's chip and lets him into the house (but not the raccoon that comes by later). The microchip won't track your dog, though. Your dog has to be taken somewhere to be scanned.
To me, the decision whether to microchip your dog or not is an easy one. You should microchip your dog as soon as possible, and you'll rest easier knowing that if anything happens to your dog, you'll have a better chance of recovering him.
Many communities are proposing making microchipping all dogs mandatory. Just last month, Northern Ireland began requiring all of its dogs to be microchipped. Besides finding your dog, there are two good reasons to make microchips mandatory -- although it saddens me that there are still these problems at all.
The first reason is that many dogs aren't really lost -- they're abandoned. People get a dog and decide they don't want the dog anymore and then they take the dog somewhere and just leave it. And if they remember to take off the collar and tags, no one would know. If that dog had been microchipped, it could be traced back to the owner
Everyone knows how strongly I feel about the exploding stray problem. Microchipping dogs wouldn't solve the problem completely. But if everyone spayed and neutered their dogs and microchipped them, it would make a huge dent in the stray population. Microchips would reunite lost and runaway dogs with their families, and the owners who abandon their dogs might think twice about dumping their dog in the country or on the streets if they knew there were consequences like fines or jail.
The second reason deals with a subject that always makes my blood boil. The people who buy dogs to use as weapons. They train these poor dogs using incredibly cruel techniques to turn them into vicious killing machines. If the dog was microchipped, just like a gun with a serial number, it could be traced back to the owner, who would then have to answer for any offense that the dog may have committed.
Whether the microchip is ultimately used to reunite a family with a missing pet or to deter criminals from victimizing dogs or using them to victimize others, it's hard to say that mandatory microchipping wouldn't be a useful thing. It would reduce strays, euthanasia rates and shelter crowding -- all problems that are only getting worse.
I know some might say that it's not the government's place to mandate the microchipping but, you know, every car has to have a vehicle identification number and a license plate and every gun has to be registered to its owner. And for a dog lover, a dog is vastly more valuable than a car, and in the wrong hands, a dog can be more dangerous than a gun.
Please have your dog microchipped. You'll never regret doing it, but if your dog gets lost, you'll always regret that you didn't.
Stay calm and assertive,
Cesar
For more information about dogs, visit CesarsWay.com
Bristol Palin couldn't let President Obama's historic endorsement of marriage equality pass by last week without throwing in her two cents. In a post on her blog, she tried to turn a story about a civil-rights milestone into one about how she, her mother, and other "Christian female" presidential candidates are, in fact, the victims of a vicious cultural double standard when it comes to considering the perspectives of loved ones on important issues.
She also hauled out two thoroughly debunked right-wing talking points about marriage -- first, that it's been a static and unchanging institution for "thousands of years," and second, that "in general kids do better growing up in a mother/father home" (when in reality, study after study after study shows that claim to be patently false).
As it turns out, a lot of people had a lot to say about Bristol Palin's factually inaccurate, anti-Obama, anti-gay blog post. Some were supportive, some opposed; some were well-reasoned and calm, others were vicious and mean-spirited. In response, Bristol came out with another post on Monday where, in vintage Palin fashion, she failed to address any of the legitimate arguments made by her critics, bashed "Hollywood-type sheeple" for their allegedly uniform intolerance for people with anti-abortion and anti-gay views, and said that she felt "[hated] in the name of love" and "[bullied] in the name of tolerance." She then attempted to imply that in voicing her belief in marriage discrimination, she was speaking for her generation -- my generation, the Millennials -- which makes absolutely no sense, considering that we actually support marriage equality by a landslide margin.
But it was Bristol's attempt to cast herself as a victim of hateful bullying that really bothered me. In fact, it bothered me so much that I spent part of my lunch break on Tuesday writing a response that I posted to her blog and Facebook page. While she's not likely to see it, reply, or come around to a pro-LGBT perspective anytime soon, I thought I'd share it just the same because it may be helpful to others as they discuss LGBT issues with anti-gay friends and family members:
Hey, Bristol,
I'm so sorry that you felt bullied by some of the abusive comments that were left on your original post. They are indeed awful and inexcusable.
That said, welcome to the world that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered people live in every day. In fact, according to an exhaustive analysis of FBI hate crimes data by the Southern Poverty Law Center, LGBT people are at a greater risk of being targeted for a violent hate crime than literally any other minority group -- more than two times more likely than Jews to be attacked, 2.6 times more likely than African Americans, nearly 4.5 times more likely than Muslims, almost 14 times more likely than Latinos, and 41.5 times more likely than whites. In large swaths of our country, gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender youth are regularly teased and beaten up for who they are (or who their peers think they are), all the while living in a culture that shames them into silence. Many of them have homophobic parents or guardians, so they can't even turn to the people who are supposed to love them unconditionally. LGBT youth are four to five times more likely to attempt suicide than their straight counterparts, because of the malicious bullying and crushing hatred that they're surrounded by every day. I should know: I attempted suicide myself at age 16.
Do you know why that world of bullying, death threats, verbal and physical violence, and murder on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity exists? Do you know why my community, the LGBT community, faces such a grave threat of hate-motivated violence? Guess what: It's because of religion-based bigotry. I work for an organization that fights the "ex-gay" myth (propagated, incidentally, by your own church, among many others), which is the lie that it's possible to change from gay to straight, to "pray away the gay," through a mixture of prayer and so-called "reparative therapy." Anti-gay pastors and religious profiteers across the country peddle this lie to scared, self-loathing teenagers and homophobic parents who've internalized the vicious anti-gay rhetoric they hear from the pulpit every Sunday. The claim that gay people can become straight is denounced by literallyeverysinglereputablemedical and mental health organization in the country, because it has no basis in research, doesn't work, and can actually be dangerous to its victims, but that doesn't stop the evil charlatans who cash the checks and make bank while holding out false hope for change, oblivious to (or utterly careless about?) the lives that they ruin in the process. And before you even dare to doubt that lives are ruined, I'd like to challenge you to walk in my shoes. We hear from people who bear permanent emotional and mental scars as a result of the "ex-gay" myth literally every day. Many who attempt suicide as a result of their guilt about their inevitable failure to "pray away the gay" bear physical scars, as well. We also hear from many parents, siblings, and relatives of those who are no longer alive to tell their own stories, people who killed themselves trying to live a lie in order to accommodate the religion-based bigotry of people just like you.
So while I am truly sorry to read about the abuse that's been directed your way since your anti-Obama blog post, I strongly object to your attempt to cast yourself as any kind of a victim. To the contrary, you, your mother, and the putridly anti-gay Republican Party are the ones who are victimizing LGBT people. And spare me the line about how your anti-gay views are unassailable because they're your firmly held religious beliefs. It's utterly hollow. Hate wrapped in the name of God is still hate.
In closing, I must submit an important correction. You wrote about the "younger generation" in the context of abortion, then continued in the same sentence about how "voters just keep defending [so-called] traditional marriage." If you meant to imply here that the "younger generation" -- our generation -- supports the continued exclusion of loving same-sex couples from full civil marriage equality, you are wrong. No, incredibly wrong. In fact, you couldn't be more wrong: Repeated polling consistently proves that our generation overwhelmingly believes that every American deserves the freedom to marry the person they love, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. You're free to hold any views you like, no matter how bigoted they are, but you are not free to misrepresent the truth. And the truth is that when it comes to marriage equality, the jury is in -- and you've lost. The anti-gay mistakes of our parents' generation (anti-LGBT marriage discrimination amendments, laws that marginalize and persecute the LGBT community in the areas of employment, housing, etc.) will be fixed by our generation, if they aren't rectified even sooner than that. Despite your own personal homophobia, ours is not a homophobic generation; your anti-gay views are already a minority view among your peers. The day will come, very soon, when the loving marriage (of six years and counting!) that my husband and I enjoy will be recognized from coast to coast, and our nation will be the better for it. My hope for you is that someday you'll be able to stop your homophobic bullying, let go of your own bigotry, and come to embrace your lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender friends, family members, and fellow citizens as equal Americans and full human beings.
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