McCartney leaves pick at Graceland
Paul McCartney made his first visit to the one-time home of the King of Rock ’N’ Roll and left a gift behind.
According to the official Twitter account of the former Beatle, McCartney dropped a personal guitar pick on Elvis Presley’s grave and said it was “so Elvis can play in heaven.”
The lifelong Elvis fan toured Graceland, the Memphis, Tenn., mansion, on Sunday.
He was in Memphis to play a show on the North American leg of his “Out There” tour.
The show at FedExForum marked McCartney’s first visit to the city in two decades.
Israeli author wins Franz Kafka prize
Acclaimed Israeli author Amos Oz has won the prestigious Franz Kafka Prize in the Czech Republic.
An international jury that included prominent German literary critic Marcel Reich-Ranicki selected Oz for the prize, which is awarded annually with a $10,000 prize.
Past winners have included the American novelist Philip Roth and Nobel laureates Elfriede Jelinek, of Austria, and Harold Pinter, of Britain.
It is awarded by the Prague-based Franz Kafka Society to authors whose works “appeal to readers regardless of their origin, nationality and culture.”
The society said in a statement Monday that Oz has agreed to travel to Prague with his wife for an October ceremony to receive the prize.
Oz has been said to be among the candidates for the Nobel Prize for literature in last several years.
Wildlife park takes Bieber’s monkey
Canadian pop singer Justin Bieber’s pet monkey, Mally, has found a new home: the Serengeti wildlife park in northern Germany’s Lueneburg Heath, Bild newspaper reported Monday.
The 5-month-old capuchin monkey was seized by customs in March after the 19-year-old Bieber failed to produce the required vaccination and import papers for the animal when he arrived at Munich Airport.
Bieber failed to meet the deadline to produce the papers, and the animal was confiscated and transferred to a local animal shelter. The singer did not contest the confiscation, and the monkey became the property of the German state, the paper said.
The birthday bunch
Actress Carroll Baker is 82. Actress Beth Howland (“Alice”) is 72. Singer Gladys Knight is 69. Singer John Fogerty is 68. Actress Christa Miller (“Scrubs”) is 49. Singer Chris Ballew (Presidents of the United States of America) is 48. Singer Kylie Minogue is 45. Actor Justin Kirk (“Weeds”) is 44. “The View” co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck is 36. Actress Monica Keena (“Dawson’s Creek”) is 34. Singer Colbie Caillat is 28. Actress Carey Mulligan (“The Great Gatsby”) is 28.