Jason Aldean’s tour includes MLB parks
Jason Aldean is heading to the centerfield.
The country star is partnering with Major League Baseball to launch a 50-date tour this spring that will include stops at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C., and Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. The “Burn It Down Tour” will kick off May 1 in Roanoke, Va.
“For me, it doesn’t seem like that long ago we were playing little clubs,” the 36-year-old said in an interview Thursday at the MLB offices in New York City. “So, to go from playing small bars and clubs that weren’t even sold out to now going in and selling out these stadiums … to me, it’s pretty overwhelming sometimes, but I love it.”
Aldean, who released his debut in 2005, is riding high off the success of 2010’s triple platinum “My Kinda Party” and 2012’s platinum “Night Train.” “Night Train,” his fifth album, is nominated for best country album at the Grammy Awards on Jan. 26.
Allen’s latest comedy set in ’20s
Woody Allen’s upcoming film “Magic in the Moonlight” will be a 1920s romantic comedy set on the French Riviera.
Little had been known about Allen’s next film before Thursday when Sony Pictures Classics announced it will distribute “Magic in the Moonlight.” It stars Colin Firth, Emma Stone and Marcia Gay Harden.
Sony Pictures Classics said it’s about “an Englishman brought in to help unmask a possible swindle.” The film is set “against the backdrop of the Cote d’Azur, jazz joints and fashionable spots for the wealthy of the Jazz Age.”
Director fined for unpermitted births
Famed film director Zhang Yimou must pay more than $1.2 million in fines for having three children in violation of China’s strict family planning rules, officials said Thursday.
A district government in the eastern city of Wuxi said in an online statement that investigators concluded that the director of “Hero” and “House of Flying Daggers” and his wife, Chen Ting, flouted family planning policies by having the children without approval and before they got married in 2011.
China limits most urban couples to one child and rural families to two if the first-born is a girl. Zhang, who has a daughter with his first wife, could legally have one child with Chen, but the two were not married when their first child was born and did not have a birth permit, in violation of China’s rules.
The fines are based in part on the couple’s annual income. Zhang, who is 63, and Chen, 32, have 30 days to pay the fines. They may also seek an administrative review or file a court petition if they object to the fines.
The birthday bunch
Blues artist Eddy Clearwater is 79. Rock singer-musician Ronnie Hawkins is 79. Singer Frank Sinatra Jr. is 70. Singer Rod Stewart is 69. Rock singer-musician Donald Fagen (Steely Dan) is 66. Actor William Sanderson is 66. Roots rock singer Alejandro Escovedo is 63. Singer Pat Benatar is 61. Singer Shawn Colvin is 58. Rock singer Brad Roberts (Crash Test Dummies) is 50. Rapper Chris Smith (Kris Kross) is 35.