People: Ronstadt receives national arts medal
Singer Linda Ronstadt got the answer to that question she’s been asking for decades: “When Will I Be Loved?”
The answer came Monday at the White House, from President Barack Obama, who hung a National Medal of Arts around her neck and revealed, “I had a little crush on her back in the day.”
The honor was a particularly special moment for Ronstadt, who didn’t make it to her induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in April since Parkinson’s disease limits her ability to travel. A military aide brought her into the East Room by wheelchair, but she walked to the stage to receive her award as a citation was read honoring her “one-of-a-kind voice” that paved the way for generations of women artists.
Eleven other recipients were awarded the 2013 National Medal of Arts, as the nation’s highest award given to artists and their patrons, including DreamWorks Animation chief Jeffrey Katzenberg and writers Maxine Hong Kingston and Julia Alvarez.
Palin launches online pay channel
Sarah Palin has started her own subscription-based online network.
The Sarah Palin Channel, which went live on Sunday, bills itself as a “direct connection” for the former Alaska governor and GOP vice presidential candidate with her supporters, with “no need to please the powers-that-be,” Palin says in a video mission statement on her channel’s home page. The Sarah Palin Channel is part of the TAPP video platform, which launched earlier this year.
Palin says she oversees all content posted to the channel. This will include her own political commentary. Other features for subscribers include the ability to submit questions to Palin and participate with her in online video chats. Membership is set at $9.95 per month or $99.95 for a year.
Palin remains active elsewhere as a Fox News Channel contributor and reality-TV personality.
Franco’s ‘Mice’ boffo on Broadway
James Franco’s play “Of Mice and Men” has left Broadway with a roar – a box office record.
The show, co-starring Chris O’Dowd and Leighton Meester alongside Franco, said Monday it earned $1,038,106 for the week ending Sunday, setting a new eight-performance weekly record gross at the Longacre Theatre and marking the first time the theater housed a show that crossed the $1 million mark.
The play, an adaptation of the John Steinbeck novel, follows two tragic migrant workers trying to make their way through the Depression.
The play recouped its $3.8 million capitalization in just 12 weeks and ended its 19-week run Sunday. It is the first American production chosen to be filmed by National Theatre Live.
The birthday bunch
Comedian “Professor” Irwin Corey is 100. Actor David Warner is 73. Documentary maker Ken Burns is 61. Style guru Tim Gunn is 61. Rock singer Patti Scialfa is 61. Country singer Martina McBride is 48. Actor Rodney Allen Rippy is 46. Actor Josh Radnor is 40. Hip-hop DJ/music producer Danger Mouse is 37.