Dalai Lama appears with Patti Smith at UK music festival
One of the most talked-about appearances at Britain’s Glastonbury music festival wasn’t a singer or rocker – it was the Dalai Lama.
The exiled Tibetan spiritual leader joined singer Patti Smith on stage Sunday, where she led the crowd in singing “Happy Birthday” to mark his 80th birthday next week. She then presented him with a birthday cake.
The spiritual leader, who appeared at the festival for the first time, praised Smith’s white hair, voice and “physical action,” saying she was “very beautiful, very forceful.”
He earlier spoke on a small platform about the need for a moral education at schools and universities. The Nobel Peace Prize winner also praised Glastonbury as a “festival of people, not politicians and governments.”
Doerr book awarded Carnegie Medal
Readers and critics love Anthony Doerr’s “All the Light We Cannot See.” And so do librarians.
Doerr’s World War II novel, a best-seller awarded the Pulitzer Prize in April, has won the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction. The Carnegie Medal for nonfiction was given to Bryan Stevenson’s book on the criminal justice system, “Just Mercy.” The prizes were announced Saturday night by the American Library Association and were presented at a ceremony in San Francisco. Each winner received $5,000.
The awards selection committee was chaired by Brad Hooper, an editor for the American Library Association’s review magazine Booklist.
Joni Mitchell had aneurysm, friend says
Joni Mitchell’s friend and conservator says it was an aneurysm that sent the folk singer to the hospital in March.
Conservator Leslie Morris acknowledged the aneurysm in a statement posted on Mitchell’s website on Sunday, providing the first significant details on Mitchell’s health status in the months since an ambulance was sent to her Los Angeles house to take her to the hospital.
Morris said Mitchell is speaking – and speaking well – while recovering at home. She’s unable to walk, but is expected to soon and make a full recovery.
The birthday bunch
Actor Gary Busey is 71. Comedian Richard Lewis is 68. Actor-turned-politician-turned-radio personality Fred Grandy is 67. Actress Melora Hardin is 48. Singer Nicole Scherzinger is 37.