Favorite Seventies Artists In The News

Posted by Administrator on December 17th, 2016

The biannual Rainforest Fund concert sponsored by Sting and his wife Trudie Styler was held at New York's Carnegie Hall on Dec. 13, with special guests Bruce Springsteen, James Taylor, Ronnie Spector and Darlene Love. Springsteen kick-started his set by emerging from the back of the hall and proclaiming "Ho, Ho, Ho! This is your Jersey Santa Claus! I just got in! I didn't think I was going to make it, the North wind is coming down and the temperature is dropping, and all I want for Christmas is... one of those." That would be co-host Sting, who Bruce proceeded to hug. He then strapped on a guitar, and launched into a rocking version of "Santa Claus is Coming to Town," leading the venue in a sing-along that capped off a stellar night of music that included Sting performing the Wham! new-wave holiday classic "Last Christmas" with the female backup singers. Taylor's set included the seasonal standard "River" by Joni Mitchell, "Winter Wonderland" and "Baby, It's Cold Outside." - Billboard, 12/15/16...... In other Bruce Springsteen news, The Boss' 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air Convertible is up for grabs on eBay. The car -- famed for being the inspiration for as well as the very place where he wrote his signature songs "Born to Run," "Thunder Road" and "Backstreets" -- is up for auction courtesy of BlindedByTheLight.com, which was founded by fan and Springsteen historian Michael Crane. The current bid for the automobile is set at $350,000 -- which is $348,000 more than the Freehold, N.J. native originally paid. "In '70s New Jersey, the car was still a powerful image," Springsteen wrote of the vehicle. "That summer I bought my first set of wheels for $2,000. It was a '57 Chevy with dual, four-barrel carbs, a Hurst on the floor and orange flames spread across the hood." From Oct. 2008 to Jan. 2010, the Chevy was featured in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Annex in New York City. It was then moved to the main Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Oh., where it became part of the largest Bruce Springsteen exhibit ever. The electrical and mechanical systems have been overhauled and body and frame are untouched. BlindedByTheLight.com is also tossing in the original vehicle registration, temporary insurance card and Allstate insurance card issued in Springsteen's name and address. - Billboard, 12/13/16...... Diana Ross will be among the headliners of the 23rd annual 2017 Essence Festival, which is set for the Superdome in New Orleans on June 30-July 2, 2017. Also performing will be John Legend, Chaka Khan, Teyana Taylor and current Grammy nominees Lalah Hathaway, Solange and Ro James. Additional performers will be announced in the coming weeks. - Billboard, 12/15/16...... AC/DC will release what is being billed as the "first official photo book of the band" from their recent "Rock or Bust" world tour in the summer of 2017. The book will feature photos from Ralph Larmann, who shot the group throughout their 17-month trek, and include facts, figures and tour memorabilia. It will be available in several different editions, including a "Leather And Metal" collectors version with a slipcase boasting a glowing AC/DC logo. - New Musical Express, 12/13/16...... The Doors have announced they will release a limited edition (18,000 copies) London Fog 1966 album featuring seven songs recorded during the group's residency at L.A.'s Sunset Strip club, before they moved shop to the Whiskey a Go Go. The songs include blues covers and early versions of "Strange Days" and "You Make Me Real." But it was at the London Fog venue where the group cut its teeth, and guitarist Robby Krieger says "this is the earliest stuff I've ever heard of the Doors... it's pretty cool." The Doors will be celebrating their 50th anniversary in 2017, and the band is gearing up to commemorate the golden anniversary of the group's classic first album, though the plans are still being finalized. "We've got some ideas; I can't give them way yet, but there will definitely be some cool stuff happening with the Doors," says Krieger, who's also planning to release a new solo album in the new year. - Billboard, 12/14/16...... Tina Turner will be the subject of a new musical bio being developed for the London stage to be directed by Phyllida Lloyd, who had earlier success with the ABBA jukebox musical "Mamma Mia!," a global blockbuster. Turner joined the creative and producing teams in London on Dec. 16 for a workshop presentation of the piece, for which no timeline has been announced. Adrienne Warren, a Tony nominee this year for "Shuffle Along," is playing Turner in the workshop. Turner, a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee and eight-time Grammy winner, was previously portrayed on the screen in the 1993 biopic What's Love Got to Do With It, starring Angela Bassett, which traced her difficult emergence from an abusive marriage to Ike Turner to her amazing comeback as a solo artist in the 1980s. - The Hollywood Reporter, 12/16/16...... Elton John announced on Dec. 12 that he's launching a competition to give young contemporary filmmakers a chance to create music videos for his 1970s hits that were released before music videos were popular. John and songwriting partner Bernie Taupin say they're launching the competition with YouTube in celebration of their 50th anniversary of collaboration together, and hope to give aspiring video creators the opportunity to make music videos for such John/Taupin standards as "Rocket Man," "Tiny Dancer" and "Bennie and the Jets." Entries for "Elton John: The Cut" open Jan. 9, 2017. The competition closes on Jan. 23 and creators must be at least 16. John, Taupin, a panel of YouTube creators and industry players will pick three winners, and music videos will premiere next summer. Winners will also receive $10,000 from YouTube. - Billboard, 12/13/16...... David Bowie has beaten the likes of Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson and Bruce Springsteen in a new poll to name the UK's favorite male musician. Conducted by CamRate, the poll asked 2,000 Brits to name their favourite male and female musicians as well as asking them to rank their favourite actors. Adele was named as the UK's top female musician in the same poll. In other David Bowie news, a special screening of the late rock icon's final Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars concert at London's Hammersmith Odeon will be staged at Hammersmith's Eventim Apollo for the first time since the concert took place over 40 years ago on July 3, 1973. The gig was Bowie's final Ziggy & the Spiders show. Further screenings of the film will take place across the UK from March 2, 2017. In January, a series of concerts marking Bowie's 70th birthday will be held in London, New York, Los Angeles, Sydney and Tokyo.- New Musical Express, 12/16/16..... Tom Petty has announced he and his Heartbreakers will play at London's Hyde Park next summer as part of British Summer Time, the band's only European tour date of 2017. The concert will take place on July 9 with Stevie Nicks and the Lumineers also on the bill. Petty and the Heartbreakers are celebrating their 40th anniversary in 2017, and the London gig will mark only the second time the band has visited the UK in 18 years. Petty announced a huge batch of 40th anniversary shows across the US on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon in November. Petty posted a video saying he and the band were "pretty excited" about the London show, and "it will be a special gig for us." - NME, 12/13/16...... Paul McCartney revealed on Dec. 15 that his 1989 album Flowers in the Dirt will be reissued in the US on Mar. 24, 2017. The release will be the first under his new deal with Capitol Records, which was announced in August, and Capitol says the reissue was personally supervised by McCartney. It will include a wealth of previously unheard demos and be available in a 2-CD special edition, on vinyl over 2 LPs and a deluxe edition with 3 CDs and a DVD plus books. Digital downloads will be made available of all tracks. The deluxe edition will include the 13-track album remastered at Abbey Road Studios and two added discs with 18 bonus tracks of previously unreleased demos, both the original and 1988 demo versions done by McCartney and his co-writer of several songs on the album, Elvis Costello. "I hadn't listened to [the demos] in ages but when I did I knew we had to put them out," McCartney said in a statement. "We made a little tape of them and sent them to Elvis, who loved them too. We said we should put out an EP or something and now the moment's finally arrived," he added. - Billboard, 12/15/16...... Dolly Parton raised an estimated $9 million for victims of the recent wildfires in her East Tennessee homeland of Sevier County during a TV telethon dubbed "Smoky Mountains Rise: A Benefit for the My People Fund" on Dec. 13. "I am overwhelmed by the generosity of the people who have donated from all over the country and to my friends who donated their time, their talent, and money for My People," said Parton. "The response has been so overwhelming that we haven't been able to count all of the donations yet; right now, in total, we have raised about 9 million dollars for the folks who lost everything in Sevier County." The wildfires, which are determined to have been set by two juveniles who are now in custody, spread under extremely dry conditions and took the lives of 14 people and displaced over 1,300 families since they began in late November. - Billboard, 12/15/16..... Barbra Streisand wrapped her "The Music The Mem'ries The Magic!" tour on Dec. 5, and with $10.7 million in ticket sales earned at concerts in four U.S. markets during November and December, it gives the diva the No. 1 slot on Billboard's latest Hot Tours recap. The sold out shows at arenas in Houston, Tampa, Ft. Lauderdale and Miami were the only fall dates on the tour that hit nine North American cities during the summer in August. Rod Stewart came in second on the list, with $5,537,784 in ticket sales earned at four UK shows from Nov. 29 through Dec. 8. - Billboard, 12/14/16...... KISS rocked the finale of NBC's The Voice on Dec. 13, performing a rocking medley of songs including "Detroit Rock City" and "Rock and Roll All Nite" with newly-crowned Voice winner Sundance Head. American Idol Season 8 runner-up Adam Lambert performed "Beth" and "Detroit Rock City" with the band, while Season 13 winner Caleb Johnson teamed with KISS for "Love Gun" and "Shout It Out Loud." Johnson also opened for KISS on tour this summer. - Billboard, 12/14/16...... Alice Cooper has announced he'll kick off a string of UK arena concerts at Leeds on Nov. 11, 2017. Returning to the UK for his first headline tour in five years, Cooper will also play Glasgow (11/12), Birmingham (11/14), and Manchester (11/15) before wrapping at London's SSE Arena, Wembley on Nov. 16. Opening acts include The Mission and The Tubes. - New Musical Express, 12/13/16...... A Linda Ronstadt tribute featuring her longtime friends and collaborators Don Henley, Jackson Browne, Aaron Neville and J.D. Souther was held on Dec. 11 at the Theatre at Ace Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. Henley was a suprise guest for the night, and he closed the main set down with "Desperado," introducing it as "the first song I ever wrote with an extraordinary guy named Glenn Frey." Henley recalled the song "didn't get much love or attention when it was released on [the Eagles'] second album back in April of 1973. In fact, the executives at the record label freaked out: 'Oh God, they've made a fucking cowboy record.' And then Linda Ronstadt recorded the song and put it on her album Don't Cry Now that came out in September of 1973 and everything was different." "[Linda] not only knew what was a great song, she knew why it was a great song," said J.D. Souther while introducing his song "Faithless Love," which Ronstadt first recorded and made famous. He added she was "instrumental [in] incentivizing the careers of Lowell George and Warren Zevon and myself." Jackson Browne lauded Ronstadt's "incredible, uncanny ability to find songs and breathe new life into them." As proof, he sang Lowell George's "Willin'," which Ronstadt recorded in 1974, describing it as "one of the greatest songs anybody ever wrote." Proceeds from the event benefited the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research. - Billboard, 12/12/16...... A 90th birthday celebration for crooner Tony Bennett that was held on Sept. 15 at New York City's Radio City Music Hall and featuring Stevie Wonder and Lady Gaga will air on Dec. 20 at 9:00 p.m. EST on NBC. Tony Bennett Celebrates 90: The Best Is Yet to Come also features video testimonials to the "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" singer from the likes of Clint Eastwood, Bonnie Raitt, Celine Dion, Keith Richards, Bette Midler, James Taylor, Carole King, Garth Brooks and Willie Nelson, among others. - Billboard, 12/13/16...... After 4,642 shows at Broadway's August Wilson Theatre, the Four Seasons musical "Jersey Boys" will hold its final performance on Jan. 15, 2017. "I'm not sad," Four Seasons leader Frankie Valli says. "I never dreamed it would last 11 years. The beauty about this whole situation is it's not over. It is now beginning to happen in other parts of the world." The Tony Award-winning musical based on the quartet's career and harmonies opened in 2005 and ranks as the 12th-longest running show in Broadway history. - AP, 12/13/16...... Neil Young's high-resolution listening device and a digital music store Pono has struggled to make a profit since its Jan. 2015 launch, and was taken offline in July after its provider, Omnifone, went into administration and was purchased by an unidentified buyer. But Young isn't ready to give up on Pono, and announced on a recent podcast that "we're setting up right now partnerships for a Pono hi-res streaming service, and when we get our streaming service up we're gonna re-emerge as a streaming service and a hi-res download offer." "We're pushing towards getting our presence in phones and being able to be part of large partnerships that will enable us to be able to share the sound of hi-res and have people experience the sound of hi-res in music, like they have in television," Young added. "That's what we do, that's our service: we provide the best that's available, full-resolution music, great-sounding music." - Billboard, 12/13/16...... A newly discovered rare plant found in Baja California, Mexico, has been named after guitar god Jimi Hendrix. Researchers have christened the plant Dudleya hendrixii, or "Hendrix's liveforever." Liveforevers are a kind of succulent with enormous life spans, and a former graduate student of San Diego State University reportedly discovered the plant while listening to Hendrix's song "Voodoo Child." While the plant is a liveforever with flowers that die in the summer and re-sprout in the fall, this plant is in peril, with its two-acre habitat threatened by farming, off-road vehicles and development. - AP, 12/15/16...... Mackenzie Phillips of One Day at a Time fame will be returning to a reboot of the '70s sitcom by streaming giant Netflix. But this time Phillips, who played rebellious eldest daughter Julie in the CBS original, will not be reprising her role. Instead, she will guest-star as Pam, a psychologist and leader of a female veterans' therapy group that Penelope (Justina Machado) reluctantly attends in a later episode. Phillips' casting marks a key reunion with Norman Lear, who also produced the original series and was forced to fire Phillips during the show's original run over Phillips' chronic substance abuse. - The Hollywood Reporter, 12/14/16...... Willie Joe Ligon of the gospel quartet Mighty Clouds of Joy passed away on Dec. 11 in Los Angeles. He was 74. The Mighty Clouds of Joy became one of the nation's top gospel quartets in the 1960s, winning three Grammy Awards, and in 1975 they innovated with "Mighty High," a disco-influenced song that crossed over onto the pop charts. While the church community looked askance at this bold new sound, youngsters were tearing up the club floors to the sound of "Mighty High." - 12/12/16...... Veteran record executive Bob Krasnow, former chairman of Elektra Records, founder of Blue Thumb Records, veteran executive and co-founder of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, died on Dec. 11. He was born in 1935, though his exact age couldn't be confirmed. Mr. Krasnow is often hailed for bringing Elektra Records back to prominence after taking over as chairman in 1983, signing such acts as Metallica, Anita Baker, Motley Crue, 10,000 Maniacs, The Cure, The Pixies, The Sugarcubes and others. Mr. Krasnow served as president of Blue Thumb Records until 1974, when he became vice president/talent acquisition for Warner Bros. Records, a role he held until 1983 when he was elevated to chairman and CEO of Elektra/Asylum/Nonesuch Records (later known as Elektra Entertainment). - 12/13/16...... Actor Bernard Fox, best known for playing Dr. Bombay on the '60s sitcom Bewitched, died of heart failure at a Van Nuys, Calif., hospital on Dec. 13. He was 89. The Welsh-born actor had 30 film credits from 1956 to 2004, including two films around the sinking of RMS Titanic. Mr. Fox was in both the 1997 film Titanic as Colonel Archibald Gracie IV, and the earlier 1958 version A Night to Remember in an uncredited role as Frederick Fleet. His other dozens of TV credits include recurring/guest roles roles in Hogan's Heroes, Columbo, The Andy Griffith Show, Knight Rider, The Phantom Major, F Troop, M*A*S*H, The Dick Van Dyke Show and Perry Mason. - Deadline.com, 12/14/16...... Canadian actor Alan Thicke, best known for his role on the sitcom Growing Pains, died on Dec. 13 after suffering a heart attack while playing hockey with his son. He was 69. On Growing Pains, Thicke played Jason Seaver, a psychiatrist who works from home. Beginning in Sept. 1983, Thicke hosted a late night talk show called Thicke of the Night, produced by famed network programmer Fred Silverman. However, it proved to be no match for The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and lasted just nine months. He most recently appeared on Netflix's Fuller House. - The Hollywood Reporter, 12/13/16.

Mick Jagger became a dad again for the eighth time on Dec. 8 when the 73-year-old Rolling Stones frontman's 30-year-old American ballet dancer girlfriend Melanie Hamrick gave birth to a baby boy, whose name has not been revealed. "Melanie Hamrick & Mick Jagger's son was born today in New York and they are both delighted," a rep for Jagger said. "Mick was at the hospital for the arrival. Mother and baby are doing well and we request that the media respect their privacy at this time." The couple began dating in 2014, and Hamrick's pregancy was announced in July. Jagger has seven other children -- four daughters and three sons -- aged 18 to 47 from previous relationships. Jagger, who also has five grandchildren, became a great-grandfather in 2014 when granddaughter Assisi Jackson gave birth to a baby girl. - E! Online, 12/8/16...... In other Rolling Stones news, the band has scored its record-extending 37th top 10 album on the Billboard Hot 200 LP chart with its latest effort, Blue & Lonesome. The album sold 123,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending Dec. 8, according to Nielsen Music, with 120,000 of those in traditional album sales. The album's robust debut is notable both for being a covers set and for coming a decade after the Stones' last studio album, A Bigger Bang. The album has also bowed at No. 1 in Australia, opening at the top of the ARIA Albums Chart down under. - Billboard, 12/11/16...... Procul Harum leader Gary Brooker will be among the headliners at the upcoming Winter Solstice holiday concert series with the Paul Winter Consort that will pay tribute to late Beatles producer Sir George Martin. The Paul Winter Consort's 37th Annual Winter Solstice will take place on Dec. 15, 16 and 17 at Manhattan's Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City. Brooker and Winter have known each other since Procol Harum and the Consort played a bill together at Fillmore East in 1971. "I was a big fan of Procol Harum in the '60s," Winter said in a statement. "It was the only rock band I liked besides the Beatles. I've long loved Gary's bluesy voice since first hearing him sing 'Whiter Shade of Pale.'" Sir George Martin produced albums both by Brooker and Winter -- Brooker's first solo album No More Fear of Flying and the Consort's 1972 album Icarus which Sir George later called "the finest record I ever made." Brooker has also announced plans for a 50th anniversary tour in 2017 for Procul Harum, which released its self-titled debut in 1967 containing the classic "Whiter Shade of Pale." The song was a No. 1 hit in the U.K. and hit No. 5 on the Billboard singles chart in the U.S. "We thought we'll make a special effort to do something special," Brooker says of the 50th anniversary tour. "We're all still alive and kicking. And after all that time there's a lot of loyal people as well and there's a lot of younger people that we'd like to reach that like what we've done. They'll certainly like what we're going to do." - Billboard, 12/10/16...... The 2016 Nobel Prize ceremony took place in Stockholm, Sweden on Dec. 10, and while Bob Dylan was unable to attend the event to accept his Nobel Prize in literature win in person, he did write a speech that was read at the event by United States Ambassador to Sweden Azita Raji in Dylan's absence. Dylan was awarded the prize in October "for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition." Also on hand to pay tribute to Dylan was rock poetess Patti Smith, who needed two attempts to get through Dylan's "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall." Smith forgot the lyrics in the second verse and had to pause to regain her composure. "I apologize. I'm sorry, I'm so nervous," she said, asking the orchestra to start over. The audience in Stockholm's Concert Hall, many dressed in formal attire, clapped to support Smith as she tried anew. She then finished the song, after briefly blanking out again in the third verse, with an emotional performance that left some in the crowd misty-eyed. - Billboard/AP,. 12/10/16...... Forty years after Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers released their eponymous debut album in November 1976 and embarking on their first tour a month later, the band announced on Dec. 9 that it will celebrate the milestone in the spring of 2017 with a 35-date North American tour set to get underway on Apr. 20 at Oklahoma City's Chesapeake Energy Center. Petty and the band will visit several major American and Canadian cities, playing two-night stands at the Red Rocks Ampitheatre in Morrison, Col. on May 29 and May 30, and two nights at Milwaukee's Summerfest on July 5 and 6, before wrapping with two shows at Forest Hills Stadium in Queens, N.Y. on July 26 and 27. Additional dates are expected to be announced later. Eagles member Joe Walsh will open for the band on many dates, and country star Chris Stapleton will be the opener at the Summerfest dates. - Billboard, 12/9/16...... Several former band members of David Bowie's have announced they'll perform in a Bowie memorial show on the ne-year anniversary of his death with a show at New York's Terminal 5 on Jan. 10. Mike Garson, Earl Slick, Adrian Belew, Mark Plati and Gail Ann Dorsey are among the musicians on tap for the event, titled "A Very Special David Bowie Concert With Bowie People Playing Bowie Music Bowie Style." The musicians have also announced additional Bowie tribute shows for London (Jan. 8, O2 Academy Brixton), Los Angeles (Jan. 25, The Wiltern), Sydney, Australia (Jan. 29, Sydney Opera House) and Tokyo (Feb. 2, Tokyo Dome City Hall). "To honour David Bowie's 70th birthday, Bowie band members, friends, and a massive ensemble of top recording & touring musicians from around the world are getting together for a one-time only series of global goodwill concerts, in aid of local charities, called Celebrating David Bowie," a statement reads. "The concerts, announced sporadically, all take place in cities that have a strong connection with David Bowie and his work. All feature a core two dozen musicians traveling plus many local, regional, and national musicians to create a sound like no other," it continued. - Billboard, 12/7/16...... As what has been described as the "tax trial of the century" -- a billion-dollar tax battle over the estate of Michael Jackson -- is set to begin in Feb. 2017, the co-executor of Jackson's estate, John Braca, and his former business manager, Michael Kane, have both been ordered to testify by U.S. Tax Court Judge Mark Holmes. The case is of special interest throughout the entertainment industry because it will be valuating Jackson's posthumous right to his likeness. The IRS has insisted it's worth more than $434 million due to a Cirque du Soleil tribute show, and post-death albums, video games and other lucrative memorials, while the estate's own valuation is just $2,105, arguing that what's important is the value when he died, when Jackson's commercial prospects were suffering from charges of child molestation and drug abuse, before executors worked their magic, and the King of Pop experienced a resurgence in popularity. - The Hollywood Reporter, 12/8/16...... A new short film interpreting Queen's classic 1975 hit "Bohemian Rhapsody" produced by Corridor Digital has surfaced online. Titled "Literal Bohemian Rhapsody," the clip chronicles the hit scene by scene with lyrics from the song. It sees a man confessing to his mother that he "just killed a man" before he has a showdown with a group of cops. Yes, his guns are called "thunderbolt" and "lightning" and the cops are named "Galileo" and "Figaro" and, sadly, the officers will not let him go. - NME, 12/9/16...... Original Sex Pistols bassist Glen Matlock is asking fans for help in locating three guitars that were recently stolen from his London home. Recently completing a solo tour of the UK, Matlock took to Facebook to seek help in finding three stolen guitars, which include a 1961 Ivory Fender Precision Bass, a Modern Mexican Black Precision Bass and a Blonde Guild D37 Acoustic. "Please keep an eye out for them," Matlock writes. "A substantial reward will be paid for information leading to their recovery." Matlock played bass in the legendary punk band from 1975 to 1977, when he left and was replaced by Sid Vicious. He was part of the group's first reunion in 1996 and the brief reunions that followed in 2002/2003 and 2007/2008. - NME, 12/12/16...... Yoko Ono marked the anniversary of death of her husband John Lennon on Dec. 8 by posting a powerful plea for gun control on her website. "Dear Friends," she wrote. "Every day, 91 Americans are killed with guns. We are turning this beautiful country into a War Zone. Together, let's bring back America, the green land of Peace. The death of a loved one is a hollowing experience. After 36 years, our son Sean and I still miss him." Yoko also posted a photo of John's blood-stained glasses to drive the point home. The couple's son, Sean Lennon, also posted a tribute in memory of his dad, as did the surviving Beatles and other figures from the music and arts world. - New Musical Express, 12/8/16...... In other Beatles-related news, a Twitter user named Chris Barker has refashioned the Fab Four's iconic Sgt. Pepper's album cover to honor the many music icons that have passed in 2016. Among the faces on "christhebarker"'s cover are: David Bowie, Prince, Leonard Cohen, Alan Rickman, Glenn Frey, Sir George Martin, Leon Russell, Keith Emerson, Maurice White, Muhammad Ali, Arnold Palmer, Robert Vaughn and Gene Wilder. - Billboard, 12/9/16...... Actor Kirk Douglas celebrated his 100th birthday milestone at an intimate gathering of friends and family held at the Beverly Hills Hotel on Dec. 9. Flanked by Anne Douglas, his wife of over 62 years, his son Michael Douglas, his daughter-in-law Catherine Zeta-Jones and his grandchildren, Mr. Douglas listened to words from his loved ones as images from his many classic film credits such as Spartacus, Lust for Life, Paths of Glory and others played on a screen behind him. Michael Douglas kicked off the proceedings, saying that it's not just about age, but about the life he's lived and what he's accomplished. "One of the things that I find most incredible about dad is the third act of his life," said Michael Douglas. "After all he accomplished in his professional career and what he's given for his country, at the point in his life where he's faced adversity, losing a son, having a helicopter crash, having a stroke, and what he's accomplished in this third act in his life, I find quite extraordinary." Also in attendence were Mr. Douglas' Rabbi, along with comedian Don Rickles and movie producer Jeffrey Katzenberg. - AP, 12/10/16...... Recently deceased The Brady Bunch star Florence Henderson secretly battled serious heart issues before she died of a heart attack at age 82 on Nov. 24, according to her death certificate which has been obtained by TMZ.com. The certificate notes she suffered from heart disease for 10 years, and 5 years ago, she was diagnosed with an irregular heartbeat. It also notes she was "in the entertainment industry for 64 years." - TMZ.com, 12/5/16...... In related news, former Brady Bunch daughter Susan Olsen has been fired from her job as an LA talk radio personality after she got into an online confrontation with openly gay actor Leon Acord-Whiting. LA Talk Radio announced on Dec. 9 that it "will not tolerate hateful speech" and that it "has severed ties" with Olsen. Acord-Whiting criticized the co-host of "Two Chicks Talkin' Politics" after he was a guest on the show, writing on Facebook that she "spreads outrageous misinformation & it is dangerous and unprofessional." Olsen, who played Cindy Brady on the TV show, posted on her Facebook page that Acord-Whiting blocked her "before I could even get one hit in." Acord-Whiting later posted a screenshot of a Facebook message he says Olsen sent to him. In the screenshot, Olsen appears to call the actor an offensive term for gay men. "And by now, your homophobic private message to me is being shared all over Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. So I don't have to say another word. The world is seeing your true colors," he wrote when sharing the message. - AP, 12/11/16...... Former astronaut and U.S. senator John Glenn, a genuine American hero who was the last survivor of the original Mercury 7 program astronauts, died on Dec. 8 at the James Cancer Hospital in Columbus, Oh. He was 95. Sen. Glenn, who had heart valve replacement surgery in 2014, was hospitalized "more than a week ago," according to Ohio State University spokesman Hank Wilson. Sen. Glenn piloted the Mercury space capsule, dubbed Friendship 7, and circled the planet three times in just under five hours on Feb. 20, 1962. Prior to his career as an astronaut, Sen. Glenn flew 149 missions during World War II and the Korean War and received multiple medals and decorations, including the Distinguished Flying Cross on six occasions. He resigned from the astronaut program in 1964 and pursued a career in politics, serving as a U.S. senator as a Democrat from Ohio between 1974 and 1999. He even ran unsuccessfully for president in 1984, and in 1988 at age 77, he became the oldest person to ever travel in space, as a payload specialist aboard the space shuttle Discovery for a nine-day mission in 1998. In 2011, he received a Congressional Gold Medal alongside Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins. In 2012, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Obama. Earler in 2016, he attended a celebration that saw the renaming of Port Columbus Airport to John Glenn Columbus International Airport. Sen. Glenn joked that the only astronaut he was envious of was his fellow Ohioan: Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon. "I've been very fortunate to have a lot of great experiences in my life and I'm thankful for them," he said in 2012. - AP, 12/8/16..... CNN will debut a Chicago documentary, Now More Than Ever: The History of Chicago on Jan. 1 at 8:00 p.m. EST.