Festival to celebrate Celtic heritage
A two-day festival celebrating Celtic heritage will be held Saturday and Sunday at Border's Books and Music, 300 Norman Court. The event, sponsored by Border's and the Yukon Celtic Nations, will feature traditional Celtic music, bagpipes, dancers and discussion of Irish culture.
There will also be story times and a special showing of the film Secret of the Roan Inish for kids. For those wanting to trace their Irish roots, special genealogy information booths will be provided on both days. Musical performers include Fugue State, Ashes, Bannish Misfortune and Adria. Featured dancers will be the Spanish Celtic Dancers, the Traditional Irish Dancers and Lynn Lightman. For more information, call 573-4907.
Thailand upset over DiCaprio filming
BANGKOK, Thailand -- Leonardo DiCaprio is starring in a new ruckus in Thailand.
Last year, activists began hounding DiCaprio because they claimed his movie The Beach caused environmental damage to an island.
Now Customs officers have seized a parcel containing 120 videotapes DiCaprio sent to students at a private school on the outskirts of Bangkok. The officials said $324 in duty is owed, but the school doesn't have the money, the Thai Rath newspaper reported Thursday.
The videos are mostly a profile of the star and copies of Titanic.
A spokesman for DiCaprio was unavailable for comment.
Daniels raises kilt for fundraising tournament
SCIO TOWNSHIP, Mich. -- Jeff Daniels bared his buns on the ninth hole to raise money for his Purple Rose Theater.
Daniels wore a kilt and lifted it upon request Tuesday during the wacky Comedy Golf Jam, which raised $110,000 for the project in the actor's hometown of Chelsea.
Not only did Daniels bare his backside -- he offered it up for photographs. The tournament also featured players in their underwear and the chance to putt through cow pies.
Sting to sing in Thomas Crown Affair remake
LOS ANGELES -- Sting is recording a new version of the Oscar-winning song "The Windmills of Your Mind," the theme of The Thomas Crown Affair, for Pierce Brosnan's remake of the movie.
"Sting is an amazing artist and a great friend. His daring musical career and personal fearlessness in life echo some of the themes of this film," Brosnan said Wednesday in a statement.
Brosnan plays a billionaire who steals a Monet painting, then falls in love with the investigator, played by Rene Russo, who is trying to solve the crime.
It's a remake of the Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway movie, which got the best song Oscar in 1968 for composer Michel Legrand and lyricists Alan and Marilyn Bergman.
Harrelson's father gets hearing in murder case
SAN ANTONIO -- Woody Harrelson's father will get another hearing in his battle to have his murder conviction overturned.
Attorneys for Charles Harrelson will focus on whether his original defense failed to reveal other plausible suspects, including a San Antonio lawyer, in the slaying of a federal judge. Harrelson's lawyers also argue that prosecutors concealed evidence that could have led to an acquittal.
On Monday, U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia ruled that Harrelson will get a hearing in September in Denver. He has served 16 years on a life term for the 1979 slaying of Judge John Wood Jr. in San Antonio.
Golden Boot Award honors Western actors
LOS ANGELES -- Getting the boot in Hollywood isn't always a bad thing.
Kirk Douglas, James Garner and the late DeForest Kelley are among this year's recipients of Golden Boot Awards honoring the best in Westerns, organizers said Thursday.
The 17th annual awards presentation is scheduled for Aug. 7, at a gala dedicated to the late Gene Autry and benefiting the Motion Picture & Television Fund.
Presenters will be James Coburn, Henry Darrow, Dennis Weaver, Fess Parker and Janet Leigh.
Star couple celebrates 30 year anniversary
LOS ANGELES -- Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr. say they're still going strong after 30 years of marriage.
The couple, who met as members of The Fifth Dimension in 1967 and later won a Grammy as a duo for "You Don't Have To Be A Star," celebrate their anniversary on July 26.
"I credit our friendship. We went into this marriage like everyone else -- we loved each other, we were friends, we fought and we had emotional problems," Davis said Wednesday.
McCoo said starting off as friends was a big part of their success.
"You can't spend this many years with another person if you don't like them," she said.
Inventor of multiplex movie theaters dies
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Stan Durwood, movie theater entrepreneur credited with inventing the multiplex theaters that now dot every suburban mall, has died. He was 78.
Durwood, chief executive officer of AMC Entertainment Inc., died Wednesday night at his Kansas City home after a long battle with esophageal cancer, the company said Thursday.
Kansas City-based AMC has grown into one of the nation's largest-grossing theater chains, operating 218 theaters with 2,729 screens in 23 states and the District of Columbia, as well as in Hong Kong, Japan, Portugal, Spain and Canada.
hello there & you too