Music, Lyrics -- and Stow. If you go to Music and Lyrics, the Hugh Grant-Drew Barrymore comedy opening today, take a close look at the actress playing pop singer Cora Corman.
The credits sayit's 19-year-old Haley Bennett, but local folks will remember her as Haley Keeling.
Born in Florida, she lived here from the ages of 10 to 16 and spent two years at Stow-Munroe Falls High School.
Haley's father, Ronald, of Cuyahoga Falls, sounded every bit the proud father Tuesday after attending a screening of Music and Lyrics in New York Citythe night before.
``It was wonderful,'' he said.
The pride even cut through the frustration of having his flight home canceled because of the weather.
Corman is not the main character in the movie but is a pivotal one. She asks former '80s pop star Alex Fletcher (played by Grant) to write a song for her new CD.
That effort connects Fletcher with Sophie Fisher (Barrymore), who has a knack for lyrics. Comedy and romance ensue, as well as several music numbers showcasing Bennett.
Gulf Coast ``Guiding.
'' CBS soap opera Guiding Light will air a special telecast at 3 p.m. today showing the cast and crew helping to rebuild Katrina-devastated homes.
The project, part of a year-long public-service effort between GL and the Hands On Network, was the brainchild of executive producer Ellen Wheeler, said cast member Frank Dicopoulos, an Akron native.
``Because we're celebrating our 70th anniversary (counting TV and radio), she wanted us to give back to the community,'' Dicopoulos said Tuesday. ``It's a way of saying, `To thank you for watching us, we're going to do this for you.
' ''
Dicopoulos was part of a 100-person group repairing and rebuilding three homes in Biloxi, Miss., over a week in January. ``It's as if time has stood still'' since the hurricane, he said.
``It's as if the hurricane hit yesterday.''
For the most part, he was in a group finishing the home of Rozina Manning, ``where the water was so high (after Katrina) that it came to the door on the second floor,'' Dicopoulos said. ``The houses around her were one-story, and.
.. when she got out on her roof, it was as if she was in the middle of the ocean.
''
Dicopoulos said the group ``worked from 7:30 in the morning to 6 o'clock at night, nonstop. This was not a modeling shoot. This was not glamorous.
We got down and dirty.''
It changed people, he said. ``I'm not bitching, moaning or complaining anymore.
I have nothing to complain about. I am so much more appreciative of what I have.''
Larry King at the Movies.
The Los Angeles Times recently interviewed CNN's Larry King about his frequent, praising comments used in movie ads. While he likes many movies -- to excess, some would say -- he even popped up in an ad for a movie he didn't like.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest ads had King saying, ``Finally, a Movie Worth Seeing Over and Over Again!
'' In fact, King told the Times, ``I told the CNN person to tell the studio, `I didn't understand the damn movie at all. I'd have to see it over and over again to figure out what happened.' And then they went and used it!
''
Oprah Leads Another Show-Biz List. Black Enterprise magazine has its list of the top 50 African-American power brokers in its March issue, and Oprah Winfrey is in first place. And she's not the only on-screen presence with backstage clout.
The list includes Will Smith (third), Tyler Perry (sixth), Denzel Washington (eighth), Eddie Murphy (ninth) and Tyra Banks (10th).
Others in the top 10 are Time Warner Chairman Richard Parsons (second), entrepreneur/basketball legend Magic Johnson (fourth), Our Stories Films founder (as well as BET founder) Robert L. Johnson (fifth) and Douglas V.
Holloway, president, Cable Investments, NBC Universal Cable (seventh).
Music for Michael. Actor Michael Emerson, the manipulative Ben on Lost, was asked by blender.
com what music tortures him.
``Some radio songs of the '70s were pure torture,'' he said. ``(Carl Douglas') Kung Fu Fighting comes to mind, as does (Elton John's ) Bennie and the Jets.
And I have an allergy to the current celebration of athletic balladeering that has been enshrined on American Idol.
News RSS