Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - December 13, 2020, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE A9 SUNDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2020 ? WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM A 9ARTS ? LIFE TODAY'S LINEUP Today in Music History In 1835, Phillips Brooks, American Episcopal clergyman and hymn writer, was born. Though he produced 10 volumes of sermons, he is better remembered as the author of the Christmas carol, O Little Town of Bethlehem, written in 1868 for the children of his Sunday school. In 1928, George Gershwin's musical work An Amer- ican in Paris made its debut at New York's Carnegie Hall. This tone poem contained elements of jazz, as well as making use of realistic sound effects. In 1934, Lulu Belle and Scotty Wiseman, one of the most popular husband-and-wife teams in the history of country music, were married. Lulu Belle and Scotty were regulars on the National Barn Dance radio show, which originated from WLS in Chicago, from 1933-58. Scotty Wiseman wrote the country music standard Mountain Dew, as well as the duo's biggest hit, Have I Told You Lately That I Love You? In 1942, the Canadian Army Radio Show debuted on CBC radio. Among the cast of the musical review were comedians Johnny Wayne and Frank Shuster. The success of the musical review prompted a touring stage version to entertain the troops, promote recruitment and bolster civilian morale. In 1948, Tony Gomez, organist with the 1960s British rock group The Foundations, was born in Ceylon. The group had a million-seller with their first release, Baby, Now That I've Found You, in 1967. The group's Build Me Up Buttercup also sold a million in 1969. In 1948, heavy metal rock singer and guitarist Ted Nugent was born in Detroit. His early recordings were with a band called The Amboy Dukes, who had a top-20 hit in 1968 with Journey to the Centre of Your Mind. Nugent's popularity peaked in the late 1970s. Cat Scratch Fever, which reached No. 30 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1977, was his big- gest hit. In 1989, Nugent formed Damn Yankees with ex-Styx member Tommy Shaw and Jack Blades, formerly of Night Ranger. Their 1990 single High Enough went to No. 3 on the Billboard chart. In 1949, Randy Owen, lead singer of Alabama, was born. Alabama, a quartet from Fort Payne, Ala., was the hottest country group of the 1980s. Among their 41 No. 1 hits were Feels So Right, Love in the First Degree, Take Me Down and When We Make Love. In 2008, he released his first solo album, One on One. In 1963, The Beatles ended their third British tour at the Gaumont Theatre in Southampton. The year 1963 was also the year Beatles records began to appear in North America. When Vee Jay records in the U.S. released their first Beatles' single that year, Please Please Me, the group's name was misspelled on the label with two t's. The early Beatle hits were later gathered on a Vee Jay album, together with songs by The Four Seasons. The LP was billed as The International Battle of the Century. In 1974, former Beatle George Harrison had lunch at the White House at the invitation of Jack Ford - U.S. President Gerald Ford's son. Harrison was the first rock musician to be invited to the White House. In 1985, rock singer Phil Collins appeared as a sleazy game show host on an episode of Miami Vice. In 1987, Paul Simon, Billy Joel and Bruce Spring- steen performed together on Springsteen's Glory Days. The occasion was a benefit for the New York Children's Health Project. In 1989, Sammy Lerner, the songwriter who penned I'm Popeye the Sailor Man in 1932, died in Los Angeles at the age of 86. He wasn't proud of the Popeye song, and said he'd rather be remembered for his serious lyrics in songs like Is It True What They Say About Dixie and Falling in Love Again. In 1992, an estimated 150,000 people showed up for a free Scorpions concert in Frankfurt, Germany. The concert was aimed at protesting violence by radical rightists. In 2001, the Cavern Club in Liverpool, where The Beatles launched their career in the early 1960s, was sold as part of a $16-million real estate deal. In 2007, country music star Taylor Swift's Our Song reached the top of the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. It was her first No. 1 and, at 18, she became the youngest sole writer and singer of a No. 1 country song. In 2009, country music star Taylor Swift celebrated her 20th birthday by donating $250,000 to schools she either attended or worked with to pay for teacher salaries, buy supplies and fund educa- tional programs. In 2009, Yvonne King Burch, who gained early fame as one of the singing King Sisters during the big band era before launching her entire extended musical clan into show business as the King Family, died at age 89. In 2010, former Beatle Paul McCartney performed at New York's famed Apollo Theater for the first time. The live radio broadcast was an invitation- only event mainly for Sirius XM listeners to cele- brate the station reaching 20 million subscribers but many celebrities also attended. In 2010, Canadian teen sensation Justin Bieber topped the 2010 YouTube list of most watched videos globally. His music video for Baby, was viewed 408 million times. Bieber also held the No. 6 (Never Say Never), No. 7 (Never Let You Go) and No. 9 (Somebody to Love Remix). In 2010, rapper-actor Ja Rule pleaded guilty to attempted criminal possession of a weapon, becoming the second platinum-selling rapper set to do time after arrests in the aftermath of a star- studded hip-hop concert in July 2007. Lil Wayne was arrested separately the same night and later pleaded guilty to the same charge for which he served eight months of a year-long sentence before being released in November 2010. In 2011, Five Easy Pieces producer Bert Schneider, credited for inspiring a New Hollywood band of independent filmmakers, died at age 78. With producer-director Bob Rafelson, he also created The Monkees pop band. In 2013, pop diva Beyonc� released her new self-titled album in an unconventional way - she announced and dropped it on the same day, avail- able exclusively on iTunes. The CD reached retail stores on Dec. 20. In 2014, the live stage show, Shania: Still the One, concluded after a two-year residency at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Shania Twain performed just over 100 shows since its launch on Dec. 1, 2012, featuring her vast catalogue of hits aided by typical Vegas sparkle. In 2016, Canadian-born actor Alan Thicke, a ver- satile performer who gained his greatest renown as the dad on the sitcom Growing Pains, died after his aorta ruptured. He was 69. Thicke, father of Blurred Lines singer Robin Thicke, was also a com- poser, writer and once a popular talk show host on Canadian television before making his name in the U.S. He composed the original theme for The Wheel of Fortune and other shows including The Facts of Life and Diff'rent Strokes. In 2013, he was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame. In 2017, iconic singer Nina Simone and New Jersey rockers Bon Jovi led the 2018 class of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees, that also included The Cars, Dire Straits, The Moody Blues and gospel singer Sister Rosetta Tharpe. They were inducted on April 14, 2018, in Cleveland.) Born this day Emily Carr, 1871 Dick Van Dyke, 1925 Christopher Plummer, 1929 Ferguson Jenkins, 1942 Ted Nugent, 1948 Randy Owen, 1949 Wendie Malick, 1950 Bob Gainey, 1953 Jamie Foxx, 1967 Taylor Swift, 1989 - The Canadian Press MAUREEN SCURFIELD MISS LONELYHEARTS A little domestic diplomacy goes far D E AR MISS LONELYHEARTS: My son and his girlfriend have been a massive pain in my rear during the pandemic. She came to stay with us for safety (his big idea) and she's been living with him in his bedroom since April. I don't mind having someone else in our house, but she doesn't even try to contribute anything. It bugs me most that she doesn't pitch in to make any dinners. My son continues to do his bit with chores. Miss Forever Guest does nothing. Yesterday, the "sheets" hit the fan: She threw their dirty sheets in with mine to wash. That's far too intimate for me. I want her out, but it's code red and my husband says no. What would you do? - Had It With Miss Forever! East Kildonan DEAR Had It: This is a COVID problem which could go on for the better part of a year, or more. Lots of young couples (18 to early 20s) have been suddenly allowed to live with one set of their parents. It's a new kind of couple - barely out of high school - so some are pretty immature. Many of these "kids" are not super-serious couples who had any plans for marriage - or even to live together - before this all hap- pened. But they are sexually-active and crazy about each other, and parents take them both in to keep safety bubbles smaller and safer. Living together in a dangerous time, makes sense. You and your husband are going to have to openly divide labour within the household now, and make the new arrangements nicely. Shaming the young couple will not help. Be positive, Mama! And consider this: Your son's young woman may have thought she was on your territory and should not interfere. Now she'll know she's part of the crew, upstairs and down, with assigned jobs for everyone, including making dinners and doing one's own laundry. She may like knowing what she can do to help, rather than guessing. But, if she feels embarrassed (more out of place than ever) and hates it at your house, she will move home with her parents - and your son may move out with her. How will you feel about his moving over there? Then that household's bubble un- fortunately becomes your sons and yours, through his constant contact with that family and their cohorts. DEAR Miss Lonelyhearts: When I had a date a few weeks ago, my big puppy was sick out both ends and made a huge mess. It was so gross. My date threw up, grabbed his jacket and took off out the door. The crazy part is I really like him, but I'm too embarrassed to reach out. He hasn't contacted me since. I feel terrible, but I'm so shy my fingers won't even type out a text message. How can I start that conversation? - Pup's Embarrassed "Mom," St. Vital DEAR Embarrassed: Use a little humour to handle this, along with the advantage of your real voice. Call him up, and say something silly, like, "My pup didn't get her 'Get Well Soon' card, so I'm presuming it got stuck in the mail. Would you like me to give her a message?" He'll probably laugh at that, so then you say: "And how are you, by the way? I hope you're feel- ing better. Did you catch anything from her?" How can he resist a fun conversa- tion like this? If he's nice about it, that means his embarrassment is now over, and you can continue see- ing each other, if you both want to. If he's cold and awkward, then he's just not the right guy for a warm- hearted pet lover like you. Please send your questions and comments to lovecoach@hotmail.com or Miss Lonelyhearts c/o the Winnipeg Free Press, 1355 Mountain Ave., Winnipeg, MB, R2X 3B6. JORDAN STRAUSS / INVISION Taylor Swift's Our Song reached No. 1 in 2007, making her at 18 the youngest sole singer and songwriter to have a country chart-topper. T HE Crown, Netflix's sumptuous drama about the Royal Family, isn't always kind to the Windsors. In fact, through its depiction of Queen Elizabeth II's wrangling with former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and the strained marriage of Charles and Diana, the fourth season, which premiered last month, might be series creator Peter Morgan's most anti-monarchical work to date. But that doesn't mean it requires a disclaimer, says star Josh O'Connor, who plays Charles. "We were slightly let down by our culture secretary, whose job it is to encourage culture," O'Connor told Los Angeles Times staff writer Yvonne Villarreal in an interview for a forth- coming episode of The Envelope: The Podcast, referring to British culture minister Oliver Dowden's request that Netflix append a "fiction" label to the series. "In my opinion, it's pretty outra- geous that he came out and said what he said. Particularly in this time when he knows that the arts are struggling and they're on their knees, I think it's a bit of a low blow." O'Connor, an avowed republican "in the British sense of the word," also echoed Netflix's own rejection of the proposed disclaimer: "My personal view is that audiences understand," he said. "You have to show them the respect and understand that they're intelligent enough to see it for what it is, which is pure fiction." The Crown's most recent season, which also features Olivia Colman as the Queen, Gillian Anderson as Mar- garet Thatcher and Emma Corrin as Princess Diana, dramatizes the years coinciding with Thatcher's often-con- troversial premiership and Charles and Diana's fairy-tale romance gone awry. Its heightened version of events has provoked sharp criticism from royal- ists, such as former Charles and Diana aide Dickie Arbiter, who believe its loose treatment of the historical record is irresponsible. "It's disingenuous," Arbiter told The Times recently, "and at the end of the day, it's a lie with a capital L." In a separate interview this week with Times staff writer Mark Olsen for her new film Promising Young Woman, Emerald Fennell, who plays Camilla Parker Bowles opposite Charles in seasons three and four, deferred to the wisdom of Netflix and Peter Morgan, calling the question of the disclaimer "completely above (the cast's) pay grade." But while she was attracted to the role because The Crown "tends to give you quite a well-rounded view of all of the characters," Fennell disputed the suggestion that the series might sway public opinion about Camilla or the Windsors. "It is a drama, so I don't know necessarily that it could, in the same way that I'm sure that the early series of The Crown wouldn't necessarily have changed people's minds about the Queen," she said. "People prob- ably look to reality more to make their minds up." - Los Angeles Times Proposed disclaimer 'outrageous' The Crown star Josh O'Connor (Prince Charles) says fans can figure out fiction on their own MATT BRENNAN DES WILLIE / NETFLIX The Crown stars Olivia Colman as Queen Elizabeth and Josh O'Connor as Charles, Prince of Wales. A_09_Dec-13-20_FP_01.indd A9 2020-12-12 4:58 PM ;