Kacey Musgraves winning new fans to country music

Before young people were recording their every move with smart phones, three youthful, idealistic White House aides were doing the same with Super 8 home movie cameras.

The young shutterbugs were deeply steeped in Richard Nixon's presidency -- and together they produced over 500 reels of film between 1969 and 1973. Their rarely-seen footage, which was confiscated during the Watergate investigation and later filed away and forgotten, has now resurfaced in a revealing documentary, Our Nixon.

H.R. Haldeman, John Ehrlichman and Dwight Chapin capture the magnates and milestones of their generation, and a tender perspective on the president that presided over it all.

"These were men who had devoted huge portions of their adult lives to this man," said filmmaker Penny Lane, who joined guest host Stephen Quinn to talk about the film, the fate of the faithful aides, and the risks involved in humanizing an historical character many still revile today.

"It's really about trying to bring more grey area into what has really become a black and white story."

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Chinese artist Ai Weiwei's Toronto show mixes art, politics

Ai Weiwei's list of accolades includes the Vaclav Havel prize for creative dissent, Man of the Year nods from Time magazine and GQ, and ArtReview magazine has twice included him on its list of the top 100 most powerful artists, but when an exhibit of his work opens at Toronto's Art Gallery of Ontario on Saturday he will not be in attendance.

The dissident Chinese artist is subject to a kind of house arrest in China, but that has not prevented his work from travelling abroad.

Ai's politically charged multimedia artworks have raised the ire of China's government, resulting in him being stripped of his passport after being jailed in 2011 for tax evasion — a charge his supporters claim was punishment for his activism.

The exhibit According to What? is on a North American tour, and the AGO is its only Canadian stop.

"It's pretty big for us," said AGO director Matthew Teitelbaum.

The installation piece, He Xie, is the artist's response to the demolition of his studio in Shanghai, representing a meal of crabs he served to supporters in protest of the studio's destruction. He Xie is the Chinese word for river crab, and the piece is composed of some 3,000 porcelain crabs. (Evan Mitsui/CBC)

"We're interested in artists who engage the community in conversation and Ai does that," Teitelbaum told CBC News when asked if hosting an Ai Weiwei exhibit was a "good get" for the gallery.

According to What? is one of the most significant exhibitions of contemporary art the AGO has hosted in years and the lengths to which the gallery went to install it are a testament to the artist's stature.

Ai is "very important," said Scott, who invokes the names of Warhol and Picasso when describing his art and influences.

Contemporary artists like Ai "live in our time and experience the world we all experience," said Scott.

His visibility through social media (Ai's Twitter account, which was shut down temporarily, has over 200,000 followers) and his image as a champion of human rights in China has earned the artist a global following typically associated with rock stars. His popularity is in part due to his "situation," said Scott, referring to Ai's inability to leave China.

Scott said there were challenges installing Ai's more expansive pieces without the artist's presence.

The hundreds of ceramic crabs that compose the installation piece He Xie arrived at the AGO in 20 crates, and Kippe — composed of over 6,000 pieces of ancient reclaimed temple wood and iron bars — weighs hundreds of kilograms.

The AGO exhibit also includes a massive white wall lined with the names and birth dates of the 5,212 children killed in the 2008 earthquake in Sichuan province and a sculpture composed of over 38 tonnes of rebar collected from the disaster site. Teahouse, an installation that incorporates three miniature houses made of densely packed dried tea weighing more than one tonne each, required a structural engineer to install.

"It's the heaviest show we've ever put on," said Teitelbaum.

Along with the installations, According to What? showcases a range of the 55-year-old artist's work, including the pop-inflected remixes of Han Dynasty urns titled Coloured Vases, a bouquet of wooden Qing Dynasty stools and hundreds of photographs.

Art for politics sake?

For Ai, there is "no difference" between art and politics, said Mami Kataoka, the curator of the artist's North American tour. It's an opinion Kataoka formed through numerous meetings and conversations with the artist at his Beijing studio.

"Art gives people the strength to respond to our social-political conditions," Ai wrote in an email exchange with The Canadian Press.

"I live in one of the most extreme political societies of the world, and it sees freedom of expression as an enemy of the state," Ai said.

His artwork is best known for its political undertones exemplified in his artistic response to his country's handling of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. In the same year, Ai designed the Beijing Olympics' iconic Bird's Nest stadium, only to disavow it, saying it had become a symbol of autocracy. In 2009, he underwent surgery to relieve bleeding in the brain, which allegedly occurred at the hands of police.

"More than anything, I wish Ai could see this exhibition," Scott said. "Every time we make an exhibit with a contemporary artist, it's a time to celebrate that artist."

Despite the acclaim, the fame that has followed him continues to puzzle Ai.

"I'm surprised that somebody like me would even become famous, just for demanding very basic truths and seeking ways to survive with some dignity," Ai told The Canadian Press.

According to What? runs at the AGO from Aug. 17 until Oct. 27.

With files from The Canadian Press

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Mohawk actor August Schellenberg dies at 77

Mohawk actor August Schellenberg died Thursday night in his home at Dallas after a battle with lung cancer. He was 77.

The actor's agent, Jamie Levitt, said Schellenberg died Thursday surrounded by his family.

She described Schellenberg as a loving family man and an iconic Canadian actor. He was married to Canadian actress Joan Karasevich and is the father of three daughters.

Born in Montreal to a Mohawk-English mother and Swiss-German father, Schellenberg was a champion diver and boxer in his youth. He graduated from Montreal's National Theatre School of Canada in 1966. He lived in Toronto from 1967 until 1995, and later moved to Dallas.

His extensive list of appearances in theatre, film and television include Black Robe, Free Willy and CBC's North of 60. He received three Genie award nominations, winning once for his role in Black Robe.

In 2007, he was nominated for an Emmy for Best Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Movie for his role as Chief Sitting Bull in Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.

Played lead in all-First Nations King Lear

In 2012, Schellenberg played the titular role in an all-First Nations version of Shakespeare's King Lear at Ottawa's National Arts Centre.

"August Schellenberg had been thinking about mounting King Lear in 1967, just two years before the NAC opened its doors in Ottawa," said Peter Herrndorf, NAC president and CEO. "Through his friendship and collaboration with our former artistic director of English theatre, Peter Hinton, that dream was realized in our theatre in 2012. It was a ground-breaking and proud production."

"Words cannot explain how much you will be missed," tweeted the NAC's communications officer Sean Fitzpatrick.

"Augie had an incredible wit, and an incredible sense of humour," said Jani Lauzon. She co-starred in Schellenberg's Lear as both the Fool and Cordelia.

"He was such an incredible role model on the screen, but [also] an incredible actor. His performance and what he brings to every role was extraordinary."

The National Arts Centre has lowered its flag today in his honour.

With files from The Associated Press

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Roy Bonisteel, former CBC Man Alive host, dies at 83

Broadcaster and former longtime CBC-TV host Roy Bonisteel has died at the age of 83.

Bonisteel family's said he died Friday morning at his home near Trenton, Ont. His family said he was being treated for cancer.

Bonisteel hosted the CBC Television program Man Alive, a magazine-style show that looked at religious issues, from 1967 to 1989. He received numerous awards over the span of his career, including two ACTRA honours.

A recipient of the Order of Canada and, more recently, a citizenship judge, Bonisteel had lived since 1971 just a short distance from his boyhood home in the Bay of Quinte area.

Bonisteel will also be remembered by some Saskatchewan journalists. He was a visiting professor at University of Regina's journalism school in the 1990s and later become the head of the program.

Nelson Bird, a producer and anchor with CTV Regina who attended the university in 1995, said Bonisteel was not a typical teacher.

"We would sit in his class every week and he would tell stories about his life, his experiences, how he did things...how he told the stories of other people and shared them with the world," said Bird.

"As prominent as he was in Canadian media, to us he was just a regular guy who liked to tell stories and laugh a lot," Bird continued.

Bonisteel is survived by his daughters, Mandy and Lesley, his son Steven, nine grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

A memorial is planned for a later date.

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Kacey Musgraves winning new fans to country music

Before young people were recording their every move with smart phones, three youthful, idealistic White House aides were doing the same with Super 8 home movie cameras.

The young shutterbugs were deeply steeped in Richard Nixon's presidency -- and together they produced over 500 reels of film between 1969 and 1973. Their rarely-seen footage, which was confiscated during the Watergate investigation and later filed away and forgotten, has now resurfaced in a revealing documentary, Our Nixon.

H.R. Haldeman, John Ehrlichman and Dwight Chapin capture the magnates and milestones of their generation, and a tender perspective on the president that presided over it all.

"These were men who had devoted huge portions of their adult lives to this man," said filmmaker Penny Lane, who joined guest host Stephen Quinn to talk about the film, the fate of the faithful aides, and the risks involved in humanizing an historical character many still revile today.

"It's really about trying to bring more grey area into what has really become a black and white story."

22.20 | 0 komentar | Read More

Chinese artist Ai Weiwei's Toronto show mixes art, politics

Ai Weiwei's list of accolades includes the Vaclav Havel prize for creative dissent, Man of the Year nods from Time magazine and GQ, and ArtReview magazine has twice included him on its list of the top 100 most powerful artists, but when an exhibit of his work opens at Toronto's Art Gallery of Ontario on Saturday he will not be in attendance.

The dissident Chinese artist is subject to a kind of house arrest in China, but that has not prevented his work from travelling abroad.

Ai's politically charged multimedia artworks have raised the ire of China's government, resulting in him being stripped of his passport after being jailed in 2011 for tax evasion — a charge his supporters claim was punishment for his activism.

The exhibit According to What? is on a North American tour, and the AGO is its only Canadian stop.

"It's pretty big for us," said AGO director Matthew Teitelbaum.

The installation piece, He Xie, is the artist's response to the demolition of his studio in Shanghai, representing a meal of crabs he served to supporters in protest of the studio's destruction. He Xie is the Chinese word for river crab, and the piece is composed of some 3,000 porcelain crabs. (Evan Mitsui/CBC)

"We're interested in artists who engage the community in conversation and Ai does that," Teitelbaum told CBC News when asked if hosting an Ai Weiwei exhibit was a "good get" for the gallery.

According to What? is one of the most significant exhibitions of contemporary art the AGO has hosted in years and the lengths to which the gallery went to install it are a testament to the artist's stature.

Ai is "very important," said Scott, who invokes the names of Warhol and Picasso when describing his art and influences.

Contemporary artists like Ai "live in our time and experience the world we all experience," said Scott.

His visibility through social media (Ai's Twitter account, which was shut down temporarily, has over 200,000 followers) and his image as a champion of human rights in China has earned the artist a global following typically associated with rock stars. His popularity is in part due to his "situation," said Scott, referring to Ai's inability to leave China.

Scott said there were challenges installing Ai's more expansive pieces without the artist's presence.

The hundreds of ceramic crabs that compose the installation piece He Xie arrived at the AGO in 20 crates, and Kippe — composed of over 6,000 pieces of ancient reclaimed temple wood and iron bars — weighs hundreds of kilograms.

The AGO exhibit also includes a massive white wall lined with the names and birth dates of the 5,212 children killed in the 2008 earthquake in Sichuan province and a sculpture composed of over 38 tonnes of rebar collected from the disaster site. Teahouse, an installation that incorporates three miniature houses made of densely packed dried tea weighing more than one tonne each, required a structural engineer to install.

"It's the heaviest show we've ever put on," said Teitelbaum.

Along with the installations, According to What? showcases a range of the 55-year-old artist's work, including the pop-inflected remixes of Han Dynasty urns titled Coloured Vases, a bouquet of wooden Qing Dynasty stools and hundreds of photographs.

Art for politics sake?

For Ai, there is "no difference" between art and politics, said Mami Kataoka, the curator of the artist's North American tour. It's an opinion Kataoka formed through numerous meetings and conversations with the artist at his Beijing studio.

"Art gives people the strength to respond to our social-political conditions," Ai wrote in an email exchange with The Canadian Press.

"I live in one of the most extreme political societies of the world, and it sees freedom of expression as an enemy of the state," Ai said.

His artwork is best known for its political undertones exemplified in his artistic response to his country's handling of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. In the same year, Ai designed the Beijing Olympics' iconic Bird's Nest stadium, only to disavow it, saying it had become a symbol of autocracy. In 2009, he underwent surgery to relieve bleeding in the brain, which allegedly occurred at the hands of police.

"More than anything, I wish Ai could see this exhibition," Scott said. "Every time we make an exhibit with a contemporary artist, it's a time to celebrate that artist."

Despite the acclaim, the fame that has followed him continues to puzzle Ai.

"I'm surprised that somebody like me would even become famous, just for demanding very basic truths and seeking ways to survive with some dignity," Ai told The Canadian Press.

According to What? runs at the AGO from Aug. 17 until Oct. 27.

With files from The Canadian Press

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Mohawk actor August Schellenberg dies at 77

Mohawk actor August Schellenberg died Thursday night in his home at Dallas after a battle with lung cancer. He was 77.

The actor's agent, Jamie Levitt, said Schellenberg died Thursday surrounded by his family.

She described Schellenberg as a loving family man and an iconic Canadian actor. He was married to Canadian actress Joan Karasevich and is the father of three daughters.

Born in Montreal to a Mohawk-English mother and Swiss-German father, Schellenberg was a champion diver and boxer in his youth. He graduated from Montreal's National Theatre School of Canada in 1966. He lived in Toronto from 1967 until 1995, and later moved to Dallas.

His extensive list of appearances in theatre, film and television include Black Robe, Free Willy and CBC's North of 60. He received three Genie award nominations, winning once for his role in Black Robe.

In 2007, he was nominated for an Emmy for Best Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Movie for his role as Chief Sitting Bull in Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.

Played lead in all-First Nations King Lear

In 2012, Schellenberg played the titular role in an all-First Nations version of Shakespeare's King Lear at Ottawa's National Arts Centre.

"August Schellenberg had been thinking about mounting King Lear in 1967, just two years before the NAC opened its doors in Ottawa," said Peter Herrndorf, NAC president and CEO. "Through his friendship and collaboration with our former artistic director of English theatre, Peter Hinton, that dream was realized in our theatre in 2012. It was a ground-breaking and proud production."

"Words cannot explain how much you will be missed," tweeted the NAC's communications officer Sean Fitzpatrick.

"Augie had an incredible wit, and an incredible sense of humour," said Jani Lauzon. She co-starred in Schellenberg's Lear as both the Fool and Cordelia.

"He was such an incredible role model on the screen, but [also] an incredible actor. His performance and what he brings to every role was extraordinary."

The National Arts Centre has lowered its flag today in his honour.

With files from The Associated Press

22.20 | 0 komentar | Read More

Roy Bonisteel, former CBC Man Alive host, dies at 83

Broadcaster and former longtime CBC-TV host Roy Bonisteel has died at the age of 83.

Bonisteel family's said he died Friday morning at his home near Trenton, Ont. His family said he was being treated for cancer.

Bonisteel hosted the CBC Television program Man Alive, a magazine-style show that looked at religious issues, from 1967 to 1989. He received numerous awards over the span of his career, including two ACTRA honours.

A recipient of the Order of Canada and, more recently, a citizenship judge, Bonisteel had lived since 1971 just a short distance from his boyhood home in the Bay of Quinte area.

Bonisteel is survived by his daughters, Mandy and Lesley, his son Steven, nine grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

A memorial is planned for a later date.

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Reality actor Gia Allemand dies in New Orleans

Gia Allemand, who was the girlfriend of NBA Pelicans player Ryan Anderson and appeared on ABC's The Bachelor and Bachelor Pad, has died, her publicist said Wednesday. She was 29.

Allemand was taken Monday night to University Hospital in New Orleans after a suicide attempt, the publicist, Penelope Jean Hayes, said in a written statement.

Anderson found the actor and called for help. Allemand was taken off life support Wednesday because of "a critical loss of brain and organ function, life support was withdrawn."

Hayes said Allemand died with her "mother, boyfriend and other life-long friends by her side."

Bachelorettes Gia Allemand and Jessie Sulidis on January 30, 2011 in New York City. (Joe Corrigan/Getty Images)

In a statement provided to the Associated Press by Anderson, he thanked family, friends and fans for "all the love and support."

"Gia was the most beautiful person I knew inside and out and she always smiled and made everyone else around her smile," Anderson said. "She had such an amazing impact on my life and anyone that knew her was blessed. All I have left is to cherish those memories we made together and help perpetuate the many values, faith and love that we shared."

Hayes did not provide further details about how Allemand died.

Allemand, a professional ballet dancer and actor, began modeling when as a baby she did Johnson & Johnson ads and also appeared as a Gerber baby. In addition, she did modeling work for Maxim magazine.

In her 2010 appearance on The Bachelor, she was the third-runner up on the show featuring love interest Jake Pavelka. According to a statement from his publicist, Charmaine Blake, Pavelka offered well wishes to Allemand's family.

"We have lost an angel and a very dear friend," said Pavelka, who added that he and Allemand remained friends after the show's end.

Funeral arrangements are pending.

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Nickelback, Jann Arden headline Alberta flood relief concert

Some of the biggest names in Canadian music are in Calgary for the Alberta Flood Aid concert at McMahon Stadium Thursday night.

Artists on the bill for the fundraising show include Nickleback, Matthew Good, Corb Lund and Jann Arden.

Organizers expect to raise more than $2 million at the show, which will be hosted by comedian Brent Butt.

More than 30,000 tickets were sold — which organizers say will make the concert the biggest in the city's history.

Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi kicked off the concert by thanking the many volunteers who helped in the flood cleanup.

"That citizen covered in mud, and mosquito bites, cut and scraped and bruised, saving the home of someone she doesn't even know. Let's hear it for every single volunteer. Thank you all," he told the crowd.

The show started at 6 p.m. MT with a pre-concert beforehand in the parking lot.

All the proceeds go to The Calgary Foundation's Flood Rebuilding Fund.

Funds have been used so far to support services offered by Inn from the Cold and the Alex Community Health Centre, said foundation official Kerry Longprey.

The foundation has raised more than $4 million, not including the proceeds from the Aug. 4 Halo High Water Concert at the Jubilee Auditorium or tonight's concert.

The money will go to organizations helping out flood victims in many areas affected in southern Alberta, including High River, First Nation communities and Calgary.

A complete tally of the money raised should be available next week, Longprey said.

Tens of thousands of music fans gather at McMahon Stadium for Alberta Flood Aid, a star-studded benefit concert to raise much-needed funds for flood recovery in southern Alberta. (Larry MacDougal/Canadian Press)

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