Actor Norman Lloyd, whose sprawling career included Hitchcock and ‘St. Elsewhere,’ dies at 106on May 12, 2021 at 3:56 pm

LOS ANGELES — Norman Lloyd, whose role as kindly Dr. Daniel Auschlander on TV’s “St. Elsewhere” was a single chapter in a distinguished stage and screen career that put him in the company of Orson Welles, Alfred Hitchcock, Charlie Chaplin and other greats, has died. He was 106.

Lloyd’s son, Michael Lloyd, said his father died Tuesday at his home in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles.

His credits stretch from the earliest known U.S. TV drama, 1939?s “On the Streets of New York” on the nascent NBC network, to 21st-century projects including “Modern Family” and “The Practice.”

“If modern film history has a voice, it is Norman Lloyd’s,” reviewer Kenneth Turan wrote in the Los Angeles Times in 2012 after Lloyd regaled a Cannes Film Festival crowd with anecdotes about rarified friends and colleagues including Charlie Chaplin and Jean Renoir.

The wiry, 5-foot-5 Lloyd, whose energy was boundless off-screen as well, continued to play tennis into his 90s. In 2015, he appeared in the Amy Schumer comedy “Trainwreck.”

His most notable film part was as the villain who plummets off the Statue of Liberty in 1942?s “Saboteur,” directed by Hitchcock, who also cast Lloyd in the classic thriller 1945’s “Spellbound.”

Norman Lloyd poses before a 50th anniversary screening of the film “The Sound of Music” at the opening night gala of the TCM Classic Film Festival on March 26, 2015, in Los Angeles.

His other movie credits include Jean Renoir’s “The Southerner,” Charlie Chaplin’s “Limelight,” “Dead Poets Society” with Robin Williams, “In Her Shoes” with Cameron Diaz and “Gangs of New York” with Daniel Day-Lewis.

On Broadway, Lloyd played the Fool opposite Louis Calhern’s King Lear in 1950, co-starred with Jessica Tandy in the comedy “Madam, Will You Walk” and directed Jerry Stiller in “The Taming of the Shrew” in 1957.

He was also part of Welles’ 1937 modern-dress fascist-era production of “Julius Caesar” that has gone down in history as one of the landmark stage pieces in the American theater. Norman played the small but key role of Cinna the Poet, opposite Welles’ Brutus. Stage magazine put Welles on its June cover and proclaimed the production “one of the most exciting dramatic events of our time.”

Born Nov. 8, 1914, in Jersey City, New Jersey, Lloyd jumped into acting as a youngster in the 1920s. On stage, he was a regular with Welles’ Mercury Theater, the groundbreaking 1930s troupe that also featured Joseph Cotton and Agnes Moorehead and formed the basis of Welles’ classic film debut, “Citizen Kane.”

His other plays included “Crime,” directed by Elia Kazan and featuring his future wife, Peggy Craven. The couple were married for 75 years, until Peggy Lloyd’s death in 2011 at age 98.

TV viewers knew him best as the memorable calm center of St. Eligius hospital on the 1982-88 NBC drama series “St. Elsewhere.” His Dr. Daniel Auschlander was originally only supposed to appear in a few episodes, but Lloyd became a series regular and stayed with the show for the entire run. The series would inspire such shows as “E.R.” and “Grey’s Anatomy.”

Lloyd worked steadily as a TV actor and director in the early 1950s, but the political liberal found his career in jeopardy during the Hollywood blacklist period aimed at communists or their sympathizers.

In 1957, Hitchcock came to his rescue, Lloyd told the Los Angeles Times in 2014. When the famed director sought to hire Lloyd as associate producer on his series “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” but was told “There is a problem with Norman Lloyd,” Hitchcock didn’t back down, Lloyd recalled.

“He said three words: ‘I want him,'” Lloyd said. He was immediately hired and eventually worked as executive producer on another series, “The Alfred Hitchcock Hour.”

His other TV credits include roles in “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” “Murder, She Wrote,” “The Paper Chase,” “Quincy M.E.,” “Kojak” and “The Practice.”

In 2014, in recognition of his 82 years in show business, and reaching the age of 100, the Los Angeles City Council proclaimed that his birthday of Nov. 8, would be honored as “Norman Lloyd Day.”

Actor Norman Lloyd, whose sprawling career included Hitchcock and ‘St. Elsewhere,’ dies at 106on May 12, 2021 at 3:56 pm Read More »

CPD launched secret drone program with off-the-books cashon May 12, 2021 at 4:02 pm

The Chicago Police Department started a secretive drone program using off-budget cash to pay for the new technology, the Sun-Times has learned.

Details of the police department’s drone program were included in an email sent last summer by Karen Conway, director of police research and development. In the email, Conway told other high-ranking police officials that the department’s counter-terrorism bureau “utilized 1505 funds for a pilot Drone program that operates within the parameters of current laws.”

The drones “have been purchased and the Electronic & Technical Support Unit (Counter-terrorism) is in the process of creating a training to start a pilot. Some of the Drone uses will be for missing persons, crime scene photos, and terrorist related issues,” Conway said in the June 12, 2020, email to former Deputy Supt. Barbara West and Michele Morris, the department’s risk manager.

The department’s “1505” fund is made up of forfeiture proceeds — money and other assets seized in connection to criminal investigations. The money isn’t included in the department’s official budget and has reportedly been used in the past to purchase other controversial technology, like Stingrays, which mimic cell towers and send out signals to trick phones into transmitting their locations and other information.

A state law that went into effect in July 2018 requires law enforcement agencies to report seizure and forfeiture information to the Illinois State Police.

Over the past two years, the department reported taking in seized or awarded assets valued at an estimated $25.9 million. That haul stems from investigations into alleged drug crimes and money laundering, but the reports don’t give the full scope of the department’s take because details about seized vehicles were redacted.

The reports state that roughly $7.7 million was spent over that period on operating expenses, witness protection, informant fees and controlled drug buys, as well as travel, meals, conferences, training and continuing education. The spending isn’t itemized, but the reports state that operating expenses can cover vehicles, guns and equipment, such as drones.

Conway’s message about the drone program was among a cache of hacked city emails that were leaked online last month by Distributed Denial of Secrets, a transparency nonprofit likened to WikiLeaks. Other emails show the Chicago Fire Department owns drones worth at least $23,000, though a spokesman clarified on Wednesday that it hasn’t yet earned permission to start a drone program.

Details of the police department’s drone program were included at the bottom of an email sent last summer by Karen Conway, director of police research and development.

Asked about the police department’s drone program, a spokesman said it “regularly investigates new technology and strategies.”

“The Department considers every tool available when it comes to maintaining public safety and actively searches for innovative opportunities,” spokesman Don Terry said in a statement without specifically mentioning drones.

“CPD has strict guidelines for all tools and programs to ensure individual privacy, civil rights, civil liberties and other interests are protected,” Terry added. “We also meet with community partners to make certain that all enforcement efforts meet the highest standards and have support among the individuals Chicago police officers are sworn to serve and protect.”

Terry and other spokespeople for the police department and the mayor’s office didn’t respond to specific questions about the emails. Kristen Cabanban, a spokeswoman for Chicago’s Law Department, issued a statement Friday saying city agencies wouldn’t answer questions about the contents of the hacked emails.

Ed Yohnka, director of communications and public policy for ACLU-Illinois, spoke at the offices of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. | Maudlyne Ihejirika/Sun-Times — Ed Yohnka, spokesman for ACLU-Illinois, has concerns about the drone program.

ACLU raises alarms

Over the course of multiple emails about the drone programs, Susan Lee, the former deputy mayor of public safety, twice noted there were concerns over the expected response from privacy advocates. However, city employees included in the discussions never independently raised alarms over privacy issues.

Ed Yohnka, a spokesman for the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, told the Sun-Times the emails show the city “continues to pursue the invasive technologies without any public disclosure, oversight or publicly adopted privacy policies,” undercutting Terry’s claims.

“We should not be surprised. This behavior goes back more than two decades when Chicago first began to place surveillance cameras all across the city,” Yohnka said. “To this day, residents of the city have never seen a privacy policy for the use of those cameras.”

In 2018, the ACLU accused former Mayor Rahm Emanuel of being the heavy hand behind legislation in Springfield that would have allowed police officers to use drones equipped with facial recognition technology to monitor protests. Versions of the legislation passed both the state house and senate but a final bill was never signed into law.

“Given that the city not so long ago sought legislation to permit using drones to surveil public gatherings, including those engaged in First Amendment activity, it is worth questioning its motivations,” Yohnka said of the new revelation.

In a report issued in February lambasting the city’s response to the protests and unrest that broke out in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd last year, city Inspector General Joseph Ferguson noted that drones were likely flying overhead at some demonstrations.

On May 30, the day an early downtown protest devolved into chaos, Ferguson said CPD officials contacted the Illinois State Police “to request its deployment, and ISP made determinations about which resources to deploy, including crowd control teams, canine units, videographers, drones and SWAT teams.”

“By ISP’s accounting of their deployment in Chicago and their operating procedures, they used videographers and/or drone footage to capture records of potential uses of force and arrests,” Ferguson wrote. “However, a review of ISP’s force reporting obligations and compliance was out of the scope of this report.”

Use of drones in car chases discussed

Karen Conway, director of police research and development for the Chicago Police Department

Conway’s comments about the police department’s drone program were included in an email discussing a new vehicle pursuit policy.

The memo also included other technology options the department was considering to apparently minimize the risk of engaging in chases: a device to shut down a fleeing vehicle’s engine and a system for remote tracking. The latter option, StarChase, is a mechanism that allows cops to shoot a GPS-equipped dart at a suspect’s car.

Last August, the police department issued revised directives on pursuits, but the general order bears no mention of the technologies.

An email sent on Aug. 16, 2019 by Tamika Puckett, the city’s former chief risk officer, presented drones as a potentially cheaper alternative to StarChase, which reportedly charges $5,000 for each cannon and another $500 for every GPS dart.

“StarChase might be too costly of an option for our needs. If so, then we should research the drone issue, especially the city ordinance and what changes need to be made to it in order to even consider this an option,” Puckett wrote to Morris and other staffers.

Chicago’s drone ordinance is highly restrictive, though law enforcement agencies operating in the city are afforded an exception to its prohibitions if their drone use complies with state law. That law allows police to use drones for a variety of purposes, namely countering terrorism, searching for missing persons, photographing crime scenes and even pursuing crime suspects.

While the conversations about drones apparently happened in fits and starts, the high-level correspondence stretched on for months. Many of the emails related to the city’s need to purchase drone insurance.

In an email chain on that topic dated March 5, 2020, Lee expressed her intention to hold a meeting “because all three public safety agencies want drones.” Although her email doesn’t name the agencies, later emails show the police and fire departments both ultimately bought drones. It’s unclear whether the Office of Emergency Management and Control also purchased drones.

Fire department owns multiple drones but program’s in limbo

Over the course of those emails, Keith Wilson, a former deputy district fire chief, reported on Sept. 22, 2020, that the department owned four drones worth $23,000. Two days earlier, Angela Weis, Lightfoot’s senior adviser on public safety policy and operations, told Lee that the fire department planned to use the drones for search and rescue operations.

The Chicago Fire Department Foundation, a nonprofit that supports firefighters and paramedics and their families, previously published a blog post last April reporting that Wintrust Financial had donated three other drones to the department.

“For the CFD, the use of drones has the potential to make a large impact in how effectively the Department can mitigate fires, disasters or large-scale incidents, offering an aerial perspective and helping to identify areas of evacuation and most urgent needs for response,” according to the post. “Equally important is the utilization of images and videos post-incident to assist in fire investigations, critiques and training purposes.”

On October 5, 2020, Puckett ultimately told former Chicago Fire Commissioner Richard Ford II that “the city purchased drone property and liability insurance coverage for our drone programs citywide,” apparently closing the loop on a conversation that stretched nearly a year.

On Wednesday, Larry Langford, a spokesman for the fire department, confirmed it purchased an additional drone but is currently only using the donated drones for training purposes.

“We do not have permission yet to implement a drone program,” said Langford. “We have many members now certified to fly a commercial drone but we do not use them in regular operations until the actual program is blessed and in place.”

CPD launched secret drone program with off-the-books cashon May 12, 2021 at 4:02 pm Read More »

$1-a-year chief marketing officer handed permanent job to run World Business Chicagoon May 12, 2021 at 4:23 pm

Chicago mayors have a long and documented history of filling key vacancies with interim appointments only to strip away that “acting” title and make those temporary appointees permanent.

That’s what happened Wednesday at World Business Chicago, the public-private job growth agency that will play a pivotal role in rebuilding a local economy decimated by the coronavirus and devastated by two rounds of looting.

Michael Fassnacht, the $1-a-year chief marketing officer who has held down the fort at World Business Chicago since Andrea Zopp stepped down as president and CEO on Dec. 31, was anointed as Zopp’s permanent replacement.

Fassnacht could not be reached for comment. Whether his salary will change, and by how much, was not immediately clear.

A press release announcing the permanent appointment quoted him as saying that “history has proven over and over” that Chicago is a “resilient and imaginative and innovative” city capable of bouncing back.

“I look forward to … supporting an equitable and inclusive recovery. Chicago should become a role model for any global large city of how to enable and drive economic growth for all of its residents,” Fassnacht was quoted as saying.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot was quoted as saying that “getting through and beyond” economic recovery “requires a steady grip, focus and expertise.”

“Michael brings that and more to the city of Chicago. Time and time again, Michael has demonstrated his passion for inclusive economic development and investment while simultaneously creating eye-catching and memorable marketing initiatives that center the authenticity of our residents,” the mayor was quoted as saying.

“I am thrilled that he will continue supporting our city in his dual roles as my chief marketing officer and president and CEO of World Business Chicago.”

When Zopp announced her retired in early December, Fassnacht hinted strongly he would not be a candidate for the permanent job.

At the time, he said his goal was to attract new companies and foster an “open, transparent frank conversation” between the mayor and the business community.

“I’m very bullish on the second half of 2021 and 2022 [because of the] pent-up demand for people to have experiences outside the home, outside maybe their city,” Fassnacht said on that day.

“Leisure travel . . . will come back better than before as long as we can position Chicago as an amazing place for one of the most diverse experiences — not just in downtown, but across all neighborhoods.”

Fassnacht takes the permanent reins at World Business Chicago as the city is beginning to reawaken from its pandemic-induced slumber, thanks to increased vaccination rates and a declining number of coronavirus cases.

Downtown office employees are beginning to trickle in after more than a year of working remotely.

McCormick Place is reopening to reduced capacity, beginning with the July return of a revamped and reimagined Chicago Auto Show.

Chicago hotels devastated by the pandemic are hoping to attract stay-cationers and out-of-town visitors this summer, thanks to the return of festivals, concerts and theaters.

Fassnacht’s job will be to make the most of that comeback by persuading companies to bring their employees back downtown full-time. He will also be called upon to use his extensive marketing experience and creativity to help market Chicago to the Midwest, the nation and the world.

The new president and CEO of World Business Chicago is uniquely positioned to do just that.

He is a former commercial advertising whiz who, while serving as CEO and president of FCB, donated his time to work on former Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s failed pitch to attract Amazon’s corporate headquarters.

Last fall, Fassnacht told the Sun-Times that Mayor Lori Lightfoot and her “authentic” personality would be a cornerstone of the plan to “rebrand” Chicago and help the city recover from the economic havoc wreaked by the coronavirus.

“If you look at the mayor and what she represents — her history, her background, her personality — people are very intrigued by that. They might not agree with everything. But they’re intrigued and believe she’s authentic,” Fassnacht said then.

“Look at just the ‘stay-at-home, save lives’ campaign. Millions of people have seen that. It changed behavior. We talked about Halloween when she dressed up with our health commissioner. Millions of people saw that. It’s the ideas and the creativity that, ultimately I believe will, step-by-step, rebrand Chicago.”

For decades, Chicago was known around the world as the home of mobster Al Capone. That was thankfully supplanted by Chicago Bulls superstar Michael Jordan and the two three-peats he engineered during the 1990s.

Fassnacht said then that the rebranding of post-pandemic Chicago would highlight the city’s diversity without sweeping under the rug its ugly underbelly as one of the nation’s most segregated cities.

“I really would love to be known for [being] a creative, innovative city that has honestly addressed the sins of its past to build a much more equitable city that everyone can enjoy,” he said.

$1-a-year chief marketing officer handed permanent job to run World Business Chicagoon May 12, 2021 at 4:23 pm Read More »

I Tried a Power Plate Workout and Didn’t Fall Offon May 12, 2021 at 4:12 pm

I would never call myself an athlete. It’s true that a few years ago I rode a bicycle a hundred miles in one day, but that was powered more by naive optimism than a natural inclination toward cycling. I’ve done enough Pilates to know what “navel to spine” means but still get nervous when it’s time to plank. I can’t do a pushup, and the one time I tried to run the Shamrock Shuffle, I was literally shuffling down State Street because I’d peed my pants in front of the Chicago Theatre. In my subsequent race photo, it looks like I’ve been shot.

So when I walk into Vibez Fit, a new fitness studio in River North that uses the Power Plate, the “leading technology in whole-body vibration training,” I’ve left my “Slay” tank top at home because I don’t want anybody to get the wrong idea. While I’m smiling and saying hello to my perfectly fit instructor, Asia, I’m under no illusion that I’m going to be good at this, and as I gaze down the gangway of purple-lit machines, inside I feel like 11-year-old Adrienne whose gym teacher won’t stop screaming “C’MON GUNN!” when she can’t magically levitate from the floor onto a four-foot wooden box.

I’m looking for a spot in the back when I’m informed this will be a private class in which I’m the only student. Oh. Good. But it’s only 30 minutes, so things are looking up. I’m told that the Power Plate was developed for Russian cosmonauts, that it “stimulates the body’s natural reflexes, causing an involuntary muscle contraction,” and that this is going to burn more calories, lead to detoxification, and reduce the appearance of cellulite. To be honest, worrying about cellulite feels like a luxury; I’m still figuring out how to lose the COVID 19.

Asia directs me to a Power Plate right next to her. She turns it on, and I swear to God, my teeth are rattling. It’s not vibrating so hard that I think I might fall off, but it is vibrating so hard that I suddenly have an awareness of my eardrums. The only muscle that’s ever experienced this much vibration is my vagina. I’m doing Fusion Vibez, which is a mix of cardio, barre, and Pilates, and very quickly I’m breathless. We’re working with a small rubber stability ball — holding it between our legs while we squat, holding it in the crook of our knee while we squat, making ballet arms while we squat. We’re doing leg lifts and triceps dips and planks, and I’m glad no one can see my face under my mask because I know it’s all twisted up and grunty like an Olympic powerlifter’s, except they’re just asking me to hold up my own body weight. But afterward I feel energized and happy, like I’m digging the vibez. Until the next day, when my quads hurt so bad I can barely walk and my vibez are lie down on the couch forever.

I Tried a Power Plate Workout and Didn’t Fall Offon May 12, 2021 at 4:12 pm Read More »

Chicago Bears Schedule Release: Bears face Seahawks after Christmason May 12, 2021 at 4:17 pm

Sep 17, 2018; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago Bears defensive back Prince Amukamara (20) celebrates after scoring a touchdown during the second half against the Seattle Seahawks at Soldier Field. Mandatory Credit: Patrick Gorski-USA TODAY Sports

The 2021 NFL Regular Season scheduled will be officially released on Wednesday night but leaks have already appeared and the latest has the Chicago Bears facing Seattle Seahawks on December 26.

Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune broke the news on Wednesday morning that the Bears will be traveling to the face the Seattle Seahawks the day after Christmas. Christmas falls on a Saturday this year and the NFL has been rumored to feature a doubleheader for the holiday. Fans will be enjoying holiday leftovers on Sunday as the Bears face the Seahawks.

The Bears facing the Seahawks this season will be a very compelling matchup this season. Compelling in the sense of the trade rumors that were heard across the NFL landscape this off-season.

Prior to the Bears’ signing of veteran Andy Dalton and drafting of rookie quarterback Justin Fields in the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft, Seahawks’ quarterback Russell Wilson was the primary quarterback target for the Bears this off-season.

Rumors of Wilson wanting a trade from the Seattle Seahawks surfaced in February when Wilson openly criticized his role in the Seahawks’ offense. Shortly after Willson’s public comments, his agent leaked that the veteran quarterback would accept a trade to one of four teams and the Bears were among those listed.

While the Bears certainly did engage the Seahawks in trade discussions regarding Wilson, it is unclear if an offer was ever made. Dan Patrick reported in March that the Bears did make an offer for Wilson and the offer included three first round draft picks, two second round draft picks and two defensive starters. The Seahawks ultimately decided against the idea of trading Wilson and the Bears were forced to move on to their next quarterback targets.

By the time that Bears play the Seahawks on December 26, there is a strong chance that Fields will have replaced Dalton as the team’s starting quarterback. Meaning the matchup between the Bears and Seahawks could be a matchup of what is versus what could have been for the Bears.

For Fields, it would be an opportunity to go head to head against a quarterback he mirrored his game after.

While speaking with reporters during his Bears’ introductory press conference, Fields spoke about the comparisons of his game to Wilson:

“I’ve watched a lot of film on him,” Fields said of Wilson. I’ve watched a lot of highlights on him, so I think the things that we can do on the field with both of those quarterbacks, I think we have a lot of similarities between extending plays with our legs and also having the arm talent.

“I think those are a couple of guys that I kind of emulate my game after.”

In hindsight, it is a fascinating question to ask: Would the Chicago Bears rather have Wilson or Justin Fields as their starting quarterback heading into the 2021 NFL Regular Season? The answer to that question could very well be Fields considering he is only at the beginning of what could be a career as the franchise quarterback for the Chicago Bears.

Chicago Bears Schedule Release: Bears face Seahawks after Christmason May 12, 2021 at 4:17 pm Read More »

Blackhawks sign prospect Henrik Borgstrom to 2-year contracton May 12, 2021 at 2:03 pm

The Blackhawks officially announced Wednesday they signed prospect forward Henrik Borgstrom to a two-year contract.

Borgstrom’s rights were acquired in a multifaceted deadline trade with the Panthers, of which he was the centerpiece asset.

The 23rd overall pick in 2016, Borgstrom impressed Hawks general manager Stan Bowman while starring at the University of Denver. But he fizzled out in the Panthers’ organization after a decent 2018-19 NHL rookie year and spent this season playing for HIFK in Finland, scoring 21 points in 30 games.

The signing doesn’t come as a surprise. Borgstrom, now 23, was ranked the Hawks’ No. 2 prospect in the Sun-Times’ most recent rankings and will compete for an NHL spot in training camp this fall.

His new contract carries an affordable $1 million cap hit.

“He’s a big, tall kid [with] long arms, good reach,” Bowman said in April. “He’s got the frame, athletic body, skater, hands and he can do a lot of different things with the puck. There’s tremendous upside. Obviously he has to turn that potential into reality. But he’s the kind of player you get excited to work with, and we certainly want to do that next season.”

Blackhawks sign prospect Henrik Borgstrom to 2-year contracton May 12, 2021 at 2:03 pm Read More »

Jay-Z, Foo Fighters and Go-Go’s inducted into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on first tryon May 12, 2021 at 2:43 pm

NEW YORK — Jay-Z, Foo Fighters and the Go-Go’s were elected Wednesday to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame their first time on the ballot, leading a class that also includes Tina Turner, Carole King and Todd Rundgren.

Each will be honored during an induction ceremony in Cleveland on Oct. 30 before what organizers hope is a full house of fans enjoying live music again.

The hall will also welcome LL Cool J, Billy Preston and Randy Rhoads with musical excellence awards, and honor Kraftwerk, Gil Scott Heron and Charley Patton as early influencers.

With Jay-Z, the hall inducts a 23-time Grammy winner and the first rap artist in the Songwriters Hall of Fame. His discography includes “Hard Knock Life,” “99 Problems” and “Empire State of Mind.” He has had 14 No. 1 albums to his credit.

After serving as Nirvana’s drummer, Dave Grohl stepped to center stage with Foo Fighters, becoming one of the few modern rock bands comfortable in arenas. Their hard-hitting sound produced the hits “Best of You,” “Everlong” and “Times Like These.”

As an all-female band that played their own instruments, the Go-Go’s were a relative rarity in the early 1980s. Born from Los Angeles’ punk rock scene, they had a string of melodic hits that included “We Got the Beat,” “Our Lips Are Sealed” and “Vacation.”

Turner, recently celebrated in an HBO documentary, was one of rock’s most stirring comeback stories. After escaping from an abusive relationship with husband and musical partner Ike Turner, she became a solo star in the 1980s behind the world-weary “What’s Love Got to Do With It,” and scored other hits with “Private Dancer” and “We Don’t Need Another Hero.”

King’s life was celebrated in the Broadway musical “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical.” Stepping forward following a career writing songs for others, her 1971 album “Tapestry” became one of music’s best-selling albums of all time. Hits include “It’s Too Late,” “You’ve Got a Friend” and “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman.”

A power pop pioneer, Rundgren is known for melodic hits like “Hello It’s Me,” “I Saw the Light” and “We Gotta Get You a Woman.” With “Bang the Drum All Day,” he’s also responsible for the song most celebrated by hooky players everywhere.

Clarence Avant, a former manager, label owner and concert organizer, is being given the Ahmet Ertegun Award as a non-performer. His impact on the music industry was highlighted in the 2019 Netflix documentary, “The Black Godfather.”

Grohl, King and Turner bring the number of artists inducted into the Rock Hall twice to 26. Prior to King and Turner, Stevie Nicks had been the only woman with that distinction.

Two new inductees — Belinda Carlisle of the Go-Go’s and Pat Smear of Foo Fighters — were once members of the L.A. punk band the Germs before getting the jobs that led to later fame.

Before getting into the hall in their special categories, both LL Cool J and Kraftwerk had each been nominated six times as performers without being elected.

Five of the six inducted performers are still working artists. Only Turner is retired, and no doubt the hall will try recruiting Beyonce — she should be in town anyway — to pay tribute onstage. Either way, the hall is hoping for one of the first big concerts since the live music business essentially shut down because of the coronavirus pandemic.

“We really see it as a true celebration of the reopening of music — not only in America but in the world,” John Sykes, chairman of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation, said in an interview with The Associated Press.

The induction ceremony, to be held at the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland, will simulcast on SiriusXM and air later on HBO.

Jay-Z, Foo Fighters and Go-Go’s inducted into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on first tryon May 12, 2021 at 2:43 pm Read More »

Bears QB coach: ‘We’ll all know when it’s Justin’s time’on May 12, 2021 at 2:49 pm

It will be apparent when it’s time to start quarterback Justin Fields — whenever that may be — Bears quarterbacks coach John DeFilippo said.

“Like [head coach Matt Nagy] said, I think we’ll all know when it’s Justin’s time to go win a football game,” he said Wednesday morning. “I’m a big believer in that as well.”

The Bears have declared Andy Dalton the starter and said that, in a perfect world, Fields can spend the 2021 season as an understudy — the way the Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes did under Nagy in 2017.

DeFilippo has been meeting with Fields on Zoom, and will get to work with him on the field Friday for the first time. Fields thus far has been “very coachable,” DeFilippo said.

“Obviously we’ll know a lot more about Justin after this weekend in terms of where he’s at mentally and the way he processes and thinks and those things,” he said. “It’s hard to tell over Zoom until you really get your hands on a player. I think we’ll know a lot more after this weekend in terms of where he’s at from a mentally processing standpoint.”

The Bears named Dalton the starter after the draft. DeFilippo said Nick Foles, another Bears backup, was one of the first people to reach out to Fields when the Bears traded up to draft him late last month. Foles and Dalton have been part of veteran quarterbacks meetings during the NFL’s offseason program.

Bears QB coach: ‘We’ll all know when it’s Justin’s time’on May 12, 2021 at 2:49 pm Read More »

NFL will return to London in October with 2 gameson May 12, 2021 at 3:38 pm

LONDON — The NFL is returning to London in October for its first games in the city since the outbreak of the coronavirus.

The Atlanta Falcons will play the New York Jets on Oct. 10, and the Jacksonville Jaguars face the Miami Dolphins a week later. Both games will be staged at the stadium of Premier League soccer team Tottenham.

The Falcons and the Jaguars will be the home teams.

The NFL has played 28 games in London from 2007-19. None were played in the city in 2020 because of the pandemic.

The NFL said it was ready to return to London following a successful rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine in Britain.

“We expect these games to be a celebration of our sport and our robust UK fan base,” said Christopher Halpin, executive vice-president and chief strategy and growth officer.

It will be the Jaguars’ eighth home game in London. The Dolphins will play there for the fifth time, while the Falcons and the Jets will be in London for the second time.

NFL will return to London in October with 2 gameson May 12, 2021 at 3:38 pm Read More »