MUSIC NEWS: FRIDAY, JANUARY 22, 2016
RENE ANGELIL FUNERAL
The funeral service for Celine Dion's late husband will be held in Montreal this afternoon.
People will gather at the Notre-Dame Basilica to say goodbye to Rene Angelil, who died of throat cancer last week at the age of 73.
That is the church where the couple married in 1994 and where Dion greeted several hundred mourners at a viewing on Thursday.
Archbishop of Montreal Christian Lepine will preside over today's ceremony, which is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. eastern.
Dion's family accepted an offer by Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard for the government to play a role in the organization of the funeral.
Couillard has announced the flag at the legislature will fly at half-mast today.
(The Canadian Press)
ADELE'S - YOUTUBE - ONE BILLION VIEWS
Lots of folks are saying ``Hello'' to Adele online. The video for her hit is now the fastest to reach one-billion views on YouTube. It's reached the mark in 87 days. It took Psy's ``Gangnam Style'' 158 days to get to one-billion.
``Hello'' spent its first 10 weeks at number-one on Billboard's Hot 100 chart.
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PETE SEEGER - FESTIVAL
Pete Seeger's annual music festival is off this year because of financial problems. The board of directors for the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater organization decided this week to cancel the festival, set for June 18th and 19th. Seeger started the concerts in the 1970s as a fundraiser for the vessel the Clearwater to serve as a floating classroom for environmental causes. The Clearwater is undergoing a restoration right now, and the group's president says all efforts are going toward that. The festival is expected to return in 2017. David Crosby, Los Lobos, Lucinda Williams, Norah Jones and the Mavericks have played the festival in the past.
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GREGG ALLMAN MOVIE - DIRECTOR
A Georgia judge has turned down early release from jail for the director of the movie about Gregg Allman's life who was sentenced in the death of a camera assistant. Former ``Midnight Rider'' director Randall Miller had asked to be freed after serving less than half of his two-year sentence. He had pleaded guilty last March to involuntary manslaughter and trespassing in the death of Sarah Jones. She was killed in February
2014 when the movie had set up on a train bridge without permission and a freight train came through.
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MARILYN MANSON - ``SALEM''
Marilyn Manson will have a guest role on the W-G-N America drama ``Salem.'' He will play a barber and surgeon. Manson co-wrote the show's theme song, ``Cupid Carries a Gun.'' The show reimagines the era of the Salem witch trials as if the witches are real. Production on the show's third season began yesterday in Shreveport, Louisiana.
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``AMERICAN IDOL'' - FINAL AUDITIONS
And the last golden ticket goes to -- Manny Torres. This is ``American Idol's'' final season. Torres gets the judge's last ticket to Hollywood. The judges liked his controlled energy and his focus on the song. But Torres is far from alone. When the Hollywood Round begins next week, 190 hopefuls will be trying to make it to the live performances. Red head Colette Lush also impressed the judges, with her hair and her voice. Jennifer Lopez says she could be the next Carrie Underwood. Farm girl Lillian Glanton did an original song for the judges, ``Country Boyfriend.''
The Alabama high school sophomore also gets a golden ticket, despite some rough spots in her performance.
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