Oscars 2025: Conan O'Brien hosts Hollywood's biggest night
The 'We Heart L.A.' intro makes sense, and was expected after the fires that ravaged the area. And Grande and Erivo's covers were also somewhat expected — organizers had previously announced there wouldn't be original song performances at the ceremonies this year. A little bizarre, but it gives them the opportunity to pull up crowd pleasing nostalgia-bait.
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Cision Canada
20-06-2025
- Cision Canada
Town of Wasaga Beach Launches Official Soundtrack of Summer -- Featuring Over 40 Artists Including April Wine, Neil Young, Burton Cummings, Bryan Adams, The Tragically Hip, The Beach Boys and Otis Redding
Local favourites include The Strumbellas, Bedouin Soundclash, Tim Hicks, Barstool Confession and more. WASAGA BEACH, ON, June 20, 2025 /CNW/ - It's the first official day of summer and to celebrate, the Town of Wasaga Beach has launched The Official Soundtrack of Summer. The Spotify playlist features over forty music legends, including April Wine, Neil Young, Burton Cummings, Bryan Adams, The Tragically Hip, The Beach Boys and Otis Redding. Local and made-in-Ontario bands that made the cut include: The Strumbellas, Bedouin Soundclash, Tim Hicks, Barstool Confession, Rob Watts Band, and more. Here are nine songs you will hear on The Official Soundtrack of Summer – inspired by memories of the Town's iconic Beach Drive, breathtaking sunsets, the iconic musicians, artists and cover artists who have performed in Wasaga Beach over the years, and the tribute artist who will perform live under the stars on the world's longest freshwater beach this summer: Heart of Gold Roller We Will Rock You When the Night Feels My Song American Woman Stronger Beer These are Our Years Spirits Sky Full of Stars Ariana Grande 's "Popular" from the Wicked soundtrack also made the inaugural cut. Wicked is one of the most highly anticipated films to be featured in this summer's Movies Under the Stars. Get involved in the summer fun! Listen. Follow. Tag. Listen on Spotify. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram, and help us grow this official soundtrack by submitting songs in the comments of official Town of Wasaga Beach social posts. Tag Explore Wasaga Beach in Instagram reels and posts of your visit to Wasaga Beach this summer for a chance to be featured on our grid, and win free beach swag and VIP passes to our annual Memories of Summer concert, which takes place under the stars at Beach Area 1 on August 30. Quotes "For over 100 years the Town of Wasaga Beach has been Ontario's iconic and most visited summer playground. This year, we're celebrating the first day of summer by kicking off a new tradition – launching The Official Soundtrack of Summer," said Mayor Brian Smith. "We welcome our visitors and residents to listen on Spotify, follow us on Facebook and Instagram, and help us grow this official soundtrack by submitting songs in the comments of official Town of Wasaga Beach social posts. Tag Explore Wasaga Beach on your Instagram reels and posts of your visit to Wasaga Beach this summer, and you could win officially licensed Wasaga Beach swag and VIP access to our annual Memories of Summer concert, taking place on August 30 under the stars at Beach Area 1." Quick facts Wasaga Beach is the longest freshwater beach in the world. It is consistently ranked one of the top ten beaches in Canada. Each year, the Town of Wasaga Beach welcomes almost 2 million visitors to our iconic Ontario beachfront community to enjoy local businesses, live music festivals and events – along with 14km of sandy beach you won't find anywhere else in the world. In Ontario, Canada, summer lasts for 93 days, 15 hours, and 37 minutes in 2025. This period begins with the June solstice and ends with the September equinox. To celebrate the last long weekend of summer, typically over 12,000 attendees gather at the Town's iconic Beach Area 1 for our annual Memories of Summer concert. Past concerts have featured electrifying live performances by Canadian music icons Tom Cochrane, April Wine and more. These beachfront concerts are followed by a large fireworks display, and admission is always FREE.
CTV News
17-06-2025
- CTV News
Ariana Grande shares that her grandmother Marjorie ‘Nonna' Grande has died
Ariana Grande and Marjorie 'Nonna' Grande at the 2016 American Music Awards in Los Angeles. Grande announced on June 17 that her grandmother has died. Kevin Mazur/AMA2016/WireImage/Getty Images via CNN Newsource Ariana Grande announced Tuesday that her grandmother Marjorie Grande, known to the singer's many fans as Nonna, has died. She was 99. The 'Yes, And' singer shared the news on her Instagram Stories, writing in a family statement that 'we are devastated to share that the beloved matriarch of our family has passed away.' 'Marjorie (Nonna) Grande passed peacefully in her home and was surrounded by her family and loved ones for every moment of her last few weeks,' the statement read. 'We thank you for your love, support and for respecting our privacy as we grieve and celebrate her beautiful, extraordinary life.' Ariana Grande's mother Joan also shared the statement on social media. CNN has reached out to Ariana Grande for further comment. Marjorie Grande was the Grammy-winner's maternal grandmother. Frankie Grande, Ariana's brother, also posted a tribute, writing on his Instagram page Tuesday, 'I love you endlessly, my sweet Nonna.' 'I miss you more than words can hold. My heart is shattered, but I feel you watching over me, already so proud of everything I've done and all that is about to come,' he added. 'Thank you for every moment, every lesson, every hug, every belly laugh.' Marjorie Grande's husband Frank, a veteran whom she met when she was 11 years old, according to a YouTube video posted to Ariana Grande's account, died in 2014 at age 90. 'My grandparents were just such incredible human beings,' Ariana Grande said on 'The Drew Barrymore Show' last year. Ariana Grande was known to share a close relationship with her grandmother, who accompanied her to several public events over the years and even appeared on a song from the singer's 2024 album 'Eternal Sunshine.' In March 2024, Grande's Nonna made history when she became the most-senior artist ever to appear on the Billboard Hot 100 at age 98, according to the music charting site. Marjorie Grande was cited on 'Ordinary Things' as a featured artist, a track that debuted on the chart at No. 55. Ariana Grande also made sure to share the magic of 'Wicked' with her Nonna last year when the singer and actress, who stars as Glinda the Good Witch in the 'Wicked' movies, made a pit stop in her hometown of Boca Raton to see the movie with her grandma. 'Thrilled to report when the sugar glider had her drum solo nonna exclaimed loudly 'oh i LOVE that,'' the Grammy-winner wrote on her Instagram page at the time, referring to her musical number 'Popular.' Marjorie Grande, too, took pride in her loving relationship with Ariana Grande, saying in a video message to her granddaughter shown on 'The Drew Barrymore Show' last year, 'I'm so proud of you.' 'You make me so proud,' Marjorie Grande added. 'Your talent is marvelous, I love you with all my heart.'
Winnipeg Free Press
14-06-2025
- Winnipeg Free Press
Local cast delivers bleak, brilliant Beckett classic
A recurring line that runs like a leitmotiv through Samuel Beckett's absurdist masterpiece Waiting for Godot is: 'What do we do now?' Well, in this case, not much of anything, other than ponder existential questions regarding happiness, love, loneliness and God, not to mention the frailties of the hopelessly mortal, fallible human condition itself. Shakespeare in the Ruins launched its second show of its summer season Friday night, with a rare local live production of Waiting for Godot, performed al fresco among the ruins at Trappist Monastery Provincial Heritage Park. CHRISTINE LESLIE PHOTO Vladimir (Arne MacPherson, left) and Estragon (Cory Wojcik) bicker and commiserate while waiting for Godot. The intimate 150-minute show (including intermission), ably directed by SIR artistic director Rodrigo Beilfuss, is performed in repertory with the company's ongoing mainstage show, Macbeth. Godot has puzzled and perplexed audiences ever since its 1953 première with its simple story about two seemingly homeless men waiting endlessly for the mysterious title character. Beckett's enigmatic narrative teems with non-sequiturs and mundane observations, in turn punctuated by snappy wordplay and the occasional, heartbreaking zinger that pierces the tragicomedy's lighter moments like a rapier. It's also not exactly a plot-driven drama, relying instead on strongly forged characters and their fleshed-out relationships as they form and then fall apart. Local thespians Arne MacPherson as Vladimir (Didi) and Cory Wojcik as his long-suffering pal Estragon (Gogo) prove a well-matched team, dressed in costume designer Anika Binding's ragtag suits and bowler hats, as they spar and bicker, bare their souls and ultimately cling to each other. Set/props designer Lovissa Wiens creates a barren landscape, including a deliciously industrial 'tree' wrapped in chicken wire and brambles, with cast-off shoes and junkyard garbage bags — even a broken TV set — strewn about the edges of the monastery, creating a desolate playground of decay. MacPherson — a founding member of SiR who dazzled as the title character during last year's production of Iago Speaks — compels as the duo's 'thinker,' although his matter-of-fact, often more rapid-fire vocal style, especially during his repeated references to Godot, invariably dilutes the absurdity of his portrayal. While it all boils down to personal taste, Godot — a mysterious, Oz-like figure — should be addressed with more solemnity and even reverence to create greater subtext, as well as a more pronounced schism between stark reality and dreamy imagination, the gap between what is and what can be in a world of bleakness. Despite this artistic choice, however, one of his final, blink-and-you-miss it lines, 'Tell (Godot) that you saw me, and that you saw me,' packs an existential punch of self-identity and validation; it's one of the play's most resonant themes — if not the very point of it all. For his part, Wojcik crafts a stumbling, carrot-loving tramp with the heart of a poet who gnaws on chicken bones and frets about such physical needs as sleep and comfortable boots. His razor-sharp timing and agile inflection help him toss off such salient lines as 'We are all born mad; some remain so,' as well as ruing 'Nothing to be done,' a key sentiment. Tom Keenan (King Duncan, witch and porter in Macbeth) crafts a powder-keg Pozzo, ready to blow, ferociously cracking his riding whip when he burst onto the stage with his battered, tethered slave, Lucky (Liam Dutiaume, marking his professional debut) midway through Act I. His compelling, volatile portrayal immediately pumps the show with larger-than-life theatricality, his declaration, 'I am Pozzo,' thundering across the ruins as he stands atop a large Tyndall stone block. CHRISTINE LESLIE PHOTO Cory Wojcik as the bootless Estragon A special bravo to Dutiaume for a brilliant, less-is-more rendering of his ironically named, white-wigged zombie, his sunken eyes transfixed as he dutifully obeys Pozzo's barked commands. The actor, also appearing as Malcolm and Witch in Macbeth, nails Lucky's big speech (following his shuffling dance), proving to Vladimir and Estragon his ability to 'think' by delivering a staccato word salad of nonsensical imagery, pithy bon mots and guttural utterances. Beilfuss's thoughtful blocking (which at times is overly static, as when Pozzo is seated on his stool for far too long) adds texture to his overall delivery, seeing Lucky climb onto the stone block to spew out words directly to the audience. Sundays Kevin Rollason's Sunday newsletter honouring and remembering lives well-lived in Manitoba. His pacing might have been quicker — a tall order, to be sure — to convey Lucky's rising desperation, although kudos are owed to the actor for fearlessly attacking Beckett's knotty text. The show highlights the first joint professional stage appearance by Wojcik and his actor son Mackenzie (Witch in Macbeth). The latter makes every moment count as the goat-herder 'Boy,' delivering messages from Godot, his spot-on conviction and guileless innocence proving the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. The play itself ends not with a bang, but a whimper. There is no resolution; Godot never arrives. While some pundits surmise that Beckett's play is about inertia, with a chaser of pre-supposed meaningless of life, Estragon's potent Act II question to Vladimir — 'Do you think God sees me?' — refutes the perennial argument that Godot is fundamentally a secular play. In the end, this cryptic conundrum will never be answered, and will continue, as it has for the last 73 years, to elicit a prism of interpretation by all those who see it. But that's probably just how its stable of all-too-human, flawed characters, as they grit their teeth and grapple with 'life,' would have liked it.
