Couric lines up guests for book tour
Katie Couric’s upcoming book tour will have some well-known guests.
Live Nation announced Thursday that Jennifer Garner, “Saturday Night Live” performers Chloe Fineman and Melissa Villasenor, and Brad and Kimberly Paisley will be among those joining Couric for appearances around the country in support of her upcoming memoir “Going There.”
The Paisleys will be with her in Nashville, Tennessee. Fineman and Villasenor are scheduled for New York City, and Garner for Los Angeles.
TV personality Tan France will be at the opening event in Boston. Other guests are Food Network host and bestselling author Ina Garten in Atlanta, Chance the Rapper in Chicago, and a couple of fellow journalists: Savannah Guthrie, co-host of the “Today” show (Couric’s former job), in Philadelphia and Kara Swisher, an opinion writer for The New York Times and technology reporter, in Washington.
#MeToo activist Tarana Burke and singer Allison Russell also are expected to make appearances during the tour that runs from Oct. 28 to Nov. 15.
Stones drop ‘Brown Sugar’ from playlist:
The Rolling Stones have not played their controversial 1971 hit “Brown Sugar” on their current “No Filter” tour. Guitarist Keith Richards somewhat addressed the omission during an interview with a reporter who noticed the song wasn’t on the British band’s playlist.
“Brown Sugar” starts aboard a slave ship headed to New Orleans to provide workers for the cotton fields. There are sexual implications in lyrics about a subject who looks, and tastes, “so good” — “Just
like a Black girl should.”
Richards said he’s not completely sure why the tune is suddenly a problem, but he does appreciate sensibilities have changed since the song’s release.
“Didn’t they understand this was a song about the horrors of slavery? But they’re trying to bury it,” he said. “At the moment I don’t want to get into conflicts with all of this (expletive).”
It’s Richards’ hope that this isn’t the end for the song. Singer Mick Jagger agreed the hit is out of the mix for now, but it hasn’t been retired.
“We’ve played ‘Brown Sugar’ every night since 1970, so sometimes you think, ‘We’ll take that one out for now and see how it goes,’ ” Jagger said. “We
might put it back in.”
Hopkins joins ‘Son’ cast: Fresh off the success of his Academy Award win for his turn in Florian Zeller’s “The Father,” Anthony Hopkins will star in the playwright/director’s follow-up, “The Son.”
“After our journey on ‘The Father,’ I couldn’t make another film without Anthony,” Zeller said in a statement. “He was the first one to read ‘The Son’s’ script, as one of its characters was written especially for him. Having him by our side to tell this new story has been an honor, a profound joy and very emotional.”
Hopkins joins an all-star cast that also includes Hugh Jackman, Laura Dern and Vanessa Kirby.