Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Keith Urban plays drive-in concert
Country star performs at a Tennessee drive-in theater for a crowd of more than 200 medical workers.
Country star Keith Urban is used to playing massive stages full of lights, speakers and screens in front of tens of thousands of screaming fans, but his latest gig was mostly just him and two other musicians playing on a flatbed truck in front of about 125 cars.
Urban played the Stardust Drive-In movie theater, about 40 miles east of Nashville, Tennessee, on Thursday for a crowd of more than 200 medical workers from Vanderbilt Health.
“It’s like glorified karaoke,” Urban said of the setup that included a band member playing prerecorded tracks and another guitar/keyboard player.
In the wake of the new coronavirus outbreak, Urban hadn’t played a live show since February. Urban said it took him and his promoter Live Nation about a month to plan the surprise drive-in concert.
Urban said he wanted to thank all the health care workers who have been on the front line of the pandemic.
“Walking on stage, it was just huge gratitude, particularly for that audience last night,” he said.
Dennis Quaid dishes on
his new podcast: Dennis Quaid has the right stuff to get through the quarantine. “I’m an actor,” the 66-year-old star said from his home in Los Angeles. “I’m used to going months without work.”
Quaid is keeping busy these days, launching a new podcast, “Dennissance,” in which he interviews famous friends like Billy Ray Cyrus and Billy Bush. In the process, he reveals a lot from his own life, including his battle with alcoholism.
“I feel like if I’m asking my guests to be personal, I have to do the same,” said Quaid, who also contributes a voice to the podcast “Bear and a Banjo,” a fictional journey through music history whose participants include Bob Dylan. “I give my guests complete editorial control. That way they can just relax. Talk shows can be nerve-wracking. The first one I ever did was ‘The Merv Griffin Show.’ I was so nervous, I could barely put two words together.”
CBS orders a third ‘Star
Trek’ series: CBS All Access is bringing back Spock for its third full live action show in the “Star Trek” universe, ordering a new series set in the years before Capt. James T. Kirk helmed the USS Enterprise. “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” will star Anson Mount as Capt. Christopher Pike, Rebecca Romijn as Number One and Ethan Peck as Science Officer Spock.
It will be the third show in the Alex Kurtzm an pioneered Trek verse after “Star Trek: Discovery” and “Star Trek: Picard.” Peck,
Mount and Romijn will be reprising their respective roles from season two of “Discovery.”
“Fans fell in love with Anson Mount, Rebecca Romijn and Ethan Peck’s portrayals of these iconic characters when they were first introduced on ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ last season,” said Julie McNamara, executive vice president and head of programming at CBS All Access.
There’s also an animated series in the works, “Star Trek: Lower Decks.”
May 16 birthdays: Actor Danny Trejo is 76. Actor Pierce Brosnan is 67. Actress Debra Winger is 65. Singer Janet Jackson is 54. Singer Ralph Tresvant is 52. Actor David Boreanaz is 51. Actress Tracey Gold is 51. Actor Khary Payton is 48. Actress Tori Spelling is 47. DJ Alex Pall is 35. Actress Megan Fox is 34. Actor Marc John Jefferies is 30.