Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Van Morrison to release new songs
Singer-songwriter Van Morrison, whose decades as a musician produced hits such as “Brown Eyed Girl,” “Gloria” and “Moondance,” revealed Friday that he is releasing three protest songs that call for the restrictions on routine activities to be lifted.
In “No More Lockdown,” the Northern Irishman says the curbs “enslave” people, effectively labels the British government as “fascist bullies,” condemns celebrities for “telling us what we are supposed to feel” and charges scientists for “making up crooked facts.”
“I’m not telling people what to do or think. The government is doing a great job of that already,” he said. “It’s about freedom of choice. I believe people should have the right to think for themselves.”
Morrison, 75, is also releasing “Born To Be Free” and “As I Walked Out.” The former is slated for release Friday, followed by the other two songs a month later.
Morrison plans to perform the songs during his upcoming shows at the London Palladium.
Siriano stages backyard show: Christian Siriano, who turned his atelier into a mask-making machine, took to his Connecticut backyard Thursday for a cozy fashion show complete with picnic baskets for his small in-person crowd, masks on the faces of his models and a dip in his pool for pregnant muse Coco Rocha.
“We just needed an escape,” he said.
For the rest of the fashion industry, Siriano livestreamed the show. It was a rare New York Fashion Week show to include physical guests.
“I was scared people weren’t going to come all the way out here,” he said. “I just felt like my clothes, they need to be seen, and I’ve been sitting at home depressed. Really, I just wanted to have some fun.”
Siriano’s spring-summer collection was inspired in part by some of the things he’s been doing in lockdown: watching movies that he loved as a child, reading old comic books his mom sent, and painting and sketching in the home he moved into in April.
Like so many others in fashion, the pandemic hasn’t been easy for Siriano’s business. He quickly converted his operations to making masks for essential workers (about a million so far) after the pandemic hit, but he had to furlough workers and close a store.
Weinstein stripped of UK honor: Britain on Friday stripped disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein of an honor recognizing his contribution to the U.K. film industry.
Weinstein, 68, was given the honor in 2004. The former Hollywood producer was convicted earlier this year of rape and sexual assault against two women.
“The Queen has directed that the appointment of Harvey Weinstein to be an Honorary Commander of the Civil Division of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, dated January 19 2004, shall be cancelled and annulled and that his name shall be erased from the Register of the said Order,” according to a notice in The Gazette, the U.K.’s official public record.
Sept. 19 birthdays: Actor Rosemary Harris is 93. Actor David McCallum is 87. Actor Jeremy Irons is 72. Actor Twiggy Lawson is 71. Director Kevin Hooks is 62. Comedian Cheri Oteri is 58. Singer Trisha Yearwood is 56. Actor Sanaa Lathan is 49. TV host Jimmy Fallon is 46. Actor Alison Sweeney is 44. Actor Danielle Panabaker is 33.