Names and faces
■ A rescued husky dog named Bret Michaels has been adopted by the human rock star Bret Michaels. Michaels, 60 — frontman of the glam rock band Poison — first heard the story of his namesake pup when the Nebraska Humane Society shared a Facebook post about the canine, whose blood was used to save a month-old kitten. Last week’s post recounted that three stray kittens, each a month old, had been brought into the shelter in Omaha, and one was in rough condition. The kitten — who was later named Thorn, after Poison’s 1980’s hit “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” — was suffering from major blood loss, which caused it to develop anemia. To survive, it needed a blood transfusion and there wasn’t time to determine its type and find a suitable donor. The shelter’s vet came up with a backup plan called xeno transfusion, which involves transfusing blood from one species into another. “It ended up working out really well. After 15 minutes, he was doing great, his heart rate had slowed down, he wasn’t shivering nearly as much,” said Alec Rose of the shelter. Two days after sharing the post, the shelter received a private Facebook message from Michaels’ official account. Staff members felt that it was “definitely meant to be,” Rose said, adding that Michaels told him that one of his three German shepherds died a few weeks ago. “I’ve had pets ever since I was a child,” Michaels said. “Being diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at the age of 6, it is family and friends, along with pets, music, sports and incredible fans that have kept my spirits rocking.”
■ Finishing her class at The Juilliard School of the arts in New York, Greek opera great Maria Callas gave her students a final word of advice. “Keep on going the proper way: Not with fireworks, not with easy applause, but with the expression of the words, the diction, and to really feel what you feel. That’s what I want. I’m not good at words, so that’s that.” The March 1972 speech was a detail little known to her admiring public, along with letters, jewelry and countless honors that include a postage stamp series from Kyrgyzstan and Congo, that is now on display. Athens’ Maria Callas Museum, marking a century since the birth to Greek parents of the legendary soprano in New York, opened to the public Thursday, with sections of the museum connected by a red carpet. The top floors offer a re-created room of her Paris apartment, an imaginary forest and a sound studio, along with recordings of her famed live performances and clips of her lessons at The Juilliard School. Born Maria Kalogeropoulos, the singer made her professional debut in Athens as an 18-yearold student and died in Paris at 53 after a career that some still consider to be unrivaled in opera. Callas’ life has been honored with a year of artistic events in Greece as well as the forthcoming movie “Maria,” starring Angelina Jolie.