Quick Takes: Lady Antebellum re-creates ‘worst gig ever’

More than 1,000 people showed up at a gas station in Richfield, Wis., Thursday to help Lady Antebellum relive its “worst gig ever.”

The country trio played its hit song “Need You Now” along with two others during a free mini-concert at the Mayfield Mobil station in suburban Milwaukee.

It was a reenactment of a performance at a nearby gas station/restaurant at the crack of dawn during opening day of Wisconsin’s deer hunting season, long before the band went platinum.

—Associated Press

Silent films back in U.S.

There weren’t any starlets or red carpet, but the Library of Congress had a blockbuster day at the movies on Thursday.

The government of Russia presented the Library of Congress with digitally preserved copies of 10 silent films that previously had been thought to be lost forever.

According to the Library of Congress, more than 80% of American movies from 1893-1930 — also known as the “silent era” — no longer exist in the United States.

“A study published by the Library of Congress in 1993 concluded that the majority of U.S. movies from the 1920s survive only in foreign film archives,” said Librarian of Congress James Billington.

He went on to explain that in the days of early American movie-making, many studios and theaters simply threw old movies away. Russia, he explained, didn’t generally throw them away. Many of the films sat in storage, making it possible for them to be preserved for restoration today.

—CNN

Rushdie looks to memories

A memoir by Salman Rushdie is coming in 2012.

Random House Inc. said Thursday it would release the book by the author best known for the 1988 novel “The Satanic Verses” and the call for his death by Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini.

The memoir, currently untitled, will cover Rushdie’s childhood, his family life — he has been married four times — and his time in hiding because of fears about his safety.

—Associated Press

Russian wins piano meet

A jury of the world’s leading pianists awarded this year’s Chopin Piano Competition to Russian Yulianna Avdeeva, the first woman to win the prestigious classical music competition in 45 years.

Avdeeva, 25, was selected by the jury for the gold medal and $41,500 prize.

Winning the title opens the doors to the best concert halls around the globe and deals with recording companies.

“I’m very excited, it is difficult to describe in words, but I’m very, very happy to be here,” Avdeeva said after the competition ended Wednesday night in Warsaw.

Held only once every five years, the competition involves three grueling weeks of performing the works of Poland’s beloved 19th century composer, Frédéric Chopin.

The prize for runner-up was shared between Ingolf Wunder, a 25-year-old Austrian, and Moscow-born Lithuanian Lukas Geniusas, 20.

—Associated Press

Williams cast as NYC ‘Tiger’

Robin Williams will star in the Broadway production of “Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo” when the dark and violent war drama jumps to New York from Los Angeles, where Kevin Tighe had the lead role in productions at the Mark Taper Forum and the Kirk Douglas Theatre.

“Bengal Tiger,” written by Rajiv Joseph, is scheduled to open March 31 at a still undetermined Broadway theater. Moisés Kaufman, who directed the L.A. productions, will return to stage the New York version.

Hardly family-friendly fare, “Bengal Tiger” is grim, bleak and tragic, although certain scenes have a perverse sense of humor. The play follows the intersecting stories of two American soldiers, two sons of Saddam Hussein and several other characters caught up in the current Iraq war.

—David Ng

Finally

Film fest: A 60th anniversary restoration of the Oscar-winning musical “An American in Paris” will be the opening-night film for the TCM Classic Movie Festival that will run April 28 to May 1 at Hollywood’s Chinese and Egyptian theaters. Passes go on ale Nov. 3 at https://www.tcm.com/festival.