Johnny Mercer

Holiday CDs for every musical taste

This year's bountyof new holiday releases offers thoughts of the season from a slew of musicians, including a pair of singers who've officially "Got Talent," an "American Idol" alumnus, a neo-rockabilly hipster, a former member of an influential British...

Tags: David Foster, Plastic Surgeons, America's Got Talent (tv program), Lou Reed, Chynna Phillips

Bruce Ricker dies at 68; jazz and blues documentarian

Documentary filmmaker Bruce Ricker didn't start out making films. A native New Yorker who earned a law degree from Brooklyn Law School, he arrived in Kansas City in 1970 as a teaching assistant at the University of Missouri and soon began practicing law....

Tags: Carnegie Hall, Staten Island (New York City), Budd Boetticher, Count Basie, PBS (tv network)

Mary Cleere Haran dies at 58; cabaret-style singer

Mary Cleere Haran, a singer, actress and writer whose performances and recordings brought new perspectives to classic American popular songs, died Saturday in Deerfield Beach, Fla. She was 58. The Broward County coroner's office confirmed that she died...

Tags: Claudette Colbert, Michael Feinstein, Doris Day, PBS (tv network), Jerome Kern

Margaret Whiting dies at 86; pop singer mentored by Johnny Mercer

Margaret Whiting, a pop singer for television, film, cabaret and Broadway whose recordings of such standards as "That Old Black Magic" and "Come Rain or Come Shine" sold millions of copies in the 1940s and '50s, has died. She was 86. Whiting died...

Tags: Harold Arlen, Music Theater, Cole Porter, Chicago Tribune, Armed Forces

Blake Edwards dies at 88; 'Pink Panther' director was master of slapstick comedy

Blake Edwards, a writer-director who battled depression in his personal life yet was known as a modern master of slapstick and sophisticated wit with hit films such as the "Pink Panther" comedies, "10" and "Breakfast at Tiffany's," has died. He was 88....

Tags: St. John's Health Center, Frankie Laine, Broadway Theater, Movies, Audrey Hepburn

'The Nat King Cole TV Show' coming to iTunes on Feb. 15

Dr. Steve Exclusive One On One With Dolly Parton

"I've always been a writer. My songs are the door to every dream I've ever had and every success I've ever achieved," says Dolly Parton of her incredible career, which has spanned nearly five decades and is showing no signs of slowing down. An...

Tags: Concerts, Common, Country and Western (genre), Noise (movie), Entertainment Events

Walk, don't run to 'The All Night Strut!'

"The All Night Strut!" is really more of a stroll. The revue of 1930s and 1940s standards playing through April 29 at Stage Door Theatre in Coral Springs just doesn't have the gait of a strut. At times, it even slows down to a promenade. This isn't to...

Tags: Cab Calloway, Charlie Parker, Duke Ellington, Cole Porter, Dorothy Fields

Frank Sinatra, Irving Berlin on tap for Winter Park Playhouse 2012-13 season

The Winter Park Playhouse will continue its tradition of offering lighthearted musical theater in its 2012-13 season. There's one theater staple — "Nunsense" — in the lineup, as well as tributes to American icons Irving Berlin and Frank...

Tags: Concerts, Cab Calloway, Today (tv program), Music Theater, Patrick J. Brady

Winter Park Playhouse celebrates 10th anniversary with special season-ticket pricing

The Winter Park Playhouse will continue its tradition of offering lighthearted musical theater in its upcoming 10th-anniversary season. And, as a thank-you to series subscribers, season tickets will be offered at the original 2002 prices. There's one...

Tags: Cab Calloway, Concerts, Music Theater, Broadway Theater, Entertainment Events

Daniel Tosh bringing show to Richmond

RICHMOND, Va. (WTVR) - Comedian and Comedy Central star Daniel Tosh will perform at the Landmark Theater in Richmond, Virginia on April 12, 2012. Tosh announced his plans to tour the country this Spring on the season premiere of his show Tosh.0 this...

Tags: St. Louis, Music, Verizon Wireless, Austin (Chicago, Illinois), Comedy Central (tv network)

Breakfast At Tiffany's: 50th Anniversary Edition (Blu-ray)

THE FILM: In the pantheon of all time great romance films, BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S sits right up at the top with CASABLANCA. Though firmly grounded in 1960’s New York, the story of Holly Golightly (Audrey Hepburn) has transcended the trappings...

Tags: Arts, Marilyn Monroe, Givenchy, History, Truman Capote