lifestyle THURSDAY, JANUARY 15, 2015

Music & Movies Madonna, AC/DC to play Grammys ceremony

op icon Madonna and veteran hard rockers AC/DC The Grammys also tapped heavy metal veterans last will join younger stars in performing at the Grammys year with a performance by Metallica, who played the 25- Pon February 8, organizers of the music industry’s pre- year-old song “One” with classical pianist Lang Lang. mier awards show announced Tuesday. Other musicians Another musician scheduled to play this year’s Grammys is chosen to play at one of the year’s most-watched concerts the country star Eric Church, who is in contention for four include the English singer and songwriter Ed Sheeran, awards. — AFP whose “X” is up for the Grammys’ prestigious Album of the Year, and the child star turned pop singer Ariana Grande, who is nominated in two categories. Madonna, who has won seven Grammys over her three- decade career, is scheduled in March to release a new album, “Rebel Heart,” in which she goes further in a hip- hop direction. She abruptly released six songs from the album in December after versions leaked on the Internet. Madonna, who has a large following in the gay community, also played the Grammys last year in a surprise move, join- ing Macklemore and Ryan Lewis in their same-sex marriage anthem, “Same Love,” as 33 couples of diverse backgrounds got married on the Grammys floor in Los Angeles. AC/DC will take the stage after tumult among the veter- an Australian hard rockers as drummer Phil Rudd faced allegations of hiring a hitman in New Zealand and found- ing member Malcolm Young retired to a special care home as he suffers dementia. AC/DC, who released a 15th solo In this March 23, 2009 file photo, members of Australian In this February 5, 2012 file photo singer Madonna (top) performs with Redfoo and Sky Blu of LMFAO during the NFL album, “Rock or Bust,” last year, is due to play at the legendary hard rock band AC/DC Brian Johnson and Super Bowl XLVI game halftime show at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana. Coachella music festival in southern California two months Angus Young perform at the Laszlo Papp Arena in later. Budapest. — AFP photos Joel, Mumford & Sons, Lamar set for Bonnaroo

he 2015 Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival will feature a star-studded lineup including Billy Joel, Mumford & TSons and Kendrick Lamar. Robert Plant, Deadmau5, and Florence + the Machine will also perform during the four-day event that kicks off June 11 in Manchester, Tennessee. Tickets go on sale Saturday. More than 125 bands and 20 comedians will perform across 12 stages. Earth, Wind & Fire, My Morning Jacket, Bassnectar, Alabama Shakes, Childish Gambino, Hozier and Gary Clark Jr will also per- form. Kanye West headlined the Bonnaroo festival last year. More performers for this year’s festival will be announced at a later date. — AP Garth Brooks tops Elvis on

US all-time list In this May 22, 2014 file photo, Mumford & Sons winning the International Achievement Awards at the 59th Ivor Novello Awards at the Grosvenor House in London. ountry star Garth Brooks, who came out of retirement last year, has surpassed Elvis Presley Cas the solo artist to sell the most albums in the United States, industry figures showed. But Brooks remains well-below the all-time top-sellers in US his- tory-the Beatles, who according to the Recording Industry Association of America have sold 178 mil- lion albums. Brooks and Presley, who died in 1977, have repeatedly swapped spots for number two on the list. Brooks’ career soared in the 1990s as his country songs won a crossover audience. After a break in which he raised a family, Brooks released his first album in 13 years, “Man Against Machine,” in November. The industry association last week certi- fied “Man Against Machine” as platinum-meaning it has sold at least one million copies. With the certifi- cation, Brooks has again risen to the top-with 135 million albums against 134.5 million for The King. Presley’s estate has in the past disputed such rankings as the industry association focuses on sales of albums rather than singles. Presley had a long string of blockbuster hits, released on 45-RPM records, starting in the 1950s. The recording associa- tion lists Led Zeppelin in fourth place for all-time US album sales, followed by the Eagles, Billy Joel and Michael Jackson. — AFP In this Oct 2, 2014 file photo, Kendrick Lamar performs In this May 9, 2014 file photo, Billy Joel performs at In this June 28, 2014 file photo, Robert Plant performs on during We Day at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Madison Square Garden in New York. the Pyramid main stage at Glastonbury music festival, in Canada. England.— AP photos Woody Allen returns to Sienna Miller on acting, ‘American Sniper’

ith long dark hair and an American accent, British Q: How intimidating was it playing Taya? TV roots with Amazon series actress Sienna Miller disappears into her role as the A: In playing a real person you want to do your best to cap- Wwife of a US Navy SEAL sharpshooter in the film ture as much as possible of their energy and spirit ... You just try scar-winning filmmaker Woody Allen is going back to his Tonight Show”-a venerable late-night program that he also wrote “American Sniper.” Blond, blue-eyed Miller has ramped up her to capture the essence of someone and then lean on Clint TV roots in a deal with online giant Amazon to write and for in his youth. career since the birth of her daughter in 2012. Next month, she Eastwood. — Reuters Odirect his own series that will premiere next year. The news More recently, in 2001, Allen wrote and directed a three- takes over as singer Sally Bowles for the final weeks of “Cabaret” comes as the world’s biggest online retailer celebrates its first minute television comedy short called “Sounds from a Town I on Broadway. The musical set in pre-World War Two Berlin is a Golden Globes for its transgender-themed sitcom “Transparent”-a Love” about his beloved hometown New York in the wake of the world away from her role in “American Sniper” as Taya Kyle, breakthrough in its efforts to catch up with streaming pioneer 9/11 attacks. Amazon said Allen would deliver “a full season” of whose husband Chris, played by Bradley Cooper, was the dead- Netflix. Amazon said the “Untitled Woody Allen Project” will run half-hour episodes that subscribers to its Prime Instant Video serv- liest marksman in Navy history. sometime next year on its growing Amazon Prime Instant Video ice will be able to see in the United States, Britain and Germany. The Clint Eastwood film opens in US theaters tomorrow and service. “Additional details, including casting information, will be made depicts the impact of war on a soldier and his family. Kyle sur- “I don’t know how I got into this. I have no ideas and I’m not available in the future,” it said. vived four tours in Iraq but was killed by a disgruntled US veter- sure where to begin,” the 79-year-old Allen said in a statement an at a gun range near his Texas home in 2013. Miller, 33, spoke from Amazon Studios, the company’s TV content arm. “My guess ‘Visionary creator’ about film choices, motherhood and playing real people. is that (Amazon Studios chief) Roy Price will regret this,” he added A season of original TV programming for the Internet typically in his trademark wry humor. The project is a coup for Amazon’s runs about a dozen episodes, released simultaneously. “Woody Q: What attracted you to playing Taya? on-demand Internet video streaming service, which alongside Allen is a visionary creator who has made some of the greatest A: The story was so interesting to me. It is so culturally far Netflix is upending the traditional broadcast television business films of all-time, and it’s an honor to be working with him on his removed from where I’ve grown up and the world I have lived model. first television series,” Price said. in. It is undeniably compelling and the idea, as a new mother, of “From ‘Annie Hall’ to ‘Blue Jasmine,’ Woody has been at the cre- being in that position of having children and not knowing Allen’s TV background ative forefront of American cinema, and we couldn’t be more every day whether your husband would survive, and what that Amazon said the show would be the first TV series to be writ- excited to premiere his first TV series exclusively on Prime Instant would be like. ten and directed by Allen-but it’s by no means his first experience Video next year.” Allen has won four Oscars-three for best screen- with the small screen. In the mid-1950s, as television took center play for “Annie Hall,” “Hannah and her Sisters,” and “Midnight in Q: Has motherhood changed your career choices? stage in America’s living rooms, Allen found lucrative work as a Paris,” and a best director statuette for “Annie Hall.” News of his A: I felt for awhile that I had done work that I was proud of in gag writer for comedian Sid Caesar and variety show host Garry Amazon deal comes nearly a year after his adopted daughter films before and then been maybe disappointed with the ulti- Moore. He wrote and appeared in some episodes of “Candid Dylan Farrow alleged he molested her when she was seven years mate result. I knew what I was capable of and I knew what I was Camera,” turned up as a guest panelist on “What’s My Line?” and ago in the early 1990s-a claim that he strongly denied. exploring, but I never had the experience of working with the recorded a one-off stand-up comedy special for British television Irish technology and pop culture writer Mic Wright, on the best directors. And somehow having a baby changed things. in 1965, “The Woody Allen Show.” TNW.com tech news website, said Amazon, by signing up Allen, For American public television, Allen in 1971 directed and was delivering “a smack in the face” to child abuse survivors. In Q: You’ve recently played American characters. Why did starred in a mock documentary, “Men of Crisis: The Harvey November, Netflix postponed a comedy special with another US you go after those roles? Wallinger Story,” lampooning then-president Richard Nixon. Its bit- entertainment icon, Bill Cosby, as several women came forward A: It’s more interesting to me to explore something that is ing satire proved too much for television executives who nixed with allegations of sexual assault, which he denies. — AFP far away from what I am. Bradley and I went on to do another the flick at the last minute, fearing Nixon might retaliate with a film after “American Sniper” and I play someone English and I funding cut. “Men of Crisis” endures on video websites. The same sound like myself and I just felt so self conscious through the year, Allen also did a turn as guest host of NBC television’s “The whole process.