Fears for Amy Winehouse
The father-in-law of the British singer Amy Winehouse urged her fans yesterday to boycott her music and said she should be ineligible for awards until she seeks treatment for drug addiction, the BBC reported. In an interview with BBC Radio 5 Live, Giles Fielder-Civil said that Ms. Winehouse and her husband, Blake, Mr. Fielder-Civil’s son, would die without medical help. “Perhaps it is time to stop buying records,” he said. “It’s a possibility, to send that message.” But Ms. Winehouse’s father, Mitch, said, “It won’t send any message to Amy at all, unfortunately,” adding, “If I thought it would, it would be a great idea.” Mr. Fielder-Civil said he believed that Ms. Winehouse, a nominee for a Mercury Music Prize, an MTV Video Music Award and four Music of Black Origin (MOBO) Awards for her 2006 album “Back to Black,” had been using cocaine, crack cocaine and possibly heroin. His wife, Georgette, said she feared that her son and Ms. Winehouse would eventually die unless they received medical help. In a statement, officials of Island Records, Ms. Winehouse’s label, said, “We have been doing everything we can to help with Amy’s personal problems over the past few weeks.” Ms. Winehouse, who is to turn 24 on Sept. 14, was hospitalized this month for “severe exhaustion” and withdrew from concerts in the United States and Canada “to address her health.”
Orders for Simpson Book Soar
Beaufort Books, the publisher of “If I Did It,” the recently revived book in which O. J. Simpson hypothesizes about how he might have murdered Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman in 1994, announced yesterday that it would print 125,000 copies and would likely go back to press before the book is released around Sept 13. Eric Kampmann, owner and president of Beaufort, said the company already had orders for 116,000 copies from chain bookstores, independents and online retailers. Although Barnes & Noble announced that it would not sell the book in its stores, advance orders online at bn.com propelled it to No. 1 on its best-seller list on Monday, and it hovered between No. 2 and 5 yesterday. Last fall, after a public outcry, HarperCollins scuttled plans for a 400,000-copy print run by its Regan Books imprint. Since then, the Goldman family won the rights in bankruptcy court to publish the book. Separately, Denise Brown, sister of Ms. Brown Simpson, said yesterday in a statement that she was withdrawing from a planned Sept. 13 appearance on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” alongside members of the Goldman family. “At the time of accepting this proposition from Oprah, a publisher was not yet established, and publication was still pending,” Ms. Brown said, adding: “Since then, the Goldmans have retained a publisher who is rushing the book to market as we speak. And thus, has made the show a moot point for me.” MOTOKO RICH
Lucerne to Get
An Opera House
The Lucerne Festival in Switzerland said yesterday it planned to build a 1,000-seat opera house, adding an important element to its classical music offerings. The festival put construction costs at $85 million, though it must still find a site and hold a competition for an architect. The hall will be flexible enough to present chamber music, music theater and experimental works, said Michael Haefliger, the event’s executive and artistic director. Taking place in summer and at Easter time, the festival operates in the Culture and Convention Center on Lake Lucerne, a much-praised modern building designed by Jean Nouvel. It has been trying to compete with its better-known rivals in Salzburg, Austria and Bayreuth, Germany, both opera destinations. “This project represents a quantum leap for the Lucerne Festival,” said Jürg Reinshagen, the festival’s board president, “and will position Lucerne even more prominently at the forefront of the international music scene.” DANIEL J. WAKIN
Beyond the Fringe
Record sales of 1.7 million tickets were announced yesterday, a day after the end of the 60th Edinburgh Festival Fringe, by organizers, the BBC reported. Sales increased 10 percent from last year’s total at the arts festival, which began on Aug. 5. ... The 75th Venice Film Festival opens today, with all 22 films in competition for the Golden Lion to be seen in their world premieres, Agence France-Presse reported. That has occurred only once before, last year.
Burning Man
Is Torched
Flames early yesterday singed but did not consume the figure of the Burning Man looming atop a pavilion at the Burning Man counterculture arts festival in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada, The Reno Gazette-Journal reported. The fire, reported at 2:58 a.m., was extinguished in 23 minutes. Onlookers shouted “save the man” and cheered the firefighters. Paul Addis, 35, of San Francisco, was arrested on suspicion of arson and illegal possession of fireworks, according to the sheriff’s department, The Associated Press reported. The official man-burning ceremony is scheduled for late Saturday.
‘Spring Awakening’ Perks Up
For a while there the musical “Spring Awakening” was barely making enough in a good week to meet its running costs. But after winning a raft of Tony Awards, unveiling a new advertising campaign and posting strong summer grosses, the show has recouped its original $4.2 million investment, said Ira Pittleman, one of its lead producers. ... Eve Best, nominated for a Tony last season for her performance in “A Moon for the Misbegotten,” has joined the production of Harold Pinter’s “Homecoming,” opening at the Cort on Broadway on Dec. 9. CAMPBELL ROBERTSON
The Sound of Reading
Colin Powell, Garrison Keillor, Sandra Day O’Connor and Robert Duvall will be among the voices in a new series of book readings and discussions on XM Satellite Radio, the company announced. The show, “The Big Read,” created by XM along with the National Endowment for the Arts and the online audio bookstore Audible, will feature complete readings of classic books and discussions with authors in 30-minute weekday installments, beginning on Sept. 10 with Ray Bradbury’s “Fahrenheit 451.” Other titles to be broadcast on XM’s Channel 164 include Fitzgerald’s “Great Gatsby” and Amy Tan’s “Joy Luck Club.” BEN SISARIO
Footnotes
A police log in Santa Monica, Calif., listed “attempt suicide” as the reason for officers’ response to a call from the home of the actor Owen Wilson on Sunday, The Associated Press reported. The log did not indicate who made the call. Mr. Wilson’s press representative, Ina Treciokas, declined yesterday to answer questions seeking to determine if Mr. Wilson, who was hospitalized, tried to kill himself. ... Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band announced yesterday their first full-scale international tour since 2002-3. The 13-country journey begins in Hartford on Oct. 2, the release date for Mr. Springsteen’s album “Magic,” and ends in London on Dec. 19. Mr. Springsteen and the band are to perform at the Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, N.J., on Oct. 9 and 10 and at Madison Square Garden on Oct. 17 and 18.
