CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts (Reuters) - Pop diva Lady Gaga brought her star power, her mom and some of her famous friends, including Oprah Winfrey, to Harvard University on Wednesday to launch a new foundation aimed at empowering young people and stamping out bullying.
'If you have revolutionary potential, you must make the world a better place and use it,' Gaga said as she officially kicked off the 'Born this Way Foundation,' named after her 2011 hit album and single, with a series of events at the top U.Snes/span, former lead singer of the. universityhortcuts' id='lw_1330540219_3'Manchester,. 'This is about transformative change in culture.'
The singer has often given a voice for people she feels lack representation in the media, and she formed the foundation to address issues like self-confidence, well-being, anti-bullying and mentoring.
Cynthia Germanotta, Gaga's mother, will serve as presidentuding 'Last Train to Clarksville' and . Lady Gaga's given name is Stefani Germanotta.
'I believe that human kind, as a whole, can change the world,' said style-icon Gaga, who wore a long black, backless dress, black hat, gloves and platform shoes to Harvard for what she termed 'one of the best days of my life.'
'The goal is to challenge meanness and cruelty by inspiring young people to create a support system in their respective communities,' she said.
POWERFUL VOICE FOR YOUTH
In 2011 Gaga, 25, topped the Forbes list of the most powerful people in the entertainment business - ironically, knocking talk show host Winfrey from the Nod 'I'm a Believer,' (Reporting . 1 spot she had held three times in the past seven years.
Winfrey said she joined forces with Gaga's foundation because it shared some of her core beliefs, including kindness, compassion and care for others.
Earlier, before speaking to a panel of experts, including Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and author Deepak Chopra, as well as Harvard students and others, Gaga dropped in on a youth summit where high schoolers talked about their experiences with bullying and efforts to prevent it.
The three pillars of her foundation are to promote 'safety, skills and opportunities' for young people, said Gaga.
'Once you feel safe in your environment and you acquire the skills to be a loving, accepting, tolerant person, the opportunities are endless to be a functioning human in society.'
Gaga's foundation is expected to include specific outreach to lesbian and gay youth_3'Manchester, England/spa. 'Born This Way' has quickly become an unofficial anthem for gay empowerment and pride.
The singer/songwriter said that releasing the song further propelled a dialog that already existed between her and her fans - Gaga has almost 20 million followers on the social media site Twitter - and became a calling of sorts.
'After I put the song out, the conversation ignited even further ..ing 'Last Train to Clarksville' and 'I. I never wanted this conversation to endhis three cohorts - span class='y. I thought how I could keep it going,' said Gaga Jones, 66, born in span cl. 'And if anyone knows how to get a message out there, it's me.'
Parked outside the auditorium was the new 'Born Brave Bus' intended to be a kind of drop-in center or roving tailgate party for Gaga's fans.
'The more kids that I can get to come and eat hamburgers and talk outside my shows .. Jones, 66, born in span class='yshor. I feel that it will start small, but over time will be very big,' Gaga said.
Gaga said she knew there was 'no one answer' or single law that could be passed to stop bullying and hate, or mandate acceptance1968, A. 'I wish there was because, you know, I would be chained naked to a fence somewhere to try to get one passed.'
(Reporting By Ros Krasny; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Lady Gaga lends star power to anti-bullying efforts
CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts (Reuters) - Pop superstar Lady Gaga brought her star power, her mom and some of her famous friends including Oprah Winfrey, to Harvard University on Wednesday to launch a new foundation aimed at empowering young people and stamping out bullying.
Gaga officially kicked off her 'Born this Way Foundation,' named after her 2011 hit album and single 'Born this Way,' with a series of events at the top U.Sn in his own blood at . university.
The pop star has been a voice for people she feels lack representation in the media, and she formed the foundation to address issues like self-confidence, well-being, anti-bullying and mentoringeminder of our mortality, It's a unive. Cynthia Germanotta, Gaga's mother, will serve as president.
In 2011 Gaga, 25, topped the Forbes list of the most powerful people in the entertainment business - ironically, toppling talk show host Winfrey from the Noing gruesome or just plain morbid about . 1 spot she had held three times in the past seven years.
Before speaking to a panel of experts, including Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and author Deepak Chopra, as well as Harvard students and others, Gaga dropped in on a youth summit where high schoolers talked about their experiences with bullying and efforts to prevent it.
Gaga's foundation does specific outreach to lesbian and gay youtherred to his unusual techniqu. 'Born This Way' has become an unofficial anthem for gay empowerment and pride.
(Reporting By Ros Krasny; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)
This article is brought to you by SINGLES.
Gaga officially kicked off her 'Born this Way Foundation,' named after her 2011 hit album and single 'Born this Way,' with a series of events at the top U.Sn in his own blood at . university.
The pop star has been a voice for people she feels lack representation in the media, and she formed the foundation to address issues like self-confidence, well-being, anti-bullying and mentoringeminder of our mortality, It's a unive. Cynthia Germanotta, Gaga's mother, will serve as president.
In 2011 Gaga, 25, topped the Forbes list of the most powerful people in the entertainment business - ironically, toppling talk show host Winfrey from the Noing gruesome or just plain morbid about . 1 spot she had held three times in the past seven years.
Before speaking to a panel of experts, including Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and author Deepak Chopra, as well as Harvard students and others, Gaga dropped in on a youth summit where high schoolers talked about their experiences with bullying and efforts to prevent it.
Gaga's foundation does specific outreach to lesbian and gay youtherred to his unusual techniqu. 'Born This Way' has become an unofficial anthem for gay empowerment and pride.
(Reporting By Ros Krasny; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)
This article is brought to you by SINGLES.
Former Monkee Davy Jones dies at age 66 in Florida
(Reuters) - Davy Jones, former lead singer of the 1960s made-for-television pop band The Monkees, died on Wednesday at a hospital in Florida, according to an official from the local medical examiner's office.
Jones, 66, born in Manchester, England, became the principal teen idol of the rock quartet featured on the NBC comedy series 'The Monkees,' which was inspired in part by the Beatles film 'A Hard Day's Night' and ran from the fall of 1966 to August of 1968.
Although not allowed to play their own instruments on their early records, Jones and his three cohorts - Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork - had several hits that sold millions of copies, including 'Last Train to Clarksville' and 'I'm a Believer.'
(Reporting by Christine Kearney; Writing by Steve Gorman; Editing by Greg McCune and Vicki Allen)
This article is brought to you by FREE DATING.
Jones, 66, born in Manchester, England, became the principal teen idol of the rock quartet featured on the NBC comedy series 'The Monkees,' which was inspired in part by the Beatles film 'A Hard Day's Night' and ran from the fall of 1966 to August of 1968.
Although not allowed to play their own instruments on their early records, Jones and his three cohorts - Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork - had several hits that sold millions of copies, including 'Last Train to Clarksville' and 'I'm a Believer.'
(Reporting by Christine Kearney; Writing by Steve Gorman; Editing by Greg McCune and Vicki Allen)
This article is brought to you by FREE DATING.
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
UK rocker Doherty displays blood paintings in London
LONDON (Reuters) - British rocker Peter Doherty has reinvented himself as an artist and is showing paintings drawn in his own blood at a London gallery this week.
The show called 'On Blood: A Portrait of the Artist' displays artwork produced for his 2009 solo album Grace/Wastelands, as well as a dozen canvases scattered around Camden's Cob Gallery.
There may be something gruesome or just plain morbid about painting with blood.
But the show's co-curator Rachel Chudley told Reuters: 'If you look at art through the ages, the subject matter has always been life. We all die and painting in blood is a reminder of our mortality. It's a universal media. I don't think there is anything gory about it.'
In a recent interview with The Independent newspaper, the turbulent Babyshambles frontman and former The Libertines co-leader referred to his unusual technique of squirting blood with a syringe onto a canvas as 'arterial splatter'.
Most of the paintings on display are quite spare, combining brownish blood streaks with collages, poems and song lyrics.
Doherty, 32, whose well-publicized drug abuse and shambolic lifestyle has often eclipsed his music, has included several collaborative pieces with his famous friends.
The late singer Amy Winehouse used her own blood to paint herself on a canvas alongside the word 'ladylike'.
French writer and artist Alize Meurisse, who did the cover artwork on Doherty's solo album, contributed a striking portrait of Doherty's friend and musician Peter Wolfe, known as 'Wolfman'.
French actress Charlotte Gainsbourg, with whom Doherty shot a movie last year about the 19th century French poet Alfred de Musset, helped create a painting called 'Leet Strife', apparently a take on 'Street Life'.
Prices range from 4,500 pounds to 8,000 pounds ($7,100-$12,700) for original paintings and 500 pounds for limited edition prints.
Posters priced at 75 pounds apiece were selling briskly on Sunday while two original pieces had already been bought.
Curiosities hoarded by Doherty over the years, some brought over from his former house in Wiltshire, are also displayed in the lower rooms of the gallery, curated by Doherty himself and Guts For Garters, a gallery with whom The Cob collaborates.
To the sound of old Beatles song, visitors can sift through relics of Doherty's bohemian lifestyle -- entire collections of old typewriters, cameras, guitars, tobacco boxes, crucifixes, rosaries, skulls, small elephants, mannequins sporting red Libertines jackets, a stuffed swan, two ravens and heaps of records, ranging from jazz great Charlie Parker to the soundtrack of James Bond movie 'Dr No'.
'I like the bits and pieces. It's a pretty impressive collecting mania,' said 30-year old Kaz, a hairdresser from London, who finds painting with blood 'unusual' before adding 'but he is quite unusual'.
Suddenly, the man himself breezes in, looking quite relaxed in a tweed suit and Gavroche style leather cap, softly singing the old Beatles song 'All you need is love'.
He will not take questions but graciously signs prints and posters and poses for photographs with fans before dashing out.
'I like his inventiveness and the sensitive side of him. He's different from everybody,' says Valery, a 63-year old from Devon, who says she has been a fan since early Libertines days.
This is the first time Doherty, who is better known as a musician and for once dating supermodel Kate Moss, has exhibited as an artist in Britain.
In 2008 he showed his work at the Chappe gallery in Paris, where he currently lives.
In May 2011, Doherty was sentenced in Britain to six months in jail for cocaine possession but released in July, in time to make solo appearances at the Leeds and Reading festivals.
He recently played a couple of solo gigs in London and is believed to be working on new music material.
On Blood: A Portrait of the Artist
The Cob Gallery
205 Royal College Street
London NW1 0SG
Feb 26-March 4
($1 = 0.6306 British pounds)
(Reporting By Dominique Vidalon, editing by Paul Casciato)
The show called 'On Blood: A Portrait of the Artist' displays artwork produced for his 2009 solo album Grace/Wastelands, as well as a dozen canvases scattered around Camden's Cob Gallery.
There may be something gruesome or just plain morbid about painting with blood.
But the show's co-curator Rachel Chudley told Reuters: 'If you look at art through the ages, the subject matter has always been life. We all die and painting in blood is a reminder of our mortality. It's a universal media. I don't think there is anything gory about it.'
In a recent interview with The Independent newspaper, the turbulent Babyshambles frontman and former The Libertines co-leader referred to his unusual technique of squirting blood with a syringe onto a canvas as 'arterial splatter'.
Most of the paintings on display are quite spare, combining brownish blood streaks with collages, poems and song lyrics.
Doherty, 32, whose well-publicized drug abuse and shambolic lifestyle has often eclipsed his music, has included several collaborative pieces with his famous friends.
The late singer Amy Winehouse used her own blood to paint herself on a canvas alongside the word 'ladylike'.
French writer and artist Alize Meurisse, who did the cover artwork on Doherty's solo album, contributed a striking portrait of Doherty's friend and musician Peter Wolfe, known as 'Wolfman'.
French actress Charlotte Gainsbourg, with whom Doherty shot a movie last year about the 19th century French poet Alfred de Musset, helped create a painting called 'Leet Strife', apparently a take on 'Street Life'.
Prices range from 4,500 pounds to 8,000 pounds ($7,100-$12,700) for original paintings and 500 pounds for limited edition prints.
Posters priced at 75 pounds apiece were selling briskly on Sunday while two original pieces had already been bought.
Curiosities hoarded by Doherty over the years, some brought over from his former house in Wiltshire, are also displayed in the lower rooms of the gallery, curated by Doherty himself and Guts For Garters, a gallery with whom The Cob collaborates.
To the sound of old Beatles song, visitors can sift through relics of Doherty's bohemian lifestyle -- entire collections of old typewriters, cameras, guitars, tobacco boxes, crucifixes, rosaries, skulls, small elephants, mannequins sporting red Libertines jackets, a stuffed swan, two ravens and heaps of records, ranging from jazz great Charlie Parker to the soundtrack of James Bond movie 'Dr No'.
'I like the bits and pieces. It's a pretty impressive collecting mania,' said 30-year old Kaz, a hairdresser from London, who finds painting with blood 'unusual' before adding 'but he is quite unusual'.
Suddenly, the man himself breezes in, looking quite relaxed in a tweed suit and Gavroche style leather cap, softly singing the old Beatles song 'All you need is love'.
He will not take questions but graciously signs prints and posters and poses for photographs with fans before dashing out.
'I like his inventiveness and the sensitive side of him. He's different from everybody,' says Valery, a 63-year old from Devon, who says she has been a fan since early Libertines days.
This is the first time Doherty, who is better known as a musician and for once dating supermodel Kate Moss, has exhibited as an artist in Britain.
In 2008 he showed his work at the Chappe gallery in Paris, where he currently lives.
In May 2011, Doherty was sentenced in Britain to six months in jail for cocaine possession but released in July, in time to make solo appearances at the Leeds and Reading festivals.
He recently played a couple of solo gigs in London and is believed to be working on new music material.
On Blood: A Portrait of the Artist
The Cob Gallery
205 Royal College Street
London NW1 0SG
Feb 26-March 4
($1 = 0.6306 British pounds)
(Reporting By Dominique Vidalon, editing by Paul Casciato)
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