LOS ANGELES — It was a family affair for Laura Dern, her father, Bruce Dern, and her mother, Diane Ladd.

The acting dynasty was honored Monday during a ceremony on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, marking the first time that three stars were dedicated to family members at the same time.

The family made Hollywood history before, when Laura Dern and Ladd received Oscar nominations in 1992 for their roles in “Rambling Rose.”
 That marked the first time that a mother and daughter received nods together.

Ladd has also received Oscar nominations for “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore” and “Wild at Heart,” while Bruce Dern was nominated for his performance in “Coming Home.”

ABC said Monday the special highlights the work of producing a highly visual act, “complicated by a performer who will tolerate nothing less than perfection.”

ABC to air Beyonce special on Thanksgiving night

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NEW YORK — Beyonce and the ABC network may become a Thanksgiving tradition.

For the second year in a row, ABC is airing a prime-time special with the singer on turkey night. “Beyonce’s I Am … World Tour” will start at 9:30 p.m. Eastern on Nov. 25.

The show will include performance clips from the tour, as well as backstage moments. Beyonce’s husband, Jay-Z, and Kanye West will make guest appearances.

ABC said Monday the special highlights the work of producing a highly visual act, “complicated by a performer who will tolerate nothing less than perfection.”

Rapper Lil Wayne due out of prison Thursday after eight months

NEW YORK — He had the top-selling album in the country a few weeks ago. He’s on the president’s iPod. He’s on the charts with two singles and a collaboration on a third. He’s on Facebook with updates for the more than 14 million people following them. He is, in every respect, on.

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By the way, Lil Wayne’s in jail. But his public persona is anything but locked away.

The rapper, who’s on track to be released Thursday after serving eight months in a gun case, is the first artist in 15 years to release a No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart while serving a sentence. His “I Am Not a Human Being” spent a week in the top slot and has sold more than 323,000 copies since its Sept. 27 release, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

It’s hardly a coveted distinction. But it is both a reflection of Lil Wayne’s popularity – he went to jail a multiplatinum-selling Grammy Award winner – and a result of astute maneuvering in the multimedia landscape that now envelops pop stardom. Staying relevant? Try omnipresent.

“The challenge was to make sure you feel like he never left,” said Bryan “Birdman” Williams, the Cash Money Records co-founder who has fostered Lil Wayne’s career since the rapper’s teens. “We came with a good strategy, and it worked.”

Members of the rapper’s management team carefully scheduled releases of music and saw to it that his responses to the deluge of fan mail that has descended on the city’s Rikers Island jail complex were typed up and posted online.

 

 


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