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For 50 years, these musicians backed stars like Stevie Nicks and James Taylor. This is their story

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:51:18 GMT

Bassist Leland Sklar says there was no hesitation when drummer Russ Kunkel, guitarists Danny Kortchmar and Waddy Wachtel and himself were approached to do a documentary about their lives as four of the greatest Los Angeles session musicians of the past 50 years.He was a little surprised, though.“Never in a million years did it ever occur enter my mind that there would ever be anything like this done,” Sklar says on a recent video call with Kunkel, Wachtel, and director Denny Tedesco. “I mean, we just kind of loved playing and went to work and did what we did.“Never really thought about it moving to the level that it’s done,” he says.“Immediate Family” opens in theaters on Friday, Dec. 15. It’s a warm-hearted documentary that illustrates how these four players played a major part of many of the greatest singles, albums and tours of the last five decades. Artists such as James Taylor, Carole King, Jackson Browne, Stevie Nicks, Keith Richards, Linda Ronstadt, and Phil Collins are among...

Callahan: Robert Kraft’s reported Bill Belichick decision should be no surprise

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:51:18 GMT

FOXBORO — If you dismiss the NBC Sports Boston report stating Robert Kraft decided last month to part ways with Bill Belichick at the end of the season, I have two questions for you.Question No. 1: Do you remember the last 11 months?Last January, Kraft ended Belichick’s experiment with the coaching staff that resulted in the worst Patriots offense in decades and dragged a solid team into an 8-9 finish. Kraft then sent a letter to season-ticket holders that expressed his dissatisfaction with the team’s performance and projected an improved on-field product in 2023.In March, Kraft reiterated his belief in Belichick to reporters at the owners meetings around this pointed remark: “In the end, this is a business. You either execute and win, or you don’t. That’s where we’re at. We’re in a transition phase.” Next, when asked about newly re-signed linebackers coach Jerod Mayo, Kraft said: “There’s no ceiling on (Mayo’s) ability to be a head coach. And he’ll be a head coach...

Bruins place defenseman Jakub Zboril on waivers

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:51:18 GMT

The Bruins have placed defenseman Jakub Zboril on waivers to see if there are any takers for the 2015 13th overall pick.Zboril already passed through waivers at the end of training camp, but rosters are mostly set at that juncture of the season. Now with injuries and any other roster developments, perhaps a team would be more interested this time around. We shall see by 2 p.m. on Thursday. He’s on the last year of a deal worth $1.137.5 million.Zboril was the first of three first-round picks the B’s had in 2015, with only Jake DeBrusk – taken with the next pick – making himself a regular NHLer. Zach Senyshyn, taken 15th, is playing in Germany.Zboril, 26, appeared to be ready to turn a corner in his career two seasons ago and was playing well until he blew out his knee in a game in Nashville, limiting him to just 10 games. He came back strong and had a very good training camp last year to earn a roster spot. But he couldn’t maintain his level of play and,...

‘I’ll Have What She’s Having’ celebrates the sticking power of Jewish delis

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:51:18 GMT

By Hannah Edgar | Chicago TribuneSince originating at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles last year, “I’ll Have What She’s Having: The Jewish Deli” has bounced around Jewish educational institutions and history museums across the country.It was only a matter of time before this ode to a uniquely American Jewish cultural institution made its way here, the land of Kaufman’s, JB’s, Manny’s, and dozens more.Arielle Weininger, the chief curator of collections and exhibitions at the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center, which is hosting the exhibition through April, is local deli royalty herself. Her cousin Bette Dworkin runs nearby Kaufman’s Bagel & Delicatessen, in Skokie, after the family bought it from founder Morrie Kaufman in 1984. Her family made it into the exhibition’s photo wall, pictured at a Passover Seder with Dworkin.“I had to take a little moment of family pride here,” she says, pointing to the tableau.“I’ll Have What She’s Having” includes plenty of m...

Suffolk trial judge tapped to lead Massachusetts Superior Court system

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:51:18 GMT

A Suffolk Superior Court judge has been promoted to chief justice of the statewide superior court system.On Thursday, Massachusetts Trial Court Chief Justice Jeffrey A. Locke announced that he had appointed Suffolk Superior Court Judge Michael D. Ricciuti as chief justice of the Superior Court for a five-year term. His term will begin on Dec. 22.“He has the leadership and management skills needed to succeed in this role,” Locke said of Ricciuti, adding that his “legal acumen, judicial temperament, and interpersonal skills will successfully guide his leadership.“He is highly respected and trusted by his colleagues who appreciate that he works collaboratively and leads by example and consensus,” Locke continued.Ricciuti, who graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College and with cum laude honors from Harvard law, began his legal career in 1987 as a law clerk for Judge A. David Mazzone in the U.S. District Court, according to a state biography. He was appointed by then-Gov. Charlie Ba...

‘Wonka’ review: A clever candy-man origin story starring Timothée Chalamet

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:51:18 GMT

Michael Phillips | Chicago TribuneThe new “Wonka” works considerably better than its reasons for existence would suggest. It exists because, why not? It’s one more brand-familiar origin story, the easiest thing in the movie world to get made, requiring everything but a new idea.It exists because it’s one more musicalization of nonmusical source material, adding seven original songs to a project attached to Roald Dahl’s 1964 novel “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.” The 1971 film version of that novel, with Gene Wilder as secretive candy magnate Willy Wonka, was likewise a musical; two of its more enduring tunes, “Pure Imagination” and the “Oompa Loompa” song, turn up in the latest screen addition to Wonkalore.So where does it go right? Well, if you enjoyed either or both of the “Paddington” movies, particularly the second one, you’ll find “Wonka” a spiritually related cousin in its wit, bounce and general lack of aggravated charm assaults. Director Paul King and his “Paddington 2″ ...

SmileDirectClub is shutting down. Where does that leave its customers?

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:51:18 GMT

By WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS (AP Business Writer)NEW YORK (AP) — Just months after filing for bankruptcy, SmileDirectClub announced it was shutting down its global operations and halting its teeth-aligner treatments.That leaves existing SmileDirectClub customers with a lot of questions and few available answers. The company is offering no more customer care support and few details about possible refunds are available yet. Multiple dental organizations and orthodontists also caution patients about safety concerns arising from “direct-to-consumer” dentistry. Here’s what you need to know.SmileDirectClub — which served over 2 million people since its 2014 founding — once promised to revolutionize the oral-care industry by selling clear dental aligners that were marketed as a faster and more affordable alternative to braces. It sold its aligners directly to consumers by mail and in major retailers. When SmileDirectClub’s stock began trading on the ...

Canadian cities report rise in homelessness and in tent fires as winter sets in

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:51:18 GMT

HALIFAX — Cities across Canada are reporting a rise in fires, sometimes deadly, in tents and other shelters used by unhoused people — a situation advocates say is a tragic consequence of the country’s homelessness crisis.As the number of homeless people continues to rise — and the frigid weather sets in — it’s inevitable there will be more accidental fires, Tim Richter, president and CEO of the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness, said in an interview Wednesday.“If all you can get your hands on is a propane tank or a camp stove, you’ll use that to survive because the alternative is freezing to death,” said Richter, whose group estimates there are between 260,000 and 300,000 unhoused people across the country. “This is only the beginning of winter and I absolutely guarantee we will be reporting on fires, amputations and more deaths,” he said.On Dec. 11, three people were found dead in a shed that burnt down outside a Calgary home improvement store. A fire de...

NCAA survey of 23,000 student-athletes shows mental health concerns have lessened post-pandemic

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:51:18 GMT

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — An NCAA survey of student-athletes suggests they are experiencing fewer mental health concerns than they did at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, but some demographics have shown more improvement than others.More than 23,000 student-athletes participated in the NCAA Student-Athlete Health and Wellness Study between September 2022 and June 2023. The data shows that mental health concerns have decreased in all three NCAA divisions.In men’s sports, 17% of respondents said they constantly feel overwhelmed, down from 25%, and 16% reported feelings of mental exhaustion, down from 22%. The most significant decreases came among males in Division I.The decreases were smaller among women. It found that 44% of women’s sports participants reported feeling overwhelmed (down from 47%), and 35% reported feeling mentally exhausted (down from 38%).As studies in 2020 and 2021 showed, students of color, those identifying on the queer spectrum and those identifying as transgender...

Movie Review: Jeffrey Wright is brilliant in the smart and funny satire ‘American Fiction’

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:51:18 GMT

Jeffrey Wright’s Thelonious “Monk” Ellison is at the end of his rope at the beginning of “ American Fiction, ” a crowd-pleaser that’s both funny and smart in its satire of race, media, artists, identity politics and even Hollywood. It opens in theaters this week.A classic frustrated artist, Monk is a professor and an author who writes literary stories that he wants to see in the world. He’s not interested in race, or at least the kind of “Black misery porn” stories that seem to be omnipresent, whether it’s in the Black history month advertisement on television with images of addicts and slaves, or at a book convention.The latest hit that has him fuming is a book called “We’s Lives In Da Ghetto,” written by a comfortably upper middle class Black woman (Issa Rae) who gives interviews about how dismayed she was in her post-college job at a literary agency that she didn’t see stories about “her people.” But exploitative and demeaning as they are, those are also the ones that get the boo...