Geordiebird leaves Breakfast Show
The award-winning partnership that has been at the heart of one of the UAE's most popular radio shows for almost a decade is splitting up. Dubai 92 announced yesterday that Geordiebird will be leaving the station's Breakfast Show, which she has co-hosted with her former husband Catboy since 2006, next month. Geordiebird, also known as Stef Burgan, will move to Dubai Eye 103.8, a sister station of Dubai 92 on the Arabian Radio Network, to appear on the travel show The Ticket with Mark Lloyd each day from 2pm to 4pm. Catboy will continue to present The Breakfast Show, with a yet-to-be announced co-host beginning on April 12. The former husband-and-wife team shocked fans in 2010 when they announced they had split up but were still great friends and would continue to work together. – The National staff
Legend worried by legal verdict on Blurred Lines
John Legend says he is worried that the Blurred Lines legal verdict could set a scary precedent for artists creating music inspired by others. The Grammy winner, who played at the Dubai Jazz Festival last month, said he understands why people say 2013's biggest hit, by Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke, sounds similar to Got to Give It Up, Marvin Gaye's 1977 hit. "I said that when I first heard it, too," he admitted. But he does not agree with the jury that decided the performers had copied elements of Gaye's work and ordered that they pay US$7.4 million (Dh27.1m) in damages. "You have to be careful when it comes to copyrights, whether just sounding like or feeling like something is enough to say you violated their copyrights, because there's a lot of music out there, and there's a lot of things that feel like other things that are influenced by other things," the singer-songwriter said on Saturday before performing at the South by Southwest music festival in Austin, Texas. "And you don't want to get into that thing where all of us are suing each other all the time because this and that song feels like another song." – AP
Film director accepts blame for set death
The director of an ill-fated movie about the singer Gregg Allman has admitted that it was "ultimately my responsibility" that his crew ended up on a Georgia railroad bridge in the path of a freight train that killed a camera assistant. It came less than two weeks after the Midnight Rider director Randall Miller pleaded guilty to charges of involuntary manslaughter and criminal trespassing. He was sentenced to two years in jail in Wayne County, where 27-year-old Sarah Jones, from Atlanta, died in the train crash in February last year. Six other people were injured. "It was a horrible tragedy that will haunt me forever," Miller said. "Although I relied on my team, it is ultimately my responsibility and was my decision to shoot the scripted scene that caused this tragedy." Miller said he hoped his guilty plea had spared Jones's family from the anguish of having to relive the crash at a trial. But he also denied he alone was to blame. He said "a great number of mistakes were made" by his assistants on the film crew, but acknowledged that he had failed to ensure "every safety measure was in place". Prosecutors said emails from CSX Transportation, which owns the railroad bridge spanning the Altamaha River, showed Miller's crew had twice been denied permission to film on the tracks. Miller also was sentenced to eight years on probation after his jail term and was ordered to pay a US$20,000 (Dh73,500) fine. Miller's previous films included Bottle Shock and CBGB. Midnight Rider has been in limbo since the crash. Allman sued Miller last year to prevent the director from reviving the project. They settled out of court. – AP
Plans for world’s first Dr Seuss museum
It may not serve green eggs and ham, but the first Dr Seuss museum being planned for his Western Massachusetts hometown is expected to satisfy the appetites for the author of The Cat in the Hat and many other beloved children's books. The Amazing World of Dr Seuss Museum is scheduled to open in June next year in Springfield. The Springfield Museums, a group of museums in the city, recently announced the plans after raising more than US$3 million (Dh11m). Organisers say the museum will be an interactive, bilingual showcase of the work of Theodor Seuss Geisel, also known as Dr Seuss, who died in 1991. Plans include three-dimensional book scenes, reading areas and a re-creation of Geisel's studio. – AP
