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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Willie Nelson awarded 2015 Gershwin Prize for Popular Music

Nelson
From Wire Reports

The Library of Congress has selected Willie Nelson as the 2015 recipient of its Gershwin Prize for Popular Music, making the Texas singer and songwriter the first country musician to receive the honor.

“Like America itself, he has absorbed and assimilated diverse stylistic influences into his stories and songs,” Librarian of Congress James H. Billington said in a statement with the announcement. “He has helped make country music one of the most universally beloved forms of American artistic expression.”

Nelson, 82, joins previous recipients Stevie Wonder, Paul McCartney, Paul Simon, Hal David and Burt Bacharach, Carole King and Billy Joel in being awarded the musical prize named for pop songwriters George and Ira Gershwin.

The prize, instituted in 2007, is awarded to living musicians.

Nelson is among the most prolific songwriters and recording artists in history, having written and recorded hundreds of songs including “Crazy,” “Night Life,” “Hello Walls” and “Funny How Time Slips Away.” Nelson will receive the award in November in Washington, D.C.

Actress LuPone takes fan’s cellphone

Patti LuPone has provided theater fans with another reminder that she has a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to cellphone use during live performances.

The stage star has been known to call out audience members for using their phones during shows, sometimes going as far as to bring a performance to a halt in order to berate the offender. On Wednesday evening, LuPone the Enforcer struck again during a performance of the Douglas Carter Beane play “Shows for Days” in New York.

LuPone confiscated the phone of an audience member during a performance of the comedic play, which is running at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater at Lincoln Center. The incident took place near the end of the scene when LuPone’s character, a larger-than-life head of a community playhouse, usually shakes the hand of an audience member seated in the front row of the theater.

“Last night, Patti noticed that the woman sitting in that seat was on her phone. As she exited, instead of shaking her hand, as she normally would, Patti took the phone out of the woman’s hands,” a spokesman for Lincoln Center Theater said. The phone was later returned by the theater’s house manager after the performance.

In 2009, LuPone famously halted a Broadway performance of the musical “Gypsy” to yell at an audience member who reportedly was using a phone to take photos. LuPone was applauded by members of the audience for singling out the offending party.

The birthday bunch

Singer Mavis Staples is 76. Rock musician Jerry Miller (Moby Grape) is 72. Actor Ron Glass is 70. Actress Sue Lyon is 69. Folk singer Arlo Guthrie is 68. Banjo player Bela Fleck is 57. Country singer Gary LeVox (Rascal Flatts) is 45. Actress Sofia Vergara is 43. Singer-actress Jessica Simpson is 35.