Free concerts

Summer has been in full swing for about a month, so that means there are still a few weeks left to enjoy free concerts in the Owensboro area. Friday After 5 continues this week with Larry Maglinger’s Tribute to Rod Stewart, featuring his band Infatuation. Click here  to check out the rest of the schedule for Friday After 5.

The Greenville Tourism Commission launched its Saturdays on the Square concert series last weekend. The series continues at 8 p.m. July 25 with Skip Bond and the Fugitives. Click here for more information on Saturdays on the Square in downtown Greenville.

“Parade” interview with Johnny Depp

Click here  to check out a recent interview on Parade.com with Johnny Depp about John Dillinger, the bank robber he plays in his upcoming movie, “Public Enemies.” In it, Depp briefly mentions his Owensboro roots.

Michael Jackson dead at 50

The biggest story of the day — and what will be one of the biggest news stories of the year — is Michael Jackson’s death. Someone on Facebook described this as being our generation’s Elvis. And with the Internet, word of his death spread rapidly. I remember being in third grade and watching the world premiere for the “Black and White” video on prime time TV with my parents, then the video being the talk of elementary school the next day. He was (and still is) a pop culture icon.

Here are a couple of interesting news stories related to Jackson’s death. This Los Angeles Times article goes into detail about the news of the day, while this USA Today article is more of a news obituary. The  main page of the Los Angeles Times also has numerous articles and reaction.

Father’s Day advice

The Yahoo! TV Blog posted some advice from some of TV’s favorite dads in honor of Father’s Day. Check out which TV dads were featured here.

This TV

If you don’t have cable and are now using a digital converter box (or have a digital TV, but no cable), you might have noticed you now receive a channel called This TV. I noticed it when I hooked up my converter box a few weeks ago, and it seems to have an odd variety of old movies on it — but I had no idea where it had come from. The Los Angeles Times posted an article about the channel, which is owned by MGM. Check out the story here.

Big night in New York

The annual Tony Awards, which honors the best on Broadway, took place last night. I was able to catch most of the award show on CBS, and it was surprisingly entertaining considering I haven’t seen any of the Broadway shows. The New York Times has great coverage of the Tonys. Check it out here. There is also a local connection to this year’s award show. Angela Lansbury won the Tony for best featured actress in a play for “Blithe Spirit.” Zev Buffman, president and CEO of the RiverPark Center, is one of the producers for the show. A New York Times review of the show can be read here.

Real life super heroes

Apparently some folks have decided to take crime fighting into their own hands. Although they don’t claim to have super powers, they do spend their time trying to better their community through volunteerism and vigilance. Check out CNN’s story on the would-be crime fighters here.

Twitter coming to TV?

Though there are only limited details available now, Variety  is reporting that Twitter “has partnered with Reveille and Brillstein Entertainment to develop an unscripted TV skein described as ‘putting ordinary people on the trail of celebrities in a revolutionary competitive format.’” Click here to read the whole release.

I’m interested in learning more about the concept for the TV show, but I’m not sure how a social network site that is limited to 140-character posts will translate on TV.

American Idol mania

Entertainment journalism is still buzzing with the shock that Kris Allen beat out Adam Lambert to be the next “American Idol.” I tuned into the last 20 minutes of the show last night. To me, the biggest disappointment was Rod Stewart’s performance. I wonder if he was having throat issues.

But I digress. The L.A. Times, once again, had a lot of coverage of last night’s show. Click here for a photo gallery of celebrities who turned out for the finals (complete with snarky comments in the captions).

The L.A. Times also reported that viewership for the finals was down 13 percent from last year. To read more about the ratings, click here.

CNN reported on fan reaction to the finals and other Idol highlights. Click here  to read more. Oh, and to see how the New York Times weighed in, click here and here.

‘American Idol’ season wrapping up

“American Idol’s” season is quickly coming to an end. The final performances will be tonight, and the winners will be announced tomorrow. CNN.com blogger Lisa Respers France gives here take on the season here. She also live blogs during “American Idol.” You can follow her tonight by clicking here.