WHATEVER HAPPENED TO: Searcy native and former Judsonia resident Beth Ditto, lead singer of the punk rock band Gossip, which has a huge following in Europe? She was recently in The Wall Street Journal's weekend magazine in its feature "Soapbox," where six guest columnists weigh in on a single topic. The subject was confidence for Ditto and the other columnists, who were model Naomi Campbell, pickpocket entertainer Apollo Robbins, high-wire artist Philippe Petit, actress Carrie Fisher and tennis star Andy Murray. Ditto is still making music and walking the runway, including an early March appearance in the Givenchy show as part of Paris Fashion Week Womenswear Fall/Winter 2014-2015.
On confidence, Ditto says: "I think what I was so drawn to in punk was the idea that there's nothing wrong with me -- Actually, it's everyone else's problem. ... And I feel like from a really young age I always had that view. I never understood body-image issues. It's different from confidence in a way -- It's just clarity."
MUSIC NOTES: Country Music Hall of Fame and Grand Ole Opry member Jean Shepard released her long-awaited autobiography, Down Through the Years, during this weekend's County Music Association's Music Fest in Nashville, Tenn. And there's an Arkansas connection. Former state Sen. Steve Faris of Malvern, a Democrat who represented Hot Spring and Montgomery counties and parts of Garland, Grant and Saline counties, wrote the foreword with annotations. Faris' connection to Shepard, who began her career 60-plus years ago? Faris is an avid country music historian and formerly hosted a classic country radio show in his hometown of Malvern.
THE NEXT BIG THING? Arkansans who've heard him sing know there is something special about Christopher Denny, formerly of Little Rock. But his personal demons -- addictions to drugs and alcohol, according to an article on him in The Wall Street Journal's blog "Speakeasy" -- blocked his path to success. Now reportedly clean and living in Austin, Texas, Denny appears to be on his way up. Seven years after the release of his debut album, Age Old Hunger, his new full-length album, If the Roses Don't Kill Us, is set for release Aug. 5 by Partisan Records. Visit tinyurl.com/q787xek to check out the article and the first single, "Our Kind of Love." He'll perform at Juanita's in Little Rock on Thursday.
JOEY'S LATEST ROLE: Joey Lauren Adams, a Hollywood actress and director, is a North Little Rock native now living just outside of Los Angeles. She was back in central Arkansas this past winter starring in a movie, All the Birds Have Flown South. But her latest role (for real) will be as a bride. Adams, 46, and former Dallas resident Brian Vilim, 34, whom she's been engaged to since last fall, were listed in this paper's "Daily Record" section last Tuesday as having filed for a marriage license in Pulaski County.
Contact Linda S. Haymes at (501) 399-3636 or [email protected]
SundayMonday on 06/08/2014