Residents are hitting the ground running with July Fourth festivities at 'Freedom Run' in Greensboro
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Yahoo
38 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Free dementia friendly cinema screenings taking place in Bolton
Bolton Library is staging dementia friendly cinema screenings. The films are open to everyone but specifically tailored to people living with dementia. The idea is to enjoy classic films and musicals in a safe and welcoming environment. The lighting will be dimmed rather than turned off, and the audience is welcome to talk, move around, and sing along. READ MORE: 'Helpful House' there for people living with dementia Dementia: Alzheimer's Society highlights common symptoms A family member, friend, or carer must also be in attendance at the films. The films are free to attend at Bolton Library and Museum lecture theatre. There is no need to book and the screening are free. The first film will be 'Singin' in the Rain', on Friday, July 25th at 2pm and on August 29 it will be The Railway Children.
Forbes
39 minutes ago
- Forbes
Bob Lazar ‘S4' Film Due Out Soon. The Director Shares His Thoughts
Physicist Bob Lazar Courtesy of Project Gravitaur The documentary "S4," due out by the end of the summer, has been delayed more than once. Why? Perhaps because it covers the controversial life of outspoken former Area 51 employee, Bob Lazar. For those who don't know, Area 51 is a large, secretive military base in the remote Nevada desert where several exotic military aircraft have been developed and tested over the years, including the venerable U-2 spy plane way back when. Lazar, during the roughly half-year he was there, says he saw more than just exotic aircraft, however. He contends that what he worked on was something so sophisticated that it could not have been built by humans. And therein lies the controversy. In my own work as an adventure journalist, I've interviewed several prominent astronauts and pilots, including moonwalkers. Many will admit to believing life forms other than ours exist in the universe. It's a statistics thing, really, they say. What they won't comment on publicly is whether such life forms have visited Earth, though some have told me they've seen things they can't explain. I'm not here to weigh in one way or the other on the topic. But I will let Luigi Vendittelli, executive producer and director of "S4," describe his work on the documentary with Lazar, now 66. Following are edited excerpts from a longer Zoom conversation. Jim Clash: Let's start with Bob Lazar as to credibility. He's been on a number of podcasts, most notably Joe Rogan's, discussing his early life and work at the S4 part of Area 51. He seems smart and composed. Do you believe what he says? Luigi Vendittelli: There is no doubt in my mind that if Bob made all of this up, he's the best actor of my time. If he were lying, he fooled not just me but my entire documentary team, a few who are not UFO-inclined or believe in government conspiracies. Guard Gate at Area 51 (Groom Lake, Dreamland) near Rachel, Nevada (Photo by Barry King/WireImage) WireImage Clash: I've read that the documentary has been delayed a few times. True? Vendittelli: Let's say there are companies out there that want to monopolize control of all documentaries in what is called the "fantastic" space. UFOs, as much as they've trickled down into mainstream, still fall under that category. Two different people have actively tried to get us to sign over exclusive film distribution rights to them while behind our backs have been telling others they're doing it just to sabotage the film. If we did sign over the rights, we would have no way of distributing the film if they decided never to put it out. One company cost us seven months of delays with lawyers and what not, the other a few more months. When the film comes out, you'll be surprised at who and why. Clash: You've mentioned there will be new Lazard information in 'S4' that hasn't yet been released. Is there anything that you can tell us about that? Vendittelli: We needed a device whereby we could bring the eighties to the present. What better vehicle than the time-travel DeLorean used in 'Back To The Future.' I made some calls and found it could be rented. So we filmed Bob driving it in the desert. He had a blast [laughs]. Clash: I once interviewed the late great physicist Dr. Edward Teller. Wasn't there some connection between Teller and Lazard early in Lazard's career? Vendittelli: Teller was the reason Bob got the job at EG&G [the former defense contractor]. Bob was working at Los Alamos in 1982. He had modified a 1979 Honda Civic hatchback, put a jet engine on the back and would ride it to work. The thing made a lot of noise and could reach 200 mph. He was known at Los Alamos as this crazy scientist guy [laughs]. They put him on the front page of the Los Alamos "Monitor." It happened to be the same day Teller was speaking there. Bob sees Teller standing outside reading the paper, walks up and introduces himself, saying, 'I'm the guy on the front page." Teller found it amusing. By 1988, Bob had moved to Las Vegas, and sent some resumes out to get work, one to Teller at Lawrence Livermore National Labs. Teller was retired by then, but called Bob, probably because he remembered his jet car. He gave Bob a name at EG&G in the special projects area. Bob got an interview then a job in propulsion, and was eventually sent out to the test site. Clash: You told me earlier that you've been interested in UFOs yourself since you were a kid, and have even seen two up in Canada. What made you approach Lazard initially? Vendittelli: I'll never forget what Bob said when we first met at his house in December of 2021. His wife had flown to California and it was just the two of us. He sat me down at this table, looked across at me and said, "You seem like a nice kid. Do you really want to do this? Because you're probably going to get some problems. You don't need this in your life. I want you to think about it." He was very much trying to warn me. Poster for soon-to-be-released Bob Lazar documentary, 'S4.' Courtesy of Project Gravitaur Clash: Did that warning play out? Vendittelli: I've been in business for 25 years and don't believe I've ever been in danger. But I started getting threats last year - phone calls and messages. In the very beginning, I took it lightly, brushing it off, but Bob told me not to be so quick. Really, though, who is going to call to let me know they're going to harm me? It doesn't make sense. A friend of mine is a police officer. He told me to give him the phone numbers and to file a report. The numbers were untraceable, of course.
Yahoo
41 minutes ago
- Yahoo
In already precarious industry, US musicians struggle for health care
In 2019, American musician Jon Dee Graham suffered a heart attack that left him "dead" for several minutes -- a scare that inspired his album, "Only Dead For a Little While." Eighteen months later he had a stroke. And now, the 66-year-old is facing his biggest health challenge yet -- and like most musicians, he's underinsured. Graham suffered an infection following spinal surgery that's developed into sepsis, and his son said he needs intravenous antibiotic treatments twice daily. But because his treatment is at home, William Harries-Graham said Medicare -- the US federal health program that insures elder adults -- won't cover his father. Harries-Graham said the hospital demanded payment upfront in the "thousands of dollars." The artist "fighting for his life" couldn't afford it, and recently launched a campaign to sell his drawings, a hobby that has become a means of survival. Graham's story is not uncommon: Many musicians confront the same health insurance nightmares all Americans do, navigating a labyrinthian system rife with out-of-pocket costs. But musicians are gig workers, which makes it even harder. Most working artists aren't rich and have variable income, in a cutthroat industry where employer-subsidized insurance for musicians is rare. Pop phenom Chappell Roan underscored the issue on one of music's biggest platforms earlier this year at the Grammys, calling out record labels for not insuring their artists in front of industry heavyweights as she accepted the prize for Best New Artist. Roan said she herself was dropped from her label and went uninsured for a time: "It was devastating to feel so committed to my art and feel so betrayed by the system and dehumanized," she said onstage. "Record labels need to treat their artists as valuable employees with a livable wage and health insurance and protection." - 'Just a patch' - About a month after Roan's statement, glam punk pioneer David Johansen died at 75 years old. His death came just weeks after he had started a GoFundMe to support his cancer treatment. In 2024, Matthew Sweet, the 1990s-era alt rocker, suffered a stroke while on tour. He was uninsured, so his management created a similar online crowdsourcing fundraiser. It's raised more than $640,000 to date to support his long-term recovery. But such crowdsourcing is a stop-gap, said Tatum Hauck-Allsep, founder and CEO of the Nashville-based Music Health Alliance that helps musicians negotiate medical bills. "In some cases, things like a GoFundMe is a great resource, but in other cases, it's just a patch. We want to find a long-term solution," Hauck-Allsep told AFP. She applauded Roan for highlighting the issue, but said insurance from record labels isn't necessarily what artists want, because it could mean they need to become employees, rather than independent artists. Still, "there should be an easier pathway to health care access," she said. Bruce Iglauer, head of the blues label Alligator Records, echoed Hauck-Allsep's point, saying that artists are self-employed. "We guarantee recording budgets and royalty rates, but have no input into, or knowledge of, what other income the artists are making," Iglauer said. "They are not getting weekly paychecks from us." And smaller labels say increasingly thin margins would make providing insurance impossible: "The costs of manufacturing have gone up, physical sales have gone down. Streaming sales pay paltry sums," said Kenn Goodman, founder and CEO of Chicago-based indie record label Pravda Records. "It's just not financially feasible," he added. "I wish it was." - 'Terrifying' - Many US musicians get health care through the Barack Obama-era Affordable Care Act -- but that coverage is under threat by the Donald Trump administration, which is vying to complicate health care access, and perhaps eventually scrap the system altogether. That would be a "disaster," said Paul Scott, director of the Healthcare Alliance for Austin Musicians, a non-profit that helps about 3,200 musicians a year in Texas get signed up for coverage under the government health care plan. Many ACA plans still don't come cheap, but it's made a huge difference for access, he said. Jettisoning the ACA would likely mean increased prices that would prompt a lot of artists to "drop their health insurance," Scott said. "And that will be a hit to our safety net hospitals and charity care." As for Graham, selling his sketches has successfully funded his first few weeks of treatment. But his son doesn't know if that will be enough. And Harries-Graham worries about those who can't find fundraising support thanks to their fame. "I don't know what someone else would have done," he said. "They would have been yet another person who goes into severe medical debt." "That is terrifying." str/mdo/jgc
