Latest news with #DrivingMissDaisy
1News
27-05-2025
- Health
- 1News
No-fault law sees tenant facing eviction after major knee surgery
Desmond Adams knew his upcoming knee surgery would be tough - weeks in recovery and months before he'd walk normally - but what he didn't expect was to be doing it all while facing eviction. A painter by trade, years of physical labour have taken a toll on the 52-year-old Hamiltonian. Scans in April 2024 revealed fractures in both knees, with overgrown bone that needed to be shaved. The bone was pressing into a tendon on his left side which needed to be cut and repaired. "My knees were poking out like nobody's business," Adams said. Post-operation, doctors told him to expect crutches for three weeks, a minimal amount of walking and no driving for at least six weeks. Full recovery was expected to take four to five months. ADVERTISEMENT Knowing how limiting this would be, he made sure to notify his landlord through his property manager well in advance, saying he notified them first in June last year and reminded them at every three-monthly inspection after that. "At my last inspection in March, I had also reminded them about my surgery," he said. "She said to me, 'Yes, you have mentioned that a lot, and we hope everything goes well'." Desmond's flat in Whitiora, Hamilton. (Source: Supplied) Just days on from that inspection, a letter arrived. Adams had been served a 90-day notice to vacate his Whitiora home. "I felt really gutted, angry, and frustrated. It was like, what's going on here? You guys have known about my surgery for a while, and now you're serving me with this? "How the heck do you expect me to look for a house in 90 days when I've got surgery, and then about four to five months in healing? I can't actually get out to look for houses in that time." He says he asked for an extension on the notice to give him more time to heal before trying to move. But he claims that wasn't granted. ADVERTISEMENT Recovery on pause The surgery went ahead as planned but with limited mobility and no ability to drive, Adams had to put his recovery on pause to begin house hunting. Desmond had to have overgrown bone shaved on both knees. (Source: Desmond Adams) He has had to rely on Driving Miss Daisy, the ACC-funded companion driving service, to attend property viewings. He's been to 15 so far. "It's a slow process," he said. "I've got 16 stairs to walk down, and then get into the car, go look at the house and then have to climb those 16 stairs again back to the house with two crutches." The house hunt has already come at a cost to his recovery and Adams said he "got a growling" from doctors when he went to his three-week check-up after the surgery. "They saw my knees were bruised, not just from the operation, but they could tell I'd been doing some walking on it. They said 'you're supposed to be resting', and I said 'I can't, I need to find a house'." ADVERTISEMENT Adams considered taking the matter to the Tenancy Tribunal to delay or set aside the eviction notice due to the severe hardship it would cause, but he abandoned this bid as under the legislation an eviction notice can only be challenged if it's deemed to be retaliatory. A landlord can serve an eviction with 90 days' notice without giving a reason. The property manager declined to comment when contacted by 1News. No-cause evictions Renters United president Zac Thomas blamed the reintroduction of no-cause evictions by the coalition Government in February. "When life knocks you down, the law now lets someone take the roof off too. This is exactly the kind of harm the government was told would happen." Renters United president Zac Thomas. (Source: Supplied) He described Desmond's situation as "crazy". ADVERTISEMENT "I think any New Zealander with half a heart would look at this and say 'this is not the society that we want to live in'." In a statement late last year, Housing Minister Chris Bishop said the reintroduction of no-cause evictions would "give landlords more confidence to offer homes to tenants who may otherwise have been considered too risky". "We've heard from many landlords that, without the backstop of 90-day 'no cause' terminations, they were unwilling to take a chance on a tenant who may, for example, not have perfect references or a steady 9-5 job."
Perth Now
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
Patti LuPone 'took an instant dislike' to Kevin Kline
Patti LuPone's relationship with Kevin Kline was "painful". The 76-year-old actress met Kevin, 77, at Juilliard, a performing arts school in New York City, in the 70s, and she wasn't a fan of him at first. Patti told The New Yorker magazine: "I took an instant dislike to him. "He looked like Pinocchio to me. He had skinny legs, and he was tall, and I didn't really see the handsomeness." Despite this, the duo grew closer over time and their on-and-off relationship ultimately lasted for seven years. Patti now looks back on their romance with a lot of regret, describing it as a "painful" experience. The actress said: "He was a Lothario. It was a painful relationship. "I was his girlfriend when he wanted me to be his girlfriend, but, if there was somebody else, he would break up with me and go out with that person. And I, for some reason, stuck it out - until I couldn't stick it out anymore." Kevin concedes that their relationship was "fraught". The actor - who has been married to actress Phoebe Cates since 1989 - explained: "We fought all the time. "In the company, we were known as the Strindbergs." Patti previously claimed that her turbulent romance with Kevin "exhausted [her] heart". The 'Driving Miss Daisy' star also described her former partner as a "player". Patti - who has been married to Matthew Johnston since 1988 - told People back in 2022: "For me that was my first big love. And Kevin was also a player, and it was hard. That was incredibly hard on me. He exhausted my heart." Patti and Kevin have actually kept in touch with each other since ending their relationship, and the actress now considers them to be "friends". The award-winning star - who has enjoyed huge success on Broadway and in London's West End - said: "We have found a place where we can actually communicate and be friends. I think we can be friends. "I don't think we can double date, but I think Kevin and I can at least talk to each other."
San Francisco Chronicle
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
An antisemitic lynching haunted his childhood. So he wrote a musical about it
As a Jewish child in Atlanta, playwright Alfred Uhry grew up in the shadow of a notorious antisemetic lynching. Leo Frank was a manager at a pencil factory who was convicted of raping and murdering 13-year old employee Mary Phagan, a verdict many felt was colored by the fact that he was Jewish. In 1915, Frank's death sentence was commuted to life in prison by departing Georgia governor John M. Slaton, but during his prison transfer, Frank was kidnapped and murdered. The incident helped birth the Jewish Civil Rights organization known as the Anti-Defamation League. Conversely, it was a factor in the revival of the then-defunct hate group the Ku Klux Klan. Frank's 1913 trial also became the basis for the musical 'Parade,' with book by Uhry and music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown. The show, part of the 83-year-old playwright's 'Atlanta Trilogy,' which includes the plays 'Driving Miss Daisy' and 'Last Night of Ballyhoo,' comes to the Orpheum Theatre in San Francisco. 'As soon as I was old enough, I got on the bus and went downtown to the library by myself and looked it all up,' Uhry said. 'I remember reading that as the verdict was pronounced the clock struck noon and all the church bells rang all over Atlanta and one-by-one all the jurors said 'guilty.' I remember as a kid thinking, 'Wow, that is a great first act for a curtain.' 'All my life I've been haunted by it because it was a blow to the German Jews of Atlanta.' Uhry spoke to the Chronicle ahead of opening night on Tuesday, May 20, about the complexities of growing up Jewish in the South, his family connection to Frank and the involvement of legendary stage director Hal Prince in shaping the material. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Q: Was it your great uncle who owned the factory where Leo Frank worked? Did you grow up with knowledge of his lynching? A: Yes, my great aunt's husband (owned the factory). My family was very German-Jewish and had been in Atlanta since before Atlanta was named Atlanta, so they were very reformed Jews. We celebrated Christmas, we dyed Easter eggs, but I still had my Jewish face and all the Jewish prejudices that go along to being called a dirty Jew. I think what really got me into writing 'Parade' was I remember people would be visiting and some guy would bring up the Leo Frank case and somebody else in the room would get up and walk out. Lucille Frank was a social friend of my grandmother's. I remember we called her Miss Lucille. She worked all her life at a fancy lady's dress store and she always signed everything, 'Mrs. Leo Frank.' I knew the way that generation interacted with each other, so I was able to write scenes for Leo and Lucille. Q: Was it meaningful to see 'Parade' get revived on Broadway in 2023 after its limited run in 1998? It feels like an appropriate time in our history for this musical to be getting another life. A: Is that a lucky break or an unlucky break? When it first came out during the Clinton administration, anti-Semitism seemed a little remote somehow. Although, antisemitism is a light sleeper and anything will stir it up. It seemed to resonate more when we did it on Broadway two years ago and, perhaps even more now. It's not directly about the day we are living in, but it reflects it somehow. Neither Jason nor I intended this to be a political statement of any sort, but it just seemed that this story had the ultimate thing that makes a big, rich musical stew, and Hal Prince is the one who realized it. Q: What was it like working with Hal Prince? A: I was a very lucky man because I loved him as a person. He was very enthusiastic, like a kid. He was 1,000% committed to this. I was sitting in his office and he said, 'Why was Atlanta so particularly sensitive to being Jewish?' And I said, 'I guess it was the Leo Frank case.' He put his eyeglasses on top of his head and he said, 'That's a musical.' Q: Was Jason Robert Brown always attached as the composer and lyricist? A: For about three weeks Stephen Sondheim was involved. It would have been a very different show if Sondheim had done it. Sondheim was the same kind of Jew I was, Jason was the grandson of rabbis. He put the Shema (a Jewish prayer) in the show. We believe that Leo Frank probably did do a Shema as he was about to die. Jason was a healthy Jewish boy. It added the rich dimension of loving Judaism and being grateful for what you are. He was 23, 24, 25 when he wrote 'Parade' — it's as good as anything he's ever done since. Q: Can you discuss the figure of the Confederate soldier in the story? A: That was Hal's contribution. The other spice of the stew is that I knew that all the people that were called rednecks and the ones who became 'villains' in this piece were not villains at all. They were victims, they were used. It was also the same period the film 'The Birth of a Nation' came out. The South was defeated, but they believed in their cause, they died for it. Most of the people who were killed weren't slave owners, they were poor white farmers. It was bad news all around.
Boston Globe
13-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
‘Parade' is a transfixing and unfortunately timely show
Advertisement Max Chernin is simply superb as Leo Frank, a Jewish superintendent at an Atlanta pencil manufacturer who was convicted — wrongly, in the view of most historians — in 1913 for the rape and murder of 13-year-old Mary Phagan, an employee at the factory. Frank's trial unfolded in an ugly atmosphere of antisemitism, with sensationalistic newspapers fanning the flames. In 1915, a mob kidnapped Leo from prison and lynched him. He was 31 years old. To its credit, 'Parade' does not sanitize its portrait of Leo. Victims need not be saints. Leo can be supercilious, and is often brusque with his wife Lucille (Talia Suskauer), before realizing how much he owes her for her unconditional love and activism on his behalf. Suskauer needs to sharpen her portrayal of Lucille, which is a bit indistinct, and firm up her wayward Southern accent (something she has in common with a couple of other cast members). As Mary, the murder victim, Alfred Uhry ('Driving Miss Daisy,'' 'The Last Night of Ballyhoo') wrote the book, and the propulsive score is the work of composer-lyricist Jason Robert Brown, who wrote more than two dozen songs for 'Parade.' Those songs are played with force and brio by an orchestra led by music director and conductor Charlie Alterman. Advertisement (Brown's 'The Last Five Years,' a chronicle of a disintegrating marriage that has attained cult status over the past two decades-plus, is poised to make its Broadway debut on Tuesday.) 'Parade' opens in Marietta, Georgia, in 1863, where the 'Lost Cause' mythology is already taking shape in the South, and then transitions to Atlanta in 1913. The eras are connected by Brown's 'The Old Red Hills of Home,' which functions roughly as the sinister 'Tomorrow Belongs to Me' does in 'Cabaret.' The main performance space for 'Parade' at the Colonial is a raised, rectangular platform (the scenic design is by Dane Laffrey) on which chyrons efficiently convey the details of time and place: Factory, courtroom, jail, governor's mansion, the Franks' home; and ultimately, chillingly, an impromptu gallows. When they are not in a scene, cast members sit in chairs on either side of the platform, impassively looking on. Though Brown won a Tony Award for best original score when 'Parade' premiered on Broadway in 1998, directed by musical theater titan Harold Prince, it was a flop, running for only two months after its official opening. The 2023 revival won two Tony Awards, including for best musical revival and best direction of a musical, by Arden. The production starred The large cast of 'Parade' at the Colonial meshes seamlessly and forcefully as an ensemble, while also managing to register vividly when they have individual scenes to play. Olivia Goosman and Jack Roden in "Parade." Joan Marcus Strong work is delivered by Chris Shyer as Governor John Slaton, who has questions about Leo's guilt after Lucille manages to persuade him that Leo's trial was deeply flawed; Andrew Samonski as ambitious local prosecutor Hugh Dorsey; Jack Roden as Frankie Epps, a boy with a crush on Mary; Danielle Lee Greaves as Minnie McKnight, a conflicted housekeeper in the Frank household; Robert Knight as night watchman Newt Lee; Jenny Hickman as Mary's mother; Brian Vaughn as Luther Z. Rosser, Leo's lawyer; Michael Tacconi as reporter Britt Craig; Jason Simon as Detective Starnes; and Griffin Binnicker as right-wing extremist Tom Watson. Advertisement And then there's Jim Conley, played by Ramone Nelson with a jaunty charisma, a janitor at the factory who emerges as a key witness against Leo. Seamlessly folded into 'Parade''s drama of a man and his wife fighting for his life are thematic concerns: Questions of Jewish identity, especially but not only for Jews living in the South early in the 20th century; the corrosion of the legal system when personal agendas are in the mix; and how unsettlingly easy it is for demagogues to manipulate public opinion. As good as 'Parade' is, the fact that it seems so relevant is disheartening. The extent to which the poison of antisemitism still flows through the body politic has become depressingly evident in recent years. Sometimes topicality is not such a good thing. But Brown said it best after a neo-Nazi hate group protested outside the theater in 2023, writing on his website: 'I'm glad they feel threatened enough to emerge into the light and show their faces.' PARADE Book by Alfred Uhry. Music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown. Co-conceived by Uhry, Brown, and Harold Prince. Directed by Michael Arden. At Emerson Colonial Theatre, Boston. Through March 23. Tickets: $49 - $149. Advertisement Don Aucoin can be reached at
Yahoo
23-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Senoia, Georgia, known for tv shows, movies, is a must visit, Southern Living says
Southern Living magazine has highlighted this small town in Georgia as a place you need to go to. "Few towns find the balance between sensationalized and sleepy, yet Senoia, Georgia manages to do just that," the magazine wrote. "What started as a railroad town was eventually made famous thanks to the silver screen. Award-winning classics such as Driving Miss Daisy and Fried Green Tomatoes were filmed here, which eventually paved the way for cult favorites like The Walking Dead." The town, located southwest of Atlanta, is in Coweta County. Southern Living has listed out exactly how to plan your stay in this town, from things to do to where to stay. Take a tour of the town: Start your visit at the Senoia Area Historical Society and Museum, which is located in the old home of the town coroner. You'll find interesting exhibits about local history. Or, visit Georgia Tour Co. to partake a Senoia historic homes walking tour of over 50 stops Browse the Senoia Farmers Market: This market is held on Travis St. on most Saturdays. It is in an old cotton warehouse. Shopping: People can browse the many boutiques on Main St. and The Walking Dead Shop, where collectables can be purchased. This small town doesn't sell its eateries short, here's a few spots Southern Living suggests: Nic & Norman's Senoia Coffee Lisa's Crêperie Bistro Hilary Worried about finding the perfect place to stay? Don't be. The magazine listed the perfect option for that too: The Veranda Inn. For more information about this town, visit Vanessa Countryman is the Trending Topics Reporter for the the Deep South Connect Team Georgia. Email her at Vcountryman@ This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Visit this small Georgia town known for famous TV shows, movies
