Faces & Names: Memories accompany NorShor’s rebirth

Memories accompany NorShor’s rebirth

There were plenty of memories floating around the NorShor Theatre on Thursday evening during part one of a centennial celebration for the space where the Orpheum Theatre opened this week in 1910. (Festivities continue with an open house at noon Saturday, and bands playing that night.)

Cathy Markham pointed out the north wall staircase and said she remembered coming to the NorShor with her grandmother when she was 8.

“I remember walking up those steps for the first time,” she said. “I was wearing a stole.”

A stole? Why?

“I was here with my grandma. That’s what you do,” said Markham, who helped set up for the celebration and said she is a fan of the space, as well as of the Duluth Playhouse, which is managing the building for the city

“I remember seeing ‘Snow White’ here when I was little,” recalled local actor Jen Bergum, a.k.a. Ulla Inga Hansen Yansen Tallen Hallen Svaden Swanson Bloom in the Playhouse’s recent production of “The Producers.”

Claire Kirch has office space in the Temple Opera building and said she was there to support the arts.

“It’s back,” she said. “It belongs to the city. It belongs to the citizens of Duluth.”

Cindy and Jack Seiler both remember seeing movies there in the 1960s.

“It’s marvelous,” local jeweler Jack said. “It’s breathtaking. I’m surprised it’s as clean as it is.”

Newsboys and a red carpet greeted attendees, leading to actors in period costumes, drinks and hors d’oeuvres. The North Shore Big Band played the Main Stage, while Tangier 57 played a lounge-y show in the mezzanine.

Mayor Don Ness, or if we stick with the colloquial of the building’s 1910 christening, His Honor Ness, took a page out of the speech by then-Mayor Callum, toasting the crowd of about 200 to say: “You look swell.”

No spiritual journey for Roberts after her role

Julia Roberts isn’t planning a spiritual journey of her own after making the film based on the hit travel memoir “Eat Pray Love.”

Roberts, a happily married mother of three, said she read and enjoyed Elizabeth Gilbert’s best-seller long before the proposed movie script came across her desk and she jumped at the role. But she added she isn’t looking to make any big alterations in her own life.

“No, no changes,” Roberts said Wednesday in Tokyo, where she is promoting the movie’s release. “I’m good.”

Roberts, who was raised a Catholic but is a practicing Hindu, said the film offered her a chance to draw from her own experiences, but she said she did not convert because of the role.

Beyond that, she said she would keep her beliefs to herself.

“I’ve realized something my mother told me 22 years ago,” she said. “You’re an actor, act. Don’t talk about politics or religion.”

U2 is working on a ‘club-sounding’ album

You too will dance to U2.

Bono tells Rolling Stone that the band is working on a “club-sounding” album.

The band also plans to release a rock album and “Songs of Ascent,” a set of tunes from the recording session of their latest disc, 2009’s “No Line On the Horizon.” Bono and The Edge also will score for the upcoming Spider-Man musical.

Bono had emergency back surgery in Munich in May. The group’s 360-

degrees World Tour resumed on Aug. 6 in Turin, Italy.

Bono says he thinks he “could have made a limp work.”

He adds: “There are a lot bigger problems out there than the ones I was facing. ... But I came out of it perfect. And I feel incredibly grateful.”

After overdose, Fantasia is back promoting new CD

A week after an overdose, Fantasia Barrino is back to promoting her new album.

In a statement released Monday, Fantasia says she “can’t thank my fans enough for their prayers and support during such a challenging time.”

The singer overdosed on aspirin and other pills at her home in Charlotte, N.C., last week.

Her manager says she wasn’t trying to kill herself, but police believed they were responding to a suicide attempt. The overdose came days after a woman accused Fantasia in court documents of having an affair with her husband.

The former “American Idol” winner will make TV appearances, including stops at “Good Morning America” and “Live with Regis & Kelly,” in the next couple weeks to promote her third album, “Back to Me,” due out Aug. 24.

Hermantown students win Rock the Mall

A pair of Hermantown High School students took top prize in the Rock the Mall event last week at Miller Hill Mall.

Jen West and Tyler Hanson play together in a band they call We Are Not the Band. They were unanimously selected by the panel of six judges.

As winners they received $500 cash, a Fender Guitar package from Schmitt Music, a professional photo shoot by FitzPhoto and other items, according to show organizer Tracy Lundeen.

Harris to be a dad — twice

Neil Patrick Harris and his partner, David Burtka, will become parents of twins this fall.

A representative for Harris confirmed in an e-mail Monday that Harris made the announcement in a posting on Twitter.

The 37-year-old actor says he and Burtka are “super excited/nervous/

thrilled.” He did not say whether they were adopting or using a surrogate.

Harris posted the message on Saturday. He stars in the CBS sitcom “How I Met Your Mother.”

Have an event that just happened that you’d like to share? Pictures, perhaps, or other goings-on from the Northland to Hollywoodland? Send them to facesandnames@duluthnews.com.

Tags: faces and names, arts and entertainment, julia roberts, neil patrick harris