Bluesman David 'Honeyboy' Edwards dies

Blues singer-guitarist David "Honeyboy" Edwards, who traveled and performed with the legendary Robert Johnson and recorded brilliantly in his own right across eight decades, died Aug. 29 in Chicago. He was 96. Billed as "the last of the great Mississippi Delta bluesmen," Edwards had remained active, and appeared on some dates of a Johnson 100th birthday commemorative tour mounted earlier this year. But failing health forced him to announce his retirement in July. He was born June 28, 1915, in Shaw, Miss., and was known as "Honey" from childhood. His sharecropping parents were both guitarists. He began the life of an itinerant musician at the age of 17, when he hoboed with Big Joe Williams. After several years playing in Memphis, Edwards met Robert Johnson in Greenwood, Miss., in 1937. He traveled with the blues titan until the night Johnson was fatally poisoned in August 1938 at a Greenwood juke joint. Edwards was recorded by Alan Lomax for the Library of Congress in 1942. He soon joined harmonica virtuoso Little Walter Jacobs, and the two traveled to Chicago together in 1945. He would bounce back to the South for several years, recording in Houston and (for Sam Phillips at Sun) in Memphis. After cutting some sides for Chess Records that went unreleased for decades, Edwards settled in Chicago for good in 1956. Performing regularly in the Windy City's clubs, he profited from the '60s blues boom, recording for Milestone, Adelphi, Testament, Trix and Folkways; in 1969 he appeared on Fleetwood Mac's super session "Blues Jam in Chicago." Managed by Earwig Records owner Michael Frank, Edwards recorded several highly praised albums for the Chicago blues label from the late '80s on. Edwards was inducted into the Blues Foundation's Hall of Fame in 1996. His autobiography "The World Don't Owe Me Nothin'" was published in 1997. He received a National Heritage Fellowship Award from the National Endowment for the Arts in 2002. He won a 2007 Grammy Award for "Last of the Great Mississippi Delta Bluesmen - Live in Dallas," a collaboration with the late Pinetop Perkins, Robert Jr. Lockwood and Henry Townshend, as well as a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010. A kind of Zelig of the blues, Edwards was frequently interviewed about his association with Johnson and other legendary performers, and reminisced in several documentaries, including his own feature "Honeyboy" (2004). He also appeared in Jake Kasdan's 2007 comedy "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story." Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com

Punkd Has Returned! Attacking Young Boys Pranks Taylor Quick In First New Episode

La, Calif. -- Stars beware Punkd is formally in business and it is no more only Ashton Kutcher to become scared of! The MTV celebrity prank series has started again production, filming its first return episode on Friday in La with Taylor Quick because the naive target, a resource has revealed to Access Hollywood. However, it wasnt Ashton in the helm. Rather, the prankster who Punkd Taylor? Her close friend, Attacking Young Boys. Within the shows refurbished format, series creator Ashton will no more function as the regular host from the show. Rather, another celebrity will pull hosting responsibilities each episode, as audiences see them setup and execute their practical joke on the unknowing targets. As they will no more host, Ashton still can serve as executive producer for that hidden camera series, that they first released in 2003. The show continued hiatus following its season finale in May 2007. Gossips swirled in October 2010 that MTV was refreshing the show with Bieber because the host. While it is really not always the situation, Bieber did end up being active in the first episode, as Access has learned. As formerly reported on AccessHollywood.com, The Biebs became a member of close friend Taylor onstage on Tuesday evening throughout the La stop of her Speak Now tour. The duo carried out Biebers hit Baby. No further particulars on Fridays Punkd prank were immediately available.Copyright 2011 by NBC Universal, Corporation. All privileges reserved.These components might not be released, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Global Showbiz Briefs: Rome, Belgium, United kingdom

‘The Lady’ Set As Opener At Rome Fest Luc Besson’s The Woman, the political drama starring Michelle Yeoh and inspired through the lately freed Burmese opposition leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, continues to be drawn on to spread out the Rome Worldwide Film Festival on March. 27. It won’t function as the first stop for that film, which can make its world premiere in the Toronto Worldwide Film Festival on Sept. 12. Reviews: RTL, Time Warner Take A Look At Polish Broadcaster TVN Shares of stock in Polish TV network TVN rose 10% today among reportsof sales talks.Europe’s greatest commercial broadcaster RTL Group has an interest in ITI Group’s $800 million controlling stake within the Polish broadcaster, based on Reuters. AndTVN CEOMarkus Tellenbach has met as time passes Warner reps,Warsaw’s Gazeta Wyborcza newspaper reported. Hacking Scandal Inspires Satire On United kingdom’s Funnel 4 The show, using the working title Hacks, will beset inside a imaginary paper where staff enjoy phone hacking, blagging and “pinging” to obtain a story at all necessary. Guy Jenkin (Drop Dead Donkey) is writing the scriptbased about the scandal that has caused the closure from the News Around The Globe and exits ofNews Worldwide executives and top Scotland Yard figures. ‘The Hour’ Back For Second Season On BBC The BBC confirmed today the series, written and produced by Abi Morgan,is going to be back for six more episodes in the second season on BBC Two. Set ina BBC newsroom within the nineteen fifties,The Hour is created by Kudos Film and tv.

Miser lights up circus ring

For 10 shows a week, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey star Brian Miser gets shot out of a cannon while on fire. MiserBrian Miser performs the hottest stunt in the world -- literally. As one of the headliners of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus "Fully Charged" show, he's known as "The Human Fuse" and gets shot out of a canon that's made to look like a humongous crossbow. To add a little twist to the act, he does this while on fire. Once ignited, he's shot across the arena, does a forward flip in the air, lands on a huge air cushion and then walks around a bit, still on fire, before being doused. He's in flames for about 18-22 seconds, during which time he must hold his breath. Miser says he's the first to do the cannonball act while on fire, having started in 2003. Though the "Human Fuse" looks like a movie stunt, Miser says he did his own research and created his gear himself, choosing a high-tech fabric called Carbonex. "I get about 150 shots and burns out of one suit," he says. At 10 shows a week, that's about three to four months before the material starts getting brittle and showing holes. He's already performed the stunt more than 250 times this year and says he expects to do it 480 more times on the tour through the end of 2012. Indiana-born Miser discovered a talent for acrobatics at an early age and became a flying trapeze performer before switching to human cannonball. "I really like this stunt and I'd like to keep doing it as long as I can," says Miser, 47. "I've been performing professionally for 30 years and my body is starting to feel some aches and pains." He says he's constantly thinking of new stunt ideas, but concedes, "I'm having a hard time topping this one." Contact David S. Cohen at david.cohen@variety.com

Watch Robert Rodriguez Explain His Inspiration for 'Spy Kids'

Robert Rodriguez is one of those rare directors who has managed to master both hard-R thrillers and horror flicks and kid-friendly family films. Looking back at the first decade of his career, when he was an acclaimed young indie director responsible for violent cult classics like 'El Mariachi,' 'Desperado' and 'From Dusk Till Dawn,' it would have been difficult to guess he'd one day make the 'Spy Kids' franchise, which returns to the big screen Aug. 19 with 'Spy Kids: All the Time in the Word in 4D.' Now that the first three 'Spy Kids' installments are finally available on Blu-ray this week, Rodriguez explains in the special features that his inspiration for the lovable action films about a family of undercover agents sprang from his own family and a tiny plot point in one of his early movies, featuring Antonio Banderas, in 1995. No wonder Banderas was the natural choice to play the sleuthing Papi in the series.

Mark Ruffalo Says Now You See Me

As does Amanda Seyfried.... From the sounds of it, the cast for Louis Letterier's next film - magician heist pic Now You See Me - is getting better and better with each announcement. Because now Mark Ruffalo and Amanda Seyfried are set to join the cast. The film already boasts Jesse Eisenberg and Melanie Laurent in the tale of a crack squad of FBI agents engaged in a cat and mouse game with a group of the world's top illusionists, who pull off daring bank raids during their shows. They somehow manage to evade the law enforcers and usually shower their audiences will the ill-gotten gains. Ruffalo, who is hard at work getting angry a lot on The Avengers, is in talks for the main FBI agent role, while Seyfried, currently filming The Big Wedding with Robert De Niro, is set to play a genius technician who builds the devices that the magicians use in their performances. With Boaz Yakin and Edward Ricourt having scribbled the script, Leterrier plans to kick off shooting as soon as he can assemble the cast.