by Antonio Mejías-Rentas
Salma Hayek
MORE FOR LESS: A revamped ALMA Awards ceremony promises to honor more Latinos in entertainment this year while handing out fewer trophies.
A reduced number of categories were announced at an Aug. 25 press conference at Eva Longoria Parker’s Hollywood restaurant. She’s back as both host and executive producer of the ceremony, to be held Sept. 17 in Los Angeles. It airs the next day on ABC.
This year, each award category includes more than 10 “special honorees” and producers said each will be featured in a video package during the ceremony. An online “fashion icon” award and a “sports in television” category were added’ but with less awards handed out, the show will concentrate on the musical performances.
Confirmed musical guests include Luis Fonsi, Nelly Furtado and Pitbull. This year’s special tributes include the new Anthony Quinn award for excellence, to be given to Salma Hayek, and a special Sports in Television award to retired boxer Óscar de la Hoya. There will also be a posthumous tribute to Ricardo Montalbán, presented by Rita Moreno.
Awards are given by the National Council of La Raza. In other award news, Tom Cruise made a special appearance at the Aug. 22 Imagen Awards in Beverly Hills, to present a special honor to film agent Emmanuel Nubez. Other special honorees included screenwriters Roberto Orci and Silvio Horta and farm labor activist Dolores Huerta. Awards were handed out in over 20 categories.
CONTROVERSY HEATS UP: Colombian rocker Juanes says he received death threats on Twitter over his announced concert in Cuba next month, but insists the Sept. 20 Paz sin Fronteras event in Havana will go on as scheduled.
The concert has been criticized by segments of the Cuban exile community and Juanes has posted almost daily reactions on his Twitter page. He has confi rmed that singers Olga Tafi dn and Miguel Bos, will perform and that the three will cover the concert’s expenses.
Both Juanes, a U S. resident, and Tañón, Puerto Rican, must obtain licenses from the Treasury Department to travel to Cuba.
While Juanes has received wide support from fellow artists,including from Gloria and Emilio Estefan, according to a Twitter message, at least one Latin American singer has criticized him sharply. Guatemalan Ricardo Arjona, currently on a very successful U.S. tour, had announced he would perform a concert in Cuba in January. This month Arjona blamed Juanes for the “circus like” publicity he has sought for the Paz sin fronteras event and said he was forced to cancel his own Havana concert.
ONE LINERS: Spanish-language lyrics by LinManuel Miranda are no longer being performed on the current Broadway production of West Side Story. Director Arthur Laurents, one of the show’s creators, said the translation had been part of “an ongoing process of finding what worked and what didn’t.”… Puerto Rican soprano Ana Maria Martinez was back on stage this week at the Glyndebourne (England) Festival performing the lead female role in Dvorak’s Rusalka, after falling backwards into the orchestra pit during the fi rst act of the Aug. 21 performance. Against her will, she was rushed to the hospital and an understudy
