John Candy wasn’t just a comedy legend on screen — he was also a devoted husband and father off it. The Uncle Buckand Planes, Trains and Automobiles star was married to Rosemary Margaret Hobor from 1979 until his untimely death in 1994. Together, they raised two children, Jennifer and Christopher, who have both gone on to honor their father’s legacy. Most recently, they worked behind the scenes on the new documentary John Candy: I Like Me, which features never-before-seen footage and intimate family memories.
Promotional portrait of Canadian actor John Candy (1950 – 1994), against a blue background, for the film ‘Delirious’ (directed by Tom Mankiewicz), Los Angeles, California, 1990. (Photo by Steve Schapiro/Corbis via Getty Images)
With the project shining a fresh spotlight on Candy’s life, fans are also curious to know more about the woman who stood by his side through it all: his wife, Rosemary. Learn more below.
Who Was John Candy Married To?
Candy was married to Rosemary Margaret Hobor, an artist, ceramicist, and sculptor. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the pair met in the 1970s—via a blind date—and tied the knot in 1979, remaining together until John’s passing in 1994.
“They met on a blind date,” Jennifer told the outlet. “They went out on a date and enjoyed each other, and then my dad reached out to Mom asking if she could help him type out a script.”
Who Are John Candy’s Children?
Candy and his wife had two children: Jennifer (born 1980) and Christopher (born 1984). Both went into the entertainment industry and helped co-produce John Candy: I Like Me.
What Is John Candy: I Like Me About?
The documentary celebrates Candy’s career while revealing the man behind the comedy. It features never-before-seen home videos, interviews with friends, and heartfelt stories from his family. Director Colin Hanks explained, “When you hear the name John Candy, your face lights up. He wasn’t just a great actor; he was an even better person.”
Producer Ryan Reynolds echoed the sentiment, calling Candy “a national treasure” and admitting, “I’m a superfan.”
The film also includes reflections from Bill Murray, Steve Martin, Catherine O’Hara, and Macaulay Culkin. Culkin recalls Candy as having a “paternal” presence on set, saying, “I remember John caring when not a lot of people did.”
He will make you laugh. He will make you cry. Just like he always did. Watch the John Candy: I Like Me official trailer, coming October 10. pic.twitter.com/Ix2EoRcvST
The film premiered on September 4, 2025, opening the 50th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival, where it received a standing ovation. It will stream worldwide on Prime Video starting October 10, 2025.
Now that summer is pretty much over, trips abroad will likely start to wind down for many people. But this doesn’t have to be a bad thing, as we are lucky enough here in the UK to have so many amazing places to visit and spend a relaxing long weekend.
And if you’re someone who loves to explore a new city on foot, then one place should be on your radar for an autumnal staycation. Research from Preply’s analysts identified Oxford as the UK’s most walkable city. This gorgeous location boasts so much to see and do – with no car needed.
According to the experts, Oxford requires just 2,310 steps to discover the leading attractions. Famous for its university, it has earned the nickname the “City of Dreaming Spires” owing to its medieval architecture.
A Tripadvisor spokesperson said: “In the city of dreaming spires, academia takes centre stage. Gaze out at Oxford’s world-famous colleges from the top of St Mary’s Church Tower before heading into the city’s pedestrian-friendly streets.”
The city’s most well-known attraction is the Bodleian Library, amongst Europe’s most ancient libraries housing more than 13 million printed items.
A tourist named ‘Janet M’ shared on Tripadvisor: “Really interesting tour and I learned a lot about the history of the building from our guide Anne, who was very knowledgeable. The library is magnificent and well worth seeing.”
Other must-see attractions in the city include the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology and the University Museum of Natural History.
Given that most of Oxford’s top sights are located around the University, it’s quite convenient to stroll from one attraction to another.
However, when compared to other European cities, the UK isn’t particularly pedestrian-friendly. Seville took the crown as Europe’s most walkable city.
The UK didn’t make it into the top 20 ranking, losing out to cities like Venice, Porto, Florence and Athens.
Brighton and York clinched the second and third spots for walkability, while Bath was dubbed the UK’s least walkable city.
Conservationists in Ibiza are warning the island’s native bright blue and green lizards are coming ever closer to extinction due to the mounting threats of invasive snakes and tourists’ litter.
The Ibizawall lizard is endemic to Ibiza and neighbouring Formentera and is vital to the ecosystem of the islands, experts say, for pollinating plants and controlling pests.
Since the 2000s, the small, colourful reptiles, which are harmless to humans, have become endangered due to the proliferation of invasive snakes that first arrived in imported trees.
Image: Conservationists say Ibiza lizards are endangered. Pic: Dean Gallagher
Conservation foundation IbizaPreservation says snakes are now present on up to 90% of the island, while the lizard population has decreased massively, believed to have disappeared from about 70%.
But there is also another issue affecting the species – litter left mainly by tourists at beauty spots.
Dean Gallagher, a snake catcher on the island, says he is constantly finding the bodies of dead lizards stuck inside discarded bottles and cans at Es Savinar, a southerly viewpoint where people often gather for sunset.
“I’m finding these lizards trapped in cans and bottles,” he tells Sky News. “Once they get inside their feet get wet from the drink inside, the beer or the Red Bull, and they can’t get out. Sun comes up, heats up the bottle, the can, and just fries a lizard inside. It’s absolutely devastating.”
Image: Dean Gallagher has lived in Ibiza for more than 20 years
Tourism accounts for about 84% of Ibiza’s economy and is vital for the island, with tourist spending reaching 4.3bn euros in 2024, according to the Balearic Institute of Statistics (IBESTAT) – an increase of 62% since 2016. The number of tourists reached a record high of more than 3.7m for Ibiza and neighbouring Formentera in 2023 – an increase of almost 25% since 2016.
The land Dean looks after at Es Savinar is private, he says, but people ignore signs and fences which were replaced at the beginning of the summer.
“We do rubbish collections probably once or twice a week,” he says. “We clear the whole area of bottles and cans then the next time, we go back and there’s even more.
“Bottles can cause bush fires. The forests are really dry at the moment, just one spark can set this place alight. And [litter] is also killing our lizards. They’re marvellous, beautiful creatures, they’re not aggressive and they keep the bugs away. The ecological value is really important.”
Image: Signs have been put up around the private land. Pic: Dean Gallagher
Dean lives near Santa Eulalia, where he says numbers are scarce. “Lots of parts of the north of the island now, they’ve completely diminished and it’s very sad,” he adds.
“And the very southwest corner of the island where this viewpoint is, this is the last place where they are in stable numbers. But the excessive rubbish, tourism, snakes, are gonna wipe them out completely.”
Image: Gallagher says he is constantly finding the reptiles trapped in glass bottles and cans
Visual surveys of areas of Ses Salines Natural Park by environmental association GEN-GOB have found the population there has decreased by between 70% and 90% since 2023.
GEN-GOB, Friends Of The Earth Ibiza and IbizaPreservation are among several organisations that have been working to save the species in recent years.
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Ibiza’s shanty towns – the side of the island most do not see
Jordi Serapio, coordinator of Protegim Ses Sargantanes, IbizaPreservation’s lizard protection project, says abandoned bottles and cans are “deadly traps” for the animals.
And snake numbers continue to grow and expand toward territories where lizards still remain, he adds. The most common snake on the island – and the biggest danger to lizards – is the horseshoe whip snake, but other types have been spotted.
“It has followed a northeast to southwest expansion,” he says. “The highest snake densities are observed in what they have called the ‘invasion front’ – this is known precisely thanks to trapping.
“In contrast, in areas where lizards have already become extinct, there appears to be a much lower density of snakes.”
So the more food available for the snakes, the higher the numbers.
“This is something common in most biological invasions, which end up regulating themselves naturally,” Jordi says. “The unknown in this case is whether some lizard populations will manage to survive and adapt. Although everything seems to indicate that they won’t.”
He also highlights another problem – predation by both feral and domestic cats – which he says is a growing threat.
“In the current context of the species’ extinction, any additional pressure worsens the situation.”
A case against Anthropic AI brought by a group of authors was settled on Friday.
Riccardo Milani/Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images
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Riccardo Milani/Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images
In one of the largest copyright settlements involving generative artificial intelligence, Anthropic AI, a leading company in the generative AI space, has agreed to pay $1.5 billion to settle a copyright infringement lawsuit brought by a group of authors.
If the court approves the settlement, Anthropic will compensate authors around $3,000 for each of the estimated 500,000 books covered by the settlement.
The settlement, which U.S. Senior District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco will consider approving next week, is in a case that involved the first substantive decision on how fair use applies to generative AI systems. It also suggests an inflection point in the ongoing legal fights between the creative industries and the AI companies accused of illegally using artistic works to train the large language models that underpin their widely-used AI systems.
The fair use doctrine enables copyrighted works to be used by third parties without the copyright holder’s consent in some circumstances, such as when illustrating a point in a news article. AI companies trying to make the case for the use of copyrighted works to train their generative AI models commonly invoke fair use. But authors and other creative industry plaintiffs have been pushing back.
“This landmark settlement will be the largest publicly reported copyright recovery in history,” the settlement motion states, arguing that it will “provide meaningful compensation” to authors and “set a precedent of AI companies paying for their use of pirated websites.”
“This settlement marks the beginning of a necessary evolution toward a legitimate, market-based licensing scheme for training data,” said Cecilia Ziniti, a tech industry lawyer and former Ninth Circuit clerk who is not involved in this specific case but has been following it closely. “It’s not the end of AI, but the start of a more mature, sustainable ecosystem where creators are compensated, much like how the music industry adapted to digital distribution.”
A case with split rulings
Authors Andrea Bartz, Charles Graeber and Kirk Wallace Johnson filed their complaint against Anthropic for copyright infringement in 2024. The class action lawsuit alleged Anthropic AI used the contents of millions of digitized copyrighted books to train the large language models behind their chatbot, Claude, including at least two works by each plaintiff. The company also bought some hard copy books and scanned them before ingesting them into its model. The company has admitted to doing as much, a fact that the plaintiffs raise their complaint. “Anthropic has admitted to using The Pile to train Claude,” the complaint states. (The Pile is a big, open-source dataset created for large language model training.)
“Rather than obtaining permission and paying a fair price for the creations it exploits, Anthropic pirated them,” the authors’ complaint states.
In his June ruling, Judge Alsup agreed with Anthropic’s argument, stating the company’s use of books by the plaintiffs to train their AI model was acceptable.
“The training use was a fair use,” he wrote. “The use of the books at issue to train Claude and its precursors was exceedingly transformative.”
However, the judge ruled that Anthropic’s use of millions of pirated books to build its models – books that websites such as Library Genesis (LibGen) and Pirate Library Mirror (PiLiMi) copied without getting the authors’ consent or giving them compensation – was not. He ordered this part of the case to go to trial. “We will have a trial on the pirated copies used to create Anthropic’s central library and the resulting damages, actual or statutory (including for willfulness),” the judge wrote in the conclusion to his ruling. Last week, the parties announced they had reached a settlement.
U.S. copyright law states that willful copyright infringement can lead to statutory damages of up to $150,000 per infringed work. The judge’s order asserts that Anthropic pirated more than 7 million copies of books. So the damages resulting from a trial, if it had gone ahead, could have been enormous.
However, Ziniti said that regardless of the settlement, the judge’s ruling effectively means that at least in Northern California, AI companies now have the legal right to train their large language models on copyrighted works — as long as they obtain copies of those works legally.
In statements to NPR, both sides appear satisfied with the outcome of the case.
“Today’s settlement, if approved, will resolve the plaintiffs’ remaining legacy claims,” said Anthropic Deputy General Counsel Aparna Sridhar. “We remain committed to developing safe AI systems that help people and organizations extend their capabilities, advance scientific discovery, and solve complex problems.”
“This landmark settlement is the first of its kind in the AI era,” said Justin Nelson, an attorney on the team representing the authors. “It will provide meaningful compensation for each class work and sets a precedent requiring AI companies to pay copyright owners. This settlement sends a powerful message to AI companies and creators alike that taking copyrighted works from these pirate websites is wrong.”
The creative community responds
The settlement also met with approval from the creative community.
“This historic settlement is a vital step in acknowledging that AI companies cannot simply steal authors’ creative work to build their AI just because they need books to develop quality large language models,” said Authors Guild CEO Mary Rasenberger. “We expect that the settlement will lead to more licensing that gives authors both compensation and control over the use of their work by AI companies, as should be the case in a functioning free market society.”
“While the settlement amount is very significant and represents a clear victory for the publishers and authors in the class, it also proves what we have been saying all along— that AI companies can afford to compensate copyright owners for their works without it undermining their ability to continue to innovate and compete,” added Keith Kupferschmid, president and CEO of the Copyright Alliance.
Anthropic is in a good position to handle the sizable compensation. On Tuesday, the company announced the completion of a new funding round worth $13 billion, bringing its total value to $183 billion.
Meanwhile, the literary world and other parts of the creative sector continue to fight against AI companies. There have been a slew of literary AI copyright infringement lawsuits launched by prominent authors, including Ta-Nehisi Coates and the comedian Sarah Silverman in recent years. In June, U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria granted Meta’s request for a summary judgment in Coates and Silverman’s case against the tech corporation, which effectively put an end to that lawsuit. Other cases are ongoing.
And in the latest in a string of legal actions involving major entertainment corporations, on Friday, Warner Bros. Discovery filed a lawsuit in California federal court against AI image generator Midjourney for copyright infringement. NPR has reached out to Midjourney for comment.
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At some point, even the most willfully blind in the country have to begin to catch on that something isn’t right with Donald Trump.
The latest example that the current president is intellectually slipping away came when he was signing another meaningless executive order to rename the Department
Video:
Trump said:
And we’ve been talking about this Department of War. So we won the first World War, and we won the second World War. We won everything before that and in between. And then we decided to go woke and we changed the name to Department of Defense. So we’re going Department of War.
And I’d like to ask our Secretary of War to say a few words. Pete Hegseth said, I think it’s a much more appropriate name, especially in light of where the world is right now.
The United States had no wars between the first and second world wars, so there was nothing in between for the nation to win.
The idea that every subsequent war was lost not due to bad choices of trying to fight on foreign soil against opposition that was committed to winning in the long term, which was the case in Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq, but to “wokeness” is a degree of insanity that even for Donald Trump is a new level.
Donald Trump was calling the Korean War woke. Trump also thinks Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq were woke.
Everything with Trump is about the appearance of strength without being strong. Trump can’t change the name of the Department of Defense on his own, and there will not be 60 votes in the Senate for the name change, so this is another empty show gesture from a mentally declining president who is obsessed with projecting strength as his administration fails.
What do you think about Trump’s executive order? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
President Trump has warned that the U.S. could retaliate against Europe over multibillion-dollar penalties on Google and Apple, escalating long-running trade tensions.
Trump threatens trade probe over EU tech fines
President Donald Trump on Friday threatened to launch a trade investigation into European Union penalties against U.S. tech firms. The warning, posted to Truth Social, came after Google was hit with a multibillion-dollar antitrust fine.
Trump said he may invoke Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, which allows U.S. officials to investigate and respond to unfair foreign trade practices. That process could potentially lead to retaliatory action, such as tariffs and trade restrictions.
Dexter: Resurrection’s first season has come to an end, and while the ending was satisfying, there’s something unfortunate about it: it seems too final. Dexter: Resurrection hasn’t officially been renewed for a second season. While creator Clyde Phillips has been clear about his intention to make a multi-season series, the green light hasn’t been given yet by Paramount+.
With Paramount+ having unexpectedly canceled the prequel series Dexter: Original Sin after it was presumably renewed, the future of Dexter: Resurrection hangs in the balance. And Episode 10, “And Justice For All…,” provides a finality that is sadly satisfying, wrapping things up a little too nicely for someone like me who is hoping for more.
How ‘Dexter: Resurrection’ Wraps up the Story
Paramount+ with Showtime
The sense you get in watching the final episode of Dexter: Resurrection Season 1 is that the story has come to an end. Overarching storylines wrap up with a red bow, Dexter even taking his own little parting gift: a selection of serial killer files to work through. There’s no major cliffhanger, and no dangling carrot that indicates the inevitability of a second season.
Leon Prater (Peter Dinklage) is gone, finally making his way to Dexter’s table. With Lowell (Neil Patrick Harris), Mia (Krysten Ritter), and Gareth (David Dastmalchian) gone as well, Charley (Uma Thurman) is gone but not dead, which puts an end to the serial killer club. Angel Batista (David Zayas) has tragically died, which means there’s no one left on Dexter’s tail. Harrison (Jack Alcott) has plans to attend school and even become a police officer. He has a new girlfriend, and with suspicion no longer pointed in his direction, his life is finally looking up.
The biggest wrap-ups come for Dexter and the New York Ripper case that loomed over the entire season. After eliminating Leon, framing him for Angel’s death, and exposing who Leon truly is, Dexter tied up every loose end he had in New York.
Meanwhile, in strategically leaving some files in Leon’s museum, Dexter has accidentally (or purposely) helped Detective Claudia (Kadia Saraf) and distracted her with the one case that has haunted her for years. With the police finding both the New York Ripper’s murder weapon hanging on the wall of the museum, along with Leon’s file for the killer that clearly states his name, Claudia is taken aback with a sense of relief. She will likely arrest this man and use all this damning evidence against him to take him down. What’s more, the Ripper’s file wasn’t the only one Dexter left, which means Claudia will be busy paying visits to many more serial killers as well, who have no idea they have just been outed. She’ll likely forget all about Dexter and Harrison.
Seeing Dexter sail away with the files he took, including Al’s (Eric Stonestreet), makes it easy to imagine what he’ll do next. He has a beautifully vetted list of victims ripe for killing, ready to get right back to his old ways. He’s embracing his Dark Passenger in a way he never had before, recognizing it’s who he is, not something to fight. As long as he keeps others close, like Harrison and even Blessing (Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine), Dexter can balance those dark urges with a sense of humanity, or at least the façade of being a “normal” person. That side of him is essential, not only to conceal his actions but also to remind him why he follows The Code.
It’s a wonderful way to end the series, except fans don’t want it to end. Even with this satisfying closure, much of the story remains untold, and fans still crave more of the beloved vigilante killer.
How ‘Dexter: Resurrection’ Could Continue
Paramount+ with Showtime
There are plenty of opportunities to continue the series. First, the show should explore Dexter’s work as he navigates his way through those files, taking out killers one by one across New York and potentially around the world as though he’s completing a to-do list. Seeing him balance his nightly proclivities with his daily life as a “normal” member of society is at the heart of the entire series. So, while it may sound repetitive, it’s a formula that works and that fans want to continue seeing. Chief among these kills is Al, the only remaining killer from Leon’s serial killer club. Since Al is in Wisconsin, not far from where Lumen (Julia Stiles) lived in Minnesota, a reunion could be a potential future storyline.
The New York Ripper storyline still demands a more satisfying resolution, as fans were disappointed by the anticlimactic reveal. Who is the New York Ripper beyond Don Framt? Knowing the name plays wonderfully into the idea that this notorious killer is just another average Joe, probably living an everyday life under the radar, just as Dexter has all these years. Still, fans were hoping for a bigger storyline involving the mysterious persona. Whether it’s showing Claudia hunting him down or revealing that Don Framt is an alias and the Ripper is actually someone fans already know (Dexter already proved, after all, that both Leon and Charley could be fooled), the story needs more.
From Charley’s disappearance to what will likely be an epic fallout from the discovery of Leon (and a hunt for him since he’s presumed to be on the run and not dead), along with Harrison’s future as a potential student of the law, there are still plenty of angles to take. What happens when Joey Quinn (Desmond Harrington) finds out about Angel’s death, and will he ever learn that Dexter is alive? It’s far too neat not to involve him again, given how the character is the last remaining person from Dexter’s old life who knows he’s a killer, even if Joey has never openly admitted this fact to others, including himself.
Why ‘Dexter: Resurrection’ Must Continue
Paramount+ with Showtime
It was already a brutal blow to fans when Dexter: Original Sin was canceled. Some speculate it was to keep resources firmly focused on Dexter: Resurrection, which has become a massive hit, more popular and better reviewed than the prequel. The show has resurrected (pun intended) one of the best characters ever on television and breathed new life into a show that has now become a franchise.
There’s so much depth to the character, moral ambiguity in our feelings while watching it. Dexter is, without a doubt, a psychopath. He hunts, taunts, and kills people. He dismembers their bodies like he’s carving a Sunday roast. He bags them up and dumps them in the river like he’s taking out the trash. But he also carefully vets his victims. He makes sure they are heinous people who do downright evil things. He rids the world of these people, playing judge, jury, and executioner.
Does he have the right to do that? No. Does every life have value? Perhaps. It’s these challenging questions that fans love to ponder while watching. Let’s not forget that it’s also incredibly entertaining to watch how crafty Dexter is at evading capture, stalking people, and getting himself out of seemingly impossible situations. His quick thinking and resourcefulness are second to none, and it’s fascinating to see how the writers continually find ways for him to escape.
We’re not done with Dexter just yet. As he says so pointedly while breaking the fourth wall for the first time in any of the shows, he is exactly who he needs to be, and “exactly who you want me to be.” How could we not want to continue that journey alongside him? He’s practically calling us to join him. Dexter: Resurrection is streaming on Paramount+ with Showtime.
Even though it has been three years since Reacher premiered on Amazon Prime Video, his best love interest seems irreplaceable. Similar to Lee Child’s Jack Reacher books, the Prime Video detective series has featured a new love interest for the titular character in every new season.
Each new installment of the series begins with Alan Ritchson’s Jack Reacher arriving in a new setting, where he not only sets out on a new crime-solving endeavor but also finds a short-lived romantic relationship. Since three Reacher seasons have happened so far, the Alan Ritchson character has been romantically involved with three women: Roscoe, Dixon, and Duffy.
However, it is hard not to see how only one among them seemingly had the best chemistry with Jack Reacher. Even after three seasons, it looks like Reacher has not found her replacement. Considering Reacher season 4‘s potential story, it looks like this trend will seemingly continue in the Prime Video show.
Roscoe Remains Reacher’s Best Love Interest After 3 Seasons
Alan Ritchson as Reacher looking at a smiling Willa Fitzgerald as Roscoe Conklin in Reacher
While Reacher’s dynamic with both Duffy and Dixon was fun, he seemed to have genuine chemistry with Roscoe in season 1. Alan Ritchson, too, agreed with this (via Collider), describing how his on-screen chemistry with Willa Fitzgerald felt “very immediate and rare.” He even said that it felt like they had been working together for years after filming the first episode.
Fitzgerald added to the same by revealing (via Slash Film) that they found chemistry the first time they met over a Zoom call and developed a strong “foundation” of “liking each other.” In Reacher season 1, Roscoe is also portrayed as a strong and quick-witted character herself who makes many contributions to the overarching crime-solving.
While Dixon and Duffy only come off as fleeting romance subplots in seasons 2 and 3, Roscoe feels like an integral part of the Alan Ritchson character’s journey in season 1. Lee Child, too, could not help but appreciate Willa Fitzgerald’s portrayal of Roscoe (via Slash Film) and was almost moved to tears when he realized Roscoe and Finlay would not return in season 2.
Reacher’s story with Roscoe also feels unresolved because, despite wanting to embrace the open road, he tells Roscoe that if anything could make him stay in Margrave, it would be her. This seems like a rare confession from the character, given how he makes it clear to Dixon and Duffy that long-term relationships are not for him.
Reacher Season 4 Will Struggle To Replace Roscoe
Reacher season 4 is adapting Lee Child’s Gone Tomorrow. As casting updates for the upcoming season have revealed, Sydelle Noel has been cast to play Theresa Lee, who will be Reacher’s new love interest. In the show, Theresa Lee’s name will be changed to Tamara Green, likely because another character named Teresa was a significant player in Reacher season 3’s narrative.
The Neagley spin-off show will premiere on Amazon Prime Video before Reacher season 4.
Based on Gone Tomorrow‘s story, Tamara Green will not have that big of a role in the upcoming season’s narrative, and, like Dixon and Duffy, she, too, will come off as a one-off romantic love interest for Jack Reacher. While Reacher season 4 might introduce other changes to her book story, it seems unlikely that she will become a worthy replacement for Roscoe.
Mark Volman, the singer who co-founded the buoyant 1960s hitmakers the Turtles and was half of the humorous harmony duo Flo & Eddie, has died. He was 78.
Representatives for Volman confirmed the death to Rolling Stone, citing a “brief, unexpected illness.” In 2020, Volman was diagnosed with Lewy Body Dementia, but continued touring and only announced his diagnosis in 2023.
When promoting his memoir “Happy Forever: My Musical Adventures with the Turtles, Frank Zappa, T. Rex, Flo & Eddie, and More” in 2023, Volman went public with his 2020 diagnosis of Lewy body dementia, a disease that results in a decline in cognitive ability, affecting reasoning, memory and movement.
In a People magazine story, Volman accepted his fate: “I got hit by the knowledge that this was going to create a whole new part of my life. And I said, ‘OK, whatever’s going to happen will happen, but I’ll go as far as I can.’”
Volman’s partner in both the Turtles and Flo & Eddie was Howard Kaylan, a high-school friend who turned into a lifelong creative partner. Sharing a taste for sweet melodies, cultural fads and unrepentant silliness, Volman and Kaylan adeptly navigated the cultural changes of the 1960s, steering the Turtles from surf-rock survivors to psychedelic freaks over the course of a decade.
The group’s sweet spot arrived in the second half of the 1960s, when they polished their Southern Californian folk-rock with studio savvy, creating hits — “Happy Together,” “She’d Rather Be With Me,” “Elenore” and “You Showed Me” — that appealed to mainstream listeners — they were the favorite band of Richard Nixon’s daughter Tricia, even playing the White House in 1970 — while winking at hipper audiences.
As they drifted away from the middle of the road, the Turtles could occasionally give the sense that they were too smart for the room; one of their best albums, 1968’s “The Turtles Present the Battle of the Bands,” was constructed as a concept album where the group adopted a different guise and musical style for each track.
The Turtles in 1967, clockwise from top left: Al Nichol, Jim Tucker, Mark Volman, Howard Kaylan, Johnny Barbara and Jim Pon.
(Central Press / Hulton Archive / Getty Images)
Volman and Kaylan capitalized on this quirk when they rechristened themselves as Flo & Eddie, a moniker they devised after a bitter legal battle with their former record label left them without the right to perform either as the Turtles or using their own names. During this period, Frank Zappa invited Flo & Eddie to join his Mothers of Invention, giving the duo a boost that led to an enduring career.
Flo & Eddie specialized in providing harmonic support to high profile acts: they toured with Alice Cooper, sang on T. Rex’s landmark glam album “Electric Warrior” and were recruited to sing on Bruce Springsteen’s “Hungry Heart” when the Boss was looking for Beach Boys-like harmonies. On their own, Volman and Kaylan also honed their comedic shtick as recording artists, later taking their act to radio and, once they reacquired the rights to the Turtles moniker, on the road, playing the oldies circuit into the 2010s.
Unlike many other oldies acts, Volman and Kaylan possessed sharp business skills, acquired after their messy fallout with their record label, White Whale. Once they regained their master tapes, they licensed their catalog to reissue labels and kept a vigilant eye on how their recordings were disseminated in the marketplace.
On realizing that the Turtles’ “You Showed Me” provided a pivotal sample on De La Soul‘s 1989 debut album, “3 Feet High and Rising,” the duo sued the rap pioneers for $2.5 million in exemplary and punitive damages. The matter was settled out of court in favor of Volman and Kaylan; while the terms were not publicly disclosed, they reportedly were awarded $1.7 million in damages. The lawsuit and its fallout effectively ended the golden age of sampling in hip-hop.
Mark Volman during the 10th anniversary of the Happy Together tour at Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza in 2019.
(Scott Dudelson / Getty Images)
Born in Los Angeles on April 19, 1947, Volman grew up in a musical household in the neighborhood of Westchester. Even when he was young, relatives were struck by his exuberant personality. His aunt Ann Becker recalled in “Happy Forever”: “I can remember my mother shaking her head and saying, ‘That boy is so smart — he shouldn’t be so silly.’”
By the time he enrolled at Westchester High — his classmates included comedian Phil Hartman and Manson Family member Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme — Volman had gravitated toward irreverence.
Meeting New York transplant Kaylan in choir, Volman soon became part of the Crossfires, playing saxophone alongside his new friend in the surf-rock combo. The Crossfires had two singles to their name before they signed to the fledgling White Whale Records in 1965. Already in the process of abandoning surf for folk-rock — Volman and Kaylan swapped their saxes for lead vocals — the group’s members accepted their new label’s suggestion to rename themselves; they rejected the stylized spelling of the Tyrtles in favor of the Turtles.
Taking a cue from the Byrds’ hit version of Bob Dylan’s “Mr. Tambourine Man,” the Turtles released a revved-up cover of Dylan’s “It Ain’t Me Babe” that squarely hit the zeitgeist, climbing into the Billboard Top 10 in summer 1965. Volman later remembered, “I graduated from high school in February 1965 and was on tour in June with a Top 10 record and on the Dick Clark Show.”
A couple of spirited sequels, “Let Me Be” and “You Baby,” kept the band in the Top 40 into 1966 but the Turtles’ hot streak quickly cooled, as a series of singles — including “Outside Chance,” written by White Whale staffer Warren Zevon — barely scraped the charts. “Happy Together,” a song rejected by a number of pop groups, revived the group’s fortunes, thanks in part to a sterling arrangement masterminded by new bassist Chip Douglas.
“Happy Together” topped the charts and would become one of the standards of its era, appearing often in commercials and films. In 1967, it propelled the Turtles back to the upper reaches of the charts, a place they’d stay through 1969, as they accumulated such hits as “She’d Rather Be With Me” and “Elenore.”
By far the biggest act on the small-scale White Whale, the Turtles were subjected to pressure by the label to record more commercial material, yet Volman and Kaylan kept pushing the band to make hip music. When the label suggested firing the rest of the Turtles, the singers arranged for the remaining three members to share songwriting credits on “The Turtles Present the Battle of the Bands,” the first album they released after the success of “Happy Together.” On their final album, “Turtle Soup,” the Turtles hired Ray Davies as their producer; it was his first production outside his main band, the Kinks.
Tensions between the Turtles and White Whale escalated in 1970, leading the group to disband. In turn, the label exercised a clause in the band‘s recording contract that prevented the members from performing either “individually or collectively,” effectively barring Volman and Kaylan from continuing to work either as a group or as themselves. The pair decided to call themselves the Phlorescent Leech & Eddie, a name that would swiftly be shortened to Flo & Eddie; Volman was the former, Kaylan the latter.
Zappa brought the duo into his Mothers of Invention ensemble not long after the implosion of the Turtles. They stayed with him through an eventful year that included a concert in Montreux, Switzerland, that ended with the venue engulfed in fire; Deep Purple memorialized the event in “Smoke on the Water.”
Alice Cooper, second from left, with Mark Volman (drinking beverage) and bandmates in Copenhagen, Denmark, 1972.
(Jorgen Angel / Redferns / Getty Images)
Beginning with 1972’s “The Phlorescent Leech & Eddie,” Flo & Eddie released a series of increasingly facetious albums throughout the 1970s, but they had greater success singing harmonies for T. Rex and Cooper. “Hungry Heart,” Springsteen’s first Top 10 hit, served as a curtain call for this period of Flo & Eddie’s career. Soon, the duo put their days as recording artists to rest. While they still would contribute original music to animated television shows, including specials focusing on “Strawberry Shortcake” and “The Care Bears” series, the duo stopped writing and recording new Flo & Eddie music.
The move coincided with the duo finally winning back the rights to their names. Volman and Kalyan began this process in 1974, when they acquired the Turtles’ master recordings when White Whale assets were up for auction.
A decade later, they were able to tour as The Turtles … featuring Flo & Eddie, a billing they’d retain into the 2010s, until Kaylan retired from the road in 2018. With Ron Dante filling in for Kaylan, Volman continued performing as the Turtles as part of their regular Happy Together package tours.
Although Flo & Eddie embraced their status on the oldies circuit, they hadn’t faded entirely from modern music. When De La Soul sampled “You Showed Me” for their track “Transmitting Live From Mars” in 1989, the trio failed to clear the rights prior to release, so Volman and Kaylan sued the group, winning a large settlement that established a precedent for sample clearance in hip-hop.
The duo launched another major lawsuit in 2013 when they filed suit against Sirius XM for failing to pay sound recording royalties in California, New York and Florida. A California judge ruled in the duo’s favor in 2014, while a Florida judge ruled for Sirius XM in 2015. Although a settlement was reached in 2016, Sirius XM would win subsequent legal appeals in Florida and California.
Volman went back to school in 1992, pursuing a bachelor’s degree at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. After earning a master’s degree in screenwriting in 1999 at Loyola Marymount, Volman soon moved into teaching, eventually becoming an associate professor at the Mike Curb College of Entertainment & Music Business at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn.
Volman is survived by his daughters, Sarina Marie and Hallie Rae, both from his marriage to Patricia Lee.
Karol G brought her Tropicoqueta energy to the NFL stage in Brazil, where she headlined the halftime show on Friday night (Sept. 5) during the season opener between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Los Angeles Chargers.
The Colombian superstar’s performance was streamed live on the NFL’s YouTube channel from Corinthians Arena in São Paulo, where she opened her short-but-dazzling set singing some verses in Portuguese, before switching to Spanish for “Bandida Entrenada.”
“Hey, Brazil!” she greeted the audience with excitement. “¡Arriba mi gente latina!” (Up my Latin people!)
Dressed in a brown and yellow miniskirt with copper details and a bra with yellow pineapples for cups, Karol, with her wavy dark blond hair down, performed a medley of songs that included her Billboard Hot Latin Songs No. 1 hit “Si Antes Te Hubiera Conocido,” “Un Gatito Me Llamó” and “Papasito,” which she performed half in English, half in Spanish.
Surrounded by dozens of dancers and featuring some moves that included a bit of lambada, Karol’s performance lasted less than 10 minutes, but it was sweet and well-produced, including nice costumes, a group of female percussionists and a grand finale with golden pom poms and fireworks.
Hours before the show, Karol shared some heartfelt words in an Instagram post alongside a carousel of colorful spashots from her stay in Brazil. “Today is a very special day! After a long time, I return to one of my favorite places in the world, where, no matter what, I feel completely happy: The stage! The sacred place where I connect with you,” she wrote.
“Performing tonight has many special meanings in my life for different reasons, and there wouldn’t be enough space in this caption to explain it all… I just hope you really enjoy it, and in the name of God, I hope everything turns out incredible,” the singer continued. “You know, you think about every detail and hope that everything goes as planned… But no matter what happens, I love what we’ve prepared so much. It has all my soul and heart, and there’s a wonderful team of people by my side who worked incredibly hard as well.”
Karol G’s halftime show performance was announced in August. The news was accompanied by a photo of her dressed in Tropicoqueta flair, a nod to her latest album, while holding a football helmet. As part of the ongoing collaboration between the NFL and YouTube, the game between the Chiefs and the Chargers is the first NFL game exclusively streamed live on YouTube.
In addition to Karol’s show, Brazilian artist Ana Castela performed the country’s national anthem, “Hino Nacional Brasileiro,” and jazz saxophonist and composer Kamasi Washington played the United States national anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
