Maine, Dec 14 (AP/UNB) — Bob Bryan, one half of the comedy duo Bert and I, which had fun at the expense of Maine Yankees and popularized the immortal punchline, "You can't get there from here," has died at his home in Quebec. He was 87.

Bryan and the late Marshall Dodge created their humor in a dormitory room at Yale University, and their 1958 album was the first of several that shaped the state's humor and image.

Uttered in exaggerated Down East accents, the jokes have withstood the test of time, including the one about the tourist who befuddled a Mainer by asking for directions. The native concludes with a famous punchline: "Come to think of it, you can't get there from here."

Bryan, who died Wednesday in Sherbrooke, was a native of Long Island, New York, who picked up the local vernacular during summers spent on a lake near Ellsworth, Maine.

The stories often involved a fancy-pants tourist and a laconic Mainer who gets the last word.

"They didn't write from scratch all of these stories. They adapted them. A lot of them were off color, from lumber camps or fishing wharfs. They'd rewrite them. They took them to the next level," said Dean Lunt from Islandport Press, which sells the "Bert and I" albums.

Humorist and storyteller Garrison Keillor recalled playing cuts of the "Bert and I" albums during his early stints as a morning disc jockey. And the original "Bert and I" album made comedian-magician Penn Jillette's list of the top 12 comedy albums of all time.

The pair eventually set off in different directions after selling hundreds of thousands of albums.

Dodge toured the country as a comedian before his death in 1982 in Hawaii, where he was struck by a hit-and-run driver while bicycling.

Bryan, a divinity student who went on to be ordained as an Episcopal priest, used some of his "Bert and I" earnings to buy a float plane. As a bush pilot, he flew his plane to the rugged fishing villages in northern Quebec to minister to local residents.

He created the Quebec-Labrador Foundation with a goal of supporting rural communities and the environment of eastern Canada and New England.

One of Bryan's daughters, Sandy Bryan Weatherall, remembers her dad and Dodge recording stories on a reel-to-reel tape player in her Massachusetts home. And she remembers listening for the sound of his airplane to mark his return home.

She said her dad was a prankster, an optimist and a larger-than-life character whose charisma attracted people.

"He was friends with people from all walks of life. Really, from the bottom to the top, and he believed in them all," she said.

Bryan leaves behind a wife, three daughters, a bunch of grandchildren and a great-granddaughter  — and a heap of stories that have withstood the test of time, said Cherie Hoyt, a friend of Bryan's who produced the "Bert and I ... Rebooted" recording with Bryan and Maine humorist Tim Sample.

"You can listen to a good story many times without getting sick of it," Hoyt said. "I know them by heart, but I still find them funny. I still smile. I still chuckle."

Los Angeles, Dec 14 (AP/UNB) — Oscar-nominated actress Sondra Locke has died. A death certificate obtained by The Associated Press shows Locke died Nov. 3 at age 74 at her home in Los Angeles of cardiac arrest stemming from breast and bone cancer. Locke's death was promptly reported to authorities, but was not publicized until a RadarOnline story Thursday. It's not clear why it took so long to come to light.

Locke was best known for the six films she made with Clint Eastwood in the late 1970s and early 1980s, including "The Outlaw Josey Wales," ''Every Which Way But Loose," and "Sudden Impact." She and Eastwood also had a 13-year romantic relationship.

She was nominated for an Academy Award for best supporting actress for 1968's "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter," her first film.

New York, Dec 14 (AP/UNB) — Janet Jackson joins her brother Michael and the Jackson 5 as members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, earning induction on Thursday along with Stevie Nicks and the top fan vote-getter, Def Leppard.

Radiohead, the Cure, Roxy Music and the Zombies will also be ushered in next spring at the 34th induction ceremony. It will be held March 29 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

Jackson's induction comes after her third time as nominee and many saw it as overdue, given her prowess as a hitmaker with "All For You," ''That's the Way Love Goes," ''Nasty," ''Together Again" and "What Have You Done For Me Lately."

Her career suffered from the fallout after the infamous 2004 Super Bowl appearance where her bare breast was briefly exposed by Justin Timberlake; both said it was a mistake.

Jackson became eligible for the rock hall in 2007 and wasn't nominated until 2016.

The Roots' Questlove, in a social media post earlier this year, said her exclusion had been "highly criminal." He cited the influence of her 1986 album "Control," which he said set off the New Jack Swing trend.

"This was no one's kid sister," he wrote.

Jackson said on Thursday: "Thank you Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I am truly honored and I am happy to be in there with my brothers."

It will be Nicks' second induction into the rock hall, since she's already there as a member of Fleetwood Mac. She launched a solo career in 1981 with her duet with the late Tom Petty, "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around." Other hits followed, including "Edge of Seventeen," ''Stand Back" and "I Will Run to You."

Def Leppard earned more than half a million votes from fans, which are incorporated into more than 1,000 ballots from artists, historians, industry professionals and past winners in deciding who gets honored. The British heavy metal band with a pop sheen were huge sellers in the 1980s on the back of songs like "Photograph" and "Pour Some Sugar on Me."

Frontman Joe Elliott said he was initially ambivalent toward the honor until Jon Bon Jovi suggested it would change his life.

"When I look at the list of who's in, it's just obvious you'd want to be in that club, isn't it?" he told Billboard earlier this year. "When you think that every band that means anything in the world, starting from the Beatles and the Stones and any artist that influenced them — your Chuck Berrys, your Little Richards, etc., etc. — then of course you want to be in. Why wouldn't you?"

Def Leppard, Nicks and Roxy Music were voted in during their first years as nominees. Other 2019 nominees who didn't make the cut included LL Cool J, Devo, Rage Against the Machine, MC5, John Prine, Todd Rundgren and Kraftwerk.

There's some question about whether Radiohead will shrug its collective shoulder as an  inductees. The English band seemed like generic grunge rockers on their initial hit "Creep," but with the album "OK Computer" and beyond have become consistent sonic pioneers. Among its rock hall class, Radiohead has the most impact on the current music scene.

In an interview with Rolling Stone earlier this year, Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood said "I don't care" when asked about the rock hall. Bandmate Ed O'Brien said, "culturally, I don't understand it. I think it might be a quintessentially American thing."

The Cure and frontman Robert Smith resist their initial label as goth rockers, champions of fans who like black makeup, black clothes and darkly romantic songs. They have a durable catalog of hits, including "Friday I'm in Love," ''Boys Don't Cry," ''Pictures of You" and "Let's Go to Bed."

Roxy Music came out of the 1970s progressive rock scene and had hits with "Love is the Drug" and "More Than This." Dapper member Bryan Ferry had a successful solo career and Brian Eno has been an influential producer.

The heyday of British rockers the Zombies' career was the 1960s, with big sellers "She's Not There" and "Time of the Season."

The hall will announce ticket sales for March's ceremony next month. HBO and SiriusXM will carry the event.

Munshiganj, Dec 10 (UNB) – Noted comedian and film actor Tele Samad is undergoing treatment at the high dependency unit (HDU) of Square Hospitals in the capital as he is ill.

Tele Samad, who has difficulty in taking food due to fall in the blood platelets, was admitted to the hospital on December 4, said his eldest daughter Sohela Samad Kakoli on Monday.

He was shifted to the HDU on Friday as his condition did not improve, she said, adding that the actor is now under the observation of endocrinologist Dr Pratik Dewan.

Kakoli said her father could not take food properly for the last few days and fell sick. “Physicians said he has got his chest infected and has a low blood platelet count,” she said, urging all to pray for her father’s recovery.

After having a bypass surgery in the USA, Tele Samad returned home on September 27, 2017.

He was later admitted to the same hospital twice -– first in October and then in November last year.

On October 20, 2017, he had a surgery on his left foot.

Born at Nayagaon in Munshiganj district town, Tele Samad completed his study at the Fine Art Faculty of Dhaka University. 

He started his career in the film industry through ‘Kar Bou’ in 1973 and acted in almost 600 films in the last four decades.
 

Dhaka, Dec 9 (UNB) -A US journalist has apologised after writing that Bollywood actress Priyanka Chopra was a "scam artist" who had trapped US singer Nick Jonas into marrying her to further her career, reports BBC. Mariah Smith said she took "full responsibility for what I wrote, and I was wrong. I am truly sorry". The article in The Cut, a New York-based website, has since been taken down.Many Indians had jumped to Ms Chopra's defence and accused The Cut of racism.However Ms Smith said she did not "condone racism, xenophobia, or sexism".

It follows an earlier apology from The Cut, which said the article "did not meet our standards" . Ms Chopra and Mr Jonas married last weekend in the city of Jodhpur in India's north-western Rajasthan state. Her outfit featured a 75ft veil that needed a team of people to carry it.

She is now due to attend another big wedding in India later this month, that of Isha Ambani, the daughter of India's richest man, Mukesh Ambani.  She is due to marry Anand Piramal, the son of another billionaire industrialist on 12 December in Udaipur, another city in Rajasthan. Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has arrived in Udaipur for pre-wedding celebrations, NDTV reported. India's biggest national newspaper has claimed that Beyoncé will perform at the sangeet, an evening of music and dance that typically precedes the wedding.