Positive Thinking

Montecito actor Michael J. Fox, 61, says the cure for Parkinson’s disease is “closer than it has ever been.”

The now retired star, who was diagnosed with the degenerative condition when just 29, has raised more than $2 billion for the cause and says he is optimistic the disease can be eradicated following “a single breakthrough.”

In a U.K. TV interview, Fox declared:”I feel like a cure is closer than it’s ever been. I think we found this biomarker, which is huge in identifying the disease and their being able to treat it earlier.”

The Michael J. Fox Foundation is the largest nonprofit foundation of Parkinson’s disease research in the world with more than $1 billion of research projects to date.

One for the Books

Prince Harry’s Spare San Francisco-based ghostwriter J.R. Moehringer, 58, has revealed their relationship became so fraught while working on the best-selling book that he ended up shouting at the Riven Rock resident.

“I was exasperated with Prince Harry,” says Moehringer, who received $1 million for his work on the Penguin-Random House project.

“My head was pounding, my jaw was clenched, and I was starting to raise my voice. And yet some part of me, as his cheeks flushed and his eyes narrowed, a more pressing thought occurred: ‘Whoa, it could all end right here.’”

The incident last year in a Zoom call is recalled in an article Moehringer has written for The New Yorker magazine.

“Although it was the first time Harry and I had argued, it felt different. It felt like we’re hurtling towards some kind of decisive rupture, in part because Harry was no longer saying anything. He was just glaring into the camera.”

Finally, King Charles’s youngest son accepted the writer’s explanation and replied with a mischievous grin, “I really enjoy getting you worked up like that.”

“I burst into laughter and shook my head, and we moved on to the next set of edits.”

Pluck of the Irish

Riverdance, the iconic Irish dance show created by Michael Flatley, is marking its quarter century.

I first saw the production with Flatley at New York’s Radio City Music Hall in 1996, and since that time more than 27.5 million people have seen the energized production around the world.

A new show, marking 25 years as part of a 53-city tour across the U.S. through June, landed at the Granada with Fergus Fitzpatrick and Maggie Darlington as principal dancers backed by a musical quartet including villein pipes, drums, fiddle, and saxophone.

The show, with wonderful video set backdrops from Alan Farquharson, motion graphics in high-res by Cosmo Av, and direction from John McColgan, even featured flamenco, a dervish ensemble, and tappers, a twosome of color in a Brooklyn, N.Y., scene reflecting on the historical migration of the Irish to America.

Composer Bill Whelan’s music added immensely to the new production, an exhilarating ride of precision and passion. It was a helluva night of magic and spectacle!

Casting Pearls before Shrine

A jewelry set made for the late Princess Diana and reputed to have been a gift from her film producer beau, Dodi Fayed, is going up for sale next month.

The diamond and pearl necklace was famously worn by the Princess of Wales at a gala evening for the ballet Swan Lake at London’s Royal Albert Hall in June 1997 – her last official engagement before her tragic death in Paris.

The necklace, made up of 178 diamonds totaling 51 carats and five South Sea pearls, was returned to the Crown Jewelers Garrard so they could design a matching pair of earrings.

Known as the Swan Lake suite, the jewels will be auctioned at Guernsey’s in New York in June and are expected to reach a sale price of between $5 and $15 million.

They have belonged to a prominent Ukrainian family since 2008.

Club Ed

In partnership with the Santa Barbara City College Foundation, the Rotary Club of Montecito has awarded ten $1,250 scholarships to students at City College pursuing studies in a career technical education program.

Club president Tony Morris says: “For nearly 30 years, our club has provided vocational scholarships for deserving students nominated by faculty members. We look forward to many more years of this educational tradition.”

The club is celebrating 70 years of community service.

Hot Wheels

A Nissan car driven by the late Santa Barbara actor Paul Walker in the 2009 film Fast & Furious 4 has just sold at auction for a world record $1,357,000.

The 2000 Bayside Blue Skyline R34 GT-R, built and painted to Walker’s exacting specifications, was described as “a genuine piece of cinematic and modern motoring history.”

The sale figure doubled the previous record in 2022, when $577,500 was paid for a GT-R.

Marten Ten Holder, managing director of Bonham’s Collector Cars in London, gushed: “This is an incredible result, well-deserved for such an iconic car… The ultimate example of the mighty ‘Godzilla.’”

Sightings

Rocker Kenny Loggins at the Panino sandwich shop in the Montecito Country Mart… Actor Kevin Costner’s estranged wife, Christine, at Loveworn on Anacapa Street… Oprah Winfrey delivering the graduation speech at her alma mater, Tennessee State.

Pip! Pip!