Travel talk
6/5/2008Country star Keith Urban is the latest celebrity to loan a motorcycle and memorabilia to an exhibit at the Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum in Pickerington, Ohio.
Urban will share his custom Vengeance Drifter along with his Fender Telecaster guitar named "Clarence," and a collection of personal photos. He is one of more than 100 actors, artists, athletes, musicians, CEOs, and bike builders who have provided items for the exhibit and for an auction to benefit the museum.
The exhibit, titled "MotoStars: Celebrities + Motorcycles," opens June 28. Information: www.motorcyclemuseum.org.
Rocker Pat Benatar kicks off the third annual Rockin' on the Riverfront summer concert series June 27 at the GM Riverfront Plaza in downtown Detroit.
The series continues through Aug. 22. The lineup includes Mark Farner and Mitch Ryder July 11; Starship, starring Mickey Thomas, on July 18; Rick Derringer and Class Rock All Stars featuring original members of Sugarloaf, Rare Earth, Iron Butterfly, Blues Image, and Cannibal & the Headhunters on July 25; The Guess Who on Aug. 1; Kansas on Aug. 8; Blue Oyster Cult on Aug. 15; and Foreigner on Aug. 22.
Admission to the concerts is free. Information: 313-568-5600 or www.gmrencen.com.
Air travelers whose cell phones get e-mail now have more airports where they can utilize paperless boarding passes for Continental Airlines flights.
The program started in Houston last year, and is now available for flights out of Newark Liberty International Airport, Logan International Airport in Boston, and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
Boarding passes that Continental e-mails to passengers' cell phones and other handheld devices will display an encrypted bar code along with passenger and flight information.
Transportation Security Administration officials will use hand-held scanners to validate the passes. Users must be flying alone to a domestic destination.
Downtown Milwaukee will soon have a permanent reminder of the Happy Days television show.
The bronze statue of Arthur "Fonzie" Fonzarelli, played by Henry Winkler, will be dedicated Aug. 19 along the Milwaukee River. Happy Days was set in Milwaukee and aired from 1974 to 1984.
Most of the show's stars are expected to attend the ceremony, including Winkler, Marion Ross, Tom Bosley, and the show's creator, Garry Marshall. Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams from Laverne & Shirley, a spinoff of Happy Days, also are expected to attend.
There are still plenty of hotel rooms available for the Beijing Olympics.
Director of Beijing's Tourism Bureau Zhang Huiguang says the crunch that was predicted doesn't seem to be happening.
She said only 77 percent of capacity at Beijing's five-star hotels have been booked during the Aug. 8-24 Olympic Games, and the four-star hotel rate is only 44 percent. It's even lower for three and two-stars.
One reason could be China's crackdown on visa procedures, targeting students and others on short-term stays who might be activists intent on protesting during the Olympics.