Former President Bush makes surprise skydive

College Station, Texas – He’s 83 and had hip replacement surgery in January, but that isn’t keeping former President George H.W. Bush from skydiving.

Bush celebrated the grand reopening of his presidential museum on Saturday with a surprise skydive, his sixth and his first since 2004, when he jumped to celebrate his 80th birthday.

Bush jumped on Saturday strapped to an expert from the Army Golden Knights parachute team, as he did three years ago.

His first parachute jump was in 1944 when his plane was shot down over the Pacific island of Chi Chi Jima.

The 69,000-square-foot museum, described by the former president as the “centerpiece of my library,” has been mostly closed since April for an $8.3 million facelift.

The museum and library opened 10 years ago this week on the Texas A&M University campus about 100 miles northwest of Houston.

Broadway stagehand strike continues

New York – It was a second day of dark Broadway theaters and disappointed audiences as striking stagehands reaffirmed their commitment Sunday to remain off the job until producers started acting “honorably” at the negotiating table.

James J. Claffey Jr., president of Local One, said the League of American Theatres and Producers needs to make a “constructive” adjustment to its counter offers.

“We want respect at the table,” he said at a somber news conference. “If there’s no respect, they will not see Local One at the table. The lack of respect is something we are not going to deal with.”

Twenty-seven shows remained closed Sunday, the day after stagehands went on strike, shutting down such popular productions as “Wicked,” “The Phantom of the Opera,” “Hairspray,” “Jersey Boys” and “Mamma Mia!”

Among the shows canceled Sunday was a gala 10th-year anniversary performance of “The Lion King,” although a party celebrating the Disney musical’s decade-long run was still taking place.

Picketers again walked quietly in front of the struck theaters around Times Square, and few pedestrians were seen on normally crowded side streets in the area.

Eight shows, which have separate contracts with the union, remained open and did strong, often sold-out business on Saturday, a two-performance day.

‘Sopranos’ mobster hangout ‘whacked’

Kearny, N.J. – Eight months ago, James Gandolfini drove his white SUV out of the parking lot of Satriale’s for the last time, as HBO wrapped up the final season of “The Sopranos.”

Now, the building has followed the same fate as the popular show.

It’s gone.

Last month, owner Manny Costeira demolished the structure, home to a fictional pork store where TV mobster Tony Soprano and his Jersey crew hung out on the acclaimed mob drama. On TV, a life-sized pig sat atop the building.

“We whacked the pork store,” said Costeira, who leased the empty building to HBO.

Nine condo units will replace former storefront. The project is called “The Soprano,” and prices range from $325,000 to $385,000. Construction is expected to start in the spring and would be finished in about a year.

Now that Satriale’s has been demolished, Costeira has been using the Internet to hawk chunks of cast stone from the facade. He said he’s already sold about 1,000 pieces in two sizes, for $25 and $50, to fans as far away as Ireland and New Zealand.