Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe BIKERS CONVERGE FOR SPECIAL BLESSING For more than two decades, thousands of bikers from around New England and the East Coast have converged on the small Cape Cod town of West Dennis, Mass., for the "blessing of the bikes" each year. The Cape Cod Times says more than 2,000 have shown up this time around, most clad in traditional black leather biker's garb. The annual event is to support local charities. Advertisement In addition to the special blessing, conducted by an ordained priest, there's a cookout and all sorts of booths and displays. This year's blessing and all that goes with it marked the 26th time the area has had the event. Each cyclist chips in a $5 fee to be there. Last year's event, with several hundred fewer entrants, raised more than $7,000 for several charities. GEFFEN GIVES MED SCHOOL $200 MILLION Advertisement Entertainment executive David Geffen (the "G" in DreamWorks SKG) has donated $200 million to UCLA's medical school. The university reports that it is the largest single gift ever presented to a school medical program. Geffen is no stranger to charity. In past years he has given millions to other projects. The Los Angeles Times says he presented the school with $5 million several years ago to help its theater department and to set up the Geffen Playhouse. In past years he has contributed $2.5 million to the Los Angeles AIDS project, a similar sum to a gay men's health center in New York and $1.4 million to help in an AIDS outreach project in the nation's capital. LONG LIVE SEATTLE SLEW Last weekend the name of Seattle Slew was on the lips of many attending the annual Kentucky Derby. At the "Run for the Roses" word got around that Seattle Slew, the only living Triple Crown winner, was ill and would not survive much longer. Slew died at age 28 -- old for a horse. Slew's offspring numbered more than 1,000, including many winners of major races. One won the Derby. Plagued by a series of illnesses, Slew was moved away from a stud farm, where he resided for years, to a more quite horse farm near Lexington, Ky. Advertisement Although he made a mint for the julep-drinking owners and trainers who raced him, his real reputation came during his years producing future generations of thoroughbreds. Ironically, his death came on the 25th anniversary of the day he won the Kentucky Derby. BARKER, 78, TO HOST DAYTIME EMMYS The folks who run the Daytime Emmy Awards say they have picked one of their own award winners as this year's host. Bob Barker, a fixture in American TV since the '50s, will be the master of ceremonies for the event, to be held in mid-May. Barker is now 78 and has won several Emmys for his work, primarily on "The Price is Right." He first was introduced to a national audience by TV producer Ralph Edwards, who picked Barker to replace him on the daytime version of the immensely popular game show "Truth or Consequences." Edwards had heard Barker on local Los Angeles radio, called for him to come in, and ... as they say ... the rest is history.
