NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Carrie Underwood remembers when she first performed to thousands of country fans at the coveted Country Music Association’s Music Festival in Nashville, Tennessee. It was June 2005, which is exactly 10 years ago this month. Fresh off an “American Idol” win, Underwood said her first big Nashville stage show was a … Continue reading
HAVANA (AP) — A young Afro-Cuban performance artist transformed a Havana cultural center into the stage of a black hairstyle competition this weekend in a rare public commentary on racial beauty standards in Cuba, where prejudice remains widespread and largely undiscussed. Politics, particularly detente with the U.S., is a common subject matter at this year’s … Continue reading
NEW YORK (AP) — Entertainer Rita Moreno took Roman Catholic Cardinal Timothy Dolan for a dancing spin Sunday in the middle of Fifth Avenue by St. Patrick’s Cathedral. “Hallelujah! Bienvenidos a todos,” the cardinal yelled out to the Puerto Rican Day Parade crowd, meaning “welcome to all.” At 83, atop a convertible car, Moreno was … Continue reading
WASHINGTON (AP) — The cast of Disney’s “Newsies” musical is hosting a dance workshop with Washington-area students at the Newseum. The workshop Friday will include 200 students from Manassas Park Middle School in northern Virginia. It is part of Disney’s initiative to promote healthier lifestyles through the arts. The Tony Award-winning “Newsies” will be at … Continue reading
MATTERDALE, England (AP) — James Rebanks sits in his stone farmhouse, describing the hardscrabble mountain life his family has known for six centuries or more. Then his cell phone rings. It’s a big London ad agency, hoping to sign him up for a project. Rebanks is probably the world’s most famous shepherd, with a hit … Continue reading
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Dinosaurs are anything but extinct at the box office. “Jurassic World,” the fourth film in the series, became the highest global opener of all time with a staggering $511.8 million in its first days in theaters. It also devoured a number of domestic box office records with a $204.6 million take, … Continue reading
NEW YORK (AP) — Whatever rules in jazz hadn’t been shattered by Charlie Parker and other bebop artists, Ornette Coleman finished off for good. Coleman, who died Thursday at age 85, brought to jazz the kind of open-ended, non-narrative approach that Jackson Pollock used in painting and James Joyce in books. In the late 1950s, … Continue reading
NEW YORK (AP) — Don’t blame being at Bonnaroo for missing the NBA Finals or the season finale of HBO’s “Game of Thrones.” The music festival, which launched Thursday, will also include several screenings, from TV shows to replays of cult favorite films, from “Mean Girls” to “The Goonies.” Here is a look at what’s … Continue reading
Brian Wilson’s life is too big for a movie. The story of the brilliant and troubled co-founder of The Beach Boys barely lends itself to a coherent linear narrative, let alone a single film. Thankfully “Love & Mercy” doesn’t attempt to cover it all, or even most of it. Instead, director Bill Pohlad’s film focuses … Continue reading
NEW YORK (AP) — Iggy Azalea recently canceled her fall tour, so she has time to plan for a big moment in her life: her wedding. Nick Young of the Los Angeles Lakers proposed to the rapper late Monday as they celebrated Young’s 30th birthday. A short video of Azalea saying yes as Young proposed … Continue reading
ATLANTA (AP) — Police in suburban Atlanta say a man accused of shooting at rapper Lil Wayne’s tour bus has surrendered and is being held without bond. Cobb County police spokeswoman Alicia Chilton says Jimmy Carlton Winfrey of Atlanta is being held in connection with the March 26 shooting. County sheriff’s records say Winfrey surrendered … Continue reading
Like the HBO show, “Entourage” delights in Hollywood excess. This is a world where you might land your helicopter on someone’s lawn to crash a business meeting, or take a little yacht to meet up with your buddy on his bigger yacht. It’s a land of celebrities, wealth and topless women. This is the Hollywood … Continue reading
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Bill Cosby’s comments calling rape a form of bullying and “annoying” have been released by a filmmaker who interviewed the comedian in 2011. Documentary filmmaker Cassidy McMillan said Cosby made unsolicited comments about rape during the interview, which was to discuss a project she was working on about bullying and violence … Continue reading
Grammy-winning jazz trumpeter and composer Terence Blanchard makes a powerful political and musical statement with his new E-Collective quintet on “Breathless,” his first plunge as a bandleader into groove-based electric fusion music drawing on funk, R&B and the blues. The title track, inspired by the last words (“I can’t breathe”) of Eric Garner, who died … Continue reading
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Network television, once wedded to a September-to-May schedule, saw the error of its ways as cable and online competitors demonstrated a brazen disregard for tradition. So summer has evolved from a rerun graveyard to the home of lively offerings, with enough choices to threaten your vacation plans — or at least … Continue reading
Spartan Echo 