Tear down the barricade to see Toby's 'Les Miserables'
The storming of a barricade is the dramatic highlight of the Broadway musical "Les Miserables." There's likely to be a storming of the box office at Toby's Dinner Theatre of Columbia, whose exciting...
View ArticleJapan Prison Unveils 6ft 6in Cuddly Mascot
Officials at a prison in Japan have created a life-size mascot to help people connect with inmates. Asahikawa Prison in the north of the country is too often thought of as a dark place with imposing...
View ArticleReview: Vince Gill goes old school country at the NYS Fair Wednesday
Vince Gill makes it look so easy. During a free show at Chevy Court Wednesday night, the singer/songwriter poured out nearly two hours of elegantly simple country classics and subtly southern guitar....
View ArticleJames Taylor at Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, 6/14/2014
James Taylor and His All-Star Band June 14, 2014 Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion The cougars were on the prowl at the Woodlands on Saturday night, where James Taylor and His All-Star Band played to an...
View ArticleVagina kayak artist arrested again in Japan
TOKYO - Tokyo police on Wednesday arrested a Japanese artist for displaying figurines modelled on her vagina and distributing digital data used to build...
View ArticleThe Lumineers illuminate Chaifetz Arena in concert
Precious little band the Lumineers came to Chaifetz Arena Friday night and completely rocked the house. The Denver, Co., nu-folk rockers have a wonderfully quaint thing going on with everything from...
View ArticleCD Review - Soul Sign -Life In The Dark
Musical tastes are funny , case in point I knew within the first few notes of the first song I was going to enjoy this disk . This is simply a hard rock/heavy metal record , not thrash , not industrial...
View ArticleArtist who made canoe modelled on her vagina arrested on obscenity charges
The debate about censorship and women's rights in Japan has been reignited after an artist who made a canoe modelled on her vagina was arrested for the second time on obscenity charges. Megumi Igarashi...
View ArticleAn Army Strong Connection
Only the strong wear our colors... Decked out in black and yellow uniforms, we marched through the tunnel into the stadium. The drumsticks clicked together, counting us off to a steady beat. I stood...
View ArticleBagpipes, dandiya captivate audience at Beating Retreat
A touch of Indian, Bollywood and even Gujarati dandiya found its way into the traditional beats of bagpipes, drums, flutes and the pageantry of times gone by in the Beating Retreat ceremony at Vijay...
View ArticleOld ex-con back at the Rock, telling prison stories
Bill Baker is a big man, with wary, hooded eyes that peer out behind thick glasses. He's an old man now; he talks softly and walks with a slight stoop. Occasionally his hands shake a bit. You wouldn't...
View ArticleJapanese vagina selfie artist vows legal battle against obscenity charges
Megumi Igarashi says she is 'outraged' after being arrested for sending 3D printer data of her scanned vagina to her fans ...
View ArticleGRIPPING DRAMA / Teen judoka Abe, Asahina expected to make big impact at...
The Yomiuri ShimbunTwo high school students figure to capture the attention of spectators at this week’s Grand Slam Tokyo, and might just be the judo stars of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, or even the 2016...
View ArticleOneRepublic turns up the volume in San Diego
It’s a Monday night, but it feels like a Friday night. Such sentiments were shared by Ryan Tedder, the lead vocalist of the pop rock band OneRepublic, who performed at the Sleep Train Amphitheater on...
View ArticleJapanese prison creates cuddly mascot in attempt to improve facility's image
Published September 09, 2013AFP A version of "Katakkuri-chan", the mascot of Asahikawa Prison, in Asahikawa, some 560 miles north of Tokyo.AFP/ASAHIKAWA PRISON A Japanese prison housing a range of...
View ArticleFive Great Acoustic Punk Tracks
Last month noted garage punks The Men released their latest effort, an EP of acoustic tracks called Campfire Songs. The 2013 Free Press Summer Festival MVPs may play some pretty hyped-up punk rock, but...
View ArticleDannemora escapees were on good-behavior tier
Two inmates who escaped from a maximum security prison near the Canadian border were housed on an "honor block" at Clinton Correctional Facility, giving them more liberties, including the ability to...
View ArticleHanson brings the 'Anthem' to San Diego (Photos)
With the release of their new album, Anthem, Hanson has been busy on their world tour which will take them around the US, Europe, and eventually Jamaica. There’s something phenomenal about seeing a...
View ArticleKidnap victim's fate unknown 30 years on
For two decades after 13-year-old Megumi Yokota vanished on her way home from school one November evening, Japanese police called her parents whenever they found an unidentified body. Unimaginably, the...
View ArticleGodspeed You! Black Emperor, O2 Academy Brixton - music review
When their comeback album, ‘Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend!, recently won the Polaris Prize, Canada’s version of the Mercury, it prompted an online rant from Godspeed that was worthy of Private Eye’s...
View ArticleJapanese mother tells of heartbreak years after N. Korea abducted daughter
TOKYO: For two decades after 13-year-old Megumi Yokota vanished on her way home from school one November evening, Japanese police called her parents whenever they found an unidentified body....
View ArticleJapanese mother tells of heartbreak years after North Korea abducted...
TOKYO (Reuters) - For two decades after 13-year-old Megumi Yokota vanished on her way home from school one November evening, Japanese police called her parents whenever they found an unidentified body....
View ArticleWatch U2 Play Two Songs With Young Audience Member
One night after bringing an entire U2 tribute band onstage to perform "Desire," Bono plucked a young woman named Stephanie from the audience at Toronto's Air Canada Center Tuesday night and let her...
View ArticleRikers Island Hosts Rock Concert With Drummer Carmine Appice
There's only one road into Rikers Island. It takes visitors over a mile-long bridge, and standing before it, Officer Blackwell lists everything that can't be brought into New York City's largest...
View ArticleDylan's Electric Guitar From Newport Up for Sale
NEW YORK — Bob Dylan's sunburst Fender Stratocaster made rock history when he played it at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival. Now it is again set to make news when it goes on the auction block, where it...
View ArticleROCKER PLAYS CHARITY AUCTION PERFECTLY, AND MONEY SHOWS
If the auction of his artistically signed guitar didn’t attract enough bidders, singer Chris Isaak told Humphreys concertgoers he was prepared to bid $2,000. That wasn’t necessary. A bidding frenzy...
View ArticleJapanese female duo use music to inspire incarcerated
After changing lives of many offenders with their moving lyrics, Megumi Ikatsu and Manami Kitao are now establishing a non-profit organisation that will help ex-inmates find jobs and housing...
View ArticleAFP Features and Focus Advisory
Duty Editors: Hong Kong - Justine Gerardy - tel: +852 2829 6211 Paris - Nancy Shields - tel: +33 1 4041 4370 We will shortly move the following stories: + Londoners dream of swimming in the River...
View ArticleFemale duo dedicated to helping incarcerated
The Yomiuri Shimbun A female musical duo that has inspired many inmates to change their way of life by giving more than 300 concerts at prisons and reformatories nationwide will now also be able to...
View ArticleFEATURE: Japan’s ‘Jailhouse Rockers’ play to captive audience
Playing to a captive audience is all in night’s work for Japan’s jailhouse rockers. Armed with acoustic instruments and prison-worthy lyrics — “cheer up, don’t give up” and “it’s OK to make mistakes” —...
View ArticleJapan's 'Jailhouse Rockers' play to a captive audience
Armed with acoustic instruments and prison-worthy lyrics - "cheer up, don't give up" and "it's okay to make mistakes" - the female duo Paix2 has been rocking cell blocks for 15 years, and show no signs...
View ArticleInside the Saudi prison that's home to a new wave of jihadis
RIYADH: The man visible on the block's control room monitor, pacing his small cell in uniform grey robe, is one of a rising number of security prisoners in Saudi Arabia, where the wars in Syria and...
View ArticleSavannah Rock 'n’ Roll Marathon runners make volunteers feel like rock stars
To be honest, most people have a love/hate relationship with volunteering. There are those events where you have so much fun that you feel like you should be paying someone to let you work there and...
View ArticleInside the Saudi prison that's home to new wave of jihadis
By Angus McDowall RIYADH (Reuters) - The man visible on the block's control room monitor, pacing his small cell in uniform grey robe, is one of a rising number of security prisoners in Saudi Arabia,...
View ArticleInside the Saudi prison that’s home to new wave of jihadis
RIYADH: The man visible on the block’s control room monitor, pacing his small cell in uniform grey robe, is one of a rising number of security prisoners in Saudi Arabia, where the wars in Syria and...
View Article'Prison within prison': a transgender inmate's years-long battle for treatment
Michelle Norsworthy, sentenced in 1987, spent six years seeking hormone treatment and survived a gang rape, even as requests for surgery – and to be transferred to a women’s prison – have been...
View ArticleJailed 3D vagina boat artist 'outraged' by her arrest
TOKYO - A Japanese artist who made figures of Lady Gaga and a kayak modelled on her vagina said on Wednesday from jail she was "outraged" by her arrest and vowed a court fight against obscenity...
View ArticleOn the Scene: Young the Giant rock the college crowd in New York
What’s the ideal soundtrack to shooting a bottle rocket out of your butt? No one attempted such a thing at Hammerstein Ballroom on Saturday night, where Young the Giant were playing their second...
View ArticleChina rockers Second Hand Rose won't play second fiddle
Rock music has origins that date back more than 60 years, but one Chinese band in the midst of a tour in the US is looking to introduce an American audience to a more contemporary Chinese form of the...
View ArticleNew York prison break: Tailor used baked goods to help killers, source says
Cadyville, New York (CNN)For months before a pair of convicted murderers made their brazen escape from a maximum security facility in upstate New York, prison tailor Joyce Mitchell used baked goods to...
View ArticleInside 'El Chapo' Guzman's cell: a fortress, but not secure enough
Electronic metal-bar doors clank more than 20 times behind visitors making their way down long halls and tunnels to the last cell on the “special treatment” prison block, the cramped residence -- until...
View ArticleSaw, hammer aided inmates' escape
DANNEMORA - Two inmates used a small electrical saw and a sledge hammer to cut and pound their way to freedom inside a maximum security prison near the Canadian border. A law enforcement source briefed...
View ArticleKurt Cobain's 'Unplugged' Cardigan, Lost John Lennon Guitar Up for Auction
Kurt Cobain's green cardigan from Nirvana's MTV Unplugged taping, the Beatles' drumhead from their 1964 visit to the Ed Sullivan Show and a long-lost acoustic Gibson belonging to John Lennon are among...
View ArticleBobby Messano's stripped down show at Darwin's is a delight
Bobby Messano was traveling light last night, arriving at Darwin's with just his drummer Dave Hollingsworth and his assistant and girlfriend, Angela. He looked happy and fit, relating that he has lost...
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