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Jane Austen fans honor 250 years since her birth with grand costumed balls and dancing
Fans of Jane Austen are celebrating the 250th anniversary of the beloved author's birth with costumed balls and themed events. This weekend, thousands of Austen devotees from all over the world are descending on Bath, England, for a 10-day…
Music Review: Spinal Tap almost goes to 11 on ‘The End Continues’ soundtrack
The ostensibly fictitious hard-rock band Spinal Tap has been together, off and on, slightly longer than Katy Perry has been alive, and as of Friday, has released four studio albums and two feature films. Their latest album, “The End…
Music Review: Ed Sheeran returns to his roots on ‘Play,’ a cross-cultural playground
NEW YORK (AP) — Ed Sheeran has long sought to bring people together with his music, whether it be his emotionally resonant acoustic ballads or unproblematic, danceable pop hits. “Play,” his eighth studio album out Friday, stays in that…
Hitmaker Bert Berns is posthumously included in Songwriters Hall of Fame
NEW YORK (AP) — Songwriter and producer Bert Berns, who had a hand in some of the biggest hits of the 1960s, including co-writing “Twist and Shout” for the Isley Brothers and the plaintive “Piece of My Heart” sung by Janis Joplin, has been…
A new Whitney Houston duet? How Calum Scott made ‘I Wanna Dance with Somebody’ with the late star
NEW YORK (AP) — It sounds impossible, but that's the magic of it. On Thursday, a new Whitney Houston song arrives 13 years after her death.
English singer Calum Scott is responsible. The single is a duet between Scott and Houston, a…
Movie Review: The guys from Spinal Tap are back together, but is the reunion worth it?
In an early scene from “Spinal Tap II: The End Continues,” the blisteringly obtuse Nigel Tufnel asks his wife a question after he and his bandmates have reunited after many years: “I don't know whether this was a good idea or not.”
Fans may…
Movie Review: Paul Mescal, Josh O’Connor collect folk songs in tender ‘The History of Sound’
If the algorithm was overseeing casting for a tender, queer romance, it’s likely that at least one combination would involve Paul Mescal and Josh O’Connor. They are two of Hollywood’s most promising next generation stars, and, not…
David Bowie archive opens in London chronicling five decades of icon’s restless creativity
LONDON (AP) — When David Bowie died in 2016, he left a vast musical legacy – and a trove of unrealized projects.
Tantalizing details of those abandoned and unfinished ideas are revealed in Bowie’s archive, which opens to the public this…
Music Review: King Princess scoffs at heartbreak on ‘Girl Violence’
LOS ANGELES (AP) — It’s impossible to hear King Princess groan “I’m a loser” on their ambitious third album and not think of Beck singing the same line in his canonical slacker anthem released more than three decades ago.
Although “Alone…
Rick Davies, co-founder and singer of Supertramp, dies at 81
Rick Davies, the singer and co-founder of British band Supertramp, has died at 81 after a long battle with cancer. The band said he died Saturday after battling multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer, for more than a decade. Davies…
This year’s song of the summer is a ballad, not a banger. Here’s what that says about us
NEW YORK (AP) — Every year, summer arrives with a buzzing energy. School’s out, the sun is shining, music is blaring out of car windows and speakers are blasting on the beach.
But this summer, the beaches seem quieter. The playlists feel…
Music Review: Justin Bieber has more to say about love on ‘Swag ll’
NEW YORK (AP) — If it wasn't clocking to you before, it should be now. Justin Bieber is doing whatever he wants.
The 31-year-old has surprised listeners with a second new album in 2025 — “Swag ll” follows July's “Swag.” Both arrived shortly…
Long in the shadows, a new generation of songwriters gain recognition and success as artists
New York (AP) — When songs top the charts, they become inescapable: Cross-genre hits are heard on the radio, on streaming, in lobbies and grocery stores. The artists who perform them become famous. But the people who wrote those earworms?…
Q&A: How the band Big Thief transformed into a trio and reimagined their sound
LOS ANGELES (AP) — When asked where she lives, Big Thief lead vocalist Adrianne Lenker will tell you “the forests.”
The Grammy-nominated writer drifts between the Northeast, Minnesota and Texas, like a folk-rock musician of another era.
But…
Radiohead returns after 7 years, announce 20 new live dates
NEW YORK (AP) — Something is in the water in England. After a summer defined by the Oasis reunion, yet another beloved British rock band is set to return to the live stage: Radiohead.
The band — made up of vocalist Thom Yorke,…
