11 minutes ago

NEW YORK - Maxim magazine has apologized for publishing a negative review of the Black Crowes’ new album by a writer who hadn’t listened to the whole CD.

The review in Maxim’s March issue gives the Crowes’ “Warpaint” a rating of two-and-a-half stars out of five. The band posted an exasperated statement on its Web site last week, saying the Maxim writer hadn’t heard the entire album because advance copies were not available. The Crowes’ manager, Pete Angelus, said the magazine explained that its review an “educated guess.”

Maxim editorial director James Kaminsky responded Tuesday with this statement: “It is Maxim’s editorial policy to assign star ratings only to those albums that have been heard in their entirety. Unfortunately, that policy was not followed in the March 2008 issue of our magazine and we apologize to our readers.”

“Warpaint,” the Black Crowes’ first album in seven years, is set for release March 4. The blues-rock group, fronted Chris Robinson, has released only one song from the disc, “Goodbye Daughters of the Revolution.”

The band’s hits include “Hard to Handle” and “She Talks to Angels.”

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On the Net:

The Black Crowes:

http://www.blackcrowes.com/

47 minutes ago

BEIJING (Reuters) - China has made clear that a pilot program teaching traditional Peking Opera in schools would not be compulsory after it drew criticism from Internet users who said forced instruction would turn students off.

China's Education Ministry said classic and modern Peking Opera pieces added to the music curriculum at 200 schools in 10 provinces for the new semester in March were only "a promotional course" to help students better appreciate Chinese culture.

"The opera classes are by no means a nationwide compulsory class, but pilot programs implemented in certain schools from March to July," Xinhua news agency quoted Education Ministry spokesman Wang Xuming as saying.

Wang said the program was still under trial and his ministry would solicit opinions from all circles.

The course had drawn fire from some Internet users, and media commentaries had questioned how music teachers, themselves untrained in Peking Opera, would educate students in the complex gestures and trilling vocals.

Chinese education authorities have been criticized for other attempts to give students' a broader scope of learning.

Parents in Zhengzhou, capital of China's central province of Henan, had voiced concerns that a compulsory course teaching children "Shaolin boxing" — a martial art created by the region's famous Shaolin Temple — might lead to children becoming more violent, Tuesday's China Daily said.

(Reporting by Ian Ransom; Editing by Nick Macfie)

By Jon Herskovitz 17 minutes ago

PYONGYANG (Reuters) - The United States and North Korea have fought a war and played at nuclear brinkmanship. On Tuesday night, they will attempt a unique moment of unity when the New York Philharmonic plays a concert in Pyongyang.

The unprecedented event comes as North Korea appears to be turning a deaf ear to demands to hold to its side of an international disarmament deal and give a full account of its nuclear weapons program.

"I am a musician and not a politician, but music has always been an arena or area where people can make contact. It is neutral, it is emotional," the philharmonic's music director, Lorin Maazel, told reporters on arrival on Monday with his orchestra at Pyongyang's airport.

The concert could make a "tiny contribution" toward bringing the United States and North Korea closer together, he said.

The orchestra has tried to break the ice between Cold War foes before with a celebrated visit to the Soviet Union in 1959.

Discussions for the concert first emerged last year as significant progress was made in six-way nuclear negotiations among the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States.

U.S. nuclear envoy Christopher Hill last week said the concert is "an effort to address broader issues, address broader relationships."

Analysts say Washington sees this visit as being almost akin to cultural gestures it made to its Cold War foes decades ago that eventually helped to ease tension.

North Korea has opened its hermit state by allowing in scores of members of the Western media, setting up a media room with Internet access and almost completely unrestricted international phone lines. Both are unheard of in a country that imprisons people for making unauthorized contact with the outside world.

Analysts said that for North Korea, the brief opening of its doors is its own diplomatic coup.

Its propaganda machine will almost certainly spin the visit as a U.S. mission to pay tribute to its leader Kim Jong-il — which is the way is portrays most events involving its Dear Leader, who heads the world's first communist dynasty.

The United States and North Korea have no diplomatic ties, are technically still at war and have troops staring each other down across the heavily fortified border that has divided North and South Korea since the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a cease fire.

There is no word on whether the enigmatic leader Kim will attend the concert.

On their first night in Pyongyang, the orchestra was treated to a performance of traditional music and dance.

It was devoid of politics except for the final routine called "The Snow is Falling." It was reminiscent of "Swan Lake" except that the lead dancer in the North Korean version was playing the role of a communist revolutionary fighter.

The concert will open with the orchestra playing the national anthems of the two countries to an audience expected to be made up of top cadres and generals who dominate the tightly-run state.

The rest of the music selection for the New York Philharmonic's concert is steeped in irony.

George Gershwin's "An American in Paris," the famed piece about a foreigner discovering the "the city of lights" will be played in an impoverished country which does not produce enough electricity to light its homes at night.

Antonin Dvorak's Symphony No. 9 "From the New World," highlights an immigrant's discovery of America's music. It will be played to in a country that forbids most of its citizens from leaving and reportedly executes many of those caught escaping.

At night, energy-starved North Korea lit the streets of Pyongyang for the motorcade of buses carrying some 350 people from the orchestra, its entourage and media covering the event.

As the buses pulled away, a few street lights went out behind them and through the rear-view mirror, one lit sign could be seen, which read: "Crush the American imperialist aggressors."

(Editing by Jonathan Thatcher and Sanjeev Miglani)

By LINDA DEUTSCH, AP Special Correspondent 39 minutes ago

LOS ANGELES - Britney Spears’ father and a lawyer who claims to represent her traded legal barbs Monday in an intensifying fight over whether James Spears is violating her civil rights by controlling her finances and life.

Attorney John Eardley, who told The Associated Press he was the “only person who represents Britney Spears,” filed documents in federal court asserting that she is being held by her father in a situation that violates her civil rights.

A lawyer for James Spears said in papers filed Monday that Eardley cannot represent the singer because a probate judge in state court found that Britney Spears “lacks the capacity to hire an attorney, and Mr. Eardley cannot remove the conservatorship proceedings on his own behalf.”

The pop star, 26, and her estate were placed under a temporary conservatorship after she was taken to UCLA Medical Center on Jan. 31, her second hospitalization in a month. Conservatorships are granted for people deemed unable to care for themselves or their affairs.

Eardley took aim at James Spears in legal documents filed Friday.

“Mr. Spears has now moved into her house and has taken control of her financial assets, as well as her physical custody, all without the benefit of a hearing where Ms. Spears would be present,” he said.

Eardley said that Spears has never been on good terms with her father and said he was “concerned for the emotional and physical safety of Britney under these circumstances.”

In his motion, Eardley said Spears had “been in a form of private confinement for nearly a month. Certainly, at this point, it is likely that circumstances have changed and it is time that the conservatee be brought into court for a hearing, where the court can evaluate her in person and hear testimony directly from her.”

The document suggests she be allowed to retain her own medical professionals to evaluate her condition.

“There are financial issues which involve the possible misappropriation of assets,” Eardley said but did not elaborate.

Meanwhile, attorney Jeffrey Wexler, representing James Spears, filed a response Monday complaining that the effort to move the case to federal court is without legal basis and is draining James Spears financially.

Wexler said that the conservator has already incurred more than $42,898 in legal fees to fight the effort launched by Eardley. Wexler argued the law being cited by Eardley applies only to cases of racial discrimination.

James Spears has asked to send the matter back to state court and to award him attorneys’ fees.

In the phone interview Eardley said he had filed additional documents under seal Monday and expected a hearing to be set soon.

Asked when he last consulted with Britney Spears, Eardley said, “I talked to her a few days ago and someone wrestled the phone away from her. I’ve not talked to her since then.”

By DAVID BAUDER, AP Entertainment Writer 29 minutes ago

NEW YORK - The first minute of k.d. lang’s new disc “Watershed” feels like a quick trip through her musical life.

The song “I Dream of Spring” features a Brazilian beat, background strings and that soaring voice. Then, almost startlingly, comes the entrance of a pedal-steel guitar — an echo of the country music she was known for at the beginning of her career.

It wasn’t intentional, she said. But perhaps because it is the first album she produced herself and wasn’t answerable to another person’s vision, “Watershed” draws together the styles she has touched upon over the past 25 years.

“I shy away from typecasting, whether it’s lesbian icon or vegetarian or country singer,” she told The Associated Press. “To me, I’m just me and these are all aspects of my personality. I don’t like being called a country singer. I’m just a vocalist. I don’t fit into any genres perfectly because I don’t listen to any. I’m a musical nomad, so that’s the way I want to be seen.”

It’s lang’s first album of her own songs in seven years. Don’t blame writer’s block; she spent time on other projects including a disc of songs by fellow Canadian songwriters.

Her new songs feel halting, almost tentative. They reflect the lesson that life has fewer absolutes the older you get (she’s 46). Her production credo was not to over-rehearse her songs, to get as close to the moments of inspiration as she could. “Jealous Dog,” for example, is a first take and sounds almost incomplete.

The title “Watershed” refers to some years of personal soul-searching. “Flame of the Uninspired” is the most direct.

“It’s a song about how I would wreak havoc on my personal life as a way of finding fodder for my songwriting,” she said. “I saw that as a pattern that was unnecessary. As an artist, I’m probably more healthy and more legitimate if I can produce art at anytime.”

Hear, too, the woman who wrote “Constant Craving” sing about how “she will drive you crazy, baby … once in a while.”

The restraint is audible in her voice. She may have the most powerful set of pipes in the business, yet these songs rarely call for her to show them off. It’s like the race car driver heading to the supermarket; you know he can go 150 mph, but this isn’t the time or place.

Another big change in lang’s life was her need to find a new band. Some of the players she’s performed with for years now make too much money as studio musicians to go out on the road anymore.

“It’s kind of like putting a basketball team together,” she said. “It’s personality and talent. There are all sorts of aspects to putting together a band.”

Lang is now on the smaller, more artist-oriented Nonesuch Records label. She loves spending time on iTunes exploring new music and doesn’t exactly mourn the decline of the industry.

“I’ve been making records for 25 years, which is a really, really long time these days,” she said. “Now I’ve reached a place where I feel like it’s really just about making records. I feel like the public attention is really honest, where it’s more about my music and less about my personality.”

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On the Net:

http://www.kdlang.com

By TED ANTHONY, AP National Writer 51 minutes ago

Ray Davies, “Working Man’s Cafe” (New West Records)

Brits have a long tradition of helping Americans see their own country better. Witness the British Invasion itself, in which bands like the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Animals and the Kinks took American grass-roots musical traditions, digested them and came forth with something entirely original.

A generation on, the Kinks’ main creative force, Ray Davies, is still doing it — albeit in a very different way.

Davies’ incisive blend of astute observation and cutting social commentary makes a welcome return in “Working Man’s Cafe,” a not-quite-concept-album that manages both to be intimate and take on globalization all at once.

Davies has always gravitated toward the common man and his travails; no one, not even Springsteen, sings about dead-end jobs and being lost in one’s own land better than he does. And in tracks like “Vietnam Cowboys,” “No One Listen” and “The Real World,” he gives shape to a post 9/11 disaffection that is often hard to put into words.

Sure, he mentions Wales in one song. And sure, the English “front room” sensibilities of Davies’ upbringing are still evident. Nevertheless, this album feels both American and critical of America in an affectionate way. “Everything around me seems unreal/Everywhere I go it looks and feels like America,” Davies sings in the title track. It’s not necessarily a compliment, but nor is it an easy insult.

But Davies is not just a poet. He’s still a rocker, too, with a healthy dose of insolence woven into his now time-enhanced music.

The tracks on “Working Man’s Cafe” owe more of a stylistic debt to the Arista-years Kinks of the late 1970s and early 1980s than they do vintage 1960s stuff, and that’s a good thing. Davies has always known how to balance anger and melancholy, and “Working Man’s Cafe” is no exception. When he sings, “I believe I wanna pray but don’t know what to,” he’s moving fast and lamenting at the same time — a lot like much of the world these days.

The tunes on “Working Man’s Cafe” may not be quite as catchy as their ancestors on classic Kinks albums of disaffection like “Low Budget” and “State of Confusion,” but they more than make up for it in content. If you’re a Davies fan, this is a can’t miss; if you’re not and you pick up this album, you probably will be.

By MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press Writer 45 minutes ago

SEOUL, South Korea - Despite a symbolic symphonic thaw with North Korea, the only music the Bush administration is making here is with South Korea’s new, pro-U.S. president who has vowed a tougher line on his Stalinist neighbor.

On the eve of a landmark performance in Pyongyang by the New York Philharmonic, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was next door in Seoul on Monday lauding President Lee Myung-bak and his intent to hold North Korea to its pledge to abandon nuclear weapons.

With attention focused on the orchestra, Rice pointedly ignored the unprecedented event that some have dubbed “violin diplomacy,” and instead went out of her way twice to compliment Lee on his choice of the “Ode to Joy” from Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony to end his swearing-in ceremony.

In two brief encounters before reporters, the classically trained pianist first hailed “the universal strains of Beethoven performed so beautifully” by South Korean musicians and a choir and then told Lee himself the selection was “beautiful.”

By contrast, Rice last week said she was pleased the Philharmonic would be playing a work by Czech composer Antonin Dvorak in Pyongyang, but dismissed the concert, saying: “I don’t think we should get carried away with what listening to Dvorak is going to do in North Korea.”

In Seoul, Rice also noted the United States and South Korea share deep “strategic interests” and “common values” like democracy and praised Lee’s inaugural address in which he promised to “strengthen our strategic alliance with the United States” and demanded openness from the North.

In his speech, Lee told South Koreans, and by extension Koreans in the North, that only “once North Korea abandons its nuclear program and chooses the path to openness” can people expect to see “a new horizon in inter-Korean cooperation.”

Rice declined to answer questions about her private discussions with Lee and incoming South Korean foreign minister Yu Myung-hwan, but senior officials from both sides said that what she heard was, well, music to her ears.

“We welcome this,” said Christopher Hill, the Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, referring to Lee’s plan to put a more critical eye on Seoul’s policy of detente with the North than his two immediate predecessors.

They were accused of showering unconditional aid and concessions on North Korea as part of reconciliation efforts while getting little in return, something that had vexed Washington.

“President Lee said he would do all he could to strengthen (U.S.-South Korean) cooperation in the six-party process,” Hill told reporters.

He referred to the group of six nations — the United States, South Korea, China, Japan, Russia and North Korea — trying to negotiate an end to Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons development.

Meanwhile, a South Korean presidential spokesman said Lee had told Rice that he “will make the denuclearization a top principle” of his administration.

The disarmament process made major progress in the past year after Pyongyang shut down its main nuclear reactor and began disabling key atomic facilities.

The talks, however, have been deadlocked for months over whether the North has fulfilled its commitment to account for all of its nuclear programs as it committed to do in the six-party talks by Dec. 31, 2007, a deadline that passed nearly two months ago.

The North says it has already provided the declaration, but Washington says Pyongyang has not yet given a complete accounting, particularly about alleged transfers of nuclear equipment and know-how to other countries.

Rice is in South Korea on the first leg of a three-nation Asia tour that takes her to China on Tuesday and Japan on Wednesday for talks that will be dominated by the North Korea issue.

But while Rice will be seeing the key players in the process from China, Japan and South Korea on her trip, before she left Washington she ruled out any talks with North Korean officials, saying such a meeting was neither warranted nor could be of any use in the current circumstances.

“We need a complete declaration from the North Koreans,” she said on Friday. “North Korea is quite aware of what it needs to do.”

Gina Serpe Mon Feb 25, 5:25 AM ET

Los Angeles (E! Online) - Jimmy Kimmel has let loose the dogs of a YouTube war.

After keeping his silence for an agonizing three-and-a-half weeks in the wake of girlfriend Sarah Silverman's hilarious music video confession that she is, in fact, f—king Matt Damon (if you haven't seen it, congratulations on awakening from your coma), the late-night host has exacted his own musical revenge, one-upping the cozy twosome with the all-star-backed news that he's been stepping out with Damon's BFF.

Or, as he so quotably put it, "I'm f—ing Ben Affleck." (Watch the video here)

"You take something I love from me and you can damn well bet I'm gonna take something you love from you, too," Kimmel warned in his introduction to the clip. "Matt, Sarah, this is for you."

The video begins with Kimmel strumming gently on his guitar before launching into the big reveal: him and Affleck, bare-chested and latex-clad, respectively, donning the shortest of short-shorts, proclaiming their love—or at least lust—in song.

The duo is alternately featured in a bar, poolside, blow-drying each other's hair, posing for loved-up portraits in front of a fake Eiffel Tower, giving each other pedicures and accepting a package from a memorable deliveryman, portrayed by Brad Pitt.

"Excuse me," Pitt says in full-out "FeX" deliveryman regalia. "Is someone here f—ing Ben Affleck?"

He then hands over a cake to Kimmel, congratulating him on his choice of copulating partner.

While Affleck and Kimmel go on to grope each other and stop short—though, at nose-to-nose, just short—of actually kissing, Pitt isn't the only A-lister to cameo in their ode to man love.

An all-star, "We Are the World" type tribute proceeds to break out, with Robin Williams, Don Cheadle, Cameron Diaz, Ashlee Simpson, Benji and Joel Madden, Huey Lewis, Joan Jett, Christina Applegate, Macy Gray, Rebecca Romijn, Dominic Monaghan, Lance Bass, Josh Groban and countless others crooning over the state of the two-member boys' club.

"This is not a man-crush," Williams sings, while Cheadle belts out that "we all hope Matt will understand."

A highlight of the video comes shortly after, with Kimmel and Affleck pulling up alongside a convertible driven by Harrison Ford, who blows a kiss to the duo before pulling away in his car, decked out in a "Honk if you're f—ing Ben Affleck" bumpersticker.

Following the conclusion of the song, Affleck joined Kimmel in the flesh as a guest on the show.

"We let it out in a big way," Affleck said, before testing out the waters on a possible name for their supercouple: Benemy, Bemmy or, most disturbingly to the actor, Jen.

"I'm glad we did it this way," Kimmel added, saying, "I didn't want my family to find out in the tabloids…it's not gay when two men are really in love."

While Damon is currently in Spain working on a new film, Affleck said he had no doubt that news of his new love would have no trouble reaching his pal.

"I'm pretty sure he actually is watching this," Affleck said, before adding, "Thank god my daughter is too young."

"Well, she's our daughter now," Kimmel replied.

The video ode to man love, which was dedicated to the loving memory of Norman Mailer, debuted amid much hype on Sunday night's special post-Oscar edition of Jimmy Kimmel Live!

After ABC confirmed last week that Affleck would be a guest on the show, it was all but guaranteed that video retribution would be had for the Silverman/Damon footage, which became an overnight viral sensation and has logged more than 8 million views on ABC and YouTube since its debut on the fifth anniversary show Jan. 31.

20 minutes ago

NEW YORK - Five singers 28 and under were picked as winners of the Metropolitan Opera’s National Council Auditions and were awarded $15,000 each.

Tenor Rene Barbera of San Antonio, Texas; mezzo-sopranos Jennifer Johnson of St. Louis and Daveda Karanas of Mandeville, La.; soprano Simone Osborne of Vancouver, British Columbia; and baritone Edward Parks of Indiana, Pa., were selected after performing Sunday at the Met.

About 1,500 singers participated in the contest. Past winners include Renee Fleming, Deborah Voigt, Stephanie Blythe, Dolora Zajick, Ben Heppner, Thomas Hampson and Samuel Ramey.

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On the Net:

http://metopera.org

1 hour, 28 minutes ago

CHICAGO - Valerie Bertinelli says despite her girl-next-door image, her marriage to Eddie Van Halen was hurt by infidelity and drug use — by her, too.

“I wasn’t an angel, either. I cheated, too,” Bertinelli said on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” broadcast Monday. “He claims to this day that I cheated first, but I don’t know. I don’t know about the timing.”

Bertinelli, who starred in the long-running sitcom “One Day at a Time,” married Van Halen in 1981 when she was 20. She said she was “destroying my body,” trying to keep up with a rock-star lifestyle on the weekends and weeks off from taping her TV show.

“It got to a point where whenever I heard the birds chirp, I’d be like, `Oh, God, no.’ It took me years after stopping the cocaine before I was able to enjoy a sunrise and enjoy the sound of birds,” she said.

The couple separated in 2001. Their divorce became final in December. They have a son, Wolfgang, who’s now 16 and touring as bassist with the band Van Halen.

The actress, 47, said she has struggled with body-image issues since she was a child, but especially turned to food for comfort as her marriage dissolved.

Bertinelli is now a spokeswoman for Jenny Craig and said she’s lost 40 pounds. She has a new book, “Losing It: And Gaining My Life Back One Pound at a Time.”

Van Halen’s publicist said the musician had no comment on Bertinelli’s book or interviews to promote it.

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On the Net:

“The Oprah Winfrey Show”: http://www.oprah.com