Whitney memorabilia auctioned

Beverly Hills (AP) ― A bustier worn on stage by Whitney Houston fetched $18,750 at an auction in Beverly Hills of memorabilia from the late pop star’s career.Julien’s Auctions says the sale of 13 items Saturday brought in a total of $80,187 from bidders in the gallery, on the phone and online.A grey velvet gown the singer wore to music mogul Clive Davis’ pre-Grammy party in 1996 went for $11,250.Pearl drop earrings worn by Houston in “The Bodyguard’’ sold for $2,812, while a vest she sported in

April 1, 2012

Swift to take teen with cancer to ACMs

A New Jersey high school senior who has battled leukemia twice said it's "insane" he's singer Taylor Swift's date to the Academy of Country Music Awards.Taylor Swift (MCT image)Kevin McGuire, a senior at Sterling Regional High School in Stratford, said he hopes his blood cell and hemoglobin counts are good enough for him to make the trip to Las Vegas for the Sunday awards show, the Cherry Hill (N.

April 1, 2012

Calendar

Theater“Mokran Unni”: Doosan Art Center is showcasing a play delving into the lives of North Korean defectors living in Seoul. Titled “Mokran Unni,” the play tells the fictional story of a young woman named Mok-ran, who used to be an elite musician in Pyongyang. Unlike what many South Koreans think, Mok-ran does not flee her home country because of poverty or famine. She misses her mother and North Korea terribly, and shows no admiration for affluent Seoulites. While the audience can’t find out

March 30, 2012

Eyelike

Madonna still brings heat, beats on ‘MDNA’Madonna“MDNA” (Interscope Records/Live Nation)Madonna says it best on the opening track of her 12th album: “No one can put out my fire.” At 53, she’s still got it going on. And thankfully so. Her newest release, “MDNA” -- her first apart from her longtime label, Warner Bros. -- is full of upbeat dance jams and simmering slow grooves, and it delivers for the most part. True, it’s not nearly as top-notch as past records from the pop icon; the songs on “MDN

March 30, 2012

Lady Gaga’s Seoul concert banned for teenagers

American pop singer Lady Gaga's upcoming Seoul concert has been restricted to over-18s by the Korea Media Rating Board, as the Gender Ministry considers one of her songs to be performed at the show as “inappropriate” for minors.The rating board's decision came after a series of complaints filed by conservative NGOs and Christian groups, who demanded Hyundai Card to cancel the show on grounds that Lady Gaga promotes “inappropriate behavior” for youngsters, including homosexuality and mocking of r

March 30, 2012

Under-18s banned from Lady Gaga concert in Seoul

Lady Gaga (Bloomberg)American pop singer Lady Gaga’s upcoming Seoul concert has been restricted to over-18s by the Korea Media Rating Board, as the Gender Ministry considers one of her songs to be performed at the show as “inappropriate” for minors.The rating board's decision came after a series of

March 30, 2012

Three young Korean pianists to compete at NY piano competition

Three young Korean musicians will participate in a piano competition in New York. Ahn Jee-hae, Hong Sa-hun and Chang Hye-won will compete at the sixth New York International Piano Competition, which will be held from June 18-22 in Manhattan.Ahn, who started piano studies at age 3, was the youngest pianist to perform in the Fourth Chopin International Competition in Moscow in 2004. She is a recipient of a Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Award.Hong began playing the piano at age 4 and graduated Mag

March 29, 2012

Korea seeks UNESCO designation for Saemaul documents, Admiral Yi’s diaries

Korea plans to apply for UNESCO’s “Memory of the World” designation for a vast amount of documents related to the “New Community (Saemaul) Movement,” the political initiative launched by the late President Park Chung-hee to modernize Korea’s rural economy, according to the Cultural Heritage Administration.The state institution, which has been working on the application since last year, is submitting the application to UNESCO on Friday, Yi Kyung-hoon, director of the international division of the

March 29, 2012

Improved Ditto Fest moves beyond classical music

Violist Richard Yongjae O’Neill debuts as conductor performing water symphony ‘Liquid Interface’ by Mason BatesJune’s Ditto Festival, led by all-male chamber ensemble Ditto, will attempt to break barriers between classical and contemporary music.The slogan of the 2012 Ditto Festival will be “Nuovo Ditto,” to reflect the ensemble’s aim to creating new musical performances that go beyond the classical genre.The festival’s artistic director and renowned violist Richard Yongjae O’Neill will make his

March 29, 2012

Greek police recover ancient statue from goat pen

ATHENS, Greece (AP) ― Greek police recovered an ancient statue that was illegally excavated and hidden in a goat pen near Athens, and arrested the goat herder and another man who were allegedly trying to sell the work for 500,000 euro ($667,000).The marble statue of a young woman dates to about B.C. 520 and belongs to the kore type, a police statement said Wednesday. Police photos showed the 1.2-meter work to be largely intact, lacking the left forearm and plinth.Although dozens of examples of t

March 29, 2012

Boy bands are back and doing big business

Many are products of industry masterminds looking to capitalize on juvenilesLOS ANGELES ― Hundreds of glow sticks luminesced over the sold-out crowd at Gibson Amphitheatre on a recent Friday night. Prepubescent girls snapped cellphone pictures and out-screamed one another as younger kids were hoisted onto parents’ shoulders for better views.The cheers morphed into hysteria as Big Time Rush emerged.The scene onstage is familiar: five seemingly interchangeable young guys linked by one band name an

March 29, 2012

Aerosmith promises new album in 3 months

LOS ANGELES (AP) ― Aerosmith has reunited with longtime producer Jack Douglas and the band says it will release a new album in three months.Steven Tyler said Aerosmith was finishing two final songs for the album, its first since 2004’s “Honkin’ on Bobo.’’ Joined Wednesday by Joe Perry, Tom Hamilton and Joey Kramer at a Los Angeles mall, Tyler revealed three track titles: “Legendary Child,’’ “Beautiful’’ and “Out Go the Lights.’’ Earlier in the week, the band announced that its 18-stop “Global Wa

March 29, 2012

Photo albums related to Nazi art theft unveiled

DALLAS (AP) ― Among the items U.S. soldiers seized from Adolf Hitler’s Bavarian Alps hideaway in the closing days of World War II were albums meticulously documenting an often forgotten Nazi crime ― the massive pillaging of artwork and other cultural items as German troops marched through Europe.Two of those albums ― one filled with photographs of works of art, the other with snapshots of furniture ― were donated Tuesday to the U.S. National Archives, which now has custody of 43 albums in a set

March 28, 2012

Exhibition dedicated to humble folk song

Historical documents, music records show cultural legacy of popular folk songWidely known and sung, “Arirang” is very often considered the unofficial national anthem of Korea. Yet many aren’t aware that King Gojong, the last king of Joseon, and his wife, Queen Myeongseong, enjoyed listening to the song late at night, that it was made into Korea’s first opera, and that it even inspired American jazz musician Oscar Pettiford to write a piece of his own.Starting April 4, the National Folk Museum of

March 28, 2012

Madangpan attracts foreign visitors

A crowd of some 200 Koreans and foreigners gathered outside in Insa-dong on Tuesday afternoon to watch a traditional Korean performance.The event, organized by the Korea Cultural Heritage Foundation, featured a combination of the Bongsan Mask Dance Drama, a social satire performed by players in masks who dance and sing, and a traditional wedding ceremony. During the performance, the players bantered with the spectators, sometimes exchanging jokes, all in the spirit of “madangpan,” which involves

March 27, 2012