ROCHESTER HILLS, Michigan -- It's easy to believe saxophonist and guitarist Jerry DePizzo when he says it's a good time to be a member of jam band O.A.R.

The group's new compact disc, "All Sides," was unleashed last week, and the band will headline Friday at the Meadow Brook Music Festival.

Continue reading "Twelve years later, O.A.R. hitting its stride; Jam Band to perform Friday at Meadow Brook Music Festival in Rochester Hills" »

DETROIT, Michigan -- The "American Idol" winner should be a champ for the people, and David Cook is exactly that. The afternoon before his tour's July 1 opening night in Glendale, Ariz., Cook walked through the media area acknowledging each reporter. Later that evening, fans sitting side-stage got a special treat when Cook stood in the wings watching fellow contestant Brooke White, encouraging ticket holders to cheer her on.

"The goal is just to try to create some energy," Cook said in an interview with The Flint Journal before the Arizona show. "I think watching everybody else's set (in rehearsal), I've definitely got my work cut out for me. Everybody's bringing it. It's cool. If I can keep up with everybody else, I'll be just fine."

Continue reading "'American Idol' stars ready for Thursday performance in Detroit" »

Given the opportunity, I'm sure the RIAA would lock everyone up inside a place where no one has Internet access. Until then, they'll just have to settle for the 2.3 million Americans already incarcerated.

According to this profile from Reuters/Billboard, one entrepreneur has recognized that prisons are about the only place where you can still get people to pay for music. Not only that, but his audience keeps getting bigger every year. Hooray! [via Idolator]

Bob Paris is owner of Pack Central, a California mail-order company that sends out catalogues twice a year to 50,000 prisoners. The operation carries 10,000 titles on CD and 5,000 on cassette. Paris explains that cassettes account for more than half his business, though, because CDs are contraband at many prisons as they can be broken and used to shank a fool. For similar reasons, he has to remove all screws from the cassette tapes by hand.

So what are you likely to hear if you drive along Cooper Street and Parnall Road in Blackman Township by the remaining state correctional facilities (assuming you have super hearing and can pick up a small cassette deck behind the walls)? The not-terribly-surprising albums identified by Paris as top-sellers are listed after the jump:

Continue reading "Reuters reveals inmates' top jams inside the joint" »

Before I moved to Michigan, I remember seeing an ad at the Detroit Metro baggage claim inviting travelers to check out the Broadway musical "Wicked." In Chicago.

While that may have laid the foundation for a fun weekend in the Windy City, Michiganders can have just as good a time planning an evening in East Lansing, where "Wicked" is showing through Aug. 10 at Michigan State University's Wharton Center for Performing Arts.

For Broadway neophytes — and I'm a bit of a newbie here myself — "Wicked" follows the witches from "The Wizard of Oz." Based on Gregory Maguire's revisionist novel, the musical turns Dorothy and the Yellow Brick Road into a tiny subplot in the much larger story of Elphaba, who comes to be known as The Wicked Witch of the West.

Continue reading "Head to East Lansing for a 'Wicked' night at the theater" »

LONDON - Batman star Christian Bale was arrested Tuesday over allegations of assaulting his mother and sister, police and British media said.

British media had reported that Bale's mother and sister complained they were assaulted by the 34-year-old actor at the Dorchester Hotel in London on Sunday night, a day before the European premiere of his latest film, "The Dark Knight."

Continue reading "Christian Bale accused of assaulting mom, sister" »