New York Philharmonic ends visit to North Korea

New York Philharmonic
ends visit to North Korea

PYONGYANG, North Korea — North Korean and American musicians shared the stage Wednesday as the New York Philharmonic concluded a historic visit to Pyongyang that could herald warmer ties between the two nations. Four Philharmonic musicians joined four North Koreans in a chamber music concert, playing Mendelssohn’s “Octet for Strings” with no previous rehearsal. “You absolutely do not need words because music is a language in and of itself,” said Cynthia Phelps, the Philharmonic’s principal viola. The event, before about 400 North Koreans at the Moranbong Theater, came after North Korea and the U.S. found common ground in an unprecedented performance Tuesday night by the American orchestra. That concert began with the national anthems of both countries and built to an emotional climax with the Korean folk tune “Arirang.” Some musicians left the stage in tears as the crowd gave them a standing ovation and waved farewell.

Jackson’s Neverland
up for public sale?

LOS ANGELES — Want Michael Jackson’s merry-go-round? How about his locomotive, or his curtains? Those items and more could hit the auction block next month as the pop star’s Neverland Ranch will be put up for public sale unless he pays the more than $24 million he still owes on the property, according to a Tuesday court filing. Financial Title Co. filed the notice of trustee’s sale with Santa Barbara County Superior Court, setting the auction date for March 19.

Court documents obtained by Fox News warn Jackson that he has until the date of the auction to take action to keep his lavish estate. If the property does go to auction, the initial asking price could be higher than the $24.5 million Jackson owes because of interest due and other costs, according to the filing. The reclusive star no longer lives at the famous, 2,500-acre spread in Los Olivos, a popular tourist spot northwest of Santa Barbara known for its wineries. He has been mostly residing abroad since his 2005 acquittal on child molestation charges, although he has spent time in Las Vegas as he tries to stage his musical comeback.

Stephen King, Mellencamp
collaborate on musical

ATLANTA — Creating a Broadway musical can be scary enough. Even more so when it’s script is penned by horror master Stephen King. King, who has written numerous best-selling novels, has written the script for “Ghost Brothers of Darkland County,” with music by John Mellencamp. The play will open at Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre in April 2009, with the object of getting it ready for a Broadway run. The Alliance, which announced the project on Tuesday, described it as “a sultry Southern gothic mystery with a blues-tinged, guitar-driven score.” The story is set in the fictional town of Lake Belle Reve, Miss., and centers on the deaths in 1957 of two brothers and a young girl and the legend that grows out of the tragedy. Peter Askin, whose New York credits include “Hedwig and the Angry Inch,” will direct. The idea for the story was Mellencamp’s, and came from a story he heard years ago in his hometown of Seymour, Ind., said Alliance artistic director Susan Booth.

Magazine apologizes
for hasty review of CD

NEW YORK — Maxim has apologized to its readers, but the Black Crowes are still waiting for the magazine to say sorry to the band for publishing a negative review of their new CD without listening to the full album. “It comes as no surprise that Maxim has elected to apologize to their readers now that the world has been informed of their deception; however, that is not full accountability,” said the Crowes’ manager, Pete Angelus, on Tuesday. Maxim editorial director James Kaminsky issued a statement earlier Tuesday apologizing to readers for the review in its March issue. The writer gave the Crowes’ “Warpaint” a rating of two-and-a-half stars out of five — but hadn’t actually heard the entire disc. The mea culpa came a few days after the Crowes posted a statement on their Web site saying such a review was impossible since advance copies of the CD, out on March 4, weren’t made available. “It is Maxim’s editorial policy to assign star ratings only to those albums that have been heard in their entirety,” Kaminski responded. “Unfortunately, that policy was not followed in the March 2008 issue of our magazine and we apologize to our readers.” Angelus said Maxim was just doing “self-serving damage control.” “The appropriate action from Maxim is to immediately issue a public apology to The Black Crowes for disparaging both the band and their soon-to-be released new album ’Warpaint’ without having heard the material,” he said in a statement.

“Warpaint” is the Black Crowes’ first album in seven years. The blues-rock group, fronted by 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.”

Today’s birthdays

Actor Charles Durning is 85. Svetlana Alliluyeva, daughter of Josef Stalin, is 82. Actor Gavin MacLeod is 77. Actor-director-dancer Tommy Tune is 69. Auto racer Mario Andretti is 68. Singer Joe South is 68. Football player Bubba Smith is 63. Actress Bernadette Peters is 60. Comedian Gilbert Gottfried is 53. Basketball player Adrian Dantley is 52. Actor John Turturro is 51. Rock singer Cindy Wilson is 51. Actress Rae Dawn Chong is 47. Rock singer Pat Monahan is 39. Actress Maxine Bahns is 37. Country singer Jason Aldean is 31.