newsmakers

newsmakers

Breaking Benjamin singer fires band

WILKES-BARRE, Pa.

Breaking Benjamin evidently has broken apart.

The platinum-selling rock band from northeastern Pennsylvania is mired in a legal dispute over what its founder and leader singer, Benjamin Burnley, called an unauthorized remix of one of the band’s hit songs, “Blow Me Away.”

Burnley says in court documents that he fired guitarist Aaron Fincke and bassist Mark Klepaski via email after learning his bandmates had struck an agreement with Hollywood Records to issue the remix.

The Citizens’ Voice of Wilkes-Barre reports that Burnley seeks at least $250,000 and the exclusive right to the Breaking Benjamin name. Fincke and Klepaski deny Burney’s claims. A Luzerne County judge has ordered arbitration.

Dollywood refunds lesbian couple

KNOXVILLE, Tenn.

Dollywood officials have offered a refund to a lesbian couple after an employee asked one of the women to turn her T-shirt inside out to hide the slogan “Marriage is so gay.”

Park officials called off a meeting with the couple when Jennifer Tipton and Olivier Odom wanted to bring a representative from Campaign for Southern Equality, a gay-rights organization.

Dollywood park spokesman Pete Owens said the park didn’t want to meet with the representative who wasn’t at the park at the time of the incident, so they sent the couple a letter and gave them a refund.

The couple complained after a park worker last month asked Odom to reverse her shirt to avoid offending other visitors.

Rembrandt exhibit looks at religious work

PHILADELPHIA

A new exhibit coming to the Philadelphia Museum of Art takes a fresh look at religious paintings, drawings and prints by one of history’s most revered artists.

“Rembrandt and the Face of Jesus” debuts today in Philadelphia, after its premiere at the Louvre Museum in Paris. It’s the only East Coast stop for the exhibit, which runs through Oct. 30. It contains works from museums and private collections in the U.S. and Europe.

The exhibition of more than 50 works by the Dutch master and his pupils includes a group of seven oil paintings of Jesus Christ that have not been together since they left Rembrandt’s studio in 1656. It’s also the first Rembrandt exhibition in Philadelphia since 1932.

Associated Press