By now, I’m sure you’ve seen the viral video of the Queen of Soul singing for the Obamas and songwriter Carole King at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.? (If not, check it out here.) The internet received a late Christmas gift when a video of singer Aretha Franklin performing “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” at the 38th annual Kennedy Center Honors began making the rounds on December 29, shortly after the concert was shown on prime time TV. The event, which reco

THIS Christmas, booksellers are featuring several memoirs by rock musicians in their product queues. The authors are not all household names, yet new volumes by Elvis Costello (an English singer-songwriter, pictured), Chrissie Hynde (of The Pretenders), Patti Smith (a New York musician), Carrie Brownstein (of Sleater-Kinney) and others have already made it onto the year’s bestsellers lists. If rock ‘n’ roll has waned on the pop charts for more than a decade, why would the per

BY KRISTI YORK WOOTEN FOR THE ECONOMIST Many of today’s top touring artists, including Taylor Swift, One Direction, the Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney and Beyoncé, use huge catwalk stages and expansive video displays. But none of them has shared their spotlight with gadgetry in quite the way U2 does during “Innocence + Experience”. At New York’s Madison Square Garden in July, band members climbed inside a 96-foot-wide LED cage to perform a few songs while suspended above a st

BY KRISTI YORK WOOTEN FOR THE HUFFINGTON POST First, let me set the tone: Imagine you’re walking around in downtown Portland, Oregon. Now, subtract the waterfront. Add bacon and gravy. Grab a beet/ginger smoothie. Take off your sweater. Put on your sunglasses. Be careful not to step on the dog that’s sunbathing on a yellow pillow beside the shirtless, bearded guy who’s making jewelry out of fishing wire on a Himalayan blanket next to a lamppost on the sidewalk in front of a w

BY KRISTI YORK WOOTEN FOR ROLLING STONE Rock and Roll Hall of Famers joined current and former members of the Allman Brothers Band for a 26-song salute to Gregg Allman Friday night in Atlanta. Sam Moore, Dr. John and Jackson Browne took turns interpreting Allman’s extensive catalog along with Vince Gill, Derek Trucks, John Hiatt, Zac Brown, Widespread Panic and others during “All My Friends: Celebrating the Songs & Voice of Gregg Allman,” which was recorded to air on AXS TV i

BY KRISTI YORK WOOTEN FOR ROLLING STONE Last night in Atlanta, Little Richard joined Cee Lo Green onstage for a Recording Academy fundraiser, where the topics ranged from MC Hammer to the Ten Commandments and pancake makeup. The two also talked about a recent health scare. “The other night, I didn’t know I was having a heart attack,” Little Richard admitted to the crowd about an incident he says happened just last week. “I was coughing, and my right arm was aching. I told my

BY KRISTI YORK WOOTEN FOR THE ECONOMIST THE Apollo Theatre’s place in music history dates from 1914, when the building opened as a whites-only burlesque hall on 125th Street in New York City. Officially named The Apollo in 1934, the theatre began welcoming African American performers and audiences to its famous “Amateur Night”, which kick-started the careers of Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday. During the 1960s, the venue became a showcase for black American talent, with co

BY KRISTI YORK WOOTEN FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL Southern Gothic once referred exclusively to scribes and literature from the land of kudzu and mint juleps. Today, a Google search of the genre serves up everything from Bon Iver’s Wisconsin folk rock to gory novels by Australian Nick Cave. Will a new musical from Stephen King and John Mellencamp also fit into the category? Veteran Broadway performer Shuler Hensley is betting on it. The Tony- award winner (“Oklahoma”) recently

BY KRISTI YORK WOOTEN FOR THE ECONOMIST PAUL MCCARTNEY is one of the most important figures of 20th-century music. Therein lies the dilemma. Can the 69-year-old former Beatle pull off writing a ballet? Will he break new ground? How will this addition to his repertoire affect his standing in music history? Those were the questions looming in the air on September 22nd as Sir Paul debuted his most recent classical composition, “Ocean’s Kingdom”, as part of New York City Ballet’s