Spartan Echo

    NEW YORK (AP) — There was a time when most of the songs played on the radio came from Broadway. Now some popular hit makers like Cyndi Lauper and Sting are finding it still feels like home. “Look, they don’t break your balls that much here,” Lauper said of the experience of composing [...]

  CANNES, France (AP) — Robert Redford makes actions speak louder than words in shipwreck drama “All Is Lost.” He doesn’t have much choice. A man-versus-nature tale about a lone sailor adrift on the Indian Ocean, J.C. Chandor’s movie has no dialogue, just a few lines of voiceover at the start and a couple of [...]

   NEW YORK (AP) — Robin Roberts will tell the story of her battle with a life-threatening illness in a new memoir. Grand Central Publishing says the “Good Morning America” anchor will write the as-yet-untitled book for publication next April. The publisher announced Wednesday that Roberts will write about her rare illness and her recovery, [...]

  BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Before he became pope, Francis spoke his mind about many of the most sensitive topics the Roman Catholic church faces today. Here is a sampling from “On Heaven and Earth,” published in 2012, and his authorized biography “The Jesuit,” published in 2010 and republished last month as “Pope Francis. [...]

  RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Before she became Brazil’s bikini queen, with an empire of chic boutiques and legions of VIP fans that include Hollywood A-listers and pop royalty, Lenny Niemeyer was locked away in her garage, making swimwear out of old pareos and sliced cow bones. Sitting before this perfectly coiffed blond businesswoman [...]

  NEW ORLEANS (AP) — If there’s a theme to this year’s New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, it may be living legends. Headliners include B.B. King, Billy Joel, Willie Nelson, Hall and Oates and Fleetwood Mac. There’s also a cast of modern day hit makers such as The Black Keys, Maroon 5, Jill Scott, [...]

  NEW YORK (AP) — MTV is getting ready to blast viewers with a brand-new “Scream.” The network says it will produce a pilot for a TV-series adaptation of the wildly popular slasher films. The series would reinvent the horror-comedy franchise that began with the original release in 1996 and spawned three sequels, the most [...]

  WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) — One of Maya Angelou’s doctors says the poet and author is recovering at her North Carolina home following a brief hospitalization. Dr. Jeff Williamson of the Wake Forest School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, N.C., says in letter dated Tuesday April 23, that, as leader of Angelou’s medical team, he has ordered [...]

    ATLANTA (AP) — Mona Scott-Young used to wake up in cold sweat at night, wondering if she made the right decision to leave her list of high-profile hip-hop clients to branch off and create reality television shows. That’s a dilemma the creator of the popular reality series “Love & Hip-Hop” on VH1 doesn’t [...]

  NEW YORK (AP) — The DIY television network is proving a comfortable home for rappers turned renovators. “Vanilla Ice Goes Amish” will debut on the network this year. Network executive Burton Jablin says the former rap star will live with an Amish community in Ohio to learn how they do construction. Vanilla Ice already [...]

  Fantasia, “Side Effects of You” (RCA Records) Fantasia’s fourth album, “Side Effects of You,” reminds us exactly why she captured our hearts to win 2004′s “American Idol.” The Grammy winner, who mostly collaborates with producer Harmony Samuels on the new album, declares a whole new lease on life, delivering a more mature, no-nonsense version [...]