Free Republic

WASHINGTON, Jan. 10, 2008 – Growing up as part of a military family, country music star Aaron Tippin learned a crucial lesson early in life: Freedom isn’t free. Country music star Aaron Tippin flashes a big thumbs up as he visits with soldiers serving in the global war on terrorism. Tippin spent his third straight Thanksgiving entertaining servicemembers serving in Iraq and Kuwait. Stars for Stripes photo  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. “That might be a corny old saying, but you know what?” he asked. “It is still true. Freedom is not free.” Tippin, who was in Washington...

MEXICO CITY - A wave of organized crime violence terrorizing many parts of Mexico is driving fear into the heart of the entertainment business with the murders of several popular musicians, suggesting no one is immune to the rampant brutality. Most disquieting were the weekend slayings of two singers who had crooned only about love and loss, not drugs and guns like some "narcocorrido" celebrities killed in the past. The murders of Sergio Gomez, lead performer for the top-selling group K-Paz de la Sierra, and Zayda Pena of the group Zayda and the Guilty Ones has mainstream singers worrying they...

DALLAS (AP) - A Dallas musician who played with Edie Brickell & New Bohemians was shot to death early this morning after trying to kick in the door of his girlfriend's neighbor. 34-year-old Jeffrey Carter Albrecht died at the scene. Police say the neighbor fired a shot through the door around 4 a.m. The neighbor believed a burglar was trying to break in. The case is under investigation and no arrests have been made. Albrecht, who went by his middle name, had been a keyboard player for the New Bohemians since 1999. He also played keyboard and guitar and sang...

WASHINGTON, April 24, 2007 – A Cleveland-based musician and songwriter is hoping one of his newest works will raise the country’s collective awareness of the sacrifices its servicemembers are making every day. “Our Sacrifice” offers musical support to servicemembers and their families, Mark Reis said. “After I wrote the song, I started looking at the lyrics and the meaning behind it. I knew that it was intended to support (servicemembers) and their families and what they’re going through.” “Our Sacrifice” was recorded in Nashville with Frank Camp and Nicole Cuglewski singing vocals. For a year, Reis said, he didn’t...

Willie Nelson Cited for Drug Possession Sep 18 1:06 PM US/Eastern Willie Nelson and several members of his band were issued misdemeanor citations for drug possession early today during a traffic stop in Saint Martin Parish. The traffic stop was conducted on Interstate 10 near Breaux Bridge. Trooper Willie Williams says troopers smelled a strong odor of marijuana when the driver opened the bus door. During a search of the bus, Williams say approximately 1 1/2 pounds of marijuana and approximately 2/10 of a pound of mushrooms were located on the bus. The 73-year-old Nelson of Spicewood, Texas; 59-year-old Tony...

The former home of Pink Floyd founder Syd Barrett, who died in July, has attracted huge interest from potential buyers undeterred by the reclusive singer's patchy home improvement efforts. Dozens of people have viewed the 1930s house in Cambridge, England, which in the delicate words of the estate agent "provides an excellent opportunity for sympathetic improvement and updating." The walls are painted a patchwork of pink, orange, brown, blue, turquoise and lavender, while cheap wooden shelves cling precariously to the walls of every room. Barrett's decorating has done little to deter people from taking a look, with 40 viewings last...

EVERYONE has heard the requiems sung for classical music or at least the reports of its failing health: that its audience is graying, record sales have shriveled and the cost of live performance is rising as ticket sales decline. Music education has virtually disappeared from public schools. Classical programming has (all but) disappeared from television and radio. And 17 orchestras have closed in the last 20 years. All this has of late become the subject of countless blogs, news reports, books and symposiums, with classical music partisans furrowing their brows and debating what went wrong, what can still go wrong...

His varied career also includes service as an advocate for the Mentally Ill and Developmentally Disabled and as a teacher in Kenya and Cincinnati -- in subjects ranging from East African Geography to calculus. He is an avid musician (he plays guitars, alto sax, tenor sax, flute and alto flute). He plays in a cover band, "Beats Workin'" and has played publicly with a number of bona fide rock stars, including his friends Skunk Baxter (The Doobie Brothers, Steely Dan) and Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 13, 2005 – Inspired by lonely childhood holidays, the daughter of a former airman has written a song that deployed troops will hear this holiday season, thanks to a grassroots partner in the Defense Department's "America Supports You" program. Gina Stewart of the Charlotte, N.C., band Volatile Baby, describes her song - "Christmas Without You" -- as a traditional, harmonized country arrangement. "The message is basically 'I really miss you, I know that you're gone for a good reason, and it's not that I don't understand, but it's a real pain to be standing under the mistletoe alone,'"...

RALEIGH, N.C. - Robert A. Moog, whose self-named synthesizers turned electric currents into sound and opened the musical wave that became electronica, has died. He was 71. Moog was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor, detected in April. He died Sunday at his home in Asheville, according to his company's Web site. A childhood interest in the theremin, one of the first electronic musical instruments, would lead Moog to a create a career and business that tied the name Moog as tightly to synthesizers as the name Les Paul is to electric guitars. As a Ph.D student in engineering physics...

WASHINGTON — A musician long before she became an academic and then a world-famous diplomat, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice took to the Kennedy Center concert stage Saturday to accompany a young soprano battling an often-fatal disease. Rice's rare and unpublicized appearance at the piano marked a striking departure from her routine as America's No. 1 diplomat. A pianist from the age of 3 she played a half-dozen selections to accompany Charity Sunshine, a 21-year-old singer who was diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension a little more than a year ago. The soprano is a granddaughter of Rep. Tom Lantos, D-Calif., and...

FORT STEWART, Ga. - A soldier who said he refused to return to duty because he opposes the war in Iraq left his unit as its job became more dangerous, his commanding officer testified Thursday. Staff Sgt. Camilo Mejia, an infantryman with the Florida National Guard, is charged with desertion after failing to return to his unit in Iraq after a two-week furlough in October. He said his experiences in Iraq turned him against the war, and he claims he deserted his unit partly to avoid orders to abuse Iraqi prisoners. Capt. A.J. Balbo, the lead prosecutor, said in his...

Prosecutors are asking a judge to permit evidence at Phil Spector's Los Angeles murder trial that the record producer has a history of pulling guns on women, according to court filings unsealed yesterday. The prosecution motion, filed Feb. 17, lists nine occasions dating to 1972 when Spector allegedly pointed a gun at someone, including women he dated, singer/songwriter Leonard Cohen, a television producer and parking valets at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Superior Court Judge Larry P. Fidler is expected to rule on the motion May 23. Spector's trial for the Feb. 3, 2003, shooting death of actress Lana Clarkson is...

Brian Wilson has issued a desperate plea for any information on the whereabouts of Markus Sandlund, a cellist from the Stockholm Strings & Horns who played on his recently released recreation of the lost Beach Boys album "SMiLE." Sandlund was vacationing in Thailand when the area was battered by a tsunami following a Dec. 26 earthquake in the Indian Ocean and has not been heard from since. "I have been devastated since I heard the news that Markus is missing in Thailand," Wilson says in a statement. "We have sent an agent to see what we can find out, but...

Egypt has issued an order barring pop star Madonna from entering the country because she visited Israel. Members of Egypt's parliament have demanded Madonna, who has not requested entry into Egypt or announced any plans to visit the country, be barred from entering Egyptian soil. The parliament directed Egyptian embassies abroad to deny any visa requests from Madonna. The demand comes after Madonna, aka Esther, visited the Jewish state last week making daily headline news with midnight trips to a Jewish cemetery, a quick drive by past the Wailing Wall, and even the arrest of her security detail. The Material...

Press Release - Robert F. Martin 8/8/2004 I would like to clear some issues up regarding the video I co-produced. First, the video we produced should not be viewed in a partisan light. This video is not meant to be a pro or anti war commentary. The comments of Ben in the movie regarding ending the occupation were simply emphasize realism in what someone being held hostage would have potentially said while pleading for their life. How the video should be viewed is that it exposes problems in the media. We rely much too heavily on Reuters and Associated Press...

Latest beheading video a US hoax Aug 8, 2004 The latest video showing the beheading of an American hostage by militants in Iraq has been exposed as a hoax set up by US man.The video, which appeared on a web site used by Islamic militants, showed a man who identified himself as Benjamin Vanderford appealing to the United States to leave Iraq.The web format was that used by al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and was introduced by a headline that said it showed Zarqawi killing an American.   "If we don't (leave Iraq), everyone is gonna be killed in this way......

Why am I running for governor of Texas in 2006? Why the hell not? I already have several good campaign slogans, starting with "How hard could it be?" Compared with the daunting financial crunch that Arnold Schwarzenegger inherited when he became governor of California, being governor of Texas is a notoriously easy gig. It's rather like being the judge of a giant chili cook-off. Consider that in the past a series of wealthy Texas oilmen have ascended to the office, some of them rarely bothering to leave their ranches to go to Austin unless there was a football game. And...

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Funk music pioneer George Clinton was arrested and charged with drug possession after allegedly telling an officer he had cocaine in his pocket. Clinton, of Tallahassee, was arrested Saturday and bonded out of jail over the weekend, according to jail officials, who wouldn't release any other information. Clinton's lawyer, Shoshana Zisk of San Francisco, didn't immediately return a call seeking comment. Clinton, 63, who headed the funk bands Parliament and Funkadelic — and the collaboration later known as P-Funk — in the 1970s and 1980s is considered a father of the genre. In 1983, Clinton's solo record...

Jazz Great Benny Carter Dead at 95 in Los Angeles By Kevin Krolicki LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Legendary jazz pioneer and big band leader Benny Carter, who helped break Hollywood's bar to black composers, died on Saturday at Cedars Sinai hospital in Los Angeles, friends said on Sunday. He was 95. Reuters Photo AP Photo Slideshow: Jazz Great Benny Carter Dies at 95 Carter, who was one of the first black composers and arrangers to work on mainstream Hollywood films, including such classics as "Stormy Weather," had been hospitalized for about two weeks, complaining of bronchitis and fatigue, said...