LONDON (AP) — Katy Perry, Pharrell Williams, Bruno Mars, Nile Rodgers and Arctic Monkeys are set to perform Wednesday at Britain's leading music awards,...
by Frank EltmanAssociated Press Writer DIX HILLS, N.Y. (AP) — In a quiet, tree-lined suburb of New York City sits an unassuming brick ranch house that many musicians consider hallowed ground. This is where saxophonist John Coltrane composed the epic 1964 jazz masterpiece "A Love Supreme," shortly after moving into the Dix Hills, Long Island, home. Although he only lived there three years — Coltrane died of cancer in 1967 at age 40 — musicians including Carlos Santana and Coltrane's son Ravi are among those backing a volunteer effort to turn the dilapidated, four-bedroom house into a museum and learning center.
In this Sunday, Aug. 9, 2009 file photo, Lou Reed performs at the Lollapalooza music festival, in Chicago. (AP Photo/John Smierciak, File) by Hillel ItalieAP National Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Lou Reed, the punk poet of rock n' roll who profoundly influenced generations of musicians as leader of the Velvet Underground and remained a vital solo performer for decades after, died Sunday age 71. Reed died in Southampton, N.Y. of an ailment related to his recent liver transplant, according to his literary agent, Andrew Wylie, who added that Reed had been in frail health for months. Reed shared a home in Southampton with his wife and fellow musician, Laurie Anderson, whom he married in 2008. Reed never approached the commercial success of such superstars as the Beatles and Bob Dylan, but no songwriter to emerge after Dylan so radically expanded the territory of rock lyrics. And no band did more than the Velvet Underground to open rock music to the avant-garde — to experimental theater, art, literature and film, to William Burroughs and Kurt Weill, to John Cage and Andy Warhol, Reed's early patron.
