Tag: Children's entertainment

Tony! Toni! Toné! say reuniting after 25 years ‘Feels Good’ — and they’re working on something new
Entertainment

Tony! Toni! Toné! say reuniting after 25 years ‘Feels Good’ — and they’re working on something new

NEW YORK -- D’Wayne Wiggins and Timothy Christian Riley didn’t realize that Raphael Saadiq was planting the seeds for a Tony! Toni! Toné! reunion when he arranged a photoshoot earlier this year.“He said a few times before, so we never paid that much attention to it until this fool put up a big-ass billboard in Oakland, and I had to see it through social media,” said vocalist and bass guitarist Wiggins, who wondered if the image was Photoshopped. “I thought someone was playing tricks, morphing our picture.”Saadiq, the lead singer and guitarist of the beloved R&B group, gathered the trio together, free of any outside influence.“I didn’t tell any of the managers or team or anybody because I just wanted it to be us. … I wanted to be in a room where the only power structure was one, two an...
Haitian students play drums and strum guitars to escape hunger and gang violence
Entertainment

Haitian students play drums and strum guitars to escape hunger and gang violence

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- Woodberson Seïde held his stepsister's hand as they walked through Haiti 's capital on their way to an afterschool music program.They avoided cars, motorcycles, and territory controlled by the gangs whose predation prompted this week's U.N. Security Council vote for the deployment of a multinational armed force. Once he arrived at the school that hosts the program, 11-year-old Woodberson didn't think much about how he sometimes eats once a day. His family sleeps on the floor of a church, something they've done since losing their home to gangs. The boy was neatly dressed and ready to play drums. Across Port-au-Prince, hundreds of children like Woodberson are playing percussion, piano and bass guitar to drown out the violence and hunger around them.“When I play drum...
Biden tells a Broadway theater packed for fundraiser that Trump is determined to destroy the nation
Entertainment

Biden tells a Broadway theater packed for fundraiser that Trump is determined to destroy the nation

NEW YORK -- President Joe Biden on Monday told a packed Broadway theater full of big-name stars hosting a fundraiser in his honor that he was running for reelection because Donald Trump was determined to destroy the nation. Democracy is at stake, he told the audience at the Lunt-Fontanne Theater. Hate groups have been emboldened, he said. Books are being banned. Children go to school fearing shootings. “Let there be no question, Donald Trump and his MAGA Republicans are determined to destroy American democracy,” he said, referring to the former president's slogan, “Make America Great Again.” "And I will always defend, protect and fight for our democracy.”Biden also accused Trump and his allies of bowing down to authoritarians: “I will not side with dictators like Putin. Maybe Trump and hi...
Japanese companies drop stars of scandal-tainted Johnny’s entertainment company
Entertainment

Japanese companies drop stars of scandal-tainted Johnny’s entertainment company

Several Japanese companies have decided to stop using stars who are represented by Johnny & Associates, an entertainment company at the center of a sexual assault scandalByYURI KAGEYAMA Associated PressSeptember 12, 2023, 2:31 AMFILE - Sho Sakurai, a member of Japanese pop music band ARASHI, listens to a question during an interview with The Associated Press in Tokyo on Sept. 17, 2020. Beverage maker Asahi Group Holdings — known for its Super Dry beer — will no longer air its ads featuring Junichi Okada, Toma Ikuta and Sho Sakurai, the company said Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023, and there are no plans to sign singers, dancers or actors affiliated with Johnny’s. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae, File)The Associated PressTOKYO -- Several major Japanese companies have decided to stop using stars who are r...
Pee-wee Herman actor and creator Paul Reubens dies from cancer at 70
Entertainment

Pee-wee Herman actor and creator Paul Reubens dies from cancer at 70

LOS ANGELES -- Paul Reubens, the actor and comedian whose Pee-wee Herman character — an overgrown child with a tight gray suit and an unforgettable laugh — became a 1980s pop cultural phenomenon, has died at 70.Reubens, who’s character delighted fans in the film “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure” and on the TV series “Pee-wee’s Playhouse,” died Sunday night after a six-year struggle with cancer that he kept private, his publicist said in a statement.“Please accept my apology for not going public with what I’ve been facing the last six years,” Reubens said in a statement released Monday with the announcement of his death. “I have always felt a huge amount of love and respect from my friends, fans and supporters. I have loved you all so much and enjoyed making art for you.”Created for the stage, Pee...
Child star Mia Armstrong is working on a picture book about her experiences with Down syndrome
Entertainment

Child star Mia Armstrong is working on a picture book about her experiences with Down syndrome

Child star and activist Mia Armstrong has a picture book coming out next year about her experiences with Down syndrome, what her publisher calls “all the joys and challenges.”NEW YORK -- Child star and activist Mia Armstrong has a picture book coming out next year about her experiences with Down syndrome, what her publisher calls “all the joys and challenges.”Random House Children’s Books announced Monday that Armstrong's “I Am a Masterpiece!” will be released next January. Illustrated by Alexandra Thompson and co-written by Armstrong and author Marissa Moss, the book is Armstrong's way of helping kids see the world as she sees it.Armstrong has spoken often about Down syndrome, and has called it her “superpower.” “I wrote this story because I want to inspire other people to love their own...