Haha ... her voice is "ever-so-slightly thinner". It's fantastic that she made the decision for her health, though, and not for her career.

Quoted: Deborah Voigt returns to the Royal Opera House stage Monday, four years after the company fired her for being too big for the little black dress chosen for the title character in Richard Strauss' "Ariadne auf Naxos." The decision sparked a fierce debate about weight discrimination in opera.
...
At 47, Voigt's career is going strong. Some critics have detected changes to her voice as a result of the weight loss, suggesting it is ever-so-slightly thinner, less warm.

James is back together? That might be worth a listen.

Quoted: Reunited British rock band James, who enjoyed cult success in America during the early '90s, played their first U.S. concert in Los Angeles on Friday since ending a lengthy hiatus last year.

I can't wait to hear the new album. I think T was playing Machine Gun the other night and I liked it. We saw Portishead play at the Paramount (I think) many years back.

Quoted: As Portishead finished its meticulously sparse evening performance at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, the typically reticent Beth Gibbons suddenly leapt off the stage and ran a 100-yard dash along the fenced-in crowd, exuberantly shaking their hands. ...

After a ten-year hiatus, Portishead is back. This is not a reunion bow, though, but rather an energized reboot of a band that ten years ago found itself burnt out from a rock 'n' roll life and creatively kaput after the success of their enormously popular 1994 trip-hop debut "Dummy" and their 1997 self-titled follow-up.

Some good music at Marymoor Park in July from the Sub Pop label.

Quoted: Sub Pop Records, the indie label that gave the world Nirvana, will celebrate its 20th birthday with a weekend of concerts in a Seattle park in July.

Among the groups reuniting or breaking long hiatuses for the July 12-13 event at Marymoor Park are Green River, Red Red Meat, the Fluid, Beachwood Sparks and Seaweed.

Current label acts confirmed to appear include Mudhoney, comedy duo Flight of the Conchords, Fleet Foxes, Foals, Grand Archives, the Helio Sequence, Iron & Wine, Kinski, Low, No Age, Wolf Parade, Pissed Jeans and the Ruby Suns.

This movie sounds really interesting. I wonder if these seniors were trained singers before they started this group.

Quoted: The unlikely image of a 92-year-old war bride screaming The Clash's "Should I Stay or Should I Go" into a microphone backed by an elderly chorus has already captivated live audiences around the world.

Now the film version is set to do the same.

"Young at Heart" documents the group of U.S. senior citizens belting out songs by Sonic Youth through to James Brown. The small-town act has been running for some 25 years but international fame is now at hand.

This is interesting because the kid was beat up for wearing a rival rapper's t-shirt. So, it's not like the kid didn't appreciate the lifestyle for himself.

Quoted: NEW YORK (Reuters) - Hip hop mogul 50 Cent, Universal Music Group and several of its record labels were sued on Wednesday for promoting a "gangsta lifestyle" by a 14-year-old boy who says friends of the rapper assaulted him.

Click through the nkotb.com link at the end of the article to satisfy your curiosity about what they look like now ...
and no, I will not be buying their album or attending their concert. But I might just watch a you tube video ...

Quoted: They may be pushing 40, but the New Kids are returning to the block.

I'm glad that Moz took a stand on this issue. It has become too common for the media to misquote celebrities to make a more sensational story.

Quoted: British singer Morrissey won an apology in court on Thursday from the publishers of Word Magazine over suggestions he was a racist and a hypocrite.

Good thing we saw Duran Duran in their glory days. ;)

Quoted: Duran Duran's world tour got off to an awkward start in New Zealand on Wednesday as singer Simon Le Bon forgot the lyrics and bassist John Taylor stormed off stage, according to a published report.

"Duran Duran, f---ing up in style," Le Bon, 49, told the crowd at the Vector Arena in the northern city of Auckland, according to the New Zealand Herald's review the next day.

Taylor, 47, abandoned his instrument and walked off stage, apparently in reaction to a segment in which the group's members donned matching satin suits and headsets to play a medley on keyboards and an electric drum set.

"I could not dance to that. These people came here to dance," Taylor said, after he returned to the stage, according to the Herald.

Le Bon forgot the words to "Hungry Like the Wolf," one of the band's biggest hits, the Herald reported.