Celebrated cellist Yo-Yo Ma was the attraction at the Jan. 12 closing plenary session of the Association of Performing Arts Professionals (APAP) APAP|NYC+ 2021 trade conference, which like the panels, showcases and exhibition hall set-ups that preceded it, was held virtually online due to the pandemic. Ma’s session took the form of an informal chat with APAP board member Renae Williams Niles, who heads Renae WN Consulting. She saluted Ma for his service as a UN Messenger of P

KICK--The INXS Experience Among the hundreds of artist showcases at the annual Association of Performing Arts Professionals (APAP) trade gathering, rock tribute bands are a staple. A prominent one at last week’s pandemic-demanded virtual APAP conference, KICK—The INXS Experience stood out—for two reasons: the quality of the Greenville, N.C.-based group’s video showcase submission, and their endorsement by none other than Tina Hutchence. Tina Hutchence is the older sister of t

From left: Darlene Love, Phil Spector, Joey Ramone, Andy Paley and Jonathan Paley (photo: Bob Merlis) His initial fame came with the 1958 chart-topping “To Know Him is to Love Him,” which he wrote and performed with the Teddy Bears, that was inspired by the words on his father’s tombstone. But few people knew Phil Spector—though everyone knew who he was—and it’s not unlikely, in light of his 2009 murder conviction and 19-years-to-life sentence, that fewer loved him. Still, it

If you’re a big fan of Muhammad Ali, you’re likely also a fan of his entourage, the core being trainer Angelo Dundee and Ferdie Pacheco, a.k.a. the Fight Doctor, both of whom wrote two of the scores if not hundreds of books recounting the Ali experience and era. But there was a third and far more colorful member of Ali’s in-ring trio, who never wrote a book, and about whom one was never written—until now: assistant trainer and cornerman/confidante Drew “Bundini” Brown. Thanks