Banhart carves ‘Pink Marble’ with unique sounds

Many years ago, Devendra Banhart slept nightly on a mattress in a dumpster in New York City. It was during a bedbug scare, when his neighbors had thrown their beds away, and Banhart was a homeless teenage busker, finding busboy jobs to finish customers’ uneaten food.

George Mitchel at the Commitent to Life Aids benefit concert on Jan….

George Michael, the English singer-songwriter who shot to stardom as a teen idol in the 1980s as half of the pop duo Wham! and went on to become one of the era’s biggest pop solo artists with hits such as “Faith” and “I Want Your Sex,” died over the Christmas holiday, The Associated Press has confirmed. He was 53. Michael, whose career was marred by a 1998 arrest for engaging in a lewd act in a Beverly Hills park restroom, died peacefully at home, his publicist said.

Caroline Kennedy leaves Japan after 3 years as US ambassador

In this Feb. 12, 2014, file photo, U.S. Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy, left, shakes hands with Okinawa Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima after she handed a copy of visa application form of her father President John F. Kennedy, which was issued when he visited Japan, at Okinawa Prefectural Government in Naha, Okinawa.