POP MUSIC
Bruise brothers
The Police band members don't get along, yet the group has 'made some music we're really proud of' – 'the conflict is the chemistry'
By George Varga
POP MUSIC CRITIC
After acrimoniously disbanding in the mid-1980s, The Police reunited in early 2003 to perform three songs during the pioneering Anglo-American trio's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Those three songs – “Roxanne,” “Message in a Bottle” and “Every Breath You Take” – were greeted with roars of approval from the star-studded New York audience, which included Gwen Stefani, Elton John and members of U2, Aerosmith and Rage Against the Machine.
ON STAGE
The power of the word
Staged readings are busting out – they appeal 'to the audience's imagination'
By James Hebert
THEATER CRITIC
A play can have helicopters landing onstage, roller skaters orbiting the audience and ABBA tunes blasting until eardrums say uncle. But before all that happens, the whole blessed spectacle has to start with words on a page.
UP FRONT
A pair of 'kindred spirits'
Twist of fate linked Marc Brueland, Tuomas Holopainen – and created a life-affirming friendship
By Chris Nixon
“Higher than hope my cure lies,” reads the gravestone of Marc Christopher Brueland, a San Diego DJ, artist and animator who passed away in 2003 after battling liver cancer for seven and a half years.
In a strange twist of fate, three disparate elements have combined to create a powerful story: a British cartoon from the 1980s, a Finnish metal band and Brueland's battle with cancer.
