LMF, the local underground hip hop ensemble, return to the stage with their foul mouths and funky beats on March 21. Emerging from the poverty of public housing in 1993, Lazy Mutha F**** (right) began as an alternative to Canto-pop and attempted to establish a unique cultural identity for the youth of Hong Kong by encouraging them to take pride in their rich Chinese ancestry. They did that by swearing and sticking up their middle fingers a lot. While on a six-year hiatus, the band members pursued solo careers; vocalists Kit and Phat formed the rap group 24HERBS while drummer Davy sat behind the kit at various concerts for the "King of Asian Pop", Eason Chan Yik-shun …
In 2008, the "Empress of Pop", who has sold more than 50 million albums, revealed that she had gone deaf in her left ear. Thought to be afflicted with tinnitus from long-term exposure to loud noises, "Ayu" wrote on her blog that her ear "doesn't work anymore" and that an operation wouldn't help. Hamasaki's Japanese No1 hit single Rule/Sparkle was used as the theme song for the 2009 manga-based action movie Dragonball Evolution, for which the role of Lord Piccolo, the villain, was originally offered to American actor Ron Perlman …
With a persona of despair and a rasping drawl fashioned by booze, the once heavy-drinking Waits has been a teetotaller for more than 15 years. When asked on a talk show about his former habit, the bar-room balladeer and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer replied with typical acerbic wit, "Well, I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy." In the late 1970s, Waits often performed his song Small Change in a medley with Big Spender, one of the signature songs of theatrical Welsh singer Dame Shirley Veronica Bassey …