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~ The FReeper Canteen Presents ~ ~ Remembering Our Troops!! ~ Welcome Aboard! Future service members participate in a swearing in ceremony held during the 2023 Wings Over Wayne air show at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina, May 21, 2023. The Wings over Wayne Air Show and Science and Technology Expo is a biennial event and has grown to be the largest free air show in North Carolina. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Leighton Lucero) Canteen Mission StatementShowing support and boosting the morale ofour military and our allies' militaryand family members of the above.Honoring...

“I felt like I had lost before I started the next part of my career,” Peter Frampton says of the blowout success of his 1976 album, Frampton Comes Alive! “Before there was nothing to compete with. Now, I felt, ‘I’m competing with Peter Frampton.’” In a new interview with Billboard, the guitar icon reflects on his smash live album, which turns 50 this year. The two-album set was recorded during the 1975 tour for his fourth solo album, Frampton. At the time, he was still struggling for success following his time with English hard rockers Humble Pie. Frampton Comes Alive!...

The Venezuelan poster-boy conductor is due to become artistic and music director of the New York Philharmonic in eight months’ time. The position has the highest profile of any US orchestral position. Dudamel, who turns 45 this month, has held close links with successive governments in Caracas. Today, United States forces swooped to capture the corrupt Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, with whom Dudamel has had an on-off and latterly on again relationship. Dudamel led European tours of the regime’s showcase El Sistema orchestra in 2025. He has maintained that his loyalty is to the Sistema organisation and not to its...

MEXICO CITY - A new proposal from Mexico's ruling party could send musicians to prison for performing songs that glorify drug trafficking. The law would bring prison sentences of up to three years for people who perform or produce songs or movies glamorizing criminals. "Society sees drug ballads as nice, pleasant, inconsequential and harmless, but they are the opposite," National Action Party lawmaker Oscar Martin Arce told The Associated Press on Thursday. The ballads, known as "narcocorridos," often describe drug trafficking and violence, and are popular among some norteno bands. After some killings, gangs pipe narcocorridos into police radio scanners,...

n this episode, I compare this year's Grammy nominees for Song of the Year to the 1984 Song of the Year nominees.

The best guitar riffs in rock have become part of the cultural fabric, shaping the face of music and influencing wannabe axe legends down the generations.Some of the great songs of modern times – such as “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction)” or “Smoke On The Water” – strike you as much for their distinctive guitar licks as their powerful lyrics. The guitar riff, which often opens a song and forms the main repetitive melodic anchor, has been a core part of blues, rock’n’roll, and even punk songs for decades, and the best guitar riffs have changed the shape of music....

Thousands of people have signed a petition urging the U.S. government to review Nicki Minaj’s immigration status and possibly face deportation over her recent public statements. As of Monday (December 29), over 9,800 people had signed a Change.org petition, started by Tristan Hamilton, accusing the rapper of abandoning values she once... ... Minaj, who was outspokenly critical of Donald Trump during his first presidency, has been working with the administration as the president pushes unfounded claims of targeted Christian persecution in Nigeria. The rapper also recently appeared alongside Erika Kirk, the widow of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, at the Turning...

A veteran jazz ensemble and a New York dance company have canceled events at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, intensifying the fallout at one of the nation’s pre-eminent arts centers after it was renamed to include President Trump. The center had previously promoted two New Year’s Eve performances by the Cookers as an “all-star jazz septet that will ignite the Terrace Theater stage with fire and soul.” But those performances, like an annual Christmas Eve jazz concert hosted by Chuck Redd, are now canceled. The Cookers did not give a reason for the decision in a...

Chicago had a loud, and profane, reaction when Jimi Hendrix invited them on tour. It was 1969 and the band, then known as Chicago Transit Authority, was turning heads with a style that infused a dynamic horn section with rock. In a recent appearance on the Broken Record podcast, co-founding members Lee Loughnane and Jimmy Pankow recalled crossing paths with Hendrix. “We were at the Whisky a Go-Go on the Sunset Strip,” Pankow remembered. “We were opening for Albert King. And we were in the dressing room waiting to go back on. There was a knock on the door. And...

While the Islanders blanked the Rangers on Saturday night, the real highlight came before the game, when 104-year-old Dominick Critelli, a World War II veteran, performed the national anthem on his saxophone prior to the game at UBS Arena. Critelli, a Staff Sergeant in the Army who was born in 1921, hit every note of the anthem on Saturday, with the Long Island crowd chanting “USA” as he was led onto the ice in an Islanders jersey emblazoned with 104 on it, and again when he finished the flawless version of the song. He saluted the enthusiastic crowd after he...

The president of the Kennedy Center sharply criticized a musician Friday for canceling a Christmas Eve performance at the venue after the White House announced that President Donald Trump’s name would be added to the building. Richard Grenell, the center’s president, accused musician Chuck Redd of political intolerance in a letter responding to the sudden withdrawal, which Grenell said came just days before the scheduled concert. The letter, shared with The Associated Press, said the cancellation was explicitly tied to the recent renaming of the facility, which Grenell described as honoring Trump’s efforts to preserve the arts institution.

Perry Bamonte, longtime guitarist and keyboard player for the Cure, has died aged 65. The musician, known affectionately as Teddy, passed away after a short illness over Christmas, the band announced on their website.

The Kennedy Center’s free Christmas Eve Jazz Jam did not take place in 2025 for the first time in more than two decades. The long-standing holiday tradition was canceled after the board of trustees voted to rename the venue the “Trump Kennedy Center,” adding President Donald Trump’s name alongside John F. Kennedy’s. Jazz drummer and vibraphonist Chuck Redd, who had hosted the concert since 2006, canceled the performance after seeing the name change appear on the Kennedy Center website and then on the building itself. The decision was announced only days before Christmas, with no replacement programming and no detailed...

He has since reassured fans, and has released his new tape 'CRASHOUT JUNKIE' on SoundCloudNoah Weiland, the son of late Stone Temple Pilots frontman Scott, sparked fears this month by saying he would “rather be dead” than live like his father. On December 3, Noah played a show at the Garden Amp outdoor amphitheatre in Orange County to mark the 10th anniversary of his father’s passing at the age of 48. He played songs from across Scott’s career, including classics such as ‘Sex Type Thing’ and Velvet Revolver’s ‘Slither’. In the days following the show, Noah shared a series of...

The song was recorded during the sessions for 1974's 'Queen II' and is now being released for the first timeQueen have released a never-before-heard Christmas song ‘Not For Sale (Polar Bear)’ – listen below. The track was recorded in 1974 during the sessions for the band’s second studio album ‘Queen II’, but it did not make the final cut. As they ready that record’s reissue, which is due in 2026, they have shared ‘Not For Sale (Polar Bear)’ in time for Christmas. Guitarist Brian May, who wrote the song for his previous band Smile, gave the song its premiere during...

A planned Christmas Eve jazz concert at the Kennedy Center, a holiday tradition dating back more than 20 years, has been canceled. The show’s host, musician Chuck Redd, says that he called off the performance in the wake of the White House announcing last week that President Donald Trump’s name would be added to the facility. As of last Friday, the building’s facade reads The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts. According to the White House, the president’s handpicked board approved the decision, which scholars have said violates the law. Trump had...

Greece is steeped in fascinating holiday traditions, with its Christmas carols, or kalanda, being some of the most heartwarming seasonal customs. Every year, Greeks anxiously await Christmas Eve, New Year’s Eve, and January 5, the day before the Epiphany, when children go house to house singing Greek carols, hoping to receive coins from the families they sing for. This sweet tradition is an iconic part of the Christmas season, as children bring wishes of happiness, health, and good luck to their neighbors while they sing the traditional carols and play the triangle. While the custom of children singing Christmas carols...

PHOENIX, AZ — Following her surprising appearance onstage with Erika Kirk at Turning Point USA's AmFest, rapper Nicki Minaj revealed that her hit song "Anaconda" was actually about how the federal government needs to reduce deficit spending. The music superstar caused a stir throughout social media and entertainment circles by not only taking the stage at a prominent conservative event but also explaining that the true meaning behind one of her most popular tracks was a right-wing rant against big government. "It's right there in the lyrics, plain as day," Minaj told several confused conservative journalists after she shut...

VIDEOIf you have watched musicals made within the past 75 years, then whether you realize it or not you have seen many many Bob Fosse moves. The famous Broadway Barbara breaks down and explains many of the Bob Fosse moves. My personal favorite Bob Fosse move as revealed by Broadway Barbara is Fiddle Faddle from Conagra Foods.

Chris Rea, the rock singer who was best known for hits including “Driving Home For Christmas” and “Fool (If You Think It’s Over),” has died following a short illness. He was 74. “It is with immense sadness that we announce the death of our beloved Chris,” a spokesperson for Rea’s wife and children told BBC News. “He passed away peacefully in hospital earlier today following a short illness, surrounded by his family.” Over a 50-year career, Rea became best known for hits including “Driving Home For Christmas” and “Fool (If You Think It’s Over)”. Born in Middlesbrough in the North...