LOCAL NEWS

Hip hop play promotes peace, bridges age gap

On the eve of Easter Sunday, Cindy Diggs, known to many around Boston as "Mother Hip Hop," stood at the center of the stage in Roxbury Community College's Media Arts Center and declared that day to be the beginning of the resurrection of Boston's urban community. More »

Marsalis: The essence of music comes from the spirit

Music - especially blues and jazz - has little bits of all of us in it according to celebrated jazz musician Wynton Marsalis. More »

Mass. gov.: 'Dial down rhetoric' on union fight

Gov. Deval Patrick urged both sides to "dial down the rhetoric" in an increasingly bitter debate over whether to sharply limit the collective bargaining power of public employees over their health insurance benefits. More »

The education of R&B singer Noel Gourdin

Brockton born R&B singer Noel Gourdin is getting a second chance to attain his dream of making it big in music with his new album "Fresh: The Definition." More »

Opie exhibition showcases global and national scenes

Horizons are irresistible motifs in photographs and paintings. These meeting places of earth and sky inspire longing and hope and invite contemplation of what is beyond our known and familiar world. Horizons are a frequent presence in the photographs of Catherine Opie that are on view through Sept. 5 at the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston (ICA). More »

Celebrating Scott Joplin, the 'King of Ragtime'

Ben Sears and Bradford Conner gravitate to centenaries. Witness their recent commemoration of the 100th anniversary of Irving Berlin's "Alexander's Ragtime Band." Now the singing masterminds of Boston-based American Classics are giving the same kind of performance tribute to the work of another original, namely African American composer-performer Scott Joplin. More »

Local efforts to rebuild Haiti's universities

Local Haitian educators are taking a lead role in forming an international consortium of colleges to help rebuild and reform Haiti's system of higher education, which was devastated in the earthquake last year. More »