Quick Takes - April 17, 2010

Bieber performs at school

Fresh off the cover of People magazine and the stage of “Saturday Night Live,” teen singer Justin Bieber performed at a middle school in Sanborn, N.Y., on Friday, the reward for a local radio station’s contest to see which school could raise the most money for the Women & Children’s Hospital of Buffalo.

The 935 students of Edward Town Middle School won by raising $16,927, about $2,300 more than the second-place school.

When 16-year-old Bieber was announced as the star who would do the concert, had Principal Laura Palka ever heard of him? “Um, no,” she said. “But I knew the kids were extremely excited, and I knew it was for a good cause, so why not?”

—From the Buffalo News

Eubanks to head jazz program

Kevin Eubanks, who is leaving next month as bandleader on “The Tonight Show,” has been named artistic director of the Jazz in the Classroom program operated by the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, in conjunction with the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Eubanks will work with musicians from middle and high schools in the L.A. district, teaching them not only about playing jazz but also the values it represents. He called on others to help in the fight to keep arts programs alive in public education.

Eubanks and LAUSD student musicians will perform a free concert at 2 p.m. June 6 at the Catalina Jazz Club in Hollywood.

—From a Times staff writer

Rolling Stone

to offer archive

For the first time, Rolling Stone is inviting its readers on the long, strange trip through the magazine’s 43-year archive, putting complete digital replicas online along with the latest edition. But you’ll have to pay to see it all.

With a new site launching Monday, Rolling Stone will become one of the most prominent magazines to decide that adding a “pay wall” is the best way to make money on the Web.

The magazine’s revamped home page will remain mostly free. The kind of material that seems to work best on the Web — quick updates on who’s breaking up, slide shows of popular bands on tour — won’t cost readers anything.

But there will be reminders planted throughout the site that full access to Rolling Stone’s latest issue is just a few clicks and a credit card number away.

A one-month pass will cost $3.95 and annual access is $29.99. Online subscribers will automatically get a print subscription, which normally costs $19.95 a year. But print subscribers don’t automatically get Web access.

—Associated Press

Tenor Valenti wins award

Tenor James Valenti has won the Richard Tucker award, given annually to an American singer thought to be on the verge of a major opera career.

The 32-year-old from New Jersey made his Metropolitan Opera debut on March 29 as Alfredo in Verdi’s “La Traviata.” He is to make his Royal Opera debut in July in the same role and his Paris Opera debut in September as Pinkerton in Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly.”

He has appeared as Rodolfo in Puccini’s “La Bohème” at Milan’s Teatro alla Scala, Pinkerton at the San Francisco Opera and Alfredo at the Salzburg Festival in Austria. Last year, he was selected as the Dallas Opera’s debut artist of the year.

Valenti receives a $30,000 prize.

Past winners include Stephanie Blythe, Lawrence Brownlee, David Daniels, Joyce DiDonato, Renee Fleming, Matthew Polenzani and Deborah Voigt.

—Associated Press

World Cup anthem picked

A song by Colombian pop star Shakira and South African band Freshlyground has been chosen as the official World Cup anthem.

The song, “Time for Africa,” is expected to be released to radio stations across the world next week and will be available for download beginning April 26.

Shakira and Cape Town’s Freshlyground will perform the song at the World Cup kickoff concert in Soweto on June 10, and at the tournament’s opening ceremony and before the July 11 final.

—Associated Press

Jay-Z sues baseball’s Ortiz

Jay-Z and a business partner are suing slugger David Ortiz, claiming the Boston Red Sox star named his Dominican nightclub after the hip hop mogul’s chain of 40/40 nightclubs.

The lawsuit, filed Thursday in a federal court in Manhattan, accuses Ortiz and his sister of naming their Santo Domingo club Forty-Forty in the hopes of trading in on the rapper’s name. The suit seeks more than $5 million in damages and for Ortiz to forfeit any use of the name.

Jay-Z, a Yankees fan who performed at the team’s World Series victory parade last year, opened his original 40/40 club in Manhattan with business partner Juan Perez in 2003.

—Associated Press