By Lisa Fernandez, mercurynews.com

Lawrence Wang used to hate the shrill sounds of the flute. He’d clamp his hands over his ears to drown out his sister’s piano playing. During music lessons, he’d fidget and fight with his teacher.

Members of "Magic Makers" perform at a special needs performance of the Jungle Book at the Mexican Heritage plaza in San Jose Saturday Mar. 6, 2010. From left are, Lawrence Wong, 20, Bernard Smith, 23, Chiling Wu, 19, and Anthony Nakamoto, 16. These teens aren't just any rock stars. They're autistic and they play music pretty well without even practicing. Their mothers call them "music savants" who simply listen to a song on YouTube and then play it, to the standing ovations of their friends and families, some of whom doubted these kids would ever fit in normally. (Photo by Patrick Tehan/Mercury News)

On Saturday, though, he tapped his feet while blowing happily on his saxophone, a member of an unusual band of special-needs performers.

Those who love Wang and his peers are thrilled to see how music calms their autistic nerves and becomes a unifying force in a world where they often don’t easily fit.

“Don’t ever give up on your children,’’ said Lawrence’s mother, Anna Wang of Fremont, who through her son, now 20, has become a prominent Silicon Valley autism activist.

“You’ve got to open them up to possibilities. We so often write them off. It doesn’t do our children justice. God has gifts for everyone.’’

Later this month, Wang and 21 others have gigs at the East Side Union High School District and at a Santa Clara restaurant with the predominantly autistic band, the Magic Makers.

Autism is a bioneurological disease often marked by impaired social behavior, such as making scant eye contact and speaking repetitively. As the 1988 film Rain Man demonstrated, autistic people can also have genius-like qualities. In that Academy-Award winning film, the lead character, played by Dustin Hoffman, was gifted in memory and math.

Some of the Magic Makers are gifted in music.

Wang’s mother calls him a “music savant.” He doesn’t practice.

He doesn’t sight-read. And he still mostly argues with his music teachers during lessons. But pop in a CD, and in an instant “Lawrence hears the music and almost simultaneously transposes it,’’ his mother said. “It’s really weird.’’

It may be a little weird at first, said David Ladd Anderson, the band’s director, but it’s also wonderful.

“These guys can sing and play at a really high level,’’ said Anderson, who is also a wildly popular music teacher at Buchser School in Santa Clara, where he started a dancing group for kids with special needs 10 years ago. “The singers have perfect pitch. The musicians give 100 percent effort even if they don’t look or talk to each other much.’’

On Saturday, Wang and his three autistic friends didn’t need to look at each other much as they jammed on Disney’s The Jungle Book’s tunes at the Mexican Heritage Plaza in San Jose. They joined a larger performance put on by Angels on Stage, a theater troupe of children with special needs.

As the performers entertained the audience from the balcony, you’d never know Wang picked up the saxophone three months ago and rarely practices. He hit the notes and kept up with the steady beat of drummer Chi-Ling Wu, 19, of San Jose.

In between sets, you might notice that Wang is autistic. He didn’t really want to answer questions about his musical talents. Instead, he slouched over a video game and kept asking his mother if they’d be back in the car by 4 p.m. after the show, as she had promised.

“He likes things a certain way every day,’’ Anna Wang said. “These performances mess up his schedule.’’

Fellow musician Anthony Nakamoto of San Jose, is much more gregarious than Wang. When meeting a stranger for the first time, this 16-year-old asks rapid fire: What kind of car do you drive? What model? What make?

Then, on stage, he transforms into a rock star. To watch him play the electric guitar, xylophone or, as he did Saturday, the marimba is to be amazed. Although he rarely practices and learns his favorite Beatles tunes simply by clicking on YouTube, he’s fun to watch, banging his sticks with amazing zest and zeal.

“You know, he doesn’t communicate with other kids except for music,’’ said his mother, Hiroko Nakamoto. “His communication tool is music. It’s just great therapy.’’

Donna Smith of San Jose always feels better when the music starts for her 23-year-old son, Bernard. To her, Bernard seemed agitated being in a theater with lots of strangers.

He sat by himself at one point, whispering aloud to himself before the show.

But just talk to him about music. Ask him what his favorite song is. He won’t just answer. Instead, in perfect, angelic pitch, he’ll break out the Monkees’ hit “Daydream Believer.”

“Bernard’s excellent,’’ his mother said, adding that he plays with a few other mainstream jazz groups. “He’s good enough to be professional, except for his autistic behavior.

He’s easily frustrated. He gets anxious. He stresses and he paces. But as soon as the music starts, the problems go away.’’

By Barbara Manners, First Fridays, New Haven

Lots of Folks Love Phil Ochs: CT Folk’s First Fridays Concert Series Presents a Tribute to the Man and his Music

If you lived through the 60’s and had even the slightest awareness of the war raging half way across the world, you would remember Phil Ochs. Whether you supported or opposed the Vietnam War at the time, Ochs was the smart, satirical, and musical embodiment of the anti-war movement.

With songs like “I Ain’t Marching Anymore,” “Draft Dodger Rag,” “Outside of a Small Circle of Friends,” “Changes,” and “Love Me, I’m a Liberal,” Phil was unafraid to skewer the hypocrisy he saw on the right, on the left, and in the center. He received enthusiastic acclaim at venues like the Newport Folk Festival and Carnegie Hall despite the informal blacklisting treatment he received from TV and most commercial radio stations. Along with Joan Baez, he became the singing voice of the anti-war movement as he appeared at major rallies from coast to coast.

To J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI, who kept an extensive file on him, he was anti-American. To many he was a truth-telling hero whose early and tragic death in 1976 left us bereft, wondering if there would ever be another songwriter who could transform the topics of the day into timeless message that transcend any particular era.

The songs of Phil Ochs should be part of your life. Whether you remember the man himself or want to get hip to him now you’ll enjoy and embrace his songs on Friday, Apr.

9, when Phil’s sister Sonny Ochs presents “Phil Ochs Song Night” at First Fridays, New Haven located at First Presbyterian Church. The evening, which begins at 7:30 pm, features a number of today’s most prominent “topical” songwriters singing a collection of Phil Ochs’ songs and their own originals. All of these songs are driven by politics and timeless truths. Artists will include Pat Wictor, Kate McDonnell, Kim & Reggie Harris, Greg Greenway, John Flynn, Nancy Tucker, and Magpie.  Tickets are $16 in advance, $12 for seniors and students at www.ctfolk.com, and $20 at the door. For further information call 203 431-6501.

NEW YORK – Lil Wayne  is set to begin an expected jail term on a New York gun case, after a dental problem and a courthouse fire pushed his sentencing back a month.

The rap star is scheduled to be sentenced Monday to a year in city jail. He pleaded guilty in October to attempted criminal possession of a weapon. He admitted illegally having a loaded gun on his tour bus in July 2007.

His sentencing was initially pushed back from Feb. 9 so he could have surgery on his bejeweled teeth. It was postponed again last week when a fire shut down Manhattan’s main criminal courthouse while he was on his way there.

Lil Wayne has been one of rap’s most prolific and profitable figures in recent years. His Tha Carter III was the best-selling album of 2008.

NEW YORK – The president of Brooklyn has declared Beyonce an official Brooklynite.

Beyonce Knowles attends a press conference to unveil the Beyonce Cosmetology Center at Phoenix House in Brooklyn, New York on Friday, March 5, 2010. (AP Photo/Charles Sykes)

Borough President Marty Markowitz said Beyonce is a Brooklynite by marriage and by moxie. Beyonce’s husband, Jay-Z, is from Brooklyn.

The superstar visited the New York City borough Friday for the opening of the Beyonce Cosmetology Center at a residential substance abuse treatment center.

The Phoenix House offers programs for residents in carpentry, building maintenance, computer technology and culinary arts.

Beyonce said she thought it also should have more programs geared toward women. She said her mother’s Houston salon helped so many people feel good about themselves and better their lives.

Beyonce first spent time at Phoenix House when preparing for the role of Etta James in the 2008 film, Cadillac Records.

From the Associated Press

After saying goodbye on concert stages and online video streams, Lil Wayne had nothing to add as he was sentenced Monday to a year in jail for having a loaded gun on his tour bus.

The Grammy Award-winning rapper delivered only a brief bow to fans and supporters as he was led out of a courtroom in handcuffs to start serving his sentence.

With that, Lil Wayne headed off to face his punishment in a case that had shadowed him as he became one of music’s most prolific and profitable figures in recent years. Arrested in July 2007, he pleaded guilty in October to attempted criminal possession of a weapon. He admitted he had the loaded .40-caliber semiautomatic gun on his bus.

His lawyer, Stacey Richman, said the rapper was resolute as he was taken away.

“He knew what he had to do, and he’s doing it,” she said.

Lil Wayne arrived later Tuesday at the Rikers Island jail complex, where he was being held apart from the general population of inmates because of his fame. He has a cell to himself but the option of spending time in a TV room with 17 other inmates who also have been separated from the general population because of notoriety or other reasons, according to the city Correction Department.

It wasn’t immediately clear what work assignment he might have, if any. The 27-year-old rap star could be released in about eight months with good behavior.

Lil Wayne, born Dwayne Carter, is going behind bars with his career in full throttle. His “Tha Carter III” was the best-selling album of 2008 and won a Grammy for best rap album. His latest album, “Rebirth,” was released last month.

He made a point of leaving fans with fanfare, from a “farewell tour” in recent months to a series of videos on the Web site Ustream on Sunday.

“Law is mind without reason … I’ll return,” he wrote on his Twitter account Monday morning.

Dozens of fans jockeyed with photographers waiting on the courthouse steps Monday afternoon, cheering as Lil Wayne, fellow rapper Birdman and others arrived. Shouts of “Oh, man” and “Keep your head up, Weezy!” — a nickname he often uses — erupted in the courtroom as he was sentenced.

Although Lil Wayne had agreed to go to jail, a number of roadblocks kept him from starting his sentence in recent weeks.

First, his sentencing was postponed in February so he could undergo surgery on his bejeweled teeth. Then, a fire shut down Manhattan’s main criminal courthouse while he was on his way there last week.

He told Rolling Stone for a story last month that he planned to keep working while behind bars.

“I’ll be still rapping in there, have a gang of raps ready when I come back home,” he said.

As for listening to music, inmates are allowed to buy AM/FM radios at the jail commissary.

From The Associated Press

The president of Brooklyn has declared Beyonce an official Brooklynite.

Borough President Marty Markowitz said Beyonce is a Brooklynite by marriage and by moxie. Beyonce’s husband, Jay-Z, is from Brooklyn.

The superstar visited the New York City borough Friday for the opening of the Beyonce Cosmetology Center at a residential substance abuse treatment center.

The Phoenix House offers programs for residents in carpentry, building maintenance, computer technology and culinary arts.

Beyonce said she thought it also should have more programs geared toward women. She said her mother’s Houston salon helped so many people feel good about themselves and better their lives.

Beyonce first spent time at Phoenix House when preparing for the role of Etta James in the 2008 film, “Cadillac Records.”

From The Associated Press

A woman claiming to be the wife of Sean “Diddy” Combs has been arrested after making two visits to a Long Island house she erroneously believed was the home of the hip-hop superstar.

Cemelia Green has pleaded not guilty to criminal mischief and trespassing and has been freed on $5,000 bail.

On Feb. 22, she asked directions to Combs’ home at the East Hampton police station, but was refused. Shortly after, police arrested Green at the house where she was seen Feb. 12.

Combs is not married. His spokeswoman did not immediately comment.

WARSAW, Poland – The last piano that Frederic Chopin composed on. A death mask made after he succumbed to what was probably tuberculosis. A lock of his brown hair.

Those are among objects on display at a new museum dedicated to the life of the Romantic-era composer that opened on his 200th birthday Monday in his native Poland.

A new museum dedicated to the life of Frederic Chopin opened on his 200th birthday Monday in his native Poland.

The interactive multimedia museum is located in the center of Warsaw, where Chopin moved in infancy from a nearby country estate, and where he spent the first 20 years of his life before moving to Paris.

Culture Minister Bogdan Zdrojewski hailed it as “the most modern biographical museum in Europe and even the world” at a ceremonial opening that comes amid a year of celebrations of the much-revered musician.

A central challenge that curators faced is the loss of many objects related to Chopin’s life. Some, like letters, were destroyed by women he was romantically involved with; others were consumed in the devastation of World War II.

Polish authorities began gathering musical scores, sketches and other objects tied to Chopin in 1899 and are still pursuing them at auctions around the world, curator Alicja Knast said.

“They are priceless in terms of emotional value,” she said.

The museum is arranged thematically with spaces devoted to different aspects of his life.

A room devoted to Paris salon life features Chopin’s last piano, built by the prominent piano maker Ignace Pleyel. Visitors learn that Chopin earned his living in Paris by giving lessons — he was a much-prized teacher and one of the city’s most expensive.

Another room is devoted to the time he spent at Nohant, the French chateau that belonged to his companion of eight years, writer Aurore Dupin — best known by her nom de plume George Sand.

The room is filled with the sound of chirping birds, meant to evoke the natural setting of the place where Chopin composed some of his masterpieces.

On display is a kerchief of white damask on which Sand embroidered Chopin’s initials. Visitors can pull out slabs labeled with the names of works composed at Nohant, triggering recordings of the pieces.

The final room is devoted to his death at age 39 on Oct. 17, 1849. A dark space bereft of the music filling most of the museum, it includes a plaster death mask taken of Chopin’s face. On display are also invitations to his memorial service in Paris, as well as a lock of his brown hair safeguarded by his family.

The museum is housed in the stately Ostrogski Palace, home of the Fryderyk Chopin Institute, which underwent major renovation and expansion to house this revamped museum.

Tickets cost 22 zlotys ($7.50) and must be reserved over the Internet or purchased in advance at the museum.

From The Associated Press

Marie Osmond’s 18-year-old son Michael Blosil has died, the entertainer said Saturday.

Osmond said in a statement through her publicist that her family is devastated by the “tragic loss.” She did not provide details on the death.

Entertainment Tonight reported on its Web site that Blosil jumped to his death Friday night from a downtown Los Angeles apartment building.

Officers responded to an apparent suicide jump in the area, but the victim was not identified Saturday, Los Angeles Police Officer Gregory Baek said.

“My family and I are devastated and in deep shock by the tragic loss of our dear Michael and ask that everyone respect our privacy during this difficult time,” Osmond said in the statement.

Blosil reportedly left a note which referred to a lifelong battle with depression.

In 2007, Osmond said Michael was treated at a rehabilitation facility, but she didn’t disclose the nature of his problem.

Donny Osmond, Blosil’s uncle, told Entertainment Tonight: “Please pray for my sister and her family.”

Michael is one of Osmond’s five adopted children. She also has three other children from two marriages. She divorced Brian Blosil in 2007 after two decades of marriage. She and her first husband Stephen Craig divorced in 1985.

Osmond earned fame at age 13 with the hit song “Paper Roses,” and starred with her brother, Donny, on television’s “Donny and Marie Show” during the 1970s.

They perform a musical variety show regularly at the Flamingo Las Vegas Hotel and Casino. The hotel said Saturday’s performance was canceled.

From The Associated Press

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland has fascinating relics like Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” mask. Soon it’ll have space to showcase its interesting but less flashy artifacts.

The museum will open its library and archives later this year in a $12 million high-tech building it shares with Cuyahoga (ky-uh-HOH’-guh) Community College’s creative arts programs.

Jim Morrison’s first poem will be there as well as and letters from the Grateful Dead, Whitney Houston, Patti Smith and others. There will also be old audio and video recordings, contracts, album covers, posters and scrap books.

Student and professional singer Tracy Marie hopes the museum-college collaboration will encourage young artists to aspire to have their campus studio work enshrined in the archive.