It seems a lot of things are going nostalgic today, including fashion, décor, and even the theater. Many are longing for the days of Vaudeville. Add in to that a dash of risqué cabaret, a bit of raunchy comedy, and even a touch of circus and you have Spiegelworld’s newest production “Empire”. Empire is currently scheduled to play from June 2012 until the first few days of September. Those finding themselves in New York, New York have the opportunity to witness this show that is unlike any other. You can catch the show at the 440-seat tent (decked out in mirrors and velvet) on West 45th Street.

Empire is a show that has it all! You will see amazing physical feats that really show off how hard these performers work as well as singing, dancing, juggling, roller skating, ballet, illusions and even the German wheel. We don’t want to give too much away, but at the heart of the show is also a pretty funny story about broke billionaires to tie it all together.

The director is Wayne Harrison and the choreographer is John O’Connell, who has done work on Moulin Rouge, Enchanted, and Strictly Ballroom among others, so you know it is going to be a feast for the eyes. Everything has a bit of a sexy feel to it, as the jokes are bawdy and the girls are scantily clad, and there are even some flashes of male nudity.

This is a summer only show, so getting your tickets early is a smart move. As mentioned before, each show only has 440 seats, and the stage is practically at your fingertips. This is especially fun as you get to see all of the amazing acts really up close and personal. This also means that the show sells out quickly, especially as word spreads and it becomes ever more popular.

See some of the classy shows on Broadway this summer, and then come check out all the naughty, death defying fun at Empire. This is sure to be one of your favorite shows of the season, so don’t miss it!

It may not be the first time she’s visited the Land Down Under but when Macy Gray heads there this fall, it will be the first time in 12 years that she’s been there. And fans know that after that long of a wait, she’s going to bring something really special!

That she will with her latest, and sixth, studio album, Covered, which features iconic songs originally performed by Radiohead, Metallica and the Eurythmics. Some of the songs choices, such as that by Metallica, prove just how unique and truly adaptable Gray’s voice is to any singing style or genre. While Gray will only make a total of four stops in Sydney, the Gold Coast, Brisbane, and Melbourne, it’s just the start of a tour that will put the singer back on the map after taking a brief hiatus. More dates have not yet been announced, but fans eagerly await the next countries and venues she’ll be visiting.

Gray is going to be very busy in the coming months. In addition to promoting her album and going on tour, she’ll also be promoting her new movie “Paperboy,” which also stars Nicole Kidman, and which had its huge launch at the most recent Cannes Film Festival.

Gray made her huge debut on the music scene with her first album “On How Life Is,” which contained her massively successful hit, “I Try.” She’s the mother of teenagers and recently revealed that while it’s not easy being a touring singer and mother, an open communication with each of her children makes it all worth it in the end.

Blondie and Devo were both two of the biggest acts in music during the 80s. And while both have taken hiatuses and been busy doing their own things, the two have now joined together on the Whip It To Shreds tour to bring fans an act so big, they had to wait twenty some-odd years for it. The tour starts out in Woodinville, Washington on September 7 and will take the two groups around on 12 different concert stops throughout the United States on September 26 in Chicago, Illinois.

Blondie has had a bit of remake after their hiatus and the band now include originals Debbie Harry, Clem Burke, and Chris Stein; as well as newcomers Leigh Foxx, Tommy Kessler, and Matt Katz-Bohen. Along the way of the tour they’ll be performing hits from their most recent album, Panic of Girls, which was released last year. Debbie Harry said when talking about the show, “We can’t wait to get out on the road with Devo. It’s going to be an incredible show and we’re excited to share it with our fans.”

Devo is undoubtedly just as excited to be bringing fans their newest music from their 2010 album, Something for Everybody, an album that they’ve been heavily promoting while on tour since its release. The name of the tour comes of course, from Devo’s biggest single, “Whip It.” On the tour original Devo members Mark and Bob Mothersbaugh, as well as Gerald and Bob Casale will all take the stage, as well as Jeff Friedl, who’s along for this tour.

When joking about the tour Mark Mothersbaugh said, “We are looking forward to performing alongside Blondie and swapping costumes backstage.”

It’s been nine years since they released their last album and eight since they’ve taken their act on the road. But the announcement was made on Monday that Neil Young and his band Crazy Horse will be going on tour this fall; and they’ve fit all the big stops into just a few months.

The tour beings on June 4 in Windsor, Ontario and will take the band to over 30 different stops throughout Canada and the United States. Neil Young and Crazy Horse — the band that is made up of Ralph Molina, Billy Talbot, and Frank “Poncho” Sampedro — haven’t performed together since 2004 when they closed out their Greendale tour. That tour was to promote the album of the same name that was released in 2003, but Young and the band promise to make up for that. Not only did they release their newest album “Americana” yesterday, but in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, they also promised that another one will be coming later this year.

Los Lobos will be opening for Neil Young and Crazy Horse until the November 19th date at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario. Picking up from there on November 23 in Montreal, Quebec at the Bell Centre, Patti Smith will take over as the opening act. For a full listing of tour dates and venues, you can check out the Neil Young tickets page at StubPass.com

It’s something that any fan could ever ask for. The NBA Conference Finals are on, and neither series is being completely dominated by any one team. Those who predicted the Heat would make it to the Finals are growing concerned as their series with the Heat is tied at 2-2. And most had the Spurs emerging as the clear winner in the West; but with their series against the Oklahoma City Thunder also tied at 2-2, it’s truly anyone’s guess — and that’s just the kind of basketball fans love best!

On Thursday the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the San Antonio Spurs 102-82 to take one in the Western Conference Finals and put themselves on the board after allowing the Spurs to defeat them in the first two games. They were able to carry that momentum over to Saturday with them, when the Thunder again defeated the Spurs, although this time with a narrower margin of 109-103.

On Saturday it was one of the Thunder’s big guns, Kevin Durant that stepped up with a total of 18 points — but 16 of them came in the fourth quarter when Durant seemed to single-handedly win his team the game. If the Thunder do come back from being down 2-0 and move on to the Finals, they’ll only be the 15th team in NBA history to do it. They’ll have a chance to increase their odds for the record tonight when they face the Spurs in Game 5.

The underdog isn’t dominating in the East either, but the Boston Celtics have clearly played better than anyone thought they would, even if that only means getting this far. After watching the first half of the game between the Heat and the Celtics on Saturday night, fans felt as though they were once again cheering for the team that once was, when the Celtics always seemed to be a frontrunner for any championship. They haven’t been that team in some time, even after making a brief comeback in 2008. But their performance on Sunday was reason enough to give fans hope — at least during the first half.

The Celtics came out narrowly winning the game on Sunday with a final score of 93-91 that was determined in overtime. But while they may have dominated in the first half, they fell apart in the second and watched their lead slowly get whittled away by the Heat. The Celtics also got a lucky break when Dwayne Wade fouled out in the second half — something he hasn’t done ever in his time as one of the Miami Heat, and something the Celtics shouldn’t count on happening again.

The Heat however, also made their fair share of mistakes and the fact that Wade also seemed unconcerned after the game saying, “Got the shot off I wanted and that is all you can ask for,” may also leave fans disconcerted. Is it really the shot you want when it doesn’t make the basket?

It definitely leaves things up in the air, as they are all over the place at this point in the playoffs. No matter what direction you look in these playoffs, there’s a great series happening. And that’s just the stuff that makes championships great to watch.

The NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs are coming to an end, and it’s just a matter of days until the all-suspenseful final round begins. So far, the Los Angeles Kings are the only team that have stamped their ticket into those finals, and they did it quite a few days before their opponents will. That short rest, along with all the other rest they’ve gotten these playoffs, is sure to help them in the finals against the exhausted team they’ll be facing.

That team will either be the New Jersey Devils of the New York Rangers, the only two other teams that are scrapping it out for their own chance at winning the revered Cup. The Rangers were the clear favorite going into the series; but they’re already down 3-2 in the series and now they must win both games in order to get their own tickets punched. The Rangers have also looked slow and sloppy against the Devils at times, especially during the first five minutes of Game 5 on Wednesday when they allowed the Devils to get two goals past them. Although the Rangers were able to make a bit of a comeback, they still lost that game 5-3.

But it’s not like the Devils haven’t had their share of troubles either; they just seemed to have come at the right end of the series for them. It was during Game 3 that they gave up one of their two losses to New York so far in this series; but it was perhaps the most painful as they didn’t get one score on the board. Now, headed into Game 6 tonight, the Devils are going to keep the lineup that they’ve changed to since – the fourth line consisting of Stephen Gionta, Ryan Carter, Travis Zajac, Patrick Elias, and Zach Parise.

So once the third round is officially over, who will face the L.A. Kings – the Devils, or the Rangers? At this point, it doesn’t seem to matter. L.A. has only lost two games during the entire playoffs; one of their series was a sweep that provided the advantage of a much-needed rest, and the other two only went to five games each. They haven’t had as much ice time, they have far fewer injuries, and they’re much better rested. Add that to the fact that they just simply look better during play than either the Rangers or the Devils, and this certainly seems to be the year of the Kings.

The dream team. That is the only way to describe the Los Angeles Kings this playoff season. And for a team that just barely scraped their way into the playoffs, they’ve also proven that anything is possible if you just keep believing; and working really, really hard. They have broken records, they have amazed everyone at what they have done. But what stands out most, and what they’re most proud of, is that they’ve finally given their fans something to cheer about — and a lot of it!

After they took the Phoenix Coyotes out of the Stanley Cup Playoffs with a 4-3 win on Tuesday night in just five games, they came home to a crowd eagerly waiting for them. A crowd of 4,000 people gathered at LAX to wait for their players to emerge from the gates and give them the heroes’ welcome the club has waited so long for. And after losing out in the first round last year, both the team and the fans are just taking it all in, for the moment.

“It was like driving down a hallway lined with human flesh,” said Dustin Penner, who scored that most important game-winning goal in Game 5. “You couldn’t’ see anything except people. It’s not something that anyone will forget ever on this Kings team. It’s something you can only experience when you get to the Cup finals.”

So what will they do in the Finals? They’ll either be facing the New Jersey Devils or the New York Rangers, who are 3-2, respectively, in their series right now. But the Kings have only lost two games this entire playoff season. And they’re the only team ever in NHL history to go to the Finals being undefeated on the road.

There’s little doubt that whoever they face in the Finals, their competition has a tough road ahead of them. The Kings are one team that has everything going for them, and the only truly fitting word for them seems to be ‘unstoppable.’

System of a Down is a band that had a great run, but has been fairly quiet as of late.  The band formed in California in 1994, and is made up of singer Serj Tankian, guitarist Daron Malakian, drummer John Domavan and bassist Shavo Odadjian.  To date, the band has released 5 studio albums, been nominated for four Grammy Awards, and have had a string of big hits.  They took a break in 2006, but returned with a tour in 2011.  Fans hungry for new System of a Down tunes only have one question, however: “When is the new album coming out?”   The answer may not be to everyone’s liking.

Front man Serj Tankian has been a very busy man, and his hard rock and metal fans may be surprised to learn that the singer is releasing his third album separate from the band.  The reason many System fans haven’t heard of the new album entitled “Harakiri” is the fact that it is closer to the punk rock genre.  What may be even more shocking to System fans is Tankian’s next album entitled “Orca”, as it is a classical symphony.  Not to be stopped here, he also has an electronic album in the works he has titled “Fuktronic” and even a jazz record with the controversial name, “Jazz-iz-Christ”.  It certainly must be fulfilling as a musician to get to dabble in so many differ genres of music.  Fans of System of a Down still have that same old question on their mines however.

When asked recently in an interview the front man said there are no plans as of yet for a new album from the band, that it just “hasn’t been that time yet”.  He did mention when the time was right there would be another album.  Not to worry, in the meantime, fans can still catch the band on tour and hear all of their old favorite songs in concert like “Chop Suey”, “B.Y.O.B”, and “Lonely Day” live and in person.  The band is touring with the Deftones, and the schedule runs until August 15^th, so be sure to snap up your tickets.  You can also keep an eye out for the solo tours of Serj Tankian, if jazz, electronic, or classical…if you like awesome music!

Monday evening saw the opening gala for the American Ballet Theater, an opening that’s always highly anticipated as it re-enacts snippets of the most iconic plays and ballets; and gives theater-goers a chance to see that season’s talent for the first time. But after the opening early this week, the ballet may still be cowering from the scathing reviews received for its opening night.

The New York Times gave the ballet the harshest review of them all, criticizing everything from the audience that was too loud to the “solo violinist [that] was seldom in tune throughout the evening, but he reserved his flattest and scratchiest playing for the pas de deux from Act II of “Swan Lake.” The Times weren’t any more forgiving when the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School performed a number either, saying the “routine they danced made the students look efficiently trite.”

It wasn’t just felt by the Times either. The New York Post also noticed some problems, although they were much kinder about the event than the Times. The Post instead was content to keep themselves to saying that while the bright moments made it all worthwhile, “several of the dancers looked off form. Gilliam Murphy hunched her shoulders, more vulture than ‘Black Swan.’ Julie Kent’s dancing in ‘Onegin’ was intelligent, but tentative. Alina Cojocaru was miscast as the fallen woman Manon, striking no sparks with retiring principal dancer Angel Corella.”

But does a poor opening spell trouble for a theater’s entire season? As most art, it depends on what you’re looking for. The Post is hopeful, saying “With the gala over, the company is now setting into a run of one of its best productions yet.”

However, the Times doesn’t see it. “It represents far too many of the worst trends in ballet, and emphatically suggests that they are on the increase.” Well if that’s the case, the season may be saved after all.

The Dave Matthews Band, with 28 hit singles under their belts, always seems to have another great song up their sleeves.  There is nothing like hearing their tunes live and in concert, however, and lucky fans are happy to hear that they are currently doing a tour across the U.S. all the way through September.  Will they be making a stop in your hometown?

The band has been keeping very busy these days.  They recently appeared on the “Jack Johnson and Friends – Best of Kokua Festival” live album.  An unheard of deal has been agreed upon—100% of the proceeds for albums sales are going to the Kokua Hawaii Foundation.  This foundation supports things such as art, music, and environmental education.  The song on the album that the band performs is called “A Pirate Looks at Forty”, which is a Jimmy Buffet cover song about a pirate born a few centuries too late.

Funny man and light night TV host Jimmy Fallon’s new album entitled “Blow Your Pants Off” also features Dave Matthews Band.  There are also other impressive voices to be enjoyed on the album such as Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder, Paul McCartney, Justin Timberlake, Big & Rich, and Bruce Springsteen.  The comedy song Dave Matthews contributes to the album is called “Walk of Shame” which is about a night of drinking and the morning after.  Dave Matthews also preformed “Mercy” on the Late Night With Jimmy Fallon show; this song is expected to be a single on the band’s upcoming album, which they recently announced would be released sometime this year, with hints at Fall 2012.

Between all the fun the lead singer and the band seems to be having these days, they are still managing to do a summer tour across the country.  They are currently scheduled to make stops in cities in Texas, Ohio, New York, Florida, California and many other states.  Don’t miss your chance to hear “Crash Into Me”, “Ants Marching”, “The Space Between”, “American Baby” and other favorites including the new “Mercy”.  Check for tickets to see if the band will be playing your favorite songs live in concert near you.