Lifestyle News

PORTLAND, Maine — The thrill of hurtling along a remote trail, coupled with Americans’ ongoing desire to get outside during the pandemic, is creating the biggest boom in more than two decades for the snowmobiling industry.

NEW YORK — Terri Lyne Carrington is just 11 years old and hanging backstage at a concert hall with her friend “Ella” — that’s Ella Fitzgerald to us mere mortals — and the jazz legend wants to introduce her to jazz virtuoso Oscar Peterson, who had jus

Here’s a collection curated by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists of what’s arriving on TV, streaming services and music platforms this week.

“Mike Nichols: A Life,” by Mark Harris (Penguin Press) Inspiration and talent don't always travel together.

“Land of Big Numbers,” by Te-Ping Chen (Mariner Books) A Chinese tech company recently made headlines for its use of “smart” cushions in office chairs to monitor its employees’ workplace performance.

“Wild Swims,” by Dorthe Nors (Graywolf Press) “Hygge” is the Danish word for a sense of coziness and comfort that is supposedly characteristic of that Scandinavian country.

“We Could Be Heroes,” by Mike Chen (Mira) In Mike Chen’s “We Could Be Heroes,” Jamie and Zoe each wake up alone in an unfamiliar apartment. Neither has any memory of who they are or how they got there.

Celebrity birthdays for the week of Feb. 7-13 Feb. 7: Saxophonist Brian Travers of UB40 is 62. Comedian Robert Smigel (Triumph the Insult Comic Dog) is 61. Actor James Spader is 61. Country singer Garth Brooks is 59.

LONDON — Hilton Valentine, the founding guitarist of the English rock and roll band The Animals who is credited with coming up with one of the most famous opening riffs of the 1960s, has died. He was 77.

NICOSIA, Cyprus — The abstract figures of naked women gyrating to the rhythms of a five-piece band had shocked many people almost 60 years ago as they eyed the artwork for the first time on the walls of a popular restaurant-nightclub in Cyprus.