Danny Puff

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) How did Prince close out South by Southwest Music Festival's weeklong showcase of rock n' roll?

By naturally throwing a totally different kind of party: a grooving, brass band-backed funk fest that stretched to 3 a.m. and outlasted many fans lucky enough to get inside the exclusive show that also featured A Tribe Called Quest.

As Justin Timberlake and the Smashing Pumpkins headlined other SXSW wrap-ups nearby, Prince prevailed as the toughest ticket Saturday night by performing for only 300 people in his first appearance at the annual music festival that drew 2,200 bands and artists this year.

Prince towered over them all but his concert at the tiny La Zona Rosa club that sits on the fringe of the SXSW mayhem was no grandiose spectacle. He performed for 2 hours on a spartan stage behind a giant video board. He contentedly played bandleader instead of superstar, often disappearing backstage for stretches as the band jammed.

"They called our people and said they wanted some funk in Austin," said Prince, before belting out the last bars of a gentle rendition of "Purple Rain."

A 12-piece brass band joined the latest incarnation of Prince's New Power Generation for a run of hits like "1999" and "Cool" that jammed with a soulful backbone. The show began with the band making a Mardi Gras-style march onto the stage, only to have their horn blasts drowned out by shrieks upon fans sighting Prince in a magenta, high-collared shirt and snug black blazer.

Organizers warned the crowd three times before the show that taking pictures was forbidden. Fans who flaunted the rule were scolded by security or told to scram. Even simply using a cellphone was banned at the concert thrown by phone-maker Samsung, though promoters worked the crowd beforehand, offering customers fresh phone batteries or device test-drives.

Prince never played guitar during the set. Nor did he perform his new single "Screwdriver" that debuted earlier this year, opting instead for funk covers: Curtis Mayfield's "We're a Winner" and Michael Jackson's "Don't Stop Until You Get Enough" among them as the night dragged on and weary fans made their way to the exits early.

"Don't make me hurt you. You know how many hits I got?" Prince said during the first of several pseudo-set closers, before launching into another encore.

Green Day, Dave Grohl, Vampire Weekend, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks also starred at SXSW this week.

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Follow Paul J. Weber on Twitter: www.twitter.com/pauljweber.

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CHICAGO (AP) She inspired a novel and a movie starring Robert Redford when in 1949 she lured a major league ballplayer she'd never met into a hotel room with a cryptic note and shot him, nearly killing him.

After the headlines faded, Ruth Ann Steinhagen did something else just as surprising: She disappeared into obscurity, living a quiet life unnoticed in Chicago until now, more than a half century later, when news broke that she had died three months earlier.

The Cook County Medical Examiner's Office confirmed Friday that Steinhagen passed away of natural causes on Dec. 29, at the age of 83. First reported by the Chicago Tribune last week, her identity was a surprise even to the morgue employees who knew about the 1984 movie "The Natural," in which she was portrayed by actress Barbara Hershey.

"She chose to live in the shadows and she did a good job of it," John Theodore, an author who wrote a 2002 nonfiction book about the crime, wrote in an email Sunday.

The story, with its elements of obsession, mystery, insanity and a baseball star, made it part of both Chicago's colorful crime history and rich baseball lore.

The story began with what appeared to be just another young woman's crush on Eddie Waitkus, the Chicago Cubs' handsome first baseman. So complete was this crush that the teenager set a place for Waitkus, whom she'd never met, at the family dinner table. She turned her bedroom into a shrine to him, and put his photo under her pillow.

After the 1948 season, Waitkus was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies a fateful turn. "When he went to the Phillies, that's when she decided to kill him," Theodore said in an interview.

Steinhagen had her chance the next season, when the Phillies came to Chicago to play the Cubs at Wrigley Field. She checked into a room at the Edgewater Beach Hotel where he was staying and invited him to her room.

"We're not acquainted, but I have something of importance to speak to you about," she wrote in a note to him after a game at Wrigley on June 14, 1949.

It worked. Waitkus arrived at her room. After he sat down, Steinhagen walked to a closet, said, "I have a surprise for you," then turned with the rifle she had hidden there and shot him in the chest. Theodore wrote that she then knelt by his side and held his hand on her lap. She told a psychiatrist afterward about how she had dreamed of killing him and found it strange that she was now "holding him in my arms."

Newspapers devoured and trumpeted the lurid story of a 19-year-old baseball groupie, known in the parlance of the day as a "Baseball Annie." Among the sensational and probably staged photos was one showing Steinhagen writing in her journal at a table in her jail cell with a framed photograph of Waitkus propped nearby.

A judge determined she was insane and committed her to a mental hospital. She was released three years later, after doctors determined she had regained her sanity.

Details about the rest of her life are sketchy. She lived with her sister in a house just a few miles from the hotel where she shot Waitkus. A neighbor told Theodore that Steinhagen said she worked in an office for 35 years but never revealed her employer. And she made an effort to conceal her privacy, often refusing to answer the phone or come to the door when Theodore knocked.

Chris Gentner, a neighbor who used to help the Steinhagen sisters with chores, said he only found out who she was 15 years after they began living nearby.

"I found out through my ex-wife I'm not sure how she found out and I looked (Steinhagen) up online. And as soon as I saw (her photograph) online I said, 'That's her,'" Gentner said.

The 1984 movie was based on a novel by Bernard Malamud that was inspired by the story. Theodore's 2002 book was entitled "Baseball's Natural: The story of Eddie Waitkus."

Waitkus, who played the season after he was shot, helping the Phillies win the National League pennant, decided not to press charges in 1952 when Steinhagen was deemed sane. The trial would have likely made banner headlines particularly since Malamud's novel was released in 1952 so Watikus' decision almost certainly assisted Steinhagen's disappearance into obscurity.

He died in 1972, 12 years before Redford portrayed Roy Hobbs, the character inspired by Waitkus.

"He hardly ever talked to his family about Ruth," Theodore said.

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LONDON (AP) Celebrities like J.K. Rowling and Hugh Grant accused the British government on Sunday of letting down the victims of media intrusion and urged tough new measures to rein in Britain's unruly press.

Lawmakers are to vote Monday on rival plans for tougher controls in the wake of the country's phone-hacking scandal.

The Conservative-led government says it will propose a new press watchdog with the power to levy fines of up to 1 million pounds ($1.5 million). But hacking victims say the regulator must be backed by a new law to give it real teeth something Prime Minister David Cameron opposes.

"Harry Potter" author Rowling who testified previously to a media ethics inquiry about the impact of intrusive media upon her family said she and other victims felt they "have been hung out to dry" by the government.

Grant, who won damages for phone hacking by Rupert Murdoch's now-defunct News of the World tabloid, said hacking victims supported a rival plan by the Liberal Democrats and the Labour party for stronger media measures. The actor said lawmakers "promised victims to do right by them, and they have that chance on Monday."

Debate about how to control the press has raged in Britain since revelations in 2011 that tabloid journalists had eavesdropped on voicemails, bribed officials for information and hacked into computers in a relentless quest for scoops.

The scandal has brought the demise of one newspaper Murdoch's News of the World along with dozens of arrests and resignations, scores of lawsuits against Murdoch's media empire and a public inquiry into media ethics.

That inquiry, led by Lord Justice Brian Leveson, last year recommended the creation of a strong press watchdog body dominated by non-journalists and backed by government regulation.

But negotiations between Cameron's Conservatives and others over how to implement those recommendations have stalled amid an increasingly acrimonious debate. Politicians are divided about whether a new press watchdog should be set up through legislation as recommended by Leveson or through a Royal Charter, an executive act that does not require a vote in Parliament.

Proponents say passing a law will put the watchdog on a firmer footing and give it more power to discipline rogue newspapers. Opponents believe that passing a media law would endanger the country's free press.

In fact, the proposals aren't all that different. A new law would set up an independent press watchdog, not control the media directly. And the regulator would only have the power to impose fines or demand published apologies from newspapers not to stop articles being published.

But the language of the debate has been fierce, with opponents fearing the demise of Britain's free press and advocates seeing a bullying media riding roughshod over people's rights.

"The idea of a law a great, big, all-singing, all-dancing media law ... would have been bad for press freedom, bad for individual freedom," Cameron said.

Rowling accused the prime minister of letting down hacking victims by ignoring Leveson's proposals.

"I believed David Cameron when he said that he would implement Leveson's recommendations 'unless they were bonkers,'" she said. "I did not see how he could back away, with honor, from words so bold and unequivocal.

"Well, he has backed away, and I am one among many who feel they have been hung out to dry."

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NEW YORK (AP) "Oz the Great and Powerful" is living up to its name at the box office.

Walt Disney's 3-D blockbuster has led all films for the second week in a row, taking in $42.2 million according to studio estimates Sunday. Sam Raimi's prequel to the L. Frank Baum classic "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" also took in $46.6 million overseas, leading to a two-week worldwide total of $281.8 million.

That makes "Oz" easily the biggest hit of 2013 so far.

Among the weekend's debuts, the Halle Berry thriller "The Call" far exceeded expectations with a $17.1 million opening for Sony. The Steve Carell magician comedy "The Incredible Burt Wonderstone" fared worse, opening with $10.3 million for Warner Bros.

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By Piya Sinha-Roy

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - After making the transition from child star and boy band heartthrob to movie star, Justin Timberlake is returning to music with his first album since 2006, cementing his grown-up status with a record inspired by his new marriage.

Timberlake, 32, officially releases "The 20/20 Experience" on Tuesday. But the 10-track record of smooth love songs with a throwback R&B sound is already No. 1 on the iTunes charts after it was streamed online last week.

The album is Timberlake's first since "FutureSex/LoveSounds" which spawned hit pop singles "Sexyback" and "What Goes Around...Comes Around."

Although lead single "Suit & Tie," featuring rapper Jay-Z, failed to meet sales expectations on its first week of release in January, the album is expected to sell well following weeks of promotion including a Grammy Awards show performance and a stint by Timberlake on TV sketch show "Saturday Night Live."

Industry sources cited by Billboard said "The 20/20 Experience" could sell 500,000 copies in its first week, and easily give Timberlake the No. 1 spot on the Billboard 200 album charts.

"The 20/20 Experience" sees Timberlake embracing his status as a married man after his wedding to actress Jessica Biel in October 2012.

The singer draws on lazy summer romances for the majority of his songs, with slow-tempo swing rhythms on tracks such as "Pusher Girl Love," where Timberlake describes his addiction to a girl.

Jason Lipshutz at Billboard magazine gave the album an 88 out of 100 rating, saying that while the singer did not replicate the edgy pop sounds of earlier hits on his "FutureSex" album, he "has offered us something more complicated, although no less accessible."

Rolling Stone magazine's Jody Rosen praised the singer for being "such a charismatic and effortlessly appealing singer, dancer and showman," and called the album "Timberlake's neo-soul record."

FROM HEARTTHROB TO ENTREPRENEUR

Timberlake has barely put a foot wrong in his transition from child star in the "Mickey Mouse Club" to popular boy band N'Sync, through to solo entertainer, actor and entrepreneur.

He has appeared in movies "The Social Network" and "Bad Teacher;" launched his own record label, Tennman Records; added clothing designer to his credits with label William Rast; and invested in social networking site MySpace.

His all-rounder status was showcased last week on "Saturday Night Live," where he sang, danced and acted - and boosted ratings for the NBC show to a 14-month high.

In July he will embark on a "Legends of the Summer" tour of North American stadiums along with Jay-Z, and the pair will headline a London music festival in the same month.

While "Don't Hold The Wall" - a steamy dance floor track with explicit connotations - harkens back to Timberlake's "Sexyback" days, Biel is often at the forefront of the singer's mind in the new album. "That Girl" is a sweet throwback R&B love song, while new single "Mirrors" is an ode to his new wife.

Los Angeles Times reviewer Mikael Wood gave the album three out of four stars, saying "Timberlake holds (the album) together too, with lyrics that stay resolutely on the topic of romance."

Not all critics are swooning. Alexis Petridis of Britain's Guardian newspaper gave "The 20/20 Experience" three out of five stars, but slammed Timberlake's lyrics, which he called "awful."

"It's not that the lyrics are exclusively about sex; it's that Timberlake writes about it in a way that suggests he's desperate to add some kind of musical equivalent of the Bad Sex award to his six Grammys and four Emmys," Petridis said.

(Reporting By Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Jill Serjeant and Mohammad Zargham)

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LOS ANGELES (AP) The third season of "American Horror Story" will be subtitled "Coven," and add actress Kathy Bates to the series' ensemble, according to the TV anthology's co-creator, Ryan Murphy.

"We're far enough along in the writing that I can tell you what it's about," Murphy announced to more than 1000 of the show's fans who attended the PaleyFest panel on the series Friday night at the Saban Theatre in Los Angeles.

Murphy ("Nip/Tuck," ''Glee," ''The New Normal") confirmed there would be witches in the new season, but failed to reveal any more plot specifics. "It's a really cool story that we've been talking about for a couple of years, actually, and this seemed the year to do it," he continued, dropping one more tidbit:

After filming the first two seasons on lots and soundstages, parts of the series three will be shot in New Orleans.

"The fun thing about doing the show is researching what are the really haunted places in America, because every year the institution is one of the lead characters," Murphy explained. "The first year was Murder House, and this year was Asylum. We have another couple doozy locales."

Joining Murphy on the panel were "American Horror Story: Asylum" cast members Frances Conroy, Naomi Grossman, Jessica Lange, Sarah Paulson, Evan Peters and Lily Rabe as well as executive producers Dante Di Loreto, Brad Falchuk and Tim Minear. Before the event, it had been reported that Conroy, Lange, Paulson, Peters and Rabe were confirmed to be a part of the third season.

Previously, Murphy had also said Lange would be playing a "glamor cat" in her latest "Story" role. When Lange was asked about that new character, she replied, laughing, "I don't know what a 'glamor cat' is, but I am excited about it."

Late in the event, the ensemble's latest major cast addition was introduced to the audience: the Oscar-winning Bates ("Misery"), who said she was a big fan of the series and a longtime friend of Lange. Joked Murphy, "You know, I love a good Oscar winner," referring to two-time Academy Award honoree Lange, and adding that he and Lange had thought of Bates as this season-three character for some time. "So I pitched (Bates) this cuckoo-for-Cocoa-Puffs character. I said, 'I know you have a lot going on. And we're way, way, way far ahead, but think about it for a couple weeks, and call me or write me.' And my phone rang an hour later: 'I'm in.'"

"I've always been fast," Bates injected, chuckling.

Continued Murphy, "The only thing I'll say about the part is, you know, I wanted to see a lot of scenes with Jessica Lange and Kathy Bates going at it. So, that's what you're going to see."

Murphy also said he was considering a vampire-themed 'Horror Story,' and that "I have been talking to John (FX network president and general manager John Landgraf) about doing a companion piece to 'American Horror Story,' so I think it would be really cool to do a couple different incarnations of the idea. So, we've been talking about that, but I can't talk about it."

"American Horror Story: Coven" will premiere this fall on FX.

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Online:

http://www.fxnetworks.com/ahs

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Follow Michael Cidoni Lennox on Twitter at http://twitter.com/MikeCLennox

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By Philip Pullella

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis took on the role of a simple parish priest on Sunday, saying Mass for the Vatican's resident community and urging listeners to not to be so quick to condemn others for their failings.

Francis, the former Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, said Mass for a few hundred people in Santa Anna, a church just inside the Vatican walls that is used as the parish church for workers in the city-state.

Before he entered the tiny church, Francis stopped to greet cheering well-wishers who had lined up outside a nearby Vatican gate shouting "Francesco, Francesco, Francesco," his name in Italian.

He chatted and laughed with many of them before pointing to his black plastic wrist watch and saying: "It's almost 10 o'clock. I have to go inside to say Mass. They are waiting for me."

Wearing the purple vestments of the liturgical season of Lent, which ends in two weeks on Easter Sunday, he delivered a short homily in Italian, without notes, centered on the gospel story of the crowd that wanted to stone a woman who had committed adultery.

Jesus told them "let him among you who is without sin, cast the first stone" and then told the woman "go and sin no more".

"I think even we are sometimes like these people, who on the one hand want to listen to Jesus, but on the other hand, sometimes we like to stone others and condemn others. The message of Jesus is this: mercy," he said.

"I say in all humility that this is the strongest message of the Lord: mercy," Francis said, speaking in a soft voice.

The pope, who was due to give his first Sunday address and blessing from the window of the papal apartments to tens of thousands in St. Peter's Square, said people should be open to God's mercy, even those who have committed grave sins.

"The Lord never tires of forgiving, never! It is we who tire of asking for forgiveness," he said.

"Let us ask for the grace of never tiring of asking for forgiveness because he never tires of forgiving," he said.

At the end of the Mass, he waited outside the church and greeted people as they left the building, like a parish priest.

He asked many of them as they emerged: "Pray for me".

(Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)

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MIAMI (AP) Stars are born at Ultra Music Festival.

The electronic dance music festival that begins Friday will draw internationally renowned disc jockeys, producers and tens of thousands of revelers as one of the largest dance music gatherings in the world super-sizes to two weekends. It also will draw the expanding genre's great unknowns, the next big acts who catch the attention of the 330,000 revelers expected to attend.

"Ultra Fest is important because a lot of kids who go there don't even know who's playing," said the producer Diplo, who will be performing with his group Major Lazer. "Two years ago Skrillex went and played for free. He just wanted to be part of that lineup, part of the Ultra thing. Then next year he headlined. That's how big you can get in the DJ world within a year."

This year's festival attracts most of the genres top names, including Swedish House Mafia, which will be playing its final show as a trio Friday night three years after making their North American debut at the festival. David Guetta, DeadMau5, Afrojack, Avicii and scores more were scheduled to perform though preparation of the festival's main stage remained incomplete following an accident Thursday that injured three workers.

The festival is now in its 15th year, but has gained rapidly in prominence as EDM has flourished. Long popular in Europe, house music has taken root in popular music in the U.S., climbing into top 40 radio and propelling DJs, once faceless figures behind the turntables, center stage. Pop artists like Rihanna, Pitbull and Lady Gaga have found enormous success incorporating the electronic sound into their music.

The proliferation of hits has changed the way some artists present their music at Ultra, said Chad Cisneros of Tritonal. DJs still come to the event to showcase new tracks, but more frequently they play sets their fans already know well.

"It's changed from a technology and a fan perspective," Cisneros said. "They know what to expect. And they know what tracks they want to hear."

Ultra has served as a taste-making force during EDM's ascent into the popular consciousness.

"Without the input of Ultra, I doubt EDM would have become the established culture and mainstream success it has become today," said Rick Snoman, a producer involved in dance music since 1989 who has done remixes for artists like Britney Spears and Kylie Minogue.

It was unclear Friday afternoon how long the main stage might be delayed. One of the three workers hurt suffered critical injuries when one of several large LED screens fell while being hoisted in the air. City engineers, fire rescue officials and Occupational Safety and Health Administration representatives were inspecting all of the stages at the festival Friday as a precaution.

"The main stage is still not operational," Miami Fire Rescue spokesman Lt. Ignatius Carroll said. "There's still no work being done there. "

The festival will attract a strong police presence. City of Miami police said they have more than 200 uniformed officers on patrol, as well as undercover officers within the event. The increased security was part of the festival's agreement after city commissioners raised objections to the event's expansion into a second weekend. There have been multiple drug arrests in previous years and for many who live in the downtown area the festival is seen as a major nuisance.

Last year, a video of an Ultra partygoer dancing, clearly inebriated, with a palm tree went viral on YouTube, symbolizing the revelry that's become associated with the festival and the music.

Festival organizers insisted the event will be safe.

"We got together and addressed everyone's concerns and spent a lot of money on extra security and police," said Russell Faibisch, one of the founders of Ultra.

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AP Music Writer Chris Talbott in Nashville, Tenn., contributed to this report.

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Online:

http://ultramusicfestival.com

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Follow Christine Armario on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/cearmario

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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) A fast-food burrito chain in Albuquerque has become an international tourist attraction as people come from all over the world to see the spot where a fictional drug trafficker runs his organization. A pastry shop sells doughnuts topped with blue candy designed to resemble crystal meth. A beauty store has a similar product crystal blue bathing salts.

As "Breaking Bad" finishes filming its fifth and final season in Albuquerque, the popularity of the show is providing a boost to the economy and creating a dilemma for local tourism officials as they walk the fine line of profiting from a show that centers around drug trafficking, addiction and violence. "Breaking Bad" follows the fictional character Walter White, a high school chemistry teacher turned meth lord.

Albuquerque has seen an unexpected jump in tourists visiting popular sites from the show and local businesses cashing in on its popularity. Tourists are also flocking to sites that before the show were unknown and unimportant: the suburban home of White, played by Bryan Cranston; a car wash that is a front for a money-laundering operation on the series; a rundown motel used frequently for filming; and the real-life burrito joint, which is a fast food chicken restaurant on the show. The Albuquerque Convention & Visitors Bureau has even created a website of the show's most popular places around town to help tourists navigate, and ABQ Trolley Company sold out all its "BaD" tours last year at $60 a ticket.

"They ask if they can take pictures. They ask if Gus is here," said Rachel Johnson, 19, a shift manager at the Twisters burrito restaurant in Albuquerque's South Valley, referring to the show's character Gus Fring, played by actor Giancarlo Esposito. The eatery has served as the location for the "Los Pollos Hermanos" restaurant where Fring runs his drug operation on "Breaking Bad."

Other popular shows over the past decade like "Sex and the City" and "The Sopranos" have generated tours and widespread interest in the filming locations, but "Breaking Bad" has seen a unique twist with drug-themed products that have been springing up around Albuquerque.

Debbie Ball, owner of The Candy Lady store, recently capitalized on the show's popularity by selling blue "Breaking Bad" meth treats sugar rock candy that looks like the meth sold on the show. Ball provided her candy as props of the show in the first two seasons and said she has sold 20,000 bags of the stuff at $1 apiece. She also launched her own "Breaking Bad" limo tours this year with a driver dressed as Walter White.

"The show is amazing," said Ball. "I don't live too far from Walter White's house."

A pastry shop called the Rebel Donut has among its specialties "Blue Sky" Breaking Bad doughnuts, pieces decorated with blue rock candy. And the Great Face & Body shop recently developed a new line of blue bath salts called "Bathing Bad." (It's actually bath salts used to bathe, not the street drug also known as "bath salt.")

Meanwhile, Masks y Mas Mexican folk art store near the University of New Mexico sells papier mache statues of La Santa Muerte Mexico's folk Death Saint who counts drug traffickers among her devotees. During the chilling opening scene of the show's third season, a pair of cartel assassins is shown crawling to the saint's shrine in Mexico to request some divine help.

"We provided the Santa Muerte statues for that shrine in that episode," said store owner Kiko Torres. "The stuff now sells out all of the time."

Tania Armenta, a vice president for the Albuquerque Convention & Visitors Bureau, said the city has seen positive benefits from the show's popularity, from demands for tours to inquiries from other production companies seeking to film in Albuquerque. The Legislature also passed what has been labeled the "Breaking Bad" bill this year that provides tax breaks to TV shows that film in New Mexico.

"It's raised the visibility of the city," said Armenta. "They are intrigued by the scenic images that they see."

Still, tourism officials and business owners are quick to point out that they are walking a fine line in trying not to promote the dark themes from "Breaking Bad." But their pride in the show taking place in Albuquerque and the money that it brings in is often enough to offset their concerns.

Ball said the show doesn't glorify the drug war but rather educates the public on its dangers.

"Watch it with your children. Yes, it's dark," said Ball. "It actually educates you about meth, about making it and what actually happens to you when you walk down that road."

The show's themes prompted Miguel Jaramillo, 28, and Kim Shay, 38, both of Albuquerque, to take their own tour of the "Breaking Bad" sites around town during a recent afternoon.

While at the Crossroads Motel, known on the show as a den for meth use and prostitution, Jaramillo took photos with a smartphone and uploaded them to his Instagram account. In a day's time, the pair had visited more than six sites and planned on seeing more.

"This is part of my geekiness, I guess," said Jaramillo, who recently fell in love with the show before realizing how big of a role Albuquerque played in it. "I'm geeking out today."

___

If You Go...

ALBUQUERQUE BREAKING BAD LOCATIONS: http://www.itsatrip.org/albuquerque/arts/breaking-bad-in-albuquerque.aspx offers map for self-guided tour and other information from the Albuquerque Convention & Visitors Bureau.

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Follow Russell Contreras on Twitter at http://twitter.com/russcontreras

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MIAMI (AP) Stars are born at Ultra Music Festival.

The electronic dance music festival that began Friday will draw internationally renowned disc jockeys, producers and tens of thousands of revelers as one of the largest dance music gatherings in the world super-sizes to two weekends. It also will draw the expanding genre's great unknowns, the next big acts who catch the attention of the 330,000 revelers expected to attend.

"Ultra Fest is important because a lot of kids who go there don't even know who's playing," said the producer Diplo, who will be performing with his group Major Lazer. "Two years ago Skrillex went and played for free. He just wanted to be part of that lineup, part of the Ultra thing. Then next year he headlined. That's how big you can get in the DJ world within a year."

This year's festival attracts most of the genres top names, including Swedish House Mafia, which will be playing its final show as a trio three years after making their North American debut at the festival. David Guetta, DeadMau5, Afrojack, Avicii and scores more were scheduled to perform though preparation of the festival's main stage was temporarily halted following an accident Thursday that injured three workers, two seriously.

The festival is now in its 15th year, but has gained rapidly in prominence as EDM has flourished. Long popular in Europe, house music has taken root in popular music in the U.S., climbing into top 40 radio and propelling DJs, once faceless figures behind the turntables, center stage. Pop artists like Rihanna, Pitbull and Lady Gaga have found enormous success incorporating the electronic sound into their music.

The proliferation of hits has changed the way some artists present their music at Ultra, said Chad Cisneros of Tritonal. DJs still come to the event to showcase new tracks, but more frequently they play sets their fans already know well.

"It's changed from a technology and a fan perspective," Cisneros said. "They know what to expect. And they know what tracks they want to hear."

Ultra has served as a taste-making force during EDM's ascent into the popular consciousness.

"Without the input of Ultra, I doubt EDM would have become the established culture and mainstream success it has become today," said Rick Snoman, a producer involved in dance music since 1989 who has done remixes for artists like Britney Spears and Kylie Minogue.

Engineers were inspecting stages right up to the start of the festival, which began slightly later than expected as a final run through was being made. One of the three workers hurt suffered critical injuries when one of several large LED screens fell while being hoisted in the air on Thursday. Miami Fire Rescue spokesman Lt. Ignatius Carroll said all the stages were checked as a precaution. The main stage was also opened, though without all of the extra lighting festival organizers had planned on adding, Carroll said.

The festival will attract a strong police presence. City of Miami police said they have more than 200 uniformed officers on patrol, as well as undercover officers within the event. The increased security was part of the festival's agreement after city commissioners raised objections to the event's expansion into a second weekend. There have been multiple drug arrests in previous years and for many who live in the downtown area the festival is seen as a major nuisance.

Last year, a video of an Ultra partygoer dancing, clearly inebriated, with a palm tree went viral on YouTube, symbolizing the revelry that's become associated with the festival and the music.

Festival organizers insisted the event will be safe.

"We got together and addressed everyone's concerns and spent a lot of money on extra security and police," said Russell Faibisch, one of the founders of Ultra.

___

AP Music Writer Chris Talbott in Nashville, Tenn., contributed to this report.

___

Online:

http://ultramusicfestival.com

___

Follow Christine Armario on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/cearmario

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