Danny Puff

NEW YORK (AP) Mary-Louise Parker is coming back to Broadway in the world premiere of Sharr White's "The Snow Geese."

The Manhattan Theatre Club and MCC Theater said Wednesday that previews will begin Oct. 1 and the play will open Oct. 24 at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. Daniel Sullivan will direct.

Set as World War I rages, the play is "about a family waking up from their own personal Gilded Age as the world around them changes forever," according to producers.

It reunites Parker and Sullivan, who directed her in David Auburn's "Proof," which earned both Tonys. Parker also was in Craig Lucas' "Reckless" and in a 2009 revival of "Hedda Gabler."

White's plays include "The Other Place," stars Laurie Metcalf as a scientist whose mind is failing her.

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Online: http://www.manhattantheatreclub.com

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HELSINKI (Reuters) - Finland apologized to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday after its police accidentally put him on a blacklist of people with connections to criminal activity.

Seeking to avoid a diplomatic spat with its historically dominant neighbor, Finland quickly removed Putin's name from the list which is not public, but whose inclusion of Putin was revealed by Finnish broadcaster MTV3 earlier on Wednesday.

Police acknowledged the list existed and said Putin's name was accidentally included, but had since been deleted.

"I wish to extend Russia's President Vladimir Putin sincere apologies for the incorrect registry entry," Interior Minister Paivi Rasanen said in a statement.

Police said it was not immediately clear how Putin's name came to be included on the list, and it was being investigated. Finnish chief of police Mikko Paatero said the incident was regrettable.

"These kind of incidents are extremely exceptional, and not under any circumstance acceptable," he said in a statement.

Many Finns are wary of their powerful neighbor, having fought the Soviet Union in the Winter War of 1939-1940 and the Continuation War during World War Two.

Official relations since then have mostly been cordial, with Finland sidestepping any policies, including membership in the NATO alliance, that could provoke Russia.

(Reporting by Jussi Rosendahl and Ritsuko Ando; Editing by Michael Roddy)

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ZURICH (Reuters) - Chinese abstract master Zao Wou-ki, whose works routinely fetch millions of dollars at auction, has died in Switzerland aged 93.

Marc Bonnant, a lawyer for his widow, told Reuters that Zao, who suffered from Alzheimer's, had died on Tuesday 10 days after being admitted to hospital.

Born in Beijing, Zao moved to Paris in 1948 before the Communist takeover of his country. In Europe, he was inspired by artists like Paul Klee, Alberto Giacometti and Joan Miro and had his first solo exhibition in New York in 1959.

He became a French citizen in 1964 and only returned to China for the first time since leaving in 1972.

Zao's son from a previous marriage, Jialing Zhao, had fought a legal battle with his third wife Francoise Marquet over guardianship of the artist, Swiss media reported.

Renowned for combining Chinese and European influences, his painting 25.06.86 sold in Hong Kong last year for HK$25.3 million, a world record for the artist at auction.

Soaring Chinese demand has driven prices for expensive art and luxury goods in recent years although that trend has cooled along with the pace of growth of China's economy.

(Reporting by Emma Thomasson, editing by Paul Casciato)

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LOS ANGELES (AP) When she traded in her Mousketeer ears for a surfboard and a modest one-piece bathing suit, Annette Funicello helped create a world as fanciful as Walt Disney's Magic Kingdom.

It was the land of perfect waves and sparkling sand, in a place where there was a beach party every night and summer never ended at least not until the Frankie and Annette "Beach Party" movie did.

When Funicello, who died this week at age 70, climbed into a convertible with Frankie Avalon in the opening moments of 1963's "Beach Party" and sang, "They'll be surfin' all day and they'll be swingin' all night. Vacation is here. Beach party tonight!" she helped introduce America to Southern California's beach culture.

"In 1964, I moved here from Teaneck, New Jersey. A girl in my ninth grade class, I wish I could remember her name, said to me, 'Wow! Now you'll get to go surfing,'" recalled David Rensin, who lives in a home that overlooks the Pacific Ocean.

The author of more than a dozen books not only learned to surf once he got here, he went on to write the definitive biography of Miki "Da Cat" Dora, arguably the greatest outlaw surfer who ever lived and a stunt double in most of those Frankie and Annette movies.

Today, Southern California kids still go to the beach and catch waves, but there's not nearly the freedom or the access that Funicello's films celebrated. There are far more surfers crowding the waves, that's true, but it's hard to find the on-the-sand goofiness and camaraderie portrayed in "Beach Blanket Bingo" or "How to Stuff a Wild Bikini." And nobody is writing songs like "Surfin' Safari," ''Surfin USA" or "Secret Surfing Spot."

But then it's a different time, notes University of Southern California pop culture historian Leo Braudy.

"Certainly there are lots of surfers still around, but they're not as fascinating as they used to be," Braudy said. "Things move on. The culture gets fascinated by other things. People say, 'All right, we already did the beach. Yes, we know California has a beach. Now let's look at something else.'"

There are video games to be played, social networks to be surfed and a million of others things to do.

"It's more defused now," Braudy said. "What do kids think about? What do kids on the East Coast or the West Coast do? Where do they believe their dream place is? I don't think there's one anymore. There might be several. But back then it was California."

Southern California, too, has changed.

It's more multi-ethnic, with more cultures bringing a variety of more pastimes to engage in. It's also far more crowded, making it far harder to get to the beach and to park anywhere near the sand once there.

And the bonfires the kids always danced around in those "Beach Party" movies? As more and more people have moved to Southern California's beaches, efforts have been launched to ban the bonfires to control air pollution. The South Coast Air Quality Management District is expected to take up the issue next month.

Meanwhile, those rickety beachfront shacks that once dotted the coastline are all but gone, replaced by multimillion-dollar homes.

Rensin left Los Angles some time ago to move up the coast to Ventura, one of Southern California's still relatively uncrowded and affordable beachfront cities.

"So I don't want a lot of people to find out about it," he laughs.

But when it comes to going to the beach and driving your woody that old, wood-paneled station wagon that you could fit a surfboard into the back of right onto the sand like Annette's friends did in all those movies, well, forget about it. It mainly only happened in those movies and on Beach Boys album covers.

The only California beach you can legally drive a car onto is Oceano Dunes, near Pismo Beach, along the central California coast.

You might have done it at Malibu back in the early 1960s, when there were no lifeguards around to chase you away, but if you did you'd probably get stuck in the sand. Today, you might get arrested.

"I never saw a car parked on the sand. We didn't even have a parking lot. We parked on the street," laughed Kathy Kohner Zuckerman, who in her days shooting the curl regularly at Malibu was better known as Gidget. (Yes, that Gidget, the one her father, Frederick Kohner, based the novel and the 1959 beach movie of the same name on.)

The makeshift shack on the sand that the surfers in "Gidget" constructed so that they had a cheap place to live while they surfed really did exist, Zuckerman says. But it's long gone now, replaced over the years by amenities like a lifeguard tower, restrooms and a parking lot as mansions sprouted on the hills above the water.

But the dream that was launched in those old movies still lives on among some who were young then.

"Every summer I still go to Malibu," says Zuckerman, 72. "I take a board out, I stay close inside and try to paddle into a wave."

Why does she do it?

"Once a surfer," she says, "always a surfer."

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LOS ANGELES (AP) Kim Kardashian's upcoming divorce trial will be a family affair, but her attorneys do not expect to call her famous sisters to testify about the reality star's brief marriage to NBA player Kris Humphries.

But Kris Jenner, Kardashian's mother, and several lawyers and managers are expected to testify about the pair's relationship and prenuptial agreement, according to a witness list filed Monday in Los Angeles.

Humphries is seeking an annulment of the pair's 72-day marriage, claiming it was based on fraud. Kardashian wants a judge to enter a divorce judgment instead and has denied accusations that she married Humphries for the sake of her reality shows.

She will testify that she "did not defraud (Humphries) into marrying her," the filing by Kardashian's legal team states.

Kardashian's boyfriend, Kanye West, and her sisters Kourtney and Khloe are not listed as probable witnesses.

Kardashian and West, who has been deposed in the case, are expecting a baby in July. Humphries' lawyers attempted to serve West a deposition subpoena disguised in a Nordstrom's box last year, just one of the incidents that have contributed to acrimony between Kardashian and Humphries since she filed for divorce in October 2011.

Humphries, a power forward for the Brooklyn Nets, and Kardashian were married at a lavish, star-studded ceremony that was televised by E! Entertainment Television. The network also airs "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" and several spinoff shows based on the family's activities.

Humphries' lawyers have not yet filed their witness list.

The former couple is scheduled to appear in a Los Angeles court on Friday to try to settle the case in advance of a May 6 trial date.

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Anthony McCartney can be reached at http://twitter.com/mccartneyAP

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) Country singer Brad Paisley says he was trying to foster an open discussion of race relations when he collaborated with rapper LL Cool J on "Accidental Racist."

The new song about racial perceptions has drawn ire from both the country and urban music worlds after its wide release this week. Paisley, the singer-songwriter known for his white cowboy hat and virtuoso guitar work, gave his first interview Tuesday since the hubbub began on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" after briefly addressing the debate Monday night on Twitter.

"I felt like when we were writing this song, it wasn't necessarily up to the media and I don't really trust Hollywood ... or talk radio or anything like that to sort of deal with that anymore," Paisley said on the show. "I think it's music's turn to have the conversation."

The song appears on Paisley's new self-produced album "Wheelhouse," released Tuesday. It's his most ambitious album so far and the progressive message of "Accidental Racist" is in line with opinions the 40-year-old West Virginia-born singer has expressed before in interviews and songs.

Of the album, Paisley wrote on Twitter, "I hope it triggers emotions," and says he wouldn't change a thing about it: "This is a record meant to be FAR from easy listening. But fun. Like life. Have a ball, ya'll."

At its heart, "Accidental Racist" is about how cultural symbols favored by whites and blacks the fashion choice of wearing Confederate flags or baggy pants, for instance come loaded with meaning.

It's not a new discussion. Though race relations have evolved over the decades, cultural symbols continue to color perceptions.

Paisley uses the Confederate flag as an example in the song, noting whites are "caught between Southern pride and Southern blame" 150 years after the end of the Civil War.

"I try to put myself in your shoes and that's a good place to begin," Paisley sings, "but it ain't like I can walk a mile in someone else's skin/Because I'm a white man livin' in the southland/Just like you I'm more than what it seems/I'm proud of where I'm from/But not everything we've done/It ain't like you and me can rewrite history/Our generation didn't start this nation/We're still paying for mistakes that a bunch of folks made long before we came."

Paisley was unavailable for an interview and LL Cool J's publicist did not immediately respond to messages. The 45-year-old rapper, who elevated himself from a teen sensation on the streets of Queens to an American cultural icon as a personality and actor on shows like CBS's "NCIS: Los Angeles," provides the response to Paisley's meditations.

He kicks off his portion of the song "Dear, Mr. White Man, I wish you understood what the world was really like living in the hood." Later in the song he raps, "I guess we're both guilty of judging the cover not the book/I'd love to buy you a beer, conversate and clear the air/But I see that red flag and I think you wish I wasn't here."

Later he and Paisley enter a call and response portion of the song where LL Cool J raps in part: "If you don't judge my 'do rag, I won't judge your red flag. ... If you don't judge my gold chains, I'll forget the iron chains ... Can't rewrite history, baby ... let bygones be bygones ... Rest in peace, Robert E. Lee, I got to thank Abraham Lincoln for freeing me ... ."

"One of my favorite lines in the song is he says 'I think the relationship between the Mason-Dixon needs some fixin','" Paisley told DeGeneres. "Leave it to a rapper to put it so simply and so beautifully."

Not all the good people of the blogosphere and Twitter world were as taken, though, and comedians were weighing in as well.

Demetria Irwin of black culture blog The Grio wrote, "'Accidental Racist' is the worst song in the history of music," then broke it down line by line.

Comedian Patton Oswalt tweeted: "I can't wait for Brad Paisley & LL Cool J's next single: "Whoopsy Daisy, Holocaust, My Bad""

Even the usually open-armed Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson of The Roots seemed taken aback as he tweeted: "Just heard the "Accidental Racist" man that Weird Al is amazing."

A little later, he compared the reaction to "Accidental Racist" to the recent backlash over Rick Ross' contribution to the Rocko song "O.U.E.N.O," which brought an apology after detractors accused him of glorifying date rape.

"All the "OUENO" weigher ins....i expect "Accidental Racist" to get equal amount of discussion & dialogue," he wrote.

That it did. Paisley told DeGeneres that was the point.

"Make up your own mind," he said. "That's fine. You can throw things at me. I'm all right."

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Follow AP Music Writer Chris Talbott: http://twitter.com/Chris_Talbott.

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MIAMI (AP) U.S. Treasury officials say the trip by Beyonce (bee-AHN'-say) and Jay-Z to Cuba was licensed as an educational exchange.

Assistant Treasury Secretary Alastair Fitzpayne wrote in a letter Tuesday to congressional representatives that the famous hip-hop couple traveled to Cuba with a group authorized by the Office of Foreign Assets Control to promote people-to-people contact in Cuba.

The letter was released Tuesday by U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (ih-lay-AH'-nah rahs LAY'-tih-nehn).

Ros-Lehtinen and U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (dee-AZ' bah-LART'), both Florida Republicans, had expressed concerns to the Treasury Department about the trip and wanted to know if it was licensed.

Beyonce and Jay-Z marked their fifth wedding anniversary in Havana last week. U.S. citizens are not allowed to travel to Cuba for mere tourism, though they can obtain licenses for academic, religious, journalistic or cultural exchange trips. The so-called people-to-people licenses were reinstated under the Obama administration.

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By Amy Sawitta Lefevre

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Winai Sawaengkarn closes his eyes before reaching into a wooden box and drawing a black card. He beams, and his watching mother sweeps him up into a tight embrace, overjoyed that he will not have to serve in the army.

Winai, 21, is just one of thousands of Thai men taking part in April's army recruitment lottery that will determine if they serve in the military. Others unwilling to chance fate volunteer for a shorter stint.

"I've been lucky. But I'm happiest for my mother," said the delivery man, who shouted when he saw his black card which exempts him from military service.

Men over 21 must serve in the army, which has always been at the forefront of Thai politics but has come in for some rare criticism since 91 people died in anti-government protests in 2010.

Those who volunteer serve six months, but others choose the annual lottery, which goes on for 10 days in recruitment centers around Thailand.

Nobody wants a red card, which means serving for two years, with the chance of a posting in the dangerous south.

"I haven't slept in a week. I prayed before coming here that he wouldn't get a red card," said Noppakorn Leelahemkattana, mother of a 20-year-old son.

Only those not considered physically capable of service, the mentally ill and those who have significantly altered their physical appearance - such as transgenders, who are more visible in Thai society than in many other nations - are exempt. Students can defer while in full-time education.

Some wealthy and well-connected Thais have been known to pay bribes to keep their sons from military service, but others see the army and its 9,000 Thai baht ($310) a month salary as a way out of poverty and a means to discipline unruly sons.

"I want my son to be a soldier, he drinks too much and could do with the discipline," said Acharaya Goonyatip. "If he's sent to the south, I would make peace with that. We all have to die anyway." Her son subsequently drew a red card.

STILL TREATED WITH DEFERENCE

Created as a permanent organization in 1852, the Royal Thai Armed Forces has been treated with deference on the whole, despite some occasional criticism in a country that has seen 11 successful military coups since 1932.

But that started to change in 1973 when it suppressed a student uprising. The army has also come in for part of the blame in the deaths of 91 people after the government ordered a crackdown on a 2010 anti-government protest.

Its sometimes draconian ways, such as drills that involve being forced to drink liters of water and then vomit, or punishments like rolling head first on gravel pits, have been criticized from within and without.

Some people also question the fact that the army does little to help the vulnerable in its midst. Drug use is prevalent, and some recruits are sexually abused.

"There was a lot of drug abuse, people on amphetamines. We had officers inspect our urine once or twice a month," said Manit Iamsomboon, an engineer who served two years in the Royal Thai army after drawing a red card.

A commanding general with the Territorial Defence Command acknowledged that there were problems with drugs, which he said were an endemic social problem.

"I would say about half of our recruits every year have used drugs at one point or another," said Wichit Seeprasert. "We can help them temporarily stop because we do checks but after they leave it's out of our control."

Among those singled out for special treatment are transgenders, who are not allowed to change their gender on their national identification cards and may be unlucky enough to be recruited if their physical changes are still slight.

But there has been little overt public outcry and no calls to change the system, which is viewed with resignation as something of a male rite of passage.

"This is part of every Thai man's life," said aspiring chef Jom Radidgumpu, who was filing papers to defer until his studies were over. "You can leave it up to fate or you can volunteer."

(Reporting by Amy Sawitta Lefevre, Editing by Elaine Lies and Michael Perry)

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NEW YORK (Reuters) - A business analyst from Virginia beat out 8.15 million other entries to win ESPN's annual prediction contest for the NCAA basketball championship - but has gained more attention for the handle he created than his powers of prognostication.

Craig Gilmore, inspired by several pints of beer and using the name Lannay Kekua, won the contest, accurately picking Louisville to defeat Michigan in Monday night's college basketball championship game before the 64-team tournament began.

Lannay Kekua was the name an apparent hoaxster created to fool Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o, leading the football player to think he had an online and telephonic relationship with a woman who in reality never existed. Reports of her death during the season became a touching story until it unraveled as an embarrassing hoax.

Gilmore said he chose the name in order to tease two of his buddies who are Notre Dame graduates.

"People were sending me messages on my ESPN profile saying, 'Dude, we're just rooting for you because it would be great if Lannay Kekua's entry wins the ESPN bracket,'" Gilmore said.

ESPN advertises the winner will "have a chance" to win the grand prize of a $10,000 gift card for electronics retailer Best Buy, and Gilmore received an email saying he would be entered in a drawing.

"You're telling me I beat out over 8 million other people and I'm not guaranteed the prize?" Gilmore said.

If he does win the prize, he has already told his wife he plans to buy an 80-inch 3D television.

(Reporting by Daniel Trotta; Editing by Paul Thomasch and Eric Walsh)

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NEW YORK (AP) There's a change in the pecking order for country music's competing awards shows, at least for this season.

The Academy of Country Music Awards on Sunday were seen by an estimated 15.5 million people, the Nielsen company said. It is believed to be the first time the ACM awards outdrew the more established Country Music Association awards, which took place in November.

A much-anticipated musical pairing of George Strait and Garth Brooks, performing in a tribute to the late Dick Clark, was a highlight of Sunday's show. Luke Bryan was paired with Blake Shelton of "The Voice" as co-host, then beat him for entertainer of the year in what was considered an upset.

The Los Angeles-based Academy of Country Music was formed in the 1960s in response to the Nashville-based Country Music Association, and the two have been rivals for attention in the industry. The CMA's first televised awards show came in 1968, with the ACM following in 1972. The CMA awards have been more popular in every year since the advent of Nielsen's "people meter" ratings system in 1988, and presumably before that.

The CMA awards had 13.7 million viewers in November, Nielsen said. But ABC points out that it was televised only a few days after Superstorm Sandy struck the East Coast and left millions of people without power; the same awards show had 16.4 million people the year before.

The prime-time Final Four matchup between Michigan and Syracuse gave CBS another big audience on Saturday, traditionally a quiet night of TV viewing. It was seen by 17.1 million people.

Last week also had an unusual sight: two episodes of "American Idol" finishing outside of Nielsen's 10 most popular programs. ABC's "Dancing With the Stars" and NBC's "The Voice" were both more popular. In fact, it was largely due to "The Voice" that NBC finished ahead of Fox among younger viewers.

ABC's new sitcom "How to Live With Your Parents" had a strong debut with 8.4 million viewers, helped by following the popular "Modern Family" on the schedule. NBC's "Hannibal," a drama that the struggling network had pinned some high hopes upon, was seen by 4.4 million, Nielsen said.

CBS won the week handily in prime time, averaging 11.3 million viewers (7.0 rating, 11 share). ABC was second with a 6.7 million viewer average (4.4, 7), NBC had 5.24 million viewers (3.3, 5), Fox had 5.15 million (3.2, 5), the CW had 1.12 million (0.7, 1) and ION Television had 1.1 million (0.8, 1).

Among the Spanish-language networks, Univision led with a 3.6 million prime-time average (1.9, 3), Telemundo had 1.4 million (0.7, 1), UniMas had 520,000 (0.3, 0), Estrella had 190,000 and Azteca 100,000 (both 0.1, 0).

NBC's "Nightly News" topped the evening newscasts with an average of 8.4 million viewers (5.6, 11). ABC's "World News" was second with 7.4 million (5.1, 11) and the "CBS Evening News" had 6.4 million viewers (4.3, 8).

A ratings point represents 1,147,000 households, or 1 percent of the nation's estimated 114.7 million TV homes. The share is the percentage of in-use televisions tuned to a given show.

For the week of April 1-7, the top 10 shows, their networks and viewerships: "The Big Bang Theory," CBS, 17.24 million; NCAA Final Four: Syracuse vs Michigan, CBS, 17.1 million people; Academy of Country Music Awards," CBS, 15.51 million. "Person of Interest," CBS, 14.57 million; "NCAA Basketball Bridge Show," CBS, 14.33 million; "Dancing With the Stars Results," ABC, 13.98 million; "The Voice" (Tuesday), NBC, 13.93 million; "Dancing with the Stars," ABC, 13.91 million; "Two and a Half Men," CBS, 13.71 million; "The Voice" (Monday), NBC, 13.31 million.

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ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Co. CBS is owned by CBS Corp. CW is a joint venture of Warner Bros. Entertainment and CBS Corp. Fox and My Network TV are units of News Corp. NBC and Telemundo are owned by Comcast Corp. ION Television is owned by ION Media Networks. TeleFutura is a division of Univision. Azteca America is a wholly owned subsidiary of TV Azteca S.A. de C.V.

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Online:

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