Guess which act just sold out Madison Square Garden four nights in a row? Here's a hint: They're not named Lady Gaga or U2 or Radiohead.

Under normal circumstances, it’s easier to look after one woman than attend to 10,000 or so, but a concert by the bachata superstars Aventura isn’t a normal circumstance.

Following a momentous year during which it set a record by topping Billboard's Latin Album charts for 19 straight weeks and played for President Obama, Aventura, Latin music's reigning pop act, isn't satisfied. It wants the whole world to know about its music.

CLIFFSIDE PARK -- A legal battle about money has broken out between the estate of deceased Salsa star Celia Cruz and Telemundo, the Hispanic television network, according to a report on NorthJersey.com.

The report said lawyers representing Cruz's estate filed a lawsuit claiming Telemundo failed to honor an agreement to pass on profits from a DVD honoring the singer, who passed away in July of 2003. The DVD took in more than $1 million, the report said.

Trackback: New Jersey Real Times

(CN) - Six months after the death of Cuban-born "Queen of Salsa" Celia Cruz, Spanish-language TV network Telemundo sold recordings of a tribute concert given in her honor shortly before she died, and in which she participated, her estate claims in Federal Court in New Jersey.
     The Estate of Celia Cruz Knight and The Knight Descendants' Trust claims Telemundo set up a nationally televised tribute concert in January 2003, 5 months before the singer died from a brain tumor at 77.
     The concert featured performances by "Latin music's leading recording artists, film and television personalities," the estate says. Cruz agreed to perform in the concert in exchange for a donation to her charitable foundation, according to the complaint.
     The agreement between Telemundo and Cruz called Cruz's performances "works for hire," according to the complaint, and specified that Cruz would be paid for "any" later productions of the concert.
     One year after the concert, and 6 month's after Cruz's death, Image Entertainment produced a DVD of the concert called "Celia Cruz - Azucar," the estate claims. (Azucar is Spanish for sugar.)
     Telemundo and Image allegedly made $1 million from the DVD, but refuse to pay the estate anything for Cruz's performance.
     Born in Havana, Cruz moved to the United States with her husband, Pedro Knight, shortly before Fidel Castro threw out Fulgencio Batista on New Year's Day 1959.
     Cruz became a U.S. citizen and lived in a heavily Cuban-populated town in New Jersey for the rest of her life, making multiple tours through Latin America, Europe and Africa. By the time of her death, Cruz had amassed 23 gold albums and multiple awards, including the National Medal of Arts, given to her by President Bill Clinton in 1994.
     The estate sued Telemundo Network Group, Telemundo Holdings and Image Entertainment for treble damages. It is represented by Eric Medina of Manhattan.

Trackback: Courthouse News Service

If you do not plan to attend the workshops in the daytime, there is still the evening dance social!!!!!

We are hosting a dance social on Sunday, February 21, 2010. 5:00 - 8:00pm

This dance social from 5:00 - 8:00pm will be FREE.

LOPEZ: 'I SHOULD HAVE BEEN OSCAR NOMINATED FOR EL CANTANTE'

Born in the Dominican Republic in 1923, Jose Cobles was given the nickname "Puerto Plata" (his hometown) before he began playing for crowds in underground dance halls in Santiago. Here, he performs three songs from his newest recording, Casita de Campo.