A Man Called Pig Pig Pen cops a feel from Janis Joplin Today is the 36th annivesary of the death of original Grateful Dead keyboard player and blues vocal stylist Ron "Pig Pen" McKernan. Many Deadheads argue that Pig's death marked the end of the band's best musical period, although others argue tha...

Ben Duffy at the war shrines. Hello everyone, My favorite part of last week's trip to Tokyo was visiting the controversial Yasukuni Shrine and nearby Yushukan museum. I was absolutely captivated by what I saw there. Yasukuni was built to honor--to enshrine--Japanese people who died in defense of the...