Beirut-born artist Mika didn’t go looking for a major movie role. It found him. After his multiplatinum 2007 debut, “Life in Cartoon Motion,” made him an international pop sensation, the photogenic, Freddie Mercury-voiced singer began traveling in increasingly lofty social circles. One night, he was dining with his good friend Christian Louboutin, who had been designing stage shoes for him, and seated at their table was famed French actress Fanny Ardant. Read More

Carly Ritter is proud to be listed on the Internet Movie Data Base, just like her father, the late comedic actor John Ritter, although she says it’s a fluke. One entry refers to a crawl-on cameo for a film about parenting; others were for appearances in two recent shorts, “Slice” and “Monsieur Balloons.” “Those were just friends asking me to play little roles, so I don’t know how well I did for them,” she says. “I didn’t get that gift from my family — my brothers are both amazing, and my little sister has it, definitely. But I think it might’ve missed me somehow.” Read More

Renowned rapper Snoop Dogg recently visited Jamaica, immersed himself in Rastafarian culture, recorded a reggae album called “Reincarnated” with producers Diplo and Major Lazer, and redubbed himself Snoop Lion in the process. But he reassures longtime fans that it’s not permanent. “Snoop Lion is the moniker that I will use when I make reggae music,” says the artist, whose raspy, weed-weathered voice perfectly fits the genre. Read More

The last time Scottish multi-instrumentalist Iain Cook played the Independent in San Francisco was in 2007 with his old outfit Aerogramme, and it was a total disaster.“There was nobody there, only 30 people in a 500-capacity venue, the support bands were fighting, the drummer got angry and walked offstage — everything was just horrible,” he recalls. Back at his hotel that night, he and keyboardist Martin Doherty had a summit meeting. “We sat down and made a pact that someday, in the near future, we’d do something that people really wanted to dance to,” he adds. Read More

James Hunter, a Colchester-bred Brit, celebrates his working-class past. After playing the pub circuit for years, then almost giving up on music entirely, the gravelly blues growler finally earned a Grammy nomination at 43 for his 2006 “People Gonna Talk” breakthrough. But he laughs about the day jobs he took along the way, like rail-line signal locking fitter, where he was nearly crushed by falling steel girders. “Another time, I stepped out from behind the signal box and a train just missed me,” he says. “I’ve had a few near-misses, so I’m actually quite lucky to be here.” Read More

In her native Zurich, Switzerland, aspiring vocalist Valeska Steiner had heard that Hamburg’s prestigious Hochschule was the university she needed to attend, especially for its introductory six-week songwriting workshop, a great testing ground for young musicians. “It was just a good place to meet other performers,” says the musician, who plays in San Francisco this week. “You have the Hochschule rooms where you can try out different combinations of people.” Read More

Chuck Prophet’s latest album, “Temple Beautiful,” is a keenly observed homage to his adopted hometown of San Francisco, from its early punk-rock heyday back to “Emperor Norton in the Last Year of His Life.” As the deadpan guitarist says, there’s more to The City “than fancy-pants coffee shops run by hipster dufuses.” That explains why he is in the lineup for Tom Fest, a benefit and tribute for producer-engineer Tom Mallon, who was diagnosed with a brain tumor and is undergoing treatment. Read More