Features Foreigner hits including “Cold as Ice,” “Urgent” and “I Want to Know What Love Is.”
A musical based on the songs of the rock band Foreigner and directed by Tony-nominee Adam Pascal will make its debut at Tilles Center for the Performing Arts in Brookville this spring.
Tilles and LIU’s Post Theatre Company, in collaboration with the band, will stage the first production of “Feels Like the First Time – The Foreigner Musical” at LIU’s Little Theatre in Brookville. The show will run for 11 performances from April 17-26.
Set in 1985, the musical follows a suburban family that wins an MTV sweepstakes bringing fictional rock star Simon Bash to their home for a private concert. The production features the Foreigner hits “Cold as Ice,” “Waiting for a Girl Like You,” “Urgent,” “Hot-Blooded” and “I Want to Know What Love Is.”
The musical is produced under LIU’s new Works Initiative, an incubator for developing original works and emerging writers. The cast will include 26 performers, primarily LIU students, and some professional actors.
Pascal, known for his work in “Rent,” “Aida” and other Broadway productions, also serves as LIU’s inaugural 2025-26 artist-in-residence.
“This new show represents everything I love about making theater – great music, fun storytelling and meaningful collaboration,” Pascal said in a news release about the production.
“Partnering with Foreigner, Tilles Center and LIU Post Theatre Company to develop a brand-new musical in an academic setting creates a rare and powerful environment where artists and students are building something together from the ground up,” he added.
The creative team includes book writer Stephen Garvey, orchestrator and arranger David Abbinanti and choreographer Lorna Ventura. The creative team includes book writer Stephen Garvey, orchestrator and arranger David Abbinanti, and choreographer Lorna Ventura.
The musical is produced under LIU’s new Works Initiative, launched by Tom Dunn, creative producer and executive and artistic director of Tilles Center and dean of LIU’s College of Arts and Design.
“This production launches our New Works Initiative, a bold new collaboration between Tilles Center and Long Island University, dedicated to developing original work and creating one-of-a-kind experiential learning for LIU students,” Dunn said in the news release.
Funding was secured through a benefit concert featuring Foreigner, hosted by original lead singer Lou Gramm at Tilles Center in September. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member and Foreigner founding member Al Greenwood is scheduled to attend opening night.
“The songs of Foreigner and a Broadway-style musical fit well together,” Greenwood said in the news release. “Our songs tell stories and they complement the story of this musical rather well.
“It’s beyond exciting for me to see the songs we created years ago come to life in another art form. I am thrilled with the show Adam and the LIU team have created and I know our fans will be too,” he added.
“We’re excited to collaborate with the next generation of theatrical artists at LIU to reimagine these iconic songs for the stage,” Foreigner manager Phil Carson said in the news release. “’Feels Like the First Time – The Foreigner Musical’ celebrates music that has connected generations, and this partnership gives it an energetic new life in a theatrical setting.”
Tickets are $40 and go on sale at 12 p.m. on Feb. 13 and can be purchased here. Opening night is already sold out.
That was the universal message here after disparaging remarks about Mexican bread surfaced from a British celebrity chef who ridiculed the beloved bolillo: An oval-shaped, white bread roll that is a culinary and cultural staple, a mainstay in tortas (sandwiches), pan con chocolate (bread with chocolate) and other essentials, a go-to comfort food with a spiritual caché.
Mexicans “don’t really have much of a bread culture,” the chef, Richard Hart, who runs a popular Mexico City bakery, said in a podcast that recently resurfaced online. He labeled Mexican wheat “not good … highly processed, full of additives,” adding: “They make sandwiches on these white, ugly rolls that are pretty cheap and industrially made.”
That frontal assault on el bolillo came just as many Mexicans are getting ready to stock up on the fluffy loaves for the holidays. Judging by the reaction, Hart might as well have dissed the national soccer team.
“The bolillo is a sacred food in Mexico, it’s part of our daily life,” said an astounded Carlos López, 32, who was in line at a stand awaiting his daily torta de tamal — a sandwich composed of a cornmeal tamale stuffed inside a bolillo.
“This is breakfast for millions of Mexicans!” López declared of the bulging cholesterol bomb, typically dripping in hot sauce. “I think this English cook should close his shop and go back home to his country.”
Defenders of the bolillo ascended the ramparts of the internet to defend their humble fare. Many posted under #ConElBolilloNo.
“The bolillo is everything: It’s a food, a remedy, it’s homeland,” said one indignant commentator on X.
A neighborhood bakery in the Colonia Cuauhtemoc neighborhood in Mexico City sells a wide variety of pan dulce.
(Lisette Poole/For The Times)
The insult seemed to rankle many because it touched both a current issue — gentrification in Mexico City — and an old sore spot: foreigners citing supposedly elevated European standards to judge Mexico, where Hart now makes his living.
Another poster voiced the hope that the highbrow Euro-chef had learned his lesson with the bolillo, and would not dare to cast scorn on other favorites like the concha, a ubiquitous seashell-shaped sweet bread featuring a sugary topping.
“If you’re gonna mess around with the vanilla or chocolate concha, think twice about it,” the user warned.
The London-born Hart, who honed his sourdough skills during seven years at San Francisco’s acclaimed Tartine Bakery, issued an apology online last week after his comments, which were made months ago, went viral.
“Since I arrived in Mexico, I have fallen in love with the people of this city,” Hart wrote. “Nonetheless, my words didn’t reflect this respect. In this country I am a guest and I forgot to act accordingly.”
A worker restocks shelves of pan dulce and other kinds of bread at the Ideal bakery in Mexico City.
(Lisette Poole/For The Times)
The culinary kerfuffle was unusual for Mexico, which boasts a world-renowned cuisine that includes dozens of varieties of breads and pastries, both savory and sweet. Many are elaborations on European originals, often carrying suggestive names such as: banderilla (banner), bigote (mustache), tortuga (turtle) and colchón (mattress).
Mexico is especially known for holiday breads such as pan de muerto (for Day of the Dead), often left on the graves of loved ones; and Rosca de Reyes, a round sweet loaf eaten on Jan. 6, Three Kings Day (the Epiphany), traditionally with a figure of the baby Jesus hidden inside.
“Mexico doesn’t replicate European bread because it doesn’t have to,” Edgar Nuñez, a celebrated Mexican chef who studied in France, wrote on X in response to the bolillo dustup. “Here there is a proper tradition of bakeries, with its own history, identity, technique, and a social connection that many cultures lack.”
Hart didn’t return messages left at his bakery, the Green Rhino, in the capital’s shabby-chic Roma Norte district.
Reports that the Green Rhino had been vandalized were untrue, workers at the eatery said. There was no sign of exterior damage Friday afternoon.
The Green Rhino, which opened in June, employs about 50 people, staffers said. Business seemed slow Friday afternoon. Some would-be customers lingered outside the premises, seemingly wondering whether it was all right to go inside.
Clockwise from top right: A concha sweetbread, sold at a food stand in Mexico City’s La Roma district, and various offerings from the Bou bakery.
(Lisette Poole / For The Times)
“I think it’s all a misunderstanding,” said Sofía, 28, a regular client who, like others interviewed, declined to give their full names for privacy reasons. “Yes, I think I’ll go back. It’s a nice place.”
The bolillo brouhaha quickly became part of the raging debate about gentrification in Mexico City.
Critics have blamed rising rents and the displacement of longtime residents and businesses on a wave of digital nomads and other expatriates from the United States, Canada, Europe and elsewhere. Foreign visitors, mostly young, are seen daily wandering through gentrified neighborhoods gazing at their cellphones, following directions to the latest hip spots hyped on Instagram and TikTok. Many trendy bakeries feature European-style breads and pastries.
In July, angry Mexican protesters, predominantly young, marched through the trendy Roma neighborhood and adjoining Condesa district denouncing gentrification driven by foreigners. Some vandalized restaurants and cafes, breaking windows and overturning outdoor tables at various businesses, including at a popular Starbucks with a mostly Mexican clientele.
A worker restocks bread supplies at the Ideal bakery.
(Lisette Poole/For The Times)
Despite complaints about gentrification, there is a clear upside to foreign — and Mexican — customers drawn to pricey establishments such as the Green Rhino. The bolstered business has helped spur an economic comeback in Roma and Condesa, ground zero for gentrification. Both districts suffered extensive damage in the 2017 earthquake and saw business plummet anew during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Still, the attack on el bolillo clearly touched a nerve in a capital otherwise in a festive mood. Christmas decorations adorn most storefront bakeries, which stand as community anchors throughout Mexico City.
“He really said that?” asked Roberto Celorio Díaz, a retiree who was buying bread at his “local,” the Lupita bakery, when informed of Hart’s comments.
“That’s very upsetting for Mexicans,” he said. “The foreigners come, they live in our city and they criticize our food, our culture. Maybe it’s better they stay in their own countries where, according to them, everything is better.”
McDonnell is a staff writer and Sánchez Vidal a special correspondent.
Foreigner will reunite with original lead singer Lou Gramm for shows in 2026. The reunion dates take place in Florida from Apr. 17 through 23, starting in St. Augustine and wrapping up in Key West.
The rock group performed several concerts with Lou Gramm earlier this month. Gramm joined them for five songs during those performances. Songs included “I Want to Know What Love Is,” “Hot Blooded,” and “Urgent.”
Lou Gramm was the lead vocalist from 1977 to 1990 and again from 1992 to 2003. He sang on hits that helped the group sell more than 80 million records worldwide.
The group has other 2026 tour dates scheduled without Lou Gramm. They’ll participate in the Coast to Coast Countdown on New Year’s Eve and kick off unplugged shows on Feb. 25 in Beaver Creek, Colorado. An orchestral residency at The Venetian Theatre in Las Vegas starts on Mar. 6. According to American Songwriter, Andrew Alford, the president of Nexstar’s broadcasting division, said, “Whether you catch just a few minutes at midnight, or stay tuned in for the entire celebration, this year’s production has something for every member of the family — great music, iconic locations, and fireworks across the country.”
The band will also tour this summer with Lynyrd Skynyrd on the Double Trouble Double Vision Tour. That run of concerts kicks off on July 23 in Atlanta. A full list of tour dates is available on ForeignerOnline.com.
Classic rock is filled with songs that wrestle with the idea of time, whether it’s slipping away, pushing forward, or reminding us of memories we can’t shake. Pink Floyd’s “Time’ is one of the most iconic examples of a classic rock time song, a brooding reflection on wasted years and the shock of realizing how fast life moves.
“Too Much Time on My Hands” from Styx captures the restless energy of someone desperate for direction. Grand Fund Railroad’s “Bad Time” demonstrates how timing is everything. Meanwhile Boston’s “Foreplay/Long Time” blends incredible vocals with themes of change and personal growth. Each track uses the idea of time to tap into something universal, proving that even as decades pass, classic rock’s themes still feel… timely.
Top 10 Classic Rock Time Songs
1 – “Feels Like The First Time” – Foreigner
“I have waited a lifetime… Spent my time so foolishly” Mick Jones wrote this song at a turning point in his own life. He was coming out of a divorce and had just come to America as Foreigner formed. This song was their first release.
2 – “Where Have All The Good Times Gone” – Van Halen
That is the question! Van Halen covered two Kinks songs during their career. This one and “You Really Got Me.” David Lee Roth had a Kinks compilation album. Ray Davies wrote the song, inspired by his dad and older relatives talking about how great life was before the war. Davies said of the song, “It’s got that hard edge The Kinks had, but at the same time, it’s got a reflective, poignant lyric.”
3 – “Good Times, Bad Times” – Led Zeppelin
“Good times, bad times, you know I’ve had my share” Making up and breaking up… Led Zeppelin telling the age-old story of coming of age.
4 – “Nothin’ But a Good Time” – Poison
“Ain’t lookin’ for nothin’ but a good time… And it don’t get better than this.” Bret Michaels sings about not having much money but still being able to enjoy life and have “good time.” Rikki Rockett talked about the song in an interview with AXS. He said, “It’s for the working class and the wish that you can have a good time among all that. Music is the way to escape.”
5 – “Old Time Rock & Roll” – Bob Seger
“In ten minutes I’ll be late for the door, I like that old time rock and roll!” It’s the song that Bob has referred to as the “Dumbest thing I ever did.”
6 – “Too Much Time On My Hands” – Styx
“Too much time on my hands, it’s ticking away with my sanity.” Tommy Shaw wrote this song on the fly. He was asked to write one more song for Paradise Theater, but he couldn’t think of anything to stay on theme. Instead he wrote “Too Much Time on My Hands” about a bar in Niles, Michigan where he was living at the time.
7 – Bad Time – Grand Funk Railroad
“I’m in love but I sure picked a bad time… to be in love” Grand Funk Railroad” doesn’t have many ballads, but this is one of their more sentimental songs. Mark Farner had a rough patch with his first few, Cheryl. He said in a Songfacts intyerview, “My first wife was in the kitchen. I can remember sitting at the piano – I had a little spinet in the dining room – and she’s threatening to put a 12-inch cast-iron skillet through my forehead. And I’m in there writing ‘bad time for being in love.’”
8 – “Foreplay/Longtime” – Boston
“Well, I’m takin’ my time, I’m just movin’ on.. You’ll forget about me after I’ve been gone..” This was the first song Tom Scholz recorded for the band that would become Boston. Radio always plays these two tracks together. Confession I’m one of those people who didn’t know the UFOs were upside guitars until well into the 2000s.
9 – “Time” – Pink Floyd
“Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day, Fritter and waste the hours in an off-hand way.” The age-old conundrum. Many of us don’t realize that we’re in the prime of our life until it has passed us by. The song starts with clock sounds that were put together by Pink Floyd’s engineer, Alan Parsons. Alan recorded the clocks in an antique shop, transferred them to multitrack and synchronized their ticks and chimes.
10 – “Good Times Roll” – The Cars
“Let the good times roll. Let them knock you around.” Ric Ocasek took satirical jab at the “good times” in rock music on this one. According lpm.org Ocasek said, “That was my song about what the good times in rock ‘n’ roll really mean, instead of what they’re supposed to be. It was kind of a parody of good times, really. It was kinda like not about good times at all.”
Back in the ‘70s, Las Vegas was about as unhip as things could get. Well, that is, unless you went all Hunter Thompson, driving into town with a head full of acid in a Cadillac land yacht with the idea of causing as much confusion and destruction as possible.
By the early part of Richard Nixon’s second term, the glory days of the Rat Pack were long gone, and Las Vegas had lost any sense of “ring-a-ding-ding.” No, fifty some-odd years ago, Las Vegas was a place that catered to bourgeois conventioneers and tourists. Folks who were thrilled to see acts like Wayne “Mr. Las Vegas” Newton, Liberace, Neil Diamond, Tony Orlando and Dawn, Donny and Marie Osmond, Barry Manilow and Paul Anka. Not to mention Sigfried and Roy, in their salad days before the latter became an hors d’oeuvre.
But these days, we seem to be experiencing a similar paradigm, i.e. Las Vegas being populated by relatively well-heeled sixty-ish and seventy-ish vacationers who are willing to shell out big bucks to see the big bands of yesteryear. Recently announced acts booked for Vegas residencies in 2026 include the Eagles, Styx, Santana, Def Leppard, Foreigner and Chicago.
It was bound to happen, but somehow it seems sad to see the wild-ass hell raisers of our (well, at least my) youth playing in such safe and conventional venues. I am reminded of Joan Cusack’s line from the film Grosse Pointe Blank. When asked what it was like attending her high school reunion, she answered, “It was just as if everyone had swelled.” Indeed.
Ticket Alert
A passel of shows at Toyota Center has just been announced. On Saturday, April 4, it’s ‘80s hitmakers New Edition headlining a bill that includes Boys II Men and Toni Braxton. Meet and greet / photo opportunity packages are on sale now along with various presales, and the general sale is set for Friday. Demi Lovato’s “It’s Not That Deep” tour – her first in three years – rolls into Houston on Monday, May 25. Curiously, no presales are listed, but you can get to clicking Friday morning at 10 a.m.
Florence + The Machine (Really? We can’t just say “and”?) is booked at Toyota Center on Tuesday, May 5, as part of the band’s “Everybody Scream” tour in support of the album of the same name, which drops on Friday. Tickets go on sale next Wednesday, November 5. The “R&B Lovers” tour, which boasts a lineup including Keith Sweat, Joe, Dru Hill and Ginuwine, will be at Toyota Center on Saturday, June 6, and tickets are on sale this Friday.
As for other venues in town, the White Oak Music Hall will host Echo and the Bunnymen on Wednesday, May 27. The lads from Liverpool have gone through a bunch of band members since the group’s formation in 1978, and these days it’s only original members Will Sergeant and Ian McCulloch leading the charge, backed by various touring musicians. Tickets for the Houston installment of the “More Songs to Learn and Sing” tour are on sale as we speak.
Concerts This Week
In recent years, appearance on a talent-based reality show has become a pathway to stardom. In the case of Canadian performer Tate McRae, it was “So You Think You Can Dance” (produced by the same folks as “American Idol”) that pushed her into the popular consciousness in 2016. McRae embarked on a singing career soon after, releasing a number of singles and a couple of EP’s, followed by three albums. Her most recent effort, So Close to What, reached No. 1 in the U.S. and in several other countries around the world. You can see what all the fuss is about on Saturday at Toyota Center.
Lainey Wilson canceled her scheduled appearance at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion last month, citing the recommendation of her vocal coach. Evidently, all is now well with the country chanteuse’s vocal cords, and the postponed show will commence on Saturday.
Fans of a certain age and a certain bent will be excited to know that the B-52s (no apostrophe, dammit!) and Devo will co-headline a show on Sunday at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion. The billing makes perfect sense, in that both bands emerged and about the same time (around 1980) with material that was nothing like anything else on the radio. Lene Lovich, who was also freaking people out around then, will open.
It would seem that Leon Thomas’ “Mutts Don’t Heel” tour is selling well, since the R&B artist’s gig scheduled for Tuesday at the House of Blues has been moved to the Bayou Music Center. All tickets for the House of Blues show will be honored at the new venue. ‘Cause Knowledge is Power: Thomas began his performing career on Broadway, appearing in “The Lion King” and “The Color Purple.”
BEIRUT — The ad was straightforward: Sign up for one year to fight on Russia’s side in “the special military operation zone” — i.e. the war in Ukraine — and get citizenship, free healthcare, money and land.
It was one of many promotions cropping up on the messaging platform Telegram beginning in 2024, shortly after Russian President Vladimir Putin decreed foreign nationals fighting in the army’s ranks would receive passports for themselves and their families. Since then, travel agencies and brokers have drawn people from all over the world to join what they call Russia’s “elite international battalion,” dangling a raft of benefits to attract would-be recruits.
For Raed Hammad, a 54-year-old Jordanian man who worked as a cab driver until a herniated disk made sitting in a car seat all day untenable, it seemed like the opportunity he never found in his home country. He contacted a Russian businesswoman, Polina Alexandrovna, whose number was on the Telegram ad, and sent his passport information. In August, he received a visa and flight ticket and flew to Moscow.
(Other media reports put Alexandrovna’s last name as Azarnykh. It’s unclear if her name is a pseudonym.)
“As a 54-year-old who was sick, he had a hard time finding employment here in Jordan. When he found this job, and they accepted him with a very attractive salary and benefits, he didn’t think twice,” said Lamees Hammad, his wife, in a tearful video address she posted on social media in September. Because of his age, Lamees Hammad added, her husband assumed he would work as a driver or a cook; she insisted he repeatedly confirmed with Alexandrovna that he wouldn’t serve on the front line.
“He wanted to provide for our kids, to give them what he couldn’t give them in the past,” Lamees Hammad said. Hammad is a father of four sons, the youngest of whom is 13.
But days after signing a 17-page army contract that Hammad couldn’t read — he was denied a Russian translator and wasn’t given access to WiFi to translate using his phone, according to his wife — he found himself bunkered in a drone-stalked forward position somewhere in Russian-occupied southeastern Ukraine.
“He’s facing all kinds of danger … If a rifle is raised in his face, he can’t even run. They’re being treated like livestock over there,” Lamees Hammad said in a recent interview with a Jordanian TV channel, adding that Hammad contacted Alexandrovna and begged to break his contract but was told he would have to pay 500,000 rubles — almost $6,000 — to do so.
Russian military personnel, draped in Russian flags, appear after a prisoner swap with Ukraine on June 24.
(Russian Defense Ministry/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Accurate figures are hard to come by, but it’s clear that Hammad isn’t alone in fighting under Russia’s banner for benefits, with estimates putting the number of foreign fighters in Russian army ranks in the tens of thousands. Many come from disadvantaged countries in the Middle East, Africa and South and East Asia.
Some 2,000 Iraqis are thought to have enlisted, but press reports indicate thousands joining from Egypt, Algeria, Yemen and Jordan. Fighters from Nepal, Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Cuba and Syria, who in the past came in significant numbers, are no longer allowed to join, according to the Russian defense ministry.
Foreigners have also served on the opposing side, with Ukrainian officials stating in the past that roughly 20,000 fighters from 50 countries joined Ukraine’s International Legion, including around 3,000 Iraqis.
In the Russian military, many of the enlisted foreigners came to Russia first as students, but their visas lapsed and they do not want to return home. A significant number also travel to Moscow on tourist visas after they are approved by the military. Once in Russia, they visit offices of companies like Alexandrovna’s and sign a contract with the Russian ministry of defense; others are met by a broker and a Russian officer at the airport.
Offers vary, but recruits can receive a signing bonus of 1.5 million rubles (around $17,000), and depending on where they fight, get a monthly salary ranging between $2,500 to $3,500 — a life-changing amount in countries like Egypt, where the average salary barely exceeds $300.
Training lasts four to six weeks and includes language instruction so foreigners can follow basic commands in Russian. They receive citizenship soon after they join, and are given a two-week paid vacation six months into their one-year deployment. If they are killed or wounded, their families can claim the money and citizenship.
Among the recruitment ads, which appear in Arabic and other languages, Alexandrovna’s channel keeps up a steady rhythm of posts extolling the Russian army’s victories in Ukraine.
Alexandrovna herself appears in several photos taken with recruits when they first land in Russia; others depict foreign soldiers after they receive their citizenship, smiling to the camera and proudly showing off their passports. Her clients appear to be mostly from the Arab world and parts of Africa.
“Each of my soldiers is a source of pride,” she writes in one post, saying that they add to the “victory against the neo-Nazis from Ukraine.”
“Every soldier must proudly and steadfastly defend the new homeland of Russia, because Russia becomes a new homeland for each of them!” she writes.
Despite the risks, there’s no lack of interest: A look on Alexandrovna’s Telegram channel, titled “Friend of Russia” and featuring a picture of Putin, shows more than 22,000 subscribers. Another channel, run by an Iraqi man who calls himself Bahjat, has almost 30,000.
Members of a thousands-strong Telegram community group run by an Iraqi with the nickname Abbass the Supporter — who served in the Russian military for three years but now works as a broker and answers questions about deployments on his TikTok channel — participate in chats asking how quickly they can get their visa and travel.
When contacted by The Times, Alexandrovna denied giving false information to would-be recruits but did not answer detailed questions about Hammad. Nevertheless, it’s unclear how Hammad concluded he would serve in rear positions: Most ads on Alexandrovna’s channel explicitly say foreigners must fight in Ukraine, with no mention of being able to join as a driver or cook, and in any case, those decisions are made by the defense ministry.
The E-visa form inquires about military experience. Bahjat, who spoke on condition of only giving his first name, said those coming to the Russian army from abroad should expect to go into combat, and that breaking the contract risks imprisonment.
“What, you think a country is going to give you money and citizenship so you come and cook?” he said in a WhatsApp chat.
“I’ll give it to you straight. Everyone coming here is going to the frontline and to the war. Anyone saying otherwise is speaking nonsense.”
The Jordanian ministry did not answer questions about Hammad, but legal experts say governments have little recourse to repatriate their citizens if they signed a contract, unless they can prove they did so under duress.
Lamees Hammad has been pleading with Jordan’s King Abdullah and government officials to communicate with the Russian foreign ministry and to bring her husband home. But in the meantime, she said, she hoped the Jordanian government would at least block Telegram channels like Alexandrovna’s to prevent others from following in Hammad’s steps.
“People should know if they do this,” she said, “they’re going to their death.”
The bodies were recovered south of the city of Ensenada, according to a statement from the state prosecutor’s office. The statement did not confirm the identity of the dead, but said authorities discovered the bodies while searching for the missing men.
Three people who were being questioned in the case have been arrested and charged with kidnapping, the statement said.
The disappearance of Callum Robinson, 33, his brother Jake, 30, and friend Carter Rhoad, 30, triggered a massive search involving local authorities, the FBI and the Mexican marines.
The men were outdoor enthusiasts who crossed from the United States into Mexico last month to explore Baja California’s renowned surf breaks.
Callum Robinson, a high-level lacrosse player, documented the trip on social media, showing himself, and his brother, a doctor, and their friend sipping coffee on the beach, befriending street dogs and relaxing in a hot tub. Rhoad, from Atlanta, founded an online apparel company in San Diego, according to his Facebook profile.
According to a social media post made by the Robinsons’ mother, Debra Robinson, the group was supposed to check into an Airbnb in Rosarito Beach last weekend after camping for several days on a remote stretch of beach south of Ensenada. But they never checked in. The last time their relatives heard from the men was on April 27.
Authorities searched near the town of Santo Tomás, where the men had been camping. They first located their tents and the burned-out remains of the white Chevrolet pickup the men were traveling in. Authorities did not provide information about where exactly they located the bodies.
Baja California’s rugged coastline has long drawn surfers and other tourists from north of the border. But in recent years, the state has contended with some of the highest rates of violence in Mexico. In 2023, authorities recorded 2,116 homicides in the state, many of them connected to the drug trade.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador vowed to reduce violence in Mexico. But while homicides have fallen slightly during his six-year term, they continue to hover near record highs.
Update, April 21: They can finally know what lo — oh, excuse us, what an induction is. Foreigner is officially bound for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, alongside other performers such as Cher, Dave Matthews Band, Peter Frampton, and A Tribe Called Quest. “I think it means more to me now than perhaps 20 years ago,” Foreigner’s Mick Jones told Billboard of the accomplishment. “I’ve had a great career, and this is like the whipped cream and cherry on top. It’s something I will savor over the years. It’s a great honor to be included among all these great artists who have been inducted over the years.” Jones thanked his stepson Mark Ronson for leading the charge online. “I had a good laugh seeing Paul’s Instagram post,” he added. You know, everyone’s good pal, Paul.
Original story follows.
Where the hell was this enthusiasm when Warren Zevon got his inaugural nomination last year? That’s a rant for another time, but anyway, Foreigner has been the benefactor of an uncharacteristically blatant and thirsty campaign to get inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, with the jukebox heroes currently sitting on a shortlist of names that includes Peter Frampton, Cher, and Oasis. The latest recruit for the blitz is none other than Paul McCartney, an old pal of guitarist Mick Jones, who recorded a video to whip voters back into a single vision: “Foreigner, not in the Hall of Fame? What the fuck? Ah!”
Macca joins a robust crew of musicians organized by Mark Ronson to stump for Foreigner — Ronson is Jones’s stepson, placing him somewhere in our nepo-baby extended universe — which already included a longer video of Dave Grohl, Slash, Jack Black, and Flea verbalizing various states of disbelief that the band hasn’t already been inducted. Appearing on The Tonight Show on February 26, Ronson explained that the push has been due, in part, to Jones’s recent health struggles with Parkinson’s disease. “They’ve never been considered for it … we decided to go all out this year,” he explained. “I called in some favors. There’s some people I met along the way, making music myself, that I knew were fans of Foreigner.” Maybe they really were just waiting for a guy like him to get the ball rolling.
