Names and faces

Eric Clapton’s Crossroads festival has become the mecca for riff worshippers, so it was appropriate that guitar icon Keith Richards made a surprise appearance to perform with Clapton. The Rolling Stone received perhaps the most sustained standing ovation Saturday night as he joined his old pal toward the end of Crossroads, a two-night concert festival at Madison Square Garden in New York that brought together a dazzling array of guitar masters, including John Mayer, Jeff Beck and legends like Buddy Guy. Richards - whose Stones announced another tour earlier this month - flashed his typical wry smile to the crowd before joining Clapton in playing the blues standard and Clapton favorite “Key to the Highway.” “Now we’re gonna rock it up,” Richards said before launching into “Sweet Little Rock ’N’ Roller.” Richards’ appearance was only the beginning of Clapton’s hour-plus-long set, which included hits like “Crossroads” and “Little Queen of Spades.” It also featured other special guests, like Robbie Robertson, who sang the classic “I Shall Be Released.” “I just want to say it’s an honor to be here in honor of Crossroads and Eric Clapton,” Robertson said. Crossroads Guitar Festival, which benefits Clapton’s Crossroads Centre for substance abuse in Antigua, has been held every three years since 2004. Clapton joined Los Lobos and Robert Cray early on, and Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks played an acoustic set and brought out Gregg Allman. Keb’ Mo’ and Taj Mahal paid tribute to the blues in their acoustic set, while newcomer Gary Clark Jr. had the crowd on its feet throughout most of his electrifying set.

Justin Bieber visited the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam Friday evening, with museum spokesman Maatje Mostart saying the Canadian pop star wrote in the guestbook that he hoped Frank “would have been a Belieber” if she had lived. “Belieber” is what Bieber fans call themselves. Anne Frank was a Jewish teenager who hid with her family in a small apartment above a warehouse during the Nazi occupation of World War II. Her family was caught and deported, and Anne died in Bergen-Belsen. Her diary has become the most widely read document to emerge from the Holocaust. Bieber’s whole note read: “Truly inspiring to be able to come here. Anne was a great girl. Hopefully she would have been a Belieber.”