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Happy Hallowe'en! Find your favourite
party and celebrate safely! This week brings a very special
interview with Kirk Franklin! Check it out below and get your
copy of Hero. Speaking of heros, kudos to my brother-in-law, Lorne
Kearnan, who travels this week with The Salvation Army as part of
their Katrina Relief work in Houston, Texas - see SCOOP below. DeeKaye visits us again - this time
at Hugh's Room with some superb players backing him up! And Kanye West is coming - have you bought
your tickets yet?
Listen, this week brings another FREE CD giveaway to the first five
people that can name the title of The Show's debut release (under MUSIC
NEWS - hint: open the full page) - CLICK HERE! I'm a
big fan of these guys - pick up their CD today! Check out the pictures in my PHOTO GALLERY
from the CD Release Party for Melanie Durrant - pick up your copy today!
Check out all
categories - tons of Canadian content in MUSIC NEWS, FILM NEWS, TV NEWS, THEATRE NEWS, and OTHER NEWS! Have a read and a scroll!
This newsletter is designed to give you some updated entertainment-related
news and provide you with our upcoming event listings. Welcome to
those who are new members. Want your events listed by date? Check
out EVENTS. Want to be removed from the
distribution, click REMOVE.
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::HOT EVENTS::
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DeeKaye Ibomeka at Hugh’s Room – November 4, 2005
November 4 presents an opportunity to see rising jazz, soul and
blues baritone DeeKaye Ibomeka
headlining the prestigious Hugh’s Room in Toronto. The 25-year-old jazz
baritone with enormous stage presence and 3-octave range has just
completed the recording of his debut CD, co-written with and produced by
jacksoul’s Haydain Neale.
DeeKaye made an impressive Montreal debut this summer at the Jazz Festival’s
spectacular “Voices of Soul” concert where he shared the stage with The
Neville Brothers, Patti Labelle, Ann Peebles, Deborah Cox and Jully
Black. DeeKaye’s debut CD is scheduled for release in early 2006 and
features his unique blend of jazz, soul and the blues. Don’t miss this
opportunity to check out the vocal stylings of DeeKaye
Ibomeka who will be backed by a hot band featuring Andrew Craig on keyboards and Roger
Travassos on drums!
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2005
DEEKAYE IBOMEKA IN CONCERT
Hugh’s Room
2261 Dundas St. West
Special Guest performance at 8:30pm
Tickets $20 in advance $22 at the door.
Call for tickets: 416.531.6604
www.wychwoodparkproductions.com
www.hughsroom.com
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Kanye West In Concert – November 9, 2005
No
matter who you are or where you lived - if you owned a radio, television,
computer or CD player, you felt Kanye West’s
presence. Since the release of his 3 million selling, critically
acclaimed-debut The College Dropout, the Chicago-born 28 year old
rapper/producer/hip-hop icon has been at the top of the charts and at the top
of his game. From the red carpet of the 47th Grammys - where he topped all
nominees with a historic ten nods and took home awards for Best Rap Album,
Best Rap Song and Best R&B song - to the millions of albums sold, a
sold-out stadium tour with Usher, and his ubiquitous presence on MTV, BET,
CNN, and radio stations nationwide, West grew from being an artist to watch
to an artist you experience. This tour also features special guests Fantasia and Keyshia
Cole.
WEDNESDAY,
NOVEMBER 9, 2005
KANYE
WEST LIVE IN CONCERT
with special
guests Fantasia and Keyshia Cole
Air Canada Centre
40 Bay St.
ALL AGES SHOW!
Doors: 6:30pm
Show:
7:30pm
Tickets ON SALE
NOW
Tickets (incl.
GST) $69.50, $59.50 and $45.50 (plus convenience fees and CRF)
8 ticket limit
Tickets available
at all Ticketmaster outlets and at the Air Canada Centre Box Office
Call 416-870-8000
to charge by phone
Or order online
at www.ticketmaster.ca
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::EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW::
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Interview With Kirk Franklin
Sony/BMG gave me the unique opportunity to interview Kirk Franklin
by phone
this week. If you like gospel music at all, Kirk Franklin’s Hero
is the CD to pick up. My favourite tracks include Looking for You, Let
it Go (Fred Hammond on his reflection on wounds caused by
fatherlessness), Afterwhile sung by Yolanda Adams (a song about moving
past pain, with clarity and sensitivity), Stevie Wonder’s Why and
Sunshine. Other than one track on the CD (which was written by Andre
Harris and Vidal Davis), Kirk Franklin wrote all the songs. I highly
recommend that you pick up this CD!
As in my previous newsletters, his latest offering is Hero. Kirk
Franklin’s music has always been gospel that makes ‘the gospel’ more
appealing to those that may not have a religious affiliation. By
keeping it current and fresh it appeals to many age groups and reaches ears
that may not otherwise hear the positive message of the lyrics. LE: I’ve always seen you as one of the major
artists that broke gospel into the mainstream listening audience. How
would you qualify your contribution?
KIRK: I see myself as a
church dude. Just a regular young guy that loves God, and God on His own chose, for whatever reason, to
take music and put it in different environments. That was not my
attempt. My attempt was not to try to do that. I’m just trying to
be consistent with the path.
I struggle with it,
you know. There are times that I forget that it wasn’t my plan and it
wasn’t my agenda – sometimes you move in your own flesh to try to get
over.
LE: That’s just in life I guess. Anybody with a Christian or
any religious affiliation – a lot is expected. People forget that
believers are human too. Do you feel challenged in trying to portray
innocence because America is hurting so much right now? I feel like on
this CD you were trying to address that.
KIRK: I wanted to address
that but I didn’t feel challenged in it. My approach is very
honest. Even as an album gets out and you kind of forget to listen –
some people find me a little wishy washy. The Rebirth album was a very
straightforward album and with this one, it’s an album that God led me to do
but for some people, it can be kind of wishy washy.
Is it traditional, is
it hip hop? Is he going to be worshippy? And for me, I’m just
trying to be me. I’m just trying to be obedient to what God has for me
to do and not trying to do anything more than that.
LE: Well, that’s the music industry as well – more so than the
consumer - that wants to put you into a category. Sometimes it doesn’t
matter, you’ve just got to let the music ‘be’. The music industry is
very driven by commercial gain – have you felt those pressures and has it
ever affected the music?
KIRK: You can feel the
pressure when I take my eyes off Christ and when I put my eyes on to the
world’s agenda. You can feel that pressure but that’s a pressure that
you put on yourself.
LE: Do you find anything exciting about the industry?
KIRK: Not the industry stuff,
no. The music that’s from God is wonderful but when you take something
from the Creator and you put it in front of the creation, which
is Man, the creation tries to validate it to see whether it’s good or bad –
that’s when everything gets contaminated and real foggy. A lot of times
we can be guilty of leaning to what the creation is saying instead of resting
on what the Creator gave.
I find myself so
guilty of that. Even with this record, there were times I was guilty of
that. Many days that I was looking for Man to validate something that
God gave. It’s an unfair thing to ask God to give you something that’s
never been created and then we look for the applause of Man to validate it.
That’s not good.
LE: Maybe that’s just part of it and I think that’s just how we’re
made. I think that there are tests along the way. Even within
believers, you get different approaches to presenting the work – no matter
how you look at it, you’ve got to stay true to what He told you to do.
KIRK: Amen! Speak
sister!
LE: I really loved this CD by the way. I really was touched by
quite a few of the tracks. You say that there’s a point where you can
see all of life’s successes and failures have all been for a purpose.
What are some of your defining moments?
KIRK: There’s never one
defining moment – the creative process evolves because it’s always
evolving. There’s a dude in the Bible named Paul and it’s all about how
we’ve been transformed from glory to glory – we’re going from one season of
growth to the other season of growth. Every season there’s so many
tremendous lessons.
Remember my wife and I
have four kids. There’s not enough paper in the world to write down all
of the defining moments as parents that we see in our children. Life is
so full of those types of lessons and those lessons are the ones that we take
to the studio when we sit down to the keyboards and when we put the pen to
paper.
LE: Did you have a defining moment when it came to this project?
KIRK: The defining moment for
Hero for me, the one that I remember mostly is that those were songs I
was showing my wife. Just the creative process for me too – it is the
scariest, the most vulnerable project because if you don’t say nothing, the people
around are looking at you like ‘what’s wrong fool?’.
You are very
vulnerable to God to depend on Him to say something. You’re asking Him
to say something significant. When I was working on the song ‘Imagine
Me’, I called my wife upstairs to listen to the skeleton of it. I was
just singing out that line and she looked at and she shook her head, ‘You
don’t get it but I guess you’re not supposed to’. That was a very
defining moment for me for this project.
LE: Would you say that the difference between this project and other
projects would be that you left yourself more vulnerable to the message or to
God?
KIRK: Just more
vulnerable. Here I am. For me, it’s always like a naked place but
I can admit that this time around, it was a little more naked for
me. There’s this needy place.
The biggest concern is
that you sit and ask God for something that you look to Man to validate and
that’s wrong. So, because of that, if you go before God again, will God
still allow me to hear Him when He knows that I’m going to be tempted?
You know when your kid asks you for the keys but every time they get the car,
there’s a dent somewhere. Do you keep giving them the keys? It’s
always that vulnerable place where ‘Is God going to give me the keys?’
LE: Well I can really feel the message on this CD. In April
2006, you’ll be hosting the Dove Awards, Gospel music’s highest honour
- what’s the most exciting about hosting for you?
KIRK: Well, it’s my first
time hosting the Dove Awards – it’s going to be real cool because I’m a
champion and I want both those communities to be one.
LE: Are you touring at all with Hero? Will there be a Canadian
tour?
KIRK: Not yet – probably not
until February. I’d LOVE to come to Canada. Yeah.
LE: There’s a lot of people that I’m speaking for that would love
you to come to Canada.
KIRK: Wow. Well then
yes, I’ve got to come to Canada.
LE: What pieces of advice do you give someone who wants to become a
Gospel artist?
KIRK: When you have the
microphone, the microphone is a very powerful thing and it’s very important
you realize that there’s a responsibility with the microphone – a
responsibility to say something very significant. Nobody can make that
decision. I would say to those that are Christian artists, that is even
more magnified because you have to be willing to die – that you cannot allow
the vehicle to take the place of the vision.
LE: Who are some of your influences?
KIRK: My influences coming
up were Stevie Wonder, Donny Hathaway and even hip hop like Run DMC. It
wasn’t until I trusted Christ with my heart and became a born again Christian
that the influences of Christian music really began to resonate in my
heart.
LE: You’ve got a unique brand of music with a global appeal.
What’s been one of the highlights of your career?
KIRK: Being able to keep my
family together while I still do it.
LE: If you could work with any artist (living or past), who would
they be?
KIRK: I don’t know.
I’ve been on tour with everybody from Bono to Stevie Wonder so
I’m pretty good!
LE: How does the gospel/Christian community embrace your success?
KIRK: I don’t know. I
try very hard to be a servant to my community, to be a light to my community,
to win my community with the vision of Christ, to be able to be someone who
can help and just pour love into them. That’s how I try to be to my
community.
LE: What do you want people to remember you for?
KIRK: That dude was real –
he was a real dude.
LE: What’s in your CD player right now?
KIRK: I’ve got a rapper by
the name of The Truth, a Christian dude, he’s hot and Coldplay
and I’ve got some Bob James, some Lalah Hathaway.
LE: Well, that about wraps it up. I wanted to wish you
condolences on the loss of Gerald Wright, your longtime manager and
friend.
KIRK: Thank you so much.
I certainly hope that Mr. Franklin makes his way up to Canada – as we all
have seen on various television specials and award shows, he puts on a great
show with an amazing array of talented vocalists and musicians. I’m
sure he would manage to bring us a new kind of blessing.
Thanks to Steve Nightingale at Sony/BMG for the
opportunity!
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::THOUGHT::
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Motivational Note:
The Creative Shoeshine Man
By Willie Jolley, Host of the “Willie Jolley Motivational Minute” syndicated
radio show!
To be a success, you must find imaginative ways to overcome some of the obstacles that you will be
presented with. You’ve got to be creative. Les Brown tells a story about a
busy executive who was on his way to a meeting and was always rushing from
one place to another. As he left his office he was approached by a shoeshine
man who said, “Hey man, you’ve got some crummy looking shoes. Why don’t you
let me give you a shine?” The businessman said, “No …I don’t have time.”
Every block for the next six blocks he was approached about a shoeshine and
gave the same answer, “No … I don’t have time for a shoeshine.” Well, at the
seventh block he walked past a shoeshine stand and the man was counting: “97,
98, 99, 100.” He then said, “My friend, you look like a busy man so I
apologize for the interruption. But today is my birthday and I made myself a
promise that I would give a free shine to the one-hundredth person. Please
allow me the opportunity to give you a shine, in fact the shoes looked like
they were brand-new. As the businessman was preparing to leave he said, “What
is you regular fee?” The shoeshine man said, “Five dollars, sir.” The
businessman gave him a ten and said, “Happy Birthday.” The shoe shiner stood
there for a few minutes and then said, 97, 98, 99…” Friends, this story
simply shoes that we must be creative and use our wits, because many times
that will be all that we have. Be creative!! Visit www.williejolley.com for
more information.
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::SCOOP::
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The Salvation Army
In Canada To Send Teams To Assist With Hurricane Katrina Relief Efforts
Source: www.salvationarmy.ca
(Sept. 6, 2005)
The Salvation Army in Canada will
be sending its first team to assist with
Hurricane Katrina relief efforts. Ten Salvation Army personnel and volunteers
will be heading to Houston, Texas this
week to begin work with those affected by this tragedy. Teams of 10
will be sent to the impacted areas and will work in 12 day shifts. All
personnel are fully trained and the team's expertise will include emotional
and spiritual care, counselling,  logistics, operations, finance
and administration. Many have experience in situations such as 9/11, Iraq and
Swiss Air Flight No. 111. It is expected that this will be the first team of
many and that the Canadian Salvation Army's response will continue during the
coming months, The Salvation Army's work continues as
it assists more than 200,000 people throughout Alabama, Louisiana and
Mississippi. The ongoing efforts include thousands of meals served daily,
counselling and shelter at Salvation Army facilities throughout the southern
United States. Please support The Salvation Army's Hurricane Katrina
relief efforts.
Financial contributions can be made by calling 1-800-SAL-ARMY (725-2769), by
visiting our website, www.salvationarmy.ca, by mailing donations to
The Salvation Army Territorial Headquarters, Canada and Bermuda, 2 Overlea
Blvd., Toronto, Ontario M4H 1P4, or dropping off financial donations at the
closest Salvation Army unit in your area. Donors should specify their gift to
the Hurricane Katrina Relief Effort.
The Salvation Army serves in 110 countries throughout the world. It began its
work in Canada in 1882 as a Christian movement with an acute social
conscience. With more than 120 years experience, The Salvation Army continues
to provide professional services that are relevant to the diverse needs of
vulnerable people and their communities.
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::WE REMEMBER::
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Civil Rights Icon Rosa Parks Dies At 92
Source: CNN
(Oct. 25, 2005) Rosa Parks, whose act
of civil disobedience in 1955
inspired the modern civil rights movement, died Monday in Detroit, Michigan.
She was 92. Parks' moment in
history began in December 1955 when she refused to give up her seat on a bus
to a white man in Montgomery, Alabama. Her arrest triggered a 381-day boycott
of the bus system by blacks that was organized by a 26-year-old Baptist
minister, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. The boycott led to a court ruling
desegregating public transportation in Montgomery, but it wasn't until the
1964 Civil Rights Act that all public accommodations nationwide were
desegregated. Facing regular threats and having lost her department store job
because of her activism, Parks moved from Alabama to Detroit in 1957. She
later joined the staff of U.S. Rep. John Conyers, a Michigan Democrat.
Conyers, who first met Parks during the early days of the civil rights
struggle, recalled Monday that she worked on his original congressional staff
when he first was elected to the House of Representatives in 1964. "I
think that she, as the mother of the new civil rights movement, has left an
impact not just on the nation, but on the world," he told CNN in a
telephone interview. "She was a real apostle of the non-violence
movement." He remembered her as someone who never raised her voice -- an
eloquent voice of the civil rights movement.
"You treated her with deference because she was so quiet, so serene --
just a very special person," he said, adding that "there was only
one" Rosa Parks. Gregory Reed, a long-time friend and attorney, said
Parks died between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. of natural causes. He called Parks
"a lady of great courage." Parks co-founded the Rosa and Raymond
Parks Institute for Self Development to help young people pursue educational
opportunities, get them registered to vote and work toward racial peace.
"As long as there is unemployment, war, crime and all things that go to
the infliction of man's inhumanity to man, regardless -- there is much to be
done, and people need to work together," she once said. Even into her
80s, she was active on the lecture circuit, speaking at civil rights groups
and accepting awards, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1996 and
the Congressional Gold Medal in 1999. "This medal is encouragement for
all of us to continue until all have rights," she said at the June 1999
ceremony for the latter medal. Parks was the subject of the documentary
"Mighty Times: The Legacy of Rosa Parks," which received a 2002
Oscar nomination for best documentary short. In April, Parks and rap duo
OutKast settled a lawsuit over the use of her name on a CD released in 1998.
(Full story)
Bus boycott
She was born Rosa Louise McCauley in Tuskegee, Alabama, on February 4, 1913.
Her marriage to Raymond Parks lasted from 1932 until his death in 1977.
Parks' father, James McCauley, was a carpenter, and her mother, Leona Edwards
McCauley, a teacher. Before her arrest in 1955, Parks was active in the voter
registration movement and with the National Association for the Advancement
of Colored People, where she also worked as a secretary in 1943. At
the time of her arrest, Parks was 42 and on her way home from work as a
seamstress. She took a seat in the front of the black section of a city bus
in Montgomery. The bus filled up and the bus driver demanded that she move so
a white male passenger could have her seat. "The driver wanted us to
stand up, the four of us. We didn't move at the beginning, but he says, 'Let
me have these seats.' And the other three people moved, but I didn't,"
she once said. When Parks refused to give up her seat, a police officer arrested
her. As the officer took her away, she recalled that she asked,
"Why do you push us around?" The officer's response: "I don't
know, but the law's the law, and you're under arrest." She added,
"I only knew that, as I was being arrested, that it was the very last
time that I would ever ride in humiliation of this kind." Four days
later, Parks was convicted of disorderly conduct and fined $14. That same
day, a group of blacks founded the Montgomery Improvement Association and
named King, the young pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, as its leader,
and the bus boycott began.
For the next 381 days, blacks -- who according to Time magazine had comprised
two-thirds of Montgomery bus riders -- boycotted public transportation to
protest Parks' arrest and in turn the city's Jim Crow segregation laws. Black
people walked, rode taxis and used carpools in an effort that severely
damaged the transit company's finances. The mass movement marked one of
the largest and most successful challenges of segregation and helped catapult
King to the forefront of the civil rights movement. The boycott ended on
November 13, 1956, after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling
that Montgomery's segregated bus service was unconstitutional. Parks' act of
defiance came one year after the Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education
decision that led to the end of racial segregation in public schools. (Full story) U.S. Rep. John Lewis of Georgia, a
Democrat, told CNN Monday he watched the 1955-56 Montgomery drama unfold as a
teenager and it inspired him to get active in the civil rights movement.
"It was so unbelievable that this woman -- this one woman -- had the
courage to take a seat and refuse to get up and give it up to a white
gentleman. By sitting down, she was standing up for all Americans," he
said.
Civil Rights Icon
Rosa Parks Has Died
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com
(Oct. 25, 20050 The woman known as the "Mother of The Civil Rights
Movement," Rosa Parks, has died. She passed away of
natural causes at her home in Detroit. She was 92 In 1955, Parks' act
of non-violent civil disobedience sparked the 380-day Montgomery Bus Boycott
and a mobilization of groups throughout the South to protest segregation,
register blacks to vote and fight for political and civil rights. The boycott
brought national attention to the movement and an unknown young Baptist
minister named Martin Luther King Jr. "Rosa Parks made a courageous
decision and started the civil rights movement. Dr. King took it from
there,'' said Morris Dees, founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center, before
her death. Most people don't know it, but Parks wasn't the first person
arrested for violating bus- segregation ordinances in Montgomery, Alabama.
Local civil-rights activists and church leaders chose her as a test case
because of her impeccable reputation and respect in the black community.
"For white culture, an African-American man protesting created fear,''
Douglas Brinkley, her biographer, said last year. "This demure, dainty
woman exposed the true ugliness of the Jim Crow South.'' Rosa Louise McCauley
was born on Feb. 4, 1913, in Tuskegee, Alabama. She was the oldest child of
Leona Edwards and James McCauley, a carpenter. Parks' grandparents had been
slaves. When slavery ended, her grandfather slept in a rocking chair with a
shotgun on his knee, to defend against the Ku Klux Klan. Her parents
separated when she was young, and Parks grew up with her mother, brother and
maternal grandparents in rural Pine Level, Alabama. At age 11, Parks moved to
Montgomery to live with her aunt and attend the private Montgomery Industrial
School for Girls, cleaning classrooms in exchange for tuition. She dropped
out of Booker T. Washington High School after her mother became ill, although
she later earned a diploma and attended Alabama State Teachers' College. She
wed barber Raymond Parks in December 1932. The couple was respected in
Montgomery's black community. Parks attended the African Methodist Episcopal
Church and was active in civil rights.
She subtly protested the indignities of segregated water fountains and
elevators and often walked home from work rather than ride the buses. She
argued with bus drivers who insisted that blacks use the rear entrance. James
F. Blake, the driver who evicted Parks from his bus in 1943, was the one who
summoned authorities when she refused to give up her seat in 1955. "You
died a little each time you found yourself face to face with this kind of
discrimination,'' she had said. The Montgomery city bus system required
blacks -- 75 percent of its riders -- to enter the front of a bus to pay,
then get off and re-board through the back door. The first four rows were
always reserved for whites. Blacks could sit in the middle section, but if a
white wanted one of the seats, black passengers were forced to vacate the
entire row. Three women and two teenagers had already been arrested in 1955
for refusing to comply. Parks hadn't planned to protest that day. She left
her seamstress job on the evening of Dec. 1, 1955. Her back and shoulders
ached and she hoped to get a seat. With the rear of the bus filled, Parks sat
in the first row of the "colored section'' with three other blacks. A
white man boarded and Blake ordered them to move. All did except Parks, who
refused with a simple "No.'' "People always say that I didn't give
up my seat because I was tired, but that wasn't true,'' Parks said in her
1992 autobiography. "... No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving
in.'' Parks was taken to jail. On Dec. 5, 1955, her trial date, more than
7,000 blacks met at the Holt Street Baptist Church. They formed the
Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA), with King, a 26-year-old Ph.D., as
its head. For the next 13 months, virtually all blacks in Montgomery walked
or carpooled, despite harassment by authorities. The bus service almost went
bankrupt. Parks was convicted and fined $14, but she refused to pay. In
February 1956, the MIA filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of Parks and the
three other women. The lower court declared segregated seating
unconstitutional and ordered Montgomery buses integrated. The Supreme Court
upheld the decision, outlawing segregation and discriminatory practices on city
buses in December 1956.
Parks, her husband and some family members lost their jobs and were
constantly harassed and threatened. Raymond Parks had a nervous breakdown.
They moved to Detroit, where Parks' younger brother Sylvester lived. In 1965,
U.S. Representative John Conyers hired Parks as a staff assistant. She worked
in various administrative jobs for 23 years and retired in 1988 at age 75. In
retirement, Parks continued to make public appearances and give speeches,
including a rousing address at the Million Man March in Washington in 1995,
when she was 83. She founded the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for
Self-Development in 1987 to teach leadership skills to underprivileged
teenagers. Parks received dozens of awards and honorary degrees. In 1980, she
was the first woman to receive the Martin Luther King Jr. Non-violent Peace
Prize. In 1999, President Bill Clinton presented her with the Congressional
Gold Medal of Honor, the nation's highest civilian award. Time magazine named
Parks one of the "100 most influential people of the 20th century.'' The
Henry Ford Museum in Michigan bought and exhibited the bus on which she was
arrested. The Rosa Parks Library and Museum opened in Montgomery in 2000.
Parks sued the rap duo OutKast in 1999 over the song "Rosa Parks,''
which she claimed wrongly exploited her name. In August 2004, Parks sued
OutKast's record companies and two booksellers, seeking more than $5 billion,
AP has reported. Parks rarely appeared in public since cancelling a meeting
with President George W. Bush in 2001, AP has reported. A federal judge in
October 2004 appointed former Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer to serve as
guardian to Parks, about a month after her doctor said she was suffering from
dementia. Raymond Parks died in 1977. The couple had no children. And at EUR
press time, funeral service arrangements had not been announced.
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::MUSIC NEWS::
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The Show's Debut Release - October 18,
2005
It's time for The Show to
officially begin. A quartet of vocalists, writers and producers, Joel Legall,
Dane Auston, Mateo Charlton and Omar Lunan
(collectively known as The Show), have successfully created a sound
and experience that is uniquely their own. Performing together under
various names since 1996, The Show have invested years of intensive
studio work and perfected their 'Urban Reality' sound - an innovative
blend of Hip-Hop, R&B/Soul, Gospel, Reggae and Alternative influences
over their time together. The Show were given a
feature audience opportunity earlier this year on a bill with Young Buck
(G-Unit) in Toronto at Tonic Nightclub. The guys debuted a solid set to the
packed crowd. www.intheshow.com
DEBT, SWEAT & TEARS was released by EMI Music Canada on October 18, 2005.
Listen and Watch.
Band Bio
In a music industry overrun with acts that emphasize style over substance, The
Show is a band
that defies any stereotype. There's no team of writers, producers and
stylists pulling the strings from behind the scenes, leaving the public to
guess whom the real artists are. The Show, consisting of Joel Legall,
Dane Auston, Mateo Charlton and Omar Lunan, is the honest reflection of art
imitating life -- or vice versa. They came together as vocalists, writers and
producers to create a sound and experience all their own.
Although DEBT, SWEAT & TEARS is their long-awaited first
full-length album, the members of The Show are by no means new to the
business. In fact, they have been together, singing and performing under
various names, since 1996. Many years of intensive studio work
followed, where they began to perfect their "Urban Reality" sound,
an innovative blend of Hip-Hop, R&B/Soul, Gospel, Reggae &
Alternative influences. With their extensive history in the music
business, the band has had the opportunity to perform with such acts as
Ginuwine, Usher and 98 Degrees, as well as Canada's very own first Pop Stars,
Sugar Jones.
In 2003, The Show joined forces with the upstart label Inside Music and
headed into the studio with label head Craig McConnell to craft their debut
album. Six months of intensive sessions followed, including contributions
from Saukrates, Ian Thornley and Snow, and the results proved to be entirely
worth the wait. The album is a collection of events each of the members have
either experienced or felt very strongly connected to.
While The Show was working on the album, they simultaneously shot a 90-minute
broadcast-quality documentary with Much Music Video Award-winning director
Warren Sonoda. Produced by Darius Films, it includes archival footage,
extensive interviews with band members and their families and comedic
segments. The mission of the DVD was to create a package that would offer The
Show's audience not just 13 songs about life and its tribulations, but also
footage of the band just being four guys who make music. The result gives the
viewer faces and personalities to put to the music.
Both the album and the documentary, along with 5.1 Surround Sound mixes, will
be released to the public on the double-sided disc format DVD+/DualDisc. A CD
on one side and a DVD on the other, this disc will offer The Show fans an
abundance of value-added content while retailing at a price point competitive
with regular CDs.
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Kardinal Offishall's New Album 'Fire & Glory' Scheduled
For Release November 15, 2005
Source: Virgin Music Canada
Toronto,
October 14th, 2005 - Canada's most celebrated emcee Kardinal Offishall will be releasing his
much-anticipated third album Fire & Glory on
November 15th, 2005. Fire &
Glory is the follow up to 2001's Firestarter Vol.1: Quest For Fire and the independently released I
And I. Fire & Glory features
Kardinal's award winning
production and unique diction, a blend of Jamaican patois and Canadian and
American slang. Also featured are collaborations with Busta Rhymes, Spragga
Benz, Renee Neufville, Vybz Kartel, Glenn Lewis and Ray
Robinson. The first official single from FIRE & GLORY is 'Everyday
Rudebwoy,' an interpolation of Arrested Development's single 'Everyday
People'. "I've always loved Arrested's version of it and I think people
will appreciate the unique twist I put on it. I made it sound even more feel
good with vocalist Ray Robinson, and then I touch on some real issues that
some communities  have
to deal with, like police harassment, and men taking ownership of their
children and relationship scenarios."
In May of this year KARDINAL signed a deal with Virgin Music Canada to
release FIRE & GLORY, "I am pleased to finally be able to enter into
a business venture with a reputable Canadian label. Virgin has expressed a
desire to take this project to the highest level and I welcome their
enthusiasm and share the same desire" - states Kardinal.
"We are very excited to have entered in to this arrangement as Kardinal
is one of Canada's most important MC's. Kardinal is a distinctly Canadian artist
and a true ambassador for hip-hop culture which is reflected both in his art
and performance." - says Craig Mannix, Director, Artist & Urban
Label Development. Kardinal's international production credits, collaborations,
accomplishments, awards and accolades are extensive. He co-wrote the Gold
selling, Juno award winning 'Money Jane' with Sean Paul, collaborated on
remixes with the Neptunes' Pharrell Williams, worked on records with Method
Man as well as received unsolicited remix offers from Busta Rhymes and Bounty
Killer. To date, Kardinal is the only Canadian urban artist
to appear on BET's 'Rap City,' and on MTV's 'Advance Warning.'
Fire & Glory Track Listing:
1. Last Standing Soldier
2.
E.G.G. (Everybody Gone Gangsta) featuring: Vybz Kartel
3. Heads
Up
4. Everyday
Rudebwoy featuring Ray Robinson
5. The
Best Man
6. Freshie
featuring Ro Dolla
7. Sunday
8. Kaysarasara
featuring: Estelle
9. Neva
New (Till I Kissed You)
10.
Mr. Officer featuring Rene Neufville (formerly of Zhané)
11. Whatchalike
featuring: Busta Rhymes
12. Fire
and Glory
13. Feel
Alright
14. All
the Way
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Jelleestone’s New Release In Stores This Week
Source: Universal Music Canada
It's been a long time coming for this Rexdale representative to educate the
masses on what's really hood! Well on Tuesday,
October 25th, it's about to go down really big with the release of
Jelleestone's new album entitled
"The Hood Is Here"!
Whether you know this man as the Stone Poet or J-Sizzle, it's no question
that Jelleestone has come along way and has definitely paved the way for many
Canadian Hip Hop acts doing they thing! He's earned himself international
notoriety with his 2002 smash hit "Money Pt. 1" and more recently
won a 2004 MMVA for his Dancehall heater "Who Dat" featuring the
one and only Elephant Man! But in 2005, things are about to get heated up as
Jelleestone brings back that raw, grimey street s&%t that the streets
have been waiting for. His single "The Hood Is Here" is a true
testament to what's happening in various neighborhoods across the country and
the globe for that matter. And if ya'll have been keeping your ears to the
streets, then you definitely know about "The Hood Is Here Remix" featuring
some of Toronto's finest "street MC's" including Mayhem Morearty,
JB & Payback, Imperial, Stumpy, V.D'ablo and Jugganott!
But don't get it twisted cause' your man Jellee got something for everyone
including his latest single "Friendamine" featuring Nelly Furtado.
"The Hood Is Here" is definitely an album that ya'll need to cop
and pop in that stereo. The album features production by Maza, The Godfather and Noah to
name a few. Whether you're from the T-Dot, Vancity or all places in between,
Jelleestone wants to make sure ya'll represent your hood to the fullest. And
you best be sure that the man's got love for every hood in this country!
Listen to the album people and take in the messages that this man is
delivering. The streets are no joke and whether it's in the US or Canada,
Jelleestone wants to make sure that the "hood" gets heard! Be on
the lookout for Jelleestone as he makes his way into your city.
Thursday Oct. 27th - Montreal, QC
Friday Oct. 28th - Vancouver, BC
Saturday Oct. 29th - Edmonton, AB
Sunday Oct. 30th - Calgary, AB
Monday Oct. 31st - Calgary, AB
The Hood Is Here
Three decades into the rise of the rap game, one truth remains: Hip never
would have hopped without the hood. From the streets of New York, where rap
was born, to the stoops of all the world's inner cities, hip hop is most at
home in the places where people breathe and bleed the urban sagas painted by
its lyrics. In Toronto, that means neighbourhoods like Rexdale - or
Doomstown, in hood-speak - a concrete jungle populated by highrise towers,
lowrise housing complexes and lowdown playas. "I been in the hood
for over a quarter of a century, man," says Jelleestone, Rexdale's
favourite son. "I am the hood, the hood is me. There's no separation
there." Jellee's hood story is actually a tale of two cities:
Born in Toronto (government name David Carty), he grew up splitting time
between his mother's place in Rexdale and his father's in the Bronx. The
former was - and is - his heart; the latter provided his education. "Hip
hop was formally introduced to me in New York," the MC says. "But
once I understood the culture and everything it was about, I was like, 'Shit,
we do this at home [in Rexdale].' The music was telling stories that I was
living."
Jelleestone started breakdancing all the way back in 1983. He began rhyming
in middle school, first with a group called PNP (or Poet and Prophet), then
as part of a Rexdale wrecking crew known as the Original Rude Boys. ORB got
rolling in 1993, opening Toronto shows for the likes of U.S. stars Black Moon
and the Pharcyde. Jellee took the first step towards carving his name
as a solo artist in 1997, scoring a minor hit with a compilation track called
When You're Hot, You're Hot. His name broke for real in 2002, when Money, Pt.
1, the lead single from his debut solo banger, Rex Entertainment/Warner
Records' Jelleestone Thirteen, climbed to the top of Billboard's Hot 100
chart. Jelleestone was nominated for best new solo artist and best rap
recording at Canada's 2002 Juno Awards. Jellee's world devolved from
bad to worse when the rough-and-tumble rhymer was arrested on a gun charge in
Toronto. "A glitch in the Matrix held me up in prison for a
minute," he says now, laughing at the memory. "I wound up in the
hands of the law and sitting on bail for two years. At first it put a damper
on my creativity - I shook for a month, like aw shit. I couldn't concentrate.
But after that, I was like, 'Man, fuck it.' God forbid, if they try to lock
me up and succeed, at least I'll have a record out. Snow went platinum in
jail. Same with 'Pac." It won't come to that. Jellee's legal
problems are in the past, clearing the path for The Hood is Here, a hard-charging
return to form due out this Fall on Rex/BlackSmith Entertainment, with
distribution by Universal Music. Jellee's second platter builds on his first,
serving up more of the "hood hop" sound he established with
Jelleestone Thirteen.
Last time out, Jelleestone came strong for Rexdale. This time, he's looking
to rep all. "T-Dot MC, but I ain't Kardinal, I ain't Saukrates / My name
ain't Choclair, you could get shot here," he rhymes on the The Hood is
Here's body-rocking, radio-friendly title track. A video for the song takes
viewers to the corners of Toronto that are most often seen as horror stories
on the late-night news: Rexdale, Jane and Finch, Regent Park, Flemingdon Park
and the Jungle. "We did helicopter shots and all that," Jellee
says. "I don't know of another artist, rap or rock, who has done that.
Elsewhere on the album, Elephant Man holds down Who Dat?; Sauks swings
through with a hot verse on My Peoples. "I'm hollering my hood
story, but it's not just me. Dudes over here are going through it, dudes over
there are going through it," Jelleestone says. "This is about
making good music - making hits, making things that the whole world will want
to sing. I already gave my hood something to be proud of, now I need to do it
for my whole city. No matter if they're still here in the city or anywhere
else in the world, to say, 'Yeah, that's me. That's mine.'"
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Eternia & Urbnet Records Proudly Present: It’s Called Life
Source: www.eternia.com
Toronto, ON – October 25, 2005 – Described as “Canada’s
Dopest Female Emcee” by Exclaim magazine, Eternia
has garnered well
deserved media and music industry attention over the past five years for her
musical contributions in the international Hip Hop scene. As an anomaly
amidst her peers, Eternia breaks
through gender and racial stereotypes in the male-dominated world of rap
music to release her debut album, It’s Called
Life. Funded by FACTOR, and released
across Canada on October 11th
through Urbnet
Records, and in Australia through Shogun
Distribution, It’s Called Life is a
personal, honest & retrospective glimpse of life  through Eternia’s
eyes. Catch a sneak preview of the record, and order your copy, at Eternia's Urbnet
Site
Following
a slew of successful singles, videos & feature releases including
“Work it Out”, “Sorrow Song” (Universal/Maple), “Understand if I” (Battle Axe
Records), & “Just the Way it Is” (Urbnet), and the Australian national
chart-topper “Movin’” (Warner). Right on the heels of Eternia’s
independent release “Where I Been – The Collection”, and straight
from touring with Van’s Warped Tour and an
Australian Promotional Tour
in October, Eternia proudly introduces to the world her most personal
offering yet, the highly anticipated full-length album, It’s Called Life.
Featuring Production By: Tone Mason, Mercilless, Rude, Collizhun,
Kenny "Bounce" Neal, & Simahlak.
Featuring Appearances By: Wordsworth, Kenn Starr, DJ Dopey, Helixx C. of
Anomalies, Freestyle of the Arsonists, Cesar Comanche of the Justus League
& Jessica Kaya.
** IN STORES NATIONWIDE NOW, REQUEST ETERNIA HERE!**
"It's aggressive, insightful, and unapologetic"
- Dose Magazine
"As expected, the debut is
fresher than mountain air - but way smarter"
- Now Magazine
"From the first note to the
last, it keeps the neck snappin' and the ears focused"
- DJ Bringham Young, WIDR, Michigan
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Raul Midón: Back-Up Vet Steps To Front
Excerpt from The
Toronto Star - Ashante Infantry, Entertainment Reporter
(Oct. 20, 2005) Everything. And nothing. That's what being blind
means to Raul Midón, who's garnering growing acclaim as an innovative singer,
songwriter and guitarist. After years in studio musician obscurity, the
New York-based 39-year-old debuted with State of Mind, an eclectic
album showcasing his soulful voice, uplifting pop lyrics and jazz, flamenco
and classical virtuosity. A recent Toronto gig at the Kool Haus,
opening for pop heartthrob Jason Mraz, confirmed his reputation as a
veritable one-man band. Midón, a versatile tenor who can also pull off a
convincing falsetto, slapped out percussion on his acoustic guitar, strummed
harmonies and played trumpet. "People say, `Does (being blind)
make you a better musician? Does it make you hear better?'" Midón
said. "I don't think so. What it might do is, it limits your
possibilities. Whatever it is that you're going to do is going to take more
effort as a blind person — even walking to the store. "So you kind
of have to get it together and figure out what it is you really want. So
maybe it focused me a little more on that I wanted to do music. And blindness
isn't really an impediment in making music per se, especially if you create
your own." After graduating from the University of Miami's
prestigious music program, he found work as a back-up vocalist and guitarist
for Ricky Martin, Enrique Iglesias and Shakira. But in 2002, he moved to New
York to establish a solo career. "I realized I had to create my
own world and surround myself with people to help me with it," explained
Midón. "Why would someone hire a blind person as a side person or
hired gun, when that person might need extra considerations at certain
points, in terms of travelling, etc.?"
Perched on a barstool inside the cavernous Kool Haus after sound check, Midón
is forthright, exuding the simple, contemplative nature of his music and
lyrics. It's his third appearance in Toronto since opening for Joss
Stone at Massey Hall in June. An assistant, a necessity for Midón, hovers
nearby as the musician recalls his journey from club shows to scoring a song
in Spike Lee's film She Hate Me and that turning point meeting with
legendary producer Arif Mardin (Aretha Franklin, Barbra Streisand, Norah
Jones). "A lawyer brought me into Arif's office and I played for
him live and he instantly said, `I want to work with this guy.' The music
business is a very tricky thing: you get a lot of people telling you, `Well,
you know it's great what you do, but if you want to be commercial you have to
tone this down, or tone that down.' "Arif was the first one that I
ever worked with to say `Don't change anything. Don't change the way you play
guitar. It's weird, but it's great.' "Arif doesn't have anything
to prove; he's not looking for his next big hit. It's the best contribution
that a producer can make — to try to find the art in what the artist is doing
instead of trying to impose their thing on it." Influenced by
Mardin's work with'70s star Donny Hathaway, Midón dedicated "Sittin' in
the Middle" to the late soul singer. "I would listen to Donny
every morning before I went to the studio just as a way to inspire me to be
the best that I could be, because I was working with legends and they'd
worked with legends, and I didn't want to fall short. I just wanted to bring
it." And with Mardin and his son Joe handling production, EMI
Music executives kept hands off the genre-defying album. "I know
that the best chance that I have of being successful as an artist is to be
myself. If it doesn't happen, then it doesn't happen, but it's being myself
that is going to set me apart." But first he'll have to learn to
deal with journalists' unyielding comparisons of him to childhood idol Stevie
Wonder, who contributed a harmonica solo to "Expressions of
Love." "I understand it, we're both blind and there's a bit
of an aesthetic similarity in terms of our singing, but that's as far as it
goes, mostly because Stevie Wonder has accomplished so much. For me to even
put myself in that league is just ridiculous."
Born in rural New Mexico, Midón and his identical twin brother Marco (a NASA
engineer) were raised by their father and maternal grandmother. Their African
American mother died from complications of an aneurysm. Their dad, an
Argentine folkloric dancer, exposed the boys (both blinded shortly after
birth) to jazz, bossa nova and contemporary classical music. Midón started on
drums. "I'm a rhythm fanatic," said the artist, who plays
congas on his album. "I hear rhythm in everything: in the wheels of the
bus and the windshield wipers." As the interview winds down, Midón
tells of meeting Kathleen, his wife of six years, at a Miami nightclub.
"For me, the whole idea of, `Is a woman beautiful physically or not?' is
just anathema. I've never cared about that. If a beautiful woman comes up to
me and gives me a limp handshake and is kinda `Nice to meet ya' (here he
imitates a cartoon-voiced nymphet) ... that's not sexy. "If
somebody comes up to me and is warm and seems like they're glad to be alive,
that's sexy to me. I've never seen, so I don't draw pictures in my head ...
it doesn't enter into it for me. To me, there's so much more to it if you're
going to be with someone for the rest of your life, that picking a woman with
your eyes seems to me — and this is a blind guy talking, so whatever that's
worth — to be stupid."
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Is Ottawa Ready
For This Guy? Peter Hinton
Excerpt from The
Globe and Mail - By Kamal Al-Solaylee
(Oct. 25, 2005) OTTAWA -- No one was more surprised to be approached and
interviewed for, let alone given, the artistic directorship of the National Arts Centre's English theatre
than Peter Hinton himself. "Three quarters
of the way of being interviewed for the job I had one of those moments where
I asked myself, 'Why am I doing this? I have a successful freelance career
and this job . . . requires some sacrifices,' " said Hinton, as he
recalls one of the monologues that played in his head this past summer as the
NAC's president and chief executive officer Peter Herrndorf was courting him
for the post. Who would blame him? The Toronto-born and raised Hinton, 42,
who has been living and working out of both Montreal and Stratford, Ont., for
a number of years, has built a reputation as a champion of risky theatre work
that resides outside of the mainstream of Canadian culture. The NAC --
divided into Orchestra, Dance, English and French Theatre -- was created by
Lester B. Pearson as a centennial project of the federal government, and its
artistic reputation never escaped that whiff of officialdom and patronage.
Yet only two weeks into the start of a month-long, in-house transition period
with outgoing artistic director Marti Maraden and before running the show on
his own (beginning Nov. 1), there are no visible signs of doubt, reluctance
or regret in Hinton. The mercurial director and playwright of the flamboyant
and ambitions trilogy The Swanne (2002-04) and the man behind
the current landmark production of Into the Woods -- both produced by the
Stratford Festival -- is well on his way toward redefining and recharting a
course for the future. The real question now is not whether Hinton is ready
for Ottawa, but is Ottawa ready for him?
"A new artistic director should be an opportunity for a theatre to look
at itself, to re-examine what it's doing," says Hinton as he takes a
bite from his grilled portobello-mushroom sandwich at a trendy Ottawa
brasserie, across the street from the drab NAC building. Old jazz standards
are playing in the background, but nostalgia holds little appeal for him
today. "My appointment to the place begged a lot of questions about what
kind of future there would be." While acknowledging the
"evolution" work of Maraden -- in particular her "adventurous"
Shakespeare and smart choices of new Canadian plays -- Hinton believes the
NAC is ready for "something new, something different." But first
some ground rules have to be established. Ottawa and the rest of Canada had
better take note. "A big part of what I want to do is change the
perception of the NAC as a regional theatre for Ottawa," says Hinton,
citing the growth and development of the city's Great Canadian Theatre
Company as one reason. Another perception of the NAC in Canada, continues
Hinton, is that of a "subsidy" and "road house" for
regional theatres -- a place to go to spread costs and minimize financial
risks of productions that are large or under development. "The NAC has
to wean itself from a dependency on co-productions. We have to develop a house
style, our identity." To do this, Hinton's "biggest challenge"
is filling the English theatre with a resident company of actors and
designers at the NAC. In seeking inspiration and thematic resonance for
future seasons, Hinton needed to look no farther than the very three words of
the institution he's now part of: national, arts and centre. "Often
you'll see an artistic director writing in his program that a season is about
a general idea. What I decided for the NAC is instead of looking at it as a
reflective thing, is to make it an active thing. What are the questions that
need to be explored? And then building a season around these questions. . . .
What's a national theatre? What role should art play in our culture or
society? Why do we still go to the theatre?" Although Hinton will not
commit to any specifics, he can reveal that "every play in the season
next year will be a Canadian play and will explore these issues. Every play
will be about artists," not in the sense of backstage drama but in
"questioning the vitality of art speaking to an audience. To invite the
audience into this dialogue. I want to talk to the people that [NAC
subscription] telemarketers talk to and say we want to be entertained and not
to think."
Since it opened in 1969, the NAC has never done an all-Canadian season, notes
Hinton. "That's really interesting to me. It speaks to the brevity of
our history and the way new-play development has grown and reached its own
ceiling." His brand of nationalism, however, will not be of the naive flag-waving
or the outmoded "telling our own stories" kinds. "It's about
having a discussion around definition: What does national culture mean? What
does that mean ethnically, sexually, politically as well as regionally."
So, for now and in as much as one conversation can, that takes care of
national and art, but what about centre? "It made me think of a service
organization. Then I started to think about the word and its possibilities as
a laboratory and where people come to do stuff. . . . It's got to be out of
the main purview. We shouldn't be doing what all the theatres normally do,
but what they would like to do." Hinton's appointment should be good
news for playwrights who have been discouraged from writing large-cast plays
(in Canada that's any play with more than four or five characters). "Too
many plays have been abandoned by the playwrights because of lack of
resources to accomplish their vision," says Hinton. Others, whose plays
were deemed too controversial for regional theatres, may also have a friend
in Hinton. "We have seen the results of conservative choices: dead
theatre," he says. While he expects to be busy performing his
Hinton-to-the-playwright-rescue role, he intends to take time out for himself
as a writer. It was one of his conditions for accepting the job. As a
director, he'll also be very strict about which projects he takes on. "I
don't want to get into a situation where my directing is writing for someone.
You can fix scenes through the directing but I don't want to do that. I want
to collaborate with the playwright." And if all of the above is not
enough work, he's also planning a season of "Jacobeathan" --
Jacobean, Elizabethan, Renaissance plays, a repertoire that personally
fascinates him. (A sneak preview will be his production of John Webster's The Duchess of Malfi at Stratford next year.) "This is the work that became so
dangerous, theatres had to be shut." As long as that history
doesn't repeat itself, a bit of 17th-century danger for its English theatre
may just be what the NAC needs to survive in the 21st. "I'm a big
believer that if you care about something and believe in it to just do
it," insists Hinton. "It's easier to equivocate and qualify and end
up doing nothing close to what you have intended at all."
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Recording Industry Sings
The Blues: Statscan
Excerpt from The Globe and Mail
- By Terry Weber
(Oct. 26, 2005) Canada's recording industry reported its worst financial
showing in six years in 2003 with illegal downloading – never exactly music
to the sector's ears – the likely culprit for plunging sales and dropping
profits, Statistics Canada said
Wednesday. In the year, the government agency said, the Canadian sound
recording industry reported revenue of $708.7-million. That was down 17.7 per
cent from 2000 and 20.5 per cent below the peak seen in 1998. By comparison,
sales over the three-previous years fell just 3.4 per cent. “This overall
decline in sales raises questions about factors such as illegal file
downloads and swapping song files,” Statscan said. Statscan said the decline
in consumer spending may have also reflected increased competition from other
media, such as DVDs and cell phones. Declining new releases were also linked
to the overall poor showing that year. Rock and pop music had a particularly
poor showing over the six-year period covered in the Statscan report, with
the two genres consistently losing market share. By 2003, rock and pop
accounted for about 67 per cent of all recording sales, compared with 73 per
cent in 1998. Sales by Canadian artists, meanwhile, fell 20 per cent between
2000 and 2003. But they still were able to hold about 16 per cent of the
market, largely because of 17.3-per-cent drop in sales by foreign artists the
same year.
In 2003, recording companies issued 5,619 new releases, down from 6,654 in
2000. Of the 2003 total, only 904 came from Canadian artists. That was the
first time in five years that output by Canadian acts fell below the 1,000
mark. The profit picture for record companies was similarly dire. In 2003,
company profits totalled $30.5-million, less than one-fifth of the profit
seen just three years earlier. The profit margin of the combined companies
fell to 2.6 per cent, from 11.9 per cent, Statscan said. For
Canadian-controlled companies, the profit margin in 2003 was 0.5 per cent,
down from 7.1 per cent three years earlier. For foreign companies, margins
fell to 3.2 per cent, from 12.7 per cent. In Canada, foreign-controlled
companies accounted for about 85 per cent of sales in 2003 for a total of
$600-million that year. Statscan also noted, however, that, while sales were
down across the industry, Canadian-controlled companies saw smaller declines
than their foreign-owned counterparts. Sales by Canadian firms fell about 3.1
per cent in 2003. By comparison, sales by foreign firms in the Canadian
market were down 19.9 per cent. One positive note, Statscan said, was struck
by the DVD industry, which reported increases in sales of music-themed DVDs
and videos. Between 2000 and 2003, sales of those recordings more than
doubled. Still, the agency added, sales of those DVDs and videos still
only accounted for 4.5 per cent of total revenue in 2003.
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 CD Review: Stevie Wonder: A Time 2 Love
(Motown/Universal)
By Darryl
Sterdan -- Winnipeg Sun
Putting out an
album every 10 years has its pros and cons. The upside:
Everybody's thrilled to see you -- plus they've likely forgotten how bad your
last disc sucked. The downside: After a decade to get it right, you'd
better deliver the goods. Well, we are happy to report soul icon Stevie Wonder does indeed get it right -- or at least
more right than wrong -- on A Time 2 Love, his long-overdue follow-up to
1995's blah Conversation Peace. Despite his lengthy absence, Wonder
hasn't lost his songwriting
touch or supple voice; if anything, he's reconnected with his creative muse
and become reinvigorated as a performer, resulting in his first disc in
memory that doesn't seem embarrassing next to his classic albums. Cuts like Please Don't Hurt My Baby, So
What the Fuss, Positivity and Sweetest Somebody I Know revisit the
irresistible clavinet-and-harmonica funk and soul-pop of the '70s; the
thickly vibing If Your Love Cannot Be Moved shows Wonder can handle
contemporary hip-hop; heartfelt piano ballads like Moon Blue, True Love and
How Will I Know (featuring daughter Aisha Morris) are smooth enough to erase
the treacly aftertaste of The Lady in Red; and the fact Wonder plays most of
the instruments on these 15 tracks goes a long way toward justifying the long
wait for this 77-minute disc. You could argue there are a few too many
slow cuts in the second half, a few too many questionable guest spots (why
have Paul McCartney play guitar
and not sing?) and a few too many songs that play it safe. But you can't
dispute that A Time 2 Love is both a solid comeback and a welcome return to
form by one of pop's most significant voices. Signed, sealed and
delivered.
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Usher’s Label To Spit Out First Product
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com
(Oct. 24, 2005) *Usher's US Records will
become official with the
release of its first album, “In the Mix,”
the soundtrack for the singer’s upcoming romantic comedy, due in theatres on
Nov. 23 with co-stars Chazz Palminteri and Emmanuelle Chriqui. No
release date has been set for the album. The set is led by a
dual-single featuring two US Records acts, rapper Rico Love ("Settle
Down") and R&B quintet One Chance ("That's My World").
Hype Williams is on board to direct both videos, according to Billboard.
Distributed through J Records, the label also houses R&B singer
Rayan. All three of Usher’s acts each contribute two songs to the soundtrack,
described by the singer as "eclectic soul and hip-hop funk."
Rounding out the 13-track set of original material are songs by Anthony
Hamilton, Christina Milian, Claudette Ortiz (formerly of City High), Paul
Wall and R&B newcomer Chris Brown, among others. "I didn't
want to take all the light," says Usher, who contributes just one song
to the project. He added of his US artists: "They can hold their own.
They don't need me on all their songs." Future plans call for the
label to introduce solo debut albums by Love and One Chance between first and
second quarter of 2006. Usher hopes to see the label grow as big as LaFace
Records, the Atlanta-based company where Usher rose to stardom under the
direction of co-founders Antonio "L.A." Reid and Kenneth
"Babyface" Edmonds. "While diligently building my
career, I've gone through a lot of trial and error to find what works and
what doesn't," says Usher. "With that comes an understanding of how
to offer the same opportunities to other artists." In the Ursh
pipeline is the upcoming film "The Ballad of Walter Holmes," a
contemporary musical called "Freestyle" and a possible film where
he would portray Morgan Freeman's character as a young man. As for the
rumours surrounding his connection with the upcoming "Dreamgirls"
film opposite Eddie Murphy, Beyonce and Jamie Foxx, Usher says his
involvement is now "up in the air" due to scheduling issues.
He eyes mid-2006 as the earliest he'll go back in the studio for his
LaFace/Zomba follow up to “Confessions.”
Usher Brings The 'Truth' On Live DVD
Excerpt from www.billboard.com -
By Gail Mitchell, L.A.
(Oct. 24, 2005) Usher brings
viewers into his world on the DVD "Behind
the Truth: Truth Tour -- Live," which will be available Nov.
8 exclusively via Best Buy. The concert was shot in his Atlanta hometown and
will most likely be Usher's last release until he returns to the studio next
year to begin work on the follow-up to 2004's multi-platinum
"Confessions." "The 'Confessions' album was all about
confessions but also about truth," Usher tells Billboard.com. "And
that's what is displayed on this DVD. It shows the truth of the past, now and
the future. It shows insight as to where I came from. It talks about the next
steps in my career, including my record label [US Records], my
philanthropy/foundation [New Look Foundation] and my other business
endeavours [including his part-ownership of the Cleveland Cavaliers and
fashion line]." Usher worked with the production company Tall Pony
to develop special camera technology for the DVD shoot. "This show was
shot with 30 cameras," he says. "The modern technology allows
viewers to choose which camera they want to view the show from: in close-up
so you can see the dance movements or from the audience's perspective."
As
previously reported, US Records will bow next month with the soundtrack
"In the Mix," which will introduce label artists Rico Love and One
Chance. US is also home to Atlanta-based R&B singer Rayan, of whom Usher
says, "He's a natural talent, who's passionate like a Sam Cooke, Otis
Redding, Stevie Wonder or Brian McKnight. When you hear his voice, you hear a
little church and a lot of emotion." "The one thing that
attracted me to him was his way with words," Usher says of Rico Love.
"He's a great writer. And he never writes anything down; he keeps it all
in his memory. That was a sign to me that this guy is on the ball."
As for Chicago-based male quintet One Chance, "These guys are real
performers who can sing," Usher says. "I want to bring back the era
of the Temptations, Four Tops, Boyz II Men, Jodeci: classic R&B acts who
represent the total package."
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Mary J. Blige Releases Reminisce December 6
 Source: Universal Music Canada
Tuesday, October 25, 2005 (Toronto, ON) – On December 6th
Universal Music Canada/Geffen Records will release three-time Grammy Award
winner, Mary J. Blige’s “Reminisce,” a retrospective album that
explores the music that has propelled her to the top of the music industry.
No one will want to miss out on this impressive collection of classic Mary
material. Songs on “Reminisce” are culled from Mary’s multi-platinum studio
albums “What’s the 411,” “My Life,” “Share My World,” “Mary,” “Love &
Life” and her most recent release 2004’s “No More Drama.” Highlights include
Mary’s #1 radio hit, “Family Affair,” “Not Gon’ Cry,” as well and an exciting
collection of her R&B and pop hits. In addition, “Reminisce” features
several new tracks including “MJB Da MVP” (Mary’s song over The Game’s “Hate
it Or Love It”), an inspiring duet with Bono on U2’s “One,” and the album’s
debut single, “Be Without You.” “Reminisce,” however, is just the
beginning of a two album campaign. Reflecting a newfound serenity without
forgetting her trademark straight-up messages to players, cheaters and fools,
Mary will take us on a new musical journey this spring with the release of
her seventh studio album “The Breakthrough.” With a new lease on life, Mary
will take us on a magic carpet ride fulfilling all of our musical and
spiritual needs. Delivered with conviction and compassion, the songs on
“Reminisce” and “The Breakthrough” are evidence of Mary’s spiritual growth
and her transcendence over a childhood in the projects of Yonkers, New York,
and an early success plagued with drama, to her current joy. “Yes, she’s
gotten lost, she’s done this and that and she’s been trying to figure it
out,” Mary admits in her typically forthright manner.
Nobody tells it like Mary. Over the course of 14 years, with a voice that is
rough and ready, sweet and pure, Mary J. Blige is capable of conveying
heartache and happiness in a single musical phrase. A confessional singer,
her emotional honesty reflects the great traditions of blues and soul with a
ripped-from-the-pages-of-your-diary immediacy that has won her countless
honours and a devoted, ever-growing audience around the world. More than a
vocalist, she is an accomplished recording artist known for her electrifying
live performances, dramatic videos and innovative studio productions with a
who’s − who and who’s − hot of musical talents from Elton John to
Dr. Dre.
Beyond giving to the world through song, Mary is committed to helping through
deed. In addition to filming anti-drug PSAs, Mary has worked with various education
groups and received Rock the Vote’s highest honour, the “Patrick
Lippert Award.” She is a tireless fund-raiser for people with AIDS. Most
recently she has joined the Crest Healthy Smiles campaign to bring awareness
to the oral health care epidemic. The organization, through partnership with
the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, provides children in underserved
communities with necessary tools for preventive care, education and low or no
cost dental services. Whether pouring her heart out in a recording
booth, on a concert stage, or privately learning how to love herself and help
others, Mary has discovered something powerful: The music that she makes, the
songs that have brought so much joy and solace to so many, have also been her
own salvation. When you think of perseverance, strength and commitment, you
think of Mary J Blige. “Reminisce” and “The Breakthrough” is the soundtrack
of that journey.
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Razia Said: Her
Music is Magical
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com - By Deardra Shuler
(Oct. 25, 2005) Razia Said gave an outstanding performance
recently when she appeared at Joe’s Pub in New York City. She debuted
her new CD “Magical” to a packed
house. Her songs were so enchanting that all but six people stood up to
dance. Her music, reminiscent of the styling of Sade, is smooth and
inviting. The two women share a common bond in music as well as a mixed
heritage. A woman of Afro-Arabic blend, Razia embodies the exotic
beauty of both races. Her mother is Afro-Arabic and her father
Indian. Born in Madagascar, an island situated on the southeast
coast of Africa and the fourth largest island in the world, Razia has also
lived in Europe, and Asia. She presently resides in New York City.
Music is no stranger to the lovely African whose youth was filled with the
harmonious refrains of her uncle’s guitar. Though she grew up listening
to more traditional African artists like Mahaleho, Pierre Akendengue, and
Geoffrey Oryema, she also listened to Western artists such as the
Beatles, Bob Marley and James Brown. At age 10, she began to sing in
accompaniment to her uncle’s guitar. Later, she moved to Gambon in West
Africa where she sang in her local church. “The traditional music of my
country is called Salegy and it is has a different rhythm from that of the
West. Salegy is predominately played in Madagascar. The
interesting thing is that in the northeast region of Madagascar where I grew
up, the musical tempo is faster than that of other regions within
Madagascar. Madagascar is a rather big island with an ancient
history. Over 200 million years ago, though attached to Africa the
island drifted away into the Indian Ocean. So naturally, I have a bond to the
music of my native land” explained the lively singer. “In this album,
listeners can sense the spirit of Madagascar through my melodies and
harmonies. In the future, I plan to use more of my native instruments.
In fact, I have sweet memories attached to the sound of the valiha, which is
a stringed bamboo instrument. I also use the kabosy, a hybrid of mandolin and
guitar which gives off the harmonious sound that is associated with much of
African music.”
Razia is also a songwriter. “My uncle was very influential in my
life. He taught me to write songs. One day he just picked up his
guitar and suggested he and I compose a song. I had no idea how to
write a song but my uncle just told me to clear my mind and allow myself to
flow with the music. I did that then and I continue to write music the same
way to this day.” There are some people born to the rhythms of life
thus Razia seems born to her destiny. “Although, I took a few music classes
to learn basic chords for guitar and some singing techniques to avoid
damaging my vocal chords, I am pretty much a natural singer. I can’t
say that I have had a lot of formal training,” remarked Razia after debuting
her magical CD. Not only is Razia’s vocals magical, but so are her
songs. Her music seems to personify an eclectic sprinkle of jazz,
R&B, blended into a World Music stew. The diverse artist began work
on her Magical release last summer. Her CD is co-written and produced
by acoustic guitarist Jamie Ambler and produced by Nir Graff and Ethan
Graff. Songs such as “Under A Mango Tree,” a ballad that is close to
the singer’s heart because it reflects Razia’s memories of her
childhood. Rade Rajonary, a bass player, also from Madagascar, is
featured on her song “Ties Never Die.” She describes the song, “I Made
My Mind” featuring Antonio Danferfield on trumpet and Aaron Heick on sax, as
a hymn to freedom. “The songs “Alio,” “Magical,” and “Under A Mango Tree,”
define my sound the best” elucidated Razia as she chatted about her
music. “I see myself as a world singer,” said Razia of her music.
“I would describe my music as “world soul,” but with jazz
inspirations.” And indeed one can concur after listening to “Alio,”
another song featured on the “Magical” CD. Alio seems to pay tribute to
the women of the world with its pulsating Latin and African beats which give
birth to a fire and passion that lie deep in the female soul. Although,
“Magical” is Razia’s debut CD, she has already composed 30 other songs for
her next CD.
“I am always singing so it’s magical to finally create this album” stated the
prolific artist and songwriter. “It’s true that people often compare my
music to Sade’s music. In fact, I’m compared to Sade all the time. I
think we share the same kind of spirit, style, energy, and delivery.
Maybe it’s because we are two exotic women from Africa who have both lived in
Europe and our music shares the same kind of soothing energy. I
consider it a compliment when people put me in that same type of vibe as Sade
because I love her music, but there are also nuances that make her music and
my music very different” continued Razia. Ms. Said, who has lived
in America for 18 years, is married and lives with her husband and child in
Harlem. Though music is her first love, she holds a PhD in Pharmacy which she
earned at The University of La Tronche in Grenoble, France. She also
expresses her creativity through painting and writing poetry.
Although the talented balladeer has had several singing engagements
throughout New York City, she definitely has plans to feature her new release
through an upcoming tour. She plans to tour in Paris and Italy in
December. She also plans to attend a lot of jazz and world festivals
while on tour. Razia recognizes the virtue of being kind and doing the best
she can in everything she does and it is clear that her music is the
embodiment of her personal philosophy. Interested
parties can find out more about this intriguing artist at www.raziasaid.com.
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Vienna's Calling Beats Out Day Job
Excerpt from The
Toronto Star - Tabassum Siddiqui, Toronto Star
(Oct. 25, 2005) It's a good thing no one ever told Vienna Teng not to quit her
day job. Only months after leaving behind her old career as a software
engineer for computing giant Cisco Systems in 2002, the San Francisco-based
singer-songwriter/pianist had signed a record deal and landed a spot on the Late Show with David Letterman.
Teng, 26, had grown up playing classical piano (she changed her name from
Cynthia to Vienna after the Austrian city of composers), but it wasn't until
college that she began to write and perform her own folk-pop songs,
experimenting on the old piano in the dorm lounge at Stanford, where she was
studying computer science. Her fellow students took a shine to her
sweet voice and intimate lyrics, and encouraged her to take her music into
the city's vibrant coffeehouse scene. "Invariably, right during my
quietest song or most important lyrical moment, they'd start up the espresso
grinder and run it for the remainder of the tune," Teng says from a tour
stop in Boston. Burned out on computers and beginning to realize that
music was her true calling, Teng nonetheless decided to take a job in her
field upon graduation — but only as a safety net. "At that point,
I'd already made a half-subconscious decision to take a job that wasn't completely
engrossing to me, because I wanted to have enough energy to focus on trying
to make this music thing happen," she says. Boston-based indie
label Virt Records had heard songs from Teng's self-made debut CD on the
Internet and wanted to sign her. She re-recorded that album, Waking Hour,
in the summer of 2002 with producer David Henry (REM, Cowboy Junkies), and
soon the raves for her warm, melodic sound started piling up. And then
came The Call. "Virt Records, right in the beginning of 2003,
started giving me very vague phone calls: `You might be going out of town
next weekend, but I can't confirm anything right now and I don't want to tell
you anything and let you down later.' Then suddenly the call came through:
`You're going to play on the Late Show this Monday, and you have to
fly out tomorrow.' "So it all happened very quickly. At the time,
I hadn't been on tour, or on television, and that's quite a place to start. I
think it helped that the entire time, I couldn't quite believe I was there,
and the fact that it hadn't sunk in helped me hold it together," Teng
says, still sounding dazed by the experience. That appearance led to
others on CNN and National Public Radio, and at the beginning of this year,
noted folk/roots label Rounder Records signed Teng to an international deal,
which will see her tour Canada for the first time in support of her new Warm
Strangers disc. "I guess I never thought (pursuing music)
would be a bad decision. I thought, `I have to give this a chance and I know
I will regret it if I don't,' so no matter what becomes of it, it'll be worth
it,'' Teng says.
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MUSIC TIDBITS
Kanye’s Billboard Reign
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com
(Oct. 21, 2005) *Kanye West’s “Gold Digger”
featuring Jamie Foxx
remains at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 singles chart and Hot Ringtones chart
for a seventh consecutive week. The single also tops the Pop 100 for a
fifth week. Chris Brown’s “Run It!” moves up six spots to No. 2. The
teen-aged Jive artist also holds down the chart’s greatest gainer for digital
sales and airplay. Elsewhere in the top ten, The Black Eyed Peas' "My
Humps" remains at No. 4 on the Hot 100 while Mariah Carey's "Shake
It Off" falls 3-5. "Like You" by Bow Wow featuring Ciara slips
5-6 and Young Jeezy's "Soul Survivor" featuring Akon remains as No.
7. Ciara's "And I" debuts on the Hot 100 at No. 96 and Kanye West's
"Hear 'Em Say" featuring Adam Levine enters at No. 100.
Kirk Franklin And Rebecca St. James Host 2006 Dove Awards
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com
(Oct. 21, 2005) Gospel music’s highest honour, the Dove Award, will be
handed out on Wednesday, April 5, 2006 in Nashville when two of gospel
music’s brightest personalities, Kirk Franklin
and Rebecca St. James, host the 37th Annual GMA Music Awards,
announced John W. Styll, president of the Gospel Music Association (GMA) and
executive producer of the awards show. Meanwhile, the Dove
awards show still hasn't landed that major cable network to present the show
live coast to coast. BUT the (as they're now called) Gospel Music
Association Music Awards show has found itself a TV syndication deal that
will put it on air much quicker than in years past. The show will take
place at the Grand Ole Opry House. The ticket prices are ($200, $125, $95 and
$55) and are on sale now through www.gmamusicawards.com, if you'd like to go
in person. If not, syndicator Central City Productions, from Chicago, will
get the show on major network affiliates throughout the country. The show
aired on Channel 5 here last year, and that may happen again. The show
will air April 15-May 21, which is anywhere from six weeks to six months
earlier than past years. "In the absence of a major network deal, this
arrangement works really well to get this show broadcast on major network
television stations," says GMA president John Styll. Will the show
ever be cablecast or broadcast live? "We hope so in the right
time. We hope it'll happen somewhat naturally as we continue to grow the
audience for the show."
We Remember: Jazz Pianist And Singer Shirley Horn Dies At 71
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com
(Oct. 24, 2005) *Shirley Horn,
a noted ballad singer and a pianist whose career took off under Miles Davis
in the 1960s, died Thursday of complications from diabetes, her record
company said in a
statement. She was 71. Born in Washington D.C. on May 1, 1934, Horn learned
how to play the piano at age four and went on to study classical piano at
Howard University. She formed put her first trio in 1954, and achieved
her first success in jazz during the early sixties with the encouragement of
Miles Davis and Quincy Jones. She recorded three albums during 1963-1965
for Mercury and ABC/Paramount, but decided to stay in the Washington, D.C.
are to raise a family instead of pursuing her career. In the 1980s, she
returned to the limelight on SteepleChase Records and put out a series of
well-received albums. In 1986, she began recording for Verve and
released such albums as “I Remember Miles,” a tribute album to Davis which
won the Grammy for best jazz vocal album in 1998. Six of her albums during
this period were nominated for Grammy awards. The Kennedy Center honoured Horn
with a tribute in 2004, and she was awarded a Jazz Master Fellowship by the
National Endowment for the Arts. "I'm not a quitter, I'm a
fighter," she told The Washington Post in late 2004, a few years after
diabetes forced the amputation of her right foot. "I've tried to keep
things as level as possible through this whole thing -- I'm cool. I know what
I have to d I'm never going to give up the piano, I'm never going to stop
singing till God says, 'I called your number.' I didn't panic, because I have
so much love for what I do."
Dynamic Duo Places The Soul Back In R&B: Christión Is Back
Source: Echo Hattix / Echoing Soundz, Inc. / www.echoingsoundz.com
(Oct. 24, 2005) Los Angeles, CA – Its been a long time
coming, but Oakland based Christión
is back on the music scene with a new
album, Project Plato that will give Hip-Hop and R&B fans young and old
the soul that has been missing. The Oakland Tribune hailed them as “the
next heirs to the Marvin Gaye and Curtis Mayfield throne,” and they carry
this same torch to their sophomore album. Christión initially found
critical acclaim as the first R&B group on Roc-A-Fella Records with their
single “Full of Smoke,” on the debut album, Ghetto Cyrano. The video
for “Full of Smoke,” a chilling tale of a street hustler coming to grips of
his negative lifestyle, also made rotation on BET. Ghetto Cyrano has won
rave reviews on VIBE, Rolling Stone, Billboard Magazine, People and The
Source. “I want to thank all the fans who’ve patiently waited for
our return,” says group member Kenni Ski. “I know it’s been a minute
since ya’ll heard from us. I look forward to the new path of the group
and I hope the fans of our music will join us on our journey.” Now on The
Mint Records, Kenni Ski and T. Ross of Christión, are ready to bring classic
Rhythm and Blues to the forefront for everyone to enjoy. Kenni Ski, who
has produced songs for Aftermath, DJ Clue, Dawn Robinson of En Vogue, and
both brother and former group member, Allen Anthony, are behind the classic
sound and laid back lyrics of Christión, have been quoted in songs by Jay-Z,
Diddy and Nas. With songs filled with tales from first hand experiences and
youthful wisdom with a new unique flavour, Christión’s new album, Project
Plato, will be impossible to put down.
Nelly Tries 'Sweatsuit' On Again
Excerpt from www.billboard.com -
By Jonathan Cohen, N.Y.
(Oct. 20, 2005) Nelly has rounded
up 14 highlights from his simultaneously released 2004 albums "Sweat" and "Suit" plus a handful of new songs for
the appropriately named "Sweatsuit." Due Nov. 22 via Universal, the
set is led by the fresh cuts "Grilz" featuring Paul Wall and Ali
& Gipp, "Tired" featuring Avery Storm and "Nasty
Girl" featuring Diddy, the late Notorious B.I.G. and Jagged Edge.
A video for "Grilz" is expected to be shot in Atlanta in the
coming weeks. The Jermaine Dupri-produced track spotlights the trend of
rappers outfitting their mouths with "grill pieces," of which Wall
has emerged as major proponent. Among the holdovers from
"Sweat" and "Suit" are such hits as "Over and
Over" featuring Tim McGraw and "My Place," which peaked at No.
3 and No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100, respectively. The new collection
is also tipped to feature such collaborations as "She Don't Know My
Name" with Snoop Dogg and Ronald Isley, "River Don't Runnn"
with Murphy Lee and Stephen Marley and "Playa" with Mobb Deep and
Missy Elliott. "Suit" and "Sweat" debuted in the
top two slots of The Billboard 200 last October. They have sold 4.3 million
copies combined in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
Africa Unite: The Singles Collection Features “Slogans” First
New Official Bob Marley Recording In More Than A Decade
Monday,
October 24th 2005 (TORONTO, ON.) - In the year Bob Marley would have turned 60, the past,
present and future of his music are celebrated not only with the first Bob
Marley & The Wailers greatest hits package to include both his early
sides and his Island Records hits but also a new recording and two new
remixes. Along with 17 vintage tracks, Africa
Unite: The Singles Collection (Island/Tuff Gong/Universal
Music Canada), in stores November 15, 2005, spotlights “Slogans,” the first
new official Marley track released in more than a decade. It is believed
Marley recorded the song “Slogans” in a Miami bedroom in 1979. The
tapes were kept at Marley’s mother’s house and last year the reggae legend’s
sons Stephen and Ziggy revisited the acoustic demo. In 2005, Stephen
overdubbed the tracks with other instruments, including guitar by Eric
Clapton. Stephen and Ziggy produced “Slogans” specifically for this
release. Another new recording is a remix of “Africa Unite,”
whose original was heard on the 1979 album Survival. The song is
presented here in an anthemic remix by will.i.am of The Black Eyed Peas, who
was personally invited to create the remix by Rita Marley, Bob’s wife.
Also new is the Ashley Beedle Remix of “Get Up, Stand Up Vs. Jamrock,” a
mash-up of Bob’s classic and “Welcome To Jamrock,” the 2005 hit from youngest
son Damian. Africa Unite: The Singles Collection commemorates Marley’s
life on record just as the 2005 Africa Unite concert in Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia, on his 60th birthday (February 6) commemorated it on stage.
Africa Unite: The Singles Collection includes the early classics “Soul
Rebel,” “Lively Up Yourself,” “Trenchtown Rock” and “Concrete Jungle”
alongside the Island hits “I Shot The Sheriff,” “Get Up, Stand Up,” “No
Woman, No Cry,” “Exodus,” “Jamming,” “Could You Be Loved,” “One Love/People
Get Ready,” “Roots, Rock, Reggae,” “Waiting In Vain,” “The Sun Is Shining,”
“Is This Love,” “Three Little Birds” and “Buffalo Soldier.” Marley’s
stature in music grows with each passing year. Africa Unite: The
Singles Collection continues his legacy.
Replacing Stern A Task For Many Mouths
Source: Associated Press
(Oct. 25, 2005) New York — Goodbye, Howard
Stern. Hello, David Lee Roth.
And Adam Carolla. And CNN Radio News. And Jack-FM. And ... Infinity
Broadcasting Corp., finally revealing its plans to replace the
self-proclaimed "King of All Media," announced a new morning drive
time line-up Tuesday of assorted hosts for its 27 soon-to-be former Stern stations.
Rather than turning to a single replacement, Infinity offered a variety of
names for different markets. The biggest belonged to ex-Van Halen front man
Roth and comedian Carolla. Roth, who appeared Tuesday morning on Stern's
nationally syndicated show to announced the move, will start in January on
WXRK-FM in New York, WBCN-FM in Boston, WYSP-FM in Philadelphia, WRKZ-FM in
Pittsburgh, WNCX-FM in Cleveland, WPBZ-FM in West Palm Beach, Fla., and
KLLI-FM in Dallas. Carolla, known for his comedy work on The Man Show and
Loveline, takes over on the Infinity stations in Los Angeles
(KLSX-FM), San Diego (KPLN-FM), Phoenix (KZON-FM), Portland (KUFO-FM) and Las
Vegas (KXTE-FM). "When we set out to find a replacement for Howard
Stern, we took the opportunity to cultivate a wide array of talent, from both
in and out of the radio industry," said Joel Hollander, Infinity's
chairman and CEO. Stern is on the air through the end of this year, before he
makes the leap from terrestrial radio to Sirius Satellite Radio. Infinity
stations in Sacramento, Buffalo, N.Y., and Fresno, Calif., will replace Stern
by switching to the "Jack" format, which features expanded play
lists of hundreds of songs — but includes no disc jockeys. A dozen other
Infinity stations will replace Stern with anything from talk radio to Tim
Warner Inc.'s CNN Radio News. Rover, a disc jockey heard in Ohio, will expand
his show into Chicago, Detroit, Cincinnati, Memphis and Rochester, N.Y.
Washington-based morning hosts The Junkies will add Baltimore as an outlet, while
WOCL-FM in Orlando will feature the team of Drew and Mel while KXBT-FM in
Austin will air Star & Buc Wild.
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::CD RELEASES::
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Tuesday, October 25, 2005
Chuck
Berry, Live Goode, Universe Italy
DESTINY'S CHILD #1's (Columbia)
FAITH EVANS A Faithful Christmas (Capitol)
FEFE DOBSON Sunday Love (Island)
JELLEESTONE, The Hood Is Here,
(Universal)
Lil' Flip, Flip Side of Lil Flip, Sucka Free
NSYNC Greatest Hits (Jive)
Prince Paul, Hip Hop Gold Dust, Antidote
ROBBIE WILLIAMS Intensive Care (Virgin)
SHARISSA Every Beat Of My Heart (Virgin)
Slum Village, Slum Village, Barak
Sly & The Family Stone, Mastercuts Presents, Mastercuts
THE SHOW DEBT, SWEAT & TEARS (EMI Music Canada)
Tuesday, November 1, 2005
DIANA KRALL Christmas Songs (Verve)
FREDDIE JACKSON Personal Reflections (Artemis)
ISAAC HAYES Ultimate Isaac Hayes: Can You Dig It? (Stax)
PUBLIC ENEMY New Whirl Odor (Slam Jamz)
R. KELLY Trapped in the Closet Chapters 1-12 (DVD)
(Jive)
SANTANA All That I Am (Arista)
TERRI CLARK Life Goes On (Mercury Nashville)
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::FILM NEWS::
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Underwood On Playing ‘Old Money’ In ‘G’
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com
(Oct. 24, 2005) What happens when you take F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great
Gatsby” and deep fry it in a vat of today’s hip hop
culture? You get “G,” a glossy film
opening in theatres this Friday starring Richard
T. Jones in a role pattered after the historic literary character.
Blair Underwood, one of the film’s
co-stars, explains the parallel story prevalent in both “G” and “The Great
Gatsby.” “It is a classic American tale of a love triangle, of an enigmatic
mysterious character who has all of this so-called new money in Long Island
in the 1920s and 30s,” the actor says of Jay Gatsby, portrayed by Robert
Redford in the 1974 film adaptation of the novel. “He throws these elaborate
parties, but he is new money, as opposed to old money that’s been there for
many, many years. This new money character comes to Long Island to find the
love of his life who he fell in love with many years ago, but that woman is
now married to this old money character. These are the basic themes you see
replayed in ‘G.’” “G” tells the story of self-made millionaire and rap mogul
Summer G (Jones) who is willing to risk the rap empire he built from scratch
in order to get back the love of his life, played by Chenoa Maxwell.
“New money nowadays – in say, the Hamptons in New York – would be the
moguls of contemporary music, specifically hip hop; Russell Simmons and
Diddy,” Underwood explains. “This character Summer G is a hip hop mogul cut
from the same cloth. He comes to the Hamptons. He throws these big
elaborate parties. He’s mysterious, he’s hip, he’s cool and he’s come to
claim his love, who is now married to this old money, conservative, uptight
guy. And that’s the character that I play; his name is Chip Hightower.
As is the journey with most African American stories outside of the
hood, Hollywood passed on “G” in a major way, forcing producers to seek
financing elsewhere. Andrew Lauren Productions eventually came to the
table and made it possible for the film to arrive in theatres across the
country weekend.
“From the giddyup, the making of the movie is a story in and of itself,”
laughs Underwood. “This is the little movie that could.” Directed by
Christopher Scott Cherot ("Hav Plenty”) and written by Cherot and
Charles E. Drew, Jr., the film is based on a play written by Drew, and stars
much of the cast from the stage production that ran in New York’s Greenwich
Village. "These are talented, up and coming faces who deserve to be seen
more,” Underwood said of the supporting cast, which also includes Sonja Sohn
and Andre Royo as an urban music writer who spends the summer writing about G
and his Hamptons lifestyle. “For me, it was an honour to work with
them. And I was always picking their brain.” With its posh, Hamptons
backdrop, “G” looks and feels a world apart from the stereotype-ridden urban
dramas cranked out by Hollywood studios. Underwood said it was Drew’s script
and its multi-dimensioned characters that appealed to him. “To put all of
these elements together – the hipness and the relevancy of hip hop today, but
set in the context of the Hamptons, beachfront properties, wealth, money,” he
said. “And then you have very human, universal dynamics flowing back and
forth between the characters: love hate, infidelity, loyalty, all those
things. You have well-dressed, good lookin’ black folk in a wealthy
environment. They’re talking about the highs and lows, depth, breadth and
width of humanity. We don’t get a chance to do that too often on screen.
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Could Movies Be Stunting Our Cultural Growth?
Excerpt from The Toronto Star -
Robin Harvey, Staff Reporter
(Oct. 22, 2005) Casting Toronto chiefly as Hollywood North and ignoring
its role as a pivotal theatre town is shortsighted and may be foolhardy, says
a leader in the British arts and dance scene. "Movies are a hugely
popular forum for all people so they are out there on everybody's
radar," Luke Rittner, chairman of the London Academy of Music and
Dramatic Art, said at a reception at the Canadian Music Centre's Chalmers
House in Toronto this week. "But what builds the fundamentals of
culture comes from the bottom up," said Rittner, who is also chief
executive of the Royal Academy of Dance. "It's the smaller arts. The
plays, the dancers. The visual artists ... you have to educate the ordinary
person when they are young to build culture — get them in the
schools." Rittner was in Toronto to mark a special workshop LAMBDA
was running with Ryerson Theatre School grads. He said Canada may not
be taking advantage of its strongest cultural card — its multicultural
communities' commitment to their diverse art forms, both in education and
financial support. "This is a way where Toronto can lead the world,"
he said. "The partnerships that can be explored with the different
multicultural communities, to expand the arts bases in this city, are
staggering." William Boyle, CEO of Harbourfront Centre, said
governments are too quick to believe that film money means the city is a
player on the cultural scene. He pointed out that Harbourfront pumps $130
million into the local economy.
"That's all (local money) ... artists currently living here, people
involved in dance, theatre and music, visual arts," he said. "That
is what develops our cultural base right here and now." That is
different from much of the film industry, where a substantial amount of the
money leaves the city and the country, Boyle said. "Ontario should
be supporting the film industry but we are underfunding our feeder cultural
forces. We ignore them at our peril," he said, adding that the movie
industry does little to support development of new talent or cultural
identity. Actor Lally Cadeau, who has spent nine seasons at the
Stratford Festival, says classical theatre is a vital element of our
culture. "It gives younger performers opportunities to grow and
learn," she said. "It gives us all something to strive for. We all
develop as performers. As Canadian performers." Perry Schneiderman,
chair of Ryerson's Theatre School, said the obsession with Hollywood North —
and the focus of government resources to supporting the film industry — may
bring in big bucks, but "it's the tail wagging the dog. "Not
one of these Toronto standing in for Chicago/New York or whatever films will
do much to develop our culture," he said. "The seeds are sewn in
theatre ... True talent is developed."
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Man Who Taught Marley Guitar Doesn't Like To Be Noticed
Excerpt from The Toronto Star - Ashante
Infantry, Entertainment Reporter
(Oct. 22, 2005) Ernie Ranglin
began his music career as a defiant 10-year-old, singing and playing ukulele
on Jamaica's first radio station, to the great
displeasure of his strict, religious parents. By his mid-teens, he was
in his own band, landing club gigs and studio work. "I had to
support myself, because my parents turned against me because of my
music," Ranglin has said. "They said I would be a drunkard in the
streets." Instead, he became one of the founders of ska, known for
his timing and playful melodies, and recognized as Jamaica's greatest jazz
guitarist. Along the way, he gave Bob Marley guitar lessons, played on
and arranged Jamaica's first international hit, Millie Small's 1964 "My
Boy Lollipop," and collaborated with African musicians and his native
island's other esteemed jazz export, pianist Monty Alexander. Backed by
local musicians, the congenial 73-year-old father of six, married for 36
years to his second wife, makes a rare appearance in Toronto tonight,
performing his melange of calypso, reggae, pop and jazz at Hugh's Room. In an
interview from his Florida home, he said he's cutting back on travels — not
because he's tired, just growing wary of airport x-ray machines.
Cross-pollination
"I'm a jazz player, but I'm also Jamaican, so I try to mix the jazz feel
with a Jamaican beat. I went to Senegal and linked up with their musicians
(including noted singer Baaba Maal) and we did a record (1998's In Search
Of The Lost Riddim) mixing their sound with Caribbean music and American
jazz. I've been to South Africa many times, but I want to go into deeper
parts of the continent, because I want to know more about their culture and
rhythms. Music should be a potpourri. Imagine combining Arabian and Japanese
music. That could be really something good."
The full Monty
"While I was playing professionally, he (pianist Alexander) was still
going to college and he convinced his teacher to let him out of class to come
and play with us. Back then we played mento and calypso, as well as swing,
bebop and songs from Broadway musicals. Then he went to America where he was
really exposed to some of their great jazz musicians, while I was between
Jamaica and the Bahamas and only heard them on record. Whenever we meet, it's
a pleasure. We've toured together in places likes Switzerland and New
Zealand, and last year we recorded (the CD) Rocksteady."
Encore
"Jamaica has given me many wonderful awards — the Order of Distinction,
the Musgrave Medal, a Doctor of Literature from the University of the West
Indies — which I keep in my office at home. But I'm not a person who likes
excitement. Even in Jamaica, I like to be low-key — if people don't recognize
me, I don't make them any wiser. Sometimes I hear people talking about Ernie
Ranglin and I'm right there listening. That's good, because I'm always eager
to know how I'm doing."
Strictly business
"I'm self-taught. I read books and listened to albums to study the
harmonies and arrangements. I had a good ear. My early inspiration came from
saxophonist Louis Jordan and organist Bill Doggett; but Charlie Parker and
Dizzy Gillespie were the ones that really sparked me. Today, there are a few
fellows doing jazz, but as far as I'm concerned it could be called funk.
Everything now is the commercial way, which I guess is the financial way.
That's very sad. The music should be more serious, like the days of Parker
and John Coltrane. That's jazz to me. But who am I to say what is what?"
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George Clooney, The Thinker
Excerpt from The Globe and Mail
- By James Adams
(Oct. 22, 2005 The movie Good Night, and Good Luck takes
you back to a time and place -- the early 1950s, the newsroom of CBS
Television in
Manhattan -- when you didn't need permission to fire up a cigarette in your
boss's office, yet that same boss could fire you if he learned you were
married to a fellow employee. It was a time when secretaries (all female, of
course) were thick of ankle, sensible of dress and bustling models of
uncomplaining efficiency. A time when an interviewer could ask Liberace if he
was ready to settle down with Mrs. Right and not have the at-home audience
instantaneously snicker into its highballs. Yet for all its knowing humour,
pomaded machismo and loving recreations of tobacco-cured TV studios and
fluorescent-lit hallways, Good Night, and Good Luck is no lightweight
exercise in style-driven nostalgia. It's a damn serious movie, a labour of
love, in fact, about the labour that was (and perhaps still is) TV
journalism, directed, co-produced, co-written by and co-starring none other
than the Man with the Golden Grin, George Clooney, hunkish star of Ocean's Eleven, Batman
and Robin and TV's ER. As the driving force, Clooney is determined
to see that his creation, which marks his second foray into directing (the
first was 2002's Confessions of a Dangerous Mind), gets as much attention
as charisma and clout allow. That's a tough sell given that Good Night,
and Good Luck is a nudity-free look back on a real political story from a
half-century ago featuring two now-dead white guys.
To get the word out, Clooney agreed to give The Globe and Mail a rare
interview over the phone from Los Angeles, where he's readying Syriana, another
feature in which he co-stars and serves as executive producer, for release.
As he talks about Good Night, the actor-director is precise and smart,
offering certain quantitative details. Clooney says, for instance, that when
he tested the film earlier this year, 20 per cent of the sample audience
inquired as to the name of the actor portraying its trigger-point figure, the
burly Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy. The footage is, in fact, of
McCarthy himself, courtesy of 1950s Kinescope footage. "We realized we
couldn't cast an actor as McCarthy," he explains. "He'd look too
much like a buffoon." Good Night, and Good Luck hinges on what
was, at the time, a defining national event: the real-life showdown between
McCarthy, the politician who was determined to root out, among many others,
the 205 Communist agents he said had infiltrated the U.S. government, and
Edward R. Murrow, a veteran reporter and host of CBS-TV's then well regarded
current-affairs program See It Now. In a famous, controversial TV
special aired March 9, 1954, Murrow pointedly attacked McCarthy's tendency to
"convict people by hearsay, rumour or innuendo" and the climate of
fear he stoked. This was followed a few weeks later by McCarthy's equally
famous televised rebuttal in which he accused Murrow of being a long-time
Communist sympathizer and "the cleverest of the jackal pack which is
always at the throat of anyone who dares to expose Communist traitors."
Although shot over six weeks earlier this year for only $8-million (U.S.), Good
Night, and Good Luck -- the title comes from Murrow's trademark sign-off
-- hasn't lacked for exposure (including a cover story on Clooney for the
inaugural edition of Men's Vogue), or critical trophies, most notably for
best screenplay and best actor (for David Strathairn as Murrow) at last
month's Venice International Film Festival.
The movie, moreover, grossed more than $610,000 in its first week in early
October, on just 11 screens in the United States -- the highest per-screen
result of any film in the country and more than double what Clooney expected.
It's a sign, perhaps, of good things ahead as Good Night goes into
wider release this coming Friday, and Hollywood looks to the Oscar
nominations deadline just three months away. The son of former newsman Nick
Clooney and an ex-journalism student himself, the 44-year-old Clooney is at
once dismayed and philosophic about the amnesia his test audiences exhibited.
"Almost 50 per cent didn't know Murrow. Thirty per cent hadn't heard of
McCarthy, or they knew the term 'McCarthyism' but didn't associate it with
this guy named Joe McCarthy. "We don't have history, a sense of history,
in America. It's clear we don't because we seem to repeat so much of
it." Not surprisingly, those who think they do have a sense of the
historical record have been quick to tease out resonances between what's
pictured in Good Night and the current political and journalistic
landscape in the U.S. Some on the right say the movie has been "edited
with the devilishly clever selectivity" that McCarthyites accused Murrow
of practising 50 years ago. Others of more liberal cast say it's pervaded by
the aroma of the Patriot Act, the incarcerations at Guantanamo Bay and the
abuses of Abu Ghraib, not to mention the timidity and compliance of the U.S.
media post-9/11. Others have argued that while the "advocacy
journalism" and "enlightened citizenship" Good Night
celebrates paved the way for TV newsman Walter Cronkite and Watergate's
Woodward and Bernstein, Murrow's spawn also includes Bill O'Reilly, Matt
Drudge and The Barbara Walters Specials.
Strathairn acknowledges "a piece of history was in everybody's
pocket" during the making of Good Night. The actor, who reflected
on his role during a visit to Toronto the week before last, first came to
prominence starring in such politically charged John Sayles movies as Return
of the Secaucus 7, Matewan and Eight Men Out. On Good Night,
he says, "You could reach in and pull out the McCarthy hearings of 1953,
or the internment of Japanese-Americans in camps after Pearl Harbor in 1941,
or the American press after 9/11." At the same time, "no one ever
said, 'George is going for a direct reflection here.' George just wanted to
tell a story, a true story, about a journalist working at a particular moment
in the history of TV journalism, someone who used the instrument to great
ends, not for purposes of polarization. George did not set out to make a
Michael Moore propagandizing divisive assault." Both Strathairn and
Clooney -- who plays Murrow's boss and future CBS News president Fred
Friendly -- agree that if Good Night stands as something other than a
gripping, fact-based cautionary tale, it's as a sort of mash note to the U.S.
Constitution and the protections afforded by the Bill of Rights (including
trials involving sworn testimony, credible witnesses, legitimate evidence and
adequate legal representation). "The reason Murrow's speeches hold up,
even in 'insane' places in America," says Clooney, "is not because
of some liberal bias. It's because they're not preaching or preachy; they're
speaking straight to Constitutional issues." Clooney is unabashedly
happy to identify himself as a liberal and to set conservative teeth gnashing
by, variously, working with U2's Bono on behalf of international debt relief,
appearing on telethons to raise money for victims of natural disasters,
bashing McCarthy apologist Ann Coulter as "incompetent," and
announcing plans to build a casino in Las Vegas that would contribute 25 per
cent of its profits to charity. At the same time, he's been hesitant to go
the endorsement route -- to the point last year of steering clear of stumping
for his father Nick's campaign to become a Democratic congressman from
Kentucky, or giving an overt thumbs-up to John Kerry's presidential
candidacy. "The word liberal is not a bad word. I challenge anyone to
find where we've been on the wrong side of an issue." But he
acknowledges that liberals, at least for the time being, have "lost the
moral argument" and may continue to stay lost until the end of the
decade, in part, "I guess because we're bad at self-promotion."
By Hollywood standards, and even some Canadian ones, $8-million is not a big
budget -- Syriana, another political film in which Clooney plays a
salt-and-pepper-bearded CIA operative, cost close to $60-million -- but
Clooney insists he and co-writer Grant Heslov never conceived of Good
Night as anything bigger than what it is. "We were trying to create
this claustrophobic feeling," inspired, in part, by such movies as Fail-Safe
and 12 Angry Men, "where everything is in this kind of
box." In fact, not one of Good Night's 93 minutes contains a
single exterior shot, and in only four or five brief instances does the
camera take the viewer outside CBS headquarters. "Opening up" the
movie to show, say, Murrow at home with his wife and son would have been a
mistake, according to Clooney. Yes, it would have given the viewer more
context, more biography -- but with a corresponding loss of paranoia-fuelled
tension. "It wouldn't look nearly as dangerous as what we were trying to
convey." Another advantage of the low budget was the freedom it gave
Clooney to cast Strathairn, heretofore an actor's actor, as his lead, instead
of an A-lister. "I'm not a big rehearsal guy," Clooney explains.
"You get the right people, and let them do it. David was the right guy
for the job. I did maybe three takes at most on his speeches. Most of the
time he was dead-perfect on his first try. But I'd call for these additional
takes because, you know, I felt that's what a director should do!"
Strathairn, 56, recalls doing no more than two reads of the script in front
of Clooney, with his sole screen test occurring just one week before principal
photography started. "George told me, 'It's not a biopic. Don't worry
about an impersonation. Just try to download [Murrow's] stuff -- his
vocabulary, his cadence, his presence. And you gotta smoke cigarettes, a lot
of cigarettes.' " This because Murrow fed his nicotine habit
incessantly, even on camera, and died of lung cancer in 1965, just two days
after his 57th birthday. (Strathairn matches his subject puff for
throat-searing puff, itself an impressive acting feat given that he's a
non-smoker.) Having cinematographer Robert Elswit shoot in black and
white was always part of the plan, given the integration with the old
McCarthy reels. Besides, Murrow to this day is remembered as a
black-and-white presence in the living rooms of America. "I don't think
even Life [magazine] ever published a colour photograph of the man,"
Clooney says. Some other things cohered, clearly, with the benefit of good
luck: Clooney hired Dianne Reeves to sing, live to film, a brace of jazz
standards accompanied by members of his deceased aunt Rosemary Clooney's
band. At 49, Reeves is well-regarded in jazz circles but is hardly a
household name. "She sent a tape in," he says. "I thought it
was good. I told her, 'You're in.' " Originally, Clooney wrote just one
scene, albeit a key one, with music in mind, in this instance, the melody and
lyrics of How High the Moon. But then he saw how other songs, like You're
Driving Me Crazy and I've Got My Eye on You, could function as
"a kind of Greek chorus." In fact, if one excludes the tip-tapping
of Murrow's typewriter and the clinking of glasses of Scotch and creaking of
chairs, Reeves and company are the only soundtrack on Good Night.
Clooney acknowledges that the proliferation of TV channels in the last 30
years means there may never be another Edward R. Murrow or Walter Cronkite to
"speak truth to power" and galvanize public opinion. But this isn't
necessarily a bad thing, even if the elegiac tone of Good Night, and Good
Luck might suggest otherwise. "Instead of it being just one person,
it can be all the media people, as a collective. It's like [Fox News's]
Shepard Smith in the wake of Katrina telling [Fox pundit] Bill O'Reilly he's
full of crap. It has the same effect. "Maybe it's no longer possible for
there to be a 'most trusted man in America.' " [the moniker held by
comedian Milton Berle in the 1950s and Cronkite in the 1960s.] "But what
if the most trusted man in America today was a mouthpiece for the U.S.
government? We'd be in big trouble." Good Night, and Good Luck opens
in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal next Friday and in Ottawa and Winnipeg on
Nov. 4.
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Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang: Witty Gritty Bang Bang
Excerpt from The
Toronto Star - Susan Walker, Entertainment Reporter
Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang
Starring Robert Downey Jr., Val Kilmer and Michelle Monaghan. Written and
directed by Shane Black. 103 minutes. At the Varsity. 14A
(Oct. 21, 2005) Let's get this perfectly clear: there's no such
thing as a bad movie
in which Robert Downey Jr. plays a
starring role. Shane Black, famous for writing Lethal Weapon,
casts him well as the hapless, petty thief on the run who stumbles into a
movie audition and finds himself parachuted into the Hollywood party scene.
Harold Lockhart thinks he's headed for the silver screen. Downey Jr.'s
inimitable mix of talents - he can be comic, tragic and especially
tragi-comic - score high in the aptitudes required to carry a movie that is
goofy, satiric, self-referential, suspenseful and action-packed. Kiss
Kiss, Bang Bang is an action farce that pays homage to American film
noir, The Big Sleep in particular, the director's own penchant for
cliffhanger action and to Hollywood in all its sleazy absurdity.
Piercing the fourth wall with his opening monologue, Downey as Harry Lockhart
welcomes the audience to the poolside scene at a lavish Hollywood party.
"I'll be your narrator." Then there's Gay Perry - an
uncommonly funny Val Kilmer - the
private detective hired to show Harry how to act like a private detective.
This is Perry, deadpanning to Harry's question "Are you really
gay?": "No, right now I'm knee-deep in pussy. I just like the
name." Gay Perry really is, of course. He's also a tough,
shirt-button-busting gunman when he has to be. (The string of gay gags that
runs through Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang is only a notch above the purely
puerile, but at least it's gay-positive.) Harry also meets the beautiful
Harmony Faith Lane (Michele Monaghan) at the party, in fact tries to rescue
her from some skirt-lifting creep who finds her dozing and gets punched out
for it. When Harry later catches up with Harmony and her badass girlfriend
he's pleased to learn that she is in fact his little friend from the small
town in Indiana where they grew up. Apart from being Harry's love
interest, Harmony's function is to introduce a meta-plot. As a child she read
all the detective stories by a pulp fiction writer whose chief character was
Jenny Gossamer. Slowly - no surprise - the movie starts to resemble one of
Jenny's stories in which two seemingly dissimilar cases are found to be the
same one.
Harry and Gay, channelling Laurel and Hardy, land a dead body on their first
outing. Harry so bungles his instructions that Perry starts to deal out the
abuse. Trying to ditch him, he says: "Any questions, hesitate to
call." Hours later a second corpse is found: It is Harmony's
sister. The two bodies lead back to Harlan Dexter, a former actor and now
multi-millionaire owner of a string of nursing homes for the mentally ill.
Hilariously, this part is played by Corbin Bernsen, best remembered, maybe
only remembered, for his role as cheesy Arnie Becker in L.A. Law. And
it is as Arnie that we see him in a flashback. In the deliberately
over-complicated and wildly paced plot, one bullet-riddled body leads to
another and the thugs fall like flies. Then comes the obligatory car chase on
the freeway and Harry's one-armed, Harold Lloyd-style, life-and-death
suspension from a precariously tipping coffin. Sleeping around is
another theme to serve the ridiculous and satirize L.A.'s one-industry
community. Flicka, a buxom peroxide blonde, found at the bar where Harry
tracks down Harmony is the first in a series of sluts, male and female:
"She's been f----d more times than she's had hot meals," notes
Harry as narrator. Even the smart-aleck repartee serves double duty as
a spoof on private dick movies of the past. In response to some insult hurled
at him by Harmony's trashy girlfriend, Harry says: "Your mouth is a
recommended place to put a sock." Soon it's all over but the
wrap-up remarks, as Harry addresses the audience "with one final scene
for your viewing pleasure." It's a movie, after all, a movie-lover's
movie.
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A Nose For A Good Story: Steve Martin
Excerpt from The
Toronto Star - Peter Howell, Movie Critic
(Oct. 21, 2005) Over three decades in the public eye, Steve Martin has
learned the art of saying a lot while keeping secret that which he chooses
not to reveal. It's a skill that politicians, major rock stars and the
most serious of actors employ to stay out of trouble and to protect their
privacy and sanity. Martin, who recently turned 60, has long wished to be
considered a serious actor, and so this one-time "wild and crazy
guy" has become the mild and evasive man. He's very good at it, I've
found, both in one-on-one interview situations and in press conferences,
where he adjusts his technique to suit the audience. He's been doing plenty
of both to promote Shopgirl,
his wistful new romance that opens today, starring himself, Claire Danes and
Jason Schwartzman. On his own, the Texas-born and California-reared
Martin is unfailingly polite, apologizing for interrupting a journalist's
question. He's self-deprecating and eager to please, avoiding any appearance
of putting on airs. He gives long and thoughtful answers, unless you ask him
something that goes against the grain or intrudes on a personal space. Then
you get "no" or "never" or both in reply. Such as when I
asked him if he will ever return to his wacky stand-up comic routine that
first won him fame in the 1970s: "Nope. Never, never, never, never,
never." At press conferences, including the one he shared at the
Toronto film festival with Shopgirl co-star Claire Danes, he's more
the jolly raconteur. He spins out one-liners ("In drama you worry and in
comedy you really worry") and banters back and forth. He appears to
enjoy the process of discussing his writing, his acting and his theories
about comedy. But listen carefully and you can hear the steel gates
clatter down and the castle doors clang shut. Such as when a journo poses the
most sensitive question of all regarding Shopgirl, the screen adaptation
of Martin's 2000 novella about a naïve sales clerk with artistic ambitions
(played by Danes in the movie) who falls for a secretive and manipulative
older man (Martin). Here goes: Exactly how much of Shopgirl is
based on Martin's own romantic past? He bristles at the query but
quickly rallies his defences.
"Well, it's hard to answer," he says, guarding a smile. "Some
is personal, some isn't. It's a work of fiction. It's a work of imagination,
I hope. It's also that you draw characters from life." In point of
fact, Shopgirl is based on a lot more of Martin's recent life than he
cares for the public to know. A few days after his Toronto visit, the New
York Times published an interview with his ex-girlfriend Allyson
Hollingsworth, 36, who looks a lot like Claire Danes and who met Martin in
similar circumstances as those in Shopgirl. She is also an artist, and
she worked as artistic consultant for the Shopgirl movie, which Martin
also produced. Bit by bit, she recreated a striking nude charcoal self-portrait
of herself, which Danes' character Mirabelle Buttersfield is seen making and
displaying. In deference to Martin, Hollingsworth declined to comment
on her past romantic relationship with him, or to reveal how closely Shopgirl
reflects it. Martin also declined comment, and the topic was still not on
his agenda when I chatted with him by phone from L.A. last week. He
did, however, agree with me that he has become less forthcoming as his career
has progressed, and he has grown weary of the constant need to "stoke
the star-maker machinery," as Joni Mitchell once said of fame. He
doesn't like having his picture taken — this is the same guy who used to
prance on stage in King Tut and bunny rabbit outfits — and he does press
interviews out of a sense of duty, not desire. "It is difficult
talking about things, because I don't like to get political in
interviews," he says. "It just leads to trouble. And I don't
know why I'm telling you all this, but I don't think I can add anything to my
own work. Nothing that anybody else couldn't add, just by looking at
it." He admires the way Bob Dylan has so skilfully befuddled and
blocked every interviewer who has dogged him since the early 1960s.
"You don't want to know what Bob Dylan is thinking," Martin
insists, expressing a minority opinion he takes to be common sense.
"I'm a different personality. I wish I had that same strength. I always
find that interviews with artists are always wrong. They're always wrong
about themselves. What we like about (their art) and what they like about it
are really two different things." You can sympathize a bit with
Martin, even if it's hard to muster many tears for a man who has hit movies,
TV shows, plays, books and records to his credit, and whose sizeable personal
wealth has allowed him to indulge his hobby of collecting art by such greats
as Picasso, Hooper and de Kooning.
When he first hit it big as a comedian, this one-time Disneyland children's
performer and gag writer for the Smothers Brothers and Sonny and Cher liked
to mock show biz conventions. He was the clown prince of the counter-culture,
the master of the ironic putdown of the old and the corny. He wrote jokes and
short stories — remember Cruel Shoes, his 1979 publishing debut? —
that appealed to corners of the brain where logic learned to "get
small" and to mock the straight. He didn't have to sell his work
or even talk about it. He was so hip, all it took were a few appearances
hosting Saturday Night Live — the hottest show of the 1970s — for
everyone to know what he was about, and to get where he was coming
from. "I grew up in the '60s and it was just a whole other
attitude," Martin agrees. "Lorne Michaels talks about how he
never marketed SNL. And I never did Steve Martin lunch boxes in the
'70s, because our ethic was that you were supposed to let the work speak for
itself. But now the process is that you write it and you make it and then you
explain it. Which you know, in a sense, you're doing the job of the
journalist or taking away the job from the journalist." Lately
he's more acutely aware of this situation than usual. Besides Shopgirl,
he's also answering questions about his remake of The Pink Panther and
his comedy sequel Cheaper by the Dozen 2, both due out in coming weeks
owing to an unfortunate collision of production and marketing
schedules. He's not looking forward to trying to talk intelligently
about his two comedies — "Sometimes you're just making stuff up''— but
he knows it's demanded of him, and he will oblige. He's much more willing to
man the phone and smile at press conferences for Shopgirl, because it
means so much more to him, and it's part of the serious artistic expressions
he wants to make for the rest of his life. "I feel a connection to Shopgirl.
It was my first serious prose piece. So I really became intimate with every
sentence. I felt really personal about it, although it's not a personal
story." Not a personal story? So there's nothing about Martin like
his Shopgirl character Ray Porter, the outwardly courteous and
generous millionaire who deep down has serious intimacy issues? To give an
honest answer to that question, Martin would have to reflect on his failed
past relationships not just with his Shopgirl muse Allyson
Hollingsworth, but his long string of former flames that have included his
ex-wife Victoria Tennant and girlfriends Anne Heche and Bernadette
Peters. Martin is not about to get that personal, so here's what he
says about playing Ray Porter: "I understood the character. It was hard
to say some of the things that Ray Porter had to say." It's too
soon for him to get much feedback on the movie, but Shopgirl has been
out as a book long enough for Martin to hear some interesting comments, which
split along gender and age lines. Many men have told him they understand Ray
Porter, too. Many older women describe the story as sad, or even a tragedy.
Many younger women, however, call it romantic. He finds that
fascinating. The steel gates are starting to roll down and the castle
doors are being closed on the interview. But Martin finishes with an anecdote
he'll likely tell many times as he promotes The Pink Panther, in which
he recreates the bumbling Inspector Clouseau character made famous by Peter
Sellers. "I met Peter Sellers once, at a promotional event in
Hawaii about 1980. He was extremely kind to me. He came up to me, and I don't
tell this story very often, and I was doing stand-up and I had The Jerk coming
out. I was under a lot of criticism because I was kind of a flagrant
comedian. And he said, `I know you're under a lot of criticism right now, but
I know what you're doing.' It was really nice." It sounds like the
most honest and intimate thing Martin has said in the entire interview. But
how could anyone know for sure?
Shopgirl: A Melancholy Fairy Tale
Excerpt from The Toronto Star - Peter
Howell, Movie Critic
Shopgirl
Starring Steve Martin, Claire Danes and Jason Schwartzman. Directed by Anand
Tucker. 104 minutes. At the Cumberland and Paramount theatres. PG
(Oct. 21, 2005) It is a scene from a fairy tale, which Shopgirl is, in
its own wonderfully melancholy way. Tucked away at the end of a long
aisle of women's accoutrements in a Beverly Hills store, dreamily gazing
skyward as she waits for the customers who rarely attend, is a young woman in
her late 20s named Mirabelle Buttersfield (Claire Danes). She sells long formal gloves, the kind that
women don't much wear anymore. But that fits her lifestyle, which seems of a
time and place somewhere over the rainbow. She's come to L.A. from rural
Vermont, and resides in a whimsical flat with an up-and-down staircase. She
has a pet cat that is almost invisible and drives a pick-up truck she wishes
could be that way. Mirabelle has abandoned all thoughts of excitement
in exchange for low stress and regular hours. And yet she yearns for
something more. She stays up late taking Polaroid pictures and drawing
charcoal sketches for the avant-garde art she produces every six months or
so, and occasionally manages to sell. She is waiting for life to happen
to her, rather than seeking to make her own way. And in the tradition of the
best fairy tales, life does just that. Before she really knows what is
happening, Mirabelle finds herself being courted by two very different men:
the scruffy and fidgety Jeremy (Jason Schwartzman), who is close to her age;
and the dapper but reserved Ray Porter (Steve Martin), who is a good 20 years her senior. It is a
love triangle of sorts, one the multi-talented Martin has made more apparent
in his screenplay than he did in his novella of the same name. But any
similarity to Jules et Jim (which director Anand Tucker referenced in Hilary
and Jackie, his best-known film) is not only coincidental, but
ludicrous. Jeremy is not right for Mirabelle. A rock amplifier salesman
with few ambitions, he's unkempt, a cheapskate (his idea of a movie date is
to sit and stare at the marquee) and he's as dopey as a dormouse. Ray
is so much more appealing. A dot-com millionaire with mansions in L.A. and
Seattle, a private jet and enough money to make a girl feel like Cinderella
every night, he's made Mirabelle the envy of all the other girls at Saks
Fifth Avenue, especially bitchy vamp Lisa (Bridgette Wilson-Sampras).
There can be no comparison between Jeremy and Ray, can there? Unless you make
love your basis, and assess how well a person gives it as well as receives
it. That levels the playing field for this love match.
Recalling Martin's earlier L.A. idylls in L.A. Story and Bowfinger,
the movie dreamily views the City of Angels with a similar smiling
benevolence — every night is starry in cinematographer Peter Suschitzky's
poetic lens — but with a deep sense of longing. There are so many stories
beneath the swaying palms and roaring expressways, and so many of them
involve people who just want to be loved. Shopgirl's feathery
plot is lifted by three sterling performances. As Ray, a man as grey as
his suits, Steve Martin has never smiled less or seemed more significant.
Fans may be taken aback by how forced his humour seems. Ray is not an easy
guy to laugh with. As Jeremy, the restless rocker, Jason Schwartzman
has never seemed more yearning. And as Mirabelle, the woman with stars
in her eyes and romance in her heart, Claire Danes has never seemed more
fragile, or more appealing. Her eyes fill with wonder and apprehension as she
gazes out into that starry distance, wondering if knights ride among the
hills of Hollywood.
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FILM TIDBITS
John Singleton Given ‘Behind The Lens’
Award
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com
(Oct. 25, 2005) *On Sunday, filmmaker John Singleton was given
DaimlerChrysler’s prestigious Behind the Lens award for career achievement
during a ceremony in Los Angeles. “This is my first career
achievement honour where I’m being honoured for the body of my work,” the
37-year-old told EUR’s Lee Bailey. “It’s funny because I’ve been in the
business 15 years, and in our business, that’s almost like a lifetime. And I
think that I’m just getting started.” Singleton broke onto the scene in 1991
with the groundbreaking “Boyz N the Hood,” which helped to jump-start the
careers of Lawrence Fishburne, Ice Cube, Cuba Gooding Jr. and Angela Bassett.
He went on to write two more films – “Poetic Justice” and “Baby Boy” – to
complete what he has called his “hood trilogy” depicting the lives of folk
growing up in South Central, Los Angeles. “John is one of
two people in this whole world who believed in me more than I believed in
myself,” said Tyrese, who starred in “Baby Boy” as well as Singleton’s last
directorial effort, “Four Brothers.” “If it weren’t for him seeing things in
me, as far as acting, then I wouldn’t be here.” Tyrese also credits the
USC film school veteran with introducing him to a new tax bracket.
“I’ve been doing music for a long time now, and I done made more money in
this acting thing than I could ever see in my damn life,” laughs Tyrese, a
Compton native who cut his teeth in the industry as an R&B singer. “I’m
tryin’ to tell you, when a man can put food on your table, boy, that’s where
all your respect go to.” Other films on Singleton’s resume include
“Rosewood,” “2 Fast 2 Furious” and the forthcoming “Fear and Respect” and
“Luke Cage,” both due next year. “People were surprised at what
I’ve done in the last 15 years, just wait and see what I’m gonna do in the
next 20 and 30 years in this business,” Singleton said.
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::TV NEWS::
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Pay
TV: Monopoly Or Just A Sweet Deal?
Source: John Mckay, Canadian Press
(Oct. 21, 2005) Several Canadian media heavyweights go before the CRTC on Monday armed with compelling
evidence for and against the idea of at
least one more pay television service for domestic viewers. In this corner,
there are four broadcast industry groups who argue that ending a
two-decades-old monopoly on premium viewing is long overdue. In the other
corner, the owners of Astral Media and Corus Entertainment  who, since 1983,
have dominated pay TV with The Movie Network in Eastern Canada and Movie
Central in the West respectively. "We believe that by licensing
Spotlight and introducing competition to this platform everyone wins, even
the incumbents," argues George Burger, president and CEO of Spotlight
Television, a joint venture between Burger, a former Alliance Communications
executive, and Larry Tanenbaum, chairman of the private investment company
Kilmer Van Nostrand. But John Riley, president of Astral Television
Networks, says Canadians are getting all the premium programming available
now with one-stop shopping and at a much cheaper rate than through a
U.S.-style competitive model. "Why would consumers benefit from
this?" Riley asks. "You're taking the programming that they already
receive on one channel and saying it would be better if we sprinkled that
over two channels, perhaps more." Riley says subscribers to his
Movie Network, for example, get all the good stuff from HBO and Showtime in
the U.S. — shows like The Sopranos and Six Feet Under — plus original
Canadian content, for about $20 a month. He presents charts showing that in
contrast, Americans fork out about $50 for the same content because they have
to buy more than one service if they want to get everything. Burger describes
those figures as "a little less than accurate." In addition
to Spotlight, applicants include:
· Allarco Entertainment, backed by the Alberta-based Allard broadcast
family, which pioneered pay TV in Canada with the old Superchannel service.
Their plan would have all programmers share access to the imported HBO,
Showtime and Starz fare.
· BoomTV is
a bilingual proposal from Quebecor's Archambault Group. Their plan is to
introduce bidding for U.S. shows which critics say would drive up the cost.
·
The Canadian Film Channel, from Channel Zero, operators of the current
digital-tier specialty channels Moviola and Silver Screen Classics. With a
unique twist, TCFC does not want to go head to head with other applicants or
the incumbents but suggests being bundled along with those services as a
supplementary offering.
Spotlight argues its investment plan would create more Canadian content and
yield more revenue from the whole pay TV sector by ending a monopoly that has
been getting rich without having to aggressively seek out new
subscribers. Spotlight has the backing of Bell ExpressVu, one of the
country's major satellite carriers. He also dismissed the thought that
one of the new applicants might pull a fast one and come up with an exclusive
deal to launch an HBO Canada, in the way Alberta-based Craig Media a few
years back surprised the industry with its MTV Canada specialty
channel. Following the hearings, the federal broadcast regulator is
expected to make a ruling some time next spring. A new service, if one is
approved, could be up and running a year from now.
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Becoming Black
Excerpt from The Toronto Star - Robert
Crew, Arts Writer
(Oct. 26, 2005) It's lunchtime and Conrad
Black has made a modest meal of beef stroganoff, rice and salad
before rising majestically from the table.
"Right," he booms to all within earshot, "I'm now ready to
meet the maggots of the media." It's not the real Lord Black of
Crossharbour, but certainly a more than reasonable facsimile thereof.
We are in downtown Hamilton, in the old-world Hamilton Club where stern oil
paintings hang on the walls, impassive witnesses to the organized mayhem that
is a movie set. The movie in question is Shades
of Black. Drawing on the book by Richard Siklos, it charts the
rise and (maybe) fall of the embattled former chairman of Hollinger
International, who stepped down in 2003 after allegations that he and other
company officers had misappropriated funds. The CTV movie stars Toronto actor
Albert Schultz as the Crossharbour
Kid himself and Vancouver's Jason Priestley (Beverley Hills 90210) as
a fictional investigator posing as a newspaper reporter. It is directed by
Hamilton-born Alex Chapple, now based in the U.S. We caught up with
Schultz in the makeup chair just before lunch; Schultz, who is 43, plays
Black from ages 28 to 61. He's had quite a morning. Shooting began at 7
a.m. and the first task of the day was a love scene and proposal to Shirley
Gail Hishon, whom Black married in 1978. Hishon is played by Toronto actress
Amy Price-Francis, whom Schultz met for the first time that morning.
But he reports that the kissing went quite well, thank you. "It's a
tough job," he mutters to lack of sympathy all round. This afternoon's
scenes feature the older Black, and hairdresser Sandy Sokolowski has
meticulously applied grey streaks to Schultz's hair and added a pair of
caterpillar eyebrows before handing Schultz over to makeup artist Linda
McCormack, who is using latex to create folds on Schultz's eyelids and
enlarging a fake mole on his right temple. The real mole grew as Black
became older, she explains. Slender Hollywood starlet Lara Flynn Boyle,
who plays Barbara Amiel, Black's second wife, is expected on set in the next
day or so, but she and Schultz have already shot scenes in London, England.
"She's a hoot," he says, bemoaning the fact the 35-year-old doesn't
have to spend the one hour-plus in makeup that he does. "Look at Barbara
today: she doesn't age." Later, the affable, media-friendly
Schultz reveals it was charm that won him the role. The public image of
Black may be of an aggressive, pompous man, but the private man is apparently
very different. "Ivan Fecan (CEO of Bell Globemedia, which owns
CTV), told me the reason he wanted me to do the role was because of the charm
I could bring to it," Schultz says. "He knows Black and says he is
an extremely charming and likeable guy." Besides, there are family
connections. Schultz's wife Susan's mother was, at one time, married to
Conrad Black's uncle: "I know every one of his first cousins, his uncles
and his aunts, everyone except him." Schultz describes the movie
as an epic story about a man who defies the stereotypical image of the
modest, retiring Canadian. "He stands out because of his hubris, his
arrogance, his accomplishments." His task, as he sees it, is to
convey the complexity of the man, the shades of light and dark that make up
"a very complicated individual who just happens to live on a very grand
scale." It was the layered character of Black that sparked the
imagination of executive producer Mary Young Leckie in the first place.
"I love his complexities," she says. "The man is erudite,
articulate, a brilliant writer, a passionate historian, a ruthless businessman
and he clearly likes women. I love the fact that he can go nose to nose with
strong women." The movie is produced by Screendoor Inc. No airdate
has been set. Schultz is not attempting to mimic Black —"I am not
Rich Little nor do I want to be" — but Priestley still feels Schultz has
caught the man precisely. "To me, he is Conrad Black and when I
see real pictures of Conrad Black, I go, `Who's that guy?' He really has
embodied the role," says Priestley. As we leave the set, Schultz
and Priestley are rehearsing the final scene of the day: "This is
typical of second-rate journalists," Schultz roars at Priestley's
character. "I don't care to tell the media what to write, but I do ask
them to think for themselves." Fade to Black.
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TV TIDBITS
Sawyer Won't Replace Jennings: ABC News
Source: Associated Press
(Oct. 24, 2005) New York — ABC News hasn't named a permanent replacement for
the late Peter Jennings at World
News Tonight, but did say Monday who it won't be — Diane Sawyer. The
network was responding to a report in Broadcasting & Cable magazine that
"insiders at the network are buzzing over Diane Sawyer's apparent
interest in the blue-chip slot." But after speaking to both Sawyer and
ABC News President David Westin, Westin spokesman Jeffrey Schneider said
Sawyer was not a candidate for the evening anchor job. It's likely that
Sawyer will probably be doing more prime-time documentaries, but she's
remaining at Good Morning America, he said. Sawyer has not been among
the World News Tonight fill-in anchors — Charles Gibson, Elizabeth
Vargas and Bob Woodruff, who have all been mentioned as candidates for the
full-time job. There's no timetable for ABC News' announcement, Schneider
said.
‘Desperate’ Basement Brother Revealed
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com
(Oct. 25, 2005) *On Sunday, “Desperate
Housewives” fans got their first good look at the man locked in
the basement of Betty Applewhite’s home. 
Viewers also found out that he is a fugitive from Chicago where he may have
been responsible for the killing of a teenage girl four months ago.
"It's time we talked about her, Caleb," Betty tells him after
seeing a TV news report of another man arrested for the girl’s murder.
"Until you start accepting responsibility for what happened, you know I
can't let you out of here." Caleb is played by 28-year-old actor Page Kennedy, more recently known as Big
Trickey from Showtime’s “Barber Shop” and soon to appear in Usher’s
forthcoming film, “In the Mix.” The Shakespeare-trained actor says his
character’s story is evolving as production continues, and he has know idea
what’s going to happen. "I do know that he's sweet but he can be
very dangerous," the Detroit native told The Associated Press. In
Sunday’s episode, Betty (Alfre Woodard) wrote a letter to Chicago police to
explain that the wrong man had been arrested for the murder of 17-year-old
high school student, Melanie Foster. Her son Matthew (Mechad Brooks)
finds the letter and warns that she’s putting Caleb – who appears to be
developmentally disabled – in danger. Caleb’s relationship to the Applewhites
has yet to be revealed. Kennedy said he'll have no regrets even if his "Desperate
Housewives" run turns out to be one season long. He was so excited to
join the popular ABC series that he walked away from his recurring role on
“Barber Shop,” and parts on WB's upcoming Rebecca Romijn series "Pepper
Dennis" and on UPN's "Love, Inc." "I needed this
opportunity to play this kind of character," Kennedy said. "It
isn't the kind that comes around often and it's usually played by a name
(actor). This is an opportunity for me to showcase all the years of training
I've had." Kennedy’s big opportunity almost never happened.
In order to audition for “Housewives” at Universal Studios, the actor had to
finish a “Barber Shop” scene at Paramount Studios. The “Housewives” producers
had cooperated by pushing his tryout time to the end of the day at 5 p.m. The
"Barber Shop" shoot, however, ran long. "So 5 o'clock
came, then 5:45. I booked to my car and rushed from Paramount to Universal in
the middle of traffic," Kennedy recalled. "When I got there they
were all leaving. But they came back and watched and (series creator) Marc
Cherry said it was worth the wait."
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::THEATRE NEWS::
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Meet The New Frodo
Excerpt from The
Toronto Star - Richard Ouzounian
(Oct. 23, 2005) LONDON - Tomorrow morning, The
Lord of the Rings, the biggest production in Canadian
theatrical history, starts full rehearsals at a
downtown Toronto warehouse. But if you don't hear any noise from the 55
cast members, it's probably because they'll be holding their collective
breaths in anticipation. And it's also likely that the most anxious one
of all will be the relatively unknown 26-year-old actor who'll be playing the
wide-eyed hobbit, Frodo. His name is James
Loye, but after tomorrow, no one will be asking "Who's
he?" for a very long time. The $27-million stage version of the
Tolkien classic is a Kevin Wallace Limited Production, presented by Kevin
Wallace and Saul Zaentz, in association with David and Ed Mirvish and Michael
Cohl. In terms of size, scope and ambition, it exceeds anything this
city has ever seen, and the hopes being pinned on it are correspondingly
high. At the Princess of Wales Theatre's capacity, it could play to 832,000
people a year, while its economic impact on our city has been conservatively
estimated in excess of $700 million annually. And although many
high-profile performers like Brent Carver (Gandalf) and Michael Therriault
(Gollum) feature prominently in the company, it's Frodo that most people
consider to be the pivotal role. What kind of a mountain is that for
someone just five years out of theatre school to climb? "It's a
bloody intimidating one," said Loye in London a few weeks ago, shortly
before he packed up and moved to Toronto. He sat in the bar of the veddy
chic Metropolitan Hotel, just off Hyde Park, sipping a latte, trying to look
cool and failing miserably. "I can't help it," he laughed,
"I suddenly wake up in the morning and remember that I'm going to be
Frodo. It's overwhelmingly exciting. I am playing one of the leading roles in
the largest show ever created. Oh my God ..." Loye is a compact,
handsome young man with an exceptionally deep voice, a sly grin and the habit
of rolling his shoulders like a boxer when he's nervous. He's about as
different from Elijah Wood (who played Frodo in the film trilogy) as you can
get, and that suits him fine.
"I think Elijah did an amazing job," offered Loye, "but I
don't want to be a carbon copy of him. I'm a different actor in a different
medium. I mean, in the film, you could do a close-up of Frodo's eyes and that
would tell you all you needed to know, but I'll have to figure out how to do
it in a different way." It's interesting how when Loye started to
describe Frodo, he wound up painting a portrait of someone a lot like himself.
"He's a gentle, land-loving person, a good man, but an unlikely bloke to
be involved in such a huge adventure. The whole thing is a voyage of
discovery for him." Loye's own voyage began in Bristol in 1979. He
was raised at first in a nearby community called Rangeworthy and then his
family moved when he was seven to Waltham in South Gloucestershire.
"It was quite rural there," he recalled. "My dad was an
insurance broker for farms and things like that, but he also used to organize
the local shows. I remember when I was 7, prancing around in some good old
Stanley Holloway music hall numbers." Loye took the bus every day
to school where he was torn between his love of theatre and his fondness for
sports. "I was a contradiction. The kid who did school plays as
well as rugby. I remember coming in from sports practice covered in mud and
then having to spring into play rehearsals." But in the end, the
stage won out. "Acting was the one thing I really loved doing. I could
put all my feelings and frustrations into it. "When it came down
to having my career advice talks at school, I told the counsellor I'd like to
give this acting thing a go and he said, `James you are going to have to
endure years of poverty.'"
Fortunately, he got a more positive reaction at home. "My parents have
been very supportive. They've always said, `Whatever you want to do, we're
with you.'" He looked a bit wistful. "My dad wished he had
pursued show business a bit more, but he said it was never an option for him,
so he was pleased that I was having a go at it." Loye went into
the Welsh College of Music and Drama and described his time there as
"wonderful," though "I was so young, so raw. I remember
calling my mom from the supermarket and saying, `Help me, I don't know what
food to buy.'" Despite his smallish stature, he found himself
being cast "in a lot of older parts, filled with gravitas. I think it
must have been my voice. One teacher said, `You look like 16 and you sound
like 40,' which I was prepared to take as a compliment." A fond
memory of those days was playing Sir Thomas Fairfax in a play called The
World Turned Upside Down. "They asked all the men to grow
facial hair, but after a month, all I had was this kind of Amish chin fringe.
Then they put a long wig on me and a stick-on beard. I looked like a comedy
pirate, so they took the beard off. Then I just looked like Alanis
Morissette." Right after graduation in 2000, he landed his first
job, at the Bristol Old Vic in A Streetcar Named Desire, cast as the
young newspaper boy that Blanche tries to seduce. "It was lovely
to be in my home town, with mom and dad and mini-bus loads of my friends
coming to see me. But getting paid for acting was a shock. My first cheque
arrived and I said, `Blimey, what's this?'" He immediately landed
a spot with a big talent agency and shot his first TV commercial. "It
was for Pepsi and I was a young student playing table football in a rec room
and suddenly the table came to life and Beckham and all the greats were
playing with me. I had to break the news later to everyone that I never met
any of the real footballers. It was all just special effectsy."
Loye worked fairly steadily on the British regional theatre circuit, playing
in everything from Ibsen to Shakespeare, but "there were gaps in my
theatre work that I had to fill, in less than glamorous ways. I worked as a
lifeguard, I was a steward at a notoriously violent football club, but not
for long. I was even a barman at a pub called The Slug and Lettuce."
And then he was called in to audition for a new musical of The Lord of the
Rings. "I have to confess I'd never read the books, but I'd
seen the movies and I thought they were wonderful. I remember going to the
first one with my brother on Christmas Eve and being so taken with it.
"I didn't know anything about this production, how ambitious it was, the
intricacy and depth. I'd never been up for a musical before, so I just showed
up and recited `Jabberwocky' because I thought it was Tolkienesque and sang
Don McLean's `The Grave.' They asked me back the next day and I gave them
James Taylor's `Fire and Rain.'" Loye didn't hear anything more
from Rings masters, and so he performed for a season at the Chichester
Festival. Then he was called back for a third audition and a dance workshop
with choreographer Peter Darling. "I went to that and I was
slightly unsure — I do freestyle. For a West Country lad with a barn dance, I
do fine, but don't choreograph me. It takes a while to get into me bones.
Like rugby." Loye looked a little sheepish as he revealed that
"All of this time, I honestly never thought they were considering me for
Frodo. I thought I might just wind up as some random hobbit." But
producer Wallace and his cohorts tracked Loye down again in New York, where
he was on tour with the Young Vic production of Beauty and The Beast.
"I figured James Taylor had worked for me before, so this time I sang
`Sweet Baby James' and the next day they asked me to do the workshop. It was
a great chance to explore elements of the production, but I didn't think
anything of my chances after that." Then one night last summer,
when he was sitting backstage at London's outdoor Regent Park Theatre, Loye
got the word.
"I had just finished my last scene as Sir Andrew Aguecheek in Twelfth
Night and was waiting for my curtain call when Kevin Wallace phoned
me. "He said, `We want you to play Frodo, but you can't tell
anyone just yet.'" A cinemascope smile creased his features.
"I felt like I was going to explode, but I kept it all
inside." Those in charge felt sure Loye was their man.
"He is a tremendous actor," said director Matthew Warchus. "He
is very sympathetic with a strange sort of quality of otherworldly isolation
— separateness almost Hamlet-like, which is perfect for this role."
Wallace added, "He radiates an inner intensity that gives his
performance the underlying complexity and layers of intelligence,
sensitivity, judgment, integrity and wit that set Frodo apart."
Loye is still trying to figure out for himself what Frodo is like. "There's
a great strength inside him and I don't think even he knows what it is, but
it's there. He's just being honest to who he is, travelling through this
world and eventually coming out the other end as the winner."
Which is exactly what Toronto will be hoping tomorrow morning — not just for
James Loye, but everyone connected with The Lord of The Rings.
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::SPORTS NEWS::
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Allen Picks Apart Alouettes
Excerpt from The
Toronto Star - Rick Matsumoto, Sports Reporter
(Oct. 23, 20050 MONTREAL - The debate is over. Done. Finis. Damon Allen has ended any question about who should
wear the CFL's most outstanding player laurels this year. The
42-year-old Toronto Argonaut quarterback, who is in his 21st season, has
never won the league's most outstanding player award even though he's its
all-time passing yardage leader and bound for the Hall of Fame. Argo
head coach Mike Clemons has no
doubt the long drought will end this year after Allen posted his second
consecutive 400-yard-plus passing clinic to lead the Boatmen to a 49-23
demolition of the Als yesterday before 51,279 fans at Olympic Stadium.
He had thrown for 484 yards a week earlier against the Winnipeg Blue
Bombers. "MVP?" was Clemons' rhetorical answer, when asked if
he's seen a better performance by a CFL quarterback. "Finally?
"It was a complete performance; so much control. That's what was so
amazing. It was not just that he was so productive, he was so under control
all the time." The victory, the Argos' second in three meetings with
the Alouettes this season, all but secured first place for the Boatmen, a
prize that will give them a bye into the East Division final Nov. 20 at the
Rogers Centre. Wide receiver Tony Miles, who led all receivers with 10
catches for 119 yards, said Allen "always shows up for the big
games." "We had to come in here and get a win. We knew what
was at stake," he said. "He played a phenomenal game and we did a
great job working for him." Both the Argos and Als have two games
left and they play the same teams — Hamilton and Ottawa — on alternate
weeks. The Alouettes will now likely play host to the East semi-final
with a West crossover team (Saskatchewan or Calgary) the opponent.
"This is as embarrassing a game as I've ever been involved with,"
said Als' head coach Don Matthews. "We have to take a hard look at where
we go from here. I'm at a loss why we played so badly with everything on the
line. It was a total team collapse." Clemons also praised the work
of the offensive line and Allen extended similar accolades.
"Whenever you play a game such as this you credit your O-line,"
said Allen. "They've been playing outstanding especially the last three
weeks. They've really given me time and allowed me to get into a rhythm and
playing this game the way I'm capable of playing. "For what we
were able to do (yesterday), the guys up front deserve all the credit ...
those five has really been gelling." Centre Chad Folk agreed the
unit is finally coming together. "We had some changes at the
beginning of the year and some injuries," he said. "You don't want
to use that as an excuse, but if you can play together for four or five weeks
and gain some camaraderie it really helps." Dave Costa, who has
taken over at right guard for the past four games, was modest about his
contribution. "I hope I'm helping," he said. "But it
think it's more of a team thing than anything." Allen said he was
grateful for Clemons' support, adding he came into the season hoping to
remain injury-free, give Argos a chance to finish first, host the Eastern
final and win the Grey Cup. Allen connected on touchdown passes to
receivers Arland Bruce III, Robert Baker and R.Jay Soward as well Jeff
Johnson, who took over as running back after starter Sean Millington suffered
a season-ending ruptured Achilles tendon in his right leg. Alouettes
quarterback Anthony Calvillo had a difficult day against the Argo defence,
managing to complete just 12 of 24 throws for 264 yards while giving up three
interceptions.
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Reggie Miller Enjoying Retirement
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com
(Oct. 24, 2005) *Since his retirement from the NBA last May after 18
years with the Indiana Pacers, Reggie Miller
has been trying to
settle into an equally-as-hectic schedule as a studio and game analyst for
TNT’s NBA coverage, as well as the head of his own movie production company
called Boom Baby Productions. The five-time All-Star has also filled in for
Regis Philbin on “Live with Regis and Kelly,” and worked on a promo spot for
TNT’s upcoming basketball season directed by his former Madison Square Garden
nemesis, Spike Lee. "It's strange not to be a part of an (NBA)
organization or part of a team," the 40-year-old told AP. "I'm not
joking with anybody on the bus like I usually do. But waking up with my back,
knees and ankles hurting — that's not stuff I'm going to miss much."
Miller will work his first Pacers regular-season game on Nov. 3 in Miami,
followed by a Thanksgiving-night matchup between Indiana and Cleveland at
home. "God forbid they will be in a close game and need a last-second
shot," said Cheryl Miller, Reggie's sister and TNT sideline reporter. It
was Cheryl who lobbied the network to hire Reggie after his retirement.
Turner Sports president David Levy quickly made Miller the first TNT employee
hired to do both game and studio work. "We felt he had the crossover
talent," Levy said. "He's always been a great trash talker. He'll
fit in well with the studio show. We've got the best of both worlds."
Miller will join Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith in studio.
Magic Johnson will be in studio when Miller is on the road.
Away from basketball, Miller has spent much of the past month working on Boom
Baby's first movie, "Beautiful Ohio," starring Oscar winner William
Hurt. The 1970s-set film about a dysfunctional family will be directed by
Chad Lowe and co-produced by Lowe’s wife, Hilary Swank. Miller has been
actively picking locations, casting and budgeting for the $3 million film,
slated to be entered in next year's Toronto Film Festival. In working
with Spike Lee on the TNT promo, Miller said it reminded him of his days
antagonizing the director at his courtside seat whenever the Pacers played
the Knicks. "You hear him ranting and raving on the
sidelines," he said. "He rants and raves from the director's chair,
too. But we all know he's a fantastic film director."
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SPORTS TIDBITS
Magic Taps Celebs For A Game Of Horse
(Oct. 26, 2005) *Magic Johnson is
trying to make the popular basketball game
of horse the next big reality show craze. According to Daily
Variety, Johnson and reality producer Phil Gurin have begun negotiations with
potential sponsors for the project, which will pit two or more players
against one another in the basketball, shot-for-shot showdown. "You
don't have to spell 'horse.' Maybe you could spell 'Pepsi' or 'Nokia,'"
Gurin joked about the show, tentatively-titled “Celebrity Horse.” "It's
a completely sponsor-friendly show." Because "so many
celebrities are big basketball players," Gurin said, attracting talent
should be a breeze. Contestants will compete for charity, and Gurin said it's
possible an entire season of the show could be taped over a single weekend.
The current plan is to have a series of round-robin matchups between East and
West Coast leagues, culminating in a potentially live finale. Magic will
likely have an on-air presence, possibly as a color
commentator.
Horse tutorial: Two or more players to try to make baskets from various
spots around the court. When one person makes a shot, the other players have
to attempt the shot from the same spot; anyone who misses is assigned one of
the five letters that spell "horse" and is out when the word is
completed. The last person left wins.
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::OTHER NEWS::
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Diana Evans: Her Twin's Suicide Compelled Her To Write
Excerpt from The
Toronto Star - Ashante Infantry
(Oct. 21, 2005) Let's see: identical female twins, British father and
Nigerian mother, raised in the northwest London suburb of Neasden, one sister
struggles with depression and commits suicide. Sounds a lot like Diana
Evans's life. Sounds a lot like Diana
Evans's debut novel 26a. But thick is the line
between reality and fiction, says the British writer who reads at the
International Festival of Authors tonight. Her book, which tells the
enchanting but melancholy tale of twin sisters Georgia and Bessi, coming of
age against the backdrop of their parents' marital discord; a dead pet
hamster; Nigerian folklore; Michael Jackson worship and mental illness,
earned this year's Orange Award for new writers. Evans, 34, was
acclaimed for her droll, magic realism approach and linguistic flair (Neasden
is described as "what the city stepped on to be sexy" and the
sisters' telepathic connection as "touching eyes") in telling the
story about the emotional complexity of the twin relationship — a subject she
knows intimately. "It would have been easy to dismiss it as
autobiographical fiction, which has happened a lot in women's fiction,"
said Evans in an interview. She said this has sometimes meant women's
novels get discounted as "professional literature" even though many
books by male authors are also drawn from their lives. "But their
autobiographies are seen as social comment rather than domestic."
Though not the basis of her book, the 1998 suicide of Evans's twin sister
Paula (to whom 26a is dedicated) was definitely the catalyst.
"It wasn't just the ordinary experience of grief, the twin factor made
it into something much more intense and kind of magical," said the
author, curled into a plush loveseat in the lobby of the King Edward
Hotel. Throughout our chat, the author, doe-eyed and petite, is
reserved and unsmiling, as she is in most published photos. Not until the
tape recorder is shut off and the conversation turns to music journalism, her
previous forté, do the honeyed laugh and incisive wit emerge. But then, dead
sisters don't engender much levity.
"When she died, I felt like I had to do something to mark what happened
in some way. It was too big a thing for me to just carry on with my normal
life." One of six daughters, Evans was a dancer and arts
journalist, reading feverishly and penning poetry and short stories in her
downtime. "I've always had a sense that writing was my gift and
that I would probably write books, but I just didn't know when. My twin's
death was kind of a jolt to make me begin to do something I was destined to
do anyway. "It wasn't that I was writing a book to get it
published or become a famous author. It was a labour of love and I was
determined to keep doing it even if I was 60 when I finished it."
She enrolled in the noted creative writing program at the University of East
Anglia (which also spawned The Remains of the Day's Kazuo Ishiguro and
Booker Prize-winner Ian McEwan) where nurturing rather than instruction
enhanced her developing narrative about the dynamics of twins.
"You get a certain amount of attention (as a twin), which is nice,
especially when you're a kid, but as you grow up you want to be known as an
individual. In order to find yourself, you have to distance yourself from
your twin, but that compromises your own sense of self." In 26a,
Bessi is the more independent of the two and Georgia battles with mental
demons before taking her own life. Evans gives the suicide a supernatural
cast. "I've imagined that you're in a place where you don't
necessarily see it as death, you see it as a way out, a route to another
space or state. You don't think of death in the same way as someone who is
not suicidal would: as an end. I've never felt suicidal myself, so I can't
say how it feels. But I imagine that your head is in a fantasy space in a
way." The mother of a 10-month-old daughter is working on a new
novel — on a more hurried pace than the first. "There is pressure,
but you can't think about it, because you can't write a book under duress.
Well, you can write a bad book under duress. I have a deadline, but
the way I see it, let it take as long as it takes. I'm not going to hand in a
sub-par book just to meet a deadline."
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‘Wild And Crazy Guy' Receives Mark Twain Award
Source: Associated Press - By Juan-Carlos Rodriguez
(Oct. 24, 2005) Washington — Steve Martin's character in The Jerk is
ecstatic to find his name in print -- in the phone book. “Things are going
to start happening to me now!” he says. Twenty-six years later, the actor and
writer is receiving a more prestigious form of recognition. For his career
achievements, Martin was honoured
Sunday with one of the nation's top comedy awards -- the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. Among
those saluting the versatile performer at the John F. Kennedy Center for the
Performing Arts were actors Tom Hanks, Lily Tomlin, Diane Keaton, Martin
Short and Claire Danes and musicians Paul Simon and Randy Newman. “He
redefined comedy by defining the moment of our ascendancy as a generation,”
Hanks said. “As did Charlie Chaplin, as did the Marx Brothers, as did Laurel
and Hardy define their own times, Steve Martin defined ours.” Martin's
colleagues paid tribute in between dozens of clips from his movies and TV
appearances. Newman performed I Love to See You Smile, a song from
Martin's film Parenthood. Tomlin said, “His artistry soars to heights
of sublime silliness and divine absurdity.” In accepting the Mark Twain
Prize, Martin mentioned some other awards he had won, including a 1969
writing Emmy for The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. “But of course the
Mark Twain Prize is more special to me,” he said, “because it's more recent.”
“He's an original genius,” Short said before the ceremony. “He's kind of
blazed his own trail.” “I think he's the most intelligent man I've ever met,”
said Monty Python veteran Eric Idle. “Honesty, simplicity and truth are the
secret to his comedy.” Hanks disagreed, saying Martin's success was based on
“self-loathing and unhappiness.” Asked if he had any regrets, Martin said,
“It's a life of cherishing a few things and regretting a lot of things, but
that's the life of a performer.” Martin's career got off the ground in the
late 1960s, when he wrote for the Smothers Brothers' show. As a stand-up
comic, he grew popular on campuses and often appeared on Johnny Carson's The
Tonight Show. He hit his stride playing larger-than-life characters
while hosting Saturday Night Live in the 1970s. His performances on
that show -- from a singing King Tut to Georg Festrunk, better known as one
of two “wild and crazy guys” -- earned him fame as a zany comedian. After
starring in the hit The Jerk in 1979, Martin appeared in more than 30
other films. He also wrote the screenplays for such films as Roxanne (1987)
and A Simple Twist of Fate (1994). Over the years Martin expanded his
repertoire to include plays, novels and humorous magazine pieces for The New
Yorker. His 1993 play, Picasso at the Lapin Agile, which envisioned a
meeting between Albert Einstein and Pablo Picasso at a Paris cafe, has been
produced around the world. Despite these sophisticated career turns, Martin,
now 60, hasn't forgotten where he came from -- he will star next year as the
stumbling, bungling Inspector Jacques Clouseau in The Pink Panther, a
prequel to the popular Peter Sellers movies. PBS plans to air the Martin
tribute on Nov. 9. Previous Mark Twain Prize winners include Richard Pryor,
Jonathan Winters, Whoopi Goldberg and Bob Newhart.
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Too Much Good Is Bad: International
Festival of Authors
Excerpt from The
Toronto Star
(Oct. 23, 2005) David Rakoff
asks for ordinary tap water with his lunch. No Perrier or Evian for this
transplanted Toronto boy turned New York wit, in town
to read at the International Festival of
Authors. "It's safe and it's good plus there is a political
reason for drinking it," he says. "The gas and the vehicles used to
transport water all over the continent to people who already have perfectly
good drinking water is wasteful and destructive to the environment. Plus, I'm
such a cheapskate — it seems crazy to have to buy water in a
restaurant." Among the best pieces in his second collection of
personal essays, Don't Get Too Comfortable (just published by
Doubleday) is "What is the sound of one hand shopping?" which
excoriates the pretensions of the drinkers of designer water, the self-styled
connoisseurs who insist on imported ice cubes in their single malt scotch,
and are willing to pay $36 (U.S.) for a kilo of fleur de sel. Locating
the most exquisite sea salt is among the problems unique to the first world,
along with finding high-thread-count sheets and olive oil with the requisite
degree of virginity. We have become, he writes, an army of
"high-maintenance princesses trying to make our way through a world full
of irksome peas." Does he see himself as more moralist than
humorist? "I wouldn't mind if there was a little more guilt out there.
We could all of us, me included, count our blessings, acknowledge our
privileges," he says. Among Rakoff's blessings are the degree of
distinction he has achieved, at 41, in the highly competitive New York
literary world. These days, after a recent appearance on the Daily Show with
Jon Stewart, he is recognized by strangers on the streets of Manhattan.
The New Yorker's humour writer David Sedaris told this reporter:
"I'm crazy about David. He's Algonquin Round Table witty. He has a
fierce intelligence and is incredibly sophisticated and he's got a tape
recorder in his head. You go to a movie with David and he can recite the
whole dialogue after." Rakoff found his voice gradually and
painfully after 13 years spent answering other people's phones, and writing
press releases about other people's books while toiling in the publishing
industry, mainly for HarperCollins. He began freelancing amusing Q and
A interviews for the New York Times Magazine. "I couldn't help
feeling it was cheating because I wasn't writing, just transcribing," he
says. It was his friend Sedaris who had pushed Rakoff a decade ago to take
his writings to National Public Radio's show, This American Life,
where he himself had got his start. The first piece NPR ran was
"Christmas Freud," an account of Rakoff's impersonating the father
of psychoanalysis in the window of Barney's department store during the
festive season. (The piece appears in Fraud, his first collection
published in 2001.)
While at the authors' festival, he says he'll take care not to read anything
he's read here before: "I don't want to be seen as more of a hack than I
already am." In an essay about plastic surgery, this is how he
describes his appearance: "A permanent red spot on the left side of my
forehead; a brow pleated with worry; a furrow between my eyebrows so deep
that at times it could be coin slot; purple hollows under my eyes...; a nose
more fleshy and wide than prototypically Semitic; a set of those Fred
Flintstone nasal creases down to the corners of my mouth" and "in
profile, a double chin." Clearly, in the time honoured tradition
of the shoemaker's children going barefoot, the children of psychiatrists are
no more comfortable in their skin than anyone else. Rakoff is the
youngest of three children of Vivian Rakoff, the former director of the
Clarke Institute of Psychiatry, perhaps Toronto's best known shrink, rumoured
to be the inspiration for one of Timothy Findley's psychiatrist characters in
his 1993 novel Headhunter. His mother, Gina Shochat-Rakoff, is an M.D.
who has practised psychotherapy. David attended Forest Hill Collegiate
in the 1970s, where the girls got nose jobs for their 16th birthdays.
"Forest Hill was a strange, materialistic place," he says. He knew
from an early age that he was gay. In an essay about fashion, he describes
himself aged 10 passing the hors d'oeuvres around at his parents' cocktail
parties and asking one of the women guests if her dress was "an Albert
Nippon." He spent weekends watching old movies at the Bloor Cinema
— he has an encyclopaedic knowledge of film — and worshipping ballerina Karen
Kain. "Being gay added an extra-special flavour to the horror of being a
teenager," he says. After graduating from high school at 17, he
felt he had to get out of Toronto. He took a degree in Japanese at Columbia
University in New York ("I have some facility in languages") and
went to Tokyo to work as a translator for a publisher of art books. It
was, he writes, "his first attempt to lead an adult life" and he
failed: after four months, at the age of 22, he noticed that a pea-sized lump
in his neck had grown in three weeks to the size of a plum and he had to
return to Toronto to seek treatment at Princess Margaret hospital for
Hodgkin's lymphoma. A poignant essay that concludes his first
collection describes his search for the sperm that he was urged to store
before having radiation and chemotherapy, in case he ever wanted to be a
father.
After his lymphoma was arrested, he headed back to New York. He lives near
Union Square, and recently took out U.S. citizenship. "I did it so I can
entrench my relationship to New York, to get to stay in a place that is truly
my home." What's next for David Rakoff? Has he thought of tackling
a play or novel? He says he is "crippled with fear' about writing in
longer genres but knows he has to move beyond the essay form. "The self
loathing and panic will reach a head of steam that will goad me into trying
either one," is all he'll say.
Author Q&A: Helen Oyeyemi
Excerpt from The Toronto Star - Vit
Wagner
(Oct. 26, 2005) The 26th International Festival of Authors, continuing to
Oct. 29 at Harbourfront Centre, has welcomed an influx of fresh young faces.
Among this
year's invitees are 14 authors — roughly 25 per cent of the total roster —
who have published their first book. Following is one in a series of Q&As
on getting started.
Name: Helen Oyeyemi
Age: 21
Hometown: London, England and Ibadan, Nigeria
Book: The Icarus Girl (Viking Canada), a novel
IFOA appearances: Reads on a program with Diana Evans, Nick Laird and
Zadie Smith, tomorrow at 8 p.m. at Premiere Dance Theatre; joins David
Baddiel and Francine Prose for round table discussion on the subject
"Books That Have Influenced You," Saturday at 5 p.m. in the
Brigantine Room.
Q. What was the greatest obstacle to becoming a published author?
A. School. The fact that almost all of my teachers were demanding
homework and hassling me while I was trying to write this novel. But I know
they only did it because they care.
Q. What is the strongest selling point for your book?
A. I really have no idea?!
Q. If writing hadn't panned out, what was your fallback career?
A. Psychology! But I still want to be a librarian. Maybe. I change my
mind every minute.
Skittish Agents: 26th International Festival Of Authors
Excerpt from The
Toronto Star – By Vit Wagner
(Oct. 23, 2005) The 26th International
Festival of Authors, continuing to Oct. 29 at Harbourfront Centre,
has welcomed an influx of fresh young faces. Among this year's invitees are
14 authors — roughly 25 per cent of the total roster — who have just
published their first book. Following is one in a series of Q&As on
getting started. Name: Josh Emmons. Age: 32. Hometown:
"Originally from Eureka, Ca., I lived in New Orleans until Hurricane
Katrina struck. I'm currently in Seattle, waiting to go back."
Book: The Loss of Leon Meed (Simon & Schuster Canada), a
novel. IFOA appearances: Joins Tash Aw, Uzodinma Iweala and Jim Lynch
for a round-table discussion on "the first book" Tuesday at 7 p.m.
at the Lakeside Terrace; reads on a program with David Gilmour, Ali Smith and
Christopher Wilson, Thursday at 8 p.m. in the Brigantine Room. What was
the greatest obstacle to becoming a published author? "For a long
time it was finding an agent; they can be elusive, skittish creatures. I
wrote magazine articles and book reviews, hoping that a few bylines would
help me out on that score, but it all boiled down to writing a book that an
agent responded to enthusiastically (`enthusiasm' is their favourite emotion)
and wanted to hawk in a crowded, desperate marketplace." What is
the strongest selling point for your book? "Although it's an
ensemble novel about 10 loosely connected people, written in a realist style,
it has a fabulist element — a man appearing and disappearing mysteriously —
that lends a fairytale quality to the story. ... For adults of all
ages." If writing hadn't panned out, what was your fallback
career? "I've been a waiter, teacher, editor and retail
salesperson — and hay baler — but at a certain point I traded it all in for
the writing life because nothing else mattered to me. I don't know what I
would've done if writing hadn't then panned out. Probably I'd be huddling in
a corner somewhere right now, totally cowed by the real world, ready for a
definitive breakdown that would force someone to feed and house me. And
because making a living in the arts, especially the literary arts, is so
uncertain — most people can't do it for long — I may find my corner yet."
David Rakoff: Canada's Big Apple
Peeler
Excerpt from The Globe and Mail
- By Sarah Hampson
(Oct. 22, 2005) 'Can we go off the record?" worries David Rakoff, the line between his eyebrows
deepening, his big eyes full of trepidation. "No problem," I say,
turning my tape recorder off. "Okay," he begins, placing his hands
on the table, palms down, as if he's about to make a big announcement to
corporate shareholders. "Torontonians are polite, but not warm," he
says, looking up to gauge response to his proclamation. That's it? "Why
does that have to be off the record?" "Oh, I don't want to be seen
as criticizing." His hands now run over his balding, close-shaven head.
He cringes into the back of his seat. "You're not. You're allowed to
make an observation." He shrugs and reluctantly acquiesces. The tape
recorder goes back on. "And in New York," he continues bravely,
"That might be the very opposite. People are warm, but they're not
polite. They're direct. I love the emotional immediacy of the place." He
looks up again, slightly embarrassed, as if reading the molecules in the room
to see how his words might have altered the IR balance. David Rakoff, a
41-year-old Montreal-born writer who has lived in New York for 18 years, has
earned a reputation as a witty, incisive social observer on National Public
Radio's This American Life, and in print. But Rakoff doesn't spout
off, not easily anyway. In his writing for magazines and in two collections
of his essays, he pokes fun at the way we are with the tip of his pen,
delicately dissecting the rich absurdity of certain situations, and showing
us something important (although not necessarily reassuring) about ourselves.
And in person? Well, Don't Get Too Comfortable is the title of his new
collection of journalistic essays, a wryly-observed tour through the world of
American excess, but it's also an accurate description of Rakoff's
relationship with his talent. He is not comfortable with his insight, and he
rarely feels at home with his work as a writer. "There are times when I
feel I just can't do it," he says, growing smaller in a chair in his
publisher's boardroom. "I just can't be at that phase again where I'm
just scribbling furiously in my God-damned notebook and then typing up the
notes and then thinking, 'What the hell is this?' It's like being given 90
balls of yarn and being, like, 'Okay, where's the sweater?' " His first
collection, Fraud, met with critical acclaim and made him part of that
cabal of male writers in New York -- call them the Big Apple Peelers -- who
skin the city, society at large and any experience they can find, to figure
out what weird human foibles lie underneath. David Sedaris is another, as is
Dave Eggers.
In Don't Get Too Comfortable, Rakoff continues the tradition of
letting us in on his adventures (and misadventures). He takes a trip on one
of the last flights on the Concorde. Then, by way of comparison, hops on
board Hooters Air out of Newark, New Jersey. He checks out a Karl Lagerfeld
fashion show, observes a Playboy shoot off the coast of Belize; works as a
pool boy in South Beach; submits to a consultation with a plastic surgeon;
and thinks about what the popular show, Puppetry of the Penis, really
means. But the process was agonizing. "I was so horrified by the
manuscript," he offers with no prompting. "It was one of those
things where it was as if I had come in drunk to a party and I'd actually
urinated on myself and hadn't realized and somebody would have to take me
aside and say, 'Okay, you can't come in here . You've pissed your pants. Why
don't you just go home?' "Do you know that feeling when you've done
something of which you are so ashamed that the only thing you can do is fix
your gaze on some point in the room and make your face a mask of
immobility?" His large-featured face cracks with a small self-conscious
smile. "I thought that there wasn't a single stylish turn of phrase. A
Sno-Cone machine could have written this, I thought." This interview is
not as bad as you might think. Rakoff is not talking about his creative angst
as a pity-the-poor-writer ploy. He is too self-effacing, too easily
embarrassed to do that. Which is not to say there isn't a feeling that he
doth protest too much. His writing, after all, is sharp and clean, and he later
admits that he, too, realizes it's pretty good after he has allowed
"some air" between him and his work. Listening to him, there is
more a sense that he plummets the depth of his low self-esteem out of a
desire to inform people about the texture of the air he breathes, which is
what he likes to do. In all his work, Rakoff allows the circumstances he puts
himself in to dent his easily-nicked sensibilities, so that he can write
about what it feels like to be there. The life of being a writer is just another
situation he finds himself in, which, according to him, involves taking two
power naps a day, worrying, eating snacks constantly, calling friends when he
shouldn't, never leaving his Union Square apartment in New York, and checking
his email every nanosecond. But it's a tortuous life he loves. "I think
about writing all the time," he tells me lushly. "I think about
what it means to me. . . . I think about what it means to do it. It really
does suffuse me in every way, shape and form." That much is clear. He is
deeply in his head, thinking over every twist and turn of thought. Might that
have anything to do with the fact that he's the son of a prominent
psychiatrist, Vivian Rakoff, and his wife, Gina Shochat-Rakoff, a
physician/psychotherapist, who live in Toronto? I ask this gently, thinking
that maybe growing up with in household that values the inner life, he might
have learned to listen to himself from an early age. "It has nothing to
do with my family. It's just who I am," he asserts pointedly. "It's
part of the culture of New York." Rakoff will peel back the layers of
other people and situations, but never those of his family or childhood. He
is the youngest of three siblings. The others remain in Toronto, which is
where he attended high school (Forest Hill Collegiate) before heading to
Columbia University to study Asian culture and languages. His brother is a
stand-up comedian; his sister, a non-lawyer family-conflict mediator. Any
reason for his silence? "To even articulate it would be essentially to
be writing about my family," he says, smiling sweetly and close-lipped.
What's that all about? Some guilt thing? Not wanting to upset anyone?
"No, it's just private. You don't want to turn every viable human
experience that you have into material." Why not? A lot of people do.
Memoir is big. "Because then you're a hack," he shoots back, his
eyes widening, stunned, it seems, by the vehemence of his own response.
"If you can't walk to the corner without thinking about, 'Oh, I can get
250 words out of this . . .," he trails off, shaking his head in
disapproval. "Sometimes, you just have to live your life." Does he
know his next book project? "Oh," he moans, head in hands again,
back in the comfort of his melancholia. "I'm still very much in the
state of mind that the jig is up. I felt that after the first book. It's why
it took me four years to write this book, because I felt I just shot my wad
on the first one." What will he do then, aside from continuing to write
magazine pieces? A few years ago he acted in The Book of Liz, a farce
by David and Amy Sedaris. Early in his career, he worked as an editor, and
then as a communications manager for Harper Collins in New York. Would he go
back to that? "No," he muses in a low groan. "I don't think I
could go back to facilitating the work of others, not being able to do my
own, and having been given the taste of the great privilege of doing that in
my life." Then, brightening slightly, he says that he has been thinking
about the merit of "letting the gluten rest." He spoke to a writer
friend the other day, who told him that Zadie Smith, the British writing
sensation, is going to fix up her house now that she has written another
book. "And I thought, 'Oh, I could paint my bathroom!' I'm down to the
wire financially, but I don't think I would run out of money if I painted my
bathroom!" Any colour in mind? "Oh, celery-ish," he beams,
with the broadest smile of the interview. David Rakoff reads at the
Harbourfront Centre's Brigantine Room in Toronto, tomorrow at 5 p.m. (with
Rick Moody and Seth), as part of the International Festival of Authors, and
is interviewed (with Jonathan Safran Foer) at IFOA on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
Information: 416-973-4000 or http://www.readings.org.
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Conspicuous Consumption: Finishing Touches
Excerpt from The
Toronto Star - Rita Zekas
(Oct. 23, 2005) Finishing Touches
women's boutique is a retail star. Co-owners Pat Kline and Mary
Lu Toms are celebrating 30 years in
business at 3281 Yonge St., in that fly-over part of Yonge, north of
Lawrence. "Our location is not the downtown core," says Toms.
"But we consider ourselves a downtown store." Karen Kain is
an FT regular, ditto Mary Walsh, comic Jen Irwin, sportscaster Jody
Vance, figure skater Debbi Wilkes, and Citytv personalities
including Marilyn Denis. The store has been sourced by stylists for a
variety of TV movies, music videos, films and series from Street Legal to
Style by Jury. Former First Lady Lady Bird Johnson "pulled
up one day in a limo and toured the store with her daughter, Lucy,"
Kline recalls. "We didn't know
what hit us. Why would she stop in north Yonge St., with bodyguards? They
blocked the door and the women sat down and had stuff brought to
them." A "shrouded" Sandy Dennis came in during
one film festival, and did a walk through. And they do volume. They've
gone from 400 square feet to 3,200 square feet — practically  unheard
of in retail, where neighbourhood stores routinely make way for
Starbucks. "I attribute it to our adaptability," explains
Kline. "We understand the trends and react quickly." "We
are not afraid of change," adds Toms. "There are people who shopped
here 15 years ago who come in and say, `I thought you were still doing
country,' as if we were still doing Ralph Lauren prairie
skirts." Not that they would have been out of place last summer,
with the glut of hippie-dippy tiered skirts at every price point.
"We know our customer," says Kline. "The market changes
and we pick up new customers," elaborates Toms. "We'd go out
of business if we depended on the same customers," Kline states. "A
lot of our customers still like the high-rise (rather than butt-crack)
pant." Adds Tom: "So we still have a lot of them. The old
customers trust us." And they have incentives. "We have
rewards in points," points out Kline. "And we have our mailers,
which have hot picks of the season from our staffers. They sell out in one
day ... We've kept our staff; some have been with us for 25 years. They've
left to have babies and come back, and our new staff generates a new customer
base." "Our loyal customers say, `Why would we go anywhere
else?'" Toms says. "When we go buying (they still do the buying) we
think, `You know, so and so would like this.' We custom shop for them. We
track it, service them, phone them and give them personal
service." For example, they ordered a black, boiled wool pant from
Lida Baday and the entire stock was pre-sold at $400 a pop.
"Brian Bailey named a pair of pants `the FT pant' because we sold
so many," Kline says. "He made one pant that we sold more of than
anyone in the country," adds Toms. That said, sometimes it's not
feasible to anticipate trends. If customers are not ready for it, they don't
jump the gun. "For next spring, we know our customer has not had
enough of tiered skirts and shrunken jackets," says Kline. "You
have to know your business. What do you have that Holts, Mendocino and Over
the Rainbow doesn't?" They concur that the most difficult fashion
trends for customers to relinquish were shoulder pads and stirrup pants.
Don't go there. Kline and Toms met at Seneca College, where Toms was a
graphic designer for the media program and Kline was director of the
communications program. They worked together on a TV production handbook.
They opened Finishing Touches originally as a home accessories shop,
branching out into kaftans and jackets. "The first year we opened,
I put a plant in the window and I sold it," Kline recalls. "The guy
thought we were a florist shop." They used their pension money,
plus a loan from a kindly old banker in the 'hood, to open. "We
got an $8,000 loan from an old guy at the top of the street," Kline
recalls. "Nobody could go into business being so
underfinanced," says Toms. "We cashed in our pension funds, we
wall-papered, painted and found friends to hang shelves."
"One of our (male) friends called it our `expensive hobby,'"
chuckles Kline. "We didn't have money for inventory," says
Toms. "So we went to the yellow pages and picked up baskets to
sell." So, will they be in the biz another 30 years?
"No!" says Toms unequivocally. Kline is not so sure:
"One of our customers celebrated her 95th birthday and she still shops
at Finishing Touches with her daughter and grandchildren."
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OTHER TIDBITS
Michael Jordan Reflects In New Autobiography
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com
(Oct.
26, 2005) *Three years removed from his playing career and in
celebration of the 20th anniversary of Air Jordan, Michael Jordan reflects on his on and off court
successes, including the creation of Brand Jordan, in “Driven from Within” (Atria Books; $35.00;
Hardcover) edited by Mark Vancil. The book includes stories, anecdotes,
drawings, and photographs that capture Jordan's exceptional career. He
introduces the reader to some of the people closest to him, including Dean
Smith, the University of North Carolina coach who saw Michael's superstar
potential and became like his second father; his mother, Delores Jordan; and
Tinker Hatfield, the design genius behind 14 of the 20 Air Jordan
shoes. The book also offers a peek inside the creative process at Nike,
including the creation of Jordan XX, developed to celebrate Jordan's 20-year
milestone of collaboration with the company. “Driven from Within”
culminates with Michael Jordan's speculations on what the future holds.
"In all honesty, I don't know what's ahead," Jordan say. "If
you ask me what I'm going to do in five years, I can't tell you. This moment?
Now that's a different story." During his incredible career on the
court, Michael Jordan won five MVP awards, set numerous NBA records, and led
the Chicago Bulls to six NBA championship titles. He was also a member of the
"Dream Team" that brought home the gold medal at the 1992 Olympics
in Barcelona and re-established the United States as the world's pre-eminent
basketball power.
Jordan Puts Cards On The Table For ’60 Minutes’
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com
(Oct. 21, 2005) *This Sunday’s episode of CBS’ “60 Minutes” includes an
interview with NBA legend Michael Jordan,
who talks at length about a
gambling problem that almost destroyed him. The former athlete, who led the
Chicago Bulls to six NBA championships, said his excessive gambling was a
by-product of his competitive nature, but he eventually
recognized that his behaviour was growing increasingly out of
control. "I've gotten myself into [gambling] situations where I
would not walk away and I've pushed the envelope," Jordan said in the
interview. "It's very embarrassing... one of the things you totally
regret. So you look at yourself in the mirror and say, 'I was
stupid.'" In the interview, Jordan also discussed his passion for
basketball, the murder of his father, and critics who expect him to be more
vocal about political, racial and social issues. "It's heavy duty
to try to do everything and please everybody,” he said. “My job was to go out
there and play the game of basketball as best I can." Jordan's new
book, “Driven from Within," arrives in stores on Oct. 24th.
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::FITNESS::
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Maximum Fitness, Minimum Time: 16 Tips
By Tom Storms, Certified Personal Trainer/Fitness Consultant
1. In the beginning, your fitness plan should not be overly
aggressive. One of the biggest problems most people encounter when starting a
fitness program is rapidly depleted motivation after only a few weeks due to
an overly ambitious fitness plan. Two days per week of 20-minute
low-intensity cardiovascular exercise (walking, jogging, biking, swimming);
and two days per week of 30-minute light resistance training (using weights
or resistance machines) is adequate in the beginning. As you become
acclimated to the lifestyle shift you can add more days and get improved
results. But beware: If you try to do too much too fast, you may end up
quitting altogether. If you've tried and failed doing it alone, then I
suggest you get a training partner or personal
trainer who will help you sustain your motivation.
2. If your goal is fat-loss, then your cardiovascular exercise should be low
intensity. Your heart rate during cardio exercise should not exceed 50
percent to 70 percent of your maximum heart rate. The simple formula for
calculating your 100-percent maximum heart rate is 220 minus your age.
If the intensity of your exercise increases your heart rate beyond 70
percent (which can occur very easily if you are in poor shape), you start
shifting from using body fat as your energy source to relying on glucose
metabolism. Your personal trainer can supply you with a simple heart-rate
monitor you can wear during exercise so you always stay in your peak
fat-burning range.
3. Don't waste your time working small muscles with isolated movements. If
you don't enjoy doing resistance training or are pressed for time,
concentrate on working the largest muscle groups with compound resistance
movements. When I see overweight people doing wrist curls or lateral
raises, I wonder why. It’s generally just a lack of understanding of how
their bodies work. Most people want to lose fat and tone and firm their
bodies. The way to do that is to use resistance (weights or machines) to
train the large muscle groups. Men should be concentrating on legs,
chest and back. Women should concentrate more on their legs and back. The
best exercises for legs are lunges or squats (your personal trainer will show
you the proper form and then monitor you during the exercise) and leg press.
The best chest exercise is bench press, and the best back exercise is the
seated row. All of these are compound movements, which means they incorporate
multiple muscle groups.
4. Always, always, always stretch. Stretching improves flexibility, blood
flow, muscle recovery, low-back pain and a host of other things.
Additionally, stretching can prevent injury, make you sleep better and
improve your performance in all sports. Always stretch, but be certain not to
stretch cold muscles. You should always warm up before stretching. However,
it is very important that you know how to stretch. Never bounce! Your
personal trainer will show you the proper execution and timing of your
stretches.
5. Never, ever do a traditional sit-up. Unless you are super athlete with an
incredibly well-developed midsection, sit-ups can lead to a strained lower
back and possibly lumbar injuries. But it gets worse. Rather than hitting
your abdominal section, sit-ups can shift exercise tension to your hip
flexors which defeats the purpose. There is so much misinformation
about how to strengthen, tone and firm the midsection, it's almost
frightening. It is very difficult to learn proper abdominal-exercise
technique by reading about it or watching it demonstrated on a video. You
need to do it with supervision and get feedback about your form from a
knowledgeable source. And keep in mind that you use your abdominal
muscles in almost every single movement you make. Strengthening your
abdominal region is the single-most-effective way to prevent, or recover
from, low-back pain.
6. Set realistically attainable goals. You must have tangible, quantifiable,
short-term and long-term goals for your fitness program so you can gauge your
progress. It's crucial to have a baseline before you begin, so you can measure
success. Your health club or personal trainer can give you a complete fitness
analysis (don't be shy -- you need this) that will aid you or your trainer in
developing a personalized fitness program that addresses your particular
needs. Having goals, particularly short-term goals, allows you to track
your progress and keep you motivated when times are tough and you don't feel
like exercising. Keeping a journal of your cardio and resistance-training
workouts, as well as tracking what you eat, is truly a fitness-success
secret. Just remember your goals should be realistic and
attainable. The best way for you to understand what is realistic and
attainable for you is to talk to a fitness professional -- don't buy into the
hype of infomercials or diet-and-fitness products that blatantly mislead.
7. Set exercise appointments with yourself. You wouldn't miss a business
meeting or client appointment, would you? So don't miss your exercise
appointment with yourself. Nothing is more important than your health.
Nothing. Everything else will crumble around you if your health goes south.
So make your exercise appointments a priority. If you find it difficult
to keep these appointments, then consider hiring a personal trainer who will
hold you to your commitment. When you have money invested and someone waiting
for you to show up, you are much more likely to actually show up!
8. Remember the benefits of exercise. Remember that feeling of euphoria you
experienced after a particularly good workout? You experienced that feeling
because the most powerful feel-good drug in the world, endorphins, were
coursing through your veins. If there is a panacea, it s exercise.
Nothing feels better than the post-workout high you experience after
exercising. Revel in that feeling. Let it wash over you and truly experience
it. Etch that feeling in your brain. It will fuel your motivation on those
inevitable days when you just don't feel like exercising. Being physically
fit affects every single aspect of your life: You sleep better, eat better,
love better, overcome stress better, work better, communicate better and live
better!
9. Exercise correctly. So much time is wasted doing, at best, unproductive
exercise, or at worst, dangerous exercise. Get educated on how to exercise
correctly. And the absolute best way to do that is to hire a personal trainer
to develop a program for you and then teach you what to do and how to do it
right. Personal training does not have to be an ongoing process. You
can hire a personal trainer for whatever length of time you need to learn the
ropes. It could be five sessions or 15. It's completely up to you. But
statistics prove that those who understand how to exercise correctly, get
better, faster results. And that's what you want, right? Results!
10. Enjoy yourself. The most difficult thing is actually getting into your
running shoes or going to the gym. But once you begin your work-out, relax
and enjoy the process. Don't fight it. Make exercise your personal time.
When you are exercising you can focus completely on yourself. Yes,
exercising can and should be somewhat rigorous (depending on your level of
fitness), but it is just that investment that makes it supremely rewarding. As
with anything, if you are in the moment, you can fully appreciate the
experience and truly enjoy the process.
11. Americans eat too many carbohydrates for our lifestyles. Minimize your
intake of bread, pasta, rice, potato and of course all sugary drinks. We are
no longer an agrarian society participating in manual labour. Most of us are
fairly sedentary throughout the day and therefore do not need the high levels
of carbohydrates to sustain our energy. Additionally, carbohydrates are
addictive. The more doughnuts you eat, the more you want. The bulk of your
carbohydrates should come from vegetables and fruit. And those with high
water content, such as cucumbers, grapefruit, tomatoes, cantaloupe,
strawberries and even vegetable soups (watch out for high sodium), will fill
you up nicely. By the way, numerous studies have conclusively proven
that the quarter of the population eating the most vegetables get half the
cancer of the quarter eating the least!
12. Deep-fried food has no nutritional value none! Almost every food, whether
it s steak, chocolate or red wine, has some nutrients to contribute. But one
thing is absolute: Fried foods are garbage. Potato chips, French fries,
onion rings, breaded chicken strips and all the rest of the deep-fried junk
are pregnant with saturated fat and calories, and they contain almost zero
nutritional value. If you're trying to lose weight and/or reduce fat, simply
eliminate fried foods completely from your diet. Yikes! That stuff is scary.
13. Never, ever skip breakfast. If you want to maximize your fitness results
or fat-loss efforts, you've got to eat breakfast. Even if you don't exercise
at all, breakfast remains the most important meal of the day. Your
breakfast should contain complete proteins and complex carbohydrates (if
you're trying to lose weight, you should eat the bulk of your complex
carbohydrates at breakfast and lunch and only have vegetable carbohydrates at
dinner). A great breakfast is oatmeal (not the pre-packaged, pre-sweetened
kind) with a little honey and banana and a protein drink. Or try scrambled
egg whites with Healthy Choice turkey sausage.
14. Eat fat to lose fat. Healthy fats are necessary to your body for a bunch
of reasons: regulating hormonal production, improving immune function, lowering
total cholesterol, lubricating joints, and providing the basics for healthy
hair, nails and skin. You must be aware of the difference between
healthy good fats and dangerous bad fats. Good fats are monounsaturated fats
such as olive; peanut and canola oil; avocados; all-natural peanut butter and
nuts; and omega-3 fats found in salmon, mackerel and soy-based foods. Bad
fats are saturated fats, partially hydrogenated fats (killers!), and trans
fats. Your personal trainer can provide you with a simple diet
program that will compliment your exercise to help you live longer, feel
better and boost your immune system. The bottom line is your body needs good
fats and will revolt if you attempt to abstain from them; it absolutely does
not need bad fats.
15. Drink plenty of fresh, clean water. Yes, I know that you've heard this
over and over again. The recommended amount is approximately eight glasses,
or 64 ounces, of water every day. When you are exercising, you need to drink
even more. More than 75 percent of your body is water (even bone is more than
20-percent water). When you don't drink enough water and substitute diuretics
like coffee, tea and caffeinated sodas, you dehydrate your body, your blood
doesn't flow properly and your digestive system doesn't operate smoothly
(among other problems). Even a small deficit of water can radically
affect how your body performs. Here's a good rule of thumb: If you're urine
is a dark yellow and/or has a strong odour, you're not drinking enough water.
Drink up!
16. Eat regularly throughout the day. Fasting or overly restrictive diets
will enable you to lose weight in the short run, because the weight you lose
is primarily water weight and lean muscle mass. But in the long-run, it has
exactly the opposite effect you want. When you restrict your diet, your
body instinctively thinks it's being starved and shifts into a protective
mode by storing fat. Energy expenditures are fuelled by your lean muscles.
Therefore your body fat remains essentially the same and you lose vital
fluids and muscle instead. The less muscle you have, the slower your
metabolism becomes, and the less fat you burn. You should be eating three
nutritionally balanced meals each day, and you should have at least one or
two healthy snacks. This keeps your metabolic furnace stoked, so you burn
more at a faster rate. I know it's counter-intuitive, but it's the gospel
truth!
There you have it -- 16 essential strategies for an effective weight-loss-and-fitness
program that will have you looking and feeling better than you have in years
-- maybe ever! I realize that starting (or re-starting) a productive
and effective health-and-fitness program is not easy. That's why I encourage
you to get
help. If you're sick, you go to the doctor. If you've got a tax
problem, you see an accountant (or an attorney!). Have a toothache? You're
off to the dentist. Leaky pipes result in a call to the plumber. So why is it
that so many people attempt to solve their health-and-fitness problems
without consulting an expert? I don't know exactly, but I encourage you to
make the investment in yourself, in your quality of life, by hiring a qualified
professional to help you get started. The hardest part is just getting
started and sustaining your motivation until fitness becomes habitual. Once
you develop the habit, which can take as little as 30 days, your whole life
will change for the better.
Visit Tom Storms' site at www.personaltrainingfitness.com
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EVENTS
– OCTOBER 27
- NOVEMBER 6, 2005
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