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NEWSLETTER
Updated: April 6, 2006
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::JUNO COVERAGE::
Artists Jibe At Junos
Excerpt from The Toronto Star - Ben Rayner, Pop Music Critic
(Apr. 3, 2006) HALIFAX—There's been talk of a revolution in Canadian music
these past few years, but it was croon-pop schlockmeister Michael
Bublé striking decisive blows for the old guard all weekend long at this year's
Juno Awards. The suit-and-tied
Vancouver throwback to the swingin' cocktail-lounge sounds of Frank Sinatra and
Tony Bennett walked away from the Halifax Metro Centre with four statues by the
time two consecutive nights of award presentations wound down with CTV's
starstruck Juno broadcast last night. Bublé, a critical punching bag who
has nevertheless logged massive record sales on both sides of the border
putting schmaltzy spins on familiar pop standards, collected trophies for
Artist of the Year, Single of the Year for "Home" and Album and Pop
Album of the Year for his sophomore album, This Time. "I
don't know what to say. I feel like Kelly Clarkson a bit," he quipped
after his fourth trip to the podium. Later, clutching his four trophies and
babbling with endearing enthusiasm, he told the press backstage: "It was
only a few years ago that a nervous young kid won Best New Artist and I walked
into this room and they asked if anyone had any questions and no one did. Until
someone said: `Is it `Booble' or `Bubble'?' ... "I know there are
some people who hate what I do, I know there are some people who love it and
there are some people who don't give a damn. But my family loves it and they're
the most important to me." The rest of the winners at the closing
ceremony, unevenly hosted by ex-pat Vancouver Island sex kitten Pamela
Anderson, painted a somewhat more contemporary picture of today's vibrant,
internationally celebrated domestic music scene. Popular Montreal
pop-punk moppets Simple Plan received more votes than Céline Dion, Nickelback
and Diana Krall — and denied five-time nominee Bublé a sweep — to pick up the
Fan Choice Award. Young Kingston fusioneers Bedouin Soundclash — whose
"When the Night Feels My Song," released on the tiny Montreal ska
label Stomp Records has been an international smash — were named new group of
the year. Indie-rock orchestras Broken Social Scene and the Arcade Fire,
meanwhile, collected a trophy apiece.
Many observers felt Montreal underground heroes the Arcade Fire, still selling
thousands of copies of its two-year-old Funeral album around the world
each week, were unfairly snubbed in major categories that awarded eight
nominations to Canadian Idol refugees yet largely ignored the country's
thriving independent music scene. Arcade Fire's win in the Songwriter of the
Year category for "Wake Up," "Rebellion (Lies)" and
"Neighbourhood #3 (Power Out)" thus seemed less like a triumphant
moment than a conciliatory one. Shaggy-dog Torontonians Broken took home
their second Alternative Album Juno for their eponymous second album and
injected a welcome note of unpredictability by bringing a full complement of 16
Social Scenesters (including exiled-in-Paris songbird and former Juno winner
Leslie Feist, who lost Single of the Year to Bublé) to perform a rangy version
of "Ibi: Dreams of Pavement" on the show. "We didn't have
this many people with us last time so we can all celebrate a little more this
time," remarked bassist Brendan Canning, joined backstage by a boozy
extended Broken family that included producer Dave Newfeld, the Arts and Crafts
label staff and Toronto rapper k-os. The presence of the likes of Broken,
iconoclastic Halifax rapper Buck 65 and Bedouin Soundclash playing alongside
Nickelback, Hall of Fame inductee Bryan Adams and slumming foreigners Coldplay
and Black Eyed Peas, as well as the decision to present the Alternative Album
award on air for the first time, were somewhat face-saving gestures. The Junos
have drawn intense criticism this year for largely ignoring the
independent-music explosion that's made Canadian acts like Broken, Feist and
the Fire, Death from Above 1979, Metric and Hot Hot Heat hot international
commodities. The final awards breakdown — which also witnessed double
wins for Nickelback, Neil Young and Toronto's Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra —
actually came out slightly more representative of what's going on in Canada
today than the emphasis on CTV's Canadian Idol franchise, but that
didn't stop some sniping throughout the night. K-os shrugged off his
on-camera introduction to Coldplay's performance by mumbling something about
profits and cynicism, while presenter Kardinal Offishall quipped on camera that
he was just going to present the Artist of the Year award to himself,
"because they never give me a Juno." Backstage, too, the Broken
Social Scene horde made a point of expressing its distaste for the
short-sighted industry thinking that's given us three seasons' worth of
sacrificial Idol lambs.
"I feel really sorry for the kids on Canadian Idol because they're
going absolutely nowhere and I think it's a trick," said Scenester Kevin
Drew. The lads in bi-racial trio Bedouin Soundclash took aim at the
indie-rock nation embodied by Broken and Arcade Fire for not being
representative of Canada's diverse makeup and failing to live up to its
potential for "a more multicultural approach." They praised host city
Halifax and elder statesmen like Sloan and Joel Plaskett (formerly of Thrush
Hermit), however, for nurturing a local early-`90s indie scene "that helped
put Canada on the map." "It's really nice to get out of
Toronto. People in Halifax just like music. It's totally
unpretentious..." Anderson's wobbly standup skills as host weren't
exactly helped along by her attempt at the top of the broadcast to draw
attention back to her fight against the Newfoundland seal hunt. "One of my
favourite artists couldn't be here tonight: Seal. He was afraid he was going to
get clubbed to death," she said. Alan Doyle, front man for
Newfoundland folk-rockers Great Big Sea, missed an opportunity to shoot back
when he later co-presented the Songwriter of the Year award. It was left to
Alberta girl Jann Arden to offer a retort: "I just want everyone to know
that my brassiere is made entirely of seal eyelids."
Two Faces Of The Juno Awards
Excerpt from The Toronto Star - Ben Rayner, Pop Music Critic
(Apr. 1, 2006) It's an awkward time to be the Juno
Awards. A good time, all in all: This
weekend's slate of Juno events in Halifax will culminate
tomorrow night in arguably the most star-studded and high-profile ceremony in
the awards' 35-year history. Shoring up a roster of homegrown performers
that includes such internationally proven success stories as Nickelback,
Michael Bublé, Bryan Adams, Buck 65 and Toronto's very own Broken Social Scene
this year will be the platinum-plated presences of American hip-hop outfit
Black Eyed Peas and U.K. superstars Coldplay — not to mention the buxom draw of
expat B.C. sex kitten Pamela Anderson, who will be giggling behind the podium
as host of CTV's Juno broadcast from the Halifax Metro Centre. Still, the
disparity between the public face of the Junos that will be presented to TV
viewers tomorrow night and the old-guard stance of the nominees list itself
suggests the behind-the-scenes powers that be haven't quite figured out what to
do with their new position. This year's Junos arrive at a moment when
Canada's recent surge to prominence as an exporter of not just workmanlike
arena rock and trilling songbirds of the Céline/Shania/Sarah variety, but of
globally admired, hipster-approved independent talent, has become almost
enshrined. Thanks to the cross-border acclaim and solid international record
and ticket sales enjoyed by the likes of Broken and Buck, the Arcade Fire,
Metric, Stars, the New Pornographers and Feist, "Canadian" has become
a stamp of "cool" in the taste-making pages of Pitchfork and the NME.
Believe it or not, the word "Canadian" actually raises eyebrows.
Our domestic music industry, beset though it is by the omnipresent Internet
boogeyman, has a lot to crow about these days. And a large platform from which
to crow: The Juno broadcast has drawn record numbers of viewers each year
since CTV took over from CBC in 2002 and started glitzing the thing up, luring
a reported 1.34 million fans to the tube last year alone. This year, the
network is aiming even higher, making the broadcast available to 11 MTV and VH1
networks around the globe and a potential audience rather optimistically pegged
at a half-billion. Meanwhile, the decision to jog the ceremony out of its
Toronto/Hamilton rut and move it around from city to city, starting with St.
John's in 2002 and Ottawa, Edmonton and Winnipeg in subsequent years, has lent
the aura of a bona fide "event" to the proceedings. Old habits
die hard, though. It does nothing, for instance, for the Junos' credibility to
have two former Canadian Idol contestants, 2004 winner Kalan Porter and
last year's runner-up Rex Goudie, competing for artist and album of the year
while Neil Young and his acclaimed commercial comeback, Prairie Wind,
are sloughed off to the "adult alternative album of the year"
ghetto. Yes, record sales determine who makes it onto the shortlist for
some of the major categories, explaining why a seasonal toss-off like Diana
Krall's Christmas Songs can be in the running for album of the year and
why perennial hitmakers Nickelback and Bublé dominate the nominations.
Symbolically, though, the heavy Idol presence — Porter's old nemeses
Theresa Sokyrka and Jacob Hoggard (as a member of Hedley) are also up for
trophies — speaks to the mainstream recording industry's continued,
short-sighted pursuit of short-term gains over long-term vision. This is
what the majors are pushing, when artists like the Arcade Fire, Death from
Above 1979 and Broken — acts with committed international followings and a shot
at lasting careers — can move units in the six-figure range on independent
labels with minimal budgets and a fraction of the staff? With all due respect
to the Canadian Idol kids, the odds we'll be seeing them on the Junos 10
or even five years from now aren't great. Ask Ryan Malcolm.
Why not at least grant Montreal's Arcade Fire, whose unstoppable 2004 album Funeral
ranked amongst the most highly acclaimed in the world last year and has
sold nearly half a million copies worldwide, a token spot in the group of the
year category? Instead, we get rote nominees with a much-diminished
presence in the public consciousness, such as Barenaked Ladies, Blue Rodeo and
Our Lady Peace vying with Nickelback and its cookie-cutter spawn, Theory of a
Deadman. "You know how it is with the Junos. It's to remind the
Canadian music industry that it's still working," shrugs Broken Social
Scenester Kevin Drew. "We're gonna go down there as a group of friends and
play our hearts out on television, and then we're gonna come home as a group of
friends and all the stuff in the middle will be filler. It's just another time
to remind our friends and ourselves that we're all doing well and life is to be
lived and things are good." Drew and the BSS extended family took
home an alternative album of the year Juno in 2003 for their underground hit You
Forgot it in People. But as with most performers who earn awards in the
non-marquee categories, their moment of triumph didn't make the Sunday-night
broadcast and was relegated to the invite-only "gala" soiree the
night before, during which the bulk of the trophies are handed out. This year,
only seven of the 39 Junos will actually be presented on air. "It's
all about the night before, really," says Drew. "That's when the true
talent is out. You've got the bluegrass and the children's records and the
gospel and all that. "I always like going the night before because
then you feel like you're with your peers and you feel like you're with the
people who are trying hard to get their stature advanced, who are working hard
to make sure they can still make music. They're the ones with families. They
don't have the cars and the bling and you're not gonna see them on MuchMusic's
version of Cribs. "Besides that, it's just another three-day
weekend to have lots of drinks and talk to people who are really not that
significant to the idea of (artistic) creation. But you've gotta love `em
because, you know, they need jobs."
Given the underlying reason for the Junos' existence — i.e., to stimulate sales
of domestic albums — it would make sense to hand at least a couple of
"lesser" winners a trophy on camera, rather than letting Nickelback
make four separate trips to the podium in honour of a record that's already
moved several million copies. This year, mind you, there's even less
floor space for homegrown acts, since they've had to cede two performance spots
to ratings-grabbing imports Coldplay and Black Eyed Peas. The latter's
presence is particularly rankling to Canadian hip-hop artists, who have been
fighting for increased recognition at the Junos ever since the Rascalz returned
their rap album of the year trophy in 1998 because the category wasn't part of
the broadcast. "It kind of goes to show you what they feel is
important or not," offers Toronto rapper Kardinal Offishall, who is up in
the rap recording category this year for Fire & Glory and, aside
from the Peas, will be the only visible hip-hop act. "You know, as far as
I know, the Black Eyed Peas aren't in the rap category. It's just one of those
things. I guess they're going to let me go onstage and present an award, but I
think I'm the only real Canadian hip-hop artist represented on the
broadcast. "A few years ago, after the Rascalz gave back their
award, the next year they had us back and made us all win with `Northern
Touch.' And that's the way it is. Unless you force their hand, they don't
really care. They're always gonna do what they want."
Crooner Bublé Captures Three Junos
Excerpt from The Globe and Mail -
Robert Everett-Green
(Apr. 3, 2006) HALIFAX — Pamela Anderson took her anti-seal-hunt
campaign on national television last night, launching
the 2006 Juno Awards
show with a blunt denunciation of the hunt. "I
don't mind seeing a little blood on the ice if it's a hockey game," she
said. "But as you know, I hate seeing blood on the ice when it's baby
seals." To boos from the capacity crowd at the Halifax Metro Centre, Ms.
Anderson said, "I can take it, I can take it." She also joked that
"one of my favourite artists couldn't get here tonight: Seal,"
referring to the British soul-hop singer. "He was afraid he was going to
get clubbed." Ms. Anderson's ripostes went unchallenged until late in the
broadcast, when presenter Jann Arden quipped: "I want everyone to know
that my brassiere is entirely made of seal eyelid." Great Big Sea member
Alan Doyle, who has criticized celebrities who fly in to speak against the
hunt, also had a turn at the microphone, but he stuck to the written script.
Vancouver lounge crooner Michael Bublé was the evening's big winner, adding
three awards (album, artist and single of the year) to the pop album award he
won at a closed-door ceremony on Saturday. Mr. Bublé also gave an off-key
performance of his soft-pop single, Home. "I'm absolutely blown
away," he said after his first award. "I desperately wanted to win. .
. . I feel like [American Idol and Grammy winner] Kelly Clarkson a
bit." After the show, Mr. Bublé struck a modest tone, telling a media
scrum: "I know that there are some people who hate what I do. . . . This
is a subjective business. It's not necessarily true that the best guy or the
best band won tonight. . . . But damn, this feels good."
Nickelback, which topped the field of nominees with mentions in six categories
and performed during the show, failed to claim a trophy during the broadcast
awards, winning two (group of the year and rock record) at Saturday's award
ceremony. The band tied with Neil Young (adult alternative album and producer
of the year) and Tafelmusik (children's recording and classical album, large
ensemble). All four Canadian Idol finalists (Kalan Porter, Jacob
Hoggard, Rex Goudie and Theresa Sokyrka) were turned aside, as the Idols failed
to convert any of their eight nominations. But Porter and Goudie both appeared
as presenters, and Hoggard's band, Hedley, took the last performance spot on
the two-hour broadcast. The other performers were Nickelback, Bedouin
Soundclash, Broken Social Scene, Massari and Divine Brown, who sang the show's
longest note near the close of her single, Old Skool Love. The set for
the show was dominated by a set of translucent prisms jutting up from the stage
like shards of breaking ice, and a narrow catwalk that curved around the
audience standing on the stadium floor. Curling light strips overhead seemed
intended to evoke the Northern Lights. Ms. Anderson spent much of the evening
changing from one skimpy costume to another, leaving the bulk of the hosting
job to Nova Scotia hip-hop storyteller Buck 65, who rapped the opening segment
through a giant megaphone. Ms. Anderson didn't live up to CTV's advance
promotion of her comic talents, and delivered some of her gags as if reading
them for the first time. Her script traded heavily on her bombshell image, with
introductory lines such as "This next performer gets me really hot"
(for Mr. Bublé) and "Give me some Hedley!"
Bryan Adams was honoured as this year's inductee into the Canadian Music Hall
of Fame, after being introduced by Coldplay's Chris Martin, who did the
evening's wittiest mid-readings of a prepared script. Mr. Adams performed a
flinty version of 18 'Till I Die, and easily bested all other winners
with the length and thoroughness of his thank-you list. "Had I started
anywhere else but Vancouver, I would not be here tonight," said the
well-travelled rocker. Kingston's Bedouin Soundclash took the award for best
new group, Toronto's Broken Social Scene won for alternative album, and
Montreal's Simple Plan won the fan choice award. The non-broadcast award
winners included Diana Krall (vocal jazz album), Arcade Fire (songwriting),
Daniel Powter (new artist), K'naan (rap album), Shawn Desman (R&B/soul
album), Corb Lund (roots & traditional album), Christos Hatzis (classical
composition) and Marc-André Hamelin (classical album, solo).
For all the winners, go to my page at 2006 Juno Winners.
Broken Social Scene Slams 'Idol' Industry After Juno Win
Source: Angela Pacienza, Canadian Press
(Apr. 3, 2006) HALIFAX — Time for a power shuffle in the Canadian music
industry? Broken Social Scene thinks so. Following their Juno win,
members of the Toronto indie band took some shots at the major label side of
the industry, slamming the Canadian Idol star-making machine. "I feel
really sorry for those kids in Canadian Idol because they're going absolutely
nowhere," singer Kevin Drew said backstage after Sunday's awards.
"It's a trick . . . It's a Canadian music industry downfall because in
three years no one is going to remember them." The outburst came after
Broken Social Scene picked up a Juno for best alternative album. The
group went backstage to meet with reporters, who wanted to know what Drew meant
in his acceptance speech when he said: "Is there going to be a change in
Canadian music?" All four nominated Canadian Idols — Kalan Porter, Jacob
Hoggard, Theresa Sokyrka and Rex Goudie — went home empty handed.
Drew suggested the Idol franchise and the record labels toss young artists out
into the public too soon just to make a fast buck. Hyped around the globe
by tastemakers, Broken Social Scene is a major player in the indie rock scene,
which has been edging its way into the mainstream of late. They are joined by
other Canadian groups such as Stars, Black Mountain, Metric and New
Pornographers — all represented by small, independently run labels, which Drew
says take the time to foster talent. "I think things should have gotten a
lot smaller years ago," said Drew. "It has to change . . . People are
still going for the 'instant."' Leslie Feist — who plays with Broken
Social Scene — pointed to the Idols' lack of experience.
"Collectively we probably have 200 years worth of gig experience. I feel
only empathy . . . for the kids that are put in that position before they have
those road scars," she said Sunday. Susanne Boyce, president of CTV
programming, seemed bemused by the backstage remarks. "Whether you have
200 years of (experience) or a day of it — the audiences will connect with you
or not," she said Monday, adding that many of the Idols do have previous
performing experience. "Why trash somebody else?" Boyce went on
to say that the Canadian music scene is big enough for all types of performers.
"What's lovely is when you see that the world has embraced Canadian music
... so it's all fine," she said. "I'm very proud of the whole
Canadian music scene. I feel strongly about celebrating all the successes.
According to CTV, the Juno audience peaked at 2.1 million viewers Sunday night
and was up almost 30 per cent from last year.
Viewers Served Some Eye Candy
Excerpt from The Globe and Mail - Andrew Ryan, aryan@globeandmail.com
(Apr. 3, 2006) It seemed Pam Anderson didn't know what to do on last night's Junos telecast, so she could
only be herself. She bounced, she
flounced, she told a few jokes. And she wore several low-cut tops. In the end,
she was simply Pam. The pneumatic Ms. Anderson was a game but rather lame Junos
host. The B.C.-born actress and media curiosity was used very rarely, and to
predictable effect. She was wedged in between the dozen or so musical
performances on the live, two-hour show. Every half hour or so, Pam would
turn up to read something off the teleprompter. Her total elapsed screen time
on the show was less than five minutes. It must be the easiest paycheque she's
ever earned. Ms. Anderson, 39, opened the show, strutting out on stage at
the Halifax Metro Centre, wearing an extremely low-cut black dress and made
immediate acknowledgement of her most notable assets: "The Canadian music
scene is bursting at the seam [looks down at her chest]. Imagine
that!" As expected, Pam could not open the show without referencing
her recent comments speaking out against the annual seal hunt in neighbouring
Newfoundland and Labrador. "Unfortunately, one of my favourite
artists couldn't be here tonight -- Seal. He was afraid he was going to get
clubbed," Ms. Anderson said. The groaner drew a few catcalls. Undeterred,
Ms. Anderson tried to drive the point further home with another joke about how
she loved hockey but, "I hate seeing blood on the ice -- when it's baby
seals." A low rumbling response of disapproval arose from the crowd.
As with all Juno shows, it was a rock-themed affair and she was the girl hired
to sit on the motorcycle. Ms. Anderson’s wardrobe accelerated from
cheesecake to, well, sleazy. In her second appearance, she came out in tiny
white satin shorts and heels, wearing another exposed-cleavage top and a tiny
jacket. She tried to work her comic skills in her brief allotted segments.
To be fair, she was hobbled by terrible material. "Would the person who
parked in the fire lane please move their SAV [sic]. Their licence plate is Big
Pimp," she said. The camera went to a tight close-up of Canadian
singer-songwriter Ron Sexsmith in the crowd. "Ron, you're going to get
towed!" Nobody appeared to get the gag, including Ms. Anderson. Third
costume change: Pam came out to introduce the tribute to Bryan Adams. Same
white shorts, matched with a black see-through blouse unbuttoned to the waist. Losers
in crowd shrieked, "We love you, Pam!" Pam looked coy, said, "I
love you, too." After another, even longer break, she came back out, still
in the blouse and shorts combo, to introduce multiple Juno winner Michael
Bublé. "This next performer gets me really hot," said Pam. And so it
went. Rather than assuming a regular host's role, Ms. Anderson did what she
does for a living: Stand there and giggle, and heave her chest. Her fourth and
final appearance was to sign off the show, by which point she had changed into
a gauzy white, very short number that was either a mini-dress or a bathrobe. It
was also her most expansive cleavage exposure of the evening. "Oh, gosh, I
had such a great time!" gushed Pam, jumping up and down on a raised
platform, blowing kisses to the crowd. Ms. Anderson was doled out in
small leering doses, presumably to appeal to the predominantly male audience
who might watch a rock-dominated show. She was the TV eye candy on the Junos
telecast.
Buble Cleans Up At Juno Awards
Excerpt from www.billboard.com -
Etan Vlessing, The Hollywood Reporter
(Apr. 3, 2006) Vancouver crooner Michael Buble
dominated Canada's Junos Awards last night (April 2) in Halifax, grabbing four trophies.
He won for best singer, album, artist and pop album of the year for "It's
Time" (143/Reprise), a collection of vintage love songs produced by David
Foster. Buble's main competition included "Canadian Idol"
alumni Theresa Sokyrka, Kalan Porter and Rex Goudie, all of whom came away from
the Canadian kudofest empty-handed. Other award winners included Alberta
rock band Nickelback, which won best group and best rock album for the
Roadrunner set "All The Right Reasons." The band went into the Junos
with a field-leading six nominations. Rock legend Neil Young earned
trophies for best adult alternative album for "Prairie Wind"
(Reprise) and the best producer award. That brings his take over the years to
five Junos (and zero Grammys). Coldplay and the Black Eyed Peas shared
the international album of the year award, reflecting retail record sales here
of "X&Y" (Capitol) and "Monkey Business (A&M),
respectively. The Juno fan choice award, voted on by the Canadian public,
went to Simple Plan, while another rising band, Bedouin Soundclash, earned the
new group of the year honour. Other Juno winners included Broken Social
Scene's self-titled Arts & Crafts set for best alternative album, and
current Billboard Hot 100 champ Daniel Powter for best new artist of the year.
::TOP STORIES::
Music Law Firm Launches In Canada
By
Karen Bliss for Lowdown
(Mar. 15, 2006) A new specialty law firm in Canada, Toronto-based Taylor Mitsopulos Burshtein Entertainment Lawyers, will
focus almost
exclusively on music clientele. Formed by top music lawyer Chris Taylor,
whose clients include Avril Lavigne, Sum 41, Nelly Furtado, Billy Talent, Three
Days Grace, Sam Roberts, Hot Hot Heat, and k-os, the firm does not represent
major record labels. "We leave that to other firms," Taylor explains.
"We are artist-side lawyers." Hiring associates Stacey
Mitsopulos, Lynn Burshtein, Jason Klein and Miro Oballa -- Mitsopulos and
Burshtein are both on the letterhead -- Taylor's stable of music lawyers will
help with the existing roster and take on new clients, something he had to pull
back on in recent years, as his once-unsigned clients became increasingly
successful, requiring more of his time. Taylor, Mitsopulos and Burshtein
all come from Sanderson Taylor Entertainment Lawyers, where they were
associates of entertainment law veteran Paul Sanderson, who has represented
music, arts and film clients since 1983 and is author of "Musicians and
the Law in Canada." Mitsopulos was brought into the firm four years
ago by Taylor, who later partnered with her to co-manage rock duo Death From
Above 1979. Her law clients include bands Silverstein, Moneen, and Small Sins
(formerly Ladies and Gentlemen). Burshtein had been with the practice two
years. Her key clients include electronic violinist Dr. Draw and eTalk Daily's
Anna Cyzon. "Jason, Miro, Stacey and Lynn are all actively out there
looking for new clients and I'm out there too, maybe not as much as I was three
or four years ago," says Taylor. "Before (at Sanderson Taylor), I
think we were losing that development side of what we were doing a little bit
just because we were so busy servicing our current roster." Taylor
himself began his career in the music business in 1990, fronting reggae-pop act
One, which signed to Virgin Music Canada in 1994 for one album. After
disbanding, the Windsor, ON native completed law school and joined Paul
Sanderson & Associates, which was renamed Sanderson Taylor Entertainment
Lawyers in 1999.
"When I had my name on the letterhead, that was as far as I wanted to go.
I would have been happy with that," Taylor says. Taylor had been
with Sanderson for three years and did the Furtado, Sum 41 and k-os deals.
Those three artists, and later Sam Roberts, Billy Talent, Three Days Grace,
were all unknown musicians seeking a recording contract when Taylor heard and
saw something special in them. Billy Talent and Three Days Grace didn't even
have management at the time. He put his reputation on the line and
shopped their early demos to labels, both in Canada and the U.S. As more
and more of his clients landed major deals, Taylor became "the" guy
to get on your side, if you were a Canadian artist seeking a deal. He was both
selective and busy, and often had to turn down artists or they would go
elsewhere. He brought in Mitsopulos to help with the workload, but
ironically took on more, albeit outside the firm. He started Last Gang
Records, with partner Donald Tarlton of DKD Group of Labels, for those artists
such as Metric and DFA 1979 for which he couldn't get deals. The roster also
includes Tiga; From Fiction; a DFA side project/production team, MSTRKRFT; and
the solo project of Metric's Emily Haines. He also formed Last Gang
Management, co-managing Death From Above 1979 and MSTRKRFT with Mitsopulos, and
Metric with Matt Drouin. Just before Christmas, as the lease at Sanderson
Taylor Entertainment Lawyers' cramped John Street office was up for renewal
come March 1, Taylor and Sanderson started to talk about the direction of the
firm. On a practical level, there was literally no room to expand.
Already, there were desks in the narrow hallways. But business-wise, they
entered into "a respectful, professional discussion" over the next
three or four months about whether to sign a new lease or whether to split off.
"I think we built a very successful law firm together over nine
years. It just came to a point where it was time for each of us to move on.
It's about decision-making and who is going to be leading the charge and I
think both Paul and I are leaders," explains Taylor.
He also openly talked to Sanderson about asking Mitsopulos and Burshtein to
join him at his own firm. "I work very closely with Stacey and
Lynn," says Taylor. "We'd become a little unit within the law firm.
"Lynn works with me on a lot of Avril stuff for example and Stacey
works with me on a lot of Hot Hot Heat and Sam Roberts stuff, so depending on
the client, Stacey and Lynn both do a lot of work with me on my client roster.
And Stacey's developed a roster above and beyond that as well."
Sanderson was okay with it, says Taylor, and has moved to a new location
on Richmond Street W. and started a new practice, Sanderson Entertainment Law
with long-time entertainment paralegal Paul Irvine and counsel Frank Farfan.
Sanderson set up Taylor Mitsopulos Burshtein Entertainment Lawyers in an office
on East Liberty Street. "I wanted to put (Stacey and Lynn's) names
on the letterhead because of the relationship we developed," says Taylor.
"I saw them as being a core part of what I was doing going forward and
wanted that to be a perk that they had earned over the years." They
are not partners in the firm, rather associates. Taylor carries all overhead
and expenses. He is the boss, although he doesn't look at it that way.
"The law will look at it that way. It's set up that way. But in reality,
even Miro and Jason, everyone has input into this firm." Klein
joined Taylor Mitsopulos Burshtein Entertainment Lawyers from Cassels Brock
& Blackwell LLP and Miro Oballa from Goodman and Carr LLP, both in Toronto.
"I think what was important to them is that they had an environment
that was nurturing, an environment that was encouraging towards developing a music
law practice," believes Taylor. "They both come from Bay street firms
where in terms of entertainment practice, music, there's probably less of an
inclination to nurture that kind of client. "I thought they were
both good music lawyers, who were out there developing client rosters of their
own, but could help us."
For now, Taylor Mitsopulos Burshtein Entertainment Lawyers will focus on
servicing artists, managers, record labels, music publishers, and other music
industry players. If one of its clients published a book or went into acting,
Taylor says the firm wouldn't handle the paperwork at this stage.
"Lynn and Miro and Jason they all have a little bit of TV
experience, not a ton but that's an area where we're talking to a few film and
TV lawyers about bringing them in to work with us as well. We have room to grow
and that's one area we are considering growing in." Some managers
and indie label heads have commented that they wouldn't use Taylor's legal
services now because he operates his own label and management companies. They
feel uncomfortable that he would see their offer and perhaps come back with a
more attractive deal to lure someone to Last Gang, or he may not shop an act
properly if he wants to sign it. "I don't think this logic makes sense,"
Taylor responds. "The label is an extension of what I have always done as
a lawyer: artist development. Nobody wanted Metric. Nobody wanted DFA79. We had
to build these from scratch. I didn't 'steal' them from anyone.
"Emily Haines is family so she's signed with us for her solo work.
Jesse Keeler is family so he's signed with us for his MSTRKRFT project. The
'shopping' game is 2002. Today, bands and managers build brands with touring
and online press/marketing. It's not really a shopping game anymore.
"I am helping my clients build their brands based on my hands-on
experience doing it with Last Gang. That experience has made me a much better
advisor for my developing bands - and their management/labels," he says.
ReelWorld Film Festival 2006 Unveiled
Source: Pennant Media Group
(Mar. 23, 2006) Key ReelWorld Film
Festival sponsors Citytv, TD Bank Financial Group, CBC Television and
Telefilm Canada joined
ReelWorld founder and president Tonya Lee Williams today in Toronto as
the 2006 Festival programming line up was revealed at the Festival press
conference. The conference was hosted at Rainbow Cinemas Market Square,
the general screening venue for this year’s Festival. Award-winning
Canadian filmmaker Claude Gagnon’s “finely crafted” Kamataki is
set to open the Festival on April 19. The film stars Matt Smiley. Gagnon
was on hand to present the film’s trailer at this morning launch. Both he and
Smiley will be attending the Opening Night Screening of their film. Closing the
festival on April 23 is the captivating Korean film A Bittersweet
Life (Dal-kom-han In-saeng) from renowned director Kim Jee-woon and
starring the hugely popular actor, Lee Byung-hun.
Williams’ presentation included announcing this year’s Award of
Excellence winner, Graham Greene and ReelWorld Trailblazers Julia
Kwan, Priya Rao, Hubert Davis, Annie Frazier, Henry
and Floyd Kane. She also officially presented this year’s key art,
designed by Joe Taylor of Tempest Design. Other speakers included
regional vice president, CHUM Television (Ontario), Nigel Fuller; vice
chair TD Bank Asset Management, Satish Rai; program
executive Independent Documentary Unit, CBC Television, Sun-Kyung Yi
and director, Ontario & Nunavut Regions, Telefilm Canada, Dave Forget.
Highlights of the 2006 ReelWorld Film Festival line up include Barrio
Cuba (Cuba), Flip the Script (U.S.), A Very British
Bollywood (England), The Toronto Rap Project (Canada)
and Lucky (South Africa). Special programming includes French language
films, this year’s focus called Le Francophonie Spotlight, the children/youth
series and a 100% Canadian music video program. A revamped Industry Series was
also spotlighted. The Series will take place at St. Lawrence Hall.
ReelWorld Film Festival takes place April 19-23 at Rainbow
Cinemas Market Square. ReelWorld Film Festival is Canada’s
premiere non-profit film festival dedicated to nurturing, promoting and
celebrating the full spectrum of racial and culturally diverse film and video.
For the past five years, the Film Festival and Foundation have been
instrumental in helping talent of colour success in the entertainment
industry. Actress, director and producer Tonya Lee Williams
founded ReelWorld in 2001 to provide a platform for emerging individuals of
colour in the entertainment industry to build their dreams and hone their
skills.
Chaka Khan: From The Fire Came Wings To Soar
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com - By Deardra
Shuler
(April 4, 2006) The indomitable spirit and talent of songstress Chaka Khan is larger than life. The
8-time Grammy Award winner is a woman that
has carved her legacy out of grit and hardship, joy and creative genius.
Life has been both cruel and kind to her and perhaps that is why her voice is
so well honed and her songs speak with great passion to the heart of those who
listen. Chaka Khan is a legend who has mastered music of all genres
bending it to her will while spitting it out like smouldering fire.
Wherever she performs, Chaka sets the house on fire. She did just
that when she appeared at Lehman College for the Performing Arts, located in
Bronx, New York. Chaka Khan, who was born Yvette Marie Stevens, on a naval base
in Great Lakes, Illinois and raised on the South Side of Chicago, celebrates
her birthday March 23rd. Known for hits such as “Tell Me Something Good,”
“I Feel For You,” “Through the Fire;” “I’m Every Woman;” “Classikhan” and
“Ain’t Nobody,” Khan set forth upon a life journey fated to prove she would
indeed become ‘somebody.’ At age 11, she formed the group Crystalettes
with her sister. At 18, she became a member of the multiracial group
Rufus and earned one platinum album, five gold albums, five gold singles, five
number one hits, and two Grammy Awards. She went solo in 1978, teaming up
with Arif Mardin to produce her debut album Chaka. “I’m Every Woman” evolved
from that collaboration. Continuing to perform with Rufus, she and the
group scored the hit album Street Player which gave birth to the classic anthem
“Stay.” In 1981, “What Cha’ Gonna Do For Me?” became a monster hit.
“I look forward to performing at Lehman, I like working in
colleges,” claimed Ms. Khan who came from a musical family.” Always her
own person, Chaka was christened by a Yoruba priest who named her Chaka Adunne
Aduffe Yemoja Hodarhi Karifi. “Chaka was a Zulu warrior but there is a feminine
and masculine pronunciation to the name. I got my name during an African naming
ceremony by an African Baba. I was really culturally into my Pan Africanism
then. Chaka is fire, red, Mars” explained the fiery singer who also was part of
the Black Panthers and headed up their breakfast program for children.
“When I was 15, I ran away from home. I worked several gigs
and it was then that I meant the group Rufus. They were in one group and
I was in another. I eventually joined Rufus, which was the best career
move I ever made. I had several hits with Rufus,” remarked Khan who is
presently recording a yet to be entitled CD. “I should have a single out by
this summer,” promised Chaka.
The road to fame has been a trial by fire which Khan documented in both song
and her book entitled “Chaka! Through the Fire” “I can liken my life to
the phoenix wherein out of the trials and tribulations, I have risen. It’s been
a purification that has given me strength and empowerment and made me the Woman
I Am” claimed Chaka who also produced an album under the same title for Warner
Black Music. In 1982, Chaka released her 4th solo album entitled Chaka
Khan which earned her 2 Grammy Awards for Best R&B Performance, Female
& Best Vocal Arrangements. “I’ll Be Good To You” earned a Grammy for
Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. In 2003, she won another
Grammy for Best R&B Vocal Performance for her version of Marvin Gaye’s
“What’s Going On.” Interested in humane pursuits Chaka established the Chaka
Khan Foundation, an organization that assists women and children at risk.
“We try to help women and children in crisis. We do mentorship programs
for foster kids. We give money to and find funds for, rehabs and safe
houses. We are doing reading initiative programs as an incentive to help
mostly minority kids who want to go to college,” remarked the singer whose
heart is a big as her music. “My line of chocolates called “Chakalates” are
really good Belgium Chocolates. We sell them at Neiman Marcus stores in
order to raise funds for my projects,” said the well-traveled songstress who
has lived in London and Germany and still maintains a home in Europe. The talented
and enduring artist has also raised $1 million dollars for autism via a
walk-a-thon. “We do this every year. My sister has a son that is
autistic. I tend to think autism is caused by a virus and mercury
poisoning. I think it strikes hypersensitive children, boys mostly.
Autism is caused when there isn’t enough blood getting to the brainstem,”
remarked the performer who appeared in “Mama, I Want To Sing.” “Some
people think it’s a genetic disorder,” stated Chaka. “Research is still
being done. Some kids have been cured once toxic metals are out of their
system. It’s pandemic now. One out of 600 children has autism”
continued the famed vocalist who received an honorary degree of music from
Berklee College last year. “Life is a most interesting thing. It’s a
gift. I love people and try to be kind to everyone but I don’t take a lot of
nonsense. I believe in doing toward others as I would have them do toward
me. I would even say that I believe in doing better toward people than
they do toward me, why not up it one!” For additional info about Chaka Khan
see: http://www.chakakhan.com/
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::MUSIC NEWS::
Massari Soars To New
Heights With Hot New Video For “Rush The Floor”
Source:
Lu Bianco, Publicist, 416.417.7809 / lulubianco@gmail.com
(Apr.
5, 2006) Toronto, ON - Continuing in the trend of lavishly
extravagant music videos with beautiful young ladies and fancy cars; Massari
and Capital Prophet Records joined the unstoppable RT! for Massari's biggest
video to date, "Rush The Floor". "I love making music videos.
Even though the days are really long, the energy on the set keeps you going.
This video was probably one of the most exciting video's I've done,” says
Massari. The video featuring Massari's label mate Belly, brings together
both artists ’ personalities in this big budget production complete with a
multi-million dollar private jet; a Rolls Royce Phantom and a custom-built club
scene complete with a couple of urban music’s hottest video vixens.
"It's a Celebration B*#%@*S", explains Capital Prophet Records
Recording Artist Belly when asked to describe the music video in which he is
featured with his crew made up of close friends. “Rush The Floor” is set
to hit video outlets nationally mid-April and promises to continue in the
successful trend of Massari’s previous video releases. Massari's first three
videos were very successful at national video outlets with debut video “Smile
For Me” receiving heavy rotation across the country; "Be Easy"
hitting the #1 spot at MuchMusic and "Real Love" soaring into the #1
spot at MuchMusic, MuchMoreMusic and Musique Plus almost simultaneously. “Rush
The Floor” is vying to surpass the success of its predecessors. Massari
recently performed at the 2006 Juno Awards in Halifax where he was nominated
for an award in the "R&B/Soul Recording of the Year" category. He
returns from the East Coast to headline the 35th annual 30 Hour Famine Fight
Hunger Concert at Yonge-Dundas Square in Toronto on April 8th.
For all the latest information on Massari visit http://www.massarionline.com.
UPCOMING TOUR DATES:
April 5, 2006 – Quebec City, Quebec – Dagobert Nightclub
April 6, 2006 – Trois Rivieres, Quebec – Monkey Nightclub
April 8, 2006 – Toronto, Ontario – Yonge-Dundas Square (30 Hour Famine)
April 15, 2006 – Calgary, Alberta – Coast Plaza Hotel
April 16, 2006 – Edmonton, Alberta – Shaw Conference Centre
April 23, 2006 – Hamilton, Ontario – Oakwood Place
April 29, 2006 – Detroit, Michigan – Elysium Lounge
April 30, 2006 – Dearborn, Michigan – The Venue
May 12, 2006 – Sydney, Australia - Stars Palace
May 13, 2006 – Melbourne, Australia – Venue To Be Announced
May 20, 2006 – Sydney, Australia – Venue To Be Announced
July 22, 2006 – Beirut, Lebanon – Forum de Beirut
Maestro - `I Want To Keep It For A While'
Excerpt from The
Toronto Star - Ashante Infantry, Entertainment Reporter
(Apr. 2, 2006) We spoke to the multitasking rapper-turned-actor Maestro
out in Vancouver, where he was auditioning and meeting agents. The
30-something, who celebrated his birthday in Vancouver and Toronto before
heading to Halifax for the Junos, managed to get through about a third of the
songs on Tafelmusik Chamber Orchestra music director Jeanne Lamon's iPod.
What did you hear on that iPod?
"She's got some Beethoven that's dope, some Buena Vista Social Club and
some Cesaria Evora that's wicked. I already knew about Cesaria and about her
history and I always wanted to buy her CD, but I never got a chance."
Did you enjoy everything that you heard?
"I kind of like what she has on her iPod more than what I got on mine. I
don't want to give it back to her, I want to keep it for a while. I probably
have more variety, but she has more instrumentals ... I'm a music head, so I
don't see anything that I necessarily don't like. There's probably some stuff
that I have that she won't like."
What's on your iPod?
"I got some Wu-Tang Clan, some Ultramagnetics, some Jelleestone, some
Kardinal — a lot of hip hop; but I got variety too, because the best of Burton
Cummings is on that as well. And I got the best of Maestro, he's on there,
too."
You listen to your own music?
"Sometimes. I have the last one on there, the Urban Landmark, it's
like the greatest hits. I like my stuff."
Why do you say you prefer the music on her iPod?
"It's really calming. This is the kind of stuff when we had art in
elementary school and high school my art teachers would play while we were
painting. The stuff I have on my iPod inspires me to work out or to scream.
I'll hear a record I like or a song that I like on my iPod and I'm caught up
remembering the first time I heard it or the flow of the MC, but I can't really
think. She has good thinking music, brain food. Most of my stuff is lyrically
driven while the majority of her stuff was instrumentally driven."
Do you ever listen to instrumentals?
"There's none on my iPod right now. At home I got some Stanley Turrentine,
Cannonball Adderley. I grew up with jazz and a lot of my records came from old
jazz records."
Do you see her music having an impact on your creativity?
"When I heard the instrumentation of the Buena Vista Social Club and when
I heard Cesaria's stuff I was like `Wow.' It's inspiring. It just opens up
another channel."
What other differences did you note with her iPod?
"Mine's not as sophisticated as hers."
What's next for you?
"Amma, a film I executive produced and co-starred in has been
selected for the Reel World Film Festival (April 19-23) and I'm being inducted
in the Scarborough Hall of Fame."
I didn't know Scarborough had a Hall of Fame.
"Me neither, but they're giving the 'Stro some love."
Toronto Hip Hop Interview With Mateo From “The
Show”
Source: Toronto Hip Hop
THH: What's your Name?
Mateo: Mateo J.Charlton. The guys in my band call me Miz or
Mizzeh
THH: How did you get your name ‘The Show’?
Mateo: Well it's kina funny cause I think each man in the band
feels like he came up with the name when in fact I was the one who came up with
it. lol I’ll leave it at that!!
THH: Location?
Mateo: Born in North York (The real York ...lol) and raised
and residing in Mississauga ON,
THH: How did you get started and how many years have you been
Producing?
Mateo: My aunt bought me a little Casio keyboard when I was
like 12 and I had no idea what to do with it cause I had never really played
keys before...So that was the 1st time I was introduced to the ability to
create music, From there I joined the group soon after and started performing
almost immediately. It took me about a year of foolin around with production
before the guys would even consider my works.
For the first couple of years all we were doing was singing to music that was
made for us and written for us...I didn't like it... I felt like I wasn't
getting the opportunity to be a real artist so one day I decided to ask my
cousin who is also in the band (JL) for a little help settin me up with my own
studio. He had a “Korg Trinity Plus” with a pretty tight set up himself and I
can't lie...I thought that was the coolest shit I had ever seen, The blue touch
screen, The silver casing and all those pretty lights...I wanted one!! Hahahaaa
So with a little help from my dad...I got my own little set up in my bed room
with some head phones and a beautiful Korg Trinity Plus...Which I still have
and will probably never get rid of!! True Story!!! lol
THH: How has production over the years changed?
Mateo: Well it's weird cause music hasn't really changed that
much...The way we produce music has changed significantly due to technological
advancements. Early on someone once told me that there are no new chords to
create...every chord has been played...all you can do now is take the pieces of
the puzzle and make different arrangements. Percussion has become more beefed
up...and it's gotten pretty simple in some genera's. You can create a club
banger with a kick, snare some hi hats and a dope artist... Done!!
THH: What gear do you use to create your music?
Mateo: I like the blend of software and hardware. I use Logic
Platinum for sequencing, arranging and mixing. I love it...but then again I
started out using Logic 2 from way back when. BUT… I think I might have to
check out all the hype around the latest version of protools!! Up until
recently I was all about buying hardware sound modules and keyboards. I have
the Trinity Plus, A Roland XV3080 , An Emu Turbo Phat and couple of decent soft
synths. But that will all change when the new facility I'm building is
ready...It's gunna be serious.
THH: What inspires you?
Mateo: Life inspires me...The trials and tribulations of it
all. Music has always been my diary... it's been my channel to the source. I
really get focused when I'm creating...Its no joke. Creating music is a natural
thing to me...The way I see it, When you're in your mothers belly the first
thing you hear and feel is a beat... your mothers heart beat. That's why music
is considered a universal language. Who doesn't listen to music?? lol
THH: What music inspires you?
Mateo: Oh shit...This could take long...LOL I tend to
gravitate towards very creative stuff like Bjork or Imogen Heap but I've been
inspired by a lot throughout the years...Anita Baker to Nat King Cole all the
way to Bob Marley to Cold Play... A solid list of all my musical influences
would over load your server!! hahaaaa You’ll be able to see that list soon at www.intheshow.com
THH: Do you prefer samples or Synths?
Mateo: I don't wanna say I have a preference because I use
both very well. However If I had to choose I'd go with Synths because I like
making something from nothing and there’s more flexibility. Plus the younger
generation can sample my music in the future! Sounds good to me!!
THH: How do you lay down your tracks?
Mateo: I don't really have a set way to lay down tracks...It's
whatever comes first really. I could be sittin down eating and then a dope
guitar lick comes to me outta nowhere...So I'd drop that first...then build on
it...But generally I'd think to make the beat first then add the melody...but
like I said, It doesn't have to nor does it always work that way for me. I try
not get too formal when I make music...It's supposed to be the expression of
ones self.
THH: What do you start with first?
Mateo: In the afternoon when I wake up (lol)...I like to check
my email...I don't know what it is about emails …>LOL I’m playin ….I like to
start with whatever comes to me first…or whatever works best for what vibe I’m
going with…It depends.
THH: What tips or techniques can you share with the
torontohiphop.com members?
Mateo: I guess I'd suggest that for anyone interested in
making music...Just relax...don't make it something that becomes a nuisance.
Remember that if you're capable of making music and you have the desire to do
it, It's what you're supposed to be doing. Now that doesn't warrant that you'll
make great music that will in turn make you shit loads of money but if you're
doing it JUST for the money then your motives are already fucked up and I can't
help you. But that's just what I think! LOL
THH: How important do you think community radio is for an up
and coming producer/ artist?
Mateo: It think it's as important as getting play on
commercial radio stations... the only way to be heard is to get played...I
really don't care what radio station it is. It’s nice to know that your
community is getting a chance to hear it’s own talent though. Hopefully they
can appreciate the artistry in it.
I won’t delve to much into this but overall I find the urban industry here is a
very lonely one…I mean it can take an urban artist several years, (12 in my
bands case) just to get some attention. I don’t know maybe we sucked for the
past 11 years but I doubt that’s it. I think Canadians need to be more loyal to
their own. We need to start embracing our own talent…our own business’s
…everything. If things don’t change we’re going to lose a lot of great
Canadians to other parts of the world. Wake up Canada…We have all the elements
that create a great country…All we gotta do is put them to use!
THH: Shout outs?
Mateo: I gotta hail up some important people right quick.
- My brothers: Duane and Will AKA Reason & Shou'Shou
- My lickle sista Ash
- My band of brothers: JL, Dbo & Big O "The Show"
- The Show official DJ and long time friend: DJ Stevie Wondraw
- "The Show" Band Management and long time supporters:
Tom Kemp, Jeris Legall
& New to the team, Cindy Wilson
- Happy Birthday to Ashlee B!
- Mike Johnson and Dean Fortin (T.AM Playas)
- Ayneka and Raven @ Vybe Entertainment (USA)
- DJ Mad Dog & DJ Glove (Germany)
- Dred E Maximum (The Drill Squad)
- Duane, Julie and Cory @ EMI
- Craig McConnell / Tim Branton @ (Inside Music)
- Trey Mills @ (Opening Day Entertainment)
- Dane Kano @ (Shake It Music)
- Wayne Swingle @ (Wayne Swingle Sound)
- Ruth, Glen, Malaika & Zelica @ (Strictly Roots)
-and Finally Uncle Mike...All the best to you and your future...It's gunna get
much better...just hang in there a little longer.
Damn I know someone's gunna yell at me for not shoutin them so I'm sorry about
that...Next time.
Peace.
Mateo.
Bacon Brothers Cut Loose
Excerpt from The Globe and Mail -
Brad Wheeler
(Mar. 31, 2006) You hear of a band fronted by a movie star, and
your mind is not always so open. The vain excursions of Bruce Willis, Keanu
Reeves
and Russell Crowe have solidified suspicions that music by actors is not likely
of a high level -- that the acts are moonlighting lark-gigs, not to be taken
any more seriously than the sweaty, journeyman exploits of your average bar
band. Don't try to tell Kevin Bacon you have no preconceived notions either, because he's not buying
it. He knows perfectly well just how hard it is to accept celebrity players
genuinely, mostly because he's harboured the exact same notions. "I'm the
same way," he confides, straight up. "I'll hear of an actor getting
into music and I'll catch myself rolling my eyes." According to Bacon, star
of a diverse roster of films including Footloose, Apollo 13 and
last year's Where the Truth Lies, the attitude comes not from
snobbishness, but from respect. "People put music on a real
pedestal," he says, "and for good reason. It's very powerful . . .
and it's hard." It is, but certain things make it cushier. For one,
not having to struggle from scratch takes some of the day-to-day pressure off.
Both the brothers have day jobs: Michael scores soundtracks for film and
television projects, and Kevin, well, you've already met.
Another leg up for the Bacon Brothers is Kevin's celebrity. While the 47-year-old actor understands the
leeriness his fame brings when it comes to folks accepting his art, he
acknowledges the benefits as well. "It's a blessing in that it gets people
to come, gets people in the seats." It's been that way for 11 years,
starting out with a one-off gig in 1994 in their hometown of Philadelphia. The
brothers never planned for it to go on ("It just evolved," says
Michael, nine years Kevin's senior), but the band, fleshed out with four
musicians, has just released its fifth album, White Knuckles. The record
is polished (perhaps overly so), and reveals the influence of the Beatles,
James Taylor and Elton John. Apparently each of the previous Bacon albums vary
in style. "We really never decided to sound one way or the next,"
says Michael, who splits singing and composing chores with his famous kid
sibling. "We're two very different kinds of writers, so it's pretty hard
for us to fit into one place." Live shows (which no longer feature
renditions of Kenny Loggins's cheery dance-floor anthem Footloose) are
fitted around Kevin's shooting schedule. "It's a balancing act," the
actor admits. "But for me, at this point in my life, I have to make movies
to pay the rent." One wonders if Kevin Bacon, who accepts the tough
judging of his music, sees concerts as a sort of musical audition -- that
there's a need to prove himself out there. "No," he declares.
"It may be frightening, it may give me butterflies, but I don't feel like
I'm trying to get the job. "When we play, I've already got the gig." The
Bacon Brothers play Niagara Fallsview Casino Resort tonight and tomorrow, 8:30
p.m. $24.50. Niagara Falls, Ont., 416-870-8000.
Hedley Signs U.S. Deal
By
Karen Bliss
for Lowdown
(Mar. 24, 2006) Vancouver rock band Hedley has a platinum-selling
album to its name in Canada and two Juno nominations -- and now it has a U.S.
deal with Capitol Records. Chris Lord-Alge (Green Day) is remixing the
first single, "On My Own," which goes to alternative rock radio in
June. The self-titled album will hit stores on August 29. "What attracted
me to them was their clever songs and Jacob's good-looking eyes," says
Capitol's VP, creative, Dan McCarroll, who obviously has as much of a sense of
humour as Hedley's goofy frontman Jacob Hoggard. Hoggard, incidentally, in a separate conversation, first
joked that it was McCarroll's breasts that attracted him to the label.
Obviously, they're two of a kind. On a more serious note, the
singer says, "What we wanted to do when we picked the label that we wanted
to go with -- besides the fact that we were blessed to be able to choose -- was
that this band and the organization we've created, we've really based it around
being a family. Everybody from our techs to the assistants, it's a family and
it has to be able to work fluidly. "These people (at Capitol) not
only gave that image to us and that style of business, they seemed to really
believe in what we are doing. That's the really important thing -- to have
people behind you that not only can afford to believe in you, but believe in
you to begin with, that have a passion for what you believe in."
Hedley is signed to Universal Music Canada and showcased for numerous
labels, both within the Universal family and outside of it. McCarroll went to
see the band play a sold-out show at Vancouver's Commodore Ballroom last
September, where Hoggard, bassist Tommy Mac, guitarist Dave Rosin and drummer
Chris Crippin all received gold plaques, celebrating 50,000 units shipped.
"My friend Brian Howes produced a few of their songs and told me about
them," says McCarroll, who used to do A&R for Lars Ulrich's record
label, The Music Company, to which Howes's band at the time, DDT, was signed.
"Also, my friend Darren (Gilmore -- whose best friend was in DDT) is their
manager and he told me about them." Hedley received considerable
attention in the initial launch of the album in September 2005 because Hoggard
was a top 3 finalist on 2004's Canadian Idol, but he had fronted Hedley --
albeit with a different line-up -- before that television exposure.
McCarroll acknowledges that it does make the label's job tougher to not
have any recognition factor from which to build, but says, "We're totally
up for the challenge. "After 6 months, they'll all know who Jacob is
-- (they're on) Warped Tour and have dates with bands like Yellowcard and
Reliant K.," says McCarroll. "Upon seeing them in Vancouver, they
have such a great, striking live show, that our plan at Capitol is to bring
them down here, and put them in front of many people as we can, and let them
see what a great rock 'n' roll band they are. Then, we'll go to radio with 'On
My Own' and have it be a great radio hit." Hoggard is looking
forward to starting from scratch in the U.S. without the C.I. albatross around
his neck. "This (deal) is the kind of pivotal moment for the band
which will now decide how we do," Hoggard says. "I think there's a
lot of things that came before the band that helped to the success of the band
in Canada. Being in the States and having no preconceived notion of who we are,
it's going to give us the opportunity to prove ourselves, to see if we can do
it or not." Asked if there will be any changes to the U.S. release
-- remixing, remastering, new song additions, new album art -- and, of course,
Hoggard can't resist a joke. "We're looking for a different
manager," he teases with his manager sitting right beside him.
"We want better looking guys on the front cover," Gilmore
volleys back, then adds, "At this point, we found a company that's
incredibly happy with the product. There will be some remixes for radio and
things like that, normal types of things, but they're happy with album as a
whole. "The ball is rolling; they'll be playing some festivals;
doing the Warped tour, and opening slots with some other great bands and it's
going to be a very exciting, very busy year to break this project now
globally."
Michael Bublé, Retro Rocket
Excerpt from The
Toronto Star - Malene Arpe
(Apr. 2, 2006) He's the Doctor McDreamy of
music, the Lloyd Dobler of croon. The unthreatening throwback romance of his
songs has propelled
sales to over 10 million albums worldwide. The concerts on his relentlessly
paced touring schedule sell and sell and sell. He's up for three Junos tonight
and if he doesn't win, there will be virtual tears on the fan message
boards. Michael Bublé inspires the kind of devotion usually reserved for boy bands,
Jesus and kittens. "The way Michael sings a song really touches my
soul. I can feel his voice and his passion pulsing through me when I listen to
him sing," says 27-year-old Angie Fietek of Benson, Minn., attempting to
explain to a Bublé beginner what exactly it is about the Vancouver singer that
does it for her. "I don't think I've ever had such a reaction to an artist
before. He can relax me, he can make me happy, he can make me cry, he makes me
want to fall in love ... I feel so many different emotions when I have him on.
He has an old soul and he makes me feel alive and I love it! I feel that if
music is worth owning and listening to, it should grab on to some part of you
and remind you of what it feels like to be alive ... good and bad. That's what
Michael's music does for me." Bublé's interpretations of
"That's All," "Summer Wind," "I've Got You Under My
Skin," and a slew of other classics are swingy, rat-packy and politely
amorous. He and his big band, and his stylish suits, belong in another era. So
what exactly is he doing here? "I think that the world is
sucking," says the singer, whose album, the David Foster-produced It's
Time has gone five times platinum in Canada and just won the Best Pop Album
Juno last night (see next page). "I think that there's no way, this time
of the year, it should be snowing. There are wars all over the world and when a
cartoon can create the rage that it has, something is not right. I think people
are aware, whether consciously or not — I think we're all aware of it. It's
time that we escape. "And I think this music and my show — and other
musicians and entertainers and actors in movies — we're part of helping people
escape reality, the reality that we face that the world is not in the greatest
shape it's been in. I'm not singing angry songs, I'm not singing about killing
cops or bitches or getting hooked on crack, I'm singing about love, I'm singing
about hope. I think there's a lot of room for that." Bublé, 31, was
on the phone from "Salt Lake City, party town U.S.A.," for a concert
this past week. Tonight he'll be in Halifax for the Junos, where he's up for Artist
of the Year, Single of the Year, Album of the Year, Pop Album of the Year and
the Juno Fan Choice Award. He is excited about the show and the possibility of
winning, but still allows that the premise of award shows is a bit odd.
"It's almost no different than a talent show; you're only as good as the
judges think you are that day. You know, it's a double-edged sword ... I'm very
touched and hugely honoured to be nominated for the Junos, and to tell you it's
not hugely important for me would be a lie, because I grew up watching the
Junos and I wanted to be nominated and I wanted to be nominated for as many
Junos as I could and anyone who tells you they don't care is probably
lying. But, at the same time, if I win it's not necessarily because I was
better than Diana Krall or Nickelback. How do you compare Diana Krall to
Nickelback, or Sam Roberts to Michael Bublé?" Fans from as far away
as Germany will be thinking of him tonight. "I'm crossing all my fingers
for Michael and his five Juno nominations," Gina, 42, finishes an email.
Bublé became a bestseller before James Blunt and Il Divo and the other kinder,
gentler acts that now increasingly populate our weekly lists of earners. Larry
LeBlanc is the Canadian bureau chief for Billboard Magazine. He's been
following Bublé's career and credits the singer's success to a talented
management team, smart marketing and perfect timing. "What they've
done is one of the really incredible success stories out of Canada in the last
couple of years. Even more so than the (indie) wave ... a lot of those bands
are still not selling records, like Metric or Broken Social Scene. Worldwide,
they're selling maybe 100,000-150,000 records ... "More importantly,
Michael's success is even more startling with his management — Bruce Allen, along
with Warner. What they did was take a genre that was almost a joke, saloon
singer is a joke ... it's one of those categories of music that people have
such disdain for; it's like a caricature ... they didn't start off at ground
zero, they started off at minus 30, because they had a kid who was a lounge
singer, who sang on boats, cruise ships, stuff like that, had a very limited
range vocally. The one thing they had going for them was, obviously, this kid
has a certain amount of moxie and charisma. "The first album, I
don't think it's a great album; it's a good album, it's okay, but it was the
right album at the right time for our business ... it sold past any projection
its record company set for it. Warner Brothers made no bones about it in United
States, that it would sell no more than a hundred thousand units, and I think
it's 1.2 million now in the States." But then again, as LeBlanc says,
record company people are often "too hip for their own good."
LeBlanc points out that as Bublé has matured as a performer, he's becoming more
comfortable and confident on stage. Bublé tends to agree: "The more and
more that I do this, the more and more comfortable I get in my own skin, and
the more I'm becoming myself on stage. And I think it might be more endearing to
an audience to see the real me than who I think I should be. "I'm
slowly getting closer to allowing myself to be as completely dorky as I am in
real life." Dorky he may be, but the dork is perfectly balanced with
good business sense. When asked about his stated wish to appear on the Oprah
Winfrey Show, he manages to be aw-shucks and not-born-yesterday, just like
that, and all at the same time.
"Damn yes, I want to be on Oprah. I'm a little pissed off and
frustrated that I'm not. I'm a fan of Oprah and I think it's a great show ... I
feel bad, because I know that my mother is a really big fan of Oprah and
she's boycotted Oprah until she puts me on the show. I just want to get
on the show so my mom can watch Oprah again. And the fact that you also
sell a million records after you go on the show doesn't hurt either. There is
that. There is that little thing." Talking to the press is now
routine, but he's quick to point out that it wasn't always thus. "I've
been burned a few times. I spent some time with a journalist from a magazine in
the U.K. I really liked him a lot; I thought he was a lovely guy. We hung out,
he came out on the tour and, of course, there were times when I said, `Do you
want to come and hang out with us?' and then stuff was written about, and that
kind of thing makes you more aware, guarded. "I had to learn, and
I'm honestly glad I learned that way rather than some publicist saying, `Come
on and get your media training.' Because I'm not a hockey player and I don't
want to answer each question saying, `I'm just going to take it a day at a time
and I'm just happy to be here and I hope I can help out the music business.'
That's bullshit, that's bullshit. "Sometimes the truth isn't always
pretty, but I'd rather tell the truth, because you're going to find me out,
anyway." Bublé, whose winning ways with an audience can be witnessed
on the CD/DVD combo, Caught in the Act, clearly has hockey envy. When
he's asked why he always looks so grim in pictures, he makes a serious voice
and explains. "I am pretty glum. It's not easy, you know. My dream
was to become a hockey player in the NHL and I failed miserably, so now I have
to do this shit." Pause. "No, I'm not glum, it's more that I'm
self-conscious. Like everyone else, I have esteem issues and I never thought I
looked nice when I smiled." The fans who fling the words
"irresistible," "boyish good looks," "class act"
and "damn good-looking man" around when discussing their crush would
probably disagree. They joke about marriage proposals and asking for his phone
number. What is it like being the object of that kind of adulation and knowing
that masses of people spend time thinking about you? "I take it with
a big, big grain of salt. Of course, it feels nice. It's really lovely to know
you have such an eclectic following of people who really enjoy what you do. But
at the same time, it gets a bit scary," Bublé says. "I've had a
few things happen that woke me up to the reality that there can be whack-nuts
out there. I've gone through some strange things. In Virginia, I had a man who
tried to kill me. He came up on the stage with a length of wire wrapped in his
hands so he could put it around my neck and he, you know ... there's a big fan.
You always have that thought in your head, you know, as much as you enjoy the
adulation, you also take it with a grain of salt. I'm a little more careful
than I used to be. Once in a while you have those thoughts ... it was a big fan
of John Lennon that shot him. "But I'm grateful that I have such a
nice following of people ... and the best part is that they're black people and
they're white people and they're yellow people and they're red people and
they're gay people and they're straight people and they're rich people and poor
people. That's a really important thing to me and it shows me this music
crosses all borders and hopefully that I do as well." Oh, sigh.
Fans Of American Alt-Country Diva Neko Case Think She's One Of
Us
Excerpt from The
Toronto Star - Vit Wagner, Pop Music
Critic
(Mar. 30, 2006) A Google search of the terms "Neko Case" and
"Canadian singer" yields enough hits to confirm the common but
mistaken
impression that the celebrated alt-country diva is a citizen of this
country. It's an understandable misconception. The 35-year-old,
Virginia-born vocalist was raised in the northern reaches of Washington State
before moving to Vancouver as a teen. Since then, many of her professional
associations have been with Canadian artists, whether teaming up with
Victoria's Carolyn Mark as the Corn Sisters, performing as part of the
Vancouver supergroup the New Pornographers or recording a live album under her
own name with Toronto's the Sadies as accompanists. Case's splendid new
disc, Fox Confessor Brings the Flood, was mixed in Toronto and features
a supporting cast that includes members of the Sadies and The Band's Garth
Hudson, U.S. counterparts such as Tucson musicians Joey Burns and John
Convertino of Calexico, Jon Rauhouse and Howe Gelb, and Chicago singer Kelly
Hogan. "If people want to think of me as an honorary Canadian, I'd
like that," says Case, who will go up against the Juno Awards when she
performs Sunday at the Danforth Music Hall. "I think I must be half
(Canadian) by now — at least in my heart. "When I was little, we lived
right on the Canadian border. There were only three TV stations at the time and
one of them was the CBC. I remember getting corrected in grade school because I
thought we lived in Canada, because that's what I heard all the time.
"I remember Buffy Sainte-Marie very distinctly. I grew up with all the
Canadian kid shows, too: Mr. Dressup and The Friendly Giant. I
had all that stuff. I thought (Quebec singer) René Simard was quite a
fox." Not that Case, who calls Chicago home, is about to change
citizenship, even if Canadian immigration gave the green light.
"It's not a good time to leave your country when there's bad things going
on," she says. "You have to stick it out and try to make a
difference. "I'm not a nationalistic person by any stretch of the
imagination. I don't love my government, even a little bit. And I'm really
ashamed of the way things have been going here. George Bush is obviously a
bumbling asshole. We all know that. But I love the people, the landscape and
the culture. And I love Chicago."
Fox Confessor Brings the Flood is Case's fourth studio album and first
since 2002's Blacklisted. While working on the new disc, she also
released a double live disc recorded in Chicago and Toronto, and contributed to
the third effort by the New Pornographers. The new album is more atmospheric
and less twangy than the singer's previous solo outings. "I just
wanted to leave more space," she says. "I thought the songs were kind
of cinematic, so there are a lot less instruments going on at the same time.
"A lot of the songs weren't developed fully until I got into the studio.
There's a really nice thing that happens when you're making a record and you're
rehearsing and a song starts to sound like a song; that's when everybody gets
really excited. That's when we wanted to get it on tape. We tried to be as
spontaneous as possible." Touring in support of the disc has forced
her to miss some gigs by the New Pornographers. But she expects to be back on
the road — and in the studio — with the band later this year. "We've
had our growing pains over the years, trying to figure out scheduling and
stuff. But I'm really proud to be in that band. And I'm really proud of all the
accolades (songwriters) Carl (Newman) and Dan (Bejar) have received. It's really
gratifying because I get to sing some songs that are super upbeat and poppy.
And I have an outlet where I get to be in a band — and not be the focus of the
band. "When I was living in Vancouver, it was common for musicians
to be in three or four bands each. It was very communal. Everybody was helping
each other get their thing off the ground."
Giving New Orleans A Boost
Excerpt from The Globe and Mail -
Tony Montague
(Mar. 31, 2006) Irvin Mayfield
is a musician with a mission. Appointed as the cultural ambassador
for New Orleans in 2002, at age 26, the trumpeter and
composer is out to tell the world that the birthplace of jazz needs all the
help it can get. Since hurricane Katrina hit last August, the city has been in
dire straits. And Mayfield, founder and leader of the New Orleans Jazz
Orchestra (NOJO), appreciates only too well the grief and anguish of Big Easy
inhabitants: His own father perished in the storm. "He really became the
representative of those who died," says Mayfield, who speaks the same way
he solos, in a sometimes breathless stream of ideas and inspiration. "It
became so much more important for me to communicate with people. The real story
here is the community as well as the individual -- which is the story of jazz.
Musicians have been getting that right for the last 85 years down in New
Orleans." That long jazz history is retold through music in New Orleans:
Then and Now, the show Mayfield is currently touring with the 18-piece
instrumental NOJO. Their score ranges from field hollers to fiery and
sophisticated post-bop jazz improvisations. All singing is done by the
musicians. "NOJO is responsible for engaging in the discussion of what
jazz was, is and is going to be -- which is even more relevant now -- in terms
of the city as one of the cultural meccas of our country in which you can find
jazz existing, as I like to say, in its fundamental form."
But Mayfield doesn't want to get too serious; that would go against the true
spirit of his hometown. He stresses that NOJO's jazz needs, above all, to be
participatory, and not in a passive, sitting-down-and-clapping-politely way.
Timid Vancouverites, take note. "The audience member must become a part of
the experience. If not, it just ain't what we're used to, that's not our
relationship to it. If you want to know how we do things in New Orleans, then
you've got to come and be prepared to party, to celebrate it. It's not a
preservation thing -- it's alive. In the aftermath of Katrina it's even more
important to feel that." Irvin Mayfield and the New Orleans Jazz
Orchestra perform on April 4 at the Centre for the Performing Arts, 777 Homer
St., 604-872-5200.
Record $5M Pledge Sweet Music For TSO
Excerpt from The
Toronto Star - Martin Knelman, mknelman@thestar.ca
(Mar. 30, 2006) "Everybody in the arts seems to be building like
crazy, and the city has so much going on. And I thought: Why should the Toronto
Symphony Orchestra lag behind? If we don't help
the TSO, perhaps the moment will have passed." Those are the words
of Judith "Billie" R. Wilder, a long-time symphony subscriber who has just stepped out of the
shadows with an astonishing, desperately needed $5 million gift — the largest
single donation in the orchestra's 85-year history. Until Wilder came
along, the symphony was indeed lagging behind. With a Toronto building spree
that includes an opera house, two museum makeovers and two great arts-education
institutions, the TSO has been having a rough time wooing donors. After all, it
has no building project — just a scarily mounting deficit, currently at $9.5
million. Wilder had made a previous, smaller gift, and her reward was
being taken to lunch with music director Peter Oundjian. They quickly formed a
mutual admiration society. "I was captivated as soon as I met
him," Wilder said last night in a telephone interview. "It's such a
good orchestra, and he wants to make it even better. And the TSO has such a
good management team. I saw there was an opportunity to step in and help put
the TSO on firm footing. And it was a great pleasure to be able to do
so." But in order to do so, she had to break a rule that money
managers routinely suggest to wealthy clients: Live on the interest your money
makes, and never spend the capital. "I had some money my father left
me, and over the years my husband helped me increase it. Using capital is
something I have never done before, and I will never do it again, but I decided
to do it just this once, because this was something I really, really
wanted."
When she sought advice from her husband, former Wood Gundy financial executive
William Wilder, he told her: "Well, I wouldn't do it, but if you really
want to, then go ahead." In order to make sure her money would not
be a Band-Aid, Wilder stipulated that $4 million of the money go to an
endowment fund aimed at achieving long-term stability. But $1 million can be
devoted to help pay down the current deficit, in the form of a "challenge
donation" meant to trigger matching gifts totalling $1 million from other
donors. There was one other piece of good news for the symphony this
week. This year's edition of the New Creations Festival starts tonight with the
first of three concerts offering nourishment for those who crave something
other than the usual safe round of Beethoven, Brahms and Mozart. The
three concerts (tonight, Saturday and Wednesday) feature many Canadian
premieres and a couple of world premieres, with the focus on contemporary work
by living composers. On Saturday, John Weinzweig, the dean of Canadian
composers who marked his 93rd birthday this month, will be present for a
performance of his Rhapsody for Orchestra — a kind of lyric ecstasy
propelled by waltz-like motion. Composed in 1941, it had its world premiere in
1957 — and has never been performed since. Three years ago the composer decided
to revise it. What we'll hear at Thomson Hall on Saturday represents the world
premiere of what he calls the new and final version.
A Show To Heal Big Easy's Soul
Excerpt from The
Toronto Star - Richard Ouzounian
(Apr. 2, 2006) NEW ORLEANS—"First you mend the body. Then you ease the
spirit. Finally you heal the soul." The lady of a certain age who
murmured that mantra into her Bloody Mary may have been thinking of a private
grief, but it seemed like she was speaking for an entire city. It was the
morning after Thursday night's opening gala for the 20th Annual Tennessee
Williams Festival, and the famous Carousel Bar of the Hotel Monteleone was
turning — as it has since 1949 — at the rate of one revolution every 15
minutes. Ernest Hemingway drank here. So did Truman Capote. But pride of
place went to New Orleans' favourite son, Tennessee
Williams. He wasn't born here, but he called it "his spiritual
home" and some of his greatest works, most notably A Streetcar Named
Desire, are set here. It's only right that the city has honoured him
with a festival for the past 19 years. Taking a cue from the lady at the
Carousel Bar, New Orleans has tried to mend its body post-Katrina (although
huge sections of the city are still in ruins) and it attempted to ease its
spirit by seeing that Mardi Gras happened on schedule in all its tawdry
splendour. But now it was time to heal the soul. And who better to
turn to than the man who once wrote, "High station in life is earned by
the gallantry with which appalling experiences are survived with
grace"? Still, after the events of last summer, there was some doubt
as to whether there would be a similar celebration this year, but festival
president Patricia Brady resolutely announced as early as October that it would
be going ahead. It's not as lavish as in previous years, even though such
celebrities as Richard Thomas, Tab Hunter, Rex Reed and Stephanie Zimbalist
have all come down to participate for free. Between now and tomorrow
night, there are nearly 50 performances, panels, discussions and master classes
available. It's true that two of the three major theatrical events on display
are one-man shows, not fully mounted Williams productions, but to many here it
would have been unthinkable not to forge ahead. "It's absolutely
right that we celebrate Williams in this city at this moment in time,"
says Steve Lawson. He's the man who adapted and directed Blanche and Beyond,
the one-man show based on Williams' letters in which Richard Thomas portrays
the playwright.
"Williams was the original survivor," continues Lawson. "He
struggled with physical and mental problems, not just his own, but those of the
people he loved most dearly. His life could have been a tragedy, but, until the
very end, he never lived it that way." Or as Williams himself put
it, "Once you fully apprehend the vacuity of a life without struggle, you
are equipped with the basic means of salvation." It's a lesson those
who proudly remain here have definitely learned. And since Katrina is the
subtext to every conversation you have here, it's only right that her influence
be measured in festival sessions with such topics as "In the Wake of
Destruction," "Surviving with Grace" and "Stronger Than A
Glass Menagerie." Even during a "Literary Walking Tour," a
stop at the peaceful St. Anthony's Garden, one of Williams' favourite spots,
yields this hurricane-inspired comment from the tour guide. "The
statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus lost two fingers in the storm, but He
survived. So did we all." Still, the focal point of the celebration
here is the man born Thomas Lanier Williams on Mar. 26, 1911. And Thursday's
opening night gala performance featured Richard Thomas as a Tennessean who was
both slyly witty and easily hurt. Blanche and Beyond follows him
from just after the opening of his first hit, The Glass Menagerie, through
the next decade when he became world famous, but started to lose many of his
friends as well as his already tenuous grip on reality. The whole evening
came together when Thomas, as Williams, snapped out a comment about the
McCarthy years in America. "There doesn't even seem to be a normal intelligence
at work in the affairs of the nation. Aren't you frightened by it?"
And an audience filled with people who all still blame George W. Bush for the
government's slowness in responding to the aftermath of Katrina roared their
approval.
Exorcising Katrinaaaaaa!
Excerpt from The Toronto Star - Richard Ouzounian
(Apr. 3, 2006) By 4 p.m. yesterday afternoon, the 20th annual Tennessee Williams Festival
was all over but the shouting — literally. The four days of performances,
presentations and panels had finally wound down and there was only one more
event left on the agenda. The 25 semi-finalists anxiously assembled
underneath a balcony in Jackson Square, flexing their vocal muscles. Yes,
it was time for the Stanley and Stella Shouting Contest, the breezily
irreverent way this festival has been concluding since 1996. Remember
that famous scene from A Streetcar Named Desire where Marlon Brando's
Stanley Kowalski bellows his wife's name to the heavens in an attempt to win
her back? "Stellaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-aaaaaaaaa!" It's one of
the most widely imitated tropes in dramatic history, and since it's from a play
by Tennessee Williams (one set in New Orleans, too), it only makes sense it
found its way into the festival. In the interests of gender equality,
female candidates are allowed to scream "Staaaaaaaa-aaanley," but
it's really not the same. This year's entrants came from as far away as
Montreal and New York, but the majority were from New Orleans, where the
residents really know how to throw themselves into it. It was a tough
task for the judging panel, which included critic Rex Reed, actor Stephanie
Zimbalist and myself. Despite some stiff competition from Boston's Bill
Cronin, wearing a PacMan shirt and emoting madly, the trophy stayed in the
French Quarter this year.
The winner was hometown guy Rick Legoretta, who soared to victory by managing
to synthesize the sense of nose-thumbing bravado that characterizes everyone
who chose to remain here after Hurricane Katrina's devastation last
August. What did Legoretta do? Instead of shouting "Stanley" or
"Stella," he chose to bellow out the word "FEMA."
That acronym stands for Federal Emergency Management Agency, which has become
the flashpoint for the anger of most New Orleans citizens. In the minds of this
city's people, FEMA came too late and has done too little. When Legoretta dragged
its name into the Tennessee Williams Festival, what had been implicit all along
finally came to the surface. Katrina has gotten inside this city's psyche
as surely as the mould she deposited everywhere. Like the rest of New Orleans,
the Tennessee Williams Festival is not immune to sudden bursts of rage, or
fleeting moments of despair. Still the festival not only survived, it
triumphed. This year may have been smaller in scope, but the feelings behind it
were bigger than ever. "Tennessee would have been proud to see what
they accomplished this year," said Reed, a Louisiana native and long-time
supporter of the festival. "He always believed that you couldn't
really tell how strong somebody was until they got hit with a disaster. Well, look
around you: these are strong people." Reed brought his usual
sprinkle of stardust to the festival, interviewing celebrities like Tab Hunter
and Zimbalist about their appearances in Williams’ plays before packed
audiences. Richard Thomas dazzled capacity crowds with his second one-man
show based on the letters of Williams, while Jeremy Lawrence offered an
effective take on the author's older years in his piece, Talking Tennessee,
and there was a staged reading of a recently discovered early Williams play
called These Are The Stairs You've Got To Watch.
One of the most satisfying and surprising moments occurred late Saturday
afternoon, when New Orleans native Patricia Clarkson unexpectedly swooped into
the ballroom of the Bourbon Orleans Hotel to introduce her mother, Councilwoman
Jackie Clarkson, there to read a civic proclamation honouring the festival on
its 20th anniversary. Looking radiant in a sleeveless black lace dress,
the Oscar-nominated actress (Pieces of April) spoke spontaneously about
how much the work of Tennessee Williams meant to her and how she felt
"being born in New Orleans gave me a head start on the rest of the world,
because I grew up knowing how his wonderful words should be spoken."
The positive feelings the festival generated seemed to cast a temporary glow
over this battered place, but eventually the spectre of the uninvited guest,
Katrina, darkened the scene. Everyone is trying their best to look toward
the future, but when an area of New Orleans seven times the size of Manhattan
still lies in ruins, can anyone call this place "The Big Easy" ever
again? What people only discuss openly late at night, after a few drinks,
is their fear the next hurricane season is only a few months away and the
federal government has done nothing to ensure what happened with Katrina
couldn't occur again. It seems like Tennessee Williams was looking into a
crystal ball when he wrote: "It is almost as if you were frantically
constructing another world while the world that you live in dissolves beneath
your feet, and that your survival depends on completing this construction at
least one second before the old habitation collapses." Now, more
than Blanche Du Bois ever did, New Orleans is going to have to depend on the
kindness of strangers.
Kirk Franklin’s Hero Tour Featuring Mary Mary Hits Los Angeles
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com - By Gerald
Radford / MYfeedback@eurweb.com
(Apr. 3, 2006) It’s official: ain’t no party like a holy ghost party cause a
holy ghost party DON’T stop…at least according to Kirk Franklin
and Mary
Mary, who just stopped through Los Angeles’
Kodak Theater on Franklin’s high-spirited “Hero tour” in support of his latest
album, Hero. Franklin, the pied piper of contemporary gospel,
breezed into town along with the sibling singing sirens Mary Mary
-- drawing from young to old, black to white, and religious to secular to the
near sold out show. The energy was high and concertgoers remained engaged
and on their feet for almost the entire “party.” In keeping with contemporary
gospel with a hip-hop flair, the night was almost a total departure from your
typical gospel experience. Complete with a big budget stage set-up and
full band, elaborate stage lighting, and lots of dancing, the show was more
like an old school – G-rated -- R&B concert. Mary Mary’s set did come
with a few songs that took on more of a spirit of worship, but it was more like
the brief, yet obligatory run of songs you could slow drag to that the DJ
played at a party back in the day. Both acts performed a fair number of
their hits from their respective repertoires, giving their devoted fans their
complete money’s worth. Artists of Franklin and the
sister’s type have based their careers, for the most part, on reaching out to
those individuals that may not get down with the traditional church
experience. This has spurred a movement that promotes establishing a more
exciting and “relevant” experience with God, which the HERO tour is a complete
manifestation of. The dull moments were few and far in between, with Mary
Mary dancing and swinging hair like rock stars and Kirk Franklin, feeding off
the energy of his razor sharp choir, bouncing around the stage like a hyper
teen who forgot to take his Ritalin. Kirk also introduced the audience to
a new artist named “Da Truth” who
got the party started with a hip-hop/gospel hybrid set of songs that could
easily rival some of today’s established secular hip-hop acts – only with a
profound message that could save a teens life rather than destroy it.
Remember that name, “Da Truth;” we think he’s on to something.
Kirk Franklin’s and Mary Mary’s transparent, “I know what you’re going through”
approach to ministry, packaged with all the bells and whistles that attract
today’s youth, has, through music, revolutionized the Christians
experience. These dynamic artists make you feel that everybody’s in
it together and that there are no holy I’s and wicked yous; the age of pedestalizing
fellow believers is over. The lesson learned is this: gospel music isn’t
necessarily a sound; it’s a liberating message, packaged in various
arrangements of music, all sanctioned by a merciful and providently progressive
God who just wants to reach His people by any means necessary. If
the Hero tour breezes through your city, catch it; it’s sure to be a breathe of
fresh air…. For Hero tour dates visit: http://www.kwwj.org/kirkfranklin
or http://www.itickets.com/artists/117.html
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Q&A With Chrissie Hynde
Excerpt
from www.billboard.com - Michael Paoletta
(Apr. 3, 2006) With unmistakable vocals, deft songwriting skills and a cocksure
guitar stance, Pretenders frontwoman Chrissie
Hynde has
inspired many -- just as she has surely pissed a few people off. On March
17, the Pretenders kicked off a six-city U.S. tour in Austin, Texas, during the
South by Southwest Music and Media Conference. The trek, which closed April 1
in New York, supported the recently issued, five-disc Pretenders boxed set,
"Pirate Radio" (Sire/Warner Bros./Rhino). The collection
features 81 tracks and 19 performance videos, many of which have never been
released. It firmly places the spotlight on Hynde and the band's fierce
musicianship as well as its ever-evolving line-up. That said, early, live footage
of Hynde and her original bandmates -- Martin Chambers (drums) and the deceased
Pete Farndon (bass) and James Honeyman-Scott (guitar) -- is essential viewing.
Hynde, a London resident who turns 55 this year, says she is not giving
much thought to a new Pretenders studio album. But, she tells Billboard,
"if I enjoy these few shows we're doing, and depending how I feel, I may
go in and write a few songs."
Q: I hear you spent the bulk of January in your hometown of Akron. For
years, I've heard you say not such nice things about Ohio. Why the extended
stay?
A: I rented an apartment in Highland Square. It's the one area [in
Akron] that's been gentrified and looked after. It's a very American phenomenon
what's happened. In the '70s, all these cities like Akron tore down their
downtown areas. It was all to do with racism, class, economics and all sorts of
stuff. Then, thank God for the gay community, which found all the good old
houses from Chicago to Akron and said, "Hey, let's renovate these houses
and do something." If not for that one little segment of society, I think
America would be f***ed up its ass right now -— big time. Gays saved America.
All across America, with gentrification, it was the gay community that had the
vision, means, taste, fortitude and determination to carve something out and
save what was left of these cities. No one else got it. They were all out in
their condos, out in the suburbs, getting far away from the blacks.
But, I admit, I wasn't there to stop the bulldozers. I think Akronites were
pissed off at me for criticizing what had happened to Akron. But I'm going
back. I want to establish the Jim Jarmusch Theater in Akron. I want the city to
have an art house theatre. I'm telling friends, "Don't buy a place in
Woodstock. Buy a place in Akron where you can get a great big wooden house for
not a lot of money." Flights to Akron are cheap. I have no sense of
patriotism, but I do have a sense of community. And there is something
geographically amazing there. Also, as you get older, your relationship with
your hometown changes.
Q: When you were presented with the idea for "Pirate Radio," what
went through your mind?
A: Well, this is one of those deals where it's going to happen with or
without you. So, I thought, f*** it, my plane hasn't gone down yet. I could be
misrepresented if I'm not involved. I've done lots of songs for film
soundtracks and things like that -- stuff I'm not ashamed of, but that doesn't
represent my legacy with the Pretenders. And I wanted that represented. I also
thought this was a chance to present the band in a way I'd like it to be
remembered -- and to represent the guys I had playing with me over the years.
Once I realized all this, I got completely involved in the project.
Q: Watching the DVD brought back numerous memories of seeing the band live.
Yet I couldn't help but think that something is lost in the process. Is the
live rock experience intended for TV viewing?
A: I don't think rock works on television. Rock has to be in a sweaty
club or in a hall or outdoors or in a f***ing bowling alley. It has to be a
real experience. When I watched [the footage] again, I thought, This is really
tame. But the live stuff does represent all the line-ups of the band.
Q: Does being onstage still excite you?
A: Not really. Which is why I only go out there when I am excited. I
preferred rock when it was in the dark, when it was a secret between me and the
audience, when it wasn't mainstream. I don't go for mainstream anything. I'm
not trying to be like other people. At this stage, I don't care if I do shows
or not. I never intended or wanted it to get bigger. I never had that
"we're gonna be the biggest band in the world" moment. I'd rather be
the best-kept secret in show business -- as long as I can get by.
I'm not trying to reinvent anything. I'm not trying to change. I just want to
keep it basic: four players, boom, boom, boom, a couple notes, three chords.
It's like a real small bank job. Just enough to get by. Quick in and out. Just
like those early shows at the Agora [in Cleveland].
Q: All that said, how did being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
affect you?
A: I just think, What the f***? I got in a rock band so I'd never have
to be in a Hall of Fame. The people who set up the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
were not rock and roll people. They were music industry people. God bless them
and good luck to them. I didn't want to go. I don't like awards and I didn't
want them. Everyone was saying, "Oh, but it's a big honour. You should be
glad." Everyone always knows better than you how you feel and they're
always telling you. But I know how I feel.
Q: What are your thoughts on the phenomenon that is "American
Idol?"
A: I don't look at it. I don't have to look at it. Everyone wants the chance to
get to make a record and to play some shows. No one wants to be completely
obscure. But it's a matter of tempering it and getting it just right. But no
one can get it just right.
Q: Does that include you?
A: Music is not my life. Being in a rock and roll band is not my life.
It's my hobby. I've got a life, thanks. I'm not going to sacrifice my life so I
can go out on the road. I don't want to be famous or walk around with a
bodyguard. I don't want to put myself in a jail. I don't need to be part of a
celebrity culture [wherein] I don't have my freedom.
And I don't need people to buy my records. I've always said, "Download
them, listen to it off the radio. If you want to buy it, buy it. If you don't,
don't. Do your thing. I'm not trying to sell anything here. My only agenda in
getting into a band was to not be a waitress somewhere in Akron -- and to have
some fun. Outside of that, I have absolutely no ambitions.
Q: Do you think young artists coming up today share similar thoughts?
A: Yes I do. I was recently reading in Cleveland's Scene magazine about
this local band who did not want to play in corporate places like House of
Blues. I burst out laughing, because I was feeling very proud of myself that
we're only playing the House of Blues. To me, that was like going down. Thank
God there's a little band that can still kick me in the teeth. Fantastic. I
could be the kid's mother. I'm glad he's telling me that I'm playing at a
corporate venue that he wouldn't play at.
Q: What's your reaction to those female rockers who say that you've
influenced them?
A: It just means that I'm older than them, that I was there before they
were. I wasn't a pioneer. It's not me being modest. The Pretenders were a
traditional band. I never had [another] girl in the band, because I never
wanted it to get too emotional. I don't have a gender thing. For me, gender has
nothing to do with rock. The thing I love about rock is androgyny. So, the
minute you ask me a gender questions, I squirm.
Q: Great. I'll ask one more, then. Do you think there's a lack of female
rockers in today's scene?
A: I don't care. I couldn't care less. I'm not a feminist. I've never
been rooting for women. I've never cared about women or men. I care about you,
because you're sitting here talking to me, and I care about me. I'm not here
trying to save anybody or tell them what to do.
Q: Name association time: Bridget Bardot?
A: She didn't crap out. She said she prefers her dogs to her husband.
And I read something recently where she said she's always been the man in her
life. What's not to like?
Q: Are there any bands that excite you today?
A: I have to be honest. I don't listen to much music. I'm digging
silence —- and reading, being really quiet. It's not so much a reaction to the
music out there, but to all the noise out there. There is just so much noise
everywhere you go. Still, I would crawl over broken glass to see Kings Of Leon.
Q: Have you always enjoyed the quiet?
A: Yes. I spent a lot of time in the woods when I was a little kid. I've
always had a hermit kind of gene. I'd much rather hear birds singing in the
morning than anything else. And this happens often in London. It happened this
morning in my New York City hotel room and it happened in Akron, too. God, we
used to be so scared when someone would say, "All roads lead back to
Akron." We'd be like, "Don't say that!" I've been responsible
for a lot of noise in my life. So, I should be quiet for a while.
Q: In my head, I can hear all the songs you've written in unplugged,
acoustic versions -- just your voice accompanied by piano or guitar. What is
your creative process like?
A: The songs are usually written on an electric guitar, unamplified, or
in a room alone. I have a conversational approach to songwriting. Twenty years
ago, before we had in-ear monitors, I was leaving a gig where I was fighting
against noise the entire show. I got into the car to go back to the hotel, and
Carmen McCrae's voice came out of the speakers. Just her voice and piano. I
remember thinking, That must be the greatest thing -- to be able to sing to an
acoustic piano. That must feel so fantastic.
Eventually, I tried to do acoustic stuff with a string quartet. I like to sing
quietly. I'm of the less is more persuasion.
Q: I once read, in Billboard actually, that you were influenced by
R&B/soul singer Candi Staton. Who else has influenced you?
A: In 1975, I was living in Cleveland and trying to put a band together.
I was working with a guy who played with the Mr. Stress Blues Band. A lot of my
associates of that period were listening to R&B. That's when I learned
about Candi Staton. It's also when I learned, in earnest, that I wanted to
sing. I remember crashing out on someone's floor in Cleveland and singing along
to songs by Candi and Jackie Moore.
But my big influences, singing-wise, were guys like Iggy Pop and Jimi Hendrix.
The only thing you have to learn to be a rock singer is to just sound like
yourself.
Q: What's your advice to those coming up today?
A: I'm talking about rock here: Record your stuff as live as possible --
bass, two guitars and drums. Keep that two-guitar thing going as long as
possible. And keep it basic. I would be loath to advise someone because it's
only in your own mistakes can you find yourself.
Q: At the end of the day, is life good for Chrissie Hynde?
A: You know, I've never asked how many points I get or what I'm being
paid. I don't give a f***. I've got a manager to do that. I feel I owe it to my
fans. I mean, my fans paid me. I don't want my fans to think I'm making wise
investments or making any investments or trying to save my money. You gave me
that money. I'm having a good f***ing time with it, all right?
Legendary Saxophonist Wayne Shorter Takes The Musical Road
`Least Travelled'
Excerpt from The Toronto Star - Ashante Infantry, Entertainment Reporter
(Apr. 5, 2006) It's 8 a.m., way early presumably for most jazz musicians, but a
sunny Wayne Shorter
answered the phone on the first ring at his Miami
highrise. Late-night jam sessions or rehearsals don't keep the
72-year-old saxophonist up any more. Nowadays, the New Jersey native dubbed
"the greatest living composer in jazz" — who cut his teeth with Art
Blakey's Jazz Messengers and made his name as a member of Miles Davis's
celebrated mid-'60s quintet — is unlikely to play unless on stage with his
current quartet, which appears at Massey Hall tonight. "I don't ever
actually play until it's time for me to play," he explained. "I have
to make everything count for that audience." Offstage, the movie
buff and sci-fi aficionado is busy sketching out compositions for symphony
collaborations or contemplating the next performance of the Wayne Shorter
Quartet, comprised of Brian Blade (drums), John Patitucci (bass) and Danilo
Perez (piano). It's been described as the improvisational jazz band du jour for
its classical fusion and stream-of-consciousness style. "I think of
a lot of things, and not just notes," he said. "I think of a changing
world and how can you create value in music to stir. You have to get through
all these layers of what stirs people on a surface level. People get stirred in
a second over something that's familiar and has a pounding something. How can
we interest them in something — I won't say better — deeper? "Some
people think that pop music has that linkage, a common something, that familiar
sound that is easy to grab onto; but I would say that people who become wealthy
by doing this and permeating it for years still doesn't make it
cool." But the tenor and soprano master who has recorded with Joni
Mitchell, Steely Dan and Carlos Santana doesn't dismiss pop music entirely,
citing the work of Bjork and John Mayer. Shorter, who studied music and
art in university, said he had no plans to be a musician until he heard Dizzy
Gillespie, Max Roach, Bud Powell on the radio as a teen. "But I also liked
Picasso and Monet," he added.
"Painting was kind of a lonely process and with music you're constantly
interacting with people. I said `Well, I can paint the music then.' So goes the
orchestra thing. It's about colours. That's the last thing (Charlie) Parker was
talking about when he passed away. Coltrane too. They wanted more colours in
the music: strings, woodwinds, it doesn't have to be just synthesizers ... they
wanted to broaden the truth." On this quest, Shorter's present band
is like a collective, which has only rehearsed once, when it formed in 2001.
"They're all strong individuals. I don't mean macho," he said
mimicking a gruff baritone, "but we all have a respect for each other and
there's a lot of humour. There's also a crest of happiness that each one is
moving on and when something threatens that we know how to override it —
diplomatically of course." The result is the recent Grammy-winning disc Beyond
the Sound Barrier and exciting, free-flowing concerts. "Instead
of writing a lot of songs and tunes we're going for the epic thing," said
Shorter, whose own tale is equally epic. His buoyant, expressive sound won him
a spot in Blakey's band from 1959-63, then with Davis from 1964-70, where he
composed classics such as "Footsteps" and "Nefertiti."
After leaving Davis, he co-founded the jazz-rock band Weather Report, which
disbanded in 1985. Shorter flourished musically in the face of personal
turbulence: his father was killed in a car accident on the way home from one of
his son's shows; he battled alcoholism; a brain-damaged daughter died at 14;
and he lost his second wife in a 1996 plane crash. Despite a number of
acclaimed solo records, he hovered below the public's radar, resulting in the widely
reported admonishment from Davis just prior to his 1991 death: "You know,
you need to be exposed." Happily remarried, Shorter, a Buddhist, is
experiencing a kind of resurgence in his later years courtesy of his brilliant
acoustic band and the 2004 biography, Footprints: The Life and Work of Wayne
Shorter, which laid bare his mysterious, mystical side. Having heeded
Davis's advice, he also seems to recall his indifferent stage stance, with nary
a word to audiences. But it's nothing personal, he said. "Speeches
and lectures and talking and everything is okay for some people to do, but
we're busy doing the road that's least travelled."
MUSIC TIDBITS
L.A. To Pay Slain Rapper's Family $1.1M Award
Excerpt from The
Toronto Star
(Mar. 30, 2006) LOS ANGELES (AP) — The city has
approved a $1.1 million payment to the family of rapper Notorious B.I.G. as punishment for
police negligence during the slain musician's civil lawsuit trial. U.S.
District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper had sanctioned the city after learning
that a police detective withheld documents that were pertinent to claims made
by the rapper's family. She declared a mistrial in July. The payment
represents the cost of legal fees and other expenses incurred by the family's
attorneys. City lawyers told the council an appeal was unlikely to overturn the
judge's ruling. The council approved the payment Wednesday. Christopher
Wallace, or Notorious B.I.G., was shot and killed March 9, 1997, after a party
at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. The murder has not been
solved. A retrial of the wrongful death case is expected later this
year. His family's lawsuit against the city and LAPD claimed a corrupt
LAPD officer arranged to have Wallace killed at the behest of Death Row Records
founder Marion "Suge" Knight, and that LAPD officials covered up
Mack's involvement. Knight has denied involvement.
What's New Pussycat? Tom Jones Knighted
Source: Associated Press
(Mar. 29, 2006) LONDON — It's not unusual for Tom
Jones to meet Queen Elizabeth — but being
knighted was something special. The 65-year-old
singer, a coal miner's son from the Welsh town of Pontypridd, received the
honour Wednesday at Buckingham Palace. Jones, known for hits including What's
New Pussycat and It's Not Unusual, said he had met the Queen
"six or seven times, maybe more," starting with a royal charity
performance in 1966. "I love seeing the Queen and I have always been
a royalist," Jones said. "She is lovely and she still is
lovely." Jones, who was accompanied by his son, daughter and
granddaughter, said receiving the knighthood was "just
tremendous." "When you first come into show business and you
get a hit record, it is the start of something," he said. "As time
goes on, it just gets better. This is the best thing that I have had. It is a
wonderful feeling, a heady feeling. "Sometimes you just can't
believe it, you think you have been dreaming."
Prince Scores First No. 1 Album Debut
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com
(March 30, 2006) *Prince is officially back, and toting a career first along with him. His
new album “3121” entered The Billboard 200 at No. 1 this
week, marking the first time in the artist’s illustrious career that his album
has debuted in the top position. While 1989’s “Batman” soundtrack, 1985’s
“Around the World in a Day” and the seminal 1984 album “Purple Rain” all
eventually landed at No. 1, his latest effort is the first to hit the top perch
straight out the box. “3121” sold 183,000 copies in the U.S., according
to Nielsen SoundScan, which was also enough to place the set atop Billboard’s
Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. Elsewhere on the Billboard 200, Ne-Yo’s
"In My Own Words" slips one to No. 5, rapper B.G.'s "The Heart
of Tha Streetz, Vol. 2: I Am What I Am," debuts at No. 6 and Ben Harper
gets his first top 10 ranking with the double album "Both Sides of the
Gun," which debuts at No. 7.
Purple Reign, Again
Excerpt from The Toronto Star
(Apr. 2, 2006) Never mind the numbers already
associated with His Purple Badness's new record, consider 47, 1 and 28. At age
47, the erstwhile Toronto resident has scored the first No. 1 album entry of
his 28-year career. Though several of his albums have hit the top of the
venerable Billboard 200 chart (the last being the Batman soundtrack in
1989) none did so in their first week. And if you're feeling lucky and thinking
about picking up 3121, keep the number seven in mind. That's how many "purple
tickets" were randomly scattered, Willy Wonka style, in the CD's first
run, entitling winners to a private concert at Prince's L.A. home later this
spring.
Wayne Wonder To Release New Video And Album
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com
(Mar. 30, 2006) Singer Wayne Wonder is gearing up to shoot the video
for his track Don't Give a Damn, which is featured prominently on the Red Bull
and Guinness rhythm. The song is said to be an exclusive track for his upcoming
VP Records album. The shoot is expected to take place early next month.
Additionally, Wayne has a bunch of new singles set to hit radio. They include
the Tony Kelly-produced Gonna Love U. Wonder has been working tirelessly in the
studio completing tracks for the upcoming still untitled album. The album which
is due out this summer will feature appearances from Wonder's alter ego,
Surprise as well as a number of guests. In April, Wonder will be re-launching a
new version of his website, waynewonder.com He recently hit the charts with the
Seasons rhythm smash, I Still Believe.
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It Will Be Hard Out Here For A Music Listener
Excerpt from The Globe and Mail
(Mar. 31, 2006) Memphis, Tenn. -- Oscar-winning rappers Three 6
Mafia say they are producing and recording tracks with Paris Hilton. "We
ran into her at a William Morris Agency party and she said she liked our song Stay
Fly and asked could we work with her," said Jordan (Juicy J) Houston,
of the Memphis hip-hop group. He said the group was in a Los Angeles recording
studio this week with the hotel heiress and reality-TV star. He said that,
since winning the Oscar for best original song for It's Hard out Here for a
Pimp from Hustle & Flow, the group has been swamped with
requests. AP
New York’s WBLS To Honour Marvin Gaye
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com
(Mar. 31, 2006) *It’s all Marvin Gaye, all day for two days
straight at New York’s WBLS this weekend in honour of the soul legend’s
birthday on April
2, 1939, and his death on April 1, 1984. “Marvin Gaye is a core
artist and a staple of what we do,” explains WBLS program director Vinny Brown.
“Someone who has made such a contribution needs to be recognized appropriately.
I looked at the calendar and saw that this is a weekend which will mark not
only the birth, but the death of such a legend, as it falls on Saturday and
Sunday. And we thought that we’d dedicate the entire weekend to salute the man
and his music and his legacy.” On Saturday (April 1), WBLS will play at
least two songs an hour from artists covering Marvin Gaye songs or paying
tribute to the Motown standout. On Sunday morning, the station will air the Lee
Bailey-produced tribute “Marvin Gaye: We Miss You.” “We’ve run
it before, we’ve had it on, it’s gotten such tremendous response,” Brown said
of the special. “It has such an impact and makes such an impact on the radio
that it’s back by popular demand.” From noon to 4 p.m. Sunday, WBLS’ Hal
Jackson will take over with his own thoughts and memories for the program
“Marvin, Then and Now,” which chronicles Gaye’s earlier years with Tammi
Terrell and moves through his material up to the early 80s. From 7-9
p.m., Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson will host a special edition of the Quiet
Storm, featuring their own personal memories of working with Gaye as Motown
staff writers. The songwriting duo will offer exclusive details about writing
one of Gaye’s biggest singles, “Your Precious Love.” “At 9 p.m., we
open up the phones for the listeners, with more of their favourite Marvin Gaye
songs in between,” adds Brown. “So it’s a full weekend.”
Madonna Announces World Tour
Source: Associated Press
(Apr. 3, 2006) New York — The Material Girl/Mom will embark on a world tour
this summer. Madonna will open the Confessions Tour in Los
Angeles on May 21, work eastward through North America and jump to Europe on
July 30 in Cardiff, Wales, it was announced Monday. "I'm going to turn the
world into one big dance floor," the 47-year-old singer said in a
statement. It is Madonna's first tour since the 2004 Re-Invention Tour. She
will be supporting her 2005 album, Confessions on a Dance Floor. Other stops
include Las Vegas, Phoenix, Chicago, Montreal, New York, Boston, Philadelphia,
Miami and Atlantic City, N.J. According to Madonna's website, the on Canadian
date is Montreal on June 21. European destinations include London, Rome and
Paris. The tour will also extend to Japan, featuring concerts in Tokyo and
Osaka. More dates are expected to be added. As previously announced, Madonna
will make her first festival performance at the Coachella Valley Music &
Arts Festival in Indio, Calif., on April 30.
New Janet Jackson Single Due In May
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com
(Apr. 3, 2006) *After several years away from the spotlight (minus the
naked butt bongo video leaked on the Internet late last year), Janet Jackson will return to the
spotlight next month with the first single from her as-yet-untitled album. According
to Virgin Urban president Jermaine Dupri, also her boyfriend, the single is
expected to arrive at U.S. radio in May, and the album will likely follow at
the end of September. Jackson’s new CD will be
the first since 2004’s “Damita Jo,” which dropped in the midst of the fallout
(pun intended) surrounding her Super Bowl halftime show. Her long-time
production team Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis have contributed tracks to the new
set as well. "It's a milestone year for us and for the
collaboration," Jam previously told Billboard.com. "It'll be 20 years
since the release of (Jackson's 1986 album) 'Control,' so there's definitely a
little bit of a nod to that on the new album." Dupri also contributed
tracks to the project, but tells Billboard that he won’t be a featured guest on
any of the songs. "But I don't know if Jermaine Dupri the artist exists
anymore. I'm not into that right now. It's far on the back burner,” says J.D.,
who will also oversee the 2006 Virgin Urban releases of albums from Beenie Man,
Sleepy Brown, Johnta Austin, Young Capone and Daz Dillinger. “It's probably in
the cards somewhere down the road. But it's the last thing I'm thinking about
right now.”
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Christopher ‘Play’ Martin Delivers Holy Hip Hop DVD
Excerpt
from www.allhiphop.com - By Nolan Strong and Chris Richburg
(Apr. 3, 2006) Christopher "Play"
Martin, one-half of the early duo Kid 'n Play, is
releasing Holy Hip Hop, a new DVD that showcases rappers
from the world of gospel music. Martin serves as host, director and producer of
the 82-minute DVD, which offers an inside look at artists leading the way in
the gospel rap scene. "When I got introduced to this world
about ten years ago, I had no idea it was around," Martin told
AllHipHop.com. "I've been blessed to get a second time around and it's
very special to see the packed concert halls to basements, watching crowds of
all kinds going bananas over Hip Hop tracks and flows like it used to
be." Martin, currently CEO of HP4 Digital Works, became involved in
the gospel hip hop scene in the mid-1990s, following his stint as a member of
Kid-n-Play. The rapper has enjoyed both recording and on screen success
and has starred in movies such as House Party (1, 2 and 3) and Class Act.
"I hope this is the beginning of a new chapter in Hip Hop music,
something better for my sons Christopher and Skyler, for their generation and
beyond," said Martin."
Cheryl 'Coko' Clemons Formerly Of SWV Signs With Artemis Gospel
Excerpt
from www.allhiphop.com -
(March 13, 2006) - Artemis Gospel announces the signing of Cheryl "Coko" Clemons to
their roster of artists. The elegant & powerful female
vocalist, COKO, is best known as being one-third of the hugely popular 90's
group SWV will be releasing an all new, all Gospel album in August.
COKO, who has lent her signature soprano vocals to hit songs such as "Men
In Black," with Will Smith and her solo hit "Sunshine" is much
more than an R&B singer who just "came from the church. "I never
left the church," COKO said. "I've always been active in my church
despite my profession in R&B music. Church was more than a breeding ground
for me to sing, it's where I nurture my soul. It's a lifestyle for me."
COKO appeared on The Lord's Church Cathedral Choir's project on
"Some How, Some Way," and on the breakout gospel song
"Midnight" with Brent Jones & T.P. Mobb. COKO, began her career
at 12 years old as a member of the New York Community Choir, The singer was a
member of Hezekiah Walker's Love Fellowship Crusade Choir, and It during that
tenure that COKO teamed up with childhood friends Leanne "Lelee"
Lyons and Tamara "Taj" Johnson to form SWV. Today COKO has set
her sites on the Gospel world and fulfilling something that has always been in
her - a desire and passion to present music with a message. Raised in the
church, COKO has more than a testimony to deliver - she has a divine sense
purpose to offer her gifts to the Lord. Her album is tentatively scheduled to
hit stores everywhere this Summer on Artemis Gospel records will include all
new music produced by Warryn "Baby Dubb" Campbell, Rodney Jerkins,
and J. Moss & PAJAM. Artemis Gospel, a division of Artemis Records,
is a privately held, New York-based company owned by Sheridan Square
Entertainment. Artemis Gospel, based in Nashville, TN is currently home to a
diverse group of Gospel artists including Grammy-Award winning and legend
Shirley Caesar, Bishop Paul S. Morton, RiZen, Youthful Praise, and Judith
Christie McAllister.
Mary J. Recreates Painful K-Ci Moment With 50 Cent
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com
(April 4, 2006) *For her new single “Enough Crying,” Mary J. Blige has enlisted director
Hype Williams to help recreate one of the lowest
moments in her life. Williams and the singer were recently in Long Beach,
California filming a scene that involved her ex-boyfriend K-Ci Hailey –
represented in the video by your boy, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson. "The video
is [about] something that happened a long time ago, and it was a very
embarrassing moment when I thought I was getting married," she explained
to MTV.com in between shooting. "I was engaged to [K-Ci], and I actually
went on a talk show overseas and that person had just done that talk show about
a week before me. I was telling the interviewer that I was getting married, and
the week before he was saying that it was a rumour. He wasn't marrying me. It
was a disaster that really embarrassed me." Blige said she decided
to include the humiliating moment in the video to prove that folks can push
through the pain of heartbreak and keep stepping. In the video, after she
leaves the interview, she goes directly to a photo shoot. "I'm
saying, 'I'm getting on with my life. I'm gonna go ahead and do my work,'"
she explained. "I leave the interview and I'm kind of upset, but I'm still
kind of going through my photo shoot. It ends up being one of the most amazing
photo shoots because of all of the anger and depression and the fact that I
choose to just move on with my life and be a superstar." In the clip, 50
Cent plays C.J. - “you know, short for Curtis Jackson," he said.
"He's an R&B singer, and he's aggressive. When he's questioned by the
guy interviewing them, he kind of loses his cool." "I don't
want to give it away," Blige said. "It's real comical, what he does
to the interviewer. I'm just glad he's here. I love 50. I'm so happy. He's so
supportive of Mary J. Blige, and I'm very supportive of 50. He's just gonna
make the video that much better than what it already is." Blige and her
husband Kendu are tight with 50, and regularly call on the rapper for advice
about the industry. "Me and my husband took him as a
friend," Blige said. "He's someone we know we could talk to and call
on if we have a question about something we can't answer because, quite
frankly, 50 is very intelligent and we really appreciate his expertise, and we
really appreciate his opinions and the advice he's given us."
"Enough Crying" will premiere on music video channels this
week. In the meantime, you can HEAR it HERE.
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Keyshia Cole On The Road
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com
(April 5, 2006) New York, NY -- Hot off the heels of her
debut album The Way It Is reaching certified platinum status, Keyshia Cole is set to kick off
her first headlining tour. The 22-city tour kicked off in Fort Lauderdale, FL
on March 26th. Since releasing her critically acclaimed debut album,
Keyshia Cole has shown no signs of slowing down. She wrapped up 2005 on the
Touch The Sky tour with Kanye West and Fantasia, before kicking off 2006
overseas on Kanye's world tour with legendary band U2. To her credit, Keyshia
has been on Usher's Truth Tour in 2004, and then on the Sweat Tour with Nelly,
T.I., and Fat Joe. Keyshia is featured on the theme song to the Mission
Impossible III soundtrack with Kanye West and rapper Twista and will join them
in Prague to shoot the video for the song. Mission Impossible III comes out
Spring 2006. Following the smash hit, "I Should Have Cheated," which
was the #1 song at urban radio for weeks, Keyshia recently introduced
"Love," her fourth single off the album. "Love" is currently
#6 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip Hop Singles chart and the corresponding
video features actor/singer Tyrese as the male lead and is being aired heavily
on major video outlets nationwide.
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Better Than 'Dead'
Excerpt from www.billboard.com
- Edited by Jonathan Cohen
(Apr. 4, 2006) Pink writes with a pointed pen on her new LaFace/Zombaalbum,
"I'm Not Dead," which arrives this week. First 
single "Stupid
Girls" is an assault on Hollywood's obsession with thin, blonde and
beautiful. In the video, the artist born Alicia Moore mocks the likes of
Jessica Simpson, Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan, among others -- and in a very
telling scene, shows the repulsiveness and destructiveness of bulimia.
Moore is excited that "Stupid Girls," a song she fought for and
one her label did not want to release as the first single, is inspiring
dialogue and raising awareness. It is healing for her, because she suffers,
too. Moore has "fat days." She has days when she gets depressed and
feels like she is not good enough. She is not superhuman, she is honest. She
says writing and singing about it is cathartic. She wants young women to know
they are not alone. "I'm not trashing everyone in 12 tracks,"
she says. "I don't pick a different group to trash [in] each song. Most of
the time, I'm just trashing myself." Moore admits, "The first
single is always hard, because it's supposed to represent a record that pretty
much is like the first single. But with me, my only consistent thread is my
voice, not even my humour is the same. My albums are just so eclectic. It's not
all just funny, it's not all deep. It's everything in between."
Pharrell Collaborating With Velvet Revolver
Excerpt from www.billboard.com -
Jonathan Cohen and Susan Butler, N.Y.
(Apr. 3, 2006) Despite rumours that Velvet Revolver members Slash and Duff
McKagan will rejoin Guns N' Roses for a summer tour, the group is
actually at work on its sophomore RCA album with an unlikely collaborator: uber
hip-hop producer Pharrell Williams. Williams is also working with Velvet Revolver frontman
Scott Weiland on a song titled "Happy," which will likely appear on
Weiland's second solo album. Williams confirmed the projects with Billboard.com
but did not reveal additional details. "With the first record, it
was kind of a feeling out process on a technical level," Weiland told Billboard.com in December. "We were
sort of bonded by blood in a sense, because we'd gone through very similar
circumstances. On this record, I have a real concept in mind. Because of that,
it will be a very album-oriented record instead of a singles-driven
record." As for Williams, there's still no word on when his
long-delayed Interscope solo debut, "In My Mind," will be released. According to
a spokesperson, the artist is still working on the album. Without giving
away specifics, Williams did tell Billboard.com he plans to hit the studio in
the coming weeks with Slim Thug, Snoop Dogg, Jay-Z, Nas and Ludacris.
Teena Marie Polishes 'Sapphire'
Excerpt from www.billboard.com - Clover Hope, N.Y.
(Apr. 3, 2006) Soul singer Teena Marie will on May 9 release
her second Cash Money Classics/Universal album, "Sapphire." The set
features
appearances from legendary crooner/former Motown labelmate Smokey Robinson and
rapper Kurupt. An expected duet with Marie and her longtime partner, the
late Rick James, was taken off the album, according to a label spokesperson.
Robinson is featured on two songs, "God Has Created" and "Cruise
Control," while Kurupt graces "Baby Who's Is It." Cash
Money founders Bryan "Baby" Williams and Ronald "Slim Tha
Don" Williams serve as executive producers. The pair also co-produced lead
single "Ooo Wee," along with Marie. Marie's first Cash Money
Classics disc, 2004's "La Dona," peaked at No. 6 on The Billboard 200
and has sold 458,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen
SoundScan. The singer will launch a national tour later this year in support of
"Sapphire."
::FILM NEWS::
Six Figures' Caroline Cave Mines The Soul
Excerpt from The Globe and Mail -
Kamal Al-Solaylee
(Mar. 31, 2006) After a relatively short but impressive stage career defined by
playing volatile and out-of-control women, portraying an emotionally
guarded, virtually repressed character on film was an offer Caroline Cave
could not resist. Shortly after completing a gruelling run as Lady
Macbeth in a Theatre Calgary production last year and before rehearsing for the
even more-taxing role of Albertine in Michel Tremblay's Past Perfect --
which closes Sunday at the Tarragon Theatre -- Cave, 32, shot the Canadian
movie Six Figures. It's a clinically observed study from director David Christensen
of a family struggling to keep up with punishing financial and social
expectations in the booming economy of Calgary. Cave plays Claire, a wife and
mother of two children who is mysteriously hit with a hammer one evening. Her
husband Warren (J. R. Bourne) becomes the prime suspect. The film toys with the
notion of "did he or didn't he?" while examining the possibility,
wisdom and price of marital reconciliation between the couple. Cave's measured
and elegantly understated performance hinges on her ability to convey
information on subtextual and intellectual levels. There are no blowout scenes
as in Past Perfect, no soliloquies as in Macbeth and
categorically no extensive narration as in her Dora Award-winning turn in the
one-woman show The Syringa Tree.
Creating the performance began in the audition room by letting go of her stage
roots, Cave says. "In theatre, you're editing for the audience in
the sense that it's your job to draw focus, to demand focus, and to build the
rhythm and arc for the work," the Vancouver native and Shaw Festival
alumna says over a soy-milk latte at a Toronto coffee shop, "What I wasn't
doing successfully in my film auditions was trying to create an arc within a
scene. I was trying to build a scene intellectually the way I was applying my
theatrical work. "What Six Figures taught me is that all I'm
responsible for in front of the camera is a moment -- little incremental
moments. Then it's the editor and director that go and build a movie. I don't
build a movie." The experience of filming Six Figures also hit home
on a more personal note. "I loved playing a woman who is veiled and has a
bit of repression. . . . It's the antithesis of Caroline. It brings me to a
place that's quite . . . ," she edits her words before completing the
sentence. "There's a neutrality in my visage, a containment that is a joy
for me to play. The kind of woman I wish I was sometimes: not so much heart on
my sleeve." The dispassionate nature of Cave's performance (and the film
in general) may conceal a ticking bomb. Feminists and others involved in
campaigns to stop violence against women probably will be outraged at the
psychology of Claire's character -- a fine line between accepting the reality
of a "suppressed voice in the relationship" and condoning
victimization. "With a woman like Claire," Cave explains, "what
was interesting to me and disappointing to all the feminists is that she chose
the illusion of being right about her partner and keeping her marriage intact
over the possibility of freedom and independence from a dysfunctional
relationship. She chose to keep it intact for the picture -- the picture of the
happy family she always wanted and convinced herself she could have."
Calgary's economics may breed murderous rage within the plot of Six Figures,
but the city is one of Cave's favourites. On Monday, she'll hop on a plane for
that city to start rehearsal for what she calls a "love project" -- a
play titled Dig, written and directed by two old friends. After a short
family break, she'll return to Vancouver to focus on more film work. "I
just think I'm at that age where if I don't go for it, I'll always
wonder."
Cinéfranco Festival
Excerpt from The Globe and Mail -
Guy Dixon
(Mar. 31, 2006) A summation of a certain kind of French attitude
comes at the end of Dans tes ręves (In Your Dreams), a highly
stylized take on the
rapper-overcoming-the-odds genre of films. In a closing scene, the
rapper Ixe, played by real-life French MC Disiz La Peste, looks out at the
audience and announces that although hip hop will always be seen as low
culture, nobody can stop him from living through his art. Turning the notion on
its head, Ixe's would-be manager, trying to get out of the hairdressing
business and get the Parisian underworld off his back, daydreams earlier in the
film about a better life and imagines himself inside an Afro-French version of
Manet's painting Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe. They seem like significant
markers for some of the films exploring black and Arab issues in this year's Cinéfranco festival, which runs
until April 9. Others, such as the sexually teasing Lila dit ça (Lila
Says) and the pleasantly light comedy about juvenile delinquents Camping
ŕ la ferme, similarly follow notions of ethnic kids having to live up to
the expectations of traditional France. Lila dit ça winds up being far
more concerned with sexual play, but the central character is an Arab teenager
in Marseilles who is given a chance to study writing in Paris. (Judging purely
by the cinematography alone, the Marseilles ghetto he is trying to escape is so
old-world beautiful, many watching the film might gladly move there.)
Granted, it's a common theme in any language: Talent and art as a way out. Yet
somehow, watching the film in Toronto, it all begs questions about how the
French perceive their Arab citizens (one character even talks about how Arabs
are now trendy), along with the vague notion that, again, higher arts remain
outside the ghetto. Camping ŕ la ferme meets an assortment of Arab,
black and one white Austrian boy more on their own terms. The teens are sent to
the country for a month to do community service. The plot is mild, pastoral
fare, but it gives wide breathing space to the actors portraying the mannerisms
and dialogue of the teens. Instead of having the characters aspire to
something, the film has a refreshing, quotidian quality. They are just kids,
despite the labels put on them, not having to meet some ideal, but simply
being. The festival runs from today to April 9 at The Royal Cinema, 608
College St. Single film tickets are $10 (or $8 for four films purchased at
once). Tickets are available at the cinema box office one hour before screening
or at the Festival Ticketing Box Office, Manulife Centre, 55 Bloor St. W. Call
416-967-1528 or go to http://www.cinefranco.com for information and
film schedules.
The Refugee All Stars
Excerpt from The Globe and Mail -
Liam Lacey
(Mar. 31, 2006) Television biographies of the Behind the Music ilk or
movies such as Ray and Walk the Line hew to a three-act formula:
the
meteoric rise, the decline into failure and addiction, and then the
resurrection leading to inner peace and artistic triumph.
In bracing contrast, the documentary The Refugee All Stars
(the final film of the season in Hot Docs' Doc Soup series)
portrays a group of musicians grappling with more profound kinds of adversity:
murder, exile and psychological trauma. Shot over three years, related in a
brisk 78 minutes, this cinéma verité chronology follows a half-dozen
musicians from Sierra Leone, who fled from their country's civil war and formed
a band in the refugee camps of Guinea. A winner of the American Film
Institute's international documentary prize in Los Angeles and the audience
award at the Miami International Film Festival, the film earns its
crowd-pleasing reputation thanks to the thoughtful honesty of the interview
subjects and the contagious warmth and directness of their music. Given the
short running time, it's no surprise the film is light on political context.
Sierra Leone, a country of five million people on the west coast hump of
Africa, was devastated by civil war in the 1990s. In a fight for political
power and control of rich diamond mines, the country's elected government was
overthrown by a military coup. An estimated 50,000 people were killed while
hundreds of thousands fled to nearby Liberia and Guinea. In 2002, the year the
war ended, San Francisco filmmaker-musicians Zach Niles and Banker White, along
with Montreal musician and film producer Chris Velan, first met the fledgling
version of the Refugee All Stars in a Guinean refugee camp. Led by charismatic
songwriter Reuben Karoma, the band consists of his wife, Efuah Grace, Francis
John Langba, Abdul Rahim Kamara, Mohammed Bangura and a teenaged rapper who
emulates Busta Rhymes, named Alhaji Jeffrey Kamara (a.k.a. Black Nature).The
six musicians found collective purpose through music, infectious
reggae-inspired African pop with emotionally direct lyrics in English that
focus on the day-to-day conditions of refugee camps: unfamiliar diet and
languages, hot tarpaulin tents, grief for lost friends and relatives.
The film's narrative hook was provided by the United Nations High Commission on
Refugees, which decided to use the All Stars to promote its campaign to
persuade refugees to return to Sierra Leone. We see the band taking its show on
the road to other refugee camps, where the musicians are joyously received. The
next stage is an invitation to return to Freetown in Sierra Leone, a journey
that provides the final third of the film. Easily the film's most powerful
segment shows the conflicting emotions registering on the faces of the
musicians during their homecoming, as they ride drive through the devastated
streets of Freetown. The scene overshadows the film's upbeat ending in which
the band goes into a recording studio to make a successful album. Today, most
of musicians are making a living performing in Sierra Leone, and the young
rapper, Black Nature, is back in school. But not everyone came home or found
hope again. Harmonica player Mohammed Bangura, who was forced by the rebels to
kill his own son before they amputated his arm, was psychologically unable to
return and risk seeing his tormentors again. There are wounds that even music
can't begin to heal. The Refugee All Stars screens April 5 at 7 p.m. at the
Bloor Cinema, 506 Bloor St. W., 416-516-2331.
Polar Film Tour Iced
Excerpt from The Globe and Mail - Gayle Macdonald
(Apr. 5, 2006) The filmmakers behind The Journals of Knud Rasmussen -- a $6.3-million Inuit feature
slated to open the Toronto
International Film Festival in September -- have blamed a Nunavut government
department for the disruption of a 56-community tour they kicked off in the
Arctic last month. Inuit director Zacharias Kunuk and his creative partner,
Norman Cohn, said the popular screenings -- which had been taking place in
filled-to-capacity halls in remote locales such as Igloolik and Pond Inlet --
will stop on Thursday because they can no longer afford to mount the family
screenings. Yesterday, Cohn lashed out at Nunavut's Department of Economic
Development and Transportation for failing to come through with funds to
continue the film's tour. "It's part of an ongoing war we've had with the
local government for years and years," said Cohn, co-founder of Igloolik
Isuma Productions. "It's pitiful that the department is often the last
[funding agency] to step up and support something that benefits them the most.
"It felt ridiculous to keep going when those guys couldn't come up with
$10 to help us," added Cohn, whose firm had applied for an unspecified
amount of financial assistance. The department's fiscal-year-end deadline (when
they dole out what remains in the kitty) came -- and went -- last week. Isuma
Productions did not get a dime. "We would have taken anything," said
Cohn. "It's embarrassing to tour our film through Nunavut if our own
government is not participating." The Nunavut Film Agency and the
Department of Economic Development and Transportation did not return calls
yesterday. Kunuk always insists on showing his work -- shot entirely in
Inuktitut and with mostly Inuit actors -- first to his hometown of Igloolik,
population roughly 1,300, about 2,800 kilometres north of Toronto.
He established the tradition with his first feature film, the internationally
acclaimed Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner, which had its inaugural screening
in the Igloolik high-school gym in December, 2000. The Journals of Knud
Rasmussen was shown to the locals, three times, at the gym on March 11 and
12. Atanarjuat scooped the Caméra d'Or at Cannes, and was the
top-grossing Canadian feature film in 2002. The Journals of Knud Rasmussen cost
three times as much as Atanarjuat to make. The film is based on the
journals of the Danish ethnographer/explorer who travelled through Igloolik and
the surrounding area in the 1920s, and recounted the controversial impact of
Christianity, which was force-fed to the Inuit by zealous missionaries intent
on stamping out shamanism. Cohn said The Journals of Knud Rasmussen will
resume its tour in September after the film has a starkly different gala at its
official world premiere at the Toronto festival. "There are a lot of
obstacles to making films in the Arctic," said an embittered Cohn.
"The weather, polar bears, and a dysfunctional Third World government."
A Special Q &A - Spike Lee: He’s Got to Have It….
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com
(March 30, 2006) With an illustrious film career that moves past
the 20 year mark this year, director Spike
Lee has good reason to celebrate. Having
already earned a permanent place as one of America’s most seminal directors for
films like, She’s Got to Have It,” “Do the Right Thing” and “Malcolm X”, Lee
can now add box office champ to his long list of credentials after the strong
opening for his new film “Inside Man”. With opening weekend grosses over 29 million dollars, the
Denzel Washington, Jodie Foster and Clive Owen bank robbery drama clearly demonstrates
that the Lee is only getting better with time. Never one to shy away from
thought-provoking controversy, Lee just completed work on a documentary that
spotlights the horrific aftermath of Hurricane Katrina that’s schedule to air
on HBO later this year. With his trademark candour and humour in tow, Lee
agreed to be interviewed by the Robertson Treatment’s popular 6 Question series
to talk about what it’s like to be a Hollywood “inside man” and his plans for
the future.
RT: How do you feel about your elevated status as a filmmaker?
SL: I don't think of myself as having an elevated status. That's just
not the way I think of myself. So you know , we're very happy that this year
we're going to do several things . . . celebrate the 20 years of making film.
But it's just not the celebration of me. It's a celebration of the body of work
and the people who've been part of that over 20 years. So we're very happy . .
. It's not just me, so again, it's not just me. Gordon Parks just passed. Ossie
Davis. Those individuals — they made it possible for myself. . . Oscar Michaud
, Melvin Van Peebles — those men enabled me . . .”She's Gotta Have It” opened
20 years ago, and when it opened in LA, I was in front of the theatre — you
know, just being outside the theatre, and after the movie came out, this skinny
kid with glasses this thick said — hello, My name is John Singleton, I'm in
high school, I want to make movies like you. True story. So there's this
evolution, and people making movies now were inspired by Singleton's film, “
Boyz n The Hood”. So you gotta keep it going.
RT: Considering the legacy of Black Filmmakers, what do you think of current
black cinema being released today like the Tyler Perry movies, Soul Plane and
things like that?
SL: Well, I don't know if we can lump Tyler 's films together with
“Soul Plane” (laughter). I have mad love for Tyler . His films have become
a force. I mean, he got it made. When he was trying to get that made, people
were telling him, black people go to church, they don't go to movies,
that kind of stuff, he didn't take that — let it stop the man — he's been a
box-office king, so hopefully people would use him as an example, that if
you have a vision and are driven, no matter who you are, Black, White,
Latino, Asian, you get your stuff done.
RT: Spike what was it like working with lead actors who happen to
have directed themselves?
SL: That was something I've never thought about until recently. You
know, Denzel directed “ Antwone Fisher” and Jodie directed “Little Man Tate”.
These are just great actors. So it wasn't a concern at all.
RT: Spike what do you think of suggestions that you and Denzel are
this generation’s De Niro and Scorsese?
SL: How many did they do together? Let's count them. “Mean Streets”,
“Raging Bull”, “ Goodfellas”, “Taxi Driver”, “Casino” — they're more. What
Denzel and I have said, we hope that if you look at the timetable, it's been a
minute since “He Got Game” so the next film can't be as long — we don't know
what it's gonna be, but we only want to work together — soon. So we can get to
number five.
RT: Talk about your next project and how much of a challenge
is the Katrina film given there’s still no closure to that story?
SL : That's a very good question. It's something I think about every
day. My first documentary, “Four Little Girls”, was about the bombing of
the Baptist Church in Birmingham , Alabama , in 1963. We did that film 20 years
later, so for the most part the story would have been told. But for this documentary
we're doing on Katrina for HBO, it's called When The Levees Broke, every day
there's something new. This story is constantly shifting and changes. It was a
challenging project that I'm thinking about it all the time. It comes out on
August 29th on HBO.
RT: What’s your next project?
SL: I'm going to be directing a pilot for Brian and CBS called “Sharks”
that stars James Woods. I’ll begin that project very soon in Los Angeles .
For the full story: CLICK HERE
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Lovers Lost In The Dark
Excerpt from The Toronto Star - Geoff Pevere, Movie Critics
Three Times
Starring Shu Qi and Chang Chen. Directed by Hou Hsaio-hsien. 139 minutes.
At the Cumberland. 18A
(Mar. 31, 2006) For a movie that focuses on the
experience of love at different points in
history, Hou Hsaio-hsien's Three Times demonstrates a conspicuous
interest in what lovers do when they're alone. And what they do, no matter
whether it's 1966, 1911 or 2005, is remarkably consistent. They feel terribly
lonely. In a manner both stylistically and emotionally reminiscent of
Wong Kar-wai's In the Mood for Love and 2046, Three Times is
about the subliminal nature of attraction. It's not what's said that defines
the rules of amorous engagement, but the way that love — that most rudely
uncontainable of emotions — tests the
foundations of decorum and behaviour. The drama lies in trying to hide
it. Using the same gorgeously featured actors (Shu Qi and Chang Chen) to
play the lovers (and almost lovers) in three drastically different times, Hou's
movie reveals the way history changes so much more than people within it
do. In the opening story, "A Time For Love," a man about to be
shipped off to military service in 1966 goes on a frantic search for the woman
he met once in a pool hall and had never forgotten. In "A Time for
Freedom," a brothel courtesan in 1911 falls futilely for a political
activist in Japanese-occupied Taiwan. And in "A Time for Youth," a
photographer and a bisexual pop singer embark on a tentative, largely
text-messaged affair. Despite the dramatic differences in setting, tone
and style of the three stories (the 1911 story is even rendered as a rigorously
formalized silent film with piano accompaniment and intertitles), Three
Times could well be about the same two people. While the outward
expressions of their feelings for each other are defined by their era and its
mores (barely a touch clinches the romance in 1966, while the 2005 couple are
tearing at each other's clothing in minutes), their essential condition remains
the same: they experience love in equally intense cycles of bonding and
separation, and they seem forever to be suspended in a state of unfulfilled
desire. Moreover, in each story Hou emphasizes the isolating nature of intense
attraction: you never feel more alone. Like Wong Kar-wai, Hou's interest
in the unspoken nature of desire means his movie is sensually alive to the way
love overwhelms and transforms one's experience of the world. The largely
non-linear and elliptical narratives capture the fragmenting sensation of
amorous obsession, as do compositions and camera work that constantly leave one
feeling slightly off kilter. In this movie, love intensifies feelings to
a point of almost narcotic sensitivity, so that every colour, movement, pop
song and gesture seems fraught with simmering passion.
Big Boi And Evan Ross Find Common Ground In 'ATL'
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com
(Apr. 3, 2006) *Seventeen-year-old Evan Ross admits that his character in the new film “ATL” was a stretch, to say the
least. The son of Diana
Ross and late Norwegian businessman Arne Naess, Evan’s life is rooted in
privilege. His father owned a private island in Tahiti and his mother is an
American icon. Ironically, it's the pursuit of such thick paper and notoriety
that threatens to derail Ross’ character in the coming-of-age film.
“It’s a total different person than who I am,” Evan says of his character,
Ant. “But at the same time there were a lot of aspects of it that I could
incorporate from my own experiences, more in the feelings of things. It was
something that was a lot different from what I’ve been used to doing, playing a
young drug dealing kinda kid who was dealing with all these kinda issues with
family problems and finding his identity and things like that, making the right
choices.” On the flipside, Antwan “Big Boi” Patton knows plenty of
"d-boys" (or drug dealers) like his character, Marcus. The OutKast
rapper says he grew up around cats steeped in the game, and even has a few of
them in his family tree. “Growing up in that environment, just being
around it all my life it’s like an outline of what to go through,” he
says. The 36-year-old also found familiarity with ‘ATL’s’ story, loosely
based on the childhood of music producer Dallas Austin and his homegirl, Tionne
‘T-Boz’ Watkins of TLC. The film’s skating rink backdrop takes Big Boi back to
his own days as a youngin’ hanging with his OutKast partner, Andre Benjamin.
“Me and Dre both did skate,” says the rapper. “That was the big hangout thing
back in the day. There’d be dance competitions, everybody would have fly
hairdos. Dudes had long perms and finger waves, it was all about style.” Both
Big Boi and his Atlanta-born co-star Tip “T.I.” Harris say their director,
Chris Robinson, was on point when it came to portraying their beloved
city. “It’s pretty accurate, I say at least about 90
percent,” admits Big Boi. “You had the whole skate crowd, you broke everything
down from the preps, to the d-boys, to just the different groups of kids that
co-mingled.” Austin, also an executive producer on the film, recruited Big Boi
for the role of Marcus on the heels of the artist’s first feature film, “Idlewild,”
which is scheduled to arrive in theatres on Aug. 25. “I see how
they say you can catch the acting bug because it was fun,” he says of the
“Idlewild” shoot. “We were in North Carolina for like three months. And I
was like, ‘Man, I wanna do another film.’ So when [Austin] called, when the
opportunity arose, I was like, ‘Alright, let’s do it.’” Although
"Idlewild" was shot before 'ATL', Big Boi's big screen debut occurred
with the latter last weekend, which opened in third place at the box office
behind "Inside Man" at No. 2 and "Ice Age: The Meltdown" at
No. 1. The delays surrounding "Idlewild's" release date had to do
with Big Boi and Dre taking their time with the project, despite all the
deadlines set by the studio, Universal. "That's been the holdup of the
movie," says Big Boi. "I know Universal was mad at us, but we're
telling them it's not done until it's done. I think that's been one of the keys
of our success up until now, not trying to rush it. It usually takes me and Dre
like two to three years to complete a project, and now we're at that three-year
mark and we're 95 percent done with all the music. I think the world is gonna
be satisfied." While Big Boi had already tasted a bit of Hollywood, Ross
entered "ATL" completely green, but has since scored a plum role
opposite one of his acting heroes, Terrence Howard, in the upcoming drama
"P.D.R." The film is based on the true story of Jim Ellis (Howard),
who starts a swim team for troubled teens at the Philadelphia Department of
Recreation. Ross will play one of the teens. Evan looks up to Howard and
Denzel Washington as acting role models, but he reserves extra praise for the
on-screen skills of his mother, “who I think is an incredible actress and who
I’ve been able to watch,” he says. But even Evan knows when to pump
the breaks on his mama's advice. “Coming here today [for the
interview], she was like, ‘Evan, maybe you can take more than one [change of]
clothes so you can switch during the interview.’ I'm like, 'Mom!'"
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Ballroom Dancing Provides Answer to Juvenile Delinquency in
Inspirational Bio-Pic
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com - By Kam
Williams
(April 5, 2006) *In 2005, Mad Hot Ballroom recounted the heartwarming story of
an ethnically diverse set of New York public school students from
humble backgrounds who learn some very valuable life lessons while being taught
how to tango, waltz and rumba in preparation for an annual citywide
competition. That feel-good documentary was ostensibly inspired by the work of
Pierre Dulaine, the instructor who came up with the novel idea of introducing
the kids to ballroom dancing in the first place. Emphasizing the development
of confidence, self-esteem, manners and other critical survival skills which
would serve them well in adulthood, Dulaine was so effective in bringing the
studio sensibility to the classroom that his community outreach program has
blossomed over the years to the point where it currently serves over 7,500
students in 60 schools. Take the Lead revisits the themes addressed by
Mad Hot Ballroom, but this relatively melodramatic bio-pic ups the ante in
terms of emotional intensity while shifting its focus away from the children to
the ever elegant, dashing and passionate Pierre, as played by Antonio Banderas.
The ensemble cast features a host of very talented unknowns plus Alfre Woodard,
Ray Liotta, and Rob Brown, who worked so well in a similar role opposite Sean
Connery in Finding Forrester. The movie marks the feature film debut of Liz
Friedlander, a veteran TV commercial and music video director who has
previously worked with the likes of U2 and Blink 182. Another first-timer,
Dianne Houston, was responsible for the imaginative script, which earns high
marks for interweaving a fascinating front story with a variety of lesser
vignettes into a collection of touching tales of personal triumph. In addition,
the picture treats the audience to plenty of delectable dance sequences which
frequently contrast classical styles with present-day hip-hop. That being said,
Take the Lead is slightly tarnished by its somewhat simplistic recurring
suggestion that the woes of the ghetto could be easily eliminated if everybody
just took their cues from its perfectly polite protagonist. The film’s only
other flaw is an overabundance of tight shots which deliberately avoid the
skyline due to its attempting to make Toronto pass for New York. As for the
plot, the fun starts the night Pierre just happens to be bicycling through the
‘hood in a tuxedo. He comes upon Rock (Brown) in the midst of trashing his high
school principal’s (Woodard) car with a golf club in order to “Leave this bitch
a little message” for having suspended him.
Pierre intervenes, but rather than report the incident to the cops, he instead
decides to track down the owner. When the tall, dark and handsome gentleman
pays a visit to the school, we get a good idea of the effect he has on women,
as females entering the office inexplicably begin to swoon just because he
holds the door for them. Pierre sizes up the situation and impulsively offers
to teach ballroom dancing at the dilapidated and obviously in crisis
institution for free, yet the best deal he can cut with the principal is to
baby-sit the juvenile delinquents sent to detention after school. This suits
the eternal optimist just fine, and thus begins the compassionate process of
whipping some of the school’s worst miscreants into form for the big
competition in the finale. Lean on Me meets Strictly Ballroom. Tough two-step
replaces tough love.
Uwe Boll Bypasses Big Movie Chains
Excerpt from The Toronto Star - John
McKay, Canadian Press
(Apr. 5, 2006) Calling the January U.S. release of his vampire-splatter movie BloodRayne a "complete
disaster," maverick director Uwe Boll
says he is handling the Canadian distribution through his own company.
The film opens Friday but only in independent cinemas, with no participation
from big chains. Boll, a German director who has made several genre films out
of his Canadian base in Vancouver, says BloodRayne ended up in few U.S.
cinemas — only half as many as the number of prints made. He also says
that in recent years a producer's traditional relationship with distributors
has changed, and not for the better. His beef is over high costs that
distributors claim to have incurred for advertising and making prints.
"I can tell you tons of examples of people that made really successful
movies and they never got the revenues," Boll says. ``They can claim later
`Yeah, look, the movie made $40 million, but we spent $42 million in (prints
and advertising).'" Set in 18th-century eastern Europe, BloodRayne
is about a young half-vampire, half-human woman (Terminator 3's
Kristanna Loken) seeking revenge on the powerful vampire (Ben Kingsley) who
raped and killed her mother. Boll plans to make the bulk of his profits
for BloodRayne not from the limited Canadian and U.S. runs but from
outside the Hollywood-controlled system, in places like Russia and the Middle
East, and on DVD. He also has an unusual technique for snagging name
actors for his films. BloodRayne boasts such personalities as Kingsley,
Michael Madsen, Billy Zane, Udo Kier and Meatloaf. He approaches actors
at the very last minute when they are between productions and uncertain where
their next job is coming from. And they are invariably willing to take even
small parts for an easy paycheque. "If you go really late to actors
you actually save money," he says. "Genre movies are not the actor's
first pick in general. But if you wait, a lot of actors are still available.
"If we went to Ben Kingsley a year in advance and offered him the money we
actually paid him, he would never do that. He was available." Boll
says Kingsley also told him he always wanted to play a vampire. After shooting
his scenes for BloodRayne in Romania, the actor went straight to Prague
to film Roman Polanski's Oliver Twist. Boll's next picture, In
the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale — like BloodRayne, also
based on a video game — features Loken as well as John Rhys-Davies, Ray Liotta,
Leelee Sobieski and Burt Reynolds. While BloodRayne's
leather-and-vampire look recalls similar recent hits, Boll insists there's a
difference between his movie and, say, Underworld. "Like in Underworld,
Kate Beckinsale would never show her (breasts)," he says. "And also
she's not really acting like a vampire." Loken's character, he says,
is less of a super-heroine. She's a more disturbing vampire who sucks blood
because she needs to. "Our woman is not a clean vampire," Boll says.
"She is erotic, sexy ... we have here a way more dirty vampire."
Boll did spend money on his authentic locales by taking his Canadian/German
crew outside of Bucharest for several weeks. He boasts they filmed
exteriors in towns where, he says, the original Vlad the Impaler actually
walked the streets.
FILM TIDBITS
Danny Glover, George C. Wolfe To Direct Biopics
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com
(March 30, 2006) *Veteran actor Danny
Glover and acclaimed director George C. Wolfe are
each headed behind the camera to direct biopics for
theatrical release. Glover tells entertainment columnists Marilyn Beck and
Stacy Jenel Smith that he’s helming a film about Haitian revolutionary Toussaint L'Ouverture.
So far, the actor has lined up Mos Def, Don Cheadle and Angela Bassett to star
in the project. "I've got a powerful cast," says Glover, who said the
film is a labour of love he’s been trying to complete for some 20 years.
"We also have Wesley Snipes, Roger Guenvere Smith, plus a number of other
African and Haitian actors." Wolfe, meanwhile, is set to direct a
feature film version of the acclaimed documentary “Ring of Fire: The Emile
Griffith Story,” reports Variety. The documentary focused on the welterweight
boxing champ whose career became defined by the night he battered rival Benny
"Kid" Paret into unconsciousness during a nationally televised bout.
Paret, who had taunted Griffith by calling him a homosexual, died of his injuries.
Wolfe most recently directed HBO’s “Lackawanna Blues” for executive producer,
Halle Berry.
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Will T.I. be ‘King’ At The Box Office This Week?
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com
- By Marie Moore
(March 30, 2006) T.I. has both a movie and album coming out
this week and they will no fuel one another. Debuting in the film, “ATL,”
T.I. proves
that the good guy does get the girl. Seventeen-year-old Rashad (Tip Harris aka
T.I.) became the man of the house when his parents were killed in a car
accident. His role as surrogate father is tested when “little” brother Ant
(Evan Ross) is swayed by the bling and easy money into dealing
drugs. With a fledging career in film and well entrenched in
his music, the Film Strip wanted to know the pros and cons dealing with the
two? “The demands and expectations are just totally, totally different,” he
explained. “For the music industry the pros for me are like responding to the
people individually, like at shows and just being in and out of hoods, and in
and out of cities across the nation, seeing the reactions from the people,
seeing them respond to my music and hearing their opinions, and you know, just
a lot of things. Of course the money is great, too. “In the
film industry, the pros are the exposure, and the amount of money that is
invested into the project that you have to put out here. Of course the press is
the most intense and widely publicized, noteworthy amount of press you can
have. Also, I mean the food on set is great. Plus, you’re around a bunch of
people all the time so you’re just gonna be entertained all day. At least on
this that’s how it was.” T.I., who tried out for “Drumline” and
a role in “Barbershop,” says he chose to do “ATL” because, “It was the most
honest representation of my culture and my city to be put onscreen and the
largest production to ever be filmed in Atlanta.”
No Teasing: Hairspray Auditions Set For Toronto
Excerpt from The Toronto Star
(Mar. 31, 2006) A young singer-dancer will get
a chance to play a big role in a movie being shot in Toronto this summer, as
long as she doesn't mind being described as an "extremely overweight
high-school girl" and having John Travolta play her mother. New Line
Films has issued an open casting call for Hairspray, the remake of John Waters' movie and hit Broadway play.
Travolta has already been tagged to play Edna Turnblad — the Harvey Fierstein
role on Broadway — and Queen Latifah has Motormouth Maybelle wrapped up. But
three teen roles are still up for grabs and hoofers with a Broadway-calibre
singing voice are being invited to be at the Elgin Theatre's stage door
entrance on Victoria St. on Saturday, April 8 between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m.
· Tracy Turnblad is described as a female, Caucasian, age 16 to 21 to
play 16. Besides being plump, she should have "a pretty face, infectious
grin and indomitable spirit." · Little Inez: female, black,
age 10 to 13. "Smart, strong, and the kind of girl who stands up for
herself. She is one of the best dancers and singers around ... and she knows
it." · Link: male. Caucasian, 16-23 to play 17. "The
teenage heartthrob of 1962 Baltimore. Sexy. He should have a real edge: more of
an Elvis than a Tab Hunter." Audition details are at http://www.hairspraymovie.com.
The Star's Martin Knelman reported in January that Hairspray is
expected to be shot in Toronto and Baltimore with a budget of about $75 million
(U.S.).
Obba In, Smokey Out In National Tour Of ‘Chicago’
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com
(April 4, 2006) *Obba Babatunde has replaced Smokey Robinson in the upcoming national tour of
Chicago, reports Broadway.com. Robinson
was to play the role of slick lawyer Billy Flynn in the production, but had to
pull out because of “scheduling conflicts.” The casting change is
the latest in a series of revolving actors in the production. Chicago currently
stars Robin Givens as Roxie Hart, Amra-Faye Wright as Velma Kelly and John
O'Hurley as Billy Flynn. In February, Givens left the Broadway cast for a three
week run as Roxie in the touring company, while Michelle DeJean, who starred as
Roxie on the road, joined its Broadway production. On April 17, frequent Roxie,
Charlotte d'Amboise (who will be seen next fall in the Broadway revival of A
Chorus Line), will rejoin to the cast. The following week, Brenda Braxton will
return as Velma Kelly. Babatunde previously appeared as Billy Flynn
in the national tour of Chicago, and nabbed a Tony nomination for his performance
as C.C. White in the original Broadway production of Dreamgirls. His other
Broadway credits include Grind, It's So Nice to Be Civilized, Reggae and
Timbuktu!. He can currently be seen on the small screen in the comedy series
“Half & Half.”
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Beasties Use Hit-And-Run Strategy To Promote Film
Excerpt from The Globe and Mail -
Guy Dixon
(Apr. 5, 2006) Toronto -- The Beastie Boys have always
veered outside the ordinary, and that's exactly how ThinkFilm has decided to
distribute the
group's concert film, Awesome: I Fuckin' Shot That!, in Canada. The
film won't have a normal theatrical run before hitting the DVD market as
originally planned, but instead be shown in cinemas as one-night-only events,
like a concert, with local radio stations and other media co-promoting it. Awesome
incorporates frenetically edited concert footage shot on 50 handheld video
camcorders. "The film plays best if you can recreate that concert feel. We
feel the best way to do that is to go into each market with lots of advance
notice, lots of grassroots and local tie-in to create an energy in the
auditorium," said ThinkFilm senior vice-president Andrew Austin.
"Concert films are tough at the best of times."
::TV NEWS::
CBC Taps American To Craft New Shows
Excerpt from The
Toronto Star - Murray Whyte, Entertainment
Reporter
(Mar. 30, 2006) The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation has hired an American film producer who served as the president of
American
Zoetrope, filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola's production company, as its new head
of arts and entertainment programming. Fred
Fuchs, 51, takes over the post on Monday, the CBC said. Fuchs, who
moved to Canada from San Francisco five years ago with his wife, a Torontonian,
replaces Deborah Bernstein, who quit last month after 20 years in the
post. His appointment completes the line-up of high-ranking CBC
executives who will set the course of the corporation's dramatic television
production. In a release, the CBC said Fuchs "will work closely with
the A&E creative heads, with executive director of network programming
Kirstine Layfield and with executive vice-president Richard Stursberg to
select, develop and produce Canadian entertainment programming of the highest
quality in all genres." Layfield, a long-time programmer of various
lifestyle channels at Alliance Atlantis, was hired by Stursberg as CBC's head
of English TV programming in February; she began her job last week. The
recruitment of Layfield and Fuchs is seen in the industry as part of a
large-scale retooling of CBC-TV's prime-time schedule, with Stursberg at the
helm.
Last month, in a presentation to the Canadian Film and Television Production
Association, Stursberg made clear that the CBC will pursue more
"fast-paced," "escapist" and "positive and
redemptive" programming in its mostly vacant prime-time drama schedule.
The CBC cancelled three prominent series, Da Vinci's City Hall, This
is Wonderland and The Tournament, last month. Fuchs and
Stursberg met while Stursberg was the director of Telefilm Canada, the film funding
agency he headed for just over two years. In an interview, Fuchs
downplayed any notions of a radical makeover in his department. "We
don't need to reinvent the wheel," he said. "I do get the sense that
some things are working well, but what everyone does feel is the need to
develop at least one or two what I would call more relevant, more accessible
things that have a little more resonance with a larger audience."
Fuchs served as producer on such notable U.S. films as Francis Ford Coppola's Dracula
and Tucker. Since his arrival in Canada, he has been producing film
and television both here and in the U.S. He recently became a Canadian citizen.
Canadian Reality -TV Shows Go Green
Source: Etan Vlessing, Reuters News Agency
(Mar. 30, 2006) The grim urban jungle of Toronto is getting a makeover in U.S.
cable channel Home & Garden Television's upcoming reality series Green Force. The show's Canadian
producer, Tricon Films and Television, will return green space in the city to
hospices, prisons, daycare centres and senior-citizen homes. "We will
create beautiful landscapes and bring communities together," says Shaam
Makan, Tricon vice-president of production. "But most importantly, we will
be touching people with real-life stories, struggles and victories." A
pilot will be shot in May, and 13 episodes will debut next year. Other
Canadian producers similarly see green in combining dream fulfilment with
feel-good environmental concern. Vancouver-based filmmaker Mark Leiren-Young
went up a tree in coastal British Columbia to make Green Chain, a
mockumentary about tree huggers he hopes will have cinemagoers throwing aside
their popcorn to help clean up the environment. "This has always been the
story that defines British Columbia: our relationship to trees,"
Leiren-Young says, now back on the ground. The feature, starring Shirley
Douglas and Brendan Fletcher, portrays activists protecting forests from
loggers and forest-company executives. Elsewhere, CBC's reality series Code
Green Canada has taken an environmental slant to the home renovation format
by having Canadians compete to make their homes the most energy efficient.
Code Green Canada, to air over six episodes beginning May 27, will see
12 families receive $15,000 each to retrofit their home. The family scoring the
greatest water, gas and electricity consumption savings after home renovations
will win the grand prize, a hybrid car. Series executive producer Daniel
Leipnik insists there is drama in homeowners comparing new windows, doors,
insulation and lighting at the local Home Depot. "It does get competitive.
The families really want to win the car," he says. So competitive,
apparently, that Code Green Canada families sign contracts promising not
to cheat, whether by taking showers elsewhere or wearing winter parkas indoors
in cold, dim homes. This crop of eco-themed Canadian content follows a
tried-and-true reality-TV format of promising winners something happier, more
desirable and glamorous. But Makan insists Force of Nature departs from
the reality-TV norm by giving audiences an unselfish reason to tune in.
"We need to make a human connection," he says.
CRTC Making Television Review A Top Priority
Excerpt from The Globe and Mail - Simon Tuck And Grant Robertson
(Apr. 2, 2006) OTTAWA, TORONTO — Ottawa is rushing to launch a long-awaited
review of the Canadian television sector as broadcasters struggle with new
technology that is threatening their decades-old business models. The TV review
was slated to occur in two years, but Canada's federal broadcast regulator has
decided to make it a top priority after several broadcasters indicated an
urgent need for Ottawa to tackle the key problems facing their industry. The
date for the regulatory review has not yet been set, but the Canadian
Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission is now hoping to complete
much of the process in the next 12 months. A government official acknowledged
yesterday that Ottawa is concerned about the domestic TV industry's future and
will likely announce the launch of the review within the next few weeks. The
review itself could begin as soon as this fall. "It's more a question of
when and how than if," a source close to the discussions said.
Broadcasters want Ottawa to address several issues that are affecting their
sector, including the rise of Internet television. The networks are concerned
about the threat downloadable programs pose to their businesses if consumers
are able to access top-rated U.S. programming over the Web. Networks such
as CTV Inc., CanWest Global Communications Corp.'s Global and CHUM Ltd. pay top
dollar to secure the broadcast rights to such shows in Canada. In
addition to the issues surrounding new technology, the review is expected to
focus on the networks' argument that they, like specialty channels, should get
a slice of consumers' monthly subscription fees for cable and satellite. But
the rise of new technology -- from personal video recorders (PVRs), which allow
viewers to skip over commercials, to TV equipped cellphones -- has created the
most concern. When the last federal review of the sector was undertaken several
years ago, those technologies did not widely exist.
At the very least, the broadcasters want to know what the rules will be for
Internet TV, and how those revenues will be divided. The push for a TV review
comes at a time when the CRTC is already juggling a similar crucial review of
the radio sector, which is also worried about splintering audiences as iPods
and other new technology such as satellite radio erode its audience share. To
make room for the TV review, which could take up to 18 months to reshape some
of the regulations governing how the industry operates, the CRTC is drawing up
a plan that would see several items on its calendar shelved. Licence renewal
applications for several of the networks in the coming months are expected to
be put on hold. The CBC's licences expire next year, followed by CTV, Global
and TVA in 2008. Those items will be pushed back to a later date in order to
accommodate the TV review, one source said. (CTV is part of Bell Globemedia,
which also owns The Globe and Mail.) Broadcasters praised the decision to move
up the review, including CHUM. "The world has changed in the last five or
six years. It's important that we take this moment in time to stop, look at the
environment, what's working, what hasn't," said David Goldstein,
vice-president of government and regulatory affairs at CHUM. "It's
important to have this structural and policy review before we all go forward
for our group licence renewals," he added. The television sector also
wants to address regulations that govern advertising rules as technology makes
it easier for consumers to avoid commercials. As well, the move by cable
providers to introduce so-called time-shifting packages, which allow customers
to access channels in other markets, is hurting their advertising revenue,
broadcasters argue. A final decision about the review could come within a
few weeks. The TV process also comes as CRTC chairman Charles Dalfen's term at
the helm of the regulator is set to end Dec. 31.
Television To Talk About
Excerpt from The Toronto Star
(Apr. 3, 2006) Long-Lasting Suds: Time to
mark the 50th anniversary of CBS's daytime soaper As The World Turns,
revolutionary in its day for being a half hour instead of 15-minute daily soap.
A few of its regulars, including 87-year-old Helen Wagner and 72-years-young
Eileen Fulton, still appear regularly. Today at 2 p.m. the celebrated women of
the show remember big moments (CBS, Global at 2).
Prison Time: With Prison Break already picked up for
a second
season, the series goes into flashback mode so we can see how Lincoln, Sucre,
T-Bag, C-Note and others actually got there. And what will they title the
second year with the brothers definitely breaking out? Prison Break: Manhunt,
we've heard (FOX, Global at 8).
New Flick: Mimi Rogers stars as a concerned mother in the latest CTV
telefeature rushed into the schedule. Selling
Innocence is a worthwhile dramatic study of the forces of the
Internet clashing with the ambitions of a young, impressionable girl, Mia
(Sarah Lind), who is exploited by a sleazy modelling agency that takes pictures
of her and displays them on an exploitational site (CTV at 9).
Success/Failure: The success of Prison Break in the ratings gives
The New Adventures Of Old Christine major renewal
problems. Star Julia Louis-Dreyfus once again succumbs to "the curse of
Seinfeld" as she struggles to make this sitcom somehow work. Matt Letscher
of The West Wing is the guest as love interest Burton, but nothing seems
to be working (CBS at 8:30).
Brave Death: Prissy Benoit's brave fight for life is the focus of Miracle Workers.
Benoit agreed to have a Jarvis pump inserted after her heart began failing
after damage from chemotherapy. Her death on March 22 isn't the end of the
story; series regular Dr. Billy Cohn will take us through her valiant but
ultimate losing battle for survival (ABC at 10).
Water Cooler: Did you notice the Cold
Case double bill last night on CBS? Could it possibly mean
Sunday night movies are finished? After all, both NBC and ABC have ditched them
as too expensive.
Couric Quits NBC To Become CBS Anchor
Source: David Bauder, Associated Press
(Apr. 5, 2006) NEW YORK - On her 15th anniversary on Today, Katie Couric told viewers Wednesday she was
leaving NBC to join CBS and
become the first woman to solely anchor a U.S. network evening newscast.
"I wanted to tell all of you out there ... that after listening to my
heart and my gut ... I've decided I'll be leaving Today at the end of
May," she said. "I really feel as if we've become friends through the
years." The 49-year-old Couric, the longest-serving anchor in Today
show history, is expected to replace Bob Schieffer on the third-rated CBS
evening news broadcast in September. Following a months-long guessing
game that has consumed the TV industry, Couric chose the 15th anniversary of
her first day as Today co-host in 1991 to say that it's time for a
change. "It's been such an honour and a privilege to occupy this seat
for as long as I have," she said. "Sometimes I think change is
a good thing," Couric added. "Although it may be terrifying to get
out of your comfort zone, it's also very exciting to start a new chapter in
your life." Co-host Matt Lauer told Couric that it was "hard to
imagine being here and not having you sitting next to us." The bold
move simultaneously forces NBC to find a new team for Today,
television's most profitable news program, and gives CBS News president Sean
McManus a major success in his effort to lure more stars to his beleaguered
news organization.
Meredith Vieira of the daytime chat show The View has emerged as the
leading candidate to team with Lauer. Vieira, a former CBS News reporter who
won a Daytime Emmy as host of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, had
previously turned down offers to return to news since joining The View.
If a deal with Vieira can't be reached, the top in-house candidates to replace
Couric are Today weekend anchor Campbell Brown, NBC reporter Natalie
Morales and news reader Ann Curry. Couric, Lauer, Curry and weathercaster
Al Roker have formed TV news' most successful morning team in history since
1997, with Today riding an unprecedented 10-year ratings winning
streak. During that time, morning news programs have simultaneously grown
in influence and have become important entertainment vehicles. The job required
Couric to both interview presidents and don goofy costumes on Halloween.
Couric's NBC contract extends to the end of May and she's expected to remain at
Today through that ratings sweeps month. The lure of trying
something new and making history in the evening proved enticing to Couric, who
is also expected to contribute to 60 Minutes. She spurned a more
lucrative offer — about $20 million (U.S.) a year — to remain at NBC and accept
CBS' bid at a salary near her current range of $13 million to $15 million,
according to a non-network person close to negotiations who spoke on condition
of anonymity. With Schieffer filling in during the year since Dan Rather's
exit, the CBS Evening News is the only network evening newscast rising in the
ratings. But it's still in third place behind NBC and ABC.
TV TIDBITS
Slingbox Eyes Canadian Launch Of Portable TV Device
Excerpt from The Globe and Mail -
Grant Robertson
(Mar. 31, 2006) Slingbox, a gadget that lets people watch their household television set
through an Internet connection anywhere in the world, is
expanding to Canada in an effort to capitalize on the growing market for
portable TV. Sling Media Inc., the California-based company behind the device that began
selling in the United States last summer, said the Canadian market is the first
step in its plan to expand globally in the next year. The Slingbox plugs into a
regular television and lets viewers access the channels through a broadband
Internet hookup. The TV channels can also be controlled remotely, the company
said. In its short existence, Sling Media has targeted travellers and office
workers who want television access outside of their homes. While the company
doesn't divulge its sales figures, Jeremy Toeman, vice-president of market
development for Sling Media, said it has sold "tens of thousands" of
the boxes in the past nine months. Sling Media has signed distribution deals
with London Drugs, Best Buy and Future Shop to sell the devices, which retail
for about $300. Analyst Jeff Leiper of the Ottawa-based Yankee Group, which
tracks technology trends, said the market for the Slingboxes in Canada could be
small in the early going, since the technology is new. "The initial use of
the Slingbox will probably be the 15 per cent of the market that is the
technologically advanced households," Mr. Leiper said. "For the first
year and a half those will be the primary buyers of it. But moving forward,
let's say Christmas, 2008, is when we could really start to see some mainstream
adoption."
Teens And Television: Is A Decades-Long Romance Nearing An End?
Excerpt from The
Toronto Star - Judy Stoffman, Canadian Press
(Apr. 2, 2006) OTTAWA—Canadian teenagers are watching less TV, says a new
report from Statistics Canada. In a regular survey of television viewing
habits done in fall 2004, kids aged 12 to 17 logged an average of 12.9 hours a
week in front of the tube, down two hours from the year before. The agency
attributed the decline partly to greater Internet use. The report says
sports viewing fell to 6.5 per cent from 8.2 per cent the previous year
"perhaps as a result of the cancellation of the National Hockey League
season." Canadian content fell to 37.2 per cent from 40.2 during the same
period. But viewers over age 17 watched TV for the same number of hours
and it appears they replaced hockey with imported reality TV and game shows,
which gained in popularity. The numbers also show that while comedy and
drama programming represented the bulk of Canadians' viewing, close to 82 per
cent of it was foreign. The figures for StatsCanada's TV project are a
joint undertaking with the CRTC and Heritage Canada with data from the Bureau
of Broadcast Measurement.
CRTC Approves Soccer, Cricket Channels
Excerpt from The Toronto Star
(Apr. 4, 2006) OTTAWA (CP) — New specialty TV channels dedicated to soccer, cricket and equestrian events have been
approved by the CRTC, the federal broadcast regulator. They include
Soccer Television and RCS Television, both proposed by the Telelatino Network
(TLN). The first would provide coverage of professional and amateur soccer
matches as well as documentaries and news programs devoted to the sport. The
second would be devoted to soccer, cricket and rugby. Olympic Films won
licences for both an English and French language version of Equestrian Planet,
programming from the horse world including racing. Asian Television
Network International received licences for ATN, the Asian Sports Network and
ATN Cricket Channels I and II, pay services that would provide coverage of live
cricket matches from around the world. Cookie Jar Entertainment, a
producer of children's television programming, was granted a licence for Cookie
Jar Educational TV, which would include core curriculum educational programming
in such areas as language, math, science and technology. The application had
been opposed by Corus Entertainment, owner of the preschooler channel Treehouse
TV and part owner of Teletoon. A French-language equivalent was also
granted. All the licences are for a category 2 service, which means cable
and satellite providers are not obliged to provide carriage. Licence holders
and carriers must negotiate an agreement before a channel is carried.
::THEATRE NEWS::
Godot Gets A Canadian Feel
Excerpt from The Globe and Mail -
Michael Harris
(Mar. 31, 2006) The signage for the Arts Club production of Waiting for Godot has been glowering over
South Granville for weeks. Freighted on
that cornerstone of modern drama is half a century's worth of loving and
loathing reviews, and millions of anxious high-school English students. Now,
local theatre doyen Morris Panych submits his directorial vision to the mix.
"There's so much speculation, so much hyperbole, so much crap surrounding
[Samuel Beckett's] writing," Panych says, "that it's almost
impossible to set out on this course of putting on a credible, interesting
production." Panych positions himself as a populist, uninterested in
"some esoteric wank exercise for academics." But theatre geeks will
have their middling say, for Waiting for Godot is ultimately a slippery
beast: No single take on Beckett's masterpiece outweighs the rest. The
(in)action of the play consists simply of two tramps, Vladimir and Estragon,
waiting for Mr. Godot (who may or may not stand for God, Hope, Themselves,
etc.). They contemplate suicide, they bicker, they gnaw on some chicken
bones. Meanwhile, the poor audience waits for something to happen (and perhaps
begins to contemplate the meaninglessness of their own workaday lives). This
sort of thing is now thought to be quite clever, but it wasn't always so. When Waiting
for Godot first appeared in North America, in 1956, New Yorker critic
Wolcott Gibbs sniffed: "I have seldom seen such meagre moonshine stated
with such inordinate fuss." Take that, existentialism.
In order to make this production fresh, Panych has arranged for "a more
Canadian feel." Estragon will have the Quebecois accent of actor Stéphane
Demers, while Vladimir is played by Vincent Gale, invoking the
"tragic-comic fate of French and English Canada" -- two tramps,
warring but wed, and trapped together. What's more, the bossy, lordly
Pozzo (Brian Markinson), who interrupts the stagnancy of both acts, will have a
distinctly American mien. Still, Panych isn't kidding himself. "No one's
going to see it as new and fresh unless they're right out of high school,"
he says. "A lot of the esoteric ideas that were fun and interesting in
1953 may not hold water today." What remains is the quality Panych calls
"an emotional hole" in Beckett's world. Life is an enigmatic puzzle,
and this production offers no answers (or so Panych hopes). Driven by
non-sequitur dialogue that leads nowhere and everywhere, the play is "a
fucking minefield," he says, "and it's constantly exploding on
you." If the character of Godot stands for meaning in an otherwise
meaningless world, then his refusal to appear at the play's conclusion is a
blow to the audience's collective heart. But Panych prefers to believe that
"life can derive meaning simply by knowing that it has none" (a
notion he borrows from Albert Camus). "There's nothing more
touching," Panych says, "than being in a room with people who are all
standing on the edge of the same cliff. I can only hope it's something like
consolation." Beckett himself repudiated any symbolic "meaning"
that critics or academics concocted for his Godot, so audiences would be wise
to make up their own minds about Panych's latest offering. Waiting for Godot
runs to April 23 at the Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage, 2750 Granville St.,
604-687-1644.
Hair Just Keeps Growing
Excerpt from The
Globe and Mail - Michael Posner
(Mar. 30, 2006) Whoever dares to write the definitive
history of the rock musical Hair is going to have his or her work cut out for them.
Virtually from its earliest incarnation, at Joe Papp's Public Theatre in New
York in
October, 1967, the show has been a kind of floating, ever-changing, often
contentious piece of theatre. In the years since its debut, it has seen dozens
of revivals, but script, song and lyric changes have been so extensive that few
productions have been entirely the same. James Rado is not complaining. Since
the death of his partner and co-creator Gerome Ragni, Rado, now 73, has more or
less earned his living from Hair, acting as a script consultant to
productions around the world. For the past several weeks, he's been a fixture
at Toronto's CanStage, where the latest version of the show opens tonight.
"It's been a constant process of exploring and inventing," Rado
explained in an interview this week, "even when Clive Barnes of The New
York Times hailed it as one of the greatest musicals of all time in 1967."
At the outset, Hair never really had much of a plot or even a script. In
the 1960s, this deficiency hardly mattered; audiences were infused with the
hippie message of love and peace and consciousness expansion. But as time
passed, Rado and Ragni began to see " the meagreness of the text."
When Ragni died 16 years ago, Rado took up the cause and began experimenting
with different themes, and injected them into productions of Hair in
Europe, "trying to deepen the characters." Rado steered away from the
storyline imposed by the film version of Hair, saying that it
"missed the point. I was not happy with the movie [directed by Milos
Forman]. The inner meaning was lost, the cosmic message. And by the time it
came out in the late 1970s, the times had already changed. People no longer
wore long hair. It was a different zeitgeist." Rado said he and Ragni were
consulted on the film's script, but their comments were largely ignored.
Oddly enough, he recalled, the main reviews were positive, on both coasts of
the United States, but the film was a box-office disaster. Rado and Ragni had
both been Broadway actors before they conceived Hair -- Ragni, for
example, had appeared with John Gielgud in a production of Hamlet, and
Rado insists both could have had successful careers in mainstream theatre. But
Ragni became involved with experimental theatre in the East Village and out of
that milieu evolved Hair, its name taken from a painting of the same
name they had seen in a museum. "We were trying to explore the
relationship of actors to the audience and what plays actually were," said
Rado, who was born in Los Angeles and raised in Rochester, N.Y. "But the
basic idea for Hair came from the excitement that was on the streets at
that time. It was the subculture of the hippies, and they believed in something
very deep." Part of the inspiration was the anti-Vietnam War movement,
part was the racism problems in America -- "It was a tumultuous
time." But with rock music at the centre of the counterculture, the notion
of a rock musical seemed "the perfect thing." Through friends, they
hooked up with Canadian composer Galt MacDermot, who has also played a
backstage role in the current CanStage production. Rado considers MacDermot's
work ahead of his time. "He's a genius, a modern-day Gershwin." Of
the current production, Rado conceded, "It's been a bit of a roller
coaster, some days good, some days less good. There have been issues. It's a
crazy piece to work on. How it comes out will depend on the actors. Some stuff
in the script does not work with every actor. It's a live creation. We're
trying to make it relevant to today." But Rado said he likes the process
of change. Rado said he has two other projects in development -- Billy Earth,
a sort of sequel to Hair, and Sun, for which he has written a
script as well as the songs. He's looking for financial backing. Rado concedes
that the idealism that underpinned Hair has largely disappeared. "I
don't know where it went. The wars? The environment? It's still out there in
theory, I think." Will the CanStage production deliver that message?
"I'm still waiting to see if it comes to fruition."
Hinton Makes A Bold Play
Excerpt from The Globe and Mail - Kate Taylor
(Apr. 5, 2006) OTTAWA -- The National Arts Centre unveiled
a startlingly ambitious new season of English-language theatre yesterday.
Peter Hinton, the NAC's new artistic director of English theatre, is
offering an all-Canadian program for his inaugural season that draws heavily on
the work of small, independent theatre groups across the country and includes
five world premieres. Gone are the familiar classics or the recent Broadway
hits that are the foundation of subscription seasons in big theatres across
North America. In their place, Hinton is daring Ottawa's notoriously
unadventuresome audiences to try something new and unknown. Although there are
various smaller companies in the country that only perform Canadian work, such
as Toronto's Factory Theatre and the Great Canadian Theatre Company in Ottawa,
the all-Canadian line-up is a first for the NAC in its 37-year history, and
highly unusual for a big venue. The NAC currently has 8,500 subscribers for
English theatre, and Hinton's challenge will be to keep those patrons happy
with a largely unfamiliar program. "If the audience doesn't get behind
this, if they say, we want Dame Edna and Guys and Dolls, who knows where
I will be," he said in an interview this week. Also, instead of the usual
smorgasbord approach of unrelated shows picked from various genres, Hinton is
organizing his season around the theme of the artist in society. The best-known
works on the playbill are two previous Canadian hits, Gloria Montero's Frida
K., a one-woman drama about the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, and Dream
Machine, an exuberant performance about the Beat movement of the 1950s
created by Calgary's celebrated One Yellow Rabbit troupe. Of the world
premieres, some are pieces that have yet to be created: Ottawa theatre artist
Nadia Ross is currently working on 7 Important Things, about how former
hippie and former punk George Acheson copes with the failure of the
counterculture revolution. However, others are works that have languished on
the shelf because they were too big for the independent theatres and too risky
for the bigger theatres. For example, Allen Cole's The Wrong Son, a jazz
musical that requires a cast of 14, was written a decade ago but never
produced.
The season also features two English-language premieres of successful Quebec
plays, one is Marie-Josée Bastien's The Bookshop, a play about a shy
bookseller hiding behind literature that was originally written for children
but is sophisticated enough for adults. The other is Scorched, a recent
play from Wajdi Mouawad, the provocative Montreal playwright of Lebanese
extraction whose hallucinatory political fables have thus far struggled to
cross over into English Canada. Overall, the season is a bold attempt to assert
the NAC's leadership on the national theatre scene, but it will be tested by
the conundrum that has always bedevilled that institution: How do you create a
genuinely national arts centre outside of a cultural metropolis? Hinton argues
that the NAC, which is directly funded by the federal government, has a
responsibility to create and present genuinely Canadian theatre rather than
simply entering into co-productions of popular American and British plays with
the country's regional theatres. He feels theatres are too quick to
second-guess their audiences and is ready to discover whether the Ottawa public
is truly as recalcitrant as supposed. One colleague told him that marketing an
all-Canadian season would be like marketing broccoli; another asked what he
would do if he lost 2,000 subscribers. "That's a problem I need to be
exploring, not protecting myself from," he said. "It is a national
theatre for a capital city, but Ottawa is not London, it's not Madrid. We have
to generate an audience that is excited about seeing something new, not what
was big in Toronto two years ago." The NAC has increased its budget for
English theatre to make the season possible, but Hinton would not specify by
how much. The all-Canadian season is neither the beginning nor the end of his
ambitions for the NAC, where he also plans to program the classics and
resurrect the cherished model of a resident company that was abandoned in the
1980s. For 2007-08, Hinton is planning a season drawn exclusively from the 16th
and 17th-century repertoire featuring some Shakespearean plays but also works
by neglected contemporaries and Jacobean and Restoration successors, such as
Christopher Marlowe's Dido Queen of Carthage and William Congreve's The
Way of the World. It's a feat that will require a standing company of
actors, some of whom have already been assembled to begin a workshop of scenes.
Hinton has also instituted a residency program for Canadian dramatists, and
wants to include a main-stage production of a work by a first-nations writer
every season. This season it will be Marie Clements's Copper Thunderbird,
a biography of native painter Norval Morrisseau.
THEATRE TIDBITS
Julia Roberts Enjoys Herself On Broadway Stage
Excerpt from The Globe and Mail
(Mar. 30, 2006) New York -- The first lines spoken by Julia Roberts in her Broadway debut were
drowned out by applause at an eagerly awaited
preview of Three Days of Rain. The play, which started previews
Tuesday and opens April 19 at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theater, is Roberts's first
major project since the birth of her 16-month-old twins, Phinnaeus and Hazel. A
prop tomato fell onto the floor during the preview, making a noise that
prompted laughter from the actress, The New York Post reported yesterday.
Appearing in Richard Greenberg's 1997 Pulitzer Prize-nominee, Roberts plays a
woman unravelling the truth behind her father's death, and in the second act,
plays the woman's mother.AP
::OTHER NEWS::
Dancing Along The Ceilidh Trail
Excerpt from The Globe and Mail - Cinda Chavich
(Apr. 2, 2006) CAPE BRETON ISLAND, N.S. — I've been on the Ceilidh
Trail for nearly three days when I spot my first Rankin sister. There
she is, pretty Heather Rankin, at the Red Shoe Pub in Mabou. It's 6 p.m. on a
warm fall evening and the place is packed. But Heather is not harmonizing
sweetly with her sisters Cookie ands Raylene tonight -- she's standing next to
my table and asking how I like the tourtičre. The thick slab of meat pie,
smothered in gravy and served Cape Breton-style with her Aunt Mary Lorettes's
bread dressing, is delicious, a specialty at this restaurant-cum-pub owned and
operated by the famous trio. It's like everything I've encountered on Cape Breton
Island -- warm, accessible and authentic. I've come to Cape Breton -- the
land of step-dancers and fiddlers -- to explore all things Celtic. There's a
Celtic vein running through much of our Canadian musical history, and much of
it can be traced to this rocky island in the Atlantic. This little corner of
Canada has spawned so many Juno award winners -- from Rita MacNeil and Natalie
MacMaster to the aforementioned family of Rankins -- that it bears
investigating by anyone interested in our unique Canadian sound. It's hard to
turn around without bumping into someone who is connected to this Canadian
style of Celtic music and the living culture that's so steeped in it.
Everywhere I look, there's a notice stuck to a telephone pole or town hall
door, announcing another ceilidh (pronounced KAY-lee). That's Gaelic for
a party with musicians and dancing, and there's at least one, somewhere around
here, nearly every night. You might just luck out and see one of the
famed Rankins take the stage, or run across some other local talent from
MacMaster to Ashley MacIsaac or the Barra MacNeils, all purveyors of this East
Coast style.
In Halifax, where the Juno Awards weekend is in full swing, legendary pubs such
as The Lower Deck and the Halifax Alehouse have helped nurture a lively local
music scene that's spawned hot new talents like Sloan and The Trews. But on
Cape Breton Island, The Red Shoe is ceilidh central. Along with the
poutine, "westside" chowder and sticky toffee pudding on the menu,
the Rankin sisters serve up Cape Breton's most famous export, Celtic-Canadian
music. A poster behind the pub's historic storefront window announces a
different musician every night of the week -- well-known locals like fiddlers
Mairi Rankin, Andrea Beaton and Dougie MacDonald. The Rankins (and the
Beatons and the MacDonalds) all still live in this part of Cape Breton as their
forefathers did. They were among the Scots who crossed the pond 200 years ago
during the infamous Highland Clearances, forced from their homes because of
economic hardships or evicted by British "lairds" who preferred sheep
over tenant farmers. Thousands arrived on the shores of Cape Breton
Island, a remote and isolated corner of Nova Scotia, from 1780 to 1840. These
early Highland immigrants arrived in geographical groups and stayed put where
they settled -- thus, the MacNeil clan from the Isle of Barra (like the Barra
MacNeils of pop-folk music fame) came en masse and still populate the area
around Iona. They arrived with their particular dialects of the Gaelic
language, traditional songs and stories, and today Cape Breton is one of the
few places in the world where that Highland culture, and its regional nuances,
is still largely in intact. It has become kind of a living museum for those
keen to preserve their Gaelic traditions -- a place that in some ways is more
traditionally Scottish than Scotland. Whatever the impetus for the
19th-century clearances, the disappearance of the population was so complete
that the only evidence a modern Highlander in Scotland has of ancestral life is
in museums. Scots were made to feel ashamed of their folk culture. Traditional
piping was militarized -- now the domain of pipe bands -- while traditional
fiddlers learned classical music. The Gaelic language is now considered
"endangered" by organizations such as UNESCO. But on Cape
Breton, customs and traditions that were eliminated from the culture in the
homeland have been kept alive for two centuries. Thanks to schools like the
Gaelic College -- founded in 1938 to preserve Celtic language and culture, and
the only institution of its kind in North America -- traditional Scottish
music, dance and arts like weaving and kilt-making flourish.
Gaelic is still seen here on sign posts, still spoken by elder
"Capers" and taught at schools. While other Canadian kids study
French or Chinese as a second language, in towns like Mabou, Gaelic is part of
the kindergarten-to-Grade 12 curriculum. And musicians, like the Rankin sisters
and their Cape Breton contemporaries, keep it alive and popular in their songs
and performances. At the Highland Museum -- a living museum featuring costumed
interpreters and historic buildings gathered from throughout the region -- the
strains of Highland pipes fill the air as I leave my car. It's a world of
homespun and shaggy Highland cows, where Gaelic is spoken and the lilt of the
language permeates every conversation. The museum sits near the town of Iona,
named for the Hebredian island that traces its roots to the Irish saint who
first brought Christianity to the Highlands. The replica "black
house" -- a round Highland-style dwelling with its stone walls and peaked
thatched roof -- recalls what the immigrant Scots left behind, while the wool
mill, historic church, and log cabin speak to the new lives they created
here. "Gaelic is the working language here on the site," says
Seumas (a.k.a. Jim) Watson, the Gaelic co-ordinator at the museum. As we sit
next to the open hearth in one of the historic homes that dot the property, he
breaks into one of the 1,000 Gaelic songs collected from people around the
island. The music and stories are preserved and passed down here from older
Cape Bretoners to younger ones, as they once were among clans throughout the
island. Scots who came to North America to seek better lives first
settled in the Maritimes, but many also headed to Western Canada, naming places
like Calgary and Banff for the homes they left in the Highlands. Colourful
Scots figure prominently in Canadian history -- from the country's first prime
minister to many of the two million Canadians who can trace their roots to
Scotland today. The culture brought to Canada by these early Scots is woven
deeply into our own traditions. Scratch almost anyone and you'll probably find
a Celt or two in the family tree, a kilt or a fiddle in the closet, which makes
a trip to Cape Breton like a journey back home.
Pack your bags
WHERE TO HEAR MUSIC
Celtic Music Centre: Judique; 902-787-2708; celticmusicsite.com. The centre
offers live music and dance demonstrations by local musicians, as well as a
listening centre and archives where more than 200 Cape Breton musicians share
anecdotes and musical history on tape. It's also the place to find a detailed
Celtic Music Events Registry, listing ceilidhs and other small performances.
Celtic Colours Festival: 1-877-285-2321; http://www.celtic-colours.com.
This annual 10-day event (Oct. 6-14) features dozens of local and
internationally renowned Celtic musicians in concerts held across the island.
Tickets go on sale July 10.
WHERE TO EAT AND DRINK
The Red Shoe Pub: Route 19, Mabou; 902-945-2326; redshoepub.com. Owned
by the Rankin sisters, this is a great place for Cape Breton-style pub food and
live, local music.
Glenora Inn & Distillery: 1-800-839-0491; http://www.glenoradistillery.com.
The only single-malt whisky produced in the Scottish tradition in Canada is
made here and, in the dining room, husband and wife chefs John Haines and
Tracey Wallace are turning out sophisticated Cape Breton cuisine.
WHERE TO STAY
The Keltic Lodge: Ingonish Beach; 902-285-2880; http://www.signatureresorts.com.
This is a lovely, sprawling hotel (circa 1920s) that morphed from a wealthy
American's summer home to a provincially owned lodge. Doubles from $279 in low
season, including breakfast and dinner. Golfers will come for the famed
Highland Links course next door.
Chanterelle Country Inn: Baddeck; 1-866-277-0577; http://www.chanterelleinn.com.
Open May through October. Rates from $145 including breakfast.
MORE INFORMATION
Cape Breton: http://www.cbisland.com, or call 1-888-562-9848
for festival events.
Nova Scotia tourism: http://www.novascotia.com.
Canadian Makes Good Skewering Hollywood Stars
Excerpt from The
Toronto Star - Lee-Anne Goodman, Canadian
Press
(Mar. 29 2006) Seth Abramovitch was an aspiring comedy writer in Los Angeles, a Canadian working
as a writer's assistant on the hit comedy Will
and Grace, when he was abruptly fired for his supposedly sluggish
note-taking. "Who knows what it was really all about,"
Abramovitch says on the line from L.A. about his dismissal from the show's
writing staff in 2001. "It can be a real snake pit and very caustic in
this business, and there were a lot of weird egos in that room."
Abramovitch, however, has had the last laugh — he is now part of the two-man
team behind the wickedly funny blog Defamer (http://www.defamer.com), a site that artfully
and mercilessly skewers Hollywood's stars, agents and studios and has developed
a vast following far beyond L.A.'s show business insiders. The blog
receives as many as 500,000 hits a day and, astonishingly, has had more than 89
million hits in its almost two-year existence. It's an unconventional
career path, perhaps, for a 33-year-old Montrealer with impressive family
connections — his older sister, Susan, is a prominent Toronto entertainment
lawyer married to Ontario's attorney general, Michael Bryant. So how does
Bryant, the province's top lawmaker, feel about his brother-in-law's work on a
blog with a name that suggests illegality? "Normally it wouldn't be
a good thing for an attorney general to have a professional defamer as a
brother-in-law," Bryant says. ``But I am so delighted for him. He is a
great Canadian success story."
Abramovitch got involved last year with Defamer, part of the New York-based
Gawker Media group, when Mark Lisanti, Defamer's founder, wanted to boost the
number of posts on the site while maintaining the quality of its writing.
Lisanti approached Abramovitch, whose own blog he'd read and admired, and asked
him to sign on. Abramovitch said he "never saw it coming" and was
thrilled. "I had been a fan of Mark's and of the site's since it
started, and now, to have this kind of access to him — he has definitely vastly
improved my writing," he says. "He's a hugely talented
writer." Abramovitch and Lisanti work from their respective homes
and split the writing — about 10 to 12 posts a day, with Lisanti editing all
the items before they're posted. Lisanti's goal has been to keep Defamer
lively throughout the day, writing quickly and cleverly on developing
entertainment stories. In a blogosphere heavily populated with lame vanity
projects riddled with spelling mistakes, bad writing and stale content, Defamer
is a snide, sharp standout that takes special delight in targeting Tom Cruise
and Scientology, Sharon Stone, Britney Spears, Kevin Federline, Brad Pitt and
Paris Hilton, to name just a few. Lisanti, who's been reverentially
profiled by the Los Angeles Times and Los Angeles magazine, is
genuinely humbled by the rave reviews. "This is my first ever
professional writing job, so it's really nice to hear," Lisanti says.
"I've always loved to write, but this is the first time I've ever been
paid to do it." The mainstream media have taken notice — Lisanti has
been approached with job offers, but says for now he's not interested.
"I am the editor, and writing for other editors — I think I would find
that pretty restricting," he said. "I love the instant gratification
of blogging, and I can probably get away with more than I otherwise
could." That's not to say Defamer has escaped the attention of the
lawyers representing some of the stars it so ruthlessly mocks. Lisanti says the
blog has heard from lawyers representing Tom Cruise, Jude Law and Cameron Diaz;
his response has been to post a characteristically sly clarification or their
actual threatening letters. "The clarifications are often worse than
the original item," Lisanti says. "But it puts their objections on
the record." The blog has most recently unleashed a fury among
Charlie Sheen fans for its giddy ridicule of the actor's recent 9-11 conspiracy
theories. "We got about 100 pieces of hate mail, some of it really
nasty," Lisanti says. "It was amusing — it doesn't bother me at all,
to get that kind of reaction, because we're not offending the people who share
our world view and our humour, the people who read us and get us."
For Abramovitch, the thrill is the awareness that Hollywood's movers and
shakers are vexed by Defamer. "There's now a place that's capturing
all the weird and surreal stuff that goes on in L.A., stuff that used to go
unreported," he says. "The way those studio heads act — they're so
paranoid. They've never had to deal with being prodded this way. I love it;
it's so fun." It's also hard work. The days can run as long as 12
hours, Lisanti says, and Abramovitch adds those days start early so that
Defamer junkies in eastern time zones don't have to wait till the afternoon to
get their fix. One of those junkies is Abramovitch's law-making
brother-in-law, who admits to being hooked but won't detail just how serious
his addiction is. "Freedom-of-information legislation would have to
be employed to reveal just how often I read it," says Bryant. "I love
it. Seth is one of the most insanely hilarious people I know. He's the guy who
can have people doubled over in laughter at a funeral."
Mixed: My Life In Black And White
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com - By DeBorah
B. Pryor
(April 4, 2006) *“At age eleven I learned to make fun of myself. I had yellow
teeth because my mom took some kind of penicillin when she was
pregnant with me. My teeth were all messed up. I had a big forehead—still do
have a pretty big forehead, I just have bangs now.” Angela Nissel may put a comedic spin on
growing up biracial in her new book Mixed: My Life in Black and White, but once
you stop laughing, she hopes you will start thinking. The product of a White
“Deadbeat Dad” and a Black single mother who was formerly a Black Panther,
Nissel’s genuinely intimate memoir about growing up biracial in Philadelphia is
anything but black and white. Coveting its own unique set of drama, the intricacies
of being biracial seem steeped in shades of gray. Still, the books’ revelations
often shed new light on an old, dark issue: That light-skinned, dark-skinned,
“good-hair” mentality still permeating the mindset of many Black folk. As
the only Black writer on the NBC medical comedy, Scrubs, Nissel has been
described as “barely Black” and has even been barred, at times, from commenting
on Black issues with “Oh well, you’re half-White so you’re not really Black”
being the excuse. This bothers her. “I don’t put that much weight
on what White people think about me because I don’t feel that kind of kinship
with them, except on a human race level; but when Black people reject me, it
hurts me to my core...it’s amazing to me because a lot of Black people will
reject you, but the minute you claim to be something other than Black, they’re
ready to curse you out.” Biracials continue to be victimized by accusations
they have no control over. “The book could have easily been subtitled:
All Light-Skinned Girls Aren’t Stuck Up because I also wanted people to
understand where I came from and why I feel the way I do about race...People’s
parents would say-- even people’s mothers’… ‘I don’t like light-skinned
girls.’…Other women would say, ‘I don’t hang out with light-skinned girls
because they think they’re too cute.’” Such comments make it even more
difficult for the one’s who have chosen to fully and solely embrace their
Blackness, like Nissel.
“There are a lot of people who don’t consider biracial people to be Black…when
I started really studying Black History and would join groups that would focus
on the Black experience…people would tell me I have no place there because I
was half White.” Nissel says she even lost friends, some of them
biracial. “…Some of them chose not to even deal with me…because I had a
White father and they joined groups that thought your heritage was passed down
through your father. Whenever I felt that I fit in, there was always someone
telling me, ‘No you don’t’ because of this one side of my heritage that I felt
no connection to.” In Mixed the author
recalls a time when she, her 2-year-old brother, and their father visited her
favourite video store. The kids would get to tag along as a treat, especially
if they had been scolded or spanked earlier in the week. They would get to
choose a video while dad, a tech buff, shopped around. On this day, when dad
was at the checkout counter, the white clerk looked down to see these two Black
kids standing next to him. “Who are these children,” asked the clerk of
the dad. Without skipping a beat, the dad responded, “I have no idea.” Time
passed as the clerk, thinking the children are lost, finally announces loudly
to the store patrons, “who do these children belong to” as little Angela stands
looking at her dad, unsure of what to do. Finally, confused and humiliated, the
young girl tugs at her father’s shirt saying, “D-a-d!” and the father laughs
and admits to the cashier that the children are his. Today, Nissel offers
she has not had a one-on-one conversation with her father since she was
8-years-old, barring speaking with him a year-and-a-half ago with her brother
on the line as she did research for this book. She has memories of him going to
court for not paying child support; and asserts she even met, as a young child,
some of the women he cheated on her mother with. She is quick to note that, to
this day, he has not apologized. Nissel, who admits that she learned to make
fun of herself at an early age just to make friends and not get beat up by the
Black kids in school, clarifies some of the misconceptions about being
Biracial.
“I think the biggest misconception is that we’re all ‘flower children.’ People
always say, ‘Oh, you’re the Cree Summers like on A Different World. [That]
we’re all looking to be one big, happy family... all crusading to check off
multiple boxes on the Census when I feel like, ‘Yes, its racist to say just
because you have one drop of Black blood you’re Black; because that means that
somehow Black blood has tainted the White Blood...I don’t even think some Black
people have thought about that.” Hoping not to be seen as “some sort of
spokesperson for all bi-racial people” Angela is quick to clarify that this is
HER story. The book has received some impressive, albeit mixed, responses. One
friend, a biracial who embraces both her Black and White heritage, was offended
by Angela’s choice to identify solely with Black. While some White people,
according to Nissel, says she has changed the way they look at race. The first biracial
person to read Mixed: My Life in Black and White was actress Halle Berry who
quickly emailed Nissel. “You’ve done it again! This is so funny. I relate
to so much,” responded Berry, who liked it so much that she, along with her
manager, optioned both this book and the author’s first book, The Broke
Diaries, a book that began as an online journal that chronicled her penniless
college days. The project is currently in development at HBO as a sitcom, which
Nissel will write. Today Nissel is looking forward to her career in television
writing. “Books are my passion but I know how many people you can reach
through TV; and being in there and being the only Black writer in the room I
know how powerful it is when I say ‘no’ to doing certain things. I want to be
the person who can say ‘yes’ to doing certain things; getting shows on the air
that I can look at and be proud of as a Black woman.” For more info visit: www.angelanissel.com/
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It glitters. It sparkles. It's art
Excerpt from The Globe and Mail -
Alexandra Gill
(Apr. 5, 2006) VANCOUVER — In Greek mythology, Pyrrha
was the daughter of Epimetheus, the primordial titan, and Pandora, a poisoned
gift
from the gods. When Zeus put an end to the Golden Age by unleashing a great
flood, Pyrrha and her husband, Deucalion, braved the storm together. After
crashing through the waves for nine days in a chest, the two emerged as
mankind's sole survivors. Flash forward to present times. Today, Pyrrha Design Inc. is
a small but valiant jewellery company, based in Vancouver and owned by
husband-and-wife team Wade Papin and Danielle
Wilmore. Five years ago, when a
Saskatchewan retailer threatened the couple's livelihood by flooding the market
with cheap replicas of their work, they fought back by taking their own
Pandora's Box to federal court. Settled last month, it was a watershed
copyright lawsuit -- one that could have far-reaching implications for other
Canadian artists. At stake was the question of whether jewellery is a work of
art, protected by the Copyright Act, as are painting, music and works of
literature, or a "useful article" with a utilitarian function.
Although U.S. law is clear -- jewellery is indeed an artistic work and as such
is entitled to copyright protection -- the issue had never been tested in
Canada. Because the case was settled out of court, a final conclusion has still
not been laid down in law. But a ruling last winter from the Federal Court of
Appeal, siding with Pyrrha, strongly suggests that original jewellery designs
should be protected by copyright. "If it was just about us, we might not have
pursued it for so long," Papin explains when we sit down for classic
cocktails at Nu restaurant in Vancouver, where the trendy designers are well
known in fashionable social circles. "Counterfeiting has become endemic to
the jewellery design industry," he continues. "Something needed to be
done." As part of the settlement, Papin and Wilmore received an
undisclosed financial sum from Daniel Mysak, president of the Western Canadian
accessories retail chain SpareParts, along with a big box of sterling silver
pendants, earrings and rings (bearing an uncanny similarity to Pyrrha's fibre
optic glass Cat's Eye line) and a promise that he would stop producing the
products.
"For the next person who wants to take something like this on, it will be
a lot easier," says Papin. "We've made a lot of headway and given
other designers a foot to stand on." When the dispute began five years
ago, the self-taught Vancouver design team was in the process of establishing a
solid reputation in the United States. Their funky handmade designs --
including a Danish modern-inspired line of silk screens on burled walnut --
were being sold in such prestigious stores as Terence Conran in Manhattan and
Fred Segal in Los Angeles, and in gift shops at the Museum of Contemporary Art
in Los Angeles and the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh. More recently, their
Deucalion line of rugged men's pendants and cuffs appeared in the Hollywood
film The Chronicles of Riddick, while their Seals rings and necklaces
(cast from 19th-century wax seals) showed up at this year's New York Fashion
Week -- on the runway at Araks's lingerie show and in gift bags for front-row
VIPs. Britney Spears, Gwen Stefani and Jessica Alba are clients. In other
words, Pyrrha makes top-quality jewellery. So when the firm's exclusive
Vancouver retailer called to ask why it had begun selling to a shopping-mall
vendor, the designers panicked. "We jumped in the car and went right
over," Wilmore recalls. "We had been copied in small ways before, but
when we saw this line we both felt nauseous. He had 10 different designs,
stamped with his trademark, with the exact same bevel, chain and colour
combinations. It was even displayed in much the same way we would display
it." Mind you, the SpareParts products had been manufactured in Taiwan and
were selling for half the price of Pyrrha's line. "It's always been our
mandate to keep our production in Canada," says Papin. "This was such
cheap quality, we were outraged. Around the same time, we saw a friend in
Yaletown wearing one of 'our' rings, which actually turned out to be [Mysak's].
So here we had people going around saying, 'Look at my new piece of Pyrrha' --
as the stone falls out," he says with a bitter laugh. Their peers advised
them there was nothing they could do. "Everyone said, 'The industry
thrives on knock-offs,' or 'Imitation is the highest form of flattery.' This
wasn't imitation. To us, it was theft," exclaims Wilmore, who still gets
flustered when she talks about it. The couple hired Jennifer Conkie, the
high-profile Vancouver lawyer who had just come out of a much-talked-about
trial in which she successfully represented musician Sarah McLachlan in a
lawsuit brought on by a disgruntled songwriter. Eventually, after a
cease-and-desist letter failed to persuade Mysak to back down, Pyrrha took the
case to court. All along, the retailer had maintained that jewellery is a
"useful" article, because it is worn on the body, and if more than 50
copies of any one design are made, it is exempt from the Copyright Act and can
be counterfeited with impunity.
Pyrrha's lawyer argued that jewellery is no more useful than a painting on a
wall or a sculpture adorning a lobby. Unlike a jacket or a pair of eyeglasses,
it is not worn for warmth, to improve eyesight or for any function other than
aesthetic appearance. On March 23, 2004, Justice Paul Rouleau dismissed the
claim. Siding with Mysak, the motions judge explained in a summary judgment
that jewellery is not protected by the Copyright Act, but should be dealt with
under the Industrial Design Act, because it is a three-dimensional object
"not bought purely and simply for its artistic properties, but because of
the utility of the article apart from design." The designers were
devastated -- and broke. "We had already spent $30,000 on the case and
gotten nowhere," recalls Wilmore. Their lawyer agreed to launch an appeal,
continuing with the case on a contingency basis. "Whether you're famous or
not-so-famous, large or not-so-large, I feel strongly about the importance of
copyright protection for artists of all genres," Conkie explains.
"It's hard enough for artists to make their way in the business world. The
Copyright Act should be there to protect them and given full force and
effect." On Dec. 13, 2004, a Federal Court of Appeal agreed, unanimously,
to overturn the earlier decision. The ruling judge noted that there was an
issue of "genuine interest" to be heard that hadn't been litigated
previously. "A tie pin or cufflinks may be useful types of jewellery that
hold clothing together, while other objects such as a brooch or earring may be
purely ornamental and not useful at all, valuable only for their own intrinsic
merit as works of art," Justice Allen M. Linden said in the decision,
which allowed the case to proceed to a full and fair trial. Although the
decision was an important one, observed closely in the legal field and cited in
intellectual property newsletters from here to Australia, Pyrrha still wasn't
much further ahead. In the following year, the case bogged down with pre-trial
applications and disagreements on technicalities. "We were met with a
surprising amount of resistance," says Conkie, who received approximately
10,000 questions for discovery from the defendant's lawyer. "When you're
involved in something like this for five years, you can understand why some
people opt for the baseball-bat route," Papin jokes. "They were
trying to drown us in paper. We really wanted this case to be heard, but when
[Mysak] finally agreed to settle and stop making the product, which is what we
were after all along, we had to accept it and move on with our lives."
Although the case sends a strong message to would-be counterfeiters, the issue
of whether jewellery is, indeed, art is still left hanging, legally speaking.
"In all truth, it would have been valuable to complete the case and have
the court say clearly that jewellery is copyright-protected and counterfeiting
is a copyright infringement," says Conkie. Although Papin says he's pretty
sure no one will be copying Pyrrha's designs any time soon, he and Wilmore now
have to decide what they're going to do with the "big box of offending
jewellery" they received as part of the settlement. With a laugh, Papin
says: "We're thinking about pouring it all into clear acrylic and making
it into an art piece called Knock-Off."
OTHER TIDBITS
Globe Columnist Among Donner Prize Finalists
Excerpt from The Globe and Mail
(Mar. 31, 2006) Toronto — Globe and Mail columnist John
Ibbitson's The Polite Revolution: Perfecting the Canadian Dream, is
among the five finalists for the Donner Prize for the best book on Canadian
public policy. Ibbitson's book looks at Canadian trade, defence, immigration
and social policy alternatives. The other finalists are law professors Ronald
Daniels and Michael Trebilcock for Rethinking the Welfare State, environment
and natural resources professor Mark Jaccard for Sustainable Fossil Fuels, economist
David Johnson for Signposts of Success and political scientist James
Kelly for Governing with the Charter. The winner of the $35,000 prize
will be announced April 27. Staff
Bend It Like Whoopi
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com
(April 5, 2006) *Whoopi
Goldberg is hoping that her new television series will serve as a source of
encouragement for young girls playing
competitive sports with a fear of being labelled butch or a tomboy. "Most
people still have this idea that if you're doing what is considered a sport you
don't get to be a girl," Goldberg told the New York Daily News. "You
get to be a tomboy, which is one of those words that I actually hate."
"Just for Kicks," a scripted TV series developed by Goldberg,
revolves around the friendships and issues facing the girls on a New York City
soccer team. The show premieres April 9 on Nickelodeon (at 7 p.m.) with a squad
of girls who engage in the usual girly girl activity off the field – having
crushes on boys and sharing makeup tips – but can also hold their own against
any team on the field. "What I wanted to explore," said
Goldberg, "is how do we, on a one-on-one basis, treat the girls that are
playing sports? How do we look at them? Do we say, 'Oh, she's butch?' And for
the girls, do they feel that, 'Oh, I have to pretend to be not as good when I'm
playing soccer with a boy I like?'" Whoopi said the show
capitalizes on the popularity of soccer following the worldwide success several
years ago of the U.S. National Women's Team. Their achievements helped to shift
long-held stereotypes about women in competitive sports. "We're
dealing with old issues that aren't ours," said Goldberg. "We carry
them and we pass them on to those who come after us. I am hoping to crack some
of those."
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::SPORTS NEWS::
Ames, Weir Carry Canada's Hopes At The Masters
Excerpt from The Globe and Mail -
Canadian Press and Associated Press
(Apr. 3, 2006) Augusta, Ga. — Stephen Ames has a
lot more money in the bank and a five-year exemption on the PGA Tour, but the
most important
thing about his recent victory at The Players Championship is the confidence
that came with it. Golf is said to be a game played between the ears as
much as on the course, and it's unlikely that many players arrive at Augusta
National for the Masters feeling better about their game than Ames. Heading
into the first major of the year, the Calgary golfer has found another level.
"I'm going have a different approach to Augusta now," Ames said last
week after his win at Sawgrass. "I'm going to be looking forward to see —
with my new frame of mind — what kind of performance I can put on." Mike Weir of
Bright's Grove, Ont., is also in Georgia this week. The lefty won at Augusta in
2003 but has just one PGA Tour victory in the years since. The good news is he
has rediscovered his putting stroke in 2006 and has a chance here as a result.
Weir knows as much as anyone that the only way to get into a green jacket is to
master the tricky greens at Augusta National. "That probably was the best
I've putted," he said after his playoff win over Len Mattiace in 2003.
"That was the difference today — I made literally all of my putts inside
of eight feet. "All week I putted fantastic." This week promises to
be a daunting test for the Canadian duo, particularly on an Augusta National
course that has been lengthened for the second time in five years. Many, including
six-time winner Jack Nicklaus, are concerned that chairman Hootie Johnson and
his colleagues have gone too far. Nicklaus believes only long hitters are still
capable of putting on a Sunday charge like the one he did to win in 1986.
"I know what Augusta is trying to do," Nicklaus told The Associated
Press earlier this year. "Whether they've gone overboard, I'm not sure.
But they've eliminated a lot of guys who are able to do that. "Could Tiger
(Woods) do that? Or Ernie Els? Or Vijay (Singh)? Yes. Could Mike Weir or Jose
Maria (Olazabal) — one of those guys of moderate length — could they do that?
Probably not. That's the change at Augusta I have a hard time with."
Weir visited the course for practice rounds last month and came away with his
own concerns. He doesn't so much mind that it's been strengthened by 155 yards;
what upsets Weir is that he thinks some of the holes now play differently than
Bobby Jones originally intended them to. Still, he thinks he can win on the new
7,445-yard layout. "I know I can still do it," said Weir. "But
does it make it harder? Yeah, no question." The biggest question for Ames
will be to see how he handles himself in the wake of his breakthrough TPC
victory. It's his second straight appearance at the Masters and he isn't
exactly a big fan of the event, saying in a February interview with The
Canadian Press that getting back to Augusta was "not important to me at
all." That changed a little over a week ago when he earned a three-year
exemption with his win at Sawgrass, though he briefly considered skipping this
year's tournament because of a previously scheduled family vacation. He's here
now and feeling good after beating the best field in golf by six shots and
earning $1.44 million US. Ames and his caddy — brother Robert — have recently
spent time working with sports psychologist Alan Fine. Since doing so, they've
been working better together and Stephen has found it easier to focus on each
shot. "I just had to get my mind and everything else working together at
once," he said. The challenge now is keeping it that way.
SPORTS TIDBITS
Tyson Humbled By Visit To Mao's Tomb
Source: Associated Press
(Apr. 3, 2006) BEIJING — Mike Tyson said he felt insignificant standing near
the preserved body of Mao Zedong during a visit to the deceased leader's
mausoleum. Tyson, 39, is a long-time admirer of Mao, who founded China's
communist government in 1949. The former world heavyweight boxing champion has
Mao's likeness tattooed on his right arm. "Standing in front of
Chairman Mao's remains, I felt really insignificant," Tyson told reporters
Saturday during a 15-minute visit, the Beijing Times reported. "To
have the chance to visit the memorial hall is a great honour for me."
Mao died in 1976. His preserved body has been on display in a glass case
on Tiananmen Square, allowing visitors to pay their respects. During the
brief visit, Tyson bought three books on Mao, the newspaper said. He rolled
down the window and yelled out "I love you" to Chinese crowds on the
square as he drove away.
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Canada Hammers Germany At World Curling
Source: Canadian Press
(Apr. 3, 2006) LOWELL, Mass. — Canada's
Jean-Michel Menard
thumped Germany's Sebastian Stock 8-3 at the world men's curling championship
Monday. Canada (2-2) was to meet Ireland (1-2) in the evening draw.
Menard's team from the Victoria and Etchemin curling clubs in Quebec City
stole two points in the sixth, another single-point steal in the seventh and
stole another pair in the eighth when Stock, the world silver medallist in
2004, decided he'd had enough and shook hands. Germany dropped to 1-3.
Canadian Olympian Williams Leads Oxford To Boat Race Victory
Excerpt from The
Toronto Star
(Apr. 3, 2006) LONDON—Oxford, led by Canadian president Barney
Williams, beat hot favourite Cambridge
by five lengths to win the 152nd annual Boat Race yesterday. The Dark
Blues crew made it four wins in five races to out-row Cambridge — the 4-7
favourite — in choppy conditions over the 6.8-kilometre race on the River
Thames in central London. Oxford timed 18 minutes 26 seconds to be 15
seconds ahead of Cambridge, which took in water for much of the race. The
Light Blues of Cambridge still lead the series 78-73 with one race finishing in
a dead heat. Oxford also featured Jacob Wetzel of Saskatoon, also a
silver medallist at the Athens Games, while national team member Kip McDaniel
of Cobble Hill, B.C., rowed for Cambridge.
::FITNESS NEWS::
3 Steps To A Better Butt
Raphael Calzadilla, BA, CPT, ACE, eDiets Chief Fitness Pro
It's not whether you get knocked down; it's whether you get up.
-- Vince Lombardi
(Apr. 3, 2006) Early in my personal training career, I had a sneaking suspicion
that all my female clients had vision problems. I'd hear comments such as:
"Raphael, my butt is the size of Mount Everest," "I can set a
glass on my booty," and "My butt won't make it through the
door." I've heard every conceivable comment about the derriere. In most
cases, it wasn't as bad as the client thought.
I knew the humorous comments were just a mask for frustration and
self-consciousness. A trainer must always understand the emotion a client feels
about her body. Any man in this society who doesn’t understand how a woman
really perceives her butt has the evolutionary DNA of an ant. Let’s get to the point. You want a smaller
and tighter booty, right? You want the formula to achieve it, and you want some
guarantees. I’m here to tell you that you can do it. I don’t care if you have
100 pounds or 20 pounds to lose. You can make your butt smaller and tighter.
The more body fat you have, the longer it will take -- but you can do this.
As I mention in each of my articles, you need to be on a
structured, but livable, nutrition program that places you in a
slight caloric deficit. In other words, you need to consume fewer
calories than you burn. However, that doesn’t mean starving yourself and eating
as little as possible.
The key to manipulating nutrition is eating the correct foods in the correct
amounts at the correct times. If you’re an eDiets member using one of our 17
specially designed nutrition programs, you’re halfway home. The rest of the way home has to do with
efficient workouts that challenge your muscles with optimal efficiency. The
combination of weight training, cardiovascular exercise and a specialized
muscle group workout routine is a great way to achieve success. A specialized routine refers to focusing on
one or two weaker areas of the body with one to two additional workouts each
week. I’m happy to provide one of my
classic specialized butt routines. It will work the rear end and legs, but its
main focus is on tightening my all-time favourite muscle group -- the glutes.
If your goal is to get the butt you’ve always desired, then you’ve come to the right place. I've designed a simple program that can be performed right in
your own home. Many of my customized workouts are based on years of my own
personal experience as well as trial-and-error with my training clients.
I wrote a "Wave Bye-Bye To Flabby Arms" article
and introduced the tri-set. The tri-set refers to performing three exercises in
a row without rest. The workout is challenging, so you must focus on impeccable
form and concentrate completely on the muscles you’re working.
The Butt Stops Here Workout
1. Dumbbell Squat:
This exercise will have an effect on the entire leg, but the key is to focus on
your glutes in the descending part of the movement. I’ve also found that women
respond well to high reps for the legs and butt.
· Stand up straight with feet
shoulder-width apart.
· Hold a dumbbell or cans
in each hand with your arms hanging down at your sides and palms facing one
another.
· Maintain a neutral spine
and a slight bend in the knees throughout the exercise.
· Lower your body by
sticking your butt out, bending from your hips and knees and stopping when your
thighs are parallel with the floor.
· Think about sitting back
in a chair as you are lowering down.
· Slowly return to the
starting position
· Exhale while returning
to the starting position.
· Inhale while lowering
your body.
· Don’t let your knees
ride over your toes (you should be able to see your feet at all times).
· It helps to find a
marker on the wall to keep your eye on as you lift and lower, otherwise your
head may tend to fall forward and your body will follow.
· Push off with your heels
as you return to the starting position.
· Beginners can perform
this exercise without weights until they master the movement. It’s a very
effective exercise that involves most of the muscle groups of the lower body,
but if done improperly, it can lead to injuries -- so use precise form.
Perform 20 slow and controlled repetitions and immediately go to
the next exercise.
2. Dumbbell Lunges
· Stand straight with your
feet together.
· Hold a dumbbell in each
hand with your arms down at your sides.
· Step forward with the
right leg and lower the left leg until the knee almost touches the floor. This
lowered position is where you should focus on feeling the glutes contract.
· Push off your right foot
slowly returning to the starting position.
· Alternate the motion
with the left leg to complete the set.
· Inhale while stepping
forward and exhale while returning to the starting position.
· The step should be big
enough that your left leg is nearly straight. Do not let your knee touch the
floor.
· Make sure your head is
up and your back is straight.
· Your chest should be
lifted and your front leg should form a 90-degree angle at the bottom of the
movement.
· Your right knee should
not pass your right foot. You should be able to see your toes at all times.
· If you have one leg that
is more dominant than the other, start out with the less dominant leg first.
· Discontinue this
exercise if you feel any discomfort in your knees.
Perform 20 repetitions on each side and immediately go to the next exercise.
3. Bent Leg Reverse Kick Up
· Start this exercise on your hands and
knees on a mat.
· Raise your left leg up
until it is parallel with the floor with a slight bend in the knee. Support
your weight with your arms and right leg.
· While contracting the
butt, lift your left leg up and toward the ceiling maintaining a bend in the
knee.
· Slowly return to the
starting position.
· After completing the set
on the left side, repeat on the right side.
· Exhale while lifting
your leg.
· Inhale while returning
to the starting position.
· To increase the
difficulty, you may want to add an ankle weight to the working leg.
Perform 25 slow and controlled repetitions on the right side and then repeat on
the left side. All three exercises are
considered one cycle. Beginners should perform one cycle on three alternate
days of the week. Intermediate exercisers should perform two cycles on
alternate days of the week, and advanced exercisers should perform three
cycles. Wait one minute between cycles before repeating.
You still need to perform weight training or callisthenics for your entire body
as well as cardiovascular exercise. However, if you incorporate the above
specialty butt workout routine, you'll see some great results.