Langfield Entertainment
88 Bloor Street E., Suite 2908, Toronto, ON M4W 3G9
(416) 677-5883
langfieldent@rogers.com
www.langfieldentertainment.com
NEWSLETTER
Updated: March 2, 2006
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::HOT EVENTS::
Harlem Gospel Choir at Hummingbird Centre – March 6
Source: Hummingbird Centre
The
renowned Harlem Gospel Choir, one of
the pre-eminent gospel
choirs in the world, is coming to the Hummingbird Centre of the Performing
Arts for one show only on Monday, March 6,
2006! Featuring some of the finest singers and musicians from
various churches in Harlem, the Choir shares their message of love, peace and
harmony with people of all cultures. The theme of every performance is
about bringing people and nations together. Their songs of inspiration
touch the depths of the soul and raise the spirit to angelic heights.
Founder Allen Bailey sums up the experience – “Regardless of the language and
the country, everyone who comes to
our concerts has the spirit.” Established over 20 years ago, the Harlem
Gospel Choir has performed around the world. They have performed with U2 on
their concert film “Rattle and Hum,” Diana Ross, The Chieftains, Harry
Belafonte and they have performed for the Pope, Nelson Mandela and Paul
McCartney.
To see the Harlem Gospel Choir during a live performance is an
opportunity that should not be missed. Audiences will be treated to jazz,
blues and gospel spirituals while having a moving and rockin’ good time.
MONDAY, MARCH 6
HARLEM GOSPEL CHOIR
The Hummingbird Centre for the Performing Arts
1 Front Street East
8:00 PM
Ticket prices range from $25 – $55
Tickets can be purchased through Ticketmaster by calling 416-872-2262
or by visiting www.ticketmaster.ca,
or in person at the Hummingbird Centre Box Office
GROUPS of 10 or more call: 416-393-7463 or 1-866-737-0805
Presented by the Toronto Star
Sponsored by Tyndale University College & Seminary
::TOP STORIES::
FLOW
93.5 Announces 2006 Soul Search Hip Hop Winner!
Source: FLOW 93.5
(Feb. 27, 2006) – FLOW 93.5 is pleased to announce that 22-year-old Plus Mo is the Hip Hop winner for the 4th Annual FLOW 93.5
Soul Search. Over
the past week, FLOW 93.5 listeners cast nearly 120,000 votes online at www.flow935.com
and via text message for their favourite Top 5 Hip Hop Finalist. Plus Mo
received 34,103 votes from FLOW 93.5 listeners to earn the 2006 FLOW 93.5
Soul Search Hip Hop crown. “The FLOW 93.5 Soul Search
competition has been the most amazing, life changing experience!” said an
overwhelmed Plus Mo. “I wanted this so bad. Thanks to all my people who
supported me, and to the FLOW listeners for making my dreams come true!”
The Grand Prize for the FLOW 93.5 Soul Search R&B Winner and Hip Hop
Winner includes the following amazing items:
· $2,500 cash
· Songs produced by
Rashad Smith (who has worked with superstars such as LL Cool J, Erykah Badu,
Lil Kim, Nas and Aaliyah) and Saukrates (winner of the 2005 Canadian Urban
Music Award for Producer of the Year)
· 2,500 units of CD
manufacturing
· Professional
photo shoot by Alexis Finch Photography
· The opportunity
to represent Toronto at the national Urban Star Quest showcase that takes place
during Canadian Music Week (Saturday, March 4, 2006).
Plus Mo and Janey (the FLOW 93.5 Soul Search R&B winner, who was
announced on February 6), will showcase alongside talent contest winners from
The Bounce 91.7 (Edmonton) and The Beat 91.5 (Kitchener) at the official
Canadian Music Week (CMW) urban showcase this Saturday, March 4 starting at
8:00 pm. CMW takes place at Toronto’s Fairmont Royal York Hotel. The 4th
Annual FLOW 93.5 Soul Search is presented by Subway
Restaurants, in association with MuchVIBE. For full contest
rules and further details on the FLOW 93.5 Soul Search, please visit www.urbanflowcase.com.
Pocket Dwellers Come Into Their Own
Source: By MARK DANIELL -- For JAM! Music
(Feb. 28, 2006) TORONTO -- Still weeks away from their recent
nomination as New Group of the Year at next month's Juno Awards,
Pocket Dwellers' Dennis Passley Jr.
hailed the band's latest album, "PD-Atrics," a philosophical rebirth
for the Toronto-based outfit. Sipping from a cup of tea on an unusually
mild January afternoon in downtown Toronto, the dependably hip looking tenor
sax is happy that the group is finally coming into its own. "Everything
fell into place with this record (the band's third). We started honing our own
sound, which isn't quite like anything else, realizing that with the makeup of
this band we can do so many different things. We don't necessarily have to make
the same sounds on every song. We can change things up." A challenge
for a three or four-piece band, but when you're part of a septet, not sounding
repetitive gets a little easier. Comprised of seven "equal"
players - NiGel (MC/ Vocals), Sheldon Moore (DJ), Christian Mckibbon (guitar),
Johnny Griffith (alto/ soprano sax), Gordon Shields (bass), Marco Raposo
(drums), and Passley (tenor sax) - the Pocket Dwellers craft a unique slice of
funkabilly, referencing everyone from the Black Eyed Peas and the Roots to
Fishbone and Quantic Soul Orchestra. Anything, it seems, can inspire Passley
and his bandmates. And when they headed into the studio to start recording
"PD-Atrics," everything the boys were listening to left an imprint on
the band's groovy mix of R&B, funk and hip-hop. "When we were
still getting to know each other, it wasn't always the case that we found
ourselves on the same page musically," he admits. "But when it came
time to make this album, we were all listening to the same stuff."
While they were happily swapping music in the record's early goings (Passley
says he brought a lot of "jazz and funk" into the band's element),
there were clashes. "Like any creative endeavour, people aren't always
going to agree. When it comes to us, those differences weren't bad because we
knew that if someone had an idea that all seven of us didn't agree with,
something wasn't working. Because everyone plays an equal part, we all needed
to feel something in order to move forward with an idea."
"A lot of the record was built in smaller groups. Nigel, Sheldon and
I would be working on a track and Gordon, Marco, John and Christian would be
writing something. Then they'd give us what they had, and we'd play them what
we came up with. As a collective we worked on everyone's ideas."
Though Passley is quite happy to talk about the new record, how the Pocket
Dwellers translate live is the real story behind the music. How they developed
their sound, and gelled as a band, has its roots onstage. "Most of
the new record is based on what we do live," he says. "When we first started
out, we liked the energy that we all emitted onstage. It wasn't so much a sonic
melding of styles, it was more us vibing off one another." "We
basically recorded once and then we started getting gigs. From there we built
our sound around what we did live. Now it's taken on its own
action." Channeling Will.i.am's high-speed raps, singer-lyricist
NiGel and guest vocalist Phatt Al, conjure the Black Eyed Peas' "Pump
It" (minus the "Misirlou" sample) on "Play This Music!"
Elsewhere, arrangements on tunes like "Circus," which mixes hiccupy
drums over a Spanish-flavoured acoustic guitar, mirror the Peas' successful
marrying of beats and strums (on the Jack Johnson-flavoured, "Gone
Going," for example). Occasionally, its beefy, multifarious sound
adopts a spare three-piece-like groove (on the wildly guitar 'n' drum heavy,
"Want To Be"), while on tracks like "Critical Acclaim" the
boys are able to pair relaxed, soulful stylings with attention-grabbing bass
lines. Responding to the album's genre-tripping qualities, Passley says
the band wanted the record to appeal to people on a universal level.
"Maybe in the '80s there were people who said, 'I only listen to
hip-hop,' but that isn't the case anymore because we're being exposed to so
many different styles. It's very rare now that you meet someone who says, 'I
just listen to hip-hop' or 'I just listen to R&B.' Music is more diverse
these days." The Pocket Dwellers, who just wrapped up a west coast
U.S. tour with The Wailers, are taking a few months off before they attempt to
make a real dent in the American market. "So far, we've really just
stuck to Canada (Pocket Dwellers have opened for Maceo Parker and Charlie
Hunter and performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival, among others, however),"
he says. "We knew what we had was a good package so most of our focus has
been on going out on the road, making sure we can be a killer live band. Now
that that's together, we're ready to make some inroads in the
States." With the popularity of bands like the Black Eyed Peas
surging, one wonders if the Pocket Dwellers should have sown their musical oats
south of the border. Passley shakes his head. "I hate hearing people
say they have to go somewhere else to make it. If you can't make it at home
where you going to make it?" Though he admits that the
infrastructure hasn't always been there for urban musical acts in Canada, the
twentysomething says the band has never thought it needed to go anywhere but
home to find an audience. "The only thing that made sense was to tour
Canada. Build up our home base before trying to go abroad."
"Besides," he adds, "it was a good way for us to help get our
road legs going." "PD-Atrics" is in stores now. The
2006 Juno Awards airs Sunday, April 6.
::RECAP::
Apollo Recap
OK, so perhaps this recap isn't full of the news that some of us were
hoping for but it is about the will and determination that it takes to advance
in the music industry and the true grit that defines an 'artist'. The end
result of Kayte Burgess' appearance
at the Apollo was that the crowd ousted her within seconds of starting her
rendition of Chaka Khan's "What cha Gonna Do For Me". The now
famous 'wop wop' took Kayte through most of her song before being escorted
off. No rhyme or reason to it - the young audience just felt like
it. But she really did still shine during her performance!
She kept belting out the lyrics, unshaken, despite the crowd's reaction.
But Kayte's reaction to being 'wop wopped' off? She said that she
knew
that there was a chance of it and that you have to take yourself outside of
your comfort zone in order to stay sharp and to get ahead. It's all about
taking a chance. I mean, if the now famous Lauryn
Hill and Luther Vandross can
get booed off four times at Amateur Night, then that is not bad company to be
in!
But the crowd reaction was not unanimous. We had many people come
up to Kayte afterwards and told her that they loved her performance and that
the younger audience just did not recognize the vintage song. Many told
her not to be discouraged and that many talented people had been ousted before
her. One man in particular went into great detail about how she made the
Chaka song her own and that he was very impressed. The main consensus was
that a lot of the older, veteran crowd said that they were shocked when the 'wop
wop' started, including Mike Jones,
manager of Ali Shaheed Muhammad of
Tribe Called Quest. He told us that his jaw hit the floor!
So, the quest continues to boldly move forward, head held high. To
all the up and comers out there, you can learn from Kayte Burgess - dare to be
bold!
Irie Food Joint – Urban Vanguard Art Showing
Carl Cassell brought his brand of magic
again for his Urban Vanguard
series this past Monday. I told you that you might recognize some faces
so check out the PHOTO GALLERY and you will see what I
mean! The party was well-attended by some of Toronto's elite. Carl Allen brought the goods as far as the
turntable and the party-goers danced until the wee hours!
Carl is definitely an incredible artist so stop by Irie and see all the pics of
some of your favourite icons and friends in person!
The Launch of Carl Cassell's Art Show: The Urban Vanguard II
Series: I AM
Source:
Saada Stylo, Freelance Writing Services; SaadaBranker@saadastylo.com
Toronto,
ON, February 23, 2006 -- True to form, the Irie Food Joint Restaurant at 745
Queen Street West is set for a gathering of Toronto's critical mass.
Loyal patrons will confirm it took 2.5 degrees of separation to bring everyone
together. At the centre of the celebration is Irie's owner Carl Cassell -- an artist poised to unveil his
much anticipated Urban Vanguard II Series: I AM, on Monday, February 27, 2006
at 7pm. The Urban Vanguard Series II is a
succession of 19 portraits, a continuum displaying Cassell's art formed
exclusively in acrylic hair; it's a medium which has become his signature
style. The images offer his portrayal of Canada's unsurpassed vanguards. They
are, in Cassell's opinion, emerging producers of critical innovation in arts
and entertainment.
Many of these groundbreakers have passed through the popular Toronto
restaurant, often reasoning with its owner over a plate of food. Through their
creative building, Cassell finds his inspiration. "That's why I
started the Vanguard Series," said Cassell. "You keep hearing about
creative class, creative class. No one is looking to us and really we're the
ones doing it. The industry that defines North America right now is
entertainment."
Known for generating his own attractive energy, Cassell's unique medium was
discovered from a moment of frustration in a hair salon in 1997. That day, what
Cassell saw scattered at his feet triggered the conception of his
"Hairing" creations. From the chaos of hair, Cassell brings to light
his subjects' varying dimensions. The series features: Musicians K-os,
Shamakah Ali, Adrian Eccleston, and Wade O. Brown; Photographer Michael
Chambers; Filmmaker Clement Virgo; Filmmaker and Poet Seth-Adrian Harris;
Sprinter Donovan Bailey; Chef Anthony Mair; Opera Soprano Measha Brueggergosman;
Entertainment Newsletter Editor Dawn Langfield; Toronto Police Staff
Superintendent Peter Sloly; Festival Producer Pratik Ruparell; Magazine
Publishers and Festival Organizers Donna McCurvin and Phil Vassell; Journalists
and Writers Dalton Higgins, Jude Kelly and Saada Branker; and Poet and Producer
Dwayne Morgan.
The Urban Vanguard II Series: I AM is slated for showing February 27,
2006 at the Irie Food Joint at 745 Queen Street West (west of Bathurst) at 7pm.
Hope to see you there.
For information call:
The Irie Food Joint at 416-366-4743 or email carl@iriefoodjoint.com.
Penned by Saada STYLO
::MUSIC NEWS::
Buck 65 To Create Music For Junos
By Karen
Bliss for Lowdown
(Feb. 28, 2006) "I'm the music this year," confirms Rich
Terfry, a.k.a. Buck 65, of
his house band role of sorts at the 2006 Juno Awards broadcast
live on CTV on April 2 from the Halifax Metro Centre, in Nova Scotia, where he
was born. Buck 65 is also nominated for video of the year at the Junos
for "Devil's Eyes" off his 2005 album "Secret House Against The
World," which he co-directed with Micah Meisner. In 2004, he won best
alternative album for his 2003 breakthrough "Talkin' Honky
Blues." The MC, musician and turntablist who creates an arty mix of
hip hop, rock, folk, jazz and the kitchen sink with a deep throaty spoken-word
delivery bordering on rap, hails from Mount Uniacke, NS, a tiny rural town of a
few thousand residents about 45 km west of Halifax, where he later lived and
cut his rap teeth. Terfry first heard rap in the mid-'80s on Halifax's
Dalhousie University station CKDU, whose then 33-watt signal he was able to
receive by climbing a tree in his yard. He later hosted his own hip hop show
there, initially under the name The Bassment, then The Treatment, while working
on his music career. He's since become internationally recognized for his
eclectic songs and clever wordsmithery, touring all over the world, and
counting Radiohead and Vincent Gallo among his fans. "(The Junos)
are happening in my hometown this year which may have been something that they
considered. Maybe not. I'm not sure," says Terfry of the opportunity
presented to him by the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS)
and Toronto-based Insight productions to do the incidental music.
"But also I think they wanted to do something new and maybe something that
you could see as, I know if 'edgy' is the word, but there seems to be an
awareness that the international perception of Canadian music is really
changing and it's an exciting time right now and they want the show to reflect
that. I think there's a little more of an eye to being hip and putting together
a great show than maybe ever before."
Terfry will create the main music for the awards ceremony, including the
opening theme and any incidental music between performers and award
presentations. "That will all be me. I still have to get to work on
that. We've been toying with some ideas but we really haven't come up with that
music yet," he says from his home in Paris, France. "They'll be the opening
theme and that will serve as the template probably for the entire program, so
you'll hear variations on that theme throughout, but they'll also be the need
for some other pieces of music here and there." He's pretty positive
the opening will have vocals. "I guess it was (2002) when Bakenaked Ladies
hosted and they did a musical intro kind of thing and, vaguely speaking, it
could be something along those lines." Terfry, who has been known to
perform solo with his turntable and a light bulb over his head as well as with
a full band, says he is going with "a small group of us" for this
opportunity. And he thinks they will be on the stage, not in some kind of pit
like at a theatre production. "I think off the top of the show, we'll
be in one position and then move somewhere else after and we'll probably be
somewhere there on the floor, but even a lot of those details that are still
being hammered out," he says. Once quite a tame affair that catered
more to an older viewer, recent years have seen Juno Awards appeal to the very
demographic the record labels gear most of their marketing campaigns all year
(by having performances by acts like Feist and Billy Talent and this year
Broken Social Scene and Bedouin Soundclash). Inviting Terfry to create the music
for the show is quite an adventurous, cool move for CARAS, the organization
which presents the Junos. "It is hard to get people to take risks in
high places, but when the Barenaked Ladies were hosting, these are guys that
are very witty and there were some good laughs there. So they (CARAS) do have a
bit of a sense of humour." Terfry expects to be asked to submit his
music in advance to CARAS, but would like to be able to do some improvising on
the show. "I anticipate that every step of the way there will have
to be some kind of approval for things," he says. "I'm hoping that
there will be some good room for some freedom there and to have some fun and so
on, but when you're looking at this huge thing on national television, as you
can expect -- and I've got a little bit of experience doing this kind of thing
before -- everyone wants to run a very tight ship." His little bit
of experience was at the 2003 NHL Awards at Toronto's John Bassett Theatre. He
opened the show with a live rap/spoken word performance set to a retrospective
on the hockey season, then scratched and emceed from a balcony. "(It was)
such a humourless event that anytime I tried to do anything that seemed at all
like fun, it was shut down right away - 'No you can't do that,'" he says.
Nova Scotia's Matt Mays & El Torpedo Win Four East Coast
Music Awards
Source: Steve Macleod, Canadian Press
(Feb. 27, 2006) Charlottetown — Matt Mays & El Torpedo walked off
with
the most pewter and The Trailer Park Boys triggered an avalanche of
F-bombs. The annual East Coast Music Awards were
handed out Monday night in front of a capacity crowd at the Charlottetown Civic
Centre that included Prime Minister Stephen Harper. “I know you,” boomed Trailer
Park Boy Ricky as he pointed at a wide-eyed Harper seated in the front row
with his wife, Laureen. “University of Alberta. 1982. Helix.” Island newspapers
were flooded in the days preceding the show with letters from people who felt
Ricky and his foul-mouthed, pot-smoking cohorts Bubbles and Julian were
inappropriate choices as hosts of the annual showcase of Atlantic musical
talent. The fuss was lampooned when the nationally televised broadcast opened
with the myopic Bubbles urging Ricky to keep it clean. “Geez, Ricky, this isn't
Showcase, it's the CBC,” he fretted as the three lounged in a small trailer
parked on the arena floor. “You might be able to stop swearing for a few
minutes, but not for a whole show.” Sure enough, their conversation included a
number of bleeped F-bombs that became the show's running joke. Ironically, the
Newfoundland band The Novaks performed a song that included three unbleeped
expletives. “We came out and rehearsed it and nobody said anything to us,”
singer Mick Davis told reporters after the St. John's rockers won the CBC
Galaxie Rising Star Award.
“It's in the English language,” he added with a shrug. Mays and his
Dartmouth, N.S., bandmates finished the night with four awards. The shaggy
rockers won for rock recording of the year, group of the year, FACTOR album of
the year and single of the year for Cocaine Cowgirl, which they
performed during the show. Afterwards, Mays was asked about the band's scruffy,
thrift-shop look. “People see us coming a mile away,” he replied, a battered
wool cap pulled low over his eyes. “You can't polish a turd.” Mays figures he's
put over 200,000 kilometres on the band's battered van, The Night Owl,
in 2½ years of relentless touring and blistering live shows. The band opened
last year for Blue Rodeo and Sam Roberts on national tours that helped grow
their audiences from almost nothing when they started to full houses now. “What
we're trying to do is establish a real fan base, not like an overnight fan
base, because the ones that you work for stay forever,” said Mays. Celtic
singer Mary Jane Lamond of Cape Breton went home with two awards -- female
artist of the year and roots/traditional solo recording of the year for her
latest album, Storas. Halifax singer-songwriter Joel Plaskett also won
twice, for male artist of the year and for SOCAN songwriter of the year for his
song Happen Now. “I wrote Happen Now on my father's tenor guitar,
so I have to thank him for buying it,” Plaskett told the crowd after receiving
the songwriting award. Country artist George Canyon was named entertainer of
the year for the second consecutive year. It was the only award voted on by the
public. “I figured Matt and the boys would win this -- they've been cleaning
up,” said Canyon, who grew up in Nova Scotia's Pictou County but lives now in
Alberta. “It doesn't matter where I live. I'm a Maritimer.” The Dr. Helen
Creighton Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to legendary Cape Breton
fiddler Buddy MacMaster. His niece, Natalie MacMaster, performed a medley of
his tunes, then gave her elderly uncle the award. “I started when I was 11
years old and that was 70 years ago,” the 81-year-old told the crowd. “Once I
started, I never gave it up. I just loved the music.” The show also included
live performances by Canyon, Lamond, Lennie Gallant and Bubbles, who sang a
song called Liquor and Whores. J.P. Cormier of Cape Breton won for folk
recording of the year for his album The Long River: A Personal Tribute to
Gordon Lightfoot. Cormier said he's been a long-time fan of the Canadian
icon and received approval from the man himself for the recording. “He is the
bard by which I measure my writing,” Cormier said. “All songwriters look at him
as the grandfather of Canadian songwriters.”
Arctic Monkeys Set Sights On North America
Excerpt from The Toronto Star - Ben Rayner, Pop Music Critic
(Feb. 28, 2006) Whether their runaway
success is traceable to indomitable rock `n' roll greatness or an astonishing
herd mentality
amongst critics and record shoppers, the Arctic
Monkeys have arrived and there's nothing
we can do about it. The youthful Sheffield phenoms — all aged 19 or 20 —
already seem destined to have the biggest album of the year in Britain with Whatever
People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not, which in January became the fastest
selling debut record in U.K. history after selling more than 360,000 copies in
one week. In the month or so hence, it's gone on to nearly double that sales
figure. Domino Records cautiously shipped only 100,000 units to North
America when it unleashed the disc upon these shores a couple of weeks ago, but
the Monkeys' ascension to a status in North America at least comparable to that
of their labelmates Franz Ferdinand seems almost a foregone conclusion. They
already sold out a tour of the continent last December before most people on
this side of the Atlantic had heard them (they return to Toronto to open for
Oasis at the Air Canada Centre on March 20 and play a solo show the next night
at The Phoenix.) Saturation hype tends to reap its own rewards.
"It's pretty amazing," concurs bassist Andy Nicholson from a tour
stop in Amsterdam, albeit taking care to point out that the band's rise hasn't
been quite the whirlwind the press has made it out to be. "It seems
like it is, but it's not really to us. I think everyone else around us feels it
a bit more than we do.
"I'm sure it'd be strange to someone who's in a different position
and it's not happened to them — like, if they'd done an album and it's not done
as well as they'd hoped," he muses, "and then this had happened on
the second album. But, for us, this is our first album and we don't know any
better than what's already happened. This is normal for us. This is just how it
works." A fine position to be in, for sure, for four school chums —
Nicholson, front man/guitarist Alex Turner, guitarist Jamie Cook and drummer
Matt Helders — who started playing just three years ago after a collective
Christmas windfall of musical instruments. After practising diligently
for a year, they started gigging further and further a field from home as their
frantic punk-pop pub jams caught on around the country through word of mouth
and early recordings given away free at shows and then widely disseminated on the
Internet. By the time they signed to Domino last June, they were already
selling out 1,000-seat venues without an actual record to sell. And when they
finally had one, last fall's rambunctious singalong "I Bet You Look Good
On The Dancefloor," it tore a blazing swath to the top of the U.K. singles
chart. "It seemed like every time we went somewhere there wasn't
many people, but the next time we went back it was like everybody there had
brought a friend so it just kinda doubled every time," shrugs Nicholson.
"And then they started singing along and knowing all the words — more
words than we knew — and it just started getting better from there, y'know.
Now, it's a bit crazy. There's a lot of people coming now."
The Arctic Monkeys are young enough to count such fellow young'uns as the
Strokes and the Vines as major influences, but their giddy guitar-rock odes to
beer, bouncers and bawdy nights on the town have succeeded by commendably
ignoring the current U.K. fashion for angular New Wave revisionism, and picking
up a more meat-and-potatoes Brit-rock continuum that extends from the Who
through the Jam through the Libertines. Pronouncements that the band will
change the face of rock as we know it seem a bit premature, but the Monkeys —
and the dauntingly talented lyricist Turner, in particular — have arrived at a
heightened enough state that they might prove a force to be reckoned with over
the long haul. If they can hold it together through such a meteoric rise.
"We control it and we've got good management and a good team around
us," says Nicholson, already studied in the art of the Aloof British Pop
Star. "If anything's happening and we don't want to do it at all, we'll
just not do it. They've always supported us like that and that's the way we've
always been from the beginning. "There's nothing worse than trying
to do something with a smile on your face when you don't wanna do it at all. So
why waste anyone's time? We just do what we wanna do. Like interviews and
things like that, sometimes we need to do 'em but sometimes we don't need to do
'em so there's no point in doing eight hours of press every day. "We
don't enjoy it and we just get bored, and then no one's getting anything out of
it. We don't want to be there and they don't wanna be there. It's just a waste
of time."
Christina Milian So Amazin' In Stores April 25
Source: Amina Elshahawi, ThinkTank Marketing, amina@thinktankmktg.com,
http://www.thinktankmktg.com
(New York, NY) Island Def Jam recording artist and actress Christina Milian makes her long-awaited
return to the front line with the upcoming
April 25th release of her third album, SO AMAZIN’, produced in Miami by Cool
and Dre. In advance of the album release, the first single “Say I”
featuring platinum rapper Young Jeezy impacted Urban radio on February 20th,
and at Rhythm and Pop formats on March 13th. The video shoot for “Say I”
took place in Los Angeles on February 11 & 12, directed by Ray Kay (whose
credits include Christina’s “Whatever U Want” and “Soldier” by Destiny's
Child). BET has announced their support of Christina and “Say I” with an
‘Access Granted’ special, airing March 1st. ‘Access Granted’ is a ½ hour
program, offering behind-the-scenes glimpses from the “Say I” set. SO AMAZIN’
is the follow-up to It’s About Time (June 2004), a breakthrough for Christina
with more than half the songs co-written by Christina, and production by some
of the heaviest hitters in R&B including Warryn Campbell, Corey Rooney, and
Bryan Cox. It’s About Time debuted at #14-bullet on the Billboard 200 on
the strength of its first hit single, “Dip It Low” featuring Fabolous, produced
and co-written by Poli Paul. “Dip It Low,” which peaked at #1 on the Dance Club
Singles chart, and #3 on the Billboard Hot 100, was nominated for a 2004 Grammy
Award as Best Rap/Sung Collaboration, while It’s About Time was nominated as
Best Contemporary R&B Album. With her album bulleting up the charts
through the summer and fall of 2004, Christina hit the road to open the North
American tour schedule for Usher and Kanye West. With SO AMAZIN’ on the
horizon, Christina is also gearing up for the release of her next movie
project. Pulse, (Weinstein Company) a horror mystery thriller directed by
Jim Sonzero (War Of the Angels), and based on Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Japanese film
Kairo, is scheduled for release in July. Pulse marks Christina’s 8th
major film role since 1990, the most recent of which were Elmore Leonard’s Be
Cool (2005, with John Travolta and Uma Thurman), Man Of the House (2005, with
Tommy Lee Jones), video director Joseph Kahn’s Torque (2004, with Ice Cube and
Dane Cook), Troy Beyer’s Love Don’t Cost a Thing (2003, with Nick Cannon), and
Ashton Root’s Durango Kids (1999, with Larry Drake). “Singing and acting
are both my passions,” she has said of her twin career paths, “and they go hand
in hand.”
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Earth, Wind & Fire Remain As Timeless As Ever
Source: KSA Public Relations, Sanctuary Records
(Feb. 28, 2006) New York, NY- February 15, 2006 - Coming off the
heel’s of
a GRAMMY Award nomination for Best R&B Album for their chart topping new
release, Illumination, Earth, Wind & Fire have been nominated for a 2006 NAACP Image Award in the category
of Best Duo Or Group and for a Soul Train Music Award for Best R&B/Soul
Album – Group, Band or Duo for Illumination. In addition, Earth, Wind
& Fire’s newest single, “To You,” featuring Brian McKnight continues to
climb the Urban Adult Contemporary charts receiving major spins in top markets
including WBLS in New York, WDAS in Philadelphia, WHUR in Washington DC, KJLH in
Los Angeles and KBLX in San Francisco. Earth, Wind & Fire is
confirmed to perform the song on LIVE With Regis and Kelly on March 1st with
special guest Brian McKnight. 2005 was an incredible year for
Earth, Wind & Fire. Their 23rd career album Illumination hit stores on
September 20th and debuted at # 32 on the Billboard 200 Album Chart, marking a
career best for the group. EWF’s influence and timeless signature sound is
clearly felt on the album and was hailed by fans and critics alike for their
creative collaborations with a new generation of soul artists such as Brian
McKnight, Will.I.Am, Raphael Saadiq, Big Boi, Sleepy Brown, Kelly Rowland,
Floetry, and Kenny G. USA Today proclaimed that “Earth, Wind & Fire is as
vibrant as ever” and Billboard Magazine said that the “collaborations
eloquently capture EWF’s classic horn-and-harmony sound.”
The group’s previous single off of Illumination “Pure Gold,” also
garnered a 2005 GRAMMY nomination honouring its producers, Jimmy Jam and Terry
Lewis in the Best Production Non-Classical category. The first single off of
Illumination, “Show Me the Way” featuring Raphael Saadiq, was nominated for a
2004 GRAMMY for Best Collaboration by a Duo or Group. Earth, Wind &
Fire continues to be simply one of the most important, influential, innovative
and commercially omnipotent contemporary pop music bands of the 20th century.
Their 35-year history has produced millions of albums sold worldwide including
eight double-platinum albums, two platinum albums and three gold albums. Earth,
Wind & Fire and the founding members have eight GRAMMY Awards, four
American Music Awards, honours from the NAACP and BET, a star on the Hollywood
Walk of Fame and the coup de grace: Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction in
2000. Confirmed tour dates for this spring are:
March 2006:
3, 4 - Rama, Ontario - Casino Rama
7, 8- Rams Head - Baltimore, MD
10 - Washington, DC - Dar Constitution Hall
12 - House of Blues, Atlantic City
14 - Bergen PAC - Englewood, NJ
17 - Boca Raton, FL - Mizner Park Amphitheatre
18 - Orlando, FL - Universal Orlando
20 - Sarasota, FL - Van Wezel Performing Arts Center
22 - Clearwater, FL - Ruth Eckerd Hall
23 - Ruth Eckerd Hall - Clearwater, FL
25 - Kinder, LA - Coushatta Casino
26 - Corpus Christi, TX - American Bank Center Arena
New Clark Sheard album; Christopher 'Play' Martin's gospel/rap
DVD
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com
(Feb. 28, 2006) *Gospel artist Karen
Clark Sheard spoke to
Billboard.com about her latest album “It’s Not Over,” recorded for
Word/Curb/Warner Bros. at her home church, Greater Emmanuel Institutional
Church of Christ in Detroit. "I wanted to stick with praise and
worship music, and Israel is just awesome," she says. The daughter
of gospel music pioneer Dr. Mattie Moss Clark is thankful to still be
performing after developing a blood clot several years ago and lapsing into a
near-fatal coma. “The doctor had given me a two percent chance to live,"
she says. "Afterwards, I was trying to sing and play, and it was hard
because of what my lungs went through. That's when I started thinking it was
over for me and I wouldn't be able to sing. That's when God spoke to me and
said, 'It's not over until God says it's over.’”
*Christopher “Play” Martin, best
known as one half of the old school rap duo Kid ‘n Play, is releasing “Holy
Hip-Hop,” an 82-minute DVD loaded with various rappers from the gospel music
genre. "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 a born again after getting involved in the gospel
rap scene during the mid-1990s. Soon, he realized that his true calling was in
the film realm. "After I realized my purpose and true love for
film making, I pitched the idea to my partners," Martin said. "I was
given all access into the lives of most of these incredible artists [on the
DVD] and now I hope I have contributed in sparking a new life into the Hip-Hop
culture. Martin produces, directs and hosts the DVD, which arrives
in stores on March Mar. 21 with 5.1 surround sound, interactive menus, scene
selections and trailers.
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Roy Ayers: His Sunshine is Ubiquitous
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com - By
Deardra Shuler
(Feb. 28, 2006) Roy Ayers was relaxing after a wonderful night of smooth
jazz and eclectic melodies at the Iridium Jazz Club in New York. Mr.
Ayers was upbeat and feeling good about his show. Accompanying Roy on his
vibraphone was Mark Adams on keyboard; Ray Gaskins on saxophone; Donald Nicks on
bass and Troy Miller from England on drums. Two delightful singers, John
Presley and Richard Shade, completed the evening. Between sets, we sat
backstage at the Iridium discussing Ayers lengthy show business career which
has spanned over 40 years, a career that is still going strong.
Originally from California, Ayers is now a New Yorker. As a child, Ayers played
piano but took up the vibes after seeing Lionel Hampton perform. “My
parents played Lionel’s music all the time so when they finally took me to see
him, I went crazy. He had a big influence on me.” Stated Ayers.
Ayers formed the ‘Latin Lyrics’ in High School and later worked with
flautist/saxophonist Curtis Amy. “I think basically my talent comes
naturally, although I studied with a concert percussionist in Los Angeles.” Roy
dropped out of City College and began to work professionally with Herbie
Mann. “Prior to Herbie, I worked with Gerald Wilson’s Big Band and artist
Nancy Wilson, among others” stated the enduring artist. “I joined
Herbie Mann’s band in 1966 and worked with him for 4 years. In 1970, I
formed my own band. I called it Roy Ayers ‘Ubiquity.’ Ubiquity
means the state of being everywhere at the same time.” explained the jazz
vibraphonist. At 65, Roy Ayers is ebullient and content. He commands the
stage. He charms both his audience and his mallets, adeptly stroking each with
a showmanship that has come through years of honing his craft. His
mallets caress the vibraphone, coaxing out of it silky jazzy refrains which
only a soulful jazz master at the top of his game can do. He smiles and
giggles as he teases and delights the audiences with his comic tales and
soulful musical stylings. Songs like “Everybody Loves the Sunshine” which
is his trademark signature. “I try to play many different sounds and styles,”
stated Ayers. “I play Latin Jazz, a little funk, a little R&B and even a
little rap. I play everything. I mix it all up. I think that
is the keystone to my popularity and longevity. Although I have been a
professional artist since 1941, I change with the times as musical styles
continue to change and become more popular.
For instance, the emergence of rap is so strong it is almost phasing
everything else out” commented the charismatic artist. “I have been
very fortunate. A lot of people have sampled my work. Mary J. Blige was
my real big sample. She sold in excess of 3 million albums of my song
“Everybody Loves the Sunshine,” but on her own album, she called it “My
Life.” It was a big hit for her. Rapper 50 Cent also sampled the
same song in his movie “Get Rich or Die Tryin.’ I have worked with and
written for artists like: Wayne Henderson of the Jazz Crusaders, Rick James,
James M’Tume (who is a prolific speaker, composer, and host of the radio show Open
Line on Kiss-FM). I have recorded with Vanessa Williams, Herbie Hancock, George
Benson, and Whitney Houston” remarked the fertile songwriter and
musician. Ayers recently released “Roy Ayers: All Over the World” on DVD
and on CD “Roy Ayers: Sunshine Man.” “I have discovered that oftentimes
when artists record on a major record label, the label eventually drops
everybody. This causes artists to have to find another record label where
oftentimes, nothing else happens. In my case, I record on the AFI CD
Record label, which is my own label. I also record with Ono Melodic
Records. The year before last, I recorded an album called “Mahogany
Vibe.” The problem I am having is getting my records in record
stores. There are so many artists recording their own music and trying to
get it into the marketplace. Initially, I didn’t have problems getting my
music directly into the record stores,” explained Roy. “I was selling the
records so fast that the major recording companies informed the stores that I should
go through a distributor. That slowed down the sales. Sometimes
these recording companies are greedy. Rather than pay an artist their
due, they will let the artist go. They wait until after the artist has signed
with another label. If the artist then gets a hit while at the new label,
the former record company simply releases product they were holding on the
artist and may label it something like “The Best of Roy Ayers” surmised
Roy.
Ayers also formed Uno Melodic Records with Nigerian Fela Kuti, with whom
he recorded while touring in Africa. “Africa was a wonderful experience.
I learned about some of the African ways and music and was very excited about
that. I recorded “Music of Many Colors,” in Nigeria. I learned from
Fela Kuti, a Nigerian musician who had 27 wives. Fela said the Elders of
the Tribe would allow a man to marry more than one woman if the man had a lot
of land. Fela had a lot of land,” chuckled Ayers.
Though people have given Ayers’s music many labels, Ayers calls it Smooth
Jazz. “People call my music Jazz Fusion, Smooth Jazz, and “Acid
Jazz.” When I first heard the term “Acid Jazz, I thought they meant LSD,
but later, I realized they meant my music was like acid because it eats right
into your brain.” Grinned the amused performer. Ayers ushered in the New
Year performing at the Jazz Café in London. He plans a European tour in
February and will perform at the 2006 ‘Superstars of Jazz Fusion’ alongside
jazz flautist Bobbi Humphrey, Jon Lucien, Lonnie Liston Smith, Jeanne Carne,
and Wayne Henderson, et al. From June through September, 2006 he will
tour the U.S. and Europe. Mr. Ayers’ website is: www.RoyAyers.com.
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Tupac and the Smithsonian
Source: Marcus Franklin, Associated Press
(Mar. 1, 2006) NEW YORK -- For nearly three decades, hip-hop relics such
as vinyl records, turntables and boom boxes have collected dust in boxes and
attics. Yesterday, owners of such items --
including pioneering hip-hop artists such as Afrika Bambaataa, DJ Kool Herc,
Grandmaster Flash and Fab 5 Freddy -- blew that dust off to take them to a
Manhattan hotel to turn them over to National Museum of American History. The
museum, part of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, is announcing its
plans to embark on a collecting initiative, Hip-Hop Won't Stop: the Beat, the
Rhymes, the Life. The project, the beginnings of a permanent collection, will
gather objects that trace hip hop's origins in the Bronx in the 1970s to its
current global reach. It is expected to cost as much as $2-million and take up
to five years to complete. Museum officials have yet to raise the money, which
will come from private donors. They will use the funds to pay for artefacts,
record oral histories, hold consultations with advisory groups and mount an
exhibit telling hip hop's story. Hip-hop culture, whose main elements include
rappers, DJs and break-dancers, is considered one of the most powerful cultural
explosions ever. Today, it's incorporated into marketing for everything from cars
and clothing to furniture.
"Hip hop was born in New York but it's now a global
phenomenon," said Valeska Hilbig, a National Museum spokeswoman.
"It's here to stay, and it's part of American culture just like jazz is
part of American history. It's part of the narrative we tell at the
museum." The idea for an exhibition grew out of conversations between
Brent D. Glass, the national museum's director, and his childhood friend Mark
Shimmel, of Mark Shimmel Music, museum curator Marvette Perez said. "It's
American music," Perez, who staged an exhibition on Latin music singer
Celia Cruz, said of rap. "It shows the creativity that exists in urban
environments." Besides records, boom boxes, mikes and turntables, Perez
requested photographs, posters, handwritten lyrics, clothing and costumes,
videos and interviews and business and personal letters from hip-hop's early
artists. Hip-hop impresario Russell Simmons, scheduled to attend
yesterday's announcement at the Hilton New York, wouldn't say what he planned
to donate. But he called the Smithsonian's recognition a "great statement
for hip hop." "It's not a signal to the end of hip hop,"
Simmons, co-founder of the Def Jam label, said of the Smithsonian's
undertaking. "We know it will be a lasting fixture. All over the world,
hip hop is expression of young people's struggles, their frustrations and
opinions." Simmons's brother, Joseph (Rev. Run) Simmons, a member of the
seminal rap group Run-DMC, also was scheduled to appear at the announcement.
The Smithsonian isn't the only museum with an interest in hip-hop culture. In
the fall of 2000, the Brooklyn Museum of Art in New York put on Hip-Hop Nation:
Roots, Rhymes & Rage. In June, the museum plans to feature an exhibition of
graffiti art, spokesman Adam Husted said. The Museum of the City of New York
plans to hold Black Style Now in September on hip hop's impact on fashion and
black fashion designers. And the Experience Music Project, an interactive music
museum in Seattle, has featured exhibitions on hip hop, Perez said.
Grammy-Nominated Rapper T.I. To Debut New Album And Film
Source: Warner Music Canada
(Feb. 27, 2006) Grand Hustle/Atlantic recording artist T.I. has announced details of his
highly anticipated new album, "KING," set to drop March 28, as
well as his big-screen debut in "ATL," set to open March 31.
"KING" follows the breakthrough success of 2004's RIAA
platinum-certified "URBAN LEGEND," which spawned such smash hits as
"Bring Em Out" and the Grammy nominated "U Don't Know Me."
"What You Know," the first single from "KING," was #1
most-added track at both CHR/Rhythmic and Urban radio nationwide. The
single's companion video, shot earlier this month in L.A., features cameos by
actor Mike Epps and Blink- 182/Transplants Travis Barker of
Blink-182/Transplants fame. Veteran hip-hop video director and Atlanta
native Chris Robinson not only directed the music video, but also the upcoming
Overbrook/Warner Bros. Pictures film, "ATL," starring T.I. The
music video shows a day in the life of T.I., where he attends the premiere of
"ATL," joins the film's cast at the theatre, and then attends the
after-party.
T.I. (Tip Harris) will make his acting debut in "ATL" as lead
character Rashad. The film tells the story of a group of four friends who have
just graduated from high school in Atlanta. "ATL" spotlights the
city's famed Jellybeans skating rink, a popular hangout not only for the teens
in the film, but for both T.I. and Robinson as real-life teens growing up in
Atlanta. Songs from "KING," including "What You
Know," "Front Back," and "Ride Wit Me," which is the
featured song in the film's trailer, will appear in "ATL." The
film is set for release March 31. Atlantic Records and Warner Bros.
Pictures are working closely together on both projects, partnering in field
marketing, advertising, publicity, and screenings. In conjunction with both the
release of "KING" and "ATL," T.I. will make appearances at exclusive
movie premieres in Houston, Dallas, Chicago, and Detroit the week prior to the
projects' release dates. The rapper also plans to make appearances at
larger premieres in Atlanta and Los Angeles the week of March 27.
T.I. was recently nominated for a Grammy for Best Rap Solo Performance for his
song "U Don't Know Me." He also walked away from the Second Annual
VIBE Awards with a win in the Street Anthem category for the same song.
This summer, T.I. will exclusively sponsor two teen girls on the first T.I.
Music Sponsorship with It's Cool To Be Smart "Single Parent
Initiative" as part of his ongoing commitment to support the local Boys
& Girls Club in Atlanta.
MUSIC TIDBITS
Pamela Anderson To Host Juno Award Telecast
Excerpt from The Toronto Star
(Feb. 27, 2006) HALIFAX (CP) — The Juno Awards
will undoubtedly be a sexier affair than in previous years with the
announcement Monday of Pamela Anderson as host of the April 2 bash. The actress will pilot the
two-hour show, which will feature performances by Nickelback, Michael Buble and
Broken Social Scene. It'll air on CTV. "Canadian music rocks,"
Anderson said in a statement. "No matter where I am in the world I
can listen to Canadian music and feel like I'm at home. This is going to be one
kick-ass awards show." Anderson is no stranger to the world of
music, having been married to Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee and later engaged
to country-rocker Kid Rock. She's also dabbled in singing. The former Baywatch
babe joined Bryan Adams on his latest CD for a duet of his 1998 hit
"When You're Gone". Adams has already signed on to perform on
the show, during which he'll be inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of
Fame. "She's pretty rock 'n' roll," Adams has said of Anderson,
who grew up in Ladysmith, B.C. No word on whether singing will be part of
her hosting duties.
India.Arie Testifies On New Album
Excerpt from www.billboard.com
- Jonathan Cohen, N.Y.
(Feb.
28, 2006) Neo-soul artist India.Arie will release her third album, "Testimony:
Vol. 1, Life & Relationship," May 9 via Universal Motown. First single
"I Am Not My Hair" reached No. 6 earlier this month on Billboard's
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles Sales chart; it can be streamed from Arie's official
Web site. The artist told Billboard in June 2005 that "Life
& Relationship" would be the first half of a two-volume project, with
the second instalment covering love and politics. It is unknown if that project
is still in the works. The new album will be the follow-up to 2002's
"Voyage to India," which debuted at No. 6 on The Billboard 200 and
has sold 1 million copies in the United States, according to Nielsen
SoundScan. Arie also co-wrote the title track of Stevie Wonder's
2005 comeback album "A Time 2 Love" with the legendary artist.
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Actress Juliette Lewis Committed To Her Band
Excerpt from The Globe and
Mail
(Feb. 28, 2006) Hong Kong -- Actress-turned-rocker Juliette Lewis
(Natural Born Killers, Cape Fear) says she'll continue to act, but it
would take an outstanding script to pry her away from touring with her band,
Juliette and the Licks. "For something to take me away from the
music right now, it has to be spectacular. I don't want to settle for something
less than a really interesting film director," she said in an interview in
the March issue of Prestige Hong Kong magazine. Lewis said her band has toured
on and off for about seven or eight months in the past year. AP
Prince Counts Down To ‘3121’
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com
(Feb. 28, 2006) *The promotion machine behind Prince’s March 21
release of his “3121” album has picked up steam since beginning Feb. 4 on NBC’s
“Saturday Night Live.” His appearance gave the long-running sketch comedy
series its highest ratings since 2004. The artist formerly known as The
Artist performed the “3121” tracks “Fury” and “Beautiful, Loved & Blessed,”
featuring his R&B protégé Tamar. Prince’s new video for the track
“Black Sweat,” directed by Moroccan director Sanaa Hamri, is currently in
rotation on MTV and BET. "This is a return to vintage Prince,"
stated BET's Stephen Hill, Executive Vice President for Music and Entertainment.
"BET viewers, both longtime fans of Prince and new admirers are primed for
this video, the perfect showcase for a true national treasure once again
delivering like no other artist can." As previously reported, Prince’s
“Purple Ticket Campaign” allows fans lucky enough to come across a special
purple ticket to attend what is being billed as An Evening With Prince - A
Private Performance At Prince's House. Digital tickets may
also be scored through a sweepstakes on Apple's iTunes online music store. If you
don’t have computer access, a limited number of purple tickets will be included
in specially-selected “3121” albums beginning on its March 21 release date.
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Juvenile Mourns New Orleans In New Album
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com
(Feb. 28, 2006) *Juvenile’s Atlantic Records album “Reality Check,” the
rapper’s first since leaving Cash Money Records, is a beloved ode to his
hometown of New Orleans and the people affected by the devastation of Hurricane
Katrina. He tells USA Today of the storm’s arrival: "Fortunately, I
wasn't there, but my family was there, and I had to get all of them up out of
there. I was coming from Kentucky, trying to get back down to New Orleans, and
the hurricane was on its way, and the highway was already full with people
trying to get out." In October, Juve (Terius Gray) returned home to
find his brand new home had been destroyed. It looked as if
"somebody had dropped a bomb on New Orleans," he said. In December,
he returned to the decimated region again to film a video for the album’s first
single, “Get Ya Hustle On.” The four-day shoot took place in the Lower Ninth
Ward near where the levees were breeched. It follows three kids who find masks
with the words "Help Is Coming" on one side and the faces of
President Bush, Vice President Cheney and Mayor Ray Nagin on the other as they
pick their way through the rubble.
"What I'm trying to show is what they should have done from Day 1, when
all of these helicopters started pulling up filming," he tells USA Today.
"They could have been dropping these people food and water and flotation
devices and life jackets, and a lot of people's lives could have been
saved." “Reality Check,” due March 7, features production by longtime
collaborator Manny Fresh, as well as tracks by Scott Storch, Jazze Pha,
Jermaine Dupri and Lil' Jon. Fat Joe, Busta Rhymes, Ludacris, R. Kelly and Brian
McKnight.
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Ray Parker Jr. On The Comeback Trail
Source: Barbara Shelley; 323-658-6909; babspr@aol.com;
www.rayparkerjr.com
(Feb. 25, 2006) LOS ANGELES -- Raydio Music announces the release
of
I'M FREE from Ray Parker Jr who is best known for his many hits during the '80s. Parker
first gained fame as leader of Raydio with such hits as "Jack And
Jill," "You Can't Change That," "A Woman Needs Love (Just
Like You Do)," and later as a solo artist, with "The Other
Woman" and the #1 smash, Grammy and BAFTA Award winning, Oscar nominated
"Ghostbusters!." A more mature artist with a new sound, I'M FREE
truly reflects Ray's newfound freedom. "I composed the songs around
my favourite instrument, the guitar. It played a central role in all of these
compositions," says Parker. "I've always wanted to make a record
with no restrictions on my creativity... one that would allow me to play my
nylon stringed acoustic as well as my electric guitars. Also an album that
would allow me to lyrically express what life holds for me and my friends at
this moment in time." With a fresh perspective that has resulted
from many of the same personal life stories that his listeners have
experienced, Ray is back with a new sense of purpose. "I took a
break mainly because both of my parents became ill, and I found myself taking responsibility
for the people that brought me into the world," Parker says in a hushed
voice. "I also felt it was important for me, to spend time with my kids
watching them grow up. And I'm proud of that decision." Ray wrote every
song on the album with the exception of the David Gates/Bread hit
"The Guitar Man." From the beautiful acoustic guitar opening on
"Mexico" to the closing instrumental "Gibson's Theme,"
Parker takes the listener on a heartfelt journey that is both musically
stunning and lyrically moving. I'M FREE is available at www.rayparkerjr.com
and 888.606.Music (6874) and all major online music accounts. Raydio
Music will soon be offering the CD at a discount to bulk buyers at www.raydiomusic.com.
Ray is enthusiastic to tour, visit radio stations, record stores, make TV
appearances, and talk with the press. Ray will also create an online fan
club. He's also reaching out to music supervisors for film and television.
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::TV NEWS::
Rogers OMNI.2’s New Weekday Court Show Delivers Tough Brand of
Justice
Source: OMNI.2
(Feb. 23, 2006) Toronto, ON – Judge
Alex E. Ferrer has seen it all – he is the only
television judge with former experience as a police officer, trial
attorney and criminal court judge – and now viewers in Ontario can catch his
straight forward style of justice on Rogers OMNI.2, beginning Monday, March 6th
at 5:30 p.m. For 30 minutes each weekday Judge Alex will preside
over an emotionally charged courtroom, resolving an array of complex issues
with his insight and humour. “We’re pleased to bring Judge Alex
to viewers in the Ontario market; it’s more than ‘just another’ courtroom
drama,” says Malcolm Dunlop, Vice President of Programming and Marketing.
“With Judge Alex positioned to lead into two more hours of
reality-based, high-power programming -- Law & Order Criminal
Intent and SVU -- OMNI.2 offers a solid alternative during the
dinner hour.” With more than 20 years of experience, Judge Alex is
well respected and well equipped to handle whatever is thrown his way.
Throughout his high-profile tenure on the bench, Judge Alex has handled thousands
of cases, ranging from first degree murders and drug related offences to family
and financial matters.
While his rulings will strictly follow the law, viewers will be able to
follow the action closely and find Judge Alex (both the man and the
series) engaging and entertaining. Rogers OMNI Television is a
free over-the-air system consisting of four regional broadcasters covering nine
markets in British Columbia (Victoria, Vancouver, and Fraser Valley), Manitoba
(Winnipeg), and Ontario (Ottawa-Gatineau, London, Kitchener-Waterloo, Hamilton
and the Greater Toronto Area). All Rogers OMNI Television stations are owned
and operated by Rogers Communications in the Rogers Media division, and have
the collective mandate to reflect Canada’s diversity through the airing of
inclusive and accessible programming. In addition to specializing in Canadian
multicultural, multilingual and multi-faith programming, OMNI TV also carries
well-known American and International series and films. OMNI.2 is
currently available across Canada to Starchoice subscribers on channel 395, and
to ExpressVu subscribers on channel 216. LOOK carries OMNI.2 on channel 70 in
Ontario.
Cable-TV fee fights seen looming over CRTC decision
Excerpt from The Globe and Mail
- Grant Robertson And Catherine Mclean
(Mar. 1, 2006) Sweeping regulatory changes in cable television have set
the stage for a potentially bitter fight between specialty channels and cable
companies over how much the channels will be paid for their services. The CRTC says it wants to stop regulating the fees that many analog
specialty-TV channels charge to cable distributors that carry their
programming. At the same time, however, the Canadian Radio-television and
Telecommunications Commission wants the cable operators to keep selling
services in groups of channels, known as tiers, until 2013. That is intended to
ease the concerns of the specialty channels that they will lose subscribers as
the cable world embraces the so-called à la carte model. The advent of
digital TV allows customers to buy channels either in theme packs or
individually, which the industry refers to as à la carte or pick-and-pay. It
also paves the way for the introduction of new services that analog can't handle,
such as high-definition TV. The CRTC made the proposals in a lengthy
policy paper this week that outlines how analog specialty channels will be
treated as the world moves to digital. Many players called it very complex. The
regulator says it wants to get out of regulating rates for the specialty
channels just as it now has no role in determining what cable companies charge
their customers. If the regulator is no longer setting the prices, the
cable companies and channels will have to negotiate what they believe each
channel is worth.
Channels with larger audiences, such as The Sports Network or The Score,
would have more bargaining power and might try to command higher rates. In
contrast, channels serving smaller audiences, such as Vision TV, which airs
multicultural and faith-based programs, acknowledge they may be bargaining from
a weaker position. "There is that little bit of disadvantage in
negotiations being a smaller player," said Mark Prasuhn, chief operating
officer of Vision TV. "The concern is not limited to Vision; it's any
smaller or unaffiliated service. The leverage [some channels have] with
distributors is going to be less significant." An official with the CRTC
expects several bigger channels will seek higher rates now that there will be
no CRTC-mandated starting point for the negotiations, but predicts they will
run into opposition from the cable companies. Shaw Communications Inc.
president Peter Bissonnette believes it's too early to measure the impact.
Still, he says, "it's always interesting when you get into negotiations
and you have to carry somebody; the negotiations for rates become more
difficult." The CRTC wants the tiered system on digital, which
mirrors the analog channel groups, kept in place until 2013. But it proposes
that that system can be dropped after 2010 if the cable operators transfer more
than 85 per cent of their subscribers to digital. Cable operators say the
move to digital TV gives them the opportunity to sell more services, such as
video-on-demand and high-definition TV channels. But the digital age is also
creating new rivals for the cable companies. Telecommunications companies, for
example, are using Internet protocol (IP) technology to send TV signals over
phone lines, while TV networks are starting to sign deals to offer their shows
via Apple Computer Inc.'s iPod devices and through Google Inc.'s new on-line
video store. Ken Engelhart, vice-president of regulatory affairs at
Rogers Communications Inc., said its customers need to be able to pick and choose
the channels they want, or else they'll turn to the Internet.
"People can get TV over Internet, downloads over iPod; there's a
whole range of new options," Mr. Engelhart said. "The TV industry has
got to be competitive with customers who are increasingly wanting to watch what
they want, when they want. We have to move with the times. [The] decision went
a long way helping us to do that." But Shaw believes the CRTC needs to
speed things up. "If you look at the way that things are moving and as
rapidly as they're moving . . . 2010 or 2013, where there's the fully
unfettered ability to move services from analog to digital, that's a long
time," Mr. Bissonnette said. "A lot can happen in seven years."
TV's McCloud, Chester dies
Source: Associated Press
(Feb. 28, 2006) LOS ANGELES—Dennis Weaver, an
actor with a
Midwestern twang who played stiff-legged Chester the deputy on Gunsmoke
and the cowboy cop hero in McCloud, has died. He was 81. Weaver
died Friday from complications of cancer at his home in Ridgway, Colo., his
publicist said yesterday. "He was a wonderful man and a fine actor,
and we will all miss him," said Burt Reynolds, who appeared with Weaver in
Gunsmoke in the early 1960s. Weaver's 50-year career included
stage plays and movies. But his real success was on TV, where in addition to
his cowboy roles he shared the screen with a 270-kilogram black bear on Gentle
Ben and faced down a murderous big rig in the early Steven Spielberg movie Duel.
Weaver starred last year in ABC Family's Wildfire as the eccentric owner
of a thoroughbred racing ranch. "His performance never ceased to
dazzle us," the cable channel said in a prepared statement. "He was
an American legend not only for his contribution to the acting community but
for his extensive and inspirational environmental work." The tall,
rangy actor was born June 4, 1924, in Joplin, Mo., where he excelled in
high-school drama and athletics. After navy service in World War II, he
enrolled at the University of Oklahoma and nearly qualified for the Olympic
decathlon. He studied at the Actors Studio in New York and appeared in A
Streetcar Named Desire opposite Shelley Winters and toured in Come Back,
Little Sheba with Shirley Booth. In 1955, Weaver was doing freelance
features and TV spots and delivering flowers when he was offered the Gunsmoke
role for $300 a week. Weaver wasn't immediately taken with Deputy
Chester Goode, his character in Gunsmoke, he wrote in his 2001
autobiography, All the World's a Stage. Weaver considered the role
"inane" but told himself "I'll correct this character,"
using his training and experience. His odd gait and his drawling
"Mis-ter Dil-lon" gave him a memorable on-screen presence — even in
the shadow of 6-foot-7 James Arness, who played Marshal Dillon. Weaver
won an Emmy for his role in the 1958-59 season. Weaver appeared in
several other shortlived television series, but it was Sam McCloud that Weaver
called "the most satisfying role of my career." The show, which ran
from 1970 to 1977, featured him as a New Mexico lawman cast on the streets of
New York City with a horse, a sheepskin coat and a folksy manner that belied
his shrewd crime-solving talent. Off-screen, Weaver served as president
of the Screen Actors Guild, and involved in environmental and charitable
causes. He leaves his wife, Gerry, three sons and three grandchildren.
TV TIDBITS
Grey's Anatomy Star Reveals Dyslexia
Excerpt from The Toronto Star -
Associated Press
(Mar. 1, 2006) NEW YORK — Grey's Anatomy star Patrick
Dempsey
said his childhood wasn't so McDreamy: he wasn't diagnosed as being dyslexic
until he was 12 years old. "I think it's made me who I am
today," said Dempsey, who plays neurosurgeon Dr. Derek Shepherd on the hit
ABC series, in an interview on The Barbara Walters Special airing Wednesday
night at 10 p.m. EST. "It's given me a perspective of — you have to
keep working," Dempsey told Walters. "I have never given
up." Dempsey, 40, said he struggles while reading scripts and
memorizing his lines. "I think that's when I get the most
insecure...it's very hard for me to read it off the page," he said.
"I need to memorize it, in order to go on." Dempsey, now
experiencing a career comeback since dropping off Hollywood's radar screen
after his 1980s romantic comedy days, said he was once prone to difficult
behaviour. "You can't have temper tantrums," he said.
"You have to be professional and I don't think I understood that at
the time." On Grey's Anatomy, Dempsey's character is nicknamed
"Dr. McDreamy" by the hospital's female interns, including Dr.
Meredith Grey, played by Ellen Pompeo. Walters also interviewed Matthew
McConaughey, George Clooney, an Oscar nominee in multiple categories and Mariah
Carey, for the 25th edition of her Oscar special. The show, which
previously aired before the Oscars show on the East Coast and immediately
following the show on the West Coast, was moved back this year to the last
night of sweeps and following an original episode of Lost. The Oscars are
slated to air Sunday at 8 p.m. ET.
MTV Canada To Launch In March
Excerpt from The Globe and Mail -
Grant Robertson
(Mar. 1, 2006) MTV Canada will launch on Canadian airwaves March
21, the CTV network announced Wednesday. The station, which will compete with
CHUM Ltd.'s Much Music station with music-related, celebrity and talk
programming, will make the announcement at 1 pm EST, CTV said. The launch date
for MTV Canada had been a closely-guarded secret within CTV, which secured the
rights to operate a Canadian version of the U.S.-based pop-culture network last
year. The announcement comes a week after CTV said the network would be housed
at Toronto's historic Masonic Temple, where it has installed a three-metre by
four-metre MTV Canada logo. The building has housed performances and rehearsals
of several music acts in past years, including bands such as the Rolling Stones
and Led Zeppelin. CTV and The Globe and Mail are part of Bell Globemedia, which
is controlled by BCE Inc. The MTV Canada license was held by Craig
Broadcasting, but became available after that network was bought by CHUM. MTV
was allowed to pull out of the deal because of the ownership change. The TV
launch of MTV is expected to coincide with a roll out of the networks on-line
strategy, which will include downloadable content. However, the CTV incarnation
of MTV requires the network to operate the station under a Talk TV licence,
meaning it will focus on lifestyle shows through its cable channel, rather than
running music videos, the network has said.
::THEATRE NEWS::
Short Still Stands Tall
Excerpt from The Toronto Star - Richard Ouzounian, Theatre Critic
(Mar. 1, 2006) When Martin Short dances through the aisles of the
Royal Alexandra Theatre, you know it's no ordinary morning. And indeed,
the crowd of media and subscribers who sat in delighted bafflement yesterday as
the Hamilton-born comedian careened around them weren't witnessing your average
Mirvish subscription season launch. Four of the seven shows were
previously revealed in the Star: Monty Python's Spamalot, Martin Short: Fame
Becomes Me, Legends and Orpheus Descending. The three surprises were the
return to Toronto of the longest running show in this city's history, The
Phantom of the Opera; a revival of the 1972 Stephen Schwartz/Bob Fosse musical
Pippin, and a presentation of Theatre Gargantua's provocative look at life in
the Internet age, E-Dentity. Joan Collins and Linda Evans swept on stage
to the music from Dynasty, serving notice that big glamour and big hair would
both be part of Legends, the James Kirkwood comedy they'll star in this
September. On the other hand, Orpheus Descending stars Seana McKenna and
Jonathan Goad were consummately Canadian, swapping jokes about how they had to
purchase the clean undergarments they were wearing at the drugstore because of
their crazy work schedules. Cameron Mackintosh and Stephen Schwartz
appeared on film to flog (respectively) Phantom and Pippin, while the cast of
E-Dentity acted out a small scene from their highly physical theatre piece.
That left the stage ready for Short. With Hairspray composer Marc Shaiman
looking like a piano-playing hobbit who had escaped from a Lord of the Rings
rehearsal next door, the "Ritalin-deprived" Short burst from the
wings to grab the audience by the scruff of their necks and shake them into
hysterical laughter. He performed two of the outrageously funny numbers
Shaiman (and his partner Scott Wittman) had written for him: a mock-Godspell
ditty called "Stepbrother De Jesus" (complete with leper jokes) and
an Elaine Stritch-ian ballad of rehab survival called "Twelve Step
Pappy."
During the last number, Short literally danced through the audience while
seeming to hold a note longer than Ethel Merman in her heyday.
Afterwards, Short unwound in the theatre's lounge as he told the Star
more about his piece. "Our timing is great," he enthused,
"now that James Frey has come along and got everybody doubting everything.
It's all about sleaze and revelation and self-humiliation," shouted Short
like a demented revivalist, before breaking into a grin: "Of course it
helps if you sing it." He breaks into an a cappella version of
another song from the show: "The days of Brice and Jolson are long
gone, alas! Just show them all your mug shot and the crack pipe up your
ass." Things were just as outrageous at the other end of the room,
where Joan Collins, resplendent in a cleavage-baring red dress, was holding
forth about her role as Sylvia in Legends. "Yes," she throbbed
in that made-for-phone-sex voice of hers, "I'm playing Sylvia, the bitchy,
witchy one. What a surprise! Tell me, darling," she asked, leaning
forward, looking about half of her 72 years, "why do I always play tramps
and hookers and tarts?" She didn't wait for an answer but went right
into a discussion of how the big Act II catfight between her and Evans should
be staged. "I know they originally ripped each other's wigs off, but
I think that's been done to death. Let's try ripping off something else."
Her eyes sparkled. "Like our clothes." When Martin Short dances
through the aisles of the Royal Alexandra Theatre, you know it's no ordinary
morning. And indeed, the crowd of media and subscribers who sat in
delighted bafflement yesterday as the Hamilton-born comedian careened around
them weren't witnessing your average Mirvish subscription season launch.
Four of the seven shows were previously revealed in the Star: Monty
Python's Spamalot, Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me, Legends and Orpheus
Descending.
The three surprises were the return to Toronto of the longest running
show in this city's history, The Phantom of the Opera; a revival of the 1972
Stephen Schwartz/Bob Fosse musical Pippin, and a presentation of Theatre
Gargantua's provocative look at life in the Internet age, E-Dentity. Joan
Collins and Linda Evans swept on stage to the music from Dynasty, serving
notice that big glamour and big hair would both be part of Legends, the James
Kirkwood comedy they'll star in this September. On the other hand,
Orpheus Descending stars Seana McKenna and Jonathan Goad were consummately
Canadian, swapping jokes about how they had to purchase the clean undergarments
they were wearing at the drugstore because of their crazy work schedules.
Cameron Mackintosh and Stephen Schwartz appeared on film to flog
(respectively) Phantom and Pippin, while the cast of E-Dentity acted out a
small scene from their highly physical theatre piece. That left the stage
ready for Short. With Hairspray composer Marc Shaiman looking like a
piano-playing hobbit who had escaped from a Lord of the Rings rehearsal next
door, the "Ritalin-deprived" Short burst from the wings to grab the
audience by the scruff of their necks and shake them into hysterical laughter.
He performed two of the outrageously funny numbers Shaiman (and his
partner Scott Witman) had written for him: a mock-Godspell ditty called
"Stepbrother De Jesus" (complete with leper jokes) and an Elaine
Stritch-ian ballad of rehab survival called "Twelve Step Pappy."
It was during the last number that Short literally danced through the
audience while seeming to hold a note longer than Ethel Merman in her heyday.
Afterwards, Short unwound in the theatre's lounge as he told the Star
more about his piece. "Our timing is great," he enthused,
"now that James Frey has come along and got everybody doubting everything.
It's all about sleaze, and revelation and self-humiliation," shouted Short
like a demented revivalist, before breaking into a grin: "of course it
helps if you sing it." He breaks into an a cappella version of
another song from the show: "The days of Brice and Jolson are long
gone, alas! Just show them all your mug shot and the crack pipe up your
ass." Things were just as outrageous at the other end of the room,
where Joan Collins, resplendent in a cleavage-bearing red dress, was holding
forth about her role as Sylvia in Legends. "Yes," she throbbed
in that made-for-phone-sex voice of hers, "I'm playing Sylvia, the bitchy,
witchy one. What a surprise! Tell me, darling," she asked, leaning
forward, looking about half of her 72 years, "why do I always play tramps
and hookers and tarts?" She didn't wait for an answer but went right
into a discussion of how the big Act II catfight between her and Evans should
be staged. "I know they originally ripped each other's wigs off, but
I think that's been done to death. Let's try ripping off something else."
Her eyes sparkled. "Like our clothes."
Play's Imperfect But Actors Excel
Excerpt from The Toronto Star - Richard Ouzounian, Theatre Critic
Past Perfect
By Michel Tremblay. Directed by Leah Cherniak. Until April 2 at Tarragon
Theatre, 30 Bridgman Ave. 416-531-1827
(Mar. 1, 2006) If acting were an Olympic sport, then Caroline Cave
would probably have added even more medals to Canada's impressive total in
Turin this year. In Michel Tremblay's play Past
Perfect, which opened at Tarragon Theatre last night, she displays the
kind of fearless courage and willingness to go the distance that marks all the
greats — whether in athletics or the arts. She plays Albertine, a woman
so wrapped up in her own emotions that she becomes a spinning top whose
centrifugal force blinds her to the fact that the rest of the world watches her
with a mixture of tranquility and horror. The end result isn't
necessarily the best or most coherent script you've ever encountered, but it
does provide the opportunity for some highly effective acting, not just from Cave
but from the four other members of the cast. This character, based on
Tremblay's own aunt, is a prominent figure in a dozen of his plays and novels
but, although he's been writing about her since 1966, it's only in this last
work, originally produced in 2003, that he comes to the crux of her problem.
We're in Montreal, in 1930, and Albertine is 20 years old. She's still
recovering from the loss of her "beau" Alex. He's a young man she
dated for over a year, before he dropped her via a "Dear Albertine"
letter that sent her into a two-month nervous breakdown. To add insult to
injury, he began dating her 18-year-old sister, Madeleine, only a short time
later. It sounds like fairly simplistic stuff: Quebecois chick-lit from
the Depression Years. But Tremblay has a lot more on his mind.
If you've watched his plays over the years, you know what a profoundly
unhappy woman Albertine turns out to be and he wants us to see where it all
came from. No, the problem isn't that a guy threw her over for her sister.
It's the fact that she holds on to the pain the way some kids clutch their
teddy bears. What we see here is an exercise in sheer psychotic obsession. Add
a boiling bunny and we're into Fatal Attraction country. The trouble is
that the script grows awfully schematic. Albertine has a "big" scene
with each of the major people in her life: her mother, her sister, her brother
and her ex-beau. They all tell her what's wrong with her and she lashes out
with ever increasing ferocity. Each scene has real punch, but their
ultimate sameness stops the play from achieving any kind of a cumulative
effect. And while Cave acts her heart out as Albertine, the author never really
makes us care for her. Nancy Beatty is magisterially touching as her
suffering mother, Claire Calnan beautifully restrained as her sister, Jeffrey
R. Smith flamboyant but poignant as her gay brother, and Brendan Gall makes
Alex the most empathetic person in the play. We know just why he ran away from
this loose cannon of a woman, fully loaded and ready to fire. Director
Leah Cherniak has framed the whole thing with a lot of silent movie clips, both
real and simulated (Cave alternates with Garbo). They drive home the
theatricality of Albertine's grief, but make us wonder whether or not we're
supposed to care for this woman. Cave never asks for our sympathy, but
she earns our admiration. The play is more perplexing. Why does it ask us to
feel negatively about a woman who is more interesting than anyone else on
stage? The answer may be clear to Tremblay, but it remains distressingly murky
to us.
::THEATRE NEWS::
We Remember Octavia Butler
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com
(Feb. 28, 2006) *Author Octavia
E. Butler, renown as the first African
American woman to receive notoriety as a science fiction writer, died Sunday at
her home in the north Seattle suburb of Lake Forest Park. She was 58. Butler fell
and hit her head on the walkway outside of her house, where her body was found
Friday (Feb 24) according to Leslie Howle, a longtime friend and employee at
the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame in Seattle. Butler, who moved to
Seattle in 1999 from her native Southern California, suffered from high blood
pressure and heart trouble and could only take a few steps before having to
stop and catch her breath, Howle told the Associated Press. The reclusive
Butler, who referred to herself as “a happy hermit,” was the first science
fiction writer granted a 'genius' award from the John D. and Catherine T.
MacArthur Foundation, which paid the author $295,000 over five years beginning
in 1995. The windfall carried Butler out of years of poverty and personal battles
with shyness and self-confidence. Butler was 10-years-old when she began
writing, inspired by a cheesy B-movie called 'Devil Girl from Mars.' After the
screening, she thought, 'I can write a better story than that.' In 1970, she
boarded a bus from her hometown of Pasadena, Calif., to attend a fantasy
writers workshop in East Lansing, Mich. Butler's work wasn't did
not consist of the stereotypical robots and ray guns associated with science
fiction, Howle said. She employed traditional devices of the genre to
explore race, poverty, politics, religion and human nature.
Her first novel, 'Kindred,' followed a black woman who traveled back in
time to the South to save a white man. Butler’s attempt to find a publisher for
the book was a struggle, as publishers repeatedly rejected the manuscript. The
time-travel novel that saw a black woman from 1976 Southern California
transported back to the days of slavery didn’t seem to fit the science fiction
mold followed by publishers. However, Butler kept submitting the novel,
and finally landed a publisher who paid her a $5,000 advance for the
work. Published in 1979, “Kindred” became a popular staple of
school and college courses and now has more than a quarter million copies in
print. Butler went on to write about a dozen books, plus numerous essays
and short stories. Her most recent work, 'Fledgling,' an examination of the
'Dracula' legend, was published last fall. 'She stands alone for
what she did,' Howle told the Associated Press. 'She was such a beacon and a
light in that way.'
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::SPORTS NEWS::
Canada Already Looking Onward And Upward
Excerpt from The Globe and Mail
- James Christie
(Feb. 28, 2006) There is an afterglow from
Canada's record 24-medal
achievement at the Winter Olympics in
Turin, but no lull in the hectic pace of
getting athletes ready to top the medal standings at Vancouver four years from
now. "We're already up to our eyeballs in 2010," said Ken Read, the
president of Alpine Canada and leader of the association of 14 national winter
sports organizations. "There are World
Cups and world championships to finish out this season, some of them here in
Canada, where Canadians can see the next set of Olympic athletes, and our
athletes can get used to performing at home." There's no pause in the action, no pause in the spending.
Positive feedback on Canada's Olympic performances
has been flowing in to Read and officials of the Own the Podium 2010 program,
the $22-million-a-year bankroll to give elite Canadian athletes with medal
potential everything
they need to maximize their chances, including coaching, nutrition, counselling
and the latest high-tech equipment for training and competition. The five-year Own the Podium is being funded half by
governments and half by major sponsors of the Vancouver Games. "We've been getting continuous feedback from the
public and sponsors that say, 'Clearly the team is doing great and you guys
[planners and administrators] are, too,' " Read said. "Canadians don't want to go to major events
half-prepared. This [record medal performance] is something the winter sport
organizations have known to be possible for Canadians for decades. Winning is
very much part of what Canadians want, but in the past we just haven't been
able to do it, for reasons of support or whatever."
Own the Podium is "the icing on the
cake" for Canadian athletes, he added, over and above the core funding of
their sports by Sport Canada. The broad partnership that develops athletes
includes the national sport bodies, Vancouver Games fundraisers, the Canadian
Olympic Committee and the Calgary Olympic Development Association. Own the Podium can be an important finishing touch that
puts a good athlete over the top, Read noted. For instance, the program paid
the cost of testing sleds and suits of Canadian skeleton racers in an Ottawa
wind tunnel at a cost of $15,000 a hour. The return on that investment was a
men's gold medal and a silver and a women's bronze. There were no bleats of envy from Canadian athletes in
Turin, wishing they had the conditions and equipment that others enjoy.
Canadians won medals in 10 sports, a wider spread of talent than any country,
and female athletes accounted for 16 of the 24 medals, more successful than the
women of any country. "We've been
getting postcards from athletes who want to say thanks," said Claire
Buffone, the director of operations for Own the Podium. "One card was
signed by all of Canada's biathletes, and there have also been e-mails and
phone calls." The COC's projection for
Turin was 25 medals if Canada wanted to be on track for a world-topping 35
medals in Vancouver. The previous best was 17 at Salt Lake City in 2002, and
the interim goal of 25 this year was met with some scepticism. "When the goal of
25 medals was put out, the context was what had been done in the past,"
Read said. "But those in sport know that Canadians have gone into past
Games half-prepared. . . . "This is a
team that will capture the imagination of Canadians, that will do what people
want them to do, and demonstrate that Canadians can and will win." Canadians won't have to wait long to see the possible
athletes of 2010.
Mont-Sainte-Anne, Que., will stage the world
junior alpine championships this week -- 250 athletes from 30 countries under
the age of 20. Read said two athletes to watch
there are Shona Rubens of Canmore, Alta., who was on the Olympic team, and
Stephan Guay, younger brother of Erik Guay. "A
good third of our team [are potential 2010 Olympians]. It's an extremely
important benchmark for us." The World
Cup ski tours pick up as well, with the Canadian men going to South Korea for
giant slaloms and freestyle moguls and to Japan for two slaloms. The women head
to Sweden for alpine speed events and cross-country. There's snowboarding World
Cup action this week in Russia and next week at Lake Placid, N.Y., while
freestyle aerialists are in Davos, Switzerland. Closer
to home, Read said the Canadian championships at Whistler, B.C., will be the
first tests of those facilities as an Olympic site, and the world
figure-skating championships are scheduled for March 20 to 26 in
Calgary.
'Everyone Has Clean Slate,' New Raptors GM Says
Excerpt from The
Toronto Star - Doug Smith, Basketball Reporter
(Feb. 28, 2006) Bryan Colangelo has assumed control of the Raptors
basketball organization, vowing to make no significant changes right away.
“Everyone absolutely has a clean slate,” Colangelo, 40, said after being
introduced as the team’s president and general manager this afternoon. “I
told Wayne (Embry), I’ve told Sam Mitchell, I told the team that every one
starts with an absolutely clean slate. There are going to questions about
my guys coming in and different things that might happen but it’s not going to
be like that. It’s going to be about building relationships, learning the
culture of this organization as quickly as I can; about integrating myself into
this city.” Colangelo had been the president and general manager of the
Phoenix Suns until resigning Tuesday to take the Toronto job. He said the
unique situation in Toronto made it an easy decision to jump in the middle of a
season. “You need to look at other opportunities and continue to grow in
your life and it was an opportunity to grow,” Colangelo said at a news
conference. “It’s a challenge . . . the timing worked out and the
opportunity was afforded me to talk to this organization and I made the most of
it.” The son of iconic NBA executive and former Suns owner Jerry
Colangelo spoke highly of Embry’s continued role in Toronto and also vowed to
give coach Mitchell every chance to continue the work he’s done so far..
“I would not have taken this job, I would not have spoken to the board of
directors without the inclusion of Mr. Embry,” said Colangelo.
“It’s a young team, it’s poised to make a run, there is a coaching staff
that is in place that Wayne assures me . . . is a very capable staff. . .
“It’s not unlike the team we had in Phoenix a couple of years ago.”
The 40-year-old Colangelo spent 17 years with the Suns, the past 11 as
general manager. In the 2004 off-season, he lured Canadian guard Steve Nash
away from Dallas, and Nash went on to earn Most Valuable Player honours that
season. "I'm ready to branch out," Colangelo said during a news
conference Tuesday. "I've got 15 very good years behind me with respect to
what's gone on in Phoenix and my participation there ... This is just the next
step in what I hope to be a long and fortuitous career." Colangelo
steps into a favourable situation in Toronto. He will have salary cap room, a
decent draft pick and a budding young star in Chris Bosh. Colangelo
succeeds Rob Babcock, who was fired Jan. 26 by the Raptors. Embry, who
was not interested in the GM's job long term, is a long-time friend of the
Colangelo family. Colangelo said he wouldn't have considered the job had Embry
not been in the mix. "Wayne has been a big part of my life in that
my father Jerry had a great relationship (with Embry)," said Colangelo.
"He will serve as a mentor for me. We can never lose sight of the fact
that there's people in your lives who guide you." Toronto has been
competitive since a 1-15 start but is still fourth in the Atlantic Division.
The Phoenix team built by Colangelo leads the Pacific Division and has the
NBA's fourth-best record. Colangelo's contract with the Suns was
reportedly worth $1 million (U.S.) per year and expired at the end of next
season. He also has an ownership stake in the Suns that he'll have to sell.
The Raptors reportedly offered Colangelo a multiyear deal worth $3
million (U.S.) per year. The job gives him more power over basketball
operations than he has with the Suns. "I can truthfully tell you,
this was not a decision about money," Colangelo said.
With files from Canadian Press
