20
Carlton Street, Suite 1032, Toronto, ON
M5B 2H5
(416)
677-5883
langfieldent@rogers.com
www.langfieldentertainment.com
LE
NEWSLETTER
August 1,
2007
Coming at you one day early this week! I'm
off to Barbados to do some coverage of Crop Over and
to find out how the Bajans celebrate! Thanks to the Barbados
Tourism Authority for inviting me. I'll give you my full report upon my
return.
Want full graphics and all story lead lines? Click HERE!
In the meanwhile, the news doesn't stop! It's Caribana time in Toronto so
check out some of the hottest events going down including Harbourfront Centre's Island Soul and
the popular Old School Request Party! Harlem
weekly event listings with tons of live music listings are below as well.
::HOT EVENTS::
Old School Request Party – Friday, August 3, 2007
SOLD OUT for the past 6 years, the OLD
SCHOOL REQUEST PARTY has
been the hottest Karibana Friday
night party in the city for the mature clientele. This year we’re moving
the party uptown to the immaculate Six
Degrees nightclub (formerly
Berlin), featuring two floors of old school musical vibes with The
“Juiceman” Jonathan Shaw, DOC (CHRY radio), DJ Wayne, Bobby D, MC Toney
Williams, Neddy Nyce - and special guest host Mark Strong. Official
Heat (Western NY and Southern Ontario's #1 music and entertainment TV show)
will also be covering the event. And remember….on Karibana Friday….what
happens in de party…stays in de party…….
View the e-vite for this event HERE. Turn up your speakers....and tek a quick
whine......
FRIDAY, AUGUST 3, 2007
THE 7TH ANNUAL KARIBANA
FRIDAY OLD SCHOOL REQUEST PARTY
Six Degrees Nightclub
2335 Yonge Street (Yonge & Eglinton)
10:00 pm
Get on the $10 guestlist valid until 10:30 pm by RSVPing to info@oldskoolrequest.com
www.oldschoolrequest.com
::ISLAND
SOUL - AUGUST 3 - 6, 2007::
Source:
Harbourfront
Centre
Check out Island Soul at Harbourfront Centre!! Perhaps you’d like an alternative to the other Caribana
festivities and I can’t think of a better place!
(July 18, 2007) - Harbourfront Centre’s Island Soul festival jumps up and jumps through the musical history of Jamaica and
Trinidad with star-studded concerts featuring Barrington Levy, Lord Superior,
Ernest Ranglin, Black Stalin and more! All festival events are FREE admission
(Complete event schedule below).The seventh edition of the festival begins with
two nights of concerts (August 3 & 4) showcasing Calypso’s living legends.
The Calypso Dreams Tour: Last of the Best features multiple Calypso Monarch
winners like Black Stalin, Macomere Fifi and Singing Sandra alongside recording
legends like Lord Superior and The Mighty Sparrow. There will also be screenings
of the documentary CALYPSO DREAMS.
- Jamaica's #1
singer of all time Barrington Levy brings his uniquely
expressive song style
- Calypso
Dreams Vintage performances with Black Stalin, Lord
Superior, Singing Sandra, Valentino and more
- Latin
Urban Dance and Culture Showcase
- History
of Jamaican and Caribbean Dance featuring
Baby Boys and more
On Sunday August 5 Jamaican music comes to
the fore with performances by Barrington Levy and Ernest Ranglin and the Canadian debut of pianist Kathy Brown. The day features screenings of acclaimed
documentaries like MADE IN JAMAICA and COPING WITH BABYLON along with classics
like ROCKERS and THE HARDER THEY COME. The day ends with inspired late night
performances by the Dub Poets Collective.The finale of Island Soul on August 6
fills the Concert Stage with steel pan bands like Afro Pan and the Pan Fantasy
Steelband and ends with a rousing Gospel Extravaganza featuring some of
Toronto’s prominent Gospel vocalists and the U of T Choir! Island Soul embraces
the influence of Latin cultures within the Caribbean with a Latin Urban
Explosion (featuring emerging Canadian Latin talent) and the visual art exhibit
The Way of the Saints: African Symbolism in Cuban Art – which features four
Cuban artists who have exhibited internationally in mixed mediums and painting.
Island Soul
is a festival for all ages and has afternoon family events including canoe
rides on the Natrel Pond and a Friendship Tree craft activity on August 4, 5
and 6. Traditional Caribbean ring games and song games are featured by P.A.C.E.
Canada on August 5.For more information on Island Soul events the public can
call 416-973-4000 or visit www.harbourfrontcentre.com
Island Soul
is part of Harbourfront Centre’s summer series of festivals, World Routes 2007
presented by RBC. Each weekend, top Canadian and international artists perform
in all disciplines including; music, dance, theatre, visual arts, readings and
film. Our 10-acre waterfront site is prized for its fun and educational family
activities at multiple venues, as well as for the diversity of the
International Marketplace and World Café.
Island Soul
– All Events are FREE
FRIDAY, AUGUST 3, 2007
Music:
8:00 p.m. –
Kobo Town (Concert Stage)
9:30 p.m. –
The Calypso Dreams Tour: Last of the Best (Concert Stage) Featuring Black
Stalin, Lord Superior and Macomere Fifi
Film:
6:30 p.m. –
CALYPSO DREAMS (Studio Theatre)
Visual
Arts: The Way of the Saints: African Symbolism in Cuban Art Featuring painting
and mixed medium works by Elio Vilva Trujillo, Francisco Gordillo Arrendondo,
Javier Gonzalez Gallosa and Lino Felix Vizcaino Sarria (Marilyn Brewer
Community Space) – 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. on August 3, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. on August
4 and 5, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on August 6
SATURDAY, AUGUST 4, 2007
Music:
8:00 p.m. –
Moses Revolution with Crazy (Concert Stage)
9:30 p.m. –
The Calypso Dreams Tour: Last of the Best (Concert Stage)
Featuring
The Mighty Sparrow, Crazy, Singing Sandra and Lord Superior
Dance/Music:
1:30 p.m. –
2:30 p.m. – Ijo Vudu Dance Company (Toronto Star Stage)
6:00 p.m. –
8:00 p.m. – Latin Urban Explosion (Toronto Star Stage)
Featuring
Orlando Valencia, Flakko, Shantall, Chicago, Phanta C, Trio
and
special guests Criollo from Montreal
Family
Programming:
1:00 p.m. –
5:00 p.m. – Friendship Tree (Natrel Kids Zone)
1:00 p.m. –
5:00 p.m. – Canoe Rides (Natrel Pond)
1:00 p.m. –
5:00 p.m. – Miss Lou’s Interactive Room (Miss Lou’s Room)
Film:
2:00 p.m. –
MADE IN JAMAICA (Studio Theatre)
4:30 p.m. –
SEQUINS, SOCA, SWEAT – THE HIDDEN HEART OF NOTTING HILL
CARNIVAL
(Studio Theatre)
6:30 p.m. –
CALYPSO DREAMS (Studio Theatre)
Other: 3:00
p.m. - The Canadian Domino League
presents
Domino on the Lake (Lakeside Terrace Tent)
This event
is a demonstration and is closed to competitors.
SUNDAY, AUGUST 5, 2007
Music:
2:00 p.m. –
Kathy Brown (Concert Stage)
3:30 p.m. –
Ernest Ranglin (Concert Stage) – part of the Pepsi Concert
Series
8:00 p.m. –
I-Sax Injah (Concert Stage)
9:30 p.m. –
Barrington Levy (Concert Stage)
Dance/Music:
Toronto Star Stage
1:30 p.m. –
Jamaican Focus: Reggaecise Workshop with Tamla Matthews
4:30 p.m. –
Jamaican Focus: Reggae & Dancehall Dance Showcase
6:30 p.m. –
Jamaican Focus: Reggae & Dancehall Workshop on the Lawn
Family
Programming:
2:00 p.m. –
4:00 p.m. – Children at Play (Ann Tindal Lawn)
1:00 p.m. –
5:00 p.m. – Friendship Tree (Natrel Kids Zone)
1:00 p.m. –
5:00 p.m. – Canoe Rides (Natrel Pond)
1:00 p.m. –
5:00 p.m. – Miss Lou’s Interactive Room (Miss Lou’s Room)
Film:
1:00 p.m. –
THE HARDER THEY COME (Studio Theatre)
3:30 p.m. –
ROCKERS (Studio Theatre)
6:00 p.m. –
MADE IN JAMAICA (Studio Theatre)
9:00 p.m. –
COPING WITH BABYLON – Canadian Premier (Studio Theatre)
Food:
4:30 p.m. –
Labrish - I Remember Jamaica When (Brigantine Room)
Celebrity
and Community leader event celebrating the 45th Anniversary
of
Jamaica’s Independence (Labrish = chat)
Other:
1:00 p.m. -
The Canadian Domino League presents
Domino on
the Lake (Lakeside Terrace Tent)
This event
is a demonstration and is closed to competitors.
11:00 p.m.
– Late Night Dub Poets Collective Spice Up the Place
featuring
Clifton Joseph, Afua Cooper, d’bi young, Klyde Box and Owen “Blakka”
Ellis.
Hosted by Sankofa (Brigantine Room)
– Late
Night NOW presented by Heineken
MONDAY, AUGUST 6, 2007
Music:
1:00 p.m. –
Pass The Torch: The Calypso and Soca Project (Toronto Star
Stage)
2:00 p.m. –
Afro Pan (Toronto Star Stage)
3:00 p.m. –
Pan Fantasy Steelband (Concert Stage)
4:00 p.m. –
Gospel Extravaganza (Prelude) (Toronto Star Stage)
4:30 p.m. –
Gospel Extravaganza featuring Pastor Rich Brown, Kay
Morris,
Marc Masri, Paula Sanchex, Ammoi Levy and the U of T choir (Concert
Stage)
Family
Programming:
1:00 p.m. –
5:00 p.m. – Friendship Tree (Natrel Kids Zone)
1:00 p.m. –
5:00 p.m. – Canoe Rides (Natrel Pond)
1:00 p.m. –
5:00 p.m. – Miss Lou’s Interactive Room (Miss Lou’s Room)
Harbourfront
Centre is located 235 Queens Quay West, Toronto, ON
For public
information please call 416-973-4000 or visit www.harbourfrontcentre.com
::UNIVERSAL SCOOP::
Common’s
Finding Forever
Source: Universal Music Canada
Common rose to prominence as one of
hip-hops most poetic and respected
lyricists having recorded over six albums: Can I Borrow a Dollar?,
Resurrection, One Day It’ll All Make Sense, Like Water For Chocolate, and
Electric Circus. In 2004, he partnered with Chicago native and rap music
mega-star Kanye West to produce the platinum selling BE, which went on
to garner four Grammy Award nominations. In July 2006, his video for the
single “Testify” was nominated for two MTV Video Music Awards including Best
Hip Hop Video. Additionally, Common has written children’s books. The
first one, entitled The MIRROR and ME, teaches lessons of life, the human
spirit, and human nature. His follow-up book I Like You But I Love Me was
recently nominated for an NAACP Image Award, and his third book, M.E. (Mixed
Emotions), will be out later this year. He also started The Common Ground
Foundation, an organization dedicated to utilizing the cultural relevance of
Hip-Hop to serve as an advocate for justice, education, to fight poverty, and
to increase health awareness among youth in underserved communities throughout
the United States.
In 2006, the Grammy Award winning artist made his big screen debut as a musical
performer in “DAVE CHAPPELLE’S BLOCK PARTY”. In January 2007, he
made his acting debut co-starring opposite Jeremy Piven, Ben Affleck, Alicia
Keys, and Ryan Reynolds in “SMOKIN’ ACES” for Universal Pictures and
writer/director Joe Carnahan. Later in 2007, he’ll co-star opposite
Denzel Washington in “AMERICAN GANGSTER”, Directed by Ridley
Scott. He’s currently filming “WANTED” with co-stars Morgan
Freeman and Angelina Jolie and will soon start work on Director David Ayer’s “THE
NIGHT WATCHMAN” starring Keanu Reeves and Forest Whitaker.
Common has always stayed true to the true poetry of what Hip Hop
represents. On his brand new album FINDING FOREVER, Common continues his
lyrical legacy by combining his smooth rhymes with legendary beats from Kanye
West & Will.I.Am & the backing vocals from incredible talents like
D’Angelo, Lily Allen & Bilal. FINDING FOREVER is Common’s latest hip
hop masterpiece & features the brand new single, ‘The People’ – In Stores
July 31st.
::TOP STORIES::
Harbourfront
Centre Unveils The Opening Of Miss Lou’s Room
Source:
Harbourfront Centre
TORONTO,
July 26, 2007—William J.S. Boyle, Chief Executive Officer of
Harbourfront Centre, the Honourable Mary Anne Chambers, Ontario Minister of
Children and Youth Services, the Most Honourable P.J. Patterson, former Prime
Minister of Jamaica, the Honourable Aloun N’Dombet-Assamba, Jamaica’s Minister
of Tourism, Entertainment & Culture and representatives from the Province
of Ontario, officially opened Miss
Lou’s Room today at Harbourfront Centre.
Miss Lou’s Room is named in honour of the late Jamaican-Canadian icon Louise Bennett-Coverley,
affectionately known worldwide as Miss
Lou, who passed away one year ago on July 26,
2006 in her adopted home, Toronto.
“We are
honoured that this permanent tribute to Miss Lou, commemorating her tremendous
contribution to the cultural community, is located at Harbourfront Centre,
where she performed many times,” said William J.S. Boyle, Harbourfront Centre’s
Chief Executive Officer. “Now the thousands of children and families who use
this room each year will be aware of her amazing contribution to world
culture.”
Miss Lou
was an internationally recognized storyteller and cultural figure who performed
many times at Harbourfront Centre in community based festivals and in literary
programmes. Miss Lou's Room features a permanent interactive exhibition and
education area honouring her achievements, including photographs and recordings
of her storytelling and songs. A central venue for many of Harbourfront
Centre’s ongoing programmes, Miss Lou’s Room will be utilized by the School
Visits programme with over 40,000 students each year, the HarbourKIDS family
programme launching this fall, the summer camps programme with between 700-1000
children each day throughout the summer, as well as children’s elements of
Harbourfront Centre’s extensive literary programme.
Miss Lou
was a woman of many talents and accomplishments. She used humour with satire to
deliver potent ideas about the validity of Jamaican identity and language at a
time when cultural differences were not necessarily respected. Her songs,
poems, books, performances, and broadcasts not only were entertaining but also
influenced Jamaican actors, storytellers, dub poets, reggae artists, and
ordinary Jamaicans alike. She was instrumental in preserving and fostering
Jamaican culture in Jamaica, Canada and around the world.
Miss Lou’s
Room was made possible through funding from the Government of Ontario.
Comedy
Fest A Laugh
Excerpt from www.thestar.com - Raju
Mudhar, Bruce Demara, Entertainment Reporters
(July 30, 2007) Around 9 p.m. on Saturday night the crack of
an explosion reverberated through the downtown core. Many of the people
emptying out of the Craig Ferguson Just for Laughs gala at Massey Hall reflexively flinched. The Late Late
Show host and other comics such as Russell Peters and Derek Edwards had
just been making jokes about how wonderful and peaceful Canada is, but there
were a few uneasy punch lines about recent shootings in Toronto.
"Don't worry, it was a planned explosion," reassured a guard at
Yonge-Dundas Square, where comics and buskers performed on Friday and Saturday
night. "All part of the act." Let it be said here: the inaugural Just
for Laughs Toronto festival definitely started off with a bang. Actually,
that particular one was thanks to Germany's Bangditos.
The well-known street-performing crew clowns around on a makeshift fire truck
that sends out flares, loud bangs and belches fire as the amusingly inept
performers flail and flop around. The crowd loved it, as thousands of
people lined Yonge St. to get a better view. It was a different scene on
Friday night, as chants of "Russell, Russell" rang out in
anticipation of Russell Peters, who drew an appreciative crowd of thousands in
the early part of the evening's open-air festivities. The Brampton native – who
recently sold out two shows at the Air Canada Centre and has moved to Los
Angeles to further his career – had the audience in his hands from the onset,
in spite of some edgy humour. "Look at this crowd. There's a sign
immigration isn't working," Peters began, generating a wave of laughter.
"This is the first time Yonge St.'s been blocked off for a long time
without a shooting," he added.
Peters did an opening and closing set that poked cheeky and off-colour fun at
taboo subjects such as race and sex, and ad-libbed freely with the audience,
even nearby mounted police officers. "There's cops on horseback. That's
intimidating: `You're under arrest, hop on,'" Peters said. "He
(Peters) is very up front. He says everything that we are too scared to
say," said Fazeel Haleem, 18, who came from Markham with friends Neil
Chauhan, 17, and Vino Balakrishnan, 18, to see the show. Kristen McGregor, 23,
of Toronto has seen Peters live many times. "He is freaking hilarious.
He's not afraid. There's too much political correctness in the world these days
and comedians sort of break that boundary. But he doesn't break the boundary,
he just shoves right through it. He makes fun of everybody," McGregor
said. Just for Laughs organizers smartly filled the three-night fest with
Toronto favourites such as Peters and Howie Mandel, who hosted the kick-off
gala. The Daily Show's Lewis Black and Ferguson also killed during their
sets. In a very busy weekend of festivals, this first satellite version
of the Montreal festival was well attended, although organizers didn't expect
to make a profit.
"It went great. We were very, very confident what we were doing in the
theatres. We had three really strong galas and an ethnic show that we felt
would connect in the city. All that went very well, not only sales-wise, but
every single gala and the two ethnic shows got a standing ovation," said
Bruce Hills, the Just for Laughs CEO. He added that while ticket sales
went better than expected, the festival did not secure enough sponsorship to
make it profitable, mostly due to how quickly it was put together. Hills
said that they were going to start looking for support for next year's event
almost immediately but wouldn't commit to having a next year ... yet.
"I would be very surprised if we don't secure the necessary
sponsorship but, until we do, we cannot commit to anything unless we have that
in place. We're going to be actively pursuing it now ... and that leads me to
believe that it's going to happen," said Hills. He also joked that
there were plenty of sponsors in the seats who got a taste of what Just for
Laughs is all about. But for the comedy fans, the festival was definitely
a success. Jeremy and Kristy Carr of Buffalo, N.Y., who celebrated their
honeymoon last year in Toronto, came back for their first anniversary. "It's
just a good time. There's enough to do, you never run out. Every time we come
here, we find something else," said Carr, 27. "I really liked
it," said Craig Weir from Brantford. "We've been to Montreal so it
was a lot easier to do this. And I hope they bring the rest of the stuff from
Montreal. "The difference is all the little clubs are busy with
comics, it's just more of an all-city festival."
Cool
& Dre Sign Distribution Deal With Imperial Records
Excerpt from www.allhiphop.com - By
Chris Richburg
(July 29, 2007) Music from hit making production team Cool and Dre will connect with more fans, thanks to a new distribution deal
between their record label Epidemic Records and Skeleton Key
Entertainment/EMI's Imperial Records. Under the recently signed deal, Imperial
Records will a host of distribution and label services which include
promotions, marketing, online marketing and publicity for Misery Loves
Company, the forthcoming Epidemic Records release from Miami-born rapper
Joe Hound. "We're really excited about this Joe Hound project and about us
being in business with Imperial," Cool said about the partnership.
"It's the beginning of a long lasting relationship. Epidemic and Imperial
are going to take it all the way to the top."
Described as an album exploring life lessons and missed opportunities mixed
with detailed musical bits and pieces of Joe Hound's rise as an emcee, Misery
Loves Company chronicles the Bethune Cookman graduate's life. The first
single from the album will be "She Likes It." "Working with
Imperial Records has proven to be "a great experience," said Hound.
"They take care of our needs. It's been a really professional
relationship. They give us opportunities to do whatever we want because they
let us control our own music. You can't ask for anything more than that."
::MUSIC NEWS::
Mighty Quins
Lovin' The Noise Following Release Of The Con
Excerpt from www.thestar.com - Entertainment Reporter
(July
29, 2007) Being intense Virgos is a good thing for the Quin
sisters, Tegan and Sara. With
a jam-packed schedule in the month pre- and post-release of their fifth album
that includes sell-out gigs on both North American coasts, and an appearance on
Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Sara says it's a relief the
Calgary-born twins are both strong at scheduling, one of their zodiac traits.
"It's the best part of the job when the album comes out," says Sara
in a phone interview. The pace is a lot different compared to the year
off the duo had after 18 months of touring in support of their 2004 hit album So
Jealous. It was the first real holiday since high school. A boring life,
the 26-year-old says – the only vice she picked up was a coffee addiction – but
things will surely pick up now that she's on tour.
Earlier this week, The Con debuted to positive reviews – the New
York Times said it "could well be one of the year's best albums"
– for the pair's maturing sound and lyrics. With MySpace and online leaks, the
album is already a hit with their fans, especially the hordes that waited hours
and sang along to new songs at the release party in an independent record store
in L.A. Easily over the 900-person legal limit, Sara says many camped out to
get a sampling of their acoustic set. "There's a part of you that's
like, `Why are you doing that? Why do you want to be there at 6 a.m.?'"
says Sara in a sympathetic yet grateful tone. On The Con, Tegan
and Sara stick to familiar anxiety-ridden subjects such as being wounded in
love and the search for identity. But for two politically active individuals,
Sara says it's hard to pen their beliefs into lyrics. Growing up, the
Quins weren't strangers to rallies and marches since their mother was a social
worker and a feminist. "When it comes down to me sitting down with
my guitar in my room writing a song, I rarely think about saying something
political. I'm not totally sure why," says Sara. "Maybe in my heart,
I'm a romantic and self-absorbed."
The first track on the album, Sara's "I was Married" dabbles with the
issue of gay marriage, but she says it's more of her reflection on her own
sexuality and relationship choices instead of her political leanings.
"I can't believe that what I do in my life," says Sara, "that it
can anger and disgust so many people. Especially touring in America and
internationally as well, it's tough sometimes when you turn on the television
and see your life being debated and you as a person being critiqued."
Tegan and Sara have already sold out many of their worldwide shows up until
December. The two will play the Rogers Picnic at 5:25 p.m. today at Fort York
(www.rogerspicnic.com). Anyone who doesn't catch them on this swing through the
city will be able to hear them when they come back later in the fall as part of
the Canadian leg of the tour. A date and venue will be announced shortly. Or
there's always Conan on Tuesday – there's always something terrifying
about performing on TV, says Sara – where they will perform their catchy single
"Back in Your Head." "They're enjoyable in the sense like you're
trying out a new dive and `I hope that I don't hit my head on the diving board,'
" says Sara. "But if you successfully complete the dive, you're like,
`I'm amazing.' "
Blasting Through Music's Genre Ghettos
Excerpt from www.globeandmail.com -
Michael Posner
(July 26, 2007) From the title of his new CD - Ghettoblaster
- you might
reasonably conclude that Josh Dolgin
is all about rap, hip hop and funk. In part, he is. He even records and
performs under the pseudonym SoCalled, as cool a moniker as you're likely to
find in the South Bronx. But spend a few minutes
listening and you'll quickly discover that the 30-year-old Montrealer respects
a lot of other musical traditions as well -among them, jazz, soul, rock, folk
and klez (klezmer music). And what Dolgin clearly means by Ghettoblaster
has nothing to do with shoulder-fired musical missiles, but with breaking down
the walls that ghettoize those genres. An exuberant exercise in eclecticism,
the album includes the work of more than 40 musicians, including Bronx rapper
C-Rayz Walz, klezmer clarinettist David Krakauer, Indian percussionist Ganesh
Anandan, folk icon Theodore Bikel, Broadway bagels and bongos legend Irving
Fields (now 93), trombone deity Fred Wesley (the genius behind James Brown),
gospel singer Doris Glaspie and Montreal post-rock singer and violinist Sophie
Trudeau. Many of the tunes are traditional, including a children's song written
in 1906, but all are Dolgin's arrangements. "It's all kinds of different
styles and ages and races and generations and everybody is mixed
together," Dolgin explained recently, hanging out in his favourite coffee
house on Montreal's rue Saint-Viateur. "And out of that comes beautiful
songs, sort of based on Jewishy melodies, but with all kinds of other
influences."
Just released, Ghettoblaster has already sold 10,000 copies in Europe -
an astonishing number in an era when almost no one actually needs to buy
albums. One of those artists far better known outside of Canada than in it,
Dolgin is just back from a 20-concert tour of France, Poland and the Czech
Republic. His first CD, Hiphopkhasene, won the German critics' prize for
world-music album of the year in 2003. SoCalled is now finishing up a four-city
Canadian tour, including Montreal, Wakefield, Que., Toronto and Guelph. Then
it's back to Europe for more dates in France, England and Poland. At first
blush, the notion of successfully blending percussive-heavy hip hop with the
minor-key melodies of klez seems unlikely. Certainly that's how clarinettist
Krakauer felt when he first met Dolgin a few years ago. But "when I
listened to it, I was quite impressed." The result is that Dolgin, who
sings with Toronto-based Beyond the Pale and performs with Montreal's Shtreiml
and with L.A.-based the Aleph Project, now tours and records with Krakauer's
Klezmer Madness! group. Krakauer calls his latest release, Bubbemeises: Lies
My Gramma Told Me, the first full collaboration with SoCalled and the
beginning of "a whole new chapter in his life as a composer, a musician
and producer." Theodore Bikel was another convert. They had met at a
festival in Poland and then again in Los Angeles, where Bikel turned up by
surprise as Dolgin was onstage. "I invited him up and said, 'Sing over
this [rap beat]' and it worked, so I said we got to get this into a
studio."
Raised outside Chelsea, Que., the son of a Canadian diplomat, Dolgin was into
hip hop long before he began to explore his own roots in Jewish music. He
started piano lessons at the age of 4 and had to be bribed by his mother to
keep them up until high school. Later, he taught himself the accordion and
played in a variety of bands. Then he discovered hip hop. "I loved
African-American music, particularly funk, James Brown and Sly, and all that
funkadelic stuff," Dolgin says. "Then came rap, which seemed like a
logical evolution from that tradition and also had a message. An incredibly
frank and poetic language was being used. I'd never heard lyrics that talked
about what was happening. A new way of talking about society. A comedic element
was there, but it's also serious. It felt like a new discovery. ... I did not
have to see music through anyone else's eyes." After getting a degree from
McGill University, Dolgin started working as a producer on rap albums. While
sampling different musical sounds for beats, he stumbled across records made by
Yiddish theatre star and scat singer Aaron Lebedev. "It felt like I'd made
like an archeological discovery, like an ancient civilization." He found
more material in garage sales and basements, and Salvation Army warehouses. Its
impact, he says, was enormous. "It made me into a musician, compelled me
to learn how to play better, how to sing, and how to write and perform. It gave
me a unique voice." But Dolgin says he was and is interested in klezmer
music only as "a stepping-off point in creating a new music for today that
blasts out of the ghetto and gets people talking. I've been working my ass off and
I'm getting closer." SoCalled plays the Black Sheep Inn in Wakefield,
Que., tonight the Hillside Music Festival in Guelph, Ont., Saturday and
Toronto's Harbourfront Sunday.
She Struck Yukon Gold
Excerpt from www.thestar.com – Greg
Quill, Entertainment Columnist
(July 26, 2007) "The Yukon River is like a moving lake, a gentle giant
that will take you where you need to go ... whether you're paddling or
not," is the way Whitehorse songwriter Kim Beggs
remembers her recent voyage, by canoe, from Minto to Dawson City. She usually
drives, occasionally flies, but last week the adventurous singer, her pure and
expressive voice likened to Nanci Griffith and Iris DeMent, paddled her way
north on the Yukon, with her guitar bundled in a buoyant foam case wrapped
inside a plastic garbage bag, to perform at the Dawson City Music Festival.
It's a trip that would normally take about four days. "I stopped off
in Fort Selkirk for about 10 days to catch up with myself and get started on
some new songs," Beggs said in a phone interview from Dawson.
"Eventually I met up with some friends who were canoeing to Dawson as well
– (singer-songwriters) Natalie Edelson, Kate Weekes and Kim Barlow – and we put
on a concert in the Anglican church at Selkirk. CBC showed up to record and
film it. "Then we all paddled on to Dawson, eight of us in four canoes
with banjos and guitars and all kinds of instruments." This time of year,
the Yukon is like a highway, she added, "carrying musicians from all over
Canada, even from the U.S., up to Dawson City."
Born in Val d'Or, Que., Beggs spent her adolescent years in Toronto before
heading into the Yukon wilderness in the winter of 1991. "I got to
Whitehorse and stayed. It felt good to me, it started feeding me. Sometimes I
think it's a hard life up here, but Whitehorse gives me what I need." What
it gives her is a vibrantly creative community of musicians similarly lost and
found in the Yukon wilderness, and a generous mentor in Juno Award-winning
music producer and multi-instrumentalist Bob Hamilton, who recorded and played
steel guitar, mandolin and guitar on Beggs' current album, Wanderer's Paean,
a collection of rustic and sentimental ballads. Hamilton and bassist Brian
Kobayakawa, from Toronto-based progressive newgrass band The Creaking Tree
String Quartet, will accompany Beggs in performances Monday night at the
Moonshine Café in Oakville, at the Blues Skies Music Festival in Clarendon Aug.
3 through 5, and Mitzi's Sister in Toronto Aug. 6. Beggs and Hamilton are
also booked at the prestigious Edmonton Folk Festival Aug. 9 through 14.
New Ledisi Project Coming Soon
Source: Ryan J. Hobbs,
ThinkTank Marketing, www.thinktankmktg.com
(July 27, 2007) From her name to her music to her mission to the
circuitous path that brought her to legendary Verve Records for her third
album, Lost and Found (in-stores August 28), Ledisi is a galvanizing, all-natural wonder. Wherever she goes,
she wows and astounds. This year, during a gala Songwriters' Hall
of Fame ceremony, an A-list of show business veterans could hardly wait for
Ledisi's rapturous rendition of "Unchained Melody" to end before
lavishing her with thunderous applause. In 2006, before a rapt contingent of
music business mavens at the Urban Network conference, Ledisi - wedged
between a hip hop act and a tweety bird - brought an audience of astute
professionals to its feet with an amazing a cappella performance of the Beatles
' "Yesterday." Then there was the PBS televised tribute to Ella
Fitzgerald, "We All Love Ella," where no less than Quincy Jones
introduced her to the stage (adopting her as his goddaughter) where she
proceeded to belt out a show-stealing version of "Blues in the Night"
that she had previously recorded for the companion CD with the great Phil
Ramone producing. Singer/songwriter Ledisi (pronounced led-duh-see and
adopted from the word that means "to bring forth" in the Yoruba
language of Nigeria ) is the epitome of the performer that - after she earns a
standing ovation - people stare wide-eyed and mumbling, "Where has she
been all this time?" The lady will tell you - in a voice of equal parts
sweet, slightly weary yet triumphant - "Here...all the time."
Three years in the making, the 16-track Lost and Found (for which Ledisi
co-produced all of the songs with veterans Rex Rideout , Jamey Jaz and Mano
Hanes, newcomer Lorenzo Johnson and longtime collaborator Sundra Manning ) is
the album destined to usher a deserving talent into some well-earned limelight.
Overflowing with deeply touching songs of love and life, the CD cuts a swath
through intimate snapshots of relationships that linger in the mind long after
the last note has been sung. Emotions swing from the soulful swoon of falling
in love with your "Best Friend" to a liberating acknowledgement that
it's time for lovers to throw in the towel on the insanely hooky "I
Tried" (featuring Errol Cooney on guitar - the chorus reads: "I
tried, you tried / We tried…Time to move on!"). "In the Morning"
flows like an old R&B LP a la Stevie Wonder or Barry White , expressing a
woman's need for love after the lovin'. On the more contemporary side are
" Joy " and "You & Me" that telegraph the bliss of
being truly connected to someone. And the smoothly hip hop-spiced "Think
of You" is so reverent that it really couldn't be about anything else but
loving The Lord. The first single from Lost and Found is the moving
"Alright," reassuring words of comfort, self love and survival that
everyone can relate to. "'Alright' came from me just being tired from the
ups and downs of my journey," Ledisi shares. "It came during a great
low as well as a great high in my life. I was trying to stay positive and feel
like, no matter what, things were gonna be alright. Before I signed with Verve,
I was writing and recording songs with no idea where the money would be coming
from to pay for all of it. It was tough." Check out Ledisi's brand new
single, "It's Alright": http://verve.edgeboss.net/wmedia/verve/ledisi/alright.wax;
http://verve.edgeboss.net/real/verve/ledisi/alright.smi
www.myspace.com/ledisi
.jpg){kind=link}
Radio Is Feeling Howard Hewett's New
Single
Source: Rick Scott, greatscottproductions@earthlink.net
(July 30, 2007) The amorous vocal tones of Howard
Hewett are seducing Urban Adult Contemporary
radio listeners with his recently released single, “Can U Feel Me,” the second
cut from the new If Only… album. Each week, the sensual
ballad is amongst the most added to radio stations’ playlists and is earning
significant spin increases ever since it debuted high at #27 on the Urban Adult
Contemporary chart. Now poised to enter the top 20, “Can U Feel Me”
was written by Hewett, Earth, Wind & Fire’s Ralph Johnson, and Joe
Wolfe. Hewett and Johnson produced the track, the follow-up to the top 20
single, “Enough.” If Only…, Hewett’s first R&B album in over a
decade, was released May 15th by The Groove Records label, a division of
entertainment conglomerate The Machine Productions, which is distributed by
Navarre/Koch. To support the album release, Hewett has been
performing concerts across the country. At an intimate club date
recently held at B.B. King’s in the Los Angeles area, Hewett was joined on
stage by the legendary Stevie Wonder and Teena Marie, which stirred the packed
house – including actress LisaRaye McCoy and actress-celebrity fitness trainer
A.J. Johnson - into a frenzy. Hewett also took the stage to perform in
Las Vegas at Chris Webber’s recent “Bada Bling!” Celebrity Weekend to benefit
the basketball star’s non-profit organization that raises money to increase
literacy amongst disadvantaged youth. Also on the bill were Raphael
Saadiq, The Isley Brothers, Slick Rick and Doug E. Fresh.
Next week, Hewett will tape a performance of “Can U Feel Me” for the new TV ONE
network show, Baisden After Dark, hosted by popular national radio
personality-author-motivational speaker Michael Baisden. The airdate will
be announced. Hewett performs on local morning television shows while on
tour and will next appear on Live at 9 for the CBS network affiliate in Memphis,
Tennessee on August 10th.
HEAR "Can You Feel
Me" at Howard Hewett's MySpace page HERE.
.jpg){kind=link}
Mary J Blige, LL Cool, Buju Banton,
Beenie Man and Beres Hammond reigned at Red Stripe Reggae Sumfest
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com -
(July 26, 2007) *The 15th staging of Jamaica’s premiere
reggae music festival, Red Stripe Reggae
Sumfest, has now ended. The nearly 50,000
patrons who attended the three day event should be beaming from spectacular
performances from some of reggae and dancehall music’s hottest acts, and two of
R&B and hip hop music’s most treasured stars. Mary J Blige tore
through the festival leaving the Jamaican audience on a high with her large
arsenal of hits; LL Cool J who was making his debut performance in the island,
had the ladies screaming with delight; Beenie Man was awesome; Beres Hammond
was his usual entertaining self; and Buju Banton ran unchecked with his
showmanship and diverse hit laden catalogue. Other performers who ruled
the stage at Red Stripe Reggae Sumfest included newcomers Tessanne Chin, Tarrus
Riley, Busy Signal, Mavado, Munga, Lady Saw, Alaine and Tanya Stephens.
Mary J Blige is one of those performers who, through music, relates her
own experiences, moving the most stoic of listeners to catharsis. "I was
going through hell, and when you went out and bought my album, I was your
therapist. and when you listened we both began to heal," said the
emotional singer during her Saturday night performance at Red Stripe Reggae
Sumfest's final instalment, The Zenith. Blue lights flashed as the thud
of piano keys heralded the favourite No More Drama, which alludes to her past
struggles with abusive relationships and an alleged drug problem.
The life lessons continued, as the diva's voice soared, meandering through
difficult rifts even as she contorted her slim frame as if each word jabbed her
body. "Don't let the naysayers kill your dreams. keep kickin' 'em to
the curve. Be happy with who you are," the R&B queen declared, her
fans endorsing her statement by way of applause. And after a long sigh, she
proceeded with the love song Be Without You from her late 2005 album
Breakthrough. "I got sick and tired of people's opinions and how I
let that rule my life. as long as I love who I am that's cool," she said,
apt lines for the introduction to Take Me As I Am, followed by the bluesy I'm
Going Down. The audience, however, seemed to have 'first dibs' on the latter
track, nearly completing the song before the singer could utter a note.
The ghetto soprano's four-inch heels proved no impediment for her since she
glided across the stage, dancing, stooping and jumping during the other
renditions: Real Love (her 1994 debut single), Enough Cryin' - produced by
famous R&B producer Rodney 'Dark Child' Jerkins, featuring her rapping
alter ego Brooklyn - and Baggage, among others. Showcasing her impressive
repertoire aside, Blige was the consummate performer, possessing what seemed
like an innate ability to connect with her mostly female fan base - many of
whom were also stirred to emotion. Her set was well-organised and perfectly
executed, which easily made her the best performer of the three-day
festival. The singer, who appeared midway through the show, closed with
her 'crunk' track Dance For Me.
Life On The Road: What Indie Looks Like
Now
Excerpt from www.globeandmail.com
- Guy Dixon
(July 28, 2007) It's tough to be indie when your song is part of a Lacostead
campaign. But indie it-girl Leslie Feist,
who is once again Toronto-based after an extended sojourn in Paris, still pulls
off the indie label, even if her song Mushaboom is the soundtrack for
Lacoste's Essential men's cologne. Or take the ever-combustible Montreal group Arcade Fire, still indie even after opening
for U2, appearing on Saturday Night Live and debuting at No. 2 on
Billboard's album chart in the United States earlier this year with its second
album Neon Bible. Can Arcade Fire even be called indie any more in the
alternative, shun-too-much-attention sense? Neon Bible was the biggest
release so far for the band's small North Carolina record label Merge, with
92,000 copies sold in its first week in the U.S. alone. That's close to a third
of total U.S. sales for Arcade Fire's 2004 first album Funeral, as
reported by Billboard magazine. Neon Bible and Feist's new album, The
Reminder, another international hit, seem to be leading the Canadian indie
wave from strength to strength internationally, particularly if you include the
continuing global interest surrounding Toronto's Broken Social Scene,
Montreal's the Dears and Vancouver's the New Pornographers (who have a new,
heavily promoted album due in the coming weeks on the major U.S. indie label Matador),
to name just a handful.
But look closely at the articles and reviews about these bands for the indie
cognoscenti on the Pitchfork Media website and other influential sources
outside Canada. They mention the fact less and less that these bands are from
this or that Canadian city. After all the attention on “CANADA!” in the foreign
press in recent years, with Arcade Fire's Funeral and Broken Social
Scene's pivotal 2002 You Forgot It In People helping to lead the charge,
things have matured. Now the talk of particular Canadian spots has been
superseded by interest in the orbit of musicians and fans around specific
bands. Or the discussion is about a Canadian band's musical links, such as how
the Montreal band the Besnard Lakes shares its affinity for the music of Beach
Boy Brian Wilson with others, such as indie star Panda Bear (Noah Lennox) of
the American group Animal Collective. Chicago-based Pitchfork's senior news
editor Amy Phillips says whether a band's from Toronto or Montreal isn't the
be-all and end-all. “We'd check out a band because they collaborated with
people from other bands we were fans of, or were produced by someone we
trusted, or were recommended by someone.”
So don't start declaring Montreal or Vancouver hot spots past their peak like
Athens, Ga., or Seattle. It's more complicated than that. “As a label that
works with a lot of Canadian bands – we have nine – I think we're actually
trying to get past the whole Canada thing,” says Chris Swanson, co-founder of a
trio of U.S.-based indie labels, including Secretly Canadian. It's a
tongue-in-cheek name that has less to do with any philosophy and more to do
with Chris and his brother (also a co-founder) growing up close to Canada in
Fargo, N.D. “Don't get me wrong. There is an amazing number of incredible bands
coming out of Canada right now. And I don't think it's any less fertile right
now than it was three years ago,” Swanson says. “But because it got so much
hype, you want to make sure the quality of the band is able to stand on its own,
more so than where they are from.” He adds that the best Canadian bands “aren't
just hip, and they don't just have hip friends, or come from hip communities.
They are making incredible art, and that's what we care about. … There are just
a lot of great musical cities in the world, and Canada has a bunch of them.”
Montreal's the Besnard Lakes is on their roster, for instance, and its album The
Besnard Lakes Are the Dark Horse was recently nominated to the short list
of the second annual Polaris Music Prize, a critics' award for best Canadian
album of the year. “When we met the Besnard Lakes, my partner Darius [Van
Arman] went up to Montreal to watch them play, and there was just a great vibe
in the room,” Swanson explains. “People loved them. A lot of people were there.
We already knew we wanted to work with this band.” But, a Canadian place name
can still count. Malajube, a francophone band with a spectral and yet
humanistic sound (arguably a Montreal quality), has been able to use its
Montreal base to draw interest from the U.S. and even to break into English
Canada. “For Malajube, it helped. [Being from Montreal] doesn't do the whole
job for you, but it opens the door and gives you a first chance. A lot of
media, a lot of people have been more curious,” says Eli Bissonnette, who runs
Malajube's label Dare to Care Records. The trick, however, remains a
particularly indie-style word of mouth, largely Internet and blog-based. Arcade
Fire's Funeral and Broken Social Scene's You Forgot It In People
will forever be associated with Web buzz after rave reviews on Pitchfork.
Meanwhile, the New Pornographers' upcoming album is currently featured on New
York record store Other Music's web page, a coup for any band. And for
Malajube, a surprising boost came when the video for the band's song Montréal
-40°C was featured on YouTube's home page.
“They had 400,000 clicks in a few days,” Bissonnette says about the rush of
people clicking to watch the clip on the video-sharing web service. But for a
stellar act like Feist, it's no longer a matter of luck, Lacoste
notwithstanding. On Feist's 2004 Let It Die, each phase of marketing
evolved as the album reached new audiences. First, the indie crowd was
targeted, then the followers, “all the way to the soccer moms,” as an insider at
Feist's label Arts & Crafts described it. With the new album The
Reminder, “we were able to target a much broader audience from day one.”
And, of course, once you've got the soccer moms, you've got the world.
Sauga
Continues For IllScarlett
Excerpt from www.thestar.com - Entertainment Reporter
(July 29, 2007) Despite the wild impressions some of us
have of the rock
star life, every overnight sensation knows all the work that goes into writing
songs, playing shows to build an audience and attempt to keep it over the life
of a band. Getting noticed is also a huge key, and for local rock-reggae
purveyors IllScarlett, life would not
be the same if they didn't have the gumption to play the Warped Tour in 2004.
Even if it was just in the parking lot. "Yeah,
that's our big Cinderella story," says lead singer Alex Norman, who formed
the band with friends in 2001. "We just set up in front of the (fan)
line-up, and we had our generator and our equipment and started playing. Before
we were done, Kevin Lyman, the tour promoter, came up and said, `I love you
guys, I want you to come play our barbecue.'" It's Warped tradition to
hold a post-show "tiki party" in Barrie, and with that invite the
band found itself playing for all of the rest of the bands on the tour. Norman
says it was awesome. Afterward, Lyman said he put the band on the tour, and so
they have become peers with the bands that once were their heroes.
Now the band has released its major label debut, All Day With It,
following their EP EPdemic that included "Heaters," which was
well received on the airwaves of local rock station Edge 102. The new record
debuted at No. 10 nationally and No. 2 in the city. It's playing four stops on
the Warped Tour – inside the fence, this time – and it's set to show off
its new tunes on the main stage today at 3:30 p.m. at Wakestock, on Centre
Island. Norman says the band wants to maintain the workmanlike approach that
has got it this far. "Well, we're in a really good place right now.
We've been able to do it ourselves for so many years, because it taught us
strong work ethic and a do-it-yourself attitude," says Norman. "And
we're all excited to keep working and playing live and touring, making the best
of it, because I know this could be gone tomorrow." Because of its fusion
of rock and reggae, no discussion of the band would be complete without
mentioning Sublime, the fondly remembered L.A. band in the same genre. No Doubt
is another touchstone, a connection that gets stronger because All Day With
It was recorded and produced by Matthew Wilder (he produced Tragic
Kingdom) in L.A.
Norman confronts the comparisons head on. "Especially recently with
the whole emo, screamo, post-hardcore, and I don't even know what they're
called anymore or where the trends are, but that's a good thing for us ... when
people hear a band that's not screaming or crying and all this sort of stuff, I
think it's refreshing. I mean when people come and hear us they just love it.
And especially when they say you guys are carrying on the Sublime legacy, it's
good. We'd like to be starting our own legacy, but it's okay to be compared to
one of the greatest bands ever." He does bristle when the band is compared
to ska punk. "Well, I hate when people call us a ska band, I mean,
we even have a lyric that goes, `Mixing the reggae, the rock, and the
ska, punk and dub,' but that just works as a lyric. We're more rock-reggae sort
of oriented nowadays," he says. "We like everything and I think that
shows in our music ... we never limit ourselves when we're writing a song as to
what kind of song that it's going to be. We just write it." If there is a
comparison to be made – though it doesn't hold sonically – it is to Billy
Talent, the Streetsville crew that Norman calls friends, and further proof that
Mississauga is the new Scarborough, at least when it comes to burgeoning local
bands reaching new heights.
The band took its name from an area of the 'Sauga that has streets named for
Robin Hood characters, dumping the "W" from Will Scarlett Dr. As well,
all the guys still live in the Mississauga area, including Norman, who's in
Clarkson. But Norman namedrops several bands from the area, and IllScarlett is
touring the East Coast with Billy Talent in September, in a series of shows
that could jokingly be dubbed The 905 Power Hour. "Our band got its
foothold in the 905 scene up in Streetsville at the Masonic Lodge, which is the
same place Billy Talent was doing shows as Pez years and years ago. So it's
really cool to be touring with a band like that ... "We're proud to
be from the 'Sauga. We always like to say we're from Mississauga and not
Toronto. Nothing wrong with Toronto, but it's just one of those territorial 905
things."
MUSIC TIDBITS
Rap Takes A Back Seat On New Kid Rock
Album
Excerpt from www.billboard.com
- Gary Graff, Detroit
(July 27, 2007) There's quite a bit more rock than rap on Kid Rock's
upcoming Atlantic album, tentatively titled "Rock'n'Roll Jesus,"
which will arrive Oct. 9. Recorded at the Clarkston Chophouse studio on his
home property in Michigan, the set cuts a broad stylistic swath, from metallic
headbangers like first single "So Hot" and "Sugar" (the
set's only rap track) to such rootsy, gospel-hued fare as "Amen"
("The best song I've ever written," Rock tells Billboard) and
"When You Love Someone." The Motown-influenced "Roll
On" rolls alongside the power ballad "Miss Understood" and the
Crescent City-flavoured "New Orleans" (co-written with pal David
Allen Coe), while "All Summer Long" entertainingly mashes up elements
of Warren Zevon's "Werewolves of London" and Lynyrd Skynyrd's
"Sweet Home Alabama"-with the latter group's Billy Powell on piano.
The album ends with "Half Your Age," a sly country kiss-off to
ex-wife Pamela Anderson. When it reaches the chorus' closing line about finding
a younger girlfriend who's "twice as hot," Rock throws his arms up
and offers an exultant high five. "I think people expect it," he says
with a shrug and smile, tapping on a cigar. "It'd be stupid to pretend
that it didn't happen and not say anything." Overall, Rock -- who's
dedicating the album to his late friend, Atlantic co-founder Ahmet Ertegun --
hopes the effect is "like going to church drunk on Saturday night. It
defines America; if you just had to play one American rock album for somebody,
this would be it." To support the album, Rock is planning a promo
tour, which will include radio events, prior to the release. There will also be
a series of theatre and club dates to promote the album, with a full-scale tour
planned for 2008. For more on the new Kid Rock album, see the Aug. 4
issue of Billboard, on newsstands and online at Billboard.biz
today (July 27).
Tide Has Turned For Indian Ocean
Excerpt from www.thestar.com – Prithi
Yelaja, Staff Reporter
(July 26, 2007) For Indian
Ocean, the road to becoming one of the
hottest bands in India today has been long and arduous. "We're anything
but an overnight success," chuckles drummer Amit Kilam, over the phone
from Seattle. "We've been hard-working boys. It's been a fairly tough ride
... till a few years back." As part of a 16-city North American tour, the
four-member, New Delhi-based band – Kilam, Susmit Sen, Asheem Chakravarthy and
Rahul Ram – makes a stop in Toronto tomorrow night to launch the mainstage at
Masala! Mehndi! Masti! the South Asian arts festival held at the CNE grounds.
Indian music critics have described Indian Ocean's music as "jazz-spiced
Indo-rock fusion that integrates shlokas, Sufism, environmentalism, mythology
and revolution." But Kilam says they represent the sound of contemporary
India – music that relies heavily on folk music. "We are the youngest
country in the world today. Sixty per cent of our population is in their 20s.
Our audience tends to look to their roots, to folk music for meaning and
inspiration," says Kilam. The band sings in half a dozen Indian languages
including Bengali, Sanskrit, Hindi and Kashmiri, as well as English. They play
a dozen instruments including guitar, drums, flute, clarinet, tabla, as well as
Indian folk instruments.
Is Jay-Z Leaving Def Jam For Columbia?
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com
(July 26, 2007) *The arrival of Jermaine
Dupri as president of the
Island Urban music division in February has apparently rankled the president of
Island’s Def Jam label, Jay-Z. The New York Daily News is quoting sources who confirm that
Jay-Z is in talks to join rival label Columbia Records, in part to get some
distance from Dupri’s kingdom under the same Island umbrella.
"There isn't room for two kings at one label," says a source.
"Why would Island bring in another power-hitter urban guy?"
Ironically, Dupri’s girlfriend Janet Jackson recently left Virgin two
weeks ago and followed signed with Dupri’s Island Urban, while Columbia is the
label home of Jay-Z’s girlfriend, Beyonce. Also, Columbia’s new
co-chairman Rick Rubin has been looking to shake up the label’s A&R
department. "He's creating a supergroup of staff," a
second source tells Daily News column Gatecrasher. "So it would make sense
that he would want Jay on his side."
Spice Girls Add Vancouver Date
Source: Reuters
(July 27, 2007) LONDON — The Spice
Girls announced extra dates for their
comeback world tour on Friday after more than three million fans registered for
tickets on their Web site. The reformed pop group – Posh, Ginger, Sporty, Scary
and Baby – will play three extra concerts in Shanghai, Vancouver and San Jose,
California. The 14-city tour starts in Canada on Dec. 2 and ends on Jan. 24,
2008 in the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires. "In true 'Girl Power'
tradition, we are taking over the world again," the band said in a
statement. "As our own VB (Victoria Beckham) would say – that is
major." The Spice Girls, whose hits include Wannabe, Spice Up
Your Life and Say You'll Be There, announced their reunion tour at a
news conference last month. The band, which sold 55 million albums around the
world, split up in 2000, two years after Geri Halliwell left.
Etta James Hospitalized
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com
(July 27, 2007) *Legendary Blues singer Etta
James is reported to be
in stable condition in a Los Angeles hospital suffering from complications
following abdominal surgery. According to an email sent by James ' manager Lupe
De Leon, the 69-year-old rock 'n' roll pioneer was admitted to Cedars-Sinai
Medical Center this week due to complications from surgery performed last
month. Her hospitalization has caused James to postpone concert
appearances. Blues icon B.B. King and soul veteran Al Green started the tour
without James on Tuesday in Florida . James hopes to join the tour in August.
In the meantime, R&B singer Chaka Khan is substituting for James on the
tour. "If it had been left solely up to her, she would have checked
herself out of the hospital and started the tour regardless of her delicate
health," De Leon said. "However, her doctor advised that were she to
do so, it would put her at very great risk." James is best known for
her classic song "At last." The three-time Grammy winner was inducted
into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993, and remains an active recording
artist.
.jpg){kind=link}
Ice-T Goes Back To His First Love
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com
(July 27, 2007) *Although to prime-time TV addicts, he's probably best
known for his most recent role as a police detective, Ice-T is going back
to the talent that put him on the map: rapping. Next month the
actor/rapper will perform as part of concert tour featuring Mano Brown, MV Bill
, Black Alien and others. The concert kicks off August 9 in Sao Paulo and will
move to Rio de Janeiro , Curitiba and Porto Alegre . Born Tracy Marrow ,
Ice-T is one of the original gangster rappers. His 1992 song "Cop
Killer," performed with his heavy-metal band Body Count, landed him at the
center of a controversy. These days Ice-T portrays Detective Odafin
"Fin" Tutuola on NBC's series "Law & Order: Special Victims
Unit."
.jpg){kind=link}
Lone Black Eyed Pea Announces Album
Release
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com
(July 27, 2007) *After
producing musical hits for artists of nearly every
genre, Will.i.am of The Black Eyed
Peas hopes he can create the same magic for himself. He has announced a September 25th release date for his
first solo album "Songs About Girls." Although he has connections to
plenty of entertainers from Nas to Carlos Santana , the only cameo appearance
on his debut release will be from Snoop Dogg. "I didn't want to come out
and say, 'Hey, I'm a producer and here are all my friends,'" will.i.am
said. "I wanted to be my own man and do my own thing and really try out
some ideas that have been bubbling in my head."
Etheridge Sending A 'Message' On New
Album
Excerpt from www.billboard.com
- Jonathan Cohen, N.Y.
(July 27, 2007) Melissa
Etheridge's first album in
more than three
years will arrive in the fall. Due Sept. 25 via Island, "The
Awakening" is led by the single Message to Myself," which goes to
U.S. radio outlets on Monday (July 30). Etheridge has conquered breast
cancer since the release of 2004's "Lucky," an experience that has
informed the lyrics for the new album. "When I was on chemotherapy,
I listened to all my albums back to back," she told Billboard earlier
this year. "It was therapy for me. I realized what I had been saying to
myself in my music -- the things that I would put down that I wouldn't think
consciously, but I would think subconsciously. When I started creating this
album I asked myself, 'What [would happen] if I create from a subconscious
level consciously?' There are very personal things on the album, including one
of the greatest love songs I have ever written. These songs are 100% truthful
about me and how I am feeling." Among the other tracks earmarked to
appear are "Threesome," "The Universe Listened," "I've
Loved You Before," "An Unexpected Rain" and
"California." "The Awakening" began taking shape
around the time Etheridge won the best original song Oscar in February for
"I Need To Wake Up," from Al Gore's environmental documentary "I
Need To Wake Up." "I was recording ... in between rehearsing
for the Oscars. So I would record for seven hours, go and rehearse for the
Oscars, and then come back and record," she said. "When I won the
Oscar, it was a huge honour. It was like a sign saying, 'You're doing the right
thing.'"
::FILM NEWS::
Funky Cheadle
Excerpt from www.thestar.com
- Rob Salem, Entertainment Critic
Talk to Me
(out of
4)
Starring Don Cheadle, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Taraji P. Henson and Martin Sheen,
written by Michael Genet and Rick Famuyiwa, directed by Kasi Lemmons. 118
minutes. At major theatres. 14A
(July 27, 2007) Like most lifelong friendships – and almost all of them in
movies – infamous '60s Washington deejay Petey Greene and his radio mentor,
Dewey Hughes, started as antagonistic, mutually derogatory polar opposites. Or,
two sides of the same coin. Talk
to Me evokes a time when Black America was
wrestling with, and initiating, tumultuous change, reflected by the unlikely
bond between these two men, a professional partnership that made a significant
impact on their community and their industry. It also has the virtue of being
true. Or at least as unvarnished as a screen biography can be when co-authored
by the son of its surviving subject, Hughes, the actor-screenwriter (She
Hate Me) Michael Genet. Dewey Hughes met Ralph Waldo "Petey"
Greene in a Virginia prison, where he was Big Man on the Cell Block with a
steady stream of profane patter broadcast over the p.a. system. Greene's
pestering finally pressures Hughes into an offer of an eventual job and the
rest is cultural history. Greene was morning radio's first "shock
jock," a voice from the streets who told it like it was to an audience
unaccustomed to hearing the truth over public airwaves. Greene captured the
mood of civil rights-era urban African America, which he reflected back on
itself with humour and uncompromising frankness. And, with the devastating news
of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., he was a soothing source of
comfort and commiseration. Greene became a local hero, then a successful
stand-up comic and TV host. He had dinner at the White House (he admitted
on-air to stealing a spoon), and was about to break through nationally with a
gig on the Tonight Show, but bailed, with apologies to Johnny Carson,
just a few seconds into his act.
Ultimately thwarted by his lack of ambition and by a lifelong weakness for
booze and women, Greene died of cancer in 1984, never reaching the fame that
Hughes had intended for him – and perhaps for himself. The late '60s and early
'70s come kitschily alive with authentic settings and costumes and a
cherry-picked period soundtrack. The characters are brought
.jpg){kind=link}