20
Carlton Street, Suite 1032, Toronto, ON
M5B 2H5
(416)
677-5883
langfieldent@rogers.com
www.langfieldentertainment.com
August 9, 2007
I write to you this week with a heavy
heart as my friend and Canadian soul star, Haydain
Neale, has suffered serious
injuries in a car accident. I solicit you to right now say a prayer for a
full recovery for Haydain as well as loving support for his family and
friends. This is a difficult time for us and reminds us that life is
fragile - love hard and often. More details below including details on
how you can send your love and support to Haydain's family.
On a lighter and happier note, another Canadian star, Wes "Maestro" Williams has tied the knot in a private ceremony in Nassau last
week. We all wish Mr. and Mrs. Wes and Tamara Williams all the happiness
their hearts and hands can hold!
I've just returned from Barbados and will featuring a piece on my coverage of
the 2007 Crop Over with many photos in next week's newsletter. Harlem weekly event listings
with tons of live music listings are below as well.
::TOP STORIES::
Haydain Neale Critically Injured in Crash
Source: ib entertainment
(Aug. 7, 2007) This statement was released today from friends and family of
performer and songwriter, Haydain Neale of Jacksoul. Haydain was in an unfortunate traffic accident on the evening of
Friday, August 3rd. He is in the hospital in critical but stable condition. The
family thanks everyone for their concern and support and hope to have an update
soon. Any inquiries concerning Haydain should be directed to Daniel Mekinda at dmekinda@gmail.com.
Any messages to Haydain and his family will be received with appreciation at
the following email: getwellhaydain@gmail.com. Any cards should be
sent to the below address:
Haydain Neale
17 Stephanie Street
Toronto, Ontario
Canada, M5T 1B1
Jacksoul Singer In Critical Condition
After Crash
Excerpt from www.globeandmail.com -
Unnati Gandhi
(August 8, 2007) TORONTO — A Juno-award-winning soul
singer is in critical condition after an accident, his publicist said. Haydain Neale, lead singer of the band Jacksoul, was
driving when he was involved in a traffic accident last Friday, said Daniel
Mekinda yesterday. He remains stable in hospital. Details of his injuries were
not released at the family's request. The 36-year-old Hamilton native, who now
lives in the Beaches neighbourhood, won a Juno Award this year for R&B Soul
recording of the year for his album, mySOUL.
Jacksoul Singer Neale In Critical
Condition Following Crash
Source: -- Katie Rook, National Post
(Aug. 9, 2007) The lead singer of jacksoul, an award-winning Canadian
band, is in critical but stable condition following a vehicle collision last
Friday night in Toronto. Haydain
Neale, 36, who is known in the city’s music
scene for his warm voice and soulful sound, suffered head injuries after a
northbound Honda, turning west onto Eglinton Ave. from Kennedy Rd., collided
with a southbound Vespa scooter around 10 p.m., police said. Mr. Neale, a
native of Hamilton, Ont., who now lives in the Beaches with his wife and daughter,
released an album in 2006 entitled mySOUL. Over the years, the
band has received the SOCAN Award for “R&B Song of the Year,” a Canadian
Urban Music Award for “Songwriter of the Year,” a JUNO Award for “Best
R&B/Soul Recording.”
Mr. Neale, who is president of the Songwriters Association of Canada, has spent
the duration of this year working on his next album, said Daniel Mekinda, a
family friend. “We’re confident that [Haydain’s condition] will take a turn for
the positive,” Mr. Mekinda said. “All of his family is with him.” Supporters
are asked to email well wishes to getwellhaydain@gmail.com.
Singer Suffering Head Injuries After
Crash
Excerpt from www.thestar.com
- Ashante Infantry, Pop & Jazz Critic
(August 9, 2007) Canada's premier male R&B vocalist remains in
hospital with head injuries after a vehicle collided with his scooter. Haydain Neale, lead singer of two-time Juno-winning
band jacksoul, was travelling south on Kennedy Rd. near Eglinton Ave. about 10
p.m. last Friday when a northbound Honda Civic turned left into his path, said
police. "Mr. Neale appears to have had the right of way," explained
Staff Sgt. Andy Norrie of police traffic services. The accident is still
under investigation and "charges are likely" against a 27-year-old
male driver who was accompanied by several passengers, the officer added.
"There was no alcohol (involved), no speed, no mechanical failure,
no intent," he said. "It's just a tragic circumstance."
Neale, 36, was wearing a helmet, he noted. The raspy-voiced
Hamilton native resides in Toronto's east end with his wife and teenage
daughter. "His entire family is with him," said family spokesperson Daniel
Mekinda, who declined to give further details at the family's request. The
five-member band Neale fronts is best known for the hits "Can't Stop"
and "Still Believe in Love." Their latest effort, mySOUL,
a disc of covers spanning 50 years, garnered a Juno earlier this year for
R&B/Soul Recording.
Funny
Man
Excerpt from www.globeandmail.com
- Gayle Macdonald
(July 26, 2007) Russell Peters latest comedy tour is
appropriately named Homecoming. The Brampton, Ont.-raised comic has been
everywhere but home over the past few years. He's been cracking up audiences
all over the world during almost non-stop touring in support of his hit comedy
DVD Outsourced, based on his Comedy Central special that aired in August
2006. He's sold out rock concert venues in four continents including an
unprecedented two-night sellout of the Air Canada Centre in June, feats that
have him pegged as the hottest comedian in the world at the moment. Peters has
brought his unique brand of comedy back to Canada this summer with an
appearance at the Montreal Just for Laughs festival. He will kick off the
inaugural Toronto Just for Laughs festival, hosting a free evening of comedy at Yonge-Dundas Square on Friday.
But before Peters takes to the stage in Toronto, he'll answer your questions
online. Following Peters's free show in Toronto on Friday, he'll prepare for
his Western Canadian tour that will begin in Winnipeg on Sept. 18 and end in
Victoria, B.C. Sept. 25th. Unfortunately, Russell was able to answer only a few
of the many questions submitted from Globe readers. Those questions and his
answers appear below:
Patricia Smythe from Toronto writes: Any interest in doing a Canadian
television series?
Russell Peters: It's funny, up until two years ago, the best that the
Canadian industry could offer me was a radio play. All of a sudden everyone
wants to do a show with me here. I'm not against it, it's just that I live in
Los Angeles now and I'm juggling offers from a number of production companies
and networks. I had to go to the States to take my career to the next level and
like every other Canadian entertainer, once I went to the States and the
American industry acknowledged that I might have something to offer, the
Canadian industry followed.
This is still home to me, so I'll never say never.
Rex Murph from Toronto: What is your favourite city to perform in, and
why?
Russell Peters: Well now that I just wrapped-up two of the most
incredible nights of my career here in Toronto, I'd have to say Toronto. The
shows at the ACC were an absolute high point in my life, both professionally
and emotionally. I really was almost in tears when I took the stage on that
first night and I saw 15,000 people on their feet cheering for me. It's
something that I could never have imagined.
The Toronto audiences have been with me from the beginning (in 1989) and
they've stuck with me ever since.
Hakim Kassam from Kingston Ontario writes: Hey Russell, I really enjoy
your comedy, but I have friends at college who believe that it is regressive in
the fight to eliminate racism. How would you defend your jokes against this allegation?
Russell Peters: Sounds like your friends have some of their own issues
with racism. Generally I've found that there are two types of people who have
problems with my comedy - either the ultra politically correct who have no idea
of what it's like to be a visible minority or people who have their own racial
issues, whether that means that they've got their own racist issues or they
have their own issues with regards to their race and culture.
I also don't think that we're never going to eliminate racism. As long as there
are different races, there's always going to be one race that will feel
superior to another. What a lot of people walk away with from my material is
that there are more similarities between us, than there are differences.
I also don't really talk about race, I talk about culture.
Stevie
Wonder To Tour
Source: PRNewswire-FirstCall
(August 3, 2007) LOS ANGELES -- One of contemporary
music's most iconic stars, the legendary Stevie
Wonder, announced Thursday that he is hitting the road for the first
time in more than a decade. "A Wonder Summer's Night" tour will
feature an evening of music from Stevie, a performing and songwriting tour de
force who has received an astounding 25 Grammy Awards as well the prestigious
Lifetime Achievement Award. The tour kicks off on August 23rd at Humphries in
San Diego, CA and culminates on September 20th in Boston's Bank of America
Pavilion. The tour is being produced by Live Nation (NYSE: LYV) and company
executive Larry Magid. Tickets are available beginning on Saturday, August
11th. "I am looking forward to performing in these venues under the stars.
We are going to have some wonderful nights of intimate excitement," said
Stevie Wonder. Stevie Wonder released the first live performance to reach the
top of the U.S. charts with Fingertips Part II. His amazing career has earned
him 49 top 40 singles, 32 number-one singles, and an Academy Award(R) for
"I Just Called to Say I Love You," plus Billboard's 2004 Century
Award. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989, alongside
the Rolling Stones.
In 1983, Wonder spearheaded the realization of Martin Luther King Day as a
national U.S. holiday. His participation in the massive 1985 "We Are the
World" fundraiser for hunger in Africa was a music industry milestone,
while his involvement to put an end to apartheid in South Africa is legendary.
Stevie Wonder was the youngest honouree of the prestigious Kennedy Center
Honors. At the 22nd Kennedy Center Honors in 1999, President Clinton remarked:
"In so many ways (Wonder) has helped to compose the remaining passages of
Dr. King's legacy." But it is Wonder's songwriting legacy that has
inexorably connected him to the world. From Motown prodigy to groundbreaking
innovator, he has always believed in music as a transformational force. Don't
miss these special dates. They will be nights of intimate excitement.
"A WONDER SUMMER'S NIGHT TOUR"
DATE CITY VENUE
Aug. 23 San Diego, CA Humphrey's
Aug. 25 Lake Tahoe, CAHarvey's Lake Tahoe
Amphitheatre
Aug. 26 Concord, CA Concord
Pavilion
Aug. 28 Santa Barbara, CA
Santa Barbara Bowl
Aug. 30 Portland, OR Edgefield
Amphitheatre
Aug. 31 Woodinville,
WA Chateau Saint Michelle Winery
Sept. 4 Saratoga, CA Mountain Winery
Sept. 5 Los Angeles,
CA Greek Theatre
Sept. 10 Chicago, IL Charter One
Pavilion
Sept. 12 Detroit, MI Meadowbrook
Sept. 14 Atlanta, GA Chastain Park
Amphitheatre
Sept. 16 Baltimore, MD Pier Six Pavilion
Sept. 20 Boston, MA Bank of
America Pavilion
Death
Of Canadian At Actor's Home A Mystery
Excerpt from www.globeandmail.com -
Unnati Gandhi
(August 8, 2007) The last time anyone saw Jacob
Adams
alive, he was playing with his friend Ving
Rhames's four large dogs. The next morning, the Canadian scriptwriter was
found dead on the actor's front lawn in affluent West Los Angeles, dog bites
and blood all over his chest, legs and arms. But what happened in those
intervening hours has everyone from police to friends scratching their heads.
An autopsy Tuesday found the 40-year-old did not die as a result of the bites,
and that he was healthy in every other way. Police say Mr. Adams, who had been
living at the Mission Impossible co-star's home for the past two years
and worked as his professional stand-in, was seen outside the Brentwood,
Calif., home at about 8 p.m. last Thursday. Half an hour later, friends tried
calling him but got no answer. Whatever spurred one of the 90-kilogram
mastiffs to give chase had Mr. Adams running so hard that police found his
shoes more than nine metres from where his body was discovered. “He made it to
the gate, he got the gate closed to keep the dogs inside that grassy area, and
he collapsed on the other side of that gate, about three feet from it,” said
West Los Angeles Lieutenant Ray Lombardo. When police arrived, the dogs –
one with blood on its right forepaw; the other so old it hardly had any teeth –
were running around freely on the lawn. Mr. Adams was pronounced dead at the
scene.
Tuesday, the dogs were still in the custody of animal control. Mr. Rhames's
wife told police Tuesday that the dogs, which the family has owned for about
seven years, were very gentle. “She said she has two young children and that
the dogs had never viciously turned on anybody,” Lt. Lombardo said. Most of the
bites were superficial, the Los Angeles coroner's office said Tuesday. It was
also determined that Mr. Adams did not die of a heart attack and did not have
any clogged arteries. The body is now being sent in for toxicology tests. “At
this point, it's simply a mystery. We're ruling it an undetermined death,” Lt.
Lombardo said. He believes the dogs – “they're big dogs; they look like
lions,” he said – sensed something was wrong with Mr. Adams and were trying to
help him by pulling on him. There were no bites on the head or neck. Mr. Adams,
who is from the Toronto area, had met the Pulp Fiction actor several
years ago on the Canadian set for Kojak, a made-for-television movie in which
Mr. Rhames played a police detective. Mr. Adams had written that film's script.
The two men got along very well in a short time and became good friends. “He
took a real liking to Jacob,” Anne Dodds, a long-time friend of Mr. Adams, said
Tuesday. Mr. Rhames then asked Mr. Adams if he would like to work for him. “He
had apparently said to Jacob, ‘When I'm here, I want you to stand in for me,
but when I'm not here, treat my home in Vancouver, treat my home in Los
Angeles, as your own home,'” Ms. Dodds said in an interview. “This man, when he
was a friend, he was a friend,” Ms. Dodds said of Mr. Adams. “If you ever had a
down time, he'd give you that lift to make you feel better about yourself.”
With that, Mr. Adams moved to Los Angeles two years ago, where he lived in Mr.
Rhames's estate with his wife and two young children. Mr. Adams is not married
and recently got his green card. The deal was that whenever Mr. Rhames was out
of town – he's currently in Europe – Mr. Adams would take care of the “odds and
ends” around the house, police said.
::MUSIC NEWS::
Courthouse Saving Hot Jazz For Cooler
Days
Excerpt from www.thestar.com - Ashante
Infantry, Pop & Jazz Critic
(August 05, 2007) Four months after its auspicious launch, Toronto's newest
jazz club is taking a break. Live@Courthouse will close to the public tomorrow and
reopen in September – a hiatus necessitated by a dismal turnout over the last
four weeks, said its operators. "We're losing money and we're not in
the business of losing money," said jazz impresario Pat Taylor, who runs
the Adelaide St. E. venue with entrepreneur Nick Di Donato. After realizing
capacity crowds of up to 400 nightly in June, for acts such as Mike Stern and
Freddie Cole during programming for the Canada Trust TD Jazz Festival (of which
Taylor is executive producer), attendance at the venue fell dramatically, but
not unexpectedly. "I was hoping business was going to be better than I
predicted," said Taylor of the swank 150-seat destination that opened in
March. "But there's so much activity going on. Everybody's outside,
sitting on patios and enjoying their decks, it's hard to get them inside.
"We had a close-to-break-even April/May, and June was fabulous. But July
lost money and August was going the same way." Cover charges at the venue,
which features eight-metre ceilings, iron lace balconies and a top-shelf German
sound system, range from $10 to $30.
The city's big jazz spots are typically vulnerable during the midsummer. Both
the 120-seat Montreal Bistro & Jazz Club (closed in 2006) and 150-seat Top
O' the Senator jazz club (closed in 2005) used to shutter in July, within days
of the end of the Toronto Jazz Festival. Jazz aficionados have high hopes for
Courthouse, which is located on the second and third floors of a historic
building and was renovated at a cost of more than $500,000. Its owners
are not rookies. Taylor has helmed the jazz fest for 21 years. As president of
Liberty Group Entertainment, Donato oversees a roster of successful spots,
including Rosewater Supper Club (adjacent to Courthouse) and Phoenix Concert
Theatre. It's because Liberty owns the landmark building that housed a
courthouse until 1899, and was later home to the exclusive Arts & Letters
Club, that pausing the jazz program is even an option. "We're in
control," said Taylor. "One partner is the landlord and we both have
other livelihoods." Once the duo made the decision Wednesday to scale
back, Taylor had to notify local artists such as pianists Bill King, Robi Botos
and Bernie Senensky that their August gigs were cancelled. "Not one
of them was surprised," he said. "They're all seasoned pros."
Taylor stressed that although the club is closed to nightly jazz, it will still
host private events, such as a wedding today. And, he said, most of the dozen
staff would find work at other Liberty operations. When Courthouse does reopen
at an undetermined date next month, the programming will consist of more
big-name touring artists, he said, adding that patrons can expect the summer
closing to become a tradition. "I'll reiterate what I said to the
public when we first opened: `We've done everything we can, now it's up to you,
whether you want to come out and support this music.'"
Gay Community Splashes Out For Caribana
Excerpt from www.thestar.com - Ashante
Infantry, Pop & Jazz Critic
(August 05, 2007) One thing's certain Caribana
weekend: a
soiree to suit every passion. Boat cruise? Barbecue? House party? Hip-hop
jam? Vintage reggae? Soca rave? All ages? Older couples? Sexy singles? It's
covered. Now, even the city's gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender
community is getting in on the action. "Busy, busy, busy; I'm going
crazy," said Mykel Hall a.k.a. DJ Blackcat as he dashed about a few days ago organizing the
three-day Toronto Splash, billed as "The Only Official Gay Caribana
Events." Not that the event, which concludes today with Summer Breeze, an
outdoor fete at the Zippers/Cellblock complex (72 Carlton St.) and party
tonight at Goodhandy's (120 Church St.) is sanctioned by Caribana organizers –
any more than the multitude of happenings capitalizing on the festive
environment the annual festival engenders. "Traditionally, Caribana
weekend our community goes to Montreal for their Pride," explained
35-year-old Hall, Toronto-born of Jamaican parents. "But what happens when
you're gay and Caribbean and want to jump up?" In previous years, the
long-time promoter would stage one or two functions as alternatives to the
plethora of straight parties. This time, he teamed up with two other vets,
Murchy P. and Anopenmind, to stage a full weekend of gay-friendly bashes
featuring out of town deejays and exotic dancers.
"We want to make the Caribana weekend as big as Pride," he explained.
"This year we're putting the focus on the party aspect, but in the future
we want do workshops and film screenings." The deejay, who took his
name from the title of a popular Janet Jackson song, specializes in reggae,
house music, calypso and hip hop. "The bulk of my work is in the gay
community, because they know me more, but I've also played in straight
clubs." With an extensive email list and glossy postcard flyers, he
expected each night would attract up to 800 people – including dozens expected
from Atlanta, Boston and Washington, D.C. Hall would like to see Toronto Splash
become a massive celebration of queer and ethnic pride, similar to yearly
affairs in some U.S. cities. And it would not detract from the annual parade,
he insisted. "We don't even schedule any events during the day on
Saturday," he pointed out. "Caribana is an amazing thing that happens
in this city." Like Hall, CKLN radio host Nik Redman, 38, a self-described
"black queer trans man" is careful to say he has never felt direct
hostility from Caribana revellers but prefers to be where tolerance is assured.
"I don't want to spend my money anywhere I may not be accepted," he
explained. "I don't know if the people at some of those places would be
okay if two men or two women wanted to dance together or be affectionate. We
don't want to be closeted." Redman, who donned a costume and danced with
the Toronto Island Mas Band last Caribana, does recall hearing reggae and soca
artists singing homophobic lyrics at the festival in previous years. It's an
issue gay and transgender turntablists confront regularly. "I don't
believe in banning artists; I just won't play that particular (offensive) song,"
said Hall. "Where would I be as a DJ if I never play an Elephant Man tune?
The music aficionado does admit to not being as strident with misogynistic
songs. "I don't play a lot of bitches and hos stuff ... when something
does not really directly affect you, you don't really think about it."
Who Is Eric Roberson?
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com
(August 7, 2007) *Eric
Roberson has been the man
standing next to the man since the onset of the so-called neo-soul movement in
the mid to late nineties. But we've always known that this man has the
skills to pay the bills. And if his BET J "Cool Like That"
award nomination is any indicator, Roberson is in a class with some of the
best. "It was the BET J Award (nomination). It was Musiq Soulchild,
Gerald LeVert and myself that were nominated, and Brian McKnight as well,"
said Roberson of that special night at the BET Awards. "I'm
honoured. I am a fan of each one of them that was mentioned and being mentioned
in the same breath as them as an independent artist means a lot to me."
Back in the mid 90s Roberson languished on Warner Bros. Here's yet another
talented individual that's doing his thing on the oft times frowned upon indie
circuit. But, counter to big label naysayers, an artist can definitely
get paid on the underground. "We're just going to be touring,
man," the Rahway, New Jersey born artist told our reporter.
"We're booked all the way up through October and we're going to be touring
overseas. It'll be an honour to go out and party on tour and share our
stories with the people. We're celebrating the new album and we're just
going to take it from there." Taking it from "there" is taking
it very far indeed. Eric Roberson's new set is titled
"Left" and it has been killing them softly on adult contemporary
radio since its release on his very own Blue Erro imprint.
Art Davis, Jazz Musician: 73
Excerpt from www.thestar.com - Associated
Press
(August 04, 2007) LONG BEACH, Calif. – Art Davis,
the
renowned double bassist who played with John Coltrane and other jazz greats,
has died. He was 73. Davis died of a heart attack Sunday at his home in Long
Beach, his son Kimaili Davis told the Los Angeles Times for a story in
Saturday's editions. Davis was blacklisted in the 1970s for speaking up about
racism in the music industry, then later earned a doctorate in clinical
psychology and balanced performance dates with appointments to see patients.
"He was adventurous with his approach to playing music," said pianist
Nate Morgan, who played with the elder Davis intermittently over the last 10
years. "It takes a certain amount of integrity to step outside the box and
say, 'I like it here and I'm going to hang here for a while.''' Known for his
stunning and complete mastery of the instrument, Davis was able to jump between
genres. He played classical music with the New York Philharmonic, was a member
of the NBC, Westinghouse and CBS orchestras, and played for Broadway shows. The
most enriching experience of his career was collaborating with John Coltrane.
Described by jazz critic Nat Hentoff as Coltrane's favourite bassist, Davis
performed on the saxophonist's albums including "Ascension," Volumes
1 and 2 of "The Africa/Brass Sessions" and "Ole Coltrane.''
The two musicians met one night in the late 1950s at Small's Paradise, a jazz
club in Harlem. Davis viewed his instrument as "the backbone of the
band," one that should "inspire the group by proposing harmonic
information with a certain sound quality and rhythmic impulses," Davis said
in an excerpt from So What magazine posted on his Web site. By following his
own advice, Davis' career flourished. He played with a long and varied list of
artists: Thelonious Monk, Duke Ellington, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Louis Armstrong,
Judy Garland, John Denver, the trio Peter, Paul and Mary and Bob Dylan. Davis
began studying piano at age 5 in Harrisburg, Pa., where he was born in 1933. By
sixth grade Davis studied the tuba in school because it was the only instrument
available, he said. By 1951 he decided to make music his career. He chose the
double bass, believing it would allow more opportunities to make a living. At
age 17 he studied with the principal double bassist at the Philadelphia
Orchestra. But when he auditioned for his hometown's symphony, the audition
committee was so unduly harsh and demanding that the conductor Edwin MacArthur
questioned their objectivity. "The answer was, 'Well, he's colored,' and
there was silence,'' Davis recalled in a 2002 article in Double Bassist
magazine. ``Finally MacArthur burst out, 'If you don't want him, then you don't
want me.' So they quickly got together and accepted me.'' After high school,
Davis studied classical music on scholarship at the Manhattan School of Music
and the Juilliard School of Music. At night he played jazz in New York clubs.
In the 1970s, his fortunes waned after he filed an unsuccessful discrimination
lawsuit against the New York Philharmonic. Like other black musicians who
challenged job hiring practices, he lost work and industry connections.
With less work coming his way, Davis returned to school and in 1981 earned a
doctorate in clinical psychology from New York University. For many years he
was a practicing psychologist while also working as a musician. As a result of
his lawsuit and protest, Davis played a key role in the increased use of the
so-called blind audition, in which musicians are heard but not seen by those
evaluating them, Hentoff said. The accomplished musician also pioneered a
fingering technique for the bass and wrote "The Arthur Davis System for
Double Bass.'' Davis also wore the hat of university professor. He taught at UC
Irvine for two years. Most recently Davis was a part-time music instructor at
Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa. Besides his son Kimaili, Davis is survived
by another son and a daughter.
Levy The Living Legend Of Jamaican
Reggae
Excerpt from www.thestar.com - Tim Lai,
Entertainment Reporter
(August 04, 2007) Although Barrington
Levy is one of the
living legends of reggae and dancehall, the Jamaican star has never performed
during Toronto's ode to the Caribbean, one of the city's highlights of the
year. Nevertheless, the 43-year-old is featured tomorrow night when he takes
his famous scatting and wailing on to the concert stage at Harbourfront Centre
for Island Soul – his jams will definitely get the crowd grooving.
"You come with the vibes, I'll bring the vibes," said Jamaica's
top-selling artist over the phone. "I'm definitely looking forward to
putting on a good show for the Canadian people." Levy, who has inspired
many of today's reggae stars, said he's looking forward to absorbing the city's
Caribbean soul when he arrives in town, even though he admits he's never even
heard of Caribana, a boisterous festival celebrating its 40th anniversary this
weekend. Since breaking out in Jamaica nearly 30 years ago as a powerful
and poignant vocalist, Levy has captured fans from around the world with such
hits as "Under Mi Sensi," "Murderer" and "Living
Dangerously" – the vibrant collaboration with Bounty Killer, one of the
island's most famous DJs.
Although Levy has a library of smash hits, along with a number of remixes, he
promises some new material will be on his forthcoming album – his first
original record in more than a decade. "Nobody has heard the new
stuff yet," he said. "I'm planning that it will be my final album,
actually." A release date hasn't been set yet, but he said he may release
singles here and there. In the meantime, he'll concentrate on his first
passion: touring and live performances. "There's no slowing, there's
no such word. That's all I know, that's all I've been doing," he said.
Levy said much of his new material came in bits and pieces over the
years, as he did a number of collaborations with Shaggy, Snoop Dogg and Shyne.
"You don't want to overdo it and I'm not the type of artist who will
overdo it," he said. His latest partnership was with Red-1 of
Vancouver's Rascalz, in which he provided his vocals to "No Fuss" on
the album Beg for Nothing, released earlier this year. They collaborated
before on "Top of the World," the Rascalz 1999 hit that also featured
an up-and-coming K-os.
Go Big Or Go Home
Excerpt from www.globeandmail.com
- Michael Posner
(August 1, 2007) After three decades of success in any field,
many artists might start to think about slowing down. Not Jack Lenz. Overseeing
Lenz Entertainment, a company of about 60 musicians, writers, engineers and
puppet artists, the fifty something Toronto-based composer and arranger is
looking to expand. He claims his broad-based firm is now the fastest-growing in
his field in Canada, producing and writing music for television series,
specials and feature films, as well as developing a stable of young recording
artists. To bring what had been its disparate operations under one roof, the
firm recently bought a 25,000-square-foot facility in Thorncliffe Park,
complete with two state-of-the-art recording and engineering studios and a
puppet-making shop for the animated children's series it is producing. There's
talk of building a TV studio on the property to avoid renting space, and this
year Lenz will begin production of a long-nurtured feature film, Mona's
Dream. "We got to the point where we had worked on so many shows that
we thought, 'Hey we can do this,' " Lenz says of his decision to go big.
He's a tall, broad-shouldered, florid-faced man with a warm smile, a hearty
laugh and a ready quip. "There may be a bit of folly here, but we had to
grow. We couldn't stay where we were. So we went out and got some investors,
including Ole, a Toronto music publishing company. And we've created, I think,
a unique, independent, Canadian model." The competition is fierce, he
acknowledges. The budget for music in most films, he says, is less than 1 per
cent of total costs, "and it's dropping, and you're competing with guys
who work out of their basements. Producers are quite happy with that because it
costs them less."
Meanwhile, Lenz's 29-year-old son, Asher, a classically trained pianist, has
joined the firm as a songwriter, while his wife, Debrah Burton-Lenz, looks
after the company's business affairs. There's no questioning Lenz's musical
talent. He has been a composer and arranger for Jimmy Seals and Dash Crofts,
written scores of jingles (including the Toronto Blue Jays' theme song, OK,
Blue Jays, Let's Play Ball), scored dozens of TV shows (from the CBC
National News to Due South to Designer Guys to Little
Mosque on the Prairie), and several feature films (among them Paul Gross's Men
with Brooms and Mel Gibson's controversial The Passion of the Christ,
although he was subsequently replaced by John Debney). "Ooh, boy,"
Lenz laughs now, recalling the latter experience. "As a person, Mel's a
very sweet guy. But the religious thing is so crazy and his views are crazy. It
was a tough go. I think he's a tortured guy." When an article in the
Sunday New York Times Magazine came out about Gibson and his father, Hutton, a
Holocaust denier, Lenz told him: "If it were my dad saying these things,
I'd distance myself." More recently, the Lenzs - père et fils - have
written a single for Andrea Bocelli (Go Where Love Goes). And Asher,
working with singer Adam Crossley, sold a song to pop sensation Josh Groban (So
She Dances). Crossley, putting the finishing touches on his first album of
songs co-written with Asher (Anvil of the Heart), is one of several
performers that Lenz Entertainment hopes it can stage-manage into stardom. An
American, he describes his music as hillbilly, "paddleboat rock."
Other Lenz hopefuls include teenage opera prodigy Holly Stell, gospel singer
Mark Masri and jazz crooner Cal Dodd.
For years, Lenz earned a tidy income from royalties of music written for
children's TV shows, many of which run in syndication forever. Some years, he
cashed more royalty cheques than any other member of the Society of Composers,
Authors and Music Publishers of Canada. If the fees for writing music
were attractive, Lenz reasoned, why not produce the whole shebang - make the
puppets, draft the scripts, score the music. Now, in partnership with Grogs
Inc. (Jamie Shannon and Jason Hopley), Lenz has produced Nanalan, a
Gemini-award-winning preschool puppet series (reruns are on CBC, new shows are
being made for PBS); Weird Years, an animated fish-out-of-water series
featuring the adventures of the Dorkovitch family on YTV; Mr. Meaty, a
short, offbeat animated after-school show for Nickleodeon, which also airs on
CBC, with more than 100 puppet characters; and Ooh & Aah - puppet monkeys
that, after winning a stiff competition, began hosting the U.S. Disney
Channel's playhouse programming block in March. A new, five-minute adult puppet
series, Swami Jeff's Temple of Wisdom, will start airing on ABC
Australia this fall, and Lenz has signed a development deal with Teletoon to
expand the series to half-hour shows. A practising member of the Baha'i faith
since 1969 and the father of seven children, Lenz was raised in rural
Saskatchewan, the son of a Scottish mother and Hungarian father. He studied
piano as a child and later composition at the University of Saskatchewan but, convinced
that he couldn't be the teacher his mother wanted him to be, left after two
years.
Migrating to Toronto in his late teens, he hung around the local music scene,
met soft-rockers Seals and Crofts and, talking himself into a job, eventually
became their keyboard and flute player. He toured the world with them, and with
Kenny Loggins and Jim Messina. Asher's route into the business included
classical piano and then jazz, which he studied in New York. "I found it
provided you with a lot more tools in terms of writing your own music," he
said. I asked Lenz, who remains in awe of the great classical composers of the
past three centuries, whether we would still be playing the work of
contemporary writers 300 years hence. "I think we're at the end of a civilization,
not the beginning. Bach and others were the fruition of a series of cultural
and religious developments. We're at the end of that period and at the
beginning of something else. But the beginnings are seldom remembered, just the
fruitions. In the chaos of the 20th century and beyond, where is there an
environment that produces greatness. I don't see it." Of all the projects
on his plate, Lenz is probably most excited about his feature film, Mona's
Dream. His script tells the story of Iran's persecution and execution in
1983 of teenager Mona Mahmudnizhad and nine other members of her Baha'i faith.
The film, which will star Keisha Castle-Hughes (Whale Rider), has a
projected budget of $7-million to $10-million. He's still seeking a
co-production arrangement and some foreign financing. Meantime, Lenz is
enjoying his new role as an initiator of projects. "You know," he
says, "they used to ask [ composer and lyricist] Sammy Cahn which came
first - the music or the words. His answer: The phone call." Now, it's
Jack and Asher Lenz making those calls.
EUR Jill Scott Exclusive!
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com
(August 2, 2007) *Fans of Grammy winner Jill Scott in particular and good
music in general, rejoice. Her third solo CD, "The Real Thing (Words And
Music Volume 3)," is set for release on September 25. The news gets even
better. You don't have to wait that long to hear it. EURweb, along with Hidden
Beach Recordings, is making it possible for you to preview Jilly from Philly's
sensational new project right here and now. (Just click the player below).
Remember, this is an online exclusive from EURweb. But guess
what? The news keeps getting better. Hidden Beach Recordings (http://www.hiddenbeach.com/)
is making it possible for you to download your very own mp3 copy of this
historic sampler. The first 5000 people get it for free! Just scroll
down to click the link.
More About Jill Scott's New CD:
"The Real Thing" (09-25-07) will include 17 Brand New Songs. It's
being described as a "complete body of work." One that you can simply
"put the needle down and let it play" from start to finish; its full
of wonderful songs and music. It's a complete listening experience.
Hidden beach also says there will also be a Deluxe Limited Edition featuring
all of Jill's videos including her two new singles, "Hate On Me" and
"My Love." Also included is the "Running Away" bonus track
where Jill gives her approach on songwriting, an exclusive performance from her
forthcoming Jill Scott: Live In Paris" release and more.
To Download The Sampler:
http://family.hiddenbeach.com/index.php?automodule=downloads&showfile=10
To Write Jill Scott A Letter:
http://www.jillscott.com/fanbook/
To Visit Jill Scott's Site:
http://www.jillscott.com/fanbook/
Keeping It Real With Ne-Yo
Excerpt from www.globeandmail.com
- Joshua Ostroff
(August 3, 2007) Most modern R&B singers portray
themselves as bigger-than-life lovers, either panting salacious sweet nothings
or detailing post-club sexcapades. But not every girl is crazy about a dirty-mouthed
man. For these ladies, Ne-Yo has become their approachable crooner of choice. “We've
had the era of mystique,” Ne-Yo explains. “But in a day where we have reality
TV shows and behind-the-scenes stuff, I think people want to know that you're a
human at the end of the day, not just some mystical being who creates music.”
In fact, the 24-year-old with two chart-topping albums of traditional R&B
under his belt – 2006's In My Own Words and this past spring's Because
of You – seems as down-to-earth as his given name, Shaffer Smith. Heck,
even when describing his Las Vegas upbringing, Ne-Yo makes the City of Sin
sound positively quotidian. “Of course there's the Strip, but that's just one
street. Las Vegas is a lot bigger. Other than that, it's just neighbourhoods
and hospitals and McDonalds and all kind of regular stuff.” Truth is, Ne-Yo
isn't quite as everyday as he seems. Plenty of teens pen lyrics in their
notebooks, but when Smith was 16, he already had a manager. In 1999, he wrote
for forgettable boy band Youngstown and landed a major label deal two years
later. But Columbia Records, currently kicking themselves, saw no future for
the young singer-songwriter. They dropped Ne-Yo, shelved his debut and handed
his song That Girl to singer Marques Houston. It became a minor hit in
2003 and artists started seeking out its writer. Ne-Yo next wrote Mario's Let
Me Love You and nailed his first No.1 single.
But despite this behind-the-scenes success, Ne-Yo still wanted to be behind a
microphone. True to form, he doesn't throw up a faux-macho front –
transitioning from backstage to onstage was nerve-racking and he's not afraid
to admit it. “To be an artist is to be a little emotional, a little insecure.
You want and need that acceptance from your peers and everybody else, so yes,
there was a little doubt in my mind. What am I gonna bring to this music
business? What is going to separate me from these other cats? Why would a
person buy my album when they could go buy an Usher album? “But I had to stop.
If I'm worrying about the other man, then I'm not focusing on me and if I'm not
focusing on me, then nobody else is, either.” He now boasts a string of smooth
radio smashes like the lovelorn So Sick, love-struck Because of You
and his current collab with rapper Fabolous, Make Me Better – all while
still penning other people's hits, including Beyoncé's step-off anthem Irreplaceable.
“I've always made a point to write relatable music, songs that anybody can
listen to and feel like they know what's going on with the person who wrote
them or the person who's singing it. I like to write music that makes people
go, ‘Yeah, I've felt that before.'” You've sort of heard it before too. Ne-Yo
is not pushing R&B into the future like Justin Timberlake, despite
borrowing his name from sci-fi flick The Matrix. The fedora-adorned
crooner's admittedly retro style is rooted in the seventies and eighties
R&B that birthed his idols Stevie Wonder, Prince and Michael Jackson.
Coming full circle, the latter may even soon become a future client. “I had an
opportunity to speak to him on the phone about us doing things together. I
can't talk about that too much, but it was surreal,” he says, still
star-struck. “Of course I'm listening to what he's saying but in the back of my
mind I'm like ‘are you aware that you're talking to Michael Jackson?'” But
while Jacko walled himself off from fans, Ne-Yo's attitude is, not
surprisingly, quite the opposite. When discussing career milestones, he
mentions a festival gig in Japan where language proved a problem. “I like to
communicate – realizing I couldn't do this in Japan was messing with me. What
the hell am I gonna do? I'm standing in front of 20,000 people who do not
understand English. They know who I am, but I wanna talk to these people,” he
says sincerely. “But soon as So Sick came on, they knew every word and
sang it back to me verbatim. That's the power of music – it knocks down all
those barriers.” Ne-Yo has been also adept at crossing gender barriers as well.
Putting aside his own broken-heart solo songs, his greatest success has come
from putting words in women's mouths. On top of Beyoncé, he also wrote
Rihanna's Unfaithful and is working with everyone from Celine Dion and
Whitney Houston to Jennifer Hudson and Britney Spears.
“There's something in the way I think that women can relate to. That comes from
growing up in a house full of women. It was me, my sister, my mother, my
grandmother and about five of my aunts all in the same house. So any drama that
a woman can go through, one of the women in my house went through it, and I was
right there to soak it up. I just might have a little more insight than the
average guy.” Perhaps, but so far being the average guy has served him pretty
well. Ne-Yo plays the Caribana Imagine Music Festival, with Sean Paul and
Destra Garcia, at the Molson Amphitheatre at 6 p.m. on Sunday.
Quincy Jones Launches Podcast Series
*Source: sahirah - SU Entertainment - www.sumanagement.com
(August 1, 2007) *Entertainment legend Quincy Jones has
unveiled the debut episode of his new video podcast series that takes viewers
behind-the-scenes into Q’s private world. According to podcast partners Wizzard
Media, the 26-episode series includes footage of the musician at work in the
studio and at exclusive events around the world. Also featured in are Jones’
takes on film, popular culture, politics and world events. The 27-time Grammy
winner's new digital platform expands with its second phase, the Fall debut of
quincyjones.com, an online destination featuring interactivity of a social
network embracing musicians, producers, artists and Quincy's other followers
worldwide. It will include Quincy's Vault that will give users access to
previously unreleased audio and video of Jones and the legendary performers
he's worked with as well as a virtual Quincy's Academy where users will network
and share their artistry with music professionals, like-minded peers and
consumers, and have access to digital record distribution and marketing
opportunities. Jones’ video podcasts will be available on www.quincyjones.com,
MySpace and Wizzard Media Channel on iTunes, and other leading podcast
directories including Yahoo!, VH1, Syndic8 and Podcast Pickle. Meanwhile,
in *other Quincy Jones news,
the 27-Time Grammy Award winner, was honoured with the Grammy Foundation
Leadership award at the Starry Night Gala. The intimate benefit, dinner,
and concert was held on Saturday June 28th, at UCLA’s Straus Stadium in Los
Angeles, CA. The event -presented by the Gibson Foundation-was attended by
a star -studded list of Quincy’s celebrity friends and colleagues to benefit
the Grammy foundation.
From the red carpet many noted how Quincy had influenced their careers.
In addition to admiring Quincy as a legendary composer, producer, and
humanitarian, Nancy Wilson acknowledged, “he is a great dad, a gentleman, and a
very good friend”. Jazz legend Herbie Hancock said, “ I’ve worked with
him on many occasions and must say, and every experience of his genius has been
significant”. Naomi Campbell, will.i.am(see photo provided by Wireimage.com),
Eric Benet, and Gail King were among the other notable celebrities who arrived
to pay tribute to Quincy. Neil Portnow, President of the Grammy
Foundation presented Quincy with the Foundation's Leadership Award . The award
salutes the honouree’s lifetime commitment and dedication to social, cultural,
economic and educational issues spanning the globe. Quincy Jones said, “
I am extremely delighted to receive the GRAMMY Foundation’s Leadership
Award. This is a very special award and it means a great deal to me,” said
Jones. "I am also honoured to be an ambassador as The Recording
Academy celebrates its influential 50-year history with a celebration of events
and activities for music fans and music makers, all while keeping the
importance of music education and preservation at the forefront of its
efforts." The tribute concert featured exceptional
performances by an array of musical stars including Nancy Wilson, Patti La
Belle, John Legend, Gloria Estefan, Bebe Winans, James Moody, Alice Smith among
others. Starry Night’s musical director, David Foster, a 14-time GRAMMY Award-
winning producer and GRAMMY Foundation Board Member stated, “Quincy is my
teacher and I have the utmost respect and love for him. He not only deserves
this Leadership Award, he is the epitome of a true leader.” The GRAMMY
Foundation also supports such programs as the Gibson Baldwin GRAMMY Jazz
Ensemble and GRAMMY Camp participants. This year’s ensembles included over 10
students selected to perform several of Jones’ works including “Killer Joe.”
Furtado Battles Beyoncé At MTV Video Awards
Source: Associated Press
(August 8, 2007) New York — Canadian singer Nelly
Furtado is in the running at this year's MTV
Video Music Awards, it was announced yesterday. The Promiscuous singer is in the running for best
female artist, where she will compete against one of this year's most-nominated
singers, Beyoncé. That R & B vocalist tied with Justin Timberlake for the
most MTV nods - they are up for seven apiece. Canadian actor Alan Thicke's son,
Robin, is up for male artist of the year. The awards are handed out on Sept. 9
in Las Vegas.
MTV Video Award Nominees Announced
Excerpt from www.thestar.com – Associated
Press
(August 08, 2007) NEW YORK–Justin Timberlake and Beyoncé lead the nominees for
the MTV Video Music Awards with seven nods apiece, it was announced
yesterday. Beyoncé's "Irreplaceable" was nominated for video of the
year, as was Timberlake's ambitiously cinematic "What Goes Around ...
Comes Around." Also competing in the category are Amy Winehouse's
"Rehab," Kanye West's ``Stronger," Rihanna's
"Umbrella" (featuring Jay-Z) and Justice's "D.A.N.C.E."
Timberlake, who will be the show's "maestro," was also nominated for
Male Artist of the Year and ``Most Earth-Shattering Collaboration" for
pairing with Timbaland for "Sexy Back." Beyoncé was nominated for
Female Artist of the Year and for her collaboration with Shakira on
"Beautiful Liar." West landed five nominations, including Male Artist
of the Year. Rihanna also received five nods, propelled by her hit
single, "Umbrella," which is up for "Monster Single of the
Year." Also nominated for Male Artist of the Year were Akon, T.I. and
Robin Thicke. Rounding out the nominees for Female Artist of the Year were
Fergie and Canada's Nelly Furtado. Winehouse, whose Back to Black was
her second disc but her first released in the U.S., is up for Best New Artist.
Winehouse will compete with Lily Allen, Carrie Underwood, Gym Class Heroes and
Peter Bjorn & John. Up for best group are Fall Out Boy, Gym Class Heroes,
Linkin Park, Maroon 5 and White Strip
MUSIC TIDBITS
Canyon, Yellowbird Lead Country-Music
Noms
Source: Canadian Press
(August 2, 2007) Toronto — Country-music star George
Canyon and upstart Shane Yellowbird lead the nominees for this year's Canadian Country Music Awards. Nova Scotia native Canyon is up for five
trophies, including single and album of the year. Yellowbird, a first-time
nominee from Hobbema, Alta., also snagged five nominations, for categories
including independent male artist. Other multiple nominees include Paul Brandt,
Doc Walker, Emerson Drive, Brad Johner and Carolyn Dawn Johnson, with four
each.
Sean Kingston Makes Billboard
‘Beautiful’
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com
(August 3, 2007) *Sean
Kingston’s radio smash “Beautiful
Girls” jumps 23-1 on the Billboard Hot 100 this
week, sending the Plain White Ts’ sentimental “Hey There Delilah” from its two
week perch to No. 2. Fergie's "Big
Girls Don't Cry" falls 2-3, Rihanna’s "Umbrella" is down 3-4 and
Timbaland's "The Way I Are" featuring Keri Hilson drops 4-5.
T-Pain's "Bartender" featuring Akon jumps 10-6 and is the Hot
100's fastest growing track at radio. Shop Boyz' "Party Like a
Rockstar" falls 5-7, while T-Pain's former No. 1, "Buy U a Drank
(Shawty Snappin')" moves up 9-8. Fabolous' "Make Me Better"
featuring Ne-Yo rebounds 11-9, and Hurricane Chris' "A Bay Bay"
rounds out the top tier after falling 8-10. Elsewhere in the Hot 100, Yung
Berg's "Sexy Lady" featuring Junior moves 35,000 downloads and
results in a 30-18 jump on the Hot 100. The artist's debut EP, "Almost
Famous (The Sexy Lady EP)," was released July 24. The Hot 100's top debut is
Kanye West's "Stronger" at No. 47. The cut, which samples Daft Punk's
"Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger," will be found on West's Sept. 11
Def Jam release, "Graduation." Also new to the chart this week are
Baby Bash's "Cyclone" featuring T-Pain at No. 65 Fantasia's
"When I See U" is No. 1 for a sixth straight week on Hot
R&B/Hip-Hop Songs.
Music Publishers Join Youtube Suit
Excerpt from www.thestar.com - Associated
Press
(August 07, 2007) NEW YORK – A group of music publishing companies said Monday it is joining a copyright infringement
lawsuit against Google Inc.'s video-sharing site YouTube. The National
Music Publishers' Association said it was joining the lawsuit out of concern
that many songwriters weren't receiving proper compensation when their music
appeared on YouTube videos. The lawsuit also includes as plaintiffs the
Football Association Premier League and Viacom Inc., a media company that owns
MTV, Paramount Pictures, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central. The plaintiffs say
YouTube is breaking the law by hosting video clips that they hold the
copyrights to. However, YouTube says it's complying with the law by immediately
taking down any clips found to be violating copyrights after receiving
notification. David Israelite, chief executive of the NMPA, said in a statement
that the music publishers' group was "very concerned about YouTube's
approach to copyright." The lawsuits have been combined for trial purposes
into one case being heard by U.S. District Judge Louis Stanton in New York.
Music publishing companies administer the copyrights of songwriters and
composers and collect the royalties that are due to them.
Jill Scott Opens Up In Essence
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com
(August 8, 2007) "I put icing on places that were
wounded, so
they looked good and tasted pretty. But I really didn't deal with them until I
had no choice but to deal with what was going on in my marriage" The
lovely and talented Jill
Scott always had a smile that her fans adored.
She was "living her life like it was golden" and emulating a unique
confidence that ignored the stereotypical beauty standards of the record
industry. But everything in Jill's life wasn't golden. In a
sit-down chat with Terry McMillan, she talks to ESSENCE about "The Real
Thing", her new CD, her troubled marriage and her latest role in Tyler
Perry's "Why Did I Get Married?" (page 181)
::FILM NEWS::
Darrin Henson Takes ‘The Stand’
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com -
(August 1, 2007) *Actor Darrin Dewitt
Henson is busting his
acting chops with a vengeance. The “Soul Food” star has moved into his latest
project “The Last Stand,” fresh off his antagonist role in “Stomp the Yard.”
The new film is written and directed by morning radio talent Russ Parr,
who is wearing a new hat, while dancer/actor Henson is progressively becoming
an accomplished thespian. The straight-to-DVD flick explores the “drama
of comedy,” as it follows the lives of four individuals with dreams of becoming
the next big star. Henson plays TD, an up-and-coming comedian with a criminal
past. Henson chatted with EUR’s Lee Bailey about the film and his
growing movie career, and discussed how the film, though a straight-to-DVD
flick, is big screen worthy. “There was a premiere in D.C. and my jaw dropped
because of how dynamic the movie is. I said, ‘This should be in the movie
theatres, now.’ But because they [promoted] that it was coming out on DVD, I
guess they had to follow through with it. As long as people get to see the
movie, that’s what’s important.” Henson said that he got connected to the film
after a suspicious meeting with Parr during the Essence Festival a couple of
years ago. Henson was trying to avoid the crowd when a man he didn’t recognized
approached him. That man was Russ Parr. “I didn’t know him – I knew the name,”
Henson said of the legendary Parr. “He was this guy that was staying in the
same hotel as me during the Essence Music Festival, and he said ‘I gotta talk
to you.’ I still didn’t know who he was until he said, ‘I’m Russ Parr and I’ve
got this movie.’ About a week later I gave him a call back and said I’d love to
do it.”
The film was shot last year with little fanfare, but the critics are impressed
with the film, particularly Henson’s talent. After all, he’s a dancer first and
foremost, and then an actor. But even more, this role asked a lot of Henson’s
talent. He’s a dancer, as an actor, playing a comedian, who happens to be a gay
ex-con. But Henson did not shy away from the challenge. “That is the important
part – playing these characters and telling the truth of the men that I play.
From ‘Soul Food’ to ‘Stomp the Yard’ to ‘Life Support’ to a young Jim Brown in
‘The Express’ – a movie that I just finished a couple of weeks ago. This character
that I play is another person that exists and what I wanted to do was jump on
the character because it is very real. Playing a gay male didn’t bother me
because it’s about telling the truth about people that do exist.” Henson said
that he’s always frequented comedy clubs and loves to laugh, but when he was
offered the role, he really dove in, studying comedic timing, delivery, and
jokes. He even happened to be finishing up the book “Pryor Convictions” while
filming, a book that explores the life and times of legendary comedian Richard
Pryor. “I take what I do very, very seriously,” he said. “It was important when
I was playing a comedian that other comedians actually respected my timing and
respected the jokes. This guy was supposed to be funny. I was reading ‘Pryor
Convictions.’ It was so close to what was going on with my character’s life, it
was so strange and surreal to me. [It’s surprising] when you find out how
tragic comedians’ lives really are. It blew my mind. Some of the hardships they
go through and then they get on stage and make us laugh.” “The Last Stand” is
in stores now and also stars Guy Torry and Anthony Anderson. As he mentioned,
Henson just finished filming “The Express” about the first black Heisman Trophy
winner Ernie Davis. Next up is the release of his “Darrin’s Dance Grooves 2,”
the follow-up to his first instructional dance video – the highest selling
dance video in the US. For more info on his dance video and "The Last
Stand," visit his website: www.darrinhenson.com.
Chris Tucker: The Rush Hour 3 Interview
With Kam Williams
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com – by Kam
Williams
(August 2, 2007) *Born
in Atlanta, Georgia on August 31, 1972,
Chris Tucker has come a long way
since his days doing stand-up on Def Comedy Jam. Starring
in box office smashes that include the #1 grossing comedy Rush Hour 2, as well
as Friday, Dead Presidents, Money Talks and the original Rush Hour (which
grossed $250 million worldwide), he has clearly proven himself to be one of
Hollywood's hottest talents. Tucker entertains audiences the world over
with his motor-mouthed brand of humour and animated facial expressions which
always leave a lasting impression. During his downtime, Chris traveled to
Africa with U2's Bono and Secretary of the Treasury Paul O'Neill on a
fact-finding tour to help countries plagued with AIDS, hunger, and unsanitary
living conditions. Deeply-affected by the conditions he discovered,
Tucker has since returned to the region regularly on humanitarian missions,
also functioning as a people's diplomat, raising cash and awareness to help
deal with the crises. As a consequence, he's been so busy he hasn't made a
movie in a half-dozen years. Here, he chats about Rush Hour 3, his first film
since Rush Hour 2.
Chris Tucker: Hey, Kam.
Kam Williams: Chris, thanks so much for the time.
CT: Oh, you're welcome, thank you.
KW: How did it feel being teamed up with Jackie Chan for a third time?
CT: Oh, I loved it, man! I loved it! It was just as much fun, or maybe even
more fun as the first one and the second one, 'cause it's such a fun movie to
do and being teamed back up with Jackie was great.
KW: How'd you enjoy the Paris locations?
CT: That was great, too, shooting in Europe, man. We did a lot of stuff
outdoors. Riding around the streets and drinking wine for lunch. It was great!
KW: Seems like you and Jackie have perfect screen chemistry. You have very
different types of talents which complement each other, so you never end up
stepping on each other's toes. Did you know that was going to happen the first
time you got together?
CT: No, the first time we got together, it was just like you see in the first
movie. Jackie didn't speak much English, and I didn't know Chinese at all. I
brought that out in Rush Hour 1, like when I screamed, "Do you know the
words that are coming out of my mouth?" That's basically what I wanted to
say to him the first time I met him. So, no, we didn't know, but the chemistry
was perfect. I think that was because it came from a real place. What you see
on film is the same friendship and relationship between us you see in real
life.
KW: So, was that "Do you know the words that are coming out of my
mouth?"
line improvised, or was it in the script?
CT: Improvised.
For full interview by Kam Williams, go HERE.
Anne Hathaway Straight Laced No More
Excerpt from www.thestar.com - John
Hiscock, Special To The Star
(August 3, 2007) BEVERLY HILLS–Portraying the young Jane
Austen in the romantic drama Becoming
Jane had Anne Hathaway tied up for ages. Literally. "It was
awful," said the New York-born actor, who was obliged to wear a corset for
the entire three months of filming. "I was wearing it too tight for
the first couple of weeks and it would cut off the circulation in my body, so
when I would go home my face would turn bright red for about five hours and
everybody thought I was a morbid alcoholic." The restrictive corset also
prevented Hathaway from eating properly. "It was not healthy and Coco
Chanel should be commended for liberating women from the corset." On the
other hand, having her ribcage compressed every day did help her get into
character. "The movie takes place at a time that was very repressive for
women and the corset helped with that feeling," said Hathaway. The
24-year-old actor can laugh now as she sits in a comfortable suite at the Four
Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills, but the time she spent in Ireland filming the
fictional story of the writer's romance with a roguish Irishman, played by
James McAvoy, was not at all funny. "The movie was wonderful and beautiful
and tortured and poetic and difficult and freezing," she recalled.
"Everything was challenging and every single day was a battle with
something – with the accent, with the dress and with the weather, always with
the weather." On the plus side, portraying the author of such
classics as Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility inspired
her to do some writing herself, scribbling poems and private thoughts in a
diary which she intends to keep to herself.
"It was a profound experience," she said. "I loved making this
movie and it taught me so much. I felt like I grew so much while I was working
on it. It's wonderful to have a record of it, not that I'll ever show it to
anybody." To perfect an English accent, she spent a month in London,
working with a dialogue coach and taking to the streets to practice on
strangers, asking directions and making small talk. "I had a very
posh apartment in Knightsbridge so I went to Harrods. It was very tough
research," she joked. Hathaway began acting as a child in New York
stage productions and movie audiences first saw her in The Princess Diaries in
2001. She appeared in the sequel, and then co-starred in Brokeback Mountain and
The Devil Wears Prada. She has just finished filming Get Smart,
the movie version of the zany '60s television series, in which she plays Agent
99. "To go from playing a centuries-old British icon to a modern American
one was wonderful," she said. "Jane Austen was a very sweet person in
a very repressive society and 99 is a woman who never takes `no' for an answer
and who believes she can do anything. I was so happy to go from one to the
other." When not filming, Hathaway works with her boyfriend, property
tycoon Raffaello Follieri, on his charitable foundation, which is dedicated to
helping underprivileged children in Central America. Although they have
been together for three years she has no wedding plans yet because, she said
with a laugh, "he hasn't asked me." But she added: "I see
marriage and children and a white picket fence in my future and I can only
assume things are taking their time and progressing the way they are meant to
be and if it's meant to happen it will. I'm very happy. "I couldn't
love him more if we were married and to be honest, I kind of hope he doesn't
ask me any time soon because I'm too busy to plan a wedding."
Jennifer Lopez: The El Cantante
Interview With Kam Williams
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com – by Kam
Williams
(August 7, 2007) *Born in the South Bronx on July 24, 1969,
Jennifer Lynn Lopez has come a long way from her humble roots
to her lofty station as an adored pop icon and perhaps the most influential
Hispanic entertainer in America. Besides being the first singer/actress
to have a #1 movie and #1 album at the same time, J-Lo was voted #1 on FHM's Sexiest
Women list, has been chosen as one of the World's 50 Most Beautiful People by
People Magazine, and is acknowledged to be the richest Latino in Hollywood.
Even though none of her movies has grossed $100 million at the box office,
domestically, Lopez nonetheless has enough name recognition to command $15
million per picture. Here, she talks about starring in and producing El
Cantante, a bio-pic about the rise and fall of Hector Lavoe, a celebrated salsa
singer from the Seventies. Her real-life husband, Marc Antony, handles the
title role as is the ill-fated, drug-addicted front man, while she plays Puchi,
his long-suffering wife.
Kam Williams: What interested you in making and starring in El Cantante?
Jennifer Lopez: This was one of the first things with my production
company that I felt like, "This is something I really want to make. This
is something I really want to make." The script was brought to me, I
guess, about four or five years ago now, through Puchi, who had done interviews
with the very first writer on the screenplay, David [Darmstaedter], and David
Maldonado brought it to my manager at the time, saying "Read it, it's the
Hector Lavoe story, and Puchi wants Jennifer to play her." I read it, and
I'll be honest, much like when I did Selena, I knew of the music, and I knew a
little bit of the story, but I didn't know the whole story. When I read it, and
started learning more about it, I just became obsessed and impassioned with the
whole idea of the project and their lives. And once I really got to know the
music, I was like, "Wow! This is important." And then, it being a
Puerto Rican story, and my production company being Nuyorican Productions, what
better movie to be the first movie for Nuyorican Productions than this?
KW: Was Puchi an easy role for you, given that she's Puerto Rican and the
wife of a famous Latino singer?
For full interview by Kam Williams, go HERE.
Matt Damon's Career Bourne Again ... And
again
Excerpt from www.thestar.com - Amy
Longsdorf, Special To The Star
(August 02, 2007) Matt Damon can
still remember where he
was when he got the offer to play amnesiac spy Jason Bourne in The Bourne
Identity, the first in a trilogy of films that has, to date, grossed more
than $300 million (U.S.) at the box office. "I was sitting backstage
in London, doing a play on the West End," he recalls. "Nobody had
offered me a movie in six months. "It was like the rose-coloured
lenses had come off and I thought, `Okay, I get it. If you're in a hit, you
have a career and if you're not in a hit, you don't matter any more. They might
think you're a real nice guy, but they're not hanging a movie on you.'"
And then Damon was Bourne again. The spy thriller came out in 2002 and
exceeded industry expectations by grossing $122 million (U.S.). "The
Bourne character completely changed my life," says the actor. "The
movie opened, hit big and by that Monday, I had 20 offers." With his
career back on track, Damon landed a role in the Ocean's trilogy and
went on to make three dream projects: Syriana, The Departed and The
Good Shepherd.
Through the years, the actor has stayed true to Jason Bourne, appearing in The
Bourne Supremacy in 2004 and The Bourne Ultimatum. "There
hasn't been a role that's had a bigger impact on me, except for maybe Good
Will Hunting (which he co-wrote with friend Ben Affleck) because it pulled
Ben and I out of total obscurity." For Damon, the Bourne
movies work on many different levels at once. They're popcorn pictures, but
they're also reflections of the times in which they're made. "The
first one came out in 2002 and it's definitely a post-9/11 movie," he
says. "All of the paranoia is there. "The second one came out
in 2004, when things were starting to turn in Iraq. Jason Bourne, this iconic
American figure, is apologizing and atoning for his misdeeds, for things that
he's done. He's taking responsibility. "Now you have the 2007 movie
and Bourne is pulling a gun and putting it to the head of the person who lied
to him all these years. Bourne's saying, `I see now that you've led me into
something under false pretenses.'" Damon is more of a homebody these
days than when he first signed on for the Bourne films. A native of
Cambridge, Mass., the actor married Luciana Barroso in 2005. They have a
1-year-old daughter Isabella and he's adopted her daughter Alexia, 8.
At first, fatherhood knocked him for a loop. "I didn't think that this
would happen to me," he says. "Other people ... were always showing
me baby pictures or trying to hand me the baby, and I was like, `Get that thing
away from me. I don't want to touch your kid! Give me a break.' "But
I'm totally into it now. I was scared at first, because I was kind of excited
for my daughter to be 2. I was excited for her to start talking and walking and
toddling around, but I didn't realize how much personality little people have
right off the bat. So it's just been fun." Damon says he lives to
hear his daughter giggle. "This morning, she pointed at the ceiling
and started laughing. I said, `Now, I don't know what's funny about that.' ...
I'm trying to figure out what's going on in her head." Damon is also
trying to figure out the key to a long and successful career. "Ben and I
look at George Clooney and Clint Eastwood and they're definitely doing it
right," he says. "They're acting, they're writing, they're directing
and they're doing it on their terms. "I love everything about making
movies. I love writing and acting and I'd really like to direct. It's so hard
to have a long career in this business. I'm still here after 10 years. And
everyone is probably a little amazed by that. So, at this point I just want to
try and be smart about the work that I do and have integrity about the choices
I make."
Damon sounds a bit envious that Affleck, whom he calls "my hetero life
mate," beat him to the director's chair. Affleck recently finished helming
Gone Baby Gone, which is set for an October release. "I've
seen the movie that he directed and it's really good and the performances are
great. Every actor is going to want to work with him after they see this thing.
Now that he's a director, our relationship has changed. Now he's someone that
can give me a job." How would Damon feel about being directed by his
best friend? "I would love it," he says. "It's been
10 years since Good Will Hunting and, in the last decade, we both put
our heads down and worked pretty hard. Now, we've woken up with careers and
families and all the things that we wanted. "Hopefully the next 10
years will be about doing better work. Maybe doing a little less of it but
doing better stuff. And doing movies together."
Featurewell
Nicholas Campbell On Why Acting Is 'The
Most Powerful Drug In The World'
Excerpt from www.globeandmail.com
- Gayle Macdonald
(August 1, 2007) In
the first scene of the Toronto production of
Fabuloso, at the SummerWorks Theatre Festival, Nicholas Campbell
reveals a trick of the trade that “Sir” entrusted to him three decades ago.
“Sir said, ‘Get your entrance perfect, so the audience can relax,' “ Campbell
says between careful bites of a mayonnaise-drenched submarine sandwich, after
rehearsal at a studio in Toronto's east end. “ ‘Secondly,' he said, ‘at some
point, perform one bit of stage business that gives them a circus thrill.' “
Sir was Sir Laurence Olivier, who happened to be Campbell's private tutor after
the Toronto-born, Montreal-raised Campbell took a detour from Queen's
University (after attending exclusive Upper Canada College) to attend London's
Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in the 1970s. The future star of CBC-TV's Da
Vinci's Inquest met Olivier while playing alongside him in a British TV
version of Come Back, Little Sheba in 1976. Their relationship did not
begin well. “First day on set, tea time, a wardrobe lady tells me I have to dye
my hair,” Campbell remembers. “Without thinking I say, ‘No way.' Sir heard me –
that's what you called him, ‘Sir' – and races over.” Imitating Olivier,
Campbell tilts his nose and begins clipping consonants: “He doesn't want to be
a blond, does he? The little twit, I was a blond when the King knighted me. I
was playing Hamlet at the time.”
Despite Campbell's tantrum, Olivier was soon dining regularly with his suddenly
platinum-haired colleague. Campbell reveals a native scepticism explaining
Olivier's interest. “Maybe he liked me,” he says, shrugging. “Maybe I was the
only one who hadn't heard his stories.” In any case, Campbell took Olivier's
many lessons to heart. That much is apparent watching the 55-year-old actor
rehearse his entrance to the comic farce Fabuloso – a frantic sequence
that has him racing about like a penalty-killing hockey forward fighting off a
five-on-three power play. The less active actors – the power play (Jonathan
Higgins, Linda Kash and Angela Asher) – have retired from the stage, breathing
easily. Campbell, however, has collapsed in a folding chair, raining sweat on
his lunch. “Two rehearsals a day,” he says. “When I get home, I throw on Coronation
Street, and I'm asleep before it's over. But you have to break the speed
limit doing a farce. Otherwise the play falls right through the floor.”
Campbell acknowledges that doing a theatrical comedy is a shock to his system
after a decade in TV and film, much of it playing crusading coroner Dominic Da
Vinci in Da Vinci's Inquest and Da Vinci's City Hall. “With Da
Vinci, [creator-writer] Chris Haddock used to say, ‘Dare to go small,' ” he
remembers. “That's film acting. This is stage acting,” he says, wiping his
forehead of perspiration. Campbell may not have been knighted for his fictional
role as the coroner, and then mayor, of Vancouver, a character based in part on
the man who is now Senator Larry Campbell (no relation). But he did receive a
Gemini Award on his way to becoming one of Canada's most recognizable TV
actors. “It's incredible, riding streetcars, at the track, I get a dozen ‘Hey,
how you doings?' an hour,” he says.
It's not surprising that transit riders and $2 punters relate to Campbell. As
Da Vinci, he played the most Canadian of heroes, a civil-servant everyman who
afflicted the comfortable and comforted the afflicted. Campbell says Da Vinci,
in fact, had multiple inspirations: “He was Chris Haddock doing Larry Campbell,
and every good cop I met on a sudden-death scene [researching the series].” In
providing the third source for his great creation, Campbell offers some insight
into his own curious departure from the UCC-Queen's path. “There was also a bit
of my father in Da Vinci,” he says. “My dad was born in Forest Hill in Toronto
in the lap of luxury, but when his father died, something went wrong with the
family business, Campbell Cake and Flour. He had to sell the company, and
became a horticulture salesman, travelling the country. “My dad wasn't the kind
of guy to go to your hockey games, but every year he took me on the road, and I
saw how he treated customers. That empathy, that can't be a tactic: It has to
be in you,” Campbell says. After a pause, he adds, “You know, my dad would have
been happier as a sports fisherman than a businessman.” Nick wouldn't make the
same mistake, abandoning Queen's for the adventure of filmmaking. The films he
has directed, Stepping Razor: Red X, an investigation into the life and
death of Rasta superstar Peter Tosh, and Boozecan, a raffish meditation
on after-hours nightclubs, suggest that Campbell, who has been married five
times to three different women, probably wasn't cut out for a lawyer's life in
Rosedale or Westmount. “Sometimes I'm at the track, and a guy will come up to
me and say, ‘My son, he's smoking pot. I wonder if you can have a word with
him,' ” Campbell says, smiling. “I tell him, ‘Sir, I'm an actor. You're
confusing me with a character on television. But if your son has good stuff,
I'll be glad to meet the young lad.' ”
With the cancellation of Da Vinci's City Hall last year, Campbell
learned the wisdom of Sir's last lesson: “Every actor can be replaced.” “It was
hard, I won't kid you,” he says. “Actors are nomads, but I'd really got to rely
on that job every summer. I used to bring my three boys from two different
wives to live with me. I didn't have that this summer, and I could cry in a
second thinking about that.” (He doesn't.) Still, he's working steadily, if all
over the place. He says he loves Fabuloso, by American playwright John
Kolvenbach. “Three months rehearsing, and I still can't bust this guy,” he
exclaims. “As an actor, you usually get to the point where you go, ‘Oh God, not
this part,' but there are no dead parts here.” In the fall, Campbell will
return to CBC Television in the miniseries The Englishman's Boy. From a
Governor-General's Award-winning novel and screenplay by Guy Vanderhaeghe, it's
set in the Cypress Hills of Saskatchewan and combines a story of the Wild West
with a look at Hollywood's take on cowboys and Indians. Campbell, who plays a
character named Shorty McAdoo, says it's “the best acting I've ever done.”
Campbell also understands that Da Vinci gave him something an actor
needs: a ready audience. “I get ordinary guys coming up to me and mumbling,
‘You know, I don't usually watch the CBC, but I loved your show.' Like they're
saying, ‘I'm not a fag, eh, but I like you.' I love it, every actor wants
people to see his work.” Campbell says he hasn't figured out yet how to execute
Sir's command to provide a “circus thrill” in his new play. Sometimes the
inspiration happens onstage, he says. And when it does, the actor invariably
gets more from the trick than the audience. “I remember seeing Sir in Long
Day's Journey Into Night,” Campbell remembers. “He was so sick with cancer,
he had to cantilever himself upright from a chair offstage. Yet in the play, at
one point, he leapt off the table, nimble as a gymnast. I couldn't believe my
eyes. Acting is the most powerful drug in the world.” Fabuloso runs at
Toronto's Tarragon Theatre on Aug. 3, 5 ,8, 9 and 12 (Tickets:
www.summerworks.ca or 1-888-222-6608).
Théroux To Head Alliance Competitor
Excerpt from www.globeandmail.com
- Gayle Macdonald
(August 02, 2007) One year after veteran film distributor
Patrice Théroux was very publicly
dismissed by his 18-year employer, Alliance Atlantis Motion Picture
Distribution LP, the 45-year-old executive has re-emerged as president of a new
multinational distribution arm to be launched by Toronto-based Entertainment One. Théroux,
who was fired as chief executive officer of MPD along with the company's senior
counsel after a vicious battle with MPD's board, will effectively go
head-to-head against his former employer, which is by far Canada's largest
distribution company with powerful clients such as New Line Cinema, Focus
Features and The Weinstein Company. Until now, Entertainment One has flown
under the radar in Canada, quietly beavering away and making millions as
Canada's largest wholesaler of DVDs, CDs and video games. Recently, the company
- which is publicly traded on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange -
decided to set its sights further afield, purchasing the British-based
Contender Entertainment Group, (an independent distributor of DVDs now more
aggressively acquiring films to release in theatres). It also owns Koch
Entertainment, the largest independent record label in North America and a leading
independent distributor of music and video in the United States. In all, the
company has roughly $650-million in annual revenue. Yesterday, Théroux refused
to discuss his former employer, saying only that "what happened at
Alliance has been discussed enough."
He did add, however, "it feels great" to be back in the game. "I
spent 25 years in the film business, first in Montreal and for 18 years at MPD.
It's what I do for a living, and I'm really excited and focused on this new
adventure. It's a new start with a well-capitalized company that already has
some critical mass and the means to build a global distribution
infrastructure." Théroux added that the Toronto International Film
Festival will be his first major market. He's looking for art-house, mainstream
and crossover feature films to be released in 2008. Théroux worked for close to
two decades at MPD under its combustible chairman Victor Loewy, where their
team also oversaw Momentum Pictures in Britain and Aurum Producciones in Spain.
The drama at Alliance Atlantis began in mid-July last year after a fractious
board meeting, where Théroux and counsel Paul Laberge were fired. Loewy quit in
protest. MPD's unit stock price immediately nosedived. At the time, the company
said the removals of Théroux and Laberge were for cause, and alleged the former
executives were fired for "willfully deceiving the board,"
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