20
Carlton Street, Suite 1032, Toronto, ON
M5B 2H5
(416)
677-5883
langfieldent@rogers.com
www.langfieldentertainment.com
LE
NEWSLETTER
July 26,
2007
Life can get a little busy sometimes but it always seems to be a little better
in the summer somehow right? Along those lines, last week I failed to mention that I was able to
catch three (count 'em three!) concerts. For ALL these concerts, check
out my PHOTO GALLERY!
First was Musiq Soulchild concert at Phoenix - unbelievable talent
that I've missed since his last release. His band was incredible and he
brought some rock tunes, gospel and his soul vibe. Then there was Ivana Santilli at Revival with her smooth sultry sounds
and hot band. And last but not least, Kayte Burgess at Harlem. Kayte put her show together for one
of her visiting producers, Ali Shaheed Muhammad (formerly of Tribe Called
Quest). It was a high energy show with Kayte magic being backed up by
some of my fav band members.
I've been invited to attend Crop
Over in Barbados from August
1-8th! You've probably heard lots of promo for it on FLOW 93.5.
Exciting and I'll be giving you a full report upon my return. I may be
sending you next week's newsletter a couple of days early as a result.
Harbourfront Centre switches gears just in time for Toronto's Caribana - Island Soul comes to town with all things Caribbean.
Come down and join the fun! Harlem weekly
event listings are below as well. And the popular Old
School Request Party is BACK! Check out all details below!
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
HARLEM EVENTS**
Week of July 26-August 1, 2007
For information on the vibe of Harlem Restaurant and live music
venue: Go to www.harlemrestaurant.com.
|
Date |
Name of Event |
What |
|
July 26 |
Sound Plantation presents Sage
Sundiata unplugged Doors: 9pm Show: 10:30pm $10 |
|
|
July 27 |
A night of - Images, Beats and Culture - Short films by: Charles
Officer, Chris Pare and John Garcia Doors: 9pm Show: 10:00pm $10 |
|
|
July 28 |
Two Katz in the City |
Carl Cassell and Colin Jervis Host a
night at Harlem Music by the Legend himself DJ Carl Allen Doors: 9pm $5 free for anyone having dinner
at Harlem (to make a reservation call 416.368.1920) |
|
August 1 |
Vertigo |
DJ David James (deep house deep tech
garage) Doors: 10pm |
**HARLEM
67 Richmond St. (at Church)
Tel: 416-368-1920
::TOP STORIES::
Russell
Peters' Homecoming
Excerpt from www.globeandmail.com
(July 23, 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 peggeed 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 Montréal 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 July 27. Following
Peters' 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.
Artists
Taking Credit For Songs They Didn't Write Prevalent In Pop Music Scene
Source: By Nekesa Mumbi Moody, Associated Press
(July 23, 2007) NEW YORK (AP) - Of all the names in music,
Chantal Kreviazuk may be the least likely to appear in a headline. Although she
recently released her own album, the songwriter usually stays behind the scenes
to pen hits with artists such as Kelly Clarkson, Gwen Stefani and Avril
Lavigne. But earlier this month, Kreviazuk rocked the pop music world by
suggesting that Lavigne was a collaborator in name only. Although she quickly
retracted her comments and others defended Lavigne, the flap illuminated a long-standing
fraud that has become more prevalent than ever: "singer-songwriters" who do much less
songwriting than their publicists would have you believe. "It's
crazy!" exclaimed Grammy-winning songwriter Diane
Warren, who has written for artists such as Whitney Houston, Celine Dion
and Mary J. Blige. "How can someone look in the mirror and know they
didn't do something and their name is on it? For money? For credit? It's a
lie." This being the music industry, money is, of course, a factor,
since the writers of hit songs can earn more than the singer over the long
term. But today's singers also press for writing credit because it gives them
more of a cache, presenting them as more of a "real artist" in
comparison with a star who doesn't write a note.
"It's a practice that's been going on, but now it's really prevalent in
every situation," says songwriter Adonis Shropshire, who helped pen the
hit "My Boo" for Alicia Keys and Usher, and has worked with Chris
Brown, Ciara and others. Shropshire says that many artists will only
allow songwriters to work on an album in return for song credit, and "if
they do write, they ask for more publishing than they honestly contributed . .
. it is the way it is." The practice has been prevalent for decades.
Elvis Presley's manager, Col. Tom Parker, manoeuvred to give the King
songwriting credits on early hits like "Love Me Tender" even though
he never wrote a word. James Brown was sued by an associate over song credits.
Lauryn Hill settled a lawsuit by a group that claimed she improperly took sole
production and writing credit on her Grammy-winning album "The
Miseducation of Lauryn Hill." And Diddy seemed to acknowledge claims that
he wasn't really writing his raps in the "Bad Boys for Life" song with
the brush-off line: "Don't worry if I write rhymes, I write
cheques!" The notion that serious artists have to write their own
songs seems to have grown over the past two decades. Today, even the fluffiest
of pop acts is credited as having written their own material. "We as
an industry . . . don't look at someone who has an incredible voice as an
artist, whereas having an incredible voice is artistry," says Jody Gerson,
an executive vice-president of EMI Music Publishing. "I think people place
more of a value on an artist if they write their own songs; it gives them
credibility."
Indeed, Lavigne's songwriting abilities have been touted since she broke out as
a teen with the hit "Complicated." But how much she contributed to
her music has long been scrutinized. On her first album, Lavigne worked
with the writing trio The Matrix, but ditched them on her second album when she
felt they were taking too much credit for the songs. "I am a writer, and I
won't accept people trying to take that away from me, and anyone who does is ignorant
and doesn't know what they're talking about," she defiantly told The
Associated Press in 2004. She connected with Kreviazuk for her sophomore
album and the two became close friends. Kreviazuk lauded her songwriting
ability in an interview with AP, also in 2004 - which made Kreviazuk's comments
to Performing Songwriting Magazine all the more curious. "I mean,
Avril, songwriter? Avril doesn't really sit and write songs by herself or
anything. Avril will also cross the ethical line, and no one says anything,"
Kreviazuk - who was not included on Lavigne's latest album - told the magazine
before retracting her statement. The Matrix later came out to defend Lavigne's
songwriting integrity. Grammy-winning songwriter Dallas Austin says he's had a manager rave
about a song Austin wrote all by himself, and then tell him, "We wanna
know if we can get a piece of the pie on it because (the artist) wants to feel
like she has a part ownership on the song. "And I'll say, 'In all
fairness, no. . . . If you want to work with me at least sit here and put
something into it, instead of coming after I've done everything and try and
claim percentages on it."'
Gerson calls the practice unfair but says it's "pretty prevalent in pop
and R&B . . . I think the way people now divide publishing splits is who
was in the room. 'OK . . . I changed the word 'the' to 'a,' and I deserve 10
per cent of the publishing."' Sean Garrett, who has created smashes
for Beyonce, Kelis, Fergie and others, says he gave up credit when he was just
starting out, which is common for newcomers. "It bothered me, but I knew
it was just a price that I had to pay to continue my career and stay focused
with the big prize," he says. Ne-Yo, a true singer-songwriter who
co-wrote Beyonce's "Irreplaceable," says early in his career he had
to deal with the same thing. He says some artists feel they are doing a novice
a favour by recording their song - especially if it becomes a hit - so they
deserve a piece of the royalties. "If you're an unknown songwriter and
you are lucky enough to get on a superstar's album and you know that the song
is going to be a single," Ne-Yo says, "and it means if it becomes No.
1 everyone is going to know your name because you wrote it, I think it's worth
giving up a piece of publishing . . . you are going to make your money
back." Shropshire recalls working with an A-list singer, whom he did
not want to name, who wrote two words on a song and ended up getting a large
piece of the publishing rights. But he couldn't complain when the song became a
hit. "It didn't really bother me that much. The song came out and it
did wonderfully well," he says. "That's just the way the industry
works." That shouldn't be the case, says Warren. Although she had
credit taken from her early in her career, she quickly put a stop to it. Later,
one major superstar demanded some of Warren's royalties for the privilege of
said superstar recording her song. But Warren refused. "It's like,
'OK, you want some publishing? OK, then, give me a piece of the money you're
making touring for the next five years for the hit I just wrote
you." But now that songwriters like Warren, Garrett and Ne-Yo are
established, they rarely find themselves taken advantage of any more.
"I give other people credit where credit is due, like Beyonce really did
vocally arrange ('Irreplaceable')," Ne-Yo says. "So for someone to
come in and take my credit because they are who they are? That doesn't work for
me. I don't care who you are. . . . I'm not going to give you something you
don't deserve."
Arturo
Tappin, Barbadian Jazz Icon, Will Launch New Album 'Inside Out' On Tuesday July
24, 2007
(July 16, 2007) NEW YORK - PRNewswire -- Legendary
Barbadian jazz icon, Arturo Tappin, will formally launch his new album "Inside Out" at the
official Album Launch in Manhattan, NY on Tuesday July 24th from 6:30pm - 11pm.
The launch is being produced by Antilia, Inc. - an upscale Caribbean special
event company based in NYC. Malibu Rum will host a premium open bar for all
invited attendees. The event is being held at the
high-profile Chelsea lounge Room Service, and endeavours to showcase Arturo's
repositioning for a younger audience and potential for mainstream credibility.
Along with unique new originals, the esteemed saxophonist will perform his own
instrumental covers of top 10 Billboard hit songs from popular peer artists
such as Gnarls Barkley, Rihanna, John Legend and Rupee. Truly, Arturo proves
that the sax has moved far beyond the jazz genre from where it was conceived.
Arturo has recorded with the late Luther Vandross, and currently works
alongside Grammy-award recipients and nominees Ralph MacDonald and Nicholas
Branker. Other artists he has performed and/or recorded with include the likes
of Ellis Marsalis, Dean Frasier, Maxi Priest and Bob Marley's Wailer's Band. He
is widely regarded as one of the top saxophonists in the world, undisputed
number 1 in the English-speaking Caribbean, and has performed for great world
leaders such as Bill Clinton and Fidel Castro on more than one occasion. Arturo
can currently be seen on stage with songbird Roberta Flack.
Lorne
Michaels: The One Constant On Saturday Night Live
Excerpt from www.globeandmail.com -
Andrew Ryan
(July 21, 2007) BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — Few bosses inspire more fear
in their employees than Lorne Michaels. More than three decades of running Saturday Night Live have
not appeared to soften the Canadian-born producer in any way. He continues to
steer the franchise he created with an iron hand, screening every single sketch
before letting it go to air. As any of the current cast members will attest,
the live broadcasts are a breeze compared to the dreaded weekly pitch-meeting
with the boss. "Man, I hate pitching sketches to Lorne," says cast
regular Kenan Thompson. "I mean, he's super-cool and all, but God, he
makes me nervous. The guy represents a lot of people's careers, you know?"
Sophomore SNL cast member Andy Samberg appears equally fearful.
"Lorne is a smooth dude, but he can be very intimidating. He never gets
animated or anything, but if he doesn't think something is funny, you know
it." Likewise, head writer and cast regular Seth Myers admits that when he
joined the show in 2001, taking sketches to Michaels ranked a 10 out of 10 on
the "terrified scale." Now? "It's about 9 ½. Lorne demands a certain
level of intelligence in the comedy. At the same time, you know he will happily
put something like Dick in a Box on the show. Lorne has very unique
range." But Michaels still knows funny, and how to pick his spots.
Crass as it was, Dick in a Box was the sketch that single-handedly
salvaged SNL's season last year, and it was a snap decision from the
62-year-old major domo. Samberg took the concept — a soul music video
with two smooth cats, played by Samberg and that week's host, Justin
Timberlake, wrapping up special Christmas gifts for their ladies — to Michaels
on the Friday afternoon before a live Saturday broadcast last December.
Michaels sanctioned the idea, which was shot quickly on digital video and
rushed to air for the Saturday show.
By Monday morning, an uncensored version of Dick in a Box had been
watched by millions of viewers on You Tube. And this week it was nominated for
an Emmy, in the Original Music and Lyrics category. "That's the real power
of the show — you can go from blank page to on-the-air in 24 hours," says
Michaels. "And it was a perfect form for the Internet, the same way The
Chronicles of Narnia exploded the year before. It gets it out there."
If just briefly, Dick in a Box made Saturday Night Live relevant
again, and had people talking. It wasn't the show's best season, but then, like
the New York Yankees, SNL has had great years and forgettable ones, with
Michaels the manager providing stability and direction. He was there for the
first broadcast in 1975, he left in 1980 for five years, and, on this day, he's
at a posh Beverley Hills hotel promoting SNL's 33rd season starting in
September. Basketball superstar LeBron James will host the opener. Michaels is
smallish, soft-spoken and well-dressed, but with piercing dark eyes that you
can easily imagine boring through one of his comedy charges at a writers'
meeting. Stepping aside from the press conference fray to chat, he doesn't
smile or laugh much for a Canadian who got his own start in the business by
writing comedy sketches. Michaels, in fact, may be the most unassuming Canadian
to enter the comedy business, and do it on American television, but nobody will
ever match his eye for talent. Just about every major North American comedy
star today came from his SNL factory. Working backward, the alumni
include Will Ferrell, Adam Sandler, Mike Myers, Chris Rock, Eddie Murphy, Bill
Murray, Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi. Even Chevy Chase had a movie career. They
were all relative unknowns before they started pitching skits to Michaels.
Saturday Night Live has been alternately praised and battered by critics
over the years, but it remains a viewing tradition for millions. The show's
undying strength, says Michaels, is that "it comes from another time in
network television — its budget, the way it's produced. It's really a throwback
to live television from the fifties." Michaels also has a keen eye for
what's hip on U.S. television, and to some extent he credits his birthplace.
Born in Toronto as Lorne Michael Lipowitz in 1944 (a few months after NBC radio
signed a young announcer named Don Pardo, who still opens each SNL broadcast),
Michaels had the gift of seeing humour in his surroundings. "Toronto was
the best of all worlds in terms of comedy grounding," he says. "It
was an unbelievably dull city when I was growing up, so the safety and dullness
made you find ways to amuse yourself." And the best way for a kid to amuse
himself in the fifties was via the black-and-white console television set in
the living room. Networks had signed on and comedy was king. Michaels absorbed
all of it. "I used to watch The Colgate Comedy Hour with my family
on Sunday night, but for me and my brother, it was always the Bilko show [with
Phil Silvers]," he says. "On television we had Canadian comedy,
American comedy and even some British comedy." Michaels graduated from the
University of Toronto in 1966 and teamed with a young lawyer named Hart
Pomerantz to create comedy pieces for CBC. They tested themselves in Los
Angeles, with fleeting writing stints for Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
and a Phyllis Diller sitcom, and returned home to Canada. CBC gave the pair
their own series, The Hart & Lorne Terrific Hour, a variety show
with musical guests and improv-comedy players that included Aykroyd and Victor
Garber. The show ran two seasons.
In 1975, Michaels was asked to put together a variety-style show for NBC to air
in the post-news timeslot on Saturday night. The network was filling the space
with reruns of Johnny Carson's The Tonight Show. Working with veteran producer
Dick Ebersol, Michaels devised a casual variety format of sketch comedy and a
weekly musical guest. He kept it simple. "We came on right after
Watergate, and in my generation, the things we cared about were the music, the
films and politics," says Michaels. "The show has always been a mix
of those three things." To ensure the first season went smoothly, Michaels
made calls home to some talented Canucks. "I just brought in the people
who I knew were good," he shrugs. "Howard Shore was musical director
and Paul Shaffer was in the band. Danny [Aykroyd] was on my show in Canada. It
wasn't like I ever said: 'Okay, where are the Canadians?' I've always gone with
the funniest people I can find." No other program was making fun of the
president at the time. SNL entered the zeitgeist of American culture
during that first season and stayed there, with only a few vacations since.
When the original cast began to fragment and people left the show, Michaels
treated the departures as opportunities.
"The show was always meant to be about different people, different subject
matter," he says. "If the people who were doing the show in 1975 were
still doing it, we'd all have guns in our mouths. It's kept fresh from the fact
new faces come into it every year, and it's people at the beginning of their
careers. There's a certain energy to that." And so it's gone on SNL for
more than 30 years. To be fair, Michaels has always been more mentor than
taskmaster to his cast. "Lorne is actually quite protective of us,"
says Samberg. "He's shown us how to interact with the press, with the crew
and the host. He's a great teacher." In several weeks Michaels will resume
the 70-hour work weeks and will sit through hundreds of sketch ideas from his
young, mostly unknown cast. He holds firm in his resolution that his Saturday
nights shall remain booked for years to come. "There are two driving
forces in my life," he says. "One, I really love doing it. And two,
my daughter gets out of high school in 2016, and that's a consideration because
I want to be there. But I'm committed to the show. If I didn't think it was
important, there are easier ways to make a living."
::MUSIC NEWS::
BET-J & VH1 Soul Get On Board With
Hidden Beach's Keite Young!
Source: Thornell Jones, Thornell@Fortressmarketing.com
(July 25, 2007) This week marks yet another milestone in
Hidden Beach singer/songwriter Keite
Young's musical journey as the sumptuous soul of
his official launch single, "If We Were Alone" makes its broadcast
debut on two national video outlets popular with soul/R&B music
fans. The music clip (a duet with newly reactivated Stax Records soulstress
N'dambi) debuted this past weekend on BET-J's "Soul Sessions," and
will make its debut on VH1 Soul's "Sub Soul" program this
week. The video's storyline portrays two strangers who fantasize
about an intimate encounter after meeting at a bus stop. Keite Young and
N'dambi both hail from the Dallas-Ft. Worth area, where they met on the music
scene. Since then, Young has made a name for himself with R&B/soul's
alternative-friendly audience via intense, moving live sets opening slots for
the likes of Robin Thicke, Frankie Beverly & Maze, Tank, the O'Jays and
others. The stage is clearly set for the 8/28 release of Keite
Young's anticipated Hidden Beach debut CD "The Rise and Fall of Keite
Young," as leading R&B/soul stations like WHUR-D.C. embrace the
seductive sound of "If We Were Alone."
It's only a matter of time before nationwide R&B/soul lovers discover and
are fully enthralled by the progressive, yet old school-hued sound of Keite
Young. BET-J's "Soul Sessions" airs Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday @
8pm and 3am (est.); Friday @ 1pm and 3am (est.); Saturday @ 9pm (est.); and
Sunday @ 9am (est.). VH1 Soul's "Sub Soul" airs Monday, Wednesday and
Friday @ 10am, 6pm and 2am (est.). Check out Keite's scorcher "If We Were
Alone," featuring N'Dambi at his MySpace site: www.myspace.com/keiteyoung
Corey Reynolds - The Closer Interview
with Kam Williams
Source:
Kam Williams
Corey Reynolds was born on July 3rd, 1974 in Richmond,
Virginia where he was raised till he decided to head west to take a shot at
showbiz. But his career took a detour and instead of sticking around Los
Angeles, he ended up in a traveling production of Smoky Joe’s Café.
Eventually, he settled in New York where he was cast in the role of
Seaweed in the original Broadway production of Hairspray. After landing a
Tony nomination for that dynamic performance, he returned to Hollywood,
appearing in The Terminal, directed by Steven Spielberg, and on
several TV series, including Eve, The Guardian, Without a Trace,
and CSI: Miami, before being invited to become a regular member of
the ensemble on The
Closer, the
TNT dramatic police series co-starring Kyra Sedgwick, J.K Simmons and
Gina Rivera.
Here, he
talks about his career, and about playing Sergeant David Gabriel on the show,
which recently started its third season.
KW: Had you
hoped to be able to play Seaweed in the new screen version of Hairspray, given
that you had originated the role on Broadway and landed a Tony nomination for
it?
CR: I had
some availability issues because of my prior commitments to the show, but to be
honest, it never was something that I was really gunning for, because I really
feel that you can’t just go back and recreate something. Hairspray was really
special, such a big smash, and we were all so very young, just kids, and then
this whirlwind happened. So, I thought I’d just keep my magic in a bottle. Still,
I was a little disappointed to see that there’s no one from the Broadway show
involved onscreen. I actually sang a song for the soundtrack.
KW: That
must feel weird to see someone else in your role.
CR: It’s
like seeing someone else dating your ex-girlfriend. But the truth of the matter
is that I’ve worked very hard since leaving the show in 2003 to move into the
realm of leading man and young adult, versus kid. So, I think that that type of
project may not have been the type of springboard that I was looking for to use
to continue my ascension in Hollywood. I’ve moved on, and I’m looking in a new
direction career-wise, but I’m very grateful that something I was a part of
creating continues to feed people and to provide them an outlet to do what they
love. I think that’s just great.
KW: How did
it feel to get a Tony Award nomination for Hairspray?
CR: That
was pretty exciting. It was my first Broadway show, so to have that happen out
of the gate, I was pleasantly surprised.
KW: That
sort of stamped you as an accomplished actor right of the bat.
CR: Yeah,
but I’ve got to get that trophy, though. I want to take that walk.
KW: Well,
The Closer is getting a lot of critical acclaim, so maybe an Emmy’s on the
horizon for you.
CR: Who
knows? If I play my cards right, and continue to do what I consider good work,
and let the chips fall where they may.
KW: How do
you like playing Deputy Chief Johnson‘s [Kyra Sedgwick’s character] protégé,
Sergeant Gabriel?
CR: I love
it, hands down. I loved my character in Hairspray, but when it comes to
theatre, you’re a little bit more restricted in what you can do, because you
have the same show over and over again. But with this, being able to develop
this character, and let him grow, and to allow myself to grow as an actor at
the same time, really is wonderful. I couldn’t have asked for a better role on
a television show. You don’t see many minority men my age playing
college-educated, well-spoken, articulate, good guys. So, that was something
that was really important to me as an actor, to try to find something that
would present me in a light that I want to be seen in. And this show presented
that opportunity.
KW: Yeah,
and even when you do see that positive role model-type character, they often
inject a lot of humour which undercuts
CR: …their
own legitimacy as what ever professional they are.
KW: Right.
CR: I agree
with you 100%. I see that in some other television series, a couple of medical
shows. On one, there’s a doctor who went to college and med school, twelve
years of intensive education after high school, and he’s still saying,
“Whazzup?” You would think that at some point that educational experience would
bleed into how they present themselves. What that does, in my opinion, is it
kind of discredits the whole idea of being the professional. But for me, in
playing Gabriel, it’s win-win across the board as far as how I like to act, and
the type of person I want to portray.
KW: On The
Closer, you’re surrounded by a talented cast, such as J.K. Simmons, who
got the biggest laughs, stealing all his scenes in Spider-Man 3 as J.
Jonah Jameson.
CR:
Absolutely! He loves those Spidey checks. He was telling me that in the new
Spiderman DVD…
KW:
Spiderman 2.1
CR: Yeah,
in 2.1 there’s a deleted scene of him in the Spider-Man costume in his office
running around. And he said, “You know the worst part about it was they gave me
Tobey’s suit, and it didn’t exactly fit me.” [Chuckles] Yeah, we have a great
group with him, G.W. [Bailey], Kyra, Jon [Tenney], Tony [Denison]… And
for me, it’s important to be able to have this be the foundation of my
television career.
KW: How is
the daily grind of shooting a series?
CR: We
shoot an episode every seven days, so we go Monday through Friday, and then
Monday and Tuesday of the next week. If you’re in every scene, you’re probably
looking at about a 65-70 hour week. But when you’re doing what you love, it may
get tiring, but it never gets bad.
KW: Kyra’s
from New York in real life, but has a Southern accent on the show, while you’re
from the Virginia, but don’t have the accent. Did you deliberately try to lose
yours?
CR: I
wouldn’t say I’ve worked to lose it, but I’ve always been told by others that
I’m well spoken, and that they’re surprised I’m from Virginia. But if you hear
me on the phone with my family, you’ll get a totally different sound, I can
assure you.
KW: Former
L.A. District Attorney, Gil Garcetti, who prosecuted the O.J. Simpson case, is
a consultant on the show. What’s he like?
CR: I gotta
tell you, man, Gil is surprisingly one of the coolest people I know. You’d
think that somebody in his position, and who had done what he’s done for a
living, would be very uptight. Not at all… not at all.
KW: Jimmy
Bayan told me to ask you where in L.A. you live.
CR: I live
in Los Feliz. I just bought a house there, so I’m excited.
KW: Who
would you like to see yourself acting opposite in a feature film?
CR: Ooh,
that’s a really good question. There are lots of people I’d love an opportunity
to work with. One of them was Tom Hanks, and I got to work with him on The
Terminal. That experience really blew my mind to be honest. That was my first
movie ever, and I’m on the set with Spielberg and Tom Hanks.
KW: How was
it working with them?
|
CR: They
are truly masters, and to be honest, they are two of the nicest people you
could ever meet in your life. And for me, that was great to see people I
admire, and to see how they treat other people. That helped me to understand
that if you truly want to experience success on the scale that these guys are
experiencing, there is a positive aura that must surround you. You must be a
positive person to have staying power. Lots of people can get there, but
longevity is what it’s all about.
KW: Did you
observe anything about how they each approach their craft from being
around them on the set every day?
CR: Steven
has a very concise and clear understanding of his vision, and what I think Tom
had was a very clear and concise understanding of Steven. So, he was able to
translate Steven’s vision instantly.
KW: What
advice do you have for anyone who might want to follow in your footsteps?
CR: Stay
realistic, know exactly what it is that you’re going for, and then stay
determined, because determination is the deciding factor between success and
failure.
KW: Corey,
thanks for the interview, and I hope I can get another one with you after you
break real big.
CR: You got
one whenever you want, all right?
KW: Thanks.
CR: Take it
easy.
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Music To Cost Hairdressers
Excerpt from www.thestar.com - Canadian
Press
(July 20, 2007) MONTREAL – The musical free ride is about to end for
your local hairdresser or barber shop. The umbrella group for
Canada's music composers is cracking down on thousands of hair salons that
don't pay licensing fees for the soothing music they play while you get a trim
or dye job. Anne Richard of the Society of Composers, Authors and Music
Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) says the law has always required hairdressers and
barbers to pay for playing CDs, MP3s or other recordings in public.
"They just didn't know about it," Richard said in an interview from
her Montreal office. "We don't have a huge staff for this, so each
year we target different music users. Last year it was dentists, this year it's
hairdressers." The cash will go into a pool administered by SOCAN
with more than 80 per cent of the money going directly into artist pockets,
according to organization officials. About a dozen SOCAN employees are charged
with enforcing the rule across Canada.
The move has the hair industry abuzz, according to Taryn Weinstock, editor of
Canadian Hairdresser International magazine, based in Toronto. She said large
salons, where thumping dance music is an important part of the ambience, may
have an easier time than a struggling shop with a single stylist.
"It's such a small industry," Weinstock said, adding that profit
margins are tiny for most hairdressers. Marrello Raffaello of Raffaello
Salon in Toronto's tiny Yorkville neighbourhood envisions a nightmare of
complications to sort out which salons should pay. He pointed to
old-school barbers who may play talk radio or nothing at all as they offer low-cost
trims. Their entertainment is often simply debate on sports and current
events. "A lot of old barbers aren't into music," Raffaello
said. "Are they going to pay? It's so tough to define. For a lot of
people, it's just a little background noise to break the silence. For others,
it's a key part of the business." Raffaello, who plays the radio in
his high-end salon, also wondered if SOCAN will be double dipping when radio
stations already pay for the right to play the music.
Most radio is free because stations already pay, according to Richard, but it's
not quite that simple. If Raffaello uses a standard radio to play the
broadcast, he's off the hook. If he uses a fancy amplification system, he will
pay, she said. "I guess if small operators are put into jeopardy by
having to pay $10 a month to creators of music, they can turn on a radio,"
she said. Richard said numerous salons have long paid licensing fees
after learning the law required the payments.
Expect New Babyface CD In September
Source: Amina Elshahawi, ThinkTank Marketing, amina@thinktankmktg.com,
http://www.thinktankmktg.com
(July 20, 2007) New York, NY -- Grammy award-winning
megastar
Kenny 'Babyface' Edmonds, an icon figure of live performance,
songwriting, and production whose work on his own music and others' has
resulted in more than 100 million career sales, has completed his 11th
album. PLAYLIST, which will arrive in stores September 18th as the first
album on the newly re-launched Mercury Records label, was announced earlier
this week by Antonio "L.A." Reid, Chairman Island Def Jam Music Group
and David Massey, President, Mercury Records. PLAYLIST will be Babyface's first
album devoted (mostly) to cover versions of some of his favourite songs, among
them James Taylor's "Fire & Rain," Bob Dylan's "Knockin' On
Heaven's Door," Dan Fogelberg's "Longer," Jim Croce's
"Time In A Bottle," Eric Clapton's "Wonderful
Tonight," and many others. The album will also include
original material. Over the course of the '90s, Babyface not
only distinguished himself as the decade's single greatest hitmaker, but as one
of the greatest hitmakers in the history of popular music. His imprint
(to date) extends to over 125 top 10 pop and R&B hits which include
47 #1 R&B hits, 51 top 10 pop hits, and 16 #1 pop hits. For one span
of time on Billboard's pop and R&B charts, Babyface was listed as the
writer, producer and/or performer on twelve separate songs in the Top 20.
His countless Grammy awards (which include Producer Of the Year in 1995, '96
and '97 - the only person in history to win three consecutive years), NAACP
Image Awards, Billboard Music Awards, and American Music Awards are just one
indication of Babyface's penetration into pop culture. In addition to
co-founding LaFace Records with Antonio "L.A." Reid in 1989 (home
of Toni Braxton, OutKast, TLC, Pink and Usher), Babyface's name is linked to
the world's biggest-selling and most universally popular recording artists -
including Mary J. Blige, Boyz II Men, Brandy, Toni Braxton, Tevin Campbell,
Mariah Carey, Eric Clapton, Celine Dion, Aretha Franklin, Dru Hill, Whitney
Houston, Michael Jackson, Madonna, Lionel Richie, TLC, and Vanessa Williams -
to name a few. Babyface is also responsible for such phenomena as the 7
million-selling Waiting To Exhale movie soundtrack album, and the 1996 Atlanta
Olympic Games anthem "Power Of the Dream" (which he co-wrote, and
which was sung by Celine Dion). As a movie producer, Babyface's company
debuted in 1997 with Soul Food (which grossed over $43 million, and spun off a
double-platinum soundtrack album), followed by Hav Plenty in 1998, Light
It Up in 1999 and Josie & The Pussycats (2001). Babyface's albums and
singles include: Lovers By Babyface (1987); Tender Lover (1989,
double-platinum), a #1 R&B album in Billboard for 11 weeks, including the
#1 R&B singles "It's No Crime" and "Tender Love,"
"Whip Appeal" (#2), and "My Kinda Girl" (#3); For the Cool
In You (1993, triple-platinum), on the R&B album chart for 87 weeks, with
the top 10 R&B singles "For the Cool In You," "Never Keeping
Secrets," "And Our Feelings," and "When Can I See
You"; The Day (1996, double-platinum), with the top 5 R&B/pop
crossover hits "This Is For the Lover In You" (platinum) and
"Every Time I Close My Eyes" (gold); MTV Unplugged NYC 1997 (gold);
Christmas With Babyface (1998); Face2Face (2001); and Grown & Sexy (2005).
Recipient of the NAACP Lifetime achievement Award, the Essence Award For
Excellence, GQ magazine's Man Of the Year honour, and named One Of the Most
Influential People In America by TIME magazine, Babyface's caring and
generosity are well-known. He is national spokesman for the Boarder Baby
Project in Washington, DC, which provides transitional housing for babies
abandoned at birth, awaiting adoption. In July 1999, Babyface became the
largest single personal donor to VH1's "Save the Music" campaign when
he donated $60,000 to the campaign in his home state of Indiana, to help
improve the quality of music education in public schools by restoring and
supporting music programs and raising public awareness. That same month
in Indianapolis, the Governor of Indiana renamed a 23-mile stretch of
Interstate 65 "Kenneth 'Babyface' Edmonds Highway," the first time
that a living African-American has been bestowed an honour of such magnitude.
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Indie-Rock
Titan's Enchanted Childhood
Excerpt from www.thestar.com - Special To The Star
(July
22, 2007) This week Toronto indie-rock titan Emily Haines –
whose growing fame stems from her songwriting in surging rock band Metric –
releases a solo EP, following last year's CD, Knives Don't Have Your Back, and 2005's hit record
with the band. One reason for her prodigious creativity is
obvious: her late father Paul, himself an apparent fount of ideas. The elder
Haines wrote poetry, liner notes, fiction and most famously created the
libretto for American jazz composer Carla Bley's 1971 double-album Escalator
Over the Hill, described as "a who's who of both free jazz and
rock" in Rolling Stone and "a monumental, Herculean
work" in the Village Voice. On the 1994 album Darn It! his
poems were put to music, sung by a varied crew including Mary Margaret O'Hara
and Cream singer Jack Bruce. The creations ceased only with his death in 2003.
Emily's concert this Wednesday at Harbourfront coincides with the
publication of Secret Carnival Workers, a collection of her father's
poetry and other writings. The Star asked her to reflect on
the influence such a busily artistic father has had on his daughter. Her
thoughts are annotated at the end.
Growing up I always remember feeling like our house was floating in space.
Every room was filled with treasures from all over the world; books from India,
ears sculpted from wax, early Michael Snow (1) sketches, my mother Jo's
paintings, Zuni fetishes, a giant photograph of (jazz trombonist) Jack
Teagarden hanging over the breakfast table, chewy riddles like "Dada is
the hatstand of the nervous system" printed and framed and placed
strategically throughout my father Paul's magical study.
Everywhere I turned, I found something from the world my mom and dad had
explored and created together, and all my adventures unfolded with a most
unusual soundtrack: the unpredictable contents of whichever mixed tape Paul was
making at the time. The whole area surrounding his stereo was cluttered with
endless stacks of unmarked cassettes that I couldn't resist playing when no one
was around. Who knew what imaginary places were captured in sound! My dad
tolerated this habit but not if I failed to return the tapes to their original
location – an impossible task as they all appeared identical. For Paul there
was nothing worse than listening to a tape and knowing what was coming next. He
avoided all distinguishing marks on his masterpieces. When I went away to
school and he started sending me tapes in the mail he amended this policy
somewhat, occasionally scrawling things like "Fats Misc." or "Interior,
Somewhere" on the cardboard cassette sleeve to give me a hint of what I
was in for. Even now, many years later, no matter where I am when I put
on one of his tapes, I am transported back to being very young, crouched beside
the stereo speakers constructing fantastic houses out of clear plastic cassette
cases, quivering towers of windows overlooking the floor below. Maybe under
different circumstances I could have become an architect, but something I heard
in those early days got me started as a musician and I haven't been able to
stop. I'm amazed that I can still romanticize those years and continue to take
inspiration from those memories. My parents were both teachers and our house
was not particularly big or fancy. In fact, aside from the placard on the door
which read "Attention: Chien Bizarre"– a version of "Beware of
Dog" more fitting for our insane Finnish Spitz – it wasn't remarkable in
any way.
We had a willow tree, a badminton net, a basketball hoop and a gas station with
a pinball arcade in the back for a next-door neighbour. These things provided
amusement but the real world was inside records and books. On Tuesday I'm
releasing an EP – a final companion piece to Knives
Don't Have Your Back – that is named after a poem Paul wrote for
his friend Robert Wyatt (2), called "What is Free to a Good Home?" I
found out what it could mean to write a song by listening to Wyatt. When I made
my first rudimentary recordings, he was kind enough to listen to them and send
back cryptic observations and suggestions that kept me going. What is Free to a Good Home? is being
released simultaneously with the first published collection of Paul's writing,
a book called Secret Carnival Workers.
Songs on the EP like "Rowboat" and "The Bank" are the
tracks most influenced sonically by my early years listening to Wyatt, and
"Sprig" (3) is a Paul Haines poem set to music in a way I think he
would appreciate. The musicians that inspired me as a kid were mostly people
Paul collaborated with, and I've spent a lot of my life as an artist paying
homage to them. My childhood was an enchanted time, and I know I will create a
house that floats in space for my own kids someday – maybe minus the wax ears.
In the meantime, I don't want to perpetuate nostalgia for a time that is gone.
Devoting your life to the past is like being stuck in a long-distance
relationship with someone who doesn't exist. I've done it and I don't recommend
it. The day Paul died all the appliances in the house stopped working,
confirming at once my suspicions that the man was a conductor of electricity.
In his absence I often feel like a tired machine myself. I hope that by
releasing What is Free to a Good Home? and
Secret Carnival Workers together
this summer some aspect of Paul's presence – ideally his sense of humour! – will
send a jolt to the living. Failing that, we can all try to find vinyl copies of
Wyatt's album Nothing Can Stop Us,
sit on the floor and listen to "Shipbuilding" (3) over and over,
memorizing the words to remember we're alive.
Emily Haines performs Wednesday at 8 p.m.
at the Harbourfront Concert Stage.
Canadian Idol May Follow The Voting Fans
Excerpt from www.thestar.com
- Cassandra Szklarski, Canadian Press
(July 19, 2007) Canadian
Idol host Ben Mulroney says
bringing the show's finale to another city could be a great way to embrace
ardent fans in other parts of Canada while giving Hogtown a kick in the pants.
"Just the finale, why not?" Mulroney said following the taping of the
Top 10 performance show Tuesday. "It could be an interesting
experiment." Although the hugely successful series draws the bulk of its
viewers from Toronto, much of the voting audience tends to hail from smaller
centres eager to support their hometown hero. Executive producer John Brunton
chastised Toronto fans last month for ignoring talented singers from the city,
noting that no one from Canada's most populous city had made it into the Top 10
in the past three seasons. Smalltown Newfoundlanders, by comparison, have made
it into the Top 5 in each year of Idol, and have reached the runner-up
spot in the past two years. Idol already kicks off each season by
visiting major centres across the country for jam-packed audition sessions.
Brunton appeared open to the suggestion it may be time to take Idol on
the road for the make-it or break-it performance and results episodes.
"That's not a bad idea," says Brunton, the moustachioed TV guru also
behind the travelling Junos telecast. "The reaction and reception we get
across the country when we travel the show, and as you know when we travel the
Junos, it's just unbelievable." The Junos hit the road to great success in
2002, taking Canada's biggest music awards show to St. John's, N.L., Ottawa,
Edmonton, Winnipeg, Halifax and Saskatoon after spending more than three
decades in Toronto. The show heads to Calgary next year. However, uprooting a
production as massive as Idol would be no easy task, notes Mulroney, who
said he'd be reluctant to leave his home for the three-month run. Such a scheme
could work with a special episode, but moving the entire show would involve a
logistics nightmare, he added while musing on scenarios that could work.
"Listen, maybe turn it into a rock show, and every week the Top 10 would
be in a different city," he suggested. "It would have to be very raw
and I don't know how that would translate to television." Regardless of
what's in store, such a move is not in the cards in the near future.
This week, the show's Top 10 contenders settled into a swank mansion that will
be their home for as long as they survive on Idol. The would-be stars – ranging
in age and background from baby-faced 16-year-old Jaydee Bixby of Drumheller,
Alta. to 28-year-old lobster fisherman Dwight D'Eon of West Pubnico, N.S. –
opened the doors to friends, family and media Tuesday for a peek at impressive
digs that include nine bathrooms, a tennis court, an indoor pool, a squash
court, gym, movie theatre and steam rooms. And although it's still months away,
plans for the show's blockbuster finale in Toronto are already underway. Pop
superstar Avril Lavigne is set to usher the new champ to stardom on Sept. 11.
Toronto contender Martha Joy, a 16-year-old powerhouse who belted Celine Dion's
"The Power of Love" on Tuesday, said she didn't feel any disadvantage
coming from the big city, noting that regional support is not enough to carry
someone all the way to the top spot. However, fellow Torontonian and Idol rival
Mila Miller learned she was the first to be sent home from the Top 10 on
Wednesday. The 17-year-old sang the Stevie Wonder hit, "Signed, Sealed,
Delivered", but could not garner a big enough share of the 2.5 million
votes to stay in the race.
Evelyn ‘Champagne’ King's 'Open Book'
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com -
(July 23, 2007) *Songbird Evelyn ‘Champagne’ King has
a career that has spanned more than just decades; she’s championed genres.
Discovered at the ripe age of 16, King’s career took off in 1979 with the
huge Disco hit “Shame,” and held on to her place as a powerhouse throughout the
‘80s with synthesized chart toppers such as “I’m In Love” and “Love Come Down,”
and the R&B hit “Kisses Don’t Lie.” But while King considers that era
her heyday, her sound was not relegated to just that time. The ‘90s
reintroduced the singer to a new set of fans. Thanks to the work of underground
DJs, King took over another style of music – Dance. And not only did her
re-spun classics crowd the floors, in 1996 her single “One More Time” hit the
top of the Dance Charts. A decade has passed without a new studio album from
the singer, but King is ready to blaze new trails in music with her new disc,
“Open Book” due August 28th. “I’m celebrating 30 years August, and I’m very
proud of that,” the Grammy-winning singer said. “I never really envisioned this
happening – the longevity of it – never. When ‘Shame’ first came out, I said,
‘This young girl singing these songs, who’s really going to pay any attention?’
But then, it blew up overnight. And when I heard myself on the radio, I nearly
passed out. It was really weird. I was only 15½, still a teenager. As soon as
that happened, I was on the road most of my life. 30 years now, nothing but a
suitcase.” King said she has absolutely no regrets for starting her career so
early. After all, singing and performing was in her blood. Her father was a
tenor for a few popular groups and often filled in for acts performing at the
famous Apollo Theatre. “I always wanted to do it,” she said of following in her
dad’s footsteps. “At 5 years old he took me to the Apollo to see him. I went up
on stage and did belly rolls. I wasn’t singing, but I was performing.”
By age 14, the little performer was the lead of a local band in Philadelphia,
and has kept the ‘belly roll’ sense of keeping the audience on their toes when
she’s on stage. “You get out there, and you do your show, but sometimes they
want you to do a little more. My passion is to sing and entertain. I have to
move on that stage.” One thing the songstress doesn’t do on stage, however, is
bring her own personal trauma. King is no stranger to loss, but told EUR’s Lee
Bailey that performing has been her therapy not necessarily her sounding board
for the pain. “You can’t show that to your audience,” she said. “They have no
idea. I stress. I go through things. I’m only human. I lost my mom and dad and
a brother in ’97. I lost a child in ’89. When all those things happen and I hit
the stage, I feel like a beam of light goes over me and I love it.” Just last
year, King also faced a personal scare. She described that she was suffering from
a very large thyroid, the size of a pumpkin, which was removed in an operation
October 2006. “When I had that happen, I thought it was over,” she
lamented. “I’m literally back. I’m positive, but there are certain things you
can’t do anymore, like have children. It’s sad to see a lot of girls out there
that don’t care to go to the doctor and check on things. I never really heard
anyone talk about the fibroid thing.”
King said that that experience really made her pay attention to things. And she
hopes that perhaps she can be a part of changing the lives of young women by
bringing attention to the issue. “It changed my perspective of a lot of
things,” she said. Tragedy and health have never slowed down Evelyn
“Champagne” King. After 30 years in the business, she’s not taken a vacation
and has no plans to start slowing down. With a new deal with RNB Entertainment
and Jaggo Records, she’s prepared a new set of tunes that her old and new fans
will enjoy. “I already had my stuff ready. I co-wrote four cuts on [the album].
We all came together and I knew what I wanted. So I’m bringing what I feel they
will like,” she said of the new disc. “I’ve always done nothing but work,” she
continued. “Everybody says, ‘Evelyn, you’re coming back out? Where have you
been?’ I’ve been working. But I have to say that I need more of my black
audience to recognize that we are still out there.” King mentioned that her
career has had its ups and downs, but believes that it all comes with the
territory. She mentioned that while her career could be bigger, she’s quite
comfortable and it’s that attitude that makes her so tenacious and her music
timeless. “I just keep a positive attitude, though it does hurt from time to
time,” she confessed. “I never wanted to be this big star. I don’t want that
title. I just want to be Evelyn that loves what she does. And I’m getting that.
I’m happy. I’m nothing but about positive.” For more on Evelyn ‘Champagne’ King
and the “Open Book” CD, visit www.rnbtunes.com/artists/evelyn_king.html
or her site, www.evelynchampagneking.com.
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Prince Masters God And Sex, Again
Excerpt from www.globeandmail.com
- Robert Everett-Green
PLANET EARTH
Prince
Columbia/Sony
***
(July 24, 2007) The wider he casts his net, the more Prince
tells us about Prince. More, in the sense of telling again what we sort of
already knew about his obsessions with God and sex, and his overwhelming need
to be the master. The holographic cover of Planet Earth shows him
hovering godlike over the earth in a red disco shirt and black corset, his hands
and features stiff with self-consciousness. Tip the cover a little, and both
star and globe vanish into that glyph-thing he used during the nineties instead
of a name. A perfect fusion of self and cosmos. Or something. Planet Earth
opens with a big-tent, groovy-gospel telling of some inconvenient truths about
the planet and our sins against it. The bookend is the album-closing
Resolution, which may be the closest Prince has come to writing a political
folk song. In the songs in between, he mostly retires to his purple boudoir
world. You don't need to listen too closely to the lyrics to understand that
Prince can still write and perform at a very high level, with an instinctive,
nomadic sense of style.
Guitar, the playful first single, has a dry, strutting rock beat and a
sung-spoken, verse style that slyly evokes Hendrix well before Prince plays a
brief, meaty solo. The One U Wanna C is a beach-ready rocker with
a shivery guitar sound that might have been imported from a new-wave B-side. Chelsea
Rodgers turns to disco-funk with a touch of reggae, and Somewhere Here
On Earth issues from a late-night cocktail lounge, with pillowy flutes and
jazz-like riffs on piano. Mr. Goodnight is a sexual advertisement so
airless as to resemble an act of auto-asphyxiation. The cooing backup singers
("Call Mr. Goodnight, he'll make you feel all right") sound
like a team of procuresses. Somewhere Here On Earth reverses the
viewpoint, in a coy falsetto projection of the patient submission Prince seems
to want in a woman. Maybe this is the voice of his feminine side, maybe he
really wants to know what it's like for a girl, or perhaps he just wants to
gaze on himself from a different angle. The bland All the Midnights in the
World could be an excerpt from a Prince musical and should be cut before
the show goes into previews. Planet Earth is not a great Prince disc,
but aside from a few missteps, it's still pretty good.
MC Cadence Weapon says he sees no point
in becoming jaded about the state of hip hop
Excerpt from www.thestar.com
- Ben Rayner, Pop Music Critic
(July 24, 2007) Heaven only knows what it's gonna take to
get Canadians behind their own hip-hop talent, so the Americans might as well
give it a shot. Despite sending the blogosphere into a tizzy and making the
short list for the inaugural Polaris Music Prize, the home-recorded debut by
Edmonton MC/producer Rollie Pemberton, a.k.a. Cadence Weapon, 2005's Breaking Kayfabe, wasn't enough to
make him a success story on the level of fellow Can-hop standard bearer
k-os. Undaunted by their home nation's commercial indifference, Pemberton
and his Toronto indie label, Upper Class, found a supportive, international
(re)launching pad earlier this year in U.S. punk outpost Epitaph Records' Anti-
imprint. While Breaking Kayfabe enjoys time to breathe south of the
border, Cadence Weapon has been polishing a second record that threatens to
sound little like its predecessor. This weekend's Wakestock gig (Sunday, 2:20-3
p.m., Main Stage, Centre Island) will furnish T.O. fans with a preview. He
offers a few thoughts via email.
Q: There's been an obvious effort to improve Wakestock's musical line-up
this year, most notably on the hip-hop front. Is there anyone you're
particularly interested in checking out while you're on the island?
A: I want to see De La Soul for the third time because I'm basically obsessed
with them. I want to show them my Stakes Is High tattoo and also perhaps
befriend them and become their protégé. But I definitely also want to check out
my dudes Ten Second Epic.
Q: Are you gonna be treating us to some hot new shit while you're here?
When's the new record coming down the pipe?
A: I will be doing mostly new tracks. The new album is mastered and will be
coming out early next year. It's a space station. Blood on the dance floor. A
rap party.
Q: By last summer, your live shows seemed to be tilting in a harder, more
dance floor-driven direction ... is the next disc gonna be a full-on dance
party or what?
A: It's mostly four-to-the-floor dance rap. In the time between albums, I've
taken up DJing and got more interested in dance culture. Me and Nik Kozub from
Shout Out Out Out Out typically do parties together in Edmonton as New
Strathcona and I was a bit interested in making music people would want to play
in a DJ set.
Q: It seems everyone but the members of G-Unit are pretty sour on the state
of hip hop these days. Thoughts?
A: I always wonder who's better: dudes who only rap about how rap is dead and
how commercial rap sucks, or dudes who only rap about money, cash and
"hos"? Both are flawed in that their subject matter is so limited. I
think it's easy to get jaded on the state of hip hop if you feel like it
affects your livelihood. I don't fear the reaper. After the rap nuclear winter,
I will reappear as MC C.H.U.D.
Q: Who'd win a Wakestock microphone battle of the hot young thangs: you or
Lupe Fiasco?
A: I think we'd have trouble battling each other. What am I gonna say? Your
jeans are slightly tighter than mine? You're a nerd? It seems a bit like that
last part of 8 Mile where Eminem disses himself.
Band Takes Stock Of The Sum Of Its Parts
Excerpt from www.thestar.com - Ben
Rayner, Pop Music Critic
(July 23, 2007) They survived a brush with death in a
Congolese war zone to release their last album, Chuck,
in 2004, but the members of Sum
41 were nearly undone in the months that
followed by a force much more insidious than bullets or mortar fire: their own
indifference to being Sum 41. "We'd always said we were only going to do
this as long as it was fun and when we got off the Chuck tour, the
enthusiasm was gone. It didn't feel right," says front man/guitarist
Deryck Whibley during a recent trip to Toronto. "I couldn't see what the
purpose was any more. I thought about it and another Sum 41 record just wasn't
exciting to me. So when we went home from the tour, I didn't think we were
going to quit, but I was thinking, `I know I'm not going to do this for awhile
and if I never do it again, it'll be for a good reason.'" Sum 41's future
certainly didn't appear much brighter through the "six months of not
really doing anything" that ensued. The band parted ways with its
management. Whibley's marriage to fellow Canadian pop-punk titan Avril Lavigne
threatened to become a full-time, tabloid-stalked distraction. And then came
the announcement that guitarist Dave "Brownsound" Baksh was leaving
the band he'd co-founded 10 years previous in an Ajax high school to
concentrate on his own metal outfit, Brown Brigade.
Instead of being the death blow to Sum 41's platinum-plated reign as one of
mall-punk's highest-prized marquee acts, though, it was the catalyst for the
band's most dogged and adventurous studio outing yet, Underclass Hero.
The disc – a widescreen set of burnished punk screeds and emo-ish power
ballads that chief songwriter and producer Whibley themed around the concept
"confusion and frustration in modern society" – arrives in stores
tomorrow. "I think part of Dave quitting was we'd been talking about how
this was going to be really hard, that this was not going to be something easy
to make," says Whibley, 27. "I think he was okay with, like,
skating by and doing the minimum. But when he realized we were going to do
something that was way beyond anything we'd ever done, I think he decided he
wanted to focus that much attention on his own thing. "We didn't want him
to quit at all, but at the same time it solidified the three of us knowing that
there was nobody here who didn't want to be here," he adds. "We knew
we could do this. Then all the doubt from everyone else came around. We'd been
gone a long time, we didn't have a manager, a guitar player or a producer any
more. Everyone was, like: `Their best musician is gone. They probably won't
make another record and if they do, it's gonna suck, anyway.' "I'm not
trying to discredit him in any way," Whibley continues. "He's a
better guitar player than I'll ever be, but he didn't write anything. There was
no weirdness or surprise when he quit. The only surprise was that he made it
that long. We'd been expecting it for six years that he was going to quit at
any moment."
Having survived another near-death experience, Whibley, drummer Steve Jocz and
bassist Cone McCaslin are now more committed than usual to the arduous
worldwide touring schedule that turned their previous four records into hits.
They won't even make it back to Canada until October. Whibley, who reveals a
lot more of himself on Underclass Hero tracks like the Bush-baiting
"March of the Dogs" and "Dear Father (Complete Unknown)," a
dig at the dad he's never met, is particularly proud that the work is finally
seeing the light of day. "It was the only way for me to make this record.
I wasn't interested in doing another Sum 41 record otherwise," he says.
"We owe it to ourselves to really see this through after all the things we
went through."
Police Reunion Gig Arresting
Excerpt from www.thestar.com - Ben
Rayner, Pop Music Critic
(July 23, 2007) To borrow a title: "When the World is Running
Down, You Make the Best of What's Still Around." So, yeah, this Police reunion likely never should have happened. Even
Sting's own son, Joe Sumner – whose band, Fiction Plane, has been opening what
will likely turn out to be the summer's biggest concert tour and is witnessing
firsthand the deteriorating game of "nice" waged between Dad (a.k.a.
Gordon Sumner), guitarist Andy Summers and drummer Stewart Copeland – has
publicly given the reactivated trio only as long as it takes not to "beat
each other to death" before the whole thing collapses amidst a violent
reprisal of the conflicts that first killed the band at the peak of its global
popularity 23 years ago. It's a good thing, though, that these cats probably
really can't stand to be on the same stage together. Last night's performance
by the beloved British trio at the Air Canada Centre – its first of three
sold-out reunion gigs at the venue, with a second tonight and another at tour's
end on Nov. 8 – exhibited none of the play-it-safe musical complacency that
typically afflicts such grudging, exorbitantly priced "over my dead
body" endeavours. No, The Police appear committed to making this more than
a total murder-by-the-numbers sleepwalk to their substantial paycheques. The
two-hour program was indeed composed of "greatest hits" culled from
their redoubtable, five-album, '77-'84 playbook, but the song arrangements were
frequently and diligently distended and twisted into curious new shapes, or
occasionally lent contemporary vocal melodies more in tune with the 50-ish
Sting's "mature" vocal register.
The changes might have frustrated and occasionally outright bored a 20,000-ish
mob that mostly stayed on its feet from Summers' signature liquid guitar intro
to "Message in a Bottle" until this writer fled during an
anticlimactic encore reprisal of "Every Breath You Take" 120 minutes
later – seriously, last night's masterful, arena-tweaking extended version of
"So Lonely" was an entire curtain call in itself, the preceding,
jubilant kick at "King of Pain" notwithstanding – but they
contributed to the most consistently interesting and least tawdry or
phoned-in-feeling reunion gig to pass through Toronto at this level in years.
There's something to be said for a willingness to potentially fail,
particularly when you're failing at nearly $300 a head. And The Police did fail
mightily from time to time last night, turning the once-urgent "Don't
Stand so Close to Me" into a flaccidly groovy argument for erectile-dysfunction
medication, missing the glide on the chorus to "De Do Do Do, De Da Da
Da" and the apocalyptic bite of "Invisible Sun," and then
totally degrading the more-valid-than-ever "end of the world" portent
of "Walking in Your Footsteps" with a couple of dropped-in Summers
blues riffs that provoked one of the few "holy cheeseball!" responses
of an otherwise totally respectable night. Though sluggish enough to seem much
longer than its actual running time, the mighty "Synchronicity II"
retained its sleek, evil character. An explosive slow burn to the jubilant
final chorus of "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" taught the
value of patience to a room rendered slightly wary and weary by deliberate,
elongated arrangements of "Walking on the Moon" and the aforementioned
"When the World is Running Down, You Make the Best of What's Still
Around." Properly harnessed, in fact, the "wow" moments on
the night – scattered though they might have been – probably coursed with
enough of their own energy to generate light. I see a lot of crappy,
walk-through-it reunion shows in this job, and this wasn't one of them.
Probably because Sting and Copeland, he of the raised and ludicrously
overexpanded drum kit, are so hell-bent on outshining one another's brilliance
that Summers has the space to stitch the great songs they wrote together back
into something egoless and essential.
Hard-To-Define Band The Deftones Lead
2007 Line-up
Excerpt from www.thestar.com
- Ben Rayner, Pop Music Critic
(July 24, 2007) The critical intelligentsia is notoriously unkind
to heavy metal until hindsight demands a positive reappraisal. It's part of
their respective mythologies, for instance, that such rock luminaries as Black
Sabbath, Alice Cooper, Judas Priest, Mötley Crüe and Jane's Addiction – hell,
even Led Zeppelin, the granddaddies of the genre – were initially sneered at or
ignored by the dominant tastemakers of the day. Even the Crüe's
"hair-metal" peers during the 1980s weren't tarred with as uniformly
damning a brush, though, as the acts saddled at the turn-of-the-millennium with
the label "nu-metal." Poison might have been rightfully scorned in
its time as utter cheese, but Korn and Limp Bizkit were essentially blamed in
the press for starting the Woodstock '99 riots. That's some serious hostility.
Korn now gets belated credit, at least, for setting, perfecting and then
rethinking the ultimate nu-metal template. The best band of the crop,
though, was the Deftones, who top a daunting bill at this
weekend's Wakestock festival, that frenzy of music of extreme sports on Centre
Island. The crew of elementary-school chums from Sacramento came out hard in
the early '90s with a sound just a hair's breadth too slow, heavy and caustic
to be then embraced alongside the not-dissimilar Smashing Pumpkins by the
"alternative"-rock generation, yet whose precise, hardcore-gilded
mood swings and contradictory weakness for Robert Smith-worthy swooning were
nevertheless only as "metal" as their underpinning deep-end riffage
cosmetically dictated.
Indeed the Deftones are apparently so used to being waved off as "nu-metal
survivors" that guitarist Stephen Carpenter can't even receive a critic's
fond admission of fanhood without getting his back up. "I don't know if
it's us not getting our due, but we definitely get lumped into categories all
the time that we would never consider ourselves to be part of," he says
from a tour layover in Victoria. "I think we just get dismissed
because we're not commercially viable. That doesn't make sense to a lot of
people. If it's not on the radio, it's not something they can see. (Singer)
Chino (Moreno's) vocals aren't very decipherable as it is, so that throws
people off big time. Especially with radio, what people want is songs you can
sing along to all the time and you don't have to think about. "And
with us, I think, you've gotta focus on it too much." It's hard to say
what people want from the Deftones. The band's initial commercial viability was
demonstrated by unforeseen gold (500,000-plus) U.S. sales for its first two
albums, 1995's searing Adrenaline and the comparably vicious 1997 Around
the Fur, and then cemented by the platinum-plus success of 2000's White
Pony – a divisive record whose Goth overtones and explorations of
electronically enhanced headspaces eventually won the Deftones more fans than
they lost.
The subsequent, defeatistly titled and executed Deftones in 2004 sounded
like the work of a band unsure of where it wanted to go next. In fact, quibbles
within the ranks over the creative direction of its next album, last year's
experimentally inclined Saturday Night Wrist, would almost tear the band
apart. Troubles began when the band enlisted heavyweight Canadian producer Bob
Ezrin (the studio whiz behind Pink Floyd's The Wall, Alice Cooper's Billion
Dollar Babies and Lou Reed's Berlin) rather than longtime producer
Terry Date to shake up its studio habits. The contentious sessions that resulted
proved tremendously stressful on both sides, eventually collapsing completely
when an irate Moreno – mired in a divorce and gulping down enthusiastic amounts
of booze and speed – took off without notice to tour with his dream-pop side
project, Team Sleep. It would be five months before he'd return to record
his vocals for Saturday Night Wrist with another producer altogether.
"We've definitely talked about all the ups and downs we experienced making
the record, but Bob's a great guy," says Carpenter. "His work
habits and the method of operation that he goes by are not the same as ours.
Individually, I absolutely agree and totally dig on Bob and how he works. But
as a group, we've got people who just don't focus on their shit like they should
or pass the buck, if you will." Was the scene really as bad as it's been
made out to be? "Oh, yeah. We had a couple of drug addicts in the band
during this process, man. It was hell. "Everything's better now. But
it's, like, who knows if it's gonna rear its ugly head again?" From all
that conflict, the band emerged with its most striking, if not its best,
album in Saturday Night Wrist and a renewed reputation as America's most
innovative metal band. But Carpenter insists that "we're not trying to
make anything that's groundbreaking." "We're just a garage band. We
appreciate all the success that we've earned, but we take it as it comes.
There's no master plan," he says.
MUSIC TIDBITS
A Rare Axe From The Past
Excerpt from www.thestar.com
- Greg Quill, Entertainment Columnist
(July 19, 2007) Known as the great champion and saviour of
the Fender Stratocaster, Jimi
Hendrix was rarely seen playing any other
instrument. But he did make an appearance with this top-of-the-line 1967 Gibson
SG Custom on the TV variety-talk program The Dick Cavett Show on Sept.
9,1969, seen here in a YouTube video. The guitar, one of
the Hard Rock Café franchise's most prized relics, will be on display in the
memorabilia collection for the next two months. We asked Toronto guitarist and
SG expert Danny Marks to deconstruct the distinctive features of Jimi's Axe. Click here for a PDF of Jimi Hendrix's 1967
Gibson SG Custom.
IFC Goes Into R. Kelly’s “Closet’
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com
(July 23, 2007) *The Independent Film Channel has
acquired all 12 existing chapters of R. Kelly’s “Trapped in the Closet” music video soap opera, and
has signed on to help the artist create 10 more. According to Daily
Variety, IFC will broadcast the original 12 episodes of the videos, which
center around the romantic misadventures of a character named Sylvester. The
channel’s Web site, IFC.com, also plans to stream the entire 22-episode run.
Kelly said IFC made sense as a platform for the property, which may in fact be
more of a classic serial than a movie, because he's "always thought of
'Trapped' as an independent film." The show is part of IFC’s effort
to gradually transition away from showing only independent film, says general
manager Evan Shapiro. "What we want to do is go from an independent film
channel to one that is the voice of independent culture," he tells
Variety.
Keyshia Cole Back With Album, Tour
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com
(July 23, 2007) *Singer and reality show star Keyshia Cole is back on the grind with the release of
her new album in September, a tour that launched over the weekend in Maryland
and the fall premiere of her reality show for BET. On July 21, Cole was
in Baltimore kicking off a tour behind her upcoming album “Just Like You,” which
will drop on Sept. 11th along with the long-awaited new albums from Kanye West
(“Graduation”) and 50 Cent (“Curtis”). Half of Cole’s 20-show run will be
played in House of Blues venues across the country, including a two-night stand
Sept. 2-3 at the HoB in West Hollywood, CA. The tour wraps up in September – a
month before the premiere of BET’s “The Way It Is 2.” This season, the Cole’s
reality series will follow her continued growth and evolution, as well as her
strained relationship with her mother, according to a press release. The singer
is also tapped to star in the upcoming MTV film, “How She Moves.”
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Pras Says Fugees Reunion Is Dead
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com
(July 23, 2007) *Fans of The Fugees who are hoping for a
reunion can start preparing for disappointment. Group member Pras told
Billboard that the group is dead, despite a brief reunion in 2004 to work on new
material. "Me and Clef [Wyclef], we are on the same page, but Lauryn
[Hill] is in her zone and I'm fed-up with that sh*t,” said Pras. "Here she
is blessed with a gift with the opportunity to rock and give and she's running
on some bullsh*t? I'm a fan of Lauryn's, but I can't respect that." Hill
recently made headlines for playing a series of bizarre solo gigs, including
one at the Paramount Theatre where she showed up late, apologized for falling
down earlier and left some fans requesting refunds.
Ben Harper Hits The Road Behind
‘Lifeline’
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com
(July 23, 2007) *Ben Harper and his band the Innocent
Criminals launched a massive North American theatre tour in the fall to support
their forthcoming album, “Lifeline.” The trek is scheduled to begin Sept.
1 in Boulder, CO and crisscross the U.S. –dipping into Canada along the way –
before wrapping in mid-November. For the first time in his career, Harper is
bringing his concert tours to sit-down theatres. "The ICs and I are gonna
dust off and dress up a little for this next tour, so feel free to do the same
... only if you're in the mood," Harper said in a posting at his Web site.
"It will be a different musical experience, and I am excited for
this--more of a sit down, acoustic show, some amplification as well, but a
mixture of all this and hopefully some new covers too." Harper’s set
list includes tracks from the new album “Lifeline,” due Aug. 28, as well as
songs from his back catalogue. "As much as this tour is focused
around the kick off of 'Lifeline,' these upcoming theatre shows are going to be
an opportunity for us to play a lot of the songs that we haven't gotten to as
often as we'd like--especially songs that we feel fit well with
'Lifeline,'" Harper said. In the meantime, the lead single and video
from the album, "In the Colors," are streaming at Harper's Web site.
Also, Harper and the Innocent Criminals will hit the late-night talk-show
circuit over the next few months, performing on "The Tonight Show with Jay
Leno" Aug. 28, "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" Sept. 21 and
"The Late Show with David Letterman" Oct. 1.
J.Lo And Husband Consider Joint Tour
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com
(July 23, 2007) *Marc Anthony says he may hit the road this
year for a co-headlining tour with his wife Jennifer Lopez. The couple stars in the upcoming film “El Cantante”
and appear on each other’s albums. "Jennifer has never toured,"
Anthony tells Billboard. "I've toured all my life. This is where I can
step in and say, 'Oh, my God, this could be fun,' and introduce her to that
world." "It is something she's always wanted to do, but she's never
had the time," he continues. "And I was offered many more films I
never took advantage of because I was always on tour. So, yes, we're seriously
talking about going out this year [and] putting together an amazing show with
just her and myself." "El Cantante," due in theatres Aug.
3, stars Anthony in a biopic about salsa legend Hector Lavoe. Lopez plays
Lavoe's wife, Nilda. The film's soundtrack is to be released on July 24.
?uestlove Steers Al Green’s ‘Duet Album’
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com
(July 24, 2007) *Al Green
says he is 15 songs deep into his
upcoming album produced by Roots drummer Amir “?uestlove” Thompson. The set, tentatively titled “The Duet Album,” will
feature pairings with Anthony Hamilton, D'Angelo and possibly Alicia Keys and
Joss Stone. The soul crooner tells Billboard.com that he and the Roots
have been recording tracks at New York’s Electric Lady Studios with hopes of
finishing by November. His label, Blue Note, has set a target release date of
early 2008. "It's turning out to be like fresh cream, man,
like fresh milk from the cow's titty, baby," Green told the Web site.
"We wrote these songs right off the (studio) floor and cut 'em right there
that same day.” "It's the Roots band playing the music, producing
the music, and they let Al sing what he sings and sing with these other
people," he said. "I've never heard anything quite like it, 'cause
I've never had anybody produce me other than Willie Mitchell. And when you give
these young kids a shot at it, it's interesting to see the art they make. It's
beautiful." Green said the new album has a hip-hop flavour to it, but
there will be no rapping involved. In the meantime, the veteran R&B star
will tour as part of the B.B. King Blues Festival 2007, which also features Etta
James.
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Amy Winehouse Is Odds-On Favourite For
Best Album Award
Excerpt from www.thestar.com
(July 25, 2007) Amy Winehouse is the bookie's favourite
for Britain's Nationwide Mercury Prize, in front of Jamie T and the Arctic
Monkeys. Such is the prestige of the annual award for the best British or
Irish album that the victor will probably see sales surge. The judges have
often gone for an outsider – and some of the other nine shortlisted artists'
CDs have a strong claim. Winehouse's nomination for Back to Black is her
second for a Mercury and this time she has a real chance. The judges say they
formally go by the music on the record alone and on this count, Winehouse has a
lot going for her. "Rehab" and "You Know I'm No Good" are
singles that mix R&B with jazz. The Mercury panellists do take some note of
sales – at least they mentioned it when recognizing the Arctic Monkeys' debut
–and Back to Black has gone platinum in both the U.S. and the U.K. They
may also reward the popularity of Winehouse, 23, who swiftly followed the
record with sell-out concerts, a BRIT award, marriage – and colourful headlines
about drinking and tattoos. The Arctic Monkeys' victory last year was possibly
too early, because the band's second album is an improvement. It's unlikely the
band would win twice in a row. Jamie T has been on the road promoting his debut
Panic Prevention. The 22-year-old put in an energetic performance in
London earlier this year and he's improved since then while showcasing a CD
that is a cross between the Streets and the Arctic Monkeys. Natasha Khan, who
goes under the stage name Bat for Lashes, blew away everyone who heard her at
Glastonbury. Her album Fur and Gold is a grower. A song such as
"What's a Girl to Do?" has a quiet beauty.
We Remember Songwriter Ron Miller
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com
(July 25, 2007) *Songwriter Ron Miller, whose hits included
such classics as “For Once in My Life” and other memorable songs for Motown,
died Monday of cardiac arrest at Santa Monica UCLA Medical Center after a long
battle with emphysema and cancer, reports AP. He was 74.
Miller began his professional career in the 1960s after Motown founder Berry
Gordy discovered him at a piano bar. He became one of the label's first
songwriters and record producers. "For Once in My
Life," written with Orlando Murden and made famous by Stevie Wonder, is
one of the most recorded songs in history, with more than 270 versions,
according to All Music Guide. Miller’s songs have also
been recorded by Judy Garland, Diana Ross, Ray Charles and Barbara Streisand.
In 2005, Charles' and Gladys Knight's version of Miller's "Heaven Help Us
All" picked up the best gospel performance Grammy.
"My father will be reborn every time someone sings one of his songs,"
Lisa Dawn Miller told the AP. "When they feel joy or sadness or any
emotion, that will be my dad and his words." Miller is
survived by his wife, Aurora Miller, and six children. A memorial service was
scheduled for Aug. 4.
::FILM NEWS::
Leading Ladies Behind The Screen
Excerpt from www.thestar.com
- Martin Knelman, Entertainment Columnist
(July 19, 2007) In the 1970s, when Helga Stephenson was
starting out in the film business, women in senior posts were an endangered
species. But yesterday, a ballroom at the Park Hyatt Hotel was packed with
them. The occasion was a gala Women in Film &
Television lunch at which seven dynamic women behind the screen were
honoured by an organization with the mission of celebrating heroines who have
managed to break into the guys' locker room known as show business. Stephenson
– the visionary strategist who shaped the Toronto International Film Festival
in its formative years – was among seven honourees at yesterday's event.
"At first, when I started," she recalls, "I was always the only
woman in the room, which I can tell you was not so much fun. It was the bad old
days when being the only woman meant they looked at you when they wanted
coffee." She stood her ground but wondered when the rules of the game
would ever change. Well, they have. Many women at the lunch have broken into
the executive suites. Stephenson, who ran TIFF from 1987 through 1993,
was in distinguished company. The other winners:
'Who’s Your Caddy?' Big Boi Answers The
Question In New Comedy Flick
Source: Roz StevensonPR
(July 19, 2007) Antwan "Big Boi" Patton from the multi-platinum
and Grammy winning hip-hop duo OutKast leads an all-star cast in Who's Your Caddy?, portraying C-Note, a superstar rap
mogul who runs into fierce opposition when he tries to join a stuffy golf
country club. The wild street team and the stuffy elite, who
collide on the green include Terry Crews, Tamala Jones, MTV's Andy Milonakis,
comedienne Sherri Shepherd, funnyman Faizon Love, Finesse Mitchell, Jeffrey
Jones, James Avery, Bruce Bruce, Bad Santa's Tony Cox, Garrett Morris, Mighty
Rasta and Grammy-nominated rapper Lil' Wayne. Our Stories and
Dimension Films will release Who's Your Caddy? in theatres on July 27. When the
board president of the Carolina Pines Golf & Country Club tries to deny
C-Note membership, it's nothing that he and his entourage can't handle.
Undeterred by the country club's rejection, C-Note gets the brilliant idea to
buy the land adjacent to the golf club's 17th hole, which he cleverly leverages
to gain membership. C-Note's crew causes serious confusion as they bring their
larger-than-life style to the club. As the club's conservative leadership
desperately tries to revoke C-Note's membership, he realizes that his family's
honour and secret record-breaking golf history is at stake. As he takes
on the fight of his life, C-Note pulls out all the stops to bring down the
club's backwards establishment and welcome them to the 21st century.
In 2006 Patton leaped from hip-hop star to actor
extraordinaire with starring roles in Idlewild with André Benjamin and ATL with
T.I. Soon after he landed the lead role in Who's Your Caddy?
Patton, who admits he wants to explore all performing avenues, talks about how
the starring role in the film came about. "Actually, my manager called me
and said, 'Yo, man, there's this film and I want you to check out the script.
I like it and they want you to play the lead.' I said, 'Word?' I
read it and from the first couple of pages, I was laughing. The script
was so funny. So, I said, 'I'm in.' It was just that simple," Patton
says. The film required him to golf and polo, neither of which
he had done before, but that didn't deter Patton. "Although I had
never golfed, I picked up the basics quickly and after the first day, it was
on. As far as riding a horse went, I adjusted to it easily, too, because
I'm really into animals. Once I got on the horse, it was cool.
Before we started shooting I rode the horse for hours and I loved it.
Now, I'm looking into buying some horses. So, these new experiences have
really expanded my world," he acknowledges. The 32 year-old husband and
father of three admits his life is a constant juggling act, "I try to keep
family first. I want to be there for wife and for my kids' soccer games,
music recitals and parent-teacher meetings. It's not easy, but I have a
great team behind me that works hard to make sure everything gets done."
Patton spent the first half of his childhood in Savannah, Georgia before moving
to Atlanta. He had a strong interest in hip-hop music, and met André
"3000" Benjamin while attending Tri-Cities High School in the early
'90s. The two eventually joined forces as OutKast and signed with LaFace
Records. In contrast to his more sedate,
philosophical partner, Patton's on-record persona can be identified by his
rapid-fire delivery, a style which has become more distinct since the album
ATLiens. Patton has often used his lyrics to criticize the problems that
plague both the African American community and the world. One example is 2002's
"War", a scathing attack on the Bush administration and the "war
on terror." In addition to his work on much
OutKast and Dungeon Family-related material, Patton has also been featured on
other artists' tracks without André 3000. His most notable guest appearances
were on the 1999 Missy Elliott hit, "All N My Grill", the Youngbloodz'
"85 South", and Trick Daddy's 2002 single "In Da
Wind". After four increasingly
successful albums as a duo, Benjamin decided to make a solo album as a side
project. Patton also produced the solo effort, and the album was packaged
together with André 3000's solo album as Speakerboxxx/The Love Below in 2003.
Big Boi recently announced a new solo album in the works, which
may be finished in 2007. Purportedly similar in sound to Speakerboxxx, it will
feature production from André and long-time Dungeon Family production team
Organized Noize. Who's Your Caddy? is an MGM release of an Our Stories
Films and Dimension Films Presentation of a Rifkin-Eberts Production/Kia Jam
Production in association with Eleven Eleven Films. The film is directed
by Don Michael Paul (Half Past Dead, Furious Five) and written by Don Michael
Paul, Bradley Allenstein and Robert Henny. The producers are Christopher
Eberts, Tracey E. Edmond, Kia Jam, Arnold Rifkin and the executive producers
are Shakim Compere, Ross Dinerstein, Queen Latifah, Marvin Peart, Chris
Roberts, and Bobby Schwartz. The director of photography is Christopher
Schenck.
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Nikki Blonsky: Giving Hairspray Its
Volume And Shine
Excerpt from www.globeandmail.com -
R.M. Vaughan
(July 20, 2007) The Nikki
Blonsky story is almost too wonderful to be
true. Plucked from obscurity after winning a U.S.-wide talent search, Blonsky
is the lead – indeed the whole raison d'être – in the Hollywood version of the
Broadway production of the John Waters indie-film classic Hairspray. As bubbly
as Korean tapioca tea, Blonsky is remarkably composed for an unknown actress
carrying a blockbuster musical with a megastar cast (including John Travolta,
in a drag kit as convincing as the plush creatures from the old H.R. Pufnstuf
show). Blonsky's energetic performance gives Hairspray
its volume and shine. Her Tracy Turnblad – the plucky teen who just wants everyone
in the segregated world of early-sixties Baltimore to get along – is note
perfect. A star is born.
All this PR jazz about you being discovered in a malt shop. C'mon – you're
really one of Ron Howard's kids, aren't you?
Ha! No, I'm not! No, I'm not a Howard. But he's a cool guy. I really was found
in an ice-cream store.
But that doesn't happen any more. It's like something out of the forties.
Well, we're bringing back the old times. I'll tell you what happened – I saw
the Broadway show when I was 15 and I fell in love with it. I fell in love with
Tracy. It was the first time I found a character I connected with on a whole
other level. I was like, that's me! I auditioned for the Broadway show when I
was 16, but I didn't get it because on Broadway they don't hire anybody under
18.
So who plays Orphan Annie?
There's some pretty young-looking 18-year-olds out there. When I saw the movie
auditions, I was raring to go. Five and a half months of auditions and
callbacks later, I got it. I fell off my chair crying and screaming.
Do you feel guilty stealing this movie from John Travolta, Queen Latifah,
Christopher Walken and Michelle Pfeiffer?
Oh my God! I'm honoured to be sharing this experience with all of them. Queen
Latifah is one of my idols.
So that's a no?
I think we all should just be proud of what we've done.
Were you old enough to watch any of Waters' dirtier films while you were
making Hairspray?
I saw a little bit of Pink Flamingos.
Which bits?
Well, I love me some Waters. I wanted to see it all!
If the musical of Pink Flamingos happens, will you follow Divine's lead and
eat the dog poo?
Ummm. Let's just say I thank God for John Waters for creating Hairspray, so I'd
pretty much do anything for him.
You are the veteran of many Great Neck South Senior High productions. Two
questions – first, what did you learn from high-school musicals?
Our high school is the only one in the country that does a fully orchestrated
opera every year. We would rehearse for six months, and we did some hefty productions.
All that preparation taught me a lot of discipline.
Second question – where is Red Neck? I mean, Great Neck.
Are you calling me a redneck?
Oh, please. You should see where I'm from.
It's on Long Island, New York. A little suburb.
For someone who's only 4-foot-10, you command a lot of screen presence.
It's really just letting the inside take over the outside. If you're a big
spirit inside, you can become 5-foot-11 outside. I was never a shy kid.
Any rehab stints on the horizon? You are a hot young starlet.
Ha! Absolutely not! No way! You know, this is such an honour, for me to be in
this business – and the fact that people disgrace it in such a way kinda gets
me a little disturbed. I would never shame the people who gave me this
opportunity like that.
John Travolta's drag is most believable when he's on camera with you.
Somehow, you two created your own drag chemistry.
Honestly, it's because we looked alike. And John and I were extremely close on
and off set, and it kinda just became a believable mother-daughter
relationship. He still checks up on me, like a mother.
Your performance in the film is underlined with righteous anger, especially
when the film deals with issues of body size and exclusion.
You saw anger? I think it's more disbelief. Tracy is so carefree, she doesn't
understand why black and white kids can't dance together, why heavyset girls
can't fall in love. She's not angry, she's frustrated. I grew up having the
same experiences, but I was never angry, I was frustrated. I had a lot of
Ambers [Hairspray's villain, Amber von Tussle] in my life, calling me names,
making fun of my weight, my height. I came to the conclusion that I didn't
really care.
What's next? I hear “Bond girl” whispers.
Are you serious? Stop it! You're making that up! I'd totally be down for it!
A real man like Daniel Craig needs a real woman.
He needs a woman with curves! I'd show him a good time.
EUR FILM REVIEW: I Now Pronounce You
Chuck & Larry
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com -
(July 23, 2007) *For years, Brooklyn firefighters
Larry
Valentine (Kevin James) and Chuck Levine (Adam Sandler) have been best friends, at least on the job, even
though they lead very different private lives. Away from work, Chuck
behaves like a wanton womanizer with no intentions of ever settling down, while
Larry is a grieving widower who's too concerned about the welfare of his kids,
Eric (Cole Morgen) and Tori (Shelby Adamowsky), to start thinking about dating
again. Despite their differences, these buddies are absolutely committed to
being there for each other, and Larry proves his loyalty the day he saves his
pal's life during the collapse of a burning building. In return, Chuck promises
to return the favour at the first opportunity, unaware how soon that pledge
will be tested. For when bureaucratic red tape prevents Larry from naming his
children as the beneficiaries of his life insurance policy, he learns that the
snafu could be corrected instantly, if he only were married or had a domestic
partner. So, to expedite matters, he asks Chuck to sign a document saying
they're gay life mates, never expecting that a nosy inspector (Steve Buscemi)
from the city's Fraud Detection Department might show up at his house
unannounced periodically to make sure they're not lying.
With the prospect of prison hanging over their heads, Chuck grudgingly moves in
with Larry, rather than risk going to jail. And it doesn't help that he has to
hide the fact that he's straight from their knockout of a lawyer (Jessica
Biel), since he finds himself falling head-over-heels in love with her. The
ensuing awkwardness and embarrassment over having to pretend to be strange
bedfellows probably sounds like a zany enough premise to make for a potentially
hilarious sitcom. However, I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry is so evilly
executed that it deserves to be dismissed as a deliberately mean-spirited indulgence
in homophobia.
For the full review by Kam Williams – go HERE.
::TV NEWS::
Brent
Butt's Loving His Hollywood Moment As Canuck Sitcom Is Touted Before Its U.S.
Debut
Excerpt from www.thestar.com - TV Critic
(July
22, 2007) LOS ANGELES– It's a long way from Dog River to
Beverly Hills – approximately 3,000 km, as the crow flies, assuming the crow is
flying south, southwest. Brent
Butt has just gotten off the plane from
Vancouver, where he lives the half of the year he is not in rural Saskatchewan,
taping his hit Canadian comedy, Corner Gas. The show is his gift to the world, seen in 27
countries – an already impressive figure now about to increase by one: The Big
One, the gosh-almighty United States. At a special breakfast press conference
yesterday in the midst of the TV critics tour (preceded by a poolside
cocktailer for Canadian press at Trader Vic's the night before), Chicago-based
national cable titan Superstation WGN announced its acquisition of Corner
Gas, to run six times a week in various timeslots, with a potential
viewing audience of 71 million. One can't help but wonder what Brent LeRoy
would make of all this, though there is little to distinguish Butt from his
sardonic alter-ego. He has often said that Corner Gas – about to enter
its fifth season in Canada – represents the life he might have lived had he not
decided to try comedy some 20 years ago. "I can do a lot of things
almost good enough to make a living," he says, "but just short of
good enough to make a buck. And I used to hang out at the gas station with my
buddies, so this is probably pretty reflective ...
"Sitting at a gas station in the middle of nowhere, eating a chilli dog
and reading a comic book – that's pretty close to how things could have shaped
up." Doing it on television has brought him here, to the alien environs of
the Beverly Hilton, known as a preferred hideaway for Hollywood housewives
recovering from plastic surgery. And it takes all of five minutes poolside to
experience a quintessential Hollywood moment. Our waiter, who has been
hovering, listening intently to our chat, sheepishly gives Butt his resumé and
photo. Apparently, he's an aspiring stand-up comic. "Make sure you get
this in the story," Butt laughs. Butt or LeRoy, it is fairly apparent that
neither one of them really belongs here. "I can certainly see myself
working in L.A.," he allows, "but I would never want to live
here." He tried for half a year long ago, but couldn't get his papers to
stay longer. "So I moved back to Vancouver. Got this little apartment I
rented by the week. I lived in that apartment for 10 years." And he's
still there, albeit in a bigger apartment, where he lives with his new wife and
co-star, Nancy Robertson, when he isn't shooting Corner Gas or off
touring his stand-up act. "I couldn't imagine not doing stand-up," he
says. "I mean, why not? You get free drinks ... cheap, at least .. you get
to see the country." Partway through each season, he says, "I get
crazy itchy to do stand-up. I almost go down to the restaurant and say, `Can I
get your attention? . . .'
"Right now we are working on trying to get me on Letterman to do a
set," Butt beams. "It's exciting, but I kind of have to get up my
chops, work up some new bits. I've got all these old bits ... `Dial phones?
Does anybody have a dial phone?'" If he needed a TV sitcom to realize a comic's
dream – a spot on Letterman's Late Show – Butt certainly doesn't
begrudge the medium. "I love TV. Without being facetious, I think
television is man's greatest achievement. There's a lot of s--- that goes on
it, but I can sit in my home and watch what's going on in Africa as it happens.
What kind of a miracle is that? Flying is probably third. Penicillin is
probably second. But television? "Saying television is crap is like saying
food is crap. No it isn't! Apples are delicious!" With Letterman
in reach, all that remains to be seen is whether America is ready to embrace Corner
Gas. A casual canvas here of the U.S. critics who've seen it invariably
elicits polite, noncommittal comments like, "Well, it's very Canadian
..." – whatever that's supposed to mean. "I've heard it being
described as `quietly subversive,' says Butt. "I kind of like that.
`Softly making fun.' "And it is subtly subversive. And also silly. There
is nothing that is too smart or subtle for our show. It's not about anything.
And it's not above anything. "I am personally a fan of all types of
humour. I like dirty comedy, family comedy, stupid comedy (if) it's executed in
a fairly original manner ... Anything fits in Corner Gas.
"If everybody follows the idiot, you will go farther than 20 geniuses
pulling in different directions."
Canadian Movie Leads Emmys
Excerpt from www.thestar.com
- Lynn Elber, Associated Press
(July 19, 2007) LOS ANGELES – The made-for-TV movie
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, which was shot in Alberta and stars
Winnipeg-raised actor Adam
Beach, led all Emmy nominees with 17 Thursday. Wounded Knee was directed by
Quebec-born Yves Simoneau and featured hundreds of First Nations people from
southern Alberta. In the historical epic, Beach plays Charles Eastman, a
college-educated Sioux physician who struggles with his assimilation as the
U.S. government continues a bloody campaign to settle Indian lands. The movie
also stars Aidan Quinn as well as Montreal-born actor August Schellenberg. The
Sopranos, the mob series that went to its grave with a shockingly
inconclusive finale, found a happy ending with 15, including best drama. The
other best-drama series were Boston Legal, Grey's Anatomy, House and
freshman sci-fi sensation Heroes.
James Gandolfini, who played the emotionally conflicted mob boss on The
Sopranos, and Edie Falco, who played his wife, both received top acting nominations.
Another freshman hit, Ugly Betty, based on a Colombian telenovela, made
it into the ranks of best comedy series nominees. It's joined by Entourage,
30 Rock, Two and a Half Men and last year's winner in the category, The
Office. Ugly Betty star America Ferrera was recognized with a
nomination for her starring role. Joining Gandolfini among lead drama series
actor nominees were Hugh Laurie of House, Denis Leary of Rescue Me,
James Spader of Boston Legal and last year's winner Kiefer Sutherland of
24. Last year's drama series was 24 but it was snubbed this time.
Falco will compete with Patricia Arquette of Medium, Minnie Driver of The
Riches, Sally Field of Brothers & Sisters, Kyra Sedgwick of The
Closer and last year's winner, Mariska Hargitay of Law & Order:
Special Victims Unit. Sedgwick got the news immediately. She helped
announce bids for the 59th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards in a brief ceremony at
the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' Leonard H. Goldenson Theatre. Friday
Night Lights, the critically acclaimed but low-rated high school football
drama that needed an Emmy boost, failed to gain major nominations. The
Sopranos which premiered in January 1999 and had an on-and-off cable run,
capped its final episode this year with an ambiguous ending that left fans in
the dark about the fate of lead character Tony Soprano, last seen sitting in a
diner with his wife and children. A suddenly black screen suggested sudden
violence – or not. The series' other nominees included Michael Imperioli, who received
a bid for best supporting dramatic actor for his role as the ill-fated
Christopher. Aida Turturro, who played Tony's tough sister Janice, and Lorraine
Bracco, who co-starred as his conflicted psychiatrist Dr. Melfi, were nominated
for supporting actress.
Corey Reynolds - The Closer Interview
with Kam Williams
Source:
Kam Williams
Corey Reynolds was born on July 3rd, 1974 in Richmond,
Virginia where he was raised till he decided to head west to take a shot at
showbiz. But his career took a detour and instead of sticking around Los
Angeles, he ended up in a traveling production of Smoky Joe’s Café.
Eventually, he settled in New York where he was cast in the role of
Seaweed in the original Broadway production of Hairspray. After landing a
Tony nomination for that dynamic performance, he returned to Hollywood,
appearing in The Terminal, directed by Steven Spielberg, and on
several TV series, including Eve, The Guardian, Without a Trace,
and CSI: Miami, before being invited to become a regular member of
the ensemble on The
Closer, the
TNT dramatic police series co-starring Kyra Sedgwick, J.K Simmons and
Gina Rivera.
Here, he
talks about his career, and about playing Sergeant David Gabriel on the show,
which recently started its third season.
KW: Had you
hoped to be able to play Seaweed in the new screen version of Hairspray, given
that you had originated the role on Broadway and landed a Tony nomination for
it?
CR: I had
some availability issues because of my prior commitments to the show, but to be
honest, it never was something that I was really gunning for, because I really
feel that you can’t just go back and recreate something. Hairspray was really
special, such a big smash, and we were all so very young, just kids, and then
this whirlwind happened. So, I thought I’d just keep my magic in a bottle.
Still, I was a little disappointed to see that there’s no one from the Broadway
show involved onscreen. I actually sang a song for the soundtrack.
KW: That
must feel weird to see someone else in your role.
CR: It’s
like seeing someone else dating your ex-girlfriend. But the truth of the matter
is that I’ve worked very hard since leaving the show in 2003 to move into the
realm of leading man and young adult, versus kid. So, I think that that type of
project may not have been the type of springboard that I was looking for to use
to continue my ascension in Hollywood. I’ve moved on, and I’m looking in a new
direction career-wise, but I’m very grateful that something I was a part of
creating continues to feed people and to provide them an outlet to do what they
love. I think that’s just great.
KW: How did
it feel to get a Tony Award nomination for Hairspray?
CR: That
was pretty exciting. It was my first Broadway show, so to have that happen out
of the gate, I was pleasantly surprised.
KW: That
sort of stamped you as an accomplished actor right of the bat.
CR: Yeah,
but I’ve got to get that trophy, though. I want to take that walk.
KW: Well,
The Closer is getting a lot of critical acclaim, so maybe an Emmy’s on the
horizon for you.
CR: Who
knows? If I play my cards right, and continue to do what I consider good work,
and let the chips fall where they may.
KW: How do
you like playing Deputy Chief Johnson‘s [Kyra Sedgwick’s character] protégé,
Sergeant Gabriel?
CR: I love
it, hands down. I loved my character in Hairspray, but when it comes to
theatre, you’re a little bit more restricted in what you can do, because you
have the same show over and over again. But with this, being able to develop
this character, and let him grow, and to allow myself to grow as an actor at
the same time, really is wonderful. I couldn’t have asked for a better role on
a television show. You don’t see many minority men my age playing
college-educated, well-spoken, articulate, good guys. So, that was something
that was really important to me as an actor, to try to find something that
would present me in a light that I want to be seen in. And this show presented
that opportunity.
KW: Yeah,
and even when you do see that positive role model-type character, they often
inject a lot of humour which undercuts
CR: …their
own legitimacy as what ever professional they are.
KW: Right.
CR: I agree
with you 100%. I see that in some other television series, a couple of medical
shows. On one, there’s a doctor who went to college and med school, twelve
years of intensive education after high school, and he’s still saying,
“Whazzup?” You would think that at some point that educational experience would
bleed into how they present themselves. What that does, in my opinion, is it
kind of discredits the whole idea of being the professional. But for me, in
playing Gabriel, it’s win-win across the board as far as how I like to act, and
the type of person I want to portray.
KW: On The
Closer, you’re surrounded by a talented cast, such as J.K. Simmons, who
got the biggest laughs, stealing all his scenes in Spider-Man 3 as J.
Jonah Jameson.
CR: Absolutely!
He loves those Spidey checks. He was telling me that in the new Spiderman DVD…
KW:
Spiderman 2.1
CR: Yeah,
in 2.1 there’s a deleted scene of him in the Spider-Man costume in his office
running around. And he said, “You know the worst part about it was they gave me
Tobey’s suit, and it didn’t exactly fit me.” [Chuckles] Yeah, we have a great
group with him, G.W. [Bailey], Kyra, Jon [Tenney], Tony [Denison]… And
for me, it’s important to be able to have this be the foundation of my television
career.
KW: How is
the daily grind of shooting a series?
CR: We
shoot an episode every seven days, so we go Monday through Friday, and then
Monday and Tuesday of the next week. If you’re in every scene, you’re probably
looking at about a 65-70 hour week. But when you’re doing what you love, it may
get tiring, but it never gets bad.
KW: Kyra’s
from New York in real life, but has a Southern accent on the show, while you’re
from the Virginia, but don’t have the accent. Did you deliberately try to lose
yours?
CR: I
wouldn’t say I’ve worked to lose it, but I’ve always been told by others that
I’m well spoken, and that they’re surprised I’m from Virginia. But if you hear
me on the phone with my family, you’ll get a totally different sound, I can
assure you.
KW: Former
L.A. District Attorney, Gil Garcetti, who prosecuted the O.J. Simpson case, is
a consultant on the show. What’s he like?
CR: I gotta
tell you, man, Gil is surprisingly one of the coolest people I know. You’d
think that somebody in his position, and who had done what he’s done for a
living, would be very uptight. Not at all… not at all.
KW: Jimmy
Bayan told me to ask you where in L.A. you live.
CR: I live
in Los Feliz. I just bought a house there, so I’m excited.
KW: Who
would you like to see yourself acting opposite in a feature film?
CR: Ooh,
that’s a really good question. There are lots of people I’d love an opportunity
to work with. One of them was Tom Hanks, and I got to work with him on The
Terminal. That experience really blew my mind to be honest. That was my first
movie ever, and I’m on the set with Spielberg and Tom Hanks.
KW: How was
it working with them?
|
CR: They
are truly masters, and to be honest, they are two of the nicest people you
could ever meet in your life. And for me, that was great to see people I
admire, and to see how they treat other people. That helped me to understand
that if you truly want to experience success on the scale that these guys are
experiencing, there is a positive aura that must surround you. You must be a
positive person to have staying power. Lots of people can get there, but
longevity is what it’s all about.
KW: Did you
observe anything about how they each approach their craft from being
around them on the set every day?
CR: Steven
has a very concise and clear understanding of his vision, and what I think Tom
had was a very clear and concise understanding of Steven. So, he was able to
translate Steven’s vision instantly.
KW: What
advice do you have for anyone who might want to follow in your footsteps?
CR: Stay
realistic, know exactly what it is that you’re going for, and then stay
determined, because determination is the deciding factor between success and
failure.
KW: Corey,
thanks for the interview, and I hope I can get another one with you after you
break real big.
CR: You got
one whenever you want, all right?
KW: Thanks.
CR: Take it
easy.
David E. Talbert's New Show On TV One
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com -
(July 20, 2007) *Leave it to TV One to lure award
winning playwright and
producer David E. Talbert from behind the scenes to the front and
center position on Stageblack; a new eight part reality series that
follows ten aspiring actors and actresses vying for the chance to appear in
David's acclaimed stage play Love In The Nick Of Tyme. David admits that being
in the director's chair is easy but being the man out front was a
challenge. "When it came to the reality show, my wife and I came up
with this idea together, then someone came with the bright idea (maybe Morris
Chestnut and Tracey Edmonds) that I should be the one hosting it and of course,
I did that kicking and screaming because I didn't want no part of being in
front of the camera." The ever cool Mr. Talbert gives this
description of Stageblack. "It's like Fame meets American Idol,
meets The Apprentice. All through the years I've been so blessed to meet
so many people who didn't come through the traditional channels of coming into
the business, these are people who maybe sung in their church or sung in the
shower or on the street corner or wherever. I've been able to find
all of this new talent so I thought it'd be good to be able to go all across
the country and tap into some of that untapped talent."
Stageblack was actually shot while David was on the road with "Love In The
Nick Of Tyme" which starred Morris Chestnut, Avant and American Idol
finalist Trenyse. As the production traveled to ten cities, the series
taped the behind the scenes antics of contestants hoping for a role in
"Love in the Nick of Tyme" but only one man and one woman end up
being chosen. Stageblack is not banking on the high ratings and entertainment
value of merely embarrassing people. While such is the norm for other
reality competition shows, David puts a different spin on his show.
"My intention is to pull out the best in people and give them an
opportunity to be the best that they can be while being honest at the same
time." Another exciting element of Stageblack combines the
guidance of stars like Blair Underwood, Elise Neal and Deborah Cox who show up
to give direction to the hopeful competitors. There's also a dose of comic
relief and tough love from Freez Luv who serves as the show's
den-father. "It's a lot of dramatic stuff that happens in here
because when you put this many people together for this period of time, a lot
of things start to come out. Freez Luv is a very comical character. He
pushes buttons. I'm the good cop. I think he's the bad cop."
David E. Talbert Presents: StageBlack, airs Sunday, July 22 from 10-11 PM ET
on TV One. The series will re-air Sunday nights at 1 AM, Friday
mornings at 10 AM, and Saturday night at 11 PM. David E. Talbert
Presents: StageBlack is produced for TV One by Edmonds Entertainment in
conjunction with David E. Talbert. The series was co-created by Lyn Talbert.
Executive producers of the series are David E. Talbert, Morris Chestnut, Blair
Underwood, Tracey Edmonds and Michael McQuarn. Southwest Airlines
is a sponsor and the official airline of David E. Talbert Presents:
StageBlack. David E. Talbert is currently in post production
on his directorial debut for Sony/Screen Gems titled "First Sunday" which
stars Ice Cube and Katt Williams.
Eddie Izzard - They're Taking This Funny
Man Seriously
Excerpt from www.globeandmail.com
- Gayle Macdonald
(July 19, 2007) After 20 years of working clubs, doing live
theatre and getting bit movie roles, British stand-up comedian Eddie Izzard is finally being taken seriously - as a dramatic
actor, that is. As rumours swirl that the intellectual funny man may get a
best-actor Emmy nomination today for his new hit TV show The Riches,
Izzard has emerged as a tour de force in whatever genre he decides to dabble
in. This weekend, the 45-year-old Izzard flies to Montreal to headline stand-up
shows on Friday and Saturday at the Just for Laughs comedy festival. It's his
fourth or fifth year in la belle cité - he can't remember which - and
it's a gig the comic says he never turns down because, as a passionate
linguist, he loves to parler en français whenever he gets the chance.
"I come back because it's French and it's English and I can practise my
French on unsuspecting shopkeepers whenever I please," says Izzard, who
admits to studying languages (he also speaks "survival" German) up to
four hours a day. "I'm a big Europhile and a big Francophile. Montreal is
also a very ambitious festival," says Izzard, on a cellphone this week en
route to a 9 p.m. gig at West Hollywood's Coronet Theater. "I don't
suppose people from Europe would assume Montreal is where comedy is at. But
it's there, all right."
Once referred to as the "Lost Python" by John Cleese, Izzard says he
wanted to act since he was 7. He toiled in clubs around Britain through a good
part of the eighties, honing his comedy routines and taking them to North
America and through Europe in the nineties. In 1993, he finally hired an acting
agent (in addition to his comedy agent) to land him meatier dramatic roles.
Small parts in films such as The Cat's Meow and Velvet Goldmine
came his way. But Izzard's big break in the United States came in 1999, when
his comedy act Dress to Kill was shown on HBO. Izzard went on to win two
Emmy Awards in 2000 (for performance and writing). And in 2003, he was also
nominated for a Tony as best actor (play) for A Day in the Death of Joe Egg
on Broadway. Soon after, Steven Soderbergh came calling with small parts in Ocean's
12 and 13. "Those films were a lot of fun," says Izzard,
of working with the likes of George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and Don
Cheadle. "But it was also a little frustrating, because you feel like you
get to base camp at Mount Everest. But then everyone else is going up Everest,
and I'm thinking, okay, you climb up Everest. I'll do a couple of scenes and
then go away."
These days, the film roles he's landing put him at least halfway up the
mountain. Propelled by the critical acclaim of The Riches, which also
stars fellow Briton Minnie Driver, Izzard is now getting substantial face time
in big-budget movies such as Julie Taymor's Across the Universe (due out
in September) and Bryan Singer's film about a plot to assassinate Hitler, which
also stars Tom Cruise. Famous for his flamboyant transvestite leanings
("It is my manifest destiny to wear a dress on all seven continents,"
Izzard once remarked), he has now placed some restrictions on his choice of
attire so as not to harm his burgeoning career. He describes himself as a
straight transvestite or male lesbian, but says society has still been slow to
embrace his predilection for makeup, heels and skirts. "I am a
transvestite," he says. "I wear whatever I wish to wear [when
performing live], just like a woman can choose to wear pants or a dress. But
it's not drag. I refuse it to be called that. It's simply a dress." Like
Izzard, his fans also tend to be free-thinkers. "My audiences are
generally more alternative audiences," the comedian muses. "Thinking,
alternative, inquiring minds come to my gigs. And if they're not that bent,
they tend to run away screaming at all my weird references."
In The Riches (which airs on FX in the United States and Showcase in
Canada), Izzard plays Wayne Malloy, the patriarch of a con-artist family of
"travellers" who find a couple killed in a car accident and assume
their identities. Wayne, his wife Dahlia (Driver) and their three kids move
into the Riches' massive home in very upscale suburbia in Baton Rouge, La. The
youngest son has a preference for wearing girl's clothing - a part of the
script Izzard insists was there before he got involved - which means Izzard has
now become "technical adviser" to the youth. Compared by critics to Weeds
and The Sopranos, Izzard says The Riches is all about digging
under the perfectly manicured lawns and finding the hypocrisies and dirty
secrets of those who seem to be living the American dream. "This show
holds a mirror up to American society - all the lies and the bullshit,"
says Izzard, who was born in Yemen, but grew up in Ireland, Wales and the south
of England. "I love the role because it's all about exploring the underbelly
of so-called established, civilized people. It's just great stuff to sink your
teeth into." A born raconteur, Izzard's style is heavily influenced by
Monty Python, and his free-wheeling comedic delivery is full of twists and
surprises. A fan of the Discovery and History channels, and an ardent
researcher on Wikipedia, Izzard says his craving for information is insatiable.
"I never get tired of looking for information that will help me try to
explain the world [comically]," says Izzard, who cites Jesus Ministers to
the Dinosaurs as one of his more inspired routines. "I then try to do so,
by talking through all this endless rubbish. I've always had a rather
schizophrenic career that jostled between surreal comedy and drama. I always
hoped the two sides would cross over. With The Riches, it finally seems
to have happened."
Return Of Jericho Stuns Cast And Crew
Excerpt from www.thestar.com - Rob Salem,
TV Critic
(July 20, 2007) LOS ANGELES, Calif.–CBS, traditionally the most staid of the
U.S. networks, has never been known for its sense of humour – successful
sitcoms aside. Or a willingness to court controversy. But there was plenty of
both at its two-day presentations here at the TV critics tour. When we walked
into the Jericho session, on each chair was a big bag of
peanuts and a T-shirt with a cartoon nut saying, "I saved Jericho" –
an acknowledgment of the fans' campaign to inundate the network with nuts
(referencing a line from the first-season finale) in the hopes of undoing its
cancellation. No one was more surprised that it actually worked than Jericho's
somewhat humbled producers and cast; the post-apocalyptic serial drama will
return for at least seven episodes this season. "I was
shocked," confessed veteran show-runner Carol Barbee. "When you get
cancelled – and in this world of television, it happens often – you kind of
think that's it." Series star Skeet Ulrich first alerted his cast-mates by
phone. "Everybody was on board the second we heard. I was just so happy
... I couldn't believe it had come to that point, and I had to share it with
the people that I knew it meant the most to.
"But it's been an incredible experience, from the lows of cancellation to
the fans rising up for us. And I think now the best way we can thank them is to
continue to make the best show that we can ... " And if they are
threatened by cancellation again? "Send snakes," snickered Ulrich.
"Strippers," countered co-star Lennie James. "I highly recommend
some sort of mid-level food product," suggested Barbee. "We're going
to try to insert into each show something that the fans could kind of laugh at,
like `That's bananas!' ..." "And then," added James,
"we're going to sell them online." WE KID YOU NOT: The controversy
came with the discussion of Kid Nation, one of the few reality shows I
am actually looking forward to, in which 40 children, aged 8 to 15, spend 40
days and nights in a New Mexico ghost town, co-operating to build a working kid
society. But many critics here were sceptical, particularly over the apparent
lack of any adult supervision. In fact, assured executive producer Tom
Forman, there were actually hundreds of adults on site, covering every possible
contingency.
"Pediatricians, child psychologists, an animal wrangler – because we had
animals there – mostly standing back and watching the kids with instructions to
step in if something was going wrong and anybody was in danger. "I
think we were all shocked by how little we had to do for them. And we really
made a commitment amongst ourselves that we were going to let them do
everything they could on their own." CORRECTION: NBC's Heroes World
Tour brings cast members to Toronto's Yonge-Dundas Square on Aug. 31 and Sept.
1. I regret my July 18 column gave an incorrect date.
Grammer In New Fox Sitcom
Excerpt from www.thestar.com
- Associated Press
(July 24, 2007) BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. – Fox is rolling out two
"news shows'': a sitcom starring Kelsey Grammer and Patricia Heaton as fictional news anchors in Pittsburgh,
and an unscripted show starring a former bikini model-turned-anchorwoman in
Texas. Unveiled at a Television Critics Association gathering here this week,
both series are meant to deliver laughs – and ratings – but not necessarily
headlines. That makes Grammer's job a whole lot easier. "Based upon my
knowledge of most television newscasting now, it has nothing do with the news
anyway," Grammer said at a Sunday session. "I'm very happy to just be
another performer pretending to be a performer," added the former
"Frasier" star, who will be back on the air this fall in the series
"Back to You.'' Then at a Monday TCA meeting, Fox introduced
"Anchorwoman," a reality show debuting Aug. 21 about a local TV
station that tries to prove beauty, not news experience, drives broadcast news
in Tyler, Texas. The subject of much derision among journalists, bikini model
and former WWE diva Lauren Jones fielded questions from the TV critics about
"Anchorwoman," which follows her through a 30-day trial by fire as
the newest anchor on KYTX-TV's 5 p.m. newscast. "I was given the
opportunity to live my dream," said the micro-mini-skirt-wearing Jones.
"I always wanted to be an anchorwoman, and this was the opportunity to
take the bull by the horns.''
Hoping to boost ratings for his CBS affiliate, station owner Phil Hurley
partnered with reality maverick Brian Gadinsky (``American Idol'') to put the
buxom blonde on the air – sans any formal journalism training. "There was
an expectation or a stereotype that she was not going to take it seriously. That
she was just there to further her own bikini modeling career," Gadinsky
said. "But when she got there ... everybody fell in line, and she
surprised them.'' Having survived her 30-day initiation, Jones says she's now
fielding offers. But she's also in negotiations to stay on at KYTX. "We're
trying to make the best decision if we're going to proceed forward. That's
definitely an option right now, and it looks like a pretty good one," said
Jones, a graduate of New York's Parson School of Design who considers Katie
Couric a role model. Although the station has made no formal contract offer,
Hurley says he'd like to keep her on the anchor desk. "But I'm afraid I'll
lose her. ... She knows what we can pay.''
TV TIDBITS
Rebecca Wins Model Contest
Excerpt from www.thestar.com
(July 19, 2007) Rebecca Hardy is Canada's Next Top
Model. The redheaded factory worker from
Mannheim, Ont., an unconventional beauty, was named the winner last night on
the season finale of the Citytv series, the second Canadian edition of the U.S.
show. Hardy, 22, has won an editorial spread in Fashion magazine, a
modelling contract with Sutherland Models and a $100,000 contract with P&G
Beauty. "Rebecca is the total package! She's got the looks, the smarts and
the passion to be a bonafide success in this business," said Jay Manuel,
the show's host and executive producer. "Expect to see her make a splash
on the international modelling scene." As the finale opened, four of
10 finalists remained: Rebecca; Tia, 19, from Montreal; Sinead, 18, from
Chatham, Ont., and Tara, 20, from Calgary. "Oh my God," Rebecca
sobbed when given the news. "I am just overwhelmed, I am so excited. I
can't believe I'm here ... I couldn't be happier. I will not let you down, I
promise." She said she doubts she'll return to blending raw meats on the
graveyard shift in a Kitchener plant.
Lebron James To Host ‘SNL’ Season
Premiere
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com
(July 19, 2007) *It’s official, LeBron James will welcome
viewers of “Saturday Night
Live” to a new season of the long-running
series in September, reports Daily Variety. The 22-year-old NBA star, announced
Wednesday as host of the season premiere, follows Indianapolis Colts
quarterback Peyton Manning and his childhood idol Michael Jordan as prominent
athletes who have hosted the sketch comedy show. Last week, the Cleveland
Cavaliers forward received positive reviews for his work co-hosting ESPN’s ESPY
Awards with talk show host Jimmy Kimmel. James appeared in several skits and performed
a spoof of Bobby Brown's "My Prerogative" with rewritten lyrics about
his own fame. In the meantime, James is headed to minicamp with the U.S.
national team as it begins preparations for next month's FIBA Americas
tournament, the regional qualifier for the 2008 Olympics.
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Bokeem Comes Out Of The Woodwork For New
Gig
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com
(July 23, 2007) *Bokeem Woodbine was poised to
become one of the hottest young actors in the game back in the late 90s, but
his star appeared to steadily fade prior to landing a role in
"Ray." Then he seemed to disappear again. Now
Woodbine is back on his grind in the new TNT series "Saving Grace," along with Oscar winning actress Holly
Hunter. Mr. Woodbine let EURweb know what he has been up to. "I had
a long dry spell. The last major showcase I had of my acting was 'Ray,'
back in November of 2004," Woodbine told Lee Bailey. "I had
some TV stuff I was doing and an independent film that I did that was well
received called 'Edmond', but other than that there has not been a lot of
visibility for me. This is a way for me to be reintroduced into people's
minds." The actor also told us he really went all out for this role, in
part because of the high quality of the script and cast. "I got the
script from my agent and he said 'this is the one to get' then he told me Holly
Hunter was in it and I really went for it. From the first audition they
encouraged me to really go for it." The actor said his role is admittedly
somewhat cliché, but the dialogue is out of this world. "I said to myself
'How am I going to do something different with this? This has been done
so many times.' The dialog is just so different. Yes, it's a black
guy on death row. We've seen this before. But the dialog is
just so different." Just how different is the dialog? See for
yourself when "Saving Grace" debuts tonight at 10/9c.on TNT.
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Comic Drew Carey to replace Bob Barker
on 'The Price is Right'
Source: By David Bauder, Associated Press
(July 23, 2007) NEW YORK (AP) - Genial
comic Drew Carey was tapped Monday to replace silver-haired legend Bob
Barker on the CBS daytime game show "The Price is Right." The
deal was set Monday afternoon shortly before Carey taped a segment of CBS's
"Late Show" with David Letterman, where he confirmed it. "I
realize what a big responsibility this is," said Carey. "It's only a
game show, but it's the longest-running game show in American television and I
plan to keep it that way." The selection attracted more attention
than usual for a daytime show because of the prospect of replacing Barker, 83.
Barker retired after 35 years in the job last month following taping of his
6,586th episode. The opening attracted widespread interest, including
from comic Rosie O'Donnell after she left her co-hosting job on the daytime
talk show "The View." Carey, 49, spent a decade on his own ABC
sitcom and also was host of the improvisational game show "Whose Line is
It Anyway?" He will also be host of a new CBS prime-time game show,
"The Power of 10," that will air first next month. He told The
Associated Press on Monday that CBS officials first contacted him about
"The Price is Right" immediately after he completed a pilot of the
other game show this spring. "My agent called me and said 'I was
talking to CBS casting today' and in my head I was thinking, 'Oh, 'CSI' guest
star?' And he said what would you think about replacing Bob Barker on 'The
Price is Right?"' Asked if he found the prospect of replacing such a
TV legend daunting, Carey recalled talking to a friend who knows the game show
business who told him, "as long as Bob Barker is cool with it, the fans will
be cool with it." While he doesn't know Barker, Carey said he's
comfortable that his predecessor will be accepting. The negotiation
process was nerve-racking. While he was talking with CBS about the job, Carey
said he got a call from another lawyer in Hollywood who told him one of his
clients was offered "The Price is Right" job. Carey said he
figured CBS had lined up back-ups if the first choice did not come
through. "If I was going after a second baseman, I wouldn't just talk
to one second baseman," the Cleveland Indians fan said. "If I were
the general manager, I would be talking to a few second basemen."
::THEATRE NEWS::
Comedy Hit Jewtopia Comes To Toronto
Excerpt from www.thestar.com
- Richard Ouzounian, Theatre Critic
(July 24, 2007) The longest-running comedy in off-Broadway
history is set to open soon in Toronto, starring two of the funniest guys in
Canada. Jewtopia, by Bryan Fogel and Sam Wolfson, has played to some
400,000 people across America since its premiere in May 2003. It begins
previews here at the Diesel Playhouse on Sept. 23 and will feature Matt Baram
and Dave Kerr in the leading roles. Baram is a long-time Second City veteran
and a Canadian Comedy Award winner. He's also one of the stars of the CBC-TV
series, The Second City's Next Comedy Legend. Kerr is best known as the
"roving reporter" on CTV's Canadian Idol and fans love the way
he gives host Ben Mulroney the gears from a different Canadian location each
week.
Jewtopia is about two 30-year-old single guys who are both in search of
"the perfect Jewish girl." Chris O'Connell (Kerr) is a gentile and
Adam Lipschitz (Baram) is a Jew. They agree to help each other find their dream
romance in a resulting clash of stereotypes that was called "Hilarious,
raucous, merciless!" by the Los Angeles Times. The rest of the
Toronto cast is equally high-powered, including such well-known comic talents
as Judy Marshak (Beauty and the Beast), Jeanie Calleja (Slings &
Arrows), Jane Luke and Aron Tager (both from Billable Hours), Alan
Price, Jeff Margolis and Shelley Simester, all under the directorial hand of
stage veteran Avery Saltzman. The Toronto show is being produced by Michael
Rubinoff, Lindsey Steinberg and Marshall Tishler and is here for a limited run
through Nov. 4. Tickets are $41.50 to $53.50 and can be purchased by calling
416-971-5656 or by going online at www.dieselplayhouse.com.
For more information on the play, go to www.jewtopiatoronto.com.
Facebook On Target With Urban Life
Excerpt from www.thestar.com - Richard
Ouzounian, Theatre Critic
Facebook of Revelations
(out
of four)
By The Company. Directed by Bruce Pirrie. At Second City, 51 Mercer St. 416-343-0011
(July 20, 2007) Forget about a time capsule. If you wanted somebody to
know just what it was like to live in Toronto in 2007, then I'd make them a DVD
of Facebook of Revelations, which opened last night at Second City.
Not only is it a totally hilarious evening in the theatre, but it's anchored
firmly in the sweet and sour reality of our contemporary urban existence.
Unlike the last two excellent Second City revues, this one has virtually no
explicitly political content, but that doesn't mean it's free from social
satire. Far from it. Whether they're sending up a couple who nearly wreck their
marriage for the sake of "living green" or exposing the dark
underbelly of corporate hatred, this comedy team scores bull's eye after bull's
eye. Jim Annan is front and centre from the very start, as he slickly leads the
company through Safe Bet: the Musical, the kind of hip but empty show you'd
very likely see in our larger theatres. He's also delectable as a series of
rumpled losers, including one dude who suddenly realizes the girl he thought he
had dirty sex with the night before was actually his male roommate. Said
roommate is Scott Montgomery, who excels at motor-mouthed characters, including
a father who relates the entire history of our involvement in Afghanistan to
his bewildered children, rather then telling them why their mother has
abandoned them.
Lauren Ash corners the market with her unique single-malt style as wonderfully
mouthy babes who can tell off an uptight wife, an annoying co-worker or a
dim-witted husband with equal ease. Marty Adams has the most amazing sense of
how to do large-scale physical comedy, and nowhere does it come to better use
than in a hilarious sketch about a Blue Jays game from hell that drags on
forever thanks to a rookie pitcher who can't decide what kind of pitch to
throw. Karen Parker is the one who usually gets to play the uptight card and
she does it perfectly in a sequence where she appears on a Rogers Cable show as
a proper British breeder of female dogs who keeps shocking the kewl black host
with her description of "how to treat those bitches." Darryl Hinds is
that bewildered host, but he also scores as a consummate geek who thinks he can
woo girls by singing them his karaoke renditions of songs from Disney musicals.
And speaking of musicals, the show comes to a triumphant close with a
"Jesus Is On Your Facebook," a gospel salute to the popular online
social networking site. Even if you resist the temptation of "Jesus has
requested you as a friend," you're bound to give in when Hinds gleefully
informs you that "Jesus has changed his status from `Crucified' to `Risen
again.'" Bruce Pirrie has directed with style and the cast has
responded with invention. Facebook of Revelations will definitely make
you laugh, but – even better – it will make you think.
THEATRE TIDBITS
Kenny Leon ‘Coming To Dinner’
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com
(July 20, 2007) *Stage director Kenny Leon will take on a stage
adaptation of the 1967 Sidney Poitier film “Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner” with hopes of bringing it to Broadway in
fall 2008. Leon, who directed August Wilson’s Gem of the Ocean and Radio
Golf, said in a statement: "‘Guess Who's Coming to Dinner’ is about truth
and hypocrisy in the most wonderful country in the world. Given the times we
live in, and the conditions of this country and the world, the essential story
is still extremely timely. “We need to look inward at ourselves to
see who we are as Americans at our core. Are we who we say we are? Do we live
the lives we dream about? This story is a delicate balance of comedy and drama
on a search for personal truth. What a wonderful opportunity to rediscover and
take a fresh look at this iconic work." Katharine Hepburn and Spencer
Tracy starred in the Columbia Pictures movie as white liberal parents whose
adult daughter brings home an African-American boyfriend, played by
Poitier. Leon’s three critically acclaimed Broadway productions,
including the recent run of “Raisin in the Sun” starring Phylicia Rashad and
Sean “Diddy” Combs, earned a total of 13 Tony nominations and two wins.
He is co-founder and artistic director of True Colors Theatre Company in
Atlanta.
::OTHER NEWS::
Arts Council Welcomes Extra $30M
Excerpt from www.globeandmail.com -
Steve Rennie, Canadian Press
(July 20, 2007) TORONTO — The head of Canada's arts council
welcomed the federal government's pledge Friday of an extra $30-million each
year, but said the agency will continue pushing for the funding level promised
by the Liberals before the last election. Speaking at a downtown Toronto
theatre after the announcement by Heritage
Minister Bev Oda, Canada Council
for the Arts director Bob Sirman said he will continue lobbying for the
$300-million the Liberals promised prior to the 2006 vote. “The money never
goes far enough when we're talking about investing in the future of an entire
nation, but ... we take every announcement of additional money as the next
stage or the next step in a growing development in support of the creative
agenda of this country,” he said. Ms. Oda's announcement, made before a
backdrop of four mannequins outfitted in costumes from the theatre's stage productions,
increases the council's annual funding to about $181 million.
The Conservatives' May 2006 budget pledged a two-year, $50-million boost for
the arts council — $20-million in 2006-07 and $30-million in 2007-08. Until
Friday's pledge, the extra money wasn't guaranteed to continue flowing after
that. Ms. Oda deflected criticism that the funding isn't close to the amount
promised by the previous government. “The thing is ... real dollars that they
can count on is more than just an election promise,” she said. Recent criticism
of government arts funding by prominent Canadian author Yann Martel, who wrote
the award-winning 2002 novel “Life of Pi,” didn't prompt the extra money, Ms.
Oda said. The funding announcement was timed so the arts council could plan for
the extra cash while it develops a strategic plan, to be released in October,
for the next three to five years, Ms. Oda said. Knowing the council has the
funding as it crafts its plan is an “enormous relief,” Mr. Sirman said. The
head of the Cultural Human Resources Council, a non-profit agency that provides
training and career development for the arts community, said Friday's
announcement shows the government's commitment to the arts. “We're grateful for
that amount and if we were offered more, I'm sure that it would be well-used,”
Susan Annis said. “It would have been nice to have that ($300-million) amount,
but we don't have that government, and what we've got here is stable and in the
right direction.”
Before They Were Famous, These Funny
Folks Were Famished
Excerpt from www.thestar.com
- Sabrina Jalees, Special To The Star
(July 19, 2007) Walking around an industry party, it's easy to
peg the rich from the poor. The "My Blackberry has more functions than
your laptop" from the "I can barely afford clothes to cover my lap,
let alone a top." Comics in the Just For Laughs festival's "rising talent" showcases have a
distinctly different look from renowned Gala comedians (the ones you see
working giant stages on TV). Nikki Glaser, a 23-year-old comic based in
L.A., in town for New Faces, explained, "I'm blond. You can tell how broke
I am by the length of my roots. They're like the rings on a tree. If the roots
look orangey people are like, 'Oh, Nikki's Nice 'n Easy broke.'"
Realizing that every comic starts out famished, I went to the festival's
famous, to find out: How broke was your brokest broke?
Zach Galifianakis
"I remember sitting on the hardwood floor of my New York apartment one
Thanksgiving and looking around and there was nothing to eat. All I had was an
empty box of pancake mix and a bottle of Wild Turkey. That was my Thanksgiving
dinner." Galifianakis is on the Sarah Silverman Program and has his
own DVD, Live At The Purple Onion.
David Cross
"I was pretty much homeless at my brokest. I made the move from Boston
to L.A. and basically depended on crashing on buddies' couches. I ended up
taking this sketchy messenger job where they paid you under the table and sent
you to the most dangerous neighbourhoods. Janeane (Garofalo) was also a
messenger at the time. I had nothing." Cross is the Emmy-winning half of
comedy duo Mr. Show and starred as Tobias Funkë on Arrested Development.
Kathleen Madigan
"I was working in Memphis, Tennessee, and they put all three comics in
one cockroach- and mouse-infested condo. All the other comics left for hotels –
the cheapest hotel was $42 – and I couldn't afford it. I mean, my mom's place
was never clean, but I couldn't get used to the cockroaches!" Madigan is a
veteran of every network's late show as well as a judge for NBC's Last Comic
Standing.
Columnist
and comic Sabrina Jalees is filing from Montreal's Just For Laughs festival all
week.
Tammy Faye Messner, 65: TV Evangelist
Excerpt from www.thestar.com - Steve
Hartsoe, Associated Press
(July 21, 2007) RALEIGH, N.C.–Tammy
Faye Messner,
who as Tammy Faye Bakker helped her husband, Jim, build a
multimillion-dollar evangelism empire and then saw it collapse in disgrace, has
died. She was 65. Messner, who had battled colon cancer since 1996 that more
recently spread to her lungs, died peacefully at her home Friday, said her
booking agent, Joe Spotts, in an email. A family service was held Saturday in a
private cemetery, where her ashes were interred, he said. She had frequently
spoken about her medical problems, saying she hoped to be an inspiration to
others. "Don't let fear rule your life," she said. "Live one day
at a time, and never be afraid." But she told well-wishers in a note on
her website in May that the doctors had stopped trying to treat the cancer. In
an interview with CNN's Larry King two months later, an emaciated Messner –
still using her trademark makeup – said, "I believe when I leave this
earth, because I love the Lord, I'm going straight to heaven." Asked if
she had any regrets, Messner said: "I don't think about it, Larry, because
it's a waste of good brain space." For many, the TV image of then-Mrs.
Bakker forgiving husband Jim's infidelities, tears streaking her cheeks with
mascara, became a symbol for the wages of greed and hypocrisy in 1980s America.
She divorced her husband of 30 years, with whom she had two children, in 1992
while he was in prison for defrauding millions from followers of their PTL
television ministries. The letters stood for "Praise the Lord" or
"People that Love." Jim Bakker said in a statement that his ex-wife
"lived her life like the song she sang, 'If Life Hands You a Lemon, Make
Lemonade.''' "She is now in Heaven with her mother and grandmother and
Jesus Christ, the one who she loves and has served from childbirth," he
said. "That is the comfort I can give to all who loved her.'' Messner's
second husband also served time in prison. She married Roe Messner, who had
been the chief builder of the Bakkers' Heritage USA Christian theme park near
Fort Mill, S.C., in 1993. In 1995, he was convicted of bankruptcy fraud, and he
spent about two years in prison. Through it all, Messner kept plugging her
faith and herself. She did concerts, a short-lived secular TV talk show and an
inspirational videotape. In 2004, she co-operated in the making of a
documentary about her struggle with cancer, called Tammy Faye: Death
Defying. "I wanted to help people ... maybe show the inside (of the
experience) and make it a little less frightening," she said. That same
year, she appeared on the WB reality show The Surreal Life, co-starring
with rapper Vanilla Ice, ex-porn star Ron Jeremy and others. She told King in
2004 that she didn't know who Jeremy was when they met and they became friends.
Messner was never charged with a crime in connection with the Bakker scandal.
She said she counted the costs in other ways. "I know what it's like to
hit rock bottom," she said in promotional material for her 1996 video You
Can Make It. In the mid-1980s, the Bakkers were on top, ruling over a
ministry that claimed 500,000 followers. Their Jim and Tammy Show, part
TV talk show, part evangelism meeting, was seen across the country. Heritage
USA boasted a 500-room hotel, shopping mall, convention centre, water-amusement
park, TV studio and several real-estate developments. PTL employed about 2,000
people. Then in March 1987, Bakker resigned, admitting he had a tryst with
Jessica Hahn, a 32-year-old former church secretary. Tammy Faye Bakker stuck
with her disgraced husband through five stormy years of tabloid headlines as
the ministry unravelled. Prosecutors said the PTL organization sold more than
150,000 ``lifetime partnerships" promising lodging at the theme park but
did not build enough hotel space with the $158 million (U.S.) in proceeds. At
his fraud trial, Jim Bakker was accused of diverting $3.7 million to personal
use even though he knew the ministry was financially shaky. Trial testimony showed
PTL paid $265,000 to Hahn to cover up the sexual encounter with the minister.
Jim Bakker was convicted in 1989 of 24 fraud and conspiracy counts and
sentenced to 45 years. The sentence was later reduced, and he was freed in
1994. He said that his wife's decision to leave him had been "like a meat
hook deep in my heart. I couldn't eat for days.''
While not charged, his then-wife shared during the 1980s in the public
criticism and ridicule over the couple's extravagance, including the reportedly
gold-plated bathroom fixtures and an air-conditioned doghouse. There was even a
popular T-shirt satirizing her image. The shirt read, "I ran into Tammy
Faye at the shopping mall," with the lettering on top of what look like
clots of mascara, traces of lipstick and smudges of peach-toned makeup. In a
1992 letter to her New Covenant Church in Orlando, Fla., she explained why she
finally was seeking a divorce. "For years I have been pretending that
everything is all right, when in fact I hurt all the time," she wrote. "I
cannot pretend anymore.'' In the end, there wasn't any property to divide, her
attorney said. The Bakkers lost their luxury homes in North Carolina,
California and Tennessee, their fleet of Cadillacs and Mercedeses, and their
vintage Rolls-Royce. Her autobiography, I Gotta Be Me, recounts a
childhood as Tammy Faye LaValley, one of eight children of a poor family in
International Falls, Minn. Her biological father walked out. She was reticent
about her age, but a 2000 profile of her in the Star Tribune of Minneapolis
said she was born in March 1942. She recalled trying eye makeup for the first
time, then wiping it off for fear it was the devil's work. Then she thought
again. "Why can't I do this?" she asked. "If it makes me look
prettier, why can't I do this?'' She married Bakker in 1961, after they met at
North Central Bible College in Minneapolis. Beginning with a children's puppet
act, they created a religious show that brought a fundamentalist Protestant
message to millions.
A secular TV talk program, the Jim J. and Tammy Faye Show with co-host
Jim J. Bullock, lasted just six weeks in early 1996. Shortly after it went off
the air, she underwent surgery for colon cancer. She said afterward that she
endured bleeding for a year because she was embarrassed to go to a male doctor.
And she wore her makeup even in surgery. "They didn't make me take it
off," she said. "I had wonderful doctors and understanding nurses. I
went in fully made up and came out fully made up.''
::SPORTS NEWS::
Champion Female Wakeboarder Works Hard
To Earn The Respect Of Her Male Peers
Excerpt from www.thestar.com - Michele
Henry, Staff Reporter
(July 23, 2007) Sunni Anne Ball is no stranger to catcalls.
She's used to being ogled for her body instead of her wakeboarding moves and
she's heard it all – men love to make snide remarks about how she's out of her
league. That just drives this wakeboarder, who recently took first place at the
2007 Wake Games, finished third overall at the 2007 Australian Tour of
Wakeboarding and is ranked fourth on the Wakeboard Pro Tour. "I'm
used to it," says the 21-year-old Toronto native. "It just makes me
want to go out and work harder at it." Ball says she has strived to earn
the respect of her males peers. She started as a tomboy, sporty and "kind
of a jock," trying to imitate her older brother, who also became a
superior wakeboarder. She's cleaned up at the award podium since she
started wakeboarding as a child. She won the Russia World Cup Stop in 2005, the
Canadian National Wakeboarding Championship 2006, came in second in Wakestock
at the Toronto Islands last year and won it in 2005. She'll be competing at
Wakestock again this week. Even though she can execute a flawless toeside
backroll, it's a constant struggle to prove she belongs. Men outnumber women at
competitions, she says, and financial backing is harder to get as a female. In
this male-dominated sport, sponsors aren't convinced women can sell
wakeboarding gear.
And while men who ride don't often pump up, Ball spends hours in the gym or
playing team sports, such as basketball. It's all to become strong enough to
keep her balance, be safe while doing flips, and keep her arms and hands firmly
in contact with the toe, as she whizzes past her waterside audience. Even
though Ball rides with the guys, copies their moves and impresses them with her
talent, she admits she'll never be as strong, fearless or accomplished at
wakeboard as the opposite sex. "There's no way in hell I can compete
against the guys," she says. "It's so apparent we're not at the same
level. I've accepted it." Based in Florida, so she can practise and
compete year-round, Ball has spent many hours trying to figure out why men can
ride "harder" and pull off more impressive tricks than women.
"Strength is a factor," she says, "and having balls. Women are
cautious. We don't want to hurt ourselves. I've heard so many takes, like we're
programmed to procreate so we want to take care of ourselves." Ball won't
deny she wants to stay in one piece. She has dislocated her right shoulder many
times, three times in one day while in Australia. She worked hard to rehab it,
so it doesn't affect her ability to backside 180 – while in the air she passes
the handle from her left hand to her right behind her back before landing.
She won't deny men are better than women at putting fears aside. Ralph
Geronimo, 44, Ball's first sponsor, agrees the sexes have different mental and
physical approaches to the sport. Men throw more weight around when they ride,
so the tricks they do seem bigger. "Men are muscle, women are
finesse," he says. "They can throw down the same tricks, but men are
able to rock the wake a little more. Still Sunni-Anne could blow the sails off
80 per cent of the guys." Geronimo, who owns a sales agency and represents
wakeboarding brands such as O'Brien, says the sport is spiking in popularity
among women, and clothes and gear are designed to appeal to feminine tastes.
Still, he says, he understands why the water sport, just like its cousin
snowboarding, can be intimidating. People do get hurt. The most likely reason
women haven't signed on in droves, he says, is that wakeboarding isn't like
playing volleyball in a house league or going to the gym. The season is
short, you need regular access to a cottage and, most importantly, a boat. "There
needs to be more opportunity," he says. "It needs to be more
visible." Speaking of visible, he says, it's only natural for men to ogle
a "hot chick in board shorts and a bikini top. "But it's not a loss
of respect for what they can do," Geronimo says. "When girls hit the
water, the guys cheer them on. They cheer each other on."
Argentina
Wins U-20 Gold
Excerpt from www.thestar.com - Canadian Press
(July
22, 2007) Mauro Zarate scored in the 86th minute Sunday to lead Argentina
to a 2-1 comeback victory over the Czech Republic and the FIFA U-20 World Cup title for the sixth time. Zarate's low shot
through traffic from the edge of the penalty box handcuffed goalkeeper Radek
Petr, who was beaten to the short side. Sergio Aguero also scored for Argentina
in the 62nd minute. Martin Fenin had given the Czechs a 1-0 lead in the 60th
minute. Argentina finished the tournament with a 6-0-1 record, outscoring its
opposition 16-2. This latest title cements Argentina's dominance at the
under-20 level. The South Americans have won five of the last seven
tournaments. Overall, the Argentines have won six of the 16 U-20 tournaments –
in 1979, 1995, 1997, 2001, 2005 and now 2007. They have reached the semi-finals
eight times in twelve attempts, and six times in their last seven appearances.
The Czechs' previous best showing was making the quarterfinals: in 2001 as the
Czech Republic and 1983 as Czechoslovakia.
Two RCMP officers in full uniform flanked the tournament trophy – which looks
like a silver dumbbell with a ball jammed on one end – during the game played
in hot sunny conditions at the National Soccer Stadium. After the final
whistle, the Argentines danced, ripped off their shirts, clambered over the
south goal and then raced up and down the field sliding in unison on their
bellies as they neared each end. Then they jumped over the advertising boards
at the north end to dance in front of a large group of their flag-waving fans.
Two of the players returned to the field banging drums that fans had handed
over and the dancing continued. The Czechs stood silently while organizers
assembled the victory stand at centre field. Suspended captain Matias Cahais
and Aguero took the trophy from FIFA president Sepp Blatter and raised it high,
after kissing it, as confetti and fireworks filled the air. Another victory lap
followed. Aguero was named winner of the Golden Boot Award as tournament top scorer
with six goals. He also won the Adidas Golden Ball Award as best player in a
vote of the media, ahead of Argentina's Maximiliano Moralez and Mexico's
Giovani Dos Santos.
Aguero, who came on as a substitute in the 2005 final against Nigeria, becomes
only the second player to play on the winning side in two U-20 finals.
Portugal's Jaoa Pinto also did it in 1989 and 1991. After a so-so opening hour,
the Czechs went ahead in the 60th minute on a goal finished brilliantly. A
Czech attacker dribbled into the box and, meeting resistance, went back outside
and sent the ball over to Fenin, who shielded the ball from defender Frederico
Fazio and then turned, hammering a left footed-shot past a diving Sergio
Romero. The ensuing Czech celebration was intense, with a teammate flinging
Fenin to the ground and all 10 outfield players diving on top. But the Czech
joy was short-lived. Two minutes later, midfielder Ever Banega unlocked the
Czech defence with a perfect through ball that put Aguero in all alone and the
Argentine captain calmly slotted the ball past Petr for his tournament-leading
sixth goal. The goals upped the tempo of the game and Petr had to be sharp to
stop Moralez from a sharp angle in the 70th minute. Earlier, Chile defeated
Austria 1-0 to finish in third place, ending the tournament on a happier note
than the post-game brawl that followed its semi-final loss to Argentina on
Thursday. Cumulative attendance for the 52-match tournament was a record
1,195,239, although that includes doubleheaders like Sunday when the 19,526
ticket-holders got to see both matches.
Argentina showed plenty of individual flair but not much teamwork in a first
half that did not deliver that many thrills. Too many times, Argentine players
took on one too many defender and lost possession. That gave the hard-working,
hard-tackling Czechs a chance to counter-attack. Spanish referee Alberto
Undiano Mallenco gave his whistle a workout, booking Czech defender Lukas Kuban
some 25 seconds into the game for a crunching tackle. There were six yellows –
three to each side – and 29 fouls in the first half alone which did little to
help the flow of the game. In all, he gave out 10 yellows – five a side.
The Czechs had the first good scoring opportunity off a free kick in the 10th
minute but goalkeeper Romero's knee was in the right place at the right time to
block a shot from Marek Suchy from close range. Early in the second half, the
two teams traded chances, with Romero making a fine save off Kalouda's volley
in the 51st minute after Petr stopped the Argentines from in-close at the other
end. The two teams played to a 0-0 draw in their first game of the tournament,
June 30 in Ottawa.
The South Americans made three changes – two enforced and one injury-related –
to the team that beat Chile 3-0 in a bitter semi-final. Cahais and Claudio
Yacob were both suspended after picking up a second yellow card while forward
Angel Di Maria picked up a knock in the Chile game. The Czechs made one change
to the side that defeated Austria 2-0 in the other semi-final, replacing the
suspended Petr Janda with midfielder Jakub Mares. Notes: Sunday's final marked
the fifth time South American and European teams have clashed in the FIFA U-20
final. South American won three of the four previous encounters ... Sunday also
represented Argentina's 17th final in any FIFA competition. They won nine of
the previous 16: two World Cups (1978, 1986), one Olympics (2004), one
Confederations Cup (1992) and five U-20 World Cup (1979, 1995, 1997, 2001,
2005). Only Brazil has played more finals (23) and won more titles (14) ... The
Czechs, formerly Czechoslovakia, were 1-3 in their previous FIFA finals:
winning the Olympics (1980) but before that losing the World Cup (1934, 1962)
and Olympics (1964).
::FITNESS NEWS::
Ab & Butt Toners: 10 Best Exercises
By Raphael Calzadilla, B.A., CPT, ACE, eDiets Chief Fitness Pro
I hate to see anyone feeling awful about their body,
but at the same
time that's what it sometimes takes for people to make changes. Looking in the
mirror and being honest with yourself, becoming annoyed with how tight your
clothes fit, going to the doctors and hearing about your health issues… Most
times a wake-up call is exactly what we need. So what areas of the body
stand out so much that they practically initiate this wake-up call? We are
obsessed with these two areas of the body -- glutes and abs. If an alien landed
on earth and knew little of our culture, it would quickly assume that a firm
butt and tight abs were reserved for those with royalty and prestige. It may
sound crazy but just think of the way you look at someone with a tight butt or
flat stomach.
A calorie-reduced nutrition program combined with exercise will do wonders to
create a tight booty and firm abs. The formula that works for a
healthy body is the same one that works for a great looking butt and abs --
nutrition, exercise and loads of consistency. As far as nutrition, the
biggest mistake people make is reducing calories as low as possible. After a
few days of this insane approach they're back to eating more junk then ever
because the approach isn't realistic. The key is to reduce calories low enough
to lose fat but still keep calories high enough to sustain your energy. Food,
when used properly, can actually stimulate the metabolism to lose body
fat. This is where eDiets can help! Our staff of qualified
dieticians have not only created great meal plans, but
they're also accessible to you as an eDiets member whenever you have a
question.
Your glutes and abs won't get tighter and smaller unless your overall body fat
is reduced. You can perform all the butt movements on the planet for hours a
day, but it won't make one bit of difference unless you lose body fat. Spot
reduction is simply not possible. To help accelerate your progress, I've
constructed five great abdominal exercises and five great butt exercises. Take
two exercises (one butt and one abs) and include them in your current workout
(no matter what the workout is). Perform three sets of 15 reps of each on
alternate days of the week. After three weeks, choose two other movements from
the list. This alternating schedule will allow you to keep changing abdominal
and butt exercises without adapting to the same movement. And it will also
prevent boredom.
ABDOMINALS
Vertical Scissors
Starting Position:
· Sit on a chair or bench with your legs
straight out in front of you.
· Your hands should be under your butt for
balance.
Movement:
· Contracting your abdominals, lift your right
leg as you lower your left leg.
· Reverse the positions of your legs by
lowering your right leg and raising your left leg, mimicking a scissor.
Key Points:
· Breathe rhythmically throughout the exercise.
· Squeeze your butt and hip muscles as you
switch legs.
Cable Kneeling Rope Crunch
Starting Position:
· Kneel in front of the cable machine with your
body facing the machine. Hold a rope attached to the upper cable attachment.
Keep your elbows in.
Movement:
· Contracting the abdominals, curl your body
downward toward your legs stopping when you have reached a full contraction of
your abdominals.
· Slowly return to the starting position
stopping just short of the weight stack touching.
Key Points:
· Exhale while lifting the weight and curling
down.
· Inhale while returning to the starting
position.
Incline Bench Leg Raises
Starting Position:
· Lie on an incline bench and stabilize your
body by gripping the bench above your head with your legs extended out.
Movement:
· Contracting the lower ab area, raise your
legs up until your hips form a 90-degree angle.
· Slowly return to the starting position
stopping just short of your legs touching the bench.
Key Points:
· Exhale while lifting your legs.
· Inhale while returning to the starting
position.
· Point your chin toward the ceiling to avoid
using your upper body.
Reverse Ab Curl
Starting Position:
· Lie on the floor with your back relaxed and
your hands on the floor by your hips.
· Keep the upper back pressed into the floor
throughout the exercise.
Movement:
· Contracting your abs, raise your butt and
gently roll your hips off the floor stopping when you feel a full contraction
of the abdominals and can no longer lift your hips.
· Slowly return to the starting position.
Key Points:
· Exhale while lifting your hips.
· Inhale while returning to the starting
position.
Reverse Trunk Twist
Starting Position:
· Lie on the floor with your back relaxed and
your arms out to the sides forming a "T" with your body.
· Extend your legs straight up in the air so
that your hips form a 90-degree angle with a slight bend in your knees.
Movement:
· Contracting the abdominal and oblique
muscles, lower your legs toward one side keeping your feet together and your
back on the floor. Stop at the limits of the strength of your abdominal and
oblique muscles.
· This may start out as a very small range of
motion and gradually increase as you get stronger.
· Slowly return to the starting position.
· After completing the set on the one side,
repeat on the other side.
Key Points:
· Exhale while lowering your legs.
· Inhale while returning to the starting
position.
BUTT
Smith Machine Forward Lunge
Starting Position:
· Place the bar across the back of your
shoulders. Be sure it is not resting on your neck.
· Place one foot forward and one foot back.
Both feet are flat on the floor and facing forward with a slight bend in the
knees.
Movement:
· Lower the weight until the front leg is at a
90-degree angle. The rear heel will come off the floor slightly but should
remain straight with a slight bend in the knee.
· Contracting the quadriceps muscles, slowly return
to the starting position stopping just short of the legs fully extending.
Key Points:
· Inhale while lowering the weight.
· Exhale while returning to the starting
position.
· Do not let the front knee ride over your toes
(you should be able to see your foot at all times).
· Do not let the back arch.
· Never let the knee of the back leg come in
contact with the floor.
Barbell Wide Stance Squat
Starting Position:
· Begin by standing tall with feet shoulder-width
apart. Although the animation shows the feet wider than shoulder width, I�ve
found that the glutes receive better stimulation when the feet are shoulder
width.
· Place a barbell across your shoulders. Be
sure it is not resting on your neck.
· Maintain a neutral spine and a slight bend in
the knees.
Movement:
· Concentrating on the quadriceps muscles,
begin to lower your body by bending from your hips and knees.
· Stop when your thighs are parallel with the
floor.
· Slowly return to the starting position
stopping just short of your knees fully extending.
Key Points:
· Exhale while returning to the starting
position.
· Inhale as you lower down.
· Do not let your knees ride over your toes
(you should be able to see your feet at all times).
· It helps to find a marker on the wall to keep
your eye on as you lift and lower, otherwise your head may tend to fall forward
and your body will follow.
· Think about sitting back in a chair as you
are lowering down.
· Push off with your heels as you return to the
starting position.
· Perform this movement in a slow and
controlled fashion without using momentum.
· You may want to try this exercise without
weights until you master the movement. It is a very effective exercise that
involves most of the muscle groups of the lower body, but if done improperly
can lead to injuries.
Straight Leg Reverse Lift
Starting Position:
· Start this exercise on your hands and knees.
· Straighten your left leg as if you were going
to do a push-up.
· Keep the right leg bent, supporting your
weight along with your arms.
Movement:
· Contracting the buttocks muscles, lift your
left leg up toward the ceiling stopping when you feel a full contraction of the
buttocks.
· Slowly return to the starting position.
· After completing the set on the left side,
repeat on the right side.
Key Points:
· Exhale while lifting the leg.
· Inhale while returning to the starting
position.
· Do not let the back arch.
· If you are an intermediate or advanced exerciser,
you can add an ankle weight to the working leg to make it more challenging.
Dumbbell Lunges
Starting Position:
· Stand straight with your feet together.
· Hold a dumbbell in each hand with your arms
down at your sides.
Movement:
· Step forward with the right leg and lower the
left leg until the knee almost touches the floor.
· Contracting the quadriceps muscles, push off
your right foot slowly returning to the starting position.
· Alternate the motion with the left leg to
complete the set.
Key Points:
· Inhale while stepping forward.
· Exhale while returning to the starting
position.
· The step should be big enough that your left
leg is nearly straight. Do not let your knee touch the floor.
· Make sure your head is up and your back is
straight.
· Your chest should be lifted and your front
leg should form a 90-degree angle at the bottom of the movement.
· Your right knee should not pass your right
foot. You should be able to see your toes at all times.
· If you have one leg that is more dominant
than the other, start out with the less dominant leg first.
· Discontinue this exercise if you feel any
discomfort in your knees.
Treadmill Incline Power Walk
Starting Position:
· Stand tall with your legs straddling the belt.
· Choose the manual program.
· Step carefully on the belt.
Movement:
· Perform a 5 minute warm-up and then adjust
the incline setting to 12.0. Increase your speed to 3.0 mph to 3.5 mph based on
your fitness level. Make sure to use your glutes and hips with each step Walk
at this level for 15 to 20 minutes.
As always, please check with your doctor before beginning any exercise program.
::MOTIVATION::
Motivational Note
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com - Dr. Gary
Goodman: Author and expert on customer service and sales
"Many of us have things backwards. We believe that we have to wait to
create the circumstances we want in life and rack up a lot of successes so we
can finally relax. Actually, it works the other way around. We should leave
where we are and move to where we ultimately dream of living, whether it’s
Boulder, Santa Monica, Chicago, or Tibet. Then once we’re there, we’ll figure
out ways to fashion a livelihood that will enable us to survive and to prosper
from there. Paradise shouldn’t wait, and happiness shouldn’t either."