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January 17, 2008
The year is just rolling along and the entertainment news is just pouring
in! There is just tons of news, deaths, drama, strikes, etc. So
please take your time and have a look.
And check out my friend, Marshall Tully of Full Blast Studio, in the FITNESS section! Talk about
cut!
::TOP STORIES::
Dusty Cohl, 78: Toronto Film Festival
Co-Founder
Excerpt from www.thestar.com - Martin
Knelman, Entertainment Columnist
(January 12, 2008) The Toronto
International Film Festival will never be the same, because Dusty Cohl won't be there holding court non-stop for
10 days with his trademark black cowboy hat, premium cigars, salt-and-pepper
beard and Cheshire-cat grin.
Murray Cohl, 78, died yesterday at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre after
cancer got a grip on him around the time of the 2007 festival.
"The festival was Dusty's gift to the city," Bill Marshall, one of
the festival's founders, said yesterday. "There would be no festival without
Dusty."
In the words of Wayne Clarkson, a former TIFF director and currently CEO of
Telefilm Canada, "Quite simply, Dusty put Toronto on the showbiz
map."
It's a cherished part of TIFF lore that the idea of creating a major
international film festival in Toronto began in 1964 when Cohl and his wife
Joan, driving through France, arrived in Cannes without realizing there was a
film festival going on.
He soon landed on the terrace of the Carlton Hotel, where he presided year
after year holding court and schmoozing – and trying to persuade people that
this was the sort of event that could kick-start a film industry in Toronto.
Dusty Cohl was above all a charming salesman, shrewd deal maker and cultural
ambassador who had a gift for forging bonds of friendship with lots of people,
including rich, famous and talented people all over the world, many of whom he
persuaded to boost the Toronto film festival in its early years.
He was an only child, born on Feb. 21, 1929. His father was a house painter,
his mother a salesperson at Eaton's.
Ted Kotcheff, the future movie director, met him at Camp Naivelt, a mostly
Jewish Communist summer camp from which Cohl was expelled for allegedly being a
Trotskyite.
"He was amusing and totally adorable, the most lovable man I ever
met," says Kotcheff. "And he was exactly like that decades later when
we reconnected."
After attending Harbord Collegiate, Cohl went to Osgoode Law School. In 1951,
he married his high school sweetheart, Joan Carin, and they had three children,
Robert, Karen and Steven.
As a young lawyer, Cohl made a fortune in real estate law and development. But
he found his true calling when he drifted away from law and into show business.
"Life was a continuing party that Dusty never wanted to leave," said
his close friend Barry Avrich, the advertising executive, filmmaker and TIFF
board member who took over the Floating Film Festival, which Cohl started in
1992.
"He was always there behind the scenes, putting people together and
offering advice. I was blessed to be in his galaxy."
According to Helga Stephenson, former director of TIFF, "Dusty took the
boring out of being Canadian. And he took care of a lot of people."
Piers Handling, the festival's CEO, says: "The key point about Dusty was
that he set a tone for this festival that set it apart from all the others. If
European festivals were stuffy black-tie affairs, Toronto was going to be the
opposite – irreverent. With his cowboy hat and T-shirts, he made a fashion
statement, announcing who and what we were – rebels."
Cohl liked to be billed as accomplice on the various projects he worked on,
including Marshall's 1977 movie Outrageous.
"Going to Cannes with Dusty was like going with Princess Diana," says
Marshall, who ran the festival with his partner Henk van der Kolk in its first
years. That's because Cohl had such a wide circle of friends and fans from the
international movie world.
At Cannes, recalls former Star movie critic Ron Base, "Dusty would
plunk himself down and before you knew it the most amazing assortment of people
joined him – movie stars, directors, journalists, starlets, a movable
feast."
Long-time friend Edward Greenspan says: "He was an original – unorthodox,
free thinking, genuine, creative, eccentric."
Cohl became a member of the Order of Canada in 2003. His funeral will be a
private family affair, with a public memorial later.
In September, the Toronto film festival will reveal its plans to honour Cohl.
Musical Stars Come Out To Sing Oscar's
Praises
Excerpt from www.thestar.com - Martin
Knelman
(January 13, 2008) Oscar Peterson was recognized all over the world as one
of the giants of jazz, but from time to time he let it be known that he felt
somewhat neglected at home, possibly even taken for granted.
Yesterday, that stigma was gloriously removed once and for all with a classy,
highly emotional, star-studded tribute at Roy Thomson Hall to the swinging
genius of the keyboard who died on Dec. 23 at age 82.
Admission was free but the opportunity to attend this event (organized by the
National Arts Centre's ceo, Peter Herrndorf) seemed priceless to 2500 people
who packed the hall for what had the mark of an unforgettable historic
occasion. Contributing to the magic was the feeling that virtually everyone who
appeared on stage for two and a half hours had a strong personal connection
with Peterson.
As Valerie Pringle, the perfect host, reminded us, Peterson will be forever
known as the man who redefined swing, mastering the balance between technique
and tenderness.
The tone for the day was set by Governor General Michaëlle Jean, for whom this
clearly represented just another ceremonial duty. She told about living in the
same working-class neighbourhood of Montreal where Peterson grew up and about
the hopes of immigrant parents from the Caribbean whose aspiration for their
children was they could grow up to be, like Oscar, simply the best.
Veteran producer Brian Robertson achieved pacing and momentum by mingling
spoken tributes by special guests with short and effective musical interludes
featuring a star-studded line-up.
The Oscar Peterson Quartet assembled for this occasion included jazz musicians
from Sweden, the U.S. and Canada. Monty Alexander, the pianist in the band, put
us in an upbeat mood by almost out-Oscaring Oscar. But the pianist who brought
the crowd to its feet was Herbie Hancock, who decided only a few days ago that
he just had to be at this event and took a red-eye flight to overcome the
obstacle of an impossible schedule.
Hancock recalled that when he was a teenager planning to become an electrical
engineer, hearing a Jazz at the Philharmonic record changed his life. "Who
is that piano player?" he asked. The answer, of course, was Oscar
Peterson. If it hadn't been for that, Hancock confided, the world would have
had one more electrical engineer.
Quincy Jones, the great jazz composer and conductor, drew a standing ovation as
soon as he walked onto the stage. Recalling a half-century of collaborating
with Peterson, Jones noted that jazz was never a macho form. "Musicians
don't think twice about letting our feminine side come out."
Alluding to a memorable concert tour that featured Count Basie and Frank
Sinatra, with Peterson and bassist Ray Brown as the opening act, Jones quipped:
"I wouldn't dare repeat the dialogue I heard between Oscar and Ray."
Several speakers referred to Peterson's courage in continuing to perform after
suffering permanent damage in a 1993 stroke. But in the words of Bob Rae –
accomplished pianist, former Ontario premier and friend of the Peterson family
– the world discovered that a one-handed Peterson was better than almost anyone
else with two hands.
To my ears the musical highpoint – and the emotional one as well – was provided
by the sublime Nancy Wilson, who quietly and plaintively sang a little-known
song about the pain of saying goodbye, filled with expressive pauses. And she
added: "In my heart, no one I have ever loved has left. They're always
here."
The program included four female vocalists, but there was one glaring omission.
Molly Johnson, Toronto's own marvellous jazz singer, was seated in the guest
section but was left out of the performing line-up.
The proceedings came to an epic close as the stunning Measha Brueggergosman
joined forces with the Nathaniel Dett Chorale, the University of Toronto Gospel
Choir and the Sharon Riley and Faith Chorale for the finale: "To
Freedom," a kind of inspirational anthem written by Peterson in 1962 in
the era of anti-racism marches.
It got a rousing standing ovation from the audience. But to me, that is not the
legacy of Oscar Peterson that will be joyously remembered decades from now.
It's the swinging Oscar I will always cherish – the one who could create
mood-elevating miracles with Harold Arlen tunes like "As Long As I
Live," "It's Only a Paper Moon" or "Ac-cent-tchu-ate the
Positive."
That's his true exit music. It doesn't get any better than that.
Major Studios Cancel TV Writers'
Contracts
Excerpt from www.thestar.com - The
Associated Press
(January 15, 2008) LOS ANGELES — Four major studios have
cancelled dozens of contracts with writers in a possible indication that the current television season cannot be
saved, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday. The move means the two-month old
writers strike may also endanger next season's new shows, the Times said.
January is usually the beginning of pilot season, when networks order new
scripted shows. But the strike leaves networks without a pool of comedy and
drama scripts from which to choose. 20th Century Fox Television, CBS Paramount
Network Television, NBC Universal and Warner Bros. Television told the Times
they have terminated development and production agreements. Studios typically
pay $500,000 to $2 million a year per writer for them and their staffs to
develop new show concepts. “I didn't see it coming,” Barbara Hall, a writer and
producer whose credits include former CBS series Joan of
Arcadia and Judging Amy, told the Times, which
said ABC executives gave her the news Friday. “I am not entirely sure what
their strategy is, all I know was that I was a casualty of it.” The newspaper
said more than 65 deals with writers have been eliminated since Friday.
EMI To Slash Workforce Amid
Restructuring
Excerpt from www.thestar.com - Jill
Lawless, The Associated Press
(January 15, 2008) LONDON – The new owners of music label EMI Group – home of the Rolling Stones, Coldplay
and the Spice Girls – said Tuesday they plan to cut up to 2,000 jobs, or just over
a third of the firm's workforce, in a restructuring aimed at offsetting the
impact of falling revenue from CD sales and the departure of several of its
major artists.
EMI said it hopes the restructuring of its recorded music division, to be
completed in six months, will save up to 200 million pounds ($400 million —
dollar figures U.S.) a year.
The company said sales, marketing, manufacturing and distribution would be
combined in a single, global division. The changes will entail the loss of
1,500 to 2,000 jobs from the current workforce of 5,500.
The company did not provide details but said it intended to help its artists to
make more money through sponsorship and other deals.
EMI's label's artists also include the Beastie Boys, Norah Jones and Kylie
Minogue.
Private equity firm Terra Firma Capital Partners bought the company for 2.4
billion pounds ($4.9 billion) in August.
EMI has struggled more than the other major labels – Sony BMG, Universal Music
Group and Warner Music Group – amid the decline of CD sales and the rise of
digital music downloading. The company blamed disappointing North American
results for a series of damaging profit warnings, but industry experts also
pointed to EMI's lack of new music and internal control problems.
Last year's takeover by Terra Firma, a private equity firm led by financier Guy
Hands, sparked speculation there would be a cull of less-profitable acts from
the EMI roster. In a November memo to staff, Hands said in future EMI would be
"more selective in whom we choose to work with."
Several of EMI's biggest acts have left the label since the Terra Firma
takeover, including Paul McCartney and Radiohead.
In a move to allay discontent, EMI promised to focus more resources on A&R
– artists and repertoire – and "developing a new partnership with artists,
based on transparency and trust."
In a statement, EMI said it would help artists "monetize the value of
their work by opening new income streams such as enhanced digital services and
corporate sponsorship arrangements."
"We have spent a long time looking intensely at EMI and the problems faced
by its Recorded Music division which, like the rest of the music industry, has
been struggling to respond to the challenges posed by a digital
environment," said Hands, Terra Firma's chief executive.
"We believe we have devised a new revolutionary structure for the group
that will improve every area of the business. In short it will make EMI's music
more valuable for the company and its artists alike."
New Diva On The Block - Sassy Soprano
Measha Brueggergosman
Excerpt from www.swaymag.ca - By Simona
Siad
(January 16, 2008) IT’S NOT EVERYDAY you meet anillustrious
soprano who loves singing Justin Timberlake songs in her bathroom. But, hey,
that’s just Measha.
“It’s music that makes you want to shake your money- maker,” she says,
laughing. “I’m sorry, but it’s true. There’s nothing that will get your engine
running and rally the troops like ‘Sexy Back.’”
But it’s exactly that juxtaposition –– her cool and sassy demeanour with
classical vocal skills to match –– that has continued to make Measha Brueggergosman, the New Brunswick-bred soprano, so
appealing to her fans.
To merely call her repertoire distinguished would be a gross understatement.
From performing with numerous prestigious symphony orchestras around the world,
to singing for the Prince of Wales and Nelson Mandela, she’s done more than
prove she’s made it as a star soprano.
But this is no overnight success story. It’s been a long time coming for the
30-year-old, who spent her childhood listening to classical music on CBC and
singing at the United Baptist Church in Fredericton, New Brunswick.
Brueggergosman, speaking on the phone from her hotel room in L’Hospitalet de
Llobregat, Spain recalls those moments clearly: “I’ve always felt very
supported and edified. Whether it’s by my parents, my hometown or the teachers
I have studied with.” She can even remember how members from her hometown held
fundraisers to help send her to university, and how that support ultimately
gave her a sense of purpose and responsibility.
“I could never consider not doing well in school, because I knew what people
had sacrificed to get me there,” she says.
After studying music at the University of Toronto, Brueggergosman went on to
complete a master’s degree in music at the Robert Schumann Hochschule in
Dusseldorf, Germany.
But Brueggergosman stands out for more than just her obvious talent. She’s
unapologetically herself: from how she wears her hair (big, big, big!) and her
eclectic musical preferences (she admits she could be Jann Arden’s stalker) to
her international work abroad (she recently premiered Beethoven’s Symphony No.
9 with the La Scala Orchestra in Accra, Ghana marking the 50th anniversary of
the country’s independence). Even her last name is a crazy amalgam of her
husband’s last name and her own.
If you happened to catch her performance as a guest judge on Project Runway
Canada, (she sent a designer home because she wouldn’t listen to
directions), it gave great insight into how this star soprano has gotten so
far. Measha clearly knows what she wants, how she wants it and when she wants
it.
“You truly are a diva,” said supermodel Iman admiringly during the show.
But don’t mistake her take-charge attitude for anything but ambition, because
although it’s generally accepted that opera fans can be a tad bit elitist, this
vivacious vocalist is quickly eroding opera’s snob appeal and making the genre
seem more hip and accessible. She mingles with fans of all musical backgrounds,
ages and ethnicities, even on MySpace, where she hosts her own page and chats
with her fans.
Not to mention the fact that she’s a black opera singer in a genre of music
that, with the exception of legendary Jessye Norman and Wilhelmina Wiggins
Fernandez, has been reserved for mostly white sopranos. But according to
Brueggergosman, race was never an issue growing up. In fact, it was her parents
who instilled in her the confidence to dream beyond racial boundaries.
“I was raised to do no less than my full potential,” she says. “In addition to
wanting to break many cycles (poverty, alcoholism) of his childhood, my father
wanted to make sure we never felt limited, hindered or weighed down by race. My
parents instead focused on education as power.”
And unless you’re one of this diva’s devotees, you may also not have noticed
that there’s been a lot less of her to love lately. Recently, she made
headlines by losing nearly 175 pounds through a mixture of diet and exercise ––
she swears by Bikram heat yoga.
Despite the weight loss, like all women, she admits she still has moments when
she does not feel comfortable in her own skin.
“Listen, girl,” she says laughing, “it’s an ongoing journey. I think a lot
about wanting to like myself more. Wanting to be honest about the things I like
about myself and acknowledge when I’m just feeding myself a load of crap.”
After Spain, her hectic schedule has her off to England and then Cannes,
France, where she’ll launch a new line of M.A.C cosmetics for the European
market. Then it’s off on the North American leg of her tour to promote Surprise,
her latest release with the highly respected Deutsche Grammophon label.
The recording is slightly more eclectic and contemporary than typical classical
fare, and includes Schoenberg’s Cabaret Songs, five songs by Erik Satie and the
world premiere of William Bolcom’s Cabaret Songs.
In the end, regardless of the music she makes or the places she’ll go,
Brueggergosman will undoubtedly continue to make her fans and family proud. But
don’t think for a minute that with all this fame she has lost touch with her
roots.
“When I’m out there, I’m representing Christ, I’m representing my parents, New
Brunswick and Canada,” she says. “I know it’s bigger than me.”
Brad Renfro, 25: Former Child Actor
Excerpt from www.thestar.com - Jacob
Adelman, The Associated Press
(January 16, 2008) LOS ANGELES — Brad Renfro was a street-smart Tennessee schoolboy
plucked from obscurity in 1993 to play the title role in The Client.
The film’s success brought him instant stardom, but struggles with drugs and
alcohol dogged his career. On Tuesday, he was found dead in his home. He was
25.
The cause of death was not immediately determined, said Craig Harvey, chief
investigator for the Los Angeles County coroner’s office. An autopsy was
planned.
In The Client, based on a John Grisham best-seller, he played a
youngster who witnesses a suicide and gets caught up in a mob investigation.
Susan Sarandon was nominated for an Oscar for her role as the lawyer the boy
hires to help protect him.
Director Joel Schumacher wanted an unknown for the role.
“I didn’t want to use one of those pretty kid faces the audience would be
instantly familiar with,” the director said when the film came out. “I want a
real wise-ass, a kid who nobody would know.”
A Knoxville police officer who worked to educate children about drugs told a
casting director about Renfro, whom he had seen in an anti-drug skit. That led
to an audition and Renfro was chosen for the part.
“I’m definitely going to film school,” the boy said when The Client came
out. “I want to be like Joel.”
Renfro followed up with major parts in the 1995 AIDS drama The Cure, Sleepers
(1997) and Telling Lies in America (1997). More recent credits
included Ghost World (2001), Deuces Wild (2002), and The
Jacket (2005).
But he was arrested numerous times over the past decade.
The actor served 10 days in jail in 2006 after pleading no contest to driving while
intoxicated and guilty to attempted possession of heroin. The latter charge
stemmed from his arrest in Los Angeles’ Skid Row area, when he attempted to buy
the drug from an undercover officer.
Other run-ins with the law included a 1998 charge of cocaine and marijuana
possession, for which he avoided jail time in a plea deal. He was also placed
on probation and ordered to pay $4,000 for repairs to a 45-foot yacht he and a
friend tried to steal in Florida in 2000.
The following year, he was charged with underage drinking and violating the
terms of his probation, and was ordered into alcohol rehabilitation.
After one court appearance, Renfro talked to reporters about rehabilitation,
saying it had “definitely been an eye-opener” and he was eager to get clean.
Renfro’s lawyer, Richard Kaplan, said he did not know whether the death was
connected to addiction.
“He was working hard on his sobriety,” Kaplan said. “He was doing well. He was
a nice person.’’
Renfro recently completed a role in The Informers, a film adaptation of
a Bret Easton Ellis novel that stars Winona Ryder, Brandon Routh and Billy Bob
Thornton.
“Brad was an exceptionally talented young actor and our time spent with him was
thoroughly enjoyable,” Marco Weber, president of the film’s production house,
Senator Entertainment, said in a statement.
Dennis Bowman, the retired police officer who had launched his career, told The
Knoxville News Sentinel on Tuesday he had followed Renfro’s ups and downs
over the years.
“With all the other problems he had, I can’t say I was dumbfounded (at his
death),” he said. “I told everybody in 1993, `This will either be the best
thing or the worst thing for Brad. Time will tell.’ I guess it told today.”
::MUSIC NEWS::
Celine's New Day
Excerpt from www.globeandmail.com -
Chrissy Iley
(January 12, 2008) LONDON — Celine Dion has sold 200 million records worldwide, making her the best-selling
female singer ever. The mystery is, who exactly buys her music? She doesn't
have quite the right shoes to be a fully fledged gay icon, and she certainly doesn't
have a teen market. She has an amazing outstretching voice that reaches far
into the vast expanses of the world's middle brow.
Recently though, she has been reappraised. Who would have thought Celine Dion
could ever be cool? It's a bit like a chenille sweater the colour of an
eggplant I got from H&M in 1992. It was never cool. It was ubiquitous,
bland and not particularly fetching until it grew old. Now it's vintage,
quirky, one-off.
Dion herself said a few years ago, “I don't try to be cool. That's not me.” Yet
weirdly maybe she's so uncool she is now cool. She had a five-year residency at
Caesar's Palace, Las Vegas, which is just coming to an end. It gave her more
than the $250-million (U.S.) she supposedly made from it. It seemed such a
strange thing to do at first, yet it brought her respect. Prince, Justin
Timberlake, Ice-T and Britney Spears have all been to see her show. Superstar
music producer Timbaland has said he'd consider teaming up with her.
When you call Caesar's Palace they answer with the name of her show. “It's a
New Day at Caesar's Palace.” And so it became a new day for Celine. We meet
under surreal circumstances. She's been mentoring the finalists at X Factor,
an American Idol-like British television talent show. It's Saturday
night. She's in a big trailer in the studio parking lot, in a state of high
excitement. She has long tousled hair, which I suspect is real, and the face
that launched a thousand why-the-long-face jokes isn't even that long. Big
eyes, sensuous mouth, in the flesh, she's even sexy.
You might have imagined Celine Dion to be this ethereal, whimsical thing, but
she's surprisingly savvy. Her new album Taking Chances (the single has
the same name) is unexpectedly edgy and rockier. It has producers like Linda
Perry, best known for her work with Pink, Courtney Love and Gwen Stefani.
Twenty years ago, she was this child-puppet-songbird thing. Now she's 39, one
year older than Stefani, and weirdly emotional and available. The girl from
Charlemagne, Que., still speaks with a French-Canadian accent. Sometimes what
she says doesn't make sense, but it sounds very poetic and deep, not bland.
“It's me, who I am today,” she says about the departure represented by Taking
Chances. “I grew. I didn't change. I evolved, which is different.”
Of course some people really don't like who she is. She has always been hugely
criticized about her clothes, her taste, her marriage (anti-Celine feeling even
erupted in hospitable Halifax before Christmas, leading to her manager-husband,
René Angélil, cancelling a planned concert of hers there next summer after
negative press and Internet comment). But she said recently, “For the first
time I feel beautiful.” I wondered if this was because it was the first time
she'd been settled in one place for several years. Or because she was insecure.
“Well, actually it was because my life went very fast. You are very busy, you
sing in French, you sing in English. … You don't have time to think who you
are. Now I prepare myself more.” In a way this doesn't answer the question at
all. But I think she means she found time to be who she was and that made her
beautiful.
“I was holding on too long to my career, to my song, to my vocal, to a note,”
she says, sending herself up. “That's all they would send me, those songs with
eight minutes on one note.”
She laughs. She has a huge laugh. “In the beginning I needed to prove myself to
the industry. Not any more. How many million albums had she sold before she
realized she didn't have to prove herself? “This is the first album. Since my
son was born I know my job as a mother is much more important. The other stuff
is not important at all, it's fun.”
On the TV we get a close-up of Beverly, one of the X Factor contestants
Dion has been coaching. She's crying.
“This is great,” Dion says. “I told her not to hold her tears.” Dion doesn't
hold on to her tears at all. “I was criticized many times for that in my
career, but people who cry are blessed, so I do not hold on to them. I was
crying all the time when I was young.”
She's proud of her ability to weep. “I cry at everything. When I see passion,
like with some of these performers. I love fighters. I cry at everything my son
does.
“I am much happier though now because I have meaning in my life. Before I was
fighting for my place, holding on to my dream. Now I have a son and I am in
love with my husband and I am singing because I love my passion of expressing
myself through music.”
You wonder how stressed she must have been before with all that fighting for
her place. She did look a lot different then. Her face used to look so strained
and tight. She wore trouser suits a lot, dressed much older. Now she's always
in lacy things and she likes a bit of corseting. Does she feel more sexy?
“Absolutely. More sexy and more grounded.”
She used to say, “I don't try to be sexy, that's not for me.”
“But I am not trying,” she quips coquettishly. For me, being cool is to feel
happy and stable and sure of myself. In the beginning, I think I wasn't
involved in my career, I was just trying to do the job.”
Part of the Vegas residency was about stability for her son René-Charles. “When
we moved to Las Vegas my heart of a mother was very fragile. I didn't want to
tour the world and bring him backstage one night here, one night there. Now
he's 7, I am ready to see the world with him.
“We would love another baby but we're not planning anything right now because I
am touring for a year, but after that we'd love to try.”
Before Angélil's treatment for skin cancer [he's been in remission for several
years], she had in-vitro fertilization, and frozen embryos await her. So trying
may not be as easy-breezy as she puts it.
There is no doubt that Angélil's cancer was part of her evolution. Twenty-six
years her senior and her manager since she was 12 years old, Angélil may have
started off as the Svengali in the relationship, but the dynamic shifted after
his cancer, discovered nine years ago. “Yes, I felt I was in charge as well,”
Dion admits.
“You know, we have an extravagant life but we are normal people. Cancer happens
to people.
“Once it touches you, it's in your life forever and it makes you realize how
precious life is and how you have to live every day at its fullest.”
I tell here that there are things that I read about her that I'm wondering
about. One, she is anorexic. Two, she tried to commit suicide.
And three, she doesn't dare have a glass of wine in case you become an
alcoholic. She is outraged. “Okay. First, I'm not anorexic. It pisses people
off that I am thin and I don't make any effort. Second, it was written that I
had committed suicide, that I was dead. I had to ring my mother to say I am not
dead.
“I was freaking out. Imagine, my whole family were freaking out. I don't even
know where that came from.
“And as for the third thing, it's also not true. I love champagne. Cristal is
my favourite. A glass of wine doesn't destroy the voice. Four bottles will.
“I have an extraordinary life and people are trying to find something wrong
with my life.” She's angry now, especially about the anorexia bit.
She's in pretty good shape. She has elegant thin arms but no bones sticking
out. “I have been thin all my life. Nobody in my family is overweight.”
She says that now she's ending Vegas she will have more time to relax, but
she's a non-stop doer. Thinking is not a natural state for her, although she's
recently discovered she likes to read. “I was concerned because I didn't go to
school a lot and I was never interested in reading. My mum said, ‘Don't worry,
you are so busy. You've just had a baby, don't add reading to your list.' Now I
read a lot.”
Recently she's been reading in English too, Seven Spiritual Laws of Success
by Deepak Chopra.
“I had an image once about what is a man and what is a woman. The man is a
tree. He's big, he's beautiful, moves the leaves, makes the shadow. … The roots
of the tree is the woman. Without the roots, he won't survive. … But it takes
two together to make the tree healthy. The man can take the spotlight, but only
with the woman behind him. For me, it's the tree of life.”
I'm not sure if this is pure Deepak or pure Dion. I suspect the latter.
Eccentric? Yes. Strangely submissive for one of the most powerful women in the
music industry? Yes. But somehow, endearing.
Special to The Globe and Mail
Jazz World Salutes Its Masters
Excerpt from www.thestar.com - John
Terauds, Toronto Star
(January 12, 2008) It may have been the
most important night of the year in the world of jazz, but glitz, glamour and
general hoopla took a backseat to a love of music last night at the Metro
Toronto Convention Centre.
A couple of thousand delegates to the 35th annual International Association for Jazz
Education conference – the first to be held in
Toronto – were among the audience gathered in Constitution Hall to applaud
seven new Jazz Masters anointed by the National Endowment of the Arts, the
American arts granting agency. They were also there to pay tribute to the
legendary pianist and composer Oscar Peterson, who died on Dec. 23.
Whereas most tribute and awards shows are long on speech and spectacle, the
audience here was largely made up of musicians. So they heard plenty of music
in Constitution Hall as well as at a number of other venues. Nearly 200 artists
will have performed by the time the conference wraps up tomorrow.
On stage yesterday were the 16 members of the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks
orchestra, led by David N. Baker. There were also special musical guests,
including long-time Peterson acolyte, friend and collaborator, Oliver Jones,
bass player Dave Young, and American singer Kurt Elling.
National Ballet of Canada head and Canada Council of the Arts chair Karen Kain
was on hand to introduce the Oscar Peterson tribute.
It was a low-key, heartfelt presentation, anchored by a stirring performance by
Jones, Young and the Smithsonian band.
Peterson's widow Kelly and daughter Celine received a standing ovation as they
stood on stage.
Kelly Peterson spoke of the pianist's "Childlike delight" in
receiving awards, and how much he had been looking forward to joining the ranks
of the Jazz Masters.
Last night's tribute was a warm-up for today's free public concert in honour of
Peterson at Roy Thomson Hall. Doors open at 3 p.m.
In his opening remarks last night, National Endowment of the Arts chair Dana
Gioia said that, since 1982, 100 artists have been named Jazz Masters in
recognition of a lifetime devoted to the art of jazz.
Of last night's inductees – Peterson, conga virtuoso Candido Camero, trumpeter
Joe Wilder, pianist Andrew Hill (who died last April), composer/arranger Tom
McIntosh, bandleader/arranger Quincy Jones and composer/author/horn player
Gunther Schuller – five were born in the 1920s.
Although people in the jazz field are working hard to promote new talents and
expose young people to the art form, last night's awards and music served to
highlight the indisputable fact that so much of what we think of as jazz today
is still deeply rooted in the idioms of the 1940s and '50s.
Fortunately, the actual musical energy coming from the stage repeatedly
recharged an audience that contained many young faces.
Kurt Elling was especially dynamic in a five-song set that started off with the
old Guys & Dolls standby "Luck be a Lady" and ended with "I
Only Have Eyes for You."
Steroid Accusations Inevitable?
Excerpt from www.thestar.com - New York
Times News Service
(January 16, 2008) When news surfaced over the weekend that 50 Cent, Wyclef Jean, Timbaland and other rap stars had been implicated
in a steroids investigation, some hip-hop fans were shocked, but to many in the
industry the accusations seemed inevitable.
Although public accusations of steroid and human-growth-hormone use by rappers
and R&B stars are all but unheard of, the latest news struck a chord about
the increasing pressure on these performers to maintain perfect, even
superhuman physiques as a part of their image and brand.
The investigation, by the district attorney's office, in Albany, N.Y., has
focused on doctors who illegally prescribe drugs for nonmedical purposes. None
of the celebrities have been accused of breaking the law, though Albany's The
Times Union, citing anonymous sources, reported that the stars have
received packages of prescribed steroids and human-growth hormone at their
homes, at hotels around the country and at the offices of a Long Island, N.Y.,
chiropractor.
But the news highlights an issue that's long been whispered about in hip hop as
some performers have leaned more heavily on a Schwarzeneggerian body as part of
their public image.
Representatives for Timbaland and 50 Cent did not respond to requests for comment
on Monday. A spokesperson for Mary J. Blige said that the singer had never
taken steroids, and a spokesperson for Columbia Records had no comment about
Wyclef Jean. Talk has swirled about many rappers who have maintained
suspiciously Olympian musculatures.
"The marketing of the images is so key now to so many different bottom
lines," said Jeff Chang, the author of the hip-hop history Can't Stop
Won't Stop. "Not just the music industry, but a whole range of
consumer products.''
How the allegations will be received by fans, however, is far from clear.
Illegal or unsavoury behaviour carries little stigma in some corners of the
hip-hop world. And troubles with the law can even help.
Meet Uné, R& B Soul Artist: He's Got
The Gift Of 'It.'
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com -
(January 14, 2008) "IT," the commonly
overused word in the entertainment industry, which we have all heard hundreds
of, times typically referring to an entertainer is an intangible gift which was
intended to be reserved for the few who's talents will transcend and stand the
test of time.
Unlike the majority of examples the label has been attached to UNÉ (pronounced you-nay). He has been
properly labelled and blessed with the gift of "IT."
As I sipped hot chocolate with his publicist Eugenia Wright, I noticed the
jovial Detroit native walk into the restaurant and meet me with a huge smile
and appreciation for the interview.
Accompanied by his Manager, Ernest Thomas of "What's Happening" fame,
I was quickly drawn into UNÉ's story. UNÉ was more than I expected.
The steel city didn't create another tin man; this one had a heart and warmth
with a great sense of humour.
His move to Los Angeles has been marred by unfortunate sacrifices which had to
be made in order to pursue his dream. From local stardom and frequent
airplay in Detroit to his marriage and hometown, UNÉ has lost it all
sacrificing more than most to reach his goal of entertaining the world with his
music.
Through every step, UNÉ has remained resilient and focused and credits his
close-knit team for making him an up and coming artist people are beginning to
notice. In addition to his Publicist Eugenia Wright and Manager Ernest
Thomas, UNÉ also singles out Producer Sterling G. and Co-Producer Carmela C.
Martin as a driving force behind him.
The self-titled album "UNÉ" is a soulful semi-stripped album,
produced without the flash, smoke and mirrors typical of many artists we hear
today. The throwback voice of this Motown singer serenades its listeners
through eleven solid tracks, solidifying UNÉ as a new artist the general public
needs to know about. The tracks "I Can Remember", "I
Really Love You" and "Hit Da Shaw" are songs, which are likely
to be on continuous repeat on any CD/ MP3 player. UNÉ has been compared
to great vocalists such as Luther Vandross, Carl Anderson and John Legend.
UNÉ is currently the featured artist on the popular UK website
"Soulchoonz," and his my space web page www.myspace.com/unesongs
which has brought him attention from a large number of domestic and
international listeners.
UNÉ is a fan of music. When asked what type of music inspires him, he
responded "All." He continued to explain how all music is to be
appreciated and by finding the beauty in all genres, his music can only become
more versatile and powerful. With that answer, it all makes sense as to
why UNÉ will become a successful artist. He understands music not only as
a musician, but also as a producer and consumer. UNÉ was raised on
legendary artists such as Tony Bennett, Miles Davis, Frank Sinatra and Smokey
Robinson and through his music; you can hear their influences. In
addition, UNÉ has kept his music fresh and new age by injecting his old school
flavour with updated flare. Jay-Z, Beyoncé, 50 Cent and Common all hold
an inspirational chamber in his heart.
As I spent a portion of my afternoon laughing and enjoying the company I shared
a small table with, I realized my time was coming to a close. My
interview with UNÉ, Ernest and Eugenia was one of the most enjoyable interviews
I had ever done. In closing, Ernest added, "If UNÉ does everything I
tell him to do, he will be a success." The statement was soon met with
laughter from Ernest himself and the three of us followed suit. The
tandem is like a comedy act, but all business when need be. Ernest is
extremely proud to be associated with UNÉ and mentions that not only is UNÉ
focused on his singing, but also in his community and gives back every chance
he gets. There isn't a hometown in America that wouldn't want to claim
UNÉ as its own. Detroit has once again produced an amazing vocalist, this
time "It" by the name of UNÉ.
Janet Jackson Hopes 'Discipline' Will
Turn Tide
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com
(January 14, 2008) *Janet Jackson spoke at length to Billboard recently
about her forthcoming album "Discipline," which marks her 10th disc
overall and her first for Island Def Jam following more than a decade at Virgin
Records.
First and foremost, she's hesitant to use the word "comeback" to
describe the effort, which is due in stores on Feb. 26.
"I think a comeback is when you leave and then you ... come
back," Jackson said with a laugh. "People are always quick to use
that word 'comeback,' but I never went anywhere, really."
The first single from "Discipline," a bass-heavy club banger
titled "Feedback," has been gaining traction at urban and pop radio –
jumping 32 places to No. 52 on the latest Billboard Hot 100. It's a welcome
change from the reception that met singles from her previous albums, 2006's
"20 Y.O." (which stalled at 648,000 units in the U.S.) and 2004's
"Damita Jo" (which moved 999,000, according to Nielsen
SoundScan).
Should "Feedback" crack the top 10, it will be Jackson's first
appearance there since her 2001 single "Someone to Call My Lover,"
which peaked at No. 3.
"Discipline," according to Billboard, "is heavier on dance
tracks than seductive jams (Jackson's other forte). … There is an air of
newness to the album that is partly the result of Jackson creatively straying
from her longtime go-to production team of Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis."
"I was hoping we could do something together, but sometimes you have
to explore and kind of kick yourself out of the nest," Jackson said of her
decision to escape her production comfort zone. "It was something that I
needed to do for myself, but I think (Jam and Lewis) felt it coming, too,
'cause I kept working with a different producer here or there."
In addition to production by Jackson's longtime boyfriend Jermaine Dupri,
Island's head of urban music, "Discipline" also features beats by
newcomers the-Dream and Tricky Stewart ("Umbrella," "Bed"),
Lil Jon, Stargate and songwriters Ne-Yo and Johnta Austin. Rodney Jerkins
produced and wrote "Feedback" with Dernst Emile.
"Discipline" seeks to reverse a downward slide for Jackson that began
with her breast being exposed during the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show. Despite
"Damita Jo" bowing at No. 2 on the Billboard 200, the wardrobe
malfunction began to eclipse the music. According to Jackson, the project was
poorly handled.
"Not to badmouth Virgin, 'cause it was my family for a very long
time, but they kind of just lost touch," she said. "To only have
support of the urban department and for (those two albums) to sell what they
did, there's a lot to say for that. (At Island) they all come together, and one
department knows what the other department is doing. You need that to really
move forward. It's teamwork, and that's what Virgin lost."
Dupri expressed the same frustration during the latter part of his tenure
as president of urban music at Virgin. The label's lack of support, he says,
contributed to his departure following the release of "20 Y.O."
"It was described to me that the music wasn't appropriate and that's
what was making these outlets or certain places that usually would support her
not willing to play the record," Dupri said. "I know better than
that. In the music business, you at least get a shot."
But Billboard also says that sources close to "20 Y.O." claimed
that Dupri controlled virtually every aspect of the marketing and promotion of
the project as the president of Virgin's urban department at the time.
Regardless, in February 2007, when Dupri was appointed to head Island's urban
music department, Jackson soon followed.
But while Dupri and Island's L.A. Reid worked together on "Discipline,"
Dupri, who executive-produced "Damita Jo" and "20 Y.O.,"
decided to step back and allow outside producers to help shape the sound,
although he ended up producing all the vocals for the album.
"It's a crazy role for me, because I want the right things for her
as my girl. I also want the right things for her as a label, but I also am the
label president," said Dupri, who two years ago masterminded the comeback
of another Virgin refugee, Mariah Carey.
As with "20 Y.O.," where fans got to design their own album
covers, Jackson is offering another DIY promotional campaign for
"Discipline." In January, her official Web site (http://www.janetjackson.com)
launched a contest for fans to create their own homemade videos for
"Feedback" and post them on her YouTube channel, Destination
Discipline.
A Dream Come True For Buble
Excerpt from www.globenandmail.com
- Jennifer Van Evra
Michael Buble At GM Place In Vancouver on Saturday
(January 14, 2008) VANCOUVER — It's barely been a decade
since Michael Buble was working as a lounge singer at Babalu
- a tiny downtown Vancouver bar that was destroyed by fire in 2001 and is now
an Irish pub. And, like so many aspiring crooners, the Burnaby, B.C. native and
son of a fisherman played weddings and corporate events to pay the bills, and
appeared in musicals such as the campy 1950s revue, Red
Rock Diner.
Now the stuff of legend for millions of fans around the globe - some of whom
travel all the way to Vancouver to see the spot where Babalu once stood - those
formative days are long behind Buble, who has sold well over 11 million albums
worldwide, is up for two Grammys and fills stadiums wherever he goes.
So when he took the stage for his sold-out show at GM Place - Vancouver's
largest concert venue - on Saturday night, he seemed like a guy who had left
town in a Pinto and returned in a Ferrari.
"So, how much does this remind you of Babalu?" he quipped, kicking
off the evening with a fiery rendition of I'm Your Man
and It Had Better Be Tonight (Meglio
Stasera).
"But I'm so happy to be here. I had to drive, like, two blocks."
Dressed in a black suit, a white shirt, and a black tie that was pulled
jauntily loose around his neck, Buble then launched into a cover-heavy set that
ranged from a faithful rendition of Sinatra's I've Got
The World On A String to a decidedly un-country take on Willie Nelson's You Were Always On My Mind as the audience - mostly
middle-aged couples and bevies of young women - cheered and sang along.
Backed by a full horn section, percussion, guitars, piano and bass, the crooner
seemed most at home belting out jazz classics such as the horn-heavy Feeling Good, made famous by the inimitable Nina Simone,
the Drifters' Save The Last Dance For Me and the
sultry Peggy Lee hit, Fever.
But while the estrogen levels in the stadium rose to precipitous highs as Buble
performed several of his soft favourites radio hits, including Lost, which he co-penned with Jann Arden, and the
toothache-sweet love song Everything, the material
was by far the evening's least compelling.
Still, even Buble poked fun at the tunes, saying "I very badly wanted to
be a hockey player. And now I'm singing these wimpy love songs."
And although there was no hiding the fact that his music is geared toward
love-minded ladies - at one point, he even jumped into the crowd and gave hugs
and kisses to several of his admirers - the heartthrob also made peace with the
thousands of boyfriends and husbands in the crowd, acknowledging that many of
them probably weren't too thrilled about going to the show. "I'm making my
music," he reminded them jokingly before a cover of the sexy hit, Me And Mrs. Jones, "and getting you laid when you
get home."
Later, he extended another olive branch to the men, comparing the Vancouver
Canucks' season record with that of the Toronto Maple Leafs on a giant screen,
then dedicating his monster hit Home to Daniel and
Henrik Sedin, Markus Naslund and Roberto Luongo of his hometown team.
After saying his thank yous and goodbyes ("This was a dream come
true,"), Buble rounded off the evening with a swinging cover of the Queen
hit Crazy Little Thing Called Love and the quiet
ballad A Song For You.
As he neared the end of the last tune, he put down his mike and, under his own
power, filled the stadium with the lines "I love you for my life, because
you're all friends of mine/And when my life is over, I'll remember when we were
together/Because we were alone and I was singing my song for you." Then he
blew kisses to his fans, bowed, mouthed the words "You rock," and
walked offstage, ready to take on the world.
Michael Buble plays Calgary tomorrow, Edmonton on Thursday, Saskatoon on
Friday, Winnipeg on Saturday and other cities the following week.
Radiohead Heading To Toronto
Excerpt from www.thestar.com - Ben
Rayner, Staff Reporter
(January 10, 2008) Maybe the boys were just waiting to see which cities
actually bought hard copies of In Rainbows, but Radiohead has announced the towns that it will
visit on its forthcoming North American tour and, yes, Toronto is on the list.
Actual dates and venues for the 22-city tour have yet to be revealed, but music
sites such as Billboard.com and PitchforkMedia.com were reporting yesterday
that the first leg will take place before an already scheduled sweep across
Europe set to begin on June 6 with the second leg soon after that roadwork
wraps up on July 8. Where Toronto or fellow Canadian tour stops Montreal and
Vancouver fall on that vague timeline is anybody's guess.
Radiohead had an excuse to be vague yesterday, anyway, since the band was
celebrating a No. 1 chart debut in the U.S., Canada and the U.K. for its much
discussed seventh album, In Rainbows. Although the band made the entire
record available online in October at whatever price individual downloaders
were willing to pay – or for free – In Rainbows moved nearly 19,200
copies in Canada and 122,000 in the States during its first week of sales to
land simultaneous top spots on the SoundScan charts this week. The record had
appeared on the low end of the charts (at No. 156 in Canada) the previous week,
but that's only because 10,000 or so copies had trickled out through North
American retailers who violated the Jan. 1 street date.
In Rainbows is not just Radiohead's first No. 1 album since 2000's Kid
A, incidentally, it's also the first No. 1 album ever for MapleMusic
Recordings, the Toronto independent label that landed the Canadian rights to In
Rainbows despite much competition from larger imprints.
Tierney Sutton Stumbles On Happiness
Excerpt from www.thestar.com - Ashante
Infantry, Pop & Jazz Critic
(January 11, 2008) She doesn't get to Toronto very often, but Tierney Sutton's making the most of this visit.
The Wisconsin-born, California-based vocalist, whose band is nominated for Best
Jazz Vocal Album at the upcoming Grammy Awards, performed at the Old Mill Inn
last night and has a closed-to-the-public gig tonight at the International
Association for Jazz Education conference.
The one-time Russian literature student is the married mother of an 11-year-old
son and a singer noted for elegant vocals and witty arrangements of standards
with pianist Christian Jacob, bassist Trey Henry, bassist Kevin Axt and drummer
Ray Brinker.
Q: What was the genesis for toying with the theme of happiness on On the
Other Side?
A: We sometimes do arrangements that are so far from the original vibe
of the song; and I wanted to do a record where we had the same song done twice
... at least twice on this record (there are two contrasting arrangements of
"Get Happy" and "Happy Days Are Here Again," one upbeat,
one more sombre). Then the idea of the happy/not so happy thing became a real
natural, partly because there's so much optimism in the Great American Songbook
and I only halfway buy it. It's such a basic theme to take on a little
adventure.
Q: Given how well you work together, why hasn't the band penned any
originals?
A: It's time. We've even scored a film together where we've
collaboratively composed for the movie, so I know we can do it. I think the
sticky part is lyrics, to sit down and write lyrics when (songwriting team) Alan
and Marilyn Bergman are friends of ours. It's really hard for me to sit down
and pop out a lyric when I've been able to know some of the great lyric writers
– they're not kidding around.
Q: How did music manifest for you as a child?
A: I always sang in musicals and I sang whatever dopey white girls in
Wisconsin sing. And then when I got into college I was first exposed to jazz. I
remember taking a jazz appreciation course at Wesleyan University and hearing
Sarah Vaughan and just weeping. Wow! Who knew this was out there? It turns out
AM radio wasn't playing a lot of Sarah Vaughan in 1972.
Q: You hadn't considered a career in singing?
A: No, not until I found jazz. I knew I could sing in tune and I knew
that I might have a reasonable voice, but I wasn't inspired to do it. I didn't
feel like I had anything that could add anything to do covers of somebody
else's pop songs. I wasn't a huge fan of musical theatre and I wasn't inspired
to sing opera. When I discovered jazz it was pretty much an immediate passion.
I realized there was this whole great American Songbook and the songs were
actually better than most of the songs that I knew from pop radio. It turned
out that even the stuff from pop radio that I liked had all these jazz
influences.
Q: How has your voice changed over the last decade?
A: It's definitely gotten deeper and I'm definitely more comfortable in
it. I'm pretty monk-like in my behaviour: I don't drink or smoke, and I sleep a
lot and drink a lot of water, and try to keep as much wear and tear off of it
that I can. My sound is a kind of fairly clean sound and it took me a long time
to accept that. As much as I wanted to, I didn't have Sarah Vaughan's
instrument. I remember what Ray Brown said about me: "You sing great, but
we need to roll you around in the dirt a little bit." As I got older, my
keys went down and I think it naturally burnished the tone a little bit
more.... A lot of the craft of it is being absolutely sincere as you can be and
not trying to show off, or be anything that you're not.
Taylor Swift: Country Music's Rising
Star: Country Music's Rising Star
Excerpt from www.thestar.com - Bruce
Demara, Entertainment Reporter
(January 12, 2008) At the tender age of
14, Taylor Swift's first after-school job was writing songs
for Sony Publishing in downtown Nashville.
Last year, Swift had not yet achieved the age of majority when she won the Horizon
Award from the Country Music Association – an honour for up-and-coming artists
previously given to stars like Carrie Underwood, LeAnne Rimes and the Dixie
Chicks – and was also named Songwriter/Artist of the Year by the Nashville
Songwriters Association International.
On Feb. 10, Swift will find out if her young talent has mainstream appeal as
she competes for the Grammy in the New Artist category against other breakout
artists like Feist and Amy Winehouse.
Not bad for a willowy, blue-eyed blond just turned 18 who grew up on a
Christmas tree farm.
"It's just such an honour to be representing country music in that
category," Swift says with small-town-girl self-deprecation.
And not bad for a young woman who didn't pick up a guitar until she was 12.
These days, Swift finds herself on the road pretty much full-time while
finishing up high school through home-schooling.
"All my friends here in Tennessee are getting ready to go off to college
next year. And I feel like I've already gone to college ... as far as being
away from home, having to learn how to survive, having to learn so many
different things about the (music) industry and meeting different people you've
never met before," Swift says.
"It definitely rounds you out as a human being," Swift adds, noting
she has travelled to every state in the continental U.S. and most parts of
Canada.
While the stories of young country music stars making it to the big time are
legion, what sets Swift apart is her ability to write her own songs.
Her self-titled debut CD, released in 2006, marks her as the only artist in
country music history to have written or co-written every song on a first album
that went gold in Canada and double-platinum in the U.S.
For Swift, it started when she won a national poetry writing contest in the
fourth grade, giving her the confidence to pursue writing.
At the age of 10, while living in her hometown of Wyomissing, Penn., Swift took
the stage for the first time. Two years later, she picked up the guitar and
starting songwriting in earnest. "As soon as I picked up a guitar and
learned three chords, I started writing songs. Songwriting just came as another
form of expression. I was always into writing poetry when I was younger. It's
what I loved to do," Swift says.
"For me, I was facing a lot of things at school where I found myself on
the outside looking in. I was not included. I would go to school some days, a
lot of days, and not know who I was going to talk to. And that's a really
terrifying thing for somebody who's 12."
And while her peers were already starting to use weekend drinking parties to
numb the pain of adolescent angst, Swift says flatly that she "never fit
into that mould."
She adds, "So the thing that I found to escape from any pain ... was
writing songs."
Swift says she draws on her own experiences to give her songs emotional
authenticity.
"I think I've been inspired by things that have actually happened. I can't
sit down and write about something I've never felt before," she says.
"The songs I write in 15 minutes – because they're just so fast, they just
come to me – are about things I've gone through.
"Like with my song, `Teardrops on my Guitar,' that's about an actual guy
named Drew. I don't like to edit personal details out of my songs."
Swift credits a very supportive set of parents for her career and their crucial
decision to move the family to Hendersonville, Tenn., near Nashville, to get
closer to the country music epicentre.
Her mom – who joins her on the road when she tours – was a successful career
woman who understood how to climb the corporate ladder before she met Swift's
father and settled down to have a family.
"She is very business-oriented and very confident and I really love that
about her. She named me Taylor so that if anybody saw on a business card the
name, Taylor, they wouldn't know if it was a girl or a guy if they were
thinking of hiring me," Swift says.
And while there's "definitely a feeling of it all being a blur every once
in a while," Swift says she enjoys the gypsy existence of life on the
road.
"It's good to have been places ... to see Montana, to see Alabama ... to
see Nova Scotia," she says.
Swift will certainly be well-travelled the next few months – she tours with
Alan Jackson beginning tonight in Nashville, and opens for Rascal Flatts on a
five-city Western Canada swing in March.
Swift will also have a chance to get some big time media exposure, with
upcoming appearances on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno – slated
for Tuesday – followed by an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show the
next day.
Swift, for one, has no doubt her music will take her outside of the narrow
genre of country music and appeal to a much broader spectrum of musical tastes.
"In this day of iPods and digital and Internet and the fact people can go
get any music they want with the click of a button, I really think there are
less boundaries and the lines are more blurred between genres.
"And I think that's a beautiful thing."
Getting personal with Taylor Swift
1. What's on your iPod?
Omigosh! I have a million songs on my iPod. My iPod is full of everything:
Ingrid Nicholson, Matt Carney, the Dixie Chicks, Rascal Flatts ... and then I
have Kanye West and Eminem. My musical taste is all over the place.
2. What was your first job?
I was a signed Sony songwriter, for Sony ATV Publishing, when I was 14. I was
one of their house songwriters.
3. What's the last good movie you saw?
I Am Legend. I was really impressed with how Will Smith could carry the
whole movie by himself. It was basically a one-person movie.
4. If you weren't a country singer, what would you be doing?
I would be in some sort of criminal investigation process, Homeland Security or
something like that.
5. What TV show must you always watch?
I don't have a regular schedule so I never have a regular TV show. But I'll be
obsessed with certain DVD's at certain times. The last one I was just obsessed
with was Grey's Anatomy.
Hayden The Master Of His Music-Making
House
Excerpt from www.thestar.com - Ben
Rayner, Pop Music Critic
(January 14, 2008) It seems like a lot of extra work for a solitary studio
dweller like Hayden to labour for months chasing an elusive full-band sound
when he could have easily dialled up an actual band at any point, but that's
where the guy's heart is: in the work.
The observation has been made that the Toronto singer/songwriter's brief,
mid-1990s wrestle with the international major-label machine could have been
salvaged with less of an impact on his growing profile had he been willing to
tour a bit more.
But, as Paul Hayden Desser sees it now, he came out of the whole, maddening
affair with exactly what he needed to sustain a pretty comfortable career ever
since. On his own terms.
If the man wants to hole up for two, three years at a time writing, recording,
re-recording and re-re-recording his downcast (albeit often quite droll)
folk-rock tunes, he can. And that's the way Hayden likes it.
"Because of a few freak, little things that happened at that time, it
changed the course of what I was doing," he says over a pint not far from
his Parkdale home.
"But also, it set the course for everything that happened after because I
made money, and I made enough money to be able to control how I make all my
records and take my time the way I like to make my records, and make decisions
that were purely music-based over the last few years.
"So in the end, it was a great thing. I took money from someone I've never
met and I can't be sore about it; I'm actually an example of one of very few
people who got away with something from the music industry. And it was one of
the last opportunities to do so, I think."
Hayden has never really lost his grip on the loyal following of Canadian fans
and music writers he gathered when Everything I Long For blew up 12
years ago, even if his days of round-the-clock airplay on MuchMusic are long
past.
His affable new record, In Field & Town – out tomorrow on his own
Hardwood Records label – represents enough of a subtle evolution in a sound
even Hayden felt was maybe getting a bit too typical, that it might be the
first since that period of hype to draw large numbers of new admirers.
Songs groove in ways Hayden songs haven't grooved before. Tinny toy pianos,
xylophones, New Wave keyboards and trumpets colour some arrangements in
uncharacteristically bright fashion. Australian songbird Holly Throsby turns up
for a quick duet entitled "Weight of the World," which is officially
now the first song of 2008 guaranteed to melt the heart of every girl who hears
it.
It's one of the best albums the 36-year-old Hayden has made, if not the best.
He worked at it, too, after deciding that his last record, 2004's Elk-Lake
Serenade, was "a bit too singer/songwriter" for his tastes.
"I liked my last record and it worked for me at the time, but I wanted to
do something a bit different from that," he says.
"And what I really wanted to do was get the instrumental element that I
get when I play improvised music late at night with friends, when we're playing
off each other and getting interesting arrangements and long sections where you
don't know what's gonna happen next.
``I've always wanted that ingredient in my own recorded music."
As a committed one-man operation, Hayden set about finding the missing magic
almost entirely on his own, even playing a lot of his own drum parts on the
record for the first time.
Guests such as right-hand man Howie Beck, Mike O'Neill and Cuff the Duke's Dale
Murray visited the studio, but mostly this is Hayden striving to find fresh
results in the tried-and-true methods he's always employed – and succeeding.
Touring begins in typically low-key fashion in Hamilton Wednesday, with
"an on-and-off month" of Canadian dates that will conclude with an
already sold-out date at the Danforth Music Hall on Feb. 19. For now, it's just
Hayden solo onstage.
"It would have been fun coming out and playing all these arrangements and
hearing all the guitar parts and little extras on the record that I want to
hear, but I think it makes sense to start off with me getting comfortable
playing them by myself and really feeling them out and then, in time, getting
together a good band."
Classical Music Mixes Well With The Cool
Club Crowd
Excerpt from www.thestar.com - John
Terauds, Classical Music Critic
(January 16, 2008) I keep hoping the current trend in Europe to present
classical music in pubs, lounges and clubs is going to catch on here.
Perhaps the full house at Monday's Network Winds concert at the Gladstone Hotel Ballroom was a promising sign.
There were new, young faces alongside veteran classical concertgoers at the
informal affair.
A hip tango-trance hybrid played on the sound system before the concert, as
people bought drinks at the bar next door.
There was a fashion show at intermission – featuring the feminine creations of
Magpie Designs, who outfitted the female members of Network Winds with their
unorthodox fusions of fabric, colour and texture.
The program was also an unorthodox fusion of modernism, melody and Latin
American rhythms, which flutist Leslie Newman, oboist Kathy Halvorson, Micah
Heilbrunn on clarinet, bassoonist Nadina Mackie Jackson and Wendie Limbertie on
French horn carried off with verve to spare.
The pieces – by Heitor Villa-Lobos as well as living composers Jean-Michel
Damase, Bill Douglas and Paquito D'Rivera – demanded tremendous tonal and
rhythmic skill.
Although Libertie scattered about some wrong notes here and there, the combined
effect was always beautifully shaped.
We don't hear music for winds often in Toronto, so it's easy to forget that,
along with learning the notes, the players also have to find places to breathe
in the music.
In the Bachiana Brasileira No. 6, by Villa-Lobos, Newman and Jackson somehow
managed to find time to gasp the right amount of breath to take them through
the seemingly endless cascades of notes.
The mood onstage was as enthusiastic as the crowd.
Even occasional noise from other parts of the building couldn't quell high spirits.
It shows that classical music and cool venues should – and can – get along.
Canadian Opera Company Unveils Line-up
Excerpt from www.thestar.com - John
Terauds, Classical Music Critic
(January 16, 2008) Although Canadian Opera Company general director Richard Bradshaw died in August, most of the 2009-10
season unveiled yesterday clearly bears his imprint.
He fixed another mark on posterity when board chair David Ferguson announced
that the COC has commissioned a new Canadian opera for the 2011-12 season from
Toronto composer James Rolfe and writer Anna Chatterton.
If everything goes according to plan, this will be the first all-Canadian
effort to grace the big stage at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing
Arts.
This will also be the first new homegrown work since a 1999 production of The
Golden Ass, which had a libretto by Robertson Davies (who had died four
years earlier) and composer Randolph Peters.
In response to a reporter's question last year about the lack of Canadian works
on the company's marquee, Bradshaw declared that he had not yet found a
Canadian composer he thought capable of producing a good full-length work.
This makes yesterday's announcement a particularly ringing endorsement of
Rolfe, who has written numerous short operas.
He and Chatterton landed the commission largely on the strength of their
one-act work, Swoon, which was presented by members of the Ensemble
Studio last year.
Chatterton, whose final libretto is due by next January, said the first draft
is almost complete. Titled Donna, this is a 21st-century, urban
retelling of Don Giovanni.
Having a draft libretto "means I can start working on Act One soon,"
said Rolfe. "There is a lot of music to keep track of."
Both are excited at the prospect of creating something "for real
grown-ups," Rolfe said, smiling.
Board chair Ferguson added that a much-delayed new opera by Margaret Atwood and
composer Peters remains "in development."
As was announced in the Star on Monday, two other Bradshaw dreams come
to fruition next season: Canadian premieres of Sergei Prokofiev's monumental War
and Peace in October and Antonin Dvorak's lovely Rusalka (with its
famous "Song to the Moon") early in 2009.
Following 97 per cent capacity attendance last season, Ferguson pointed out
that the company enjoyed 100 per cent sold-out houses for its two fall
productions in 2007: Mozart's Marriage of Figaro and Don Carlos by
Verdi.
To keep ticket sales strong, next season includes the two most popular operas
in the repertoire. Mozart's Don Giovanni opens the season, with Canadian
baritone Brett Polegato in the title role; and Puccini's La Bohème, in a
new production starring Canadian soprano Frédérique Vézina as Mimi, will lower
the curtain in May 2009.
Soprano Michelle Delorme sang Donna Anna's aria "Non mi dir" from Don
Giovanni with pianist Michael Spassov yesterday as a preview.
Rounding out the 2008-09 mainstage line-up are Beethoven's lone opera, Fidelio,
with star soprano Adrianne Pieczonka as Leonora, and Verdi's weighty Simon
Boccanegra, which has only been mounted once before by the COC.
Principal coach Liz Upchurch introduced members of the Ensemble Studio, made up
of promising younger singers who will perform a chamber adaptation of Mozart's Cosi
fan tutte in June 2009.
MUSIC TIDBITS
Berry Gordy To Receive Recording Academy
Honour
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