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LE NEWSLETTER
June 24, 2010
This
newsletter edition is dedicated to the life and memory of Michael Jackson.
Has it really be one year since
the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, died? Do you remember where you were when the news was
unfolding? I first saw a question about him on Facebook
and quickly stay tuned for the unfolding events which would leave the world
without this mega talent forever. I think I was shocked but settled into
some sort of space where I figured that we were lucky at all to experience this
sort of genius and let's face it, quirkiness. Admittedly, I lost some
interest in the years prior to his death at some of his lifestyle choices and
behaviours, but in the end, the emotion and fervour behind the movie, This Is It, reclaimed my love of the King.
I'm republishing some of the articles from one year ago
that I had in my newsletter last year as well as newer ones from this
year.
Also featured this week is a CD giveaway featuring Nas and Damian Marley. Don't be disappointed by not including your full mailing
address - if you don't, I cannot consider your entry. If you can name me
how many tracks are on this project, then you could be a winner. Enter
contest HERE. The answer is HERE.
Tons of news this week ... scroll down and find out what interests you - take
your time and take a walk into your weekly entertainment news!
This
newsletter is designed to give you some updated entertainment-related news and
provide you with our upcoming event listings. Welcome to those who
are new members. Want your events listed by
date? Check out EVENTS.
::SCOOP::
Universal Republic: Nas & Damian
"JR. Gong" Marley New Studio Album "Distant Relatives" in
Stores Now
Source: Universal Republic
(May 19, 2010) NEW YORK, NY - Nas and Damian "JR. Gong" Marley are proud to announce the release of
their highly-anticipated collaborative studio album, Distant Relatives
(IDJ/Universal Republic), which hit stores today.
Featuring the signature instrumentation and musicianship of Damian "JR.
Gong" Marley with the hard-hitting beats and lyrics of Nas,
the album title refers not only to the bond between the artists, but the
connection to their African ancestry, which inspired the album both musically
and lyrically. The pair will kick off a nationwide tour immediately
following the release of the album in Arcata, CA on May 21st. The
US leg of the tour will also incorporate late night TV appearances including The Tonight Show with
Jay Leno (May 19th), Jimmy Kimmel Live! (May 24th), Last
Call with Carson Daly (May 27th), FUEL TV's "The
Daily Habit" (June 6th) and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (June 10th)
before heading overseas for the European dates.
The collaboration is sure to amaze with an album encompassing 14-tracks including the
first singles "As
We Enter" and "Strong Will
Continue." The album was produced by Damian "JR.
Gong" Marley and also features several guest appearances including Lil Wayne,
who appears on the track "Generation,"
K'NAAN
on "Africa
Must Wake Up" and "Tribal
War," and Stephen
Marley on "Leaders"
and "In
His Own Words." In support of their new disc, Nas & Damian Marley are confirmed to make in-store
appearances at Best Buy in LA on 5/20, Rasputin in San Francisco on 5/25, and
Hot Topic in Las Vegas on 5/29.
The partnership between the two artists has already garnered critical praise:
"Few
best-of-both-worlds collaborations work as well as Distant Relatives"
ENTERTAINMENT
WEEKLY
"a
vibrant blend of Marley's thick Jamaican patois and Nas'
New York-accented rhymes"
BILLBOARD
MAGAZINE
"the
ambitious project approaches perfection on its own terms"
VIBE
MAGAZINE
"This
is a benchmark album for Damian and Nas"
HIP HOP
DX
"Distant
Relatives is a rewarding listening experience in its musicianship and lyricism,
and one you can expect to go back to in the years to come"
ALL HIP
HOP
"it's
impressive, as on the unrelenting organ buzz of leadoff single 'As We Enter'
and the riotous 'Nah Mean'"
SPIN
MAGAZINE
Throughout the course of their musical careers, the duo has always admired each
other's style. Since first meeting in 1996 the two artists have shared a mutual
respect and camaraderie that was most recently showcased on the track "Road to
Zion," from Damian's critically acclaimed album, Welcome to Jamrock. After having such a positive
experience working together, they have joined forces for Distant Relatives.
In their latest collaboration, Nas and Damian trace
hip-hop's roots to Africa, where the genre originated as a vital form of
cultural expression and was then transported by the slave trade to the
Caribbean and the American colonies. It blossomed a half century ago in the
dance halls of Kingston, Jamaica, and soon migrated to the park jams and
recreational centers of New York City, where the culture became known as
hip-hop. This evolution forms the basis of the Distant Relatives
project.
Check www.distantrelatives.com for a complete
list of tour dates and appearances.
About Universal
Republic Records
Universal Republic Records is a division of Universal Music Group, the
world's largest music company, with wholly owned record operations or licensees
in 77 countries. One of several labels that comprise Universal Motown Republic Group, Republic Records was formed in 1995
by President, CEO of the label, Monte Lipman, and his brother, Co-President & COO of
Universal Republic, Avery Lipman. Today, the label is
responsible for numerous breakthrough and mainstream chart topping artists,
including a diverse array of groundbreaking imprints and ventures encompassing
new and established platinum and multi-platinum acts.
::TRIUTE
TO MICHAEL JACKSON::
A Year Without Michael Jackson
Source: www.thestar.com - Rick Sznajder
(June 23, 2010) June 26, 2009: Police begin investigating
claims Jackson received a painkilling injection
minutes before his death.
June 30, 2009: Three-CD box set Hello World: The
Motown Solo Collection, featuring Jackson solo
recordings from 1971 to 1975, is released digitally on iTunes.
July 1, 2009: Jackson’s will is filed in court, giving his entire estate
to a family trust and excluding ex-wife Debbie Rowe.
July 3, 2009: Rowe, who gave away parental rights to children she had
with Jackson 10 years earlier, announces she will fight Jackson’s mother,
Katherine, for custody.
July 7, 2009: Jackson memorial in Los Angeles’s Staples Centre draws a
global television and Internet audience estimated at one billion.
July 10, 2009: Thousands flock to Gary, Ind., Jackson’s hometown, for a
memorial celebration. 
July 14, 2009: AEG Live, the company behind Jackson’s planned comeback
tour, says it hopes to hold a tribute show in London on Aug 29.
July 17, 2009: Michael Jackson — Legend, Hero, Icon:
A Tribute to the King of Pop published by HarperCollins
Aug. 3, 2009: Katherine Jackson gains permanent custody of the children.
Aug. 10, 2009: Promoter World Awards Media GmbH announces a farewell
tribute to Jackson will be held at Vienna’s Schönbrunn
Palace in September.
Aug. 11, 2009: The planned London tribute shows are cancelled when AEG
Live fails to finalize deals with performers.
Aug. 20, 2009: Tito Jackson announces he and other members of the family
will play a series of concerts in Britain as a tribute to his brother.
Aug. 24, 2009: Los Angeles County coroner rules Michael Jackson’s death
a homicide with a combination of drugs as the cause.
Sept. 3, 2009: Jackson buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery
Sept. 11, 2009: A lack of major performers and a withdrawal of backing
by the city of Vienna cause organizers to cancel planned Schönbrunn
Palace tribute and reschedule it for London in mid-2010.
Oct. 12, 2009: Jackson’s first posthumous single, “This is it,”
co-written with Paul Anka, released on the singer’s
official website
Oct. 28, 2009: Sony Pictures’ This Is It, a film drawn from
rehearsal footage of Jackson’s planned concerts in London, opens on 18,000
screens worldwide. The film grosses about $100 million (U.S.) worldwide in its
first five days.
Nov. 22, 2009: Jackson posthumously wins four American Music Awards.
Dec. 13, 2009: The Jacksons: A Family
Dynasty begins airing on A&E. It follows
Jermaine, Jackie, Tito and Marlon as they plan for a tentative 40th anniversary
reunion of the Jackson 5 before and after Michael’s death.
Dec. 18 2009: The tribute concert originally scheduled for Vienna and
moved to London is scrapped after the promoter closes.
Jan. 31, 2010: Jackson’s children, Prince Michael, 12, and Paris, 11,
accept a lifetime achievement award for the pop star at the Grammy Awards.
Feb. 8: Conrad Murray, Jackson’s personal physician, is charged with
involuntary manslaughter for providing the singer with propofol,
a powerful anesthetic.
March 17: Sony Music signs a $250 million contract with the Jackson
estate for 10 releases of his music through 2017, with the double-CD This Is
It soundtrack counting as the first of these.
April 21: Jackson’s estate and Cirque du Soleil announce several
projects, including a TV show and a permanent Cirque show built around
Jackson’s music.
May 29: Jermaine Jackson and other members of the family perform a
tribute to Michael at Gambia’s Kanilai International
Cultural Festival.
June 3: Jackson’s father and Gary, Ind., mayor
Rudy Clay announce a feasibility study for a Jackson Family Museum and Cultural
Centre, which would include a museum, concert hall, theatre, restaurant and
casino themed around the singer.
June 6: Sources estimate Jackson’s estate has earned around $900 million
since the singer’s death.
June 11: A planned June 25 tribute concert in Rome, to star Marlon
Jackson, Missy Elliott, Joss Stone, Akon and Dionne
Warwick, is cancelled after protests from Randy Jackson.
June 14: The California Superior Court declines to suspend Conrad Murray
from practising in the state. Murray can practise but is prohibited from
administering anesthetics such as propofol.
June 18: Julien’s Auctions announces it will
sell 250 items related to Jackson, including the crystal-covered white glove he
wore in 1983 and a shirt worn in the “Beat It” video.
June 18: French video-game company Ubisoft
announces the development of an interactive game inspired by Jackson, which
will include the songs “Beat It” and “Billie Jean.”
June 19: Katherine Jackson announces the release of a coffee table book,
Never Can Say Goodbye: The Katherine Jackson
Archives.
June 20: Organizers announce that a memorial plaque for Jackson will be
unveiled at London’s Lyric Theatre on June 24.
Source: Media reports
Michael Jackson’s Kids Adjust To Life In The Spotlight
Source: www.thestar.com - Ashante
Infantry
(June 22, 2010) There is much about Michael Jackson’s
controversial last decade that will remain a mystery,
but there was never any confusion about his desire to keep his three children
out of the public eye.
Since their appearance at the late King of Pop’s memorial service last summer,
Prince, 13, Paris, 12, and Blanket, 8, have attended the Grammy Awards, seen
some of their home videos posted on YouTube and been photographed by paparazzi
going bowling and to the movies or heading to karate lessons and religious
classes — all without the veils or masks their dad employed to keep their
identities hidden. And TLC recently aired Michael Jackson's Children, an
unauthorized special about the trio.
Their emergence on the celebrity watch list would be a profound disappointment
to their father. And there’s no chance of an abatement of the nearly weekly
reporting about their activities. The impact of the youngsters going from a
sheltered, peripatetic life with the reclusive Jackson to a more typical
Hollywood existence of the rich and famous has yet to be realized. They each
stand to inherit more than $30 million by age 40.
Last weekend, family matriarch Katherine Jackson, who is the children’s legal
guardian, discussed how they were coping with the loss of their father in an
interview with the British tabloid Mail on Sunday.
“I wanted to hang pictures of flowers or ballerinas in Paris's room, the sort
of things I expected a girl would like,” she said. “But she went into a closet
and she brought out seven or eight pictures of Michael, and she told me, ‘No, I
want Daddy hanging in my room.’ So she goes to bed looking at him and wakes up
looking at him. She said, ‘I always want to be able to see him.’ ”
And the boys, Katherine said, bravely talk about wanting to make him proud —
and then lapse into silent moments, when they are missing him.
She revealed plans for the lifelong home-schooled children to enter private
schools in the fall.
The children now live in the Jackson family’s Encino, Calif., compound with
Katherine and other relatives, including children of their uncles Jermaine and
Randy Jackson. But the youngsters face future disruptions, since Katherine is
80 and unlikely to be able to manage their care until they reach adulthood.
There were concerns about the matriarch’s control of the brood in February when
child welfare authorities came to the mansion to investigate after Jermaine’s
son Jaafar, 13, apparently brandished near Blanket a
stun gun that Jaafar had bought on the Internet with
a credit card.
If Katherine becomes unable to continue as their guardian, other female
relatives, such as unmarried sisters La Toya and
Janet, or married with kids Rebbie, could step in to
supervise. Or perhaps they would join the families of uncles Tito, Jackie or
Marlon. Then there’s Diana Ross who was named backup guardian in Jackson’s
will, but who since his death has not spoken publicly about a role in the lives
of his children. The children’s aging godmother Elizabeth Taylor is an unlikely
option.
At some point, Prince, Paris and Blanket, who don’t exhibit any of Jackson’s
African American characteristics, may want to learn about their biological
father. It’s unclear what role if any Jackson’s ex-wife Debbie Rowe, believed
to be the biological mother of Prince and Paris, has in their lives. Various
fathers have been alleged for the pair, including Jackson dermatologist and
Rowe’s one-time employer Arnold Klein. There are no indications of Blanket’s
parentage.
Katherine has said the siblings share many characteristics of Michael.
“Paris has that lovely way, just like him, and I see his talent in her.
Whatever she does, she is very good at it. She's a good artist, she plays the
piano and she wants to be an actress.
“Prince is serious about a lot of things. He wants to be a cameraman or produce
movies. He is dedicated to that, like Michael was. And Blanket is very playful,
like Michael was.”
It’s not hard to imagine how conflicted Michael Jackson would be of his offspring
following in his showbiz footsteps, given his love-hate relationship with the
industry he blamed for stealing his youth, but that gave him international
success.
Quotes on Michael Jackson
We have had many thoughts, emotions, shock and as well, been inundated with
news
stories, gossip and speculation about the death of Michael
Jackson. There was such an outpouring on Facebook as the sad news spread that I wanted to create to
forum for people to say what was on their mind. Below that are some
celebrity quotes in reaction to his passing.
I asked a cross section of people I know for a quote on just this. Some
were overcome and still overwhelmed, some declined based on their beliefs of
his guilt in legal allegations and some responded as below.
As we mourn the loss and celebrate the life of Michael Jackson, I must defer to
my instincts which is to believe that Michael is now
finally at rest and at peace, as it seemed to elude him here on this earth,
regardless of how he lived it. Personally, his influence has shaped the
way I hear and see music and ultimately grew a respect of excellence in
artistry. R.I.P. Michael.
Aisha
Wickham Thomas, Music Industry Consultant & Executive Director of the
Canadian Independent Recording Artists' Association
Quote: "Michael Jackson was a one-of-a-kind artistic innovator, and
his significant and truly
unique contributions to music, dance, video and fashion will be an inspiration
to artists for generations to come. I was in New York a couple of days after he
died, and it was amazing to witness first-hand the massive impromptu tribute to
him outside the Apollo Theatre in Harlem. It made me wonder, which artist of
today could generate anything close to such a huge public display of reverence?
With Jackson's passing, I hope that the artists of this generation will look at
his artistic legacy and be challenged to develop their craft so that they can
collectively elevate the current standard of creativity."
Paul
Peress, Producer, Drummer, Composer, Bandleader
Quote: I was a big Jackson 5 fan as
a kid, and grew up following Michael's career. His music
greatly influenced who I am as a musician. "Off the Wall" is
one of my top 10 albums of all time, and his song "I'll Be There"
always brings me back to a special time in my life. His death had a
profound impact on me, and we have lost a true genius. MJ set the benchmark, and brought tremendous joy into the
lives of millions. I have too many visceral and sensory memories to even
attempt to share. He brought it on, and delivered like no other. But
then, the burden of such fame, and the social responsibility and demands of
being an icon takes its toll... very very sad...
Thanks Michael for all the good times...
Andrew
Craig, Artist,
Producer, Director, Broadcaster
Quote: It's hard to quantify the
enormous impact Michael Jackson has had on popular culture -
on music, dance, on the music video format, even on our very notions of what
constitutes stardom. Only years and time will lend us clarity on those
subjects. I do believe, however, that I am safe in saying that his mark is
indelible, and that popular entertainment will never be the same since his
arrival and passing. As for the complexities of his character, which have been
well documented, and even distorted in the media, let me say that I have come
to view Michael as a gauge of sorts. It was not just that he grew more complex
with the passing of time - our entire world has grown infinitely more complex,
and us along with it. You and I seek endless distractions to prevent us from
contemplating that simple truth, but perhaps Michael was too sensitive, too
fragile, too spiritually vulnerable to reconcile the vagaries of this existence.
Quincy Jones once commented that Michael was "not of this world".
Maybe then Michael has simply gone home, back to a world he can understand, and
that can understand him. I, for one, am glad he visited us, and shared his
extraordinary talents.
Richard
Leacock, Actor/Singer
Quote: Michael Jackson is part of the reason that I'm a performer today! I
started as a dancer many years ago and use to emulate him. (who
didn't right?) Michael's music moved me as it did many others and led me
to other parts of the entertainment business that I now do for a living. It's
sad to know that there won't be anymore songs coming from the musical genius
that he was. I'm sure I'll be "Burning this Disco Out" and
"Working Day and Night" but I "Never can say Goodbye" Thank
you Michael!
Joe
'Jojo' Bowden, Creative
Person
Quote: "Sometimes, Stars
fall to Earth to guide the way for others, then ascend
back to the heavens to burn bright in the night sky." Michael's time on Earth has influenced every
known human being who has come into direct or indirect contact with
him. We should all feel blessed that we were touched by his presence.
Ebonnie Rowe, President, PhemPhat Entertainment Group
Quote: Like everyone else I was
shocked, saddened and devastated when I heard of Michael's passing. Just
last week I was on youtube playing all of his
videos. In this business I am often discouraged and annoyed when I see
fly-by-night manufactured artists try to pass themselves off as
icons. Short-term artists in it for a quick cash
grab and for whom the most important thing is to be seen in the latest fashions
and at the right nightclubs. I grew up in an era of so many true
entertainers who paid their dues and gave so much to the world, innovators
whose careers lasted decades, not minutes, artists with substance and depth,
who took a social interest in their communities and the world because they
truly cared, not because it fit into their demographic and marketing
plan. Artists who continued to take musical risks and
push the envelope. Michael Jackson's music has been in my
life for all of my life. It meant so much to millions and stood the test
of time - a 40 year career. He represented to me the pinnacle of what an
artist can be. He set the highest standards for performance and used his
incredible influence to help causes around the world as well as breaking down
racial barriers that existed at MTV. There is a quote from Shakespeare's
Romeo and Juliet which I feel is fitting:
"And when he shall die, take him and cut him up in little stars, and he
will make the face of heaven so fine that all the world will fall in love with
night and pay no worship to the garish sun." RIP Michael Jackson - a
magical artist who lit up the world, the likes of whom shall never pass our way
again. My heart aches at the loss of such a talent, philanthropist and
humanitarian.
Adrian
Eccleston, Guitarist,
Producer, Songwriter
Quote: Its hard to write about MJ no longer being around. He was the biggest influence on
my
childhood and I thank the heavens for letting us watch and listen to his amazing
talent for so many years. I will always remember his amazing voice, the stank faces he made when busting his serious dance moves
and his amazing energy. I had the pleasure of being in the same venue as him in
2006. Needless to say, when he was announced to the stage I was standing on a
chair screaming his name just like everybody else! I will never forget Michael
Jackson. MJ forever!!!
Debi
Blair, Producer
Quote: To the world he was a musical
genius but I have always felt and believed he was part of my family just like
one of my brothers. My heart is heavy..... I love and will
truly miss you Michael.
Mateo
Jordache, Artist
Quote: Having been called “young Mike” as a child vocalist I had always
hoped to meet Michael so I could tell him how much he influenced me as an
artist and as a risk taker. I recorded a song in 2004 where I sang
the hook “I always feel like... somebody's watchin
me” ; Originally recorded by Rockwell featuring MJ on
the hook and I can remember thinking to myself, “I wonder what Michael
would say if he heard this”. If he did by chance hear it...I hope he
liked it. As one of Michaels many
students, I will continue to make music from the heart... just as he did.
He will be greatly missed but never forgotten.
Michael
Jackson, Pop Music Legend, Dead At 50
Source: By Todd Leopold, CNN
(June 25, 2009) He was 50.
He collapsed at his residence in the Holmby Hills
section of Los Angeles, California, about
noon Pacific time, suffering cardiac arrest, according to brother
Randy Jackson. He died at UCLA Medical Center.
Lt. Fred Corral of the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office said an autopsy
would probably be done on the singer Friday, with results expected that
afternoon.
"Michael
Jackson made culture accept a person of color," the Rev. Al
Sharpton said. "To say an 'icon' would only give
these young people in Harlem a fraction of what he was. He was a historic
figure that people will measure music and the industry by."
Jackson's blazing rise to
stardom -- and later fall from grace -- is among the most startling of show
business tales. The son of a steelworker, he rose to fame as the lead singer of
the Jackson 5, a band he formed with his brothers in the late 1960s. By the
late '70s, as a solo artist, he was topping the charts with cuts from "Off
the Wall," including "Rock With You"
and "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough."
In 1982, he released "Thriller," an album that eventually produced
seven hit singles. An appearance the next year on a Motown
Records 25th-anniversary special cemented his status as the biggest star in the
country.
For the rest of the 1980s, they came no bigger. "Thriller's"
follow-up, 1987's "Bad," sold almost as many copies. A new Jackson
album -- a new Jackson appearance -- was a pop culture event. iReport: Share your memories of Michael Jackson
The pop music landscape was changing, however, opening up for rap, hip-hop and
what came to be called "alternative" -- and Jackson was seen as out
of step.
His next release, 1991's "Dangerous," debuted at No. 1 but
"only" produced one top-ranking single -- "Black or White"
-- and that song earned criticism for its inexplicably violent ending, in which
Jackson was seen smashing car windows and clutching his crotch.
And then "Dangerous" was knocked out of its No. 1 spot on the album
charts by Nirvana's "Nevermind," an
occurrence noted for its symbolism by rock critics.
After that, more attention was paid to Jackson's private life than his music
career, which faltered. A 1995 two-CD greatest hits,
"HIStory," sold relatively poorly, given
the huge expense of Jackson's recording contract: about 7 million copies,
according to Recording Industry of America certifications.
A 2001 album of new material, "Invincible," did even worse.
In 2005, he went to trial on child-molestation charges. He was acquitted.
In July 2008, after three years away from the spotlight, Jackson announced a
series of concerts at London's O2 Arena as his "curtain call." Some
of the shows, initially scheduled to begin in July, were eventually postponed
until 2010. Watch the reaction to Jackson's passing
Rise to
stardom
Michael Jackson was born August 29, 1958, to Joe Jackson, a Gary, Indiana,
steelworker, and his wife, Katherine. By the time he was 6, he had joined his
brothers in a musical group organized by his father, and by the time he was 10,
the group -- the Jackson 5 -- had been signed to Motown.
Watch Michael Jackson's life in video
He made his first television appearance at age 11.
Jackson, a natural performer, soon became the group's front man. Music critic
Langdon Winner, reviewing the group's first album, "Diana Ross Presents
the Jackson 5," for Rolling Stone, praised Michael's versatile singing and
added, "Who is this 'Diana Ross,' anyway?"
The group's first four singles -- "I Want You Back," "ABC,"
"The Love You Save" and "I'll Be There" -- went to No. 1 on
the Billboard pop chart, the first time any group had pulled off that feat.
There was even a Jackson 5 cartoon series on ABC.
In 1972, he hit No. 1 as a solo artist with the song "Ben."
The group's popularity waned as the '70s continued, and Michael eventually went
solo full time. He played the Scarecrow in the 1978 movie version of "The
Wiz," and released the album "Off the Wall" in 1979. Its success
paved the way for "Thriller," which eventually became the
best-selling album in history, with 50 million copies sold worldwide.
At that point, Michael Jackson became ubiquitous.
Seven of "Thriller's" nine cuts were released as singles; all made
the Top Ten. The then-new cable channel MTV, criticized for its almost
exclusively white playlist, finally started playing Jackson's videos. They
aired incessantly, including a 14-minute minimovie of
the title cut. ("Weird Al" Yankovic
cemented his own stardom by lampooning Jackson's song "Beat It" with
a letter-perfect parody video.)
On the Motown Records' 25th-anniversary special -- a
May 1983 TV extravaganza with notable turns by the Temptations, the Four Tops
and Smokey Robinson -- it was Michael Jackson who stopped the show.
Already he was the most popular musician in America, riding high with
"Thriller." But something about his electrifying performance of
"Billie Jean," complete with the patented backward dance moves,
boosted his stardom to a new level.
People copied his Jheri-curled hair and
single-gloved, zippered-jacket look. Showbiz veterans such as Fred Astaire praised
his chops. He posed for photos with Ronald and Nancy Reagan at the White House.
Paul McCartney teamed with him on three duets, two of which -- "The Girl
Is Mine" and "Say Say Say" -- became
top five hits. Jackson became a Pepsi spokesman, and when his hair caught fire
while making a commercial, it was worldwide news.
It all happened very fast -- within a couple years of the Motown
special. But even at the time of the "Motown
25" moonwalk, fame was old hat to Michael Jackson. He hadn't even turned 25 himself, but he'd been a star for more than half his
life. He was given the nickname the "King of Pop" -- a spin on Elvis
Presley's status as "the King of Rock 'n' Roll" -- and few questioned
the moniker.
Relentless attention
But, as the showbiz saying has it, when you're on top of the world, there's
nowhere to go but down. The relentless attention given Jackson started
focusing as much on his eccentricities -- some real, some rumoured -- as his
music.
As the Web site Allmusic.com notes, he was rumoured to
sleep in a hyperbaric chamber and to have purchased the bones of John Merrick,
the "Elephant Man." (Neither was true.) He did have a pet chimpanzee,
Bubbles; underwent a series of increasingly drastic plastic surgeries;
established an estate, Neverland, filled with zoo
animals and amusement park rides; and managed to purchase the Beatles catalogue
from under Paul McCartney's nose, which displeased the ex-Beatle immensely.
In 1990s and 2000s, Jackson found himself pasted across the media for his
short-lived marriages, the first to Elvis Presley's daughter, Lisa Marie; his
2002 claim that then Sony Records head Tommy Mottola
was racist; his behaviour and statements during a 2003 interview with British
journalist Martin Bashir done for a documentary
called "Living With Michael Jackson;" his changing physical
appearance; and, above all, the accusations that he sexually molested young
boys at Neverland.
The first such accusation, in 1993, resulted in a settlement to the 13-year-old
accuser (rumoured to be as high as $20 million), though no criminal charges
were filed, Allmusic.com notes.
He also fell deeply in debt and was forced to sell some of his assets. Neverland was one of many holdings that went on the block.
However, an auction of material from Neverland,
scheduled for April, was called off and all items returned to Jackson.
Interest in Jackson never faded, however, even if some of it was prurient. In
2008, when he announced 10 comeback shows in London, beginning in July 2009,
the story made worldwide news. The number of concerts was later increased to
50.
Seventy-five thousand tickets sold in four hours when they went on sale in
March.
However, when the shows were postponed until 2010, rumours swept the Internet
that Jackson was not physically prepared and possibly suffering from skin
cancer.
At the time, the president and CEO of AEG Live, Randy
Phillips, said, "He's as healthy as can be -- no health problems
whatsoever."
Jackson held open auditions for dancers in April in Los Angeles.
He is survived by his three children, Prince Michael I, Paris and Prince
Tribute
to Michael Jackson
Source: Dwayne Morgan
I wasn’t expecting to write this;
It wasn’t on my to do list,
but it’s taken precedence;
After all,
you’ve given me so much,
It’s the least that I can do.
Growing up,
I wanted to be just like you;
The teenage Black boy on my TV screen,
that made people faint and scream,
every time you walked down the street;
they just don’t make them like they use to.
You were one of a kind,
And time will never produce another like you.
You gave the world your childhood,
And refused to let your inner child grow up.
You were the soundtrack to a generation.
You dedicated your life to the well being and enjoyment of others,
and what did we do?
We picked at you like vultures,
Ripping you to shreds,
until you looked nothing like your former self.
Yes, I too made jokes,
questioning whether you were black or white .
Collectively,
we thought that you’d gone off the wall,
but through it all,
there was still a love there;
a place for you in our hearts,
that’s come alive with word of your passing.
Despite the trials and controversy,
you refused to conform to society’s ‘norms’,
and marched to the sounds of your own beat,
in the process leaving us with beats to dance too.
I’m not old enough to remember
the first time a man walked on the moon,
but I’ll never forget the way you moon walked across that stage,
and how you had us trying to imitate you
in the school hallway the following day;
You left us more than just music.
There’s so much more that I feel I should say,
but what’s the point when these tributes usually come too late.
I will have to look at the man in the mirror,
and ask myself what more I can do to make this world a better place.
Truth be told, I’m envious,
Not of your fame or success,
But because there was something in you that we all wish we had;
a love for humanity; pure, beautiful, and naïve.
Despite the situation,
I always held out hope and believed;
I crossed my fingers and closed my eyes,
wanting nothing more than for you to succeed,
against the odds.
I wish you could have known
that you were truly not alone.
Your music will only stop long enough
for the entire world to watch your final show,
and embrace you with the love you’ve longed for.
Even in death,
There will be many who pick you apart,
But no-one can deny the power of your art,
So I say thank you Michael Jackson,
Dead at age 50 from a broken heart.
::TOP STORIES::
Can Drake, Eminem Save The Music Industry?
Source: www.thestar.com - Mike Collett-White
(June 21, 2010) LONDON—Recovery, the new album from U.S.
rapper Eminem, could not be
more aptly named
for a music business facing an alarming fall in sales so far this year. The
Detroit star’s seventh studio album hits shelves on Monday, a day earlier than
planned after tracks leaked on to the Internet. It comes about a week after the
release of Canadian artist Drake’s debut Thank Me Later, which is also expected to perform
strongly.
But the duo are unlikely to lift the gloom hanging over the music business for
long, with year-to-date U.S. physical and digital album sales by early June
down 11 per cent year-on-year to 130.6 million, extending a decade-long
decline.
To make matters worse, the recent boom in touring, which labels and bands sought
to exploit as recorded music faded, is showing signs of weakness caused by high
ticket prices and economic uncertainty, and digital download growth is slowing.
Official figures for the key U.S. market as it approaches mid-year show how
tough conditions are for music companies and acts who blame illegal file
sharing for their woes.
According to Nielsen Soundscan, which tracks sales,
4.98 million albums were sold in the week ending May 30, possibly the lowest
figure since the early 1970s. By comparison, the record one-week tally set in
December 2000 was 45.4 million.
Analysts put the low figure down to a weak line-up during that particular week,
and Drake’s record is forecast to be one of the largest launches of the year so
far while Eminem, another “tentpole” album, follows
hot on its heels.
CDs STILL CRUCIAL
Yet while major and independent labels are pinning
their future on digital music, whether it is access models or actual ownership,
they can ill afford to abandon physical sales which account for somewhere in
the region of 70 per cent of revenues.
“The physical format is in decline, but I don’t think it will go away
completely,” said Ed Christman, who tracks music
sales for industry publication Billboard.
“What you want to do, since the digital ‘magical bullet’ hasn’t appeared, is to
sustain your revenue from CD sales for as long as you can.”
Although relatively small in terms of a label’s revenues, digital streaming,
downloading, online subscriptions and advertising are seen as key to the industry’s
future.
“The revenue is still small, but at least it’s revenue,” said one major label
executive. “Don’t forget, some 95 per cent of the digital market is illegal. If
we can grow that five per cent significantly, we’ve got a future.”
That task is proving slow going, and while a recent report from
PricewaterhouseCoopers predicts that the music industry will return to growth
in 2013, some analysts are less sure.
“Given the incredible number of ways a person can now listen to music for free
or near free, that gap between interest and willingness to pay is the biggest
hurdle in record labels’ quest to grow digital revenues,” Billboard said
of the report.
In the short term, all eyes will be on Eminem, one of the world’s best-selling
artists of the last decade who has said in interviews to promote Recovery
that he is over his prescription drug addiction, is sober and more tolerant
than he used to be.
Whether the “nice guy” image appeals to fans is unclear.
Early reaction to the album, out on Universal Music Group’s Interscope
label, has been mixed.
London’s Evening Standard was among the most positive with a four-star
review that concluded: “After seven albums, Eminem is so far ahead of the pack
he only has himself to compete with. Even by that measurement, he’s winning.”
The Independent was less glowing, stating: “If we’re being brutally
frank, I think we already know far more about Eminem’s private life and his
alleged mental torment than is probably healthy for us, let alone the rapper
himself.”
VIDEO: Calgary Group To Perform At Michael Jackson Tribute
Source: www.globeandmail.com - Marsha Lederman
[Note from Dawn – DEFINITELY check out this video!] (June 20, 2010) A Calgary vocal group will
perform as part of a Michael Jacksontribute at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland,
after winning a talent search launched by the museum.
The EarthTONES and beatboxer Peterpot
were selected after submitting a YouTube video of a Michael Jackson medley,
performed a capella.
“We put that little YouTube clip together and then bam,” says EarthTONES member Scott Henderson. “We’re just absolutely
on Cloud 9.”
The group made the video in May, just weeks after reuniting following a
years-long hiatus.
The museum’s Michael Jackson Tribute Weekend June 25-27 marks the one-year
anniversary of the singer’s death. The EarthTONES
will perform on June 27, sharing the bill with several acts including the
headliner, R&B singer Angie Stone.
We Remember: Manute Bol, NBA Star, Dies at 47
Source: www.eurweb.com - By Larita
Shelby
(June 20, 2010) Manute Bol (October 16, 1962
– June 19, 2010) *Manute Bol,
the seven-foot plus Sudanese
basketball player who played for a number of teams in the NBA, including the
Washington Bullets and the Golden State Warriors, died Friday night.
The cause was a combination of symptoms arising from a rare skin condition
called Stevens-Johnson syndrome, which he contracted from medication taken
while in Africa.
He was known for his shot-blocking as well as his humanitarian and political
efforts in his native Sudan.
Read more about Manute Bol
via his Wikipedia page
::TRAVEL NEWS::
We’re No. 1! Canadians’ Top In-Country Destination Is Toronto
Source: www.thestar.com - Jim Byers and Adrian Brijbassi
(June 18, 2010) We’re No. 1! So
much for the rest of Canada hating us. Our town is the top Canadian
summer
destination for travellers in the country, according to Hotwire.com
(based on booking stays from June 1 to Sept. 1). “Overall, Hotwire bookings are
up 3 to 6 per cent this summer for Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal,” says Fulvia Montresor, Hotwire’s senior director,
merchandising.:
1. Toronto — An increasingly solid international reputation, with new,
interesting neighbourhoods (Leslieville, Ossington) popping up every day. And Rob Ford leads the
mayoral polls!
2. Vancouver — Scout out a choice piece of driftwood on Third Beach,
bring a barbecue, a cooler, a book, friends with a variety of benefits and wait
for the sunset over English Bay and Howe Sound. Repeat the next day. And the day after that. And until the rain
comes in October.
3. Montreal — Lionel Richie is this year’s Jazz Fest headliner. That
won’t stop the crowds from partying all night long — especially once the Gipsy
Kings hit the stage.
4. Ottawa — Go to the Bluesfest. Don’t ask how
come. Just do it. Thank us later. (It’s July 6-18.)
5. Halifax — Awesome waterfront in this part of Nova Scotia, plus all
the pubs you’d expect from a first-rate university town make this the hub of
the Maritimes. “Bookings are up a big 85 per cent as travellers are looking to
take advantage of the amazing deals hotels are offering,” Montresor
says.
6. Calgary — The Stampede ropes in the tourists, with more than 1
million ponying up big bucks for tickets and lodging
annually.
7. Niagara Falls — Is there more to the Falls
than a natural wonder and tacky kitsch? Yes, and read upcoming editions of Star
Travel to find out what.
8. Quebec City — The narrow streets, cozy hotels, great food and
luscious views make it one of the most romantic cities on earth. If you don’t
get lucky here it’s your own fault.
9. Edmonton — A city of great festivals and winning sports teams with a
wonderful river valley. Not hip? Wrong – a rapper was the city’s recent poet
laureate.
10. Banff, Alta. — Jaw-dropping scenery, great restaurants, a
world-class golf course and deer nibbling flowers at the side of the road in
the middle of downtown. Not bad.
::MUSIC NEWS::
Toronto Songwriters Earn Credits On Eminem’s New Album
Source: www.thestar.com - Ashante
Infantry
(June 21, 2010) A pair of Toronto songwriters has hit the big time
with credits on Eminem’s new album
Recovery.
Released Monday, the Detroit rapper’s seventh disc is being heralded as a
return to form, with the clever, incendiary lyrics that made him the biggest
selling artist of 2000-09, after last year’s tepid Relapse followed a
sabbatical spent fighting drug addiction and mourning his murdered best friend.
And it’s got a big dose of Canadian content.
Liz Wright and Erik Alcock, performers in their own right, who have previously penned songs
for rappers Pitbull and Slaughterhouse, conceived the
lyrics and melody of choruses on three of Recovery’s 17 tracks — “Won’t
Back Down,” “25 To Life” and “Almost Famous.”
They share lead vocals in the band The New Royales
with Vancouver-based Chin Injeti (formerly of Bass is
Base) and American producer DJ Khalil. It was Khalil, signed to the Aftermath label of Eminem spar and
executive producer Dr. Dre, who paved the way to
Eminem. He produced the tracks they wrote, as well as one other on Recovery.
“It is a big deal, how could it not be?” enthused Rodrigues,
who also can be heard singing the recurring verses of “25 To Life” and “Almost
Famous.” “To land on the album of somebody that respected as a writer . . . and
people just love what he does.”
The 34-year-old songstress, who has a duet on Dan Hill’s current album, doesn’t
mind that Eminem replaced her other demo vocals on “Won’t Back Down” with pop
star Pink.
“I love hearing her on it, because there’s an edge that she has that gives it a
little bit more of the powerful meaning behind it,” said Rodrigues
of Pink’s interpretation of the lines — “You can sound the alarm/You can call
out your guards/You can fence in your yard/You can pull all the cards/But I
won’t back down.”
Is she conceding the American is a better singer?
“I wouldn’t even get into that, because I’m such a big fan of hers, I wouldn’t
even try to compare. To hear her on something that I wrote is really exciting.”
Alcock, 27, a proficient musician and member of indie
quartet We Are the Take is stoked that “Won’t Back Down” retains the same
guitar riffs he recorded on the demo in his Annex apartment using the GarageBand software application. In a phone interview with
the Toronto Star, he lauded Eminem’s flow and declined to critique the
profane, misogynistic “I’m a sh--
stain on the underwear of life” rhymes the rapper wrote around the chorus, but
conceded, “I wouldn’t make fun of Michael J. Fox” given the mockery of the
Parkinson’s afflicted actor in the tune.
While “Almost Famous,” is about the challenges of being a public figure, Eminem
goes for bravado — “I stick my di-- in this game like
a rapist” — rather than vulnerability, which the songwriters imbue with the
chorus.
“I think his expression, his interpretation is bang on for him,” said Rodrigues, whose “There Comes a Time” was recorded by Céline Dion in 2008. “It’s exactly who he is and what the
hooks inspired him to write.”
She recalled coming up with the stanzas — “You dream of trading places/I have
been changing faces” during a writing session in Los Angeles with Alcock, Injeti and Khalil.
“We were sitting around brainstorming and talking about being imprisoned by
fame, like people like Eminem. We started to talk about having to change your
appearance all the time and people wanting to be just like you all the time,
but at the same time you’re trying to disguise who you are to not be noticed so
you can have some kind of freedom.”
Alcock’s We Are the Take quartet had its “Montreal
Love Song” used on an episode of Degrassi: The Next Generation. The track is more typical of the
pop rock output of the performer, who began writing songs at 12 and signed his
first publishing deal at 17.
“This hip-hop stuff I fell ass backwards into,” he explained. “Never in a
million years did I see myself doing it, but it’s a lot of fun and it’s pretty
cool. I don’t know what (the Eminem contributions) are going to mean
financially; I know it takes quite a while for royalties to come dripping down
the street.”
In the meantime, he continues to perform with We Are the Take (at the Drake
Hotel July 2), to work on The New Royales mixtape and to try to figure out how to have Jay-Z record
one of his songs.
“It’s a hell of a goal, but hey, I just got Eminem and I never thought that was
going to happen.”
Jazz Fest Cancellation Leaves Calgary Scrambling
Source: www.globeandmail.com - Marsha Lederman
(June 21, 2010) The Calgary Jazz
Festival’s last-minute decision to pull the plug on the event has left
ticket holders
and venues scrambling to figure out how to deal with the cancellation.
With a line-up that included jazz legends such as Ben E. King and Chick Corea, the 2010 edition of the Calgary
Jazz Festival promised a “seven day party with the best musicians in
the world!” But two days before it was supposed to begin, organizers cancelled
the event, citing financial reasons.
The decision was made after a six-hour board meeting Saturday, where, according
to a written release, members analyzed the cash flow and profit projections for
this year’s festival, and examined alternatives such as scaling down the event.
“They came to the conclusion that there was no possibility of financial success
in 2010,” read the release.
“As a result, they decided less pain would be inflicted on artists, volunteers
and jazz music fans by cancelling the festival before the event started rather
than during the festival ... as seemed likely.”
The cancellation left C-Jazz, the organization which runs the festival, unsure
on Monday – the day the festival was supposed to start – about arrangements to
provide refunds to ticket holders.
Venues scheduled to hold jazz festival events were also scrambling to deal with
the surprise decision.
At Mikey’s Juke Joint & Eatery, the plan is to go
ahead with shows Mikey’s has booked itself, but even
Monday afternoon, owner and operator Darin Muller was unsure how they were
going to handle admissions.
“We don’t know whether people are expecting to come in with their passes and
not have to pay us and then we’re going to have to be paying the band, because
obviously the Jazz Festival won’t be paying the band, so it’s sort of a grey
area,” he said. “We could be upsetting a lot of people by charging them again;
or we could be biting the bullet.”
At Beatniq Jazz & Social Club (which has had its
own share of financial troubles; it almost went under last year), spokesperson
Alex Middleton said the venue’s owner was trying to contact the bands they’ve
booked and pay for them out of his own pocket, but said it would be impossible
to honour previously-purchased tickets. Middleton said they are considering
offering discounts to ticket holders, but nothing had been nailed down by
deadline yesterday.
“They cancelled on Saturday night, so we’re trying to work out the logistics
and we’re trying make it as easy as possible for
people who are supportive of jazz in the city,” he said. “Obviously we’re
incredibly disappointed by what happened but we’re scrambling to make sure
there are places to go for people who love jazz.
In an e-mail to the Globe and Mail Monday, interim C-Jazz president Richard
Sherry wrote: “Close examination of the financial situation Saturday revealed
that it would be impossible for the financial commitments to be met. We
sincerely apologize for this appalling situation.”
Nikki Yanofsky Is A Sunny Girl
Source: www.globeandmail.com - Brad Wheeler
(June 23, 2010) Her record label, Universal Music, brands her simply as a
“songstress” and her website
describes her as a “singing sensation.” With her self-titled debut studio
album, Nikki Yanofsky breaks somewhat free from her “jazz kitten” status by mixing
soulful pop with sleek jazz standards. The 16-year-old Montreal-based phenom speaks about straddling lines and broadening
audiences in advance of her gigs on the jazz-festival circuit, kicking off
Friday in Toronto.
One of the cover songs on your album is the jazz standard On the Sunny
Side of the Street. Is that the side you walk on?
I have been. I’m very, very lucky. I generally tend to be an optimistic person.
I think even if all of this wasn’t going on, I’d get everyone on the sunny side
of the street. And I’d be there too. It’s better than the cloudy side.
Billie Holiday, one of the many who sang that song, often walked on the
cloudy side.
She did for sure. It’s very unfortunate. She was very powerful person, but I
guess not everyone has that outlook of just being happy. They have things to be
sad about.
Everything has been going well for you, but your debut studio album, Nikki,
was criticized a bit. Did you read The Globe and Mail’s review?
I read it. I didn’t find it that bad actually. I was actually pretty happy with
it.
What about the criticism that the mix of jazz and pop was a bit unwieldy?
The “not picking a lane” thing. That was deliberate actually. I wanted pop
lovers to listen to jazz, and I wanted jazz lovers to listen to pop. That’s who
I am. By picking a lane, I think I’d be going against myself.
There will be more albums to come, though. Why not choose your lanes album
by album?
I don’t feel comfortable just picking one genre. I think I’d be shooting myself
in the foot that way. We wanted to make this album personal. It was with intent
that we did it the way we did.
Is it possible to make what might be considered a truly great album with
that kind of eclectic approach?
I’d like to imagine that Miles Davis would be adventuring across different
genres of music, like Herbie Hancock and Wayne
Shorter are now, if he were still alive, and if he would have continued
recording after Doo-Bop.
Hancock’s new album, The Imagine Project,
certainly is eclectic.
I think the entire question is a reflection of the times. I was brought up in a
world where all the music I listened to was purchased digitally, which, by
default, means that I had the luxury of living in a playlist environment that I
got to create. The result of that is I get to experience a lot of different
genres, and I guess my writing and musical choices reflect that.
You end the album with Over the Rainbow. Why?
It’s timeless. I never get sick of it. The Wizard of Oz is one of my
favourite movies, and I love Judy Garland and all of her songs. Everyone wants
to put their own little spin on Over the Rainbow, and to take something
so old and bring something new to the table. It’s a reference point.
You’ve sung it for a few years now. Has it changed for you?
I sing it very differently than I used to. It’s a song that shows off a lot of
range. Because of that, originally, I used to do a lot of melismas
and everything. As I’ve matured as a vocalist, I’ve learned about simplicity.
The version I sing now is closer to the original melody, although there’s still
the little Nikki-isms in there.
You threw a couple of Nikki-isms into your O Canada at the Vancouver
Olympics. Surprisingly, there was some negative reaction.
I thought it was beautiful. But whatever – it’s human
nature.
You sing Holiday’s God Bless the Child, which has the line “God bless
the child that’s got his own.” Is that song personal to you?
I don’t relate to it the same way Billie Holiday did. Songs are written for
people to take something away from, so they can relate to it in their own way.
But Holiday once said the line stemmed from an argument with her mother over
money. You’re a child who certainly has her own, right?
It doesn’t necessarily have to be a career, or a source of income. It could be
a source of inspiration, or just being yourself. Or it
could be something original that you do.
Nikki Yanofsky plays the Toronto Jazz Festival,
Friday; Festival International de Jazz de Montréal, Saturday; Calgary, June 28;
Edmonton International Jazz Festival, June 29; Victoria International Jazz
Fest, July 2; Vancouver International Jazz Festival, July 3; Winnipeg
International Jazz Festival, July 4.
This interview has been condensed and edited.
The Jazz Musicians’ Jazz Musicians
Source: www.thestar.com - Ashante
Infantry
(June 23, 2010) Who better than musicians to rate the hottest acts
at the 24th edition of the TD Toronto Jazz
Festival? We asked 10 local artists — all of them participating in the
festival — which one headliner would they buy tickets for.
BRANDI DISTERHEFT
Good thing this young bassist’s opening act slot for Herbie
Hancock guarantees her a spot at the famed pianist’s Saturday show at Nathan
Phillips Square. “Herbie has always paid homage to
the tradition of jazz while capturing the attention of the younger audience and
incorporating new sounds of today’s music. He has had an impact on my musical
journey since I was a little girl.”
DAVE YOUNG
Bassist Young would most like to see The Harry Connick
Jr. Orchestra at the Canon Theatre Sunday. “I like his energy and presentation
of a song. He comes across as more genuine than a lot of singers these days.
Maybe his acting ability helps in delivering the song. And he is one of the few
guys who keeps a larger group working.” Young’s
quartet opens for Stanley Clarke at NPS June 28.
TERRY CLARKE
Drummer Clarke will be performing in Saskatchewan and unable to checkout The
Roots at NPS Tuesday, including Questlove, his
“latest favourite drummer. All the players in that band, as evidenced nightly
on Jimmy Fallon’s show, are excellent, dedicated
players who are growing and stretching their own boundaries. . . While they are
not stone-cold beboppers, their music still swings ferociously and with
integrity.” Clarke will be back in town to swing with his trio at Trane Studio
July 2.
SHANNON BUTCHER
Singer Butcher has bought tickets for Bettye LaVette’s
Phoenix show Tuesday. “Her voice is outstanding, but I’m really drawn to her
ability to truly ‘interpret’ the music. I find listening to her sing the music
of Elton John, The Moody Blues, Pink Floyd, etc. (on newly released Interpretations:
The British Rock Songbook), I understand their
lyrics as I never have before. She’s able to light up every word with honest
emotion and raw power.” Butcher turns in a free 12:30 p.m. quartet show at the
Shops at Don Mills on June 30.
BARRY ROMBERG
He’s got a 16-month-old at home and his own gig helming Random Access Unplugged
at the Music Gallery on Monday, but drummer Romberg hopes to squeeze in
trumpeter Dave Douglas & Keystone at Enwave
Theatre June 29. “Douglas is one of the great composers in modern jazz. His
quintet with the Rhodes and his Keystone band, which is a bit more funky, fuse the elements of great writing with great
improvisation . . . and there’s always a real group dynamic. He’s my
inspiration for my own spearheading of different projects.”
SUNDAR VISWANATHAN
The saxist/vocalist is miffed to be out of town when
Keith Jarrett’s piano trio plays the Four Seasons Centre next Wednesday. “He
has the ability to draw the listener into his experience. Also, this is one of
the longest-working trios in jazz; imagine the level of creative communication
possible when you’ve been playing together with the same guys for almost 30
years.” Viswanathan performs a free 5 p.m. show with
Jaffa Road this Sunday at NPS.
BILL MCBIRNIE
You’d think this flautist would be jockeying to hear
some of the horn greats playing the fest, but he’s also keen on Jarrett. “Any
concert by Keith Jarrett is guaranteed to be a source of genuine beauty and
real inspiration, to any listener, whether a musician or not!” said McBirnie, who will miss the show, which coincides with one
of his eight jazz fest gigs — this one at Hot House Café with Brenda Carol
& ClaireVoyance.
JACKIE RICHARDSON
The vocalist’s pick is singer Mavis Staples’ NPS show June 30. “She is the most
soulful, most spiritual of my personal favourite artists,” said Richardson, who
performs with the Russ Little Quintet at Old Mill Inn on Monday. “Nobody can
hum and moan like Mavis Staples. She is the real deal.”
JIM GALLOWAY
The saxman and former TDJ artistic director, who performs a free noon show at NPS
this Sunday, plans to catch trumpeter Roy Hargrove’s big band at Koerner Hall July 1. “He’s truly a jazz player — fiery and
full of musical surprises. And he has tremendous knowledge of the roots of the
music: he’s as contemporary as can be, but can pick an obscure ballad and knock
you out with it. He’s also a great singer.”
ELIANA CUEVAS
“I don’t know enough about her music, but when I listen to Angelique Kidjo I hear strength and passion; I’d like to hear more,”
said vocalist Cuevas, who heads to the Montreal Jazz Festival after her Lula
Lounge septet show this Sunday and hopes to be back in town for Kidjo’s July 1 NPS concert.
The TD Toronto Jazz Festival runs June 25-July 4. Visit www.torontojazz.com for tickets and
information.
Herbie Hancock: The Jazz Ambassador
Source: www.thestar.com - Ashante
Infantry
(June 23, 2010) If the dozen Grammys, classical pedigree and
storied history including membership in Miles
Davis’s second great quintet aren’t indication enough of Herbie
Hancock’s stature, consider his regard amongst musicians. When the Star
asked a selection of local performers to name the one headlining concert they
most wanted to attend at this year’s TD Toronto Jazz Festival,
which kicks off Friday, more than half cited the piano dean.
Veteran saxophonist Mike Murley, bummed that his gig
at the Rex coincides with Hancock’s Saturday night show at Nathan Phillips
Square, gave a typical response:
“How do you top Herbie Hancock? Every time I hear Herbie, his music amazes me with its vitality, energy and
incredible harmonic and rhythmic sophistication. His playing always sounds
fresh. He is a true improviser and a master musician who continues to evolve
artistically. It seems strange to think of him as one of the elder statesmen of
the music, but I suppose at this point he is just that.”
On the phone from his California environs, Hancock, who is being feted Thursday
with a 70th birthday celebration at Carnegie Hall, was initially mirthful about
his position as a living legend.
“It’s either that or be dead; what kind of choice is that?” he laughed before
addressing the subject seriously.
“Along with being an elder statesman comes a deep responsibility and that is to
do what was done for me,” said Hancock, who was 23 when he joined Davis, 14 years
his senior, and his band in 1963. “There were elder statesmen that shared their
knowledge and their experience with me to help, to help shape me, so it’s my
responsibility to carry on that tradition.”
His current band is comprised of seasoned players such as drummer Vinnie Colaiuta, guitarist Lionel Loueke
and keyboardist Greg Phillinganes, along with a
24-year-old female bassist, Australian newcomer Tal Wilkenfeld.
“I always try to provide an atmosphere that’s open enough so that musical
output is a collaboration with all the musicians that
are involved and that they have the freedom to express themselves and go in any
direction that they feel at the moment,” Hancock explained.
“I encourage that, the way that Miles Davis encouraged me to do that. He told
me he paid us to think outside the box, he paid us to work on stuff. And I hope
to provide that kind of freedom and being in the moment with the musicians that
work with me. I try to let them know, not necessarily with my mouth or my
brain, but in my behaviour and in the music I play that it’s okay to try things
and its okay to fail ‘If this doesn’t work, so what? Nobody’s going to die.’”
They do, however, have the possibility of garnering a reputation like Hancock’s
as a jazz pioneer who successfully incorporated electronics, rock, funk and
hip-hop and contributed standards such as “Watermelon Man, “Cantaloupe Island”
and “Maiden Voyage” to the canon.
He’s at it again with this week’s release of The Imagine Project.
Working with Larry Klein, who produced his 2007 Album of the Year Grammy winner
River: The Joni Letters, Hancock travelled around the world to record a
cover album with a disparate array of musicians, including: North Americans
Pink, John Legend, Indie.Arie, Derek Trucks, Wayne
Shorter and K’Naan; Brits Jeff Beck and James
Morrison; Africans Oumou Sangare,
Tinariwen and Konono No. 1;
Latin acts Juanes and Ceu;
and Indian sitarist Anoushka
Shankar.
Though mostly recorded live with few overdubs, Hancock says this album is not
about musical proficiency, but the societal progression urged in recorded
tunes, such as Sam Cooke’s “A Change is Gonna Come,”
Bob Dylan’s “The Times, They Are a’ Changin’” and Bob
Marley’s “Exodus.”
Politely, he dismisses a reporter’s suggestion that music has a poor record of
curing the world’s ills.
“Think about, for example, ‘We Shall Overcome’ and the
impact that had. And the fact that the song ‘Imagine’ is still valid; so many
generations know that song. What about ‘We are the World?’ Look at the impact
that had. Look how much money it raised. If it had some impact, and it helped
some of the problems, you can either look at it as a glass half empty or half
full. I’d rather look at it as half full. I’m more of an optimist than a
pessimist.
“I feel strongly that many people will not just hear the music, but have it
trigger something that’s already in their hearts as a human being, which is
that there’s a value to being open and to being inclusive, and we need that
spirit in order to create the kind of globalized present and future that we
want to live in.”
Fair enough, but what’s with another Hancock disc filled with singers? Though
he turns in a few superb solos, chances are longtime
fans would prefer to hear more of his playing.
“This record is not about me,” the maestro maintains. “This record is about
global collaboration. I’ve got plenty of records where you hear a lot of me.
Miles Davis” — here he drops his voice to mimic the trumpet icon’s trademark
rasp — “used to say, ‘You only need to play one note that speaks volumes.’”
Audio: Chuck D Track Targets Arizona…Again
Source: www.eurweb.com
(June 21, 2010) *Public Enemy’s Chuck D has again put the
entire state of Arizona in his crosshairs.
Nearly 20 years after the P.E. single “By the Time I Get to Arizona” blasted
the state for refusing to recognize Martin Luther King Jr.’s
birthday as a national holiday, frontman Chuck D has
released a new track titled “Tear Down That Wall,”
which targets the state’s controversial new immigration law. [Scroll down to
listen.]
“Yeah, because the governor is a Hitler,” Chuck D told Billboard.com.
“Things do change from time to time, but it goes right back into just proving
that it wants to be something else. ‘Tear Down That
Wall’ is something that has its own life. It’s not that you’re doing anything
to be opportunistic. I talked about the wall not only just dividing the U.S. and
Mexico but the states of California, New Mexico and Texas. But Arizona, it’s
like, come on. Now they’re going to enforce a law that talks about basically
racial profiling.”
“Tear Down That Wall,” which is available at www.slamjamz.com, will appear on his solo
CD, to be released at a later date.
Listen below.
P-Funk Guitarist Garry “Starchild” Shider Dies at 56
Source: www.eurweb.com
(June 18, 2010) *Garry Shider, the longtime musical director of Parliament-Funkadelic known as “Starchild,”
died Wednesday at his home in Upper Marlboro, Md,
reports the Associated Press. He was 56.
Shider, also known as “Diaperman”
because of the loincloth he often wore on stage, had been diagnosed with brain
and lung cancer in late March, according to his son Garrett. He then briefly
went out on tour one last time but had to stop because of his failing health.
“He was a beautiful man who had a beautiful heart, who loved his fans just as
much as they loved him,” Garrett Shider said. “I’m
sure if he had the choice, he would have passed on a tour bus, because he loved
playing music, playing for the fans.”
A New Jersey native, Shider started his musical
career as a young boy, performing mostly gospel music in churches in a group
that included his brother and was overseen by their father. The band also
played backup for many prominent gospel artists when
they performed concerts in the area, but Shider’s
musical taste soon grew more diverse.
The teenager first met P-Funk mastermind George Clinton in the late 1960s at a
Plainfield barbershop Clinton owned, where future P-Funk members would sing
doo-wop for customers and counsel local youths. Then, when he was around 16, Shider and a friend went to Canada, where they formed a
funk/rock band called United Soul, or “U.S.”
Clinton, who was living in Toronto at the time, heard about the band from
people in the local music business, and took the band under his wing upon
learning that Shider was a member. He helped produce
some of their songs and eventually invited Shider to
join P-Funk, a combination of two bands, Parliament and Funkadelic.
Shider soon became a mainstay of Clinton’s
wide-ranging musical family, eventually serving as its musical director and
co-writing some of Parliament-Funkadelic’s biggest
hits.
“Thank you, Garry for all you have done. Forever funkin’ on!” Clinton noted in a message posted on
his website.
Shider first appeared on Funkadelic’s
1971 album “Maggot Brain” and Parliament’s second album “Up for the Down
Stroke,” and joined P-Funk for good in 1972. He became one of Clinton’s most
trusted lieutenants, co-writing and providing vocals on some of the band’s
biggest hits — including “Atomic Dog,” “Cosmic Slop,” “Can You Get to That” and
“One Nation Under the Groove.”
He also toured with P-Funk for many years and was still considered an active
member of the group. He also was among 16 members — including Clinton — who
were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997, winning recognition
for their musicianship, politically charged lyrics, outlandish concept albums
and memorable live performances. Barbara Thomas, part of a group that is
raising money to help Shider’s family cover his
medical bills, said she was “truly heartbroken” over his death. She said
upcoming benefit concerts in New York and New Jersey would go on as planned.
“Over the past forty years, Garry put his stamp and signature of everything he
did musically,” stated a message posted on the group’s website, http://www.garryshidermedicalfund.com. “His talent was
and always will be unmatched.”
Ke$Ha: Here For The Party
Source: www.thestar.com - Ashante
Infantry
(June 20, 2010) With her rather trashy esthetic
— cowboy boots, big hair, smudged makeup, nose hoop — and
anecdotes about throwing up in Paris Hilton’s closet and sending gift-wrapped
poop to enemies, singer-rapper Ke$ha is easy to
dismiss as a lightweight who got lucky with the handful of infectious electro
pop tunes that catapulted her into the spotlight.
Not high fashion like Rihanna, outrageous as Lady
Gaga, or clever as Katy Perry, the Nashville-based, L.A.-born performer has
remained competitive on the strength of her January debut, Animal, which
has scored three top ten singles, “Blah Blah Blah,” “Your Love is My Drug” and the ubiquitous “Tik Tok
That party anthem is rife with typical Ke$ha insouciance — “I'm talking about everybody getting crunk, crunk/ Boys tryin' to touch my junk, junk/ Gonna smack him if he getting too drunk, drunk.”
Up close, the performer, who is in town to perform at Sunday’s MuchMusic Video Awards, was surprisingly sober, as in both lucid and serious. Chatting with the Star backstage after soundcheck at the network’s Queen St. headquarters, Ke$ha cited Bob Dylan as inspiration, lauded the power of positive thinking and came close to tears on the subject of animals dying in the Gulf oil spill. She seemed older than her 23 years despite the trademark shorts and glittery eye shadow.
“I am a very serious songwriter and a very serious artist and I take what I do very seriously; it just so happens that what I do is make people dance,” said Ke$ha who co-wrote every track on Animal. “And as silly as it may seem it’s very important for people to have fun. My main objective with this record is to embody youthful irreverence and happiness.
“I was broke, my family was broke, all my friends were broke, and instead of making it into a pity party and writing a slow, depressing record, I decided to look at it as a challenge and in a positive sense.”
Though she was raised with two brothers by mom Pebe Sebert who struggled with her own singing career before finding moderate success as songwriter, Ke$ha wasn’t deterred from going down the same path.
“Ever since I was little, she told me that’s it up to me to create my own reality,” explained the entertainer who went from “yodelling around the house” as a child to starting her first band in Grade 8 and moving back to Los Angeles on her own at 17 to pursue a pop career.
“I’ve actualized all of this. Singing was the only thing I ever thought I was really good at and I thought might as well run with it, because I love doing it and I don’t feel like being a banker.”
Though her nascent demo landed in hands of Animal’s executive producer Dr. Luke six years ago, Ke$ha toiled in the trenches — penning tunes or singing backup for the likes of The Veronicas, Paris Hilton and Britney Spears before getting a break on Flo Rida’s top-selling “Right Round” last year.
“That was a huge turning point. I didn’t get credit or money from it — I got featured internationally, but not in the States — but for an artist who has been struggling, been raised by single parent who is a struggling artist, finally to hear your voice on the radio and to be taken seriously as a songwriter and musician and an artist and a singer was a massive moment for me.”
She adopted the dollar sign in her name as “a confidence booster, because I was really broke and instead of being upset about it I decided no money was not going to bring me down. I was not going to let a dollar get in my way of realizing and actualizing my dreams. So put it in my name like, ‘I’m money, bitches! and here I am.’ “
Here she is, riding high with 4.9 million downloads, two MMVA nominations and the opening act slot on Rihanna’s summer tour. “Tik Tok” has been featured on The Simpsons and Ke$ha has made the rounds of all the high-profile American award and TV shows, including the Grammys and American Idol. Too busy to move out of her mom’s basement, she’s so big her former managers have filed a $14-million lawsuit against her.
“I’m very lucky, because I’m at a point where I can start reaching to a lot of people about things that are important to me; that’s really an upside to fame, but the rest of its really weird.”
Like the way everything she says goes viral. Yes, Ke$ha did tell some reporter or other about sending dog excrement to somebody that pissed her off, but she describes herself as “mortified” now that the story is making the rounds. She’d prefer people view that as the by-product of a creative mind and follow her lead on rescuing abused and abandoned dogs and raising money for Tennessee flood victims.
“People think I named my record Animal, because I’m a party animal. I can be, sure, but I feel like I am very much an animal, I’m very much in touch with that side of myself.”
That begs the obvious question.
“I wish it were something sexy like a jaguar, but I think I’m like a seal or a narwhal — something far more awkward and interesting.”
Much of a Muchness
Details on the MuchMusic Video Awards:
Airing: 9 p.m. on MuchMusic; Red Carpet Special at 8.
Performers: Adam Lambert, Down With Webster, Drake, Hedley, Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, Ke$ha, Marianas Trench and Miley Cyrus (also co-host).
Presenters: Too many to name, but including Nikki Yanofsky, Karl Wolf, LIGHTS, Three Days Grace, hockey hero Jonthan Toews, actors Ashley Greene, Kellan Lutz and Xavier Samuel from the new Twilight film Eclipse, and TV stars Blake McGrath, Jessica Szohr, Kristin Cavallari, Miranda Cosgrove, Nina Dobrev, Shenae Grimes and, from Jersey Shore, Pauly D and Snooki.
Maxwell Cancels Second Half of Tour
Source: www.eurweb.com
(June 17, 2010) *Bad news for Maxwell fans hoping to
see him on the second part of his summer tour – you’ll
have to wait until next year.
The singer has announced he is pulling out of his U.S. tour with Jill Scott and
Erykah Badu citing “scheduling conflicts.”
According to his camp, Maxwell will play all of his dates up to and including
sold out concerts at New York’s Madison Square Garden on June 25 and 26, but he
has postponed the entire second leg of the trek.
He was due to perform 11 shows between June 28 and July 15, in such cities as
Nashville, Tennessee and Boston, but the gigs will now take place sometime in
2011.
Now for the drama: There are rumours that Maxwell’s so-called “scheduling
conflicts” is really a cover for a major disagreement he’s supposedly having
with Jill Scott and Erykah Badu over time slots in
the line-up.
Scott’s publicist has already slammed the reports, telling Billboard.com,
“Jill has enjoyed every moment on stage with Maxwell, whom she calls a
consummate gentleman and tour mate. She looks forward to sharing the rest of
the tour with all of the supportive followers.”
And Maxwell’s reps at Shore Fire Media just continue to blame the cancellation
on “scheduling difficulties” without going into further detail.
The publicity firm also stated: “Due to scheduling conflicts with the venues,
Maxwell’s additional tour dates with Melanie Fiona (scheduled to begin June 28
in Greensboro, N.C.) have been postponed to 2011. Refunds have been provided to
ticket buyers. New dates will be announced later this year.”
Miley Cyrus: Tamed, Famed, Lame
Source: www.globeandmail.com - Brad Wheeler
Can’t Be Tamed
Miley Cyrus
Hollywood/Universal
(June 21, 2010) On Sunday, her appearance hosting the MuchMusic
Video Awards was much ballyhooed. Earlier
in the week, she defended her skimpy attire to the press: “I'm not trying to be
slutty.” Then there was her paparazzi-friendly faux-mance
last month with Justin Bieber. And let us attempt to
forget the recent “was she wearing panties?” controversy involving blogger Perez Hilton
The pop star Miley Cyrus is getting a
taste of what life is like as a sought-after super-celebrity – someone like the
ever-embattled Britney Spears.
On the Spears-style dance track Robot, the woman-child Cyrus sings about
being a hollow shell, about breaking free, about not being part of the big
machine. Oh, she’s probably dealing generically with relationships – she mostly
does so on this, her third studio album, a synthetic disco-pop record marred by
trite lyrics, cheap beats, bland production and grab-free hooks – but Robot
might also be a cry for help. There’s not a sliver of individuality on this
uninspired album; the Hannah Montana star has blended in with the crowd
here.
Cyrus, an emancipation-seeking 17-year-old, told Billboard she hopes Can’t
Be Tamed will be her final pop record. I hope so too, but that’s not my
point. My point is that it’s possible that the too-young-to-be-dusky Cyrus may
be looking at the life and career of someone like Spears as a cautionary tale –
that Spears is an empty vessel for whatever pop music her high-priced producers
put in front of her. Perhaps the supposedly untamable
Cyrus wants none of that.
“The more I make music that doesn’t truly inspire me,” Cyrus said recently,
“the more I feel like I’m blending in with everyone else.” Brilliant! I
couldn’t have said it better myself. Actually, I did say it myself, a couple of
paragraphs ago.
If Cyrus is looking at Spears, she should probably look harder. The Britster’s last disc, Circus, was fantastic – a
whole lot of innovative fun. The talking points on Can’t Be Tamed are an
acceptable country-flavoured cover of Poison’s Every Rose Has Its Thorn
and the silly, sexed-up H.R. Pufnstuf video for the stomping title-track lead
single, which represented a clean break from her Disney-approved previous
albums.
The rest is uninteresting. Cyrus can be tamed. A better title: Can Be Famed.
Or, Can Be Lame. Her nothing-special, technologically-assisted voice
comes up with some extremely banal lyrics. The emotive ballad Take Me Along
begins: “The city of angels is lonely tonight.” This is equivalent to the novel
which opens with “It was a dark and stormy night.” Another ballad, Forgiveness
and Love, asks “where does the time go?” You can’t be serious, Miley. You’re 17 years old, for goodness sakes – your time
goes around and around, with hours upon hours to spare.
The upbeat, album-opening Liberty Walk (which has Cyrus rapping, if you
can believe it) finds the teenaged daughter of Billy Ray Cyrus lecturing her
audience to not live a lie, and to say goodbye to the people who tied you down.
“People come on,” she implores, “that means you.” No, Cyrus, it means you.
Bollywood And Fine
Source: www.globeandmail.com - Joanna Slater
(June 20, 2010) NEW YORK — On a sunny afternoon in suburban Long Island, elevator music is
piping into the
atrium lobby of a Marriott hotel. Or perhaps it’s some kind of
very smooth jazz. It’s the type of tune that you barely hear, deadening the
ears and perhaps the brain.
It feels absurd, somehow, that this musical slush will serve as the backdrop
for a meeting with the reigning maestro of Bollywood.
This is the man whose thumping, soaring anthems have bewitched millions, making
him one of the bestselling musical artists on the planet.
In India, where chart-topping songs come almost exclusively from films, A.R. Rahman occupies a
position for which there is no equivalent in North America. Imagine a cross
between a renowned film composer (John Williams, say) and a blockbuster
recording artist (Michael Jackson, maybe) and you’ll start to have a sense of
his celebrity.
Among his fellow Tamils, he’s known as Isai
Puyal, or Musical Storm, an apt description for
the way his songs have thundered across the Indian film industry and into the
national consciousness. His Oscar-winning soundtrack for Slumdog
Millionaire is a source of national pride, but redundant in a way: Everyone
in India already knew that Rahman’s music rocked.
He doesn't write the lyrics for his songs, but they have a distinct style, as Slumdog's tracks showed: groovy beats, plaintive
melodies, and a global cache of instruments from the sitar to violins to
Japanese taiko drums.
During my own exceedingly brief stint as an extra in a Bollywood
film six years ago, it was Rahman who wrote the
movie’s score, and also sang on one track, as he often does. So it’s fair to
say that I experience a minor jolt when the revolving door in the lobby turns
and I see him in person: a small man wearing jeans, a denim shirt, and a frayed
green cap. We repair to a nearby restaurant, beyond the reach of the smooth
jazz.
Rahman, 43, flops onto the banquette seat with his
can of mixed-fruit soda. His flight from Los Angeles arrived the previous
night, and after sleeping through the morning, as is his habit, he headed to a
nearby mosque for afternoon prayers.
He is in New York to launch a new concert tour, dubbed the A.R.
Rahman Jai Ho Concert: The Journey Home World Tour.
The travelling two-and-a-half hour spectacle will touch down in 16 cities
worldwide, including Toronto on Sunday and Vancouver on June 30.
“ These days, Rahman moves in a kind of musical stratosphere”
Bringing the show to life requires a cast and crew of 75, including musicians,
singers, and a troupe of insanely energetic dancers. As is fitting for a Bollywood blowout, there are colourful sets and costumes,
often accompanied by stunning backgrounds projected onto a huge screen. Rahman sings, jams with other musicians, plays the piano,
and even takes a turn at the harmonium.
Asked about the show, whose opening night is now just hours
away, he jokes about the “trauma” involved in the months of preparation, adding
that all the rehearsing has made him “a bit numb.” He laughs easily and speaks
so softly that at times I strain to hear him.
Beyond concerns about the show, he seems preoccupied. His youngest daughter,
11, one of his three children, recently had heart surgery in India to address a
birth defect. While he was in rehearsals, she developed complications and had
to return to the intensive-care unit. “It’s such a tug of war, an emotional tug
of war,” he says. When the tour ends, he’ll head home, but in the meantime,
there are video chats. “It’s a boon, isn’t it, Skype,” he says.
Then there’s the work. Back in Chennai, formerly known as Madras, there are
three soundtracks awaiting his attention that need to be finished over the next
month. Rahman is also in talks with a major Hollywood
studio, but worries about the pressures involved in movies where the budgets
run to $100-million or more. “If something goes wrong, blame it on the music,”
he says. “They can’t throw out the actor, they can’t
throw out the director.”
These days, Rahman moves in a kind of musical
stratosphere. He is on a first-name basis with Australian singer Kylie Minogue. He bonded with Michael Jackson not long before the
star’s death. He was particularly tickled to meet Peter Gabriel, whom he cites
as an inspiration. (Also on his list of influences: Indian classical singer
Kumar Gandharva, film composer Ennio
Morricone, Czech classical composer Leos Janacek, and
the band Queen).
Rahman met Gabriel at the Golden Globes, though in a
somewhat awkward twist, they turned out to be competing at the Oscars in the
category of best original song (Gabriel, for a track from the film WALL-E).
“You know inside you want to win,” says Rahman. “But
you feel like, ‘Oh my God, he’s almost like my teacher. And he has to win.’ ” Rahman hoots with laughter. (He won the Oscar for Slumdog’s Jai Ho).
The key turning point on his journey to stardom, he says, was a spiritual one.
Born A.S. Dileep Kumar, he
converted from Hinduism to Islam in his early 20s, an unusual and potentially
contentious choice given India’s religious politics. He later changed his name
to Allah Rakha Rahman.
Rahman says his path toward Sufi Islam began with the
death of his father, also a musician, who passed away when Rahman
was only 9. “It’s a deep story, I could write a book on it,” he says. “It’ll
offend a lot of people.” There’s more to say, but he won’t talk about it on the
record. A recent biography of Rahman notes that he
believes his father was killed by a kind of black magic.
Sufi devotional songs and writings have helped inspire some of his biggest
hits. “Poetry like that, it’s got its own potency, its own truth,” he says.
“Whatever you throw on it, it comes like gold.”
A talented keyboard player, Rahman started out
writing advertising jingles before his big break at 25. A director named Mani Ratnam asked him to write the music for the 1992 film Roja. Rahman took six
months to produce the score, an eternity in the Indian movie industry, where it
wasn’t unusual to expect a full complement of songs from a composer in five or
six days.
The waiting paid off. Made in Tamil, Roja was
dubbed into Hindi and other Indian languages, turning into a major national
hit. Ratnam and Rahman went
on to collaborate on two more films in the 1990s, Dil
Se and Bombay, whose soundtracks were also monster hits. The trilogy
introduced Indians to a distinctly Rahman sound:
inspired by Indian traditions but possessing a chameleon-like quality, blending
such influences as rock and reggae.
As our interview wraps up, I can’t resist asking Rahman
about the film in which I played that tiny role, a historical epic called Mangal Pandey: The Rising. He groans. It turns out that five years
after the movie’s release, the producer still hasn't paid Rahman
in full for the music.
Later that night, he takes to the stage. The show – a collaborative effort
between Rahman and Los Angeles-based Amy Tinkham – is alternately dazzling and perplexing. There’s a
beautiful virtual duet between Rahman and Lata Mangeshkar, the aging queen
of Indian women singers, whose apparition hovers over the stage. But there’s
also what may be a prison-themed instrumental number complete with dancers
writhing on bars. By the last half hour, a series of rousing hits has the crowd
on its feet.
In the days after the show, I find myself humming the songs on the subway, at
the office, back at home. They refuse to yield, proof that Rahman’s
magic has worked again.
The Journey Home World Tour stops in Toronto on Sunday,
and in Vancouver on June 30.
Rock-And-Roll Entrepreneurs Learn To Sell Themselves
Source: www.globeandmail.com - Rasha Mourtada
(June 21, 2010) When Toronto hip-hop artist Mindbender released his first CD in 1997, a
collaborative effort with
his twin brother, things didn’t go quite as he’d expected.
“We got the box of CDs and I was like, ‘Wow, people aren’t just running to
break down the door to buy this.’ And it started dawning on me: ‘Where am I
even advertising this?’”
Since then, Mindbender has learned a few things about the business side of
music. But he’s not done yet.
“I still struggle with it because I’m very much the artist and not the
businessman,” said Mindbender, whose six solo projects have earned him a
following in the local underground hip-hop scene.
From producing music, to distributing CDs, to booking shows, to getting press,
the need for entrepreneurial skills in the music industry today is
indisputable, particularly for artists who are not signed to a label.
“It helps to be business-minded [about your music],” said Amy Cole, who does
keyboards, percussion and vocals for indie folk-rock band Rural
Alberta Advantage (RAA).
After three years making a go of it independently, RAA
signed with U.S. label Saddle Creek Records and Canadian label Paper Bag Records,
something that would never have happened if the band failed to think of its
pursuit as a business – sending out its own press releases, building its own
web site, and reinvesting any money made from live shows and merchandise.
But thinking of a music career as a business should be a means to an end for an
artist, said Shauna de Cartier, who founded independent Canadian label Six
Shooter Records in 2000. The goal is to assemble a team who can take care of
the business end, leaving artists to concentrate on what they do best, their
music.
“It’s important for musicians to have an understanding of how the business
works,” she explained. “But the thing that’s going to make you more successful
is being better at your art.”
She encourages musicians not to get too caught up in activities like getting
T-shirts printed, distributing flyers and sending out press releases. “I’ve
seen solo artists exhausted to the point of tears.”
That’s something Mindbender can identify with. “My neck is sore from wearing so
many hats,” he said. “My passion is the art. But I have to send out promotional
e-mails and budget and put together tours and design my album cover. That’s all
fun – but it’s not what my love is.”
On the flip side, ignoring the business of music can end a career before it
even begins. No artist will attract the attention of music managers and labels
without exposure. And getting exposure requires some business skills.
Opportunities often come through connections, said Jesse Gainer, drummer with
Montreal punk band Talk-Sick. “If you want to be serious about it,
you have to get out there and talk to people,” he added, particularly when it
comes to booking shows.
And playing live shows is second to none when it comes to getting exposure,
said Ms. De Cartier, who emphasized that gaining the respect of other musicians
can go a long way.
Mindbender, who’s set to release his latest effort – Jupiter, said building a reputation
just by being present in the local hip-hop scene has been pivotal in any
success he’s had. “I’ve seen almost every hip-hop show that’s come here in the
last 20 years,” he said. “I always have my music and I give it to people.”
Also important is promoting music, especially live shows, to the general
public.
“Technology has allowed us to do publicity very inexpensively and with great
return,” Mr. Gainer said. “Facebook, Twitter, MySpace
have all been really good for us.”
Ms. Cole directly links the power of the Internet with RAA’s
recent explosion. The band toured the United States and Canada in 2009, playing
100 shows, and this spring it set off on an eight-city European tour.
It all started when Canadian music blogs Chromewaves
and Herohill wrote about the band. From there, RAA made it onto the radar of online music retailer eMusic, which featured it as new artist of the month and
subsequently invited the band to play at the influential annual South by
Southwest (SXSW) music festival in Austin, Tex.
“And that’s what led to Saddle Creek approaching us,” Ms. Cole said.
Press releases also help. Talk-Sick, which released its second record last
fall, sent out a slew of complimentary records to local newspapers and college
radio stations. “When someone outside of our friends suggests to the greater
community ‘these guys are worth a listen,’ that’s pretty cool,” Mr. Gainer
said.
And when it comes to distributing a record as an unsigned artist, there’s
really nothing glamorous about it. It’s a matter of selling the merchandise at
shows and online – and hoofing it to the post office to mail them. “Now that
we’re with a label, we don’t have to do that any more,” Ms. Cole said.
She sees a marked shift in the band’s daily lives. It has a manager to handle
scheduling logistics, among other things, a booking agent who lines up shows
and, of course, their labels, which help finance recording (the band will
record album No. 2 this year) and touring and take a lead on the promotional
front.
“It’s nice not having to do a million things at once,” she said. “And the
labels are helping us do things we couldn’t do.”
Being with a label might seem like a ticket to success, and for some it is, but
Ms. De Cartier cautioned it doesn’t always work out that way. “Sometimes people
think I have a record deal so now I’m going to be famous. But really it should
be, ‘I have a record deal and now the real work begins,’” she said. “Getting –
or not getting – a record deal isn’t any guarantee of success.”
Sarah Harmer Revs It Up Again
Source: www.thestar.com - Greg Quill
(June 20, 2010) In the four and a half years since the release of
her last CD, the rootsy, pastoral “I’m A Mountain,”
Juno-award winning songwriter Sarah Harmer has been conspicuously quiet, performing only occasionally,
otherwise immersed in the grassroots campaign to save Mount Nemo,
near her childhood home in rural North Burlington, Ont., from being levelled to
make gravel.
It’s a close-to-home environmental issue that led her to others threatening the
pristine beauty of the giant Niagara Escarpment, to which she has devoted a
great deal of time and effort. Only in the past year has the 39-year-old
folk-country star been able to give some thought to resuming her musical
career, which began in the mid 1990s with the alt-rock band Weeping Tile, and
blossomed a decade ago with her first solo recording, the surprise indie hit, You
Were Here, and its plaintive, radio-friendly single, “Basement Apartment.”
You could be mistaken for thinking the new album, Oh Little Fire —
Harmer’s fourth, to be released Tuesday — is the result of a long and deliberate
process to reposition her in the musical landscape, and to launch her into the Feistian musical mainstream, stripped of her former
country-folk trappings.
It’s a consciously pop-aware construct built around layered guitars and clever
rock-lite bass/drum patterns, showcasing an assertive
new voice and a cluster of infectious melodies that support lyrics eschewing
the emotional commentary of her 2005 underground hit, “Niagara Escarpment
Blues,” for “the usual stuff — love and loss and the mystery of human
relationships,” she told the Star during a recent phone interview.
The shift from acoustic song forms to electric pop isn’t deliberate, Harmer
insisted.
“These songs just seemed to need filling out, they needed to be more crisp and
angular in the arrangements, like songs you want to turn up loud on the car
radio.
“Besides, I like swinging between the two poles. I’ve always done it. I like
both styles of music. When I did ‘I’m A Mountain’ I’d been sitting around for
months with friends, jamming on acoustic instruments. I figured it was time to
drag out the Telecaster.”
She enlisted longtime musical friend, producer Gavin
Brown (Metric, Billy Talent), to ramp up the energy quotient in the studio, and
started recording last May. They made no particular schedule, and were under no
deadline pressures. The songs grew organically, Harmer said.
“Some songs were finished, others were just ideas that we fleshed out in the
studio. We took our time, recording piecemeal, and coming back after long
breaks. Gavin has a great studio in his home, with lots of old analogue gear.
He’s a great drummer, and plays other instruments as well. We’d pass them back
and forth, and if we couldn’t play what was in our heads, we’d call in experts,
mostly friends from Weeping Tile and other bands I’d worked with.”
Most artists who’ve achieved Harmer’s kind of success find themselves locked
onto a wheel — writing, recording, touring, recovery — that turns relentlessly
every couple of years and, so the theory goes, yields measurably larger
audiences, radio acceptance, revenue and kudos with each revolution. Harmer,
who has always done things her own way, doesn’t buy it.
“I like doing other things, too,” she said. “I’m not super-ambitious. I got
involved in the land conservation campaign because it matters to me. I played
drums in a band in Kingston for a while, because I like playing drums. It’s
like dancing — fun, if you’re in the mood. I sang in a barbershop quartet.
“I live in the country north of Kingston. I loll around a lot, and I don’t feel
guilty about it. I hang out with friends and loved ones. I’m attached to
domestic life and simple chores. I don’t have a schedule and I haven’t been in
the self-promotion mode for a long time. I’ve been a regular person. Fallow
time is important.”
But once Oh Little Fire started taking shape, the juices started flowing
again, and an appetite to get these songs finished and roadworthy.
“I do want people to hear them,” says Harmer, who has received nothing but
encouragement from friends and musical peers who have heard it. Mainstream
radio in Canada and the U.S. has already picked up the lead single, “Captive,”
a particularly bright and affecting little masterpiece that seems destined for
chart success.
“I don’t want to leave the impression that I don’t care about my musical
career. I do care. My ego wants this album to be heard, and I’ll do whatever
feels good to make that happen.”
That means touring, and Harmer and her band have loads lined up, including a
sold-out show at Toronto’s Palais Royale Tuesday
night, followed by a string of festival appearances across the country later in
the summer, several dates in the U.S. and Britain in between, and a full U.S.
tour in the fall.
“I haven’t been on the road for a while … it takes some getting used to,”
Harmer said. “But I love my band mates, and I love the stimulating
conversations that you get into at close quarters in the back of the bus in the
middle of the night.
“In lots of ways, this is like starting over.”
Lilith Fair Celebrates Its Diversity
Source: www.thestar.com - Nick Patch
(June 23, 2010) As Sarah McLachlan happily watched her Lilith
Fair festival grow into a concert giant in
the
late 1990s, she simultaneously became a bit irked by the
reputation her fest was getting.
Lilith Fair was suddenly shorthand for acoustic guitars, Birkenstocks, and
crunchy granola. And McLachlan didn’t like it.
“We got dubbed as the white chicks’ folk fest,” McLachlan said in a recent
telephone interview from Vancouver. “It was so frustrating to me because I had
to defend it every day. I’d say, ‘We ask everybody. We ask artists from all
genres and this is who said yes.’ ”
When Lilith Fair relaunches, beginning with a show
Sunday in Calgary, it appears as though McLachlan might not have to worry about
defending her all-female music fest.
This year’s line-up, in fact, boasts the sort of diversity that McLachlan
hungered for then.
Sure, there are your more typically Lilith stars — returnees Sheryl Crow, the
Indigo Girls, Martina McBride, Suzanne Vega, Emmylou Harris, for instance.
But there’s also R&B superstar Mary J. Blige,
country legend Loretta Lynn, powerhouse American Idol pop vocalist Kelly
Clarkson and — for one night only — Barbadian R&B star Rihanna.
Also on the tour will be Toronto new-wave rockers Metric, R&B crooner Erykah Badu, Disney teen-popper Selena Gomez, Nashville new
country duo Sugarland, plus a litany of buzzed-about critical favourites
including Janelle Monae, Hannah Georgas, Anjulie, Lights and Sia.
“This time out, the wealth of diversity to choose from was massive,” McLachlan
said. “And it was a huge struggle to fit everybody in who wanted to be a part
of it.
“So it was really great. And I think there’s just a lot more to choose from.”
Added Emily Robison of the Dixie Chicks: “It’s really eclectic, which I think
is great. It’s not just folk chicks out there, it’s everybody.”
Robison and her sister, Martie McGuire, will play 13
Lilith dates with their new outfit, Court Yard Hounds.
They carry fond memories of playing the last Fair with the Dixie Chicks, back
in 1999. Though they were two-time Grammy winners and mainstage
mainstays at that point, they hadn’t yet reached the lofty ranks of country
music’s biggest stars, so they were surprised at the warm reception they
received from their Lilith tour mates.
“We just have the best memories from that first Lilith Fair,” McGuire said.
“It’s just a different kind of music festival. We didn’t know until we got
there, but artists were inviting us into their dressing room, and they wanted
to work on one of our songs (or) they wanted us to work on one of their songs.
“It felt so strange to have artists the stature of Sheryl Crow and Sarah
McLachlan and the Indigo Girls really interested in what you were doing, and so
supportive of other females. I think females get pegged as — there’s always
(supposed to be) infighting and catfighting.”
“At Lilith, there was this camaraderie that you don’t find on a lot of
concerts. We hope that still lives from the first time around.”
Chantal Kreviazuk was similarly star-struck when she
first played Lilith Fair in 1998.
“I can remember, you know, standing next to Sheryl Crow and chatting and
thinking: ‘Oh my God, I’m standing next to Sheryl Crow, chatting!’”
When she plays five dates on this year’s Fair circuit, meanwhile, Kreviazuk figures it might be a bit different.
“Now if I bump into Sheryl, I go: ‘Hey, Sheryl,’ ” Kreviazuk
said casually, with a laugh. “Everything’s a little bit different now.”
That goes for the record industry as a whole, which has plummeted to
unthinkable lows since the booming ’90s, when Lilith boasted headliners like
Jewel who had albums selling well past the 10 million mark.
But looking at today’s fractured musical landscape, the legacy of Lilith isn’t
too hard to spot. For one thing, Kreviazuk notes that
a revitalized Lilith will shine the spotlight back on musicians who value
substance over style.
“It’s a tough time to just be a singer/songwriter with authenticity and
genuineness and all that crap,” Kreviazuk said. “It’s
hard because everything is rather glitzy and glamorous and it’s a little bit
more jam-packed with candy right now. It’s difficult to be a simple act.
“(Lilith) is presenting an opportunity to get out there and remind people that
simple, authentic music is also really, really powerful and there’s a place for
it.”
Frazey Ford will make her official Lilith debut this
summer, though she participated in the first round of festivals in her own way
— her former group, the Be-Good Tanyas, busked
outside a Vancouver date on Lilith Fair’s 1999 tour.
Living in her early 20s during the first three years of tours, she said Lilith
Fair had an impact on her.
“It was definitely a coming together of female power, musically,” said Ford,
who will release her first solo album, “Obadiah,” on July 20. “It made a pretty
strong impression on a lot of young people.
“I just knew there was something powerful about it.”
And the artists involved with the relaunched Lilith
hope that it retains that power, for the benefit of a new group of female
artists navigating an increasingly difficult music industry.
“I think music is very cyclical in terms of what people’s tastes are,” Robison
said.
“I’m glad that Lilith is back now, because at the time we did it earlier, it
seemed like there was this big groundswell of support for female artists and
singer/songwriters, and that seemed to be lost for a few years.
“I hope that this means that it’s coming back.”
MUSIC TIDBITS
Behind the Scenes with Ruben Studdard
Source: www.eurweb.com
(June 19, 2010) *What’s
going on with the ever huggable, so loveable Ruben Studdard? Well
Singersroom.com says he is scheduled to be a part of
TV One’s “Life After.” “Once a choir boy, R&B crooner Ruben Studdard became American Idol’s first African American
winner during the show’s nail-biting second season, edging out runner-up Clay
Aiken. Since then Studdard has struggled with album
success but with his new music, he’s looking to rise back to the top,” a TV One
announcement reads. The show will explore the behind the scenes life of the
star as he works to revive his fame and answer some of those questions music
fans and Studdard lovers have been asking. Season two premiers July 19.
Bow Wow All Grown Up: Remakes TuPac’s ‘I Get Around’
Source: www.eurweb.com
(June 19, 2010) *We
guess no one really takes a child rapper gone grown up style very seriously, so
those kind gotta work a lil’ harder to be
noticed. Bow Weezee appears to be trying to prove to the
world of Hip-Hop lovers that he too belongs at the grown-up table with all the
veterans. The 23-year-old has switched up his style by adding a few
explicative’s and stories of midnight flings with women. He’s turned it up a
notch and created his own version of the might Tupac’s
classic “I Get Around.” It’s supposed to be available on his “Greenlight 3” mixtape. Supposedly
the song is pointed at Kat Stacks, the great fake, video blogger who discusses
her imaginary sexual episodes with various rappers. She recently jabbed at Bow
Wow via Twitter and video blog talking about their sexual relationship. Listen
to his version here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIFLaBMKU2M&feature=player_embedded
Amber Rose: ‘Kanye
Saved My Life’
Source: www.eurweb.com
(June 21, 2010) *Kanye
West’s on/off girlfriend Amber Rose is crediting the rapper for “saving” her life and
helping to jump start her modeling
career. The Philly-born model says she was on the constant grind before
she started dating Kanye. The couple quickly
became a highlight of red carpet events, which boosted her star power in the
process. “Honestly, Kanye saved my life, and I
don’t even think about what I would have been; I just think about what I’m
going to be,” she told YRB Magazine. Rose says
she’s still a bit baffled that folks treat her like a famous star when she’s
spotted on the street. “I don’t look at myself as a celebrity. I’m just a
dope chick from South Philly!” she said. “I mean, it’s crazy when fans come up
to me and cry and just want a hug from me. It bugs me out! But
it’s really cool.” However, she
admits the constant paparazzi presence has begun to irk her – and she now
struggles with anxiety every time a photographer is near.
“Sometimes it does get overwhelming because, for example, I like to be on
the beach with my man with no top on. I’m very comfortable with my body. [See
photo above.] But there’s no privacy – that’s the only thing that
overwhelms me. Every time I see a light flash, I think it’s the paparazzi.
Those f**kers give me anxiety.” West and Rose,
who briefly split last summer, were recently rumoured to have broken up once
again. She landed a contract with top agency Ford Models in 2009 after
posing nude with West to promote his new sneaker line with Louis Vuitton.
Canadian Tenors Tug Heartstrings
Expertly
Source: www.thestar.com - Rob Salem
The Canadian Tenors Live at Koerner Hall
(Universal)
(out of 4)
(June 21, 2010) This slick, masterfully paced live concert, recorded on Jan. 25
at Koerner Hall shows off this pan-Canadian
poperatic quartet at its very best – putting on a
good show that connects with its audience and creates an intimate ambience
without feeling contrived. British Columbians Clifton Murray and Fraser
Walters, Torontonian Victor Micallef and Quebecer Remigio Pereira gave their audience a generous 17 songs
backed up by a combination of pop and classical-style instrumentals. On top of
that, there are three songs featuring special guest David Foster and — in the
evening-closing “Hallelujah” by Leonard Cohen — Sarah McLachlan. The artfully
lit wooden interior of Koerner Hall at the Royal
Conservatory is as classy as the music on stage. Somehow, the arrangements
manage the requisite swell without histrionics and they pull our emotional
heartstrings without sounding saccharine. New pop, like Foster’s “Because We
Believe,” sits comfortably alongside great-grandma’s favourite Italian song, “A
Vuccella,” written by late-19th century pop master
Paolo Tosti (not Fernando, as the program states).
There are a couple of minor extras, including McLachlan singing “Angel.” The
high-definition visuals are amazing on a big screen, but bass frequencies
sounded buzzy on my Blu-Ray-based
sound system.
Jackson 5 Exhibit To Mark One Year Since
Michael’s Death
Source: www.globeandmail.com - The Associated
Press
(June 22, 2010) Detroit — A Jackson 5 exhibit opens Tuesday at the Motown Historical Museum in Detroit,
marking the one-year anniversary this week of Michael Jackson's death.
The public will be able to view photographs, awards and uniforms the
group wore throughout its career. Museum chief curator Lina Stephens says the exhibit celebrates the life of
Jackson and acknowledges the Jackson 5's “contribution to the Motown story.” Jackson died June 25, 2009. Stephens
says the exhibit will be open through October. Museum summer hours are Monday
through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Rihanna and Drake Working Together?
Source: www.eurweb.com
(June 22, 2010) The
former couple might be working together, despite the sour grapes the two have
shared.
Drake and Rihanna are going to be working together in the
future despite the rapper’s harsh song supposedly dedicated to her. “Right now
I’m listening to Drake, Jay-Z, Kings of Leon, Ke$ha,”
she told E! News while in Israel. The interviewer
asked about a possible collaboration with Drake. She said, “I hope so ‘cause
he’s really, really talented, and I think he’s one of the illest
lyricists out there right now, so I would love to work with him.” In the mean
time, the Barbadian singer is working on releasing her follow-up album to her
2009 “Rated R.” According to Aceshowbiz.com, the
project has involved over 50 producers and other big named industry talent.
This time, fans can look forward to a different side of Rihanna
and be very pleased with the new mix of talent, including David Guetta. He says the album is quite a change from her last
one and is positive and explosive.
Angelou Contributes to Michael Jackson
Portrait
Source: www.eurweb.com
(June 22, 2010) *In remembrance of Michael
Jackson, poet Maya
Angelou joins his fans in participating in a
pointillism portrait of the late singer, who died almost a year ago.
Pointillism is an art technique in which small dots are used to form an image.
So far, the portrait has 250,000 dots, representing fans in 180 countries.
According to the AP, Angelou met Monday at her home in Winston-Salem, N.C.,
with artist David Ilan, who is organizing the
tribute. Ilan placed a dot representing Angelou in
the heart area on the portrait. Ilan says he hopes 1
million people will each ask through a Web site to be represented by one of the
free dots. Angelou also read the poem she wrote for Jackson’s funeral, titled
“We Had Him.” Queen Latifah read the poem at the
funeral.
Keith Sweat Releases New Album
Source: www.eurweb.com
(June 23, 2010) *OMG!
This is the return we all have been waiting for!!!! Where has he been? Keith Sweat just
came out with his new “Ridin’ Solo” album. The 80s
love making music legend has been musically hushed for quite some time, leaving
the world of music cold, desolate and in a place of unrest as it itches for
some good music recovery. Hopefully Sweat’s album will revitalize music. “I’m
trying to add to the catalogue,” he told The BoomBox.
“I feel a real resurgence right now. Sometimes you have t reinvent yourself in
all areas.” He said. He is really on his way back to the lime light of R&B.
Not only is has he released a new album, but he is working on a reality series
– “Keith Sweat’s Platinum House” – due to premiere on June 28 on Centric. He is
also talking about reviving Dru Hill. YAY! “We have our favourite acts like SWV,
New Edition we all grew up listening to them and they have a wide fan base,
[but] those veteran groups are not in radio demographics. So you don’t hear
about them as much and then they end up falling in to adult contemporary, which
has the 18-34 mainstream missing out because, radio is so concerned about
whatever song is hot now and they feel that these artist are not relevant,” the
singer explained. “My TV show and radio program can connect the fans back with
these artists, find out what they’re doing and keep them relevant.”
:FILM NEWS::
Anthony Daniels - The Force Was With Him
Source: www.globeandmail.com - Marsha Lederman
(June 20, 2010) Anthony Daniels has made a career out of playing the world’s most famous uptight
gold robot. His C-3PO appeared in all six Star Wars
films – and spinoffs. He has lent that distinctive British voice to various
other Star Wars endeavours, including a Disney theme-park ride, a Las Vegas
slot machine and an in-car satellite navigation system. Daniels, 64, is also
the live narrator for a show called Star Wars: In Concert – a massive
multimedia arena event featuring an orchestra, choir, film clips and John
Williams’ larger-than-life soundtrack.
Going back to that first Star Wars film, I understand you weren’t initially
interested in the part.
I was 27, had worked consistently for two years in radio and television and was
playing quite a big role in the West End in London in [Tom Stoppard’s] Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead.
That’s when I was made, made, made to meet George Lucas. ‘Don’t be so stupid,’
my agent said. ‘Go and meet him.’ And here’s the killer line: My agent said,
‘You never know what it can lead to.’
Have you talked to George Lucas about why you got the part? Is it because you
didn’t speak like a robot in your audition?
He had people coming in doing wonderful robotic acting like Michael Jacksonand he kept saying, ‘No, no, no; this is not that kind of
robot.’ And, of course, they couldn’t stop doing it once they got into robot
mode. I just walked in, completely uninterested, sat down and talked with him.
After another meeting and once I read the script, I finally said: ‘Well, may I
play the part?’ I had changed my opinion 100 per cent.
This changed the whole course of your life.
Yes it did. People ask me: ‘What might you be doing if you hadn’t done Star
Wars?’ That’s a stupid question because you never know the road you didn’t
take. This is not where I intended to be, but you know, as a destination it’s
not been bad.
Is it true that you weren’t originally supposed to voice the character?
That’s correct, but I didn’t know that until way after we’d finished filming,
because I did the voice all the way through. Six months later a studio engineer
in Hollywood explained that they’d spent a couple of months trying 30 different
actors, people like Richard Dreyfuss, to voice my
character, because George wanted a sleazy car-dealer type thing. Except George never mentioned it to me.
Would that have affected your decision to do the role?
Oh yes, I wouldn’t have dreamt of doing it had I just been the body. And I’m
very grateful to George for having the courage to rethink it. He just said he
never thought of C-3PO being a British butler type.
At what point did you realize this was not just a film, but a phenomenon?
When it opened in America and made the cover of Newsweek. Six months later we
got it in England and of course nobody got in touch with me because nobody was
meant to know I was in the movie. That was a little difficult: to have
contributed to the party and then not be invited. They eventually explained
that they wanted people to think that Threepio was a
real robot. And I said isn’t that rather underestimating the intelligence of
the audience?
Does part of you also feel that you were sheltered somewhat from the craziness
around the film?
I, on occasion, have been recognized. I’m thinking of two experiences in
supermarkets in England near my home where I have to say I’ve been slumped over
the trolley with a hangover, and I haven’t shaved, haven’t brushed my teeth and
somebody’s asked for an autograph. I felt so ashamed. But I’m not going to do
hair and makeup every time I go out and buy milk, am I? But now I’m recognized
in a very charming way, where people come up and say, ‘Thank
you for my childhood.’ That’s a lovely, lovely thing to hear. Because I am a
lot of people’s childhood.
Star Wars: In Concert will visit several Canadian cities this summer beginning
with Vancouver at GM Place on Tuesday. For details, visit starwarsinconcert.com.
This interview has been condensed and edited.
Carlton Cinema Returns — With Even Fewer Seats
Source: www.thestar.com - Jason Anderson
(June 23, 2010) Cineplex’s decision to close the Carlton Cinema inspired much
grief and worry among Toronto
moviegoers last December. Many had
fond memories of the theatre, which opened in 1981 as Canada’s first multiplex
for arthouse releases.
Yet the cinema’s later years inspired fewer happy memories. It had become too
hard to ignore the signs of age and neglect that afflicted this once-proud
bastion of upscale moviegoing.
“I always had a bit of a hard time going back to the Carlton because it had
that old style of sloped, narrow seats and not a lot of leg space,” admits
Robin Smith of Kinosmith, an independent film
distribution company. “As a tall guy, even just sitting in the old Carlton was
not the most comfortable feeling.”
Yet thanks to a $1.5 million renovation by its new owners Magic Lantern, the
Edmonton-based chain that runs three other Toronto theatres under the Rainbow
Cinemas banner the Carlton is ready to return, looking much healthier and
roomier than it was when it left us.
The Carlton hosts free screenings of recent
favourites (including The Cove, Up in the Air and Fantastic
Mr. Fox) in its nine newly refurbished auditoriums on June 30 and July 1
before opening for regular business on July 2.
Finishing touches were still being applied when Magic Lantern president Tom
Hutchinson and general manager Chris Ciavaglia showed
off the space last week.
Seat counts have been reduced in each theatre (ranging from 80 to 120) to allow
for wider seats and more legroom. The theatres also boast new screens and sound
systems, as well as greater flexibility when it comes to screening films in
digital formats.
Ciavaglia is obviously thrilled with the results. As
the theatre’s manager during its final days under Cineplex, he has long wanted
a makeover. While it was upsetting to watch the former owners essentially gut
the space when they left (they even took the toilets), it was worth the trauma.
“I wouldn’t have said this in December when it happened, but it’s probably for
the best because we had to come in and redo everything,” he says. “There wasn’t
an option for us to say, ‘Well, maybe we should keep the seats in. . .’”
Hutchinson’s company had been keeping tabs on the fate of the Carlton for the
last six or seven years. In operation since 1984, Magic Lantern has carved out
a niche in the Canadian film exhibition business by buying and reconditioning
downtown theatres that had been shuttered by the major chains. The Carlton, he
says, “was something that fit into our vision of what we could do.”
Though he admits that the renovation can’t entirely correct “the odd quirk” in
the building’s original design, he believes that the Carlton will still appeal
to moviegoers put off by the teen-targeted flash of newer theatres. He also
hopes that lower prices ($6 to $9 for evenings and matinees, and $5 on
Tuesdays) will make return visitors out of the seniors, students and viewers of
foreign-language fare who comprised a big part of the Carlton’s clientele.
As for the programming, the Carlton will once again showcase specialty titles,
as well as films that move over from larger spaces like the Royal. But the new
management wants to challenge the stereotype of the Carlton as just a place for
movies to finish their runs.
“We’re going to be pushing the envelope a little bit more than we did under
Cineplex, I expect,” says Ciavaglia. “We’re hoping to
do some more premieres, events and festivals. We’re going to experiment to see
what people are interested in.”
With its smaller auditoriums, the Carlton will again be a place where movies
otherwise limited to brief runs in other venues can have the opportunity to
build audiences.
Kinosmith’s Robin Smith saw that happen with Departures,
a Japanese film that did steady business for 21 weeks at the Carlton last year.
“Both the type of films we work on and the type of
films Carlton will program need that time to foster audiences,” he says. “The
business of exhibition is such that we’re not always allowed that time.”
Two newer Kinosmith releases — the Canadian
documentaries Land and Sounds Like a
Revolution — begin runs at the Carlton next week.
With the theatre back in action, more movies that do not have the advantage of
millions of Hollywood marketing dollars may have the chance to succeed.
“I keep hearing it’s the end of art film and we’ll only have Twilight sequels
from now on,” says Ciavaglia. “I wholeheartedly
believe that’s not the case.”
Toronto’s indie cinema resurgence
The Carlton’s reopening on June 30 is just the latest sign of revitalization
for Toronto’s cinemas. It’s an especially welcome trend given the doom-saying
that accompanied both the end of the Festival Cinemas chain in 2006 and the
closure of the Carlton last December.
Occupying a long-empty subterranean site near Queen and Spadina,
the Toronto Underground Cinema is a 700-seat theatre
that opened in May — it now boasts a robust program of recent non-Hollywood
fare and cult flicks.
Meanwhile, anticipation continues to rise ahead of the Sept. 12 opening of the Bell Lightbox — TIFF’s new year-round home will include five new cinemas,
ranging in size from 80 to 550 seats.
Many venues that were part of the Festival chain are also attracting enthusiastic
audiences, partially thanks to special events like the Revue’s
Silent Sundays series, the Fox’s Shock and Awe
marathons and the Royal’s monthly screenings of The Room. Besides hosting a steady stream of
festivals, the Royal and the Bloor have become regular venues for first-run
fare.
The Carlton’s Chris Ciavaglia believes that more
options for moviegoers can only improve the community’s overall health.
“I’ve always felt that with smaller theatres like the Carlton and others that
play these kinds of movies, the better the one theatre does, the better that
all the theatres do,” he says. “You want to get people in the habit. Maybe
they’ll go to the Bloor one week, then the Lightbox
the next, then the Carlton — I’m good with that.”
On the other end of the spectrum, Cineplex unveils its new “UltraAVX”
theatre environment in select cinemas next week. Starting June 30, patrons of
the GTA’s first UltraAVX
auditorium at the Queensway Cinemas can see The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
presented on a larger screen with improved digital picture and sound. New
extra-wide, high-back rocker seats make it even easier to swoon along with
Bella, Edward and Jacob if viewers are so inclined (or reclined).
Video: Jada Explains Nude Essence
Cover on ‘View’; Talks Tupac at WJLB
Source: www.eurweb.com
(June 22, 2010) *Jada Pinkett Smith visited
“The View” on Monday to discuss the season premiere of her TNT 
series “HawthoRNe,” her spicy marriage
to Will Smith and her son Jaden’s performance in “The Karate Kid” –
particularly his first on-screen kiss.
Smith also explains how her daughter Willow inspired her to pose nude for one
of the two available covers of Essence magazine’s current issue.
[Watch below.]
The actress also plugged “HawthoRNe” and discussed
other topics on Detroit’s WJLB.
During her phone conversation with COCO, Foolish and Mr. Chase, she was asked
about her close friendship with the late Tupac Shakur, describing their relationship as a “platonic
romance.”
“We knew us being together in a romantic way would destroy everything because
we were both fire,” she said. “We would burn everything up! So we knew in order
to preserve our relationship there was no way we could ever add romance to it cause we probably would’ve killed each other!”
Regarding her sexually-open marriage with husband Will Smith, she made it clear
that no man could ever
replace Will, but it is ok to have fun…
“We always have people that we’re attracted to that we talk about. That don’t
stop just because you’re married,” she said. “Somebody’s always gonna catch your eye. That’s real. Somebody’s gonna always be prettier than me, and somebody’s always gonna be more in awe of him than me and he gonna be like (in Will’s voice) ‘Yo
she really like me,’ (laughter) but as far as somebody being right for us… is
there somebody right for a nice night? Maybe. But
somebody that can sustain our life and sustain what we’ve built together,
absolutely not!”
Click here for full audio and snippets of Jada’s WJLB interview.
Will ‘Knight and Day’ save Tom Cruise?
Source: www.thestar.com - David Germain
(June 22, 2010) LOS ANGELES—Early on in his latest spy caper “Knight
and Day,” Tom Cruise flashes that
billion-dollar grin and proclaims, “I’m the guy.”
But is he?
Cruise definitely is the guy who rang up $3 billion at the domestic box office
since the early 1980s, making him one of the most enduring hitmakers
in Hollywood history.
He’s also the guy who veered into his own personal bizarro
world with Scientology rants that alienated or even offended fans and his
love-drunk bouncing act on Oprah Winfrey’s couch as he proclaimed his devotion
to Katie Holmes.
His box-office returns soured, and he made some career choices which, while not
disastrous, were not the sort to restore a stumbling star to the audience’s
good graces.
With Cruise’s erratic behaviour now a few years in the past, “Knight and Day”
is the first real test on whether the dashing idol of “Risky Business,” “Top
Gun” and “Rain Man” has lost his appeal.
“The short answer is, I hope not. Those challenges
have been there, but I think he has moved past that,” said Chris Aronson, head
of domestic distribution for 20th Century Fox, the studio behind “Knight and
Day.” “I think he still is the guy. If you look over the course of history,
there are very few actors who are the guy as long as he has been and are still
rolling along.”
“Enough time has passed, and he has tried to make amends,” said Chuck Walton,
an editor for movie-ticket Web site Fandango.com.
“This is sort of the perfect summer movie vehicle for him. I think most, if not
all, is forgiven. ... Look at Robert Downey Jr. He’s had plenty of things in
the past and it hasn’t stopped him.”
It’s Cruise’s first all-out action adventure since 2006’s “Mission: Impossible
III” and the first movie since 1996’s “Jerry Maguire” in which he turns on his
full-blown comic and romantic charm.
The movie reunites Cruise with “Vanilla Sky” co-star Cameron Diaz. Known for a
tireless work ethic, Cruise hurled himself into action scenes that could have
been handled by stunt men and continually added spontaneous flourishes to his
character, said “Knight and Day” director James Mangold.
The “I’m the guy” exchange was Cruise’s invention, Mangold
said. Diaz’s June Havens, who restores classic cars for a living, has just had
a near-fatal encounter with Cruise’s Roy Miller, a secret agent who might be a
good guy or a rogue spy gone bad.
When Roy reappears in her life, June stammers to her ex-boyfriend, “This is the
guy.” Cruise riffs off that line and delivers a memorable moment as Roy beams
and agrees, repeating “I’m the guy” like a mantra.
“None of that was written. It was just Tom overhearing her and just flowing,
creating a vibe on the set,” Mangold said. “’I’m the
guy. Hey, I’m the guy.’ You realize on how many levels this was true. He is the
guy in the movie. He is the spy, he is the romantic
lead who will sweep her off her feet.
“He’s also just the guy. ‘I am Tom Cruise, and I am here, and I will knock it
out of the park.’”
Whether “Knight and Day” will be a home run or a swing and a miss is in the
hands of fans now. Distributor Fox feels it has a good movie, but “Knight and
Day” is a tough sell, an original story not based on a comic book, video game
or other property with built-in familiarity.
Besides the uncertainty of Cruise’s box-office pep, “Knight and Day” arrives
during a fitful summer for Hollywood, when known quantities such as “Sex and
the City 2,” “The A-Team” and Russell Crowe’s “Robin Hood” failed to live up to
expectations.
Already stung by weak returns for “The A-Team” and “Marmaduke,”
Fox has scrambled to build buzz for “Knight and Day” with sneak peak screenings
last Saturday in about 500 theatres. The studio also moved up the release date by
two days to this Wednesday, hoping audiences will talk up the film and boost
ticket sales through the weekend.
Opening weekend often is a make-or-break deal. But “Knight and Day” has it
harder than most movies, sandwiched between two of the season’s biggest
releases, last weekend’s blockbuster “Toy Story 3” and next week’s hotly
anticipated sequel “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse.”
If “Knight and Day” does not find an audience this weekend, it probably never
will.
“Everybody’s nervous about every movie this summer. If ‘Sex and the City’ or a
Russell Crowe movie underperform, why wouldn’t you be worried about a film like
‘Knight and Day’?” said Paul Dergarabedian,
box-office analyst for entertainment Web site Hollywood.com.
“There are no sure bets anymore. The audience is so fickle that you just don’t
know.”
Cruise turns 48 next month, and while he retains his boyish good looks, it’s
hard to maintain an action career at that age and beyond, particularly with the
personal baggage dogging him.
As his public image sagged in 2006, “Mission: Impossible III” came out to some
of the best reviews in the series, yet it took in just $134 million, by far the
worst return for the franchise.
Cruise has done serious roles, earning Academy Awards nominations for “Born on the
Fourth of July,” “Jerry Maguire” and “Magnolia.” His three films since
“Mission: Impossible III” showed new sides to the actor, with middling results.
The war-on-terror drama “Lions for Lambs” flopped, part of Cruise’s ill-fated
effort to revive moribund United Artists, the banner whose founders included
Charles Chaplin and D.W. Griffith.
He drew praise for a hilarious supporting role in “Tropic Thunder,” playing a
bald, foul-mouthed studio boss. Cruise reprised the character at the recent MTV
Movie Awards, and he’s planning to play him again in a big-screen spinoff.
Cruise critics gleefully laid in wait to mock “Valkyrie,”
his World War II Nazi saga in which he donned an eyepatch
to play the German colonel who led an assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler.
But the movie wound up getting decent reviews, and while it was not a big hit,
it did respectable business.
A fourth “Mission: Impossible” instalment is in the works, though coming after
“Knight and Day,” even Cruise fans think he needs to focus less on the spy game
and find more diverse roles.
“When I first heard about ‘Knight and Day’ being put into production, I
thought, another spy movie,” said Daniel Hubschman,
content co-ordinator for Hollywood.com and a Cruise
fan since he saw “Top Gun” at age 7. “I would like to see Tom Cruise move away
from spy action. Whether it’s comedy, straight-up action,
sci-fi action. That’s the one thing that might detract from this movie.”
Even if “Knight and Day” flops, the film reveals that he has not lost the magnetism
that made him a star in the first place. He will have other shots to restore
his box-office trajectory, whether with “Mission: Impossible IV” or some other
project.
“I saw my first Tom Cruise movie when I was in high school. I’ve grown up with
him as a star of my generation, and THE star of my generation,” said “Knight
and Day” director Mangold. “With his talent and
uncanny relationship with the camera, he’s one of the few true movie stars in
the last century of film.”
Video: Obba Babatunde
Stars In ‘The Fallen Faithful’
Source: www.eurweb.com - By Larita
Shelby
(June 21, 2010) *Emmy nominated actor Obba Babatunde’ stars as
Father Emanuel in the forthcoming flick
“The Fallen Faithful.” The film is produced by PJ Leonard & The Other Side Of The
River Productions.
This diverse and innovative production company will also host a star studded
premiere on Monday, June 21st, 2010 at the Arclight
Theatre in Hollywood, California at 7:30 pm.
(Scroll down to watch the film’s trailer.)
The screenwriter is Elizabeth Regen who made several
sitcom performances before flexing her literary skills in this compelling
theatrical experience. The story is by E. B. Hughes.
In “The Fallen Faithful” Sonny Marinelli brings life
to the role of Moran Douglas; a troubled orphan who has grown into a ruthless
killer. Still plagued by inner turmoil, Douglass vacillates between the
foundations laid by two surrogate fathers; the power hungry psychopath Asa (played by Mark Margolis) and the more rational &
godly Emanuel (played by Obba Babatunde’).
Mr. Babatunde’ has over 100 film & television
appearances to his credit, including the Emmy
nominated performance in HBO’s “Miss Evers’ Boys.” Of
course Obba made history as C.C. White in the
original Broadway production of “Dreamgirls.”
Thankfully this brilliant and versatile talent is still providing the industry
with more and more displays of his multi-dimensional gifts and creative
aptitude.
Also appearing in The Fallen Faithful are Patrick Gallagher, Jaquelyn Pi ñol, Alan Smyth, Zeus
Mendoza and Eric Payne.
The film is directed by Hungarian born Csaba Bereczky. The Fallen Faithful offers a unique perspective
on man’s choices and consequences.
Watch the trailer for “The Fallen Faithful”:
FILM TIDBITS
Hong Kong Star To Play Bruce Lee
Source: www.thestar.com - Mike Collett-White
(June 21, 2010) Aarif Lee, 23, who rose to fame in Hong Kong as the
star of the hit movie Echoes of the Rainbow, will play Bruce Lee
in an upcoming biopic that focuses on the late kung fu icon's youth. Bruce
Lee: My Brother's Story is funded by a consortium of studios from Hong Kong
and mainland China. It will start shooting in June.
To Infinity At The Box Office
Source: www.thestar.com - Ashante
Infantry
(June 20, 2010) Welcome back, Woody and
Buzz. The animated heroes of Toy Story 3 sold $109 million (all
figures U.S.) worth of tickets during their opening weekend at the North
American box office, reviving slow summer sales, according to estimates issued
Sunday by distributor Walt Disney Co. The film scored the best debut for a film
produced by Disney’s Pixar Animation unit. The old mark of $70.5 million was
set by The Incredibles in May 2004. Pixar’s
perfect record of 11 No. 1 movies also remains intact, as expected. Woody the
cowboy, Buzz Lightyear the spaceman and their pals in
the toy chest starred in Pixar’s debut release, Toy Story, in 1995, a
film that inaugurated the era of computer-generated animation. They returned in
November 1999 with a sequel that opened to $57.3 million. Also new at the
box office was the comic-book adaptation Jonah Hex, which is an early
contender for biggest flop of the year. The movie, starring Josh Brolin as a Western bounty hunter, earned just $5.1 million
during its first three days.
::TV NEWS::\
Young Series Veterans Sing Rookie Blues
Source: www.thestar.com - Rob Salem
(June 20, 2010) They are anything but
“rookies.” But they play them on TV.
Rookie Blue co-stars Missy Peregrym
and Gregory Smith have between them almost 30 years solid acting
experience, much of it on American series, more often than not shows shot here in
Canada.
Montreal-born, B.C.-raised Peregrym, 28, made a
successful leap from modelling to acting, to the point where she had to give up
her recurring role on the then-hit Heroes to take on the female lead in Reaper.
Smith, 27, was born in Toronto and made his professional acting debut only 14
months later (in a Tide commercial). He went on to play Heath Ledger’s
ill-fated little brother in The Patriot, teamed with Kirsten Dunst to battle homicidal dolls in Small Soldiers
and capped a decade and a half of episodic TV with a starring role on Everwood.
And now it’s back to square one, fictionally speaking, as the focal figures of
a quintet of green but gung-ho police academy grads learning the ropes on the
mean streets of Toronto.
Rookie Blue debuts Thursday night on its originating network Global, and simultaneously in the States on ABC, temporarily
taking over the timeslot of the on-hiatus Grey’s Anatomy.
While the docs are away, the cops will play, a
summer-long trial run of 13 episodes that Peregrym and
Smith are obviously hoping will prove popular enough to lead to more.
The chances are good — Rookie Blue is the perfect placeholder, a
similarly character-driven procedural show about professional coming of age.
I am not the first person to describe it as Blues Anatomy, or Grey’s
Academy.
“Those are nice things for people to say,” acknowledges Smith. “I mean, that
show set the standard for procedural-based, character-driven drama.”
Peregrym enthusiastically agrees. “If we can match
that,” she laughs, “we will be sooo happy.”
Peregrym is front and centre as Andy McNally, an
earnest young cadet who exits the academy with more than her share of emotional
baggage.
“Andy’s a perfectionist,” she says. “She’s the girl who wants to save
everybody. It stems from her father, who was an alcoholic (cop), and exited the
division with a pretty bad name. Her mother left when she was 12, and she’s
hoping that the job can give her that sense of family that she’s missed.
“There’s so much depth to her character, which is exciting for me. I’ve never
been able to go that far with a character before. There is so much potential.
She’s a lot of fun to play.”
Perhaps, initially, just a little too much fun. “We
kind of got into a little trouble,” admits Peregrym,
“for goofing around with our guns. We got a bit of a talking-to. You really
can’t do that out where people can see you. Because to them
it looks real. We’re often mistaken for real cops when we’re filming.
“So we had to grow up a little bit.”
Just like their characters. Explains Smith: “My character, Dov
Epstein, is basically one of those guys who’s known exactly what he’s wanted to
do for as long as he can remember.”
“I kind of loosely based him on a guy I knew in kindergarten, who wanted to be
a cop so bad he used to pull kids over on the playground.”
He never did find out if the boy actually made it — he’s thinking about
tracking him down via Facebook — but if so, he too
would likely have found the reality far removed from the dream.
“He’s finally there. This is the moment he’s waited for his entire life. But
first he’ll have to reconcile what he had imagined it would be, with that
ignorance of youth, to the reality check of what it really is.”
Part of both actors’ real-life learning curve was a crash course in police
procedure and learning how to properly handle a gun.
“I’ll tell you one big misconception,” Smith says. “Cops never say ‘Freeze!’ It
might be misinterpreted. They might think you were, like, ordering fries. Or
that you had fleas.”
But it’s not so much what you yell as it is at whom. Their police training
included the familiar field test of shooting at a moving target range of
cardboard suspects and victims.
“Wasn’t it you who shot the mother and baby?” Peregrym
teases Smith.
“Yeah,” says Smith, sadly shaking his head. “I basically just shot the crap out
of anything that moved.”
Maybe they ought to rethink that whole “Freeze!” thing.
Glee To Step It Up Next Season
Source: www.globeandmail.com - Marsha Lederman
(June 20, 2010) Banff, Alta. —Expect new students, teachers – and more high-profile
guest stars – on the next
season of Glee. “We’re bringing in several new awesome
characters,” series co-creator Ian Brennan revealed at the Banff World
Television Festival on Wednesday, saying some of them joined the show after
auditioning on the social networking site
MySpace. “We were inundated,” Brennan said, adding they had “tens of thousands”
of entries.
The show’s first season tracked teacher Will Schuester’s
(Matthew Morrison) rebuilding of a competitive suburban high school glee club,
as he prepares the students for competition at Sectionals and Regionals. Part drama, part comedy, part musical, Glee
was a smash success.
Brennan says viewers can expect some changes in the fall. “The show sort of
steps up in the second season,” he said. “It’s not just anymore about a rag-tag
bunch of kids putting on a show.” He says the shift occurs as the students are
no longer most concerned about making friends or getting others involved in
glee club, but will instead focus more on winning. “It’s a shift,” he said.
“They’re in their sophomore year … and [there are] changes that happen there.”
There are several Canadians in the cast, including Calgary native Cory Monteith, who plays quarterback-turned-Glee-club-member
Finn Hudson. Brennan said he liked Monteith from the
beginning. “The actor playing that role sort of had to be Canadian,” he told
reporters in Banff. “I think if Cory was American, he wouldn’t be the same
kid.”
Brennan said season two will feature “hilarious, hilarious, awesome” guest
stars, but would not reveal any names. When asked about reports British singer
Leona Lewis would make an appearance, he smiled and said “no comment.” He also
said the show would feature another very high profile star. (There are rumours
it will be Justin Timberlake.) Brennan said Glee receives a lot of
requests from celebrities who want to be on the show; too many to accommodate
by writing them into the script. “You don’t want it to be The Love Boat,”
he said.
Dancing To A (Slightly) Different Tune
Source: www.thestar.com - Rob Salem
(June 22, 2010) When producer Nigel Lythgoe first announced he would be making changes to So You Think
You Can Dance, I thought he was crazy. And now that we’re a week into the actual
competition, I’m sure of it. Crazy like a fox — both the
animal and the network.
Lythgoe, who also created, directs and anchors the SYTYCD judging panel, has overhauled the structure
of the show, cutting immediately to the chase and starting out with only 10
finalists . . . well actually, as it turned out, 11, but that freedom to
improvise on the fly just speaks to the viability of the revamped rules.
Limiting the number of competitors only increases our
individual emotional investment, giving us that much extra time to get to know,
get behind and cheer on our favourites.
I was particularly worried about not coupling them off, which originally
allowed them to develop (or not) solid partnerships, with the added excitement
of then tearing them asunder as their ranks decreased, ultimately to fend for
themselves.
But to partner them up instead with a rotating roster of SYTYCD
all-stars from previous seasons . . . surely just a naked ploy to elevate the
ratings.
I did not truly appreciate what wonderful fun it could be reconnecting with
these former favourites, all uniquely charismatic performers still very much at
the top of their game. And I never imagined how much this would actually, contrarily highlight the individual new
competitors.
Nor did it even occur to me that, relieved of the couples restraint, the show’s
matchless choreographers would be free to work in additional combinations of
three, four, five . . .
I panicked when I saw veteran judge Mary Murphy missing from the weekly panel.
And then I realized that, much as I love her — and I am looking right now at a
photo of the two of us, prominently displayed on my desk — I have to admit, the
woman’s constant banshee shriek and “hot tamale train” shtick was starting to
wear a little thin.
Replacing her with the incomparable Mia Michaels was even more worrisome; the
show will suffer greatly from the loss of her particular choreographic genius,
though I imagine she will at least keep a hand in on some of those wonderful,
non-competitive, en masse opening numbers. Still, it is almost worth it for her
honest and often impassioned commentary.
The instalment of Adam Shankman as a regular judge
last year brought added expertise, eloquence and a wicked sense of humour,
bringing out in particular the lighter side of Lythgoe,
who will now finally be able to uncover his ears.
Shankman also, as far I can recall, was the first
judge ever to unreservedly criticize the work of an in-house choreographer. Not
that there is a lot of occasion to do so. But no one hits the ball out of the
park every single time.
It’s an example our own, generally gushy — albeit sincerely so — Canadian
judges might do well to consider. There’s nothing wrong with a little
well-earned praise, but on the homegrown So You
Think You Can Dance Canada it has become just a tad overzealous,
particularly where choreographers are concerned.
The Canadian show, which returns mid-August, does not yet have enough seasons
to draw from to be able to adopt the new format.
The American original’s second elimination round airs Wednesday and Thursday
nights on Fox and CTV.
TV TIDBITS
Kravitz, Diddy to Guest Star on HBO’s Entourage
Source: www.eurweb.com
(June 17, 2010) *Lenny Kravitz and Sean “Diddy”
Combs are among the guest stars lined up for an
upcoming episode of the HBO comedy “Entourage,” reports EW.com.
Kravitz will play himself—with Ari Gold (Jeremy Piven) serving as his agent. In the episode, “Ari’s trying
to trade favours,” says series creator Doug Ellin.
“He’s got to get Lenny to do a movie so someone else will do something for
him.” Meanwhile, Diddy and “Entourage” executive producer Mark Wahlberg will portray themselves on the golf course.
“Turtle [Jerry Ferrara] is starting a business, and he’s trying to get them to
invest in it,” says Ellin. “He’s going to a lot of
people about this investment.” The episode will air in August as part of the show’s seventh season, which debuts June 27.
Mos Def Gets ‘Enlightened’ for HBO
Source: www.eurweb.com
(June 23, 2010) *Mos Def has signed on to star in HBO’s upcoming comedy series “Enlightened,” reports
Deadline. Laura Dern stars as a woman who changes her
life after a spiritual awakening, complicating her relationships with family
and friends. Mos Def will play Dern’s
boss. The rapper-actor’s last go-round with HBO, the
2004 film “Something the Lord Made,” earned him an Emmy
nomination.
::THEATRE
NEWS::
Dissent Clouds Dora Awards
Source: www.thestar.com - Richard Ouzounian
(June 22, 2010) Who’s going to keep the wolf away from the Dora?
In the past few days, the artistic directors of two of this city’s largest arts
organizations informed me of their decision to end their affiliation with the
Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts after this year’s Dora Awards.
Every year, people complain about how the Doras are
run, but this year was worse than ever. And in light of TAPA’s
refusal to make any significant changes, it seems revolution is the order of
the day.
You might wonder why it would be so significant if a couple of larger companies
withdrew from this organization, but here’s the answer.
TAPA’s budget is primarily supported by the dues of
its members and those dues are predicated on the annual budget of the
organizations in question.
In other words, Mirvish Productions foots a lot more
of the total bill than, say, Theatre Columbus.
Another economic factor not generally known to the public is that you have to
be a dues-paying member of TAPA to be eligible for Doras. That’s why some excellent shows go unnominated each year: because the producers involved
either can’t or won’t spend the cash to join TAPA.
It’s one of the reasons that the superb Sandra Shamas
has never been nominated for a Dora and never will be as long as those rules
are in place. Why would she support an organization that really can’t do much
for her?
THIS CHICK ROCKS! The cast of the hit musical Rock of Ages now
playing at the Royal Alex is virtually all-Canadian, but it will take another
step toward being totally True North Strong and Free very soon.
The Star has learned that Josephine Rose Roberts, so funny in the role
of political activist Regina, will leave the Toronto company
to take over the role on Broadway at the end of July.
Her replacement will be the lovely and talented Adrienne Merrell, whose most
recent Toronto appearances were as Christine in The Boys in the Photograph
at the Royal Alex and as Cathy in The Last Five Years at the Toronto
Centre for the Arts.
Her onstage romantic partner in Rock of Ages is Cody Scott Lancaster as
the mad metrosexual German Franz. It won’t take much
getting used to for either of them, because they played a
couple in The Boys in the Photograph as well.
SHARRON SHARE ALIKE: What’s the cost of World Domination? About $8,000,
or at least that’s how much Sharron Matthews still has to raise to finance her
conquest of the Edinburgh Festival this August under that name. (Her loyal fans
have contributed $22,000 already.) This one-woman dynamo has just returned from
New York, where she earned the kind of buzz we normally don’t give people in
Canada.
“Cabaret in the city hasn’t ever encountered anything like Matthews before or
since,” wrote one critic, “and she simply must make her presence more widely
known within a very short time.”
If you’ve seen this awesome talent in any one of the numerous local musicals
she’s lit up, or in her popular cabaret, Sharron’s Party, then you know
how great she can be.
If not, take my word for it. Any donation you make to Matthews is
tax-deductible, because of her relationship with Buddies In
Bad Times Theatre.
Just email her and the diva will explain all!
Elton John okays a tour for Love Lies Bleeding
Source: www.globeandmail.com - By Marsha Lederman
(June 22, 2010) Alberta Ballet production, based on pop star's
music, to hit the road next year
It was the phone call that Alberta Ballet artistic director Jean
Grand-Maître has been waiting weeks for. Ray
Cooper was on the line: percussionist, long-time collaborator, close friend and
confidante to Elton John. Cooper had been to Calgary last month to see the world premiere
of Love Lies Bleeding, a ballet set to the pop star's music, choreographed by Grand-Maître.
John, who sent a big bouquet and a card to Grand-Maître on opening night
apologizing for not being there, had sent Cooper in his place:
It would be up to the drummer to watch the ballet and report back.
John had given Grand-Maître the approval to show the ballet in Alberta only.
Once it was staged in Calgary and Edmonton, John would weigh in on whether the
production was good enough to tour elsewhere. The stakes were high: At
$1.1-million, the ballet's budget had doubled from its original estimate, and
Grand-Maître would be in hot water, he knew, if the
show could go nowhere.
" I don't call it a Broadway show, because it ain't. "- Jean Grand-Maître
"This was the biggest risk I've ever taken. I pushed the company into huge
investment in [a] very difficult economic time," he says.
So when Cooper called him up last week, Grand-Maître was on pins and needles.
Cooper reported that he and John had spent the previous day watching the ballet
on DVD and discussing it. And then: "Ray ... said the news was good. The
maestro was very happy, he really loves the ballet. He loves that the ballet
[deals with] themes that are important to him today: dignity for people with
AIDS, compassion and tolerance for homosexuals. ... He seems to be happy that
the ballet did not cop out and become highly entertaining schlock. That we used
his life and challenges he faced in his life to educate."
The ballet, inspired by John's life, examines the cult of celebrity through a
fan-turned-fantasy-rock-star protagonist. It deals with difficulties John
himself has faced, such as drug addiction.
"I am proud of what the Alberta Ballet has created and I am looking
forward to seeing this ballet live on," John said in a written statement
released by the ballet company. "It is a strong, contemporary choreography
that entertains and challenges dance audiences with its new aesthetics and its
powerful fusion of different art mediums. I hope it will attract thousands of
new patrons to this wonderful art form."
That point was key, says Grand-Maître: John is keen to
bring new people to the ballet, and they both feel Love Lies Bleeding,
with its hit songs, accessible story - and its superstar attached - can
accomplish that. "We think between 8,000 and 10,000 people came to the
ballet for the very first time in their lives with this show," says
Grand-Maître.
John's approval does come with some strings. While he has asked for no changes
to the content, he has indicated that the ballet cannot tour to a city where it
will be competing with another John show: either a live performance, or any of
his theatrical properties such as The Lion King or Billy Elliot.
(Although Grand-Maître feels there may be some wriggle room in a large
arts-friendly city such as New York.)
Also the ballet must be presented and marketed as such: "That means I
don't call it a Broadway show," says Grand-Maître, "because it ain't."
Even before the world premiere, Grand-Maître had received offers from
interested promoters around the world. He's also been called by organizations
wanting to sponsor the tour - a first, he points out with a laugh. "It
seems that we'll be world touring."
While he's had offers to present the ballet as early as January, 2011,
Grand-Maître says a tour will likely have to wait until September, 2011. It's a
massive undertaking: a two-truck tour with some 45 personnel and a lot of
equipment. The logistics are daunting, but the payoff could be spectacular:
Grand-Maître estimates the ballet could bring in "hundreds of thousands of
dollars" each year for his company. And he thinks it will be such a hot
seller, he may create a touring ensemble specifically for this property,
beginning in September, 2012.
"I predict that we'll be touring for years to come and give our dancers
extra weeks of work and give us some financial stability as well in these
challenging times."
They're also in discussions about televising the work.
Grand-Maître, who has also created a ballet with Joni Mitchell (The Fiddle
and the Drum) and is working on a ballet set to Sarah McLachlan's music,
figures the first tour of Love Lies Bleeding will concentrate on Canada,
perhaps kicking off in Toronto, with some U.S. dates. But he sees it going far
beyond and for years to come - perhaps with some pop ballet double-bills. And
there's one city he has his eye on in particular.
"I dream to see it performed one day in London, where Elton can finally
see it live: having him sitting next to us, watching his life on stage."
Mirvish Leaves Stage Fans Plenty Of Choices Even During G20
Source: www.thestar.com - Richard Ouzounian
(June 20, 2010) Were you all pumped to see Rock of Ages or Mamma
Mia! this week, only to find that the G20
had rained on your parade and the Mirvishes were
keeping their theatres closed in the interests of safety and sanity?
Sorry, dude!
Fear not, Rock of Ages will be back on June 29 to delight audiences
again. Mamma Mia!’s
stay in Toronto was supposed to come to an end on June 27, anyway, and
considering the quality of the touring cast, don’t shed any tears.
But what are you going to do if you’re dying for an in-town theatrical
experience next week? Here’s five very worthy solutions.
• SECOND CITY FOR MAYOR — Second City Theatre, 51 Mercer Street
(416-343-0033) Okay, the theatre is right in the belly of the G20 beast, but
they’ve got a hilarious show playing and they’re offering all seats next week
for $20! Even better is their dinner- theatre package with $35 buying you a
full-course dinner AND the show at some choice area restaurants. Details at: www.secondcity.com/page/dinnertheatre
• ONEGIN — Four Seasons Centre for the
Performing Arts, 145 Queen St. W. (416-345-9595) Have you never been to the
National Ballet of Canada? This is your chance! It’s a great story-ballet with
an easy-to-follow plot-line, luscious music by Tchaikovsky, a dazzling new
design and a company dancing at their peak. Go to www.national.ballet.ca
for advice on “dancing around the G20”.
• ROMEO AND JULIET — Canadian Stage’s Dream in High Park, Grenadier
Pond. 416-367-1652. Catch one of the final previews of this year’s outdoor
Shakespeare treat, seated on a grassy slope while the sun sets around you. Jeff
Irving (Sound of Music, Robin Hood) is the manly Montague. Pay what you can.
Details at: www.canadianstage.com/dream
• JITTERS — Soulpepper Theatre Company at the
Young Centre for the Performing Arts, 55 Mill St. 416-866-8666. Another show to
visit in previews, this one is David French’s much-loved comedy about the
trials and tribulations of putting on a new Canadian play. C. David Johnson and
Diane D’Aquilla star. More info at www.soulpepper.ca
• THE WEDDING SINGER — Stage West Dinner Theatre, 5400 Dixie Rd.
(905-238-0042) Mississauga is nice and far from downtown Toronto and this
feel-good musical is a great way to pretend the G20 never came to town. Erica
Peck is the standout in a great cast and the buffet makes for one-stop
shopping! www.stagewest.com
Prospero Won’t Be Plummer’s Last Role
Source: www.globeandmail.com - J. Kelly Nestruck
(June 23, 2010) Did William Shakespeare write The
Tempest as a farewell to the theatre? Whether or not it was intended
as such, his romance about revenge and reconciliation on an enchanted island,
which opens in a production starring Christopher Plummer
on Friday at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival, has become closely
associated with endings both planned and unplanned in the 400 years since it
premiered.
Certainly, when it was first announced that Plummer would be playing Prospero
this summer, it was logical to wonder whether this would be the 81-year-old
actor's parting part.
The role has become a favourite for actors nearing the end of a long stage
career: Just five years ago, revered Canadian actor William Hutt took his final
bow at Stratford in it, released from his long career as he spoke Prospero's
last line: “As you from crimes would pardoned be, let your indulgence set me
free.” (That's the audience's cue to clap.)
Plummer, however, has been clear that his Prospero is not a swan song. With his
recent Oscar nomination and
box-office success with films like Up, his career is still going strong
and he intends to return to the stage quickly – possibly in a comic role
directed by Des McAnuff, who is also helming The
Tempest. (Perhaps Malvolio in next season's
rumoured production of Twelfth Night?)
So how did Prospero come to be associated with final curtains in the first
place? Though it appears at the beginning of the First Folio, the 1623
collection of Shakespeare's plays, The Tempest is widely considered to
be the Bard's final full play. And the magician Prospero has long been read as
the poet's stand-in, at least since the 19th century when it became fashionable
to try to glean traces of an author's autobiography in his work.
In Shakespeare's story – which has no known original source –
Prospero, who was once Duke of Milan, rules over an uncharted island that is
ostensibly located in the Mediterranean, but contains hints of the New World
and, practically speaking, exists solely in the imagination.
When a ship full of his old enemies and friends come within the vicinity of the
island, Prospero, with the help of the spirit Ariel, causes it to wreck; he
then manipulates the survivors from afar, sending them on quests and teaching
them lessons.
The parallel to artistic creation is very clear, though Prospero doesn't behave
exactly like a playwright – as critic Northrop Frye observed, he's really more
of an actor-manager, both playing the lead role and directing the show.
When Prospero gives up the “art” of magic and says he'll “retire me to my
Milan, where every third thought shall be my grave” in the final scene,
however, generations of critics have imagined Shakespeare similarly tottering
off to Stratford-upon-Avon to putter in the garden.
But not everyone is as soft-headed. “In point of historical fact, The
Tempest was not Shakespeare's last play, and the romantic notion of a
'farewell to the stage' serves the Shakespeare myth better than the Shakespeare
reality,” Harvard professor Marjorie Garber grumbles in her book Shakespeare
After All. “It is we, not the playwright, who seem to need a ceremonial
occasion to say goodbye.”
Indeed, most scholars believe that Shakespeare followed The Tempest with
at least two other plays, Henry VIII and The Two Noble Kinsmen,
and possibly the legendary lost play Cardenio.
But since those endeavours were co-authored by John Fletcher, however, they
have, perhaps unfairly, tended not to be viewed as “real” Shakespeare.
In any case, who's to say that the Bard didn't head off to Stratford and then,
like so many artists ill-advisedly do to this day, attempt a comeback? Hutt
himself – who, it should be noted, played Prospero a total of four times at
Stratford –came out of retirement to perform King Lear, in a way, on the TV
series Slings and Arrows. And he planned a return to Stratford in 2007,
before ill health forced him to withdraw.
In fact, if Shakespeare is similar in personality to Prospero, then it makes
sense that he would have trouble staying away from the stage. As The Tempest
draws to a close, Prospero keeps delivering speeches that sound as if they
should be epilogues. First there's “our revels now are ended,” which includes
the famous line, “We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life
is rounded with a sleep.” Then there's “this rough magic I here abjure,” where
he breaks his staff and drowns his magic books. By the time he gets to the
actual epilogue and lets us know that now his “charms are all o'erthrown,” it can feel like a victory lap.
Academic David Bevington has eloquently expressed why
the connection between Prospero's final speeches and Shakespeare is so hard to
shake. “No doubt it is a romantic fiction to associate the dramatist
Shakespeare with Prospero's farewell to his art,” he has written, “but it is an
almost irresistible idea, because we are so moved by the sense of completion
yet humility, the exultation and yet the calm contained in this leave-taking.”
Similarly, it will be hard not to associate the words Prospero speaks this
summer at Stratford with the aging, adored actor playing him. While we hope and
expect Plummer's performance this summer will be just another notch on his belt, if he plays it well
it will no doubt feel like a valediction.
The Tempest runs in Stratford, Ont., from June 25 to Sept. 12.
Actress Tracy Wright Dead At 50
Source: www.globeandmail.com - J.D. Considine
(June 23, 2010) Toronto actress Tracy Wright, who frequently
collaborated with husband Don McKellar on films
including Monkey Warfare, Highway 61, and the upcoming concert film, This
Movie is Broken, has died.
She was 50.
An obituary notice published Wednesday says Wright passed away peacefully at
home Tuesday, surrounded by family.
Friend and collaborator Reg Harkema
says she had been battling pancreatic cancer and took a sudden turn for the
worse about a month ago.
Although mostly known for smaller roles, Wright's list of diverse credits in
film, television and theatre established her as a fixture on the indie scene.
Her 20-year career included appearances in more than 35 films and TV shows, as she worked
with luminaries such as Bruce McDonald and playwright Daniel MacIvor.
She starred as an aging, pot-smoking radical in Harkema's
2006 movie Monkey Warfare and last year appeared in a theatrical remount
of MacIvor’s A Beautiful View.
Upcoming projects were to include the title role in a reading of Bertolt Brecht’s Life Of
Galileo and as an alt-rock-band survivor in McDonald’s film, Trigger.
“She was not in good shape the last time we saw her but you know, she still had
all the spark and wit and passion,” Harkema said
Wednesday.
Wright has a small cameo in McDonald's concert film, This Movie Is Broken,
which opens Friday in Toronto and Vancouver.
A visitation is planned for Thursday and a memorial will be announced at a
later date.
Wright is survived by McKellar, her father Colin Wright, her brother Paul,
sisters Gloria and Stephanie, parents- in-law John and Kay McKellar and their
families.
Jersey Boys Finds Its Millionth Customer
Source: www.thestar.com - Richard Ouzounian
(June 23, 2010) For Amanda Sant, it was
a million-to-one shot.
The Innisfil woman was surprised Wednesday afternoon
to be told she was the millionth customer to attend Jersey Boys, the hit
musical presented by Dancap Productions at the
Toronto Centre for the Arts.
Sant, who is five months pregnant, took her mother to
the matinee and was rewarded with a prize of an all-expense-paid trip to New
York, including a night at Jersey Boys on Broadway, where the show
opened in 2005.
For almost two years, the musical saga of Frankie Valli
and the Four Seasons has played to large and enthusiastic audiences in Toronto,
just as it has done in other cities across North America since its first tryout
in La Jolla, Calif., in 2004.
When the show’s Toronto presenter, Aubrey Dan, announced he was opening the
show at a theatre north of
Yonge St. and Sheppard Ave., downtown sceptics
doubted it could succeed. But the GTA has changed
and, as Dan puts it, “what used to be perceived as the north of the city is now
the heart of the city.”
When the show opened on Aug. 24, 2008, Dan said he “never dreamed it would
reach its millionth customer . . . but that doesn’t make it any less
thrilling.”
Des McAnuff, the Stratford Shakespeare Festival
artistic director, who originally directed the show and guided it to its
Tony-winning stint on Broadway as well as its Toronto incarnation, said he was
also thrilled the show had achieved such “a truly remarkable milestone.”
Dan said the success of Jersey Boys has also given him courage to
continue in his battle to be considered as a major presenter of commercial
theatre in Toronto. He has struggled to get venues and some of his attempts
have failed, such as last fall’s show The Toxic Avenger.
“I’m committed to staying with this effort,” Dan said. “In fact, I’m more
involved than I ever have been before. My organization has its finger on the
pulse of Toronto, but we’re also close to what’s happening in New York and
London.”
Dan is one of the producers of Memphis, which won this season’s Tony
Award for Best Musical, evidence that the quirky, slouch-hatted
impresario is not to be written off as a major player on the city’s scene.
As for the lucky Sant, her prize trip will be her
first ever to Manhattan, and a memory she’ll never forget.
THEATRE TIDBITS
Tammy Grimes Gets Back To Caberet
Source: www.thestar.com - The New York Times
(June 23, 2010) NEW YORK—At 76, Tammy Grimes has amassed a lifetime of stories and
loves to tell them.
She was discovered singing in a cabaret by Noel Coward, knew she would marry
Canadian actor Christopher Plummer the first time she saw him onstage (and she
did), was the first and in some people’s minds the only Unsinkable Molly
Brown (sorry, Debbie Reynolds), and once showered with a young Marlon
Brando. And beginning Tuesday and continuing for six more nights over this week
and next, Grimes will return to her roots in cabaret with Miss Tammy Grimes:
Favourite Songs and Stories at the Metropolitan Room in Gramercy. In
addition to Molly Brown, Grimes is known for her Broadway roles in the
musical High Spirits, and the original cast of 42nd Street. She
performed extensively with the Stratford Shakespeare Festival, had a
short-lived TV series, The Tammy Grimes Show, in the 1960s (after
passing on the role of Samantha Stevens in the hit TV series Bewitched),
and only shared the stage once with Plummer, her first of three husbands (their
daughter is the actress Amanda Plummer).
::TECHNOLOGY
NEWS::
Joe Danger: Stunt-Combo Game Delivers With Adrenalin Doses
Source: www.thestar.com - Darren Zenko
Joe Danger
(out of 4)
PS3 (download)
$14.95
Rated e
Back in junior-high science class, where tandem tables were even more conducive
to non-academic diversionsthan
rows of desks, my friend Mike and I used to play a drawing game we called “Dare
Devil.” Passing a sheet of paper, taking turns adding segments of death-track,
we’d put a little stickman on a motorbike through a gauntlet of ramps, pits,
shark-filled pools, rotating blades, lava lakes and laser grids. We’d mess that
little guy up good, but he always came out smiling, dazed and broken but
triumphant. I immediately recognized and responded to that same spirit of
gleeful stunt chaos in Hello Games’ excellent PS3
download title, Joe Danger.
A riotous, sparkling, candy-coloured blend of Excitebike,
Mario, Wario and any number of
stunt-combo games, with maybe a little dash of Crazy Taxi for spice, Joe
Danger puts you in the jumpsuit and cape of its plucky eponymous
cycle-stuntman as he attempts to come back from retirement to reclaim his spot
at the top of the international daredevil rankings. You’ll race him through
rapid-fire challenges, boosting, leaping, flipping and generally cannonballing (or pin-balling) through hilariously
high-energy obstacle courses that might’ve been pulled right from the brain of
a sadistic adolescent.
The key word to Joe Danger is speed. Not just the raw speed of Joe’s
onscreen motoring, or the alacrity with which he busts out aerial combos after
being launched into the air, but quickness overall — it’s pure go, go, go. Joe
Danger never forces you to wait too long between adrenalin doses, and those
doses are never too drawn out; if you’re taking more than a couple minutes to
get through a level, you’re either doing it wrong or you’re taking your time to
explore.
The fact you can take time to explore is actually one of the game’s unexpected
pleasures. Sure, it’s mostly flat-out stunt action, but Joe Danger’s
many stages are less like “tracks” than platform-style levels, complete with
hidden treasures waiting to reward those who like to poke around in every nook
and cranny. And any given level will have multiple challenges associated with
it, so you end up playing the same stage multiple times, in very different
ways, to achieve those various goals. Head-to-head multiplayer and a fun little
track editor — which sadly does not feature LittleBigPlanet-style
global sharing — add even more depth to the package.
On the audiovisual level, Joe Danger is a real treat, bright and brassy
and wholly geared toward building a sense of recklessness and joy. The sound
design is especially good, a happy cacophony of engine revs, hyperbolic track
announcer, satisfying crowd reactions, coin blings
straight out of Mario, and propulsive music. Man, that music;
double-time party funk featuring an organ player busting out sweet riffs like
Booker T. on speed . . . totally boss.
Not to be too mercenary about it, but in these tough economic times, you’ve got
to look to maximizing your game budget, and considered in terms of
grins-on-the-dollar, the 15-buck Joe Danger delivers value like little
else out there. High speed, high fun, high danger . . . this is everything
you’ve ever loved about video games, cooked down into concentrated form.
Toews is NHL Cover Athlete
Source: www.thestar.com - Raju
Mudhar
(June 21, 2010) It was a case of the present versus the future,
and like most things these days, things went very
well for Jonathan Toews. This past year,
the Chicago Blackhawks centre won Olympic Gold with Team Canada, then the
Stanley Cup, and was awarded the Conn Smythe trophy
for being the playoff MVP. On Monday, he was named the cover athlete for the EA Sports NHL 11.
At the launch event at a local art gallery, Toews
played the game against Tyler Seguin, the Plymouth
Whaler touted a top pick in Friday’s NHL draft. In the opening moments, Toews quickly potted a goal, sticking his tongue out in joy
seconds after he took the lead in their virtual game.
“I think coming in [playing pro hockey], one of the first things you’re excited
to see is yourself in a video game, but you never imagine that being on the
cover is going to happen so quickly,” said the 22-year-old Blackhawks Captain,
who says he been playing video game hockey since he was 7 on the NES and Sega consoles.
Unlike the famed Madden Curse — that NFL video game’s cover athlete has a long
and dark history of misfortune after appearing on the game — Toews says it’s an honour to join the stellar list of
fellow NHLers who have appeared on the NHL game, and
he didn’t have to look far to know it’s at least bunk for his sport, as his
teammate Patrick Kane had the honour last year, and things turned out pretty
well for him.
“We would joke about that with Kaner, this year, but
he had a great year,” he said. “The [video game] simulation predicted that we’d
win the Cup before the playoffs started, and we ended up winning, so hopefully
this is a sign of only good things to come.”
As for Seguin, he says his life has been “surreal” as he prepares to realize
his dream of playing professional hockey, and says that being part of a video
game only adds to the excitement. He was on hand because one of the new
additions to NHL 11 is that it will feature Canadian Hockey League
players and franchises.
“It’s unreal,” said Seguin. “I thought I was a big fan before, but now I’m even
a bigger fan. I can go up there and try and do my dangle with my own hands.”
It’s the 20th anniversary edition of EA’s hockey
franchise, and in addition to the Canadian junior league players being added to
the game, the game developer is touting the addition of a new physics engine,
which is software that controls all the physical aspects within the game.
“We looked at Fight Night 4 and what they did, and how successful they
were in making the game play open-ended and non-scripted. We saw that and
figured we had to get that into the NHL and a team sports game for the first
time,” said Sean Ramjagsingh, associate producer of NHL
11.
“So when you think physics and you think hockey, the first thing you think of
is big hits, and we have those, but now the great thing about the game play is
that every single hit will be different.”
The new engine will affect everything in the game, from the way that sticks
handle to how the puck bounces off a goalie’s pads after a shot. Another change
is that player’s sticks can be broken and players will actually be able to play
without them for moments until they make it to the bench to get another one.
NHL 11 will be released on Sept. 7, 2010.
::OTHER
NEWS::
OTHER TIDBITS
Oprah, Will.i.am
to get Stars on Walk of Fame
Source: www.eurweb.com
(June 17, 2010) *Oprah Winfrey and Black Eyed Peas frontman
will.i.am are among 30 new celebs
announced Thursday as 2011 recipients of a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Penelope Cruz, The Muppets, Gwyneth Paltrow, Donald
Sutherland, Reese Witherspoon, Danny DeVito and Tina
Fey will also be immortalized in pink-and-black terrazzo during ceremonies next
year. Honourees in the recording category include Melissa Etheridge, Los Tigres Del Norte and Rascal Flatts.
::DANCE
NEWS::
McGee Maddox: Plucked From The Corps De Ballet
Source: www.globeandmail.com - Paula Citron
(June 22, 2010) It’s the stuff of legends: A young dancer is
catapulted out of the ranks in his first season with the
company to perform a starring role.
McGee Maddox, only 23, will
take the lead in the National Ballet of Canada’s production of John Cranko’s masterpiece Onegin
at the matinee performance this Thursday in Toronto. And while it may be a
single midday outing, as ballet aficionados know, it signals a promise of glory
to come. In fact, just this week McGee was promoted to second soloist.
It was Reid Anderson, director of this production, who plucked Maddox out of
the corps de ballet. The former National artistic director, currently head of
Stuttgart Ballet, was himself one of the great Onegins.
“I went on my gut instinct when I saw McGee in company class,” he says. “He may
be young but he has bearing, deportment and moves with elegance. He’s also a
very good partner, a natural onstage, and he’s blessed with charisma and a
strong theatrical presence.”
Right from his start with the National, Maddox has been cast in such hefty
roles as Benno, the Prince’s friend in James Kudelka’s Swan Lake, and in the Snow Queen Pas de Trois in Kudelka’s The
Nutcracker. He was also one of the few whiz kids chosen for Jorma Elo’s world premiere Pur ti Miro.
The Globe caught up with Maddox between rehearsals to find out how he handled
being the only boy in his ballet class in Spartanburg, S.C., how he recovered
from injury to keep on dancing and what it means to play Eugene Onegin.
The obvious first question: How did you get into dance, anyway?
I was a hyperactive kid. When my mother, a pianist, played our Steinway, I’d
dance around to the music – so my parents put me into creative movement
[classes]. I started to take dance seriously when I began formal ballet classes
at 7 or 8.
What was it like being a ballet boy in a conservative Southern town?
As the only boy in ballet class, I certainly had to defend my choice of art
form, so I became known as a little guy with a big mouth. I was also into
sports, played the cello in the school orchestra, studied piano and around 14
got into rock with drums and guitar – but I always knew that dance was where I
was supposed to be. I fast-tracked through high school
because I had to get out of Spartanburg.
And you went straight to Houston Ballet. Why there?
I’d taken summer ballet intensives at Houston Ballet’s Ben Stevenson Academy
with a phenomenal teacher called Lazaro Carreno. When I was offered a scholarship, I jumped. After
two years I joined the company.
Even as an apprentice, you got leading roles – and then everything came to a
grinding halt. Tell me about you injury.
In the last week of my apprentice year, I tore my knee. Between surgery and
rehabilitation, I lost a year and a half.
How did having such a serious injury affect you so early in your career?
When I first went to Houston, I was in that dangerous young-dancer mindset. I
wanted to have the edge that comes from pushing yourself to be the best. The
time away taught me not to try so damn hard – to be honest with myself, and
dance how I feel, and not do things that don’t feel right.
You only spent one more year with Houston before auditioning for the
National. Why the move?
I felt I had grown as much as I could, and after six years, it was time to work
with different people. I was looking for a company with a progressive rep that
was au courant and attracted the movers and shakers of dance. The
National is the ‘here and now’ of ballet.
You certainly got major roles right away.
I think people here could see that I could handle big stuff in a short amount
of time. I’m committed to this art form. My technique is constantly evolving. I
want to be a great dancer.
Tell me about landing that pivotal matinee lead in Onegin.
Onegin is a role that a dancer can build a career on.
Tchaikovsky’s music is awesome and the choreography is perfect. It requires
partnering and acting, so it’s my kind of ballet. It’s a dream of every male
dancer to perform Onegin one day. Because the ballet
is associated with mature artists, it’s a very big surprise to be taking on the
role at 23.
The National Ballet’s Onegin runs through Friday
at Toronto’s Four Seasons Centre. McGee Maddox performs the title role in
Thursday’s matinee at 2 p.m.
This interview has been condensed and edited.
::SPORTS
NEWS::
World Cup Coverage
Source: www.thestar.com
South Korea draws with Nigeria to advance at World Cup
Argentina beats Greece to top Group B standings
France stumbles out of World Cup
Uruguay beats Mexico but both advance at World Cup
U.S.
and England win key matches to advance at World Cup
German
win sets up date with rival English side
SPORTS TIDBITS
Female Players Named To Hockey Hall Of
Fame For First Time
Source: www.thestar.com - Richard Ouzounian
(June 22, 2010) The Hockey Hall of Fame is set to enshrine women for the first
time. Canadian player Angela
James and U.S. player Cammi Granato
were among those elected to the Hall of Fame today. They were joined in the players category by former star NHL forward Dino Ciccarelli. Longtime Red Wings
executive Jimmy Devellano and the late Daryl (Doc)
Seaman — a founding owner of the Calgary Flames — were elected as builders. The
induction ceremony will be held in November. While women had always been
eligible for induction, the Hall made it easier for them to be selected when it
established a women's subcategory this year. Not selected were Eric Lindros and
Joe Nieuwendyk. Both were in their first year of
eligibility and seen as possible top candidates.
Photos: Venus’ Wimbledon Dress Inspired
by Tina Turner; Both Sisters Advance
Source: www.eurweb.com
(June 22, 2010) Venus Williams competes during first round at Wimbledon,
June 21, 2010 *Serena Williams
made lightening quick work of her opponent at Wimbledon this morning, while her
sister Venus – who caused yet another stir with her outfit – cruised through
her opening match on Monday to advance to the tournament’s second round. Serena
took just 21 minutes to eliminate Michelle Larcher de
Brito 6-0, 6-4, delivering 15 aces in the process.
Venus, who ditched her controversial flesh-coloured shorts for a pair of white
ones, disposed of Paraguay’s Rossana De Los Rios 6-3,
6-2 while dressed in a frilly layered dress inspired by Tina Turner. “I love
Tina Turner. Obviously, she’s just an amazing, amazing artist, just a
survivor,” Venus told reporters about her ensemble. Referring to the uproar
over her Australian Open shorts that made her appear to be playing without underwear,
Williams said yesterday: ‘There’s no illusion this time. Here it’s all about
white. I just think it’s a fun, elegant dress.”
