Langfield Entertainment
424 Yonge Street,
Suite 301, Toronto, ON M5B 2H3
(416) 677-5883
langfieldent@rogers.com
www.langfieldentertainment.com
NEWSLETTER
Updated: May 13, 2004
Enjoying
this spring weather? Gotta love Canadians out there at the first signs of
spring. Call me a weather cynic, but I still feel like it could snow
before it’s all said and done! There’s lots of Canadian news this week,
including schedules for the summer festivals and summer concerts here in Toronto – get out your day planners!
There special parties going on next weekend for our first long weekend of the
summer – May 24!! IRIE is kicking off its summer DJ
series starting on Friday night. As well, www.dwayneanddave.com bring you long weekend parties at Chocolate on Saturday night and Ricochet on Sunday night. Put on your dancing
shoes and celebrate the impending great summer! The Honey Jam auditions are back as well!
What else can I
say – there’s so much to mention that you’re just going to have to scroll
down!
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.
OPPORTUNITY
Honey Jam Auditions - Friday, June 4, 2004
With
the Honey Jam Auditions less than a
month away, PhemPhat announces the
nationwide search for female talent is on! Going for 9 years strong, PhemPhat
has set the standard for live performances in Canada. The purpose of The Honey
Jam is to give artists an opportunity to perform live where they will be seen
by key A&R representatives, artist managers, seasoned artists and record
producers. Dynamic females representing hip
hop, jazz, soca, r&b, gospel, rock, dancehall, blues, alternative, opera –
all genres of music - are invited to audition for a spot in the 2004 Honey Jam
Showcase. They will be judged by a panel of approximately 10 industry insiders
– managers, A&R reps, vocal coaches, producers, artists, video producers,
music writers, musicians, etc. Toronto-area
performers are invited to audition for a spot in the showcase on Friday, June 4th
at 4:00 p.m. at the Phoenix Concert Theatre, 410 Sherbourne Street. Artists are
strongly recommended to arrive by 3:00 p.m. to register, as organizers
anticipate only being able to see 200 performers. There is an admission fee of
$5 for spectators. Artists outside of Ontario who are
unable to attend the auditions are encouraged to mail their audition on
videotape, along with a photo and bio to:
HONEY
JAM AUDITIONS
c/o
Maple Music
30
St. Clair Ave West, #103
Toronto,
ON
M4V
3A1
The
videotape and artist information must be received by Thursday June 3rd to be
considered. Phenomenal artists
such as Nelly Furtado, Jully Black, Melanie Durrant and Graph Nobel graced the
Honey Jam stage early in their careers. Artists representing Vancouver,
Winnipeg, Ottawa and Montreal have all taken part in this showcase in the past.
For more details regarding auditions and requirements, please visit
www.phemphat.com. This year’s Honey Jam Showcase
featuring Canada’s hottest female acts will be held at the Phoenix Concert
Theatre in Toronto on Sunday August 15th, 2004. Sponsors for this year’s Honey
Jam Showcase include Universal Urban, Baby Phat, Peace Magazine, Yamaha and
CKLN 88.1FM.
HOT EVENTS
Irie’s
Exciting Summer DJ Line-up – Launch May 24 Weekend!
It's
summertime (well, almost!) In celebration of the diversity of Toronto, IRIE begins a
series of diverse DJ nights which launches this holiday May 24 weekend! Check out selected nights for your fav DJ,
fav vibe or fav night to hit Irie.
Here’s the exciting line up of talented Toronto DJs this summer which
starts May 24 weekend! Expect lots of
exceptional surprises every night!
NIGHTFEATURED DJ AND TITLEFLAVOURFRIDAYS
11:00 pm start
DJ Chocolate
Unity
Selective of dub djsSATURDAYS
11:00 pm start
DJ Alvaro C.
Tropical Ismo
Latin beats
Traditional grass roots Cuban style
SUNDAYS
4:00 pm start
DJ Scootz
Whine down Sundays
Easy reggae vibeMONDAYS
11:00 pm start
DJ Carl Allen
Monday night Sessions
Hip hop, house, R&B, reggae
May
21 – 24, 2004
Irie Food Joint
745 Queen Street W.
10:00 pm
Stilettos
and Skirts - We Have Dared And You?
dwayneanddave.com & Salutations present Stilettos and Skirts this Long Weekend Saturday inside
Toronto's newest HOTSPOT to party and lounge - CHOCOLATE on King St. Trendy, Chic,
Stylish or Simply Sexy. Ladies are
invited to wear their Stilettos and Skirts and enjoy preferential treatment for
the evening. With a splash of the city's trendiest people, topped
off with the Southern Ontario's sexiest individuals makes the perfect mixture
for this event. We give you a party
where you can enjoy yourself till' 3 am - believe the hype!! Long
Weekend Saturday, groove to the sounds of residents MC
Kid Kut and DJ
Skimpy Boy. Join
us with an array of beautiful people in an upscale environment - a mature
alternative to party and lounge. Style code in effect.
Long Weekend Saturday May 22
STILETTOS & SKIRTS
Chocolate Lounge and Restaurant
193 King St. E.
Doors Open @ 10pm (so arrive early)
RSVP 416-999-3-999
9pm - 3 am
:: Valet Parking Available ::
Parking available at the NW corner of King &
George street
Ricochet
Sunday
From the people who brought you Jamie Foxx, Morris Chestnut and
others. Now, it’s Cosmopolitan. Experience a venue which
has all the right ingredients - beautiful people, patio, fashion and great
music .... all equal 'a night to remember'. You’ve heard about the hot
and steamy parties at Ricochet – now you can step out on Sunday, May 23rd
to experience Cosmopolitan.
Featuring the musical stylings of Mr.
Christopher Michaels taking you on a musical journey alongside MC Essential. All hosted by Lloyd
Exeter, Robert G, the French Fellows, Dwayne and Dave. Dress code is sexy
and chic.
Long Weekend Sunday May 23
COSMOPOLITAN
Ricochet Liquid Lounge
124 Avenue Road (just south of Davenport)
RSVP 416-999-3-999
10pm - 3 am
Area Festivals
Source: Metro
Toronto News Services
Metro
has been kind enough to put together a summer schedule of festivals in this
great city. So, get your Palm, Daytimer
or whatever and jot down those that you’re interested in so you can’t say you
didn’t know!
May
11-15
Vibe Awards & Canadian Gospel People’s
Choice Awards
www.vibeawards.ca
May
11-16
Santé: The Bloor-Yorkville Wine Festival
www.santewinefestival.net
May
11-16
Canadian Film Centre’s Worldwide Short Film
Festival
www.worldwideshortfilmfest.com
June
19-20
Toronto International Dragon Boat Race
Festival
www.torontodragonboat.com
June
21-27
Pride Week Toronto
www.pridetoronto.com
June
25-July 4
Toronto Downtown Jazz Festival
www.torontojazz.com
June
27, July 4, July 11
Rose Festival
www.rbg.ca
July
1
Canada Day Celebrations A variety of special
events.
For info: 1-800-363-1990
July
1-4
Friendship Festival
www.friendshipfestival.com
July
2-4
Celebrate Toronto Street Festival www.city.toronto.on.ca/special_events
July
9-11
Molson Indy Toronto
www.molsonindy.com
July
9-11
Corso Italian Fiesta
www.torontofiesta.com
July
15-Aug. 2
Caribana
www.caribana.com
July
17-25
Beaches International Jazz Festival
www.beachesjazz.com
August
6-8
Krinos Taste of the Danforth
www.tasteofthedanforth.com
Aug.
20-Sept. 6
Canadian National Exhibition
www.theex.com
Big Names For Concert Scene
Source: Metro Toronto News Services
Metro
also put together a summer schedule of concerts in this great city.
MAY
27
COWBOY JUNKIES
Revival
www.ticketmaster.ca
MAY
27-28
DIANA KRALL
Hummingbird Centre
www.ticketmaster.ca
MAY
28-29
BLINK 182
Molson Amphitheatre
www.ticketmaster.ca
JUNE
1-2
REBA MCENTIRE
Casino Rama
www.casinorama.com
JUNE
1-2
DIANA KRALL
Hummingbird Centre
www.ticketmaster.ca
JUNE
5
JAMES BROWN/JACKSOUL
Molson Amphitheatre
www.ticketmaster.ca
JUNE
8-9
DIDO
Hummingbird Centre
www.ticketmaster.ca
JUNE
10
LYNYRD SKYNYRD
Casino Rama
www.casinorama.com
JUNE
9
DONNY OSMOND
Casino Rama
www.casinorama.com
JUNE
11
THE MOODY BLUES
Hummingbird Centre
www.ticketmaster.ca
JUNE
18-19
JOHN WAITE
Casino Rama
www.casinorama.com
JUNE
25
RICHARD MARX
Casino Rama
www.casinorama.com
JUNE
26
KOOL & THE GANG
Casino Rama
www.casinorama.com
JUNE
27
BRITNEY SPEARS
Molson Amphitheatre
www.ticketmaster.ca
JUNE
29
MARC ANTHONY
Air Canada Centre
www.ticketmaster.ca
JUNE
30
DAVE MATHEWS BAND
Molson Amphitheatre
www.ticketmaster.ca
JUNE
30
JOURNEY
Casino Rama
www.casinorama.com
JUNE
30-JULY 11
THE FRINGE OF TORONTO THEATRE FESTIVAL
Small and innovative productions take over
dozens of stages, in a vast festival of new and classic theatrical works.
Various locations in The Annex neighbourhood. www.fringetoronto.com
JULY
3
VAN HALEN
Air Canada Centre
www.ticketmaster.ca
JULY
3
GREAT BIG SEA
Molson Amphitheatre
www.ticketmaster.ca
JULY
6
INCUBUS/THE VINES
Air Canada Centre
www.ticketmaster.ca
JULY
6
DARYL HALL & JOHN OATES/AVERAGE WHITE
BAND/MICHAEL MCDONALD
Casino Rama
www.casinorama.com
JULY
7
ERIC CLAPTON
Air Canada Centre
www.ticketmaster.ca
JULY
6
ROCK N’ SOUL 2004 REVUE
Casino Rama
Daryl Hall & John Oates, and Michael McDonald with special guest Average
White Band www.casinorama.com
JULY
7
DON HENLEY
Casino Rama
www.casinorama.com
JULY
8-9
BRAD PAISLEY
Casino Rama
www.casinorama.com
JULY
11
MARTINA MCBRIDE
Casino Rama
www.casinorama.com
JULY
13-18
NEIL GOLDBERG’S CIRQUE
Casino Rama
www.casinorama.com
JULY
14
STING
Air Canada Centre
www.ticketmaster.ca
JULY
15
NELLY FURTADO
Molson Amphitheatre
www.ticketmaster.ca
JULY
17
JEWEL
Massey Hall
www.ticketmaster.ca
JULY
17
ROD STEWART
Molson Amphitheatre
www.ticketmaster.ca
JULY
18
MADONNA
Air Canada Centre
www.ticketmaster.ca
JULY
18
EVANESCENCE
Molson Amphitheatre
www.ticketmaster.ca
JULY
22
ALICE COOPER/EDGAR WINTER/FOGHAT
Molson Amphitheatre
www.ticketmaster.ca
JULY
24
BRYAN ADAMS/COLIN JAMES
Molson Amphitheatre
www.ticketmaster.ca
JULY
24
PAT BOONE
Casino Rama
www.casinorama.com
JULY
27-28
PRINCE
Air Canada Centre
www.ticketmaster.ca
JULY
29-30
THE ELVIS PRESLEY STORY
Casino Rama
Featuring Ronnie McDowell, The Jordanaires and Rock & Roll Hall Of Famers
Scotty Moore & D.J. Fontana www.casinorama.com
AUG.
7
JOHN MAYER/MAROON 5/D.J. LOGIC
Molson Amphitheatre
www.ticketmaster.ca
AUG.
7
SAM ROBERTS/SLOAN/THE CONSTANTINES
Centre Island
(Toronto Islands)
www.ticketmaster.ca
AUG.
19-20
SARAH MCLACHLAN
Molson Amphitheatre
www.ticketmaster.ca
AUG.
21
DEEP PURPLE
Molson Amphitheatre
www.ticketmaster.ca
AUG.
22
RUSH
Molson Amphitheatre
www.ticketmaster.ca
THOUGHT
MOTIVATION NOTE: 'What's love got to do with it?'
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com - by Jewel Diamond Taylor
(May. 3, 2004) "What's love got to do with it?" When it
comes to success and relationships, I think love has a lot to do with it. When
you love what you're doing or who you are with, you have more passion and
perseverance. You're more likely to
press on and push yourself when someone else would give up because they lack
passion. You will do more than you think you can do when you love someone or
love what you're doing. When you're
passionate about achieving a goal, you will have the enthusiasm and endurance
to make it. You can see it. You can feel it. You believe and you achieve in
spite of ridicule or rejection.
Whatever or whoever has your time, I hope your heart is in it. If it
isn't, anything or anyone can discourage or distract you.
MUSIC NEWS
Jack Layton & Steven Page Co-Host Let’s Jack It Up
An
Evening of Passion, Pop & Politics.
Jack Layton &
Steven Page (Barenaked Ladies) are
co-hosting Let's Jack it Up, an
evening of music and politics featuring Barlow,
The Sadies, The Constantines, DJ Zahra, Martha Chaves, Jully Black, DJ Zahra and
Steven Page. Other guests will be
joining. Let's
Jack it Up producer Lorraine Segato,
formerly of The Parachute Club, has assembled an impressive array of some of
Canada's leading new cultural
voices, including:
Barlow: After four indie albums, Barlow's
self-titled debut album signed under Epic/Sony led to an impressive pair of
Juno nominations under the Pop Album of the Year & New
Artist of the Year categories. Barlow's songs, like his latest hit
"Married By Elvis," evoke principles of equality and freedom.
The Sadies: Signed under Blood Shot Records, this
Toronto based band combines surf music, traditional county and garage rock to
create their own unique and eclectic sound. Integrating the deep-rooted
Canadian tradition of playing live, The
Sadies' music resonates with integrity.
The Constantines: Lyrically quoted as "Free from
the postures of politics," this rock band released their second
full-length album, Shine A Light, on local-indie Three Gut Records. Emerging as
one of the "most spirited rock bands" in Canada, The
Constantines are one of the best live experiences you can find in
rock and truly are "among the shaking fists."
DJ Zahra: Zahra is a fierce, flamboyant, stylish,
spiritual, sexy spin-sister on a mission to bring joy and justice to everything
she does. Her passions include everything from social justice to
finding the right shade of red lipstick. She has been producing culturally
and politically exciting events for over
twelve years, including the wildly successful Funk Asia Nights!
Martha Chaves: This comedienne's candid and infectious
style incorporates a unique and vast repertoire of multicultural nuances, which
has led to numerous television, radio, festival and club
appearances across both Canada and the United
States. As producer and host of "Revolutionary Muses."
Marta
Chaves is forging her own path as a champion of women's issues.
Jully Black: This Juno-nominated artist fuses R&B
and Hip Hop with her gospel roots. Jully Black projects a deep, soulful and
genuine sound that has earned this R&B dynamo her reputation as one of
the hardest working women in Canada's music industry, both as a
songwriter and a performer.
Jack
Layton and today's NDP will build a green and prosperous Canada - where
Canadian culture is supported and where no one is left behind.
Today's NDP is proposing practical and
innovative solutions that will make a difference in peoples' lives and is
standing up for the issues that matter to Canadians and their families -
like public health care, education, peace, the environment and
Canada's place in the world.
Palais Royale • Saturday May 22nd • 9:00PM A 19+ licensed event, Let's Jack it Up begins at 9:00PM with
doors opening at 8:00PM. The Palais Royale is located at 1601 Lakeshore
Blvd. West. Tickets are available for
purchase on Saturday May 8th, priced at $30. Tickets can be purchased at the
door, or in advance by- calling Ticketmaster at 416.870.8000,
online at www.ticketmaster.ca, or by visiting
Rotate This located at 620 Queen Street West,
Sonic Temple located at 5165 Yonge Street, Soundscapes located at 572
College Street West, Women's Bookstore located at 73 Harbord Street and Another
Story located at 164 Danforth Ave. For concert information, please call: 416.591.5455 x 522.
Eternia Update
Excerpt from www.eternia.ca
The past few months have
been fruitful and inspirational. Eternia has been spending most of her time on school, the solo
album, & out of town gigs. The amount of love shown on the
website guestbook has been mind-blowing & Eternia appreciates every last entry. A
special shout out goes to all the Turkish heads overseas who have flooded the
guestbook & emailed, this is an unexpected & blessed show of
support. If you are Turkish, read on, otherwise... scroll down for
updates & an invite to Eternia's birthday celebration!
ON THE AIR:
Eternia appears on Freestyle's first solo album, "Etched
in Stone", out June 29th on Battleaxe Records!
Freestyle,
formerly of the NYC supergroup The Arsonists, finally brings
the world his first full-length debut. Canada's own Battleaxe Records
will release "Etched in Stone" this summer, which
features a collaboration track with Eternia entitled "Understand If
I". Produced by Collizhun, this tune has a guaranteed head-nod
factor, which combines the two lyrical heavyweights from NYC and
T.O. Can someone say ... Music Video?! *wink*
Canadian Collabos: Eternia with George Reefah, Empire, J Staxx,
Collizhun, Mindbender, Divo & Tara Chase
Not all on one track though! Eternia finally rocks the mic
with Tara Chase on Divo's album "This iz
Buzness". The 3 MC's come together to weave a tale of
intrigue & death on the song "Crash". George Reefah is a young cat makin noise, his debut album entitled "Clear
tha Building" is gettin love on the streets & on radio across
North America. Eternia appears on his classic T.O. anthem,
"Broke", also featuring Collizhun, Empire, & J Staxx. And
finally, Eternia represents with her Nextra brother Mindbender's soon to be released "Beautiful
Mutant" double LP. They carry the album's first track, a
melodic summer anthem named "Eternal Piece of
Mind". Look out for these tracks & contact the
usual suspects above if you want promo for radio. Word.
Eternia Appears on Hip Hop Canada's 1st Mixtape & Neblina Record's 1st Compilation!
Peep exclusive new mixtape material from Eternia on HHC's own
double CD mixtape: Landlokt Records Presents... the Exclusives,
out now! The mixtape also features: Rikoshay, Rochester AKA Juice,
Arabesque, Bless, Scientz, Hustlemann, Tara Chase, and many, Many more... check
it out for yourself here
And Eternia has an original, exclusive track with reggae singer
Jah Brilliance featured on Neblina Record's compilation, "Definition",
out this June! The North Carolina based label boasts an all-star line-up
for the summer album, and Neblina's own Jerry Juliano provides the production
for Eternia's song "Forward". Check out the label and street
team/promotional opportunities here.
Eternia on Much Music
The Queens of Vancity, Ndidi Cascade & Shankhini, have released a music video - "End the
Silence" - in memory of the women who disappeared from
Vancouver's east side. "End the Silence" is an
anti-violence anthem for women (& conscientious men) worldwide.
Eternia, Nelly Furtado, Stink Mitt, Masia One, Mindbender, Terra Bell, Laurie
Bricker, & Mobius also lend their face to the cause. Request this video on Much
Music!! Which leads to...
We would like to thank everyone that's been requesting Classified's
"Just the Way it Is" video (ft. Eternia, D.L., &
Maestro) on Much Music and MTV Canada, & also the programmers at
both those stations that have been showing love. It's a beautiful
thing. If you don't recall, here's how to make sure you see it & hear
it:
T.V.
Rap City - rapcity@muchmusic.com
MuchVibe - muchvibe@muchmusic.com
Going Coastal - goingcoastal@muchmusic.com
On Demand - ondemand@muchmusic.com
MTV Canada request here or here
RADIO
In Calgary - Vibe 98.5
In Vancouver - The Beat 93.5
In Toronto - Flow 93.5 416-935-1935
In Ottawa - Hot 89.9
IN THE MEDIA:
Eternia featured in Turkey’s most renowned national
daily, the "Milliyet" !
A month ago Eternia started receiving massive amounts of
electronic feedback and support from Turkish people overseas. Turns out,
the national newspaper in Turkey (comparable to USA Today or the
Globe and Mail in North America) caught wind of what she was doing & that
her father's side of the family hail from Turkey, so decided to print an
article & photo of Eternia on page 3 of their publication. This
followed with articles on other foreign media sites, including the Turkish
Hip Hop site Suikast.de. Its the start of global recognition... much thanks to
the Milliyet for trailblazing overseas.
Australia Coverage Continues...
Appreciation goes out to Beat Magazine &
Out4Fame
magazine for featuring Eternia in their print publications in the last few
months. A special thanks goes to Cee-for from Melbourne
for making it all happen, & Andrew Montell from O4F. Keep holdin
it down lovely out there, a return visit is in order!
Eternia on T.V. in Maryland
Eternia was recently interviewed before one of her live
performances in Baltimore, Maryland with Big Mark, who hosts "Rappin
with Rockstars". In Anne Arundale County
MD, the music variety show is featured every Friday & Saturday
night at 11:30 PM on Comcast & Millennium Cable on Channel 99, &
is coming this month to Baltimore on Comcast Cable Channel 5.
ON THE STAGE:
Eternia returns from U.S. dates
Eternia recently returned from rockin' crowds in Michigan,
Maryland, & Virginia last month. All shows were well worth the
trip, & there are no better road trip companions than Maehem
& Ms. Mighty of Shebang
(much love girls). Adverse & Timmy Grinz (the hardest working emcees/promoters) made the shows
possible, & held down their respective cities lovely. Baltimore
was by far the craziest city for crowd response (O-Gun is the best audience
member ever!) & Planet Asia tore up the stage lovely as
well (tabernacle on the move, baby...). There are too many individuals to
list and thank for their love on these trips, so Eternia thanks you
all... and especially those who repped on stage with her for both
shows.
On a serious note: Eternia, Shebang, & Timmy
Grinz were caught practically in the middle of a shoot-out in
Richmond, VA. R.I.P. to Darrell Bell & condolences to his family. Being witness to something
like this is... something not soon forgotten.
Eternia hits the Vans Warped Tour!
It ain't too early to remind y'all that summer is just around the
corner, and with summer comes America's longest running touring festival.
The Vans Warped Tour hosts Code of the Cutz once again this year, a tent
dedicated to Hip Hop culture in all its forms. Code of the Cuts
Headliners for the 3 month long festival include: Immortal Technique,
Lordz of Brooklyn, J-Zone, Non
Phixion, Shankhini, and Arcane.
Eternia will join them for four dates, so catch her at the
following cities:
Quebec City - Thurs. Aug. 12 - TBA
Montreal - Fri. Aug. 13 - Parc Jean Drapeau
Toronto - Sat. Aug. 14 - The Docks
Buffalo, NY - Wed. Aug. 18 - Darion Lakes PAC
Eternia rocks Two Toronto Festivals: Eternia
will be performing in the Flow 93.5 Showcase for the NXNE Music Festival
this year! All acts are yet to be announced, but this is always a
hot showcase every year... be there! Saturday, June 12, 9:00
pm at Reverb, 651 Queen St. W. Eternia
will also be hitting the Main Stage at the Toronto Street Festival on Sunday, July 11th for an unprecedented
hour-long set with her live band! This will not be a show to miss, more
details to follow on the website! Which reminds us...
ON THE SITE:
VIDEOS: "Just the Way it Is", "End the
Silence", The Toronto Show, Much Music On Set, and more!
In case ya haven’t been there in a minute, we got new video
goodies for ya. Check out the Video page and the Press page (broadcast coverage)
for new Eternia performances, cameos, and press coverage, including those
listed above...
PICTURES: The Sony CMW Showcase, the Video Release Party,
the Richmond VA Show, and more!
What more can we say, man? It's all there for ya... on the
Images page. Take a minute to skim through both 'people and places'
and 'performances', 'cause the new pics are mixed in with the
old. A special thanks to Laura Kornylak for the
beautiful Richmond show pics.
MEDIA: The Milliyet, Suikast.de, Beat Magazine, and Out 4 Fame
articles!
...are all up if you interested in doin' your homework. If
not, just check 'em out for the pretty visuals anyways :-) All can be
found on the Press page, either in the online coverage, or print coverage
sections.
NEW LINK: "Request Eternia's Videos Now!"
We finally got the "Request Eternia" icon up and
working... it’s on the bottom left of every Eternia.ca page you go to (excluding the
intro page). So lets get those votes rollin' in...
FOR MORE INFORMATION,
AUDIO, DOWNLOADS, PICTURES, ARTICLES, & MORE CHECK OUT: www.Eternia.ca
Sweatshop Union's Natural Progression
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com
(May. 11, 2004) Sweatshop Union passed through Toronto
last week on the tail end of their Canada-wide tour with the Black Eyed Peas.
The crew dropped their trademark strong, deep and meaningful sound in front of
a sold-out crowd at the Kool Haus. The
crew released their highly anticipated sophomore album Natural Progression on
Battleaxe/EMI Records on February 10, 2004. The album was subsequently met with
critical acclaim, even garnering a Juno nomination for Best Rap Recording just
weeks after its release. Sweatshop
Union, originally consisting of Kyprios, Dirty Circus, Creative Minds, and Innocent Bystanders came together to offer
an alternative to the seemingly repetitive, negative-natured rap music. The
group employs a signature blend of melodic beats, live instrumentation to
address the sometimes-harsh realities of the world from a unique perspective
through powerfully political lyrics.
Since the group's inception, industry and hip hop heads alike have taken
note. Their first single and video, 'The Truth We Speak," went on to be
chosen by Ed The Sock as his video pick of the year for 2002 and was nominated
for the MuchVibe Best Urban Video Award at the 2003 Much Music Video
Awards. It came as no surprise when in
September 2002, Underworld Inc., B.C.-based Battleaxe Records' subsidiary
label, picked up Sweatshop Union's debut album, Local 604. With international
distribution in place, and a busy touring schedule, Local 604 started a
buzz. The rest, as they say, is history.
Sweatshop Union maintained their presence in the spotlight by releasing videos
for "The Humans Race" and "Up From The Ground." Both videos
received heavy rotation on MuchVibe and charted for several weeks on Much
Music's RapCity countdown as well as college radio. Look out for Natural Progression at a store near you. Sweatshop
Union will also be embarking on a US and European tour in promotion of the new
album in the near future.
Hearty Helping Of Black Eyed
Peas
By
JASON MACNEIL -- Toronto Sun
(May
6, 2004) They might have started far too late, but their performance never
seemed to be in question. And they even made some distraught Maple Leaf fans
cheer up. After moving the show from
The Guvernment to the adjacent Kool Haus
to meet ticket demand, Los Angeles hip-hop group Black Eyed Peas had the sold-out
crowd in their fist-pumping hands late Tuesday night and early Wednesday
morning, thanks in large part to singer Stacey "Fergie" Ferguson.
Known by her nickname, the newest member of the group appears to have taken
them to the next level of stardom. If you could picture a mix of No Doubt's
Gwen Stefani and Christina Aguilera, you might have an idea of where she's
coming from. Touring in support of
their latest album Elephunk, "Fergie" and her bandmates, will.i.am,
apl.de.ap and Taboo, performed hits such as Hands Up and Smells Like Funk,
which had their desired effect on the energetic and dancing audience. But early on it was apparent that "Fergie"
wasn't completely healthy. Wearing a black boot on her right foot and a sock on
her left, the singer apparently is still suffering from a leg injury that
forced her to use a cane occasionally. Taking it in stride, though, she was
gyrating during Hey Mama while her cohorts picked up the slack with their own
reggae or dancehall moves. Songs such
as Let's Get Retarded and Labor Day (It's A Holiday) were other highlights and
showed the key to Black Eyed Peas' success -- a simple but catchy chorus and great
grooves fleshed out by fine showmanship. Unlike at a show last year at Revival,
Justin Timberlake was nowhere to be found during the band's watershed moment of
Where Is The Love? The group
concentrated most of the night on their new album, but some older tunes were
thrown in, including Joints & Jam from the band's debut album Behind The
Front. Images of the band were flashed on two large video screens, creating a
lively party atmosphere that never faltered.
Just as strong as the front four were the four capable background
musicians. That they were actually playing added a strength far greater than
back beats or rhythms coming from an inanimate turntable. If there was one disappointment to the
evening, it might have been the fact that wrapping up around 1 a.m. on a
weeknight was a bit late for some fans who left early. They were definitely in
the minority, though. Opening up for
Black Eyed Peas were Sweatshop Union. The group performed a 45-minute set
featuring songs from their latest release, 2003's Natural Progression.
Cowboy Junkies Show Their 'Soul'
Excerpt
from www.billboard.com -- Jonathan
Cohen, N.Y.
The
Cowboy Junkies will return this summer with a new album,
"One Soul Now," due June 8 via Rounder. Limited pressings of the set
will be bundled with a five-song EP featuring covers of Neil Young's
"Helpless," the Cure's "17 Seconds," Bruce Springsteen's
"Thunder Road," Townes Van Zandt's "Lungs" and the
Youngbloods' "Darkness, Darkness."
In conjunction with "One Soul Now," the Canadian group has
also created the CD-ROM "Anatomy of an Album," which boasts a
detailed look at the songs on the new album, demos, lyrics and photos. Fans can
sample the item on the Junkies' official Web site. "With [the 2001 album] 'Open,' the songs
came together while we were on the road," says vocalist Margo Timmins.
"In the studio, I could literally do it with my eyes closed. I knew them
so well. For 'One Soul Now,' my eyes were definitely wide open. It means you
have to be alive and alert to where the song is going, and I think you can hear
that vibe in the album." The group
will kick off its summer tour with an intimate May 27 show at Revival in its Toronto homebase. From there, the Junkies will
play seven European dates then return to North America for shows through Aug.
22 in Bend, Ore. Select dates will feature singer/songwriter Shawn Colvin.
R&B Artist John Whitehead Shot Dead
Source: Associated Press
(May 12, 2004) John Whitehead, a prominent R&B artist
best known for the 1979 hit "Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now," was shot dead
yesterday (May 11) in Philadelphia. Whitehead, 55, and another man were working
on a vehicle when they were shot by two gunmen, police said. The assailants
fled. Whitehead was shot in the neck
and collapsed. Ohmed Johnson, who was shot in the buttocks, was in good
condition early this morning, a hospital spokesperson said. Police said the
gunmen fired a series of bullets; a young neighborhood girl said she heard
about a dozen shots. "Why did they
do this to my dad?" Dawn Whitehead, 33, asked at the scene. "I just
talked to him yesterday ... He was a fun person. Who would want to kill
him?" Police had no immediate
suspects or motive. Gene McFadden, who
was Whitehead's partner in the singing group McFadden & Whitehead, went to
the scene in the city's West Oak Lane neighborhood and stood there trembling,
WPVI-TV reported. The two men formed a
group called the Epsilons in their youth and were discovered by Otis Redding.
The duo wrote several hit songs performed by others in the 1970s, including
"Back Stabbers," "For the Love of Money," "I'll Always
Love My Mamma," "Bad Luck," "Wake Up Everybody,"
"Where Are All My Friends," "The More I Want" and
"Cold, Cold World."
"Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now" went to No. 1 on Billboard's Top
R&B Singles chart and No. 13 on the Hot 100. The song became an unofficial
anthem for the Philadelphia Phillies as they charged to a World Series
championship in 1980 and the Eagles as they reached the Super Bowl in 1981.
Janet Bares Her Soul
By
JANE STEVENSON, Toronto Sun
(May
6, 2004) Nipple-gate is old news for Janet Jackson,
who claims to have put her Super Bowl breast-baring performance behind her. The
R&B-pop star wrapped up a two-day visit to Toronto yesterday in support of her latest album, Damita
Jo. Jackson did say the outraged reaction to, and extended media
coverage of, the "wardrobe malfunction" is just a symptom of a much
bigger problem. "I think I was just the poster
child for taking the focus off what was going on in the world, of what's still
going on in the world, but especially at that time," said Jackson,
referring to the war in Iraq. "And I think there are more important things
to focus on." Jackson, speaking to The Sun yesterday
in an exclusive Canadian newspaper interview, also said she didn't understand
some of the ripple effects. Like Lena Horne's decision to remove her from the
lead role in a TV bio-pic of Horne's life. "Do I understand it? I mean, it's
her life. Whoever she decides to portray her, that's her right," said
Jackson. "I know she's had dramas in her life before and I know it hasn't
been easy, so I just wish she would have thought about that ... It's
unfortunate that she didn't see it that way. Obviously, God didn't mean for it
to happen." Still, Jackson will allow that the good
that came out of the whole Super Bowl nightmare was the reaffirmation of
support from her fans. "I always knew that they were full
of love and very loyal," said Jackson. "But you never know truly how
serious that support is until the s--t hits the fan, really. And they've been
there. And I'm so appreciative of that. And Canada's been so supportive and I'm
thankful for that." Jackson, who has said repeatedly the
"wardrobe malfunction" that caused her breast to be revealed was an
accident and not a stunt, also didn't feel any backlash was to blame for Damita
Jo debuting at No. 2 in the U.S. instead of her usual top album spot. "It
had nothing to do with that," said Jackson. "Unfortunately, the first
song (Just A Little While) got leaked, which really, really hurt us a great
deal. "That happened while I was rehearsing for the Super
Bowl. And we tried to stop it. And we stopped it in the States. And the next
morning we woke up and it was in Europe. "Then once that happened urban
radio wanted a song for them (but) I wasn't finished with the album, so there
was no game-plan set. I had no video. A lot of people thought, 'Oh, this was
all done intentionally, and it was a setup for the album.' If it was a setup
for the album, then why would the album come two months later? It doesn't make
sense. But people believe what they want so I'm not here to try and change
their minds." Jackson did say there was some pressure
from the record company to change some of Damita Jo's sexually explicit lyrics.
Many of the songs, with titles like Sexhibition, Strawberry Bounce, Warmth,
Moist, and Slolove, contain some pretty steamy passages. But the singer, who
explored her erotic desires on her last two albums, 1997's The Velvet Rope and
2001's All For You, said she wasn't going to suddenly change direction. "There
were certain things that they didn't want me to have in there," said
Jackson. "I have to be who I am, and I can't change that for anyone. And
regardless of all the drama, or if there is or isn't any, it's something that
I've always done. So why would I change now? Because of some stupid accident
that happened? Why should I change who I am? I'm not going to do that for
anyone. And if people accept me, great. And if they don't, then that's fine
too. Not everybody is going to love me."
MORISSETTE STUNT SWEET, JACKSON SAYS Janet
Jackson was dressed in a red-and-white Roots T-shirt with the word
'Canada" on it during her interview yesterday with The Sun. She had just
witnessed Alanis Morissette's defence of her at last month's Juno Awards. Morissette
stripped to a nude body stocking and proclaimed: "At least we still live
in a land where we can still think of the human body as being beautiful and
we're not afraid of the female breast." "I read a clipping
and saw a picture, which I thought was very sweet of her," said Jackson.
"There's a lot of violence you see on television, that kids see. But the
human body is beautiful." Jackson saw the clip during a taping for
Canada AM yesterday. Her interview and performance air at 8:30 a.m. this
morning.
Aglukark A Reluctant Icon
Excerpt from The
Toronto Star - Robert Ballantyne, Staff Reporter
(May 8, 2004) If you've lost track of singer/songwriter Susan Aglukark over the past few years, don't
feel too bad. It's been a long time
since her album This Child and its hit single "O Siem" made
her a household name in Canada back in 1995.
Now 37, Aglukark is promoting Big Feeling — released four years
since her last album, Unsung.
But who's counting? Aglukark
shrugs off the long gap between records as personal "phases and
stages." "I don't want to get
caught up in writing for time or schedule," the 5-foot-2 singer says over
a Starbucks coffee near Yonge and Bloor Sts.
"Not that I'm not conscious of it; I have to respect that. But I
prefer to do it the way that I do."
Big Feeling, like all of her records, mixes stories from her
Inuit culture with lush, memorable pop arrangements. It won a Juno Award this
month for Best Aboriginal Recording of the Year. Born in Churchill, Man., Aglukark grew up in the western Arctic
community of Arivat, now part of Nunavut. In 1992, she released a successful
independent record and one year later signed a worldwide deal with EMI Music
Canada. Her past four releases have sold almost 500,000 copies in Canada
alone. "It's a real personal,
evolving, progressing journey between each album — `Am I ready to go onto the next
album? What's it gonna take from me? What am I going to give to it? And can I
do that?' "It's not a simple
experience. Each album, it's huge for me." It's huge for Aglukark because she is not only a famous singer,
but she's also one of Canada's highest-profile aboriginals. By default, with
every album, demand increases for her to serve as both a role model and a
spokesperson for the entire Aboriginal community. Those pressures almost led to her quitting the music business
altogether. "There was a breakdown
coming off of the This Child tour," she reveals. "For the
longest time, taking on the responsibility as role model was out of a sense of
duty and obligation, rather than a choice. And that burned me out." After performances, she would often meet with
fans and stay up all night counselling people. As a sexual-abuse survivor, she
spent hours and hours talking to victims and abusers off-stage. She wrapped up her two-year tour
"devastated and broken" and unsure if she was willing to carry
on. "I came off the tour thinking
`I'm not making a single difference here. I'm doing it all wrong.' You take on
so much responsibility, you just feel like you've wasted that whole two years
and you haven't gotten anywhere."
Eventually, she decided to continue on, but has reframed her vision of
being a role model. "It's a scary
thing," she says. "You really gotta watch your steps in the things
that you do and say. And you know what? I wanna live. I just wanna be alive.
It's a lot healthier for me to say, I made a mistake, but that's okay, I'm
human." Aglukark is now married,
has a 7-year-old son and is living in Oakville. Even though she has settled
into family life, she still struggles with her confidence while on stage and
during recording. "I've never
actually come to a point where I enjoy my own performance or my voice,"
she says. "I've never considered myself a performer singer; I'm a
storyteller singer more than anything."
Still, she has survived and thrived for more than a decade in the music
business, exceeding her own expectations and discovering herself in the
process. "I've learned a lot about
myself and my potential — professionally and personally — through this
career. "I think if I ever leave
... I'll leave as a stronger person."
HANGAMA! Featuring Juno Award winner Kiran
Aluwahlia
HANGAMA! On
May 29th, from 11am to 11pm, Dundas Square will be converted into a South Asian
Bazaar packed with musicians, clowns, buskers, comedians and magicians, South
Asian crafts, and exotic and spicy foods.
RBC Financial Group proudly presents this 12-hour
grand finale to the South Asian Heritage Month celebrations which will feature
a wide variety of performers, from Bollywood dancers to classical musicians, to
trend-setting dj's who will rock the night away. Dancers and singers from different regions of South India will be
present, joining local entertainers including Kazaak, Agni, the
Tarana Dance Centre, Ritu Bharadwaj, Jamal Hosein, Dhol
Players and performers, and comedy by step-UP Comedy Group. The festival
will also feature Rez Abassi's "Snake Charmer" with special
guests, Toronto's own Juno award winner Kiran Aluwahlia and New York
drum sensation, Sunny Jain followed by New York's Alms of Shanti. Join us in this celebration of South
Asian arts and culture; discover local and international artists, enjoy a taste
of the Indian subcontinent, and witness a long-awaited return performance by
multi-talented DJ ZAHRA! HANGAMA
literally translates into Fun and Frolic for the whole family: we hope to see
you there!
SATURDAY, MAY 29
HANGAMA!
Yonge Dundas Square (Yonge and Dundas)
11:00 am to 11:00 pm
FREE
For more information please call the South
Asian Heritage Festival hotline at: 416.488.3659 or visit us at www.jyafest.ca/2004
Lightfoot's Coma Comeback
Starts With Harmony
Excerpt
from The Toronto Star - Greg
Quill
(May 11, 2004) "My records don't sell well enough to
amount to a windfall, though I've had three that sold more than a
million," a frail, thin-voiced Gordon Lightfoot quipped to a large
gathering of media, musical friends and well wishers yesterday on the eve of
the release of his 20th collection of original songs, Harmony. "But they allow me to pay the bills and
they keep me involved with my friends, the members of my band." With a very long walk through the crowd in
the basement bar of Massey Hall, the venue for decades of his annual Toronto concert
series until the legendary Canadian singer and songwriter was felled in
September 2002 by a burst artery and spent almost a year in Hamilton's McMaster
University Hospital, and with a very short, unrehearsed speech, Lightfoot
confirmed he's both back in the recording business and preparing to perform
live again as early as the end of November.
"I told some reporters a while back that if I could get on tour in
southern Ontario, I'd like to include Hamilton Place in the itinerary and
(perform) a show dedicated to Hamilton Health Sciences, the umbrella
organization that oversees five health care entities there. "Next day there were headlines saying I
was planning a fundraising event for the hospital at Hamilton Place November 23
and 24. "It was news to me ... but
that's exactly what I'm going to do ... It will be a test for me — and for the
people who worked on me!" A long
way from concert-form fit, and almost breathless at times from the lingering
effects of a tracheotomy, Lightfoot still showed a keen appreciation of the
approval from long-time admirers — including Blue Rodeo's Jim Cuddy and Greg
Keelor, and songwriters Adam Mitchell, Joel Kroeker and Harry Manx — invited to
yesterday's CD launch by his new label, the Toronto-based independent outfit
Linus Entertainment. "It was in
this room that they suggested signing with them when my contract with
Warner-Reprise had expired after 14 albums," the 64-year-old Orillia-born
troubadour said. "I told them I had no material, but their interest turned
a screw in my head and I started writing.
"They were the first to ask, so here I am." The songs Lightfoot had sketched out with
just his voice and guitar in 2000 — intending to rework and re-record them
later — are the basis of Harmony, which was pieced together from those
fragments by Lightfoot's band members while he was in hospital. As the singer noted yesterday, "The
lyrics sounds as if they were written after the fact. "I guess I was at one of the low points on life's roller
coaster when I started writing ... something like the death of a relationship
... that's the way these things happen," he added, referring apparently to
his recent separation from Elizabeth, his wife of 14 years. When Lightfoot, recipient of 17 Juno Awards
and the Order of Canada, awoke in McMaster after six weeks in a coma, he
thought the worst, he said. "We'd
had to cancel 26 concerts, many of them in the Maritimes where I hadn't played
for eight years, and I thought, `What the hell am I going to do now?' It was a
self-pity thing ..." During a
private conversation Lightfoot confided his health remains his prime
concern. "I feel good today, but
we've got further to go yet. I'm looking to the end of the year ... it will
take that long to get in shape."
He's pleased with Harmony and considers providence had a hand in
the early recording of the album's skeletal tracks. "My parts were done before I got sick. And I like the record
... it has a good feel to it."
Make Your Own Music Label
Excerpt from The Toronto Star
(May 8,
2004) Mark Sasso has a general life
philosophy that he's only too happy to share.
"In the mainstream, everything is so pristine and polished, it's
almost lifeless," says Sasso, a pensive, soft-spoken 30-year-old with
chunky black-framed glasses and an ever-present Detroit Tigers ball cap. "Anything mass-marketed, like furniture
or whatever else, it's product. But personally, I prefer a chair that creaks a
bit. It had a life before you. You can't just make it up." For the record, no, Sasso is not recounting a
satisfying afternoon of antiquing. Rather, he's describing the improbable
existence of the first album released by his band, Elliott Brood. Without so much as a notion of the inner
workings of the vast recording industry machine, Sasso and bandmates Casey Laforet and Stephen
Pitkin took it upon themselves to record the album, Tin Type, a spare, low-fi collection of
mournful countrified pop, in Sasso's living room, mix and master it on Pitkin's
home computer, and churn out 800 copies of the albums' initial release on a
home CD burner. And then there's the CD
itself — a lovingly hand-made volume wrapped in a plain brown wrapper, which on
opening yields a small black book complete with antique photography befitting
the band's down-home sound. "We
really think of it as part of our story — part of the whole," Sasso said.
"I remember thinking when we put this out: The music is only one half of
it, and this little book is the other."
Elliott Brood is not alone in its attachment to all aspects of its
music-production process. Their self-consciously crafty album, which Sasso and
Laforet still assemble themselves in Sasso's living room, is part of a
grassroots musical movement blossoming the world over. As technology allows more and more artists
to record, mix, master and produce albums from the safety of their living
rooms, an entire parallel music industry is blooming outside the confines of
the corporate-dominated mainstream.
"Every city has a scene like this. I mean it's everywhere,"
said Justin Small, guitarist for the Toronto instrumental art band Do Make Say
Think. "When I tour Europe, I get some handmade releases that are totally
crazy. One French hardcore album had a 40-page photo book that went along with
it. It was great."
With
his partner Katia Taylor, Small has been hand-making CDs for their side
project, the Lullabye Arkestra. Like Elliott Brood, the album is the product of
home recording, mixing and burning. Each package, affectionately festooned with
crude scrawlings and oblique figures rendered with thick brushstrokes, paint
and ink, is unique; no two are alike.
"It's just a matter of caring, and seeing it not just as packaging,
but part of the artistic whole," Taylor said. Small agreed. "Death to the jewel case," he said,
grinning broadly. "It's a dead, boring, terrible scene. That's just junk
product. This is more like a gift."
The gift may be more than the simple, dotingly assembled CD itself. Such
efforts send the message to the greater world that the do-it-yourself music
revolution has arrived — much to the major labels' dismay. "What it means is you don't have to be
on a record label to get your stuff out there," Taylor said. "They're
starting to realize that artists can be artists without them." For the recording industry, it's just one
more thing to be nervous about. CD sales in Canada dropped to $881 million in
2003 from $1.4 billion in 1999. Finger-pointing at Internet file-sharing and
music downloading have sent major labels in the U.S. into paroxysms of
litigious terror, threatening to sue every kid who dares fire up Kazaa or
Limewire on their bedroom PC. If
desktop production technology can liberate artists from the stranglehold placed
on them by a proprietary music industry that controls how many albums they
print, how much it costs and, to some extent, what they sound like, then crisis
may be looming on two fronts. Of
course, home recording can't equal the multi-layered sophistication of high-priced
studios used to produce multi-million sellers — at least, not yet. But for a
particular community of musicians producing simple, straightforward music, it's
a liberation nonetheless. Bob Wiseman
was the keyboard player for Blue Rodeo until he left in the early 1990s for a
solo career. Since then, he's existed happily outside the mainstream, releasing
albums on small, independent labels.
Recently, he entered the burgeoning world of do-it-yourself recording,
making his first solo album since 1995, It's True, with a Toronto
collective called Blocks. The album's official release is later this
month. Run by Steven Kado, formerly of
the indie band The Hidden Cameras, Blocks politely eschews the stamp of record
label, preferring instead to call itself a "recording club." Other
bands in the club, such as Les Mouches, The Phonemes and Barcelona Pavilion,
subscribe to the same handmade aesthetic plied by Elliott Brood and Lullabye
Arkestra, distinguishing themselves from the homogenous music industry
churn. "Isn't it great?"
Wiseman says. "What that says to me is that it's about community,
availability, accessibility, camaraderie. It's such a departure from what we're
used to seeing as product from the industry." Wiseman's album wasn't burned on a home computer, but the CD
cover, a folding puzzle stamped with his an image of his face, was put together
by Wiseman himself — a thousand times.
"Some people are sort of like, `Eww, you had to do all of that
yourself?' But I actually really enjoyed it. I mean, I had my hands on every
one of those things. They're very personal in that way, like little objects of
art, or a present. I just think it's beautiful." But Wiseman, a veteran of the music industry from within its
corporate structures and, happily, without, is careful not to invest too much
faith in a liberation movement. "I
think it's exciting, but in my heart of hearts, I don't think it can last.
Corporate mentalities always appropriate whatever becomes successful and claim
it for their own," he said. "When Blue Rodeo made it big, it was
really interesting to see all that stupid s--t up close, but I have to not be
on that side of things, if only for my own mental health and spiritual
well-being." On Wiseman's chosen
side, success is measured in personal satisfaction and an authentic connection
with an audience, not units sold.
"At arm's length, these records may not look like they're being
done on a grand scale, but from another point of view, who cares?" he
said. "I know so many people who chase dreams of being huge and famous,
and it's embarrassing. Ultimately, it's hollow: If you end up that big, you're
completely insulated from your audience. That's your prize." In the groundswell of the do-it-yourself
movement, insulation is deliberately stripped away. Canvassing their home turf in Toronto, Elliott Brood found a
handful of independent record stores that were receptive to placing a few
copies on their racks. A smattering of success here led to some carefully
placed copies nationwide; now, with no allegiance to any major label or
distributor, Elliott Brood is in the Top25 on college radio across the
country. With the help of Weewerk, a
Toronto creative collective, Elliott Brood will produce 1,000 more copies to
send nationwide. Subject to a pressing
run instead of the exhausting home-burning of its predecessor, each copy will
nonetheless receive the handmade treatment. For Sasso and Laforet, there is no
other way. "It's kind of crazy,
because it's a lot of work, a lot of hours of pain. Casey has personally licked
every corner of every photo we've put out there. It's his thing," he said.
"But in the end, nobody is telling us what to do. It's the ultimate
freedom to create exactly what we want to create." As for the gap between his home studio and
the big-ticket recording battlestar occupied by, say, Nickelback, Small simply
preaches patience. "Wait until all
these guys with their home recording studios get really great home mastering
programs," he said. "And all of a sudden, these tiny homemade CDs
will stand up against anything. They'll sound like they were recorded at a
multimillion-dollar studio. "And
then," Small said, beaming, "we'll have won."
Steely Soprano Still Exploring Her Range
Excerpt from The Toronto Star - Robert
Crew, Arts Writer
(May. 6, 2004) Sitting in her home in the High Park area of
Toronto, soprano Measha Brueggergosman is relaxed, funny, charming.
And you quickly realize that it is not just her full, radiant voice that
will propel her right to the top of the opera world. It's also her vibrant
personality, coupled with a steely determination to be the best she can
possibly be. Still in her mid-20s,
Brueggergosman tells a story of covering a role in a fairly obscure Verdi opera
called Il Corsaro in New York recently.
She realized that it was something of a risk: "There is a lot of
movement and agility and coloratura required for this particular
role." But then her agent sent her
a recording of one of her heroines, soprano Jessye Norman, performing the same
role. "I thought if this
traditionally big voice can really move and display such agility, then I can,
too," Brueggergosman says. "There is no reason why I should not be
able to sing coloratura, besides fear or a technical shortcoming, neither of
which I am interested in, thank you very much." In fact, while training for the understudy role in Rome, she was
told that she was a suitable Verdi soprano — able to handle more ornate
vocalizations — "which is freaking me out!" But such discoveries come when you are continually exploring and
pushing the envelope, she says. "This voice has a life of its own and I am
here to shepherd its development."
The next occasion for Torontonians to hear that voice will be tomorrow
when Brueggergosman joins another exciting young Canadian musician, violinist
Erika Raum, and the Amici Chamber Ensemble in a Latin Fantasy. The Glenn Gould Studio concert features
works by Joaquin Turina, Arturo Marquez, Xavier Montsalvatge, Manuel de Falla
and a violin Fantasy by Raum herself.
"I am really looking forward to it," Brueggergosman says.
"It should be a lot of fun."
Among the works she will perform will be Turina's Tres Sonetos Op. 54
for soprano and piano. "I love
Turina and I think he was a great composer of Spanish music. The chords are
very fat and dense like they would be on a guitar." One of the songs, she says, is about the
town floozy. "Everyone in their
circle of friends has a floozy and if you don't know who that floozy is, you
are the floozy! I am warning Pablo about her antics by listing all the men she
has loved. It is shopping list of Spanish names!" Brueggergosman grew up in Fredericton, N.B.,
and her family were churchgoers, "something which is still very important
to me. "Back in the days when
music in the schools wasn't considered a luxury, my music teacher in Grade 1
told my parents I had very good rhythm and pitch and also that I was very
loud," she says, laughing. Her
parents gave her piano and voice lessons. "It didn't occur to me that I
was any good at it because I grew up in a small town and there was nothing to
gauge it by." Nevertheless, she
became "the girl who will play for your sister's wedding or your grandma's
funeral. "I have never been paid
for much else, which means I have no other marketable skills,"
Brueggergosman remarks. Her earliest
inspiration was the voice and craft of soprano Kathleen Battle. "After I
coped with the heartbreak that I would never sound like her, I moved on to
Jessye Norman." And, a little later, to Leontyne Price. "Gung-ho" about both piano and
singing, she eventually chose the latter. "At the end of high school, I
realized that as a pianist I definitely did not have what it takes to become a
soloist and that I was too much of an attention-seeker to be a collaborative
pianist!" A prize-winner in
several prestigious competitions, she studied singing at the University of
Toronto with Mary Morrison and has just finished postgraduate studies in
Germany with Edith Wiens.
"Although I am very ambitious, I have a casual approach and have a
lot of fun," Brueggergosman says. "I have said many times that when
it stops being fun, it's time to quit."
Nevertheless, she is careful to ensure that everything around her runs
smoothly, be it rides from the airport to the hotel or staying on top of
rehearsal schedules. "When it comes to non-musical stress, I don't cope
very well," she admits. "So I
surround myself with people who work hard and are good at these things. I leave
nothing to chance because when those things go wrong, I start
crying." She stops and laughs
merrily at herself. Singers, she adds, "are some of the most insecure
creatures in the world." Does that
apply to her? "I am not
particularly insecure about singing but I am insecure about other areas, the
normal things, like what I look like, my weight. I think I am pretty hot,
generally, and I feel privileged. My life is such a gift on so many levels. "I have married a wonderful man
(business student Markus Bruegger), I have this lovely apartment. There is only
so much you can complain about. It is rare that I am completely happy with how
I sound as a singer, but at the same time I know that my problems are on a
level that some will never achieve."
Very few, in fact.
Toronto Doo-Wop Crooner Rudy
Maugeri Dies
Excerpt
from The Toronto Star – Angela Pacienza, Canadian Press
(May 7, 2004) As a student at Toronto's St. Michael Cathedral
Choir School in the late 1940s, Rudy Maugeri would get together with friends
after school to practise singing around his family's piano. They weren't practising rock or pop music
like most of today's youth. Instead Maugeri used his baritone vocals in a
doo-wop quartet known as the Crew Cuts.
Maugeri died of pancreatic cancer early today at home in Las Vegas,
where he lived with his wife Marilyn since the mid-1970s, a family member said.
He was 73. Named after the popular hair
style of the day, the Crew Cuts were one of the first white groups to record
rock 'n' roll versions of black R&B songs.
They had numerous hits, including a No. 1 song in 1954 with a cover of
the Chords' Sh-Boom and a No. 3 song in 1955 with the Penguins' Earth
Angel. Ko Ko Mo (I Love You), Gum Drop and Angels in the Sky were
also Top 10 songs for the foursome. But
the group almost never came to be. In his late teens, Maugeri was in a group
with classmate John Perkins called the Jordonaires. But he abandoned his music
dreams to become a priest, entering study at a seminary. "He only lasted a year. He figured that
was enough for him," recalled his older brother George Maugeri, who lives
in Toronto. ``He came out and formed the Crew Cut group." Maugeri and Perkins regrouped, adding
brother Ray Perkins and friend Pat Barrett, all from Toronto. They hit it big after a guest spot on a
Cleveland TV program, the Gene Carroll Show. A radio DJ brought them to
the attention of Mercury Records who signed the foursome. At the height of their popularity in the
mid-1950s, the quartet — who had been schoolmates at St. Michael's with another
famous singing crew, the Four Lads — appeared on the Ed Sullivan, Perry Como
and Eddie Fisher TV shows. The Crew
Cuts also toured Europe, Japan and the United States, where they were always
greeted by large, screaming audiences.
"I went to see him in Chicago once and it was just like going to
see the Beatles. Teenagers lined up around the block waiting for them,"
said George Maugeri. On a trip home to
Toronto in 1954 for a concert, the entertainers were greeted with a ticker tape
parade along Bay Street. Admirers still
come in looking for vinyl and reissues on CD, said Gord Robertson, owner of
BackBeat record store in Toronto.
"It was a softer version of R&B and soul music. Anybody that
grew up and came of age in the '50s, that was the music they heard. Sh-Boom was
one of the biggest songs ever during that time," he said. Beatles Paul McCartney and George Harrison
were also fans. McCartney wrote in The Beatles Anthology that he's good-natured
about giving autographs because of people like Maugeri. "I used to collect them myself at the
Empire stage door (in Liverpool), from the Crew Cuts . . . and the fact that
they treated me well never left me," he said, recalling his teenage
years. Despite their good looks and
clean-cut image, some controversy followed doo-wop groups like the Crew Cuts.
Some felt they were exploiting black artists' songwriting skills. The Crew Cuts, however, were part of an era
when entertainers had very little say in what they recorded as record labels
usually dictated set lists. After the
quartet disbanded in 1964, Maugeri went to work in New York and later Los
Angeles as a radio disc jockey, radio show host and station programmer. The
rest of the Crew Cuts also live in the United States. In 1984, the members were inducted into the Juno Hall of Fame,
alongside the Diamonds and the Four Lads.
After retiring from radio in 1979, Maugeri and his psychologist wife
Marilyn opened Fully Alive, a wellness centre for people with addictions and
anger management trouble, in Los Angeles. The couple open-end a second branch
in 1990 in Las Vegas. Maugeri is
survived by his wife.
Members
of the Crew Cuts, (clockwise from back left) Rudi Maugeri, John Perkins, Pat
Barrett and Ray Perkins. Maugeri died early Friday at home in Las Vegas.(CP/HO)
The Magnificent Seven (All Saxes)
Excerpt from The
Toronto Star - Geoff
Chapman, Music
Critic
(May. 6, 2004) A band featuring seven
Canadian saxophone players from across the land backed by a crack rhythm
section was a great idea. It came from CBC's Mark Steinmetz, whose second, even
better idea was to get the multi-talented Phil Dwyer to arrange all the music for the ensemble and serve as
musical director. The result was a
terrific Glenn Gould Studio concert in January, 2002 and a subsequent CD
release. Now Dwyer has lined up a
seven-sax team to play at The Rex tonight and tomorrow. The original
Magnificent Seven comprised Mike Murley, Cam Ryga, P.J. Perry, Yannick Rieu,
Perry White, Seamus Blake and Dwyer. The new line-up has Roy Styffe and
Quebec's Andre Leroux and Dave Turner instead of Blake, Ryga and Perry, and
once again the rhythm team is Mark Eisenman, Neil Swainson and Terry
Clarke. "I worked for two months
on the charts but this is a band that needs more gigs. It has wide representation
but it doesn't have cachet for promoters. Touring is iffy because of the costs
and because the musicians come from all over, but I am very grateful to the
CBC, which provided a rare opportunity for us to be treated at a top-notch
level." The "Summit"
performances are only one aspect of Dwyer's busy and successful career. He's not just in demand as a saxman, he's an
excellent pianist, composer and arranger — and he's also achieved a high profile
in projects involving classical music, never mind accompanying pop singers like
Gino Vanelli (a three-month tour in 1995) and backing showbiz giants like
Aretha Franklin, Kenny Rogers, Natalie Cole, Bob Newhart and the
Temptations. Dwyer got his start in
high school band programs on Vancouver Island on piano and sax, then studied in
New York with ace saxophonists Dave Liebman and Steve Grossman. On his return to the west he quickly rose
through the ranks, inspired by the example of multi-disciplined jazz artist Hugh
Fraser, before moving to Toronto in 1989.
Here he's played with everyone who matters. He's on more than 50 albums
and more than 1,000 recording sessions. His brand-new CD is Let Me Tell You
About My Day with bass Rod Whitaker and drummer Alan Jones, recorded at
CBC. There's a dozen tracks, six by Dwyer and this album without doubt is a
candidate for jazz album of the year.
"I composed a lot when I first started as a teenager but I didn't
follow it up and got into performing. In the mid-1990s I wrote a lot of
television commercials, and although that's not a great artistic form I learned
from colleagues how to put a score together.
"At this time I felt there was something impermanent in my life as
a musician. At the end of a week playing music there was nothing to show.
Recording made that a bit better, but I wanted to take time to think about
music, instead of just making music on the fly. Ironically, for me as a writer,
jazz is not always the best medium since jazz musicians are used to doing
everything themselves. "I started
working with classical groups both as performer and writer. They were looking
for a looser approach and I could draw on 20 years of improvising. I really get
off on the architecture of classical music, its proportions and scale. It's
very mathematical, very intellectual and it rejuvenated me — and all of this
spurred me into writing more jazz tunes."
His writing and arranging can be heard on the Guido Basso CD Lost In
The Stars, which won a Juno this year, and his studies with composer
Michael Colgrass were followed by commissions from classical groups such as
Amici and Art Of Time. He's performed
his own music with symphony orchestras in Toronto and Latvia. Dwyer has also
contributed original compositions to radio and television shows, theatre and
dance. "One goal of mine has been
to learn about different types of music, to understand their strengths on their
own terms. Gino Vanelli is a great singer but he expects a high level of
performance and it's a lesson in discipline and energy. You operate at the max
from the start." Dwyer recalled
that when he first came to Toronto there was little call for his piano skills,
except for Moe Koffman using him at George's Spaghetti House, but he worked at
it, influenced by Don Thompson who he calls his "unofficial mentor."
Nowadays he's also actively involved in groups with bass Dave Young, Thompson
and bassist Roberto Occhipinti. Dwyer
and family are relocating in the fall to his hometown, Qualicum Beach on
Vancouver Island. "It was not a lightly taken decision, but Vancouver Island
is where living is the closest thing to paradise. I've been going full-tilt for
15 years and there I'll have more energy and I'll lose the overhead of living
here. There's also year-round golf."
He'll be sorely missed. Fortunately he's already booked for three or
four visits to Toronto after the move.
Howie Beck signs with True
North
By KAREN BLISS
-- For JAM! Music Lowdown
(May
3, 2004) After the A&R person at True North Records heard Howie Beck's newly finished
album from Sarah
Harmer, he licensed it for Canada. The self-titled disc, which
features guest appearances by Britain's Ed Harcourt and Toronto's Leslie Feist
but is otherwise performed entirely by Beck, is slated for release in mid
July. "I helped (a friend) move
and Sarah was playing it," says True North's director of A&R, Steve
Jordan, whose friend rents a room to Harmer's boyfriend. "That's how I
first heard it." Beck also plays bass
and drums on Harmer's new album, "All Of Our Names," but Jordan, who
previously held an A&R position at Warner Music Canada, has always been a
fan of Beck's work, namely 1999's "Hollow" and 1997's "Pop And
Crash," both released independently in Canada. "He's great," says Jordan. "He's a great
songwriter. He's self-contained in terms of being able to write and produce and
arrange. He's like a one-stop shop for his records. There was no development
needed in terms of what he was producing musically. I always loved his
songwriting." Beck knows that
too. "Steve has shown interest in what I've done for a few years and I
know he's tried to get the opportunity to work with me before, and it's
exciting that now we'll get the opportunity to work together," he
says. "(True North) is the
epitome of what's good about independent labels. They've been around forever.
Bernie (Finkelstein, the president) is legendary and True North is legendary.
Certainly now is the time for me to take it to another level and I think their
approach is very suited to what I do."
Beck has never been on a label in Canada before. In fact, it's been five
years since he released "Hollow." "I got lost in traffic,"
he jokes. In 2001, he was signed in the U.K. to Easy! Tiger and Virgin labels
in Europe. "I spent some time
over there, but there were some tragic circumstances surrounding the
release," Beck says, referring to the death of one of the owners at Easy!
Tiger within a month of "Hollow"'s release. Beck says he's since spent a lot of time "hermitted"
in his Toronto studio, self-producing each track and playing all the
instruments. The results, he says, is "somewhat eclectic." Harcourt
sings back-up on "Don't Be Afraid," and Feist on "I Need
Light." The entire album was delivered as-is to True North, which is
distributed by Universal in Canada.
"I'm just really looking forward to finally having a home in Canada
for my music," says Beck. "It's been a long time coming and I think
they work at my speed and they're making moves, doing things different. They're
trying to establish a new vibe and I'm excited to be a part of it." While no single has yet been chosen, Jordan
says the plan is to simply get the album into as many hands as possible. "Journalists were especially keen on
the last record and this has the same qualities that the last album had,"
says Jordan. "Anybody who spends any time at all listening to music
seriously will love this record."
Beck, who doesn't presently have management, will tour late summer. His
booking agent is Glenn Vogelsang at Toronto's The Agency Group.
Vandross Is So Amazing
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com
(May. 10, 2004) *Super crooner Luther Vandross appeared on a special
episode of the Oprah Winfrey show, entirely dedicated to him. The tearful show was Vandross’ first
interview since he suffered a stroke last year. Interviewed at a rehabilitation center, Vandross shared his
physical and vocal therapy and vowed that he would be “singing at 80.” Vandross
also shared his thoughts since his stroke and his regrets at putting himself at
risk. "I was fit to be tied,” he
said. “It was a chore, coming back from the stroke. I was very
depressed." Vandross said his
therapy is very exhausting, and blames himself, as he had been in denial about
his diabetes, which incidentally had caused the deaths of his father, brother
and sister. Though he is getting better, Vandross has further to go and says
though it's hard work, he will definitely march on. This year’s Grammys were definitely a good sign for his longevity
in music. Though he was too ill to attend, Vandross snagged four awards for his
latest disc “Dance With My Father.”
Prince Charles Chills With Jay-Z
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com
(May. 10, 2004) *The Prince of Wales met up with some US
hip-hop stars late last week in preparation for his Prince’s Trust Urban Music Festival in
London over the weekend. Prince Charles
met Jay-Z at the University of Westminster, Harrow on
Friday and told reporters that he wasn’t too familiar with the urban scene, but
“liked some of the music” and joked, "I'm getting past my sell-by
date." The Jigga was, however,
familiar with the work Prince Charles is doing through the festival and said of
the royal figure, “Prince Charles is cool, very cool.” Also on hand for the event were Jay-Z’s main
squeeze Beyonce, Alicia Keys, Russell Simmons, and Brit Award winner Lemar.
Warner Music Group Cuts Price To Boost Sales
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com
(May. 10, 2004) *With retail record sales needing a boost, at
least one company, Warner Music Group, has decided to something.
Starting this week, the company behind Missy Elliott, Tamia and
Fabolous, is lowering the suggested retail price of over 1,700 albums in a bid
to spur CD sales. The initiative, which
was outlined by the company to retailers last week, lowers the suggested retail
price on 1,776 titles that have been in stores for at least 18 months. The suggested price on more than 1,200 of
the so-called back catalogue titles will change from between $18.98 and $13.98
to $9.98. The roughly 500 other titles will have a suggested price between
$13.98 and $11.98. "After numerous
conversations with many of our retail partners over the last year about ways in
which we can help drive music consumers into stores, we created a program
incorporating the most significant price reduction in our history," Warner
Music Group said in a statement.
Chaka
Khan Will Be Honoured As Woman Of The Year
Source:
Roz Stevenson / Roz Stevenson PR / (323) 296-6612
(May. 10, 2004) Solombra Ingram, founder of "I'm
Every Woman" Conference and the First Lady of Maranatha Community Church
in Los Angeles, along with celebrity host Terry Vaughn (All of Us, The Steve
Harvey Show) will salute veteran R&B singer Chaka Khan
as Woman of the Year during a special awards dinner, citing her Khan's career
achievements and charity efforts on behalf of women and children at risk. The conference will be held at the luxurious
Fess Parker's Doubletree Resort in Santa Barbara, California, Thursday, June 24
through Sunday, June 27th. The overall theme of the conference will be Growth
and Change. The purpose will be to nurture, challenge and encourage women to
survive life's most difficult crises and discover the secrets of personal
growth and maintaining inner beauty. For information and registration visit us
at www.imeverywoman.org or call (310) 226-6158. Other special speakers and guests include actress Judge Mablean
Ephraim of Divorce Court, Billy Blanks of Tae Bo fame, recording artist
Shanice, Eunetta Boone, executive producer of One on One, Dr. Betty Price,
author and First Lady of Crenshaw Christian Center; Dr. Billy G. Ingram, pastor
and writer of "The Legacy," Maura Gale, entertainer, actress,
performance poet and many more. Top
entertainment and business professionals are also scheduled to participate as
speakers or panellists. They include Lynn Chamberlain-Tribble, HIV/AIDs
Spokesperson, Roz Stevenson, motion picture publicist, Jaki Brown-Karman,
casting director/producer, Kasey Phillips-Brown, licensed clinical social
worker, Dr. Hilton M. Hudson II, CT surgeon/publisher, Judge Irma J. Brown, Los
Angeles Superior Court, Sheila Ducksworth, VP Development, First Move TV/Fox TV
and LaRonda Sutton, president of Artist Exposure. It's been three decades since
Chaka Khan--award-winning singer, songwriter, and community advocate--first
introduced the world to the music and lyrics that would change the recording
world. Since her arrival on the scene in the early 1970s, Chaka has been
setting standards in most every music genre; pop, rhythm & blues, rock,
disco, fusion, jazz, rap, hip-hop and even classical. Khan first arrived on the music scene in 1973 as the lead singer
for Rufus, one of the first multi-racial bands of its time. Touring with
popular music legends Stevie Wonder and the Rolling Stones, the group--known
best as Rufus featuring Chaka Khan, earned one platinum album, five gold
albums, five gold singles, five # 1 hits and two GRAMMY® Awards. Those hits
include "Sweet Thing," "Tell Me Something Good," "Once
You Get Started," "Everlasting Love," "Do You Love What You
Feel," and "Ain't Nobody."
Khan began her solo career in the late 1970s with the smash hit,
"I'm Every Woman," a tune written for her by the legendary
songwriting team of Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson. Since then, she has
recorded nine albums and been honoured with six more GRAMMY® Awards. Her solo
hits include "What Cha Gonna Do For Me?" "Clouds," "Papillion,"
"I Feel For You," and "Through the Fire." She also served
as executive producer for her 1992 GRAMMY®-winning album The Woman I Am. Khan recently launched her own record label,
Earth Song Entertainment, named after "Earth Song," one of her
compositions. Khan's mystical lyrics celebrate the purity of heart and mind
with which she begins each creation. It all comes together to present the
label's true purpose: individual artistic creativity. In 1999, the Chaka Khan Foundation was established to offer drug
and alcohol treatment, programs to help women and children transition out of
poverty, and support for battered women. The foundation seeks new treatments
and effective preventative education for the HIV and hepatitis epidemics. It
also assists communities with their efforts to encourage artistic, cultural and
racial expression as an effort to break down barriers. Of this endeavour, Khan
simply says, "It's time to build up and time to give back." One of the ways Khan is giving back is with
a delectable line of gourmet chocolates called Chakalates. All proceeds will go
to the Chaka Khan Foundation to assist women and children at risk. Chakalates
are now available at Neiman Marcus in Beverly Hills. Proceeds from the
"I'm Every Woman" conference will support Touching Lives, Inc., a
501(c)(3) organization dedicated to providing educational materials, learning
opportunities, informative trips abroad and scholarships for disadvantaged
youth. Since 2000, the Maranatha
Community Church has assisted more than fifty disadvantaged youth with travel
opportunities and scholarships.
Fans In A 'Huff' Over Votes!
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com
(May. 6, 2004)
*Now,
how can the public honestly say that certain other singers on American Idol are better than George Huff? Are you one of the culprits in
this vote? The Luther-in-training,
singer George Huff, was voted off "American Idol" by viewers
Wednesday during a live broadcast. All of the singers performed in Big Band
theme on Tuesday and hardly any of the reviews were good. New Orleans native,
Huff, 22, performed "What a Wonderful World" and "Cheek to
Cheek" during that show and most of the judges were unmoved. Judge Randy Jackson said Huff gave a
"safe" performance, while judge Simon Cowell said Huff agreed by
saying he could catch the same type of performance on a cruise ship. The three judges, including Paula Abdul only
assist the viewers in making a professional decision as to who should be the
next American Idol. They have no vote at this point, but narrowed it down to
70,000 applicants to 32 semifinalists and then, with the viewer's help, to 12
finalists. The audience are now the real judges. Huff had been amongst the top performers on the show until he
received one of the bottom three votes last week when the red-head John Stevens
was voted off. "Thank you so much,
America," he said. "American Idol is my over-the-rainbow
experience." The four remaining
contestants are all women - Jasmine Trias, Fantasia Barrino, Diana DeGarmo and
LaToya London. Barrino and London being the obvious favourites. Barrino, 19, brought tears to Paul Abdula's
eyes Tuesday night with her rendition of "What are You Doing the Rest of
Your Life." And Simon Cowell repeatedly praised both of them once saying
to Barrino, "You and La Toya are in a different league."
Stevie Wonder Is Back!
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com
(May. 6, 2004) *Stevie has
sat back and taken a real break from the studio. He left the studio nearly 10 years
ago. The new album "A Time 2
Love" is set to drop June 8. There are only scanty details about the
Motown project, but Wonder is expected to be in the public eye more promoting
the new set near the release date. In
the coming weeks, the legendary singer is expected to perform on an episode of
"The Oprah Winfrey Show" devoted solely to him. He is also scheduled
to appear on ABC's "Good Morning America." He will also receive an award right after the release of the
album on June 10. He will receive the Johnny Mercer Award by the National
Academy of Popular Music/Songwriters Hall of Fame, for the "high quality
and impact" of his body of work.
"A Time 2 Love" is the follow-up to his last studio album
"Conversation Peace," which was released in 1995 and debuted at No.
16 on the Billboard 200. The album sold 366,000 copies in the United States,
according to Nielsen SoundScan.
A Thug's Heart (Tupac Shakur): Q & A with Angela Ardis
Source.
ShoreFire Media / Rebecca Shapiro / rshapiro@shorefiremedia.com
(May. 6, 2004) Q: How did you
first get the idea to reach out to Tupac?
It
was a freaky bet. I was at work, it was late at night, my co-workers and I were
delirious from a long day on the job. They dared me to try to reach him in
jail. I thought the whole thing was absurd but figured there was no harm in
calling to try to get his information anyway. To my surprise, it worked -- they
gave me his address and prisoner number. I started immediately writing my first
letter.
Q:
Were you a fan of his before you began corresponding?
A:
I'm not a huge hip-hop fan, but I enjoyed his music. Certain songs of his
really moved me. I also really liked the film "Poetic Justice."
Q:
What did you find most surprising about his personality as it was expressed
through his letters and phone calls?
A:
Tupac was a lot more sensitive than what I had seen and read about him in the
press. He was not the same person that was represented in the media. There was
another person in there that no one got to see -- no one saw that sensitive
side of him.
Q:
What was your first meeting like?
A:
I was so nervous. It was a really nerve-wracking experience. I didn't know what
to expect. Would the conversations flow? Would we mesh right away? As it turned
out, he was just as nervous as I was. The awkwardness settled and everything
fell into place. It just flowed.
Q:
How did your friends and family react to your ongoing relationship?
A:
I didn't really share the experience with many people except my family and
closest friend. My mom wasn't thrilled at all. She was scared. She didn't know
what to expect, but ultimately she knew all you can do is let God take over. My
roommate at the time, however, was thrilled. It was a day to day thing for her
and me -- we would always check the mailbox to see if a new letter had arrived.
Q:
What do you hope people learn about Tupac from your book?
A:
I hope they are able to see that he does have another side. Though there was
some truth in what the media portrayed, Tupac was also a caring, sensitive, and
passionate person. This was rarely shown in the press -- they wrapped
themselves around the "Thug" mentality.
Q:
When did you decide to write the book and publish your correspondence? What
inspired that decision?
A:
In May of 2000. I had several conversations with my business partner who then
set up a meeting with Tupac's mother and aunt and showed them three proposed
chapters for my book. We wanted to reveal another side of Tupac that no one has
shown before -- to show people who he really is through his letters.
Q:
How did you first get the idea to publish the book?
A:
A business partner and I were sitting on my back porch reading poetry to each
other. When I asked him if he wanted to read a poem by Tupac, he was stunned.
When he saw the collection of material I had, he felt it was begging to be
published. I talked about it to some other friends and my mom, and I decided to
tell the story of how it happened. And that's where the book came from.
Q:
How did this experience change your life?
A:
It taught me to slow things down in my relationships, and encouraged me to get
to know people a lot more. This was a unique experience because we could not
see each other as our relationship was building -- all our correspondence was
through phone calls and letters.
Q:
Are there any messages you hope people will take with them after reading the
book?
A:
Don't judge a book by its cover. Give everyone a opportunity to be themselves.
Sometimes people are forced to portray a certain personality for the type of
work they are in. There is always another side to the story. I hope the readers
can see that Tupac was not just this thug person that he was portrayed to
be...he had a very deep, sensitive side to him.
INSIDE
A THUG'S HEART -- By Angela Ardis, with original poems and letters by Tupac
Shakur Dafina Books, an imprint of Kensington Publishing
Hardcover/Nonfiction/May 4, 2004/$21.00 (Canada $29.00) / 0-7582-0789-1
Spread The News! Afroman Is Back
Source: Jonathan Wolfson / Wolfson Public Relations / (323)
466-0499 / wolfsonpr@hotmail.com / www.wolfsonpr.net
(May. 5, 2004) Los Angeles, CA -
Got the munchies for some high-quality, high-spirited hip-hop? The self-styled
"stoner's New Year" - rap and counterculture hero, Afroman, is back with Afroholic: The Even Better Times. This is the follow-up to The Good Times, the
singer's 2001 CD best known for the hit single "Because I Got High."
The new album, on Afroman's home-grown label, Hungry Hustler Records
(distributed via Redeye), is a spliffy two-disc set featuring over 30 fresh
songs, including "Let's Get High Tonight," "Freak With You"
and "Just My Paranoia."
"On Afroholic; The Even Better Times, I'm talking about stuff I
know, like getting drunk, getting high, chasing women, selling dope and even my
feelings for God," says Afroman, whose real name is Joseph Foreman.
"There's a depth to this recording that hopefully will let listeners know
I'm not just some guy who won the drunk karaoke lottery with 'Because I Got
High' and got a record deal."
Described by ROLLING STONE as "equal parts Bootsy Collins, Blowfly
and Too Short," Afroman's loopy melodies are buoyant, brilliant and, more
often than not, appropriately blunt.
Winner of the 2001 HIGH TIMES Doobie Award for Pot Song of the Year,
"Because I Got High"-a breakout radio single upon its release-reached
# 1 on music charts throughout Europe, Australia and Scandinavia, with The Good
Times certified Gold by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of
America). The tune also played a
prominent role on the soundtrack to the film Jay And Silent Bob Strike
Back. The seeds of greatness planted by
that cut clearly come to full bloom on the arresting Afroholic: The Even Better
Times. Further information on Afroman and Afroholic: The Even Better Times is
available at http://www.afromanmusic.com
Two Culture Clash Compilation Set For August Release
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com - by
Kevin Jackson / eurfeedback@eurweb.com
(May. 6, 2004) Gee Jam studio's head honcho, Jon Baker, has revived
his Gee Street Records imprint with the release of Two
Culture Clash, a compilation album featuring dancehall and Reggae
acts riding electronic beats. The compilation is the label's first major
project in a while and it features the works of several European-based
electronic music producers. The project
was launched a week ago in London at the offices of the Jamaican High
Commission, and according to Gee Jam's publicist, Jade Lee of Jade Promotions,
"it's a meshing of electronic music and dancehall/Reggae". "It's an amazing album and we just
launched it last week in London. We are very excited about it as it crosses all
barriers, age and colour. It's very diversified," Lee said. Electronic
music has been making a major impact in Europe and North America for years,
thanks to acts including Moby, Crystal Method, Chemical Brothers, Basement Jaxx
and Tricky. The Two Culture Clash
compilation is a joint venture between the UK-based Wall of Sound label and
Gee-Street Records. The compilation is due for release internationally on
August 2. Among the acts featured are Barrington Levy, Innocent Kru, Tanya
Stephens, Bling Dawg, Big Youth, Ward 21, Spragga Benz, Nadine Sutherland,
Ce'Cile, General Degree, Danny English and Ernest Ranglin. Baker's interest in Reggae developed back in
the 1970s when as a teenager he was influenced by the works of King Tubby and
Tappa Zukie among others. He began selling 12-inch vinyl records from the trunk
of his motor vehicle and started Gee Street Records in 1985. He later moved the
label's offices from London to New York, USA. In 1990 he entered into a joint
venture with Island Records' Chris Blackwell and he became head of A&R at
both Island and Gee Street, where he signed Carlene Davis, Beenie Man, Luciano,
Stereo MCs, Doug E Fresh and PM Dawn, among others. Baker left Island in 1996 and formed V2 Records. In 2000, he sold
the label and moved to Jamaica where he started the Gee Jam studios in
Portland. "We underwent a two-year
development of artistes since Gee Jam started. We are also about to launch Ford
Recordings. I am presently in the midst of negotiating to buy back Gee Street
to re-launch it for the release of the Two Culture Clash project," Baker
said. He said he decided to start a project featuring Jamaican artistes on
electronic rhythms, because "I think we've got something major here. I am
pretty renowned as an A&R man in rhythmic crossover music. My track record
speaks for itself so I came up with an idea that can fit into the Jamaican
entertainment scene, and one that can further promote Jamaican acts
internationally. Relocating from Europe and spending lots of time in the US, I
linked up with electronic music producers and brought them to my studio here in
Jamaica. With assistance from Jade Promotions, I listened to the records and
decided who would be best to work with for the project and which DJs to work with.
I am convinced that we are at the forefront of a new genre which is going to be
popular in future years." Some of
the international electronic producers who worked on Two Culture Clash include
Dynamite, DJ Gregory, and Cassius from France. Baker said that a follow-up to
Two Culture Clash will start later this year.
"We are already getting offers from producers who want to be
involved in volume two of the project. Chemical Brothers and Fat Boy Slim have
indicated their interest to participate," he said. The Two Culture Clash compilation will be
launched in Jamaica at the Quad in New Kingston.
Peter Tosh To Be Honoured In Kingston
Source: Associated Press
(May
6, 2004) Late reggae legend Peter Tosh will be honoured at the fourth
annual Calabash International Literary Festival later this month in Kingston.
The May 28-30 festival will bring together several internationally recognized
writers, actors and musicians for public readings and performances. It will take place in the small fishing
village of Treasure Beach on Jamaica's south coast in honour of what would be
Tosh's 60th birthday, according to the Jamaica Tourist Board. Tosh was the most outspoken member of the
famed Wailers alongside Bob Marley and Bunny Livingston in 1960s and went on to
have a successful solo career with songs like "Equal Rights" and
"Legalize It." He was killed during a robbery at his Kingston home in
1987. The celebration will include
performances of Tosh's songs by reggae singers Ibo Cooper, Wayne Armond and
Stephen Golding. Marley's widow Rita Marley will read from her new book,
"No Woman, No Cry." Also
scheduled to attend is actress Phyllis Yvonne Stickney, whose films include
"Malcolm X" and "What's Love Got to Do With It." Stickney
will read excerpts from her one-woman comedy show, "P.S. I'm Still
Standing." Other artists planning
to attend are novelists Maryse Conde of Guadeloupe, Austin Clarke of Barbados
and Cuban writer Arnaldo Correa.
Coxone Dodd Tribute Planned
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com
(May.
7, 2004) *Reggae producer Clement "Sir Coxone" Dodd, who died
Tuesday of an apparent heart attack, at the age of 72, will be honoured at a
trio of tribute concerts in Jamaica later this month, organizers
announced. Dodd was credited with
launching the careers of dozens of performers, including Bob Marley and the
Wailers. "Jamaican music was
Coxone Dodd. He set the pace," Keith Brown, promoter of the concerts,
which will honour Dodd by playing music from his famed Studio One label. The concerts will be held in Ocho Rios (May
8), Kingston (May 15) and Negril (May 22).
Dodd opened Jamaica's first black-owned music studio in 1963. Four days
before his death, city officials honoured the legendary producer by renaming the
street where his studio is located as Studio One Boulevard.
Jadakiss
Readies Sophomore Album
Excerpt
from www.billboard.com - Jonathan Cohen, N.Y.
(May 6, 2004) Rapper Jadakiss will on June 15
release his sophomore Ruff Ryders/Interscope set "Kiss of Death." The
first single is "Time's Up" featuring Nate Dogg peaked last week at
No. 50 on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart. The Chris
Robinson-directed video for the cut can be viewed on Jadakiss' official
Web site. "Kiss of
Death" sports guest spots by Kanye West, DJ Quik, Snoop Dogg and Jadakiss'
former Lox groupmate Styles, as well as Anthony Hamilton and the Neptunes'
Pharrell Williams. Among the producers that lent a hand behind the boards are
West, Swizz Beatz, Scott Storch, the Neptunes and Alchemist. If anybody ever followed my career, I was
always categorized as one of the top spitters," Jadakiss says. "My
rough voice and my delivery set me aside from everyone else. It just seemed
like [there] was always something missing. But this time I'm going to make sure
all the chips are in place." Since
the 2001 release of his debut solo album, "Kiss Tha Game Goodbye,"
Jadakiss has been heard on a bevy of hits from the likes of Jennifer Lopez,
Mya, Gang Starr, Drag-On, Funkmaster Flex and Ghostface. "Game"
peaked at No. 2 on Billboard's Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and has sold
869,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
'Yeah!' Claims 12th Week On Top
Excerpt
from www.billboard.com - Margo Whitmire, L.A.
Usher's
"Yeah!" featuring Lil Jon and Ludacris slides
into its 12th consecutive week at No. 1 on Billboard's Hot 100. "Yeah!"
is the longest-running No. 1 single since Eminem's "Lose Yourself"
topped the chart for same amount of time in 2002-2003. But Usher's Hot 100 dominance doesn't stop
there. "Burn," the second single from his LaFace/Zomba album
"Confessions," is holding tight at No. 3 for a third week. Third
single "Confessions Part II" continues to rise on the tally, moving
up 28-17 this week. Breaking up the
Usher jam at the top of the chart for a fourth week is Mario Winans' "I
Don't Wanna Know" featuring Enya and P. Diddy at No. 2. Beyoncé's
"Naughty Girl" is again the chart's fastest-growing track at radio,
and holds onto the No. 4 spot for the third consecutive week. Hoobastank gets its first top 10 Hot 100 single
as "The Reason" jumps 13-10. The track holds its spot for a third
week at No. 1 on Billboard's Hot Digital Tracks chart, and is one of the top 10
most-played videos at MTV. Previously, the Island act's highest charting single
on the Hot 100 was 2002's "Running Away," which reached No. 44. Rounding out the rest of the top 10,
Maroon5's "This Love" jumps 6-5, D12's "My Band" is up 7-6,
Alicia Keys' "If I Ain't Got You" gains 8-7, J-Kwon's
"Tipsy" falls 5- 8 and Twista's "Overnight Celebrity" holds
at No. 9. Velvet Revolver has the Hot
100's top debut with "Slither," which enters the chart at No. 63. The
band, which consists of former Stone Temple Pilots frontman Scott Weiland and
ex-Guns N' Roses members Slash, Duff McKagan and Matt Sorum, will release its
RCA debut, "Contraband," on June 8.
The Beastie Boys return to the Hot 100 with "Ch-Check It Out"
at No. 68, the first single from their upcoming Capitol album "To the 5
Boroughs." The track also earned the act its highest career debut with a
No. 14 post on the Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks chart, that tally's
second-highest debut of the 2004 calendar year. Also new to the chart this week is Lloyd Banks with "On
Fire" at No. 65, Los Lonely Boys' "Heaven" at No. 67,
Yellowcard's "Ocean Avenue" at No. 74, SheDaisy's "Passenger
Seat" at No. 77, A Perfect Circle's "The Outsider" at No. 79 and
Brandy featuring Kanye West at No. 88 with "Talk About Our
Love." Jo-Jo's "Leave (Get
Out)" earns the Hot 100's fastest-growing track at retail designation for
the third week and jumps71-63. The single has sold 23,000 copies in the United
States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
Other songs making notable gains on the Hot 100 include OutKast's
"Roses" (39-29), Christina Milian's "Dip It Low" (82-66)
and Jay-Z's "99 Problems" (94-84).
Jet maintains its reign on the Mainstream and Modern Rock Tracks charts
for the second consecutive week with "Cold Hard Bitch." Keith Urban
holds onto the No. 1 slot for the second week on Billboard's Hot Country
Singles & Tracks chart with "You'll Think of Me."
Did
You Miss Angie Stone?
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com
(May. 7, 2004) *Angie Stone is
bringing the soul back to music with a fresh new tour supported by one of the
finest drinks around. The Stone Love
Concert Tour is supported by RémyRed®. It kicked off in Atlanta on May 1 at the
Midtown Music Festival. And speaking of
Remy Red, she even has a song about the drink, which is one of her favourite
drinks, on her album. The song appears
on her upcoming album, "Stone Love," which will drop in July off the
Clive Davis label, J Records. Fans can log onto www.angiestoneonline.com to
listen to the single. Stone apparently
likes the drink so much, she also created a signature Rémy Red cocktail, "The
Girlfriend," together with a New York-based mixologist. It consists of a
blend of RémyRed Red Berry Infusion and orange, pineapple, pomegranate and lime
juices with a splash of ginger ale. She's also partnered with RémyRed to launch
the RémyRed & Angie Stone Girlfriend Getaway sweepstakes. "Angie attended a Rémy Martin® event
and had the opportunity to try RémyRed. It was love at first sip," said
Maria Tiu, Brand Manager for RémyRed. "The song came out of her experience
with RémyRed. We loved the song and saw the opportunity for a very positive intersection
between the brand [RémyRed] and Stone's persona. She really conveys the RémyRed
image -- a bold, confident, stylish woman who's not afraid to take charge and
has a great time doing it."
"I've always been a person to reach out … And when you reach out
good things happen," says Stone. "I reached out to Remy to tell them
about a song I wrote because of a great experience I had at a Remy event. They
[Remy] were able to understand me as an artist and as a person. They afforded
me an opportunity to showcase my talents, not only as a singer, but a marketer
as well."
Alyson Williams Has Returned
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com - .
by J.C. Brooks
(May.
7, 2004) You probably remember her best for her ever-memorable soulful hit
"Just Call My Name." Well, Alyson Williams is back on the music scene
after more than ten years and is living it up.
Her talents don't stop at music, so Williams has enjoyed a wonderful
career that includes theater. She's been on Broadway and elsewhere stretching
her acting wings. "I don't think
my focus ever left having new material on the radio on a consistent
basis," said Williams. "I wanted to find the right arrangement and it
took a while and I just did something else that I knew how to do which was act
in the theater realm." Williams
took a break from the theater to care for her ailing mother, but speculation of
jobs she would and wouldn't do started to mount. "I haven't really done a play since last year and it was an
off Broadway play. It wasn't one of the "urban theater shows" -- we
don't call them gospel theater we call them urban theater shows -- and that was
due to my mother being ill and I was taking care of her," she said.
"It was rumoured that I wasn't doing the shows. They knew my mom was very
sick, and they knew that I couldn't travel extensively and I couldn't travel
with the shows. I voiced my desire to do some directing and tweaking of shows,
staging and things like that. But I made it clear that I would have to take each
show one step at a time to see if I would be able to travel." Unfortunately the singing sensation's mother
lost her battle with cancer in 2002, but Williams finds strength in her
mother's ability to still work for her.
"She got cancer and it spread, but she fought a good fight. She's
an amazing woman. I see how things are coming together, so I know she's with
me." And indeed things are coming
together. With all of the politics in the music industry, Williams has taken
her time to find the right deal and found her home at an independent
Washington, DC based label called Three Keys Music. "We were just waiting for the right opportunity. You have to
understand that people will offer you things that are totally
unacceptable," stated Williams. "I have been traveling throughout the
country and throughout Europe doing plays and so on and so forth and
collaborations with other artists. Obviously I'm deserving of a deal that shows
appreciation for the fact that you have a talent that will deliver." Williams has come together with an awesome
collaborative album full of her talent and a bevy of experienced talented
veterans supporting the effort. The soulful project is a powerhouse album with
smooth jazz, contemporary gospel and urban contemporary R&B offering something
for everyone. The new album dropped in
April and is entitled "It's About Time." She set up the tracking of
the album to read like a love story.
"I listened to my songs as they were coming into completion and I
looked at the titles and the lyric content and said, 'Hey, this is a love
story.' And I put them in order to tell a story," said Williams. "The
concept behind it speaks to time as the element that propels us through our
lives everyday. The love story over a period of time." From beginning to end the tracks speak of a
love affair that goes from the exciting beginning of a relationship in
"Soft and Warm" when you first meet through the indecisiveness of a
relationship when one wonders if the relationship is really what they want. The
album also boasts two duets with the incomparable Tony Terry on "Sexy
Way" where he praises his woman and vice versa and "Tomorrow"
where the indecision begins. Williams
also remade the classic "Holding Back The Years" by Simply Red and
offers a couple of versions of the hit song, including a remix by John
Stoddard. The other phenomenal aspect
of the album is its photography. The warm balladeer that melts the ladies, Will
Downing, took the photos for the album.
"The velvet voice, Will Downing, not only sings, but takes a hell
of a picture, Williams exclaims. "He's a photographer by hobby and has
calendars that he sells at different venues. I once did a 'Best of…' CD that I
put together for myself and Will did the pictures for that. I told him I wanted
him to sing with me (on this project), but his label wasn't havin' that, so he
said 'I tell you what, we'll take some pictures.'" Although she's returned to the music scene,
she hasn't given up on pursuing her talent for theater. "I wanna try and write a play around
the songs. And hopefully by next year, I can put my own play out on the urban
theater market. I have a lot of little things that I wanna do, I just hope that
this album will help me do it."
Sample Alyson's new CD and her photos at: http://www.threekeys.com/Alyson.
Why Even Losers Win On
American Idol
Excerpt from The Toronto Star - Karu F.
Daniels, Associated Press
(May 12,
2004) NEW YORK—Acidic tongue-lashings
from American Idol judge Simon Cowell could deflate anyone's musical
aspirations, but many Idol losers are finding that second-chance success
isn't a bad consolation prize. As the third season of Fox's hugely
successful reality contest gears up for the May 26 finale, numerous former
contestants — some dishonourably discharged — are signing major record deals,
appearing on television and singing on Broadway. The show "has gotten the public
captivated," said Geoff Mayfield, director of charts for the Billboard
music-industry magazine. "I think that the viewers feel an investment in American
Idol. Now, I kind of take it as a matter of course that this is an event
that sells music.'' And
jump-starts careers: After all, William Hung
— the laughingstock of the current season — already has an album out. The
31-year-old engineering student performs comical covers of popular tunes by R.
Kelly, Elton John, The Beach Boys, Enrique Iglesias and, of course, the Ricky
Martin numbers that made him infamous. In its first week, the CD cracked Billboard's
Top 40, selling more than 38,000 copies. The self-proclaimed "Real
American Idol'' has appeared on everything from The Today Show to The
Tonight Show, and on May 2 even sang at a nationally televised NBA game.
This Saturday he's scheduled to share the same stage as Jessica Simpson, Lenny
Kravitz, OutKast and Janet Jackson at a music festival at the Rose Bowl in
Pasadena, Calif. Although
Hung's popularity is based on his awfulness, "you can't blame a person for
taking an opportunity," said season two finalist Kimberley Locke. "That's why we all do
it.'' Locke
just released her debut album, One Love, on Curb Records, home of
country superstars Tim McGraw, Wynonna Judd and LeAnn Rimes. She admits that Idol has
accelerated her career. "For the rest of my life I'll have to talk about American
Idol, which is a good thing because I'm proud to have been a part of the
show," she said. R.J. Helton, the
top-five finalist from the first season, released his debut album, the Christian-oriented
Real Life, on B Rite/Zomba last month. The Latin crooner is managed by
Beyoncé Knowles's father, Matthew Knowles.
"Just
because we didn't win the show doesn't mean that we didn't think we were going
to continue, by any means," Helton said. For other contestants, the show led
not to a recording deal but to the theatre. Vanessa
Olivarez from season one plays the lead in the Toronto version of
the hit Broadway musical Hairspray, and season two semifinalist Trenyce, who recently finished a U.S. tour
with Not A Day Goes By, based on the best-selling E. Lynn Harris novel. Former child star Marque Lynche, who got the boot on Feb. 10,
recently joined the off-Broadway musical Fame On 42nd Street, based on
the popular 1980s film and television show. "The reason that I got Fame
was because (the producers) saw me on the show and they said (I) was perfect
for this role," said Lynch, 23, who was seen as a child on the All New
Mickey Mouse Club alongside Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake. "It
did give me a platform to kind of be a quasi-celebrity and go in with a little
bit of a name. So it makes it a little bit easier to do what I do.'' And of course there's Frenchie Davis — clearly Ruben and Clay's
biggest competition from season two. The voluptuous vocal powerhouse, bounced
after her pictures surfaced on an adult web site, is on board for another run
in the Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway musical Rent this summer. She
recently performed a leading role in the touring company of the legendary
musical Dreamgirls, and she's negotiating a record deal. Despite all the hype, Idol does
have plenty of detractors who decry the way it churns out ready-made pop
confections. "I
think that it's an interesting little way of creating, I don't want to say
stars, but creating people who can be within the record business at this time
when nobody is buying records,'' laments Rolling Stone critic and
contributing editor Toure. "But this is not the way of creating lasting
stars.'' It's
a foot in the door, though, and that's all today's hopefuls want. "We were all after one common
goal and that was to do what we loved to do,' Helton said. "American
Idol helped us out and gave us the extra boost."
'Time' Is Right For New Milian Album
Excerpt
from www.billboard.com -- Jonathan
Cohen, N.Y.
(May 11, 2004) Although her sophomore
Island Def Jam album, "It's About Time," isn't due until June 15,
vocalist Christina
Milian is already making a big splash with the
single "Dip It Low." The cut debuted over the weekend at No. 2 on the U.K.
singles chart, on the heels of her prior top 10 U.K. hits "AM to PM"
and "When You Look at Me."
The track list for "It's About Time" is not yet finalized, but
the set is tipped to feature such songs as "Hands on Me,"
"Highway" and "Peanut Butter & Jelly," plus production
from Bryan Cox (Usher), Warryn Campbell (Brandy, Alicia Keys), Corey Rooney
(Mariah Carey) and Polli Paul (Black Eyed Peas). "Dip It Low" has
also been remixed with appearances by Fabolous and Shawnna. Milian is perhaps best known to U.S.
audiences via her appearances in films such as "Love Don't Cost a
Thing" and "Torque." She will next be seen alongside John Travolta
and fellow musician Andre 3000 of OutKast in the "Get Shorty" sequel
"Be Cool," as well as the film "Cheer Up," starring Tommy
Lee Jones. Milian may perform live in
some fashion this summer but details have yet to be announced.
Pianist Bobby Lyle Goes Both Ways -- Musically Speaking -- On
The Ambitious 'Straight & Smooth'
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com - by Janine Coveney
(May.
7, 2004) Beginning in 1997, Bobby Lyle took a five-year hiatus from
recording and just did gigs here and there. It wasn't a planned hiatus, but
such is the world of the jazz musician these days. The veteran pianist, whose
elegant, imaginative style has earned him fans since his first solo recording
in 1977, decided to take his time before signing on with yet another
label. Lyle's last contract was with
Atlantic Records, which released his critically acclaimed 1997 CD "Power
Of Touch." That set included guests like Will Downing, sax man Gerald
Albright, guitarist Paul Jackson Jr., saxophonist Alphonso Johnson, guitarist
Doc Powell, singer Kevyn Lattau, bassist Sekou Bunch, and saxophonist Wilton
Felder. Before the Houston-based Lyle could get another album out, the label
decided to shut down its jazz division, cutting loose a handful of jazz
musicians still in the prime of their careers.
In 2001 a mutual friend, musician and producer Gerald McCauley,
suggested that Bobby talk with Marcus Johnson, the head of up-and-coming label
Three Keys Entertainment. Said Bobby: "I wanted to make sure that whoever
my next deal would be with, whoever I signed with, that they would have the
same kind of musical vision as I do and that I would be able to express all the
many facets of my musicality. So Marcus, being a fellow pianist, turned out to
be that guy." That musical vision
included an ambitious project that would allow Bobby to stretch out and bridge
the chasm that exists between smooth jazz and straight-ahead jazz, and do it on
one wide-ranging project. The seeds for his current album, Straight &
Smooth, were sewn. But at the same time, Bobby and Marcus agreed that they
should wait before launching such an ambitious project together. First, Bobby
recorded and released "Joyful," the smash 2003 smooth jazz set that
reached Number Eight on the Billboard Top Contemporary Jazz Albums chart. With
"Joyful" a proven hit, Lyle moved ahead with the new two-disk set
"Straight & Smooth." The title says it all: One CD features
smooth jazz fare produced in a studio, the other includes a range of straight-ahead
pieces recorded in a trio setting, much of it recorded live. Bobby didn't even allow all the
free-floating chatter about the two styles of music belonging to separate
worlds get in his way. But he does acknowledge that his style of play on the
piano, as well as the production for each style, requires some mental
adjustment. "Yeah, there is a mental shift that necessary to make,"
he says. "It's not difficult, just more or less getting the right
personnel to bring each style to its full life. And I use the piano in a
different kind of way when I'm playing straight ahead, so all the things that
are filled in on the smooth jazz track -- like guitar parts and harmony parts
-- the piano pretty much has to fill all of that when you're playing acoustic
trio. But that's OK because I did a lot of that when I was coming up as a young
player. I've always played in trios, it's very comfortable for me."
The
Smooth disk includes a number of different flavours, from smooth to Latin to
gospel to hip-hop, and Bobby likes incorporating all of it. "I always look
at a collection of songs as trying to touch a lot of different moods and
feelings," he says. "It's like going to the movies, the ones that you
remember the most are the ones that trigger your basic emotions, they make you
laugh n cry and really care about the characters. I try to do that with
songs." Also included is his
version of R. Kelly's hit "Step In The Name Of Love," which he did as
a tribute to all the steppers who made regional hits out of some of his earlier
album tracks. He laughs when pointing out that the tune has also been covered
by saxophonists Andre Ward and Kim Waters. "A good song is a good song and
inevitably other good musicians are going to jump on it," he
chuckles. Bobby also gives tribute to
the late Barry White with an intense, faithful version of "I'm Going To
Love You Just A little More Baby," featuring the pianist's own bass-voiced
rap intro. "Barry taught us about being intimate and expressing that
intimacy to your lady and I think he was a beautiful guy and we just need to
keep that alive," he notes. "And his music had so much richness to
it, partly because he orchestrated everything. But the chord changes and the
melodies -- it was just beautiful music on top of what his message was with the
music." Bobby Lyle's gorgeous
piano tones and sensitive touch come through on every track, but he is really
spotlighted on the Straight disk. Most of that material was recorded live at
the Three Keys studios in Silver Spring, Maryland, and at the studios of XM
Radio in Washington, D.C. The whole
double-disk project is something of a dream fulfilled, and Bobby is justifiably
pleased. Signing to Three Keys and being able to make the album he wanted to
make is yet another step in his right-place, right-time career, which has
included early stints touring with Sly & the Family Stone, Bette Midler, Al
Jarreau, and Anita Baker, among others.
Says Bobby: "I've been very lucky. There was string in the '80s
where I went from George Benson to Bette Midler to Al Jarreau to Anita Baker
back to Bette Midler, and these are all people I had admired anyway and been a
fan of their music, so it was easy for me to plug into each of their styles.
And I look at it as adding color to my own style because I brought a little
something away from each of those situations that I've been able to use in my
solo career."
‘Geek’ Does It Her Way - Nellie McKay
Excerpt from The
Toronto Star - Kerry l. Smith, Associated Press
(May 9, 2004) NEW YORK—Nellie McKay
isn't afraid to admit that she was a "band geek" in high school. The 19-year-old singer/songwriter was teased
because she prefers slacks, flats and shoulder-padded blazers to tight, trendy
jeans. She doesn't own a TV. She's a vegetarian, but she doesn't like
vegetables. She usually stays up until 7 a.m. reading or playing piano. She has
an old-fashioned partiality for old movies, music and fashion — and a time when
things were more "innocent.''
McKay, pronounced "Mc-High," doesn't go out of her way to be
the fish that swims upstream. She simply is, and she'll be the first to tell
you that she prefers to have things done one way — hers. "I don't like compromise," the
strawberry-blond lyrical prankster said over a glass of grapefruit juice at her
favourite cafe in her Harlem neighbourhood. "I read about Norah Jones and
her band and that's great, but I don't really want a band that's a communal
thing. I've always wanted to be the star.''
She's well on her way, currently touring to support her debut album
before heading to Germany to open for Sting on his European tour. The album
title, Get Away From Me, is a "sarcastic allusion" to albums
like Jones' Come Away With Me and Jane Monheit's Come Dream With Me. "That's not something you can say in
real life if you're going to be considered a nice person," said McKay, who
plays Lee's Palace on June 30. "But I often think it.'' Spend five minutes with McKay and it becomes
clear how the petite musician was able to strong-arm a major label like
Columbia into releasing her debut CD as a double album. The record, which has
sold 45,000 copies since it's February release, is a mishmash of fun,
jazz-influenced pop songs that skip between styles much as McKay skips between
subjects during conversation. In
"Sari," McKay weaves stream of consciousness banter and oddball
rhymes in a rap-like delivery: "Sometimes I feel like I shouldn't
apologize so much /that it's jive it's a crutch /I just used when I'm judged
I'm sorry for the mess /the stupid way I'm dressed /I guess I failed my test I
don't mean to offend, much.'' Then she fervently declares, "I'm a savage
inside!'' Before signing with Columbia,
the London-born McKay bounced between Pennsylvania and Washington state before settling
in Harlem. She gave music and voice lessons and played in New York's gay bars
and cabaret clubs when she was just 17 years old. She landed a record deal soon after dropping out of the Manhattan
School of Music. "I think a lot of college is about conformity and knowing
how to write a good essay," she said. "I know that I never fit and it
kind of fills you with regret. But you're glad you're out of there. My life is
better.'' McKay and her mother, former
actress Robin Pappas, treat McKay's career like a small family business. The
pair answer fans' e-mails, book shows and make promotional decisions. McKay, who co-produced her debut with
long-time Beatles' engineer Geoff Emerick, wants to produce her sophomore album
(due out in October) herself. She plays cello, saxophone, piano, xylophone and
is considering learning to play violin for the album to cut costs. "I've always been a troublemaker,"
McKay said. "Especially when I believe in something.'
Bad Boy Takes Over The 'Hearts & Voices' Concert Series
Excerpt from www.allhiphop.com
- By Nolan Strong
(May 10, 2004) LIFEbeat, a non-profit dedicated to raising AIDS awareness will continue
their “Hearts
& Voices Concert Series” bi-monthly concert series and
on May 25, the series will host “The Bad Boy Takeover.” Along with the E.A.R.S. Foundation, which
give job opportunities to urban you in the music and entertainment industry,
LIFEbeat will present Bad Boy artists Carl Thomas, Loon, 8 Ball and MJG and
Mario Winans. “Sean ‘P. Diddy’ Combs [Bad Boy’s owner] has been a long-time
supporter of LIFEbeat and a true activist in the fight against AIDS,” John
Cannelli, LIFEbeat’s Executive Director said in a statement. "From
co-chairing the successful UrbanAID2 concert in 2002 and his participation in the
upcoming LIFEbeat Tom Poleman dinner along with Lyor Cohen, Damon Dash, Clive
Davis, LA Reid and others, his current support of the ‘Hearts & Voices
Concert Series’ just further demonstrates P. Diddy as a shining example of how
music executives and artists can effectively use their influence and voice to
speak to the youth of America about this deadly epidemic. We are looking
forward to a powerful show with a powerful message.” “Hearts & Voices”
debuted the concert series in March with performances by Roc-A-Fella artists
Kanye West, Memphis Bleek, Young Gunz, Rell and State Property. The purpose of
the concert series is to educate people on the perils of AIDS among young
people. The disease is the second leading cause of death among Americans
between the ages of 25 and 44, with 50 percent of all new HIV infections
occurring among people under 25. The “Hearts & Voices Concert Series” will
take place on May 25 at the Babalu Theater in New York City.
We Remember: Vonnie Sweeney
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com
(May. 11, 2004) Today the black entertainment world is mourning
the passing of Vonnie
Sweeney. All of the details are
not in as of today's press time, but she died yesterday morning in Sacramento
due to complications from heart surgery, we were told. Vonnie was perhaps best known for her
legendary pre-Grammy parties in Hollywood. She was also an artist manager and
she was instrumental in the career of James Brown. EUR's Lee Bailey remembers her as a beautiful lady with a big
heart who always wore a smile.
FILM NEWS
Nigel's Fingerprint
Screens At 30th Seattle International Film Festival
(may 8, 2004) Toronto... "Are you my real Daddy?" That's what 6-year old Nigel Jenkins asks
his Father after he is called a nigger in the schoolyard. It's 1974 and Nigel's father, David, is
white. His mother, Mona, is black. When
David, finds his son trying to wash away the colour of his skin, he searches
for the right way to explain why Nigel's colour is his gift. A new work from Toronto's Dish Pictures, NIGEL'S FINGERPRINT is a simple
story about the power of language, legacy and love. "I hate the word `half breed'", says the film's
producer and writer, Kim Kuhteubl "What am I part cow, part horse? And mulatto literally means 'of the
mule'. Kuhteubl who is both Austrian
and Jamaican dives headlong into the politics of race explaining the issues as
she would have liked to hear them as a child.
"The film gives a point of view that we don't see very often,"
says Director and Editor Amy McConnell. "Both art and society tend to confer an
either black or white identity, and do not recognize how many people are
both." Winner of Best Canadian Short at Toronto's Reel World Festival and the Ontario
Media Development Corporation's Al
Waxman Calling Card for Drama, Nigel's
Fingerprint has also screened at Chicago's Women in the Director's Chair Festival and will screen at the San Francisco Black Film Festival in
June. This film is the 2nd
short for producer/writer/actor Kuhteubl, whose first film The Best Girl
screened at Festivals including The Palm Springs International Film Festival
and the Hollywood Black Film Festival and was licensed by Canada's largest
broadcaster the CBC, and also by BRAVO!.
Six-year-old Teyas Yew Woon
makes his screen debut as `Nigel' in the film.
His parents are beautifully depicted by Andrew Kraulis (The Skulls,
Full Disclosure, The Crossing) as David Jenkins and Rukiya Bernard (Relic Hunter,
Doc ) as his wife, Mona. Veteran
actor Kathy Imrie (Shaft's Big Score, Go For Broke, Soul Food)
is Etty Jones, the sage and spirited grandmother. Cinema Seattle seeks to provide an extensive forum for
multicultural exchange and enlightenment, providing ongoing access to the
cinematic arts for people of the Pacific Northwest. Its best-known program, the Seattle International Film
Festival, now celebrating its 30th year, brings Seattle audiences a chance
to participate in the largest and most highly attended film festival in the
country. Tickets for Nigel's Fingerprint can be charged by
phone at 206.324.9996 or bought in person at the SIFF Main Box Office, Pacific Place, 6th & Pine, third
level. Single tickets may be purchased
at the Broadway Performance Hall, SIFF Single Ticket Outlet Broadway Performance
Hall, 1625 Broadway. To view the
trailer or download the press kit and high resolution artwork, visit www.dishpictures.com. For information about upcoming festival
screenings contact: Dish Pictures at (416) 921-5977 or kim@dishpictures.com.
Actor Antoine Aims Own Film At Fest
Source:
Sandy Garcia /Metro
Toronto
Benz Antoine,
who is known to TV
audiences as Det.
Jim Weeks on Blue Murder,
is trying out a new role:
Writer and director. Antoine
recently finished a writing
and directorial project on
the comedic short feature film
Decorating 101 which he is
submitting to the 2004 Toronto
International Film Festival
for consideration. “After
working with so many
directors, I knew one day
I would want to give it a try,”
Antoine said. “So I put something
together and now we’ll
see what happens and what
the result will be from my
filmmaking.” Antoine
is also in the middle of organizing the financing for a feature-length version
of Decorating 101, which
he said has already generated
a considerable amount
of interest. The
short is about a guy who
broke up with his girlfriend, and now that he ’s
back on the dating scene his
problem is being rejected by
women when he tells them
he works at Burger King.
“Four friends show him
how to decorate, basically
teaching him how to embellish his situation
in order to attract
the people he wants,” Antoine
said. “So instead of saying
he works at Burger King,
he would say that he ’s the
supervisor-in-training at the
corporate head office of Burger
King, which sounds better.”
Antoine wrote the film
after coming out of a relationship and
realizing that being
back “on the scene ” wasn’t
all it’s cut out to be and
that most of the women he
was meeting were “superficial.” “I
had a lot of fun working on
this project and I do want to
do more directing and more
writing but I do love acting,”
Antoine said. “I just realized
that if you don ’t step up
and do something to help your
career grow, nothing will
happen. You have to be involved.”
Real World Intrudes On Cannes
Excerpt from The Toronto Star - Geoff
Pevere
(May 12,
2004) Even the title of tonight's opening night film of the 2004 Cannes Film Festival, Pedro Almodovar's Bad
Education, suggests the possibility of lessons learned. This year's event, the first fully
assembled by new chief programmer Thierry Fremaux, is the leanest in years —
with only 18 films in competition — and it looks like Fremaux has done his
homework. If
last year's festival generated charges of fatigue, lack of inspiration and
frequent complaints that it was the "worst Cannes ever," this year's
has the appearance of being significantly different. At the very least, it's a
promising sign that the jury president is Quentin Tarantino, a person not famous
for doing what's expected or cleaving to the status quo. While the number of features and
shorts submitted was up this year, to a record 3,562, the number of films
selected by possibly the world's most prestigious festival, was down. Of the 56
features and shorts in the main program, 46 are world premieres, and nine
movies have been included by first-time directors. Both figures represent
significant increases over past years. Moreover, in response to
international criticism that the representation of French films and jury
members was unduly large, Cannes chief Gilles Jacob limited this year the
number of home-grown productions in competition to three, and the number of
French jury members to one. A sidebar of interesting Cannes
Classics has been added, featuring a version of Sam Fuller's autobiographical
1980 war drama The Big Red One, with 40 minutes restored. The main
competition this year features a conspicuous number of comedies. In the past,
laughs have not customarily been a Cannes programming priority. With Tarantino's presence as jury
honcho promising a healthy degree of eccentricity in the final prize
selections, Michael Moore's return to competition — with the already buzzed up
anti-Bush administration documentary Fahrenheit 911 — clinches the
presence of politics on the Croissette. International politics, that is. For
conflict of the national variety has already reared its head with a union
dispute involving unemployment benefits for the country's part-time actors and
technicians. Just last week, union members briefly blocked the shipping of
festival films to the event's headquarters, and the ominous promise of 600
French riot police on site to prevent further disruptions can't help but
contribute a certain aura of peripheral anxiety to Cannes 2004. The performing artists plan to make
their presence felt, but do not want the festival to be cancelled, the
Associated Press reported yesterday. The protesters want to "occupy the
city and the minds" of those at the festival but want it to go on, said
actor Samuel Churin, a spokesperson for the protesters. Naturally, this being the fussiest
film festival on the planet, despite the apparent changes, everybody already
has something to complain about. Canadians are miffed (quietly, of
course) at the absence of Canadian features in various programs — although one
of the main competition films, Olivier Assayas' French-Canadian-U.K.
co-production Clean — was at least partly shot in Hamilton; Europeans
are concerned over the abundance of warmed-over Hollywood movies (Bad Santa,
Ladykillers, Shrek 2, Troy), and it's virtually certain
that certain Americans will feel defensive over the rabble-rousing Moore movie.
Fahrenheit 911 suggests the Bush administration exploited the Sept. 11,
2001 terrorist attack for political gain. But if all this — not to mention the
ritual parading of celestial power (which may or may not include Brad Pitt,
Maggie Cheung, Beatrice Dalle and Tom Hanks) on the red carpet — provides
Cannes with its requisite extra-cinematic drama, the bottom line will be the
brightness of the objects to be discovered in the dark. Will the movies be any good? Let's hope so. Some things in the
coming days to watch: Hong Kong maestro Wong Kar-Wai's time travel fantasy 2046;
Tropical Malady, the first Thai film ever to be programmed here; Walter
Salles' "young Che Guevara" drama The Motorcycle Diaries; Tony
Gatlif's Exils' documentary MondoVino; and South Korean filmmaker Park
Chan-wuk's Old Boy. Meanwhile, in the ever-interesting
sidebar event known as the Director's Fortnight, even more promising
distractions are at hand: Nicole Kassell's The Woodsman, starring Kevin
Bacon as a convicted pedophile trying to re-integrate into society after being
released from prison; Asia Argento's The Heart Is Deceitful ... Above All
Things, starring Argento, Peter Fonda, Winona Ryder and — hope he shows! —
Marilyn Manson; Thomas Vincent's Je Suis un Assassin; Jonathan
Caouette's Tarnation and Simone Bitton's Mur. Naturally, this being the country
that coined the term cinéphilia, there's no shortage of retro-spectacles
either: Buster Keaton's The General will be screened with full symphonic
accompaniment; Michelangelo Antonioni's restored Blowup will screen
following a premiere of the legendary director's new short film Lo Sguardo
di Michelangelo; Gillo Pontecorvo's searing 1965 indictment of brutal
colonial occupation The Battle Of Algiers will be returned to the public
after being ominously screened at the Pentagon; and Bernardo Bertolucci's
astoundingly assured 1964 movie Before The Revolution — made when the
director was 24 — will also be on hand to offer what may be a welcome retreat
from the present. We'll see.
The Face That Lunched A
Thousand Chips - A Documentary About The Perils Of Fast Food
Excerpt
from The Toronto Star – PETER
HOWELL, MOVIE CRITIC
Portions of this review were originally published during the
Sundance Film Festival.
(May 7, 2004) The bags and bags of sugar and the huge jar of
fat are what really get you. Shown at
the end of Super
Size Me, a movie that does to fast food what a
slaughterhouse does to cattle, the sugar and fat represent what filmmaker Morgan Spurlock crammed into his body in a month of bad eating. Before the sugar and fat make their
appalling appearance, like the big reveal in a monster movie, Spurlock takes us
on an odyssey of over-consumption that is by turns hilarious and horrifying. The New York documentarian set himself the
goal of eating breakfast, lunch and dinner at McDonald's for 30 days, to see
what effect North America's most famous processed food would have on his body.
His curiosity had been piqued by a lawsuit launched against McDonald's by two
obese women, who claimed the company and its relentless advertising were to
blame for their condition. The lawsuit
failed, but Spurlock was spurred nonetheless. Taking a leaf from Michael Moore's
guerrilla filmmaking style, he made himself the story and set a few simple
rules for his experiment He had to eat
every meal at McDonald's for 30 days, no ifs, ands or buts. He had to try
everything on the menu at least once, which would include salads. And if a
McDonald's employee asked him if he wanted to "Supersize" his meal,
he had to always oink in the affirmative.
Spurlock, 33, is not an unhealthy person. A teetotaler, reformed smoker
and regular walker who carries a commendable 185 lbs. on his 6-foot-2 frame, he
could be a poster boy for good living. He lives with a vegan chef, girlfriend
Alex Jamieson, who makes all sorts of tasty organic meals for him. Before commencing his Golden Arches assault,
Spurlock is examined by three doctors and two fitness instructors, all seen on
camera, who declare him to be in excellent shape. The situation starts to change dramatically once Spurlock begins
cramming Big Macs and Supersized fries and shakes into his pie hole. At first he enjoys the experience, mugging
for the camera as he rolls up at one drive-thru after another, smiling
conspiratorially when a robotic voice asks him if he'd like fries with that, or
whether he'd like his order Supersized. Spurlock is a natural comic, completely
at ease on camera even when lying on a doctor's table for embarrassing medical
exams. But he soon gets sick of the
monotonous choices, and the number of pounds he is rapidly packing on. A
typical McDonald's lunch of Big Mac, large fries, large shake and apple pie
adds up to 2,000 calories, an entire day's worth in a single meal. His eating
orgy pushes him past 5,000 calories per day.
As his weight balloons, his energy drops and his libido flags,
Spurlock's doctors and trainers start charting frightening changes in his health,
including potentially fatal liver damage. Super Size Me shifts from
comedy into a four-alarm wake-up call for the fast food nation. The movie is more than one man's story.
Spurlock takes his camera on the road, showing how pervasive McDonald's has
become in the lives of many. Children are able to identify a picture of mascot
Ronald McDonald, but not world leaders. Adults have trouble reciting the Pledge
Of Allegiance, but they can rhyme off the recipe for a Big Mac. Spurlock also introduces us to such
McAddicts as Don Gorske, who holds the world record for consumption of Big
Macs. He's eaten more than 19,000 of them in the past 30 years, a minimum of
two and as many as nine per day. Gorske says he feels sick if he eats anything
else. Which is how you might feel at
the end of Super Size Me, especially when the sugar and fat make their
grand entrance. It's not a pretty
sight, but it's an absolutely spellbinding one. And it's no exaggeration to say
that Super Size Me, which won Spurlock the director's award at Sundance
and has prompted menu changes at McDonald's, could do for food awareness what
Ralph Nader's Unsafe At Any Speed did for auto safety and Rachel
Carson's Silent Spring did for environmental protection. This might well be the rare movie that
actually changes the way people think and act. If you feel hungry for fast food
after seeing this, you must enjoy living dangerously.
Rare Disney Dalliance With
Dali Opens Festival
Excerpt
from The Toronto Star - Peter
Howell, Movie Critic
(May 11, 2004) A ravishing damsel in a white dress dances
through a surreal landscape of melted body parts, dripping clocks and agitated
insects, while strings play and a female voice croons, "For you came along
/ Out of a dream I recall ..."
Talk about your wonderful world of colour. It's Destino, the highly impressionistic and long-rumoured short-film
collaboration between avant-garde artist Salvador Dali and mainstream magician Walt Disney, finally seeing the light of day after more than 50 years in the
dark. The film gets its Canadian
premiere tonight at 7 at the Bloor Cinema, leading the six-film gala opening
the Canadian Film Centre's Worldwide Short Film Festival, which
runs to Sunday. Destino was born from a 1945 dinner conversation between
Dali and Disney, who both expressed admiration for the other's work, despite
the vast difference in their artistic sensibilities. They agreed to collaborate on a film but shelved it for financial
reasons, leaving 22 paintings and 135 story sketches in the Disney vaults.
Disney's nephew Roy E. Disney recently revived it, using a team of French
animators headed by director Dominque Monfery to make a seven-minute vision of
what Destino would have looked like.
And such an impulse: images of sex, love, life, decay and rebirth jostle
for retinal attention, a good metaphor for the entire festival, which presents
more 200 of the world's best shorts. Click on http://www.worldwideshortfilmfest.com
for more information.
T.O. Studio: Build It And
Pollack Will Shoot Here
Excerpt
from The Toronto Star – Rita
Zekas
(May 7, 2004) Jeez, is it September already? Certainly felt like a Toronto film fest
party Monday during a cocktailer at Pangaea restaurant in honour of Sydney Pollack, who flew in from New York for
a special screening and Q&A of his film They Shoot Horses, Don't
They? Pollack was very
approachable, and had great things to say about Toronto, where he had started
pre-production on the film The Interpreter, starring Nicole Kidman and
Sean Penn, only to relocate it to Manhattan when given the go-ahead to
shoot at the United Nations headquarters.
He'd never filmed in this city before. "If you only had a big
studio in Toronto," he said. Then he would shoot here in a New York
minute. In attendance: a gaggle of hot
Toronto directors including Patricia Rozema, Jerry Ciccorriti and
Jacob Tierney, who helmed the upcoming Twist. The big buzz was about another party, a
sumptuous bash orchestrated by film fester Colleen Kosoy recently for
her developer hubby David's 60th birthday at their house on Paradise
Island, formerly owned by Richard Harris. Filmmaker Barry Avrich arranged for Jackie Mason to
do a 15-minute roast of the birthday boy while 150 of his nearest and dearest
feasted on "caviar as far as the eye can see." Guess our invite was lost in the mail. Tonya Lee Williams, founder of the Reel World film festival, was greeted at the door
by an overheated fan who gushed, "I recognize you from Polka Dot Door. You
look exactly the same." Without
the benefit of Dr. Lookgood. Trust us. We checked.
Scott Thompson Conjures Genie Magic
Excerpt from The Toronto Star - MARTIN KNELMAN
(May 9, 2004) Based on experience, those who skipped the May 1 telecast of the Genie awards could hardly be blamed. For many years, this annual exercise hyping Canadian movies has been a drag even by the low standards of long-suffering awards show junkies. That's why this year's show, as seen on CHUM stations including Citytv and Bravo!, came as such a delicious surprise. Indeed, the host, that Lord of Misrule, Scott Thompson, pulled off something close to a miracle: a witty, upbeat show that actually left the audience feeling unreasonably optimistic about Canadian movies. Everyone in the room at the Metro Convention could feel the jolt of comic energy, and I assume there were a lot of happily surprised viewers at home. But a funny thing happened in the press coverage of the event. Before the event, the Toronto papers all had huge advance stories, including interviews with Thompson, a.k.a. the flamboyantly gay guy in The Kids In The Hall who went on to a regular role on HBO's The Larry Sanders Show. After the fact, a fair amount of ink was given to news of the winners, especially The Barbarian Invasions, even though its win was totally predictable. What the media generally forgot to mention was that Thompson managed to transform a numbingly boring ritual into the wittiest evening you're likely to catch all year on Canadian TV. His secret ingredient was something he may have learned from Oscar Wilde: the importance of not being earnest. For as long as anyone can remember, the Genies had been carried by CBC in a spirit of sober cultural duty. But with the ratings in recent years slipping below life-support levels, the public network was willing to step aside and let CHUM do the honours this time. CHUM producer Marcia Martin and her team negotiated some smart changes. The ceremonies were moved from a theatre to a cabaret room, and the running time was cut to a tight 90 minutes. Some might have questioned the choice of Thompson, who was pilloried a few years ago for scandalizing the haute literary community as host of the first Griffin prize for poetry. On that infamous night, after waving a dildo in the face of a horrified Anne Michaels, Thompson was cornered during a break and told not to go back on. But with the hardened movie crowd, a wickedly Rabelaisian touch was more welcome. Right from the opening routine, in which Thompson hilariously auditioned for key roles in various familiar Canadian movies, he found a groove that would make Billy Crystal envious. Few could keep a straight face when Thompson proposed a brilliant new marketing strategy for Canadian movies: the perfect rental choice to make when you're sick. But probably the high point of the evening came when Thompson unleashed an outrageous tall tale about one wild night at Bemelmans, the late-night Bloor St. hangout, circa 1981. This ribald fantasy about sex and this city was entertainingly peppered with teasingly juicy bits of business about Kim Cattrall, Jennifer Dale, Helen Shaver, Alberta Watson, Robert Lantos and even the late Craig Russell. It would be nice to be able to say that two million people tuned in, but of course they did not. Still, CHUM was pleased that despite having much more limited reach than CBC, it got the same number of viewers as last year's Genie telecast — a per-minute average of 115,000. Clearly, after years of giving the public ample reason to avoid this event, it is going to take the Genies a while to build an audience. But this was an awfully good start. And I hope someone was smart enough to sign Thompson to a long-term contract. In the meantime, you can catch him playing a key dramatic role in the TV movie Prom Queen, June 1 on CTV. Veteran Hollywood director/producer (and sometimes actor) Sydney Pollack did a double take one night last week when he surveyed the invited audience of Toronto film festival gold patrons who turned out to the Isabel Bader Theatre for a screening of his 1969 movie They Shoot Horses, Don't They? There were only a couple hundred people at the screening, but Pollack quipped: "Gee, I think this is the biggest turnout we've ever had for this movie." The way he recalls it, no one at the time wanted to see his movie about a Depression-era dance marathon and its desperate participants, even though it got some very positive reviews and a best supporting Oscar for Gig Young as the ringmaster. What is fascinating now is not so much the film's depiction of American life in the Depression, but its reflection of American disillusion in the late 1960s, as reflected by Hollywood at its edgiest. This also happened to be a movie transcended by one of Jane Fonda's most compelling performances. She plays Gloria, the most masochistic of the marathon dancers, who doesn't permit herself to have illusions. Fonda at the time was in the midst of a fascinating transition, from the Barbarella sex toy she had become under the influence of former husband Roger Vadim to the fearless radical who would soon be scornfully referred to as Hanoi Jane. To the role of Gloria she brings the kind of intensity that people who saw it decades ago have never forgotten. And Sydney Pollack? Well, 35 years later, he's still dancing. Coming soon: His documentary about his old pal, Toronto-born architect Frank Gehry. Wouldn't the Toronto film festival be the perfect place for that film to have its world premiere?
Mickey Mouse Muzzles Moore And More
Excerpt from The Toronto Star - Antonia Zerbisias
(May. 6, 2004) Disney's
Twilight Zone Tower of Terror was launched yesterday at its California
Adventure Park. This $75 million (U.S.) thrill ride is designed to send folks
screaming up and down a "phantom elevator" that, no matter which
button you push, is always stuck on "Better have a change of underwear
with you." As scary as it
may be, it's not as terrifying as yesterday's news that the giant
infosportsentertainment conglomerate, which is no Mickey Mouse corporation, is
blocking its Miramax division from distributing Michael Moore's
latest documentary Fahrenheit
9/11. Ironically, the title is an homage to Ray
Bradbury's futuristic tale about a totalitarian state where books are burned
and people are distracted with junky TV and pop culture. The film connects the dots between the Bush
dynasty and significant Saudis, including the bin Laden family, whose members
were flown out of the U.S. when all planes were supposedly banned from American
airspace in the days after Sept. 11.
There are many dots to be connected here, starting with a private equity
fund called the Carlyle Group, which is a major defence contractor with
business in ... Saudi Arabia. In fact,
CBC's the fifth estate did a dandy job of making all these connections
last fall in its season opener which, coincidentally, ran again last night.
That was the kind of documentary you'd never see on any Disney-owned channel,
including ABC, because the Carlyle Group helped bail out Euro Disney in the
mid-1990s. Not that there's a connection or anything, right? Indeed, yesterday's New York Times reported
that Disney is holding back the film because its Florida theme parks, which
have suffered in the post-9/11 travel bust, could lose their tax breaks in
Governor Jeb Bush country. Whoever said
that information is power got it wrong. Having power over information is where
it's at. And, in today's merged and converged media world, fewer and fewer
people have that power. Consider
yesterday's news from Italy where Lucia Annunziata, president of the public
broadcaster RAI, quit, citing government interference. She complained that
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was packing the RAI board with his cronies,
compromising its independence. So what,
some of you may say, pointing to CBC whose board is also filled with patronage
picks. The difference here is that
Berlusconi not only owns and controls RAI's main TV competitors but also radio
stations, newspapers, sports franchises and film properties. Meanwhile, there's a tragicomedy playing out
in Quebec, where Quebecor owns the biggest private network TVA, as well as the
cable company that distributes it and its other specialty channels and Internet
service, plus dailies, weeklies, magazines and radio stations. (In Ontario, it
owns the Sun newspaper chain and is currently kicking at Toronto1's tires for a
possible purchase.) Controlled by
Pierre Karl Péladeau, Quebecor is the most highly concentrated of all the
highly concentrated Canadian media companies.
Last month, his TVA fired Louis Morissette, a popular comedian, which it
had just hired to host a reality show. The official reason? Morissette had
appeared on rival networks TQS. But
that reason is a load according to everybody in Quebec. The real reason, they
say, is that Morissette mocked Péladeau in a satirical show he scripted for Radio-Canada
last year. A company spokesperson
denied that, likening Morissette's being on TVA and TQS to CBC's Peter
Mansbridge going on CTV. Because he had appeared elsewhere, Morissette is
toast. Okay but, if that's true, then
why is Quebecor's Franco Nuovo, who defended his boss Péladeau in his Journal
de Montréal column on Monday, hosting a show for Radio-Canada? The point is that Péladeau controls most of
the French-language media in Canada and that means that journalists and writers
cannot afford to piss him off. It also means that Quebecers won't always get
the truth, the whole truth and nothing but.
South of the border, the big media news this week is that Al Gore and
his friends bought Newsworld International. The 24/7 news channel, which carries
many CBC shows, will aim at drawing younger viewers to information TV. (Good
freaking luck, pal. Too many kids today think The Apprentice is a
business show and American Idol is democracy at work.) "This is not going to be a liberal
network, a Democratic network or a political network," Gore insists,
adding that "more independent voices" are needed. Which brings us back to Disney. Buried in
yesterday's news about Fahrenheit 9/11 was a story about its other big
ticket ride, Mission Space, at Walt Disney World. AP reported that, in the past
eight months, half a dozen people have been hospitalized after experiencing the
gravity-defying centrifugal force fling.
Not that you'll see this on ABC's Nightline — which Disney boss
Michael Eisner also tried to kill a few years ago. This is the guy who also
snuffed out Politically Incorrect for being, well, politically incorrect
in George W. Bush's Amerika. Last year,
Disney installed barf bags on Mission Space.
Fine. But what really should be
making people sick is how Disney is trying to muzzle free expression in the
country that purports to champion freedom to the rest of the world.
Bowling For Columbine Director Banned
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com
(May. 6, 2004)
*Michael Moore, the author of "Stupid
White Men" (and is a white man himself) and the director of "Bowling
for Columbine" is getting a "talk to the hand" from Walt Disney
Co. The fantasy manufacturer has barred its Miramax film studio from
distributing a documentary by the controversial director that is critical of
President Bush Moore said on Wednesday.
The film, "Fahrenheit 9/11," spotlights the Bush
administration's response to Sept. 11 and on ties between the Bush family and
prominent Saudis, including the family of Osama bin Laden. "Yesterday I was told that Disney, the
studio that owns Miramax, has officially decided to prohibit our producer,
Miramax, from distributing my new film, 'Fahrenheit 9/11,"' Moore, said in
a letter posted on his Web site. The
New York Times quoted Moore's agent, Ari Emmanuel, as saying that Disney Chief
Executive Michael Eisner asked him to pull out of the Miramax deal. Emmanuel said Eisner was concerned the film
would endanger tax breaks that Disney enjoys for its theme parks and other
properties in Florida, the New York Times reported. This, in case you forgot,
is the same state where President Bush's brother Jeb is governor and also where
the deciding votes from Bush's election came from. Disney executives denied
that accusation, the New York Times reported.
Moore, in his letter, said, "For nearly a year, this struggle has
been a lesson in just how difficult it is in this country to create a piece of
art that might upset those in charge."
"The Harder They Come" Gets Another Run
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com
(May. 11, 2004) *New Line Cinema, in its ongoing effort
to produce hit movies for less, is developing a urban themed remake of the
reggae classic "The Harder They Come." The movie is centered around a man trying to
make it in the music business and instead ends up in the criminal underworld,
becoming an outlaw. The original movie
helped solidify Jimmy
Cliff as a legend and is based on the true story of a Jamaican folk
hero. It also helped introduce Reggae music the mainstream audiences.
With All Deliberate Speed: A Film by 'Hoop Dreams' Producer
Peter Gilbert
Source:
Sabrina A. Taylor / Taylor Productions / 310.770.5254
(May. 11, 2004) On May 17, 1954, Led by Chief Justice Earl Warren, the United States Supreme Court handed down a blockbuster
decision. “In the field of public
education, the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place,” reads the
opinion. “Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.” The highest court in the land determines
that segregated public schools deny African-American students equal protection
under the law. A nation is forever changed.
To honour the 50th anniversary of this crucial moment in American
history and to explore the impact on education and society, Discovery Docs and
CameraPlanet Pictures present a stirring new film by one of the acclaimed
filmmakers of “Hoop Dreams,” Peter Gilbert.
With All Deliberate Speed had its premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in New
York on Thursday, May 6 and will open in theaters in five major cities – New
York, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Chicago and Boston – on Friday, May 14.
This film is the first theatrical documentary release from Discovery
Communications’ new unit. With All
Deliberate Speed weaves together the inspiring story of the people behind
Brown v. Board of Education with a look at its complex legacy. The film
celebrates the brave young people from very humble backgrounds who sought to
uphold the U.S. Constitution by challenging the doctrine, “separate but equal,”
simply by asking for school buildings that didn’t leak or busses to transport
students nine miles to school. Their courage and fundamental beliefs pointed
the country in a dramatically new direction. These never-before-told personal
stories are woven together with reactions from today’s students to reflect on
the decision’s continuing impact and ongoing struggle to create equality in
today’s schools. “The film is as much
about today as it is about yesterday,” says filmmaker Peter Gilbert. “The legacy of the Brown decision is a mixed one, and continues
to enlighten, define, and complicate our society.” Gilbert sees first-hand its
impact as he visits current high school students – and in some cases, finds
subtle reflections of what drove a small group of teenagers to take a stand 50
years ago. On the vanguard of the
modern civil rights movement, the road to Brown v. Board of Education was paved
by the NAACP’s Legal Defense Fund and dozens of unsung heroes – parents,
students, teachers, attorneys, ministers and those in the justice system who,
regardless of race, united with a common goal of integrated education. With All Deliberate Speed recounts
the grass-roots movements – in South Carolina, Virginia, Kansas and Delaware –
that evolved into the cases, collectively known as Brown v. Board of Education
of Topeka. In addition to focusing on the cases fought in Clarendon County,
South Carolina and Farmville, Virginia, the film ultimately goes beyond Brown
v. Board of Education to include stories of the plaintiffs and their
descendants and the backroom stories of the Supreme Court clerks who served
during the proceedings. First-person
interviews, eyewitness accounts and original footage tell the story. Among the
distinguished participants are Thurgood Marshall, Jr., the son of the
plaintiff’s chief lawyer, who became the Supreme Court’s first African-American
justice; Vernon Jordan, lawyer, civil rights organizer and former head of the
National Urban League; E. Barrett Prettyman, who became chief judge of the U.S.
Court of Appeals; and Julian Bond, civil rights organizer and chairman of the
NAACP. Their stories join those of the cases’ courageous citizens, including
Barbara Johns, a 16-year-old who led her fellow students to rally for a better
school in Farmville, Virginia, and Reverend Joe Delaine, who supported the
demand for a school bus and a decent education for all the children of
poverty-stricken Clarendon County, South Carolina. Like others, Delaine paid a
hefty price for his determination and courage – his church and home were
burned, his life was threatened, and the minister ultimately fled the state
permanently. Peter Gilbert was producer and director of photography for the
award-winning and broadly popular documentary “Hoop Dreams” (1994). Other works
include “All the Rage” (1999), which won Best Film at the Milan Film Festival,
and “Vietnam: Long Time Coming,” for which Gilbert won a National Emmy for
Distinguished Network Programming and the prestigious Directors Guild of
American Award for Best Directing of a Documentary. For Discovery Times
Channel, Gilbert recently completed “A Southern Town” with CameraPlanet. With All Deliberate Speed is
executive produced by Discovery’s Billy Campbell and Don Baer, and
CameraPlanet’s Steve Carlis and Steve Rosenbaum, and directed by Peter Gilbert.
Alan King Was Suburban Comic
Excerpt
from The Toronto Star - Lukas I. Alpert, Associated Press
(May 10, 2004) NEW YORK—Alan King, whose tirades against
suburban life helped build a long comedy career in nightclubs and television
that he later expanded to character acting on the silver screen, died yesterday
at the age of 76 at a Manhattan hospital, said a son, Robert King. He died of lung cancer, his assistant Miriam
Rothstein said. Mr. King, who appeared
on The
Ed Sullivan Show 93
times, made a transition to film work in the 1980s, playing supporting roles in
more than 20 films including Bonfire Of The Vanities, Casino and Rush Hour 2. He also produced several
films and the 1997 television series The College Of Comedy With Alan King. Mr. King also was the abbot of the New York
Friars Club and hosted its famous roasts, which had recently returned as a
television staple on Comedy Central. He
said he was working strip joints and seedy nightclubs in the early 1950s when
he had a revelation while watching a performance by another young comedian,
Danny Thomas. "Danny actually
talked to his audience," he recalled in a 1991 interview. "And I
realized I never talked to my audience. I talked at 'em, around 'em and over
'em, but not to 'em. I felt the response they had for him. I said to myself,
`This guy is doing something, and I better start doing it.'" Mr. King, who until then had been using worn
out one-liners, found his new material at home. His wife had persuaded the New
Yorker to forsake Manhattan for suburban Queens, believing it would provide a
better environment for their children.
Soon he was joking about people moving to the suburbs "in covered
wagons, with mink stoles hanging out the back." His rantings about
suburbia struck a chord with the public.
Comedian Jerry Stiller, who knew Mr. King for more than 50 years, said
he was "in touch with what was happening with the world, which is what
made him so funny. "He always talked about the annoyances of life. He was
like a Jewish Will Rogers."
Bookings poured in, and Mr. King toured with Tommy Dorsey's orchestra
and worked as the opening act for such music stars as Lena Horne, Billy
Eckstine, Patti Page and Judy Garland, taking part with the latter in a Command
Performance in London for Queen Elizabeth.
Afterward he was introduced to the Queen and when she asked, "How
do you do, Mr. King?" he said he replied, "How do you do, Mrs.
Queen?" "She stared at me,
and then Prince Philip laughed," he recalled. "Thank God Prince
Philip laughed." Born Irwin Alan
Kniberg to immigrant parents in New York City, Mr. King grew up on Manhattan's
Lower East Side and in Brooklyn. "Both of them were tough neighbourhoods,
but I was a pretty tough kid," he recalled in 1964. "I had an answer
for everything ... I fought back with humour." He got into comedy in his teens, dropping out of high school to
tour in a Major Bowes amateur troupe and going on to appear in Catskills hotels
and burlesque houses. In 1947 he
married Jeanette Sprung, and they had three children, Robert, Andrew and Elaine
Ray.
TV NEWS
Rock
Camp Is An Exciting And Edgy Documentary Television Series
Excerpt from CBC
Eighteen young rock musicians from across Canada travel to Halifax, Nova
Scotia to participate in Rock Camp,
the coolest band camp in the country.
Rock Camp is a TV series based on a summer camp for young Canadian rock
musicians. We don't wanna say it's a reality series because we don't want you
to think it’s fake or uhhh...idolish. And we don't want to say a documentary
series cause we don't want you to think anything uhhh...boring-ish. It's more
like a combo of the two. Like a...rockumentary! The whole thing is based on a
real summer camp program that’s been happening for 18 years, except this time,
it's going on TV. And it's not totally like camp, like Camp Wammalooga or
whatever. All the action takes place right in the urban centre of downtown
Halifax, Nova Scotia. We sent our team
across the country to do live auditions. They came back with 18 of the coolest,
most talented 14-18 year-old rock musicians in the land. And at this camp, they
have a lot more to worry about than bears and blackflies! There will be
coaches, visiting musicians, and Rock Camp challenges – like booking your own gig,
packing the van full of an insane amount of gear (and five band mates!),
setting it up and making sure all your instruments work - and are in tune!
There will be prizes along the way (this never happens to bands in real life,
by the way) and one grand prize of cash and a recording session on the
prestigious EMI label. Over the next 3
weeks, our young rock pups and kittens will be documented as they struggle to
master their instruments, write songs and just plain get along with each other.
They have to slog it out the way real bands do. Remember, these guys are
already good musicians and aspiring rock stars. They'll learn pretty quickly
how important it is to get over creative differences and get on with the task
at hand - making a band! So, unlike “reality” shows that create sugar-coated
acts that sing and dance and look good in size 2 Gap, Rock Camp is 100% real.
The musicians are real, the music is real, the talent is real. And so is the
tension they face. All those “When I was at band camp…” stories will never have
sounded like this before! On Rock
Camp, nobody gets voted off. But there’s no immunity either – everyone gets
treated the same, everyone’s gotta work hard and jam harder. Our guys may not
have toured across Canada in a beat-up Chevy van in the middle of winter yet,
but if the producers have anything to say about it - they sure will have an
idea by the time they're finished! (and the producers know - trust us!) It's
hard to make it in the music business. Rock Camp is no different. If our successful
auditionees are serious about rock, they have to know it takes talent, blood,
sweat and tears to make it. Let's hope they forget about the limo and the Lear
jet and start thinking about riffs and hooks and fills and how they're going to
get to the next gig.
Rock Camp regularly airs on CBC
Television
Mondays, 4:30 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Tuesdays, 4:30 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Want to know more? Visit the Rock Camp website: http://www.cbc.ca/kids/shows/rockcamp/
Make A Canadian Drama, Get A
Reward
Excerpt
from The Toronto Star –John Mckay, Canadian Press
(May 7, 2004) The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission wants to reward broadcasters who invest in more Canadian prime-time TV drama. The carrot will be more
allotted advertising minutes per hour in return for more home-grown content,
and increased viewership of that content, the broadcast regulator said
yesterday as it released details of a three-point package. In its public notice, the commission is
offering three different incentives:
If a broadcaster airs a
fully qualified drama in peak time (7 p.m. to 11 p.m.) that used money from the
Canadian Television Fund and with a budget of at least $800,000, the reward is
2 1/2 minutes of extra advertising for each hour.
If the qualifying drama
has a budget less than $800,000, the reward is a half-minute of additional ad
time.
If the drama is fully qualified and funded to at least $800,000 but without CTF funding, there's a reward of 6 1/2 minutes of additional ad time for each original hour broadcast.
Under the CRTC offer, the extra ad time can be banked and spread over the broadcaster's schedule, to be used on more lucrative U.S. programming, such as the Super Bowl or the Academy Awards. At present there is a three-minute gap between the breaks allotted in U.S. shows (15 minutes) and the ad time permitted in Canada (12 minutes). Now broadcasters can gain revenue from those minutes and viewers won't have to endure a net increase in the length of commercial breaks. The commission wants to hear comments from the industry and the public by June 21. Ian Morrison, spokesman for the lobby group Friends of Canadian Broadcasting, called it a constructive and thoughtful intervention. "The viewers who care about Canadian content, they're going to get something extra in a couple of years," says Morrison. "The CRTC, they've done the best with the hand they were dealt." Also, in a rare departure from past practice, the commission has concluded that a lack of funding is a key contributor to the so-called Canadian drama crisis and makes it clear government must do more. "Public support, whether in the form of tax credits, equity investment or grants from federal and provincial governments, makes possible the production and broadcast of drama programs that the market simply cannot support on its own," says the public notice. Morrison says the incentives are a Band-Aid gesture and that it's the first time he can remember the CRTC telling the government it needs to act for the longer term. ACTRA, the Canadian actors' union, called the announcement a half-measure and urged the CRTC to go further. "Nice carrot, but where's the stick?" asked actor Paul Gross, who has been a leading figure in the campaign by actors, writers and directors to declare the steady decline in Canadian prime-time drama a crisis. "The CRTC should do what's necessary to make Canada's private broadcasters earn their licences. They've been pampered too long." Also Thursday, Global TV provided a sneak peek at its 2004-2005 programming, a schedule heavy on reality and lifestyle programs, with nary a new drama in sight. While Global's weeknight improv drama Train 48 will continue, the cop drama Blue Murder had already been cancelled. Global boasts, however, that Train 48 is produced with no money from the public-private Canadian Television Fund. New shows include The Block, a hit reality show from Australia in which four couples move into a rundown apartment building, each given only a limited time to renovate and sell. And Global's Cheryl Hickey will host Last Chance For Romance, a documentary series that profiles couples experiencing relationship problems and offers them access to Canadian therapist Joe Rich. The Temps is another new reality show in which hired help is subjected to some contrived office antics, unaware that viewers are in on the joke. Other returning drama series produced in Canada but mostly for export include Zoe Busiek: Wild Card, the sci-fi series Mutant X, Billy Ray Cyrus's folksy medical drama Doc and the teen series Strange Days At Blake Holsey High. "We're closely in touch with what our viewers want," said Loren Mawhinney, Global's vice-president of Canadian productions, adding that Canadian drama remains a hard sell in today's fragmented TV world. "Reality seems to be where people are wanting to go and so we're attempting to get them programs that they're going to be excited to watch." Mawhinney was glad the CRTC opted for the carrot and not the stick approach but said they would have to carefully analyze the proposals because they were complicated.
More Than 50 Million Viewers Tune In For Final
"Friends"
Source: Associated
Press
(May 10, 2004)
— In the end,
Rachel, Ross, Joey, Phoebe, Monica and Chandler had a lot of friends. An estimated 51.1 million people tuned in for the final
"Friends" on NBC Thursday
night, watching the crowd-pleasing story line of Ross and Rachel declaring
their undying love for each other. That
makes it the fourth most-watched television series finale ever, behind
"M-A-S-H" (105 million in 1983), "Cheers" (80.4 million in
1993) and "Seinfeld" (76.2 million in 1998), according to Nielsen
Media Research. It was also the most popular
entertainment program on television since the concluding episode of the first
"Survivor," watched by 51.7 million in August 2000. Besides
the Ross-Rachel coupling - after a series of last-minute fits and starts -
Monica and Chandler's characters were surprised by the birth of twins as they
prepared to move to the suburbs. The series ended with the new parents moving
out of the impossibly large New York apartment that was the show's primary
setting. Of more than 30,000 people to
respond to an America Online poll, 77 percent said rekindling Ross and Rachel's
romance was the perfect ending for the show. "I
just finished bawling my eyes out," one AOL member posted. "I am sooo
glad you got off the plane, Rach. I should have done the same thing a long time
ago." The show received mixed reviews from
television critics. "It went out as it came in 10
years ago - as the blandest, most artless comedy series ever to top Nielsen
charts in the history of television," wrote an unsentimental Adam Buckman
of the New York Post. Eric
Deggans, TV critic at the St. Petersburg, Fla. Times, said the finale displayed
much of the mostly crackling comedy that viewers had come to expect. "So
comfortable was Thursday's finale that it didn't really feel like a
goodbye," Deggans wrote. "Grounded in all the things that made the
show great, it left us feeling like we could expect to turn on the TV at 8 p.m.
next Thursday and see our televised buddies waiting for us." While the
finale was "formulaic," Aaron Barnhart of the Kansas City Star said
it "at least avoided the ignominious end of other more critically
acclaimed sitcoms, like `M-A-S-H' and `Seinfeld."' Frazier
Moore of The Associated Press was unimpressed. "Lots
of group hugs," he wrote. "Lots of tears. Then everyone, including
the newborns, were off to the Central Perk for one last coffee. What this
finale served viewers was a mighty weak brew." Nielsen
estimated that just under 36 million people warmed up for the last episode by
watching highlights of the past 10 seasons during the hour preceding Thursday's
finale. The "Tonight" show, where Jay Leno interviewed the six cast
members, had its highest rating in big cities since the "Seinfeld"
finale. NBC's
promotion of the show was relentless, including "Dateline NBC"
specials the night before and after. "Can
I tell you something honestly?" Jon Stewart said on Comedy Central's
"The Daily Show" on Thursday. "I never watched that show - and
I'm sick of it."
Frasier Ending Last-Minute Decision
Excerpt from The Toronto Star - Rob Salem
(May 10, 2004) LOS ANGELES—"Frasier has left the building." This week those words take on an added significance: Once merely the tagline to the show's star-sung closing theme, they now represent the end of an era. This despite persistent rumours that Frasier Crane may yet rise again. "We'll leave that for further speculation," deadpans Kelsey Grammer, who has played the character now for two decades — only James Arness can boast a comparable record, for walking the dusty streets of Dodge City as Gunsmoke's Marshall Matt Dillon. Just as Stage 25 on the Paramount lot has been home to Frasier Crane for the last 20 seasons. For nine years on Cheers, and then another 11 on Frasier, Grammer has been coming here to work ... indeed, to virtually this very spot — shot on the same soundstage, Frasier's preferred barstool at Sam Malone's old Boston bar was maybe five feet away from where his dad's hideous old recliner now supposedly sits in Seattle. Or rather, sat. The Frasier sets have surely by now been dismantled. This Thursday night's series finale has been in the can for months; the cast long ago come and gone from a shared farewell Hawaiian holiday. But back in mid-January, when critics were welcomed on to the historic Frasier sets, production on this final season still had a few weeks to go. And no one had any idea where it was headed. "We haven't a clue how we're going to end, to be honest with you," shrugged veteran writer/producer Christopher Lloyd. "We're daring. We're brave. We're waiting until the last minute," chimed in series co-creator Peter Casey. "We work best under pressure," confirmed colleague Joe Keenan. In fact, we now know that Thursday's guest star-studded finale will revolve around the long-awaited birth of Niles and Daphne's baby, and the impending nuptials of Martin and Ronee (recurring guest Wendie Malick), with a guest list that includes Laura Linney, Jason Biggs, Anthony LaPaglia, Robbie Coltrane, Richard E. Grant and Jennifer Beals. "Everything always falls into place," confidently asserted Grammer. "Why not this one?" Why not, indeed? If nothing else, Frasier's impeccable record of ratings rebounds and Emmy honours is testament to the often-disputed fact that you can underestimate the intelligence of the North American viewing public. Or at least, their response to intelligence in others. From the very beginning, Frasier set out to be something more than your average sitcom. Out of necessity. It was, after all, an apparently ill-advised spin-off built around a relatively minor character from what was then television's most popular half-hour (start taking notes now, Joey Tribbiani). "The most important thing when we started was, `Let's try to make this as different from Cheers as we can,'" revealed Casey. "We were, frankly, terrified of being compared ... we felt that if we didn't set our own course that we were going to get hammered by you guys." "One of the first meetings we had together," recalled Grammer, "I think everyone just said, `Let's make it not like a sitcom.' So it was pretty simple right from the get-go." "The attention span of America was being catered to, and it was getting shorter and shorter," added co-creator/producer David Lee. "We specifically said, `We're going to write longer, longer, longer scenes.' "We tried not to write down to the audience. If there was a joke that we felt was genuinely funny that we thought a lot of people might not understand, we just went, `Well then, they won't understand it.'" "I just thought the ones that did get it would explain it to the ones that didn't," offered Grammer. But Frasier would have much more to contend with than the perceived stupidity of its A.D.D.-afflicted audience. An abrupt banishment to the Tuesday-night TV gulag; recurring and often prolonged creative inertia; that serial killer of series television, the Requited Unrequited Romance ... and most of all, the real-life tragedies and scandals that surrounded Kelsey Grammer, its troubled star. His father and sister had both been (unconnected) homicides; his brother was torn apart by sharks. Frasier executive producer David Angell was on board one of the planes that hit the World Trade Center in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. And there were, perhaps understandably, personal problems too: Booze, drugs, a stint in rehab, a car accident, several lawsuits, fractious first and second marriages ... Grammer, at 49, is tanned and fit and clean and sober and apparently, finally, happily married. He's mellowed, he thinks. And so has Frasier. "He's a terrific guy," he allowed of his long-time alter ego. "I think, over the years, he's become a little easier to get along with. And I think that's one other thing that makes the show relevant. "He's a person that's gone through the same nonsense we all go through. We're all more comfortable in our own skins now than we were 20, 30 years ago. The face that looks back in the mirror isn't as strange and unfathomable. It's kind of familiar and sagging. But it's at least something we recognize. "On the simplest level, I'd say that Frasier is a better man than he was when he started. "And so is Kelsey."
Damon Wayans Host Billionaires
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com
(May. 7, 2004) *Damon Wayans has a hit show of his own, but he's decided to take a break and give away some cash. ABC has inked a deal with Pepsi to air "Play for a Billion" sweepstakes, a special giving one lucky Pepsi fan the chance to win a colossal $1 billion grand prize, the largest in tube history. The game show will air on Sept. 12 and be hosted by Damon Wayans, who takes over from Drew Carey. ABC picked up show from the WB, which aired for the first time last September. A West Virginia teacher Richard Bay took home $1 million, just barely missing the Trump-sized prize. The same rules still apply --of 200 contestants chosen, one finalist will be guaranteed to walk away with $1 million on national television. The newfound millionaire will have a shot at $1 billion based on a random drawing. A chimp pulled the winning number out of a hat last year. Like last year, Pepsi drinkers can qualify by entering codes found underneath caps of Pepsi, Diet Pepsi and Sierra Mist products at www.BillionSweeps.com. After a series of drawings, 143 contestants will be randomly selected as sweepstakes winners and be flown to Los Angeles to compete in the one-hour primetime special. Of course ABC picked this game up to make money. Viewers of ABC comedies: According to Jim, 8 Simple Rules, Less Than Perfect, My Wife & Kids, George Lopez, Hope & Faith and Life with Bonnie can get a buzz word to enter at the ABC.com site. Another 50 potential winners will be selected at various retail outlets nationwide.
Getting
Candid with Elise Neal
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com
--
Angee Fielder
(May. 11, 2004) Poised with a distinctive charm, Elise Neal
is an actress who has become a familiar face in Hollywood. Most of us remember
her from John Singleton’s critically acclaimed film “Rosewood” and other films
like “Scream 2” and the long-running TV shows such as The Hughleys. Currently she stars on the hit UPN family
show All
of Us, as Tia Jewel, a loving school teacher
who is doing her best to tolerate her man’s ex-wife, while at the same time
trying to love him and his son.” At
best, Neal’s character is a younger, more vibrant, and high-spirited individual,
quite different from Mrs. Hughley. Could it be because the character is loosely
based on Jada Pinkett-Smith, who along with her superstar husband Will Smith
Executive Produce the show? It’s possible, but it is interesting to see Neal’s
spin on the character. “I am so blessed
to work on this show,” says the actress. “We have a great cast, crew…and Will
and Jada are always here offering excellent support to the actors. On one
episode Will was playing my love interest on the show and Jada was on the
sidelines the whole time coaching us on.”
In a short time, audiences have literally watched Neal build and
maintain a successful career in Hollywood. Indeed, today Neal is one of the few
black women whose face is ever-evolving into the household name. A dream that
most of actress in the business can only dream of. “I consider myself lucky because a lot of my friends who are also
actors, aren’t getting cast…it’s tough out there and I am extremely blessed,”
says the down-to-earth southern girl from Memphis, Tennessee. With her sights originally set on moving to
New York to pursue a career as a dancer, fate landed Neal with roles in musical
theater and commercials instead. It was at this point that she realized that
her true calling was acting, which brought her to Los Angeles and a succession
of film and TV roles that led her to All of Us. Aside from working on the show, Neal’s most immediate plans are
to produce a play or two to provide opportunity for others. Active in the
community, in her spare time, she mentors youth, and is active in other programs
that promote the performing arts. She sounds like a real winner to me!
THEATRE NEWS
Hairspray Holds Up
Wonderfully
Excerpt from The Toronto Star - Richard
Ouzounian, Theatre
Critic
(May. 6, 2004) This is the hit that Toronto has been
waiting for. By the time Hairspray
rolled into its unstoppable
finale during last night's opening at the Princess of Wales Theatre, the waves
of enthusiasm passing between the stage and the audience approached the level
of a tsunami. Make no mistake, the Tony
Award-winning musical has come to town in fine style. In almost every way, this
is the equal of the original Broadway production, and in some ways, it's even
better. Plot? You want to know about
plot? Okay, it's based on the cult 1988 John Waters film of the same name, set
in Baltimore in that blissful summer of 1962 when Kennedy was president,
hairdos were high and spirits were unstoppable. We're in Baltimore, where the big news of the city is the daily
teen TV dance show headed by a Dick Clark clone named Corny Collins. It's a
solid white-bread bastion except for one occasion a month (called "Negro
Day") when the blacks of the city get to take over the airwaves. That situation doesn't sit well with a
plus-sized 16-year-old named Tracy Turnblad, who not only wants to crash her
way into TV stardom but would like to integrate the whole shebang as well. Hairspray is the story of how she
does it and although it has a message to deliver about loving yourself —
whether you're black, white, fat, thin, old or young — the show is mainly about
having one hell of a good time. The
engine driving this happiness train is the score by Marc Shaiman and Scott
Wittman. It manages to be deliriously in love with the songs of the period
while making affectionate fun of its pulsing rhythms, four-square harmonies and
infectious melodies. The book by Mark
O'Donnell and Thomas Meehan is also a canny affair, weaving numerous plots
together effortlessly and knowing just when to zap us with a funny line that
also rings true. And choreographer
Jerry Mitchell is some kind of mad genius, taking the extremely limited dance
moves of the period, and expanding them into a seemingly endless series of
knockout numbers. All is ready for the
masterful hand of director Jack O'Brien, who makes the whole thing click into
place like the pieces of a multicoloured kaleidoscope. Whether it's the cheeky
sets of David Rockwell, the brazen costumes of William Ivey Long, or the
electric palette of Kenneth Posner's lighting — everything works together like
a charm. What you need to make it come
alive is the cast and O'Brien and company have picked a bunch of winners. Jay Brazeau scores a Matterhorn-sized
triumph as Edna Turnblad, the mother of all mothers. He dares to be boldly
comic, openly sentimental and outrageously campy — often all in the same scene.
His voice may be gravel, but his heart is full of diamonds. When he glides his way through the comic
duet "Timeless To Me" with the excellent Tom Rooney as his husband
Wilbur, you just bliss out and want to have the number go on forever. The show is also fortunate in its comic
villains, most notably the formidable she-dragon that Susan Henley makes of TV
producer and failed beauty queen Velma Von Tussle. Together with her hateful
daughter Amber (portrayed with non-stop flair by Tara Macri) they provide a
hissable but worthy pair of antagonists.
Michael Torontow is the young stud Link Larkin, and he gives him a great
voice, real charm and a nicely rugged edge that stops him from being too
squeaky clean. Paul McQuillan has a dry
ironic edge as TV star Corny Collins, Charlotte Moore uncorks a series of
vintage comedy vignettes, Matthew Morgan masters all the moves as the dancing
demon Seaweed and Fran Jaye stops the show cold as Motormouth Maybelle with her
gospel anthem "I Know Where I've Been." One of my favourite performances came from the delightful
Jennifer Stewart as the clueless Penny Pingelton. Chewing gum like her life
depended on it and trying desperately hard to make sense of the world around
her, Stewart managed to be absolutely endearing. She's a star waiting to be
discovered. To end on a minor note,
Vanessa Olivarez lacks a certain something in the central role of Tracy. Her
singing voice has the right ring to it and her lines are all carefully
delivered, but the performance never really takes off. You should positively
love Tracy, but you wind up merely liking Olivarez. But that's not enough to stop Hairspray from being a
totally joyous experience. If you're looking for fun, you'll find it here. It's the best party in town.
Star Critic's Passion Recognized
- Harold Award To Robert Crew
Excerpt
from The Toronto Star - Richard
Ouzounian, Theatre Critic
(May 11, 2004) You could call it When Harold Met Robert. Toronto Star arts reporter Robert Crew was one of the recipients of the 10th annual Harold Awards that
were given out last night in a ceremony at Hugh's Room. The Harolds are named after Harold Kandel, an irrepressible and omnipresent fan of Toronto theatre for many
years. In his honour, these prizes were established "to celebrate
individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to the arts — on or
offstage." The tradition is that
each recipient of the previous year's awards passes the honour on to someone
they feel is worthy of receiving it.
Independent producer Derek Chua was the one who chose Crew, because
"he cares about the whole theatre scene, large and small. He's always been
there to give us the kind of support and coverage we need to grow and develop.
It's our way of saying thank you."
Crew was touched by the award and said, "It's nearly 25 years since
I started writing about theatre for the Toronto Star and I can't think of an
award I would prefer to have than this one." The other winners this year included:
Jacquie P.A. Thomas and
Michael Spence of Theatre Gargantua.
Writer/producer/director
Hrant Alianak.
Dancer/choreographer Kate
Alton.
Stage Manager Kate
Macdonnell.
Author/composer/lyricist
Amah Harris.
Wig and make-up artist
Jacqueline Robertson-Cull.
Costume designer Wendy
White.
Lighting designer and
stage manager J.P. Robichaud.
Director and dramaturge Weyni
Mengesha.
Director of the Theatre
Performance and Acting for Film and Television Programs at Humber College,
Diana Belshaw.
Cultural Service Coordinator
of the Toronto Jewish Arts Council, Cheryl Landy.
Artistic Director of
Nightwood Theatre, Kelly Thornton.
The Ken McDougall Award to
director/playwright Nina Aquino.
Plummer Gets Tony Nod For
King Lear
Excerpt
from The Toronto Star - Richard
Ouzounian, Theatre Critic
(May 11, 2004) New York was a great place to be yesterday —
if you were a witch, a killer, or a king.
The nominations for Tony Awards, given for excellence on
Broadway, were announced in an early morning ceremony at the Hudson Theatre and
there were several clear winners.
Leading the pack was Wicked, the musical prequel to The Wizard
Of Oz, which earned 10 nominations, including Best Musical as well as a
pair of Best Actress In A Musical nods for its stars, Kristin Chenoweth and
Idina Menzel. Its rival nominees are: Avenue
Q; Caroline, Or Change and The Boy From Oz but Wicked
is the clear favourite to win this year, which would make it an even more
attractive part of the current Mirvish subscription package than it already is.
(The first national tour is due to begin here next spring.) Next in the winner's circle was the
critically acclaimed revival of Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman's musical, Assassins,
which got seven nominations, including Best Revival of a Musical. And from a Canadian point of view, the
biggest news to cheer was the pair of nominations picked up by Lincoln Centre's
mounting of the Stratford Festival's King Lear. It's entered in the category of Best Revival
of a Play, where it's up against Henry IV, Jumpers and A
Raisin In The Sun. Also singled out
from Lear was Christopher
Plummer's performance in the title role for Best Actor In a Play. "I'm doubly thrilled," said
Stratford's Artistic Director Richard Monette yesterday, "both for our
magnificent company and for Chris, who I believe is one of the finest classical
actors in the world." It's the
sixth time Plummer has been nominated for a Tony, and he has won twice before,
for Cyrano and Barrymore.
It was also a day of reckoning for the shows that didn't pull down any
major nominations, with Bombay Dreams proving one of the most
vulnerable. The critical flop received
three acknowledgements, but only in minor categories of Costume, Choreography
and Orchestration. Its failure to land
a spot in the Best Musical category means it won't perform on the nationally
televised awards program — a boost it needed.
The awards will air on June 6 from Radio City Music Hall, on CBS. Hugh
Jackman, who is nominated for Best Actor in a Musical for The Boy From Oz,
will host again.
Woodie King. Jr. Brings The Pain
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com - by
Karu F. Daniels (New York, NY)
(May. 6, 2004) Black theater pioneer Woodie
King, Jr. is a rebel rouser.
The award-winning founder and producing director of New York City's New
Federal Theater has presented more than 175 productions within the venue's near
34-year history. From On Broadway to Off-Off-Off Broadway, Mr. King -with all
of his vision and masterful artistry-- has become a legend in his own
right. In addition to the New Federal
Theater, the Baldwin Springs, Ala. native also founded the National Black
Touring Circuit (NBTC) in 1976. The NBTC presents and tours to colleges,
regional theatre and festivals in the United States and abroad. As a director,
he has directed a number of regional theatres across the country including:
Cross Roads Theatre, American Place Theatre, the Alliance Theatre, Cleveland
Playhouse, Pittsburgh Public Theatre, Cincinnati Playhouse, Northlight Theatre,
Indiana Repertory and the New York Shakespeare Theatre and Broadway Theatre
Ensemble. With an Honorary Doctorate in
Humane Letters from Wayne State University and a Doctorate of Fine Arts from
The College of Wooster, Mr. King is a name to be reckoned with in the theater
arts community. Ask the likes of Denzel
Washington, August Wilson, Ruby Dee, Melvin Van Peebles, Jackee Harry, Amiri
Baraka, Morgan Freeman and Ntozake Shange, who are just a hand-full
of the bold-faced names who have had the privilege to work with him throughout
his illustrious career. Even the
legendary Ossie Davis has sung his praises: "Woodie sees it all,
knows it all, and loves it all - I doubt if anybody can explain what it is, and
what it is not, better than he can."
Mr. King's latest book, "The Impact Of Race: Theater and
Culture," (Applause Theater & Cinema Books) is a thought-provoking
and captivating look at the inner workings of The Great White Way and the
theater world, at large. With a ferocious tenacity and a powerful, poignant and
moving prose, he lays the law on the line, as it pertains to the struggles and
accomplishments of modern-time Black Theater.
To kick off our month-long "GIVE MY REGARDS…" theater
arts series, The RU Report decided to wax poetic with Mr. King about the
explosive text-book tome and the topics he dares to tackle. In the book, you
wrote about how artists and performing artists are feared by Top 100 Black
businesses. Please elaborate. "Artists are feared by Black businessmen
because art is a mystery; most people fear the unknown. Artists are guilty of
not letting the average person in on exactly how one creates one's arts. For
example, actors study for years in scene study classes, movement classes, voice
and diction classes to be able do what they do. However, at most performances
we see only the results of all of that studying. Black businessmen should be
let in on how one makes the journey to that performance." Although it's suspected that the New York
Times held much power in the theater world, we had no idea that it was so overt
as it is in the book. It was eye opening. "The New York Times is all
powerful unless one can afford a star of P. Diddy's caliber. If you pick
up the Sunday New York Times and go to the Arts & Leisure section
you will see who the paper really loves. One full page cost $78,000. The white
critics usually really hate anything Black."
What made you tackle the topics of the impact of race
with this book? "I tackled the impact of race because our
theatre world reeks of racism, classicism, and sexism. The more I work in this
business I also note how racism also impacts on the American Culture; that is
why I talked about producing in Japan, Ghana, and Liberia."
This book is essential reading to all theater-goers,
industry insiders and performers. Who is your desired reader?
"My desired readers are Black Folk who go to any kind of cultural event,
like theatre, dance, music, hip-hop, R&B concerts, etc. And, yes, industry
insiders and theater goers as well as performers, too."
Can you share some of your fond memories of your early
days? "In the early days artists were passionate about
the art. We had a "ism" It might have been Nationalism; it might have
been communism, it might have been something called "the African
Continuum" or simply Black Power. I remember back in Detroit, David
Rambeau and I rented an old bar and made it into a 75-seat theatre with an
art gallery as the lobby. We got ten friends to put up $100 each. In New York
when I started New Federal Theatre in some seasons we did as many as 8
productions per year. Brilliant artists like Shauneille Perry, Jackee Harry,
Denzel Washington, Morgan Freeman, Samuel L. Jackson, Laurence Fishburne, Dick
Anthony Williams, Lynn Whitfield, Ed Bullins, Ron Milner and Ben
Caldwell were all a part of the magic we created."
What has changed the most about the theater world?
"I think the theatre world changed as the new technology came into
existence. The new technology focused primarily on gathering and distributing
information. White media will not distribute information about Blacks unless
it's negative information. Thank God for e-mail and dot.com and Brothers like
you who somehow find new ways to get the "word" to the people."
And what has pretty much stayed the same?
"It's very difficult to say what has remained the same. Yet, the impact of
race seems much more obvious today than in the past."
What's your future goals for the New Federal Theater?
"The future goals of the New Federal Theatre is really to keep on
producing so that our Black artists can integrate into the mainstream of
American theatre. I love introducing new artists."
You're considered an authority in the theater world.
What do you make of these gospel musicals that travel from city to city, week
by week? "The gospel musicals that travel from city to
city let us know that there is an audience out there; that's the audience that
has been ignored by mainstream theaters. These Black people are not really
wanted in the white theaters--white theatre do not even try to get them to come
into the space unless a white producer is producing a "Black play".
But in most cases these show are actually produced by white producers also
known as local promoters; you will never see their name anywhere. Usually, they
are David Rubin, Nick La Trento, Jeff Sharp, Alan Lichtenstein, and the
like. They will give the Black guy you think is producing a fee for his show,
the local promoter keeps the lion's share [of the revenues]. Are these plays
art? I don¹t think a lot of care goes into the creation of these shows but
Black audiences love them. I don't think you will see revivals of these shows
in your local Black theaters."
You stated that the New York Times was powerful
in the livelihood of the theater world. What role does Black media play, if
any? "If we had no Black media Black theatre would be
in big trouble. Black media is Black theatre's only way to reach Black
people."
Mr. King's latest work of art is a new realistic play titled "Waitin'
2 End Hell," by William Parker, about deteriorating Black
middle class family relationships, opens off-Broadway at the 47th St. Playhouse
on May 27 in New York City. (212) 394-1293.
Brady On Broadway
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com
(May. 11, 2004) *Wayne Brady is headed to the great white
way as a member of the "Chicago" cast. He'll play the role
of Billy Flynn. The performer, star of The Wayne Brady Show, joins
"Chicago" Sept. 7 at the Ambassador Theatre and will continue in
musical through Nov. 11. The
31-year-old Brady will end production of his television show after this season,
its second on the air. The Florida
native has won Emmy Awards for his talk show and for his work on the ABC comedy
series Whose Line Is It Anyway?
SPORTS NEWS
Canadian Netminders Vanish From Playoffs
Excerpt from The Toronto Star - Ken
Campbell, Sports Reporter
(May 8,
2004) Look Ma, no Canadians. For what
is believed to be the first time in NHL history, none of the final four teams
competing for the Stanley Cup has a Canadian as its No. 1 goalie. That comes in
stark contrast to last season when all four stoppers in the conference finals —
Martin Brodeur of the New Jersey
Devils, Jean-Sebastien Giguere of the
Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, Manny Fernandez
of the Minnesota Wild and Patrick Lalime
of the Ottawa Senators — were not only Canadian, all four were from Quebec.
Fernandez was born in Etobicoke, but played his minor and junior hockey in the
Montreal area. This year's group of
goalies, however, is a mishmash consisting of players from both sides of the
Atlantic. Robert Esche of the Philadelphia Flyers hails from Whitesboro, N.Y.,
and he'll go head-to-head against Nikolai Khabibulin, the best goalie Russia
has produced since Vladislav Tretiak.
San Jose goalie Evgeni Nabokov will likely back up Khabibulin for
Russia's World Cup team in the fall, but he is originally from Kazakhstan. He
faces Miikka Kiprusoff of the Calgary Flames, a Finn once as highly-touted by
the Sharks as Nabokov. What makes this
year's goaltending makeup even more astounding is that of the eight — including
backups — who are left, Sean Burke is the only Canadian. John Grahame of the
Lightning is American, Vesa Toskala is from Finland and Roman Turek is
Czech. Much of this can be attributed
to the vagaries of the NHL playoffs. After all, Canada still holds a dominant
position in big-league creases. Of the 30 No. 1 goalies in the league this
season, 18 were Canadian. Of the 60 who held down either a starter or backup
spot, 33 are from Canada. Twelve teams, including the Maple Leafs, had
all-Canadian goaltending tandems, and 22 of the 30 teams had at least one
goalie who was Canadian. For purposes of this list, Washington Capitals' goalie
Olaf Kolzig, who was born in South Africa, is considered Canadian because he
played all his minor hockey in Canada.
This past season, there were 17 European goalies, four more than came
from the province of Quebec. Seven of them were No.1 goalies, which is one
fewer than Quebec. "Canada has
always had the best and, I think, still has the best goalies," said Maple
Leafs' European scout Thommie Bergman, who was instrumental in drafting Mikael
Tellqvist four years ago. "But Europe is beginning to catch up a little
bit." One reason, Bergman said, is
that goaltenders in Europe are beginning to catch up to position players in
terms of skill. That's because European teams are beginning to hire goaltending
coaches. "Every team in Finland
has a goalie coach and most of the teams in Sweden also have one," Bergman
said. "The goalies in Europe have really improved, especially Finland,
which is the Quebec of Europe when it comes to goaltending." Finland leads Europe with five NHL goalies,
two of whom are starters. But goaltenders are coming from all parts of Europe
including Switzerland (David Aebischer and Martin Gerber), Austria (Reinhard
Divis) and even France (Cristobal Huet).
Bergman also said that, as was the case for European skaters until the
last decade, opportunities were limited for European stoppers. "For a long time there were a lot of
European goalies who didn't get the chances," Bergman said. "Now they
are getting the chance to show what they can do and they're making good on
those chances."
Leafs Fan's Music Cheers On Tampa
Excerpt from The Toronto Star - Vit
Wagner, Pop Music Critic
(May 8,
2004) For Toronto hockey fans, the Leafs' early exit from the Stanley Cup
playoffs was the same old song. Meanwhile, one surviving contender marches on
to the beat of a new anthem composed by a die-hard Leafs fan. Tampa Bay's cup drive is getting a
motivational push from "Win The Cup,"
a tune written by Yurko Mychaluk,
singer/guitarist for the Toronto band Seven Year
Itch (and performer with Nelly Furtado’s band). The song is being played as players step onto
the ice for Lightning home games. The
song, hastily penned and recorded just days before the start of this year's
Stanley Cup tournament, was sent out to all 16 clubs that made the
playoffs. "Watching the Leafs
before the playoffs started, I thought, `We can win. We can do it this
year,'" Mychaluk said. "So the chorus came to my head, `We can do it/
We can do it/ We can win the cup.' I picked up the guitar and the rest of the
lyrics came to me in 20 minutes."
Mychaluk received a polite rejection from the Leafs. Tampa, the only
other franchise to respond, was keen. Mychaluk rewarded the Lightning's
enthusiasm by localizing the song with an added verse about Tampa stars Brad
Richards, Fredrik Modin and Martin St. Louis. The expanded version, which can
be heard on the band's Web site (http://www.sevenyearitch.org), was ready in time for
Tampa's second-round opener against Montreal.
"When I flicked on CBC that was the first song I heard when Tampa
was coming on to the ice," Mychaluk said. "It was
exciting." Exciting enough to take
the sting off another Toronto playoff disappointment. "I'm a very big Leaf fan, born and raised in Toronto. That
was the reason I wrote the song. I wanted to see the cup up here. The hardcore
fans have definitely been waiting long enough.
"But Tampa's looking great. They're playing great. They're a fast
young team. And I'm sure the energy down there is insane. I'm thinking of going
down, just to get the feeling of the hype and to hear the song in person."
Calgary Sprinter Joins
Schumacher, Sorernstam As Sportspersons Of The Year
Excerpt
from The Toronto Star
(May 10, 2004) LISBON (AP-CP) — Formula One driver Michael Schumacher was named Sportsman of the Year for the second time in three years
Monday, while Calgary's Earle Connor was named the Sportsperson of
the Year in the disabled athletes category at the annual Laureus Awards. Annika Sorenstam picked up the Sportswoman of the Year title. Schumacher, of Germany, won a record sixth
Formula One title in 2003, and Swedish golfer Sorenstam completed a career
Grand Slam on the LPGA Tour. The awards
were announced at the annual Laureus World Sports Academy prize-giving ceremony
in the Portuguese capital. On Sunday,
Schumacher won the Spanish Grand Prix, equalling a record of five consecutive
wins set by Nigel Mansell of Britain in 1992.
The German won the vote ahead of other sporting greats, including
American cyclist Lance Armstrong, who is pursuing a record-breaking sixth
consecutive Tour de France win this year; Swiss tennis player Roger Federer,
who won more tennis events than any other ATP player in 2003; 18-year-old
American swimmer Michael Phelps; Italian motorcycle champ Valentino Rossi; and
Jonny Wilkinson, whose late drop goal gave the England rugby team its first
World Cup trophy. Connor, a leg amputee
sprinter, set world records in three events last year — the 100 metres (12.14
seconds), 200 metres (26.40), and 400 metres (1:7.32). He beat out fellow track and field athlete
Vitalis Lanshima of Nigeria, swimmer Natalie du Tois of South Africa, alpine
skier Ronny Persson of Sweden, cyclist Michael Teuber of Germany and equestrian
Nicolas Tustain of Britain. Sorenstam,
who was the first woman to play in a men's U.S. tour event in 58 years when she
took part in the Colonial, was nominated for the women's award the last two
years but had never won. The prizes
were selected in voting by 400 sports journalists from more than 70
countries. Michelle Wie, a 14-year-old
golfer from the United States, took home the Newcomer of the Year award. The Hawaii-born amateur last year made the
cut five times, including at the U.S. Women's Open. England's rugby team collected the World Team of the Year prize
for becoming the first northern hemisphere country to win the world title last
November. Austrian skier Hermann Maier
bagged the Comeback of the Year trophy for his recovery from a motorcycle
accident in August 2001, which he barely survived. Last month, he won the
overall World Cup title for a fourth time.
Layne Beachley of Australia, who last year became the first surfer to
win six world titles in a row, was voted Alternative Sportsperson of the Year.
Toronto
Slotback Shines In Rain
Excerpt
from The Toronto Star - David
Grossman, Sports Reporter
(May 9, 2004) WATERLOO—While Toronto native Greg Hetherington was writing his final kinesiology exam at McGill University two
weeks ago, his thoughts kept wandering to the gridiron. Hetherington, a graduate of Etobicoke
Collegiate and an articulate student with good grades, wasn't the least bit
concerned about how well he'd do in the exam.
He was just thrilled at being chosen to debut in a Canada-wide
university all-star football game. A
6-foot-4, 215-pound slotback, Hetherington had dreams of coming up with the big
play that would lead his team to victory — and one that might also catch the
attention of CFL coaches taking in the East-West showcase of players eligible
for the 2005 draft. Yesterday, the West
beat the East for the second consecutive year; this time 21-12. A disappointing
crowd of 937 braved poor weather conditions at Wilfrid Laurier's University
Stadium, but Hetherington did have people talking about his solid game. With his team trailing 14-6, and 3:42 left
in the game, Hetherington's catch of a 28-yard TD pass from St. Francis
Xavier's Nick Chessa gave his badly outplayed East squad a chance for an
upset. It also ended an East squad TD
scoreless streak of 126 minutes and 18 seconds dating back to last year's 10-5
loss. "You like to win but it's a
great experience to play in a game like this," said the former Toronto
Star high school all-star and third-year McGill student. "The TD was
great, I turned around and the ball was there. I didn't want to give it up.
Just wished we could have got one more after and pulled out a win." Hetherington, whose 21st birthday is
tomorrow, is hoping to play pro. And
while CFL coaches took in much of a week-long series of events, only Hamilton
Tiger-Cat head coach Greg Marshall stuck it out to see 90 players from 27
universities perform in the game.
Marshall liked what he saw of Hetherington. "He was outstanding; they could have gone to him a few other
times because he was wide open and his touchdown grab got his team close,"
said Marshall. "A strong kid like
him, making the big play, if you're going to be successful as a team in the CFL
you need to have great young Canadian kids and they're all right
here." Simon Fraser pivot J.R.
Davies completed 14 of 22 passes for 252 yards and two TDs to Arjei Franklin
and Jeff Piercey.
After Jackie Robinson Cracked
Baseball's Colour Bar, Don Newcombe Helped Bury It Forever
Excerpt
from The Toronto Star - Neco Cockburn, Sports Reporter
(May 11, 2004) They were no strangers to heckling, threats
and attacks from fans and men who didn't want to share the field with black
athletes. But for the players who took on the task of breaking major league
baseball's colour barrier, the end result was worth it. Greats like Brooklyn Dodgers catcher Roy Campanella and Cleveland Indians centre fielder Larry Doby formed the second wave of
black players to hit the majors after Jackie Robinson joined the Dodgers in
1947. Pitcher Don Newcombe was right there with them, making his debut with the Dodgers two
years after Robinson's debut. But after
a brilliant start to his career — he was the NL rookie of the year in 1949 and
won the MVP and the first Cy Young trophy in 1956 — Newcombe battled alcohol
abuse, and his playing days were cut short.
Twice divorced, he now lives in California, where he's involved with
numerous charities while running a consulting company, working to stop
substance abuse and making public speeches about his past. Unplugged sat down with Newcombe this past
weekend, just before he threw out the opening pitch at the Toronto Maple Leafs'
season opener.
Q Do you still get recognition from fans?
A There
are things going on. We just finished, for instance, on April 15, a tribute to
Jackie Robinson, because April 15 was the first day of Jackie's participation
in the major leagues of baseball, and I'm the only one left alive now who was
involved in that process. Roy Campanella's gone, Jackie's gone, and Larry
Doby's gone. So no one's left. When you ask about recognition, I'm the only one
that they have to do something now to focus the attention on Jackie Robinson,
and the things that he did at that time. I stay busy when those things happen.
They have celebrations of Martin Luther King, and Martin was a good friend of
mine.
Q What
was it like to play with Jackie Robinson?
A It was
a great experience. Jack was a fine man, and a fine family man. He had a
burning desire to win, he didn't want to lose doing anything that he ever
did—playing pool, playing cards, playing golf — and surely, he didn't want to
lose playing baseball. He made me a winner — he and Roy Campanella both, with
their experience and their know-how about baseball and about life. And they
made me grow up, because I was only 19 years old when I first started with Roy
and Jackie in this process of breaking down that barrier. I had to do some fast
growing up to be with these men.
Q What
was it like to be a black baseball player then?
A It was
a challenge. ... Major League Baseball had a commissioner named Kenesaw
Mountain Landis, who was an old federal judge from down in Alabama somewhere.
He made a statement to the press, when the black players started talking about
signing to play in the major leagues, and the commissioner made a statement
that, `They'll never play as long as I'm the commissioner of baseball,' so he
wasn't going to let that happen. The owner of the Dodgers didn't know what to
do about that. One thing good happened, though — that commissioner died and
things were able to change then. It was
a process that had its effect on revolutionizing the entire world as far as
black people were concerned. We were respected — remember, we were doing this
long before Martin Luther King. Martin was still in school; he was a young man
when we were doing what we were doing on the baseball field. It had a very
telling effect on what he did later on in the late '50s and '60s when he did
his civil rights movement. Martin in later years told me — at my house one
night we were having dinner — that, `Don, you and Jackie and Roy, you will
never know how easy you made it for me to do my job.' This was 1968. This is
about 24 days before he died in Memphis, Tennessee.
Q What kind of incidents did you go through in those early days?
A People
would call us names. Opposing players would call us names. Writing us letters
and threatening us with death. Many times, we were threatened with death, and
it didn't scare us. I remember one vivid incident in Cincinnati one Sunday. I
was going to pitch the game, and I got on the team bus in front of the hotel,
and as I walked to the bus to get my seat, I saw six white men on the bus who
weren't with our travel party. I found out by asking a few questions who they
were, and they were Secret Service men.
About that time, Jackie Robinson handed me a letter and told me to read
it. It said, in part, that `if you so-and-so's show up at the ballpark today,
we're going to kill all of you.' And the Secret Service thought it was a real
threat. We got off the bus with a Secret Service man on each side of us. I
pitched a two-hit shutout and Jackie got 3for4 and Roy hit three home runs.
Q How did you respond during games when other players were taunting
you?
A It was
very hard for Jackie and Roy, when they first came to the Dodgers, to
retaliate. Jackie, when he played second base, if somebody slid into him with
their spikes up in the air and cut him, he couldn't do anything about it. Or
when somebody came into home plate or took a bat and hit Roy with it, he
couldn't do anything about it, couldn't fight back, because if you fight back,
then you've got a problem — you might have a riot, and we couldn't have that.
You had to turn the other cheek. Well, when I came up, I had a different way of
doing it because I was a pitcher, and I could throw that ball and throw it
awful hard and not know where it was going and didn't care where it was going.
If I had to throw it at somebody's head, it went at somebody's head, and they
didn't know if I was doing it intentionally or what I was doing. And that kind
of abuse began to taper off. We had players from the opposing team stop the
game and go into their dugouts and tell the player or coach who was calling
names, `You leave this guy alone, because you don't have to hit against him.'
Q How did you meet Martin Luther King?
A He was
a personal friend of my family, my wife's family. We got to be friends when he
became involved in the civil rights movement. Very, very nice man. Great man.
Where he got shot, we used to use that motel, the Lorraine Motel, as a base
when we went barnstorming with the Jackie Robinson-Roy Campanella All-Stars.
We'd stay for about a week.
Q Have you seen Roy Halladay, who won last year's Cy Young Award,
play?
A On
television. I think he's going to be a great one. He is a great one now and
he's going to get better. He reminds me of Roger Clemens. Roger threw the ball
harder, I think, but I think Halladay's work ethic, and the way he comes to
pitch a ball game, is similar to Clemens.
Q How's your arm? Any arthritis?
A I
don't use it now, I'm almost 80 years old. I just throw out a first ball and
that's all. I never hurt my arm. I threw the ball as hard as any human being,
but I never hurt it, and I think it's because of my legs. I had good legs, took
care of my legs, did a lot of running when I played. I think that's why I never
hurt my arm. It doesn't happen today. ... They want to play baseball, but they
don't run enough. I'm not talking about jogging.
Q What would you say was the best moment of your career?
A Being
signed with Jackie and Roy to play in the Dodgers organization. As a player,
being the only player in baseball history to win the rookie of the year, Cy
Young Award and most valuable player award in his career.
Q What sparked your alcoholism?
A It was
a way of life for me and my family. We all drank in my family when I was a kid.
... Then, as life got better and I got bigger and made some money, I started
becoming less sophisticated with my drinking and then it became a habit. Then
it became a sickness. I haven't had a drink now in 37 years, not even a can of
beer. I did ruin my career, I know that. It might be another reason why I'm not
in the hall of fame, because it shortened my career, and it wasn't anybody's
fault but my own.
FITNESS NEWS
Tips: Fat Thighs -- How to make them Slim
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com -
by
James Andrews
(May. 6, 2004)
No
one can shrink their thighs by using a special diet. If you want to slim your
thighs, you must follow a general weight reduction program eating properly and
exercising intelligently. There is a
lot of nonsense talked about fat thighs. Here are the facts. Women are
programmed by nature to store fat on their hips and thighs; that is, until
menopause. After this, women store fat around their middle, just like men. Genes also influence where women store fat.
If the female members of your family tend to store fat on their hips, you may
do the same. Likewise, you may also
inherit their bone structure and frame size. However, nobody inherits fat
itself. You alone are responsible for the amount of excess weight and fat on
your body, including your thighs. No
one can shrink their thighs by using a special diet. If you want to slim your
thighs, you must follow a general weight reduction program. There is no such
thing as a 'Hip and Thigh' diet or cream. Such things are fantasy! If you
follow a proper weight loss program, and exercise, your thighs will become
smaller.
The
fastest, most effective way to get slim thighs is to follow a low fat diet like
the following.
Reduce
your total daily fat intake to about 30 grams a day.
Of
this, a maximum of 10 grams may be saturated fat.
The
best way to reduce fat is to switch to fat free or lower fat varieties.
Always
trim meat/poultry of all fat, before eating.
Eat
plenty of fruits and vegetables.
Fill
up with 'slow' carbohydrates, like wholegrain bread, brown rice, beans and high
fibre cereal.
This
is an entirely natural process. It won't happen overnight - allow months rather
than weeks - but it will happen.
Getting A Soulful Workout
Source: Canadian Press
(May 10, 2004) An exercise discipline that rejects the credo
of higher, faster, stronger in favour of having fun, setting your own pace and
losing yourself in the moment was just what Sandy Feldstein was looking for after
developing fibromyalgia. The
self-confessed former jock had to redirect her life after suffering chronic,
widespread pain in her muscles, ligaments and tendons accompanied by fatigue. Nia provided the movement she was seeking. "I knew it was something that I needed to be doing and that
I could do without feeling worse than I did when the class began," says
the certified kinesiologist and Nia instructor. Combining martial arts, dance, and the healing arts, Nia — short
for neuromuscular integrative action — is described as a soulful workout. "Basically it's new age aerobics, no
shoes, bare feet," says Jill Batura of the faculty of physical health at
the University of Toronto. "It's
about getting in the moment, feeling fully present in the now, enjoying the
movement and then taking that sensation outside of the class," she says.
"So it becomes a lifestyle practice." Nia blends nine movements into one routine. From the martial arts it draws upon tai chi,
tae kwon do and aikido for strength and mindfulness. Jazz, modern dance and the
free-spirited Duncan dance are used to encourage graceful movement. The healing
arts of yoga, Feldenkrais and the Alexander technique act as nurturing body
therapies. "One moment you're
doing something sharp and strong. The next moment it's graceful, fluid and
flowing," says Batura. "Then you're moving the head in such a way and
re-aligning the body that it's drawing upon the healing arts." The different disciplines are fused together
in such a way that students are often not aware of switching from, say, tae
kwon do to modern dance. Since classes usually last about an hour, it's also a
good cardio workout. The method was
developed in the 1980s by California couple Debbie and Carlos Rosas after attending
expressive dance classes and realizing that regular gym workouts were lacking
emotion and spirituality. There are now
weekly Nia classes across Canada, including 45 in British Columbia and 80 in
Ontario, and some 1,000 instructors worldwide.
It's part of a larger trend of moving toward a more spiritual model of
exercise, says Batura, as words like spiritual and sacred become commonplace in
fitness class titles. And students
pursuing their bachelor's degree in physical health and education at the University
of Toronto can actually get academic credit for taking Nia classes. "Through movement we find health"
is one of the many tag lines associated with the technique but one that
resonates profoundly with Feldstein.
"The human body needs to be moving. No matter what our limitations
are there's some way that we can move," she says. Because Nia can be
tailored to any level of physical fitness, Feldstein teaches it to people
recovering from osteoarthritis, fibromyalgia and various injuries. "It is a very inviting way to bring
movement back to the body. Not moving hurts more," says Feldstein, whose
own battle with fibromyalgia meant that she had to relearn a lot of basic
movement skills. "In Nia, our
sport is life," she says. "So we have to learn about lifting,
lowering, twisting, bending. All the kinds of movements we have to do in a
day." And through the movements of
Nia, students are made mindful of the here and now, rather than dwelling on the
past or looking to the future.
"When we're other than here we don't heal as effectively and it's harder
to reach our potential," says Batura. "When we're right in the now we
reach our potential, we become more inspired. Basically we're more fully
alive." For more about Nia on the
Web go to http://www.niac-on.ca
or http://www.nia-nia.com.
OTHER NEWS
Inspiring Stories From The Offspring Of Civil Rights Figures
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com
(May. 5, 2004) "We felt
'called' to save the world from racism, poverty and war. We willingly risked
our lives. But too seldom did we stop to recognize the burden we placed on our
children. John Blake has helped me to
better understand the sacrifice and suffering that we inflicted on our
families. Notoriety without wealth, security, or maturity is an unfair price,
paid by our own children-as we attempted to help all children. This book
presents a view of the movement which we should all understand." -Andrew
Young
Chicago,
IL - This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Mississippi
Freedom Summer and the 50th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, two seminal
events in the struggle for civil rights in the United States. The civil rights
movement has left an enduring mark on this country, but for some it has had a
more personal impact and has left a life-long legacy. In Children of the Movement: The
sons and daughters of Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Elijah Muhammad,
George Wallace, Andrew Young, Julian Bond, Stokely Carmichael, Bob Moses, James
Chaney, Elaine Brown, and others reveal how the civil rights movement tested
and transformed their families (Lawrence Hill Books, an imprint of Chicago
Review Press, May 15, 2004), journalist John Blake speaks with 24 of the adult
children of the most recognizable figures in the civil rights movement along
with, whenever possible, their parents. Each story in the book is a unique,
personal lens through which to view the legacy and ongoing influence of the
civil rights movement. "Most of us
know about the public side of the movement-the mass marches, speeches and
public figures-but I wanted to look at the private side of these important
leaders," Blake said. "Talking to their children and those parents
who remain alive gave me a perspective, far beyond a history book or an old
civil rights newsreel, on the terrible costs these families paid." Children of the Movement presents intimate
stories of families who were pulled apart by the horrors of the struggle or
brought together by their efforts to change America. The parents were fighting
a battle to shape America for future generations, but many failed to realize
the effects their involvement would have on their own children. Through
in-depth interviews, Blake discovers that some of the children don't share the
optimism and determination of their parents, whose idealism they saw destroyed
by the struggle. Meanwhile, others are still trying to change the world through
activism, community involvement and leadership. Children of the Movement also
reveals that many of the children lament the lack of a close parent-child
relationship and fault their parents' selfless dedication to their cause. A number of the adult children profiled in
Children of the Movement did not understand their parent's role in history
until they were adults themselves. To the rest of the country, their parents
were larger-than-life, influential leaders, but at home they were just Dad or
Mom. Ilyasah Shabazz, daughter of Malcolm X, discovered that her college
classmates knew more about her late father than she did and felt compelled to
read his autobiography and take a class on him to catch up. And Mary Brown,
daughter of Freedom Rider James Zwerg, was told by her shocked high school
history teacher, "Oh my God, you're dad's a f***ing hero"-it was a
revelation to Mary. The profiles in
Children of the Movement encompass decades of American history and ongoing
racial struggle. The daughter of Mississippi governor Ross Barnett Sr.
describes her life of privilege and debutant balls growing up in an affluent
household in pre-movement Mississippi, readily believing in segregation and
black inferiority. Today she is a teacher in an all-black inner city high
school. In addition to showing how times have changed, Blake also interviewed
adult children who reveal that echoes of the past linger. Stephen Smitherman,
son of former Selma mayor Joe Smitherman, continues to defend his father's
legacy of segregation, while Martin Luther King III struggles to live up to his
name and continue his father's movement, fighting the ongoing battle for
justice and equality.
About
The Author: John Blake is a reporter for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, for
which he has written several award-winning stories on civil rights. He has received
feature-writing awards from the Associated Press, the Georgia Press, the
Atlanta Association of Black Journalists and the Society of Professional
Journalists. He lives in Atlanta, Georgia.
Title: Children of the Movement
Author:
John Blake
Publisher:
Lawrence Hill Books, an imprint of Chicago Review Press
Distributed
by IPG
Publication:
May 15, 2004, $24.95 (CAN $37.95), cloth, ISBN: 1556525370
History/Biography,
288 pages, 6 x 9, 65 B&W photos
Available
at bookstores everywhere and through Independent Publishers Group, 814 N.
Franklin St., Chicago, IL 60610. Toll-free number for orders only: 1-800-888
4741. Visit us online at www.ipgbook.com For further information on Children of
the Movement or to arrange an interview with author John Blake, contact Sara
Hoerdeman, publicist, Independent Publishers Group, 814 N. Franklin St.,
Chicago, IL 60610, phone (312) 337-0747 ext. 236 or email sara@ipgbook.com
Children of the Movement: Table of Contents
1) Casualties of War
Chevara
Orrin and Bacardi Jackson, daughters of Reverend James Bevel, a Southern
Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) leader and member of Martin Luther King
Jr.'s inner circle Chaka Forman, son of James Forman Sr., former executive
director of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) Mary Brown, daughter of James Zwerg, a
Freedom Rider Maisha Moses, daughter of Bob Moses, a SNCC leader and founder of
the Algebra Project
2) The Next Generation
Ralph
David Abernathy III, son of Ralph David Abernathy Sr., cofounder of SCLS and a
confidant of Reverend King Michael Julian Bond, son of Julian Bond, a leader in
the SNCC and the NAACP James Forman Jr., son of James Forman Sr., a former
executive director of the SNCC Julie Guyot, daughter of Lawrence Guyot Sr., a
SNCC field secretary
3) Children of the Icons
Martin
Luther King III, son of Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. Ilyasah Shabazz,
daughter of Malcolm X
4) Children of
the Segregationist Leaders
Peggy Wallace Kennedy, daughter of former Alabama
Governor George Wallace Ouida Barnett Atkins, daughter of former Mississippi
Governor Ross Barnett Sr. Stephen Smitherman, son of former Selma mayor Joe
Smitherman
5) Children of Black Power
Bokar
Ture, son of Kwame Ture (Stokely Carmichael), a SNCC and Black Panther Party
leader Ericka Abram, daughter of Elaine
Brown, former chairwoman of the Black Panther Party Warith Deen Muhammad, son
of Elijah Muhammad, founder of the Nation of Islam
6) Children of the Martyrs
Penny
Liuzzo Herrington, daughter of Viola Liuzzo, who was killed during the Selma
campaign Ben Chaney and Angela Lewis,
brother and daughter of James Earl Chaney, one of three civil rights workers
killed during the Mississippi Freedom Summer
Anne Reeb, daughter of Reverend James Reeb, who was killed in Selma
7) The New Radicals: From Selma to Seattle
Andrew
"Drew" Dellinger, son of Walter Dellinger, a civil rights activist
and constitutional law scholar Naomi Klein, daughter of Bonnie Sherr Klein, a
former member of the Congress for Racial Equality (CORE), and Michael Klein, an
antiwar demonstrator Timi Gerson, daughter of Bill Gerson, a leader in the
Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)
Ernie Paniccioli To Exhibit Rare Graffiti Pieces In New York
Excerpt from www.allhiphop.com - By Nolan Strong
(May 8, 2004) The Eyejammie Fine Arts Gallery in New York
City will present an exhibition of graffiti flicks by famed Hip-Hop
photographer Ernie Paniccioli. "Urban
Blight -- The Graffiti Photography of Ernie Paniccioli" will showcase 30
photographs of graffiti pieces shot over a span of 30 years. Paniccioli
shot the pictures in various locations, ranging from New York's five boroughs,
the American South and Sao Paulo, Brazil. "I've always been moved by the rawness and the power of
graffiti, which is why I never stopped shooting it," Paniccioli told
AllHipHop.com via statement. "Looking over these photos in preparation for
the show, I was newly astonished by how vivid they are." The majority of the photographs being exhibited have never been
seen and most of the original pieces have long since been destroyed. In
addition to the graffiti pieces, the show will include over a dozen photos
documenting the 80's Hip-Hop craze for graffiti covered blue jean jackets. "Urban Blight" opens to the public on Friday May 21 and
runs through Thursday, July 1 at the Eyejammie Fine Arts Gallery, located at
516 W. 25th Street, Suite 306 in New York City. Paniccioli's book, "Who Shot Ya: Three Decades of Hip-Hop
Photography" is in stores now and is available in both hard cover and
paperback versions.
New Video Game "Get On Da Mic" Coming To Gaming
Systems
Excerpt from www.allhiphop.com - By Nolan Strong
(May 7, 2004) Eidos, a leading publisher and
developer of entertainment software has announced a deal with Artificial Mind and Movement (A2M) to
produce "Get On Da Mic,"
a Hip-Hop music video game. The game, which will be
available for all major video gaming systems, allows players to live a fantasy
lifestyle resulting from their success in the Hip-Hop industry. Players
must impress crowds with their ability to rap as they go from the streets, the
clubs, recording studios, video shoots and performances in front of thousands
of fans. The
game is complete with shady agents, powerful producers, groupies and even
allows you to purchase a house and various jewellery based on your success. "Get
On Da Mic immerses players in the alluring world of becoming a Hip-Hop
celebrity," said Paul Baldwin, Eidos North America's vice president of
marketing. "A2M has secured one of the most robust music soundtracks
available in any music game featuring over 40 tracks. The game also boasts a
non-confining freestyle mode allowing players to show off their lyrical skills
and pave their own paths to fame among their friends." No release date was provided for the game, which is still in
development. Eidos has developed such
titles as "Backyard Wrestling," "Hitman Contracts" and
"Invisible War," while A2M is responsible for "The Grinch,"
"Bugs Bunny: Lost in Time" and "Jersey Devil."
Stars
Pressure Bush Over Stem-Cell Research
Excerpt
from The Toronto Star - By Paul Elias, Associated Press
(May 9, 2004) BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — As President George W. Bush resists mounting pressure to loosen the restrictions he placed on human embryonic stem-cell
research, Hollywood's supporting role in the debate this election year is
growing. Celebrities including Dustin
Hoffman, Michael J. Fox and Larry King raised $2 million (U.S.) for stem-cell
research Saturday night at a gala for the Juvenile Diabetes Research
Foundation. The money is part of nearly $20 million that the foundation is
donating to advance stem-cell research.
A Parkinson's disease foundation run by Fox, who suffers from the
degenerative nerve condition, has contributed another $10 million. The star power is providing frustrated
scientists and patients with additional muscle in a lobbying campaign against Bush's
policy, which limits federal funding for research on human embryonic stem cells
to colonies created before August 2001.
Stem cells are the body's building blocks and have the potential to
become many different types of cells. Scientists believe the cells can be
coaxed into specific cells to repair organs or treat diseases such as diabetes,
Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. Stem cells
are typically taken from days-old human embryos. Because the human embryos are
destroyed when the stem cells are extracted, the process is highly
controversial. Saturday's dinner
featured a rare public appearance by Nancy Reagan, who renewed her call for an
expansion of the research. Her husband, former president Ronald Reagan, suffers
from Alzheimer's disease and his wife believes stem cells might someday provide
a cure. "Ronnie's long journey has
finally taken him to a distant place where I can no longer reach him," she
said. "Because of this I'm determined to do whatever I can to save other
families from this pain." A
growing number of federal legislators — including several staunch anti-abortion
Republicans and party stalwarts like Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, who is
also a heart surgeon — also are lobbying Bush to reconsider his policy. Last month, 206 members of Congress,
including several conservative Republicans, sent Bush a letter calling on him
to reconsider his policy. The
administration said it has no plans to change its policy. Still, Hollywood money is pouring in.
Moviemakers Jerry and Janet Zucker have contributed more than $50,000 to a campaign
to get a bond measure on California's ballot that would provide $3 billion in
stem-cell research funds to the state's biotechnology industry. "People from Hollywood have always
supported this," said Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation chief executive
Peter Van Etten. The foundation has contributed $500,000 to the California
campaign. The Zuckers said they donated
money because their 16-year-old daughter has diabetes. "When Katie was diagnosed five years
ago we promised we would do everything in our power to find a cure," said
Jerry Zucker, who directed the 1990 film Ghost.
Alex Thomas: Comedian Gets Special Treatment
Excerpt from www.eurweb.com -
by Kenya M. Yarbrough
(May. 10, 2004) Comedian Alex Thomas has been building a presence
for a minute. Fans of funny recognize his face and his animated voice, as his
comedic acting has been sprinkled around Hollywood in roles in films such as
“Don’t Be A Menace…,” “The Players Club,” and “Two Can Play That Game,” among
others, and his stand-up is a favourite on cable and clubs. Now the comedian has is a part of a new
series of comedy specials on BET called “Comic View Presents.” The shows are
chocked full of much more comedy than the standard sets on the now titled “Club
Comic View” series, which feature four comedians each episode. “I just shot a new thing called “Comic View
Presents.’ It’s not like regular ‘Comic View’ – 5, 10 minutes – it’s like a
special. Only like six of us did it. It’s 40-minute specials. I did ‘Straight
Clownin’,’ which was my first comedy special, and now I have this one.” Along with Thomas, comedians Teddy
Carpenter, Michael Colyar, and Joe Torry, among others are featured. Thomas’
special will air again this Friday on BET.
“I also just did a new movie called ‘Woman, Thou Art Loosed,’ [based on]
T.D. Jakes #1 selling book. They’ve turned it into a movie, and I’ve got a
small role in it. I think it’s supposed to be out later this summer sometime,”
he said. Thomas wouldn’t fill us in on
exactly the role he plays in the new film, be says it’s worth the anticipation
and mystery, and says that comic fans should definitely go and check out the
film. “Woman, Thou Art Loosed” has an
all-star cast including Kimberly Elise, Loretta Devin, Debbi Morgan, Clifton
Powell, and Ricky Harris.
Andre 3000 Negotiating Series With Cartoon Network
Excerpt from www.allhiphop.com
- By Nolan Strong
(May 10, 2004) Andre 3000 of Outkast is negotiating with the
Cartoon Network to develop his own project for the cable channel. The rapper is developing an untitled
half-hour cartoon that may be featured on Cartoon Network's "Adult
Swim" program, a more mature evening telecast. The eccentric rapper's own
life is reportedly the inspiration for the cartoon and is expected to be based
around his alter ego, the guitar-playing Johnny Vulture, whom Andre 3000 played
in the video for "Hey Ya." Both Andre 3000 and Cartoon Network are
based in Atlanta and if the network is satisfied with the final results,
executives are ready to greenlight the series. Furthermore, Andre 3000, a
successful producer and burgeoning actor, is expected to provide the music for
the cartoon. Veteran rapper Schoolly D. was the first rapper to be featured on
The "Adult Swim" program block. Presently he narrates and provides
the theme music for the cartoon "Aqua Teen Hunger Force."
Rappers
Submit Work For Inspirational Book
Excerpt from www.allhiphop.com - By Nolan Strong
(May 10, 2004) Rappers David
Banner, Slick Rick and Ras Kass are among the
celebrities that are entering their works for the sequel to the best-selling
book “The
Right Words at The Right Time.” Simon and
Schuster and author Marlo Thomas, creators of the inspirational book, are
seeking submissions for the follow-up to the original New York Times
bestseller, which is a collection of short stories. The first book featured
empowering words of wisdom from Venus Williams, Muhammad Ali, Steven Spielberg,
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, Jay Leno and others celebrities, who share
stories of advice that helped change their lives. Thomas said that submissions
can come from all walks of life. Her credentials include a degree in teaching
from the University of Southern California, four Emmys Awards and she is a
member of the Broadcasting Hall of Fame, “You don’t have to be a prizefighter,
or a world-renowned architect, or a concert violinist to have been affected by
the power of words, and to have experienced firsthand, how those words can
change life in an eye blink,” Thomas said. Proceeds from the sales of the book
will go to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, which was founded by Thomas’
father in 1962. St. Jude provides care for children all over the world who
suffer from catastrophic illness, regardless of a family's ability to pay. The
stories (550 - 1500 words) can be submitted through the contest web site or can
be sent in by mail.
CD RELEASES
Tuesday,
May 11, 2004
GORDON LIGHTFOOT Harmony (Linus Entertainment)
Tuesday, May 18, 2004
ALANIS MORISSETTE So-Called Chaos (Maverick)
HEATHER HEADLEY
TBA Heather Headley (RCA)
JERMAINE DUPRI Greenlight (Arista)
LENNY KRAVITZ Baptism (EMI)
MYSTIKAL TBA Mystikal (Zomba)
EVENTS –MAY 13 – 23, 2004
SUNDAY, MAY 16
SOULAR
College
Street Bar
574
College Street (at Manning)
10:30
pm
$5.00
EVENT
PROFILE: Featuring Dione Taylor, Sandy Mamane, Davide Direnzo,
Justin Abedin, Dafydd Hughes and David French.
MONDAY, MAY 17
IRIE MONDAY NIGHT SESSIONS
745 Queen Street W.
10:00 pm
EVENT
PROFILE: Look for more information coming on Irie's line-up for summer nights! Come out and join the Irie crew
as we come to hang out and enjoy the first signs of summer. Irie will be serving up their usual magic
with live performances from local artists and the DJ stylings of Carl
Allen. Where else can you find the fine
blend of Torontonians that Irie attracts?!
MONDAY, MAY 17
VIP JAM WITH
SPECIAL GUESTS
Revival Bar
783 College
Street (at Shaw)
10:00 pm
NO COVER
EVENT
PROFILE: Featuring Rich Brown, Joel Joseph and
Shamakah Ali with various local artists.
TUESDAY, MAY 18
JAM
SESSION
Lava
Lounge
507
College Street (west of Bathurst)
10:30
pm
NO
COVER
EVENT
PROFILE: Featuring prolific Canadian talent, Calvin Beale,
Michael Shand, Joe Bowden, Thomas Reynolds and various local artists.
MAY 21 – 24, 2004
Irie Food Joint
745 Queen Street W.
10:00 pm
EVENT
PROFILE: It's summertime (well, almost!)
In celebration of the diversity of Toronto, IRIE begins a
series of diverse DJ nights which launches this holiday May 24 weekend! Check out selected nights for your fav DJ,
fav vibe or fav night to hit Irie.
Here’s the exciting line up of talented Toronto DJs this summer which
starts May 24 weekend! Expect lots of
exceptional surprises every night!
NIGHTFEATURED DJ AND TITLEFLAVOURFRIDAYS
11:00 pm start
DJ Chocolate
Unity
Selective of dub djsSATURDAYS
11:00 pm start
DJ Alvaro C.
Tropical Ismo
Latin beats
Traditional grass roots Cuban style SUNDAYS
4:00 pm start
DJ Scootz
Whine down Sundays
Easy reggae vibeMONDAYS
11:00 pm start
DJ Carl Allen
Monday night Sessions
Hip hop, house, R&B, reggae
SATURDAY, MAY 22
STILETTOS & SKIRTS
Chocolate Lounge and Restaurant
193 King St. E.
Doors Open @ 10pm (so arrive early)
RSVP 416-999-3-999
9pm - 3 am
:: Valet Parking Available ::
Parking available at the NW corner of King &
George street
EVENT PROFILE: dwayneanddave.com & Salutations present Stilettos and Skirts
this Long Weekend Saturday inside Toronto's newest HOTSPOT to party and lounge
- CHOCOLATE on King St.
Trendy, Chic, Stylish or Simply Sexy.
SUNDAY,
MAY 23
COSMOPOLITAN
Ricochet Liquid Lounge
124 Avenue Road (just south of Davenport)
RSVP 416-999-3-999
10pm - 3 am
EVENT PROFILE: From the
people who brought you Jamie Foxx, Morris Chestnut and others. Now, it’s Cosmopolitan.
Experience a venue which has all the right ingredients - beautiful people,
patio, fashion and great music .... all equal 'a night to remember'.
You’ve heard about the hot and steamy parties at Ricochet – now you can step
out on Sunday, May 23rd to experience Cosmopolitan.
Featuring the musical stylings of Mr.
Christopher Michaels taking you on a musical journey alongside MC Essential.
SUNDAY, MAY 23
SOULAR
College Street
Bar
574 College
Street (at Manning)
10:30 pm
$5.00
EVENT
PROFILE: Featuring Dione Taylor, Sandy Mamane,
Davide Direnzo, Justin Abedin, Dafydd Hughes and David French
Have a great week!
Dawn Langfield
Langfield Entertainment
www.langfieldentertainment.com