For her “unofficial” 2009 John Lennon biopic Nowhere Boy, Sam Taylor-Johnson had so little music to work with that the opening chord of “Hard Day’s Night” pretty much had to carry the whole movie. You might think that history would repeat for Back to Black, the short but fast-lived story of Amy Winehouse, who rose to international fame in her teens and never saw 28, never mind 30. Surprisingly, the Winehouse estate is all in, and although one might argue that the singer’s trainwreck notoriety has been slightly snow-washed to protect the living, there’s still a surprisingly hard edge here, in a rare film that gives rock ’n’ roll agency to a woman for once, like a reverse-angle Sid & Nancy.
In a way, any music biopic is off to a bad start, since there’s always going to be the curse of symmetry: everything must square with what we already know,...
In a way, any music biopic is off to a bad start, since there’s always going to be the curse of symmetry: everything must square with what we already know,...
- 4/9/2024
- by Damon Wise
- Deadline Film + TV
When Freddy Wexler was a kid growing up in New York City in the Nineties, there was no artist he loved more than Billy Joel. The 37-year-old singer-producer — who has has written songs for everyone from Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande to Kanye West and Celine Dion — used to sit in his bedroom, put on The Stranger, Turnstiles, or River of Dreams, and dream. “I would imagine it was me performing,” Wexler tells Rolling Stone via Zoom from his house in L.A. “I wanted to be Billy Joel.”
But...
But...
- 2/6/2024
- by Andy Greene
- Rollingstone.com
Norby Walters, the onetime music agent who ran the annual “Night of 100 Stars” Oscar party for years and hosted an iconic low-stakes poker party for actors, died December 12. He was 91. His son, Walters Media Group founder and former Bold Films CEO Gary Michael Walters, confirmed the news but did not provide details.
Born Norbert Meyer, in 1952 Walters started booking jazz luminaries such as Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and Stan Getz into his father’s bar.
Walters and his brother, Walter took over a place from their father and dubbed it Norby & Walter’s Bel Air, but its sign had no ampersand — which led to the name Walters would use during his career. He later took over a failing nightclub located next to the world-famous Copacabana, dubbed it Norby Walters’s Supper Club, and attracted a who’s who of boldfaced New York City names.
“What was I going to do?...
Born Norbert Meyer, in 1952 Walters started booking jazz luminaries such as Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and Stan Getz into his father’s bar.
Walters and his brother, Walter took over a place from their father and dubbed it Norby & Walter’s Bel Air, but its sign had no ampersand — which led to the name Walters would use during his career. He later took over a failing nightclub located next to the world-famous Copacabana, dubbed it Norby Walters’s Supper Club, and attracted a who’s who of boldfaced New York City names.
“What was I going to do?...
- 12/21/2023
- by Erik Pedersen and Tom Tapp
- Deadline Film + TV
Norby Walters, a music agent who worked with Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Marvin Gaye, Kool & the Gang and Public Enemy before gaining renown in Hollywood for his annual “Night of 100 Stars” Oscar party and weekly poker game, has died. He was 91.
Walters died Dec. 10 of natural causes at an assisted living facility in Burbank, his son, producer Gary Michael Walters (Whiplash), told The Hollywood Reporter.
Walters hosted his first Oscar night gala in 1990 and the last in 2017, most often inside the Beverly Hilton’s Crystal Ballroom. Among those who attended were Shirley Jones, Robert Forster, Charles Bronson, Patricia Neal, Richard Dreyfuss, Eva Marie Saint, Martin Landau, Louis Gossett Jr., J.K. Simmons, Cliff Robertson, Red Buttons, Jon Voight and Allison Janney.
Walters for years also presided over a weekly poker game at his West Hollywood high-rise condo. The low-stakes $2 game was, his son said, “designed to be a place where actors could kibbutz,...
Walters died Dec. 10 of natural causes at an assisted living facility in Burbank, his son, producer Gary Michael Walters (Whiplash), told The Hollywood Reporter.
Walters hosted his first Oscar night gala in 1990 and the last in 2017, most often inside the Beverly Hilton’s Crystal Ballroom. Among those who attended were Shirley Jones, Robert Forster, Charles Bronson, Patricia Neal, Richard Dreyfuss, Eva Marie Saint, Martin Landau, Louis Gossett Jr., J.K. Simmons, Cliff Robertson, Red Buttons, Jon Voight and Allison Janney.
Walters for years also presided over a weekly poker game at his West Hollywood high-rise condo. The low-stakes $2 game was, his son said, “designed to be a place where actors could kibbutz,...
- 12/21/2023
- by Mike Barnes and Borys Kit
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
For Franz Kafka, it was The Kid. For Stanley Kubrick, it was the trailer to Eyes Wide Shut. But what about Cobain, Presley and Kennedy? Artist Stanley Schtinter talks us through his revelatory new project
Clad in black and wearing a cheeky-chappie grin, the artist and author Stanley Schtinter resembles Damon Albarn dressed as an undertaker. That suits his new book, Last Movies, which refracts cultural history through the prism of films watched by notable figures soon before their deaths. Stocking-fillers such as 1,001 Movies You Must See Before You Die are 10 a penny, but this is a more profound proposition: 28 Movies They Saw Before They Died. Bette Davis, Charlie Parker and Steve Jobs are among the cinema-goers attending this last picture show, which mixes fact with scintillating speculation. What parallels might Kurt Cobain have drawn, for instance, between the life he was about to leave and The Piano, the last film he saw,...
Clad in black and wearing a cheeky-chappie grin, the artist and author Stanley Schtinter resembles Damon Albarn dressed as an undertaker. That suits his new book, Last Movies, which refracts cultural history through the prism of films watched by notable figures soon before their deaths. Stocking-fillers such as 1,001 Movies You Must See Before You Die are 10 a penny, but this is a more profound proposition: 28 Movies They Saw Before They Died. Bette Davis, Charlie Parker and Steve Jobs are among the cinema-goers attending this last picture show, which mixes fact with scintillating speculation. What parallels might Kurt Cobain have drawn, for instance, between the life he was about to leave and The Piano, the last film he saw,...
- 11/28/2023
- by Ryan Gilbey
- The Guardian - Film News
Stars: Chick Allan, Finn Allan, Daniel Arbon, Patrick Capaloff-Fowler, Olivia Millar-Ross, Russell Miller, Olivia Miller-Ross, Calum Paul, Brodie Toriati | Written and Directed by Jack Fox, Charlie Parker
Chaos Rising is a 40-minute proof of concept short film that was paid for via crowdfunding, raising a final budget of £27k – all of which appears on a title card at the film’s opening, in a way that I can’t decide is either a humble brag or an apology for how the final product turned out!
The film apparently draws inspiration from the rich and immersive Warhammer universe but as someone who grew up on Citadel’s classic roleplaying game, there’s little here of the Warhammer I remember of my childhood. Instead, it feels very much akin to someone who’s watched far too many episodes of the TV show Vikings and decided they want to see Vikings take on British knights.
Chaos Rising is a 40-minute proof of concept short film that was paid for via crowdfunding, raising a final budget of £27k – all of which appears on a title card at the film’s opening, in a way that I can’t decide is either a humble brag or an apology for how the final product turned out!
The film apparently draws inspiration from the rich and immersive Warhammer universe but as someone who grew up on Citadel’s classic roleplaying game, there’s little here of the Warhammer I remember of my childhood. Instead, it feels very much akin to someone who’s watched far too many episodes of the TV show Vikings and decided they want to see Vikings take on British knights.
- 9/25/2023
- by Phil Wheat
- Nerdly
Chaos Rising, an epic fantasy-action film drawing inspiration from the rich and immersive Warhammer universe, is a proudly independent and ambitious project from combat experts whose skills have featured in Outlander, Game of Thrones: House of the Dragon, Outlaw King, Justice League, Robin Hood and Ridley Scott’s The Last Duel. The film is funded by generous Kickstarter pledges.
The story unfolds as a fortified village in Breton is under siege by the malevolent Chaos warband from the Northern wastes. Baron Heaubolt is taken by surprise during the revered Breton celebration of “Holy Grail Day”. The formidable Chaos Marauder Skyehammer Clan descend upon the fortress – but with the timely arrival of Florian L’Anguille and his valiant knights, does the beleaguered fort stand a fighting chance against the onslaught?
Filmed on location in Scotland at the famous Duncarron Medieval Village, Chaos Rising draws viewers into a captivating tale of pride,...
The story unfolds as a fortified village in Breton is under siege by the malevolent Chaos warband from the Northern wastes. Baron Heaubolt is taken by surprise during the revered Breton celebration of “Holy Grail Day”. The formidable Chaos Marauder Skyehammer Clan descend upon the fortress – but with the timely arrival of Florian L’Anguille and his valiant knights, does the beleaguered fort stand a fighting chance against the onslaught?
Filmed on location in Scotland at the famous Duncarron Medieval Village, Chaos Rising draws viewers into a captivating tale of pride,...
- 7/27/2023
- by Phil Wheat
- Nerdly
Pink Floyd had one of the most interesting career arcs of any classic rock band. They started life as late 1960s psychedelic masters championed by Paul McCartney before morphing into a prog rock powerhouse in the 1970s. They became world beaters, but drummer Nick Mason said Pink Floyd’s first concerts were a load of rubbish between a few good ideas. Still, the band’s embryonic days gave them the cred to carry on through a key lineup change before they morphed into a classic rock staple.
Nick Mason said Pink Floyd played ‘a hell of a lot of rubbish’ at their earliest concerts
Pink Floyd started out similar to The Beatles. They played live in front of smallish crowds before finding domestic and then international fame. The biggest difference was that Pink Floyd rose to prominence in swinging London long after the Fab Four broke out of Liverpool to become world famous.
Nick Mason said Pink Floyd played ‘a hell of a lot of rubbish’ at their earliest concerts
Pink Floyd started out similar to The Beatles. They played live in front of smallish crowds before finding domestic and then international fame. The biggest difference was that Pink Floyd rose to prominence in swinging London long after the Fab Four broke out of Liverpool to become world famous.
- 6/17/2023
- by Jason Rossi
- Showbiz Cheat Sheet
A Small Light, the National Geographic limited series about Miep Gies, who helped hide Anne Frank’s family during World War II, continues to have its soundtrack released in two-song intervals. The latest covers from the series, with music executive produced by Este Haim, include Sharon Van Etten and Michael Imperioli’s take on the Ink Spots’ “I Don’t Want to Set the World on Fire” and Angel Olsen’s rendition of “My Reverie,” originally performed by Larry Clinton & His Orchestra.
Last week, following the May 1 premiere of the series,...
Last week, following the May 1 premiere of the series,...
- 5/9/2023
- by Larisha Paul
- Rollingstone.com
Danielle Haim takes on the classic Doris Day record “Till We Meet Again” for the first official release from A Small Light: Songs From the Limited Series, the soundtrack set for release on May 23 to accompany the new National Geographic series.
Este Haim served as executive music producer on A Small Light, which premiered on May 1 but will be unveiling its soundtrack two songs at a time for the duration of the month. Alongside Danielle Haim’s “Till We Meet Again,” Kamasi Washington has shared his rendition of Charlie Parker’s “Cheryl.
Este Haim served as executive music producer on A Small Light, which premiered on May 1 but will be unveiling its soundtrack two songs at a time for the duration of the month. Alongside Danielle Haim’s “Till We Meet Again,” Kamasi Washington has shared his rendition of Charlie Parker’s “Cheryl.
- 5/5/2023
- by Larisha Paul
- Rollingstone.com
Sharon Van Etten, King Princess, and Orville Peck are among the artists who’ve contributed covers to the soundtrack for the upcoming National Geographic limited series, A Small Light.
A Small Light is based on the life story of Miep Gies, a Dutch woman who hid Anne Frank and her family from the Nazis during World War II. The show’s soundtrack, executive produced by Haim’s Este Haim, will feature contemporary artists covering popular songs from that era.
For instance, Van Etten recorded a rendition of “I Don’t...
A Small Light is based on the life story of Miep Gies, a Dutch woman who hid Anne Frank and her family from the Nazis during World War II. The show’s soundtrack, executive produced by Haim’s Este Haim, will feature contemporary artists covering popular songs from that era.
For instance, Van Etten recorded a rendition of “I Don’t...
- 4/26/2023
- by Jon Blistein
- Rollingstone.com
On Tuesday, the world lost an icon in the legendary performer, civil rights activist, and humanitarian Harry Belafonte. The Emmy, Grammy, and Tony winner passed away at the age of 96. After starting his career in his native New York City as a jazz singer in the late 1940s and early ’50s, often backed by the likes of Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, and Max Roach, he released his first hit song “Matilda” in 1953. Then, a year later, he won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play for “John Murray Anderson’s Almanac.” His first album “Calypso” was released in 1956 and brought unquestionably the most enduring song of his career, “Day-o (The Banana Boat Song).”
Belafonte went on to regularly perform with the Rat Pack in Las Vegas throughout the years while also transitioning to the screen. During the 1950s, he starred in such films as “Carmen Jones,” “Island in the Sun,...
Belafonte went on to regularly perform with the Rat Pack in Las Vegas throughout the years while also transitioning to the screen. During the 1950s, he starred in such films as “Carmen Jones,” “Island in the Sun,...
- 4/25/2023
- by Matt Tamanini
- The Streamable
Iconic actor, musician, and lifelong activist Harry Belafonte has died at the age of 96. The cause, per his longtime spokesman Ken Sunshine, was congestive heart failure.
Belafonte’s singing shaped a musical consciousness for generations of Americans, from traditional folk music and spirituals to Caribbean calypso and protest songs. His acting in films such as “Carmen Jones” and “Odds Against Tomorrow” won praise and helped pave the way for Black performers who would follow. And his activism took him to the front lines of the civil rights movement, where he marched with Martin Luther King Jr., lobbied for the release of an imprisoned Nelson Mandela, and joined other stars to raise money for famine relief on the African continent. Realizing from an early age the power of celebrity to advance social change, Belafonte was among the rare few to have been equally entrenched in the worlds of entertainment and politics with genuine results to spare.
Belafonte’s singing shaped a musical consciousness for generations of Americans, from traditional folk music and spirituals to Caribbean calypso and protest songs. His acting in films such as “Carmen Jones” and “Odds Against Tomorrow” won praise and helped pave the way for Black performers who would follow. And his activism took him to the front lines of the civil rights movement, where he marched with Martin Luther King Jr., lobbied for the release of an imprisoned Nelson Mandela, and joined other stars to raise money for famine relief on the African continent. Realizing from an early age the power of celebrity to advance social change, Belafonte was among the rare few to have been equally entrenched in the worlds of entertainment and politics with genuine results to spare.
- 4/25/2023
- by Tambay Obenson
- Indiewire
Groundbreaking jazz pianist and composer Ahmad Jamal died this weekend, as per reports in the New York Times and other outlets. He was the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Grammys in 2017. He was also nominated for two Grammys, one for his 2013 album “Blue Moon,” and also for his funky 1980s cover of Bobby Womack’s “You’re Welcome, Stop on By,” which was later sampled by multiple hip-hop artists. He was also the recipient of an Nea Jazz Masters Award, and Kennedy Center Legend Award, and was named to the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government in 2007. He was 92 years old.
The Pittsburgh-born pianist, who trained in Western classical music, was a noted prodigy in his youth, and began his professional career in his teens. On the road, the young man born Frederick Jones was welcomed by the Muslim community in the Detroit area,...
The Pittsburgh-born pianist, who trained in Western classical music, was a noted prodigy in his youth, and began his professional career in his teens. On the road, the young man born Frederick Jones was welcomed by the Muslim community in the Detroit area,...
- 4/17/2023
- by Jordan Hoffman
- Gold Derby
Madonna offered gratitude to her late brother Anthony Ciccone on Instagram on Monday, three days after his death at 66 years old.
“Thank you for blowing my mind as a young girl and introducing me to Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Buddhism, Taoism, Charles Bukowski, Richard Brautigan, Jack Kerouac, Expansive Thinking Outside the Box,” the queen of pop shared on Instagram Stories (and captured by Rhino Records below). “You planted many important seeds.”
#Madonna pays tribute to her older brother Anthony on Ig Stories: "You planted many important seeds" #Rip...
“Thank you for blowing my mind as a young girl and introducing me to Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Buddhism, Taoism, Charles Bukowski, Richard Brautigan, Jack Kerouac, Expansive Thinking Outside the Box,” the queen of pop shared on Instagram Stories (and captured by Rhino Records below). “You planted many important seeds.”
#Madonna pays tribute to her older brother Anthony on Ig Stories: "You planted many important seeds" #Rip...
- 3/1/2023
- by Chris Gardner
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Madonna has posted a tribute to her brother, Anthony Ciccone, who died aged 66 last week.
“Thank you for blowing my mind as a young girl and introducing me to Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Buddhism, Taoism, Charles Bukowski, Richard Brautigan, Jack Kerouac, expansive thinking, outside the box,” she wrote on her Instagram Stories, posting a photo of her brother having drinks with a group of people.
“You planted many important seeds.”
Anthony’s death was announced by his and Madonna’s brother-in-law, musician Joe Henry. His cause of death has not been disclosed.
Madonna – full name Madonna Louise Ciccone – grew up with Anthony and their six other siblings, Martin, Paula, Melanie, Christopher, Jennifer and Mario in the outskirts of Detroit.
Anthony was the eldest child of the singer’s parents, Tony and Madonna Ciccone.
He lived on the streets for years due to his struggle with alcoholism. He was arrested at least twice,...
“Thank you for blowing my mind as a young girl and introducing me to Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Buddhism, Taoism, Charles Bukowski, Richard Brautigan, Jack Kerouac, expansive thinking, outside the box,” she wrote on her Instagram Stories, posting a photo of her brother having drinks with a group of people.
“You planted many important seeds.”
Anthony’s death was announced by his and Madonna’s brother-in-law, musician Joe Henry. His cause of death has not been disclosed.
Madonna – full name Madonna Louise Ciccone – grew up with Anthony and their six other siblings, Martin, Paula, Melanie, Christopher, Jennifer and Mario in the outskirts of Detroit.
Anthony was the eldest child of the singer’s parents, Tony and Madonna Ciccone.
He lived on the streets for years due to his struggle with alcoholism. He was arrested at least twice,...
- 2/28/2023
- by Ellie Harrison
- The Independent - Music
Madonna is sharing a mournful message of gratitude. The pop icon honoured her brother’s memory on Monday, two days after his death at age 66.
The singer took to her Instagram story to share a throwback photo of herself and her brother, Anthony Ciccone, sitting at a restaurant table alongside a big group of boisterous friends.
Madonna drew an arrow to point out the much younger Anthony in the photo and shared a heartfelt message of love and thanks for the impact he had on her life.
“Thank you for blowing my mind as a young girl and introducing me to Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Buddhism, Taoism, Charles Bukowski, Jack Kerouac, Expansive Thinking, Outside the Box,” Madonna captioned the pic. “You planted many important seeds.”
Read More: Madonna's Brother, Anthony Ciccone, Dead at 66
Photo: Instagram/Madonna
Anthony died Saturday after a decline in his health over the last few months,...
The singer took to her Instagram story to share a throwback photo of herself and her brother, Anthony Ciccone, sitting at a restaurant table alongside a big group of boisterous friends.
Madonna drew an arrow to point out the much younger Anthony in the photo and shared a heartfelt message of love and thanks for the impact he had on her life.
“Thank you for blowing my mind as a young girl and introducing me to Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Buddhism, Taoism, Charles Bukowski, Jack Kerouac, Expansive Thinking, Outside the Box,” Madonna captioned the pic. “You planted many important seeds.”
Read More: Madonna's Brother, Anthony Ciccone, Dead at 66
Photo: Instagram/Madonna
Anthony died Saturday after a decline in his health over the last few months,...
- 2/28/2023
- by Melissa Romualdi
- ET Canada
If there's one thing Damien Chazelle knows how to do, it's an ending. In the heart-rending denouement of "La La Land" we're shown everything Ryan Gosling's Seb and Emma Stone's Mia could have been, before a subtle nod between the two signals a solemn, bittersweet acceptance of their actual circumstances. It's a finale full of false climaxes that explore every possibility to add that much more finality to the true ending.
Before that 2016 musical drama made us all cry, Chazelle had already proven his talent for an emotionally satisfying ending with his breakout 2014 effort, "Whiplash." Drawing on the filmmaker's own experiences of playing in a high school jazz band, the film tells the story of Andrew Neiman (Miles Teller), a drum student at a prestigious New York music academy who will seemingly stop at nothing to become the next Buddy Rich. Throughout the film, he's berated and abused by his instructor,...
Before that 2016 musical drama made us all cry, Chazelle had already proven his talent for an emotionally satisfying ending with his breakout 2014 effort, "Whiplash." Drawing on the filmmaker's own experiences of playing in a high school jazz band, the film tells the story of Andrew Neiman (Miles Teller), a drum student at a prestigious New York music academy who will seemingly stop at nothing to become the next Buddy Rich. Throughout the film, he's berated and abused by his instructor,...
- 2/12/2023
- by Joe Roberts
- Slash Film
Burt Bacharach was one of the most distinguished and successful composers of the last century.
Working most fruitfully with the lyricist Hal David, his addictively intelligent songs embodied unconventional time signatures, shifting chords and a fusion of pop and rock, jazz, and Latin elements. With Bacharach’s adventurous song structures married to David’s words, often bittersweet lyrics as though from a cinematic school of realism, the duo were like the personification of New York’s Brill Building hit factory.
Although not all these songs were with David, Bacharach, who has died aged 94, enjoyed more than 50 UK Top 40 hits, and more than 70 in his native US. A remarkable 38 of these tunes were with the classically trained former gospel singer Dionne Warwick with whom the pair began working in 1962. Several of Bacharach’s compositions were bigger hits in the UK than in America.
The pair first hit the charts in 1957 with...
Working most fruitfully with the lyricist Hal David, his addictively intelligent songs embodied unconventional time signatures, shifting chords and a fusion of pop and rock, jazz, and Latin elements. With Bacharach’s adventurous song structures married to David’s words, often bittersweet lyrics as though from a cinematic school of realism, the duo were like the personification of New York’s Brill Building hit factory.
Although not all these songs were with David, Bacharach, who has died aged 94, enjoyed more than 50 UK Top 40 hits, and more than 70 in his native US. A remarkable 38 of these tunes were with the classically trained former gospel singer Dionne Warwick with whom the pair began working in 1962. Several of Bacharach’s compositions were bigger hits in the UK than in America.
The pair first hit the charts in 1957 with...
- 2/11/2023
- by Chris Salewicz
- The Independent - Music
Rolling Stone interview series Unknown Legends features long-form conversations between senior writer Andy Greene and veteran musicians who have toured and recorded alongside icons for years, if not decades. All are renowned in the business, but some are less well known to the general public. Here, these artists tell their complete stories, giving an up-close look at life on music’s A list. This edition features pianist Alan Pasqua.
When Bob Dylan entered the recording studio in early 2020 to cut his 17-minute epic “Murder Most Foul,” he could have phoned...
When Bob Dylan entered the recording studio in early 2020 to cut his 17-minute epic “Murder Most Foul,” he could have phoned...
- 1/27/2023
- by Andy Greene
- Rollingstone.com
Late musician John Lennon’s former personal assistant was astounded by how quickly The Beatles icon kicked his heroin habit.
Living and working with John and the singer’s wife Yoko Ono as their Pa from 1969 to 1973, actor and mime artist Dan Richter, 83, supplied the couple with the class-a drug in the late 1960s because he didn’t want them scoring drugs on the street, reports aceshowbiz.com.
“I didn’t want them to be using. But I really didn’t want them to be using street heroin, killing themselves. There was a myth that drugs were a key to creativity. Which they might and might not be.
“People thought Billie Holiday and Charlie Parker were better artists because of drugs. Now I don’t think so,” he told The Daily Telegraph in an interview on Wednesday from his home in Sierra Nevada, Spain.
John and Yoko had started using...
Living and working with John and the singer’s wife Yoko Ono as their Pa from 1969 to 1973, actor and mime artist Dan Richter, 83, supplied the couple with the class-a drug in the late 1960s because he didn’t want them scoring drugs on the street, reports aceshowbiz.com.
“I didn’t want them to be using. But I really didn’t want them to be using street heroin, killing themselves. There was a myth that drugs were a key to creativity. Which they might and might not be.
“People thought Billie Holiday and Charlie Parker were better artists because of drugs. Now I don’t think so,” he told The Daily Telegraph in an interview on Wednesday from his home in Sierra Nevada, Spain.
John and Yoko had started using...
- 12/30/2022
- by News Bureau
- GlamSham
Terry Zwigoff's 2003 film "Bad Santa" was more or less destined for cult classic status. Starring an Academy Award-winning actor, "Bad Santa" was deliberately crass and misanthropic, an antidote to the treacly sentimentality that ordinarily infuses films explicitly about Christmas.
In "Bad Santa," Billy Bob Thornton plays an itinerant mall Santa named Willie who uses his seasonal job to plan last-minute mall heists with his partner Marcus (Tony Cox), who poses as one of Santa's Elves. The heists typically go well, but just barely, as Willie is a wrathful, cruel alcoholic who has a great deal of trouble controlling his constant base impulses toward cussing and lechery. The late Bernie Mac played Gin, a mall manager who caught wise to Marcus' and Willie's plan, and Lauren Graham played Sue, a woman with a Santa Claus fetish that Willie was happy to indulge. Nine-year-old Brett Kelly played an unobservant boy named...
In "Bad Santa," Billy Bob Thornton plays an itinerant mall Santa named Willie who uses his seasonal job to plan last-minute mall heists with his partner Marcus (Tony Cox), who poses as one of Santa's Elves. The heists typically go well, but just barely, as Willie is a wrathful, cruel alcoholic who has a great deal of trouble controlling his constant base impulses toward cussing and lechery. The late Bernie Mac played Gin, a mall manager who caught wise to Marcus' and Willie's plan, and Lauren Graham played Sue, a woman with a Santa Claus fetish that Willie was happy to indulge. Nine-year-old Brett Kelly played an unobservant boy named...
- 12/3/2022
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
Ethan Hawke has a thing or two to say about misconceptions behind Method acting.
The “Last Movie Stars” director discussed the Method, as formerly taught at the Actors’ Studio by Elia Kazan and Lee Strasberg using the Stanislavski Technique, during a PGA panel moderated by TCM host Ben Mankiewicz at the Warner Bros. Discovery offices in New York on Tuesday.
In the CNN Films and HBO Max docuseries about famed Method actors Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward’s marriage, respective careers, and acting practices, star Vincent D’Onofrio exemplifies a Method moment by reading a script with emotion, and crying on cue. D’Onofrio teaches at the Studio and even helped Hawke with his “Training Day” audition, with the role landing Hawke his first Oscar nomination.
“If you’re going to make a documentary about Miles Davis, I really want to learn something about music, not just about Miles Davis,” director Hawke explained of the scene.
The “Last Movie Stars” director discussed the Method, as formerly taught at the Actors’ Studio by Elia Kazan and Lee Strasberg using the Stanislavski Technique, during a PGA panel moderated by TCM host Ben Mankiewicz at the Warner Bros. Discovery offices in New York on Tuesday.
In the CNN Films and HBO Max docuseries about famed Method actors Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward’s marriage, respective careers, and acting practices, star Vincent D’Onofrio exemplifies a Method moment by reading a script with emotion, and crying on cue. D’Onofrio teaches at the Studio and even helped Hawke with his “Training Day” audition, with the role landing Hawke his first Oscar nomination.
“If you’re going to make a documentary about Miles Davis, I really want to learn something about music, not just about Miles Davis,” director Hawke explained of the scene.
- 11/2/2022
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
They were all so incredibly young. Caetano Veloso opened Salvador’s Vila Velha Theater, a milestone event for the city, at the age of 21. Pianist Francisco Tenório Jr., the subject of Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal’s “They Shot the Piano Player,” recorded one record as band leader, in March 1964, when he was 23 years old.
But he played piano on some of the greatest samba jazz records of all time, some with Raul de Sousa on trombone and J.T. Meirelles on tenor sax.
“These guys were the geniuses of Brazil music and they were only 23 years old,” Oscar winning writer-director Fernando Trueba (“Belle Epoque”) told Variety at Annecy.
If Tenório isn’t better known, it is partly because he was murdered, “desaparecido,” in 1976 in Argentina while on tour, a full life suddenly annulled at the age of 35, as a military coup d’etat took hold of the country.
Nobody...
But he played piano on some of the greatest samba jazz records of all time, some with Raul de Sousa on trombone and J.T. Meirelles on tenor sax.
“These guys were the geniuses of Brazil music and they were only 23 years old,” Oscar winning writer-director Fernando Trueba (“Belle Epoque”) told Variety at Annecy.
If Tenório isn’t better known, it is partly because he was murdered, “desaparecido,” in 1976 in Argentina while on tour, a full life suddenly annulled at the age of 35, as a military coup d’etat took hold of the country.
Nobody...
- 6/18/2022
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
The age-old struggle between original source material and creative interpretation rears its head again with Netflix’s “Cowboy Bebop”, a new take on the acclaimed Japanese anime originally released in 1998. Costume designer Jane Holland used the original series’ design aesthetic as a springboard for her work in the live-action reboot, which is already the subject of fan scrutiny for not precisely replicating the animated version.
Faye Valentine (Daniella Pineda) served as a lightning rod for debate for costume as well as casting. Eschewing the short-shorts and crop top of the anime in favor of less revealing fashion was Holland’s “2021 way into that character as opposed to a 1998 version,” she explains. She finds the new look equally as sassy and sexy without the original’s extreme level of gratuitousness.
There were logistical considerations, too, that come into play for a live-action series, such as the practicality of stunt work during...
Faye Valentine (Daniella Pineda) served as a lightning rod for debate for costume as well as casting. Eschewing the short-shorts and crop top of the anime in favor of less revealing fashion was Holland’s “2021 way into that character as opposed to a 1998 version,” she explains. She finds the new look equally as sassy and sexy without the original’s extreme level of gratuitousness.
There were logistical considerations, too, that come into play for a live-action series, such as the practicality of stunt work during...
- 11/19/2021
- by Zoe Hewitt
- Variety Film + TV
Like catching a roadrunner without getting an anvil dropped on your head, adapting animated stories into live action is a high-risk endeavor. There are so many things you can do with relative ease in the former medium that create enormous difficulties in the latter. It’s not just about spectacle and style, but tone. There’s a distancing effect to animation that allows weirder concepts to feel perfectly logical, and for mismatched elements to blend together seamlessly. Sometimes, the live-action adaptation works, and it turns out that Brendan Fraser is...
- 11/15/2021
- by Alan Sepinwall
- Rollingstone.com
Editor’s Note: On Nov. 14, 2005, Variety published the following interview with Mort Sahl. The revolutionary comedian, who died on Oct. 26, provided an unfiltered view on the entertainment industry, from Depression-era cinema and the Hollywood blacklist to how current films tackle race, politics and culture.
For half of the last century and on into the next one, Mort Sahl, 78, has been the comedic conscience of America. Since 1968, when he debuted at San Francisco’s legendary Hungry i nightclub, he’s been walking onstage in his trademark V-neck sweater, a newspaper tucked under his arm, serving notice to every pundit and politician from Eisenhower through Bush that there was nowhere to hide.
He was the original truth-teller, pioneering a new kind of stand-up — barbed bipartisan political humor — paving the way for everyone from Lenny Bruce to Woody Allen to Chris Rock.
In 1958, he co-hosted the Oscars. In 1960, Time magazine put him on the cover,...
For half of the last century and on into the next one, Mort Sahl, 78, has been the comedic conscience of America. Since 1968, when he debuted at San Francisco’s legendary Hungry i nightclub, he’s been walking onstage in his trademark V-neck sweater, a newspaper tucked under his arm, serving notice to every pundit and politician from Eisenhower through Bush that there was nowhere to hide.
He was the original truth-teller, pioneering a new kind of stand-up — barbed bipartisan political humor — paving the way for everyone from Lenny Bruce to Woody Allen to Chris Rock.
In 1958, he co-hosted the Oscars. In 1960, Time magazine put him on the cover,...
- 10/28/2021
- by Steven Kotler
- Variety Film + TV
Of the many music documentaries that screened at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, many – in fact, most – spend a lot of time telling you how great their subjects are. And then there’s “Listening to Kenny G,” which spends a lot of time telling you how much smooth-jazz saxophonist Kenny G sucks.
Mind you, it’d be impossible to make a Kenny G doc without addressing the elephant in the room, which is that the former Kenneth Gorelick is to many, particularly in the jazz community, a living embodiment of everything that can be wrong with popular music. And director Penny Lane, whose previous work includes “Our Nixon” and “Hail Satan?” is smart enough to know she can’t avoid the topic of Kenny G’s extreme divisiveness and playful enough to make it the defining characteristic of her film.
So while we hear from Kenny’s old high-school music teacher,...
Mind you, it’d be impossible to make a Kenny G doc without addressing the elephant in the room, which is that the former Kenneth Gorelick is to many, particularly in the jazz community, a living embodiment of everything that can be wrong with popular music. And director Penny Lane, whose previous work includes “Our Nixon” and “Hail Satan?” is smart enough to know she can’t avoid the topic of Kenny G’s extreme divisiveness and playful enough to make it the defining characteristic of her film.
So while we hear from Kenny’s old high-school music teacher,...
- 9/17/2021
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
When the Smithsonian Institution launched a new series of events this week called Our Shared Future: Reckoning with Our Racial Past, it included a streamed forum from Los Angeles, where participants were immersed in an LED set and their discussion interspersed with taped testimonials on race from a diversity of Americans.
It’s just a start of what producers hope will draw participants from around the country in a conversation on race, using what is called “experiential” media.
Smithsonian tapped Don Mischer’s production company, which in 2020 launched Dm.Experiential, after Smithsonian Institution Secretary Lonnie Bunch had worked with him on the ABC special Taking The Stage: African American Music and Stories that Changed America, tied to the opening of the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
“Our jobs is to sort of take our experience producing entertainment and help tell the story in a human way so that it connects and resonates,...
It’s just a start of what producers hope will draw participants from around the country in a conversation on race, using what is called “experiential” media.
Smithsonian tapped Don Mischer’s production company, which in 2020 launched Dm.Experiential, after Smithsonian Institution Secretary Lonnie Bunch had worked with him on the ABC special Taking The Stage: African American Music and Stories that Changed America, tied to the opening of the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
“Our jobs is to sort of take our experience producing entertainment and help tell the story in a human way so that it connects and resonates,...
- 8/28/2021
- by Ted Johnson
- Deadline Film + TV
In the fall of 1994, Chad Smith was in the middle of a soundcheck at the Rose Bowl, where the Red Hot Chili Peppers were about to open for the Rolling Stones, when his drum tech started gesturing to him with his head. “I look over and he was giving me one of those [motions], like, ‘Hey, look over here,’ and I look by the monitor desk and Charlie Watts was standing there. It was a warm Los Angeles afternoon, and he’s in a perfect suit. I’m like, [mock-sheepishly] ‘Ah, shit,...
- 8/26/2021
- by Hank Shteamer
- Rollingstone.com
In 2013, I interviewed the Rolling Stones for this magazine as the band prepared for the next leg of their 50th anniversary tour. I’d talked to Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and Ron Wood before, but never Charlie Watts. I was excited by the prospect: For more years than I could count, I had wanted to be able to sit in a room and talk with him about jazz. I got to do that, but the section I wrote about him didn’t make the final story.
After I learned Watts...
After I learned Watts...
- 8/25/2021
- by Mikal Gilmore
- Rollingstone.com
Charles Robert “Charlie” Watts, the Rolling Stones’ drummer and the band’s irreplaceable heartbeat, has died at age 80.
Watts’ publicist confirmed his death in a statement. “It is with immense sadness that we announce the death of our beloved Charlie Watts,” it read. “He passed away peacefully in a London hospital earlier [Tuesday] surrounded by his family.” The statement referred to Watts as “one of the greatest drummers of his generation” and closed by requesting that “the privacy of his family, band members, and close friends is respected at this difficult time.
Watts’ publicist confirmed his death in a statement. “It is with immense sadness that we announce the death of our beloved Charlie Watts,” it read. “He passed away peacefully in a London hospital earlier [Tuesday] surrounded by his family.” The statement referred to Watts as “one of the greatest drummers of his generation” and closed by requesting that “the privacy of his family, band members, and close friends is respected at this difficult time.
- 8/24/2021
- by Joe Gross
- Rollingstone.com
Yasiin Bey, the musician formerly known as Mos Def, will portray jazz piano legend Thelonious Monk in the biopic “Thelonious,” which is slated to begin production in the summer of 2022. The project is being brought to the screen by Jupiter Rising Film and its co-founders, Alberto Marzan and Peter Lord Moreland.
Moreland will also write the screenplay for the film, which “will center around [Monk’s] struggles for musical success, mental illness and the spiritual love triangle between his wife Nellie and one of the world’s richest women, Nica Rothschild,” according to a statement.
“This role is one that requires great depth and a unique understanding of who and what Thelonious Monk was and how his lasting impact can still be heard throughout the music world today,” said Marzan. “The moment I met Yasiin, I knew we found our Thelonious. It’s an honor to be the first to tell this...
Moreland will also write the screenplay for the film, which “will center around [Monk’s] struggles for musical success, mental illness and the spiritual love triangle between his wife Nellie and one of the world’s richest women, Nica Rothschild,” according to a statement.
“This role is one that requires great depth and a unique understanding of who and what Thelonious Monk was and how his lasting impact can still be heard throughout the music world today,” said Marzan. “The moment I met Yasiin, I knew we found our Thelonious. It’s an honor to be the first to tell this...
- 7/21/2021
- by Jonathan Cohen
- Variety Film + TV
Years ago, screenwriter-producer Peter Lord Moreland watched Straight No Chaser, the landmark 1988 documentary on bebop pianist-composer Thelonious Monk. Thus began a near-obsessive fascination with the jazz legend that “was already triggered by one of my favorite jazz ballads of all time: ‘Round Midnight.’”
As his career progressed, Lord Moreland began researching the musician and started on a working script to document his life and career. “My entire life, I have been an artist, a person, and a thinker who seems to have an alternative view of creating, hearing, and seeing the world,...
As his career progressed, Lord Moreland began researching the musician and started on a working script to document his life and career. “My entire life, I have been an artist, a person, and a thinker who seems to have an alternative view of creating, hearing, and seeing the world,...
- 7/21/2021
- by Jason Newman
- Rollingstone.com
An as-yet untitled documentary about Doors frontman Jim Morrison is in production via the independent studio Gunpowder & Sky and the managers of the singer’s estate, they jointly announced Friday, with the promise of bringing “unearthed” personal diaries and home movies to the screen as part of the project.
Joining Gunpowder & Sky as producers on the film are Jeff Jampol, the head of Jampol Artist Management (Jam), which manages Morrison’s estate as well as those of artists from Janis Joplin to Charlie Parker, and Jeff Pollack, of FourScore Entertainment, a producer on films and TV specials including the Frank Sinatra doc “All or Nothing at All,” “Laurel Canyon: A Place in Time” and “Rhythm + Flow.”
“Our job is to guide, protect and connect our clients’ extraordinary legacies to fans both old and new, while always maintaining the highest standards of credibility and authenticity,” Jampol said in a statement.
Joining Gunpowder & Sky as producers on the film are Jeff Jampol, the head of Jampol Artist Management (Jam), which manages Morrison’s estate as well as those of artists from Janis Joplin to Charlie Parker, and Jeff Pollack, of FourScore Entertainment, a producer on films and TV specials including the Frank Sinatra doc “All or Nothing at All,” “Laurel Canyon: A Place in Time” and “Rhythm + Flow.”
“Our job is to guide, protect and connect our clients’ extraordinary legacies to fans both old and new, while always maintaining the highest standards of credibility and authenticity,” Jampol said in a statement.
- 7/9/2021
- by Chris Willman
- Variety Film + TV
The actor’s remarkable life fed into the character of Arlette in the Netflix hit, from growing up Jewish in occupied France, via Left Bank jazz and a relationship with Chet Baker, to global fame in her 80s
If you’re an actor in the rare position of becoming internationally famous in your 80s, then it’s rather fitting to achieve it with a role that ripely resembles you. In recent years the world has come to know the veteran French actor Liliane Rovère as Arlette Azémar, the seasoned “impresario” – as she prefers to be known – in the French TV series Dix Pour Cent, Aka Call My Agent!. The show has become a global hit on Netflix, and Arlette has struck a chord as everyone’s ideal disreputable aunt with a repertoire of outrageous stories that she just might tell if the burgundy is flowing. She is the sly, sharp-tongued...
If you’re an actor in the rare position of becoming internationally famous in your 80s, then it’s rather fitting to achieve it with a role that ripely resembles you. In recent years the world has come to know the veteran French actor Liliane Rovère as Arlette Azémar, the seasoned “impresario” – as she prefers to be known – in the French TV series Dix Pour Cent, Aka Call My Agent!. The show has become a global hit on Netflix, and Arlette has struck a chord as everyone’s ideal disreputable aunt with a repertoire of outrageous stories that she just might tell if the burgundy is flowing. She is the sly, sharp-tongued...
- 5/30/2021
- by Jonathan Romney
- The Guardian - Film News
Lawrence Ferlinghetti, who died last month just 30 days shy of his 102nd birthday, lived a life of fascinating contradictions. From a Dickensian childhood — his father died before he was born, and his mother was institutionalized when he was only two years old — Ferlinghetti eventually landed with wealthy foster parents who nurtured his love of literature and art. He was a World War II naval officer who went to Normandy on D-Day and Nagasaki six weeks after the atomic blast, but was forever afterwards dedicated to anti-war writing, activism, and publishing.
- 3/1/2021
- by Brent Calderwood
- Rollingstone.com
Elvis Costello, Sting and Billy Joel are among the stars lending their support to a campaign to save the fabled New York City jazz venue Birdland. The effort includes a virtual concert — which Costello will partake in — airing January 24th at 7 p.m. Et.
Like so many venues across the country, Birdland was hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic, which forced it to shut its doors. Despite the passage of the Save Our Stages Act in last year’s Covid-19 relief bill, which will provide targeted aid to the live entertainment industry,...
Like so many venues across the country, Birdland was hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic, which forced it to shut its doors. Despite the passage of the Save Our Stages Act in last year’s Covid-19 relief bill, which will provide targeted aid to the live entertainment industry,...
- 1/22/2021
- by Jon Blistein
- Rollingstone.com
Chasin’ The Bird: Charlie Parker in California is one of Z2 Comics’ biggest 2020 releases, a graphic novel about Parker’s two-year stay in Los Angeles from 1945 through ’47, which proved to be one of the most important for the seminal jazz musician — and the book’s creator has an unusual way to promote it.
Cartoonist Dave Chisholm is one of a number of Parker experts and aficionados appearing during the Chasin’ the Bird live-streamed event as part of the Grammy Museum’s Programs at Home series, alongside Grammy-winning jazz bass player Christian McBride, renowned Kansas City jazz saxophonist Bobby Watson, and Charlie ...
Cartoonist Dave Chisholm is one of a number of Parker experts and aficionados appearing during the Chasin’ the Bird live-streamed event as part of the Grammy Museum’s Programs at Home series, alongside Grammy-winning jazz bass player Christian McBride, renowned Kansas City jazz saxophonist Bobby Watson, and Charlie ...
- 12/3/2020
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
If there’s a sense of planetary alignment in the timing of Steve McQueen’s Small Axe – five films about London’s West Indian community airing weekly from this Sunday on BBC One – it’s not by design. Over a decade in the making, the creators couldn’t have known that these stories would land in a year marked by both the global Black Lives Matter protests sparked by the murder of George Floyd, and the disproportionately devastating impact of Covid-19 on black communities in the UK.
The collision of 2020’s events with five stories celebrating black British history feels fortuitous to the cast. “The timing of it is so trippy,” says actor Shaun Parkes, who plays Frank Crichlow in the first film in the series Mangrove, about London’s real-life Mangrove Nine protest and Old Bailey trial.
Speaking at the BBC Small Axe press launch chaired by Akua Gyamfi,...
The collision of 2020’s events with five stories celebrating black British history feels fortuitous to the cast. “The timing of it is so trippy,” says actor Shaun Parkes, who plays Frank Crichlow in the first film in the series Mangrove, about London’s real-life Mangrove Nine protest and Old Bailey trial.
Speaking at the BBC Small Axe press launch chaired by Akua Gyamfi,...
- 11/12/2020
- by Louisa Mellor
- Den of Geek
In 1983, when Eddie Van Halen first built his beloved 5150 home studio in the hills near Hollywood, he decorated its kitchen with a photograph of a squat old apartment building in a city more than 5,000 miles away. Every time he’d head to the fridge for a beer during his all-night recording sessions, which was often, he’d see the home where he spent most of his first seven years, at 59 Rozemarijnstraat in the city of Nijmegen, in the Gelderland province of the Netherlands, near the German border.
Eddie, the grinning,...
Eddie, the grinning,...
- 10/28/2020
- by Brian Hiatt
- Rollingstone.com
Lennie Niehaus, who went from Stan Kenton sideman to Clint Eastwood’s movie composer during a nearly 60-year career in music, died Thursday at his daughter’s home in Redlands, Calif. He was 90.
Niehaus’s two dozen films for Eastwood include original scores for the best picture-winning Western “Unforgiven,” the Charlie Parker biopic “Bird” and the popular romantic drama “The Bridges of Madison County.”
The two met in 1953 at California’s Fort Ord, when the two were in the Army during the Korean Conflict. “I used to play jazz jobs at one of the beer clubs on the base, and Clint was tending bar,” Niehaus wrote in an essay about the actor-director for his 1996 American Film Institute Life Achievement Award. “I used to go off post and play in a little jazz club in nearby Santa Cruz on Sunday afternoons, and he would be there.”
Niehaus’s Army service interrupted...
Niehaus’s two dozen films for Eastwood include original scores for the best picture-winning Western “Unforgiven,” the Charlie Parker biopic “Bird” and the popular romantic drama “The Bridges of Madison County.”
The two met in 1953 at California’s Fort Ord, when the two were in the Army during the Korean Conflict. “I used to play jazz jobs at one of the beer clubs on the base, and Clint was tending bar,” Niehaus wrote in an essay about the actor-director for his 1996 American Film Institute Life Achievement Award. “I used to go off post and play in a little jazz club in nearby Santa Cruz on Sunday afternoons, and he would be there.”
Niehaus’s Army service interrupted...
- 6/1/2020
- by Jon Burlingame
- Variety Film + TV
By 1982, Roy Haynes had been playing drums professionally for close to 40 years. That December, during a concert at the White House with pianist Chick Corea and bassist Miroslav Vitous, he showed that he was still operating on the cutting edge of jazz.
Instead of playing it safe and running through a couple familiar tunes, the group presented an unusual medley, based on a concept documented on its then-recent Ecm album Trio Music. That LP featured a novel structure: half searching free improvisations, half swinging renditions of pieces by Thelonious Monk.
Instead of playing it safe and running through a couple familiar tunes, the group presented an unusual medley, based on a concept documented on its then-recent Ecm album Trio Music. That LP featured a novel structure: half searching free improvisations, half swinging renditions of pieces by Thelonious Monk.
- 3/13/2020
- by Hank Shteamer
- Rollingstone.com
Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers legend, five-time NBA champion and one of the most prolific scorers in basketball history, is dead at the age of 41.
The retired basketball star and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna were aboard a helicopter that crashed near Calabasas, California Sunday morning. Los Angeles County Sheriffs stated that all nine people aboard the helicopter were killed in the crash.
TMZ first reported that Bryant had died in the crash; the report was later confirmed by ESPN NBA reporter Adrian Wojnarowski, who later added that Bryant, his daughter,...
The retired basketball star and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna were aboard a helicopter that crashed near Calabasas, California Sunday morning. Los Angeles County Sheriffs stated that all nine people aboard the helicopter were killed in the crash.
TMZ first reported that Bryant had died in the crash; the report was later confirmed by ESPN NBA reporter Adrian Wojnarowski, who later added that Bryant, his daughter,...
- 1/26/2020
- by Daniel Kreps
- Rollingstone.com
In 2009, Anders Osborne found himself at rock bottom. He was bankrupt, his house was in foreclosure, his wife had kicked him out, and he couldn’t see his two young kids. His livelihood was playing gigs, but he couldn’t even do that — he’d often show up too drunk or high to perform. “For close to a year, I’d [either] try to find a friend’s couch to sleep on [or] I lived in the park,” says Osborne, a New Orleans-based singer-songwriter who’s collaborated with everyone from Phil Lesh to Tim McGraw.
- 1/21/2020
- by Nicole Frehsee
- Rollingstone.com
The world of “Bombshell” is populated with familiar faces playing familiar faces; in addition to Charlize Theron as Megyn Kelly and Nicole Kidman as Gretchen Carlson, you’ll catch actors including Richard Kind playing Rudy Giuliani and John Lithgow as Fox News head Roger Ailes.
But for maximum impact with minimum screen time, it’s Alanna Ubach who stands out as Fox News star Jeanine Pirro. She is an Ailes defender and in one particularly tense scene, Pirro confronts Kelly over her refusal to publicly support their embattled boss.
Ubach is a familiar face from such shows as “Girlfriend’s Guide to Divorce” and a familiar voice for her role as Mama Imelda in “Coco.” She’ll next be seen in the Fox series “Filthy Rich” opposite Kim Cattrall.
Ubach: “I was called into just another audition, I had absolutely no idea who Jeanine Pirro was back then. I had...
But for maximum impact with minimum screen time, it’s Alanna Ubach who stands out as Fox News star Jeanine Pirro. She is an Ailes defender and in one particularly tense scene, Pirro confronts Kelly over her refusal to publicly support their embattled boss.
Ubach is a familiar face from such shows as “Girlfriend’s Guide to Divorce” and a familiar voice for her role as Mama Imelda in “Coco.” She’ll next be seen in the Fox series “Filthy Rich” opposite Kim Cattrall.
Ubach: “I was called into just another audition, I had absolutely no idea who Jeanine Pirro was back then. I had...
- 1/3/2020
- by Jenelle Riley
- Variety Film + TV
Ginger Baker, the wildly influential and innovative drummer who laid the groundwork for heavy metal and world music and played with everyone from Fela Kuti to John Lydon to Max Roach, died Sunday after a lengthy hospital stay. He was 80.
“We are very sad to say that Ginger has passed away peacefully in hospital this morning. Thank you to everyone for your kind words over the past weeks,” the drummer’s Facebook confirmed Sunday, nearly two weeks after Baker’s family said he was “critically ill” in the hospital.
“Dad passed away peacefully,...
“We are very sad to say that Ginger has passed away peacefully in hospital this morning. Thank you to everyone for your kind words over the past weeks,” the drummer’s Facebook confirmed Sunday, nearly two weeks after Baker’s family said he was “critically ill” in the hospital.
“Dad passed away peacefully,...
- 10/6/2019
- by Andy Greene
- Rollingstone.com
A moment to note the recent passing of Don Grierson, who as an A+R record exec signed Celine Dion, and worked closely with The Beatles, The Jacksons, Tina Turner, Heart, Bob Seger, Gloria Estefan, and Cindy Lauper over a 50 year career. He died recently in Los Angeles at age 77. He was honored during Sunday’s Grammy Awards.
Brit-born Grierson grew up in Australia and got a DJ job at 18 at a small station, where he was also Music Director. He moved to La and after working in a record store got a job as promotions manager for a small label. A job at Capitol Records followed and there he was was instrumental in promoting The Beatles’ first four Apple Records singles. The band presented Grierson with the only Golden Apple Award ever awarded by the group. The award was presented personally by George Harrison in a ceremony on...
Brit-born Grierson grew up in Australia and got a DJ job at 18 at a small station, where he was also Music Director. He moved to La and after working in a record store got a job as promotions manager for a small label. A job at Capitol Records followed and there he was was instrumental in promoting The Beatles’ first four Apple Records singles. The band presented Grierson with the only Golden Apple Award ever awarded by the group. The award was presented personally by George Harrison in a ceremony on...
- 2/13/2019
- by Mike Fleming Jr
- Deadline Film + TV
Miles Davis is the one jazz figure of the postwar era who had, and still has, the larger-than-life quality of a pop star. Other jazz artists, of course, became legends, but Miles, like Picasso or Dylan, had a mystique rooted not just in his genius but in his cult of personality. And as with all pop icons, the mystique only grew the more that he mutated — from the glaring-eyed cool cat of the ’50s to the sunken-cheeked fusion hipster of the late ’60s to the raspy sci-fi funk badass who Eddie Murphy, on “Saturday Night Live,” compared (hilariously) to a Gremlin action figure. Davis’ bad behavior, of course, was part of his mystique: the crazed drug cocktails that destroyed and sustained him (at one pointed he favored cocaine plus beer but whiskey plus milk), the way he loved women deeply yet, too often, treated them reprehensibly.
So any documentary about...
So any documentary about...
- 1/31/2019
- by Owen Gleiberman
- Variety Film + TV
For many Rolling Stones fans, Charlie Watts is the band’s most mysterious and intriguing member. He’s a guy who prefers jazz to rock, yet has spent nearly 60 years playing in the world’s greatest rock & roll band. (When the Stones played Glastonbury in 2013, he said, “I don’t want to do it. Everyone else does. I don’t like playing outdoors, and I certainly don’t like festivals.”) A well-dressed eccentric, he is known to draw a sketch of every single hotel room he stays in and owns...
- 1/11/2019
- by Patrick Doyle
- Rollingstone.com
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