Thursday, 26 June 2008
Wednesday, 18 June 2008
Flower Music
Artist: Flower Music
Genre(s):
New Age
Discography:
Flower Goddess 1
Year:
Tracks: 6
 
Spike vs. Clint: Spike Strikes Back! Plus: Wait, Are There Black People in ‘Flags of Our Fathers’ After All?
Tuesday, 17 June 2008
LiveDaily Interview: Maynard James Keenan
John Waters swears off the word 'hon' and Baltimore's Honfest
BALTIMORE - John Waters is done with "Hon."
Honfest, an annual celebration of beehive hairdos, cat's-eye glasses and other kitschy fashions, is getting bigger and bigger. Participants are known as "Hons" in honour of the ubiquitous Baltimore term of endearment.
But Waters and some residents of the city's quirky Hampden neighbourhood, where the festival takes place, say Hon has lost its charm.
"To me, it's used up," Waters said of Hon style. "It's condescending now. The people that celebrate it are not from it. I feel that in some weird way they're looking slightly down on it. I only celebrate something I can look up to."
The filmmaker known for raunchy odes to his hometown says he won't use the word or the image in any of his scripts, and he doesn't think the city should promote it, either.
Waters has used the image of the Hon in the past - perhaps most memorably in 1988's "Hairspray," which was adapted into a Broadway musical and then back into a film starring John Travolta. He thinks "Hairspray" is one reason why Hons became a Baltimore icon.
"I used to say, 'Come to Baltimore and you would see people with those hairdos,"' Waters told the Baltimore Sun. "You no longer see that. They're dead or in nursing homes."
The two-day festival, expected to draw 50,000 people, begins Saturday. It began in 1994 in front of Cafe Hon on The Avenue, Hampden's main drag.
Denise Whiting, the owner of Cafe Hon and the festival's founder, said she was surprised to hear that Waters had turned against Honfest. But she said anything so big is bound to upset someone.
"Not everybody likes Oprah Winfrey," she said. "Not everybody's going to like you, and I accept that."
See Also
Penny Peyser, Doug McIntyre toot Jack Sheldon's horn
The couple spent more than five of their nearly six wedded years cobbling together this labor of love about Jack Sheldon, the best jazz trumpeter you may have never heard of despite his ubiquitous, over half-century presence on the Los Angeles entertainment scene. One of the pair's wishes for the film is that it helps Sheldon, now 76, achieve a wider respect and fan base, particularly from those less embracing East Coast jazz critics. "Maybe they'll drop their West Coast bias for five minutes and just listen to what Jack's playing," said McIntyre, 50. "Our city has a lot to be proud of and musicians like Jack Sheldon are part of L.A.'s cultural gift to the world."
The relative obscurity of the accomplished jazzman did not deter McIntyre and Peyser from putting all their monetary eggs (65,000 of them, to be exact) into Sheldon's basket, but rather fueled their desire to capture this virtuoso's legendary talent and tragedy-strewn life on film. "We found so many interesting, renowned people eager to talk about Jack on camera that we knew we had an interesting subject," said Peyser, a veteran film and TV actress ("The In-Laws," "Knots Landing").
Jazz aficionado McIntyre, a screenwriter and producer, who also hosts KABC radio's "McIntyre in the Morning" talk show, became hooked on Sheldon's music watching him perform at local clubs such as the Money Tree in Toluca Lake (now Lucy's 51). In the late 1990s, when McIntyre was co-executive producing the USA Network series "Mike Hammer, Private Eye," he ended up working with Sheldon when the sometimes actor (TV's "Run, Buddy, Run") was cast in a two-part episode of the mystery series. Several years later, the ebullient, world-class musician even played, along with his 17-piece orchestra, at McIntyre and Peyser's wedding. But it wasn't until the following month, when the newlyweds saw Sheldon perform at L.A.'s annual Sweet and Hot Music Festival, that lightning struck. "There was something very cinematic about that night and about Jack's particularly terrific performance," said McIntyre. "We decided then and there he deserved his own film."
A few months later, armed with five borrowed and rented video cameras, McIntyre and Peyser shot Sheldon's birthday bash and concert at the Beverly Hilton hotel (much of which is used to fine effect in the finished documentary), cut together a five-minute trailer to help raise production funds and waited for the money to roll in. A year and a half passed and they were still waiting, so Peyser plunked down $4,500 on a mini-DV camera and McIntyre knew they were in it for the long haul.
Though the filmmakers had easy access to dozens of notable Sheldon fans -- from Clint Eastwood to former U.S. Secretary of State James A. Baker -- it was the self-admittedly insecure Sheldon who proved most elusive when it came to opening up on camera.
"There came a point where we realized we'd have to trust the audience and ourselves to fill in some blanks in Jack's life story," Peyser said.
"Jack doesn't share the sadness verbally, he expresses his emotions musically," McIntyre said. "He can break your heart with a ballad."
Kylie dazzles in Denmark
The showstopping pop princess wowed crowds in Copenhagen on the Danish leg of
her tour.
The tiny Aussie was surrounded by dancers as she put on a spectacle of a show
in front of more than 5,000 people.
Meanwhile, younger sis DANNII may be relieved MRS O has left The
X Factor, but she must be feeling threatened that CHERYL COLE or MEL
B are rumoured to take her place.
Kylie hits the UK at the end of the month, with her first date at Belfast on
June 26.
Click here to buy music and videos from Kylie
Click here to buy music and videos from Dannii Minogue
International Pop Vocal Sensation Chantal Chamandy Performs the 'Beladi Concert' from Her Historic 'A Night at the Pyramids' Concert July 3rd @ The Ford Community and Performing Arts Center, Michael A. Guido Theater, Dearborn, Michigan
New Single: 'Crazy' Goes #26 Billboard Hot Dance Chart
NEW YORK, June 9 -- Born in Egypt to parents of Egyptian,
Lebanese and Greek descent and raised in Montreal, Canada, Chantal Chamandy
is a pop singer born and bred to ignore boundaries and fuse the accessible
with the exotic. Her new studio album and historic DVD Beladi: A Night at
the Pyramids showcases a lavish, romantic, entertaining and inclusive
musical vision that bridges gaps and brings musical cultures together with
love and celebration. On July 3rd, Chantal will re-create this historic
concert in Dearborn, Michigan at The Ford Community and Performing Arts
Center (Michael A. Guido Theater).
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080609/NYM029 )
When many in the West are curious and apprehensive of Middle Eastern
culture and society, Chantal -- who recently received the Excellence in the
Arts award from the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee -- refuses
to surrender to fears, stereotypes or negative portrayals. Instead, her
music is a refreshing reminder that at its best, music has the power to
bridge our differences and inspire listeners the world over. Chantal writes
and performs a vibrant style of alluring, danceable pop music that has been
a hit on dance floors and pop charts internationally including the song
"You Want Me" which went to #4 on the UK Dance Charts. Said London's
Evening Standard, "Chantal mixes East and West to emerge as a strutting
talent who exudes both breathy sensuality and vocal control worthy of
Celine Dion." The single "Feels Like Love" went Platinum in Canada.
On September 7, 2007, she became the first person ever granted
permission by the Egyptian Ministry to perform and film a concert at the
base of the Pyramids on the Giza Plateau in Egypt. The evening, documented
on the 90-minute DVD Beladi: A Night at the Pyramids, found Chantal
performing thousands of fans backed by the Cairo Symphony Orchestra. Her
dancers included Canadians, traditional Egyptian "tanoura" dancers, and
Ahmed Nabil, the principal dancer of the Cairo Opera House Ballet Company.
Her collaborators for the show also included some of the top names in
cutting-edge theater and musical entertainment: director Gerard Pullicino
is responsible for shows by Beyonce, Celine Dion and Madonna, among others,
while choreographer Genevieve Dorion-Coupal and set designer Guy St-Amour
are veterans of Cirque du Soleil. (Dorion-Coupal choreographed the
company's Grammy-winning Beatles show Love, currently a sensation in Las
Vegas.)
The concert is currently being broadcast on PBS stations nationwide;
the DVD contains additional footage not included on the PBS broadcast,
including a feature-length documentary, "The Journey," with
behind-the-scenes footage that follows the creation and staging of this
extraordinary event.
Chantal's studio album Beladi is a companion piece to the DVD, with
studio recording of various songs she performed at the Pyramids. She wrote
most of the songs herself, often collaborating with the noted Indian
musician Subir Dev. Driving and danceable one moment, sensuous and alluring
the next, her music speaks with passion and intelligence of an artistic
vision that recognizes no boundaries as it draws from all of Chantal's
experiences and influences.
http://www.chantalchamandy.com
Publicity contact:
Doreen D'Agostino
DOREEN D'AGOSTINO MEDIA
646.829.0652
doreendagostino@earthlink.net
See Also
The Commodores plot reunion tour
Lionel Richie is set to reunite with his old band The Commodores.
The All Night Long singer - who quit the group in 1982 to pursue solo projects - wants to do a reunion tour within the next two years as he is worried time is running out.
He said: "We better do it now, or in the next 10 years nobody would care."
The 58-year-old star doesn’t want to waste any more time in organising the reunion, following the death of lead guitarist Milan Williams two years ago.
Last year, bassist Ronald La Pread joined Lionel on stage on his last tour to perform some of the band’s greatest hits including Three Times A Lady and Brick House.
If The Commodores comeback does happen it will be the latest in a long line of band reunions.
Take That announced they were getting back together in 2006, while last year the Spice Girls reunited for a world tour.
The Police also had a sell-out comeback tour, and most recently, Genesis - fronted by Phil Collins - got back together.
See Also
Missy Elliott prepares for a summer "Block Party"
The oft-delayed set, which originally was slated for May, features production from Souldiggaz, Danjahandz, Pharrell, T-Pain, Pointguard and Timbaland.
Tracks on the album include the Jazmine Sullivan-assisted "Like When You Play the Music"; the drum-heavy "Hip-Hop Don't Die"; the sensual "Milk & Cookies," on which Elliot lightheartedly harmonizes about her capabilities in the bedroom; and "Best Best," the set's first single.
Elliott told Billboard she chose the album title "because there are a lot of dance joints on there. It's one of those albums you can play out in the streets."
"This album is probably more musical and melodic than my previous ones," she said. "A lot of my albums are really hip-hop-driven, with tinges of other music genres. But this album is hip-hop, with a sort of U.K. hip-hop sound to it."
Timbaland remains one of Elliott's major collaborators. What she and the veteran producer share is "deeper than this music industry thing," Elliott said.
"There's a chemistry between us that will never leave. Like Janet (Jackson) and Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. Like Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones -- that kind of chemistry," she said. "Not to say it can't work if you get with someone else. But, just because a producer's hot, it doesn't mean it'll automatically work."
"People always ask if we're still working together, and the answer is we will always work together," Elliott continued. "He's always going to be involved, even if it is just on one record. That's my brother. I respect and honor what he says."
Reuters/Billboard
Shock in store for Emmerdale couple
In recent weeks Laurel (Charlotte Bellamy) and Ashley (John Middleton) discovered that their son Daniel, who died tragically, could not have been their biological son.
They then found out that the baby that Mel took home from the hospital is actually their child.
According to the show's official website, there is set to be another "shocking" twist in the storyline.
Actor John Middleton said: "There's a sharp difference of opinion to begin with. Ashley's looking to the future whereas Laurel's living in the present."
"The truth will come out and it's shocking," he said.
His co-star Charlotte Bellamy said: "Laurel thinks - how could I take Arthur away from Mel?'"
"In a way it's a bit of a double whammy as well. If you think it couldn't get any worse - it does."