John Mayer [ tickets ]'s upcoming DVD release, "Where The Light Is: John Mayer Live in Los Angeles," will be screened in theaters across the US June 30 for one night only. The concert film, recorded last December at LA's Nokia Theater, features Mayer performing an acoustic set, a full-band "Continuum" set and a John Mayer Trio set, according to a press release. "Where The Light Is" will be available in stores July 1 in CD, DVD and Blu-Ray configurations.Mayer, who is scheduled to tour through the end of August, hits the road July 2 in Milwaukee, WI. Various support acts will include Colbie Caillat, Brett Dennen, Paramore and OneRepublic.
Wednesday, 25 June 2008
Saturday, 21 June 2008
Jesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter
Artist: Jesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter
Genre(s):
Country
Discography:
Like, Love, Lust and the Open Halls of the Soul
Year: 2007
Tracks: 12
Hollywood studios in a retro mood
For those ready to move past the endless stream of dark dramas from fall 2007, get ready for a new barrage - from the 1960s, the 1940s and the 1780s.
Studios are preparing to unleash a hailstorm of period movies - in broad terms, films set in an era other than the current - in the fall, at times turning the multiplex circa 2008 into a veritable cinematic museum.
The films range from large studio productions - Clint Eastwood's 1920s missing-child drama Changeling and Baz Luhrmann's World War II epic Australia - to specialty releases, like the mid-century Southern tale The Secret Life of Bees and the 1960s Catholic-school drama Doubt.
They veer from costume dramas (the 18th century Keira Knightley quill-and-wig extravaganza The Duchess) to political sagas (Ron Howard's Frost/Nixon) to 1950s family dramas (the Sam Mendes-Leonardo DiCaprio collaboration Revolutionary Road) to biopics (Gus Van Sant's Milk) to yet more WWII throwbacks (Ed Zwick's Defiance, Mikael Hafstrom's Shanghai and Spike Lee's Miracle at St Anna).
"It seems like Hollywood is merging with the History Channel," media critic Robert Thompson noted wryly.
Studios have a long tradition of producing movies set in previous eras, from epics like Ben-Hur to intimate stories like The Ice Storm. But the latest wave of period movies is notable for several reasons.
These movies are coming all at once - scores of pictures crammed into a period of just 10 or 12 weeks.
The stakes and expectations for these movies also are higher because the overall number of fall specialty releases is expected to be down by as much as 25 per cent from the nearly 70 titles released last year.
And, maybe most critical, these period films are being released at a moment when questions linger from last season about whether the audience can find enough to identify with in fall releases.
That combination is enough to make some executives nervous. "It's a lot of period movies, and it's going to be a question of who'll be able to connect," said one high-ranking arthouse-studio executive releasing a period film.
Nonetheless, development executives point to reasons why historical is suddenly fashionable despite the risks.
In a time when summer releases have trumped fall movies on spectacle, they say, it's a chance for films to chisel out a new niche. Boxoffice Mojo president Brandon Gray suggests that period pictures are in effect the fall's answer to the summer tentpole.
"A movie set in period can be a selling point because it transports you to another world without being a fantasy or relying on big special effects," he said.
Period movies can also allow a story to be told in ways that contemporary-set movies can't tell them.
"In a period movie you can strip out modern American irony and ambiguity and get away with it," Thompson said. "A contemporary movie that has absolutes would seems old-fashioned. But if you set it during a previous time, you can make it credible."
Last year, such movies as Michael Clayton, Rendition and In the Valley of Elah took on current issues through a contemporary lens.
This crop looks at equally large themes - the corruption of power (Changeling), the innocent victims of war (Australia, St Anna, Defiance) and the slipperiness of truth (Doubt, Frost/Nixon) - but uses the distancing mechanism of period.
But for all the advantages, will consumers bite on stories that often take place before many of them were born? Executives acknowledge that these movies come with challenges.
"The situations won't be as relatable, so you need to find something relatable that transcends the era," said Fox co-president of theatrical marketing Pam Levine, whose company will try to turn Australia - in which Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman cross the Australian outback during a pre-WWII Japanese bombing raid - into a wide play.
Marketing veteran Terry Press, who worked on such period films as Gladiator and Seabiscuit, also sees a fine line. "You don't want to confuse period with old-fashioned (in your marketing). That's the quickest way to lose a big part of the audience."
For a Gladiator spot, DreamWorks cut footage from the film with NFL highlights to give it a modern feel.
Miramax, which undertook a similar promotion for Gangs of New York under the Weinsteins six years ago, will try to bridge the historical and modern in Brideshead Revisited, the class-themed WWII movie based on the Evelyn Waugh novel.
"We want to show people that the issues of class and being an outsider are still very relatable today," Miramax marketing chief Jason Cassidy said.
No matter how the material gets played, though, there might be a commercial ceiling. One development executive points out that "American audiences like occasional period movies, but they do want them every weekend?"
See Also
Friday, 20 June 2008
Alkehol
Artist: Alkehol
Genre(s):
Other
Discography:
Planeta vopic
Year: 2002
Tracks: 15
Na Zdravi
Year: 1995
Tracks: 15
Alkehol
Year: 1992
Tracks: 15
Pierre Cloud
Secret Discovery
Artist: Secret Discovery
Genre(s):
Metal: Progressive
Rock
Discography:
Pray
Year: 2004
Tracks: 12
Slave
Year: 1997
Tracks: 11
Accept
We're Busted
TWO original members of the boy band Busted lost a £10million court
battle yesterday – and face a £500,000 legal bill.
Ki McPhail, 24, and Owen Doyle, 27, were branded “unreliable”
by the judge and had their assets frozen.
The pair claimed they helped write four hits – Sleeping With The
Light On, What I Go To School For, Psycho Girl and Year 3000.
But they left the band later in 2001 when new manager Richard Rashman came
in.
The pair were put under “undue pressure” to release rights
to the songs when the band signed a professional deal and they were then
sacked, it was claimed at the High Court in London.
Court success ... Matt Willis and James Bourne
Counsel Tim Penny added: “The pressure consisted of threats that
unless they released their claims to the four songs, they’d be
sued and never work in the industry again.”
The pair were seeking a £10million share of the band’s
fortune.
But Mr Justice Morgan rejected their allegations after a bitter 19-day court
battle, which cost £1.7million.
The judge ruled there were “no threats” made to McPhail or
Doyle, saying they willingly entered into the settlement.
He also rejected a bid by the pair to get a look at the band’s
accounts.
Instead McPhail and Doyle had their assets frozen before further hearings to
decide who will pay the costs.
Mr Justice Morgan said McPhail “was not a reliable witness who quite
plainly exaggerated and distorted the real event”.
And he added that Doyle “was not a reliable witness either,
manifesting a high degree of confusion with many of the significant events”.
If the pair had won, the remaining original members – James Bourne,
24, and Matt Willis, 25 – may have lost hundreds of thousands of
pounds.
Busted had eight Top Ten hits between 2002 and 2004 before splitting up a year
later. Bourne and Willis said: “This was an opportunistic attempt
by Ki and Owen to cash in on our success. Their claims were a complete
fabrication.”
But a statement from McPhail and Doyle said they would appeal, adding: “The
case remains unresolved.”
g.smart@the-sun.co.uk
battle yesterday – and face a £500,000 legal bill.
Ki McPhail, 24, and Owen Doyle, 27, were branded “unreliable”
by the judge and had their assets frozen.
The pair claimed they helped write four hits – Sleeping With The
Light On, What I Go To School For, Psycho Girl and Year 3000.
But they left the band later in 2001 when new manager Richard Rashman came
in.
The pair were put under “undue pressure” to release rights
to the songs when the band signed a professional deal and they were then
sacked, it was claimed at the High Court in London.
Court success ... Matt Willis and James Bourne
Counsel Tim Penny added: “The pressure consisted of threats that
unless they released their claims to the four songs, they’d be
sued and never work in the industry again.”
The pair were seeking a £10million share of the band’s
fortune.
But Mr Justice Morgan rejected their allegations after a bitter 19-day court
battle, which cost £1.7million.
The judge ruled there were “no threats” made to McPhail or
Doyle, saying they willingly entered into the settlement.
He also rejected a bid by the pair to get a look at the band’s
accounts.
Instead McPhail and Doyle had their assets frozen before further hearings to
decide who will pay the costs.
Mr Justice Morgan said McPhail “was not a reliable witness who quite
plainly exaggerated and distorted the real event”.
And he added that Doyle “was not a reliable witness either,
manifesting a high degree of confusion with many of the significant events”.
If the pair had won, the remaining original members – James Bourne,
24, and Matt Willis, 25 – may have lost hundreds of thousands of
pounds.
Busted had eight Top Ten hits between 2002 and 2004 before splitting up a year
later. Bourne and Willis said: “This was an opportunistic attempt
by Ki and Owen to cash in on our success. Their claims were a complete
fabrication.”
But a statement from McPhail and Doyle said they would appeal, adding: “The
case remains unresolved.”
g.smart@the-sun.co.uk
David Tort
Artist: David Tort
Genre(s):
House
Discography:
Love to hate you and City of angels + Remixes
Year: 2007
Tracks: 4
Droid / 7 Eleven
Year: 2006
Tracks: 2
Boy George To Play For New York Sanitation Workers
Sopranos star for Marvin Gaye film
'The Sopranos' star James Gandolfini has been cast opposite 'Law & Order' star Jesse L Martin in a new film about the last years of soul legend Marvin Gaye.
Variety reports that 'Sexual Healing' will chronicle Gaye's (Martin) self-imposed exile in Belgium and his return to the big time with the help of promoter Freddy Cousaert (Gandolfini).
The Lauren Goodman-directed film will be produced by Gandolfini's company, Attaboy Films, and the actor will work as producer on the project.
Filming of 'Sexual Healing' is due to begin on 15 April, with locations in Ostend, Massachusetts and Los Angeles.
Variety reports that 'Sexual Healing' will chronicle Gaye's (Martin) self-imposed exile in Belgium and his return to the big time with the help of promoter Freddy Cousaert (Gandolfini).
The Lauren Goodman-directed film will be produced by Gandolfini's company, Attaboy Films, and the actor will work as producer on the project.
Filming of 'Sexual Healing' is due to begin on 15 April, with locations in Ostend, Massachusetts and Los Angeles.
Death Angel
Artist: Death Angel
Genre(s):
Other
Metal: Thrash
Rock
Rock: Thrash
Metal: Speed
Discography:
The Ultra-Violence (Remastered + Bonus)
Year: 2005
Tracks: 11
Rarities
Year: 2005
Tracks: 11
The Art Of Dying
Year: 2004
Tracks: 12
Art of Dying
Year: 2004
Tracks: 12
Fall From Grace
Year: 1988
Tracks: 11
The Ultra-Violence
Year: 1987
Tracks: 8
Act Iii
Year: 1987
Tracks: 10
San Francisco's Death Angel was a product of the bustling Bay Area slash alloy scene of the 1980s. Combining serious guitar crunch and velocity with a fair total of technological expertise, they created complex flail metal filled with time changes and tricky arrangements that, although generally loved by critics, unremarkably failed to translate beyond a very specialized buying public. But Death Angel weren't simply a band, they were kin. Formed in the early '80s by cousins Mark Osegueda (vocals), Rob Cavestany (leading guitar), Gus Pepa (speech rhythm guitar), Dennis Pepa (bass) and Andy Galeon (drums), the band was likewise precocious, having recorded their 1986, Kirk Hammett-produced "Kill as One" demo spell placid in their teens. In fact, drummer Galeon was exclusively 14 when Death Angel issued their first album, 1987's astoundingly mature The Ultra-Violence via Enigma Records. The following year's sophomore Romp Through the Park offered a few fragile refinements, most notably in the uncharacteristically humorous and accessible individual "Bored." Signing with the Geffen Records hit-factory the following year seemed like the succeeding step towards certain stardom, and Death Angel left zero to opportunity with their third album, nineties top career highlight Act III. But scorn benefiting from more sophisticated songwriting, greatly improved production, and an wide world duty tour to supporting it Act III somehow fell short of both band and label expectations. Fall down From Grace, a incautiously assembled live album released by Enigma by and by that year, proved both untimely and morbidly prophetical, when Death Angel were involved in a awful tour autobus doss in Arizona. Galeon was sternly injured, imperishable a yr of rehab during which Osegueda distinct to leave office music and locomote to New York. As for the left members of Death Angel, following Galeon's recovery they re-named themselves the Organization and released iI albums in the early '90s through Metal Blade -- Cavestany besides handling outspoken duties -- before breakage up in 1995. Numerous projects followed until 2001 (most notably Cavestany, Osegueda and Galeon's late-'90s chemical group Swarm), when Death Angel reconvened to perform at a San Francisco benefit concert for cancer-stricken Testament isaac Merrit Singer Chuck Billy. This, in become, light-emitting diode to sporadic European festival appearances and U.S. guild tours that bucked up the classic Death Angel formation to reunify more for good. Signing with Nuclear Blast and delivery in fresh musical rhythm guitar player Ted Aguilar, the stria released their long-awaited quarter album, The Art of Dying, in 2004.
Correction: Bo Diddley story
Thursday, 19 June 2008
Mortiis
Artist: Mortiis
Genre(s):
Electronic
Darkwave
Ambient
Discography:
The Grudge
Year: 2004
Tracks: 10
The Smell Of Rain
Year: 2001
Tracks: 9
The Stargate
Year: 1999
Tracks: 11
Stjernefodt
Year: 1997
Tracks: 2
I Morket Drommende
Year: 1997
Tracks: 2
Crypt Of The Wizard
Year: 1996
Tracks: 10
Keiser Av En Dimension Ukjent
Year: 1995
Tracks: 2
Anden Som Gjorde Oppror
Year: 1995
Tracks: 2
Fodt Til A Herske
Year: 1993
Tracks: 2
Usually appareled in an elf, troll, or hob costume (sometimes finish with bat wings and skull codpiece), the cryptical Mortiis was an essential effect in the genesis of Norway's heroic Viking metallic element intelligent. As the original bassist of Norwegian dim metallic element pioneers Emperor, Mortiis was credited with exhilarating the group's interest in blending furiously chaotic black metal with haunting synthesiser melodies often based loosely on Norwegian folk, so laying the fundament for a sound that would dominate resistance metal over the next decennium. However, for all his impact, Mortiis was only with the group for a very inadequate meter; he played on their 1992 Wrath of the Tyrant demo, a split exit with Enslaved titled Hordanes Land, and a 7" single, "As the Shadows Rise," merely never an official full-length album. Mortiis left Emperor rather abruptly in 1993 to pursue a solo career; still only 18 long time old, he affected to Halmstad, Sweden, where he formed his own Dark Dungeon label. His 1993 solo debut, Født Til Å Herske, was a surprising release from Emperor's unrelenting intensity, and in fact from guitar-oriented medicine wholly; rather, Mortiis worked in the first place with electronic instruments, creating a sorrowful, black atmosphere with more than a mite of barbarian rock. Ånden Som Gjorde Opprör followed in 1994, as did the low of several side projects: a more than industrial-tinged group called Vond, wHO issued an album titled Selvmord (later released in the U.S. as Slipp Sorgen Los). 1995 brought some other raw Mortiis album (Keiser av en Dimensjon Ukjent, or Emperor of a Dimension Unknown) and some other side project, this unitary called Fata Morgana, wHO issued a self-titled debut. In 1996, Mortiis recorded a limited edition series of five 12" EPs, whose material was subsequently poised as Crypt of the Wizard; 1997 brought withal another side project, the slightly igniter Cinticele Diavolui.
No new Mortiis recordings appeared for a patch, largely due to negotiations with record companies. In 1999, Mortiis order an end to his side projects and signed to Earache, wHO promptly released his modern project, the ambitious The Stargate, which featured heavy female vocals courtesy of Cradle of Filth's Sarah Jezebel Deva. Earache as well reissued Født Til Å Herske and Crypt of the Wizard a unretentive clip after, and the proper international statistical distribution of those records elevated Mortiis' profile and began to build a cult following for his music.
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