Hub jitterbuggers find '30s-inspired dance craze in full swing & other

Wednesday, 27 August 2008

Arts diary: Lend a hand for the pianothon

Britain's airwaves may presently be electrifying to the sound of amateur choirs, but the BBC is now preparing to celebrate another legal document central to amateur music-making - the piano. Pianists across the country are being invited to take part in one of five-spot eight-hour "pianothons" taking place in Manchester, Cardiff, Glasgow, Belfast and London in October. In what might just be the longest ever continuous talent show, participants of any standard can register to play for up to 10 minutes, either solo, or with one or two other performers. They crataegus oxycantha even try their efforts on the radio - Radio 3 will be broadcasting highlights later in October.

More information

Thursday, 7 August 2008

ASK MICK LASALLE, Chronicle Movie Critic

Dear Mick LaSalle: In "WALL-E," the chief operating officer of the evil corporation BUY N LARGE (Fred Willard) stands at his podium (modeled to look precisely like the White House press room) with his head obscuring the core portion of the watchword BUY N LARGE, revealing something that looks like this: BU-RGE. My intellect filled in the blank right away - Bush, George. Am I the only individual who noticed this?

Marty Parker, Chico

Dear Marty Parker: I don't lie with, but you won't be the last now. Good catch.

Dear Mr. LaSalle: In an question about "Wanted," Angelina Jolie said something along the lines of, "If you knew what Hitler was going to do ahead he did it, would you get killed him?" It was to the effect that the movie was around "good bozo" assassins acquiring the "high-risk guys" before they struck. The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees goodwill ambassador is star in a movie that legitimizes pre-emptive strikes.

S. Baroudi, Rio de Janeiro

Dear S. Baroudi: Actually, the movie does a heap worse than that. What Jolie is referring to is what the assassins in the movie think they're doing. In fact, they're doing nothing so defensible as killing Hitler in 1920 or a handful of terrorists on Sept. 10, 2001. Despite what she says, the movie is not around the cleanup of monsters before they're up and running. Its message is far more dark and twisted. Thus, when St. Angelina spouts this cynical publicist gibber, the question to ask is this: Is she really kidding herself or is she deliberately trying to kidskin you?

Dear Mick: Your critical review of "Wanted" takes the risk of calling a morally reprehensible movie what it is. My good sense is that most mainstream critics have disowned this responsibility, thought process that their only duty is to state how well or poorly the film does on its own price. Taken to its limit, this philosophy is apparently immoral: "Coming up next on 'Entertainment Tonight' - our critic's list of the 10 greatest snuff films!" I'd love to see or hear some commentary from you on these issues.

Scott Miller, Graton

Dear Scott: A critic is ideally an expert at analyzing artworks (just as artists are experts at creating prowess through synthesizing emotion and experience). Critics are non moral regime. Any critic who starts making moral pronouncements runs the risk of infection of becoming a crank and a gas bag, and so I pot see wherefore critics would want to steer clear of that possibility. In my own case, I have never called a movie immoral, because that's outside my area. However I did call "Kill Bill," at least the first one, "pornography," and I did say that "The Strangers" used "cinema to ends that are objectionable and vile." But those, to me, ar just esthetical judgments. I mean, region of organism a critic consists of reporting what's there. To look at a film that consists of zero but murders and to react to it as if judgement a series of, suppose, Olympic dives, requires not only a moral disconnect but likewise a tolerant of self-willed distancing from a whole host of aesthetic considerations, like emotion, character and narrative. It's also region of criticism to look at what movies ar communicating, so as not to be blinded by mere spectacle. If you're reviewing "Wanted," it's simply part of the job to

Monday, 30 June 2008

Gigs around town

BLONDIE
After a solo fling last year with her “Necessary Evil” CD, Deborah Harry returns to her more familiar post leading Blondie, which is celebrating the 30th anniversary of its landmark release, “Parallel Lines,” by performing the entire album. Tonight at the Cape Cod Melody Tent, Hyannis, 508-775-6630; tomorrow at South Shore Music Circus, Cohasset, 781-383-9850.
CUTE IS WHAT WE AIM FOR

The band name says it all. Sunday at 6 p.m. at the Middle East, Cambridge, 617-884-EAST.
ESKI ESKO
Pronounced ex-ee ex-oh, this local progressive six-piece (the new incarnation of what was previously called On Fire) marks the release of a new CD, “I Am Your Bastard Wings.” Caspian, Hooray For Earth and Taxpayer also perform. Tomorrow at the Paradise, 617-562-8800.
LUCY KAPLANSKY
A one-time singing partner of Shawn Colvin, Kaplansky’s charm lies in her calming, girlish vocal qualities and compelling interpersonal insights gleaned from her experience as a psychologist. Tonight at Club Passim, Cambridge, 617-492-7679.
LYRES
The Boston garage legends return. Tonight at the Middle East, Cambridge, 617-864-EAST.
MY BRIGHTEST DIAMOND/CLARE AND THE REASONS
Shara Worden’s disarming blend of classical styles with scratchy guitar and bits of electronica makes My Brightest Diamond a one-of-a-kind musical experience. Local bluesman Geoff Muldaur’s daughter Clare and her Brooklyn-based band, the Reasons, fill the opening slot with close harmonies and old-timey flair.
Tonight at Berklee Performance Center, 617-747-2261.
STEVIE NICKS
Maybe, as reported, the Fleetwood Mac songstress hasn’t changed her set list since last summer, but count on Nicks to switch shawls every so often. Sunday at Bank of America Pavilion, 617-728-1600.
PHIL LESH AND FRIENDS/LEVON HELM

Wednesday, 25 June 2008

Don Henley

Artist: Don Henley

   Genre(s):
Rock: Pop-Rock

Discography:

An Eagle Out East

Year: 1990
Tracks: 11

The End Of Innocence

Year: 1989
Tracks: 10

I Can't Stand Still

Year: 1982
Tracks: 11

Inside Job

Year:
Tracks: 13

Out of all of the Eagles, Don Henley had the most successful solo life history. After the chemical group broke up in 1982, Henley released his first solo album, I Can't Stand Still. Although it wasn't as successful as an Eagles book, the album performed respectably, launch the number ternion single "Unsporting Laundry" and exit gold. Building the Perfect Beast followed two old age by and by and naturalized Henley as a solo star topology in his have right. Featuring the Top Ten hits "Boys of Summer" and "All She Wants to Do Is Dance," as well as the Top 40 singles "Not Enough Love in the World" and "Sunset Grill," the album sold over two meg copies and stayed on the charts for over a year. Henley's third gear album, 1989's The End of the Innocence, was his most ambitious record book still, as well as his near commercially successful. The album sold over three meg copies and stayed on the charts for near triad eld, launching the strike singles "The End of the Innocence," "Heart of the Matter," "New York Minute," "How Bad Do You Want It?," and "The Last Worthless Evening." Henley reunited with the Eagles in 1994, embarking on a general tour of duty. The mathematical group released a live album culled from an appearance on MTV Unplugged called Blaze Freezes Over; the track record too featured a handful of new studio apartment tracks. Blaze Freezes Over was a major success, selling over 5 jillion copies by the summer of 1995. However, the mathematical group decided not to pursue whatever more projects together and Henley continued working on his fourth solo record album, at last issued in mid-2000 under the title Inside Job.

Monday, 16 June 2008

Motel Connection

Artist: Motel Connection

   Genre(s):
Ethnic
   Soundtrack

Discography:

Do I Have a Life?

Year: 2006
Tracks: 12

My Darkside

Year: 2005
Tracks: 3

Santa Maradona Ost

Year: 2002
Tracks: 12

P Samuel-Krakatoa Torino

Year:
Tracks: 1

Andata e Ritorno (cd2)

Year:
Tracks: 10

Andata e Ritorno (cd1)

Year:
Tracks: 11

Motel Connection are an Italian electronica and house jazz band from Torino, formed in 2000 by DJ Pisti and Subsonica's singer and bassist, Samuel Romano and Pierpaolo "Pierfunk" Peretti Griva. Motel Connection effectively kicked off their life history when director Marco Ponti asked them to compose the music for his 2001 make film Santa Maradona. The following year they released their number one album, Give Me a Good Reason to Wake Up, featuring eight-spot remixes from the film's soundtrack addition deuce fresh tracks, all sung in English. Among these was the arrive at single "Two," whose tV received all-encompassing airplay during 2002-2003. After a new soundtrack for some other Ponti film, 2004's A/R Andata + Ritorno, Motel Connection's irregular album appeared in 2006, under the title Do I Have a Life?

Wednesday, 11 June 2008

Hutch Parker named chairman of New Regency

Will work with current chairman, CEO Robert Harper

Hutch Parker is leaving his post of vice chairman of Twentieth Century Fox to become chairman of New Regency alongside current Regency chairman and CEO Robert Harper.

Parker had been vice chairman of Fox since 2007, prior to which he was president. He joined the company in 1995 and oversaw the roll out of such hits as the "X-Men" trilogy, "Night at the Museum," "Borat," "The Day After Tomorrow" and "Dodgeball," among others.

Regency is hoping Parker will help take company to "new heights," which among other things will mean the creation of a bankable franchise. Regency, a production and finance company owned by Arnon Milchan in which Fox has a stake in, has had its share of hits in the form of the recent "What Happens in Vegas" as well as "Alvin and the Chipmunks" and the monster smash "Mr. and Mrs. Smith," but it has yet to master the art of the movie series. It's latest attempt, "Jumper," didn't get gain much height at the box office.

Amongst its upcoming releases are "Marley & Me," the adaptation of the best-selling novel starring Owen Wilson; "Mirrors," starring Kiefer Sutherland and directed by Alex Aja; and "Meet Dave," starring Eddie Murphy.

Parker will also be running the company's TV development and production as well as other media-related ventures. Shows Regency has produced include "Malcolm in the Middle" and "New Amsterdam."

Parker's move to Regency reunites him with a Fox co-hort, as Harper held the position of vice chairman at Fox Filmed Entertainment from 2004 to 2007.

There has always been a lot of cross-pollination between the two companies, with the latest move occurring last week when Sanford Panitch, who was president of filmed entertainment at New Regency, walked across the lot to head up newly formed Fox International Productions.

See Also

Sienna Miller and Rhys Ifans take a “break”

Rhys Ifans and Sienna Miller Sienna Miller and Rhys Ifans have reportedly decided to “take a break”.

Miller is said to be struggling with the prospect of settling down, while Ifans doesn’t like the fact the actress going out on the town alone.

And tensions grew between the pair when Sienna was moved to tears over a picture of her ex-lover, Jude Law, kissing Rod Stewart’s daughter, Kimberly, and Rhys’ attempts to make her smile backfired terribly.

A source said: “Sienna and Rhys have been rowing a lot lately.