Chris Rock Isn't Laughing
2008-03-28 06:00:14.929381
Click href="http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/chrisrock/articles/story/19400269/video_gallery_chris_rock" target="blank">here to watch Chris Rock's greatest film and stand-up moments.
Here in the Time of Rock, wherein Christopher Julius Rock III rules again as he has ruled before, but only more so — international sweep! colossal forums! better transportation! — promptness counts for much. "There's no such thing as early," Rock himself will tell you, just as his late heroic father often impressed upon him under threat of belt strap. "There's on time and late. I'm always on time." Unsurprisingly, then, he has made it a point to be on time for his Time, which is a very good thing for a dire populace that suddenly seeks racial clarity with historic fervor (no mortal, of course, sifts matters of class and skin divide with sharper acuity than Rock, who is black but sometimes employs the term "a fine mocha" because he is just that precise.) Moreover, he concedes that seizing this seismic American...
Video Gallery: Chris Rock
2008-03-28 04:00:24.918339
Click href="http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/19551925" target="blank">here for an excerpt of the Chris Rock cover story.
Though Chris Rock had minor success on Saturday Night Live and with the HBO special Big Ass Jokes, his true breakout came in 1996 with the premiere of Bring the Pain. The stand-up special (and subsequent album Roll With the New) introduced the world to a number of instant-classic Rock bits, including "Niggas vs. Black People." The controversial routine is everything that's great about Rock: it's honest, insightful, vulgar and above all hilarious.
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Why Can't Adam Duritz Get Any Respect?
2008-03-28 04:00:24.194864
For half a second, Adam Duritz is airborne — and then he comes down hard. It's early February, during the second song of a rare Counting Crows small-club show in New York, and a moment ago, Duritz was teetering on a monitor speaker at the edge of the stage. Now, he tumbles backward, dreadlocks flailing, and his head collides with a piano. It looks painful. But Duritz springs back up, not missing a note — though his voice seems to quaver even more than usual as he sings, "Have you seen me lately?"
Then he climbs up onto that same speaker, again and again, like a man who has everything to prove. And maybe he does. Duritz is all too aware that some people hate him. They say his voice is whiny. They say his dreads are fake (which they are). And they don't like his band, either. "For some reason, everyone decided we were a piece of shit," he says a few days after the concert, describing a low point a couple of years back. "So the only thing to do was to go out there and show we weren't."
...Allman Brothers Band cancels concerts (AP)
2008-03-28 14:00:15.219636
6 minutes ago
ATLANTA - An Allman Brothers Band member says Gregg Allman is unable to play several upcoming concerts because of his treatments for hepatitis C.Drummer Butch Trucks says the band has canceled appearances in Florida next month and bowed out of its annual run of shows at Manhattan's Beacon Theatre in May.
Trucks says Allman began undergoing treatment last year.
The Allman Brothers Band was founded in Florida in the late 1960s, but gained fame while living in Macon, Ga. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995.
Email Story IM Story Printable View Yahoo! Buzz RECOMMEND THIS STORY Recommend It: Not at All Somewhat...Billboard CD reviews: R.E.M., Rolling Stones (Reuters)
2008-03-28 22:00:23.483585
1 hour, 5 minutes ago
ARTIST: R.E.M.ALBUM: ACCELERATE
NEW YORK (Billboard) - R.E.M.'s first album in four years shoehorns 11 tracks of jagged guitars, quick and dirty drums, and Michael Stipe's gruff keen into 34 minutes, rocking with a blacker, blunter edge than "Document," "Green" or "Monster." Armed with deadpan "wow's" and "T-Rex moves" honed from 1996's "Wake-Up Bomb," Stipe limns politics, the media and the velocity of modern life with gimlet eyes, from the strutting "don't turn your talking points on me" of "Living Well's the Best Revenge" to the candid "uncertainty is suffocating" of the...
Boyz II Men World Tour Announces Competition to Win a Gold Disc - Exclusive Free Video Attached to This Release
2008-03-28 19:00:28.093214
LONDON (Billboard Publicity Wire via Business Wire EON) March 28, 2008 -- Boys II Men, one of the most successful R&B male vocal groups of all time, are going on a world tour. An exclusive behind the scenes video is also available to download free
Celine Dion postpones Australian concerts (Reuters)
2008-03-28 03:00:12.760409
45 minutes ago
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Canadian singer Celine Dion has postponed a series of Australian concerts as part of her world tour due to a throat infection, her publicists said on Friday.Dion is in Australia as part of her first world tour in 10 years, with concerts set for Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth.
"Her doctor has instructed her to rest for an additional 48 hours in order to be fully recovered," her publicists said in a statement on Friday.
The infection forced Dion to postpone her Melbourne and Brisbane concerts earlier in the week, with two Sydney concerts also now postponed for a week.
...Combs' lawyer calls LA Times story "defamatory" (Reuters)
2008-03-28 02:00:18.138451
By Bob Tourtellotte Thu Mar 27, 7:24 PM ET
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A lawyer for Sean "Diddy" Combs lashed out at the Los Angeles Times on Thursday over the "defamatory nature" of a story the paper published that sought to link the rap music mogul to an assault on Tupac Shakur.The story, which first appeared on March 17, was later said to be based on forged FBI documents. Late Wednesday, the paper and Times reporter Chuck Philips apologized for the story, and Philips said he now believes the papers are fake.
The "apology is, at best, a first step, but it doesn't undo the false and defamatory nature of the story, or the suspicion and innuendo that Mr. Combs has had to endure due to these...
Corrine Baily Rae Loses Husband
2008-03-28 07:00:12.785848
It was just last Saturday that soul singer Corinne Bailey Rae was told of the death of her musician husband, Jason Rae. Rae was found in their London, England apartment, and rumors have been swirling around that the cause of death was a suspected
Emily West
2008-03-28 23:00:14.476517
is a self-described fan of awkward situations. That includes pulling up to music industry meetings in an old Buick that could only be started with a screwdriver; writing a country song about recycling; furiously downing free grapes at the supermarket as
Exclusive: Black Kids 'Our Album Is Terrible'
2008-03-28 09:00:13.270981
Ahead of opening Xfm's Big Night Out, vocalist Reggie Youngblood and drummer Kevin Snow gave us a heads up (or perhaps more fittingly, a heads down) on their sluggish progress: 'It's coming painfully but surely. It seems like every track is a big fight
FBI: Combs/Shakur documents appear fake (AP)
2008-03-28 18:00:13.486465
By TERRY SPENCER, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 28 minutes ago
MIAMI - Papers purporting to be FBI reports linking associates of music mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs to a 1994 attack on rapper Tupac Shakur appear to be fakes, the agency said Friday. The documents had been cited in recent Los Angeles Times and Associated Press stories.James Sabatino, a convicted con man who is serving a federal prison sentence for fraud, filed the documents last fall in Miami federal court as part of a $19 million lawsuit against Combs, claiming Combs never paid him for arranging a recording and video session by the late Notorious B.I.G.
The documents purported to be an FBI agent's reports on interviews conducted in 2002 of confidential informants linking Sabatino and associates of Combs to the 1994 shooting of Shakur in New York City. The shooting triggered a feud between East and West Coast rappers that later led to the killings of Shakur and Notorious B.I.G. None of the shootings have been solved.
"We have no record of these documents in our system," Agent Stephen Kodak said. "They don't appear to be legitimate." He said no decision has been made on whether to investigate the documents and their origin.
The Times used the documents as a basis for a story earlier this month linking Combs' associates to the first attack on Shakur. The newspaper apologized Wednesday for the story. The AP quoted from the documents when they were filed. It issued a corrective Friday.
The Web site The Smoking Gun first reported this week that the documents appeared to be fakes. The reports were written on a typewriter, not a computer, and contained misspellings identical to ones Sabatino made in other documents, its report pointed out.
Sabatino, 31, has a long history of falsely claiming to be a major player in the rap industry and perpetrating other frauds. He is currently serving an 11-year sentence for identity theft and fraud at a federal prison in Pennsylvania. His father once said in a letter to a judge that his son "is a disturbed young man who needed attention like a drug."
Howard L. Weitzman, Combs' attorney, said his client and Sabatino never had a business relationship.
"It should be clear that Mr. Sabatino has a vivid imagination, to say the least, and his credibility quotient is zero," Weitzman said in an e-mail.
Sabatino's lawsuit against Combs remains pending. No trial date has been set. Calls to the attorney he claims is representing him have not been returned.
Email Story...Frenchie Davis faces throat surgery (AP)
2008-03-28 15:00:12.263603
By LYNN ELBER, AP Television Writer 18 minutes ago
LOS ANGELES - Frenchie Davis, the big-voiced "American Idol" contestant who found success on Broadway in "Rent," will undergo surgery to remove a vocal cord polyp.Davis said she's eager to take care of the condition that's begun to cause tiredness and hoarseness after performances. But she's apprehensive.
"I've talked to other singers who had surgery. One girl said her voice went up. Others' voices got clearer. I'm just excited to see and a little nervous, of course. It's still surgery," Davis told The Associated Press.
Her main concern is the risk of losing her range, she said, but the surgeon has assured her that won't happen. Doctors had been monitoring the polyp on her left vocal cord; when it grew, they advised surgery to avoid long-term damage.
The condition likely is from overuse and singing improperly, Davis said.
"I was doing eight shows a week of `Rent' for four years. When I had a break from `Rent,' I was using it to sing elsewhere," she said. "Now I need a vocal coach to make sure I'm singing properly so it doesn't come back."
The surgery is scheduled for the end of April; recovery will take about a month. That will allow Davis to go ahead with a national tour of "Ain't Misbehavin'," co-starring "Idol" winner Ruben Studdard. It's set to begin this fall in New York.
In 2003, Davis was dropped from "Idol" because of a previous appearance on an adult Web site. In contrast, the Fox talent show took no action this season when contestant David Hernandez's stint as a nightclub stripper was revealed or when racy photos of Antonella Barba surfaced last season on the Internet.
"I guess I had to be thrown to the wolves to afford these other contestants the luxury of being judged on their talent," said Davis, 28. "I guess that's what needed to happen."
It was "interesting," she added, that she was punished for something she did at age 19.
___
Fox is a unit of News Corp.
...GMA MUSIC IN THE ROCKIES, the Music Community's Premiere Talent Competition and Training Experience, Scheduled for August in Estes Park, Colo.
2008-03-28 07:00:11.721311
? Led by influential music professionals whose credits read like a who?s who of the music business ? Casting Crowns, Amy Grant, CeCe Winans, Hannah Montana, Paramore?s Hayley Williams, Carrie Underwood, Keith Urban and many more ? GMA Music in
Hip Hop Crime Watch: Remy Ma and T.I. Guilty, Tupac Hoax
2008-03-28 11:00:15.949473
(antiMusic) It wouldn't be authentic hip hop without crime. Thursday Jam! offered up a few hip crime happenings. We kick off with the latest in the L.A. Times controversial story linking Diddy to the 1994 attack on Tupac. We had no idea that Dan Rather
Hip-Hop Rumors: College Hill C...
2008-03-28 12:00:12.154171
YESTERDAY, WE LOVE YOU! They keep us talking, but if we stop talking about them then they should worry! -illseed WHO: illseed WHAT: Rumors WHERE: AllHipHop.com, MySpace.com/TheIllseed HOW: Send your rumors and ill pics to illseed at ahhrumors@gmail.com.
Hip-Hop Rumors: Wayne and Nivea Together Again! A Pregnant MAN? Remy Ma Cries In Court?
2008-03-28 05:00:21.562286
YESTERDAY, WE LOVE YOU! They keep us talking, but if we stop talking about them then they should worry! -illseed WHO: illseed WHAT: Rumors WHERE: AllHipHop.com, MySpace.com/TheIllseed HOW: Send your rumors and ill pics to illseed at ahhrumors@gmail.com.
MTV to celebrate "Yo! MTV Raps" anniversary (Reuters)
2008-03-28 15:00:13.46079
By Ann Donahue 31 minutes ago
LOS ANGELES (Billboard) - Yes, expect the Ed Lover dance to come back in style. MTV is celebrating the 20th anniversary of "Yo! MTV Raps" in April with tribute programming across all of the company's platforms.On MTV, the show "Sucker Free" will transform into "Yo! MTV Raps," featuring classic videos amidst the current hip hop video countdown. At the end of the month, the cable network will air "Yo!" countdown shows, where the top moments from the iconic program will be revealed. (Countdown specials also will air on MTV Radio.)
Among the artists contributing to the tribute programming...
Madonna on Britney: `Let's go save her' (AP)
2008-03-28 19:00:29.34894
Fri Mar 28, 3:58 PM ET
NEW YORK - Madonna wants the media to leave Britney Spears alone."They need to step off," she told the "Yo on E!" satellite radio show. "For real ... Let's go save her."
Madonna, 49, said her daughter, Lourdes, 11, feels the same way.
"She knows Britney, (but) she doesn't really watch TV or read gossip stuff," the pop star said in the interview. "I think she sort of gets the drift of what's going on, and I think she feels very protective of Britney."
Madonna and husband Guy Ritchie have a son, Rocco, 7, and are raising a Malawian boy they want to adopt.
"He's the life of the party," she said of David, who she brought home from Africa in 2006. "He loves music, he's an amazing dancer. ... He's a character."
She said caring for David is no different from her raising her biological children: "I thought it was gonna be, but it feels the same to tell you the truth."
As for speculation that her marriage is on the rocks, Madonna said: "It is ridiculous. ... I don't pay much attention to it."
The singer's spokeswoman Liz Rosenberg recently dismissed media reports that the Ritchies have split up, saying they "remain happily married." Rosenberg said that Madonna and filmmaker Ritchie, 39, were "joyfully back together at home in London" after living in separate countries for work purposes.
Madonna, whose new album "Hard Candy" arrives April 29, told "Yo on E!" that she plans to spend the summer in New York, and that she might kick off a tour this fall.
___
On the Net:
Yo on E!:
...Mailbag: Fifth Beatle, We're Serious Dude and the Credit Dork Scam
2008-03-28 11:00:15.94774
(antiMusic) Have we got a mailbag for you this week! Nothing really controversial, but we have one interesting debate, a 'serious' complaint and a singing dork scamming television viewers. Who was the Fifth Beatle? A bit of debate over this topic as
Mariah Carey set to rule U.S. singles chart (Reuters)
2008-03-28 08:00:14.00016
By Fred Bronson Fri Mar 28, 4:36 AM ET
LOS ANGELES (Billboard) - Mariah Carey is on track to collect her 18th No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart next week."Touch My Body," the first single from her upcoming album, dipped one place to No. 15 on the latest survey, issued Thursday. But the fresh availability of a digital download should send the song hurtling to the top next week.
That will push Carey to second place among artists with the most No. 1s in the rock era. The record is held by the Beatles with 20. She is currently tied with Elvis Presley.
Carey's album, "E=MC2," the follow-up to her 2005...
Mariah Carey set to rule singles chart (Reuters)
2008-03-28 14:00:15.731017
By Fred Bronson Fri Mar 28, 8:51 AM ET
LOS ANGELES (Billboard) - Mariah Carey is on track to collect her 18th No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart next week."Touch My Body," the first single from her upcoming album, dipped one place to No. 15 on the latest survey, issued Thursday. But the fresh availability of a digital download should send the song hurtling to the top next week.
That will push Carey to second place among artists with the most No. 1s in the rock era. The record is held by the Beatles with 20. She is currently tied with Elvis Presley.
Carey's album, "E=MC2," the follow-up to her 2005...
Mariah Carey's "E=MC2" offers genre-crossing equation (Reuters)
2008-03-28 21:00:32.899108
By Ann Donahue 51 minutes ago
LOS ANGELES (Billboard) - On a recent Monday morning, Mariah Carey flew the red-eye from New York to Los Angeles, stopped by Ryan Seacrest's morning radio show to chat, recorded a background vocal track for the song "I Stay in Love" for her upcoming album, then recorded a video for Wal-Mart's "Soundcheck" series, which will be used as bonus footage online and played in stores.By the time all of this was done, it was just past noon. Her afternoon consisted of another radio interview, and in the evening she returned to the studio to work on mastering the album, "E=MC2" -- due April 15 via Island Def Jam.
...Mariah Closing In On Record For No. 1 Hits
2008-03-28 12:00:12.148468
Mariah Carey is on track to collect her 18th No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart next week. 'Touch My Body,' the first single from her upcoming album, dipped one place to No. 15 on the latest survey. But the fresh availability of a digital
Moby's "Night" celebrates New York dance music (Reuters)
2008-03-28 23:00:14.472565
By Kerri Mason 1 hour, 54 minutes ago
NEW YORK (Billboard) - Ask Moby that requisite question about career regrets, and he won't give you the requisite answer. He does, he says, have a few."There are things that I've done that I think I've done badly," the veteran dance-music artist says. "Some of the songs I've made, I'm really disappointed in how I mixed them. And some decisions I've made were more fueled by desperation than anything; some of the more gratuitous licensing things. But at the same time, I don't let myself regret things to the point that I'm paralyzed. You make mistakes and you learn from them."
It makes sense for Moby to be the one to introduce the era...
Musicians take social networking into their own hands (Reuters)
2008-03-28 23:00:13.285055
By Jennifer Netherby 1 hour, 4 minutes ago
NEW YORK (Billboard) - 50 Cent has more than 1 million friends on MySpace, but if the rapper ever decides to leave the social network, he'll be leaving behind those friends, too. So like a growing number of artists, he's started his own social networking site.On Thisis50.com, fans can create profiles and friend lists just like on MySpace, but 50 Cent has direct access to the site's users and their e-mail addresses.
More and more acts, from Kylie Minogue to Ludacris to the Pussycat Dolls, are launching their own social networks, which are becoming a sort of next-generation version of artist Web...
New Guns N' Roses Gets U.S. Free Soda
2008-03-28 03:00:13.613188
A soda company will give free sugar-water out to everyone in America -- if Axl Rose can pull it together enough to finish off the perpetually delayed new Guns N' Roses album by the end of the year. It's probably a safe bet from that company's marketing
New Nelly Album Finally Due In June
2008-03-28 20:00:29.328659
Beset by long delays, Nelly's next studio album is back on the Universal schedule for June 24. First single 'Party People' featuring Fergie is already gaining radio airplay well before its May 15 add date. The album's 'Wadsyaname' appeared on the
Old 97's: On The Road Again
2008-03-28 04:00:21.776508
A few weeks ago CMJ reported on the release of The Old 97's's new, four years in the making album, Blame It On Gravity (New West). But for all the considerable charms of group's recorded output, the Old 97's are best known for their scorching live
Patti Smith's art on show in Paris (AP)
2008-03-28 13:00:12.927556
By ANGELA DOLAND, Associated Press Writer Fri Mar 28, 7:55 AM ET
PARIS - A rocker, poet and activist, Patti Smith is already a Renaissance woman. With her first major solo exhibit of drawings and photographs opening in Paris this week, she earns the title of visual artist, too.Smith, 61, calls the exhibit opening Friday at the Fondation Cartier "an open door welcoming people into my world." What may surprise fans is that her visual work is apolitical. From scratchy pencil drawings to Polaroid snapshots, it's dreamy and a touch surreal.
"Music and performance within the arena of rock 'n' roll has given me an opportunity to use my voice to communicate with many people, to speak out for human rights, against social injustice, against war, for our environment," the "People Have the Power" singer said ahead of the opening.
"But the other fields in which I work give me an opportunity to express my own inner world, which is not political. Artists must have the freedom to express their own vision, which is sometimes celestial, universal, on a whole other plane than the political situation in the world."
The exhibit, called "Land 250," draws from art Smith created from 1967 to 2007, some of it during stays in Paris. Though Smith has had smaller gallery shows, this is her first major exhibit, and most of the art on display has never been seen by the public before, said curator Grazia Quaroni.
Smith fans will be intrigued by the insight into her music and inspirations, as well as by the videos projected on screens throughout the show. For everyone else, the art will probably go over their heads.
There are snapshots of graveyard headstones — Smith enjoys wandering through cemeteries. There are biting crayon portraits of Smith and her friends. There are also photographs of inanimate objects that belonged to her artistic inspirations: poet Arthur Rimbaud's fork and spoon; Virginia Woolf's bed; and Hermann Hesse's typewriter.
Most of the photos were taken with a vintage Polaroid Land 250. She started using the camera in 1995, soon after the deaths of her brother and her husband, Fred "Sonic" Smith.
"I felt so weary as a human being," she said. "I was unable to concentrate, to write, to draw. I was just emotionally and physically unable to express myself in any way that took a lot of concentrated energy. Taking the Polaroids, because it was simple and immediate, gave me an immediate response to a creative need."
Smith has gotten her son and daughter, Jackson and Jesse, involved in the show. Jackson is to spend a few afternoons hanging out at the exhibit, strumming the guitar and chatting with visitors. Jesse will play piano Friday as her mother reads from Woolf's writings, part of a series of evening events and concerts to coincide with the exhibit.
The show is the latest French honor for Smith, who in 2005, was named a commander in the prestigious Order of Arts and Letters.
...Poison drummer arrested on rape warrant (AP)
2008-03-28 21:00:33.425706
55 minutes ago
PHILADELPHIA, Miss. - Poison drummer Rikki Rockett was arrested on a rape warrant and his case was turned over to the district attorney's office for possible grand jury consideration, officials said Friday.Rockett, 46, was arrested Monday at or near Los Angeles International Airport, Los Angeles police said. He was booked and released, and was awaiting an extradition decision by Mississippi prosecutors.
A woman in Mississippi filed a complaint that she was raped on Sept. 23, 2007, at the Silver Star Casino, Neshoba County sheriff's investigator Ralph Sciple said.
"The subject, Rikki Rockett, forcibly had sex with an adult in one of the hotel rooms," according to a complaint.
Sciple said the woman contacted authorities several days after the alleged attack. He did not discuss details of the case, but said his office believed the woman's complaint warranted review by the district attorney.
The casino-hotel complex in Philadelphia, about an hour northeast of Jackson, is owned by the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians.
Rockett, whose real name is Richard Ream, did not have a listed number in the Los Angeles area and could not be reached Friday for comment.
Rockett was booked into the Los Angeles County jail under his stage name and released early Tuesday, according to jail inmate information on the county sheriff's Web site. Sciple said there was no immediate attempt to bring Rockett back to Mississippi and a decision on extradition would await action by the district attorney.
Rockett and singer Bret Michaels founded Poison, the glam-metal band with a string of hits in the 1980s, including "Talk Dirty to Me."
Email Story IM Story Printable View...Portishead Re-Adjusting To Life On The Road
2008-03-28 14:00:15.236403
Portishead is back on the road, and settling into life away from the studio. But performing on the big stage doesn't come easy for most of the reunited band members, who are currently on the Continental Europe leg of a tour building support for their
Reunited Portishead reluctant road warriors (Reuters)
2008-03-28 16:00:21.297858
By Lars Brandle 1 hour, 26 minutes ago
LONDON (Billboard) - Portishead is back on the road, and settling into life away from the studio.But performing on stage doesn't come easy for most of the reunited members of the British "trip-hop" act, who have just begun a European tour to promote their upcoming third album, the appropriately titled "Third." It marks their first studio release since a self-titled effort in 1997.
"We've been immensely looking forward to touring. But we're divided about it," Portishead's multi-instrumentalist founding member Adrian Utley tells Billboard.com.
"(Singer) Beth (Gibbons) is really nervous about playing...
Review: LuPone drives a superb `Gypsy' (AP)
2008-03-28 03:00:13.60013
By MICHAEL KUCHWARA, AP Drama Critic Thu Mar 27, 11:06 PM ET
NEW YORK - The drive and determination are still there — only more so. Patti LuPone gave a virtuosic display of both in last summer's thrilling City Center revival of "Gypsy," the enduring show-biz saga of the world's quintessential stage mother.Now that production, decked out with a bit more scenery, has made its way to Broadway's St. James Theatre, where LuPone continues to be a major source of theatrical electricity. Heck, she probably could light all of Manhattan.
The role of Rose is a perfect fit for LuPone, a performer of unstinting energy and inventiveness. It's wondrous to see what she has done to deepen her portrait of a woman desperate for recognition but who channels that desire through her daughters — first, June, and then Louise, who will grow up to become the famous stripper Gypsy Rose Lee.
Of course, LuPone is blessed with superb material, possibly the best musical of Broadway's Golden Age, the two decades after World War II. The brash, tough-minded score by Jule Styne (music) and Stephen Sondheim (lyrics) is rich in character and atmosphere.
Most indelibly, there's character in the big numbers for Rose that close each of the show's two acts. In the first, "Everything's Coming Up Roses," Rose's coarse, indomitable spirit is on display; in the second, "Rose's Turn," her anger boils over into high-octane rage as she realizes show business and her daughter have escaped her grasp.
LuPone tears into both songs, particularly "Rose's Turn," which director Arthur Laurents has directed as if the disappointed Rose is unleashing all her furies in one blazing musical moment.
But then, Laurents also wrote the book for the show, which is based on Lee's memoirs. And what's particularly exciting about this revival is the care with which those book scenes are played. Rarely, in musicals, do you see people of such depth and complexity.
"Gypsy" may be emotional but it is not sentimental. Still, Laurents laces the tale with humor and heart, most emphatically in the blossoming of Louise, whose ugly duckling transformation into a young woman of assurance is beautifully handled by Laura Benanti.
The relationship between Rose and Herbie, the even-tempered candy salesman, benefits from the obvious rapport between LuPone and the marvelous Boyd Gaines. They elevate the couple's romance into a major component of the story, not just a sideline before Rose and her daughter have their major faceoff.
Laurents has cast "Gypsy" with care all the way down the line. Leigh Ann Larkin's June, the favorite sister, also gets a moment to shine in her duet with Benanti, "If Momma Was Married." And has there ever been a more full-proof show stopper than "You Gotta Get a Gimmick," the number in which three strippers teach Louise about the fine art of disrobing in public? As played by Alison Fraser, Marilyn Caskey and Lenora Nemetz, these ladies earn their thunderous applause.
Jerome Robbins' original choreography has been lovingly recreated by Bonnie Walker, a "Gypsy" veteran. It runs the gamut from the hilarious vaudeville numbers for Baby June and her coterie of newsboys and farm boys to the meltingly romantic "All I Need Is the Girl."
That number, in particular, shows Robbins at his most theatrical. As Tulsa (played with genial good-guy appeal by Tony Yazbeck) demonstrates the dance he hopes will get him out of vaudeville, the love-smitten Louise follows every turn — behind his back.
...Roots musicians in spotlight at New Orleans events (Reuters)
2008-03-28 23:00:13.910991
By Cristina Black 1 hour, 49 minutes ago
NEW YORK (Billboard) - The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival will present a showcase curated by the Ponderosa Stomp Foundation, which is dedicated to revitalizing the careers of veteran musicians of blues, R&B, swamp pop and early rock 'n' roll."They're exposing heritage musicians in a lot of the areas we represent," Jazz Fest director Quint Davis said, "so it made sense for us to work with them to bring some of those artists into our fold."
The Ponderosa Stomp Revue will take place April 26 in Jazz Fest's Blues Tent. Performers include mid-century R&B/blues...
Steely Dan member issues first album in 14 years (Reuters)
2008-03-28 07:00:12.78413
By Greg Prato Fri Mar 28, 4:15 AM ET
NEW YORK (Billboard) - Steely Dan principal Walter Becker plans to release his first solo album in 14 years by early June, and says he may hit the road to promote it later in the year."Circus Money," the follow-up to 1994's "11 Tracks of Whack," exhibits the jazzy studio perfectionism that Steely Dan has been long known for. But, as evidenced by such tracks as "Bob is Not Your Uncle Anymore" and "Do You Remember the Name," it also embraces another musical style.
After Steely Dan's most recent tour, Becker tells Billboard.com he "went into a deep research period. One of the...
T.I. pleads guilty to weapons charges (AP)
2008-03-28 12:00:14.43977
By ERRIN HAINES, Associated Press Writer Fri Mar 28, 6:28 AM ET
ATLANTA - Rapper T.I. has admitted having unregistered machine guns and being a felon in possession of a firearm. Now he has a chance to avoid a lengthy prison sentence by telling kids not to make the same mistakes he did.T.I., whose real name is Clifford Harris, must spend at least 1,000 hours talking to youth groups about the pitfalls of guns, gangs and drugs before reporting for about a year in prison under a deal worked out Thursday.
"I'm looking forward to turning this negative time in my life into a positive," Harris, 27, told reporters after the hearing. "I know I have a long road of redemption to travel."
Dressed in a gray business suit, Harris pleaded guilty Thursday to possession of unregistered machine guns and silencers, unlawful possession of machine guns and possession of firearms by a convicted felon.
He will be sentenced to serve about 12 months in prison after completing the community service, although his prison time could be increased or reduced depending on his fulfillment of the terms of the deal and good behavior, officials said.
Harris is one of rap music's most successful artists. His sixth album, "T.I. vs. T.I.P.," was released July 3, debuting at No. 1. He appeared in the 2007 film "American Gangster," which starred Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe.
U.S. Attorney David Nahmias said Harris will remain "under strict bond conditions" during the next year.
He said Harris' sentencing was deferred "to allow him to perform a unique and extensive program — at least 1,000 hours — of community service. That service will focus on using his high public visibility and his talents to tell at-risk young people about the mistakes he has made and to educate them about the dangers of violence, guns, gangs and drugs."
Nahmias said under the agreement, Harris will have to serve a year in prison and three years of supervised home detention, perform a total of 1,500 hours of community service and pay a $100,000 fine.
Failure to fulfill his obligations will net Harris a "much longer prison sentence," Nahmias said.
Harris told reporters he takes the charges against him very seriously.
"I'd like to thank God for blessing me with a second chance in life and success," he said.
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Vintage Video - Filter
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