Low Budget Films Find Larger Market

Mike O"Sullivan | Los Angeles 01 September 2010

Photo: VOA - M. O"Sullivan

Vesuvio Entertainment Executive Producer Greg Sims, right

People often turn to entertainment in tough economic times and, as a result, Hollywood has been seen as recession-proof.  But, major studios are struggling to make a profit and some are closing production units.  One independent producer says the market has opened up for low budget films.

"Behind Your Eyes" is a psychological thriller - soon to be released.  It"s a low-budget production that, with clever marketing, could earn a good profit.

Vesuvio Entertainment, a small independent company, produced the film.  Executive Producer Greg Sims says good low-budget films are finding a growing  market.

"Now, people are saying it"s a little bit of a sexier business as you"re seeing the whole business model change and these bigger movies do not really work so well anymore, with a few exceptions," he said.

The exceptions are studio blockbusters like Avatar, the science fiction fantasy. It has earned over $2.5 billion worldwide.

But it cost hundreds of millions of dollars to make, and few producers can finance that kind of film these days.

Sims uses up-and-coming actors, thrills and action, like in his 1990 film, "Red Surf."   

The film starred a young George Clooney and rock star Gene Simmons.  The producer says it became a cult classic and a money-maker.

"Clooney with "Red Surf" was really an action film with these guys that go out on wet bikes," Sims said.  "They"re illegally running drugs.  They get into big boat fights, lots of explosions.  We did that film for, I think, at the time $1.2 million."

Horror is another genre that can be done on an even lower budget.  In 1997, Sims branched out into romance with the film, "Touch Me." 

He says new digital technology helps cut the cost.

"So what you"re seeing is people who are making a $1.5 million [or] $2 million movies are having trouble recouping those budgets now, and you"re seeing a whole slew of movies being made for $100,000, $200,000, a quarter of a million,"  he said.

He says the key is good production and marketing, and keeping track of trends in distribution.

"My job is to be nimble and to respond to changes in the marketplace, which are happening every hour, as opposed to every year," Sims said.

With films like "Behind Your Eyes," he says he can make a profit through DVD sales, digital downloads and international distribution.

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Steven Tyler is New "Idol" Judge; Wyclef Disqualified as Haitian Presidential Candidate

Mary Morningstar | Washington 30 August 2010

Photo: AP

Haitian presidential candidate and hip hop singer Wyclef Jean, speaks during an interview with The Associated Press at his mother"s house in Croix de Bouquets, Haiti, 18 Aug 2010

Haiti"s electoral council recently ruled August 19 that Hip-Hop singer Wyclef Jean cannot run for president of the Caribbean nation.  Jean was among 15 of 35 candidates for the office who were ruled ineligible by the council, which offered no explanation for the decision. An unnamed council official told Reuters that Haiti"s electoral council ruled that Jean"s candidacy did not meet several legal requirements.  One could be Haiti"s law that requires candidates to live in the country for five consecutive years. Jean lived in Haiti until he was nine years old, when he moved to New Jersey.  Although Jean frequently visits Haiti, the country"s constitution requires a candidate to be a resident for five years. In 2005, he formed his Yele Haiti Foundation, which provides scholarships to Haitian children and humanitarian aid to his native country.

Brown Gets Positive Progress Report from Judge

Patricia Schnegg, the Los Angeles judge overseeing Chris Brown"s probation told the R&B singer that "You"re doing very well" at a August 26 hearing on Brown"s progress.  Brown was sentenced to five years probation and six months of community labor last year after being found guilty of assaulting then-girlfriend, singer Rihanna.

Jay-Z Tops Forbes" Hip-Hop Cash Kings List

Forbes magazine recently issued its annual "Hip-Hop Cash Kings" list.  Jay-Z tops the list by earning $63 million during the past year.  Rounding out the Top 5 money makers are Sean "Diddy" Combs ($30 million), Akon ($21 million), Lil Wayne ($20 million) and Dr. Dre ($17 million).

Steven Tyler Will Be New Judge on "American Idol"

Aerosmith bassist Tom Hamilton told a New Jersey newspaper that the group"s lead singer, Steven Tyler, will be a judge on the upcoming 10th season of American Idol.  The Star-Ledger quoted Hamilton as saying, "The ink is dry on that.  Steven is someone who lives to be in front of an audience, and the people closest to him know how witty and entertaining he can be.  I don"t know if American Idol will be rock "n" roll enough for him, but it is an opportunity for millions of people to see another side of Steven Tyler."  American Idol producers haven"t confirmed who will replace former judges Simon Cowell, Ellen DeGeneres and Kara DioGuardi.

Brooks & Dunn Wrap Up Concert Tour

On September 2, Brooks & Dunn will wrap up their "Last Rodeo Tour" with a charity concert in Nashville.  "Brooks & Dunn and Friends" will benefit the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.  The Museum"s director Kyle Young says, "The enormity of this gesture, including the endorsement it implies and the example it sets, is something the Museum"s board and staff will contemplate with gratitude for a very long time.  We are grateful to Kix (Brooks) and Ronnie (Dunn) for supporting our educational mission and for putting the museum on the radar screen of their nation of fans. The only word for them is magnificent!"

Ricky Martin to Publish Memoir November 2

Latin pop star Ricky Martin will have his memoir published on November 2.  In Me, Martin addresses such topics as his early childhood, his musical career, coming to terms with his sexuality, becoming a father to twins and his work with children"s charities throughout the world.  The memoir will be released in English and Spanish-language editions.

New Album Releases August 31:

"Now That"s What I Call Music! 35" - various artists
"Something For The Rest Of Us" - the Goo Goo Dolls
"Asylum" - Disturbed
"Red Velvet Car" - Heart
"Screaming Bloody Murder" - Sum 41
"Dream Attic" - Richard Thompson
"Junky Star" - Ryan Bingham
"Better Than I Used To Be" - Sammy Kershaw

Musical Events/Festivals/Benefits:

The 40th annual Bumbershoot: Seattle"s Music & Arts Festival will take place September 4-6 in Seattle, Washington.  Artists performing on the main stage include Bob Dylan, Mary J. Blige, Drake, Weezer, Rise Against and Neko Case, among others.

Look Who"s Going On Tour!

On September 2, Eminem and Jay-Z will kick off their "Home And Home" tour in Detroit, Michigan.  A second show will take place in Detroit on September 3.  The tour also includes shows at New York"s Yankee Stadium on September 13 and 14.  Eminem new album, Recovery, has sold more than two million copies, making it the second best-seller of 2010.  Jay-Z"s upcoming anthology, The Hits Collection, Vol. 1, will be released on December 20.

Boz Scaggs, Steely Dan"s Donald Fagen and the Doobie Brothers" Michael McDonald are performing a U.S. tour together.  Billed as the Dukes of September, the supergroup is backed by a nine-piece band that features members from Steely Dan"s touring group.  They"ll be on the road through October 2.

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"Mad Men," "Modern Family" Big Winners at Emmy Awards

Mike O"Sullivan | Los Angeles 30 August 2010

Photo: AP

"Mad Men" creator Matthew Weiner, holds best drama series award, left and director Ryan Murphy holds best comedy series director award for "Glee" backstage during 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards 29 Aug. 2010, in Los Angeles. Robert Morris, rear, from "Mad Men" cast kisses a trophy.

U.S. television honored its best programs Sunday at the annual Emmy awards in Los Angeles.  Mad Men was named best dramatic series.  Modern Family was named best comedy.   Key Emmys also went to television movies and a mini-series based on real-life stories.

Mad Men, which is set at a 1960s New York advertising firm, won its third consecutive Emmy as best drama series.  And a satirical look at the modern American family, Modern Family was named best comedy and earned Emmys for its writing and for supporting actor Eric Stonestreet.

The musical-comedy series Glee had 19 nominations heading into the awards, but the series won just two Emmys, for supporting actress Jane Lynch and series creator and director Ryan Murphy.  

Bryan Cranston was honored for his portrayal of a drug dealer in the series Breaking Bad and Kyra Sedgewick for her role as a deputy police chief in The Closer. 

Top comic acting honors went to Edie Falco of Nurse Jackie and Jim Parsons of The Big Bang Theory, a series about nerdy scientists.

Temple Grandin, a TV film about a noted animal scientist who has struggled with autism, was named best television movie, and earned an acting award for Claire Danes, who portrays Grandin. Supporting performers Julia Ormond and David Strathairn and director Mick Jackson also earned Emmys.

Autism is a developmental disorder that causes problems in communicating with others, but Grandin has overcome her disability to become a respected author and advocate for the humane treatment of livestock.  Producer Emily Gerson Saines, who is herself the mother of an autistic child, thanked Grandin for her work in spreading knowledge about the condition.

"Autism has reached epidemic proportions, so on behalf of all the parents like myself who have a child with autism, Temple Grandin, you are our hero," Saines said.

The Pacific, a 10-part miniseries from producers Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg and Gary Goetzman, was named best miniseries.  The project cost more than $200 million, and it tells the intertwined stories of American Marines fighting in the Pacific during World War II.  Hanks thanked his Australia-based crew, who worked under harsh conditions.

"And our magnificent cast of actors who themselves went through an old brand of hell across the Pacific in order to portray the stories of an entire generation of men and women who did the same," Hanks said.

Al Pacino was honored for his role in You Don"t Know Jack, a television film about the controversial doctor and assisted-suicide supporter Jack Kevorkian.   The former physician, now 82, was in the audience.

George Clooney received a humanitarian award for his efforts on behalf of victims of disasters.  Clooney brought attention to the humanitarian crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan and helped organize telethons to aid victims of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the Haitian earthquake this year. He complained that the spotlight on those disasters, and the recent flooding in Pakistan, holds the world"s attention only briefly.

"So here"s hoping that some very bright person right here in the room or at home watching can help find a way to keep the spotlight burning on these heart-breaking situations that continue to be heart-breaking long after the cameras go away," Clooney said.

The Emmys are presented by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and are considered the highest honor in American television.  Late-night talk show host and comic Jimmy Fallon hosted this year"s show.

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London, Aug 27 – Pop star Lady GaGa has blasted her old schoolmate Paris Hilton, insisting she doesn’t see the hotel heiress as an artist.

The star, 24, went to New York’s Convent Of The Sacred Heart as a child along with heiresses Paris, 29, and Nicky Hilton, 26.

However, she said they are very different despite going to the same school.

“I don’t see Paris as an artist,” the Daily Star quoted her as saying.

“People assume that all the girls who went to my school were like Nicky and Paris and the truth is that I went to a very, very religious school.

“Some girls were very artistic, some did drugs and didn’t give a f***. It was like any other high school. Except we had nuns.

“I was the smart, studious theatre and music student.

“I didn’t hang out with all the popular blonde girls. I wasn’t blonde really until I was 20 years old,” she added. (ANI)

Categories: Hollywood news and Gossips
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London, Aug 27 – Hollywood actress Sandra Bullock is set to reveal all about her cheating ex-husband in a TV interview.

The star will be interviewed on NBC’s morning show next Tuesday, reports the Daily Express.

‘The Blind Side’ actress was left stunned by revelations earlier this year about her hubby Jesse James’s affair with tattooed model Michelle McGee.

The claims came just a week after the 46-year-old scooped her Best Actress Oscar.

She has remained shut on the relation but is now set to follow in the footsteps of Elin Nordegren, who this week opened about her golfer ex-husband Tiger Woods’ s infidelities. (ANI)

Categories: Hollywood news and Gossips
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London, Aug 27 – Sir Sean Connery has vowed never to act again after falling ill on the eve of his 80th birthday.

He has earlier spoken of the retirement but was lured back into films with the animated movie ‘Sir Billi’ earlier this year.

The star celebrated his b’day on Wednesday with wife Micheline and 15 of his close family at his Bahamas home.

Sir Sean said last October he had a heart condition and now says his health problems have made him re-evaluate his priorities.

“I don’t think I’ll ever act again. I have so many wonderful memories but those days are over,” the Daily Express quoted him as saying.

However, he added his health is improving.

“I’m swimming every day and I’m even trying to get the golf swing working again but that might take a little bit longer,” he said.

“During the summer I wasn’t feeling great. I came to the Edinburgh Film Festival in June then, when I left for the south of France, I realised I had lost a bit of weight and needed to change my regime. The past few days have been pretty special with the family here. It has been a great celebration,” he added. (ANI)

Categories: Hollywood news and Gossips
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London, Aug 27- After stripping off for horror flick ‘Piranha 3D’ and Playboy magazine, Brit model Kelly Brook has landed another Hollywood role.

Kelly, 30, will star as a sexy estate agent in spine-chiller ‘Removal’, reports the Daily Star.

Film boss Chady Eli Mattar spotted Kelly in ‘Piranha’.

“You know the smoking hot woman we’re looking for? Well, I’ve found her,” he told pals. (ANI)

Categories: Hollywood news and Gossips
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August 27, 2010: Ankita Srivastava who was lately seen in ‘Do Saheliyaan’ (Zee TV), is now days getting back to her first love, Theatres. As known that Ankita is a theatre person who has molded herself into a passionate actor and now after the show was pulled off by the channel, she has turned herself back to theatres with out getting redundant.

“I have once again started my work in theatres from where I have come. Because instead of sitting at home waiting for the proper offers; I spend my time working for the plays. I have just started with readings for my play and had not started the acting part of it because I worry, if in between I get some good offers, I won’t be able to continue with the theatres. But till then as acting is my life, I can’t put it on the back seat,” says Ankita.

So for what offers are you are waiting for? “ I don’t know, but some where in my heart it feels that I should get a good channel like Zee and if I get some offer from the low channel, I won’t be ready to take up that venture. Let’s see what comes my way. But till then, I will keep enjoying with my first love,” answers Ankita.

Hope producers are listening to her call!

–Tejashree Bhopatkar / Sampurn

Categories: Indian Television News and Gossips
first love

August 27, 2010: Actor Michael Douglas says his “saggy ass” stopped him from making another Basic Instinct movie.

The 65-year-old ‘Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps ’ star — who’s married to actress Catherine Zeta Jones — says he stayed well away from the critically panned Basic Instinct 2 because he didn’t feel confident back in the raunchy role.

“The first one was great and Sharon Stone was fantastic but who would want to see my saggy ass?” he said.

“I just didn’t feel like doing another. The first one was a tough one to do and we pulled it off so god bless them but I didn’t go near the sequel.”

Michael recently insisted he’ll never live up to the greatness of his father Kirk Douglas.

“I don’t think of myself as a legend,” he said last month. “My father is a legend. I’ll never match him on that score.

I just love the fact that whatever I do I still get to share with him at the age of 93.”

Douglas will next be seen in Oliver Stone’s ‘Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps’ that releases in India on September 24th.

– Sampurn

Categories: Hollywood news and Gossips
basic instinct 2

Filled With Comedy ‘Lottery Ticket’ Portrays Poverty and Desperation

Alan Silverman | Hollywood 20 August 2010

Photo: David Lee

BOW WOW as Kevin Carson and LORETTA DEVINE as Grandma in Alcon Entertainment’s comedy “LOTTERY TICKET,” a Warner Bros.

In a new "urban comedy" film, young rap star Bow Wow plays an inner city teenager who wins a huge lotto jackpot and then has to deal with both the up and down sides of becoming an instant millionaire. Here"s a look at Lottery Ticket.

"I want you to play my numbers for me on the way home …and don"t let anybody copy them either, all right, because those are my numbers. I dreamt them up last night and they"re right out of the Holy Scripture here."
"Okay."

Teenager Kevin is probably the only person in the Atlanta public housing project not excited about the lottery jackpot that has climbed to $370 million. Kevin has other things on his mind: keeping his job at a shopping mall shoe store, pipe dreaming about starting his own business and trying to get a date with the neighborhood"s prettiest girl. But his grandmother wants a ticket, so he waits in the long line to buy it:

"How many tickets do you need, man? What do you have?"

"I just need one, all right? Here, play those numbers for me."

As an afterthought, he buys one more ticket for himself (using numbers from the slip of paper in the fortune cookie from his Chinese restaurant lunch); and, don"t you know it, against all odds his ticket is the sole winner:

"You got all six numbers!"

"Yes! We won!"

"I"ve got to call somebody."

"No! Nobody can know about this, all right?"

Kevin worries that if word gets out, everyone will want a share of the good fortune. The trouble is it"s a holiday weekend and when he and his best friend go to the state lottery office they find it closed:

"Closed!?"

"Closed …for the Fourth of July. We open again Tuesday at 9AM."

"Tuesday? That"s three whole days. Do you know how much can happen in three whole days?"

Sure enough, word about his winning ticket spreads like wildfire and Kevin spends the weekend fending off opportunists and criminals alike, while also learning who his true friends are:

It is definitely a crazy story coming from nothing and then all of a sudden you have all of this money and all of this power and everybody wants a piece.

Shad Gregory Moss, better known by his stage name "Bow Wow," became famous as "Lil Bow Wow" with his first rap album at age 13 (10 years ago) and says he could identify with his character Kevin"s dilemma:

"People turn on you. You have trust issues. You don"t know who to trust or what to believe any more. It"s definitely real. We see it every day," Lil Bow Wow says. "We see kids come from the inner cities who go to school for one year and then they sign these $80-$90 million (pro sports) contracts. These are things that are actually going on: a young kid coming from the "hood making it and now he"s in this whole other position. It is real."

"You know what, you don"t even have to go to design school. You could start your own shoe company."

"Yeah, I guess I could."

"That is all you"ve been talking about since you were nine years old. This is it, Kevin."

Naturi Naughton co-stars as Stacey, Kevin"s lifelong friend, who reminds him that money can"t buy love and trust, but it can let him do positive things:

"Her character really wants to emphasize him doing something with that money. It"s not just about giving it to friends, it"s about giving it to the entire community so we can come up out of the projects and do something with our lives and feel inspired by someone taking the time to give back to the community," Naughton says. "I think Stacey cares more about that then about just getting a piece of the money."

The cast also features Ice Cube as a neighborhood hermit who becomes Kevin"s protector. The rapper and actor is also producer of Lottery Ticket, a change of pace from the broad comedies he usually stars in:

"In my music everything is pretty hard-core, talking about all the things that trouble me or trouble us; but in the movies, people pay their hard-earned money and they want to go be entertained and want to get a lift. We have moments in there and say the things that need to be said sometimes, but ultimately people have fun and to me that"s what movies are all about."

Veteran music video director Erik White makes his feature film debut with Lottery Ticket and says he wanted comic episodes to surround, but not drown out the film"s "learning moments".

"It"s not a full-on comedy," White explains. "It"s more of a great story with funny stuff in it, which makes it a little bit different from the typical "urban" film. I really wanted to get across a story with some moral fiber to it, to give people something to think about when they leave the theater. That was one thing that always bothered me about some urban films: when you walk away you"re not left with anything to ponder. I think this concept was something that works with that."

"If you won the lottery, what would you do?"

"Me? You know, take care of my family, travel, and finish school …all that good stuff; but if I had your kind of money, I"d give back. Give people something to live for instead just living, you know?"

Lottery Ticket was filmed on location in an Atlanta, Georgia public housing neighborhood with a cast of comedy and rap music stars including T-Pain, Brandon T. Jackson, Terry Crews, Bill Bellamy, Mike Epps and Loretta Devine.

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Criminal Case Against Pop Star for HIV Transmission Stirs Debate

Selah Hennessy | London 19 August 2010

Photo: AP

Nadja Benaissa, singer of German girl band "No Angels", sits in a courtroom in Darmstadt, Germany, 16 Aug 2010

A pop star on trial in Germany is facing charges of grievous bodily harm. The crime she is accused of is infecting a man with HIV when she knew she was carrying the virus. The criminalization of HIV transmission has been widespread across Europe and North America for decades and new laws are emerging across Africa.  But many people say the laws are not helping to limit the spread of HIV.

Nadja Benaissa was 16 and pregnant when she found out she was HIV-positive. She went on to become a member of one of Germany"s most famous girl bands, No Angels.

Benaissa, now 28 years old, is on trial in Germany facing criminal charges for sleeping with men without protection when she knew she was carrying the virus.

Her story has hit the headlines across Europe and has brought to the public eye an issue that raises a number of questions about the value of criminalizing HIV transmission.  

Neil Cobb is a criminal law specialist at Britain"s Durham University. He says public opinion on the whole favors criminal laws.

He says Western populations see it as a moral imperative to punish people who expose or transmit HIV to other.  But in Africa, he says, the laws are seen as key to stopping the spread of HIV.

"In most cases, criminalization has been seen as a way in which to prevent onward transmission," said Cobb.  "I think that is particularly because of the lack of easy access to treatment for HIV that actually it"s been seen as a way to deal with the problem."

But many people who work to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS - including the prestigious United Nations group UNAIDS - say the laws are counterproductive.

Christine Stegling, senior advisor on HIV/AIDS at the International HIV Alliance, says the laws do not prevent onward transmission.

"Using criminal law leads to a situation where people feel even more stigmatized and where it is very likely that they are not going to be very open about their status," explained Stegling.  "And ultimately it may lead to the fact that people feel that it is better not to know their status because they may be criminally liable if they do and therefore they won"t go and test for HIV at all."

And, she says, criminal laws target certain communities disproportionately, especially women who will be tested during a pregnancy.  She highlights the case of pop star Benaissa.

"I think it"s a very typical situation because she was a young woman at the time that she learned about her HIV status," Stegling noted.  "She learned about it because she was pregnant. She went to an anti-natal care facility and she decided not to disclose her status because she was scared of the stigma that is attached to it and she was particularly scared about the stigma that would be related to her child."

She says many people fear exposing their HIV-status because of the stigma that surrounds the virus.  She says this is especially so in Africa, where people fear being excluded from their family or community or losing their access to property.

The Global Criminalization Scan collects information on laws criminalizing the transmission of or exposure to HIV transmission. According to its data, at least 600 people globally have been convicted on HIV exposure or transmission charges.

Half of those were in the United States.  It is in the U.S., Canada, and Europe where the most convictions have taken place.

But the scan also shows that criminalization laws are spreading, especially in Africa.  Moono Nyambe is part of the Global Network of People Living with HIV and has worked on the scan. She says some of the laws emerging in Africa are rigorous.

"Probably the thing that has been noted about some of the laws applied in Africa is the broadness of the provisions within those laws. Some of the laws make it possible for a woman to be prosecuted for transmitting HIV to her child," noted Nyambe.

But she says the laws in Africa are rarely used, the scan has documented only 10 convictions across the continent.

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Life is a Cabaret at Entertainer Boot Camp

Students gather at Yale University to learn the art of performing in nightclubs

Jeff Lunden | New Haven, Connecticut 17 August 2010

Photo: Pam Tate

Instructor Tovah Feldshuh with student Nancy Gair at the International Cabaret Conference held at Yale University.

The word "cabaret" evokes so many images — singers dressed in sequins and satin, presiding over elegant nightclubs or dark, intimate rooms, cover charges and two-drink minimums.

What is doesn"t bring to mind is college dormitories, dining halls and 9 a.m. classes.

But for the past eight summers, aspiring singers have come to New Haven, Connecticut, to attend a sort of cabaret boot camp: the International Cabaret Conference at Yale University.

Intimate connection

New York City club owner Erv Raible has been the conference"s executive and artistic director for the past 30 years.

He says cabaret is a deeply emotional medium for a singer. "The intimacy of it, I think, is the most important part. The fact that, unlike any other genre in the entertainment world, you actually go into a room where you go out of there feeling like you know the person. You know something about them. They have touched your heart."

Learning how to effectively touch the heart may be the central goal of the conference but the 38 students also take classes in repertoire, hair, make-up, clothing, sound, lighting and marketing.

Their ages range from 16 to 66, and they come from all over the United States and around the globe.

A second — or third — career

Oklahoma-born Harold Sanditen began his professional life as an investment banker.

"Then I became a theater producer for 20 years in London and I gave that up three years ago to start singing, which is what I wanted to do in the very first place, but I never had the confidence."

At Yale, Sanditen and his fellow classmates have the opportunity to spend nine days working with some of the best music directors and cabaret artists in the business. That includes Laurel Massé, an original member of Manhattan Transfer, and Tony Award-winning actress Faith Prince.

At the first performance session, Sanditen performs his unique take on a Beatles song.

Prince likes it, but sees room for improvement. "I need you to not close your eyes," she tells him. "I feel like you"re closing your eyes on the most important contact." He nods, and tries again.

His classmate, Lindsay Sutherland Boal, trained in opera but the Vancouver-based singer recalls she changed her mind, right in the middle of an audition.

Over the course of a week of 14-hour days, the teachers work hard to rid Boal of some of her operatic habits — including a tendency to be overly theatrical.

Singing as story-telling

Boal learned some surprising lessons at the conference.

"It"s not important, frankly, to be a singer, to be a cabaret artist. It"s all about storytelling and while I, of course, I knew that before, I understand that at a much deeper level now."

Sanditen has learned there are different ways of storytelling, too.

"Songs you think are really serious, you can find comedy in them — you can turn them. You can make something that nobody has ever sung as anything but a serious ballad, you can make it into a comic tour de force."

He demonstrates by turning the soul classic, "Me and Mrs. Jones" — about an extramarital affair between a man and his lover, Mrs. Jones — into a modern, gender-bending ballad involving Mr. Jones, as well.

On the last night of the conference, all the students have three minutes to show what they"ve learned in front of a paying audience. The concert is called "Cabaret Stars of Tomorrow." Boal performs in a striking red bustier, but with a newfound stillness.

Afterwards, teacher Prince is speechless.

"I think they did incredibly, deliciously wonderful."

And who knows? Maybe some of them will be the cabaret stars of tomorrow.

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Taylor Swift Lights Up Billboard Hot 100; American Idol Sparks Makes Broadway Debut

Mary Morningstar 16 August 2010

Van Halen Working on New Album

Van Halen is working on their first new studio album since 1998.  Guitarist Eddie Van Halen and his brother Alex announced that David Lee Roth is back as the group"s lead singer.  He hasn"t recorded a studio album with Van Halen in 26 years.  Van Halen is expected to perform a concert tour following the album"s release in 2011.

Taylor Swift Lights Up Billboard Hot 100 Chart

Taylor Swift"s new single, "Mine," debuts at Number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart this week.  That makes her the second female artist in the history of the Hot 100 to have multiple Top 5 entries in a single year.  This past February, Taylor debuted at Number 2 with "Today Was A Fairytale."  Mariah Carey had two entries in the Top 5 during a calendar year in 1995.  She debuted at Number One with "Fantasy" and her duet with Boyz II Men, "One Sweet Day."  "Mine" is the lead single from Taylor Swift"s upcoming album Speak Now, which will be released on October 25.

Lady GaGa"s Remix Makes Billboard"s Top 10 Albums List

There are four new albums in the Top 10 on the Billboard 200.  Canadian rock group Arcade Fire lands on the list at Number One with The Suburbs.  Trill O.G. by rapper Bun B enters at Number 4.  Lady Gaga comes in at Number 6 with The Remix.  And, All Night Long by Buckcherry debuts at Number 10.

Brian Wilson Says New Album is "Labor of Love"

Beach Boy Brian Wilson refers to his new album as "a labor of love."  Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin features his versions of 10 George Gershwin classics, including "Summertime," "They Can"t Take That Away From Me" and "I"ve Got Rhythm."  He told USA Today, "I chose the ones that I thought I could do justice to.  And, I tried to sing them the way I thought he"d want me to, if he were alive."  The album also contains two new songs that Wilson co-wrote.  "Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin" drops August 17.

"American Idol" Jordin Sparks Makes Broadway Debut

On August 19, American Idol"s 2007 winner Jordin Sparks will make her Broadway debut in In The Heights.  She"ll play the role of Nina Rosario in the Tony and Grammy Award-winning show.  Sparks said, "I"m beyond excited.  It"s going to be a whole new challenge for me.  I"m going to do something I"m familiar with, which is singing, but I"ll be doing it in a whole different way, which is fun.  I like to keep challenging myself and growing and learning new things, so this is going to be a really cool experience for me."  Sparks" 12-week run ends on November 14.

New Album Releases August 17:

"No Better Than This" by John Mellencamp
"Cowboy"s Back In Town" by Trace Adkins
"Carmen: Duets and Arias" by Andrea Bocelli
"The Final Frontier" by Iron Maiden
"Foundling" by David Gray
"Intimacy" by Kem
"25: The Collection" by A-Ha
"The Trouble With Angels" by Filter

Musical Events/Festivals/Benefits:

Brad Paisley will headline the 7th annual New England Country Music Festival, which will be held at Gillette Stadium in Boston, Massachusetts on August 21.  Also on the bill are Jason Aldean, Darius Rucker, Sara Evans and Easton Corbin.  More than 50,000 Country fans will attend the sold-out festival.

The U.K."s 15th anniversary V Festival will take place August 21 and 22 at Hylands Park Chelmsford in Essex and at Weston Park in Staffordshire.  Headliners include American rock group Kings of Leon and the U.K."s Kasabian.  The sold-out festival will also feature performances by Stereophonics, the Pet Shop Boys, David Guetta, Paolo Nutini, Cheryl Cole and the Prodigy, among others.

Look Who"s Going On Tour!

On August 15, David Gray and Ray LaMontagne kicked off a North American co-headlining tour in Columbia, Maryland.  Gray is supporting his eighth studio album, Draw the Line.  LaMontagne"s new album, God Willin" and the Creek Don"t Rise, drops August 17.  The 22-date tour wraps up on September 12 in Redmond, Washington.

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Reiner Takes Nostalgic Look at Teen Love in "Flipped"

Alan Silverman | Hollywood 09 August 2010

Photo: Ben Glass

CALLAN McAULIFFE as Bryce Loski and MADELINE CARROLL as Juli Baker in Castle Rock Entertainment’s coming-of-age romantic comedy “FLIPPED,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release.

Boy meets girl and they fall in love. It"s a plot that Hollywood loves to revisit, but the new film by director Rob Reiner takes a nostalgic journey back to the pangs, pains and joys of first love. Here"s a  look at the coming-of-age comedy Flipped.

"Julie Baker? You hate her."

"That"s what"s so weird. I don"t think I do. I can"t stop thinking about her."

"You"ve got it bad, man."

It has finally dawned on teenager Bryce Loski that he really cares for the girl who has lived across the street for most of his young life. Of course, he should have realized there was something special when they first met - as seven-year-olds - the day his family moved in to the neighborhood.

"I couldn"t believe it. There I was holding hands with this strange girl. How did I get into this mess?"

From Julie"s point of view, that moment changed her life.

"The first day I met Bryce Loski I flipped. It was those eyes …something in those dazzling eyes."

As the kids grow up to become teens, Flipped flips back and forth, showing key moments in their relationship from both points of view. It"s a device director and co-writer Rob Reiner takes directly from the popular novel by Wendelin Van Draanen that he adapted for the screenplay.

"I read it with my son (Nick) who was 11 years old …in the fifth grade when he was assigned it by his teachers," Reiner explains. " We read it together and that"s when I first became of aware of it. I was completely knocked out by how insightful the writing was. It was clearly written not just for kids but for adults. I got as much, probably more, out of it than even Nick did because I could look back and think about those first feelings that I had. Nick said to me "Dad, I think this could be a great movie," and I thought he was absolutely right."

Reiner makes one significant change, moving the story from the book"s 1980"s setting to the more innocent 1960"s. It"s the same era in which he put his 1986 hit Stand By Me and Reiner sees Flipped as an ideal companion piece to that nostalgic look at friendships.

"Stand By Me is about those first very powerful feelings of love and connection with your buddies and this is about those first powerful, confusing feelings of falling in love, so it"s a boy-girl story," explains Reiner. "That"s kind of why I set it back in that period …a couple of reasons. One is that"s when I was 12 going on 13, in the late "50"s and early "60"s, but also because I wanted to focus just on those feelings which, to me, are timeless and universal. Nowadays with texting and Facebook and all of that stuff, it kind of clouds a lot of those feelings that are going on between kids; but they are the same. They are the same now as they were when I was a kid and I wanted to kind of strip all that away, make it very pure and focus on just what they are going through."

The emotions may be timeless, but the 1963 setting puts the story in a narrow window of apparent innocence when the tensions of the Cuban missile crisis had gone and Americans were not yet shattered by President Kennedy"s assassination. On the horizon were the civil rights movement, the rise of feminism and the Vietnam War. Rebecca DeMornay, who plays the teenage boy"s mother, says the Loski family …and her character in particular …struggle with the changing times.

"The character was a very, very repressed woman who really was trying to keep a perfect façade together and convince herself that everything was good if she just looked good and the house looked good and her children"s grades were good and the car looked good," Demornay says. "Everyone in the movie learns something and she learns that it really wasn"t actually all worth it."

Australian newcomer Callan McAuliffe, 15, co-stars as love-struck Bryce; the object of his unexpected affections, Julie, is played by 14-year-old Madeline Carroll, who thinks today"s teens will "get it".

"I think it will be cool for them to be able to see how it was back then," Carroll says. "Kids are so obnoxious nowadays. I really didn"t realize until I read this script …and it wasn"t just a script; people actually lived in those days. They were so much nicer and pleasant to be around. I think it will be cool for them to watch, just to see how it was back then."

"I went to bed that night thinking of the kiss that might have been. I mean it was clear he had feelings for me, but he was just too shy to show them. My mother said boys were like that."

Flipped was filmed in a tree-lined suburban neighborhood of Ann Arbor, Michigan. The cast includes Penelope Ann Miller and Aidan Quinn as Julie"s struggling parents; Anthony Edwards is Bryce"s conservative father at odds with John Mahoney as the widowed grandfather who has moved in with the family. Director Rob Reiner weaves popular music of the time throughout Flipped, as he did almost 25 years ago in Stand By Me.

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Lady GaGa Leads VMA Nominees; McGraw Outdoes Music Artists on Airplay

Mary Morningstar | Washington 12 August 2010

Elvis Presley"s "The Essential Elvis Presley" album cover

Elvis Items Go On Auction

On August 14, 270 Elvis Presley items will be auctioned at The Peabody Hotel in Memphis, Tennessee.  They include his white grand piano, which is expected to fetch more than $1 million.  Other memorabilia up for sale are the 1957 purchase agreement for his Graceland mansion, a four-page love letter he wrote in 1958 to his then-girlfriend Anita Wood, his personal address and phone book and Presley"s gun.

Streisand Named MusiCares Person of the Year

The MusiCares Foundation has chosen Barbra Streisand as its 2011 Person of the Year.  A reception, silent auction, dinner and tribute concert for the eight-time Grammy winner will take place on February 11, 2011 in Los Angeles.  Paul Caine, Chair of the MusiCares Foundation Board, says, "Barbra is synonymous with artistic excellence.  What is truly remarkable is that an artist of her stature also gives back with such open arms.  As part of her wide philanthropy, over $21 million was directed to causes she supports from her two most recent concert tours."  Barbra released a statement that said, "For me, being able to create is both a gift and a responsibility, and I have seen firsthand the power of philanthropy to make the world a safer, healthier and more peaceful place.  It is an honor to be recognized as the 2011 MusiCares Person of the Year.  I have so much respect for the work they do to create a lifeline of resources - whether it"s emergency financial assistance or access to addiction recovery resources - for music people in times of need."  Proceeds from the event will go the the MusiCares Foundation.

Rock Band"s New Album Debuts at No. 1

Rock band Avenged Sevenfold debuts at Number One on this week"s Billboard 200 with its fifth album, Nightmare.  First-week sales totaled 163,000 copies.  This marks the first Number One album for Avenged Sevenfold.  It"s the only new entry in this week"s Top 10 (week ending August 14).

Wyclef to Run For President of Haiti

Haitian hip-hop artist Wyclef Jean has announced he"ll run for president of Haiti.  He told People magazine, "The suffering of the people of Haiti, the youth of Haiti - which is the majority of the population - can"t take another five years of the corruption that"s been going on for the past 200 years.  This is why I"m running."  Elections will be held in November.

McGraw Outdoes Music Artists on Airplay

Country star Tim McGraw had the most airplay of any artist in all genres during the past decade.  According to Nielsen BDS, which tracks and reports all airplay of songs on radio, television and the Internet, says McGraw"s songs were played 7,965,000 times from January 1, 2000 through December 31, 2009.  Tim is currently on tour in support of his Southern Voice album.  His upcoming film, Country Song, which also stars Gwyneth Paltrow, will hit theaters in December.

Fanklin Falls, Cancels Concerts

Aretha Franklin canceled two free concerts in New York that were scheduled to take place this week.  On August 1, the 68-year-old "Queen of Soul" fell and fractured some ribs.  She also complained of abdominal pain, so doctors advised her to undergo tests.  The shows were set for August 9 and 12 in Brooklyn.  Franklin hopes to make them up in late August.

New Album Releases August 10:

"31 Minutes To Takeoff" by Mike Posner
"All About Tonight" by Blake Shelton
"Emily West" by Emily West
"Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam" by various artists
"Greatly Blessed" by the Gaither Vocal Band
"Déjà vu" by George Duke
"Lost Tracks 1929-1959" (box set) by Judy Garland.

Musical Events/Festivals/Benefits:

Country singer Michael Martin Murphey"s WESTFEST 2010 will take place August 12-15 in Rifle, Colorado.  Also on the bill are Patty Loveless, Craig Morgan, James Otto, Trailer Choir and bluegrass legend Peter Rowan, among others.  Murphey founded WESTFEST in 1986 as a way to preserve memories and images of the Old West.  He says, "I wanted to present the West to people who might otherwise perceive it only through a movie director"s tunnel vision.  I want to show the Real American West!"  Murphey"s hits include "Carolina In The Pines," "Wildfire" and "What"s Forever For."

Colorado"s Mile High Music Festival begins on August 14 in Denver.  More than 40 bands will perform at the two-day music and arts event.  Headliners include the Dave Matthews Band, Jack Johnson, Weezer, Train, Keane and Nas & Damian Marley.  

Lady GaGa Leads VMA Nominations

Lady Gaga leads this year"s MTV Video Music Award (VMA) nominees.  The pop star received a record-breaking 13 nominations, including Video of the Year, Best Pop Video, Best Female Video and Best Dance Video for "Bad Romance."  Other top contenders include Eminem, B.o.B. and Ke$ha.  Justin Bieber"s "Baby" brought him his first VMA nomination for Best New Artist.  The 2010 MTV VMA"s will be presented in Los Angeles on September 12.  (Complete list of nominees at www.mtv.com.)

Look Who"s Going On Tour!

On August 11, Sheryl Crow will kick off a 30-date North American tour in Rama, Ontario.  She"ll be supporting her new album, 100 Miles From Memphis. After wrapping up shows on October 1, Crow will head to Europe for seven shows in the United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium and Denmark.

Ozzy Osbourne"s Ozzfest will begin on August 14 in San Bernardino, California.  The six-city amphitheater tour is also scheduled to stop in Chicago, Illinois; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Hartford, Connecticut; Camden, New Jersey and Boston, Massachusetts.  In addition to Osbourne, main stage acts include Motley Crue, Rob Halford, Devil Driver and Nonpoint.

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