RIP, Charlie Haden

The jazz great loved a gorgeous song.

By Fred Kaplan

Charlie Haden, one of the greatest, most innovative bass players in jazz, died today, at age 76, after a long illness.

Fred Kaplan

He was often called a “free jazz” musician because of his association with Ornette Coleman, but Haden was above all a romantic; he loved a gorgeous song, and when he played one, he didn’t want to be boxed in by the standard chord changes, he wanted to take the music where he felt it should go.

I first interviewed him in 2002, when he was celebrating his 65^th birthday by playing a week of duets—each night with a different pianist—at the Blue Note jazz club in New York. “I’d been playing in a lot of bands,” he recalled of his early days in Los Angeles in the late 1950s, “and often I’d feel like improvising not on the chords but on the melody or the rhythm or just the mood of a song. But I couldn’t. The other musicians didn’t know what I was doing, they got thrown off.”

Around that time, he heard Ornette Coleman playing at a jam session. The other musicians didn’t understand what he was doing either; they threw him off the bandstand. But Haden heard a kindred spirit. They started playing together, along with a band that included Don Cherry on trumpet and Billy Higgins on drums. In 1959, they recorded an album called The Shape of Jazz to Come, which proved as prophetic as its title.

Highly recommend this CD, just beautiful playing.

But Haden wasn’t a purely emotional bass player, and those musicians who imitated “free jazz” simply by playing what they wanted misjudged what they were up against. The pianist Paul Bley, who hired Haden to play with him in 1957, once said of Haden, “He had perfect time—that’s rare.” To play gorgeous melodies, with inventive harmonies and free rhythm, all while keeping perfect time—that’s rarer still, and that’s what Haden did, as a matter of course. Bass players often go unnoticed in jazz groups. There are lots of inside jokes about audiences talking during bass solos. But Haden was riveting from the beginning.

“When we had jam sessions,” Bley recalled of the early days, “the usual 29 tenor sax players would line up, waiting to sit in. But when Charlie sat in, none of them wanted to play. They all just wanted to listen. That’s how good he was.”

Haden was born in 1937 in Shenandoah, Iowa, and grew up in Springfield, Mo., the youngest of four children in a family of professional country musicians. The Haden Family Singers were regulars at the Grand Ole Opry and had a nationwide network radio show. Charlie’s mom would rock him to sleep by humming folk songs. One night, he started humming the harmony. He wasn’t quite two years old. He started singing with the family band right away.

One night, during that week of duets at the Blue Note in 2002, Haden played with the great pianist Geri Allen, and at one point they launched into “Lonely Woman,” Ornette Coleman’s dark anthemic ballad. It was a long, breathtaking rendition, and when Haden took his solo, he segued into “Barbara Allen,” “Old Joe Clark,” and “Fort Worth Jail,” country tunes that he’d sung with his family as a child.

Haden always saw links between jazz and country music. He told me, “The old folk music of England and Ireland and Scotland came over to America and evolved in the mountains of Appalachia and the Ozarks. Wherever there was a struggle in the hills, the music from that was very moving, very soulful. Jazz grew out of spirituals and the blues, which came from the struggle of the African slave and the freedom movement. So they’re both music of struggle.”

He was a man of the left, and for a while his music reflected it. One of his most stirring compositions, which he played many times with many different bands, was a ballad called “Song for Che.” In the late 1960s, he formed the Music Liberation Orchestra, a big band that played songs inspired by various revolutionary movements.

But even in this phase, the music, more than the politics, is what moved him. You could see it in the way he played. He seemed to be romancing the bass, swaying it back and forth, eyes closed, his head turned away, grimacing with intensity, leaning over at an almost perpendicular angle to hear his own playing more keenly, sometimes beaming when he heard someone else in the band play something remarkable.

He was youthful, at whatever age he happened to be, and a perpetual hipster, punctuating most sentences with “man,” even when he was talking with a woman.

After settling in L.A. in the mid-1980s, he formed a band, called Quartet West, that played noir ballads inspired by Raymond Chandler novels and movie themes of the 1940s. When he’d come east during those years, he either brought the band with him or played duets with old friends who still lived in or around New York. One of his most striking albums from this later era is a 1995 duet with the pianist Hank Jones called Steal Away: Spirituals, H...Folk Songs.

In 1989, the Montreal Jazz Festival featured a Charlie Haden tribute, where he played each night with a different band. Many of the concerts were released on CD. The best (or my favorites) are two trio albums, one with Paul Bley and drummer Paul Motian, the other with Don Cherry and drummer Ed Blackwell.

Charles Edward Haden went out on a huge critical and commercial success, a duet album with pianist Keith Jarrett. (Haden had played in Jarrett’s quartet in the 1970s, but they hadn’t worked together since.)

The album was called Last Dance, partly in anticipation that this would probably be the last Charlie Haden record, and it not only topped the jazz charts for several weeks (remarkably the first No. 1 jazz record in Jarrett’s career) but also, at its peak, hit No. 20 on Amazon’s chart for all music.

An earlier Jarrett-Haden duet record, Jasmine, came out four years ago. Both albums were recorded at the same session, in 2007, before Haden took ill (a recurrence of the polio that briefly struck him when he was 15, compounded in the last few months by liver cancer).

Both albums consist of ballads and standards, and they’re just gorgeous. But what’s clear, only after letting the music wash over you a few times, is how much Charlie Haden is the session’s leader. Ornette once said of Haden that he “plays the music, not the background,” and that’s what he’s doing here.

At times he’ll do what most bassists do: play the root of a chord (say, a C note to stress a C chord) or spell out the chord’s notes in an arpeggio or fragments of a scale. But sometimes he’ll play along with the melody or pluck a counter-melody, or invert the chord in a strange way, or alter the rhythm to heighten, then ease the tension, or he’ll play some notes that have no apparent relation to the song but rouse a mood that somehow fits it.

Haden was a master listener, above all else, and so is Jarrett. Last Dance and Jasmine are albums about the art and pleasure of listening.

One more thing: a list of my favorite Charlie Haden albums, most of which are still in print.

With Ornette Coleman Quartet:
The Shape of Jazz to Come
Change of the Century
This Is Our Music

As leader:
The Montreal Tapes: With Don Cherry & Ed Blackwell
The Montreal Tapes: With Paul Bley & Paul Motian
Liberation Music Orchestra
Quartet West
In Angel City
Haunted Heart

Duets:
Soapsuds, Soapsuds (with Ornette Coleman)
Steal Away (with Hank Jones)
Night & the City (with Kenny Barron)
As Long As There’s Music (with Hampton Hawes)
Jasmine (with Keith Jarrett)
Last Dance (with Keith Jarrett)

As sideman:
Wanton Spirit (Kenny Barron)
Escalator Over the Hill (Carla Bley)
Alone Together (Lee Konitz)
The World Is Falling Down (Abbey Lincoln)
So in Love (Art Pepper)
Pop Pop (Rickie Lee Jones)

The 20 Most Anticipated TV Shows Of 2014:

http://blogs.indiewire.co...eaderPanel

Tammi Terrell

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Watch: 4-Hour 'American Masters' Documentary 'Andy Warhol' Featuring Bob Dylan, Dennis Hopper And More

Boing Boing has pointed us to Ric Burns' extensive 1996 "American Masters" effort "Andy Warhol: A Documentary." As you might guess, it's an extensive and in-depth look at the Pop Art icon, featuring an array of diverse faces, including Bob Dylan, Dennis Hopper, Jeff Koons and more, with Warhol friend Laurie Anderson narrating the whole thing. We know school's out, but this might be a good way to keep those brain cells from atrophy before the bell rings in September. Give it a watch below.

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Shakira Delivers Winning Performance at World Cup Closing Ceremony

By Judy Cantor-Navas | July 13, 2014 2:14 PM EDT

AFP PHOTO / GABRIEL BOUYS (Photo credit should read GABRIEL BOUYS/AFP/Getty Images

Santana, Wyclef, Brazilians Ivete Sangalo and Alexandre Pires have crowd in Rio roaring

Angelica Celaya Boards NBC's 'Constantine' as Zed.

Days after co-lead Lucy Griffiths exited NBC's Constantine, the DC Comics adaptation has found Zed: Angelica Celaya.

Executive producer David Goyer revealed the casting news during the show's panel at Sunday's summer Television Critics Association press tour.

"She's someone who can go toe-to-toe with John [Constantine], and that's ultimately something we felt like we needed," said executive producer Daniel Cerone of the new DC Comics character to be introduced early in the season. "We wanted a more dynamic relationship, as opposed to someone who is a teacher/mentor and a student. It just didn't feel as fertile and rich of an area as just a strong a man and a strong woman who are both very different."

Earlier Sunday, NBC Entertainment president Jennifer Salke emphasized that the network was specifically looking for an "authentic Latina actress" for the new female lead, Zed, a character from the Constantine books "with a very dark past." Zed is seen as a foil for the show's title character, who becomes his right-hand woman and will be the first of several DC characters to appear on Constantine.

Griffiths played the non-DC character Liv, an offbeat woman who finds herself teamed with Constantine after she is marked for death by a powerful demon. (Her exit will be explained in the second episode, which begins filming Tuesday.) In further explaining the producers' sudden decision to change gears creatively after establishing Liv and John's relationship and backstory in the pilot, the writers "felt a bit hamstrung" by Liv, Cerone admitted, as they looked ahead.

"Liv is a great character. She's very wide-eyed, she's very reactive, she doesn't have powers, and when we started to look at the story, we thought this is a character who is always going to be reactive," Cerone said. Thus began the conversation of seeking out other Constantine characters who they felt better fit within the confines of the universe. Cerone revealed that the writers had originally toyed with bringing Zed in the pilot. It was when they "started writing ourselves into the corner" without Zed that they decided to go for it. "We hope it energizes the fan base."

PHOTO 'Constantine': First Look... Detective

With such significant changes, the Constantine team felt they didn't need to scrap the original pilot and film a new one. (There will be "one little scene" that will be reshot from the pilot.) "One of the hallmarks of John is his friends drop like flies," Goyer explained, making a point to praise Griffiths' job in the pilot. "They almost all die around him. It's the price of doing business. He is this classic noir character who often ends up alone, and we thought it was consistent with the character."

Goyer also had ambitions of using Constantine to potentially launch a franchise similar in vein to NBC expanding the Chicago Fire universe with Chicago P.D., though the TV and film producer-writer had no timeline.

As for the tone of the series, Goyer and Cerone maintained that Constantine is a "horror show," but will keep in line with the comic books by using a balance of comedic (in part due to John's "smart-ass" humor) and fun elements.

Constantine centers on master of the occult John Constantine (Matt Ryan), who struggles with his faith as he is haunted by the sins of his past and is suddenly thrust into the role of defending humanity from the gathering forces of darkness.

In the comics, Constantine is a heavy smoker — something Goyer said the show touches on, though it won't be a heavy focus. "He is a smoker in the show. We're not shying away from it, but we're not glorifying it," he maintained. Another question was raised about Constantine's bisexual nature — a strong recurring theme in the comics. Producers said there are "no immediate plans" to venture into that territory.

Celaya, a telenovela star, is repped by Innovative and DePaz Management. Her English-language TV credits include Dallas and Burn Notice.

Constantine premieres Oct. 24 at 10 p.m. on NBC.

Elvis: That's The Way It Is in Theaters

Elvis fans will have the chance to experience the world premiere of the newly re-mastered "Elvis: That's The Way It Is" on the big screen at Elvis Week 2014. The screening will be held on the evening of August 16 at the Orpheum Theatre in Memphis. For more about the Elvis Week screening and ticket information, visit our Elvis Week schedule of events.

For fans unable to attend the Elvis Week world premiere, they will still have a chance to see Elvis on the big screen when the newly-remastered "Elvis: That’s The Way It Is" hits almost 300 theaters in the U.S. following Elvis Week for a limited engagement.

Below is a complete list of theaters who will feature screenings of the newly re-mastered "Elvis: That's The Way It Is." For more information on screening times and ticket prices, visit the specific theater's website. http://www.graceland.com/ttwii.aspx

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Elvis Rehearsing at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Culver City, CA, July 1970.

Kenny KjØhl

By Nick Murray

July 14, 2014 8:40 AM ET

Officially "back," Elvis Presley spent the summer of 1969 and February of 1970 in Las Vegas, playing well over 50 shows at the International Hotel. On July 14th, 1974 – 34 years ago today – he went to the MGM lot in Culver City, California, to start rehearsals for his third run, scheduled to begin on August 10th and be filmed for a new documentary, Elvis: That's the Way It Is.

The 100 Greatest Singers of All Time: Robert Plant on Elvis Presley

This fall, that documentary and the album of the same name will be getting another reissue, blown out across eight CDs and two DVDs. These include the original album, outtakes, the film's theatrical release and 2,000 extended reissue and six discs of live sets. Disc two, for instance, contains opening night, and disc five contains the August 12th dinner show. Below, you can stream the previously unreleased take on "I Just Can't Help Believin'" that Elvis sang mid-way through this latter performance.

In his Rolling Stone review of the 2003 That's the Way It Is reissue, Tom Nawrocki wrote, "Drawing inspiration from the Kris Kristofferson singer-songwriter movement that was encroaching on Nashville in the early Seventies, That's the Way It Is may be Presley's most grown-up collection of songs: Love affairs are negotiated around unpaid bills and babies crying at 6 a.m."

The new edition of the LP and DVD will be released on August 5th and is available for pre-order here.

Listen: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/hear-elvis-unreleased-just-cant-help-believin-live-from-vegas-20140714#ixzz37T50Vh00

Lorin Maazel, an Intense and Enigmatic Conductor, Dies at 84

Photo

Lorin Maazel, a former child prodigy who went on to become the music director of the New York Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Vienna State Opera and several other ensembles and companies around the world, and who was known for his incisive and sometimes extreme interpretations, died on Sunday at his home in Castleton, Va. He was 84.

The cause was complications of pneumonia, said Jenny Lawhorn, a spokeswoman for Mr. Maazel. In recent days, he had been rehearsing for the Castleton Festival, which takes place on his farm.

Mr. Maazel (pronounced mah-ZELL) was a study in contradictions, and he evoked strong feelings, favorable and otherwise, from musicians, administrators, critics and audiences.

He projected an image of an analytical intellectual — he had studied mathematics and philosophy in college, was fluent in six languages (French, German, Portuguese, Spanish and Italian, as well as English) and kept up with many subjects outside music — and his performances could seem coolly fastidious and emotionally distant. Yet such performances were regularly offset by others that were fiery and intensely personalized.

CreditRuby Washington/The New York Times

He was revered for the precision of his baton technique, and for his prodigious memory — he rarely used a score in performances — but when he was at his most interpretively idiosyncratic, he used his powers to distend phrases and reconfigure familiar balances in the service of an unusual inner vision.

“He is clearly a brilliant man,” John Rockwell wrote in The New York Times in 1979, “perhaps too brilliant to rest content with endless re-creations of the standard repertory. He is also, it would seem, a coldly defensive man, and perhaps that coldness coats his work with a layer of ice.

“The only trouble with this line of thinking is that it doesn’t take all the facts into account. Mr. Maazel, when he’s ‘on,’ has led some of the finest, most impassioned, most insightful performances in memory. When he’s good, he’s so good that he simply has to be counted among the great conductors of the day. Yet, enigmatically, it’s extremely difficult to predict just when he is going to be good or in what repertory.”

A Boy With a Baton

Perhaps because he grew up in the limelight, conducting orchestras from the age of 9, Mr. Maazel was self-assured, headstrong, and sometimes arrogant: When he took a new directorship, he often announced what he planned to change and why his approach was superior to what had come before. He knew what he wanted and how to get it, and if he encountered an immovable obstacle, he would walk away, also with a public explanation.

That was how he handled his brief term as general manager and artistic director at the Vienna State Opera, where he was the first American to wield such power.

“I am keen that this house again be led in the fashion of Mahler and Strauss,” he said at a news conference when his appointment was announced. “I have the full responsibility for the opera, and I have no intention of sharing that responsibility, though I may delegate it.” He added, “I will not hesitate to make changes, if I consider them necessary.”

He quickly transformed the house from a repertory company, where a different work was staged every night, to what he called a “block” system, in which groups of operas were played, with frequent repeats. He regarded this as more efficient and likely to produce better performances.

When the Viennese culture minister differed, and also complained about Mr. Maazel’s casting choices and argued that he was mainly interested in burnishing his own artistic profile, Mr. Maazel abruptly resigned, two years into a four-year term, and wrote an Op-Ed article for The New York Times, deploring interference in the arts by government officials with no artistic background. (In September 2013, the company erected a bust of Mr. Maazel, by the sculptor Helmut Millionig. Mr. Maazel attended the unveiling ceremony.)

His tenures with the Cleveland Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic had their rough moments, too. The Cleveland musicians voted against hiring him to succeed the legendary George Szell, who had died in 1970, because they did not consider him sufficiently accomplished to fill Szell’s shoes. Mr. Maazel told The Times in 2002 that “the relationship remained more or less rocky to the end.”

In New York, Mr. Maazel quickly won over the Philharmonic musicians. But several critics, while happy that the orchestra had engaged an American music director for the first time since Leonard Bernstein gave up its podium in 1969, were disappointed that Mr. Maazel, 70 at the time, was of the same generation as his predecessor, Kurt Masur (then 73), and that his tastes in contemporary music seemed conservative. Eventually, many of them came to admire him.

Alan Gilbert, Mr. Maazel’s successor as music director of the Philharmonic, said Sunday, “Personally, I am grateful to him, not only for the brilliant state of the orchestra that I inherited from him, but for the support and encouragement he extended to me when I took over his responsibilities.”

Lorin Varencove Maazel was born in the Parisian suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine on March 6, 1930, to a pair of American music students — Lincoln Maazel, a singer, and Marie Varencove Maazel, a pianist — who were studying there. He showed an aptitude for music early: When he was 5, by which time the family had moved to Los Angeles, he began studying the piano; at 7, he took up the violin.

One piece in his piano repertory was a reduction of Haydn’s “Surprise” Symphony, and when he was 8, his father gave him a copy of the full orchestral score. Lorin studied it, along with a recording his father also bought him, and when he conducted a family ensemble in the work, his parents noted that he was adept at cues and balances. They took him to study with Vladimir Bakaleinikoff, then an associate conductor with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

When Mr. Bakaleinikoff took a conducting job in Pittsburgh, the Maazels followed. They also sent young Lorin to music camp at Interlochen, Mich.

Olin Downes, a music critic for The Times, happened to be visiting the camp when Lorin, then 9, led the camp’s orchestra in a movement from Schubert’s “Unfinished” Symphony. Mr. Downes, though generally skeptical of prodigies, wrote that the boy conducted “with a beat clean and firm, yet elastic and with a consistency of tempo that very occasionally was modified by a nuance absolutely in place and appropriate as it was employed.”

Toscanini and Lollipops

That summer, the Interlochen orchestra performed at the World’s Fair in New York, and Lorin conducted it twice. In 1940, just before his 10th birthday, he conducted the Pittsburgh Symphony as well, and when he was 11, in July 1941, Arturo Toscanini invited him to conduct the NBC Symphony in a concert — works by Wagner, Mendelssohn and Dika Newlin — broadcast nationally from Radio City Music Hall. The orchestra, outraged at the idea of being led by a child, greeted him at the first rehearsal with lollipops in their mouths. He won their respect the first time he stopped the rehearsal to point out a wrong note.

In the summer of 1942, and again in 1944, he led the New York Philharmonic in performances at Lewisohn Stadium. But when he turned 15, he put his baton aside and settled into his academic studies at the University of Pittsburgh.

He did not abandon music entirely. In 1946, he organized the Fine Arts Quartet of Pittsburgh, with which he was a violinist until 1950, and in 1948, he joined the violin section of the Pittsburgh Symphony. An invitation from the conductor Serge Koussevitzky to lead the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood in the summer of 1951 brought him back to the podium just before he headed off to Rome, on a Fulbright fellowship, to study Renaissance Italian music.

Mr. Maazel dated the start of his mature career to Christmas Eve 1953, when, still a student in Rome, he was invited to step in for an ailing conductor at the Teatro Bellini, in Catania. His success there led to engagements in Naples, Florence and elsewhere in Europe, and then in Japan, Australia and Latin America.

Lorin Maazel leading the New York Philharmonic at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center in 2011. Credit Brian Harkin for The New York Times

By 1960, he had conducted about 300 concerts with more than 20 European orchestras, and was sufficiently well regarded to win an invitation to conduct “Lohengrin” at Bayreuth, the German shrine that Wagner built to himself and his music. At 30, he was the youngest conductor, as well as the first American, to work there.

He was, however, virtually unknown (as an adult) in the United States. But in October 1962, he toured the country with the Orchestre Nationale de France, a Parisian radio orchestra with which he would enjoy a long relationship (he was music director from 1977 to 1991), and appeared as a guest conductor with the New York Philharmonic and at the Metropolitan Opera, where he led “Don Giovanni” and “Der Rosenkavalier.”

By the mid-1960s, he was also making recordings for two of Europe’s most prestigious labels, Deutsche Grammophon and Decca, with the Berlin Philharmonic and the Vienna Philharmonic. He eventually recorded for other labels as well, among them RCA Red Seal, CBS (later Sony Classical) and Erato.

Among the highlights of his discography are recordings he made for the film versions of “Don Giovanni” (directed by Joseph Losey) and “Carmen” (Francesco Rossi), as well as his cycles of the Beethoven, Mahler and Sibelius symphonies.

An Old-Fashioned Approach

Mr. Maazel’s first music directorship was that of the Deutsche Opera, in West Berlin, jointly with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, a position he held from 1965 until 1971, when he accepted the directorship of the Cleveland Orchestra, to begin in 1972.

In Cleveland, as in Berlin, Mr. Maazel took an old-fashioned approach to the job. Instead of conducting barely more than a dozen weeks of concerts and leaving the rest to guests, as was becoming the norm, Mr. Maazel spent most of his year in Cleveland. He recorded plentifully with the orchestra, and toured with it frequently. He gave up the directorship, becoming conductor emeritus, in 1982, the year he became general manager of the Vienna State Opera.

When the Vienna directorship went sour, in 1984, Mr. Maazel declared himself liberated, free to return to the far-flung guest conducting of his early years.

“I worked as a music administrator as well as a conductor of 20 years,” he told an interviewer in 1985, “and during that time, I devoted almost all my attention to the organizations I was working for — six years in Berlin, 10 in Cleveland, three in Vienna. I’ve conducted 132 orchestras, but in the last 20 years, I’ve not conducted more than seven or eight of them. So I’m having a lot of fun going around the world now, meeting people who’ve gotten to know me through records and television. I’m like a child let out of school.”

He could not, however, resist the siren song of another directorship. In 1984, he agreed to become a music consultant to the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. A year later, the orchestra upgraded his title to music adviser and principal guest conductor, and in 1988, he became its music director. By the time he relinquished the post, in 1996, he had upgraded its performance standards, taken it around the world, and won a Grammy with the orchestra for a recording of Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev works with the cellist Yo-Yo Ma.

Even so, he maintained his freelance career, and was given to occasional spectacles, like the 1988 marathon in London, when he conducted all nine Beethoven symphonies in a single 10-and-a-half-hour concert. He repeated the feat in Tokyo at the end of 2010.

In 1989, he was on a short list of candidates to succeed Herbert von Karajan at the Berlin Philharmonic. When Claudio Abbado was chosen instead, Mr. Maazel insisted that he never had any intention of leaving his Pittsburgh orchestra, and canceled his Berlin dates — not, he said, in a fit of pique, but so that Mr. Abbado would have more time to whip the orchestra into shape.

He took over the Bavarian Radio Orchestra in 1991, at a salary reported to be around $3.8 million, at that point the highest paid to any conductor anywhere, and held its directorship until 2002, when he took over the New York Philharmonic.

(He gave the Philharmonic a price break: When he left that position, in 2009, his salary was reported as $3.3 million.)

In the 1990s, Mr. Maazel revived an interest in composing that had gripped him briefly in his youth, and which he explored rarely as an adult, apart from performing a short waltz in Cleveland in 1980, and his 70-minute orchestra-only reduction of Wagner’s “Ring” cycle.

He took up a series of concerto commissions, writing “Music for Violoncello and Orchestra” for Mstislav Rostropovich in 1994; “Music for Flute and Orchestra” for James Galway, in 1995; and “Music for Violin and Orchestra,” in which he was the violin soloist, in 1997. He also set to work on an opera, “1984,” based on the Orwell book, with a libretto by J. D. McClatchy and Thomas Meehan. It had its premiere at Covent Garden in 2005, and was revived at La Scala, in Milan, in 2008.

Mr. Maazel celebrated his 70th birthday with a world tour in which he revisited many of the orchestras he had conducted over the decades. One stop was at the New York Philharmonic, which was negotiating with several conductors to succeed Mr. Masur as music director. Mr. Maazel threw his hat in the ring, and within a few weeks, he captured the post.

Among his accomplishments at the Philharmonic were the premieres of several major works, including John Adams’s “On the Transmigration of Souls” and scores by Poul Ruders, Melinda Wagner and Aaron Jay Kernis, and taking the orchestra to Pyongyang, North Korea.

When the plan to visit Pyongyang drew protests from those who objected to his performing for a brutal regime, Mr. Maazel wrote in The Wall Street Journal that the visit was about “bringing peoples and their cultures together on common ground, where the roots of peaceful interchange can imperceptibly but irrevocably take hold.”

After he left the Philharmonic in 2009, Mr. Maazel set up the Castleton Festival, for classical music and opera, on the grounds of his farm in Virginia. He founded and directed the festival jointly with his wife, the German actress Dietlinde Turban Maazel, whom he married in 1986. Two previous marriages — to the composer Mimi Sandbank and the pianist Israela Margalit — ended in divorce.

His wife survives him, as do their two sons, Leslie and Orson Maazel, and daughter, Tara Maazel; and three daughters — Anjali Maazel, Daria Steketee and Fiona Maazel — and a son, Ilann Margalit Maazel, from his previous marriages.

Mr. Maazel’s life as a festival director did not diminish his wanderlust. He became music director of the Munich Philharmonic in 2010. And in a blog on his website, he noted that in 2013 — he was 83 — he conducted 102 concerts, performing 72 compositions in 28 cities in 16 countries. He added that he was looking forward to getting back in harness.

“Curiously, for someone who has a fairly good reputation for stick technique,” he told a reporter for The Times in 2002, “I don’t recognize stick technique per se. I don’t think I ever make the same motion twice in the same bar of music. The aim is to find a motion that responds to the need of a particular player at a particular moment. The player must be put at ease, so that he knows where he is and what is expected, and is free to concentrate on beauty of tone. There is no magic involved.”

Rachel Welch & Jim Brown (100 Rifles)

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Scarlett Johansson Gets The Combination, Helps The Authorities In 2 Clips From 'Lucy' Plus New Pics

From a brief moment, there was a time to be excited about a new film from Luc Besson. But that was a long, long time ago when he was making movies like "La Femme Nikita," "Leon: The Professional" and "The Fifth Element." But these days he seems content to knock out drivel like last year's "The Family," his transparent awards contender "The Lady" all while helping stuff like "Taken" and "Brick Mansions" get made. Anyway, Besson is back behind the camera, this time for "Lucy," and yeah it looks about as exactly as underwhelming as you might guess.

Scarlett Johansson gets the lead role, playing a young woman who yada yada yada is now a supercharged something-or-other and gets mixed up with some bad dudes including Choi Min-Sik from "Oldboy." Anyway, a couple more clips are here from the movie, one with a more timid Lucy with a briefcase strapped to her arm, and another from a more confident Lucy, coolly telling the authorities what to do. And oh yeah, she changes her hair color with her mind and stares down a police dog.

"Lucy" opens on July 25th.

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Steely Dan Sticks to Formula at the Forum: Concert Review

10:53 AM PDT 7/14/2014 by Ben Wener

Paul Hebert/Scoop Marketing

The Bottom Line

Hall of Famers and their talented troupe reiterate that what ain’t broke don’t need fixing.

Venue

The Forum
Inglewood CA (Saturday, July 12)

Veteran band’s return to roadwork is now two decades old, resulting in another winning, if predictable, performance.

Back in summer 1993, when once-reclusive jazz-rock outfit Steely Dan returned after more than a decade in the quiet wilderness, lifelong fans came away thrilled not just by dexterous playing and unearthed gems but, more so, the mere sight of the group on any stage. This was, after all, the same enigmatic act that had sworn off the road nearly 20 years earlier, following a Fourth of July ’74 show at Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. They preferred the pristine perfection of studio seclusion over what was then a less-than-fulfilling life on the road.

PHOTOS KISS and Def Leppard Prov... the Forum

As robust as those initial reunion sets were, audiences who turned out to witness the unthinkable back then never could have guessed that 21 years later the Dan would still be at it. Arguably stronger than ever, yet peddling little more than nostalgia with superior chops, the ensemble did so again during a predictable, but winning, turn Saturday night at the revitalized Forum, a landmark that the N.Y.C.-born, L.A.-bred group had never headlined before.

Certainly the band — professorial masterminds Donald Fagen and Walter Becker plus a revolving arsenal of aces — has been cashing in ever since their Burroughs-derived moniker was revived. Not that their paydays have lacked integrity: That first tour, for instance, was not only an attention-grabbing means of promoting Fagen’s second solo album, Kamakiriad, but a chance for Steely Dan to prove it could deliver knockout performances, finally turning so many meticulous ’70s tracks into the malleable concert material they always were.

Now, however, 11 years since the duo’s last collaboration (the underrated Everything Must Go) and a couple more since their sterling comeback Two Against Nature denied Eminem an album of the year Grammy, Fagen and Becker have become the exact opposite of what they were at the height of their multiplatinum heyday in ’77: road warriors. Exceptional musicians though they remain, they are now intrinsically (if not aesthetically) the same as any other throwback headed to the Forum this year, from Aerosmith and Boston to Tom Petty and Fleetwood Mac.

Jamalot Ever After, their latest and least cryptic of tour titles, isn’t scarcely different from last year’s outing, Mood Swings: 8 Miles to Pancake Day, nor any other curiously named jaunt before that one, like 2011’s Shuffle Diplomacy or the Rent Party run of 2009. Yet that familiarity, while strengthening a core, largely unchanged set list, has also caused daring to dissipate along with an earlier proclivity for vault-raiding.

It used to be that you could check out a Steely Dan gig and anticipate finding a few neglected cuts —oddballs like “The Fez” or “Doctor Wu” or less-characteristic tunes like “Any Major Dude Will Tell You” — slotted among must-play crowd-pleasers like “My Old School” and “Reelin’ in the Years.” That expectation got tossed aside with the notion of doing classic albums in full, although most nights significant parts of multiplatinum princess Aja are still on immaculate display.

Such was the case at this Inglewood stop, where “Black Cow” and that disc’s title tune set a classy tone, while “Josie” and “Peg” picked up the pace toward the end. In between came old FM staples like “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number” and a ripping “Bodhisattva,” with nimble guitarist Jon Herington expertly expanding upon solos from the original versions; a few moodier scene-setters, including an essential L.A. snapshot, “Babylon Sisters”; and a handful of smart rearrangements, like the swinging R&B feel applied to “Black Friday” and the slithering noir treatment of “Show Biz Kids,” its plodding rhythm replaced by syncopated funk from Keith Carlock, one of the finest drummers around. Backing vocalists the Danettes, including longtime member Carolyn Leonhart, richly handled the melody of “Dirty Work,” and apart from Becker’s bad jokes and scattershot ramblings during “Hey Nineteen,” there was at least one left-field choice: “Green Earrings,” an idiosyncratic groove with room enough for both keys man Jim Beard to lay down some organ wash and Roger Rosenberg to make his baritone sax sound like a wailing tenor.

STORY Steely Dan at the Greek T...ert Review

The crowd, which nearly filled the adjusted arena (the Forum’s upper deck was curtained off, making it comparable to L.A. Live’s Nokia Theatre), increasingly roared approval and was singing along by the finale, helping mask some of the high-end weaknesses of Fagen’s otherwise hearty and still-singular voice, just as his Ray Charles shades typically hid his gaze. Surely nothing surprised them, least of all the fact that only one of 20-plus numbers dated from later than 1980.

Perhaps next time Steely Dan will consider dishing up rarer morsels at a smaller venue, and in so doing speak more directly to the seedier underbelly of its catalog. For this larger bash, though, sticking to a time-tested formula produced predictably robust results.

Set list:

Cubano Chant (instrumental intro)
Black Cow
Aja
Hey Nineteen
Rikki Don’t Lose That Number
Black Friday
Show Biz Kids
Time Out of Mind
Things I Miss the Most
Green Earrings
Dirty Work
Bodhisattva
Daddy Don’t Live in That New York City No More
Babylon Sisters
I Want To (Do Everything for You) (Joe Tex cover, band introductions)
Josie
Peg
My Old School
Reelin’ in the Years

––––––

Kid Charlemagne
The Untouchables Theme (exit instrumental)

February 20, 1985|RICHARD CROMELIN

Billy Joel's mother, Rosalind Nyman Joel, dies at 92

July 14, 2014 9:23 PM
By GLENN GAMBOA Newsday

Singer Billy Joel on a shopping trip with his mother, Rosalind Nyman Joel, in South Beach, Miami, on Jan. 25, 2008. (Credit: Splash News / Juan Garces)

Rosalind Nyman Joel, mother of singer-songwriter Billy Joel and the inspiration for several of the superstar's songs, died Sunday in hospice care on Long Island, surrounded by her friends and family. She was 92.

Though Joel spent her later years supporting various charitable endeavors and enjoying an active social life, it was her love of the performing arts and support of her son that ended up helping to shape music history.

"I've got music in my hands," Billy Joel sings in "Rosalinda's Eyes," a tribute to his mother from the multiplatinum 1978 album, "52nd Street." "The work is hard to find, but that don't get me down. Rosalinda understands."

After all, music was always a major part of her life.

Rosalind Nyman was born on Feb. 15, 1922, in Brooklyn to English emigrants Philip and Rebecca Nyman. She met Howard Joel, whose family had escaped Nazi Germany in 1939, in a student musical production at City College of New York in 1942. (To commemorate that meeting, Billy Joel endowed the Rosalind Joel Scholarship for the Performing Arts in 1986, an award still given to City College of New York students.)

Though World War II would interrupt their courtship, Howard returned to Rosalind after his service in the U.S. Army and they married in 1946. Their son, William Martin Joel, was born in May 1949, and later the family adopted Judy, the daughter of Rosalind's late sister, Muriel.

Shortly after Billy Joel was born, the family moved from the Bronx to Hicksville.

Rosalind and Howard Joel divorced in 1957, with Howard returning to Germany and Rosalind left to raise her family as a single mother. She did clerical work for various businesses near the family home to pay the bills.

However, Billy Joel didn't feel disadvantaged by his upbringing. "I think I was less angry and resentful than my friends who had dictator fathers," Billy Joel told Newsweek in 1978. "I was brought up by women -- my mother and my sister -- who were tender and loving."

Billy Joel attributes part of his inventiveness as a songwriter to having to practice piano while his mother listened. Instead of actually learning the works of Beethoven, for example, he would make up music that sounded like Beethoven so his mother would think he was doing his lessons.

"We always knew he was talented as a kid," Rosalind Joel told Newsday in 2002, at the opening of the Broadway musical, "Movin' Out." "Am I excited? Sure, it's unbelievable . . . But I'll tell you, after 30 years of this, you calm down after a while. To me, he's just a very talented boy and a very good son."

In addition to her children, Joel is survived by her sister, Bertha Miller of Ohio; and two granddaughters, Alexa Ray Joel and Rebecca Molinari Gehrkin.

Funeral arrangements have not been announced. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made in her name to The Little Shelter, 33 Warner Rd., Huntington, NY 11743.

INTRODUCING SANANDA TOUR 2014
Live at Fasching, Stockholm (Sweden)

Ray Charles and Little Stevie

Stevie, Ray and MJ

Aretha Franklin and Ray

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Linda, Ringo & Paul Williams

Kate Mara Says 'The Fantastic Four' Movie Won’t Be Based On The Comic Book

The upcoming reboot of the “The Fantastic Four” movie has been described by the screenwriter, Simon Kinberg as “http://blogs.indiewire.co...s-20140527" href="http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/simon-kinberg-compares-the-fantastic-four-reboot-to-batman-begins-20140527">real, gritty and grounded.” The writer/producer even said the Josh Trank-directed movie was akin to “Batman Begins.” Now if you know the original “Fantastic Four” movies with Chris Evans and Jessica Alba, you know those films are nothing like “Batman Begins.” They’re much more in line with the comic—a bit goofy, broad and silly (which is why Tim Story’s movies might be terrible, but they were in the spirit of the comics).

So more and more, “The Fantastic Four” movie that 20th Century Fox is putting on for 2015 sounds like a massive reinvention. For one, Johnny Storm, aka The Human Torch, won’t be a Caucasian, he’ll be played by African-American actor http://blogs.indiewire.co...r-20140220" href="http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/miles-teller-michael-b-jordan-kate-mara-jamie-bell-lining-up-as-the-new-fantastic-four-20140220">Michael B. Jordan. In a feature titled “http://blogs.indiewire.co...g-20140220" href="http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/how-the-new-fantastic-four-is-changing-canon-and-why-thats-a-good-thing-20140220">How The 'Fantastic Four' Reboot Might Be Changing Canon, And Why That's A Good Thing” we’ve already speculated that “The Fantastic Four” film could be total reinvention. And now it seems it’s all but confirmed. In an interview with “House Of Cards” star Kate Mara in http://www.esquirelat.com/" href="http://www.esquirelat.com/">Esquire Latin America (via http://blogs.indiewire.co...g-20140220" href="http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/how-the-new-fantastic-four-is-changing-canon-and-why-thats-a-good-thing-20140220">Live For Films), the actress says the movie won’t even be based on the comics or comics story lines.

Asked if she liked comics, Mara gave a revealing answer. “I’ve never been a fan of comics, I’ve never actually read one. I was going to for this movie but the director said it wasn’t necessary. Well, actually he told us that we shouldn’t do it because the plot won’t be based on any history of anything already published. So I chose to follow his instructions. The one fact is I am a fan of comic book movies, so it’s very exciting to be part of a movie like this.”

As suggested in that feature, this is possibly for the best. While the super hero group is a Marvel flagship team, there’s nary a classic storyline out there and the team and comic themselves were a little inherently lightweight. Trank did good on “Chronicle,” the sci-fi movie that has super hero-ish elements to it, but really was about characters, humans and people and how they’d react to suddenly being given super human powers.

There just might be a very similar approach here. And hell, if they’re throwing out elements like the Fantastic Four’s a bit ridiculous Baxter Building headquarters, the Fantasticar and those inane elements, we wouldn’t argue. “The Fantastic Four” is scheduled to hit theaters on July 19, 2015 (and there's rumors the cast may hit Comic-Con, wooooooo!).

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Watch: First Teaser Trailer For 'Paradise Lost' Featuring Benicio Del Toro As Pablo Escobar

News

by Kevin Jagernauth
July 15, 2014 12:12 PM
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Meeting the family of your boyfriend or girlfriend can always be a bit nerve-wracking. You want to make a good impression and you hope that they like you too, so you try and put on your best face and best foot forward. However, in "Paradise Lost," meeting the family is taken to a whole new level...

Benicio Del Toro stars as famed drug kingpin Pablo Escobar in the film, and it's not long before paranoia and mistrust swirls when he meets earnest Josh Hutcherson, who is romancing his niece. And though this first teaser trailer is only a half-minute long, it's pretty potent, and actually delivers something far more intense than we were expecting. Andrea Di Stefano is making his directorial debut with the picture and looks to have a sure hand on the material, and you should keep an eye out for the talented Brady Corbet in a supporting role.

No U.S. date yet, but we'd keep an eye on the fall festival circuit. Watch below. [Collider]

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El Rey’s “Matador” Starring The First “Latino Bond” on TV

Posted by admin on July 15th, 2014 01:07 PM

Premieres Tonight, Tuesday, July 15^th at 9pm ET/PT on the El Rey Network

The fact is, I was not impressed with the trailer, but watching the first episode of El Rey Network’s Matador I found myself rooting for the first “Latino Bond” (Gabriel Luna) ever to grace a TV screen. To have the amazing Allred Molina playing the villain only added to the curiosity of how the story would develop. With a second season already announced even before the first season premiered, we will get that chance. Created by Roberto Orci, Dan Dworkin, Jay Beattie and Andrew Orci, Matador premieres tonight at 9 p.m. ET/PT with a pilot episode is directed by Robert Rodriguez.

(L-R) Robert Rodriguez, Roberto Orci, Gabriel Luna, Nicky Whelan, & Alfred Molina

Tony Bravo (Luna) is a DEA agent from Boyle Heights who is recruited by a little-known branch of the CIA to investigate the owner of the soccer team the L.A. Riot (and an telecom company). To get close to him he goes undercover to tryout for the team persuaded by CIA agents played Annie Mason (Nicky Whelan) and Noah Peacott (Neil Hopkins). The likelihood that Bravo will even make it to the second round is doubtful but his actions at the tryouts and social media, lead to a permanent gig both in the team and undercover.

Executive producer Roberto Orci sold the idea for a show about a Latino soccer player by day and a secret agent by night to El Rey’s head honcho Robert Rodriguez in a span of a minute which lead to an order for thirteen episodes.

Looking for a Latino actor who could play a spy, a former athlete, a loving son with just the right dose of charm was tough, says Orci but Luna fit the bill. A native of Austin, Texas, Luna remembers watching Rodriguez’s El Mariachi at the young age of thirteen now here he was starring in his first lead role on television being directed by Rodriguez.

Interviewed at the Television Critics Association press tour Molina and executive producer Roberto Orci and Luna shared their thoughts about their characters and the show.

Roberto Orci on the difference between pitching a show like Matador at El Rey…

“I sat down with Robert and he said ‘I am doing El Rey do you have anything that might be a good idea’?

Well I always wanted to do a story about the world of soccer, about a soccer player by day and a spy by night and he said ‘let’s do it – 13 [episodes]. Let’s do it right away’. I literally walked out of the meeting saying ‘are you serious’. Already this interview is longer than the pitch.”

Pitching to broadcast networks:

“First there is averbal pitch to see if there is any interest then you write out the treatment. Then they say yes to that and they buy one script. Then you write the script and then if they like the script, then maybe you get to make a one-hour show and then maybe after that, if they like it, maybe they pick up a season, we’re talking a process that takes forever. [With Matador] That is why we got to plan ahead, normally you don’t know if you are going to do a show you don’t know if its going to be on television till months after you produced it so you almost forget what you were talking about when you wrote it.

Alfred Molina on being on the show and his character of Galan.

“I’m really excited in my career to work with young actors, directors and a new generation of writers who come with a whole new energy and that keeps me young…very excited. This was a great opportunity, plus the fact that I recognized the character so well — that was almost scary.

Gabriel Luna on playing his first lead role in a series

“I understand, I am not a familiar face, but I have been doing this [acting] a long time. I have been in a lot of independent film, stage productions as the central character. I know what it is to carry a project from start to finish and I try to lead by example. I knew I couldn’t come to this project and be shy about it… and thankfully, persons like Fred, they support you.”

Orci on creating a Latino character for TV

“You come to know Tony Bravo without any pre-conceived notions of who he is. You meet him and that is who he is you are not embracing some previous image. Television is a great place for creating characters because you get to live these characters for a while.

Hopefully the networks can feel confident when they see a show like this and when they see the quality of the show. You know, no one is trying to be evil; sometimes it’s just hard to take a risk. Hopefully this will make it easier.”

Veteran actors Elizabeth Pena and Oscar Julio Mechoso play Tony’s parents; Yvette Monreal plays Galan’s naughty daughter Senna.

http://www.elreynetwork.com/

Twitter: @MatadorElRey

.

Guillermo del Toro unveils ‘Book of Life’

Jul 15, 2014

By Juliana Barrera

Guillermo del Toro’s, “Book of Life” features the voices of actor/director Diego Luna, actor Channing Tatum and actress Zoe Saldana. (Twitter @BookoflifeMovie)

Guillermo del Toro is helping to open the “Book of Life.”

According to AP, Del Toro is producing the animated feature by first-time director Jorge Gutierrez, and joined him at Fox Studios on Monday to unveil footage from the film, set for release in October.

SEE ALSO: Guillermo Del Toro Direct... Couch Gag

The “Book of Life” has a special emphasis on the Day of the Dead Mexican mythology.

Del Toro said he was moved by Gutierrez’s emotional, visual and narrative connection to Mexico.

“It was a huge nostalgia,” del Toro said, “a very painful and beautiful nostalgia that made me say I’m going to protect this project and celebrate this guy.”

Stereogum.com reported that the film will also feature mariachi and norteño versions of a few popular songs including Radiohead’s “Creep.” The covers are arranged by Gustavo Santaolalla, who also worked on original music for the film.

The “Book of Life” is about two best friends angling for the girl of their dreams, not realizing that otherworldly powers have a stake in the outcome. The leaders of the underworlds, the Land of the Remembered and the Land of the Forgotten, make a wager on which lover the girl will choose.

Zoe Saldana, Channing Tat...Diego Luna lead the voice cast.

“I’m not supporting a movie that is going to look like every other movie, that’s going to sound like every other movie,” del Toro said to AP, adding that he tries to specialize in producing first-time filmmakers to add to the diversity of voices in cinema. “Every time we did something unique, I felt very proud of him. He’s like my love child without the love.”

'Weird Al' Yankovic On Getting Pharrell's Permission: 'He Could Not Have Been Nicer'

By Gary Graff, Detroit | July 15, 2014 1:09 PM EDT

'Weird Al' Yankovic performs on stage at Oregon Zoo on July 18, 2013 in Portland, Oregon.

Anthony Pidgeon/Redferns via Getty Images

"This is the first time where I've gotten everybody that I wanted, and I couldn't be happier about it," says Yankovic of new album "Mandatory Fun."

"Weird Al" Yankovic is pleased to report that he had no issues with the artists whose songs he parodies on his new "Mandatory Fun," and, in fact, got the green-light for everything he wanted.

"I was very lucky -- this is my first album in a long time that didn't have any actual drama," Yankovic, who's had low-key tussles with the likes of James Blunt and Eminem in the recent past, tells Billboard. "It seems like my last few albums have always had some problems around the release, and this is the first time where I've gotten everybody that I wanted, and I couldn't be happier about it."

Watch 'Weird Al's' 'Happy' Spoof, 'Tacky'

And, Yankovic adds, Pharrell Williams is particularly happy, since Yankovic takes on three of his recent hits -- "Happy" as "Tacky," Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines" as "Word Crimes" and Daft Punk's "Get Lucky" as part of the "NOW That's What I Call Polka!" medley. "My manager was having a time tough getting a hold of Pharrell through his representatives," Yankovic recalls. "In the meanwhile, I somehow -- and I'm not at liberty to say how -- got Pharrell's personal e-mail address and I sent him an e-mail requesting permission, and he could not have been nicer. He sent me a very sweet e-mail back immediately saying he'd be honored. I was just blown away. He was just the sweetest guy."

"Mandatory Fun" -- Yankovic's first release since 2011's "Alpocalypse" -- also features parodies of Iggy Azalea's "Fancy" (as "Handy"), Lorde's "Royals" ("Foil") and Imagine Dragons' "Radioactive" (as "Inactive"); for the latter, members of Yankovic's band and studio team reached out to Imagine Dragons' camp for assistance in getting particular sounds, with complete cooperation. "In fact, I was sent a photo of me with their bass player (Ben McKee) when he was, I think, 12 years old," Yankovic says. "He was a fan from way back, so I would imagine he was happy about the parody."

On the originals front, Yankovic tries his hand at a marching band-style anthem ("Sports Song") and apes the styles of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young ("Mission Statement"), the Pixies ("First World Problems"), Cat Stevens ("Jackson Park Express") and others. "I always start with the originals, because those age better," Yankovic explains. "So I get those in hand and I always do the parodies last so they can be as fresh and timely and topical as possible. It's difficult to ascertain when something's gone mainstream or made some kind of mark on the zeitgeist. I'm actually using my daughter now -- she's 11 years old and just going into the sixth grade. I used her to figure out when Iggy Azalea had reached the tipping point. I was following Iggy on her rise up the charts and I thought, 'Oh, this might work,' and I asked my daughter, 'Are people talking about Iggy Azalea at school?' and she said, 'No, not so much.' then I asked her again two weeks later and she said, 'Oh, yeah, that's all they're talking about right now.' So I said, 'OK, tipping point! It's time!' "

No specific single has been released from "Mandatory Fun;" instead Yankovic has put together videos for eight of the songs, which began rolling out one each day starting on July 14. A "big tour," Yankovic says, is on tap for 2015. Meanwhile, by the time he puts out his next album, there will be a new "Star Wars" film for the man who hit big with "Yoda" and "The Saga Continues" to consider, but Yankovic says he's not getting any inside tips about the forthcoming Episode 7 from the George Lucas camp yet.

"I made an offhand comment many years ago that, 'Oh yeah, I do a "Star Wars" parody every 20 years like clockwork,' " Yankovic notes. "So people are saying, 'Well, how about that?' I don't know. I'll never rule anything out, but I've already got two 'Star Wars' songs in my live set. I don't know how much of a percentage of my live show I want to dedicate to 'Star Wars.' But never say never -- I'll wait and see what happens."

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By Stacey Anderson

July 16, 2014 9:00 AM ET

Ron Howard

Courtesy Imagine Entertainment

When Ron Howard was 9 years old, he was already a national television star on The Andy Griffith Show – and there was only one thing he wanted for his next birthday. "The gift that I was begging for was a Beatle wig," he tells Rolling Stone with a laugh. "And on March 1st, 1964, that's what I got: the Beatle wig of my dreams."

'A Hard Day's Night' Reborn: Behind the Beatles Film's New Restoration

Now the Academy Award-winning director is coming full circle with his Fab Four obsession, having signed on to direct and produce an authorized, as-yet-untitled documentary about the touring years of the band’s career (approx. 1960-1966), a period in which the Beatles crossed the globe, sparked Beatlemania and released several classic albums (including A Hard Day’s Night and Rubber Soul). For it, he will interview surviving members Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, as well as talk with Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison (wife of the late George Harrison).

"What's so compelling to me is the perspective that we have now, the chance to really understand the impact that they had on the world," Howard says. "That six-year period is such a dramatic transformation in terms of global culture and these remarkable four individuals, who were both geniuses and also entirely relatable. That duality is something that is going to be very interesting to explore."

Howard is joined by Nigel Sinclair, the Grammy-winning producer behind the documentaries George Harrison: Living in the Material World and No Direction Home: Bob Dylan, as well as the producers Brian Grazer (Apollo 13, Get on Up) and Scott Pascucci (George Harrison). They will have access to the vast archives of Apple Corps, the Beatles’ company, as well as incorporate fan-sourced amateur video footage to recreate previously unseen concerts. It's Howard’s second music documentary, following last year’s Jay-Z festival film Made in America.

"We are going to be able to take the Super 8 footage that we found, that was all shot silent. We'll not only be able to digitally repair a lot of that, but we've also been finding the original recordings," explains Howard. "We can now sync it up and create a concert experience so immersive and so engaging, I believe you're going to actually feel like you're somewhere in the Sixties, seeing what it was like to be there, feeling it and hearing it. And as a film director, that's a fantastic challenge."

Sinclair says the team has already unearthed some surprising footage from the Beatles’ final concert at San Francisco's Candlestick Park in 1966. "Their last concert in ’66, when they were probably the most famous people on the planet, [they] ended up carrying their own amps onstage. I think that’s almost emblematic of the charm of this story," he says. Also a longtime Beatles fan, he saw the band in Glasgow in 1964. "It was a memory to treasure."

The film will also explore the "multigenerational quality" of Beatles fandom, according to Howard. "I hope we find some of that in the footage," he says. "We may have a shot of a boy or a girl very early in their life at a concert, and then we may be able to find them today and talk to them, and talk to their grandchildren and see what their relationship is with the Beatles, and understand how multiple generations find tremendous value and relevance in their music."

The documentary is scheduled for a tentative late-2015 release, and Howard says he is eager to begin interviewing McCartney and Starr. Turns out, he has a history with his heroes; half of the band met him on the set of his hit 1970s sitcom Happy Days. "We got word that John Lennon wanted to come by and bring his son [Julian], and he was a big Fonzie fan. I managed to sneak in a picture," he recalls. "He was graciously cool, but mostly it was for his kid, which we all really appreciated."

Howard adds, chuckling, "A year or so later, Ringo and Keith Moon wandered by. I don't know what they were doing in the lot, and I'm not even sure they knew where they were, but they seemed happy to be there."

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The Deezer Logo

Courtesy Deezer

By Steve Knopper

July 16, 2014 10:00 AM ET

At first, Deezer, the international song-streaming service avaiable in 182 countries, didn't fully understand how to reach music fans in Brazil — its featured-artists homepage didn't emphasize sertanejo country hits or forro dance anthems or even bass-heavy funk that, in turn, turned off working-class Brazilians. But since early last year, as the service made deals with local record labels and hired experienced curators, Deezer has taken off regionally and drawn 2 million monthly users. "It takes a lot of time to get the local knowledge," says Emmanuel Zunz, chief executive of ONErpm, a Sao Paulo-based music-distribution company. "Brazil is such a massive country and every city is quite distinct. Over time, Deezer started to understand what was the right balance."

The State of Streaming Music: Rating the Services

Founded in France seven years ago, Deezer distinguishes itself from rivals Spotify, Beats Music, Amazon, Rdio and others by methodically conquering all kinds of territories, even those with piracy problems or complex music scenes: Russia, Colombia, Thailand, Singapore, Brazil. The company has so far avoided the biggest markets, including Japan, where expensive CDs still reign, and the U.S., although the company has strongly hinted it plans to expand here later this year. "We decided not to enter the U.S. first but to develop a global footprint," Charles Coonen, the Paris-based service's chief operating officer, tells Rolling Stone. "To be relevant in Turkey or Russia or Brazil, you need to make sure you cover the local aspect."

Streaming music has grown 42 percent since last year, while iTunes-style download sales have dropped 13 percent (for tracks) and 15 percent (for albums), according to Nielsen Soundscan numbers... last week. This growth has created a highly competitive market — Spotify has 10 million worldwide paid users, Apple bought Beats Music in May, Amazon recently launched a service and YouTube is aggressively negotiating with independent record labels for its planned service later this year. Deezer has just 5 million paid users, but its model of partnering with telecommunications companies, such as Orange in parts of Europe and dtac in Thailand, gives it a foothold in many countries. The company is also big on bundling — earlier this year, Samsung announced its Galaxy S5 smartphone would include six months of free Deezer for European customers.

Spotify and others are also available outside the U.S. and Europe, and have local telecom partnerships as well, but Deezer is in more markets and, more than any other service, emphasizes global expansion to distinguish itself from rivals. "If you look at all the markets where piracy was active up until a few years ago, we think we've really helped," Coonen says. "We've taken people who were pirating to paying."

By this point, all the major streaming services are simple to use and provide millions of on-demand tracks, so they distinguish themselves mostly through "curation" — playlists and radio channels that help listeners decide what to hear next. Here, too, Deezer's edge is international, relying on experts to recommend South Korean or Russian songs to listeners in other locations. Deezer supporters say this international focus helps American indie labels break bands outside the U.S., but some say they've yet to see the benefits. "If they have a large usage base, it's one that isn't listening to much of our content," says Robb Nansel, owner of Obama-based Saddle Creek Records, home of Bright Eyes, the Thermals and others, adding that Deezer provides "light" financial compensation so far.

But Deezer is nonetheless preparing for its long-awaited U.S. launch, recently hiring an American CEO and opening a new office in San Francisco. Deezer reps refuse to elaborate on U.S. plans, but Coonen drops a hint about the importance of expanding here, in addition to almost everywhere else in the world. "We estimate 25 million people in the world, including the U.S., are paying for streaming services, out of a total Web-connected population of 2 billion," he says. "We're really at the beginning of this market."

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David Bowie Promises New Music To Be Released 'Soon'

Get the Most Popular Music Times Updates Weekly

By Caitlin Carter
Jul 16, 2014 10:14 AM EDT

David Bowie(Photo : Bryan Bedder/Getty Images)

David Bowie has confirmed work on new music that he says will be released "soon," NME reports. He issued a statement at a London charity event, which was held to celebrate 50 years of his music and raise money for the Terrance Higgins Trust.

"This city is even better than the one you were in last year, so remember to dance, dance. And then sit down for a minute, knit something, then get up and run all over the place," the statement, confirmed by his spokesman to be Bowie's, read. "Do it. Love on ya. More music soon. David."

The upcoming material will follow up his 24th studio album, 2013's The Next Day, which went to No. 1 on the UK Albums Chart and No. 2 on the Billboard 200. His first album in ten years, it was also nominated for the Mercury Prize, Best Rock Album at the Grammy Awards, and British Album of the Year at the Brit Awards.

As NME notes, a film centered around London's Victoria & Albert Museum's Bowie exhibition, titled David Bowie Is Happening Now, is being proposed for a global cinema release later this year.

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WATCH: Marsha Ambrosius Performs Intimate Rendition of 'Run' on 'Conan' from New Album 'Friends & Lovers' [VIDEO]

Marsha Ambrosius performs at 2013 BET Experience(Photo : James W. Lemke/Getty Images)

Network television got a big old dose of neo-soul on Tuesday night (July 15). Yesterday evening, former Floetry member Marsha Ambrosius took on the L.A. stage at TBS' Conan for an intimate, impassioned performance of her new Friends & Lovers single "Run."

Looking stunning in a simple belted black and white dress, ponytail and bright red lipstick, Ambrosius turned the lights down low and sang warmly for the crowd. Despite hundreds in the studio and many more viewers watching at home, the "Run" performance felt very much like a one-on-one moment, with Ambrosius' stunning vocals at the forefront.

Singing passionately behind the microphone, oftentimes with her eyes closed and hands in the air, Ambrosius soared through the R&B anthem, highlighting both the lowest lows and highest peaks of her range, making for a truly special moment.

Watch Marsha Ambrosius perform "Run" on Conan below, via Team Coco:

http://www.musictimes.com...-video.htm

"Run" is a track from Ambrosius' second solo album Friends & Lovers, which was released in the United States on Tuesday, July 15. "Run" the album's lead single, released concurrently with the Sade-assisted track "Stronger" (feat. Dr. Dre).

New DJ Quik interview

^^Thanks Mickey.

Ellen Page Opens Up About Her Battle With Depression Before Coming Out

by Gabrielle Chung •

Though Ellen Page was finding success in her career soon after 2007's Juno hit the big screens, she was having difficulties in her personal life. In a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the Oscar-nominated actress opened up about her decision to recently come out as a lesbian, explaining that she had been battling with depression and anxieties for quite some time.

"I was sad, honestly," she said about her dark days. "And obviously that's a very personal thing to say, but I say it to encourage whatever other people are feeling. Very sad, isolated, a lot of anxiety. No more."

Explaining that columnist Dan Savage was the one who inspired her to speak openly about her sexual orientation as "a social responsibility and a moral imperative," the actress revealed that she's had two same-sex relationship -- one two-year romance soon around Juno's premiere and another "pricklier affair" that followed soon after -- that she kept a secret from the public.

"[I was] always thinking about it and thinking about when you're staying in the hotel and when you're leaving the hotel," she said, adding that she had stopped dating when men when she was 24. "It's so awful and hurtful."

She continued, "The thought of having to come out to them never really crossed my mind. I was just like, 'Oh, I'm in love with this woman.'"

In February, Page came out in a speech deli...conference. According to the actress, it was a feat that she had been planning for a long time despite the fact that "80 percent of the industry was aware of her sexual identity when she made her speech."

"I would talk about being gay, make jokes about it, or go to a meeting and [mention it] -- you know, because I'm also producing and starring in a lesbian civil rights movie and I've been working on it for years," she said about the days leading up to the event. "Part of me thought, 'I don't think I can wait.' I thought maybe something would happen before, I'll just tweet something -- but I waited."

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‘The Rock’ reveals ba...depression

June 19, 2014 | 9:11am

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson says of his first serious depression: “I didn’t know why I didn’t want to do anything. I had never experienced anything like that.” Photo: Splash News

Dwayne Johnson is opening up about his difficult past.

The wrestler-turned-actor, 42, known by many as “The Rock,” opened up to The Hollywood Reporter about his three bouts with depression.

In the cover story, Johnson delves deep into his past to share the experiences that brought on his despair. The first instance occurred after Johnson, who was a rising football star at 18, sustained a shoulder injury in his freshman year at the University of Miami.

“I didn’t know what it was,” Johnson recalled about the dark time that led him to suddenly drop out of school. “I didn’t know why I didn’t want to do anything. I had never experienced anything like that.”

Although Johnson got back on his feet and returned to the gridiron after a call from his coach, his dreams of becoming a pro player were dashed when he wasn’t selected for the NFL draft. He eventually signed a contract with the Canadian Football League’s Calgary Stampeders for $35,000 a year — a far cry from what he was hoping to make in the NFL.

Things went from bad to worse when the 6-foot-5 athlete was demoted to the practice team and paid $250 a week. He was also forced to live with three other players in a two-bedroom apartment. Johnson was eventually let go and returned to Miami, where his second bout with depression led to his split with Dany Garcia, his longtime manager and the mother of his 12-year-old daughter, Simone.

“The dreams I had, they’re dashed,” said the “Fast & Furious” star. “There is no more football. My relationship was crushed. That was my absolute worst time.”

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Dany Garcia in 2003

Johnson’s third depressed period was set in motion by his 2008 divorce from Garcia. Despite Johnson declining to go into details about the breakup, he claims his hard-to-manage feelings came crashing down after reflecting on his choices.

“Once I manned up and became accountable for the mess I was in, that’s when it hit me,” said Johnson. “What kind of a dad does this make me? What kind of a man will I now become? Failing at marriage and as a husband was a heavy thing, and divorce had that special way of knocking me on my ass.”

Despite his divorce, Johnson kept his growing brand and business a family affair. Garcia remained on board as his manager and longtime business partner. Her brother, Hiram, is Johnson’s producing partner. Garcia’s new husband, Dave Rienzi, is Johnson’s conditioning coach.

Looking ahead to the future, Johnson continues to build his star power. He lives with his 29-year-old girlfriend, Lauren Hashian, and has several movies in the works. He’s set to star in the summer action flick “Hercules,” which hits theaters July 25. He also has two more movies set for 2015, “Fast & Furious 7” and “San Andreas.”

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Patti Labelle Reveals Battle With Depression And How It Affected Her Career

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June 17, 2014 ‐ By Madame Noire

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Pat Denton / WENN

From The Grio

This week, legendary singer Patti LaBelle made a triumphant return to Broadway in the Tony Award winning musical After Midnight.

This summer, multi-award winning icons LaBelle, Gladys Knight and Natalie Cole, join the illustrious roster of special guest star vocalists in After Midnight. Combined, this trio of legends boasts 22 platinum and gold records, 18 Grammy Awards, and almost 300 million albums sold worldwide.

70-year-old LaBelle opened up to theGrio.com’s Chris Witherspoon about her illustrious career inmusic and Hollywood spanning 5 decades.

LaBelle revealed that nearly four years ago. she had a bought with depression and lost her voice.

“It left me for a minute … my voice,” LaBelle said. “But it’s back full circle now.”

“I was nervous for about a year,” she added. “Maybe I just didn’t want to put it out then…. sort of depression.”

LaBelle’s received rave reviews from Broadway critics since beginning her stint in After Midnight, taking the reins from former American Idol singer Fantasia Barrino, whom LaBelle affectionately calls “baby Patti.”

“[Fantasia’s] just a baby me,” LaBelle says. “When you see yourself in someone else, you say, ‘God I’m 70, she’s 30,’ so she’s like the Patti Labelle from back in the day and everything and she’s so raw.”

The “If Only You Knew” singer says she’s been in Fantasia’s corner throughout her often rocky career.

- See more at: http://madamenoire.com/43...p6ocI.dpuf

Blues legend Johnny Winter dies at 70 in Zurich

By JOHN HEILPRIN 1 hour ago

GENEVA (AP) — Texas blues legend Johnny Winter, known for his lightning-fast blues guitar riffs, his striking long white hair and his collaborations with the likes of Jimi Hendrix and childhood hero Muddy Waters, has died. He was 70.

Winter was a leading light among the white blues guitar players, including Eric Clapton and the late Stevie Ray Vaughan, who followed in the footsteps of the earlier Chicago blues masters.

Winter idolized Waters — and got a chance to produce some of the blues legend's more popular albums. Rolling Stone magazine named Winter one of the top 100 guitarists of all time.

His representative, Carla Parisi, confirmed Thursday that Winter died in a hotel room in Zurich a day earlier. The statement said his wife, family and bandmates were all saddened by the loss of one of the world's finest guitarists.

There was no immediate word on the cause of death.

Winter had been on an extensive tour this year that recently brought him to Europe. His last performance came Saturday at the Lovely Days Festival in Wiesen, Austria.

The tour, a documentary that premiered at the SXSW Festival exploring his music, youth and substance abuse battles, and a newly released four-CD set of recordings were all part of Winter's celebration of turning 70 this year.

John Dawson Winter III was born on Feb. 23, 1944, in Mississippi, but was raised in Beaumont, Texas. He was the older brother of Edgar Winter, also an albino, who rose to musical fame with the Edgar Winter Group.

Winter was one of the most popular live acts of the early 1970s, when his signature fast blues guitar solos attracted a wide following. But his addiction problems with heroin during that decade and later battles with alcohol and prescription medication, including methadone, also drew attention.

His career received a big boost early on when Rolling Stone singled him out as one of the best blues guitarists on the Texas scene. This helped secure a substantial recording contract from Columbia Records in 1969 that led to an appearance at the Woodstock Festival and gave him a wide following among college students and young blues fans.

Crowds were dazzled by the speed — and volume — of his guitar playing, which had its roots in urban blues but incorporated elements of rock 'in roll.

Winters paid homage to Waters on "Tribute to Muddy," a song from his 1969 release "The Progressive Blues Experiment." He continued to pick up accolades, producing three Grammy Award-winning albums for Waters and recording with John Lee Hooker, which helped revive their careers.

Winter performed often with blues and rock singer Janis Joplin and the two became close during the 1960s.

Among the blues classics that Winter played during that era were "Rollin' and Tumblin'," ''Bad Luck and Trouble" and "Good Morning, Little Schoolgirl." He also teamed up with his brother Edgar for their 1976 live album "Together."

He was inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame in 1988.

There was no immediate word on funeral services.

Brothers Johnny and Edgar Winter.

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[Edited 7/17/14 8:24am]

Elaine Stritch, Tart-Tongued Broadway Actress and Singer, Is Dead at 89

Elaine Stritch performing her 2002 one-woman show "Elaine Stritch: At Liberty" at the Neil Simon Theater. Credit Sara Krulwich/The New York Times

Elaine Stritch, the brassy, tart-tongued Broadway actress and singer who became a living emblem of show business durability and perhaps the leading interpreter of Stephen Sondheim’s wryly acrid musings on aging, died on Thursday at her home in Birmingham, Mich. She was 89.

Her death was confirmed by a friend, Julie Keyes. Before Ms. Stritch moved to Birmingham last year, she lived, famously, for many years at the Carlyle Hotel in Manhattan.

• ArtsBeat: Remembering the Life and Work of Elaine StritchJULY 17, 2014

Ms. Stritch’s career began in the 1940s and included her fair share of appearances in movies, including Woody Allen’s “September” (1987) and “Small Time Crooks” (2000), and on television; well into her 80s, she played a recurring role on the NBC comedy “30 Rock” as the domineering mother of the television executive played by Alec Baldwin.

But the stage was her true professional home, where, whether in musicals, nonmusical dramas or solo cabaret shows, she drew audiences to her with her whiskey voice, her seen-it-all manner and the blunt charisma of a star.

Elaine Stritch built her Broadway career playing brash and bawdy characters.

Plainspoken, egalitarian, impatient with fools and foolishness, and admittedly fond of cigarettes, alcohol and late nights — she finally gave up smoking and drinking in her 60s, though she took it up again — Ms. Stritch might be the only actor to work as a bartender after starring on Broadway, and she was completely unabashed about her good-time-girl attitude.

“I’m not a bit opposed to your mentioning in this article that Frieda Fun here has had a reputation in the theater, for the past five or six years, for drinking,” she said to a reporter for The New York Times in 1968. “I drink and I love to drink, and it’s part of my life.”

Most of the time she was equally unabashed onstage, rarely if ever leaving the sensually astringent elements of her personality behind when she performed. A highlight of her early stage career was the 1952 revival of “Pal Joey,” the Rodgers and Hart/John O’Hara musical, in which she played a shrewd, ambitious reporter recalling, in song, an interview with Gypsy Rose Lee; she drew bravas for her rendition of the striptease parody “Zip.”

In a nonsinging role in William Inge’s 1955 drama, “Bus Stop,” she received a Tony nomination as the lonely but tough-talking owner of a Kansas roadside diner where travelers take refuge during a snowstorm. Three years later, in her first starring role on Broadway, “Goldilocks,” a musical comedy by Jean and Walter Kerr and the composer Leroy Anderson that also starred Don Ameche, she played a silent-film star and impressed The Times’s critic Brooks Atkinson with the acid capability of her delivery.

Ms. Stritch in 2013. Credit Fabrizio Costantini for The New York Times

“Miss Stritch can destroy life throughout the country with the twist she gives to the dialogue,” Atkinson wrote. “She takes a wicked stance, purses her mouth thoughtfully and waits long enough to

Noël Coward, one of Ms. Stritch’s devoted fans, built the 1961 musical “Sail Away” around her role as Mimi Paragon, the relentlessly effervescent hostess of a cruise ship. She repaid his trust not only by giving what Howard Taubman of The Times said “must be the performance of her career” (including a delicious rendition of Coward’s hilariously snooty “Why Do the Wrong People Travel?”) but also by successfully ad-libbing, on opening night, when a poodle in the cast betrayed its training onstage. The show was not a hit, but Ms. Stritch came away with her third Tony nomination. Her next Broadway role was in the replacement cast of Edward Albee’s scabrous portrait of a marriage, “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?,” as Martha, the bitter, boozy wife.

One of Ms. Stritch’s most memorable appearances was in the Sondheim musical “Company” (1970), in which, as a cynical society woman, she saluted her peers with the vodka-soaked anthem “The Ladies Who Lunch.”

It not only brought her another Tony nomination but became her signature tune — at least until, in her 70s, she became equally known for Sondheim’s paean to showbiz longevity and survival, “I’m Still Here.” It was the centerpiece of her 2001 one-woman show, “Elaine Stritch at Liberty,” and she sang it in 2010 at Mr. Sondheim’s 80th-birthday concert at Lincoln Center (Patti LuPone took on “The Ladies Who Lunch”) and at the White House for President Obama.

Essentially a spoken-and-sung theater memoir, “Elaine Stritch at Liberty,” created with the critic John Lahr of The New Yorker, began performances at the Public Theater in Manhattan (when Ms. Stritch was 76) and then moved to Broadway, where it was a smash.

Alone onstage except for a single chair, clad only in tights and a white silk shirt, Ms. Stritch wove together music (including “Zip,” “The Ladies Who Lunch,” “I’m Still Here” and two additional Sondheim songs: “The Little Things You Do Together,” a mordant salute to marriage from “Company,” and the aging showgirl’s lament, “Broadway Baby,” from “Follies”) and showbiz memories into a nightly tour de force that won a Tony Award for the year’s best special theatrical event.

A complete obituary is forthcoming.

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"Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me" Documentary Sets June Netflix Streaming Release

By Adam Hetrick
03 Jun 2014

"Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me," the acclaimed documentary film that captures the vivid onstage and offstage life of the Tony Award-winning theatre icon, will be available for streaming on Netflix beginning June 24.

Documentary filmmaker Chiemi Karasawa ("Love, Etc"; Emmy-winning "The Betrayal") of Isotope Films directed the film that began capturing Stritch's public and personal life in February 2011. Tony and Academy Award nominee Alec Baldwin is executive producer of the film with Cheryl Wiesenfeld. It is produced by Karasawa and Elizabeth Hemmerdinger.

The film had its official New York premiere Feb. 21. It is now rolling out in cities across the U.S. Sundance Selects is distributing the film.

The film includes interviews with a host of theatre vets who have worked with Stritch, including At Liberty collaborator George C. Wolfe, Company and Show Boat director Hal Prince and Tony-winning actors Cherry Jones and Nathan Lane. Also featured are "30 Rock" creator Tina Fey, late actor James Gandolfini and John Turturro, among others.

"We basically were connected through our hairdresser," filmmaker Karasawa previously told Playbill.com. "A dear friend of mine owns the salon. For six months Piet, our hairdresser, would say to me, 'You must make a film about Elaine Stritch.'

"I became fascinated by her as a creature, as a subject and as a performer," Karasawa continued. "There's so much that I never expected to capture…I think what people have to say about her is going to be really interesting. Not just as a performer, but this woman is a survivor. She's survived a lifetime of career ups and downs, alcoholism, which she's extremely candid about, the loss of her husband – all these challenges. She's an incredibly pure spirit. There will never be anyone like her."

Stritch added, "It's a little frightening for people to get into your life that much, but I don't have anything to hide. So, I'm open. There's no point in doing a documentary unless you absolutely deliver the 100 percent truth. Energy-wise it's very hard work."

Here's how the film is billed: "What does it mean to be a performing artist – first, last and always? Broadway legend Elaine Stritch can answer that. At 87, Stritch is still here, dominating the stage in her one woman cabaret act, torturing Alec Baldwin on "30 Rock," giving us her take on aging, her struggle with alcohol and diabetes, and the fear of leaving the follow spot behind. In stolen moments from her corner room at the Carlyle, and on breaks from her tour and work, candid reflections about her life are punctuated with rare archival footage, words from friends and photographs from her personal collection. By turns bold, hilarious and achingly poignant, the journey connects Stritch's present to her past, and an inspiring portrait of a one-of-a-kind survivor emerges."

Batman Original Cast 1960's Reunion HD Adam West, Robin, Catwoman, Phoenix Comicon 2014

'Jane the Virgin' Showrunner Wants ''Ugly Betty' Meets 'Gilmore Girls''

Jennie Snyder Urman talks about the tricky tone of her CW telenovela adaptation, while star Gina Rodriguez charms reporters at press tour.

Comparisons to Ugly Betty are inevitable for Jane the Virgin. Not only is it one of the few American telenovela adaptations to make it to the air, it's the second Latino family dramedy to come from executive producer Ben Silverman.

But Silverman kept relatively mum during Jane the Virgin's Friday panel at the Television Critics Association, with showrunner Jennie Snyder Urman instead talking about how she sees her show resembling Betty.

"I wanted describe it as Ugly Betty meets Gilmore Girls," said Snyder Urman, saying the three generations of women depicted in her dramedy most closely resemble the WB/CW show where she briefly served as a writer. "The two of them together is that strange mark I'm trying to hit."

Based on Venezuelan telenovela Juana la virgen, the CW's spin is decidedly less soapy, and Snyder Urman says it will never stray too far.

"I have a very specific tone that I'm trying to hit," she said. "At the same time, this is a telenovela. It's a tricky tone. It's one I'm excited about handling. I didn't want to do a straight adaption and a satire. You're writing an ode to the telenovela."

Extreme telenovela storylines — evil twins are not off the table — are something the executive producer wants to throw in occasionally, hoping it will be funny so long as the characters remain "grounded and relatable."

Speaking of being grounded, the extreme premise of Jane the Virgin will not be ignored. Jane's (Gina Rodriguez) accidental insemination during a routine gynecologist visit will have lingering effects outside of just her pregnancy.

"I find it incredibly hard to believe a girl who gets accidentally inseminated who doesn't sue," Snyder Urman admitted. "That's something we'll explore."

As for the series' star, Rodriguez charmed the room when she was asked why she passed on a role with the predominantly Latina cast on Lifetime soap Devious Maids.

"I became an actor to see myself on screen," she said. "Every role that I've chosen have been ones that I think will push forward the idea of my culture. I wasn't going to let my introduction to the world be a story that's been told many times."

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Alicia Keys Signs with Madonna Manager Guy Oseary

Courtesy of Givenchy

The Grammy-winning singer had been represented by Red Light Management since 2010.

Grammy-winning singer Alicia Keys has signed with Ron Laffitte and Guy Oseary at Maverick for management. Laffitte, whose clients include Pharrell Williams and OneRepublic, and Oseary, who’s been guiding Madonna’s career since 2005 and recently signed U2, will co-manage Keys and partner with Keys' company AK Worldwide on the artist's music, entrepreneurial and philanthropic endeavors.

Keys had been managed by Will Botwin at Red Light Management since November 2010. The two “parted ways amicably,” says a rep for the singer, songwriter, producer and actress.

STORY Alicia Keys Glows in Givenchy Campaign

Keys is currently working on her sixth studio album. Since first breaking onto the scene in 2001 with the hit “Fallin’,” she has won 15 Grammy Awards and sold a total of 18.4 million albums in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Keys’ last album, 2012’s Girl on Fire, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 (her fourth album to do so) and has sold 755,000 to date. Before that, her 2009 release Element of Freedom moved 1.6 million.

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Lana Del Rey, Kacey Musgraves, Zooey Deschanel Join Brian Wilson in the Studio

Getty Images

One-time Beach Boys returns to his girl group roots for new album.

The Roots' Manager & Producer, Richard Nichols, Dies (Updated)

By Billboard Staff | July 17, 2014 6:33 PM EDT

UPDATE: The Roots have issued the following statement on Nichols' death:

The Roots Family are devastated to announce the passing of Richard Nichols, the band’s longtime manager, after a long battle with leukemia. Nichols, 55, a Philadelphia native, managed the band from its inception in 1992, and was instrumental in every aspect of The Roots’ creative, cultural, and professional life over the past two decades. Nichols is survived by his wife, Mercedes Martinez, his sons Amiri Nichols and Rakim Nichols, his sisters Rochelle Nichols-Solomon, Rebecca Dennis, his brothers Russell Nichols and Reginald Nichols, and the many individuals and artists he mentored in his lifetime.

Richard Nichols, who managed and produced The Roots for two decades, died today after a long struggle with leukemia, a source close to the band confirmed to Billboard this afternoon (July 17). The death was also confirmed on The Roots online home, website Okayplayer, which posted that Nichols, "the guiding spirit behind the group," died at 3:05 pm.

Nichols, who has been hospitalized in his native Philadelphia for several months, was reportedly taken off life support last night, but was still alive this morning — despite a series of tweets from artists close to the Roots, including Talib Kweli, Jill Scott and Phonte, claiming he had already passed away and offering condolences.

Nichols had managed the Roots since the early ’90s, steering them on an unlikely trajectory from Philly street buskers, to heavy-touring hip-hop favorites, to the house band for America’s premiere late night show. He is also credited as producer, executive producer, mixer and A&R on several Roots albums and projects by the many artists the acclaimed band has collaborated with, including Jay-Z, Al Green, Common, Jill Scott and Erykah Badu.

Nichols is survived by his wife, singer Mercedes Martinez, his sons Amiri Nichols and Rakim Nichols, his sisters Rochelle Nichols-Solomon, Rebecca Dennis and his brothers Russell Nichols and Reginald Nichols.

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Grammy Winner Faith Evans Signs to BMG for Publishing, Artist Services

Courtesy of BMG Chrysalis U.S.

(l-r) Cheryl Flowers-Briggs (manager), Jermi Thomas (BMG Chrysalis US), Zach Katz (BMG Chrysalis US), Faith Evans, Tom Carrabba (RAL), Wendy Washington (RED), Julian K. Petty (Attorney)

New album, "Incomparable," set for release in fall, preceded by new single, "I Deserve It."

R&B Grammy winner Faith Evans has signed a worldwide exclusive publishing and BMG Artist Services deal with BMG Chrysalis U.S. for her first new studio album in four years, Incomparable, which will come out this fall. Her eighth studio album features the lead single, "I Deserve It," with Missy Elliott and Sharaya J. Check it out below.

Currently celebrating a 20-year career in the music industry, Evans is a multiplatinum Grammy Award winner, New York Times best-selling author and TV producer. She has released three platinum-certified albums (Faith, Keep the Faith and Faithfully), the gold-certified The First Lady and the holiday staple A Faithful Christmas.

She was awarded a Grammy for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group in 1998 for 'I'll Be Missing You," the homage to her late husband and hip-hop legend Notorious B.I.G. Among some of her most recent accomplishments, Evans serves as a co-creator/executive producer on the hit-reality docuseries franchise R&B Divas and in 2014 received a Grammy nomination in the Best R&B Album category for Faith Evans R&B Divas.

Around 80 albums have been released through BMG Artist Services, including efforts from current Billboard chart-toppers Joe and Danny Gokey, Anastacia, the Backstreet Boys, Bryan Ferry and You Me At Six. Forthcoming releases include albums from The Smashing Pumpkins and 3 Winans Brothers.

Faith Evans commented: "I am truly proud to join the forces of my imprint, Prolific Music Group, with BMG to present my next project, Incomparable. I look forward to a great partnership, as we are all very excited about this amazing collection of timeless R&B music."

Manager Cheryl Flowers-Briggs added: "I'm proud to have been a part of Faith's management team for nearly two decades, and I'm looking forward to making music history once again with BMG, a company that was such a big part of Faith's early success."

Zach Katz, chief creative officer at BMG Chrysalis North America, said: "Faith is part of an elite group of artists whose music and spirit speaks profoundly to generations of listeners. We warmly welcome her to our BMG family and look forward to sharing her powerful body of work with the world."

Jermi Thomas, creative senior manager at the music publisher/label, said: "Faith continues to make a cultural impact with her level of artistry and iconic status as R&B/hip-hop royalty. BMG is excited to make history with Faith and build her legacy of 20 plus years with the release of Incomparable."

Long-Disputed Early Jimi Hendrix Masters to Go to Legacy Recordings

5:46 PM PST 07/17/2014 by Richard Smirke, Billboard

Recordings of him moonlighting as a session guitarist with Curtis Knight & the Squires from 1965-'67 are cleared for release.

After decades of litigation, a deal has finally been struck between Experience Hendrix LLC, the Hendrix family music company which owns and administers the Jimi Hendrix music rights, and Legacy Recordings, the catalog wing of Sony Music Entertainment, in respect of some early master recordings.

The recordings date from 1965-'67 and cover the two-year period when Hendrix was moonlighting as a session guitarist with New York-based R&B act Curtis Knight & the Squires.

The deal between Experience Hendrix LLC and Legacy Recordings is for the full and complete rights to 88 studio and live recordings by Curtis Knight & the Squires (featuring Jimi Hendrix) and concludes a long-running legal dispute between the Hendrix estate and onetime rights holder Ed Chalpin. Terms were not disclosed. Hendrix’s long-time sound engineer Eddie Kramer will oversee the reissues, which will be released by Legacy Recordings over the next three years.

Chalpin was an entrepreneur, record producer and founder of music company PPX International. Having been introduced to Hendrix by Curtis Knight, in 1965 Chalpin signed Jimi (then “Jimmy") Hendrix and Curtis Knight & the Squires to a notorious three-year recording contract for the princely sum of $1.00 and a 1% royalty rate.

Just before Hendrix went to England and became a global solo star, his manager, Chas Chandler, bought out every contract that his client had previously signed, with the exception of Hendrix’s 1965 agreement with PPX. It would prove a costly oversight and became the source of a long-running legal dispute.

In 2001, Experience Hendrix LLC filed a lawsuit in the British High Court against Chalpin and PPX Enterprises to enforce a 1973 decree, which limited Chalpin’s rights in Hendrix recordings to 33 masters largely recorded in 1965 when the guitarist was performing with Curtis Knight & the Squires.

That lawsuit was upheld in July 2002 with a London High Court order which stated: "Ed Chalpin/PPX Enterprises Inc. must not issue or release recordings on which Jimi Hendrix performed in any capacity whatsoever (other than 33 songs with Jimi Hendrix as a sideman)."

A New York State Court upheld the U.K. court’s decision in 2003. Several years later, in 2007, Experience Hendrix LLX obtained a stipulated court order of almost $900,000 against Chalpin.

Today’s announcement marks the end of the lengthy legal dispute with all 88 tracks recorded by Curtis Knight & the Squires featuring Jimi Hendrix now under complete ownership and control of Experience Hendrix LLC.

The good news for Hendrix fans is that the historic recordings — which include a famous live performance at George's Club 20 in Hackensack, New Jersey, on December 26, 1965, as well as studio tracks cut by Curtis Knight & the Squires with Hendrix in July 1967 (several months after the May release of Are You Experienced that same year) — will now be remastered and released in definitive new editions.

This story originally appeared on Billboard.com.

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Latin Heavy Metal Supergroup De La Tierra Announce U.S. Tour

By Judy Cantor-Navas | July 15, 2014 11:51 AM EDT

De La Tierra, the heavy metal super group formed by members of Sepultura, Maná, Los Fabulosos Cadillacs and A.N.I.M.A.L.

Members of Sepultura, Maná, Los Fabulosos Cadillacs and A.N.I.M.A.L. to play seven cities

Running With the Devil, by Marilyn Manson

Read February 1998's SPIN cover story.

Marilyn Manson All Photos by David LaChapelle for SPIN

WRITTEN BY
Marilyn Manson

He may be an agent of Satan, but, oh!, the places he's been, the people he's known... In this exclusive excerpt from Marilyn Manson's upcoming memoir, The Long Hard Road Out of Hell, the author makes friends with Anton LaVey, makes fun of Corey Feldman, and makes time with Jenna Jameson.

I. I had written, I had called, I had pleaded. Finally, I was granted an appointment. During a day off on the fall, 1994 Nine Inch Nails tour in San Francisco, the hotel phone rang.

"The Doctor wants to meet you," came a woman's voice, stern and husky.

I asked her if the Doctor would care to see our show the following night. I knew everything there was to know about the Doctor but he knew very little about me.

"The Doctor never leaves his house," she replied icily.

"Okay, when do you want me to come over? I'm in town for a few days."

"The Doctor really wants to meet you," she replied. "Can you come between one and two tonight?"

No matter what time the Doctor called for me and where he summoned me to, I planned to be there. I admired and respected him. We had a lot of things in common: We had experience as extravagant showmen, successfully placed curses on people, studied criminology and serial killers, found a kindred spirit in the writings of Nietzsche, and constructed a philosophy against repression and in support of nonconformity. In short, we had both dedicated the better part of our lives to toppling Christianity with the weight of its own hypocrisy, and as a result been used as scapegoats to justify Christianity's existence.

"Oh," the caller added before she hung up. "Make sure you come alone."

The Doctor was the preferred name of Anton Szandor LaVey, founder and high priest of the Church of Satan. What nearly everybody in my life—from my black magic-dabbling high school friends to my Christian schoolteachers—had misunderstood about Satanism was that it is not about ritual sacrifices, digging up graves, and worshipping the devil. The devil doesn't exist. Satanism is about worshipping yourself, because you are responsible for your own good and evil. Christianity's war against the devil has always been a fight against man's most natural instincts—and a denial of a man's membership in the animal kingdom. The idea of heaven is just Christianity's way of creating hell on earth.

I'm not and have never been a spokesperson for Satanism. It's simply part of what I believe in, along with Dr. Seuss, Dr. Hook, Nietzsche, and the Bible, which I also believe in. I just have my own interpretation.

That night in San Francisco, I didn't tell anybody where I was going. I took a cab to LaVey's house on one of the city's main thoroughfares. He lived in an inconspicuous black building collared by a high, brutal-looking barbed wire fence. After paying the cab driver, I walked to the gate and noticed that there was no bell. As I contemplated turning back, the gate creaked open. I was as nervous as I was excited, because, unlike most experiences where you meet someone you idolize, I could already tell this one would not be a letdown.

I timidly entered the house and saw no one until I was halfway up the stairs. A fat man in a suit with a sweep of greasy black hair covering his bald spot stood at the top. Without saying a word, he mentioned for me to follow him. In the times I visited LaVey since, the fat man never introduced himself or spoke.

He brought me into a hallway and swung shut a heavy door, blotting out the light entirely. I couldn't even see the fat man to follow him anymore. Just as I felt myself panicking, he grabbed my arm and pulled me the rest of the way. As we followed the curve of the corridor, my hipbone collided with a doorknob, causing it to turn slightly. Angered, the fat man pulled me away. Whatever was behind there was off limits to guests.

The fat man pulled open a door, and left me alone in a dimly lit study. Beside the door there was a lavishly detailed portrait of LaVey standing next to a lion he used to keep as a house pet. The opposite wall was covered with books—a mix of biographies of Hitler and Stalin, horror by Bram Stoker and Mary Shelley, philosophy by Nietzsche and Hegel, and manuals on hypnosis and mind control. The majority of the space was taken up by an ornate couch, over which hung several macabre paintings that looked like they were taken from Rob Serling's Night Gallery. The oddest things about the room were the oversized playpen in the corner and the television set, which seemed out of place, a token of disposable consumerism in a world of contemplation and contempt.

To some people, this would all seem corny. To others, it would be terrifying. To me, it was exciting. All the power LaVey wielded he gained through fear—the public's fear of a word: Satan. By telling people he was a Satanist, LaVey became Satan in their eyes—which was not unlike my attitude toward being a rock star. "One hates what one fears," LaVey had written. "I have acquired power without conscious effort, by simply being." Those lines could have just as easily been something I had written. As important, humor, which has no place in Christian dogma, was essential to Satanism as a valid reaction to a grotesque, misshapen world dominated by a race of cretins.

LaVey had been accused of being a Nazi and a racist, but his whole trip was elitism, which is the basic principle behind misanthropy. In a way his intellectual elitism (and mine) is actually politically correct because it doesn't judge people by race or creed but by the attainable, equal opportunity criterion of intelligence. The biggest sin in Satanism is not murder, nor is it kindness. It is stupidity. I had originally written LaVey not to talk about human nature but to ask if he'd play theremin on Portrait of an American Family because I had heard he was the only registered union theremin musician in America. He never acknowledged the request directly.

After sitting in the room by myself for several minutes, a woman walked in. She had gaudy blue eyeliner an unnatural coif of blow-dried bleach-blond hair, and pink lipstick smeared on like a kid drawing outside the lines in a coloring book. She wore a tight baby-blue cashmere sweater, a miniskirt and skin-toned hose with a '40s garter belt and high heels. Following her was a small child, Xerxes Satan LaVey, who ran up to me and tried to remove my rings.

"I hope you're well," she said stiffly and formally. "I'm Blanche, the woman you spoke to on the phone. Hail Satan."

I knew that I was supposed to respond with some kind of mannered phrase that ended with "hail Satan," but I couldn't bring myself to do so. It seemed too empty and ritualistic, like wearing a uniform in Christian school.

As she left, no doubt disappointed by my manners, Blanche informed me, "The Doctor will be out in a minute." The formalities I had seen so far, combined with everything I knew about LaVey's past—as a circus animal trainer, magician's assistant, and all-around hustler—led me to expect a grand entrance. I was not disappointed.

LaVey didn't walk into the room—he appeared. All that was missing was the sound of an explosion and a puff of smoke. He wore a black sailor's cap, a tailored black suit, and dark sunglasses, even though he was indoors at 2:30 A.M. He moved toward me, shook my hand, and said right off the bat in his rasping voice, "I appreciate the name Marilyn Manson because it's about putting different extreme together, which is what Satanism is about. But I can't call you Marilyn. Can I call you Brian?"

"Sure, whatever you feel comfortable with," I replied.

"Because of my relationship with Marilyn in the '60s, I feel uncomfortable because she has a special place in my heart," LaVey said, closing his eyes gently as he spoke. He went on to talk about a sexual relationship he had with Monroe that began when she was the organist in a club where she was a stripper. In our conversation, he planted the seed that his association with her made her career flower. Taking credit for such things is part of LaVey's style, but he never does it arrogantly. It's always done naturally, as if it were a well-known fact.

He removed the sunglasses from his goateed gargoyle head, familiar to thousands of teen dabblers from the back cover of The Satanic Bible, and instantly we were enmeshed in an intense conversation. I had just met Traci Lords backstage after a show at the Universal Amphitheater in Los Angeles, and she had invited me to a party the next night. Nothing sexual happened, but it was an overwhelming experience because she was like a girl version of me—very bossy and constantly playing mind games. Since LaVey had a relationship with another sex symbol, I thought that maybe he could give me some advice on what to do about Traci, whom I was both confused and captivated by.

The advice that ensued was very cryptic, which was no doubt another way for him to maintain power. The less people understand you, the smarter they think you are. "I feel like you guys belong together, and I think something very important is going to happen with your relationship," he concluded. It sounded more like the result of $50 and five minutes spent calling the Psychic Friends Network than something I expected LaVey to say.

He continued by sharing sordid details about his sex life with Jane Mansfield and said that after all this time he still felt responsible for her death in a car crash because he had put a curse on her manager and boyfriend, Sam Brody, after a dispute with him. Unfortunately for Mansfield, she happened to be with him that night in New Orleans when a mosquito-spray tanker crashed into his car, decapitating them both. Although I was suspicious about some of LaVey's claims, his rhetoric and confidence were convincing. He had a mesmerizing voice, perhaps from his experiences as a hypnotist. The most valuable thing he did that day was the was to help me understand and come to terms with deadness, hardness, and apathy I was feeing about myself and the world around me, explaining that it was all necessary, a middle step in an evolution from an innocent child to an intelligent, powerful being capable of making a mark on the world.

One aspect of LaVey's carny personality was that he liked to align himself with stars like Jayne Mansfield and Sammy Davis, Jr. also a Satanist. So it wasn't surprising that as I left he encouraged me to bring Traci to visit him.

The next day, Traci happened to be flying in from Los Angeles for our show in Oakland. I was badly bruised and banged up after the concert, so she came back to the hotel, where she bathed and mothered me. But, once again, I didn't sleep with her because I was still determined to remain faithful to my girlfriend Missi, though Traci was the first person capable of melting my resolve. I told her about the meeting with LaVey, and she gave me the whole Deepak Chopra, Celestine Prophecy, healing crystal, New Age rap about destiny, resurrection, and the afterlife. She didn't seem to understand what he was about, so I tried to clue her in as I sank into restless sleep: "This guy's got an interesting point of view. You should listen to him."

When I brought her to his house the next day, she was a lot more cynical and self-righteous than I had been—at first. She walked in with the attitude that he was a hoax and full of shit, so she debated him whenever she disagreed even slightly with something. But when he said that a louse had more of a right to live than a human or that the concept of equality was horseshit, he was prepared to back it up intelligently. She left the house in silence with dozens of new ideas swirling in her head.

On that visit, LaVey showed me a little more of the house—the bathroom, which was strewn with or fake cobwebs, and the kitchen, which was infested with snakes, vintage electronic instruments, and coffee mugs with pentagrams on them. Like any good showman, LaVey only let you know what he was about in small pieces and revelations, and the more information he gave you the more you realized how little you really knew about him. Near the end of our visit visit, he said, "I want to make you a reverend," and gave me a crimson card certifying me as a minister in the Church of Satan. Little did I know that accepting this card would be one of the most controversial things I had done to that point; it seemed then (and it still does) that my ordainment was simply a gesture of respect. It was like an honorary degree from a university.

It was also LaVey's way of passing down the torch, because he was semiretired and tired of spending so many years advancing the same argument. No rock musician has advocated Satanism in any lucid, intelligent, accessible way since perhaps the Rolling Stones, who in "Monkey Man" came up with a line that could have been my credo, "Well I hope we're not too messianic / Or a trifle too satanic." As I left, LaVey put a bony hand on my shoulder, and, as it lay there coldly, he said, "You're gonna make a big dent. You're going to make an impression on the world."

When I next met with LaVey a year and a half later on our "Antichrist Superstar" tour, we had a lot to discuss. I had seen the enemies I was up against, and not only were they capable of stopping shows and making unreasonable demands on our performances, but they were capable of, for no reason at all, taking away the only thing LaVey and I both stand for: personal freedom. Like LaVey, I had also discovered what happens when you say something powerful that makes people think. They become afraid of you, and they neutralize your message by giving you a label that is not open to interpretation—as a fascist, a devil worshiper, or an advocate of rape and violence.

On this visit to LaVey's house, I brought our bassist, Twiggy Ramirez, with me. We were allowed to enter one of the only rooms in his 13-chamber house I hadn't been in. It was behind the door his steward had jerked me away from when I first visited the house. The room was a private museum of arcana. The entrance was a giant Egyptian sarcophagus that had been propped up against the doorway. There was a rocking chair that had supposedly belonged to Rasputin, Aleister Crowley's pipe, a satanic altar with a giant pentagram above it, and a couch lined with the fur of some endangered species. We sat at an old wooden dining table (probably something Aleister Crowley used to snort heroin off of) and ate steak.

We spoke of religion, and how much of it is just a custom preserving practical codes of health, morality, and justice that are no longer necessary for group survival (like not eating animals with cloven hooves). It makes a lot more sense to follow The Satanic Bible, written with 20th-century humanity in mind, than a book that was written as a companion to a culture long since defunct.

The last time I saw LeVay we had discussed Traci, so he asked me what had happened with her. I told him that she had blown me off and his optimistic prediction about our relationship was wrong. But after our show the next day, I found out she had been trying to hunt me down all along. Since by then I had a Top 10 album, our relationship had flipped on its axis, as LeVay said it would. When I first met Traci the fact that she was a star made her seem distant and unattainable. It crushed me, which made me stronger, filling me with the desire—the need—to become more of a fucking rock star. Now I had become one. This time around I was in charge, and I didn't give a shit because I only wanted her when I couldn't have her.

A year later, a few days after Halloween, I got a call at 4 A.M. telling me that LaVey had died. I was surprised by how sad I felt, because he had actually become a father figure to me and I never got the chance to say good-bye to him or even thank him for his inspiration. But at the same time I knew that even though the world had lost a great philosopher, hell had gained a new leader.

II. I met Fiona Apple at the Grammy Awards after-party in February 1997. She was this little singer who no one had heard of. I was a huge fan of her music.

And she was so sexy and fragile—definitely too fragile for me. If I was ever to be put in a circumstance where I could have sex with her, I would decline because her vagina is probably too precious to be dirtied by my filthy cock. When she walked into the room they were blasting the song we did for David Lynch's Lost Highway, "Apple of Sodom," and the lyric playing was, "I got something you can never eat." For a moment, I had a delusional self-experience, because that song's about obsession and things you can never have and, in a distant way, is kind of inspired by her.

She was slouched over and looked very timid, almost like a wounded deer, as if she was about to cry. I asked her what was wrong, and she said she was overwhelmed and show business was too much stress for a girl of her age with her constitution. I asked her to sit down and said I'd bring her some food or a drink, but she was a vegan and, unlike me, was really picky about what she's put into her body, which definitely means we'll never get along even though I'm attracted to her on so many levels. When I was speaking with her, I was distracted for two seconds by some drunk teenage daughter of a celebrity who was bouncing and singing songs and talking about the various rock stars who had made her pregnant. Another starfucker and sycophant sucking the life out of me and distracting me from a conversation that I wanted to have. When I turned back around, this weird fellow had kind of slithered his way up to Fiona, and was performing card tricks for her. Really lame. In the book of shitty ways to pick up women this was chapter one. But I think it worked.

The next day I asked Fiona to come to the premiere of Howard Stern's Private Parts with me. He uses a song of ours in the movie. In some ways I think Howard Stern and I are very similar because he just says what's on his mind and it pisses a lot of people off but it also entertains them. I consider him one of the people responsible for breaking "Sweet Dreams" because he really pushed it.

I thought Fiona was going to blow me off because she launched into the kind of dawn-out story about visiting a long-lost relative that I would make up if I wanted to get out of doing something. But she called back later and said she'd go.

In true rock star form, I picked her up to go to Private Parts in a white limo. An in anti-rock star form, she came out makeupless with uncombed hair. This was my first celebrity big-deal event, and I didn't know how to behave at all. There was this red carpet and apparently you were supposed to walk down it and let people take photos of you, but I was kind of confused. I walked down a few steps, thought I was going the wrong way, then came back to the car. Then somebody told me that I was supposed to be walking on the red carpet, so I went halfway down, then got scared because I didn't know if I was supposed to stop or not. Meanwhile, a bunch of media cornered Fiona and she got mixed up doing an interview with Flavor Flav. I couldn't take any more, I was so aggravated. It's not my scene to sit around and schmooze with a bunch of assholes who don't know who you are but pretend like they do. Fiona decided she was gonna leave and I wasn't really even disappointed because i felt bad for how overwhelmed she was.

I went upstairs with Twiggy, who was with us, and ran into Flavor Flav. We high-fived and we danced around. I couldn't see his eyes but if I could have he probably would have been giving me the wink that people who use drugs give to one another, whether it's for real or it's in your mind. I was impressed with the fact that he didn't know who Marilyn Manson was, though I'm not even sure if he knew who he was because he was definitely out of his fucking head. At that point I ran into Billy Corgan, and I immediately gave him some muscle relaxants I had in my pocket. We decided that they made us feel "fruity," and then we decided that that would be a great name for a band to start together. So we began having a long, in-depth meeting inspired by the fruity drug to create a fruit-filled experience called Fruity, which will probably never happen because I don't know where I put those pills.

I was surprised that Billy was cool because I thought he'd be a total asshole from all the spiritual hate mail I had gotten over the years from Trent Reznor, who allegedly despises Billy over an alleged conflict allegedly dealing with Courtney, which he says he didn't, Billy allegedly fucked Trent's alleged girlfriend, which he allegedly says he did, or so I'm told.

Then I tried to give the mysterious pills to Conan O'Brien, telling him they were Prozac and he looked like he could use them. He just smiled with that weird creepy baby head of his and walked away to talk to a friend. I gave him the finger, and he just laughed. It's amazing the things that you can get away with when something looks wrong with one of your eyes, you have badly applied makeup, you're six-foot-three and you're accompanied by some weirdo with the front of his head shaved who looks like a cross between Gregory Hines and Klingon on crack undergoing radiation therapy. (If you're reading this Twiggy, I'm sorry.) Then I think we ran into Tom Arnold, who was all sweaty and anxious and racy and basically looked like her was on speed of some sort. I asked him where the drugs were because I was giving him that same wink that I had exchanged with Flavor Flav earlier. And he just joked "Shhh," and I said, "All right; well, call me."

As I was trying to walk downstairs, someone pulled me aside and said, "Come do this interview." So me, Billy, Twiggy, and Billy's girlfriend walked over to this couch where Howard Stern was broadcasting from. Joan Rivers was standing across from us. It was loud and chaotic and no one could hear anything anyone was saying (except us, because we had headphones on). Joan Rivers was holding up a sign that said I NEED TO TALK TO YOU. So I felt like I had to explain what was going on to Howard, because it was all being filmed for television. I joked that Joan had given me a blowjob in the bathroom and now she was stalking me and I couldn't get rid of her because she wanted to give me another sloppy blowjob or something. I motioned for her to come over, and she came over and got down on her knees in front of me to beg for an interview. But it looked like she was supporting my claim—except for those beanbag tits, she's not bad-looking for her age. Since she couldn't understand what we were saying, we continued to humiliate her until we got bored.

We were just standing around afterwards when all of a sudden I saw walking towards me this blond, tan girl—the antithesis of what I look for in a woman—in a bright canary yellow dress that she must have had to wear as some kind of karmic retribution for something she had done in a past life. Though she was not the kind of girl you'd want to hold hands with in public, the fact that she was attractive shone through. All this flashed before my eyes in the first few seconds because I decide if I'm going to like somebody before they even mention their name. I have a bad habit of not remembering people's names when they say them. I'm usually too busy analyzing them—trying to read their intentions and determine if they're out to fuck me or get fucked, if they want drugs or have drugs, if...I can't think of anything else that's important in life.

So this canary woman asked for my autograph because she's a really big fan. A little annoyed at being interrupted, I quickly dashed off an autograph, but as I did everyone was looking at me funny, like I was fucking someone's mother or shitting in the punch bowl. Afterwards, some guy came up to me and told me that woman was Jenna Jameson. I asked who Jenna Jameson was, and he said she was the most famous porn star right now. In the back of my head I thought about Traci Lords and how she had actually been up for the part of a seductress in the Howard Stern movie.

She asked if she could sit with me during the movie—she seemed real innocent, or she was a good actress—and we walked to the theater, assaulted by paparazzi flashbulb. I got scared for a moment, but the fruity pills I took calmed me down. When I sat down, in front of me was Kevin Bacon, behind me was Sherman Hemsley, and walking across the room was Corey Feldman, a name that, ironically, one of my bandmates was staying under at the hotel. I was always amused by Corey Feldman. He was a great actor in Stand By Me when he had the deformed ear and went around saying, "Jeordie screwed the pooch, Jeordie screwed the pooch." Since Jeordie is Twiggy's real name, I always said that to him, especially when he did screw the pooch.

Corey was in a pseudo-Michael Jackson sort of outfit that made him look stupider than any of his movies had ever made him look, and that's hard to achieve, especially after Dream A Little Dream (Part 5). I felt like it was my duty to introduce Corey Feldman to Sherman Hemsley wince I had known their artwork for so long. In order to shake hands, they had to reach over the head of Billy Corgan, so his bald head became the bridge over which two heroes of my childhood, Mr. Jefferson and Dorky the Vampire Slayer, met.

I continued to torment Corey afterwards, putting lipstick on him and introducing him to strangers. Because it is my duty to punch below the belt, I told him I was a big fan of the rap song that I saw him perform on television, which was among the shittiest songs ever recorded yet still not cool enough by far to be the worst thing I had ever heard.

When the movie started, Jena Jameson kept making comments like, "Well, what are we going to do later? Are we going to go out to a bar? Are we going to hang out? You know I strip dance to your music. Wow I can't believe I'm really sitting here with you..." She had a whole catalog of different "I'm a whore, I'm a virgin, I'm your mom, I'm your daughter" lines; she had all different kinds of fuck-me-doll looks; she pulled out the entire contents of her seduction bag of tricks. There's a scene in the film where Howard is sitting with a famous B-movie girl at a theater and she puts her hand on his leg. At the same time, Jenna put her hand on my leg, which completely freaked me out because the part that Traci Lords was originally supposed to play in the movie was that B-movie actress.

Jenna's hand slowly started to creep up toward my crotch, and, since I wasn't on coke, I had a hard-on. I probably could have gotten one anyways because she had some sort of magical touch to her fingertips. After the film, we rode to the Whiskey Bar in my limo. She had a friend with her that nobody wanted to talk to because she wasn't a porn star and the fact that she wasn't wearing a yellow dress didn't make up for the fact that she was not as attractive as her friend. Maybe Jenna had worn the yellow dress out of friendship, like a golfing handicap, to diminish her powers.

At the bar, we sat between Billy Corgan and Rick Rubin. Somehow Jenna had my jacket on her lap, and she put my hand up her skirt to show me that she wasn't wearing any underwear. So I was sitting there with my hand inside her trying to convince Billy Corgan, on my left, that if he wore a yellow shirt with a black zig-zag across it he would be Charlie Brown. But I was so drunk and high that Rick Rubin's beard seemed like a cloud, covering the whole room. Everybody had his heard. I looked around and Jenna had the beard, I felt the beard under her skirt, all of a sudden Billy Corgan had a full head of hair made out of Rick Rubin's bear. ZZ Top showed up in the Eliminator car and had a bunch of hot girls got out. They were all people I had fucked and they all had beards. I got stressed out, and I was having a bit of an episode, and I didn't know where my finger was. When I removed it I was too scared to look at it or smell it because if it was good, I would want to make Billy smell it, and if it was bad, I didn't want to ruin the pleasant evening I was anticipating. So I just avoided it altogether, sitting on my hand so the smell would waft.

Back in the limo, I asked Jenna if she wanted to go back to my room. But she said she had someone waiting for her at her hotel. Then she had some kind of secret dialogue with her friend in Urdu or old Dutch or sign language or hieroglyphics. What I discovered through many years of linguistic and archaeological research int women's codes was that she was married and her husband was waiting for her, which was more fantastic and made me want her more. So she came back with me, of course, and I recalled from the film that the character who was supposed to be played by Traci Lords made Howard Stern get in the bathtub with her. So I thought, "Why not?" The only other thing I can remember from that night is that she had a tattoo on her ass that said HEARTBREAKER. But then again, everyone in America who has ever watched any of her films knows that, so maybe it was all a dream. But if it was a dream, it was a wet one.

The following is an interview with SPIN's Julia Chaplin and accompanied Manson's autobiography excerpt above.

SPIN: You're only 28. Don't you think it's a little early to write an autobiography?

Manson: I though it would be earlier now than later in life to explain how I grew up and the transformation that's taken place over the past 27 years. I tried to do that on Antichrist Superstar, but it was much more esoteric and metaphorical, and I don't think a lot of people understood it. Now people will know the facts, not a version skewed by magazine editors.

How much of The Long Hard Road Out of Hell did you actually write?

It was mostly dictated. I would tell [coauthor] Neil Strauss stories, because I don't have the patience or skill to write them down myself. I'm sure in a month or so I'm sure in a month or so I'll deny things I've said and attribute them to drug use or coercion by Neil.

After reading you life story, do you still like yourself?

I'm so detached from the things that I've done that when I read the book it's almost like hearing them for the first time. Sometimes it makes me feel like shit about myself, and sometimes it makes me finally understand.

In the book you dis most everyone, from friends like Trent Reznor, Daisy Berkowitz, and Courtney Love, to your fans, your parents, and your record label. Do you fear retaliation from anyone?

I don't fear anything. Life is short and I'm here to entertain people. It's just my point of view. Anyone I've offended, they always have their side of the story.

Do you think Trent, who produced Antichrist Superstar, will be entertained with your portrayal of him as a jealous control freak?

I don't know how he'll feel about anything that I've done or said. I love him like a brother and I hope that we've all learned something from the past year.

Tell me about your next album.

We're nearly finished writing it. Whereas on Antichrist Superstar I compared myself to Lucifer's fall from heaven, giving God the middle finger the whole way down, the new album is more about what happens when I land on earth and try to fit in as a human being.

Who will produce the record?

Billy Corgan will be executive producer. After meeting him last year I saw he was different than the people I had worked with in the past. I've always been more of a traditional Beatles/Rolling Stones/David Bowie songwriting fan, and sometimes that had been discouraged for the sake of being more inventive. Billy actually made me feel good about the things that I like in music. I've also recruited the Dust Brothers to mix the album.

Why did you decide to work with Billly instead of Trent?

I don't want people to think Marilyn Manson can only sound like Nine Inch Nails. We hired Trent because I respected, and still do respect, what he does musically. But that's not all I have to offer.

A lot of people say Trent Reznor was the talent behind your last two albums.

The next record will prove Marilyn Manson's musical identity. And whether that proves that I'm a failure or a genius remains to be seen.

Will you stay on Reznor's Nothing Records?

Absolutely. There's no bitterness on my part toward Trent, but there is no reason for us to work together on another album.

Are you plotting to piss off conservatives with the next record?

No. I'm actually hoping to piss off Satanists. It may have a gospel edge to it.

Does that mean you won't be playing Ozzfest next summer?

Maybe Lilith Fair would be better. Those people are far more depraved and satanic than I could ever be. Christians hate their message—open-mindedness, sexuality, women's rights—and they're presenting it in an innocuous, folksy way. That's much more subversive than me.

What do you think of the recent Senate hearings where they blamed your song lyrics for a teenager's suicide?

It's a tradition to try and blame music for a bad upbringing. These hearings are the result of someone looking to get reelected or trying to get their name in the paper. The exploit the parents who claim their kids have been injured because of music. That's far more despicable than anything I could ever do.

Diana Krall to Release New Album of Popular Songs 'Wallflower', 9/9

July 18

8:45 2014

Five-time Grammy Award-winning jazz pianist and singer Diana Krall will release her new studio album on Verve Records on September 9. The new release is entitled "Wallflower" and is a collection of songs from the late 60's to present day that inspired Krall in her early years. Produced by 16-time Grammy Award-winning producer David Foster, the album finds Krall breaking new ground with her interpretations of some of the greatest pop songs of all time.

"It was a nice change for me to be in the vocal booth with pretty much only David's superb piano accompaniment and orchestrations,"said Diana Krall.

Diana Krall's unique artistry has not only made herone of the most recognizable artists of modern jazz but it hasalso transcended any one particular style of music. Krall has sold more albums than any other female jazz artist in the last 30 years, establishing herself as one of the best-selling artists of her generation. The new album is the next chapter in her incredible songbook, bringing her signature style to some of the greatest songs of our time, including The Eagles' "Desperado," The Mamas & The Papas' "California Dreamin," Elton John's, "Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word," and Harry Nilsson's "Everybody's Talkin'," amongst others.

"The songs Diana performs on this album are the ones she grew up hearing on the radio and listening to on vinyl," said David Foster. "What makes this album so special is the way Diana re-imagines each tune and the way she puts her heart and soul into every syllable."

The new album marks Krall's first studio effort since 2012's "Glad Rag Doll," produced by T Bone Burnett, which debuted at No. 6 on the Billboard 200 and at No. 1 on the Jazz Albums chart.Diana Krall is the only jazz singer to have eight albums debut at the top of the Billboard Jazz Albums chart.To date, she has won five Grammy Awards, eight Juno Awards and has also earned nine gold, three platinum and seven multi-platinum albums.

For more information on Diana Krall, please visit,http://www.dianakrall.com/

Tracks include the Eagles' "Desperado," the Mamas & the Papas' "California Dreamin," Bob Dylan’s “Wallflower,” Elton John's "Sorry Seems to Be The Hardest Word" and Harry Nilsson's "Everybody's Talkin'.” It will also include a new composition by Paul McCartney, “If I Take You Home Tonight.”