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Jaimie Alexander is an amnesiac in the new trailer for NBC's Blindspot, shared exclusively at San Diego Comic-Con. Looks like a surefire hit.[/QUOTE]

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The series stars Josh Holloway as an FBI agent determined to reunite his family after an alien invasion separates him and his wife from their son.

Straight outta Comic-Con!

Thanks ID Never heard of Colony, but looks great.

Jon Vickers, Opera Star Known for His Raw Power and Intensity, Dies at 88

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Jon Vickers in Britten’s “Peter Grimes” in 1983 at the Metropolitan Opera, where he made more than 280 appearances. Credit Metropolitan Opera

The Canadian tenor Jon Vickers, who brought a colossal voice and raw dramatic intensity to everything he sang, including legendary portrayals of Wagner’s Tristan, Verdi’s Otello, Beethoven’s Florestan and Britten’s Peter Grimes, died on Friday in Ontario, Canada. He was 88.

The Royal Opera House in London posted a statement from the Vickers family saying the cause was Alzheimer’s disease.

From his early teens, when his robust singing in his family church in Saskatchewan was the talk of the congregation (parishioners remember his final high note in the hymn “Jerusalem” almost rattling the windows), until his fledgling appearances in the mid-1950s at the Toronto Opera Festival, the sheer size of Mr. Vickers’s voice was both the glory and the challenge of his artistry.

In dramatic tenor roles demanding stirring power and stamina Mr. Vickers had few rivals. Yet, even in subdued passages, whether posing questions as the clueless title character of Wagner’s “Parsifal” or singing tender phrases of a Schubert song, Mr. Vickers’s voice had penetrating body and depth. For all his power, he was a master at singing high pianissimo phrases with ethereal beauty.

Making every word he sang matter was another hallmark of his artistry. Mr. Vickers was incapable of fudging a text for the sake of vocal effect, a priority he traced to his Christian upbringing, in which hymns and prayers were revered.

Still, Mr. Vickers had his share of detractors, who found his singing burly and gruff.

He identified intensely with the characters he portrayed, especially misfits, like Peter Grimes, and misunderstood heroes, like Verdi’s Otello, who are outwardly strong but struggling against brutal destinies. Yet he readily admitted that in taking risks and giving his all, his singing could be inconsistent and uncontrolled.

Continue reading the main story Jon Vickers in Verdi's Otello at the Metropolitan Opera, 1978. Video by myoperadvds

Projecting His Feelings

That Mr. Vickers lost himself in his roles did not surprise those who knew him. He was a volatile and enigmatic person, in many ways decent and principled, but hot-tempered and quick to jump on any perceived slight.

The soprano Birgit Nilsson, the great Isolde to his Tristan, said that Mr. Vickers “was almost always unhappy,” and that his “nerves were outside the skin, not inside the skin,” as she told Jeannie Williams, the author of “Jon Vickers: A Hero’s Life” (1999).

In her book, Ms. Williams recounts stories of Mr. Vickers bullying underlings and dressing down colleagues. When a 1986 Metropolitan Opera production of Handel’s “Samson,” an oratorio, traveled to the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Mr. Vickers insulted the conductor, Julius Rudel, during a rehearsal in front of the entire cast and orchestra, shaking Mr. Rudel so much that he offered to quit. Yet in interviews he often spoke of how his rural roots and Christian convictions had shaped his life philosophy, as he explained in a 1974 documentary for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation:

“The understanding, which slowly and surely developed in me, of the necessity of human contact and an understanding of the needs of others and their problems has probably, more than anything else, given me the ability to analyze my roles, to come to grips with a score, to study a drama, to project my feelings into the life of someone I’ve never met except on a piece of paper.”

Humble Beginnings

Jonathan Stewart Vickers was born on Oct. 29, 1926, in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, the sixth of eight children of William and Frances Vickers. His father was a schoolteacher and lay minister in the Presbyterian and Methodist traditions; he eventually became a high school principal. His mother was a homemaker.

The Vickers house had no electricity or running water, just a well out back. After his fourth birthday the family moved to an old frame house with proper utilities and an adjacent lot that became their vegetable garden. Blond, blue-eyed Jonathan grew to look much like his barrel-chested father, with a square chin, large forehead, big hands and bowed legs.

In the Vickers house everyone sang and played instruments — a “poor man’s Trapp family,” as Mr. Vickers used to call it. On Saturday afternoons, Mr. Vickers was captivated by the Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts.

In the summers he and his brothers worked at a farm owned by their father’s best friend, and in his last year in high school he played football and basketball and took voice lessons from the local church organist.

He graduated from high school in 1945, but young Canadian military veterans returning from the war were given preference for college admission, so Mr. Vickers, who had a head for business, went to work at the Safeway, moving from fruit sorter to butcher boy before eventually becoming a manager.

This led to his being hired by the Woolworth Co. to travel from store to store as a managerial troubleshooter. After more than three years of this he went to work as a tool salesman for a company based in Winnipeg, where he was taken under the wing of a respected music director at Knox United Church.

Encouraged to pursue singing seriously, he auditioned for George Lambert, a voice teacher who recruited students for the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, and was offered a scholarship, beginning with the 1950-51 academic year. Money was still tight, and for two summers he drove a truck at night for a Canadian brewery.

While at the conservatory, Mr. Vickers met Henrietta Elsie Outerbridge, a child of missionaries who had worked in China. Hetti, as she was called, had studied medicine for several semesters and taught English and art. They married in July 1953. A devoted couple, they were “one of the great love stories of our time,” in the words of the soprano Teresa Stratas.

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Roberta Knie, left, as Brünnhilde and Mr. Vickers as Siegmund in a San Francisco Opera production of “Die Walküre” in 1976. Credit Associated Press

Mr. Vickers’s survivors include their daughters, Alison Netzske and Wendy Roughton; their sons, William, Jon and Ken; 11 grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; and a sister, Bernice.

Hetti Vickers died of cancer in 1991. Two years later Mr. Vickers married Judith Panek Stewart, a flight attendant from California 13 years his junior. She had a daughter and a son from a previous marriage.

Mr. Vickers considered his professional stage debut to be a performance in 1954 as the Duke of Mantua in Verdi’s “Rigoletto” at the Toronto Opera Festival, which in 1959 became the Canadian Opera Company. Over the next two years with the festival he sang Alfredo in “La Traviata,” Don José in “Carmen” and other roles but preferred singing for radio and television because the work paid better.

In 1957, for his first season at the Royal Opera at Covent Garden in London, he sang Don José, Riccardo in “Ballo in Maschera” and Enée (Aeneas) in Berlioz’s epic opera “Les Troyens.”

Mr. Vickers would later sing Enée in a new production of the opera at Covent Garden in 1969, the centennial of the composer’s death. The conductor was Colin Davis, an inspired Berlioz interpreter.

During the run, the Covent Garden forces recorded the opera in a London studio, and the sessions were tense. The cast, especially Mr. Vickers, complained of the strain of recording the work while also performing it on stage. Some rough patches in Mr. Vickers’s singing come through. Still, he brought a heroic cast to the music, and the recording remains a classic.

Mr. Vickers’s first performances at the Metropolitan Opera came in early 1960, singing Canio in Leoncavallo’s “Pagliacci,” Florestan in Beethoven’s “Fidelio” and Siegmund in Wagner’s “Walküre,” all within two months. It was on the Met stage in 1967 that Mr. Vickers introduced what many consider his greatest achievement, the title role of Britten’s “Peter Grimes,” conducted by Mr. Davis and directed by Tyrone Guthrie.

Becoming Peter Grimes

Working with a libretto by Montagu Slater, Britten conceived the title role of the loner fisherman in an English village for his lifelong partner, the tenor Peter Pears, who gave the first performance in London in 1945. With his ethereal voice, Pears portrayed the fisherman as an alienated dreamer, a misfit in a narrow-minded town. While yearning to be accepted, Grimes takes out his thwarted anger on homeless boys who are drafted into work as his apprentices.

Britten described the opera as depicting the struggle of an individual against the masses. But many see Grimes’s persecution as a metaphor for the oppression of homosexuals. Mr. Vickers, who was, as many of his colleagues recounted, quite homophobic, could not abide such an interpretation. For him “Peter Grimes” was a study in the “psychology of human rejection,” a view shared by Mr. Davis and Guthrie.

With his powerful heldentenor voice, Mr. Vickers revealed the danger within the twisted psyche of the ostracized fisherman. His Grimes was one moment lost in reverie, the next exploding with brutality. His bleakly poignant portrayal and fearsome singing altered the public perception of the role. Though they did not like to voice their attitudes publicly, Britten and Pears were dismayed by Mr. Vickers’s Grimes. But they could not argue with success. Companies around the world mounted productions of “Peter Grimes” for Mr. Vickers.

He sang more than 280 total performances at the Met, including the company premiere of “Les Troyens” in 1973, and the title roles of Verdi’s “Otello” and Wagner’s “Parsifal.”

For years Mr. Vickers resisted the role of Wagner’s Tristan, to the frustration of Birgit Nilsson, the great Isolde of her day, who had been searching for a powerhouse tenor who could match her in the opera. Mr. Vickers finally came through in Buenos Aires in 1971, singing Tristan to Ms. Nilsson’s Isolde. It was a triumph. They went on to sing it many times, though not as often as Ms. Nilsson had hoped.

“I told him at the time that I waited and waited for my Tristan for 14 years,” Ms. Nilsson told The New York Times, “as long as Jacob waited for Rachel in the Bible.” He sang the role just twice at the Met, and only one of those was with Ms. Nilsson, on Jan. 30, 1974.

Mr. Vickers lived in Toronto at the start of his career and then settled in London before returning to Canada and buying a farm about an hour’s drive from Toronto. After his retirement in 1988 he gave occasional master classes but mostly kept a low profile.

He once touched on the impetus of his artistry in a graduation address in 1969 at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. “I sang because I had to,” he said. Singing, he explained, was “an absolute necessity, fulfilling some kind of emotional and even perhaps physical need in me.”

Chris Tucker takes on taxes, Michael Jackson and church flies in his new comedy special

Chris Tucker performs on stage at the Plenary on June 11, 2013, in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Graham Denholm/Getty Images)

Chris Tucker has a habit of disappearing for long stretches and resurfacing to remind you just how much you missed him, only to steal away again.

Brett Ratner once estimated the “Rush Hour” funny man turned down nearly $100 million worth of projects. “It’s probably about that much,” Tucker told the Interrobang comedy podcast. “But I’ve got $100 million of great experiences.”

This time, he’s back with his first full-length stand-up special, “Chris Tucker: Live,” which debuted on Netflix Friday. And it seems we won’t have to wait quite so long for the next Tucker movie; he’s working now with director Ang Lee on “Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk” after turning in an impressive performance in “Silver Linings Playbook” in 2012.

While another “Friday” movie is highly unlikely, Tucker has told reporters that he and his “Rush Hour” co-star Jackie Chan may reunite for another movie, possibly “Rush Hour 4″ or something altogether different. Tucker got $25 million just to do “Rush Hour 3″ in 2007.

In the special, Tucker, who filmed at the Historic Fox Theatre in his home town of Atlanta, addresses some of the low points in his career, like, say, when TMZ reported that he was $12 million in debt to the IRS. Tucker uses the opportunity to take some deep dives into the stories of his life from money issues, to church, to traveling to Africa with his friend, former president Bill Clinton.

Here are some of the most compelling topics from Tucker’s new special:

In 2012, TMZ reported Tucker owed some $12 million in back taxes, a figure his representative told CNN was incorrect. The IRS issued a $2.5 million tax lien against him, and Tucker settled with the government in 2014.

“Marriage sometimes ain’t a good business deal,” Tucker said. “… I don’t care nothin’ about fine. You gotta be more than fine. You gotta be able to do some other stuff. You gotta be able to fill out a [Form] 1099. You gotta help me out with my taxes. You gotta have an accounting degree to be with me.

“Take care of your business, man, and don’t listen to people. Do your own business. Be careful who you listen to, ’cause that’s the last time I let Wesley Snipes help me out with my taxes!”

Later, Tucker tells the crowd that he, Toni Braxton, and Jermaine Dupree are getting an apartment together and that Terrell Owens is moving in, too.

Still, it would appear Tucker’s money woes aren’t completely resolved. Days before “Live” premiered, comedian Terry Hodges filed a lawsuit alleging that Tucker had stiffed him for $66,000 worth of writing and editing work. He alleged Tucker also promised him a co-producer credit on the special.

Jackie Chan, left, and Chris Tucker star in New Line Cinema’s action-comedy, “Rush Hour 2.” (Peter Sorel/New Line Cinema/AP)

One of the most persistent rumors about Tucker is that his long breaks in between projects can be attributed to a newfound cultural conservatism after Tucker became a born-again Christian. But the still-single Tucker speaks quite frankly in “Live” about sex, and he definitely spends a great deal of time talking about how he used to cut up in church as a kid. He doesn’t address the born-again rumors head on, but fans needn’t worry that his comedy has turned prudish — far from it.

He sprints and jetes about the stage as he’s making fun of people who just start screaming in church for no reason, and he laments his childhood church’s lack of air conditioning.

“Church be hot,” Tucker said. “You don’t care. Church be so hot even the flies leave.” Tucker pantomimed wings and bobbed his head, impersonating the flies. “We going to a white church. It’s too hot in here. Come on, let’s get out of here. Zzzzzz! Oh, s—, the window closed.”

Tucker is an excellent impersonator, a talent that even made him a favorite of Clinton’s, whom he imitated repeatedly at the former president’s behest while the two were traveling through Africa together. But perhaps more than anyone else, he’s an eerily flawless mimic of the late King of Pop — and not just his voice, but his dance moves, too.

Tucker indulges his audience with some old material and some new — he told his jokes about how Jackson enjoyed the music of Rick Ross and 50 Cent when he hosted the BET Awards in 2013. The two men would ride around in Jackson’s car, and Jackson would start rapping along to “In Da Club” in his trademark soft-spoken falsetto.

Tucker also talk about his experience on the set of the “You Rock My World” music video. He would screw up shots because he was supposed to be dancing and he couldn’t stop watching Jackson. Apparently Jackson decided one day to start calling Tucker “Christmas.”

Tucker recalled visiting Jackson’s Neverland Ranch, and yes, he took the train to Jackson’s front door. Jackson would be sitting in his living room, Tucker said, like Michael Corleone.

[Here’s what $100 millio...land Ranch]

“You’d be sitting there talking, all of a sudden, something magical would happen, like two giraffes walking by the window,” Tucker said. “You’d be like, ‘What the f— was that? Michael, was that two giraffes just walked by the window?'”

Chris Tucker and his wife Benissima

And Jackson would answer, as if giraffes in one’s front yard was a perfectly everyday occurrence:

“‘It was three. It was three giraffes, Chris.'”

The Joker may not kill, but ‘Suicide Squad’ sure ‘kills it’ in sly 1st trailer [+VIDEO]

IN CASE YOU didn’t notice by the blood-soaked newspaper article mailed to Bruce Wayne — or the hints alluding to a dead Robin the Boy Wonder — in the “Batman v. Superman: Da...Justice” trailer that debuted Saturday at Comic-Con, one thing should be creepily obvious as Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment try to rebuild their superhero universe for the big screen:

Jared Leto’s Joker is on the loose.

This afternoon, WB/DC has released the first trailer for “Suicide Squad,” the all-star film replete with baddies. DC Entertainment is slowly building toward truth, justice and the American way — with the eventual assembling of the Justice League — but justice has a bad side, as this trailer tells us. So it looks as though a group of Amanda Waller’s (Viola Davis) “worst of the worst” will have a mission: Take down the Clown Prince of Crime at any cost.

Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) has a plan for a bunch of baddies in new “Suicide Squad” trailer. (courtesy of WB/DC Entertainment)

So now, we get our first looks at many “Squad” members including Will Smith as Deadshot, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Killer Crock — and what’s poised to be a scene-stealing standout performance by Margot Robbie as the Joker’s (ex-?) girlfriend, Harley Quinn.

Time may be turning in favor of Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) in new “Suicide Squad” trailer. (courtesy of WB/DC Entertainment)

We even get a quick Batfleck appearance, as the caped crusader jumps on top of what looks to be the Joker’s “Fast and Furious”-looking car (though it’s no Batmobile).

And what of the Joker? Perhaps DC was saving “Suicide Squad’s” best for last. The trailer’s remaining seconds give us our first glimpse of Leto’s Joker, as he devilishly promises no death, but lots and lots of pain.

The Joker, in other words, gets the last laugh.

[Comic-Con: New ‘Batman ...eager fans]

[Edited 7/13/15 18:21pm]

Roy C. Bennett, Part of Midcentury Songwriting Duo, Dies at 96

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Roy C. Bennett, left, wrote songs with his childhood friend, Sid Tepper, right.

Roy C. Bennett, who with his partner, Sid Tepper, wrote songs that were recorded by a wide roster of midcentury pop singers, including the titles “Red Roses for a Blue Lady,” “Kiss of Fire” and “The Naughty Lady of Shady Lane,” died on July 2 in Queens. He was 96.

His son Neil confirmed the death, saying, when asked for the cause, that his father “just ran out of steam.”

Mr. Bennett and Mr. Tepper, who died in April, were friends and neighbors as children in Brooklyn before they became professional collaborators after World War II. They collaborated on both the words and the music for their songs, though Mr. Bennett, a self-taught pianist, was the sole musician of the two.

Working for much of their careers out of the Brill Building, a crowded nest of songwriting talent in Midtown Manhattan, they turned out catchy melodies and lyrics of easygoing cleverness.

“Red Roses for a Blue Lady,” which was written in the late 1940s and inspired by a fight Mr. Tepper had with his new wife, was their first hit and probably their biggest one, recorded by Vaughn Monroe and his orchestra and covered in decades following by a dozen or more well-known singers including Dean Martin, Wayne Newton, Pat Boone and Bobby Darin, as well as by The Count Basie Orchestra.

“Kiss of Fire,” a tune the two men adapted (under the pseudonyms Robert Allen and Lester Hill) from an Argentine tango in 1952 with lyrics about irresistible desire — “Give me your lips, the lips you only let me borrow/Love me tonight and let the devil take tomorrow” — was recorded by Louis Armstrong and Billy Eckstine, among others, including Connie Francis, who sang it in Spanish.

And “Naughty Lady,” a tongue-in-cheek portrait of a misbehaving young lady (who turns out to be a 9-day-old infant) has had an especially extended life, recorded in the 1950s by the Ames Brothers, among others, and in 2007 by the Roches on their album “Moonswept.” It was also recently heard on the television show “Dancing With the Stars.”

Mr. Bennett and Mr. Tepper wrote numerous songs for Elvis Presley’s films, including the title song of “G.I. Blues,” “Stay Away” from “Stay Away, Joe,” “Puppet on a String” from “Girl Happy” and ”The Lady Loves Me” from “Viva Las Vegas.”

In his 2010 memoir, Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones cited “Travelin’ Light,” a country song by Mr. Bennett and Mr. Tepper that was recorded by Cliff Richard, as a song he listened to as a teenager.

Mr. Bennett changed his name as an adult, picking its parts from the phone book. (The C doesn’t stand for anything, his son said: “He just liked the way it sounded.”) He was born Israel Brodsky, in Brooklyn, on Aug. 12, 1918. His parents, Jewish immigrants — he from Ukraine, she from Lithuania — who were not formally educated, earned money sewing.

Izzy, as he was known as a boy, graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School in Brooklyn and attended City College, though he dropped out before graduating. (He returned much later, earning a bachelor’s degree in his 40s as an example to his children.)

He served in the Army in intelligence services and as an entertainer in special services during World War II.

Mr. Bennett married Ruth Stone in 1948. She survives him, as do his twin sons, Neil and Keith, whose birth inspired the Bennett-Tepper song “Twenty Tiny Fingers,” which became a hit in Britain in 1955 for a group called the Stargazers.

Mr. Bennett’s other survivors include three grandchildren and two step-grandchildren. A daughter, Claire Bennett Moringiello, died in 1994.

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Joseph Robinson Jr., the oldest son of the founders of the pioneering hip-hop music label Sugar Hill Records and a recording artist himself, died Saturday in Tenafly. The cause was cancer, according to his family.

Joseph Robinson Jr.

The 53-year-old music executive was part of the legendary empire — based in Englewood — founded in the 1970s and led by his parents, Sylvia and Joseph Robinson Sr. Sylvia, a successful songstress herself, was dubbed “the mother of hip-hop,” and the label’s talent, the Sugarhill Gang, put the music on the map with the hit “Rapper’s Delight” in 1979. The song was added to the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2014.

Joseph Robinson Jr. was executor of the Sugarhill Music Publishing estate, helping to keep his family’s legacy alive.

In addition to tending to the business side of the label, Robinson in 1985 became a member of the Sugarhill Gang, replacing Guy O’Brien and touring with Big Bank Hank and other band members.

Robinson, known as Joey, was released Friday from Holy Name Medical Center in Teaneck, where he had been hospitalized since May 17 with cancer, his brother Leland said. Robinson died at the home in Tenafly he shared with Leland, 49.

Standing at the entrance to the house Sunday, Leland said his family had endured several losses of loved ones and associates recently. All three Robinson brothers — Joey, Leland and the youngest, Rhondo — were involved in the family business. Rhondo, of Englewood, died in February 2014 at age 43 of multiple organ dysfunction syndrome. Big Bank Hank, born Henry Jackson, died of cancer at age 57 last November.

“When my parents passed away, he became like a father figure,” Leland said of Joey. “He was good to everybody.”

Joseph Robinson Sr. died in 2000 and Sylvia Robinson, who had a popular 1973 single, “Pillow Talk,” died in 2011.

The Robinson family had their share of troubles. A copyright dispute over the Sugarhill Gang’s moniker was chronicled in the documentary “I Want My Name Back.” One author of a book on hip-hop’s history claimed the Robinsons had a reputation for withholding payments to their artists. And all three brothers ran afoul of the law in 2012 when they pleaded guilty to charges that they failed to file federal tax returns for several years.

The family’s label built up a large catalog of songs from 1979 through 1986, and the three brothers received royalties from those properties. The Sugar Hill Studio in Englewood, where “Rapper’s Delight” was first recorded, burned down in 2002.

In some ways, the Robinson hip-hop and rap dynasty mirrors the music family depicted by the Fox TV hit “Empire.”

‘A good businessman’

On Sunday in Tenafly, family members came in and out of the green and yellow corner house where Robinson died. The home, surrounded by trees, has a backyard swimming pool and tennis court.

With the commercialization and crossover of hip-hop and rap music, Robinson handled the royalties and music publishing whenever such artists as Alicia Keys, Jay-Z, Kanye West and Justin Timberlake sampled music from his family’s catalog, according to a news release on his death.

“We did a lot of work together,” said rapper Melle Mel, who said he had known the Robinson family for years. “It’s very unfortunate. ... He was a fairly young guy. He had all the bells and whistles of life and he can’t continue enjoying it. … He knew how to keep talented people around him, so that’s why he was successful. He was a good businessman.”

In a statement, rap artist Juelz Santana said: “This is a major blow to the Robinson family. My condolences go out to all of the friends, family members, and fans of the Sugar Hill movement.”

Many people on social media posted condolences, crediting Sugar Hill Records with helping to pave the way for many hip-hop artists. Some circulated a picture of Robinson with “RIP” under it.

During his illness, Robinson had so many visitors at Holy Name Medical Center, his brother said, that the family had to curtail those visits. “He’s loved by a lot of people,” Leland said.

A doctor whom Robinson met in Florida flew his private jet to New Jersey on Friday to try to help him, Leland said.

“He said if there was something he could do for him, he’d put Joey on a jet and fly him right back to his hospital in Florida,” Leland said. “He tried his best to do everything for him. We tried everything for him.”

The family declined to say what kind of cancer Robinson had.

Tax problems

In March 2012, all three Robinson brothers pleaded guilty to charges that they failed to file federal tax returns. Joey Robinson failed to file his tax returns for 2006 and 2007, when he had a combined income of more than $580,000. The other brothers pleaded guilty to similar charges, and all three were sentenced to three years’ probation, 400 hours of community service and three months of home confinement.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark Falk declined to sentence the three brothers to prison, despite the prosecution’s recommendation of incarceration, citing the charitable work they had done and their lack of criminal records.

At his sentencing, Robinson told the judge he was “totally remorseful” and took full responsibility for his actions. He also talked about his family business’s history, introducing “a whole new genre of music, rap music, to the world.”

Leland said Sunday that in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, he and Joey Robinson provided meals to more than 1,000 people from an Englewood Simply Seafood restaurant that Leland part-owned at the time. The brothers also sponsored a midnight basketball league in Englewood with then-city Police Detective Scott Jenkins, Leland said, and worked with Newark’s Integrity House, which helps people with addictions.

The two brothers last year taught a class called “Sugar Hill at Bergen” at Bergen Community College. The course was about the music industry and its business side.

Robinson’s wake and funeral are scheduled for July 21 at Community Baptist Church in Englewood. Interment will be at George Washington Memorial Park in Paramus.

Rest in Peace to Sugar Hill Records Executive & Band Member Joseph Robinson, Jr.

One of Sugar Hill Records’ executives and member of the iconic Sugar Hill Gang has passed away. Joseph Robinson, Jr. lost his battle with an undisclosed form of cancer over the weekend. He passed away at his Tenafly, New Jersey home at the age of 53.

Son of Sugar Hill Records founders Sylvia and Joseph Robinson, Sr., Joseph Robinson, Jr. (called Joey by loved ones) was an integral character in the earliest days of Hip-Hop, particularly when it came to the business of marketing and recording artists. Based in Englewood, New Jersey, Sugar Hill Records appeared on the scene in the ’70s, a decade they capped off with the release of “Rapper’s Delight” by the Sugar Hill Gang. Last November, Big Bank Hank, one of the group’s members, passed away and with the news of Robinson, Jr’s death at the age of 53 after a battle with cancer, the legacy of Sugar Hill Records has lost another momentous personality in Hip-Hop history.

Joseph Robinson, Jr. (far right) passed away at 53

Robinson, Jr. spent many years as the executive of his late parents’ estate, helping to navigate Sugar Hill Records through Hip-Hop’s infancy but also through its adulthood. According to a report on...ersey.com, “Robinson handled the royalties and music publishing whenever such artists as Alicia Keys, Jay-Z, Kanye West and Justin Timberlake sampled music from his family’s catalog,” making him an orchestrator of mainstream, crossover success of classic Hip-Hop. He was also a recording artist in his own right, appearing on West End Mob’s “I Can’t Wait” in 1984, released on Sugar Hill. This came before Robinson controversially took the place of Guy O’Brien (a/k/a Master Gee) in the Sugarhill Gang in 1985. Although not part of the band’s famed 1979 lineup, Robinson is the second member of Sugarhill Gang to pass. In late 2014, MC Big Bank Hank (a/k/a H...plications.

In celebration of Robinson’s contribution to Hip-Hop musically and behind the scenes, check out this Sugar Hill Records playlist, featuring work from label talent like Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five, Melle Mel, and more.

Ambrosia For Heads extends condolences to the family, friends, and band-mates of Joey Robinson, Jr.

Eddie Fisher, Debbie Reynolds, Jimmy Van Heusen, Doris Day, and Nat King Cole

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With Sidney

With Cary

With Dandridge

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With Wife Maria

Joan Sebastian, Mexican Music Superstar, Dies at 64

By Leila Cobo | July 13, 2015 10:42 PM EDT

Joan Sebastian at the 2013 Billboard Mexican Music Awards in Hollywood, California.

JC Olivera/Getty Images

The writer of achingly beautiful songs died after a long battle with cancer.

Joan Sebastian, the fabled Mexican singer/songwriter who rose from a poverty-stricken childhood in rural Mexico to become one of the most recorded and top-selling contemporary acts of all time, died on Sunday after a long battle with cancer. He was 64 years old.

A writer of achingly beautiful songs that he performed with the right dose of pathos in his ballads, bravura in his rancheras, and always that ineffable sense of intimacy -- of singing to you and you alone -- made him one of the top singers in the Latin world.

Add to that Sebastian’s trajectory as producer, as an actor of TV and film and as supreme showman known for his dazzling spectacles of horseback and music -- or jaripeo -- and you had one of the most well-rounded, singular Latin acts in the market.

Joan Sebastian Mourned by Fellow Latin Superstars

On the Billboard charts, Sebastian’s success was extraordinary, up until the time of his death.

He charted 10 top 10 sets on Top Latin Albums, including two No. 1s: En Vivo: Desde La Plaza El Progreso De Guadalajara (2001) and 13 Celebrando El 13 (2013), his last studio album.

On Billbord’s Regional Mexican Albums chart, he placed 10 No. 1 albums, second only to Vicente Fernandez with 15 for the solo act with most No. 1s on the chart. But his Con Tambora spent 23 weeks at no. 1 on the chart, making Joan Sebastian the longest-running male artist with an album in the top position.

In the realm of songs, he had 22 hits on Billboard’s Hot Latin Songs chart, including seven top 10s, while on the Regional Mexican Airplay chart, he charted 32 songs -- the third-most for a solo act, with four of those hitting No. 1. Highly sought after as a composer, Sebastian’s songs were recorded by a veritable who’s who in Latin music, including Vicente and Alejandro Fernandez, Conjunto Primavera, Graciela Beltrán and Banda Machos.

Billboard honored Sebastian’s trajectory multiple times, awarding him Hall of Fame honors at the 2006 Billboard Latin Music Awards and the Voice Award at the 2013 Billboard Mexican Music Awards.

“I don’t make up songs -- I live songs,” Sebastian told Billboard. “My songs are a response to feelings, to what I’ve lived. … The important thing is that the songs be sincere, that they be truthful.”

In his very storied life, Sebastian had plenty of experience to draw from. Known for his highly publicized romances, he fathered eight children from five women. Born in the tiny Mexican town of Juliantla, he attended the seminary as a teenager, intent on becoming a priest before being seduced by music and landing his first record deal at 17 with Capitol Records in Mexico. Sebastian initially recorded under his real name, José Manuel Figueroa, and paid his bills selling cars in Chicago.

In 1977, he switched labels, signing to Musart, and changed his name to Juan Sebastian, because he liked the meaning of the composite name: Juan, which means free, and Sebastian, which means lover. His sister, a numerology expert, asked him to change the u for an o, leading to the Joan Sebastian moniker.

Sebastian’s success as a composer and an artist was almost immediate and continued unabated through the years, through genres and through devastating adversity; two of his sons -- Juan Sebastian and Trigo de Jesús -- were murdered in recent years, and for over a decade he battled bone cancer.

"He is a warrior," Los Angeles-based radio personality Carlos Alvarez told Billboard in 2012. "Despite all he's been through in his career and life, he's been able to separate the pain and continue moving forward. His songs are very special because of the way they're written, but that also goes hand in hand with the person we know as Joan Sebastian -- a true fighter."

In 2013, with his cancer in remission, Sebastian, now signed to Universal, recorded 13 Celebrando el 13 (13 Celebrating 13), a collection of 13 songs, many recorded previously by other artists.

“It’s a very significant number for me because I started playing guitar at 13,” Sebastian told Billboard. “The guitar Gibson made for me has 13 hearts, representing my eight children with five women. My name has 13 letters. And I’ve been a cancer survivor for 13 years.”

A perennial optimist, Sebastian admitted at the time that his battle against cancer had been initially difficult.

“I’ve returned to life three times and all three I’ve fought hard,” he said. “The hardest moment was the first time, when I gave it too much importance and I sat to wait for the doctors’ orders. That’s when I was closest to death. When I realized that the applause made me better, that my contact with my audience was what made me cling to life, I discovered the most vital aspect of my battle. I honestly think the story would be different if I didn’t have my fans’ support.”

Sebastian had been in and out of hospitals in the past several months, despite efforts to downplay the severity of his illness. He died in his ranch in Juliantla.

Robby Krieger plays Hello, I Love You with Boy George and Jack Black on vocals

Robby Krieger appeared in a cameo on the Conan O'Brien show July 12, 2015 with Boy George and Jack Black trading off vocals.

The Doors have influenced a lot of artists throughout the years, but who would have thought they influenced The Culture Club? George Dowd, aka Boy George was on the Conan O’Brien show tonight (July 13, 2015) and when he mentioned The Doors influence Conan encouraged him to sing “Hello, I Love You” with fellow guest Jack Black and special guest Robby Krieger assisting on guitar.

Geroge and Black traded off verses in an obviously rehearsed segment, after all Robby Krieger very rarely hangs around the set of the Conan O’Brien show. Black’s voice was surprisingly good and he didn’t add any comedic touches, except for his own brand of dancing towards the end.

Dowd’s voice was a surprise of the song having a bit more fullness and a bit more macho than his more dulcet voice of his Culture Club days. Krieger providing some of his classic fuzz tone and slide guitar on the elastic bridge of the song. Dowd joining Krieger to dance to Krieger’s solo the way only a seasoned lead singer can do to highlight the guitarist.

Audio recording of Van Halen’s soundcheck found on Youtube

An audio recording of Van Halen’s soundcheck from the band's opening-night Seattle show on July 5, has surfaced on YouTube. The soundcheck that was exclusive to VIP ticket holders, consisted of instrumental versions of some of the most rarely played cuts from the current setlist.

Louis Raphael - Louis Raphael Photography

Included on the recording are the following songs:

- On Fire
- Light Up the Sky
- Drop Dead Legs
- Dirty Movies
- Romeo Delight
- Runnin' With the Devil
- Chinatown
- I’ll Wait

Two days before the tour started, bassist Wolfgang Van Halen wrote this on Twitter:

This is by far the best setlist I've made for us. Can't wait for everyone to hear it. Ya'll are gonna flip.

According to The Pulse Of Radio, "Light Up The Sky" has not been played live in 35 years until now, while "Drop Dead Legs" and "Dirty Movies" had never been performed in concert until the Seattle show.

The current tour features David Lee Roth and ends on the West Coast, moving across the US with over 39 dates. Catch them quickly as the last time the band toured the US, they canceled some 30 dates without a clear explanation.

The remaining Van Halen dates so far are as follow:

Tuesday July 14, Irvine, CA, Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
Thursday July 16, Mountain View, CA, Shoreline Amphitheatre
Saturday July 18, Salt Lake City, UT, USANA Amphitheatre
Monday July 20, Morrison, CO, Red Rocks Amphitheatre
Wednesday July 22, Kansas City, MO, Cricket Wireless Amphitheater
Friday July 24, Chicago, IL, First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre
Sunday July 26, St. Louis, MO, Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre
Tuesday July 28, Pittsburgh, PA, First Niagra Pavilion
Thursday July 30, Bangor, ME, Darling's Waterfront Pavilion
Saturday August 1, Boston, MA, Xfinity Center
Monday August 3, Cleveland, OH, Blossom Music Center
Wednesday August 5, London, ON, Western Fair District
Friday August 7, Toronto, ON, Molson Canadian Amphitheatre
Sunday August 9, Holmdel, NJ, PNC Bank Arts Center
Tuesday August 11, Hartford, CT, Xfinity Center
Thursday August 13, Wantagh, NY, Nikon At Jones Beach Theater
Sunday August 23, Hershey, PA, Hershey Park
Tuesday August 25, Darien, NY, Darien Lake Performing Arts Center
Thursday August 27, Camden, NJ, Susquehanna Bank Center
Saturday August 29, Washington DC, Jiffy Lube Live
Monday August 31, Cincinnati, OH, Riverbend Music Center
Wednesday September 2, Indianapolis, IN, Klipsch Amphitheatre
Friday September 4, Detroit, MI, DTE Energy Music Theater
Sunday September 6, Bethel, NY, Bethel Woods Center for the Arts
Wednesday September 9, Raleigh, NC, Walnut Creek Amphitheater
Friday September 11, Charlotte, NC, PNC Music Pavilion
Sunday September 13, Tampa, FL, MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre
Tuesday September 15, West Palm Beach, FL, Coral Sky Amphitheatre
Thursday September 17, Birmingham, AL, Oak Mountain Amphitheatre
Monday September 21, Austin, TX, Austin360 Amphitheater
Wednesday September 23, Dallas, TX, Gexa Energy Pavilion
Friday September 25, Houston, TX, Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
Monday September 28, Phoenix, AZ, Ak-Chin Pavilion
Wednesday September 30, San Diego, CA, Sleep Train Amphitheatre
Friday October 2, Hollywood, CA, Hollywood Bowl

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Slash announces North American tour this Fall

Louis Raphael

SF Music Examiner

July 14, 2015 11:57 AM MST

Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images

Hot on the heels of a world tour with his band the Conspirators in support of their most recent LP, "World on Fire," Slash has just added another string of shows to start in September and go on through October.
According to Ultimate Classic Rock, the tour begins Sept. 18, in Providence, R.I., and continue until Oct. 24, with a final performance in Temecula, Calif. The tour is being sponsored by Citi, who are providing account holders with an opportunity to purchase tickets today — three days before they go on sale to the general public on July 17 — via the Citi Private Pass website. Once general sales begin, fans can purchase passes through Slash’s site.
The tour comes shortly after the release of the band’s Live at the Roxy DVD, which Slash worked on to raise awareness for the International Fund for Animal Welfare and their campaign to stop elephant slaughter. To watch Slash and the Conspirators’ video for “Beneath the Savage Sun” and to get the song for free you can donate to the Fund here.

Slash Featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators Fall 2015 Tour Dates

9/18 – Providence, R.I.
9/19 – Clark, N.J.
9/21 – Hamilton, Ontario
9/23 – Toronto, Ontario
9/24 – Montreal, Quebec
9/26 – Northfield, Ohio
9/27 – Detroit, Mich.
9/29 – Grand Rapids, Mich.
9/30 – Fort Wayne, Ind.
10/2 – Marksville, La.
10/4 – Louisville, Ky.
10/7 – Minneapolis, Minn.
10/9 – Calgary, Alberta
10/10 – Edmonton, Alberta
10/12 – Vancouver, B.C.
10/13 – Seattle, Wash.
10/15 – Salt Lake City, Utah
10/16 – Denver, Colo.
10/18 – San Francisco, Calif.
10/21 – Anaheim, Calif.
10/23 – Los Angeles, Calif.
10/24 – Temecula, Calif.

Slash will also be performing as part of the Kings of Chaos show on Wednesday, July 29 at The Fillmore to benefit Ric O’Barry’s Dolphin Project, a not for profit campaign aimed at putting an end to dolphin exploitation and slaughter around the world. You can buy tickets for the event here.

Aerosmith launches pre-order for 'Rocks Donington 2014' live DVD

Robert Rheubottom

Canada Music Examiner

July 14, 2015 4:07 PM MST

Play

Promotional trailer for 'Aerosmith Rocks Donington 2014," which will hit shelves in multiple formats via Eagle Rock on Sept.14, 2015.

Eagle Rock

Aerosmith fans jazzed about catching the band on their current 2015 North American tour can whet their appetite with a soon-to-be-released live set. The four-time Grammy winners have launched a pre-sale for "Aerosmith Rocks Donington 2014," which will hit shelves in multiple formats via Eagle Rock on Sept. 4.

Photo by Ben A. Pruchnie/Getty Images

According to a media release posted July 14 at MSO, "Donington 2014" catches the Bad Boys from Boston at their snarling and swaggering best during their headline set in front of 80,000 fans on June 15, 2014 at U.K.’s Download Festival. Showcasing a hit-filled 19-song setlist, the live set can be pre-ordered in standard and assorted deluxe editions in Blu-ray+2CD, DVD+2CD, DVD+3LP and on all digital formats.

"Donington 2014," which received a brief theatrical release in February, features Aerosmith rocking through a setlist of greatest hits and beloved album tracks like "Dream On," "Walk This Way," "Sweet Emotion," Love in a Elevator" and "Dude (Looks Like a Lady)," and many more. Fans can check out a recently posted trailer above and see the track listing below. For more details or to pre-order the album, click here.

The multi-platinum hitmakers kicked off their 2015 summer tour of North America on June 13 in Glendale, Arizona. The Blue Army Tour is currently winding through Canada and will make its next stop on July 16 in Victoria, British Columbia, at Save On Foods Memorial Centre with special guests New York fusion rockers Living Colour.

Tickets for select U.S. Blue Army Tour dates are available at AXS. See below for Aerosmith's remaining 2015 summer tour schedule. For more information, click here.

Aerosmith 2015 North American tour dates:

July 13 Kelowna, B.C. - Prospera Place
July 16 Victoria, B.C. - Save On Foods Memorial Centre
July 19 Fort McMurray, Alta. - Shell Place at MacDonald State Park
July 22 Cheyenne, Wyo. - Frontier Park
July 25 Minot, N.D - North Dakota State Fair
July 28 Ridgefield, Wash. - Amphitheater Northwest.
Aug. 1 Las Vegas, Nev. - MGM Grand Garden Arena
Aug. 4 Grand Rapids, Mich. - Van Andel Arena
Aug. 7 Canton, Ohio - Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium (Concert for Legends)

Aerosmith Rocks Donington 2014 tracklisting:

“Train Kept A-Rollin’”
“Eat the Rich”
“Love in an Elevator”
“Cryin’”
“Jaded”
“Livin’ on the Edge”
“Last Child”
“Freedom Fighter”
“Same Old Song and Dance”
“Janie’s Got a Gun’
“Toys in the Attic”
“I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing’”
“No More No More”
“Come Together”
“Dude (Looks Like a Lady)’
“Walk This Way”
“Dream On”
“Sweet Emotion”
“Mama Kin”

Read Eminem's Sentimental Letter to Tupac's Mother

Unearthed letter also includes drawing of Shakur by Detroit rapper

In an undated letter after Eminem broke out, the rapper penned a heartfelt letter to Afeni Shakur, Tupac's mom, and enclosed a drawing he'd made of the "California Love" rapper. "When I was feeling at my 'worst' (before fame, before Dre), I knew I could put that 'Tupac' tape in and, suddenly, things weren't so bad," he wrote. "He gave me the courage to stand up and say, 'Fuck the world! This is who I am! And if you don't like it, go fuck yourself!'"

Although both the sketch and letter appeared in the 2008 book Tupac Remembered, interest in the letter and drawing was recently renewed when it appeared on Reddit (via Fader). A citation in the book says the letter and sketch is on display at the Tupac Amaru Shakur Center for the Arts. Eminem has mentioned Tupac's influence multiple times in his rhymes.

"Thank you for always being so kind to me," he wrote in the letter. "You are a true Queen, and I mean that in every sense of the word. I will never forget the opportunities you have given me. You will always be in my heart, my thoughts and my prayers.

"As I have said before, you have no idea how much your son and his music has [sic] inspired not only the 'hip-hop' world but, speaking for myself, has inspired my whole career," the rapper continued. "He was and still is the true definition of a 'soldier.'"

He signed the note, which he opened by apologizing for the "sloppy" look of his sketch, "Love, Marshall."

In other Eminem news, the rapper recently released an adrenaline-pumping video for his Southpaw soundtrack contribution "Phenomenal." The rapper also appeared for an interview on a satirical takeover of a real Michigan cable-access show hosted ...en Colbert.

Regarding Shakur, Afeni recently entered into a new agreement with a management company that will manage Tupac's commercial affairs, including issuing previously unreleased music. Additionally, a Tupac biopic is still in the works despite the exit of director John Singleton, and the director of some of Shakur's music videos was recently seeking funds to create a different biopic about the rapper's final days. The latter project, though, was not fully funded before the crowd-funding campaign was closed.

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Photographed by Bella Howard

Ant-Man art

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Artist Cuyler Smith created this image exclusively for Fandango.

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Fear the Walking Dead official poster.

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice + Suicide Squad goals! Ben Affleck, Cara Delevingne, Will Smith, etc. pose for THR's epic group photo.

Watch Tina Fey and Amy Poehler Throw a Massive Rager in the Sisters Trailer

Catch all your favorite Saturday Night Live alumnae in theaters December 18

The selling of your childhood home can be a traumatic event, so Tina Fey and Amy Poehler’s characters in their upcoming movie Sisters cope the only way they know how: by having one last hurrah with a massive, out of control party. Helmed by Pitch Perfect director Jason Moore and written by Paula Pell, whose work you probably know even if her name doesn’t ring a bell, Sisters gathers together all your favorite ladies from Saturday Night Live over the years: in addition to Fey and Poehler, Maya Rudolph shows up in the trailer, and Rachel Dratch and Kate McKinnon have small roles as well. The movie doesn’t come out until just before Christmas time, but we’ll need to see that Tina-Amy dance routine in full, stat.

Amy Schumer Wears Princess Leia's Bikini On GQ Cover

Stephanie Marcus Entertainment Editor, Huffington Post

Amy Schumer is GQ's August covergirl, dressed up in a "Star Wars" slave Leia bikini costume and sucking some droid finger. Inside, the comedian is posed in bed with C-3PO and R2-D2. We're pretty sure that never happened in the movie, but what a lucky lady, right?

GQ declared Schumer "the funniest woman in the galaxy" and though we wish we could share some of the presumably funny things she told them in the upcoming interview, the men's magazine sent out just a press release with the star's cover photo, and has only published her "Star ...hoto shoot.

Schumer's interview won't...til Monday, according to E! News, so until then we implore you to go see her new movie, "Trainwreck," opening on Friday, which she wrote and stars in. Also, we've already compiled a list o...r has said, so that should tide you over until GQ releases the article that goes with the titillating photos.

Song Of The Day

Review: Lianne La Havas Sings of Love and Identity

Photo

The singer-songwriter Lianne La Havas performed songs from her new album Thursday at Bowery Ballroom. Credit Nicole Fara Silver for The New York Times

In the songs of Lianne La Havas intricate cross-currents are something to sail above. There are cross-currents of rhythm and harmony, of melancholy and bliss, of romance and self-determination, of playfulness and purpose. But what comes across first is the sheer grace of her voice. It can be a breathy purr, a lilting tease, a liquid confession or a torchy declaration. She often introduces a melody by landing firmly on each note, then returns to toy with it in sliding, fluttering phrases, not for vocal display but to convey a sense of freedom.

Ms. La Havas, who is English, was at the Bowery Ballroom on Thursday night introducing songs from her second album, “Blood” (Nonesuch), which is due for release July 31.

She was already distinctive on her 2012 debut album, “Is Your Love Big Enough?,” which fused neo-soul, folk and jazz in songs built around her briskly syncopated guitar playing, often juggling three-against-two patterns behind supple tunes. The subject was almost always love, distilled into telling insights: “We all make mistakes, we do,” she sang in “No Room for Doubt,” then continued: “I learned from you.”

Her music pushes further in the songs on “Blood.” Some allow more funk and rock, revealing a bolder side to her voice. “Never Get Enough” toggled between verses as delicate as bossa nova and a stomping, distorted chorus, while her new single, “What You Don’t Do,” harked back to the piano triplets of Sly and the Family Stone’s “Hot Fun in the Summertime.”

Her lyrics also delve further: to thoughts of heritage and identity in “Green & Gold” and to elegant extended metaphors like the ones she sang in a hushed ballad, “Wonderful”:

“You can trip, flick a switch, negative/
break the circuit between us/
but electricity lingers/
in our fingers.”

Through songs full of uncertain relationships, questions and loneliness as well as affection and self-confidence, Ms. La Havas was all smiles onstage. She basked in the singalongs for tunes from her debut album, and she danced with unchoreographed ease in the few songs where she wasn’t playing guitar.

But with her electric guitar in hand her fingers were busy: plucking and picking through knotty jazz chords, delineating cross-rhythms, guiding the entire band. She was setting up all the musical crosscurrents that she would navigate with such poise.

Pyramid Scheme: Avan Jogia and Sir Ben Kingsley star in Spike’s epic miniseries “Tut”

Being an ancient Egyptian pharaoh must have been a pretty good gig. You sat around all day drinking beer while half-nude ladies fed you figs and slaves erected monuments in your honor. What they don’t tell you in the job interview is the part about foreign invaders, plagues, famines, civil unrest, and all your aides, generals and priests conspiring against you.

Spike gets back into scripted projects with the ambitious three-night, six-hour event Tut, dramatizing boy king Tutankhamun’s brief but famous reign and struggle to return Egypt to greatness. Avan Jogia (Twisted) plays Tut, with screen legend Sir Ben Kingsley playing Tut’s scheming top adviser.

What’s it like to have a knighted Oscar winner bow to you? “It was kind of a cool experience. Sir Ben is just the most generous actor, thoughtful and helpful, very giving,” Jogia says. “He doesn’t take a role that he doesn’t show passion about.”

Kingsley had high praise for his costar, who took on the biggest role of his young career. “He’s glorious,” Kingsley says of Jogia. “And I think that as time evolves, he could step into my shoes. I played Hamlet for the Royal Shakespeare Company. He’d make a wonderful Hamlet. He plays a wonderful troubled prince who becomes a king in our Tutankhamun.”

With lavish sets, large-scale battles, political backstabbing and steamy romance, Tut succeeds at emulating Egypt’s grandeur without becoming overwhelmed by it. “It’s a civilization that didn’t change much for the better part of 3,000 years, and it didn’t do that by being small about it,” Jogia says. “With respect to your purchases, the tablets in your pocket might be obsolete in three months,” Kingsley says. “The tablets that they created in stone lasted 2,000 years, and nothing changed. Nothing changed. Their quest for immortality also included, ‘Nothing around me must change, because change is mortality.’ It’s an extraordinary mindset.”

At its heart Tut is a relatable human story. “The story we tell is of a boy turning into a man who is trying to take back his kingdom and do right by his people,” Jogia says. “What you’ll find in our series is that it is all about you. All about your life struggle,” Kingsley says of connecting Egypt’s ancient past to our present. “Although you’re watching something so different in time and so seemingly exotic, after a few minutes you realize, ‘My goodness, nothing’s changed. The same driving forces of ambition, of blood ties, of jealousies, of buried revenges and grudges, genuinely altruistic motives, love of one’s country as opposed to love of one’s power — all of these things we wrestle with, with the same pair of hands and brains that they wrestled with them in Egypt thousands of years ago.”

What Tut doesn’t attempt to do is be a history textbook. It won’t, for example, explore the hypothesis that Tut was killed by a hippo. “That’s not how we go out,” Jogia laughs. “Being eaten by a hippopotamus is maybe not as interesting a story.” “[Tutankhamun] had a spectacular reign. And they tried to get rid of him,” Kingsley says. “They tried to bury him in a secondary grave, not a great pyramid monument, but a lesser one which wasn’t vandalized. So ironically, they conspired to preserve his memory forever.”

Photo: © Spike TV

‘Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll’ Begins on FX

When we first meet Johnny Rock (Denis Leary), he has just mistaken dishwashing detergent for cocaine. Never mind: He’s on a perpetual high as the frontman for the Heathens, a ’90s band set for stardom with its debut album. But on the day of its release, the band breaks up. Something about Johnny’s having sex with the wife of the lead guitarist, Flash (John Corbett).

Two decades later, Johnny is still earthbound when a gorgeous young thing ogles him from across a bar. And as soon as he can say, “Come to daddy,” Gigi (Elizabeth Gillies), the daughter he never knew, has punched her way into his life.

Turns out she’s rich and wants to pave the path for the Heathens’ comeback. The catch: She intends to be the star.

In “Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll” (Thursday at 10 p.m., Eastern, on FX), Mr. Leary draws on his musical chops — the guitar licks he polished in high school before steeping in the rock scenes of Boston and New York — for authenticity.

“I don’t wanna die anonymous,” he bellows in the show’s theme song, which he wrote.

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[Edited 7/16/15 7:01am]

CW’s 'The 100' Star Lindsey Morgan Spills on Her Empowering Role, Landing Lead in ‘Casa Vita’ [Exclusive]By Melissa Castellanos

CW’s "The 100” Star Lindsey Morgan (Photo : Russell Baer)

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God forbid if there was ever a nuclear Armageddon that wiped out the population on Earth and there were only a few survivors. But if that ever should happen, then you'd want CW's "The 100" Raven Reyes (Lindsey Morgan) by your side.

Actress Lindsey Morgan, who is of Mexican, Spanish and Irish descent, is a series regular of the CW's hit post-apocalyptic drama series, "The 100." Created by Jason Rothenberg and based on a book by Kass Morgan, "The 100" is set 97 years after a nuclear Armageddon wiped out the population on Earth and left the planet uninhabitable. The remaining 400 survivors were in space at the time the nukes went off, living among a dozen space stations that were brought together to create an Ark where humanity went on to live for three generations."

Morgan plays Raven Reyes, "a strong-willed young mechanical engineer, who is not afraid to break the rules when necessary," and the actress couldn't be more thrilled to take on the role.

"She's a guy's girl, very intelligent, fierce and tough," Morgan told Latin Post in an exclusive interview. "She is a huge asset because of her intelligence... I see Raven helping girls become interested in science, engineering, and mechanics. She makes it look cool."

Morgan points out that while the CW targets a younger audience, the network has changed its material to "a higher quality" where it deals with "more serious issues of morale and ethics as opposed to the love triangle."

"They aren't treating the audience as dummies," she explained. Instead, "they are creating material that makes them think and be entertained."

Morgan also landed the lead as Ariana Vita, opposite Jean Luc Bilodeau ("Baby Daddy") in the upcoming television movie, "Casa Vita" on Pixl.

Ariana Vita is an intelligent, gorgeous and hard-working Latina with a passion for food who is eager to institute changes at the family restaurant. She butts heads with her "stubborn, unwilling-to-change father."

"It's a family story. It gives a great message that families have their differences, but they come together in a time of crisis," she said. "It's completely different than 'The 100,' but I wanted to try something I haven't done before."

"Casa Vita" follows a young man living on an Iowan farm, who is determined to pursue his dream of becoming a professional baseball player and becomes elated when he is invited to a major league tryout camp in Los Angeles. It's not long before he meets an equally impassioned young woman (Morgan) with a desire to pursue her dream of having her own restaurant. However, it's not always a bad thing when dreams take a bit of a detour, especially when sparks begin to fly between the two.

Born in Georgia and raised in Houston, Texas, bicultural beauty Morgan began her acting career during her first year at The University of Texas, booking guest roles on critically acclaimed television series such as "My Generation" and "Friday Night Lights."

Morgan made her big screen debut as the mean cheerleader "Alexis Spencer" alongside Josh Hutcherson, Dane Cook, and Shanley Caswell in Sony Pictures' horror-comedy "DETENTION," directed by Joseph Kahn. She later landed the lead role of "Maria" in the MTV original movie "DisCONNECTED."

"I mean it's great because it all worked out, but it was a gamble," she laughed.

On being cast in Hollywood, Morgan said she is "either not Latina enough, or not white enough ... not Caucasian enough, or too Latina."

"Everybody would be like 'who is she, what is she?'" Morgan explained. "They want to throw you in a box, but that's not reality. That's why we need complex, multi-faceted roles. ... Let's get ahead of the curve."

While she faced being pigeonholed, Morgan who is half-Latina and half-Caucasian, draws inspiration from other Latinas who have opened the doors for other bicultural women and Latinas, such as Sofia Vergara for her humor, Penelope Cruz and Selma Hayek's for their dramatic roles and Jessica Alba for taking on a variety of roles.

She also recognizes what it means to be a positive example for other young and aspiring actresses her in the U.S. and abroad.

"I didn't realize the impact of my job and what it could do ... on an international scale, our show is shown around the world," she said.

'Ant-Man's' Michael Pena Talks Favorite Superheroes, Opportunities For Latinos in Film, and His Son [EXCLUSIVE]

Michael Pena stars in Ant-Man. (Photo : Marvel/Disney)

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"Dad please don't mess it up."

Those were the words of Michael Pena's son, Roman, right before the actor went off to work on Marvel's "Ant-Man."

"It made me more nervous, I'm not going to lie," the actor told Latin Post during a recent interview. "He has an interesting sense of humor."

For Pena, who plays the character of Luis in the new superhero movie, the experience has one that has had extra importance to him because of its connection with his son.

"This is the reason I am doing these kinds of movies, especially for him," said Pena. "He really helped me to appreciate this world. Early in my career I was doing dramas because that is what I like to see. But because of him, I have been able to watch more animation and superhero films. My appreciation for them went up."

He revealed that, of all the movies, he has the greatest appreciation for the Iron Man films, especially the performance of its leading man.

"It was really groundbreaking to have Robert Downey Jr.'s performance. I took that as inspiration. When you are doing any kind of comedy like that, you want make sure that you're still in the movie tonally. I definitely watched that series quite a bit to draw experience from it."

"I still usually ask him for advice on what Marvel movies to watch though," Pena admitted before explaining that his favorite of the superheroes is Iron Man.

Pena was brought on in early stages of production when Edgar Wright was still a part of the production. The helmer eventually dropped out and was replaced by Peyton Reed.

"[Edgar] told me that he wrote the part for me and asked me if I would be in it," said Pena. Wright eventually left the production, but Pena stayed on and had an opportunity to work with Paul Rudd who deemed "one of the most generous actors I have ever worked with."

Pena noted that the production itself, while requiring "16 slow and deliberate hours a day," was rather smooth and well put together.

"The Marvel movies are so well-put together that they motivate you to do your best."

At the end of the day the biggest question was whether Roman would enjoy the movie.

"He did. He gave me a little hug and went back to playing 'Minecraft.'"

Next up for Pena is a starring role in "The Vatican Tapes," where he plays a "rookie priest."

"I grew up Catholic so I enjoyed the script. Growing up and learning about heaven and hell captured my imagination, so it was exciting to do that movie," he noted. He is also set to star in "Vacation," the animated film "Hell & Back" and John Michael McDonagh's "War on Everyone."

Pena has become one of the premier Latin American actors working in the film industry today. The actor, who has starred in such films as "End of Watch," "Tower Heist," "American Hustle," "Fury," the lead role in "Cesar Chavez," "The Lincoln Lawyer," and "Lions for Lambs," noted that it was not always easy to find good writing for the demographic.

"When I first started, there was this thing called the breakdowns where you would see the description of the characters. And I remember that the lead would say 'Caucasian Only.' And you would only see a small supporting role or cameo that says 'Open to other ethnicities,'" he explained. "I'm not going to lie -- that sucked!"

"I've seen the breakdowns since and the opportunities are definitely growing and changing [for Latin Americans]. It's kind of exciting to be part of a generation that is pushing this kind of change."

Legendary Puerto Rican Star Rita Moreno to Receive Prestigious Kennedy Award

Actress Rita Moreno arrives at Hallmark Channel & Hallmark Movie Channel's 2015 Winter TCA party at Tournament House on January 8, 2015 in Pasadena, California. (Photo : Angela Weiss/Getty Images)

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Legendary actress and singer Rita Morena has been announced as one of this year's six recipients being awarded Kennedy Center Honors.

Moreno, who rose to super stardom in Hollywood for her 1961 role of Anita in "West Side Story" on both film and on Broadway, is one of a select few entertainers to have won an Oscar, Grammy, Tony and an Emmy throughout their career. Moreno is the only Latino entertainer to do so and is the second Puerto Rican to ever win an Oscar.

Deborah Rutter, president of the Kennedy Center, said that the latest group of honorees share a powerful common theme, reports Variety. They are "artists as history-makers and artists who defy both convention and category."

"Each honoree and their career-spanning achievements exemplify a rare quality of artistic bravery," said Rutter. "They have pushed the limits of their gifts as musicians, actors, and storytellers to inspire generations of Americans and those around the world."

Moreno's career was most recently honored by the Screen Actors Guild with a Life Achievement Award in 2014.

The 83-year-old entertainer hasn't appeared in films recently, but instead published a memoir in 2013. In the memoir, she shares moments from her life and her journey from her family's native Puerto Rico to her life in New York City during the 1950's and forward.

The nomination of Moreno is a proud moment for the Latino community. According to NBC News, in 2012, the Kennedy Center was criticized for their lack of nominations within the Latino community. The criticism resulted in revisions being done by the Kennedy Center and led to the nominations of opera singer Martina Arroya and musician Carlos Santana in 2013.

Other recipients of the award include rock band The Eagles, singer-songwriter Carole King, filmmaker George Lucas, Broadway star Cicely Tyson and conductor Seiji Ozawa. The event will be broadcast by CBS on Dec. 29.

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The Minority Report TV series will pick up a decade after the events of Spielberg’s movie, in futuristic Washington, D.C.

Director Guillermo del Toro 'Surprises' in New, Anticipated 'Crimson Peak' Film

Actress Mia Wasikowska plays Edith Cushing in "Crimson Peak." (Photo : Crimson Peak/Facebook)

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Oscar-winning director Guillermo del Toro is constantly finding creative ways to reinvent the horror genre with his eccentric, mysterious dark yet whimsical nature.

In his new gothic romance, "Crimson Peak," del Toro continues to spread his artistic wings and brings his fans to new heights with a spooky haunted house intertwined with an alluring romance that is both sweet and sexy.

The Mexican director is returning to his horror roots with this highly-anticipated film, reminiscent of his Spanish classics -- "The Devil's Backbone," "Cronos" and "Pan's Labyrinth."

"Crimson Peak" is a huge contrast to his fantasy/sci-fi "Hellboy" movies, "Pacific Rim," and his animated films, "Kung-Fu Panda 2" and "The Book of Life" (with illustrator and co-creator) Jorge Gutierrez, proving that he's a master of versatility.

Dubbed a "haunting gothic horror story," del Toro and the cast of "Crimson Peak" shared their insight of the film and marveled at del Toro's "beautiful storytelling" in the new "A Look Inside" featurette for "Crimson Peak."

In the featurette, you can see how the house is "a principle character" in the eerie film.

"Constantly you feel that the house is filled with ghosts," del Toro explained in the featurette. "The beauty of the movie is a part of the storytelling. This is a different slant to everything that you normally see in the horror genre."

"Guillermo is incredibly skilled at holding back surprises. He is the primary interpreter of gothic romance in contemporary cinema," said "Crimson Peak" star Tom Hiddleston, also in the featurette. "It's very, very scary indeed."

In addition to Hiddleston, "Crimson Peak" features Mia Wasikowska, Jessica Chastain, Charlie Hunnam and Jim Beaver.

Recently, del Toro and the cast appeared at the San Diego Comic-Con panel for the upcoming film where he "declared that he had decided to make a film that empowered women," TIME reports.

"There is a secret gender war," del Toro told "a 6,000-strong audience to cheers, promising that he would 'liberate' the gender roles in his 1900s gothic romance."

Del Toro added that "the women in his life, especially his daughters, inspired him to create strong female characters in films like 'Pan's Labyrinth, 'Pacific Rim' and the upcoming 'Crimson Peak.'"

"Crimson Peak" is directed and co-written by del Toro and Matthew Robbins. Executive producers include Thomas Tull, Jon Jashni, del Toro, Callum Greene and Jillian Share.

'East Los High' Star Carlito Olivero Says Season 3 'Hits Close to Home' and All-Latino Cast Debunks Trump's Racist Assumptions

"East Los High" star Carlito Olivero as Eddie. (Photo : East Los High/Hulu)

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"East Los High" fans fret no more, Season 3 of "East Los High" is finally upon us.

Season 3 of Hulu's original and Emmy-nominated series, which kicked off on July 15, is cranking up the intensity with a new co-ed school dance team, the Bomb Squad, more love, sex and relationship drama and the struggles of being an undocumented immigrant while trying to just fit in and be a normal kid.

New cast member, Carlito Olivero, who plays Eddie, has been dealt this hand in the hugely popular hit series. In an exclusive interview with Latin Post, Olivero said that these topics "hit close to home" for the impressionable actor who is of Mexican and Puerto Rican descent.

In "East Los High," Eddie is "an all-American 17-year-old and doting caretaker to his diabetic mother. This good guy also has swagger, and sparks will fly between him and a couple of our favorite Bomb Squad girls both on and off the dance floor."

"This season we wanted to flip the script and show a different side of 'East Los High,'" Olivero told Latin Post. "The Bomb Squad goes co-ed. Eddie is a half-Mexican, half-Cuban kid that lives with his mother in East Los Angeles. His mother is sick so he is pretty much the caretaker of his Mom. That's his rock, that's his gem/ They are both undocumented, but he has to live life as normal as possible, but with a secret."

Oscar-nominated actress Catalina Sandino Moreno plays Eddie's (Olivero's) mother.

"She is absolutely phenomenal," he said. "The chemistry we had on set was great. I looked at her like she was my mom. She definitely brought the best out of me."

Immigration has been an especially hot topic lately with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump making headlines for his racist remarks, insulting Mexican immigrants.

"With all that's going on in politics and Donald Trump, this season is definitely going to hit close to home for a lot of people here in the U.S.," he explained. "This hit really close to home for me. I am half-Mexican and half-Puerto Rican, and I have seen so many instances, as far as seeing what my family had to go through to get to this country and the racism that came along with it. Being classified and racially profiled for the color of my skin and the way that I look."

While it's not always easy to combat ignorance and racism, Olivero is honored to channel his past experiences and further his pride for his culture and Hulu's all-Latino cast through his role on "East Los High."

"This character (Eddie) definitely pulled some emotional strings and brought back some past memories, but it's needed and I think that we are doing it in a great way," he said. "We're a culture of class. We're a very family-oriented group of people. We come from a history of love. We definitely need a show like this."

The Chicago native has been singing in English and Spanish since he was 5 years old. In 2014, he became a finalist on "The X Factor USA." In 2007, Olivero became the lead vocalist for the Latin Pop group Menudo, which later disbanded. More recently, Olivero has guest-starred on TNT's "Rizzoli & Isles" and was a lead in the Mario Van Peebles-directed teen-based film entitled "We the Party."

Check out "East Los High" Season 3, which also guest stars Christina Milian and Revolution's JD Pardo, on Hulu.

MAC to Honor Selena Quintanilla With Exclusive Makeup Collection Thanks to Fans

(Photo : M.A.C Cosmetics/Instagram)

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Selena Quintanilla may be gone, but her status as one of Latin music's most iconic symbols is still going strong. M.A.C Cosmetics announced on July 16 that it would honor her legacy with a makeup collection.

"Selena's talent and beauty, inside and out, have left a colorful, meaningful impact in the world that has continued to grow over the last two decades," M.A.C creative director James Gager told People. "We have heard the passion and enthusiasm from her fans and wholeheartedly agree that her legacy embodies M.A.C's philosophy. We are so excited to announce a Selena-inspired M.A.C collection debuting in the latter part of 2016."

Gager's mention of the late Tejano music singer's fans is due to the fact that M.A.C's decision to create an exclusive collection came from a Change.org petition.

According to New York Magazine, the petition, which received 35,000 signatures, 5,000 in 24 hours, was created to get the beauty brand to create a line of products inspired by the singer.

M.A.C learned of the petition and responded with a statement that said they would "consider all types of feedback like this as we plan our collaborations."

Quintanilla, who in 1995, at 23 years old, was killed by her fan club president Yolanda Saldívar, continues to be celebrated in pop culture and M.A.C's collection is an example of that. Like fans, the singer's family is just as excited about the collection, which is set to debut next year.

"I am so excited that M.A.C Cosmetics will be releasing a collection in honor of my sister Selena," said her sister Suzette Quintanilla. "Helping to create this collection brings me back to all those late-night conversations on our tour bus when she spoke of having her own makeup line one day. If Selena were here she would be beyond ecstatic to have this happening. History is being made."

Alex Rocco, Mobster Moe Greene in 'The Godfather,' Dies at 79

Alex Rocco in 'The Godfather'

Everett Collection

by Gravity

by Mike Barnes

7/19/2015 10:02am PDT

The Emmy-winning character actor, who excelled at playing sleazy characters, also starred in 'The Stunt Man' and on 'The Simpsons,' 'The Facts of Life' and 'Magic City.'

Alex Rocco, the veteran tough-guy character actor with the gravelly voice best known for playing mobster and Las Vegas casino owner Moe Greene in The Godfather, has died. He was 79.

Years later, he voiced mobster Carmine Falcone in the animated Batman: Year One (2011).

Rocco had no trouble being typecast as bad guys, he said in a 2011 interview.

“Playing gangsters is great,” he said. “They usually dress you sharp. And you have a license to pretty much bully anybody. I mean, I wouldn’t dare do that at home. My wife will give me a back hander.”

Magic City creator Mitch Glazer in a statement called Rocco "a throwback, stand-up guy, the kind of man I had only seen in the movies.

“I will miss the Sunday late-afternoon phone calls after his beloved Patriots had stomped my beleaguered Dolphins. ‘Hey buddy. Let’s roll it over. Double or nothing on the next one.’ I spoke with Alex just last week. Before we hung up, he insisted we make our bet for the first Fins-Pats game of the coming season. And Rocco, trust me, I will pay up.”

A new promo for Fox's upcoming X-Files revival mini-series.

Someone just paid $38.5k to own a Michael Jackson song

July 21, 2015

Nicki Minaj slams MTV for lack of VMA nominations: 'If I were a different kind of artist...'

by Jessica Goodman • @jessgood

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Posted July 21 2015 — 3:50 PM EDT

After having an explosive year with the release of The Pinkprint, Nicki Minaj appears to feel slighted for just grabbing three nominations for the MTV Video Music Awards.

Her nods were for Best Collaboration (“Bang Bang”), Best Hip Hop Video (“Anaconda”), and Best Female Video (“Anaconda”), but notably “Anaconda” didn’t get nominated for Best Choreography or Video of the Year, and Beyonce’s “Flawless,” on which she appeared, was shut out entirely.

Minaj took to Twitter and said that if she were a “different ‘kind’ of artist,’” “Anaconda” would have received those accolades:

She also noted the lack of love MTV gave “Flawless.”

For those keeping score, Minaj’s “Anaconda” has been watched nearly 500 million times on Vevo and garnered 76 million views in its first week out.

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Singer Dawn Richards strips down for PETA. Dawn’s vegan lifestyle was inspired by her father, who was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Thank for all the articles Mickey, ID and CynicKill.

'Southpaw' Premiere: Victor Ortiz Joins Jake Gyllenhaal, Rachel McAdams & 50 Cent

Mexican-American professional boxer, former WBC Welterweight Champion-turned-actor Victor Ortiz and Jake Gyllenhaal. (Photo : The Weinstein Company)

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Mexican-American professional boxer and WBC Welterweight Champion-turned-actor Victor Ortiz was flexing and smiling for the camera alongside Jake Gyllenhaal, Rachel McAdams and Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson for the premiere of Southpaw" in New York on July 20.

Much of the hype surrounding the film is Gyllenhaal's intense workout regimen, which got him ripped and shredded for the role as light heavyweight Billy "The Great" Hope.

"Yes, he's an actor, but he became a boxer," said Ortiz, The Wall Street Journal reports. "He was very hard on himself."

Ortiz plays Ramone, "a flyweight kid from the streets with real sparring potential. The character parallels Ortiz's own rags-to-riches story of rising from childhood as a foster kid, to brawling his way to the championship belt in 2011," according to Deadline.

Ortiz made his feature film debut as one of the Young Expendables in "Expendables 3," a role he was personally recruited for by Sylvester Stallone, Deadline adds.

"Southpaw" tells the compelling story of Billy "The Great" Hope, reigning Junior Middleweight Boxing Champion of the World (played by Gyllenhaal). With a stellar career, a stunning wife (played by McAdams), and an adorable daughter (Oona Laurence), Hope seems to be on top of the world until tragedy strikes.

His lifelong manager and friend (Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson) moves on without him, which is devastating for Hope. He turns to an "unlikely savior at a run-down local gym," Tick Willis (played by Academy Award winner Forest Whitaker), a retired fighter and trainer for the city's toughest amateur boxers. Under Tick's wing, Hope tries to redeem himself and regain the trust of his loved ones.

The film is directed by Antoine Fuqua ("Training Day") and written by Kurt Sutter ("Sons of Anarchy") and also stars Miguel Gomez as well as Forest Whitaker, Clare Foley, Rita Ora and Naomie Harris.

Francis Ford Coppola Visits Cuba's International School of Cinema

Six-time Academy Award winner Francis Ford Coppola (Photo : Francis Ford Coppola/Facebook)

Treasured filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola is a cinematic force to be reckoned with, and, given his impressive body of work and knowhow, he's paying it forward by sharing his insight with aspiring Cuban filmmakers.

He also brought some good wine and delicious pasta to share with the film students. After all, he's Italian-American and a celebrated winemaker!

On Tuesday, Coppola, who helmed the famous "Godfather" trilogy starring the iconic Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Diane Keaton and Andy Garcia, visited Cuba's International School of Cinema and Television of San Antonio de los Banos, or EICTV, which is west of Havana, according to EFE.

During his visit, he expressed his admiration for President Barack Obama and his happiness to see Cuba and the United States resuming diplomatic relations.

"I am very happy, I think it's wonderful," Coppola told EFE.

Thrilled to see tensions ease during his lifetime, Coppola further expressed his gratitude.

"I thought it was going to happen during the term of President (Jimmy) Carter (...) Now we have (Barack) Obama, in my opinion a great president, and I know he feels we should have relations with Cuba, and I repeat, I am happy that we are seeing it materialize," he added.

While the situation isn't perfect and there's still a lot of work to do, Coppola pointed out the benefit of a Cuban embassy in our nation's capital.

After the political talk, Coppola rolled up his sleeves to make homemade pasta accompanied by his signature sauce for 150 film students.

He wined and dined and talked shop with the students. He also offered some advice, which included taking risks and stay true to yourself, even though it can leave a huge whole in your wallet.

"You have to be part Machiavellian, part showman," he said from the cafeteria kitchen of the film school, High Brow Magazine adds. "Most of all you have to have courage because it's always easy to take the easy road.

"For me that would have been to make more gangster films," he added. "Then after 'Apocalypse Now' became something of a classic, I could have made more war films. They always want you to make more of what they know could make money. They never want you to do what's really in your heart."

The 76-year-old icon also pointed out the interest that American filmmakers have to shoot on the beautiful island of Cuba.

"I am very happy to be in Cuba. I have always enjoyed being with students, when you spend time with them, you learn a lot, because you become a student as well," he said.

Coppola was also joined by his Oscar-winning son, Roman Coppola, and his family, EFE adds. The family celebrated his grandchild's birthday in the institute's park, where they were surrounded by the film school's diverse youth.

EICTV was the brainchild of Nobel Prize-winning Colombian writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Argentine filmmaker Fernando Birri and Cuban filmmaker Julio Garcia Espinosa. During its inception in 1986, the EICTV received support from former President Fidel Castro.

This visit isn't the first for Coppola, who reportedly visited the film school in 1989 for a workshop on scriptwriting and returned again in 1993.

The six-time Academy Award winner, who also directed the "The Conversation" and "Dracula," among others, also received the Princess of Asturias Prize for arts this year, adding to his impressive collection of accolades.

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Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Carlos Santana Wins American Book Award

Carlos Santana. (Photo : Facebook/Carlos Santana)

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When Mexican-American music legend Carlos Santana picks up a guitar to play, magic happens. When he picks up a pen to write, well it turns out that magic also unfolds. He's mastered his musical notes and now his storytelling.

The 68-year-old music icon and 10-time Grammy winner's memoir, "The Universal Tone: Bringing My Story to Light," (Little, Brown and Company) has been selected as a 2015 American Book Award winner.

This marks the first book by the 2013 Kennedy Center Honoree, and may not be the last chapter in him taking on the role as co-author.

Santana teamed up with co-writers Hal Miller and 2015 Best Album Liner Notes Grammy Award-winner Ashley Kahn to pen "The Universal Tone," according to reports.

The 36th annual American Book Awards celebrate diversity in publishing and honored several recipients this year, including: Naomi Klein, Marlon James and poet Anne Waldman, who was honored for lifetime achievement. The awards ceremony will be held Oct. 20 in New York.

"Carlos Santana's unforgettable memoir offers a page-turning tale of musical self-determination and inner self-discovery, with personal stories filled with colorful detail and life-affirming lessons," according to Hachette Book Group.

"'The Universal Tone' traces his journey from his earliest days playing the strip bars in Tijuana while barely in his teens and brings to light the establishment of his signature guitar sound; his roles as husband, father, recording legend, and rock guitar star; his indebtedness to musical and spiritual influences -- from John Coltrane and John Lee Hooker to Miles Davis and Harry Belafonte; and his deep, lifelong dedication to a spiritual path that he developed from his Catholic upbringing, Eastern philosophies, and other mystical sources."

Santana is most known for his greatest hits "Oye Como Va," "Black Magic Woman" and "Samba Pa Ti." He has collaborated with many world-renowned artists, such as Tito Puente, Fleetwood Mac, Willie Nelson, Rob Thomas and Maná, among others.

In 2013, Santana was honored as one of the Kennedy Center Honorees, which is considered "the nation's highest honor for influencing American culture through the arts."

During the Kennedy Center Honors ceremony, President Obama recalled a 22-year-old Santana and his band's performance at Woodstock (in 1969) that rocked the audience with "a mind-blowing mix of blues, jazz, R&B and Latin music. They had never seen anything like it -- and almost overnight Carlos Santana became a star."

"He (Santana) developed a distinctive sound that has drawn admirers from Bob Dylan to Herbie Hancock -- and he gave voice to a Latino community that had too often been invisible to too many Americans," he added.

Santana joined Kennedy Center Honorees including Puerto Rican opera singer Martina Arroyo, Billy Joel, pianist Herbie Hancock and actress Shirley MacLaine.

The 1998 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee is currently on a European concert tour with the band that bears his name, which he has led for nearly 50 years, the San Diego Union-Tribune added. His North American tour opens Aug. 16 in Pennsylvania and concludes Aug. 30 in Illinois. Santana's ongoing annual residency at House of Blues in Las Vegas resumes on Sept. 16.

Check out the full list of 2015 American Book Award Winners:

Hisham Aidi, "Rebel Music: Race, Empire, and the New Muslim Youth Culture" (Vintage)

Arlene Biala, "her beckoning hands" (Word Poetry)

Arthur Dong, "Forbidden City, USA: Chinese American Nightclubs, 1936-1970" (DeepFocus Productions)

Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, "An Indigenous People's History of the United States" (Beacon Press)

Peter J. Harris, "The Black Man of Happiness" (Black Man of Happiness Project)

Marlon James, "A Brief History of Seven Killings" (Riverhead Books)

Martin Kilson, "Transformation of the African American Intelligentsia, 1880-2012," (Harvard University Press)

Naomi Klein, "This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate" (Simon & Schuster)

Laila Lalami, "The Moor's Account" (Pantheon)

Manuel Luis Martinez, "Los Duros" (Floricanto Press)

Craig Santos Perez, "from unincorporated territory [guma']" (Omnidawn)

Carlos Santana, with Ashley Kahn and Hal Miller, "The Universal Tone: Bringing My Story to Light" (Little, Brown and Company)

Ira Sukrungruang, "Southside Buddhist" (University of Tampa Press)

Astra Taylor, "The People's Platform: Taking Back Power and Culture in the Digital Age" (Henry Holt)

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Posted in: Movies Posted: July 24, 2015

‘Southpaw’ Reviews Hit, How Does The Jake Gyllenhaal-Led Sports Drama Hold Up?

With the release of Southpaw in theaters today, it’s time to take a look at a review roundup for the Jake Gyllenhaal-starring boxing movie. The sports drama follows the fall from grace and attempted redemption of boxer Billy “The Great” Hope, played by Gyllenhaal. Southpaw was initially conceived as a sort-of remake/re-imagining of the boxing drama movie The Champ, and according to the Los Angeles Daily News, originally had rapper Eminem attached to the lead role.

Reviews for Southpaw have been largely mixed, with a current Rotten Tomatoes score of 53 percent at time of publishing. Critic Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune commends Southpaw’s lead performances from Gyllenhaal and Rachel McAdams, but laments the cliche-filled script.

“Does it succeed? Sort of. It helps if you don’t mind your boxing movies made up of massive granite chunks of previous boxing movies. Just don’t confuse Southpaw with a really good example of the genre and its ringside dramatic possibilities, whether old (The Set-Up, Champion) or newer (Raging Bull or the less grandiose The Fighter). The script may have hamburger for brains, but Fuqua slams it home with the help of actors who give their all — even when giving a little less might have made things more interesting.”

The arc of Southpaw follows the self-destructive lead as he fights for sympathy in and out of the ring. As Billy Hope struggles to keep his home life stable, he struggles to keep focus and fight as smart as he needs to in the ring. Elaine Tang of New Republic says this struggle is what makes the movie so compelling.

“Just when he’s at his most sympathetic, he flies into a rage and crashes his car into a tree. He can’t walk away from a fight, no matter how idiotic, and he can’t admit his own mistakes, no matter how painfully obvious. Gyllenhaal melts into the role completely, walking and talking like a man who’s been beaten up too many times. But while his rages are furious, his tenderness is sincere. His limitations are many and obvious. Billy Hope might not be your most likeable guy, but Gyllenhaal doesn’t care if you like him. He wants you to understand him.”

Overall it seems that outside of a derivative and sports-movie-cliche filled plot, Southpaw delivers a solid character study with sturdy performances from its leads. Southpaw opens up this weekend against the Adam Sandler-led Pixels (which critics haven’t been too kind to) and the book-to-movie adaption Paper Towns.

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Gal Gadot Interview Magazine Reveals Wonder Woman’s Superhero Martial Arts Workout & Diet [Photos]

Gal Gadot told Interview magazine that when it comes to taking on the superhero role of Wonder Woman, she’s determined to do it justice. Posing in lingerie, Gal revealed that she wants to inspire others both personally and professionally. And for 30-year-old Gadot as the mother of a 3-year-old daughter, that also means being careful about which roles she chooses, reported Interview magazine.

“You always try to do the best, but you feel you can always be better,” mused Gal about motherhood. “At the end of the day, I always tell myself that it is very, very important for me to be a good role model.”

Actress Gal Gadot arrives at the Premiere Of Universal Pictures’ Fast & Furious.

Gadot makes it clear that she feels honored to portray Wonder Woman in Batman v Superman, telling Interview magazine that she recognizes the responsibility inherent in playing a superhero.

“I feel like I’ve been given a huge opportunity to inspire people, not only women. And not because of me but because of who Wonder Woman is and what she stands for,” commented Gal.

As for those who contend that she’s too slim to play Wonder Woman, Gadot responded with a detailed account of her fitness background, telling Interview magazine precisely what she learned during her two years in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), as well as about her childhood.

Actress Gal Gadot shares her Wonder Woman workout.

“My mom is a gymnastics teacher. So growing up I was never sitting watching TV in the afternoons. I always played ball outside in the backyard. I was a dancer for 12 years. I did tennis, basketball, volleyball, dodgeball, you name it,” she said. “[In the IDF] I was a gym trainer on one of the bases in Israel. So my boot camp was longer than other boot camps. It was four months and all about sports, waking up at 6:30 a.m. and going for a run, doing push-ups…”

In addition, Gal emphasizes the quality of her food to fuel her Wonder Woman body, she told Harper’s Bazaar.

“I look at food as fuel and I want to give the best to my body,” said Gadot. “”It’s all a matter of measurements and quantity of the food; just enjoy your food…give the food the respect and give yourself the respect to enjoy it.”

Actress Gal Gadot is set to become a superhero.

And Gal needs that fuel now that she’s increased her workouts for Wonder Woman.

“I work out a lot now with Wonder Woman [Gadot is playing the superhero in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, out in 2016]. I can’t say too much about my training regime but we do work out a lot—we do a lot of different martial arts. But in my ordinary life when I don’t work, I like to paddle board and do TRX.”

As the Inquisitr reported, in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Gal will star with Ben Affleck and Henry Cavill. Then, in 2017, look for Gadot to take on the lead in the Wonder Woman movie, which will make history as the first film about a superhero to be directed by a woman, Patty Jenkins.

Gal Gadot tells Interview magazine about playing Wonder Woman.

Ariana Grande may not be a fan of donuts (too soon?), but she’s got something else that’s equally sweet in the works — her debut fragrance!

Courtesy Elizabeth Arden. Inset: Jason Merritt/Getty

The singer partnered with Luxe Brands to create her very first eponymous scent — a blend of fruits, florals, musks and an “addictive hint of marshmallow,” which is enclosed in an ultra-feminine bottle (complete with a fluffy pom-pom!) — aptly named ARI by Ariana Grande.

“I’m so excited for all my fans to see the ARI bottle — I worked closely with the team and the designer to create a bottle that represents everything I love,” Grande said in a statement. “It’s beautiful, feminine and flirty all at the same time. The pom-pom is just an added wink that makes me smile every time I use the fragrance.”

Grande shared the news of the sweet scent with fans via a few short clips on Instagram on Thursday.

“So excited to finally share the bottle design for my fragrance with you babbbbbes. I’m so in love with this and absolutely cannot wait to share it with you,” she captioned the video. “ARI will be in stores in September, so in the meannnnntime, check out a fun behind the scenes video from the print shoot, inspired by some of my favorite old movies. arianagrandefragrances.com #beyou p.s. that wipe out at the end was totally not staged in any way shape or form 🙈🙈🙈🙈💘.”

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Ed Sheeran announces 'Live at Wembley Stadium' TV special

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Donny Osmond to have vocal cord surgery

added: 24 Jul 2015 // by: Music-News.com Newsdesk

Donny Osmond is headed to Boston but it's no vacation. He is scheduled to undergo vocal cord surgery.

According to a statement on the singer's website, doctors, who were examining Osmond for recent hoarseness, discovered a polyp on his right vocal cord which requires removal.

Dr. Steven M. Zeitel of Harvard Medical School and Director of Laryngeal Surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital will perform the operation. Zeitel has performed similar surgeries in the past on Adele, Sam Smith and Lionel Richie.

The operation means that September shows scheduled for Osmond will be rescheduled; however, there are no plans at this time to postpone the October performances of the Donny and Marie show at the Flamingo in Las Vegas.

Osmond took to his Facebook page to thank fans:

I'm sure many of you have heard by now that I'm having surgery on my vocal chord.

I want to thank all of those who have left Facebook comments and Tweets with your concerns, thoughts and prayers on my behalf.

Rest assured, I'm in very good hands. Dr. Steven Zeitels is considered the best in the world. He's helped artists like Adelle, Sam Smith, Lionel Richie, John Mayer and so many others get back on stage with amazing success. He has assured me that I'll be ready this fall when we start back up in Las Vegas.

Thank you once again for your concerns.

Sincerely,

Donny

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Frank Zappa Documentary by Alex Winter Starts Production

Film aiming for 2017 release

A new Frank Zappa documentary by filmmaker Alex Winter, of 'Bill and Ted' fame, has begun production Gijsbert Hanekroot/Getty

The Zappa Family Trust has given its approval to a new documentary about the original Mother of Invention, Frank Zappa. The film is in the early stages of development and will likely come out in 2017, according to Variety.

Director Alex Winter, whose early acting roles in the Bill and Ted movies and The Lost Boys have given way to directing tech-based documentaries (Deep Web, Downloaded), will helm the film based on his own script. "There has yet to be a definitive, authorized documentary on the extraordinary life and work of Frank Zappa," the director said. "I am beyond thrilled to be embarking on this journey. Our tale will be told primarily in Frank's own words; he will be our guide through this journey."

Zappa's son Ahmet was similarly excited. "This is not an easy story to tell and we trust that Alex truly understands the complex and multifaceted man that my father was," he said.

Endlessly innovative, Zappa explored ways of turning pop, rock and classical music inside out from his first record with the Mothers of Invention in 1966 through his final recordings. The singer, songwriter and composer died in December 1993 of prostate cancer. Earlier this year, his estate released Dance With Me, his 100th and final official release.

"Historically, musicians have felt real hurt if the audience expressed displeasure with their performance," Frank Zappa told Rolling Stone in 1968. "They apologized and tried to make the people love them. We didn't do that. We told the audience to get fucked."

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Meatloaf Gears Up For Fall Tour

Posted on July 20, 2015 by admin

One of Rock’s greatest live performers is gearing up for a return to his natural habitat. Meat Loaf – the world-renowned performer whose career has spanned over forty years – has just announced plans for an upcoming fall tour, with the initial dates beginning October 23 at the Pechanga Theatre in Temecula, California. The shows will mark his first extended series of tour dates in 2 years.

“As a performing artist, being in front of a live audience is a feeling you can’t get with anything else,” he says. “The adrenaline you feel when the fans are singing along with the words to your songs, combined with their loyalty, is an amazing feeling. After all, I didn’t start yesterday, and they’ve been with me every step of the way.”

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The Dallas native moved to California after college, and quickly formed his first band – named Meat Loaf Soul. He became a much sought-after performer in the Los Angeles area, landing a featuring role in a production of Hair. The exposure that he received from that role led to an audition with Motown, where he was paired up with Shaun Murphy for the duo Stoney & Meatloaf. Together, they tallied one Top-40 hit on the R&B charts (“What You See Is What You Get”), but even more highlights were ahead.

Meat Loaf appeared in a stage production of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, which later led to his being featured in the film of the same title. In 1977, he released his landmark album Bat Out Of Hell, and his career hit the fast lane. The album sold over 40 million copies worldwide, and led to successful follow-up albums such as Dead Ringer (1981) and Bad Attitude (1984). He earned a Gold single for the 1977 release “Two Out Of Three Ain’t Bad,” and achieved his biggest hit with 1992’s “I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That),” which topped airplay and sales charts all over the world. The dramatic power ballad earned him a Grammy for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Solo.

With a show comprised of the biggest songs from his long list of Gold & Platinum selling albums, Meat Loaf will not disappoint

The tour is set to begin 10/23. Initial dates announced include the below. Additional dates to follow.

10/23 Temecula, CA / Pechanga Theatre
10/28 Dallas, TX / Verizon Theatre
11/3 Detroit, MI / Motor City Casino Hotel
11/11 Westbury, NY / Theatre at Westbury
11/17 Bethlehem, PA / Sands Event Center
11/19 Englewood, NJ / Bergen PAC

Neo Soul gets a new star

Here’s why this album should be in your collection!

D’Angelo joined the roster of Neo Soul superstars almost immediately after releasing his debut album Brown Sugar in1995.

Michael Eugene Archer entered the music scene as co-composer of “U Will Know,” one of the hit singles on the soundtrack from the 1994 movie Jason’s Lyric. Over two-dozen male R&B artists collaborated as a group called Black Men United to record the song and video, expanding on approaches used by Band Aid (“Do They Know It’s Christmas”), and USA for Africa (“We Are The World”).

Many R&B radio listeners mistook “Brown Sugar” for a new single by Prince when it was released. But by the time “Me and Those Dreaming Eyes of Mine” joined it on radio playlists, D’Angelo enjoyed outstanding recognition. The other album favorites are “Smooth,” “Cruisin’” a cover of Smokey Robinson’s classic; “Alright,” and “Lady,” the album’s biggest hit.

D’Angelo took a long hiatus between each of his three albums, largely due to major personal issues. They are nonetheless critically acclaimed. Voodoo (2000) won several awards, including a Grammy.

This album is available in CD and MP3 format from major vendors. Please consider purchasing it from a local independent record store.

Here’s an interesting fact!

D’Angelo’s popularity during each album hiatus has been sustained by singles that cover R&B classics. In addition to “Cruising,” they include “Feel Like Making Love” (Roberta Flack), “Heaven Must Be Like This” (Ohio Players), and “Girl You Need a Change of Mind” (Eddie Kendricks).

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Poignant letter about John Lennon's death penned by his beloved aunt to be sold

Steve Marinucci

Beatles Examiner

July 25, 2015 8:02 PM MST

Aunt Mimi's letter and archival shots of John Lennon.

RR Auction - used by permission

View all 5 photos

An emotional letter from John Lennon's aunt Mimi Smith written on her personal letterhead less than two months after the Beatle was murdered in New York will be sold at auction next month, RR Auctions announced July 25. Deadline for bidding in the auction, “Fine Autographs and Artifacts,” is Aug. 12.

Lennon Archive - used by permission.

The single page letter was written on January 21, 1981, to a John Bennett. It says in part, “I have spoken to Yoko again this evening. She says she can’t open any letters as she is too upset just now. So perhaps you had better leave it a while later. The shock of the shooting is just too much. I’m doing my best to try and accept the awful truth. Kind regards to Mother and thanks again for writing. Mimi.” The letter is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity.

Lennon was taken in by Mimi Smith (full name Mary Elizabeth Smith) and her husband, George, at the age of five after Lennon's mother and Mimi's sister, Julia, agreed to allow her to take custody of him. Mimi bought him his first guitar, but according to a legendary quote, told him, “A guitar's all right as a hobby, but you'll never make a living out of it.” She also reportedly didn't initially approve of either Paul McCartney or George Harrison.

According to Bill Harry's “The John Lennon Encyclopedia,” on the day that John Lennon met Paul McCartney at the Woolton fête in 1957, she couldn't find him at the church. When she found him, he was playing on stage with the Quarrymen, something he hadn't told her about.

She died on Dec. 6, 1991 at age 88. Yoko Ono, Sean and Cynthia Lennon all attended her cremation and the three living Beatles all paid their respects with bouquets of flowers.

This isn't the first time a Mimi Smith letter has gone on the auction block. A letter she wrote to a fan in 1964 sold for £250 in 2013.

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Prince new album ready to go

added: 25 Jul 2015 // by: VVN Music

Printable version

The members of 3rd Eye Girl (Donna Grantis, Ida Nielsen and Hannah Ford Welton) have told BBC Radio 6 that their boss, Prince, has a brand new album ready to release.

The Hit & Run Album would be Prince's 38th studio set when released, which could be at anytime. The ladies of the band don't know an exact date but said it would be "soon".

According to the band, the album is experimental, although there are "so many hits on the album."

"Super hardcore Prince fans that know every song he's ever recorded - we refer to them as 'The Purple Collective' or 'The Purple Army' - this album is absolutely for them, because it's super funky.

"It's weird, there's a lot of experimental sound. It's just hit after hit and definitely caters to those fans who just love to hear what Prince has to say, rather than wanting to always hear that classic Purple Rain Prince sound."

So far, no track list has been announced but the band revealed:

Hardrocklover - The first single from the album was released July 1.
This Could Be Us - A reworking of the track from Art Official Age.
1,000 Hugs and Kisses - A song originally from the time of Diamonds and Pearls.

The album was written with Joshua Welton, husband of 3rd Eye Girl Hannah Ford Welton, who also co-produced last year's Art Official Age.

To keep up to date with Prince follow Music-News.com here.

Tickets are available for all shows here and here.

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Billy Joel Has Patched Things Up With Elton John

By Dave Lifton July 25, 2015 12:06 PM

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Kevin Winter, Getty Images

After spending a few years bickering in the press, Billy Joel and Elton John are on good terms again. Joel disclosed the news in a new interview.

“We made up a long time ago,” he told Entertainment Weekly. “We sat down and I was like, ‘Don’t throw your friends under the bus.’”

Back in 2011, a year after their last tour together, John told Rolling Stone, “At the end of the day, he’s coasting” and complained about how Joel’s drinking problems at the time resulted in canceled shows. But now Joel accepts it as part of John’s nature.

“He does that with everybody,” Joel continued. “He runs off at the mouth and regrets it later [...] We’d have these friendly go-rounds where he’d say, ‘Why don’t you put out more albums?’ And I’d say, ‘Why don’t you put out less?’ I’d tie his shoes on stage while he’s playing the piano — just to try and f— him up.”

Earlier this month, Joel broke John’s record for most solo performances at Madison Square Garden. Joel marked the occasion by performing “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.” “That was really an homage,” he said. “He’s, like, the guy before me! He was the piano player before I was a Piano Man. I felt humbled by it — to play 65 times and beat his record. I thought, ‘I’d like to tip my hat to the man.’”

Still, Joel acknowledged that one of his biggest hits has become a bit of an albatross around his neck. “Honestly, I’m a little sick of ["Piano Man"],” he said. However, he’s figured out a way around it. “But the audience sings it now and it’s their turn to shine. They’re singing about Davy in the Navy… There’s been a skepticism about the characters. John the bartender who wanted to be a movie star, Paul the real estate guy who was writing the Great American Novel, the waitress practicing politics — that ended up being my wife! I didn’t make this s— up! They’re all based on real characters. And the song still resonates.”

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