A mutual friend put me in touch with a playwright who was looking to make the jump into independent filmmaking. This is usually the part where I roll my eyes and think about the colossal amount of work that goes into producing a film. The playwright turned out to be the owner of an Irish pub I had fond memories of and we sat down to talk over a few pints. He did indeed have a screenplay and I was relieved to find that it was good. As an Irishman who emigrated to the States over 21 years ago, he stood solidly in the “write what you know” camp and had penned an Irish pub comedy in full-dialect. He was inspired by John Carney’s 2006 film Once and its Grammy Award-winning score as well as Roddy Doyle’s Barrytown Trilogy. As a world-class musician and gourmet chef with a knack for clever wordplay and an entrepreneur’s shrewd sense for cross-promotion he struck me as a natural. He wrote the script economically, most of it takes place at one location, the bar, with one caveat—all exteriors would be shot in Ireland.
Tags: Charlie Gormans' Wake, Paul Pender, Adrian Nieves, indie film, independent films, Kickstarter, CT, Wallingford, Connecitcut, The Old Dublin
What is Hip? Tell me, tell me if you think you know. What is hip? If you're really hip, the passing years will show. You're into a hip trip, maybe hipper than hip. But, what is hip? -From Tower of Power's What is Hip, 1973 Warner Brothers Records
So here I am, working at Ticket Liquidator. I'm the newest member of the team. I'm also (ahem) the oldest. Not in length of employment, but in length of time occupying the planet (although Ian claims to actually be a member of an alien race that brought intelligence to earth a few million millenia ago. After which earth promptly lost it).
I have a confession to make: You'll find the radio presets in my car tuned to an assortment of NPR stations (going over a hill in rural Connecticut usually results in the loss of reception) and my Pandora account is heavily weighted toward music recorded prior to 1980. So, what the heck am I doing working for a site dedicated to providing opportunities to see the latest, greatest, most popular entertainment?
Learning a lot.
Recently, a lot of the summer blockbuster tours have gone on sale, most of them selling out with their primary sellers within a few hours. I didn't realize how out of touch I was with popular music until I started looking at the numbers. I mean, who would have thought we'd have to bring in extra help in the customer service department to handle calls the day Taylor Swift tickets went on sale, but not for the Rolling Stones "Fifty and Counting" tour?
And Bruno Mars?
Oh, I'd heard the name before, and when I went to YouTube to see who the heck he was, I realized that I actually recognized--and liked--his hit songs. But I got a swift kick in the ego when an artist I'd barely heard of sold out major arenas in under twenty minutes.
I guess I'm just not hip.
Maybe there's a cure. Since I've started working here, I've been spending more and more time on YouTube, "discovering" new artists. I can bring them up in casual conversation, citing specific songs (which impresses the hell out of my younger relatives) and discussing their styles. Some, I really like (Imagine Dragons, Fun., Paramore) and some I just don't get (Swedish House Mafia).
But none of them gets me chair dancing like Tower of Power, a band which I refuse to believe is not ETERNALLY hip.
Tags: Tower of Power, Rolling Stones, Taylor Swift, Pandora, NPR, Bruno Mars, Imagine Dragons, Fun., Paramore, Swedish House Mafia, uncool, What is Hip?, What is Hip Lyrics
Look below for full lists of nominees by category and by show.
The nominations for the 2013 Tony Awards were announced today by Sutton Foster (Anything Goes, TV's Bunheads) and Jesse Tyler Ferguson (...Spelling Bee, TV's Modern Family). Leading the pack with an amazing 13 nominations is Kinky Boots, the musical written by pop star Cyndi Lauper ("Girls Just Want to Have Fun") and Broadway regular Harvey Fierstein (Hairspray). Following closely are Matilda (12), which was a smash hit in London last year, and revivals of Stephen Schwartz's Pippin (10) and Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella (9). The most honored plays this year include Golden Boy, the Tom Hanks-helmed Lucky Guy (6), and Christopher Durang's Chekhov remix Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike (6). Don't forget to tune in on Sunday, June 9 at 8:00 pm (ET/PT delay) to see who takes home the prizes!
Tags: Broadway, Tony Awards, 2013 Tony Awards, The Tonys, Kinky Boots, Matilda The Musical, Pippin, Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella, Golden Boy, Lucky Guy, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, Musicals, Plays
Rolling Stones 50 and Counting tour dates kick-off in just under a week for what could possibly be their last tour ever. Though it seemed a foregone conclusion that Mick, Keith, Charlie and Ronnie would hit the road again for the band’s 50th anniversary, it really is no small feat for a group ranging in age from 65 to 71 years old to mount a tour and muster the energy to entertain audiences numbering in the thousands for two hours or more at a clip. During a promotional video for the tour, Charlie Watts candidly says, “It takes Mick some energy to start me up.” Mick Jagger has been known to cover up to 12 miles of stage in a single show thanks to an Olympic work-out regimen and a low-fat, whole grain diet but other members of the band aren’t nearly as agile. Ron Woods claimed to have played his first sober Rolling Stones concert in 2006 while in the same year Keith Richards was hospitalized for brain surgery after falling out of a tree. The Stones will always be the Stones but that’s all the more reason to pick up Rolling Stones tickets now for the upcoming tour because you never know...
Tags: Rolling Stones, Rolling Stones tour dates, Rolling Stones tickets, sold out rolling stones tickets, cheap rolling stones tickets, 50 and counting
1992's Sister Act was one of the best comedies of the 90s, and its huge success is not forgotten today. Closely followed by a 1993 film sequel (Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit), it went on to inspire a musical adaptation that premiered at California's Pasadena Playhouse in 2006, London's West End in 2009, and on Broadway in 2011. Like the film, the musical has become a phenomenon with productions all around the world and now one touring the United States. I caught the show in my city, and I'm here to testify.
Tags: Sister Act, Sister Act the Musical, Whoopi Goldberg, Ta'Rea Campbell, Hollis Resnik, Lael Van Keuren, Florrie Bagel, E. Clayton Cornelious, Theatre Reviews, Broadway, Musicals
Tags: winston churchill, margaret thatcher, maggie thatcher's funeral, margaret thatcher hated, margaret thatcher evil, the queen didn't like margaret thatcher, ding dong the witch is dead, conservative government, 1980s in the uk, poll tax riots, class war
Trance Director: Danny Boyle Release Date: April 5 Danny Boyle is quietly becoming an event film director behind a surprisingly experimental and disparate body of work. Boyle is unconstrained by genre and his cinematic triumphs are often as much about style as they are about narrative. Trainspotting, The Beach, 28 Days Later, Sunshine, Slumdog Millionaire and 127 Hours are all wildly different but each exhibits his high energy visual imprint. His latest is a heist movie revolving around an art auctioneer who sustains a head injury while trying to double-cross his partners-in-crime. Rosario Dawson plays the hypnotist who’s hired to retrieve the location of the painting from his traumatized subconscious.
Tags: Trance, Danny Boyle, summer, movies, films, Pain and Gain, Michael Bay, preview, review, The Great Gatsby, Baz Luhrmann, Star Trek Into Darkness, J. J. Abrams, Before Midnight, Richard Linklater, Man of Steel, Zack Snyder, This Is the End, Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, release date, premiere, The Wolverine, James Mangold
Major Lazer Album Title: Free the Universe Release Date: April 16 Due to artistic differences, Major Lazer producers Diplo and Switch have parted ways leaving Diplo alone to pilot the mainstream reggae revival currently underway. Diplo’s manager told Billboard that he’d like the audience to see Major Lazer as a band or crew. Whether or not the album’s featured artists will perform on Free the Universe tour dates is still up on the air, but appearances by Santigold, Amber of Dirty Projectors, Peaches, Ezra Koenig of Vampire Weekend, Shaggy, Wyclef Jean, Bruno Mars and Tyga would make this quite the supergroup.
Tags: The National, Major Lazer, Free the Universe, Diplo, Trouble Will Find Me, Deerhunter, Monomaia, Halcyon Digest, High Violet, Matt Beringer, Sigur Rós, Kveikur, Valtari, Kjartan Sveinsson, Drake, Nothing Was the Same, Take Care, Jay Z, Vice on HBO, Shane Smith, Mad Men, AMC, Don Draper, Don Hamm, Matt Weiner, Dick Whitman, Dante's Inferno, Breaking Bad, Walter White, W. W., Vince Gilligan, Vulture, The Godfather, Hank, Heisenberg
Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano has fired Scott Boras as his agent and signed with the newly-launched Roc Nation Sports, which was founded by Jay Z as a division of his Roc Nation and a partnership with Creative Artists Agency (CAA). Cano is expected to soon become the highest paid second baseman in MLB history. He is a four time All-Star and since 2005 leads all second basemen in hits, doubles and RBI. Cano is in the final year of a $57 million, six year contract he signed in 2008. Unless he is re-signed during the season, he will be a free agent and subject to much wooying.
Tags: robinson cano, jayz, new york yankees, roc nation, CAA, jay z robinson cano, Roc Nation Sports, mlb, jay z yankee stadium
76. Iraq Lobster - Do you love "Rock Lobster" but wish there were more? Peter's got you covered. "Death to America / And butter sauce / Don't boil me / I'm still alive / Iraq lobster! / Iraq lobster!" | Episode #168: "Screams of Silence: The Story of Brenda Q." (Season 10, Episode 3)
77. I Don't Want to Wait - Hey, we've all sung made-up lyrics before: "I don't want to wait / For my lunch to get colder / Da-da-da-da / Why can't I eat it now? / I don't want to wait / For, ha ha, new Toyota / I want the car / That's got a lot of gas." | Episode #74: "Peterotica" (Season 4, Episode 24)
78. Take Me Out to pLace Tonight - A back-handed love letter to every trendy club full of douchebags. That's right, little "p", big "L." | Episode #116: "Tales of a Third Grade Nothing" (Season 7, Episode 6)
Tags: Family Guy, Family Guy Musical Moments
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