Tagged: musical

Martha Thomases: California, Here I Come – Except…

Thomases Art 130712In a few days, I’ll be in California. Not in San Diego, but in California. I’ll get the good weather without the mobs.

It is the habit of old farts (check out our editor-in-chief’s tirade in this space next Wednesday morning) such as myself to complain about the San Diego Comic Convention. It’s too big. It’s not about comics anymore. Nobody kisses my ass anymore. I don’t have an expense account. (Those last two might be unique to me.)

My major philosophical objection is that a fine, non-profit educational organization has been completely co-opted by Hollywood. True, comic book companies used the occasion of the convention to promote their books, but the convention was at least about comics. Now, it’s a stop on the promotional train for television, movies and video games, complete with red carpets and stylists.

And, apparently, rock bands. Metallica will be performing a live concert for those lucky enough to get tickets (in case you haven’t waited in line for Hall H long enough), to promote their new movie.

Metallica is no doubt a fine group of people (although their music is not my genre), and, since they’ve been together since 1981, they aren’t exactly amateurs at attracting and keeping fans. They should live and be well.

But, as the New York Times story in the link reports, there is going to be a panel about rock music at the Con. And it will include people who score movies, but not the people behind the new Dark Horse graphic novel, The Fifth Beatle, which actually combines rock music and comics. It won’t include John Holmstrom who was combining rock’n’roll and comics even before Metallica was a band.

Look, I enjoy soundtracks as a musical form. Mark Knopfler did some of my favorites. It is an interesting and a demanding musical form with its own unique challenges and structures. There are lots of places that could host interesting panel discussions on the subject with a variety of experts, including composers, directors, and editors. I just don’t think the panel, as described in this article (and maybe it’s not accurate? Could happen) is that kind of conversation.

If you are going to San Diego, I hope you have a fabulous time. I hope you get into The Black Panel because it is so much fun.  I hope no one hits you in the face with a backpack.

And, if you’re really lucky, I hope you find some cool new comics.

SATURDAY: Marc Alan Fishman

SUNDAY: John Ostrander

 

Frozen Trailer Debuts

  • News
  • June 19, 2013

FRZN_IceLogo_Teaser_1s_v8.0C_ComposedDisney has released the first teaser trailer for November’s animated Frozen. The film features the usual impressive vocal cast and comes well pedigreed.

FROZEN (In 3D)

Genre:                                     Animated Comedy/Adventure
Rating:                                    TBD
U.S. Release Date:              November 27, 2013

Voice Cast:                            Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel, Jonathan Groff
Directors:                              Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee
Producer:                              Peter Del Vecho
Screenplay by:                    TBA

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1x76DoACB8 [/youtube]

Walt Disney Animation Studios, the studio behind Tangled and Wreck-It Ralph, presents Frozen, a stunning big-screen comedy adventure. Fearless optimist Anna (voice of Kristen Bell) sets off on an epic journey—teaming up with rugged mountain man Kristoff (voice of Jonathan Groff) and his loyal reindeer Sven—to find her sister Elsa (voice of Idina Menzel), whose icy powers have trapped the kingdom of Arendelle in eternal winter. Encountering Everest-like conditions, mystical trolls and a hilarious snowman named Olaf, Anna and Kristoff battle the elements in a race to save the kingdom.

The film is directed by Chris Buck (Tarzan, Surf’s Up) and Jennifer Lee (screenwriter, Wreck-It Ralph), and produced by Peter Del Vecho (Winnie the Pooh, The Princess and the Frog). Featuring music from Tony® winner Robert Lopez (The Book of Mormon, Avenue Q) and Kristen Anderson-Lopez (In Transit), Frozen is in theaters in 3D on November 27, 2013.

In Frozen, fearless optimist Anna (voice of Kristen Bell) teams up with rugged mountain man Kristoff (voice of Jonathan Groff) and his loyal reindeer Sven in an epic journey, encountering Everest-like conditions, mystical trolls and a hilarious snowman named Olaf in a race to find Anna’s sister Elsa (voice of Idina Menzel), whose icy powers have trapped the kingdom of Arendelle in eternal winter.

FrozenCastle24Flat_r-1_thumbNOTES:

  • Kristen Bell has starred in a variety of films, including the comedies Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Couples Retreat,Hit & Run, Some Girls and the Farrelly Brothers’ Movie 43. On the small screen, Bell is currently starring in the Showtime series House of Lies alongside Don Cheadle; she has also starred in Heroes”and Veronica Mars. Broadway credits include The Crucible and Tom Sawyer.
  • Idina Menzel, who won a Tony Award® as best actress in a musical for her role as Elphaba in Broadway’s Wicked (2004), landed her first role on Broadway in 1995 in the Tony Award-winning musical Rent. Film credits include Enchanted and the feature film Rent. She has appeared in a recurring role on TV’s Glee and recently released Idina Menzel Live: Barefoot at the Symphony, a live concert with an orchestra led by the latecomposer/conductor Marvin Hamlisch. Menzel is currently on a North American concert tour.
  • Jonathan Groff appears in C.O.G., which is part of the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. Film credits include Taking Woodstock, Twelve Thirty and The Conspirator. TV credits include Fox’s Glee, the Starz series Boss and CBS’ The Good Wife. Groff received a Tony® nomination for his performance in the Tony Award®-winning musical Spring Awakening, and appeared in the Public Theater’s revival of Hair and off-Broadway plays Prayer for My Enemy and The Submission, among others. He made his West End debut in Ira Levin’s Deathtrap, and appeared in the 2010 Tony Award®-winning Red by John Logan at the Mark Taper Forum.FROZEN
  • Robert Lopez is a three-time Tony Award®-winning writer of the Tony and Grammy® Award-winning musical The Book of Mormon, which was co-written with Trey Parker and Matt Stone (South Park), and the musical Avenue Q, which ran for six years on Broadway and four years in London’s West End. Lopez teamed with wife Kristen Anderson-Lopez, whose Drama Desk-winning show In Transit is Broadway-bound, to write original songs for 2011’s Winnie the Pooh, a stage version of Finding Nemo and a new musical called Up Here.
  • Director Chris Buck helmed the 1999 Disney classic Tarzan (with Kevin Lima) as well as the 2007 Oscar®-nominated Surf’s Up (with Ash Brannon). His animation credits also include 1989’s The Little Mermaid, The Rescuers Down Under (1990) and Pocahontas (1995).
  • Director/screenwriter Jennifer Lee is one of the screenplay writers of this year’s hit arcade-hopping comedy adventure Wreck-It Ralph. Her screen adaptation of John Steinbeck’s The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights is being produced by Troika Pictures. She has an original screenplay in development with Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way, and her original script Lucid Dreams was optioned by Wolfgang Peterson’s Radiant Productions.
  • Peter Del Vecho’s credits as producer include 2011’s Winnie the Pooh and 2009’s The Princess and the Frog. He served as associate producer for Chicken Little and Treasure Planet.

Emily S. Whitten: The G.I. Film Festival and The Ghost Army

Screen Shot 2013-05-20 at 10.53.22 PMAround here, we often talk about superheroes. Today, however, I want to talk about real heroes. The GI Film Festival, a non-profit educational organization “dedicated to sharing the military experience in and out of the arena of war” took place in D.C. on May 6 – 12, and I attended one of the events.

The Festival, which “presents films…that honor the heroic stories of the American Armed Forces and the worldwide struggle for freedom and liberty,” gave me a chance to experience a collection of short films from Canada, the U.K., Germany, Denmark, Australia, and the U.S. at the “Celebrating the International Warrior Spirit” screening. It was an amazing (and sobering) experience, and one that served as a reminder that, for every superhero we read about or flock to see on the big screen, there are millions of real unsung heroes out there who (putting aside whether we agree with why they are fighting or not) put their lives on the line for civilians every day.

Every film in the collection I viewed, which you can read about here under May 8, was worthy of being there. The four that had the most impact for me, however, were those which dealt with the aftermath of being in combat – with PTSD, and with the attempts to return to “normal” life after being a soldier and after seeing terrible things or losing others to death. It’s a topic that’s at least acknowledged in modern times, but one that is still not fully understood by those who haven’t actually experienced it. However, film as a medium can be particularly well-suited to drawing in viewers and causing them to identify with a character’s experiences. The films that examined this subject, Gefallen; M.I.L.O. – Goodbye 10; The Sound of Willie Nelson’s Guitar; and Fallout, open a window into the minds of a few of those who have returned from combat, and the importance of that to our cultural understanding cannot be understated. Every one of us, if we are not in the military, knows a friend or a family member who is or has been; and understanding just a tiny bit of what might be going on inside their minds when we get them back from the horror-show that is war can help us know how to be more understanding and supportive of them.

One of the films, Fallout by Peter Carruthers, did a particularly excellent job of showing the experiences of a “normal” day through the eyes of a British Army veteran (and you can watch a short trailer for it here). Literally “seeing” how terrifying or confusing walking down a perfectly ordinary city street can be for someone with PTSD, or the way in which a veteran can be trying so hard to reacclimate to his family and former life, and still fail, was both wrenching and enlightening.

The other film that had the greatest impact for me was actually a music video, Goodbye 10, by Danish rapper and soldier M.I.L.O.. Being a rapper and a soldier who’s seen combat is a pretty rare combination as far as I know, and M.I.L.O. has used his unique mixture of military experience and musical talent to produce Danish rap songs and music videos that are not only quality work, but also art with an important message. Goodbye 10, which you can watch with English subtitles here, gives M.I.L.O.’s perspective on returning to civilian life from war in Afghanistan in 2010, and manages to encompass many important aspects of a veteran’s post-war experience and outlook in just four minutes of music. It is also the follow-up to the award-winning music video Goodbye 09, which told the story of M.I.L.O going from civilian life in Denmark to the war in Afghanistan. Both videos are excellent and well worth a watch.

Moving from the wars of the present into the past, although I was unable to fit any other GI Film Festival events into my schedule this year, I happily did still get to view a documentary that was featured at the Festival and that I have been looking forward to for literally years now, since it also had a screening at The National Press Club which I was able to attend. That documentary is The Ghost Army, a WWII film by best-selling author and award-winning documentary producer Rick Beyer.

The Ghost Army tells the extraordinary story of one of the most unique military units of WWII – a U.S. tactical deception unit, the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops, which was responsible for staging more than twenty battlefield deceptions, beginning in Normandy and ending along the Rhine River, and using everything from rubber tanks and sound effects to carefully crafted fake radio transmissions to dupe Hitler’s army. The Ghost Army consisted of 1,100 men, but using deception, was able to impersonate other U.S. Army units and appear to consist of up to forty thousand men. The unit, which had a high percentage of artists and other creative people within its ranks, is estimated to have saved tens of thousands of soldiers’ lives with its deceptions, and to have been instrumental in several of the European theatre’s Allied victories. Amazingly, the story of the Ghost Army was not declassified until 1996.

I’ve been fascinated with the story of the Ghost Army ever since I first read about it several years ago, and have been looking forward to Rick’s documentary since the moment I learned it was in the works. With excellent narration and storytelling, archival footage and photographs, interviews with Ghost Army veterans and military and WWII experts, and images of some of the many works of art that Ghost Army veterans sketched or painted during the war, The Ghost Army documentary was a real treat to experience, and I highly recommend it. It was also great to meet and hear from Ghost Army veteran Jack Masey, who was present at the screening and shared some of his wartime experiences in person after the film.

You can see Jack Masey and other veterans in the excellent trailer for the documentary here, and best of all, the documentary is premiering tonight on PBS, so you can watch the whole thing on TV! (And if you miss it, you can also watch it on the PBS website once it has premiered.)

So check out The Ghost Army tonight on PBS; and until next time, Servo Lectio!

WEDNESDAY MORNING: Mike Gold

WEDNESDAY EVENING: Mindy Newell (what?)

REVIEW: Meet the Fraggles

Meet the Fraggles key art 1.15.13One of the most amazing things about the talented and long-missed Jim Henson is that he was always creating something new, exploring news forms of storytelling and puppetry. While he may have started out with single characters, such as Kermit, he went on to create characters that hawked cereal and interacted with humans on Saturday Night Live. In between, he also helped pioneer engaging and  educational children’s television with Sesame Street’s inhuman inhabitants and created a universe of Muppets. When HBO was looking for original fare in the 1980s, it made perfect sense that they turn to Henson who whipped up a brand new universe of characters, the Fraggles. His Fraggle Rock lasted five seasons and 96 wonderful episodes.

Coming this week is Fraggle Rock: 30th Anniversary Collection, including every episode plus recently discovered behind the scenes interviews, a collectible Red plush keychain, and an all new exclusive Fraggle Rock graphic novel featuring a parent-friendly activity guide. That’s a lot of fun puppetry for the nostalgia-minded.

Also being released is Meet the Fraggles, a six episode sampler for those uncertain if today’s young will respond with the same delight. Wisely, Vivendi Entertainment includes the pilot episode so everyone of the cast is introduced, including the human Doc, who never sees the inhabitants, although his Muppet dog, Sprocket, does.

Much as the residents on Sesame Street were there to help teach numbers and letters, the mixed races of Fraggles were designed as an allegory to the human world. Henson was determined to demonstrate mankind’s interconnected nature and the episodes are fun, but touch on complex issues. Living in their system of underground caves and tunnels, the Fraggle subsist on radishes and Doozer sticks, made from ground up radishes. They can share their dreams if their heads touch one another as they fall asleep.

The series focuses predominantly on Gobo, the leader; Mokey, highly spiritual and artistic; athletic Red; nervous Wembley; and, Boober, the depressive. Whereas the Fraggles were carefree explorers, they frequently encountered the Doozers, who are workers. As a result, there is a great deal of misunderstand and incomprehension between them, allowing the lessons to be learned. Then there are the rules of the Universe, or so claim the Gorgs. Junior Gorg, Pa Gorg, and Ma Gorg are several times the size of a Fraggle and consider them pests.

Described by Henson as “a high-energy, raucous musical romp. It’s a lot of silliness. It’s wonderful”, it began production in March 1982 and debuted on January 10, 1983, becoming the template for many international co-productions that added their own unique elements. The six episodes included on the sampler are culled from the first 37 aired on HBO and nicely focus on the different Fraggles.

We have “Beginnings” that has Doc (Gerard Parkes) and Sprocket set up an old room as a workshop where they discover the first in a series of holes that turn out to be access points to Fraggle Rock. In “Boober’s Dream” we learn that he has a fun side, a split personality named Sidebottom,. There’s also a nice nod to Henson’s other 1980s creation when they go to the drive-in and see a clip from The Dark Crystal. The most charming of the bunch may be “Red’s Club”, where she wants to lead a club that forms without her.

There are no extras on this inexpensive disc but well worth a look if you’ve never experienced these before.

John Ostrander: My Friend, MEMcG

Ostrander Art 130203I’m going to exercise a point of personal privilege this week and write about a friend. Her name was Mary Ellen McGarry and I just received word that she died. Mary Ellen was a great soul, a giant heart, a wonderful talent, and a large personality. She filled a room three times over.

Out of all the people I’ve ever known, only my late wife, Kim Yale, had as outgoing and, at times, boisterous a personality. One of my nicknames for her was “Boom-boom” because her laughter and her voice could boom across a room and, indeed, across Lake Michigan.

And, lord, she could laugh. Loud, infectious, and riotous. I loved to make her laugh. I would get her going so hard that she would start hitting me to make me stop which, of course, only made me try harder.

In the summer of 1971 we worked as apprentices together at a summer theater, which meant we worked like dogs for very little money. It was a strange summer. The theater was located at a college so we all lived in dorms on campus. For Mary Ellen I made up a musical comedy, Tritzing to Tibet, based on the climbing of Mount Everest by Edmund Hilary. I should explain that it has less to do with historical fact than the central conceit of the movie, The Producers, in that any show that bad has to be a hit. I took all the events that happened in 1953 and, in an absurd breach of artistic license, moved them to 1937 so I could have an opposing chorus of Nazi mountain climbers.

Every night, just before curtain went up on whatever show we were doing, I got over to her in the wings and, sotto voce, sang her a new song from the show. I should also mention that in addition to not writing music I don’t even read music. The only purpose of the whole exercise was to see if I could reduce Mary Ellen to tears with laughter. Okay, so there’s a slightly sadistic side to me.

The thing is – over the years, any time we would get together, Mary Ellen insisted on hearing some or all of those godforsaken tunes. The last time was at a reunion last year for alums of the Loyola University Theater Department (where we first met). Mary Ellen had lung problems and at that point was in a wheel chair and had to constantly have oxygen. It didn’t slow her down an inch. And she wanted me to sing some of the songs from Tritzing to Tibet.

I demurred. To be honest, I was afraid that if I got her laughing too hard I might literally kill her. Boom-boom would have none of that. She knew her own limits and she knew what she wanted and, by god, I would sing. I did and she was right.

She was also incredibly brave. Her lungs were giving up on her but she was told that, with a lung transplant, she might live longer. However, she was also teaching kids at that point. She loved it but, if she got a lung transplant, she would have had to give it up. We all know kids are Petri dished for diseases and she would likely have caught those germs and her new lungs could not have taken it.

Mary Ellen and I had a long talk about it on the phone and she was clear and firm. She would not give up what she loved so much. I had to respect that. I still do.

So many people loved you, Mary Ellen. I hope you knew that.

There’s so much more to you than I can begin to recount here. I will carry your voice and your laughter and your spirit in my memory and my heart all my days. I will grieve the loss of you and that’s alright. Those we love who have died are worth the tears we shed for them. I will celebrate your life because you were so filled with it.

Thanks, Boom-Boom, for being my friend. Love you.

MONDAY: Mindy Newell

 

See the haunted opera “Lilith: Mother of Dreams” tonight!

  • News
  • December 20, 2012

There was a once-in-a-century storm that delayed the original premiere date. But Lilith will not be denied.

Join poet-violist (and ComicMix contributor) Alexandra Honigsberg, international artist composer-clarinetist Demetrius Spaneas, soprano Christina Rohm, and pianist-conductor James Siranovich at the premiere of Lilith: Mother of Dreams, a chamber opera of the iconic demon goddess. It’s debuting tonight at a historic haunted opera house, Flushing Town Hall.

The Lilith Project is conceived as a modern American suitcase opera, a chamber monodrama: intense, human, universal, compact in form and forces, accessible.

Before there was Eve, there was Lilith: Adam’s first lover, once human, made from the same dust, sensuality’s queen, bride of the Angel of Death, mother of opposing cosmic forces – strong, willful, unstoppable. She rules the storms of the skies and the heart – night owl, holy woman of power. From ancient tales of Gilgamesh and Enkidu, to King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, to Greece’s Lamiae and Daughters of Hecate, to Native American lore and Victorian Gothic Horror, Lilith looms large in the minds of men and women when the lights go out and they enter dream time. Some call her demon, vampire, child killer – others mother, lover, elder, friend. But whatever the appellations, she persists in the realms of our imaginations, from holy books and high literature to popular feminist concert series, TV shows, and Japanese anime. Child of Light? Daughter of Darkness? Both? Neither? You decide.

Composer Spaneas is a long-time professional, curator of Cornelia St. Café’s Serial Underground award-winning new music series’ 25th year, and Fullbright Specialist of the State Department’s musical diplomats. Librettist Honigsberg is a veteran violist, award-winning songwriter, long-time published poet, and this year’s winner of the Mayor’s Poetry Prize. Both Rohm and Siranovich have established opera careers all over the US and cities abroad.  Long-time colleagues in many configurations over the years, Lilith marks this creative team’s debut.

There will be a talk by the artists before the performance and then time for questions and answers, afterwards, and a reception to which all are invited. Come as you are, but gala premiere attire, period dress, and other unique finery is encouraged!

The production is fiscally sponsored by Composers Collaborative, Inc. $10 suggested donation/FTH members free, all welcome.

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REVIEW: Tarantino XX

In a short period of time, two 20th anniversary box sets have been released, both using XX in their titles. The wonderful Canadian band Great Big Sea just had their celebratory two-disc set come out and now comes Tarantino XX, a more appropriately named set, commemorating the filmmaker’s two decades in the business.

Quentin Tarantino began like so many of did, obsessed with movies and television and pop culture. His tastes ran along the fringes such as the Hong Kong martial arts fare and the Blaxploitation films of the 1970s. A walking, talking cornucopia of film lore, he was the perfect video store employee, never at a loss for a recommendation regardless of taste. He fortunately turned those interests to filmmaking, bringing his knowledge and passion to screenplays for others and his own works.

If you had to write one line about his work it would be “Always shoot first, ask questions later” as his films are often violent blood fests. For those who appreciate his storytelling skills, you accept and enjoy the bloodshed since it’s all so over the top as to be step over the line between real violence and cartoon violence. Instead, you’re captivated by seeing fresh ideas, original and memorable characters who spout crackling, idiosyncratic dialogue.

He made us sit up and pay attention to his skills with Reservoir Dogs, a blend of mayhem and character that was filled with excellent dialogue and sharply delineated characters. After that, he came out with the brilliant Pulp Fiction and he became an actor’s director, always giving them something unusual and fun to play. As a result, his movies have been stuffed with actors from all corners of Hollywood, having the time of their lives. Why? It’s because his films are tightly structured pieces that pays as much attention to structure as it does to dialogue, making these riveting experiences.

The box set contains all seven films from his director’s chair – Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown,  Kill Bill Parts 1 and 2, Death Proof (Tarantino’s contribution to Grindhouse), Inglorious Basterds, plus True Romance which he wrote but the late Tony Scott directed.  All that’s really missing is “The Man from Hollywood” segment of Four Rooms. While all have been previously released on Blu-ray and come complete with their usual extras, the box comes with five hours of new material spread over two discs.  The films look and sound as one would expect so there’s nothing to fear about keeping your originals but for Tarantino fans, the extra material is worth having. For anyone with gaps in their collection, the box is well worth having and revisiting before seeing Django Unchained later this month.

Disc one contains the complete unedited version of the Critics’ Corner: The Films of Quentin Tarantino (4:50). Much of this has been sprinkled throughout the extras of many of the solo releases but you can hear some interesting critical thoughts from Scott Foundus, Stephanie Zacharek, Tim Lucas and Andy Klein. They work their way through Tarantino’s films, one by one, and their insights are useful in placing the films in context. It’s not all laudatory as the talking heads express preferences for some films and rejections of others while still appreciating the craft. Many interesting insights are offered up such as the alternate reality World War II tale, Basterds is all about language.

The second disc begins with Quentin Tarantino: 20 Years of Filmmaking (2:13), a fabulous career retrospective that traces his career from initial screenplays to first sale. Lawrence Bender, Robert Rodriguez, Pam Grier and Robert Forster show up to tell some funny anecdotes while Stacey Sher compares Tarantino to Roger Corman which is probably high praise to Tarantino even if I find it a little off the mark. Sally Menke, Tarantino’s perennial editor nicely receives her due here. Then there is Jackie Brown Q&A: A Film Independent at LACMA Event (32:15) as columnist Elvis Mitchell talks with Grier, Forster and Tarantino. Pleasant but nothing earthshattering here. We’re rounded out with Django Unchained—Coming Soon (10:43) which is a collection of trailers.

If you’re like me, who loves the musical stings that harken back to other projects or adore seeing character actors given something fresh to do and don’t mind the violence and gore, then you’ll probably appreciate sitting down with this fine set.

James Bond theme songs, from worst to first

Cover of "Thunderball: Original Motion Pi...The James Bond films are a part of the American pop culture landscape.  Like another British perennial, Doctor Who, you have your favorite, but you never forget your first Bond.  And almost more so than the films’ effect on us are the film’s theme songs.  Each one is memorable in its own way, some are standards, and some are positively iconic, recognizable after only two or three notes.

With the new film, Skyfall, out this weekend, I’ve taken a listen to them all.  And after much debate and shifting about, The Management has compiled a list of fifty years of James Bond theme songs, ranking them from bottom to top.

As is true of any list like this, there will be more than a little dissent.  We invite you to use the comments section to express your opinions.  Comparisons of the author’s intelligence and/or musical taste to various species of flora and fauna will not be conducive to a spirited argument.

Hall of Fame

Certain songs, as a result of being used in numerous Bond films, or simply because they’re so awesome as they’d take up place in the top of the list, have been accorded the honor of being placed on a dais above the competition, looking down upon the battleground in the way royalty watches a fine joust with detached satisfaction.

James Bond Theme – Rather an obvious one here.  technically it is the theme from the first Bond film, Dr. No (1962), but became almost synonymous with the character. It’s appeared in every film since, and rightly so. Monty Norman could have laid his pencil down and never composed again, and he still would get to go straight to Heaven.

007 Theme – First appearing in From Russia With Love and appearing in several films since, usually as background to a chase or fight scene, it’s another John Barry masterpiece, with its high brass and percussion.

Honorable Mention

These songs are either not from the official Bond series, or in one case, was not used, but are so thematically tied to the films that they deserve mention.

Casino Royale – Not the recent Daniel Craig film, but the screwball comedy with David Niven, Peter Sellers, Woody Allen, Daliah Lavi, and in that order. With a score and main theme by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, and the classic “The Look of Love” by Mr. Burt Bacharach, it’s a chaotic jumboort of a film, as memorable as any of the main series.

Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang – This theme song was originally intended to be the theme for Thunderball, but after versions were recorded by both Dionne Warwick and the grande dame of Bond, Shirley Bassey, the song was scrapped for the Tom Jones number with which we are all acquainted.  The decision was that the song needed to incorporate the title (a rule that fell by the wayside in later years, as you shall see.  Recent releases of the film’s soundtrack feature both recordings. There’s an urban legend that maintains that “Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang” is the Japanese name for 007. It is from this song that both the 2005 film and the first episode of Torchwood got their name.

Never Say Never Again – The history of Kevin McClory is a long one. To summarize, he was the first person to have the film rights to Bond, helped write the screenplay that eventually became the novel Thunderball, and got writer’s credit on the novel (after a court case) and held the film rights to Thunderball until his death.  He also held the film rights to SPECTRE, which is why the organization stopped appearing in the films after that one.  He tried many times to use his filmrights, but the only successful attempt was this film, in which they got Sean Connery to trturn to the role that made him world-famous.  The song is quite good, incorporates the theme well, and come on, it’s Sean Connery as Bond again, I refuse to give anything in the film a serious dig.  Yes, EVEN the hologrammy-shocky video game.

Spy Hard – The film was one of a long series of film spoofs in the Airplane! mold, starring Leslie Nielsen.  But it’s the theme song by “Weird Al” Yankovic that we honor here.  An original song, in the style of Bond themes, particularly Thunderball (with an obvious nod to the end of Goldfinger), sung by Al, over a Bond-esque title sequence, also directed by him, his first foray into directing.

Dr. Evil theme – from the second Austin powers film, The Spy Who Shagged Me, the song, by Brooklyn’s ambassadors of love, They Might Be Giants, and performed by John Flansburgh’s wife Robin Goldwasser, is a note-perfect sendup of the “villain song” that many Bond films have featured as their main theme.

Goodbye, Mr. Bond – by Buffalo-based rock band Blotto, the song was the last tune on their third album, Combo Akimbo. Singer Bowtie Blotto took the role of the baddie who had the joy of welcoming the superspy to his “fortress retreat”.  It features a number of original but very 007-reminiscent motifs, as well as witty lyrics that you could easily hear come from any Bond villain, and probably have.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbKNwEVF3Wo[/youtube]

See the haunted opera “Lilith: Mother of Dreams” this Sunday

  • News
  • October 25, 2012

Join poet-violist (and ComicMix contributor) Alexandra Honigsberg, international artist composer-clarinetist Demetrius Spaneas, soprano Christina Rohm, and pianist-conductor James Siranovich at the premiere of Lilith: Mother of Dreams, a chamber opera of the iconic demon goddess. It’s debuting on Halloween Weekend (this Sunday at 7 p.m.) at a historic haunted opera house, Flushing Town Hall.

The Lilith Project is conceived as a modern American suitcase opera, a chamber monodrama: intense, human, universal, compact in form and forces, accessible.

Before there was Eve, there was Lilith: Adam’s first lover, once human, made from the same dust, sensuality’s queen, bride of the Angel of Death, mother of opposing cosmic forces – strong, willful, unstoppable. She rules the storms of the skies and the heart – night owl, holy woman of power. From ancient tales of Gilgamesh and Enkidu, to King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, to Greece’s Lamiae and Daughters of Hecate, to Native American lore and Victorian Gothic Horror, Lilith looms large in the minds of men and women when the lights go out and they enter dream time. Some call her demon, vampire, child killer – others mother, lover, elder, friend. But whatever the appellations, she persists in the realms of our imaginations, from holy books and high literature to popular feminist concert series, TV shows, and Japanese anime. Child of Light? Daughter of Darkness? Both? Neither? You decide.

Composer Spaneas is a long-time professional, curator of Cornelia St. Café’s Serial Underground award-winning new music series’ 25th year, and Fullbright Specialist of the State Department’s musical diplomats. Librettist Honigsberg is a veteran violist, award-winning songwriter, long-time published poet, and this year’s winner of the Mayor’s Poetry Prize. Both Rohm and Siranovich have established opera careers all over the US and cities abroad.  Long-time colleagues in many configurations over the years, Lilith marks this creative team’s debut.

There will be a talk by the artists before the performance and then time for questions and answers, afterwards, and a reception to which all are invited. Come as you are, but gala premiere attire, period dress, and other unique finery is encouraged!

The production is fiscally sponsored by Composers Collaborative, Inc. $10 suggested donation/FTH members free, all welcome.

REVIEW: Rock of Ages

The film version of Rock of Ages, has a whiff of cannabalism about it. First, it took a series of 1980s songs and turned them into what has been branded a jukebox musical, since originality no longer matters on Broadway. The success of the stage version – five Tony nominations indicates someone liked it – led to it being optioned for production as a feature film. Broadway used to feed Hollywood source material and the trend has been reversed as risk adverse producers look for sure things, which are not necessarily quality things.

Thus, the film version of the musical based on a disparate collection of rock tunes, which were popular as I advanced through my adult years and saw my tastes changing, means I bring a series of prejudices to watching the film on the just-released Blu-ray. First of all, I am a big fan of many performers in the cast and applaud Tom Cruise for lightening up with several of his recent performances. He’s also backed by Alec Baldwin, Malin Akerman and Paul Giamatti. I also remain fond of Julianne Hough who is a far better dancer and country singer than rocker.

As happens, the movie adaptation was seriously reworked to accommodate the cast rather than cast around the script and soundtrack. Therefore, many numbers were cut, others mashed up, and several reassigned to different characters. This results in a movie largely unrecognizable from the stage version and a lesser effort at that. What made the show edgy and fun is replaced with watered down replicas.

The basic trio of story threads has would-be rock star Sherrie (Hough), arriving in Los Angeles and meeting Drew (Diego Boneta) so you have your love story. Then there’s the Bourbon Room, a doomed club in need of a miracle story that focuses on Dennis (Baldwin) and his fight against a mob led by Catherine Zeta Jones (still sexy), trying to shut it down. His last hope is a kick ass concert from Arsenal, fronted by Stacee Jaxx (Cruise), who is on the verge of going solo. Behind the scenes, his agent, (Giamatti) gums up the works.

Rock is meant to messy and fun and frenetic with high doses of energy. The voltage one expects from the music used, from Foreigner to Pat Benatar leans closer to a Smash rendition and the wattage is cut in half, robbing the movie of the verve the material deserves. It’s not all bad such as the pool table duet between Jaxx and Rolling Stone reporter Constance Sack (Akerman). But when you sing “I Love Rock n Roll”, you should be feeling ready to leap to your feet and dance, not check your watch.

Bad enough the core storylines are predictable as heck, but the movie telegraphs just about everything thanks to direction of Adam Shankman. None of the characters, save Jaxx, stands out, wasting plenty of potential from a stellar cast.

There are plenty of fun moments and Cruise is a revelation all over again. He rarely repeats himself and is excellent here, sabotaged by the lack of raw power around him.

You can watch the theatrical version or the extended version, with 13 more minutes of tedium. The highlight is the cut scene between Jaxx and Sherrie, as they sing “Rock You Like a Hurricane”  and nearly copulate, which smolders better than the rest of the film.

The Warner Home Video release comes as a combo pack with the Blu-ray, DVD, and of course ultraviolet digital. They do a fine job transferring the film and sound to disc so it rocks as best it can.

Poison’s Bret Michaels kicks off the extras with two featurettes: “Rock of Ages: Legends of the Sunset Strip” (29:56) with real rockers Pat Benetar and Sebastian Bach, members of Styx, REO Speedwagon, Twisted Sister, Quiet Riot, Night Ranger, Def Leppard, Winger, Whitesnake, Dokken, Foreigner, Poison, Journey, Warrant, Faster Pussycat, Vixen, Extreme and W.A.S.P. reminiscing about the rock scene in their heyday. “The Stories We Sing” (12:53) brings back many of these rock stars to discuss their inspirations for the greatest hits such as “Sister Christian,” “Can’t Fight This Feeling,” and the perennial “Don’t Stop Believin'”. This one is well worth a look.

There’s also the eight-part “Defining a Decade” (35:34), hosted by Hough and Boleta, that displays some embarrassing awkwardness between them but they manage to take us through the production of the film. You also get a look at the Broadway inspiration which deserved more screen time.

“Any Way You Like It” was re-edited into a full music video starring Mary J. Blige and Constantine Maroulis (who originated the Drew Bolley role on Broadway) but it can be skipped.

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