#eddie lehman

[mitjalovse]

You early success gives you the riches and even the freedom to do anything you wish, yet you keep trying to escape from that triumph to no avail, you toil your pieces. I mean, Mike Oldfield had one of the funniest careers – there are some rumours he retired, so that's why I shall be using the past tense –, if you ask me. He kept trying to run away from Tubular Bells, yet he was pulled back in to paraphrase Coppola. Still, Tubular Bells II should not be seen as a legacy sequel. Sure, he doesn't reach the original, yet look at the disc as a variation, not a continuation. Maybe that's why he sounds relaxed on the album, since he's working in the environment he's familiar with. While the latter actually served him well later on, he didn't always succeed in deploying that.

[newyorkthegoldenage]

Mrs. Robert Lehman provides the flame for Eddie Kahn, Bill Ebeling, and Al Keuten, who were among the first callers at the mobile kitchen being operated by the American Women’s Voluntary Services for men in service, January 4, 1942.

Photo: Associated Press via Upday

[lesbiancolumbo]

This feels like such an impertinent question and feel free to totally ignore it if it's not something you feel like answering: are there any nonfiction books you would recommend to accompany Sweet Smell Of Success, either from a film history POV or otherwise? (It feels unfair to ask you for fiction recs since you and your fic turned me on to I Lost My Girlish Laughter, which I am loving right now.)

gosh, nonfiction is honestly not my strong point if we're being totally honest tonight. i will say you could go the obvious route and read books on burt (i prefer the kate buford one), tony's memoirs (though you need to take everything tony says with a grain of salt - almost every story is completely wrong or misremembered lmfao), or ernest lehman (there's a newish book on him by jon krampner that i read last year). you could also read about the gossip columnists who would have been jj's contemporaries - walter winchell and dorothy kilgallen. no specific recs there. not a book but karina longworth has a great season of you must remember this on louella parsons and hedda hopper which is great background information on the rise and heyday of celebrity gossip.

i haven't read this yet but gossip men has been on my list (there's a lot of reading on the blacklist that you can do as well for historical context; ymrt has a season on it as well!). foster hirsch has a book about the cinematic climate of the 50s as well. there's a book by brian mcnair called journalists in film, which is... okay, but ssos is mentioned so worth a look.

oh... duh... eddie mbfe has lots of books on film noir in general, including dark city.

[vintage1981]

Dracula Studio Hammer Films Acquired by Renowned British Theater Mogul John Gore

Iconic British horror label Hammer Films and Studios has been acquired by renowned British theater producer John Gore.

Gore, a 20-time Tony, Emmy and Olivier-winning entertainment producer, is known for his live theater company the John Gore Organization, which owns Broadway.com and Broadway Across America – a leading presenter, distributor and marketer of Broadway theater worldwide. The company was one of the producers of three of 2022’s big Tony winners: “A Strange Loop” (best musical), “The Lehman Trilogy” (best play) and “Company” (best revival). Gore is listed in Variety500 – an index of the 500 most influential business leaders shaping the global media industry.

Gore will lead a new team as chair and CEO.

Founded in 1934, Hammer Films is synonymous with horror, after defining the genre in Britain with classics such as “Dracula” (1958) “The Curse of Frankenstein” (1957) and “The Mummy” (1959), which made stars of Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing while spawning numerous sequels successful across the globe. It also produced such classics as “One Million Years B.C.” (1966), starring Raquel Welch, and “She” (1965), starring Ursula Andress. It has a vast library of content including “The Woman in Black” (2012), “Let Me In” (2010), “The Abominable Snowman” (1957) and “The Quatermass Xperiment” (1953).

In 2021, the U.K.’s Network Distributing signed a deal with Hammer Films to form Hammer Studios Ltd. After the death of managing director Tim Beddows in 2022, Network was liquidated.

Under Gore’s management, the plan is to invest significantly in Hammer Films to breathe new life into the studio, blending the nostalgic charm of Hammer with modern cinematic style and innovation, while preserving its heritage and library. A new slate of films and projects will be unveiled imminently.

The first film of the new incarnation of the studio to be released is B Good Picture Company’s “Doctor Jekyll,” starring Eddie Izzard and Scott Chambers and directed by Joe Stephenson. It is due for a theatrical release later this year.

Gore said: “Ever since I was a young boy, I’ve been enchanted by the magic of Hammer Films. Its stories, its characters and its unique place in British heritage and cinema have been a source of inspiration and wonder. Today, as I stand at the helm of this iconic studio, my commitment is twofold: to celebrate and preserve the unmatched legacy of Hammer and to usher in a new era of storytelling that captivates audiences worldwide. With significant investment and a fresh creative vision, we will ensure that the spirit of Hammer not only endures but thrives in the modern age.”

[crunchbaseh]

Alexander (Alex) Shnaider

In February 2005, Shnaider purchased the Jordan Grand Prix from Eddie Jordan for an estimated US$50 million. He rebranded the team as Midland F1 Racing for the 2006 Formula One season. Later, on 9th September 2006, the team was acquired by Spyker Cars.

In March 2010, Shnaider invested in a consortium that acquired Toronto’s King Edward Hotel for $50 million from a distressed sale by Lehman Brothers. The investment was made in conjunction with three other real estate firms, namely Skyline International Development Inc., Dundee KE Inc., and Serruya Realty Group Inc.

In 2011, Shnaider, together with N3 Real Estate owned by Dutch businessman A.D.G van Dam, established Delton Retail Fund, a property group.

[searchwiki]

Alex Shnaider Biography

Alex Shnaider (Alexander Yevseyevich Schnaider) was born on 3 August, 1968 in Saint Petersburg, Russia, is a Co-founder of the Midland Group and Talon International Development Incorporated. Discover Alex Shnaider's Biography, Age, Height, Physical Stats, Dating/Affairs, Family and career updates. Learn How rich is He in this year and how He spends money? Also learn how He earned most of networth at the age of 55 years old?

Alex Shnaider Early life

Shnaider moved with his family to Israel when he was 4, and then to Canada when he was 13. He graduated from York University in Toronto in 1991 with a bachelor's degree in economics.

Alex Shnaider Midland Group

In 1994, Shnaider co-founded Midland Group—originally a steel producer—with former business partner Eduard Shifrin. The company operated in Ukraine before government-owned steel factories were privatized. In 1999, Midland Resources began buying shares in the Zaporizhstal steel mill. By 2001, Shnaider's consortium had bought 93 per cent of the mill for $70 million.

According to the Panama Papers, in 2010, Shnaider sold at least half of Midland's ownership in Zaporizhstal to buyers financed by Russian state-owned Vnesheconombank, who were then themselves acquired by the development bank.

Alex Shnaider Sports investments

Shnaider bought Jordan Grand Prix from Eddie Jordan in February 2005 for approximately US$50 million, and renamed it Midland F1 Racing for the 2006 Formula One season. On 9 September 2006, the team was sold to Spyker Cars.

In December 2007, Shnaider bought Israeli soccer team Maccabi Tel Aviv for an estimated 12 million euros. On 4 August 2009, Shnaider sold the club to Canadian property developer Mitchell Goldhar, after investing $20 million in the club. Goldhar took on Shnaider's 80 per cent stake in the club by agreeing to take on its financial commitments; he also paid $750,000 to the Maccabi Tel Aviv sports foundation for its 20 percent stake.

Alex Shnaider Real estate

Shnaider partnered with Donald Trump in the construction of the Trump International Hotel and Tower, which is in Toronto. Trump was a minority shareholder in the project, and his firm owned the property management contract (the minority share and management contract were bought out in 2017, with the property renamed the Adelaide Hotel Toronto). In 2007, Shnaider was reported as having decided to keep the penthouse suite for himself, at an estimated value of $20 million. In 2017, the building and Shnaider were named as key links in a financial connection between Trump and the Russian government. Shnaider reportedly used proceeds from the sale of his Ukrainian steel mill to partially meet cost overruns at the Toronto Trump Tower.

In March 2010, Shnaider invested in a property consortium that bought Toronto's King Edward Hotel for $50 million. The asset was purchased in a distressed sale from Lehman Brothers. Shnaider originally invested alongside three other real estate companies, Skyline International Development Inc., Dundee KE Inc., and Serruya Realty Group Inc. However, on 1 August 2012, Omni Hotels & Resorts CEO James D. Caldwell also took a stake in the hotel; and on 24 November 2015, Omni Hotels and Resorts announced that it had bought the other parties out and fully owned the hotel.

In 2011, Shnaider formed a Delton Retail fund, a property group, with N3 Real Estate, owned by Dutch businessman A.D.G van Dam.

On 30 December 2015, Shnaider invested NIS₪39 million in Mishorim Development Ltd., a real estate company controlled by developer Gil Blutrich. Shnaider had already invested alongside Blutrich in the King Edward Hotel, which Blutrich invested in via Skyline International Development Inc., a Mishorim subsidiary. On July 2016, he increased his holdings in this company from 21% to 37%.

Alex Shnaider Personal life

Shnaider is married to Simona Shnaider (née Birshtein). They have three daughters. In August 2016, they sold their home in Bridle Path, Toronto, for $22 million.

Schnaider is President of the Jewish Russian Community Centre of Ontario.

[scottwellsmagic]

754: F.F.F.F. 2023 - Days One and Two Report

Wednesday April 26th

2:00-5:00 Registration & 4F Shop open

6:00 Dealers’ Room opens (closed during lectures/shows)

7:30 1st Show: 4F Opening Gala (MC: Michael Dardant) featuring: Alan Rorrison, Jeff Eline, Clark Payne, Thomas Solomon, Billy Hsueh, Quentin Reynolds, William Watt, and Alfonso Rituerto

9:00 Lecture #1: Clemens Ilgner

10:00 Hospitality Suite opens

12:00 Dealers’ Room closes

Thursday April 27th

10:00-5:00 Registration open (closed during lectures and shows)

10:00 Dealers’ Room opens (closed during lectures and shows)

10:00-10:30 4F Shop open (closed during lectures and shows)

10:30 Lecture #2: Chris Capehart Lecture

1:30 2nd Show: Mini World (MC: Keith Fields) featuring: Rune Carlsen, Ricardo Rosenkranz, John Michael Hinton, Rian Lehman, Jason Michaels, Alexander Great, Eddie McCall, Jeff Christensen, and Lodewijk de Widt

3:30 ED Talks #1 (MCs: Christian/Katalina) with David Coraro (Fooling Penn & Teller), Jason Michaels (Projecting Close Up Magic on Stage), Mark Zacharia (Using Hypnotism in Close-Up Magic) and Paul Richards (Selling Magic)

3:30 3rd Show: Friends Old & New (MC: Lucy Darling) featuring: Joseph Vidal, Sam Slebhin, Rod Chow, ICE McDonald, George Iglesias, Brian Curry, David Parr and Geoff Williams.

7:30 Lecture #3: Mark Mason

10:00 Hospitality Suite opens

12:00 Dealers’ Room closes

Time stamps for this episode:

00:00:18 - TO BE FILLED IN AFTER I’VE GOTTEN SOME SLEEP

Download this podcast in an MP3 file by Clicking Here and then right click to save the file. You can also subscribe to the RSS feed by Clicking Here. You can download or listen to the podcast through Stitcher by Clicking Here or through FeedPress by Clicking Here or through Tunein.com by Clicking Here or through iHeart Radio by Clicking Here..If you have a Spotify account, then you can also hear us through that app, too. You can also listen through your Amazon Alexa and Google Home devices. Remember, you can download it through the iTunes store, too. See the preview page by Clicking Here

[lamilanomagazine]

Cesena, “Uno sguardo dal ponte” è l’ultimo spettacolo di Massimo Popolizio al Tetro Bonci.

Cesena, “Uno sguardo dal ponte” è l’ultimo spettacolo di Massimo Popolizio al Tetro Bonci. L’ultimo lavoro di Massimo Popolizio arriva, fresco di debutto, al Teatro Bonci: Uno sguardo dal ponte di Arthur Miller, tradotto per l’occasione da Masolino D’Amico, è atteso a Cesena dal 23 al 26 febbraio (giovedì, venerdì e sabato alle ore 21.00 e domenica alle ore 16.00). La coproduzione di Compagnia Umberto Orsini, Teatro di Roma - Teatro Nazionale, Emilia-Romagna Teatro ERT / Teatro Nazionale sarà rappresentata anche al Teatro Storchi di Modena dal 2 al 5 marzo. A Cesena, in occasione della replica di sabato 25 febbraio, alle ore 18.00 nel Foyer Massimo Popolizio dialoga con il Professor Gerardo Guccini, studioso e docente di Storia del teatro e dello spettacolo al Dams di Bologna. Popolizio dirige e interpreta, con un cast di altri 8 attori, questo capolavoro della letteratura americana che Miller ambienta nella comunità di immigrati siciliani a Brooklyn: un grande affresco sociale ma anche il ritratto di un uomo onesto, compromesso da una incestuosa passione erotica, scritto nel 1955 a partire da un brutale fatto di cronaca che turbò profondamente l’autore. La storia concentra una serie di temi incandescenti e ancora attualissimi: la fuga dalla povertà, le tensioni dell’immigrazione clandestina, la caccia allo straniero, l’affetto morboso all’interno della famiglia. La vicenda è quella dell’italiano Eddie Carbone che vive a New York con la moglie Beatrice e la nipote Catherine, dalla quale è ossessionato. L’arrivo in casa di Marco e Rodolfo, parenti della moglie e clandestini negli Stati Uniti, scatena la gelosia. L'estremo attaccamento alle origini del protagonista, ad uno stile di vita arcaico e violento, determina irrimediabilmente la sua tragedia. «Questo concetto di ineluttabilità del destino e di passioni dalle quali si può essere vinti e annientati è una “spinta” o “necessità” che penso possa avere ancora oggi un forte impatto teatrale» commenta Popolizio. «Per me è una magnifica occasione mettere in scena un testo che assomiglia molto ad una sceneggiatura cinematografica, e che, come tale, ha bisogno di primi, secondi piani e campi lunghi. Alla luce di tutto il materiale che ha potuto generare dal 1955 (data della sua prima rappresentazione) ad oggi, cioè film, fotografie, serie televisive, credo possa essere interessante e “divertente” una versione teatrale. Una grande storia… raccontata come un film… ma a teatro. Con la recitazione che il teatro richiede, con i ritmi di una serie e con le musiche di un film». Diretto al cinema da Sidney Lumet nel 1962, nella memorabile pellicola con Raf Vallone, Uno sguardo dal ponte nelle mani di un grande maestro della scena come Popolizio diventa un racconto teatrale con la potenza espressiva di un film. Audiodescrizione Teatro No Limits La replica di domenica 26 febbraio sarà audio descritta: l’iniziativa si svolge nell’ambito del progetto del Centro Diego Fabbri di Forlì Teatro No Limits, che consente alle persone con disabilità visiva di partecipare agli spettacoli potendo apprezzare a pieno tutti gli aspetti della messa in scena. Informazioni e prenotazioni: Centro Diego Fabbri di Forlì, info@centrodiegofabbri.it – tel. 0543 30244. Massimo Popolizio, nato a Genova nel 1961, dopo il diploma all’Accademia Nazionale d’arte Drammatica Silvio D’Amico inizia a lavorare con Luca Ronconi, un sodalizio che si protrae fino all’ultimo lavoro del Maestro, Lehman Trilogy (2015), per il quale ottiene il premio UBU come migliore attore. Tra i molti spettacoli interpretati per Ronconi, Gli ultimi giorni dell’umanità di Kraus (1990), Verso Peer Gynt da Ibsen (1995), Quer pasticciaccio brutto de via Merulana di Gadda (1996), Il lutto si addice a Elettra di O’Neill (1997), I due gemelli veneziani di Goldoni (premio UBU 2001 come migliore attore protagonista). Per Professor Bernhardi di Schnitzler riceve l’UBU 2005 come miglior attore non protagonista. In teatro collabora anche con Cesare Lievi, Claudio Longhi, Franco Branciaroli, Walter Pagliaro, Gianfranco de Bosio, Antonio Calenda, Marco Sciaccaluga, Elio De Capitani, Mauro Avogadro, Piero Maccarinelli, Jean Pierre Vincent, Massimo Castri, Lluís Pasqual, Carmelo Rifici. Nel 2015 dirige Il prezzo di Arthur Miller, con Umberto Orsini. Nel 2017 vince il premio UBU per la regia di Ragazzi di Vita di Pier Paolo Pasolini, campione di incassi per due stagioni al Teatro Argentina di Roma, e nel 2019 il suo Un nemico del popolo è Miglior spettacolo, sempre ai Premi UBU. Nel 2019 dirige e interpreta anche Furore da John Steinbeck. Del 2022 è M. Il figlio del secolo, tratto dal romanzo di Antonio Scurati, premio Le Maschere del Teatro Italiano come miglior spettacolo. Per Radio Tre realizza la lettura integrale di vari libri, tra cui Ragazzi di vita. Molti anche i ruoli in tv, diretto da Claudio Bonivento, Roberto Faenza, Riccardo Milani, Enzo Monteleone. Nastro d’Argento per il doppiaggio di Kenneth Branagh nel film Hamlet (1998). Per il grande schermo collabora con i fratelli Taviani, Michele Placido, Daniele Luchetti, Paolo Sorrentino (Il divo, La grande bellezza), Mario Martone (Il giovane favoloso), Carlo Verdone, Fiorella Infascelli (nel ruolo di Falcone in Era d’estate, per cui riceve il Nastro d’Argento). Nel 2018 è protagonista del film di Luca Miniero Sono Tornato in cui interpreta Mussolini. Seguono Il campione (2019), Bentornato presidente (2019), Il ladro di giorni (2019), I predatori (2020, Nastro d'Argento 2021 come miglior attore non protagonista), Governance (2021). Uno sguardo dal ponte di Arthur Miller traduzione Masolino D’Amico regia Massimo Popolizio con Massimo Popolizio e Valentina Sperlì, Raffaele Esposito, Michele Nani, Lorenzo Grilli, Gaja Masciale, Felice Montervino, Marco Mavaracchio, Gabriele Brunelli scene Marco Rossi costumi Gianluca Sbicca luci Gianni Pollini suono Alessandro Saviozzi produzione Compagnia Umberto Orsini, Teatro di Roma - Teatro Nazionale, Emilia Romagna Teatro ERT / Teatro Nazionale Informazioni: Teatro Bonci, Piazza Guidazzi – Cesena Biglietteria: aperta dal martedì al sabato ore 11-14 e 16-19 | nei giorni di spettacolo ore 17-21.30 | la domenica ore 15-16.30 | T. 0547/355959 | info@teatrobonci.it Biglietti da 26 a 8 euro. L’ingresso all’incontro è gratuito.... #notizie #news #breakingnews #cronaca #politica #eventi #sport #moda Read the full article

[flashfuckingflesh]

EVIL Watches from the Shadows. "The Lurker" reviewed! (Indican Pictures / Screener)

EVIL Watches from the Shadows. “The Lurker” reviewed! (Indican Pictures / Screener)

A gruesome murder has brought a looming shadow over a high school. However, the shadow is not great enough to thwart the spirits of a group of thespian high school seniors in the throes of their last Shakespearian performances of the year of Romeo and Juliet. Determined to excel, the peer admired Taylor Wilson keeps her college acceptance hopes high on her well-received nightly performances as…

[filmnoirfoundation]

NOIR CITY 19 continues today at Oakland's Grand Lake Theatre with two double features, THE ACCUSED (1:00) & THE KILLER THAT STALKED NEW YORK (3:00) and NO WAY OUT (7:00) & THE SNIPER (9:30). Films introduced by FNF prez Eddie Muller. Full festival schedule and tickets available at NoirCity.com

Saturday Matinée • March 26

THE ACCUSED 1:00 PM

Demure college professor Wilma Tuttle (Loretta Young) finds herself in jeopardy after killing an overly amorous student in self-defense. As the noose tightens around her, both the victim's guardian (Robert Cummings) and a dogged homicide detective (Wendell Corey) pursue her. Apparently, being a suspected killer makes Wilma irresistible to men. June Truesdell's 1947 novel Be Still, My Love, adapted by Ketti Frings, puts a decidedly feminine slant on a classic noir premise. It's also the rare noir where both the source novel and the screenplay are the work of women. Frings had a résumé similar to many male colleagues in Hollywood—she'd worked as a newspaper correspondent, ad writer, and PR agent before scoring with her first novel, Hold Back the Dawn, adapted to film in 1941 by Billy Wilder. The Accused is a prescient psychological thriller that presaged "Me Too" by many decades.

1949, Paramount [Library of Congress]. 101 minutes. Screenplay by Ketti Frings, from the novel Be Still, My Love by June Truesdell. Produced by Hal Wallis. Directed by William Dieterle.

THE KILLER THAT STALKED NEW YORK 3:00 PM

Petty crook Matt Krane (Charles Korvin) returns to New York City from Cuba, using his girlfriend Sheila (Evelyn Keyes) as a mule to smuggle $40,000 worth of diamonds. What he doesn't realize is that Sheila is carrying something more dangerous — smallpox. What Sheila doesn't realize is that Matt plans on double-crossing her, running away with her sister Francie and the jewels. Sheila must elude the police to exact revenge on the two-timing louse, but with every step she threatens to unleash an epidemic that could infect 8,000,000 people. This fictionalized version of a true story was until recently an antiquated curio, a campy time capsule of an earlier era. Well, nobody's laughing now. Part suspenseful crime thriller, part Public Service Announcement, The Killer That Stalked New York, beautifully filmed by the great Joseph Biroc, recalls a bygone America, one where citizens trusted each other, the government, and miracles of modern science.

1950, Columbia Pictures [Sony Pictures Classics]. 79 minutes. Screenplay by Harry Essex, from a Cosmopolitan magazine article by Milton Lehman. Produced by Robert Cohn. Directed by Earl McEvoy.

Saturday Evening • March 26

NO WAY OUT 7:00 PM

Ray and Johnny Biddle, low-life criminals, are wounded trying to rob a gas station. Rushed to the county hospital, they are treated by an African American resident, Dr. Luther Brooks (Sidney Poitier, in his screen debut). Ray, a virulent racist (Richard Widmark, at his most incendiary), refuses to be treated by a black man, and accuses Dr. Brooks of murder when his brother dies. The incident touches off a firestorm that threatens to erupt into an all-out race war. In the middle is Johnny's ex-wife Edie (Linda Darnell), stuck between the ingrained racism of her "Beaver Canal" neighborhood and a growing awareness of a world beyond its confines. Widmark and Poitier give riveting performances, and Darnell quietly steals the show as a woman trying to escape her ignorant upbringing. The Oscar®-nominated screenplay pulls no punches in its squirm-inducing depiction of deep-rooted racism. Brace yourself for a powerful film that, sadly, is as relevant today as the day it was released.

1950, 20th Century–Fox. 106 minutes; Screenplay by Joseph L. Mankiewicz and Lesser Samuels . Produced by Darryl F. Zanuck. Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz.

THE SNIPER 9:30 PM

San Francisco is the backdrop for one of the first movies about a modern serial killer. Decades before such stories became commonplace, husband and wife writers Edward and Edna Anhault researched dozens of actual cases to create this psychological "exposé " of a murderous misfit who wants to be caught but finds it too easy to slip into the margins of a "bustling" post-WWII metropolis. Arthur Franz gives an edgy and empathetic performance as the psychically scarred sniper, whose murderous trail leads viewers on a fascinating tour of midcentury San Francisco — from Pacific Heights through the back alleys of North Beach to once-industrial China Basin. Burnett Guffey's camerawork, moving between shadowy '40s noir and '50s docu-realism, enhances Edward Dmytryk's crisp and compelling direction.

1952, Columbia Pictures [Sony Pictures Classics]. 88 minutes. Screenplay by Harry Brown, from a story by Edward and Edna Anhalt. Produced by Stanley Kramer. Directed by Edward Dmytryk

[oohlordhealthisbike]

Open for bootleg trading~

Hello all! I am posting my bootleg list here for now as a temporary list until I get my website up and running- I am open to trading! I’m mainly looking for any Cats production- preferably English or Dutch but any musical would be nice to have and expand my collection. 

Addams Family - Broadway - March 12, 2010

FORMAT: .VOB w/o smalls

CAST:Nathan Lane (Gomez Addams), Bebe Neuwirth (Morticia Addams), Terrence Mann (Mal Beineke), Carolee Carmello (Alice Beineke), Kevin Chamberlin (Uncle Fester), Jackie Hoffman (Grandma), Zachary James (Lurch), Wesley Taylor (Lucas Beineke), Krysta Rodriguez (Wednesday Addams), Adam Riegler (Pugsley Addams)

NOTES: Video quality isn't the best, and audio is sometimes on the softer side. Still a very entertaining show.

Anastasia - Broadway - September 6, 2017

FORMAT: (VOBs w/ smalls)

CAST: Christy Altomare (Anastasia), Derek Klena (Dmitry), John Bolton (Vlad), Ramin Karimloo (Gleb), Caroline O'Connor (Lily), Mary Beth Peil (Maria Feodorovna), Zach Adkins, Sissy Bell, Lauren Blackman, Kyle Brown, Janet Dickinson, Constantine Germanacos, Wes Hart, Ken Krugman, Shina Ann Morris, James A. Pierce III, Molly Rushing, Nicole Scimerca, Johnny Stellard, Allison Walsh (Ensemble)

Aladdin - Broadway, 2014-Nov-05 (SunsetBlvd79‘s master)

Format: VOB + smalls (7.58 GB)

CAST: Adam Jacobs (Aladdin), Courtney Reed (Jasmine), Merwin Foard (s/b Jafar), Michael James Scott (s/b Genie)

NOTES: Beautiful HD capture of latest Disney Broadway offering. Great to see the changes from the Toronto tryout. Michael and Merwin do terrific jobs as Genie and Jafar.

Beauty and the Beast New Zealand April 2006 - Proshot

Format: .VOB w/ smalls

Cast: Jade Steele, Russell Dixon, Glen Drake, Rob Ormsby, Gladys Hope

NOTES: Only the first act & first part of act two! 

Beauty and the Beast (Disney) - Broadway - July 27, 2007 (Unknown's video master)

CAST: Anneliese van der Pol (Belle), Steve Blanchard (Beast/Prince), Jamie Ross (Maurice), Chris Hoch (Gaston), David DeVries (Lumière), Jeanne Lehman (Mrs. Potts), Glenn Rainey (Cogsworth), Ann Mandrella (Babette), Trevor Braun (Chip), Aldrin Gonzalez (Le Fou)

NOTES: Two days before the show closed on Broadway. Good amount of closeups and good quality filmed from the mid-mezzanine; there is a railing issue for a while in Act 1 but the taper improves. 'Me', 'Gaston' and 'Be Our Guest' are all predominantly missing and recording stopped for some time after 'Gaston', which created a little jump in the timeline to where Maurice gets thrown out of the tavern. Still a nice video with great closeups of the last Broadway cast.

Beauty and the Beast - Music Theatre of Wichita (2016)

FORMAT: .VOB w/ Smalls

CAST: Catherine Charlebois, Thaddeus Pearson, Johnny Stellard, Steve Hitchcock, James Beaman, Katie Banks-Todd, Karen L. Robu, Lexis Danca, James Heinrichs, Timothy W. Robu, Tanner Pflueger, John Boldenow

Notes: Pro-Shot. Filmed using one camera on a tripod with excellent clear picture and sound.

Cats - Hamburg - August 21, 1999 (Unknown's video master)

FORMAT: MP4 (2.9 GB) CAST: Julia Howson (Grizabella), Stefano Bontempi (Alonzo), Sean McGrath (Admetus/Macavity), Daymon Montaigne Jones (Bill Bailey/Tumblebrutus), Donna Hagan (Bombalurina), Lachlan Youngberg (Bustopher Jones/Gus/Growltiger), Marie Dumas (Cassandra), Valentino McKinney (Coricopat), Juliann Kuchocki (Demeter), Marni Raab (Jellylorum), Nadja Solovieva (Jennyanydots), Clinten Pearce (Mr. Mistoffelees), Deon Ridley (Mungojerrie), Matthew Pike (Munkustrap), Werner Kraus (Old Deuteronomy), Adrianne Richards (Rumpleteazer), Siegmar Tonk (Rum Tum Tugger), Japheth Myers (Skimbleshanks), Angela Roczkov (Tantomile), Rebecca Sutherland (Victoria), Damian Kacperski (Pouncival), Tracey Packham (Sillabub) NOTES: very good quality for the time! Great audio as well. 

Cats - Broadway Revival - August 13, 2016 (Unknown's video master)

FORMAT: .VOB w/o Smalls

STAGE: Broadway

CAST: Leona Lewis (Grizabella), Giuseppe Bausilio (Carbucketty), Kim Faure (Demeter), Lili Froehlich (Electra), Sara Jean Ford (Jellylorum), Eloise Kropp (Jennyanydots), Ricky Ubeda (Mr. Mistoffelees), Andy Huntington Jones (Munkustrap), Quentin Earl Darrington (Old Deuteronomy), Shonica Gooden (Rumpleteazer), Tyler Hanes (Rum Tum Tugger), Jeremy Davis (Skimbleshanks)

NOTES: Some people walking across the image for a few seconds during Jennyanydots and Rum Tum Tugger's number. Sometimes a head is visible but not obstructing the action. Almost no white-outs with very good video quality. Audio is very crisp as well. Filmed from a higher seat, but zooms are excellently done and fluent. Overal an amazing bootleg!

Cats - Sixth National Tour - March 15, 2019 (thehouseonsunset's video master)

CAST: Keri René Fuller (Grizabella), Phillip Deceus (Alonzo), Tyler John Logan (Admetus/Macavity), Devin Neilson (Bill Bailey/Tumblebrutus), Lexie Plath (Bombalurina), Timothy Gulan (Bustopher Jones/Gus/Growltiger), Mariah Reives (Cassandra), PJ DiGaetano (Coricopat), Liz Schmitz (Demeter), Maria Failla (u/s Jellylorum), Emily Jeanne Phillips (Jennyanydots), Tion Gaston (Mr. Mistoffelees), Tony D'Alelio (Mungojerrie), Dan Hoy (Munkustrap), Brandon Micheal Nase (Old Deuteronomy), Rose Iannaccone (Rumpleteazer), McGee Maddox (Rum Tum Tugger), Ethan Saviet (Skimbleshanks), Halli Tolland (Tantomile), Laura K Kaufman (u/s Victoria), Anthony Zas (Pouncival), Ahren Victory (Sillabub)

NOTES: Audio is soft in some parts and has a shaky camera. Good video though, nice zooms and high quality. 

Cats 1998 Film - (Pro-shot).

FORMAT: MP4 CAST: Elaine Paige (Grizabella), John Mills (Gus the Theatre Cat), Ken Page (Old Deuteronomy), Rosemarie Ford (Bombalurina), Michael Gruber (Munkustrap), John Partridge (Rum Tum Tugger), Aeva May (Demeter), Geoffrey Garratt (Skimbleshanks), James Barron (Bustopher Jones), Jo Gibb (Rumpleteazer), Drew Varley (Mungojerrie), Susie McKenna (Jennyanydots), Jacob Brent (Mistoffelees), Susan Jane Tanner (Jellylorum), Phyllida Crowley Smith (Victoria). NOTES: pro-shot version of the musical. Multiple cameras and HD video and audio. 

Cinderella - Broadway - March 2, 2013

FORMAT: VOB + smalls

CAST: Laura Osnes (Ella), Santino Fontana (Prince Topher), Victoria Clark (Fairy Godmother), Harriet Harris (Evil Stepmother), Ann Harada (Charlotte)

NOTES: Very good view of the stage, sometimes zooms are a bit slow but it's not bothersome. Very enjoyable experience.

Evita - Costa Mesa - December 14, 2013

FORMAT: (VOBs w/ Smalls)

CAST: Caroline Bowman (Eva), John Riddle (u/s Che), Sean MacLaughlin (Peron), Krystina Alabado (Mistress), Christopher Johnstone (Magaldi)

Kinky Boots - Broadway - May 26, 2017 (Opening Night) (Audio)

CAST: Brendon Urie (Charlie Price)

FORMAT: M4A

NOTES: Brendon is amazing in the role, the audio is not really HD, but it’s still really fun to listen to, especially for P!ATD fans like me haha. 

Legally Blonde - Broadway - 2007-Oct-25

Format: VOB no smalls (4.11 GB)

CAST: Becky Gulsvig (u/s Elle Woods), Andy Karl (u/s Emmett Forrest), Richard H Blake (Warner Huntington III), Orfeh (Paulette), Kate Shindle (Vivienne Kensington), Nikki Snelson (Brooke Wyndham/Shandi), Michael Rupert (Professor Callahan), Haven Burton (Margot), Tracy Jai Edwards (Serena), Asmeret Ghebremichael (Pilar), Matthew Risch (u/s Kyle/Grandmaster Chad/Dewey), Natalie Joy Johnson (Veronica/Enid), Kate Wetherhead (Kate/Chutney), Rod Harrelson (u/s Carlos)

NOTES: Great capture of the two understudies in the role. Shot from the orchestra with amazing shots. Starts in the middle of 'Omigod You Guys'.

Les Misérables - West End - November, 2018 (NYCG8R's master)

FORMAT: VOB (with smalls) (SD)

CAST: Dean Chisnall (Jean Valjean), Bradley Jaden (Javert), Carley Stenson (Fantine), Amara Okereke (Cosette), Toby Miles (Marius), Elena Skye (Éponine), Samuel Edwards (Enjolras), James Hume (u/s Thénardier), Vivien Parry (Madame Thénardier), Logan Clark (Gavroche), Andrew York (u/s The Bishop), Adam Filipe (u/s Grantaire), Barnaby Hughes (Combeferre), Joe Vetch (Feuilly), Oliver Brenin (s/w Courfeyrac), Ben Tyler (Jean Prouvaire), James Nicholson (Joly), Andrew York (Lesgles), Adam Bayjou (Brujon), Ciaran Bowling (s/w Babet), Sam Harrison (Claquesous), Ciaran Joyce (Montparnasse), Adam Bayjou (Factory Foreman), Anna McGarahan (Factory Girl), Anna McGarahan (Crone), Sam Harrison (Bamatabois), Ben Tyler (Pimp), Barnaby Hughes (Fauchelevent), Adam Bayjou (Champmathieu), Ciaran Bowling (s/w Major Domo)

Les Misérables - The All-Star Staged Concert - December 2, 2019 (Closing Night) (Pro-Shot's master)

FORMAT: MKV (HD)*

CAST: Alfie Boe (Jean Valjean), Michael Ball (Javert), Carrie Hope Fletcher (Fantine), Lily Kerhoas (Cosette), Rob Houchen (Marius), Shan Ako (Éponine), Bradley Jaden (Enjolras), Matt Lucas (Thénardier), Katy Secombe (Madame Thénardier), Earl Carpenter (The Bishop), Raymond Walsh (Grantaire), Craig Mather (Combeferre), Vinny Coyle (Feuilly), Niall Sheehy (Courfeyrac), James Nicholson (Jean Prouvaire), Ciaran Joyce (Joly), Andrew York (Lesgles), Leo Roberts (Brujon), Stephen Matthews (Babet), Oliver Jackson (Claquesous), Adam Bayjou (Montparnasse), Gavin James (Factory Foreman), Celia Graham (Factory Girl), Tamsin Dowsett (Crone), Earl Carpenter (Bamatabois), Oliver Jackson (Pimp)

NOTES: The digitally released proshot, edited differently to the live cinema stream.

Les Miserables - Broadway - Feb. 17, 2007

FORMAT: VOB + smalls

CAST: Alexander Gemignani (Jean Valjean), Norm Lewis (Javert), Daphne Rubin-Vega (Fantine), Gary Beach (Thenardier), Jenny Galloway (Mme Thenardier), Celia Kennan-Bolger (Eponine), Ali Ewoldt (Cosette), Adam Jacobs (Marius), Drew Sarich (u/s Enjolras)

Little Shop of Horrors - Encores! Off-Center-New York City Center, 2015-July-1 (Opening Night) (NYCG8R's video master)

Format: VOB + smalls (4.21 GB)

CAST: Jake Gyllenhaal (Seymour), Ellen Greene (Audrey), Joe Grifasi (Mushnik), Taran Killam (Orin), Eddie Cooper (Audrey II), Marva Hicks (Crystal), Ramona Keller (Ronnette), Tracy Nicole Chapman (Chiffon)

NOTES: Opening Night filmed from the very back of City Center, so there is some spotlight washout that's never too bad and a head that's shot well around.

Phantom Of the Opera - US Tour - August 12, 2015 (Unknown master)

FORMAT: VOBs w/ Smalls)

Chris Mann, Katie Travis, Storm Lineberger, Jacquelynne Fontaine, Edward Staudenmayer, David Benoit, Anne Kanengeiser, Frank Viveros, Morgan Cowling, Mark Emerson, Eric Ruiz, Edward Juvier, Dan Debenport, David Foley Jr., Allan Snyder, Christy Morton

Spider-Man - Turn off the Dark - Broadway - October 14, 2012

FORMAT: (VOBs)

CAST: Matthew James Thomas (alt. Peter Parker/Spiderman), Kristen Martin (u/s Mary Jane), Robert Cuccioli (Green Goblin), Katrina Lenk (Arachne).

NOTES: Post-Changes

The Book of Mormon - UK & Ireland Tour - 2019 (Rumpel's master-RARE)

FORMAT: .VOB (no smalls) (HD)

CAST: Kevin Douglas Clay (Elder Price), Connor Peirson (Elder Cunningham), Nicole-Lily Baisden (Nabulungi), Will Hawksworth (Elder McKinley), Ewen Cummins (Mafala Hatimbi), Thomas Vernal (General), David Brewis (Cunningham’s Dad), Tre Copeland-Williams (Doctor), Johnathan Tweedie (Prices Dad/Joseph Smith/Mission President), Cleopatra Isaac (Mrs Brown), Jemal Felix (Guard), Lukin Simmonds (Guard), Alex James-Hatton, David Brewis, Evan James, Fergal McGoff, George Crawford, Isaac Hesketh, Jed Berry

NOTES: One of the best videos of this show out there. Recorded from the right wing, doesn't miss any action. High quality video and excellent sound. Kevin is a very good Elder Price.

The Book of Mormon - Chicago - December 23, 2012 (SunsetBlvd79's master)

FORMAT:  VOB (with smalls) (HD)CAST: Nic Rouleau (Elder Price), Ben Platt (Elder Cunningham), Syesha Mercado (Nabulungi), Pierce Cassedy (Elder McKinley), James Vincent Meredith (Mafala Hatimbi), Christopher Shyer (Mission President), David Aron Damane (General)

The Book of Mormon - Broadway - March 1, 2011 (Preview) (NYCG8R's master)

FORMAT:  VOB (no smalls) (SD)

CAST: Andrew Rannells (Elder Price), Josh Gad (Elder Cunningham), Nikki M James (Nabulungi), Rory O’Malley (Elder McKinley), Michael Potts (Mafala Hatimbi), Lewis Cleale (Mission President)

Wicked - Broadway, 2013-May-12 (Lanelle's master)

Format:  M2TS (HD) - (24.02 GB)

CAST: Willemijn Verkaik (Elphaba), Katie Rose Clarke (Glinda), Kyle Dean Massey (Fiyero), Adam Grupper (The Wizard), Randy Danson (Madame Morrible), Catherine Charlebois (Nessarose), F Michael Haynie (Boq), John Schiappa (Doctor Dillamond)

NOTES: Filmed from the right orchestra, at a slight angle, but excellent quality. The taper originally released this as a blu-ray, 2-disc DVDs and 1-disc DVD, so make sure to get the version that best suits your needs.

Wicked - May 12, 2013 (Lanelle's master RIP WITH SUBS)

FORMAT: .MKV w/o Smalls, With English & Chinese Subtitles

CAST: Willemijn Verkaik (Elphaba), Katie Rose Clarke (Glinda), Kyle Dean Massey (Fiyero), Adam Grupper (The Wizard), Randy Danson (Madame Morrible), Catherine Charlebois (Nessarose), F Michael Haynie (Boq), John Schiappa (Doctor Dillamond)

NOTES: Warning- Moderate quality. Some quality of the original master has been lost through conversion from blue-ray to MKV. Has English and Chinese subtitles. Audio is great and video sometimes has some white-outs. 

Wicked - Broadway - January 2nd, 2015 (unknown master)

FORMAT: VOB w/o Smalls

CAST: Caroline Bowman (Elphaba), Kara Lindsay (Glinda), Matt Shingledecker (Fiyero), Tom McGowan (The Wizard), Kathy Fitzgerald (Madame Morrible), Robin de Jesus (Boq), Arielle Jacobs (Nessarose), Timothy Britten Parker (Dr. Dillamond)

NOTES: The camera moves a bit but follows the actors well. Some parts are a bit washed out but the audio is good. 

Wicked - Broadway, May 28, 2006 (Unkown master)

FORMAT: VOB w/o SmallsCAST: Eden Espinosa (Elphaba), Megan Hilty (Glinda) Derrick Williams (Fiyero), David Garrison (The Wizard), Carol Kane (Madame Morrible), Jenna Leigh Green (Nessarose)

---

If you’re interested, please don’t hesitate to contact me! Like I said I would love any cats bootleg- especially the older ones in English and Dutch from like the 80′s till the 00′s. I am also looking for more diversity in my list- and I’m also looking for the classics- Dear Evan Hansen, Falsetto’s, some more Phantom Of the Opera, Mean Girls, Legally Blond, etc... 

[mitjalovse]

Sequel albums, such as The Fall Of A Rebel Angel by Enigma, are not that rare, but they're not as prevalent as movie continuations. Moreover, most of these LPs tend to update the sounds of their predecessors. Tubular Bells II, for instance, does that, though I would claim the disc is more of a remake than a follow-up to Mike Oldfield's groundbreaking release. Listen to the inauguration of the record to hear what I mean. Yes, the tune basically revamps the original introduction to fit the early 90's sonic landscapes, yet the song works despite the piece being a remodel. While Oldfield adds enough tricks, to make the composition feel different from the precursor, you still recognize the melody. Unsurprisingly, this approach is used by many musicians to do their own music prolongations.

[tilbageidanmark]

Movies I watched this week - 37

Robert Bresson’s philosophical Pickpocket, inspired both by Raskolnikov from ‘Crime and Punishment’ and by Camus ‘The Stranger’. And in turn it inspired Paul Schrader, the other conflicted Christian filmmaker. Austere and mysterious.

✴️        

And so 3 by Paul Schrader (all starring Willem Dafoe):

✳️✳️✳️ The Card Counter, Schrader’s new masterpiece. A tortured soul seeking redemption in a ‘ballet of violence’, just like in many of his previous films. The part of the torture program in Abu Ghraib is tailored a bit too close to the real Mitchell / Jessen psychopaths. But OK.  8+ / 10

✳️✳️✳️ Affliction, a completely different set up: Nick Nolte’s turns into his drunk, abusive father in a cold New Hampshire winter. A sad story of how a family curse is passed through generations, without redemption. His poor daughter...

✳️✳️✳️ Auto Focus, atypical light Schrader pastiche about murdered actor Bob Crane’s friendship with John Henry Carpenter. Crane’s sexual obsession must have been the appeal to Schrader. Told as an uncanny pastel joke, that hides a dark and disturbed core.

✴️           

First watch: Sergei Parajanov’s homoerotic The Color of Pomegranates (1969), a stunning visual poem of nearly-ethnographic Armenian tableaux. Reminds me of Jodorowsky. The inspiration to Tarsem’s music video for R.E.M.'s ‘Losing My Religion’.

(Photo above) 

✴️       

In 1965-66 American-backed anti-communist militias tortured and executed up to a million ‘enemies of the state’ in mass killings in Indonesia.

The Act of Killing is a 2012 terrifying Danish documentary where a group of these now-old death-squad leaders recreate and reenact their actions from that time.

Indonesia, it seems, is not a very enlightened country.

The most original film of the week.

✴️        

Sofia Coppola’s Somewhere, a privileged father-daughter drama. A new superstar actor lives at the Chateau Marmont, and spends some time with his 11 year old daughter. Contemplative with Coppola’s usual slow, long shots style, but pointless and bland. The parent-daughter part was OK, but the Hollywood-fame portion was uninteresting. Even the hot pole-dancing Playboy twins were not exiting.

✴️        

“Ah, the smell of goulash!”

First watch: Lubitsch’s That uncertain feeling, 1941 erotic comedy, full of sexual innuendos and double entendres that the Hays Code didn’t catch.

“Phooy!”

✴️          

Truffaut’s 4th film, The Soft Skin, with Catherine Deneuve’s dead sister, Françoise Dorléac. A married man falls in love with a young stewardess. After 3 New Wave originals, this was derided as a “bourgeois melodrama” and was a commercial failure.  

Always with Georges Delerue’s music.

✴️      

Orson Welles’s existentialist The Trial, based on Kafka’s novel. Starring unconvincing and too young-looking Anthony Perkins as a man accused of a crime he didn’t commit and which he doesn’t understand. Also with Jeanne Moreau. One literary bad dream with lots of absurdist going-ons. It all hinges on K’s feelings of guilt.

✴️        

A different kind of  a bad dream, the ultimate Orange County, CA very black “comedy” Very Bad Things. Like ‘The Hangover’, but worst-case-scenario bad.

✴️        

Recommended by my mom:

The Hundred Foot Journey, a predictable restaurant-porn about the second Michelin star in a “little, quaint French village”. By Lasse Hallström, who specializes in this kind of international fairy tales, and Oprah Winfrey. Commercial clichés and stereotypical tropes. 2/10

✴️        

"You're a cookie full of arsenic"...

Sweet Smell of Success - 2 slimy operators, “publicist” Tony Curtis and influential gossip columnist Burt Lancaster unethically conspire to destroy a jazz musician in a gritty Manhattan Noir. Another sizzling Ernest Lehman manuscript.

✴️      

Barry Levinson paid tribute to ‘Sweet Smell of Success’ in his debut feature Diner, with one of the kids wandering around saying nothing but lines from the film. So I watched it again. What a wonderful piece of triple nostalgia (1959-1982-2021). Perfect in every sense, especially when showing unexpected sides to each character: Boogie doing hair, Billy playing the piano, Eddie dancing at the strip club.

“You’re gonna finish this?”

Best film of the week!

✴️         

Best Sellers, the new Michael Caine vehicle. He’s a cranky, washed-up, bitter author, who’s drunk the whole time. His orange cat is the only other good thing in this lame “comedy”. With a horrible Aubrey Plaza. 2/10

✴️        

2 X Vanya’s:

✳️✳️✳️ The 2020 British stage adaptation of Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya, with Toby Jones as Vanya, and Roger Allam as the professor. It deals with purposeful life, beauty, money, and one of the first discussions of ecological problems in world literature.

✳️✳️✳️ I’m glad I waited to watch Louis Malle’s last film, Vanya on 42nd Street, after the BBC version. Even though it was filmed 26 years earlier, it was much more contemporary. The combined talents of David Mamet, Andre Gregory and Malle modernized the play into a brilliant whole. Wallace Shawn was great! 8/10

✴️        

Chaplin’s delightful 1922 Pay Day, first (?) tramp film where he has a (nasty, harping) wife.

✴️     

U Turn, Oliver Stone’s sadistic, disgusting and pointless mess. Sean Penn is a permanently unlucky schmuck, who “pulls up to a tiny no place in the Arizona desert”. Bad Tarantino clone.

Thanks a lot for the recommendation, Sammy! 1/10

✴️        

Because Norm Macdonald died today, I watched his Dirty Work. A grave mistake! His dry humor was good for a few sardonic one liners, but not for this stupid, sophomoric loser. 0/10

✴️      

42 enjoyable minutes of a crash course on fromage, how to cut it and how to serve it.

- - - - -

(My complete movie list is here)

[oldshowbiz]

A whole genre of literature sprung up in the post-war period which portrayed popular comedians as frauds. Sporting cheery personas in public, comedians acted like horrible people when the camera was off in these novels, short stories and teleplays. Nearly all of these stories were based on real people from Red Skelton to Milton Berle, Jack Benny to Eddie Cantor.

The cycle started with Ernest Lehman’s The Life of Sammy Hogarth, published in a 1948 issue of Liberty magazine. The short story was about a posturing radio comedian with the public persona of a great humanitarian, who in reality is a shameless and ambitious philanderer. It was loosely based on Lehman’s tenure as a gag writer for Eddie Cantor. Lehman revisited the theme three years later when Cosmopolitan sent him to cover the hit NBC variety series starring Milton Berle. Lehman was disturbed by what he saw behind the scenes at The Texaco Star Theater. Lehman wrote about Berle bullying stagehands and writers, but his managing editor told him they couldn’t use it. it was too raw, bordering on slander. Lehman wasn’t happy to see his efforts go to waste. He changed all the names and turned his factual reportage into a fictional short story called The Comedian. 

Stanley Kramer had the initial option in 1954 with Jackie Gleason originally scheduled to star. But the option lapsed and languished. Three years later it was picked up by Playhouse 90. Rod Serling was hired to write the teleplay, John Frankenheimer was hired to direct, and it would star Mickey Rooney in the performance of a lifetime. Rooney played an egomaniacal TV comedian destroying everything in his path – oblivious to the fact he was destroying himself at the same time. 

Jackie Gleason and Art Carney starred in a similar teleplay for the CBS anthology series Studio One. The Laugh Maker chronicled an entertainment reporter assigned to profile a popular comedian - only to discover the comic is a total fucking asshole. 

Red Skelton’s former writer Benedict Freedman wrote a novel in 1957 called Lootville. The title was in reference to the income of the top television comedians of the day. The back cover explained, “Lootville was where the real money is earned by the ‘talent’ who really aren’t that talented.” The Red Skelton Show was thinly veiled as The Zane Cochran Show where “the material was lousy, the acting putrid, the production stank, and the whole thing was just ghastly.” 

Jose Ferrer optioned The Great Man by Al Morgan, a sarcastic novel about a two-faced television star. It was said to be based, not so secretly, on the prolific 1950s broadcaster Arthur Godfrey. The above-average Universal-International picture based on the novel realistically captured the pulse of midcentury New York. It featured serious, dramatic performances by the Ferrer, Jim Backus, Keenan Wynn, and Ed Wynn. In many ways it was the precursor to the well-respected A Face in the Crowd (1957) starring Andy Griffith. 

In the late sixties, Carl Reiner wrote and directed The Comic starring Dick Van Dyke as a bitter, washed up, alcoholic narcissist of a silent movie comedian, living out his final days in a Hollywood rooming house. 

Keefe Brasselle, a former CBS television executive who was connected to Organized Crime, wrote a trashy novel called The CanniBalS, which portrayed a narcissistic, Machiavellian comedian named Jackie Benson. Many were surprised to learn it was based on Jack Benny. “Brasselle’s portrayal of Jackie Benson, a blatantly cruel caricature of Jack Benny, was offensively vicious and totally baseless,” said Benny writer Milt Josefsberg. 

Benny was appalled by the attack, “I don’t think I ever met the man. What about the millions who may read it and not know me personally? They’ll think I’m a terrible person. I hope Keith Brazil falls on his ass.” 

The legendary comedy writer Hal Kanter wrote for everybody from Olsen and Johnson to Bob Hope. In 1971 he published a novel called Snake in the Glass about an egomaniacal comedy star that reaps terrible abuse on his writers and uses his position to bully women into sex. 

A decade later comedy writer Norman Panama wrote The Glass Bed, a novel about a famous comedian in the Golden Age of radio who fucks the wives of friends and fucks over his employees. 

The novel Vegas by John Gregory Dunne featured a character based on comedian Sammy Shore, whom the author had shadowed for research. “When Vegas was published, I was stunned,” recalled Shore. “In the book my name was Jackie Joey the Vegas comic, but of course everyone in the business would know me from the descriptions … Dunne made a big deal of how I was bombing in the lounge, said I was involved with hookers, even described a night when a girl came into my dressing room to give me a blowjob.” Sammy blamed the novel for destroying his marriage to Mitzi Shore.

[dustedmagazine]

Tyshawn Sorey and Marilyn Crispell – The Adornment of Time (Pi Recordings)

Tyshawn Sorey and Marilyn Crispell – The Adornment of Time (Pi Recordings)

Pinning down the music of Tyshawn Sorey is a next-to-impossible task. He’s a first-call drummer for musicians like Vijay Iyer, Roscoe Mitchell and Steve Lehman (to name a few). He’s a challenging leader with projects like Pillars, his sprawling work for expanded ensemble bridging compositional forms and improvisation which hit many year-end lists as well as a regularly working trio that includes pianist Cory Smythe and bassist Christopher Tordini. Then there’s his compositional work including Perle Noire: Meditations for Joséphine, a song cycle in tribute to Josephine Baker, For Bill Dixon and A. Spencer Barefield commissioned by the Louisville Orchestra, Everything Changes, Nothing Changes commissioned by the JACK Quartet or Autoschediasms, where Sorey expands on the language of Butch Morris’s “Conductions.” Adding to that, he’s a professor of music and African American Studies at Wesleyan University. And that just hits on some highlights. But somehow, through all this, he still makes time to collaborate with a diverse group of improvisers. And for anyone looking to check out those endeavors, this duo with pianist Marilyn Crispell should pop up near the top of that list.

Crispell’s activities have been equally vast starting with her participation at the Creative Music Studio in Woodstock, NY in the late 1970s. Since that time she’s established herself though her solo work, ensembles she’s led, her participation in the Anthony Braxton Quartet during the 80s and early 90s, the Reggie Workman Ensemble, projects with Barry Guy as a duo, a trio with Paul Lytton and as a member of his New Orchestra, and a plethora of others. Throughout, though, she has been drawn to the piano/drums duo format, having performed and recorded duos with percussionists including Doug James, Andrew Cyrille, Gerry Hemingway, Eddie Prevost, Thurman Barker and Louis Moholo-Moholo. In a recent Downbeat interview, Crispell said “[The piano] is a percussion instrument: You have hammers striking strings, and I definitely relate to it in that way. Especially at the beginning when I was doing a lot of pure energy music… I relate very much to rhythms, playing different rhythms against the drums. I love doing that.” This expansive duo with Sorey, recorded live at The Kitchen in New York in October 2018 is a dazzling addition.  

The two had played together a few times previous to this concert and they hit the extended hour-long improvisation with an immediate focus. In his liner notes, Sorey says, “What I admire most about Marilyn is her mindful decision making, intense listening, and the profound clarity with which she creatively responds — all within the immediate moment.” The two open with an extended section of spare percussive thwacks of wood, tuned drums and bells and darkly resounding piano notes and abraded strings. They intuitively sync into a patiently unfolding momentum, with masterful control of attack and sustain, letting their sounds hang with a reflective sense of pace and dynamics.  

Crispell’s pricks of upper register piano notes and Sorey’s metallic ringing chimes gradually emerge, piercing the soundscape into which they interject the low rumble of bass drum and resonant piano chords. Crispell hints at the abstract lyricism she has favored of late, but opens things up, letting the free harmonies sit with a potent resolve. That notion of “mindful decision making” is evident throughout as the two build measured waves of tension and release. The way they steadily mount to crescendos of dynamics and density and abate into sections of extended composure is riveting. Half-way in, the two open up to a more vigorous give-and-take, with Sorey’s thundering drums and shimmering chimes intertwined with Crispell’s stabbing chords and angular cascades of notes. What is particularly striking is how organically this emerges from what has proceeded. That effortless integration of driving intensity and imperturbable, introspective composure has been wholly assimilated into their collective playing.  

For the final third of the improvisation, the two ramp down the densities and dynamics to bracing effect, particularly around 45 minutes in with a section of skittering detail of Sorey’s exacting percussion that segues into the harp-like chime of Crispell’s inside-piano playing. The two spontaneously morph the arc of the piece, coalescing around their respective timbral palettes. That absorbed collective listening imbues this final section as Crispell slowly moves towards a pensive lyricism melding flawlessly with Sorey’s spare chiming percussion. The two seize on this, slowing the pace while maintaining a gripping weight to their playing. In the final minutes, the dynamics and density well up again to an exhilarating crescendo breaking telepathically into inky silence, underscoring the commanding empathy the two have woven over the preceding hour.  

Michael Rosenstein

[agreenroad]

Germany to nationalize struggling energy firm Uniper amid worsening financial crisis – Dr. Eddy Bettermann MD

Germany to nationalize struggling energy firm Uniper amid worsening financial crisis – Dr. Eddy Bettermann MD

In order to avoid another “Lehman-style” collapse of the entire energy industry, Germany is expected to bail out and nationalize other utilizes across the country. We are told that Germany might make it through part of the winter, anyway, as it claims to have secured approximately 90 percent of its needed natural gas supply for the season. But this is not enough. “These supplies only cover two…