Caught in the Act celebrates Tina who last week, on Nov. 26, 2022, celebrated her 83rd birthday. When Tina Turner’s solo star finally ascended with the 1984 hit “What’s Love Got to Do With It,” it felt like a victory for anyone who had been hurt or held back in pursuit of a dream. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGpFcHTxjZs... Continue Reading →
AN EXCLUSIVE FROM INSIDE, THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF THE STRAZ CENTER James Lafayette wanted to play the bass – the double bass, to be precise. The instrument, though, was a bit too large for the preteen. The cello’s size, however, was just right. But he wanted to play bass. James Lafayette (pictured above) playing the... Continue Reading →
If Anais Mitchell chronicles her journey from indie-folk artist to Tony-award winning playwright and composer, she might call it How to Get to Broadway in 15 Grueling, Setback-Filled Years. Mitchell’s work places Greek mythological figures Orpheus and Eurydice in a dystopian world where the lure of stability draws desperate souls to the grim, cruel factory... Continue Reading →
Dirty Dancing was the little movie that could. Made for $5 million, Dirty Dancing grossed more than $200 million worldwide. Released on VHS early in 1988, it became the first movie to sell a million copies. Everyone remembers VHS's right? . . . Anyone? . . . okay, we'll see ourselves out. The movie also... Continue Reading →
Hip-hop, the “fad” that parents, teachers, government officials and close-minded rockers couldn’t wish away fast enough 40 years ago, now has its own government-sanctioned month. (Pictured above) A dramatic reenactment of the public hearing a hip-hop song for the first time. Last year, Congress designated November as National Hip-Hop History Month, a sign not only... Continue Reading →
As the year 2020 began, anticipation for Rufus Wainwright’s upcoming album was running high. Unfollow the Rules would be Wainwright’s first album of new pop material in eight years. Fans had been clamoring for it since news of Wainwright recording with producer Mitchell Froom (Los Lobos, Elvis Costello) first surfaced in 2018. The album cover... Continue Reading →
In honor of Classical Music Month, Caught in the Act tapped Straz media relations manager and classically-trained flutist Natasha Brown to chat with Clay Ellerbroek, principal flutist of The Florida Orchestra for nearly 15 years. Ellerbroek initially began his instrumental studies on the trumpet, but transferred to the saxophone soon after and later discovered the... Continue Reading →
B.B. King is arguably the world’s most well-known blues musician. Almost as well known is the name of his guitar: Lucille. Less well known is the source of the name. B.B. King with Lucille. (Photo courtesy of F. Antolín Hernandez) King was playing a honky-tonk in Twist, Ark., when the building caught fire. After escaping... Continue Reading →
The term “guilty pleasure” seems as though it should refer to dark, twisted impulses, descriptions of which are best left to gothic horror writers. OG gothic horror queen Morticia knows everyone's guilty pleasures. Instead, it means we like some bit of entertainment deemed insignificant by the critics and acquaintances we’ve made our cultural overlords: a... Continue Reading →
‘Mozart of Madras’ to play The Straz With his concerts at The Straz nearly sold out, renowned composer A.R. Rahman, two-time Oscar® winner for soundtrack and original song from Slumdog Millionaire (2008) is still an unknown to many, though many recognize his music when they hear it. So, in the spirit of putting everyone on... Continue Reading →
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbrmBotVIGw Late Night host Stephen Colbert called director Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis, now in theaters, “the most Baz Luhrmanny Baz Luhrmann film.” Luhrmann’s films hit the screen like a hallucinogen-laced glitter bomb, so we kind of know what to expect in that respect. But what’s that got to do with Elvis Presley? Elvis wasn’t averse to... Continue Reading →
https://www.instagram.com/p/BkF2umwn_jt/ It’s been 16 years since Paul McCartney turned 64. McCartney gave that milestone added significance when his song “When I’m 64” was released on The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band in 1967. Released the month McCartney turned 25, the song is a whimsical imagining of what the Beatles bassist must have then... Continue Reading →
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bg1JgHLQsg0 A charming little video clip from 1970 surfaced recently. It’s a local TV news story about a Minneapolis teachers’ strike and in it, an 11-year-old Prince Rogers Nelson voices support for the teachers. It was probably the last time Prince did an interview without his guard up. Prince wasn’t a “no interviews” guy, but... Continue Reading →
When children are given musical instruments for the first time, chances are they will make godawful rackets with them. They will leap about, yell and scream, and make noises those instruments never were meant to make. They will laugh heartily, get bored and move on to the next amusement. Some of those kids, though, will... Continue Reading →
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crOyhjL2e9s Pretty Woman: The Musical celebrated the first anniversary of its premiere by adding the Roy Orbison number from which it took its name to the curtain call. That’s right – a whole year of performances were staged minus the rock ‘n’ roll classic after which the show was named. Where the movie soundtrack featured... Continue Reading →
Photo: Anna Azarov Photography Treya Lam’s album, Good News, doesn’t lack for sonic detail. Lam, though, believes those details are the icing on the cake. “I want to create works that can stand on their own in the barest form,” Lam said. “My approach to songwriting is kind of rooted in that idea. Whether it’s... Continue Reading →
April is Jazz Appreciation Month and, frankly, jazz could use more appreciation. American jazz musicians are revered the world over but even the music made by recognized masters such as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and Charles Mingus is considered a niche market in the states, a genre the general public generally avoids. What little radio... Continue Reading →
Idina Menzel is Broadway’s contemporary Queen of the Showstoppers. With "Take Me or Leave Me" from RENT, and then with “Defying Gravity” from Wicked, Menzel turned songs into events, thrilling theater audiences and even more listeners via original cast recordings. Her most celebrated hit, though, originated in the Disney animated film Frozen. That song, “Let... Continue Reading →
Although known as a composer of operettas – he wrote nearly 100 of them – Jacques Offenbach’s best known work is a full-scale opera, The Tales of Hoffmann. Built around the writings of German author E.T.A. Hoffmann, the opera has become one of opera’s premiere works. Composer Jacques Offenbach photographed by Nadar in the 1860s... Continue Reading →
When Chuck Berry sang “Roll over Beethoven and tell Tchaikovsky the news,” the line appeared to be drawn. On one side was classical music: staid, stodgy, the stuff your music appreciation class forced you to hear. On the other side, popular music, in this case the then-relatively new genre of rock ‘n’ roll: wild, fun,... Continue Reading →