The Will Gregory Moog Ensemble played a handful of dates in the U.K. late last year, opening its program with the work of Wendy Carlos. Moog is an instrument brand, specifically, not an instrument. But the groundbreaking sonic simulators made by Moog were such a step into the future that the electronic keyboard feels to... Continue Reading →
This was a union conceived on broadcast television, nurtured in the overheated, micro-obsessional womb of the internet and born, finally, on a London stage Wednesday, 10 July, this year of twenty and twenty-four: Cypress Hill with the London Symphony Orchestra. Because the internet continues to be overheated and micro-obsessional, fans of Cypress Hill, the LSO... Continue Reading →
Disney’s animated feature The Lion King had its premiere in 1994. That year, roughly 2 percent of Americans had access to the Internet. The 30th anniversary of that film’s release was celebrated in May with a pair of Hollywood Bowl concerts featuring songs from the soundtrack. In the three decades since its release, The Lion... Continue Reading →
It’s a sound that immediately brings to mind Oktoberfest, or at least Polka Night at the Elks’ Lodge. It’s two sounds, actually – one deep and low, the other notably higher. The latter tone is pah, the response to the former, which is oom. As each yang has its corresponding yen, every pah shares an... Continue Reading →
It might seem odd, doing all the things one does to have a night out – buying tickets, hiring a babysitter, finding parking – when it’s preordained that the evening will end in tears. In some cases, though, tears are part of the package. When the curtain falls on Opera Tampa’s production of La Traviata,... Continue Reading →
A parody of Netflix’s Stranger Things isn’t just an opportunity to salute and spoof the beloved sci-fi thriller series. “It also gave us an opportunity to give fans what they might have wanted, but that didn't happen in the show,” said Nick Flatto, producer-director of Stranger Sings! The Parody Musical, playing at The Straz now... Continue Reading →
If the notion of a Bob Dylan musical doesn’t pass your particular sniff test, you’re in good company. Twyla Tharp’s 2006 Dylan dance-musical, The Times They Are a-Changin’, was a critical disaster that limped its way to Broadway, from which it disappeared in less than a month. “A Bob Dylan musical is a terrible idea,”... Continue Reading →
Jack Hopewell and the company of the North American Tour of Jesus Christ Superstar. Photo by Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade. Since its 1971 Broadway premiere, Jesus Christ Superstar has been a Norman Jewison-directed feature film, been staged for live television with John Legend and Alice Cooper in the cast; and been revived, reprised and performed... Continue Reading →
David Crosby’s passing last year ended any chance — slim though it was — of a Crosby, Stills and Nash reunion. Fans craving the live CS&N experience will enjoy Southern Cross, a Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young tribute band, performing in the Jaeb Theater March 1. https://videopress.com/v/02Yr3VdB?resizeToParent=true&cover=true&preloadContent=metadata&useAverageColor=true (It should be mentioned — and it always... Continue Reading →
Singer-songwriter Tracy Chapman became the first Black songwriter to win the Song of the Year award at November’s Country Music Association Awards. Luke Combs recorded a cover of Chapman’s 1988 hit, “Fast Car,” that reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=909454330552215&set=pb.100044629680315.-2207520000&type=3 Chapman said she never expected to see her name on the... Continue Reading →
By David Cote Christian Douglas and Gabrielle McClinton in the North American tour of Moulin Rouge! The Musical, photo by Matthew Murphy for MurphyMade In its epoch-hopping score and dazzling visuals, the Tony®-winning Moulin Rouge! The Musical represents the missing link from Belle Époque Paris to Broadway today, from operetta to the modern musical. More... Continue Reading →
On Feb. 3, 1959, a single-engine Beechcraft Bonanza flying in low visibility crashed north of Clear Lake, Iowa. All four aboard were killed: pilot Roger Peterson and rock & rollers Buddy Holly, 22; The Big Bopper (J.P. Richardson Jr.), 28; and Ritchie Valens (Richard Valenzuela), 17. The three were stars of the Winter Dance Party... Continue Reading →
The Mothership has landed at 6752 Hollywood Boulevard. That’s where George Clinton, the original Star Child, got his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Friday, Jan. 19. Clinton, as every schoolchild should know, is the overlord of the Parliafunkadelicment Thang, a collective of funk outfits such as Parliament, Funkadelic, Bootsy’s Rubber Band and Brides... Continue Reading →
Michael Keaton IS Batman. Doesn’t seem so far-fetched now, does it? Back in the day, though – whew! When Warner Bros. announced Keaton would star as The Caped Crusader in Tim Burton’s Batman, the studio was bombarded with sacks of letters pleading and demanding that Keaton be replaced. https://youtu.be/dgC9Q0uhX70 Imagine: People, lots of them, so... Continue Reading →
Jan. 3 has been declared – by who we don’t know – Women Rock! Day, because on that day in 1987, Aretha Franklin became the first woman inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame – nice, I guess, but hardly a highlight of her career. We’d suggest changing the date to June 3,... Continue Reading →
The would-be Queen of Christmas has been unseated by Little Miss Dynamite. Mariah Carey usually has the top spot on Billboard’s Hot 100 this time of year with her holiday perennial “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” a song best described as “unavoidable.” This week, though, Brenda Lee’s “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” has... Continue Reading →
Name-dropping in conversation is annoying. Name-dropping in song is, well, that can be pretty annoying too. We’re looking at you, “We Didn’t Start the Fire.” We’ll light the fire if someone will tie this song to a stake. (We won’t even look at Maroon 5’s “Moves Like Jagger.” Die in a ditch, “Moves Like Jagger”!)... Continue Reading →
A struggling actor auditioned for a part as a singer. The director didn’t choose her but did advise her to add “singer” to her resume, a tip that proved prescient. Within a couple of years, the actor was a celebrated vocalist, headlining the ritziest nightclubs around, drawing ecstatic reviews and, whaddaya know, starring on Broadway.... Continue Reading →
The Choir of Man is set in a British pub. The beer the pub is serving is distinctly Floridian. In place of U.K. standbys Guinness Stout and Newcastle Brown is a brew reflective of the Sunshine State and the Tampa-based brewery that makes it. The beer, Sun Runner, was created and produced by Tampa’s highly-regarded... Continue Reading →
The Backstreet Boys at the 2019 iHeartRadio Music Awards. (Photo by Glenn Francis/Pacific Pro Digital Photography) Fun fact: The average age of the Backstreet Boys is 47. For four of the five group members, it’s been 30 years-plus since they were legally boys. The baby of the group, Nick Carter, is 43 and passed into... Continue Reading →