Almost 20 years after forming, and with half a dozen records under their belts, Five Eight turns out a self-titled effort that is neither ground breaking nor a complete disappointment.
When Ray Charles passed away June 10, he left more than his music behind in memory of his talent and influence. The Universal Pictures movie “Ray” (formerly titled “Unchain My Heart: The Ray Charles Story”) will also serve as testament to Charles’ legacy. Jamie Foxx portrays Charles in a performance already garnering Oscar buzz. “Ray” opens Oct. 29 in U.S. theaters.
The film’s music supervisor and music editor, Curt Sobel, has given Billboard an exclusive insider’s story about the project. “Ray Charles OK’ed the script, and he was 100% supportive of what we were doing in telling his life story,” he says.
Although Foxx did much of his own singing, Charles’ vocals are a huge part of the movie. Sobel worked with the singer to re-record many of his classic songs. “If there were [original recordings] that were unavailable, or if they didn’t match the script, we had Ray come in and do the songs,” says Sobel. “Jamie only sang on the set, not in the studio. We felt that many of the older songs needed to have Ray’s vocals.” Rhino/Atlantic/Warner Strategic Marketing will release the soundtrack Aug. 24.
Taylor Hackford directed “Ray,” which covers Charles’ life from 1935 to 1979. James L. White and Hackford wrote the screenplay. “The way the script was written, they told Ray’s life through the songs,” Sobel says. “You’ll hear a song like ‘Hit the Road Jack’ in a scene when Ray has a fight with his mistress Margie.”
As for Foxx’s portrayal of Charles, Sobel says, “Every scene Jamie is in, he nails the Ray Charles persona and soul. It’s a magnificent performance.”
Making the film was a labor of love, Sobel adds. The picture was an independent production until Universal signed on in March for distribution, long after filming wrapped last year. Prior to that, the movie had been in development for 16 years. “We had budgetary constraints,” Sobel says. “Everyone took a paycheck cut for this picture.”
Sobel says his favorite memories of working on the film include his initial meetings with Charles. “I was there the first time Jamie met Ray,” he recalls. “Jamie was tongue-tied at first, but Ray was so warm and giving of himself. They ended up sitting at pianos side by side and playing music and telling stories. I happened to bring a digital video camera with me to record those meetings. We made a ‘making of’ documentary, which will probably end up on the ‘Ray’ DVD. I deeply regret Ray’s passing; it’s an incredible loss to the world.”
Source billboard.com.
Irish rock act the Thrills will release it sophomore album, “Let’s Bottle Bohemia,” Sept. 14 via Virgin. The first single from the Dave Sardy-produced release will be “Not for All the Love in the World,” a ballad that has been featured in the group’s recent live shows.
As previously reported, the set will feature guest appearances by R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck and Brian Wilson collaborator Van Dyke Parks. It’s the follow-up to 2002’s “So Much for the City,” which reached No. 14 on Billboard’s Heatseekers chart and has sold 97,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
Although the full track list has not been announced, songs recorded for the set include “The Irish Keep Gate Crashing” and “Found My Rosebud,” frontman Conor Deasy told Billboard.com in March. Also confirmed to appear is the cut “What Ever Happened To Corey Haim?”
The Thrills were booked to play dates on the Lollapalooza tour this summer, but in the wake of its cancellation, has lined up a handful of shows with the Polyphonic Spree and Gomez. Those dates get underway July 16 in Vancouver and wrap Aug. 12 in Winston-Salem, N.C. The Thrills will also play the U.K.’s V2004 Festival on Aug. 21-22.
Source billboard.com.
Similar to the snow parks being built at ski resorts, bike trail managers have begun creating designated areas for kickers, bridges and obstacles. Not everyone is jumping for joy, but freeriding is here to stay.
Indian Summer is a pop rock gem, proving Carbon Leaf can hone their sound to glimmer with tasteful melodies, smart lyrics and delicate chops that you can truly grasp for numerous listens.
Iggy and the Stooges, the Strokes, the New York Dolls and Bo Diddley lead the lineup for Little Steven’s International Underground Garage Festival. An offshoot of Little Steven’s Underground Garage radio show, the event will be held Aug. 14 at New York’s Randall’s Island. Tickets are $20 and are available through Ticketmaster.
Rounding out the lineup is the Raveonettes, the Pretty Things, the Mooney Suzuki, the Romantics, the Chesterfield Kings, the Fuzztones, the Electric Prunes, the Contrast, Cocktail Strippers, the High Dials, the Chains and Flaming Sideburns. The winner of Little Steven and Dunkin’ Donuts’ Underground Garage Battle of the Bands, to be held July 23 at New York’s Irving Plaza, will also get the chance to perform at the festival.
The Garage Festival stage will be created by Pink Floyd production designer Mark Brickman. Organizers also claim the event aims to “set the world record for most go-go dancers appearing in one show.”
Source billboard.com.
Singer-songwriter David Poe is organizing a pair of concerts to benefit Democratic presidential hopeful John Kerry’s campaign. The Living Room in New York City will host Duncan Sheik, Joseph Arthur, Jesse Malin, Jesse Harris and Clem Snide’s Eef Barzelay on July 20th. And the Jayhawks, Soul Asylum, Golden Smog, Kraig Johnson and Big Star will take the stage at First Avenue in Minneapolis two nights earlier.
Poe projects that the shows could raise about $100,000 for Kerry’s campaign coffer, but he also sees them as an opportunity to promote voter registration. He points out that since eighteen-year-olds got the right to vote, fewer have actually exercised it each year, with only thirty-six-percent of eighteen to twenty-year-olds casting their ballot in the last presidential election. “If you do the math,” he says, “and get that number up to around fifty-percent, Kerry could win this thing by a landside . . . and you won’t have to deal with anything like hanging chads. Politics and voting begins at the grassroots level.”
Following these two shows, Poe is hoping to organize a few others in some battleground states where support for Kerry and President George W. Bush is split evenly. “Like a lot of people,” he says, “I don’t want to wake up the day after the elections, kicking myself for not having done everything I could, especially if the outcome of election is not what I hope it will be.”
As with activism-minded artists like Moby (whose cafe, Teany, will provide beverages before the New York show) and Steve Earle, Poe and company have put pet causes on the backburner due to, what he calls, “intense dissatisfaction with the current administration,” prompting the current call for political fundraising. “This is quite different from a benefit for a charity,” he says, “because the recipient of the proceeds is not only a politician — rather than a clubbed seal — but he’s also a very wealthy man. So now I have to raise money from people who make less money than I do and give it to a millionaire. It’s an irony, and I loves me some irony. But having said that, I really do support him. He’s chosen to serve, unlike a lot of rich people, and he seems to have a voting record that reflects a concern for humanity.”
The two concerts are being organized in conjunction with the Concerts for Kerry Organization (concertsforkerry.com), which has hosted almost twenty shows so far this year with several more planed. Jack Black, Grant-Lee Phillips, Victoria Williams, Mark Olson and comedian David Cross will perform at other events in July.
Source rollingstone.com.
Michael Moore’s “Fahrenheit 9/11” took in a whopping $21.8 million in its first three days, becoming the first documentary ever to debut as Hollywood’s top weekend film. If Sunday’s estimates hold when final numbers are released Monday, “Fahrenheit 9/11” would set a record in a single weekend as the top-grossing documentary ever outside of concert films and movies made for huge-screen IMAX theaters.
If Sunday’s estimates hold when final numbers are released Monday, “Fahrenheit 9/11” would set a record in a single weekend as the top-grossing documentary ever outside of concert films and movies made for huge-screen IMAX theaters.
Adding the film’s haul at two New York City theaters where it opened Wednesday, two days earlier than the rest of the country, boosted “Fahrenheit 9/11” to $21.96 million.
“Bowling for Columbine,” Moore’s 2002 Academy Award-winning documentary, previously held the documentary record with $21.6 million.
“Fahrenheit 9/11,” Moore’s assault on President Bush’s actions after the 2001 terrorist attacks, won the top honor at last month’s Cannes Film Festival and has attracted attention from both sides in the presidential campaign.
The movie has been embraced by left-wing groups, which mobilized members to see it during the opening weekend. Conservative groups sought to discourage theaters from showing it and asked the Federal Election Commission to examine its ads for potential violations of campaign-finance law regulating when commercials may feature a presidential candidate.
Source yahoo.com.
In January, legendary gospel vocal group the Blind Boys of Alabama approached roots rocker Ben Harper and asked him to produce their new album.
At first he passed. “I just couldn’t commit that much time to other people’s music, because I’m making music at such a rapid pace in the studio right now doing my own thing,” Harper says. “They came back and asked about a couple songs. It was such a privilege to be asked and I had to look at my life and say, ‘There should not be anything keeping me from working with these guys.’ They’re one of the musical wonders of the world. They’re like Niagara Falls or the Grand Canyon.”
So, in late January, the Blind Boys, Harper and members of his band the Innocent Criminals moved into Studio B at Los Angeles’ Capitol Studios for five days to record a couple of songs. The early sessions netted five tracks, including the upbeat “Church House Steps,” the a cappella “Mother Pray” and the moving spiritual “There Will Be a Light.”
Harper found himself halfway through a dream project and decided to continue, culling songs from his catalog of unrecorded material. The crew reconvened in mid-March and finished the balance of the album in another five days. There Will Be a Light, an eleven-song collection by Ben Harper and the Blind Boys of Alabama is tentatively scheduled to be released on August 24th. Other song titles include “Where Could I Go?,” “Take My Hand” and a stunning cover of Jeff Buckley’s “Satisfied Mind” sung by Harper and Blind Boy Jimmy Carter.
The three-time Grammy-winning Blind Boys have high hopes for the project. “I think this is going to be a wonderful album,” George Scott says. “To tell you the truth, I believe they’re going to be callin’ us to get another Grammy.”
Adds Clarence Fountain, “Working with Ben was just as sweet as honey in a rock.”
Harper is even more effusive about his new recording mates. “I was extremely intimidated, because of the legend and because of my heightened level of reverence for the men and the music they’ve created,” he says. “The challenge of working with these guys is to not get goose bumps. I’m spending half my days in shivers. It’s crazy.”
Source rollingstone.com.
