As the world at large knows this past weekend Comi-Con in San Diego, CA happened. It's the biggest event of it's type that brings fans and stars together and melds them into one big...I was going to say "happy family" but having been I'm going to go with cluster fuck.
Here She Goes Again, Yay!
E.G. Daily
Photo: Erik Rimmer
Hey peeps, you know all about my friend E.G. Daily...correct? Well after years of doing voice over for various things, most notably Tommy Pickles from Rugrats and acting in everything from the classic Pee Wee's Big Adventure to Rob Zombie's upcoming 31. She is back to her singing career! Can I get an amen and a yay?! Of course I can!!!
With such hits as Say It Say It and Mind Over Matter - E.G. went back to her love of singing in a big way on the hit show The Voice in 2014, she was an audience favorite! She has ridden that wave since then with two popular appearances at the famed Whisky A Go Go on the Sunset Strip. The first being on November 22, 2015 the next being this past weekend on Friday July 22nd 2016 with co-headliner Missing Persons, that's so 80's!
I attended both with Erik Rimmer. This past one I went with him and cool rider Marla Graves. All images are from that night, enjoy!!!
Superstar!
Photo: Erik Rimmer
Always Brings It!
Photo: Erik Rimmer
We Love You E.G!
l - r Marla Graves, Erik Rimmer, E.G. Daily & Michael Shinafelt
Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho is one of my all time favorite films! Thus when A&E's Bates Motel was announced I was very interested, duh!
The first season, while not bad, was trying to find a foothold, an identity of it's own. That was found in the following three seasons. Since most people know how it all ends, I am guessing when Norma Bates, portrayed by Vera Farmiga, was killed off by Norman Bates, Freddie Highmore at the end of season four, that the series had a five year plan to begin with.
Oh yes the upcoming season of Bates Motel is it's 5th and final. No worries here, five years makes it a money monster in syndication. Yeah, like I stated previously a "five year plan."
So how does one take an iconic film and make the prequel series unique, yet strangely familiar. Well expand on the character of Marion Crane who was offed in the first quarter of the source material.
Also you may want to do a casting get that is so out of left field no one saw it coming. Janet Leigh, who is Jamie Lee Curtis's Mom is the one and only original MC. So let's go as contemporary as one can get and still have some intrigue...drum roll please, Rihanna has been cast as Marion.
Personally I love this idea!!! Hey maybe instead of being brutally murdered in the shower this time around Marion will be stabbed multiple times under her Umbrella!
Kiefer Sutherland’s soulful baritone vocals and guitar licks continue to captivate audiences with his second music video, “Can’t Stay Away,” premiering exclusively this weekend during CMT’s Hot 20 Countdown. The track is the latest release from Sutherland’s debut album Down In A Hole, which will be released August 19 by Warner Music Nashville/Ironworks Music.Down In A Holewill be available for pre-order August 5. Clickhereto download “Can’t Stay Away.” Sutherland, who co-wrote every song on the upcoming 11-track album with producer Jude Cole, including “Can’t Stay Away,” just wrapped up a North American tour that included sold-out dates across the U.S. and Canada.
“We wanted the biggest look for the premiere of Kiefer Sutherland’s new song and video “Can’t Stay Away!”
“We wanted the biggest look for the premiere of Kiefer Sutherland’s new song and video!” said Leslie Fram, CMT Senior VP of Music Strategy.
“CMT’s Hot 20 Countdown has a weekly large, loyal base of country music fans who want to see what’s hot and new. “Can’t Stay Away” captures the live, intimate, real and raw essence of what Kiefer has been doing on the road, playing small towns and small clubs. Undeniable!’ Fram added.
CMT’s Hot 20 Countdown airs Saturdays and Sundays at 9a/8c.
Earlier this year Sutherland gave fans a taste of his songwriting notebook when he released the pedal-steeled “Not Enough Whiskey.”
“This record is the closest thing I’ve ever had to a journal or diary. All of these songs are pulled from my own personal experiences. There is something very satisfying about being able to look back on my own life, good times and bad, and express those sentiments in music. As much as I have enjoyed the writing and recording process, I am experiencing great joy now being able to play these songs to a live audience, which was something I hadn’t counted on,” Sutherland said of Down In A Hole.
Sutherland, an Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winning actor, is known for his starring role on the Fox series "24," starring roles in movies like ‘Stand By Me,’ ‘The Lost Boys,’ ‘Young Guns,’ Flatliners,’ and many more. Sutherland’s upcoming ABC series “Designated Survivor” premieres this fall on ABC.
She sings, acts, models and battles lupus in a single bound, it's Super Selena Gomez who turns twenty-four today. File this under things that make me feel old. Seriously! Think about it she is only twenty-four and has accomplished all of that not to mention the latest addition to her resume' savvy business woman. The fact that Ms. Gomez is also a poised and beautiful young lady certainly doesn't hinder this one woman corporation either. Since I can't even fathom she is merely in her twenties I am going to let it ride and wish her the happiest of Birthdays and hook you up with her Instagram - she is the most followed celebrity on the app, with over 90 million followers...such an underachiever she is! Happy Birthday Selena! Selena on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/selenagomez/?hl=en
Doughnut Divas
Hillary Clinton & Chloe Grace Moretz
Suck it Trump! The Democratic Convention is shaping up to be way better than the Republican one. What's that you say? How can it be when you had such power players as Scott Baio, Antonio Sabato Jr. & Natasha Badanov - Bwa ha ha ha ha ha! Yes moose & squirrel you can attend the DNC without fear of retaliation, and a special note to Michelle Obama who will be there supporting Hillary Clinton, no one will be copying your homework. Hillary knows how to werk it, she can probably twerk I suspect too. In addition to the first lady she is reeling in the women and youth of America with, well someone named America, speaking on her behalf, America Ferrera and her soul sister Lena Dunham in tow.
Also let's not forget Chloe Grace Moretz will be along for the ride too. Take that RNC! Be there or be, well, um, Republican aka Tragic July 25 - 28 when Philadelphia becomes the city of sisterly love. I'm With Her at: https://www.hillaryclinton.com
Remember Ruben Blades? I do, I used to process his checks when I worked in accounting at a talent agency in another life.
Between 1982 and 1984, music filmmaker Robert Mugge produced two feature length music docs for the UK's brand-new fourth TV network, appropriately named Channel 4 Television. Those two films were BLACK WAX with Gil Scott-Heron, now newly re-released on DVD and Blu-ray by MVD Visual, and GOSPEL ACCORDING TO AL GREEN. After both were completed, Andy Park, Channel 4's Commissioning Editor for Music who had funded both films, announced he would soon be leaving the channel. Mugge quickly realized, if he wanted Park to commission another film from him, he would need to act fast.
Therefore, in short order, Mugge proposed a film about the staging of Stephen Sondheim's then forthcoming musical Sunday in the Park with George. But before shooting could begin, the composer grew fearful that cameras could aggravate the stresses of an already challenging collaboration. So, sadly, that proposal was scrubbed.
Next up was a possible portrait of P-Funk mastermind George Clinton. But that proposal, too, was abandoned when the artist's own management noted his tendency not to show up when and where expected. Imagining what could happen to their modest budget if they booked crew, equipment, and supplies for a particular time and place only to have their subject fail to show, Mugge and Park soon abandoned that project as well.
Happily, Blades, Mugge, and Park did come to terms, after which Mugge and his crew spent the spring and summer of 1985 shooting the following: a concert by Blades and his band Seis del Solar at New York City club S.O.B.'s (Sounds of Brazil); an interview with Blades at his New York City apartment; a conversation between Blades and author Pete Hamill in a New York City park; Blades' graduation from Harvard Law School (including conversations with his mother and his dean); a Spanish-language recording session in Los Angeles featuring Blades and guest vocalist Linda Ronstadt; a joint interview with Blades and Ronstadt (who was then contemplating recording her own albums of Mexican songs she learned at home as a child); and a trip by Blades to his hometown of Panama City. In Panama, Blades was filmed on the balcony of his new high-rise apartment overseeing his city's changing landscape, in front of the bank where he once worked as an attorney, joining his father for a visit to the neighborhood where he grew up, in a courtyard discussing his intention to run for president of Panama one day, and walking along the Panama Canal discussing the sometimes tense relations between his native and adopted countries.
In the three decades since this film was made, Blades has accomplished much of what he set out to do, including (1) becoming a respected actor in Hollywood and independent films and television series; (2) continuing to serve as an effective political essayist and activist; and (3) continuing to record and perform powerful world music with both Spanish and English lyrics, and winning eight Grammy Awards and five Latin Grammy Awards along the way. Among his other awards and honors are a 2005 honorary degree from the Berklee College of Music and a 2011 Harry Chapin Humanitarian Award presented by ASCAP and partner Why Hunger for his international charity work. Just a few of the many films and TV programs in which he has starred or appeared are THE MILAGRO BEANFIELD WAR, MO' BETTER BLUES, THE TWO JAKES, PREDATOR 2, THE JOSEPHINE BAKER STORY, CRAZY FROM THE HEART, THE SUPER, X-FILES, CRADLE WILL ROCK, COLOR OF NIGHT, ONCE UPON A TIME IN MEXICO, and FEAR THE WALKING DEAD. In 1997, Blades also headed the cast of The Capeman, Paul Simon's first Broadway musical. Although his run for the Panamanian presidency in 1994 was unsuccessful, he served as Panama's minister of tourism from 2004 through 2009 and, reportedly, is considering another run for the presidency in 2019. For more career highlights, please explore Blades' Spanish-language website and his English-language Wikipedia page. Blades has been married to singer LubaMason since August 4, 2006.
