"Spunkpumper" Matthew Duffy has united his love of electronic and 80's music to give you all a Christmas present... By releasing his version of Wham's "Last Christmas" as a free download. Knowing what I know about Mr. Duffy, he has been on "Entertain Me" before, "Spunkpumpers Unite" anyone? I assumed this meant he is a huge Wham! fan, of course my instincts were dead on! Here with five reasons why he loves 80's super group Wham! with George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley is Mr. Matthew Duffy!
1. George Michael's fluorescent fingerless gloves
2. George Michael's snaps
3. Club Tropicana. I really wanted to go have a cocktail there with them when I was a kid
4. Everything She Wants - was then and is still a killer track - plus George has incredible height to his hair in the video
5. Wham's wardrobe. Love me a good font statement T-shirt
Extra, Extra, Get Your Free Download Of Matthews "Last Christmas" Here:
Tis' the season to be scary... it's to be jolly I know, but I wanted to add a little twist to this Holiday season and ask someone who you wouldn't traditionally associate with this time of giving what he wanted for Christmas. For horror fan and filmmaker Joe Castro Halloween is all year round. He writes, directs and does visual effects on all of his horror projects. Yes Joe loves horror and so do I!
Hot off the heels of the big success of his last horror opus the award winning festival favorite "The Summer of Massacre" Joe is doing post on "Terror Toons 3" the sequel to his popular "Terror Toons" series of horror films about homicidal cartoons. Recently he made a return to short film making with "Attack of the Killer Bees," so what does the King of Gore want for Christmas this year? 3 machetes slaying? 8 corpses rotting? 12 Boogeymen Boogieing? Let's find out, if you dare...
Oh The Weather Outside is Frightful
5) a studio funded film I get to direct
4) death to all employees and ppl who produce shows for the SyFy network 3 ) world peace 2) a cure for HIV/ AIDS 1) my very own twin My very own twin, well I guess you could not count on number one being traditional considering, but this completely was a fun break from usual Holiday traditions, Thanks Joe! Find out more about the "King of Gore" on IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0145581/?ref_=fn_nm_nm_1
Are you ready to "Rock This Christmas Down" ?! I know I am, even though I am a HUGE music fan of almost every genre, my favorite type of music is, and always will be rock! Guess what? You are all in for a treat, two of the legends of rock music have combined forces and created an awesome new kind of Christmas single, "Rock This Christmas Down!" Here is what Ms. Cherie Currie sent me about the new Holiday favorite yesterday....
Two of the most influential women in Rock and Roll have reunited for a special holiday song. LITA FORD has partnered up with her former Runaways band mate CHERIE CURRIE for what is sure to be a new Christmas Classic. The song “Rock This Christmas Down” is the first time LITA and CHERIE have recorded new music together since 1977.
Tired of the same old Christmas songs LITA was ready for something new:
"I thought the world could use a new Christmas song. The song was Written by Mitch Perry, my guitarist and Michael Dan Ehmig, my lyricist, along with Marty O'Brien on bass, and Rodger Carter on drums. We so rocked it! What I didn't know is that I'd be singing it as a duet with my long lost sister, CHERIE CURRIE. I am blessed to have her back in my life, and what an appropriate time and song to rehash an old friendship. CHRISTMAS!!!"
CHERIE hopped a plane from Chicago to L.A., and drove straight to the studio and threw down her vocal track on this rocking song! Needless to say, it was magic and history in the making.
Lita & Cherie: Reunited, Happy Holidays!
We were left with such a smoking track for everyone to hear, every Christmas, every year! Let's "ROCK THIS CHRISTMAS DOWN!!!”
CHERIE was equally as excited to reunite and work with LITA again:
"I have dreamed, literally, of seeing LITA again for over three decades. Even after all that time I still thought of her often. The Runaways was something that was always left unfinished to me. Especially when it came to LITA, but I only knew her as a child. What floored me more then the unbelievable gift of working with her again was the woman she had become. She is the bravest, kindest, strongest, most loving human being I have met. LITA asking me to be a part of this amazing song and a part of her astonishing life has filled that void, that hole I had in my heart that maybe we both shared. It is now filled with love, support and admiration for a dear and wonderful friend whom I am so proud to say is LITA FORD."
“Rock This Christmas Down” has the flare of our Runaways legacy but its pure LITA. It rocks like only she can. We took a dim, negative and unfinished past and turned it into a positive future. It doesn't get any better then that. I know this will be the best Christmas I have had in decades. Thank you sister!
What does “Rock This Christmas Down” signify? Possibly more collaborations between the former Runaway members in the future…only time will tell....
Classically-trained, Broadway veteran, Natalie Toro brings her infectious energy,and powerhouse vocals, coupled with luscious tones to melt any heart with the, release of "Just In Time For Christmas"....
Yep this pretty much sums it up, this was my first encounter with the force of nature known as Natalie Toro and I must say, not only do I love her voice, I personally think she is da bomb!
The following is when Michael met Natalie, grab some Eggnog and raise a glass, Cheers!
NT: Hi Michael, it's Natalie Toro, how are you?
MS: Hey, want to hear something funny? I found out at the very last minute that you were on the web series "Child of the 70's" and I was watching an episode you are in, I know Michael Vaccaro (Actor/Creator/Writer of the show), I did a short film with him.
NT: Oh my God how funny! Did you see the Christmas dinner scene?
MS: Yes!
NT: We had the best time shooting that, Oh My God, it was during the summer, and here we are trying to get in the Christmas spirit in the middle of August in New York. (laughs) I've known Michael all my life.
MS: I watched the video for song "Just In Time For Christmas" five times before you called, very nice. Was that shot in August too? (laughs)
"Just In Time For Christmas"
NT: No, it wasn't shot in August, but it was very funny shooting it in Central Park with a hidden camera. People thought I was insane! (laughs) I had the little ear plug in my ear and my iPod in my pocket and I was singing to Jesus, yep it was just me in the middle of Central Park singing acapella while the video was being shot! (laughs)
MS: The video came out really great - hard to believe you shot it guerrilla style.
NT: You want to know something really funny, when you see the unedited footage before the song got put it in, I am underneath the big theater in Central Park, you know that dome theater? I'm wailing, the acoustics there are incredible! There were people watching and shooting video footage of this crazy lady in a coat, me, just singing at the top of her lungs to no music and you can hear this saxophone player playing "New York, New York" in the background, I was crying I was laughing so hard trying to focus on what I was doing!
MS: Vocally you are really simple, clean and direct, I love that!
NT: Thank you. I really tried to focus on getting away from my "Broadway Voice" on this album. I really wanted to find out who Natalie was, with the help of my producer, Dawn Makay she really worked with me, I mean I've always had a pure clean sound, but Broadway has a standard of what to do in a show, like using vibrato, also I tend to over pronounce everything because of the theater. With this album I really felt like a recording artist, I chewed up the mic I was very up close. A lot of my pure sounds were even more pure when I didn't add a vibrato.
MS: Great! For me personally I think a lot of artists over sing things just to show off.
Natalie & Frosty
NT: Also when you realize if you can't control your vibrato, and this is something I learned from Dawn, when someone has vibrato on every syllable of every word, it really takes you out of the song. It's not all about balls to the wall, it's about finding those moments, it's about what you are singing and the intimacy of it.
MS: "Just In Time For Christmas" is a great example of that.
NT: It's like a grand Disney song.
MS: That's a great way of putting it.
NT: Yeah, I hope Disney can hear it, hey I want that somewhere in a Disney movie! We even have a New Age song on the album "The Christmas Song" with an American Indian flute, so we really worked on that vocal purity and clarity, I mean if I am going to have an American Indian flute playing with me on a Christmas song I better have that same purity and clarity of what that flute represents. It's haunting and at the same time it's meditative, I mean you can't be meditative with someone's vibrato going "Ah ah ah ah ah" that's not meditative, that's like "go get a gun and kill me." (laughs)
MS: I agree, that's why I hate House Music.
NT: House Music is what you dance to when you are having a cocktail.
MS: Not even then I can't be near it.
NT: Yeah, I know I hate it too. (laughs) Hey Michael it might be our age! (laughs)
MS: All of your tracks on "Just In Time For Christmas" are clearly a labor of love for you, but is there any track in particular that resonates more than the others?
NT: My absolute favorite Christmas song is "Ave Maria/O'Holy Night" my idea for intertwining them is they are meeting on the same premise. "Ave Maria" is a prayer about the Holy Mother and her Child, and "O'Holy Night" is about the birth of the Child and I thought Oh My God, it made complete sense to put them together.
MS: Any new videos beside "Just In Time For Christmas" coming from the album?
NT: Yes, the video for "Baby It's Cold Outside" a duet I did with Ryan Kelly was just released.
OK, being PTX's official bitch do you think my second Christmas gift to you would be anyone other than?
Noooooooooot!
Here with a really awesome rendition of "The Little Drummer Boy" from the deluxe edition of their Holiday CD "PTXmas" are Scott, Kirstie, Avi, Kevin & Mitch hitting it at Runyon Canyon in Los Angeles, CA -
Enjoy! Only Twenty-Three more shopping days until Christmas get crackin' Ho ho ho!
David Letterman has Darlene Love, Rockefeller Center and now The Grove in Los Angeles has it's tree lighting...here at "Entertain Me" we kick off Christmas with our resident Chanteuse, Sandy Zacky. I had the honor of seeing Sandy with a "Y" not "E" sing "White Christmas" live at her one night only CSUN performance in 2009...she was amazing! Thus she is my Christmas tradition. So without further adieu on this December 1st 2013 the Christmas Season begins with Sandy with a "Y"
Yes it is that day of every year we are thankful, for family, friends, health and turkey!
So in honor of Turkey Day I present you, one of Hollywood's biggest Turkey's of all time - "Cleopatra" starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.
Yes I have seen it, and I needed major amounts of caffeine to stay awake. Was it worth it? Yes and No...The content was absolutely boring as Hell. But despite it being one of her worst performances ever Taylor was riveting and add to the fact that she was having a then scandalous extramarital affair with Burton added a whole extra dimension to it.
Taylor was an amazing actress whether she gave a great performance or not - Hey "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" and "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" co-starring the late great Paul Newman, are two of my favorite films of all time, and she was great in both them. However in this production her affair with Burton was the draw...
The Trailer For "Cleopatra"
Universe bless Ms. Taylor she had the extra balls to back herself as well - no actress had been paid one million dollars at the time, she did not want to do the film so she asked for it. Well, they paid it, and she did it because her thought was: If they were stupid enough to pay it to her, then she would do it.
Her legacy of being a humanitarian and a no BS woman will always be remembered, so this Thanksgiving Day I tip my hat to Elizabeth, and hope everyone finds what they need from the world and grab it by it's tail - whip it like Elizabeth, and gobble, gobble!
