In 2005, Bela Fleck took the trip to Africa he’d been dreaming about for years. His purpose: to bring the banjo back to its earliest roots and diminish what he perceived as its role in a specious Southern stereotype (think “Deliverance”).
Fleck visited Uganda, Tanzania, Gambia and Mali with his audio engineer Dave Sinko and Fleck’s half-brother, Sascha Paladino, who directed a documentary of the trip, “Throw Down Your Heart” , which opens Friday at the Tivoli in Kansas City.
Universal is re-releasing "Mamma Mia!" next week in a special "sing-along edition." Details in the press release after the jump. The theater(s) in town offering this extra-special musical experience will be announced later this week.
More observant YouTubers may have already noticed this, but when you watch this trailer for the Coen Brothers' "Burn After Reading," on the YouTube site, a link pops up when Elbow's "Grounds for Divorce," starts playing. The link says "Click Here For This Song," and it takes you to a performance video. Ditto Spirit's "I Got a Line On You."
(It doesn't seem to work when a vid is embedded so to see it in action, go here)
Brilliant!
Word of caution: This trailer is the "red band trailer," intended only for mature audiences, such as yourself.
A 1977 song is a good fit for the opening credits of the ‘Juno’ soundtrack
Barry Louis Polisar and his family settled into their seats at a Bethesda, Md., theater as the lights dimmed and the stream of previews gave way to the munching of popcorn, just before the movie’s opening number.
“You should tell them you wrote the song,” said his wife, Roni. “Maybe they’ll give us free tickets.”
“Shhhh!” said the couple’s 20-something twins, Evan and Sierra, perhaps recognizing their father’s urge to be incognito.
He worried about how his 1977 song, “All I Want Is You,” would be featured in the then-newly released “Juno” — and whether more than 30 years as a children’s author and entertainer would be tarnished by a momentary mocking of his work on the big screen.
For the upcoming Steve Carell movie, "Dan in Real Life" (above), director Peter Hedges ("Pieces of April") tabbed Sondre Lerche (left) to perform the soundtrack. Thirteen tracks were recorded exclusively for the film (among them a cover of Pete Townshend's "Let My Love Open the Door"), plus four new ones penned by Lerche. Also on the soundtrack, A Fine Frenzy and Regina Spektor. Listen to tracks from the film below.
Below: Sondre Lerche, "Let My Love Open the Door"
Below: Sondre Lerche and Regina Spektor, "Hell No"
Bob has recorded a new tune for the upcoming movie "Lucky You," which stars Eric Bana and Drew Barrymore. The song's called "Huck's Tune," and it shows up on the soundtrack, which is due in stores Tuesday (April 24).
Yahoo posted the trailer for the upcoming movie, "Across the Universe," which looks to be a cross between "Forrest Gump" and "Moulin Rouge." The gist: A British boy (Jim Sturgess) and an American girl (Evan Rachel Wood) fall in love in the 1960's amidst social upheaval.
Watch the trailer here, then discuss. The film is due out in April.
(Photo from "The Good, The Bad & the Ugly" from The Kansas City Star photo archive.)
The New York Times has a nice Sunday profile of movie-music maestro Ennio Morricone, who will be given an honorary Oscar on Feb. 25. Read it here. Morricone wrote music for "The Good, The Bad & the Ugly," "The Untouchables" and "The Mission," to name a few.
Also in February, “We All Love Ennio Morricone” will be released and will feature the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Quincy Jones, Metallica and Roger Waters paying tribute.
Filmmaker and Kansas City native Robert Altman died Monday. Above is the trailer for his masterpiece, the country music film "Nashville." Keith Carradine won an Oscar for his song, "I'm Easy," which appeared in the film. Hear it here.
Altman also chronicled the Kansas City jazz scene in "Kansas City," made a musical of "Popeye," and turned singer-songwriter Lyle Lovett into an actor in "The Player," "Pret-A-Porter" and "Short Cuts."
Magnet The online version of "the bi-monthly, internationally distributed, glossy music magazine that gives well-deserved attention to musicians largely ignored by mainstream publications."
Metacritic Lots and lots of critics praise and bitch about music (and movies, DVDs, games, books and TV).
Paste "The premier magazine for people who still enjoy discovering new music, prize substance and songcraft over fads and manufactured attitude, and appreciate quality music in whatever genre it might inhabit."
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