January 2010 Archives

Grammy winning artist T-PAIN and Adult Swim have joined forces for Freaknik: The Musical, a one-hour animated special premiering March 7, 11:30 p.m.-12:30 a.m. (ET/PT) on Adult Swim.

Freaknik: The Musical is voiced by an all-star cast headlined by T-Pain and featuring Andy Samberg ("I'm on a Boat"), Big Boi (from Outkast), Bill Hader (SNL), Bootsy Collins (George Clinton's band), Cee-Lo (singer in Gnarls Barkley), Charlie Murphy (The Chappelle Show), Christopher "Kid" Reid (Kid 'n' Play), DJ Drama, DJ Pooh, George Clinton, Kelis, Lil Wayne, Lil Jon, Poo Poo Man, Rick Ross, Snoop Dogg, Sophia Fresh, William "Clip" Payne and Young Cash. T-Pain also serves as the show's executive producer.

Ten years after the city of Atlanta shut down Freaknik, the biggest spring break party known to man, a group of kids searching for fun successfully resurrect the spirit of Freaknik, who appears in the form of a party ghost voiced by T-Pain. Students from all over America once again descend on Atlanta to perform in Freaknik's Battle of the Trillest.

"Back in the '90s, Freaknik was Atlanta's version of the ultimate block party," says T-Pain. "It was Mardi Gras meets spring break at your crazy cousin's bachelor party and anything could happen. A decade later, I'm bringing it back for people like me, who didn't get to experience it the first time around. We've recreated Freaknik's vibe and energy with amazing animation, new music and an all-star cast of characters."

Freaknik: The Musical is created and executive produced by Carl Jones and Nick Weidenfeld.

One thing is for certain. The lead character will probably look something like this :

The week before the Grammys is always filled with events, mini-concerts and parties leading up to the awards show, which in this year's case - is on Sunday the 31st at 8pm on CBS.

The event on Thursday night was for The Grammy Foundation - which is specifically in support of its efforts to preserve the history of music and its archive of interviews of music pioneers and legends.

The proper name of the event was "Cue the Music: A Celebration of Music and Television" which is the Grammy Foundation's 12th Annual Music Preservation Project and a joint venture with the Paley Center for Media in Beverly Hills. The Grammy Foundation and the Paley Center have worked together in the past and are planning on doing it more and more in the future. Which is good for everyone.

For the event, the Grammy Foundation was the focal contributor and the Paley Center supplied the music-themed television clips that were shown in between the musicals acts and amongst the comments by the evening's MC, Shaun Robinson of Access Hollywood.

Robinson's evening consisted of talking about the importance of music and television, the histories of both as well as the the blending of the two starting in the late 1940's; the history of the Grammy Awards (that started in the late 1950's) and the evolutions of music, television and technology and how each medium has helped the other. The topics that were mentioned most or were the most detailed were the start of television, the music of the I Love Lucy show; variety shows in the 1950's and 1960's, television theme songs throughout the years (and the composers who wrote them); MTV - which started in 1981; the importance of music and songs heard on television programs and the technological advances in music distribution in the 2000's.

During Robinson's narrative story emceeing, performers would come to the stage and sing songs accentuating her points. In chronological order, the performers were Jason Mraz and Colbie Caillat singing a medley of Sonny and Cher songs; Jorge Moreno singing a Ricky Ricardo (Desi Arnaz) Cuban-themed tune from I Love Lucy; Solomon Burke performing the theme from The Sopranos - which is called 'When I Woke Up This Morning' and was originally recorded by the group Alabama 3 (or 'A3'); Melanie Fiona, who performed the Paul Williams-written, Kermit-the-Frog-sung "Rainbow Connection" track from several incarnations of The Muppets; Pat Monahan, singer from the band Train, belting out the tune that was the first video on MTV "Video Killed the Radio Star" by The Buggles and the band closed the show with two songs, one of which was "How to Save a Life," which got its wide exposure from being featured in four television shows - Gray's Anatomy, Cold Case, One Tree Hill and Scrubs.

All of the evening's performers have either been won or been nominated for Grammys - including Caillat, who is nominated twice this year in the Best Pop Collaboration with Vocal category; once singing with Mraz and once with Taylor Swift.

If any of the above singers come to your area in concert, try to see their shows - in particular Mraz, who is a fabulous performer. Here are photos of him with Caillat - on the red carpet and live.

The music industry has changed drastically over the past decade with declining album sales and downloads forever altering the way music is distributed. With the business changing that much in 10 years, one constant has been there the whole decade. Female performers are the big winners at Grammy time - almost every year.

In the last 10 years, female performers have routinely won the most awards in a single night - and this year can continue that trend. At the Grammy Awards ceremony on Sunday, January 31st, Beyonce (with 10 nominations) and Taylor Swift (with eight) both have a chance to break or tie the record for the most number of wins by a female solo artist in one year and Lady GaGa (five nods) can tie it.

After Steely Dan won three awards in 2001, female singers have won five Grammys in one night five times since - each one tying the record that Lauryn Hill set in 1999 - and one all-woman group also has won five. Alicia Keys was the first to win five in 2002, followed by Norah Jones in 2003, Beyonce in 2004, The Dixie Chicks in 2007, Amy Winehouse in 2008 and Alison Krauss (with Robert Plant) last year. Along the way, other women have won major or multiple awards including Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood and Mariah Carey while Jones won more after her five-award night and Krauss continues to add to her record number of Grammys (26).

Beyonce leads the group this year with 10 overall nominations, including for Record of the Year (the song 'Halo'), Album of the Year ("I Am....Sasha Fierce") and multiple nominations for the song 'Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)', the catchy dance number with "one of the best videos of all time," according to Kanye West at the Video Music Awards Beyonce's 10 nominations punctuate a very successful year for her, which started with the release of her album in late 2008. After it's release, she sang at President Obama's inauguration; starred in the successful movie 'Obsessed' and won several VMA's for the Single Ladies video, during which she pulled Swift onstage and backed away so the young country singer could have her moment back, after West interrupted it the previous time. Shortly after the VMA's, a video surfaced on youtube of her personally singing the song 'Halo' in a concert to a cancer-stricken girl in Australia whom she had pulled up on stage. She then followed those events with the second-highest number of Grammy nominations in one year and has the chance break or tie several Grammy records.

Swift has been on a roll this year also and has had crossover success with her album 'Fearless.' The 19-year-old country singer has reached a zenith after winning multiple VMA's late last year and then dominating the recent American Music Awards, taking home five awards including Favorite Pop/Rock Female Artist, Favorite Artist of the Year, Favorite Adult Contemporary Artist, Favorite Country Album and Favorite Country Female Artist. At the AMA's, Swift even topped Michael Jackson for Artist of the Year.

Even with one Grammy this year, Swift would tie several other singers for the second-youngest woman to win an award. She is nominated in a wide array of categories, including for Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, (the single "You Belong to Me"), Best Female Country Performance ("White Horse) and Album of the Year ("Fearless"), to name a few.

The other female multiple-nominee is another rising star - Lady GaGa, who is known as much for her outlandish and eccentric costumes as she is for her music. GaGa - who took her stage name from a Queen hit song - mixes piano playing with dance beats and soaring vocals, but it's her image gets peoples' attention the most. Her costumes are frequently eccentric and sometimes have props attached to them, while she accessorizes with large sunglasses and platinum blond hair. Her dance song 'Poker Face' is nominated several times this year, including for Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Dance Recording and her album 'The Fame' is nominated for Album of the Year. Her videos are equally as outlandish and visually stunning as she is. The phenomenal video for the song 'Bad Romance' - which was released too late for a nomination this year - is on youtube and will most certainly start collecting awards as soon as the next cycle starts for 2011.

Two male performers have a chance to steal the show from the women, because Kanye West and Maxwell earned six nods apiece and could win more times than any of the three ladies. R&B/dance group The Black Eyed Peas ("I Gotta Feeling") and rock band Kings of Leon ("Use Somebody") fill out Record of the Year category and Dave Mathews Band is nominated for Album of the Year.

Other nominees include rapper Jay-Z, who got five nods, as well as Keith Urban, Bruce Springsteen and T-Pain who all earned four in several categories. Willie Nelson, Johnny Depp, former President Jimmy Carter and 80's duo Daryl Hall and John Oates also got nominations.

Two of the more interesting categories to watch will be Best New Artist - with country band Zac Brown Band, pop group MGMT, alternative band Silversun Pickups and The Ting Tings battling it out as well as the category of Best Solo Rock Performance, where the nominees are Springsteen, Neil Young, John Fogerty, Bob Dylan and Prince

The Grammy Awards will be on CBS on Sunday the 31st at 8pm.

The GRAMMY Foundation will host "Cue The Music: A Celebration Of Music And Television" -- the 12th Annual GRAMMY Foundation Music Preservation Project -- featuring live musical performances and historical television footage from the Paley Center for Media, content partner for this year's program. Featured performers include: GRAMMY®-winning legend Solomon Burke; current GRAMMY-nominated artist Colbie Caillat; current GRAMMY-nominated R&B vocalist Melanie Fiona; GRAMMY-nominated pop/rock band the Fray; Pat Monahan, lead singer of the GRAMMY Award-winning band Train; Latin GRAMMY® winner Jorge Moreno; and current GRAMMY-nominated singer/songwriter Jason Mraz. Emmy award-winning journalist and author Shaun Robinson of Access Hollywood will be the evening's host. Neil Portnow, President/CEO of The Recording Academy® and the GRAMMY Foundation will be in attendance, along with other prominent music industry leaders and members of The Recording Academy.

Actually, the event is sold out, but the Academy will record it and put in there archives to view later.

The Grammy Foundation and Grammy Museum are both located at the LA Live complex downtown next to Staples Center.

Thankfully, CBS has approved a sixth season for their comedy How I Met Your Mother, starring Josh Radnor, Jason Segel, Alyson Hannigan, Cobie Smulders and NPH.

Carter Bays and Craig Thomas - executive producers of HIMYM - signed a three year deal with 20th TV, so hopefully the show goes maybe to the 7th and 8th.

Two and a Half Men and The Big Bang Theory are also renewed, so that Monday night lineup stays together for a while.

Ringo is appearing on Rockline tonight in support of his record Y Not. In case its too late to hear it live, the radio show will be archived here for the next two weeks. Check that out.

Last night at the Grammy Museum at LA Live downtown, the Museum continued their program of interview/short live performances with a night with Ringo Starr. Maybe you've heard of him. He was there for not only the Museum but also since he released a new solo album called 'Y Not' on January 12th - which by the way, is fun and has special guests...more on that later.

The event - which sold out in eight minutes - took place in a small theater at the Museum and consisted of a short interview of Ringo (and, later, Ben Harper) conducted by Robert Santelli - the executive director of the Museum - and a short set of songs. Ringo looks good for being 69 years old and there was a reason why he was always labeled 'the funny one.'

During the discussion, Ringo talked about his new record 'Y Not,' which is his 15th solo album, dating back to 1970. Starr not only assembled a large collection of musicians for it, but he was also the only producer on it - a first for him. In reference to his new-found production freedom he said 'it was the first time I could tell the guitarist what to do.'

Starr discussed the genesis of some of the songs in the question-and-answer portion of the evening - including how he writes them. He also told a story how, when he felt that the song 'Peace Dream' was missing something, he called Paul McCartney in England - who was coming to Los Angeles soon anyway - to listen to it. After McCartney did, he said that he could probably do something for it and added the bass part. Then Ringo had McCartney listen to a few other tunes and the legendary bass player and singer thought that "Walk with You" needed a little something else, so the final track is a duet with Starr and McCartney - which was not the intention at the beginning.

During the interview part, Starr pulled Harper on stage to buffer some of the questions and the visibly uncomfortable singer tried admirably to interject, but found himself not only just listening to Santelli and Starr interact, but also asked Starr a question himself. (He asked Ringo when the drummer realized that Beatlemania had started for him). Santelli then asked Harper how the two musicians met - through a myspace celebrity-interviews-another-celebrity series - followed by the two taking questions from the audience. The most interesting question was if Starr was aware of a pressing issue with one of his early solo LPs that had his album one side and a John Lennon solo record on the other. Starr said he was unaware of it and then Harper offered to pay double the amount to the audience member to buy it from him (the owner declined).

The admiration between Starr and Harper was very mutual and you could see that the two enjoyed each other - not only just in hanging out, but also in playing, which they did after they spoke. Starr brought up several of his people and Harper added several of his Relentless7 band and the group played a short set of tunes that included Starr's hit 'Photograph' and 'Walk With You' from Y Not two of Harper's songs "I Will Not Be Broken" and "Up to You Now". Starr then returned and they finished up the night with "The Other Side of Liverpool" a grim song from Y Not about Starr's upbringing in the tough England port town of Liverpool (his neighborhood is nicknamed 'The Dingle'), then the Starr/Beatle classic "With a Little Help From My Friends' as well as 'Boys' - on which Starr played drums.

Harper and his band and Ringo sound great together and the album also shows that. Starr co-writes all of the songs on the album with various people including Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics, Joss Stone (who also sings on one), Richard Marx and Glen Ballard and Joe Walsh, McCartney, Don Was, Billy Squier, Edgar Winter and Harper all play and/or sing on it with Starr, who plays drums.

Y Not is on Hip-O and Universal Records and is available in stores, at amazon.com and on iTunes.

Harper's song "Up To You Know" is on his album White Lies for Dark Times, which was released in May of 2009 and "I Will Not Be Broken' is a new tune that hasn't appeared on an album yet.

For more on Ringo Starr, go here or here.

Wow, the lineup of Coachella has been announced and there are some very interesting people playing. If you go on all three days, you get Jay-Z, The Gorillaz and Muse as the big headliners, but also - on various days - Les Claypool, Shooter Jennings, Public Image Limited, Sunny Day Real Estate, Them Crooked Vultures (the latter two bands have a Foo Fighter in each band); De La Soul, Yo La Tengo, Gill Scott-Heron, She & Him (that's a singing Zooey Deschanel), Grace Jones, Devo, Julian Casablancas (of the Strokes), Thom Yorke (of Radiohead), Sly & the Family Stone, Orbital, Delphic, Pavement, Echo and the Bunnymen, The Avett Brothers, a reunited Faith No More, MGMT, DJ Tiesto, Coheed and Cambria, Camera Obscura and Corinne Bailey Rae, among dozens of others.

Coachella is a three day festival in Indio, CA on April 16-18.

Last night at the Paley Center for Media, the cast and producers of CBS's How I Met Your Mother visited and celebrated their 100th episode of the popular sitcom.

The evening was a humorous look back on what the show has done so far - discussing the past storylines and the casting process of each actor as well as favorite guest stars and moments. Prior to the discussion, the Paley Center screened the 100th episode - which is called "Girls vs. Suits" and airs this Monday the 11th at 8pm.

If you were lucky enough to be in the Paley Center audience watching, I bet you didn't realize that the cast was in the back of the theater watching your reaction. In the episode, there is something at the end that has never been done before on the show, so you need to tune in Monday to see that. (There is also a line delivered by Neil Patrick Harris in the show that made Cobie Smulders (Robin) - who was watching in the back - laugh so hard she almost fell out of her chair and almost knocked down Alyson Hannigan (Lily) with her.)

Josh Radnor (Ted), Jason Segel (Marshall), Hannigan, Smulders and Harris (Barney) as well as writer/executive producer/creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas and frequent director Pamela Fryman all then chatted after the screening. Among the topics were Bays and Thomas still feeling they don't really know what they're doing; the direction of Fryman; the show's unorthodox shooting schedule as well storytelling; guest stars (Britney Spears, Chris Elliot and Bob Odenkirk's name came up), the casting of each actor and the success (as well as possible early cancellation) of the show during a time when sitcoms were not very popular.

Two of the more eloquent things during the discussion were Harris responding to a question about the excitement level of the show's cast and producers at the start of the show versus now and Segel's answer to what his favorite moment in the show was. (Harris responded beautifully that he felt that the excitement level now is the same as it was at the start, but for different reasons and Segel said his favorite moment in the show is in fact off-camera, with every actor 'growing up' together and gaining more success and life experiences while doing the series - Harris hosting the Tonys and Emmys; the two women having babies, Radnor directing a movie and Segel modestly summed up his own film success in movies like 'Forgetting Sarah Marshall,' 'I Love You, Man' and many other Judd Apatow films as, 'me doing my thing'.

Among the stories about making the show was one about the cast sometimes getting into a rhythm of trying to outdo each other with bad puns about a specific topic during a day of shooting. As soon as that was mentioned in the discussion (specifically, 'cat puns') the cast started doing it, which each person on the panel (except Fryman) throwing out a cat pun after another person told a story or answered a question. The best two were from Harris - who made a cat reference completely on accident during a story - and a member of the audience, who stuck one into a question.

How I Met Your Mother airs its 100th episode on Monday the 11th at 8pm. For clips about the episode of the show itself, go here

For more information on the Paley Center for Media, go here.

Photos by Kevin Parry/The Paley Center for Media.