Category: Music Page 18 of 20

Connie plays 4 musical instruments and her daughter is a graduate of Belmont University in Nashville with a degree in Music Business and once worked for Taylor Swift. She may comment on concerts or reminisce on concerts of old.

“Dreamgirls” Is A Dream of a Play in Chicago

By Connie Wilson

On January 24, 2010

In Music, Pop Culture, Reviews

“Dreamgirls,” the 1981 Motown musical by Henry Krieger and Tom Ewen which became the 2006 hit movie that made Jennifer Hudson (Effie) a star and garnered Eddie Murphy a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for his role as James “Thunder” Early, a character based on James Brown blew into the Windy City on Tuesday, January 12^th for a mere two-week run. As I write this on Saturday, January 23, the play has a very short life in town left and will be gone before it can be appreciated as the best show Broadway in Chicago has mounted this season…so far (and there’s only one left, “101 Dalmations.”)

The play began at the Apollo Theater last fall, where it received rave reviews and there is buzz that it might have a full-on Broadway opening after the tour, which includes a month in Tokyo. The production “stars” Syesha Mercado in the movie’s Beyonce role as Deena Jones, said to be based on Diana Ross. The Supremes who back her up are played, first, by Moya Angela as Effie, the role that Jennifer Hudson took all the way to Oscar gold, and then byAdrienne Warren as Lorrell Robinson and Margaret Hoffman as Michelle Morris, the later “Dream” girls (after Effie is replaced).

In the movie, Jennnifer Hudson took the “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going” song and belted it impressively, but Moya Angela is no less impressive. Her voice is impressive: massive and worthy of the starring role she portrays. Syesha Mercado’s stint as Deena Jones is good, also. After all, the singer was second runner-up in the 2007 “American Idol” tryouts, and, a graduate of the theater program of Florida International University, she received the prestigious South Eastern Theatre Conference’s Best Supporting Actress award even before that.
Deserving of special mention are the two male leads: Chaz Lamar Shepherd as Curtis Taylor and Chester Gregory, a Chicago native, in the Eddie Murphy role as James “Thunder” Early. Shepherd appears onstage more than any other actor, tying the entire plot together and he both acts and sings extremely well. He has appeared as Harpo on Broadway in “The Color Purple” and was on the Billboard charts 3 times in 2009. His soul/R&B album is to be released during the “Dreamgirls” tour. His gospel work was Grammy nominated in 2009.

The crowd favorite amongst the male leads, much as in the movie, has to be Chester Gregory, a graduate of Columbia College (BFA) who got his start at Chicago’s Black Ensemble Theater playing Jackie Wilson, courtesy of Jackie Taylor of that ensemble. Said Ms. Taylor, in a Chicago Tribune interview on Sunday, January 17, “I had been wanting to produce the Jackie Wilson story for a long time, but I always felt like I didn’t have a strong enough Wilson. This was going to be a ride specifically for Chester.”

And what a ride it was! It took Chester Gregory (he has now dropped the II from his name) all the way to New York’s Apollo Theater, where he made enough of a mark, complete with a Wilson-like back-flip while onstage, that he has picked up work ever since with parts in “Hairspray,” “Cry-Baby,” “Tarzan,” and performing for Michael Jackson. In fall, 2011, Gregory has promised to reprise his star-making role as Jackie Wilson for his “theatrical mother” Jackie Taylor at the opening of the Black Ensemble Theater’s new North Side home. The play was the most popular and profitable the Black Ensemble has ever put on.

For his role as the womanizing James Brown-like James “Thunder” Early in “Dreamgirls” Chester Gregory gets the most memorable stage time (along with the part of Effie) if not the greatest amount of it. Manager Curtis Taylor, Jr., tries hard to tone down the soul brother, so that, at one point, the unhappy singer says, “Last time I was here three people thought I was Tony Bennett.” It’s Curtis’ plan to break the black acts into the Big Time, and he wants James to tone it down and behave because it’s hard to book black acts into places like Miami in the sixties. As one character says, “That place is so white they don’t even let our boys park the cars.”

Chester Gregory makes the most of his time onstage. At one point, he sticks the microphone into the front of his pants, and there is the famous scene (also in the movie) where he drops trou while playing a chi chi white club, causing Curtis to fire him and tell him, “Your time has passed.”

The character of Curtis (Chaz Lamar Shepherd) is described at various points as a “two-bit car salesman” and he certainly seems to be a huckster (called a “second class snake” by Marty, Jimmy Early’s first manager) who will woo whomever he must to get his way. However, Curtis does seem to have idealized and idolized Deena (Syesha Mercado), who eventually becomes his wife, as he sings to her, “I needed a dream but it all seemed to go bad. You were the only reason I had to go on. You are the things I can never be. They’ll never take my dreams from me.” Unfortunately, as Deena (Syesha Mercado) tells him, “I want to be an artist,” most specifically a film star. Curtis says, “You’ll do what I tell you.” Deena (Syesha Mercado) says, to Effie, in a scene of reconciliation, “I played the role he gave to me. Now I don’t know who I’m supposed to be.”

Special mention should be made of the singing, of course, but the dancing and costumes are just as outstanding. William Ivey Long did the costume design and the sparkly lavish costumes rival anything the real Dreamgirls (i.e., the Supremes) ever wore. There is even one very creative costume change (for Effie) that takes place while she is singing about changing, onstage. The spotlight focuses to just Effie’s (Moya Angela’s) face and, in a heartbeat, she emerges from “everyday” clothes she is singing in for an audition and is now clad in a lavender sparkly gown.

This was by far the best play of the series, so far, beating “In the Heights” by a mile and “Young Frankenstein” by a nose. I also liked it better than “The Addams Family,” which is supposed to take Broadway by storm. It’s just a shame that “Dreamgirls” is leaving Chicago so soon, as it definitely is worth Broadway theater ticket prices, with energy and talent to burn.

Fifty Fun Facts Featuring Elvis

By Connie Wilson

On January 17, 2010

In Humor and Weird Wilson-isms, Movies, Music, Pop Culture

Elvis recently had a birthday (he turned 75) and I ignored his birthday, at the time, just like I try to ignore my own birthdays.

A McCarthy newspaper writer named Valerie Kellogg wrote “75 Things You May Not Know About Elvis” at the time of his birthday. Some of them amused me…not all, but some. Plus, we recently visited Graceland in Memphis, so I decided to throw out the less-interesting or more well-known “things you might not know” about Elvis, insert a few of my own, and shorten Kellogg’s article to a mere fifty. So here goes:

1) Elvis’ first 2 recorded songs cost him $4 at Sun Studios in Memphis, where he recorded “My Happiness” and “That’s When Your Heartaches Begin” as a gift for his mother, Gladys.

2) Elvis is Norse for “all wise.”

3) When he was 15 months old, Elvis almost died in a Tupelo, Mississippi tornado, which would have meant that he would have joined his dead-at-birth twin Aaron.

4) At age 1, Elvis enthusiastically joined an Assembly of God church service choir in singing, wriggling away from his mother’s grasp to do so.

5) At age 10, Elvis placed fifth singing “Old Shep” at a children’s talent show, thereby surpassing Michael Jordan, who got cut from one of his first basketball teams.

6) Songs recorded: anywhere from 600 to 1,200. [With mixes like “A Little Less Conversation” being released many years after his death, that number could change.]

7) Sometimes, Elvis would sign “Elvis” on a female fan’s left breast and “Presley” on the right. (There is no truth to the rumor that this gave rise to the term “double-breasted.”)

8) Elvis’ maternal grandmother was Jewish, so Elvis added a Star of David to his mother’s gravestone in the mid-sixties. (Since most of the family is buried out back at Graceland in a weird circle that tourists visit, I assume it is this tombstone. It is just a stone’s throw from the really small tea-cup-sized swimming pool that looks like it belongs behind a Hampton Inn in St. Louis.)

9) Other ethnic derivation for Elvis Presley: Scottish, Irish, German, Welsh, Cherokee Indian and French. (A little something for everyone.)

10) “Can’t Help Falling in Love”, a 1961 Presley hit, is set to the melody “Plaisir D’Amour,” an 18^th century French love song.

11) Presley hated fish. He wouldn’t allow Priscilla to eat fish at Graceland. We all know he loved fatty, deep-fried goodies, and he also loved biscuits and gravy, potato/cheese soup and meatloaf with mushroom gravy. The dining room table at Graceland, however, was not very large, (considering Elvis’ fame and fortune). It is hard to imagine seating more than 11 or 12 comfortably in the cramped dining room. The room isn’t big enough and the table isn’t big enough.

12) Presley preferred sponge baths.

13) Presley worked as an usher at Lowe’s State movie theater in Memphis. He was fired when he was discovered taking free candy from the girl working the concession stand.

14) Presley was honored, while in the Army, by his commanding officers for “cheerfulness and drive and continually outstanding leadership ability.”

15) Germans called Presley “the rock-and-roll matador.”

16) Elvis smoked thin German cigars.

17) Elvis’ big disappointment while in Germany in the Army? He never got to meet Brigitte Bardot. (I think we can all relate to that.)

18) Presley’s movie idol? Tony Curtis.

19) Hair dye used? Miss Clairol 51D, “Black Velvet” and “mink brown” by Paramount, to make his hair look black onscreen in movies. He once dyed his hair with black shoe polish in his do-it-yourself days. He also dyed his eyelashes, which caused him health problems later in life. (Good thing he didn’t EAT the dye).

20) In 1956, Elvis made “Love Me Tender” and in 1957, he did “Loving You.” In the hiatus between filming these two epics, he had plastic surgery on his nose, had his teeth capped, and had his acne professionally treated.

21) Elvis dated Natalie Wood, but only for a very brief period. He said he didn’t like the way she smelled. (No report on what Natalie Wood thought of the sponge-bathing Elvis’ scent.)

22) “Unchained Melody” was a song he only performed during the last 6 months of his life.

23) Unverified reports claim Elvis’ range spanned three octaves, but unverified reports of the day also said that the Colonel (Tom Parker) would have another singer interpret the song while Elvis listened and then Elvis would record the song after hearing it sung by someone else. It is also true that Elvis never did a World Tour, which was because of legal problems that Colonel Tom Parker, his dictatorial manager, faced in travel outside the country. (The Colonel had passport problems.)

24) Presley had a slight stutter.

25) Elvis used A&D ointment to keep his lips soft.

26) Elvis recorded 15 songs with the word “blue” in the title.

27) Some strangely titled Elvis songs include: “Queenie Wahini’s Papaya,” “Yoga Is as Yoga Does,” “There’s No Room to Rhumba in a Sports Car.”

28) Elvis began using “Also Sprach Zarathustra,” a 19^th century Strauss tone poem and theme of the 1968 movie “2001: A Space Odyssey” because he liked its rhythm and movements.

29) UK viewers couldn’t see Elvis much-vaunted TV special “Aloha from Hawaii” because the BBC refused to pay the price for the 1972 concert.

30) Presley and the Beatles met at his BelAir, California house in 1965, after Colonel Tom Parker forced Elvis to invite the Fab Five over. That same year, Elvis talked about joining a monastery. No word on whether he discussed entering a monastery before or after meeting the Beatles, who ended his reign as undisputed King of Rock ‘n Roll.

31) Presley met Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys in 1975 but Wilson says that the meeting went badly. Wilson made an unexpected karate move on Presley, after Presley had asked him specifically not to do so. (I now understand why Brian Wilson spent so many years alone “in his room”).

32) When Presley met Richard Nixon in 1970, Tricky Dick said: “You dress kind of strange, don’t you? Elvis replied, “Well, Mr. President, you got your show, and I got mine.” We didn’t find out the extent of Nixon’s “show” until Watergate, but it’s not hard to imagine Elvis drawling that statement to Nixon.

33) The Washington Post broke the news of that secret meeting between Nixon and Presley. [I think we’ve all heard the stories of Presley’s fascination with law and law enforcement, his desire to be named a ‘special agent,’ etc.]

34) When Presley met Muhammad Ali, he gifted the boxer with a robe that said “The People’s Champion.” Ali, for his part, gave Presley boxing gloves that said, “You’re the greatest.” [This surprises and confuses me. I thought Ali was “the greatest?” The two probably should have traded gifts.]

35) Once, after receiving a kidnap/assassination threat, Elvis performed with a pistol in each boot.

36) In the early 1970’s, Presley would impersonate a police officer and pull people over and hand out autographs. He had purchased police equipment for his 36^th birthday.

37) Some members of the Memphis Mafia called Presley “Crazy.” He turned down the opportunity to play Kris Kristofferson’s role in “A Star Is Born” opposite Barbra Streisand, because the Colonel wouldn’t let him take the part. The chance was a career-making comeback opportunity, and ex-wife Priscilla urged him to take the role. Now THAT was “crazy.” What was NOT crazy was the way Priscila turned Graceland into a moneymaker after Elvis’ death.

38) Once, while showing a woman a karate move in his Las Vegas hotel suite, he broke her ankle. (Sounds like an instant replay of the Brian Wilson bad meeting.)

39) In Chinese astrology, Presley’s sign was “the dog.”

40) Four psychics told actor Patrick Swayze that Elvis was his guardian angel. If so, Elvis didn’t do a very good job of watching over the recently deceased actor, who died too young of pancreatic cancer.

41) The year before he died, Presley was prescribed about 10,000 pills. (I wonder what the count against Michael Jackson’s final year would be: which would score highest?)

42) When Presley played Madison Square Garden in 1972, he rented the New York Hilton’s top floor.

43) Presley’s pet turtle’s name was Bowtie.

44) Other Presley pets: a basset hound, 2 Great Danes, a Pomeranian, several horses, some donkeys, some peacocks and guinea hens, ducks, chickens, a chimpanzee, a monkey and a mynah bird. His golden palomino, Rising Sun, is buried at Graceland, along with his parents, his grandmother and his twin brother who died at birth.

45) Presley’s pet chimp, Scatter, is thought to have died of liver disease, since the chimp had developed a drinking problem. Some think a maid, whom he had bitten, poisoned the chimp. (Wonder whatever happened to Bubbles, Michael Jackson’s chimp?)

46) Presley believed he would die in his forties like his mother, Gladys.

47) Presley had a strange “Madonna/whore” fixation. According to Priscilla Presley’s autobiography, once she gave birth to Lisa Marie, he no longer considered her sexually desirable because she was the mother of his only child. Presley did have a longstanding attraction to co-star Ann Margret, though, and always sent her a large floral tribute whenever she opened in Vegas.

48) When Elvis was alive, there were about 170 Presley impersonators (1977). Today, it is estimated that there are around 250,000.

49) Presley had one room of his Graceland mansion (the house that grew like Topsy and has many wings that were added to the sprawling structure) completely carpeted in shag carpeting and sometimes recorded there. The Jungle Room, a strange futuristic circular bed with fake fur: many “Elvis’ taste was all in his mouth” moments while touring Graceland.

50) Elvis’ last words (to his girlfriend Ginger Alden, who had cautioned him against falling asleep reading in the bathroom) were; “Okay, I won’t.”

“American Idol” Auditions in Atlanta on January 13, 2010

By Connie Wilson

On January 14, 2010

In Humor and Weird Wilson-isms, Music, Reviews, Television

[*With thanks to all the hard-working English teachers who collated and contributed the actual analogies and metaphors from their high school students’ essays into one hilarious article, which I am going to “lift” for my analysis of January 13, 2010’s “American Idol” Atlanta tryouts. If you are the nameless student, condolences and apologies.]

Mary J. Blige joined the regulars as guest host. Ellen DeGeneres won’t join the judges until February 7^th, when the contestants reach Hollywood.

First up this night was a 27-year-old African American singer (I use the term “singer” loosely) named Dawon Robinson who said that his uncle had discovered Gladys Knight and the Pips and his father was known as Motown Bobby. Dawon kept pronouncing the word “lady” (while singing) as “lay tee.” The free associating thoughts Dawon shared tumbled in his head “like underpants in a dryer without Cling Free.”

Another black male singer who sang in an extremely high voice, like someone who has undergone castration, followed Dawon. We were saved by the appearance of Keia Johnson, who wore bright lime-green pants and was once named Miss Congeniality in a preliminary to a Miss America contest. (Simon ventured that, were it him, he’d rather win the beauty part.) Keia sang the love song from “Titanic” and she sang well. Keia was given a golden ticket to Hollywood and was followed by singers named Meriam Lemnoumi and Noel Reese.

Then came one of the diamonds of the day, Tisha Holland, 18, of Georgia, a waitress. She was followed by another star, Germaine Sellers from Joliet, Illinois, a 17-year-old church singer who cares for his mother, who suffers from spina bifida. The comments? “I think that’s the best we’ve seen all day.” Germaine sang Joan Osborne’s “What If God Is One of Us.” He’s going to Hollywood. Mary J. Blige said, “You’ve got skills. Best we’ve seen of all the cities. That was incredible. It was anointed.” Plus, Germaine has the all-important back-story that this year’s competitors seem to need. (Talent, alone, isn’t going to be enough, it seems.)

A TV hostess from “Hotlanta,” Christy Marie Agronow, then regaled the group with a Pat Benatar song. The revelation that the judges did not share her feeling that she was a great singer hit her “like a guy who goes blind because he looked at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it and now goes around the country speaking at high schools about the dangers of looking at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it.” She left in a huff. (“How dare they!”)

Next up was Vanessa Wolf, who shared the news “I jump bridges.” She is either from Baltimore, Tennessee or Vonore (population 658) and shared this sad statement: “I’m stuck in Vonore. I can’t get out.” She had purchased her dress for $4.50 at a Dollar General store in Smyrna, which I seem to remember was Julia Roberts’ birthplace. Tennessee must be so proud, at this point in time, of the way their state is being portrayed. Vanessa was very likeable, but “her vocabulary was as bad as, like, whatever.”

Jessie Anison, 26, of Alabama, #99342, shared several near-death experiences he had recently endured, which allowed “American Idol” to make several “cheap dramatizations” related to Jessie’s riveting stories. Jessie grew on us “like he was a colony of e coli and we were room temperature beef.” As for his audition, it didn’t help that Jessie couldn’t remember any of the words in the song he had selected and had never before sung in public. Mary J. Blige collapsed in helpless mirth and had to be comforted by Kara. Jessie had a mind “like a steel trap, but one that has rusted shut.” ”The whole scene had an eerie, surreal quality, like when you’re on vacation in another city and ‘Jeopardy’ comes on at 7:00 p.m. instead of 7:30 p.m.” Jessie, also, left in a semi-huff. He traveled down the 47 stories in the elevator, “hitting the pavement like a Hefty bag filled with vegetable soup.”

After Jessie and the “cheap dramatizations” (once, at band camp, Jessie was almost hit by a stray bullet or a falling flute or some damned thing) we were treated to Holly, age 27, who sang Loretta Lynn’s “You Ain’t Woman Enough to Take My Man.” Holly proclaimed, “I’m the next great thing.” She was as modest as Donald Trump during one of his Rosie O’Donnell rants. “She had a deep throaty voice like that sound a dog makes just before it throws up.” Holly made it through to Hollywood.

At one point, Simon actually said, to one contestant, “You sound like a cat barking; it shouldn’t happen.” The gargling noise of contestant Hansel Enriquez was not well received. Blake Smith of Covington, California came to his audition attired in a tee shirt that read “Britney Spears Changed Her Life.” (It didn’t change Blake’s). “Guitar Girl” (attired in a guitar outfit with guitar glasses) lucked out. She caught your eye “like a wet nose hair glistening after a sneeze.”

Tony Skiboski, contestant #91870, actually could sing, but his attempts to make himself sexually appealing, in the process of singing “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” by Marvin Gaye were about as enticing as “ maggots just before you fry them in hot grease.” When it was pointed out to Tony Skiboski that he was missing a letter on his shirt, he replied, “That’s what they’ve got discounts for.” Skiboski actually made it through, which seemed “as unlikely as a little boat gently drifting across a pond, exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn’t.”

We were treated to Loren Sanders, age 19, of Baxley, Georgia, and her BFF Carmen Turner, 19, also of Baxley, Georgia. Unfortunately, only Carmen sang well. The news that she was being cut from the competition hit Loren as a rude shock, “like a surcharge at a formerly surcharge-free ATM machine.”

Police officer Bryan Walker sang “SuperStar” and earned a golden ticket to Hollywood, but he looked very old. “He looked as old as a 60-year-old retiree.” (Or as old as General Larry Platt).

Lamar Royal sang Seal’s “Kiss from a Rose” song. Before he went up in the elevator for his audition, Lamar was quite pleasant, saying how much he was looking forward to meeting Mary J. Blige. After Lamar delivered the loudest version of a Seal song ever heard and would not shut up (security had to be called to stop his audition), he changed his tune considerably and uttered the night’s most hostile remarks, yelling, “F*** Y’all” as he left. This earned him a round of applause from a passing carful of motorists. (At least Lamar said “Y’all”).

Last, and certainly least, General Larry Platt, age 62, sang his own original composition “Pants on the Ground.” “General Larry was simple, like my brother-in-law Phil. But, unlike Phil, General Larry actually works.” General Larry earned praise for his attempts to break dance for the judges, although, in his case, the word “break” is meant literally.

And congratulations to former contestant Jason Castro, who, in addition to his budding career as a performer, got married. I noticed his smiling dreadlocks on the “American Idol” website while scoping out the schedule, and it reminded me that I heard this news somewhere. Ah, young love. “Jason fell for her like his heart was a mob informant and she was the East River.” Imagine “the star-crossed lovers racing across a grassy field toward each other, like two freight trains, one having left Cleveland at 6:36 p.m. traveling at 66 mph; the other from Topeka at 4: 19 p.m. at a speed of 35 miles per hour.”

Stay tuned for next week’s shows on Tuesday, January 19^th, from Chicago and on Wednesday, January 20^th, from Orlando

Philip Seymour Hoffman Rocks on in “Pirate Radio”

By Connie Wilson

On November 15, 2009

In Music, Pop Culture, Reviews

“Pirate Radio” (also known as “The Boat That Rocked”), written and directed by Richard Curtis, is the true story of a pirate radio boat operating on frequency 203 in the North Sea off the coast of England, a floating radio station that broadcast rock and roll to England, in defiance of the government. Ninety-three per cent of the British public liked the music, but the authority in charge, assisted by a character named “Twatt,” is determined to pass a new law, called the Marine Offenses Act, to outlaw the format and the station.

Cast as the man who is determined to stomp out the affront to civilization that rock and roll represents is Kenneth Branagh as Sir Alistair Dormandy. (Branagh’s ex-wife, Emma Thompson, also has a small cameo as the glamorous Charlotte, mother of Young Carl, played by Tom Sturridge.)

The log line for the movie is “1 boat. 8 DJ’s. No morals.”

Philip Seymour Hoffman plays The Count, an American DJ whose prominence at the station is challenged by the reappearance of popular disc jockey Gavin Cavanagh, played by Rhys Ifans, whom fans will remember as Hugh Grant’s kooky side-kick in “Notting Hill.”

Also recognizable from “Flight of the Conchords” is the actor playing Angus, Rhys Darby, who provides some—but not all—of the comic relief. The funny lines are numerous, so Angus is only a tiny part of the overall humor.

It’s a bit disconcerting to view Rhys Ifans (formerly seen primarily in comic roles such as the Brit who attached helium balloons to a lawn chair to go airborne) as an irresistible chick magnet who says things like “This is Gavin, tweaking the nation’s nipples.”

One of my favorite lines from the movie was Philip Seymour Hoffman declaring “Why am I so fat?” while challenging Gavin Cavanagh to a “chicken” contest involving mast-climbing, a contest designed to punish Cavanagh for an offense to fellow DJ Simon (Chris O’Dowd). When Gavin (Ifans) first returns to the floating radio station, he character says (to Hoffman), “You’re the Count: what does that make me? The King?” To which Hoffman responds, “Or the Joker.”

Oh, it’s on!

The film has a subplot (which is a bit like a Maury Povich episode), involving determining which member of the ship may (or may not) have fathered Young Carl. There is still more humor from a character called Thick (misspelled on his cabin door as “Thikc”) Kevin (Tom Brooke).

The soundtrack for the film is outstanding. It was supervised by Nick Angel and features songs like “My Generation” from “The Who.” There’s also a bit part played by January Jones as Elenore. (Jones plays Betsy on “Mad Men.”)

It’s a film you might miss, because it doesn’t have the huge advertising budget of “2012,” but it is going to be infinitely more satisfying and way funnier.

U2 Launches Tour in Chicago’s Soldier Field on 9/12 and 9/13

By Connie Wilson

On September 14, 2009

In Music, Reviews

After U2 kicked off the American leg of its current tour in Chicago at Soldier Field on Saturday, September 12^th, the term “suit of lights” will have to take on new meaning. It always used to mean a toreador’s suit in the bullring. But in the three-song encore portion of U2’s fantastic new show, Bono is attired in a suit of actual lights…red ones…and he uses a round hanging microphone that intermittently glows red or blue and from which he dangles, at one point.

The arena show is groundbreaking in another respect: the huge claw-footed space-age spaceship stage. The stage looks like a reject from the Terminator movies or half a lobster. The creative team, headed by show designer and direction guru Willie Williams and executed by Mark Fisher, (who has been integral to the band’s creative sets since PopMart and Zoo TV allowed video to really add to a show’s impact), was immense, and was originally assembled in the tiny village of Werchter, in Belgium. That is because it was built by the Belgian company Stageco, using a high pressure hydraulic system. According to details on U2’s website (www.U2.com), the stage center pylon is 150 feet tall and the rest of the stage is 90 feet tall. It will support 180 tons of video screens, made up of 1 million pieces which take 4 days to assemble. The screen is 500,000 pixels and has 320,000 fasteners. It takes 12 days to load in the screen, stage and universal production equipment, 6 hours to dismantle it, and 2 days to dismantle it and load it out of the stadium.

The next concert, after Chicago, is at Rogers Centre in Toronto on 9/16 and 9/17, followed by Foxborough’s Gillette Stadium on 9/20 and 9/21; Giants Stadium in East Rutherford (NJ) on 9/23 and 9/24; Fedexfield Landover on 9/29; Scott Stadium in Charlottesville on 10/01; Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh (NC) on 10/03; Atlanta’s Georgia Dome on 10/06; the Raymond James Stadium in Tampa (FL) on 10/08; the New Dallas Cowboys Stadium on 10/12; the Reliant Stadium in Houston on 10/14; the Oklahoma Memorial Stium North on 10/18; the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale (AZ) on 10/20) ; the Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas (NV) on 10/23; the Rose Bowl in Pasadena (CA) on 10/25; and BC Place in Vancouver (British Columbia) on 10/28. All those places are in for a treat!

The program quote from Williams: “Mark Fisher has been my Siamese twin in the thinking behind U2 productions since PopMart. He’s an architect with unrivalled experience in building rock shows, so his sense of whether something will work is critical. He sent me some initial sketches of the LAX Theme Building across a football pitch…It’s the Theme Building at LAX, Los Angeles International Airport, that crystalized it for me. It’s a very space age looking restaurant with four legs and very sleek curves, and when I imagined it straddling a football pitch (field), I knew I was on to something.”

Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullins, Jr., were definitely on to something and greenlighted the idea in April after it germinated for quite some time. The something they were on to added up to a spectacular sound-and-light show for the stadium crowd, with the band starting off with songs from their newest album (I only like “Boots,” which they played on “Letterman” and elsewhere). They moved on to the crowd favorites for the final 2/3 of the show, such as “Beautiful Day,” “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For,” “Vertigo,” “Sunday, Bloody Sunday,” “Where the Streets Have No Name” and (as one of the three encore numbers), my personal favorite, “With or Without You.” Their lead-in act was Snow Patrol (at 7:00 p.m.) and U2 played from 8:30 p.m. until approximately 11:30 p.m. with no real intermission.

During the playing of “Walk On,” audience members were encouraged to place a pop out life-sized facemask of Aung San Suu Kyi (contained in the program over their own faces. Who, you ask, is Aung San Suu Kyi? She is Burma’s democratic leader and a Nobel Peace Prize winner whose party, the National League for Democracy, won the elections in 1990, after which the ruling junta placed her under house arrest, where she has remained for the past 14 years. With an election looming in 2010, Aung San Suu Kyi will not be allowed to run for office because she would win. The other program notes of a political sort detailed how the military dictatorship is trying to wipe out ethnic people in Eastern Burma with 3,300 villages destroyed in the past 15 years and rape routinely used as a weapon of war against females as young as 5. More than 2,100 political prisoners crowd Burma’s jails while an oppressive dictatorship and ruling military junta continues in office, refusing to give way to those democratically elected.

On a happier note, reviews of the show, which premiered on U.S. soil in Chicago on Saturday, September 12^th, from Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune were glowing. Kot declared that the 70,000 plus audience had seen “one of the best stage shows of the past 10 years” and further noted in his review, “Stadium concerts usually tend to feel puffed up and bombastic, but this was downright strange—and wonderfully so.”

During the “Vertigo” and “Elevation” tours, Bono physically ran a track-like stage that was circular in one case and heart-shaped in another. There were also hanging light-up emblems denoting the world’s major religions dangling as changing lighted strands in the indoor show, but this arena show had a huge circular speaker/screen nestled amidst the lobster-claw legs that projected a green clock upon opening, followed by both close-ups of the band and film of space from NASA. The rest of the time, the screen either changed colors dramatically or depicted the band members.

There were also a couple of small bridges (I immediately thought of the Stones’ “Bridges to Babylon” tour) and, at one point, Bono ran the track with a small boy from the audience, only to collapse as though exhausted and lie there for several long moments before resuming singing.

Bono declared, “The 360 Show was designed to make our audience the 5^th member of the band.” Even from the second tier of seats, you entered into the spirit of the sold-out show. One program note declared, “There may be another band with the imagination, ambition and courage to do something like this…but I can’t think who they would be.”

For the far more veteran Rolling Stones, those might be fighting words, as their Steel Wheels Tour way-back-when featured an impressive array of pyrotechnics and a huge proscenium stage, but we’ll all have to wait to see if the gauntlet that has been verbally thrown down by U2 is picked up by the much more senior bad boys from Britain.

Tim Stop Trio Plays at “Market” in Chicago on 7/22

By Connie Wilson

On July 24, 2009

In Local, Music, Of Local (Quad Cities') Interest, Pop Culture, Reviews

The Tim Stop Trio (www.timstoptrio.com) played Market, a trendy new tri-level restaurant/bar that opened May 1^st. The restaurant at 1113 W. Randolph is the brainchild of White Sox General Manager Kenny Williams and partner of Mod Construction, and features a 2,500 outdoor garden seating area, an inner dining area with 20 flat screen TVs, and an upstairs roof garden, which is where Tim Stopulus and his Trio held forth on July 22, 2009.

The restaurant offers American cuisine, some served in unique ways. The popcorn shrimp appetizer is served in a look-alike popcorn box, and you can order cotton candy for dessert. The ribs were great, although the side dishes for the ribs (Peruvian corn; gack) were not. I had a girl from Columbia and a girl from El Salvador with me this night, and none of us recognized the Peruvian corn as anything even remotely like “corn.” It tasted mealy, like lima beans. On the bright side, the build-your-own pizza was very good. Waitress Brittany worked very hard to get our table done by the time the band started at 9 p.m. She cannot be faulted.

As mentioned in online reviews, it is noisy inside, so, if the weather is nice, try for the outdoor garden seating or the tables in front of the establishment. [A layer of acoustic ceiling tile might help.] When I called in the afternoon to try to make reservations for four people at 7 p.m. on a Wednesday night, whoever answered the phone said they did not take reservations, which, later, turned out to be incorrect. That person also did not know if there was any entertainment that evening. In fact, after arrival, when we asked our server about the band, she had to seek out a manager to find out that, yes, the Tim Stop Trio and a second entertainer, Chris Buehrle, a very good one-man band, would be playing that night on the rooftop. I had been told on the phone that no food was served on the rooftop but that patrons were welcome to bring a drink to the roof. This last bit of information turned out to be totally incorrect. When I attempted to take a full Diet Coke (in a glass) and a half-full Mojita (excellent) to the roof, a large bouncer outside the elevator refused to allow me (us) to take drinks from the ground floor to the roof, unless the drinks were in a plastic container. The bar said it had run out of plastic entertainers. A four-story walk upstairs was the solution (doors to the roof in front), which was not a bad idea as the elevator may be the slowest elevator in the city of Chicago. (I’ve experienced an elevator this slow once before, but it was in Paris on L’Isle de la Cite and appeared to be at least 75 years old.)

The group is touring behind this released statement: “With all these questions swirling around about Obama’s Economic Stimulus Package and its effectiveness, we, the Tim Stop Trio, decided that maybe it’s time we did our part in boosting the economy. Sometimes, you can’t wait for your elected officials to do the right thing.

In that spirit, the Tim Stop Trio has been proud to announce a series of live free shows across the Midwest, beginning in Iowa City at the Piano Lounge on Wednesday, July 15 and continuing on to the Voodoo Lounge in Cedar Falls, Iowa on July 16 and July 17. On Saturday, July 18, the group performed at Headliners in Ames, Iowa, before moving on to Chicago for the rooftop show at Market on Wednesday, July 22^nd.

Said the release, “We are tired of hearing about people missing concerts due to lack of funds. Live music is not a luxury, my friends; it’s a necessity. Like food, clean water, and SUV’s. We’ve left you no excuse. It’s time to set things right in America, and it starts here.” Brave words! And clever ones.

Group members Seville Lillie (always excellent) on keyboards, Tim Stopulus on guitar and vocals and Justin Hooke on percussion delivered enjoyable background music to a full house. It was difficult to understand the patter in between songs, however. The songs were great, but the talking was hard to hear or understand, if you could hear it.

Among those in the audience were all age groups, enjoying the excellent mojitas and a variety of other signature drinks. The crowd seemed largely to be an affluent group, attired in casual to dressy clothing and it was very much a place to meet and greet.

The songs were often original compositions by group leader Tim Stopulus, a Wake Forest graduate, who said, “Our whole goal right now is to just play as much as possible and make the best music we possibly can.” Later in the evening, a very weird band played on Jimmy Kimmel’s television show. The Tim Stop Trio (especially when the full band is involved) was at least ten times better than the strange guy in the Mohawk with the silver crap on his right cheek who sang in a voice an octave higher than Michael Jackson in his youth on live TV later that night. (Jimmy Kimmel scouts: listen up!)

The group was moving on to Milwaukee, Wisconsin to Mo’s Irish Pub for the weekend of July 24 and July 25 saying: “Remember, these are all free shows. In fact, we went to take it one step further. As many of you know, my last name is Stopulus. We cut off the last half of that name (‘ulos’) because nobody could spell it. Well, this week, we’re bringing it back, and we’re dropping the ‘Stop.’ After all, we want you to go see music, not stop. And since we are doing this in the name of the economy, we will be known as the Economic Timulos Package for the remainder of the tour.”

As the group says, “If you love freedom, cone see the Economic Timulos Package in the next few weeks. It’s going to be awesome. And you can take that to the bank.”

You can read up on the band at www.timstoptrio.com and on http://www.facebook.com/timstoptrio. As we walked away…listening, in the distance, to the strains the Beatles “I Saw Her Standing There”, one of the few covers of the night (along with ‘If I Ruled the World,” we all remarked on a totally pleasant and enjoyable musical evening, with a fantastic view of the city from the rooftop venue.

Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett and Ed McMahon Die Within Hours of One Another

By Connie Wilson

On June 25, 2009

In Movies, Music, Pop Culture, Television, Uncategorized

Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett and Ed McMahon, three icons of the entertainment business, died within hours of one another. Only Jackson’s death came as a shock to the world. He supposedly died of cardiac arrest, having been worked on by his private physician at his rented house near the hospital and by medical personnel in the emergency room, who pronounced him dead at 2:26 p.m.worked on him over an hour, pronouncing him dead at 2::26 p.m. He had taken a prescription medication, but the announcement also seemed to indicate that his personal physician was with him in his rented home at the time he collapsed from apparent cardiac arrest. That doctor also attempted to revive Jackson, unsuccessfully.

It’s hard to know what to say about the death of a pop icon who rose—and fell—so far. The talented little boy who sang with his brothers as “The Jackson Five” had disappeared many years ago, buried under numerous botched plastic surgeries and aberrant lifestyle eccentricities that had him inviting underage children into his bed, cavorting with a chimp named Bubbles, founding a veritable circus at Neverland Ranch, complete with a zoo and rides, buying the Elephant Man’s bones, and sleeping in a hyperbaric chamber. In the end, Michael Jackson, like all of us, proved to be mortal, no more immune to death’s reach than a Kennedy or a Beatle or a President.

May all three of these icons of our culture rest in peace.

“Like A Virgin” (Records) Means Extinct As Final Virgin Record Store Closes in L.A.

By Connie Wilson

On June 15, 2009

In Music, News, Pop Culture, travel

I was in Los Angeles and witnessing the death of Virgin Record Stores, as the “final 2 days” of sales of all merchandise in the Los Angeles store sounded the death knell of a once-thriving industry,
First, it was Denver and Orlando Virgin Mega-Stores that closed. Chicago soon followed suit. Word was that Virgin Entertainment Group North America was getting extremely low rent in very desirable locations and, as a result of that and the general struggling of the music industry, Virgin was bought out by Vornado and related real estate companies in 2007. In New York, for example, the store was only paying $54 a square foot in an area where rent easily runs $500 a square foot.

The demise of Virgin in Los Angeles (pictured here during its final 2 day sale at 80% off) follows on the heels of the closing of Tower Records in 2006. Tower had been established in 1960. In England, a similar closing Zavvl Music occurred, and FYE closed very recently as well.

The high cost of CD’s, the advent of downloads and MP3’s, a glut of product on the market, and the economic crisis can all be blamed for the fall of Virgin in the United States, but, with the closing of the Los Angeles store, a once-thriving business with locations in major cities has joined Tower Records on the scrap heap.

“American Idol” Rock Week Rocks the House

By Connie Wilson

On May 5, 2009

In Music, Television

Last week, Adam Lambert was announced as being in the bottom three. How did this happen? Beats the hell out of me. He was nothing short of brilliant on May 5 (Cinquo de Mayo) singing Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta’ Love.” His duet with Allison Irahita on “Slow Ride” was exceptional, as well, and Allison’s rendition of “Cry, Cry Baby” (Janis Joplin) was gutsy and great.

Kris Allen and Danny Gokey, by contrast, were just too soft and twinky, as they are not rockers, but more crooners or ballad singers. This was the first week that Danny Gokey might need to fear the bottom of the barrel. His excruciatingly high ending note on the song he chose (“Dream On”) caused Simon to say, “That last note was like watching a horror movie. A little over the top. With Adam, it worked. With you, it didn’t work tonight.”

If there is any justice, Danny will get to experience the bottom of the barrel that he has, heretofore, escaped. Yes, American likes him. Initially, I thought the final would be a mano-a-mano duel between Danny and Adam, but last week’s close call for Adam, plus Allison’s growing self-confidence onstage could spell a finale that features Adam and Allison not dueting, but squaring off against one another for the Grand Prize. Or not. Danny still has massive numbers of fans and the backstory of his recent status as a widower, and Allison still does not have the most riveting personality of the quartet, but the girl can sing. She has the pipes and, I suspect, the most on-air experience of the four, after Adam. (Check her out on YouTube).

The fact that this isn’t turning out to be a Grand Slam for Adam and Danny is interesting and a pleasant surprise. Stay tuned for Wednesday night’s results, which could be surprising. Or not. My prediction, as before: Kris goes back to Conway, Arkansas. He’s a nice guy, a cute guy, a crooner, but does he have the staying power to make it to the Top Two? My guess: no.

Megan Corkrey Misses with (Bob) Marley on “American Idol”

By Connie Wilson

On March 31, 2009

In Music, Pop Culture, Reviews, Television

On March 31, 2009, the final 9 contestants in this year’s “American Idol” performance took the stage and it appeared, to me, that those who earned a “pass” were Scott MacIntyre, Kris Allen, Danny Gokey and Adam Lambert.

Those whom the judges dissed included Anoop Desai, Allison Iraheta, Megan Corkrey and Lil Rounds. The judges also did not seem to like Matt Giraud, but I have a feeling that the public may.

What were the songs and the comments on this night? And who were the “best” and the “worst?”

The very best, for me, as always, was Adam Lambert strutting his stuff while singing “Play that Funky Music, White Boy,” by Wild Cherry from 1976. I have always loved this song, and some may remember that Craig Kilbourne, who disappeared from the late-night airwaves a few years ago, used it as his theme song. Adam used a light show backdrop, did some fancy footwork, and had amazing vocals, as always. He also generously gave credit to Ricky Minor and the band, for, as he said, “hooking me up with that arrangement.” The judges were universal in their praise of Adam’s incredible vocal skills, with comments like “true genius shatters expectations” (Paul Abdul), “You worked it out. Definitely in the Star Zone.” (Randy) and “I cannot wait to get to the show to see what you’ll do” from Kara. Simon, also, declared Adam’s performance as “original’ and said, “Good for you.”

If we rank below Adam (in order from “good” to “weak”) second, for me would be a tie between Scott MacIntyre, who sang Billy Joel’s “Don’t Go Changin'” and Danny Gokey—one of the front-runners—who did a stripped-down version of “What Hurts the Most.” For me, Scott lapped Danny for 2 reasons: 1) I had never heard of Danny’s song; therefore, I did not enjoy it as much as Scott’s and (2) Scott looked better than Danny, with a newly “pouffy” hair-do, black leather jacket and a good, clean look and performance. The judges said, of Scott, “One of the best performances of the night” (Randy) and “Your best performance by a country mile” (Simon). Simon also chose the occasion to point out that Paula’s advice, given on an earlier program, that Scott should step out from behind the piano, was poor advice (which led to the two squabbling at the table, as usual, with Simon telling people to “rewind” to prove his point.

Of Danny Gokey’s stripped-down song (violin accompaniment front and left) the judges said, “This is where you thrive,” (Paula); “Your best performance so far. So much better than the first two. Get a great song. Sing it brilliantly. And do your version.” (Simon). Kara said, “You moved everyone in this room emotionally,” and said she had goosebumps (I wasn’t that “moved,” at home, but I’ll take Kara’s word for her goosebumps.) Randy said, “I felt that the competition starts right now. Very nice.”

I’m puzzled by Matt Giraud’s standing. Last week, he was a standout, doing a great song, and yet he ended up in the bottom three! This week, the judges did not like his rendition of “You Found Me” by the Fray. About the only judge’s comment(s) I agreed with was the one uttered by Kara, who said, “You are a talented guy and you don’t deserve to go home.” I actually liked the way Matt took his keyboard(s) right out into the audience and had adoring fans (mostly girls) surrounding him. However, Randy said it was “Just the wrong song for you” and Simon felt it was “just uncomfortable.” Paula did not like his lack of riffing and falsetto, calling it “more of a sound alike” and saying, “This wasn’t a great performance for you.” Simon said, “I didn’t get it at all,” and added that his performance was “uptight. Not a good commercial song.” Last week, when the judges declared him to be one of the best of the night, he almost bit the bullet. I hope that the fact they didn’t like him this week works in his favor, because he is really good. He didn’t deserve to be in the bottom three last week, and he doesn’t deserve to be in the bottom three this week.
So, who does deserve to be in the bottom three tomorrow night?

Megan Joy Corkrey has been hanging on by her fingertips for weeks now. Why she is still there can be attributed to one judge, Simon, and she seems to have lost favor with him. Megan sang a Bob Marley song “Turn Your Lights Down Low” and was robotic and looked uneasy. The song had about a 3-note range, which reminded me of “Send in the Clowns,” which was written specifically to cover a very limited range because the female lead in “A Little Night Music” couldn’t reach notes beyond those 3 or 4 notes. When Megan sang her Marley song, I was bored and felt it was typical of her last few performances. Randy said,” It was like watching paint dry.” (I don’t think that is a positive comment.) Simon called it “indulgent, boring and monotonous.” Kara declared, “I really like you, but I think you’re in trouble,” suggesting that Megan should have tried some Adele and used her falsetto. I think Megan should try packing, and that she should have been sent packing about 3 performances back, which Simon confirmed with the statement “You’ve been selling that every week.”

I also didn’t like the new aggressive sex symbol side of Anoop Desai and neither did the judges. Anoop selected an Usher song (“This girl’s got a hold on me”) and, while most of the judges felt the vocals were good, and Randy said he had “picked up his swagger,” Simon nailed it when he said his performance was something that seemed ‘as though a bunch of frat guys dared you to get up and sing Usher.” Simon said it was ” a complete and utter mess, if you want my honest opinion. It actually gave me a headache.”

Another usually good performer who was so-so this night was Allison Iraheta. She looked horrible, wearing a red flared dress that had white bands down the bodice that were criss-crossed and which she wore with leggings and fake hairpieces (red) that made her hair look like straw. Simon compared her appearance to Halloween and even Randy, who is hardly a fashion plate, had questions about the outfit. Simon said it looked like something from “The Addams Family.” For me, singing “No Doubt” with guitar, which Simon said “she shouted,” was overpowered by her really ridiculous get-up. Plus, I want Allison to sing biker chick stuff by Joan Jett et. al. However, Allison was, as always, a strong performer vocally, bringing remarks from Kara like “Not your best, but good.” Paula declared Allison’s intonation and delivery to be “masterful,” so I think Allison can probably keep this odd wardrobe hanging in her L.A. digs for another week, but, were I one-armed tattooed girl, I’d be getting ready to pack my bags.

The other low vote getters will, as always, be surprising, but 2 of the 3 should be Megan and Anoop. It’s difficult to predict if Lil, who the judges declared to have sung an “old-fashioned” song will have been saved by her tears and the appearance of her adorable twins, but I’m guessing that will be the case and that means that Allison will end up in the bottom three….again. She really doesn’t deserve to be sent home, but I could live with her being dissed for the outfit alone.

Kris Allen did a very good job on “Ain’t No Sunshine” (When You’re Gone) and Randy declared him to be “in the zone” with Simon chiming in that it was ‘a very good arrangement” and Kris’ “best so far.” Simon added a “well done.” I think that Kris is firmly established as heartthrob material for America’s millions of teen-aged girl voters, so I would expect him to make it through. I’m hoping that Matt’s foray into the crowd will bring him closer to his fans both figuratively and literally, as I’d hate to see him go.

But Megan? Elimination overdue.