…was “The Day the Music Died”.
It was on this date in 1959, just after 1 a.m., that the small plane carrying Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson, along with their pilot Roger Peterson, crashed into a field near Clear Lake, Iowa.
There were no survivors....
Good friend Marco van Bergen directs our attention to this story at ScoringSessions.com, showing us composer Tyler Bates and an 87-member orchestra recording the music for Watchmen. Gobs of photos at the link, some of which depict scenes from the movie. According to the report, the Watchmen soundtrack will be released by Reprise Records on March 3rd 2009, three days before the movie comes out in theaters....
My sister Anita got something like second-row seats for the Celine Dion concert last night, and she snapped a bunch of pics of the beloved diva looking and smiling straight at where she and her friends were sitting. Darn! If I had known Anita was plotting this, I’da cajoled my way into going with her, ‘cuz I’m a big fan of Dion! Then again, if I had gone last night I would have missed Lost Season 5’s premiere. Decisions, decisions…
Still, I’m glad that Anita got to go. She has certainly been letting everyone that she knows how excited she was about it for the past two weeks š...
Oh geez…
Many of you remember a little over a year ago when YouTube yanked the clip I had posted of VH1’s Web Junk 2.0 that made use of my my first school board commercial.
Well, this morning I got another “Video Disabled” e-mail from YouTube.
This time, it’s about Forcery, the parody of Misery – about George Lucas being held captive by an overly-obsessed Star Wars fan – that we shot in 2004. Forcery was released in 2005 and I posted it on YouTube the following year, so it’s already been on YouTube for about three years now.
If you’ve seen Forcery, then you know that when Lucas (played by lifelong friend Chad Austin) is driving back to California after writing the script for Star Wars Episode III, he turns on the radio and finds himself listening to the classic song “A Horse with No ...
A little over two weeks ago we started a contest on this blog. The spoils? Three copies of the Gears of War 2: The Soundtrack CD… personally signed to the winners by composer Steve Jablonsky (the creative force behind the musical scores for Transformers, Desperate Housewives and a wazoo-load of other movies and television shows and other stuff). But in order to be eligible to win one of ’em, entrants were asked to send in a picture of themselves doing their best impersonation of any character from established Gears of War canon. Not a “costume contest” so much as that this was about conveying character and heart.
So we were giving away three Steve Jablonsky-signed copies of Gears of War 2: The Soundtrack… and this was an easy contest to judge ‘cuz three is exactly the amount of entries that came in! So the following three ...
Last night at Woodmont United Methodist Church in Reidsville, we had the strike party for Theatre Guild of Rockingham County‘s production of Oliver Twist. Tony Hummel (who played Mr. Brownlow) brought his karaoke machine. And during the festivities I did something that I had been asked to do several times over the past few weeks, mostly from people who heard about what happened at the Children of Eden strike party in June.
So here it is: Yours Truly singing “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen…
There’s been resounding agreement across the board that Gears of War 2 is the must-play video game of 2008. The sequel to Epic Games’ 2006 smash hit original is impressing people all over the place with its groundbreaking combo of technical achievement, poignant storytelling, and the hope and heroism and humor that’s come to be expected from the Gears of War franchise.
And just as the game is being hailed as a mighty accomplishment, so too is the amazing orchestral score by Steve Jablonsky getting raves for being a profound work of art in and of itself! I’ve talked to several people who’ve bought Gears of War 2: The Soundtrack since it came out last week and without fail, each of ’em have told me that they have felt seriously moved by Jablonsky’s music. And if you’re a longtime reader of this blog then y’all know how I went a ...
Because it’s the last day of November. And it’s been a rainy, cold and dreary mess outside all day, now going into this evening.
And because, this is one of the best rock songs of all time…
It’s things like this that make the hours of blogging, time well spent.
Good friend Crystal Stearns sent me an e-mail tonight raving about Straight No Chaser, a performance group that I’d never heard of until tonight. But I shall certainly keep an eye (and an ear) out for them from now on…
Here’s what Crystal has to say about ’em…
...You have to check out this group. Their 12 Days of Christmas is becoming all the rage here. Their story is really cool. They were just a college singing group 12 years ago. Then a couple years ago they were going to do a college reunion performance so their leader put some old footage on youtube to get them reaquanited with the music and moves. They got 8 million hits by Christmas. It got them a record deal. They are now the new sensation of the music world.
Word has reached this blog that my good friend Brian Hodges will be entertaining you folks with his exquisite cello talents on Idaho Public Television tonight!
There may be some video that Brian will be uploading of the performance too. You guys are going to have to check your own local listings for his appearance tonight though: I’m too lazy to do it from here!
(But if anyone can report that Brian is looking any closer to his goal of imitating Daniel Craig, be sure to let me know! š )...