Search Results for: the wonder years

CANNES, France – In the music business, it’s a vision that may soon be consigned to history: Grandpa slumping into the recliner, closing his eyes and enjoying a favorite rendition of an operatic solo. For music lovers these days, the sedentary lifestyle is out. A generation after the birth of portable tunes on the Walkman, technology has made music available nearly everywhere for today’s on-the-go consumer – and the recording industry sees a new wave to ride. The buzzwords Sunday at the Midem music industry conference in the French Riviera resort town of Cannes were mobile music, seen as the… Read more »

New York – When Casey Stratton was a struggling singer-songwriter a few years ago, he had idealistic notions about artistic integrity. High on his list of what would jeopardize it: licensing his music to television. “When I was younger, I used to be really weird about stuff like that, like, ‘I will not cheapen my work by putting it on TELEVISION!’” he recalls with a chuckle. That was before the producers of the teen-oriented drama “Tarzan” called and asked to use the bittersweet ballad “Hollow,” from his debut album, on the WB show. Stratton gave the go-ahead, and while the… Read more »

With the recent trend of films based upon successful Marvel comics, the use of today’s most popular modern rock acts for the comic-flick soundtrack has become almost cliche. The use of catchy yet mildly dramatic rock hits to accompany the depressing emotions often felt by the superheroes has already been played out with both Spiderman soundtracks as well as in movies like The Punisher and Daredevil. As Jennifer Garner returns to the big screen as the heroic Elektra, director Rob Bowman (Reign Of Fire and The X-Files) opted to stick to the original template. Elektra The Album, which is set… Read more »

December 21, 2004 09:00 AM US Eastern Timezone Beverly Hills Film Studios Announces Strategic Alliance with Award-Winning Music Production Company Touch-Tone Productions LOS ANGELES-(BUSINESS WIRE)-Dec. 21, 2004-Beverly Hills Film Studios Inc. (OTC: BVHJ) management is pleased to announce today a joint alliance with Touch-Tone Productions, a California-based music production company. With special focus on the production of music for movie soundtracks, Beverly Hills Film Studios Inc. (BHFS) has teamed with Touch-Tone as producers/composers. Touch-Tone is a dynamic conduit to the music industry and will be involved in all aspects of film music development and production, song placements and recording artist… Read more »

Los Angles – You only need one word to sum up the year in pop 2004: Usher. Clearly, it was his house. The rest of us were just overnight visitors. It began innocently enough, right at the beginning of the calendar year. On the Billboard Hot 100 dated Jan. 10, 2004 (coincidentally, the 55th anniversary of the introduction of the 45 rpm record), the highest new entry was “Yeah!” by Usher Featuring Lil Jon and Ludacris. Six weeks later, “Yeah!” had assumed pole position, and remained there for 12 weeks, tying it as the longest-running No. 1 (with “Lose Yourself”… Read more »

Merchants are describing this year’s holiday-season sales as a roller-coaster ride. That could hardly be said about the full-year sales experience. At least a roller coaster offers the contrast of intermittent highs and lows. Album sales started with one long rise toward a hopeful tally for the first eight months of 2004, followed by a steep decline that stole back most of the year’s advances in just a few weeks, as if a thrill ride had been designed by a party pooper who did not fully grasp the concept. But maybe a better analogy – as Ludacris replaces Jay-Z and… Read more »

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A nightclub shooting that left four people dead, including a heavy-metal guitarist, has concert bookers and bar managers wondering whether fans will grumble less the next time they’re patted down or directed through a metal detector. Scott Stienecker, for one, thinks it will. “It’ll be a whole different feeling, I bet.” Stienecker’s PromoWest Productions owns two Columbus concert halls larger than the Alrosa Villa, where 25-year-old Nathan Gale gunned down “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott and three others before a police officer shot him to death. Caroline O’Toole, though, and many of her fellow managers doubt Wednesday’s violence will… Read more »

Los Angeles – Wednesday’s VH1 Big in ’04 awards show was a terrifying example of life imitating art, one that was dreadfully similar to “Saturday Night Live”‘s “Train Wreck Awards” skit from a few weeks ago. There was Anna Nicole Smith, just slightly more coherent than she was at the American Music Awards, threatening to flash the Shrine Auditorium audience after accepting the Big Makeover of ’04 award. There was ultimate odd couple, Flavor Flav and Brigitte Nielsen, fondling each other from the “beige carpet” to the stage, which they entered on a horse-drawn carriage. (They also tried to fondle… Read more »

Los Angeles – After a three-year hiatus, Destiny’s Child is picking up where it left off: at the top. “Lose My Breath,” the first single from the R&B trio’s hotly anticipated album “Destiny Fulfilled,” quickly marched its way to No. 3 on The Billboard Hot 100. Now industry observers are handicapping how the group’s sales destiny will be fulfilled following the release of its first album since 2001’s “Survivor.” The Sony Urban Music/Columbia album debuted this week at No. 19 on the Billboard 200, based on only three days of sales in the week ended Nov. 14. It officially went… Read more »

On the heels of her Oscar victory earlier this year, singer Annie Lennox recently wrapped up the Sacred Love tour, with Sting. Critics and music fans across the country were treated to dazzling performances each and every night by the incomparable musician and her band. Lennox projected a vast range of emotion, complexity, and power with every note. Lennox’s set lists spanned her entire career, from her first hits with Eurythmics through her latest, multi-platinum release, Bare, which earned her another Grammy Nomination. Lennox also gave the fans a treat during Sting’s set as she joined her tour-mate on stage… Read more »