Mike Terrana & other: June 2008

Beatles all together now as

A new Beatles movie depicts surviving band members, widows and their producer reuniting to rise above a reputation for discord and collaborate on a lavish stage show with Cirque de Soleil.The movie, All Together Now, shows Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr working with Yoko Ono, George Harrison's widow Olivia and the Beatles' producer Sir George Martin to remix their music for the 21st century with the Las Vegas stage production of Love."I wanted to tell this story about these people who are myths. They're mythic characters," said the film's Canadian director, Adrian Wills. "This was a way for them to sort of deal with their past in a way that was in the present."The movie had its US debut last week at the Silverdocs documentary film festival and was repeated by audience demand on Tuesday. Apple Corps executive Jonathan Clyde said there are only limited plans for more public showings, but a DVD release is in the pipeline.Love is a US$180 million ($238 million) show at a specially built theatre at the Mirage Hotel. It opened in 2006. The Cirque de Soleil employs dance, acrobatics and fanciful staging to interpret the evolution of Beatles music from exuberant pop through utopian psychedelia, updating the image with a high-tech sheen.

The idea sprang from the friendship of Beatle George Harrison, who died in 2001, and Cirque founder Guy Laliberte. Wills has filmed previous Cirque productions, and All Together Now was initially planned as a small-scale promotional film.But Wills grew up a Beatles fan, and said he knew he was witnessing a rare moment following the band's bitter 1970 breakup. They were creating something new."It wasn't going to be definitive, but it was a new thing that they were working on, and I think it excited them," Wills said. "We were aware that we were capturing history."The Beatles, through Apple, and Cirque de Soleil are both known as fierce protectors of their image. "Neither had ever compromised on the creation of something," Clyde said in an interview. "So it was a challenge, and there were moments of great difficulty."Similarly, Wills faced long odds capturing the Beatles on screen. He said he filmed at a distance with a long lens and put a microphone on whomever he could. He got interviews with Paul and Ringo by first gaining the trust of Ono and Harrison. "We kind of stole the film," he said.There are brief moments of discord. Ono is shown distressed over Come Together, with dancers gyrating suggestively. It looked sleazy for what her husband, John Lennon, had intended as a political song, she said.But mostly the film shows McCartney, Starr, Harrison and Ono working with Martin and the Cirque, and reliving a time when the Beatles dominated popular culture."What the film reveals is that the show, it brought them together again," Clyde said. The past discord, he said, was mostly a myth.The movie shows Martin's son, Giles, working alongside his father to mix the Beatles' individual studio tracks into a new soundtrack for the show. George's son, Dhani, is also shown to be closely involved.McCartney compares the massive scale of Love with how he and Lennon composed the songs decades earlier on scraps of paper.Starr recounts encouraging Cirque's director to go further in interpretation. "Each generation as it grows up finds the Beatles for themselves, and it will go on," he said.McCartney looks back with amazement at The Beatles' status as one of the most influential music acts in modern history, and his presence in it. "Now I can say it _ we were a f****** great band," he said.- REUTERS

Lance Armstrong - Armstrong Refuses To Discuss Relationship With Hudson

Cycling champion LANCE ARMSTRONG is still refusing to publicly acknowledge his romance with actress KATE HUDSON after he was quizzed about the relationship during a U.S. TV interview on Tuesday (17Jun08).

The pair has been romantically linked since they were spotted kissing and cuddling during a party at the Cannes International Film Festival in France in May (08) - but neither star has spoken out about their romance to date.

And when the famous athlete was put on the spot on chat show The View, he politely declined to answer the four female hosts' inquiries as to his single status.

Armstrong says, "Number one, I know you have to ask that question. And it's my right not to answer it. Number two, I think when you're happy about something or proud about something, I think it's natural in human nature to talk about it.

"But I'm not going to answer it. Next question."

Hudson appeared on the show just last week (begs09Jun08), giggling coyly when posed the same question before responding, "Ask him."

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Coldplay drops shows in Edmonton, Calgary and Winnipeg and one show in Toronto

CALGARY - Coldplay has suddenly left Edmonton, Calgary and Winnipeg out in the cold.

Tour promoter Live Nation says "production delays" forced the British band to revamp their North American tour schedule, in effect cancelling three shows in the western Canadian cities and setting new dates for Montreal, Toronto and Ottawa.

As well, one of two planned Toronto shows has been scrapped.

"We're very sorry, but we promise you a show worthy of your patience and understanding when we start in mid-July," the band said in a statement issued by Live Nation.

Coldplay will still perform July 27 at the Pemberton Festival in British Columbia, but now visits Montreal's Bell Centre on July 29 and Toronto's Air Canada Centre on July 30. Originally these dates were planned for late October.

Ottawa's Scotiabank Place show is now set for Oct. 20, a day earlier than originally planned.

Coldplay's "Viva La Vida" tour kicks off with a two-night stand in Los Angeles on July 14-15, instead of June 29 in Philadelphia.

Tickets for the Toronto and Montreal shows go on sale Saturday, with the Ottawa on-sale date yet to be announced.

News from �The Canadian Press, 2008

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Ice-T Threatens Soulja Boy -- There's a War Brewin'

Rap fights used to be violent clashes between the East and West Coasts -- but now, they've turned into YouTube bitchfests between a 50-year-old OG and 17-year-old kid.
Soulja Boy and Ice-T: Click to view!

Ice-T started the beef against the youngin, saying Soulja Boy's "Superman" is responsible for killing hip-hop and that he needs to "Eat a d**k" -- and it's been a long winded, insult-filled video rant back-and-forth ever since.

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Bill's RB Hit by Stiff Arm of the Law

Bill's running back Marshawn Lynch will plead guilty to unspecified charges after a not-so mysterious hit-and-run that occurred last month, according to Erie County District Attorney Frank Clark.

A woman was struck by an SUV registered to Lynch in a Buffalo, NY intersection on May 31 -- and since then Lynch and his lawyers have been avoiding authorities.

The woman was left with a bruised hip and a cut that needed seven stitches.

A call to the Bill's has yet to be returned.

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Mica Paris

Artist: Mica Paris

   Genre(s):
Other

Discography:

Black Angel

Year: 1998
Tracks: 14

Though stardom has evaded her, English singer Mica Paris has a terrific voice and individualistic delivery and approaching. She sang in the Spirit of Watts religious doctrine chemical group before touring and transcription in the late '80s with Hollywood Beyond. She signed with quaternary and Broadway/Island in the '80s and then issued her debut So Good. Her second gear LP, Contribution, was released in 1990. Paris moved to Polydor for her third LP, Whisper a Prayer, in 1993. She too recorded with Will Downing in 1989, doing an updated version of "Where Is the Love."

'Creatures' feature for 'Wanted' writers

Michael Brandt, Derek Haas on animal-themed film

Writers Michael Brandt and Derek Haas have taken on fast cars and Western trains. Now the duo are tackling animals taking over the planet.

The two scribes, whose latest project, "Wanted," hits theaters today, have drafted a script for Sony and producer Neal Moritz and his Original Film titled "All Creatures Great and Small."

It's set in a world where the animals control the planet and humans are the minority.

Brandt said "Creatures" is a "big, fun, fantastic 'Jurassic Park'-type movie."

"Because of people's inability to quench their thirst for oil and consumption of resources, we basically ruin the planet, and the planet fights back," Brandt said. "And part of that is the quick evolution of many of the animals."

"Creatures" takes place in North America, "where people are literally living in forts, and the animals are running free," he added. "It's not like dogs and cats are killing people, it's that the strong have survived. Lions and bears and animals like that have all evolved, and they're slowly eating away at the human population."

Brandt said the idea came during a brainstorming session with Moritz, with whom they had signed a blind deal to develop a project. Moritz had been throwing around the "Creatures" idea internally at Original, and when he told the scribes about it, "We said that's what we want to write," Brandt said.

Sony's Andrea Giannetti will oversee the project for the studio.

Brandt and Haas are the writing force behind such films as "2 Fast 2 Furious" and "3:10 to Yuma."

The duo, who met 19 years ago at Baylor University, are having a busy year with the release of "Wanted" and the recent sale of a pitch to MGM for "The Matarese Circle," starring Denzel Washington, with Di Bonaventura Pictures.

Haas's first novel, "The Silver Bear," a thriller about an assassin, is due to be released July 15. Brandt is set to direct "Countdown," based on the Richard Matheson short story "Death Ship," for Summit Entertainment in the fall; Haas is producing.

Brandt and Hass are repped by WMA.

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Nine Inch Nails and David Bowie

Artist: Nine Inch Nails and David Bowie

   Genre(s):
Industrial
   Alternative

Discography:

I'm Afraid Of Americans

Year: 1997
Tracks: 6

The Oddball Couple

Year: 1995
Tracks: 16

George Michael sounds off on gay marriage in US, says it's 'way overdue'

Scary Spice: Wheelchair Won't Cramp My Style

What has four wheels, a mysterious injury and Eddie Murphy's unwanted daughter? It's Mel B!
Melanie Brown: Click to view!

Someone in Mel's camp told us the reason she was in a wheelchair at LAX this weekend was because her "hip was out of joint or something" from the long flight. We're told she went to a chiropractor and is all better now.

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