A young boy who thought he was going to get his school picture taken instead got the surprise, and the memory, of a lifetime.
A third grader in North Carolina recently showed up for picture day at Pearsontown Magnet Elementary (map), when his father, Corporal James Bass, decided to surprise his son with an adorable photobomb.
HBO Canada presents the new HBO film BESSIE, premiering Saturday, May 16 at 8 p.m. ET/MT, day-and-date with HBO in the U.S. Directed by acclaimed filmmaker Dee Rees (Pariah), the feature-length film captures the story of legendary blues singer Bessie Smith (Queen Latifah, Joyful Noise), from her professional highs and personal lows, to her transformation from young struggling singer into “The Empress of Blues,” one of the most successful recording artists of the 1920s and an enduring icon today.
Click HERE for a sneak peek of BESSIE.
BESSIE offers an intimate look at the determined woman whose immense talent and love for music took her from anonymity in the rough-and-tumble world of vaudeville to the 1920s blues scene and international fame. Capturing Bessie’s professional highs and personal lows, the film paints a portrait of a tenacious spirit who, despite her own demons, became a celebrated legend. Throughout the years, Bessie Smith has served as an inspiration for such illustrious singers as Billie Holiday, Aretha Franklin, Janis Joplin, and Nina Simone, among others.
The cast includes: Michael Kenneth Williams (HBO’s BOARDWALK EMPIRE) as Bessie’s husband, Jack; Khandi Alexander (HBO’s TREME) as Bessie’s older sister, Viola; Mike Epps (The Hangover) as Richard, a bootlegger and romantic interest; Tory Kittles (HBO’s TRUE DETECTIVE) as Bessie’s older brother, Clarence; Tika Sumpter (Ride Along) as Lucille, a performer and romantic interest; Oliver Platt (X-Men: First Class) as famed photographer and writer Carl Van Vechten; Bryan Greenberg (HBO’s HOW TO MAKE IT IN AMERICA) as renowned record producer and music critic John Hammond; Charles S. Dutton (LONGMIRE) as Ma Rainey’s husband, William “Pa” Rainey; and Oscar-winner Mo’Nique (Precious) as blues legend Ma Rainey.
BESSIE is directed by Dee Rees from a screenplay by Dee Rees, Christopher Cleveland, and Bettina Gilois. The film is executive produced by Richard D. Zanuck, Lili Fini Zanuck, Queen Latifah, Shakim Compere, Shelby Stone, and Randi Michel. Ron Schmidt produces. BESSIE is an HBO presentation of A Flavor Unit Entertainment Production and A Zanuck Company Production.
In Eastern Canada, the film will be available on TMN GO and HBO Canada OnDemand. In Western Canada, it will be available on the go with Shaw Go Movie Central app, Bell TV app, Telus Optik on the go, and HBO Canada On Demand.
Music Canada applauds the Ontario Government for continuing to invest in one of the province’s competitive advantages, the music industry.
“The Ontario Music Fund firmly places music at the forefront of Ontario’s economic development and has increased substantially the amount of high-value work being done in the Province of Ontario,” says Graham Henderson. “The OMF is a competitive advantage no other province has. Music’s role as a cultural powerhouse, economic driver, job creator, investment stimulus, tourism asset, and community builder has been reaffirmed with today’s OMF extension.”
The Ontario Music Fund has succeeded in stimulating increased economic activity, foreign direct investment, growth of live music production and a focus on music tourism. Over the last two years, the OMF has generated private investment dollars to match the government investment dollar to dollar.
“Our members alone have invested over $3.5 Million in recording projects over the last two years that have resulted in projects being completed in Ontario that would have been bound for other provinces or the U.S., generating significant employment and raising the profile of our talented professionals here in this province,” adds Henderson.
Highlights include:
– The recording of The Tenors’ latest album with 80 members of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, generating additional opportunities for performance and collaboration between these music ensembles;
– A Walk Off The Earth recording that would have been done in the U.S. but instead employed two Ontario producers and generated an estimated 1700 work hours;
– The recording of Scott Helman’s debut EP “Augusta” and production of supporting videos has helped to launch a career. Since the release of “Augusta”, Scott has seen a drastic increase in his following across social media platforms and has toured Ontario with Colin James, played We Day in Ottawa for 17,000 fans, signed on with The Paradigm Agency for the U.S. territory, and hired Azoff Music Management to guide his career;
The production of numerous music videos including the Fall Out Boy video for “Centuries” that employed close to 90 music video professionals for two days and funneled production costs to the historic shooting location at Fort Henry.
Renewal of the Ontario Music Fund comes just a few weeks after Premier Wynne announced the recipients of the second round of funding at an event a Coalition Music in Toronto, saying “music moves the earth.”
Music Canada is a non-profit trade organization that represents the major record companies in Canada, namely Sony Music Entertainment Canada, Universal Music Canada and Warner Music Canada. Music Canada also works with some of the leading independent record labels and distributors, recording studios, live music venues, concert promoters, managers and artists in the promotion and development of the music cluster.
We’ve no idea how he does it, but 31-year-old Jamie Raven has everyone mesmerised with his clever conjuring act. After presenting the Judges with special BGT £50 notes, it’s time to see what other tricks the magician has up his sleeve.
Even Simon is won over: “I now actually believe in magic, like some people believe in ghosts!”
Lucasfilm and visionary director J.J. Abrams join forces to take you back again to a galaxy far, far away as “Star Wars” returns to the big screen with “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.” Episode VII in the Star Wars Saga, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, opens in theaters December 18, 2015.
Bob Lefsetz addresses the issues that are at the core of the music business: downloading, copy protection, pricing and the music itself. In response to Lefsetz’s latest newsletter, Music First, Stardom Second, genius producer and all-around great guy Bob Ezrin ( Lou Reed, Alice Cooper, Kiss, Pink Floyd, Peter Gabriel) responded to Lefsetz, who then posted his heart-felt letter on his blog. Here it is in full.
There used to be music. No longer.
In just the last few generations, we have witnessed the complete devolution of the mainstream of music from the intricacies and demands of jazz, swing and modern “classical”; the subtleties and finesse of the best of popular song writing; the mastery of “folk” instruments and vocal performance in the best of folk and rock; the singular high-mindedness of the greatest singer songwriters; and the hard-won craft of playing and writing and creating meaningful work, to four bar grids of “cut and paste” monotony over which someone writes shallow nursery rhymes about partying, trucks and beer or bitches and bling, or whines in hardly rhyming verse about their sad little white boy or girl life.
There are occasional exceptions, of course. But where are the anthems, the protest songs, the songs to march to or the ideas to fight for, the truths to believe in. Instead it’s all about “me”.
“Glory” from the film “Selma” is the great current exception – as is Kendrick Lamarr’s work. And – yes – let’s not forget the valiant Dixie Chicks!! But mostly there’s little more than a bit of catchy ear candy and nice beats.
All that talk about the “me generation” turns out to be true. We lost “us” in the 80’s and since then we only care about ourselves and our personal gain; we only want the money.
The rhetoric endures – as it does in politics. There’s not a single human working in the “music industry” who doesn’t say that they’re in it for the music, for the art form. Just like there’s no politician who doesn’t claim to be doing it to serve their country or community. But the reality is, we’re all in everything for the pay off. Period.
There used to be meaning. No more.
With our music and words, we used to fight for freedom; we used to incite change; we used to elevate each other; we used to speak for all of us and literally move mountains.
No more.
Bob Ezrin
Los Angeles noise group Health have announced their new album Death Magic with a video that is not for the weak-of-stomach: Excruciatingly slow-motion vomiting. In the video for first single “New Coke,” we follow Health on a pretty standard night out, there’s a bar, there’s dancing, very strobe-lighty. However, around the 90-second mark, the John Famiglietti-directed video starts to begin it’s way to something not normally seen in music videos these days – projectile vomiting. And yes, it’s all real.
HTML5 Drum Machine is an easy-to-use, web-based emulator that allows folks to create and download incredible drum patterns. The whole thing is verystraightforward and easy to use for wanna-be’s and never-gonna-be’s like me with a variety of labeled buttons and knobs for everything from “SNARE” to “SHAKE” and more.
Remember that rendition on the Dot Matrix printer of the classic Survivor song “Eye of the Tiger”? The dot matrix master behind the arrangement, Midi Desaster, has since created quite a few more songs. Check out dot matrix “Everlong” by Foo Fighters, or dot matrix “Eine kleine Nachtmusik” by Mozart.
