Say what you will about Michael Jackson. He was the self-anointed King of Pop, but legions of fans around the world were his willing subjects for decades, crossing generations. So there is at least a reasonable in-house audience just itching for more about the moon-walker and Spike Lee is just the man to deliver. Lee and Jackson were friends in life and the filmmaker, whose Red Hook Summer opens next month, is working on a documentary tied to the 25th anniversary of the release of Jackson’s Bad album.
And Lee has apparently come across a lot of material for the film-in-progress. He told the A.P. it’s a “treasure chest of findings” including footage the star shot himself from behind-the-scenes. “We had complete access to the vaults of Michael Jackson,” Lee said. “He wrote 60 demos for the Bad record. Only 11 made it. So we got to hear a lot of that stuff, too, so it was just a great experience.”
Still untitled, Lee said that the film will be appealing to those who are not Michael Jackson fans. The doc will also show a personal side of the pop legend. “He had a great sense of humor and he was funny,” said Lee who interviewed Kanye West and Mariah Carey for the film. He also spoke to Sheryl Crow who was a background singer during Jackson’s Bad tour. “We really divided it into two things: Artists today who were influenced by Michael and then people who worked side by side…”
Loyalists and new converts have been gobbling up Michael Jackson’s music since his death in 2009 at age 50 and the powers-that-be are very happy to oblige. The follow-up to the singer’s Thriller album, Bad includes hits “Smooth Criminal” and “The Way You Make…
Full Story »Pop star Kylie Minogue is in Cannes, and she’s showcasing a career move: Starring in a film. Not just any film mind you, but Leos Carax’s Holy Motors, which attendees here are calling the wackiest selection to hit the festival in years, a pretty amazing feat. With cyber-monsters, talking machines and a story that is a complete trip, Minogue plays two characters in Carax’s tale, which centers on Monsieur Oscar — who himself is in fact many characters: a captain of industry, assassin, beggar, monster, family man and a half-dozen more.
Taking on the role, Minogue said she decided to shed some of her persona and that she was thrilled to be in Cannes. “It feels like a dream to have a film here in Cannes and to be welcomed into this family with Leos,” she said Wednesday afternoon. “My involvement was deep and emotional and fun. I banned my entourage of coming with me. I stripped myself of ‘Kylie’ and wanted to be a blank canvas for Leos.”
In Holy Motors, Monsieur Oscar (Denis Lavant) journeys from one role to the next, accompanied by Céline (Edith Scob), the woman driving a massive engine that transports him through Paris. He’s a “conscientious assassin,” going from one place to the next in pursuit of a mysterious driving force and the women and spirits of past lives.
“I pass bridges every day and this old gypsy woman with her bag; for years I’ve passed these women and rarely given money,” Carax said, adding, “So I thought there is no way to communicate with this woman — there is no way. So I’d imagine myself slipping into a café and changing into old woman clothes and becoming that woman and that’s how this whole story started.”
Carax and Minogue met a…
Full Story »It’s probably one of the best ways to work through your failed celebrity marriage: Air all your dirty laundry in a thinly veiled dance-pop ditty from your hawt new album! Which is what Madonna seemingly does in her new song, “I Don’t Give A,” which Guy Ritchie is listening to somewhere, shaking his head. Sample lyrics: “You were so mad at me / Who’s got custody / Lawyers / Suck it up / Didn’t have a prenup.” OUCH. Let the divorce therapy rip!
More lyrics:
“Wake up ex wife / This is your life / Children / On your own / Turning on the telephone”
“Messages / managers / no time for a manicure / work it out / shake my ass / I know how to multi-task”
“I tried to be a good girl / I tried to be your wife / Diminished myself / and I swallowed my light”
Eh, I give Madge points for getting Nicki Minaj on her track, even if her best lines are about rejecting shoes from Aldo and co-opting Jay-Z’s “business, man” bit. The song itself is a little to Desperate Ex-Housewives for my tastes. Whatever happened to singing about lucky stars and sex and Black Jesus and stuff? Prenups? Custody? Yawn.
Full Story »No! Not together! Could you imagine? Actually, I guess you’re perfectly welcome to play these unearthed early ’90s pop gems by artist/filmmaker Julian Schnabel and actor Ian McShane simultaneously in a fit of masochistic Tuesday morning ardor, but nine out of 10 doctors would strongly disapprove. And the tenth one would be clinically deaf. Let’s have a listen!
Jordan Hoffman passed along word this morning of his extraordinary archival find: Schnabel’s troubled 1993 album Every Silver Lining Has a Cloud, produced by Bill Laswell and featuring a fairly staggering line-up of Anton Fier on Drums, Laswell on bass, Bernie Worrell on keys and Buckethead on guitar. And behind the mic: Schnoul Brother No. 1, Mr. Julian Schnaaaaabellll [CROWD GOES WILD]:
I know what you’re asking yourself: How did this happen? How could this happen? Is that a turd or phallus on the album cover? But there’s no time for questions — not with Ian McShane’s 1992 covers album From Both Sides Now to revisit. No real back-up band on this one besides the British producers The James Boys, a pair of wunderkinds who laid down just the right karaoke-style synth jams to complement England’s own hardest-working man in show business:
Check out the complete story behind McShane’s misbegotten croonery here, and lobby Hoffman to release the rest of those hallowed Schna-ballads here.
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