Tag Archives: News

Gravity Back At IMAX By Popular Demand

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gravity returns to the IMAXGravity returns to IMAX cinemas across the UK thanks to overwhelming demand from cinemagoers.

Alfonso Cuarón’s spectacular sci-fi thriller starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney is considered by critics and the public alike as one of the best films of 2013. Since opening in October 2013, the film has become the highest-grossing IMAX release of 2013 in the UK and worldwide and is so far the seventh biggest IMAX release of all time in the UK.

Gravity is dominating awards season, most recently leading the 2014 BAFTA nominations this week where it secured 11 nominations, including Best Film and Outstanding British Film, with Director and Leading Actress nominations for Cuarón and Sandra Bullock.  It is also nominated for four Golden Globe Awards, taking place this Sunday.

Greg Foster, CEO of IMAX Entertainment and Senior Executive Vice President, IMAX Corp. said, “We couldn’t be happier with the overwhelming success of Gravity and the continued demand we’re seeing from UK cinemagoers to bring it back in IMAX.  Word of mouth around this film has been tremendous, with fans and critics across the globe demanding that Gravity must be experienced in the most immersive way possible.

“Hats off to our partners Alfonso Cuarón, David Heyman and Warner Bros. for delivering this breath-taking and relentless journey that is truly worthy of the big screen. Gravity has surely cemented its place in cinema history and we’re thrilled to provide fans the opportunity to see it again, or to offer anyone who missed it another chance to see what all the fuss is about.”

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Travel trends: Hot Tips For 2014 Plus 2013 Best Performers

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Morocco, Barbados and Kenya were the big success stories for 2013

Montenegro is hotly tipped for 2014, while Spain and Portugal continue to perform well

Morocco has outperformed any other worldwide holiday destination in terms of increased bookings for 2013, according to loveholidays.com

Montenegro, top travel destinations, travel trends, Data from the online travel agency reveals bookings to Morocco are up a staggering 1,100% year-on-year. Barbados and Kenya have seen bookings soar, by 800% and 700% respectively, while regular favourites Spain and Portugal also report big increases.

Montenegro, meanwhile, is being tipped as the next big destination in 2014, after it too showed a healthy increase in bookings last year.

Morocco holidays: up 1,100%

Morocco has been boosted in recent years, partly since easyJet launched flights to the destination. Since then, UK holidaymakers have started to realise what great value it is, and because it’s only a three-hour flight away, it’s possible to nip over for a short break.

loveholidays.com founder Alex Francis says: “Morocco is a very decently priced option for people who want to set foot on exotic soil and experience ‘Africa’ from as little as £150 per person.”

“Air capacity from the UK is increasing by 60% this winter with easyJet, for example, further expanding with the launch of a Bristol-Marrakesh service last month. It’s not surprising the Moroccan Tourist Board is predicting double-digit growth in travellers to the country. We think Morocco has still further to go.”

Barbados holidays: up 800%

Barbados is served with a great selection of flights from UK airports and transfer times from the airport to resort are shorter than some of the other Caribbean destinations.

Francis says: “It’s relatively safe and very “British” – you could say it’s got a ‘faraway familiarity’ about it, which is why it’s a firm favourite among Brits. This year, the Barbados Tourism Authority ran a promotion in conjunction with selected hotels giving tourists ‘free spending money’, redeemable at restaurants and attractions, to boost low-season bookings – and this definitely helped raise the island’s profile as a value-for-money destination.

“In addition, Barbados’ best-known export, Rihanna, is never far out of the media spotlight, ensuring regular publicity for the island.”

Kenya holidays: up 700%

Tourism to Kenya reached record levels three years ago, with British travellers making up the biggest proportion of its one million visitors. Political unrest, terrorism and rare instances of attacks on holidaymakers since then have kept the destination in the spotlight for the wrong reasons. But Kenya is so unusual that it never takes long to bounce back. Hence a 700% increase in demand.

Francis says: “There really is nowhere on earth like Kenya and safari holidays combined with a few days on the beach are really popular. Prices remain keen, so a bargain safari and beach holiday in Kenya is perfectly possible.”

Montenegro holidays: up 300%

“Our money’s on Montenegro as a hot destination for 2014. It’s a tiny country, but it’s going to be huge this year, with tourists flocking to the resort of Becici and the nearby Medieval town of Budva. Upmarket accommodation providers, such as Regent Hotels and Resorts and Kerzner International’s One&Only, are opening new properties in 2014; however, even on a smaller budget, it’s easy to experience Montenegro in style and comfort.”

“The four-star Hotel Montenegro Beach in Becici has proved really popular this year. As far as value for money goes, it’s hard to beat – and that’s why we’re tipping Montenegro as one to watch this year,” predicts Francis.

Spain and Portugal holidays: up 571% and 616% respectively

The original summer holiday destination for Brits – Spain – has been back in favour for a few years now. It’s not surprising, since it’s got brilliant flight links, offering the convenience of flying from a local airport in the vast majority of cases. Its neighbour, Portugal, is also a staple favourite and both destinations have a loyal repeat visitor clientele.

“In addition, these are two destinations that, even throughout the economic downturn, still represent great value for money, especially holidays to Spain,” says Francis.

“It’s just over two hours away and has stayed relatively ‘cheap’ while other destinations have shot up in price. Spain is consistently our big seller.”

Other high-performing destinations during 2013, and expected to prove popular next year, are: Tunisia (up 408%); Canary Islands (up 340%); Egypt (up 317%); Aruba (up 300%); Jamaica (up 289%); Balearic Islands (up 267%); Turkey (up 271%) and Slovenia (up 250%).

 

New Mongrels | Music Profile

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Band: New Mongrels
Location: Los Angeles (me and 6 others); Atlanta;  Decatur, Alabama: Boston; Seattle; Vancouver, B.C.
Styles: Folk/Roots, Americana, Indie, Folk Rock, Acoustic
Similar to: Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, Lumineers, Decemberists, Blind Pilot, Dawes
CD: Raised Incorruptible
Release date: Jan 14, 2014

Accolades:
* NM are an artist collective spanning 7 cities.
* One of the members is Indigo Girls member Amy Ray
* Michelle Malone is a grammy-nominated touring artist
* Laura Hall was the house musician for the TV show “Whose Line is it Anyway?” * * Kubilay Uner is a film composer
* Haynes Brooke is an actor and playwright.

Members/Instruments:
Haynes Brooke: guitar, vocals, mandolin, piano, ukelele, percussion
Katie Green: vocals, violin
Kubilay Uner: bass, keyboards
Jeff Mosier: drums, vocals
Michael Lorant: vocals
Michelle Malone: vocals, guitar
Amy Ray: vocals
Laura Hall: vocals, accordion
Rick Hall: vocals
Lucy Brooke: vocals
Mike Moynihan: trumpet, vocals
Ken Palmer: drums, vocals, harmonica
Nicolas Green: guitar

Websites:
Official
Facebook
Soundcloud
Youtube

Bio:
Raised-Incorruptible_450x406The New Mongrels’ Raised Incorruptible is a new record from a 148-year-old band.

Those familiar with group will know the bizarre history of band member Haynes Brooke and his great-great grandfather Henry.

Deaf in one ear, shell-shocked, a 17-year-old veteran of  the civil war, Henry  founded the “Smythe County Mongrels Society” in 1861. He stated their purpose as “the joyful promotion, through song and rhythmic utterances, of a unified moral code for all creatures.” Apparently the group met to drink hard cider and sing the entire book of Psalms to their own improvised melodies. Dogs and instruments welcome. Great-great grandpa rocked.

Brooke found the charter of the “Mongrels,” as they were called, legally intact in the Smythe County courthouse and brought the group back to life as the New Mongrels.

Today this underground society of musicians, artists and writers still operates under an amended version of the original by-laws, which calls for, among other things, “membership by invitation without regard to species affiliation.” This makes for strange committee meetings but great music.

Raised Incorruptible began in a rented house on the Rogue River in Oregon, when some impromptu mongrel recording sessions yielded promising results. Back in LA, Brooke created a calamitous batch of low-fi demos working with drummer Ken Palmer, house percussionist for Tim Robbin’s Actors Gang Theater. These demos went out to mongrel members across North America for input and review in keeping with the group’s odd collectivist procedures. Field trips to New Hampshire and Canada brought back musical contributions, then Brooke’s garage became the main recording facility and as mongrels passed through LA they were added to the final project. The record was mixed by film composer and mongrel member Kubilay Uner.

Despite the sometimes cumbersome procedural demands of their organization, a dispersed and evolving group of Mongrels built a powerful and unified sound. An ear-catching,  mixed-breed blend of styles emerged, anchored always by the unique and lyrically rich songwriting of Brooke. Each cut has its own strong personality; together they have the combined intensity of a pack of wild dogs.

The New Mongrels: 131 years old and still rocking.

“Writing songs is a constant in my life,” says New Mongrel band leader and producer Haynes Brooke.

Why then the big gap between albums from his celebrated roots-folk outfit?

“The Mongrels are an unwieldy bunch to coordinate – and everyone has their own artistic pursuits,” says Brooke. “The time has to feel right for a record to emerge.”

“I’ve been busy myself with other projects. In recent years, a lot of my songs have actually ended up on the stage. I’ve written three full-length musicals for the underground theater scene here in LA, and I think the exercise of writing from the point of view of a range of characters has probably broadened my creative skills.”

Last year Brooke sat down to go through some of his songwriting archives.

“I realized a group of songs was emerging that felt like they needed a home. Then new songs started coming that felt like they belonged to the same family. Time to make a record, I thought.”

“I played some demos for another LA mongrel member, film composer Kubily Uner, and he not only liked them, he agreed to help produce and mix the record. We made a plan, double-checked that it was in accord with our weird mongrel by-laws, then hit ‘record’ and started playing. When other mongrels started joining in, coming down to LA from Seattle or on tour from Alabama, the thing started to take off,” says Brooke.

My main thought was, ‘Why did I wait so long?'”

The Plum Magnetic | Music Profile

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Band: The Plum Magnetic
Location: New Orleans, LA, USA
Styles: World/Fusion/Rock
Similar to: Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, Umphrey’s McGee, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Talking Heads,Grateful Dead
CD: Terra Animata
Accolades: Have opened for NoHayBanda Trio (Italy), World Service Project (UK), The Magnetic Ear (New Orleans)

Members/Instruments: Trent Ciolino- electric 6-string banjo,vox; Andrew McLean- guitars, tabla; Jon Solomon- bass; Oliver Burke- drums

Production: Trent Ciolino and The Plum Magnetic; Engineered by Andrew McLean; Mixed by Andrew McLean and Kevin Sweet; Mastered by Paul Marinaro at Piety Street Studios, NOLA

Tracklisting: Spring; Trece Leches; Sweet Confusion; The Electric Jungle; Shesh Besh; Parallax; The Delicious; Terra Animata

Websites:
Bandcamp
Facebook
Reverbnation
Twitter

 

Bio:
The aim of The Plum Magnetic is to blend elements of music from all over the world into a synergistic whole and through this genre-melding approach to both represent and promote a harmonious unity-through-diversity. The depth of emotion, melody, The Plum Magnetic musicand structure of Indian Classical music; the ecstatic pulse and rich, repetitious, patterns of Africa; the manifold great American forms, including Jazz, Blues, Rock, Folk/Bluegrass, Fusion, and beyond; all of these are deftly interwoven to produce a sound that is broad in scope, rich with intent, and full of surprises.

The Plum Magnetic was formed in late 2011 out of relationships built over years of involvement in the New Orleans music scene. Trent (banjo/vox) and Oliver (drums) met while playing in super eclectic local group Eve’s Lucky Planet, and over years of extended jams based in African, Reggae, and Afro-Cuban styles developed a unique musical bond which serves as the backbone of The Plum Magnetic’s developing sound. In considering personnel to expand the project’s line-up, Andrew McLean (guitar) was the obvious first choice. Trent and Andrew met through a shared love of Indian Classical Music; Andrew (having studied raga and tala for over a decade at the esteemed Ali Akbar Khan College of Music) as teacher, and Trent as a beginner sitar student. Last but not least, the group needed a bassist, and after experimenting with a few different players, Jon Solomon (founding member of Gravity A and bass player about town) was a natural fit. With his great feel and sensitivity he rounds out the sound, allowing the group to present music that though at times exceedingly complex, is always firmly rooted in the groove.

Drawing comparisons to groups ranging from Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, The Grateful Dead, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Talking Heads, and Umphrey’s McGee, The Plum Magnetic is one of the most diverse, engaging, and original up and coming groups in the New Orleans scene and beyond.

PR Fired After Racist Aids Tweet

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Justine Sacco, formally the head of corporate communications for Barry Diller’s New York-based internet empire InterActive Corp, has been fired after a racist tweet which went viral while she was in the air for an 11-hour flight from London to Cape Town, where she flew to be with her family over Christmas. Sacco issued a statement on Sunday to the Star newspaper in South Africa. She also deleted the tweet and then her entire twitter account after landing. The tweet (below) was retweeted over 2000 times and went viral after Buzzfeed picked it up and the hashtag #HasJustineLandedYet trended.

20131222-230544.jpg

In her statement Sacco said she was in “anguish knowing that my remarks have caused pain to so many people. Words cannot express how sorry I am, and how necessary it is for me to apologize to the people of South Africa, who I have offended due to a needless and careless tweet.

There is an AIDS crisis taking place in this country, that we read about in America, but do not live with or face on a continuous basis. Unfortunately, it is terribly easy to be cavalier about an epidemic that one has never witnessed firsthand.”

Sacco was born in South Africa and her father still lives there.

And the best response is this tweet from Ellie mac @ellenmc

 

What do you think?

2013 Top Music Moments

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top music moments of 2013, Miley Cyrus, wrecking ball, naked, music, video, The Rolling Stones beat One Direction to claim music moment of 2013

· Rock icons beat pop princes in 2013 music review

· 8 out of 10 Brits think it hasn’t been a ‘golden year’ for pop

· Prince William belting out Livin’ On A Prayer beats Miley Cyrus’ twerk at VMAs

· The Big Reunion tour voted a bigger music moment than Beyonce’s surprise album

The Rolling Stones’ performance at Glastonbury has been named the biggest music moment of 2013.

With a combined age of 273, the Stones have romped to victory and shown the pop stars of today how to put on a show. The rockers not only came out top in a review of the year’s music high and lows by free music streaming service blinkbox music, but trounced pop sensations One Direction.

The Best Song Ever singers – with a combined age of 97 – came bottom of the top 20 list with the launch of their movie. To add insult to injury, the only other entry featuring the boys is Taylor Swift’s swipe at Harry Styles as he spoke at the MTV Video Music Awards, coming in at number 19.

Proof that a Rolling Stone gathers no moss, Mick and the gang’s epic performance at this year’s festival topped the survey by a landslide, with 1 in 4 putting them on top – EIGHT TIMES more than those backing the 1D boys.

In another sign of respect for the elder statesmen of music, the death of music icon Lou Reed came in second, followed in third place by the return of legend David Bowie with his new album Where Are We Now?.

2013 was a year of comebacks and reunions, including news that McFly and Busted would form a super group (4th), Eminem’s epic return (8th) and 90s pop band B*witched with The Big Reunion gang going on tour (10th) – a bigger moment than Beyonce’s surprise album (11th).

The future King of England can take a bow after his performance with Jon Bon Jovi and Taylor Swift (6th) eclipsed Miley Cyrus’ twerk-tastic We Can’t Stop/Blurred Lines show stopper at the VMAs (7th).

The summer time smash hit Get Lucky by Daft Punk was the only song entry in the survey (15th) whilst the naughty video to Robin Thicke’s Blurred Lines was the only video entry, but failed to make it into the top 10 (12th).

Despite huge music moments over the past 12 months, 8 out of 10 Brits didn’t think 2013 was a golden year for pop music.

Over 2000 British adults were surveyed by One Poll for blinkbox music. Here is the full list:

1. Rolling Stones headline Glastonbury

2. Death of Lou Reed

3. David Bowie comeback album

4. McFly and Busted form McBusted

5. Adele wins Oscar for Skyfall

6. Prince William sings with Jon Bon Jovi and Taylor Swift

7. Miley Cyrus twerks at the MTV VMAs

8. Eminem’s comeback album

9. JLS announce they are breaking up

10. The Big Reunion tour

11. Beyonce releases a surprise album

12. The Blurred Lines video

13. Emeli Sande named UK’s biggest selling album artist for the second consecutive year

14. Will Smith and Alfonso Ribeiro appear on The Graham Norton Show

15. Daft Punk’s Get Lucky reigns over summer

16. Jay Z rides the London Underground

17. Beyonce’s performance at the Superbowl

18. Metallica play a special gig in Antarctica

19. Taylor Swift has a dig at Harry Styles as he collects MTV award

20. One Direction’s movie

Bobbie Morrone Trio | Music Profile

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Bobbie MorroneArtist: Bobbie Morrone
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Styles:  Pop/Blues, Pop/Jazz, Alternative
Similar to: Jack Johnson, John Mayer, Jason Mraz, Matt Costa, G. Love
CD: The Best I Can Be EP
Release date: January 10, 2014 (1/10/14)
Members/Instruments: Bobbie Morrone (Vocals/Guitar), Paul Machette (Bass), Alex Machette (Drums)
Production: Jonathan Class

Bio:  The Bobbie Morrone Trio is comprised of three guys that just love music and want to share it with the world. With their extensive musical knowledge and backgrounds, they work together as a musical blender. First you throw in pop, soul, funk, blues, and folk music. You thoroughly blend those ingredients together, pour them into a cup, add whipped cream, then sprinkle some jazz on top. You call that beverage the Bobbie Morrone Trio.

Tracklisting:
1) Make You Scream
2) Long Way Down
3) The Best I Can Be

Websites:
Bandcamp
Facebook
Twitter

Martin Scorsese To Retire?

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Martin Scorsese to retireMartin Scorsese has said he wants to retire from film-making after a ‘few more films’. The legendary Oscar-winning director was speaking last weekend at the Marrakech film festival, where he was acting as jury president. He went on:

“I have the desire to make many films, but as of now, I’m 71 and there’s only a couple more left if I get to make them, I miss the time when I had the desire to experiment and try different kinds of films, I miss that time, but that’s done, it’s over. There is obligation as you get older, you have family. I’ve been very lucky in the last 10 years or so to have found projects that combine the desire, the obligation to my family and the financiers.”

Scorsese said that when he started working with Leonardo DiCaprio it was “tricky”  because the actor was so well known for Titanic. “When I did Gangs of New York and The Aviator, people kept asking me, ‘Is he an actor?'”

“I said yes. I saw What’s Eating Gilbert’s Grape, he film he did with [Robert] de Niro, This Boy’s Life before Titanic. So there’s a stigma there which people still refer to.

“But we found that he regenerated my enthusiasm for making films. Mainly because, as you get older, it gets physically difficult and also the business especially – the financial issues. You’re responsible for a lot of money, if you get it. It’s all pressure, but can you do it? His enthusiasm and excitement really kept me going, for another five pictures now.”

I had the pleasure of working on Scorsese’s Hugo and it was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. I still feel honored. I am glad that Scorsese will at least make a few more films, his contribution to cinema is outstanding. The day he retires will be a sad one but we will still have his legacy.