Kiss and Tell: Rock Legend Gene Simmons & other: June 2008

Tuesday 24 June 2008

John Mayer: You Lika Tha Juice?

Move over Roger Clemens, John Mayer wants to be a huge star too!

The adult contemporary staple walked out of a Beverly Hills medical building on Wednesday, carrying a bag with the words "experimental human growth hormones" scribbled across it.

John -- your tatted-up muscles look just fine as is.

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Thursday 19 June 2008

How You Say Partridge en Francais?

He's considered by many as the French Elvis -- but last night the only celeb our cameraman was comparing Johnny Hallyday to was Danny Bonaduce.
Danny Hallyday: Click to watch

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Coldplay praise Radiohead for pioneering new styles of album releases

Coldplay have praised Radiohead for pioneering new styles of album releases, but insist they won’t follow in their footsteps by giving away albums on the internet or short announcement releases.

The band’s frontman, Chris Martin, says he enjoys being signed to a major record label, but compared it to “living in your grandparents’ house” and said it’s inevitable the band will one day leave EMI.

He says, “Being on a major label at the moment is like living in your grandparents’ house.

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Director-producer-actor Sydney Pollack Dies At 73

Multi-hyphenated filmmaker Sydney Pollack, who won a director's Oscar for 1985's Out of Africa and received nominations for directing 1969's They Shoot Horses Don't They? and 1982's Tootsie, died Monday after a year-long battle with cancer. He would have turned 74 on July 1. Pollack also produced numerous films, including last year's Michael Clayton, in which he also had a prominent acting role, portraying George Clooney's lawyer boss. In a statement, Clooney said, Sydney made the world a little better, movies a little better and even dinner a little better. ... He'll be missed terribly."

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Spencer Not Shooting Blanks

Heidi and Spencer say they've been taking lessons at the shooting range, learning how to handle guns.
Heidi & Spencer: Click to watch

You thought it, not us.

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Peter White

Artist: Peter White

   Genre(s):
Jazz
   New Age

Discography:

Glow Borders Edition

Year: 2001
Tracks: 13

Glow

Year: 2001
Tracks: 11

By Candlelight

Year: 2000
Tracks: 14

Caravan Of Dreams

Year: 1996
Tracks: 1

Reflections

Year: 1994
Tracks: 10

Promenade

Year: 1993
Tracks: 11

Reveillez-Vous

Year:
Tracks: 10

Perfect Moment

Year:
Tracks: 10

Excusez-Moi

Year:
Tracks: 11

Terra Incognita

Artist: Terra Incognita

   Genre(s):
Ethnic

Discography:

Tribal Gathering

Year:
Tracks: 14

Old School Slow Jams

Artist: Old School Slow Jams

   Genre(s):
Rap: Hip-Hop

Discography:

Slow Jam Mix - Jodeci, Keith Sweat, Isley Bros., Marvin Gaye

Year:
Tracks: 1

Getting to the heart of multifaceted Noel Coward

"He's been in and out of favor over the years. He's either the hottest thing or really passé."

That would be the late actor-writer-composer-director Sir Noel Coward, as described by his ardent fan, David Ira Goldstein.

Several years ago, Goldstein launched a campaign to introduce Coward's oeuvre to modern audiences. He also wanted to entice people who only know Coward by his most enduring play, "Private Lives," or best-known movie, "Brief Encounter," to check out the multifaceted Englishman's legacy. That led to "A Marvelous Party," the award-winning, much-traveled "celebration of Noel Coward," which opens a run at ACT Theatre this week. The ACT staging is by Goldstein, who co-created the show with its original cast, Carl Danielsen, Mark Anders, Patricia Wilcox and Anna Lauris.

The artistic head of Arizona Theatre Company for the past 16 years, and formerly associate artistic director of ACT, Goldstein knows Coward may seem utterly retro.

As has been often said, Noel Coward (who lived from 1899 to 1973) virtually invented "Englishness" for the 20th century.

Rising from humble middle-class origins, Coward in the 1920s and '30s became a dapper blade, a theatrical jack-of-all-trades, and a toast of London and New York cafe society. (Or as Coward jested, "Nescafé Society).

But, insists Goldstein, "Coward wasn't just that famous image of the guy in the tuxedo, holding a cocktail glass. He was much more accomplished and eclectic than a lot of people realize."

Coward also was industrious — and, despite the party-boy image, highly disciplined. "Work is much more fun than fun," was one of his pithy epigrams.

Accordingly, he authored more than 50 published plays, composed scores of songs, wrote and appeared in numerous hit films, turned out novels, memoirs and reams of correspondence. For good measure, late in his career he also played swanky nightclubs as a solo act.

Coward embodied a certain soigné style and withering wit that became a hallmark of British élan and gay camp. (Given England's anti-gay laws and homophobia during his life, he kept his own homosexuality private.)

But his characters were not all swells. Coward also depicted regular middle-class folk (such as in "Brief Encounter," about an intense but unconsummated extramarital relationship). He championed patriotic British fortitude in wartime. And a few of his plays ("Design for Living," "The Vortex") were prescient reflections on sexual experimentation and drug addiction.

Eager to stage a musical tribute to Coward at Arizona Theatre Company, Goldstein found only two estate-sanctioned revues: "Oh, Coward!" (seen at Seattle Repertory Theatre in 1999) and "Cowardy Custard."

"Both were created when Coward was still alive," Goldstein notes. "They assume everybody knows him and his songs, but a lot of people today don't. Our show gives a loosely chronological overview of his career. We use entire songs, not medleys, and some dance, too."

More than 30 Coward songs are included in the show. Some familiar classics, like the archly iconic "Mad Dogs and Englishmen," made the cut. But the revue also offers such clever obscurities as the novelty tunes "London Is a Little Bit of Alright" and "What Ho! Mrs. Brisket."

And about 30 percent of the production is spoken, including an excerpt of "The Mideast Diaries," Coward's memoir about entertaining the troops in World War II. (He was also, briefly, an espionage agent for Britain.)

Also programmed: "20th Century Blues," a number from Coward's Oscar-winning 1933 movie "Cavalcade." An upstairs/downstairs chronicle of two British families over several decades, it was a favorite film of Adolf Hitler, of all people.

A favorite of Goldstein's is a highly acerbic ode to pessimism, "Bad Luck Is Just Around the Corner," which he claims "really resonates with what's going on in the world now."

To secure rights to the material for the debut run of "A Marvelous Party" at Chicago's Northlight Theatre, the company contacted Coward's executor and longtime companion, Graham Payn.

"He liked the idea but made two conditions," says Goldstein. "He said, 'You can't change any of the song lyrics. And you can't have anyone impersonate Noel Coward.' "

Blessed by Payn, "A Marvelous Party" was a 2005 hit at Northlight, and won four local Jefferson Awards (including a directing honor for Goldstein). Payn died that same year.

The piece has since been presented at many other companies — in Boston, New York, California and, of course, Arizona; it won a Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle prize.

ACT's cast of Seattle favorites includes co-creators Anders and Lauris, joined by Richard Gray and David Silverman.

Goldstein has staged "A Marvelous Party" eight times himself but claims he still doesn't tire of it.

"Coward's songs are not for dumb people," he says. "We're talking about wit, sophistication and classiness — which our society could use a lot more of."

Misha Berson: mberson@seattletimes.com

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