Rachel Crow's Soulful "I'd Rather Go Blind"

Rachel Crow, great dreamer

Pandora Mobile, Music In Your Moment

Loving Pandora. In case you're wondering, Pandora is all about delivering you the music you love! Set up radio stations with your favorite artists and songs. Share your favorite stations with friends. Read more about The Music Genome Project. Even more enjoyable---listening to Pandora mobile and blocking out the riff-raff noise on BART while riding to/from my day job! From Yo-Yo Ma to Tina Turner, whatever music I feel like hearing in the moment. Simply brilliant.

iPhone 4 Totally Rocks & So Does Jonathan Mann

Hats off to Jonathan Mann for his perfect Song A Day response to the iPhone4 "Antennagate" hoopla. Apple kicked off the July 16 press conference with Jonathan's YouTube channel clip. Steve Jobs followed with a passionate presentation about their latest findings and "We Love Our Customers" good will commitment. As for me, I love my iPhone4!

_ Jonathan Mann, Great Dreamer

Greyson Chance a Social Media Success Story

Greyson Chance performed Lady GaGa's "Paparazzi" at his local hometown 6th grade talent show on April 28 and posted the video of it on You Tube. Now with more than 23,260,000 You Tube views, two guest appearances on Ellen, $10,000 in prize money, new Yamaha piano, and a contract with Ellen's record label, no one could be more surprised than Greyson. This social media success story took less than 30 days.

Lady GaGa's personal advice to Greyson? "Stay away from the girls . . . and focus on your music." Elton John, Billy Joel--how about adding Greyson Chance to your show? Check out Greyson's "Broken Hearts" and watch clips from Ellen as he speaks about what inspires him.
__ Greyson Chance, Great Dreamer

Watch Greyson97 You Tube viral video . . .

On Julia Child After Julie & Julia

Meryl Streep whipping up the essence of Julia Child in Julie & Julia proves to be Nora Ephron's best ingredient. Who else but Streep could paint the portrait of Julia Child we hold in our hearts and minds? Only Streep could capture Julia's zest for life with the same fervor she displays Julia's utter sadness at her inability to have children, the most poignant and private moment of the entire film.

I had dinner with Julia Child early one Sunday evening at a restaurant in Marin (a stretch but I count it since a friend of mine and I were having dinner when Julia and friends came in; it may have been on our way back from Copia and Julia's Kitchen).

Not being an avid cook, let alone French cooking, I wondered why Julia was stopping at this restaurant. While local restaurant critics gave it a decent rating, it was not exceptional or even mildly wonderous so it ended up on my "overrated" list. I'd probably have a heart seizure (sans excessive butter usage) if Julia Child had ever entered a restaurant that I owned.

American History

Caricature by high school pal, Ken Fallin
for the Wall Street Journal, October 2008.

Oh, This and That and Stuff Like That, Tina Fey on Palin

"Not since Sling Blade has there been a voice that anybody could do," Tina Fey.

The Four Tops' Songs Make A Girl Feel Good

"Well, I'm rather loud and raw," Levi Stubbs told the Los Angeles Times in 1994. "I don't really even have a style; I just come by the way I sing naturally. When I learn a song, I try to live it as best I can."

Chart toppers throughout the mid-60's,The Four Tops lost a third founding member on Friday with the death of Levi Stubbs. Stubbs experienced a long series of debilitating illnesses for more than 10 years and had not performed with the group since at least 2000.

Levi Stubbs' sang lead on a string of Top 10 Motown hits from 1965 - 1967, "Baby I Need Your Loving," "Reach Out I'll Be There," "Bernadette," and probably the most widely used hit on film soundtracks, "Can't Help Myself." It's the latter song's hook line "Sugar Pie Honey Bunch" that has stayed with us forever--at this point in time, just two years shy of five decades. Best of all, with Levi Stubbs and The Four Tops singing any one of these tunes, a girl couldn't help but feel good!

Four Tops on Ed Sullivan (1967)

Ringo "Too Much To Do" But He Loves You

After more than 40 plus years of signing autographs, Ringo Starr claims "Peace," "Love," and that he has "Too Much To Do" now to sign anything else. I'm thinking he has a point, eBay sellers may make a killing, and wondering will he sign autographs when fans approach him in person? He looks a little tired and scruffy on his web site video clip, but he loves you. . .yea, yea yea.

SNL Mavericks Take On Biden-Palin

"Gosh Darnit" NBC's Saturday Night Live Mavericks delivered another hysterical parody with the Biden-Palin VP Debate. The gang surprised us with a guest spot for Queen Latifah as journalist and moderator Gwen Ifil. A perfect pitch for Ifil's new book, who could ask for any better publicity? Latifah really held herself together as she tried not to laugh outright at Tina Fey's too funny Sarah Palin. To be fair, SNL gave "scrappy" Joe Biden the "Scranton is a hell-hole" business, too.


Links:
Tina Fey at"30 Rock"SNL's Perfect Palin
Queen Latifah Lights Up Symphony Hall

MAMA MIA Delivers On Happy

Seriously sappy and happy, MAMA MIA triumphs on the big screen. Ignore the critics. Don't expect a great film, see it for the sheer entertainment of watching Meryl Streep lead an eclectic ensemble cast in being silly and charming while singing ABBA tunes amid a glorious Greek Island backdrop. I defy women over 50 to not walk out of their neighborhood movie theatre with a smile and lighter step, it can't be done.

I remember seeing Streep for the first time in a PBS broadcast version of Wendy Wasserstein's stage show "Uncommon Women and Others"-- it's hard to imagine this now, but the show had to be at least 30 years ago. The next time I remember seeing her was in "Julia" and "Kramer vs. Kramer." These critically acclaimed performances were followed a few years later with her emotionally shattering performance in "Sophie's Choice." Watching MAMA MIA caused me to reflect that Meryl Streep has delivered many of the most naturally striking performances of my generation. Very cool.

It seems odd to me, but I have friends who really don't care for Meryl Streep, something that I don't quite understand since I'll actually see a film because it has Streep in it--regardless of the critical reviews. I'm always curious to see how she delivers a role, embodies a character. So, I appreciate Meryl Streep in just about any project she undertakes.

Her early breakout performances underscore womens' role in society, MAMA MIA offers yet another culturally historic snapshot of circumstance, choice, and consequence. Among my generation, it's very familiar territory when contrasting her character's life with those of her best pals, played by the incomparable Julie Waters and Christine Baranski.

As for me and MAMA MIA, I always enjoyed listening to ABBA in the 70's for sure, and "Dancing Queen" is one of my favorite numbers in the film.

I was struck by the lighting in the film and attribute some of this to what I remember about the Greek Islands. The light and color of the sky and water are like no where on earth. When you first see Meryl Streep on screen, you'll notice she's standing in a halo of light, the effect is a combination of natural light and how the film is lit. My filmmaker friends tell me that lighting is the most important aspect of a film shoot, I can't say otherwise after watching MAMA MIA. The director and DP definitely make the most of light. Silly entertainment with a lot of heart, MAMA MIA delivers on happy.

Got a MAMA MIA story to share? Feel free to comment.

Photo Credits: Universal, Peter Mountain

Check out a fun clip of "Dancing Queen":

Annie Leibovitz: A Photographer's Life On Tour Now

There are images we remember for generations, if we're lucky, we pause to remember the creative lens behind the camera. Annie Leibovitz: A Photographer's Life is on view at my favorite museum in San Francisco, The Legion of Honor. Thanks to Leibovitz and the Brooklyn Museum, this stunning portrait captures the Leibovitz Lens 1990 - 2005. Don't miss this exhibition now through May 25, 2008, it's the last U.S. stop before heading overseas.

For many of us, we'll always remember her Rolling Stone covers and a prolific period at Vanity Fair in the 90's where editor Tina Brown and Annie Leibovitz always pushed the envelope. The GAP and The Sopranos recent advertising campaigns are stamped with the Leibovitz signature.

Last year, as Leibovitz made the rounds launching her new book, including a 30 minute interview with Josh Kornbluth on his now defunct local KQED show, a wonderful documentary produced by her sister also gave fans a rare glimpse of Leibovitz behind-the-scenes. An American Masters program can be seen on PBS beginning about March 19.

When walking into the last room at the Legion, I suddenly felt tears brimming over, distorting my own lens for a moment. While an array of family portraits can be seen throughout the exhibition, this room Leibovitz dedicates exclusively to joy and death in life. The walls depict personal images of her family-- her dying Father, Mother, and Susan Sontag--her siblings and their children, and the birth of her beautiful children.

GIRLS ROCK! Says 'Be Yourself"

Rock 'n Roll Camp for Girls captured in a new documentary now playing in major communities across the U. S.

The film takes a look at American girls' ongoing struggle with self-image--battling eating disorders, drugs, and virtual reality. GIRLS ROCK! follows four campers, aged 8 to 18, who engage in a one week experiment meant to change their perception about themselves and each other---with a little help from notable female rockers in their back-up bands. The message? Be yourself.

Watch Trailer:

Global "Freeze" Sparks Social Media Frenzy

Talk about creative sparks bringing people together, New York City based "Improv Everywhere" staged this "freeze" event in Grand Central Station in January. The group has quickly gone global with similar social media events in other major cities around the world.

Inspired by the Grand Central event, so far freezing time events have taken place in London's Trafalgar Square and Toronto.

Here's Grand Central Station on a cold Saturday in January. The London event clip follows with a 1,000 people participating.

Very cool!



London's Trafalgar Square Freeze, February 2008

Diablo Cody in "The First Church Of Harpo"

I was reading through the latest script written by one of my clients in early January, and kept thinking about Diablo Cody's script for "Juno"---figuring that Cody would definitely end up with noms throughout the awards season.

Cody previously blogged on "blogger" and has now moved over to My Space. She's been appearing all over network shows from Letterman to Oprah. Cody shares that appearing in "the First Church of Harpo" was "peyote-weird"--since I have a day job, I missed Cody's "O-gasm" experience with Juno cast members. But the fact remains, appearing with "O" sells movie tickets, books, and presidential candidates.

And when I did return my client's script, I also sent a copy of "Juno"---I figure that it helps to read screenplays that work and get a feel for why they do---character, language, storytelling.

Are The Times Really Changing?

The Times They Are A-Changin'
by Bob Dylan, Great Dreamer



Come gather 'round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone.
If your time to you
Is worth savin'
Then you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'.

Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won't come again
And don't speak too soon
For the wheel's still in spin
And there's no tellin' who
That it's namin'.
For the loser now
Will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin'.

Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don't stand in the doorway
Don't block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There's a battle outside
And it is ragin'.
It'll soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin'.

Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don't criticize
What you can't understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is
Rapidly agin'.
Please get out of the new one
If you can't lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin'.

The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is
Rapidly fadin'.
And the first one now
Will later be last
For the times they are a-changin'.

Let Them Eat Pie!

"If Only Life Were As Easy As Pie" then Mrs. Lovell and Sweeney Todd may have survived happily ever after. Two of 2007's most delicious adventures in filmmaking used pie baking as a basic recipe for storytelling.

Adrienne Shelley's "Waitress" premiered at Sundance in January. Refreshing, quirky, sweet, and genuine, the late filmmaker penned her script while pregnant with daughter Sophie. A toddler by the time the film wrapped production, Sophie appears as LuLu with actress Keri Russell dressed in look-a-like bright yellow waitress uniforms at the film's end. Given Adrienne Shelley's murder, this joyful final scene becomes all the more poignant.

Take 1 part great script, 6-7 parts great characters combined with equal parts great casting, mix together with 1 part passionate and talented filmmaker and bake. "Waitress" is as easy to digest as all those pies. What a treat!

On the other end of filmdom's pie bake-off is Tim Burton's "Sweeney Todd." A difficult theatrical stage production to pull-off well, Burton succeeds in bringing his adaptation to screen.

If you love Burton and Depp together, you'll appreciate Sweeney Todd. It's beautifully filmed with brilliant acting. Unfortunately, Stephen Sondheim's best compositions are lost-in-translation as Depp and Helena Bonham Carter deliver them. That said, they were great as Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovell.

Watch trailers for both Waitress and Sweeney Todd below:

Queen Latifah Lights Up Symphony Hall

Queen Latifah gave fans a taste of the blues, jazz, funk, and soul Sunday night with her Trav'l'in Light tour swing through San Francisco's Davies Symphony Hall. Davies proved to be a great intimate venue that worked well for Latifah's easy style, humor, nine piece band and three talented back-up singers. The only thing I wanted more of was the Queen singing more songs. And it seemed awkward to sit down rather than stand up during her more robust numbers---you know complete audience engagement?

A generous entertainer, Latifah devoted a little too much time featuring her band members and over produced a finale number with her back-ups. A good singer, not a great one, Latifah holds her own doing funk,the ballad "I Know Where I've Been" from this summer's box office hit, Hairspray, and gives an enjoyable cover of "Poetry Man" and "Georgia Rose."

Queen Latifah's career in show business reads somewhat like a fairy tale, along with hard work, talent, a keen business sense, image shaping, and marketing. There were few young people in the San Francisco audience, which reveals how her career has evolved in demographic positioning over the years. From rapper to film actress, talk show host, film producer, author, product spokesperson, and trying new muscial genres, Latifah more than once thanked us for supporting her throughout her career as she has tried a little of this and that.

She introduced an audience guest, who happened to be the daughter of the songwriter/musician who wrote Trav'lin Light for Billie Holiday. Latifah introduced her father later, he stood onstage behind huge speakers throughout the show. After a standing ovation and leaving the stage, her father reappeared coaxing us to continue applauding--- a little weird since no one needed cajoling to want an encore.

If Queen Latifah comes to your town, go see her. If it's other than a huge stadium, even better.

Photo Credit: Michael Thompson

On Pocket Change

Once upon a time, children spent a rainy day inside building castles out of pennies and other loose pocket change. We relied on our own imagination---it was a time before great dreamers made it possible for us to own a personal home computer with fabulous software to help us create something wonderful with pennies and loose pocket change.

Let The Sunshine In . . . HAIR Turns 40

Maybe it's me. And I don't mean 'all-about-me'---now I know how my parents felt as pivotal moments were reflected upon 25, 40, or 50 years later. It's not really about where one was when, yet more about do our hopes and dreams make a difference along the way.

October 17th marks the 40th Anniversary of HAIR's off-broadway premiere.

Brainstorm of James Rado and Gerome Ragno, the team created an American Tribal Rock-Love Musical which follows a group of bohemian activists living together in a NYC apartment.

A cultural shock to most people living outside NY, HAIR introduced everyone else to serious political activism and rebellion focused on the Viet Nam War and conservatism--along with the sexual revolution, free love, different strokes for different folks, be-ins, and hash.

I admit to having no clue . . .

Even as a budding theatre major listening to the original cast album in 1968, I couldn't imagine myself performing nude on stage. As for all the rest, I was still innocent though enamored with HAIR's lyrics and music. HAIR had created a furor throughout the U.S. and abroad by the time I heard the album, mostly due to the show's nudity, language, racial integration, and assorted political statements.

Rado and Ragno's creative spark igniting off-Broadway in 1967 continues to stir new generations around the world today with one musical tribute after another.

More than 35 songs tell the tribe's story:

* Aquarius
* Donna
* Hashish
* Sodomy
* Colored Spade
* Manchester England
* Manhattan
* I'm Black
* Ain't Got No
* I Believe in Love
* Ain't Got No Grass
* Dead End (cut during run and re-added)
* Air
* Initials (L.B.J)
* I Got Life
* Going Down
* Hair
* My Conviction
* Easy to Be Hard
* Don't Put It Down
* Frank Mills
* Be-In (Hare Krishna)
* Where Do I Go?
* Electric Blues
* Oh Great God of Power
* Manchester England (Reprise)
* Black Boys
* White Boys
* Walking in Space
* Abie Baby
* Three-Five-Zero-Zero
* What a Piece of Work Is Man
* Good Morning, Starshine
* The Bed
* The Flesh Failures (Let the Sunshine In)

A few notable "tribe" members from the original cast and other productions:

James Rado
Gerome Ragni
Melba Moore
Diane Keaton
Paul Jabara
Ted Lange
Keith Carradine
Barry McGuire
Kenny Seymour (Little Anthony & The Imperials)
Joe Butler (The Lovin' Spoonfull)
Peppy Castro (The Blues Magoos)
Heather MacRae
Ben Vereen
Meat Loaf
Ted Neeley
Jennifer Warnes
Dobie Gray
Joe Mantegna
Elaine Paige
Marsha Hunt
Donna Summer
John Waters
Harvey Fierstein
Jennifer Hudson
Rupaul
Michael McKean

Trailer of 1979 film version directed by Milos Forman and starring Treat Williams, Beverly D'Angelo, and John Savage: