Rock and Roll's Best Honored...

This year HBO aired the induction ceremony for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Thank god it was them and not network television as Billy Joe of Greenday let the F-Bomb slip more times the Keebler has cookies.

This ceremony fell on the heels of inductees “The Beastie Boys” losing a member of their band, Adam “MCA” Yauch to cancer on May 4. Rappers Chuck D and LL Cool J introduced them. LL Cool J said, “The reason I’m here tonight and the reason that this was so important to me is because if it wasn’t for the Beastie Boys, I wouldn’t have my career that I have today. The Beastie Boys actually played my demo tape for Rick Rubin in the NYU dormitory. A lot of people don’t know that.”

Greenday introduced Guns ‘n’ Roses minus lead singer Axl Rose. Earlier last month when the nominations were released, Axl turned down the nomination and invitation to attend with fellow members of GnR. Public issues with Slash, the band’s lead guitarist ultimately what led to this no show on Rose’s part.

Billy Joe of Greenday, made a comment during the introduction, saying “now who am I missing?” The crowd booed him and with next presenter, Chris Rock when he mentioned Axl’s name. In true Hall of Fame fashion, the inducted band played a few songs. Slash set the stage on fire, but you couldn’t help but miss Axl. They had a stand in for his vocals but both “Sweet Child o’ Mine” and “Paradise City” seemed to fall short. Shame on you, Axl.

Comedian Chris Rock introduced the Red Hot Chili Peppers to close out the evening. Calling them the “quintessential California Band” and compared them to the Mamas and the Papas, and Ice-T. Their touching acceptance speech included bassist Michael “Flea” Balazry chocking up after spotting George Clinton in the audience. Flea thanked him for his influence on his music.

Both Flea and front man Anthony Kiedis dedicated a portion of their speech and their acceptance to guitarist Hillel Slovak who died in 1988 of a heroin overdose. The played “By The Way” and “Give It Away.” Of course both Anthony and Flea went shirtless, as the Chili peppers we wouldn’t have them any other way (despite Flea’s now gray hair).

The Chili Peppers and GnR ended the night with an all out rock session. Slash and Flea on the same stage? Mindblowing! 3 Drum sets, 3 bassists and way too many guitars to count! This night ended with a huge bang. Even Greenday got in on the action! The stage of the Hall hasn’t rocked so hard since they inducted Aerosmith, Queen and Michael Jackson in 2001.

Other nominees for 2012 included Donovan, Laura Nyro, The Small Faces/Faces, Freddie King, Don Kirshner, Cossimo Matassa (engineer), Tom Dowd (engineer), Glyn Johns, The Crickets, The Famous Flames, The Midnighters, The Comets, The Blue Caps and The Miracles. Stay Tuned…

Growing up Potter

Growing up Potter
By: Heather Johnson, Gryffindor House

I didn’t grow up under a stairway or in a small town over the pond. I lived in typical suburbia with average friends who went to an average school. Yet, in 1997 I met a boy named Harry Potter. He was 11 years old, growing up with his terrible Aunt and Uncle after his parents met an untimely death and he had just received an invitation to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It was at first magical owl bearing these invitations that I fell in love with Harry.

J.K Rowling has penned seven books in the Harry Potter series, each connecting to the other, chronicling the tale of Harry through his years at Hogwarts, and through his epic battle of good vs. evil with his nemesis, Lord Voldemort. With Harry I have met some wonderful people. I’ve laughed with Ron Weasely and his family, learned from Hermione Granger and stood beside Professor Dumbledore as an epic battle raged on. I would stay home, on every release date, from school or work, lock myself in a room and read, cover to cover about Harry’s latest adventure. Though I can recite spells to levitate objects and people, I, and the millions like me, learned about friendship and dedication even when “dark times are upon us”. Though the series is and forever will be only seven books per J.K Rowling, true Potter fans know there are two subsequent “textbooks” as well as an 800 word prequel which was handwritten for charity and can only be found in the back allies of the internet.

In 2001, Harry made his silver screen debut portrayed by a young Daniel Radcliffe. Finally, Harry was given a voice and a face to bring to life the adventures we’d so loved years earlier. It seemed as though each year’s book couldn’t get here fast enough so it could be brought to life thanks to Warner Brothers. The Potterverse was abuzz with delight! We still needed more. Harry Potter was our drug, and we were addicted.

Thanks to Electronic Arts, we joined in on our Playstations, Wii’s and PC’s to help fight off the Deatheaters. We screamed at our televisions while we played Scene It?: Harry Potter and lastly, turned ourselves into building blocks for Lego Harry Potter.

On the dawn of the next to final film, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1”, we were given the greatest gift…we were able to visit the Potterverse. Unveiled June 18th, 2010 (see previous issues of RCT for my review), Universal Studios: Island of Adventure brought forth their seventh “island”…The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Here you can visit Hogwarts, stroll through Diagon Alley, eat with Hagrid in Hogsmeade and even buy a pint of butterbeer. Life was good. So good in fact, that in March of this year, Warner Bros. announced plans to build a tourist attraction in the UK to showcase the film series. Warner Bros. Studio Tour London will be a behind-the-scenes walking tour featuring authentic sets, costumes and props from the films. The attraction will be located at Leavesden Film Studios, where all eight of the Harry Potter films were made and two new sound stages would be constructed to house and showcase the famous sets.

Finally, on July 15th “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2” was released. This spectacular visual finale (in both 2D and 3D) astounded audiences all over the world as we bid adieu to our hero’s and friends. Helena Bonham-Carter’s performance like in every film before this was amazingly evil, even making us wonder if she was worse then Voldemort! The film brought in a whopping $43.6 million dollars upon it’s first night internationally, $150 million of that being just the US and $32 in advanced sales! If you don’t know what that means, I’ll tell you…not only has it put “The Lord of The Rings Trilogy” at the bottom of the barrel where it belonged, but it broke every box office record beyond “Titanic” and “Star Wars”. So far, the entire series has banked upward off $6.37 billion dollars world wide which makes it the most successful film series of all time.

So what does J.K Rowling have up her wand next? Follow the Pottermore.com website to see what’s brewing and maybe you’ll be one of the lucky ones to read the unreleased chapters from the series. So farewell Mr. Potter, you’ve been a great friend and we hope to see more of you soon…Stay Tuned.

Step Right Up!

Ladies and Gentlemen, children of all ages! This past two weeks New York got to experience the wonder that was Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey circus! Both those who took the trip to the Times Union Center in Albany, and those who stepped out into New York City to Madison Square Garden got to experience childhood once again.

This year marked the 140^th season of the three ring show which was entitled “Barnum 200” which celebrated P.T Barnum’s 200^th birthday, and trust you me, it was a celebration which shouldn't be missed. But no worries folks, if you did miss it, you can catch next week’s show in Trenton, NJ or the following week in Hershey, PA. What better place for a weekend trip then the home of chocolate to visit some of the circus’s biggest stars, like it’s newly born elephant star, Barack who was a mere 250lbs at birth.

However all good things don’t come without protests. Lining the venues sidewalks prior and during the show protestors stood with posters and signs stating abuse for the animals. This has always been a topic of debate, but you can make your own judgments. In my opinion, those animals looked well taken care of…besides, wouldn't the nine tigers in the cage with one guy have made a lil' snack of him if they wanted to?

The circus though, much too popular belief isn’t what it used to be. Sure the elephants and llamas make their appearance, one elephant even paints art! These days, it’s all about the contortionists, trapeze artists and high wire walkers. Though who can forget about the clowns? However, this reporter held her breath as nine motor cycles raced around a steel ball all without hitting each other!

New York and Albany are only two of the 90 cities the tour will hit this year. Upon its completion Feld Entertainment, ran by the show’s producers Nicole and Alana Feld, will donate $10,000 to the Barnum Museum in Bridgeport, CT, to honor P.T. Barnum and to provide future generations the opportunity to learn about this amazing showman and his contributions to society.

In conjunction with the 200th anniversary of Barnum’s birth, Ringling Brothers has launched The Barnum Award, which honors the spirit of the founder of “The Greatest Show on Earth” and his inspirational contributions to society by identifying and celebrating children who give back to their own communities in creative, fun and innovative ways. Nominations for the award can be submitted online at www.thebarnumaward.com.

P.T. Barnum will also receive a first of its kind dedicated Star in the plaza of the Staples Center in Los Angeles on July 15, 2010, and the city of Los Angeles will issue a proclamation declaring that date as “P.T. Barnum Day”. So save up some cotton candy money, and stay tuned…

Fast Cars, Fails and Ferrell

Well Ladies and Gentlemen; this week has been an interesting one in the world of entertainment. Now that all the press of the royal wedding is over and Will and Kate are on their honeymoon, the world can move on to bigger and better media exposure.

This weekend, the fifth installment of “The Fast and the Furious” franchise, “Fast 5” was released into theatres here in the USA. Topping the box office numbers, for the first time in months, it brought in$83.6 million dollars, $165 million worldwide! This is first for Universal Studios as it buried this weekend’s competition (“Hoodwinked Too!” and “Prom”). Sure, you get to stare at Vin Diesel as the infamous Dominic Toretto and Paul Walker as he reprised his role as Brian O’Conner but now you have the added pleasure of watching Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in addition, all in the same place. Jordana Brewster returned as Mia Toretto, Dom’s sister but we missed seeing our favorite fast driver, Michelle Rodriguez as Letty, who met her demise in the last film. Overall, the best film since the beginning and with a touch of “The Italian Job” this movie is without a doubt, this writer’s favorite of the year…behind “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” that is. However, I don't get to drool over Vin Diesel in that movie, I think I'll buy it the day it comes out to DVD and watch it over and over...some of us will just have to forget that 2Fast 2Furious existed, I mean, a F&F movie with no Vin? Impossible...

Conan O’Brien continued to bring in the late night numbers this month. After a rocky beginning it climbed up almost an entire point to reach David Letterman’s ratings this past week. What was so special you ask? Try some of the guest stars. Will Ferrell voiced his hatred of Conan’s beard and on this past Monday night, armed with “excalibeard” and a handful of 1970’s playboys, Ferrell got Conan into an impromptu barber’s chair and removed the ginger whiskers ever so lovingly from his face. Of course he did a bang up job, reminding us after the next commercial break that Conan has a great professional staff behind the scenes as he showed up clean shaven a minute later.

Lastly, it wasn’t all rainbows and lollypops. Paul Reiser’s new show, “The Paul Reiser Show”, his first after the 1999 ending of “Mad About You”, was cancelled after only two episodes. The show filmed seven, but after the first two episodes aired, NBC decided to pull the plug. The show followed the actor portraying himself on the scripted show. What kind of story line is that? That’s almost as bad as that movie Tim Robbins made in 1992, “The Player”, insider jokes? No thank you Mr. Reiser. Hopefully June comes faster and we can turn our attentions to better things, like the fourth season of “True Blood”…stay tuned…

Stabs, Drunks and Cancellations

Ladies and Gentlemen…This week the entertainment world has been screaming with news! Some good, some bad but all of it evilly delicious. Some of which has got the whole media universe in a whirl. **Caution: Spoiler Alerts**

First and foremost, Friday the 15^th was the release of Wes Craven’s much anticipated Scre4m. Unfortunately it was a box office let down bringing in a disappointing $19.27m which fell about $10m short of their goal. Much more substandard-ness from the franchise was the complete lack of thought that went into this movie. Sure, after waiting 10 years one would think that Neve Campbell, David Arquette and Courtney Cox-Arquette would have given us a scare night to remember. However the film failed to make any memories for this reporter. The big “star” murder, which has become standard in the Scream movies (Drew Barrymore in Scream, Jada Pinkette Smith in Scream2, and even the infamous Liev Schreiber in Scream3) was seriously downplayed, by having Anna Paquin (True Blood) die and not even in the “movie” but in the “STAB6” parody within the film. Seriously a let down. As if that wasn’t enough, where was the motive Mr. Craven? The first three films tied together in motive, it was a family affair with true motive connected to Sydney’s mother. This installment however, fell far from the family tree which couldn’t have been their intention. Sure, it was in the family, Syd’s cousin but for what motive? Fifteen minutes of fame? Lame Mr. Craven…you’re falling into the same trap the “Saw” movies are, pushing too much. Sure the body count was higher, the voiceover still creepy, but really? And did we need to keep postponing the ending? We were promised some surprises and this gave us none. I do have to say however that Hayden Panettiere gave a great performance, and I was saddened with her demise, however it did pay homage to Tadam’s (Rose McGowan) garage door death from the first film.

In other celebrity news, Nicolas Cage was arrested in New Orleans over the weekend for domestic abuse, disturbing the peace and public drunkenness. Of course this was all captured on tape! Apparently he was down in the Big Easy, arguing with his wife Alice Kim over which house was theirs. (Something people always fight about apparently). After stumbling into a tattoo parlor demanding a tattoo with a bottle in his hand, the employees called the cops. This would be the second call of the night, a cab driver who passed Cage arguing with his wife and saw him grab her arm earlier had also informed the authorities after seeing him hit some parked cars. He was released on bond Saturday which was put up by my favorite bail bondsman, Duane “Dog the Bounty Hunter” Chapman. I wonder if we’ll see that on cable.

Lastly, the small screen says goodbye this year to two of our favorite daytime dirty indulgences. ABC has announced the cancellation of both “All My Children” and “One Life to Live.” I guess Susan Lucci will need to find somewhere else not to win Emmy’s. After 41 seasons though, I’m sure she’ll survive. AMC began in 1970, OLTL in 1968, such a long run for two of America’s most loved soap operas. AMC will air its last episode in September and OLTL in January 2012. According to ABC’s press release regarding the matter they claim, “To honor the core, passionate audience and their rich history with our soaps, both shows will conclude in a manner that respects their legacies and the longstanding hopes of many of their viewers.” This makes me wonder if NBC’s town of Salem and “Days of Our Lives” are next on the chopping block. Stay Tuned…

A New Brand of Household Names

Ladies and Gentlemen, it’s hard to believe funny men like Jim Carey (who’s now sporting a mohawk by the way) or even odd numbers like Steve Carrell who is this month saying his final goodbye to NBC’s “The Office” can be topped by reputation. These days, one name has graced the big screen, small screen and in some cases, even our radios..Russell Brand.

This week alone, he has starred in two box office smashes. Brand voices an animated bunny in Universal’s “Hop” as well as playing the star in the remake of the 1981 Dudley Moore film, “Arthur”. However, instead of Liza Minnelli this time, we get stars like Jennifer Garner and Helen Mirren sharing the stage with Brand.

You may remember Brand from other films, regardless of your taste of films. Children remember him as Dr.Nefario in “Despicable Me” and Adam Sandler’s crazy friend Mickey in “Bedtime Stories”. While adults will remember his relationship with Kristen Bell in “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” as he played the insatiable Aldous Snow, a character which was deemed good enough for his own movie. Brand teams up with chubby funny man Jonah Hill in the film which brought Brand’s vocals to the surface, “Get Him to the Greek.” If you haven’t seen any of these yet, I highly recommend them.

Recently, he graced the small screen in a various number of outlets. First and foremost, he married teen pop queen, Katy Perry after meeting her at MTV’s Video Music Awards in September of 2009. By this time he was cleaning up from his life of drug abuse and blatantly openness of being a sex addict. Katy managed to tame the beast. However, if you tuned in more recently say to Nickelodeon’s Kid Choice Awards this past month, you may have seen him covered in their infamous green slime. Makes me miss “You Can’t Do That On Television.”

Last week alone, he starred as guest “charisma” coach on American Idol. He even penned now infamous in the idol universe, one liner’s such as telling Casey Abrams “I’m very happy you are here. I think you’re a gorgeous hairball of wonder.” He also told them that being a great rock front man comes from well…that special area, just below your gut. He left the idol hopefuls by saying “I think fear comes from them judges judging us, who the hell bloody hell do they think they are?”

So while you’re looking for a movie to see, or even one to download from Netflix, try out one of Brand’s many amusing flicks to idle by your time. You surely won’t be disappointed and then you too will realize you’re quoting his lines and maybe even acting a little more “rockstarish”. Stay Tuned…

Royal Torpedoes

Ladies and Gentlemen the entertainment world has been yanked in various directions these days. Half the world can’t wait to see what will come out of Charlie Sheen’s mouth next and the other half has their eyes glued on England.

Charlie Sheen opened his show “My Violent Torpedo of Truth/Defeat is not an Option” in Detroit this past weekend to a rocky start! This tiger blood filled warlock was definitely not winning! Amid all the controversy that has surrounded Sheen’s outlandish lifestyle for the past few months, Sheen has decided to hit the road and take to a one man show. Well, once he took the stage in Detroit it was obvious he had no working script and unlike his last few media appearances, no interviewer. Sheen was booed off stage (much like Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino was earlier this month at Comedy Central’s Roast of Donald Trump)! The audience even walked out on Sheen before the intermission hit, which was accompanied by audience members saying “you suck”. To which Sheen retorted “I already have your money dude!”

He next appeared in Chicago on Sunday night and thankfully someone read the reviews the night before. Sheen was on stage with an interviewer who kept him on track and vowed that the night’s performance “not to become f&*%$ Detroit tonight.” Kudos to the resident warlock who ended his second night with a standing ovation, without much pushback (yet) from any trolls. Though tickets prices seem to be funding Sheen’s lifestyle, going for no less than $90 a seat, you can catch his act at Radio City Music Hall April 10^th or in Atlantic City on the 16^th. I guess Sheen’s “Violent Torpedo of Truth” finally hit its target…WINNING!

As for our favorite young Brits and royalty, the streets and media are filled with rumors, news and updates for the upcoming April 29^th nuptials. For the most part, details of the wedding including the dress Kate Middletown will wear has been kept under wraps. Small details such as what dessert will be served, and who is in the royal wedding party (of course Prince Harry is best man) has been given out as morsels for the media to eat up. In fact, unlike the wedding between Prince William’s parents, Princess Diana and Prince Charles in 1981 which was billed as the “wedding of the century”, this wedding has gone hi-tech. In fact, so much so that as I mentioned in earlier articles you can even follow the wedding via iPhone apps!

Stay in touch with all the royal details at http://www.officialroyalwedding2011.org, including finding out all about the music being used for the Westminster Abbey. The couple has even set up a charitable donation fund to help us mere mortals celebrate by donating to one of five causes the couple supports. The world will watch that day as the procession route passes royal landmarks starting at Buckingham Palace before ending at the ceremony location for the 11am celebration (that’s 5am EST). You can even view footage of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother’s wedding to King George VI here!

But not all Brits are happy about the nuptials. A lot of residents of the locale are for democracy and not for as they put it “inherited privilege.” A group called “The Democracy” (www.republic.co.uk) who are holding a street party with food and entertainment will be out more or less “campaigning” against the monarchy on that day. Though residents all over the nation will be joining in as they are more or less sick of hearing about the couple’s wedding. If you plan on traveling to see London that day, admission is free! Be sure to add their collectable “I’m Not A Royal Wedding Mug” to your collection of royal souvenirs which thus far have included everything from plates, stamps and even airsick bags with the couples coat of arms and portraits emblazoned on them….Stay Tuned!