Entertainment
Les McCann, Innovative Jazz Musician Best Known For ‘Compared To What,’ Dies At 88
Les McCann, a prolific and important musician and recording artist who helped establish the soul-jazz genre and was a favoured source of sampling for Dr Dre, A Tribe Called Quest, and hundreds of other hip-hop artists, has died. He was 88.
Les died Friday in Los Angeles, a week after being hospitalized with pneumonia, according to Alan Abrahams, his longtime manager and producer.
McCann, a native of Lexington, Kentucky, was a vocalist and self-taught pianist whose career began in the 1950s when he won a singing contest while serving in the United States Navy and appeared on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” the top variety show of the time. With fans including Quincy Jones and Miles Davis, he toured the world and recorded scores of recordings, beginning in 1960 with “Les McCann Ltd. Plays the Truth.”
Les McCann, Innovative Jazz Musician Best Known For ‘Compared To What,’ Dies At 88
He was well known for his funky protest song “Compared to What,” on which he first collaborated with his future musical collaborator, saxophonist Eddie Harris. “Compared to What,” written by Eugene McDaniels and recorded live at the 1968 Monteaux Jazz Festival, mixed jazzy melodies and McCann’s gospel-style singing. The song attacked war, greed, and injustice in lines like “Nobody gives us rhyme or reason/Have one doubt, they call it treason.”
Les McCann, Innovative Jazz Musician Best Known For ‘Compared To What,’ Dies At 88
Among those who covered “Compared to What” was Roberta Flack, a McCann protégé whose career he aided by arranging an audition with Atlantic Records. McCann was a forerunner in fusing jazz, soul, and funk. He recorded with Flack and toured with Wilson Pickett, Santana, and the Staples Singers.
“Talk to the People” (1972), “Layers” (1973), and “Another Beginning” (1974) were among his other albums. Last month, Resonance Records released “Never A Dull Moment! – Live from Coast to Coast (1966-1967).”
Les is a renowned American jazz pianist and vocalist.
He gained prominence in the 1960s for his soulful and expressive style of playing. McCann’s influential album “Swiss Movement” with saxophonist Eddie Harris is one of his most acclaimed works, featuring the hit song “Compared to What.
Les McCann, Innovative Jazz Musician Best Known For ‘Compared To What,’ Dies At 88
” Throughout his career, Les has been celebrated for his improvisational skills and ability to blend jazz with elements of R&B and gospel music, establishing himself as a significant figure in the jazz world.
SOURCE – (AP)
Entertainment
The Last Showgirl With Pamela Anderson Wows Toronto Film Festival
The Toronto International Film Festival increased the razzle dazzle factor on the second day of its 49th edition with the world premiere of “The Last Showgirl,” a Vegas-set drama in which star Pamela Anderson enters the awards season conversation for the first time in her illustrious career.
Gia Coppola’s (“Palo Alto”) film follows a 30-year professional dancer who works in sequins in the last remaining classic floor show in Sin City, a gambling paradise. Dave Bautista plays the show’s stage manager, who must inform the dancers that their act will close permanently in two weeks.
Kiernan Shipka from “Mad Men” and Brenda Song are the next-generation dancers who perform alongside Anderson, while Billie Lourd plays her estranged daughter.
Jamie Lee Curtis, a recent Oscar winner with a perma-tan and frosted lipstick, provides comic relief as a Vegas cocktail waitress who must deal with rude clients while working for tips at a casino.
Anderson garnered loud ovation when she arrived for a post-credits Q&A. Wearing black trousers, a black top and dark sunglasses, the singer discussed her transition from ’90s sex symbol to playing Shelley, a dreamer who is overlooked in the Vegas whirl due to her age.
“I’ve spent my entire life preparing for this film,” she deadpanned, eliciting raucous laughs. “I’ve never felt so strongly about anything [as this picture]. It was do it or be it, and I did it.”
Related:
Actor Zachary Quinto Called A Dick Barred from Toronto Restaurant
Actor Zachary Quinto Called “A Dick” Barred from Toronto Restaurant
Entertainment
Tim Burton’s ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’ a Box Office Success Gets 4.5 Stars
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice preview reportedly made $13 million for Warner Bros. Fans gave it 4.5 stars on Comscore/Screen Engine’s PostTrak, while both parents and children under the age of 12 gave it 5 stars.
The sequel has a current budget of $90 million, with room to grow.
The sequel starring Michael Keaton, Jenna Ortega, and Winona Ryder had 59% female attendees, with 73% of those attendees being 25 and older. In terms of gender, 62% of the children were girls and 38% were boys. Last night, the Latino and Hispanic community had an impressive showing at 36% of the total audience.
According to Yahoo Entertainment, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice social media reach With 508.6 million followers across TikTok, Facebook, X, YouTube, and Instagram combined, Beetlejuice is 41% ahead of the norm for the action comedy sci-fi genre.
“Jenna Ortega has stunned her 38.2 million Instagram followers with 103.1 million views, while Michael Keaton has 1.58 million and Willem Dafoe has 155 thousand,” the social media analytics company adds.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice a Remarkable Sequel
Additionally, they mention, “Convo for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice A remarkable feat for a sequel, Beetlejuice has received mostly good reviews from audiences who have praised the film for its originality and sense of purpose. ‘At first, I thought this was another Scream movie, then I thought it was the Wednesday Season 2!’ A number of fans, including new viewers, are ecstatic to see Jenna Ortega in a horror film.
According to fans of the 1988 original, “My inner child from the 80’s is screaming!” when asked about the style of Jenna Ortega’s flicks. I’m more pumped up for this movie than any other! “I admire the practical effects and the attempts to make it look like the old movie!!” is one commenter’s praise for the show’s expert production values and impressive use of special effects.
You can count on seeing a plethora of costumed fans at the movies this weekend.
A large number of collectible concessions are also available. Beetlejuice jack-in-the-box popcorn buckets are available at Cinemark, competing with Sandworm and Wolverine
People Also Reading:
For Nicolas Cage, Making A Serial Killer Horror Movie Was A Healing Experience
For Nicolas Cage, Making A Serial Killer Horror Movie Was A Healing Experience
Entertainment
Trump Film ‘The Apprentice’ Finds Distributor and Will Open Before the Election
NEW YORK — Trump Film | After failing to generate interest following its Cannes Film Festival screening, “The Apprentice,” starring Sebastian Stan as a teenage Donald Trump, has found a distributor who intends to release the film right before the election in November.
Director Ali Abbasi, a Danish-Iranian filmmaker, had prioritized releasing “The Apprentice” in theatres before electors voted. After major studios and film distributors declined to bid on the project, Abbasi complained on X in early June that “for some reason certain power people in your country don’t want you to see it!!!”
Trump film ‘The Apprentice’ finds distributor and will open before the election
In a statement issued Friday, Steven Cheung, the Trump campaign’s communications director, described the film’s release as “election interference by Hollywood elites right before November.”
“This ‘film’ is pure malicious defamation, should never see the light of day, and doesn’t even deserve a place in the straight-to-DVD section of a bargain bin at a soon-to-be-closed discount movie store, it belongs in a skip fire,” Cheung tweeted.
The prospect of legal action was one factor that decreased interest in “The Apprentice”. After the film’s Cannes premiere in May, Cheung labeled it “pure fiction” and stated that the Trump team would pursue a lawsuit “to address the blatantly false assertions from these pretend filmmakers.”
“The Apprentice” follows Trump’s rise to dominance in New York real estate, guided by defense attorney Roy Cohn (Jeremy Strong). Late in the film, Trump is seen raping his wife, Ivana Trump (portrayed by Maria Bakalova). In her 1990 divorce deposition, Ivana Trump alleged Donald Trump raped her. Trump rejected the claim, and Ivana Trump later clarified that she did not mean it literally but rather that she felt violated.
Abbasi has stated that Trump might not despise the film.
Trump film ‘The Apprentice’ finds distributor and will open before the election
“I would offer to go and meet him wherever he wants and talk about the context of the movie, have a screening and have a chat afterwards, if that’s interesting to anyone at the Trump campaign,” Abbasi stated during the May election.
Briarcliff Entertainment has published several films, including the 2022 documentary “Gabby Giffords Won’t Back Down” and the Liam Neeson thriller “Memory.” The indie distributor is led by Tom Ortenberg, who helped Lionsgate distribute Michael Moore’s “Fahrenheit 9/11” and, as CEO of Open Road, supported the best picture Oscar winner “Spotlight.”
SOURCE | AP
-
Entertainment4 weeks ago
Netflix Releases Squid Game Season 2 Teaser
-
Entertainment4 weeks ago
Alyssa Milano To Make Her Broadway Debut In The Razzle-Dazzle Musical ‘Chicago’ This Fall
-
News4 weeks ago
Musk’s Interview With Trump Marred By Technical Glitches
-
Entertainment4 weeks ago
Banksy London Zoo Mural Offers Clue To Why Wild Animals Have Been Appearing All Over City
-
Music4 weeks ago
Sweden Drops A Probe Into Joost Klein, Eurovision Contestant Who Was Expelled Hours Before The Final
-
News4 weeks ago
Yankees Slugger Juan Soto Hits 3 Homers In A Game For The 1st Time