Tag Archives: Entertainment

Another day, Another new podcast by Richard Wright

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Podcasts. You either love them or you’ve never listened to them. They are the democratisation of radio on the internet where anyone can create and distribute an audio show of their own all over the world via the internet. That was a mouthful. This is clearly why I’m not a professional writer. But if you could stick with this then I promise to try harder. Ok. Much like podcasting let’s just plug it n and begin. It’s not the future of media anymore it’s the absolute present. With shows like AMC’s Comic Book men becoming a TV show based on the antics of a podcast it’s no longer just a bit of something extra. People like Kevin Smith & Joe Rogan have turned podcasting into an art form and a business. There are a lot of podcasts out there and if you want proof of that just check the itunes store when you have a spare minute. The competition for listeners is fierce and now the landscape of podcasting has another voice. Yes another deluded, well intentioned person giving their opinions like people should care what they think. And the person behind that podcast is…me.

I realise you don’t know who I am and that is perfectly understandable. I am an “emerging” Stand Up comedian and part-time writer and director of films. What films have I made? That is none of your business. What films have you made? See. You can’t answer it either. Unless you did in which cause I haven’t seen it. Unless I have in which case I didn’t enjoy it. Unless I did in which case well done. You see the rambling? That’s my podcast. I co-host with another brand spanking new comedian called Richard Casey and our podcast is called The Comedy Autopsy. I do tend to murder quite a lot of jokes, I’m just starting leave me alone, and so hence the name. We talk about comedy, film, stand up, occasional pro wrestling references no one will get and, if this first episode is anything to go by, pigeons. We are planning live podcasts with a bunch of audience interaction for the live crowd where the shows will include stand up for a very reasonable fee. We are going to have guests to talk comedy and film and maybe even pigeons. The podcast will be out every Thursday and will be roughly speaking an hour long. And you know what the really cool part is? It’s free. That’s right free I tells ya. We know we aren’t the funniest podcast in the world but we are funny enough.

I feel at this point I should introduce you to our technician. His name is Steve and not only is he terrible at his job he is also not real. That’s right. We made up a technician. Why? A number of reasons. Firstly it’s funny. It is. No it is. And secondly so that we can take all the negative things people will say about the podcast and blame Steve. It’s not our fault it’s Steve. On our podcast we will be getting to know the speechless one known as Steve through our section called “Apparently Steve” where we will share facts we know about Steve. If you know Steve then you can hashtag on twitter #ApparentlySteve and we will see those and use them in the podcast. Maybe you drink with Steve, share a hobby, once dated Steve or you know his mum. If you do let us know with the hashtag.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Frost Magazine for this chance to, basically, pimp our podcast in this fine publication. You didn’t have to do and we are happy that you did. Maybe we can work out some kind of sponsorship deal – we’d be very cheap *wink wink*.

(PS: if you have complaints regarding spelling in this article, if you can call it that, then remember it’s all Steve’s fault!)

Mari Wilson | Music Review

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The “Neasden Queen of Soul” is back with an album funded by fans and a glamorous “attic sale”.

 

The voice, the music, the all-round talent.

 

Wilson had done an album of cover versions with a difference: she really brings her own spin to the songs. Wilson first broke through 30 years ago with the 1982 hit “Just What I Always Wanted”. Although she already has an army of fans, hopefully Wilson will come to the attention of an even wider audience now.

 

Wilson had a career artists half her age could only ever dream about. She played Dusty Springfield in Dusty the Musical in 2000. Her brilliant version of Springfield’s “I Only Want to Be With You” is on the album. Her version is slower and more emotional. Wilson’s voice is just absolutely divine; soulful, powerful, emotional. She is a storyteller as well as a singer, and that is the description of what makes a great singer.

 

Wilson had been described as the “British Bette Midler” . That is about right. Buy her new album and have a look at http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/mariwilson to get your hands on some of her memorabilia.

http://www.mariwilson.co.uk/

 

 

International Buddhist Film Festival

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International Buddhist Film Festival

11–15 April

In conjunction with the Buddhist Art Forum at the Courtauld Institute of Art

This is a film festival with a difference, the program is below, lots of good films to see.

The International Buddhist Film Festival (IBFF) is returning to London this Spring, bringing a compelling selection of Buddhist cinema to the capital from 11-15 April at the Apollo Piccadilly Circus.

The diverse programme will showcase more than a dozen feature films and documentaries, most of which are European and UK premieres – from a Thai murder mystery and a Nepali road movie about a Tibetan nun’s journey to Katmandu to recover a debt, to a host of docs including a Richard Gere-narrated exploration of the life of Buddha and a self-portrait by a filmmaker who was identified as the reincarnation of a renowned Buddhist teacher when he was three years old.

Now celebrating its 10th year, the IBFF has presented festivals in cities across the world from LA, Washington DC and Mexico City to Amsterdam, Singapore and Hong Kong. This will be the first time the IBFF has visited the UK since 2009. “We are delighted to be returning to London with a wonderful new selection of world cinema with a Buddhist touch,” said Gaetano Kazuo Maida, Executive Director of IBFF. “Drawing on themes from karma, self and happiness to redemption, compassion, community and creativity – often treated with humour – there is something here for everyone, regardless of how much they already know about Buddhism,” he added.

The IBFF is being held in conjunction with the Buddhist Art Forum at the Courtauld Institute of Art at Somerset House, offering Londoners a feast of Buddhist cultural delights across cinema and art.

PROGRAM

Shugendo Now
Directed by Jean-Marc Abela and Mark Patrick McGuire
Japan, Canada / 2010 / Japanese with English subtitles / 88 min / Documentary
EUROPEAN PREMIERE
Wednesday, April 11, 6:30 pm

There is a unique school of Japanese asceticism called Shugendo, the Way of Acquiring Power, a blend of Shinto, Daoism and Buddhism. Followers practice arduous rituals in mountain wildernesses and are deeply committed to protecting the natural environment. The film is a poetic and intimate journey into a rarely seen world between the developed and the wild, between the present and the infinite. Filmed on location in Japan’s Kumano Mountains, Tokyo and Osaka.

The Buddha
Directed by David Grubin
USA / 2010 / English / 112 min / Documentary
Narrated by Richard Gere
UK PREMIERE
Wednesday, April 11, 8:45 pm

The story of Buddha, the 6th century BCE prince who became a great spiritual teacher, has been told in many ways and media. This is an ambitious and imaginative film by veteran documentary director David Grubin (RFK, FDR, LBJ, The Jewish Americans, Napoleon), narrated by Richard Gere. The film features location footage plus animation and contemporary voices including poets Jane Hirshfield and US Poet Laureate W.S. Merwin, and Buddhist scholar Robert Thurman to explore the life and meaning of the man who became “awake” and continues to inspire the diverse Buddhist cultures all over the world. Filmed on location in India, Nepal and the US.

Mindfulness and Murder
Directed by Tom Waller
Thailand / 2011 / Thai with English subtitles / 90 min / Dramatic Feature
UK PREMIERE
Thursday, April 11, 6:30 pm
Director and Producer expected to attend

The body of a dead homeless youth turns up in a Bangkok monastery and the police don’t want to get involved. Former homicide detective Father Ananda is now a senior monk and is asked by the abbot to solve the murder. Based on a novel by Bangkok resident Nick Wilgis, the film explores the intimate world of a Thai Buddhist monastery while following the rules of a classic whodunit. And as usual, not everything turns out to be what it at first seems. Starring Vithaya Pansringarm as Father Ananda, with two pop music personalities in leading roles, Prinya “Way” Intachai, one of the rappers in Thaitanium, and Charina Sirisinha of the ZaZa.

Karma
Directed by Tsering Rhitar Sherpa
Nepal / 2006 / Tibetan with English subtitles / 104 min / Dramatic Feature

EUROPEAN PREMIERE
Thursday, April 11, 8:45 pm

A road movie with Tibetan Buddhist nuns: an intimate story that begins behind the walls of a nunnery in remote Mustang. Karma is a free-spirited nun, and when the abbess dies, there’s an urgent need for money to pay for the rites after her death; Karma is assigned to go with another nun to try to retrieve funds on loan to a mysterious man once known to the abbess. Her search, and her journey within, take us to Katmandu, and beyond the obvious, beyond expectations, even beyond Buddhism at one point. She gets some advice along the way, “You’re desperately after something… you won’t get it, but you won’t fail.” And the movies play a part, of course. A rare and intriguing glimpse into the inner life of Tibetan nuns in a changing world. (Karma also means “actions”…) Starring Tsering Dolkar, Ani Yeshi Lhamo, Mithila Sharma and Jampa Kalsang.

The Great Pilgrim
Directed by Jin Tiemu
China / 2009 / Chinese with English subtitles / 98 min / Documentary

EUROPEAN PREMIERE
Friday, April 13, 6:30 pm

One of the most celebrated journeys in history is that of Tang dynasty Chinese monk Xuanzang. His quest to obtain original Buddhist texts took him on a nineteen year pilgrimage to India where he studied for several years at the famous Nalanda University. Upon his return to China in 645, bearing many Sanskrit texts, he was sponsored by Emperor Taizang to translate all the texts into Chinese and to record the story of his journey. His autobiography, Great Tang Records of the Western Region, is considered so accurate in its observations that it is consulted by archeologists and historians to this day. It is also the inspiration for the many popular Journey to the West and Monkey stories in novels, comic books, and animated and live action films and television from several countries in Asia. Reenactments, location filming and animation are compellingly deployed in The Great Pilgrim to introduce a truly legendary figure.

Abraxas
Directed by Naoki Kato
Japan / 2010 / Japanese with English subtitles / 113 min / Dramatic Feature
Friday, April 13, 8:45 pm

A punk rock veteran, now a married Buddhist priest, has a crisis of identity. This film touches on karma, self, compassion, community, impermanence, a dog, fathers and sons, relative and absolute, noise and music… and weaves bravely between heartfelt emotion and borderline jaunty farce. A soft spot for thrash punk (and Leonard Cohen) will add to the pleasure. Perhaps this is something of a glimpse into the place of Buddhism in contemporary Japan… A not-too-distant kin to Juzo Itami’s The Funeral (1984), Masayuki Suo’s Fanshi Dansu (1989) and Yojiro Katika’s Departures (2008)…. A Sundance Film Festival World Cinema Competition film starring Japanese rock star Suneohair, with Rie Tomosaka and Kaoru Kobayashi.

Tulku
Directed by Gesar Mukpo
Canada / 2010 / English / 76 min / Documentary
EUROPEAN PREMIERE
Saturday, April 14, 3:00 pm

At age three, Gesar Tsewang Arthur Mukpo, son of renowned Tibetan Buddhist teacher Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche and his British wife Diana, was identified as the reincarnation of the late Jamgon Kongtrul of Sechen, one of his father’s own teachers in Tibet. Living in Boulder, Colorado and then Halifax, Nova Scotia, Gesar balanced competing cultures and strikingly different definitions of self. His life was far from that of an ordinary contemporary American or Canadian—his father was a world famous Buddhist teacher and author—but there was no monastery upbringing like that of perhaps the best known tulku, the Dalai Lama, or even like his father. The film goes beyond autobiography to explore the Tibetan tradition of recognition of reincarnations of Buddhist teachers. Other non-Tibetan tulkus are interviewed as well as renowned Tibetan teachers including Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche and H.H. Ogyen Trinley the 17th Karmapa.

Crazy Wisdom
Directed by Johanna Demetrakas
USA / 2011 / English / 92 min / Documentary
EUROPEAN PREMIERE
Saturday, April 14, 6:30 pm

This is the long-awaited feature documentary that explores the life, teachings, and “crazy wisdom” of Chogyam Trungpa, Rinpoche, a pivotal figure in bringing Tibetan Buddhism to the West. Raised and trained in the rigorous Tibetan monastic tradition, Trungpa shattered preconceived notions about how an enlightened teacher should behave—he openly smoked, drank, and had intimate relations with students—yet his teachings are recognized as authentic, vast, and influential. Trungpa taught Buddhism as though it were a matter of life and death. Allen Ginsberg considered him his guru; Thomas Merton wanted to write a book with him; Joni Mitchell wrote a song about him. Filmed in the UK, Tibet, Canada, and the US, twenty years after Trungpa’s death, with unprecedented access and exclusive archival material.

My Reincarnation
Directed by Jennifer Fox
Italy, USA / 2011 / English, Italian, and Tibetan with English subtitles / 82 min / Documentary
OFFICIAL UK PREMIERE
Saturday, April 14, 8:45 pm
Director expected to attend

Working with over a thousand hours of remarkable footage taken over an unprecedented twenty year span with extraordinary access to Tibetan Buddhist teacher Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche, My Reincarnation is the intimate story of a father and son, tradition and change, dreams and realities, destiny and desire, and Tibetan Buddhism in the contemporary world. Director Jennifer Fox is a veteran world-class filmmaker with a number of award-winning productions to her credit including Beirut: The Last Home Movie, An American Love Story and Flying: Confessions of a Free Woman. Filmed on location in Italy, China and fifteen other countries.
SPOTLIGHT ON BURMA

Aung San Suu Kyi: Lady of No Fear
Directed by Anne-Gyrithe Bonne
Denmark / 2012 / English / 64 min / Documentary

Compelling and fascinating glimpses into the life of the Nobel Laureate. This new film details some of the consequences her freedom struggle has had, not only for her, but also for her closest friends and family, as she emerges from years of detention to take her place again at the forefront of her country’s transition to democracy.

Into the Current
Directed by Jeanne Hallacy
Myanmar, Thailand, USA / 2011 / English and Burmese with English
subtitles / 76 min / Documentary

This film honors the leaders of Burma’s nonviolent democracy movement and their personal sacrifices for the freedom of their people. The film explores the commitment of Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, poet Min Ko Naing, comedian Zarganar and women’s leader Nilar Thein. Their stories are told through scenes of political activities filmed at great risk by the Democratic Voice of Burma, with rare archival footage and new material filmed with Burmese exiles. Bo Kyi, a former prisoner, carries the voices and the plight of 2,000 other political prisoners to the international stage.
KanZeOn

Directed by Tim Grabham and Neil Cantwell
UK, Japan / 2011 / English subtitles / 86 min / Documentary
Directors expected to attend

A mysterious and innovative meditation on sound, song, story, ritual, performance, nature, tradition and Japanese Buddhism… a fearless merging of medieval and modern, beautifully filmed with a variety of cinematic techniques on location in Japan, intimate and deeply seen. Kanzeon, another way of saying Kannon, the embodiment of compassion (in Sanskrit: Avalokiteshvara, in Tibetan: Chenrezi, in Chinese: Kuan Yin), can also be written in Japanese as “to see sounds.” Filmed on location in Kyushu, Japan.
Summer Pasture
Directed by Lynn True, Nelson Walker, Tsering Perlo
USA, China / 2010 / Tibetan with English subtitles / 85 min / Documentary

Summer Pasture is a complex and intimate portrayal of the world of a nomadic family on the Tibetan plateau at a time of profound historic change. Locho and Yama are nomadic herders who carve their existence from the land as their ancestors have for generations. But now, as traditional nomadic life confronts rapid modernization, Summer Pasture captures a family at a crossroads, ultimately revealing the profound sacrifice they will make to ensure their daughter’s future. Filmed on location in China.

For ticketing and venue information, please visit Apollo Piccadilly Circus. The booking schedule is expected soon.

New Music Profiles | Nehedar

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This profile is a first in a series for Frost magazine. We are profiling new music and trying to discover new artists. The artist might not be actually ‘new’, but someone who we think may be about to breakthrough or go onto another level of fame. They do say it takes ten years to become an overnight success….

Artist: Nehedar
Location: NYC
CD: High Tide
Release date: Out now.
Production: Craig Levy @ Little Pioneer Cider House, Brooklyn, NY
Websites: http://www.nehedar.com, www.facebook.com/nehedarmusic
Streaming link: http://music.nehedar.com/releases
Secure download link: http://www.mediafire.com/?8axodrg39c5ra2e
Styles: Indie Pop, Alternative, Singer-Songwriter
Similar to: Tracy Bonham, Aimee Man, Emma Pollock

Highlights/Accolades: Power Plant Beach was selected as one of Mother Jones Readers’ favorite albums of 2011. Emilia Cataldo was a finalist in the We R Indie singer songwriter contest in 2011. Nehedar provided most of the soundtrack to an upcoming independent film. (working title: Strike Anywhere Matches).

Nehedar is the project of New York-based singer-songwriter Emilia Cataldo.

The daughter of two New York musicians who fled urban life for the country, Cataldo was born in Southbridge, Massachusetts, where her family lived in a barn on the outskirts of town. Music always permeated their home – her mother a hippie piano teacher from a Jewish home & her father a Puerto Rican jazz saxophonist.

The Cataldo family which grew to six children, moved from Massachusetts, to Miami FL, & eventually to the religiously-infused town of Zion, Illinois, on the outskirts of Chicago where Cataldo briefly attended high school.

Cataldo quickly grew disenchanted with her small town surroundings. As soon as she was old enough, she left high school to travel the country, and later the world, on a journey that would eventually lead her to Israel, where she would study the Jewish faith in Seminary, and take on the Hebrew name Nehedar, which means ‘wonderful.’

In 2000, Cataldo settled in New York City, where she began writing & performing her own music in 2001 following a difficult period involving the loss of her mother to an aggressive brain tumor. She adopted ‘Nehedar’ as her stage-name & that of her band. Eventually, Cataldo would return to school to complete her B.A. in music at Stern College in Manhattan.

Nehedar has self-released five albums – Pick Your Battles in 2007, the critically-acclaimed Dreamlike in 2008, Pterodactyl Baby in 2009, Power Plant Beach in 2010 and just released her latest album High Tide on March 15, 2012. For the duration of her recording Nehedar has worked closely with Craig Levy of Little Pioneer Cider House in Brooklyn New York, although she has enjoyed experimenting with other producers. Nehedar’s backing band has included a revolving cast of friends and thereby changed shape over the years. Whenever possible Nehedar includes Luis Cataldo (her saxaphone playing father) in the mix.

While spanning indie-rock, folk, jazz and pop genres, the music of Nehedar has continued to deliver her blend of deeply personal lyrics, beautiful vocal harmonies & a variety of instrumentation. Momentary departures from strict chord progressions set her music apart, surely a result of her childhood spent listening to jazz. As a writer and performer she has enjoyed comparisons to Tracy Bonham, Bebel Gilberto and Ingrid Michaelson.

THE VOICE: WEEK 1.

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Right!

Before we start, before we even think about starting and are still in bed scrambling for the snooze button, let’s get something very clear indeed.

‘The Voice’ ISN’T about finding a voice.

Let’s just knock that idea on the head and put it in a dark corner to come round in its own time and wander off unnoticed shall we?

The notion that this is all about pure singing ability and nothing else is so absurd that it’s forced me to use the words, ‘notion’ and ‘absurd’ and I’m not even in a period drama.

The number of indicators that disprove the title are far too numerous to list here but the opening couple of contestants pretty much said it all.

We open with a 17-year-old who’s first sentence is about how important songwriting is to her and how she’s always getting picked on.

BOOM!

That’s pretty much all you need to hear. Instantly we know that this, just like ‘X-Factor’ is about milking some undiscovered talent for phone votes. If you haven’t got a back-story that will have us all wiping tears from the screens of our mobiles then forget it.

Jessica played a Jessie Jay song- what were the odds? Sang about as well as your average teenager who can sing. Mascara flowed backstage and mindless teenies screamed out front.

What should have happened was the judges eventually turn around, once the singing has stopped, and tell her they didn’t pick her because even though she could probably get by as a performer, this show is all about The Voice and there are more chops in Paul McCartney’s fridge.

Instead, all four judges wanted to work with her like she’d just invented singing from scratch, and Will.i.am…Will.I.Am.. Will- sod it, Bill, offered her global success and record deals in every country he could think of before anyone else had even spoken. When they did, it wasn’t really worth it.
Hmmm. That was kind of easy. Well done Jessica- or ‘The New Whitney’ as we should probably call her. Bullseye! Lets send the crew home- job done! Lights off Tom, last one down the Grammies pays for the Chrystal!

Jessica, now, a middle-of-the-road, unheard-of teenager with a single, bog-standard performance to her name, has the unenviable task of telling someone who has produced Michael Jackson why she’s not picking him. It was like ‘Blind Date goes to Hollywood’ and little Billy was snubbed in favour of Miss. J. because ‘number one hits don’t matter’ to our little Irish Superstar. She’s ‘a songwriter’ and it’s all about ‘making music and sharing my message.’

WOAH!! No it’s not- not to us anyway! Not here on ‘The Voice’! Anywhere but here surely? Come on!
It’s all about THE VOICE isn’t it? I’m no vocal coach but I know she’s vocally about as unique as a pair of Crocs.

I had to take a moment. I had to slap myself in the face and grow up a little.
My hopes that this would carry the integrity the BBC usually floats above all other channels on, was misguided. How silly of me for thinking it might do what it says on the tin (what it ‘reads’ on the tin actually because tins can’t speak- but I digress) and be just about finding the best voice in the country. How naïve can I be?

If they wanted to find the best voice in the country they would have done it differently and would almost certainly be choosing mostly professionals why? Well because life’s like that. They’re professionals for a reason.

Don’t get me wrong, there are examples of undiscovered gems that only a talent show can unearth- over on the other side in the ‘shallow lands’ of ITV we had a teenage fat lad on BGT that had me crying so hard I got snot on the dogs.

HE should have been on The Voice- it was made precisely for people like him.
Even a half-deaf nobody like me could hear that his voice was up there- WAY up there. Better (in my view of course) than Russell Watson… now what’s his nickname again? And Paul Potts- not to be confused with Pol Pot under any circumstances, and even the Susan ‘Bovine’ Boyle. This kid has a truly amazing voice. But instead of having Tom Jones on his feet shouting the Louis Walsh anthem- “You’re what this show is all about!” He was having his chins stared up at by Carmen Electra who’s about as appropriate a judge of anything but nipple bronzer and smiling through ‘pout cramp’ as Jessie Jay is on making it in spite of being fat and ugly.

Breathe…. Find a happy place… it’s only TV.

So, with my new awareness of The Voice fully updated I watched on while, somewhere in my subconscious, there was yet another memorial service for a little bit of my soul.

Next up we had Sean- formerly of boy band ‘FIVE’… ‘5IVE’… ‘FIV5’?- sod it ‘V’. He suffered the ignominy of four chair backs and smiled through the tumbleweed. The judges turned and told him what an amazing voice he had and that they just ‘couldn’t see what they could do’ for him? Well picking him would have been a start. Jessie said she would love to listen to his voice all day, at home. Well, unless he comes round to fit her new kitchen, she’s not gonna get the chance now is she? His voice wasn’t great so, in this instance, they were right but the cracks in the premise of this show were already so clear it was like skydiving over the Grand Canyon and we were only two songs in. Sean could have had the voice of an angel but his story and his lack of anonymity had sealed his fate before he drew breath.

And so it went on, We had a lady with a good voice and a bald head who I, and I suspect the entire audience, felt a little robbed of their emotion by when she announced it was alopecia. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a horrible thing to happen to anyone, especially a woman trying to make it as a singer. But in the world of unintentionally bald women it’s something of a best-case-scenario.

We had an overweight, slightly effeminate Adele impersonator and Tom Jones fan. Surprisingly only one judge turned around- it was Tom… what did you say those odds were again? He was a good singer with a great personality. They all said they thought it was a woman singing and then Tom, clearly not on message, said he thought he sounded like him and, as the laws of inevitability crashed into his lap, then had to turn and ask the other judges if they thought he sounded like a woman too?

When Tom Jones has to ask people who have been chosen to judge singing talent if he sounds like a woman it’s time to throw your glitter wig into a bucket and ride out-of-town.

This is my biggest problem with ‘The Voice’- the judging process.

I like, and respect, all the judges and when I heard that TJ was one of them I instantly expected him to do what everyone wants from this show. I like Jessie and Bill and Danny from The Script. All quality judges- and not a Carmen Electra amongst them. This is what the BBC does but it usually makes its own programs and doesn’t buy them in. When it does we get this.

This was the first episode and by the end we already had Tom and Bill dropping names like they were playing Top Trumps and it had turned into a judge fight just like all the others that follow the laws as dictated by the much-thumbed ‘how to make talent shows’ by S. Cowell.

They’d run out of pleas, were bereft of ways to sell themselves to their prospective protégés and had to resort to flirting, begging and bragging by the end credits.

We’ve got an entire series to go yet!

Instead of the show allowing them to say, “Sorry mate but I can’t see how I’m going to discover you if you’ve already been discovered.” Which would be fair enough on the X-Factor. They have to keep it all about the singing, even though it’s clearly not, or they’ll get plebs like me complaining in our dozens. So someone with a voice like a toddler murmuring from the far end of a storm gets offered world domination and someone with a great voice but no back story will be told they’re ‘pitchy’ or not ‘leading’ enough instead by a woman who owes a large part of her success to skin-tight lycra.

I know I need to relax and just enjoy it. I will, I promise. But for now I can’t help but despair at what seemed like something new being the same old crap as everything else but with a new gimmick.

Shame really… still, can’t wait till next week!

Thomas White – Yalla! | Music Review

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In August 2010 Thomas White, after a decade on the road with The Electric Soft Parade, The Brakes and British Sea Power and following the death of his mother, took himself off on holiday. Firstly to Dubai, then onto Egypt. On arrival in Egypt, White realised he didn’t much like it and wasn’t having the time of his life. Fortunately the troubador was armed with an acoustic guitar and a laptop and so spent his days in his documenting backwards a story that has often been; the story of a man somewhere quite drab dreaming of glorious sunshine. White was somewhere beautiful in the sun but was dreaming of home; specifically Brighton in the drabness of autumn. Whatever the circumstances, though, a delicious record came of it.

White’s previous record, The Maximist, was his David Bowie moment, a bombastic stop of glam-punk. Yalla! is White’s Beatles moment. The spirit of Lennon and McCartney run down the spine of this record, as if they were sat in that hotel room in Dahab.  Opening track ‘All The Fallen Leaves’ oozes regret; ‘I’ll See Her Again’ is a tale of lost love that appears to have picked up the baton from Elliott Smith, the same one that was mistakenly picked up by Graham Coxon. ‘The Heavy Sunshine Sound’ is his finest Lennon/McCartney impression with the moods and shades turning from dark to light and back again as quick as his voice moves.

At times White sounds like he’s about to enjoy himself with a big soaring chorus but then he pulls it all back to the bleak; that post-tragedy feeling where life should never be enjoyed again and that any feelings to the contrary are self-indulgent. ‘I’ve Seen the Sunrise’ documents lost love and loneliness but muddles it with the highs and the feeling that all is not lost.

The one criticism of this record is that the pill tastes a little bit dull after 7-8 songs of the same shade. A stunning record but one to be eaten in reasonable sized chunks but if you’re feeling melancholic then pop it on repeat and it’ll soothe your soul.

Throughout Yalla! White seems as homesick-for and rooted in Brighton and his favourite landmarks that he lists, as it is possible to be. He’s a veteran of the music scene there having burst onto the scene aged 17 with the much-hyped Electric Soft Parade and having been around for over a decade and been in more bands than Mike Patton (possible exaggeration), it is easy to think of White as a veteran but at 27 you hope he’s just getting started and has enough melancholy to make a record like Yalla! at least once more.

Suits Season One Finale | Review

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SPOILER ALERT

You wait your entire life for a good legal drama and two come at once. [The Good Wife is the other one, in case you were wondering] It is hard to believe that it is already the season finale of Suits, how time flies. Harvey and Mike’s legal shenanigans have kept me entertained for weeks.

In the last episode Harvey found his conscious and vowed to get someone he had [accidentally] falsely imprisoned for murder back out of prison. He is intent on proving Clifford Danner’s innocence because he’s come across new evidence that might absolve the wrongly convicted man. He also refused to turn in his own corrupt mentor, and was only saved by the women in his life.

He has to go up against everyone, including his own firm Pearson & Harden as the powers that be are not too happy on him representing a convicted murderer, especially since his victim went to a private school where many of the firm’s clients send their children. As they lose a client the stakes are raised.

Mike goes to work to help save the day yet again. Will they manage it? It will be tough as their every turn is blocked, and the stakes are raised higher; if they lose, their client will get life imprisonment, instead of the four years he has left.

It is fun finding out, but somewhere else in the episode something happens that can completely destroy Mike’s career, and possibly affect Harvey’s too, as old lies rise to the surface. Another good episode. I cannot wait for the next season.

Suits SERIES FINALE S1 E12/12

Tuesday 3rd April, 9pm

Perez Hilton's "One Night in Austin" to Benefit The VH1 Save The Music Foundation

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VH1 will donate $1 to VH1 Save The Music Foundation in conjunction with Perez Hilton’s Annual Music Event For Every Check In on Foursquare at Any Music Venue Across the Country

The VH1 Save The Music Foundation has been selected as the benefiting charity of Perez Hilton’s “One Night in Austin” event at South By Southwest on March 17, 2012. Returning to Austin for the fifth consecutive year, this legendary series, produced by The BMF Media Group, will feature performances and DJ sets by an array of today’s top artists (to be announced the weeks leading up the show). There are a limited number of tickets available and can be purchased at $25 (General Admission) and/or $50 (VIP) at www.vh1savethemusic.com/perez. 100% of the proceeds from ticket sales will benefit the VH1 Save The Music Foundation and its mission to restore instrumental music education programs in our nation’s public schools.

In conjunction with the event, VH1 will donate $1 to the VH1 Save The Music Foundation throughout the month of March for each check in on Foursquare at any music venue across the country. With each check in, participating individuals will receive the exclusive “VH1 Save The Music” badge. Through these combined efforts, the Foundation can receive up to $50,000 in donations, enough to restore a complete music education program. Users must follow VH1 on Foursquare to unlock the badge and trigger the donation at: https://foursquare.com/vh1.

“We are thrilled to be a part of Perez Hilton’s “One Night in Austin” this year,” said Paul Cothran, Vice President & Executive Director of the VH1 Save The Music Foundation. “With Perez’s help, we will be able to generate a great deal of awareness for our cause, and with the additional fundraising boost provided by VH1 network and Foursquare’s generous promotion, we will be able to ensure that a greater number of children will not be deprived of access to a complete education that includes music.”

Since its inception in 1997, The VH1 Save The Music Foundation has provided more than $48 million in new musical instruments to 1,800 public schools in more than 100 cities around the country, impacting the lives of over 1.8 million children. Thanks to the generous support of celebrities like Perez Hilton and the VH1 Save The Music Ambassadors, including Katy Perry, Daughtry, Lupe Fiasco, Jordin Sparks, Matthew Morrison, Vanessa Carlton, AJ McLean and Gavin Rossdale, the Foundation is able to generate awareness about the importance of music in a child’s education.

“Music is the answer! For the first time ever, I am going to be selling tickets to my annual SXSW event! These tickets will GUARANTEE entrance to what is always the hottest party in all of Austin. This year, I have decided to donate all of the money raised through ticket sales to The VH1 Save The Music Foundation. It combines two things I am passionate about – music and inspiring youth. I can’t wait!” said Perez Hilton.

Using Perez Hilton’s “One Night in Austin” as the marquee event, fans are encouraged to use Foursquare to check in at various SXSW events as well as any music venue across the country throughout this month. With the support of VH1 and Foursquare and by simply checking in each time you enjoy live music, you can help The VH1 Save The Music Foundation raise needed funds to continue their work in American public schools.

VH1 will also be bringing several new documentaries through its VH1 Rock Doc franchise to SXSW. VH1 News, Tune (VH1 Music Blog) and the “Top 20 Countdown” hosted by Jim Shearer will be sharing highlights of Perez Hilton’s “One Night In Austin.”

For more information or to see how you can get involved, please visit www.vh1savethemusic.com or join The VH1 Save The Music community on Facebook at www.facebook.com/vh1savethemusic and on Twitter at @vh1savethemusic.