Glee 3D Concert Film Coming This Summer!

Posted on May 6, 2011 at 10:31 am

The cast of “Glee” is going on the road with a concert tour, and Fox has announced that a 3D film of the tour will be in movie theaters late this summer. Cast members Lea Michele (Rachel), Cory Monteith (Finn), Amber Riley (Mercedes), Chris Colfer (Kurt), Kevin McHale (Artie), Jenna Ushkowitz (Tina), Mark Salling (Puck), Dianna Agron (Quinn), Naya Rivera (Santana), Heather Morris (Brittany), Harry Shum Jr. (Mike), Chord Overstreet (Sam), Darren Criss (Blaine), and Ashley Fink (Lauren) will perform, and cameras will record on- and off-stage moments for the theatrical release. Stay tuned for further details!

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3D Music Trailers, Previews, and Clips

What Can We Learn from #1 Songs?

Posted on April 27, 2011 at 8:00 am

Jessie Rifkin listened to every number one song in the history of the pop charts, from Ricky Nelson’s “Poor Little Fool” up through this week’s “ET” by Katy Perry and wrote about it for the Washington Post. He notes that “The first 100 non-instrumental No. 1’s were performed by 38 solo acts and 62 groups, but the most recent 100 were performed by 91 solo acts and nine groups” and that George Harrison and Elvis Presley had number one hits after they were not at the top of their careers. “And only 19 instrumentals have reached the top spot, none after 1985’s synth-percussion-fest “Miami Vice Theme” by Jan Hammer.” Perhaps most significantly,

What is remembered as the defining music of an era and what actually sold the most at the time are very different. Imagine the 1960s without Bob Dylan, James Brown and Jimi Hendrix; the 1970s without KISS, the Who and Led Zeppelin; the 1980s without Bruce Springsteen, Journey and Run-DMC; the 1990s without Nirvana, Green Day and Public Enemy; the aughts without John Mayer, Linkin Park and Taylor Swift. None of these giants have had a No. 1 song — at least not yet.

Get your own sense of what Jessie Rifkin listened to with these wonderful compilations of five seconds from every number one song on the top 40. If you are as old as I am, it is the aural equivalent of seeing your life pass before your eyes. What is the first pop song you remember? What is the first one you ever bought? What’s your favorite one-hit wonder?

Enough Already with ‘In the Hall of the Mountain King’

Posted on April 13, 2011 at 3:59 pm

Indiewire has a very funny piece about the popularity — the near-ubiquity — of Edvard Grieg’s “In the Hall of the Mountain King” in movies and trailers. Before I go any further, let’s listen to it and see if it brings back any memories.

Wikipedia has an extensive list of “Mountain King” in film and television and trailers.

“In the Hall of the Mountain King” was famously used in the 1931 film “M,” in which Peter Lorre’s character whistles it. As of February 2008, it may be viewed and heard on YouTube.
In the ‘boat race’ scene of “The Social Network” (2010), a Trent Reznor remix is used when the Winklevoss brothers compete before discovering that Facebook reaches both Europe and video live streaming.
The song also was used in the opening promo for WWE’s Vengeance 2001
The song also appears during the teaser trailer of Tim Burton’s “Corpse Bride” and “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” “Beetlejuice,” “Funny Games, Bride Wars,” “Rat Race,” “Friday After Next” and “Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian.”
The song is the theme music for Dr. Ivo Robotnik in the animated series, Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog.
The semi-fictional characters Tristan Farnon and James Herriot in the BBC televised series “All Creatures Great and Small” perform the piece drunkenly with their dates at a pub.
It is also played over the end credits of the Woody Allen film “Scoop.”
A young boy is seen playing “In the Hall of The Mountain King” as a piano practice piece in an episode of Mad Men entitled “The Mountain King”.
In the final episode of Beavis and Butthead, “In the Hall of the Mountain King” is being played when Principal McVicker has flashbacks to their antics.
In the Courage the Cowardly Dog episode, entitled “Farmer-Hunter, Farmer Hunted”, the song can be heard several times.
“In the Hall of the Mountain King” is also featured in the intro of the television series “The Dudesons.”
The vampires in “The Lost Boys: The Tribe” whistle the tune to this song.
Lamberto Bava’s 1985 horror film “Dèmoni” (aka Demons) includes a title theme by Claudio Simonetti that incorporates the melody of “In the Hall of the Mountain King”.
Fragments of the piece are heard in the BBC Oscar-winning documentary “Man on Wire” in a re-enactment where Philippe Petit and an accomplice herd the infamous tightrope wire up the stairs, past a guard on duty. Though not played in full, the song is listed in the film’s musical credits.
It was used as the three brothers theme on the “Garfield and Friends” spin-off “Orson’s Farm.”
It is played when the antiestablishment Mozzie enters the FBI offices in USA Network’s “White Collar” (season 2, episode 4, 2010). song of the French author Bernard Werber’s short film “La Reine de Nacre.”
It served as a basis for the theme of the Inspector Gadget animated series.
A version of the song is used during a scene featuring a game of charades in a 2010 episode (“Chuck Versus the Leftovers”) of “Chuck.” Scenes immediately following this one then work cues of In the Hall of the Mountain King into the show’s original score.
It is used in the movie trailer of “Dinner for Schmucks.”
This song is the main theme of Microsoft’s commercial for its Windows Phone 7: Really.
It the sixth episode of 2nd season of “Misfits” (TV series) .
It was used in “The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters” during a graphing of Steve Wiebe’s world record attempt.
It was also played in the opening scenes of the Norwegian movie “Død Snø (Dead Snow).”
In “Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers,” Pete’s song “Petey’s King of France” is sung to the tune of this song.

Two more over-used tunes:

(A lot of sports movies including “The Sandlot,” “The Mighty Ducks,” “The Replacements,” “The Longest Yard,” “Ice Princess” and many more)

(Also mentioned by Indiewire and used for a lot of battle scenes, series and comic, in everything from “Excalibur” and “Detroit Rock City,” to “Glee,” “Wrestlemania” and “Jackass”)

Any other candidates?

Rebecca Black’s ‘Friday’ — So Bad It’s….A Hit!

Posted on March 16, 2011 at 7:38 pm

Would-be tween pop star Rebecca Black is having a good news/bad news situation. The good news: her song “Friday” is one of the internet’s most widely distributed and watched videos. She has become an instant celebrity.
The bad news: that’s because it is so awful.

It has inspired parodies, covers, many tweets, and lots of commentary about the state of the music business today — even some backlash to the backlash.
The song is bad. Her voice is painfully auto-tuned and she looks uncomfortable — no one has ever sung the words “fun fun fun fun” so unconvincingly. The lyrics are dreadful, and I say that keeping in mind that we are talking about a pop song, a category that has produced lyrics like “da doo ron ron,” “yummy yummy yummy, I’ve got love in my tummy,” and many, many unsuccessful efforts to rhyme “girl” and “world.”

Yesterday was Thursday, Thursday
Today i-is Friday, Friday (Partyin’)
We-we-we so excited
We so excited
We gonna have a ball today

Tomorrow is Saturday
And Sunday comes after…wards
I don’t want this weekend to end

And don’t forget this one:

Partyin’, partyin’ (Yeah)
Partyin’, partyin’ (Yeah)
Fun, fun, fun, fun
Lookin’ forward to the weekend!

Worst of all, the production values look like they were put together on a Commodore 64. It reminds me of the wonderful “Robin Sparkles” video from “How I Met Your Mother” — except that one was supposed to be awful, and it really was adorable. If you’ve suffered through “Friday,” watch this one to cleanse your memory.

Don’t Play With Bruno; Bruno is a Dweeb

Posted on March 13, 2011 at 3:13 pm

I was delighted to find this great version of one of my favorite Tom Chapin songs, performed by Steve Charney — very timely with the increased sensitivity to issues of bullying and mean behavior in schools, and a great way to start a family conversation about how all of us can find ways to be kinder and more respectful.