TV / Film News

Japanese Media Members, Academics Speak out Against Canceling of 'Cove' Screenings in Japan

Source: Michael Ricci
June 11, 2010

Fifty-five journalists, academics and film directors in Japan condemned intimidation and threats that led movie theaters to cancel screenings of “The Cove," a documentary about the slaughter of dolphins in a Japanese village.

Three movie theaters that had been scheduled to show the film later this month canceled their plans last week after receiving a flood of angry phone calls and warnings of protests by nationalists, who have been screaming slogans outside the Tokyo office of the Japanese distributor in ...

Continue Reading

A Look at Musicians' Hard Lives

Source: The Augmented Ear by John Patten
June 9, 2010

If you'd like to get a realistic glimpse of the life of a jazz musician, turn in to HBO's “Treme," set in post-Katrina New Orleans.

Several of the show's primary characters are musicians, jazz or other, who eke out a living in one of America's most musical cities. If you can't make it here, can you anywhere?

Wendell Pierce stars as trombonist Antoine Batiste, marching in funeral lines by day and gigging anywhere he can at night. In one early ...

Continue Reading

Minor Key to 'Tonight Show' Tune

Source: All About Jazz
June 9, 2010

“The Tonight Show" gets its fourth theme song in a little more than a year, as new music director Rickey Minor joins the late-night talker on Monday.

Minor will immediately put his stamp on the Jay Leno gabfest with a new theme, along with an entirely new band. For those keeping track at home: Leno signed off in May 2009 with his long-running theme song, as written by original band leader Branford Marsalis. Conan O'Brien then launched with his own ...

Continue Reading

Cognitive Surplus: The Great Spare-Time Revolution

Source: All About Jazz
June 1, 2010

People don't just do things for money, says Pink. 'We do things because they are interesting.'

Clay Shirky and Daniel Pink have led eerily parallel lives. Both grew up in Midwest university towns in the 1970s, where they spent their formative years watching television after school and at night. Both later went to Yale (a BA in painting for Shirky, a law degree for Pink). And both eventually abandoned their chosen fields to write about technology, business, and society.

Now ...

Continue Reading

Sidekick No More: Eubanks Starts Post-Leno Life

Source: Michael Ricci
June 1, 2010

Kevin Eubanks ended his 15-year tenure as musical director of The Tonight Show With Jay Leno on Friday with a song, alone on acoustic guitar.

It was Adoration, an original ballad flecked with classical filigree, and he gave it a warmly dignified calm. He seemed unhurried and introspective, already pulling away from the frenetic clamor of the show. The moment played out like a curtain call, when an actor leaves his character in the wings and you think, So this ...

Continue Reading

Israeli Filmmaker Adopts Camel Race Dream

Source: Michael Ricci
June 1, 2010

Ezry Keydar and Nadav Ben Israel, two Israeli filmmakers, began making a documentary last year about a Bedouin man's dream of restoring camel races and cultural pride. But even before the film has been finished, his dream has become theirs. Camel racing in Israel may sound outlandish, but there's a serious point. Keydar says Israel is systematically pushing camels a symbol of Bedouin culture into extinction. Keydar lives in the desert, respects its harsh ways and wants Bedouins and camels ...

Continue Reading

Bandleader Kevin Eubanks Ends 18 Years with Leno

Source: All About Jazz
May 31, 2010

It's a wrap for Tonight Show bandleader Kevin Eubanks after 18 years backing up host Jay Leno.

“I don't think we've ever had an argument," Leno said, bidding Eubanks farewell on Friday's show. “We've had a lot of fun." Eubanks, whose duties included comic sidekick to Leno as well as guitarist, had been aboard since Leno took over NBC's Tonight in 1992. Eubanks became musical director when Branford Marsalis left in 1995. The 52-year-old Eubanks joined Leno last fall for ...

Continue Reading

'Cove' Release Sparks Ire in Japan

Source: All About Jazz
May 31, 2010

Oscar-winning doc “The Cove," which depicts the annual dolphin slaughter in Taiji, Japan, is now set for a June 26 Japanese bow on 27 screens -- but the road to release has been rocky and the troubles may not yet be over.

“The Cove's" helmer Louie Psihoyos and his staff encountered fierce opposition from the locals when filming, forcing them to shoot not only underwater but also undercover. That opposition from various sources has continued since Tokyo-based Medallion Media acquired ...

Continue Reading