Jazz News

Hollywood Struggles to Find Wealth on the Web

Source: All About Jazz
February 20, 2009

After more than a decade of hype about the Internet being the next great stage for mass entertainment, it remains dominated by amateurs with most Hollywood stars watching from the wings.

Even as talent agencies like William Morris and television networks such as NBC push for more celebrities on websites and better quality programs, many actors and producers balk at Internet projects, saying they have meager revenue potential compared with TV and movies.

The future of Web entertainment is front ...

Continue Reading

California Budget Includes Tax Relief for Film, TV Shoots

Source: Michael Ricci
February 20, 2009

Previous attempts to secure tax credits for film and TV productions were portrayed by opponents as handouts for Hollywood. But those arguments weakened as other states poached jobs from California.

Incentives long sought by the entertainment industry should help keep productions at home. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a former movie actor, has been trying for years to get tax credits to keep California's signature industry at home.

He got his wish early Thursday when the Legislature approved tax credits for ...

Continue Reading

SAG Talks Collapse as Studios Hold Firm

Source: Michael Ricci
February 20, 2009

After three days, negotiations falter over the start date and duration of the actors' contract. No new talks are scheduled.

Negotiations between actors and the Hollywood studios broke down Thursday night, dashing high hopes for a quick resolution in a stalemate that has kept the union's 120,000 members working without a new contract for seven months.

The Screen Actors Guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which negotiates on behalf of the studios, ended talks after just ...

Continue Reading

Carnaval to Burst to Life in Hollywood

Source: Michael Ricci
February 20, 2009

Suddenly, Los Angeles is feeling a little like São Paulo. SoCal's largest annual Brazilian Carnaval celebration returns to the Palladium after years in Long Beach.

First, two large Carnaval-related events will take place this weekend -- a festival in Santa Barbara and the annual Brazilian Carnaval at the Palladium Saturday. Then, a DJ-centric dance party dubbed Made in Brazil returns to Hollywood early next month after a well- received August turn at the Avalon, and automaker Scion is ...

Continue Reading

Life Not All a Carnival for Rio's Drum Queens

Source: All About Jazz
February 20, 2009

RIO DE JANEIRO For 18-year-old Raissa de Oliveira, there are only two seasons in a year -- Carnival, and the rest.

For most of the year, the pretty, diminutive teen-ager is a journalism student from a rough part of town. In the weeks leading up Brazil's annual festival of Bacchanalia, she becomes a cross between a pin-up girl and a star athlete as the drum queen of one of Rio's top Samba schools.

The schedule is exhausting -- ...

Continue Reading

The Jaron Eames TV Show Presents: A Conversation with Art D'Lugoff of the Village Gate

Source: All About Jazz
February 20, 2009

Starting February 25th, 2009! Tune into a four part conversation with the Village Gate's Art D'Lugoff on the JaRon Eames TV show will air every Wednesday night 12:30am Channel 34 in New York City. Also airing in Hollywood CA, South Hampton NY, Brooklyn NY and world wide on the web at mnn.org. Part 2 will air March 5th, followed by parts 3 and 4, March 12th, and 19th. The release of the upcoming book Jazz Conversations is due to be ...

Continue Reading

Languages Are Dying Around the World

Source: All About Jazz
February 20, 2009

Only one native speaker of Livonian remains on Earth, in Latvia. The Alaskan language Eyak went extinct last year when its last surviving speaker passed away.

Those are just two of the nearly 2,500 languages that UNESCO says are in danger of becoming extinct or have recently disappeared. That's out of a total of 6,000 world languages.

In a presentation Thursday of a new world atlas of endangered languages, linguists stressed the list is not restricted to small or far-flung ...

Continue Reading

Bad Times for Bunny: Playboy for Sale

Source: All About Jazz
February 20, 2009

For sale (maybe): Playboy The bottom line for Playboy Enterprises: Business is bad.

Business is so bad that the company that gave us the magazine, the interviews, Hugh Hefner, Playboy bunnies past and present (including Gloria Steinem) and, of course, the Playmate of the Month, would consider -- gasp! -- selling itself.

Calm down, calm down. Interim CEO Jerome Kern only said the company would be “willing to listen" to a sale offer. That doesn't mean it's going ...

Continue Reading