Learn How to Play Guitar by the End of the Week
In 1962, a little-known Liverpool rock act called the Beatles auditioned for a recording contract with Decca Records, but were rejected on the grounds that "guitar groups were on the way out." Besides...
View ArticleA-Sides with Jon Chattman: Flying High with Birdy
She's soaring. She's flying high. She's about to take flight. Any fowl puns and cliched sentences are justified when referring to singer/songwriter Birdy. The 18-year-old wunderkind is a rising star...
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Style Vixens of Rock and Roll
Bold, powerful women who rock hard and have the epic style to match are an integral part of rock and roll. We dug deep in our vault to present unique women who possess that out-of-this-world sartorial...
View ArticleThe 10 Best Sports Movies of the Past 10 Years
Sports and movies are two great outlets to escape from everyday life for a bit. Who doesn't love sitting on the couch in the morning, flipping on ESPN, and absorbing all the latest sports news with a...
View ArticleLife Happens to Candi Staton
The good news, according to an American music legend, is that you can go home again! Witness Candi Staton as heard on her latest album Life Happens (Beracah Records). Her overall influence on popular...
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Jersey Boys
Four guys stand under a street lamp, singing their hearts out. That's the iconic vision of Doo-wop/pop groups like The Four Seasons. The Tony Award-winning Broadway musical Jersey Boys puts a name and...
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Project Stealth: The Future of Stealth Action Multiplayer Games (Part II)
Continuing where we left off last time, Project Stealth's producer, Frank van Gemeren, continues our conversation by discussing the future of multiplayer games, the challenges of designing maps for...
View ArticleEntertainment in the Era of the Selfie
This blog first appeared on Edelman.com. Selfie-mania has taken center stage at the Oscars, the Oval Office and, of course, most of our Facebook feeds. Perhaps, then, it is little wonder that the once...
View ArticleGays of Future Past
For anyone under 30, it may be difficult to imagine a time when the gay-rights movement wasn't operating at a milestone-a-minute pace. From Michael Sam's "kiss seen 'round the world" to states like...
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Rick Springfield: The Journey Is Never Over
For It's About The Words & Conversations, Rick talks passionately about his lifetime spiritual exploration and how two books have served as lifelong reference guides. Rick: A book that that has...
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Disney Actress Louriza Tronco of Zapped Tells Us Her Audition Story
Louriza Tronco plays Yuki in the Disney Channel original movie Zapped which is based on the popular tween fiction novel Boys are Dogs. Watch the premiere on June 27th. Louriza's Twitter:...
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Can Better, Smarter Movies Make Better, Smarter Children?
Here's a bold statement: Giving your children the chance to watch classic films can be just as vital as anything they learn in school. Facilitating film literacy early on is a precious gift to your...
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9 Badass Women From Science Fiction
Look at that title. Go on, lean forward and really let those six words baste your eyeballs. I know...only nine? No, I am not angling for a fistfight, thank you very much. And, no, I'm also not woefully...
View Article'Rectify' Returns With More Realism on Life After Exoneration
SundanceTV's Rectify premieres its second season Thursday, June 19, at 9:00pm ET/PT. The first season is available on Netflix. "Exoneree" isn't a word in the dictionary, but it should be. Spell-check...
View ArticleA Jersey Boy's Guide to Cash and Culture
"How did you know that Jersey Boys would be a smash on Broadway?" Of course, I didn't know, but that's the question I hear when people find out that I was among the co-producers. Clint Eastwood, a...
View ArticleVaneese Thomas: Launching "Blues for my Father" at the Cutting Room
Just after the Father's Day weekend, when Vaneese Thomas sang backup for Aretha Franklin at sold out shows at Radio City Music Hall, the singer had a launch for her new album, "Blues for my Father."...
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Revisiting Do The Right Thing: 25 Years Later
By Craig Carpenter and Dominic Fowler The Polish journalist and war correspondent, Ryszard Kapuściński describes in his masterpiece 1976 book, Another Day of Life, the looming transition in Angola...
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The Entrancing Musical Experience of Yann Tiersen
Most of the live music I see these days is a very predictable experience. Usually a four- or five- piece band with a few guitars, a bass, drums, some microphones and lyrics about the sorrow of love...
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Songwriter's Pie Anyone?
I can't believe I'm actually going to say this. I many never work in this town again. But here goes. As a professional songwriter for over 25 years, I was drawn to a piece that was put out on the wire...
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Blockbuster Fatigue, Anyone? Sales Soften for Plastic Action Figure Toys...
Hollywood keeps churning out glossy, big-budget movies based on comic books or other flimsy pop-culture source material like toys (for the Transformers film series) because these special-effects-driven...
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