"Billy Elliot" dances away with 10 Tony Awards

By Michelle Nichols and Claudia ParsonsNEW YORK (Reuters) - "Billy Elliot The Musical" swept the top U.S. theater honors on Sunday, winning 10 Tony Awards for a Broadway season that defied a recession with record ticket sales.
"Billy Elliot" is based on Oscar-nominated director Stephen Daldry's 2000 film about a ballet dancing schoolboy in a mining town in northern England. Elton John, who suggested the film be adapted for theater, wrote the music for the production.
"We came here at a hard time economically, you opened your wallets and your hearts to us and we love you for it," said John, one of Britain's best-known musicians whose hit songs include "Candle in the Wind" and "Rocket Man."
"Billy Elliot" was named best musical and the three teenage actors who play the title role -- David Alvarez, Trent Kowalik and Kiril Kulish -- were all named best actor in a musical, the first time three actors have shared the award.
"We want to say to all the kids out there who might want to dance, never give up," Kulish said.
Daldry, who won best musical director, said the boys were "three great gifts of Broadway" and that he was "blessed in the past 10 years of my life to be working on 'Billy Elliot.'" The show has also played in Britain and Australia.
Gregory Jbara won best featured actor in a musical for his role as Billy's father and the show also won best book of a musical and scenic, lighting, sound and choreography awards. It tied with "Next to Normal" for best orchestration.
Alice Ripley was named best actress in a musical for her role as a bipolar suburban housewife in "Next to Normal," which also picked up best original score, beating nominees including Elton John and Lee Hall for "Billy Elliot" and Dolly Parton for "9 to 5: The Musical."
"Billy Elliot" had matched the record number of Tony Award nominations set by "The Producers" in 2001, picking up 15 nods. "The Producers" went on to win a record 12 awards.
"Hair," the new production of the groundbreaking 1960s musical, won the Tony for best revival of a musical.
LIZA AND LANSBURY AMONG WINNERS
"God of Carnage" -- with an all-star cast of "Sopranos" star James Gandolfini, Marcia Gay Harden, Hope Davis and Jeff Daniels -- picked up the most awards for a play, winning best play, director of a play, and best actress for Harden.
"God of Carnage" director Matthew Warchus beat himself -- he was also nominated for best director for "The Norman Conquests," a trilogy of comedies that came to Broadway from a sold-out run in London, which won the Tony best play revival.
Liza Minnelli won the best special theatrical event Tony for "Liza's at the Palace," which featured a musical tribute to the 1940's nightclub act of her godmother, Kay Thompson.
"This is exquisite," a breathless Minnelli said. "I thought my beautiful man over there was going to win," she added, referring to comedian Will Ferrell, who was nominated for "You're Welcome America. A Final Night with George W. Bush." Continued...
Source: Reuters

Family upset over photos of Carradine's body

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LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The family of late actor David Carradine is "profoundly disturbed" by photos published in Thailand that are said to be of Carradine's naked body hanging in his Bangkok hotel room, according to family attorney Mark Geragos.
Geragos said a statement from the actor's brother, Keith Carradine, shows that the family will take legal action against people or media outlets that publish the photos "for invasion of privacy and causing severe emotional distress."
The Thai-language newspaper Thai Rath published photos that show the body of Carradine, who died on June 3 in Bangkok where he was filming a new movie called "Stretch."
Mystery has surrounded his death following initial reports that he had committed suicide -- claims his family has denied repeatedly.
On Saturday, Geragos said Carradine's family had asked the FBI to look into the death.
The family has hired a forensics pathologist to examine the actor's body when it is returned to the United States.
Thai newspapers said the body left Bangkok on Saturday, which Geragos confirmed at the time. The body is expected to arrive in Los Angeles as early as Sunday.
A maid found Carradine hanging in the closet of his hotel suite at Bangkok's plush Swissotel Nai Lert Park hotel.
With coroners awaiting results of toxicology tests, Thai media pointed to suicide or accidental autoerotic asphyxiation as possible causes of death.
Thai officials have said it could take several weeks before the results of an autopsy performed in Bangkok are released.
Carradine starred in the mid-1970s U.S. television show "Kung Fu" and the more recent "Kill Bill" movies,
(Reporting by Bernie Woodall; editing by Mohammad Zargham)

Source: Reuters

"Billy Elliot" early winner at Tony Awards

By Michelle Nichols and Claudia ParsonsNEW YORK (Reuters) - "Billy Elliot The Musical" was an early winner at the top U.S. theater honors on Sunday, picking up six behind-the-scenes Tony Awards for a Broadway season that defied recession with record ticket sales.
"Billy Elliot" is based on Oscar-nominated director Stephen Daldry's 2000 film about a ballet dancing schoolboy in a mining town in northern England. The show won 10 Drama Desk Awards and seven Outer Critics Circle Awards in the lead up to the Tonys.
"I have to thank Elton John. It was his idea to make this a musical in the first place," said Lee Hall, who won the Tony Award for best book of a musical. "He insisted we start with the music."
Hall and John, whose many hit songs include "Candle in the Wind" and "Rocket Man," are also nominated for best original score for "Billy Elliot."
Hundreds of people lined the street outside New York City's Radio City Hall, cheering nominees including singer Dolly Parton, comedian Will Ferrell, "Sopranos" star James Gandolfini and Oscar winners Liza Minnelli and Geoffrey Rush.
The Tony Awards were established in 1947 and are named for Antoinette Perry, whose nickname was Toni. Perry, who died in 1946, was an actress, stage director and philanthropist who was a founder of the American Theater Wing.
Around 750 people from the theater industry -- from actors, to directors to journalists -- vote for the Tony Awards.
The Broadway League says the 39 theaters in the famous district contribute $5.1 billion per year to the economy of New York, on top of ticket sales, and support 44,000 jobs.
During the 12-month Broadway season ending May 24, 43 shows opened -- the most in more than 25 years, said the Broadway League. There were 10 new musicals, eight new plays, four musical revivals, 16 play revivals and five special shows.
Broadway's paid attendance was 12.15 million tickets, down from 12.27 million the previous season, but gross takings rose $6 million, or 0.6 percent, to $943.3 million, beating the previous record set in the 2006/07 season of $938.5 million.
(Additional reporting by Carmen Perry)

Source: Reuters

"Up" retains altitude, tops box office again

By Bernie Woodall
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - "Up," the story of a floating house, its grumpy 78-year-old owner and an inquisitive 8-year-old accidental stowaway, remained atop the weekend box office in North America, selling $44.2 million of tickets its second weekend in theaters.
The family-friendly Disney/Pixar animated release about a house lifted by colorful balloons and the odd couple's adventures showed surprising staying power. Its weekend gross was down 35 percent from its opening weekend but still made a strong showing for a film in its second week.Movie industry analysts had predicted that "Up" would bring in less than $40 million.
"The Hangover," released by Warner Bros. Pictures, was a close second at $43.3 million. The film about a group of men trying to reconstruct what happened at a wild, Las Vegas bachelor party benefited from a good buzz and positive reviews. It also was the first big comedy released after a month dominated by action flicks.
Universal's "Land of the Lost," a new release starring Will Ferrell, finished a disappointing third at $19.5 million. It is a remake of a mid-1970s U.S. children's television series.
Four of the top five films attracted families with small children as recession-weary parents continued to seek entertainment at the movies.
"Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian," collected $14.7 million and landed in the No. 4 spot. It made about $54 million when it opened two weekends ago, and has taken in $127 million overall.
"Star Trek," a Paramount issue, also showed staying power, finishing fifth for the weekend in its fifth week of release. It brought in $8.4 million. Its cumulative total stands at $223 million.
ANGELIC WORLD GROSS
"Angels & Demons," from Sony/Columbia, earned $6.5 million in North America during the weekend and its worldwide gross surpassed the $400 million mark, making it the No. 1 film in the world in 2009.
The film, based on Dan Brown's popular novel about conspiracy in the Catholic church, is the follow-up to the Brown novel and 2006 movie, "The Da Vinci Code."
Rory Bruer, president of worldwide distribution for Sony Pictures, said the weekend pushed the "Angels & Demons" international gross to about $405 million. "The Da Vinci Code" brought in about $540.7 million globally.
The website rottentomatoes.com, which aggregates movie criticism, showed that positive reviews for "The Hangover" helped it prevail over "Land of the Lost" in their debut weekends. "The Hangover" gathered 75 percent positive reviews, compared to only 28 percent for "Land of the Lost."
A reason for the resilience of "Up" may be the fact that it had a 98 percent rating on the website.
Third among new released and seventh for the week overall was Fox Seachlight's "My Life In Ruins," which took in $3.2 million. It suffered from negative reviews -- only 12 percent positive criticism according to rottentomatoes.com. Its distributor is a unit of News Corp. Continued...
Source: Reuters

Q&A: Julian Marley carries on the family tradition

By Monica HerreraNEW YORK (Billboard) - After a six-year hiatus, Julian "JuJu" Marley is back with his third album, "Awake."
The Ghetto Youths/Universal release, which he co-produced with his brothers Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley and Stephen Marley, drew inspiration from the spirit of Cedella Marley Booker, their grandmother (and Bob Marley's mother), who died in 2008.
Marley spoke to Billboard about maturing as an artist, youth-on-youth crime and the family legacy that inspires his music.
Billboard: "Awake" is your first album since 2003. Have you been working on it this whole time?
Julian Marley: Overall it took me two years to really start and complete it. Before that I was helping out with different Marley family projects, like the Roots Rock Reggae Fest and Africa Unite, and working on Stephen's and Damian's albums. I wrote and recorded "Awake" during the months in between and had input on everything, from the riddims on down. On my first two albums, I was still growing and still unsure about music. I ran into problems where I'd even written songs in a key that wasn't right for me. This time I found my own comfort zone, and the songs are tailor-made.
Billboard: What is the concept behind the album?
Marley: What's going on in the world right now is a sign of the times -- in Jamaica we say "judgment time." Jobs are gone, there's violence in the streets, and everything that we want exceeds the money that there is. On the title track I sing, "For many years we have been lost in our tears/For many years the prophets have spoke/And still we can't find no peace of mind/When will we wake?" We need to awaken the mentality of mankind.
Billboard: Stephen sings on "Too Little Too Late," and Damian is featured on "Violence in the Streets." What's it like working so closely with your brothers?
Marley: Putting "Too Little Too Late" together with Stephen was a great experience. It was like we were playing a game of soccer. I didn't know what to expect, but I loved how it came out. Jr. Gong and I have done other collaborations, but "Violence in the Streets" is about how we see the violence in Jamaica, or really anywhere. In England, you have 15-year-olds killing 15-year-olds, and no one understands why. It's because of lack of education.
Billboard: How are you promoting the album?
Marley: We've been playing new songs from the album live since April. We did three shows in the U.S. in April, in Mississippi, St. Petersburg (Florida) and the Jazz Fest in New Orleans. Now we're headed back to Jamaica to do a lot of promotional appearances and performances.
Billboard: Are you influenced by dancehall and other contemporary offshoots of classic, Marley-style reggae?
Marley: It's all natural. If I'm influenced enough to move my head and dance, then that's enough. The single "Boom Draw" is like street-style dancehall, but downtempo. We're promoting Jamaica on that song. As an artist, I can be inspired by other music -- that's how you learn.
Billboard: How does your family's influence run through "Awake?"
Marley: Our grandmother, Mrs. Booker, passed away while I was making the album, before I had started to record my vocals. I wouldn't say I was influenced by sadness, but "Awake" was born right there. I didn't take a pause with the recording process, because our grandmother was a person who would say, "Everything is all right. You need to do what you have to do." And she might be vexed if you're not doing it. To me, it's like, our ancestors that we love so much -- we're not going to see them again on this side of the fence. The only way I can feel them is through their spiritual energy, the same way that you see God through divine energy. At the end of the day, that energy runs through all of us as brothers.
(Editing by Sheri Linden at Reuters)

Source: Reuters

Universal Pictures calls "Bruno" suit frivolous

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Movie studio Universal Pictures on Friday responded to a lawsuit filed earlier this week against its parent company and comedian Sacha Baron Cohen calling it "frivolous" and saying its claims were "baseless."
California resident Richelle Olson sued Cohen and Universal Pictures' parent NBC Universal, the media division of General Electric Co., in Los Angeles Superior Court over an encounter with Cohen when he was filming his movie "Bruno."
Olson claims Cohen showed up at a charity bingo event in 2007 as the flamboyant gay Austrian character Bruno and pushed her. Olson says she fell and was surrounded by cameramen who attacked her. Later, she says she fainted, hit her head causing bleeding to her brain, and must now use a wheelchair.
But in its statement, Universal said: "filmed footage of the full encounter, which took place more than two years ago, clearly shows that Ms. Olson was never touched or in any way assaulted by Sacha Baron Cohen or any member of the production and suffered no injury."
Universal said "we expect each of the defendants to be fully vindicated."
"Bruno," which lands in theaters in July, follows Cohen's 2006 surprise hit "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan," which made more than $260 million at worldwide box offices.
That comedy featured the comic actor in the role of a naive and rude journalist from Kazakhstan named Borat, who has unscripted meetings with dumbstruck Americans.
"Borat" attracted several lawsuits from individuals Cohen encountered while shooting that film. Both Borat and Bruno are characters Cohen invented for his "Da Ali G Show," which aired on British and American television.
(Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

Source: Reuters

Rock band Sugar Ray back in the ring as indie act

By David J. PrinceNEW YORK (Billboard) - Mark McGrath, the lead singer of Sugar Ray and former host of the celebrity news show "Extra," has often employed an old political tactic for his career: Set expectations low so success seems all the sweeter.
The self-deprecating attitude served him and his band well. He has joked about his looks, voice, penis and fleeting fame -- one album was called "14:59," just short of the 15 minutes Andy Warhol famously described -- while the band's steady stream of reggae-tinged mid-'90s radio hits sold more than 5 million albums, according to Nielsen SoundScan, and made McGrath a star.
So when the band announced in April that it regrouped in a Los Angeles recording studio, made a new album ("Music for Cougars") and was ready to head back out on the road for another turn in the spotlight, McGrath was quick to acknowledge that many would wonder why. "I know people aren't sitting on the edge of their seats waiting for a Sugar Ray record," he says. "But that wasn't the point."
Contrary to popular perception, Sugar Ray never broke up. The band's original lineup of childhood friends from Newport Beach, California, moved from rap-punk to power-pop and from broke unknowns to wealthy platinum-sellers over the course of five albums on Atlantic.
But by 2003, the writing was on the wall for bands like Sugar Ray, and that year the group's "In the Pursuit of Leisure" album -- an attempted reinvention that included several songs produced by the Neptunes -- flopped. McGrath took the TV job, and the rest of the guys went back to the beach. They would reconvene every year for a few corporate gigs, state-fair-type concerts and an occasional soundtrack song, but Sugar Ray was on the back burner. Atlantic dropped the act in 2006.
When McGrath's contract with "Extra" was about to expire, he, the band and longtime manager Chip Quigley quietly began plotting Sugar Ray's return. Jason Bernard, a music producer and longtime friend of the band's whose Pulse Studios encompasses a recording studio, publishing company and record label with a distribution deal through Fontana, was eager to cut a deal.
"We realized there are bands out there in the world that major labels were turning their heads on," says Bernard, who last year brought alternative rock band Filter out of retirement. "We can make world-class records for pennies on the dollar with our sweat equity."
The resulting "Cougars" marks a return to the tried-and-true formula that made 1997's "Fly" a radio staple. The first single, "Boardwalk," is a straight-down-the-center, sunny, unmistakably Sugar Ray song. Other cuts on the album include the uptempo dance track "She's Got The ... (Woo-Hoo)," the midtempo romancer "Love Is the Answer" and the reggae-influenced remake of Eddie Hodges' "(Girls Girls Girls Are) Made to Love" featuring Collie Buddz.
"We were part of a business where you had a hit single and you sold 3 million records, but it's different now," Quigley says. "The real core of our business is the live arena, and for that you need songs on the radio. So we're really going to try and get the song on radio and go out there touring this summer and show folks we're still a great live band."
(Editing by Sheri Linden at Reuters)

Source: Reuters

Woodstock rarities unearthed on boxed set

By Gary Graff
DETROIT (Billboard) - Thirty-eight previously unreleased recordings from groups such as the Who, the Grateful Dead, Creedence Clearwater Revival and Jefferson Airplane will be included on a boxed set commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Woodstock festival.
The six-CD, 77-song collection, "Woodstock -- 40 Years On: Back to Yasgur's Farm," will be released by Rhino on August 18.
Among the highlights are a 19-minute rendition of the Dead's "Dark Star," "Amazing Journey" and "Pinball Wizard" by the Who, "Feelin' Alright" by Joe Cocker, CCR's "Bad Moon Rising," Blood Sweat and Tears' "You've Made Me So Very Happy" and tracks from Sweetwater, Bert Sommer, Tim Hardin, Ravi Shankar, Joan Baez, Melanie, Country Joe & the Fish, Sha Na Na, the Butterfield Blues Band and Johnny Winter.
The set, whose retail list price is $79.98, also restores full-length performances of Canned Heat's "Woodstock Boogie" (to a whopping 30 minutes) and the Who's "We're Not Gonna Take It," and it includes the never-released Woodstock performances of Arlo Guthrie's "Coming Into Los Angeles" and Mountain's "Theme for an Imaginary Western," which were replaced by better-sounding recordings from other concerts for the original "Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace and Music" soundtrack.
The track lineup reflects the actual performance order of the legendary 1969 festival, and it includes stage announcements (you still need to avoid the brown acid, apparently), Wavy Gravy's announcement of "breakfast in bed" for the crowd estimated at 500,000, Max Yasgur's famous speech to the audience and audio of Abbie Hoffman's encounter with Who guitarist Pete Townshend.
"This will be the most comprehensive collection of Woodstock music yet," Rhino vice president of A&R Cheryl Pawelski told Billboard.com. "The goal was to make it as real as possible ... as authentic an experience as possible. It feels like dirt. It feels like a field. We wanted to take you there. We worked very hard to make it a true document of that time."
Co-producers Andy Zax and Mason Williams compiled "Woodstock -- 40 Years On" from the original multitrack tapes recorded during the festival.
One performance is conspicuously absent; Pawelski says Ten Years After would not clear the use of its performance -- including its epic version of "Goin' Home" -- for the boxed set. The Band and Keef Hartley were the only other acts that opted out of the set.
"Woodstock -- 40 Years On" follows Rhino's re-release earlier this week of "Music From the Original Soundtrack and More: Woodstock" and "Woodstock 2." A new Woodstock.com Web site also launched this week, and a new DVD edition of "Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace and Music -- The Director's Cut" comes out Tuesday.
On June 30, Legacy adds to the onslaught with "Woodstock Experience" editions of seminal albums by five of the festival's acts -- the Jefferson Airplane's "Volunteers," Janis Joplin's "I Got Dem 'Ol Kozmic Blues Again Mama!," Santana's debut album, Sly & the Family Stone's "Stand!" and Johnny Winter's self-titled effort -- each with a second CD featuring the act's complete Woodstock performances, on disc for the first time.
(Editing by Sheri Linden at Reuters)

Source: Reuters

Hollywood to portray Kenya's "Pirate Whisperer"

By Alison Bevege
MOMBASA, Kenya (Reuters) - When agents for Hollywood actor Samuel L Jackson came looking for Andrew Mwangura in Kenya, he could not meet them -- he was on the run.
The man they call the "Pirate Whisperer" was dodging both local authorities and well-connected criminals who were chasing him for exposing the international links of a wave of hijackings afflicting the busy international shipping routes off Somalia.
"I said I was in trouble, come back again when the coast is clear," Mwangura told Reuters in an interview at Mombasa port.
Tinseltown plans to make an action movie about the piracy scourge. Jackson is to play Mwangura -- the quiet 47-year-old founder of the non-profit East African Seafarers' Assistance Program with seemingly unrivalled contacts with maritime groups, ships, ports and even pirates around east Africa.
Himself a former seaman, Mwangura breaks news time and time again on seizures and releases of ships by Somali pirates, revealing details of ransom payments in what has become a multimillion dollar business.
He is a hero to seamen, but a pain for the pirates' financiers, said to be sitting in Nairobi, Dubai and London, managing the business by calls to the gangs' satellite phones. There are strong suspicions that officials in the region could be involved, and Mwangura has not been shy of saying that.
FILM RIGHTS
Now Jackson and filmmaker Andras Hamori have secured the rights to his life story -- but getting a chance to sit down and talk scripts has been more difficult than expected.
Mwangura fell foul of the Kenyan government last year after the MV Faina, a Ukrainian ship carrying 33 tanks, was hijacked en route to Mombasa. Mwangura said the consignment was really for south Sudan -- and not Kenya, as officially claimed.
In October, on his way to a talk-show where he was due to speak to the relatives of the Russian and Ukrainian crew, Mwangura was arrested.
"They were waiting for me in Moscow and Kiev on camera. But I was taken to police headquarters for interrogation."
Mwangura spent nine days in jail. One frightening night, he said he was woken by security agents who wanted to take him out of the prison for reasons unknown.
"I think maybe they wanted to harm me," he said.
His cellmates joined hands to prevent the guards from taking him, and he was left in jail.
Mwangura was charged with making alarming statements to foreign media and for possessing $2 worth of marijuana. The government called him a frontman and spokesman for the pirates. Continued...
Source: Reuters

Guns and drugs? Some rappers inflate hustler image

By Christine KearneyNEW YORK (Reuters) - Rick Ross sold hit albums rapping about selling crack cocaine but a revelation that he once worked as a prison guard threatened to end his career.
For a rapper cultivating a bad-boy image, a uniform put him on the wrong side of the law.
U.S. rappers often sell songs about drugs and guns based on "real-life" stories, but increasingly some of those stories are being exposed as embellishments aimed at helping them build successful careers, experts say.
"Some of the stories are fabricated and some of it is reality, and what they are doing is mixing the two," music executive Devyne Stephens said. "When you say you shot and killed somebody and you put it on a CD, nine times out of 10, you really didn't shoot and kill anybody."
Ross is a bearded, burly Miami rapper who brags of a cash-fueled, drug-boss life. His real name is William Leonard Roberts II but he takes his stage name from a drug trafficker.
So he was publicly humiliated when pictures surfaced of him last year through The Smoking Gun website looking clean-cut in a correctional officer's uniform.
Ross at first denied his past, then admitted it but maintained his drug-dealing tales of the street were true.
His third album, released in April and featuring titles such as "Rich off Cocaine," still sold well.
HUSTLING TO ST. TROPEZ
Stephens, who has been hailed as an image branding king and has worked with artists including Mary J. Blige, Usher, Sean "Diddy" Combs and Nelly, said many rappers mix lines in their songs that aren't literally true but draw from real experiences or stories they have heard.
He says "probably 85 per cent" of rappers embellish stories in songs and calls the current trend "reality music" which, like reality television, is something of a misnomer.
Stephens helped groom another successful U.S. rapper, Akon, who has had hits like "Locked Up" and "Ghetto." Akon was ridiculed last year and accused of dramatically enhancing claims of belonging to a car theft ring and having served prison time.
The new crop of rappers want to emulate the success of rappers-turned-moguls like former New York drug dealers Jay-Z and 50 Cent, who both sold albums based on their transformations from street hustling to popping champagne.
"You formulate that story to make it just as interesting as the Jay-Z story," Stephens said, describing an outline of: "I am a hustler, I came from nothing and turned it into something and now I am on yachts in St. Tropez."
Jay-Z, married to superstar Beyonce Knowles, is now one of the world's wealthiest musicians, having signed a deal reportedly worth $150 million with concert promoter Live Nation. Continued...
Source: Reuters