Hear the World Magazine Special Issue Celebrates "The Voice"

Elle Macpherson, Peter Gabriel, Takahashi Murakami and Frank Sinatra are highlighted in special edition focused on the unique and myriad ways we make ourselves heard

Stäfa, Switzerland (PRWEB) January 23, 2009 -- The latest issue of Hear the World magazine takes an in-depth look at what it means to have (and hear) a voice. From appreciating an artist's unique perspective to appreciating the science that allows each of us to sound unique, the special issue addresses a variety of ways in which our individual "voices" resonate in our daily lives.

Hear the World, the magazine for the culture of hearing, is supported by the global Hear the World initiative, which is dedicated to raising awareness about the topics of hearing and hearing loss - a problem that affects 10% of the world's population. It utilizes a culture and lifestyle platform to address the topic of hearing. Always linking content to the subject of hearing and sound, the magazine's features focus on a broad range of topics, from music, to art, to nature, to anything else that makes life more beautiful.

Recent Golden Globe-nominee Peter Gabriel is on the cover of the issue. Inside, Venezuelan conductor Gustavo Dudamel, artist Takahashi Murakami, crooner Frank Sinatra, architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and German actor Sky du Mont are featured, among others.

The latest issue of Hear the World also features a new series of photographs taken by musician and photographer Bryan Adams in his role as official photographer for Hear the World. Images of Elle Macpherson, Lenny Kravitz, Jude Law, John Legend, Emilia Fox, and Charlie Siem are all captured in a pose of conscious hearing. And for the first time, Adams has contributed a portrait he shot of himself in the signature Hear the World pose.

Adams has photographed more than 30 international ambassadors for the initiative. Each of these artists lends his or her name to the initiative to help raise awareness about the importance of hearing as a global issue.

Hear the World is published quarterly and is available at select newsstands, such as Hudson News, and at airports internationally for $8 per issue. A free copy of the magazine can be ordered at www.hear-the-world.com. Net proceeds of the magazine benefit the Hear the World Foundation.

About Hear the World

Hear the World is a global initiative by hearing device manufacturer Phonak created to raise awareness about the importance of hearing. The initiative calls attention to the social and emotional impact of hearing loss and addresses prevention of and solutions to a problem that affects more than 10% of the world's population. In the context of the Hear the World initiative, Phonak has established the non-profit Hear the World Foundation to improve the quality of life of people with hearing loss through financial and technical assistance. The foundation is committed to the prevention of hearing loss as well as the support of people with hearing loss and their families.

About Phonak

Headquartered near Zurich, Switzerland, Phonak has developed, produced and globally distributed state-of-the-art hearing systems and wireless devices for more than 50 years. The combination of expertise in hearing technology, mastery in acoustics and strong cooperation with hearing care professionals allows Phonak to significantly improve people's hearing ability and speech understanding and therefore their quality of life. Phonak offers a complete range of digital hearing instruments, along with complementary wireless communication systems. With 2,500 employees worldwide, Phonak drives innovation and sets new industry benchmarks regarding miniaturization and performance. For more information please visit www.hear-the-world.com or www.phonak.com.

Gary Go - Wonderful Video

On Contactmusic.com :

Video for Wonderful from Gary Go.

Gary Go releases his new single 'Wonderful' on February 16 2009 through Decca Records. When Gary applied for a job at Peter Gabriel's recording studio 'Real World' in Bath, Peter told him he should concentrate at working on his writing. Those words stuck with Gary and quickly he was picked up by a record label. Gary Go will release his self-titled, self-produced album in early 2009. Gary will also be playing a few dates throughout February.
7 Feb Glasgow O2 Academy Glasgow
8 Feb Manchester Apollo Manchester
9 Feb Bristol Academy Bristol
11 Feb Wolverhampton Civic Hall Wolverhampton
12 Feb Roundhouse, London London
13 Feb Roundhouse, London London
17 Feb Luminaire, London (HEADLINE SHOW)

Gary Go - Wonderful


Click Here for all you need to know about: Gary Go

'Superman' on a crusade to find justice

by FIONA MACDONALD, Metro.co.uk, Friday, January 23, 2009

Carne Ross doesn't dress in a pants-over-tights combo - not in public, anyway - but there's more than a whiff of the Caped Crusader about the former Foreign Office diplomat.

Since resigning in 2004 (after 15 years), Ross has offered his services to marginalised groups around the globe, helping governments in exile, states seeking independence and divided countries attempting to re-unify. Think Ghostbusters but with a suitcase full of UN resolutions instead of a proton pack.

Ross set up his not-for-profit consultancy Independent Diplomat four years ago. Responsible for Britain's Middle East policy at the UN Security Council from 1998 to 2002, he left the Foreign Office after giving evidence to the Butler inquiry into intelligence on Iraq.
'According to what I'd seen in the many years I'd been reading intelligence about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, there was no way it could sustain the claims the government was making,' says Ross speaking in New York, where he's now based.

'Also, I didn't think the war was legal in terms of the UN resolutions - and I felt the government had ignored available alternatives to war, such as a tougher stance on Iraq's illegal oil exports. Blair and Bush claimed that sanctions were falling apart, and this was simply not true.'

On secondment to the UN in Kosovo at the time of his resignation, Ross soon picked up his first client as a freelance diplomat. 'The Kosovan government had to deal with a highly complicated international diplomatic process to determine its final status,' he says.

'They weren't allowed a diplomatic service of their own and yet were required to navigate this obscure process.' After launching Independent Diplomat, Ross advised the Kosovars until independence early last year.

Other clients include a government in Eastern Europe trying to get into the EU; the government of Somaliland (a democratic state in the north of Somalia seeking international recognition); the government in exile of the Burmese opposition; the Polisario front in Western Sahara; and the government of Northern Cyprus which is recognised only by Turkey and is currently going through a UN talks process about re-unification.

Working on a freelance basis has convinced Ross of the need for a cultural shift in diplomacy. 'Many diplomats are operating in a kind of bubble, in real isolation from the problems they're grappling with,' he says. 'I felt that acutely as a British diplomat. Somehow, discussion in the Security Council was bloodless and boring, and yet we were dealing with genocide and invasions, issues of incredible human drama. That always bothered me.'

Bridging the gap

International Diplomat (the first of its kind) is a way of bridging that gap. 'When I was a British diplomat, I always liked to think what a nice guy I was and how helpful I was to the poor benighted people on the other side of the table - whether it was the PLO, the Polisario or the Kosovars - but at the end of the day, I was always working for London. That's what I was paid to do, but it meant that if I was giving them supposedly neutral advice about how to advance their cause, it was always coloured by what was best for us.'

Now, Ross is on the other side of the table. 'I'm not just a Western diplomat patronisingly telling them the way things work; I'm working for them. It's a different world view if you're a liberation movement based in tented refugee camps in the Sahara desert.'

Yet his former experience can be invaluable. 'One of the primary values of what we do is that people will tell us things that they won't tell our clients to their faces. It's just something about human nature, that humans will say what they really think to others rather than directly to people.'

Carne Ross is also pressing for UN reform, after arranging for the Kosovan prime minister to attend a meeting of the UN Security Council (SC) for the first time. 'I noticed that all too often the places we were discussing weren't actually present. I felt that people were getting a raw deal because they weren't properly involved in the diplomatic process about their country.'

New initiative

He's now working on an initiative called the Universal Right of Address. 'It would mean any party to a dispute being discussed by the UNSC would have the right to address the council,' he says. 'It makes obvious, logical sense, and would be easy to implement, but that doesn't mean they'll do it - because the UN is not really about making fair, just and right decisions; it's about status and power.

'For instance, as a big Serbia ally, Russia had major objections to Kosovo attending the meetings. But Russia is now keen to put other non-state actors in front of the SC, such as Abkhazia and South Ossetia, because of events in Georgia. 'Meanwhile, the Americans wanted the Kosovars there because they could support Kosovan independence, but they don't want South Ossetia. China doesn't like anybody. They don't want Tibet or the Xinjiang Province to get the right to speak.'

If Carne Ross is the Caped Crusader, there's one organisation that could lay claim to being an Avengers-style league of superheros. Informally created in 2001, after Peter Gabriel and Richard Branson discussed the need for a gathering of world leaders to tackle seemingly intractable problems, The Elders is a roving team of Nobel Prize-winners and national heroes aiming to spread peace wherever they go.

Powerful line-up

With a line-up including former South African president Nelson Mandela, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, former US President Jimmy Carter, former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and Burmese human rights activist Aung San Suu Kyi, it's based on the traditional model of village elders, who resolve conflicts in their local communities.

Except these conflicts are slightly bigger than the usual stolen goat: in the past year, various Elders have gone on missions to Sudan, Cyprus and the Middle East. A planned visit to Zimbabwe had to be cancelled after they were denied visas by president Robert Mugabe. They insisted they weren't planning to get involved in any political negotiations, though - something they view as an advantage.

At the official launch of the Elders in 2007, Mandela argued they were free from the external pressures typically associated with international bodies. 'The structures we have for dealing with these problems are often tied down by political, economic and geographic constraints,' he said.

And, in a line suggesting he could also see the superhero connection, Mandela added: 'The Elders can become a fiercely independent and positive force for good.' Now they just need a few special powers.

www.theelders.org

Reactions from Oscar nominees

Reuters, Fri Jan 23, 2009

(...) Peter Gabriel had never received an Oscar nomination before Thursday, though he has been nominated three times for a Golden Globe. His "WALL-E" songwriting partner and the movie's score composer, Thomas Newman, has now been nominated 10 times, engendering comparisons to Susan Lucci among his friends. "It never gets tired, and it's every bit as thrilling," Newman said. Gabriel, however, noted that they needed to shake off their bad luck, and told of a woman in Paris who tried to get married for 20 years, to no avail. On the counsel of a friend, she threw herself a fake wedding, inviting all her friends and drafted a fake husband. "Within four months, she met her man and had a real marriage. And they are still together. So what we have to do is get fake Oscars on both of our mantelpieces and visualize (the win)." Gabriel also said he didn't know how he was going to celebrate the news, " but it will involve alcohol."

Oscar nominee reactions

By ANGELA DAWSON, The Hour, Posted on 01/22/2009

(...) "It's always exciting and particularly with 'Wall-E,' because I worked on it for so many years. I think I started in late 2005, so it's kind of satisfying to see there's some recognition to that end. We sensed from the beginning that this animated movie was going to be different, but you never know how it's going to turn out. It always was a risky thing. Along the way, there were moments of doubt and moments of great pride. Ultimately, as it got close to being completed, all of us realized it was working. By the end of the movie you were just so involved with these two robots who were in love with each other. I went to England to meet with (co-writer) Peter Gabriel for a short period of time and we kind of hammered out the basic form of a song in about a day and a half. We talked from time to time and shared ideas from time to time digitally, and we kind of worked from there. We played the song for Andrew Stanton and the other people at Pixar and they approved it and liked it, and Peter did some additional work and we backed and forthed it and the song was kind of born." -- Thomas Newman, Best Song nominee for "Down to Earth" (with Peter Gabriel) and Best Score nominee for "Wall-E"

Abu Dhabi to Host Ethnic Music Festival Womad

Silvia Radan, Khaleej Times, 23 January 2009

ABU DHABI - One of the largest ethnic music festivals in the world will be held in Abu Dhabi in April. The three-day presentation will mark the festival’s debut in the Middle East.

Spectators enjoy one of the WOMAD concerts.—Supplied PhotoAn agreement to this effect was recently signed by the World of Music Arts and Dance (WOMAD) and the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (ADACH). According to the ADACH, the dates and list of musicians have not been finalised, but the festival will take place in the open, most likely in three locations in Abu Dhabi. “There will be performances from North Africa, ME, India, Pakistan, as well as other parts of the world,” said Isadora Papadrakakis, from the Arts and Culture Department of ADACH.

Founded as an organisation in 1980 in England to promote music of other cultures, the first WOMAD festival took place in 1982 and saw the reunion of Rock star Peter Gabriel, founder and chairman of WOMAD with Genesis, his former band in order to raise additional funds for the first 1982 festival.

Libel Arts: Wayne White

Filter Magazine, Thursday, January 22, 2009

Having worked on “Pee Wee’s Playhouse” in 1986 as a set and puppet designer (winning three Emmy awards for his work) and also art directing Peter Gabriel’s smash-hit video, Big Time, Wayne White’s career has been both prolific and evolving.

These days, however, White is turning heads with his novel, though some say trendy, re-workings of cheap landscape paintings found in thrift stores and yard sales across the U.S. Taking banal landscape paintings and then overlaying his own phrases and lettering onto the work, White creates new art from old—and in many cases—unremarkable paintings. White’s work is lately getting placed in not only galleries, but fine art museums as well. And if you get the chance, definitely make a trip to see the work with your own two eyes.

And if you have never seen White’s glossy 3-D paintings, perhaps you’re familiar with another one of his works…the album cover for Lambchop ’s 2000 Nixon LP, featuring White’s painting of the same name.

And just for old time’s sake, how about a little Big Time for good measure? Long live Peter Gabriel:

Concert du Hadouk Trio au Mail de Soissons

Hadouk : mot valise composé de : Hajouj ou gumbri basse africaine et de Doudouk hautbois arménien.

Bien plus qu'un concept fédérateur, l'utopie est l'essence même du trio Hadouk, sa nature profonde, sa force vive depuis plus de dix ans, son âme insaisissable aussi. Car Hadouk est un monde par lui-même, fait de racines aériennes et de terres rêvées, un continent imprévu qui pointe entre l'Afrique et l'Orient, un rivage improbable qui s'avance entre jazz et world, une véritable rose des vents qui se dessine sur le portulan des musiques du monde. Bref, Hadouk c'est une cosmologie en soi, avec ses constellations et ses horizons libres, ses lignes de grande transhumance et ses astres de première magnitude.

Charmeur de vents, Didier Malherbe attrape de son phrasé inimitable, les mélodies que zéphyrs et alizés lui apportent de toutes les latitudes. Cofondateur du mythique Gong avec Daevid Allen, il défend ensuite bec et anche la trille alerte et le slap éolien auprès de Jacques Higelin et de Brigitte Fontaine, de Robert Wyatt et de Pierre Bensusan. Depuis longtemps, à côté du saxophone et de la flûte, Didier apprivoise la bourrasque et cisèle la volute dans ces exquis réceptacles à turbulences que sont le bansouri, les ocarinas, et bien sûr le doudouk, hautbois arménien en bois d'abricotier au son doux et pensif. Grand connaisseur du roseau et infatigable babilleur, il a également publié un recueil de sonnets intitulé L'Anche des Métamorphoses.

Méhariste éclairé, Loy Ehrlich a été de toutes les équipées trans-sahariennes, aux côtés de Youssou N'Dour, Touré Kunda, Geoffrey Oryema, mais aussi de Peter Gabriel. Poly-instrumentiste, fin joueur de kora et de sanza, spécialiste du hajouj, la basse des gnawas, Loy a également mis dans ses claviers toutes les épices des marchés du monde. On le connaît aussi comme arrangeur et producteur, ainsi que programmateur du festival d'Essaouira.

Bourlingueur invétéré, Steve Shehan promène quant à lui son grand sac à rythmes sur toutes les coutures de la planète, pour en capter les forces sismiques. On l'a entendu avec Paul Simon, John McLaughlin, Paul McCartney, Christian Vander, Brian Eno et tant d'autres... Bois et argiles, cuirs et métaux n'ont plus de secret pour lui. Car Steve joue avec le temps comme avec la matière, et c'est le diaphragme du monde qui bat entre ses peaux. Il a par ailleurs à son actif plus d'une douzaine d'albums.

Après avoir célébré la chimère totémique (Shamanimal) et s'être hissé au sommet du perpétuel présent (Now), Hadouk emprunte désormais l'orbe altière du gyroscope cosmique. Après l'amble du désert et le groove végétal, voici le swing météorique ! Placé sous les auspices de la toupie céleste, ce cinquième album fait ainsi la part belle aux élans tourbillonnants, valse, pulse ternaire, danse spiralée et autres envolées giratoires.

De nouveaux instruments ont rejoint la panoplie de nos chasseurs de sons : khen, orgue à bouche du Laos, gumbass assemblant la caisse du guimbri et le manche de la basse électrique, hang au croisement chatoyant du steeldrum et du gamelan . Autant de territoires sonores qui s'inventent dans la distance prise depuis le terroir d'origine...

Hommage de trois navigateurs au long cours, à celui qui fut le pionnier de la world music à travers son concept de Quatrième Monde, Hadouk invite le trompettiste américain Jon Hassell sur trois morceaux : dans un ultime envoi, l'utopie rejoint alors l'orbite des grands empires imaginaires. Entre toupies et utopies, voici donc une nouvelle série de belles tourneries et de rêveries nomades, qui enlacent et emportent sur l'autre face du monde.

Bruno Heuzé?source : happy aisne

Green business in full blossom on Mare Island

By RACHEL RASKIN-ZRIHEN/Times-Herald staff writer, Posted: 01/19/2009

Besides being international musical superstars, what do Willie Nelson, Paul McCartney and Madonna have in common?

They've all been clients of Vallejo's Suite Treatments owner Jacqueline Barsotti of Vallejo, who provides "green" event and dressing room decor for entertainers and others. Suite Treatments is in The Coal Shed artist's studio on Mare Island, which serves as Barsotti's home base, though much of her work involves travel, she said. Originally from the Concord-Pleasant Hill area, Barsotti, 41, said she moved to Vallejo by way of Yosemite in 2005. "I chose Vallejo to start my business because Mare Island is a great place to have a business," she said.

Divorced and with no children, Barsotti said she got her start pampering rock stars when she worked for Bill Graham Presents. Her office is lined with in-concert photos of superstars like Sting, Santana, Bonnie Raitt, Dave Matthews and the Judds, which Barsotti said she shot herself in her Bill Graham days.

"I started as a runner and worked my way up to producer and then I decided to go out on my own," she said. "I learned that many entertainers want plants in their dressing rooms, and I knew that was a business I could do." Now, she and her team create "green," relaxing spaces for special events and dressing rooms and has more than 150 clients, she said. She's handling decorations for Willie Nelson's event at San Francisco's Fillmore Auditorium in honor of Barack Obama's presidential inauguration, she said.

Barsotti said she's not star-struck, is rarely interested in meeting the clients and never asks for autographs. She's much more interested in subtly sending "green" messages wherever she goes "I'm a green business," Barsotti said. "I run my vehicles on bio-diesel, and if someone wants me to advertise, I ask a few questions, like do they print on recycled paper. This can sometimes create a chain reaction."

Though unwilling to disclose any really juicy stories, Barsotti said when working with stars and other important people, one can't help but learn things. "Peter Gabriel was awesome, a very nice person," she said. "The Rolling Stones are easier to work with than you'd think." One of her anecdotes involves rap artist Snoop Dog's six-foot bong. "Snoop Dog has his candy, and (last year) we made this huge bong to hold it," she said. "He loved it, and now it's on tour with him."

Some stars are notorious for making what seem to be strange, unreasonable demands, but often there's a method to that madness, Barsotti said. "Sometimes they ask for difficult-to-find things to see if the promoter cares enough to read the rider," she said, adding that her firm is most often hired by promoters seeking to pamper a favored client. The world's water has been among Barsotti's main focuses since her only brother drowned in the Napa River after a solo vehicle accident in 2005. He was 31. "I took his ashes to the Ganges River - the holiest river in India - and that started me thinking about the state of our water," she said. "I needed to get people to do things differently, and if artists do things differently, people will pay attention."

Another defining moment in Barsotti's life was seeing her grandparents lose everything in the Oakland Hills fire. "It helped me realize that you don't really need anything," she said. In addition to her Suite Treatments work, Barsotti hopes to join Valcore Recycling's board of directors and is involved in a planned bio-diesel manufacturing business coming to Vallejo, she said. "That's the future. It's very exciting," she said. Valcore's Jane Bogner is equally excited about Barsotti. "She has a wonderful green company and an incredible green spirit and such energy, it's really exciting to be around her," Bogner said.

Though she works with the rich and famous, Barsotti said she also does private parties and events and would love to find more work locally. No budget is too small, she said. "The rock 'n' roll industry taught me the concept of 'cheap and cheerful,' " she said. Even as a child, Barsotti said, she knew she was meant to be involved with the music industry."I had boyfriends who were in bands, and I just always liked the atmosphere," she said. "I think it's the vibration from the crowd. They give off more joy than anything."

Winners announced at Independent Music Awards

by Larry Rodgers - Jan. 16, 2009, The Arizona Republic

Folk-rocker Martin Sexton, late blues master Jeff Healey, British crooner Jamie Lidell and banjo wizard Tony Trischka are among this year's winners in the eighth annual Independent Music Awards.

The awards were handed out this week in 50 album, song and design categories. Judges included recording stars Peter Gabriel, Roger Daltrey, Suzanne Vega, Buddy Guy, Keith Urban and George Jones.

Sexton's career-spanning Solo CD won in the Live Performance Album category.

Healey, who died in March, won Best Blues Album for his 2008 release, Mess of Blues.

Trischka won Best Americana Album for Territory, and Lidell won Best Pop/Rock album with Jim.

Denmark's A Kid Hereafter won for Best Punk Album with Defenders of the Faith, and Rebecca Martin won the Best Folk/Singer-Songwriter category with her latest CD, The Growing Season.

The IMAs are produced by Music Resource Group, publisher of The Musician's Atlas and the AtlasOnline Web site.

Full list of winners: independentmusicawards.com.

A Column About African Pop Music

John Doran, The Quietus, January 16th, 2009

A Column About African Pop Music: First Up, Nigeria And Mali

The Quietus starts a new regular column on the music of Africa with a look at the sounds coming out of Nigeria and Mali

In order to kickstart this irregular column about pop music either from or directly inspired by the African continent, it's necessary to cover some of the amazing reissues and new albums that have been out in the last few months - if only to convey something of the Kanutian task at hand.

Or perhaps this should be described as Sisyphean - as in pushing a boulder up a hill for all eternity. If someone asks you what sort of music that you're into and you say 'African', it's pretty much like being asked what you want to eat in a restaurant and saying: “Oh, you know, some food." It is this bewildering panoply of taxonomically confusing sub genres and categories that probably allowed the survival of the understandable but totally useless category 'World Music' for so long. As much as the manic culture of album reissues might be keen to ignore the saturation of the market in music; the Foppification of record collections and the disastrous cultural strip mining effected by peer to peer file sharing, in this arena it is creating sizeable waves of interest in wider pop and rock fans.

This would have been unlikely ten years ago and unthinkable twenty years ago. Mainstream perceptions of Africa as a sonic continent are no longer seen as a beam of light blasted out of Jon Hassell's trumpet, filtered through Peter Gabriel's goatee beard, refracted through Paul Simon's spectacles and bounced off Brian Eno's big shiny head.

This internet/reissue culture has allowed the vast African landmass to slowly fragment and shatter - in front of our eyes, not just into composite countries, but into cities and towns and across class and religious divides. Again, I've got to stress that if you're a specialist consumer, you'll probably find this tedious to say the least but for the rest of us, seeing these new musical vistas, suggesting themselves, slowly feathering into view, then finally achieving crystal clarity is magnificent to say the least.(....)

Thoughts from The Golden Globes Red Carpet

My favorite pre-show moment: Peter Gabriel quipped:"This is my favorite awards show: it's short, there's food and plenty of alcohol," then just when I'm thinking why am I watching interviews about party insights, he goes ahead and talks about "The Elders," a project he's doing with Nelson Mandela and others: "If they can connect people on the ground who are suffering with people who can make a phone call to anyone and get it picked up, maybe we can get something done"...

Peter Gabriel Talks About The Elders

January 12, 2009 by Tim Saunders

Rock star and humanitarian Peter Gabriel has commented on the inspiration behind forming The Elders, the group of public figures he established with Richard Branson to solve global figures.

“People have lost trust in a lot of institutions around the world, but they still have faith in certain of key individuals,“ said the 58-year-old. “We felt that if we could get a group of elder statesmen and women together, they could have an influence and leverage and help on a few situations. We went to Nelson Mandela and he set it up a couple of years ago. We have Desmond Tutu, Kofi Annan. They can connect people on the ground who are suffering with people who can make a phone call.”

The Global Elders group was set up in 2007 to bring “almost 1,000 years of collective experience” to work on solutions for seemingly insurmountable problems like climate change, HIV/AIDS, and poverty, and “use their political independence to help resolve some of the world’s most intractable conflicts.” There are currently 12 active members, including Jimmy Carter and Aung San Suu Kyi. They have launched peace missions in Darfur, the Middle East, and Zimbabwe.

More information about the work of the Global Elders can be found at their official website.

The music behind movies

By A. ASOHAN,thestaronline ,Monday January 12, 2009

(...)The Last Temptation of Christ (Peter Gabriel)

Speaking of what idiots we critics can be at times ....

Okay, I know there was a great hullabaloo over what Entertainment Weekly ranked as No.6 of the 25 most controversial movies of all time. Yes, it was an ambitious and contentious movie, with Willem Dafoe as a very human Jesus who has a sexual relationship with Mary Magdalene (Barbara Hershey). Yes, the religious folk were mightily irritated, and it was banned in many countries, including Malaysia.

I really wanted to watch it in 1988, but only managed to do so more than a decade later. I was mightily unimpressed.

Indeed, the fact that it was originally envisioned as a US$14mil movie but was finally shot with a US$7mil budget shows ... very badly. The sets were horrible.

The acting? We’re talking a stellar cast here, some of the finest actors of their generation, directed by a maestro, Martin Scorsese. So what if in true Hollywood fashion, the bad guys (the Romans) had British accents (including one David Bowie in a Pontius Pilate role originally slated for Sting) and the good guys spoke like Americans?

But when did Jews of olden days speak like modern New Yorkers ... what were you thinking, Martin?

Never mind. The Last Temptation of Christ had great music, composed by former Genesis frontman and creative force Peter Gabriel, who was deep in his “world music” phase. It was so good that he worked further on the music to release an album about a year later called Passion: Music for The Last Temptation of Christ.

Some say it’s his best work ever, drawing from inspirations and influences from all over the world, but especially from the Middle-East and Africa. It introduced the greater world at large to such artistes as Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Youssou N’Dour, and should be in the personal collection of anybody who calls himself or herself a fan of world music.

And as any role-playing gamer will tell you, it’s perfect for a Dark Sun campaign. (No, I’m not going to bother explaining the allusion to non-RPGers – it would take too long.) (...)

il est court,il y a de la bouffe et de l'alcool

PHOTO: AP

Paul Journet, La Presse, Le lundi 12 janvier 2009

Slumdog Millionaire et Winslet brillent aux Golden Globes

L'équipe de Slumdog Millionaire est repartie avec les trophées du meilleur drame, du meilleur réalisateur et du meilleur scénario. On voit ici, tout sourire, le réalisateur Danny Boyle et les acteurs Freida Pinto et Dev Patel.

Les 66es Golden Globes auront été ceux de Slumdog Millionaire et de Kate Winslet. Le film a gagné les prestigieux prix de meilleur drame, de la meilleure réalisation et du meilleur scénario. Quant à l'actrice anglaise, elle a réussi un rare doublé?: meilleur premier rôle (Revolutionary Road) et meilleur rôle de soutien (The Reader), catégorie drame.

«Pourquoi c'est mon gala préféré? Parce qu'il est court et parce qu'il y a de la bouffe et de l'alcool», a dit Peter Gabriel, dimanche, en direct du tapis rouge des Golden Globes, décernés par l'Association de la presse étrangère de Hollywood. (...)

Miley Cyrus: Golden Globes Pre-Party Girl

Mingling with fellow guests, Miss Cyrus chatted it up with Peter Gabriel and Golden Globe nominee Jeff Steele, also joining her parents for a portrait family photo.

Thousands to march through London over Middle East conflict

Rashid Razaq and Jack Lefley, Evening Standard ,09.01.09

Thousands of protesters will take to the streets this weekend in demonstrations over Israel's assault on Gaza. A national demonstration against the attack will march from Speakers' Corner at Hyde Park tomorrow. It will be followed on Sunday by a pro-Israel rally in Trafalgar Square and march. The protests follow a series of demonstrations outside the Israeli Embassy in Kensington which have led to small businesses in the area losing thousands of pounds.

The pro-Palestinian demonstration is expected to be joined by stars including singers Annie Lennox and Peter Gabriel, actors Corin and Vanessa Redgrave, and Children's Laureate Michael Rosen. Their march will end near the Israeli Embassy in Palace Green. The Board of Deputies of British Jews has planned a rally to call for peace from 11am to 12pm on Sunday in Trafalgar Square. Half an hour later protesters will congregate at Marble Arch and walk to Belgrave Square.

Last night, hundreds gathered at the Friends Meeting House in central London. Speakers condemned the Israeli and British governments, with former Labour Cabinet minister Tony Benn calling for the Israeli ambassador to the UK to be expelled. The protests, which have seen up to 2,000 pro-Palestinian supporters bring Kensington High Street to a standstill, have affected independent traders who have reported takings down by more than 50 per cent. Many have struggled to pay staff and cover overheads.

Residents want the protests moved to Kensington Gardens or Hyde Park. Maryam Taghavi, owner of Foubert's Café, said: "We couldn't open on Saturday or Sunday." Craig Teasdale, manager of Brasserie Gerard, said his restaurant had had virtually no bookings since the protests began on 28 December. Police said they have had talks with organisers, but there are no plans to relocate the demonstrations.

Activists protesting invasion put best foot forward

By Alice Johnson, Staff Reporter, Published: January 08, 2009

Dubai: A collection of old shoes is due to be delivered to the Israeli embassy in London this weekend as part of an organised protest against the invasion of Gaza.

The organisers of the protest, who call themselves the 'Stop the War Coalition', say they are inspired by "the spirit of Iraqi journalist Muntadar Al Zaidi, who used his shoes to protest George Bush's war crimes".

Organisers are encouraging protesters to bring along old shoes, which will be delivered to the embassy at the conclusion of the march that begins at Speaker's Corner (London's dedicated protest platform) in Hyde Park at 12.30pm tomorrow.

Shoes were also collected after a January 4 protest march, with the aim of delivering them to Downing Street. However, after being prevented from "delivering" the items, protesters flung the footwear in the general direction of Downing Street.

A host of British actors, musicians, politicians and writers have added their names to the forthcoming demonstration, including politician George Galloway, who was reportedly injured when a previous protest against the Gaza attacks on January 4 led to clashes with police.

Other famous names being associated with the action include singers Annie Lennox and Peter Gabriel; politician Tony Benn; musicians Michael Nyman and Nigel Kennedy; actress Vanessa Redgrave; and comedians Alexei Sayle, Mark Thomas and Billy Bailey.

The Stop the War Coalition has organised daily protests outside the Israeli Embassy since January 5.

PM briefed

Community warning

A group of prominent Muslims who advise the government on security issues have written to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown warning that Israel's invasion of Gaza could fuel violent Islamist extremism. Anger within Britain's Muslim communities had reached "acute levels of intensity", the letter said, calling for pressure on the US to change its approach to the crisis. "The Israeli government's use of disproportionate force to combat threats to its security has revived extremist groups and empowered their message of violence," it said.

momix goes tropical at warner

BY BRYNN MANDEL REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN, Thursday, January 8, 2009

Dancing dinosaurs and fluttering human-sized flowers invade Torrington's Warner Theatre Friday night when the Washington, Conn.-based dance troupe Momix debuts its latest, fantastical and nature-inspired piece.

"Botanica" flits through the seasons and the natural world, as envisioned through the prism of artistic director and founder Moses Pendleton's imagination.

Partial to illusionist imagery, the inventive Pendleton employs props paired with his dancers' grace and near-superhuman strength to create otherworldly scenes. PVC craftily helps a dancer contort into impossible shapes. A beaded curtain-cum-headdress spins with a dancer's momentum into a glinting cobweb.

Set to a score that ranges from birdsong to Peter Gabriel, the dancers embody earthworms beneath winter's hard shell and birds and bees doing a dance of pollination and procreation.

As creators of several recent "green-themed" projects, including a commission by Mercedes-Benz, Momix adopted a green concept for "Botanica" by reusing props and items used in previous shows.

The 28-year-old dance company that resembles a moving cross between Cirque du Soleil, David Copperfield and a Rene Magritte painting tours internationally, and will bring "Botanica" to Italy after its local run.

Performances are Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets, $29.50 to $50, available online at www.warnertheatre.org, by calling (860) 489-7180 or by visiting the Warner's box office, 68 Main St., Torrington.

Robert Lepage : Le Trident accueille Le Dragon bleu

Photo LE JOURNAL DE QUÉBEC – DIDIER DEBUSSCHERE

Robert Lepage et Marie Michaud se retrouvent pour Le Dragon bleu, présenté au Trident à compter de jeudi.

Serge Drouin, Le journal de Québec, le 11-01-2009

Après le méga-succès de ses pièces La Face cachée de la Lune et Le Projet Andersen, Robert Lepage revient au Trident pour présenter sa nouvelle création, Le Dragon Bleu, qui prendra l’affiche ce jeudi à la salle Octave-Crémazie du Grand Théâtre de Québec.

Pour ce retour dans nos murs, Robert Lepage retrouve Marie Michaud, sa complice de longue date. En effet, il y a quelque 25 ans, le duo avait proposé au public La Trilogie des dragons. Les compères se retrouvent comme auteurs et acteurs pour cette prochaine production du Trident. «Plus de 20 ans après La Trilogie, on avait envie de refaire quelque chose ensemble pour voir où l’histoire nous amènerait et où nous sommes rendus comme artistes», confiait récemment Lepage au Journal de Québec.

De toute évidence, le public est heureux des retrouvailles du duo puisque les représentations du 13 janvier au 7 février affichent toutes complet, même la supplémentaire du 14 février, en après-midi, en plein coeur du Carnaval de Québec, est à guichets fermés. (...)