In honor of Halloween, CBS Films has just launched a new viral website for the horror/thriller The Woman in Black starring Harry Potter‘s Daniel Radcliffe. The Woman in Black won’t be scaring audiences in theaters until next February, but this new website hopes to make you jump away from your computer screen as it offers up a look inside the ‘Eel Marsh House’ from the film and answers the question, “What did they see?”
Per CBS Films, “by using motion recognition with the computer’s webcam, visitors to the site can shift their perspective within the room by simply moving right & left in front of their own computer to see what lurks behind the door and in the shadows. No matter how scared you get, expect to receive your own customized photo, compliments of The Woman in Black.”
Prepare for more blood, guts and gore Cabin Fever-style. The Indomina Group is gearing up for two more Cabin Fever films – Cabin Fever: Patient Zero and Cabin Fever: Outbreak – which will be shot back to back next year in the Dominican Republic.
The Cabin Fever: Patient Zero synopsis: “When a cruise ship in the Caribbean collides with an abandoned research vessel, a deadly virus is unleashed. Passengers must find a way to survive before the flesh eating disease consumes them all.”
And the Cabin Fever: Outbreak synopsis: “In this film a doctor and his family travel to a remote Caribbean island to investigate a minor flu outbreak, only to discover a vicious flesh-eating virus that threatens everyone on the island. The family is faced with responsibility to prevent a worldwide epidemic.”
Adam and Deborah Marcus (Leatherface 3D, I Walked With a Zombie) are working on the script.
Announcing the rebirth of Cabin Fever, Indomina Group Vice Chairman and CEO Jasbinder Singh Mann stated, “We see tremendous potential with the Cabin Fever franchise. We are committing to two new Cabin Fever films because there is a real demand from a devout fanbase – not just Cabin Fever diehards but a large and vocal group of horror fans around the world. Indomina is excited to take the reigns of the franchise and deliver on these next two films.”
Other projects from the Indomina Group include the comedy A Fantastic Fear of Everything starring Simon Pegg, the thriller Life Without Principle, and a live action Afro Samurai film with Samuel L Jackson.
Keith Urban - Photo Courtesy of Sony Music Nashville, Universal Music Group Nashville, and Capital Records Nashville
Vince Gill, Brad Paisley, and Keith Urban will play tribute to Country Music Hall of Fame member and former CMA Entertainer of the Year Glen Campbell at the 45th Annual CMA Awards, as announced today by the Country Music Association. CMA says the “three guitar virtuosos’ performance saluting the legendary singer/musician will be a highlight of Country Music’s Biggest Night.'”
Paisley and Carrie Underwood will return as hosts and perform their duet, “Remind Me,” at the star-studded country music event which will take place in Nashville, Tennessee. The show will air live on November 9, 2011 from 8-11 pm ET on ABC.
Additional performers include Jason Aldean, The Band Perry, Luke Bryan, Eric Church, Sara Evans, Faith Hill, Lady Antebellum, Miranda Lambert, Martina McBride, Scotty McCreery, Sugarland, Taylor Swift, Thompson Square, Keith Urban, Chris Young, Zac Brown Band, Kenny Chesney & Grace Potter, Rascal Flatts & Natasha Bedingfield, Lionel Richie & Little Big Town, Rascal Flatts, and Darius Rucker.
More on Glen Campbell [Courtesy of Country Music Association]:
Campbell was named both CMA Entertainer and Male Vocalist of the Year in 1968 and was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2005. The legendary performer has sold more than 45 million albums and recorded such classic hits as “Wichita Lineman,” “Gentle On My Mind,” “Galveston,” “By the Time I Get to Phoenix,” “Southern Nights,” and “Rhinestone Cowboy.” As a musician, Campbell was part of the much-heralded Wrecking Crew that performed on a variety of artists’ albums.
His guitar prowess is featured on the Beach Boys’ seminal album Pet Sounds and on Frank Sinatra’s megahit “Strangers in the Night,” among others. He acted alongside John Wayne in the movie True Grit, and hosted The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour on television from 1968-1972. Earlier this year, Campbell announced he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. He is in the midst of his successful Goodbye Tour after releasing his final album, the critically-acclaimed Ghost on the Canvas.
Amy Winehouse Lioness: Hidden Treasures - Island Records
Island Records will be releasing the final Amy Winehouse record, Lioness: Hidden Treasures, on December 5, 2011 featuring songs Winehouse had worked on before her unexpected death on July 23, 2011. Producers and musicians who had worked with Winehouse before, including her close collaborators Mark Ronson and Salaam Remi, went through the recordings Winehouse left behind and put together the tracks for Lioness.
“It was said by all who worked with Amy that she never sang or played a song the same way twice,” said the press release announcing the upcoming posthumous album. “It quickly became apparent to Salaam and Mark that they had a collection of songs that deserved to be heard, a collection of songs that were a fitting testament to Amy the artist and, as importantly, Amy their friend.”
The 12 tracks on Lioness: Hidden Treasures include alternate versions of her songs as well as previously unreleased tracks. The tracks were compiled by Remi, Ronson, and the Winehouse family, along with Island Records and Amy’s management.
Justin Bieber declares Christmas is “the most beautiful time of the year, lights fill the streets spreading so much cheer” in his new music video for “Mistletoe” off his first holiday album, Under the Mistletoe. We may still be a couple of months out from celebrating the holidays, but Bieber’s in full holiday mode as he flirts with a couple of girls (while wearing fingerless gloves in the snow) before buying a pretty brunette a party dress and kissing her underneath the mistletoe.
A scene from 'The Secret World of Arrietty' - Studio Ghibli & Disney
Disney has unveiled the first trailer for The Secret World of Arrietty, the animated family movie coming to theaters on February 17, 2012. The animated adventure is based on Mary Norton’s children’s book series The Borrowers and features the voice of Bridgit Mendler, Will Arnett, Amy Poehler, and Carol Burnett.
The Story:
Arrietty (voice of Bridgit Mendler), a tiny, but tenacious 14-year-old, lives with her parents (voices of Will Arnett and Amy Poehler) in the recesses of a suburban garden home, unbeknownst to the homeowner and her housekeeper (voice of Carol Burnett). Like all little people, Arrietty (AIR-ee-ett-ee) remains hidden from view, except during occasional covert ventures beyond the floorboards to “borrow” scrap supplies like sugar cubes from her human hosts. But when 12-year-old Shawn (voice of David Henrie), a human boy who comes to stay in the home, discovers his mysterious housemate one evening, a secret friendship blossoms. If discovered, their relationship could drive Arrietty’s family from the home and straight into danger.
Ceremonials, the new album from Florence + The Machine, will drop on November 1, 2011 backed by TV appearances on Saturday Night Live (Nov 19) and Good Morning America (Nov 21). Florence + The Machine will also be profiled on VH1 Divas on December 19th.
Paul Epworth (Adele) produced Ceremonials. Epworth and the group first worked together on “Cosmic Love” on Florence + and The Machine’s debut album, Lungs, in 2009. “With the first record, I feel like I hit upon an idea halfway through and with this album, I’ve been able to refine all those mixed-up influences and ideas and make them whole…I wanted it to feel like a body of work done at one time, in one place, with one producer and I’m really glad I got to do that,” stated Florence Welch.
The first single off the new album, Shake It Out, was given four stars by Rolling Stone, with the magazine having this to say about Ceremonials:
“The rock band most forcefully evoked on Ceremonials is one of the biggest of all time: U2. Like them, Florence and the Machine are a true band, who channel garage rock camaraderie into a huge, lashing sound more fit for an Olympian mountain peak than a garage. And like U2, Florence and the Machine are fronted by a singer with the pipes, and the shamelessness, to pull off the melodrama to turn the ridiculous into the sublime.”
Watch the “Shake It Out” video:
Commenting on the new album, Florence Welch stated, “This album continues those eternal themes of the first album love, death, sex and violence. I’m constantly battling between two sides of myself, the safe, grown up and responsible me and the freedom of getting away from all that…As a singer, you’re always looking for that moment of transcendence being able to leave your body behind. It’s about dealing with the choices you’ve made and the life you want to lead.
It’s a lot about guilt some of it is quite earnest and confessional. However, I think anything reverential in my songs is usually about having a hangover. There is definitely a kind of tragic heroine theme.”
Ceremonials Track Listing:
• Only If For A Night
• Shake It Out
• What The Water Gave Me
• Never Let Me Go
• Breaking Down
• Lover To Lover
• No Light, No Light
• Seven Devils
• Heartlines
• Spectrum
• All This And Heaven Too
• Leave My Body
Ceremonials Deluxe Additional:
13. Remain Nameless
14. Strangeness & Charm
15. Bedroom Hymns
16. What The Water Gave Me (demo)
17. Landscape (demo)
18. Heartlines (acoustic)
19. Shake It Out (acoustic)
20. Breaking Down (acoustic)
More on Florence + The Machine [Courtesy of Universal Republic]:
Nominated for a Grammy for Best New Artist and an MTV Video of the Year Award along with unforgettable performances on last year’s MTV Music Awards as well as the Grammy and Academy Awards, Florence + The Machine’s debut album was No. 1 and sold over 3 million copies in the UK and received the British Critic’s Choice Award. As a live touring act, Florence has received unanimous raves.
Noted Jon Pareles of the NY Times when he reviewed her Bowery Ballroom show, “There’s also far more to her voice: bluesy curves, rock belting, Celtic melancholy and banshee quavers, pouring on emotion as the songs metamorphosed. She pushes herself toward the primal without sacrificing control.”
Florence has also appeared on virtually every major music festival around the world, including Coachella and Glastonbury’s Other Stage which drew the biggest crowd in the festival’s 40-year history. Florence + The Machine is scheduled to perform at several upcoming radio shows including Chicago on December 4 and Kansas City on December 5.
Relativity Media’s action epic Immortals hits theaters on November 11, 2011 and in support of the film’s upcoming release, they’ve issued a batch of new clips from the film. The Immortals cast is led by Henry Cavill and includes Stephen Dorff, Freida Pinto, and Mickey Rourke.
The Plot: Eons after the Gods won their mythic struggle against the Titans, a new evil threatens the land. Mad with power, King Hyperion (Mickey Rourke) has declared war against humanity. Amassing a bloodthirsty army of soldiers disfigured by his own hand, Hyperion has scorched Greece in search of the legendary Epirus Bow, a weapon of unimaginable power forged in the heavens by Ares. Only he who possesses this bow can unleash the Titans, who have been imprisoned deep within the walls of Mount Tartaros since the dawn of time and thirst for revenge.
In the king’s hands, the bow would rain destruction upon mankind and annihilate the Gods. But ancient law dictates the Gods must not intervene in man’s conflict. They remain powerless to stop Hyperion…until a peasant named Theseus (Henry Cavill) comes forth as their only hope.
Secretly chosen by Zeus, Theseus must save his people from Hyperion and his hordes. Rallying a band of fellow outsiders — including visionary priestess Phaedra (Freida Pinto) and cunning slave Stavros (Stephen Dorff) — one hero will lead the uprising, or watch his homeland fall into ruin and his Gods vanish into legend.
Production’s begun on TNT’s sci-fi action series Falling Skies starring Noah Wyle and produced by Steven Spielberg. Filming kicked off last week on the show, which nabbed the title of the summer’s #1 drama on basic cable among key adult demos.
Falling Skies, which was watched by more than 6.9 million viewers during its first season, will return to TNT’s schedule in the summer of 2012.
The Plot: Falling Skies takes place in the aftermath of an all-out invasion by an alien military force. Wyle stars as Tom Mason, a Boston history professor and the father of three sons, who must put his extensive knowledge of military history to the test as second in command of a regiment of resistance fighters protecting a large group of civilians.
Falling Skies also stars Moon Bloodgood as Dr. Ann Glass, a pediatrician who has become the survivors’ primary physician; Will Patton as Colonel Weaver, the gruff and emotionally scarred commander of the 2nd Massachusetts, the team of civilian-soldiers whose job it is to protect the survivors; and Drew Roy, Tom’s oldest son who is just about to turn 18.
In the second season, viewers will learn what happens to Tom after his decision to go with the aliens at the end of the first season. Tom hopes that by agreeing to a dialogue with the invaders, he will not only free his son Ben from the invaders’ influence but also get a better picture of the aliens’ overall plan.
“And this,” said Vince Gill, “is the LeAnn Rimes Memorial Bathroom.”
It’s a small but comfortable room, just a few steps away from the 32-track recording studio that the CMA Country Music Hall of Fame member built in his Belle Meade, Tenn. home. The only thing that attracts attention is the amplifier positioned just to the left of the doorway.
It seems that Rimes was visiting one day during the sessions for Guitar Slinger, Gill’s new album on MCA Nashville. Musicians were gathered in the studio, going over parts and tweaking their sound. She had just gone into the restroom when a guitarist decided to check his tone. Unfortunately, his microphone and amp were in that restroom, the volume pumped up pretty high.
Gill, remembering that moment, mimed playing a bent-note, upper-neck feedback screech. “And LeAnn said she hit the ceiling,” he remembered. “I don’t know whether that’s true or not, but she was out of there pretty quick.”
Such are the things that can happen when an artist transforms part of his home into a working space. At the very least, you come up with stories you’re not likely to hear about tracking in commercial studios. At best, you save on multiple fronts, including travel time, rental costs and more.
“I haven’t found any minuses to recording at home, to be honest,” Gill said. “My biggest concern is, is it going to sound great? That’s the whole purpose of any studio. At the same time, if you’ve got a great song, it doesn’t matter where you record it. People are going to respond to a great song every time. If the bass sound isn’t just so good, if the kick drum doesn’t sound just so great, or if the guitar tone is a little thin, most people don’t ever hear any of that. The mantra should be ‘serve the song.’”
Gill’s priorities don’t diminish the importance of having a great production with state-of-the-art gear. Rather, they indicate that the purpose of production is to bring out the expressive potential of the tune. This has guided Gill on all of the sessions he’s had, though with Guitar Slinger he took the concept further by doing some of the recording outside the studio doors, in an add-on acoustically dry room, at the end of a hallway, in his living room, even in a closet and of course in the Memorial Bathroom.
To put the conversion of these areas in context, go back to Gill’s and his wife Amy Grant’s decision to make a few changes in their living space. “We lived here for nine years before we even thought about putting a studio in here,” he recalled. “I said to Amy, after we’d been married a few years, ‘How are things?’ She said, ‘Well, to be real honest, there are times when I still feel like a stranger in my own house.’ So after living here for a little bit of time, we said, ‘Okay, we don’t really need a pool table in this room. Nobody plays pool here.’ We’d go through the house and ask, ‘Do we really need a fancy dining room here? Let’s make it a sitting parlor and I could have my desk in there.’ Little by little, I felt like this part of the house could finally serve what would benefit me the most. You find ways to connect what you do and love and make them a part of your home.”
That meant building a studio. Gill invested in the best equipment, relying on advice from friends who kept informed on gear. Eventually, anchored by a 32-channel API board, it took shape in a high-ceilinged space, with a sunken area next to a big working fireplace. It’s as much a place to hang out with friends as it is a facility for top-notch tracking, with tiny amps and car models, a clock with hands set against a Fender logo and amplifier grill cloth and other details enhancing the cozy, vintage décor. He’s even stowed active amps in the bottom of cabinets that line one wall within soundproofing that allows tracks to be captured without any audio bleed.
Eventually, Gill began thinking about expanding his recording options beyond the studio doors. “I’m grateful that I went up to Sheryl Crow’s house,” he said. “She had a fantastic studio built in her basement. I was working on mine, and I was like, ‘Man, she’s got two rooms to do overdubs in. She’s got a lounge. I could do this too; I could build a room onto the side of my studio.’ I realized that if I didn’t take it to a certain level, I’d always be trapped by headphones. That just didn’t sound like fun to me, so I went further than I probably ever intended. I don’t know if I ever intended to put a whole keyboard world in another room. I didn’t think the API desk would be as big as the one I wound up buying. I wound up buying some really big speakers that could crank it up so it sounds like a million bucks. And I never intended to build an extra room. Why not? I’ll be making music in there for 20 years or more.”
That room, acoustically dry, is lined by amplifier grill cloth on the ceiling and the double walls, one external and the other internal, to keep sound from transferring from the inside or the outside. The floor is similarly layered, with two made of cement and two more of wood. “You can do guitar overdubs in here,” Gill noted. “But I set up the drums in here more often than not. The first thought was that, with these two big windows, it was going to be too reflective and live, but as it turns out drummers freak out about the sound in here. They say there’s a bigger depth in the bottom end of the kick drum. We do a lot of vocals in here too. If you need separation, if something needs to be on its own, this works.”
he selection widened as one room led to the next. Just outside the studio door, the end of a hallway, with high ceilings and wood floor, is live enough to add depth to acoustic guitars and upright basses. A nearby closet proves perfect for miking a Leslie speaker, which connects to the Hammond B-3 organ in the living room, just steps away from a Yamaha concert grand piano.
John Hobbs, who has played piano, organ and other keyboards on many of Gill’s sessions as far back as Turn Me Loose in 1983, sees one reason why the idea of “studio” has morphed into this network of rooms. “People that just have their home studios all in one room aren’t usually cutting a band live, which is very much what the approach to this album was — and it always is with Vince,” he said. “He doesn’t like to do a lot of overdubbing, apart from taking vocal passes and doing the background vocals or maybe allowing for an instrumentalist that’s not available on the day of tracking that he really wants to get on a particular song. But the piano really needs to be in a different room. Acoustic piano mics are really hot, so leakage is always an issue. Even the leakage from my headphones, if they’re turned up loud while I’m sitting at the piano, can be an issue. And with the Leslie in a cabinet by itself, it’s really a function of keeping the leakage down.”
Produced by Gill, Hobbs and Justin Niebank, Guitar Slinger is sonically impressive, intimate and romantic on ballads (“True Love,” written and sung by Gill and Grant), majestic where gospel exultation meets searing lead guitar (“Threaten Me with Heaven,” by Gill, Grant, Will Owsley and Dillon O’Brian) and shimmering with steel and triple fiddles on the waltz-time “Buttermilk John” (Gill). But the composer/ singer/guitarist proves correct in asserting that every note played and every knob turned takes the listener deeper into the music and the lyric.
Much of the material is narrative, from the (true) story of a friend’s sad demise in “Billy Paul” (Gill) to its retrograde, chronicling the salvation of a hopeless man at the end of his journey in “Bread and Water” (Gill and Leslie Satcher). It’s not just the quality of this work that distinguishes Guitar Slinger; it’s the fact of its being done at all.
“That’s important to me because I learned that great stories make great songs,” he explained. “It’s not very prevalent in what’s going on today; instead, it’s a little more attitude and a little more swagger. What shocks me is a song like ‘The House That Built Me’ (Tom Douglas and Allen Shamblin), that Miranda (Lambert) recorded. I just want to go, ‘Guys! Look at this! This should teach you. People are still moved.’ Guy Clark taught me that if you’re not able to really see the picture that the words say, then find a way to say it where those pictures come alive. That, to me, is great songwriting: If somebody hears a song, they can perceive it any way they want and paint their own pictures. That’s why I don’t like videos: You don’t give the imagination a chance to work.
“I think it would be so easy to put this music back on a great path with people writing and recording great songs again,” he summed up. “It’s not that hard.”
