54 BELOW PRESENTS ALEXA GREEN ON BROADWAY
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THE GLORIOUS CORNER
Story By: G. H. HARDING
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| Diamond Star Willie Nelson |
GO GREEN --- 54 Below, Broadway’s Supper Club (and, the old Studio 54 basement!), will present Alexa Green in A Shining Hour on September 11th, 2014 at 9:30PM.
A Shining Hour is the solo debut of one of the most exciting new voices to come to NYC, soaring through a catalog of songs ranging from Harold Arlen to Mariah Carey. With a jazz ensemble backing her, Alexa successfully bridges the genres providing a vitality and freshness and making her mark on these timeless classics.
Mitchell Walker is the Director/ Creator of A Shining Hour. Mitchell made his directorial debut last year at 54 Below with A Brass Act starring Broadway's Michelle Dowdy (Hairspray). This year he brought Once In Love with Amy Toporek to the 54 Below stage. Joining him will be Dylan Glatthorn (Republic, A Brass Act) as musical director/ arranger and on piano as part of a four piece jazz ensemble featuring Daniel Bailen (Bass), Andy Rinn Martinek (Drums), and Syberen Van Munster (Guitar).
Green is a Manhattan- based singer, actor, dancer and recording artist best known for her turn as Glinda in the Los Angeles and San Francisco companies of the hit Broadway musical Wicked.
After playing to sold out audiences for nearly two years, she went on to appear alongside Neil Patrick Harris and Patti LuPone in the international cinematic release of Stephen Sondheim's Company with The New York Philharmonic live from Lincoln Center. She has also toured both nationally and internationally as an actor and singer, known for her wide vocal range and expressive musical flexibility.
LYNCH AND DURAN --- David Lynch's 2011 concert film on Duran Duran will be hitting the big screen for the first time next week, appearing in more than 300 theaters for one night only on Wednesday, September 10th.
The film, shot at Los Angeles' Mayan Theatre and featuring guest appearances by former My Chemical Romance frontman Gerard Way, the Gossip's Beth Ditto, Mark Ronson and Kelis, utilizes Lynch's singular style, as the director superimposes images of his interpretation of the band's lyrics over footage of the group onstage.
Lynch and the band released a new, predictably eerie, trailer to celebrate the upcoming screening, which found the director re cutting the film after watching the footage again (The band also remixed the audio for the upcoming release). In the trailer, screening info is projected over a nebulous, round object. In the background, a low, throbbing hum blends with a high-pitched squeal before giving way to a snippet of the group's 1982 hit "Hungry Like the Wolf."
"David is a visionary artist, his work is always surprising and beautifully strange - so it was a surreal dream collaboration for us to work with him and to become the subjects of one of his films," keyboardist Nick Rhodes said in a statement. "When we first discussed the notion of working together, we bonded over a shared desire to create a truly unique live film. I felt confident we could rely upon David to conjure up something stylish, experimental, handmade and innovative. He surpassed all of our wildest expectations."
Filmed in conjunction with the band's 2011 album All You Need Is Now, the movie is part of American Express Unstaged, the series that pairs musicians with filmmakers including Pharrell/Spike Lee, the Killers/Werner Herzog and Maroon 5/Gary Oldman.
The two-hour, 19-song set blended Eighties hits with the new album, as the core quartet of vocalist Simon Le Bon, Rhodes, bassist John Taylor and drummer Roger Taylor were joined by four other musicians and a four-piece string section. While the show itself relied on minimal lighting effects, the online concert featured Lynch's flourishes, including wisps of smoke and fire and dead animals superimposed over the band.
As a huge Lynch and Duran Duran fan, cannot wait for this one. Should be superb!
A SURVIVOR PASSES --- Jimi Jamison, lead singer of Survivor, died on Sunday night from a heart attack. He was 63.
Although born in Mississippi, he and his mother moved to Memphis the day after he was born and he considered that city his home. He learned how to sing and play guitar and piano at a young age and was already in a band in middle school.
Starting in the late 70's, he fronted a number of bands including Target and Cobra along with doing studio work as a background vocalist for the likes of ZZ Top and Joe Walsh.
In 1984, after the breakup of Cobra, he joined Survivor who were already international stars based on their hit Eye of the Tiger. The lead singer for that hit, Dave Bickler, had suffered from vocal problems and was forced to leave the band, opening up the position for Jamison.
Survivor had a number of hits with Jamison in front including “I Can't Hold Back (1984 / #13),” “High On You (1985 / #8),” “The Search is Over (1985 / #4),” “Burning Heart (1985 / #2)” and “Is This Love (1986 / #9).”
Late in the 80's, the band's success started to fade leading to the members going on an indefinite hiatus. Jamison began recording solo, including the 1991 album When Love Comes Down. It was that album, which didn't chart, that kept him from accepting an offer to become the lead singer of Deep Purple when Ian Gillan was let go from the band. The record company forced him to pass on the offer to promote the new record.
Jamison would later write and sing “I'm Always Here,” the theme from the TV show Baywatch, and release another album under the name Jimi Jamison's Survivor, Empires.
Survivor reformed in 1993 but with Dave Bickler back on lead. When he was fired from the band in 2000, Jamison returned and stayed with the group for the next six years. After once again leaving in 2006, he rejoined in 2011 and, in 2013, Survivor became a two-lead band with the return of Bickler.
CLOSING NOTES --- So, the so-called maverick- Malkin Brothers who own The Empire State Building and several others units (including the great Fisk Building on West 57th Street and Broadway) didn't let their any of their buildings go gold for last night’s National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, with the caveat that the request didn't come from a group, but, rather from an individual. Take it from me, this wild cap pair have done more harm than good … all over. I've been privy to several of the so-called innovations at several of their rentals and it ain’t fair or good. I'm not going to call them crooks ... but, a second or third look into their operations needs to be done here. Shame on them …
Larry David to Broadway? A Fish In The Dark, starring David, will premiere in February. Curb it Larry! …
If you missed Rolling Stone's recent interview with iconic legend Willie Nelson; go back and find it. Writer Patrick Doyle did a superb job on perhaps the most original artist of them all. Required reading for sure ...
Just started the new book from Idea of March-er-Jim Peterik (Through The Eye Of The Tiger), written with Lisa Torem. Am loving it so far ...
SIGHTINGS --- PR-pasha David Salidor at Wo Hop in Chinatown; WOR's Tom Cuddy hustling in Tribeca; Jack Nicholson and Barry Diller at Sandy Gallin's end-of-summer fete in Amagansett; and, Chris Martin wandering the beach, also in Amagansett.
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