Donna Summer – “I Will Go With You”
As the sun sets on the day we lost our diva, Donna Summer, I thought of this song, one of her more recent recordings.
I love the melody, and the voice! Fantastic throughout, and then there’s that last note – full voice.
And she looks so clear, strong, healthy and beautiful.
Sad to think of her leaving so soon, but we are lucky, due to technology, that we’ll always have recordings of her great gift.
Movie: “Five Dances”
I just discovered what looks to be a beautiful film project on Kickstarter called “Five Dances.” The choreography is terrific and the story-telling (from the trailer) looks compelling. Understanding the struggles that artists go through just to survive in NYC and pursue their art, I really look forward to seeing this completed.
As the project is on Kickstarter, they need funds to help finish editing and getting the film to movie film festivals. I’m pledging and thought I’d share here with you wonderful people. It doesn’t have to be much, but you become part of the evolution of an artistic project, plus you get updates about the progress & success of the film AND there are gifts for different levels of pledging.
As with all Kickstarter projects it’s “all or nothing” – either they raise all of the goal money or they get nothing.
Here’s info from the Kickstarter page. Check it out.
About the film:
FIVE DANCES, written and directed by Alan Brown, is a creatively adventurous narrative feature film set in the New York ‘downtown’ modern dance world. The story follows the rocky emotional journey of an 18-year old dancer (the amazing Ryan Steele) with talent to burn, who must choose between his responsibility to his broken family in the Midwest, and forging a life and career for himself.
The film features five of New York’s most gifted dancers acting on film for the very first time, and performing the choreography of internationally acclaimed choreographer Jonah Bokaer.
Where we are now:
Director Alan Brown and his frequent collaborator, cinematographer Derek McKane (this is their third film together), along with producer Agathe David-Weill, shot FIVE DANCES this past winter in downtown Manhattan.
We raised enough money to get us through to the end of production, and to pay (and feed!) our very talented cast and crew. Since wrapping production, Alan and our gifted editor Jarrah Gurrie have been in the editing room daily, working towards a final cut of the film. The footage looks amazing – as you can see from the Kickstarter teaser above! – and we’re very excited by it.
We’re aiming to finish post-production by late summer – just in time to submit FIVE DANCES to the major winter film festivals in the U.S. and Europe. This is where you can really help us!
We need funding to cover the costs of everything from the final months of the picture edit, to sound mixing, color correction, and music rights. We are also very fortunate to have an amazing composer, Nicholas Wright, (Nicholas scored Alan’s award-winning ‘Private Romeo’ and ‘Superheroes’). So your Kickstarter dollars will help to pay him as well!
Meet our talented team:
Writer/Director Alan Brown’s past films have won numerous awards internationally. His ‘Book of Love’ was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance. ‘Superheroes’ (on which he collaborated with FIVE DANCE cinematographer Derek McKane and Producer Agathe David-Weill) won, among other honors, the Maverick Spirit Award at Cinequest, and the Best Feature Award at the Avignon-New York Film Festival.
Brown’s most recent film, ‘Private Romeo’, won a Grand Jury Prize at Outfest 2011 in Los Angeles. It was a Critics Pick of the New York Times, which declared it ‘performed to perfection.’ The New York Observer called it ‘Brave, controversial, hugely adventurous and highly liberated!’
Internationally acclaimed choreographer Jonah Bokaer who created the dance for FIVE DANCES has been the recipient of countless awards in the U.S. and abroad. Jonah has been invited to create a work for Jacob’s Pillow 80th Anniversary Festival.
And our wonderful, accomplished cast. We’re so honored to have captured them on film. Kimiye Corwin, Reed Luplau, Catherine Miller, Luke Murphy, and Ryan Steele.
Campaign ad: “Reverse?”
And by the way, the statistics are from the non-partisan Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Imagine how stupid…
New this Fall on the CW: “Arrow”
The CW will premiere a new series based on the DC Comics character Green Arrow called simply “Arrow.”
Smallville, Avengers, Thor, Captain America, Iron Man,… followed them all. I’ll be there for this. Especially if we get to see more of Stephen Amell’s amazing body… 🙂
Ben Cohen and Prince Harry “stand up” against bullying
From Towleroad: Former rugby player Ben Cohen stepped up work with his StandUp Foundation dedicated to stopping bullying the world over.
At an event this week, Cohen discussed how proud he is of his work with international partners Microsoft and Nike, as well as Wicked the Musical, to ending the abusive pandemic.
“Over the past 12 months, it’s been amazing; it’s been amazing journey,” he said. Cohen also recently posted a picture of him and Prince Harry, who clearly supports Cohen’s work.
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| Ben Cohen and Prince Harry |
Donna Summer dead at 63
TMZ is reporting that music legend Donna Summer is dead at 63:
Donna Summer — the Queen of Disco — died this morning after a battle with cancer.
We’re told Summer was in Florida at the time of her death. She had reportedly been trying to keep the severity of her illness quiet, and was hoping to finish her new album.
Summer was a 5-time Grammy winner who shot to superstardom in the ’70s with iconic hits like “Last Dance,” “Hot Stuff” and “Bad Girls.”
“The disco songs were the singles, which they promoted,” she told The New York Times in an interview. “That’s how we got people to buy the albums.”
She continued her dominance in the ’80s with “She Works Hard for the Money” and “This Time I Know It’s for Real.”
Summer and her producer Giorgio Moroder defined the dance music era of the ’70s and influenced acts like Duran Duran and David Bowie to enter the genre.
It’s getting hotter in here: Magic Mike cast on EW
From EW: In honor of Channing Tatum, the star of 21 Jump Street and The Vow whose stint as a stripper inspired Magic Mike (out June 29), this week’s cover does a little striptease of its own. Once you’ve taken in the sight of Tatum looking dapper all by himself, the flaps open to reveal a photo of him with his Magic Mike pals Matthew McConaughey, Joe Manganiello (True Blood), and Matt Bomer (White Collar), all of whom play dancers at a male revue in the R-rated drama, directed by Steven Soderbergh.
Russell Todd: From Leading Man To Hollywood Exec
Russell Todd