Category Archives: Entertainment

Joni Mitchell, 71, treated in intensive care after being found unconscious at her home

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Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell

dailymail.co.uk
By MAIL ONLINE REPORTER
PUBLISHED: 19:57 EST, 31 March 2015 | UPDATED: 22:28 EST, 31 March 2015

Joni Mitchell, 71, treated in intensive care after being found unconscious at her home

Mar 31: Joni hospitalized
Joni has been hospitalized. We are awaiting official word on her condition and will post it here as soon as we know.

Mar 31: UPDATE 9:57pm PDT
Joni was found unconscious in her home this afternoon. She regained consciousness on the ambulance ride to an L.A. area hospital. She is currently in intensive care undergoing tests and is awake and in good spirits. More updates to come as we hear them. Light a candle and sing a song, let’s all send good wishes her way.
Joni Mitchell, 71, treated in intensive care after being found unconscious at her home.
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The secret Sinatra past of Bob Dylan’s new album

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latimes.com
By GUSTAVO TURNER

A rare Los Angeles Times photo of Frank Sinatra in 1947
A rare Los Angeles Times photo of Frank Sinatra in 1947, leaving a Beverly Hills courthouse after charges against him for allegedly slugging columnist Lee Mortimer were dismissed. (Dick Oliver / Los Angeles Times)

Bob Dylan has a new album coming out Feb. 3, “Shadows in the Night,” a collection of pop songs about romance, heartbreak and other existential themes written by other songwriters.

But whatever you call this labor-of-love project, there’s one thing Bob Dylan does not want you to call it: his “Sinatra covers album.”

These are old songs, written between the early 1920s and the early 1960s, some of which have become bona fide jazz standards (“Autumn Leaves”), others of which were minor hits when they were first recorded (“Full Moon and Empty Arms”), and there’s even the odd gem (“Stay With Me”) that has been overlooked by audiences since its first appearance on an obscure single.

All these songs have one thing in common: They were recorded by Frank Sinatra at some point (in some cases, several points) in his career.

“I don’t see myself as covering these songs in any way,” Dylan said in a statement last December. “They’ve been covered enough. Buried, as a matter a fact. What me and my band are basically doing is uncovering them. Lifting them out of the grave and bringing them into the light of day.” Read more…

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New Year’s Eve in Las Vegas

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New Year's Eve in Las Vegas
New Year’s Eve in Las Vegas

From Vegas.Com
We can sum up New Years Eve in Las Vegas in one word: Crazy. And we mean crazy in a good way. The entire Strip is shut down to traffic and it becomes like one giant block party for you and 300,000 of your closest drinking buddies. At midnight, the casinos launch a choreographed fireworks display that makes the Times Square ball drop look like child’s play. Inside, the showrooms rock with the hottest entertainment and the nightclubs are packed with celebrities and partygoers who are dressed to impress. Book your room now and get the scoop on New Year’s Eve parties and events in Vegas below.

FEATURED PARTIES: — Click for More…
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Kentucky Derby 2014: California Chrome Owns Favorite’s Role at 5-2 for 140th Kentucky Derby

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AmericasBestRacing.Com: CaliChrome
America'sBestRacing.Com: CaliChrome

From the Kentucky Derby’s official website:

California Chrome Owns Favorite’s Role at 5-2 for 140th Kentucky Derby
Steven Coburn and Perry Martin’s California Chrome, winner of four consecutive races by a combined 24 ¼ lengths, is the 5-2 morning-line favorite for Saturday’s 140th running of the Kentucky Derby Presented by at Churchill Downs read more…

Official Kentucky Derby Website

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From Forbes.Com
SPORTSMONEY 11/26/2013 @ 11:59AM
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“The biggest news in the daily fantasy sports space to date was the $11 million in Series C financing received by market leader FanDuel in January. It demonstrated that despite lingering concerns regarding the legality of such offerings, major venture capital firms including Comcast Ventures are willing to invest hefty dollars into these start-ups in order to capture the continual growth in the world of fantasy sports. Today’s announcement by FanDuel competitor DraftKings reiterates the implied security that venture capital companies must maintain, because the money keeps pouring in.”

“Boston-based DraftKings, Inc. has just declared that it closed a $24 million Series B round of funding led by Redpoint Ventures, with participation by GGV Capital, Atlas Venture, and BDS Ventures. This great source of financing comes only 6 months after DraftKings closed a $7 million Series A round led by Atlas Venture (also involved in the new round). Combined with the $1.4 million in seed capital DraftKings received in April 2012, the company has secured a total of $35 million from outside sources (DraftKings’ Series A remained open and ended at more than $10 million in funding). A very impressive number for a company that has been in existence for less than 2 years.” read more…

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Oscar Goodman’s whirlwind book launch for ‘Being Oscar’ ends with burgers at Smashburger

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Oscar Goodman
Oscar Goodman

Oscar Goodman’s whirlwind book launch for ‘Being Oscar’ ends with burgers at Smashburger
By Robin Leach
[FROM] Tuesday, May 28, 2013 | 5:20 p.m.

By now, everybody from New York to Las Vegas knows that our former three-term Mayor Oscar Goodman has a bestseller on his hands with the publication of his memoir “Being Oscar.”

When I caught up with him in the whirlwind of autograph and photo sessions that stretched nonstop for six days after his jet-set, two-day, round-trip promotions in Manhattan, he told me, “The movie version is next. And a second book will be coming!”

In The Big Apple, he even had dinner with star chef Daniel Boulud, who last week revealed that he’s returning to Las Vegas to team with The Venetian and the Palazzo for two new restaurants. “One of the best meals of my entire life,” chuckled Oscar, “and very expensive!”

Our contributing photographer Tom Donoghue captured Oscar just about everywhere throughout the Las Vegas Valley: It was definitely him and not a masked man. Although for two appearances at The Mob Museum Downtown, there were plenty of Oscar masks for one amazing photo shoot. Oscar’s image is now even on T-shirts complete with his trademark pinstriped suit.

The excitement began at Oscar’s steakhouse Beef, Booze & Broads in the Plaza Downtown. The line of fans was already out the door a half-hour before he arrived. That first-night celebration continued via Downtown bus tours, with Oscar as official guide over his accomplishments while in office — and even out to Walmart stores. Read more

CAROLYN LEONHART seems to be the only credited backup singer on the song

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Carolyn Leonhart
Carolyn Leonhart

CAROLYN LEONHART seems to be the only credited backup singer on this YouTube version of the song “Cousin Dupree.” That’s OK with me since I was writing this post about her specifically. I did several searches on the other B.U. singers on this song without results. I know they’re there, I see at least four ladies in the video.

This woman seems to be the embodiment of THE MUSIC. She seems to have captured the essence of what it is to be an essential part of that music. I can’t seem to be able articulate exactly what it is, so just watch. She usually stands in the middle. NO WAIT… there is nothing cooler than a Steely Dan back-up singer; that’s it, an ideal American girl

OOH AH – OOH EE

From the pages of WIKI:
Cousin Dupree.” is the first single from Steely Dan’s 2000 album Two Against Nature. The song describes the desire a young man (Dupree) has for his attractive cousin. In 2001 the song won a Grammy Award for best pop performance by a duo or group with vocal.”

By the way, a musician I was in a studio with in the early 1970s played on this album. That would be the Hit-Maker, First-Call Sideman (for over forty-years,) Dean Parks

The Dan has reached Audio Nirvana, if you will, several times over the years. One amazing moment happens, courtesy of Dean Parks, on the Royal Scam track \”Haitian Divorce\” which features a Talkbox to produce a chicken clucking sound. Dean Parks plays through that talk-box. NIRVANA! On this recording the magic happens around 03:51 with Fagen and “the girls” trading vocal licks with the way-tasty: OOH AH – OOH EE! HOW ABOUT A KISS FOR YOUR COUSIN DUPREE!

Carolyn Leonhart was born in New York City on 10 July 1971, daughter of bassist and composer Jay Leonhart and vocalist Donna Leonhart. She was exposed to music from a very early age, attending her father’s gigs where she saw him accompany famous singers such as Sarah Vaughan, Mel Tormé and Peggy Lee. Leonhart sang on television commercials as a young child. She attended The High School of Music & Art in New York City, and for four years sang in the school’s Gospel Choir. While at school, she performed in the TV show “It’s Showtime At The Apollo”. At home she would spend hours singing while her father and brother played jazz standards. She won the Lena Horne High School Jazz Vocalist competition while in her senior year.

Leonhart attended the University of Rochester, obtaining a degree in Comparative Religion. While at university she remained deeply involved in music, singing with bands at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester. She recorded two solos with the Toshiba EMI label, and in her senior year was named Best College Jazz Vocalist by Downbeat Magazine.

Leonhart returned to New York and in 1994 began singing in jazz clubs. That year she competed in the Thelonious Monk International Vocal Jazz Competition, coming third. A critic said her choice of the songs “Nobody Else but Me” and “Day Dream” was daring, but she needed greater control and more focused delivery. In the following years Leonhart performed with a variety of musicians including The Real Live Show, a hip-hop group, and Wax Poetic. The Wax Poetic project combines electronica, trip hop, funk, and jazz. In 1998 she recorded an album with the Swiss Percussion Ensemble, a group of four classical percussionists whose instruments were mainly made of glass. In 2000, Leonhart released the album Steal The Moon, a collaborative project with pianist and composer Rob Bargad. Since then she began performing regularly with her own group at the Smoke Jazz Club in New York City, at Steamers and The Vic in California, and at other clubs on the east coast read more…

www.carolynleonhart.com

Las Vegas Buffet Club’s Salute to R & R Background Singers, First in a Series: Caroline Leonheart-Escoffery

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In my mind way up on top of that pedestal those irresistible, slinky, rock & roll back-up singers never seem to get the credit they deserve.

Carolyn Leonhart (aka Lyn Leon)
Carolyn Leonhart (aka Lyn Leon)

From ALuckyDogLife.Blogsotop.Com
“Did I mention that Steely Dan is a favorite? Or that I have a thing for red leather? And that I always seem to focus on the female backup singers as much as the star of the show when attending a concert ? I’m working on that with my shrink” Well, check out the middle backup singer in the Kid Charlemagne video below. Red leather pants and a rock babe attitude. Oh my. You get to enjoy a great song, too. [Sorry I don’t have the other gals names in this song.]

From LVBC:
She is the great back-up, girl singer/singer Caroline Leonheart-Escoffery with features as fine as wisps of smoke, who moves like gentle ocean waves, and who blooms like a flower at Steely Dan’s live shows and elsewhere. A singer in her own right, she has soothed us with so many righteous STEELY DAN SONGS.

Here she is taking the lead on the soulful DIRTY WORK singing with the other Embassy Brats: Cindy Mizelle, and Catherine Russell.

Walter Becker introduces the band, including Caroline Leonheart-Escoffery and Cindy Mizelle on Steely Dan – Hey nineteen Live

Caroline Leonheart-Escoffery’s Official website.

The Embassy Brats are: Carolyn Leonhart, Cindy Mizelle, and Catherine Russell.

The beyond fine drumming on Kid Charlemagne by Bernard “Pretty” Purdie. And the ridiculously out-of this-world guitar solo is by rock virtuoso, Larry Carlton, I think.

Absolutely can’t wait for STEELY DAN THE MUSICAL

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Bada Bing Bada Boom, here’s the review of Jersey Boys

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Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons
Jersey Boys AKA Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons

Quite simply stated, Jersey Boys is one of the best audio/visual things I’ve ever experienced. The way more than apt individual who wrote/programmed the set-design/lighting hit a bases-loaded, home-run with me. The set design itself, in terms of walls, furniture, stage-lighting etc. was gorgeous, if not remarkable, but there’s another facet to the design. Large 1/4-stage size? planes of light at the back of the stage changed colors and danced to the music, in fact the phrase that came to mind was that the planes of light were the fifth instrument. For those of you – and you know who you are – the fifth instrument refers to 50s – 60s rock and roll groups that usually had only four instruments: Drums, bass-guitar, lead-guitar and rhythm-guitar. Often the planes of light were big blocks of artist’s blue.

The only iffy thing for me was that there was not one out of four, of the lead-actors in the show, with an Italian surname. In fact I recall only two or three Italian names in the entire cast of 20-30. And this is a musical about basically five or six American Italians from New Jersey. Having said that, the players that played the Jersey Boys couldn’t have been better. Not attempting to mimic or copy Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons’ voices, they just did their own thing, and their thing was good, very good.

The music was loud – good loud – and was note perfect. There was a drum set center-stage, rear and it was working throughout the night. It was difficult to determine what other – if any – instruments were plugged in as most of the soundtrack was prerecorded. If I’m wrong please let me know. It was a bit unsettling to discover the recorded soundtrack, but I got over it and really enjoyed the show.

All the great recordings from Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons, starting with SHERRY were performed with great skill and expertise. And maybe, with great respect – I’m speaking of the viewpoint of the story writers.

“Jersey Boys is a jukebox musical with music by Bob Gaudio, lyrics by Bob Crewe and book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice. It is a documentary-style musical, based on one of the most successful 1960s rock ‘n roll groups, the Four Seasons. The musical opened on Broadway in 2005, and has since had a North American National Tour, along with productions in London’s West End, Las Vegas, Chicago, Toronto, Melbourne, Sydney, Philadelphia, Auckland and currently in Brisbane. Jersey Boys won four 2006 Tony Awards including Best Musical.’

Marshall Brickman
“was a member of the folk trio The Tarriers in the late 50s, with Eric Weissberg and actor Alan Arkin. He played Bluegrass guitar on the 1963 album New Dimensions in Banjo and Bluegrass with Weissberg;” “this was later reissued as Dueling Banjos, a pseudo-soundtrack album for Deliverance in 1973. (The title track was the only piece that was actually used in the film.) IMdB;” “he sang with John Phillips and Michelle Phillips in The New Journeymen before they split off to become 1/2 of the Mamas and the Papas He was an American screenwriter, best known for his collaborations with Woody Allen. He is also known for playing the banjo with Eric Weissberg in the 1960s, and for a series of comical parodies published in The New Yorker.” – Wikipedia. Makes you wonder!!!

Rick Elice
“Elice earned his BA from Cornell University, his MFA from the Yale Drama School and is a Teaching Fellow at Harvard. He was the salutatorian graduate of Francis Lewis High School in Queens, New York (class of 1973). He is a charter member of the American Repertory Theatre. His partner is actor Roger Rees.”

Bob Crew comes out as the big winner/mover and shaker, record producer/song writer, ain’t it always so.

Get to the theater.

Jersey Boys
Buell Theatre
Denver, CO 80204

Tickets/Tours
303.893.4100 | 800.641.1222
TTY: 303.893.9582
Hours: 10am-6pm Mon-Sat

Live Support
Speak with a real person seven days a week.
1 – 888 – 546 – 8561

“Times for ‘Jersey Boys’ are at 7:30 PM from Tuesdays to Sundays. Matinee performances are at 2 PM on weekends with a special matinee on August 9, Thursday, at 2 PM.”

Box Office, Theatres, Seawell Grand Ballroom Speer & Arapahoe
Drop off location 14th & Curtis St.

Check out another post about The Jersey Boys

WUNDERLAND IN 5 MINUTES

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Unbelievable Miniature Train Set (world) built by two brothers.

Many visitors show up early in the morning and leave in the very last minute, only to come back next morning. Miniatur Wunderland cannot be explored in a couple of minutes. Therefore, it is virtually impossible to show you Wunderland in a 5 minute movie, but we can at least give you some impressions:

Suggested by Aileen S