More

All The Blog Posts

Filter by:    AOL    AOL Music    Arts    Black Voices    Books    Business    Canada    Canada Business    Canada Lifestyle    Canada Living    Canada Politics    Canada Sports    Canada Style    Celebrity    Chicago    College    Comedy    Cooking    Crime    Culture    DC    Denver    Detroit    Divorce    Education    Entertainment    Eyes & Ears    Fifty    Food    Gay Voices    Good News    Green    Health and Fitness    Health News    Healthy Living    High School    Impact    KitchenDaily    Latino Voices    Living    Local    Los Angeles    MapQuest    Media    Miami    Mindful Living    Money    Moviefone    Moviefone Canada    New York    Parents    Politics    Religion    San Francisco    Science    Small Business    Sports    Style    Stylelist    TechCrunch    Technology    Travel    TV    UK    UK Celebrity    UK Comedy    UK Culture    UK Entertainment    UK Fashion    UK Lifestyle    UK Politics    UK Style    UK Tech    UK Universities & Education    Weddings    Weird News    Women    World
Karin Badt

Behind the Scenes at Cannes

Karin Badt | Posted May 29, 2012

Everyone thinks Cannes is exciting for the movies, parties and celebrities.

That is half of it. The other half is the pleasure of being treated so wonderfully by the staff that mans the festival, from the pretty girls serving free Nescafe coffee, to the men in beige suits who check...

Liz Smith

Liz Advises: Give 'Battleship' (And Taylor Kitsch) A Chance. It's Better Than 'The Avengers.' Really.

Liz Smith | Posted May 29, 2012

"HEAR THE other side," advised ancient Roman law.

  • WHY, OH, WHY? When young moviegoers get out of their third viewing of the booming hit "The Avengers," what in the world do they have against going to see "Battleship"?


    This movie is named after a classic Hasbro naval combat...

Richard Dare

The Awfulness of Classical Music Explained

Richard Dare | Posted May 29, 2012

Visiting a popular concert hall for the first time some years ago, I was lucky to have a fairly genial host whom I'll call Luddy. He guided me patiently through the obtuse and unfriendly ticketing procedure at the "Will Call" window where I felt rather like I was...

Marshall Fine

Movie review: High School

Marshall Fine | Posted May 29, 2012

The temptation to make lots of marijuana-derived jokes would be a lot stronger if High School, an alleged stoner comedy, were actually funny.

But this half-baked enterprise, which has been sitting on the shelf for the two years since it played the festival circuit, isn't just stale - it's lazy....

Marshall Fine

Chazz Palminteri: Feeling Mighty Fine

Marshall Fine | Posted May 29, 2012

In a few minutes, actor Chazz Palminteri will take the stage for a Q&A session with an audience that's just seen his new film, Mighty Fine -- and he'll kill it, telling funny stories about his early life as a struggling actor, getting his big break with A Bronx Tale,...

Pat Gallagher

Celebrities Who Became Household Names After They Turned 50

Pat Gallagher | Posted May 29, 2012

Everybody has to pay their dues -- whether it is in business or the entertainment field -- before they make it to the top. In theory. Of course, child actors and (some) reality stars are two exceptions (I won't name any famous reality stars because I'll break out in a...

Lincee Ray

'The Bachelorette' Recap: Lessons in Brutal Honesty

Lincee Ray | Posted May 29, 2012

I have to give it to Emily for being straightforward and honest with "her boys" on "The Bachelorette." Each one-on-one time is filled with, shall I say, normal conversation with her intentions clearly laid out on the table. If the bachelors don't prove that they can fit into her life...

Anna Brand

'Bethenny Ever After' Finale Recap: A Time for Change Situation

Anna Brand | Posted May 29, 2012

The time has come, my friends. We're saying goodbye to Season 3 of "Bethenny Ever After" and the farewells are bound to be bittersweet.

We know she's not leaving the spotlight forever (like she ever could, really) -- in fact, our Queen has already left her brand-spankin' new apartment...

Maureen Ryan

'Mad Men' Recap: The Women Make Game-Changing Choices

Maureen Ryan | Posted May 29, 2012

mm_ja_511_1206_0957

Do not read on unless you've seen Season 5, Episode 11 of AMC's "Mad Men," "The Other Woman."

"This thing, gentlemen. What price would we pay? What behavior would we forgive?" - Don in the Jaguar pitch

"There is no number." - Peggy to...

Mike Ryan

'Men In Black 3' Plot: 6 Things I Still Don't Understand

Mike Ryan | Posted May 29, 2012

men in black 3

Now that you've seen Men in Black 3 (or perhaps you didn't -- it's not humanly possible for me to keep tabs on all of you), I have a few questions. Look, I like to pretend that I have at least the intelligence...

Michael Sigman

Howie Richmond (1917-2012): Music Publishing Pioneer With a Big Heart

Michael Sigman | Posted May 28, 2012

You may not know the name Howie Richmond, but without him, it's likely you'd have never gotten to know the music of Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Lead Belly and many other essential figures in American and European popular music.


Howie, who died peacefully at his home in Rancho Mirage, CA, on Sunday at 94, contributed mightily and without fanfare to the music business for nearly three quarters of a century.

My dad, songwriter Carl Sigman, gave Howie his first hit (see below) and Howie gave me my first job: helping to catalogue the massive piles of reel-to-reel tapes in the library of TRO, the music publishing powerhouse he founded in 1949. It was a job I would have gladly paid to do; I knew a little about Guthrie, Seeger and Lead Belly, but here were hundreds and hundreds of songs about the great issues of the day and the smallest, most playful human experiences.


And those heroes were just a part of what Howie and his colleagues had built. I heard incredible songs by Pete Townshend, Tony Newley and Leslie Bricusse, Charles Aznavour, Lionel Bart, Lonnie Donegan and Shel Silverstein.


I got to brag to my high school friends about two brand new songs that would blow their minds -- "Paper Sun" and "See Emily Play," from Traffic and Pink Floyd, respectively.


The Sigmans and the Richmonds grew up together on Long Island; my folks were close with Howie and his wife Anita, a brilliant liberal activist; my brothers and I went to the same summer camp as the Richmond kids; we all took a Florida vacation together. During the '70s, the two couples bought houses in the same cul-de-sac in Rancho Mirage, CA, between Frank Sinatra Drive and Bob Hope Drive. Howie's "uncle" Abe Olman -- a music biz legend in his own right and one of Howie's original partners (the other was the great Ali Brackman ) -- lived in the house between the Sigmans and the Richmonds. As my mom would say, "There was nary a civilian in sight."

A deep dive into the history of just one song reveals something of the breadth of Howie's career. One day, shortly after World War II, Gene Rayburn and Dee Finch, deejays on New York's powerhouse WNEW radio station, were weeding out scads of of records looking for something unusual to play. They came across a tune called "Scotch Hot," written early in the century by the eccentric Billy Whitlock. The song was originally recorded (on a cylinder, by Edison Bell Gramophone Company) with a special set of glockenspiel-like musical bells. Whitlock made an acetate recording in 1924, but it went virtually unnoticed until the deejays' discovery.

Rayburn and Finch played the song over and over, and became obsessed with finding Whitlock and updating the number. They found the former entertainer in a lonely boarding house in Brixton, England, where he toiled as a night watchman. He was thrilled to have his song revived. Rayburn convinced my father to write a lyric. In 1949, the year I was born, Howie published that song, "Hop Scotch Polka (Scotch-Hot)," with Guy Lombardo & His Royal Canadians, and Kenny Gardner as vocalist. It became his inaugural smash, topping the charts in several countries and leading to cover versions by a slew of other artists, including Art Mooney, Bob Crosby, Jimmy Charles and Tex Ritter.


Howie was a pioneer in understanding the power of radio airplay to break records. During the '40s, publishers would attend big band live performances, pitch their songs to the bandleaders and then release their recordings. Richmond put his tunes on shellac and made the rounds of key deejays all over the country, relentlessly plugging away until they couldn't say no. The resultant airplay made good songs into big hits.

Howie was as generous with his financial resources as he was with his time and energy. Among countless non-profit and charitable activities, two stand out. He, Johnny Mercer and Abe Olman founded the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1969. And, in honor of Anita, who died in 1996, he established the Anita Richmond Children's Discovery Museum in Rancho Mirage.

I was in close touch with Howie over the past two years and was struck by his extraordinary memory for the tiniest details of the music business, circa 1940, and his exquisite appreciation for the absurd. He had hands down the most infectious laugh of anyone I've known.

As part of his final act, Howie, Bill Marx (Harpo's son) and radio personality Audley Upton launched the non-profit CGH (Chico Groucho Harpo) Society. The organization -- which doesn't seek donations, just participation -- is dedicated to celebrating the Marx Brothers' contribution to comedy and spreading the healing power of laughter to people of all ages. They've designated May 15, 2014, the centennial of the Brothers' first performance under their "O" names, as an "International Day of Laughter."

The transformational songs in the TRO catalogue -- an embarrassment of riches --include "This Land Is Your Land," "If I Had A Hammer," "We Shall Overcome." " Goodnight, Irene," "Tom Dooley," "Who Can I Turn To," "Fly Me To The Moon," "My Generation," "Space Oddity," "Whiter Shade Of Pale," and "Get It On (Bang A Gong)."


Howie Richmond was that rare leader who played to win but also had a huge heart. Until the end, he referred to himself, without false modesty, as "just a press agent." He would be astounded at the outpouring of love and admiration in the days since his...

Karin Badt

Cannes 2012: Nastassja Kinski at the Terrazza Martini

Karin Badt | Posted May 28, 2012

Everyone speaks about Nastassja Kinski's fragility.

I saw strength.

We sat together on the Terrazza Martini at Cannes, in white leather lounge chairs, and she, dressed in a gauzy gown, like the curtain fluttering next to us, spoke to me with excitement about her new project, a documentary on famed...

Maureen Ryan

'Game of Thrones' Recap: Bloodshed And Bravery At The Battle Of The Blackwater

Maureen Ryan | Posted May 28, 2012

bronngameofthrones

Don't read on unless you've seen "Blackwater," Sunday's episode of "Game of Thrones."

The Battle of the Blackwater!

I could give you my theories on why certain moments in Sunday's episode of "Game of Thrones" exemplified what the show is about....

Carole Mallory

Review: For Greater Glory Shows a Glorious Mexico

Carole Mallory | Posted May 28, 2012

Mexico in its splendor fighting for freedom: The Cristero War (1926 -29). Who knows of this period of history when the Mexican Government attempted to secularize the country?

For Greater Glory is a beautiful film that tells the story of a small boy who stands up to the tyrants...

Jim David

Adam Lambert Gets the Christian Music Critic Treatment

Jim David | Posted May 28, 2012

Plugged In Online is the movie reviewing arm of Focus On The Family, a Christian conservative organization. Plugged In's reviews can be entertaining, as if written by a committee of nuns criticizing the behavior of unruly eighth graders. The critics review the films not for their actual merit but for...

James Franco

Don't Bring Your iPad to Once the Musical

James Franco | Posted May 28, 2012

The marquee out front said that this was the show with the most Tony nominations. Inside, the place was buzzing. There was a pub onstage full of musicians playing Irish folk ditties; people were finding their seats, drinking pints out of plastic thermoses; ice and drinks were spilled in the...

Dan Mecca

The Bitter End: Southland Tales and Line-Cutting Accent End to Cannes 2012

Dan Mecca | Posted May 28, 2012

Embattled, tired and bittersweet, the final days at Cannes slow down to a mild jog, allowing those who've watched the films and interviewed the filmmakers to take stock in all that's just happened. In short, it's a time to play it all back and reflect on what was seen and...

Noel Gallagher

Tales From the Middle of Nowhere (Vol. 2): A Japanese Trip

Noel Gallagher | Posted May 28, 2012

Well that tv show was - as predicted - fucking insane. It's quite difficult to know what these Japanese shows are actually supposed to be about, but I'm guessing it was like some kind of version of our very own Top of the Pops (R.I.P.).

It was...

Crystal Bell

'Girls' Recap: That One Time In Bushwick

Crystal Bell | Posted May 28, 2012

Note: Do not read on if you have not seen Season 1, Episode 7 of HBO's "Girls," entitled, "Welcome to Bushwick a.k.a. The Crackcident."

Excuse me if what I'm about to say sounds vaguely familiar, but oh, shit, fuck, are we supposed to like Adam now?

You...

Russell Watson

Loud and Proud to Be British!

Russell Watson | Posted May 29, 2012

I have to tell you I'm feeling extra, extra, EXTRA patriotic at the moment with all the wonderful things happening at the moment for the Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics. I've always had a sense of patriotism since being a young boy. My first sense of this was when, in...

All posts from 05.29.2012 < 05.28.2012