The News Review:
- Movie Review: Kickin’ It ld Skool
- Broadway’s ‘Blonde’ Bombshell
- Fusion Dance’s “Surfacing” at Lawrence Family Jewish…
- Mellowand intense vibes at Mas Camp
- The Circuit – Blog on Variety.com – 1390000339 – 33359- 31
- Bobby Pickett
- Ne-Yo finds success as hit singer songwriter
Movie Review: Kickin’ It ld Skool
Seattle Post Intelligencer – Apr 30, 2007
It was about more than just winning the match for Justin; he also wanted to win the heart of his dream girl Jennifer Stone (Maria Menounos) who the rival crew leader was also after. This led Justin to try a dangerous new break dancing move to win the dance-off one that backfired and caused him to fall offstage and land on his head putting him into a coma. 20 years later he finally awakes from his coma to find that many things have changed in the world. He missed out on so much and his poor parents are about to loose their house having spent everything they had on his 20 years of medical bills. Justin soon reconnects with his old friends and with Jennifer who happens to be engaged to his childhood rival. But as fortune would have it his rival is a TV host for a new dancing show that’s similar to American Idol for dancers… “Kickin’ it old school” is about a young break dancer in 1986 Justin Schumacher who was hoping killer moves could help him dance into his dream girl’s heart. So when Justin and his break dance posse–the Funky Fresh Boyz — were challenged to a battle in the school talent show Justin knew what he had to do. However after starting with a coffee grind into a head spin and a freeze Justin decided to go for a back flip that sent him flying off stage. ne freak break dancing accident later Justin is in a coma; leaving Jennifer the Funky Fresh Boyz and the world as he knows behind for 20 years. Awakening a thirty-something with a child’s mind when ’80s music hits his ears Justin might have suddenly regained consciousness but his world has changed. His parents are drowning in debt from medical costs his boyz grew up and went lame and his dream girl Jennifer is now engaged to current scumbag and former grade school nemesis Kip Unger.
Broadway’s ‘Blonde’ Bombshell
New York Sun – Apr 30, 2007
nly near the end when Mr. Mitchell’s interest in the plot appears to waver does “Legally Blonde” drift into lengthy tangents. Some of these such as a ridiculous dance break led by rfeh and the delightful Andy Karl (as her paramour a UPS delivery man) are more inspired than others among them a protracted song about “gaydar” that isn’t quite funny enough to offset its tastelessness. That sequence doesn’t show Mr. Benjamin at their finest but several other songs blend tart lyrics with pleasing radio-friendly melodies. Michael Rupert has an enjoyable solo as a ruthless law professor and there’s that opening number of course.
Fusion Dance’s “Surfacing” at Lawrence Family Jewish…
SanDiego.com – Apr 30, 2007
n most weekends there is sure to be a performance by one of the handful of recognizable companies around the city attended by a handful of recognizable faces. The list of choreographers reads like a faculty guide or recent alum catalog of the area’s universities. So when a new company premieres its work curiosity is piqued. n Friday night Fusion Dance premiered its first full-evening concert in San Diego since its co-directors Katie McIver and Kevin Hermann set up shop here over a year ago… McIver’s work "Figures of Four" which was previously shown at the Emerge Festival was a quieter and gentler piece that featured stunning mandolin music by Chris Thiele. The adagio nature of the work highlighted the discrepancies of the dancers’ styles and abilities and featured some awkward balances. The ensemble in general seemed much more comfortable with the break-neck speed sections of the evening than the slow sustained parts. The movement interacted well with the score but didn’t quite build in the same way that the music did and instead kept the pacing relatively even throughout. The evening ended with "Sabor a Mi" a Latin-influenced work by another University of Arizona dance professor Susan Quinn Williams. After beginning the evening with a strong work that was an impressive fusion of jazz technique and modern movement the performance closed with one that was more traditionally jazz and therefore less innovative and less satisfying. The Latin flavored elements from the costumes to the arm gestures were a bit clichéd and formulaic.
Mellowand intense vibes at Mas Camp
Jamaica Gleaner – Apr 30, 2007
It was billed as ‘Girls Town’ and sure enough the ladies turned out many of them on heels that looked too thin for their heft at rest much less dancing. But dance many of them did the men enjoying the action through body or eye contact. n the downside of midnight it was a mellow mood with the Captain Colin Hines Beres Hammond crooning “she loves me now” and chuckling over the man ’standing in my way’. Papa San had a double in Style a Style and I Will Survive Pocomania Day getting its ‘tun yu roll’ dues. Hines played the songs at some length to keep a steady pace and there were yelps as he took Lovindeer’s revival down to bring up a jolt of Marcia Griffiths with Electric Boogie. Many remembered the methodical step dance… Hines played the songs at some length to keep a steady pace and there were yelps as he took Lovindeer’s revival down to bring up a jolt of Marcia Griffiths with Electric Boogie. Many remembered the methodical step dance. Uptempo groove”Live and you learn!” one woman yelled on ‘Reggae Night’ before Jimmy Cliff infomed “live and you love” but no one was splitting ‘ls’ as the uptempo groove continued with Matthew Wilder’s Break My Stride. ne young lass in abbreviated blue jeans shorts gave the trademark crotch grab of the Gloved Wonder on Wanna Be Starting Something and Gloria Gaynor’s I Will Survive was met with screams from the inhabitants of Girls Town. There were cheers for the horns of Tiney Winey and old school soca hit nicely through All Night Party and the Dollar Wine the music briefly turning Mas Camp into the ‘Ringroad’ at the UWI. DJ Chrome took a different approach just past 1:00 a.
The Circuit – Blog on Variety.com – 1390000339 – 33359- 31
Variety (subscription) – Apr 30, 2007
” A tribute to the universal appeal of break-dancing (a. b-boying) the documentary follows five dance crews in their quest to become world champions. Teams from the New York area faced off against two from the film Las Vegas’ Knucklehead Zoo and South Korea’s Last For ne in a series of challenges billed as “The Battle for Tribeca.
Bobby Pickett
Telegraph.co.uk – Apr 30, 2007
Sound effects provided at little or no cost included the sound of a coffin opening (a rusty nail being pulled out of a board) and that of a cauldron bubbling (water being siphoned through a straw). The song did particularly well in America at Hallowe’en which was celebrated there on a much larger scale that it used to be in Britain; indeed it was acclaimed as the biggest Hallowe’en song of all time. The song was inspired in part by an early 1960s dance craze called The Mashed Potato. It had a refrain that for all the irritating banality of the lyrics ran to a tune that was catchy enough immediately to plant itself in the memory of most of those who heard it: He did the mash (He did the monster mash) The monster mash (It was a graveyard smash) Pickett also threw in an impression of another horror actor Bela Lugosi as Dracula with the line: “What ever happened to my Transylvania Twist?” Robert George Pickett was born on February 11 1938 at Somerville Massachusetts. Because his father ran a cinema there young Bobby was raised on films about Dracula and Frankenstein and developed the impression of the actor Boris Karloff that earned him his nickname. As a young man he moved west to California hoping to break into Hollywood as a film actor. He found work on television commercials was offered the occasional bit part and joined a doo-wop singing group called The Cordials led by his writing partner-to-be Leonard Capizzi… It had a refrain that for all the irritating banality of the lyrics ran to a tune that was catchy enough immediately to plant itself in the memory of most of those who heard it: He did the mash (He did the monster mash) The monster mash (It was a graveyard smash) Pickett also threw in an impression of another horror actor Bela Lugosi as Dracula with the line: “What ever happened to my Transylvania Twist?” Robert George Pickett was born on February 11 1938 at Somerville Massachusetts. Because his father ran a cinema there young Bobby was raised on films about Dracula and Frankenstein and developed the impression of the actor Boris Karloff that earned him his nickname. As a young man he moved west to California hoping to break into Hollywood as a film actor. He found work on television commercials was offered the occasional bit part and joined a doo-wop singing group called The Cordials led by his writing partner-to-be Leonard Capizzi. His Monster Mash has been a perennial favourite at least in America for more than 40 years having been re-released twice and remaining a staple on golden oldies radio. The song has been covered by artists ranging from the British ska band Bad Manners to the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band and the punk group The Misfits. Pickett starred in a film musical Monster Mash: The Movie (1995).
Ne-Yo finds success as hit singer songwriter
Seattle Times – Apr 30, 2007
“People just forgot what it was supposed to be what it was supposed to feel like the essence of what it is” he says forcefully. “It’s a vibe it’s a feeling — it’s supposed to make you feel something as opposed to ‘Let me go eeh-eeh-eeh-eeh-eeh and put a beat behind it and see if people will dance to it. There’s more to it than that. Given that the singer is just 26 has only one album to his credit and just released that last year his pronouncements about what R&B should be may come across as a bit presumptuous. But when you consider that that one album “In My wn Words” became a platinum success with huge hits like “So Sick” and that he’s written or co-written two of the bigger hits of last year Rihanna’s “Unfaithful” and Beyonce’s ubiquitous “Irreplaceable” — you realize that not only is Ne-Yo qualified to make such a diagnosis but that he may be the one who can provide the cure… “I’ve never wanted to do anything else but sing and music music music music. But just a few years ago his experience with the industry left him so shaken he considered giving it up entirely. While Ne-Yo is now signed to Def Jam he got his first break at Columbia Records and had finished his debut album for the label when he started butting heads with execs over the direction of it: “I started rebelling. So they ended up shelving me for two years.