Category: Music

Can You “Sing” Me a Fortune? A Movie Review

Illumination Entertainment’s Sing is their latest animated work and it is so far not making the charts.

sing

By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

Illumination Entertainment has not had a massive hit outside of the Despicable Me franchise. The Secret Life of Pets (now available on Amazon) was kind of fun, but a lot of the good parts was given away in the trailer. Sing is their latest and it is so far not making the charts. While there’s a lengthy story to bring the lives of five anthropomorphic animals together to win a contest, there was not a lot of plot short of turning this film into the animated equivalent of Glee.

This film is more like a celebration of all those television shows that follow the America’s Got Talent mold, but this time it includes a bit of back story about the lives of the top five talents. Had this film been a television show, more drama could have been added and the lives could have been better explored.

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Wind Up Geek’s J-Music Quick Fix – November 28, 2016

lazygunBy James Robert Shaw (The Wind up Geek)

Glay – Takuro

Glay’s lead guitarist Takuro has released a short version of his music video “Guess Who”, a track off his first upcoming solo album Journey without a Map (to be released December 14, 2016). The album contains 11 tracks that is jazz and blues based and is produced by Takahiro Matsumoto, Grammy Award winning artist and member of rock duo B’z. Matsumoto won the Grammy with Larry Carlton in 2011 for best Pop Instrumental Album Take Your Pick. Fans can purchase the CD at a cost of ￥2,500 plus tax or buy the CD/DVD package which will contain the full version of “Guess Who”, a making of, and two documentary films for ￥4,000. Takuro will be supporting his first solo album with a 15 performance tour of Japan starting in February, 2017.

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Wind Up Geek’s J-Music Quick Fix – October 3, 2016

shonenBy James Robert Shaw (The Wind up Geek)

Bradio

Bradio will be performing live with France‘s 80’s group Les Innocents in a concert titled “Music Exchange Concert France-Japan ～BRADIO meets Les Innocents～”. The event will be live streamed through VIDEO Clipper. The VIDEO Clipper app is only available for the iPhone. Streaming will begin October 4th at 5pm (17:00) JST. Bradio’s live will begin at around 8:20pm (20:20) JST.

About VIDEO Clipper
https://clipper.events/

App Store　VIDEO Clipper Download
https://itunes.apple.com/jp/app/video-clipper-maruchianguruderaibu/id1053782735?mt=8

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuC8ftw20bA&w=560&h=315%5D
 

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Traditional Japanese Group Covers Track from GNR’s ‘Appetite for Destruction’

SMER_CD_BLH14By James Robert Shaw
(The Wind up Geek)

They have yet to go viral on YouTube with this recording but Japan‘s Bamboo Flute Orchestra has received over 840,000 views on Facebook thanks in part to Guns N’ Roses, the NHK, and the Rock vs. Metal Facebook page (stylized Rock \m/ Metal). Bamboo Flute Orchestra which contains members Yoshimi Tsujimoto, Erina Ito, and Yuko Watanabe are taking the Internet by storm. Like the Yoshida Brothers before them they are introducing traditional Japanese music to a wider audience. With their first album Shakuhachi (released on September 28, 2016), they create a fusion by performing pop and rock tunes with traditional instruments. Some of the songs covered by the Bamboo Flute Orchestra are Michael Jackson‘s “Smooth Criminal”, Avicii‘s “Wake Me Up”, and Taylor Swift‘s “Shake It Off”.

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Takei’s Powerful Broadway Musical ‘Allegiance’ to Make Silver Screen Debut

allegiancecastBy James Robert Shaw (The Wind up Geek)

If you missed George Takei’s Allegiance, the first Broadway musical written by Asian-Americans, about Asian-Americans and starring Asian Americans, get ready for a single night’s performance on December 13th. This time you won’t need a seat in New York City’s Longacre Theatre where it ran from late 2015 to early 2016, only a ticket to the cinema. The play written by Jay Kuo and Lorenzo Thione was inspired by Takei’s experience as a boy in a Japanese-American internment camp during Word War II and will move from the stage to silver screen. Movie audiences will be treated to an exclusive introduction by Allegiance‘s star George Takei as well as some behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with the cast and creators. The play also stars Olivier and Tony award-winning actress Lea Salonga (Miss Saigon), Telly Leung (RENT) and opera baritone Christòpheren Nomura.

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[Victoria Fringe Festival ’16] SMUS Shakes it Up with Disney’s Camp Rock!

CAMP-ROCK_4CNOTE: Reblogged from Two Hungry Blokes & written by Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

LOCATION:
St. Michaels
University School
3400 Richmond Road
Saanich, BC

SHOWTIMES:
Fri Aug. 26 – 7pm
Sat Aug. 27 – 2pm
Sat Aug. 27 – 7pm

Sometimes it’s tough to decide on what to take on as the first Victoria Fringe Festival presentation for the 2016 season. This year, the decision was a no-brainer and I had to see the results of what St. Michaels University School (SMUS) Summer Musical Theatre program produced. The folks involved always deliver a quality educational curriculum to teach the next rising stars the basics while having fun at the same time. On opening night, they put on the musical version of Disney’s Camp Rock.

This show highlights the musical stylings of bands like The Jonas Brothers and the modern sounds of the past decade. Like ’em or not, those who grew up to these tunes had a rollicking time with this production. James Shaw admits to not being fond of today’s music whereas I’m open; at least I keep up when he can not, thus making me the ideal candidate to look at this production. His limitations in what he likes to talk about make for better opportunities for me to talk about my fondness for modern Disney.

Opening night was not without a few chuckle-worthy moments, gaffes included; the group was able to roll with it and continue on. They also helped each other out on stage when lines were forgotten and I believe that’s the heart of what this program extols than to provide a higher calibre show other local professional theatre schools like Canadian College of Performing Arts works on. I’ve seen their production of Little Shop of Horrors years ago, and that was a memorable show to which I grinned like a Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland when rubber bands were shot towards audiences!

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