Bruce Springsteen's one-man Broadway show, an impactful and Tony-Award winning hybrid of storytelling and song, lasted for close to 18 months at New York City's legendary Walter Kerr Theater. Why all this hype for what was essentially a 69-year-old rock artist telling his life story on-stage with just the assistance of guitar and piano? Because, Springsteen is the epitome of a masterful storyteller, if there ever was one — he knows how to grab your attention with words alone. After all, he’s been doing it in song and on-stage for more than 50 years now. It’s almost become a caricature to think of him as anything but a songwriting troubadour, a man of the people, who could grab the attention of 80,000 fans in a stadium with soaring anthems. And sometimes he manages to tell a story about his life experiences to a captivated audience.
Read moreLuca Guadagnino Working on Film Adaptation of Bob Dylan's "Blood on the Tracks"
In a recent New Yorker interview with director Luca Guadagnino ("Call Me by Your Name"), it was revealed that a film adaptation of Bob Dylan’s 1975 album "Blood on the Tracks" is being worked on, with Guadagnino set to direct and Richard LaGravenese writing the screenplay. Digging up for more information I stumbled upon a source telling SPIN that the film will tell “a multiyear story, set in the seventies, that [LaGravenese] and Guadagnino had invented, drawing on the album’s central themes.” LaGravenese tells the New Yorker about the characters: “When they’re repressing, we dramatize the repression, and what that does to them. And we dramatize what happens when you let your passions take over too much.”
It looks like they're going for a "I'm Not There" type of narrative. A risky endeavor, if you ask me, but well worth a shot. "Blood on the Tracks" is an incredible work of art.
Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper's 'A Star Is Born' Soundtrack Debuts at No. 1
One of the positives of "A Star is Born" is, no doubt, the top-notch soundtrack and the fact that songs with actual instrumentation (good ol' bass, drum, piano and guitar) are back at the top of the Billboard charts since God knows how long.
It is no surprise then that Gaga-mania mixed with word of mouth for the film has made the film's soundtrack sell more than 231,000 copies in the week ending Oct. 11, according to Nielsen Music -- according to Billboard that's "the biggest week for a soundtrack in more than three-and-a-half years. Of Star’s overall starting sum, 162,000 were in album sales."
'A Star Is Born' and 'Bohemian Rhapsody' Submitted as Dramas NOT Musicals for Golden Globes Consideration
Warner Bros.’ "A Star is Born" is, by all accounts, a musically-driven film that, truth be told, belongs in the "musical" category at the Golden Globes. Ditto 20th Century Fox’s by-the-books "Bohemian Rhapsody," which features an incredible performance from Rami Malek, the latter recounts the ups and downs of the band Queen.
So what's the deal with both films being submitted as dramas for the 2019 Golden Globe awards? Calculated strategy, of course. Especially when it comes to 'Star,' the Bradley Cooper-directed film is going to be a major player at the Globes and Oscars, Warner doesn't want it to be seen as a 'light' musically-driven picture, they want it to be seen as a meaty statement, which, of course, it isn't. It's a remake of a remake of a remake, which, by all accounts, pulls the same strings as its predecessors. Think of it as an updated, modern-day version of the 1974 Kris Kristofferson/Barbara Streisand version, which also takes place in the country music world. Cooper's version is slightly better, but not by all that much.
Anne Thompson broke this story yesterday and it's gotten pundits scratching their heads. But I don't really think there's much to be confused about here -- being relegated to the 'musical' category is a downgrade in terms of how your film may be perceived at the Oscars. There's a lot of fluff in that category, no need to be part of that crowd, especially when 'Star' has a shot at winning the Drama category.
Elton John Biopic "Rocket Man" Shoots For the Stars [Trailer]
I grew up listening to Elton John on a relentless basis. I didn't get to the classic albums ("Goodbye Yellow Brick Road," and "Honky Chateau") because there were just so many songs to catch up to before I could catch up to the records. He's had 19 top ten hits on the Billboard singles chart, and if you reach forward to top 40 the count is 57. That makes him the third most successful artist in the history of the American music, behind only Elvis Presley and the Beatles.
The greatest Elton John songs, as far as I'm concerned, are
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