My interview with Beverly McClellan, a Season 1 finalist for “The Voice,” is up at Yahoo!TV. Ms. Beverly is quite a character, and was bursting with great quotes — as I was transcribing the interview, I noticed I spent more time laughing than asking questions. Please check out the interview here, as well as one I did with semi-finalist Casey Weston.
If I seem to be stalking former contestants for the show, there’s a reason: I am covering “The Voice” for Yahoo!TV and wholeheartedly admit to being a huge fan of the show, which is much more surprising if you know I am a music snob and normally loathe music contests — I personally hold “American Idol” and Simon Cowell responsible for a great deal of the downfall of good music in general.
This is going to sound crazy, but “The Voice” is one of the things that have recently made me really re-discover my love of music, after serious burnout covering the music industry for several years. I highly recommend you check out the archives of Season 1 before season 2 launches after the Super Bowl. Click here for the Season 1 archives at NBC.com.
I got to sit down and chat via phone with one my favorite contestants from Season 1 of “The Voice” and the interview is posted now here.
Casey was somehow passed over on the initial auditions, which was definitely a mistake. Her rendition of Keith Urban’s “Stupid Boy” earned a her a chance to move on, going all the way to the semi-finals. One of the highlights was her battle duet singing “Leather and Lace” — there was no denying the comparisons to Stevie Nicks, herself.
Casey Weston epitomizes the girl next door, and with her country-influenced musical roots — and her affinity for writing her own songs — one could start making comparisons to that other country-girl-next-door sensation. You know…what’s-her-name? But Weston’s rise to fame is going a bit slower, despite a huge boost as one of the eight semi-finalists on the inaugural season of “The Voice.”
I was thinking I was having trouble getting motivated to write during the Yahoo holiday because I’m spoiled by almost instant approval and pay, plus some extra hours I picked up at the day job…but I’m realizing as I sit down tonight working on my interview with The Voice finalist Beverley McClellan, who I interviewed only a couple of days before my phone interview with Grammy nominee Linda Chorney, that talking to two such extraordinary women artists who have carved their own path for so long (aged 42 and 51 respectively) and gone through the adversity of sticking it out as artists without compromising themselves…has completely blown a fuse. Serious overload. In a good way, but…overload. But I’ve flipped the breaker switch and getting back on track now, albeit a bit slowly.
It’s also got me thinking a lot about the importance of the “Hail Mary,” as both sort of did their own versions of them, with last ditch efforts that paid off. I think there is definitely a story in there beyond an interview with one or the other, but about being women who have sacrificed any kind of conventional life to live as an artist, and not giving in to that pressure we all get – but especially women – to settle down and raise a family and give up our “silly dreams.” The key phrase in that sentence being “give up.”
Luckily, for those of us of a certain age, my independent poll conducted that week of exactly three women over 40 shows that 3 out of 3 of those women really don’t give a shit what other people think. The one good thing about getting old.
And speaking of extraordinary women artists of a certain age:
I’m now a featured contributor for the movie section at Yahoo! Voices and will be linking to them on this blog, as those are content created exclusively for Yahoo! Contributor Network. Here’s a quick rundown of titles so far (CLICK ON THE TITLES FOR THE FULL REVIEW):
Rock ‘n’ roll in the movies has run the gamut from (supposedly) true biopics like “The Doors” to (supposedly) fictionalized firsthand accounts such as “Almost Famous” to the gritty documentary “A Detroit Thing” documenting the rise of Kid Rock and the rival Detroit band, The Howling Diablos, that was left behind.
“Killing Bono” has a little bit of all of them at its core, but especially the latter. Despite similar plot lines to the painfully poignant Kid Rock/Howling Diablos documentary — seeing one band or person launch into fame and fortune while watching the other guys they grew up with come so close yet miss their big break and superstardom — “Killing Bono” is a much lighter movie and not so difficult to watch.
“Killing Bono” is based on the true story of Neil McCormick (Ben Barnes), who grew up in Dublin wanting to be a rock star, much like one of his destined-to-be-famous classmates, Paul Hewson. C’mon, you know him, right? OK, OK … maybe you know him better as Bono.
The only thing more complex than watching Lars von Trier’s “Melancholia” is reviewing it. I sat down to write this review with absolutely no idea what to say, or even what I felt after this movie, but this is what I can tell you. “Melancholia” is not the kind of movie you go see for mindless action. Or horror. Or humor. Or suspense.
Honestly, I don’t know what on earth you go to this movie for. In fact, the genres cited seem somewhat trivial to something so multi-layered and weighty. Which, I think, might sort of be its point: the triviality of, well, everything.
Don’t get me wrong, as a hardcore horror buff since my preschool days, I understand the need for violence and gore at times. Hey, it’s horror, people. It’s not supposed to be pretty (unless you’re Dario Argento). But in a time when the bar has been so continuously raised for more blood! more gore! more violence!, are we finally reaching our limits?
Brace yourself for the mad hordes descending on malls everywhere in a few days at the stroke of midnight. Expect a deadly stampede as the doors open to the most anticipated day in November, at least if you’re pre-pubescent or simply have no taste in men.
I’m not talking about Black Friday, silly, but “Twilight” Thursday.
If things look a little weird here for a few days, and seem to change every 60 seconds or so, it’s because I am actively revamping this blog to make it my main landing page for my website. As I’m no wordpress expert and doing this myself, it’s just a bit of a trial-and-error process (more error.) But on the good side, that means once I get the redesign done, I will be updating regularly, rather than letting this sit here and collect dust.
It’s no secret I LOVE vintage looks, and one of my favorite eras is the 20s – especially the French postcard look. I collect antique postcards, and would love to do it the old fashioned way with an 8X10 camera, but alas, I have to settle for Photoshop for now. This is a custom Photoshop effect I do, and not an “action” I got from someone else.
This was one shoot I did at a large photography/model group gathering in Detroit at the Leland Hotel – a fabulously decaying old hotel that is still in business, and normally has this section of the building closed off to regular guests. But they always give these photography meetup groups free reign, god bless ’em. Simple one light setup for natural vignetting. I had a hard time deciding between the sepia tone, and the color, as the monochromatic set really made that red dress pop!
Las Vegas is one of the cities I am considering making my new home, so spent some quality time there before coming on assignment in Farmington, NM. Here’s some neon sign and Fremont Street shots for a little taste of the Vegas nightlife:
Is it just me, or is this band the heir apparent to AC/DC? I have to admit when I saw the over-the-top, rock-star-posturing photos, I almost thought this was a parody. Ah sure, they sound an awful lot like Brian Johnson-era AC/DC, but hey, most of AC/DC’s songs sound a lot alike too, and we don’t mind because they kick ass, and it looks like these guys do, too.
I wanna party with these guys. For real.
I have a feeling Airbourne is a band one needs to see live.
Lighting on this one was tough – very low and super saturated color. Of course, that makes it tougher, but more…atmospheric, right? At least that’s how I console myself with tough lighting conditions.
I’m especially fond of this one for some reason – I like the highlight in the glasses, and the flag reflection with the stripes in his jacket. Plus it’s dark and moody compared to some of the super bright shots I get of bands.
, but hey, most of AC/DC’s songs sound a lot alike too, and we don’t mind because they kick ass, and it looks like these guys do, too.
is a band one needs to see live.
