Video: “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter” trailer
Check out the newly released trailer for the anticipated sci-fi adventure “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter,” adapted from the popular novel by Seth Grahame-Smith.
Directed by Timur Bekmambetov (“Wanted”), the movie stars Benjamin Walker, Dominic Cooper, Rufus Sewell, Anthony Mackie and Mary Elizabeth Winstead.
The movie opens in theaters June 22.
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Thompson Square’s “Glass” video to premiere Tuesday, Valentine’s Day
Stoney Creek Records duo Thompson Square, which includes Miami, OK, native Keifer Thompson, burst onto the country music scene one year ago last week with its self-titled debut album, which has so far garnered a plethora of accolades, including 2011’s No. 1 Most Played Country Song, “Are You Gonna Kiss Me Or Not,” the follow-up Top 10 hit, “I Got You,” three 2011 American Country Awards and two 2012 Grammy nominations.
Now, the husband/wife duo of Keifer and Shawna Thompson return to country radio with its new single, “Glass,” a powerful, romantic ballad that The Washington Post hailed as a “poignant meditation on human vulnerability.”
On Tuesday, which is Valentine’s Day, CMT will exclusively world premiere the music video for, “Glass,” as part of a behind-the-scenes network special, “CMT Premieres: Thompson Square – Glass” at 8 a.m., with a re-air following at 9:45 a.m. Check out the video preview above.
The video also will air across CMT’s multiple properties including CMT.com, CMT Pure, CMT Mobile and the CMT Insider App.
Directed by Roman White in classic black and white cinematography, the artfully emotional video is a fitting tribute to couples everywhere this Valentine’s Day, from one of country music’s most celebrated new couples. The single, “Glass,” is available now on iTunes.
“CMT Premieres: Thompson Square – Glass” air dates/ times:
Tues. Feb. 14
8 a.m. and 9:45 a.m.
Wed. Feb. 15
7 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.
Thurs. Feb. 16
12:30 p.m. (immediately following CMT Top 20 Countdown)
Country music’s breakout act of 2011, Thompson Square pounded the pavement for 15 years in the music industry before landing a record deal with Benny Brown’s small independent label Stoney Creek Records (sister label to indie Broken Bow Records and home to Jason Aldean).
In only 12 months, Thompson Square has seen the release of its first album debut at No. 3 on the Billboard Country Sales Chart and its Platinum-plus selling single, “Are You Gonna Kiss Me Or Not,” reach No. 1 on both the Billboard and Mediabase Country radio charts, conquer the Billboard Heat Seekers Chart, spend 5 weeks at No. 1 on the Country Digital Soundscan Chart and remain the No. 1 Country Ringtone for 12 weeks straight.
Thompson Square ended 2011 as the “New Country Artist of the Year” (Mediabase) as well as Billboard’s #1 New Country Artist of 2011, in terms of sales. The duo also ranked as Billboard’s No. 6 New Artist of 2011 (sales – all genres).
“Are You Gonna Kiss Me Or Not,” was the “Most Played Song of the Year” at Country Radio (Mediabase 2011), was named iTunes’ “Country Single of 2011” and earned 2012 Grammy nominations for both Best Country Song and Best Country Duo/ Group Performance of the Year.
In December, Thompson Square returned home for the holidays as the second-most awarded act at Fox’s second annualAmerican Country Awards, winning the fan-voted trophies for Single of the Year by a Group; Single of the Year by a New Artist; Music Video of the Year by a New Artist (“Are You Gonna Kiss Me Or Not”).
In 2011, Thompson Square was named one of USA Today’s “Six Pack of Success” stories, was heralded as USA Weekend’s “Who’s Hot in Hollywood,” peaked at No. 3 on MTV’s Music Meter (all genres) and landed on Entertainment Weekly’s “Hot List.”
In their short time on the scene, Thompson Square has performed on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” “Conan,” “Fox & Friends,” NBC’s “The Better Show” and Fox’s Summer Concert Series, as well as been featured in USA Weekend, Entertainment Weekly, People Country, the Associated Press, MSN Wonderwall, Country Weekly, Southwest Spirit Magazine, USA Today, The Washington Post and Billboard.
Additionally, the 2011 American Music Award nominee for New Artist of the Year is also the only duo to reach No. 1 on CMT’s Top 50 Artist Chart in 2011. Last year also found Thompson Square nominated for multiple Country Music Association and CMT Awards as well as playing to more than 1 million fans, many as part of Jason Aldean’s “My Kind of Party Tour.”
Currently nominated for, “Vocal Duo of the Year,” at the 2012 Academy of Country Music Awards, Thompson Square will criss-cross the U.S. in 2012 as part of Lady Antebellum’s “Own The Night World Tour.” The tour will play April 7 at the Lloyd Noble Center in Norman.
For more information, go to www.thompsonsquare.com or www.lloydnoblecenter.com.
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Jack White to play Cain’s Ballroom in Tulsa on March 15; tickets on sale Friday
Jack White (AP file)
Former White Stripes guitarist/singer Jack White will play March 15 at historic Cain’s Ballroom in Tulsa, the venue announced today.
Tickets will go on sale at noon Friday. Prices are set at $38 and $49. There will be a limit of four tickets per person.
For more information, go to www.cainsballroom.com.
White founded The Stripes in Detroit in 1997 with his then-wife, drummer Meg White, and in February 2011, the influential duo announced they had decided to part ways. Jack White has formed several other music projects over the years, including The Dead Weather and The Raconteurs. He also produced Loretta Lynn’s 2004 album “Van Lear Rose” and Oklahoma native Wanda Jackson’s 2011 album “The Party Ain’t Over.”
He recently announced that he will release his debut solo album “Blunderbuss” in April on own label, Third Man Records. “Love Interrruption,” the first single, has already been released:
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Video: St. Vincent to appear on “Gossip Girl” tonight
Tulsa-born singer/songwriter/guitarist St. Vincent will appear on tonight’s Valentine’s Day-theme episode of the teen drama series “Gossip Girl.” The show airs at 7 p.m. on the CW.
St. Vincent will perform her song “Cruel,” from her 2011 album “Strange Mercy.”
Check out this clip of the performance. On Facebook, St. Vincent says “They don’t show when I smash my guitar on the bar, but pretty sure they will tonight….” Please let this not be sarcasm.
If you want to see St. Vincent play in person, she will perform in concert May 15 at Cain’s Ballroom. For more information, go to www.cainsballroom.com.
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Video: Ryan Merriman to guest star on tonight’s “Hawaii Five-0″
Choctaw-born and bred actor Ryan Merriman will appear as a guest star on tonight’s episode of the CBS series “Hawaii Five-0.”
He will play a character named Dennis Mack in the episode titled “I Helu Pu,” which is Hawaiian for “The Reckoning.”
Here is the episode description:
When Five-0 nearly causes an international incident while on a case, Lt. Governor Denning tells them one of the team members will pay for it with their job.
“Hawaii Five-0,” starring Alex O’Loughlin, Scott Caan, Daniel Dae Kim and Grace Park, airs at 9 p.m. Mondays on CBS (KWTV-9).
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Glen Campbell to receive Lifetime Achievement Award, perform with Blake Shelton and Band Perry at tonight’s Grammys
Glen Campbell, left, and Kim Woollen arrive at the MusiCares Person of the Year gala honoring Paul McCartney on Friday in Los Angeles. (AP Photo)
Several Lifetime Achievement Award recipients are named each year by the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, and country-pop crossover star Glen Campbell will be one of them when the 54th annual Grammy Awards air live at 7 tonight from Los Angeles’ Staples Center on CBS.
Follow my live blog of the Grammys tonight here at BAM’s Blog.
Now on a farewell concert tour as he deals with the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease, Campbell is part of an impressive Lifetime Achievement class that also includes fellow country star George Jones as well as Diana Ross, the Allman Brothers Band, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Gil Scott-Heron and the Memphis Horns, according to the Associated Press.
“It tickles me,” Campbell said to the AP of his latest Grammy honor, after winning two for “Gentle on My Mind” and another two for “By the Time I Get to Phoenix” — all in 1967. “They’ve really been nice to me throughout my career. I just think you do your job, and you try to do it the best you can and try to think up some new things. That’s really what I’ve done.”
Campbell is set to perform on tonight’s show with Oklahoma country music star Blake Shelton and standout sibling trio The Band Perry.
“I guess when you get old enough, they lay all those accolades on you,” Campbell told the AP.
A member of the Country Music Hall of Fame, Campbell announced in 2011 that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and released his swan song album, “Ghost on the Canvas.” Before he was the “Rhinestone Cowboy” hitmaker, Campbell was part of The Wrecking Crew, a group of top-notch session players who performed on myriad albums in the 1960s.
As part of The Wrecking Crew, Campbell played on Frank Sinatra’s “Strangers in the Night,” the Righteous Brothers’ “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’,” the Monkees’ “Last Train to Clarksville” and many other hits across multiple genres.
In the late ’60s and early ’70s, Campbell became a huge and influential country music star, and his country-pop sound helped usher the format into the mainstream. Several of his biggest hits in that era, including “By the Time I Get to Phoenix,” “Wichita Lineman” and “Galveston,” came from the pen of songwriting star and Elk City native Jimmy Webb.
Regarding a song he agreed to do as a favor once, Campbell told the AP, “I don’t remember which one it was, but it wasn’t one that I really dug. From then on, I did songs I liked, and I sang them like I’d want to hear them. I’ve really been blessed to get songs from guys like Jimmy Webb.”
Campbell also made marks in television (“The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour”) and movies (the original “True Grit”). In the AP interview, he deems country music’s current state “great. I don’t know if I’d call it ‘country rock’ or ‘crock’ or what, but if you put a song out there, people know whether it’s good or not. That’s the way I always did it.
Shelton, who is nominated for two Grammys on Sunday night’s show, and Webb, a past Grammy winner, performed “Wichita Lineman” in 2007 during the Oklahoma Centennial Spectacular concert.
It will be interesting to see if Blake will reprise this performance tonight with Campbell and The Band Perry:
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Video: Adele previews Grammy Awards performance for Anderson Cooper
Current Grammy nominee Adele will make her much-anticipated return to live performances on Sunday’s 54th Annual Grammy Awards. Poised to become of the biggest Grammy moments in recent memory, it will be her first time performing live anywhere in nearly five months since being forced to cancel a sold-out U.S. tour to undergo surgery on her vocal cords.
Hosted by two-time Grammy winner and “NCIS: Los Angeles” star LL Cool J, the Grammy Awards take place live from 7 to 10:30 p.m. Sunday at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The show will air live on the CBS Television Network.
Look for my live blog of the show here on BAM’s Blog Sunday night.
“I’m immensely proud to have been asked to perform at this year’s Grammy Awards,” said Adele in the announcement. “It’s an absolute honor to be included in such a night and for it to be my first performance in months is very exciting and of course nerve-racking, but what a way to get back into it all.”
Two-time Grammy winner Adele has six nominations: Record Of The Year, Song Of The Year and Best Short Form Music Video for “Rolling In The Deep”; Album Of The Year and Best Pop Vocal Album for “21″; and Best Pop Solo Performance for “Someone Like You.”
Adele recently sat down for an interview with Anderson Cooper, and in her first public performance since the surgery, she sang “Rolling in the Deep” for him. The performance was first broadcast Friday on “CBS This Morning.”
Cooper’s interview with Adele will air during “60 Minutes” at 6 p.m. Sunday on CBS.
Other performers set up for Sunday night’s Grammys include the reunited Beach Boys with Foster The People and Maroon 5, The Civil Wars, Diana Krall, Maceo Parker, Joe Walsh, Jason Aldean and Kelly Clarkson, Tony Bennett and Checotah native Carrie Underwood, Chris Brown, Glen Campbell with The Band Perry and Tishomingo resident Blake Shelton, Coldplay and Rihanna, deadmau5, Foo Fighters, David Guetta, Alicia Keys and Bonnie Raitt, Lil Wayne, Bruno Mars, Paul McCartney, Nicki Minaj, Katy Perry, Bruce Springsteen And The E Street Band, and Taylor Swift.
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Video: Reduxion Theatre Company offering a special Valentine’s Day package for tonight’s performance of Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing”
In honor of Valentine’s Day, Reduxion Theatre Company’s is offering a romantic “Couple’s Package” for its performance tonight of William Shakespeare’s beloved comedy “Much Ado About Nothing” at its Broadway Theater, 1613 N Broadway Ave.
The package includes preshow champagne and couple’s cupcakes at intermission.
Check out these NewsOK videos of the company talking about and performing selections from the play.
“We want to offer couples a fun and romantic alternative or addition to their Valentine’s plans on this romantic weekend,” said Managing Director Erin Woods in a news release. “An entertaining evening of live theatre provides a memorable, romantic experience.”
Reduxion opened its new staging of “Much Ado About Nothing” Thursday night, and performances continue at 8 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. through Feb. 25. A special Sunday matinee will be staged at 2 p.m. Feb. 19.
Billed as Oklahoma City’s fastest-growing theater company, Reduxion received much attention and positive reviews in 2011 with the opening of their intimate new venue, the Broadway Theater. Critically acclaimed productions of Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and “Hamlet” and the American classic “Hair, the American Tribal Love-Rock Musical,” drew more than 2,000 fans to the Broadway Theater, near Automobile Alley and downtown.
“We love romantic stories and audiences love seeing them,” said Tyler Woods, Reduxion Artistic Director and “Much Ado About Nothing” director, in the release. “We push boundaries and challenge people on an emotional level, and we hope to make a name for ourselves as producers of plays that people enjoy sharing with a loved one.”
This season, Reduxion gets back to its roots by revisiting some of their first productions as a company. The company continues its successful, “Original Sins” season with the romantic comedy “Much Ado About Nothing” by Shakespeare, which was the first show independently produced by Woods in 2000. Woods directs this hilarious, touching and fast-paced romance with the same love and care he gave the first time around, on the show that started it all!
“Although we are considered a young company, this journey has taken many years,” said Woods. “From that first independent production in 2000, to this season, our fourth residential season in Oklahoma City, and the second year in our own performance venue – we must honor our growth and the support of the Oklahoma City community in fostering our development for over a decade.”
His version of “Much Ado About Nothing” is set in the swinging 1960s in Sicily.
For more information, go to www.reduxiontheatre.com.
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Video: “The Bourne Legacy” trailer
The first trailer for the upcoming sequel “The Bourne Legacy” has debuted, and it looks very promising.
If you’re going to continue the Bourne franchise without Matt Damon, I can’t imagine a much better situation than carrying on with two-time Oscar nominee Jeremy Renner, two-time Oscar nominee Edward Norton and Oscar winner Rachel Weisz.
Plus, Joan Allen, Albert Finney, David Strathairn and Scott Glenn are all back for the fourth film in the series.
“The Bourne Legacy” is due in theaters Aug. 3.
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Billy Connolly joins “The Hobbit” cast
Billy Connolly (AP file)
Scottish actor Billy Connolly (“The Last Samurai,” “Boondock Saints”) is rounding out the cast of Peter Jackson’s two-part adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit.”
In the films, Connolly will play Dain Ironfoot, a great dwarf warrior and cousin of dwarf leader Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage), according to The Hollywood Reporter.
“We could not think of a more fitting actor to play Dain Ironfoot, the staunchest and toughest of Dwarves, than Billy Connelly, the Big Yin himself,” Jackson said in a statement to THR. “With Billy stepping into this role, the cast of The Hobbit is now complete. We can’t wait to see him on the Battlefield!”
The first film, “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” will hit theaters Dec. 14. The second film, “The Hobbit: There and Back Again,” will follow on December 13, 2013.
The 3-D “Hobbit” films are prequels to Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, which won a combined 17 Oscars around the turn of the 21st century.
Along with Connolly, “The Hobbit” films will star Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage, Mikael Persbrandt, Stephen Fry and Chickasha-born actor Lee Pace.
In addition, “LOTR” alums Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Ian Holm, Christopher Lee, Hugo Weaving, Cate Blanchett, Andy Serkis and Orlando Bloom will reprise their roles in the prequels.
Check out the trailer:
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