Wednesday Video Spotlight: Elizabeth Banks hopes for peace for North Korea – and for her “30 Rock” character Avery Jessup to turn out to be an assassin
During a recent interview in Los Angeles for her new movie “Man on a Ledge,” Elizabeth Banks chatted a bit about her reaction to the death of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Il.
On the NBC sitcom “30 Rock,” Banks has played a recurring role as Avery Jessup, a conservative media personality who married network executive Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin). While on assignment for NBC’s “Hot Blondes In Weird Places” initiative, Avery traveled to North Korea, where she was captured by Kim Jong-Il. Despite Jack’s attempts to rescue her, she was married off to the dictator’s son and successor, Kim Jong-un.
The storyline must have struck a chord with “30 Rock” fans because when news of Kim Jong-Il’s death broke on Dec. 18, they took to Twitter to inquire about Avery’s fate. The sheer volume of tweets prompted Banks to take to the micro-blogging site herself to address the issue:
“Appreciate all the concern over Avery Jessup’s fate now that Kim Jong-Il has died. We’re at a pivotal moment in history,” she wrote @ElizabethBanks.
In January, “30 Rock” executive producer Robert Carlock told US Weekly that Kim Jong-Il’s death will eventually be addressed on the show, but not until later in the season.
During the interview, Banks expressed her own thoughts on North Korea’s and Avery’s future.
“Here’s how I feel about it. It’s kind of crazy. Like, my hope for North Korea, of course, is that they become a more tolerant society, that they stop nuclear proliferation, that they begin trade with the outside word – and that it is revealed that Avery Jessup was an assassin,” she said with a grin.
After you enjoy the clip of Banks as Avery Jessup, please click here to read the rest of my interview with the actress.
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Wednesday Video Spotlight: Flaming Lips and Nels Cline cover The Beatles at Oklahoma City’s New Year’s Eve Freakout #5
The word “epic” gets tossed around a lot these days, but I can’t just think of a more appropriate adjective to describe this 17-minute cover of The Beatles’ awesome blues-rocker “I Want You (She’s So Heavy),” which The Flaming Lips and Wilco guitarist Nels Cline performed during the Lips’ New Year’s Eve Freakout #5 at Oklahoma City’s Coca Cola Bricktown Events Center.
Thanks to George Salisbury and the visual geniuses at Delo Creative (including one-time BAM’s Blog contributors Nathan Poppe and Matt Carney) for sharing the video, since it absolutely made my day.
Besides the obvious musical value, Poppe promises that if you watch the entire 17-minute epic, you get to make a wish at the end. No wishing for more wishes ’cause that’s just copying me.
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Wednesday Video Spotlight: Tim Tebow sings with Brad Paisley
“Brad Paisley’s Virtual Reality World Tour 2012,” presented by Chevrolet, had another exciting weekend with three sold-out shows in Kansas City, Wichita, Kan., and Denver, Colo. Special guests on the tour are Country Music Association New Artist of the Year The Band Perry and 2011 “American Idol” winner Scotty McCreery.
During the show at the Pepsi Center in Denver Paisley invited Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow to the stage to help him out with the hilarious hit “Still A Guy.” The crowd went wild when their local hero stepped on stage and joined in with a few words of the song. Later that evening Paisley tweeted: “me and @TimTebow, probably not gonna be nominated for musical Duo of the year, but you never know”
It wasn’t Tebow’s first time to perform “Still A Guy” onstage with Paisley. The football star also sang along with the music star during a 2008 concert back when Tebow was a University of Florida Gator. Since my husband attended the U of F before graduating from Oklahoma State University, we’ve been Tebow fans since back in the day.
Read about how Tebow plays into my review of Tim McGraw’s long-awaited new album “Emotional Traffic” in the coming days.
After Saturday’s concert, Paisley, band and crew then headed to San Francisco to perform during the halftime of the NFC Championship game between the 49ers and New York Giants. Military personnel were treated to on-field access for the performance and the 49ers cheerleaders performed a dance routine during Paisley’s current single “Camouflage.”
The Virtual Reality Tour continues this week with shows in Boise, Idaho; Salt Lake City, Utah; and Las Vegas. So far, no Oklahoma dates have been announced on the tour.
Check out this photo of Tebow and Paisley, courtesy Ben Enos:
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Wednesday Video Spotlight: St. Vincent plays “Cheerleader” on “Conan”
Elvis Costello - Radio Radio, SNL, 1977 from jmannen77 on Vimeo.
St. Vincent, the Tulsa-born singer/songwriter/instrumentalist also known as Annie Clark, appeared on “Conan” Monday. She performed the song “Cheerleader” from her 2011 album “Strange Mercy,” which made my all-Oklahomans top 10 albums list from the past year.
Before playing the song, St. Vincent paid tribute to Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Elvis Costello, who in his 1977 performance on “Saturday Night Live” played a snippet of “Less Than Zero” before stopping his band, the Attractions, and then delving into “Radio, Radio.”
On Monday, St. Vincent played a bit of “Radio, Radio” before starting into “Cheerleader.”
St. Vincent is among the star-studded lineup for this year’s prestigious Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, Calif. St. Vincent will play April 14 and 21, the two Saturdays of the event.
Stillwater orchestral pop-rockers Other Lives also are on the Coachella slate; they are playing the two Fridays, April 13 and 20.
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Wednesday Video Spotlight: Ronnie Dunn “Let the Cowboy Rock”
Country music star and former Tulsan Ronnie Dunn has released the video for his song, “Let the Cowboy Rock,” the raucous anthem from his 2011 self-titled solo debut album.
The video features Blake Knowles, a pro steer wrestler who is ranked 10th in the world. The crew shot most of the video in Pendleton, Ore., to capture the true cowboy culture.
They production also shot scenes in Oregon, too, at Crabby’s Underground Saloon, and some at the Stage in Nashville. But some of the best scenes are the ones that bookend the video — of Dunn walking through the desert with his guitar in his hand.
“We were in Salt Lake City, out on tour, and the Bonneville Salt Flats are not far from there. So before the gig, we just took off to shoot some pictures of me walking across the flats. We’re just kind of winging it,” Dunn said on RonnieDunn.com, “That’s really Clint Eastwood acting, isn’t it?” And even though he was making it up as he went along, he wanted to make sure it looked cool. “We keep everything fairly stylized, like with my guitar down low. That’s kind of my pistol,” he said.
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Wednesday Video Spotlight: “Leverage” Season 4 finale airing Sunday
Check out the promo clip for the fourth season finale of TNT’s caper series “Leverage” will air at 8 p.m. Sunday on the cable network.
The show stars Norman-bred actor/singer Christian Kane, Oscar winner Timothy Hutton, Beth Riesgraf, Gina Bellman and Aldis Hodge.
TNT is offering a free Android and iOS app just in time for the season finale; check out this video for details:
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Wednesday Video Spotlight: Van Halen’s “Tattoo”
Rock and Roll Hall of Famers Van Halen released Tuesday the music video to their new single “Tattoo,” the first single from their upcoming album “A Different Kind of Truth.”
“A Different Kind of Truth,” Van Halen’s first album of new material with original frontman David Lee Roth since 1984, is due out Feb. 7.
The band is planning a tour in support of the new album that will include their first show at Tulsa’s BOK Center on May 1.
Ticket prices and sale date for the Tulsa show have not yet been announced, according to an arena spokeswoman. R&B group Kool & the Gang will be special guest for the Tulsa date.
Van Halen is legendary for its multiple personnel changes, and its lineup has featured two other lead singers: Sammy Hagar (1985-96) and Gary Cherone (1996-99).
Like the band’s 2007-08 trek, this tour will feature three-fourths of the original lineup: Roth, guitarist Eddie Van Halen, his drummer brother Alex Van Halen, plus Eddie Van Halen’s song Wolfgang Van Halen on bass. Original bassist Michael Anthony was dropped from the band in 2006.
For more information on the Tulsa show, go to www.bokcenter.com.
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Wednesday Video Spotlight: Highlights of The Flaming Lips New Year’s Eve Freakout #5 featuring Yoko Ono and Sean Lennon
Oklahoma City-based psychedelic rockers The Flaming Lips performed their fifth annual New Year’s Eve Freakout last weekend at the Coca Cola Bricktown Events Center. The two-night extravaganza – which included NYE and New Year’s Day shows – featured Yoko Ono, Sean Lennon and the Plastic Ono Band.
Highlights of the show included covers of The Beatles’ “Strawberry Fields” and “Happy Xmas (War Is Over),” the famed holiday anthem Ono wrote and recorded with her late husband, John Lennon. Some fans who attended the show have kindly posted videos from the show for our viewing enjoyment.
Check out The Oklahoman’s review of the NYE show by special correspondent Joshua Boydston by clicking here.
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Wednesday Video Spotlight: Broncho’s “Try Me Out Sometime” makes NPR’s, Jivewired’s end-of-year lists
The raucous punk anthem “Try Me Out Sometime” from Tulsa/Norman indie rockers Broncho is included on NPR’s list of five garage rock favorites from 2011.
Broncho, the side project for Starlight Mints keyboardist Ryan Lindsey, released its debut album “Can’t Get Past the Lips” earlier this year.
Here’s what NPR had to say about “Try Me Out Sometime”:
It’s not a complex song, by any means, and the simplicity is fantastic because the execution is so strong. Three chords are plenty enough backdrop for Lindsey to yelp out the hooks. Watch the excellent music video, in which the band barges into unsuspecting, unlikely venues — stores, major intersections, a college classroom — and performs increasingly disastrous versions of the song before darting out. BRONCHO has never played a show outside a narrow corridor from Austin to Chicago, so coast-dwellers will have to cross their fingers for that to change soon.
In addition, Broncho’s “Try Me Out Sometime” and “Record Store” made Jivewired’s list of favorite songs of the past year, under the heading “Despite what you think, music still had balls in 2011.”
Other songs by Oklahoma musical talents listed on Jivewired’s list include “Instant Insanity” by Dr. Pants, “Traitor” by OK Sweetheart, “Spinning In Circles Is A Gateway Drug” by Red City Radio and “Dum Dum Dah Dah” by The Nghiems.
In related news – hint, hint – I’m working on my list of top 10 albums of 2011, and this year, everyone on it has Oklahoma ties. There were just too many great albums from talented Okies in the year just past for me to do anything else.
Look for the list in the coming days.
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Wednesday Video Spotlight: The Ngheims’ and Kyle Roberts’ “Dum Dum Dah Dah” makes Jivewired’s top 10 videos of 2011
Up-and-coming filmmaker Kyle Roberts, owner of the Oklahoma City-based film company Reckless Abandonment Pictures and a videographer for NewsOK, and Norman indie rockers The Ngheims have been getting some end-of-year attention for their stop-motion, animated retro video game-themed music video to their catchy song “Dum Dum Dah Dah.” More than 8,000 photos were used in the making of this mini-movie.
For instance, the video was ranked No. 1 on Jivewired top videos of 2011 list. Here’s part of what the site had to say about the video:
The retro arcade graphics kick a**, the stop motion technology is first rate and the song leaves an indelible imprint on your brain.
I couldn’t agree more.
The video shares an epic tale of an indie rock trio’s venture inside a fictional arcade game, where they must use their musical powers to battle bullies, knights and dragons to save a fair princess. Or was it all just a dream?
The song also appears on Jivedwire’s favorite songs of 2011.
Back in the fall, Kyle and lead singer David Nghiem sat down with NewsOK video host Angi Bruss to talk about the making of the video, and David capped it off by performing the song in our NewsOK studios:
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