Photo gallery and Wednesday Video Spotlight: Recapping the Flaming Lips New Year’s Eve Freakout
Flaming Lips 2010 NYE Time Lapse from George Salisbury on Vimeo.
George Salisbury, visual guru for the Flaming Lips, assembled this awesome time-lapse video of the New Year’s Freakout #3 setup and show.
Is it as good as actually attending this annual sonic and visual extravaganza? Of course not. And if you missed the 2009-10 show and you’re a music fan – particularly one who lives in Oklahoma, because this edition drew fans from across the country – I want you to make a solemn promise that you will try very, very hard to make the 2010-11 Freakout. That’s all I ask.
To encourage you to make the right choice, I’m posting below several photos of the Freakout taken by The Oklahoman’s talented photographer Bryan Terry. Look how much fun you could be having, people:
Lips frontman Wayne Coyne rides his giant bubble through the crowd at the start of the Lips’ set. What was once a Flaming Lips tradition is now an Oklahoma City NYE tradition.
Wayne is all smiles as he plays at the show.
The band gets blasted by the confetti cannons.
Balloons and confetti and Wayne – that’s a party!
Dancers dressed as insects dance onstage.
The crowd loves it.
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Bonus Video Spotlight: “Toy Story 3″ clip
Disney/Pixar last week released an intriguing new clip from the anticipated sequel “Toy Story 3,” due in theaters June 18.
The long-awaited film is set 10 years after 1999’s “Toy Story 2,” as Andy prepares to go off to college, leaving the fate of his toys Woody the Sheriff, Buzz Lightyear and the rest in flux.
For more on the sequel, also check out the first trailer, which was released a couple months ago:
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Wednesday Video Spotlight: Holidays with The Flaming Lips
Oklahoma City music luminary Wayne Coyne recently visited the NewsOK studios to talk about The Flaming Lips New Year’s Eve Freakout #3. The show, featuring Stardeath and White Dwarfs, will ring in 2010 starting at 8:30 p.m. Thursday at the Cox Convention Center.
The Lips frontman talked with Entertainment Editor Gene Triplett at length about the concert. Check out the NewsOK video posted above.
The event is sure to bring 2009 to a stunning close, with otherworldly music, confetti cannons and what Coyne believes will be the world’s largest balloon drop.
Following the countdown to midnight, the Lips and Stardeath will start off the new decade by performing the seminal 1973 Pink Floyd album “The Dark Side of the Moon” in its entirety. The bands recently released their rendition of the album, featuring Peaches and Henry Rollins, through digital outlets such as iTunes.
While at NewsOK, Coyne and bandmate Steven Drozd appeared on the very first Christmas episode of George Lang’s excellent interview/performance video series Static. They did a musical reading of “Twas the Night Before Christmas” and performed “White Christmas” (a fine choice considering Oklahoma City was blanketed by a blizzard on Christmas Eve) and “Silent Night.”
Though Christmas has passed, this bit of Lips-style holiday cheer definitely is worth sharing:
I’ll be covering the New Year’s Eve Freakout this year, so expect to see my review of the show sometime in the wee hours of New Year’s Day.
Happy Holidays!
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Wednesday Video Spotlight: Gene Autry and “Rudolph”
Oklahoma-bred singing cowboy Gene Autry starred in more than 90 Westnern B-movies in his long career.
But these days he is best known for recording the Christmas songs “”Here Comes Santa Claus,” “Frosty the Snowman,” and his biggest hit, “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.” He eventually earned the title the “Christmas Cowboy.”
This year marks the 60th anniversary of “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” which became Autry’s sole No. 1 hit and remains a holiday favorite.
NewsOK talks to various Autry experts, including The Oklahoman Entertainment Editor Gene Triplett, in an nDepth video and story.
To see the video and story, click here.
And Merry Christmas!
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Wednesday Video Spotlight: 2010 movie trailers
The holiday film season is in full force, which means cinephiles like me are still patiently (or impatiently) awaiting some of the most hotly anticipated films of 2009, such as “Avatar,” “Sherlock Holmes” and “Up in the Air.”
But that doesn’t mean that we can’t look ahead to 2010, when the offerings range from Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe’s take on “Robin Hood” to Tim Burton and Johnny Depp’s vision for “Alice in Wonderland” to John Cusack’s comedy “Hot Tub Time Machine.”
So, for this week, we’re taking a sneak peek at next year with some promising trailers:
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Bonus Wednesday Video Spotlight: Flaming Lips Christmas ornaments
In this trippy video, Wayne Coyne, frontman for Oklahoma City’s own psychedelic rockers The Flaming Lips, hawks a new item available at flaminglips.com, The Flaming Lips Silver Trembling Fetus Hanging Christmas Tree Ornament. As Wayne says, “it looks and feels as though it was forged from an exotic metal that came from outer space” and it is rumored to give off vibrations that make all humans more intelligent.
If Wayne ever decides to give up his music career, he has a real future as a celebrity pitchman, particularly if he has more of those nifty sweaters in his closet.
Since this is a bonus video spolight, also check out this live performance of the band’s “Silver Trembling Hands,” a song from the new album “Embryonic” that probably played a part at least in the naming of this new seasonal Flaming Lips collectible. I can’t wait to hear this one performed live at Oklahoma City’s New Year’s Eve Freakout! at the Cox Convention Center.
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Wednesday Video Spotlight: Recapping Carrie Underwood’s holiday special
Oklahoma country music star Carrie Underwood saw her first holiday TV special, “Carrie Underwood: An All-Star Holiday Special,” air Monday night on Fox. I’ve posted above a few YouTube videos featuring fun moments from the show.
The two-hour special featured a mix of great performances, glitzy costume changes and goofy comedy bits. Checotah’s favorite daughter opened the show clad in black leather and surrounded by male dancers as she belted out her saucy hit “Cowboy Casanova.” She also powered through her past hits “Before He Cheats” and “Jesus, Take the Wheel.”
Much of the guest list was revealed in advance, but Underwood worked in a surprise by inviting brother band Sons of Sylvia to perform with her on “What Can I Say,” their duet from her new album “Play On.”
Although many of Carrie’s all-star pals were divulged in advance, they still managed to put in great performances. Fellow “American Idol” winner David Cook, who has Tulsa ties, made time stop with his emotional “Lie,” though I would have preferred a Carrie and Cookie duet. Dolly Parton stole the spotlight, of course, with her hit “Here You Come Again” and then sat down with Underwood for a wonderful, not at all overdone performance of “I Will Always Love You.”
Country superstar Brad Paisley wasn’t able to be at the show’s Los Angeles taping in person, so he was brought in via satellite from Nashville to sing with the hostess. I initially had my doubts about this high-tech duet, but they faded when he and Carrie launched into a spirited rendition of the Conway Twitty/Loretta Lynn classic “Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man.” Paisley also crooned his heart-melter “Then.”
But my favorite moment came when Underwood, fellow Oklahoma native Kristin Chenoweth and Christina Applegate donned pink dresses and beehive updos to dance and sing their way through a lively 1960s medley including “Be My Baby,” “Then He Kissed Me” and “Leader of the Pack.” In this case, anyway, blondes do have more fun.
The show featured plenty of silly interludes, including a running gag about Carrie’s naive attempts to get her sister Stephanie a date, a chance for Carrie’s mom Carole to steal the show and a inside-the-thoughts featurette on Carrie’s dog Ace. Underwood demonstrated a clear willingness to laugh at herself, whether playing the piano with her toes, dressing up in a Dolly wig and padded bra or gleefully stuffing envelopes of cash for “Idol” judges in a faux flashback.
My biggest complaint about the holiday special was that it didn’t have enough holiday to it. Besides a few glitzy Christmas trees on stage and Underwood’s lovely performance of “O Holy Night,” the show could have been running in July or October for all the seasonal relevance it had. It’s a shame because Underwood has done some wonderful renditions of Christmas carols, some of which I’ve posted below.
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Wednesday Video Spotlight: “Outer Space Astronauts”
The hilarious new animated series “Outer Space Astronauts” is putting a Norman native and his pals and a fictional starship called the O.S.S. Oklahoma into, that’s right, outer space.
“Outer Space Astronauts” debuts 8:30 p.m. next Tuesday on the SyFy Channel. The series is the brainchild of Norman native Russell Barrett, who grafted the faces of lifelong friends onto tiny computer animated bodies with outrageously funny results.
Barrett plays slovenly Capt. Bruce Ripley, who lazily leads the misfit crew of the O.S.S. Oklahoma, which is shaped like our state, panhandle and all.
Barrett recently talked with my excellent colleague George Lang about the long gestation period for the show, the tone of the comedy and some of the help he got with the project. To read George’s great column, click here.
A sneak preview of the series is set for 7 tonight at the Sam Noble Museum of Natural History, 2401 Chautauqua Ave., in Norman. Barrett and some of the cast members, including husband-and-wife Adam and Stephanie Clinton of Norman, will introduce the first three episodes of “Outer Space Astronauts.” Then, at 8 p.m., the cast will be participate in a question-and-answer session.
If you can’t make it to tonight’s sneak preview, SyFy has the first episode available to view online, along with uproarious clips and fake interviews, some of which I’ve posted below.
This creative and humorous series definitely deserves the support of Barrett’s home state.
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Bonus Wednesday Video Spotlight: Holiday film trailers
“Fantastic Mr. Fox”
Today marks the official start of the holiday movie season, when the studios offer up their award contenders, seasonal tales and sweeping fantasies.
On Friday, I’ll have a round-up of the season’s cinematic offerings and their Oklahoma City opening dates. Until then, check out these trailers for some of the highlights:
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Wednesday Video Spotlight: Opry Webcast featuring Carrie Underwood
A Grand Ole Opry show featuring performances by Oklahoma native Carrie Underwood, Martina McBride, Jake Owen, and Rodney Atkins is now available for a limited time on the official Grand Ole Opry MySpace page at www.myspace.com/grandoleopry. I’ve also embedded it here for your viewing enjoyment.
The live stream of the Nov. 14 show on MySpace Music, powered by Ustream, drew more than 300,000 total viewers.
“We are pleased that so many fans were a part of this overwhelmingly successful live stream event as we made Opry history,” said Steve Buchanan, Grand Ole Opry Group president, in a news release. “The Opry has always utilized the latest in technology to deliver its unique brand of entertainment to country music listeners, and this success positions us to continue to widen the Opry’s distribution well into the future. We are excited about all the possibilities before us as we break new ground in getting the Opry’s music to its fans.”
Opry performances take every weekend of the year, and the Tuesday Night Opry series continues through Dec. 15. To plan an Opry visit, or to purchase packages, call (800) SEE-OPRY or log on to www.opry.com. The Opry is being staged at the historic Ryman Auditorium through Jan. 30, 2010. Fans can stay connected to the Opry via MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
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