Monthly Archives: March 2012

The VH1 Save The Music Foundation’s Songwriters Music Series Returns with Robin Thicke in Chicago

On Thursday, April 26th, the VH1 Save The Music Foundation will launch the 2012 Songwriters Music Series in Chicago, IL with an acoustic performance by Award-winning, soul singer-songwriter Robin Thicke . This marks the first stop in the series, sponsored by Swiss watch company RAYMOND WEIL and William Hill Estate Wines, which will then travel to New York City in June and close out at the breathtaking William Hill Estate in Napa Valley this September. Last year’s Songwriters Music Series featured performances by Glee star Matthew Morrison in New York, ACM Award-winning sibling trio The Band Perry in Nashville, Tennessee and Grammy® Award winning musician Colbie Caillat as well as Billboard Magazine “2011 Artist To Watch” Andy Grammer in Los Angeles.

Songwriters Music Series benefits the VH1 Save The Music Foundation in their mission to provide children with access to a complete education that includes music.  These intimate evenings serve as a platform for energized, informed and socially conscious individuals to network amidst great music, a sponsored bar and food.  Each event will also feature today’s emerging musicians and most celebrated artists/bands performing hit songs in support of the cause. In total, the 2011 Songwriters Music Series raised over $358,000, which was enough to restore 11 music education programs nationwide.  This year, the Foundation hopes to raise even more so that a greater number of students are provided the tools they need to create, innovate and become the next great leaders in an increasingly competitive world.

“The VH1 Save The Music Foundation does so much work to ensure that future generations will have the instruction and instruments to help them pursue their dreams,” said Robin Thicke. “I’m just honored to be able to help the cause and put on a show for the amazing city of Chicago.”

Multi-platinum superstar Robin Thicke will kick off the 2012 Songwriters Music Series with a special performance for a select group of ticketholders. Robin’s fifth studio album,  Love After War  was released on December 6th, 2011. The Associated Press calls Love After War a “must buy,” Billboard says “Thicke has consistently shown himself to be one of R&B’s most devoted ladies’ men” and Entertainment Weekly calls the album “ever-seductive.” The album is Thicke at his most raw and honest condition yet. It is an album born out of a desire to be the uncompromising, idealistic artist he was as a boy, married with the weight of being a man with responsibilities and the scars of the past.   Love After War  and songs you’ll discover within it, like “An Angel on Each Arm,” “I’m An Animal,” “Never Give Up,” “Cloud 9,” “Pretty Lil’ Heart” and “Tears On My Tuxedo” need no explanation: they speak for themselves. The album follows Robin’s past hits A Beautiful World, The Evolution of Robin Thicke, Something Else and Sex Therapy .

“We are thrilled to have Robin Thicke perform at the launch of this year’s Songwriters Music Series,” said Paul Cothran, Vice President & Executive Director of the VH1 Save The Music Foundation. “Last year’s events provided an exciting opportunity for music enthusiasts to share in and spread the word about the power of music.  Having an incredible performer and entertainer like Robin Thicke help us launch the 2012 Series is a great start to what will be another great year.”

The Chicago event will take place at an, as yet, undisclosed location from 6:30 PM-10:00 PM and will include opening performances by local sponsors Sing4’s YouTube Contest Winner and Houlihan’s Restaurants employee musicians contest winners. This year, beginning with the first installment, the Foundation will also present an exclusive social media initiative, “Songwriters Moments In Time with RAYMOND WEIL,” which will give audiences everywhere a behind the scenes look at each Songwriters event, with special talent interviews and more. Additional local sponsors include: New Amsterdam Gin, Tequila and Vodka as well as PSAV Chicago.

Tickets for the evening are $100 and can be purchased at www.vh1savethemusic.org/songwriters. For guests who would like to further show their support or are unable to attend any of the events the Foundation is offering additional opportunities to get involved:

Crash & Burn Apparel, a rock-n-roll inspired clothing line based in Los Angeles has teamed up with the Songwriters Music Series to create a limited edition Songwriters T-shirt to benefit the VH1 Save The Music Foundation. The Songwriters T-shirts will be available for purchase at www.shopcrashandburn.com/songwriters beginning April 1, 2012.

On April 10th, the first phase of the 2012 Songwriters Music Series auction will launch online at www.charitybuzz.com/auctions/Songwriters, featuring items like 2 tickets to VH1 Storytellers, 2 tickets to the 2012 Do Something Awards and tickets to the Rock of Ages movie premiere and after party.

Proceeds from event sponsorship, ticket sales, the auction and a portion of t-shirts proceeds will benefit the VH1 Save The Music Foundation in its mission to keep music alive in American public schools.

For more information or to see how you can get involved, please visit www.vh1savethemusic.org or join the VH1 Save The Music community on Facebook at www.facebook.com/vh1savethemusic and on Twitter at @vh1savethemusic.

Shaq’s All-Star Comedy Jam Presents Gary Owen “True Story”

Comedian, actor and all-around funny man Gary Owen (Think Like a Man, TV’s “House of Payne”) is one of the most hilarious and versatile talents in stand-up comedy today! Now Owen brings his unique brand of no-holds-barred, untamed humor to television with his all-new one-hour comedy special performed in front of a sold-out audience in Las Vegas. In this side-splitting performance, Owen takes his audience on a wild ride as he reflects on his life growing up in a trailer park, overcoming social and racial adversity, and the hysterical situations he finds himself in as a father and one half of an inter-racial marriage. This show will have you laughing non-stop and will undoubtedly solidify why GARY OWEN is one of America’s funniest and most loved comedians!

Gary Owen has been entertaining America for over a decade with his side-splitting comedy performing in all of the major comedy rooms across America.  More recently Owen headlined in the ever popular, Mike Epps Presents: Live from the Club Nokia which is currently airing on Showtime. This hilarious stand-up showcase was filmed live at a sold-out Club Nokia in Los Angeles. Funny man Owen and was able to deliver top rated laughs and gut busting humor.  Owen can also been seen in the scene stealing role of “Bearcat” in MGM’s Movie COLLEGE.

Owen joined the cast of Tyler Perry’s extremely successful HOUSE OF PAYNE. Perry met Owen on the Tom Joyner Morning Show (on which Owen is a regular) and immediately knowing he wanted to work with him, Perry wrote Owen into the show as the new barber, Zach. Additionally, Owen has been seen in such films as LITTLE MAN with the Wayans Brothers, REBOUND, and DADDY DAY CARE with Eddie Murphy.

Owen was always the class clown growing up in Cincinnati, Ohio. After high school, he got serious and enlisted in the Navy. He was chosen for the prestigious Presidential Honor Guard. However, spinning rifles and carrying flags for George Bush and Bill Clinton turned out to be the wrong job for a funny guy. “I was always smiling,” he remembers, “I got yelled at for smiling all the time.”

After leaving his ceremonial position, Owen became a military police officer at the Naval Installations on Coronado Island in San Diego, but he says he was too much of a pushover to be a cop. Owen only made two arrests in three years, but during that time he embarked on his true calling: stand-up comedy. One night while hanging with his service buddies, Owen worked up the nerve to go at a nightclub. After only a year of doing stand-up, he was named “Funniest Serviceman in America.”

Owen continued doing stand-up in San Diego, and had a huge African American fan base. He went onto win the “Funniest Black Comedian in San Diego” contest. That led to his first big gig at the Comedy Store in Hollywood.

Then in July of 1997 he auditioned for BET’s COMICVIEW. Two appearances on the multi-cultural comedy showcase won him his own one-hour “Grandstand” show. At the end of the season he was selected from the year’s four “Grandstanders” to be the host. Not only is Owen the only white man to have ever hosted COMICVIEW, but he is the only white on-air personality the network has ever had.

Owen has produced two stand-up DVDs: BREAKIN’ OUT THE PARK and URBAN LEGEND. His 2 DVDs and CD can be purchased on his website www.garyowen.com.

Movie Trailer – BAD ASS (hits theaters April 13, 2012)

Decorated Vietnam hero Frank Vega returns home only to get shunned by society leaving him without a job or his high school sweetheart. It’s not until forty years later when an incident on a commuter bus (where he protects an elderly black man from a pair of skin heads) makes him a local hero where he’s suddenly celebrated once again. But his good fortune suddenly turns for the worse when his best friend Klondike is murdered and the police aren’t doing anything about it.

Bad Ass is directed by Craig Moss and stars Danny Trejo, Charles S. Dutton and Ron Perlman. Bad Ass hits theaters on April 13, 2012. Check out more info at www.heisbadass.com

Sade to Release Live DVD/CD ‘Bring Me Home – Live 2011’ on May 22nd

Hailed as “the best concert of the year” by the Baltimore Sun, Sade will release their live DVD/CD and Blu-ray for, “Bring Me Home – Live 2011” on May 22nd. In 2011, after a 10 year hiatus, Sade returned to the U.S. for a 54-date tour in support of the platinum selling album Soldier Of Love (Epic Records), which became one of last year’s top 10 grossing tours. The tour, directed by the renowned Sophie Muller, will now be available on DVD/CD, featuring 22 of Sade’s biggest hits performed live on the visually stunning stage which was nominated by Pollstar for “Most Creative Stage Production” and “2011 Major Tour of the Year Award.” Sade also grants fans a rare, all access look behind-the-scenes with a 20-minute documentary film shot by Sophie Muller, as well as a technical documentary by Stuart Matthewman, and outtakes from the crew.

Live DVD tracklisting:

1. Soldier Of Love 12. All About Our Love
2. Your Love Is King 13. Paradise
3. Skin 14. Nothing Can Come Between Us
4. Kiss Of Life 15. Morning Bird
5. Love Is Found 16. King Of Sorrow
6. In Another Time 17. The Sweetest Taboo
7. Smooth Operator 18. The Moon And The Sky
8. Jezebel 19. Pearls
9. Bring Me Home 20. No Ordinary Love
10. Is It A Crime 21. By Your Side
11. Love Is Stronger Than Pride 22. Cherish the Day

Live CD tracklisting:

1.  Soldier of Love
 8. Paradise/Nothing Can Come Between Us
2.  Skin 9. Morning Bird

3.  Kiss of Life
 10. The Moon and the Sky

4.  Love is Found
 11. No Ordinary Love

5.  In Another Time
 12. By Your Side

6.  Jezebel
 13. Cherish the Day
7.  All About Our Love  

Throughout their twenty-eight year career, Sade have enjoyed phenomenal success both internationally and stateside. Since the release of their debut album, Diamond Life in 1984, the band have seen all six of their studio albums land in the Top 10 on Billboard’s Top 200 Album Chart, selling more than 55 million albums worldwide to date. They’ve been nominated for American Music Awards, MTV Video Music Awards won a Brit Award for Best Album for Diamond Life, and four Grammy Awards – first in 1986 for Best New Artist, then in 1994 for Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group for “No Ordinary Love”, Best Pop Vocal Album with Lovers Rock in 2002, and again for Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group in 2010 for “Soldier of Love”.

 

CeeLo Green Announces Las Vegas Residency at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino

Confirming the buzz that has been circulating for months, Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino announced today that mega superstar CeeLo Green will be the resort’s newest resident headliner with his new show, “CeeLo Green Presents LOBERACE.” Hot off an exhilarating Super Bowl halftime show performance with Madonna and the premiere of the second season of NBC’s “The Voice,” CeeLo’s Las Vegas resident show will bring even more star power to one of the Strip’s hottest properties. The Wednesday, Aug. 29th premiere of “CeeLo Green Presents LOBERACE” in the resort’s 1,400-seat showroom will mark the first of 28 performances this year.

This truly unique, new show designed exclusively for Planet Hollywood will be an electrifying journey into the world of CeeLo’s brainchild, “LOBERACE.” After a big year of huge performances and success, this show and overall concept was a vision that CeeLo’s manager Michael “Blue” Williams had and has continued to develop over the last year. More of a spectacle than a show, CeeLo, the conductor/ringmaster “LOBERACE,” will take you on a ride through the colorful decades of music, stopping at legendary moments in time, from Prince to Blue Magic to The Rolling Stones, new wave to disco and beyond. Visually, the production will combine CeeLo’s flamboyant sense of style & over-the-top creativity, magnified and intensified, with his soulful voice covering some of his favorite music, as well as original songs. Part dance party, part live intimate concert, this energetic, exotic show will be as inspired and visually alive as CeeLo Green. There will be mind-twisting magic and sexified showgirls, and the larger-than-life wardrobe and impressive stage design will out-glam and out-clever anything you’ve seen from this Muppet-ized, sequin-styled international Lady Killer to date.

Guests experiencing “CeeLo Green Presents LOBERACE” will be transported inside the incredibly creative, eclectic mind of CeeLo Green and into the supernatural, surreal and the extra-ordinary. The show will be produced by manager Michael “Blue” Williams in conjunction with Primary Wave Talent Management.

Shows will be held after performances of PEEPSHOW on Thursdays and Fridays at 11 p.m. and Saturdays at 12 midnight, with additional shows at 11 p.m. on Wednesdays. The performance schedule for “CeeLo Green Presents LOBERACE” is as follows:

Aug. 29, 30 and 31
Sept. 1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 12, 13, 14, 15, 19, 20, 21, 22, 26, 27, 28 and 29
Nov. 30
Dec. 1, 7, 8, 14, 15, 28 and 29

“Planet Hollywood was established by fellow artists, actors, entertainers, my peers; and they’ve proven to know a thing or two about the art of being an entrepreneur. I am very fortunate to have Planet Hollywood as a partner, allowing me to further extend and embellish on the brand that is CeeLo Green,” states recording artist CeeLo Green.

“We are thrilled to welcome CeeLo to the Planet Hollywood family, where ‘fame sets the scene’,” said David Hoenemeyer, president of Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino. “There is no one hotter today than CeeLo. The excitement is everywhere throughout the property, from our team members to our guests and partners.”

Singer-songwriter, rapper, producer, actor and professional “lady killer” CeeLo Green first came onto the music scene as a member of the hip-hop group Goodie Mob along with Big Gipp, T-Mo and Khujo. They released their debut album “Soul Food” in 1995, pioneering them to the top of the emerging Southern rap scene. Goodie Mob released two more albums and is currently back in the studio working on a new album. After CeeLo’s success with Goodie Mob, he successfully reinvented himself and formed Gnarls Barkley with deejay-producer Danger Mouse. Gnarls Barkley released the 2006 hit “Crazy”, which reached #1 in various singles charts worldwide and won a Grammy® Award in 2007.

Following Gnarls Barkley, CeeLo put his time back into a true solo career and released the 2010 album “The Lady Killer,” which featured his hit single “Forget You.” The smash hit received five 2011 Grammy® nominations, winning the category for “Best Urban/Alternative Performance”, and another single off the album, “Fool For You”, won two Grammy® Awards in 2012. In addition to the new Goodie Mob album this year, CeeLo is also currently working on a new solo album. Apart from his music career, CeeLo can currently be seen on the second season of NBC’s hit show “The Voice” as a judge/mentor alongside Christina Aguilera, Adam Levine and Blake Shelton.

A ticket on-sale date will be announced at a later date. For more information and updates, please visit: www.planethollywoodresort.com and www.Loberace.com