Internet
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Film / Internet Local Filmmakers Kentucker Audley and Brian Pera Take to the Web Tonight
Posted by Chris Herrington on Thu, Mar 29, 2012 at 1:00 PM
Pera landed a notable cult actress, Ann Magnuson, for his last film, the under-recognized Woman's Picture. And he's done it again for his next feature project, casting the terrific veteran character actress Grace Zibriskie for Only Child.
Zibriskie, now 70, might be best known for recurring roles in the television series Seinfeld, Big Love, and Twin Peaks (where she played murder victim Laura Palmer's mother), but she has also appeared in films ranging from Norma Rae (her debut) to indie classics from Gus Van Sant (My Own Private Idaho) and Twin Peaks' David Lynch (Wild at Heart).
For Pera, Zibriskie will be playing the mother of Amy LaVere's wounded, mysterious Loretta, a character spun off from Woman's Picture. But Only Child isn't so much a sequel to Woman's Picture as a continuation of a series Pera has vowed to explore in both feature and short films.
To raise funds for the project, Pera set up a Kickstarter campaign where those offering donations can get items related to the film or the local arts scene. The campaign, already at its goal, concludes today with a live video podcast interview with Zabriskie and LaVere, at 6 p.m.
Here's a promotional video Pera shot for the project:
Friday, January 20, 2012
Music / Pop Culture / Internet Testing Out a New Campaign Theme Song?: Obama Croons "Let's Stay Together."
Posted by Chris Herrington on Fri, Jan 20, 2012 at 7:55 AM
At a campaign event last night, with the right Rev. Al Green apparently in attendance, President Obama croons a little "Let's Stay Together."
Ladies and gentleman, the radical socialist Manchurian candidate bent on the destruction of all that is American, in action:
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Music / Film / Pop Culture / Internet Live From Memphis Turns 11
Posted by J.D. Reager on Thu, Jan 12, 2012 at 1:42 PM
Venerable local arts/film/music organization Live From Memphis will celebrate its 11th birthday this Friday night (01/13) at 7 p.m. with an open-house party at company headquarters (1 S. Main).
Founder Christopher Reyes spoke to the Flyer this afternoon via telephone about the past, present, and future of LFM.
Flyer: What does it mean to you to be celebrating 11 years of Live From Memphis? Did you ever think you'd make it this far?
Reyes: Oh, no. I never thought we'd get to 10. Now I'm thinking about if we can make it to 20.
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Music / Pop Culture / Internet Live From Memphis Launches "Nothing To See Here" Podcast
Posted by J.D. Reager on Wed, Aug 24, 2011 at 3:12 PM
This week the website Live From Memphis unveiled the latest addition to its already robust arsenal of freely distributed online components promoting Memphis music, film and creative work, a weekly podcast titled "Nothing To See Here." Live From Memphis will celebrate the launch of the new podcast with a party this Thursday, August 25, 7 p.m. at the Lamplighter Lounge.
Hosted by local musician Kirk Rawlings (Organ Thief, The Oldest Profession) and musician/filmmaker Chris McCoy (Pisshorse, The New Intruders, the still in-the-works Antenna Club documentary), each installment of "Nothing To See Here" will feature a 30-minute conversation with a different local artist. The first episode withThe Hi-Tone Cafe owner/booker Jonathan Kiersky, can be heard here.
Rawlings and McCoy spoke with the Flyer this morning about what the new podcast is all about.
Flyer: What is the mission of "Nothing To See Here?"
Rawlings: There is no real mission in mind for this show beyond having as much fun as we can. It is not a means to an end or something we have grandiose dreams for, we just wanted to try it. The show is about bullshitting over drinks (sometimes many, many drinks) and getting to know someone. Memphis so often keeps each other at arm's length, and while it can be for good reason, we are bored with it.
Friday, June 3, 2011
Music / Film / Pop Culture / Internet The Onion's AV Club Visits Memphis Landmarks
Posted by Chris Herrington on Fri, Jun 3, 2011 at 11:39 AM
The Onion's AV Club is doing an online travel series called Pop Pilgrims, in which a three-man crew is road-tripping to visit 36 pop culture landmarks around the country and shooting five-minute videos at each destination — one city a week for 12 weeks, three landmark locations in each city. Among the initial stops have been California locations that are featured in films such as Vertigo, The Graduate, and Reservoir Dogs. The crew's visit to Memphis is featured on the site this week. The three Memphis locations featured are:
The Arcade Restaurant, where they visited with Shangri-La Projects' Sherman Wilmott to talk about his experience as a production assistant on Jim Jarmusch's Mystery Train:
Memphis: Arcade Restaurant - Set of Jim Jarmusch's Mystery Train
Ardent Studios, where they talked to owner John Fry and studio manager Jody Stephens about the studio's history.
Sun Studio, where they took in the studio tour, including getting some input from Goner Records' owner Eric Friedl.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Internet Live From Memphis Launches "Get Down" Series
Posted by Chris Herrington on Thu, Oct 1, 2009 at 2:01 PM
In a partnership with the Center City Commission, Live From Memphis today launched "Get Down," a series of short web-based films promoting downtown life and culture. The series, which will debut a new episode each Thursday for the next 10 weeks, is co-directed by Live From Memphis' Christopher Reyes and Sarah Fleming and co-hosted by local actors John Pickle and Brett Magdovitz in fictional guise.
The trailer for the series:
The first full episode, which features South Main bar/club the Rumba Room, sushi restaurant Blue Fin, and kite flying at Tom Lee Park, can be seen here.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Internet Alex Harrison on ArtsMemphisTV
Posted by Chris Herrington on Wed, Sep 30, 2009 at 10:43 AM
An illustrator, painter, and musician (via his band The Warble), Harrison is featured on the latest installment of ArtsMemphisTV. Check it out here.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Pop Culture / Internet T-Minus Awesome
Posted by Greg Akers on Tue, Jul 14, 2009 at 12:52 PM
This place right here is the best website on the Internet right now and for the next week-plus. In celebration of the impending 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission to the moon (you remember the one: Neil Armstrong, American flag, footprints, sound stage in California), the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum is recreating the event as if it were happening in realtime in our techno-geek age. Website, Twitter updates, photos, audio, and who knows what else will unspool 40 years to the moment after it really happened.
The launch is July 16th at 8:32 a.m. CST. Right now everything is in the prelaunch stage. Armstrong put boot to moon on July 20th.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Television / Internet "$5 Cover: Seattle" Launches (and Other Craig Brewer News)
Posted by Chris Herrington on Thu, Jul 9, 2009 at 4:50 PM
Some Memphians may have been disappointed in the national impact Craig Brewer's made-for-MTV series $5 Cover: Memphis had, but apparently MTV was satisfied.
The network's new media division is going ahead with plans to turn Brewer's $5 Cover concept — semi-fictional short films set in real places and starring real musicians — into a new franchise, with $5 Cover: Seattle set to begin shooting sometime this summer.
As (first?) reported here in March, filmmaker Lynn Shelton will helm the Seattle edition of the series, which Brewer confirmed today and Shelton referenced in a recent interview:
W&H: What are you working on next?LS: I'm shooting "$5 Cover Seattle", a music-based web series being produced by MTV. It was the brainchild of another independent filmmaker, Craig Brewer, whose original version, "$5 Cover Memphis", can be seen on MTV.com right now. I'm very excited about the project because it's a great fit for my creative style, plus I get to work intimately a bunch of sexy rockstars..pretty much a dream come true.
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Pop Culture / Internet Craig Brewer's Burlesque Footage
Posted by Chris Herrington on Sat, Jul 4, 2009 at 3:44 PM
Memphis filmmaker Craig Brewer has found some 10-year-old rehearsal footage he shot for the Memphis Confidential Burlesque Show at the Hi-Tone Cafe, and has posted on his BrewTube channel:
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Internet Update: Memphis Jobs
Posted by Greg Akers on Sat, Jun 20, 2009 at 4:18 PM
SING ALL KINDS noted back in April the rumor traveling around the web that Steve Jobs, CEO/co-founder, Apple, had moved to Memphis for health reasons.
That rumor has gotten some substantiation today with the Wall Street Journal's report that Jobs had a liver transplant in Tennessee about two months ago. Only three hospitals in the Volunteer State do liver transplants: Vanderbilt in Nashville, Le Bonheur in Memphis, and Methodist University Hospital in Memphis. Le Bonheur doesn't treat adults. Circumstantial evidence suggests he was/is in the Bluff City.
Why Tennessee as opposed to another of the lower 48? The WSJ indicates it may have been because the waiting list for transplants in Tennessee is significantly shorter than other states.
Now, Alexander Haislip has some really juicy details. Jobs lives in "a quiet cul-de-sac" in a swank neighborhood? A 7,500-square-foot mansion built in 1914, yellow with white trim? Upgraded security and a white Jeep guarding the resident? I'm pretty sure this isn't happening on my street in Berclair.
And who was that guy ordering foie gras at Chez Philippe a table over the other night?
So is he here or not? Citizen journalists/commenters of the world, I command you: Respond to this blog with every nugget or truth and rumor you have in your possession.
Related reading material:
Yahoo
Forbes
RexBlog.com, who complains that TN journos have dropped the ball on reporting this. Um, hello, SING ALL KINDS spread the uncorroborated rumor months ago.
Friday, June 12, 2009
Film / Internet Film News: Li'l Film Fest Saturday, New Web Series Launches
Posted by Chris Herrington on Fri, Jun 12, 2009 at 10:28 AM
After making an extremely successful return from a rather length hiatus in March, Live From Memphis' Li'l Film Fest is back this Saturday at the Brooks Museum for its 10th installment. Each Li'l Film Fest charges local filmmakers with making short films on a theme, with this weekend's installment on the subject of family.
There are 11 films in the "Family" program, and while I'd echo my complaint from the last fest about the preponderance of hand-me-down horror-flick conceits on display, some of the films find success on this path, such as Reunion from the filmmaker Pandora, a film with a final twist that I didn't see coming but probably should have. The conceptual uniformity helps other kinds of films stand out, such as Downer, from Jason Rawlings and Jason Davenport, with its interesting use of still shots, and Eric Swartz' Monday, which is a simple, well-shot, and, enjoyable glimpse at everyday life.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Film / Internet DVD Review: Lake of Fire
Posted by Chris Herrington on Wed, Jun 3, 2009 at 4:11 PM
In a world of media and news overload, some stories grab you and plenty of others that should get your attention slip away instead. The pained re-ignition of the seemingly insolvable abortion debate following the heinous murder of Kansas late-term abortion provider Dr. George Tiller grabbed me, though I've been disappointed by the tenor of so much I've read and heard.
What I've found rattling and at times revolting about the rhetoric of anti-abortion-rights advocates from Operation Rescue's Randall Terry to Fox News talking head Bill O'Reilly isn't their fundamental anti-abortion position, which I respect and find ultimately rational; it's the utter unwillingness to acknowledge — much less sympathize with — the tragic circumstances that bring women and families to the question of whether to terminate a pregnancy, especially one late in the gestation period, which is often a wanted pregnancy stricken by severe complications.
For a civil and serious take on this issue, I've turned to The Daily Dish, Andrew Sullivan's terrific blog for Atlantic Monthly. Sullivan is a Christian, self-described conservative, and has expressed an opposition to the legality of late-term abortions that he is starting to second-guess. Over the past few days, he's opened a significant portion of his blog space to a detailed, open-minded discussion of the issues surrounding late-term abortion, letting people tell their own stories in a series of anguished but illuminating "It's So Personal" posts that are gripping, essential reading, and allowing space for readers to dissent from both ends of the abortion debate.
Another oasis of cultural seriousness amid the noise is Lake of Fire, a colossal 2006 documentary from British filmmaker Tony Kaye (American History X) that deserves renewed attention in the wake of Tiller's assassination. Kaye shot his film (on black-and-white celluloid) over the course of 18 years, winnowing his material down to a two-and-a-half-hour epic that nobody saw.
Television / Internet BK Broiler: Ripples in a Lake of Fire
Posted by Greg Akers on Wed, Jun 3, 2009 at 11:09 AM
Regular readers of SING ALL KINDS know that the Flyer's Chris Davis has reported on the Burger King imbroglio (imbroilglio?) — with the Mid-South franchisee, Mirabile Investment Corporation, of the BK fast-food brand putting up signs reading "Global Warming is Baloney" — on May 27, May 29, and June 2.
I've enjoyed watching the story ripple out to newsmedia around the world. (To date, to my knowledge, no one else in Memphis has covered this story.)
The coverage got its biggest showcase on last night's Countdown with Keith Olbermann on MSNBC as he declared the BK franchise owner's the day's "worst persons ... in the world!" See video below. (The clip starts with an ad touting Applebee's "Realburger." Unintentional schadenfreude?)
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
But MSNBC is hardly the only news vendor to pick it up. I threw a google lasso around Burger King and Memphis in the news search and came away with a few quick hits. It's interesting to read the variations the story takes depending on who's telling it.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Music / Television / Internet UPDATE: Becky Quick and "Becky Quick"
Posted by Greg Akers on Thu, May 28, 2009 at 11:02 PM
A week ago, SING ALL KINDS reported on local pop band 40 Watt Moon, who lyricized their ardor for CNBC anchor Becky Quick in the song, named, appropriately enough, "Becky Quick." (Band member Chip Googe is an Account Executive for the Memphis Flyer.)
Since then, the story has traveled the information superhighway between Memphis and not-Memphis, having been picked up in notes from TVNewser and a North Carolina Biz Blog.
Although where somebody got the idea that 40 Watt Moon is a country band, we'll never know.
In the way of things Internet, the news got back to newsbabe Quick, who has since been in contact with members of the band. The word on the street is that the song may make an appearance on Quick's show "Squawk Box" tomorrow, Friday, May 29. Tune in to CNBC from 5-9 a.m. CST to find out. We'll be.
40 Watt Moon's "Becky Quick"
THIS WEEK'S ISSUE
SPECIAL ISSUES
